The Lading Hall

UncommonThe CogholdsAct III

From a tavern tip

A tip bought in a tavern for 30 silver.

“A dockworker says an abandoned freight hall holds mechanical folding racks that expand a ship's cargo bay—locked inside since the day its loading golem went rogue.”

Possible rewards: Folded Hold Tinker Crab Clockwork Hand Captain's Long Table

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

The Old Lading Hall

Sail to The Old Lading Hall (2–4 passages away)1

Find the abandoned freight hall and its folding cargo racks.

Cut deep into the cliffside, the old freight hall stands behind rusted crane arms. Inside, crates are stacked to the rafters in neat rows, and deep in the shadows a rogue loading golem endlessly lifts and restacks the same crate.

Head into the warehouse aisles and confront the loading golem.
Landfall: The Old Lading Hall
→ Inside the Warehouse
[Gnome] Have crewmate read the condemnation notice on the warehouse door.
Crew: Gnome
crewmate reads the faded legal notice aloud: "Closed by Compact order; loading golem declared hazardous; interior racks and fixtures awarded as salvage to whoever clears the hall."
Leave it for now.
You pull away from the cliff while the golem continues lifting and setting down crates in the dark.

Inside the Warehouse

Right away2

With the rogue golem destroyed, the warehouse lies open. Fifty years of unclaimed freight line the aisles, while the mechanical folding racks you came for are bolted to the far wall. Daylight is fading fast: your crew only have time tonight to either loot the intact freight crates or unbolt the folding racks.

Ignore the freight crates and unbolt the folding cargo racks right away.
Your crew walk past the rows of old crates and set to work with wrenches on the folding racks at the far wall.
→ The Folding Racks
Loot the intact freight crates first before darkness falls.
Sorting through the spoiled cargo, you haul thirty-five silver worth of tin ingots and three crates of preserved rations aboard—just as lantern lights appear at the warehouse doors.
+35 silver+3 provisions
→ Scavengers at the Door
[Repair 2] Have crewmate repair a rusted warehouse crane to haul both the freight and the racks.
Crew: Repair 2+
crewmate frees a seized crane arm with crowbars and lamp oil, swinging thirty-five silver of tin ingots and three rations aboard in a single hour—leaving plenty of daylight to unbolt the folding racks.
+35 silver+3 provisions+1 Repair skill XP
→ The Folding Racks

The Folding Racks

Right away3

Choose what to salvage from the back of the freight hall.

At the rear wall stand the warehouse's folding racks: sliding brass-and-oak frames engineered to pack a ship's hold with zero wasted space. From beneath a crate crawls a clockwork tally-crab with a chalk slate on its shell, waiting to see who now runs the hall.

Install the folding cargo racks in your hold.
Your crew bolt the sliding frames into your cargo bay, permanently adding two extra cargo slots.
Relic: Folded Hold
The questline ends here.
Take the clockwork tally-crab for your Construct Bay instead.
The clockwork crab clambers aboard atop an unclaimed crate of brass fittings, immediately clicking its claws as it tallies your ship's stores.
Construct: Tinker Crab
→ Fifty Years Overdue
[Repair 2] Have crewmate unbolt the racks cleanly so the tally-crab follows them aboard.
Crew: Repair 2+
crewmate disassembles the sliding rails in half the time, and the loyal tally-crab marches right up your gangway behind its racks—giving you both the expanded hold and the construct.
Relic: Folded HoldConstruct: Tinker Crab
The questline ends here.

Scavengers at the Door

Right away4

The dockworker who sold you the tip arrives at the warehouse doors with six armed pals and a handcart. Eyeing the downed golem and your loaded deck, he smirks. "So you dropped the golem and took your pick of the freight. Fair enough—my crew will take the folding racks."

Let them take the racks in exchange for 45 silver.
They unbolt the racks onto their cart, refund your tip money plus a bonus totaling forty-five silver, and help your crew stow your salvaged freight.
+45 silver
The questline ends here.
Pay them 50 silver to unbolt the racks and load them onto your ship.
Costs 50 silver
For fifty silver, the dockworkers dismantle the heavy brass-and-oak racks and haul them straight into your hold, expanding your ship's cargo capacity by two slots.
Relic: Folded Hold
The questline ends here.
Cite the salvage notice on the door: whoever felled the golem owns the racks.
Confronted with the official Compact salvage notice—and your ship's guns—the dockworker backs down and accepts fifteen silver for his crew's labor to install the folding racks in your hold.
Relic: Folded Hold−15 silver
The questline ends here.
Drive the scavengers off the warehouse doors by force.

Fifty Years Overdue

Right away5

On your deck, the clockwork crab climbs off its crate and holds up its chalk slate. One delivery entry remains open after fifty years: the very crate it rode out on, freight prepaid, addressed to a nearby port. The crab taps the entry with a brass claw and waits.

Take on the fifty-year-old crate and deliver it to the listed port.
The crab chalks your ship's name onto its slate and settles atop the crate to oversee the delivery.
New job: A crate held fifty years
→ Prepaid Delivery
Pry open the crate yourselves and take what's inside.
Inside you find thirty silver worth of brass fittings and a precision clockwork tool-hand wrapped in oiled cloth. The crab crosses the line off its slate in silent disapproval.
Device: Clockwork Hand+30 silver
The questline ends here.

Prepaid Delivery

At the delivery port6

Deliver the fifty-year-old crate from the lading hall.

The listed address is now a ship chandlery. The chandler's elderly grandmother comes out in her slippers and reads the shipping label twice. "My father ordered this the week the lading hall was condemned—he complained about it until the day he died!" Packed beneath the brass fittings is a finely pegged oak mess table for a ship's cabin. "I have no ship," she says. "Take the table, or leave it for my shop window and take the brass."

Take the table.
The pegged oak table fits together without a single nail and seats two more than your mess ever has. The tally-crab wipes its slate clean and settles underneath it.
Relic: Captain's Long Table
The questline ends here.
Leave her the heirloom table and sell the brass fittings for 70 silver.
She displays her father's table proudly in the chandlery window, and you sell the vintage brass fittings two doors down for seventy silver.
+70 silver+1 The Compact standing
The questline ends here.

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