Nadira returns beneath the old bridge with Tessa Reed close behind. Elyra descends from the western stairs as Eli slips in from the east, while ash-heavy footsteps gather above.
Tessa Reed
Mara's account is true. I tallied the payments myself, and House Veyr bought silence with blood, bone, and threatened families.
Haskel joins Tessa beneath the bridge, placing his porter’s tally board beside the second ledger. Nadira stands between both witnesses, while Elyra watches the stairs and Eli guards the drainage mouth.
Haskel Vorn
Then let the account speak before witnesses who cannot be bought. Nadira answers for us, and Myk carries the record beyond this town.
A deep impact shudders through the bridge stones. Maou steps into the ash beyond the western stairs, flanked by House Veyr collectors bearing hooked staffs and blood-dark writs.
Maou
A touching little tribunal. Hand over the ledger and the witnesses, and I may leave this bridge standing.
The collectors spread across both approaches, sealing the exits without striking. The witnesses close ranks behind Nadira, while Elyra nocks an arrow and Eli raises her bow toward the nearest stair. The reckoning waits on Myk’s answer.
“I hold the line around the witnesses”
SUCCESS (Legendary Melee Weapons, rolled +0)
Myk plants himself before Nadira, Haskel, and Tessa, blackened sword low and long bow across his back. The witnesses tighten behind him as Maou and the collectors advance.
Marked sorcery fractures the bridge into false approaches, while the assassins' pursuit-trained instincts turn every collector's feint into a threat. Reads Pursuers finds the one true opening between both stairways.
Elyra
Hold steady. I have the western stair. Eli, take the drainage mouth.
Protective Testimony gives Myk the witnesses' safest formation: Nadira centered, Haskel and Tessa behind her, with no collector able to reach them without crossing his blade.
Maou crashes forward. Myk reads the warlord's weight through the ash, turns the blackened sword across the blow, and drives him back from the witnesses. The collectors halt behind their leader.
Maou
You defend them well, little blade. Keep that line, then. I will remember the shape of it.
Elyra and Eli seal the approaches with drawn bows, and the collectors withdraw under Maou's raised hand. The witnesses remain untouched behind Myk, while the bridge and its testimony pass safely beyond House Veyr's reach.
Quest Complete
Secure Tessa Reed's testimony
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Superb→Legendary
New gift: Oathbound Negotiator
− Story Quest Removed
Secure the final account
Maou lowered his weapon. Around him, House Veyr's collectors broke formation and withdrew into the dark approaches.
Nadira
You stood where all of us might have fallen. We will not let the truth be buried.
Haskel Vorn
Then carry it well, Nadira. My part is spoken.
Tessa Reed
And mine stands beside it.
Myk
Let the record travel farther than their reach.
The bridge remained standing, and so did the witnesses beneath it. With Elyra and Eli guarding the road, Nadira gathered the corroborated account while Myk carried the ledger onward. House Veyr had lost its silence, and the night, at last, belonged to the truth.