Author: bondy034

Blades in the Dark Session 12 – The Crimson Snow Season Finale!

This was it – the time for profit and power had arrived for the gangs of Crow’s Foot. The Crimson Snow set to embark on a daring raid to seize valuable military supplies and experimental electroplasmic equipment from under the noses of the Imperial Military. Every gang based in Crow’s Foot would need to pool their resources for the score, the biggest any of them had ever seen! After the requisite politicking and planning, the operation, named Ascending Griffon, began with exploiting the high state of alert in Duskwall to lure imperial military personnel away from Gaddoc Station – the Lampblacks succeeded in faking an attack by the sea demons, now loose in the city, in Nightmarket. Then the Snow moved in: Banks had procured an imperial officers uniform prior to the score and utilized it to great effect – diverting remaining soldiers from their watch on the train to Nightmarket.

The Crows meanwhile moved into the garrison at the station to clean up any stragglers. The Snow set about surveying the train itself. Hadius took the lead in checking out the second compartment where the most valuable supplies were to be found. However, he was disturbed to hear a voice calling from the chamber – the voice of a young boy. Moments later, the crew found themselves facing an active combat hull powered by the ghost of a child. Banks was hoping to circumvent the threat by speaking to the spirit child, but the Hull’s programming proved too strong and the crew were forced to fight. Ves, exploiting the distraction offered by Banks conversation with the spirit, drove a poleaxe through its back, causing serious damage to the hull. Unfortunately, the hull struck back, sending Ves flying into the wall of the compartment. Banks, realizing his words were having less and less impact, seized another polearm and shattered the hull’s soul canister. Ves, thinking quickly, exploited their connection with the ghost field to stabilize the dissipating spirit, calling the child into a more stable form, instructing it to stay nearby till they left.

At this point the Crows finished up their struggle with the remaining guards and met the Snow in time to start transferring goods from the train to the waiting open-top carriages provided by the Red Sashes, they were particularly keen to claim ownership of a number of the barrels of refined leviathan blood being carried in on the train… However, before they were ready to leave, three figures emerged from a nearby puddle. The sea demons, seeking to exploit the now undefended state of Gaddoc Station, thanked the rogues and their leader, one Korvaeth revealed their intention to destroy the station – an act that would likely doom many of the city’s residents to starvation and isolate Duskwall, even as the city still reeled from the destruction of the Docks.

Luckily, Ves had located a military flare and fired it off, hoping to draw the military back to the station. The crew realised a head on confrontation would likely end badly and so Hadius and Banks fled toward the Nightmarket, Banks hoping to meet up with the Imperial soldiers on their way back, Hadius simply wanting some bodies between him and the demons. Ves managed to keep one of the demons occupied to buy them some time, though suffered grave injury in the process. Meanwhile, Banks (still wearing his Imperial officer’s uniform) rallied the soldiers against another of the demons. Banks fought bravely alongside the troops until injured too severely to continue, he slunk away from the battlefield. The crew managed to make their exit, hearing later that one of the demons had been destroyed by the military (though presumably the others had escaped), and the station – though damaged, was still largely intact.

In the aftermath of the heist and the new riches they now laid claim to, the Snow pondered what lay next for them – could they now absorb the remaining Red Sashes into their own gang, what were those demons hoping to accomplish in attacking the station and chiefly – would they now finally manage to make and sell some drugs?!

GM’s notes – This was a great session – tense and exciting. It saw a number of plot threads we’d been exploring all season come together and find some kind of resolution while bringing up new threads the players are keen to explore in season 2 of our Duskwall adventures! The Hull was suitably creepy and the demons suitably terrifying. We’ll be playing another RPG for awhile, but we’re definitely keen to return to Blades for a follow up season in the future! I was particularly pleased that the big tense finale came about almost entirely because of the PC’s actions throughout our games. Anyway, hope you guys have enjoyed my little write-ups – Till next time! 😀

Blades in the Dark – Session 11 – The Crimson Snow

This week was a big one for our beleaguered would be drug dealers. And for our Doskvol as well – A group of demons, summoned from their slumber, rose from the harbor and attacked the Docks, destroying most of the district. In the wake of this, the city has been placed under a high alert – Soldiers are now posted outside important buildings, spark-craft war machines rumble across the cobblestones, and special investigators are bringing citizens in for questioning regarding the demonic awakening… The demons remain at large, and reinforcements have begun arriving from elsewhere in the empire.

