The Uncounted Repair
The Uncounted Repair
Read aloud
The tide has carried in more damaged buoys than the harbor register admits, and someone has already been paid to repair them. At Bell Quay, a public audit begins at the next bell, but the missing count may be the least troubling thing beneath the waterline.
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Witness the repair-register audit and establish what the records can support.
- 2Learn how repairs were paid for before the work was done.
- 3Locate the missing buoy and verify its old maker’s mark.
- 4Follow the second question raised by the note from below.Optional
The clock
The next bell begins the public audit. The Landing Clock advances one day if the cutter repair check fails or the tide-line count fails; a stalled audit advances it two days. The buoy count must be completed before the tide covers the shingle, while the next low tide offers another chance.
Scenes
- 0:00The Ledger Room
- 0:25Asking Around
- 1:10The Hull That Leaks
- 1:40The Tide Line
- 2:30The Open Count
- 3:15Something Else on the Wall
Cast
- HaldricWatch officer and conditional ally
- IosefaQuestgiver and Cove Hands organizer
- HamelYard foreman and person of interest
- YoranWitness and next-act contact
The hook
Set the scene
The Ledger Room occupies the quay’s upper level, where slit windows let in a pale blade of afternoon light and the salt air tastes of iron. Rows of dates, names, and sums cover a slate wall. Two bells hang above the door, one cracked and one recently repaired. Iosefa stands with her arms crossed before the chalked figures; behind the table, Haldric counts hammer blows under his breath. Hamel waits apart from them, folding an invoice into a square small enough to disappear in his palm. Iosefa asks the party to witness a public audit of the repair register. Haldric agrees, on the condition that nothing is changed without two witnesses. The audit begins at the next bell. The party may accept at once, ask Haldric for his account first, or spend the afternoon gathering evidence.
How Iosefa asks
Iosefa approaches the characters in the Ledger Room and asks them to serve as independent witnesses.
She offers 10 gp per character, meals, and a favor from the Cove Hands. Haldric offers a pass for the watch’s cliff road if the audit is fair. Hamel offers a discount on yard repairs if the audit does not name him.
Rumours
Scenes
about 3.5 hours0:00
25 min
socialThe table is here
1. The Ledger Room
The Ledger Room, a stone counting room above Bell Quay’s working harbor. Slit windows cast thin bars of light across a slate wall marked with dates, names, and sums; the cracked and repaired bells above the door catch the salt breeze.
Iosefa asks the party to witness the audit. Haldric agrees but requires two witnesses for any change. Hamel keeps his counsel and folds an invoice out of sight. The characters choose whether to accept, hear Haldric’s side, or investigate first.
NextAs the next bell draws near, the party carries its first questions out into the quay’s crowded afternoon.
0:25
45 min
social
2. Asking Around
Bell Quay’s broth house, fittings counter, and rope stall. Each stop offers its own smell of pepper broth, tarred cord, or hot metal, and a different version of the harbor’s accounts.
Give the party an afternoon to gather evidence. At Pasha’s broth house, a bowl and a Charisma (Persuasion) check can reveal that three merchant houses paid ahead and Hamel’s strongbox is fuller than his slips suggest. At Nalia’s counter, settling a 5 gp invoice reveals that the yards were paid for work that was not there; a Intelligence (Investigation) check identifies a watch signature. At Gori’s stall, buying counted rope can reveal that a Cove Hands member carried something heavy from the tide line three nights ago; a Wisdom (Insight) check identifies Ansa. Use one rumor per stop or choose a relevant rumor.
NextThe last account leads back toward the repair yard, where the party can test whether the register’s claim survives contact with a real hull.
1:10
30 min
skill
3. The Hull That Leaks
The repair yard, among damp timbers, iron clamps, and the sour smell of seawater trapped in the cutter’s hull. The defective seam beads water onto the stones beneath it.
Haldric needs a defense cutter ready by next week, but one seam leaks. A character proficient with Carpenter’s Tools or Smith’s Tools can repair it with a ability check. Success earns Haldric’s trust and demonstrates that a recorded repair was not done, without proving who entered the false line. Failure costs a day on the Landing Clock and brings a lecture from Hamel about caulk.
