In year 870 Hanna Harlan hid in her cellar at Harlan Farms on the night the sun of Hush went dark. That month her husband dug a fist-sized lump of black crystal out of the north field. They kept it in the cellar to cool the milk. Hanna fell asleep beside it, and the crystal held her in a frozen sleep for 172 years. She did not age or become a husk.
Three weeks ago a Dimlight crew dug the black crystal out of her cellar floor and carried it to camp. Hanna woke a few days later and thinks it is still year 870. Her husband Tobias stands in the barn as a husk.
Since year 1041 Lucan Reeve has sold the black crystal his crew digs to a hooded buyer. The money paid for engine crystal and Order bribes and kept Dimlight warm. The buyer is an Unbound Speaker who serves Veit Harrad at the Kneeling Pit in the Southern Dark. Last month the buyer gave Lucan a Black Ring, which Unbound members wear to know each other. Veit believes the Vhal spared him for a reason, and believes the same of anyone the Vhal kept alive. One of the buyer's men lives in Dimlight as a salvager and tonight hears Yelena's story and signals south. The Unbound want Hanna at the pit.
Hanna's younger brother read the weather on the radio at Signal Hall in Varn Basin. Rosel Thatchet, who camps there, believes the voice that sends numbers there now is a living man.
Yelena Marek found Hanna two weeks ago and wants a crew to go back with her before anyone else does. She offers 40 Crowns, her sled and her map.
Hanna Harlan wants to know what day it is, where her neighbours went and what happened to Tobias, and will not leave him in the barn.
The hooded buyer is an Unbound Speaker who wants Hanna alive and brought to the Kneeling Pit.
Veit Harrad leads the Unbound at the Kneeling Pit and never leaves the pit in this story.
Stefan Loder commands Fort Wick. He wants proof that someone is protecting the Kneeling Pit and will shelter Hanna.
Nimra Kestle buys salvage for the Syndicate at the Cold Stores. Her order for objects from Signal Hall came through the same hooded buyer. Her account book shows his mark.
The pregenerated characters are the Meridian crew, who fly the survey frigate Meridian. Ottavia Brennan is the famous explorer and captain. Lazar Okonski is a salvager with a sealed Vhal shard in his chest. Kazimir Thul is a former Dominion battle mage. Aelwen Castellane is a Tessari who grew up near Harlan Farms before year 870 and knew the families there. The player runs one and the GM runs the other three as companions.
Lucan Reeve runs Dimlight and sells his crew's black crystal to the hooded buyer. Ulf Draper is a husk hunter from the Night Bazaar who came to Hush to learn where black crystal comes from. Lucan, Ulf and Nimra are NPCs.
The story at the back table (Hot Plate). Yelena tells the room about the woman. A salvager in a grey hood at the next table listens and leaves at 19:30. A DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check notices him. Lazar feels the shard in his chest go cold as the man walks past. He climbs to the top deck of the freighter and flashes a lamp south, which a DC 16 Wisdom (Perception) check on the deck sees. He is an Unbound Acolyte and has the Will Run trait. Caught, he says on a DC 15 Charisma (Intimidation) check that the Speaker comes for the sleeper at dawn. Yelena says the farm is 2 hours away by sled, across Plough Road.
Getting ready (Dimlight). Prices here are double. A Rune Lamp costs 10 Marks and a Lantern Flare 5 Crowns. The Meridian sits on the ice beside Dimlight and cannot land near the farms without drawing every husk on the plain, so the crew goes by sled. The Frost Plains are a Deep Vhal site. Use the Vhal Exposure rule with a DC 16 Constitution save at the end of each hour. A creature in Bright Light from a lamp has Advantage. Crystal cells lose 1d6 rounds each hour.
Crossing the line (Plough Road). About 800 husks walk south along the road with a Frost Strider a mile off beside them. The crew crosses with a group DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check, or waits an hour for a gap (one more exposure save). Aelwen knows the old farm lanes and can lead the crew to a gap at once. On a failure, 1 Husk Heap, 3 Hornback Husks and 4 Crawling Husks turn on the crew (10,500 XP, Low, budget 15,200). The Frost Strider does not join unless the fight lasts past round 5 (14,400 XP, still Low). The crew can run for the sled, since the husks go back to walking south once nobody is close.
