4th Discord session of Blades in the Dark. Downtime, and the start of a new Score in Nightmarket to take down a ghost-summoning cult.
This time Scotch's player was not able to join us. The crew recovered from wounds and stress, trained their skills, and visited contacts. Zhao the Spider met his ninja girlfriend, Rin for drinks and company. Karen the Whisper helped her vice dealer Patricia recover from a drug overdose in an impromptu side-scene. Irfan the Leech got filled in on last session's explosive warehouse haunting by speaking with the group's dangerous ghost ally Annabelle.
Rather importantly, Zhao reduced some Heat on the crew by visiting a cafe in Silkshore to spread rumours putting the blame of the warehouse incident on the incompetence of the Bluecoats and the Spirit Wardens. His rumour-mongering also earned him a new contact named Kay, who asked for more information about the failures of the Spirit Wardens in the future. Irfan, also, in attendance, turned pale when he recognized Kay as an important Gondolier adept from one of his Ghost Echo visions.
Later, the crew scoped out a new job with the Rail Jacks, who wanted them to deal with an unknown party in Nightmarket that was sending summoned ghosts to harass construction crews at Gaddoc Rail Station. The Rail Jack crew chief told them that they were recommended because of their reputation for the strange and unnatural, which the crew took as a compliment.
After agreeing to do the job, the crew tracked down a witness to the attacks in a Nightmarket drug den, with the aid of their contact Veldren, a psychonaut. Zhao not only learned about a likely source of the summonings, but also learned that the Imperial Military was planning to move a large force of troops into Duskwall, hence the sudden construction of the Gaddoc Rail Station supply depot.
Karen and Irfan attuned to the ghost field in Nightmarket Park, a misty public park filled with petrified trees from the Deathlands, and discovered an ancient altar chamber hidden underneath the boathouse. Karen called up and compelled a local ghost, a mounted Bluecoat officer named Lu. The ghost told them that a local cult of a Forgotten God had recently discovered the altar and was using it to launch the attacks on the rail station. Now, the crew would have to decide whether or not they wanted to eliminate the ritual site, or seize it for their own. And how would they handle the cultists?
Character moments:
- Irfan defying doctor's orders to rest, spending his time working on a project to design an automated gambling machine
- Karen getting mistaken for a hallucination at the drug den - and being even scarier for being real
- Zhao trying to decide how much lying to do when confronted by Kay the Gondolier
Establishments visited today:
- Fogcrest Heritage, an inn and cafe in Silkshore's arts/bohemian district, popular with students
- Silver Stag Casino, the finest gambling establishment in Silkshore
- Railcar Tea Infusions, a tea stall in an abandoned railcar in Coalridge
- The Devil's Tooth, a tavern in Nightmarket with special underground drug dens serving the psychonaut crowd
Supporting cast:
- Rin, an assassin
- Patricia, occult shop proprietor
- Isaiah Finley, the crew's doctor on retainer
- Kay, a gondolier adept
- Twoscore, a sailor and partner in a dockside tavern
- Assistant Chief Kibo, a senior Rail Jack
- Murgen, a line bull in the Rail Jacks
- Amon, a line bull in the Rail Jacks
- Veldren, a psychonaut
- Mistress Kember, proprietor of The Devil's Tooth
- Lieutenant Lu, a ghost Bluecoat in Nightmarket Park
