LADY BLACKBIRD is on the run from an arranged marriage to Count Carlowe. She hired a smuggler skyship, The Owl, to take her from her palace on the Imperial world of Ilysium to the far reaches of the Remnants, so she could be with her once secret lover, the pirate king Uriah Flint.

HOWEVER —Just before reaching the halfway point of Haven, The Owl was pursued and captured by the Imperial cruiser Hand of Sorrow, under charges of flying a false flag.

EVEN NOW Lady Blackbird, her bodyguard, and the crew of The Owl are detained in the brig, while the commander of the cruiser, Captain Hollas, runs the smuggler ship’s registry over the wireless. It’s only a matter of time before they discover the outstanding warrants and learn that The Owl is owned by none other than the infamous outcast Cyrus Vance.

How will Lady Blackbird and the others escape the hand of sorrow?

What dangers lie in their path?

Will they be able to find the secret lair of the pirate king? If they do, will Uriah Flint accept Lady Blackbird as his bride? By the time they get there, will she want him to?

---

You are all packed together in a rusty holding cell, like common ruffians (which some of you are and some of you are definitely not!) There is a soft pervasive hum of engines as the Hand of Sorrow moves throughout the Wild Blue. You hear the soft, muted jazz sounds of a radio that the guard has on his table, interspersed with the sounds of writing and stamping of that same guard doing paperwork. He has filled out a form about your ship, The Owl, and filled in a requisition order for what they know in the database about your ship. He has put it in a cylinder and puts it in one of those hydraulic tube systems that suck it all the way to a sorting chamber that will send it to where it needs to go, after putting another stamp on it. Your confiscated weapons are still in a sorting tray on the desk as well.

Captain Vance tells you about how these things work. He also informs that this gives us a window of time in which to do something before they find out who he is.

Lady Blackbird, has Captain Vance told you about his past with the military or not? And have you told him (and the crew) about your true identity or not?

Naomi Bishop, you know you can easily knock the bars of off this cell, but it's gonna be loud. You can try to do this silently, but it will be very difficult (difficulty 5).

Kale Arkham, you know about the Captain's past and how that makes this an urgent thing, because if they find out that he's an outlaw, you're not getting out of here unless it's go to jail on Olympia.

Who do we see in the brig, next to Captain Cyrus and Snargle? Describe yourself!

Natasha Syri, more commonly refered to as Lady Blackbird, is not exactly having the best day ever. She has been rudely awoken up in the middle of the night by the arrival of the Hand of Sorrow, and scarcely had the time to wrap herself in a robe and get to the corridor to see what's the racket before the soldiers rounded them all up. Thankfully it's not too cold in the brig.

To all appearances, is a tallish redhead, currently wrapped in a pale blue silk robe with red dragons in it. Usually her curls would be carefully arranged in a sophisticated coiffure, but at the moment they're all over the place, moving every time she shakes her head in exasperation. And she's doing it rather a lot.

---

Probably not; I don't think we've talked much. The Lady has been very much absent, lost in her daydreams and talking very little to the Captain or the rest of the crew. She has paid handsomely to be transported to the Remnants, and she doesn't think she is obliged to make small talk to the hired help. But if she hasn't told anyone about her identity, she has also made no efforts to pass off as someone else. Not until now, anyway.

---

The Lady pinches the bridge of her nose, furiously thinking.

"Oh, what shall become of us now, Naomi?" she whispers to her bodyguard. "And why, oh Wild Blue, did I ever hire this blasted Owl, of all skyships? Its bad reputation shall bring ruin to us all. Unless... They still don't know that I..."

If the Hand of Sorrow came for the Owl because of the captain's 'work history', as Vance himself had just suggested... then that meant they were NOT looking for her. She could use that.

"Ach, master captain!" she cried out in her best impression of a commoner's accent. "Ye picks me up in 'e Nightport and ye's promises ye's going to treat I's like a queen, did youse not? Well, a poxy on youse, mister! A good honest working girl's I, not to rot in some brig for youse sins, nay!"

Turning her back on the captain, she calls for the guard.

