The Honest Scales
From a job
Cargo: Assay weights in felt (fragile)
“The market warden placed the order himself and paid for the weights out of his own pocket.”
Possible rewards: Old Coin Scales
5 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.
The Market Warden
At the delivery port1 Deliver the brass assay weights to the market warden.
Market Warden Tobin Ashlock tests each brass weight on the market's scales and groans in frustration. "Your weights are true, captain, but our market scales are rigged—and always have been. The crooked warden before me pawned the market's original charter scales in a neighboring port. I can't leave my post, but I need those scales back."
- Offer to track down the pawnbroker and recover the charter scales.He writes the pawnbroker's name and port on a slip of paper and hands you two crates of provisions for the trip. "He'll demand silver I don't have, but an honest market remembers the captain who restored its scales."+2 provisions
- [Quartermaster] Ask which merchants are profiting from the rigged scales.Crew: Quartermastercrewmate asks who weighs the port's grain. The warden names three wealthy grain houses, gives you the pawnbroker's address, and tells crewmate which shipping lanes those merchants patrol.Reveal 3 waypoints
- Take your delivery pay and leave.He pays you twelve silver for delivering the weights and goes back to his rigged scales.+12 silverThe questline ends here.
The Pawnbroker's Shelf
At a port2 Recover the old coin scales from the pawnbroker.
The charter scales sit on a high shelf between a stuffed heron and a ship's clock: a black iron balance beam with worn silver pans. The pawnbroker, a vulpine in a quilted coat, names his price before you even ask. "Forty silver. Those scales are older than the Guild itself."
- Pay 40 silver for the scales.Costs 40 silverHe wraps the scales in a flour sack and writes out a receipt you didn't ask for.
- [Vulpine] Have crewmate haggle with the pawnbroker.Crew: Vulpinecrewmate and the pawnbroker spend half an hour trading stories about distant cousins, knocking the price down to just ten silver and a handshake.−10 silver
- Threaten to report him to the Guild for fencing stolen market property.
- Leave it for now.You leave the shop empty-handed. The scales have sat on that shelf for eleven years; they aren't going anywhere.
Old Coin Scales
Right away3 Decide what to do with the market's old coin scales.
Balanced on your chart table, the charter scales are astonishingly precise—even a slightly shaved coin tips the beam. Keeping them aboard would ensure no port trader ever cheats your crew again, though Warden Ashlock is waiting for them back at the market.
- Keep the scales aboard your ship to catch dishonest traders.You stow the scales in a chest under your bunk. Word spreads quickly among port merchants that nobody can short-change your ship.Relic: Old Coin ScalesThe questline ends here.
- Pack the scales for delivery back to the market warden.You pack the scales safely in felt and send word ahead to the market warden that they are on their way.New job: The old coin scales
- Lie to the warden that the scales were already sold, and keep them yourself.Sending a false apology is easier than admitting you kept them, though the Guild takes a dim view of the excuse. The scales stay under your bunk.Relic: Old Coin Scales−1 The Guild standingThe questline ends here.
- See what the corrupt grain merchants will pay to keep the scales buried.You don't have to look far—an agent wearing a grain house's colors has been watching your ship from the pier since you left the pawnshop.
True Weight
At the delivery port4 Deliver the old coin scales to the market warden.
Warden Ashlock hangs the charter scales under the market arch as a crowd gathers to watch a baker's loaf weighed. The loaf comes up short, and the baker flushes bright red. By nightfall, three crooked grain merchants have fled town and the honest stallholders are lining up to thank you.
- Accept the stallholders' silver collection.The grateful merchants pass a hat that comes back heavy with seventy silver, and the local Guild clerk commends your ship's honesty.+70 silver+2 The Guild standingThe questline ends here.
- Ask for discounted ship supplies instead of a big purse.The stallholders stock your lockers with provisions and sky-crystal at honest wholesale cost, leaving you forty silver ahead.+6 provisions+4 crystal+40 silver+1 The Guild standingThe questline ends here.
- Publicly weigh the grain houses' bribe purse on the new scales.You drop the grain houses' bribe purse into the silver pan—and the beam comes up short! They paid you in shaved coins. The crowd reads the three merchant crests stamped on the leather pouch aloud. The Guild clerk confiscates the evidence, pays you ninety silver in full-weight coin, and clears your name.+90 silver+2 The Guild standing−1 heatThe questline ends here.
The Grain Houses' Agent
Right away5An agent in a grain merchant's coat waits at the foot of your boarding ramp. "Three merchant houses control the grain trade in that market, captain, and all three want those scales to stay lost. Sell them to me for eighty-five silver and I'll drop them in the river myself. Or take a thirty-silver retainer just to delay your delivery—and carry them wherever you please."
- Sell the scales to the agent for 85 silver.He pays you in good coin and has a dock boy toss the flour sack off the end of the pier. You hear the splash from your deck. The market warden will keep waiting in vain.+85 silver−1 The Guild standingThe questline ends here.
- Take his 30-silver bribe and deliver the scales to the market warden anyway.He counts thirty silver into your palm, convinced he has bought a long delay. As soon as he leaves, you pack the scales in felt and set course for the market.+30 silver+1 heatNew job: The old coin scales
- Refuse his bribe and send him away.He bows stiffly and steps back into the dockside crowd, leaving you to decide what to do with the scales.
Data from Magehold Fairwinds v1.9.26. Spotted something out of date? Discord