It is day 18 of month 4, 1042, 19:30, at The Brass Cup in Low Aurica. A warm drizzle falls, and the lanes are slick.
Blank helm licences with a real seal are leaving the Helm Licence Office. The seal is pressed at night by Edwin Pasco, the night clerk. He is not greedy. His younger brother owes the Vesper Syndicate for Rush, and the Syndicate said the debt would be paid in his brother's blood or in licences. Edwin stamps blanks on the night before each rest day, when he works alone. A Syndicate broker named Lionel Drey sells them for 300 Crowns each.
Tonight at 21:00 Lionel sells one to Silas Rudge, the Compact captain at the corner table. With a licence, Silas can fly his raider, the Grey Heron, along Dominion lanes past customs. He plans to wait off Coin Isle on Lucrece for a treasury ship that leaves on day 24. He has spent a week asking crews about its route.
Tomorrow night, the night before rest day 20, Edwin stamps ten more blanks. On day 27 the Council of Houses reads a customs report about a Syndicate ship with a perfect licence. If the leak is not found by then, the Council sends away every clerk in the office.
Nella Quint (about 30, The Brass Cup) takes a cut of every deal at her tables. She knows the 21:00 meeting is set. She sells the time for 5 Crowns, or for a good song or a story she can use.
Silas Rudge (38) wants a licence and the treasury ship's route. He buys drinks and never gets drunk.
Lionel Drey (35) is a smooth Syndicate broker. He wants his money and no trouble. He uses the Race Fixer stat block and runs when it goes badly.
Edwin Pasco (29, Helm Licence Office) wants his brother safe and wants it to stop.
The crew is the Amarante crew, who fly the casino barge Amarante without a helm licence. Vivienne Rousseau is the smuggler captain who has dodged the patrols for six years. Drogan Askel is a Gorr engineer who opens rune locks with a touch. Perrin Hask is a Pellin vault cracker and old licence forger. Remy Lacombe is an actor who sings at the Brass Cup most nights and hears every secret. The player runs one of them. The GM runs the other three as companions.
Rollo Dowsett is senior registrar at the Helm Licence Office. Felix Castel is the younger son of House Castel, who needs outsiders to carry what he cannot. Rilla Chesney runs six ferry boats and sells noble gossip. They are NPCs who follow their descriptions.
Stat blocks. Lionel Drey uses Race Fixer. His guards use Syndicate Headhunter and Syndicate Enforcer. Silas Rudge uses Raider Captain, and his crew use Raid Chief and Writ Hunter. City guards use Dominion Marine.
Encounter math (four level 12 characters). Low 8,800, Moderate 14,800, High 18,800. Keep every foe at CR 9 or lower.
The Brass Cup, 19:30. Silas Rudge buys a round for anyone who has sailed to Lucrece. A DC 14 Wisdom (Insight) check shows he cares more about the treasury ships than the drink. Felix Castel needs a crew to carry a crate of medicine to Belvair. Silas offers to carry it for half the usual price, after a short trip to Lucrece. Nella Quint watches every table. Remy Lacombe sings here most nights, and Nella tells him about the 21:00 meeting for a good song.
The sale, 21:00. Lionel Drey sits down with Silas on the balcony, in the booth over the bar. His guards wait, two Syndicate Enforcers at the front door and two Syndicate Headhunters in the back alley. Listening from below takes a DC 15 Dexterity (Stealth) check. Lionel shows the licence before he takes the money. Perrin Hask has forged enough licences to know the seal at a glance, and so would Rollo Dowsett. Anyone else needs a DC 16 Intelligence (Arcana) check. The seal was pressed with the night press, which only the night clerk uses.
The back alley. Lionel leaves by the kitchen door at 21:20. Nella does not allow fights inside, and two dock hands throw out anyone who starts one. In the alley, Lionel Drey, 2 Syndicate Headhunter and 4 Syndicate Enforcer, 6,850 XP, Low (budget 8,800). Lionel runs when a headhunter drops. Drogan Askel can open or seal the kitchen door's rune lock with a touch. His coat holds four more blank licences and a note that says "night press, rest day eve, E.P., 02:00 at the lift." Taken alive, he trades names for his freedom on a DC 15 Charisma (Intimidation) check.
Rilla's quay gossip. Rilla Chesney knows a young boatman in Amber Quay whose older brother is a clerk in Gilt Heights. The boy owes the Syndicate for Rush, and a well-dressed man came looking for him last month. Rilla's boatmen will hide the boy for a week if she asks.
Gilt Heights, day 19, 23:00. City guards check papers at the lift. Felix Castel's house name gets the group up on a DC 14 Charisma (Persuasion) check. Remy Lacombe can talk his way past as a noble's servant with the same check. Rollo Dowsett's clerk badge works for himself only. In the long hall of the Helm Licence Office, Edwin Pasco sits alone with the night press and a stack of blanks. A DC 12 Wisdom (Insight) check shows he is afraid, not greedy. He confesses at once if someone says they can protect his brother.
The pickup, day 20, 02:00. If Lionel was caught, 2 Syndicate Headhunter and 3 Syndicate Enforcer come to the lift for the blanks instead, 5,950 XP, Low (budget 8,800). If Lionel was not caught, he comes himself with 2 Syndicate Headhunter and 2 Syndicate Enforcer, 5,950 XP, Low. The city guards at the lift help anyone who shouts for them, and they arrest everyone first.
Silas Rudge. Without a licence, Silas cannot reach Lucrece in time. If he has one, he sails on day 19 at noon. Players can warn the treasury on Lucrece, tell the city guard, or tell Silas to leave Aurica. If they corner him in the tavern, he and ten of his crew fight. Silas, 6 Raid Chief and 4 Writ Hunter, 17,500 XP, High (budget 18,800). He gives up as soon as the guard is called.
Day 18, 21:00. Silas buys his licence.
Day 19, 12:00. The Grey Heron leaves Aurica for Lucrece.
Day 20, 02:00. Ten more blank licences go to the Syndicate.
Day 24. Silas hits the treasury ship off Coin Isle. Two guards die.
Day 27. The Council of Houses reads the report. Every clerk in the Helm Licence Office is sent away, Rollo Dowsett too, and Edwin's brother is found in the harbour.
Good. Edwin confesses quietly to Rollo, the blanks are recovered, Lionel Drey is caught, Edwin's brother is hidden, and the treasury ship sails safe.
Mixed. The leak is found but Silas gets away with a licence, or Lionel is caught but Edwin runs and the Council hears first.
Bad. Ten more licences reach the Syndicate and the Council sends the clerks away.
The Helm Licence Office pays each crew member 320 Crowns in secret, and Rollo Dowsett owes them a favour on any licence. That favour matters a great deal to Vivienne Rousseau.
If the treasury is warned, it pays 480 Crowns to each crew member.
Lionel Drey's purse holds 960 Crowns and a Spyglass.
Rollo offers the Sealed Packet Courier Run gig, carrying his sealed report to the treasury on Lucrece.
Silas Rudge, if let go, remembers it. Felix Castel still needs his medicine carried to Belvair.
Heroic Inspiration for saving Edwin's brother.
The masked guest. Rilla's missing boatman carried a masked guest with a plain black ring. Lionel Drey wears the same ring.
The other buyers. Lionel sold eleven licences this year. One went to a ship that carries Rush to Belvair.
Felix's crate. The medicine for Bondyard still sits in a Low Aurica warehouse, and House Castel's guards are asking about it.