Author: Ben Morgan

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 29 (August 10 2016)

The Hot Sot Blot & Jot (or, The Lampblack Damp Whack):

Constance lays out the plan to take down Baszo. Prichard will orchestrate a celebration for Aleira’s safe return, and the Dolls will be invited. Once Baszo gets good and sloshed, Prichard and Constance will agree to walk him home, and all they have to do is get him in a secluded spot, and that’s that. Prichard is adamant that Aleria never know the truth about what happens to her father.

The crew gets a 6 on the Engagement roll, so everything starts off exactly as planned. The crew gets to the Bucket to find that Prichard is already there, making preparations. He’s even hired a band. Before long, everyone filters in. It becomes apparent to the crew that, apart from Prichard and Baszo himself, the Lampblacks are down to the 5 men that Prichard brought with him to assault the Billhooks (mechanically, they are down to Tier 1, if not Tier 0). The guests of honor arrive. Baszo gets up on a table to make a speech about loyalty and friendship, and assures his men that they will soon once again be on top. “It’s all part of His Design,” he says. Constance manages to suppress a reaction.

The party goes on for a couple of hours, and Baszo gets very drunk. Once he’s about to fall off his bar stool, Prichard gives Constance the signal, and they make a show of offering to walk him home. Baszo protests, insisting he’s not done drinking, and Gears gives Baszo his flask, “for the road.” Gears stays behind to keep an eye on the rest of the Lampblacks and Aleira, who is sitting in the corner with a mug of wine, which she apparently doesn’t like very much. She’s still a bit shell-shocked after the events of the past few days.

Constance and Prichard have their hands full keeping Baszo on task, they frequently have to stop and bodily steer him in the right direction. Along the way Baszo begins singing an old sea shanty, loudly and off-key, and Constance joins in. Kamali scouts out about a block ahead to ensure the route is clear, Boots brings up the rear, trailing along about a block behind.

Kamali encounters a quartet of rich debutantes, two men and two women, doing some celebrating of their own, and taking up space along the street where Constance is leading Baszo. She makes a show of stealing one woman’s purse and taking off, to get them to chase her. They do so, and once she gets about a block away she drops the purse. This is enough to satisfy three of them, but the leader continues to pursue her, as he’s got a case of beer balls and is intent on detaining her for the Bluecoats. Kamali rounds the corner and breaks line of sight, climbing up a drainpipe, and when the guy comes around after her, he very nearly runs right past her. When he sees that she’s disappeared, he starts rattling doorknobs to try and see where she went. Kamali slips back down to street-level to try and come up behind him, but makes more noise than she expected. He wheels around, intent on grabbing and restraining her.

Boots comes up on the two of them, and calls out “Is everything alright?” When the man brushes him off, Boots sics Valter on him. The dog pins him to the ground and threatens to tear him to shreds, and Kamali gets away. Once Boots tells Valter to stand down, the man gets up and berates Boots for letting the thief get away. Boots berates him right back for not being clear about what was going on. The man strides off in a huff, muttering about bringing up the matter with his councilman.

Meanwhile, Constance and Prichard maneuver Baszo into place in the darkened underpass of the large bridge that connects Crow’s Foot to Silkshore. He realizes where he is, and makes an offhand comment about using the place to dispose of a rival once upon a time. Constance tells him that his time is at an end. He initially believes that Prichard will be on his side in a conflict, but it soon dawns on him that he has been betrayed. He sobers up a little, and (as he assumes that Constance sold him out to the Sashes) there’s some pontificating about what Mylera did to his wife, her own sister. Constance tells him that he makes a good husband, but a poor chief. Baszo goes for his gun, but Constance is quicker on the draw. She had asked Gears to rig up a makeshift suppressor out of a soup can and some cloth. This allows Constance to fire a shot without alerting the guards on the bridge above. The shot is perfect, catching Baszo right in the center of his forehead. He keels backward and topples into the canal behind him. Prichard acknowledges that while he is sorry to see his friend go and feels guilty for his part in the betrayal, there’s really no other way it could have gone. He takes off on his own. Kamali and Boots catch up with Constance just as the crematorium’s bell tolls.

They head back to the Bucket, where one of Prichard’s men takes Aleira home. Constance informs the remaining Lampblacks that Baszo is gone. Further elaboration on her part is unnecessary.

When Constance visits Lyssa to inform her that Baszo is dead, she finds that the Crows have been recruiting (there at least a dozen new faces she doesn’t recognize), in preparation for some kind of push outward. Everyone’s moving on up.

The Dolls earn a crew upgrade, which they spend on a Cohort. The remnants of the Lampblacks are now a gang of thugs, under the command of Prichard (who in turn answers to Constance). In recognition of their heritage, the design of their porcelain masks will incorporate soot marks on the cheeks.