This disaster has shaken the city, leaving an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty among the citizens. The Crimson Snow however, opportunists to the core, utilized the demonic attack as an excuse to convene with the leaders of the other gangs in Crows Foot- namely the Lampblacks (friends of our crew), the Red Sashes (reeling from recent losses of their Dockside holdings) and the Crows, once more under the vampire Roric’s control.

A plan was hatched at this meeting, a bold criminal enterprise that promises vast wealth for all involved, should they succeed. Namely, a train heist – with valuable military equipment being brought in via electrorail, and the station being under reduced guard (many imperial troops being deployed elsewhere within the city) – the time to strike was now!

And so the plan was hatched – The Red Sashes would look after transportation of the haul, the Lampblacks would engineer a series of distractions to draw the attention of military personnel posted at the station, and the Crows would work with the Snow to secure their payload. Utilizing the Red Sash’s political contacts, they seized upon a ripe target – new experimental military hardware and fuel coming from Iruvia, under the guard of only a few dozen soldiers. Would this be the biggest score yet for the Snow, securing their position as a criminal operation of significance, or would it end with blood? Time would tell…

GM Notes – we had a lot of fun with this one – the 2IC of the Crows and the Sashes are personal rivals of two of our PC’s characters, so that was great to play out – the whole “gang summit” was a lot of fun – between a slightly unhinged Roric trying to hold it together, the PC’s openly mocking the Red Sashes, and the Lampblacks rather hoping to find an excuse for violence (it didn’t come – Roric still had enough influence to manage that for the meeting at least). Between the meeting, getting through last weeks downtime, and a bit of information gathering for the big heist – we didn’t actually get to start it this week. Its definitely feeling like the season finale of our game – so no holds barred next session – get rich or get dead! 😀 I’m also curious whether they will honor the ceasefire between the Crow’s Foot gangs during the score, or if they’ll seize the opportunity to wipe out the Sashes for good. And now for me to think up some big twists to throw at them during the score next week :p

Blades in the Dark – Session 10 – The Crimson Snow

So after missing a couple of weeks due to players being on a work trip – we dived back into the adventures of our, still largely drug-less, Hawker crew, The Crimson Snow. After another block of investigation and pondering whether now perhaps might be the time for them to try and establish a reliable source of product to sell, in the end, they settled on some cheap and quick profit by ambushing one of the carriages through the city bearing Red Sash drug shipments. Thanks to previous investigations and information discovered during a score – they were able to select an ideal location to waylay one of the Red Sashes regular shipments – a road through Coalridge that seemed only lightly trafficked. The gang managed to talk Laroze, their contact within the Bluecoats, into sneaking them a couple of disused uniforms – the plan being for Hadius and Banks to wear the uniforms and stop the carriage (under the pretense of asking for a bribe) while Vestine secreted themselves in a shadowy alley in the hopes of clambering onto the carriage once it was stopped.

A storm hit the city as the crew assumed their positions, limiting visibility – just perfect for a carriage hold up. When the carriage approached, Hadius flagged them down, backed up by Banks, as Ves began sneaking up from behind. The no-nonsense driver, seeing they were being accosted by Bluecoats, pulled a bag of coins from the carriage and inquired as to how much they wanted to let them past. The other Red Sash inside the carriage kept his attention on the Bluecoats, affording Ves a perfect opportunity to sneak onto the carriage. Unfortunately, they had a great deal of trouble with the rainslicked back of the carriage, and landed heavily on the roof after climbing up – alerting the gang member inside. Banks, spying Vestine fall on top of the carriage, marched past the driver and Hadius (who continued haggling over the bribe), opened the carriage door and beat the gang member unconscious with a blackjack. The driver immediately turned to see the source of the commotion in time for Vestine to slip down from the roof into the seat beside him – unfortunately for Ves, they actually did slip, leaving them poorly positioned to accost the driver, who drew a blade and stabbed the would be ambusher.

