Arus pries deeper into the moth-eaten trunk, and the false bottom gives way. Beneath the sailor's gear lies a hidden compartment, dry as bone.
Inside rests a ledger stamped with the Baron's personal seal. The lantern light catches a neat list of dates, sums, and deliveries, each line naming John Carter.
The smuggler's mask cracks at once. Carter's so-called favors are paid like any clerk's errand, with the Baron himself setting the price.
Elizabeth Billings
John Carter has been feeding my father all along...
✓ Quest Accepted
Persuade Elizabeth to maintain silence regarding the discovery
“I will suggest to Elizabeth that John Carter is a known smuggler of contraband and trafficker of clandestine information by trade, and it only makes sense that he was in business with the Baron because it also explains how he came to know of the delivery of the sensitive intelligence documents in the first place, as well as perhaps the true nature of the thief/false courier working for the Baron. Either way, he has acted as if he is ready to end his arrangement with the Baron in exchange for a new patron: the Viscount. All the same, I decide to give Elizabeth the small knife as a tactical secret and tell her to keep it hidden if we need her to hold anyone at knifepoint with the element of surprise, or worse.”
SUCCESS (Good Intrigue, rolled +3)
Arus Gandon
A smuggler sells more than cargo, Elizabeth. Carter trades in secrets for a living, so the Baron’s ledger fits. It means he knew about the papers before we ever touched the quay, and that thief may have been his errand man, not mine.
Arus closes the ledger with care and slides it aside, then draws the small knife from his boot and turns it hilt-first toward her.
Arus Gandon
Keep this hidden. If we need surprise, you have it. If it comes to it, you can put a blade at a throat before anyone hears the warning.
Elizabeth Billings
He is not guessing. Carter has been working both sides, and Father has been paying for the leash.
Elizabeth Billings
Then Carter means to change masters, not end the game. The Viscount would be the next name on his list.
Elizabeth takes the knife and tucks it beneath her sleeve, her fingers steady now. With her other hand, she hooks the ledger closer and spots a folded receipt inside the cover, marked with the same hand that names Carter.
Elizabeth Billings
He has been bought twice, and he expects a third patron to reward him for betrayal.
Quest Complete
Persuade Elizabeth to maintain silence regarding the discovery
“I look more closely at the details of John's secret ledger while he is preparing the skiff, and debate the idea of confronting John about his loyalties before meeting the Viscount with Elizabeth. I will tell her to keep a lookout for John's return while I demonstrate a sailors trick and examine every subtle detail of the ledger that I can through my spyglass held backwards near a bright lantern, like an eighteenth century forensic scientist looking through a microscope to examine every potential information-revealing detail quickly while we have time.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Arus eases the ledger onto the table beside the lantern and tilts his spyglass backward. The glass blooms the page into sharp little islands of ink, magnifying the clerk’s cramped figures, wax marks, and copied names.
Arus Gandon
The entries match the missing crate papers, only tighter, older, and paid for in advance.
He drags the lens along the margin and catches a second hand under the first, a hurried correction where Carter’s name is struck through, then written again beside a fresh date.
Elizabeth Billings
What does it say there, Arus?
Elizabeth shifts in close, keeping watch toward the stair while Arus turns the page under the lantern glow. A folded receipt slips free and shows the seal of the Baron's estate, pressed again and again until the wax shines.
Elizabeth Billings
He was not merely carrying messages. He was keeping accounts.
At the bottom, a cargo note names the very clerk’s crate they found by the cooper’s shed, with payment routed through Carter’s hand and a delivery time set before the alarm at the quay.
Elizabeth Billings
He knew before we did. Keep the page hidden, Arus. If John returns, I want him to find nothing but our faces.
“I agree and carefully put the ledger back but take the folded receipt. Once we have put everything back in the chest and have put our disguises on, I will say, "Now then, let us go catch up with fate and hear her verdict on these questions..." And guide her down the stairs and through the tunnels to the beach where John Carter and his skiff awaits our departure to the Viscount's castle.”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled +0)