Blades in the Dark: Actual Play Reports – Page 35

So yesterday we had our first session of the Assassins game (names are still up in the air about what the group…

So yesterday we had our first session of the Assassins game (names are still up in the air about what the group wants to call themselves) and it went pretty well! The group decided to use a false threat to gain the Inspector’s compliance and get him out in the open to be murdered. Things went well except for one crucial detail…

Episode 1: Up In Smoke

The assassins had been contacted by a group of Bluecoats by the name of Lewit and Cinda, who met them underneath the Clerk Street Bridge in order to discuss the terms. There was a Junior-Inspector by the name of Orlan Booker who was set to make a big case exposing a series of Bluecoats with enough evidence that even the corrupt magistrates would have to follow through or be seen as obviously corrupt. Arrvus, the Spider, negotiated for higher pay of eight coin in return for also leaving his finger in his fiance’s mailbox. The crew has slowly pushed back on the Bluecoats, who were more willing to acquiesce thanks to the connection they have with Exeter.

After an initial discussion about how to take him, what route he takes, the way he secures the evidence, the group decided to prey upon his relationship with his wife. Stealing some of their correspondences, they forged a threat and a letter and had it delivered to him to draw him out to Crow’s Foot with the evidence in hand after failing to have a ghost possess him to make it easier to take his life.

Tiros, Vixen, and Arvus arranged to me the unfortunate Inspector while the newest member of the Assassins named Logan Dimitr Wolfr set up in the higher floors of one of the building across from the alley to take the man out with his incredible sniping skill. Adric, the Whisper, set up in a nearby alleyway to keep an eye on things and use his ghostly powers should things go awry and they most certainly did…

Inspector Orlan used his time as much as he can, trying to set up an intervention with the Bluecoats that would be patrolling through Crow’s Foot this late at night. Logan noticed the lights of the Bluecoats approaching and signaled the group while Orlan took as much time as he could to get them on scene. Adric compelled a ghost from to go and disrupt anyone watching the scene, which led to a terrible failure on the ghost’s part. It was added to the fiction that while ghosts can be compelled, they require good wording or constant direction to keep from deterring in dangerous and reckless ways. Reckless like appearing and attacking the Hound who was watching the scene. At the same time, the lights of the Bluecoats shine in on the scene and questions start being asked.

A well-timed flashback from Arvus led to him negotiating his price downwards in order to receive dirt from their employer in case they ran into the Bluecoat patrol that was moving through. This led to him blackmailing the Sargent that was in the charge of the group, threatening to reveal his Black Lotus addiction if he didn’t get the hell out of there. At that moment, an electroplasmic bullet fired off as Logan took out the ghost after fending it off with his spiritbane charm. The Bluecoats took that as an opportunity to get the hell out of there and chase the shooter.

A scuffle occurred between the Inspector, Tiros, and Vixen as the latter two tried to drag the man to the ground and take him out. Despite his arm being wounded with electroplasmic burns, he was able to defend himself and get knocked back rather than get taken out. Drawing his pistol, he shot Arvus who tried to take him out and was about to get away when Adric desperately reached out into the ghost field. Attuning to a nearby power junction, he channeled the city’s electricity through his form and nailed the inspector with the malevolent energy, killing the man and somehow keeping his concentration enough to ensure that he didn’t get cooked alive himself!

Logan fled to the rooftops, using the methods his friend gave him to try and escape from the pursuing Bluecoats. After collecting the Inspector’s finger, the evidence, and failing to discover whether or not the evidence was faked or not, the crew pressured the Bluecoats even further to give their friend time to escape. They succeeded but the Bluecoats are getting tired of this little group throwing their weight around, especially once they learned that they paid extra and still got screwed over.

The group escaped with only minor wounds and only one character truly stressed, Logan having to roll to resist the terrible fear that the ghost brought from within him. Baszo Baz was brought in for questioning but revealed nothing at all and the group mostly trained or indulge slightly in their vices. Duskvol was kind to them this time, we’ll see how the future holds up for this rising crew.

