Everard Lisle is a noble cadet with poor marks and two brothers in the Home Fleet. He and five other cadets stole a small navy cutter from the college dock and hid it inside the hull of an old flagship on Hulk Row. Over three weeks they took live shells from the Gunline Fields to arm it. They plan to raid a Compact base and come home heroes.
The base does not exist. Everard bought its chart from Bertram Hesketh, who sells navy surplus on Muster Row. Bertram is the shore agent of Garrick Crosby, a Compact raider captain who hunts navy supply ships near Hulk Bay. The chart tells the cadets to meet a guide boat at the rocks at the mouth of Hulk Bay at midnight on the 8th. Garrick will be waiting there to board the cutter and take six noble sons for ransom, with the cutter and the shells.
Garrick's second raid this season took a navy pay chest of new Crowns. Bertram spends those Crowns ashore. One purse paid the sailor who threw the first punch between the crews of House Castel and House Aubrec at the Fleet Anchorage. A fleet busy with its own feuds watches its supply ships less.
Everard Lisle wants glory before the war starts. He wants older hands who can fly and fight, and he promises his family's favour. He is scared and will not admit it.
Azrek Thune runs the Gunline Fields. He wants the shell thief caught before the blame lands on him. He has noticed the thefts fall on nights when cadets use the range. He was range master to Laurent, Mikkel and Teshra and still owes Mikkel a drink.
Bertram Hesketh wants his share and his skin. He fights with the Smuggler Skipper stat block and gives up as soon as he is hurt.
Garrick Crosby wants the cadets alive. He fights with the Raider Captain stat block.
Opal Kinnear is the boat pilot in Gullwick who sells Garrick the fleet's sailing times. Three sailors died in the last raid, and she wants out.
The Commandant of the War College wants no scandal. He will hush up anything that ends quietly.
The player characters are the Lady Isaure crew, who fly the courier ship Lady Isaure. Laurent Belcourt is the disowned noble captain the College threw out for striking an instructor, Mikkel Haugen is the Gorrin scholarship cadet in a rune frame that instructor was beating, Teshra Kolvar is the Ashen crystal blood whose fire burned a practice hall, and Genevieve Sarrazin is the knight sworn to Laurent. The player runs one of them. The GM runs the other three as companions.
Peregrine Wexford commands the guard ships of the Fleet Anchorage and teaches one class a week at the College. He still has the purse from the sailor who started the anchorage fight.
Ruzek Damar is a Vasht crew leader who is a guest instructor in breaching and ruin clearing this month.
Maren Ilse is a Tessari scholar visiting from Farsight Observatory. She reads star charts better than anyone on Ormond.
The parade ground, 09:00. At the War College. Everard Lisle sends his friends away and walks up to the oldest people in the yard. He asks for hands who have been in a real fight and offers 300 Crowns each from his allowance and his family's favour. A DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check shows he is frightened. A DC 16 Charisma (Persuasion) check gets him to show the chart. Laurent Belcourt, who was thrown out of this College himself, has advantage on it. A DC 19 check, or a way to back out without shame, makes him call off the raid. If he is reported to the Commandant, Everard is confined, and the other five cadets panic and launch a day early, at 23:00 on the 7th.
The chart. Laurent Belcourt or anyone else with navigator's tools reads it with a DC 14 Intelligence check. Maren Ilse can read it too if someone brings it to her. The star fixes are Compact style, and the "base" sits on a rock that no navy chart shows. The meeting place is the rocks at the mouth of Hulk Bay, at midnight on the 8th.
The range. At Gunline Fields. Azrek Thune shows his tally book. He talks freely to Laurent, Mikkel and Teshra, his old cadets. Eighteen shells are gone from the same store shed. A DC 14 Intelligence (Investigation) check finds a thread of red cadet sash on the shed fence. Azrek warns that a live shell that is dropped hard or set on fire bursts for 4d10 fire damage in a 15-foot radius (DC 16 Dexterity save for half).
Muster Row. At Muster Row. Bertram Hesketh sells filed rifles at his stall and pays his rent in new Crowns. Peregrine Wexford still has the purse from the sailor who started the fight. A DC 13 Intelligence (Investigation) check shows the coins are from the same new mint batch, the one in the lost navy pay chest. A DC 16 Charisma (Intimidation) check or the threat of arrest breaks him. Mikkel Haugen in his rune frame has advantage on it. If cornered he runs for the harbour with the men who work his stall, 1 Raid Chief, 2 Swivel Gunner and 4 Compact Raider (3,950 XP with Bertram, Low, budget 4,000). He tells where Garrick's ship waits and when.
