User blog comment:Stormwell/Thresh Street Runners/@comment-3525200-20140930110219

On The Thirteenth Toll The Outsider Cometh

Session Thirteen, Death of a Draper Part III

Almost a full house this time round and very little distractions.

Lucian Gilmore (Adam) Agnew Uptil (Tori) Joshua H. Headlam (Nick) Irwin (Gareth)

Last time round Joshua had departed, alone, for his meeting with the Hatters Gang in Draper's Ward. Lucian and Agnew had been at Thresh Street when a carriage and summons from Mr Hat had arrived, they were joined shortly by Irwin who was brought up to speed on things. Joshua arrived in Draper's Ward and managed to find a couple of 'gentlemen' of the Hatters Gang and engaged them in conversation, after a short while the two 'gentlemen' decided to take Joshua to go and see the boss man. He was taken into a dark alley....

Meanwhile the carriage carrying the others at Mr Hat's textile mill where they were met by one of the 'stewards' whom took them up to see Mr Hat, taking them through the mill with all its machinery. They were introduced to Mr Hat, an old man bound to a wheelchair with fine manners. Agnew took the lead in asking questions and Mr Hat gave the following;


 * He viewed Mr Tisdale's untimely demise as a tragedy, especially since he viewed the late tailor as an old friend and wanted to see the scoundrels responsible brought to justice.
 * Mr Tisdale had been writing to Mr Hat about the RCG harassing him and some of the other merchants in the district, in addition to a beggar who was frequenting the alley behind his shop.
 * The 'Community Upkeep Fund' was completely 'voluntary' and was used to pay for the upkeep of the district and to supplement the budget of the local watchhouse.
 * He also said about Draper's Ward reputation and image for being a desirable place for the upper crust of Dunwall society to visit.
 * He confirmed that a would be thief had tried breaking into his shop, his 'stewards' had given the chap some 'encouragement' to ensure he and others didn't try their luck again. The RCG started harassing the merchants after the thief's body turned up in the nearby canal.

After speaking with Mr Hat the Runners went to leave, running into Joshua who was being taken to see the boss man and both parties pretended not to know each. The boss man turned out to be the head steward, whom Joshua handed over the sprocket the Runners had taken from the Bottle Street Gangn. The boss man was suitably impressed and then threw the sprocket out of his window, then told Joshua if he was interested in another job to pop back in a couple of days before letting him leave. Meanwhile Irwin and Agnew had climbed the roof of a building near to the mill to keep watch for Joshua, though found a crow pecking away at a whalebone charm before flying off as the two Runners approached it. Irwin pocketed the charm, to the slight annoyance of Agnew, and the two of them came back down to street level when Joshua emerged unharmed from the mill and told the others of what had happened.

Making their return to Thresh Street they found the beggar that Mr Hat had mentioned, an old marine and Master-At-Arms in the Navy before he'd lost his leg during a skirmish with some pirates. The old seadog had stated he'd been bedded down behind Mr Tisdale's shop and seen three men (matching the description of the RCG men) climbing over the wall, a crash and then sounds of a scuffle before the three men came back over the wall. One of the brutes had ripped his jacket and was limping, the other brute was splattered with blood and was trying to clean a knife. Mr Bowler (as the short man had been nicknamed by the Runners) was having a go at the two brutes as they hastily left. Lucian doubled checked the backyard of Mr Tisdale's shop and found where it looked like somebody had fallen on some crates and some ripped fabrics. Charged with this information the Runners realized they now had some suspects to go on, so they returned to Thresh Street where the charm was handed in (desk sergeant saying it was being put in the 'vaults') before making their plans for the morn and then retiring for the night.

Following day Irwin, Joshua and Agnew would work the streets to get some info on the RCG. Lucian opted to comb through the Archives to see what he could come up with, though on his way down to the Archives he spotted the evidence room. One lockpick roll later he was in and poking around, finding various items such as boxes of pocket♥♥tches, racks of weapons and some odds and ends. He also noticed a box labeled 'FAO; ABBEY' which contained the two whalebone runes and the charm that the Runners had found (cue even more frustrations from Agnew). Decided he'd had enough of a looksie Lucian left the room and got on with his task in the Archives.

The others managed to find that the RCG typically wore dark red armbands, had a love/hate relationship with the citizens of Dunwall. On one side they were liked because they protected upstanding citizens by warning them of possible crimes, on the other hand they weren't liked for poking their nose into other people's business. The trio that the Runners were after where known to patrol Draper's Ward and a couple of neighboring districts, so the Runners walked the beat and went on the lookout for them. The RCG trio weren't present in Draper's Ward and so the Runners went into the next district and whilst walking past a pie shop had spotted Mr Bowler waiting outside as the two brutes emerged onto the streets with pastry snacks in hand, all wore the dark red armbands and one of the brutes had a jacket that was recently repaired but matched the piece of fabric found at Mr Tisdale's shop. Having found their suspects, the Runners went over to speak to them. Mr Bowler was immediately on the defensive and went Mr Tisdale was mentioned turned to his comrades before saying. "Mitch, Titch, get 'em!"

Mr Bowler whipped out his pair of pistols and took shots at Joshua, though just barely got one shot on target. Mitch went to take on Irwin, managing to land a single blow that Irwin rolled with and gained little damage. Titch had better luck and landed a solid blow on Agnew who cried out in pain. Joshua attempted to disarm Mr Bowler, but failed to achieve much. Agnew went and managed to down Titch with a single sword thrust to Titch's ah...unmentionables. Likewise Irwin took down Mitch with a single blow. Next round proved to be ominous as when the action cards were dealt the Outsider (using the Dishonored Tarot Card and Outsider counts as the Joker) finally made his appearance and since we were using the Joker's Wild setting rule everyone gained a new bennie. Irwin went and landed a wounding blow on Mr Bowler, whom failed a Spirit to remove being Shaken. Joshua went next and landed the final blow on Mr Bowler and caused a rather nasty head wound (Mr Bowler's Smarts went down to d4). The Runners waved down a passing coal cart to carry their captives back to Thresh Street for some medical attention and questioning.

A rather fuzzy Mr Bowler revealed he was actually called Lucas Sparrow and had been tasked with investigating Draper's Ward after the body of the would be thief turned up in the canal. They tried breaking into Mr Tisdale's shop because they had worked out that the tailor and Mr Hat were old friends, they hoped to find some incriminating evidence. However Mitch had caught his jacket when climbing over the wall and Titch had been the one to knife Mr Tisdale after he'd discovered them in his shop. Thus the Runners had their confession and evidence needed for Magistrate Cathmore to try the RCG men for murder, breaking and entry, etc.

Thus Death of a Draper was concluded.