The hall holds its breath after the sergeant’s confession. Kaelen keeps the hunt order raised, letting the seal’s authority hang over the room like a blade. The named officials stop retreating. They are listening now, and that is worse for them.
Bren
The exits matter more than the speeches.
A clerk in red ink stumbles backward toward the side corridor, but two guards bar his path. The crowd parts, not from obedience this time, but from fear of being seen beside the wrong people.
Kaelen
These names do not vanish into silence. You will answer for them, here.
Kynes
Then open the ledgers. Show who ordered the hunt.
Kaelen’s eyes flick to the officials, then to the sealed records box at the dais. Bren shifts half a step closer to Kynes, blade still sheathed, while the sergeant goes pale at the word ledgers. The conspiracy has stopped being rumor. It is about to become record.
✓ Quest Accepted
Open the records box and reveal who ordered the hunt
“Stride toward the dais and force the records box open with the Soul-Cutter.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Strength, rolled +1)
Kynes strides to the dais and brings the Soul-Cutter down on the sealed records box. The lock splits with a dry crack, and the lid jumps free under his hand.
Inside, bundles of tax slips and sealed warrants spill into view, bound together with red wax and magistrate cord. One paper bears the circled name from Kaelen’s document, plain enough for the whole hall to see.
Kaelen
There. The order trail. Clerk Vance's runner carried it into the hunt.
The Clerk In Red Ink
No, no, not in front of them.
The clerk in red ink flinches so hard he nearly drops his papers. The sergeant stares at the open box like it has just named him aloud.
The Sergeant
I never signed the summons. I just passed it on.
Kaelen reaches in, pinning the warrant flat with two fingers, and the hall’s anger turns sharp and focused. Kynes stands over the open box with the blade still smoking, no longer a rumor to the room, but the thing that cracks lies open.
Quest Complete
Open the records box and reveal who ordered the hunt
“I order the clerk in red ink seized”
SUCCESS (Good Intimidation, rolled +1)
Kynes points at the clerk in red ink, and the room obeys him before the words finish echoing.
Bren
Seize him.
Bren cuts across the dais, putting her body between the clerk and the side corridor. The fleeing clerk freezes, papers quivering in his hands.
The Clerk In Red Ink
You cannot, I am only the copyhand, I only filed what was given to me.
Kaelen snatches the red wax bundle from the box and holds it up like proof at trial. Several onlookers step back, then stare at Kynes instead of the clerk.
Kynes
He is shaking because the papers are real.
Two guards move in from the hall edge and clamp the clerk by the arms. The sergeant bows his head, suddenly looking less like authority and more like a man waiting to be named next.
Kaelen
Kynes has the hall's own records in hand. He is not the danger here, he is the instrument that brings it to light.
✓ Quest Accepted
Expose the hunt's author
“I put the tip of soul cutter near the clerk in red. " Have something to share, eh?" I ask calmly”
SUCCESS (Good Intimidation, rolled -1)
Kynes eases Soul-Cutter to the clerk’s throat, not pressing, just promising. The hall goes very still.
Kynes
Have something to share, eh?
The clerk’s jaw works. Red ink smears across his cuff as his captured hands tremble.
The Clerk In Red Ink
I copied the hunt order. I copied the names. I did not choose them.
Kaelen
Then name who did.
The clerk swallows hard, eyes darting past Kynes to the circle of witnesses, and the words spill out at last.
The Clerk In Red Ink
Clerk Vance. The river-side factor. The seal came through the magistrate’s private stack. I was told to make it look lawful.
A murmur runs through the hall. Kaelen lowers the red wax bundle toward the open box, as if setting a verdict in place.
Quest Complete
Expose the hunt's author