Dale remains beside the exposed register, the lifted parchment strip and ledger still in hand. Sella waits far behind at the Lanternless Shrine; only Serah and Orlan stand with him beneath Dunmere.
Serah searches a recently disturbed shelf and draws out a wayhouse tally. Beside Maelin Orr’s borrowed name, a fresh entry records departure only hours ago.
Serah Quill
This name is different, but the route mark beside it is not. Maelin left Blackmere after dawn, carrying no payment bundle and traveling alone.
Orlan takes the tally without touching its wet ink. His eyes narrow at the slanted figures, then shift toward the ledgers Dale has uncovered.
Orlan Vetch
That hand is unknown to me. The clerk copied the same road records I bought, but never signed a broker’s mark or entered my rooms.
Serah Quill
Then the clerk has been watching both of you. If Maelin left hours ago, the watcher may already know this register is exposed.
A faint scrape sounds above the archive stair, followed by silence. The tally, the register, and the fresh parchment now point toward Blackmere, while an unseen clerk’s trail remains close.
+ New Item Acquired
Mapmaker register
+ New Item Acquired
Parchment strip
“I quietly ambush whoever is above the archive”
FAILURE (Good Stealth, rolled -1)
Dale passes the tally to Serah and slips toward the archive stair, placing each foot beyond the worn stone. He waits beneath the last shelf, hidden from anyone above.
The scrape returns. A shadow crosses the stair mouth, and Dale lunges upward in silence, reaching to seize the figure before it can look down.
His hand catches only a trailing cloak clasp. The figure twists free with startling speed, stumbles against the rail, and retreats up the stair before Dale can secure it.
Serah Quill
Dale, stop. The stair is open, but the upper landing has two exits. Chasing blindly will lose the trail.
The broken clasp remains in Dale’s hand, stamped with a tiny square notch. Above, hurried steps fade toward the western passage, while a draft moves from the opposite arch.
Orlan Vetch
That mark is not a broker’s sign. It belongs to the old wayhouse clerks, and the draft means their records had another entrance.
The ambush has failed, but the clasp identifies the watcher’s office and the shifting air reveals a second route. The archive now offers a choice: follow the fleeing clerk or find the concealed entrance.
✓ Quest Accepted
Intercept the fleeing wayhouse clerk
+ New Item Acquired
Clerk's Cloak Clasp
“I follow the clerk’s fading steps through the western passage.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Survival, rolled +1)
Dale follows the fading steps through the western passage, reading scuffed dust, loosened grit, and the tiny square notch stamped into fallen clasp fragments.
The passage bends behind the archive walls and descends into a narrow records gallery. A hooded clerk waits at its far end beside an open stone door.
The Fleeing Clerk
You followed faster than the others. I expected Orlan to send a guide, not come himself.
The clerk turns, revealing a young adult woman with tawny skin, tightly braided dark hair, and a gray clerical coat marked by ink-stained cuffs. She holds a wax tablet against her chest.
Serah Quill
Dale, I found the lower turn. Orlan is keeping the archive entrance watched, but this gallery reaches the old wayhouse road.
Dale reaches the gallery before the clerk can retreat. Beyond her, the open stone door reveals a concealed route sloping toward Blackmere, with fresh tracks continuing through it.
The Fleeing Clerk
My name is Pell. Maelin Orr passed this way after dawn, and I copied the route for those who are trying to reach her first.
Quest Complete
Intercept the fleeing wayhouse clerk
“I question Pell about Maelin's route”
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled +0)
Dale Trackfinder
Pell, tell me Maelin's route from here. Where did she go, and what was she carrying?
Pell studies Dale's face, then lowers the wax tablet. Her guarded posture eases, though her fingers remain tight around its edge.
Edrin Pell
She took the old wayhouse road beneath Blackmere, then turned east at the split marker. She carried a rolled map, a gray cloak, and no escort.
Pell points through the open stone door, tracing the route with one ink-stained finger. Fresh marks on the floor confirm Maelin's direction and her recent departure.
Edrin Pell
I will show you the turn, but this costs me my post. If Orlan learns I gave you the full route, I cannot return to the archive.
Edrin Pell
Maelin said she was going to the ash boundary, where the erased road leaves the old stonework. She believed someone was following her, and she meant to meet them there.
Pell steps aside, yielding the concealed passage and its confirmed direction. Her help is genuine, but her position in the archive is now openly at risk.
“I ask Pell about rerouted prisoners”
SUCCESS (Good Persuasion, rolled +1)
Dale Trackfinder
Pell, what do you know about the prisoners who were rerouted through these passages?
Pell’s guarded expression tightens, then steadies. She sets the wax tablet on the stone ledge and turns back toward the archive’s older shelves.
Edrin Pell
They were diverted before reaching Blackmere. The order named Greywatch authority, but its seal was copied, and the prisoners were sent east beneath the ash boundary.
She draws out a narrow ledger whose pages are crowded with route strokes and erased names. One entry remains legible beneath a fresh layer of scraped wax.
Edrin Pell
There were three prisoners and an injured keeper. They passed through this gallery alive, escorted by two false guides. Maelin saw them and changed course.
Edrin Pell
The rerouting was meant to place them before someone waiting at the ash boundary. Maelin refused the order, hid the true passage, and carried the warning east.
Pell points to a final notation: the prisoners were later recovered beneath the tower, but the rerouted path continued toward a sealed wayhouse beyond the ash boundary.
✓ Quest Accepted
Follow Maelin's route to the ash boundary
“I go toward Serah”
Dale crosses the records gallery toward Serah, leaving the exposed ledger and Pell’s wax tablet on the stone ledge. The concealed passage waits open behind them.
Serah Quill
You heard enough to know the rerouting was deliberate. The ash boundary was not a destination for prisoners, but a meeting place for whoever issued the false order.
Serah turns from the hidden road as Dale approaches. Her mud-streaked cloak brushes the wall, and she keeps the wayhouse tally folded safely in one hand.
Serah Quill
Pell’s account matches what I found in the disturbed shelves. Maelin changed course because she recognized the order before the prisoners reached the boundary.
Pell watches Dale join Serah, then retrieves her wax tablet from the ledge. Beyond the open door, fresh tracks lead down toward Blackmere’s old road.
Serah Quill
If Maelin carried the warning east, she may still be trying to reach the ash boundary before the people waiting there discover the prisoners survived.
Serah steps beside the concealed passage and points toward the descending route. The gallery now holds a clear account of the diversion and a living trail toward its intended meeting place.
“I follow Maelin's tracks toward the ash boundary”
SUCCESS (Legendary Survival, rolled -1)
Dale follows Maelin’s fresh tracks through the concealed passage and up beneath Blackmere. He reads each broken stem and displaced stone without losing the trail.
The route turns east at the split marker, then climbs through thinning pines. Beyond the last old stonework, gray ash stains the soil in a broad boundary.
Serah Quill
This is where Maelin meant to meet them. Her tracks continue across the ash, but someone else arrived first.
Dale reaches the ash boundary and finds Maelin’s prints crossing it alone. Beside them lie two newer sets: narrow boots approaching from the east, and heavy soles waiting beyond.
Edrin Pell
I have seen that boundary on older maps. The road beyond it was sealed after the false orders began, but Maelin knew a way through.
At the boundary’s center, a flat stone bears three circles cut through with a fresh line. Maelin’s gray cloak thread catches on its edge, pointing toward a sunken gate.
Serah Quill
Someone is there. I hear voices beyond the gate, and one of them is asking whether Maelin brought the warning.
Quest Complete
Follow Maelin's route to the ash boundary