In the magistrate’s stone chamber, the clerk unrolls the labor bond across the scarred table. Mary stands beside the disgraced knight, while Hadrik and the surrendered Rusk face the bench; the camp healer and the slave remain behind at the camp.
The clerk is a thin middle-aged man, pale-skinned, with a narrow clean-shaven face and close-cropped brown hair in brown robes, with ink-blackened fingers and a silver chain at his throat. Opposite him sits an elderly woman magistrate, broad-shouldered and olive-skinned in dark wool, her severe face framed by white hair.
The Magistrate's Clerk
The document was sound when I received it. I swear the seal and every written line were intact.
Before anyone answers, the ink spreads into dark branching stains. They creep across the parchment toward the signature sealing Hadrik’s claim, twisting the letters beneath them.
The Magistrate
Bar the doors. No one leaves until this alteration is understood. Clerk Iven Marr, read whatever the bond now reveals.
Two guards shove the heavy doors closed. The corrupted writing parts beneath the spreading stain, exposing a concealed clause that names a witness absent from the submitted contract.
The Magistrate's Clerk
There is an additional clause. It refers to a witness, but gives no name. This was hidden beneath the original text.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the witness named by the concealed clause
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the altered bond supports Nessa’s freedom
“I go over the paper to find who the witness is. and see if it supports nessa freedom.”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +1)
Mary bends over the labor bond, borrowing the clerk’s place at the scarred table. Under the spreading stain, she traces the concealed clause without touching the wet ink.
Mary
The witness is Edran Pell, keeper of the original bond. His testimony can prove the transfer was forbidden, but it does not itself end Nessa’s term.
The clause states that Pell witnessed the bond’s execution and may attest to its limits. It supports voiding Hadrik’s purchase, while leaving freedom dependent on the magistrate’s ruling.
The Magistrate's Clerk
Edran Pell. I know the name, though I have never seen his attestation attached to this copy.
The Magistrate
Then the clause strengthens the challenge to the sale, not the claim of freedom. We must summon Pell before the bond can be judged fully.
The examination has consumed precious time, and the ink continues spreading across the lower terms. Mary has identified the witness and the clause’s value, but several lines remain obscured.
Quest Complete
Identify the witness named by the concealed clause
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Good→Great