I do plan on Ranna staying, but she’s going to be spending some of this downtime making that decision. I figure even if Hutton was a slaver Ranna certainly wouldn’t know about it, (or she wouldn’t have worked with him), so in her mind a lot of people died over a misunderstanding. I also threw Lolo under the bus a bit as she was the person to kill the three Grinders that died before the war officially started. (Sorry Lolo’s player if you’re still reading this. I know the dice were against you, but Ranna doesn’t.)
Three/four separate conversation/event threads running at the same time! I love it! :)
This is what we live for!
Much as I dislike GMPCs I dislike pointless conflict even less. To be clear I'm fine with Ranna having issues with past actions the Mites have taken, but I want them founded in fact rather than misunderstanding.
Just realized that the extra XP that Wastrel pointed out is enough to get Casia another Special Ability.
Daredevil looks perfect for her reckless nature.
In terms of downtime I'm thinking that I want to Recover with Ranna and then start a long term project - which will involve the humiliation, conversion and/or death of the doxie that recognised Luce. Not because she recognised Luce but because she's Jennah's family and Luce is more than willing to destroy anyone touching Jennah's life.
Open to the GM suggesting how that can go/what they're comfortable with. Anything from killing her through to turning her into an asset against her brother (or anything in between) is fine by me. Thoughts @GM Wastrel?
Using events from an earlier entanglement to end an argument? Don’t mind if I do :P
Ranna’s being unfair here and she’ll probably realize that and apologize later. For one thing, she doesn’t know for sure the Silver Nails are going after innocents. Eckerd threatened her and Stasia with that and it seems plausible, but it may or may not actually be happening.
Her biggest issue is that she knew the Grinders and was friendly (if not actually friends) with most of them. So the argument “we killed the whole gang but they deserved it because Hutton killed our friend” isn’t landing well. It’s ironic given how the whole conversation started, but Casia’s the one who got through to her the most. She can understand being stuck between two awful choices.
She’ll also be more reasonable when she’s less emotionally exhausted. It’s been a hard night.
@Ranna - agreed. I think one of the reasons feelings are running so high is precisely because the Mites aren't stone-cold killers and are trying to justify what they did to themselves as much as to her; whether that's Casia's "we chose the least s%~&ty option from a bunch of s@*#ty options" or Finraeth's "they started it and they crossed lines that we didn't." None of it makes what they did right, or even excusable; but I obviously don't need to point out that Ranna is going to have to join the Dusk Mites if you want to keep playing this game ;)
@Luce - That is exactly the sort of thing you can do with a long-term project! Although I'm surprised Luce's so bloodthirsty about it given her stated dislike for wet-work. I guess it's personal. That said, you are at 7/9 stress so I would definitely recommend you take a Downtime action to indulge and reduce your stress.
@Casia - agree that Daredevil is just the sort of thing for her to take.
@Luce - That is exactly the sort of thing you can do with a long-term project! Although I'm surprised Luce's so bloodthirsty about it given her stated dislike for wet-work. I guess it's personal. That said, you are at 7/9 stress so I would definitely recommend you take a Downtime action to indulge and reduce your stress.
Gaah - forgot that that was a thing. Ok, will rethink and post proper downtime things later.
As for bloodthirsty, that's why I gave you a range of things. There are two people in the world that Luce hates with all the fury of hell - Susanne and Jennah. So tearing both of them down is something that will almost always override other things for her.
So killing the sister wouldn't be her preferred option - she'd rather manipulate her into destroying her brother/ruin her life, but if it turns out that the best way to hurt Jennah would be to hurt his sister then she'll do it, because vengeance trumps everything else. Susanne doesn't get to die or anything so crude - Luce intends to rip away everything that her sister betrayed her family for and leave her in the dirt. It's not that cold with Jennah, theirs is simply a personal antagonism, so as I said above the goal is to hurt him by whatever means are available.
It might be that, in the moment, she'd pull back from actually killing the girl - but we won't know unless it gets there. :)
Well, you know where she works, and she said she looks after her brother now he's injured - so what about a project to find out where she lives? Find her, and you most likely find her brother; or at least, you'll be able to follow her to where he is. Less bloodthirsty, but it gets you to the person you're really interested in.
Sounds like a plan to me!
