It is day 22 of month 3, 1042, at Fort Keel on Dunmarch. Last winter the Union gunship Stubborn broke in two on the reef below the fort. She carried new rune rifles for the militia. Raiders took some in spring. Six crates of ten rifles each still lie in her flooded hold, and jolt eels and keel sharks now live in that hold.
This season a new raider crew came to Gull Cove. Its captain, Conrad Merrow, is a former Dominion navy gunner who never signed the Drift Charter. A Dominion officer pays him in Crowns to bleed the Union militia while its troops are on Tarrow. He bought forty Dominion rifles from Loris Kade at Pike Barn. Copies of the militia patrol schedule reach him from someone at Gale Watch. The schedule shows that no boat patrols the reef tonight.
Merrow plans to take the last sixty rifles at low tide tonight, 23:40. With them he can arm twenty more raiders and hit the convoy that sails for The Tangle on day 28. Barrog Skane's younger brother Rurik signed on with Merrow last week for double shares.
Brenna Stahl (about 35), commander of Fort Keel. She wants the rifles back and the name of whoever feeds the raiders. She cannot spare troops to attack Gull Cove.
Conrad Merrow (about 38), the new raider captain. He wants the rifles and the Dominion pay. He leaves his men behind when it suits him.
Rurik Skane (24), Barrog's brother. He wants to prove himself. He has never killed anyone.
Loris Kade sells guns to every side from Pike Barn. He is not in this story directly.
The crew is the Tenacity crew, on the privateer frigate Tenacity. Augustin Valois is the captain, a former Dominion gunnery officer who served with Conrad Merrow. Hruna Skov is a Gorr deck soldier and twenty-year veteran of this coast. Piotr Lasko is a loud gunner with a hand cannon. Maelis Arden is a Wayfolk weather reader and healer raised on Compact ships. Brenna Stahl has hired them to guard the day 28 convoy. The player runs one of them. The GM runs the other three as companions.
Dacre Wolsey, Barrog Skane and Maeve Lacey are NPCs now. Dacre owns the Lightning Rod tavern and runs its bounty board. Barrog runs the cave bar at Gull Cove. Maeve is a boat guide from the harbour who knows the reef gap.
Stat blocks. Conrad Merrow uses the Raider Captain stat block, and so does his first mate. His two lieutenants use Raid Chief. His gunners use Swivel Gunner, and the Dominion deserters in his crew use Dominion Marine. Rurik Skane uses Compact Raider. The things in the hold are Jolt Eels and Keel Sharks. Militia soldiers use Union Rifleman. Budget for four level 12 characters is Low 8,800, Moderate 14,800 and High 18,800.
The fort yard, 07:30. At Fort Keel, Brenna Stahl signs up anyone who can shoot for 30 Marks a month and a militia badge. She tells new hands about the Stubborn Wreck. She pays 40 Crowns for every rifle brought back. She gives them a rough plan of the hold and the tide times.
A DC 14 Wisdom (Insight) check shows that she is angry, and that she thinks someone is selling her patrol times.
The wounded men at the surgeon's door were shot two nights ago on a patrol boat. A DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check gets one to say that the raiders were waiting at the exact spot and time of the patrol.
If asked about Gull Cove, Brenna says she cannot attack eighty pirates with half a fort. She will pay for names.
The Lightning Rod, afternoon. The tavern is an hour's walk up the hill road. The bounty board by the fire holds Brenna's new notice. It says "Conrad Merrow, raider captain at Gull Cove. 800 Crowns alive, 400 dead. Paid at Fort Keel." A herder at the bar says two longboats rowed out to the reef at dusk two nights in a row. Both times they turned back. A DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check on the herder shows he is telling the truth.
Gull Cove, evening. By boat from the fort harbour it is an hour's sail. The reef gap needs a DC 15 Dexterity check with water vehicles in the wind. Maeve Lacey knows the gap, so the check has advantage when she steers. Maelis Arden reads the wind in the gap, so her check has advantage too. In Barrog Skane's cave bar, Conrad Merrow and ten men sit at a long table with their new rifles.
Rurik Skane is among them. He brags about a night job that will make him rich. A DC 16 Charisma (Persuasion) check gets him to promise to stay with the boats tonight.
