It is day 14 of month 7, 1042, 20:30, at The Cellar Door above Corvel on Belvair. It is a warm, clear summer night.
House Ardley does not exist. It is the name on the papers of a Vesper Syndicate smuggling line run by Gaston Lemaire. Grask Uldon, the overseer of Hollin Refinery, sells him refined crystal and waste dust skimmed from House Castel. It is packed at night in the refinery barn into casks with hidden inner walls, made by Norris Tamblyn in Corvel. Carts take the casks to Corvel, and they leave Belvair as wine.
Grask wants to be rid of the black crystal hidden in his side tunnel. Gaston has a buyer for it, a man in scholar's robes who pays any price. The black crates go into the next House Ardley load. It is packed in the barn on day 15 at 22:00, leaves by cart at 02:00 and loads onto a cargo ship at Corvel on day 16 at 06:00. Norris Tamblyn keeps a list of every order. Gaston's men come for him tonight at 23:00, to put him on a ship to Gallow.
The two men in estate coats at the back tables are Gaston Lemaire and Jasper Norwood, Lord Aubrec's new tracker. Gaston pays Jasper to keep the cart road clear at night. Jasper has also bought the place of Fern Camp from someone inside it. On day 17 at dawn he leads Lord Aubrec's men there.
Dorrit Fane (about 50, The Cellar Door) sells the names of the two Hollin guards who take bribes, for 10 Crowns. A man in scholar's robes pays her to report anyone who asks about black crystal, and she does.
Gaston Lemaire (42) wants the load shipped and Norris quiet. He leaves fighting to his men and runs when it goes badly.
Jasper Norwood (36) wants the bounty on every runaway in Stag Forest. He uses the Writ Hunter stat block.
Norris Tamblyn (about 60, Corvel) wants to get off Belvair alive and will trade his list for it.
Grask Uldon (about 45, Hollin Refinery) wants the black crystal gone and his post safe. He fights from his character sheet.
The player characters are the Clemency crew, smugglers who move cargo by day and runaways by night. Celestine Arvel captains the cutter and once flew cargo for Gaston Lemaire. Bertrand Leclair is an old navy marine. Pascal Drummond forges papers and lays traps. Mathieu Daubigny plays fiddle at the Cellar Door most nights. They live on the Clemency, a black cutter at the Corvel quay. Gaston has offered Celestine the next House Ardley run. The player runs one of them. The GM runs the other three as companions.
Mungo Larch, huntmaster of Aubrec Lodge, who sends runaway debt workers to safety in secret and has used the Clemency twice, Tavish Coll, an Iron Union agent hiding at Fern Camp, and Olwen Strake, chief tax assessor at the Cask Exchange, whose clerks found crystal in wine casks, are NPCs now. Mungo and Tavish work together in secret.
Stat blocks. Jasper Norwood uses Writ Hunter. Gaston's men use Syndicate Enforcer, Syndicate Knifeman, Syndicate Poacher and Riot Boss, with Tunnel Mastiff dogs. Refinery guards use Mine Guard and Rush Brute. The side tunnel holds Husk, a Husk Captain, a Hornback Husk and Black Crystal Brutes.
Encounter math (four level 8 characters). Low 4,000, Moderate 6,800, High 8,400.
The Cellar Door, 20:30. Mungo Larch knows Jasper Norwood by sight, and Celestine Arvel knows Gaston Lemaire. Mathieu Daubigny can watch the back tables from the arch. A DC 14 Dexterity (Stealth) check near the back tables hears "the barn tomorrow at ten" and "the cooper". Olwen Strake sees the cargo paper on their table. A DC 13 Wisdom (Perception) check reads "House Ardley" upside down. Pascal Drummond reads cargo papers upside down for a living. Dorrit Fane sells the guards' names. Anyone who asks her about black crystal is reported to the scholar by morning.
Norris Tamblyn's shop, Corvel, 23:00. The cooper's shop is on the cask lane in Corvel, a short walk down the hill. 1 Riot Boss, 6 Syndicate Enforcer and 4 Syndicate Knifeman come to take Norris, 4,200 XP, Low. Narrow aisles of stacked casks give half cover. Saved, Norris hands over his list. It names the dates, the cart road, the barn and Gaston Lemaire.
