Judge reaches the chambers he once occupied within The Final Edict, carrying the transfer ledger, altered slips, and scraped pages. Corren Vale and two guards follow, both adult human men with square faces and short brown hair, in dark uniforms and iron caps, one broad-shouldered and one lean,; the young adult scribe remains below with the public record, while the courier has ridden toward Vauld.
The old chamber door stands open. Voss waits inside, an elderly man in dark judicial robes, silver hair neatly combed, lined face rigid beneath deep-set eyes. Two empty custody seals rest on the table, and a ceremonial blade gleams in his hand.
Voss
Civilians carried your accusations through the streets before the ink dried. You have made a spectacle of disputed evidence and endangered the authority of the Vauld tribunal.
Corren Vale
He named the chain publicly because your offices buried it. If the evidence were lawful, you would not meet us with seals and steel.
Voss turns the blade’s point toward the oil-wrapped bundle, while the empty seals wait like prepared warrants. The guards halt behind Corren, hands near their weapons but holding position.
Voss
Those records were unlawfully seized from a protected archive. Surrender them now, Judge, before the tribunal is warned and this custody becomes an act of obstruction.
Voss
He was once useful to the court. Now every recovered page gives his defiance a witness.
“"From the moment I heard your name...I knew you would show your face soon, High Magistrate Voss." I slowly pivot the records away from his blade's point. My voice unsettling measured and calm. "You were the reason I lost my formal ability to perform my duties as a magistrate. And now you stand before me, tampering with yet another case at another's expense... I can not, will not, shall not, submit these records over to you for you to repeat your corrupted ways."”
SUCCESS (Great Intimidation, rolled +1)
Judge
From the moment I heard your name, I knew you would show your face soon, High Magistrate Voss. I will not surrender these records.
Judge slowly pivots the oil-wrapped ledger and altered pages away from Voss’s blade. His masked gaze remains fixed, and his voice stays unsettlingly measured within the old chamber.
Judge
You were the reason I lost my formal authority as a magistrate. Now you stand before me, tampering with another case at another’s expense.
Judge
I cannot, will not, shall not submit these records to you so you may repeat your corrupted ways.
The guards hold their positions, but the threat drains from their hands. Corren watches Voss in silence as the empty custody seals sit uselessly between them.
Voss
You have made your position clear, Judge. I will not pretend these records are willingly surrendered, nor will I place my seal upon a custody I cannot command.
Voss lowers the ceremonial blade. The ledger and altered pages remain in Judge’s custody, while the high magistrate’s rigid certainty gives way to wary restraint.
“"Do not think that for a moment, I have stopped searching for evidence against the case that ruined my former life. I will see that your corruption will be brought to justice. But until then, I will not let you ruin the life of another."”
SUCCESS (Great Intimidation, rolled +0)
Judge
Do not think I have stopped searching for evidence against the case that ruined my former life. Your corruption will be brought to justice. Until then, I will not let you ruin another life.
The chamber seems to contract around Judge’s words. White-gold light glimmers behind his mask, and even the guards shift their attention from Voss to the ledger in Judge’s hands.
Voss
You mistake defiance for authority, but I hear the accusation clearly. You intend to pursue me while placing yourself above every court that might judge you.
Voss sets the ceremonial blade upon the table. His restraint concedes the warning’s force, but his rigid gaze hardens as though Judge has confirmed the danger he always feared.
Corren Vale
He said he would protect another life, and he has. The records remain with the one person here who brought them into the open.
Voss
Then take your evidence to Vauld. I will report that Judge has declared a personal campaign against the lawful order. The tribunal will hear that before it hears your accusations.
The cost settles at once: Voss cannot seize the records, but he has gained a dangerous charge to carry before the tribunal. Judge’s custody stands, now shadowed by the claim that he threatens the law itself.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose Voss’s corruption before the tribunal
✓ Quest Accepted
Leave Voss’s chambers with the evidence intact