A scarlet-scaled adult dragonborn noble arrives at the forge entrance, travel-worn but composed. His tailored coat is dusty at the hem, and he carries a folded copy sealed with the Coalway crest.
Rosso Coalway
Rosso Coalway. That seal belongs to my adopted family, and it was used to support a rival succession claim. The Coalways authorized no such submission.
The dwarf smith turns from the anvil and studies the folded copy without touching it. Mara draws the royal review closer, keeping her mother’s papers beneath her hand.
Rosso Coalway
The false seal places my house inside Mara’s dispute before your letter reaches King Gandien. If the rival claim is accepted as genuine, my family may be accused of backing it.
Thren Anvile
Then do not leave the copy folded and unexplained. Put it beside the custody record, and state exactly where the seal departs from your family’s practice.
Rosso steps inside and lays the document on the forge table, careful not to disturb Mara’s records. The unfamiliar crest catches the firelight beside the sword’s sealed custody statement.
Mara Vell
If your family did not authorize it, I need that established before anyone uses the claim against Vellstead. Can you attest to the seal and its proper custody?
✓ Quest Accepted
Establish that the Coalway seal was unauthorized
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Before Rosso can unfold the copy fully, a gust rattles the forge shutters. A narrow slip of paper slides from inside the document and lands beside Mara’s sealed review.
Rosso Coalway
That was not part of the submission. It bears the Coalway crest, but the wording is a private instruction to delay Mara’s hearing until the rival claimant arrives.
The dwarf smith lifts the slip by its edge and holds it near the forge light. The wax is cracked, though the paper itself is clean, as if someone opened it recently and resealed it in haste.
Thren Anvile
This instruction was added after the copy was sealed. Whoever placed it here expected the document to pass through careful hands without being questioned.
Mara Vell
Then the rival claim is already being managed before the crown hears me. We must preserve this exactly and tell King Gandien what was found.
Veyra steps nearer, shield resting against her leg, while Rosso carefully replaces the slip beneath the copy. The forge’s ordinary sounds fade as all four recognize a deliberate attempt to shape the royal hearing before it begins.
“Veyra, you said you can prove the farm to be Maras. Does this new, clearly tampered with, letter pose a threat?”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled -1)
Dagg Nabbitt
Veyra, you said you can prove the farm is Mara’s. Does this clearly tampered letter pose a threat?
Dagg opens his field journal and copies the slip’s wording, crest placement, cracked wax, and instruction. He reads the official phrasing closely, then questions Veyra about what her clan can verify.
Dagg Nabbitt
The letter delays a hearing, but it does not create a lawful claim.
His eye follows the hidden signs: the added slip uses the crest without matching the document’s custody, and its language commands delay rather than asserting ownership. Superstitious suspicion whispers of darker schemes, but the records give him firmer ground.
Veyra Stoneheart
It poses a real threat to timing and testimony, not proof of ownership. My clan can compare the seal and identify whether the instruction follows our formal practice. If false, it shows interference, and the crown should be warned before the rival claimant arrives.
Veyra points out the private wording and the absence of a proper authorizing mark. Rosso confirms the Coalways gave no such order, while the dwarf smith keeps the tampered copy beside the custody record.
Veyra Stoneheart
It can delay Mara, confuse the hearing, and invite a rival to arrive first. It cannot lawfully take Vellstead from her. Preserve it, send it to King Gandien, and let my clan attest to the seal.
Quest Complete
Establish that the Coalway seal was unauthorized