The Registrar leads the dispute through a cramped archway into the records annex. Shelves crowd the walls, packed with transfer receipts and rubbed signatures. At the far desk, a fresh column lists the docket's departure authority.
The Registrar
The custody index will settle this. If the receiving authority is properly entered, the transfer stands.
The Court Clerk lays the copied list beside the black-wax docket. Serren Vale remains between the Registrar and the annex door, watching every hand near the records.
Court Clerk
There. The departure column names the Custodian's Office, but the receipt bears no matching seal. The transfer is not complete.
The Custodian’s Witness
The custodian's order is sufficient. Public custody ends when the docket crosses that threshold.
The Clerk turns a signature rubbing toward the light. Beneath the current entry, an older impression emerges: the same hand that certified Odran Vey's removals has authorized this private transfer.
Serren Vale
That is the authority behind the erasures. They are moving the proof out of public custody before anyone can compare the removals.
A bell sounds in the ledger hall. The Registrar reaches for the docket, while the Clerk plants one palm over the exposed signature and begins writing the discrepancy into the annex index.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the custody index was altered to conceal the authority behind the erasures
“I hold the docket in place while the Clerk records the exposed signature.”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled -1)
Your hand clamps the black-wax docket against the table before the Registrar can take it. The parchment bows, but the exposed signature remains visible beside the Clerk’s waiting entry.
The pressure reopens your injured palm. Blood beads across the docket’s lower edge, marking the challenge with a fresh, unmistakable stain.
Court Clerk
Hold it there. The older impression matches the authorization recorded on the removal orders.
The Clerk copies the mark, the missing receiving seal, and the black-wax authority into the annex index. Their writing fixes the comparison where no later custodian can quietly replace it.
The Registrar
That hand certified the removals under Odran Vey’s commission. The private transfer was ordered by the same authority.
The copied list, docket, and rubbing now point to one chain: the authority behind Odran’s erasures is also directing the proof toward Casta’s private archive. The public record holds the finding.
Serren Vale
Then the erasures were not scattered abuses. Someone with authority is preserving the pattern, and this entry proves where the chain leads.
The Registrar withdraws their hand from the docket, while the Witness lowers the authorization only enough to read the fresh entry. The annex falls silent around the Clerk’s final line.
Quest Complete
Determine who is erasing Odran-linked records
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Superb→Legendary
+ New Item Acquired
Black-wax authorization docket
“I look at my hand. "Shoot. Serren could you help me tend to this?"”
Carciel
Shoot. Serren, could you help me tend to this?
Carciel turns his palm upward, inspecting the reopened cut. Serren steps close, gently wraps it with a clean strip of linen, and knots it snugly.
Serren Vale
Of course. You held the truth in place. Let me help hold you together, too.
+ New Item Acquired
Linen bandage
“I smile. "Thank you my love."”
Carciel
Thank you, my love.
Carciel smiles across the freshly tied linen. Serren’s hands pause, then finish the knot with a tender squeeze.
Serren Vale
Always. Truth is easier to face when we do not face it alone.
“I examine the custody index for alterations”
SUCCESS (Fair Records Pattern Reading, rolled +0)
Carciel traces the custody index with his unbandaged fingertips, comparing its receiving marks against the public register and the black-wax docket.
Court Clerk
The sequence is wrong. This entry was copied over an older custody line.
The pattern resolves: the index was altered. A scraped authority mark beneath the overwritten line matches the black-wax authorization that certified Odran Vey’s removals.
Serren Vale
So the custody index was changed to hide the hand behind the erasures, then make Casta’s private archive appear lawful.
Carciel’s bandage darkens as the strain reopens the small wound in his palm. The cost is immediate, but the altered line is clear, and the Clerk copies both marks into the annex record.
The Registrar
Then this page condemns the authority that ordered the concealment. Do we preserve the altered index here, or carry it before the magistrates?
Present the altered custody index to the magistrates
Quest Complete
Determine whether the custody index was altered to conceal the authority behind the erasures
Attribute Upgrade: Strength Great→Superb