The lower storehouse settles into ordinary quiet. Kynes remains near the ledger, pale from the spell’s strain, while Bren watches the two sleeping travelers beside the crates.
Bren
They are secure, and the cord is holding. We can leave them here until they wake, unless the road gives us reason to move sooner.
Slaan searches one pack by lanternlight, finding dried food, loose coins, a road permit, and an empty message tube. She sets each item in a neat row.
Slaan
No hidden marks, no clever compartments. The permit names no employer, but it places them on the southern road three days ago.
Nhal checks the second traveler’s cloak and pockets, discovering a small brass token stamped with three ashes and a scrap naming the eastern approach.
Nhal
The token is ordinary brass. It may open a door, identify a courier, or simply prove payment. The Three Ashes wayhouse remains our clearest lead.
Bren
We should discuss Maelin’s packet before we travel. If it reaches the Crypt’s Benefactor before dawn, the choice may be taken from us.
+ New Item Acquired
Three Ashes token
+ New Item Acquired
Eastern approach scrap
“I walk up to nhal and pull her up and give her a hug. " I appreciate you" I walk up to Bren , kiss her forehead and hold her for a moment in a deep hug. " Thank you for loving us." I tell Bren as I touch my chest”
Kynes crosses the quiet storehouse and reaches for Nhal, drawing her gently to her feet before holding her in a firm, grateful embrace.
Kynes
I appreciate you.
Nhal
I know. And I appreciate that you say it plainly.
Nhal settles back beside the crates as Kynes turns to Bren. He kisses her forehead, then gathers her close, holding her for a long, quiet moment.
Kynes
Thank you for loving us.
Bren
You never needed to earn that from me. But I will keep choosing you, and all of us, every day.
Bren rests her hand over Kynes’s chest, meeting his gesture with steady warmth. Around them, the ledger, tokens, and sleeping travelers remain undisturbed as the storehouse holds their shared silence.
“I look to Slaan " I see you as one of my kids, and I appreciate you too"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Kynes
I see you as one of my kids, and I appreciate you too.
Slaan goes still beside the lantern, the easy sharpness leaving her expression. For once, she seems to search for an answer rather than a clever reply.
Slaan
One of your kids? That is an alarming amount of responsibility to place on someone with my habits.
Her mouth quirks, but her voice softens. She lowers the brass token she has been examining and meets Kynes’s eyes across the quiet storehouse.
Slaan
Still... I appreciate you saying it. I appreciate you, too, Kynes. More than I usually know how to express without setting something on fire.
Bren
That sounded almost sincere. We should mark the moment before Slaan denies it.
Slaan
I deny nothing. I am simply choosing not to make a spectacle of being cared for.
“" ok I wanted answers on the nose bleeds along with my others selfs." I say plainly. I explain my astral plane except and everything on what I learned.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -1)
Kynes
I wanted answers about the nosebleeds and my other selves. I explain the astral plane, the archivist’s guidance, and everything I learned.
Kynes speaks plainly, recounting the archivist’s distinction between iteration and reiteration, the reintegration of his past selves, and the scar’s role as an old anchor. Bren, Slaan, and Nhal listen without interrupting.
Kynes
The nosebleeds come from my body adjusting to restored continuity, worsened by casting. The memories are not damaging me, but pushing further tonight could cause confusion or loss of precision.
Kynes
My past selves returned as distinct records, not competing rulers. I remain myself, but I now understand those lives from within. The scar preserved continuity when memories were altered or carried away.
Kynes
Ilyr Domini first interrupted and preserved my pattern before the Crown Wars. Rell and Halven concealed it afterward, protecting it from those who wanted to use my memories, name, and bloodline.
Kynes
Bren was not made to control me. She witnessed the earliest preserved change, and her choices helped reconnect my interrupted history. The Gray Glove must be judged by actions, not colors.
Slaan
That is a considerable amount of truth to bring back from one conversation. At least the nosebleeds have an explanation, and your history has fewer missing pages now.
“"Me and bren's history has about 2000 years worth of pages. Give or take a few centuries" i look over at bren and tease .." you look amazing for that age love"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +2)
Kynes
Me and Bren's history has about two thousand years of pages, give or take a few centuries. You look amazing for that age, love.
Bren blinks, then slowly lowers the cloth from Kynes’s nose. The storehouse remains quiet, but Slaan’s expression brightens with immediate interest.
Bren
Two thousand years, and that is the compliment you choose? Still, I will admit you delivered it with admirable confidence.
