Slav, Blood Witch
At the start of this session, Slav gets a new lair! It is extra creepy, fitting her increasing Blood Witch powers.
(Special note – this is blog post number 1000 on Geek Related since we got started in January of 2008! That’s terrifying. Thanks for reading!)
The coterie descends to the Red Row to investigate the Undying Gang. Abu and Lyddia had out fliers about the revolution while asking about the Undying Gang.
The coterie, largely thanks to Abu’s ghost whispering finds out more about the Undying Gang – a gang of eight drow with undying surgeries started a protection rack in Red Row. They expanded to the Hemlock Fruit Market. All are drow wearing robes to hide their surgical scars, the armor they wear, and wicked knives at their backs and hips. The surgeries make them taller and more muscular than the typical drow. All wear porcelain masks and spice bags, the former to hide scars and the later to hide their own rotting flesh. They work for and are known as Mommas Thinrees’ Boys. Mommas is an older up spire drow who was disgraced and fell to Red Row. She started as a fence, but recently acquired the Undying Gang, which makes sense as she is rumored to be an ex-member of the Mortician’s Guild. She works for the Syndicate Sinister and more directly the gangster/councilman Light-Through-Splintered-Glass, who in turn keeps Mommas in line by keeping the hearts of the Undying Gang in his mansion. Their constant threat keeps her pliable to his will.
The team recons Light-Through-Splintered-Glass’ mansion. They get a lot of intel mostly thanks to Abu sneaking into Mommas private office where he talks to the ghost of her predecessor and the man she murdered to take over the criminal empire. Also that the still-beating Undying hearts (and many more – decoys?) are kept in a big room full of songbirds that all sing so loud it’s a sonic attack when anyone goes in there.
Drow Fact Of The Day: All drow (and aelfir) go about wearing masks in public all the time. The masks are distinctive to a person.
Operation Braspberry
The coterie decides to steal the Undying’s hearts from Light-Through-Splintered-Glass’ mansion so they’ll have control over them, by sneaking in as servants and replacing them with other hearts, augmented by a raven-flock attack as a distraction. The plan, point by point:
- We obtain ear plugs to avoid the song birds attack. Easy enough, it’s just paper and wax.
- Abu the Carrion Priest steals drow hearts. No rolls needed since he handles a lot of dead folks daily.
- Abu and Lyddia steal undying gutterkin hearts from Mommas’ business. Accomplished with some Shadow stress.
- Lyddia stuffs undying gutterkin hearts into stolen drow hearts. Accomplished critical success; they will pass as the beating undying hearts of drow.
- Tariq buys stolen servant masks off the black market. Accomplished with Silver stress.
- Lyddia uses Anastomosis to release knowledge that Tariq’s stolen masks are servants (who still have their masks) that work for Light-Through-Splintered-Glass.
- The Mask Krieth infiltrates the mansion using her skill set. Slav and Lyddia infiltrate using stolen masks and Anastomosis. Free success; they belong… they are let inside and assigned work.
- Abu summons a flock of crows and throws it against the mansions’s windows and open doors to counteract the song bird singing and sow confusion. It works; the house servants close doors, guards shoot the crows, the screaming goats scream more than usual, and Light-Through-Splintered-Glass’s social work drow children scream too.
- The inside team is lead by Krieth the Mask who sneaks them into the Heart Vault and avoids the psychological damage of the song birds. Slav tastes the hearts and identifies the eight hearts belonging to the Undying gang. They switch out the hearts and leave via the Vermissian Tunnels. This works!
The inside and outside teams meet at the rendezvous point, then returns to the Rut and Wallow bar.
The coterie talks about how to spend this new advantage with Mommas and her Undying Gang. They come up with:
- Tell Mommas she works for us because we have her Undying’s hearts.
- Give Mommas two Undying hearts as proof.
- They talk to their Ministry contact, Tio Silencio, who accepts the four hearts and agrees to monitor and order Mommas. The coterie keeps two for future favors.
The coterie goes to Mommas Place in the Red Row. She explains that she isn’t on board with the Revolution, but despite that she is on board with opening orphanages, food banks, etc… and has done so many times in the past. She stabs the first heart on the table, calling the group’s bluff – but instead killing an Undying behind her… she is shocked that the coterie is telling the truth and is all ears at this point. She listens to the deal and asks for a meeting the next day.
The coterie agrees and plans for the worst for that meeting. Tariq decides he likes her style and complements her large white Type 4 hairdo. They have a friendly “all power to the people” exchange.
The next morning: Abu and Kreith sneak in the back door. The rest enter the front with a full compliment of weapons. The Ministry goon squad accompanies them inside. The drug den/bar is largely empty at this early hour. They sit down at a large table with Mommas. Lyddia shares out spider tacos to everyone from a cheese cloth bag. Mommas demands support and protection and a degree of autonomy. Tariq agrees and a deal is struck.
Abu talks to an angry ghost in the back of the establishment about promises he plans to keep. Everyone hears the sounds of gutterkin taking a beating in the store room because Mommas has noticed their Undying hearts have gone missing.
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