Steel Traps
Anywhere in the sky
From a job
Cargo: Steel jaw traps (contraband)
“The shipper pays in advance and refuses to put a name on the manifest.”
Possible rewards: Storm Sails
6 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.
The Poachers' Ledge
At the delivery port1 Deliver the contraband steel jaw traps.
Your buyers are illegal poachers moored beneath a cliff overhang outside port. Iron cages line their deck, each holding a captured stormray pup beating its wings against the bars. Their boss, Corwin Slate, pays your delivery fee without haggling. "Clan law hangs poachers for trapping stormrays, so a lowland collector pays forty silver a head. My hold is full—I need a second ship to smuggle this last caged pup to the buyer."
- Accept the smuggling job and take the caged stormray pup aboard.Your crew carries the cage aboard hidden under a tarp. Inside, the stormray pup lets out a high, ceaseless distress cry that sets your teeth on edge.New job: A caged stormray pup
- Take your delivery pay, then report the poachers' hideout to the nearest Avian clan aerie.An Avian clan warden listens to your report with flattened feathers. "A hailstorm is rolling down the pass tonight—its roar will mask our approach. Since you found their ledge, fly in with my warbird and help us wipe them out."
- Take your delivery pay and leave.Slate tosses you fifteen silver for your silence, though the pups' high-pitched cries echo behind you as you fly away.+15 silverThe questline ends here.
The Collector's Broker
At the delivery port2 Deliver the caged stormray pup to the collector's agent.
On a private dock, the collector's agent inspects the iron bars before counting out your silver; the stormray pup has chewed halfway through one rod. Worse, it has been crying out the entire voyage—and for the past hour, something massive has been calling back from the storm clouds behind you.
- Hand over the cage, grab your 70 silver, and cast off immediately!He pays you seventy silver, and you are barely a mile off the pier when the storm clouds split open above his dock!+70 silver−1 The Clans standing
- Refuse to hand it over and throw the cage door open on the dock!
Under Cover of Hail
Sail to The Poachers' Overhang (1–3 passages away)3 Join the Avian clan warden's raid on the poachers' overhang under cover of hail.
Rattling hail hammers the cliff overhang, masking the hum of your ship. Below you, the poachers' vessel lies dark with twenty cages stacked across her deck, while Warden Ketta's clan warbird hovers off your flank waiting for you to lead the attack.
- Dive in through the hailstorm and attack the poachers' ship!The poachers don't spot your hull until your shadow falls across their deck—they chop their mooring lines with axes and open fire!Battle: Sky pirates · Close range, HailIf you win:+4 bolts
- [Vulpine] Lower crewmate on a line to pick the cage locks before the battle starts.Crew: VulpineUnder cover of the drumming hail, crewmate slides down a cable and picks all twenty cage locks with a bent spike. Twenty stormray pups burst into the sky at once, leaving the panicked poachers to surrender under the guns of both ships without a fight!
- Leave it for now.You hold position in the hailstorm alongside the warden's warbird, waiting for a better moment.
The Mother Strikes
Right away4Behind you, a matriarch stormray as wide as a warehouse drops out of the clouds and smashes the collector's dock to kindling! Then she wheels around toward your ship—the cage sat in your cargo hold for days, and your timbers still carry her pup's scent.
- Open fire on the scavenger sloop!The giant stormray skims low over the shattered pier and charges straight into your broadside!Battle: Storm-ray · Close rangeIf you win:+40 silverThe questline ends here.
- Hurl the scent-soaked cage blanket overboard as a decoy and run for it!
- [Avian] Have crewmate fly the scent-soaked blanket a mile downwind into a cloud bank.Crew: Aviancrewmate carries the blanket a mile downwind and drops it into a thick cloud bank, luring the giant stormray far away from your ship. crewmate returns pale-faced, but with new insight into reading wind currents.+1 Helm skill XPThe questline ends here.
Empty Cages
Right away5 Claim your share of the spoils from Warden Ketta Highwind.
Warden Ketta Highwind strides across the captured poachers' deck, kicking the last empty cages overboard. "Clan law grants the finder a full share of the seizure. The poachers' sails are cut from poached stormray hide—take them so they fly cleanly instead of being sold. Or you can take your share in silver from their lockbox, or sign on my restless nephew who wants to see the lowland skies."
- Claim the poachers' ray-hide storm-sails and 30 silver.You fit the supple gray storm-sails to your yards, and Warden Ketta adds thirty silver from the poachers' strongbox.Fitting: Storm Sails+30 silverThe questline ends here.
- Take the nephew.Her nephew swoops down onto your mainyard before she even finishes speaking, and she sends thirty silver along for his gear.New crewmate: Avian, Rigger+30 silverThe questline ends here.
- Take your full share in silver from the poachers' strongbox. (100 silver)She splits the poachers' lockbox evenly on a cage lid, handing you one hundred silver.+100 silver+1 The Clans standingThe questline ends here.
- Claim both the storm-sails you earned earlier and your finder's share of the strongbox!Ketta lets out a rare laugh. "You freed a pup on the dock, and then you flew with me against the trappers—you've earned both rewards." Her scout delivers the ray-hide storm-sails while Ketta counts out sixty silver on top.The questline ends here.
The Clan Scout's Request
Right away6The young Avian scout stands on your rail with hail melting on her feathers and a roll of supple gray ray-hide tucked under one wing. "Warden Ketta Highwind saw you open that cage. By clan law, these storm-sails are yours. But the poachers who set those traps are still moored under a cliff overhang with twenty more caged pups, and the warden has only a single warbird. Will you fly with her tonight to free the rest?"
- Take the ray-hide storm-sails now and fly on.Your crew fits the supple gray ray-hide sails, which shed gale winds like water, as the scout takes wing.Fitting: Storm SailsThe questline ends here.
- Have her hold onto the sails for now and join Warden Ketta's raid on the poachers!She marks the poachers' overhang on your chart. "Strike when the hailstorm hits tonight—the ice will drown out the sound of our approach!"
Data from Magehold Fairwinds v1.9.26. Spotted something out of date? Discord