With the door stalled for a breath, Dallas flattens the greasy church attachment form under the relay light. The paper trembles in his hands as the blacked-out name at the bottom catches clean, then the ink beside it, a signature that matches the Mercer ledger trail.
Dallas Fontaine
That family cipher was never a dead end. It was a cover.
The signature resolves into a church officer’s name, tied straight to Mercer Holdings payroll. Jackson leans close, jaw tightening, reading the same betrayal Dallas does.
Jackson Temple
That is not a volunteer slip. That is a payment trail.
Relay lights stutter red over the form. Beyond the steel door, the pressure comes back in a heavy shove, patient but mean, while the torn Liber scrap lies beside the evidence like a confession.
Jackson Temple
They bought a churchman, Dallas. They bought the pulpit and hid the rest under holy paper.
Dallas folds the form carefully, the answer finally fitting the earlier cipher. The conspiracy stops looking scattered and starts looking planned, old, and deeply protected.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the church official behind the Mercer payroll trail
“Check the Liber scrap for a specific name or title to confirm the official.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Investigation, rolled -1)
Dallas turns the torn Liber scrap under the strobing light, following the ink trace where the page was cut.
Dallas Fontaine
Bishop.
The title sits beside the name, printed faint under the bleed, enough to pin the man to the church ledger and the payroll trail at once.
Jackson Temple
Bishop. So that is the office hiding behind the donations.
The steel door jerks again, harder this time, and a bolt inside gives with a sharp metallic click.
Jackson Temple
Dallas, that door is opening from the inside.
Jackson straightens from the console, staring from the exposed title to the trembling seam in the door, while Murderbone bristles toward the sound.
Quest Complete
Expose the church official behind the Mercer payroll trail