Nice, easy heist of some crates in Coalridge. What could go wrong?
Last time, the crew did a little transport job and learned the name of the sea-demon that is bedeviling Doskovol. This time, they crew is out doing their thing: Siren is drunk and singing at the Veil, Cage is at the lair studying, and Copper is watching One-Eye create a murder-board in the back room of the Ruby (One-Eye has gotten paranoid, and she's creating elaborate theories about how this all ties together).
A bartender at the Veil motions for Siren, and lets her know that Madame Tesslyn at the Red Lamp wants to see her. Siren drunkenly stumbles out into the night and winds up at the Lamp, where Madame Tesslyn (after ascertaining that Siren is going to retain this) tells her that she has a job for them. A rich guy named Roland Wott has a cut-glass chalice that Tesslyn wants, but he won't sell it, so might the crew obtain it for her? Wott lives in a mansion Brightstone, and Tesslyn will, of course, pay. Siren says she'll bring it to the crew.
Meanwhile, at the Ruby, one of the staff tells Copper and One-Eye they have someone asking for them (for One-Eye, specifically). Copper goes out to meet her; One-Eye is busy and buzzing on stimulants. The woman turns out to be Sercy, one of the Grinders. She tells Copper that there are rumors going around that Lord Strangford - a very wealthy Dosovol resident and one of the most important Leviathan hunters - is into demon worship and other illegal activities. If this could be proven, it would be very profitable to the right people. Copper pays Sercy for the info and goes back to One-Eye, and they head out into the night to get some food on the way to the lair.
At a food stand (getting oyster buns!), a Bluecoat passes One-Eye a note with a star on it. It says "Warehouse in Coalridge, near Ironworks. Valuable goods inside, Bluecoats watching." One-Eye recognizes this as a communication from the crew's new patron, the Unseen.
The crew convenes at the lair and everyone lays out these potential jobs. No one's really interested in the chalice - the crew isn't really equipped for sneak-thief kind of things, not in Brightstone, and they're not ready to go back to the lands of the rich again. They're very interested in Lord Strangford, but they do notice that their crew's coffers are a little dry. They need some quick cash to shore themselves up, and the warehouse job looks like a pretty easy score.
They start doing some recon; Cage sends ghosts to check out the boxes in the warehouse and see what's in the them and learns that there are crates of spices and fabrics (and other sundry goods that aren't worth taking). Siren surveys the area with Bartok, her hunting bird, and sees that there are Bluecoats watching the warehouse. Copper asks around and learns that the warehouse was the site of a brawl between the Fog Hounds and the Grinders, and the Bluecoats locked it down after that, but the stuff is going to get picked up and sent out to where it goes soon. The crew needs to act quickly if they're gonna do this.
They decide to just pull the Black Lotus up to the dock, distract the Bluecoats, go in, grab the crates, and go. Simple enough. They pull up in their boat and start going inside, but a man watching the warehouse from a nearby workhouse spots them and runs for the dock. One-Eye tries to dart him with a blowgun, but misses and hits Bartok instead. Copper and Button run over and nab the guy before he reaches another dock (and aid), and Copper knocks him out and drags him behind some barrels. So far, so good.
Meanwhile, One-Eye and Cage rig a wagon on the main road to collapse, drawing the attention of the Bluecoats. They pop into the warehouse and splash some drift oil around, making the boxes float, and the crew loads up the Lotus. Copper stands lookout on the deck, and sees another boat coming in. It looks familiar, but she can't quite place it. As it gets closer, though, a lookout on it's deck spots her.
The crew finishes their loadout and One-Eye recognizes the incoming boat - it's the Fog Hound. Figuring that they're about to get some interference the crew heads out, but the Hound fires harpoons and hits the Lotus. Copper yanks one out, but puts a hole in the hull and water starts flooding in. One-Eye and Copper run to fix it, and Siren takes the wheel. Cage, meanwhile, sets up a cannon and blows a hole in the Hound.
With the hull fixed, Copper breaks the chain on the other harpoon, and the crew escapes into the narrower canals where the Hound can't follow. They head back to the lair, a job well done.
The Unseen help the crew sell the goods; they take a cut, of course, but that's business. Unfortunately, the Grinders start making trouble for the crew, and it doesn't help that Siren, Copper, and Cage all overindulge in their vices. Siren starts singing songs about how they beat out the Grinders for the goods, and the Grinders press, trying to take the Widdershins' fleet. The crew isn't about to give up their claim, though, so they're going to war.
The crew doesn't want this to drag out - they know that war is costly. They decide to hit the Grinders hard and end this. Siren hires some sailors to act as muscle. Cage, though, has dropped off the map for the moment, which means the crew needs to take this on without him.
No comments:
Post a Comment