The Wall at Underwall

The thirty cottages of Underwall sit directly beneath a fortress's leaning outer wall. Only a massive buttress of raw, magically raised stone keeps the wall from collapsing onto the village. Villagers bolt their doors as you walk up the street toward the dark entrance of the old keep's undercroft.

Edmund Starke walks down the hill looking exhausted, clutching a naval order book under his arm. "Captain Keswick of the Crown sloop Constant was sent here to collect an unpaid toll from the local lord. When the lord refused, Keswick ordered me to collapse the curtain wall onto the village as an object lesson." He taps the ledger. "I deserted with his signed order book instead. That's why the Admiralty posted me alive—and why Keswick hired mercenary hunters to kill me and burn this book before I can testify."

Past the shattered stone guardians of the undercroft, you find Edmund Starke slumped against the back wall, too drained to stand, clutching a naval order book. "Captain Keswick of the Constant ordered me to collapse the fortress wall onto the village below over an unpaid toll," he says hoarsely. "I refused and took his signed order book. Now he's sent mercenary hunters to kill me and burn the evidence."

Two mercenary cutters crest the ridge in battle formation. From the lead ship, the Hard Bargain, Captain Maeve Crane hails you through a brass megaphone: "Captain Keswick is paying top silver to see that stone mage dead and his order book burned! Step aside and take a fat cut of our pay—or try keeping him, and we'll blast through you both!"

An hour out from Underwall, a fast mercenary cutter—the Hard Bargain—overtakes you. Captain Maeve Crane hails you through a brass megaphone: "Captain Keswick is paying handsomely for that mage's corpse and his order book! Toss him overboard and I'll leave a bag of silver on a buoy for your trouble!" Down in your brig, Starke laughs bitterly.

After a full day's sleep and a hot meal at the reeve's table, Starke lays the order book between you. "We have two choices, Captain. Either you escort me into the Admiralty port as a free witness to lay Keswick's signed order before the board—or we fortify this ridge and wait for Keswick to bring the Constant here himself."

The mercenary cutters fly back over the ridge with Starke locked in their hold; you never learn where they threw his body overboard. Down in the village street, the reeve stares up at the stone buttress. With its mage dead, cracks are already spiderwebbing across the rock face, showering grit onto the roofs below.

With the Hard Bargain reduced to a trail of smoke astern, you inspect the order book on your chart table. The command to crush the village of Underwall is dated and signed by Captain L. Keswick—enough to end his naval career on the spot. You can deliver Starke to the Admiralty port for the bounty, sell both him and the book to Lord Kestrow (who owns the leaning wall), or free Starke and hear his plan.

The port admiral's clerk glances from the wanted poster on his wall to Starke. "Brought in alive—that earns the full bounty." He reaches into the cash drawer, then freezes when he spots the Constant's signed order book in your hand.

On the second morning, the Crown sloop Constant storms up the valley with her gun ports open and no truce flag flying. Spotting the stone buttress and your moored ship, Captain Keswick doesn't bother hailing—his bow guns immediately begin ranging in on the village wall while Starke braces the stone with both hands.

Lord Kestrow meets you atop his leaning fortress wall, reading Keswick's signed order with open delight. "With this blackmail, I'll never pay a Crown toll again—and with a captive stone mage of my own, my walls will stand forever!" He eyes Starke's shackles, then turns to you. "Name your price, Captain: the mage, the book, or both."

The Constant lies wrecked on the valley floor, and Captain Keswick sits locked in the village cellar awaiting a magistrate who will read his signed order book first thing. After spending three days permanently fusing the fortress wall into solid bedrock, a rested Starke walks down to your dock. "I'm a deserter without a ship, and I owe you everything, Captain. Tell me how I can repay the debt."