Seeing the driver attack his compatriot, Hadius drew a pistol and shot the driver, stealing his coinpurse and kicking him out of the carriage, before taking control of the carriage. Though not an experienced carriage driver, Hadius made up for it with an uncanny understanding of the intricacies of an Akorosian goats mind. They made it to Charterhall, having changed on route, only to be accosted by a pair of actual Bluecoats. Thinking on his feet, Hadius offered them the entire bag of coin the carriage’s former driver had carried to leave them to be on their way. As usual, his fast talking worked a treat, and left them free to enter Crow’s Foot. Rather than take the carriage back to their hidden lair – they decided to make a switch at the Lampblack’s guild house. They met with Pickett, Baz’s second, and discovered him to be quite unlike Baz – distrustful and taking an instant dislike to the crew – he took awhile to come around – the Snow in the end, offered possession of the new carriage and its battered remaining Red Sash occupant, in exchange for borrowing a carriage to shift the drugs to their lair.

The crew marveled, once back at HQ that the heist had gone rather swimmingly. And set about celebrating their new haul and the options it might give them for the future. Meanwhile, Lord Scurlock, in the basement of his manor, busied himself finishing the last step in a dark ritual, facilitated by the artifact recovered from the Lost District by the Snow. What grave consequences would their unquestioning assistance given to this sorcerer bear? Time would tell…

GM notes – Fun session this one – I’ve been keen to run a carriage heist in Doskvol from the first time I discovered Blades and it went great! Some great roleplaying, an unfortunate streak of failed rolls by Ves we painted as due to the inclement weather, and all in all, a fairly easy haul. Was a short one though, so atypically, we actually got through downtime at the end of this session, but this gave me a good opportunity to remind them of the clock they set in motion by assisting Scurlock in a prior score – their most ambitious to date, which had been quickly ticking along in the background. “Something Awakens…” was finally filled in and… I called it a night there. Looking forward to unveiling the fairly major event I had in mind for this one at the start of our next session as well as finding out how they will react (characters and players both!) 🙂

Blades in the Dark – Session 9 – The Crimson Snow

Well things kicked off this week with the gang in a tough spot – outnumbered 3 to 4 within the Crows Nest, facing off against a well armed Lyssa and her cronies. Their foes dazed by a spark bomb tossed by Ves, Hadius seized the opportunity to attempt to get the upper hand on one of Lyssa’s henchmen, but he struggled, cursing his lacking physical training regime. In the ensuing melee, though both received their own injuries, Banks and Ves managed to subdue Lyssa’s henchmen, before Banks drove a trident through Lyssa’s shoulder. The gang then dispatched the injured and unconcious henchmen, an act that they reckoned would make known to other gangs their capability for ruthlessness.

Trident still buried in her shoulder, blade to her throat, the Snow lead Lyssa out of the tower. The other members of the Crows, pounding furiously on the door after being driven out, were intimidated into fleeing by a ghostly horror summoned by Ves as the gang led Lyssa to the location Roric’s ghost had requested she be brought to. Roric met them on arrival, thanked them for their assistence, and fixed his cold gaze on Lyssa. The members of the Snow decided they’d rather not stick around to find out what Roric had in store for his traitorous second, and they took their leave.

About a week later, the crew received an unexpected visitor at their lair. Roric, having seized control of Lyssa’s body, thanked the gang for their assistance in helping him regain control of the Crows and vengeance on his murderer, gifting a decent amount of coin and pledging the support of the Crows, when the Crimson Snow are ready to move against the Red Sashes. The Snow were not entirely sure they were comfortable with becoming allies of a gang led by a vampire, nevertheless, from being poised on the brink of war with the Crows, it was still a positive step they reckoned. The gang decided to take a bit of a break, get their wounds properly attended to, and that they might perhaps secure the assistance of a skilled chemist to aid in them in the manufacture of drugs. Schrodinger was perhaps an odd choice, though assured of his loyalty, and tenacious character, they figured his own drug dependence, as unreliable and wild as it sometimes made him, were drawbacks they were prepared to deal with, in exchange for his skill.

GM Notes – Well no one died this week! Though Hadius has now taken his 3rd trauma, leaving his player uncertain of whether transferring to a spirit playbook or frantically squirreling money away for his retirement is likely to be his preferred course of action going forward. This week showed me that Blades is a system that can struggle when it comes to pitched battles, largely for the same reasons it works so well at fast paced intrigue and sneakiness. It did the job, though the lack of structure frustrated one of my players. It’s really the first “proper” fight we’ve gotten into, so its possible I just haven’t figured out how best to “do” combat in Blades. But the plot developments this week were fun – the twist of having Roric’s ghost possess Lyssa’s body and become a vampire are sure to have some interesting follow on effects in the longterm – i’m curious how long their alliance with the Crows will last, as Roric is likely to be quite a different character now that he’s undead.