The next day Gears receives a note from Bellino informing him that the Lost made their money selling surplus Imperial Army gear after the Skovlan Uprising. The crew is having lunch at the Bucket when there’s a resounding crash from down the street. They emerge to see a giant cloud of dust down the block, and once it clears, there’s a crane with a wrecking ball. The construction projects in the Drop have begun in earnest.

That evening, Keel and Drav, two of the Bluecoats that were present for Constance’s impromptu fight club in the street in front of the Temple (way back in Session 1), show up at the Bucket to talk to Constance. They are not in uniform, and it turns out that they were in fact drummed out of the service, following the investigation into the death of Sgt. Galloway. Their associate Avan turned on them and got them thrown out, while he got a promotion and a fat raise. They ask to join up with Constance.

Notes:

The Lampblacks are no more, and the Sashes are soon to follow. I decided I needed to start bringing back in all the various plot threads I’d cast out there over the past few months. This was definitely a turning point for all involved.

#dontmesswiththedolls

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 28 (August 03 2016)

Aftermath of the Churl’s Girl Burl:

Coin: 2. Rep: 3. Heat: 4 for high exposure, +2 for killing, +1 for hostile turf, and 1 existing, for 8 total. Eeek.

Entanglement: Arrest! Gloves is getting measured for a new suit when a contingent of Bluecoats comes into the shop and asks politely for him to come with them. They take him down to the station in Charterhall, where they make him wait for several hours in an empty interrogation room before an Inspector comes in to question him regarding the altercation at the slaughterhouse, as a witness has put him at the scene. They’re operating under the theory that the building was attacked using a wrecking ball on a huge crane, but no one’s actually seen it (for whatever reason, none of the witnesses who have come forward are able to properly describe the giant monstrosity made of rock and cobblestone). The Bluecoats make no secret of the fact that no one’s too broken up about the deaths of the Billhooks. However, they are concerned about the property damage in the surrounding area (not to mention the big hold in the street), and that’s what they’re following up on. Gloves confesses to being involved, which makes the Inspector happy, as it allows him to close the case quickly and quietly. The next day the hearing is over and done with, and Gloves is sent off to Ironhook for three weeks (he actually managed to get the Inspector to lobby for reducing it down from a month, because that’s what Gloves does).

After what they did to the Billhooks, the Dolls are at definitely at War, so they only get one free Downtime action each. Shade heads to Setarra’s brothel, overindulges, and is Lost for the time being. Kamali trains Prowess. Constance and Boots work on completing the Workshop project. They are just about done when Gears comes home with his latest pet project. In a box he has a large rodent, which he has modified with various mechanical bits. When connected up to a power source, it begins moving. Its movements remind Kamali of a tortoise that’s been flipped on its back and is struggling to right itself. This was the first thing that popped into my head:

http://img15.deviantart.net/f2c1/i/2012/112/0/5/changes_for_a_hare_and_dormouse_by_wolena-d4wzz7h.png

Meanwhile, in Ironhook: Gloves does not have a good time of it in prison. He fails the Tier roll, so when he’s released he’s walking out of there with a the first Trauma for our group (Paranoid). He is menaced by a Tycherosi thug named Hook, who keeps taking his food every day. Gloves hasn’t eaten in four days when he gets rescued by Tavrul, who commands an impressive amount of respect and fear within the prison. When speaking later, Gloves informs Tavrul of recent events, including the deaths of his sister and son (he minimizes the extent of the Dolls’ involvement). Tavrul says he tried to dissuade Brynn from messing with Crow’s Foot business, and considers the results all part of doing business. Gloves got a crit on his Sway roll, so Tavrul agrees not to pursue retaliation against anyone in Crow’s Foot.

Constance brings Gears up to speed on everything that’s been happening, and calls a meeting to discuss what to do next. Constance’s plan is to bring down Baszo as soon as possible. They bring in Merrill Brime and Livio. Merrill states that from what Livio has told him of the recent goings on (including Sevoy’s murder), he surmises that he is likely not in danger from the Sashes anymore. He is grateful for what the Dolls have done for him, but is eager to get back out into the city. Livio assures Constance that he’s in no danger from the remnants of the Billhooks, as he is capable of being quite inconspicuous when he wants to be. They are both blindfolded again and led out.

Notes:

The prison thing nearly threw me for a loop. The moment it came up on the Entanglement roll, the players remembered that Tavrul was in there, and suddenly there was a plan for the Dolls to send their most socially adept member inside to negotiate a cease fire from behind bars. And all it cost was a Trauma and a few weeks of discomfort.

The Billhooks were not eradicated, but their numbers are greatly reduced, and their leadership is gone. Tavrul will have a difficult time rebuilding, if he ever gets out.

