Valeria carries her blunted sword beneath the Porticus Octaviae, accompanied by Marcus and Murmilla, who still holds Lucius Fabius’s sealed employment report. Claudia Varena and the witnesses remain behind with the amended contract.
Marcus Flavius
Before anyone alters another tablet, we verify the public record of your scheduled bout. Terms witnessed today are safer than terms remembered tomorrow.
At the eastern records stall, a young herald with close-cropped hair, a red-bordered tunic, and an ink-stained thumb searches the posted notices. Shelves of wax tablets crowd him on every side.
The Herald
Here is the official notice. Veteran Hoplomacha, blunted spear, and victory by clean concession or acknowledged defeat. No added demonstration is written.
Publius Varenus steps from between two bookmakers, his bright eyes fixed on the tablet. He carries a second wax copy, its laurel mark scraped almost smooth.
Publius Varenus
That is the public version. A second one is circulating among bookmakers, naming a different victory condition and an extra exchange after concession.
Murmilla
Then neither copy should travel farther until the difference is recorded. Valeria, you should see both versions before anyone asks you to accept the bout.
“She studies both copies.”
SUCCESS (Great Perception, rolled -1)
Valeria studies both wax copies beneath the stall’s awning, keeping her cloth-bound palm clear of the tablets. She compares every line, seal, and correction.
Valeria Asiaticus
The public notice is clean; the scraped laurel mark belongs to a later copy.
The wording reveals the alteration: the bookmakers’ version adds an exchange after concession and changes victory into a condition requiring further combat. Its laurel impression was abraded and reapplied.
Publius Varenus
You have found the difference. The second tablet was copied from the public notice, then altered before it reached the betting tables.
The Herald
I can enter both texts in the eastern register, but the comparison has delayed the posting. The next notice will not be displayed until the clerk witnesses it.
The delay leaves Valeria certain which terms govern her bout, but not who scraped the laurel mark or ordered the false condition. Publius holds out his copy for sealing.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify who ordered the false bout condition
“"This laurel mark is the sign of Gaius Marcellus. Please, someone tell me he has nothing to do with this."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Valeria Asiaticus
This laurel mark is the sign of Gaius Marcellus. Please, someone tell me he has nothing to do with this.
Publius examines the scraped impression, then the altered wording. His expression settles into the careful honesty of a bookmaker protecting a lawful record.
Publius Varenus
I cannot tell you that. The mark connects this copy to Marcellus’s network, though it does not prove that Marcellus himself ordered the alteration.
The Herald
The register can record that distinction plainly: Marcellus’s mark appears, but no authorized instruction from him accompanies the tablet.
Publius places the wax copy beside the public notice. The abraded laurel and the added condition align with the same contractual pressure found at Marcellus’s training yard.
Publius Varenus
This was meant to make a concession insufficient, forcing another exchange and putting a fighter’s purse under someone else’s control. That is Marcellus’s familiar method.
Marcus Flavius
Then we record the connection without claiming more than the evidence proves. Your lawful bout remains governed by the clean public notice.
“"Mark the altered tablet void, and I will agree to the original one."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Politics, rolled +1)
Valeria Asiaticus
Mark the altered tablet void, and I agree to the original bout terms.
Valeria places the clean public notice beside the altered copy, keeping her cloth-bound palm clear. The eastern stall’s witnesses gather close as the comparison is entered.
The Herald
The altered copy is void. Its added exchange and changed victory condition have no standing. The original notice governs the bout.
Publius Varenus
I will record that agreement before the betting tables open. Veteran Hoplomacha, blunted spear, and victory by clean concession or acknowledged defeat.
The herald scores VOID across the scraped-laurel tablet, then seals the mark with the eastern register. He copies the lawful terms beneath it and adds the witnesses’ names.
Marcus Flavius
Good. You have accepted the contest without accepting someone else’s trap. Keep this copy with the contract, and let every official answer to the same words.
Publius receives the certified copy for the betting record, while the original remains secured with the exhibition contract. The false condition is publicly disarmed, though Marcellus’s connection remains recorded for inquiry.
“"Did Marcellus himself order the false condition?"”
YES (Even, rolled 28)
The herald compares the scraped laurel impression with Marcellus’s registered marks. Beneath the altered condition, faint surviving strokes form the supplier’s abbreviated signature.
The Herald
This is no mere school copy. The instruction was written in Marcellus’s hand, then sealed through his laurel mark before reaching the betting tables.
Publius Varenus
Then Marcellus himself ordered the false condition. The added exchange was meant to survive concession and place the purse under his control.
Publius’s careful certainty hardens the entry from association into proof. The register now records Marcellus as the authorizing hand, not merely the source of a familiar mark.
Marcus Flavius
That changes the inquiry. His school’s coercive contracts were not an isolated practice. He tested the same control against a lawful bout and a public purse.
The Herald
I will attach the comparison, the witnesses, and this certified copy to the eastern register. No bookmaker may treat the false condition as valid.
The lawful notice remains secured, while the evidence against Marcellus travels under seal. His network has lost the wager’s leverage, but gained a direct accusation before Roman officials.
“"This is the second time he has been caught in an illegal act. But falsifying contracts is a minor offense, and I would wager he is up to something bigger. He was ready to draw his sword against me a little while ago, when I investigated his school. Drawing your sword against an experienced arena fighter is reckless, and I suspect it may not be the first time he has attempted to settle things with a sword. Perhaps he has a record. I'll speak to some of my legal contacts and see what they know. If you don't need the altered copy, I'll bring it along as evidence."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Politics, rolled +0)
Valeria Asiaticus
This is the second illegal act. Falsifying contracts is minor, and I suspect Marcellus is concealing something larger. I will ask my legal contacts about his record.
Valeria Asiaticus
He drew a sword against me at his school. Against an experienced arena fighter, that is reckless, and perhaps not his first attempt. If this copy is not needed, I will take it as evidence.
The herald confirms the altered tablet is no longer required for the register. He wraps it in fresh waxed cloth, marks its voided status, and hands it to Valeria as preserved evidence.
The Herald
It remains available for inquiry, but its custody is now witnessed. Carry it openly, and no one can claim you concealed or changed it.
By midday, Marcus brings Valeria to Lucius Fabius, who reviews the certified comparison beside old arena notices and disciplinary tablets kept under his seal.
Lucius Fabius
Marcellus has no recorded conviction for assault, but two sealed complaints describe drawn steel during contract disputes. Neither reached judgment.
Marcus Flavius
Then the pattern is now documented, and this tablet gives the magistrate a current, witnessed act rather than rumor.
Quest Complete
Identify who ordered the false bout condition
Skill Upgrade: Thievery Poor→Mediocre