Slaan
A daring strategy. When faced with an ancient history, flatter the witness and hope she forgets to correct your arithmetic.
Bren turns toward Kynes, amusement softening her tired features. She brushes a loose strand of white hair from his face, careful not to disturb the cloth beneath his nose.
Bren
For the record, love, I look this good because I have survived every century with excellent judgment and very selective memory.
Nhal
That explanation is more persuasive than most records we have uncovered. I recommend preserving it exactly as spoken.
“I lead us toward the Three Ashes wayhouse”
SUCCESS (Good Survival, rolled +2)
Kynes gathers the party and leads them from the storehouse, leaving the bound travelers secured for their eventual waking. The buried streets give way to the southern road.
Bren
The road is clear, and the old route marks agree with the brass token. Keep the pace steady, love.
They travel beneath a paling sky, following ash trees and weathered mile stones. No watchers appear, and the party preserves its quiet cover as ordinary northbound travelers.
Slaan
There. Three ash trees together, exactly as the scrap described. The wayhouse should be beyond that rise.
Beyond the rise stands the Three Ashes wayhouse, a low stone building beside a cold firepit. Shuttered windows and fresh cart ruts show recent use.
Nhal
The place is occupied, but no one waits outside. Odran Pell may still be inside with Maelin’s sealed packet.
Bren
We have arrived. We can observe the entrance, speak as travelers, or search for the eastern approach before anyone notices us.
“I circle around and inspect the eastern approach" nhal and Slaan take the other door, befuddle anyone who goes to leave”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled -2)
Kynes circles the wayhouse through frost-stiff grass, keeping below the rise. Bren remains near the front while Nhal and Slaan slip toward the side door.
At the eastern wall, Kynes finds a narrow approach between the building and an ash tree. Fresh bootprints lead to a low, concealed cellar hatch.
Kynes
The hatch has been opened recently, and the tracks belong to more than one person.
Slaan
Anyone leaving through this door will forget why they came outside. Nhal, watch the latch.
Nhal
Understood. No one leaves unnoticed.
Kynes lifts the hatch and confirms a short stair descending into the eastern approach. The hinge gives a sharp creak, and voices stir inside the wayhouse.
Slaan’s quiet befuddlement settles over the side door as a shadow crosses its threshold. The figure pauses, blinks, and turns back, while Kynes studies the passage below.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Odran Pell’s cooperation
“I descend quietly and find Odran Pell before the voices reach us.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled +0)
Kynes descends the narrow stair without disturbing the creaking hatch above. The cellar passage is cold, earthen, and crowded with the smell of ash, ink, and damp wool.
Kynes
The voices are still above me.
He follows the freshest bootprints past stacked firewood and a shuttered coal chute. At the passage’s end, a thin line of lamplight marks a half-open door.
Inside, a gray-haired clerk crouches over a travel chest, sorting sealed papers into bundles. His road permit and three-ashes token rest beside an unfinished report.
Odran Pell
You are early. Maelin said no one would reach the eastern approach before sunrise.
Odran looks up and freezes, recognizing the white hair and red eyes. Above, the party remains silent while muffled voices shift beyond the wayhouse walls.
Odran Pell
If you came for the packet, it is here. If you came for my confession, close the door first.
“" who else is here" I ask as I close the door”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled +0)
Kynes
Who else is here?
Kynes closes the cellar door, leaving the clerk and travel chest within the lamplight. The muffled voices above become distant behind the wood.
Odran Pell
Maelin’s two couriers are upstairs, along with the wayhouse keeper. The couriers arrived before dawn and have been waiting for her signal.
Odran lowers his voice and gathers the unfinished report against his chest. No footsteps descend the cellar stair, though someone shifts furniture above.
Odran Pell
There is no patron here yet. Maelin is expected from the eastern road, but she sent the couriers ahead to secure the packet.
He glances toward the sealed bundles, then back to Kynes. The room contains only the two of them, the chest, and the records awaiting transfer.
Odran Pell
If you mean to question me, do it quietly. The keeper believes I am checking inventory, and I would prefer that belief to survive.
“" fine, make it quick, why the forgeries?" I ask”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +2)
Kynes
Fine. Make it quick. Why the forgeries?
Odran Pell
Because Maelin paid for reports that redirected every investigator away from her routes. I copied those orders, then altered the sightings to keep people from being sent into traps.
Odran sets the unfinished report on the chest. Above, a chair scrapes across the floor, but no one descends. The cellar remains quiet enough for his confession.
