Mara Quill finds a roofed charcoal burner’s hut beneath the eastern pines, set back from the road behind stacked firewood. Its hearth is cold, but the walls keep out the rain.
The group enters without lighting a fire. Aldric lowers himself onto a bench, while the bride remains near the doorway and Maurice keeps the wrapped evidence beneath his coat.
Brother Harl
The damp has blurred the scraps, but not erased them. Odo Fen’s name and the seventh ledger remain enough to demand inspection.
Ser Aldric Venn
The proof does not condemn the duke. It shows that a roads-office clerk authorized custody, then moved her through a channel meant for lawful seizures.
Brother Harl unfolds the cloth beside the shuttered window and checks each fragment by the grey daylight. Moisture has softened the fibers, but the route notation still points toward Redmere.
the bride
If Fen calls the restraint lawful, he may claim my patron’s silence was evidence of consent. I will not let that falsehood become the record.
Mara Quill
Then we rest only long enough for Harl to dry the pieces. At first light, we take the east road and reach Redmere before the collectors do.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach Redmere safely
✓ Quest Accepted
Obtain the seventh ledger
“I help Brother Harl dry the fragments without disturbing his knot.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled -1)
Maurice steadies the cloth’s edge while Brother Harl keeps his knot untouched. Together they spread the fragments beneath the shuttered window, separating them without lifting the tied bundle.
Maurice angles each scrap toward the grey daylight and uses the warmth of his palm beneath the cloth, letting the damp fibers dry gradually.
Brother Harl
Good. No corner has shifted, and the ink is not being rubbed. Keep that side raised while I turn the cloth.
Harl turns the tied bundle by its mantle strip. Maurice supports the weight and holds the cloth clear, allowing air to reach the fragments without loosening the knot.
Ser Aldric Venn
Careful work preserves more than paper. It preserves the chain Fen thought hidden beneath lawful language.
the bride
The record will speak plainly when they cannot make me speak falsely.
By the time the light thins, the fragments lie dry and aligned. Odo Fen’s name, the seventh ledger, and the route to Redmere remain legible beneath Harl’s secure knot.
✓ Quest Accepted
Deepen the bride’s trust through a shared understanding
“I tell the bride why I will defend her choice before any duke's claim.”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled -2)
Maurice Headsman
Your choice is yours before any duke's claim. I will defend it because no seal, office, or ruler can make consent out of coercion.
Maurice speaks quietly, but the hut's close walls carry his words through the shuttered room. Ser Aldric Venn lifts his head, and the bride turns fully toward him.
the bride
Then you defend more than my escape. You defend the truth that my patron answers me, not the hand that tried to silence it.
Ser Aldric Venn
Those words matter. If Fen's record calls custody consent, your testimony and her own choice will stand against that convenient lie.
Outside, a twig snaps beneath a careful foot. Mara Quill raises one hand, and the room falls still; the sound has revealed that someone may be listening beyond the firewood.
Mara Quill
Keep that conviction for Redmere, and keep your voice low until then. Whoever is outside heard enough to know whose side this hut shelters.
the bride
His defense does not replace my choice. It gives that choice room to survive.
Quest Complete
Deepen the bride’s trust through a shared understanding
“Ask the bride if she has received any magic from her patron”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +2)
Maurice Headsman
Have you received any power from your patron since the lead was removed?
The bride lowers her voice. Beyond the hut, rain taps the roof, while Mara Quill remains motionless beside the shutter and listens toward the firewood.
the bride
Yes. Not enough for a sign that others could see, but enough to answer me clearly. The bond is open again.
the bride
The warmth is mine to receive, not theirs to command. I will not mistake quiet power for weakness.
Ser Aldric Venn
Then the lead did what Fen intended. It suppressed her patron's answer, making restraint appear like willing silence.
Brother Harl
If the bond answers without the seal or lead, that confirms the restraint was imposed from outside. Her restored connection is evidence against the record.
Mara Quill
Keep it quiet until Redmere. A visible sign would draw every watcher on the east road, but this truth is enough for those who know how to read it.
“I ask Harl to secure the cipher”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +2)
Maurice Headsman
Brother Harl, secure the cipher. Keep the mark intact and the evidence together.
Maurice places the preserved ducal seal and detached lead within Harl’s reach. The old seal keeper draws the cloth beneath them, careful not to disturb the cracked wax.
Brother Harl
I will bind the cipher against damp and careless hands. Its mark shall remain legible when we stand before Redmere’s records.
Harl wraps the seal in dry linen, sets the lead beside it rather than against it, and closes the bundle with a double fold. He knots it beneath his mantle strip.
