Blades in the Dark – The Crimson Snow – Session 7
This week was an interesting one for the Crimson Snow – they started off by finishing their work in analysing the red powder they were given by Bazro Baz, leader of the Lampblacks, to sell in their very first score. They discovered the substance was actually a mix of fairly low grade powder, and the main “active” ingredient – a particular distillate of leviathan blood. Finishing their analysis also gave them the knowledge to potentially produce this distillate from the partially refined leviathan blood brought into the city. This prompted some rampant speculation as to how they could get hold of some leviathan blood, and how they should go about packaging and distributing it afterward.
Realizing that getting a barrel of the blood was likely to put them up against the powerful Leviathan Hunters and the noble families that back them – they decided to wait on that particular heist, electing instead to move to secure a claim (turf to be specific – a dive bar that we established pays up to the Crows)
They headed to the bar separately – Hadius “disguised” as an overdressed noble, Ves with a group of students and a former colleague from Charterhall University, and Banks… well he just bought a few drinks and played a few hands of cards with the other patrons. Their inquiries led to uncovering plenty of the details of the arrangement between the bar and the Crows. It turned out that the Crows hold over the bar was tenuous at best largely due to the dissension among their ranks after their leader Roric’s death and Lyssa, the underling who murdered him, seizing control of the gang. Even moreso in recent weeks, with Lyssa refusing to leave the Crows’ HQ after word reached her that Roric’s ghost had been seen at large within the district…
It was about at this point, as the gang were trying to decide whether to make their move now or when the Crows came to collect their cash, that a pair of scoundrels from the Crows’ arrived at the bar for a drink in their private booth at the back. They failed to notice the Crimson Snow members scattered around the bar, but they certainly didn’t go unnoticed themselves, the crew identifying that they had encountered both of them before – one still nursing a gunshot wound inflicted when trying to collect tribute from the Snow, and the other, Banks’ now rival and former noble blooded school chum, Grace. Sensing an opportunity, Hadius and Ves squeezed into the booth with them (Banks decided that revealing his affiliation with the gang to Grace would be ill timed, waited outside, keeping an ear out for trouble.) Surprising even themselves, they managed to arrange a civilized conversation with their counterparts over some fine brandy.
In the course of this conversation, the Snow learned that both Grace and her companion were supporters of Roric, and not over-thrilled at having Lyssa running the crew, even if they were unwilling to directly go against her. However, a remarkable bit of fast-talking by Hadius won them over enough to have them put in a word to Lyssa’s second, Bell, about relinquishing the bar to the Snow as a wise tactical decision, given the state of the Crows of late and the general lack of importance of this particular bar in the scheme of things. This together with a bit of brilliant diplomacy via letter to Bell, saw the Crimson Snow seize the bar without a drop of blood spilled – to everyone’s surprise honestly!
The session wrapped with the ominous ticking of a clock to completion. Specifically, the clock pertaining to the secret plan being hatched by Roric’s ghost, a plan the Crimson Snow would soon discover that was likely to have significant implications for the whole situation in Crow’s Foot…
GM notes – This was a role-play heavy session with some great comedic moments and some interesting delving into the PCs’ backgrounds. There were also some fairly amazing rolls which made a bloodless take-over of their new turf a reality. Lot of fun this one – I was a little unsure how to portray the claims and what seizing a claim would actually look like – but the players suggested taking over a bar in the Crows’ influence, and it all kind of flowed from there! It’s also great to see some of my players starting to engage with the mechanics of Blades a bit more, playing around with manipulating effect levels and sacrificing position for effect and things like that – they seem to be getting more comfortable with the system and figuring out more of the tools at their disposal to nudge the narrative where they fancy.
The gang members from the Crows arriving during their information gathering proved to be a great twist that kicked everything into action. Banks’ rival being one of them (after realizing we’d kind of just not come up with much about that character yet) was another interesting touch – I’m curious to see how Grace will respond to learning Banks is part of the Crimson Snow, now that she’s starting to feel positively about the crew, but still kind of blames Banks for ruining her life – there was some great tension left hanging there, and we’re all super curious how it will all pan out! Although, at the moment, its overshadowed by the tension about just what the wayward ghost of a crime-lord could be planning… Our next session is one that’ll probably shake things up in Crow’s Foot significantly – I’m rather excited for it! 🙂