The Becalmed Pay Sloop
From a tavern tip
A tip bought in a tavern for 25 silver.
“A fleet purser says the Admiralty pay sloop drifted into a dead calm three days ago and hasn't come out—and neither has the bounty ship that went in after her.”
5 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.
The Dead Calm
Sail to The Dead Calm (1–3 passages away)1 Locate the Admiralty pay sloop stuck without wind at the front.
The Admiralty pay sloop hangs in air so still her galley smoke rises straight up like a pillar. Half a mile away sits a privateer bounty ship with four rowboats in the air, both crews exhausted after three days of rowing toward each other under oars.
The sloop carries two months of payroll for the frontline fleet, and the bounty hunters are closing in.
The sloop carries two months of payroll for the frontline fleet, and the bounty hunters are closing in.
- Move in between the ships and fight the bounty vessel in the dead calm.With no wind to maneuver, both ships trade heavy broadsides in the dead air!Battle: Bounty hunters · Long range, Dead calmIf you win:+30 silver
- Burn five mana crystals in your Drive to tow the pay sloop clear. (5 crystal)Costs 5 crystalYour Drive strains at full power, dragging both your ship and the pay sloop through the dead air while the bounty ship's rowboats pull hard to catch up.
- [Drive 2] Have crewmate tune the engine to tow the pay sloop out without wasting crystal.Crew: Drive 2+crewmate coaxes steady thrust from the Drive using almost no extra crystal, towing the pay sloop slowly toward windier air while the bounty ship's boats row hard behind you.+1 Drive skill XP
- Leave it for now.You leave both ships stranded in the dead calm for now.
The Privateer's Writ
Right away2The defeated bounty captain comes aboard to surrender her sword—and hands you a legal debt writ issued by a noble house against the fleet's payroll chests.
"I wasn't robbing the fleet, Captain—I was repossessing unpaid House loans," she says. Her crew are gray with thirst after three days of rowing in dead air.
"I wasn't robbing the fleet, Captain—I was repossessing unpaid House loans," she says. Her crew are gray with thirst after three days of rowing in dead air.
- Give her thirsty crew water and let them go in exchange for their weather charts. (-2 provisions)Her crew drink gratefully. Before departing, her navigator marks every dead-air pocket and drift current in the region on your chart, and you keep the noble house's debt writ.−2 provisionsReveal 4 waypoints
- Seize her ship's silver and provisions as war prizes.Your crew strip thirty silver and three crates of provisions from her vessel, leaving her crew a single water cask and keeping the noble debt writ.+30 silver+3 provisions
The Long Tow
Right away3Your ship drags the pay sloop forward at a crawl until the bounty ship's four rowboats catch up alongside. Their captain stands in the lead boat waving a stamped document.
"I hold a lawful House debt writ on those payroll chests!" she shouts. "Cut the towline and I'll give you ten percent! Keep towing, and we'll board her from the boats!"
"I hold a lawful House debt writ on those payroll chests!" she shouts. "Cut the towline and I'll give you ten percent! Keep towing, and we'll board her from the boats!"
- Hold the towline and outlast the rowboats.
- Fire a cannon shot across the lead rowboat's bow to drive them off. (-1 bolt)A single warning shot skips past the lead boat's bow. Exhausted and outgunned, the rowers ship their oars and give up the chase.−1 bolts
- Demand to inspect her debt writ.She passes the document up on a boathook. It's genuine—a noble house bought up the Admiralty's war debt and hired privateers to seize the frontline payroll. You confiscate the writ as evidence while her exhausted boats fall behind.Reveal 2 waypoints
The Sleepless Paymaster
Right away4 Settle your reward with the paymaster aboard the sloop.
Paymaster Lieutenant Odo Fenn hasn't slept in three days, counting and recounting the eleven iron chests on his deck.
"The frontline garrisons haven't been paid in two months, yet they still hold the line," he says. "I can pay you a hundred silver as an escort fee, or my engineer can install our spare Drive governor on your ship."
The lone marine guarding the chests is asleep on his feet.
"The frontline garrisons haven't been paid in two months, yet they still hold the line," he says. "I can pay you a hundred silver as an escort fee, or my engineer can install our spare Drive governor on your ship."
The lone marine guarding the chests is asleep on his feet.
- Take the sloop's spare Drive governor to upgrade your Drive room.The sloop's chief engineer installs the spare governor on your Drive room himself, tuning it until the engine hums smoothly.Upgrade: DriveThe questline ends here.
- Take the hundred-silver escort fee.Fenn counts a hundred silver out of the first payroll chest and logs your ship's rescue in his official report.+100 silver+1 The Crown standingThe questline ends here.
- Have your crew quietly steal one of the payroll chests while the guard sleeps.Your crew hoist one heavy chest across to your deck while the marine dozes. Fenn counts the remaining chests, reaches ten, and freezes.
- Give Fenn the noble house's debt writ so the Admiralty knows who tried to seize the payroll.Fenn reads the writ in shock. "So that's which noble house has been starving the front of pay." He awards you forty silver for intelligence and has his engineer upgrade your Drive room with the spare governor.Upgrade: Drive+40 silver+1 The Crown standingThe questline ends here.
- [Quartermaster] Have crewmate audit the chests against the mint manifest.Crew: Quartermastercrewmate checks the mint manifest and discovers twelve chests were loaded instead of eleven. Laughing for the first time in days, Fenn upgrades your Drive room with the spare governor and gives you fifty silver from the extra chest.Upgrade: Drive+50 silverThe questline ends here.
Caught One Chest Short
Right away5Fenn spots the missing eleventh chest sitting on your deck. Exhausted, he sets down his pencil without waking the marine.
"That chest is two months' wages for the ninety sailors aboard the warship Resolve," he says quietly. "Put it back and I'll pretend I saw nothing—and still give you our spare Drive governor for the tow. Keep it, and I log your ship as a thief."
"That chest is two months' wages for the ninety sailors aboard the warship Resolve," he says quietly. "Put it back and I'll pretend I saw nothing—and still give you our spare Drive governor for the tow. Keep it, and I log your ship as a thief."
- Keep the stolen payroll chest anyway. (+140 silver)You keep the hundred and forty silver, and Fenn records your ship's name as the thief while ninety frontline sailors go a third month without pay.+140 silver+3 heat−2 The Crown standingThe questline ends here.
- Return the payroll chest and accept the Drive room upgrade instead.Your crew swing the chest back onto the sloop. True to his word, Fenn logs all eleven chests present and has his engineer upgrade your Drive room for the tow.Upgrade: DriveThe questline ends here.
- [Quartermaster] Have crewmate strike a quiet compromise: return half the chest and log the other half as lost in the storm.Crew: Quartermastercrewmate and the exhausted paymaster work out a compromise: half the silver stays with you, half goes to pay the Resolve's crew for a month, and Fenn logs the shortfall as lost overboard without reporting your ship.+75 silver+1 heatThe questline ends here.
Data from Magehold Fairwinds v1.9.26. Spotted something out of date? Discord