The forge door bangs open. A mud-spattered young adult man rides in, lean beneath a dark royal coat, with rain-dark hair, a square jaw, and a crown-sealed writ tucked against his chest. The dwarf smith’s hand remains beside the wrapped sword on the workbench.
Halric Dane
Dagg Nabbitt. I am Halric Dane, royal justice under crown authority. Do not move that blade, the work order, or any testimony connected to its inheritance.
Halric dismounts carefully, keeping his boots clear of the quenching trough. He lays the writ on the bench, its red seal unbroken, while the dwarf smith studies the royal device without touching it.
Halric Dane
Someone has already tried to alter the inheritance record. The crown requires the sword, your smithing agreement, and every claimant’s testimony preserved for examination.
Thren Anvile
Then private settlement waits. I will not surrender the blade from my bench until the writ records exactly what I am holding and why.
The oilcloth remains tied around the sword, and the dwarf smith’s slate still shows the promised edge, spell channel, and thumb-plate. The upgrade is now under official scrutiny rather than abandoned.
Halric Dane
Delay is safer than a private claim settled by wealth or steel. I will hear your account, Dagg, then Thren’s, and preserve both before the crown decides ownership.
✓ Quest Accepted
Establish the sword’s rightful ownership
“What account? I was asked with finding who is the rightful owner of this sword. I intend to do just that.”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled +0)
Dagg Nabbitt
What account? I was asked to find the rightful owner of this sword. I intend to do just that. Explain the crown’s account.
Dagg opens his field journal beside the writ, copying its seal, wording, and stated authority before comparing each line with Thren’s work order. The task delays his road home, and his relaxed impatience shows in the slow turn of a page.
Dagg Nabbitt
The writ orders preservation, but it does not yet identify the rightful owner.
Halric Dane
The crown’s account is this: the sword was transferred through an ancestral inheritance claim, then recorded under competing ownership statements. One statement was altered after filing, and the alteration favors a claimant tied to Pike’s concealed dealings.
Dagg questions Halric about dates, witnesses, seals, and the altered wording, writing each answer into the journal. Reading the official writ against those answers exposes the exact gap: the crown has preserved the dispute, not yet judged it.
Halric Dane
You are correct to separate preservation from judgment. Your account will be entered as an investigator’s finding: the sword remains with Thren for examination, while the crown summons the records and witnesses needed to name its rightful owner.
“So do you know the name of the owner listed in pikes records? we could just go to their farm and ask them about the blade and see if they even know much about it”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled +0)
Dagg Nabbitt
Do you know the name of the owner listed in Pike’s records? We could visit their farm and ask whether they even know much about the blade.
Dagg turns to the relevant page in his field journal, checking the writ’s wording against his copied notes. His relaxed impatience slows the search, but Reads Official Accounts keeps every filing detail under scrutiny.
Halric Dane
Yes. Pike’s record names Mara Vell, a farmer at Vellstead, as the claimed owner. The entry says she inherited the sword through her mother’s line.
Halric opens the attached inventory and reads the ownership line aloud, while Dagg copies the farm name, inheritance wording, and filing date into his journal. His questions have turned a vague lead into a place and a witness, Mara Vell, a young adult woman with a sturdy build, sun-browned skin, a brown braid, and a russet wool dress.
Halric Dane
We may visit Vellstead and ask her directly. I will record her answers as testimony, but the sword remains here with Thren until ownership is judged.
Thren Anvile
That is a sound course. If Mara Vell truly inherited it, she should know its maker, its history, and why it came to this bench.
The destination is settled: Vellstead, with Halric’s writ and Dagg’s journal carried as official records. Thren keeps the wrapped sword and work order safe at the forge while the inquiry proceeds.
✓ Quest Accepted
Hear Mara Vell’s testimony about the sword’s inheritance
“Okay well then i say we start heading towards this miss Vell. {Dagg whistles for his dog to join them} Let me go get my war horse, her name is Peppers. We can start riding there now.”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled +1)