The Hunt for Longshadow

The hunters' hall is crowded with bounty captains who came for the reward and lost their nerve after seeing the three shattered skiff prows mounted above the hearth. At the center table, Captain Tove Brandr of the harpoon ship Sinew is recruiting a partner: having slain wyrms across three regions, she wants a second warship to draw the beast's first pass. In the corner, an elderly Lupine tracker sits alone mending a boot, watching Brandr with quiet suspicion.

Wrapped in her blanket at your bow, Sefa guides you into the high peaks. "Longshadow has nested on the same crag for forty years without ever attacking a clan vessel. Then suddenly she smashes three skiffs in a single month. Ask yourself what those skiffs were trying to steal from her ledge." Ahead, a dense swarm of carrion gloomwings darkens the canyon air above an old kill site blocking the path to the lair.

Brandr's harpoon ship, the Sinew, flies off your quarter with her main harpoon cannon covered in canvas and a dead ram dangling from her bowsprit as bait. When both ships moor for the night, her first mate comes aboard for a drink and lets his tongue slip: a wealthy noble house on the summit has offered a fortune for a live skywyrm egg for their private menagerie. Brandr intends to let you and the mother wyrm tear each other apart so she can haul the eggs away in her cargo slings.

Stretched along the entire length of the mountain shelf, Longshadow's rain-dark scales cast a shadow all the way to the valley floor. She is the largest living creature you have ever seen. Yet she does not launch to attack: her massive head tracks your ship warily while one wing remains draped protectively over three pale, cask-sized eggs resting on the stone behind her.

Your crew haul Longshadow's shield-sized, still-warm heart-scale onto the deck. High above on the wind-swept ledge, her three uncovered eggs will freeze before morning if left exposed—and an opportunistic harpoon ship is already creeping up the valley with cargo slings rigged to poach them now that the mother is dead.

Gently nudging each of her three eggs with her snout, Longshadow settles back over her clutch—a mother guarding her nest, not a rogue beast hunting ships. Suddenly, your lookout spots a sail: Captain Brandr's Sinew is racing low up the valley with heavy cargo slings rigged beneath her keel. Spotting the poacher's ship, Longshadow rears her head and lets out a deafening roar.

The hunters' hall falls silent as your crew carry Longshadow's massive heart-scale inside and lay it upon the hearthstone beneath the three broken skiff prows. Running a weathered hand across the scale, the eldest looks more solemn than triumphant. "Forty peaceful years on one crag, come to this. Still, the hall posted a bounty, and the hall honors its word." Along the walls, veteran hunters eye the impervious scale like armor plate.

You report everything you witnessed at the crag: Longshadow peacefully tending her clutch, and poachers using cargo slings to steal her eggs. The eldest orders the three broken skiff prows taken down from the hearth and flipped over—revealing heavy sling cleats bolted inside every one. Near the door, an elder turns ash-pale. "My own nephews," the eldest whispers in disgust. "Poaching wyrm eggs for lowland lords—and tricking this hall into putting a bounty on the mother who defended them." Turning to you, she bows her head. "The bounty is withdrawn, Captain, and this hall owes you a far greater reward than mere silver."