Transcribed by Michelle Kelly (@Michellicopter)
##Intro
Rhi: Hello and welcome to this Patreon-exclusive bonus episode. This was one of the sessions we played before official podcast recording began. It’s the story behind the ‘hitting two gangs in one night’ score that’s been referenced a couple times throughout the show. I was definitely still getting the hang of GMing Blades at this point. Special shout-out to Josie for helping to edit this episode. There’s no stinger for this one, so I’m just gonna do the credits now.
The Magpies podcast is GMed and produced by Rhi. Follow me on Twitter @rhiannon42.
Minx is played by Josie. Follow her on Twitter @DragonGirlJosie.
Myra Keel is played by Minna. Follow her on Twitter @mynaminnarr.
And Phin Haig in played by Madge. Follow her on Twitter @madgequips.
The Blades in the Dark roleplay system is the creation of John Harper and is published by Evil Hat Productions.
Now then. Let’s get started, shall we?
##Story begins [00.01.05]
Rhi: So, it’s been probably about a week since your last score. You guys might have done some little smaller things here and there, but nothing real big since then. Earlier this morning, when you guys were getting up, Blaire came down form her room with a big satchel on her back that made some clanking sounds and said that she had some personal stuff she was gonna take care of today and that, you know, she’d be back within the day. But— and then she took off before you could ask too many questions about where she was going or why is her satchel making those sounds.
Minna and Josie: [laugh]
Rhi: You guys have made your way, uh, to the Hound’s Paw, as is your custom, hanging out at your normal table, and I realized I forgot to described what Rigney looks like last time we played, and I’ll— I’m gonna have to give another description, I’ll repeat this description when we’re actually recording for the podcast, but for now, I’ll tell you what he looks like.
So, he is tall, very dark skin, dark brown eyes, has got extremely long black hair that is done in like, dozens of tiny little braids that hang to his waist. And he usually has these, like, um, different colored silk ribbons kind of wrapped around and intertwined with the braids. And you guys have only ever seen him wear pinstripe pants and vest and a button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Like, it’s different pinstripe pants and vest or shirts, but that’s the only thing that he ever seems to wear. And he usually has a silk handkerchief in colors that match whatever his ribbons are on a given day. He’s a very stylish dude.
You guys are hanging out at your table, I imagine this is probably, like, early afternoon, so there’s not a big crowd, there’s only a few other kinda regulars hanging around a this point. Rigney’s at the bar. He kinda, like, he perks up a little when you guys come in and waves, but he hasn’t come over to the tale yet. He seems to be getting your regular drinks together.
Josie (as Minx): Now listen, dears. I am trying to put some effort into the aesthetic of my room, but how awesome would it be if we coordinated the look of The Nest?
Madge (as Phin): Why would we do that, though?
Minna (as Myra): What if we brought clients by?
Madge (as Phin): Would clients be— I don’t see why clients would be in my room. If certain clients were into that sort of thing, I wouldn’t oppose…
[laughter]
Madge (as Phin): But they aren’t exactly banging down our door to see our bedrooms.
Josie (as Minx): Right, but it’s important for the mood of the place so we’re all in the proper mindset, you understand. One term I’ve heard for it, uh, I’m not sure what nation this comes from, is Feng Shui. It’s important to have everything—
Josie: [laughs]
Josie (as Minx): Arranged properly so that the energy of the place is conducive to our work.
Madge (as Phin): My energy is just fine.
Minna (as Myra): I’m not sure I’ve ever heard that energy is changed with furnishings, but I guess you would prefer to live in aesthetically pleasing quarters, wouldn’t you?
Josie (as Minx): Of course. Who would not?
Minna (as Myra): I mean, I don’t much mid.
Josie (as Minx): You all should raise your standards a bit. We are doing this for a reason.
Madge (as Phin): For money.
Josie (as Minx): Right. So we need standards.
Minna (as Myra): For stability.
Josie (as Minx): Yes.
Madge (as Phin): I want to be so rich that no one cares what I look like.
Josie (as Minx): Admirable, admirable. But how will anyone know you’re rich?
Madge (as Phin): Clothes.
Minna (as Myra): They’ll know my name.
Josie (as Minx): Lots of people know lots of people’s names. That doesn’t mean you’re rich.
Madge (as Phin): I know there’s a bar down the street where everyone knows your name.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: No.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: Cheers to that one, though.
Madge: [laughs]
Rhi: I think on that, Rigney comes over and says:
Rhi (as Rigney): Yeah, but their drink prices suck.
Rhi: He sets out your drinks and picks up his tray and kinda— he sets up the three drinks and is holding a fourth and belatedly realizes that Blaire isn’t with you.
Rhi (as Rigney): Oh, you’re short one. Where’s Blaire?
Madge (as Phin): That’s a very good question that we don’t know the answer to. She likes doing her own thing.
Rhi (as Rigney): Hmm. Alright.
Rhi: Looks at the drink and shrugs, takes a sip of it.
Rhi (as Rigney): Well, tell her hi when— tell her I said hi when you see her. You three still looking for work?
Josie (as Minx): Always.
Rhi (as Rigney): Well, one thing that might be of interest to you. The Grinders up in the Docks recently took a huge shipment of weapons in. Probably using it to arm their people back in Skovlan. But the Billhooks have caught wind of this and well, they figure they could make use of those weapons a little closer to home. Word is that pretty soon, maybe even tonight, there’s gonna be some kinda big raid from the Billhooks. Raid like that’s gonna leave both their headquarters pretty undefended if you wanted to help yourself to whatever they might have left behind.
Rhi: Phin, your family’s from the Docks. Is your family still there?
Madge: Yes. You got any news on where that brawl’s gonna be?
Rhi: [laughs] You’re so— you’re so suspicious.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: “Yes, my family’s still alive. Why are you asking?”
Rhi (as Rigney): Well, probably the Billhooks will be hitting the Grinders at their headquarters. I mean, I don’t think it’s gonna get out to the Docks proper, but everybody probably ought to keep their heads down some.
Josie (as Minx): Blast. If we still had our one more, it would be pretty easy to split and hit both.
Rhi (as Rigney): Well, don’t get too over-ambitious. You guys, you three— four, when the other one’s here, are good customers. Hate to lose you to the butchers up there.
Rhi: So, Phin knows both of those groups because they are both some of the groups that have, like, shaken down her family at various points. The Grinders, not so much. The Grinders are a group of Skovlan refugees who have come to Duskwall in an attempt to basically get money and supplies and arms to start basically a revolution against Imperial rule in Skovlan. And, you know, the most efficient way of getting any of that is crime. So, they’re basically acting as another gang, but a lot of the stuff they acquire gets funneled across the sea back to Lockport, the city they hail from.
The Billhooks you have a bit more of a history with. They are a native Duskwall gang, basically just a bunch of mercenaries, street toughs, they do a lot of breaking and entering, violent raids on other gangs, they tend to— like, they’re usually arm— their headquarters is a slaughterhouse and they’re usually armed with like, weaponized meat hooks and they have, uh, specially-trained attack dogs. And they have specifically have come around and like, threatened your family for protection money.
Madge: Okay.
Rhi: So yes. So Rigney takes another sip of the drink he’d brought over for Blaire and says:
Rhi (as Rigney): Anyway, I figured you might be interested. If you do go poking around either of these places, be careful. They’re, you know, neither of them are pushovers. And he takes his tray and heads back to bar.
Madge (as Phin): He says that like I’m not already aware of how pushy they get.
Josie: Do we have any positive history with the Grinders?
Rhi: Uh, no. You guys don’t really have any kind of relationship with either one of them.
Josie: Okay. Well, Phin might be slightly against them, right?
Madge: More than slightly. [laughs]
Rhi: She’s not super fond of either group, but if there’s one that she’s more opposed to, it would be the Billhooks.
