Last episode opened in Madame Dalmore’s office, wherein Emma received a dressing-down: As punishment for her escape, she will be confined indefinitely in iron cloisters until Madame finds a new use for her wayward pupil — a use that may entail Emma’s death, or worse.
Meanwhile, the the Jessek brothers made the necessary moves to extricate themselves from their precarious position in the Crow’s Foot underworld. With a war seemingly brewing with the Billhooks, rather than helping Boss Roric keep his ward under control, the boys opted to relocate to the run-down Six Towers district, full of abandoned manor houses, squatters, and old ghosts.
Rian did a spot of fixer work, securing them lodgings in a tenement hall — a step up from the backroom of Rigney’s Tavern they’d been laying low at. We learned a bit about their new landlord, a severe Severosi affiliated with a band of ghost-hunting mercenaries, the Silver Nails. Things seem to be going well enough in their new digs.
Rian and Aldo, however, can’t stop wondering about Emma, and why twice now she has appeared in a time of need to save them. To that end, they arranged a meeting with Inspector Laroze, who finally revealed Emma’s location to them — the Dalmore School for Young Women, a secretive school that produces maidservants for Duskwall’s most elite families.
Aldo resolved to learn all he can about Emma’s situation, leading him to find a bolthole in the Six Towers from whence to stake out Dalmore House. There, Carver struggled with some strange trouble in his dreams, and Aldo observed the comings and goings of his sister, as well as two of her captors — Mr. Seek, Madame Dalmore’s stitched henchman and Flint, a spirit-trafficker with a fondness for Emma.
We closed out the episode with a reader poll to determine how Aldo, Carver and Rian will approach trying to free Emma. They have an immediate opportunity to spring her from a carriage, piloted by the fearsome Mr. Seek, but Aldo might be loath to face him again. Instead, they could attempt a not-so-simple burglary, or they could attempt to capture or make contact with Flint to try to turn him to their cause or glean enough information from him to find a weakness in Dalmore House’s security.
Here are the results:
A landslide for making contact with Flint. We’ll rejoin the action right where we left off — Carver and Aldo preparing to make a move on Flint. We’ll assess how their first contact with Flint goes with the score’s engagement roll — you can refresh your memory on the dice pool rules for those rolls here in the Blades SRD.
Engagement Roll: +1 for sheer luck +1 for a daring plan +1 for an identified weakness in the target’s security (Flint’s disatisfaction) +1 for the unseen hand of the Burnt King -1 for a higher-tier opponent (Tier IV Dalmore House vs. Tier 0 Jesseks).
Result: 5,6,6 Critical Success
We begin the scene with the Jesseks already having overcome the first obstacle (which is snatching Flintof the street quickly and quietly). Further, they are in a Controlled position for the next roll.
Scene 4: The streets of Six Towers
Taking the old man is quick work — a silent shadow down the streets of Six Towers, a sharp blow from Carver’s slab of a right hand, and a sackcloth bag filled with trance powder1, and the Jesseks find themselves alone in their bolthole with the old man, tied up in a rickety chair they scavenged from the place’s detritus. Rian has rejoined them after concluding his business with their new Severosi landlord, and the three of them hold quiet conference in the corner of the rundown flat.
“Far be it from me to impugn your craft here, brothers,” Rian says carefully. “But mightn’t we have been a bit gentler with him if we want to secure his aid?”
Aldo shakes his head. “His aid if he’ll give it, or whatever information we can take from him if he won’t. It was too risky to approach him cold — no telling how he would’ve jumped. Now that we’ve got him here, we’re in control.”
Rian bobs his head uncertainly. “Right then. He looks like he’s stirring. Carver, if you wouldn’t mind standing by in case anything looks amiss?”
The big man nods and takes up a position next to their prisoner. Aldo stays in the shadowed corners of the ruined flat, and Rian steps up, raising his mask and motioning for the others to do the same, before giving Carver the nod to doff the sack and begin the negotiations.
The spirit-trafficker Flint // Source: Midjourney
The old man flinches as Carver pulls the cloth from his eyes and slowly takes in his surroundings.
“Hello there,” Rian says with an apologetic smile. “My apologies for this rather abrupt change of scenery. We mean you no harm — cold comfort to hear that in your situation, I’m sure, but there it is. May I ask your name?”
The old man gives a pained grimace and shifts in his seat, straining against the frayed canvas rope that binds his wrists behind his back. His eyes struggle to focus on Rian’s face. “You have made a grave error, young man,” he says, his speech slow and careful to avoid slurring. “I am protected by powerful friends. If you let me go now, you might avoid retribution. If not…”
He looks around the room, spotting Aldo in the shadows and craning his neck to see Carver looming over him. “Even my death will not save you — I will have my testimony whether I am still breathing or no.”
