The witness writ carries Kareem, the Palace Messenger, and Archivist Shen through Reedbank’s council court to the Marshgate registry office named by the gold-script map. Empress Xifeng remains behind with the protected petition and her untouched seal.
Inside, shelves of petitions stand sealed beneath layers of dust and ward lacquer. Gold script kindles across the copied map, illuminating custody marks, clerk routes, and the chain leading from household refusal to altered consent.
Archivist Shen
The seals remain closed. We need only compare custody marks and recorded transfers, preserving every household’s original refusal as evidence rather than treating it as a question.
The Palace Messenger
The witness writ grants observation, not command. No clerk here may reopen a petition, summon a household, or count silence as agreement.
A thread of gold light travels from the registry map to three shelves, then down a corridor toward the former survey desk. Beside each route, the script names a responsible office and a missing witness mark.
Archivist Shen
There. The chain does not end with Marshgate’s seal-holder. It passes through the survey desk, the copying clerk, and an authorization entered after the refusals were recorded.
The Palace Messenger sets the witness writ beneath the glowing map. Its plain surface catches the light, declaring the investigation open while every sealed petition remains beyond negotiation.
“"If we know who changed it, let confront them”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +3)
Kareem Bishop
If we know who changed it, let us confront them.
The gold script answers at once, drawing a bright line through the registry and into the former survey desk. A concealed side door unlocks without disturbing the sealed petitions.
Archivist Shen
The responsible hand is inside. The authorization mark belongs to Senior Copying Clerk Vey, whose transfer record places him here when the refusals were altered.
They enter a narrow chamber where Clerk Vey stands over stacked copies. He raises both hands as the witness writ, the Bureau examiner, and the glowing map confront him together.
Clerk Vey
I changed nothing for myself. The survey office ordered presumed consent, and the authorization arrived bearing a valid Marshgate seal.
the robed examiner
Your custody mark identifies your hand, Vey. The Celestial Bureaucracy will preserve your statement, but it will not erase your responsibility.
The gold script records Vey’s admission beside every altered refusal. More than confrontation, Kareem gains the original authorization tablet, still bearing the higher office’s seal and the names of everyone who approved it.
Quest Complete
Ensure Marshgate’s altered consent record is held accountable
Skill Upgrade: Lore Fair→Good
+ New Item Acquired
Authorization tablet