Madge: Speaking personally, I can definitely see Phin having gotten in fights with the Billhooks already on her own time. So…
Rhi: Yeah. So, other things that Phin would know about the Billhooks. They make most of their money through, like, animal fighting pits and gambling dens. And extortion, which again, you’ve been on the receiving end of. They also have a habit of when they have— they will kill people to make a point and will leave the bodies out to send a message. And what’s weird is that, like, that’s the kinda thing that even The Bluecoats should be addressing. Like, just leaving bodies out is kind of, like, that’s unseemly. But The Bluecoats very rarely do anything about it.
Minna: Not just unseemly. I mean, dangerous.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: [laughs] To the city.
Rhi: Yeah. I mean, people come along to collect the bodies, usually, before any kind of ghosts get out. But yeah, the Bluecoats tend to just let the Billhooks do what they want in that area, even if the Bluecoats will come down on other gangs. So yeah, that is what you know about them, and, yeah, I think it’s perfectly reasonable that, like, Phin has had some individual run-ins with low-level members of the gang.
Madge: Yeah. And like, at this point, Phin is like, her stance, her posture has changed very dramatically from just lounging back in her seat to leaning against the table with the foot going, bouncing up and down.
Josie (as Minx): I must say, I’m not a fan of these Billhooks either. They seem to have style, but no class.
Madge (as Phin): If you could call what they have ‘style’.
Josie (as Minx): I mean, they do seem to have a unified aesthetic. You’ve gotta applaud them on that.
Madge (as Phin): You know, murder and brutality and all that, but— fashionable. Fashionable.
Josie (as Minx): I didn’t say fashionable. I said coordinated.
Minna (as Myra): Not sure I’d call that style.
Madge (as Phin): Either way, if you all want to work on scouting out their safehouses, I can scout out the Docks and find some good places to keep people safe. I can even, I don’t know, if I can find one or two or them lurking around, I can take care of them. You know, dwindle the numbers.
Minna (as Myra): Wait, you’re trying to go on your own to the Docks?
Madge (as Phin): They’re my home turf. I know them well.
Minna (as Myra): I know, but we’ve just heard that they’re going to be dangerous there, I mean, I understand you wanting to warn a couple people, but I don’t think you should get mixed up in it.
Madge (as Phin): Would one of you like to come with me then?
Josie (as Minx): Eh, the Docks do not tend to be my favorite area.
Madge (as Phin): Mm hmm. I wouldn’t wanna ruin your skirt, so I’m fine going alone if you two wanna do your own thing.
Josie (as Minx): Thank you for your concern.
Minna (as Myra): What’s your plan? I mean, how are you keeping you head down? How are you getting out of there?
Madge (as Phin): Um… well, we have our passages under the city, right? We can use those to get in and out. So, I can go down there, hit the businesses that are most prominent, start spreading the word. I can meet you back at The Nest by noon, maybe?
Minna (as Myra): Okay. As long as it’s a daytime operation, I feel better about it.
Madge (as Phin): Maybe a little later if I get… yeah. I can get it done by nightfall at the very latest, if I get sidetracked.
Rhi: So, just to make sure I’m clear, Phin’s plan is to get in to warn some people, maybe do a little information gathering and maybe even pick off a couple people?
Madge: Yeah, some punching would be nice.
Rhi: Okay. There will be punching at some point, but okay.
Josie: I really wanna figure out the way to hit both of them at once.
Minna: Oh God. [laughs] Let’s not bite off more than we can chew.
Rhi: I mean, you could, you know, try to Gather Information as well. If you don’t wanna go to the Docks yourself, you could talk to people, see if there’s anybody you know who might be able to help you out there. But let’s start with Phin. Yeah, you’re ale to— like you said, the docks are your turf. I mean— they’re not your turf.
Madge: They’re not my turf turf, I’ve just— I was just born and raised, yeah.
Rhi: Are there any shops in particular you wanna hit?
Madge: Um, I know I wanna hit my parents and one other shop. Like, whatever the biggest after them would be. Cause I imagine after I jumped in on behalf of my family, business sorta rose there a bit, because, you know these are the people who stood up to the extortionists and all that.
Rhi: Okay. So, tell me about your family so I can appropriately play one of them.
Madge: Oh cool. Yeah, so, man, I think Phin actually comes from a moderately big family. At least, yeah, at least six people outside of herself. They’re all sort of built the same way as her, they’re all pretty stocky and sturdy. None of them are taller than six feet tall. They’re very blunt people. Like, they’re the kind of people who don’t say much, but when they do talk, it counts and they don’t mince words. So, she’s got a mother, a father, she’s got two older brothers, a sister that’s younger than her by about a year and then two even younger siblings.
Rhi: Okay. Alright. So yeah, you head into the shop and we’ll say that your younger sister is the one who is responsible for minding the shop today. Most everybody else is out on the boat. She is, I think, when you come in she is wrapping up in brown paper, you know, some fish that have been purchased.
Rhi (as Phin’s Sister): Here you go, Miss Bowman. Uh, I’ll see you next week.
Rhi: And the woman who lives in the neighborhood, pretty regular customer, turns around and leaves and kinda gives you that, like, neighborly nod of “Oh hey, I know you,” as she leaves. And then Una looks up and:
Rhi (as Una): How can I— [gasps] Phin!
Madge (as Phin): Hey, Una.
Madge: I picture she’d been, like, leaning against the doorframe while this was all going on. She like, pushes herself off and starts heading over.
Madge (as Phin): How’ve things been down here?
Rhi (as Una): Uh, pretty good. You know, they usual. Um, almost everybody else is out on the boat today. We’ve been doing good. The fishing’s been pretty good, been fewer fights since you left.
Madge (as Phin): [laughs] Well, sorry to say that’s gonna change soon. The Billhooks are gonna be causing some trouble down here tonight. I came to start spreading the word.
Rhi (as Una): When aren’t they? Okay, um, I mean, do you know where at? Like, is it gonna be around here?
Madge (as Phin): My contact didn’t say it would reach this far, but knowing how messy they can get, I would start spreading the word that people stay indoors tonight, or out on their boats.
Rhi (as Una): Okay. Well, we’ll probably stay out on the boat. It’s safer there.
Madge (as Phin): Yeah.
Rhi (as Una): I’ll let people know. [sighs] How— are you doing okay?
Madge (as Phin): I mean, I’m doing fine. I’m not dead, which is better than could be expected for me. I found some people, you know? We’re doing pretty well for ourselves. We’re starting to build up a reputation, I think. Soon I’ll be able to make some real change.
Rhi (as Una): That’s good. I just… hope you keep staying not dead.
Madge (as Phin): That’s the plan.
Rhi (as Una): Alright. [sighs] Well, thanks for letting me know. And I’ll let everybody else know, too.
Madge (as Phin): And, you know, tell Mom and Dad that I will try to stop by more.
Rhi (as Una): Okay.
Rhi: And the, like, bell over the door chimes as somebody else comes in and she like, straightens up into customer service mode.
Rhi (as Una): Oh hi, what can I get for you?
Rhi: And she gives you a— yeah [laughs] Gives you a little wave as she turns her attention to the new person.
Madge: I will take my leave.
Rhi: The family has been notified and they will spread the word. For the other merchant you wanna talk to, why don’t you roll a… why don’t we go with Consort? Okay. Yeah, mostly just to kind of see, like, how far word spreads there.
Madge: Yep, okay. So that’ll be me rolling two and taking the lower.
Rhi: Okay.
Madge: Yeah. So, 2. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. So yeah, you talk to one of the other merchants that you know in the area and they’re kinda like:
Rhi (as Merchant): Oh yeah, Billhooks again…
Rhi: And they say that they’ll spread the word around. You just kinda have to trust that they will do that. So, let’s hop over to Minx.
Josie: Well, first of all, I have a plan I want to discuss with everyone.
Rhi: Oh.
Madge: Ooh.
Josie: I really wanna see if we can do this. So, what we could do is go to one of their gangs after scouring out their opposition’s place and be like, “Hey, we have this way in here if you wanna make use of it during the ensuing chaos,” essentially give them the pitch we just got and be like, “We’ll give you this information if you just give us a cut.”
Minna: Oh! So, we wanna go to neither the Billhooks or the other guys, but someone else in the matrix of people who are opposed to them?
