You can always spend Coin to upgrade your downtime rolls, although I'm aware you don't have a lot of Coin right now. Let's say investigating Lord Penderyn is a 4-clock if you want to rush and risk discovery, or a 6-clock if you take it more carefully.
"I've treated a few inspectors. Probably not the one we're after, that would be too much of a coincidence, but I might be able to "accidentally" bump into someone I know and get a bit of gossip. Crow's Foot isn't that far from Charhollow, and people talk. What's this inspector's name?"
That's interesting - the Inspectors are powerful and well-connected, famously incorruptible and have access to some of the best facilities around. I wonder what they were doing that made them seek treatment at Engine Clinic? Were they doing something "off-book" that they wanted to keep unofficial? Was Ranna able to guess from the nature of their injuries what they had been up to? Did they identify themselves as Inspectors or did she work it out from various clues?
I think this needs more detail. Do you feel up to writing a post about it? Let's say it was in January this year, January the st
Uhhh...(pretends I didn't forget that part of the lore and wasn't thinking the inspectors were more like normal beat cops)...sure! I'll get something written up about it later today.
I was wondering whether to point that out but then decided that nope, it's more fun this way :D
If you want to run anything past me in advance of posting, feel free.
Okay, took me longer than I thought it would. I could think of reasons for inspectors to end up at Engine clinic, but not for them to come back. Here’s what I’ve come up with: (running it by you first in case I forgot something else).
Inspectors are untouchable which unfortunately (for them) also applies to their personal lives. People being people they tend to form relationships with each other. It’s not strictly forbidden but it is discouraged by the Powers That Be, so inspectors (especially female ones because sexism) who get caught in such relationships tend to be “reassigned” with their careers effectively over. Therefore when it comes to STI prevention, birth control, etc. they prefer not to use the official channels.
Stazia has long been on the inspectors’ unofficial list of “good apothecaries who don’t ask questions.” When one of her clients showed up distraught and with bleeding that wouldn’t stop, she took her to Ranna. (The January incident.) Ranna helped fix up said client and has since been added to that unofficial list. She doesn’t technically know these people are inspectors but it’s not hard to figure out. She wouldn’t be able to outright ply anyone for information but, like she said, a bit of gossip might be possible if she plays her cards right.
That makes sense! Being an Inspector is probably something like being in the FBI or IRS: you have a significant amount of power but you have to be incredibly careful who you come into contact with, socially.
@Ranna - quality post! Haseena's well aware of the debt she owes you so you should be able to at least get a meeting with her, even if it's been a few months now. I'll put something up accordingly in a bit.
Does anyone else want to be doing anything? In terms of gameplay, we're out of Downtime and moving into the Gather Information stage before we head into the score.
If you're lacking inspiration, each of the playbooks has a list of possible Gather Information questions on them. E.g. the Cutter playbook has: How can I hurt them? Who's most afraid of me? Who's most dangerous here? What do they intend to do? How can I get them to [x]? All the other playbooks have something similar.
Actually, I think I need a Fortune roll for this. I'll give you 3d for it to reflect Haseena's debt to you.
Good enough.
Any advice for how to approach this conversation without over-tipping our hand? Ranna would have consulted with everyone, (especially Luce), before going.
Casia's skills are much more applicable once we've discovered whom, at least, we're stealing from. The options offered for Lurk for Gather Information seem like they're much more directly focused.
If anyone has any suggestions for how Casia can help, currently, though I'm all ears. :)
The Gather Info options are just that, options - if you want to gather information in another way then I'm open to hearing your ideas.
The ghost field could be a good place to hide something a person doesn't want easily found. Once we can actually ID Elandra then Jonah can spend a bit of time poking around her residence. Going to assume she has some defenses (probably a whole bunch of defenses), so he won't be taking any big risks. Much more of a passive sweep than anything direct at this point. Mostly to just see 'what echoes in the ghost field?' or 'if there is anything lost, weird or hidden?'
So would that be an Attune roll or would is just be Survey?
