It is day 23 of month 3, 1042, 16:00, at Stove Market on Coldwell. It is minus 30 outside with a hard north wind.
Every third night, full crystals ride by sledge from Cauldron Plant to Crate Yard. Sergeant Henrik Baum of the Camp Nine guard leads the escort. At a sledge shed on the road, his three men and a Vesper Syndicate crew open the crates. They swap a share of the full crystals for painted glass and nail the lids shut again. The real crystals go down the trapdoor into the back room of Stove Market. Otto Grieve sells them on to Syndicate buyers in bales of fur. Baum takes half.
The next swap is tonight at 23:00. Hassa Korv's audit is in three weeks, and Baum knows someone is counting. He plans to end the question first. On day 24 after dark his men hide a crate of painted glass and two stolen crystals in the Knife Caves. On day 25 at 06:00 he leads 12 guards to raid the caves, "find" the crate and blame the escaped prisoners.
Otto Grieve (about 50, Stove Market) wants his money and a way out. He sells anyone to save himself, including Baum.
Henrik Baum (46) is a camp guard sergeant who wants one more month of money and a clean record. He uses the Camp Guard Sergeant stat block.
Gustav Rehm (Camp Nine) commands the camp. He wants no riot and no raid. With proof he arrests Baum himself.
Kettra Bolm (Pikeholm) buys drill parts at Stove Market and knows the road and every sledge that uses it.
The crew is the Solidarity crew, level 16 Union war heroes who sail the captured Crown Frigate Solidarity. Halina Sobczak is the squad leader who led the Coldwell strike, Stanislav Hruby is a former Camp Seven prisoner with grafts that burn on his own blood, Eilif Brannstrom is a Grund marshal who brings outlaws in alive, and Maisie Hartley is the Pellin singer whose strike songs every factory knows. The player runs one of them. The GM runs the other three as companions.
Jarek Voll, leader of the escaped prisoners in the Knife Caves, Viktor Sandor, a tally man at Crate Yard who tracked the swapped crystals and sent word to Halina, and Hassa Korv, the yard boss of Crate Yard and Viktor's boss, are NPCs who follow their description. Jarek marched in Halina's squad in the Coldwell strike, and she has come to get him a pardon from Gustav Rehm.
Jarek Voll is an escaped prisoner, jailed for leading a strike. He is a decent man with a past, never the villain here.
Stat blocks. Henrik Baum uses Camp Guard Sergeant. His guards use Mine Guard. The Syndicate sent its best people once it heard the Solidarity crew was on Coldwell, so the swap crew are a Syndicate Underboss, Syndicate Headhunters and Rush Brutes.
Encounter math (four level 16 characters). Low 15,200, Moderate 24,400, High 39,200.
Stove Market, 16:00. A camp guard climbs out of the cellar with a small crate and loads it on a sledge outside. Two more camp guards warm their hands at the stove. One of them knows Stanislav Hruby's face from Camp Seven. A DC 16 Wisdom (Perception) check spots him staring. If nobody stops him, he does not shout. He slips out to tell Baum, and the swap crew at the shed tonight watches the road. A DC 17 Wisdom (Insight) check on Otto Grieve shows he is nervous about the time. He keeps looking at the clock over the stove.
The back room. The trapdoor is locked. Otto's key ring opens it, or a DC 18 Dexterity check with Thieves Tools. Below are 9 crates of full crystals with Crate Yard stamps, 2 crates of painted glass, a stack of forged release papers and Otto's account book. Viktor Sandor's count book matches the crate stamps exactly. Otto's book (DC 16 Intelligence (Investigation)) marks a payment to "H.B." every third night, the next one tonight. Caught, Otto gives up Baum on a DC 16 Charisma (Intimidation) check. Eilif Brannstrom has Advantage, because every smuggler in the Forge Arm knows he keeps his word about bringing people in alive. He also tells about the plan for the Knife Caves. If threatened with a weapon, Otto runs for the back door and his sledge.