Josie: Oh no, I was talking about two in the network. But we could bring in a third party, yeah, and just while they’re hitting one gang’s place, we hit the other. So we get like, one and a half lair’s worth of stuff.
Rhi: So you’re thinking either tell The Grinders about this secret way into the Billhook’s lair in exchange for a cut and then you go behind the Bill— The Grinders back and raid their place, or tell a third party and try to get them involved.
Josie: Exactly.
Rhi: Okay. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs] Cause it would just be a lot of rep to come away from this job having fixed two gangs instead of one.
Minna: Yeah.
Madge: That would be really fun.
Josie: [laughs] That’s sort of the stupid daring audacity thing that—
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: Would get us a lot of [laughs] clout.
Minna: I feel like the unconventional is definitely our kinda thing.
Rhi: Yeah, yeah. I can’t argue with that, even as I’m kind of like, internally crying at the thought of bringing in another faction into this. But if that is what you guys wanna go, I will make it work.
Josie: The third party option is intriguing. Is there another faction we would trust enough?
Minna: My thought was that— I thought the Grinders, their HQ is already gonna be attacked by Billhooks, right? And we just know that the Billhooks’ place is empty.
Rhi: Right.
Josie: Oh, okay. I thought they were going out and having— it’s just the Billhooks that are—
Rhi: Yeah, the Billhooks place is gonna be empty, but the Grinders are gonna be, like, distracted by these people kicking down the door. So like, if you guys wanted to— where is the Grinders? Okay. I was looking up where their headquarters were.
Josie: We could try to lure the Grinders out a bit so that they both fight in the open, and then filch two of them.
Minna: So you’re thinking of setting someone else on The Billhooks place and sending us to the Grinders, or the other way around?
Josie: Well, if we’re bringing in a third party, either or. But I think we don’t like the Billhooks as much.
Minna: Yeah.
Madge: Billhooks suck.
Josie: So like, the more heat we can bring down on them, the better.
Madge: Mm hmm.
Rhi: So, I’m gonna assume you guys are kind of discussing this in character and I have an in— a proposition. If you wanted to do this, and this could also potentially be a luring people out into the open, The Bluecoats are an ally of The Billhooks and an enemy of The Grinders. I’m not sure if that is information that you guys could use?
Josie: We could essentially sell out The Grinders to get The Bluecoats to come down on them. Like, give them information in exchange for, you know, payment. And then we just hit the Billhooks while they’re doing that. Although that would probably, like, do a really bad thing to The Grinders because they’d have two coming down on them at the same time.
Minna: I feel like we’d have to get something on The Billhooks first. So we’re trying to basically provoke a double raid on the— I mean, sorry, on The Grinders, we have to get something on The Grinders.
Josie: Mm hmm. Which, I mean, we could just try to do…
Minna: I love that—[laughs] under the enemies of The Billhooks it just lists the entire citizenry of Crow’s Foot and the Docks.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Everybody who lives in those neighborhoods hates them.
Madge: Oh my gosh.
Minna: Wait. Are we taking the Docks— I mean, are we taking the Dock people to anywhere specific, or are they just finding their own place to go?
Rhi: They’re finding their own places.
Minna: Okay.
Rhi: Like, they are, particularly in the Docks, they’re accustomed to this sort of thing. They usually don’t have advance warning, so like, knowing about it ahead of time is a nice perk, but yeah, they all know when shit starts going down in the street to like, lock the doors and stay away from windows for when things inevitably start getting thrown. And now people have a chance to like, go out on their boats.
Josie: Okay. I suppose just the remaining question for those who are somewhat inclined, I am somewhat sympathetic to The Grinders cause. Not so much as to avoid taking their fancy furniture, but…
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: I mean, we could straight-up just raid The Billhooks. That’s an option. May I propose an ally in raiding The Billhooks?
Josie: Well, if we’re only hitting one, I think we should just take everything for ourselves because they’re not gonna be there in force anyway.
Minna: I guess if we had one person raiding one place and us raiding another it makes the most sense to me that we would raid The Grinders. I think a person who doesn’t care about us would feel like we’ve led them into a trap if we sent them to get The Grinders.
Rhi: Yeah, cause the Grinders is where things are gonna be real messy.
Josie: But at the same time, we’re only three in a place for only— where something would be really messy. Like, the self-preservation approach would probably be going after the Billhooks, because it’ll be less chaotic. But you’re right, trying to sell someone on like…
Minna: Yeah, I don’t think we’re gonna get anybody to raid The Grinders for us.
Josie: Okay. Well— okay. This is Blades in the Dark. We don’t need to come up with a specific plan. But, you know, it is more daring and stylish to pull off a heist in the middle of that fucking chaos.
Minna: Right, that’s really a fun idea. Which is why I’m not immediately shooting it down. [laughs] Especially because we have some ability to get in there, or get near there unseen.
Josie: Right. And then we just essentially pay someone half or three quarters of the loot of The Billhooks to go in there and bring a bunch of stuff back for us.
Minna: Um, it looks like Ulf Ironborn is an ally of The Grinders and an enemy of The Billhooks?
Rhi: Yes he is. He is, um—
Minna: He may not trust us, though, [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, he is a Skovlander who has recently— he is a refugee of the Unity War, recently arrived in Duskwall. He’s basically started a small gang. He’s like, just— he’s only a step up from where you guys are. And he’s basically been doing, you know, like smash and grabs, protection racket type things. But the Grinders have like, a focus to what they’re doing in terms of Skovlan. He’s just angry. He doesn’t really have an aim in terms of what he’s doing other than acquiring more power and beating the shit out of anybody who mistreats Skovlanders.
Minna: Mind you, there may be a number of them in say, Crow’s Foot and the Docks who have been on The Billhooks bad side. That’s the only person I can see who may, might help us. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. However, like, this is true that if you, like, were to go to him and give him a heads up that The Billhook’s place is gonna be standing empty tonight, you know, it’s a good option for an ally there, I’d say. So yeah, do you guys wanna go and have a nice chat with Ulf?
Madge: Yep.
Rhi: He is usually found, like, kind of his main headquarters is The Old Forge Tavern, just across the river in— oh, I put him in Coalridge. Yeah, cause his enemies are the citizens of Coalridge who he’s been terrorizing. There was a logic to that decision, past me.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. It is up to you if you guys wanna do any kind of advanced scouting?
Josie: Yeah, I feel like a Survey roll can’t really hurt us.
Minna: Can I do a Gathering information to kind of apply to both operations? Like, if I say, go to Jeren to look for city plans that might help with either of them?
Rhi: Yeah, sure.
Minna: So that’s probably what I’m gonna end up doing.
Rhi: Okay.
Minna: I think it’d be study, maybe? Because I don’t think I have to Consort to get archive stuff from Jeren, do I?
Rhi: To get the information from him, to get him to give that is probably Consort.
Minna: Nice.
Rhi: Daaaamn!
Minna: Oh!
Rhi: Okay, so that is a critical success. So, he is gonna— okay, so tell me, where do you meet up with Jeren?
Minna: I don’t know why I picture him having like a little office, like a little dark office in the warrens of whatever dusty archive thing he’s in.
Rhi: Yeah, so it’s probably, it’s gonna be a Bluecoat office. Station, that’s the word I’m thinking of. It’s a Bluecoat station. But yeah, he just has like a little tiny cubby-hole of an office that you can head into. So, he is sitting at his desk surrounded by books. It’s dusty. Just kind of, you know, sitting there, running his finger down a page as he reads and like, with his other hand is jotting down some notes without really looking at the notebook. He does not notice when you come in.
Minna: You know, you really gotta keep your eyes open.
Rhi (as Jeren): Myra, you can’t scare me like that! I almost spilled my inkwell.
Rhi: And he very pointedly, like, caps it and sets his quill down.
Rhi (as Jeren): [sighs]
Rhi: He’s acting huffy, but he’s like, smiling as he sees you.
Rhi (as Jeren): Come on in. What, uh, what brings you here?