This week felt a lot like the big series finale, but i’m not sure that we’ll be taking a break yet – I think my players are still fairly focused on overthrowing the Red Sashes, and seizing control of the drug market in Crow’s Foot – so that’ll probably be the actual season finale, though having allied with the Crows has made it more of an achievable goal.

Blades in the Dark – Session 8 – The Crimson Snow

This week started (after some downtime activity) with an unexpected visitor – the ghost of Roric, former leader of the Crows. Roric expressed his desire to secure the aid of the gang in his attempt to get revenge on his murderer, Lyssa, current leader of the Crows, and re-establish his control over the gang. Having already unearthed how deeply held the loyalty to Roric possessed by many of the Crows was during their tavern takeover last week, the crew had little hesitation in agreeing that this plan could only help their own position in Crow’s Foot and would mean taking a serious threat to their gang out of the picture. Roric’s plan was to pull some strings with The Hive to have the vast majority of the Crows drawn away from Crow’s Nest, their headquarters. Lyssa’s recent paranoid fear of ghosts (seemingly completely justified) meant she would remain in the fortified and warded tower, with a few of her most loyal people. The Snow would then gain access to the tower, deal with the guards and capture Lyssa alive, delivering her to a secure location where Roric planned to “deal with her” himself.

The plan seemed solid, but on observing the tower, the crew realised that gaining access would not be easy. Hadius took to shadowing a member of the Crows named Brick, a fairly low level thug, who invited for a drink with Hadius, under the influence let slip all manner of information about himself and gave Hadius good opportunity to learn to mimic his speech and mannerisms. A couple of day’s later, the Score was on, Hadius having donned a fairly convincing “Brick” disguise sauntered up to the Crow’s Nest and knocked on the door, as Banks and Ves looked on from the edge of the street. Unfortunately, the disguise proved to be moot as Brick was the one to answer the door. Thinking on his feet, Hadius managed to somehow persuade Brick that, as an early birthday surprise, Hadius had come (in costume) to bring him a gift. Brick unbolted the door, eager to lay his hands on the gift, only to be greeted with a faceful of scorpions, a particular phobia of Brick’s that Hadius had uncovered. Brick in pain and terror slunk back from the door, and Hadius stepped inside.

The four other guards at the entrance to the tower, shocked, struggled to grasp what was happening, as Hadius, speaking very quickly and convincingly informed them of a prank gone awry, and that “he was a professional”. Ves and Banks then charged into the room, attempting to fuel the deception, the guards still stunned and unsure what to do followed Banks order to assist Hadius in getting the scorpions under control. A few stings, a broken nose and a bunch of wayward scorpions later, the guards fled, and Hadius escorted a traumatized Brick outside, before shutting and bolting the door.

Now inside, they regained their composure and quickly made their way up the floors of the tower, until they arrived at a large storeroom and infirmary about halfway up. Here they made the mistake of tripping a gas trap, which left the crew dazed as Lyssa, Bell and two more gang members jumped down to dispatch the intruders. Banks attempted to intimidate them into backing down, but found himself full of shot from Bell’s blunderbuss. All three of them were wounded in the blast and a wounded and stressed Hadius whipped out a flask of fire oil (procured from Bazro Baz earlier) and attempted to start a fire in the middle of the store room. Unfortunately one of the guards realized his intention, and rushed him, leaving the flask to shatter at Hadius feet, starting a moderate fire in the room. Vestine then (remembering a spark bomb obtained in preparation for the Score) hurled the device into the centre of the room, dazing Lyssa and her guards, hopefully evening out the odds of victory/survival in the looming bloodshed.

Gm’s Notes – This was a weird one. A combination of a really bad engagement roll, subsequent sixes and some really weird ideas meant the confrontation with the guards went very strangely. But the tide quickly turned upon tripping the gas trap and being peppered with shot. I was getting worried the mission would be another easy one, but sure enough, things went downhill fast! I decided to handle the Lyssa confrontation with a pair of clocks to overcome her and her guards defenses and exploit their vulnerability to give the confrontation more weight. They managed to make a few ticks toward overcoming their defenses (via starting a fire and the spark-bomb) before we finished for the week. Although I only then realised how badly injured many of them were, not only from this session but persistent niggles from earlier sessions. I’m now slightly concerned that they won’t all make it out alive… My plan is to give them the initiative next week and see how things go, at the very least, the confrontation is coming off as fairly epic, and however it plays out, it’ll certainly be memorable!

