It is day 11 of month 4, 1042. Highline, the largest kite town on Wend, flies on eleven kites. The twelfth crashed through the rope works last week and killed two people. Its crew had worked a double shift on Rush. During the night a tired flyer opened the main line clip to retie it and closed it wrong.
Tam Kettley rigged that kite, and some crews blame him. His drone checks every line at dusk and keeps a record on a small brass drum. The drum shows the clip was closed right at dusk on the night before the crash.
The Rush comes from Gerald Croft, who sells sailcloth on the market deck. His bales come up from Updraft Market. A stall there sells sailcloth for the Gale Riders, the young storm fleet of Vessa Quarle. A Syndicate ship gives the Gale Riders Rush for free, and they sell it on. The next raft from Updraft Market ties up at The Windsock under Highline at 20:00 today. Two of its twelve bales hold Rush. A Gale Rider mate and four of his crew ride with it to collect Gerald's payment.
A second danger is coming that nobody in town knows about yet. The aether currents above Wend have turned toward the Dark Rim. A storm front riding the new current will hit Highline on day 12 at 13:00, a day before the Cloud Watch charts say. With only eleven kites, the town must be winched down toward its cliff and its kites trimmed before then. That takes 6 hours of work by four kite crews. A flyer on Rush cannot do it safely.
Rolf Hensley (40), the line captain. He wants the dealer found and thrown off the town, and he wants the supplier named.
Gerald Croft (47), a sailcloth seller on the market deck. He wants to keep his stall and his Rush trade. He calls the crash bad luck.
The two Kite Seven flyers, who lived through the crash. They hide that they bought Rush from Gerald, because the town would throw them off.
Vessa Quarle, captain of the Gale Riders. She takes the Syndicate's free guns and sells its Rush. She is not on Highline.
Seren Ashby, captain of the Squall Fleet, would pay to learn how the Gale Riders get their Rush.
The player characters are the Whimbrel crew, who live on the tiny old runabout Whimbrel. Callan Breck is a young bounty hunter who grew up on Highline's rope bridges, Durza Holk is a Gorr boarder in a flying rune frame, Saelin Orrow is a Tessari weather reader who left Cloud Watch, and Gilbert Ambry is an old Pellin kite hand who led the winch songs on Kite Seven for thirty years. Callan, Durza and Gilbert flew with the Gale Riders and quit on the same night when the free Rush came aboard. The two Kite Seven flyers were Gilbert's winch crew. The player runs one of them. The GM runs the other three as companions.
Galt Ferris, a storm pilot from Lee Station, Tilde Anwen, a Tessari navigator from the Chart House on the Tangle, and Tam Kettley, the rigger who keeps Highline's kite lines, are NPCs who follow their description.
Stat blocks. The Gale Rider mate uses the Riot Boss stat block. His crew is 1 Swivel Gunner and 2 men who use the Compact Raider stat block. If Gerald Croft fights, he uses the Smuggler Skipper stat block.
The command tent, 08:00. At Highline, Rolf Hensley questions the two Kite Seven flyers. A DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check shows they are hiding something. Rolf pays 50 Crowns each for the dealer's name and 50 Crowns more each for the supplier. Tam Kettley's brass drum shows the clip was opened after his last check. Once Rolf sees it, he orders the crews to stop blaming Tam. Faced with the drum, the flyers name Gerald Croft after a DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion or Intimidation) check. They were Gilbert Ambry's winch crew, and they find it hard to lie to him.
The market deck. Gerald Croft's stall stands by the north bridge. A DC 14 Wisdom (Perception) check spots two bales sewn shut with blue thread, unlike the rest. A DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check of his account book finds payments to stall nine at Updraft Market. Callan and Durza carried bales from that stall for the Gale Riders. Gerald denies everything. A DC 15 Charisma (Intimidation) check makes him tell of the 20:00 raft and beg to keep his stall.
The new current. A DC 14 Intelligence check with Navigator Tools, or an hour of watching the clouds from the west rail, shows the front moving twice as fast as the charts say. Saelin Orrow has watched it for two days. Rolf believes it from a known navigator or pilot, or after a DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check. He then needs four sober crews. Two of the crews are using Rush. A DC 12 Wisdom (Medicine) check on a flyer shows who.
