Ettel arrives from the market’s edge with quick, measured strides, her practice sword at her hip and urgency tightening her usually steady expression. Myra glides beside Diamond, violet eyes alert.
Ettel
Diamond, come with me to the customs yard. Several imported charm crates were flagged, and I need them secured before anyone is hurt.
She gestures toward a narrower avenue leading away from the fountain. The gate guards remain at their stone arch, watching the market rather than following.
Ettel
Their labels claim one kind of magic, but the residue says something else. The inspectors are waiting for someone who can sense the difference.
At the customs yard, three inspectors stand around sealed wooden crates marked with mismatched symbols. Faint blue sparks seep between the lids and vanish into the morning air.
Ettel
They expect you to explain what your magic detects. I will keep the yard clear, but I cannot tell them what I cannot sense myself.
Myra settles close to Diamond’s feet, shadow wisps curling over the paving stones. Ettel waits beside the crates, leaving the next word and the decision to him.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the imported charms threaten Aurel
“You try to use your magic to make sure. Which one could it be? That could hurt, be the one that threatens the place or not. To locate the. Thing that could threaten it.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled -1)
Diamond draws raw energy inward, casting without ritual or component. A quiet pressure spreads through the customs yard as blue sparks tremble above each sealed crate.
Diamond Oren.
The residue in the left-hand crate is layered beneath a false, harmless signature.
His restrained infernal presence bends the light into soft shadows, tracing the dangerous enchantment through the wood without opening it. The left-hand crate answers with a dull violet pulse.
Ettel
That one, then. The left-hand crate is the threat?
The other two crates remain quiet under his reading, their blue sparks merely residual warding. Myra’s shadow wisps curl toward the marked crate, then recoil from its sealed lid.
Customs Inspectors
We will clear the yard and leave that crate sealed until the proper containment team arrives.
Ettel
Good. You found it before anyone handled the wrong seal. I will mark this crate and keep everyone back.
Ettel steps between the marked crate and the market avenue, raising one hand to halt the inspectors. The danger is identified, contained, and waiting for trained hands.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the imported charms threaten Aurel
“You asked us, the others, to wonder who was in charge of. Who got this crate on board somehow?”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +1)
Diamond Oren.
Who was in charge of getting this crate here? Who loaded it onto the shipment?
Diamond’s innate spellcasting sends a thin current through the sealed markings, reading old impressions without disturbing the wards. His restrained infernal presence bends the light, revealing a faint signature beneath the false label.
Customs Inspectors
The manifest names Orven Dask, a contracted river-barge broker. He accepted responsibility for the crate and signed it into Aurel under the harmless classification.
One inspector hurries to a nearby desk and returns with a leather ledger. The page confirms the broker’s seal, while a second notation places the crate aboard the Dawn Finch three days ago.
Ettel
Then Orven Dask is our starting point. Inspectors, preserve that manifest and find where the Dawn Finch is moored.
Customs Inspectors
The Dawn Finch uses the eastern river quay. We can send a runner for the harbor records and keep this crate untouched here.
Myra’s violet eyes fix on the ledger, and her shadow wisps curl toward the broker’s seal before settling. Ettel copies the name and vessel into her notebook, ready to pursue the trail.
✓ Quest Accepted
Leave the customs yard with Ettel
“I follow a Ettel lead. Why do that? I look her up and down. And knowing she has a nice Body for once.”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +1)
Diamond follows Ettel from the customs yard, his gaze briefly traveling over her disciplined figure before returning to her face. Myra glides after them, silent as a drifting shadow.
He lets raw magic rise without ritual, threading it through his restrained infernal presence. Light softens around him, and the alluring shadowy aura quietly bends Ettel’s attention toward trust.
Ettel
You are watching me closely, Diamond. I suppose I can accept that, if you keep your attention on the work ahead.
Her guarded expression eases into a shy, reluctant smile. The successful charm does not erase her judgment, but it persuades her that Diamond’s interest is harmless and sincere enough to tolerate.
Ettel
Come on. Walk with me to the eastern quay. You can tell me what you noticed about that residue while we find the Dawn Finch’s records.
Ettel leads him through Aurel’s narrower streets toward the river, her pace steady but less formal now. Market noise gives way to gull calls, rope creaks, and the broad rush of water.
Ettel
Stay beside me, Diamond. I want your judgment when we reach the harbor office, and I would rather not explain this alone.
Quest Complete
Leave the customs yard with Ettel
“I continue with Ettel to the harbor office”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled -2)
Diamond continues beside Ettel through the narrowing streets. His innate spellcasting quietly threads raw energy through the harbor’s warded signposts, sensing the office ahead without ritual or component.
His restrained infernal presence bends the afternoon light into soft shadows around their pair, lending his calm explanations an inviting weight as gulls wheel above the river.
Ettel
You make walking beside you feel unusually easy. I will count that as a gift, but I need plain truth about what you sensed.
They reach the harbor office, a narrow stone building overlooking moored barges. A young adult woman with copper-brown skin, a braided black ponytail, and a green clerk’s coat looks up from stacked ledgers, revealing a lean build and square face marked by a small scar through one eyebrow.
Liora Venn
Ettel, you brought help. The Dawn Finch is recorded, but its captain left no forwarding mark. I am Liora Venn, harbor clerk.
Ettel
This is Diamond, the wizard who found the false residue. He is useful, and I trust his judgment. I also need him to answer directly.
Liora Venn
Then I will open the Dawn Finch ledger. But if your magic reads more than residue, wizard, say so now. Harbor records cannot become your private secrets.
✓ Quest Accepted
Answer Liora Venn’s questions about the false residue
“I started explaining the magic residue to it it. It. And start asking this question to make sure. If I got this right. Are you sure no one earns knocked that on board? Uh uh. Who, what? Or did you not know who it was filled with that? It.”
SUCCESS (Great Persuasion, rolled +1)
Diamond Oren.
The residue was layered beneath a false harmless signature, not formed by the crate’s ordinary warding. Are you sure no one loaded it after the shipment was recorded, and do you know who filled it?
Diamond’s innate spellcasting threads raw energy through the ledger’s ink and harbor seals, tracing the cargo’s recorded passage without opening any ward. His restrained infernal presence softens the light around Liora, lending his careful question persuasive weight.
Liora Venn
I am certain the Dawn Finch’s manifest was sealed before departure. No harbor hand here added anything afterward, and the cargo description was supplied by Orven Dask.
Liora turns the ledger toward them and follows a column of small ink marks with one finger. Her professional reserve loosens as Diamond’s magic confirms the seal’s continuity rather than contradicting her records.
Liora Venn
The crate was filled at Dask’s riverside warehouse, then carried aboard by his hired dock crew. I do not have every loader’s name, but the foreman who signed the intake was Pell Arven.
Ettel
That gives us both a place and a witness. Liora, mark Pell Arven’s signature beside Orven Dask’s, and keep the Dawn Finch record available for the inspectors.
Liora adds the foreman’s name in the margin and stamps the page with harbor wax. Ettel copies the warehouse location, her posture firming as the investigation gains a definite direction.
Quest Complete
Answer Liora Venn’s questions about the false residue