Odran Pell
At first, I did it for coin. Later, I learned the Gray Glove used the false trails to pressure witnesses and move people who had nowhere safe to go.
Odran Pell
Your reports were different. Maelin wanted you found alive, so I changed the route twice and marked the safest roads instead. It was the only help I could offer without exposing myself.
He opens the travel chest and reveals a packet of copied reports, each bearing small corrections in charcoal. The changes consistently turn pursuers away from civilians and toward empty roads.
Odran Pell
The packet contains Maelin’s original instructions. Read them, and you will know who she serves, what she fears, and why your name matters to her.
Quest Complete
Secure Odran Pell’s cooperation
Skill Upgrade: Intimidation Great→Superb
“"why does she want me?" I ask”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Kynes
Why does she want me?
Odran Pell
Because Maelin believes you are the missing witness named in an old custody record. She thinks your memories can identify who hid it and where it was sealed.
Odran taps the packet with one careful finger. The cellar remains still, while footsteps above pause near the trapdoor and then move away.
Odran Pell
She also believes your bloodline gives you authority over the record. Not ownership, exactly, but the right to make its testimony valid.
Odran Pell
That is why she wants you alive. She needs your recognition, your memories, and your cooperation before anyone else reaches the sealed witness.
He opens the packet to a marked page. Beside Kynes's name, Maelin has written a single instruction: bring him willingly if possible, and preserve the witness until he remembers.
Odran Pell
She fears the record will expose who has been directing the Gray Glove. Your name is not the answer, Kynes. It is the key to asking the right question.
“" uh huh, you should ask an architect on how well using me usually works out." I say now " is that the packet,?"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled -1)
Kynes
Uh huh. You should ask an architect how well using me usually works out. Is that the packet?
Odran studies Kynes for a moment, then gives a tired, humorless nod. He draws the sealed packet fully from the chest and places it between them.
Odran Pell
It is. Maelin’s packet, sealed with her personal cipher and written in her own hand. No copy, no decoy.
The packet is narrow and oil-wrapped, its black cord tied around a wax seal marked by three hooked strokes and a split circle.
Odran Pell
She sent it to the Crypt’s Benefactor. I intercepted it before the courier could leave, then hid it here with the reports.
Odran Pell
If you open it, you will see Maelin’s instructions plainly. She names the witness, the handoff, and the person she believes can make the old record speak.
Above, floorboards creak once and settle. Odran keeps his hands visible beside the chest while the packet rests within Kynes’s reach, its wax unbroken.
“I take Maelin’s packet and open it”
SUCCESS (Legendary Agility, rolled -1)
Kynes takes the oil-wrapped packet from the chest and breaks Maelin’s wax seal. The black cord falls loose as folded pages slide into the lamplight.
The first page bears Maelin’s hooked cipher and a clear instruction: deliver the living witness to the Crypt’s Benefactor before sunrise, under a claim of voluntary testimony.
Odran Pell
There. That is her hand. She calls the witness a necessary key, but the wording makes one thing plain: she expects you to be used, not heard.
A second page lists the sealed record’s location beneath Warlock’s Crypt and names three former custodians. Two names are crossed out. The third is Ilyr Domini.
Odran Pell
I never understood that name’s importance. Maelin did. She wrote that the record cannot be opened by blood alone, only by someone who remembers being divided.
The final page gives the handoff place at the collapsed watch post and a warning in darker ink: if Kynes refuses, the Benefactor is authorized to take the witness by force.
Odran Pell
Now you know why I hid it. Maelin is not merely searching for you. She is delivering you to someone who believes your past belongs to them.
Quest Complete
Recover Maelin’s packet
Skill Upgrade: Survival Good→Great
+ New Item Acquired
Maelin's packet
“"Ilyr Domini, there the benefactor eh?" I ask”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +1)
Kynes
Ilyr Domini, there the Benefactor, eh?
Odran’s eyes drop to the page, then lift again. His answer comes without hesitation, stripped of the evasions that filled his earlier reports.
Odran Pell
No. Ilyr Domini is the oldest custodian named here, not the Benefactor. He preserved the record long ago and is not the hand issuing these orders.
Odran turns the final page toward Kynes. Beneath Maelin’s cipher, a later annotation identifies the Benefactor only by a sign: a black key over three ash marks.
Odran Pell
Maelin never writes the Benefactor’s name. She calls them the inheritor of Ilyr’s custody, but that may be title, deception, or both.