NextWith the cutter’s leak exposed, Haldric directs the party to the shingle, where every buoy must be counted before the tide takes the yard.
1:40
50 min
exploration
4. The Tide Line
The tide-line shingle, a clutter of twelve battered buoys, coiled rope, and slick stones. The gardens lie along a spring-track beyond the yard; a warm drainage pipe opens near the water.
Run the count as a skill challenge: the party needs three successes before three failures. Each character may attempt one check per round of searching. Intelligence (Investigation) finds a buoy with its number chalked over; the original number matches the missing entry. Wisdom (Perception) finds a drag mark toward the spring-track gardens. Wisdom (Insight) notices Ansa flinch at the old maker’s mark. Strength (Athletics) moves heavy buoys quickly. Charisma (Persuasion) convinces Ansa to show the hiding place if the party promises not to turn her in. On success, the party finds the buoy under a tarp in the gardens. On failure, the tide rises and the count ends without it; they can try again at the next low tide, advancing the Landing Clock one day. The optional Mephit in the Pipe can appear during the count.
The Mephit in the PipeNextThe buoy’s recovered mark gives the crowd something solid to inspect as the party brings the count back to the Ledger Room.
2:30
45 min
social
5. The Open Count
The Ledger Room, now crowded with yard workers, merchants, Cove Hands, and watch members. The slate wall has been cleared for the corrected count, while the cracked bell rocks gently overhead.
Hold the public audit before a crowd. Run a skill challenge requiring four successes before three failures. A Measure the party presents, such as the counted buoys, copied entries, or two named witnesses, grants advantage on the next check. Charisma (Persuasion) persuades Haldric to hear the Measure. Intelligence (Investigation) matches false entries to advance payments. Wisdom (Insight) spots the watch signer who looks away. Charisma (Deception or Intimidation) keeps Hamel from bolting. On a successful Insight check, the signer is identified as Cadoc, who is not ready to confess.
NextWhen the crowd begins to disperse, Yoran waits at the doorway and turns the party’s attention from the wall of figures toward the water below.
3:15
10 min
social
6. Something Else on the Wall
The Ledger Room doorway opens onto the quay. Evening air carries tar, brine, and the fading ring of the harbor bell as the crowd files toward the waterfront.
After the audit, Yoran tells the party she has heard the note again and asks for help finding its source. She distinguishes it from the village signal: the sound comes from below the cove, and its recurrence makes it feel like a question beside the solved account. Do not reveal an explanation for the note.
NextYoran turns toward the descending steps and starts down, leaving the party to decide whether to follow.
Behind it
What people believe
Bell Quay’s repair register lists more storm-damaged buoys than have been brought in for inspection.
Meanwhile, several repairs appear to have been paid for before the work was completed. Iosefa has requested a public audit, and Haldric will allow changes only under the eyes of two witnesses. A missing buoy must be found before the tide-line count can be settled, and Yoran has reported a strange note that seems to come from beneath the cove.
Background
Bell Quay keeps its repair register in a stone counting room above the tide line.
The register records thirteen storm-damaged buoys, though only twelve have been presented for the coming Buoy Reckoning. Repair work has also been entered as complete before it was done, and advance payments appear in the yard accounts. The quay’s people depend on these records: they determine who pays for repairs, who is trusted with the watch’s cliff road, and whether the harbor can safely mark its approaches. The audit concerns local money and accountability, but the buoy’s old bell-metal mark may connect to older workings beneath the cove.
The stakes
The audit determines whether the harbor’s repair costs and duties are assigned honestly, whether the yard workers or merchant houses bear the loss, and whether the watch remains credible.
If the missing buoy stays uncounted, the harbor’s records remain suspect. Separately, the note from below suggests a danger or mystery that the audit cannot explain.
Encounters
1The Mephit in the Pipe
Combat or social
A shingle yard crowded with storm-damaged buoys, rope coils, wet planks, and a warm drainage pipe. Slick stones make hurried movement hazardous, and the tide gradually covers the lowest part of the yard.
