The Captain’s Gold Score II

Continuing on from the first half of this score for our Blades in the Dark game on Roll20, Dominus and Skarlett head back to their lair to pick up Tamasis (her player was not around in the previous session). The explained what had happened, and that they wanted Tamasis to try and determine what had killed the gang of kids, expecting it to be some form of supernatural terror.

Whilst that was happening, Saya trailed after Robert Travis, their new found employer who had headed off to report to Captain Yenna Tresh, the actual target of their score. She take’s a devil’s bargain on her prowl check, in that people spot her sneaking around and associate her with the mass murder that had just occurred, give +1 Heat. It’s a good trade, since she gets a 6 and has no problems at all following Travis to a small hut, into which he disappears.

I worked out some results before hand, in that 1-3 would be getting spotted and losing him, 4-5 would be getting spotted but still managing to track him to his destination, and 6 or better of tracking him without being spotted.

When he doesn’t re-appear, she goes in closer to investigate and sees that there are some stairs leading down. A few someone crazy looking people outside stop her from going down. They are followers of the Fallen Star, a minor cult that worships the rock that fell from the sky ages ago and made the pits south of the city. They are somewhat drug addled, and Saya tries to get information from them and for them to let her down the stairs. She fails to sway them though, and is refused entry, so heads back to find the others.

Skarlett, Dominus and Tamasis are making their way back into the ghetto when a noose drops around Skarlett’s neck and hoists her up into the air, a bag of rocks dropping past her as a weight on the other end of the rope.

This was the vampire they had stolen from on the Whitehollow Express, back to exact some vengeance. As a skilled opponent, he got to take the initiative before the PCs could act. Again, this encounter was really to demonstrate that he could be dangerous without getting the Crew into a life or death struggle without any warning.

Skarlett was hauled up to the top of the building, where a well dressed gentleman grabbed her and moved her onto the edge of the roof, so she wasn’t being strangled quite as badly.

She tries to charm him, and succeeds, so they have a ‘friendly’ chat and he introduces himself as Gerard Ustok, and says that her friends have taken some important items from him, and that he wants them back. Skarlett guesses that he is a vampire, and seems rather flushed with blood at the moment (from the gang he slaughtered earlier).

Meanwhile, Tamasis cuts the rope down below, relieving the pressure on Skarlett’s neck, whilst Dominus tries to find a way up to the roof. By the time he gets up there, the vampire is gone, and Skarlett is left with a bruised neck. Eventually the entire crew congregate on the roof and discuss what has happened.

Tamasis has a look around using her spirit sight, and catches sight of her own reflection in a pool of water – but it’s another face starting back at here. Again, a reference to the Whitehollow Express where she was possessed by a hitchhiker spirit. She gets a Critical on her Attune and drives it out permanently.

They head back to where the massacre happened, to find some Bluecoats and Spirit Wardens there, so don’t stay too long. It’s decided to go back to base again and write a letter to Lord Scurlock to warn him that a vampire is in town looking for the items that they sold to him, in the hope that he may deal with the problem.

After that, it’s back to the Fallen Star cult to follow the trail of Captain Tresh. Dominus is able to blag his way in without too much difficulty, and as well as an underground warren full of stoned cultists, they find an underground railtrack that leads out of the city to beyond the Lightning Barrier.

The secret passage leads up to just outside the abandoned settlement of North Port, where they locate a lit building. Making heavy use of their spirit bane charms to keep spirits away, they sneak up, managing to avoid a large hull, in the form of a golem with weapons for hands, and taking a look inside the building.

There are a couple of guards on the ground floor, next to a generator which seems to be powering an electrical field around the building. A number of spirits are close to the building, repelled by the field but sensing the living creatures inside.

At this point I should have remembered that the spirits should have caused fear checks for everyone, but I forgot, so the crew got off lightly in what happened next.

Saya broke in quietly, and the others apart from Dominus followed her inside. One of the guards got up to find out what had caused a draft, double checking that the door was closed then turned to see the crew sheltering behind the generator.

Skarlett quickly got her boobs out, which I decided would give Saya a free extra die on her action to take the guard down – something she succeeded with quietly.

As Saya tried to disable the generator, Dominus tried to hide from the golem as it came round on its patrol again, but failed. Also, the second guard was wondering what had happened to the first, so was getting up to look.

Saya completely failed her Tinker, but managed to damage the generator permanently. As the generator overloaded, Dominus ran into the room followed closely by the Hull as it smashed through the wall. There was a flash of electricity as the generator failed…. and then an after image of fur and teeth.

No-one is quite sure exactly what happened, but the Hull was left spiritless, and the guard was laying on the floor dead, his face scratched and bitten badly. Saya noticed that her stuffed ‘Mr Bunny’ toy had blood stains around his mouth. Mr Bunny may have picked up its own hitchhiker instead of Saya. Undoubtedly, this will turn out to be more trouble and boon for the crew, though Saya probably won’t care.

They rapidly head upstairs, to find Captain Tresh holding out her own spirit bane charm, as her two, now possessed, body guards fight each other. There are other spirits closing in, but Tamasis manages to direct them all at the guards, whilst Dominus demands that the Captain surrenders to them, promising to get her out safely in return for half her gold.

The Captain surrenders, and the crew grab up 8 Coin worth of portable loot, though there is more here in non-portable form. They get back to the secret passage into the city, where Dominus shoots the Captain in the head after finding out all he can from her. His cold blooded action surprised me enough that I decided it surprised the Captain as well. Tamasis captures her spirit, though I’m not sure what they plan to do with it.

So they get back with 8 Coin, leaving the body of the Captain for the Grinders to find.

Given the score spanned two sessions, everyone got a bit extra XP, as well as a reasonable amount of loot. We leave entanglements and downtime until next time, but given the number of deaths they’ll be getting a reasonable amount of Heat for this score. Not everything is their fault, but part of what Gerard Ustok is doing is making life difficult for them rather than simply wanting to kill them outright. Until they find a way to deal with him (or he gets bored and decides to finish the ‘game’), there will be complications.

What has happened to Mr Bunny is of course another problem entirely, especially since some of the crew are refusing to acknowledge his existence.