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The session went really well as we established some more fiction in the world (spiritbane and demonbane charms act much like how crosses acted against vampires for a time, there are giant lizard creatures that drag sleds through the Black Desert in Iruvia, wording is important when compelling spirits) and we helped set the goals of the Crew itself…not just the players. They’re looking to take over Six Towers now, which puts them at odds with their friendly faction of Greycloaks. Baszo has offered a mission to kill an individual within the Iruvian Consulate and Exeter always has need of his scalpels to erase other obstructions for his own rise within the Spirit Wardens. Tiros has even begun to try and learn ways to escape Grace’s clutches now.

I’m excited to see where they go now and the repercussions of having failed to ascertain that the evidence was a fake. They even now have a name finally…The Veiled and they take after their Spirit Warden supporters to some degree. Hopefully this week, we’ll have the second Crew up and running and we’ll see what happens next.

So, last night I did character and crew creation for a diverse band of smugglers! We have:

– Merresh Jesahn, an Iruvian Slide. The player described their character as sort of like Bronn, from Game of Thrones. A tough character who, while competent at violence, mainly gets ahead by making friends with the right people. Merresh has history with the Red Sashes, but picked Bazso Baz as his friend. I’m looking forward to seeing how that plays out in the game! His rivalis Harker, a jailbird stuck in Ironhook, perhaps because Merresh framed him.

– Sheha Gorat, a Tycherosi Cutter with vivid green skin. She used to be an Ironhook guard, but was told to resign after she beat the wrong prisoner (to death?). Sheha’s friends with Sawtooth, a fellow Tycherosi and physicker. Her rival is Marlane, a pugilist. Perhaps someone who objected to Sheha’s abuse of authority in Ironhook.

– Unna “Madame Moon” Helles, a Dagger Islander Leech. When she’s not criming she splits her time attending classes at Charterhall University and working her family’s curio stall at Nightmarket. She’s friends with Stazia, an apothecary (perhaps a fellow student at Charterhall or a family member, we haven’t decided yet. Her rival is Eckerd, a corpse thief who competes with Charterhall for cadavers.

– Murdock “Scales” Deepscourge, a Skovlander Whisper. The last scion of a Skov noble house. Murdock had been groomed to be a Leviathan Hunter captain before his family lost everything in the war. Murdock’s “friend” is Setarra, the sea demon which once resided in the heart of the Deepsourge family’s Leviathan Hunter ship. Setarra has told Murdock to watch out for Lord Scurlock, who has some currently unknown history with the demon.

The Crew operates out of the basement of a Charterhall boarding house and specialize in moving spirits and spirit essence to and from the docks (where they paid off Ulf Ironborn for the privilege of operating on his turf). Whether the crew knows it or not, the Path of Echoes helped set the crew up, and their contact, Nyelle, is tight with the Dimmer Sisters. They’ll likely have to later decide to support one faction over the other, but they currently have an amicable relationship with both.

Because Merresh is best buds with Bazso Baz, starting with the War in Crow’s Foot scenario seems like a good fit. Perhaps the Lampblacks need to hire an unaffiliated crew to move product from the docks into Crow’s Foot.

Our game table.

Our game table.

Fifth session of Scum & Villainy, we had an extended downtime session: techno-magical exorcisms, 80’s training…

Fifth session of Scum & Villainy, we had an extended downtime session: techno-magical exorcisms, 80’s training montages and food-fights.

We ended up with the crew at gunpoint deep inside Yaru Headquarters in Amerath deciding to either surrender the box or shoot their way out of the cloning-facility.

But I think I never introduced the PCs!

The original cast:

Cp. Neesa “Flex” Valorum, a lizard like mystic xeno who ran away from her country life to become a smuggler. She’s currently (less) possessed by a piece of the Dragon, an ancient Way-creature.

Connor “Mad Pikey” McGreary, a wanderer and former space pirate scoundrel (and the only crewmember for whom becoming a smuggler is actually a step up to a normal life) with a penchant for lavish demonstrations of luxury. He’s the second in command who has a hard time following orders and an ambitious streak.

