One of the things I like about Blades in the Dark is that the system scales nicely, so that even when characters have three dots in a lot of their actions, it's just a matter of raising the stakes. Even when characters usually succeed, "success" can mean something different.
And, of course, sometimes folks just have a bad dice night.
Last time, the scoundrels effectively knocked the Spirit Wardens down a couple of tiers, and catapulted their own organization to Tier III. This puts them on equal footing with folks like the Gondoliers and the Bluecoats, which is nice, but it has its own set of problems.
Tonight, most of the crew is at the Ruby. Copper is talking about goats (as usual), One-Eye is taking inventory, and Cage is unwinding. Siren is out on one of the crew's delivery boats, bugging the adepts who work with Widdershins for more information on Kotar.
A gondola slides up beside their boat, and Griggs, a Whisper and higher-up in the Gondoliers, asks to speak with Siren. She boards his craft, and he tells her that he has a job for them. There's a fella coming in to Doskovol on a ship, a doctor and demonolatry expert. He needs to be transported from the Docks to Charterhall so he can perform an autopsy on one of the bodies that's come out of the canals, and then transported to the Iruvian Consulate for safety. Siren asks if there's trouble to be expected, and Griggs says that yes, there probably is, but he isn't sure of its exact nature. Siren says she'll pass it along to the crew.
And indeed, she talks to the crew and they all meet with Griggs the next night. Griggs clarifies that this is a joint venture between the Bluecoats and the Gondoliers, bringing in Dr. Sanaat to do this investigation. One-Eye asks that Widdershins be privy to whatever information is revealed, and Griggs is amenable to that. He also clarifies that they need to stay with Sanaat during the autopsy, just for safety's sake. The crew agrees, and Griggs tells them when his ship is arriving.
Unfortunately, when the ship does arrive, it's in the middle of a vicious storm. The Iruvian craft, lighter than the Akorosi ships that frequent these waters, is getting tossed about as it puts in to the Docks. The crew lifts lanterns to help guide the ship in, but it loses control and crashes into the docks. The crew jumps clear, but the ship is damaged.
Siren starts lashing the boat to the docks, while Cage and Copper climb aboard. Almost immediately, lightning strikes the ship, splintering the deck and lightning the ship aflame. Cage and Copper pick themselves up, and Siren comes aboard and asks about the doctor. One of the mates tells her that he's in his cabin at the back of the ship. Siren yells that out, and Copper runs into the boat and finds the cabin. The door is blocked with wreckage, so she smashes through it with a hatchet and tries to kick it in, but manages to twist her knee. One-Eye arrives and knocks the hinges off, and Cage ties everyone together to help get the doctor out of the room.
Out on the deck, Siren grabs a bucket of sand and tries to douse some of the first, but realizes too late that this "sand" is actually a highly flammable signaling powder, commonly used on Iruvian ships. The powder explodes, blowing a hole in the hull. The ship starts to sink.
The scoundrels manage to all get back onto the deck when the ship collapses, and all five of them wind up in the drink. Copper, realizing that with this weather it's likely that they'll all drown, calls on all her strength and surges forward, dragging all of them out of the water...and collapsing.
The doctor examines her, and (through a translator that the crew brought, as he doesn't speak a lot of Akorosi) informs the crew that she has a concussion and needs rest. They debate sending her back home with the carriage and the translator, but decide they don't want to split their forces that much, so they just load her (and Button) into the carriage and head for Charterhall.
They arrive at the university without incident, and note that the Bluecoats are directing people off the roads (but are watching the doors). One-Eye pays off a Bluecoat to watch Button and Copper, and the rest of the crew head into the lab. Sanaat gets to work, examining the body and measuring the wounds. After some time, he (in halting Akorosi) identifies the body as a "sacrifice" to something called "Setarra."
One-Eye questions him inasmuch as she can, and learns that Setarra is a demon of the oceans and storms. This causes the crew to look askance at the weather currently rolling across Duskwall, but before they can leave the building, a hull kicks in the door.
A hull, of course, is a mechanic body possessed by a ghost. One-Eye grabs Sanaat and pulls him out a back door, into the cold stone hallways of the medical building. Cage tries to force the ghost out of the hull, but just winds up getting feedbacked and knocked down. Siren shoots it and stuns it, and Cage redoubles his efforts and forces the ghost out.
Unfortunately, One-Eye is hopelessly lost. She emerges from the building through a door that she thinks is near the carriage, but it's actually completely on the other side, and the door locks behind her. Assuring Dr. Sanaat that it's all under control, she starts heading back toward the carriage. A door in front of her opens, and a dark, scary figure steps out. She blows a handful of trance powder at it...and realizes it's Siren (who had come through a side door to find her).
Leading Sanaat and the now-dazed Siren, One-Eye finally gets to the carriage. Cage has gone back the way they came and is waiting. One-Eye calls out, and the Bluecoat standing by the carriage reaches up and breaks a silver thing around her name. Cage feels spirit disturbance, and realizes that the "Bluecoat" isn't a Bluecoat, but someone else who killed the Bluecoat and stole their uniform.
Cage, who has denied his violent impulses long enough, charges over and puts a knife through the imposter's head. The damage is done, though, and two more hulls leap over the building and give chase. One-Eye stuffs Sanaat and Siren into the carriage (and realizes that their translator has also been murdered; Copper is alive, but Button is nowhere to be seen). They take off, but the hulls are capable of catching them.
One gets close to the back of the carriage, but Cage activates a spirit barrier and sends the hull flying back (singeing himself in the process). The other hull flanks the carriage and leaps at it, but Siren, going on pure muscle memory, shoots it down, and the scoundrels fly off into the night to the Iruvian consulate. They deliver Sanaat safely, and head for home, though Cage takes the time to use the ghost field to find Button for Copper.
Back at the lair, Copper wakes up and cries upon learning of the dead translator (she's getting a little soft, it seems). The crew meets with Griggs, who pays them, and opines that the people trying to kill Sanaat might have worked for the Church of Ecstasy.
The scoundrels go to ground a bit; demons from the storm come looking, and it's better to avoid notice. Cage researches Setarra, and learns that she's a very powerful sea-demon, but according to the legends, she's imprisoned in the ocean. He also finds that her name comes up in conjunction with the Scurlock family, but the relationship is unclear - master and servant? If so, which is which?
This job improves the crew's relations with the Bluecoats and the Iruvians, and that's good, but the Church of Ecstasy is on the verge of war.
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