Robert Tyler died in 1789 and I want Lizzy to be a teenager. I think the game will start in 1790 and she’ll be 15. That means she was born in 1775, so his birth day I’ll put in as 1755.
Robert was a revolutionary to the core. His father was a blacksmith who hated the British and that probably set the tone for that. The moment a New York minutemen militia sprang up, he signed up. It helped that his cousin Captain Tyler was raising the unit.
He was a street fighter more than a soldier, but then again many of them were.
Right before the war he got married to Alexandria and Lizzy was born. Their long distance romance and stories of young Lizzy during the war are remembered by Robert as the stuff of romantic legends.
After the war he took over his father’s blacksmith shop. Renamed it Liberty Iron and became known for artistic as well as functional work. He loved knives and made some of the most memorable in town.
Then the coven showed up. I’m not sure what happened yet. I’ll see what comes up in play but they took Robert, made him a vampire, killed Alexandria and threatened to kill Lizzy if he didn’t swear loyalty. For once in his life he was sneaky and swore loyalty only until the french threat was gone.
Which is the drama at the start of the game. A group of french noble vampires have come to town fleeing the revolution in france. Rumor has it that they have a corruption that makes them hate or be harmed by iron. The Knives took Robert to make them special weapons but they turned him because of his vigor and spirit.
I think they plan on killing him after this fight, but we will see.
Part One: Début
August 4th 1790
Robert and Flathead were the forward scouts against the warehouse by the docks. It was late, after midnight but he could still see the lanterns at the ferry dock across the waters in Brooklyn. The ferry during the day had transported cargo across the river that had been delivered to this warehouse. The Knives had been sent out to retrieve it as McCallister believed that it was connected to the french vampires stirring up trouble in the city lately.
“Ah, Fuck it Bob, let’s just go over there and give it’s a peak alright?” Flathead says. He is always eager to bash heads and hates sitting still.
Robert shrugs, “Robert, not Bob”.
“Alright Bob” says Flathead with a smile. Robert doesn’t know how Flathead got his name, other than maybe his very streamlined thoughts.
Flathead leaves their cover and crosses the street like a man that owns it. Robert follows checking his knives under his coat.
I think this is a good time to pull out a move. Robert and Flathead are either facing danger or gathering information.I’ll go with Gather Information.
Gather Information. +wits which is +1 for Robert. He has no roles to help him. Action rolls a 4+1 for a 5. Challenge dice are 3 and 2. A strong hit. They discover something helpful and specific. I take +2 Momentum. I’m not sure what they find so I use the dice oracle. The dice oracle is a subsystem unique to Iron in the Blood. It tells me: Complete and Connection. Ok. That gives me an idea.
Robert and Flathead casually look in the front windows and then move to an alley on the side to peer in those windows. One of the windows in the back shows a clear view of a set of large crates with french writing on them. Neither Robert or Flathead read french but they know it when they see it.
Movement near the back in the dark reveals to them a blue cuff, as on a soldier’s uniform. Someone hiding there. They both duck down at the same time.
“Ambush?” Robert says.
“Impossible, they don’t know who we are. You worry too much. Probably a guard.”
“Then why hide in the shadows?”
“Bah! You worry too much. Knock on this side door and get them out here. We’ll take the guard and be ready when the others arrive.” Flathead says.
Robert shrugs again and moves to the door. He knocks and stands at the bottom of the two steps that lead up to it. The alley is tiny, his back is almost touching the wall of the building behind him.
Face Danger. Seems like the right move here. Courage to stand in the middle of the room or deception because Flathead is hiding to jump the guard. I’ll go with Courage since the action of Robert is to stand in the open. That is a +heart to the roll. Action dice rolled a 1+3 vs the challenge dice of 9 and 5. A miss. I Pay the Price. Since we are not in combat I decide to roll on the pay the price chart and roll “A surprising development complicates your quest.”
A person moves at the end of the alley to Roberts left. He notices one move to the end of the alley at his right. Flathead sees them also, and sees that they see him. The door opens and the light from the room pours out onto Robert, completely destroying any adjustment his eyes had for the darkness.
A man in a blue coat, embroidered, not military but in a very ornate civilian style stands there. His hand on his hip while the other one takes an unlit pipe from his mouth. A saber on his side.
“Oui?”
Flathead says “Non” and pulls out his knife. The knife that Robert had made him specially in case the rumors were true about these vampires.
Ask the Oracle. Are the rumors true that these vampires are weak against iron? 50/50. Yes.
The man in the doorway looks at the knife and fear sets in. Robert can’t tell if it is a mortal’s fear of a knife or a vampire’s fear of the one thing that can kill him.