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! 🙂

Blades in the Dark – The Crimson Snow – Sessions 5 & 6

The last couple of weeks have seen the Crimson Snow dealing with a favor called in by Setarra, whom Ves has had dealings with in the past. Setarra informed them that Lord Scurlock was after a group of criminals to conduct a heist for him, in order to locate a mysterious artifact. Unfortunately, this artifact was located within the Lost District, in the possession of a powerful vampire. The crew immediately set to work trying to uncover all they could about vampires, the Lost District and how to get past those pesky lightning barriers… Ves decided to chat to former colleagues from the Morlan School of Unnatural Philosophy, and uncovered some useful information, Hadius called in a few personal favors and ended up chatting to a member of the Deathland Scavengers selling scavenged wares in the Nightmarket. And Banks tried and largely failed to pull the strings of some nobles. They were eventually able to obtain a device to bypass the barrier (though it didn’t come cheap), and set out for the Lost District.

During their investigations, they learnt that the Spirit Wardens seemed to have some vested interest in the Lost District, and had been patrolling along the river, and so the crew decided to wait for the post dawn fog to descend upon the city, and they called on a hired gondolier to ferry them across. Once through the barrier, they set out exploring the district, and before long, attracted the attention of a large number of feral ghosts. They tangled with the ghosts a few times, before being able to locate the manor where Scurlock informed them the artifact was being held. Banks used an electroplasmic lance, borrowed from the Silver Nails, to fend of the ghosts long enough for them all to make it inside the manor. The ghosts did not follow, so they presumed the building was warded against the spirits by its mysterious owner.

They set out exploring the manor, tripping a few arcane wards along the way but seemingly not attracting the attention of their Vampiric host… They located a laboratory and guest room where some quick thinking by Hadius and a lot of luck on Banks part, got them past a series of strange electroplasmic devices within the lab, and able to pocket some valuable alchemical reagents and a fine vase from the guest room beyond. Continuing their explorations they found their way to the hall where the artifact, a strange series of runic disks, was being kept on a pedestal at the far side of the room. They noticed the shadows within the room behaving strangely, and Ves, with the aid of his spirit mask, was able to see that a seething darkness, some kind of summoned horror, was being kept in the room as some kind of arcane watchdog.

After dealing with the extreme terror the creature provoked, Hadius decided to edge his way around the room to obtain the artifact, the creature seemingly kept bound by some kind of arcane tether. Hadius returned safely, and Banks in an act of pure recklessness, attempted to move along the other wall, in the same way to locate a strange tome toward the other corner of the room. He attempted to use his borrowed electroplasmic lance to ward of the creature, but unfortunately the creature struck, dissolving the vast majority of the lance, and very nearly killing Banks. Rather than risk further injury the group attempted to head back to the entrance hall the way they had come, only to find some arcane construct, in the form of a metallic sphere, floating in the corridor. Hadius attempted to sneak past it, only to set of another alarm, the group then, fearing a confrontation with the vampire, fled out the door.

And with a mass of ghosts in hot pursuit, they fled back to the barrier and through to the other side. Unfortunately, the fog over the city had well and truly lifted and revealed a number of Spirit Wardens waiting for them on the other side of the river. They tried to evade them, but the arcane powers of the Spirit Wardens foiled their attempt, as they demonstrated their, until now, unknown ability to teleport. The Spirit Wardens insisted on confiscating the items they brought into the city from the Lost District, but some fast talking by Hadius, let them keep the alchemicals and the artifact, though they lost the rest of the loot they had brought with them.

