Alduin's shadow sweeps over the frozen road again. In its wake, the second prisoner cart splinters sideways and overturns, spilling chains and bodies into the snow.
Its sealed manifest tears loose and skids to Azritha Stormborn's feet. The broken Imperial mark burns blue, identical to the brand on the first fragment.
The Imperial Captain
No one touches that manifest. Burn it, and seize the Dragonborn.
The Snowbound Scribe recoils from the seal. Through the overturned cart, a battered captive crawls free, one hand clutched around a length of broken chain.
The Wounded Survivor
Storm-Crowned. You are the Storm-Crowned one. They told us your coming would break the false seal.
The same mark is on both orders.
Alduin
Storm-Crowned, the hidden name wakes beneath the lie. Come forth, and hear what was written before these mortals forged their commands.
✓ Quest Accepted
Secure the manifest
“I snatch up the burning manifest before the captain can reach it.”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)
The captain lunges through the blowing snow, but Azritha Stormborn moves first. Her hand closes around the burning manifest.
The parchment scorches her palm through its frost-dampened edge. The pain is sharp and brief, but the manifest does not slip free.
The Imperial Captain
Drop it! That seal is Imperial property.
The blue fire gutters beneath Azritha Stormborn's grip. A second line appears under the forged seal, stamped in red ink: Military Dispatch, Solitude.
The Snowbound Scribe
Solitude's dispatch office. That is the channel, not the hand. Someone used its authority.
The captain stops short, sword half-drawn. Behind him, the wounded survivor drags the broken chain closer and points toward the manifest's lower margin.
The Wounded Survivor
There is more beneath the fold. Read it before he takes you alive.
Quest Complete
Secure the manifest
+ New Item Acquired
Burning manifest