The Page That Stayed Dry
The Page That Stayed Dry
Read aloud
At noon, the Gull Weighhouse scales are silent, though the brass floor still trembles faintly beneath your boots. A salt-soaked courier sets an oilcloth packet on the counter; the packet is perfectly dry. She slides it toward you and says, “Three couriers did not reach the Glassmakers' Hall. Read this, check it, and carry it there before someone changes the record.”
Run the session
Cheat sheet
Objectives
- 1Build a verifiable case from the page, weights, prints, tally sheets, witnesses, and cargo.
- 2Place the evidence on the public record and withstand Brisa Sollow's polished rival account.
- 3Secure the crane operator's testimony about the false repair seal and nighttime cargo transfers.Optional
- 4Protect the frightened inspector whose testimony can connect the cargo to the clerk who paid him.
The clock
The Glassmakers' Hall hearing is on Day 24, leaving six in-world days for investigation, protecting Dunwick, rest, and preparation. Each ordinary clue costs half a day; the low-tide channel and the Gullwater barge each cost a full day. Time beyond Day 24 reduces the slack available before the Midsummer Weighing.
Scenes
- 0:00The Packet That Stayed Dry
- 0:30The Evidence Has a Weight
- 2:30The Operator Below
- 3:05The Glassmakers' Hall
- 4:20The Gullwater Chase
Cast
- IsmayQuestgiver and courier
- Dunwick RulWitness and frightened customs inspector
- Brisa SollowAntagonist and Senior Auditor
- DovrikAlly and representative of the Crane and Gull…
The hook
Set the scene
The Gull Weighhouse smells of hot brass and old rope. At noon, the floor scales are quiet, which is wrong. Ismay stands at the public counter in a salt-stained coat, water dripping from her sleeves and gathering around her boots. She has come up from Gullwater Reach with the oilcloth packet held flat against her chest. The packet is dry. When she sees you looking at her hands, she sets it on the counter and slides it an inch toward you. Beyond the counter, the silent scales hold their polished brass pans perfectly level.
How Ismay asks
Ismay approaches the party at the Gull Weighhouse public counter.
She is direct and practical, does not ask them to attack anyone, and asks them to read, verify, and carry the page to the hearing before it can be seized or altered.
Rumours
Scenes
about 5 hours0:00
30 min
socialThe table is here
1. The Packet That Stayed Dry
The Gull Weighhouse public counter at noon, among quiet scales, hot brass, old rope, and the damp footprints Ismay leaves on the boards.
Let the players inspect the dry packet before Ismay explains its importance. The copied revenue page lists thirty-one Cinderleaf farm-freight cargoes over five years, with suspiciously uniform weights and a handwritten note about dock crews and growers sharing the harbor wall. Ismay explains that three couriers before her did not reach the Hall, and asks the party to verify the record rather than simply trust it.
NextIsmay points out that the page names cargoes whose weights can be checked at the Weighhouse, then waits while the party chooses which lead to follow first.
0:30
120 min
exploration
2. The Evidence Has a Weight
The flooded Empty Shed, the oil-smelling service shaft beneath the quay, busy harbor businesses, a slippery drainage channel, and the black-glass reaches beyond the docks.
The party investigates evidence leads in any order: the Empty Shed shelves and hidden panel, the service shaft and Pru Hallam, the Weighhouse licensed weights, the Cinderleaf Table's wage slips, the Obsidian Docks channel packet at low tide, or the sunk barge in Gullwater Reach. Each lead takes about half a day except the channel and barge, which each take a full day. Record each clue as a Measure and track the countdown to the Day 24 hearing.
NextAs the hearing day approaches, the party's collection of objects and testimony begins to form a case. Word of their search reaches those who want the inspector quiet.
2:30
35 min
social
3. The Operator Below
A narrow service shaft beneath the quay, cool and dark, with machine oil in the air and water tapping through the stone.