#dontmesswiththedolls

http://img15.deviantart.net/f2c1/i/2012/112/0/5/changes_for_a_hare_and_dormouse_by_wolena-d4wzz7h.png

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 27 (July 29 2016)

Constance goes to meet with with Lyssa, only to find Tavrul’s son Derret already there, ostensibly to lodge a complaint against the dolls for accusing them of the kidnapping, threatening Bryan, and killing one of their guards. Lyssa flat out asks if the Billhooks took Aleira, and Derret lies, saying they had nothing to do with the kidnapping. Lyssa immediately slashes his throat and throws him out the window. Constance informs Lyssa of the Dolls’ intention to assault the Billhooks in order to get Aleira back. The subject of territory comes up, and Lyssa mentions that the Billhooks are beholden to the Circle of Flame. She doesn’t forbid Constance from attempting to take the turf, but she advises against it.

Shade speaks to Kelyr and gets confirmation that the Billhooks took Aleira, and he knows where she was taken. He gives Shade the address of an apartment block not far away from the slaughterhouse. Shade tells Kelyr that he’s working on a solution to his problem.

The Churl’s Girl Burl:

The Dolls know that the Billhooks have taken Baszo’s daughter, and they know where she was last seen. Now they have a plan to get her back. It’s not subtle. The bad news is that the Billhooks know they’re coming, and have had time to prepare.

The Engagement roll is a 3. Kamali and Boots scope out the safe house, and it’s obvious that the girl is not there. However, there are about a dozen Billhooks laying in wait. Kamali throws a firebomb (known locally as a Skovlan Porridge, because no one in Doskvol would have heard of a Molotov Cocktail) through an open window. This has the desired effect, as Billhooks begin pouring out of the building to escape the fire and smoke. Boots covers the front door (lining up all his guns on the parapet of the building across the street for easy access). Kamali intercepts anyone attempting to leave via the back door. With advantages in both position and surprise, they are able to easily pick off the Billhooks and prevent any of them from making it back to their HQ to raise the alarm.

Meanwhile, Constance and Gloves are heading up to the front door of the slaughterhouse. The guards on the door see just the two of them and laugh, but they go pale when they see what Shade has summoned with one of his Rituals: an Earth Demon. He has a specially prepared vial containing his blood and a small quartz crystal, which he smashes on the ground. Instantly, the street erupts and disgorges a hulking 10 foot tall monstrosity made up of cobblestones, rocks, dirt, and the odd geode, and it wants to destroy. Shade very nearly goes into Trauma just summoning it: Magnitude 4, and Shade spends extra Stress up the Duration to an hour because he doesn’t know how long he’ll need it. It reminds me of this:

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jz_Q9ch2B4Y/VjI3rHvV_RI/AAAAAAAARNM/GOzzjVxz6zo/w220-h201/bc2.gif

Shade sets it loose on the front doors of the slaughterhouse, and it makes short work of both the guards and the doorway. Constance and Gloves slip in, and the main force of about 20 thugs armed with meat hooks and cleavers is waiting for them. That’s when Constance gets to work. She brings out that damned boat anchor of hers, and starts swinging. Between Constance, Prichard & his Lampblacks, and the rock monster, the advance guard doesn’t stand a chance.

While this is going on, Kamali and Boots arrive on the scene, and Shade manages to keep the beast from smashing them when they enter. Boots heads up the stairs to peek around the doorway, and gets a crossbow bolt whizzing past his hear for his trouble. Kamali climbs up the outside wall to try getting in a 2nd floor window, and gets the same, but this one actually hits. Armor keeps her from getting injured, but it delays her actually getting inside the building.

Boots makes a Desperate roll to charge the crossbowman, and hits, taking him down. He finds the door to Brynn’s office ajar, and there’s a warning shot from a pistol. Boots makes another Desperate roll to shoot his opponent blindly, and once again makes it. He enters the room just as Kamali is getting inside through the window.

Constance and Prichard arrive, and everyone finds that Brynn has the girl tied to a chair, and her bodyguard dead from Boots’ blind shot. They inform her of Derret’s fate. Seeing that she has lost, she concedes. When Constance asks how she would like to die, Brynn draws herself up and goes out with dignity, on her feet. Boots puts a bullet in the back of her head. Constance unties the girl and Prichard takes her home. Shade allows the rock monster to destroy the building before discorporating.

Notes:

This session really exemplified the whole “looking at NPCs through crosshairs” mentality. I needed to illustrate Lyssa’s impulsiveness and fiery temper, and the crew also learned not to ever try and lie to her. Gloves isn’t the only one with that ability.

One of the things I love about this game is that I can run it at the drop of a hat, with little to no prep. We usually run about once a week, but there have been a couple of times when we’ve been able to double up.

Another thing I love about this game: Contrary to popular opinion, I don’t hate combat. I hate combat that gets bogged down in tediousness and minutiae. This session was a gigantic combat. In any other game this would have been an 8 hour slog, but we accomplished everything related above in a little over two hours. I love that this system lets you craft these grandiose scenes of conflict and violence, and lets the PCs be the badasses everyone wants them to be, but it doesn’t concern itself with who’s standing next to who, how long it takes to perform an action, or even what weapons a character is carrying. It lets the fiction take care of all those concerns.

