Author: Craig Black

The Crowtalons

(Full disclosure – I play Blades in the Dark as Shadows over Marienburg)

My crew met in Marienburg about a month ago. They consist of:

Coil (Cutter) – an Estalian swordswoman who spent many years about the ships of Don Rodrigo Herndez as both a sailor and a soldier. She was forced to duel him when Rodrigo’s jealous wife found that Coil was friends with Silver. The duel left Rodrigo without a hand and the ship cast upon the rocks in a failed mutiny.

Echo (Spider) – a dispossessed Empire noble from the city of Altdorf, who learned the ways of plotting in the courts of the Emperor. He was a third son, and sent to the Bright College but his ambition got the better of him and he broke the summoning circle of one of his tormenting instructors and was forced to kill him. His family also failed in their attempts to bring ruin to the Todbringer clan – to their demise.

Silver (Lurk) – the son of a Tilean merchant baron, he was a wild card in the city of Luccini and had a very loose relationship with the tenets of property ownership. When a rival merchant had a jar of black pearl stolen from him the day before he could trade them for exotic goods from Araby, he was the obvious felon. Alas, the accusation was false and he we forced to take passage on a passing Estalian vessel, where he quickly became lovers with the Captain’s wife.

Boots (Leech) – Reiklander outlaw who lived by wit and blade, wrecking passing riverboats and taking their goods. He became lovers with Petra, the paramour of his chief’s son Arno and was forced to leave the clan behind. He found his way to Marienburg.

Jaeger (Hound) – a mercenary scout from Nordland, attached to the The Honorable Companions, a free company. For years they were employed by the burghers of the Empire and chief of Kislev to fight against the Chaos incursions. When the company was betrayed by Captain Vesserek to their doom, he swore an oath of vengeance and followed the culprit to Marienburg where the traitor lived a life of ease on his ill-gotten gain.

The group met through various measure means and eventually found a lair at the deserted town house of the Listerhofen family. Though derelict, it provides excellent concealment for the burgeoning criminal empire.

After a handful of days trying to source a score, one of Whistles’ contacts has an opportunity: the Hessen Venture had recently returned from the New World and it is said the Captain had an excellent set of maps from his explorations. A simple matter to slip aboard the vessel and purloin them from the captain’s footlocker.

Knowing that the ship was fresh in dock, the crew split up: Spider and Jaeger searched for the vessel itself while Coil, Silver and Boots sought disguise that would allow them to pass as dockworkers. The first pair was successful after a few hours, and subtle enough that their search did not arouse any suspicions. In acquiring disguises however, some challenges were met. Silver ended up with a blood set following a botched mugging and Coil awoke near evening with a splitting headache after attempting to seduce a dockworker and then consuming too much wine. Boots “saved the day” by raiding a laundry.

While the crew repaired to the lair, Jaeger kept watch and was able to spot a merchant successfully dicker for the contents of the ship. Trailing him to discover the merchant’s identity, he was spotted by the man’s bodyguards (4 on Prowl) – who gave chase to him after the merchant arrived home.

The chase was a short one, and unfortunate (2 on Prowl). The Hound found himself cornered in a blind alley and beaten mercilessly (1 on unskilled Skirmish). He did glean some useful information however: the name of the merchant was Van Kelder.

When the wounded Jaeger returned to the lair, the crew decided the deception plan would have to be changed to a straight-up infiltration.

Stealing a riverboat, they sculled the black canals of Marienburg towards the Southdocks. Unfortunately, none of them are Marienburg natives and they swiftly became lost in the darkness, not arriving at the Hessen Venture until an hour before dawn.

They climbed aboard, leaving the wounded Jaeger to cover their retreat. They manage to get aboard and concealed but realize the deck has guards that will need to be dealt with (4 on engagement roll). Boots handily knocks one out (6 on prowl) and while Silver and Coil deal with another (Devils Footsteps to attack from above (a mast boom)) but create noise (A Prowl 4 and Skirmish 4 respectively). (The awareness clock moves to 5/6.)

Silver works the lock to the Captain’s cabin (Tinker two 6s in a row – limited effect due to the higher tier of the lock.) (During this time, Coil really wanted to help, and it raised a 15-minute debate on how to help someone Tinkering a lock open – as it turns out, it appears that lock picking is not a team sport.) and they break into the cabin. The captain is there, asleep with two ladies of the night in a tangle of limbs.

They find the footlocker and rather than risk the lock, Silver and Echo pick it up and haul it out (Prowl 5) – the small noise they make is enough to awaken one of the two women. Coil races to her and puts a blade to her throat with a quiet sign and threatens her (Command roll 4). The woman recoils (quietly) but a tough choice is offered – will the woman’s movement awaken the captain? I pull out the fate die – Coil kills her to be certain.

The captain lolls in bed, nuzzling the dead woman’s hair.

As Echo and Silver retreat, Coil notices a small crate, probably stored in the Captain’s quarters due to its value. She hefts it (using a probably stretched description of “Not to be trifled with”) and hauls it out. Ironically, I rule that she can’t do this silently (thus rendering the previous ending of the woman unnecessary) and the chase is on. Grunting, she makes it to the rail and hefts the crate over; the three below muff the catch (I chose a teamwork Finesse – but that was probably wrong) and it breaks open, revealing carefully packed Elvish porcelain. In a flurry of crossbow bolts, they row away.

Total Heat: 2 (Controlled) +1 (Not their turf) +2 (killing involved): 5