There's a Traitor Among Us.
As the Cloud-Dancer banks into the golden clouds of the sunset, Miller hands you a flask of spiced grog. "Good to have you back, Jake. But we're in trouble. Your old ship, the Crimson Petrel? It wasn't just sunk. The Hegemony took the Aether-Compass from the captain's cabin. Without it, we can't find the 'Isle of Hidden Stars.'"
You take a long pull from the grog, the burn of the liquid grounding you after the adrenaline of the escape. You ignore the celebrations on deck and signal Mad-Eye Miller toward the aft-deck, away from prying ears.
"The Port of Tortuga, Miller," you say, your voice low and dangerous. "But before we hit the docks, we need to talk. My crew didn't just get 'caught.' We were ambushed. Someone gave the Hegemony our coordinates."
Miller's jovial expression fades, replaced by a grim tightness around his eyes. He leads you into the Captain's Cabin—a room filled with charts, hanging lanterns, and the smell of old parchment.
The Captain's Cabin
"I was afraid you'd ask," Miller sighs, leaning against a heavy oak desk. "The Petrel was a ghost ship, Jake. No one should have been able to track her through the Sulfur Mists. But look at this."
He rolls out a recovered navigation map. There's a faint, glowing trail marked in Arcane Ink—a tracker.
"This kind of magic is expensive," Miller whispers. "Only three people had access to the Petrel's logbooks besides the Captain: Patch (the mechanic), Vane (the quartermaster who disappeared during the fight), and... well, you."
The Investigation Begins
Miller looks at you steadily. "I know it wasn't you, Jake. But the crew is jumpy. If we head to Tortuga, the traitor might try to finish the job or signal the Hegemony again. We need to sniff them out before we drop anchor."
You convince Miller to throw a party for the whole crew no exceptions and then you'll do a quick head count to see who's missing and who might be doing something that they shouldn't and while they are all drunk you will investigate and check on their belongings to see if there any extra cash or unaccounted communication devices.
That is a classic pirate move—hiding a dagger behind a smile. Miller catches your drift immediately and lets out a booming, fake laugh for the benefit of anyone listening outside the door.
"A celebration for the return of Jake Calson! Break out the reserve grog and the salted ham!" he shouts.
The Party: "The Return of the Legend"
The main deck of the Cloud-Dancer transforms. Lanterns are strung from the rigging, and the smell of roasting meat fills the air. Squawk is entertaining the crew by mimicking the sounds of the Hegemony guards screaming as they fell, which gets a lot of laughs.
As the night goes on and the grog flows, the crew gets sloppy. You stay sober, moving through the shadows with a tankard of water disguised as ale.
The Head Count: You lean against the rail, scanning the deck.
Patch is there, looking nervous but drinking heavily.
Korg is winning an arm-wrestling match against three sailors at once.
Missing: You notice Silas, the ship's cook and a relatively new addition to the crew, and Elias, the young navigator who survived the Petrel's sinking, are nowhere to be seen.
The Investigation: Below Decks
While the music and shouting above drown out your footsteps, you slip into the cramped crew quarters. It smells of sweat, tobacco, and sea salt. You start searching the footlockers.
Investigation Check: (Rolling for Jake...) 19.
You are thorough. You find plenty of contraband—stolen spice, loaded dice, and locks of hair from lovers in far-off ports—but then you hit the jackpot in the back of a bunk belonging to Elias, the Navigator.
The Gold: Tucked inside a hollowed-out book on "Cloud Formations" is a pouch containing 50 Hegemony Sovereigns. These are pristine, un-circulated coins—not the kind of "loot" a pirate finds.
The Stone: Hidden inside a dirty sock is a Sending Stone. As you touch it, it vibrates. A faint, magically projected voice whispers from the stone: "Status update. Is Calson on board? Confirm coordinates for the Tortuga ambush."
The Twist
Suddenly, you hear a floorboard creak behind you. You spin around, hand on your pistol.
It's Elias. He's standing in the doorway, his face pale and eyes wide. He isn't holding a weapon; he's holding a small, glowing vial of Alchemist's Fire.
