Mara keeps one hand over the restricted ledger while drawing a guild testimony form into the green lamplight. The doorkeeper remains beyond the chamber, guarding the closed door and the hall.
Mara Vell
The entry names Gideon Blackwood, but a single ledger page may not withstand noble pressure. Ink can be challenged, stolen, or made to disappear.
She slides the form closer without releasing the ledger. Its parchment bears spaces for testimony, corroboration, and the guild seal, turning suspicion into a record that others may defend.
Mara Vell
The blood-sealed packet could establish motive. The assassin’s cloak could establish contact. A corroborating witness could establish the chain. Any one of them would strengthen the accusation.
Mara’s gaze settles briefly on the borrowed cloak, then returns to the covered ledger. She does not ask how Lillia acquired it, preserving the discretion promised at the door.
Mara Vell
You need not expose your identity to the guild. But if you want this accusation to survive pressure from Rosethorne Manor, place one defensible piece of proof before me.
The testimony form waits beneath the lamplight, blank except for the guild’s seal. Beyond the chamber, the doorkeeper remains silent, and morning traffic murmurs through Lavendara.
“She slides the blood-sealed packet before her.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Desdemona slides the blood-sealed packet across the form. She places its red wax and unfamiliar sigil beneath Mara’s lamplight, offering tangible evidence without exposing more of her story than necessary.
Her noble bearing lends the gesture formal weight, while her practiced debate keeps the presentation precise: the packet supports the accusation, but does not reveal every advantage she possesses.
Mara’s guarded hand lifts from the ledger. The packet’s seal catches the green light, and the clerk studies it with the careful attention reserved for evidence that might withstand powerful opposition.
Mara Vell
This is sufficient to enter as corroborating evidence. The seal, the warning, and the connection to Gideon Blackwood give the accusation a defensible foundation.
Mara draws the packet into the guild’s custody without breaking its seal, recording its marks beside the restricted ledger entry. Desdemona’s careful selectiveness has secured proof while preserving her concealment.
Mara Vell
I will attach it to the testimony and seal the record. Your evidence now stands before the guild, Lillia, and cannot be dismissed as rumor alone.
“My life may hang in the balance going forward. Will the guild shelter me from the Blackwoods??”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +3)
Desdemona Blackwood
My life may hang in the balance now. Will the guild shelter me from Gideon Blackwood and the rest of the Blackwoods?
Desdemona frames the request as protection for a concealed petitioner, not a plea for family privilege. Yet the coded letter, her noble bearing, and the sealed evidence make refusal politically costly.
Mara Vell
Yes. The guild will shelter you, Lillia. You will have a locked room, meals, and guarded passage within our house until the record is secured.
Mara signs the testimony form and presses the guild seal beside the evidence record. Her decision gives Desdemona immediate refuge, while the doorkeeper receives a discreet instruction beyond the door.
Mara Vell
Your name will remain Lillia here. If Rosethorne sends for you, the guild will answer that no such petitioner is lodged under that name.
Mara adds one unasked-for safeguard: the senior registrar will witness the packet’s custody before noon, making its disappearance or alteration an offense against the guild itself.
Mara Vell
Come with me. The upper guest room is warded against casual entry, and the guild will stand between you and the Blackwoods while this accusation holds.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the guild’s warded guest room
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure continued concealment in Lavendara as Lillia
“She follows behind Mara, glancing at her surroundings as she goes, trying to remain calm and poised.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +1)
Mara leads Desdemona through the ledger-lined hall and up a narrow stair. Desdemona keeps her shoulders composed, her borrowed cloak arranged neatly despite its torn hem.
Desdemona Blackwood
The guild keeps its wards subtle, but the thresholds are carefully placed.
Her trained conversational poise serves her as surely as any disguise: she observes without staring, acknowledging Mara’s directions with quiet attention and giving the guild no reason to question her composure.
Mara Vell
The upper rooms are reserved for guests under guild protection. Staff will bring meals without asking questions, and no visitor enters without my leave.
They pass a small alcove where silver thread glimmers across the doorframe, then a window overlooking Lavendara’s waking rooftops and flower-heavy streets.
Mara unlocks a quiet guest room at the corridor’s end. Inside, a bed, washstand, and shuttered window await beneath a faintly luminous ward etched into the lintel.
Mara Vell
Here you are, Lillia. Rest, observe, and let the guild carry the next burden until the registrar arrives.
Quest Complete
Secure continued concealment in Lavendara as Lillia
Quest Complete
Reach the guild’s warded guest room