Category: Blades in the Dark: Actual Play Reports

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 36 (October 04 2016)

Team Blackmail is working on the Inspector (Sigmund Woll):

* Kamali: Will shadow him and learn his routine

* Gloves: Will actually talk to him

* Shade: Will assist

The ledger leads the crew to a stash of documents detailing the Inspector’s various crimes. It’s common (and indeed, almost expected) that the Bluecoats are corrupt, but the Inspectors have a reputation for being above reproach. However, Sigmund Woll has a history of taking bribes, making charges go away, and occasionally arranging for witnesses to disappear. The ledger also details the nature of the arrangement that the Sashes had with Woll: They weren’t blackmailing him for money, but for information. Any time an investigation came up that threatened to move in their direction, Woll would give them a heads up so they could maneuver around it.

Woll lives in Six Towers. He’s married and has two kids. Kamali spends a couple of days watching his routine. On her way over there the first day, she is dismayed to discover that one of her usual rooftop routes is no longer viable, due to all the construction going on in the Drop now, and it takes her nearly 15 minutes to find a way around. Despite this, she gets there early enough to see him leave for work. She follows him to the courthouse in Charterhall, sees him take lunch with several of his coworkers, then after work he meets his wife at a local restaurant for dinner. Once they’ve returned back home, he spends some time with his children before retreating to his study, where he continues to work well past midnight.

The second day, Kamali watches the kids and the wife. The children are met by what appears to be a nanny (though she does not live at the house), and she escorts them to their school. Back at the house, Woll’s wife has some friends over for lunch, where they appear to be gossiping about their husbands. The children return home in the late afternoon, and the wife heads out to meet her husband for dinner again. Different restaurant this time, but otherwise, their routine is like clockwork. Watching Woll read to his children again, Kamali is simultaneously jealous and disgusted by how normal this man’s life appears to be. She makes a detailed report and delivers it to Gloves, who has a plan.

Hakima Fadel is an infamous Iruvian smuggler, and one of Wolls’s “clients” (she was facing some heavy tariff evasion charges, and he had them dropped). Gloves has a doll made that looks Iruvian, is dressed like a sailor, and has a note that says “Hello my name is Hakima”. He includes a business card with his full name on it, with the boxing club as the address.

He delivers the doll to Sigmund’s wife personally, under the pretense that he’s a representative of the Cinder Street Doll Company, which is starting up business again, and he is giving out free dolls to select influential clients in order to drum up business. She is a little suspicious, but accepts the doll in behalf of her daughter.

Later that evening, Woll storms into the boxing club and demands to know what it’s all about. Gloves and Shade talk to him in the back room. Gloves explains the situation, and that the Dolls want to continue with the same arrangement he had with the Sashes. Woll protests, but eventually gives in (this is helped by Shade doing what Shade does best, which is make people uncomfortable).

Downtime:

1 Heat, for a total of 4.

Gloves: Reduces Stress (by 1), and reduces Heat (by 2). At Constance’s urging, Gloves spends some time cultivating a connection to Alexander, one of the guards at Ironhook (7 slices to go).

Boots: Almost finishes the project to upgrade the Lampblacks (1 slice to go), and Trains Personal.

Constance: Reduces Heat (by 2, clearing it), and Trains Personal.

Kamali: Trains Prowess and Personal.

Shade: Researches the ritual for Kelyr (2 slices left), and Trains Personal.

Gears: Finishes the project to shore up the factory’s defenses (the Dolls’ lair now has the first level of the Secure upgrade)

The crew earns 5 Coin for the Drug Dens at the Moon’s Daughter, and another 5 Coin for the boxing club (lucky rolls, and no Heat).

Jezelle appears to Kamali, looking frantically for Shade. She says she’s found Quellyn.

Notes:

The dice really loved the players this time. We had at least two crits, and at least two 6s.

On the downside, we are losing Boots’ & Gloves’ player after this session. I am going to continue to run for the other two players, and I’ll treat Boots & Gloves as expert Cohorts.

#dontmesswiththedolls

The Porcelain Dolls: Session 35 (September 14 2016)

Aftermath of the Moon’s Daughter and the City Records Contact jobs:

1 Heat, since they leaned on Edmund Bain a little.

Constance: Works on getting the Lampblacks into shape (3 slices), and trains Personal.

Kamali: Reduces Stress twice, and trains Prowess.

Shade: Reduces Stress, and researches the ritual to help Kelyr.

Gears: Starts a project to make the factory Secure, and gets 2 slices out of 8.

Boots: Works on training the former Lampblacks (1 slice), and trains Prowess and raises Wreck (by using Baszo’s cannon to help with the construction that is going on in the area).

There is 6 Coin in the vaults, so Constance encourages everyone to Stash 1 each.

Constance meets with Shade’s prospective back room employees, and sees they are all fairly solid. She puts Guiseppe in charge of them due to his increased experience.

The crew is informed that the Gondoliers have taken control of the hagfish farm.

Gloves’s Homecoming:

The whole gang is present to greet Gloves with much fanfare when he is released from Ironhook. Constance waits until they get across the bridge into Charhollow before asking what he wants to do first. He says he wants to change clothes. Once everyone is back at the factory (and Gloves has in fact changed clothes), Constance holds a meeting. The Sashes’ remaining assets are still waiting to be taken. She decides to go after the warehouse and the Inspector next.

The Boxing Club Job:

The warehouse is on a street that’s within two blocks of where Constance grew up, so she stays inside and out of sight of the Dockers, spending time with her new Cohort and directing them like a work crew to set things up as soon as possible (Gears assists with this as well). It’s a quick & dirty job this time around. They’ll have time to build a proper ring later on.

Boots begins posting up flyers advertising the opening of their new business venture all around Crow’s Foot and the surrounding neighborhoods. He’s in front of Sam’s Pub in the Docks when he’s accosted by the proprietor, the titular Sam, who says he’s running his own fighting club in the basement, and doesn’t want the competition. Boots says that Sam should meet his boss. Sam follows Boots to the warehouse, where Constance is knocking down shelves with a sledgehammer. She mentions who she is, and this doesn’t impress Sam. She mentions the Dolls, and this also doesn’t impress him (Sam doesn’t get out much, and as such, is accustomed to being the king of his own little world). Seeing that Sam won’t back down, Constance grabs him and throws him across the room, but not before he manages to get inside her first swipe and bloody her nose with a lightning quick jab to the face.

Sam and Constance fight, and it’s not one-sided. After trading blows for a while, Sam finally taps out, his face a bloody mess, but grinning from ear to ear. He says he hasn’t had that much fun in years. Constance agrees to a partnership. The Dolls will supply the venue, and Sam will provide the fighters, and they agree to split the profits 50/50 (very generous on her part). After that, Sam gets two of his guys to come in and assist with the renovations.

The inaugural event goes well (6 on engagement). Constance has a very strict policy that all bets are to go through her people, and she has Boots and the other two ex-Bluecoats keeping watch on the crowd. Boots catches one guy taking side bets, and Constance gives a warning to everyone and breaks the one of the guy’s fingers (but doesn’t kick him out. He’s perfectly welcome to keep betting so long as he sticks the to rules). Saul and Barsaba visit, and partake in the gambling, but not the fighting (maybe next time). It’s noted that several Gondoliers are also in attendance, but they do not make trouble.

Notes:

I will have to draw up a custom claim map for the Dolls, as the one on the Thieves (now Shadows) sheet doesn’t quite fit.

We’ll see what the other half of the crew is up to next time.

#dontmesswiththedolls