Preface for the Tindor campaign.

Writeup

Not much of a boat person, but here you are.

Two days ago you were in the court of Jarl Ragnar trying to curry favor on behalf of the Lady Aethelflaed. The latter had tasked you with presenting the Jarl with a well-stocked spice box -- a princely gift -- in hopes he would express public support for Middlesex as the Lady's hostilities against Jarl Cnut began to rise. Alas, no such luck. The gift was received with great appreciation and you were treated to a feast fit for a Lord; the perks of an emissary. But Ragnar wasn't interested in picking sides.

During dinner you were taken aside by one of Ragnar's knights who informed you he was a "supporter of the Lady Aethelflaed against Jarl Cnut." He didn't feel it was a betrayal of his own lord to pass on a bit of information to you: "Cnut has been receiving regular shipments from the Shire."

"Shipments of what?" you inquired.

"No idea," he admitted. "But they come in every two weeks. Presumably they're for the war effort."

"The halflings are a bunch of free farmers who sleep in their barns. What could they possibly provide Cnut that he would care about?"

"Again, no idea. But once on land, the carts move inland in a... very well defended sort of way."

The knight told you of a minor noble's son, Hauer Dirksen, with access to a ship (in a tiny port east of Essex) he might be persuaded to take privateering. Bit of a grey area, really, since the port of departure wasn't in Aethelflaed's territory. But you felt that before returning to Cambridge empty handed, a brief sea excursion might yield something worthwhile.

Hauer, a good-natured gentleman, agreed to take your team to sea on the condition he and his crew split the plunder. Surprisingly, he already owned a pirate's flag, but you suspected this would be his first opportunity to use it. This was a little more grey, still, but if the cargo turned out to be something that substantially benefitted Cnut, Aethelflaed ought to know. Besides, deniability is your friend.

So you've set out on a small, single-masted dhow in search of a ship flying "a blue flag with a white diamond" coming from the Shire.