The Dead Setters bribe a dock boss with his own money in the Pier Pressure Caper.
Recap: At war with Lord Strangford and his Leviathan Hunters, the Dead Setters entered into a ghost contract with the demon Ahazu to retrieve Strangford’s spirit for the entity. To this end, they looked for opportunities to both strike Strangford himself as well as high-profile crippling weaknesses inside his organization. They were also researching the effects of refined leviathan blood and its black market trade in an eventual bid for immortality, inspired by dealings with the Path of Echoes and run-ins with the Reconciled.
Although the gang knew that Lord Strangford’s new flagship, the Colossus, was supposed to be launched at some point in the near future, the list of things they didn’t know was far greater. Some espionage was in order, so the Setters called up Captain Minos and his rovers (their new cohort) to help carouse the information out of the dockside bars (non-downtime Gather Info roll, great effect).
Strangford operates a warehouse and office on the docks across from Whitecrown and near an infamous tattooist’s shop in Ink Alley. While there’s definitely a connection between the leviathan blood and the tattoo parlor, the intel the crew was interested in was primarily about the warehouse and the people who oversee it. There were two main people of interest – a Sparkwright, Helen Gauge, who’s a contractor/liason between Strangford and the Sparkwrights for the prototype advances built into the Colossus, and then Chief Helker, the seaside dockers’ boss for that stretch of territory. Of the two, Teatime (whisper), Deemo (leech), and Raven (hound) chose to approach Helker with the time-honored plan of “let’s bribe him for information”.
Considering the Chief was probably bribed by a LOT of people to keep a LOT of information, they chose to ensure he was tight on funds when they met him and so Raven robbed him blind via flashback. Teatime then bribed him with his own money. Things got tense but Teatime’s social graces (and an additional coin on top of the 2 Raven took from him) navigated any troubled waters, gaining them all sorts of interesting tidbits:
1. The dry dock/shipyard where the Colossus is being finished. They’re down to “polishing the guardrails”, as Helker put it, and the launch celebration for the vessel will be in a few days.
2. The location where the celebration will be hosted – a private launch in Brightstone, away from the unwashed masses at the docks proper. More symbolic than practical, as the Colossus will have of course already launched in order to reach its own launch party.
3. The names and roles of several of Strangford’s inner circle. He employs a Whisper, Miss Sprunk. His household head of security is Devon McLaren. Both Sprunk and McLaren have made appearances at the dockside warehouse, although Strangford’s own visits are infrequent (though he gives plenty of warning). He has a trusted personal financier, Jorg Banks, and finally also retains a barrister, Ms. Phoenix Pholgers.
Only 2 Heat (leaving them at 5/9 Heat, 2 Wanted) because the guys were sly this time (and half that was simply the “wartime tax”). For those same reasons, though, they gained no Rep since nobody knows what they were up to. They’re at 5/8 Crew XP as well.
This was basically a huge Gather Information roll done up as a score because of the risk in going into the Leviathan Hunters’ territory. However, the engagement roll was a 6 and they bypassed or resisted the consequences so it all went smoothly.
The entanglement roll was Demonic Notice, TBD next time.
#heestcomplete