Minna: Myra nudges the door shut with her heel. Takes a seat.
Minna (as Myra): So, I think I might take a little skim through the archives? Looking for some city plans, preferably, you know, buildings near to— well, there’s a couple places I’m looking at. City plans for the Docks.
Rhi: So, it’s both of the places are the Docks and you can tell— yeah, you can tell him basically the block around the Billhooks’ slaughterhouse and then the Grinders, their headquarters is an abandoned warehouse on The Docks. So you can like, tell him the block or the blocks that each of those is on. And you say that and he goes:
Rhi (as Jeren): Oh, uh, you’re in luck. I was actually just doing some research on The Docks today.
Rhi: And he like, pulls up a, like, a scroll tube basically. Pops it open and rolls it out.
Rhi (as Jeren): Yeah, we’ve been updating the street plans for the patrols, so this is freshly updated just a couple days ago from the reports. I just out the finishing touches on it today. So, here is the first block you asked about and here is the second, the warehouse district.
Rhi: You can study these. He just like, he doesn’t let you take the scroll with you, but he’s got a chair across from his desk. He just hands it to you and is like:
Rhi (as Jeren): You can look at this for as long as you want.
Rhi: Will give you paper to make notes if you ask for it. But basically, you are able to study these areas and get very updated information on not only kind of what is in the area, but where The Bluecoat patrols are, where power lines for the lights, for the electroplasmic lighting runs, there are notes on a number of buildings about what kind of security systems they have. This is highly detailed information.
Minna (as Myra): You are a beautiful, beautiful man, Jeren.
Rhi: He kind of like stammers and rubs the back of his neck.
Minna: She’s less careful with her tongue around him than pretty much anyone else.
Rhi: Yeah. Yeah. It’s just, he’s just kinda like:
Rhi (as Jeren): Oh gosh. Glad I could help and, uh, even more glad to not know why you need this.
Rhi: And he starts rolling the map back up.
Minna (as Myra): I would never curse you with that knowledge. Good luck with whatever it is you’re doing.
Rhi (as Jeren): Updating the maps for Charterhall. So, if you need those in a few days, let me know.
Minna (as Myra): That is good information to have.
Rhi: Alright, so you basically have extremely detailed information about the area surrounding both of your target areas.
Minna: He’s a good friend to have. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, well, narratively that critical was perfect.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: So yeah, do you guys wanna go chat with Ulf now?
Josie: Let’s do that. My Ulfric Stormcloak over here.
Rhi: [laughs] That’s what I always think of whenever I see his name. It’s Ulf Ironborn, but I always think of Ulf Stormcloak from Skyrim, which I imagine was picked because it’s the same, like, vaguely Nordic name. But yeah, so his headquarters are at The Old Forge Tavern in Coalridge, which is not a great area of the city, as Myra would be able to tell you.
Minna: Yep. Grew up around there. It’s where the downtrodden poor of the workhouses live.
Rhi: Yeah, this is where the factories are, there used to be a coalmine here— well, I think, has it reopened? Yeah, there’s a huge coalmine in this area, so there’s a lot of factories and a lot of miners. It’s not a great place to hang out. But yeah, you guys head to the tavern. By this point in the day, it’s getting a little more in towards late afternoon, early evening, so there’s a bit more of a crowd. But even so, you are able to locate Ulf immediately because he has— he’s basically holding court on the back wall. He’s got a big table, kinda, you know, his posse around him, they are loudly throwing back drinks and eating.
You guys also realize as you step in that you are among the very few non-Skovlanders in here. And nobody like, says anything initially when you guys come in, but you can tell people are watching you. And as you make your way towards the back where Ulf is just kind of, sort of out of the corners of your eyes, a pair of two individuals, a man and a woman, very tall and basically walls of muscle just kind of step in front of you, arms folded. And the woman says:
Rhi (as Skovlan Woman): And where do you think you’re going?
Josie (as Minx): We have information about a born opportunity to strike against an enemy of Skovlan.
Rhi: She narrows her eyes at you and then kind of glances at the guy. She like, glances at the guy and then looks back at you.
Rhi (as Skovlan Woman): I think anything that you have to say, I can pass along.
Josie (as Minx): But would you in turn be able to relay information back? I think not. This is time sensitive, you understand.
Rhi (as Skovlan Woman): How time sensitive?
Josie (as Minx): As in a few hours at most.
Rhi: Raises an eyebrow.
Rhi (as Skovlan Woman): And who might these enemies be?
Josie (as Minx): A certain gang looking to stifle the revolution, of course. The Billhooks.
Rhi: Her eyes narrow again and she, like, looks over her shoulder.
Rhi (as Skovlan Woman): Wait here.
Rhi: And she goes over to the table. The guy just like, takes her place standing directly in front of you and just, arms folded, staring silently. If you lean over you can see around this guy to the table where the woman goes up to Ulf and leans over and talks to him quietly. They exchange a few words and then he nods. She comes back over and taps the guy on the shoulder. He steps aside and she says:
Rhi (as Skovlan Woman): You can speak to him. But we are watching you and if you make so much as one move that we read as hostile, you will not be walking out that door.
Josie (as Minx): Well, thank you for your time and your scrutiny.
Rhi: Yeah, so she, like, leads you guys over to the tale and most of Ulf’s crowd has settled down a bit. He’s a guy who looks to be in his mid-late thirties. Still very bright red hair that’s pulled back in a ponytail, leather armor over kind of worn clothes, has a very large knife very obviously strapped to his hip. The rest of the people around him kinda quiet down as you guys come over and he leans forward.
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): So, I hear you have some information on The Billhooks?
Josie (as Minx): Indeed we do.
Minna (as Myra): Can we trust these people around you?
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): These are men and women who’ve fought with me against that kinda scum before, so yeah. Trust them more than you.
Minna: Are there empty seats?
Rhi: No.
Minna: Okay. [laughs]
Rhi: [laughs] You guys are standing.
Josie (as Minx): [under her breath] How impolite. [aloud] Anyway, as you seem to be one who cuts to the chase, as you likely know, the hideout of the scum known as The Billhooks is going to be less than fully defended tonight. We, in exchange for certain favors, can provide you with a safe route in.
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): And what sort of favors would you have in mind?
Minna (as Myra): A cut.
Minna: [laughs] Sorry, Myra’s much more to the point than Minx is.
Josie: [laughs] I was trying to work my magic, thank you very much.
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): How much of a cut do you all want?
Rhi: And he has turned his attention to Myra because Myra seems to also be a much more to the point kind of person.
Minna (as Myra): Quarter of the take and you leave our calling card.
Rhi: He actually looks a little surprised and sorta straightens up a little bit and smiles and says:
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): Ah, you got sense. I thought I was gonna have to talk you down to something reasonable. Quarter of the take, and what’s your calling card?
Minna: Myra fishes out one of the pins.
Rhi: He takes it and kinda:
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): [snorts] Alright, sure. 25% and I’ll leave your little bird somewhere where they don’t miss it.
Rhi: And he holds out a hand to you.
Minna: Myra holds out a hand.
Minna (as Myra): They won’t be there. You give us a quarter of the take. Calling card.
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): Agreed.
Minna: Can I Ghost Contract that?
Rhi: Yeah you can!
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, I don’t think you have to make a roll for it, I think it’s just a thing that happens? So, tell— yeah, so tell me, like, how does that look? How does that work?
Minna: So, when you shake your hand, when you shake on a deal, you and your partner, human or otherwise, both bear a mark of your oath. Oh, I didn’t think about that, but I think it’s gonna be like a hand thing? So yeah, I think it’s just like, yeah, right above the meat of the thumb, like, a little rune appears.
Rhi: Okay. So you shake and he pulls his hand back and looks. His eyes narrow. He looks up at you.
Minna (as Myra): Plan to keep our bargain, don’t you?
Rhi: Looks back at his hand.
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): Of course.
Rhi: Kind like, he shakes his hand, almost like he’s trying to shake it off.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: He knows it won’t work, but it’s just kind of like an instinctive thing.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: So he shakes his hand and then rests his— that hand on his blade and is like:
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): Thank you for the information. I think you can see yourselves out.
