Brunna opens the barred records chamber and leads Artania inside. He keeps the genuine sign-register and stamped slips beneath his cloak, while Al follows close behind.
Maelin has arranged the copied pages beneath layered guild seals. Healer Odelia Marr watches Artania’s trembling arm instead of the documents, her healer’s attention missing nothing.
Brunna Coppervein
Set the register beside the copies, lad, but do not open another seal until Maelin confirms the room is clean.
Maelin compares the first entries against the copied pages, then stops at one stamped order. Its double-hook seal contains a hidden break in the inner ring.
Maelin Voss
This pattern is not ordinary office work. The broken ring matches the authorization mark from the Burning Pass, and it may identify Corvin Ash’s intended provocation.
Healer Odelia Marr
Your arm is worsening, Artania. Place the register down before numbness makes you drop it, and let me examine the binding.
Al
The room is guarded, small one, but the order carries a sharper danger than the others. Someone meant this seal to be recognized by the right eyes.
+ New Item Acquired
Stamped Slips
“I place all the evidence I am carrying on the table along next to the copied items. I tell Odelia not to worry and shake some of the numbness from my hand.”
SUCCESS (Good Agility, rolled +0)
Artania Nero Thornson
Do not worry, Odelia. I am setting everything down.
Artania places the Eastern Traffic sign-register and every stamped slip beside the copied pages. The evidence rests together beneath Maelin’s layered guild seals.
He releases the register, flexes his fingers, and shakes the numbness from his hand. The movement stirs a faint blue-white shimmer across his knuckles before it fades.
Healer Odelia Marr
I will worry less when that hand answers properly. Sit, please, and let me check whether the binding has held.
Maelin Voss
Good. The sign-register and slips are now under the same seal as their copies. We can compare them without risking separation.
Brunna Coppervein
That is a proper evidence table, lad. Nothing leaves this room until we know which orders bear Corvin Ash’s mark.
Al
The danger is gathered where trusted eyes can witness it, small one. Your hand still carries strain, but the proof is secure.
✓ Quest Accepted
Obtain Edran’s agreement to accompany the PC in exposing the conspiracy.
“I sit on the nearest chair, fall really. I blush at Odelia feeling embarrassed, hoping she will not point out how right she was.”
Artania reaches for the nearest chair, but his weakened arm and unsteady legs falter together. He drops into it awkwardly, catching himself against the seat instead of settling properly.
A flush spreads across his face as Healer Odelia Marr takes his wrist. The chair gives a small wooden creak, and the sealed evidence remains safely out of reach.
Healer Odelia Marr
There. Stay seated, please. Your binding held, but your strength has not returned as quickly as your courage suggests.
Healer Odelia Marr
You were right to sit, Artania. Though next time, let the chair receive you before your legs decide for you.
Brunna Coppervein
A chair is sturdier than pride, lad. Keep still while Odelia checks you.
Brunna hides a brief smile behind one hand, then returns her attention to the evidence table. Maelin continues comparing the broken-ring seal beneath the layered guild wards.
Maelin Voss
The register remains secure. No one needs to move until Odelia confirms your hand can safely bear further work.
“Alright after a brief rest I need to see Edran. If I can convince him to accompany me to see some contacts in the court of the crown, I may be able to prove this whole conspiracy. I like a good fight, and adventure as much as anyone, but I do not want to see people die by the thousands to satisfy the power fantasy of some, some, despot.”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +2)
After a brief rest, Odelia confirms that Artania’s hand can bear light work. He rises more steadily, leaving the sealed evidence beneath Maelin’s watch.
Healer Odelia Marr
No heavy spellwork, and no carrying that register. If your arm worsens, you return immediately.
Brunna leads Artania through the guarded passages to a side room. Edran Vey sits beneath the guild lamps, watched by two armed members, his expression wary but composed.
Artania Nero Thornson
I need to see contacts at the Crown’s court. Come with me, and help prove this conspiracy before Corvin’s power turns treaties into graves.
Edran Vey
You speak of the court as though its doors will open for a compromised office man. Yet if you have genuine contacts, my testimony and the register may reach someone Corvin cannot silence.
Edran studies Artania, then looks toward Brunna and the guarded corridor. His guarded posture loosens as the cost of refusal becomes clear.
Edran Vey
I will accompany you under guild protection. I will name Corvin Ash, explain the double-hook orders, and face the Crown’s court before more people die for his ambition.
Quest Complete
Obtain Edran’s agreement to accompany the PC in exposing the conspiracy.
✓ Quest Accepted
Assure Edran of potential help; rest
“Tell him of Tavian, Callan and Seren. The three that you helped out at the ambush in the pass.”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Artania Nero Thornson
At the Burning Pass, I helped Tavian Rusk, the true royal courier, escape captivity. Callan Vey carried the diplomatic gifts, and Seren Vale warned us of the ambush.
Edran listens without interruption. Brunna remains beside the door while the guarded members watch him, and the names settle into the quiet side room.
Edran Vey
Tavian Rusk survived? Then the forged route failed to erase its witness. And Callan Vey was the envoy carrying the gifts between kingdoms.
Edran Vey
Seren Vale’s warning explains how the truth reached the road before the Quiet Ledger could close every mouth. Their testimony could reinforce the register.
Brunna’s expression hardens as recognition passes through her. Maelin’s sealed copies wait in the records chamber, ready to join those names to the authenticated evidence.
Edran Vey
If they are safe, bring their accounts before the Crown with mine. Corvin can dispute a document, but three living witnesses make his pattern harder to bury.
“I apologize to Brunna for keeping those three from her. I know as a low ranked adventurer it is probably prudent to report to her, seeing as she is kind of like my boss, mentor, and friend.”
