Author: Mark Griffin

I took a page out of John’s Book for my most recent game of Blades (following John’s lead is always a good idea), and did a flash forward and started a ‘season 2’. It all worked out very nicely both because our last session the crew became Tier 1, and it was also 3 months ago before my daughter was born.

So in the time we skipped, the cult has discovered the secret to making synthesized leviathan blood (they worship leviathans and don’t want them to be hunted, also want to get rich, and one member has a person grudge against a noble family who is a key played in the blood trade). So the game has changed from wanting to secretly get the resources and supplies needed to create the blood, to trying to get a factory up and running while the city’s elite try to crush them for threatening the source of their wealth.

In addition the Cutter is wanted by the military for the murder of some officers in season 1, and the heat has been increased.

The Whisper has discovered a ritual to bring her demon lover back from the dead. (It involves sacrificing 100 people, 90 of which must be strangers, 9 must be friends, and 1 must be someone she loves who loves her in return).

The Lurk has been identified by a powerful noble family as the hidden thorn in their side from season 1, and started to retaliate. The first session was actually a rescue mission, preventing his lady-friend from being kidnapped and interrogated. It was awkward because the person hired to kidnap the Lurk’s lady(Mercy the cold killer, the Cutter’s contact) was Ulf Ironborn who is the Cutter’s lover. Hearts were broken.

The Leech has been kidnapped and is being held hostage by an unknown group, but it’s probably related to his investigation into his brother’s murder. The Leech’s player ended up playing a Hull with a mysterious hidden master that contain’s the Leech’s brother’s ghost. Unfortunately he doesn’t know who his master is, or who killed him, but he’s been given the mission to find his brother.

It was fun to snap my fingers and tie up a number of loose threads and then start a bunch of new ones. I got to ask the players what stories they were most interested in from season 1, and discard the rest, ensuring an action packed season 2.

In my most recent Cult game my crew decided to get their first claim, and they wanted an Offertory (+2 coin for occult scores). Googling the word offertory didn’t give me any useful definitions of that word and how to turn it into a claim that could continually generate money. So I rolled a random Forgotten God and got the Guardian of the Gates who excepts ritual sacrifices of blood upon an alter. So I made a cult that had a 1 ton altar made from a porous black stone that would absorb blood of enemies of their god and miraculously reward them with silver. My cult crew would steal it and use a ritual to exorcise the Guardian of the Gate and bind a piece of their god (Negamu) to the altar. The session got cut a little short, and so when we left the crew had just tracked a known cultist to The Veil in Nightmarket, which is also the cults lair.

The coolest part of the session was when the cultist they were following opened a gate to parts unknown in order to lose the tail. The cutter managed to dive into the gate before it closed, but no one else made it through. Wherever the cutter landed was completely dark, and she decided to not to use any light and just follow by sound so as not to alert the cultist of her presence. The Cutter failed her desperate prowl roll and I decided this was a great time to roll on the summoned horror table (I assume this forgotten god is guarding gates to some very bad places).

I landed on Shambling Rags, and slowly it dawned on the Cutter than she no longer heard footsteps leading away from her. Instead she heard the sound of something being dragged toward her, as if someone were pulling a heavy sack of clothes along the ground. The player of the cutter was visibly disturbed by the idea of being in complete darkness with something being dragged toward her, and the resulting fight was pretty great.

The rest of the crew eventually managed to arrive by reopening the gate, and the cutter was dealt lethal harm when she failed a desperate skirmish with the horror (she was swallowed and smothered by the rags), which of course was resisted. The whisper discovered that the rags were being animated by a small creature hiding in the center, and the cutter, lurk and leech used a group setup action to pull away enough rags so that the whisper could electrocute the creature. All the rags fell away and the Cutter turned what looked like a giant slug into paste.