The fallout of their mission, was gaining the favor of Lord Scurlock, at the expense of their relationship with the Spirit Wardens and the Silver Nails (who were more than a little pissed that Banks had destroyed their lance). And with all payouts the mission required, they were left with 6 coin as their payment, feeling that it really probably wasn’t worth the effort it took, owing favours to demons they discovered, is a situation they are keen to avoid going forward. (though there were plenty of desperate rolls during the score, so they got some good XP at least! :p)

GM’s Notes – These sessions were the first time I ran a pre-planned score with the crew, and the first time they spent more than 1 session on a score. It was tough, but full of some great roleplaying, some super tense moments and it managed to nudge Hadius and Banks over the limit of their stress for the first time, so the players are now keen to have the chance to play out their new traumas of Paranoid, and Reckless respectively. It’ll probably still be only very occasionally that I run pre-planned scores with them, because the self directed style that Blades normally allows is, I’ve discovered, a lot of fun and gives the players a great deal of agency in how they relate to the setting. Though the fact that they kind of backed themselves into a corner with this one, made sense. I’m still struggling a little bit with Load. In theory it seems like a clever mechanic but my players have never really felt particularly restricted by it – they always seem to have plenty of load to spare during scores, even longer, more elaborate ones like this one.

Blades in the Dark – The Crimson Snow – Session 4

This week’s session started with the crew finishing a project identifying how the Red Sashes were getting their drugs into Doskvol. Namely, smuggled in the personal luggage of visiting diplomats and nobles from Iruvia. They also found out the identity of the Iruvian diplomat who runs the scheme. The crew contemplated hitting one of these deliveries, getting to the diplomat and a number of other schemes to find profit while hitting the Sashes. However, in the end they decided to follow up a lead on a warehouse distributing Black Lotus and other drugs to various cults within the city that they discovered a couple of weeks prior, figuring it would probably be an easier score. And so they made their way to the small warehouse located in the Docks district, hidden down some back alleys. Their surveillance showed it staffed by only a handful of workers, and containing what they assumed to be a fair quantity of merchandise. They decided to split up, Hadius, the sneakiest of the crew, would climb into the warehouse through a ventilation hatch their surveillance had turned up, while Ves and Banks posed as cult members looking to buy drugs to distract the few workers manning the warehouse.

The drugs were sealed in wooden crates, and Hadius only managed to get the contents of a couple of crates back out of the hatch, and into a hired rickshaw, before the workers noticed the disturbance. Ves and Banks attempted to distract them through a flashback procured ghost, unfortunately, the ghost of a disobedient cat, and an intimidating demand for better customer service, countermanded by the ridiculous getup Banks chose for his disguise. When neither attempt really worked, Hadius was forced to make a quick exit, spraining an ankle and shattering one of the jars of drugs on the cobblestones as he tumbled out to the street. Upon realising that someone was trying to make off with their product, two of the workers took off in pursuit of Hadius, who fled, limping with rickshaw, down a nearby alleyway.

Capitalising on this distraction, Ves and Banks knocked the remaining worker unconscious, and began loading themselves up with all the drugs they could carry. Hadius, unable to outpace his pursuers, decided to dispense some trance powder to attempt to neutralise them, a ploy which worked perfectly, leaving two calm and suggestible warehouse workers, and Hadius free to return to the warehouse. Unfortunately, a Bluecoat patrol chose this moment to head down the alleys past the warehouse. But Hadius, ever the quick talker, managed to win them over, though they insisted on escorting him to the edge of the district, for his own safety. Back inside the warehouse, Ves and Banks had secured all the drugs they could carry, and headed back to their lair.

The score turned out rather profitable, injecting enough cash into the coffers of the Crimson Snow for them to advance to Tier 1 as well as a small quantity of a few more valuable drugs they decided to hold onto for now. Unfortunately, as they were celebrating their first directly profitable score in a number of weeks, the demon Setarra chose this moment to come call in the favor owed by Vestine, informing them that Lord Scurlock had need of their assistance with a personal matter. Not wanting to anger the demon, they quickly agreed, a decision they may later come to regret, upon finding out just what it was the demon had recruited them for…

GM’s Thoughts – Since the location of the warehouse the crew hit this session was the primary reward they nabbed through a previous score, I wasn’t too concerned with having it well guarded. Stavrul, the fellow who owns the warehouse, had already been established as a fairly minor player in the city, so I figured he would want to keep things small scale anyway. The score was really a terrific example of the PC’s rolling with the punches and turning disadvantage into success – Hadius’ foiled attempt at taking the drugs without being noticed, turned into a handy distraction for the others to steal what they could. All in all, it all went quite well, though I realised I have really no idea how warehouses are actually laid out :s I should make a point of looking at a few floor-plans. The entanglement rolled this week, Demonic Notice, presented a good opportunity to call in Vestine’s favor owed to Setarra, as well as an idea for a fairly treacherous score I had when first brainstorming for the game. I’m expecting this next score will stretch over more than one session, which should shake things up a bit from the “1 score per session” pacing we’ve been managing so far.