The more I thought about it the more I realized Ranna wouldn't be able to trick Haseena into telling her what she wants to know. It's not in her nature or her skillset. So she's not going to try.
I'd argue that this is Consort rather than Sway, (since Ranna is being mostly honest and does care about what Haseena feels). Would it be a risky roll, standard effect? Or desperate/limited because she's trying to talk an inspector into helping her against another inspector?
I agree that Consort is entirely appropriate. I was actually thinking that this is a Controlled position, because you're having a chat over coffee with someone whose life you saved - there's a limit to how badly wrong things can go, at least for now. The counterpoint to that was going to be that your effect would be limited: you're talking to an Inspector, whose natural state of being is guarded. Haseena may owe you, but she doesn't know you.
However, you have changed that in the way you have risked laying yourself open. The position is now Risky, but if it works it's much more likely to get Haseena to reciprocate in some way. Of course, if it doesn't work...
Anyway, go ahead and give me the roll. I'm willing to let Luce give you an assist for +1d to the roll for the usual cost of 1 stress (the chill going down her spine is free of charge :D )
Let me know if you want a Devil's Bargain for another +1d, or feel free to offer one up yourself if inspiration strikes.
The ghost field could be a good place to hide something a person doesn't want easily found. Once we can actually ID Elandra then Jonah can spend a bit of time poking around her residence. Going to assume she has some defenses (probably a whole bunch of defenses), so he won't be taking any big risks. Much more of a passive sweep than anything direct at this point. Mostly to just see 'what echoes in the ghost field?' or 'if there is anything lost, weird or hidden?'
So would that be an Attune roll or would is just be Survey?
I agree you can certainly do a sweep round her residence once you've located it. For now, let's answer the "what echoes in the ghost field?" question. I envisage this as some sort of meditative, vision-quest type thing that can be done from the dubious safety and relative comfort of your hideout; let's say Risky (because Ghost Field) and standard effect (because there's vast potential in the ether to go with that risk).
I tend to think that this is more a Survey type roll - identifying what is useful amid the clutter - rather than Attune.
Let me know if you want a Devil's Bargain, or feel free to offer one up yourself if inspiration strikes.
Could this be one of my 2 free assists? Given that we've had prep time it makes obvious sense for it to be one. :)
I'd forgotten you had that ability - it absolutely can be one of the free assists, especially since Ranna specifically said she was getting assistance from you!
Thanks for the assistance. Let's see if Ranna's screwed.
She's not!
No bargain on the Gather Info, I'll save that for something during the actual score.
Success with complications, my favourite.
So, the ghost field complies with your request and yields up some interesting sights; although as Ranna discovered not too long ago, visions from the ghost field are not perhaps the full and entire truth.
Jonah sees a Tycherosi woman, horned brow, cat-like eyes and a lashing tail. He has never met her, but he knows somehow that this is Inspector Elanda. She is talking with an older man, a very important man, wealthy and powerful; he is carrying a harpoon and a book. The harpoon gleams with electroplasm but the book drips with blood; it gushes out, spilling over the man's hand and his shoes, dripping onto the carpet. The young woman doesn't seem to notice, she is pleased - even grateful - that this powerful man seems to know who she is, wants to talk with her, is praising her for the work she is doing. Inspectors may be incorruptible but most people are susceptible to flattery. The powerful man, the wealthy man, hands her the bleeding book; the moment she takes hold of it, the blood disappears and it looks like a perfectly normal book. She tucks it into a pocket of her clothing and the scene dissolves.
Another scene appears: Elanda is watching while several Bluecoats interrogate someone, breaking his fingers until the crimes which were buried deep within him pour out like some vile, dark liquid - spewing out of his mouth, onto the table and dripping into the carpet. Once he has finished confessing, one of the Bluecoats takes a pistol and shoots him dead, joking as the body topples to the floor about having saved the city the cost of a trial. Elanda opens her mouth as though she's about to say something, before shrugging and walking away from it all.
There are two complications.
