Saverio Dunst has bet a fortune through hidden agents that Rielle Vant will lose the Grand Loop on 1042-04-13. She refused his money. His fixers plan to stop her at the Far Turn on lap 3 with nets, harpoons and two rewired buoy drones. Two nights ago they burned the spare engine Tilly Gorse spent a year building, so Rielle must race on her old, slower engine.
The fixers cannot rewire drones themselves. They use Paul Roche, a rune mechanic held in the Debt Hold for a gambling debt of 300 Crowns. Before each fixed race they take him out on a garage shift to rewire a drone for the next target. They told him his brother dies if he talks. So Paul knows each fix a day early. He hides the target's name on a scrap of paper in a fuel crate. His brother Martin Roche picks it up and bets against that pilot. Martin wins every time. He is saving the money to buy Paul out of the Debt Hold, and he has 260 Crowns.
Yusk Thrane has noticed. A leak in the fix costs him money, and if Saverio learns of it, Saverio will blame Yusk.
Martin Roche is the man in the good coat. He wants 40 more Crowns and his brother free. He wants nobody to learn why he wins.
Paul Roche wants out of the Debt Hold before the Grand Loop, when the fixers no longer need him.
Yusk Thrane wants to know who Martin works for. He pays 40 Crowns for a name. He can cast Truth Field, so lying to him is hard.
Rielle Vant wants to win the Grand Loop and live. She drinks at the Last Lap each night, looking for an escort crew.
Saverio Dunst wants Rielle to lose and the leak closed. He never does the dirty work himself.
The lead fixer is a man in a green coat with a burned left hand. He and his men wrecked a racer on the Gap Run at Skerry last month.
The player characters are the Adelaide team, a washed-up racing crew who live on the old trawler Adelaide. Nico Bastide is a cocky racing pilot whose ship the green coats netted on the Gap Run, Ragna Tolk is the team's Grund pit chief and an old dock fighter, Barnaby Teal is a Cogling mechanic with a combat drone who owes Paul Roche a favour, and Odile Varenne is the team's manager and talker. The player runs one of them. The GM runs the other three as companions.
Iver Lune, a Tessari racer who also lost a ship on the Gap Run, Wilmot Dabney, a Pellin who sells cheap ship parts, and Tilly Gorse, crew chief of the Vant team, are NPCs now.
The winner (Odds Hall). At 14:00 the favourite of the afternoon heat loses. Martin Roche cashes a thick stack of chits at the counter without smiling. A DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check shows he is scared, not proud. Yusk Thrane offers the crew 40 Crowns to learn who Martin works for. Following Martin takes a DC 13 Dexterity (Stealth) check. He goes to the Debt Hold and pays 30 Crowns toward a debt.
The burned engine (Pit Row). The spare engine sits black on its stand in the Vant bay. A DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check finds Rush mixed into the fuel line, from a crate stencilled as engine parts. Ragna and Barnaby have both seen this trick in the Tangle garages. The dock master at the Starter Docks signed those crates through last week without a look. A DC 12 Wisdom (Perception) check finds a scrap of green cloth on the bay fence.
The night visit (Pit Row). On the night of 1042-04-05, at 02:00, the fixers come back to cut the cables of Rielle's racer. They are 2 Race Fixers and 1 Syndicate Enforcer. A fixer who is caught talks after a DC 13 Charisma (Intimidation) check. He says the Far Turn is set for lap 3, a debtor rewires the drones, and the steward's man pays. He also says his crew worked the Gap Run last month. Nico knows their green coats from that day.
The control rods (Spare Yard). Rewired drones obey whoever holds their brass control rod. The yard keeper says a man in a green coat bought three rods from a stolen crate. She sells his description for 2 Crowns, or for nothing with a DC 12 Charisma (Persuasion) check. A trader at the yard can tell stolen rods by their filed serial marks. The yard also sells boosts at 30 Crowns. A boost gives Advantage on one lap check, but on a roll of 1 the engine burns and the ship drops out.
