The procession enters the receiving court beneath gray stone arches. Clerks arrange trestles and ledgers while armed guards form a passage toward the inner doors, leaving Jasper’s bier beside Rellian.
Gamblin stays at the bier’s wheel, broad shoulders squared and ledger tucked beneath one arm. He watches every official, refusing to let the cargo or the dead lord drift apart.
Tiberius’s soldier 1
The bier stops here until the receiving officers record it. No man enters the hall armed, and no chest crosses those doors without inspection.
The soldier plants himself before the inner doors, one hand resting near his sword. Behind him, clerks bend over parchment while guards glance between the bier and the sailors.
Gamblin
Then record this plainly: Lord Jasper remains with us, and his stores remain under my accounting until lawful orders name who receives them.
A clerk hesitates over his parchment. The burial cloth lies undisturbed across the bier, concealing the sealed letter beneath it, while the court waits for the king’s formal appearance.
Tiberius’s soldier 1
The king will receive the procession when the court is ready. Until then, keep your men still and your hands visible.
The order settles over the court. No one touches the bier, but the guards tighten their line, and every clerk’s quill pauses as the reception becomes a standoff beneath official silence.
“You say to the guards and loud enough for the clerks to hear you so there is witnesses to my claim...my my how the hospitality of the kingdom of blade has fallen in such few years not even an offer of salt and bread or some wine while we wait for the king tiberius I would just assume that the rightful and oldest heir would be treated to such simple formalities such as that to show no hostility towards each other”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Rellian blackblade
My, how the hospitality of the Kingdom of Blade has fallen in so few years. No salt, bread, or wine while we await King Tiberius? I had assumed the rightful eldest heir would receive such formalities, to show we bear no hostility.
His words carry beneath the arches. Quills stop, and the clerks look up from their ledgers; the guards hear the claim before the court can pretend it was private.
Tiberius’s soldier 1
Your claim is heard, and the clerks have witnessed it. We will not deny bread, salt, and wine to Lord Jasper’s eldest son while the king prepares to receive him.
The concession costs the soldier some authority. He turns sharply toward the clerks, forcing the promise into the record while the guards keep their hands visible and their line intact.
Court Clerks
Recorded: hospitality granted to the claimant, Rellian Blackblade, pending the king’s judgment of his title.
A Court Clerk hurries through the side passage. Soon servants return with a covered tray, a loaf, a small dish of salt, and a flagon of wine, setting them beside the bier.
Tiberius’s soldier 1
Eat and drink under witness, claimant. But understand this courtesy will be remembered as your first public demand before the king.
“I turn and say drink up gamblin might be the nicest wine we have had in years and take the opportunity while it's here I'll have some bread and salt no wine need to keep a clear head .I turn to the clerk and ask how is the queen how has she taken the ill news that her husband has been killed and that her son is no longer a single child but a younger brother ?”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Rellian blackblade
Drink up, Gamblin. This may be the finest wine we have tasted in years. I will take bread and salt, but no wine. I need a clear head. Clerk, how has the queen taken the news of her husband's death, and learning that her son has a younger brother?
Rellian breaks the loaf, dips one piece in salt, and offers the other to Gamblin. The flagon remains untouched beside the bier, its dark wine catching the gray light.
Gamblin
Gladly. Bread and salt are honest provisions, and I have trusted them longer than I have trusted royal cellars.
Court Clerk 1
The queen received the news in private. She has not appeared before the court, nor spoken against the king’s arrangements. As for the younger brother, I was not permitted to ask her what she believes.
The clerk lowers his voice, but the nearest guards and scribes still hear enough. A quill resumes scratching, preserving the queen’s silence beside Rellian’s claim of brotherhood.
Court Clerk 1
You have won an answer, claimant, but not a gentle one. The court will record that you pressed the queen’s grief into public testimony, and the king’s household will remember it.
“Thank you for you eyes and ears any information helps in this dire time please I beg you to go out and gather the small folk around the front gates as was the wishes of your late Lord jasper for gods and men hear his final words his last will and testimony and honor compelles all of us to as we are bid in the time of need while I go confront my younger brother on why his hospitality is lacking of late for his own kin”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Rellian blackblade
Thank you for your eyes and ears. Please gather the small folk at the front gates, as Lord Jasper wished. Let gods and men hear his final words. I will confront my younger brother about this poor hospitality.
Court Clerk 1
I will do it, claimant. But understand this: by calling the people to the gates, you make the letter’s reading a public trial. The court will mark that against you.
The clerk takes up his ledger and hurries through the side passage. Guards watch him go, then shift aside as Rellian crosses toward the inner doors, bread and salt still beside the bier.
Outside the front gates, the clerk calls for the small folk to assemble. Servants, tradesmen, and waiting townspeople gather beneath the gray arch, summoned witnesses to Jasper’s final testimony.
Rellian reaches the inner hall, where Tiberius, a young adult man with a broad build, ruddy skin, close-cropped dark hair, and a trimmed beard, wearing a deep-blue wool tunic beneath a fur-edged mantle stands beyond the guards’ passage. The king’s household falls quiet as the claimant arrives without wine, weapons, or a softened purpose.
Rellian blackblade
Brother, your hospitality is lacking. I have been given bread and salt beside our father’s bier, but no proper welcome for his eldest heir.
Tiberius
You have been welcomed enough to make demands before my clerks and summon my people to the gates. I grant no further courtesy while you turn grief into a public challenge.