Burning Locusts: Session 7 is a game session report for Burning Wheel Gold. We played via Discord and Roll20 on .
More Happenings at Adriano’s Party
With Lord Adriano Faraldo’s party still in swing, we return to start our session.
Lord Jade is trying to and approach Lord Antonius de Mari, but Antonius succeeds at a Beginner’s Luck test for Inconspicuous and manages to avoid Lord Jade during the party.
A commotion erupts, and smoke billows out from the kitchen as two men, frantically wrestling, tumble out the door of the kitchen.
One of the wrestlers is Maccio. The other is a man with a freshly burnt face; we later learn his name is Lucianno.
Antonius snaps to action. He first succeeds at Conspicuous test to gain the crowds attention. Then barks a Command to get these two to stop wrestling. Both the Conspicuous and Command tests are successful
The wrestlers cease for a moment.
Ansidora goads Lucianno with Ugly Truth that if captured he’s going to do hard time. Ansidora’s intention was to encourage Lucianno to run. She succeeded so he’s going to flee.
Antonius quickly looks around, recognizes a soldier, and barks a command to give chase. This was a challenging, yet successful Circles test. Frederico and the soldier try to pounce on Lucianno.
It’s a Speed test. Lucianno wins and manages to escape. And as he flees, noises erupt outside.
Outside of the building, several masked men are attempting to attack the party. A handful of green coated dwarfs, part of Lord Jade’s private security detail, are guarding the exits. Captain Jarek leads the dwarves.
Aftermath of the Ambush at Adriano’s
With the situation stabilized, Adriano winds down the party. He apologizes for the events and encourages everyone to headhome.
Looking out the window into the street Antonius sees Lord Jade and his men. Frederico suggests they leave by the back door.
Antonius responds, “I’m not leaving by the back door,” and leaves with Maccio and Ansidora. Frederico follows a moment later.
Heading out of the building, Antonius speaks to members of Lord Jade’s private security detail. He wants to bolster their morale and also predispose them favorably to future interactions with him (e.g. a Linked Test). With confidence and inspiration, Antonius exceeds the Obstacle (Ob 📖) 5 Oratory test.
Captain Jarek and the other dwarves of the security detail nod and then shine with pride at Antonius’s words.
Lord Jade pulls Antonius and apologizes for asking him to dismiss Frederico. Here, ever open, and Antonius apologizes to Lord Jade for publicly dismissing Frederico but retaining him for clandestine purposes.
Lord Jade laments that the council of Scintillante has refused to improve security. In session 4 we learned about some of the troubles Lord Jade was having in regards to his business ventures.
While Lord Jade and Antonius talk, Frederico rummages through the bodies of the dead ambushers. He grabs some weapons and armor, and notices that both of the attackers had tatoos signifying the Stalwart Company. Successful Mercenary-wise test.
Background Events Resolved After Adriano’s Party
In this scene, the game facilitator resolved several Non-Player Character (NPC 📖) situations. As a player, I appreciated the insight into the happenings of several NPCs.
Via a Circles test, Biagio went looking for a lawyer. He faild invokes an Enmity Clause. The game faciliator chose not to delve into that but instead said he’d be thinking through the consequences.
Vadam Samaal’s trying to bribe his way out of officers coming to arrest him, he’s prepared to turn on on Stavros.
Ansidora’s looking to establish that Vadam is in his drinks. Failure consequence is that Tumul is with Vadam at the point of arrest. Success! Vadam is in his cups, which will raise his Ob by 1.
Vadam tests Persuasion with, Bribe-wise, and Clan-wise. Failure consequence is he’s arrested and charged. Vadam fails, and the dwarven officers arrest him.
Stavros attempts to rob Vadam even after the point of arrest. Ansidora’s attempting to establish that the Dwarves are aware of the tunnels. The dwarven authorities are aware and even setting up a dragnet. The guards catch him and detain him.
Frederico Meets with the City Clerk
In Burning Locusts: Session 4, Frederico went to the city clerk looking for building plans.
Frederico again wants to Circle up the clerk. After some discussion (see below), he’s interested in talking with her. This is an Ob 1 test. He succeeds with four successes, and names the NPC Belladonna.
From here, Frederico uses Persuasion to ask that she be willing to pull records without logging them. The consequence of failure is that Belladonna believes Frederico is some kind of undercover agent and that she herself is also a player in these underworld antics.
Success. Frederico, with a bit of charm, establishes that Belladonna will pull records for him without logging the requests.
Reflection and Sidebar
We had a great conversation about the possible difficulties of this test. There was the Ob 1 test, finding this city clerk. And there was an Ob 4 test to find this city clerk and that they were pre-disposed towards criminal activity.
In the case of the Ob 1 test, Frederico was in essence looking for someone naive or upstanding, who would then need to be convinced.
For the more difficult Cirlces test, the NPC would have had the “Specific disposition or detailed/rare knowledge” of inclined towards criminal antics. See page 380 of “Burning Wheel Gold Revised”.
With this more criminally inclined person, the stakes were higher, but the ask could’ve been far greater.
We left the decision of route to take; Frederico’s player went with the easier Circles test.
Antonius and Maccio Have a Conversation Regarding the Arsonist
Antonius, his mind full of things to consider, stays up all night. In the morning he rouses Maccio to have a conversation.
Antonius says that it was clear Maccio recognized the arsonist.
“Yes, that was Lucianno, my ex. We used to be activists before, but he went crazy,” explained Maccio. As a reminder, Maccio has the Insurrectionist lifepath.
Antonius asks Maccio for help finding Lucianno. The arson and the assailants at Adriano’s party must have been coordinated.
“I want to see what he has to say. To hear his side. Those who’ve felt unheard and oppressed will invariably find ways to be heard,” says Antonius.
Frederico and Antonius Seek a Fence
Frederico and Antonius circle up Roberto the Fence, who is predisposed to buying this painting. We learn it’s a nude painting of Roberto’s mother.
After a bit of Haggling, Roberto agrees to pay far above market value.
Roberto pays out several purses of silver (4D Cash Resource) in exchange for the painting.
Conclusion of the First Act
With Vadam and Stavros arrested and now violence in the streets, the situation turns from the immediate and personal. Antonius is free and clear to work with Frederico and Ansidora is bent on repaying her debts to Antonius.