By morning, Titano reaches Seressa’s eastern courtyard with the royal courier at his side. Broad gates stand open beneath pale banners, and the paving has been cleared to welcome his immense frame.
Seressa
You came, Titano. I promised a courtyard ready for you, and I keep promises. Enter without stooping, if the walls permit it.
Seressa waits beside a stone table, her pale back and crimson underside bright in the morning sun. Several broad benches form a welcoming circle, while servants, two young adult women in cream aprons and russet skirts, one with a copper-brown braid and the other with a cropped black bob, set out chilled drinks.
Seressa
Before duty steals you away, hear one story of my family. My grandmother raised these eastern grounds after the old gate fell, stone by stone, refusing every offer to abandon them.
The Royal Courier
Commander, I regret interrupting. The queen’s summons cannot wait. She asks for your account of the blue script before the bronze tube is opened.
Seressa’s expression sobers, though she gestures for the courier to lead. Alexios and the tavern guards remain behind in the tavern, while Seressa accompanies Titano through the palace grounds.
They pass beneath the palace arch into the Palace Court. The stegosaur queen waits beneath the sealed coffer’s royal pennant, with the bronze tube untouched upon a guarded table.
The Stegosaur Queen
Commander, speak plainly. What did you observe about the blue script, and who knew of it, before anyone breaks that seal?
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the blue script recognizes Titano’s authority
✓ Quest Accepted
Discover who placed the unfamiliar blue script on the royal seal
“I do recognize the seal, not not from anyone in Ithaca, its from someone in my home at the valley of titans, it is my brothers seal”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
volcanon
I recognize the seal. It is not from anyone in Ithaca. The blue script belongs to my brother, from the Valley of Titans.
Silence settles across the Palace Court. The bronze tube remains untouched, but the blue script kindles faintly beneath its wax, answering Titano’s recognition.
The Stegosaur Queen
Your brother’s seal. Then this message crossed more than our borders, Commander. Tell me what his mark means, and why it has appeared upon a royal summons.
The Royal Courier
I carried it from your dwelling exactly as I received it. No one in the palace altered the tube or added the blue writing.
The queen leans over the guarded table without touching the message. The unfamiliar script forms a narrow ring around her own seal, as though one authority has been placed beside another.
The Stegosaur Queen
Then we will not break it carelessly. Your knowledge makes you the witness best able to identify its signs, and your brother’s seal gives this matter immediate weight.
The Stegosaur Queen
Commander, stand beside me when it opens. If the Valley of Titans has sent warning, Ithaca will hear it under royal protection.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the blue script recognizes Titano’s authority
Quest Complete
Discover who placed the unfamiliar blue script on the royal seal