The brother (Debt Hold). The clerk's book shows Paul Roche owes 300 Crowns plus a 30 Crown fee. A guard lets visitors talk to him for 1 Crown. Paul tells the truth after a DC 13 Charisma (Persuasion) check, or at once if he hears Martin is in danger or sees his old friend Barnaby Teal. He can name both drones the fixers rewired. With his notes, undoing a drone takes 10 minutes and a DC 14 Intelligence check with Tinker Tools. Barnaby is the one for this job. Buying him out costs 330 Crowns at the back counter of Odds Hall.
What to tell Yusk (Odds Hall). If Yusk learns the truth, he sells the Roches to Saverio by nightfall unless he is talked out of it. A DC 16 Charisma (Persuasion) check convinces him that a quiet leak lets him bet with it too. A lie needs a DC 15 Charisma (Deception) check, and Yusk casts Truth Field if he doubts it.
The escort (Last Lap). Rielle Vant will pay 60 Crowns to a crew that holds the Far Turn platform during the race. A DC 12 Wisdom (Insight) check shows she is more scared than she says. Odile does the talking about money for the team.
The Grand Loop (Far Turn). The race starts at 12:00 on 1042-04-13 and runs 5 laps. The crew reaches the steel platform by skiff before the start. The platform has its own small air bubble. Waiting there are the lead fixer with the burned left hand (use the Smuggler Skipper stat block), 3 Race Fixers and 2 Buoy Drones still under their control. The fixers Will Run when the lead fixer drops. A drone stops if someone takes its rod or undoes its wiring. If the fixers still hold the platform on lap 3, Rielle makes a DC 15 helm check or crashes into the Crash Net. A crew member who flies in the race, such as Nico in his old Tern Racer, uses the race rules from the Sprint Ring Race gig.
After the flag (Steward Box). If Rielle wins, Saverio Dunst loses a fortune. He calls the crew to the Steward Box. He is polite. He offers each of them 50 Crowns to leave Sprint Ring that day and never race here again. A crew that brings the fixer's confession and the rods can trade them for the Roches' freedom with a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check.
Encounter math. A crew of four level 4 characters. Low budget 1,000 XP, Moderate 1,500 XP and High 2,000 XP. The night visit is 2 Race Fixers and 1 Syndicate Enforcer, 1,350 XP, Moderate (budget 1,500). The Far Turn fight is 1 Smuggler Skipper, 3 Race Fixers and 2 Buoy Drones, 2,200 XP, High (budget 2,000), a climax. If it goes badly, the crew can fall back to their skiff, and the fixers run once the lead fixer drops.
1042-04-05, 02:00. The fixers cut the cables in the Vant bay. Tilly's team loses two days to repairs.
1042-04-06. Yusk's clerks follow Martin to the Debt Hold and tell Yusk.
1042-04-07. Saverio's enforcers take Martin Roche. Nobody sees him again.
1042-04-08. Paul Roche is sold to the prison world of Gallow with the worst debts.
1042-04-13, 12:00. The fixers net Rielle's ship at the Far Turn on lap 3. She crashes into the Crash Net and lives, badly hurt. Saverio collects.
Good. Rielle wins or finishes alive, the Roche brothers leave Sprint Ring free, and the fixers are caught or dead.
Mixed. Rielle lives but loses, or one brother pays for the leak.
Bad. Rielle crashes, and both brothers are lost.
Rielle Vant pays 60 Crowns for the escort, and 100 Crowns more if she wins.
Yusk Thrane pays 40 Crowns for a name, true or not.
Martin Roche gives the crew his last 30 Crowns if Paul walks free.
The fixers carry 3 Rune Pistols, 2 brass control rods and 25 Crowns between them.
The Sprint Ring Race gig, offered next season by Rielle's backers instead of a fixer.
Paul Roche becomes a contact. He can rewire or repair any drone for the cost of parts.
Heroic Inspiration for holding the Far Turn platform until lap 3 passes.
Saverio's memory. Saverio Dunst keeps his promises to the letter. A crew that took his 50 Crowns and stayed is now his enemy.
The Gap Run. The fixer crew wrecked a racer on Skerry last month. Their boss is still out there, and Flag Hall wants proof.
The strongbox. A racer crashed in the Crash Net last season with a strongbox of prize money aboard. Paul Roche knows which wreck it is in.