The Surveyors' Marks
Anywhere in the sky
From a tavern tip
A tip bought in a tavern for 40 silver.
“An old mapmaker says pre-Charter royal surveyors carved brass markers across the peaks pointing from one to the next toward a hidden weather vault.”
Possible rewards: Old Surveyor's Chart Skyreader's Orrery Calming Bell
7 scenes. Choices with a requirement only appear when you meet it.
The First Marker
Sail to The First Survey Mark (2–4 passages away)1 Locate the old kingdom's first survey marker and record its bearing.
A stone pillar capped in green brass stands atop a bare rock crag. Engraved into the brass cap are a directional arrow, a distance in leagues, and an emblem of interlocking rings. The arrow points into the next region.
- Record the arrow's bearing on your chart and follow it.You rule the compass bearing across your chart toward the next region.
- [Lookout] Use your telescope to sight along the arrow's path first.Room: LookoutSighting along the engraved arrow through a break in the clouds, your lookout spots the distant peak holding the second marker and sketches the intervening sky lanes.Reveal 3 waypoints
- Record the bearing, then pry off the ancient brass cap to sell for silver. (+35 silver)You wrench the brass cap free and sell it to an antiquities dealer for thirty-five silver—who eagerly asks if you know where to find more old-kingdom brass.+35 silver
- Leave it for now.You leave the ancient survey pillar standing untouched for now.
The Frosted Marker
Sail to The Second Survey Mark in the next region2 Follow the first bearing to the second survey marker in the next region.
The second survey pillar stands in a freezing pocket of air—and a massive skywyrm lies coiled around the stone, soaking up the faint warmth radiating from its brass cap. Watching from a nearby rock ledge is an avian in a patched Crown Survey coat.
"I've been waiting two winters for that wyrm to leave so I can read the cap under its chin," she says.
"I've been waiting two winters for that wyrm to leave so I can read the cap under its chin," she says.
- Attack the skywyrm to clear the survey pillar.The frost-rimed skywyrm uncoils from the pillar and launches itself at your ship!Battle: Skywyrm · Hard frost
- [Ice mage] Have crewmate drain the heat from the brass cap so the skywyrm leaves on its own.Crew: Ice caster · Magecrewmate steadily chills the warm brass cap until the disgruntled skywyrm uncoils and flies off in search of a warmer roost, letting you and the surveyor read the marker safely.−18 mana (the crewmate who acted)+1 Casting skill XP
- Pay the stranded surveyor for the bearing she estimated from the ledge. (35 silver)Costs 35 silverHaving studied the angle of the cap from her ledge for two winters, she sells you an estimated bearing accurate enough to guide your ship to the final site.
- Sell your first marker's bearing to the Crown surveyor instead. (+50 silver)With your starting bearing in hand, she can triangulate the line without disturbing the wyrm, paying you fifty silver in Crown Survey drafts.+50 silver+1 The Crown standing
- Leave it for now.You pull back for now while the skywyrm dozes atop the warm brass pillar.
The Final Bearing
Right away3The surveyor takes a rubbing of the second brass cap: the same interlocking-rings emblem and an arrow pointing one more region ahead.
"The trail ends one region further on, behind a belt of constant hail," she says. "I don't have a ship tough enough to cross it—but you do."
"The trail ends one region further on, behind a belt of constant hail," she says. "I don't have a ship tough enough to cross it—but you do."
- Recruit the sharp-eyed avian surveyor into your crew for the final passage.She grabs her gear bag and signs onto your crew as an eagle-eyed rigger, eager to see what lies at the end of the trail.New crewmate: Avian, Rigger
- Ask for her two winters of sky-lane observations instead of bringing her aboard.She copies two winters' worth of observed shipping lanes and hazards onto your chart before returning to her camp.Reveal 4 waypoints
The Crown Surveyor's Proposal
Right away4Beneath its patches, her coat still bears official Crown Survey buttons. "The trail ends one region ahead, past a belt of heavy hail," she says. "Carry me and my instruments to the regional survey office so the Crown can claim whatever the old surveyors hid—or follow the bearing yourself before our cutter gets there."
- Transport the Crown surveyor and her instruments to the next region's survey office.She boards within the hour with her padded instrument cases, setting up across your chart table for the voyage.New job: A Crown surveyor
- Follow the final bearing yourself to claim whatever lies at the end of the trail.She nods unsurprised as you set course for the hail belt yourself.
The Weather Vault
Sail to The Weather Engine House in the next region5 Follow the second marker's bearing to the hidden weather vault in the next region.
The final bearing leads to a round stone vault capped with a brass dome in the middle of a battering hailstorm—yet not a single hailstone falls within a ship's length of its walls. Through the unlocked door, you hear brass gears turning smoothly inside.
- Land and explore the ruined foundry.Landfall: The Weather Engine House
- Sell the vault's location to the antiquities dealer who bought your first brass cap. (+120 silver)When you report an entire building full of ancient kingdom brass, the dealer's Compact agent pays you a hundred and twenty silver without haggling.+120 silver+1 The Compact standingThe questline ends here.
- Leave it for now.You pull back through the curtain of hail for now.
The Crown's Claim
At the delivery port6 Deliver the Crown surveyor to a port in the next region.
At the regional survey office, clerks snap to attention as she presents her rubbings. By evening, a Crown cutter is dispatched to seal the ancient site.
"Two winters on a frozen ledge finally paid off," she says, picking up the office requisition list. "Now, Captain—how would you like the Crown Survey to reward you?"
"Two winters on a frozen ledge finally paid off," she says, picking up the office requisition list. "Now, Captain—how would you like the Crown Survey to reward you?"
- Have Crown Survey technicians upgrade your ship's Lookout room and pay forty silver.Survey technicians spend the day outfitting your Lookout station with a new telescope, bearing ring, and covered chart desk, plus forty silver in transport pay.Upgrade: Lookout+40 silverThe questline ends here.
- Take a masterwork Survey Chart fitting and sixty silver.She signs out an official master Survey Chart—revealing points of interest whenever you enter a new region—along with sixty silver.The questline ends here.
- Take the full carrier's reward in cash. (+120 silver)The survey purser pays you a hundred and twenty silver in newly minted coin.+120 silver+1 The Crown standingThe questline ends here.
The Orrery
Right away7 Explore the inside of the ancient weather vault.
Inside the center of the stone chamber spins a clockwork weather orrery—interlocking brass rings calibrated for wind, hail, rain, frost, and ash that push storms away from the building. On a shelf beside it rests a smaller prototype hand-bell forged from the same alloy.
- Unbolt the clockwork Weather Orrery and mount it on your ship.Your crew spend a full day unbolting the ancient Weather Orrery and mounting it on your deck, where its spinning rings deflect hazardous weather away from your hull.Relic: Skyreader's OrreryThe questline ends here.
- [Gnome] Have crewmate diagram the orrery's gear ratios for the Compact before mounting it on your ship.Crew: Gnomecrewmate records every gear ratio in a notebook before carefully installing the Weather Orrery on your deck; selling a copy of the notes to the Compact earns you fifty silver.The questline ends here.
- Leave the orrery running and take the prototype Calm Bell and spare brass instead.Leaving the vault's weather shield intact, you take the prototype Calm Bell—which summons fair wind in battle—along with sixty silver worth of spare brass.Device: Calming Bell+60 silverThe questline ends here.
Data from Magehold Fairwinds v1.9.26. Spotted something out of date? Discord