Luce starts by trying to get to know people who know the sister - with the hope that that will produce more information over time.
OK, how secret do you want this to be? We can use a 4-clock if you're not worried about her finding out about what you're doing ("I know that you know that I know that you know..."); but if you want to make sure she doesn't see you coming you're going to have to be a bit more careful, let's say an 8-clock.
BTW, as you've probably realised, Spiders burn through stress like there's no tomorrow; it's tough being the know-it-all mastermind (satisfying, though!). The "Functioning Vice" special ability is well worth the investment, IMHO :)
Casia's indulging her vice for one of her downtime activities.
...
Well, you could at least pretend to be surprised.
Apologies all, I managed to go back and reread that initial mission and see that I got it all messed up. Somehow in my head, their initial lie got all muddled with their betrayal after we'd made a deal. I'd even forgotten that it wasn't the Grinders we were initially stealing from but someone else. All I can say is that this was all nearly two years ago. :)
GM: However, I think I do have a somewhat plausible explanation for why Jonah has things so messed up in his head. It all comes back to the odd dingus that belonged to the Dimmer Sisters that he carried around until we stashed it in Baszo's safe.
Worshipers line a long stairway that climbs the mountain to heaven. A red haired, light skinned young woman is the next to reach the top. Her back is to Jonah, but he can feel the ecstacy radiating from her youthful body, her arms raised in open supplication. The goddess smiles. Calls the girl of no more than twenty forward to kneel before her. Her head raises up to gaze into those depthless glacier eyes to seek comfort, healing, and end to her worldly pain a beginning to otherworldly bliss.
For a heartbeat the sword shines bright in the sunlight. The glare stings Jonah’s eyes. He blinks. The sound of the blade striking flesh. His heart pounds as he realizes something familiar about the young woman. But the knowledge comes much, much too late. Half of the youth falls to the left, the other half to the right. Both cascade down the pyramid to lesser pyramids. These not made of stone, but a bounty of flesh harvested over eons. A macabre horror of mortal lives lost to twisted hopes, dashed dreams, wars of pride, prejudice and purity. As the torso tumbles the woman’s head twists around. It’s is Naty’s face. A serene smile still frozen on her features as the light of life slips away to darkness. Naty’s remains land with a sickening squelch upon those who took the trip up the pyramid before her.
Jonah staggers backward, a scream rising in his throat. Her pull on his mind is not so strong that he cannot escape…this time. He begins to run. Her throaty laugh fills the sky, follows his fleeing soul. It echoes across space and time. He keeps running, tears streaming down his face. Tears of loss, tears of failure, tears of pain and of a rage that burns as bright and hot as that ancient lost orb.
The laughter grows. ”Come to me and all will be taken away.” The goddess speaks. ”Worship me and end your pain. End your guilt. End your suffering. End your futile mortal struggle. Worship me and know true peace.”
He staggers under the weight of her voice, her words, the focus of her eyes upon him. His soul yearns to believe this ancient being of death and lies. Yearns to truly find the peace that she offers. But not in death. Not to be harvested like wheat in the field of some ancient goddesses garden. He cannot. He will not. He will go on. He will find a way to bring Naty back. Her spirit was not truly in this being’s possession. No, it was stuck in a rail car in a city of darkness and grief. But he would give her life again. Give her a second chance. Give himself a second chance. A chance to make up for his failure to find her in time. To keep her safe.
The goddess laughs again. His thoughts amuse her, childish as they may be. ”Only the gods can grant life and death.” She says as he here’s the sound of the sword falling again. Followed by more laughter. ”Run…run while you can little mortal. But soon enough you will be mine.”
”No! I will not!” He places all of his pain into that shout. Flings it at her like a child throwing a tantrum at a grinning parent. ”I will not worship her! I will not worship her!” He shouts over and over as he keeps on running.
Perhaps this remnant of a ancient goddess (or maybe it is just some harnessed memory within ghost field) has had more influence over Jonah than either he or anyone else has realized? Making him more prone to risk, more willing to shed blood, more susceptible to conspiracies and suggestions such as the Grinders being slavers. Whatever it is slowly turning him into an unwitting servant of destruction and death and certainly in conflict with his real goals of not causing more death and destruction. His studies into the Reconciled and saving Naty could then be the only way he can save himself as well.
