Blades in the Dark Solo - The Pincers - Part 4

We’ll start with downtime that wasn’t resolved at the end of the prior session.

Also, since the crew advanced, both get Stash +2.

Talitha

Her stress isn’t high enough to indulge, and with zero trauma that’s no problem. She’ll reduce Heat by consorting with Laroze, calming him down from the questioning. 1d => 6, -3 Heat. She’ll also train Prowess for an extra dot in Wreck, spending time understanding the basics of explosives.

Wicker

Is Aranna still upset with him, or is he not ready to show his face around the cult? He meets with her on neutral, safe ground: a tattoo parlor. On a mixed result of this fortune roll (using his consort rating as a basis), he would need to join. 1d => 5, mixed, so there we are. To continue, he must pledge to the Forgotten God she worships, The Radiant Word. The cult practices the ritual destruction of spirits or demons, not as sacrifice but as a display of loyalty and power.

We’ll get to the practices of this cult later, but for now he will indulge his vice by taking the Initiation rites. 2d => 6 stress relieved! He’ll also train his playbook (working on Occultist or maybe Ritual).

NPCs

Laroze and Aranna are both mollified for now. Telda continues to recover from her interrogation in an old inn, run by a Skovlander named Stev. He’s cooperative with us, although we don’t know why just yet.

We didn’t pursue the “Masked Vampire” project for Wicker for Wicker this time, but there’s something about fetching a special artifact for hollowing that relates to this.

Factions

The Reconciled were at 2/8 on Church infiltration. Because of this successful score, they’ll get a bonus die, so 2d => 6, 3 ticks to take us to 5/8.

The Fog Hounds continue to seek a patron. At tier I, 1d => 4, which puts 2 more ticks on their clock and takes them to 5/6. Are they working on a deal with our mysterious vampire? 2d (uncertain) => 1, nope! With such a strong “no,” this is probably someone opposed to the vampire and the Reconciled. We’ll need to think on this.

Next score

For our next score, we’ll go back to the Shadows table and tie it to one of these factions.

The black sheep of a noble family wants their revenge, and the deed to the ancestral estate is the key.

☞ Engagement

The last score benefited Preceptor Dunvil, but he isn’t the black sheep, is he? 1d (probably not) => 1, no. So instead, he’s hiring the crew to get it back. Locating the deed will require some legwork. We know (or strongly suspects) who has the deed, but not where it is (or they are).

Actually, do we really know the target’s identity? We’ll make another fortune roll, 3d (probably) => 5, somewhat. Dunvil suspects a particular family member, but isn’t entirely certain.

So the score is really to find said family member, recover the deed if they have it, and otherwise confirm back to the Preceptor.

First, who is this family member? We’ll roll on a few tables and get:

Laudius, a man. Known to be somewhat elitist, with interests in alchemy and medicine.

How can we track him down?

• Deception: Maybe when we get there, but there’s nobody to deceive yet!
• Occult: Can Wicker’s connection with the Radiant Word relate? Or perhaps ghosts around town?
• Social: This potentially makes the most sense. Dunvil might be able to provide the needed information.

Talitha talks with Dunvil to gather the information we need. That’s a consort, so 1d => 5, standard information. We have a sense of Laudius’s friends. Does he have a lover? 2d (uncertain) => 4, yes but they’re currently on the outs. That’s a starting point, even if not a great one.

Next session will start with an engagement roll.