The chapel door groans wide, and cold air spills across the stone floor. The Lord Mayor of Northmere strides in, flushed with anger, his cloak snapping at his boots. Father Hallowell goes still beside the open packet, and Aldren tightens both hands around the token.
The Lord Mayor of Northmere
What is this private reckoning in a house of Omera? I come seeking the chapel's due, not a trader's quarrel. Speak, all of you, why are tithes being bargained over in my town's holy place?
A plain-clad clerk slips in behind him, clutching a wax tablet to his chest and staring uncertainly from face to face. He keeps to the wall, silent and watchful, as if he expects to be told to count or to bear witness.
Father Hallowell
My lord, no bargain is being struck. A debt long buried is being answered at last, and these men have come to set it right before God and witness.
Aldren
This was my father's charge, and I have delayed it too long. I brought the token back so the truth could be spoken openly.
The mayor's eyes flick to the parchment in Hallowell's hands, then to Bren, measuring him as though he were another line in a ledger. The clerk lowers his tablet, waiting for names, sums, or proof.
✓ Quest Accepted
Defend the chapel's autonomy
“"This man fell in my path in need of healing. I discovered a wound on his leg and a wound on his soul."”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +1)
Bren steps forward from Aldren’s shoulder and answers the mayor with a calm, level voice. He names what he found on the road, a man laid low by a wound in the leg, and then the deeper hurt that fear had left in him.
Bren Riverglade
This man fell in my path in need of healing. I discovered a wound on his leg and a wound on his soul.
The words settle through the chapel. Aldren loosens his grip on the token and lowers it, no longer trying to hide it. Father Hallowell turns slightly toward Bren, taking the explanation as witness rather than interruption.
The Lord Mayor of Northmere
A healer’s charity is not the question. If this matter concerns a chapel debt, then it concerns the town as well, and I will not have holy walls used to set accounts aside from lawful tithes.
Father Hallowell
And I will not have the sanctuary treated as a counting house. The packet you see was opened here because truth belongs before God first, not before an office ledger.
Aldren
He is not here to hide me, my lord. He brought me here because I could not carry the truth alone any longer.
The clerk’s stylus hovers above the tablet, uncertain whether he is meant to record a dispute, a debt, or a confession. The mayor’s jaw tightens, but the chapel now hears Bren’s role plainly, as healer and witness both.
Quest Complete
Defend the chapel's autonomy
“"Will you introduce yourself, my lord? I gather that you are a man of importance but I am merely passing through this town."”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +0)
Bren Riverglade
Will you tell me your name, my lord? I take you for a man of standing, though I am only passing through this town.
The Lord Mayor of Northmere
I am the Lord Mayor of Northmere, and I stand for the town’s dues, traveler. If you pass through it, you pass under its order.
The mayor’s title lands hard in the quiet chapel. The clerk dips his head and finally scratches the words onto his tablet, hand unsteady but obedient.
Father Hallowell
Then let order begin with hearing. This young seminarian has tended the road, and brought the truth here without profit or favor.
Aldren
And my father’s charge was not born from theft. It was born from need, and from shame.
The Lord Mayor glances from the opened packet to the vellum, then back to Bren, weighing his plain words against the chapel’s witness. His irritation stays, but it thins into caution.
The Lord Mayor of Northmere
Bren Riverglade, then. A healer, and now a witness in a matter I cannot ignore. Stay, and let us see whether this sanctuary still stands for mercy as well as account.
“"Our goddess delights in the showing of mercy in her chapel, if you have need of it."”
SUCCESS (Superb Theology, rolled +0)
Bren Riverglade
Our goddess delights in mercy shown here, in her chapel, if you have need of it.
Bren lets the offer hang in the candlelit air. The chapel falls quiet around it, as if even the beams are listening.
The Lord Mayor of Northmere
Mercy is a fine word, seminarian. It still leaves me asking what is owed, and to whom.
Father Hallowell
Then ask it plainly. The debt was answered in full long ago, and what remains is a promise kept before God and town alike.
Aldren
My father’s shame is no longer only mine to carry.
The mayor’s gaze shifts from the vellum to the prayer strip, then to Bren, as if measuring whether mercy and order can stand in the same doorway.
The Lord Mayor of Northmere
If sanctuary is to mean anything here, then let it be witnessed. Read the terms to me, and I will hear them before I judge them.
✓ Quest Accepted
Defend the chapel's sanctuary
“I look to Father Hallowell. "Father, I fear giving him the account my violate our vow to keep confessions under seal."”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +2)
Bren Riverglade
Father, if I read it aloud, do I break the seal of confession?
Hallowell lowers the vellum a little, his eyes flicking from Bren to the mayor and back again. The packet rustles softly in his hands.
Father Hallowell
Not if you name it for what it is, son. A confession remains sealed. A public debt, once witnessed, may be spoken. I would not have you betray a soul for the sake of a clerk's record.
The Lord Mayor of Northmere
Then read only what is lawful. I ask for order, not sacrilege.
Aldren
So the burden can be spoken without shaming my father again.
The rector sets the prayer strip beside the vellum and nods once, granting Bren the right to speak what can be spoken. The mayor waits, less sharp now, while the chapel keeps its breath.
“I read aloud only the legal account from the vellum.”
SUCCESS (Superb Theology, rolled -1)
Bren takes the vellum and reads only the lawful account, his voice steady in the hush. The prayer strip lies beside the page like a witness that refuses to speak above its station.
Father Hallowell
At last, the matter is named cleanly. Let truth bear its own weight.
The legal words mark the debt as fulfilled long ago, the token held only in trust until this day. Aldren’s grip loosens on the cloth bundle as the old burden loses its last claim.
The Lord Mayor of Northmere
So the chapel kept no hidden levy. It held a promise, and the promise is now shown.
Hallowell folds one hand over the vellum, not to hide it, but to steady it. The mayor’s clerk scratches quickly on the wax tablet, recording the wording instead of the accusation.
Aldren
Then my father is not shamed here. Only accounted for.
The mayor studies Bren, then the opened packet, and finally the chapel doors. His stance softens by a fraction, but the sanctuary now rests on what comes next.
“"Does this satisfy what is required from the chapel, my lord?" I say to the Lord Mayor.”
SUCCESS (Fair Willpower, rolled +1)
Bren Riverglade
Does this satisfy what is required from the chapel, my lord?
The mayor takes the question in silence, eyes moving from Bren to the vellum and then to the packet in Hallowell’s hands.
The Lord Mayor of Northmere
For the chapel, yes. For my ledgers, I must hear whether any claim remains beyond this page.
Father Hallowell
None that the chapel may lawfully press. What was owed is named, and what was kept is now returned.
Aldren
Then let it stand. I brought the token home, and I would have that counted plainly.
The clerk lowers his tablet at last, as if the record itself has found a resting place. The mayor gives a short nod, more measured than warm, but enough to ease the room.
The Lord Mayor of Northmere
Very well. The chapel keeps its peace, and I will not turn that peace into a charge.
Hallowell’s shoulders settle. Aldren draws the cloth-wrapped token close to his chest, and the prayer strip lies quiet beside the vellum as if the two had finally been heard together.
Quest Complete
Defend the chapel's sanctuary
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Fair→Good