The commanders spread around the candlelit table, pistols and rapiers half-drawn. Gervais blocks the service door behind John, while Gaston guards the passage and the ledger chest remains within reach.
Armand Vautrin
Then hear the truth before you make martyrs of yourselves. The Cardinal did not order your friend's treason. Someone beneath him forged the warrant.
Gervais
Do not listen to Vautrin's mercy. He wants the ledger preserved because it proves which noble paid for the forgery.
Lucien Marot lunges for the chest, but Gaston steps across the narrow gap and raises the stolen key. Behind Marot, the third commander reaches for the bell cord.
Healer Gaston
Touch that cord and every guard in Nesle will hear that the Brotherhood keeps its records under lock and threat.
Armand Vautrin
Smith, you came for names. Take the ledger and read the payment line beneath the forged warrant. It names the man who framed your friend.
No one moves. The ledger chest stands between John and the commanders, while the four men wait for his choice beneath the trembling candlelight.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the noble who paid for the forgery
“I keep my rapier trained on Vautrin while Gaston secures the ledger chest.”
SUCCESS (Fair Fencing, rolled +0)
John keeps his rapier leveled at Vautrin’s chest. The point does not waver, though his boot slips on spilled wax and his wrist tightens painfully to recover the stance.
Armand Vautrin
Steady, Smith. You have the advantage, if you possess the discipline to keep it.
Gaston seizes the chest’s hasp while Marot retreats from the blade. The stolen key turns in the lock, and the iron clasp releases with a dull click.
Healer Gaston
The chest is secured. The ledger is within reach, and no one has touched the bell.
The lid opens beneath Gaston’s hand, revealing stacked papers, payment notes, and the ledger sought by John. Vautrin remains fixed beneath the rapier’s point.
Gervais
Read the payment line first. If Vautrin spoke truth, the name of your friend’s betrayer is there.
“I read the payment line in the ledger”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +4)
Gaston lifts the ledger from the opened chest and holds it beneath the candle. John takes it without lowering his rapier, keeping Vautrin covered.
The payment pages are cramped with figures and ciphers. John finds the forged warrant's entry, then follows the ink to a line marked with the same private seal as the stolen token.
John Smith
The payment was authorized by Vautrin, but delivered through a noble intermediary.
The ledger names the intermediary: Marquis Étienne de Rochefort. A second column records three future payments and the date of the next delivery, giving John a living trail beyond this chamber.
Armand Vautrin
Now you understand. I kept the ledger because Rochefort answers to someone higher than I do.
Gervais
The cipher confirms the token. Rochefort is not the hand behind the scheme, only its purse.
Gaston turns the page and finds the next payment's place and hour: the old mint at dusk. The ledger has yielded proof, a name, and a destination before the commanders can seize it.
Quest Complete
Identify the noble who paid for the forgery
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Good→Great
+ New Item Acquired
Brotherhood ledger
“I force Vautrin to order us safe passage”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled -1)
John keeps his rapier at Vautrin’s chest and fixes him with an unblinking stare. The chamber falls silent beneath the candle’s trembling light.
Vautrin’s composure bends first. John’s breath catches, and the hesitation shows in his tightened jaw, but he does not lower the blade.
Armand Vautrin
Very well. You will have safe passage. No Brotherhood man is to raise a weapon against Smith, Gaston, or Gervais. Open the river route and let them leave Nesle.
His order carries through the service door. Outside, startled men answer, then bolts withdraw and boots retreat from the river passage.
Lucien Marot
You would surrender the passage to them? Rochefort will hear that you yielded the council’s own escape route.
Armand Vautrin
Rochefort may hear whatever truth survives this room. The order stands. Touch them, and you prove every charge in that ledger.
Gaston gathers the ledger, while Gervais watches the opened passage. The way is clear, but John’s brief lapse in composure has not escaped Vautrin’s notice.
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape Nesle
“I keep Vautrin covered while Gaston carries the ledger out.”
SUCCESS (Fair Fencing, rolled +1)
John keeps his rapier fixed at Armand Vautrin’s chest while Healer Gaston gathers the ledger and payment notes. The commanders remain still beneath the candlelight.
