The hallway holds its breath. Maelor freezes at the suite latch, while the wards around the door thicken into a living dark. Behind him, the inn corridor stays dim and empty, all wax stink and thin candlelight.
Tharlen shifts at Delfarius's shoulder, diamond blade humming low. Veyra and Sir Kaelor remain inside the sealed suite, hidden but exposed to whatever comes next.
Maelor
This is a mistake... House Veyl will know what you have done.
Delfarius
Open the door, or keep standing there until the shadows decide for you.
Maelor swallows hard and reaches for the latch with trembling fingers. The dark at his feet gathers upward, not striking yet, only promising. He has come to pull the thread loose, and instead finds the blade already at his throat.
Tharlen
Speak plainly, steward. Who sent you to this suite?
The pressure in the hallway tightens around Maelor, and the trap becomes clear. Delfarius has caught a House Veyl agent in the act, with his allies hidden behind the wards and the answer to the house's next move standing pale and cornered before him.
“I laugh a little amused chuckle, look over to Tharlen then are at Maelor's throat with my obsidian dagger held at his throat not yet slicing it. "Or don't answer my colleague here, and let this shadow answer decide your fate."”
SUCCESS (Good Intimidation, rolled +2)
Delfarius lets out a low, amused chuckle, and the sound cuts through the hallway like a drawn wire.
He turns his head toward Tharlen for a heartbeat, then moves in with sudden, silent speed.
The obsidian dagger appears at Maelor's throat, held still, not yet drawing blood.
Delfarius
Or don’t answer him, and let the shadows decide your fate.
Maelor
His throat bobs against the blade. His eyes dart once to the wards, once to Delfarius, and fear wins.
Maelor
No, no... I was sent by Lord Halven Veyl. He wants the girl kept quiet until the steward’s ledger is moved.
Tharlen
Then speak the name of the hand that put you here, steward. I want the whole thread, not just the knot.
Maelor trembles, trapped between the blade and the wards, while the hidden suite behind them waits in tense silence for what he says next.
Quest Complete
Strike House Veyl before they can react
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Good→Great
“I look to Tharlen my blade still on Maelor's neck. "Did we need this one alive...I forget? " I am drinking in his terror hoping my unsettling actions of taking in his discomfort will probe him into answering Tharlen's questions.”
SUCCESS (Good Intimidation, rolled -2)
Delfarius shifts closer, crowding Maelor with a predator’s calm. The blade stays at his throat while his gaze flicks to Tharlen, giving the steward just enough of his attention to feel measured and disposable.
Delfarius
Did we need him alive? I forget.
He leans in until Maelor can feel his breath, drinking in the fear tightening the man’s mouth and eyes. The ward-light paints Maelor’s panic in sharp silver, and that sight seems to do more damage than the dagger.
Tharlen
Alive, if he can still name the hands above him. Dead men make poor witnesses.
Maelor swallows hard, trapped between the question and the edge of the blade. His voice breaks on the first word, then spills the rest out in a rush.
Maelor
The ledger goes through the lower accounts room, under the eastern counting shelf. I can name the runner, and the seal, if that is what you want.
The fear comes with a cost, shallow but real. Maelor jerks back against the door, and a thin bead of blood pearls beneath the dagger’s edge, while the suite’s dark wards flare brighter from the pressure in the hall.
Tharlen
Good. Then keep speaking, steward. Tell us what your lord hides beside the numbers.
✓ Quest Accepted
Seize Maelor's ledger
“I lean in a bit closer to Maelor, drawing a bit more blood and fear delighting in both, "Maybe the dead make poor witnesses for you, but I have ways to get even ghosts to give up their secrets. " I am hoping my growing malicious grin and nearer expression will help coax out more answers from him”
SUCCESS (Good Intimidation, rolled -1)
Delfarius leans in and the blade kisses skin again, not enough to finish it, just enough to make Maelor feel the edge of that choice. His grin sharpens at the steward’s panic.
Delfarius
Maybe the dead make poor witnesses for you, but I have ways to get even ghosts to give up their secrets.
The words land like a verdict. Maelor’s breathing stutters, and his eyes dart once to Tharlen, then back to the blood at his own throat.
Maelor
Stop, then... stop and I will talk. The ledger is not whole in one place, and that is the mercy of cautious men.
Maelor
One copy sits in the lower accounts room, under the eastern counting shelf. The other moves at dusk with a runner named Senn, wrapped in black cloth.
Tharlen
That is useful. Names, places, and habits. House Veyl always believes paper can hide sin if it walks fast enough.
Maelor
There is more. A seal register, the names of paid mouths, and a line for the girl, proof they keep witnesses like property.
“I raise an eyebrow at Tharlen who has been using his sword conduit to record this man's voice. "Do you have what you need to damn the House Veyl enough or do you require more information?" I smirk at Maelor watching the blood drip down my blade”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -2)
Delfarius lifts one brow and keeps the dagger steady while he asks whether Tharlen has enough to damn House Veyl.
Tharlen
Enough to hang the steward house by house, yes. More would make the snare cleaner, but this is already ruin in a neat hand.
Tharlen
His blade has done half the persuading for us.
At the answer, Tharlen angles his diamond blade closer to Maelor and its edge catches the ward-light like a cold star.
Maelor
Then take what you need and go. The ledger is not merely names, it is payment, favors, and the seal of Lord Halven himself.
Maelor
If you want the whole chain, the runner Senn reaches the lower accounts room before dawn. After that, the pages leave the house.
As Maelor spits out the warning, a dark bead of blood slips down Delfarius's blade and dots the floorboards between the wards.
Tharlen
Good. Then we do not need his comfort, only his route. Delfarius, I have the names, the seal, and the false trail. That is enough to break them open.
“"Blood then to let them to know we know, but action enough that they will be steps behind us." I hold my hand up and my seal pierces him clean through from behind as I lean in and watch Maelor die in front of me, my grin growing as his life drifts away.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Combat Magic, rolled +2)
Delfarius’s seal takes Maelor from behind, and the steward jerks once before folding against the warded door. His mouth opens on no answer at all.
The blood on the boards widens under the hungry pulse of the ward-light, while Maelor’s hand claws weakly at his own coat.
A slim leather ledger slips free and strikes the floor by his boots, half-hidden by the fresh spill.
Delfarius lets out the exact words he has chosen, low and sharp, as Maelor’s weight sags out of the way.
Tharlen
There it is. That is the one he was carrying.
Tharlen
You spoke the trap shut, and now the proof is ours. Clean work, Delfarius.
Tharlen lowers his blade a fraction and reaches toward the fallen ledger, his eyes still on the door and the blood pooling beneath it.
Deal with Maelor's body
Quest Complete
Seize Maelor's ledger
New Gift: Ledger-Reader's Intuition