Dot here!
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...
From your cramped lair, you can just barely hear the public chimes ringing in the Hour of Silver. Lord Scurlock bid you to keep a low profile, so you move about by candle light, your windows tightly borded shut.
According to Velaris, Halthar commands you to...steal.
Does Halthar have a target in mind? Is there something Halthar specifically wants you to take?
When Velaris answers, anyone who wants to gather information may do so. Describe what you want to find out and how you intend to find it and I’ll tell you what to roll.
Once you’ve gathered your information, choose your plan and tell me the missing detail.
Here are the plans and the missing details:
Assault: Do violence to a target. Detail: The point of attack.
Deception: Lure, trick, or manipulate. Detail: The method of deception.
Stealth: Trespass unseen. Detail: The point of infiltration.
Occult: Engage a supernatural power. Detail: The arcane method.
Social: Negotiate, bargain, or persuade. Detail: The social connection.
Transport: Carry cargo or people through danger. Detail: The route & means.
A set of leviathan-bones, valuable for their connection to the still living beast... Would be lovely if he would mention where they are, but apparently he only wants to make Velaris' life as complicated as possible.
We have a target. Leviathan bone plates, cut by the hunters from a living beast, who managed to escape them. carved into charms... Velaris tells the others They're in Duskvol, but I don't have much more in the way of information He says, before downing a spoonful of laudanum, to ease the splitting headache Halthar's words give him
Tarnikos rubs his hands together and wraps them around the stone he took from near a community bonfire where the refugees live. The bonfires are kept lit with driftwood and scraps and dung to allow everyone to cook cheaply and when it's cold many will warm stones to carry in their pockets to warm their hands so they can work. His voice comes out rough and coarse and his accent gives him away as only partially acclimated to living in Duskvol.
"There're lo's o' refugees working to unload cargo from the ships and lotsa the girls who the sailors come see are too. I could ask if anyone's been unloading those bones, or talking about i'. Ifn' they took one alive someone's bound to be blabbing about it. Tha's way too big a figh' to no' tell stories abou'."
So there are now three questions:
Who has these bones?
What is your plan to get them?
What is the missing detail to your plan?
Gathering information can help you answer all three.
It can point you to a target
It can reveal that target’s strengths and weaknesses (giving you a bonus in your engagement roll)
It can provide the best possible answer for your missing detail.
One of you will have to locate the bones before you can do anything else. Some suggestions (by no means an exhaustive list)
You can...
Consort with an ally, like a well connected Levithan hunter you happen to know.
Sway someone at the Minestry of Preservation.
Survey the Nightmarket for any stalls selling such rare items.
Command a docker to tell you who brought home bones.
Attune to the ghost field and trace these powerful artifacts.
Study ship manifests.
Or something else entirely!
Tarnikos rubs his hands together and wraps them around the stone he took from near a community bonfire where the refugees live. The bonfires are kept lit with driftwood and scraps and dung to allow everyone to cook cheaply and when it's cold many will warm stones to carry in their pockets to warm their hands so they can work. His voice comes out rough and coarse and his accent gives him away as only partially acclimated to living in Duskvol.
"There're lo's o' refugees working to unload cargo from the ships and lotsa the girls who the sailors come see are too. I could ask if anyone's been unloading those bones, or talking about i'. Ifn' they took one alive someone's bound to be blabbing about it. Tha's way too big a figh' to no' tell stories abou'."
Tarnikos it sounds like you want to consort with the dockers. Give me a roll and we’ll see what you uncover.
"I can make my way down to the docks and see if I can take a look at ships logs. I have some familiarity with the Imperial cataloging system."
Mender makes his way down to the docks, but does not approach any of the ship captains, nor the harbormaster's office. Instead, he goes to one of the utilitarian, drab government buildings that are warehouses for records. Backed away from the water itself, the only thing that graces the front of the building is a metal plaque that reads Imperial Records.
Moving inside, Mender asks the person at the desk where he can find ships logs. Once directed to the correct portion of the records, he begins searching through the more recently reported leviathan hunting ships to see if any of them returned with the bones that the group has been tasked by "Halthar" to steal.
