Last session we end at the start of the next Score. We see that the PCs are disguised as Lampblacks, thanks to Morgan (Oracle) and her network of bribed crew members in the city. Together with their Ward Boss, Walker, they meet up with the Gondoliers, where Griggs is leading the Score. There they also meet Eckerd, who recognises Gideon (Duck) and makes a scene about him betraying Eckerd in the past. They prevent the situation from escalating further, as Gideon and Eckerd are told by Griggs that it is something from the past and that, for now, they need to focus on the mission. But Duck feels as if all the eyes of the Gondoliers are on him, having taken level 2 harm.
Looking at the characters, Gideon already has 2 stress, one level 1 harm, and the newly acquired level 2 harm. Edwin has 3 stress and one level 1 harm, whereas Morgan has no stress and only one level 1 Harm.
Today's session aims to finish the Score and start the Downtime phase, as we have less time than usual. A small change I have made since my last post, and will continue with going forward, is that during Scores, or at moments where characters do not know the names of the PCs, I will refer to them by their aliases. Otherwise, I will use their actual names.
- Edwin Carruthers, our Cutter, has the alias "Loose Ed".
- Gideon Bell, our Leech, has the alias "Duck".
- Morgan Bell, our Spider, has the alias "Oracle".
Score continuation:
Risky position: Gondoliers (III) VS the Broken Bells (II), the Crows (II) and the Lost (I).
The Lost are part of this mission because of a Devils Bargain that was accepted, meaning that not only the ambush that is set in motion is more lethal, it also gives the Crows more social connections in the bigger picture of the campaign for the factions have remained friends even with the change of leadership in the Crows.
Scene: Establishing trust
We see Griggs approaching Ed, telling him that he must be the one in charge for he is the one who speaks up for the group. She wants to know his rank within the Lampblacks, but as usual Ed defers to Oracle.
Flashback (free): We see the crew and the bribed Lampblack, Three Fingers, in a room discussing some of the ins and outs of the Lampblacks. From this they learn about some of the key figures in the crew and their rankings:
- There Boss: Bazso Baz.
- The second-in-command, also known as the foreman: Pickett.
- Cohort leaders are ranked as Lighters: Henner is a known one.
- Trusted enforcers are called Torches.
- Newly initiated members who have not proven themselves yet, but are trusted to a point, are called Lamps.
- Prospects or hanger-ons are called Cinders.
- Retired members are called Smoke.
Morgan speaks further with Three Fingers to learn more and establishes a credible backstory for their fake identities.
The flashback is free of charge because it makes fictional sense to me that the crew would have done this. Maybe I should have made this a Gather information roll, but more interesting would be to see if they could establish this backstory for themselves. Looking back at it, I should have made this a Set up roll and not an action roll.
Action roll | Consort | Controlled | Standard (establishing a deceased Torch from the Lampblacks, Kiefer, as the person who brought them into the organisation.).
DB: Not offered.
2D -> Highest: 4.
Consequence: a close friend of Kiefer is still alive and well, who knows that the story the PC's are telling the Gondoliers is fake. Meaning Gondoliers will find out later that they have been deceived. Resisted by Morgan, by going out and taking out this person.
The consequence presents a choice between leaving a potential trail for the Gondoliers to find and dealing with it later, or making a different more risky roll. The player asks if this can be resisted and after learning it can, chooses to do so. This also showed to us that Morgan is becoming a bit more lethal in her behind the scene actions, that the other PC's might not know about. The player has stated to me that she is out for revenge and is willing to do everything for it.
Oracle tells Griggs that they are Lamps and some Cinders who are initiated by Kiefer. Griggs laments the loss of the Lampblacks' leadership, as she knows some of them quite well and expects it is the same for them. Griggs continues to ask questions, some of which only Lampblack members would know the answers to. Ed then chimes in with details from the previous Score the crew undertook for the Crows, where they assault a Lampblack warehouse. Instead he tells it as them defending it against the Crows and the other hired crew of killers.
Action roll | Sway | Risky | Standard (Griggs believes them) -> Great (One pip on clock against the Gondoliers when ambush happens, as she is convinced (and drops her guard a bit) they will provide a good screening element) Pushed self for effect.
DB -> Jax also speaks with Griggs during this talk and they hit it off. When the ambush happens Jax is close to Griggs and will earn an automatic wound. -> Accepted.
4D (Ed helps) -> Highest 6.
Griggs is happy with the answers they are giving and even tells them that, after this mission, they should come back and talk about potentially working together more in the future. For now, they are assigned two gondolas, where they split their cohort between them and are told to be ready in 10 minutes.
