The wardens lead Mando, Liora, and Tomas from the cramped guardroom into the Trade Hall. Outside, the caravan guards, merchant child, and teams remain beneath watchful spears.
Gray-haired elders and merchants circle a scarred accounting table. The caravan inventory lies open beside copied seal-marks, while wardens stand close enough to seize any disputed ingot or vessel.
The gray-haired elder, an elderly man in layered brown robes with a silver seal-chain at his throat, takes the head of the table. His gaze settles first on the copied marks, then on Mando.
Gray-Haired Elder
The trade elders will judge both the cargo and the responsibility you seek within this settlement. Nothing leaves this table by force, rank, or persuasion.
Liora places her inventory beside the ledger without surrendering it. Tomas opens the pages to the stamped trade bars, while the two wardens tighten their hands around their spears.
Trade Hall Merchant 1
And what responsibility does an armed outsider seek here? Protection of a merchant house is not the same as authority over our streets.
Liora Venn
He seeks no authority without judgment. He offers his observations plainly, and my house stands behind his conduct.
✓ Quest Accepted
Clear the caravan’s cargo before the trade elders
“I describe the sealed treasury and what we carried out, plainly and fully.”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +3)
Mando Shunkar
The treasury lay beneath a buried gatehouse, sealed behind silver runes. It held bronze ingots, old weapons, blue glass vessels, stamped trade bars, preserved grain, and black keys. We carried out only trade bars, provisions, and records, leaving the rest untouched.
Mando’s plain account settles over the Trade Hall. Liora keeps her inventory open beside him, while Tomas turns each matching page toward the elders and merchants.
Gray-Haired Elder
You distinguish what was found from what was taken, and your accounting agrees with the copied seals. That is a responsible answer, warrior.
The narrow-faced merchant checks the stamped bars against Tomas’s figures, then studies Mando with suspicion softened by reluctant respect. Liora’s hand remains firmly on her ledger.
Trade Hall Merchant 1
The untouched treasury matters. So does the fact that you brought its marks to us instead of hiding them. Your house may trade here under the elders’ protection.
Gray-Haired Elder
So recorded. The cargo remains subject to inspection, but no seizure will occur. Send us the seal rubbings, and we will open the settlement’s archives to your inquiry.
Quest Complete
Clear the caravan’s cargo before the trade elders