If the party pursues the clue, Pru Hallam is hiding in the service shaft after nine days without proper food. She describes a lantern-bearing clerk and nighttime crane transfers; she will cooperate if treated gently or given food and water. The shaft's fresh boot prints can also be followed toward the Weighhouse cellar. If the party has no reason to seek the shaft, combine this beat with the investigation scene.
NextPru's account points back toward the cargo trail, while the last available light on the harbor marks the party's remaining time before the hearing.
3:05
75 min
social
4. The Glassmakers' Hall
The Glassmakers' Hall above the oldest harbor wall, where assembly members, trade representatives, and dock workers listen beneath glasswork that catches the late-afternoon light.
At the afternoon bell, the party places its case before High Trade Consul Valen Pyre-Grip. Brisa Sollow counters with the Brightweight Account, which lists the thirty-one cargoes as farm freight and is sincerely presented as accurate. Dovrik speaks for the crane crews if invited and can support the harbor-wall share if the party has that handwritten note. Resolve each of the three facts using the Measures gathered, then give Valen's ruling as a practical public decision rather than a courtroom verdict.
NextWhether the page is entered cleanly or under challenge, Valen stamps a Witness Writ. Outside the Hall, the party steps into the harbor wind as Ozhana Vel falls into pace beside them.
4:20
35 min
combat
5. The Gullwater Chase
Gullwater Reach at low tide, where black glass mirrors the sky and the water's color marks the difference between shoal and drop-off.
When the party takes Dunwick toward safety, Seal-Runners attempt to seize him and drag him to a waiting skiff. Run the black-glass shallows as part of the encounter, with pale shoals and dark channels visible before initiative. The Boiling Shoals Lurker attacks whichever creature first falls into the water, regardless of allegiance. If the Captain falls, the remaining runners break off; a captured Captain can name the clerk who paid Dunwick to look away.
The Gullwater ChaseNextWith Dunwick sheltered or lost, the party returns toward the Weighhouse and the waiting route out of Aethel-Vazhar, carrying the Writ and a dispute that will travel with them.
Behind it
What people believe
Ismay brings the party a copied customs page that appears to record thirty-one shipments of Cinderleaf farm freight over five years.
The weights are inconsistent with the listed crops, and the record vanished from a bonded warehouse that flooded only six weeks ago. The party must verify the page with independent evidence, keep a frightened inspector safe, and present its findings at a public hearing. The hearing will issue an Assembly Witness Writ and send the dispute toward the Union's Midsummer Weighing, where the cargo records will be challenged again.
Background
In Aethel-Vazhar, cargo measures decide who pays, who works, and who may claim a share of the harbor wall.
A dry customs page carried out of the flooded Empty Shed lists thirty-one shipments of Cinderleaf farm freight whose weights do not fit their labels. The page is only the beginning of the case: its evidence must be checked, protected, and placed before the Glassmakers' Hall before the public hearing on Day 24.
The stakes
If the evidence is suppressed or dismissed, the thirty-one cargoes remain publicly recorded as ordinary farm freight and the Union's later audit begins from the Brightweight Account's version.
Dunwick may be silenced, the Crane and Gull Compact's harbor-wall claim may be ignored, and the party loses time before the Midsummer Weighing. The hearing is not the final judgment, but it determines whether the party arrives there with a public record, a certified Writ, and protected witnesses.
Encounters
1The Gullwater Chase
Combat
Black-glass shallows at low tide, with pale shoals, dark water channels, and a waiting skiff. Round 2: the quay bell stops and people can hear the struggle. Round 4: if free, Dunwick bolts toward the Weighhouse by crossing a deep patch. Round 6: the tide turns and the pale shoals shrink.
Foes
Brightweight Seal-Runner Captain, use Bandit Captain statistics
Seal-Runner Crew Boss, use Bandit statistics with 200 XP as a custom encounter role, or use a suitable stronger bandit stat block
Seal-Runners, use Bandit statistics
Boiling Shoals Lurker, CR 3 creature from the campaign sourcebook
ComplicationThe black glass is slick. A creature that moves more than half its Speed on the surface must succeed on a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw or fall Prone. Dark patches are six-foot-deep water; pale patches are one-foot shoals. The Boiling Shoals Lurker is a predator, not an ally of the Seal-Runners, and attacks the first creature knocked prone in the shallows.