Minna (as Myra): I hope we can work together in future if this goes well.
Rhi: He doesn’t say anything, just kinda glares at you.
Minna: Myra smiles.
Rhi: He’s not thrilled about… [laughs]
Minna: [giggles] He sounds pissed.
Rhi: Yeah. So I will… [laughs]
Josie (as Minx): Now, I doubt the marking was necessary. He seems relatively without guile. But the look on his face was priceless.
Madge (as Phin): [laughs]
Minna (as Myra): We’ve gotta show people not to mess with us.
Rhi: That was great.
Josie: [laughs]
Minna: Oh, retroactively, I’m going to have handed him the folded piece of paper where I did rough sketches with the information I got about the—
Rhi: Yeah, that works.
Minna: Yeah. No, I just wanted to let you know that I totally gave that to him, I’m not like— it’s a good deal. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. You are being straight with him.
Josie: Never straight, only forwards.
Rhi: [laughs] Good point. Yeah, you guys, if you wanna go like a stealth, infiltration type thing, which I’m assuming is probably what you’re gonna go for, you guys can basically, because you have such detailed information, you guys can make up an entry point that is most advantageous to you.
Josie: Ooh, awesome. I feel like it should be somewhere where no one would ever think to come in from.
Rhi: Yes.
Josie: Because its gonna be fucking chaos there, right? Like, we can’t just come in like “Oh, there’s a back door,” right?
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: They’ve probably got all that shit covered. I don’t know, as much as Minx would hate it, maybe like a sewer or a gutter?
Rhi: They have— their headquarters that’s gonna be hit is an abandoned warehouse on the Docks. They also have an underground— like, an underground dock on a canal that, if you want, we can say connects. That canal might be a little more well-known. You guys could also— an idea that I had is that this is the warehouse district, so you guys could go from rooftop to rooftop and go in through a skylight.
Minna: Eh, the assault’s on the ground, I don’t think so.
Josie: Although again, I feel like a roof might be a thing they would watch in the event of an assault.
Rhi: Yeah, just— because of the records that you have, whatever— just assume that whatever entry point you get is gonna be advantageous to you.
Minna: Can I suggest that there’s like in a warehouse— there’s like a warehouse that we can get over surprisingly easily from that’s like, has an entrance to the underground system in it, so we could like… haul anything we grab across the roof to that warehouse and take it down in there.
Rhi: Yeah. So, for the Engagement roll you guys get one for luck. Is this operation particularly bold or daring? I would say so. Does this plan’s detail expose a vulnerability of the target or hit them where they’re weakest? Yup.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: Did your friends or contacts provide aid or insight? Yup. You guys are in a really good position here. Okay, 5. So, on a 5— I can’t believe I rolled that low on 4d6, I was really expecting it to go a little better. So, that is a mixed result, you’re gonna be in a risky position when the action starts. So, the last thing I need you guys to do is pick your load.
Josie: I think I’m gonna go with my usual light load.
Madge: Yeah, I’m gonna leave a lot of room to carry stuff out, so I’m gonna go light.
Rhi: Loot ends up counting as part of your load.
Minna: Yeah, I’m gonna go with the heavy load.
Josie: Yeah, heavy. [laughs] All heavy all the time.
Rhi: So, you guys are on the roof, and there you guys are like, crouched outside the skylight and there is a bloodbath in the streets right now. You guys got there just after the Billhooks did and they are just— it hasn’t quite gotten into the warehouse yet because the Grinders are holding them back, but it’s out in the street, there is screaming, there are gunshots, it is chaos down there. And you guys have gotten onto the roof, you sneak across, you guys have gotten to the skylight and are about to start, like, you’re figuring out how to open it up.
So I’ll say this, it’s closed and locked and you notice as you guys kind of sit there and look around the area, you notice that there is a sniper basically laying on the roof. Hasn’t noticed you guys yet, is aiming her rifle down at the crowd. You also can’t really tell which side she’s on, but there is another person up here, so if you make too much noise getting in through this skylight, she’s gonna notice. So, that is your risky setup to start.
Josie: Yeah. I feel like me or one of us can use the unusual weapon slot to just have a garrot, render her unconscious.
Rhi: Okay, yeah. And that’s— how do you wanna go about doing that?
Josie: Okay, all my Finesse, Prowl and Skirmishes are the same.
Rhi: [laughs]
Josie: So… [laughs] it’s one of those three.
Rhi: I would say Prowl would probably be best since you are, like, just straight-up ambushing. And this is, it’s gonna be risky with standard effect.
Josie: Okay, what’s our Devil’s Bargain looking like?
Rhi: Oh, interesting. Someone is going to— ‘cause regardless of if you succeed or not, she is no longer gonna be shooting into the crowd and someone is going to notice her absence quicker than they otherwise would. That’s the bargain, is that somebody’s gonna realize that she’s missing quickly and will come to investigate.
Josie: Yeah, I mean, I think that’s better than me failing and her calling an alarm, so yeah, I’m gonna take that Devils Bargain. God dammit.
Rhi: Oof.
Josie: I’m not used to garroting people, it seems. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay, so here’s what I’m gonna say. You sneak up on her, or you think you do. As you get over there, your foot crunches on some broken glass that’s on there and you, like, freeze a couple feet away from her and she just— she was laying on her stomach. She rolls onto her back and swings the rifle around to bear on you. So, you are gonna be in a desperate position.
Josie: Oof.
Rhi: For your next action.
Madge: No one’s gonna notice a gunshot, because there’s already a bunch going on, so I think I’m gonna shoot her.
Rhi: It’ll be Hunt to shoot her, probably Skirmish to just like, hit her in melee combat.
Madge: I’m gonna do Skirmish because I have two little pips in that. And then I take the higher, so I would roll a 5 on this one.
Rhi: Okay. So, you do it but there is a consequence. So, I will give you some options. I think the two that make the most sense is either you take harm, she shoots you back, and then you could roll to resist it if you wanted, or you have reduced effect, so you’ll hit her, but you’re not— it’s not gonna take her out of the fight.
Madge: Uh, I’ll just take harm. I’m fine with that.
Rhi: Okay. You shoot her and then she fires back. Were you shooting to kill?
Madge: Oh no, I was just shooting to wound.
Rhi: Okay. So, you guys both basically just like, you hit each other in the shoulders. So, she gets shot in such a way that, like, she’s gonna have a hard time continuing to use her rifle. I think she’s gonna hit you in the leg. If you wanna take it, it’s gonna be another level 2 harm, but you can roll Prowess to resist it.
Madge: Yay!
Rhi: Okay, so you got a 6, which means you take no stress. So, instead of the bullet hitting you, you were kind of expecting her to fire back and like, as you shoot it, as you shoot, you twisted to the side. The bullet just whizzes harmlessly past you.
Madge: I dodge a bullet!
Rhi: And you have shot her. You shoot her and she drops her rifle and it goes over the side.
Madge: I do the, like, thing of Wonder Woman where she rolls her shoulders and her head and smiles a little bit.
Rhi: [laughs] So, you’ve got a bleeding, unarmed sniper just kind of like— she’s now scrambling to her feet, you know, one hand pressed to her wounded shoulder.
Madge: Okay. Um… I’ll, like, pick her up by the front of her shirt and sort of hold her over the edge.
Rhi: Oh jeez. Okay.
Josie: You’re Batman-ing this?
Minna: I feel like this is a Command.
Madge: [laughs] “Where is she?”
[laughter]
Rhi: And you have Savage, right?
Madge: Yeah, I do.
Rhi: Yeah, so you’re gonna get a bonus die on this.
Madge: [laughs] I got another 6.
Rhi: Okay. And yeah, that is a success. Nice. So, you, yeah, grab her by the collar and back her up so that her heels are off the back edge of the roof. She’s kind of still, like, clutching her shoulder. She didn’t have time to get her arms out. And is just staring at you wide-eyed. So, what do you say?