"Jake... I... I had no choice," he stammers, his voice trembling. "They have my sister in the Iron Spires. They said if I didn't track the Petrel, they'd drop her into the Veil!"
"I may be ruthless but I'm not cruel. I'll give you just one chance to make everything right."
You lock eyes with Elias. The young navigator's hand is shaking so violently that the orange liquid in the vial sloshes against the glass. One drop on these wooden floorboards and the Cloud-Dancer becomes a funeral pyre.
You slowly lower your hand away from your pistol, palms open.
"Elias," you say, your voice low and steady, cutting through his panic. "The Hegemony doesn't trade in 'fair.' Even if you give them me, they'll keep your sister just to keep you on a leash. You want her back? You stop being their rat and start being my double-agent."
The boy's breathing is ragged. After a tense heartbeat, he sags against the doorframe and slowly sets the vial of Alchemist's Fire on a nearby crate. He puts his head in his hands and sobs. "They're waiting for a signal, Jake. If I don't answer the stone in the next minute, they'll know something is wrong."
The Counter-Play
You pick up the Sending Stone. It's cold to the touch, pulsing with a faint, rhythmic blue light.
"Tell them what they want to hear," you whisper, shoving the stone back into his hand. "But tell them we're heading for the Spine of the World instead of Tortuga. We're going to lead their interceptors into the 'Thunder-Gulch'—let the storms do our work for us."
Elias wipes his eyes, takes a deep breath, and speaks into the stone. "Target confirmed. Calson is on board. We are altering course to the Spine to avoid patrols. Intercept at the Gulch."
The stone glows bright once, then goes dark. The bait is set.
The Plan Changes
You drag Elias up to the Captain's Cabin, skipping the party. You explain the situation to Miller and Korg. Miller looks like he wants to throw Elias overboard, but Korg just grunts, looking at the map.
"The Thunder-Gulch is a graveyard for heavy ships," Korg rumbles. "The Hegemony frigates are too top-heavy. If we timing it right, we can flip the script."
Miller turns to you. "We have twelve hours before we hit the Gulch. We've got a traitor to keep under guard, a crew that's half-drunk, and a Hegemony fleet thinking they're about to catch us sleeping."
"Flashy" is for the kill; "Silent" is for the hunt. You know that the best way to shock an enemy is to appear where they least expect you—right behind them.
You give the order. The crew, now sobering up quickly under the threat of Hegemony steel, moves with practiced efficiency. The "Return of Jake Calson" party is extinguished in seconds. The colorful lanterns are doused, the music stops, and the Aether-Engine is throttled down to a ghostly hum.
Into the Thunder-Gulch
The sky ahead turns a bruised purple, flickering with jagged veins of white-hot lightning. The Thunder-Gulch is a narrow canyon of floating, magnetized rocks that create a permanent electrical storm.
As the Cloud-Dancer glides into the mist, you see them: Three Hegemony Interceptors, their golden hulls gleaming even in the dark. They are positioned at the exit of the Gulch, their broadsides aimed right at the path they think you're taking.
"They're waiting for us to come stumbling through the center," Miller whispers from the wheel. "If we hit a single one of those magnetized rocks, the spark will light us up like a flare."
The Stealth Run
You take the crow's nest, using your gunner's eyes to spot the "dead zones" in the lightning. You have to guide the ship through the "Shadow-Path"—a narrow, treacherous squeeze behind the floating debris.
Ship Stealth Check (Jake's Guidance): Let's see if you can keep this bird quiet... Roll: 24 (Natural 19 + 5 modifiers)!
The Cloud-Dancer becomes a shadow. You guide Miller with hand signals, weaving the schooner through the jagged rocks. At one point, you pass so close to a Hegemony ship that you can see the breath of the sentry on their deck, but the roar of the storm masks your hull's creak.
The Position
You've done it. You have successfully navigated behind the Hegemony line. They are still staring into the mist, waiting for a ship that will never appear in front of them.
You are now positioned directly above their flagship's Aether-Reactor—the glowing blue "heart" at the back of the ship that keeps it airborne. One well-placed shot from the Sky-Piercer could cause a chain reaction that would take out half their fleet.