However, it was noted afterward that the fight should have been a lot harder than it was. I have resolved to not make things too easy in the future, and to not be afraid to hammer them with incoming Harm, as they can always roll to Resist (unless they’re Stressed out).

#dontmesswiththedolls

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-jz_Q9ch2B4Y/VjI3rHvV_RI/AAAAAAAARNM/GOzzjVxz6zo/w220-h201/bc2.gif

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 26 (July 27 2016)

Gears is Lost, and Shade is unavailable.

Gather Info for The Churl’s Girl Burl:

Boots investigates the scene of Brock’s murder. He finds evidence of a fight, an damage to surroundings by an unusual piercing implement. He talks to Steiner, an assassin, who points him in the direction of the Billhooks.

Kamali spends some time spying on the Sashes. At the Moon’s Daughter, she overhears a report to Mylera that all members of the Sashes were accounted for at the time of the kidnapping, and no one is admitting to having anything to do with it. The next day, at another of the venues controlled by the Sashes, she overhears another report indicating the Billhooks seem to be the ones responsible.

Armed with this information, Constance goes to confront the Billhooks directly. Their HQ is in a slaughterhouse near Bellweather Crematorium in Charhollow. There’s a little bit of static with one of the gate guards before his buddy tells him who Constance is. She meets with Brynn, acting commander of the gang, and sister to Tavrul, the actual leader (who is currently serving time in Ironhook). Brynn smugly denies having anything to do with the kidnapping, and maintains that it was the Sashes that killed Brock. Constance makes a promise to Brynn before leaving (“I’ll see you again”), and on the way out, kills the uppity guard on the front door.

Gloves talks to several members of Merrill Brime’s network. They all point him toward Lillie Thomas, who runs a small gang of kids in Charhollow. He goes to meet with Lillie, who is 14, and looks like she has never had a bath in her life. One of her friends, a Tycherosi boy of about 8 named Livio, saw two of the Billhooks taking a girl back across the bridge from the Docks (he had gone over there to try and scam some lobster, to which he’s partial). He doesn’t know their names, but the tall thin one has an eyepatch, and the short fat one had a hook for a hand. Lillie fills Gloves in on the current situation with the Billhooks. They’re in the midst of a power struggle, as Tavrul’s sister Brynn and his son Derret are both looking to take over the gang when Tavrul’s gone. Gloves takes Livio back to the hideout (blindfolded), where he meets with Constance and the rest of the crew.

It’s clear to Constance that the Billhooks are taking advantage of the war between the Lampblacks and the Red Sashes to try and carve off a piece of Crow’s Foot for themselves. She takes Boots with her to go talk to Lyssa, and walks in to find Derret already there.

Notes:

Another short session. Shade’s (and Gears’) player was busy with work this time. It took all my willpower not to play Lille Thomas like Tiny Tina from Borderlands.

The question came up regarding exactly what animals the Billhooks butchered in their slaughterhouse. I decided that in addition to eels, it’s common to keep pigs, as they don’t take up anywhere near the amount of space that raising cattle or sheep would require. And like goats, they can eat just about anything.

Thinking back on the Dolls’ interactions with the Lost in Session 22, there was some question as to why, after the Dolls tried to take control of their informants, the Lost would be at all favorably disposed to them. I’ve since realized (and I’ve been playing it up) that’s kind of looking at it backwards. What happened is that the Dolls were able to negotiate an alliance of sorts, and as a result of that they’ve gained some measure of control over the informants as a shared resource (there’s very little overlap in the sort of information each group is gathering from them, so there’s no competition for resources). Now perhaps I made it a little too easy to forge that alliance, but that’s easily remedied on the back end with complications arising from such an arrangement. The Lost have a pretty solid code of honor, and some of the Dolls’ activities run the risk of bringing them into conflict over it.

#dontmesswiththedolls

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 25 (July 20 2016)

Downtime Actions for The Rich Kid Rid & Bid:

* Constance: Reduces Stress twice (for a total of 4), and reduces Heat (3, for 1 Coin).

* Kamali: Reduces Stress (by 3), and trains Prowess and Personal (for 1 Coin).

* Boots: Trains Prowess.

* Gloves: Trains Prowess and Personal.

* Gears: Reduces Stress (overindulging, and is Lost for a while), and makes some progress on the workshop project (3 more ticks, 2 left).

* Shade: Works on a project to learn a ritual that will allow a ghost to manifest (3 ticks, 5 left), trains Personal (and takes Warded as an advance, 1 Coin).

When Constance follows Yanth Agog’s instructions (fill a tin cup with water, bring it to the north end of Charterhall, and place it on a fence post outside the clerk’s office on Sabre St), she witnesses the corpse haulers taking away the body of Sevoy (the Ink Rake that was spotted at the Bell & Birch, which was subsequently reported to the Red Sashes).

