The castle doors open for two Harbor Watch guards escorting a mud-stained knight. Ser Joric Vale is a broad-shouldered middle-aged man in battered mail, with a split lip and rain-dark hair beneath a dented helm.
Harbor Watch guards
Captain, this knight was waiting at the outer road. He carries a royal warrant and asked for Clerk Pell by name.
Ser Joric Vale
I am Ser Joric Vale, sworn to receive Aldren at the hidden refuge. Mara Venn was my contact, and this warrant proves the charge entrusted to me.
Caldus remains under guard beside the table, while the gate sergeant holds the castle entrance with the other watchmen. Harlan Voss and his mercenaries remain detained at the warehouse.
Ser Joric Vale
The messenger was killed because he could have named the refuge’s sponsors. Mara warned me the route was already compromised.
Oren Pell
That seal belongs to a royal household faction operating outside the crown’s public inquiry. It is genuine, but it does not speak for the whole crown.
The royal clerk lowers the warrant without touching it. The sealed dispatches, Caldus’s letter, and Joric’s proof now point toward a hidden royal division whose authority Sehra must weigh.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the royal faction backing Ser Joric Vale
“I examine Ser Joric's royal warrant for its faction's marks and countersignature.”
SUCCESS (Fair Lore (Local), rolled -2)
Sehra takes Joric’s warrant and studies its wax, border device, and countersignature in the castle’s pale light. The Harbor Watch guards keep the hall quiet around her.
The factional mark is genuine: a private household device used by a royal branch operating beside, but not within, the crown’s public inquiry. The countersignature matches that office’s recorded hand.
Sehra
The warrant is authentic, but its authority belongs to a faction, not the crown as a whole.
Oren Pell
You have found the distinction correctly, Captain. The countersignature confirms the issuing office, but it names no public minister who can answer for the faction’s conduct.
The comparison takes several deliberate minutes, delaying the hall’s business while Sehra checks each mark against her local knowledge. She can identify the office, but not the hand that authorized its reach beyond ordinary review.
Ser Joric Vale
Then the warrant still stands for the charge entrusted to me, even if its sponsor keeps himself behind the household seal.
Quest Complete
Identify the royal faction backing Ser Joric Vale