The Living Timber
From a job
Cargo: Living keel timber (valuable)
“The planks are wrapped in wet sacking. The shipping agent warns you to keep them watered.”
Possible rewards: Self-knitting Planks Heartwood Keel Beam
7 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.
The Shipwright
At the delivery port1 Deliver the living keel timber and keep it wet in transit.
Master shipwright Hale Dorrow unwraps the planks on his slipway; live green buds are sprouting from the wood. "A Shaper grew the mother tree for me before the Excise arrested her," he says. "Hull planks cut from it heal their own battle damage. Under martial law, the fleet confiscates every plank I cut."
He lowers his voice. "The mother tree still stands at my old slipway inside the Hush fog. A heartwood graft from her could make an entire ship self-healing. Will you go in and cut one?"
He lowers his voice. "The mother tree still stands at my old slipway inside the Hush fog. A heartwood graft from her could make an entire ship self-healing. Will you go in and cut one?"
- Agree to retrieve a graft and have him mark the old shipyard ramp on your chart.He sketches the route to the slipway from memory. "Make a hand-deep cut on the north side of the trunk, and keep the graft wrapped wet."
- [Shaper] Have crewmate touch the living planks first.Crew: ShaperWhen crewmate lays a hand on a plank, a fresh leaf sprouts from the wood. Amazed, Dorrow marks both the old slipway and the safest channel through the surrounding rocks on your chart.Reveal 3 waypoints
- Report Dorrow's unlicensed Shaper timber to the Crown provost for a bounty.The provost pays you seventy silver for the report. The fleet keeps using the living planks for the war effort, while Dorrow is slated for arrest once the siege ends.+70 silver+1 The Crown standing−2 heatThe questline ends here.
Preparing for the Hush
Right away2While fleet carpenters haul away the budding planks, Dorrow hands you a pruning saw, a water tub, and wet sacking.
"The mother tree heals over rough cuts, so saw cleanly," he advises. "And remember—inside the Hush fog, the air is dead calm. Take whatever supplies or hull repairs you need from my yard before the fleet strips it bare."
"The mother tree heals over rough cuts, so saw cleanly," he advises. "And remember—inside the Hush fog, the air is dead calm. Take whatever supplies or hull repairs you need from my yard before the fleet strips it bare."
- Have his shipwrights replace your damaged hull planks before you go.His carpenters quickly replace your most battered hull planking with sturdy seasoned oak before the fleet crew returns.+5 hull
- Stock up on provisions from his yard stores for the becalmed passage.You load salt pork, hard bread, and a cask of beer into your galley stores for the slow trip through the dead air.+4 provisions
- [Repair 2] Have crewmate practice the precise grafting cut on a scrap of living wood.Crew: Repair 2+Dorrow shows crewmate how to saw a hand-deep cut along the grain on a scrap of living timber; the wood seals cleanly over the mark while they watch.+1 Repair skill XP
The Slipway in the Grey
Sail to The Slipway in the Grey (1–3 passages away)3 Reach the shipwright's old building ramp in the Hush fog and cut a heartwood graft from the mother tree.
The air inside the Hush fog is dead calm. At the head of the old slipway stands the mother tree, half its leaves withered gray. A Hollow ship is moored directly to the trunk, draining the tree's life through pulsing pipes.
In this dead air, neither ship will be able to maneuver quickly.
In this dead air, neither ship will be able to maneuver quickly.
- Move in and attack the Hollow ship in the dead calm.The feeding pipes wrench free of the trunk as the Hollow vessel turns its weapons on you!Battle: Hollowed ship · Close range, Dead calmIf you win:+6 crystal
- [Mundane] Send crewmate ashore at night with a saw to cut the graft unseen.Crew: Mundane
- Leave it for now.You pull back for now while the Hollow ship continues draining the tree.
The Drained Sap Tank
Right away4The wrecked Hollow ship lies on the rocks with her pipes slack. There is no crew aboard—only a central tank glowing faint green with the vital sap she drained from the mother tree.
At the top of the slipway, the weakened tree has only a few green leaves left.
At the top of the slipway, the weakened tree has only a few green leaves left.
- Pump the glowing sap into your fuel bunkers as mana crystal and cut your graft.The sap burns in your Drive like pure mana crystal. The weakened tree drops a few more leaves as your crew saw the heartwood graft from the north side of the trunk.+8 crystal
- Shatter the tank over the tree's roots to revitalize it before cutting your graft.Glowing green sap floods back into the roots, and fresh leaves sprout along the lower branches before your crew even unwrap the saw to cut the graft.