Current rays, 16:00. A herd of current rays rides the new current over the town. 1 Current Ray lands on the market deck and goes for the crystal lamps. 3 Kite Rays snatch at people on the bridges. A creature knocked Prone near a rail makes a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or goes over. It can grab a rope with a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw. If it misses, it lands in the catch nets 30 feet below the platform and takes 3d6 bludgeoning damage. Durza Holk can fly down after anyone who goes over.
The Windsock, 20:00. At The Windsock, the raft from Updraft Market ties up at the raft edge, and Gerald meets the Gale Rider mate by the boats. A fight here happens on a swinging raft with the same catch nets below. The Gale Riders want their money, not a war on Highline. The mate falls back to his raft when half his men are down. Taken alive, he says after a DC 14 Charisma (Intimidation) check that a Syndicate ship gives Vessa Quarle Rush for free and has asked nothing back yet.
Winching down, day 12, 07:00 to 13:00. At Highline, four sober crews winch the town toward its cliff and trim the kites. Tam Kettley's drones check every line. The crew makes three checks. They are a DC 14 Strength (Athletics) check on the winch, a DC 14 Dexterity check with Tinker Tools on the kite lines, and a DC 15 helm check to fly a line out to a far kite in a skiff. Each failure costs one hour. Gilbert Ambry's work songs keep the winch crews in time.
The front, day 12, 13:00. If the work is done, the town rides out the storm with torn flags and broken windows. If it is not done, another kite tears loose. Everyone on deck makes a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw or slides 20 feet toward the rail. Six houses go over the side, and the rope works is lost again.
Updraft Market (optional). Stall nine at Updraft Market sells sailcloth for the Gale Riders. Its keeper flies a grey and white flag and pays Gerald's bales from a chest of Syndicate Crowns.
Encounter math (four level 4 characters, Low 1,000, Moderate 1,500, High 2,000). The current rays are 1 Current Ray and 3 Kite Rays, 1,300 XP, Moderate (budget 1,500). The Windsock is 1 Riot Boss, 1 Swivel Gunner and 2 Compact Raiders, 1,950 XP, High (budget 2,000). If Gerald Croft fights too, it is 2,400 XP, above High, so the mate falls back to his raft as soon as two of his men are down.
Day 11, 16:00. Current rays smash two market stalls and hurt three people.
Day 11, 20:00. The Rush raft unloads. Gerald sells to three more crews that night.
Day 12, 13:00. The front hits a town that is not ready. Another kite tears loose, six houses go over the side and eleven people die.
Day 13. The crews vote Rolf out and blame Tam Kettley's rigging for both losses.
Day 21. The next raft brings four bales of Rush.
Good. The town is ready for the front, Gerald Croft is thrown off Highline, the raft is stopped and Tam Kettley's name is clear.
Mixed. The town rides out the storm but the Rush keeps coming, or the dealer is caught but houses are lost.
Bad. A second kite falls and people die, or Tam is blamed for the crash.
Rolf Hensley pays 50 Crowns each for the dealer and 50 Crowns more each for the supplier.
The Gale Rider mate's purse holds 60 Crowns, and he wears a Jump Pack.
Rolf offers steady rigging work at 150 Marks a month. Use the Dock Worker job file, with a note that the work is on Highline's kite lines.
Seren Ashby pays 100 Crowns for proof of the Syndicate ship, and she becomes a contact at Muster Raft.
Heroic Inspiration for saving the houses on the platform edge or for clearing Tam's name in front of the crews.
The Syndicate ship. Vessa Quarle wants to know what the Syndicate will ask for its free guns and Rush. So does Seren Ashby. Both would pay a crew to find out.
The turning current. Yarrow Finch, a young weather reader at Cloud Watch who grew up on Highline, has the same numbers. He wants a crew to carry his charts to the Order of the Last Light.
Stall nine. The Gale Riders lost a raft and a buyer. They send someone to Highline to find out who talked.