“We know a little about your powerful friends — enough to take that threat seriously. We’ll let you go soon enough. Nevertheless, we have questions for you, and it would be nice to have a name to address those questions to. So?”
“Flint,” he growls. “And you?”
Rian brushes past his question. “We have a mutual acquaintance, Flint. One Emma Ridley, or now, I assume, Emma Dalmore. Are you familiar with the lady?”
Ouch. A terrible result, but thanks to the Controlled position, it’s not an unmitigated disaster. We’ll introduce a complication that ratchets up the danger, meaning their next move will be at a Risky position, with the potential consequences substantially worse. We’ve already established that Dalmore House is a dangerous organization to be messing about with, so as a GM I’m comfortable making a relatively hard move here, underscoring the power Flint has access to.
Flint’s eyes narrow and sharpen. The shock of hearing Emma’s name seems to chase the dreamy, trance-powder haze from his mind. He looks up at Rian, and then his eyes flick pure white.
Flint’s eyes flick pure white as he attunes himself to the Ghost Field, allowing him to perceive — and command — the spirits and echos that are present. // Source: Midjourney
“Shit! He’s a Whisper!” Rian hisses, falling back and clutching the spiritbane charm2 hanging around his neck. Carver lurches forward, pulling his cleaver from beneath his heavy coat, but a terrible chill is already bleeding into the air.
Aldo holds up his hand to stay Carver’s blade, but instantly, he can see he doesn’t have to — Carver is frozen in abject fear at the sight before him. Standing where Rian was standing just a moment ago is the shade of a young man, dressed in the uniform of the Jessek House of Diligence. His dead eyes are fixed on Carver, and his throat bleeds from the ghostly wound that killed him, spattering dark blood on the floorboards at his feet. The revenant raises an accusing finger at Carver and howls — the sound cannot be heard but only felt as a shrieking, shivering pain in the very bones.
Carver’s restless ghost, brought screaming into the world by Flint’s magic. // Source: Midjourney
Carver recoils from the thing in fear and pain — its accusing eyes bore into him, and its cry seems to drive the breath from his body, sending him down to one knee as he struggles against its oppressive presence. Rian’s eyes meet Aldo’s, pleading for help.
Aldo’s heart is pounding, too — he remembers like it was yesterday his brush with a vengeful ghost — the spirit of the dead sentry on the walls outside Molino House, which would’ve choked the life from him if Emma had not saved him.
Emma won’t come for us this time. It’s on me. Steeling himself against the terror, Aldo wills his hand to move from his side, reaching into his coat and drawing his pistol.
Before he can act, Aldo must Resist the terror caused by a brush with the supernatural. Ghosts and other supernatural horrors in the world of Blades in the Dark inspire debilitating fear in those who are not trained or experienced in dealing with them3. As a brief refresher on resistance rolls, the PC rolls a dice pool equal to their appropriate Attribute rating (Insight, Prowess or Resolve), which is determined by the number of skills a character has in that Attribute’s category. The highest die is then subtracted from 6, and the PC takes that much Stress to resist the consequence. A bad roll here can fill half a PC’s stress track in a single go, but luckily Aldo’s fresh, so he’s not at risk of being put out of action just yet.
Aldo focuses on the Whisper’s pale white gaze and steps up to him, using every shred of resolve to ignore the grim presence of the ghost at his shoulder. He raises the pepperbox pistol to Flint’s forehead and pulls back the hammer with an ominous click. “Get rid of your pet, or I’ll trim the walls with your brains.”
Aldo turns things around with a critical success. In this context, we can assume that he and Rian working together are able to reverse Rian’s failure and get Flint talking openly to them. Back to the action:
Flint’s eerie white orbs seem to meet Aldo’s pale blue eyes for a moment, and his brows rise in respect. He mutters a few unsettling syllables that sound like a phonograph run backwards, and a gust of cold wind seems to come from nowhere. The spirit’s ectoplasmic form is blown apart like ashes in the wind.
The pure white of Flint’s eyes fade, their cloudy brown color returning. He looks at Aldo with a curious gaze. “He’s not my pet,” he says, nodding to Carver. “He’s his. If you can hold fast when the dead draw near, you’ve got some steel. But you should choose your associates more carefully when you tangle with the sub rosa4, boy.”
