The Thunderhead Run

The Unlicensed Reaches

UncommonThe Reaches & the Free MusterAct III

From a job

Cargo: Unstamped crystal (contraband)

“The shipper pays double rate and asks only that you dock after dark.”

Possible rewards: Smuggler's Run Storm Sails

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

The Smuggler's Den

At the delivery port1

Deliver the unstamped crystal after dark.

Den-master Pell Marrow, a sharp-eyed Lutrine, inspects the smuggled crystal by lamplight and pays promptly. "The Crown Excise cutter Diligence has blockaded my channel for a month, seizing every smuggling sloop I send out. East of here hangs a permanent thunderhead. If a ship with an unstamped stern-lamp lures the Diligence into that lightning storm, we can break her blockade for good."

Offer to act as bait and lure the cutter Diligence into the thunderhead.
Pell marks the standing thunderhead on your chart and hangs a bright smuggler's signal lamp from your stern rail. "The Diligence will chase that lamp straight into hell."
+1 heat
→ The Bait Lamp
Offer to smuggle his next cargo out through his hidden back channel instead.
Pell grins and lifts a lantern. "Come look at the back canyon first—it's a razor-tight squeeze."
→ The Back Canyon
Take your delivery pay and leave.
He pays you a fifteen-silver bonus for arriving on schedule after dark.
+15 silver
The questline ends here.

The Bait Lamp

Right away2

Stay ahead of the pursuing Excise cutter Diligence.

Before you are even a mile out, the Excise cutter Diligence slips her moorings and gives chase, her bow guns aimed at your glowing stern lamp. Behind her back, two of Pell's smuggling sloops slip safely out of the cove in the dark—while you still have miles to cover to reach the thunderhead.

Burn 2 crystal to overload your Drive and hold your lead.
Costs 2 crystal
Your engine roars, keeping you safely out of range of her bow chasers, and one of Pell's escaping sloops drops a floating keg holding twenty-five silver in your path as thanks.
+25 silver
→ Into the Thunderhead
Let the Diligence close the distance to make sure she follows you into the storm.
[Rigger] Have crewmate trim the sails for every gust to outpace the cutter.
Crew: Rigger
crewmate wrings extra speed from every gust, keeping you ahead of the Diligence while earning helm experience and a twenty-five-silver drop from Pell's runners.
+1 Helm skill XP+25 silver
→ Into the Thunderhead

The Back Canyon

Right away3

Inspect the smuggler's narrow back channel.

The back way out of Pell's den is a pitch-black rock chasm barely wider than your hull. "The Excise cutter has too deep a draft to enter this crevice," Pell explains, pointing to a stack of disguised lamp-oil tins containing smuggled Dust. "Most ships have to inch through with deckhands fending off the rock walls by hand."

Load the contraband tins and inch carefully through the rock chasm.
Your crew load the disguised tins of Dust and guide the ship slowly through the dark crevice.
New job: Dust in lamp-oil tins
→ The Dust Dealer
[Helm 2] Have crewmate fly the narrow chasm at full speed to impress Pell.
Crew: Helm 2+
crewmate threads the pitch-black canyon at full throttle with inches to spare on either rail! Laughing in amazement, Pell tosses a thirty-silver bonus atop the contraband tins.
+30 silver+1 Helm skill XPNew job: Dust in lamp-oil tins
→ The Dust Dealer
Tell him the chasm is too narrow for the your ship, and offer to lure the cutter into the storm instead.
Pell shrugs, marks the thunderhead on your chart, and hangs the bait lamp on your stern rail.
+1 heat
→ The Bait Lamp

Into the Thunderhead

Sail to The Standing Thunderhead (2–4 passages away)4

Lure the Excise cutter Diligence into the standing thunderhead.

Towering black anvil clouds fill half the sky, crackling with natural lightning that no shipboard mage can deflect. The Excise cutter Diligence is a mile astern, charging straight after your stern lamp into the tempest.

Turn around and fight the Diligence inside the lightning storm.
You swing your helm hard over to engage as the first jagged bolt of lightning crashes between the two hulls.
Battle: Excise cutter · Thunderstorm
→ The Smuggler's Reward
[Helm 2] Lose the cutter inside the anvil cloud.
Crew: Helm 2+
crewmate threads the violent updrafts; the pursuing Diligence takes two direct lightning strikes to her masts and limps back to port for drydock repairs.
−3 hull+1 Helm skill XP
→ The Smuggler's Reward
Cut the bait lamp loose on a floating spar to lure her into the worst of the lightning.
Having closed right onto your tail, the overeager cutter charges straight after the floating lamp into the heart of the anvil cloud. Three lightning bolts shatter her topmast, sending her limping home in defeat.
→ The Smuggler's Reward
Put out the bait lamp and slip away, abandoning Pell's plan.
You extinguish the lamp and slip out of the storm, leaving the unharmed Diligence to resume her blockade of Pell's cove.
The questline ends here.
Keep your distance outside the storm for now.
You circle outside the thunderhead with the cutter trailing cautiously astern.

The Dust Dealer

At the delivery port5

Deliver the disguised tins of Dust.

A silver-nailed dealer signs for the disguised tins. "Pell said you were a capable runner. I can pay you ninety-five silver in cash, or give you a set of storm-silk sails salvaged from a wrecked blockade runner plus twenty silver."

Take the storm-silk sails and 20 silver.
Your riggers bend the heavy storm-silk canvas to your yards, letting your ship hold steady in the roughest weather, and you pocket twenty silver.
Fitting: Storm Sails+20 silver
The questline ends here.
Take the silver.
She counts out ninety-five silver in small street coin, though Excise informants take note of the Dust payoff.
+95 silver+1 heat
The questline ends here.
[Rigger] Have crewmate inspect the bundle of storm canvas before choosing.
Crew: Rigger
crewmate discovers a second spare suit of sails rolled inside the bundle and talks the dealer into giving you the storm sails plus forty-five silver for the extra canvas.
Fitting: Storm Sails+45 silver
The questline ends here.

The Smuggler's Reward

Right away6

Claim your reward from Pell Marrow for breaking the blockade.

With the Diligence driven off, Pell Marrow rows out to meet you in a skiff loaded with gear and a heavy lockbox. "She choked off my cove for a solid month! Name your reward, Captain: a hundred and ten silver in cash, or the quick-release ballast rig that has kept my runners out of Excise irons for twenty years."

Have his riggers install the quick-release smuggler's ballast rig.
His crew fit a quick-drop ballast pin under your keel that lets your ship surge ahead at the start of any chase or battle.
Relic: Smuggler's Run
The questline ends here.
Take the 110 silver payout.
He opens the lockbox and counts out a hundred and ten silver. "Worth every coin to have my channel open again."
+110 silver
The questline ends here.
[Smuggler's Nook] Take the quick-release ballast rig plus 5 unstamped crystals in your hidden hold.
Room: Smuggler's Nook
His riggers install the quick-release ballast gear, and Pell packs five crates of unstamped crystal behind your false bulkhead as a bonus.
Relic: Smuggler's Run+5 crystal+1 heat
The questline ends here.

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