HEEST COMPLETE!
The Dead Setters steal the Eye of Kotar on the high seas in the I’m Still On A Boat Caper.
Last time, using Lord Scurlock’s patronage, the crew hit Tier IV and decided that’s all they needed the old vampire for. They proceeded to plan scores that would release Setarra’s children from the harbor as per their bargain with Scurlock, but this was just to allay suspicions. They’re totally going to betray him.
Their machinations started with a “two birds, one hand grenade” plan. The Setters were in a leviathan blood smuggling ring with the Cabbies, who were already moving weight for Lady Clave of the Leviathan Hunters, secretly of the Circle of Flame. They discovered Lady Clave had in her possession the Eye of Kotar, a mysterious artifact rumored to have influence over demons. Thinking they could get Clave out of the picture, recover the Eye, and grab a monopoly on the Cabbies’ distribution network, the crew smuggled themselves aboard Clave’s ship, the Sussurrus, in barrels, dwarf style.
They rolled the devil’s crit on engagement. Three sixes. The Sussurus was damaged during its last leviathan hunt and had multiple crew injuries. The Setters would have an easier time moving through the chaos and fewer sailors would be present to stop them. Furthermore, it was a lucrative hunt – 12 Coin in blood rested in the ship’s stores.
Roll20 immediately betrayed the crew, however. Group Prowl actions with a single 4 across 6-7 dice, nothing higher than 3s on resistance rolls, and so on. They got hung up in a corridor being used for medical overflow and decided the easiest way to the captains’ quarters was to simply murder the wounded sailors and the Sussurrus’ one surviving ship’s doctor. Deemo the Leech and Richter the Spider stayed behind, playing dead and pulling off a wildly successful ambush on the inevitable reinforcements. Teatime the Whisper and Raven the Hound made it to Lady Clave’s quarters. Teatime summoned a spirit, ripping the fresh firey entity from one of the poor teenage ensigns they had just killed in the prior corridor. He compelled it through Clave’s door to see what she was up to – BLAM BLAM! Two barrels of double ought electroplasmic buckshot later, Teatime learned that Clave did indeed know they were there, and his ghost helper was summarily obliterated.
Raven figured she didn’t have a triple barreled shotgun and kicked open the doors. She was faster than Clave’s first mate, a beardy Russell Crowe-looking dude who- well, he got stabbed in the face by Teatime’s psychic Krull-glaive (WHISPERS CAN CRAFT SHIT TOO AND IT IS HORRIFYING). Clave ducked behind her sturdy desk to reload as Raven winged her. The leviathan hunter captain blasted out a bridge window and flung the Eye of Kotar into the Void Sea.
#nope. Pope of Nope. Raven resisted with Resolve, calling her ghost-form hunting bird, Zeramore. The spectral avian plucked the Eye from midair and returned it to Raven’s feet, although the artifact burned Zeramore to the point she had to return home to “roost” or whatever it is ghost birds do to heal.
A meager plea from Lady Clave. A headshot from Raven. Teatime picked up the Eye of Kotar, safely bound inside a chain-wrapped pendant and glowing like the sun in the ghost field.
“It’s so bright you have to look away. ‘Bright’ doesn’t do it justice. You don’t have the words for it. Your ‘sun’ isn’t bright enough – you can’t even draw a parallel.”
Deemo used her stock of hand grenades to scuttle the Sussurrus and the crew raced against time to load the blood harvest onto their own vessel, the Colossus. Remember, kids: Loot, then burn.
~~~
It was a good session. Ups and downs from the dice, a complex plan handwaved by engagement with a simple execution during play. The guys are Tier IV and I’m trying to keep that in mind. Two sessions ago they’d have been looking for fine equipment and pushing themselves to match up with the Sussurrus’ crew, but they were on equal footing now and often stacked the situation in their favor. Richter almost trauma’d out thanks to a resistance roll that should’ve been a gimme, but he had special armor. Everyone continues to burn stress like gasoline.
I love how Rep gains changed during the quickstart to final version. Their advancement feels much better to me.
I feel like we’re in an endgame, like the inevitable Lord Scurlock job could be the series finale? Deemo’s on her way to making herself a hull, Raven could probably safely become a Reconciled should she die, and Teatime? 3 Traumas and Lifestyle 4. He’s setting himself up to usurp Scurlock.
~~~
Post-credits scene!
Back at Tinriver House, Teatime attunes to the Eye of Kotar. It’s a six, of course. The polished, eyeball-sized stone artifact shows Teatime how to use it. It grants the Compel ability but for demons, not just spirits. It gives a vague sense of when supernatural forces are around. And it only works if it’s sitting in an eye socket.
Teatime doesn’t even hesitate. He presses the Eye into his own and the stone burns away his eye, vitreous running and smoking down his face. He doesn’t cry out.
#heestcomplete