The barred tower door shudders as crates scrape across stone within. Dusk sinks over the northern ridge, and lamplight cuts through arrow slits above Verner.
The Hooked-Blade Agent
The records are already moving. Turn back, and the court may yet forget your name.
A young adult man with a weathered watch cloak steps into view above the gate, broad through the shoulders, his hooked staff resting across the parapet. Beside him, a lean woman in a brown mantle raises a crossbow toward the stair.
The Hooked-Staff Rider
You carry Maelin’s order, but not her soldiers. Leave the tower, and the witness may survive the night.
The crossbow rider keeps her aim steady while the hooked staff taps once against the stone. Behind them, sealed bundles drag toward a second stair, their copied magistrate seals glinting in the lamplight.
The Crossbow Rider
The altered register will burn before judgment reaches this hill. That is the mercy your city offers its witnesses.
Far below, Erin, Lethira, and the wayhouse keeper remain beyond the cleft with the depositions. Kynes waits near the concealed stair, while the tower’s inner bar begins to lift.
“Kyines! Use your magic to send me up to the riders! I will handle the rest! *Verner implores Kyines*”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Verner
Kynes! Use your magic to send me up to the riders. I will handle the rest!
Kynes
You asked plainly, and the tower has heard enough threats. Stand ready.
Kynes raises both hands. Violet light folds beneath Verner’s boots, lifting him in a swift, silent arc to the parapet. He lands between the hooked-staff rider and the crossbow rider before either can loose a shot.
The Hooked-Staff Rider
You should not have reached us.
Verner’s silver-hilted rapier flashes free. The staff clatters away, the crossbow slips from the crossbow rider’s hands, and both riders retreat from the parapet with raised palms as the sealed bundles remain untouched.
The Crossbow Rider
Enough. The records are yours. Take them to Maelin, and the court’s false orders will die with our testimony.
Below, Erin, Lethira, and the wayhouse keeper reach the tower as Kynes seals the inner stair. The altered register, depositions, and riders are secured together, ending the northern pursuit beneath a clearing sky.
By lanternlight, the altered registers lay beside the depositions, their falsehoods pinned beneath the weight of truth.
Kynes
Waterdeep will hear every name.
Lethira Vaun
And this time, no seal or bought witness will silence them.
Verner
Then let the record stand. We are finished here.
The surrendered riders were bound, the crates secured, and the northern watchtower passed from conspiracy into custody.
By dawn, Verner and his companions carried the recovered records and sworn depositions toward Waterdeep, where the surviving conspirators would face judgment. The long pursuit ended not in fire or legend, but in evidence, testimony, and the quiet certainty that the truth had endured.