The open iron chest reveals a ledger, sealed lists, and the names of Thava’s dead comrades. Dust clings to every page, except where Garrick’s hand disturbed them.
Vane
There. Your unit’s names, the route, and the order that condemned them. But those marks are coded. Carrying the ledger without understanding them could lead you into another trap.
Vane remains beneath Garrick’s gun, hands visible and shoulders tense. Thava stands with him in the alcove; Kael is no longer present, left behind somewhere near the market approach.
A bell tolls beyond the tunnel. Scraping stone answers from above, followed by muffled voices and the measured tread of searchers closing around the hidden room.
Vane
The shelves conceal a stair. It may reach an outer gate, but we need to move before they uncover this alcove.
Vane shifts aside and reveals a narrow seam behind the shelving. Cold air leaks through it, carrying rain, soot, and the distant clangor of the city.
Vane
Take the ledger if you must, but let me read the cipher first. Otherwise the names will tell you only where the next grave is waiting.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the ledger as usable evidence
“Follow Vane out of the tunnels and find a safehouse”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +0)
Thava takes the ledger and follows Vane through the concealed stair. The shelves swing shut behind them, muffling the searchers as rainwater trickles down the ancient stone.
Vane
Keep the book beneath your cloak. The outer gate opens into a cooper’s yard, and the watch rarely looks past the barrels.
Vane leads him through two cramped passages and a sloping drainway, pausing only to listen. Thava’s stolen armor scrapes softly against the walls, but the city’s bells cover the sound.
Vane
The cipher can wait until we are sheltered. I know a safehouse beneath the old apothecary. No Inquisitor patrol searches there without a warrant.
They emerge behind a warped cooper’s yard beneath cold rain. Vane crosses without hesitation, lifts a loose paving stone, and reveals a narrow stair descending into darkness.
The stair ends at a timber door marked with faded blue chalk. Vane presses three fingers to the mark, and a hidden latch releases.
Vane
Inside. This is the safehouse. Bar the door, and I will decode Garrick’s records before dawn.
+ New Item Acquired
Garrick's ledger
“Do as he says”
SUCCESS (Great Strength, rolled -1)
Thava steps inside and pulls the timber door shut behind him. He drops the iron bar into its brackets, and the latch settles with a heavy wooden clack.
Vane
Good. That will keep casual eyes outside. The safehouse has held longer than most walls in this district.
The chamber beyond is low and dry, lit by a blue-shaded oil lamp. Shelves crowd the walls, holding blank ledgers, sealed jars, and old bundles of cloth.
Rain taps faintly overhead. Through the barred door, footsteps pass along the cooper’s yard without stopping, then fade into the city’s layered hush.
Vane
Set Garrick’s ledger on the table. I can read the route marks first, then identify which names were sold directly to the Inquisitor.
Vane crosses to a scarred worktable and lights a second lamp. Its glow catches the tension in his face as he waits for the records to be opened.
The safehouse is secured. For the first time since leaving the market, the searchers are outside the walls, and the proof remains in Thava’s possession.
✓ Quest Accepted
Decode the ledger's cipher
− Scene Quest Removed
Secure the ledger as usable evidence
“Set the ledger on the table and let Vane decipher it”
SUCCESS (Fair Reasoning, rolled +2)
Thava places Garrick’s ledger on the scarred table and steps back, keeping the gun trained on Vane. The blue lamp washes the seals in cold light.
Vane
Good. Do not break the wax. The outer marks name the routes, while the inner strokes identify who received each order.
Vane bends over the open ledger without touching it. His eyes track the cramped symbols, comparing them with the faded route marks etched along the table.
Vane
Here. Garrick reported your unit’s discovery directly to the High Inquisitor. The sleeping veins were not merely found. They were claimed.
He turns several pages beneath the gun’s watch. A list of names follows the coded orders, each marked with a date, a payment, and a final destination.
Vane
Your company was marked for erasure before the ambush. Garrick received coin and protection. The Inquisitor wanted the survivors buried with the map.
The cipher yields its meaning at last: the ledger proves who ordered the betrayal, where the evidence was moved, and which surviving names remain at risk.
Quest Complete
Decode the ledger's cipher