Impera “Nails” Tarkin, a military pilot academy dropout with a flashy fashion style and affinity for videogames.

Poe “Die” Zan, a former legionary with a disciplined demeanor except for his gambling problems.

New additions and stowaways:

None, a floating medusa-like xeno mechanic bought off and freed by the crew. They’re an endangered species on the fringe of extinction, and is their life mission to search for suitable mates to propagate the species (and probing everyone around them to detect potential prospects).

Dr. Victor, a (secretly) dysfunctional android with no concept of human pain-tolerance. He discovered a talent for gambling, its all about number-crunching.

#scumandvillainy #mrpachoncito #comunidadsierpesdelsur #bladesinthedark #spacealpaca

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUX9Nb-hiiy/

Session 3 of the Glitter Ponies

Fire in the deathlands

Cast:

Operant – Cutter – Terrence

Ghost – Lurk – Charlie

Grandma – Cutter – Patrick (only available for 30 minutes at the start)

Drake – Spider – Antonio

Crow – Whisper – Nicko (Away this week)

Professor – Leech – Nick (Away this week)

Shot opens on the glitter ponies lair, a boat house with the glitter ponies boat, a science vessel with a mural of the professor across it.

The Operator, drake and ghost are sitting together chatting.

Ghost continues “I’m just saying I want to get in with the leviathan hunters better”. Drake argues “Thats hard to do without the professor who is the only one who can pilot the boat.” “We need to start taking turf and kicking in heads” the operator speaks up. The group of 3 spent their time arguing about what their next score would be. A map of duskwall on the table. The talk about attack the grinders, then decide there isn’t much point until they have a gang to help them hold any turf. They talk about Captain

Smash cut to Lord Strangford’s quarter master his Sunday best, awkwardly knocking the mud off his boots and knocking on the door on a cozy looking cottage.

Grandma opens the door “Come in deary, would you like a nice cup of tea? The pots just come off the boil”. Grandma is the cutter of the glitter ponies, with countless interchangeable grandchildren and warm cookies always in the oven this sweet old lady has an iron core few would dare cross. The quarter master takes off his hat and comes in. “Yes you ma’m”.

The sit down and quartermaster gets down to business “The captain was hoping you could get something back for him”. Grandma looked concerned “oh what deary?”. The quarter master continues “when the lost district fell Lord Strangford’s family lost some important charts, we need your crew to get them back”. Grandma smiles “of course deary”. The quartermaster then looks uncomfortable and awkwardly goes on to say “The thing is his family were loaning them to the Clave family at the time”. Grandma has a knowing smile, “don’t worry my crew will be able to get it back no problem, I wont be able to go, our Sean’s birthday is tonight but we’ll be able to sort you”. The quarter looks relieved “What payment would you be after?”. Grandma waves it away “your such a good boy thinking of me in my old age but I wouldn’t dream of charging such a good friend as Lord Strangford”.

Fade in to the Operator, Drake and Ghost again. “So to be clear she agreed to go into the deathlands without our leech nor whisperer available at that, take the charts from Clave house and all for free” Drake asked, Shocked.

The operator nodded “you know grandma, plus you two wanted to get in with Lord Strangford”. Ghost sucks through his teeth thinking, “Hey Drake, you know whose family had a place near Clave house? Roslyn Kellis.” Roslyn had lured many Tycheros noble families to to Duskwall during the last political conflict in the Tycheros court of knives. Many families including both Ghost and Drake’s where lured to Duskwall by Roslyn by promises of a safe place, only to betrayed by her and their goods stolen when they arrived. Both of Ghost’s parents were killed at the hands of Roslyn’s thugs.

At that Drake looks thoughtful, “we’ll need some adepts, going into the deathlands without some protection is madness”. The operator, loads his guns and shrugs “I don’t see what the fuss is about it shouldn’t be difficult we go out, get the chart come back in, easy.”

