After six months at sea and five years of war, Kingdom Blade rises beyond the harbor mist. Wet ropes creak as the surviving men unload crates, barrels, and Lord Jasper Barrowblade’s sealed bier.
Gamblin, a broad-shouldered middle-aged man with a weathered face, iron-gray beard, patched brown coat, and a missing tip to one ear, strides among the crew with a ledger in hand.
Gamblin
Mind the apothecary crates. Keep the food dry. No one drops so much as a spoon while I am counting it.
Boots ring across the quay. Tiberius’s soldiers close around the cargo in a hard-edged cordon, hands resting on sword hilts while harbor folk fall silent.
Tiberius’s soldiers
By order of King Tiberius, the dead lord is surrendered here. The cargo remains under the Crown’s seal.
Gamblin
He was promised a homecoming, not a seizure. Stand aside and let the procession pass.
The bier waits between stacked supplies and the black water, its seal unbroken. Before any funeral bell can sound, the harbor becomes a line drawn between oath and crown.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Lord Jasper Barrowblade’s body
“Speak to the soilder and ask how come Tiberius soilders where sent for his father's body and not have Tiberius come himself to see his salon father better yet how did you know this ship and it's cargo for we did not send any word of out coming and what lays in our storage below”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Rellian blackblade
Why were Tiberius’s soldiers sent for his father’s body instead of Tiberius himself? How did you know this ship and cargo were coming, and what lies in our storage below?
The soldiers glance along the quay, then one, a young adult man with a lean build, a square clean-shaven face, close-cropped brown hair, and a weathered red cloak over a mail shirt, lowers his hand from his sword. At Rellian’s measured questions, the cordon loosens enough for Gamblin to step beside the bier.
Tiberius’s soldier 1
The king sent us because he will not stand before the harbor in mourning. He waits at the hall, where your lord’s remains are to be received under royal guard.
Tiberius’s soldier 1
As for the ship, a crown watcher saw your sails two days ago from the southern headland. A rider carried word inland before you reached the harbor.
At a curt gesture, two soldiers break the seal on the nearest hatch and lift the boards. Dry air rises from below, carrying salt, herbs, grain, lamp oil, and iron.
Tiberius’s soldier 1
Below are food barrels, clean water casks, apothecary crates, tools, spare cloth, weapons, and the personal chests recorded in your manifest. Nothing is hidden from the Crown.
Gamblin’s ledger remains open in his hand. The soldiers leave the hatch exposed, and the harbor’s silence settles into wary attention around the unbroken bier.
“You look up and down the soilders eyeing there weapons and armor you don't want to fight you say to the leader I demand and envoy to your lord and my half brother Tiberius and is my right as the oldest heir to the blades kingdom and I will be beside my father's body until we have reached the Lord's hall and the blades scroll is read aloud for all to hear you did say you had two days to prepare you did didn't yu that means you took the proper actions to make the banquet ready or did Tiberius neglect that too and as your Lord I expect you to send a envoy ahead to let terbirus know what's coming”
SUCCESS (Good Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Rellian blackblade
I demand an envoy be sent to Tiberius. I am the eldest heir to the Blade Kingdom, and I will remain beside my father's body until we reach the hall and his sealed scroll is read aloud. You had two days to prepare. See that the banquet is ready, and tell him what is coming.
The soldier studies Rellian's face, then the weapons along the cordon. Behind him, Gamblin shuts his ledger with a firm clap, while the bier remains untouched beneath the harbor mist.
Tiberius’s soldier 1
Your demand is heard. I will send a rider ahead, but do not mistake obedience for recognition. The king's court will judge your claim there.
Tiberius’s soldier 1
Soldier four, take my horse. Ride to the hall. Tell King Tiberius the procession leaves under guard, with Lord Jasper's heir beside the bier and the sealed letter still unopened.
A fourth soldier steps from the cordon, accepts the reins, and spurs inland. His departure grants Rellian the envoy he demanded, but every watching face now measures him as a claimant.
Gamblin
The stores can feed a hall tonight, if the Crown leaves them in our hands. I will have the men ready the procession, and I will not leave the lord's side either.
The cordon parts around the bier. Rellian is permitted to walk beside his father through the harbor and onward to the Lord's hall, where the sealed scroll will be read before the gathered court.
✓ Quest Accepted
Have Lord Jasper’s sealed letter read aloud.
“You take in the sights with your father's body along side you on the way to the lords hall everything is run down with years of neglect and you think that of your father was still alive and how you could have played in these very streets but now that is a faded wish you tell gamblin if anything happens save yourself I don't need you on my conscience either they both laugh . As they approach the Lord's hall they are stopped at the gate and are striped of weapons rellian sneaks a dagger up his sleeve for a backup plan just in case Tiberius doesn't wanna honor the letter or wants to imprison me the second I walk in .I think to myself the letter is my shield and its seal in the sword and it must be read in front of the council and witnesses by someone trusted by everyone”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +3)
The procession leaves the harbor beneath a gray sky. Run-down shops, sagging awnings, and weed-choked gutters line streets where Lord Jasper Barrowblade’s son might once have played, had fate allowed him a childhood there.
Rellian blackblade
If anything happens, save yourself, Gamblin. I do not need you on my conscience.
Gamblin gives a rough laugh, and Rellian joins him. The sound fades quickly as the bier rolls toward the hall, its sealed letter resting with the dead lord beneath the cloth.
At the gate, the royal soldiers halt the procession and collect swords, bow, and knives. Gamblin’s personal chest is opened for inspection, and Rellian quietly retrieves one dagger before surrendering the rest.
With the guards’ attention fixed on the weapons, Rellian slips the borrowed-looking dagger beneath his sleeve. The blade settles against his forearm, hidden and ready.
Rellian blackblade
The letter is my shield, and its seal is the sword. It must be read before the council and witnesses trusted by everyone.
The gates open at last. Beyond them, the neglected hall rises over the court, while Tiberius’s authority waits inside with the council, the witnesses, and the unopened truth.
Quest Complete
Secure Lord Jasper Barrowblade’s body
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Good→Great
+ New Item Acquired
Dagger