Veyra brings the palace copyist into a warded interview chamber beneath the Nohara refuge. The young woman’s torn blue coat is dry now, but ink still stains her fingers.
The masked clerk arranges the copied approval, seized packets, and recorded testimony across the stone table. Beside them rests a sealed family token recovered from the palace copyist’s belongings.
Veyra
No poison, no threats of pain. The token is enough. Let her understand that cooperation can keep her family’s name outside Corven’s ledger.
The Masked Clerk
The approval was altered after the private chain moved the vessel. Identify the hand that changed it, and I can preserve your account beside the original marks.
The palace copyist stares at the token’s wax seal, recognizing its crest. The chamber wards hum softly, preventing outside listening while leaving the door unbarred.
The Palace Copyist
My family is not part of this. Corven said the order was lawful, and Hadrik brought the borrowed seal. But someone else corrected the final lines.
The Palace Copyist
I saw the hand in the receiving office. Give me the token, and I will tell you whose fingers altered the palace order.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the palace copyist’s cooperation
✓ Quest Accepted
Identify the hand that altered the palace order
“"Clerk, give them the token." I say while making new poison sleeping bombs for gassing people.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +3)
Doku Nohara
Clerk, give them the token.
The masked clerk places the sealed family token into the palace copyist’s ink-stained hands. Her breath steadies as the warded chamber accepts the exchange.
At the adjoining worktable, Doku prepares fresh sleeping-poison bombs from measured compounds, sealing each charge in ceramic shells and recording its antidote beside the dose.
The Masked Clerk
The token is transferred and witnessed. Speak only what the marks support, and your account will stand beside the original order.
The Palace Copyist
It was Clerk-Marshal Odran who corrected the final lines. He used a black quill kept under the receiving desk, then returned the ledger before dawn.
Her testimony identifies the palace hand and reveals a hidden access point: a concealed compartment beneath the receiving desk, where Odran kept altered seals and correction ink.
The Palace Copyist
He said the winter manor’s papers must appear lawfully received. I can show you the desk, the compartment, and the ledger shelf.
Quest Complete
Secure the palace copyist’s cooperation
Skill Upgrade: Stealth Superb→Legendary
Quest Complete
Identify the hand that altered the palace order
+ New Item Acquired
Sleeping-Poison Bombs