Gullwick. At Gullwick. Opal Kinnear guides fleet boats through the rocks. A DC 15 Wisdom (Insight) check sees her fear. A promise to keep her name out of navy reports and a DC 15 Charisma (Persuasion) check gets the truth. Genevieve Sarrazin's word as a knight counts for a lot with her. She can take a boat to the back of Garrick's anchorage unseen. Without her, the rocks need a DC 16 helm check.
Hulk Row. At Hulk Row, inside the rotting flagship. Everard and five cadets load the cutter. They plan to launch at 23:00 on the 8th. The cutter carries the stolen shells in open crates. Talking them down takes a DC 16 Charisma (Persuasion) check with proof that the chart is false. Laurent Belcourt can tell them what being thrown out of the College really costs. A cadet who sees the proof turns on Everard.
The guard ships. At the Fleet Anchorage. Peregrine Wexford commands the guard ships. He can send two to the mouth of the bay. Then Garrick's ship runs unless it is already alongside the cutter, and the cadets' theft goes into the navy record.
The rocks at midnight. At the mouth of Hulk Bay, past Gullwick. Garrick Crosby's raider ship waits behind the rocks with no lights. When the cutter arrives, the bubbles join and his crew boards. Garrick Crosby, his first mate (1 Raid Chief), 2 Swivel Gunner, 5 Compact Raider and 2 Raider Marksman (8,000 XP, High, budget 8,400). Use the Boarding Actions rule. A Scatter Gun blast or any fire on the cutter's deck can set off a shell crate, so Teshra Kolvar has to shape her fire with great care here. If the fight goes badly, the crew can pull the cadets back to the Lady Isaure and run for the anchorage. Garrick will not chase a fast courier toward the guard ships. Garrick gives up below a quarter of his hit points. The raiders run when he falls. If the crew reaches the anchorage first with Opal, they catch the raiders before they board, and the fight starts with the raiders surprised.
8-05, 14:00. Everard hires two drunk sailors from the garrison town instead.
8-07, 22:00. The cadets take the last four shells. Azrek Thune is blamed and relieved of his post.
8-08, 23:00. The cutter leaves Hulk Row.
8-09, 00:10. Garrick boards the cutter at the rocks. One cadet is killed. Five are taken with the cutter and the shells.
8-12. Ransom letters reach House Lisle and four other houses.
8-15. The Castel and Aubrec crews fight again at the anchorage. Two sailors die, and the admirals blame the Syndicate.
Good. All six cadets come home. Garrick Crosby is taken, Bertram Hesketh is in The Stockade and the shells go back to the range.
Mixed. The cadets are safe, but Garrick escapes, or the raid becomes public and ruins the cadets.
Bad. Cadets are taken or killed, or the shells end up on a Compact ship.
House Lisle pays 600 Crowns each, half for Everard's life and half for quiet.
The Admiralty pays 1,500 Crowns for Garrick Crosby, or 600 Crowns for Bertram Hesketh, split among the crew.
Garrick wears a Cloak of Protection, and his cabin holds 900 Crowns of the stolen pay chest. The navy wants the coins back, but nobody counts the cloak.
Azrek Thune keeps his post and gives the crew free use of the range and a Rune Rifle from the test racks.
The Commandant lets Maren Ilse speak to the senior class and sends her records to the Admiralty map room.
House Lisle offers the gig Noble Passenger Run whenever its sons travel.
Opal Kinnear becomes a friend in Gullwick, if her name stays out of the reports.
Heroic Inspiration for bringing all six cadets home.
The feud. Peregrine Wexford can show the Castel and Aubrec captains that a raider paid the sailor. Some officers do not want the feud to end, because it decides who leads the attack on Tarrow.
The rest of the pay chest. Garrick's crew hid most of the pay chest in a sea cave near Gullwick. Opal knows roughly where.
The Tethered Ship. The navy ship chained in Hulk Bay came back from the Dark Rim with a silent crew. Maren Ilse wants to see its charts before the Admiralty sinks it.