Perhaps this remnant of a ancient goddess (or maybe it is just some harnessed memory within ghost field) has had more influence over Jonah than either he or anyone else has realized? Making him more prone to risk, more willing to shed blood, more susceptible to conspiracies and suggestions such as the Grinders being slavers. Whatever it is slowly turning him into an unwitting servant of destruction and death and certainly in conflict with his real goals of not causing more death and destruction. His studies into the Reconciled and saving Naty could then be the only way he can save himself as well.
This ties in so well to some of the ideas I've been having that I'm tempted to accuse you of reading my notes :)
I have additional thoughts (oh yes, Precious, many thoughts) - do you want me to share them with you via PM or through Discord?
Perhaps this remnant of a ancient goddess (or maybe it is just some harnessed memory within ghost field) has had more influence over Jonah than either he or anyone else has realized? Making him more prone to risk, more willing to shed blood, more susceptible to conspiracies and suggestions such as the Grinders being slavers. Whatever it is slowly turning him into an unwitting servant of destruction and death and certainly in conflict with his real goals of not causing more death and destruction. His studies into the Reconciled and saving Naty could then be the only way he can save himself as well.This ties in so well to some of the ideas I've been having that I'm tempted to accuse you of reading my notes :)
I have additional thoughts (oh yes, Precious, many thoughts) - do you want me to share them with you via PM or through Discord?
This can't bode well. Can it, guys?
I'll be putting Ranna's XP into her playbook. Either Artificer (for more crafting shenanigans) or Venomous (for free poison) could be very cool.
Downtime Activity 1: Indulging her Vice (to no one's surprise). Is that a we-roll or GM-roll?
Downtime Activity 2: I think I'd like her to start a Long-Term project to create a new alchemical formula.
My idea is a drug that knocks someone out while also muddying their memory of the last few minutes, (sort of a cross between Slumber Essence and Trance Powder). Such a thing would be very useful for scoundrels, so the question is why hasn't it been invented already? The answer is it requires very specialized ingredients that are hard to come by. (The Rare Drawback.) Ranna picked up those ingredients during the latest score, but only has enough to research the formula and craft [X] number of doses. If she wants to craft more after that, it'd take another score and/or downtime activity to get more ingredients.
Thoughts?
Perhaps this remnant of a ancient goddess (or maybe it is just some harnessed memory within ghost field) has had more influence over Jonah than either he or anyone else has realized? Making him more prone to risk, more willing to shed blood, more susceptible to conspiracies and suggestions such as the Grinders being slavers. Whatever it is slowly turning him into an unwitting servant of destruction and death and certainly in conflict with his real goals of not causing more death and destruction. His studies into the Reconciled and saving Naty could then be the only way he can save himself as well.This ties in so well to some of the ideas I've been having that I'm tempted to accuse you of reading my notes :)
I have additional thoughts (oh yes, Precious, many thoughts) - do you want me to share them with you via PM or through Discord?
Heh...Chalk it up to GM minds thinking alike. :)
Via PM is probably best for me, I've not been on Discord for months and months.
I'll take the 8 tick clock. Luce believes in cold revenge. :)
And yes, functioning vice looks very useful.
Downtime Activity 1: Indulging her Vice (to no one's surprise). Is that a we-roll or GM-roll?
You roll :)
Downtime Activity 2: I think I'd like her to start a Long-Term project to create a new alchemical formula.
My idea is a drug that knocks someone out while also muddying their memory of the last few minutes, (sort of a cross between Slumber Essence and Trance Powder). Such a thing would be very useful for scoundrels, so the question is why hasn't it been invented already? The answer is it requires very specialized ingredients that are hard to come by. (The Rare Drawback.) Ranna picked up those ingredients during the latest score, but only has enough to research the formula and craft [X] number of doses. If she wants to craft more after that, it'd take another score and/or downtime activity to get more ingredients.
That works for me! Let's say you picked up enough for 2 doses of the stuff. Rare drawback means hard to come by, so not only is getting more of the stuff an an Acquire Asset action in Downtime, but you're going to attract +1 Heat each time. Tell me a bit about the ingredient - is it a herb, a mineral, a spice? What is it called, and why is it so difficult to get hold of?