- [Shaper] Have crewmate channel the stolen sap back into the trunk to fully restore the tree.Crew: Shapercrewmate places one hand on the tank and one on the trunk, channeling every drop of stolen life back into the tree. Every branch bursts into leaf at once, and the trunk yields a pristine graft.Wear on the crewmate who acted+1 Casting skill XP
The Heartwood Graft
Right away5 Decide whether to install the heartwood graft in your ship or the harbor defense boom.
The oar-length heartwood graft weeps green sap as Dorrow rows out to meet your ship.
"If I graft this into your lower hull frame, your ship will regenerate its own hull planks between ports," he says. "Or I can graft it into the harbor defense boom so our leaking barrier hulks heal themselves and hold back the Hush."
"If I graft this into your lower hull frame, your ship will regenerate its own hull planks between ports," he says. "Or I can graft it into the harbor defense boom so our leaking barrier hulks heal themselves and hold back the Hush."
- Have Dorrow graft the living heartwood into your own ship's keel.Dorrow nods quietly and rows back beside your ship with the wrapped graft across his knees.
- Have Dorrow graft the heartwood into the harbor defense boom to protect the port.Dorrow lets out a long breath of relief and rows back beside you to reinforce the harbor barrier.
- [Shaper] Have crewmate split the graft and force both halves to root so you can save the port and upgrade your ship.Crew: Shapercrewmate channels energy into both halves of the split wood until each takes root—exhausting crewmate, but giving you one graft for your ship's keel and another to fortify the harbor boom.The questline ends here.
- Return up the shipyard ramp to the revitalized mother tree and cut a second graft for both.Restored to full leaf, the mother tree easily yields a second graft. Dorrow installs one in your ship's keel and one in the harbor boom, singing off-key as he works.Relic: Self-knitting PlanksThe front falls back 1The questline ends here.
Living Roots in the Bilge
Right away6Dorrow pegs the heartwood graft into your lower hull frame with river-mud resin. By evening, green shoots are spreading through the bilge.
By morning, an Admiralty inspector is waiting on the dock. "All living timber is under military requisition, Captain—including whatever is growing inside your hull."
By morning, an Admiralty inspector is waiting on the dock. "All living timber is under military requisition, Captain—including whatever is growing inside your hull."
- Defy the inspector and dare him to come down into your bilge to cut it out.He peers down the hatch at the thick roots already gripping your hull frames—and at your grim-faced crew surrounding him. He marks the graft "unrecoverable" and leaves; overnight, a cracked hull plank seals itself shut.The questline ends here.
- Pay the military requisition fine so you can keep the living graft legally. (40 silver)Costs 40 silverYou pay forty silver and he stamps a permit classifying the graft as "green ballast." Overnight, the roots knit a cracked hull plank shut on their own.Relic: Self-knitting PlanksThe questline ends here.
- Show the inspector your clean shipwright's cut to win his sympathy.A former shipwright himself, the inspector kneels to admire the expert grafting cut. He logs the timber as "unfit for fleet use" so you can keep it, asking only to be shown the technique.Relic: Self-knitting Planks+1 The Crown standingThe questline ends here.
- Sell the living graft to the Admiralty for silver and heavy hull reinforcement.Fleet carpenters carefully extract the rooted graft for a flagship. The Admiralty pays ninety silver and reinforces your hull planking at the naval yard.+90 silver+4 max hull+1 The Crown standingThe questline ends here.
The Harbor Defense Boom
Right away7The harbor defense boom is a chain of leaking old hulks moored across the port entrance. Dorrow pegs the living graft into the oldest hulk at the waterline.
Half the town gathers on the pier with bowls of hot soup to watch whether the living wood will take root.
Half the town gathers on the pier with bowls of hot soup to watch whether the living wood will take root.
- Wait with the townsfolk until the graft heals the defense boom.Within a week, living roots knit the barrier hulks watertight. The port holds firm against the Hush fog, and Dorrow reinforces your ship's hull planking from his finest oak.The front falls back 1+4 max hull+1 The Crown standing+1 The Free Captains standingThe questline ends here.
- Ask Dorrow for a young cutting from the boom once it takes root.Once the defense boom seals itself and halts the Hush fog at the pier, Dorrow gives you the first fresh shoot in a pot of harbor mud. Pegged into your keel, the Heartwood Shoot will hold your hull together in a crisis.The questline ends here.
- [Shaper] Have crewmate channel mana into the boom graft overnight to make it root immediately.Crew: Shapercrewmate keeps a hand on the graft all night until roots spread across the barrier hulks before dawn, sealing the harbor boom and strengthening crewmate's own control. Dorrow reinforces your hull planking in gratitude.The front falls back 1+4 max hull+1 Control+1 The Crown standingThe questline ends here.
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