Aldo’s pistol is still pressed to his forehead, but Flint continues. “Your bravo there is tangled up with a hateful spirit.”
“They’re just dreams, Aldo5,” Carver protests, his voice still low and hoarse from his brush with the dead.
“Not just dreams, cutter,” Flint says with some relish. “He is your sins remembered. A restless spirit, bound to you, straining at the veil, and growing stronger all the time.”
Carver’s eyes are wide, and they dart to Aldo for some reassurance. Aldo keeps his eyes on the Whisper, his finger light on the trigger. “Pick up your knife, Carver. Hold fast. We’ll get to the bottom of all this.”
Aldo’s even tone slows Carver’s racing heart just a bit, and the big man takes a breath, slowly goes to one knee, and retrieves his chopper. With his blade in his hand, his tremors steady, and he puts the tip at Flint’s back.
“You’ve got the Crow’s Foot patter, but you’re not Boss Roric’s knives. And you’re not sub rosa. Who are you?”
He lowers his pistol first, and then his mask. “I’m Aldo Jessek. Emma is my sister. Dalmore House stole her away, and I mean to get her back.”
Flint’s eyes narrow at the mention of Emma’s name. “The brother. Of course. She’s told me of you. Of both of you.”
His gaze turns to Carver. “This must be Carver Creach, then.” Carv flinches to hear his real name, and Flint makes note of it.
“Jessek,” Rian says firmly. “We’re all brothers, now.”
Flint takes in the three of them with redoubled interest. “I see. Interesting. So, you mean to attempt some sort of jailbreak? Steal onto the grounds of Dalmore House and abscond with Emma?”
“First I mean to find out what the devil is doing at Dalmore House. Emma’s no lady’s maid.”
Flint chuckles. “No, she is not. No doubt you learned that when she killed your associate, Chael DeWitte.”
Aldo lets this assumption pass without comment and waits for Flint to continue.
“My young friend, my mistress demands absolute discretion. Why should I tell you anything?”
“Because you seem to give a damn about my sister. I saw you quarrel with that clockwork thing, Mr. Seek, about her when it dragged her away. Where’s he talking her, Flint?”
“To have her wounds seen to. DeWitte dealt her a nasty cut.”
“That’s so, Aldo,” Rian confirms. “Chael went down fighting.”
“And after her wounds are tended to? What then? What does the Dalmore School want with our sister?”
“What do you want with your sister?” Flint shoots back.
Is he goading us? Probing us? Aldo wonders. “She’s family,” Rian says a little incredulously, into the silence. “Our little sister. We don’t abandon family.”
Flint tilts his head curiously. “You three were petty criminals in the Crow’s Foot gutters, and you found your way to the doorstep of Dalmore House. All out of a sense of family loyalty?”
“What of it?” Aldo says.
“You’re right that Emma is in danger,” Flint says, suddenly more forthcoming. “She has crossed the lady of the house more than once, on your behalf. This time may have been her last.”
“And you’re not right with that?” Aldo says, trying to turn Flint’s probing back on himself.
Flint weighs his next words heavily. “I am not.”
“What did you intend to do about it?” Rian says, cutting in.
“I did not think there was anything I could do.”
“Well, then,” Rian says with a smile. “Maybe we can help one another.”
“Even if you were to somehow enter the grounds of Dalmore House — a dangerous proposition in itself — and extricate Emma from the iron cloisters, Mr. Seek would find you, as sure as you’re breathing. You three would be sent to Ironhook, or simply disposed of, and Emma would be returned to Dalmore House.”
“Then we kill Seek.”
Flint snorts. “He’s not invincible, but better killers than you have tried. Tell me: Was this Chael Dewitte a tyrant?”
“A tyrant?” Rian scoffs. “He was a right bastard, if that’s what you mean.”
“Was he in a position of trust? Did he abuse it?”
“As sure as you’re born,” Aldo replies.
Flint nods, deep in thought. “All right, gentlemen. There may be a way for us to help one another. Release me, and we will talk.”
The brothers exchange glances, and Aldo nods to Carver. The big man slices through the canvas rope with his knife’s point, and Flint rises from his chair, rubbing his sore wrists. “We’re listening,” Rian says.
“Your sister has become entangled with a thing of great power. A dead god, trying to bring itself back to life.”
“Pardon?” Rian chokes.
“A dead god. When the world was broken, all those centuries ago, it was not just mortals who died in droves. The gods died as well. Like us, they do not rest quietly. Those of us who truck with the unseen world can come to know them.”
“A cult,” Rian says with a tinge of disgust in his voice. “Weird ceremonies, demon-dealings… human sacrifice. Madness.”