The farmhouse (Harlan Farms). Hanna, who keeps a tidy farm, has stacked salvager gear in neat piles in the street. Her house at the lane's end has a lamp in the window and a door barred from inside. A DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check opens it, or DC 12 with Yelena present. Aelwen has Advantage, because Hanna remembers the Castellane girl from the next farm. Hanna has swept the floor and set the table for two. A DC 15 Wisdom (Medicine) check shows she is warm, her heart beats and she is no husk. Her lips are blue and she has not eaten in two weeks. In the cellar a DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check finds a hole dug with fresh pick marks and a set of Crew Tags stamped with a Dimlight crew's name. Tobias Harlan stands in the barn as a Husk and does nothing unless touched. Hanna will not leave him unless a DC 17 Charisma (Persuasion) check, a promise to come back, or a burning or blessing she agrees to changes her mind. Kazimir can burn the barn clean if Hanna agrees.
Dawn (Harlan Farms). At 06:00 a sled arrives from the south. On it are 1 Unbound Speaker (the hooded buyer), 2 Unbound Zealots and 4 Unbound Acolytes, and 1 Husk Maker and 4 Frost Striders walk behind. They try to drag Hanna alive to the sled. If Lucan is present, the Speaker greets him by name as a friend. When the Speaker drops, the Acolytes run and the Husk Maker and the Frost Striders turn back south. The Zealots fight to the end. If the fight goes badly, the crew can hold the farmhouse, since the Speaker will not burn it. The Speaker carries a letter from Veit that says to bring the sleeper to the pit, 210 Crowns in small aether crystals and a Black Ring.
Back at camp (Dimlight). Word spreads that a woman from year 870 is in camp. Salvagers crowd the Hot Plate to see her, and one sells her name to Cordon Station for 20 Crowns. If the Speaker lived, 3 Unbound Acolytes who live in camp try to take her that night. Notice them with a DC 16 Wisdom (Perception) check. The black crystal from her cellar waits in the camp's locked crystal store for the buyer's next visit. A DC 14 Intelligence (Arcana) check shows it is a Strong Vhal site. If Hanna touches it, she falls asleep again within the hour.
The account book (Cold Stores). Nimra's account book marks each order from her buyer with a small drawn ring. The same ring is cut into the Speaker's letter, and a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check matches them. The Syndicate buyer close to the Nine Bosses is the Unbound.
Where Hanna goes (Fort Wick). Stefan Loder shelters Hanna at Fort Wick, one day south by sled, and reads the letter. With the letter, or the Speaker alive, he has the proof to raid the Kneeling Pit without waiting for orders. He pays the crew, and trusts Ottavia Brennan's word because she has flown supplies to Fort Wick for years.
Encounter math. Crew of four level 16 characters. Budgets are Low 15,200, Moderate 24,400 and High 39,200 XP. The dawn fight is 1 Unbound Speaker (2,300), 2 Unbound Zealots (900), 4 Unbound Acolytes (200), 1 Husk Maker (8,400) and 4 Frost Striders (15,600), 27,400 XP, High (budget 39,200), with Yelena as an ally if she comes. The Plough Road fight is 10,500 XP, Low (budget 15,200).
1042-04-14, 19:30. The acolyte signals south from the top deck.
1042-04-15, 06:00. The Unbound take Hanna from her farmhouse.
1042-04-15, 12:00. Yelena goes alone, finds the house empty and follows the sled tracks south.
1042-04-17. Yelena does not return. Hanna is in the ice cells beside the Kneeling Pit.
1042-04-20. The Speaker visits Dimlight to buy the cellar crystal and asks who else knew about the woman.
1042-05-01. The voice at Signal Hall reads Hanna Harlan's name on the radio.
Good. Hanna is safe at Fort Wick or Cordon Station, and Tobias is laid to rest. Stefan has proof to raid the Kneeling Pit.
Mixed. Hanna is safe, but the Speaker escapes or Yelena dies, or Cordon Station learns about the black crystal trade and knights raid Dimlight.
Bad. The Unbound take Hanna to the pit.
Yelena pays 40 Crowns and gives her sled to the crew.
The Speaker's pouch holds 210 Crowns in small aether crystals.
Stefan pays 300 Crowns each from the fort chest, plus 4 Lantern Flares and 2 Potions of Superior Healing from fort stores. He writes each crew member an Order pardon for landing on Hush.
Renaud Ithel at Cordon Station offers the Station Deck Husk Clearing gig to any crew that brings Hanna to him.
Hanna becomes a friend. She knows the old roads, farms and mine shafts of Hush.
Heroic Inspiration for each character who stood between Hanna and the Unbound sled.
The radio voice. Hanna wants to reach Signal Hall. If her brother is alive there, the Unbound will want him too. Rosel Thatchet has written down his numbers for three months.
The Kneeling Pit. Stefan plans his raid and wants hired hands who know the ice. Veit holds captives from drifting ships in the ice cells.
No more buyer. With the hooded buyer gone, nobody pays for Dimlight's black crystal, its engine crystal runs short within a month and the camp needs new money.