After a long hiatus (due to vacations and Gencon), our Age of Blades campaign resumed last night.
When we last left our daring band of Shadows, they had just kicked in the door to a basement room below the Red Sashes’ Fencing School headquarters, in which their kidnapped Slide Saiya was being interrogated.
We opened with the combat. Jailya, the group’s only real fighter, rushed into the room and over to Saiya’s side, much to the confusion of Mylera Klevan and the four Red Sash sword students standing guard. Noggs Keel, the group’s Lurk, did the same, and the group of six Lampblack Bully Boys that Hishan had talked Bazso Baz into loaning them then burst into the room, fanning out to engage two of the Red Sashes and Mylera. Mylera jumped back out of her chair with surprising speed (despite looking very pale and ill –the ongoing effects of the curse tablet that the crew had placed under her bed during their first score), and drew her ornate dueling sabre, taking up a defensive stance.
Hishan, less shocked since he knew of the plan to infiltrate the building by way of the underground canal, pulled out a pistol and threatened the two other Red Sashes, causing them to hesitate in drawing their own sabres (very good Intimidation roll with stunt points that let him target more than one person).
Moon Eye, having drained most of his occult power getting them into the HQ, brought his carbine up and covered the only other exit to the room, to ensure that no one escaped to raise the alarm and rouse the rest of the Sashes.
One of the Lampblacks lunged at a Red Sash and wrestled him to the ground, while his companion gleefully whacked the swordsman on the head with a club.
Another two Lampblacks circled their opponent, trying to get past his guard, but to no avail.
Mylera’s quick response caused the two lampblacks facing her to re-think their commitment to the cause, and while they internally debated whether it was worth attacking the renowned swordswoman, Jailya jumped up onto a table and leapt right in front of Mylera. With a deft swing of her own finely balanced mace, she smacked Mylera’s wrist, sending her sword flying across the room, and forcing her to reel back in surprise and shock. Hishan leveled his pistol at the Red Sash leader and called out in Iruvian, “Have your people stand down and no one has to get hurt!”. Taking in the situation with a quick scan of the room, Mylera gave the Iruvian ex-noble a hard look, then barked out a command to her own people (also in Iruvian) to back off.
The lampblacks continued to scuffle for a moment before realizing that the fight was already over, but soon all was relatively quiet in the room. Noggs’ voice betrayed a little tension as she said “Time to go.” Saiya picked up the small brass coffee cup she had been drinking out of, drained the last of the strong brew, set the cup down, and calmly walked over to pick up Mylera’s fine dueling sabre from where it had landed. “Thanks for your hospitality” she said to the red Sash leader with a smirk, “This will be a nice souvenir of my time here”, and the crew withdrew, keeping weapons leveled at the fuming Red Sashes. The Lampblacks, coming down from the adrenaline rush of the fight, left with jeers and some rude gestures, slapping each other on the back over their easy victory, as the whole group made their way back to the Silk Hats’ boat, and home.
(Everyone, including me, was expecting the fight to go a lot longer, and be a lot more dangerous for the crew, but a really good attack roll, excellent use of stunt points, and a lucky disarm roll on the part of Jailya ended things quickly, and very much in the crew’s favor.)
Settling back in at their hidden lair beneath the Black Raven, and marveling at their good fortune, the crew began to discuss their situation. Hishan reeled off the ever growing list of their enemies, and the much smaller list of their allies, and they all agreed it was time to even up those two lists. They decided that after what they had done to the Fog Hounds (stole a lot of valuable spirit essence and blew up the engine room of their steam boat), the Hounds would never leave them alone, and the only solution was to destroy the rival gang completely. Not being very combat focused themselves, they considered asking Bazso Baz and the Lampblacks for help, but Hishan reminded them that the Lampblacks were on decent terms with the Fog Hounds, and probably wouldn’t want to risk their guys in any case while they were actively engaged in a war with the Red Sashes.
Hishan asked Jailya if they could approach the Grinders, who she had convinced to go along on their last raid against the Hounds, but Jailya reminded everyone that the valuable loot that they had promised that the Grinders would find in the Hounds’ warehouse was fictional, and that they were probably a little unhappy with the crew at the moment. Hishan pondered for a moment, then came up with a plan. They would approach the Grinders, and explain that it had taken them a little while to fence the loot, but that they were there to hand over the Grinders’ cut of the haul, and ask for their help in wiping out the Fog Hounds once and for all.
While they made preparations, Moon Eye spent his time telling the prostitutes at the Raven the story of how the Silk Hats had embarrassed the Red Sashes, and suggested that they share the tale with their clients. He also spent time researching the other occult objects he had stolen from Lord Penderyn’s collection during the necklace heist, a clay tablet covered in spidery runes, and a set of alabaster jars with lids in the shape of animal heads. The jars turned out to be an ancient form of Spirit Bottle, designed for use in a ritual in which a powerful sorcerer would split his soul into four parts and store them in the jars, making him unkillable while the jars were safe. The tablet turned out to be a summoning ritual to call a powerful demon.
Hishan was prepared to spend 2/3 of the crew’s accumulated wealth to appease the Grinders, but Moon Eye suggested offering them half cash and the summoning tablet for the rest. Saiya quickly agreed that spending less of their stash was a good idea.
Hishan, Moon Eye, and Saiya accompanied Jailya back to the working class Skov bar that the Grinders hang out in. The place went deathly silent, and all eyes turned toward them as they entered, but thankfully Cercy, the crippled Grinder lieutenant that Jailiya had dealt with before, was on hand, and called them over to a table in the back. As the low conversations resumed in the bar, Cercy ordered tankards of the dark, oily, vaguely fishy tasting strong Skovland ale for all of them, and, speaking in Sovlander to Jailya, said “There wasn’t anything in that warehouse worth our time. You lied”. Jailiya, switching to Akorosi so her crew members could follow, said “We’re here to make that right.” Hishan quickly jumped into the conversation and said “There was some miscommunication! The loot was on the boat, but it’s taken a few days to sell it off. We’re here to give you your cut.”, dropping the sack of 500 silver coins onto the table. Moon Eye, leaning in conspiratorially and giving Cercy a crazed look, unwrapped the summoning tablet and explained what it was. Cercy visibly pulled back, thought about it for a moment, and said “Wait here.”
He hobbled over to the bar, spoke briefly with a huge young man who nodded and left the bar. Cercy came back to the table and kept up the small talk, asking how they liked the ale. Moon Eye, unable to hide his grimace, stared him in the face, choked down a second mug and said, “Its good”.
A few minutes later, a 40’s ish man dressed in docker work overalls and with an intelligent look in his eye came in and introduced himself as Hutton. He listened to their explanation about the loot, and agreed to accept the offerings and let bygones be bygones. Hishan spoke up, and explained that this was a prime opportunity to for the two gangs to join up again and wipe out the Fog Hounds for good, while they were still reeling from the last raid. Hutton thought the suggestion over, and liked the idea in principle. He demanded that if the Grinders helped the Silk Hats out, that his crew would get both of the Hounds boats, to which Hishan readily agreed (the crew did not know that the Grinders long term, but ultimately probably futile, goals were to accumulate a war chest, steal a warship, and either take revenge on the Imperials or liberate their home of Lockport, so the cash payment and chance to get more watercraft strongly appealed to Hutton).
Everyone agreed to a time for the attack, shook on the deal, and the Silk Hats went back to their lair to plan the details.
That’s where we left off, so we’ll launch into the attack next time. The crew is hoping to gain another ally in the Grinders, and wipe out an enemy with the Fog Hounds. We’ll see how that plays out…