Cut to Drake sitting down with his architect buddy again, and making him pay again. “The thing is that whole area is currently being surveyed for goods of the crown, they are watch anyone who looks up any of the blueprints, I can give you the address but thats about it”.

The carriage the crew obtained of the train scavenge/rescue which ended up not happening is heading into the death lands. Inside sit our crew and four big Tycherosi men in there mid 50’s they are lead by Uncle Gregori (Based of +Adam Koebel character from the west marches). The gang of adepts are fiercely loyal, old men who love women, wine and arguing. As the Carriage pulls up to Roslyn’s estate you can hear the four loudly sing Tycherosi folk songs.

(OOC, the crew rolled a 3 on their engagement roll, so things started pretty badly for them).

As they pulled up a group of five deathland savages turned from side of the house. “Now what do we have here, a bunch of pigeons ready for the pot?” The leader of the band sneered, Drake jumped out of the carriage, talking quickly hoping beyond hope (it was desperate/limited) he could sway the band away from a fight. “My good sirs, how pleased we are to see you, we are noblemen as you see and there are good we just must retrieve from our families house”. (He then crit his sway roll, ticking off 2 slices of the ‘savagers don’t kill you’ clock). The leader laughed and pranced as he imagined nobles to do, raising his tone to be nasal and toadying “Oh, how quaint, well I was just saying to lord SnotNose here and Duke GutterTrash that you carriage looked to be that of a noble house”. The thugs sniggering, although at least a fight hadn’t started. Drake smiled and pulled a fine bottle of whiskey from his coat “My lords, how happy I am to come across such fine gentlemen as yourself, would you care to share this fine bottle of whiskey with me” (And then he crit his sway a second time). Cut to Uncle Gregori drunkly teaching the deathland savages an out Tycherosi drinking song as the scavengers finished the last of the bottle. The leader looks at Drake I like you, I’ll tell my boys the glitter ponies ain’t bad (two crits on desperate rolls to sway them, I felt that deserved a +1 rep with the deathland scavengers if nothing else).

The crew ransacked Roslyn’s family house looking for anything to blackmail her with. With a grin Ghost found some documents and they took 2 coin with of art and such, the crew left onwards to clave house only to realize that Ghost had left a small fire burning when they left, as it slowly spread in the house, the crew started to hurry as they were worried it might spread.

The crew arrived at Clave house in a bit of a hurry. The crew tore through the house looking for the study with the charts. They found it upstairs, Ghost started the slow process of cracking the safe, when he was half way done 2 ghosts appeared, they were children, a little girl and a little boy. The crew looked pitying at them, that is until they removed the skill from there faces. The operator drew both his guns, firing electroplasm killing the little boy and boy, but only winging the girl who jumped on the Operator trying to posses him. While ghost continued to try and crack the safe, Drake lead the adepts in attempting to drive off the spirits and the operator fired another shot into the ghost, watching it fade away. The operator was left standing there, pale the blood drained from his face. Uncle Gregory laughed “Deathlands are easy? No? I don’t see what the fuss is about”, laughing and echoing the operator’s word’s back at him.

Finally the safe opened the crew grabbed the charts and whatever other treasure remained.

Cut to Lord Strangford talking to his quartermaster. “So the glitter ponies was it, so lucky they were able to get the Charts out before the fire struck” the lord drawled. The quartermaster looked woodenly “Yes sir”. “I trust you ensured they were well paid” Lord Strangford went on to ask. The quarter master shook his head, “I tried, but they refused they said it was an honor to do Lord Strangford a favor and that favors should not require coin when they are between friends”. Lord Strangford sat looking at his glass of red wine “Now that is interesting”.

Epilogue:

The Drake is returning to the lair, the light from his lamp retracts back to the lamp as if afraid of the darkness, a bestial form appears in the darkness and a sinister voice growls “I have need of your services”

Then we cut to black.

My newest crew of shadows are called the Runaways, and they are teenagers.

