The clerk’s mask is gone. He lies pinned in the wet records, breath ragged, one hand stretched toward the brass tally as if it were a holy relic.
At his touch, the device hums. A soft golden pulse answers from Kareem Bishop’s bag, and the spilled ledger water shivers with reflected light.
The Clerk
Do not mistake me for a thief. I serve the archive. I serve what was buried.
Inspector Lian
Then name your office, clerk, and name who set this tally on foreign gold.
The Clerk
The audit office. The treasury records. The omission is the crime, not the coin.
The chamber walls seem thinner now, the shadows behind them crowded with a vast, unseen order, as if the empire itself is listening through the stone.
The Gate Scribe
Kareem Bishop is evidence. If your office claims him, you answer to the ward ledger. If the treasury claims him, you answer to the throne.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the brass tally device
“I didnt omit anything”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Kareem Bishop
I did not omit anything. I did not hide anything from the ledger.
The words land cleanly in the wet chamber. The clerk’s gaze sharpens, and the tension in Inspector Lian’s shoulders eases by a breath.
The Gate Scribe
Then the fault lies in the record, or in the office that made it.
The Clerk
Aye. The omission is a wound, not a rumor. Someone carved this absence and dressed it as law.
Inspector Lian keeps his grip, but his eyes shift from Kareem to the brass tally, measuring where the truth now points.
The Clerk
If he is innocent, then the tally has been pointed at him on purpose.
The golden pulse steadies. In the reflected water, the imperial sigil holds, cold and watchful, while the chamber waits for the next claim.
“I seize the brass tally device”
SUCCESS (Good Strength, rolled +1)
Kareem snaps in, one clean motion through the flooded records. The brass tally leaves the clerk’s grip and lands in his hand with a wet clack, gold light flashing across his knuckles.
The Clerk
No, wait, that device is keyed to the office, not to you!
Inspector Lian tightens at once, but the clerk is too late. The tally is already out of reach, and its pulse answers Kareem now instead of the floor.
The Gate Scribe
Held. At last. Do not let it touch the water again.
Kareem Bishop
The weight is real. The thing is mine.
The reflected imperial sigil wavers, broken by ripples from Kareem’s wrist. Around them, the chamber feels suddenly smaller, as if the ledgers themselves are listening.
Inspector Lian
Then we have leverage. Kareem, keep hold of it. Nobody leaves until this is read.
Quest Complete
Secure the brass tally device
+ New Item Acquired
Brass tally device