Madge (as Phin): Grinders or Billhooks?
Rhi (as Sniper): Grinders!
Madge (as Phin): You’re lucky.
Madge: And I set her back down.
Rhi: [laughs]
Madge (as Phin): Why are you shooting into the crowd? You know there are innocent people down there, right?
Rhi (as Sniper): No! It’s my people and the bastards that are trying to take our guns. Who the Hell are you?
Madge (as Phin): Okay, but there are also people in those shops down there that you could easily hit by accident. And there are families in there and people just trying to make a living who aren’t a part of this at all!
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: She is giving you the most bewildered look of like, “Who the fuck are you? Why should I care?” [laughs] She’s just so con— like, she’s bleeding and she’s being yelled at for not being careful enough with her shots.
Minna: Myra comes up and puts a hand on Madge— on Phin’s shoulder.
Madge: I sigh and I rub the bridge of my nose.
Minna (as Myra): I think that our friend here is gonna let us pass, not alert anyone, and keep her life. For what’s left of it, anyway.
Rhi: What are you rolling to persuade her that she should do this thing that you’re suggesting?
Minna: I feel like it’s a Command. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah, and I would say thank to Phin’s first threat and now just very confusing statements, I’m gonna say that this is controlled, because this woman is in no state to attack you right now. And okay, so on a 5 you either hesitate, which means, like, you start to do that and then you realize this isn’t gonna work, so you can withdraw and try a different approach, or you can do it with a minor consequence. So, I think that the complication would be, if you wanna just do it outright, is that your threat works for now. Um, and she is eventually, like, after you guys are gone long enough, she’s gonna tell people.
Minna: I just don’t wanna leave her there as a loose end.
Josie: Well, if you wanna Batman some more, tie her up by her ankles.
Minna: I was thinking maybe we just tie her up.
Rhi: Yeah, you can do that. One of you can have, you know, rope. Or wait, wait, hold— I think the Cutter has manacles just as like a freebie.
Madge: Er, yeah, I do. I have manacles and chain.
Rhi: Yeah. So you’ve just got manacles on you that you can use on her.
Josie: Punching a pal out.
Madge: Kinky.
Rhi and Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: If only there were a dumpster to put her in.
Minna: [laughs]
Madge: Oh, I know.
Rhi: There’s not, but—
Madge: We can dump her in the river. How about that?
Rhi: [laughs] Then she’ll definitely die. That wound will get infected and she will die.
Josie: Yes, that’s what will kill her first. Not the drowning.
Rhi: Or the ghosts in the river, they might get her too. So yeah, are you gonna just manacle her up and…?
Madge: Yep.
Rhi: Alright. So, you guys slap manacles on her, go back over to the skylight. It’s closed and there’s a lock on it, but it’s not a very complicated lock. You can either pick— it’s the kinda lock you— it’s just like, it’s a very simple, cheap padlock. So, you can either pick the lock or like, smash the lock or smash the window.
Josie: I feel like we could probably just smash it without drawing too much attention, right? I mean, there’s gunfire going off.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: There’s enough noise, yeah. Okay, so [sound effect] glass falls in and you guys hop into the building. This is a warehouse that is still a warehouse, unlike the last one you broke into, which had been converted into offices. You guys have basically all landed on like a catwalk up on the top. There are a bunch of like, crates and boxes and there’s like, from up here, it’s kinda dark in here, there’s canisters of electroplasmic fuel that are glowing slightly off in some corners. There’s just a lot of stuff in here and from where you’re standing it’s kind of hard to be like, “Uh, okay, that’s where the valuables are.” Most of these warehouses have offices on the first floor. Down on the first floor, the fighting has started to spill inside a little bit. It’s still kind of contained towards the front. You guys aren’t alone in the warehouse, but you have not been noticed.
Josie: Right. So, do we have any inkling of where their stash might be, or will we need to, like, get that info?
Rhi: There’s just, there’s a ton of stuff in here. Like, just tons of boxes and things. So you guys will need to get down to the first floor without getting caught up in the fighting that’s started to spill inside.
Madge: Let’s go down to the first floor.
Rhi: Yeah. So, you guys head downstairs. Things are starting to get kind of noisy and chaotic. And the offices are close to the front. The fighting hasn’t quite reached there yet, but there are people in the area who could potentially notice you. So at this point basically any actions you take are gonna be risky. So, you guys are like, going through these crates trying to stay are quiet as you can and you get to basically like a crossway, intersection amongst some crates, and as you guys start to step out, three people come staggering in. Two of them are a little banged up but not too badly hurt and they are supporting a third who looks like he’s been gut shot. And as they kind of come rushing past like:
Rhi (as Grinder): Get them back with the rest of the wounded—
Josie: Pocket sand! I mean, trance powder!
[laughter]
Rhi: Okay. So it’s one dose, so it will be able to affect one of them.
Josie: That’s fine. We can beat up the other one.
Rhi: Yeah. [laughs] Okay. How do you wanna make that attack?
Josie: This seems like Skirmish or something.
Rhi: I would say you could do it as Skirmish or Hunt. This is risky, it’s a standard effect.
Josie (as Minx): And I’m going to exert myself.
Rhi: Your friends could also— could take a point of stress to help you out if somebody wants to.
Madge: Sup!
Josie: Yay.
Rhi: Madge, how does Phin help?
Madge: She’s gonna like, pop up [laughs] behind and put a finger to her lips and be like:
Madge (as Phin): Ssh!
Rhi: [laughs]
Madge: To be distracting.
Rhi: Yeah. Okay. Alright, go ahead and make your roll.
Josie: Yay, I got one.
Rhi: Okay, so you do it, but there’s a consequence. So, I’m gonna say that the consequence is that you got one of the guys who was reaching for his gun. You did not the other. You know what? No. I’m gonna say he’s got a knife. He drops his buddy. You hit the guy in the face with the trance powder and he just kind of spaces out and just sort of like, eyes unfocus, he’s staring off into the distance with a sort of like dazed smile on his face, is only barely supporting his gut-shot friend. The other guy not really having noticed what happened, drops the gut-shot friend.
Josie: Oops.
Rhi: And lunges at you with a knife. Like, he comes in and stabs you in the arm.
Josie: Okay. Can I do resistance about it?
Rhi: You can resist it.
Josie: This is Prowess resistance?
Rhi: Yes, it will be Prowess.
Josie: Alright, I have 3 in that.
Rhi: Okay, so you’ll take one point of stress. Tell me how you dodge his knife coming in towards your arm.
Josie: Um, okay. So, I kind of already had my hand outstretched from my pocket sand gesture, so like, I see him coming at me and I kind of pivot on my forward foot, brining that outstretched hand back and just sort of pushing him by me.
Rhi: Okay. You now have one guy who’s in a blissed-out daze, kind of staring off into space for a little bit, one guy who now that he’s no longer being supported by either of his friends is like, on his knees, one hand on the floor, the other one pressed to his stomach, and a third guy who is up, unharmed and has a knife.
Madge: I will do some punching.
Rhi: Yes! Okay. So, I will warn you that with punching, because of the harm to your arm, you’re gonna be at minus one.
Madge: Yeah, I’m just gonna push myself to get me back to 2d6, because it’s gonna be Skirmish, right?
Rhi: Okay. Got a 6.
Madge: Woo!
Minna: Yesss.
Josie: Yay.
Rhi: Yeah, tell me what you do to this guy. Cause it was— yeah, risky, standard, so yeah, you—
Madge: I wanna grab him and twist his arm back behind his back and use him like a shield for myself and cause some damage while I do that.
Rhi: Okay. So, you’re just using him as a human shield, you’re not trying to knock him out or anything?
Madge: Eh. I’ll break him arm while I do it.
Rhi: He screams. Aah!
Madge: Cool. [laughs]
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: You now have a dude with a broken arm.
Madge: Uh, I’m gonna look at this guy whose arm I just broke.
Madge (as Phin): I think it’s okay if we pass through here, don’t you?
Madge: Okay, so that’s 1d6. Woof! So, it wasn’t that bad.
