Professor Dayton lowers the magnifying glass over the memo, and the study goes still. Dust hangs in the lamplight. Dallas Fontaine and Elena Vane watch the old scholar’s eyes tighten as the signature comes into focus.
Professor Dayton
That is not Covington work. This hand belongs to Elena’s family.
He turns the page toward them, finger planted on the line like a judge’s gavel. The clue that looked like a bureaucrat’s trail now points straight into a private bloodline.
Elena Vane
Read it again.
Professor Dayton
I do not need to. The signature matches a senior member of your family, not a pawn beneath them.
Dallas Fontaine
The memo was never the end of the chain. It was the hand on the leash.
Elena holds the paper without touching the ink, her face hardening as the room’s old books seem to press closer. Outside, Far Harbor keeps breathing through fog and rain, but the real storm has a name now.
✓ Quest Accepted
Confront the family betrayal
“Ask Dayton which specific family member signed the memo.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Psychology, rolled +1)
Dallas Fontaine
Which family member signed it?
Professor Dayton
Not a junior cousin, not a clerk. A senior hand, someone with authority over household papers.
Professor Dayton
The pressure, the angle, the habitual stroke, it matches Lena Covington's father.
Elena Vane
My father? That cannot be right... unless the whole family has been lying to me.
Professor Dayton
Or the man who signs in his stead. But this line is his style, not his servant's.
Elena Vane
Say it plainly, Dayton. You think my father put his name to this?
Professor Dayton
Yes. Or he approved it closely enough that the difference is meaningless.
Elena Vane
Then it is family, not Covington, that is tightening the leash.
Quest Complete
Confront the family betrayal