Absolutely - nothing is set in stone until the dice come out.
Well the dice rolls are the same either way and I can't think of a reason for my social skills to apply so let's roll Study!
Success! With complications!
So, you know your way out from here, no problem. The only difficulty is - well, remember when I said a medium load makes you look like what you are, a scoundrel ready for trouble? You don't exactly blend in. You walk around a corner to find a couple of workers, dolled up and ready to start their shift at the Silver Staff. On seeing you, one of them panics and reaches into her purse and pulls out a small pistol, almost like a toy, and fires it at you.
This does two things. Firstly, the noise travels. Gunshots sound distinctive and are hard to confuse for much else, especially indoors. Everyone knows something is up.
You can Resist this with Resolve, representing dumb luck.
Secondly, the bullet hits Jonah. It's little more than a pop-gun, designed for point-blank range, so it doesn't penetrate - it shatters one of the bottles of carbolic phenol he's carrying, sending shards of glass into his flesh (level 2 harm, bad cuts) and irretrievably staining his clothing.
Jonah can Resist this with Prowess, dodging out the way in which case no harm at all.
Ranna has the second-best Resolve and the least amount of stress so I'll Resist that.
I have to try and resist the Level 2 harm. Prowess would be 2d.
Don’t forget the extra die from Forged in the Fire!
Oh! Right, I totally forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder. So Prowess would be 3d.
I'd forgotten about that too!
I'm really sorry but I've been called away with a family emergency. I won't be doing much in the way of posting until Sunday.
Back now, sorry for the delay.
Let's see, 2 resist rolls needed
So neither of you take any stress from that. I will post accordingly.
I hope everything went well regarding the family emergency. Glad to have you back!
I hope everything went well regarding the family emergency. Glad to have you back!
Seconded!
Thank you.
It sounds like you're going with Sway to try and persuade them to do things your way. This is Risky, but not Desperate - things can go sideways, for sure, but there's no immediate danger to life and limb (no more than usual in Doskvol).
Who wants to make the roll?
As someone with zero dice in Sway, I volunteer Luce as tribute. (Ranna can assist though to give her an extra die.)
As someone with zero dice in Sway, I volunteer Luce as tribute. (Ranna can assist though to give her an extra die.)
So you're going for the BitD remake of Hunger Games, yeah? The one where Jennifer Lawrence pushes her sister to the front of the crowd while shouting "Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia!"
If you're assisting, take +1 stress and Luce gets an extra +1d6 on the roll.
Wow...
Welcome to BitD :)
A "miss" result like that means (1) that you don't get what you want (and/or you get what you very much *don't* want) and (2) you take a Consequence. The Consequence (2) can be Resisted as usual, but the Bad Thing (1) can't be - it happens and you just have to deal with it.
So, that in mind, does anyone have an idea for what might happen here? Or is Ranna the only one with a penchant for tightening her own thumbscrews?
Perhaps one of the ladies recognizes Luce from ... somewhere ... and decides that she wants a little more than just the few coins that Jonah has given them, with the threat that she'll snitch?
Yeah, that definitely works! Luce, which one of the two knows you (the real you) from somewhere? Do you want to write it up as that sick sense of realisation dawns on you, or shall I put something together?
So that's the Bad Thing - Luce is recognised. That alone adds +2 Heat for your score, whatever else comes of it (no Resisting that). The Consequence of wanting money (let's say 2 Coin, 1 for each of them) can be Resisted. I'm going to go with Resolve on that one because it's a willpower thing.
Luce's probably the best choice for the Resolve resist, but if she'd rather not Ranna can do it.
I'll do the resist. As for recognition - lets say that they either recognise me from my recon mission, or they've been to swanky parties as arm candy and recognise me from a fancy ball a while back.
"Oh hey, you were with the really pretty girl weren't you?"
Given this was a miss, they recognise the real you - not "I know you from somewhere" but rather "I know who you are." Hence the +2 Heat this draws on you all.
So, resist roll for Luce
Critical! Luce loses 1 point of stress. These dice...
Loving the dialogue! I wanted to give time for that to play out but I think it has, so we move on.
Next up is the way out. We've already established that you can't go back the way you came through the sewer entrance (unless you want to run into Kohanna); and given everything you're carrying, it's extremely unlikely that you can get out via the main entrance - you're just going to raise too many questions, you clearly aren't dressed as patrons of this fine establishment. Of course, being experienced scoundrels of the Dusk, you would have already realised this; so I think where you're heading is actually up, to the roof and then out that way.
Unless of course, one or more of you have made arrangements so that you can get out the main entrance, no questions asked. Or something else entirely. Let me know!
