The ledger remains open on the scarred table, its coded names swimming beneath blue lamplight. Thava keeps Garrick’s gun trained on Vane, while rain whispers above the safehouse.
Vane
Wait. This mark beside the names is not a payment seal. It means witness, concealed and still breathing.
Vane leans closer without touching the page. His expression tightens as he follows the faint symbol through several entries, then stops at a familiar route notation.
Vane
The witness is hidden at the old sanctuary, the place where you were found after the ambush. Someone there knows what Garrick buried.
Vane
But the second stroke changes everything. The sanctuary is being watched. Not openly, not by ordinary patrols. They are waiting for the witness to lead them to you.
Beyond the barred door, footsteps pass through the cooper’s yard and fade. Kael remains behind near the market approach, while Vane stands alone before Thava’s drawn weapon.
Vane
If we go there, we may find the truth. We may also deliver the witness straight into the Inquisitor’s hands.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the concealed witness
“"I killed the previous High Inquisitor and Garrick. Who else would be hunting us?"”
SUCCESS (Superb Willpower, rolled -3)
Thava Tymont
I killed the previous High Inquisitor and Garrick. Who else would be hunting us?
Vane
The Inquisitor’s successor, if one has been appointed. Also the archive wardens, the paid informants, and anyone named in these margins.
Vane points to a column of cramped symbols. Several names are circled in black wax, while a fresh smear marks the route from the old sanctuary to the market.
Vane
The black seals belong to the Continuance Office. They preserve the old orders and eliminate witnesses who might expose them. They know your face now.
A floorboard creaks beneath Thava’s weight. The sound carries through the quiet safehouse, and Vane’s eyes snap toward the barred door before returning to the ledger.
Vane
That was not the rain. We have answers, but our shelter is compromised. The sanctuary is watched, and now this place may be watched too.
The concrete truth settles with the ledger’s open pages: the Continuance Office is hunting them, and Thava’s brief loss of silence has alerted whoever listens beyond the walls.
“Hid the ledger and escape with Vane to find how we can locate the survivor without getting caught”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled +1)
Thava closes the ledger, wraps it in oilcloth, and slides it beneath a loose floorboard beside the table. Dust and straw conceal the disturbed seam.
Vane
Good. If they search us, they will find an empty table and two frightened men, not the proof that condemns them.
Vane snuffs one lamp, then lifts a wall hanging to reveal a cramped servants’ passage. Cold rain-air flows through the hidden gap.
Thava Tymont
The ledger is hidden. The sanctuary is watched.
Vane
We leave by the apothecary’s drain and circle through the dye quarter. No direct road, no repeated shadow, no names spoken aloud.
Thava keeps Garrick’s gun close and follows Vane into the passage. Behind them, the safehouse settles into darkness as the barred door remains undisturbed.
Vane
The survivor may still be hidden at the old sanctuary. We will locate them from outside the watch, learn who protects them, and bring them out quietly.
“Locate the survivor without getting caught”
SUCCESS (Legendary Stealth, rolled -2)
Thava and Vane emerge from the apothecary’s drain beneath the dye quarter. They keep to awnings and refuse-strewn lanes, circling wide around every patrol lantern.
Vane
There. The sanctuary’s bell tower. We approach from the burial wall, not the main road.
Rain masks their footfalls as they cross behind shuttered workshops. Thava’s stolen armor catches once on a nail, tearing a strap and leaving a dark thread behind.
At the sanctuary’s rear wall, Vane finds fresh ash pressed into a drain grate. Beneath it, a narrow crawlspace opens toward the ruined chapel.
Vane
Someone has been feeding the old brazier. The witness is inside, alive, and hidden below the altar.
Thava slips through first and reaches the altar crypt without alerting the watchers outside. A concealed door stands ajar, revealing Brynne, an adult woman with weathered features and cropped dark hair, guarding a hooded figure.
Brynne
You took your time. The survivor is here, but the watchers have found the sanctuary again.
“"Brynne! Is so good to see you again! We're here to find the other survivor of the massacre"”
SUCCESS (Fair Persuasion, rolled +0)
Thava Tymont
Brynne! It is good to see you again. We are here to find the other survivor of the massacre.
Thava’s greeting carries through the crypt, louder than the dripping stone can swallow. His injured shoulder pulls sharply, and the gun dips before he steadies it again.
Brynne
Still announcing yourself before checking the exits, I see. But you found the right place. The survivor is here.
Brynne steps aside from the hooded figure. The stranger remains seated beneath the altar, wrapped in a smoke-gray cloak, with one gloved hand resting over a sealed leather satchel.
Brynne
This is the witness your ledger named. They know what Garrick buried, and why the Continuance Office wants them silenced.
Above them, a faint bootstep crosses the chapel floor. Brynne’s jaw tightens, but she does not block Thava’s view of the survivor.
The Hooded Survivor
If you came for the truth, dragonborn, lower your voice and keep that weapon ready. The watchers are already listening.
“Tell me how i can help”
SUCCESS (Fair Persuasion, rolled +3)
Thava Tymont
Tell me how I can help.
The hooded survivor studies Thava’s drawn gun, then gives a small, deliberate nod. Above, another bootstep crosses the chapel, but the crypt remains concealed.
The Hooded Survivor
Guard the stair and keep the watchers from reaching this crypt. Brynne and I will show you what Garrick buried.
Brynne
The old altar hides a passage into the archive vault. It holds the witness ledger, the original order, and names the Continuance Office thought erased.
Brynne kneels beside the altar and presses two fingers beneath its cracked stone lip. A hidden latch clicks, revealing a narrow stair descending into blue darkness.
The Hooded Survivor
Once we enter, the sanctuary becomes a trap behind us. If you want proof and escape, stay between me and the door.
The altar shifts aside, exposing the concealed stair completely. Cold air rises from below, carrying dust, old parchment, and the faint chime of waiting wards.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the original order
− Scene Quest Removed
Secure the concealed witness
“Is Vane still nearby?”
YES (Likely, rolled 14)
As the altar settles aside, a faint scrape sounds behind the crypt wall. The hooded survivor turns toward it, while Brynne’s hand closes around a short knife.
Vane
I am still here. Someone had to watch the chapel while you questioned the witness.
Vane steps from a shadowed recess beside the stair, rain darkening his cloak. He keeps his hands visible, but his gaze measures the passage and every possible retreat.
Brynne
You left us at the burial wall. I assumed you had finally learned to stay out of trouble.
Vane
The watchers doubled back. I drew them toward the bell tower, then returned when the crypt went quiet.
The Hooded Survivor
Then you heard enough. The archive vault contains proof, but the Continuance Office will follow any trail we leave behind.
Above, a boot scrapes across the chapel floor. Blue light pulses up the stair, and a ward answers with one clear chime from the darkness below.
“Do as the hooded survivor says”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled -1)
Thava moves to the stair mouth, placing his slim, armored form between the crypt and the blue-lit descent. He raises Garrick’s gun toward the chapel above.
Thava Tymont
The stair is the only approach.
A shadow crosses the sanctuary floor beyond the altar. Thava holds perfectly still, using the crypt’s darkness and the weapon’s silhouette to make the passage seem defended.
Brynne
Good. Keep them looking at you, and they will never see the door open.
The ward chimes again, then settles into silence. Footsteps retreat across the chapel as the unseen watchers choose distance over the guarded stair.
The Hooded Survivor
The way is clear. You held them exactly where we needed. Now come below, and learn what Garrick buried.
Vane slips down first, followed by the hooded survivor and Brynne. Thava remains at the rear until all three pass, then descends with the crypt secured behind him.