Anyway, you need the formula first so go ahead and roll for that. Standard 8-clock.
I'll take the 8 tick clock. Luce believes in cold revenge. :)
And why not. Luce now has 2/8 ticks filled in, I'll need you to track those please. Feel free to write up a description in gameplay of how it goes.
I have additional thoughts (oh yes, Precious, many thoughts) - do you want me to share them with you via PM or through Discord?Heh...Chalk it up to GM minds thinking alike. :)
Via PM is probably best for me, I've not been on Discord for months and months.
OK, I'll send you a PM later on when I have some more time. In the meantime, I need your post for 25 April (see my post here if you're wondering why)
Alright, let's do some rolling.
Down to 1 stress.
The Alchemist special ability increases the result, so that's 3/8 segments filled in.
The rare ingredient is a root that only grows in Severos. Called qáamsit in their tongue, in Severos it's most often ground into a type of flour and used to make bread. By itself it has minor medicinal properties and is known to encourage faster healing, but when combined with other herbs it works as a force multiplier that can significantly boost their effectiveness. (Which isn't always a good thing. Many an unfortunate experimenter has added too much qáamsit to an otherwise-benign concoction and accidentally poisoned themselves.)
Sevorosi Leeches in Doskvol occasionally have qáamsit imported for their use. While looting Kohana's stash Ranna saw a few roots in a jar with a stack of notes and was curious enough to grab them. The notes are in Sevorosi and will take time to decipher, but once she does she'll realize the potential applications.
I like it!
Also, your vice is obligation, which means your clinic right? I have some thoughts in that direction so let's move this on a bit.
Here's Casia's Vice roll ...
Using Resolve (which is her weakest quality) gives Casia two dice and use the lower of the two.
That indicates that she'll clear 2 Stress.
Believe it or not I didn't originally intend for Ranna's story to be this depressing. It's just kind of happened.
Believe it or not I didn't originally intend for Ranna's story to be this depressing. It's just kind of happened.
Tell me you're playing Blades in the Dark without etc.
Also, and I apologise because I meant to add this in sooner - the Silver Nails killed off the Grinders and then left. They're shock cavalry, they can fight in the city but it's not their preference. They haven't been seen in the district for a few weeks now.
If that changes your decision, have a free retcon of your post on me. My bad.
Honestly it doesn’t. Eckerd still threatened Stazia and while the Silver Nails may not be around now there’s always the chance they’d come back if told they missed a couple people.
Hi all - I know you're waiting on posts from me to move things along; I've had an unexpectedly busy weekend so I'll get us moving again on Monday.
I'm on my fourth bout of Covid so my posting will likely be slow/crap for a while.
Sorry to hear that! Get well soon.
Luce: I have a post for you but it can wait until you are feeling better :)
"You're shadows, and you have a rep for being daring in your burglaries"
Which reminds me: you need to do XP for the crew on the score you've just completed. XP triggers are
*did you execute a successful espionage, sabotage or theft operation?
*did you contend with challenges above your station?
*did you bolster your crew's reputation, or develop a new one?
*did you express the goals, drives, inner conflict or essential nature of the crew?
Mark 1 XP for each trigger, or 2 XP if you did so repeatedly.
Given you chose to keep the score secret and not get Rep for it, I don't think you bolstered the crew's reputation this time around.
For crew XP I'd say 1XP for the theft, 2XP for challenges above our station since the Silver Nails are tier 3, and 2XP for goals, inner conflict, etc. Plenty of inner conflict. So 5XP total?
For crew XP I'd say 1XP for the theft, 2XP for challenges above our station since the Silver Nails are tier 3, and 2XP for goals, inner conflict, etc. Plenty of inner conflict. So 5XP total?
I concur - that seems reasonable.
Sounds fine to me.
Hi all - crazy weekend RL-wise so I need a day to recharge. I'll move us on again tomorrow.
I know Jonah was on his way to Ranna's clinic when he got ambushed, but it makes sense to me that after getting ambushed by Lyssa he wouldn't keep going there. (Plus there's a lot already happening on the 25th.)
Just FYI: this is one of those times where the conversations of the 25th (once they're finally concluded) will almost certainly have an impact on subsequent conversations.
