The council remains gathered beneath the valley banners at the archive threshold. Mother’s tablet and the altered seal rest on a stone stand between Arveth and the senior valley champion.
Arveth
Bring forward every family mark. We will compare each impression against Mother’s seal, the copied key pattern, and the final alteration. No authority will hide behind custom today.
The senior valley champion kneels beside the stand, placing clay impressions in a careful row. Orun, Seressa, and the Ithacan delegation, a mixed group of young adult men and women in slate-blue travel cloaks, with varied builds and dark hair watch from behind the council, while two valley guards hold the passage clear.
The Senior Valley Champion
The first marks share Mother’s pressure and angle. The later seals follow the elders’ authority. Only one impression carries the copied key shape with its final turn deliberately denied.
He compares the wax beneath the torchlight, then sets one family mark apart. The falsification narrows to a single member of the ruling family, though the face behind it remains unspoken.
The Elder Council
A resemblance is not proof. You condemn a family member from pressure marks and old wax while ignoring every hand that could have handled the key.
Arveth
Then let every hand be tested. If your defense is sound, the comparison will clear the accused. If it is not, the Valley will hear who benefits from doubt.
“I demand the accused family member speak”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +1)
volcanon
Let the accused family member speak. No mark will be judged while its bearer is denied a voice.
Titano’s demand carries across the archive threshold. Arveth turns toward a broad-shouldered adult woman with dark russet scales, a white jaw, and a severe green mantle standing among the elders.
Arveth
You heard him. Step forward, and answer before the Valley. Your silence will not be used as shelter or as proof.
The woman leaves the council’s line and approaches the stone stand. Her hands remain visible, though her chin stays lifted beneath the weight of every watching face.
Kareth
My name is Kareth. I handled the true impression, but I did not make the altered mark. I concealed the archive because the elders ordered it hidden.
A sharp murmur passes through the gathered elders. The senior valley champion steadies the impressions, while Arveth fixes Kareth, a human woman with an uncompromising stare.
Kareth
The final alteration was made by my uncle, Varek. He feared Mother’s account would expose the binding order and destroy the elders’ authority.
Quest Complete
Identify which family member falsified the archive seal
Skill Upgrade: Lore Mediocre