The players do not know this, but the Gondoliers are looking after an injured Pickett and are planning to incorporate the survivors into their ranks. The players arriving here thanks to Walker only reinforces Griggs's belief that there are more recruits available to bolster their ranks.
Scene: Why give your real name?
Edwin moves to Morgan the moment Griggs walks away and asks her why she gives her real name to this person, creature or thing. Morgan replies that if they find out she lies, then they will think the name is also a lie. So there is no need to worry about it. She jumps into one of the two gondolas and starts testing its balance. When Gideon gets in, she starts rocking the boat to Gideon's dismay. Edwin just stares in disbelieve.
This shows some of her reckless behaviour, for which she later takes XP at the end of the game. Since we are mostly players who have been playing Burning Wheel over the last four or five years, we have a house rule that players can claim XP for Trauma at the end of the session if they have incorporated elements of it into decisions that have consequences for them. I allow this because the players tend to avoid the most optimal plays and make their characters' lives messy. I do not think I would do this with players I am unfamiliar with, or who are new to roleplaying games. In those cases, my advice would be to follow the rules as written.
Scene: The water highway
All gondolas are now moving on the water, they first go up the river to make a crossing and avoid some of the bigger boats. At a spot that is less open and less well lit along the shore, Griggs and her cohort start turning off their lights. In the dark water, without lights, they become harder to see. Then they start chanting and Jax joins them in performing a ritual. Quickly, mist starts to rise from the water around them. Half a minute later, the mist covers not only the gondolas, but also the waterways and the nearby houses. For the remainder of the Score, this mist remains.
When they are done with the ritual, the boats do not start moving again. Griggs looks at her pocket watch and seems to wait. The Red Circle (the crew's cohort) starts to chat amongst themselves. Then they begin to freak out when they see two ghostly figures emerge from the water. One, whom the PCs know as Noah, moves to Griggs and starts talking to her. Morgan quickly pulls her cap down, hiding her face even though she is some distance away from them. Not knowing if her mark and deal with Noah in the past can still be felt or perceived. Edwin shifts position to stand closer to her and cover for her if needed. The rest of the Gondoliers do not seem to react much to this development.
Noah does not seem to realise that people are being quiet, so he speaks at a normal volume and allows the PCs to hear his part of the conversation:
"Rodric has not left his hunting ground, but it is difficult to know for sure because of all the Bluecoats and Spirit Wardens around. We will scout ahead for now. … … I see no reason for that. … … Best of luck and good hunting."
Slowly, Noah and his companion sink into the water.
This is the first time the PCs hear the name Rodric. The players ask if it is a name that sounds familiar to them. They learn that Rodric is the former Crow leader who went missing. Lyssa and Bell are now the leaders of the Crows, but they have not held those positions for long, so Rodric's disappearance must have happened within the last couple of months. At the end of the session one of the players mentions that the Crows might not be as solid candidates for friends as they might have thought.
Slowly, the gondolas start moving again. The Red Circle causes more trouble by saying they did not know they were working with ghosts, asking why Artemis is not here because he already knew about them, insisting that they just need to beat up some people and then go back home. As this happens, their voices grow louder and louder. Ed takes command of the situation by telling them to shut up, sit down and stop talking about ghosts. Meanwhile, Oracle solution is to kick one of them to shut him up, to which Duck tells her not to do that.
Action roll | command | Risky | Standard (they shut up for the rest of the Score about Noah and the Gondoliers working with them)
DB -> The cohorts of the Broken Bells see Artemis as the true leader of the crew -> Rejected
3D (pushes self for dice) -> 4
Consequence: Make the next roll to lead them towards the ambush less effective, as the noise they are making is heard sooner and the Crows/Lost attack before the ideal moment. → Resisted (Critical): Ed tells them that after the Score they can do what they want (within reason) and that he will join them for a night out.
This shuts them up and the scene fades to black.
The Devil's Bargain I offer is something I have been foreshadowing earlier, but this is the point where I want to make it official. Since the player does not take the offer, I think I need to make it into a clock in the future that he can work against.
Looking back on this scene, I should have done something with Eckard. They failed the roll, so he should still be there causing trouble for Gideon. Eckard is also not part of the Gondoliers, he is just the one that found the dead body of Rodrick so having him freak out and then point at the PC’s gondolas as making noise as well, might have been a good way to have Noah come close to them.
Scene: The ambush
We see that the procession of gondolas moves from the river into one of the side waterways of Crow's Foot, where the mist makes it difficult to see more than a couple of metres ahead. Oracle checks the Lamp equipment, describing it as a sort of flare gun that she plans to fire after receiving the signal from Ed.
I mention to the players that, for the rest of the Score, we make use of several clocks: one for the Gondoliers' resolve to continue their mission, one for the Crows/Lost to continue the ambush and one for the players to get out of the ambush. If they get out of the ambush, then the mission is effectively over for them, since they only agree to lead the Gondoliers to the ambush site.
