The private council room has been cleared for Crown auditors and clerks. Sealed shipping papers, warehouse inventories, and lawful trade ledgers cover the long table beneath the household seal.
The Viscount places Arrus visibly beside Elizabeth, Mara, and Master Harrow, while Crown Auditors, adult human men and women in dark wool coats with pale collars and neat, practical hairstyles, arrange their warrants and Crown Clerks, young adult human men and women in muted brown waistcoats and shirts, with closely kept hair and ink-stained fingers, sort the papers into exact stacks.
The Viscount
This inspection concerns credibility, not a reopening of settled household matters. Every seized article, honest contract, and intelligence report must remain distinct and traceable.
Crown Auditors
Then we will begin with the warehouse receipts. Which goods entered Crown custody, which remained commercial property, and who authorized each transfer?
Master Harrow
The Quietus Exchange records each purchase separately. Seized goods carry custody marks; lawful stock bears merchant invoices, witnessed delivery, and no intelligence notation.
Mara Trevithick
My wagon accounts show provisions only. If a report traveled with a consignment, it was sealed apart and delivered through an authorized channel, never hidden among trade goods.
Elizabeth Billings
You may question every column and signature. The operation stands or falls on open distinctions, and no one here should ask the auditors to trust what the papers can prove.
✓ Quest Accepted
Pass the Crown audit with the Quietus Exchange’s lawful standing intact
“I will summon Silas Wren and his two senior bookkeepers with him to the council room operating as the audit's headquarters, and introduce them to the Crown's chief auditor, and suggest that if they have any questions that need clearing up, the most reliable accounting team in the entire kingdom was now standing before them, ready to render aid. I will stay nearby and supervise the audit silently for signs of danger to the secret nature of the Quietus Exchange's true purpose, and waiting to pounce on any such fleeting moment that may make itself available in order to intercede in the auditor's procedures only long enough to recommend or advise against certain storehouses being of extreme difficulty or complication in their complete inventory search of all invoiced cargo, when a reasonable number of assurances to the Crown's chief auditor may agree when it best to save the Crown's investigation some risky searches of sites already listed to contain previously confiscated contraband...”
SUCCESS (Legendary Intrigue, rolled -1)
Arrus summons Silas Wren, Matthew Cole, and Edmund Pike, a young adult man with a lean build, freckled skin, a narrow face, sandy hair, and a brown waistcoat over a cream shirt into the council room. The three bookkeepers arrive with ledgers beneath their arms, composed and ready, while the Crown Auditors and Crown Clerks pause over their sorted papers.
Arrus Gandon
My lord, allow me to present the Quietus Exchange's senior accounting team. Chief Auditor, if any question requires clearing, the most reliable accounting team in the kingdom now stands ready to render aid.
Crown Auditor 1
Then we shall put that reputation to useful work. Master Wren, begin with the custody marks; Masters Cole and Pike, reconcile the delivery witnesses against the warehouse invoices.
Silas, Matthew, and Edmund separate the stacks without disturbing the audit’s chain of custody. Their answers are exact, their references immediate, and the Crown Clerks soon follow their method rather than merely copying it.
Arrus Gandon
The chief auditor trusts demonstrated order. A careful warning can spare the Crown a dangerous search without revealing why certain storehouses are complicated.
Arrus Gandon
Chief Auditor, several storehouses contain previously confiscated contraband among complicated invoiced cargo. Their inventories are difficult and potentially hazardous. If the Crown wishes to conserve men and time, I recommend beginning with the fully witnessed consignments and leaving those sites to a later warrant review.
Crown Auditor 1
A reasonable recommendation, supported by the custody records. We will record those sites for formal follow-up and proceed first where the invoices and witnesses offer the clearest account.
