It is day 18 of month 4, 1042, on Vesk. One chair at Boss Table is empty, and three families want it. The Grell family has threatened to cut the power to the Fan Towers unless they get it. Last month they paid Arvid Brekke, a shift boss on Pim Gadd's crew, to jam a gear in Tower Four as a warning.
The real danger is the Unbound. Odette Venn, the preacher of the Fallen Stack, turns burned-out Rush users into husks in a sealed room full of black crystal. Each week a nameless freighter lands at Fogline Station with no checks, because Benno Brumm takes a fee. It brings cold crates of black crystal from the Dark Rim. One of Odette's men in a grey hood learned about Arvid. He pays Arvid for the key to the Tower Four crystal store and for the rest day rota.
Day 20 is a rest day, and the fans run with a half crew. At 02:00 Odette's people will swap the crystals in the Tower Four store for black crystal. Black crystal holds no power. The fans stop, the fog rises into Topside, and the bosses blame the Grell family. A gang war between the families is what the Unbound want.
Jonas Pyle's black crystal from a drifting ship is one more piece for the swap. Dessa Moll's brother Emil has been to three of Odette's meetings. At the next one she means to take him into the sealed room.
Jonas Pyle (about 25), a stall keeper. He wants the cold box gone and is scared of the hooded buyer.
Odette Venn (about 40), the preacher. She wants everyone in the dark. She never runs.
Arvid Brekke (34), a shift boss at the Fan Towers. He wants his debts paid and nobody hurt. He thinks the hooded man works for the Grell family.
Emil Moll (19), Dessa's brother. He wants his pain to end. A word from his sister can still reach him.
Zarrik Dole, the first chair at Boss Table. He will listen to proof, and only to proof.
The crew is Nadira Kosk, an Ashen pilot and roof runner who buys parts from Jonas Pyle, Ulrok Tasker, a quiet Gorr fist fighter back from a Gallow cell, Aurelien Coste, a forger whose ghost voice warns him about the dark, and Gerda Vollmer, the Grund Fan Tower mechanic who raised the other three and once ran Arvid Brekke's shift. They fly the Brigid, a borrowed Order hospital cutter. The player runs one of them. The GM runs the other three as companions.
Pim Gadd is the head engineer of the Fan Towers, Benno Brumm is the station master of Fogline Station and Dessa Moll is the champion of the Gutter Ring and Emil's sister. They are NPCs who follow their description.
Stat blocks. Odette Venn uses the Unbound Speaker stat block. Her hooded men use Unbound Zealot and her followers use Unbound Acolyte. The freighter's crew and her chosen ones use Husk and Husk Captain. Mire Rats hired for muscle use Syndicate Knifeman. Dask guards use Syndicate Enforcer.
Jonas Pyle's stall, 18:30 to 20:00. At the Hanging Market, Jonas sells the black crystal for 40 Marks to anyone who asks. A DC 12 Intelligence (Arcana) check knows black crystal holds no power and comes from places the Vhal touched. The box counts as a Weak Vhal site (see Vhal Exposure). Jonas tells about the scared pilot and the silent crew. He gives the pilot's name for 5 Marks, or for free to Nadira Kosk, who buys her parts here. Aurelien Coste hears a cold voice hum inside the box.
The hooded buyer, 20:00. A man in a grey hood comes with 3 Mire Rats. He offers Jonas 30 Marks. If anyone else holds the box, the Mire Rats try to take it.
Fight. 1 Unbound Zealot and 3 Syndicate Knifeman. Anyone pushed or knocked prone at a rail makes a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or falls 20 feet to a lower walkway and takes 2d6 bludgeoning damage. Dask guards arrive in 2d4 rounds and arrest anyone holding a weapon unless paid 5 Marks each.
Encounter math. A crew of four level 4 characters, Low 1,000, Moderate 1,500, High 2,000. 450 + 300 make 750 XP, Low (budget 1,000).
Following the hooded man needs a DC 14 Dexterity (Stealth) check. Nadira Kosk can follow him across the stall roofs with advantage. He goes to the Fallen Stack. If caught, he carries a page of the Fan Towers rest day rota. He also carries 50 Crowns in a Grell family purse, meant to put the blame on the Grells.
The Gutter Ring, 22:00. Emil Moll stands at the tank wall, cold and quiet. A black stone ring hangs on a string at his neck. He says the preacher will end his pain tomorrow night. A DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check keeps him home. If Dessa Moll asks him, the check has advantage. The Sorrel pit master wants Dessa in the ring and watches who talks to her.
