The woman who came in alone is Clara Moran, a reactor hand from Coldwell. The Labour Court of Osric Barlow sold her to the Harrow Company for walking off a reactor shift during a leak. She was carrying out a hurt friend. Five weeks ago a clerk at the Harrow Office changed her file and released her. That clerk was Linnet Haskard. Clara has no Company pass to leave Gallow, so she washes dishes at an inn in Chainport and waits.
Three days ago the director's audit found the changed file. The Harrow Office posted Clara as an escaped prisoner, worth 150 Crowns alive. Four bounty hunters found her tonight. If they take her, the Company will question her, and she will describe the clerk with round lenses who let her go.
Ivo Brisk's gang, the Ditch Dogs, hides a stolen Company shuttle in the Runner Caves. Nobody in the gang can fly it. Gareth Doyle, a Company guard who trades with the gang in secret, knows where it is. He is one of the two guards at the long table tonight. He owes the Company more than he will ever earn, and he wants a seat on that shuttle. If he does not get one, he plans to buy his way out of debt by telling the Company where the shuttle is.
Clara Moran wants to get off Gallow and home to her mother on Coldwell.
Gareth Doyle wants a seat on the shuttle. He will help anyone who promises him one.
Petra Lusk wants no blood on her floor. She sells the use of her kitchen door for 5 Crowns or a piece of good news. Her silent brother-in-law sits in that kitchen peeling vegetables. He came out of the Sealed Tower on the night of the riot.
The bounty hunters are four men with a signed writ. They will not break a writ once they accept it. They will drop it only if the Harrow Office cancels it.
Lotte Brindle runs the pass office in Chainport. She checks every Company pass.
Ivo Brisk leads the Ditch Dogs from the Runner Caves. His face is on too many Company posters to show it in Chainport, so he is not at the Last Meal tonight. He decides who gets the shuttle's seats.
Linnet Haskard is the clerk with round lenses who freed Clara. She is still at her desk in the Harrow Office, and the audit is getting closer to her every day.
The crew of the Blue Hour are the pregenerated characters, all level 12: Jace Keller (captain and pilot), Gemma Drury (thief), Edie Marlowe (mechanic, with her drone Rufus) and Ottar Brack (one-armed Order knight and cook). They act only as their players choose. A few weeks ago they brought Lucan Reeve in alive on Hush, and the story has reached Gallow. Petra knows their faces, and so do the hunters. If Edie helps ready the shuttle in the Runner Caves, the check has Advantage.
The watched table (Last Meal). Clara sits by the window with a bowl of stew she has not touched. The four hunters sit in the corner with one drink each. A DC 12 Wisdom (Insight) check shows they are waiting for her to leave. Petra Lusk tells anyone who buys a beer that the hunters carry a Harrow Office writ for an escaped prisoner. For 2 Crowns more she says the same audit is now hunting the clerk who changed the file. Clara talks if someone sits down and speaks kindly (DC 10 Charisma (Persuasion)). She names the town where she grew up, her sentence and the clerk with round lenses who freed her.
The guard's offer (Last Meal). At 21:00 Gareth Doyle comes to the bar for the prisoners' bread. A DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check sees him look for Ivo Brisk. He says quietly that he knows about the shuttle, that he wants a seat, and that the prisoners leave for the towers at 22:00. A DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check shows he is scared, not cruel. If he is promised a seat, he warns the crew about the road patrols. If he is refused or threatened, he goes to the Company office at dawn.
The hunters (Last Meal, then the porch). The hunters will not start a fight inside. They wait on the porch and in the street. The writ is cancelled only by a signed notice from the Harrow Office. Forging one takes 30 minutes, a Forgery Kit and a DC 15 check. The lead hunter checks it with a DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check. Petra's kitchen door lets the crew out the back, past her brother-in-law, who never looks up. When the hunters see who is sitting with Clara, the lead hunter sends a boy for help, and by the time anyone steps outside the porch is full. If it comes to a fight on the porch, it is 1 Syndicate Headhunter (the hunters' boss, who came in from Chainport for this), 3 Writ Hunters and 10 Syndicate Enforcers (hired guns), all men. The street empties in one round. A Company patrol of 2 Pit Maulers on chains and 6 Mine Guards arrives in 2d4 rounds.
