The One With That Crazy Egg

Tempers are up in the district of Crow's Foot. While Lyssa, new leader of the Crows, secures her position in that organization, the Lampblacks and the Red Sashes take the opportunity to move against each other. They reach out to all the crews they know of to get as much support as possible.

Aitrus, Aldo and Nor take meetings with both Baz and Mylera about working for them before deciding ultimately to go with Baz's offer. Baz presents them with a wooden box with a strange bone egg inside. The job is simple: take the egg and put it inside the walls of the Second Step, an upscale brothel run by the Red Sashes in the Docks district. 

Aitrus and Nor investigate the egg which gives off powerful waves of ghostly energy and discover that it antagonizes and distorts ectoplasmic resonances in a localized area. The three go into the Docks and case the area, looking for information about how best to assault the brothel. Nor and Aldo meet the ghost of a nameless murdered girl on a bridge and discover that the bottom floor of the second step is connected to a very powerful network of ghost-ways, echoes of previous incarnations of Doskvol. The unnamed girl shows them the entrance to the ghost-way. Meanwhile, Aitrus surveys the outside of the brothel and notices that disguised wealthy patrons are coming in with servants carrying spirit vessels.

For the score, the trio decide to split up, with Aldo going through the front door using the name of a former employer who Aitrus saw included among the select wealthy patrons. This works, and Aldo is escorted inside. At the same time, using a ghost key, Nor and Aitrus brave the ghost door along with the unnamed ghost. Inside they see a ghost-way of the like they've never seen before.

Ghost-ways are echoes of previous architecture in Doskvol. For a Whisper, the ghost of a door to a room that has since been walled up is still accessible as an echo for them to traverse through. But this is different. Instead of an echo of something once built, this was a structure built by something that never was. Ghosts and spirits that were never born. These only exist in fairy tales for the strange and broken Whispers. They encounter masked, uniformed ghosts who ignored the masked Whispers but see the unnamed ghost as an intruder. Nor compels them to ignore the ghost and is successful. The unnamed ghost flees, returning to the crew's lair where she still resides.

Aldo, Aitrus and Nor meet up in the basement of the brothel and find themselves in the middle of a debauched, blasphemous orgy. Wealthy patrons couple soundlessly with the bodies of their now possessed servants. With discovery imminent, the crew secures the egg through a loose wall which enrages the possessed bodies. The profane orgy turns into a massacre and they flee through the ghost-ways which crumble behind them. As they stalk back to their lair, they hear the sounds of screams and commotions die out behind them.

A clean crime, the crew gains no reputation for this other than the thanks of Baz and the promised reward. They will need to decide how to proceed going forward. Do they want to keep working for Baz or another faction? Do they want to take advantage of this chaos and claim more turf or maybe run their own scores? 

Factions of Crow's Foot: The Crows

No one remembers which came first, the Crows or Crow's Foot, but since the beginning they've been entwined. Other powers have held the district over the years, but inevitably it has fallen back into the hands of the Crows. This latest incarnation of the Crows has been very successful in brokering peace between rival factions bent on bloodshed like the Lampblacks and the Red Sashes. A lot of this success was attributed to the Crows former leader Roric who was recently overthrown by his second-in-command Lyssa. Now Lyssa runs the Crows and by extension the district.

Lyssa is many things. She's brash, she's imaginative, but she's also a killer and a leader. Her second-in-command Bell is the perfect combination of a lack of ambition and loyalty. Together they strangle out the last death spasms of Roric's leadership by ousting those who were loyal to him and securing support from those just looking to advance.

In the midst of this power-play, the other factions are on the move, and while Lyssa sees this happening, she can't as of yet commit her forces to it. It's a space that's ripe for opportunity for crews that have the stones and cunning to seize it.

Factions of Crow's Foot: The Red Sashes

Born from a lone line of ancient Iruvian sword arts, The Red Sashes began life in Doskvol as a sword-fighting school for the Iruvian nobility. As fortunes changed, the school opened the door to more of Doskvol's inhabitants and what was once an exclusive and prestigious salon of swordsmanship has become a privileged nest of rich killers and their less wealthy partners-in-crime.

Several members of the Red Sashes are the sons and daughters of Iruvian nobility and diplomats in Doskvol. They train in swordplay at the school that is the faction's headquarters and sometimes participate in gang activities. Their families are powerful and will commit significant resources to punishing anyone who harms their children.

The leader of the Red Sashes is Mylera Klev. An example of how different the modern day Sashes are, she originally hails from the streets of Akoros. Or at least that's one of the stories. Others tell of a Sevorosi princess on the run, or the illegitimate daughter of an Iruvian noble. Whatever her true origin, she is a shrewd, ruthless and highly educated woman, capable of surgical strikes against her enemies.

The Red Sashes operate a handful of high-end drug dens and brothels across Crow's Foot and the Docks. Like Baz and the Lampblacks, Mylera aims to use the confusion of the Crows leadership situation to finally firm up control of her turf, and maybe make a play for Crow's Foot itself.

Factions of Crow's Foot: The Lampblacks

There was a time when Duskvol was powered by coal. During that time the Lamplighters Guild prospered, bringing light to the endless dark. When their services were rendered useless after the advent of electrical light the guild turned to crime and today make their home in Crow's Foot shoulder-to-shoulder with the other gangs.

The leader of the Lampblacks is a man named Bazso Baz. He's charming, ruthless, and appreciates a fine whiskey. The Lampblacks are thought of fondly in Crow's Foot, treated as folk heroes of a sort.  They operate a handful of brothels and cheap drug dens all across the district and they make their headquarters in the office of a coal warehouse.

Since the upset in the Crows' leadership, the Lampblacks under Baz have started to make plays against their old rivals, The Red Sashes. The peace brokered by the Crows under Roric, their old leader, is now in question. Like everyone else, Baz hopes to turn the chaos of the moment to his benefit by either taking the Sashes off the board or at least greatly expanding the Lampblacks influence.