Neris unlocks a narrow iron door beneath the council offices. Beyond it, a cramped archive descends into cool darkness, where ledgers rest beneath dust-dark wax seals.
A stone table waits beneath a single oil lamp. Neris clears a space and gestures for Tavian to place the disputed agreement beside the oldest ledgers.
Neris Vahl
The council registry is here. If the seal was logged properly, its entry will show who issued it and when.
Tavian lays down the parchment. An older council seal beneath it gives a faint blue pulse, and the oil flame bends toward the document without wind.
Oren Vale
Registry entry: Deputy Clerk Oren Vale recorded the first water agreement under council seal, on the seventh day of High Sun.
The voice ends abruptly. Neris opens a ledger to the matching date, revealing Oren Vale's careful hand, the original route, and the older seal's exact imprint.
Tavian Rusk
The record is credible, but the altered line remains. Someone changed the agreement after it was sealed, and the archive does not yet tell us who.
“why would someone do that?”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +2)
Durnan Scalabis
Why would someone alter the agreement after it was sealed?
Neris studies the blue-pulsing seal, then the altered line. Tavian keeps his injured hand against his chest, listening as the archive’s cold silence settles around them.
Neris Vahl
To redirect water without appearing to seize it. Whoever changed the line could send one caravan elsewhere, then sell the rightful route to another.
She traces the altered ink without touching it. The faint blue pulse dims beneath her finger, leaving the original route and the false addition sharply visible together.
Neris Vahl
Oren Vale recorded the first agreement, but the alteration required access after sealing. Someone wanted the registry to blame Oren while the profit went elsewhere.
Tavian Rusk
Then the altered line is bait. Find who gained the rerouted water, and we may find who ordered the change.
Neris turns several ledger pages, searching for later route assignments and payment marks. The answer has become a trail of profit rather than a mystery of ink alone.
Quest Complete
Secure a credible council record for the agreement
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Good→Great