This was all just reconnaissance for the actual score where they steal the altar, and I have no idea what the plan will be. I didn’t anticipate trailing that cultist would take all night, but there were many failed rolls and some delightfully questionable choices. Next session they hit the Veil (from page 93 in the quickstart), and I expect we’ll find out if its enigmatic Tycherosi proprietor Roland Volaris is really half serpent. Also is he an unwitting pawn, the cult’s charismatic leader, or perhaps even the avatar of the Guardian of the Gates himself? Suggestions welcome.

The latest session with my Cult Crew began with downtime again. Mostly just vice and healing this time, and I sprinkled in rumors about a plague running through Charhollow that was turning people feral. Later there was talk of the military coming in, and quarantining the district with lightning walls. The whisper did start work on a LTP to decipher the language on an ancient relic she found in a previous session, and she decided the best person to talk to was her rival Setarra. Setarra agreed to help translate if the whisper would help her gather live bodies for some projects of her own. The whisper is now in bed with her rival doing something nefarious involving experimenting on the homeless, excellent choices.

With no particular scores on their minds, the PCs were approached by the Dimmer Sisters, with whom they have a positive relationship. An agent of theirs when to collect a powerful spirit from a seller in Charhollow, and ended up getting caught when the lightning barriers went up. Ideally the crew would get the operative out alive, but barring that the sisters at least want the spirit. In addition to the feral plague victims, and the enigmatic figure Hollowheart, who they’ve been hearing about in hushed whispers for 2 sessions now, they also have to deal with the Purge Squads sent in by the Imperial Military who are also guarding the only way in.

Highlights:

– The Lurk who is a killer with 0 remorse or empathy attacked a squadron of soldiers who were attempting to purge an orphanage. He did this despite being alone and knowing the military are tier VI. The Lurk revealed later that he was from Charhollow, and grew up in this orphanage. He was seconds from death, about to be overwhelmed and burned alive by the squadron’s whisper, when he heard the now familiar voice in his head “Hey, use me” and he gave in to the power of the forgotten god One Within Many who currently possesses him. Black shadowy chains erupted from his chest hitting all the soldiers who were knocked unconscious. Two ticks on the Lurks “A Debt is Collected” clock, and now the One Within Many has a foothold in the military.

– After chastising the Lurk for going up against a superior force when they have a job to do, the Cutter does the exact same thing. The Purge Squads are being lead by the military commander that had the Cutter dishonorably discharged for disobeying orders after the commander got the Cutter’s cousin killed during a mission. Seeing the Commander running the show from a command tent in Charhollow, the Cutter pops a rage essence and charges into the tent. Fortunately for the group, this is when the 6s began to fall like rain. Crits all around as the Cutter ignores several bullets to the chest and gut the commander in the middle of his troops, and the whisper causes the radios in the tent to explode, taking out the heaviest troops.

– The PCs learn that Hollowheart is the one selling the spirit to the Sisters, but he also killed the operative and is in the process of removing her heart when they arrive. He looks like a chain devil, except every chain ends in a human heart. Everyone but the whisper is told they must either freeze in terror, run away, or resist. They all choose to run. The whisper has a short conversation with Hollowheart, and learns that he’s a servant of the One Within Many (the forgotten god who is slowly infecting the whole crew). Hollowheart gives her the spirit, allows her to leave, and promises to see her again soon.

– The whisper really wants to open that spirit bottle, and see what all the fuss was about, but is worried she won’t be able to control the powerful spirit it contains. I could see the player was really torn about this, but it was already 1AM so she just delivered it as promised. That saved me from having to invent a powerful and valuable spirit on the spot.

Fallout

They gained status with the Dimmer Sisters, lost 2 status with the military, and because of their actions the Purge Squads were all eradicated by Hollowheart and his feral humans. They also discovered the Hollowheart sees them as allies, or at least not as enemies for the moment. I’m planning on having Charhollow be sealed off and left to fester. This will let them forget about Hollowheart for awhile if they wish to pursue their own interests. Until Charhollow bursts like the festering boil that it is to potentially Doom all of Doskvol that is.

As a side note, Pokemon GO has had a negative impact on my game. Anybody else having this problem? People that are usually super well behaved with phones are now catching bulbasaurs and ponytas during my game.