Before the hooded witness can answer, the blue flame bows sharply toward a listening bowl. Beneath its rim, a wax-sealed cylinder glimmers in the firelight.
Will lifts the cylinder free without breaking it. The seal bears Cregan Lycaon’s wolf signet, yet no mark reveals where or by whom the message was prepared.
Hooded Witness
That warning was planted for the moment you arrived. Open it, Raegar. Its truth is meant for you.
Fortis remains between the stair and the chamber entrance, guarding the retreat. Aiko watches the ceiling shadows while Will stays beside Raegar, the cylinder resting across his gloved palm.
Hooded Witness
The buyer is not gathering fragments merely to expose your blood. They are preparing a public claim, invoking House Lycaon law to name you property of the inheritance.
Fortis
No law makes a person property. But a forged claim, spoken before the right nobles, can become a cage before anyone draws steel.
Aiko (masked lady)
Break the seal carefully. If the message carries a listening charm, the sender may learn who touched it, even from far beyond this camp.
“Will and aiko examine the letter.”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled +1)
Raegar joins Will Brigtwood and Aiko (masked lady) over the cylinder. Together they turn it beneath the blue flame, studying the wax, parchment, and hidden joinery without disturbing the seal.
Will Brigtwood
The wax is genuine, but the impression was pressed twice. Someone copied Cregan’s signet from a living seal.
Aiko (masked lady)
And here, beneath the rim. Shadow ink. It names no sender, but it remembers every hand that breaks it.
Will Brigtwood angles the cylinder toward the flame while Aiko (masked lady) lets a thread of shadow pass over its surface. A faint second script appears beneath the wax: claimant recognized by blood and witness.
Will Brigtwood
The letter is warded to reveal its contents only to the Lycaon heir. The seal itself is a test, not merely a lock.
Aiko (masked lady)
It carries no listening charm now. Whoever prepared it expected Raegar to inspect the trap before choosing whether to open it.
The examination exposes the seal’s forgery and the letter’s purpose: a legal claim disguised as Cregan’s warning, meant to turn Raegar’s blood into evidence against him.
✓ Quest Accepted
Read the sealed message
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify House Lycaon’s buyer
“I walk up to Fortis and ask him privately "Before i read this letter is there something i should know?"”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled +1)
Raegar steps away from the cylinder and approaches Fortis near the stair, where the chamber’s murmurs fade beneath the blue flame.
Raegar
Before I read this letter, is there something I should know?
Fortis
Yes. Whatever it says, it was built to make you answer in public. Do not give the letter your name, your blood, or any oath.
Fortis lowers his voice further, his broad frame shielding the exchange from the hooded witness and the listening bowls.
Fortis
Cregan’s true warnings were never written this way. If the parchment recognizes you, that proves only that someone prepared for your touch.
Fortis
Read it if you must, but trust nothing that calls you heir, claimant, or possession. The first name you speak afterward may be used against you.
Across the chamber, Will keeps the sealed cylinder steady while Aiko’s shadow-thread withdraws. The hooded witness remains silent, waiting for Raegar’s answer to the trap.
“I walk back and ask Will and Aiko "Can we break the seal without doing what it wants?"”
SUCCESS (Good Willpower, rolled -1)
Raegar
Can we break the seal without doing what it wants?
Raegar returns to Will and Aiko. Will lowers the cylinder between them while Aiko gathers her shadow-thread around the wax, leaving its center untouched.
Will Brigtwood
Yes, but not cleanly. We can deny it your name and blood, then force the ward to reveal itself instead.
Aiko (masked lady)
The seal will still take a price. Give it no oath, and it will take a mark of contact instead.
Will twists the cylinder’s hidden join while Aiko pins the shadow ink in place. The wax cracks without touching Raegar’s skin, and the parchment unfolds.
A sharp line of cold burns across Will’s glove, blackening the leather at his palm. The opened letter bears no spoken name, only a legal claim and three noble witnesses.
Hooded Witness
It obeyed the breaking, not the claimant. Now you possess the proof, but whoever forged it knows the ward has been challenged.
Quest Complete
Read the sealed message
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Good→Great