Kamali hangs around waiting for Boots, and leads him out into the city, bringing him to Darmot’s flat. Introductions are made, as is tea, and we get to learn a little more about Kamali’s background (Darmot was the one that saved her from being killed by her brother, and took her in for a while when she had nowhere else to go). When Boots explains that he accidentally shot Kamali, Darmot stresses the importance of the Bluecoat tradition that Boots had previously related to her. She relents and gives Boots the bullet.

Constance brings the group together (minus Gears), doles out the cash and instructs them to stash it. She also decides that the group needs to find Aleira, and this will win the loyalty of the Lampblacks rank & file. Once they are on the Dolls’ side, Constance will move against Baszo. Shade already has eyes looking into this. Gloves says that Mylera is also looking into it, but Constance doesn’t want to rely on that.

Everyone knows that the Lampblacks are enemies with the Cabbies, the Red Sashes are enemies with the Gondoliers, and both are enemies of the Bluecoats. Beyond that, it’s anyone’s guess.

* Boots will investigate Brock’s murder.

* Kamali will spy on the Sashes.

* Shade will use his ghost informants to investigate the kidnapping.

* Gloves will talk to Brime’s network.

* Constance will talk to Lyssa.

Notes:

This was a short session, so not a lot here, but we did get a couple of nifty character moments.

Gathering Information: I believe I mentioned this before in a comment, but it bears expanding on, so here’s my take on Gather Info rolls. I’ve divided Gather Info rolls into two types: Downtime, and Everywhere Else. In the rules as written, there are two phases: The Job, and Downtime. I know the rules are set up in such a way that a job can be run without any planning. However, I personally like to have a little context for what’s going on in the job (it goes a long way to help me frame the opening scene based on the Engagement roll). So what I’ve been doing is inserting what I guess could be called an additional phase before the job, where each character gets one action (usually Gather Info, but it doesn’t have to be). Mechanically speaking, these act as 0 Stress flashbacks that happen to be shown before the job rather than during. They are subject to the usual Position rules (and the Consequences that go with them). They do not come out of a player’s Downtime actions, and you can’t spend Coin to get more than one (however, you’re always free to request a flashback during the job to gather more info), but I do allow PCs to use their Contacts (see below).

Conversely, Gather Info rolls made during Downtime are considered “safe”; in other words, not subject to the usual Position & Consequence rules, but instead use the results of the roll to determine how many questions the player gets to ask (1/2/3/5), or simply the quality of the information they receive (Poor/Standard/Good/Excellent).

Using Contacts: I also frequently encourage players use a Contact to get a bonus die, even outside of Downtime actions, as long as it makes sense in the fiction (and that’s not insignificant), for example, waaaay back in Session 1 Constance brought Marlane along with her to help deal with the Red Sashes, and they ended up starting an impromptu Fight Club in the street outside the Sashes’ HQ to create a diversion.

As for the mechanical difference between Friends (up arrow), Rivals/Enemies (down arrow), and Acquaintances (everyone else), the way I run it is that a player can always use any of the people on the list to get +1D, but only someone listed as a Friend will do it for free. The rest will almost certainly ask for something in return. I’ll even let them use a Rival/Enemy, but the price will be much higher.

Thus far, the question of using Coin to bump up the results of a roll hasn’t really come up a whole lot, but I’d limit that to Downtime actions as well, unless it really made sense (like you were trying to bribe a guard or something).

#dontmesswiththedolls

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 24 (July 13 2016)

The Job – The Rich Kid Rid & Bid:

The group splits up for two simultaneous linked jobs. One team will handle the kidnapping of Ellsworth Dunne’s children, while the other will take advantage of the chaos and rob the house itself.

Part 1 – Team Kidnap:

* Constance

* Gloves

* Shade

Based on the info Gloves got from the noteboard in the house, the children are always taken by their nanny to piano lessons in the afternoon on certain days of the week. This is taking place in Brightstone, which I decide automatically counts as hostile territory for purposes of calculating Heat due to the frequent Bluecoat patrols (btw, John, thanks VERY much for the neighborhood preview, I’m looking forward to seeing the rest of them).

The group crits on their Engagement roll. Constance and Shade lurk in an alley adjacent to their quarry’s normal route, while Gloves approaches the nanny and the kids in a frantic state, with a story about a lost dog. With a dramatic flourish of his handkerchief, he blows trance powder in all their faces, and it’s enough to make them woozy and distracted. Constance and Shade quickly scoop up the kids and disappear back into the alley. Gloves runs off, calling for his imaginary dog.