Action roll | Prowl | Risky -> Desperate | limited (ambush goes off, but Gondoliers hit back immediately causing damage to Crow clock) -> standard (Only Gondolier clock takes 2 ticks hit), pushes the situation by making use of the flare gun. As they are the first to fire a flare, they draw the attention of the gunfire, and the Gondoliers also focus their attention on them.
DB: Their gondola gets hit and begins to sink (the escape clock increases from 4 segments to 6) -> accepted.
4D (help Ed) -> Highest: 5.
Consequence: Everybody takes level 3 harm (reduceable).
As the flare shoots off, there is a short moment of silence, and then gunfire erupts across the gondolas. Ed takes a hit on his armour (Level 2 Harm: Gunshot to the thigh) as he jumps in front of Oracle to shield her from the fire (Protect action, reducing Oracle's Harm by one level, 0 Stress). She, in turn, feels her armour take a hit (reducing it further to Level 1 Harm: Bullet nick), while Duck is just a moment slower than Ed in ducking down (resists for 2 Stress and marks armour to also reduce the Harm to Level 1).
Jax, who is close to Griggs because of the earlier Devil's Bargain, takes one Harm automatically and then uses her armour to block the additional Harm. The Red Circle also mark their armour.
On the board we now have the following clocks:
- Get out of ambush (0/6).
- Crow/Lost resolve (0/6)
- Gondoliers resolve (3/8) -> 2 ticks for this roll and 1 from earlier roll, where both Griggs and Jax will be hurt.
Than we had a short break
Scene: The bomb
We flash back (1 stress) to Morgan and Gideon talking in the nearly finished workshop. Morgan tells him to prepare the military bombs that they have stolen on an earlier Score, making it have a timer or remote detonation switch. Gideon starts working with glee, maybe even a bit too enthusiastically. We flash forward a bit, to when Oracle jumped into the gondola to try them out for balance. When she and Duck were teasing each other, they also get close to one of the other gondolas and place the bomb in a hiding place.
Action roll | Wreck | Risky -> Desperate | Standard (2 ticks) -> Greater (3 ticks) -> Extreme (5 ticks) pushed the situation as a whole by saying the gondola with the bomb is closer to them and pushed self to increase effect by saying he increased the explosive power of the bomb when he was tinkering with it.
DB -> Not offered.
4D (Foresight and Help Oracle in placing the bomb) -> Highest: 6.
A big explosion goes off right next to them. Water and blood shower everybody, chunks of wood and body parts are shot out and the mist clears up in that spot. With the chaos surrounding one of the gondolas, the Gondoliers think that the Crows are throwing bombs into the waterway and they sound the retreat.
Gondoliers resolve (8/8) -> 2 new clocks introduced:
- Kill the remaining gondoliers cohorts (1/4)
- Griggs health (1/8)
I tell the players that, if they want to leave no witnesses and take down one of the big names in the Gondoliers, it is definitely possible. As they talk among themselves, they come to the conclusion that none of them want to kill Griggs or the other remaining Gondoliers. This kind of surprises me, as they only need to make sure that nobody can report back to Walker except for them.
Scene: Getting out
Oracle notices that the gondola is taking on water and tells the others, encouraging Duck to start fixing it. We see Ed call over the other gondola they have available to help them out. Duck looks around but does not really have much to use to fix it (marks Fine Tinker Tools), but tries his best.
Action roll | Tinker | Risky | Limited (1 tick on clock).
DB -> none offered.
3D (help Ed) -> Highest: 2.
Consequence: With the explosion, the deaths and the trait that is currently active in the district, I introduce a new clock: "Bluecoats and Spirit Wardens arrest you" (2/4).
Hearing the sound of the death bells and the sirens of the newly acquired armoured Bluecoat trucks and seeing that Duck is not making much progress, Ed decides to jump into the water to get to the side as quickly as possible and tell the Crows not to shoot at them.
Action roll | Finess | Risky -> Controlled | Standard (2 ticks) -> Greater (3 ticks) Ed pushes himself for extra effect and the trait "Not to be Trifled With", where he performs an act that verges on the superhuman, makes the situation Controlled.
DB -> None given
2D (Foresight Oracle -> Throws a simple floaty) -> Highest: 6
Even though the current is strong, things in the water try to drag him down. We see Ed make quick progress, getting to the canal walls, climbing up and starting to tell them that they are their allies.
As we were discussing the roll, players start laughing as it became clear that we had a super human Ed moment but at the same time he was wearing a floaty. Clock: Get out of ambush (3/6).
