Blades in the Dark G+ Archives

In our version of Duskwall…

I love those creative spaces Harper creates for groups to fill, making every game unique. So I wanted to ask you about those little details that make Duskwall your own. Care to share?

In our version of Duskwall…”

* Red Sashes have an “eastern” look, the Temple of the Path of Echoes have a pagoda-like architecture and the duelists live in a “dojo” but they use more middle eastern outfits and duel techniques.

   ** Each “dojo” is protected by an ancestral sword that holds a sliver of each swordmaster that has wielded it ( #theMalkavs  stole one).

   ** The Temple of the Path of Echoes is protected by armor animated by the spirits of brave iruvian warriors bound by ghost locks.

* The Leaky Bucket is a neutral ground for all factions to share. It’s also a melting pot for people around the isles to gather, iruvian lanterns hang beside sevorian witch-candles and electric lights. Currently the tavern is composed of three different buildings, one original and two annexed. Its neutrality is sponsored by the Crows.

   ** Only has female waitresses.

   ** It is owned by Lorette. 

   ** It has an exclusive gambling table placed under a stuffed crow. 

   ** It’s the only area where prostitutes can work independently inside Crow’s Foot, otherwise they work for the Lampblacks or else…

* All spirit masks look the same, making it hard to recognize Whispers.

* There is a secret net of canals under Crow’s Foot only Gondolier knew. A crew of smugglers working for the Lampblacks have stolen a map picturing this net. The Hive have purchased another map from the Gondoliers, and are pushing for complete hold. 

   ** After midnight the spirits start haunting the waters, and a Whisper is needed to navigate safely the hidden canals. 

  ** Duskwall waters are filled with the bodies. Thousands of spirits dating before the Cataclysm plague the depths but are bound to the water. Falling to the canals is a death sentence. Bodies disappear never to be seen again.  

   ** With the help of the Gondoliers the Hive has set a series of secret caches in the crypts below Crow’s Foot, that can be accessed though the abandoned canals below the city and some sewers.

* Hive workers can be identified by their yellow girdles. 

* Iruvia has (or had) a royal family. The old painting #theMalkavs  stole numbers at least 20. 

* There’s a haunted library at the end of Narrow st. 

   ** it stores ancient documents from the first days after the Cataclysm. The Grimoire of Saint Vestine is among them.

   ** the Grimoire holds the spirit of St. Vestine. Thanks to #TheWarts  It is now in possession of Vladimir Kristov, a successful historian and novelist.   

   ** It is run by six possessed librarians occupied by five spirits. They can be recognize by their height, grey robes and beards and blue fire lamps. 

   ** it is warded by runes that alert the whisper librarian. 

* the City Watch won’t bring order to Crow’s Foot until the war between the Lampblacks and Red Sashes ends, making it a haven for criminal pursuits. 

* the Wester Family, a low ranking noble house with people on the Council paint themselves as extravagant and occult.

   **Lady Remira Wester stages illegal seances with smuggled electroplasm, charging a fee to any noblemen who wants to take part on their depraved parties.

   **All noblemen are talking about the mysterious Madame La Mort (actually #theMalkavs   disguised as medium performers) and the last seance at Remira’s house where the murderous spirit of Lord Veleris Wester manifested and threatened the guests. 

      ***Lord Veleris is pissed. 

               ** Lord Veleris has being enslaved by Lovelia the Whisper and now acts as her personal murder-ghost. 

   ** Now with proof Inspector Morlan can raid Lady Remira’s house and bring her decadent clients to justice.  

          * Inspector Emeric Morlan is bound by bureaucratic red tape. The Wester family has some important connections among judges and councilmen. There is a trial waiting for happen. 

          * #theMalkavs  discovered that the Morlan family has some kind of grudge against the Westers. 

* There’s a ghostly information net that Whispers can consult, not too different from eavesdropping rumors. The dead can talk.

   ** Using this net opens up your mind to any ghostly influence up there. You are easier to find by vengeful spirits in there. 

* Being attacked by ghosts deals both ethereal and physic damage.

   ** Lovelia has a beautiful frostbite scar on her chest to show it. Whispers can be recognized by this kind of marks.

* There is a race of Time Daemons charged with regulating the time flow in the material world. This are atemporal beings, invisible to most humans. Not inherently evil nor benign. 

   ** Time Daemons are depicted as lions wearing iron crowns. 

   ** One of these demons occupies an ancient mausoleum in the city graveyard. 

         *** The trapped time-daemon reached out to Nienna, warning her of dark times to come, implying that there is another time-daemon on the lose and alerting her to keep an eye for the house of clocks. 

* There is a Deathland Scavengers warehouse on Crow’s Foot stacked with haunted items and rogue spirits.

   ** the Deathland Scavengers brought an idol from the Brokend Lands that holds a daemon, it is now trapped by a seal drawn by a whisper of #theWarts  

      * the seal was designed by Roethe, a demon in disguise, and can be only broken by him.

   ** there is a possessed broken-wolf on the lose. It became known as “The Wolf of Crow’s Foot.”

            * Acaste, high priestess of the Forgotten Gods thinks that this wolf is a servant sent by the Lord of Beasts to empower the cult and is trying to capture it. 

            * The wolf is actually possessed by numerous ghosts. Warped and corrupted it haunts the streets of Crow’s Foot. 

* The cult of The Forgotten Gods is a syncretistic religion that merges divinities, spirits and gods from before the Cataclysm.

   ** It is mainly a death cult, focusing on the those elements of the old religions. There is no single God of Death, but all gods are different aspects of death itself.

   ** The cult is run as a matriarchy. 

I will update this post after more play.