Well a brothel would have one or more discrete side exits no doubt, for patrons who prize such things. So while the roof would be a pain it would be easy enough for Luce to have called in a favour, greased a palm or two and ensured that one of the discrete side doors would be bouncer-less for a quiet twenty minute window - thus providing a simple means of egress!
I'd hope that's not an overly difficult flashback to have arranged...
Oh yes, the Silver Staff - like all such establishments - *definitely* has side doors and concealed entrances/exits, for use by favoured patrons. Setting that up would normally be a 1-Stress flashback with a dice roll, but in this case there are two additional complications: (1) you aren't a patron, and (2) you aren't especially favoured here - the place isn't one of your usual haunts and in fact has Silver Nail connections. That means finding someone to help you out (and look the other way when you're clearly heavily-laden and up to no good) is going to be a complicated and possibly expensive affair, even for a Spider of your ability. On the other hand, the smug look when you pull it off will be worth it :)
All of which is to say that this is a 3-Stress flashback and it needs an action roll (probably Consort) to see how well it goes.
I should clearly leave you to roll...
Oof. Ranna and Casia must have used up all our luck getting into the vault.
The dice are fickle - they give and they take away. Anyway, I could just say you don't get what you want but that doesn't seem like a good story to me. So, let me introduce you to Samy.
Samy is one of those "gentle giant" types - huge guy, well over 2 metres tall with shoulders and muscles to match. A scar from a broken bottle has left a really fierce expression on his face, which helps with his job as bouncer; but he really goes out of his way to avoid hurting people. Unless you cross one of the lines of this place and hurt someone who works at the Silver Staff, in which case he will beat you methodically into a pulp. He's not the quickest on the uptake, but in Duskvol he's probably counted as a good guy (in terms of inspiration, I'm thinking Andre the Giant from Princess Bride).
It turns out that Samy has a problem - he's fallen for one of the women who works here. Her name is Lottie, and she's a recent arrival at the Silver Staff. He helped her get the job here, the work may not be very pleasant but it's a lot more survivable than double-shifts in the factories of Coalridge where they both grew up together. But it's clear she's unhappy and he's realising he's made a huge mistake.
His solution would be to go into her room, pick her up over his shoulders and run like hell; which would get them all of about ten paces before the bad stuff happens. But if you go and get her, bring her to one of the side-entrances, and then get them both to Gaddoc rail station in Nightmarket, they can board a train and start a new life together. And you get the exit you were looking for.
Oh, and there's one complication, did I not mention that? Samy hasn't told Lottie about any of this - not his crush on her, not the escape plan, none of it: "I ain't no good with words, what can I say? That's what youse can do, persuade her for me."
Before I post, will Samy accept the others leaving and Luce staying to talk to Lottie?
I don't understand the question
There's probably a bit too much in my previous post - I was making it up as the inspiration hit me, so let me break it down a bit. If I've misunderstood anything, let me know.
Luce's inquiries in her flashback lead her to Samy, who is clearly open to helping her out but demands something in return: namely that when you meet him at the exit, you are bringing Lottie with you.
My thought was that we would end the flashback there and come back to the present, with the group about to go and find Lottie and persuade her.
Luce's idea, which I like, is that she goes by herself (still in the flashback) and does the groundwork of telling Lottie what's going on and persuading her, so that when we come back into the present, all the group needs to do is go and collect her.
If Luce wants to do that, it's not something covered by the previous roll. It doesn't add any extra stress (which is good because by my reckoning she's at 7/9 stress), but I think she has to (1) find Lottie and be discreet about it; and (2) persuade her to do something that is on the face of it not sensible (brothels generally don't like it when their workers try to think for themselves).
Finding Lottie is a single action roll, but persuading her is likely to be more than one roll, probably a 4-clock to explain to her what's going on and break down her objections. If Luce thinks she's badass enough to do all that by herself, then by all means we can "extend" the flashback to cover all that, and then snap back into the present.
If you think that's more of a job for the whole group, then we'll just have a flashback between Luce and Samy before we snap back to the present.
Does that make sense?
Refreshing everyone's memories (including mine!) on where we are, calendar-wise.
SEASON ONE, Finale
15 March - into the Ghost Field /// Adventures in Scurlock Manor
16 March - leave Scurlock Manor alive
20 March - Grinders kill Dary
25 March - Lady Phroiag demands revenge /// Enter Min
28 March - spinning a tale for the Silver Nails
30 March - Burglary at the Grinders
2 April - Fin tangles with the Silver Nails, gets poisoned
5 April - Hutton Dies
SEASON TWO
7 April - Fin gets sepsis, enter Ranna
10 April - Ranna makes a deal with Eckerd
10 April - Enter Luce
13 April - Luce does reconnaissance of the Silver Staff
20 April - Ranna deals with smokebombs and memories (flashback)
21 April - Into the Silver Staff
That suggests to me that Luce finds Samy and talks with him on 16 April and you go looking for Lottie on 18 April. So far I have Ranna and Luce doing this but there's nothing stopping anyone else tagging along, I guess.