Halthar wanted them to steal something? It was true, their funds were rather depleted, and their plans were ambitious. Ambitious plans need a lot of resources. Besides, private property was, at best, a tenuous concept among the tribes. You owned your weapons, but those were crafted or inherited, not bought or sold. And everything else - horses, shelters, clothing, utensils - was communal property, to be used as needed.
Briar nods as Velaris relays the god's message. "They sound like valuable items. Someone may already be trying to sell them. I'll check the Nightmarket, talk to some of my Severosi friends there, see if someone sniffed anything."
Briar wraps herself tighter in her long coat and slinks out of the lair, pulling her wide brimmed hat low over her eyes. She makes her way to Nightmarket by way of the northernmost bridge connecting the two districts. She keeps her eyes and ears open for any scrap of information regarding bone plates, or any other valuable relics that are being bought or sold - potential targets for their next operation.
You pour over manifests. While none describe the haul you’re looking for, you quickly realize that smuggling bones into the city is something a crew would likely conceal. You instead look for gaps in the logs until you find the HMS Infinate. It unloaded more boxes of cargo than it arrived with. Most was delivered to the Ministry if Preservation, but one was acquired by a Cobb Loman, delivered to a row home in Silkshore. This is almost certainly the place.
Fortunately, there are no consequences to a failed info roll, just limited information.
You browse the stalls, looking for someone selling the bones. No luck, but you do meet a frail old woman wearing a veil decorated with a spiderweb pattern. She introduces herself as Lizete and informs you that she’s a very motivated buyer of such things. She’d pay 4 coin for a single piece of Levithan bone.
Of course, Halthor may have other ideas of what he wants you to do with the bones.
Now that you know where the bones are, you need to choose a plan of how you’ll get the bones out and fill in the missing detail. The more information you gather, the more time passes. He may have sold the bones if you take too long.
As usual when going to attend to separate affairs in the same area as another member, Tarnikos waits five minutes after Mender leaves then heads to a gambling house in the northeast of Crow's Foot before leaving and heading up to the docks to speak to the refugees working there.
What are you looking to discover? Whatever it is, the information is really juicy. If you ask the right questions you might get an engagement roll bonus.
Can't be moving TOO many bones at once. That'd look suspicious. Maybe no more than a box or two.
"Suppose I were to want a box of goods to be... lost in the shuffle. An extra crate just gets misplaced and surprisingly ends up at my employer's estate. How could I go about doing that? Is there an... unofficial means to move small cargo into the city?"
Are you looking to find out where the bones are? Mender already located who has the bones: Cobb Loman.
Or are you looking to find out how to get the bones away from Cobb? They've already been delivered to Cobb, so you wouldn't be able to redirect them. You might be able to get information about Cobb or his home from one of your friends (and with that six, you'd get a LOT of great information about either.
Asking about Cobb will tell you what plan is most effective (+1d to engagement) and what plan is least effective (-1d to engagement) OR it could tell you about a social connection or deception method if you choose one of those plans (but not both).
Asking about his home would give you information about point of infiltration or a point
of attack if you wanted to do an assault or infiltration plan.
I was playing it as though I didn't know that since I left before Mender came back, so I was thinking it would be a way to infiltrate or at least case the place if we delivered something else, so I guess a deception method.
Velaris is coming back to reality when the Mad Good Doctor returns. Row home over in silkshore. Velaris wouldn't mind visiting, maybe have a poke around...
Let's assume that you talk a bit about what you're looking to discover (so that you don't run over each other).
Tarnikos and Velaris, you both have 6s for your gather information. If you both learn about his home, you'll double up on information.
I'm going to assume that one of you learns about Cobb and the other learns about his home.
Cobb is suspicious and paranoid. He doesn't seem to have many friends (-1d for social plan) and he employs several guards in his home (-1d for assault). He was, however, wildly naive in his dealings, paying far more than the bones were worth to acquire them, though he didn't sound interested in reselling them (+1d for deception) and his guards seem to be hired for their size and strength, but not necessarily their perception; one was pick-pocketed during their deal (+1d to infiltration).
