The spreading stain gathers into legible letters: OLD RECORDS VAULT, beneath the magistrate’s chamber. Three sharp scratches answer from under the flagstones, followed by a muffled voice repeating Edran Pell’s name.
The Magistrate
Open the floor. Clerk, bring the bond and record every mark before it changes again.
The magistrate points to the scratched stones. The clerk gathers his ink pot and quill, while the disgraced knight keeps one gauntleted hand near his sword beside Mary.
Lord Hadrik Voss
This proves sorcery, not testimony. Destroy the bond before whatever lurks below uses it to reach us.
The Magistrate's Clerk
My lady, the writing is changing without hand or flame. Burning it may erase the only proof of the alteration.
Two guards drag a pry bar from the wall rack and set its iron tip into the seam. Beneath the floor, the muffled voice repeats Pell’s name, then scratches three times more.
The Magistrate
No one destroys evidence on a caravan lord’s demand. Open it carefully, and let the vault answer for itself.
✓ Quest Accepted
Recover the hidden record proving the altered bond’s meaning
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Edran Pell’s testimony for Nessa’s freedom