Behind the jagged ridge, the mountain wind softens to a hush. Below, the oathbreaker patrol drifts farther along the road, their banners shrinking between stone and snow.
Ser Edrin Valcayne
This warrant is no idle scrap. It is a lawful hunt, dressed in Graystone words and sealed with claims enough to bind lesser magistrates.
Ser Edrin’s gloved fingers trace the sigils on his armor as if reading an old wound. Valerius watches the road, then lets out a slow breath he has been holding for days.
Valerius
So they have put ink on their fear. That is almost more honest than I expected from them.
Kaelith folds their hands around one knee, shoulders easing at last. Their gaze flicks to Lucas, then back to the open sky beyond the ridge.
Kaelith
We do not need to choose the hardest road the moment it appears. We can breathe first, then decide.
Lucas Broadleaf
"Wait. Let them pass."
The group settles into the cold stone, listening to boots fade into distance. For a brief, careful moment, the mountain simply holds them.
“I ask Ser Edrin about the warrant "adopted or not I am bound and shielded by margrave nobility if their conduct and justifications are not perfect then we may can turn the law right back on them."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +2)
Lucas Broadleaf
Ser Edrin, if that warrant is flawed, my adoption and the Graystone shield may matter. Can we turn their own law against them?
Ser Edrin Valcayne
Yes. A lawful hunt needs lawful bones. If their claims are imperfect, a margrave's ward carries weight, and a hostile warrant can be challenged.
Valerius
Not just challenged. Exposed. Bad ink, bad seals, wrong witnesses, all of it can be made to bite them in public.
Kaelith
Then we do not rush blind into their trap. We take the shape of their rules, and make them answer for every line.
The Dragon in Human Form
Hah. A mortal hunt that fears paperwork. I am almost fond of your province already.
Ser Edrin Valcayne
Your status is not a scrap of comfort, Lucas. It is a lever. If the oathbreakers overreach, their own legality becomes your shield.
Ser Edrin unfolds the warrant again, but now his finger pauses on a corner where the seal is uneven, as if he has found a hairline crack in a blade. The others lean in, the cold moment turning thoughtful instead of tense.
“I inspect the warrant's flawed seal”
SUCCESS (Legendary Lore, rolled +0)
Lucas pinches the warrant flat and traces the flaw with his eyes. The seal is not just uneven, it is mismatched, pressed over an older impression that never quite vanished.
Lucas Broadleaf
The seal was altered after the parchment was sworn.
Ser Edrin angles the page toward the light, and the crack in the wax catches gold along its edge. Beneath the public mark, a hidden counterstamp shows through, half-erased but still legible to a careful reader.
Ser Edrin Valcayne
There. That is the weakness. They layered authority over authority, and did not smooth the old one away.
Valerius
Which means they rushed it, or they had no right to place the second seal at all.
Kaelith leans closer, the tension in her shoulders easing into sharp, practical focus as the mountainside wind stirs her cloak.
The Dragon in Human Form
Ah. So the hunt is wearing a stolen face. I do enjoy a lie with paperwork attached.
Ser Edrin folds the warrant once, carefully now, as if it has become evidence instead of threat. Below them, the road stays empty, but the path ahead suddenly feels less like escape and more like a courtroom waiting to happen.
“"so now we have ammunition when we reach the court but we must still reach the court."”
SUCCESS (Great Agility, rolled +0)