The Hearth-Girl

The Marchholds

UncommonBounty hunts · Acts I–IIAct II

From a bounty poster

Target: Elsy Sedge, runaway healer of House Orlec · 💀 · 40 silver

“Fled her indenture at Orlec Hold. Wanted unharmed: the ailing old lord demands her back at his hearthside.”

Possible rewards: Aerie Balm

6 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.

The Dun Mare

Sail to The Gap Between the Chains (2–4 passages away)1

Intercept the sloop carrying Elsy Sedge south through the gap in the toll chains.

A slow, heavily laden sloop—the Dun Mare—is creeping south through an unguarded gap between two lords' toll chains. Her skipper, Kit Ostler, spots the bounty poster in your hand before you even hail. "They're paying passengers bound for the Reaches," he calls across. "One of them is a sixteen-year-old girl, and I know damn well which lord wants her back."

Open fire on the sloop and take the girl by force.
Ostler curses, dumps his spare ballast to lighten the ship, and returns fire with both of his deck guns.
Battle: Sky pirates · Close rangeIf you win:+15 silver
→ Captured Alive
Ask to board under truce and speak with the girl first.
Ostler hesitates, then drops a rope ladder over the side. "Come aboard alone—and leave your shackles behind."
→ Hands Like Ash
[Lowborn] Send crewmate across to show their own Lowborn papers and speak with her.
Crew: Lowborn
crewmate holds up their Lowborn papers and is welcomed aboard without a word. Out of respect for crewmate, Ostler marks the local toll-chain gaps on your chart before lowering the ladder for you.
Reveal 2 waypoints
→ Hands Like Ash
Call off the hunt and let the sloop sail south.
You stand down and watch the Dun Mare slip south through the gap toward freedom.
The questline ends here.

Captured Alive

Right away2

The battered Dun Mare limps away to the south. On your deck, Elsy Sedge sits on a coil of rope, staring at her ash-gray hands. "Every winter the old lord forces me to heal his lungs, and every winter it eats away more of my life," she says softly. "His private yacht is right behind us—he always sends his steward to collect me before a hunter can even reach the hold."

Keep her aboard and deliver her to Orlec Hold for the bounty.
She nods numbly, as if she expected nothing less, and quietly asks where she is allowed to sleep.
→ The Old Lord's Hearth
Have a change of heart—turn back and return Elsy to the Dun Mare.
You catch up to the sloop before nightfall. Ostler keeps his cannons aimed at you until he sees Elsy standing unshackled at your rail. Within the hour, the gilded sails of Lord Orlec's yacht appear astern.
→ Lord Orlec's Yacht

Hands Like Ash

Right away3

Sixteen-year-old Elsy Sedge sits on a water cask, her hands withered and gray to the wrists like dead ash. "I'm a wild healer," she says quietly. "Every winter old Lord Orlec's lungs fill with fluid, and every winter he forces me to drain my own life to clear them. Look at my hands—he calls this being fond of me."

Ostler glances anxiously astern. "Orlec's armed yacht shadows every hunter who takes that poster. She's less than a day behind us."

Stay and defend the Dun Mare when Lord Orlec's yacht arrives.
Ostler lets out a long breath of relief. Elsy says nothing yet—she has learned not to trust promises until the shooting is over.
→ Lord Orlec's Yacht
[Surgeon] Have crewmate examine the toll the healing magic has taken on her hands.
Crew: Surgeon
crewmate recognizes advanced caster's burnout immediately. "Two more winters of forced healing will kill her—three at most." crewmate writes out a formal medical diagnosis, signs it, and hands it to you as Lord Orlec's yacht appears on the horizon.
+1 The Free Captains standing
→ Lord Orlec's Yacht
Break the truce—attack the sloop and seize Elsy for the bounty.
Ostler grabs his pistol while his crew sprint for their cannons. You leap back onto your own deck just before the first volley roars out.
Battle: Sky pirates · Close rangeIf you win:+15 silver
→ Captured Alive

The Old Lord's Hearth

Sail to Orlec Hold (1–3 passages away)4

Deliver Elsy Sedge to Orlec Hold.

Orlec Hold is a grim stone tower bristling with smoking chimneys. Wrapped in heavy furs beside the fire, the wheezing old lord beckons Elsy to the hearth and pats her ash-gray hand. "There, you see? Fond of her." His steward stands at your elbow holding the bounty purse.

Collect the bounty payment and leave.
You take the exact bounty sum and head down the tower stairs as the old man's rattling cough echoes behind you.
+1 The Crown standing
The questline ends here.
Pay 45 silver to buy out Elsy's indenture contract on the spot.
Costs 45 silver
The old lord laughs until he chokes in a coughing fit. Seeing his chance, the steward quickly names a price and stamps Elsy's release papers before his master can recover his breath. Elsy sprints up your boarding ramp before the wax seal is even cool.
New crewmate: Elsy Sedge, Surgeon, Wild caster
The questline ends here.
Leave it for now.
You step back outside; the old lord and his tower aren't going anywhere.

Lord Orlec's Yacht

Right away5

Lord Orlec's white-and-gold yacht sails into the gap at dusk, flying the house's hearth-flame crest. Her steward, Cole Merrin, hails you smoothly from the rail: "Lord Orlec thanks you for catching the girl, Captain. Hand her over to us now to spare his lordship the wait, and I will pay the full bounty plus a generous bonus."

Refuse to hand her over and open fire on Lord Orlec's yacht.
Merrin sighs in distaste and steps back from the rail as the yacht's ornate gun ports swing open.
Battle: Household ship · Close rangeIf you win:+25 silver
→ Free of the Chains
Send your surgeon's signed diagnosis across to the steward.
Merrin reads the medical report twice under the stern lantern. Having tended the old lord for twenty years, he knows the truth when he sees it. "I never saw you, Captain," he calls back quietly. "This gap was empty." The yacht turns around and sails home.
→ Free of the Chains
Accept the steward's bonus and let the yacht take Elsy back.
The yacht's skiff rows over to the Dun Mare and takes Elsy aboard. She never looks back at your ship as Merrin tosses you a heavy purse stamped with the Orlec crest.
+65 silver−1 The Free Captains standing
The questline ends here.

Free of the Chains

Right away6

With the lord's yacht gone, the Dun Mare prepares to sail south into the Free Reaches. Elsy steps up to your rail before departing. "I have no silver to pay you," she says, holding up her scarred hands, "but I still have my craft. Is anyone on your crew wounded?"

Let her tend your wounded crew and brew a jar of healing salve for the ship.
She treats your injured crewmen and brews a potent healing balm in your galley that closes wounds in half the normal time.
Relic: Aerie BalmHeal 40 HP−1 The Crown standing
The questline ends here.
Invite Elsy to join your ship's crew as a healer instead of fleeing south.
She glances at Ostler, who gives an approving nod. "A flying ship is a long way from any lord's hearth," she says, and hurries below to fetch her bundle.
New crewmate: Elsy Sedge, Surgeon, Wild caster−1 The Crown standing
The questline ends here.

Data from Magehold Fairwinds v1.9.26. Spotted something out of date? Discord