My newest crew of shadows are called the Runaways, and they are teenagers. Most of their friends and rivals are also teens, and the stakes started off quite a bit lower. There has been no killing, and most of their scores have either been petty theft or sabotage. It’s been an interesting change of pace from the cult that murders anyone who looks at them sideways.

Things are set to change soon, now that the runaways have made enemies of the Grinders by setting fire to their fleet of canal boats. The Grinders will certainly try to employ deadly force, we’ll see if the Runaways respond in kind. In addition one of the teenage girls asked for a devils bargain one a roll at a party, and I slipped in that a certain Roethe Kinclaith saw and took an interest in her. She’s never seen the Bloodletters and so doesn’t know what kind of psychopath he is, but I suspect the group may find out soon.

We’re about to start playing Scum and Villainy on https://www.twitch.tv/actualplay.

We’re about to start playing Scum and Villainy on https://www.twitch.tv/actualplay. Come join Stras Acimovic, Jory Bowers, Andi Carrison and I on the Stardancer!

(Game starts at 7PM PST)

https://www.twitch.tv/actualplay

The Narcoleptic Dire Goat Caper

The Narcoleptic Dire Goat Caper

The Dead Setters turned the tables on the hit squad from Charterhall Bank, ambushing their would-be ambushers. The Setters had Rook the Cutter, fresh out of Ironhook (and whose player had to skip about a month due to an online class), and Deemo the Leech, fresh out of her player having a baby. Ironically, the other guys couldn’t make it so we had the inverse of our usual suspects. Charterhall Bank’s squad included Mr. Green and Mr. Veldt, both essentially former blades-turned-respectable (played by the Stabbington brothers from Tangled), leading six combat hulls in two goat-drawn carriages.

The crew had exceptional intel, and placed their ambush along an industrial boulevard in Coalridge. They paid a coin to their new Cabbie associates so they’d have a proper roadblock, but the engagement roll went south. Green and Veldt spotted the trap and one of their hulls disembarked while the carriages were still rolling. The machine slammed into the Cabbies’ roadblock, clearing a path and then stood its ground, electroplasmic emitter charging up to cover its masters’ escape.

Rook clambered out of the toppled Cabbie carriage and traded railjack hammer for electroplasmic lightning with the combat hull. Rook was still standing at the end of it. Meanwhile, the bank carriages thundered past on the cobbles… flashback!

Cut to Rook leading his pit fighters as they toil in the street, uprooting cobblestones and digging down into the packed earth. They make a trench and cover it up with tarps, dirt, and broken stone. There’s no way those heavy carriages, laden with hulls, will make it across.

And they don’t. A goat breaks its leg, loosing one of those horrible human screams. Another goes narcoleptic, tumbling to the ground. The lead carriage’s wheels break as it hits the mother of all potholes. The second carriage, pulling four heavy hulls, can’t stop in time. The goats see the gap and leap, but the carriage slams down into the trench.

Deemo releases two of her gadgets – the first is a clockwork gyro-drone, a little flying device that can drop a payload and return to its mistress. It’s carrying the second gadget – Quality VI chokedust. Not that weak-ass drown powder, we’re talking the old-school quickstart rules chokedust here. It’s been Deemo’s specialty since v4 of the rules and she missed it, so she made more during downtime and was wildly successful at it.

Green and Veldt have to escape. They’re not a hit squad of elite badasses anymore; they’re scared and can’t breathe and all their hulls just can’t seem to kill one guy with a hammer. Thanks, Battleborn and Not to Be Trifled With.

They try carjacking the last upright carriage the Cabbies brought. Deemo uses binding oil on the wheels. A crit! Green and Veldt get just enough momentum before the axles lock that they’re thrown to the street and lose their guns.

They try just legging it. Rook finishes off the last hull and uses Savage (as the two men are terrified) to Command them to stop – or else. Partial success.

“Which one stops?” I say.

“Veldt!” Deemo’s player suggests. “Green shot my drone, he’s gotta die.” And so we learned a bit about Deemo’s priorities. Rook agrees. Veldt stops short, shouting “Don’t shoot! I have a family! This was just a job, you know?!”

