In Triplicate
From a job
Cargo: A Compact notary (passenger)
“She clutches three copies of a patent contract and refuses to set them down.”
Possible rewards: Precision Rangefinder
6 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.
Two Signatures
At the delivery port1 Deliver the Compact notary.
Two gnomes wait on the dock in tense silence. Hesper Quillon invented a mechanical reckoning engine that aims cannons automatically; Dorn Tackwright financed the brass. The notary turns to you. "Compact law requires an impartial witness to sign the patent and declare whose name stands first as primary owner."
- Sign for Hesper, the inventor who built it.Dorn folds his copy tight and stalks off. Hesper marks her cliffside workshop on your chart. "Visit my bench—a witness ought to see the machine she vouched for."
- Sign for Dorn, the financier who paid for it.Dorn pays you a forty-silver witness fee on the spot, while Hesper walks off down the dock without her copy.+40 silver+1 The Guild standing
- [Quartermaster] Have crewmate compare all three contract copies before signing.Crew: Quartermastercrewmate discovers that Dorn secretly altered a clause in the third copy to strip Hesper's rights. The notary crosses out the forgery, commends your ship's integrity, and puts Hesper's name first. Grateful, Hesper marks her workshop on your chart.+1 The Compact standing−1 heat
- Refuse to get involved in their patent dispute.The notary sighs and goes to find the harbormaster instead, paying you only your basic passenger fare.The questline ends here.
The Witness's Copy
Right away2The notary hands you the third copy of the contract, freshly stamped in wax. "The impartial witness holds the third copy as proof of whose name was recorded first." Before she is even down the dock, Dorn steps up to your elbow with an open purse. "Forty silver for that paper. A ship captain has no use for legal filings."
- Refuse his bribe and keep the witness copy.You lock the stamped contract in the ship's safe. Dorn slowly closes his purse, watching you with cold eyes.
- Sell the witness copy to Dorn for 40 silver.He counts out forty silver and tucks the contract inside his coat. "Now only two copies exist, and I hold one of them."+40 silver
Dorn's Errand
Right away3Dorn walks you to your gangway. "My name is first on the patent now, but the prototype reckoning engine is still sitting on Hesper's workbench. She won't hand it over to me, retrieve it as the official witness, and I'll double your carrier fee."
- Accept Dorn's contract and take his 30 silver advance.He pays you thirty silver up front and marks Hesper's workshop on your chart.+30 silver
- Take the coordinates to Hesper's workshop, but promise him nothing.He shrugs and marks her workshop on your chart anyway. "Go see the machine you signed for, then come talk to me about the payout."
The Reckoning Engine
Sail to Hesper's Bench (2–4 passages away)4 Visit Hesper Quillon's workshop to see the reckoning engine.
Hesper is crating her brass reckoning engine when an armed clockwork cutter hired by Dorn rounds the cliff face. "He means to seize the prototype by force!" Hesper shouts. "Bolt it to your gun deck now—it'll help you fight, and he can't touch it aboard your ship!"
- Mount the reckoning engine on your guns and fight Dorn's cutter.Hesper tightens the final bolt under your battery deck just as the clockwork cutter opens fire.The questline ends here.
- [Gnome] Have crewmate present the stamped patent to the clockwork cutter.Crew: Gnomecrewmate holds the stamped patent up to the cutter's optical lens. Recognizing Hesper as the primary patent holder, the construct stands down and returns to port to bill Dorn for a wasted sortie. Hesper mounts the engine on your gun deck and teaches crewmate how to calibrate it.Relic: Precision Rangefinder+1 Gunnery skill XPThe questline ends here.
- Show your stamped witness copy of the patent to the cutter.The clockwork cutter scans the official wax stamp twice, aborts its attack, and returns to port to bill Dorn for the sortie. Hesper bolts the reckoning engine to your guns in gratitude. "Keep it aboard—there's no safer place for it."Relic: Precision RangefinderThe questline ends here.
- Tell her to hide the engine while your ship lures the cutter away.Hesper drags the crate deep into her cavern and drops the camouflage tarp while you swing across the cutter's bow to draw it into a chase.
- Leave it for now.You pull back out of range while the hired cutter circles the rock.
Runaway Prototype
Sail to Hesper's Bench (1–3 passages away)5 Go to Hesper Quillon's workshop where the reckoning engine is kept.
Hesper is crating the reckoning engine—a brass box of gears topped with an optical gun-sight—when you arrive at her cavern workshop. She doesn't pause her work. "So the witness arrives. Dorn owns the paper patent now, but he doesn't own the only working prototype until someone carries it out of here."
- Seize the reckoning engine for Dorn.She steps back bitterly as your crew load the crate. Dorn pays the promised hundred and ten silver and praises your reliability to the Guild, though Compact artificers curse your name.+110 silver+1 The Guild standing−1 The Compact standingThe questline ends here.
- Buy the prototype from her for your own ship. (60 silver)Costs 60 silverShe counts the silver, then personally bolts the reckoning engine beneath your gun deck. "Better on a fighting ship than in Dorn's warehouse." Dorn's angry letters follow you for a month.Relic: Precision Rangefinder−1 The Guild standingThe questline ends here.
- [Gunner] Have crewmate ask her how the engine calculates gunnery sights.Crew: GunnerProud of her craft, Hesper spends an hour walking crewmate through the gearing and sight adjustments. "Take the engine for your ship," she decides. "Dorn would only sell it to the arsenal." You gain the reckoning engine, though Dorn fumes at the betrayal.The questline ends here.
- Tear up Dorn's retrieval contract in front of her.She watches the torn contract flutter over the cliff edge. Returning Dorn's thirty-silver advance costs you, but Hesper repays you with a crate of precision sighting bolts and spreads word of your honor across every workshop in the Cogholds.−30 silver+6 bolts+2 The Compact standingThe questline ends here.
- Leave it for now.She continues packing straw around the brass gears.
The Pursuit
Right away6Dorn's clockwork cutter is fast and tireless. Three miles out, the canyon splits: to port lies a razor-thin gorge between jagged rock stacks; to starboard lies open sky leading to a Compact picket station where hired vessels must halt for inspection.
- Lose the cutter in the narrow rock gorge.
- Lead the cutter straight into the Compact picket station.The border pickets impound the cutter for operating under a false patent claim. They pay you a forty-silver share of the fine, and Hesper sends a crate of precision bolts in thanks.+40 silver+4 bolts+1 The Compact standingThe questline ends here.
- [Helm 2] Have crewmate double back around the rock stack and pick up the engine.Crew: Helm 2+crewmate executes a tight turn behind the rock spire while the cutter overshoots into the gorge. You slip back to the cavern, where Hesper bolts the reckoning engine to your gun deck before the cutter can find its way back.Relic: Precision Rangefinder+1 Helm skill XPThe questline ends here.
Data from Magehold Fairwinds v1.9.26. Spotted something out of date? Discord