Verner stands beside the disturbed archive door as damp soil flakes from its threshold. Beyond it, sealed tablets lie scattered around a narrow passage, and containers bear Ashen Thorn’s mark beside copied magistrate seals.
Lethira Vaun
This is the court’s secondary filing pattern. Testimony was separated by witness, date, and destination, then hidden beneath false transfer records.
Lethira kneels without touching the tablets, tracing their arrangement with one ink-stained finger. The wayhouse keeper holds back near the passage mouth, guarding the chest of depositions.
Kynes
A ward was extinguished here recently. Not broken. Dismissed from within, as though someone possessing the proper authority passed deeper inside.
Kynes’s silver-white hair stirs in a current no one else can feel. Faint violet ash threads the stones, leading between the scattered tablets toward the darkness.
Erin
Then the riders found the records and left in haste. We should learn what they took before following their trail.
Lethira Vaun
If the marked containers remain sealed, the truth may still be whole. If they opened the central archive, the altered testimony could already be moving north.
“I follow the violet ash past the archive”
SUCCESS (Superb Perception, rolled +0)
Verner follows the violet ash past the archive, placing each boot between scattered tablets. The traces gather beneath a low stone lintel and descend into a hidden records chamber.
Inside, dustless shelves hold sealed bundles arranged by destination. One open coffer contains copied orders, travel dates, and a ledger bearing the same magistrate’s seal.
Lethira Vaun
That is the northern transfer register. The riders took names from here, not merely testimony. These entries can prove who authorized their movement.
Kynes crouches beside the violet trail, studying its fading grains. It ends at a stone table where a folded route-map rests beneath a weight of blackened wax.
Kynes
The ash came from the dismissed ward. It followed the hands that opened this chamber, then settled where they selected their route.
Lethira carefully lifts the map and reveals a marked destination beyond Hollow Cairn: a watchtower on the northern ridge, with two names written beside it.
Erin
Then we know where they carried the altered records. We secure these registers, protect the depositions, and pursue them before the tower changes hands.
✓ Quest Accepted
Reach the northern watchtower
“I lose my patience with all of these records and registers. I wish to fight! *Verner rushes towards the northern tower*”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Verner leaves the registers behind and rushes through Hollow Cairn, boots striking old stone as the northern passage opens toward the ridge. Erin snatches up the depositions while Lethira secures the ledger.
The Wayhouse Keeper
The tower is beyond the upper cleft! If the riders are there, they have the only defensible height for leagues.
Kynes follows without hesitation, cloak brushing the walls. Violet sparks gather around his hands as he guides the party through a concealed stair, bypassing the winding records tunnel.
Erin
I have the testimony. Go, Verner. I will keep Lethira and the keeper together, and bring the proof if the tower falls into chaos.
Verner climbs alone through the cleft, emerging beneath the northern tower as dusk gathers over the hills. Fresh hoofprints cut the mud, and lamplight moves behind the battlements.
Kynes
You reached it before they could change hands. The tower is yours to challenge, but do not mistake speed for surprise.
The tower door stands ahead, barred from within. Behind it, hurried voices and the scrape of crates announce the riders and their stolen records. Verner has reached the northern tower.
Quest Complete
Reach the northern watchtower