Green, on the other hand, meets the Dead Setters’ pit fighters coming the other way.

“Do you want him dead, or captured, or maimed, or what?” Then I look at the cohort’s flaws. Wild. Unreliable. That settles that.

Deemo helps them kick Green to death in the street.

#heestcomplete

Hello there everyone!

Hello there everyone! Been awhile since I last posted but I am all moved in here in San Antonio and have been loving the change. We have two games set up here after a cursory look into Cults but found that it didn’t fit.

My Sunday game, which so far doesn’t have a name, has just finished up character creation, crew creation, and we did a bit of character development since a lot of the players are new to gaming in general. I’m pretty excited about the group that we have assembled and the stories we can potentially have from it.

Our first character is Tiros Daavas, a Skovlan Cutter who served as a soldier within a prestigious strike force before the war’s end. He forged his papers to enlist early, following his big brother’s footsteps in the war. Honorable and with a built-in sense of camaraderie, he has headed to the Dusk to try and track down his brother who went missing during the war. He isn’t an innocent man though, having sacrificed one his squad-mates to survive the Unity War and had been involved with other missions that were less than legal or honorable. This has led to him being caught in clutches of Grace, the extortionist, who uses his crimes as leverage to get him to do what she wants while also saying that she has information about his brother that she’ll divulge…when he deserves it.

Next is Arvos Morrisson, the only Duskwall native within this beginning band of Assassins, is the Akoros Spider. A normal boy within Crow’s Foot, his life was changed when he was hidden away by his family and bore witness to a terrible occult ritual that butchered his family. Sent to Strathmill House, he served as a courier and eventually found his way into the life of an information broker. He serves as the main connection for the Assassins, having brought them all together in order to eventually ascertain who killed his family and exact terrible vengeance. An anarchist at heart, he hopes to make those who support the status quo burn one day. He is pursued by Jeren, an archivist within the Bluecoats who is the Sherlock to his Moriarty. A professional rivalry has sprung between the two men, one that could’ve been a friendship if it wasn’t for them playing on opposite sides.

Our group’s Slide is a young woman by the name of Sagira “Vixen” Ghrey, an immigrant from Iruvia who found herself enamored with a local thug and folk hero by the name of Baszo Baz. Helping him to secure his place of leadership within the Lampblacks, Vixen toyed around with his greatest competition and led him astray. The ploy was a success and Baz’s rival, Harker, was sent to Ironhook for life after being framed for murdering an Iruvian diplomat who had ties with the Red Sashes. Little do either of them know though that Harker has been making the most of his time, creating his own network of thugs and scoundrels within Ironhook. He hasn’t forgotten who has put him there and he’ll have his day soon enough…

Our last member is a Tycherosi by the name of Adric Kross, a self-taught Whisper with an eye of vengeance for his friend’s sake. His friend, another Tycherosi named Nyrix, both learned the art of the Whisper with each other’s help. Drunk on their newfound skill, the duo summoned and bound a demon by the name of Setarra. Asking for ways to greater power, Setarra led them on a dark path and eventually betrayed them both which led to Nyrix’s death and Adric barely surviving but able to protect his friend’s body and spirit. With Adric’s help, Nyrix has grown into a competently powerful spirit and the two seek out ways to destroy or re-bind Setarra for their own ends.

Another member of the group, a Hound, is still waiting to be made but the group decided on playing a group of Assassins that lurk within an abandoned cistern underneath Six Towers. Professional, calm, and willing to take nearly any work, the group is aligned oddly enough with the Spirit Wardens. After meeting with and working for an “open-minded” Warden by the name of Exeter, they have entered into mutual partnership; the crew gains to powerful influence of one of the city’s major factions and the power that a Spirit Warden wields while Exeter has his own personal scalpels with which to cut away obstacles in his way and enemies with too much power or influence for the Spirit Wardens to fight.