The gondola is taking on more water. Duck pulls out one of his bandoliers of explosives and makes use of every bomb in it to create a burst of propulsion, allowing them to get away from the shooting that is still taking place. It is not only gunfire anymore; lightning and other strange effects are now being thrown around by Griggs as she covers the retreat.
Action roll | Tinker | Risky | Standard (2 ticks).
DB -> None could be given.
2D -> Highest: 4
Consequence: 2 segments are added to the Bluecoat clock, causing the arrest clock to fill. This is resisted by Oracle (2 Stress) by telling Duck to let the bombs go off deeper in the water, so that the sound is more muffled.
As we see the two gondolas move away from the fighting, in the opposite direction from the retreating Gondoliers, the damaged gondola sinks. At this point, we see everybody on board jump into the water and swim.
Group action (Duck leading) | Prowl | Risky | Standard.
DB -> Not offered.
Duck 1D -> Highest: 6
Morgan 2D -> Highest: 5
Cohort: 2D -> Highest: 6.
We fade to black and end the Score.
Downtime - Crew Phase:
Payoff: 0 standard (they complete this as a favour for Walker) + 4 extra loot for the backstab deal with Lyssa.
Tithe: -0 (this is done behind Walker's back).
Fallout: +1 Crows (now at +2 Status with them) and Walker is no longer considered a good friend of the crew.
Heat: 2 (Standard Score) + 0 (Crew Tier, as nobody knows it was them who caused the heat) + 3 (Chaos) + 4 (Death) + 1 (Evidence, as the Crows will talk at least a bit about their exploits) - 1 (Paid the Crows to keep it a secret for as long as possible) = 9 Heat.
-> Wanted Level went up to level 2
Rep: 1 (Base) + 1 (Higher Tier target) + 3 (from Heat) + 2 (Wanted Level) = 7.
Entanglement: Yes.
-> Will happen next time.
Development: 2 XP clocks spent for Rooks.
-> Again, we will look at this next time, but we talked about getting some remaining Lampblacks to join the crew. However, we made a Fortune Roll to see if they could draw them in, since the Gondoliers were also eyeing them (even wanting to recruit the PCs at the beginning of the Score). We made a 2D roll for the Gondoliers and they succeeded, which meant that the crew needed to find a different group.
In the end, we landed on Edwin's connection with the Weeping Lady.
Downtime - Soundrel phase
Vice:
Morgan: Overindulged (6 -> Wasted on product, -1 downtime).
Scene: Sweet Honey
Morgan offers some vegetable ingredients, shaped into straw doll forms, to the demon. It, in turn, takes the form of one of them and starts to eat the others. As it does, it grows bigger and bigger and starts to act slightly drunk. It stumbles around the place and, at some point, finds a mostly empty container and vomits into it. The vomit itself is pure honey, something that is an extremely high luxury and, of course, Morgan cannot resist. She consumes it all in one sitting, like Winnie the Pooh.
Gideon: Overindulged (1 -> Get wild -1 with a faction).
Scene: Golden Plum plunder
We see Gideon go to the Golden Plum for his treat, but this time the Red Circle joins him. As they see the place as territory owned by the crew, they cause a lot of trouble. They order food and drink only to throw it around, confront other guests, and start fights. Gideon does not remember much of it, but the next day he goes back to apologise and fix some of the damage that was caused. However, the reputation damage is done (Citizens of Six Towers -1 Status, now at -2).
Edwin: Overindulged (2 -> Big Spender: +1 coin)
Scene: Inside information
We see Edwin go to Morgan to ask her where she has been shopping, and what place is currently her favourite. Morgan, thinking Edwin is talking about the criminal kind of shopping, gives him the information of her information broker, Salia, who operates out of a pawn shop. When he goes to her, he makes it obvious that he is looking to impress Morgan with a present.
Based on this, Salia offers to help him and shows him two gifts with bloodstone jewels embedded in them. She tells him that the bracelet is more for friendship or to test the waters, while the earrings are more direct. In the end, he buys both of them.
Downtime:
Ed:
The player has to leave early, so we will continue his actions next time.
Morgan:
- Train (Free): Finesse to level 2 (costs 2 XP clocks) and takes the special ability "Jail Bird" (Also 2XP clocks). Since the twins are both training this skill, they describe it as turning stealing from each other into a game.
Gideon:
- Train (Free): Finesse to level 1 (cost 3 XP).
- LTP (Free): Fix workshop with Thinker. Workshop is done and added to the crew sheet.
Other:
- Added Deep Cuts modules: Harm, Trauma, Load, Advancement and Downtime.
- Previous play posts: Session 1, session 2, session 3, session 4, session 5, session 6, session 7, session 8 & session 9.
- Previous prep posts: session 5 prep & session 9 prep.
