Lady Blackbird - Session 1, Part 2

Lady Blackbird - Session 1, Part 2

We had taken a break and started up again with a refreshment scene. Captain Vance and Lady Blackbird were in the galley (with Naomi lurking nearby, keeping an eye on Cyrus) drinking some tea. There was polite palaver and some apologies. Eventually the rest of the crew joined them and they discussed the next step.

Fuel was still low. Snargle was pretty sure they wouldn't make it to Haven with what little they had. Kale suggested they try and contact Noah who was likely in the area. Snargle seemed a bit dubious. Noah, we discovered, what the captain of The Kestrel, another smuggling ship. He had a bit of history with Cyrus and The Owl. Most recently, The Owl had taken over a client from Noah, and a rather lucrative contract. When they had last met, at Nightport , there were words and blows exchanged, but as Cyrus pointed out "no one got shot". Snargle sent out a coded signal to The Kestrel, and they waited.

Eventually, they were contacted, by Violet, the pilot of The Kestrel (insert non-stop "Violet-the-pilot" comments here). It turned out that Snargle had a bit of a crush on Violet, and Paul really played the shy Snargle to the hilt. There was an awkward conversation between them until finally Cyrus showed up, got Noah on the wireless, and they got down to business. The Owl was hauling some spirits from Olympia, in particular several barrels of 120 year old brandy, and six bottles of Ambrosia wine. Cyrus was willing to trade those for some fuel. Noah seemed amicable to the trade and they agreed to rendezvous in a few hours.

(It wasn't until the drive home after the game that I realized we had a burgeoning, perhaps one-sided relationship between and goblin and human named Violet... where had I heard that before? Oh yeah, the sample characters from The Shadow of Yesterday. I swear, I didn't plan it. I just grabbed one of the names off the list. I think Snargle has a better chance than Oliphant though... at some point, I don't remember exactly when in the game, Violet agreed to meet up with Snargle someday, for a drink maybe.)

The Kestrel showed up and hovered next to The Owl and the ships lowered their gangways to each other, and the captains met outside. Cyrus noticed that Noah seemed to have more thugs/muscle on his ship than he'd had before and in fact brought three of them over to The Owl, which was sort of against the smuggler's code. They inspected the goods but Noah seem dissatisfied. He hinted that there needed to be more in their trade... he wanted the Lady Blackbird!

(I have to admit, I took this idea from Paul. He made an off-handed comment about how it would suck if there was a bounty out for Lady Blackbird. I thought to myself "it would suck indeed... for you guys!" So yeah, bounty on Lady Blackbird, and The Owl too I guess.)

Cyrus played dumb, and stalled, while Snargle, who'd been listening from the bridge, called Lady Blackbird and Naomi in their berth and warned them. The two snuck to the gun turret and crammed themselves in. Noah's thugs searched The Owl, finding some of the smuggling compartments, but they didn't find the women (they were not the sharpest of goons). Noah was not happy, but took the wine and brandy and left, but warned Cyrus that he'd be keeping on eye on him. Everyone on The Owl breathed a sigh of relief when The Kestrel flew off, after giving them their much needed fuel. Snargle said bye to Violet.

Finally, they made it to Haven. Lady Blackbird, Naomi, and Cyrus headed off to the Boarshead Tavern, where the Lady was to meet her contact, Silas Quinn. He told them that there had been some trouble in the Remnants, some sort of pirate civil war. Uriah Flint was there, but the way to his hold was hidden. He suggested that she travel to Nightport, and find a man named August Cross, who was an information broker. If anyone could help her, it was this man Cross.

In the meantime, Kale had been going to various shops, buying supplies for the ship; food, parts, and other necessities. He also met some of his underworld contacts and took a job. There was a box, locked, about four feet long, by two, by two. He was to deliver it to a certain person in Nightport and would be paid handsomely, and in fact, got a chunk of change upfront. Kale decided not to mention this job to the captain until they were on their way. I assume Snargle was daydreaming about Violet during this time. Actually, he was fiddling with the ship, but I'm sure daydreaming was involved.

The ship was en route to Nightport. It was night, and everyone was in bed. Snarlge was in his hammock-like bag in the cockpit, and was awakened by a blipping sound. There were ships on the sonar! Three of them, closing fast! He shouted over the com and everyone scrambled, dashing to the helm. The three ships were The Kestrel (naturally), The Raven, and The Sparrow (these last two ships were captained by associates of Noah).

Snargle hailed The Kestrel, and a rather apologetic Violet answered. Cyrus demanded to talk to Noah, but Violet said her captain had nothing to say, and cut the transmission. Cyrus ran to the turret, and prepared for battle. He targeted The Sparrow's bridge, and the 37mm blew a hole through it. The Sparrow started to sink, and Cyrus hailed Noah, saying if The Kestrel and Raven, didn't back off, they'd follow The Sparrow down to the Lower Depths. The ships backed off, and Noah again warned that he'd be keeping his eye on Cyrus. The two ships headed down to try and rescue The Sparrow. The Owl continued on its way to Nightport. That's where we wrapped things up for the night.

So later this month we're going to meet up again and see what happens when the gang gets to Nightport. Gotta say, it was a helluva fun game. Everyone really got a chance for their character to shine, and there was some crazy-cool action.