“I will pull Mr. Edmund Pike aside and describe how he is to take up the chief auditor's team's attention for a few moments while I pull Silas Wren aside far enough not to overheard as I explain to him his one secret instruction, to place a note in the records of Quietus Exchange's deed and ownership records for the storehouse that contains John Carter's consolidated contraband that it contains a majority of ammunition black powder kegs and bagged shot carefully stored on behalf of a contract to support the local 25th Foot Regiment of redcoats, and a hazard to search by a careless young inspector pushing into every storehouse without a company storage-master as a guide, and goes blundering that building swinging a lit torch mere moments before realizing that he had sealed every man's fate withing the nearby dockyard to an inferno, including his own in his last moments. I tell Silas that the note ought to instruct the reader to contact Viscount Falmouth's offices at Pendennis Castle.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Deception, rolled +2)
Arrus draws Edmund Pike aside near the ledger stacks, leaving the chief auditor within easy earshot. Silas Wren remains bent over the Quietus Exchange records, waiting for his instruction.
Arrus Gandon
Edmund, occupy the chief auditor for a few moments. Ask him to reconcile the warehouse witnesses against the custody marks, and keep his attention on the difficulty rather than the surrounding shelves.
Edmund Pike
At once, sir. I shall make the reconciliation seem both urgent and impossible to complete without his personal attention.
Pike approaches the auditor with two conflicting invoices. Their quiet dispute draws the official toward the far table, while Arrus leads Wren beyond the clerks’ immediate hearing.
Arrus Gandon
Silas, place a note in the Exchange’s deed and ownership records for Carter’s storehouse. State that it holds ammunition, black-powder kegs, and bagged shot under contract for the local 25th Foot, making careless inspection hazardous without a company storage-master.
Arrus Gandon
Describe a reckless young inspector entering with a lit torch, realizing too late that he has sealed the dockyard’s fate, and direct the reader to contact the Viscount’s offices at Pendennis Castle.
Silas Wren
Understood. I will borrow paper from the records room, enter the warning in the ownership file, and return the deed to its stack before the auditors finish their comparison.
Wren obtains a fresh sheet, writes the warning in sober commercial language, and places it among the deed and ownership records. Pike keeps the auditor occupied, and the false hazard now rests where a future inspector will find it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect Carter’s cover during the Crown audit
− Scene Quest Removed
Pass the Crown audit with the Quietus Exchange’s lawful standing intact
“I will commend the collective team working effort of the Crown's representatives alongside the Exchange's own workers being audited, and I will announce that the workers will all enjoy fine coffee beverages and fresh sweet pastries at the expense of the Quietus Exchange's accounts to lift everyone's spirit, as well as their productivity long into the hours... Then I will pre-pay a local bakery to keep delivering doughnuts and pastries along with fresh hot coffee to the audit's headquarters for the next several days until the audit concludes and to bill the offices of The Quietus Exchange for the costs of the refreshments. From there I will leave to meet John Carter and discuss the discreet concerns he is certainly monitoring until the audit is declared completed. I will reassure him that things are going well overall, and to be patient.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Intrigue, rolled -1)
Arrus Gandon
Your collective work is exemplary. The Crown’s representatives and the Quietus Exchange’s workers will enjoy fine coffee and fresh sweet pastries at the Exchange’s expense, to sustain your spirits and productivity.
The commendation settles warmly over the council room. Arrus pre-pays a local bakery for several days of hot coffee, doughnuts, and pastries, with every delivery charged plainly to the Exchange’s accounts.
Crown Auditor 1
A generous arrangement, Master Gandon. We shall keep our attention sharp, and our records equally exact.
Clerks carry the first trays among the ledgers, while the auditors return to their comparisons with renewed patience. Arrus leaves the headquarters once the bakery’s standing orders are secured.
He finds John Carter at a discreet riverside counting room, where the older smuggler watches the road through a half-shuttered window. Carter turns as Arrus enters.
Arrus Gandon
Things are going well overall, John. The audit is orderly, the workers are steady, and the Exchange is carrying the cost. Be patient while the Crown finishes its examination.
John Carter
Patience I can manage, Arus. If the books remain clean and the Crown remains occupied, our quiet concerns can wait a little longer.
Carter accepts the reassurance with a grave nod. Outside, bakery boys begin their first route toward the audit headquarters, carrying warmth and ordinary commerce into the long inspection.