“It would be madness, if the gods were false. They are not, I assure you.”
“So what would you have of us?” Aldo asks.
“My mistress believes that Emma killed Chael solely to protect you three, and that she is lying about hearing the voice of our god. But if Emma killed Chael at our god’s behest then He awaits the sacrifice of that corrupt spirit.”
“And what happens if Emma gives him this sacrifice?”
“Truly, I do not know. We — the mistress of the house and myself — have not heard our god speak clearly for many years now. Only whispers and fragments. Of all those who serve Him, only Emma claims to hear his voice calling her to action. If she is telling the truth, and this is His will, then he will reward her faith.”
“And what will the mistress of the house do then?” Rian presses.
“She will have to deal with Emma as… if not a peer, then a power to be reckoned with. But I cannot free Emma from the iron cloisters — I do not have the keys. Perhaps that is… less of an impediment for you?”
Aldo nods slowly. “Easy enough. How do we get in?”
Flint sucks in his breath. “There’s the rub. We can’t go through he front gates — Seek and his hounds patrol tirelessly, and… other things watch from beyond the veil. The moment you were to cross onto the grounds of the property, the lady of the house would be forewarned.”
“Where, then?”
“There is a boathouse, along the shore of the River Mist, carved into the cliffs. It is unguarded and unwatched, and the tunnels lead all the way to the undercroft of the manor. But there are other, worse dangers.”
“What dangers?”
Flint frowns. “The Lightning Barriers hold back the Deathlands from the surface, but its protection does not pierce earth and stone so easily. The corruption of the outside seeps in from below, and the tunnels beneath the manor are thick with wraiths. Not the Echos you have seen in the city — true horrors of the long dark. If I were alone, I could mask my presence from them, but I cannot do that for the three of you. If we take this path, we will need to confront them.”
“You can’t,” Flint says, turning a bony finger on Carver. “But he can.”
“What are you talking about, old man?” Carver says dangerously, his knife still held tightly in his eager hand.
“Through some bloody deed in your past, Mr. Creach, you have tethered yourself to a vengeful spirit. It dogs your steps, haunts your dreams, and, given half a chance, will reach through the veil and choke the life from you. Your acts of violence feed it, and it will grow stronger until it can pierce the veil and come for you. You suspected this, did you not?”
Carver nods solemnly, and the brothers look downcast. All of them had feared that Carver’s troubles were more than just bad dreams, but now it is laid bare before them.
“Even if that is true, what does that have to do with fighting ghosts?” Aldo asks quietly, breaking the silence.
“I can make use of this tether; Turn it to your advantage. Pluck it like a harp string, so that it resonates with the unseen world. Your man Carver will be able to reach through the veil and cut spirit as well as flesh. With practice, you could even learn the trick of it yourself.”
“Carver? What do you think?”
The big man shifts his blade from one hand to the other, his knuckles white around the grip. “If you ask it, Aldo... But a spirit stood in this room not a few moments ago, and I couldn’t barely raise my blade against it.”
“There are worse things than that spirit down there,” Flint replies. The old man’s rheumy eyes meet Carver’s now. “But sometimes it is easier to face horrors for others than to look upon the ghosts of your own past.”
Carver chews on this in silence. Rian, his eyes darting about, mind racing, interjects. “Aldo. What if… we didn’t descend into a nest of horrors, and instead, we just prepare a little welcome for this Mr. Seek when he returns from the physicker with Emma in tow. He sounds like a right devil with a barker and a blade, but is he really worse than Carver facing down whatever creatures might be waiting for us down there, while we cower in the back of the boat?”
Aldo looks to his adopted brother. “He’s right, Carv. Either way, we’re asking a lot of you, and you’ve never even met Emma. You can walk away, if you want to. We would understand.”
Carver snorts. “I’m not walking away. You boys need Carv, you’d be dead a dozen times without me.”
“Too right,” Rian mutters.
“What will it be, big man?” Aldo asks.
Carver’s Choice
We’ll close the episode here. Carver has a choice here, but it’s not just a choice about how the Jesseks will approach this next score, freeing Emma from Dalmore House’s control. It also represents Carver’s posture towards this curse we’ve begun to learn more about. As I mentioned in the last episode, I wanted to add a bit more depth to Carver’s character — to explore the reason why he turned away from a life of pure violence and sought some sort of code of honor through his relationship with Aldo and Rian.