The first is that, as the vision ends, the scene moves as if of its own volition to show a house - a mansion, really - that Jonah has unfortunately seen before: Lord Scurlock's domain. Jonah gets a distinct impression that the aristocrat (who is, he remembers, somehow impenetrable to the ghost field) is aware of the scrying and looking back at him. It would seem that Scurlock is involved in this in some way.
You can resist this complication with Insight, realising what's going on in time and cutting the ritual abruptly short.
The second is that Jonah starts the score with Level 1 harm: A Bad Feeling About This. You can resist that with Resolve.
So I thought Gather Info rolls were more about the quality or amount of information vs the usual consequences, harm, etc. With results being Limited, Standard, or Great each yielding better info. So with a 4, that would be 'Standard: You get good details. Clarifying and follow-up questions are possible.'
I'm just trying to understand how much risk is actually involved in this part of the game since we really haven't used this mechanic before. Or is this really the beginning of the score and thus all the usual mechanics apply?
Either way, I'll roll to resist the harm, but not the scrying.
Oop. You're spot on, I was getting carried away with making up devious complications. Ignore that.
You get the information and can look for clarification and follow-up.
Ok, can I ask around (hopefully Consort) to establish our Inquisitor's usual routine and when she's least likely to be home?
[I'm assuming that Ranna was in fact given the right name just to move things on!]
If so...
That is a great roll! I will post on it tomorrow.
Sorry, busy few days. I will catch up on where we are and post tomorrow.
Hi all
unfortunately I've come down with a bug, I won't be posting for another 12-24 hours or so at least.
Turned out to be Covid, which put me flat-out for a few days. Posting now.
I'm around, just having a creative slump. I hope to post tomorrow.
I confess to being unclear - do we think this woman is the person we're looking for, or just knows who the person we're looking for actually is?
I'm around, just having a creative slump. I hope to post tomorrow.
It happens, thanks for letting me know you're still around :)
I confess to being unclear - do we think this woman is the person we're looking for, or just knows who the person we're looking for actually is?
She introduced herself with the name that was given to Ranna so I'm unclear about what's unclear...
I confess to being unclear - do we think this woman is the person we're looking for, or just knows who the person we're looking for actually is?She introduced herself with the name that was given to Ranna so I'm unclear about what's unclear...
I blame the informant.
My previous post was probably a bit snarkier than it should have been, I'm still not 100%, apologies.
My previous post was probably a bit snarkier than it should have been, I'm still not 100%, apologies.
Nothing to apologise for. :)
Oof, sorry for radio silence: I thought I was better and then ended up going to hospital, which is pretty much the opposite of getting better. I'm still groggy from the drugs but will post either later this evening (UK time) or tomorrow morning, depending on how I'm doing.
No rush and no worries. Take care of yourself and glad you are on the mend.
Thanks - the antibiotics are pretty strong and are leaving me spaced out but I'm around; although it looks from the gameplay thread that I'm waiting on someone else to post?
I'm happy to move things on if inspiration is generally lacking.
I imagine that we're waiting for Ranna to talk to our contact since she was the one that was directed here.
As a fallback, Luce could talk to her.
I really don't think we want Casia taking point on this conversation, but if that's our chosen option then just let me know. :)
Luce could, but as I said, I'm still v. confused OOC if we think this person is the person we want or just knows the person we want.
Well someone needs to post something!
I'm sorry. It turns out my "creative slump" was the first signs of me also getting very sick and ending up in the hospital. I'm back home, feeling better, and trying to get caught up today.
Sorry to hear that - there's definitely something going around. Hope you recover soon!
Apologies for dropping the ball here - I got called away with a work emergency that led to too much time in too many airports, I think my brain is still somewhere over the Atlantic. I desperately need to sleep and I will pick up again on Saturday morning (European time).
Bad luck - don't worry. We'll be here when everything catches up with itself.
Hey all, I'm heading out of town and somewhat off grid until late next week. Will likely have limited internet and so won't be able to post much or at all until I get back.
Please bot as needed.