Rhi: He goes:
Rhi (as Grinder): Yeah, yeah, we’ll let you go. We’ll let you go through.
Rhi: And then you let him go and he says:
Rhi (as Grinder): But we ain’t gotta do it quietly. Intruders!
Rhi: So, that’s the complication.
Madge: Cool. I’m gonna knock him out now.
Rhi: Okay. Yeah, you do it, you knock him out. He goes down. I’m gonna say, though, that because he shouted, there are more people on the way. You guys, like, knock that guy out, you start running towards the office again and get intercepted. Another couple of Grinders who are running, like, in your direction, they see you guys and they already have their guns out, so they have raised their guns and are about to fire. So, I’m gonna say for anything that you guys are doing kind of in this initial meeting is gonna be desperate. Actually, no, I’m gonna say that it’s three guys coming towards you. Three guys with guns up. These guys do not look hurt.
Josie: What would a flashbang be?
Rhi: Oh, interesting. Flashbomb. I knew there was something. Orbs that detonate with a blinding flash when shattered. I’ll allow that as an unusual weapon.
Josie: Okay.
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: I already used my unusual weapon, but if someone else wants to drop that slot…
Minna: I feel like a smoke bomb is definitely more something that Myra would have.
Rhi: Smoke bomb is also an option.
Minna: Alright, I think I’m gonna do a smoke bomb then.
Rhi: Probably Hunt.
Minna: Uh… great. [laughs] What does the Devil’s Bargain look like?
Rhi: News of this operation and your role in it is gonna get back to someone who you would rather didn’t find out.
Minna: Oh, that’s juicy, yeah.
Rhi: Mm hmm.
Minna: Yeah, I’m gonna go with that. Uh, so that gives me 1d6. [laughs]
Rhi: Okay. You can, if somebody wants to take some stress to help her out.
Josie: You know what? Yeah. I’m gonna throw a stress in.
Rhi: Okay, so now you have 2d6.
Minna: Dammit! God dammit!
Rhi: Oh no…
Minna: It blows up in our faces.
Rhi: Oh no!
Madge: Oh no.
Rhi: Okay, okay. So that— that was a desperate action, so mark a point of experience. On a 2, you throw the bomb and you’re gonna have to have a serious conversation with whoever you bought this from cause it’s a dud. It just hits in front of these guys, rolls forward and bumps into one of their boots.
Josie: And everyone pauses for a second for the joke to land.
Minna: Oh… Oh, Riven…
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: God, and I feel like the only thing that I can go with here, because they had their guns up, is they shoot at you.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: A lot. And you are gonna take level 3 harm— it would be level 3 harm, Multiple Gunshot Wounds.
Minna: Uh, can I resist it?
Rhi: You can resist it.
Minna: Okay, roll 2d6. Its okay. I might survive this. [laughs] Okay, that’s not terrible.
Rhi: 5. So, you’re gonna take one point of stress. Because it was so many bullets coming at you, it’s only gonna downgrade it from a 3 to a 2. So, you are gonna take level 2 harm, Shot in the Leg. Like, you manage to, like, you see it. You see them looking down at the thing, look back up at you, and you manage to kind of dive into cover, but one of them catches you in the leg.
Minna: Which part of my leg, out of curiosity?
Rhi: I’m gonna say that it’s like, right above the knee. You are limping badly, it’s bleeding a lot, it hurts a lot. The bullet did not go straight through, it’s still in there, so you’re gonna have a very fun surgery in your future.
Minna: Oh…
Rhi: And those guys are all still there.
Josie: Can I get up on them with a sword?
Rhi: Yeah.
Josie: While they’re aiming at her?
Rhi: Sure.
Josie: Yeah, I wanna fucking run one of their arms through or something like that, make them drop the gun.
Rhi: Okay. Oh, I didn’t set it in advance. So, the fortunate thing for you guys is that most pistols in this setting are single shot. So, they all fired and they— so that’s gonna take them from desperate to risky. So this was risky, right, because they’re not gonna be able to shoot you while you’re running in. So, I’m gonna say you stab a dude in the arm and he drops his gun.
Josie: Uh huh.
Rhi: That actually works out really nicely. So, I’m gonna say that— I should have had a clock going for how the fight between the two sides was doing this whole time. It was at 4 out of 8 for the Grinders are driving off the Billhooks. You guys have— it’s ticked up to 5 out of 8 and when the Billhooks are driven off, you guys are gonna be the only enemies left in the place and you’re gonna have the whole gang coming down on your heads.
Josie: Mm…
Rhi: Right now, like, most of them are aware that there’s somebody else in here, or maybe they think that you’re part of the Billhooks coming in through the back, they’re not sure, but most of them are still keeping their attention on dealing with the main threat. But once it hits 8 out of 8, then that main threat will have been dealt with and they will come looking for you.
Josie: Alrighty.
Rhi: You’ve gotten that one guy to drop his gun. He is wounded. He can probably still do some punching, but not as effectively. The other two guys are like, rapidly reloading. They’re not reloaded yet, but— so other people can act.
Minna: Can I look for a— maybe an area closer to where our exit is that might have something of worth, that’s not as much work as those offices near the front? I think Myra’s starting to think they’re not getting into those offices. [laughs]
Rhi: Yeah. How do you wanna…
Minna: Survey?
Rhi: Yeah, yeah. Go for it. I think this is, again, gonna be risky and probably limited effect, just because of the chaos of the situation. It’s dark, there’s shooting, you know, you’re not able to move very quickly to look at stuff, so…
Minna: I’m gonna take a chance… uh no, never mind.
Rhi: okay. That’s not terri— well, I’m gonna say we’ll go with the result of reduced effect, so that basically puts it down to no effect. So, you don’t see anything. Phin? Do you wanna do anything?
Madge: Uh… I’m gonna do a shoot.
Josie: Shoot a thing, fire the stuff.
Madge: Yeah. Which one is that, again? Is that Prowess?
Rhi: Uh, Hunt.
Madge: Hunt. Yeah, that’s why I didn’t do it before!
Rhi: Okay. Uh, yeah. So, you shoot a dude. How are— are you shooting to kill or shooting to wound?
Madge: Ah, to kill.
Rhi: Okay. I’m gonna say you kill the dude.
Madge: Yay.
Rhi: Death, one. Uh, cause that’ll be relevant.
Minna: Oh no.
Rhi: Actually, it might not be. It might not be for this. So, normally when you kill people on a job, it increases how much heat you take. But I feel like at this point, it’s gonna be areal hard to pick out this one dead body from all the others.
Josie: Uh huh. [laughs]
Madge: Yeah.
Rhi: So I’ll put an asterisk next to that and I’ll figure out if it’s gonna cause more heat on you or not.
Madge: Cool.
Rhi: So let me see, so you do it but there’s a consequence. Let me think about a consequence. So, that guy’s dead. Oh, I think what it is, is that you killed that guy but his friend finished reloading his gun and you’re gonna be in a desperate position because he is about to shoot at you, so whatever action you take next will be desperate.
Madge: Okay.
Rhi: So yeah, you have a guy who’s been stabbed in the arm and a guy with a loaded gun aimed at Phin.
Josie: Am I kind of engaged with the disarmed guy, or can I throw a poke at the guy with the gun?
Rhi: They’re all pretty close together, so yeah, you can definitely stab the guy with the gun.
Josie: Ah ha. I’m gonna go for it. Yay!
Rhi: Okay, lot of 4s. Okay, so are you also trying to get him to drop his gun?
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: Okay. So, you stab— you’ve gotten very good at like, stabbing in the precise point on somebody’s wrist to make them drop a gun.
Josie: Minx is very much like a fencer swashbuckler type of fighter.
Rhi: Yeah.
Madge: Awesome.
Rhi: So, you stab him, he drops his gun. I like this idea. So, he drops his loaded gun and it goes off.
Josie: Oof.
Rhi: And I am going to roll a d4—
Minna: Oh no.
Rhi: Phin is 1, Myra is 2, Minx is 3…
Josie: Ah!