"Oi, handsome! I's not part of this wretched crew, honest to god! Get I's out of here an' I's going to show ye a good time, mister guard! I's just some innocent wench tryin' tae win I's bread, honest!"

---

I'm calling this... Cunning, with tags Disguise, Deception. So 1+1+2=4 and then some pool. Am I doing this right? What would the difficult level be?

You've got the hang of it! I'm gonna say that this will not be the first time this has been tried on the guard, who is also aboard a strong Empire sky ship, so let's put the difficulty at 4.
You can also get a dice per other player character if they can narrate how they are helping you in this attempt.

His ears folded back, Snargle was unusually quiet. Not that he couldn't be quiet. He could be quiet as a whisper in the Blue when the situation called for it but this wasn't the quiet of a goblin skulking away or into trouble. This was the quiet of a goblin who just lost.

He kept replaying the last flight in his head. It should have been so easy to lose the Hand. He was told to lose them and so he did what any good pilot would do, he dove the Owl into the Depths. He knew that a big warship like the Hand could outlast them in the fog but all he had to do was play Keep-Away long enough to find an asteroid or something to hide behind.

But then that damn skysquid showed up out of nowhere! It tried to take the Owl for a snack but he swooped through its tentacles. He thought he made it clear until his temperature gauges started soaring up. The squid knocked one of the main cooling pipes loose, spraying cool water everywhere but the steam drive. Kale fixed it fast but Snargle had to throttle back long enough to keep the engines from exploding. It was all the Hand needed to blast apart the squid and catch the Owl. He went over and over the swoop through the tentacles, trying to see where he messed up and cost everyone the ship.

Lady Mysterious' (as he called her. She never gave a name) yelling knocked him back into the present. He didn't know why she was changing her voice around. Maybe she had secrets too. Snargle knew better than to pry. Still he felt back for her. She and her companion (aka the Bodyguard, since she never left the Lady's side) ere just passengers. They hadn't asked to get caught up in the Captain's mess.

"Oi, save yer breath," he snapped at her, intimating Oscar, a cranky old janitor he knew on Haven. He was a curmudgeon but his bark was worse than his bite. "You're not gonna get any love from that guard. Imps can't even relieve themselves unless they get two forms signed in triplicate from their CO. Getting so much as a hug from you would take at least a week."

He let out a cruel laugh directed at the guard. He gave Lady Blackbird a wink. He didn't know what her plan was but if anyone deserved to get out of here, it was the passengers.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:32, Thu 22 July 2021.

Is that a helping die from Snargle?

Yep! Sorry, got excited and forgot that part. Not sure if you need any traits or whatnot from me.

In reply to Snargle (msg # 6):

As I read the rules no tag is needed to help. You described how you're needling the guard, trying to prove him not to be a stick in the mud and to accept the Lady's advances.

So that's 1
+1 for Cunning
+1 for Disguise
+1 for Deception

+5 from the pool: 9 dice

21:16, Today: Lady Blackbird rolled 39 using 9d6 ((1,3,6,6,6,5,1,6,5)).

That's 6 successes (higher or equal than 4), so it worked?

EDIT: I FORGOT YOU SNARGLE! :( Sorry, rolling an additional die:


21:19, Today: Lady Blackbird rolled 4 using 1d6 ((4)).

And that's 7 successes!

This message was last edited by the player at 20:19, Mon 19 July 2021.

That’s a resounding success.

As “Natasha Siri” starts to talk to the guard the captain looks stunned. He is ready to start defend himself when Natasha directs herself to the guard. He sighs and waves her of, rolling his eyes like the attempt is never gonna work. The stamping continues and Snargle plays up hos part at which the stamping halts for a moment, then starts again, but less regularly. Then you hear some grumbling and the guard comes along to see what is going on.

He’s standing at the bars, als sweat and muscle and the squares jaw you’ve ever seen. Steel blue eyes and a blond mane, comed back, he looks you over and grins a smile that would fit in a toothpaste commercial. “What seems to be the problem here?” he asks, getting lost in Lady Blackbird’s teary eyes, pouting mouth and unruly locks.

