Brother Osric spreads the vellum and prayer strip flat across the desk. The yellowed edges sit beside the Willowford letter, and the same cramped hand seems to run through both.
He taps a small notation near the lower margin, almost hidden beneath a fold. The mark matches the lettering in the Willowford letter exactly, a clerk’s hand answering itself across two distant records.
Brother Osric
There. The same stroke, the same pause. This was copied from one hand, not two.
The room tightens around the table. Alexandre Reaper leans in from the side, while the Cleric stills, eyes fixed on the line Osric marks with a blunt finger.
Bren Riverglade
The notation binds Northmere to Willowford.
Brother Osric
Father Hallowell knew this trail. Or someone near him did. This is the thread that joins the packet, the letters, and the ledger.
The wax flakes by the threshold seem suddenly louder underfoot as the hearing shifts from suspicion to proof. Even the desk looks changed, as if it has become a witness.
✓ Quest Accepted
Force the Temple authorities to answer for the Willowford link
✓ Quest Accepted
Obtain the Temple's confession about the corruption
“"Brother Osric, I see this goes well beyond Father Hallowell. Can you see any clues in the document as to who must answer for this? A seal? A mark?"”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +2)
Bren Riverglade
Brother Osric, can you see a seal or mark that shows who must answer for this?
Osric pulls the vellum closer and turns it toward the lamp, then draws the Willowford letter beside it so the corners touch.
Brother Osric
Here. This pressed ring, half-worn. It is a clerical mark, not Hallowell’s hand, and it points upward.
Bren sees the impression clearly, a dull circle in the wax and a matching score in the margin, the kind used to pass authority from desk to desk.
The Cleric
Upward to whom?
Brother Osric
To the Temple office that received this copy, and to whoever sent it onward. This was managed, not merely written.
Alexandre Reaper straightens a little at the desk edge, his shift in stance making room for the truth now pinned in place.
Osric lays a finger on the mark, then on the Willowford letter, and leaves both exposed for the hearing to see.
Quest Complete
Force the Temple authorities to answer for the Willowford link
“I ask Brother Osric if this means higher Temple leadership is implicated.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Theology, rolled +0)
Bren Riverglade
Does this point to higher Temple leadership?
Brother Osric
It points past the desk, yes. This mark is the trail of approval, not the source of it.
The cleric’s hand tightens on the edge of the table, and the nervous clerk at the side of the room freezes with his stylus above the wax.
Brother Osric
If the copy was routed cleanly, then someone in authority saw it, set it aside, and sent it onward.
Alexandre Reaper shifts his weight by the arch, watching the desk as if the answer might step out of the grain of the wood.
The Cleric
Then the question is not whether the Temple knew. It is who inside the Temple chose to let it stand.
Osric leaves the vellum and the Willowford letter open under the lamp, the matched marks bright on the page, while the second bundle in oiled cloth sits untouched beside the ink.
“"Then we must ask whom in leadership this clerk did work for. Can the mark be traced to him, so that he can give his account to the hearing?"”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +0)
Bren Riverglade
Then we must ask which authority this clerk served. Let the mark be traced, and let him give his account to the hearing.
Brother Osric
It can be traced. The routing hand is named in the margin, and the seal trail is intact.
Osric turns the vellum toward the lamp and taps a narrow line of ink beside the clerical mark, where a clerkly hand has added a docket note.
Brother Osric
This was filed through the office of Master Pellin, under review for higher notice. Bring him in.
The nervous clerk at the side of the room swallows hard and lowers his stylus at last, the wax tablet no longer hovering idle in his fingers.
The Cleric
Then I will speak for the record. I carried it on Pellin's order, and I can name the hand that told me to set it aside.
Alexandre Reaper straightens at the arch, his gaze fixed on the clerk now that the answer has a face, while the second bundle in oiled cloth waits untouched beside the ink.
“I look at the clerk and wait to see if he will give the name.”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +0)
Bren keeps his eyes on the clerk and lets the silence hold. The man’s throat works once, then twice, as if the name is heavier than the accusation.
The Cleric
Master Pellin. He gave the order to set it aside and wait for further notice.
The clerk flinches at the words, then steadies himself, his lowered stylus resting against the wax tablet instead of fleeing it.
Brother Osric
Say plainly what was delayed, and by whose hand it passed.
The Cleric
The Willowford letter, the routing note, and the vellum all went through Pellin's office. I copied the docket as told. I did not alter the mark.
Alexandre Reaper shifts his stance at the arch, one foot braced forward now, while the second bundle in oiled cloth sits untouched on the desk like a weight still waiting to be named.
The Cleric
If you want the rest of it, I can give you the ledger line by line. Just say it is to be entered.
“"Brother Osric, I think it would be good to enter the ledger into the record."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +3)
Bren Riverglade
Brother Osric, I think it would be good to enter the ledger into the record.
Brother Osric
Then it enters now. Speak the line, and I will set it down as witness to Temple hand and Temple fault.
Osric draws the wax tablet closer and angles the lamp toward the margin note, making the name and routing marks plain to all three men.
The Cleric
Master Pellin kept the list back in his office, and I carried it as told. I know the route, and I can name the desk it crossed.
At the arch, Alexandre Reaper straightens a handspan, his earlier brace giving way to a harder witness’s stillness. The unopened bundle beside the desk stays tied, but its cord now lies within reach.
Brother Osric
Then the record will note this, the Temple office handled the papers, and Master Pellin’s office received them before delay or suppression. Continue, if there is more.
Quest Complete
Obtain the Temple's confession about the corruption
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Good→Great