Bren leads Sil’Thalis and Seris through a narrow stair into a quiet stone gallery overlooking Vael Turog’s eastern approaches. Behind them, Veyra and the Head Inquisitor remain with the originals and two duplicate ledgers.
The copied ledger stays in Sil’Thalis’s possession beneath his arm. Below, guards resume their posts along the road, while the fortress bell’s final echoes fade into the morning air.
Bren
Evidence matters because people can deny what happened. But it cannot become another command that decides where we stand, whom we trust, or whether we are allowed to leave.
Seris Vaun
That distinction is harder inside a fortress. Every record becomes a rule eventually, unless someone keeps asking who gave it authority.
Bren rests both hands on the gallery’s worn parapet, watching a pair of wagons pass beneath the gate. She does not reach for the ledger or ask Sil’Thalis to surrender it.
Bren
I want these names preserved, and I want the injured heard. I do not want their suffering to become the reason we stop living beyond the archive.
Seris Vaun
If I carry this record, I must remain its witness, not become its keeper.
“" here, read through all of it. I have done horrendous things. All in the name of a crown that I believed was doing right. " I take a ledger that I pulled from the office. "Read this as well. It is where I was for five years." I pause" and when I came back , no questions just the next mission. From that point is when I made my decision Bren. So yes take them." I say plainly”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Sil'Thalis
Bren, read through all of it. I have done horrendous things, all in the name of a crown I believed was doing right.
Sil’Thalis opens the duplicate restraint ledger beneath his arm, then draws out the separate ledger taken from the office and offers it to Bren across the parapet.
Sil'Thalis
Read this as well. It records where I was for five years. When I came back, there were no questions, only the next mission.
Sil'Thalis
From that point, I made my decision, Bren. So yes. Take them.
Bren
I will. I will read what you are giving me, and I will keep your years separate from the fortress’s account of them.
Bren accepts both ledgers with deliberate care, keeping them visible between her hands rather than claiming them as private property. Her gaze stays on Sil’Thalis.
Bren
I will not turn this into a verdict, or a command about who you must become. I will witness it, and I will tell you where my account differs.
✓ Quest Accepted
Ensure the injured witnesses are heard
“The ledger Sil'thalis hands her is his account of his capture and servitude at the hands of the witches of pallion marshes. A matriarchy society that uses men as breeding stock and pets. He thought he would be rescued by another inquisitor team. After fighting his way out he learns the head inquisitor listed Sil'thalis as kia/mia. No teams where to come for him .”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Bren opens the second ledger. Its pages record Sil’Thalis’s capture in the Pallion Marshes, years of forced servitude under the witches’ matriarchal order, and the uses imposed upon captive men, described without embellishment.
Bren
I understand. This is not merely where you were. It records what they made of your captivity, and how long you were left there.
She turns the pages carefully. The account names the inquisitor team Sil’Thalis expected to come, then records his escape after he fought his way beyond the marsh stronghold.
Bren
You believed another team was coming. They never were. The ledger says the Head Inquisitor marked you missing and presumed dead, then missing in action, without sending anyone.
Bren’s thumb stops beside the final notation. The official entry offers no search, witness, or explanation, only a closed status beneath the authority of the Head Inquisitor.
Bren
This belongs beside the fortress’s records, not beneath them. Your capture, your servitude, your escape, and their abandonment are now plainly preserved.
Seris Vaun
I will record that I witnessed the account and its separation from the custody ledgers. No report here can call your absence an unexplained loss.
“" make sure the injured are heard first" I say plainly”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -3)
Sil'Thalis
Make sure the injured are heard first.
Sil’Thalis places the restraint ledger atop the parapet, opening it to the first names and injury marks. The request carries beyond private testimony into the fortress’s waiting records.
Bren
Then these accounts lead. Before doctrine, before custody, before anyone explains why the harm was necessary.
Seris Vaun
I will bring the injured witnesses before the review begins, and read the absent ones aloud. Their names will not wait behind the officers’ answers.
Seris takes the ledger’s cover without lifting it from Sil’Thalis’s possession, copying each name and injury onto her witness sheet. The gallery’s violet signal cord flares, marking her choice for the fortress.
Bren
That flare will make them suspicious. Let it. Suspicion is cheaper than another silence.
Below, a bell answers once. Guards turn toward the eastern gallery as Seris begins reading the injured names, while Bren keeps the original account open and visible between them.
“I ask Seris to bring the injured witnesses ,I ask Bren to record each witness separately”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Sil'Thalis
Seris, bring the injured witnesses. Bren, record each witness separately, without folding their accounts into one story.
Seris turns toward the eastern stair and signals the waiting guards. Soon she returns with three injured adults: a broad-shouldered man with a splinted wrist, a thin woman favoring one knee, and an older man whose neck bears faded binding marks.
Seris Vaun
They are here by choice, and each understands that speaking may expose what the fortress concealed. No one was compelled to enter this gallery.
Bren clears three spaces along the parapet, placing a separate sheet before each witness. She keeps the restraint ledger closed beside her, refusing to let its language lead their testimony.
Bren
I will record who speaks, what they personally remember, and what remains uncertain. One account will not be used to fill another’s silence.
Seris Vaun
The first witness is ready. I will remain present as witness to the process, but I will not answer for any of them.
The three injured witnesses take their places. Bren opens the first blank sheet, while Seris stands apart from the speaking space and the fortress guards remain below, unable to rewrite the arrangement.
✓ Quest Accepted
Speak honestly with Bren about what you fear she will conclude from the ledgers
“I tell Bren what I fear these ledgers make her conclude about me.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
Sil'Thalis
Bren, tell me plainly what you think these ledgers make me. That I am only what was done to me, or that I became the sort of man who does it to others.
Bren sets her pen down beside the separate sheets. The three witnesses remain quiet, while the restraint ledger lies closed and unable to answer for her.
Bren
They make me conclude that you survived things designed to turn survival into obedience. They also show that you later chose actions that harmed people. I will hold both truths.
Bren
I do not conclude that captivity excuses you, and I do not conclude that your worst choices erase what was done to you. Your account is yours, not their verdict.
A sudden gust lifts the ledger’s loose cover. Bren catches it, but one copied page tears at the binding and skids across the stone, its corner darkening in rain blown through the gallery.
Bren
That page is damaged, but not lost. I will mark the tear and preserve what remains. I will not repair the record by pretending the missing edge was never there.
Quest Complete
Speak honestly with Bren about what you fear she will conclude from the ledgers