Little does the crew know that this powerful ally also comes with a dangerous enemy. The few targets they have killed for Exeter, innocuous as they seem, have been members of the Unseen. And the Unseen will not have any threats stand in their way of taking control of Duskwall.

Specializing in sending brutal, violent messages and operating within the prestigious section of Charterhall known as Clerk Street, this ragtag band of Assassins has their work cut out of them. Only one way to go though; forward…day by day…one body at a time.

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With the last character generation I did, which was a Cult, I was a little too hands off of it and it led to characters not really meshing and the Cult addition feeling very tagged on. So for this one, I went about things in different orders and also was a lot more active in suggestions and ideas that I had and bounced them off the players.

Instead of making characters first and then the crew, I went in reverse and made the crew and then the characters. I think it helped people decide better on what kind of characters that they wanted to be and making the Crew helped mold the smaller details together more.

We’re all using the PDF still and I made sure to make players answer the questions that their playbooks and what the crew playbook asks. We also used the 10 minute character background process, which led to some of the excellent story hooks and goals that the players now have. Here is the link if anyone is interested.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?91813-10-Minute-Background

I’m excited to use this process again come this Saturday, when my roommates and I will be restarting the group and seeing how things go. Sunday will be the next session of this game, where the Assassins will be aiming to kill off a Junior Inspector who has been poking his head too much into the business of the Bluecoats.

Ok. Part 2 of the Devil’s Gambit report.

The crew has decided not to aggressively pursue the Wraiths horning in on their business, though the Cutter has started a project to get the runner-boy in their pocket through some late-night Command visits on his drug runs.

They decide they want to go after the Local Graft claim. I didn’t research the claim in the book however, so we didn’t make the score about officials and bribes. So seeing that the benefit is extra coin for shows of force and socializing, they decide to put on a flashy boxing match to put their name out as expert entertainers. We decide it’s a Social plan, and the Connection detail is the participants of the headline fight.

Gathering Information:

– The Leech’s vice is betting on boxing, so he goes to his favorite venue to find a boxer that could take a fall in the match. He finds Beef Wilson and recruits him.

– The Cutter (an ex-miner) goes to Coalridge to see if he can find a fighter to “win” the match. He finds a Skovlander fight club of sorts and recruits Viktor Olmvik.

– We decide that it’s enough of a setup, and we’re eager to keep trying the plan-on-the-fly setting so we go right into the score.

The Engagement roll comes up Desperate. Beef and Viktor are in the ring, and Beef shows no signs of slowing down. They didn’t get the best venue- they’re in the middle of a demolished building lot, and the crowd is unruly and drunk.

There’s a lot of money riding on this for everyone involved… did Beef understand what he’s supposed to do tonight?

-Flashback to the Slide, in Beef’s “dressing room” (a collapsed stairwell). Beef’s a punchy guy, pretty dense and addled so it’s hard to know if knows he’s supposed to go down. He rolls well to Sway him, and he can tell he isn’t lying, but it’s still hard to tell.

– I used his success in the flashback to improve my fortune roll to see if Beef will actually take the fall. I roll, and it still doesn’t look good. They decide they need to go into action.

– The Slide gives the Hound some trance powder. She maneuvers through the teeming throng that follows the boxers around, using Hunt to navigate the animal spectacle happening around her and putting herself in the right spot to administer a puff of the powder to Beef’s face. She succeeds on the roll and the drug takes effect. Beef slows enough to let Viktor land a knockout punch.

– The obstacle for the score was to throw a successful event, and in our estimation they did it. They gained the Local Graft claim, and we ended the session.

Questions:

– The flashback with the Slide talking to Beef: I figured this was ok, since the flashback was addressing a situation that could go either way- they didn’t know what Beef was going to do, but it didn’t look good. He wanted to be sure the message got through so we went back to do it. Is that ok?

– Local Graft, in the book, says “A few city officials share bribe money with those who show that they’re players on the scene”. What could the score consisted of if we had the right idea, and how can I connect the crew to what the claim actually means, after we did the boxing match score?