The adjoining royal hall opens, and Círdan enters beneath the Court Herald’s escort. He carries the sealed maritime charter in both hands, its original wax unbroken beneath the witness lamps.
Círdan
The charter records a genuine southern protection compact, offered through channels that may have carried the forged instruction. I cannot say more until the records are compared.
Maereth clears a space beside the testimony leaves. A archive bearer places fresh copies there, while the sealed charter remains separate from every opened record.
Maereth
We will compare the private-review mark, custody trail, and wording only through witnessed copies. The original seal will not be opened or touched beyond its lawful custody.
Círdan
That is why I brought it sealed. The compact may be lawful in origin, even if the channel carrying it was later bent toward obedience.
The charter is set beside the preserved petition and the copied route marks, never atop them. Blue and silver thread, seal flaws, dates, and hands await comparison under the lamps.
“I compare the charter copies under witness”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +1)
Under witness, Tuiwen compares the charter copies line by line. The private-review mark matches the forged petition’s flaw, while the charter’s original wording remains a lawful protection compact.
The blue-and-silver thread aligns with the southern maritime route, but no copied hand or custody mark proves that Dol Amroth authorized the altered obedience clause. The distinctions hold.
Círdan
The compact itself is genuine. The corruption entered through the channel and its private review, not through the lawful protection it originally recorded.
The archive bearer copies the comparison in two forms, preserving the charter’s lawful wording separately from the counterfeit mark and the route’s uncertain passage.
Maereth
Record the lawful compact, the altered channel, and the unresolved allegiance of the messenger as three separate findings.
The comparison establishes a southern connection without converting heraldic colors into proof. The sealed original remains untouched, and the inquiry gains a precise maritime lead.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether the corruption reached maritime custody
“I will trace the charter’s custody trail through the maritime copies.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -1)
At Tuiwen’s request, Círdan places the maritime copies within the comparison space. A archive bearer retrieves them from the protected shelf, leaving the sealed charter untouched.
Tuiwen follows each custody mark from the southern office through the copied docket, matching dates, receiving hands, and the private-review seal without confusing any copy with its original.
Archive Bearer 1
The maritime copy entered through the southern protection office, then passed to a coastal receiving hand. The transfer is recorded, but the handoff bears no witness line.
The route aligns with Bereth’s office and the same altered channel already documented in the Rohan records. Beyond that point, the copies preserve a destination but not lawful authorization.
Maereth
Record the passage through Bereth’s office, the unwitnessed coastal transfer, and the absence of proof that Dol Amroth authorized the altered clause.
A fresh comparison copy now traces the charter from Rohan’s southern office to the maritime route and separates every confirmed custodian from every unanswered passage. The sealed charter remains secure.
Círdan
Then the southern route is established, while the final recipient remains unproved. That distinction protects both the compact and the inquiry.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the corruption reached maritime custody