Fogline Station, 06:00 on day 19. In orbit above Vesk, the nameless freighter docks at Benno's station. Its crew never speaks. Benno's logbook shows the weekly fee from a man in a grey coat. Getting aboard unseen needs a DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check. The hold has 40 crates of black crystal and one crate of brass crystal racks stamped for the Fan Towers. The hold is a Strong Vhal site (DC 13).
Fight if seen. 1 Husk Captain and 4 Husk. Encounter math. 700 + 400 make 1,100 XP, between Low and Moderate (budget 1,000 to 1,500).
If nobody stops it, the freighter lands at Fog Harbour at 08:00. The crates go up to the Fallen Stack by cable lift.
The Fan Towers, day 19. In Topside, Pim Gadd's crew keeps the fans running. A DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check on the rota shows Arvid Brekke put himself alone on Tower Four for the rest day night. A DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check sees he is frightened. Gerda Vollmer ran his old shift, and she has advantage on this check. Shown the rota page, promised that Pim will not hand him to the bosses or asked straight out by Gerda, he confesses. He names the hooded man and the 02:00 swap.
The Fallen Stack, 23:00 on day 19. Odette Venn preaches to thirty burned-out people in the old chapel of the fallen tower. The Mire Rats stay away. At 00:30 she leads her chosen down to the sealed room. It is a Strong Vhal site (DC 13).
Emil Moll has 2 Exhaustion levels from earlier meetings. Each hour in the sealed room adds one. At 6 he dies and rises as a husk 1d4 hours later.
Fight. 1 Unbound Speaker (Odette Venn). Her 2 Unbound Zealot and 2 Husk stay up in the chapel to keep the crowd calm, and they come down only if someone raises an alarm. The room is dim, cold and full of black crystal on shelves. Lamps burn low.
Encounter math. A crew of four level 4 characters, High 2,000. Odette alone is 2,300 XP, a little above High. If the zealots and husks join her it is 3,400 XP, far too much, so the crew should hold the stair or get out. A crew that slips Emil out of the chapel before 00:30 never has to face her in the room, and can bring proof to Boss Table instead. Ulrok Tasker can hold a narrow stair alone for a few rounds.
Odette fights until below a quarter of her hit points. Captured, she names the stranger who took her to the Sealed Tower on Gallow.
Tower Four, 02:00 on day 20. If the swap goes ahead, Arvid opens the store. 4 Unbound Acolyte, 1 Unbound Zealot and 3 Husk carry the crates.
Encounter math. 200 + 450 + 300 make 950 XP, Low (budget 1,000).
The swap takes 20 minutes. Each rack swapped back takes 1 minute. If the fans stop, Pim or Gerda Vollmer restarts them in 10 minutes with real crystal and a DC 15 Intelligence check using tinker tools.
Boss Table, day 20. Proof can be the rota page, the Grell purse, Benno's logbook or a crate of black crystal. With proof, Zarrik Dole calls off the war talk. The families turn on the Fallen Stack instead.
Day 18, 20:00. The hooded man buys the black crystal.
Day 19, 14:00. The freighter's crates reach the Fallen Stack.
Day 20, 00:30. Emil Moll goes into the sealed room. By 04:00 he is a husk.
Day 20, 03:00 to 04:00. The fans stop. The fog rises over Topside, and dozens die in the hotels of Highrail.
Day 21. The bosses blame the Grell family. Gang war breaks out across the Stacks. Arvid Brekke is found dead.
Good. The fans keep turning, Emil is saved, Odette Venn is stopped and Boss Table sees the proof.
Mixed. The fans are saved but Emil is lost, or Emil is saved but the fog reaches Topside.
Bad. The fog rises, the families go to war and Odette keeps making husks.
Pim Gadd pays 120 Crowns and offers the Rune Engine Mechanic job at the Fan Towers. Use that Job file and set the place to the Fan Towers in the row's note.
Zarrik Dole pays 100 Crowns to each player character who brings proof to Boss Table.
Benno Brumm's logbook clears him with the Dask family if the players back his story.
Each player character gets a Fog Mask and a Rush Antidote from Pim's store.
Heroic Inspiration for saving Emil Moll or the fans at real risk.
Dessa's contract. With Emil safe, Dessa wants off Vesk, and the Sorrel family does not let champions leave alive.
The freighter. The nameless freighter flies back toward the Dark Rim each week. Its next pickup is a drifting ship full of black crystal.
The Grell paymaster. The Grell family wants Arvid Brekke dead before he can tell Boss Table who paid him.