His home Is in a cramped neighborhood in Silkshore, up on the hill. It's a three story house with solid locks on the door, but the attic seems to be unlocked. You could likely get through the window by entering from another roof (Point of entry for an infiltration plan). He gets regular food deliveries to his front door, which might be a good point of deception.
Decide on your plan and the missing detail and I'll roll your engagement! First score lets go!
Also, everyone mark on your stat bar what your load level is. The lighter your load, the less conspicuous you are. The heavier your load, the more gear you have access to when you really need it.
Briar returns to the lair rather empty-handed, hoping that the others had fared better.
"Didn't find no bones, but if we do acquire them, I might have a buyer for them. She's willing to pay 4 coin for a single piece."
Hearing that the bones have been located, she picks up her pistols. She didn't think they would be shooting their way in, but they might be useful for creating a distraction, or simply for looking menacing and dangerous. She clicks her tongue, and Simon uncurls himself from a spot on one of the weathered sofas and casually ambles over to sniff at Briar's satchel. After a thorough inspection, he deigns to jump in, pushing aside the spyglass that's already inside.
Hearing that the bones have been located, she picks up her pistols. She didn't think they would be shooting their way in, but they might be useful for creating a distraction, or simply for looking menacing and dangerous. She clicks her tongue, and Simon uncurls himself from a spot on one of the weathered sofas and casually ambles over to sniff at Briar's satchel. After a thorough inspection, he deigns to jump in.
You're not obligated to select any of your gear ahead of time. If you end up needing the pistols, you can mark them off on your sheet when you need them. You're better off not committing to any gear before the score starts.
I just need to know from you what gear load you want. Do you want to have 3 choices (Light load), 5 choices (normal) or 6 (heavy). The more slots you take, the slower and more conspicuous you become, but you'll have a larger pool of items to use if the situation calls for it.
Light load then.
Briar would like to infiltrate the attic while the others do a deception at the front door.
Light load then.
Unless you need to avoid attention (like if you were with the deception crew) there's little mechanical benefit to taking light load. Normal load won't slow you down or draw attention if you're sneaking in. It's more of a social issue. Heavy is a different story.
Briar would like to infiltrate the attic while the others do a deception at the front door.
What you're describing is called a "linked plan"
The people at the front door do a deception-based action to create a diversion, improving the position of the people breaking in to the attic.
Because of the size of the crew, I'd suggest sending fewer people to do the diversion and more people to do the infiltration, but that's up to you all to decide.
Are you ok with this idea, or would you prefer to not split your group and consolidate to one plan or another.
Also, remember when we start the score, no one is obligated to reveal where they are until they're doing something. If it makes sense, we can do a flashback to put Briar across the street to snipe guards or Hutch to knock at the door after the main group breaches the window or flashback to having Cutter and Velaris bluff their way into the house hours before the infiltration and set a trap. There's a LOT of flexibility with the flashback system and we don't need to get too caught up in details.
I just need to know up front which general plan[s] you want to use and what the missing detail is. After I get that, it's go time.
I think Briar's plan is a decent one.
Tarnikos gathers a medium load and agrees to be part of the front-door team.
That's two votes for a split plan. If there's any dissent, let me know otherwise I'll assume:
1. Deception setup action to improve the positioning of the roof team (and then you can join the roof team based on the fiction, either by sneaking back up after making the distraction. Alternatively, we can run these as two plans, if you intend to stick around the house after dropping off the food.
2. Infiltration plan with a rooftop entry point, then start looking for where the bones are.
and then when everyone gives me their load we can roll engagement, which tells you how things are going when we join the action.
"We should see about his food deliveries. Does he pay elsewhere or at the door?"
If that's information you need, we can establish that (and what you do with that information) in flashbacks.
Hutch stands from his desk, stroking a magpie perched on his shoulder. He crosses the room and deposits the bird into a carrying cage. "Whether I am performing a deception or distraction, I'll be entering through the front door. If I'm to acquire the piece, I can put hands on passable credentials as a restoration expert. With Velarius's aid I may be able to convince Cobb the plates are possessed. If I am a distraction, I will see about adding him to my post network while you are fumbling about in the attic."
