The servants’ passage opens into a narrow lane behind Lavendara’s perfume quarter. Flower carts crowd the cobbles as dawn workers wheel roses, lavender, and crushed petals toward waiting workshops.
The wary servant follows only to the lane’s mouth, keeping his dark coat beneath the shadows. He carries no weapon openly, but his silver keys glint as he offers a folded letter.
The Wary Servant
The guildhouse is above the shuttered apothecary. Look for the door marked with the cipher I recorded. Show them this letter, and say nothing of Rosethorne unless asked.
He presses the coded guild letter into Desdemona’s hand, then glances toward the rising light. Behind her, the blood-sealed packet remains safely in her possession beneath the borrowed cloak.
The Wary Servant
I return before the next bell. If the manor wakes and finds you gone, suspicion may follow the servants’ way. Let it follow me instead.
The wary servant retreats through the passage, leaving Desdemona alone amid perfume, wheel-ruts, and the clatter of waking trade. Above the apothecary, a narrow door bears his freshly recorded cipher.
The lane offers several directions, but the discreet guildhouse waits directly ahead, concealed among shuttered windows and flower-scented morning mist.
+ New Item Acquired
Coded guild letter
“"She tries knocking on the front door"”
FAILURE (Mediocre Agility, rolled -2)
“"She tries knocking on the front door"”
Desdemona crosses the perfume-scented lane and climbs the short stone steps above the shuttered apothecary. The guildhouse door bears the wary servant’s fresh cipher.
She raises her hand and knocks on the front door. The sound passes through the quiet entryway, briefly competing with carts rumbling over the cobbles below.
After a measured pause, the lock turns. A middle-aged woman opens the door, a compact figure in a plum-colored wool dress and brass-buttoned vest, with silver-threaded brown hair braided close to her head.
The Guild Doorkeeper
You have the cipher. Come inside, and keep the letter ready.
The guild doorkeeper, her angular face marked by a small crescent-shaped birthmark beside one eye, steps aside, revealing a narrow hall lined with shelves of ledgers, sealed packets, and dried flower bundles hung beneath the rafters.
The Guild Doorkeeper
The guild receives travelers discreetly. If your business concerns a contract or a warning, the clerk will hear it in private.
“I'm sorry to bother you at such an early hour, but I must speak with a clerk immediately. It is most urgent....”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Desdemona Blackwood
I am sorry to trouble you so early, but I must speak with a clerk immediately. The matter is most urgent.
Desdemona presents the coded guild letter with measured courtesy, her concealment and calm urgency carefully balanced. Her practiced diplomacy turns the request into a compelling necessity rather than an interruption.
The Guild Doorkeeper
No apology is needed, Lillia. Your manner tells me this cannot wait. Come through, and I will bring you straight to the clerk.
The doorkeeper locks the door behind them and guides Desdemona through the ledger-lined hall. Shelves give way to a small chamber where a young adult woman sits beneath a green-shaded mage-lamp, her dark curls pinned with a silver quill.
Mara Vell
I am Mara Vell, the morning clerk. The doorkeeper says you carry a coded letter and urgent guild business. Place the letter here, and speak freely.
The clerk, a slim young adult woman with warm brown skin and keen hazel eyes, wears a rust-red blouse beneath a charcoal vest. clears a space among sealed packets and draws a chair forward. The coded letter now rests before her, and the private consultation Desdemona requested is ready to begin.
“I was advised to bring this letter here if I wished to know the truth. The situation is..... difficult. But it requires a great deal of discretion.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +2)
Desdemona Blackwood
I was advised to bring this letter here if I wished to know the truth. The situation is difficult, but it requires a great deal of discretion.
Desdemona keeps her voice low and her wording measured, offering urgency without exposing more than necessary. Her noble bearing lends weight to the request, while the coded letter quietly proves that this discretion has been sanctioned.
Mara Vell
Then discretion is what you shall have, Lillia. A coded guild letter is not carried here for idle curiosity. Tell me only what you need to learn, and I will decide who may safely answer it.
Mara draws the lamp closer and turns the letter without breaking its seal. Her hazel eyes track the cipher, then return to Desdemona with a clerk’s precision sharpened by genuine caution.
Mara Vell
This cipher belongs to a private household contact, not a common guild route. The warning concerns an assassin and a Blackwood connection, does it not?
Mara Vell
I can place the letter in the restricted ledger and summon the senior registrar before the next bell. No name will leave this chamber without your permission. What truth are you seeking?
The clerk sets a blank sheet beside the sealed letter, making room for an account rather than a public report. The consultation has become private, urgent, and ready for Desdemona’s evidence.
“There was a recent disturbance in the Blackwood household. I was asked to ascertain the identity of the individual who hired the assassin behind the commotion, but my trail went cold. She lied through her teeth, attempting to distance herself from her Blackwood ties.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -2)
Desdemona Blackwood
There was a recent disturbance in the Blackwood household. I was asked to identify who hired the assassin behind it, but my trail went cold. The woman involved denied any connection to the family, and I need to know whether she lied.
Desdemona keeps her account narrow, disguising her personal stake as an investigator’s commission. Her polished phrasing gives the lie a credible shape, while the careful omission of her name leaves Mara little to seize upon.
Mara Vell
The woman lied about her Blackwood ties, yes. The restricted ledger records a payment routed through a gambling debt, then concealed behind a household account.
Mara’s caution yields to Desdemona’s noble bearing and disciplined argument. Yet the clerk’s eyes sharpen at the omission of Desdemona’s own connection, recognizing a skilled claimant who may be protecting more than a client.
Mara Vell
The payer was Gideon Blackwood. He commissioned the assassin through an intermediary and demanded that the disturbance appear unrelated to the household. That is the truth recorded here.
She turns the restricted ledger toward Desdemona, allowing the entry to be read. The disclosure is complete, but Mara closes her hand over the page afterward, making clear that future access will require a favor or formal sponsorship.
Mara Vell
I will preserve this entry for you, Lillia, but discretion now binds us both. If you return, bring proof that your inquiry serves the guild’s interests, not merely your own family’s reckoning.
The name of the employer is hers at last. In exchange, the guild has marked her as a concealed petitioner whose next request will carry a price.
Quest Complete
Discover who commissioned the assassin
Skill Upgrade: Lore Great→Superb