The amended warrant lies open beside Cerdic’s declaration, its travel clause visibly struck through. The iron key rests on the floor between Timothy and the witnesses.
Hrodric remains at the records table with his quill ready, while Harlen stands beside Timothy. The Northmere guards hold the doorway, leaving the road beyond inaccessible without lawful cause.
the Northmere official
Cerdic, state precisely what authority you claim now. Custody, guardianship, or merely the right to keep these records? I will enter your words unchanged.
Cerdic
I claim no authority to transfer him, punish him, or call him property. I claim only custodial responsibility while he remains here by his own consent and under witness.
Hrodric
Recorded: Cerdic limits his claim to witnessed custody, subject to Timothy’s continued consent and Northmere’s lawful review.
Harlen
I confirm that limitation. If Timothy withdraws consent, Cerdic’s authority ends, and no chain or threat may replace it.
the Northmere official
Then the key remains untouched, and no departure is ordered. Timothy may answer for himself, while I determine whether this narrow custody protects him or merely renames the seizure.
“Would the scarred pursuer prefer to take me elsewhere for another reason?”
YES (Likely, rolled 28)
The scarred pursuer shifts beneath the guards’ scrutiny. His attention stays fixed on Timothy, not the amended warrant, as though Northmere’s inquiry threatens a separate bargain.
Garran
I would take him elsewhere, yes. Not for punishment, and not to serve Northmere. A reeve’s agent promised payment for the boy alive, before Cerdic’s men ever secured him.
Hrodric’s quill halts above the page. Harlen turns sharply toward the pursuer, while the Northmere guards tighten their watch without drawing weapons.
the Northmere official
Name the agent, name the place, and state what the payment was meant to purchase. If you conceal either, your account becomes evidence against you.
Garran
The message named a riverside countinghouse below the north road. The payment was for custody and answers, not a lawful summons. I was to learn what Timothy carried from the monastery and who would claim him.
Cerdic
So your intended destination was a private market for testimony. You sought to remove him before Northmere or I could establish whose authority had been used.
The revelation leaves Cerdic’s narrow custody weakened but useful: the pursuer’s hidden destination gives Timothy another witness against the old seizure, while the key remains untouched between them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Submit to the scarred pursuer’s custody and be taken at his discretion
“I tell Cerdic and the Northmere official that I submit to the custody of the scarred pursuer, and persuade them to allow me to go with him to settle affairs with the reeve.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +3)
Timothy
I submit to the scarred pursuer’s custody, not Northmere’s authority or Cerdic’s claim. Let me go with him and settle his affairs with the reeve.
The room tightens around the request. The pursuer looks startled, while Harlen watches Timothy closely and Hrodric prepares to record another change of custody.
Cerdic
You would leave my protection for the man who sought payment for you? Explain why I should permit that transfer.
Timothy
Because his bargain concerns me directly. If I face the reeve beside him, I can settle the claim without surrendering myself to Northmere.
the Northmere official
That is a voluntary choice, and it does not restore the old seizure. I will permit the journey, provided the pursuer brings you before the reeve openly.
Cerdic
Then I release my custodial claim for this journey. Hrodric, record that Timothy leaves freely, and that the pursuer answers for his safety before witnesses.
Hrodric records the release, and the official adds her seal to the travel authorization. The pursuer must now lead Timothy to the riverside countinghouse and name the reeve’s agent before the reeve himself.
Be brought before the reeve and identify the reeve’s agent
Quest Complete
Submit to the scarred pursuer’s custody and be taken at his discretion
New Gift: Hardened Penance