An interesting twist.
If Hutch tries to pose as a restoration expert, having people break in upstairs may do more harm than good. If he runs distraction, a Cypher ruse might be easier to manage than food delivery (you wouldn't need to intercept an actual order).
Either way, we need consensus on what the door team is actually doing (distraction or separate plan) so we can roll engagement.
Do you have a preference between the two (since you'll be leading the door team). Regardless of choice, what load level do you intend to bring?
Velaris is more suited to sneaking than lying, but only slightly. I like Felfiz's "they're haunted" plan (maybe pose as spirit wardens)
Velaris is more suited to sneaking than lying, but only slightly. I like Felfiz's "they're haunted" plan (maybe pose as spirit wardens)
Posing as Spirit Wardens is harder than you'd think. You'd need distinctive disguises.
If you go with Hutch's "they're haunted" plan, will there still be a rooftop crew or are you advocating for changing the plan just to deception? If you're doing a split plan, what do you imagine the rooftop team would do?
Prowl would be a better choice. Plus you could help locate the bones with atune.
Also, I need your load level. I need everyone’s load level before we start. A lot of these details can be fleshed our through play.
Lets set with normal and go from there. Your presence will be less useful for deceiving.
I have load from Briar and Velaris.
Need load from:
Tarnikos
Felfiz (assuming light)
Mender
Once I get your load, I'll roll engagement and the score will begin.
I'll go light too.
You approach the attic window. It's a single pane window, just small enough that you could barely fit through it. As you begin to lift the window, you discover that while you were correct that the window is not locked, it is most certainly trapped. You can't quite tell what will happen if you open the window and slice the string that runs off into the darkness, you can't imagine it'll be savory.
Roof team: What do you do?
Flashback
Simon always likes to play with bits of string, so Briar has become adept at disentangling his claws from such. When they scouted the house earlier it was Simon who spotted the string tied to the attic window, so Briar was able to Study it.
With full knowledge of the trap’s existance, you had plenty of time to study its workings...and how to disable it. You open the window effortlessly.
Briar smiles as the window slides open. She makes the soft noise that always makes Simon go wild, and the tomcat starts yowling - the prearranged signal for the door team to start their distraction. Once confident that the ears of those inside are trained on the front door and not the attic, she will quietly slip inside.
Hutch hears the call, and tightens his cravat. The patches would do, the stitching would have to hold. When their sect had a little more fluidity, he would allow himself some silk, a satin cravat, a coat cut from one ream, at least. For now, he tucks the little wicker cage under his arm, steps up to the door, and begins knocking and trying the bell with some urgency.
When someone answers, he apologizes as if short of breath. "You will have to excuse my urgency, it's only that my carriage threw an axle on the road- terrible state these roads, yes? -in the course of events, I fear I may have injured my messenger bird.--Mr. Darner, of the Cyphers" He flashes his old badge: a pressed plate of silver in a black leather case. "Would you be kind enough to lend a dish of water and a flat surface, that I might check the bird for injury- it would only take a moment and I would be eternally grateful. A moment's hospitality is all I would press upon you, truly."
Cobb’s guard looks shaken and hurriedly brings you inside.
The guard races you into the kitchen and waving off another guard who was startled to see a stranger rush into the room. The door guard begins to fill the plate with water. Cobb emerges from his study, draped in a tattered house coat, smoking a foul smelling pipe.
Pherris? What is the meaning of this?
What do you do? You can do an action roll in the present to keep Cobb from filling the remainder of the clock, or you can do a flashback where you ready, research or engage something that keeps you in the building and the guards distracted.
Velaris struggles in through the doorway, Cursing Cobb for not choosing a larger window for his attick. as he moves, one of the sequins from his cloak, that form constellations on it while he acts as Hathar's Blackstar, not immediately damning, but enugh to hint
Mender waits a moment after Feliz is let in and then makes his way to the door, knocking with a polite but firm hand. When opened, he would say "Greetings. I am here inquiring about the position of Physician that you are soliciting for?"