The Cask Exchange. In Olwen's tax office, the list and her seized cask papers match. A DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check through the booking book shows the next House Ardley load is booked on the cargo ship for day 16 at 06:00. Olwen's superior signed every House Ardley pass.
The cart road, day 15, after dark. The road runs from the Orchard Hills along the edge of Stag Forest to Corvel. Mungo Larch knows the deer paths beside it, and Celestine Arvel flew cargo over this road for years. Jasper Norwood, 3 Tunnel Mastiff, 4 Syndicate Poacher, 2 Syndicate Enforcer and 3 Syndicate Knifeman watch it, 4,050 XP, Low. A DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check, with Advantage if Mungo guides them, slips past them. Taken alive, Jasper offers to forget Mungo's name if he is let go. His notebook names his source in Fern Camp.
Hollin Refinery, day 15, 22:00. The barn over the tunnel mouth holds 20 casks, 4 of them with black crystal crates inside. Grask Uldon, 6 Mine Guard, 4 Syndicate Enforcer and 1 Rush Brute guard the packing, about 5,900 XP counting Grask as a CR 5 foe, Moderate. Packing dust hangs in the air. Spilled crystal dust is slippery, so a creature that runs through it makes a DC 13 Dexterity save or falls Prone. The two guards Dorrit named will put down their guns for 20 Crowns each. If Tavish Coll brings Fern Camp fighters, 10 runaways tie up the guards and the fight is Low.
The side tunnel. Behind a locked door, the crates sit on the floor. Two burrowing beasts from the Dust Pit broke in and black crystal grew over them. The workers who handled the crystal are husks now. 2 Black Crystal Brute, 1 Hornback Husk, 1 Husk Captain and 6 Husk, 8,200 XP, High. Nothing in the tunnel comes out while the door stays locked, so a crew that is losing can fall back and bar it. The tunnel is a Weak Vhal site (DC 10). The black crystal can be sealed in a lead-lined cask from Norris's shop, or dropped down a dead shaft.
The ship, day 16, 06:00. If the casks reach Corvel, Olwen's stamp can hold the ship on a DC 14 Charisma (Intimidation) check against the captain. The scholar watches the loading from the quay and leaves when he sees tax clerks.
Day 14, 23:00. Norris Tamblyn is taken. His shop burns before dawn.
Day 15, 22:00. The load is packed. The side tunnel door is opened, and the brute kills a guard.
Day 16, 06:00. The House Ardley casks leave Belvair with the black crystal.
Day 17, dawn. Jasper Norwood leads Lord Aubrec's men to Fern Camp. About 200 runaways scatter, and 30 are taken in chains.
Day 20. Olwen Strake is moved to another world.
Good. The black crystal never leaves Belvair, Gaston Lemaire is caught with the House Ardley papers, Norris is safe, and Fern Camp moves before the raid.
Mixed. The black crystal is stopped but Fern Camp is raided, or the camp is saved but the casks sail.
Bad. The black crystal reaches the scholar and Fern Camp is taken.
The Cask Exchange tax office pays the crew 4,500 Marks from the seized crystal.
Gaston Lemaire's purse holds 600 Crowns, and Grask's office has a Potion of Greater Healing and two Potion of Healing.
Olwen Strake offers the Sealed Packet Courier Run gig, carrying her report to Aurica past her superior.
Norris Tamblyn makes the crew one cask with a hidden inner wall, free, before he leaves Belvair. Dorrit Fane sells them news at half price.
Heroic Inspiration for keeping the Hollin workers safe from the side tunnel, or for saving Fern Camp.
The scholar. The man in scholar's robes visits the Glasshouse Ruin at night and tries to open its inner door.
The source in Fern Camp. Jasper Norwood's notebook names the runaway who sold the camp's place.
The superior. Olwen's superior signed every House Ardley pass and will want the papers back.