Blades in the Dark Session 3 – The Crimson Snow
So after a week sacrificed to a 7DRL project by one of our players, we were back in action this week with an interesting roleplay-heavy score. First we had a fairly unproductive downtime of patching wounds and indulging vices, but the crew picked up a new expert, a moral and pacifistic, though loyal, Physicker named Bones, a strange fellow by all accounts but a valued new addition to the crew. The Crimson Snow then leaned on Bazro Baz for some information on weakpoints belonging to the Red Sashes they could hit. More than happy for someone else to take a swipe at their foes (who recently hijacked a cargo shipment intended for them) Baz told them about a warehouse in the docks where a lot of contraband is moved to and from by the Red Sashes. The crew’s investigations lead to them realizing the warehouse was rather well guarded, and so rather than attempt to sneak in or seize it by force, they posed as a group investigating a cargo shipment gone missing.
After Hadius took the lead in talking their way inside, the no-nonsense foreman wasn’t particularly quick to believe them, but a few convincing lies and a flashback procured forged manifest later, Banks was interrogating the two men carrying the supposed “missing” shipment in the foreman’s office. They took a big gamble and offered one of the men protection in exchange for a future testimony delivered to the inspectors revealing details about the Red Sashes criminal operations. At this point they decided to take both the “guilty men” for further questioning, on suspicion of a “deeper conspiracy”. The warehouse foreman insisted on sending a couple of men to help guard the prisoners on the way to the HQ. Another judicious flashback lead to an ambush in an alleyway, that left the guards dead, but one of the prisoners caught in the crossfire. Given that the injured man was not the one who agreed to testify, they promptly turned him over to Baz for interrogation, in order to curry some more favor with the Lampblacks. Finally the crew slipped a note under the door of an Inspector, along with some judiciously lifted and incriminating documents from the warehouse office, kickstarting a new clock “The Inspectors investigate the Red Sashes”.
They didn’t actually make any money on the score (lamenting the lost opportunity to steal some drugs or other contraband from the warehouse), so things are getting a bit tight for the crew financially at the moment, but they’re pleased with the bigger picture game they’re playing. And that the Red Sashes, their would-be mortal enemies now actually know they exist! :p And hopefully next week’s downtime session will result in some finished long term projects that open up some interesting new drug related opportunities for these currently drugless Hawkers! š
GM’s thoughts – our Whisper didn’t get up to much this session, largely playing supporting character to the other more talkative members of the crew. Though he did secure another captive ghost – though didn’t actually end up using it on this mission. Its a seed for later opportunities I figure. We may even end up with a score involving selling these ghosts captured by our would be Ghostbuster later on. Might be an opportunity to work in another interesting faction, possibly the Dimmer Sisters? I’m liking the options presented by their “rescued” witness – i figure he may later join a cohort gang for them, perhaps even as a ‘leader’, providing he doesn’t get murdered by the Red Sashes in the meantime. A fun session where things went fairly smoothly, though at the expense of the risk-taking that might’ve led to more direct profit for the crew. Excited to answer some of the questions posed by long term information gathering projects the crew is running next week. I’m also appreciating the way entanglements often create financial costs for the crew – which means nudging them toward actually making some money at some point š A goal my players would otherwise find easy to ignore for quite a while!