Morning light presses grayly through the shutters. The storm has weakened, leaving House Grathan’s road buried beneath fresh snow and the tavern hushed around its banked hearth.
Beareth’s travel bag remains beneath his hand, the sealed family tome still secured inside. Bandit waits in the stable, watched by a tavern groom and ready for the road.
Tilla Valren
The steward will receive me shortly. My escort comes with us, and the tavern remains behind as our refuge until we return.
Tilla fastens her travel cloak while her escort checks the door, saddles, and weapons. None of them relaxes fully, though the mercenaries have kept their word and vanished into the storm.
Tilla Valren
He will judge whether you are a liability, a witness, or leverage against House Wulfharth. Lord Grathan’s steward will want to know which before he risks receiving us.
She lifts her gloves from the table and studies Beareth without pressing him for answers. Beyond the shutters, House Grathan’s banners snap faintly above the buried road.
Tilla Valren
You need not surrender the tome or explain your flight. But if you stand beside me, understand that every silence may be weighed as carefully as every word.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure safe passage through House Grathan
“"If the steward is anything like his master, my presence will not make your task any easier. I intend to bring my family's tome to our good king."”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Beareth Wulfharth
If the steward is anything like his master, my presence will not make your task easier. I intend to bring my family's tome to our good king.
Tilla holds his gaze, then nods once. Her escort opens the tavern door, and cold air sweeps around them as they leave the shelter behind.
Tilla Valren
Then we make for the royal road after this audience. I will see that no steward takes the tome from you.
The buried road gives way to House Grathan's stone approach. Under bronze and white banners, the steward receives Tilla and Beareth without delay, his questions careful and severe.
the steward
A Wulfharth carrying accusations is dangerous company. Yet King Theodan must hear such claims before rumor buries them.
By the following royal summons, Beareth stands before King Theodan Valiks in Starsa's winter hall. The sealed family tome passes from his travel bag into the king's hands.
King Theodan Valiks
I will read this beneath my seal, Beareth Wulfharth. If it names crimes, House Wulfharth will answer for them.
Quest Complete
Secure safe passage through House Grathan
✓ Quest Accepted
Answer the crown's inquiry
“Will the king hold House Wulfharth accountable?”
YES (Likely, rolled 39)
King Theodan breaks the tome’s seal beneath the winter hall’s guarded silence. His eyes move across the first pages, and the color leaves his face.
King Theodan Valiks
These are not accusations built from rumor. Names, dates, payments, and orders stand together beneath your family’s seal.
The king turns another page. A clerk reaches for fresh parchment while royal guards close the chamber doors, ensuring no whisper escapes before judgment is prepared.
King Theodan Valiks
House Wulfharth will answer before the crown. I will summon its members, seize its records, and place its lands under royal oversight.
Tilla Valren
Then the tome has found the hearing it deserved. Beareth’s road from the south was perilous, but it was not taken in vain.
Theodan looks from Tilla to Beareth, his expression grave rather than triumphant. Outside, bells begin to sound through the snowbound capital, carrying the first order of accountability.
King Theodan Valiks
You will remain under my protection until this inquiry is complete. No Wulfharth hand will reclaim the book, nor silence the witness who brought it here.
“"My king, I must advise caution. My family know of my flight and will call upon all their connections to safe guard their power. This tome is but a fraction of their corruption and villainy."”
FAILURE (Poor Diplomacy, rolled +0)
“"My king, I must advise caution. My family know of my flight and will call upon all their connections to safe guard their power. This tome is but a fraction of their corruption and villainy."”
FAILURE (Poor Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Beareth Wulfharth
My king, I must advise caution. My family knows of my flight and will call upon every connection to safeguard its power. This tome is but a fraction of their corruption and villainy.
The warning reaches the chamber, but not as proof. Theodan’s hand stills over the open pages, while the clerk’s quill hesitates above the parchment.
King Theodan Valiks
You ask me to fear a web this volume does not name. I cannot seize every ally of House Wulfharth on suspicion alone.
Tilla Valren
Then begin with the connections the tome reveals, Your Majesty. Payments rarely stand alone, and hidden partners leave patterns behind.
Theodan closes the tome halfway, his expression sharpening. The accusation has not secured immediate action against unseen allies, but it redirects the inquiry toward the names surrounding each recorded crime.
King Theodan Valiks
The records will be divided by names, seals, and routes of payment. Beareth, you will identify what you recognize, while the crown tests each thread before it is pulled.
King Theodan Valiks
If this is only a fraction, then the missing portion may be found through the company your family trusted. That is the door your warning has opened.
“"My king, I must advise caution. My family know of my flight and will call upon all their connections to safe guard their power. This tome is but a fraction of their corruption and villainy."”
SUCCESS (Great Willpower, rolled +0)
Beareth Wulfharth
My king, I must advise caution. My family knows of my flight and will call upon every connection to safeguard its power. This tome is but a fraction of their corruption and villainy.
The warning settles over the winter hall. King Theodan closes the tome halfway, while the clerk marks the page numbers and names already exposed.
King Theodan Valiks
Then we will not mistake this book for the whole crime. We will follow its connections before House Wulfharth can conceal them.
Tilla Valren
Begin with the payments, Your Majesty. Coin travels through merchants, carriers, and allied houses. Each connection may reveal the next.
Theodan gestures to the clerk, who separates the records into piles beneath royal seals. Guards move to summon the crown’s auditors and trusted messengers.
King Theodan Valiks
Beareth, identify every name, crest, route, or phrase you recognize. Your knowledge will guide the inquiry, but no accusation will rest on memory alone.
King Theodan Valiks
I will also send sealed orders to the southern passes. Your family may call upon its allies, but those allies will find the crown watching first.
“I identify every name and crest I recognize”
SUCCESS (Good Reasoning, rolled +0)
Beareth bends over the separated records, keeping the tome beyond the clerk’s reach. He traces familiar seals, payment marks, and routes with careful, deliberate certainty.
Beareth Wulfharth
The snarling bear of House Wulfharth marks the orders; bronze snowflakes belong to House Grathan, and the silver tower is Valren.
He identifies the Wulfharth seal on orders for hidden shipments, Grathan’s mark beside receiving tallies, and Valren’s crest on contracts for guarded passage.
Beareth Wulfharth
These names recur: House Wulfharth, House Grathan, and House Valren. The routes pass through southern merchants, then north by the Grathan road.
King Theodan Valiks
Clerk, record each connection exactly. Beareth, mark the phrases and hands you recognize, but leave the judgment to the crown.
Beareth identifies several recurring signatories and coded phrases, but the effort costs him: a tremor enters his injured writing hand, and the clerk notices.
Clerk
Your Majesty, he knows these records intimately. That knowledge serves the inquiry, but it must also be examined as evidence.
Quest Complete
Answer the crown's inquiry
Skill Upgrade: Diplomacy Poor→Mediocre