The Kettle Fog
From a chance meeting
Possible rewards: Fog Kettle Rain Drum
6 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.
Fog on a Clear Day
Right away1A dense bank of fog floats alone in a cloudless sky, no wider than a village. At its center, a gnome in a floating copper tub is stoking a boiler with a spout as long as an oar. "Keep your voice down!" she hisses. "The Compact registry patrols are listening for me."
- Ask why she is hiding from the registry.She introduces herself as Pim Arrowsmelt. "My kettle generates instant fog. The registry wants to force a patent stamp on it so their border pickets get the blueprints. Tow me home to my workshop and I'll make it worth your while."
- [Tinker's Bench] Offer to stamp her kettle with your ship's own workshop mark.Room: Tinker's BenchUnder Compact law, a ship's custom bench-work is exempt from registry inspection. Grinning, she scratches your maker's mark onto her kettle and sketches two hidden sky lanes leading to her workshop.Reveal 2 waypoints
- Signal a Compact registry patrol to arrest her.A clockwork sentry noses into the cloud and tows her copper tub away by the spout, while a registry clerk sends a forty-silver finder's fee across on a line.+40 silver+1 The Compact standing
- Set course and fly on.You fly on, leaving the lone fog bank drifting in the clear sky.The questline ends here.
On the Tow Line
Right away2Pim's copper tub trails forty feet behind your stern, wrapping both vessels in a moving bank of fog. She cups her hands and shouts across: "The boiler burns crystal to make fog, and my bin is nearly empty! Spare me three crystal so we can fly hidden the whole way, or I'll bank the fire and we'll take our chances in the open sky."
- Give her 3 crystal to keep the fog bank thick.Costs 3 crystalFed with fresh crystal, the kettle wraps both hulls in impenetrable fog. No patrol spots you, and Pim repays you by charting two secret smuggling lanes on your map.Reveal 2 waypoints
- Let the boiler cool and tow her through the open sky.
- [Fire mage] Have crewmate heat the boiler with magic instead of crystal.Crew: Fire caster · Magecrewmate stands at the stern rail channeling flame straight under the copper tub, keeping the kettle boiling without burning a single grain of crystal. Impressed, Pim charts two secret sky lanes for you.−15 mana (the crewmate who acted)Reveal 2 waypoints
Two Bounty Notices
Right away3The registry clerk boards your deck carrying the confiscated kettle under one arm. "The patent office wishes to register this device, but we cannot get it to produce a single wisp of steam," he admits. "You saw it operating. Testify at the patent hearing in port, and we will pay you a witness fee."
- Agree to testify at the patent hearing.He hands you a summons for the hearing along with twenty silver in advance for your travel expenses.+20 silver
- Speak with Pim in the brig before agreeing to testify.Pim glares from inside the sentry's holding cage, then lowers her voice. "If you're going to testify, do me one favor: tell the registrars the secret is in the firebox. The real trick is the baffling inside the spout—if you point them at the fire, they'll patent a useless pot."
The Unlisted Bench
Sail to The Unlisted Bench (1–3 passages away)4 Tow the fog-maker home to her unlisted workshop.
Pim's workshop is a cliffside cave hidden behind a canvas curtain, but a registry sentry is moored right across the entrance with its warning bell clanging. Pim glances from the sentry to her boiler. "I can flood the cliff with fog. How we get past that sentry is up to you."
- Fight the registry sentry inside her fog bank.Pim opens the kettle's valve, enveloping the cliffside in blinding white fog as you close in to attack the sentry.
- [Gnome] Have crewmate cite Compact patent regulations to the sentry.Crew: Gnomecrewmate recites a loophole in the code: an active shipboard prototype is exempt from storage seizure. The sentry halts its alarm to file a legal query, giving Pim time to hand you her spare fog kettle.Device: Fog Kettle+1 The Compact standingThe questline ends here.
- Winch her tub quietly into the cave under cover of fog.
- Slip her straight into the cave under the thick crystal-fed fog.Because you kept the boiler hot with crystal, the fog is thick as wool. You glide her right past the blind sentry into her cave, and Pim rewards you with forty silver and her spare fog kettle.+40 silverDevice: Fog KettleThe questline ends here.
- Leave it for now.You pull back out of range, trailing wisps of fog behind your stern.
The Patent Hearing
At a port5 Dock at a port and testify at the fog kettle's patent hearing.
Three senior registrars sit behind a green-cloth table with the kettle before them and Pim under guard on a stool. The eldest registrar readies his stamp. "State for the record how this apparatus generates its fog."
- Explain the exact mechanics of the kettle and its spout.The registrars stamp the patent, file the blueprints, and dispatch copies to the border pickets that afternoon. You collect a generous eighty-silver witness fee, while Pim is released with a basic license and her trade secret gone.+80 silver+1 The Compact standingThe questline ends here.
- Mislead them as Pim asked, claiming the secret is in the firebox.The registrars solemnly patent an ordinary water boiler, fine Pim two silver for wasting their time, and release her with her secret intact. That night, she leaves a fully working fog kettle and twenty silver on your gangway.Device: Fog Kettle+20 silverThe questline ends here.
- Claim the fog was too thick to see how the kettle worked.Unable to patent what they cannot document, the annoyed registrars release Pim with her kettle and withhold your witness fee. Outside on the steps, a grateful Pim presses her weather-calling rain drum into your hands.Device: Rain Drum−1 The Compact standingThe questline ends here.
Moving the Workshop
Right away6With the sentry's broken bell still twitching in the gravel, Pim begins tearing down her canvas curtain. "The registry will send two sentries next time. I need to relocate to a new cave—or sign onto a ship." She looks expectantly from her copper tub to your deck.
- Tow her equipment to a new hidden cave.She picks a remote cavern a day downwind, charts every hidden sky lane along the way for you, and pays thirty silver from an old tea jar.+30 silverReveal 2 waypointsThe questline ends here.
- Offer her a place in your crew.She hauls her copper tub aboard and signs onto your crew, though the Compact registry notes your hull number alongside her name.New crewmate: Gnome−1 The Compact standingThe questline ends here.
Data from Magehold Fairwinds v1.9.26. Spotted something out of date? Discord