Councilor Merrow leads the ledger-carrier into a quiet antechamber beside the provisional council hall. A young council aide stands outside as guard, with the door open and never barred.
Councilor Merrow
You may speak here before the formal ruling. We will record only the boundaries you set, and you may change them before testimony begins.
Ledger
I want my name absent from every public notice. I will identify the other refusals only in private, and only if doing so protects them rather than exposing them.
Bren
You decide what support feels safe. I can remain beside you, wait outside, or leave the room entirely. Nothing about my presence becomes an instruction.
Bren settles near the window, leaving the carrier a clear path to the open doorway. Beyond it, Serik inventories the copied slates while Danna watches the corridor and river-facing stairs.
Ledger
For travel, I want two escorts I can name, no magical marks, and a room I may leave. I will choose whether to remain in Daggerford after Merrow hears me.
Councilor Merrow
Those terms stand. Tell me what else must never happen, so the ruling protects your freedom instead of quietly narrowing it.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the ledger-carrier’s freedom after the council ruling
“I ask the carrier what final danger her ruling must prevent.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Kynes
What final danger must your ruling prevent? Name it plainly, so protection does not become another form of coercion.
The carrier studies the open doorway, then the blank space where her name would have stood. Councilor Merrow waits without reaching for her quill.
Ledger
It must prevent anyone from turning refusal into consent after I speak. No altered record, pressured witness, or official wording may make silence appear agreement.
Ledger
It must also prevent protection from becoming confinement. If I leave Daggerford, no escort, councilor, or investigator may claim that my safety gives them authority over me.
Councilor Merrow
Then the ruling will forbid both distortions. Your refusal remains yours, and any safeguard ends when you withdraw it or depart.
Ledger
And the other refusals must receive the same choice. Their names cannot be published, traded, or used to prove that Ashhand ever had a claim.
Councilor Merrow writes the boundaries exactly as spoken, leaving the document open for inspection. Bren remains by the window, while the council aide keeps the doorway clear.
Quest Complete
Secure the ledger-carrier’s freedom after the council ruling