Ser Aldric Venn
Keep the cipher with the witness, not hidden among travel goods. If Fen challenges its origin, Harl’s custody will answer him.
A soft scrape sounds beyond the stacked firewood. Mara raises two fingers, then points toward the rear wall, where rainwater darkens the earth beneath a narrow gap.
Mara Quill
Someone is outside, but they have not entered. Harl has secured the proof. Now we learn whether our listener means to follow us to Redmere.
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the listener outside the charcoal hut
“I step outside to meet the listener.”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +0)
Maurice opens the rear door and steps into the rain, leaving the hut’s shelter behind him. Wet firewood leans against the wall, and the narrow gap opens onto dark pines.
A young adult man steps from behind the stacked wood. He is lean, pale-faced, and brown-haired, wearing a soaked green cloak over a plain grey tunic; one eye is crossed by an old white scar.
Tomas Vey
I came to listen, not to enter. Your people are watched from the road, and Redmere is already being searched.
He keeps both hands visible at his sides. Rain beads on his cloak, and his boots have left only shallow marks in the mud beneath the wall.
Tomas Vey
Odo Fen has received warning. He will move the seventh ledger before dawn, unless someone inside Redmere delays him.
From the hut, Mara remains near the doorway while Brother Harl protects the wrapped cipher. Aldric watches the stranger through the rain-dark opening.
Tomas Vey
I can show you a charcoal path to the old tollhouse. Decide quickly, headsman, but know this: I want Fen exposed, not the bride returned.
“I follow the listener to the tollhouse”
SUCCESS (Fair Survival, rolled +1)
Maurice leaves the hut and follows the scarred listener into the rain, keeping the eastern pines between the group and the watched road. The bride, Aldric, Harl, and Mara follow close behind.
Tomas Vey
Keep to my footprints. The charcoal burners use this track when the road patrols come through.
The path bends through wet brush and descends between blackened stumps. Mud grips at Aldric’s boots, but Maurice steadies him whenever the ground gives way.
Mara Quill
No lanterns ahead. If Fen has moved the ledger, his people are hiding the work, not guarding the tollhouse openly.
After a silent climb, the trees open onto the old tollhouse. Its stone walls crouch beside the abandoned road, shutters closed, eastern door marked by a fresh smear of red wax.
Tomas Vey
We are here. Fen’s clerk entered before the rain strengthened, and someone barred the rear window from inside.
Ser Aldric Venn
Then the seventh ledger may still be under this roof. Harl, keep the cipher covered. Mara, watch the road.
“I search the tollhouse for the seventh ledger”
SUCCESS (Good Perception, rolled +1)
Maurice enters the tollhouse and searches the shuttered room methodically. Beneath a warped table, he finds a loose flagstone concealing a narrow oak coffer.
The coffer opens beneath his hands. Inside lies a leather-bound volume wrapped in oilcloth, its spine stamped with a faded seven and the roads-office device.
Brother Harl
That is the ledger. Keep the binding dry, and do not break its order of entries.
Maurice lifts the seventh ledger from the coffer and carries it beneath the roof’s deepest shelter. Damp has reached its outer cover, but the pages remain intact.
Ser Aldric Venn
Fen could not move it in time. The custody record is here, and so is the proof of who received her.
Mara checks the barred shutters while the scarred listener studies the empty road. Brother Harl unwraps the cipher but does not touch the ledger.
the bride
Then let the record show that I was restrained, not consenting. I will stand beside it when Fen is made to answer.
Quest Complete
Identify the ducal agent serving the warlord’s design
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Great→Superb
Quest Complete
Obtain the seventh ledger
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Superb→Legendary
+ New Item Acquired
Seventh ledger
“Ask the listener his name”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled -2)
Maurice Headsman
What is your name?
The question crosses the tollhouse in a low voice. The scarred listener glances toward the barred shutters, and a loose iron latch knocks softly in the wind.
Tomas Vey
Tomas Vey. I carried charcoal for this tollhouse before Fen’s clerks began using it for their records.
The latch knocks again, louder this time, and Tomas turns from the road. His name is given, but the sound may have carried beyond the stone walls.
Tomas Vey
The ledger will name the receiving hands, but not all of them serve Fen willingly. My name may help you read which entries were forced.
Brother Harl
Then speak carefully, Tomas Vey. We will compare your knowledge with the written record before anyone is accused.
Brother Harl opens the ledger beneath the deepest shelter, while the bride steps beside him. Aldric keeps watch over the shutters, and Mara listens toward the road.
Establish which ledger entries were forced
Quest Complete
Identify the listener outside the charcoal hut
Skill Upgrade: Survival Fair→Good