@Luce - I'll let you keep the 6 you rolled, but for future reference, dice rolls in this thread please :)
Sorry!
Well that worked out ok :)
No worries.
Either way, it's a full success - no consequences, and I'll give you 2 ticks on the 4-clock we're running here. Another decent roll by someone, and we can snap back into the present :)
EDIT - and for avoidance of doubt, the Position here is Controlled rather than Risky: there's a limit to how badly wrong things can go.
I'm rolling Consort here if that's okay. Ranna's trying to connect with Lottie more than persuade her.
Unfortunately Ranna's hindering more than helping. She really does need to work on her bedside manner.
Consort sounds good, shame about the roll. Luckily you're in a Controlled Position so all that happens is you lose the moment - in game terms, you don't know her well enough to be that blunt with her.
In terms of the mechanics, you can either (1) try a Consort roll again (from a Risky Position this time); or (2) keep the Controlled Position but use a different action roll (if you can think of one that makes sense).
Can I assist Luce's rolls rather than make my own? I know that would give Ranna some more stress, but 50/50 odds at best aren't great.
That also works. Luce gets +1d to her next roll and that puts Ranna at 6/9 stress.
Reminder: if you ever need +1d without stress cost, you can always ask for a Devil's Bargain.
I've got a dot in Sway as well. Given this is a Silver Nails establishment, Jonah's friend Nyryx (who also knew Naty) could be a fellow worker with Lottie. Jonah could have arranged for Nyryx to quietly 'vouch' for the Dusk Mites with the girl as both she and Jonah would want to see the two able to escape to a better life somewhere. Obviously, this could become pretty personal for Jonah as he could see something of his sister in Lottie and his own need to help someone try and break free of the same life that turned Naty into a ghost.
Well yes that's not a coincidence - obviously you want to create complications that can't just be brushed off by the characters.
I think getting Nyryx to vouch for you to Lottie is a straightforward thing to do, a zero stress flashback with a Sway roll at Controlled Position; but because it's by proxy (so to speak) it's going to fill in 1 tick on the clock rather than 2 (limited Effect). You can Push yourself (2 stress) to get full effect (which would fill the clock) or you can ask for a Devil's Bargain to get full effect.
Let me know what you want to do.
Limited effect makes sense. I think I'd rather push myself to get an extra die or did you have a specific Devil's Bargain in mind? That way I could hold onto the stress for whatever last ditch effort we might need.
Hmm.. iirc, you've asked Nyryx for a couple of favours now - a good Bargain would be that you can't get another favour from her until you rebalance the scales. I'll create a 4-clock labelled "repaying Nyrix" and you have to fill it in using Downtime actions before you can rely on her again.
How does that sound?
Sounds good. Definitely time to repay Nyryx a little. I'll take the bargain.
Success. Huzzah. Quick question, when does this actually fit into the timing of things? I'm guessing it would come after Luce's and Ranna's conversations with Lottie, but want to make sure before I post something.
That is a good question and of course I have the answer because I am the GM.
Um. Hmm.
Maybe Luce or Ranna says e.g. "I can see you're not persuaded and you've obviously got no reason to trust us, but ask around and you'll find the Dusk Mites keep their word" (or something like that, but with less suck) at which point we cut to Jonah talking to Nyryx?
EDIT: either way, I've decided that's good enough to fill the clock so Ranna doesn't need to spend stress giving an assist to Luce, which puts her back to 5/9 stress, and Luce doesn't need to make any more rolls, which hopefully reduces Nik's stress. Let's finish this and snap back to the present.
So you're splitting up? Luce & Casia to go and get Lottie while the other two head for the exit?
Or are you all going?
Split up I think. Ranna just posted as much in gameplay.
Makes sense to me.
Luce/Casia - you know where Lottie is, and thanks to Luce's good work she is ready and waiting for you. All you need to do is go and get her; given you aren't exactly looking like patrons of this fine establishment, I think that needs an action roll from one of you to see how well it goes. What action do you want to use?
Ranna/Jonah - you don't need an action roll as you're just hanging around trying to look inconspicuous; but (obviously there's a but) I am going to make a fortune roll to see what happens.
oops. OK, so one of you is going to take a bit of Harm here. Bear with me a moment.
EDIT: Jonah, you take level 2 Harm from the broken glass. You can't Resist down to level 1 as they're both occupied already (assuming your stat-line is up to date. On which note, Luce should be at 7/9 stress after that flashback and Ranna should be at 5/9 stress because she didn't need to give that assist).
Seeings as how none of us blend in with the 'it' crowd, Casia would go for stealth.