Out of Chainport (Chainport). Nothing leaves the port without a Company pass, and the quarry road has a gate. Passing it takes a DC 14 Charisma (Deception) check with forged papers, or a group DC 13 Dexterity (Stealth) check across the salt at night. If Gareth Doyle is with them, the gate guard knows him and waves the truck through.
The road north (The Cuts). The Runner Caves are 9 hours north by truck on the quarry road. A DC 13 Wisdom (Survival) check hides the truck's tracks in the salt. On a failure, the hunters (if any are left) and the Company know where the crew went by morning.
The shuttle (Runner Caves). Twenty Ditch Dogs and twelve runaways wait in the caves. The shuttle has not flown in a year. Getting it ready takes 2 hours and a DC 13 Intelligence check with Tinker Tools. On a failure it takes 4 hours. It seats 18, so not everyone can go. The gang watches to see who Ivo Brisk chooses.
The raid (Runner Caves). If Gareth Doyle went to the Company, a Company force reaches the cave mouth at 15:00 on 1042-04-10. If the tracks were not hidden, it comes 3 hours after the crew instead. The Company knows who the crew is, so it sends real muscle. The force is 2 Syndicate Headhunters, 2 Pit Maulers on chains, 4 Syndicate Enforcers and 8 Mine Guards (Company guards), plus the lead hunters if they are still alive. Four Ditch Dogs fight beside the crew (use the Smuggler Deckhand stat block). Starting the shuttle under fire takes 3 rounds in the helm and a DC 12 helm check to leave the cave.
Off the world (Intake Ring). A Company patrol boat watches the lane above Intake Ring. Slipping past it takes a DC 15 helm check. On a failure the shuttle takes 2d10 bludgeoning damage and the patrol follows for a day. The Outer Drift is 4 days away for a fast ship.
Encounter math. Party of four at level 12 (Jace Keller, Gemma Drury, Edie Marlowe and Ottar Brack). Low budget 8,800 XP, Moderate 14,800 XP, High 18,800 XP. The porch fight is 8,900 XP (Moderate, just over Low). If the Company patrol of 2 Pit Maulers and 6 Mine Guards joins it, it is 13,700 XP (Moderate). The cave raid is 11,600 XP (Moderate), or 16,000 XP with the porch hunters still alive (High). The four Ditch Dog allies add 100 XP to the budget. For a High fight in the caves without them, add 2 more Syndicate Headhunters (16,200 XP). This crew can win most fights on Gallow. The danger here is the clock, the writ, the gate and who gets a seat, not the guns.
1042-04-09, 21:00. Gareth Doyle asks for Ivo at the bar and gets no answer.
1042-04-09, 22:30. Clara leaves by the front door. The hunters take her in the street.
1042-04-10, 08:00. At the Harrow Office, Clara describes the clerk with round lenses. Gareth Doyle tells the Company about the shuttle.
1042-04-11. The Company raids the Runner Caves and takes back the shuttle. Six Ditch Dogs die.
1042-04-12. The director names the clerk who changed the files and posts a reward for Ivo Brisk.
1042-04-15. Clara is sold at the Block House to a refinery buyer.
Good. The shuttle leaves Gallow with Clara and the runaways aboard. Nobody at the Harrow Office learns who changed her file.
Mixed. Clara escapes, but the shuttle is lost or Gareth Doyle betrays the gang. Or the shuttle leaves, but the director learns the clerk's name.
Bad. The hunters take Clara, and the Company finds the caves.
Clara's mother has 60 Crowns saved on Coldwell, and she sends all of it to whoever brings her daughter home.
The Ditch Dogs pay 20 Crowns for each runaway the shuttle carries off Gallow.
The Writ Hunter carries a Rune Rifle, 30 Crowns and a Signal whistle.
The stolen shuttle is a small ship. It needs a crew and a helm licence, and the Company wants it back.
Jace Keller's contacts offer a Freighter Line Helm Pilot job to a pilot who can fly out of Gallow under fire.
Petra Lusk becomes a contact. She sells news from Gallow at half price.
Heroic Inspiration for each character who gives up a shuttle seat to someone else.
The Sealed Tower. Petra Lusk's brother-in-law has not eaten in a year. She will pay a crew with every Crown she has to learn what happened to him.
Coldwell. Osric Barlow still sells fifty prisoners a month to Gallow. Clara's mother knows other families with sons and daughters on Gallow.
The audit. The director at the Harrow Office has a list of changed files. Every name on it is a prisoner who can be taken back.