Brinna points to the bench beside the table. The guards press Elian back into his seat and remain there, hands near their sword hilts, while Marek and the council attendant stand witness.
Councilor Brinna Stonebraid
Keep him seated. Elian, you will answer before Marek and the attendant. Why did your dispatch conceal its true wording, and why did it direct the fragment west?
Councilor Elian Vey
It concealed nothing. The western destination was a recovery point, not an instruction to awaken anything. I ordered the fragment secured before raiders could claim it.
Brinna opens a narrow, older ledger and lays a private order beside the altered dispatch. The same cramped pressure marks bite into both documents, especially at the ends of each line.
Councilor Brinna Stonebraid
This order predates the case. It bears the same concealed pressure marks and sends a sealed object westward. Did you knowingly direct the fragment toward that ruin?
Councilor Elian Vey
I directed it to the ruin, yes, but not to the thing beneath it. I knew the fragment belonged to an old lock. I did not know who had broken it open.
His denial falters into a careful admission. Brinna keeps one hand on the older order, while Marek watches Elian and the attendant waits silently for the next question.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the council's unified response to Elian's admitted tampering
“Does Elian admit knowingly altering the dispatch?”
YES (Likely, rolled 23)
Councilor Elian Vey
Yes. I altered the dispatch. I concealed the recovery wording because I feared the council would forbid action while the fragment remained in hostile hands.
The admission stills the chamber. The guards tighten their formation around Elian, while Brinna turns the older order toward the candlelight and compares its concealed marks with the altered dispatch.
Councilor Brinna Stonebraid
You knowingly changed an official dispatch and sent a sealed fragment into an unverified ruin. That is not protection. It is unauthorized judgment.
Councilor Elian Vey
I accept the charge of altering it. I do not accept that I endangered Haven. The fragment had to be recovered before someone used it without understanding the lock.
Marek
Then the hidden wording was yours, and the broken inner seal was no accident. You sent me toward the ruin without telling me what I carried.
Brinna closes the ledger over the two orders. Elian’s admission establishes deliberate tampering, a concealed recovery purpose, and a direct breach of council procedure, but not that he knew what lay beneath the ruin.
“I ask Brinna to propose a unified ruling on Elian's tampering.”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +2)
Valornor Gladewarder
Brinna, propose a unified ruling on Elian’s tampering, so the council can judge the act and secure the fragment under one authority.
Valornor keeps his request measured. His Oath of Vengeance strains against the impulse to demand harsher judgment, while Commanding Presence gives the appeal enough weight to gather the room behind a single decision.
Councilor Brinna Stonebraid
Then hear the unified ruling. Elian knowingly altered an official dispatch, concealed its purpose, and sent a sealed fragment beyond council oversight. The tampering is established.
The Haven Guards close ranks around Elian without drawing steel. Brinna’s ruling divides proven misconduct from unproven intent, giving the chamber a judgment that requires neither excuse nor speculation.
Councilor Brinna Stonebraid
Elian is removed from custody of seals, ledgers, and dispatches pending a full council inquiry. His orders concerning the fragment are void. The case and fragment remain secured under the council’s collective seal.
Councilor Elian Vey
I accept the ruling on the tampering. I ask only that the inquiry distinguish unauthorized judgment from deliberate harm.
Councilor Brinna Stonebraid
It will. The ruling is unified, the evidence preserved, and no conclusion beyond the record will be imposed today.
Quest Complete
Secure the council's unified response to Elian's admitted tampering