Blades in the Dark: "Stealth"

Tuesday we played Blades in the Dark, making it the first time I've run an RPG in like almost a month (not counting the games of Chill I ran at MidWinter). The scoundrels were in fine form.

So last time, Widdershins got themselves a fleet and started their highly ambitious, two-part job: They're going to transport the mysterious "conveyance" from Coalridge to Whitecrown, and then while they're there, rob the Master Warden of the Spirit Wardens.

Like I said, ambitious.

So first step: They pick up the conveyance. It's in a big crate (built around it), and it's very heavy, and that's all they know...other than it's giving off some weird energy that makes Siren's forehead itch and Cage feel uneasy. It's so heavy that its weight makes navigating the Black Lotus difficult, and they have to go slow. Fortunately it's not like anyone is going to mess with them, right? Legal job!

Ha. They get to the canal between Charhollow and Six Towers, and note the Sheets - the district of Charhollow where washers and tailors work. Up ahead is a bridge, and someone drops ropes, apparently intending to board. Copper takes up a defensive position at the front of the boat, but someone from the shoreline shoots her. Her armor absorbs it, but she falls.

One-Eye recalibrates her eye so she can see the people hiding in the sheets, and then in true Widdershins fashion, hurls a vial of fire oil at them, setting the sheets ablaze and the people scattering. Alarms and bells sound as the fire spreads, and One-Eye tries to coax more speed out of the Lotus. They pass under the bridge, and someone up there quaffs a vial of something and jumps on the deck of the boat.

Cage leaps up and stabs the invader in the head, but his (the invader's) skull has grown ridged and bony and now he's nearly 8 feet tall. He paws Cage out of the way, and the boat shifts. Copper holds the cargo in place and Siren helps to right it, but it's shifting now and if it goes too far either way, the ship is going down.

Cage tackles the creature and knocks it into the drink, and manages (barely) not to go with it. One-Eye rights the boat and pulls it under the bridge and into the North Hook Channel, but there's a lot of attention on the crew now.

Fortunately, Siren thought of this. She set up a switch with some of her sailor friends earlier, and had another boat big enough to handle the cargo waiting in the Docks. They pull in, switch it over, and head across the Channel to Whitecrown (this does mean that they leave their gear behind and are stuck with whatever they're carrying until the job is over, but it also means they aren't going to arrive in Whitecrown with a lot of eyes on them).

So! They pull into the dock near the lighthouse in Whitecrown, and they're met by some folks in dark clothes and a woman with a cowl covering her face. Her voice seems familiar to Cage, but he can't quite place it. They unload the conveyance and toss Widdershins a bag of coin, and the crew starts their next job.

They had previously found a domestic who works for the Master Warden and blackmailed him to let them in, but their mole was a no show. One-Eye, however, had taken the time to get the guy very high and get another way in - the door to the root cellar. Cage, likewise, had bribed another former Spirit Warden to get a layout of the house. The crew winds up in the basement, and find dumbwaiter that can take them to all of the other floors. They decide to split up and search for the Wardenlist: Cage will take the top floor (observation deck), One-Eye will take the second floor, Siren will take the first floor, and Copper will stay in the basement.

Copper doesn't find anything in particular in the basement; there's a secret door leading out of the room (probably to the wine cellar), but she doesn't feel like forcing the door to figure it out.

Siren leaves the dumb waiter and assumes a disguise as a maid, and walks into the next room. She finds four people: an older man (probably the Master Warden), a younger woman, and a middle-aged couple. They're chatting about the fire in the Sheets, and pay no mind to Siren. She sneaks through to the sitting room and searches it, and nearly gets found out by a ghost guardian, but she's wearing a spirit bane charm and it repels the ghost.

Upstairs, One-Eye emerges from the dumbwaiter and heads for the library. She opens a roll-top desk and finds her hands alchemically bound to the lid, and hears a noise like sparkcraft heating up. She quickly manages to uncork a bottle of alchemical solvent from her bandolier and get her hands unstuck before the electrical charge fires off, and checks the papers in the desk. They're mostly accounts, and the Master Warden is very wealthy, but that's not what they're looking for.

She checks the books on the shelves and finds one with a hollow behind it. She peeks in before reaching, and sees something that looks like spider-webbing. Probably alchemical. She clears it out with a fireplace poker and retrieves the book behind it, but the book falls to the floor with a thump.

Downstairs, Siren hears the thump and heads up, just as some chimes start up (probably a ghost-triggered alarm). She has One-Eye hide in the dumbwaiter and spills her water bucket, just as the middle-aged man arrives, hand on his sword. Siren sells the "oh please oh master I am only a maid" routine, and all the man does is rip her spirit bane off and break it (they're not allowed in the house).

Meanwhile, upstairs, Cage steps out of the dumbwaiter and searches the deck. He doesn't find anything affixed under the tables, but does find a loose flagstone with a cloth bag underneath it. He opens it, and a spirit flows out and solidifies into a horror with too many crab-like legs. It lashes out and destroys his armor, but Cage tackles it and knocks it off the roof. It lands with a crash, and every chime in the building starts ringing. Cage takes a moment to look at the book inside the bag - it's a list of names with symbols next to them, symbols recognizable from Wardens' masks. This is the list, or at least a list (hard to know if it's the real one).

The horror rights itself and starts working at the cellar door. The chimes are ringing. Reinforcements are on the way. Cage is climbing down the exterior wall facing the Channel, Copper is in the basement, and One-Eye and Siren are in the dumbwaiter.

We'll see where this goes next time.