The Hall of Welcome settles into a rare hush. The floor beneath Kynes gives a slow, steady thrum, like a sleeping giant breathing in its dreams. Bren sits close by, shoulders easing for the first time in days.
A sharp knocking breaks the quiet. At the door stands a nervous clerk from the reeve's office, papers clutched to his chest, eyes fixed on Kynes as if expecting him to vanish into the boards.
The Clerk
Master of the road, I, I need help. The town's property lines are shifting again, and the office cannot make sense of it.
Bren leans back in her chair and folds her arms, watching the clerk with a guarded calm. The hall feels warm around them now, the old pressure gone from the beams.
Kynes
Kynes gives the clerk a steady look, then gestures him inside.
Bren
Let him breathe first. If the lines are moving, we should hear the story before the paperwork.
The clerk swallows, steps over the threshold, and sets the stack of papers on the table with great care. For a moment, the only sound is the fire, the floor, and the rustle of records waiting to be read.
✓ Quest Accepted
Keep Kynes's authority over the town concealed
“" let's do a small reset..Master of the road..since......" I ask the clerk and let since kind of hang in silence until he answers”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Kynes lets the silence sit long enough to feel deliberate. He tilts his chin toward the table, calm as stone, and the clerk finally exhales and looks down at the papers instead of at Kynes.
Kynes
Since...?
The Clerk
Since the markers keep disagreeing with the ground. A line shifts on the ledger, then a fence line shifts with it. We cannot tell which record is lying.
Bren's mouth twitches at that, half amusement and half warning. The clerk hears the room holding its breath and presses on before doubt can swallow him.
The Clerk
The office says the district hall owns one strip of river land. The survey stones say another. Last week, both were true. Today, neither is.
The Clerk
And... there is something else. The seal on the old transfer copies feels warm when the lines drift. Like it wants to be read again.
Kynes keeps his face unreadable while the clerk talks. The room stays quiet, but the steady thrum under the boards seems to answer the mention of the seal, patient and watchful.
Quest Complete
Keep Kynes's authority over the town concealed