His reason is this curse: Through some old act of violence — we’ll explore the details as they become relevant — Carver became cursed with a haunting spirit. He’s been tormented by dreams, and intuited that the dreams grew worse as he induldged in the violent acts he’d become accustomed to, and now Flint has revealed that the spirit will someday grow strong enough to take Carver’s life. This is something that Carver always felt, but did not quite understand until now.
If Carver chooses to embrace this connection to the supernatural and explore this power that Flint is offering by braving the haunted tunnels, then that will signal a willingness to explore his condition and make use of it. For those interested in the mechanics of Flint’s offer, Carver will temporarily gain the use of the Ghost Fighter ability from the Bravo playbook (you can reference it here in the Blades SRD, though it goes by the name “Arcane Fighter”).
If Carver chooses to avoid meddling with the sub rosa and instead ambush Mr. Seek (something that’s much more in his comfort zone), it will instead signal a desire to conceal and cure his condition.
The broader implications of this choice aren’t immediately clear, we’re really more choosing something like an Instinct in Stonetop — something that will guide the character’s decisions in the long term.
So, with all that preamble, I invite you all to make the choice for Carver — will the gang confront Seek after all, forewarned and forearmed with whatever Flint can tell them? Or will they follow Flint’s plan and brave the horrors beneath the city to enter Dalmore House undetected?
Of course, we’re revisting a similar choice we made last episode — a choice that was roundly rejected. But, as I was envisioning the conversation between Flint and the Jessek boys, and thinking through what options might be available to them, ambushing Mr. Seek still seemed viable, so I decided to offer it up. As you’re considering it, feel free to assume that Flint will have at least some information about Seek’s capabilities that will help even the odds. With that in mind, smash the button below to make your choice.
The Jesseks used this on the corrupt Bluecoat rookie back in Session 2 — we’ll posit that it keeps Flint pliable, and, importantly, prevents him from Attuning to the ghost field and using any Whisper abilities he has on them, at least for now. The Jesseks don’t know he’s a Whisper, but there’s still plenty of reason to drug him, so they got lucky here.
Here, Rian is marking off an inventory slot to be prepared with a Spiritbane Charm, which also prompts us to establish everyone’s Load — Aldo and Rian will choose a Light load (they almost always do, since they need to be unencumbered to climb, sneak, and persuade) while Carver will choose a Medium one. It’s reasonable to assume that Rian would bring a Spiritbane Charm to Six Towers, which is notoriously haunted.
The relevant rules segment is on Page 14 of the core Blades in the Dark Book — sadly, it is not reproduced in the Blades SRD, since it’s specific to the BitD setting. The tl;dr is that anyone other than a Whisper or other experienced mystic will experience either paralyzing fear or panicked flight when confronted by a spirit or demon. To resist this effect, a scoundrel can make a Resistance roll, just like resisting a consequence from a failed roll, spending Stress to master their fear.
Sub Rosa is latin for “beneath the rose,” and it’s an idiom for secret or confidential dealings. In the context of Blades in the Dark, I’m going to use it as slang for the supernatural underworld within the underworld of Duskwall — the secretive network of Whispers, occultists and spirit-traffickers that deal with the unseen world.
Recall that in the previous session (now three weeks ago!) we introduced the idea that Carver is haunted by some troubling dreams, which disturbed his sleep when he and Aldo were on stakeout. As this score represents the gang’s first major brush with the supernatural, it also represents an opportunity to introduce some of the more supernatural elements of Carver’s character.
Flint was a lot more dangerous than I would have wagered with that Whisper stunt there! It caught me off guard (in a good way).
I voted for the tunnels!
My rationale: Carver could be doubting his place in the family, and the news about the ghost eventually coming through to kill him feels like a "last drop" situation. Maybe he won't have time to deal with it and fix it before the situation becomes dire, so if he can help his chosen family and in the meantime maybe start learning something that he could use to keep the situation at bay and in the future gain a new skillset? Why not.
It's not a choice that looks to the future, but honestly that feels right for him and for the setting in general.
Flint was a lot more dangerous than I would have wagered with that Whisper stunt there! It caught me off guard (in a good way).
I voted for the tunnels!
My rationale: Carver could be doubting his place in the family, and the news about the ghost eventually coming through to kill him feels like a "last drop" situation. Maybe he won't have time to deal with it and fix it before the situation becomes dire, so if he can help his chosen family and in the meantime maybe start learning something that he could use to keep the situation at bay and in the future gain a new skillset? Why not.
It's not a choice that looks to the future, but honestly that feels right for him and for the setting in general.
Wow, I can’t believe the vote was unanimous.
And it paid out so well. 😁 Now, on to more ghosts! 🤞