Our gang of Hawkers take it easy after a surprisingly simple score. While they continue to supply Silkshore with coffee, the city is full of tension as old wounds are reopened. Sabrina discovers a disturbing gap in her memory, Vinly plans out how to get revenge on a childhood enemy, and Halfdan has to choose between the loyalty to his country or his love for his friends.
After months of work, it's time for the Clattering Cup, a dockside gambling den, to receive a fancy upgrade. Tonight is the first night of it reopening as the Doskvol branch of the Consenting Pugilist's League, a mostly civilised fight club for the people. The Ghost Leaves, our gang of Hawkers, have been recruited by the owner Ged to ensure the first night goes off with a bang. But, the rain is pouring, there are unexpected guests, and a whole crowd of people to cater for. Surely for Silkshore's finest coffee house, this job can't go wrong?
After their brief foray into being the terror of Doskvol's waterways, the Ghost Leaves return back to the regular work of maintaining Silkshore's finest coffee house. But, it's a time of great change in the city, and dark truths are learnt about those closest to the party. Vinly does some market research, Halfdan tends to the dead, and Sabrina engages in class tourism -- mostly to annoy Vinly.
During the infiltration on board the Lockport's Lament, Bear, a smuggler with the Fog Hounds, was captured by the Bluecoats. Proving that there is still honour among thieves, the Ghost Leaves decide to free him before he can arrive at Ironhook Prison. A prison barge will be steaming down the Silk any day now, full of the city's unluckiest criminals. All they need to do is to find their target and get him out safely - surely nothing can go wrong?
Returning to our regular non-canine episodes, the Ghost Leaves are keeping their heads down after a particularly risky score. But, as always, no one is innocent in Doskvol, and more consequences rear their ugly heads. Halfdan loses faith, Vinly supports a fellow small business owner, and some sand from Sabrina's home seems to have appeared in a place most unusual.
While our main group of scoundrels escape from the Lockport's Lament, a four legged fighter is also fleeing the scene. Doghound, wounded, washes up on the shores of Silkshore, and three inquisitive strays decide to help this warrior return to glory.For this session, we're not playing Blades in the Dark. We're playing Dogs in the Bark, a fan-made expansion of the game where everyone is dogs. It's the same dark city you know, though now even less colourful.
The Lockport's Lament, a leviathan hunter, has just had a new engine installed at great expense. The owners, the Gravedens, are hoping that this will turn their fortunes around and they'll finally be back to the upper echelons of society that they once dwelled in. The Iruvian embassy has other plans and has hired the Ghost Leaves to conduct a little bit of industrial espionage: Get in, photograph the engine, and get out. With the leviathan hunting fleet being essential to the city's survival, they are some of the most protected places in the city. But, taking a photo isn't too difficult, right?
Now their turf is secured, the Ghost Leaves conclude that their next goal is the same as every business in Doskvol: they need coin, and they need it fast. Halfdan finds that someone has struck against his church, Sabrina studies ancient Iruvian history, and Vinly learns that something terrible is lurking just behind one of their most trusted friends.
In a mouldy tenement in the docks, the impoverished locals are kept in place through fear. Their landlords, a gang of vicious Skovland dockers called the Grinders, have spread a rumour that in the basement there lives a creature from Skovic folklore that will hunt them if they break an oath. Is it real? It doesn't matter: our gang of Hawkers will exploit this situation for coin regardless.
With gang members both spiritually and physically wounded, the Ghost Leaves are starting to get more attention from those who dabble in the occult. Sabrina delivers some tragic news to a friend, Vinly encounters a fearsome whisper, and Halfdan has a vision of something on the edge of the veil.
Ged, owner of a gambling den by the docks, wants the weird noises coming from below his property to be stopped. He enlists the aid of the Ghost Leaves to don their waterproofs and explore what lies beneath. They quickly learn that beneath Doskvol is simply more Doskvol, and down there in the dark, some things that should have long since passed on still cling to the world of the living.
Recovering from their first assassination, the Ghost Leaves lick their rat-inflicted wounds and try to find ways to keep their heads down. Halfdan covers their tracks, Sabrina continues her feud with her designated hater, and Vinly finds out what happens to those who fall beneath the wheel. I've played around with some new editing tools so hopefully this sounds less like audio poison - let me know if it still sounds terrible.
Dr Elric Stroginobocks wants his rival, Dr Gustav Stenton dealt with, and that means asking the Ghost Leaves to do their first ever assassination score. Having never (intentionally) killed people before, the gang realise that their target might actually be a decent fella, but they still have a job to do despite that. As you'd expect, they get in over their heads, and have their first terrifying encounter with a power higher than any Bluecoat.
Now that they've secured a supplier for some premium Iruvian coffee, our gang of Hawkers set about the difficult task of expanding their workforce. Vinly gaslights his grandmother, Sabrina starts a new life as a casting director, and Halfdan sets to work building a great machine in the basement, helped by their resident ghost.
Our gang of Hawkers are visiting a trade show at the Iruvian Embassy in order to procure a new supplier for their rare coffee beans. A nice, simple score, but there's always the opportunity to ruin the evening through rat-based nonsense. But we know they wouldn't do that though, right? Right?
After a daring score in the Silver Stag Casino, the Ghost Leaves are rewarded by their mysterious employer, sitting within the upper echelons of Doskvol's society. Halfdan interrupts a coffee date, Vinly makes amends with his gambling buddies, and Sabrina tries to blend in with the scum of the streets.
The Ghost Leaves, under the employ of a mysterious aristocrat, are tasked with obtaining a ring from a Baron Graveden, a frequent gambler at the Silver Stag Casino. Their employer has one odd condition: the ring cannot be stolen, it must be won.
Now that the homeless have been conquered, the Ghost Leaves plan out their next move in Silkshore's premium coffee house. Halfdan grows the flock of the Church, Sabrina takes her dear uncle to the theatre, and Vinly brings sport back to the working man.
Tired of the Weeping Lady encroaching on their territory, the Ghost Leaves move against their newest recruit, Telda. Aiming to frame her for a crime they themselves are being suspected of, they need to use everything they have at their disposal to be successful. Naturally, this includes bribing urchins, political soapboxing, and wearing a silly wig.
After dealing with some bad reviews, the Ghost Leaves get back to work running Silkshore's only ghost infused tea room. Vinly is confronted by the Weeping Lady, Halfdan begins work on something terrible beneath the tea room, and Sabrina encourages her uncle to share an old Iruvian card game with the good people of Doskvol.