...like I said, I'm not a huge fan of GMPCs. The Mites are Wanted level 2, which translates to "a few months" in prison according to the rulebook.
OK, so Fin will be in prison for 3 months, out at the end of July. On the plus side, that reduces your Wanted level to zero meaning that your entanglements should be less serious and your relationship with the Bluecoats resets to 0. They don't like you, but they'll ignore you unless you do anything else to provoke them.
I'm not doing the prison sub-game, if anyone was wondering.
In spite of the current post, I don't intend for Casia to go down in a blaze of blood and glory.
However, it would feel very artificial to have her give up her twin willingly. She needs to be talked down from the ledge and in the current situation, it'll probably have to fall to Jonah.
It won't be difficult. I'd like to keep playing the character. :)
I anticipated a certain amount of disagreement, it would have been completely out of character for Cas to just go along with it so go wild. Just not, you know, TOO wild ;)
That should wrap up all the conversations from 25 April, but if you want to add any more then please feel free.
" My best guess is that it will take us four days to get ready."
That might be a little ambitious, especially since you don't know where the stuff you're stealing actually is! (Lyssa didn't tell you for the simple reason she doesn't know.)
I should probably roll for some healing, since I think everyone is Recovering as one of their actions. (Except Ranna, ironically.)
3/4
2/4
5/4
Once again Jonah gets the short end of the stick. Sorry Jonah. I promise Ranna's not doing it on purpose!
Heh. No worries. It's just the dice roller getting back at me. Go ahead and roll a second time because Jonah is using both of his DT actions for healing. There's no way I can go into another score with all those wounds.
He can have Luce's crit succes cause I didn't go for recovery in the end. I did stress (badly) and started on my clocks. Which is why I need the skill to get a third downtime action!
Not-at-all linked question... if Luce were to start up a clock on each of you entitled "background checks" how long would each of your clocks be? Asking for a friend...
Casia's clock would probably be just a standard 4-part. Her story's not deep or convoluted. :)
He can have Luce's crit succes cause I didn't go for recovery in the end. I did stress (badly) and started on my clocks. Which is why I need the skill to get a third downtime action!
Not-at-all linked question... if Luce were to start up a clock on each of you entitled "background checks" how long would each of your clocks be? Asking for a friend...
That works. So Jonah fills his clock once plus has 3/4 segments filled for next time.
For background checks it depends on how far back Luce wants to go. The past two years (aka since Ranna's arrival in Doskvol) would be an easy 4 part clock. Everything before that would be at least an 8 parter. Despite the name being in her alias, (because Ranna by itself was taken and I didn't think of alternatives until it was too late), she hasn't used Karlsdóttir at all since arriving in the city.
You can pay 1 Coin to get another downtime action, for as many times as you have Coin to spare.
Ranna: Cool. Thank you.
GM: Yes, I was going to pay 1 Coin for another action involving his long-term project of helping Naty. Since I don't think I've had a chance to dig further yet, I'm still in the initial stages of investigating Lord Penderyn and the Path of Echoes mystery cult.
At this point I think it would just be low-key Investigation with Survey work to get to know Penderyn's habits, haunts, and associates and hopefully a bit more about the cult in general. Then we can see if he can work on infiltrating the cult or just join up to learn more, etc.
I'm not sure if that is just a single gather info or if you want it to be a 4 or 6 clock?
Luce: I can't say for sure. Jonah is probably similar to Ranna in that anything more recent is a bit easier to discover, so a 4-clock. Anything prior to his arrival in the city (ie. Anything that happened during the war, his family, etc.) would probably be a lot harder or take longer to find out. Although his biggest 'secret' which is Naty's existence probably doesn't even need a clock as she'll probably just show up at some point.
@Jonah - I have no idea where Sarah was going with this particular sub-plot but your plan sounds good to me. We can make it up as we go along :)
@Luce - downtime activities might be better spent in other ways; running that many clocks just to investigate your own team is a significant amount of resources. Unless you have a particular goal in mind, can I suggest instead that you just run that as roleplay and let the other players decide how much you find out about them?
I'm fine with RP-ing it out if the others are. :)
Fitting. I guess that would make sense as Jonah really doesn't have much time or focus given the need to heal and turn his attention to the next score. So he doesn't learn much with just one tick on a clock.