Fake Kidnap Score

Theresa Jeven

Theresa Jeven, one of Scabport's high-society ladies, fashionista and full-time hottie, contacted the party.

"I was recommended your group by the Bronze Studs," she began. "Here is my problem. My father wants to marry me off to the foul Lord Byron..."

Lord Byron was a community staple; one of the Scabport super-rich, and he had fingers in many Scabport pies. And he was a poet.

"He's a sleazy creep," she continued. "And a philanderer, libertine and debauchee, ... and he's old enough to be my grandfather. No way am I marrying that!"

She took a sip of wine.

"The wedding is tomorrow night. So... I want you ... your group ... to ... kidnap me. Hold me for four nights. That will force the wedding to be cancelled, or at least delayed. Byron might even cancel it, or ... go for some other tart. Tomorrow, at five bells [ 5 hours before dark ]. I will be travelling in my carriage ... with four guards."

She placed out a map of Scabport streets with a wavy line drawn on it.

"And here is the route we will take."

After some consideration, the party agreed. They would be paid a small chest of silver [8 COINS].

The silhouette

That night, around midnight, back at the party's secret lair on the waterfront, Sorrow [Jeff] was up abluting. He was passing through the living room and he caught sight of a figure - silhouetted against the window. Sorrow quickly roused the group with a frightened squeal; they tumbled out of bed.

"He was at the window," sputtered Sorrow. "I thought he was inside, but maybe outside."

They conducted a thorough search. Nothing. They searched outside too. Nothing.

"Are we compromised?" someone mused. "This lair is supposed to be secret!"

[ Discovered Hidden Lairs can be re-hidden. It costs COIN value equal to the crew's Tier, and costs two Downtime activities. ]

The didn't have time to shift lairs, so decide to leave it until after the score.

Party Shallop Smoking Loon

The next day, the kidnap plan was concocted:

• The ambush site would be the stone bridge across the Scab river.
• Burrito [Darryl] and Ronan [Deacon] would find secure spots to cover the bridge vista with arrows.
• Huilam [Jamie], El Cid [Shane] and Sorrow would dress up as Knives (one of Scabport's police forces) and stop and search all traffic as it crossed the bridge.
• Attlee [Kevin] would follow Theresa's carriage in the wagon (the one they stole from the Insular Rogues) to the bridge.
• Theresa's carriage would be stopped and the four guards dealt with.
• Attlee would stop on the bridge next to the ambushed carriage and collect Theresa and Sorrow.
• Attlee, Sorrow and Theresa would head down a side road next to the river to the party's shallop (boat) which would be docked there. 
• Sorrow would accompany Theresa into the shallop. 
• Sorrow would then sail Theresa to the party's lair.
• Everyone else would make their own way home.

The setup went fine.

The Jeven carriage arrived right on time, and sure enough: one guard driving, two on the back and one inside with Theresa.

"Halt!" cried "Sergeant" Huilam Artios dressed as a one of the Knives.

The carriage stopped.

Immediately, Ronny and Burrito fired. The driver and a rear guard were winged. The wounded driver jumped down and engaged Huilam, but he was dropped by another shot from Ronny.

El Cid threw open the carriage door and attacked the guard inside, followed by Sorrow. El Cid was
severely injured, but managed to drop the guard.

Attlee pulled alongside the carriage, and Sorrow bundled Theresa into the cart. She put on a good show of screaming and howling just like a bonafide kidnap victim should.

The wagon took off, and Attlee headed it across the bridge, and turned right to follow the street next to the river.

Just then, a patrol of six TGP (Thieves' Guild Police - the second Scabport police force) rounded the corner down the road, saw the fracas, and rushed headlong into the fray. Luckily they espied and targetted Sergeant Huilam and not the fleeing cart.

Jeven guard

Ronny and Burrito continued to fire at the TGP trying to give covering fire for Huilam (and maybe El Cid) to scarper. Huilam took off with the TGP soldiers in pursuit. El Cid was still inside the carriage making sure the guard wasn't going to get up. One TGP hurriedly opened the carriage door (probably to seek cover from the arrows), saw El Cid as he stood over pieces of the bloody corpse, and engaged him. El Cid took another brutal blow, before stunning the TGP.

El Cid and Huilam bounded off, Ronny and Burrito scarpered too.

The four upright TGP men followed Huilam, but he had darted down an alley, and had hidden in a street-seller's stall. When the stall owner was about to berate him, Huilam soothed his troubles with some credible flattery [critical CONSORT roll].


Theresa was bundled into the shallop, and Sorrow sailed down river to the secret water entrance of the group's hidden lair. Theresa was safely put into the lower storeroom.
Attlee drove the cart home. The rest of the part arrived soon after. El Cid had a deep neck cut, and a cut to his chest. Huilam had some broken ribs.