He is near the bars, in hand’s reach, and fully distracted by Lady Blackbird. Snargle and the Lady have taken their turn, but the others can still act.

Naomi stood nearby: leaning against the wall.
All bruised up, she’d taken quite a battering at the fists of the Imperials when they’d layed their filthy paws on The Lady, and Naomi had reacted as Naomi does.
In hindsight, she possibly made things worse, at least for herself.

But now, as The Lady lured the guard over to within arms reach, Blackbird could see Naomi tensing up, like a coiling serpent … ready to strike.
All it would take to release great harm upon this snivelling fool would be the slightest indication from The Lady.


I’ll save my roll, however, until Blackbird gives that signal

Captain Cyrus Vance paced about the back of the cell he’d been tossed into with his crew and passengers. Now, it was kind of his fault that they were all in this predicament, but now wasn’t the time to be pointing fingers. He had to cook up a plan! He refused to leave this life by the Hand of Hollas. Once they got out of the brig, he might be able to remember the way off this wretched ship.

Deep in thought, he almost didn’t notice the forced commoner’s accent coming from Natasha’s mouth. But he was pulled from his inner monologue to the guard’s approach. A smirk crossed the Captains face, tugging at the three aged scars scaling his right cheek. He glanced over to Naomi, and started to slink along the wall, approaching the guard and attempting to remain off the radar. He reached his arm out of the bars to grab at keys or a weapon, whatever his fingers would graze first.

He pleaded in his mind silently that he could get something useful.

---

A smuggler and sneak check, right?  And however many die from my pool?

You get one free die to start with. Then you choose a trait. In this case I think Smuggler is the one. That is an extra die. In this trait you can gain a die per tag that fits with what you attempt to do, The ones in brackets are as of yet unavailable, but can be unlocked by spending five XP (five XP is one advance).

So that would be: 1 (for doing a thing) + 1 (trait: Smuggler) + 2 (tags: sneak, hide) = 4 dice.
Then you can add any dice from your pool you want.
If you succeed they’ve been used up, you loose them from your pool until the next refreshment scene.
If you fail you get them all back and add one more. The more you fail, the more likely it becomes to succeed on a next task.

Others can contribute helping dice. Everybody can conribute one die, if they can explain how they are helping. If you succeed that die is spent, otherwise they get it back.

Snargle already did a thing, so he can’t really help anymore. Lady Blackbird also already did a thing, but it’s kind of helping. So if she wants to give you a helping die I will allow it, but she doesn’t need to if she doesn’t want to. All the others can also contribute a helping die if they can explain how they contribute to you succeeding at your intent.

No one seems to be helping the Captain. So captain, feel free to roll those dice.

"Oi, kind guard, won't you get I's out of here, won't youse find the mercy in youse heart?" the Lady insists, distracting the guard from Cyrus' subrrepticious moves. She takes the guard's hand and places it above her own "heart".

"Feel ye beat? I's heart is an honest girl's heart, I's swear on me mum, mister! Full o' love for life and a good man whose treats I's with kindness. Perhaps you, good sir, aye?"

---

Sorry for the delay, have a +1, captain.

In other news, I think I have hit the Key of the Imposter, shall I get 1 XP, Questioneer?

This message was last edited by the player at 19:10, Wed 21 July 2021.

Yes, 1XP for you

Cyrus Vance rolled 18 using 6d6 with rolls of 2,2,2,5,1,6. That’s two successes, oof. I hope this guard is well distracted by titties.

First off, I should have set the difficulty before letting you roll. That is my bad. Always feel free to ask when I forget. I was gonna set it at 3 difficulty, which means that you failed. I'll give you an XP though as compensation for my messing up. Also, failing means getting all your dice back +1 extra die. The Lady gets her helping die back too.

As soon as the guard laid his eyes on the Lady it was clear to him. It was meant to be. Birds were singing, stars were shining and twinkling all around, and ... wait! What's that? "Watch out miss!" he cries out with his handsome face and golden locks, as his we'll muscled arms grab his stun baton from his belt and whack at the shadowy hand coming from the shadows. Captain Vance takes the full jolt of electricity and is revealed. He looks around the room and then back at Natasha. "Okay miss, I'll let you sit with me until we find a better solution because you should not be with these criminals. I've got a fresh pot of tea ready, do you like tea?"

