Orra Venn accompanies Mara through Baldur’s rain-darkened lanes, while Slaan and Nhal remain in Phandelver beyond the witnessed return sign. The river custodian stays with the sealed deposit.
The route ends above a bookbinder’s shop, where a cramped scriptorium smells of paste, wet wool, and old parchment. Shelves bow beneath estate ledgers and port testimonies.
Pell Arven, a middle-aged man with a narrow build, ink-stained fingers, thinning auburn hair, and a green clerk’s coat and an angular face marked by a small mole, looks up from a crowded desk.
Pell Arven
That comparison sign is older than the city’s current registry. I have seen its paired circles in inheritance disputes and protected depositions.
Orra places no hand on the chalk copy. Rain ticks against the shutters as Pell searches an index, his expression tightening beside a column of crossed-out references.
Pell Arven
One deposition was removed from the public shelves after its witness vanished. The removal was lawful on paper, but the reason remains sealed.
Pell Arven
The surviving index points toward a living connection to House Domini’s older legal history. I can show you the reference, but not decide what it means.
✓ Quest Accepted
Gain lawful access to the missing deposition
✓ Quest Accepted
Determine why the missing deposition was removed
“I ask Pell to show me the surviving index reference. And I ask Orra to help trace House Domini’s legal connection.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Mara
Show me the surviving index reference, Pell. Orra, help me trace House Domini’s legal connection.
Pell turns the crossed-out index toward Mara and weights its corners with sealing stones. Orra draws a second chalk circle beside the first, leaving room for refusal.
Pell Arven
Here. Shelf mark seven, under protected inheritances. The deposition was removed lawfully, but its surviving reference names a Domini emancipation compact.
Orra Venn
Then we trace the compact, not the vanished witness. House Domini appears as a former authority, while the document records release as the governing act.
Pell opens a narrow ledger and sets the index beside it. Inked cross-references lead from the deposition to a coastal registry, then to a sealed Phandelver attestation.
Orra Venn
This confirms the legal distinction: Domini’s claim was historical, not continuing. An heir’s witnessed release could end it without transferring ownership elsewhere.
Pell Arven
I will copy the surviving references for you. Orra can certify the chain, provided your testimony remains yours and no sealed bearer is identified.
“I ask Orra how to access the deposition lawfully, and I ask Pell to trace the coastal registry”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled +3)
Mara
Orra, how do I access the deposition lawfully? Pell, please trace the coastal registry.
Orra Venn
By public consultation, witnessed consent, and no opening of sealed matter. I will certify your request, while Pell follows only the surviving references.
Orra draws a third circle around witness and refusal, then signs the margin. Pell compares the ledger’s coastal marks, turning pages with careful, ink-stained fingers.
Pell Arven
The registry is in Yartar, under the Riverward Compact. Its copy cites a Phandelver attestation and confirms the emancipation compact was freely witnessed.
Orra Venn
The deposition may be consulted through its public abstract and lawful chain, not its sealed testimony. Your request now stands recorded and authorized.
Pell produces a certified route-sheet bearing the registry’s shelf mark, custodial seal, and names of permitted witnesses. No vanished bearer, sealed content, or claim crosses onto it.
Pell Arven
This copy is yours to carry. It also reveals the coastal registry maintains a duplicate attestation, so the original need not be disturbed.
+ New Item Acquired
Certified route-sheet
“I look at Pell with a blank look. " What does that pertain to this exactly?" I ask”
SUCCESS (Legendary Perception, rolled -2)
Mara
What does that pertain to this exactly?
Pell studies Mara’s blank expression, then taps the coastal shelf mark with one ink-stained finger. Rain whispers behind the shutters.
Pell Arven
The deposition’s public abstract names the emancipation compact, but its sealed testimony cannot be consulted here. Yartar’s duplicate attestation proves the compact’s chain without opening the protected account.
Orra Venn
In plain terms, the registry connects your release from House Domini to a lawful record independent of the vanished witness. It supports the history without identifying anyone concealed by the seal.
Pell draws the relevant entries into a fresh copy. As the coastal references transfer, the certified route-sheet’s blue custodial ink fades from one margin, consuming its single verification mark.
Pell Arven
That mark is spent. The copy remains accurate, but it will need Yartar’s custodian to renew its certification before another court accepts it.
Orra Venn
You now have the precise connection: the duplicate can verify emancipation and lawful release while leaving the sealed deposition, its witness, and every unclaimed identity untouched.
“" so I am still not bound to them ?" I ask”
Mara
So I am still not bound to them?
Pell’s finger leaves the coastal shelf mark. The copied references lie open between them, while rain darkens the shutters and the spent verification ink fades completely.
Orra Venn
No. The compact records your release from House Domini. It does not restore their authority, create a new claim, or bind you to the registry.
Pell Arven
The record connects your freedom to a witnessed legal act. It describes what ended, not an obligation that continues.
Orra taps the circles marked witness and refusal. The line between them remains open, with no third mark for ownership or service.
Orra Venn
Your testimony may confirm the history if you choose, but consultation, recognition, and lawful record do not make you someone’s property.
Pell Arven
The surviving references support emancipation without granting any hand authority over Mara.
“"the reason I ask is my teather was cut from house domini by a mage in a Domini vault. There was witness however huh?" I say exasperated”
SUCCESS (Legendary Persuasion, rolled +0)
Mara
The reason I ask is that I was bound to House Domini. A mage severed that tether in a Domini vault, and there was a witness to it, wasn't there?
Her exasperation settles over the scriptorium. Pell looks from Mara’s scars to the emancipation references, while Orra steadies the open ledger with two fingers.
Pell Arven
Yes. The surviving entry does not merely mention release. It records a Domini vault, a severing mage, and an independent witness to the act.
Orra Venn
That counts as witnessed emancipation. The witness confirms that the tether ended; neither the vault nor House Domini retains authority through the record.
Pell turns to a narrow notation beneath the compact. Fresh copying reveals a second legal reference, linking the vault event to the coastal registry without naming the protected witness.
Pell Arven
The mage’s intervention was recognized as lawful release, not transfer. The witness’s identity remains sealed, but the act itself is supported.
Orra Venn
So your freedom was witnessed, Mara. Recognition of that truth does not bind you again, and no surviving record can turn release into ownership.
“" Two questions, how do we Gain lawful access to the missing deposition? And how can we Determine why the missing deposition was removed? " I ask the both of them”
SUCCESS (Superb Reasoning, rolled -1)
Mara
How do we gain lawful access to the missing deposition, and how can we determine why it was removed?
Mara directs both questions to Orra and Pell. The ledger remains open between them, its emancipation references marked for consultation rather than ownership.
Orra Venn
We access its lawful public abstract, removal order, and custodial index. I will certify your consultation, while the sealed testimony itself remains protected from unauthorized opening.
Pell Arven
The removal docket is cross-filed with the coastal registry. I can retrieve the surviving order and compare its seals with Yartar's duplicate attestation.
Pell draws a registry slip from the shelf and places it beside the ledger. Its matching seal confirms the abstract and removal order belong to the same deposition.
Pell Arven
Here is the reason: the witness vanished after recognition was attempted. The deposition was removed to prevent identification, not to erase the emancipation or conceal wrongdoing.
Orra Venn
You now have lawful access to the surviving deposition record and its removal rationale. The sealed testimony remains closed, while your freedom and the severing act remain legally confirmed.
Quest Complete
Gain lawful access to the missing deposition
Attribute Upgrade: Reasoning Superb→Legendary
Quest Complete
Determine why the missing deposition was removed
Skill Upgrade: Thievery Mediocre→Fair