Enter the Fray. This is going to be a hard fight. Three against two. Probably all vampires. I don’t know their place in the story yet so I’m going to class them all as dangerous, then run them as a pack, putting this as a Formidable fight. Since we are outnumbered I don’t reduce the rank to compensate for my help. However we are using Iron. I Ask the Oracle how Iron works for them. It says that it is a Weakness and an Irritant. Since it is irritating it is distracting to them. I reduce the rank to dangerous (two progress for every harm).
We are being ambushed so I roll +wits. Action dice is 4+1 vs the challenge dice of 3 and 4. A strong hit. I gain +2 momentum and have initiative. Guess we Strike
Flathead grabs the man on the steps as the man recoils from the iron in his hand. Robert pulls out his knives and turns to face the man coming up behind Flathead. Hoping that an almost back to back approach in a narrow alley will stop the advantage of the three attackers.
Strike. +Iron (2) +Knife Fighter (1). Action dice is 4+3 vs a 10 and 3 on the challenge dice. A weak hit. I do harm but I lose initiative.
Flathead pulls the man out of the door, stabbing him in the side with the knife while slamming him into the floor of the alley at the base of the stairs. A bit of water from the between the bricks splatters up onto his fresh coat. The second attacker is wearing a dark overcoat but as he gets closer Robert can see the fine threads underneath. The man is bearded but Robert can still see him also react instinctively by flinching when he sees the knife. “These are no mortals” Robert thinks and uses the monster’s hesitation to get close, plunging the knife into his stomach.
I Ask the Oracle what type of ability the third attacker might have. It tells me he has supernatural speed.
Too late Robert realizes he forgot the third attacker and it appears out of nowhere, a blur moving over it’s fallen ally in blue, blocking the iron with a saber so fast that Robert has little chance to register what is happening.
Clash. +Iron (2) +Knife Fighter (1). Action dice is 4 + 3 vs 1 and 1. A strong hit on a match. I do +1 harm and steal initiative. A match means a new twist opens up in my favor.
Despite the speed of the vampire he is facing Robert isn’t impressed with his blade skills. “Too flashy” he thinks and with a perfectly timed side step and thrust his knife sinks into the vampire’s eye.
Ask the Oracle. What happens to vampires’ bodies when they die permanently? “Their body turns to dust except perhaps the bones.”
Before he falls Robert can already see the eye socket turning to dust around where the blade went in. The body hits the wall knocking a book or box out of it’s pocket before it slides down, but Robert doesn’t have much time to think about it as the other attacker recovers from his shock and moves in.
Strike. Same as above. Action dice rolls a 2+3 vs 6 and 7. A weak hit. I have to take it since I don’t have the momentum to overturn those numbers.
He moves in with a short blade, not a full saber and not a knife. He’s fast like his friend and Robert is distracted from the scene of the other vampire falling. It’s his first kill of another vampire. His mind is processing and he turns too late to block the blow. It slices into his arm and glances off a rib.
Endure Harm. suffer -2 Health. +3health to roll. Action dice rolls 2+3 vs 2 and 6 a weak hit. He presses on.
Robert grins and takes it in silence but the strike knocks him against the wall. He notices that Flathead is out matched by the speed of the man in blue, who has recovered his wits. The man pinning Robert takes the moment to get out his second blade. He sees he has the upperhand.
Robert pushes the blade out of his side and scrapes it against the bricks as he whispers “Dog fucker” and attacks with his knife.
Turn the Tide + Strike. Turn the tide gives a +1 to the next move and let’s me steal initiative so I’m going to strike. If I fail this roll it’s a dire pay the price. If I hit on it I get +1 moment. I get a +4 total to my Strike. I roll a 1+4 vs 2 and 5. A weak hit, but Robert isn’t going down like that. I burn momentum to make it a strong hit. I then take the +1 from turn the tide to my momentum. The strong hit on the strike gives me +1 to my harm.
Robert moves right into the man’s blades and the shock makes him drop his guard just enough. His knife penetrates the vampire’s heart and he drops to the ground. Robert spits once he is down and then turns around to look at Flathead.
End the Fight. I roll 2d10 for 1 and 7 vs 10 (the progress of the fight) a strong hit.
The man in blue, seeing his friends slowly turning to dust on the ground, looks once at Flathead who he had fought to a standstill and then flees down the alley. “Guess we’ll be seeing him again” Robert thinks as he wipes his knife off.
“Nah, we be seein’ him now. You check out the warehouse.” Flathead says, and runs after the vampire.
Robert looks at the bodies. Already half dirt. He’s killed before, but never a vampire, and somehow he finds it less than meaningful. It’s that lack of meaning that throws him off for a few seconds. Then he notices the book.
