The archive chamber remains under witness. The sealed maritime charter rests apart from the copied leaves as Maereth directs the Court Herald toward the protected offices.
Maereth
Bring Bereth’s original intake record under seal and witness. No hand is to compare it before the custody trail is entered.
The Herald admits a salt-stained coastal courier with rough brown gloves and mud-stained boots, a gaunt adult man in a dark blue cloak, whose weathered face stays beyond the lamps. A black binding mark circles his wrist.
Serevan
I will not cross the witness lamps until the warning is heard. The southern route has already been noticed.
The mark tightens once, darkening like ink beneath skin, then loosens. No blade or tool has touched it; its pattern answers some distant channel.
Maereth
Speak from where you stand. Your warning will be recorded separately from the mark and from every sealed original.
The archive bearer prepares a fresh leaf while the Herald holds the lamps steady. Beyond the threshold, footsteps approach with Bereth’s protected record, and the courier’s binding mark turns toward them.
“I question the courier from beyond the lamps”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Tuiwen
What warning has been noticed, and what does the binding mark do when it turns toward these records?
The courier answers from beyond the lamps. The black ring around his wrist bends toward Bereth’s approaching record, then settles as though listening through the sealed offices.
Serevan
The warning is simple: the intake record was expected. Whoever marked the route knows which lawful papers will draw the hidden channel into the open.
Serevan
This binding is not Dol Amroth’s sign. It is a command-thread laid through Saruman’s private review, meant to announce when questioned records reach the sea-road.
He raises his marked wrist without crossing the lamps. The dark ring opens into fine branching lines, revealing a channel that answers the approaching record but does not alter its seal.
Maereth
Then the mark gives notice, not authority. Enter the warning and its limits separately, before Bereth’s record is admitted.
The archive bearer records the salt-stained coastal courier’s account, while the Court Herald holds the lamps steady. The inquiry now knows the mark’s purpose and can receive Bereth’s intake record without treating the warning as proof of allegiance.
“I ask the courier to name the sea-road recipient”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Tuiwen
Name the sea-road recipient of these records.
The courier studies Tuiwen through the witness lamps. His marked wrist turns once toward the sealed intake record, then relaxes beneath the dark blue sleeve.
Serevan
The recipient is Lady Nerissa of Dol Amroth, keeper of the southern harbor records. The copies were meant to reach her office by the sea-road.
Maereth does not touch the sealed record. She directs the archive bearer to write the name on a separate leaf, beside the courier's account and the route's unresolved custody passage.
Maereth
Record Lady Nerissa as the named recipient, not as the author of the altered clause. Ask whether any lawful receiving mark identifies her office.
Serevan
Her office bears the harbor mark, but I saw no lawful hand from her. The records were directed toward her, not proven to have been accepted by her.
The recipient is entered as a precise lead: Lady Nerissa's harbor office at Dol Amroth. The inquiry preserves the distinction between intended delivery, lawful receipt, and Saruman's command-thread.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Bereth’s original intake record under witness
“She examines the courier with the help of revealing light.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled +0)
Tuiwen lifts revealing light across the courier’s marked wrist and weathered face. The radiance passes through cloth and skin, outlining the binding without disturbing it.
The black ring opens beneath the light into fine, ink-dark branches. They do not belong to the courier’s flesh: a command-thread enters from the private-review mark and divides toward the southern sea-road.
Serevan
So it is seen plainly. The thread does not bear Lady Nerissa’s harbor mark; it carries Saruman’s command through the route toward her office.
The light reveals a second distinction: the thread announces the movement of questioned records, but cannot alter the seal, compel the recipient, or prove that Dol Amroth accepted the message.
Maereth
Record the command-thread as Saruman’s influence, and record its limits separately. The harbor office remains a lead, not an accomplice.
The revealing light fades. What remains is a defensible finding: Saruman’s hidden influence marks the route and reports its scrutiny, while the lawful charter and Lady Nerissa’s allegiance remain unaltered and unproved.
“I order the record isolated from the courier’s thread”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Tuiwen
Isolate the intake record from the courier’s thread.
Tuiwen draws revealing light between the sealed intake record and the black branching thread. The command-path recoils from the record without touching its seal.
Serevan
The thread resists the separation, but it no longer reaches the paper. It remains bound to me and the route alone.
The Court Herald carries the intake record fully beyond the dark branches and places it within a fresh circle of witness lamps. The original remains sealed and untouched.
Maereth
Record the isolation as complete. The intake record is now separate evidence, and the courier’s command-thread is preserved as a distinct finding.
The black branches contract around the courier’s wrist, leaving the sealed record clear of their influence. Two fresh entries preserve the separation, each witnessed without opening the original.
“I take custody of Bereth’s record under witness”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -2)
The Court Herald brings Bereth’s sealed intake record beneath the witness lamps. Tuiwen receives it with both hands, while the black thread around the salt-stained coastal courier’s wrist recoils from the lawful custody seal.
For one breath, Tuiwen’s concentration falters beneath the pressure of the command-thread. The hesitation shows in her tightened grip, but she steadies the record without breaking its seal.
Maereth
The custody passes to Tuiwen under witness. Enter the exact hour, the sealed condition, and every hand that sees the transfer.
The archive bearer writes the transfer on a fresh leaf. The Court Herald witnesses Tuiwen’s possession, while Maereth keeps the copied route marks apart from the original record.
Serevan
The thread cannot claim what you now hold. It can only announce that the record has changed hands.
Tuiwen holds Bereth’s record securely within the witness circle. The seal remains unbroken, its custody lawful, though the effort leaves her composure visibly strained.
Maereth
Custody is complete. Preserve the original separately, and record that Tuiwen accepted it without opening or altering the seal.
The fresh entry is witnessed and placed beside, never beneath, the sealed intake record. The inquiry now holds Bereth’s original under Tuiwen’s lawful custody.
Quest Complete
Secure Bereth’s original intake record under witness
New Gift: Unerring Truth Seeker
+ New Item Acquired
Bereth’s intake record