Armand Vautrin
Keep him covered, Smith. Gaston, take the ledger through the river passage. No hand in this chamber will stop you.
Gaston tucks the ledger beneath his coat and passes through the opened service door. Gervais follows him, glancing back toward the commanders and the cleared route.
Lucien Marot
You trust them with the proof itself? Once that ledger leaves Nesle, our protection becomes a promise made to men who may condemn us.
Vautrin does not answer. His gaze stays on John’s blade, while Marot’s hand slowly withdraws from his pistol and the last armed commander steps away from the table.
Gervais
The river passage is clear. Gaston has the ledger, and the old mint remains our next destination. Do not let Rochefort learn we are coming.
Beyond the door, Gaston calls that the route is open. John maintains his covering point as Gervais waits at the threshold, leaving Vautrin and Marot under the weight of their own surrender.
“I follow Gaston through the river passage”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
John follows Gaston through the opened river passage, keeping his rapier low as he passes beyond the commanders’ chamber. Gervais brings up the rear, watching the door until darkness hides it.
Healer Gaston
The ledger is safe for now. If Rochefort has watchers along the river, they will expect us to flee, not turn toward the old mint.
The passage descends beside black water beneath the foundations. John’s shoulder brushes the damp stone once, but he keeps pace and emerges with Gaston into a deserted riverside vault.
Gervais
This vault opens onto the quay. We can reach the mint by the covered market, unless Rochefort has already sent word there.
Gaston loosens the ledger beneath his coat and checks its pages by the last gray light. The payment line remains clear, along with the hour marked for the next delivery.
Healer Gaston
At dusk, Rochefort’s intermediary comes to the old mint. We have proof, but not yet the hand that commissioned the forgery. We must reach him first.
“I disguise us before crossing the quay”
FAILURE (Great Reasoning, rolled -3)
John assembles discarded boatmen’s cloaks and caps from the riverside vault, fitting one over each man before they approach the quay. The disguises conceal their weapons, but not their bearing.
Gaston’s careful hands and physician’s satchel remain visible beneath the cloak. Gervais’s guarded posture makes him look less like a laborer, while John’s size strains the borrowed coat across his shoulders.
Healer Gaston
The clothes may pass at a glance, Smith, but not under questions. We look like three men pretending to belong here.
They step from the vault toward the quay. A riverside sentry, a young adult man of lean build with sun-browned skin, a narrow clean-shaven face, and short brown hair beneath a patched blue-gray cap, wearing a weathered brown tunic and breeches glances over, then watches them longer than the other laborers, his attention fixed on the mismatched caps and Gaston’s satchel.
Gervais
Do not cross openly. The disguise has made us memorable. Use the stacked casks until that sentry turns toward the river.
Gervais pulls the group behind stacked casks instead of continuing across the open quay. The borrowed cloaks now hide their faces, but abandoning them would only confirm the sentry’s suspicion.
+ New Item Acquired
Boatmen's disguises
“I claim we are urgent river physicians”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +0)
John Smith
We are river physicians. A fevered barge waits downstream, and every moment lost here risks lives.
The Riverside Sentry studies John's borrowed cap, then Gaston's satchel and the grave urgency in his voice. His suspicion holds, but his attention shifts from their disguises to the river.
Riverside Sentry
Physicians? Then name the landing and the vessel. I will not have you wandering the quay under false colors.
John Smith
The lower landing, beyond the covered market. The vessel flies no colors because the sick cannot wait for ceremony.
The answer fits the river’s working routes well enough. The sentry steps aside and points toward the covered market, granting them passage, though his questions have cost precious minutes and left their destination unverified.
Riverside Sentry
Go, then. Take the market lane and show your satchel at the lower landing. If the boat is not there, return and explain yourself.
Gervais leads them from the casks as the sentry turns toward the river. Gaston keeps the ledger hidden beneath his cloak, and the three pass into the market lane under borrowed colors.
Quest Complete
Escape Nesle
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Great→Superb