The elderly bank solicitor prepares another stamped copy beside White’s ledger. The gentleman with the signet ring remains at Olympia’s side, while the owners and porters stay gathered in the service entrance.
A soot-stained man in his early thirties pushes through the doorway. Mr. Abel Vane, a human man with close-cropped black hair and weathered olive skin, is lean, hollow-cheeked, and breathless, wearing a frayed brown coat; a wrapped bundle of papers is clutched beneath one arm.
Mr. Abel Vane
Protection, sir. I demand protection from White’s owners. They will bury me as surely as they buried those accounts.
He thrusts the bundle toward the solicitor without crossing fully into the room. Twine strains around copied ledger pages, their margins darkened by soot and handling.
the middle-aged owner
That is White’s property, stolen by a dismissed runner. Seize him before he turns forged papers into a public scandal.
Mr. Abel Vane
Copied, not stolen. The same compound-interest scheme was used against dancers, servants, and anyone too poor to challenge the figures.
The gentleman with the signet ring studies the bundle, then the owners’ tightening faces. The evidence could purchase leverage, but it could also attach his new household to White’s scandal.
✓ Quest Accepted
Establish Abel Vane’s evidence as credible
“"Sir, I been an debt slave of theirs. You have to believe him."”
FAILURE (Fair Oratory, rolled -1)
Olympia Sinclair
Sir, I been a debt slave of theirs. You have to believe him.
Olympia’s words fall into the crowded entrance. The gentleman with the signet ring looks from her to Mr. Abel Vane’s soot-darkened papers, while White’s owners stiffen.
the gentleman with the signet ring
I believe that White held you under its debt, Miss Sinclair. Belief, however, is not proof enough to expose my household to a charge of receiving stolen property.
Mr. Abel Vane
Then let her swear it. Let every dancer and servant named in these pages swear it too. White fears witnesses more than ledgers.
The middle-aged owner steps toward Mr. Abel Vane, but the elderly bank solicitor plants his cane across the passage, blocking him without striking. The copied pages remain in his hands.
the elderly bank solicitor
No one leaves with these documents until they are inventoried. Miss Sinclair’s testimony may support the magistrate’s review, but it cannot yet establish the entire scheme.
The gentleman withdraws his purchase papers from the ledger and places them beside Mr. Abel Vane’s bundle. His payment remains ready, but the transfer now waits upon a formal statement and the owners’ dispute.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure protection for Abel Vane
“Is what the White do illegal, with the Arena.”
YES, AND MORE (Likely, rolled 3)
The elderly bank solicitor turns the ledger beneath the gray light, comparing White’s clauses with the magistrate’s stamped notice. His expression hardens as he reaches the arena accounts.
the elderly bank solicitor
Yes. The arena is not merely immoral, Miss Sinclair. White’s compelled bouts, wagers, and purchased deaths constitute unlawful coercion, breach of contract, and conspiracy to profit from violence.
The middle-aged owner’s face loses color. Mr. Abel Vane opens another copied packet, revealing payment lists that name patrons, attendants, and every fighter sent into the marked ring.
Mr. Abel Vane
These are not rumors. They show who paid for each bout, which debt was assigned, and when White declared a dancer’s death part of the entertainment.
the gentleman with the signet ring
Then this is no simple debt transfer. It is evidence of a criminal enterprise, and my household may place it before the magistrate without receiving White’s stolen property.
The solicitor separates the arena pages and seals them under his own inventory mark. White’s owners cannot destroy or reclaim them, and the gentleman’s purchase now carries an immediate legal shield.
the middle-aged owner
You presume much from copied paper. White will contest every page, every witness, and every accusation.