[ Fighting the guard in the carriage, El Cid took a savage cut to his neck which would have taken out his throat in a shower of blood (fatal, harm=4). Shane wisely chose to make a Resistance roll (which cost El Cid stress points) and that dropped the wound to a "broken collar-bone" (severe, harm=3; but even harm 3 is enough to down a character). El Cid was wearing heavy armour (chainmail), so Shane ticked an armour box and that reduced the wound another level to a "deep cut" (moderate, harm=2; harm 2 means all rolls are -1D). 

Later on, from the TGP fight, El Cid took a severe stab to his chest; "sucking chest wound" (harm=3). His special Cutter feat Tough-As-Nails kicked in and dropped it to a "deep chest wound" (harm=2). His armour had another tick-box, so that dropped the wound to just a cut (harm=1; harm 1 means "-1 effect level" character is less effective).

Note 1: Tough-As-Nails feat doesn't work on harm 4 wounds.
Note 2: The two (only) armour tick-boxes can only be used once per score, so had El Cid fought someone else, he would have no armour protection. In the game fiction, this is explained by the armour being damaged or the shield smashed, etc. 
Note 3: Shane's stress was on 8 at this stage, so he did not want to spend more. You can continue to spend stress (like, to make more Resistance rolls), but when you pass 8, you clear your stress back to zero BUT your character gets a trauma. Once a character has a trauma, it can never be removed. When a character gets his fourth trauma, he must be retired or killed.
Note 4: Against the wrong opponents, combat is very dangerous. ]


Job well done.

"Now we just hold her four nights."


Due to the disturbing visitor the previous night, the group decided to have guards on duty the entire night. Around midnight, Attlee, who was on duty, saw the suspicious silhouette himself. He confronted it with a girlie scream, and it ducked down by the window into the shadows. A thorough search was conducted of the living room.

On the floor, in the middle of the room, was a strange rectangle of shadow on the carpet. If you had a light source on the ceiling and held a cupboard door waist-height off the floor, the shadow cast would look like this. But, of course, there was no cupboard door and no light source.

"Magic, I guess?" They muttered.

Both priests, Rita [Ian] and Moonlight [Chris], were marmalading in their beds [away this week], so no help from that quarter.


The next day, everyone stayed low, stayed out of the living room. The shadow was there all that day.

Huilam, Attlee and Ronan [ all with STUDY] had a wee think.

"Isn't that the exact place we stored that IMAG trunk over the night?" mused Attlee.

"Yeah," said Ronan. "It does fit the size."

"Maybe you speak to zee IMAGs," said Huilam.

So, Sorrow went to visit the IMAG temple, and sought an interview with Priestess Clara.

She arrived in her shadow of darkness, and Sorrow related the tale.

Clara didn't seem to know, but she volunteered to speak to the IMAG high priest Darkeye Shadowface. She soon returned.

"The visitor in your house is a foundling," she began in her quiet voice. "It is a corporeal manifestation of the ... uhm... contents of the trunk you delivered to us. High Priest Shadowface states that you can consider your home blessed by IMAG! Praise be the Darkness! The shadow will get darker each day. You will soon be able to construct a shrine of IMAG on the exact site of the wonderful shadow! It is bles-sed! You are bles-sed!"

"Um... okaay," said Sorrow. "Can we not do that?"

"Why not? It is a great honour to be so blessed."

"May I speak to my group, Priestess?"

So Sorrow left and told the group the news.

The group, of course, would rather have a hole in their heads than have an IMAG shrine in their house. Nor did they want that foundling creature. So they arranged to shift their hidden bases. The IMAGs agreed to pay the 2 COIN cost. But they couldn't do the actual shift until the score was over.


They stayed in the lair for the next two nights. The rectangle got progressively darker.

Theresa was released on the stone bridge.

The group's payment arrived later that day, all 8 COIN. One each.

They all went off to do the downtime activities.
[ Most indulged their vices to clear stress. No-one over-indulged. Most spent a coin to have an additional downtime activity. Some cleared HEAT. ]


They made their base shift that day too. The IMAGs were true to their offer and helped the group shift. The new Hidden Lair was down the river a bit, still on the large area of wharves, and with a secret water entrance for their shallop, like the last place.

Just after dark, they were settling in, when suddenly the room went cold, and a pall of gloom descended into the room. A shadowy figure materialized in the room.

"But this is our secret base!" groaned Burrito.

The figure spoke in a raspy spidery voice.

"Fear not," said he, for mighty dread had seized their troubled minds. "Glad tidings of great joy I bring to you and all your crew. You have done a great favour for darkness. Hence, I grant you each a boon. Think wisely and I will return in exactly one day." Then it vanished.

Foundling of Darkness

They all excitedly chatted away. Most were not prepared to take any gift from IMAG or a foundling.

So, the next day four were brave enough to take the boon: Sorrow, El Cid, Ronan and Attlee.

Sorrow asked for Enhanced Night Vision.

El Cid asked for superior brawling fists.

Ronan asked for Irresistibility to Women.

Attlee asked for Superb Gambling Skills.

The figure paused a moment, then waved his hand over the four. Sorrow's eyes tingled, Attlee's temples throbbed, El Cids hands ached, and Ronan's balls burned.

"It is done," it rasped. And vanished.