He picks it up. It’s a small leatherbound book, well worn. No words on the front. He stuffs it in his pocket and then heads up into the warehouse. As he walks up the steps he commands his body to heal.
Heal. +blood since vampires can only heal by calling the blood. Robert has a gift of Regrowth +2 so as long as he only uses a +2 or less he doesn’t suffer a loss of control automatically. He is going to just use the +2. Action dice is 2+2 vs 9 and 3 a weak hit. He suffers -1 control despite his regrowth but he heals +2 health. Endure Hunger. Right now his +bonds is only two so his +4 control is what he is going to roll. Action Dice is 4+4 vs 3 and 10. A weak hit also, but that is good enough to press on.
His body heals the wound in his arm. He feels it knitting itself together but at the same time he feels the hunger deep inside him stirring. His mind flashes to thoughts of feeding, of hunting but he quickly reigns it back in. “Not tonight” He says to himself.
Ask the Oracle. Are there anymore threats in the warehouse? I’m going to call it unlikely since they would have probably helped those in the alley. Dice say no.
Robert moves into the warehouse. It is filled with crates and furniture, most likely stuff to be sold or moved. The city lately is a dance of movement as the government is preparing to move to Philadelphia now that the nation seems to be getting on at being a nation. He wonders how much of this stuff is waiting for a ship to the new capitol.
The crates with the french writing on them are in a cleared area with a lantern on top of them. He thinks it looks like a pretty obvious trap of some sort. He just wonders why there were only three of them. Investigating isn’t his strong suit but he tries his best to look around before the others arrive.
Gather Information. +wits Action dice are 3+1 vs 6 and 5. A miss. A dire threat or unwelcome truth.
He finds nothing in the warehouse itself. He opens one of the crates and finds clothing and used soldier equipment. His military mind tells him that it’s enough clothing to equip at least twenty people. “That’s unexpected, I thought creatures like us ran in small groups” He thinks.
He sits down on a crate to wait and look at the book. As soon as he opened he knew that this threat was more than just a group of fleeing noble vampires. This was an invading army of foreign blood suckers and the book outlined their plan. “Fuck” he said right as the rest of the Knives walked through the door.
Captain Livingston, which everyone called CL was first through the door. He’s tall, fast and a bit pudgy in the cheeks, like he was made immortal before his baby fat was fully gone. He looked in his teens, but his eyes burned with eternity. To Robert they burned with evil. This is the creature that murdered him, his wife and threatens his daughter every day of his existence. It is also the man he swore to help.
Behind CL were the other two members of the coven besides Robert and Flathead.
Virginia the original knife. She’s the reason they are called the Knives. Her skills at shadow stalking her prey and killing with small blades is renown in the darkness filled world. She’s vicious and Robert can’t peg her down. Either way she has to die also, she put the knife to Alexandria.
Manx was the coven’s lawyer. At least that is how Robert thought of him. He knew all the weird laws the vampires seemed to hold dear. He made sure everyone knew the ramifications of any deals we made. Robert was on the fence on if he would kill him. He seemed harmless but his mouth could get Robert punished by the rulers of the city.
“You went ahead without us. Typical of you fools. Where is Flathead anyway?” CL said as he walked in.
“Chasing down the last one who ran. He should have been back by now.” Robert answers. Immediately Virginia leaves, presumably to check on Flathead.
“What you got there, Bobby.” CL continues.
“It’s Robert,” he replies. “This is getting old”, he thinks. “It’s a book one of them dropped. I think Manx needs to read it and break it down. Seems we might be facing an army.”
Robert throws it to Manx who catches it. CL glares at Robert. Manx just holds the book until CL glances his way and nods. Then he dives in. His eyes get wide. “Aye, he’s right. This is a book of costs and supplies with notations. I can’t tell some of it since it’s in french but most of it is in english.I think the french part might be coded.”
“Why would some of it be in English and the others not?”
“Who cares Bobby.” CL says and walks over to Manx. He takes the book from him. “I’ll secure that and you two clear this place. Grab anything out of those chests that could help them do any fucking thing worthwhile. I’ll meet you back at the house.”
Ask the Oracle. Does the cover have a shared shelter from the day or are they on their own with a meeting place at night? 50/50, low is together. 45. Together.
CL leaves with the book. Manx and Robert both sigh and start opening crates.
A bit of bookkeeping at the end of this section. I’m marking two progress for Roberts vow to help the coven clear out the french vampires. One is for killing two vampires, the other is for finding the book.
I’m also going to give the vow to drive the vampires out a threat (Ironsworn: Delve). The French Vampires. Who want to claim territory in the city. I’m going to go ahead and mark one menace as that threat is clearly more established than thought in the city.