Barrog knows that the rifles came from Loris Kade and that the patrol maps come from someone at Gale Watch. He sells both names for a safe way off Dunmarch for himself and his brother. The check to make Rurik stay back has advantage if Barrog asks him.
Starting a fight in the cave is a very bad idea. About eighty pirates use the cove.
At 22:30 Merrow leaves with 14 men in two longboats.
The Stubborn Wreck, 23:20. The rock path from the shore opens at 23:20. Crossing the wet rocks in the dark takes 20 minutes and a DC 14 Dexterity (Acrobatics) check. On a failure a character falls into the cold surf and takes 1d6 bludgeoning damage. The hold is under 4 feet of water. Each crate needs two people and a full round to lift onto the deck. A block and tackle halves the time.
The hold. The Jolt Eels and Keel Sharks live here, and they are what has fed on the bodies. They attack anyone who stands in the water. Anyone who stays on the tilted deck and lifts crates with a rope is safe from them. Encounter math. Four level 12 characters, Low 8,800. 4 Jolt Eel and 2 Keel Shark are 7,400 XP, Low.
The raid, 23:50. Two big longboats come around the reef with Conrad Merrow, his first mate, 2 lieutenants, 4 gunners and 6 Dominion deserters. Rurik Skane is with them unless he promised to stay back. The gunners shoot from the boats, which give half cover. The others climb the hull with chain hooks. Augustin Valois knows Merrow's old gun drill. If he warns the crew before the boats arrive, the gunners' first volley has disadvantage. Piotr Lasko can hole a longboat with his hand cannon.
Encounter math. Four level 12 characters, High 18,800. 2 Raider Captain (7,800), 2 Raid Chief (3,600), 4 Swivel Gunner (1,800), 6 Dominion Marine (4,200) and Rurik as a Compact Raider (200) make 17,600 XP, High. If Rurik stayed back, the fight is 17,400 XP, still High.
If things go badly, the crew can fall back up the rock path to the shore. The raiders came for the rifles and will not chase anyone into the dark.
The raiders run when half are down or when Merrow falls. Merrow fights until below a quarter of his hit points, then jumps into a boat if one is still afloat.
Rurik gives up at once if his brother calls to him, or on a DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check.
Merrow's map case holds 320 Dominion Crowns and the sailing date of the day 28 convoy. It also holds a copy of the patrol schedule in a Gale Watch hand.
Back at the fort, day 23. With the map case, Brenna sends word to Elske Brask at Gale Watch. She pays for the rifles and the bounty. For Barrog and Rurik, she can sign them on as guards on the day 28 convoy to The Tangle. That gets them off Dunmarch with no questions asked. She may also offer the whole crew that convoy.
Day 22, 23:50. Merrow's crew takes all six crates from the Stubborn Wreck. One raider is killed by the eel.
Day 24. Twenty more raiders carry new rifles. They burn two militia boats in the harbour at Saltwick.
Day 25. The fort blames Saltwick and arrests three fishing families who sold fish to the raiders.
Day 28. The convoy for The Tangle is attacked off Skerry. One hauler is taken. Rurik Skane is shot in the boarding.
Month 4. Brenna asks the Union Hall for her troops back and is told to wait.
Good. The rifles are back in the fort and Conrad Merrow is caught or dead. Both Skane brothers are safe.
Mixed. Some rifles are saved, but Merrow escapes, or Rurik is killed or jailed.
Bad. The raiders get the rifles, and the day 28 convoy sails into a trap.
Brenna Stahl pays 40 Crowns for each rifle brought back, up to 2,400 Crowns.
The bounty on Conrad Merrow is 800 Crowns alive or 400 dead, paid at Fort Keel.
Militia pay is 30 Marks a month for anyone who signs on.
Brenna offers the crew the Freighter Escort to the Tangle gig on the day 28 convoy.
One Rune Rifle from the hold for each player character who carried a crate out.
Brenna Stahl becomes a contact. She owes the crew a favour.
Heroic Inspiration for saving Rurik Skane or holding the wreck at real risk.
The leak at Gale Watch. Elske Brask wants an outside crew to find the officer who copies the patrol schedule.
Pike Barn. Loris Kade's record books list buyers on every side of the coming war. Brenna would pay well for them.
The Salt Chapel. A militia corporal who drinks at the Lightning Rod goes to the Salt Chapel on the flats. He has started to come back cold and quiet, and he knows the patrol times.