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! 🙂

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 🙂 A goal my players would otherwise find easy to ignore for quite a while!

So another week another score for the Crimson Snow. And wow, any feeling I had that last week was too easy on the players, this week corrected! After a creepy meetup at a cultists den, Vestine, our Whisper, found out from a fairly apathetic Setarra (to whom they now owe an undisclosed favor – my first successful devil’s bargain pitch!), that a fellow named Stavrul is responsible for furnishing a number of cults in the city with Black Lotus. So they made their way to his house in Coalridge and after a brief exchange with an irate and unwelcoming Stavrul, they decided to break into his place, largely to spite him. For some reason, the crew decided to pry holes in the roof and head in that way after Stavrul had left, and despite some loud clattering of tiles to the paved streets below, they got in. It was about at this point that they noticed a strange clanking sound coming from inside the, supposedly empty, house. So Ves decided to compel a ghost to investigate the house. Unfortunately, the ghost that answered the summons insisted that the house belonged to him and that the spark-craft hull within was not dangerous. In the interest of heading off problems later, the gang then decided to capture the ghost, and did so, though not before Ves was injured by it.

Dropping in through the roof, they cased the joint discovering the only room potentially of interest lay behind a door rigged with an electroplasmic trap, a detail discovered by the gang’s Slide, Hadius. Unfortunately, he discovered it quite by accident while attempting to get a look through the keyhole. A shocking experience indeed! :p Feeling fairly beaten up at this point, they decided to head into this room, again by the roof, for some reason. This time they had more trouble getting through the roof, succeeding in causing the vast majority of the remaining rooftiles to cascade, loudly to the street below. Inside the room, they found a small sputtering and clanking mechanical hull, about the size of a cat. Also within the room were some papers and books detailing Stavruls business dealings, including a warehouse held in his name.

It was about this time, that a loud banging was heard on the front door – a small contingent of Bluecoats, alerted to something strange happening within were on the scene. In an act either of audaucious boldness, or reckless stupidity, the crew decided to walk out the front door, pitching themselves as paranormal investigators/exterminators hired to deal with a ghost problem. Even with the aid of flashback generated business cards to that effect, the Bluecoats were having none of it, and only a menace cloaked offer of a bribe from “Lord” Banks and 2 Coin were enough to convince them not to take the whole gang into custody.

Upon returning to their Lair in Crow’s Foot, the Crows came a calling, in force, in response to the fellow they sent last week returning empty handed. The crew, feeling quite dejected after a not-immediately profitable score (they elected to keep the hull around rather than sell it), and really not in the mood to be shaken down, answered the door, blunderbusses in hand. The following violent, messy scuffle, ended with the bloodied Crows limping back to their lair, a new enemy made, and a retribution scheduled for sometime in the future.

This week, things kind of spiraled out of control for the PC’s, and though they certainly gained some interesting assets/information, and reputation (of a sort at least), they were left feeling like they’d done a lot of work, for little payoff. But it worked and the weird ideas they brought to the table made a terribly entertaining, if not profitable session!

Questions I was left with this week –

Was I right not to pay them? The bottled ghost, shoddy hull and warehouse location are all potential sources of wealth the score offered, but I figured that wealth would really involve a bit more work to actually bear fruit. I think I did the right thing – my understanding of scores is that, though they usually have an immediate payoff, its okay if a score generates opportunities rather than cold hard cash. I’m curious how others would have handled it though.

The faction sheet saw some action this week, with a lot of -1’s appearing as various factions had reasons to think worse of the Crimson Snow, and their relationship with the Crows dropping to -2. Seems a lot easier for players to make enemies rather than friends in Blades. Is that others experience as well? Also, is -2 (from 0) a big enough drop to their relationship with the Crows? We’d already established that the Crows are currently verging on civil war over the murder of Roric, so I thought it would probably take a fair bit to get them to actually unite enough to go to war with the PC’s gang? On the other hand, they did attack a group of their people… I thought the -2 and a new The Crows Retaliate clock (now half full) was consequence enough. But again, curious how others would’ve handled it?