Odran Pell
The orders say the Benefactor can validate the sealed record. That authority comes from Ilyr’s preserved chain, not from Ilyr himself.
Above, muted footsteps cross the wayhouse floor. Odran closes his hand over the packet’s edge, keeping the pages in the lamplight while the answer settles between them.
“" well I know helvan and rell aren't it, their deadish?" I pause " well their a chew toy in the demon web pits"”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Kynes
I know Halven and Rell are dead, or deadish. They are a chew toy in the demon web pits.
Kynes pauses with the packet open between them. Above, footsteps pass across the wayhouse, while Odran studies his face for any sign that the statement is metaphor.
Odran Pell
Then the record’s two crossed-out custodians are truly gone. I will not ask how you know, but that removes their authority from the chain.
Odran turns the page and taps the black-key sign beneath Maelin’s cipher. The ink is older than the annotation, but the newer hand names no living custodian.
Odran Pell
If Halven and Rell cannot be the Benefactor, the inheritor is someone who received Ilyr’s custody without being recorded as a successor.
Odran Pell
That leaves the Crypt’s Benefactor with borrowed authority. They may validate the record, but they cannot claim the dead custodians’ names as proof.
A floorboard creaks overhead. Odran folds the final page back into the packet, keeping the black-key sign visible as the quiet cellar waits for Kynes’s next question.
“I give a 2 whistle signal for slaan, nhal and Bren to neutralize everyone else in the wayhouse”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled +3)
Kynes gives two sharp whistles through the cellar door. The signal threads up the stair and across the wayhouse, quiet enough to resemble a night bird.
Bren moves first. Upstairs, chairs scrape once, then the keeper and both gray-gloved couriers slump safely into silence as she disables them with practiced precision.
Slaan
Efficient signal. I do hope someone remembered to leave one person conscious for questions.
Slaan slips through the side entrance and secures the room, while Nhal checks each fallen traveler and confirms steady breathing. No alarm reaches the road.
Nhal
Everyone in the wayhouse is neutralized. The keeper carries a ring of keys, and one opens a locked office behind the hearth.
Bren descends into the cellar, closing the trapdoor behind her. Above, the wayhouse is still, its occupants disarmed and unable to interfere while the packet remains safe.
Bren
The route is clear, love. We have the building, the packet, and an office that may hold Maelin’s recent records.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure Maelin’s recent records
“I put Marlins documents into my pocket dimension”
Kynes gathers Maelin’s documents from the cellar chest and draws them into his pocket dimension. The papers vanish cleanly, leaving the packet’s empty oil wrapping in his hand.
Bren
Good. Her records are safe from anyone searching the office, and we can decide what to reveal without carrying the evidence openly.
Odran watches the documents disappear, then lowers his gaze to the bare chest. Above, the wayhouse remains quiet, its keeper and couriers still safely unconscious.
Odran Pell
Then Maelin’s written orders cannot be seized from you. The office may still show where she kept copies, if she trusted this place enough to leave them.
Slaan
The locked office is behind the hearth. We should search it before the sleepers wake, but leave the room looking undisturbed.
Nhal lifts the brass key ring from the keeper’s belt and tests each key by touch. One bears the same three-ashes stamp as the token found in the travelers’ pack.
Nhal
This key matches the token’s mark. The office lock is likely part of the same handoff, and it may hold Maelin’s copies or Odran’s earlier reports.
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine whether Maelin left additional records
Quest Complete
Secure Maelin’s recent records
“" you and Slaan go cheak" I tell nhal. I turn to Bren " seems like Ilyr Domini is apart of this mess. Im guessing he doesn't like me taking his toys away."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Kynes
You and Slaan go check.
Nhal takes the stamped key ring, and Slaan follows her upstairs toward the locked office. Their steps remain quiet, leaving Kynes, Bren, and Odran below.
Nhal
We will search carefully and leave the room as we found it.
Slaan
If Maelin left copies, we will find them. If Odran kept anything inconvenient, we will find that too.
Kynes
It seems like Ilyr Domini is a part of this mess. I am guessing he does not like me taking his toys away.
Bren
If Ilyr still has influence through the record, he may not appreciate it. But the people using his custody are the immediate danger, not his wounded pride.
Above, the stamped key turns cleanly in the office lock. The door opens onto shelves of ledgers, a writing desk, and a shallow drawer bearing Maelin’s three-hook cipher, while Nhal and Slaan begin their search.