Councilor Merrow
Clerk, prepare a public statement from every verified alteration and payment. Summon impartial witnesses before the first copy leaves this annex.
Councilor Merrow takes the head of the evidence table without touching Kynes’s recovered pages. Her silver brooch catches the blue wardlight as scribes gather around her.
The Clerk
I will separate what can be published immediately from names, routes, and testimony that could expose living witnesses to retaliation.
Pellis Marr
These payment marks lead to two Gray Glove agents and three council offices. The erased names belong to people who refused custody, not criminals.
Councilor Merrow
Then their names remain protected. We publish the method, the authorizations, and the money trail, while trusted witnesses confirm the hidden records privately.
The scribes begin drafting beneath the ward. Outside, bells carry through Daggerford, and word of the detained council threatens to outrun any careful statement.
Councilor Merrow
The first question is simple: how do we make the truth public without handing Hale’s allies a list of vulnerable people to punish?
✓ Quest Accepted
Publish a witnessed account of Hale’s corruption
✓ Quest Accepted
Protect the surviving witnesses from retaliation
“" excellent, do exactly that. " I say. " publish the method, authorizations and money trail protect the identities of vulnerable witnesses use trusted witnesses to privately verify the underlying evidence. That is what needs to be done."”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Kynes
Excellent, do exactly that. Publish the method, authorizations, and money trail. Protect vulnerable witnesses, and use trusted witnesses to privately verify the underlying evidence. That is what needs to be done.
Kynes’s instruction settles over the annex with quiet authority. Merrow nods, and the scribes divide the records into public findings, protected identities, and sealed testimony bundles.
Councilor Merrow
Agreed. The statement will name the altered method, every verified authorization, and the payment routes, while omitting names and routes that could invite retaliation.
The clerk marks each vulnerable witness with a plain blue seal rather than a name. Two impartial scribes compare the originals, while Pellis privately identifies the erased entries for Merrow.
Pellis Marr
I will verify the hidden records with witnesses who knew the crossings. Their identities remain sealed, but their confirmations will be preserved beside the evidence.
The Clerk
The public copy is ready for posting, and the private register is witnessed, cross-checked, and secured. Hale’s system can be exposed without exposing its victims.
Outside, Daggerford’s bells announce the first reading. Inside, Merrow seals the verified statement, and the truth enters the city without surrendering those who paid for it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Preserve the verified public account
Quest Complete
Protect the surviving witnesses from retaliation
“I walk over to pellis with Bren, " a moment pellis." I show him the signet and letter that we oraginally left with" Did you send this with this letter to Bren?" I ask”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +1)
Kynes
Pellis, a moment. Did you send this signet with this letter to Bren, the one we originally left with?
Kynes walks to Pellis with Bren and presents the signet and letter beneath the annex’s steady blue wardlight. Pellis studies both without touching them.
Pellis Marr
No. I did not send them to Bren, and I never entrusted that signet to a Gray Glove courier.
Pellis Marr
The letter was mine, but the signet was not with it when I hid the original records. Someone joined them afterward, intending Bren to believe the message came from me.
Bren leans closer, examining the seal’s edge while Merrow keeps the scribes working behind her. The blue ward catches a faint second impression beneath the wax.
Pellis Marr
That lower impression is newer. It was pressed over the old mark after the letter left my custody. Whoever altered it knew both our names and wanted the signet recognized.
“" so we have to still hunt this person down love." I tell Bren”
Kynes
So we still have to hunt this person down, love.
Bren
Yes, love. They know our names, Pellis’s letter, and the signet’s meaning. We cannot leave that hand free to shape another false message.
Bren studies the altered seal again, tracing its newer impression without touching the wax. Merrow orders the public copies set aside while the private evidence remains protected.
Pellis Marr
The forger needed access to my hidden records or to someone who handled them afterward. The lower impression may tell us where the signet was pressed.
Councilor Merrow
Then the hunt begins with evidence, not rumor. I will keep the statement secure while you identify the hand behind this alteration.
Under the blue ward, the second impression resolves into a faint pattern of crossed lines and a partial office mark. Pellis recognizes its shape before the ink fully settles.
Pellis Marr
That mark belongs to a records intermediary who worked between Daggerford and Blackwater Quay. If they still serve the Gray Glove, they will know where the signet went.
Quest Complete
Preserve the verified public account