The southern landing opens into a bright dedication hall, where river delegates gather beneath banners stitched in human red and elven green. Carciel and Serren enter with the chart and brass token secured among their belongings.
Musicians tune near the dais. Beyond them, the open doors frame arriving witnesses from both communities, while a stone tablet displays the dedication’s purpose: to renew the river compact and record the testimony that protects it.
The Finely Dressed Envoy
Welcome to the southern dedication. I am authorized to receive visiting witnesses. Before the ceremony begins, you may review precisely what testimony the archive expects, and what remains yours to withhold.
Serren Vale
Then we will review it together. Neither of us speaks for the other, and no private confidence from Bellmere becomes public merely because we crossed the river.
The envoy leads them toward a curtained side table. There, beside the dedication ledger, lies a prepared testimony sheet naming the disputed northern route, the shared stewardship of the river, and a warning that either community may reject the compact if the witnesses appear partisan.
The Finely Dressed Envoy
Your evidence can establish that the route is open under lawful authority. Your testimony can also show whether Bellmere’s human and elven neighbors can trust one another. The hall will hear facts first, but it will judge the future those facts make possible.
✓ Quest Accepted
Present united testimony at the dedication
“I ask Serren what they wish to say before we present our united testimony.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Carciel
Serren, before we present this together, what do you wish to say?
Serren Vale
They look from the testimony sheet to the open hall, measuring the words that will belong to them alone.
Serren Vale
I want them to hear that Bellmere did not come here seeking control of the river. We came because its routes are shared, and shared things survive only when both sides are trusted.
Serren Vale
I will speak about what I witnessed and what I can stand behind. I will not make our private life evidence, and I will not let anyone turn your music into proof that I was led.
The Finely Dressed Envoy
That is a strong beginning. The sheet can carry the lawful facts, while your own voices establish why the compact deserves to live.
Serren Vale
Then let that be clear. I stand beside Carciel by choice, and I speak beside him without surrendering my own voice.
The envoy lowers the sheet, leaving its first blank line open for their united framing. Around the hall, tuning settles into attentive quiet, and Serren turns toward Carciel, ready to hear what he will place beside their words.
Quest Complete
Reach the southern dedication
Attribute Upgrade: Perception Superb→Legendary
“I place our shared framing on the testimony sheet”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +1)
Carciel places the shared framing on the testimony sheet, setting Bellmere's arrival within the language of stewardship, trust, and a river held in common.
The ink settles cleanly across the first line. It joins Serren's witness to Carciel's music without claiming either as the other's proof.
Serren Vale
That leaves room for both of us.
Serren Vale
Yes. This says why we came, without deciding what either of us must give away.
The Finely Dressed Envoy
Then the dedication will hear a shared position, not a borrowed voice. I will enter this framing before the testimony begins.
The envoy copies the framing into the ceremony ledger. Beyond the table, the presiding keeper lifts a small silver bell, waiting for the witnesses to present their testimony before the dedication music begins.
“Is the envoy planning to seize our evidence?”
NO (Unlikely, rolled 72)
No. The envoy is not preparing to seize the evidence; their attention remains on recording the agreed framing and preserving each witness's choice about what to disclose.
“I sing my testimony”
SUCCESS (Fair Persuasion, rolled +0)
The silver bell sounds once. Its clear note settles over the hall, and the dedication formally begins.
Carciel lifts his lute and sings the testimony, giving melody to shared stewardship, the authorized route, and the trust placed in both communities.
Serren Vale
Bellmere speaks through shared care, not possession. I give this witness in my own voice, beside Carciel, and not as evidence against him.
Carciel's song carries the same distinction. The hall hears two witnesses joined in purpose, neither made a shield for the other.
The Finely Dressed Envoy writes beneath the agreed framing as the final note fades, then turns the ledger outward for the gathered witnesses to see.
The Finely Dressed Envoy
The testimony is received together, and each voice remains its own. The dedication now records stewardship without claiming private lives.
The ledger closes beneath the bell's silver seal. The hall's attention shifts from preparation to celebration, and the way is open for Carciel's dedication performance.
Quest Complete
Present united testimony at the dedication
New Gift: United Testimony
Quest Complete
Play at the southern dedication
New Gift: Healing Performance