Foes
Sulfur-Silt Mephit
Silt-Strand Crawler (optional)
ComplicationDuring the buoy count, a Sulfur-Silt Mephit snuffs lamps and hides tools near the warm pipe bed. Characters can bargain with it using a bright trinket and a DC 11 Charisma check, or drive it off. If using the supplied creature statistics, one mephit is a low-threat encounter for four 1st-level characters. Add a Silt-Strand Crawler only if the party is fresh and needs a moderate challenge.
ScalingFor a smaller or depleted party, the mephit flees after one successful bargain or when reduced to half its hit points. For a stronger party of four, add the crawler as a separate defender of the warm pipe bed. Use the table’s chosen stat blocks; the Silt-Strand Crawler is a custom creature if no suitable published stat block is available.
Cast
4Haldric
Watch officer and conditional ally
WantsWants the repair register corrected in public without allowing the watch to be blamed for every failure at the quay. He agreed to the audit because refusing would undermine his authority.
“Two witnesses, or no changed line in that book. I will not ask you to trust me. Watch what I do.”
Iosefa
QuestgiverQuestgiver and Cove Hands organizer
WantsWants the Cove Hands’ public audit to expose the false entries and return the advance coin. She will press for fairness, but will not pretend that every worker involved had equal power.
“I need witnesses who can count what is here, not merely repeat what someone says ought to be here.”
Hamel
Yard foreman and person of interest
WantsWants to protect his yard and keep his name out of the public record. He has benefited from advance payments and false completion entries, though he may have been pressured to accept the arrangement.
“A ledger is not a hull. It won’t keep water out, whatever the chalk says.”
Yoran
Witness and next-act contact
WantsWants help locating the source of a repeated note beneath the cove. She believes the note is meaningful, but does not know what made it or why it is sounding.
“That sound comes from below the cove. It asks something the bells above us do not.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
A pass for the watch’s cliff road, if Haldric agrees the audit was fair.
A discount on yard repairs, if Hamel is not publicly named without support.
On a win
With four successes before three failures at the open count, the register is corrected under witness, Hamel returns the advance coin, and Haldric suspends the false levy.
The party earns Haldric’s trust and Iosefa’s favor. With three failures but at least two successes, the register is still corrected, but Hamel is publicly shamed and Haldric becomes wary; the Cove Hands owe the party a favor. If the count stalls, the Landing Clock advances two days and Haldric invites the party to try again after a tide. In the closing moments, as the crowd streams from the Ledger Room, Yoran waits at the door and says she has heard the note again. The party reaches 2nd level at this act break, using the campaign’s milestone progression.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party fails to find the missing buoy during the tide-line count.
- The party may try again at the next low tide, but the Landing Clock advances one day. The audit has less time to resolve before the next harbor deadline.
- The open audit ends with three failures and no more than one success.
- The register is corrected only after a delay of two days. Haldric remains wary, and the party must find additional witnesses or records before the public can settle who bears the cost.
- The party publicly names Hamel as the sole author of the false entries without evidence connecting him to the whole arrangement.
- If the party accuses Hamel without establishing the evidence, he withdraws his repair discount and the yard workers become reluctant to speak. The audit can still proceed with independent records.
Complications (d6)
- 1A sudden wash of seawater blots the lowest chalked rows in the Ledger Room. The party must use copied entries or witness testimony to restore the figures.
- 2A merchant-house clerk arrives demanding that the party stop asking about advance payments, then offers to settle one character’s personal expense if the questions end.
- 3A gust drives sand and grit into the counting room. Haldric pauses the hearing while the cracked bell gives a faint, unstruck tremor.
- 4Ansa, a Cove Hands member who hid the missing buoy, panics when someone mentions the watch. A DC 12 Wisdom (Insight) or Charisma (Persuasion) check can keep her from fleeing.
- 5A repair tool vanishes during the tide-line count. The Sulfur-Silt Mephit has hidden it in the warm pipe bed, and the count loses time until the tool is recovered or replaced.
- 6A witness produces a genuine invoice with a watch signature, but its date is smeared. The party must compare it with another record before it can support a claim.
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