The apothecary remains behind in her shop, while Cedric crosses the north fields alone. Beyond the abandoned chapel, he descends damp steps into a cellar smelling of earth and cold ash.
The old millstone has been shifted aside, revealing a sealed iron box in the packed soil. Beside it stands a tense young adult woman with dark braided hair, olive skin, and a weather-stained charcoal cloak. A pale scar cuts through one eyebrow.
Maelin
Stop there, mercenary. I came for the account before the baron’s men found it.
Her boots are muddy from the fields, and a small satchel of herbs hangs at her hip. One hand hovers near the iron seal, though she makes no move to touch it.
Maelin
The apothecary sent you, I assume. She trusts records more than people, but even records can become a death sentence here.
A thin blue shimmer clings to the box’s seams, fading and returning like breath beneath ice. The chapel above gives a soft groan as wind presses against its broken roof.
Maelin
If you want the truth, keep your hands visible and tell me whether you serve the baron, or only his coin.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the original account
“I pull out my sword and lay it on the ground while saying "I serve no will but my own. I will make you a deal: tell me your side of the story and then let me see the records. The sword will remain on the ground the whole time and I will make my decision after that."”
SUCCESS (Poor Persuasion, rolled +2)
Cedric
I serve no will but my own. I will make you a deal: tell me your side of the story and then let me see the records. The sword will remain on the ground the whole time, and I will make my decision after that.
Cedric draws his sword and lays it carefully on the cellar floor, hilt turned toward himself. The blue shimmer tightens around the iron box, and a sharp crack echoes overhead.
Maelin
Then we have terms. I am Maelin, and I never agreed to the baron's debt. I treated his people because they were dying, not because he promised payment.
Maelin kneels beside the box and presses two fingers to the seal. Blue light crawls over her knuckles, leaving a reddened burn, but the iron gives way.
Maelin
His clerk brought the bill after the fever passed. It charged every remedy, every night of shelter, and protection I never requested. When I refused, they named me a debtor.
Inside the box rests a wrapped account book, its pages crowded with the clerk's figures and Maelin's annotations. She lifts it free and offers it across the millstone.
Maelin
Read it. You will see the names of those I saved, and the costs I recorded. Judge the claim after you have seen the whole account.
“I look at the records”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled +1)
Cedric accepts the account book and turns its pages beneath the cellar’s weak light. Maelin watches his hands, keeping her distance from the sword.
The clerk’s figures list charges for willow bark, fever powders, blankets, and three weeks of shelter. Maelin’s notes mark each item as donated or already supplied.
Names fill the margins: villagers, field hands, and two of the baron’s guards. Beside each are symptoms, remedies, and dates matching the apothecary’s surviving records.
Maelin
There. The largest charge is for protection during the fever. No soldier guarded my door. The clerk added it after the fact.
Near the back, a signed acknowledgment records that the baron’s household received treatment without agreeing to payment. The seal is genuine, but the debt has no supporting mark.
Maelin
His account calls mercy an expense because that makes refusal look lawful. I kept every name so the dead would not be reduced to his numbers.
The records give Cedric the full account: treatment was provided freely, while the baron’s clerk manufactured the debt afterward. The book remains open in his hands.
Quest Complete
Determine whether the witch's debt is legitimate
Skill Upgrade: Persuasion Poor→Mediocre
Quest Complete
Secure the original account
Skill Upgrade: Persuasion Mediocre→Fair
+ New Item Acquired
Original account book