Constance and Shade quickly place the nigh-unconscious kids into large burlap sacks, and nonchalantly make their way north to the Docks. Shade engages in some working-class chatter (which he has picked up from the refugees), and Constance makes a passing comment about Skovlan Shrieking Potatoes (“They just keep screaming until you boil them”), but fortunately, the kids do not make a sound, and a contingent of Bluecoats guarding the foot of the large bridge to Whitecrown don’t even bat an eye when the two of them pass by carrying their sacks of “potatoes”.

They make it to the Docks, and stash the kids in the office of a disused warehouse (owned by a small shipping company currently in receivership). Constance does her best to make the kids comfortable, as she has no intention of hurting or mistreating them. For their part, the kids are more than a bit naïve, and blissfully unaware of the potential danger they’re in. They’re both a bit excited by the prospect of having an adventure, and they’ve decided that Constance and Shade are pirates, based on the hoods they wear to conceal their faces, and the fact that there’s nautical trappings all over the office. They both agree that this is a lot more fun and exciting than boring old piano lessons.

Part 2 – Team Burlgary:

* Kamali

* Gears

* Boots

In a flashback, a ransom note was carefully crafted by Boots and Kamali. They include a particular detail in the ransom note that is intended to appear as an amateurish mistake that implicates someone in the household staff, so the Bluecoats will round them up for questioning.

The successful kidnapping nets them an extra die on the Engagement roll, and this time they get a 5. The note is delivered to the house, and Boots watches from a nearby rooftop. He sees the Bluecoats arrive, march the staff off for questioning, and then escort Dunne and his wife to a safe location. However, a trio of Bluecoats remain behind to guard the house, making regular patrols around the perimeter.

Kamali goes in via the chimney, and unlocks the side door for Gears. He heads inside and goes straight to the basement. After some searching, aided by the copy he made of the plans for the house, he finds a hidden door behind a bookshelf. The door is locked, and there is an alarm wired up. He manages to disarm the alarm and open the lock, and finds Dunne’s secret office. In a strongbox on the desk is 1 Coin, but Gears’ interest is taken by the large filing cabinet in the corner. All five drawers are stuffed full of files on dozens of notable citizens around the city, including some of the other City Councilors; Dunne’s blackmail material.

Meanwhile, Kamali makes her way upstairs to the master bedroom, and opens the wall safe (after the Turner 302, it’s almost disappointing). Inside, she finds 4 Coin in cash and jewelry. Going through the rest of the house, she manages to pick up another 2 Coin in random valuables. She heads back downstairs to find Gears emptying the contents of the filing cabinet into his cart.

Boots sees them exit the side entrance just as one of the Bluecoats is rounding the corner to patrol the side and back of the house. Boots fires a shot into the air, both as a distraction and as a signal to the others that it’s time to get the hell out of there. In both cases, it has its intended effect. The Bluecoats all hear the shot and take off running down the street, and Kamali and Gears hightail it in the other direction.

The ransom note includes demands for a payout and instructions for the drop, but when Dunne and the authorities get to the location specified, all they find is another note informing them that the children can be picked up at a local church. It will likely take the Bluecoats some time to search all the various churches in the area. When the children are finally found, the priest will only be able to tell them about the mysterious individual who simply dropped them off, saying they found them on the street. The children themselves will go on and on about how they went on a grand adventure with pirates who wore hoods to hide their faces.

Aftermath:

Payoff: After visiting Basran to fence the non-cash items, the crew gets a total of 9 Coin (4 from the safe, 2 from the rest of the house, 1 from the secret room, and 2 from the Luxury Fence claim), one of which has to be paid to the Crows, leaving them with 8.

Rep: The crew again technically went up against the City Council again, so they earn 5 Rep (which gets applied when they visit Lyssa to pay tribute). Don’t expect it to be anywhere near this easy ever again. This brings them a Tier advance, which they spend on raising their Hold back up to Strong, rather than jump to Tier 2.

Heat: 1 for Low Exposure, +1 for a high-profile target, +1 for hostile turf, add that to the 1 they already had brings the total to 4.

Entanglement: Prichard shows up at the Bucket, a look of consternation on his face. He asks to speak with Constance regarding the kidnapping. There’s a tense moment, when Constance considers risking the bartender’s wrath by killing Prichard right there in the tavern, but instead leads him outside to have a stern talk. After a brief confused exchange, it’s clear that Prichard is talking about a completely different kidnapping. After the fire at the coal warehouse, Brock was found dead, a Red Sash’s dagger in his back, and Baszo’s daughter Aleira nowhere to be seen. It comes out that Mylera’s sister Celia was Baszo’s wife, and Baszo blames her for Celia’s death. For her part, Mylera always despised Baszo for how he treated Celia. Aleira’s kidnapping has sent Baszo off the deep end, and he is currently on his way to challenge Mylera himself. Prichard understands that Baszo’s days are numbered, but if he gets himself killed now, there will be nothing to stop the Sashes from wiping out the rest of the Lampblacks, which does not suit Constance’s plan.

