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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tun Kai Poh" data-source="post: 8059449" data-attributes="member: 6761960">Blades in the Dark Session 14: MY DEMON UNCLE CAN'T BE THIS CUTE!I ran Blades in the Dark for three players today: Frei as Scotch the two-fisted Hound, Darren as Zhao the foxy Spider and Zahidi as Irfan the university drop-out Leech.Today, our crew sat down with Rail Jacks and cultists, made messes of brothels and warehouses, and recruited a surprising number of potential gang members as they meddled deeper into the Crow's Foot war on behalf of their patron, Lady Ankhayat.First, Amon the Rail Jack reported that the ghost attacks on Gaddoc Rail Station were intensifying, and the crew's previous contact, Chief Kibo was out of action after breaking his legs. It was clear to Zhao that they would soon have to deal with the Forgotten God known as the Whispering Tree, as it was once again ordering cultists to summon ghosts to interfere with the construction at the rail station. Amon revealed that the new barracks at Gaddoc would house a battalion of Imperial marines. In addition, the Spirit Wardens had been asking around about the crew, and now they were hunting for both the Tycherosi members of the gang, Zhao and Karen.Scotch went to visit her lover in the Red Lamp brothel in Silkshore, but ended up overindulging and causing trouble (and raising Heat), forcing her to spend even more time hushing up the mess she had created. But at least her Stress was gone.Zhao took some downtime to relax with his lover Rin. The Tycherosi spy was still waiting for information from the Old Country about any renegade demons that might have headed abroad (specifically Ashitaka). Zhao also distributed bribes to local Bluecoats to keep the authorities off the gang's backs. Finally, he hired a couple of young dish pit witches from his old haunt, Fogcrest Heritage Inn, to serve as lookouts for the next few days, as they would be visiting the Lampblacks on Lady Ankhayat's business.In the meantime, Irfan was walking into a veritable shark tank of investors from the Docks, seeking a "sailor's loan" to help defray the costs of crafting his automated gambling machine for Twoscore's Tavern. Compared to some of the academic reviews he'd faced in the past, this was nothing, and he walked out with a hefty loan to fund his invention. Later, he spent a few comforting hours repairing damaged electroplasmic equipment for the crew's Rail Jack allies at his Silkshore repair stall. A shadow loomed over him, and he looked up to see fellow university student-turned outlaw, Rabby, offering him some peace biscuits (shaped as white flags in memory of the end of the Unity War) and tea. "You were my third choice after Lord Scurlock and the Dimmer Sisters, but they didn't respond to me and I couldn't get into their lairs," she explained.At the Fogcrest Heritage Inn, guarded by their young lookouts, the Vagabonds sat down to hear what Rabby had to say. With them was a red-headed teenaged boy, actually Karen's demon uncle Ashitaka in one of his shapeshifted guises. The crew had decided it was better to keep him in sight rather than have him wandering the city on his own.Rabby had been jilted by her Forgotten God, the Whispering Tree, and seeing that new recruits had taken her place in the cult, she sought revenge against her former master. She wanted to join a winning team that knew what it was doing. She assumed (from historical research) that since the crew used chickens to herald their arrival at her hostel in Nightmarket, they must be the new Cockbringers, a famed cult known for using the chicken as their symbol. "I want to join the Cockbringers," she said. Ashitaka had been advising Zhao to increase the crew's manpower, and now he seemed quite taken with the idea of recruiting Rabby to join them. Perhaps too taken."Go bring us some salted chicken from Charterhall, from the stall that has the good brown sauce," said Irfan. Zhao sent one of the lookouts to tail Rabby to make sure she did as she was told. Meanwhile, the rest of the crew (including Ashitaka) would visit the Lampblacks in an attempt to secure Puzzle Shen's map for Lady Ankhayat.While one of the lookouts remained out on the street, Zhao, Scotch, Bandit, Irfan and Ashitaka ventured into the Lampblacks' heavily guarded warehouse. The guards escorted them past a well-lit killbox inside the warehouse entrance, past row after row of shelving and racking, and alongside a wall where Irfan could hear the buzzing of electroplasmic power. The former Lamplighters had taken to the electroplasmic age with a vengeance.At a supervisor's office near the rear of the warehouse, the crew watched as Bazso Baz emerged from a basement stairway, and caught a glimpse of lightning fields down below, before the basement door closed. The gang leader offered them fine 50-year whiskey looted from Lockport during the Unity War, a rare vintage now that the Lockport refinery had been razed and the family who made the whiskey were all dead.To their surprise, Bazso was quite willing to do business. He offered to hand over Shen's map in exchange for a stealth job - the crew would have to plant an incriminating artifact inside the Red Sashes' mansion, something that Bazso hinted would ruin the enemy gang's reputation.Ashitaka alerted Zhao, Irfan and Scotch that their lookout had spotted Shen arriving at the warehouse entrance. The guards informed Bazso moments later, and he shooed the crew out to the hallway to wait while he dealt with Shen elsewhere in the warehouse.Presently, the sound of shouting and scuffling could be heard from somewhere on the warehouse floor. As Zhao, Irfan and Scotch debated what to do, Ashitaka vanished from plain sight. One of the Lampblack guards ran off to find the missing boy, while Zhao tried to fast-talk another one in order to give Scotch and Bandit a chance to break off as well. Bandit's keen canine senses helped lead the way through the darkened warehouse, but just before reaching Shen, Scotch and her dog ran into Ashitaka, who warned them that Bazso's men were everywhere searching for Shen. "I'll go back to cover for you," he said, and instantly vanished from the warehouse aisle.Just then, the supervisor's office door opened, and Ashitaka, Scotch and Bandit walked out, looking all friendly and cheerful. The guard looked cross, but suspected nothing. "Don't run off again!" Irfan took a close look at Scotch, suspecting something was wrong, and saw Ashitaka's metal eyes flash from under Scotch's brows. And Bandit's brows. The terror was almost enough to freeze him in his tracks, but he forced himself, under great stress, to act as if everything was normal.Shen was hidden in an alcove at the far corner of the warehouse, battered and panting, crouching like a hunted animal. Scotch dropped silently down behind him, grabbing him and covering his mouth to keep him from crying out. But Shen was more than willing to betray his leader. "Help me get out and I'll do anything!" he told her. As guards approached, Scotch focused on the ghostly doorway at the end of the hall, which she could sense through the Ghost Echo. As gunfire roared around them, the Hound, her dog and her captive plunged through the wall and emerged in an alley outside the warehouse. Scotch's heavy body armour soaked up the worst of the shots, and she was able to spirit Shen away to the Vagabonds' lair.Bazso seemed slightly suspicious of the Vagabonds, but the crew was able to put on their innocent faces, and so Bazso sent them on their way for the time being. Once they were far enough away from Lampblack territory and out of the open, Ashitaka absorbed the "Scotch" and "Bandit" bodies that he had formed as part of the deception - to the horror of Zhao.Back in their hideout, the crew members regrouped and Puzzle Shen told them the truth: his Void Sea map was drawn on a piece of Leviathan hide, cursed to re-form into a full-blown Leviathan if it ever touched the sea. The map was indestructible and Shen had sworn never to let it fall into the wrong hands - especially demons!Everyone gave Ashitaka a look.To be continued.</blockquote>

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