On the upper landing, Kynes’s casting hand remains locked rigid as the shadow sea coils around Magistrate Vey’s guarded door. Candlelight bends inward, swallowed by impossible darkness.
Bren
The mark has finished its warning, love. We can still leave before this becomes a conversation, but I doubt that would suit your reputation.
Beyond the door, furniture scrapes across the floor. Several men take positions, their muffled boots answering one another while a bolt draws back halfway, then stops.
Magistrate Orlan Vey
Who has entered my rooms? Name yourself, or I will have the guards tear this door apart and drag you before the watch.
Bren
He wants certainty, love. Show him the parchment, let the shadows speak first, and give him no detail he can twist.
The darkness gathers at the threshold, shaping a tall, faceless silhouette beside the door. Inside, a man curses softly, and steel leaves several scabbards.
Magistrate Orlan Vey
I will ask once more. Who are you, and why does Larloch’s shadow stand outside my door?
“I pull the door off the wall with telekinesis " Vey, long time how was prison ." I say as I walk through where the door stood.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Arcana, rolled +1)
Telekinetic force clamps around the guarded door and tears it cleanly from its hinges. Wood, bolts, and splintered frame lift aside as the shadow sea parts before Kynes.
Kynes
Vey, long time. How was prison?
Kynes walks through the open wall with his casting hand still rigid, the removed door hovering beside him like a silent shield. Bren follows through the breach.
Magistrate Orlan Vey
Kynes. Of course. I should have guessed only you would arrive wearing a lich’s warning and destroy my door.
Magistrate Orlan Magistrate Orlan Vey, a gaunt middle-aged man with close-cropped iron-gray hair, a black high-collared coat, and a signet ring, stands behind a writing desk.
Bren
He asked about your prison sentence, Magistrate. Try answering before your guards mistake embarrassment for courage.
Magistrate Orlan Vey
Brief, unpleasant, and undeserved. Unlike this intrusion, which is both obvious and actionable. Guards, hold your blades.
“" so Vey, why are you harassing the lass,Elira." I ask.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -1)
Kynes
So, Vey, why are you harassing the lass, Elira?
The question cuts through the room with quiet authority. Vey’s guards lower their blades by degrees, watching him instead of the shadow sea beyond the ruined doorway.
Magistrate Orlan Vey
Because Elira received a brass-bound vessel meant for my custody, and refused to surrender it. I believed pressure would correct her mistake.
Bren
Pressure? You sent men to search her shop twice tonight. That sounds less like correction and more like panic.
Magistrate Orlan Vey
The vessel bears a seal I cannot identify, and Elira is the last person who handled it. I intended to learn who entrusted it to her.
Vey’s composure thins beneath Kynes’s stare. Behind him, ledgers and sealed letters crowd the desk, while the guards stand uncertainly between duty and retreat.
Magistrate Orlan Vey
Now I understand the connection. You are protecting her, which means the vessel matters to you. Call off the shadows, and we can discuss its transfer without further disturbance.