1.2.1 - A toe in line

A simple smuggling run, until the things waiting in the cave turned out to be carrying Guild coin.

The job was meant to be easy. Row out north of Hammerfall to where the river bends, meet the smugglers, take their packages into the Undercroft. Don't open them, don't break them, or Kvarrac would have everyone's heads. The smugglers showed you a cave mouth hidden behind hedge and riverweed, handed off the goods, and sailed away before you could ask a single useful question.

The cave was a world of its own. A forest of mushrooms, an abandoned shrine, a murky lake. You chose kindness where you could, befriending the creatures down there, the Blindheim and the Naiad both, and healing what ailed them. The Naiad pressed a water blessing onto Hanzt, its purpose still a mystery.

Then the wererats came, and the easy job stopped being easy. They knew too much about your delivery. When one of them fell you found why that should not have been possible: a Guild coin in its pocket, and a note that read take care of our little problem. This smuggling ring was supposed to be invisible to the Guild. It was not. You carried the cockatrice eggs the rest of the way to the Undercroft, met Varka properly, and unloaded the goods. For your trouble you had a roof, free lodging at the Black Tide while you ran with Loki's Hand, and a new and unwelcome question. How did the Guild already know?

Remember For Next Time

• The Guild knows: a dead wererat carried a Guild coin and orders to "take care of our little problem." Your hidden job was not hidden. Hanzt is convinced the Guild is hunting him in particular.
• Hanzt's water blessing: a gift from the Naiad, effect still unknown.
• Lodging at the Black Tide: Varka is putting you up while you work for Loki's Hand.

Where We Are

Back at the Black Tide Tavern with free beds and a bad feeling, freshly in the service of Loki's Hand.