The Dead Man's Key
Anywhere in the sky
Found after a fight
Possible rewards: Guild Master's Seal
5 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.
A Key on a Chain
Right away1Searching the floating wreckage, your crew finds a heavy strongbox key on a neck chain alongside a notched wooden port tally for a storage locker paid a full year in advance.
- Keep the key and mark the locker's port on your chart.The port's name is branded into the tally stick. You mark the destination on your chart.
- Toss the key overboard; dead men's gear brings bad luck.You fling the key and tally stick over the rail, and nobody on deck objects.The questline ends here.
The Tally Stick
Right away2Before leaving the wreck, you notice two things: the dead captain's tilted cabin is still above the clouds with its door swinging open, and the back of the wooden tally stick is carved with a second row of careful notches.
- Search the dead captain's tilted cabin for valuables.
- Decipher the notches carved into the back of the tally stick.It is the dead captain's personal shipping record: his name, Ivo Varran, and forty-one completed cargo runs. The last nine notches are gouged deep into the wood, as if carved in anger.
Locker Nine
At a port3 Take the dead man's key to port and open his storage locker.
The harbor master inspects the tally stick and lowers her voice. "That locker belonged to a captain the Guild has been hunting for months. If you open it yourself, I'll look the other way—or hand the key over to me, and the Guild will reward you officially."
- Unlock the storage locker yourself while she looks away.The harbor master strolls to the far end of the pier to inspect a mooring line. Your key turns smoothly in the greased lock.
- Turn the key over to the Guild agent.A runner fetches the local Guild agent, and the harbor master pays you a standard fifteen-silver holding fee while you wait.+15 silver
- Leave it for now.The locker rent is paid for a year; it will wait until you come back.
Inside the Locker
Right away4Inside Locker Nine sits a crate of hull-plating bolts, a sealed coin purse, a ship weapon wrapped in oilcloth, and a secret record book listing crooked Guild officials. It's too much to haul aboard before the dock watch changes—you'll have to pick what to grab.
- Take the hull plating and the coin purse.Your crew bolts the heavy armor plates onto your hull before the next port, using the silver in the purse to cover the fittings.+3 max hull+35 silverThe questline ends here.
- Take the ship weapon and the secret record book.The weapon goes straight to your gun deck and the secret book under your mattress. Within a week, two underworld fixers have already asked if the book is for sale.Weapon: a random weapon+1 heatThe questline ends here.
- Take the hull plating and deliver the record book to Varran's old crew.The book proves which Guild agents cheated Captain Varran on his last nine runs. You track down his former crew in the dockside taverns; grateful for the proof, they collect what he was owed and pay you a sixty-silver share.+3 max hull+60 silver+1 The Free Captains standingThe questline ends here.
The Guild Agent
Right away5The Guild agent unlocks the chest before two witnesses, revealing hull plating, a purse, a wrapped weapon, and a private record book. She takes only the book. "The Guild doesn't rob an honest finder, captain. I can pay you fifty silver for turning this in, or register your ship as an official Guild carrier for higher contract pay."
- Take the 50 silver reward.The Guild agent shakes your hand and counts out fifty silver on the spot.+2 The Guild standing+50 silverThe questline ends here.
- Register your ship on the Guild's preferred carrier roll.She stamps your manifest board with wax and hangs a brass Carrier's Seal beside your helm, increasing your payout on future shipping contracts.Relic: Guild Master's Seal+1 The Guild standingThe questline ends here.
- Ask her why Ivo Varran was keeping records on the Guild.The agent stiffens at the name. "He kept a log of every official who short-paid him—mostly our own clerks." Wanting the matter buried quietly, she gives you both the brass Carrier's Seal and the thirty-five silver from the chest.The questline ends here.
Data from Magehold Fairwinds v1.9.26. Spotted something out of date? Discord