The private gallery remains locked in evidence-preservation mode. Orda is held under guard near the sealed entrance, while Alexei’s two officers maintain the warrant perimeter.
Alexei’s extraction team keeps the reception hall secured outside. The officers left aboard Orda’s airship continue preserving its relay chamber, consoles, detained guards, and original records.
Alexei
Review the visible guest materials and physical documents without altering the room. Names, seating, and promised favors may identify the protection network behind the counterfeit convoy.
She indicates the gallery’s invitation folios, seating cards, signed correspondence, and display tablets. Each item remains exactly where Orda’s guests left it, beneath fixed cameras.
Lady Orda
You mistake etiquette for conspiracy. My guests exchange courtesies, not operational orders.
The claim hangs beneath the gold civic seal as the preserved displays show overlapping names, checkpoint jurisdictions, and favors promised before the reception began.
Alexei
Then the records will show that clearly. Gremlin, take the review slowly. Every connection must remain visible, reproducible, and admissible.
“I call the other guests in and use the evidence to trick them and Orda into turning on each other, recording the results”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Gremlin calls the waiting guests into the gallery, borrowing the room’s invitation folios and seating cards as witnesses’ maps. Alexei’s recorder captures every face and movement.
A middle-aged man with a narrow build, swept-back gray hair, and a burgundy dinner jacket enters beside a young adult woman with a sharp bob, black dress, and silver gloves.
Gremlin aligns their names with Orda’s signed promises, checkpoint jurisdictions, and recorded admission, presenting each connection to the person most implicated by it.
The Burgundy-Jacketed Guest
You promised my office exclusive authority, Orda. Yet the documents show you promised the same authority to her.
The Silver-Gloved Guest
And you told me the convoy seizure was sanctioned by officials. This recording proves you planned to manufacture that sanction.
Lady Orda
You treacherous fools. These papers are private courtesies, twisted by an outsider desperate for attention.
The guests turn on Orda, demanding explanations and displaying their own correspondence. Alexei preserves the overlapping accusations, admissions, and frightened attempts to distance themselves, while the evidence establishes the protection network on record.
Quest Complete
Expose the attackers’ target and connection to Mosaic’s corrupt protection network
Skill Upgrade: Intimidation Good→Great