The group accompanies Prichard down to the Temple. They arrive there ahead of Baszo, but only just, and they are spotted by the guards on the front door. Baszo is on his way from the west, it’s clear even from a distance that he is very drunk, and he’s dragging a cannon on wheels (an artifact of the Severosi Civil War about two hundred years ago). Constance and Prichard immediately move off to intercept Baszo, while the rest of the group heads up the walk to deal with the Sashes.

Gloves and Shade speak to the guards, and Aldo appears at the front door to bring them inside. He leads them upstairs to Mylera’s private office. They inform her of Aleira’s kidnapping, and not only is Gloves able to determine that Mylera had nothing to do with it, but it’s also obvious that she’s visibly concerned for the girl’s safety. She states that she would never condone anything that would hurt her niece (it turns out that she was not aware that the girl had stayed behind at the warehouse when the Sashes attacked), and resolves to investigate the matter herself. If one of the Sashes did it, it was without her permission, and discipline will be meted out. If it was someone else, they will almost certainly pay dearly for exploiting the situation by implicating the Sashes. On the way out, Shade summons Kelyr, who corroborates Prichard’s story regarding the history between Baszo and Mylera. Kelyr warns Shade that his name is getting around in ghost circles, and there’s been some grumbling about the way he’s been throwing his weight around.

Meanwhile, Constance and Prichard manage to talk Baszo down, pointing out that he is hopelessly outnumbered and will almost certainly die if he attacks the Sashes now, and they promise to help find Aleira and bring her back safe. His resolve gone, he slumps visibly and sits down right in the middle of the street. Constance feels slightly odd comforting a man she fully intends to kill within a few days. Gears and Boots take the opportunity to make off with the cannon.

Downtime actions will come next session.

Notes:

I decided to go with a home-brewed entanglement instead of rolling on the table. Everyone seemed to be fine with this.

Over the last 20+ sessions, I had thrown a lot of plot threads out there, so I figured it was high time to start bringing some of them back in. Some of this was stuff I decided the nature of as far back as Session 1 (such as the cause of the conflict between the Sashes and the Lampblacks).

We have made a concerted effort to give all the sheets a once-over at the end of every session to make sure no one gets shorted on XP. I have resolved to be generous with it, as advancements have been fairly slow.

#dontmesswiththedolls

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 23 (July 06 2016)

After determining that Fitz did not in fact know that the doll factory is currently in use, the group gives him the bad news. Fitz is disappointed that he will not be able to start up a new business venture, but Constance promises to compensate him for the loss of the building. They discover that Fitz went to great lengths to track down the previous owner, Edmund McDonough.

Constance meets with Karstas, and makes it clear that she is not amused by this recent development, and asks if it’s a declaration of war. Karstas asks Constance if she has ever bothered to declare war on an anthill. He points out that by steering Fitz toward buying the building, he has kept other more inquisitive buyers away from the property, and thus the Dolls have avoided dealing with a potentially unpleasant situation later on. Constance gives him a warning, for what that’s worth.

Gears speaks to his former boss, Edmund McDonough, who is drinking himself into an early grave. McDonough points him to a former foreman, Ellsworth Dunne, who ran the business into the ground, and has since wormed his way onto the City Council (and coincidentally is also responsible for having Gears put away). He is married and has two children. Gears brings this information to the group, and is determined to bring him down.

Constance gets the idea to kidnap the man’s children and hold them for ransom, but the true purpose of the kidnapping is to get everyone out of the house so it can be robbed.

Gather Info for The Rich Kid Rid & Bid:

Boots remembers kidnapping investigations he worked on back in his Bluecoat days, and knows that the most vulnerable point in a kidnapping plan is the ransom handoff. Also, if one has no intention of returning the victim, it’s better to not demand a ransom in the first place, as the Bluecoats devote special attention to those who neglect to free their kidnap victims after the ransom is paid.

Constance gets a handle on areas on the waterfront that are not heavily patrolled, etc. This gives them information on feasible escape routes and secure places to stash the children.

Gloves and Kamali get jobs with a local Iruvian laundry service, and arrange to be in the right place at the right time for a delivery. Gloves gets a hold of the childrens’ tutoring schedules from the help, while Kamali scopes out the house itself after hiding in one of the laundry baskets. She finds a wall safe in the master bedroom.

Gears goes to the city planner’s office and find the plans for Dunne’s home. He corroborates Gloves’ and Kamali’s findings by identifying the servants’ entrance as the most vulnerable spot. He also notices a suspicious empty spot in the basement.

Shade gets Nyryx to help shake down the ghost of a dead Bluecoat named Virgil. There’s a brief struggle, but Shade gets the upper hand. He finds out that Dunne was the one behind the frame-up of Lord Brogan. Shade gets the idea to set up a network of spectral informants. Nyryx is somewhat horrified upon seeing what Shade is capable of.