However, you also see that they have the Aether-Compass—your Captain's stolen relic—sitting on an open pedestal on the Admiral's balcony.
This is the kind of plan that gets songs written about it in the taverns of Tortuga. You're orchestrating a symphony of destruction, and you've got the perfect instruments.
The Execution
You lean over the railing of the crow's nest, the wind whipping your coat. You signal Squawk. The Kenku gives a silent, sharp nod, spreads his dark wings, and dives into the storm. He's nearly invisible—just a blur of black feathers against the purple clouds.
You pull The Sky-Piercer to your shoulder. You need three perfect shots in the time it takes for a heart to beat twice.
Sniper Volley (Dexterity/Marksmanship): > * Shot 1 (Lead Ship): 19 - Hit! The brass steering vane snaps, the ship beginning a slow, helpless yaw to the left.
Shot 2 (Left Interceptor): 22 - Critical! The vane doesn't just break; it explodes, sending shards into the engine intake.
Shot 3 (Right Interceptor): 17 - Hit! The rudder locks into a hard right turn.
The three ships are now on a collision course, drawn by the magnetic pull of the surrounding rocks like moths to a flame.
The Heist
Below, on the Admiral's balcony, Squawk lands with the silence of a falling leaf. He mimics the sound of a "click" as he disengages the locks on the pedestal. He snatches the Aether-Compass—a brass-and-crystal sphere pulsing with golden light—and tucks it into his satchel.
An officer turns, spotting the bird-man. "Hey! Who—"
Squawk mimics the officer's own voice: "Everything is fine, carry on!" before leaping off the balcony and snapping his wings open to glide back toward the Cloud-Dancer.
The "Oblivion" Phase
"He's clear!" you yell down to the deck.
Miller roars, "UNLEASH HELL!"
The Cloud-Dancer banks hard, bringing its full broadside to bear on the cluster of drifting Hegemony ships. You don't use standard iron. You've loaded the Incendiary Slugs.
The Result: The first Interceptor slams into a magnetized spire. The impact jars the other two just as your cannons fire. The incendiary rounds find the leaking Aether-fuel from the engines you damaged.
BOOM.
A chain reaction of blue and orange fire rips through the Gulch. The flagship's reactor goes critical, creating a shockwave that clears the mist for miles. The three Hegemony ships are turned into a singular, tangled wreck of burning gold and twisted iron, sinking slowly into the dark abyss of the Lower Veil.
The Aftermath
Squawk lands on the deck, proudly presenting the Aether-Compass to you. It's warm to the touch and the needle is spinning wildly, finally settling on a coordinate far to the North—the Isle of Hidden Stars.
The crew is silent for a moment, staring at the massive fireball behind you, before erupting into a cheer that rivals the thunder.
Miller walks up, looking at the Compass. "We did it, Jake. We've got the map, we've got the ship, and we've got the Hegemony's blood on our boots. But that explosion... every patrol within fifty leagues saw that. We need to disappear, and fast."
End of Act 1: The Great Escape
You have successfully:
Saved your crew.Exposed a traitor (Elias is currently locked in the brig, waiting for your judgment).Recovered the legendary Aether-Compass.Destroyed a Hegemony task force.
Level 3 Unlocked! At Level 3, as a Gunner, you can choose a Subclass or a "Specialty":
The Deadeye:Increased range and critical hit chance.
The Pistolero:You can fire twice in one turn with your Twin Tailwinds.
The Bombardier:You gain the ability to craft custom explosive rounds.
The Bombardier specialty it is! You've realized that being a great shot is good, but being a great shot that levels a building is better. You now have the "Oomph" you were looking for.
New Ability: The Alchemist's Chamber
You've modified your firearms with a secondary "sludge-chamber." You can now spend a moment to craft and fire Specialty Rounds.
Concussion Slugs: Blows enemies back 10 feet and breaks cover.
Incendiary Grapeshot: Turns your pistols into short-range flamethrowers.
Flash-Bang Pellets: Blinds everyone in a 15-foot radius.