ScalingFor four level-4 characters, use one Bandit Captain, one Crew Boss, four Bandits, and one Boiling Shoals Lurker. Remove the Crew Boss for three characters. For five or six characters, add Seal-Runners and consider a second Lurker only if the group is handling the terrain comfortably. The runners try to seize Dunwick and retreat toward their skiff; they abandon the attempt when their Captain falls.
Cast
4Ismay
QuestgiverQuestgiver and courier
WantsGet the copied customs page to the hearing intact and make sure the party verifies it rather than relying on her word.
“I do not need to know what it says. I need to know it gets read in public.”
Dunwick Rul
Witness and frightened customs inspector
WantsKeep his testimony from being suppressed and explain why he copied the customs page.
“Forty crates a night, every one the same weight as the last. Barley does not do that.”
Brisa Sollow
Antagonist and Senior Auditor
WantsDefend the Brightweight Counting House's account, which she sincerely believes is accurate, and have the dispute settled at the Midsummer Weighing.
“A careful account does not become false because it is inconvenient.”
Dovrik
Ally and representative of the Crane and Gull Compact
WantsProtect crane crews and secure recognition of the harbor-wall share recorded on the page.
“A crane can tell you a lie before a clerk has time to write it down.”
How it ends
Rewards
Items
Gloves of Thievery, taken from the Seal-Runner Captain if the Gullwater encounter is won
Two Potions of Healing, offered by the Weighhouse medic for bringing Dunwick in alive
On a win
The page reaches the public record, and the party leaves the Hall with a Witness Writ stamped by Valen Pyre-Grip.
Establishing all three facts earns a Mark with the Crane and Gull Compact; Dovrik can secure an additional Mark if the party includes him and the harbor-wall share in its case. The hearing does not settle the cargo dispute. Brisa asks that it be decided at the Midsummer Weighing, and on the walk from the Hall Ozhana Vel offers the party paid work escorting a water convoy across the Wastes.
What it leaves open
If it fails
- The party establishes one or none of the three central facts at the hearing.
- The Assembly refuses to enter the page as established evidence. Valen Pyre-Grip privately gives the party a Witness Writ and directs them to bring stronger proof to the Midsummer Weighing.
- The party breaks the Empty Shed's Harbor Watch seal without first obtaining Valen's pass.
- The page still reaches the hearing, but the party suffers Disadvantage on its first Charisma check to be believed there. The seal damage becomes part of the rival account.
- The runners take Dunwick, or the party leaves him without protection after the chase.
- Dunwick is recovered later by the Counting House's runners. The party loses his immediate testimony and must rely on physical evidence or find him again during Act II.
- The party lets the investigation run past the stated deadline.
- Any time spent beyond Day 24 comes out of the party's preparation and travel slack before the Midsummer Weighing. The hearing still occurs, but later opportunities may be harder to pursue.
Complications (d6)
- 1A sudden harbor surge raises the water in the Empty Shed by a foot. Characters searching the lower shelves must secure loose evidence or watch it drift into the service shaft.
- 2The Obsidian Docks lookout Sgrev blocks the drainage channel and demands 5 gp or a specific favor: return a sealed parcel to a contact after the hearing.
- 3A Harbor Watch officer recognizes the broken wax seal on the Empty Shed. Unless the party has Valen Pyre-Grip's pass, the officer records their names and raises questions at the hearing.
- 4A wet crate marked turnips splits at a seam, spilling faintly glowing Star-Sand dust. Anyone handling it leaves a visible trail unless they clean their clothes and equipment.
- 5A paid messenger offers Dunwick safe passage in exchange for his silence. If refused, the messenger carries word to the Seal-Runners that the witness is moving.
- 6The hearing bell is advanced by an hour after a scheduling dispute. The party must choose between one final evidence-gathering lead and time to prepare its presentation.
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