Author: Michael Hill

Question for the Leech’s out there, what would it take to make a self propelled wagon/stagecoach?

Just arrived this morning but I have noticed that there is a hole in the back cover, not a huge deal as it hasn’t gone all the way through but it has caused me to take a Stress. 😄

So I have just rolled up Demonic Notice as an entanglement for the first time and I’m kinda stumped over the Dark bargain the demon will offer. What sort of deals has been offered to scoundrels of other crews here?

What rituals have your Whispers come up with? The Whisper in my crew is looking for a bit of inspiration.

So far he has the Summon a Supernatural Ally

Wizards Eye where he can look into a known room

Change weather where he can subtly create a fog, start or stop light rain, change temperature etc

He is a part of a Shadows crew so isn’t looking for anything overt

I need a bit of help with Duskwalls economy. My crew of Shadows are espionage experts and they want to specialise in Industrial Espionage, I’m fairly familiar with the more underhand businesses like casinos, brothels, tattoo parlors and whatnot but we are more interested in the more legal industries. Basically what do the well to do citizens of Duskwall do to make their COIN legally…ish?

Ok, so that just happened

I had, a couple of sessions ago, informed the crew, the Speaks Easys (Easys for short) about a heist of a Leviathan Hunter ship, it wasn’t meant to lead to anything, just something that happened as another crews Crit roll on their Faction Clock. But the crew ran with it, decided that these ships are a vital part of Duskwall and that they should offer their services to retrieve the stolen items and improve their relationships with this faction.

After a number of Gather Information rolls the crew find out that the most likely crew to pull this off was the Grinders, now the Easys already have a -2 status with the Grinders from crew creation (The Grinders were pissed off that the Easys were using the Underground maps and passkeys). The Slide with the Cutter bodyguard go to visit the Captain of the ship to find out what was stolen. The Captain tells them that most of it is easily replaced but some personal items were taken that he would like back. A couple of paintings, a statuette, a small chest and the Captains Astrolathe (an item I made up which is essential in navigating the Void Sea) the ship had its own but this Astrolathe had been a part of the Captains stateroom since the ship was commissioned. The Captain was willing to pay the group 5 COIN for the Astrolathe and one COIN each for the other items as well as one COIN just for bringing anything back (The Slide rolled a crit on his haggle roll)

Now the crew had a quandary, 10 COIN is a lot of money but is it worth risking a War with the Grinders? In the end the money won out so they cased the Grinders turf and found their HQ, an old abandoned Warehouse, the Whisper used his Arcane Eye ritual to case the inside of it so I put the map of the interior I made earlier on the table. The Leech quietly Wrecked a ventilation shaft in a darker area and they all got in unseen (Engagement roll 6)

Inside the warehouse I put 4 Grinders playing poker at a brightly lit table and a guard patrolling the upstairs gangwalk where other doors could be seen. The Lurk snuck up to the gangwalk to set up the Cutters sneak, then Skirmish to quietly take the guard out. The Slide and the Whisper then group prowl up as well with the Leech keeping an eye on the poker players. First two doors upstairs are unlocked and lead to storerooms/offices where they find the paintings, statue and chest, they COULD walk out now with 5 of the 10 COIN secured but again, money talks.

At the final door they could hear voices talking so the Whisper takes stress to run his Arcane Eye ritual again getting the layout of the room, nearly filling the Poker Players see you clock. Inside the room are the three leaders of the Grinders, Hutton, Sercy and Derret as well as the Astrolathe. The Slide disguised himself as the guard, opened the door and quickly said that the Easys had been spotted nearby (Sway, crit) Derret rushes out the door and takes 2 of the poker players with him leaving Hutton and the cripple Sercy in the room.

The Lurk uses Ghost Step to phase through the wall to attack Hutton from behind while the Slide and the Cutter burst through the door to help. The Lurks Silence Potion made the fight quiet enough not to attract the other two poker players remaining.

Now comes the WTF bit, if the crew left with the loot leaving the Grinders behind, then war was a definite, however the crew did not want to attract any HEAT or ruin their rep by killing them either (5 scores in, they have caused no deaths nor are they planning any either). So they knock them out, smuggle them out of the warehouse and take them to the Leviathan Ships Captain, another critical Sway and they convince him that these two are responsible for the thefts so perhaps they would like to “volunteer” for the next Leviathan Hunting expedition.

So now the Grinders are left leaderless, only Derret of their top 3 remaining and I see him more as a muscle man not a brain, so what happens now to the Grinders, do you think they are still a force in Duskwall, will they retreat back to Lockport? The Easys were in and out of the Warehouse and the only people in the Grinders who know it are now out on the Void Sea (possibly in the Void Sea now) The crew are next planning on taking the Secret Pathways claim and want it to be from the Grinders as well so in how much disarray do you think the Grinders are in, I believe it is feasible that Derret suspects the Easys and will be enraged. I would like to see what ideas the hive mind here has

So out of curiosity, has any of your crews sided with the Red Sashes in the starting situation? From what I’ve read here, it seems everyone has sided with the Lampblacks, as did my crew when I introduced them to situation tonight

We are a little bit confused about the Ritual ability of the Whisper, mostly the summoning a supernatural being.

The Whisper in my group selected this ability and has selected the spirit to be Winchester, formerly a student and class mate of Spook. Winchester was murdered and Spook has summoned his spirit to help the crew in return for finding his murderer.

The questions we have is basically how long does Winchester hang around when summoned or is he always about. If he is always about, does Spook have to cast the ritual to make him manifest so he can interact with Spook properly?

We are still in the midst of character creation, one player was out of town so no score tonight. But my players weren’t content with your regular vices, no drinking or gambling here.

I have a Whisper who is obsessed with painting temporary tattoos on people, or himself if no one volunteers. He wants the ink he uses to be “spirit infused” Not sure how to work that one yet

Then there is the Cutter from the Dagger Isles with his Bonsai collection

And I have a Lurk with an obsession with all things clockwork