The eastern door opens against the rain. A drenched young adult man stands there, narrow-shouldered beneath a dark blue courier’s cloak, with mud on his pale face and a sealed writ raised in one hand.
Edric Vale
By order of the Roads Office, surrender the tollhouse records. I have come directly from Redmere, and delay will be treated as obstruction.
The ledger lies open beneath Brother Harl’s careful hands. Ser Aldric Venn shifts nearer the shutters, while the bride remains beside the old seal keeper and Tomas Vey watches the courier’s boots.
Tomas Vey
Those boots are not from Redmere’s office. I have seen that mud and stitching before. They belonged to a man serving Fen’s clerks.
Edric Vale
You mistake a courier’s road-wear for treason. Give me the ledger, and no one here need answer for sheltering stolen records.
Mara Quill raises two fingers, warning of movement beyond the walls. Rain masks the sound, but her fixed gaze toward the western road suggests the door is not the only approach.
Mara Quill
Keep your hands visible, courier. If you came alone, say so plainly. If Fen’s people wait outside, this writ will not carry you through.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the courier’s false authority
✓ Quest Accepted
Escape the tollhouse with the bride and evidence
“Tell Edric "I am the regions head executioner and torturer, lying to me does not result in a long life. Will you tell me who you really work for, or must I apply my trade to get the truth?"”
FAILURE (Fair Willpower, rolled -3)
Maurice Headsman
I am the region’s head executioner and torturer. Lying to me does not result in a long life. Tell me whom you truly serve, or must I apply my trade to learn the truth?
Edric Vale
Threats do not make your authority lawful. I serve the Roads Office, and I will name no superior to a man who threatens torture under a stolen roof.
Edric lowers the sealed writ but does not surrender it. His shoulder angles toward the rain-dark doorway, while Mara shifts to keep him from reaching it without passing her.
Tomas Vey
He answered the office, not the question. Fen’s men use that wording when they want the office blamed and their own names hidden.
Outside, boots press through the mud on the western side of the tollhouse. Edric hears them and folds the writ beneath his cloak, destroying the visible seal’s usefulness as proof.
Edric Vale
You will not put hands on me. If you want the truth, open the ledger before witnesses and let the written entries accuse whom they can.
Mara Quill
The threat bought us no confession, but it showed us his fear. Keep him inside, and let Harl compare that writ with the ledger before anyone leaves.
“Have Harl compare the writ with the ledger”
FAILURE (Great Diplomacy, rolled -2)
Maurice keeps the open seventh ledger beneath the tollhouse’s deepest shelter and brings Brother Harl beside it, while Edric remains near the rain-dark doorway.
Brother Harl
Hold the ledger open to the custody entries. I must see the writ’s seal, date, and countersign beside the record.
Harl traces the ledger’s latest entry with one finger, then looks to Edric’s cloak. The sealed writ is hidden beneath it, beyond Harl’s examination.
Edric Vale
The writ remains sealed under Roads Office authority. You will not inspect it while holding me here as a suspect.
Brother Harl
Then I cannot compare the documents. The ledger records a transfer to an unnamed courier, but the writ’s authority and date remain unverified.
Harl closes the ledger halfway, preserving the marked page without pretending certainty. The comparison has failed, and Edric’s refusal leaves his hidden writ as the missing proof.
Ser Aldric Venn
The ledger still narrows the matter. Until that writ is opened before witnesses, Edric cannot claim its authority proves his demand.
“I demand Edric open the writ before witnesses”
FAILURE (Fair Willpower, rolled +2)
Maurice Headsman
Open the writ before these witnesses. Let Brother Harl compare its seal, date, and countersign with the ledger.
Edric draws the sealed writ partly from beneath his cloak, keeping it closed and beyond Maurice’s reach. Harl, Aldric, Mara, Tomas, and the bride remain present to witness the refusal.
Edric Vale
I will not break a Roads Office seal at the demand of an armed executioner. The writ remains closed until I stand before the proper authority.
Brother Harl
Then your demand for the ledger cannot be verified here. Your refusal is now witnessed, and the sealed paper proves only that a sealed paper exists.
Edric’s grip tightens as the writ shifts beneath his cloak. Its outer fold briefly shows a date, three days earlier than the ledger’s recorded transfer, before he hides it again.
Ser Aldric Venn
That date is enough to change the question. The writ predates the transfer it claims to authorize, so its authority now requires explanation.
Mara Quill
Keep the ledger open and the refusal remembered. Edric cannot take the record as proof while concealing the paper meant to justify his demand.
“I confront Edric with the contradictory date”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Maurice Headsman
Your writ bears a date three days before the transfer recorded in this ledger. Explain how it authorizes what had not yet occurred.
Maurice keeps one finger beside the ledger’s entry while Edric holds the sealed writ above it. The two dates stand plainly before every witness.
Edric Vale
The date records preparation, not execution. Fen’s office may issue authority before a transfer is completed.
Brother Harl
Then the writ must state that distinction. A sealed paper cannot silently change its purpose after the fact.
Ser Aldric Venn
And the ledger names no authorized courier. Edric, your explanation places the burden on that hidden seal, not on this record.
Edric’s face tightens. He draws the writ fully into view, still unbroken, while Tomas points to the ledger’s receiving mark and Mara bars the western door.
Edric Vale
The date is contradictory, then. I cannot make the ledger and writ agree without opening the seal before a proper authority.
“Is Edric secretly serving Odo Fen?”
NO (Likely, rolled 84)
The admission settles over the tollhouse. Edric’s sealed writ is contradictory, but his fear is not the fear of a man serving Odo Fen.
Edric Vale
Fen’s office used the Roads Office seal without my consent. I was sent to recover the ledger, not to protect him.
Tomas Vey
Then you are another tool they expected to discard. Fen’s clerks gave you a false date and trusted the seal to frighten us.
Edric lowers the writ a fraction. His boots still resemble Fen’s courier service, but the ledger’s contradiction has exposed him as a pressured messenger, not Fen’s hidden ally.
Ser Aldric Venn
That distinction matters. Edric may have carried Fen’s demand, yet the evidence does not make him Fen’s servant.
Brother Harl
The writ remains unverified, but its bearer has now separated himself from the office that misused it. We must judge the paper and the man separately.
Edric Vale
Open the ledger before witnesses. I will answer for carrying the demand, but I will not answer for Odo Fen’s fraud.
“I lead everyone out through the safest exit”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Maurice closes the ledger and gestures everyone away from the western door. He leads them through the tollhouse’s narrow rear passage, where rain and darkness conceal their movement.
Mara Quill
This way is safest. The drainage cut runs behind the wall and joins the charcoal path without crossing the road.
Maurice goes first through the low rear opening, then steadies Ser Aldric Venn over the wet stones. The bride follows, with Brother Harl guarding the wrapped cipher beneath his mantle.
Ser Aldric Venn
The road watchers will search the tollhouse. Leave them an empty room and a contradiction they cannot quickly explain.
Tomas Vey guides Edric Vale after them, keeping low beneath the pines. Mara Quill closes the hidden opening with brush, while the tollhouse disappears behind rain-dark branches.
Edric Vale
I will go with you. Fen must not learn that the ledger left this roof, and I can identify the clerks who sent me.
The group reaches the covered charcoal track safely, beyond sight of the tollhouse and road. The ledger, cipher, and witnesses remain together as they turn east toward shelter.
Quest Complete
Expose the courier’s false authority
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Fair→Good
Quest Complete
Escape the tollhouse with the bride and evidence
Attribute Upgrade: Willpower Good→Great