Rhi: The guy himself— actually no, it should be— I should roll a d6 because it could also shoot his friend.
Josie: Yes.
Rhi: So, you guys are 1 through 3, he’s 4, his friend is 5, and 6 is it just goes harmlessly off into nothing.
Minna: This is like reverse Russian Roulette, man.
Rhi: Yeah. Okay! [laughs] Good news, he shot his friend.
Josie: Yay. [laughs] Huzzah.
Minna: That’s fun. That’s actually a fun mechanic. Please do that again.
Rhi: [laughs] So, he drops the gun, the gun goes off, he hits his friend, his friend goes down.
Madge: “What have I done…?”
Rhi: So, he is— he is still up, but he is clutching his wrist and is like, more concerned with his one friend who is dead and one who is now pretty badly wounded. He’s not— his attention has shifted off of you guys. So you guys could try to get past him. Like, just move past.
Minna: So, out of character, what’s our objective now?
Josie: I think just get something valuable. [laughs] And then get out.
Madge: Yeah.
Rhi: You’re about equidistant between the office and your exit point, but like, you’re close to both.
Josie: So, we could bail without issue or we could get to the place without issue, but then we’d have to get out.
Madge: Yeah, so…
Rhi: Yeah. Well, you can see how things go. So…
Josie: I really don’t wanna leave without something.
Minna: I know. We’re going to get something from the other one, probably, but still. That wasn’t our main score.
Josie: Right. The point of hitting both is the reputation.
Minna: Mm hmm.
Rhi: What are you guys doing? You guys are pretty sure you can just get past this guy without any trouble.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Because he’s currently distracted.
Josie: Let’s just get into the office.
Minna: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay.
Madge: [nervous groan]
Rhi: Alright. So you guys, Myra limping along behind you, rush for the office. It’s kind of a mess. There’s like, a couple random desks and tables shoved against walls. There’s papers and small boxes piled up, there’s like, some random bottles, there’s stuff on shelves, it’s just, it’s a very chaotic situation.
Minna: I think Myra snaps out:
Minna (as Myra): Someone get a table against that door.
Madge (as Phin): Done.
Rhi: Yeah, you guys can very easily block the door. So, you guys have a minute. [laughs] There’s still a lot of shooting and fighting happening outside, but right now no one is actively trying to kill you.
Josie: Yay! That’s a welcome change.
Madge: Sweet.
Minna: Let’s look for stuff.
Josie: Is that like, Survey?
Rhi: Yeah. And if you guys wanna do just like a group Survey action.
Minna: Yeah.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Madge: Yeah.
Minna: Yeah, so we’re like— someone’s leading a search, basically.
Rhi: Whoever leads the action is gonna take stress if anybody rolls poorly.
Minna: Who’s got— who’s— what are our stress levels at?
Josie: I’m at six of nine.
Minna: [laughs] Phin? Madge?
Madge: I’m at six.
Minna: Yeah, I’m gonna lead it. I’m at three. Also, I think Myra’s already snapped into command mode, so that works narratively.
Rhi: So, we have a 1, a 5 and a 3. Minx— or Myra, rather, takes two stress. But with a 5, and I’m gonna say this— you find some bags of coin, some high-end explosives, the Grinders deal in a lot of explosives, a couple nice knives that’ll sell well. All in all, though, it comes out to just about 2 coin worth of stuff. So it’s not a huge haul, but it’s something.
Minna: Could the explosives be kept and used for something else? Such as bargaining with our new friends?
Rhi: [laughs]
Minna: Just things I’m thinking ahead about, sorry.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Potentially, yeah. Yeah.
Minna: We’ll figure that out in downtime.
Rhi: Yeah. Yep, so, yeah, you guys have found about 2 coin worth of stuff.
Josie: Nice.
Minna: [sighs] Not really worth this, but… [laughs] It’s gonna be…
Josie: [laughs]
Madge: Yeah. None of this was worth dying for.
Minna: We also came here for the reputation, let’s be real here.
Rhi: So, are you leaving your calling—
Minna: Absolutely.
Josie: Mm hmm.
Rhi: So tell me, where do you leave it?
Minna: I think on, like, whatever’s the nicest looking desk. Right in the middle.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: Okay, so, boop, you set that down. Let me do another roll to see how things are going outside…
Minna: I love that we’ve basically commissioned enamel pins.
Rhi: Yeah.
Minna: [laughs]
Rhi: They have a guy. Eventually we will meet the person who makes these pins.
Minna: Yay!
Rhi: I don’t know when that day will be, but it will happen.
Josie: [laughs]
Rhi: God, that’ll be a Devil’s Bargain that I give you, is like, you’re out of pins.
Minna: No!
Josie: Oh no.
Madge: No!
Rhi: So, on a 6… that’s for the Grinders. Okay, so the Grinders are doing pretty well. They’re at 6 out of 8 now, so they are— they have— and this is actually gonna work a little bit to your advantage right now, they’re mostly pushed them out of the warehouse, so the fight has kind of gone back into the street.
Josie: Oh, okay.
Rhi: You guys can keep trying to search in this area to see if you find anything else of interest. Like, you guys did not find the safe. You know there’s gotta be a safe, but you guys haven’t found it. On the other hand, you guys are hurt. [laughs]
Josie: Yeah, real bad.
Rhi: Like, you’re not in great shape.
Madge: Yeah. It’s not worth it at this point.
Josie: We’re daring, not suicidal.
Minna: We got the reputation part.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah. Okay, so you guys— are you guys gonna head for your exit point?
Minna: I think at this point discretion is the better part of valor.
Rhi: Okay. You guys rush down to the canal and there’s a few bodies down there. It looks like some of the Billhooks tried to come in this way, there was a fight and everybody involved is either dead or, you know, went back upstairs to join the rest of the fray. But there’s nobody alive down here to bother you as you make your escape.
Josie: Woo!
Rhi: So yeah, you guys drag yourselves… how do you guys get out of here? Do you just like, limp away down the side of the canal? You could grab a boat.
Minna: I feel like we steal a boat.
Josie: Yeah.
Rhi: Okay.
Madge: Yeah, we definitely steal a boat. We need it.
Rhi: Yep. So, you take a boat and paddle away with your couple of coin, leaving the fight behind you.
Josie: Does everyone have harm except me?
Minna: Yes.
Madge: Yeah.
Rhi: Yeah, you guys got pretty—
Minna: I have two different harms.
Rhi: Yeah. Pretty banged up.
Josie: Minx groans about having to be the primary rower as we go. As we boat away. [laughs]
[pause]
Minna: No, it’s okay, that’s another question for downtime.
Rhi: Let me figure out how well Ulf did. Not great. Okay.
Minna: [groans]
Josie: Oof. Oh damn.
Madge: Frickin’ Ulf.
Rhi: Okay. So, you guys— and this doesn’t have to happ— like, I imagine you guys are actually gonna go and like, seek medical help first before you check in with him. But just kind of for purpose of my checklist, you guys go back, probably the next day, later in the afternoon, to check in with Ulf Ironborn. He, like, you notice that the bar is a bit quieter, there’s a lot of people that are sporting bandages, a couple people are just missing. Ulf himself has a big, bloodstained bandage wrapped around his forearm.
Josie: Uh oh.
Rhi: And he looks up at you guys and kind of scowls and:
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): They weren’t quite as empty as you had promised. They left a lot of their dogs behind. And those dogs are very well trained.
Rhi: He holds up his arm.
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): But a deal’s a deal.
Rhi: And he reaches down and grabs a pouch of coins and tosses it across the table to you. It’s about one coin.
Josie: Ugh. This was not profitable. [laughs]
Rhi: He does say:
Rhi (as Ulf Ironborn): I left your damn pin there. Now get out of my tavern.
Rhi: He like, picks up a mug and takes a big drink and is just like— they all look real— like, they look about as bad as you guys do. [laughs] It looks like it was a rough night for everybody.
Josie: Minx is about to say something uptight and— not uptight, like, kinda haughty, and then thinks better of it and just sort of slowly backs out. [laughs]