The blue shimmer fades from the iron box, leaving only the cellar’s cold hush, the wind groaning through the chapel roof, and water ticking somewhere in the dark.
Maelin
Others challenged his records before me. A cooper lost his stall, a widow lost her winter stores, and a guard who testified was reassigned beyond the eastern marshes.
Maelin sits beside the millstone, her herb satchel tucked beneath one knee. Her scarred brow tightens as she watches the open account book in Cedric’s hands.
Maelin
Do not carry the original openly. Wrap it in waxed cloth, copy every name and figure, and have the apothecary compare the entries before anyone sees the baron’s seal.
Maelin
If the clerk learns it survived, he will call the book forged. The surviving ledger and these names are stronger together than either record alone.
Maelin
The debt is false, but the accusation remains posted. What do you intend to do with me now, mercenary?
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Maelin's cooperation
“"The way I see it, this bounty is worthless. You committed no crime and are in no debt. Since there isn't a way to earn coin in this village, I will be moving on. I will leave the records with you. You can take them and try to earn your freedom, or you can destroy these dangerous records and come with me for a ways until you are out of the baron's reach. What say you?"”
SUCCESS (Fair Persuasion, rolled +3)
Cedric
This bounty is worthless. You committed no crime and owe no debt. I am leaving this village. Keep the records and seek your freedom, or destroy them and come with me until you are beyond the baron’s reach.
Maelin studies Cedric, then the account book. The cellar’s blue afterglow has vanished, but the dangerous seal still catches the weak light between them.
Maelin
I will come with you. The baron can bury a record more easily than he can bury two witnesses, and I would rather not trust my freedom to his courts.
She takes the book, removes a small oilskin packet from her satchel, and copies the names and figures in a tight, practiced hand before closing it.
Maelin
The original must not follow us. I will destroy it, but the apothecary’s ledger and this copy will preserve enough truth to challenge the claim later.
Maelin feeds the account book’s loose wrapping and several marked pages into a shallow brazier, keeping the copied list dry beneath her cloak. Smoke coils toward the broken roof.
Maelin
There is an old shepherd’s track west of the fields. It avoids the baron’s road, and I know a hamlet where his men rarely ask questions. We can leave before dusk.
Quest Complete
Secure Maelin's cooperation
− Story Quest Removed
Capture the local witch