SUCCESS (Great Diplomacy, rolled -2)
Artania Nero Thornson
Brunna, I am sorry for keeping Tavian, Callan, and Seren’s names from you. As a low-ranked adventurer, I should have reported to you. You are my boss, mentor, and friend.
The apology leaves Artania’s strained arm throbbing beneath Odelia’s binding. He keeps his voice steady, but the effort makes his fingers tremble against his side.
Brunna Coppervein
You should have told me, lad. Not because rank makes you lesser, but because friends and guild partners do not carry dangerous truths alone.
Brunna Coppervein
Still, you brought the truth here, and you brought Edran under protection. I accept the apology, and I will stand with you before the Crown.
Edran Vey
Then my account joins theirs openly. Tavian’s survival, Callan’s mission, and Seren’s warning make the register harder for Corvin Ash to dismiss.
Healer Odelia Marr
And you will report the strain in that arm as honestly as you reported the evidence. Sit before your courage turns a manageable injury into a lasting one.
Brunna opens the side-room ledger and records the three witnesses beside Edran’s statement. In the records chamber, Maelin’s sealed copies wait for the names to be attached.
Quest Complete
Assure Edran of potential help; rest
Skill Upgrade: Diplomacy Great→Superb
“I return to my three guild mates. Asking if there is anything else that needs to be done tonight? My trembling arm is showing now, but I quickly hide it behind my back.”
FAILURE (Superb Diplomacy, rolled -4)
Artania returns to Brunna, Maelin, and Odelia in the side room. His bound arm trembles visibly, and he quickly tucks it behind his back.
Artania Nero Thornson
Is there anything else that needs to be done tonight?
Healer Odelia Marr
Yes. You need to stop concealing that arm and let me examine it properly.
The attempt at concealment fails when Artania’s fingers twitch against his coat. Odelia catches his wrist before he can shift away, while Brunna closes the ledger.
Brunna Coppervein
Tonight’s work is evidence, not heroics, lad. Maelin and I can finish the witness record without you standing over it.
Maelin Voss
The remaining task is to attach the witness accounts and authenticate the double-hook orders. Your useful contribution now is staying conscious.
Healer Odelia Marr
Sit. I am replacing the binding and keeping you from further spellwork until the shaking settles. That is not a request.
✓ Quest Accepted
Let Odelia properly treat Artania’s injured arm
“I sigh and sit. Realizing I had been holding my breath. I look at Odelia and ask if she will teach me a little as she works. I am an okay healer myself, but not at her level without my magic. Not even close.”
SUCCESS (Superb Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Artania Nero Thornson
I had been holding my breath.
Artania sighs and sits, allowing his shoulders to lower. Odelia guides his bound arm into the light and begins carefully loosening the old binding.
Artania Nero Thornson
Will you teach me a little as you work? I can heal well enough, but without magic I am nowhere near your level.
Healer Odelia Marr
Gladly. Healing begins with attention, not power. First, feel the warmth of the skin, the pulse beneath it, and where the swelling resists.
Odelia cleans the strained skin and demonstrates each motion slowly, naming the signs she reads in his hand. Her touch remains firm, patient, and precise.
Healer Odelia Marr
Your magic can close damage quickly, but it must not replace understanding. Support the body first, then lend power only where the body cannot mend alone.
Brunna Coppervein
That is a lesson worth keeping, lad. Maelin and I will finish the records while you learn how not to break yourself saving everyone else.
“I continue to listen to Odelia’s lesson, absently rubbing Al on the head.”
Artania continues listening, his attention following Healer Odelia Marr’s careful fingers as she examines the warmth, pulse, and lingering swelling in his hand.
His free hand drifts to Al’s head. The great wolf leans into the touch, remaining still while Healer Odelia Marr continues her demonstration.
Healer Odelia Marr
Good. Notice how the pulse changes beneath your fingers. A healer learns the body’s answers before asking magic to intervene.
Healer Odelia Marr guides Artania’s fingertips along the binding’s edge, showing where pressure supports the injured hand and where it would hinder circulation.
Al
Her lesson is sound, small one. The hand must be understood before it is commanded.
Healer Odelia Marr
Now breathe normally and keep the touch gentle. Healing is cooperation, Artania, not a contest between your will and the wound.
Al’s ears ease beneath Artania’s absent stroking. Across the room, Brunna Coppervein and Maelin Voss continue their quiet record work while Healer Odelia Marr patiently names each sign his hand gives.
“I feel like I rely too much on my magic power, I confess. When I am low on magic, my options feel limited. Once this conspiracy business is over, I need to train.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Willpower, rolled -1)
Artania Nero Thornson
I feel like I rely too much on my magic. When I am low on it, my options feel limited. Once this conspiracy is over, I need to train.
Odelia pauses with the fresh binding half-wrapped, giving the confession the same careful attention she gives his pulse. Al’s head remains beneath Artania’s free hand.
Healer Odelia Marr
That is an honest diagnosis. Magic should enlarge your choices, not become the only way you know how to act.
Brunna Coppervein
Then we will make room for training when Corvin’s orders are secured. Footwork, weapons, endurance, and judgment all belong in an adventurer’s kit.
Maelin Voss
I can mark a training plan beside the witness record. You already know the guild’s field, and we can build from the skills you trust least.
Odelia tightens the binding with measured pressure, leaving Artania’s fingers warm and mobile. Across the room, Maelin adds a clean note beneath the sealed evidence inventory.
Healer Odelia Marr
For now, learn this lesson too: rest is part of training. Preserve the strength you have, so you can choose how to spend it tomorrow.
Quest Complete
Let Odelia properly treat Artania’s injured arm
Skill Upgrade: Diplomacy Superb→Legendary