Blood-Price

UncommonThe HighwildsAct III

From a chance meeting

Possible rewards: Guild Master's Seal War Drum

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

Shared Shelter

Right away1

Driving hail forces you under a cliff overhang where a clan warbird already lies moored. By the law of guest-right, ships sheltering from the same storm share one fire. Her captain, a Lupine named Varg Thornback, presses one hand to a crossbow bolt wound in his ribs and rests the other on an ironbound lockbox. "Blood-price for a Windmere man I killed. It is due by the new moon, and I am in no shape to fly."

Agree to carry the blood-price to Windmere for him.
His crew carry the heavy lockbox across through the hail and set it carefully on your deck. "Do not break the seal," Varg warns. "They will know."
New job: A blood-price in silver
→ The Dead Man's Mother
[Surgeon] Have crewmate extract the bolt from his ribs, then carry the box.
Crew: Surgeon
crewmate cuts the barbed bolt out before the hail stops. It will be ten days before Varg can fly, and the new moon will not wait. He sends the sealed lockbox with you—along with the bloody bolt itself, so Windmere can see what the fight cost him.
+1 The Clans standingNew job: A blood-price in silver
→ The Dead Man's Mother
Loot the paymaster's lockbox.
You violate guest-right beside his own fire. His crew leap to their guns before your hands even close on the lockbox.
−2 The Clans standingBattle: Clan warbird · Close range, Hail, no escapeIf you win:+60 silver
→ The Box Opened
Share his fire for the night, then fly on when the hail stops.
You share his bread and he shares yours. When you cast off in the morning, his warbird still lies moored under the overhang, and the new moon is one day closer.
The questline ends here.

The Dead Man's Mother

At the delivery port2

Deliver the blood-price to the dead man's clan at Windmere.

The lockbox is brought before an old Avian, Mother Irrith, who does not touch the latch. "Varg Thornback was bound to deliver this with his own hands. That was the settlement. The silver is only its weight." Behind her, the young warriors of Windmere are already sharpening their talons.

Tell her about Varg's wound.
[Beastborn] Have crewmate swear to Varg's wound upon the clan totem.
Crew: Beastborn
crewmate lays a hand directly upon the Windmere totem and testifies to what you saw. No Beastborn lies with a hand on the totem.
+1 The Clans standing
→ The Broken Seal
Set the bloody bolt pulled from Varg's ribs on top of the box.
She turns the bolt over in her talons. It is a Windmere quarrel fletched with her dead son's feathers, rusted dark from sitting deep in Lupine flesh. "So he carried one of ours home in his ribs. That is hands enough."
+1 The Clans standing
→ The Broken Seal
Leave the box and depart. Their feud is none of your business.
She pays your lawful carrier's fee. Before your ship even clears the moorings, the first of her young warriors are already launching into the sky.
+40 silver
→ War Paint

The Box Opened

Right away3

Inside the forced lockbox lies a grown man's weight in silver, topped by a Lupine's hair braid sheared off at the scalp. Your crew have barely counted the first handful of coin when someone points to the stamping: every piece bears a clan wolf's head, and breaking the hasp shattered the wax seal. No clan port will touch this silver now—and Windmere will believe Varg defaulted on his blood-price.

[Quartermaster] Have crewmate sort out the unmarked coins you can spend right now.
Crew: Quartermaster
crewmate sifts through the chest coin by coin. A handful of plain charter silver was mixed in to make up the exact weight; those go straight into the ship's purse, while the wolf-stamped coins are hidden under the ballast until you find a fence.
+30 silver
→ Wolf's-Head Silver
Hide the chest and look for a fence in a non-clan port.
You stow the lockbox beneath the ballast Stones—leaving the severed braid inside, since nobody aboard wants the bad luck of tossing it overboard.
→ Wolf's-Head Silver

The Broken Seal

Right away4

Mother Irrith finally lifts the lid. Inside lies silver equal to a grown man's weight, topped by a Lupine's braided lock of hair sheared off at the scalp. The young warriors put away their whetstones. She snaps the black wax seal off the box and holds it out to you. "The token of a ship that carried a blood-price and kept the seal whole. Every clan trade agent honors it. Or clan law entitles a carrier to a tenth of the silver—choose one."

Take the wax seal.
It is a heavy disc of black wax stamped with a Windmere pinion feather. Mounted in your cabin, it carries more weight than a letter of credit with any trade agent who knows Windmere, and Guild countinghouses honor it like a master's seal.
Relic: Guild Master's Seal+1 The Clans standing
The questline ends here.
Take a tenth of the silver.
She counts out your share coin by coin without hurrying. A tenth of a man's weight in silver is a hefty sum.
+110 silver
The questline ends here.

War Paint

Right away5

Four young Windmere warriors launch behind you in a light warbird, streaked in war paint and steering straight for the overhang where Varg Thornback lies wounded. Their warbird is faster than his heavy craft, though slower than yours. Under clan law, a carrier's duty is finished.

Hold your course. You fulfilled your contract.
You keep to your heading. Astern, the Windmere warbird shrinks against the cloud bank and vanishes. You never learn how the raid ended.
The questline ends here.
Cut across their bow and fight to protect Varg.
They dip their wings once to warn you off. When you hold position, they open fire.
−1 The Clans standingBattle: Clan warbird · Gale
→ Varg's Debt
[Helm 2] Have crewmate outfly the warbird through the canyon and warn Varg.
Crew: Helm 2+
crewmate threads the short side of the pass with every inch of canvas taut. Varg's warbird slips away from the overhang an hour before the Windmere raiders arrive. On the rock ledge, you find what he left behind for you: a purse of silver and his thanks carved into the stone.
+50 silver+1 Helm skill XP
The questline ends here.

Wolf's-Head Silver

At a port6

Find a buyer at a port for the stolen blood-price silver.

The money-changer bites a coin, spots the wolf's head stamp, and drops it on the table as if it burned his fingers. "Blood-price silver. I can melt it down into ingots for two-thirds of its weight. Spend it unmelted, and it'll buy you a noose in every hall from here to the pass." His eyes catch on the severed braid inside the box, and he falls silent.

Have him melt the silver into plain ingots.
The coins come out of his crucible as unmarked silver bars. Two-thirds of a man's weight is still a small fortune. He keeps the severed braid for reasons he does not share.
+80 silver
The questline ends here.
Pay him to forward the lockbox to Windmere, minus what you already pocketed.
He stares at you, then names his fee and a courier who asks no questions. The blood-price reaches Windmere late, light, and with a broken seal—yet it is enough to halt the feud, and you keep the coins already in your purse.
+2 The Clans standing
The questline ends here.

Varg's Debt

Right away7

With their mainmast splintered, the young Windmere raiders break off and limp toward home. Varg watched the whole skirmish from his deck, propped against a spar. "You carried my debt, and then you fought my feud. I asked for the first; I had no right to ask for the second." He has little left to offer beyond the gear bolted to his own ship.

Ask for the war-drum mounted on his mast.
A Lupine parts with his war-drum only for someone who saved his life. Beaten on your deck as battle begins, its thunder puts fire into every step your crew takes.
Fitting: War Drum
The questline ends here.
Ask to recruit a crewman who is sick of the feud.
His first mate steps across the gangway before you even finish asking. She has buried two brothers in this feud already, and she wants to sail under a sky where nobody knows her clan's name.
New crewmate: Lupine, Marine
The questline ends here.

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