He will wield his stun baton threateningly and shoo everyone to the back of the cell while opening the cell door to let Natasha out and have tea with him.

**What do you do?**

---

MEANWHILE — in the sorting station we see a person taking the tube out of the pneumatic tube messaging system, open it up, skim it briefly and put two extra stamps on it. She consults a table and walks to the other side of the room to put the cylinder in the correct tube.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:13, Thu 22 July 2021.

I am sorry to interrupt ... but Naomi was right near the bars also ... ready to strike.
If you will permit, I'd like to submit 'option 1' for consideration.
If you do not wish to retcon your narrative, then please use 'option 2'.


Option 1:
Naomi still leaned against the corner created by the wall and the bars.  She'd been waiting for the guard to be within reach, and Natasha to give a signal to strike.
As the guard, standing within arms reach of the bars, turned his attention towards Capt Vance, however, Naomi took the opportunity regardless.   The target was now within reach, and distracted.

With one measured step, she was against the bars.  Her right arm shot out and grabbed the guard by his shirtfront ... and recoiled using her own body weight, so that he was introduced (face first) to the bars brutally.
Acting with:  1 Die, +1 'Pit Fighter', +5 Combat Tested, Brutal, Living Weapon, Fast, Hard + 2 Pool.
- rolled 4,1,1,3,5,4,3,3,1  introduce guard to cell bars.
= 3 successes


Option 2:
Naomi, disappointed that she hadn't received a signal from her Lady, backed off when the guard waved his baton threateningly.
She would have to trust the Lady to handle this one alone.

The guard is knocked out! The cutscene happens after the guard is knocked out. Well done. I think you've hit the Key of the Guardian so take an XP for that.

The guard is knocked out, he had keys on him, etc. Only a short amount of time has passed since the cutscene. How do we find our crew again once we cut back. We're still in the brig. What are you doing? How do we find the guard? What plan are you making?

The guard, knocked out, had keys on him, and Naomi had (after rending him docile) held him up so that the others could retrieve said items.
He also had, at the very least, a tazer-baton.

Now that they stood outside the cell, yet still in the brig, Naomi moved quickly to the door out of this small area, to listen for incoming threats ... and where she could handle said opportunities as they entered through that door ... while she waited for her Lady (and possibly the Owl's crew) to decide what to do, and where they would go, next.

Lady Blackbird pulled the robe closer around herself, covering the nightgown underneath, and tied the belt tightly.

"Blessed be the Blue Wild, my dear Naomi, thank you for that most timely of interventions," she sighed, back to her usual high-class accent. She brushed herself as if the touch of the guard had left a mark on the pale blue silk, then prodded the knocked out man with a bare foot.

"Captain, this thug looks about your size, why don't you exchange clothes with him, then exchange places too?" she said civilly, as if she was suggesting another glass of port and a cigar perhaps.

Wincing at the cold metal under her feet, she moved closer to the table to examine the documents the guard had been working on a minute before, looking for anything useful or revealing - orders, reports, something they could use.

"Oh, and when you're done, perhaps you'd care to tie our hands behind our backs and lead us out of here, for an interrogation, if someone asks?" she added casually, still rifling through the paperwork.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:01, Thu 22 July 2021.

"Sorry friend," Snargle said, stepping over the unconscious guard. He was using his normal voice now, which wasn't as deep as Oscar's. "I guess it wasn't meant to be. You know what they say though: There's plenty of prisoners in the brig."

Smiling to himself, Snargle goes into the guard's office. He gets his stuff and gives his lucky astrolabe a small kiss. It was scratched up and dented in multiple places and every part in it had been replaced at least once, but it was his. His parents had saved and scrounged to get it so he could attend piloting school. He never left the ship without it.

After handing everyone's stuff back to them (he had to guess which one was Lady Mysterious and which one went to the Bodyguard), he changed his shape and grew taller to peek out the doorway and see if anyone was coming.
This message was last edited by the player at 13:30, Thu 22 July 2021.