Notes:

Everything involving Ellsworth Dunne was completely improvised. It all sprang from a single line from Gears’ player when he went to see McDonough: “Tell me where the son of a bitch is.”

#dontmesswiththedolls

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 22 (June 29 2016)

Constance takes Boots and Gears to meet The Lost at the Cat & Cradle in Charterhall. They all opt for a Light load, which I rule nets them an extra die on the Engagement roll, since it’s a Social plan.

They formally meet Colonel Corbett Adams, Sgt Rodney Lynch, and Sgt Annabelle Day. They inform the group that they have it in for Thorn (Sgt Lynch in particular), and are currently looking for information on his whereabouts. Constance tells them that they no longer have any dealings with him. Adams has concerns that what The Dolls are involved in will run at cross purposes with the Lost’s agenda. Sgt Day is open to the idea of sharing the informants. In the end, they negotiate an understanding. The Dolls and the Lost will share the informants, provided that the Dolls don’t engage in anything that runs at cross-purposes for the Lost (should be fine, as they’re not raping anyone or stealing from the poor), and if the Lost are hunting anyone that crosses into Crow’s Foot, they will defer to the Dolls to deal with it.

Shade spends time infiltrating a group of Skovlan refugees in Coalridge, introducing himself as Geirfin Holm. Nyryx helps by possessing various members of the group and talking him up to the rest of them. Frans Antonsen is the de facto leader of the group. Henry Ruen is Frans’ best friend; both work at the nearby eel farms. Haldor Henrickson is quiet and withdrawn, and Marlina Melby is his girlfriend. Frans says he has been in contact with Maldor Williamsen, who has been in hiding, but will be returning soon. The current target of their ire are the Grinders (who I changed from Skovlan ex-dockworkers to a group of Akorosi nationalists), and things have been heating up lately.

Shade comes back to report on what he’s learned. Constance decides to play the long game with the Refugees and the Grinders.

Downtime Actions:

* Gears indulges his Vice, continuing his experiments, and finishes upgrading Constance’s anchor.

* Shade trains Prowess (raising Skirmish), and gets rid of his Frostbitten injury from a couple of sessions ago.

* Boots trains Prowess and Personal.

* Gloves also trains Prowess and Personal.

* Constance trains Prowess and starts a long term project to start building the workshop.

* Kamali trains Personal.

Epilogue:

Fitz shows up at the Bucket in high spirits. He invites the Dolls to celebrate with him, as he has just closed the deal to purchase a piece of property in the Drop. On Karstas’ recommendation, he has purchased an abandoned factory that had belonged to the Cinder Street Doll Company.

Notes:

The meeting with the Lost could have been more tense. I let things develop as they did entirely through conversation. There was some intense negotiation, but no one rolled for anything. Afterwards, the players felt that it was too easy. So I’m working on ways to follow up on this new working relationship, and making it more interesting.

#dontmesswiththedolls

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 21 (June 22 2016)

Shade is still off getting in good with the Skovlan refugees.

The crew has the master list of Merrill Brime’s informants. They start going down the list, and informing everyone that Brime is now in the Dolls’ employ.

Some background on Merrill Brime: Once upon a time, he was a quartermaster in the Imperial Army, and now has ties to The Lost, a group of ex-soldiers turned vigilantes.

Constance talks to Richard Graham, a retired Imperial Army soldier who lost a leg in the last conflict, and makes a show of begging in the square in Nightmarket. She notices a man with a sharp face and a military look in his posture watching them. Graham refers to him as Sergeant Lynch. Constance tips her hat as she walks off, and Lynch returns the gesture.

Gears talks to Bellino Claro, an aging Severosi who hangs out in a park in Coalridge with some fellow retired dockworkers where they play Bocci and smoke cigars. When Gears explains the situation with Merrill Brime, Bellino says they will need to deal with The Lost one way or another, and agrees to find out how they’re funded.

Gloves talks to Tamanna Majeed, an Iruvian artist in Charterhall who makes a living drawing charcoal sketches on the street. She does an impressive sketch as they talk. She suggests talking to a Colonel Adams to work out The Doll’s issues with The Lost. Kamali watches from afar, and picks up on Tamanna’s aversion to being touched. Later she sees Tamanna meet with a man with a military look to him, wearing an Imperial Army sabre. She follows him and tracks him to Quinn’s tavern in Six Towers, whose compatriots address him as Colonel.

Boots talks to Basheer Ajad, an Iruvian food vendor in Six Towers. While they are talking, Boots is approached by Sergeant Annabelle Day, who politely but firmly insists that they have a talk. They sit down for drinks, and discuss Merrill Brime’s change in allegiance. They both decide that their respective leaders need to meet to hash this out. She tells him they will meet that evening at the Cat & Cradle in Charterhall.

Notes:

All NPCs in this session, Brime’s cadre of informants and the members of The Lost, were 100% improvised on the spot.

#dontmesswiththedolls