Three days after the hearing, Tuiwen is summoned beneath Meduseld into a guarded record chamber. Cold lamplight glints on sealed shelves and a fresh certified copy of the inquiry.
Galadriel waits beside the writing table, while a archive bearer stands over the opened copy. A faint silver stain crosses the passage describing Saruman’s altered channels, thin as spilled moonlight.
Galadriel
The mark appeared after the certification, and no hand has touched the page since. We need your account before we call it alteration or warning.
Archive Bearer 1
The silver does not cover the original ink evenly. It follows the channels described in the record, then stops at the witness boundary.
The archive bearer turns the page beneath the lamp without touching the stain. Its sheen dims, then returns, as though answering something beyond the chamber walls.
Galadriel
King Théoden has ordered the copy preserved exactly as found. No conclusion will be entered until we know whether the mark belongs to the evidence itself.
Beyond the locked door, Meduseld’s distant timbers creak in the wind. Within the chamber, both witnesses leave the silver-marked page before Tuiwen and await her judgment.
“She studies the document.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled -2)
Tuiwen studies the certified copy beneath the cold lamp, tracing the silver stain with her eyes from the altered passage to the witness boundary. The mark answers the recorded channels but does not obscure a single letter.
Tuiwen
It is a warning carried by the evidence, not an alteration of the record.
The silver line brightens where Saruman’s influence is described, then fades before the witnesses’ testimony. Its stopping point marks the limit of what the document can prove, while its direction identifies the channel as still active.
Galadriel
Then we record it as a warning attached to the evidence, not as proof beyond the witnesses’ knowledge. Your reading preserves both its meaning and its limit.
The examination takes the better part of the afternoon. While Tuiwen studies the final glimmer, the chamber’s other business waits, and the exact source beyond the marked channel remains unknown.
Archive Bearer 1
I will append your finding in a separate witness note and leave the certified copy untouched. The distinction between warning and alteration will remain visible.
A archive bearer writes the note beside the sealed copy. Galadriel orders the page preserved exactly as found, and the chamber records Tuiwen’s conclusion without turning its warning into a broader accusation.
“"I am not sure who has left us this warning. It would be interesting to know."”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +0)
Tuiwen
I am not sure who has left us this warning. It would be interesting to know.
Tuiwen compares the silver line with the copied channels, the witness boundary, and the lawful seal. The pattern is not a message written by a hand, but a reaction from an active command relay.
Tuiwen
The warning was made by the channel when the evidence exposed it.
Following the geometry of the stain, Tuiwen identifies its origin: the southern junction already linked to Saruman’s influence, where lawful protection was bent toward dependence. The mark carries no personal signature.
Galadriel
Then no sender can honestly be named. Saruman’s network caused the warning, but whether he placed this particular mark remains unproved.
Archive Bearer 1
I will record the source as the active southern relay and preserve the distinction. The warning identifies a channel, not the hand directing it.
The archive bearer adds the finding beside the certified copy. Galadriel orders the relay’s location marked for lawful inquiry, while the silver stain fades without erasing the evidence.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure a lawful inquiry into the southern relay
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine who directs the southern relay
“"I can try to trace the relay through the archived documents to its origin."”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +0)
Tuiwen
I can try to trace the relay through the archived documents to its origin.
A archive bearer brings the certified ledger copy, the Caras Amarth folio, and the sealed inquiry record to the table. Galadriel unlocks the custody chain without disturbing the originals.
Tuiwen compares the overwritten passage with the folio’s witness mark, the diverted channel testimony, and the lawful protection agreement. Repeated phrasing reveals where the relay entered the record.
Tuiwen
The relay begins where the border settlement’s altered wayfinding mark was accepted as a lawful protection measure.
The documents align: the southern relay originates at the border settlement’s old watch-road channel, then passes through the altered protection agreement toward Isengard. Its first entry is recorded, not merely inferred.
Galadriel
You have traced the relay to its origin in the settlement record. We can now distinguish the lawful agreement from the channel that was bent through it.
Archive Bearer 1
I will mark the origin in a separate finding and preserve every supporting layer. The record will name the channel’s beginning without claiming who first directed it.
The finding is added beside the certified copy. The active relay’s origin is now fixed for lawful inquiry, while the evidence remains untouched and its limits plainly recorded.
“"To trace the channel further, we could use the Mirror of Galadriel, which we have already used to tap into Saruman's network."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Magic, rolled +3)
Tuiwen
We could use the Mirror of Galadriel to trace the channel further. We have already used it to tap into Saruman’s network.
Galadriel closes the custody ledger and places her hand upon its silver clasp. Through the lawful link already established, she calls the Mirror’s reflected surface from Lothlórien into the chamber’s waiting basin.
Galadriel
Then we ask it one narrow question: where did this relay first enter the lawful record? We will take only what the Mirror can show and preserve the distinction.
Silver gathers in the basin, deepening into the Mirror’s distant reflection. The marked passage appears within it, then unfolds backward through the southern junction to the border settlement’s old watch-road channel.
Tuiwen
There. The relay entered through the watch-road channel before the protection measure was accepted.
Galadriel
Yes. And the Mirror gives us more than origin. It shows a dormant copy preserved beneath the settlement’s waystone, where lawful investigators may examine it without touching the active channel.
The reflection fixes the channel’s first entry and reveals the hidden copy’s exact location. Galadriel records both findings beside the certified record before the borrowed silver surface fades back toward Lothlórien.
“"So to identify the author, our next step would be to examine the copy."”
SUCCESS (Great Reasoning, rolled +1)
Tuiwen
Then our next step is to examine the copy beneath the waystone and identify its author.
Galadriel retrieves the certified inquiry record from the guarded chamber, while a archive bearer brings the Caras Amarth folio and opens the custody notes beside it. The lawful chain remains intact.
Galadriel
We will examine the copy through the Mirror’s fixed reflection, without disturbing the active channel or the waystone itself.
Silver gathers in the basin. The border settlement appears beneath its waystone, and a concealed stone recess opens in reflection, revealing a folded copy sealed against damp and root-pressure.
Tuiwen compares the copy’s script, seal impression, and phrasing with the folio and certified record. The hand is not a settlement clerk’s: its formal strokes match Saruman’s dictated archival style, while the seal was imitated from a lawful Rohan pattern.
Galadriel
The author is identified as Saruman. The copied seal made the entry appear lawful, but the hand and dictated phrasing expose his authorship. We will record that distinction precisely.
Quest Complete
Secure a lawful inquiry into the southern relay
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Great→Superb