Crate Yard. Hassa Korv's office has the sledge schedule and the crystal tester. A DC 15 check with the tester proves a crate holds painted glass. A yard clerk tells Viktor the escort for tonight was changed to Baum's squad at his own request.
The sledge shed, 23:00. The shed is 2 miles out on the reactor road, at the edge of Crate Yard. Four sledges stop inside out of the wind. Henrik Baum, 3 Mine Guard, 1 Syndicate Underboss, 2 Syndicate Headhunter and 4 Rush Brute open the crates. 15,700 XP, Moderate (budget 24,400). Snow outside is difficult terrain, and the shed lamps can be shot out (dim light inside). Baum's three guards are not Syndicate men. A DC 19 Charisma (Intimidation or Persuasion) check before the shooting starts makes them drop their weapons, with Advantage for Halina Sobczak, whose face is on every strike poster. That leaves 15,100 XP, Low. The Syndicate men run when the Underboss drops. If the fight goes badly, the crew can fall back into the snow and the dark, where the Syndicate men will not follow. The guards Fall Back and blow whistles, which brings no one this far out. Caught in the act, with crates open, this is the proof Hassa needs.
The Knife Caves, day 24. If anyone warns Jarek's gang, his people can watch the cave mouth. At 21:00 two of Baum's guards bring the planted crate. Catching them with it, alive, clears the gang. A DC 18 Wisdom (Survival) check finds the planted crate if it is already there.
Camp Nine. The camp is 2 hours away by sledge. Gustav Rehm sees outsiders at his gate within the hour. With the account book, the open crates or a caught guard, a DC 16 Charisma (Persuasion) check gets Baum arrested and the raid called off. With only words, the DC is 22. Jarek Voll is wanted here. If he comes in person, Rehm will let him leave once, as thanks for the truth, and no more. With Baum arrested on the crew's proof, Halina Sobczak can ask Rehm to send a pardon for Jarek to the Labour Court, and a DC 16 Charisma (Persuasion) check gets it signed.
The raid, day 25, 06:00. If nothing stops it, Baum leads 12 guards up to the Knife Caves. About 60 runaways live there, many hungry and unarmed. A written order from Rehm or a DC 19 Charisma (Persuasion) check in front of the guards stops it. Maisie Hartley or Halina Sobczak has Advantage, because half the guards have sung the Coldwell strike songs. Fighting the honest guards is a very bad idea and makes everyone outlaws.
Day 23, 23:00. The swap goes ahead. 30 more crystals become glass.
Day 24, 21:00. The planted crate goes into the Knife Caves.
Day 25, 06:00. The raid. Six runaways are shot or taken. Jarek's gang scatters into the ice.
Day 26. The freighter loads at Crate Yard. Otto's fur bales go up with it.
Month 4, day 14. The audit finds the loss. Hassa Korv is blamed and sent to a camp office. Baum gets a medal for the raid.
Good. Baum is arrested with proof, the raid never happens, the crystals are back in the yard and Hassa's audit is clean.
Mixed. Baum is caught but the raid already hurt the Knife Caves, or the raid is stopped but Baum and the Syndicate men get away.
Bad. The raid happens and the yard takes the blame, or Jarek Voll is taken back to Camp Nine.
The Crate Yard council pays a finder's fee of 30,000 Marks for the recovered crystals.
Otto's back room holds 8,000 Marks in a cash box, two Fur Coat and a Ring of Warmth he took as payment.
Hassa Korv offers steady work by the Dock Worker job file, or a seat on the night count.
Gustav Rehm owes the crew a favour. Hassa Korv and Viktor Sandor will speak for Jarek Voll at the Labour Court if he asks for an appeal.
Heroic Inspiration for stopping the raid without anyone killed.
The hooded buyer. Otto's book lists 3 crates of black crystal from the Dead Reactor for a hooded buyer who comes on day 30 and pays three times the price.
The other leak. Someone in Hassa's office still tells Compact pirates which ships carry the most crystal.
The scraping. Jarek's two lost scouts never came back from the deep ice below the Knife Caves, and the scraping is louder.