The young woman breathes steadily beneath the healer’s watch. The elderly man’s crushed foot is splinted and stabilized, while the child remains safely unconscious under a clean blanket.
The youngest guild runner returns with two senior ward officials, a middle-aged woman in a blue mantle and an older, broad-shouldered man carrying a ring of ward seals, followed by four attendants.
The Senior Ward Woman
Mark this courtyard as a medical station. Keep the passage clear, guide residents through in small groups, and send the injured toward the healers.
Attendants raise blue cords, hang a healing pennant, and begin directing displaced families through the cleared route. The ward officials receive the healers’ account and assume command without disturbing the patients.
Brunna Coppervein
The handover is sound, lad. The people are safe, the healers have control, and the authorities know what lies beneath the street.
Al
No one here needs our teeth or steel, small one. We can leave this place to careful hands.
Brunna and Al remain beside Artania until the officials confirm the courtyard’s protection. Then a guild attendant approaches with a folded message bearing Maelin’s seal, waiting quietly for his attention.
“Thank you, I take it and read it.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -3)
Artania Nero Thornson
Thank you.
Artania accepts the folded message and breaks Maelin’s seal. The paper is warm from a fresh ward, and its faint blue ink shifts into clear writing beneath his gaze.
Maelin’s note confirms the guild has recorded the evacuation, credited Artania’s aid, and assigned the eastern ward to the senior officials. He is not required to investigate the opening.
Maelin Voss
You have done enough for today. Leave the buried disturbance to the ward authorities, return when you are ready, and let your hand remain healed.
As Artania finishes reading, the warded ink flares and the paper’s edge singes his fingertips. The message remains legible, but the guild seal is consumed and cannot be reused.
The Guild Attendant
Maelin asked me to say that the courtyard is secure. You may return to the guild, rest with your companions, or remain only if the officials request it.
Beyond the blue cords, healers continue their work and families pass safely through the cleared route. The capital’s silver glow fades behind the rooftops, leaving Artania with the message’s quiet permission to step away.
Return to the guild
“I read Maelin’s sealed message”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +0)
Artania reads Maelin’s warded message from beginning to end. The blue ink confirms the evacuation is recorded, his aid credited, and the eastern ward placed under senior officials’ command.
The note states plainly that he is not required to investigate what opened beneath the capital. Its final lines grant him permission to return to the guild, rest, or remain only if requested.
Artania Nero Thornson
The guild has taken responsibility for the disturbance.
The Guild Attendant
Maelin wanted you to have the whole message, Silver Adventurer. The courtyard is secure, and no further duty has been assigned to you.
The warded paper grows cool in Artania’s hand. Beyond the blue cords, healers continue treating the injured while families pass safely through the cleared route.
Brunna Coppervein
You have done enough here, lad. Come back with us when you are ready, and let the officials handle what lies below.
Artania Nero Thornson leaves Eastern Ward behind and arrives at Adventurers’ Guild.
“Alright, Brunna lead the way home. I stop. Raising my hand to my mouth. Home I had said. A single tear falling away. I now considered the guild to be home.”
SUCCESS (Superb Agility, rolled +1)
Brunna leads Artania through the guild’s familiar doors. Warm lamplight, polished wood, parchment, and stew-scented air gather around him as the busy hall welcomes them home.
Artania stops just inside, raising his hand to his mouth. A single tear slips free and falls, bright against the guild’s floorboards.
Brunna Coppervein
Home, lad. You said it, and no one here will make you take it back.
Brunna rests one steady hand against his shoulder. Nearby clerks—young adult human men and women with varied builds and hair, dressed in dark blue vests over cream shirts— glance up, then return soft smiles and quiet greetings, giving the moment room instead of spectacle.
Maelin Voss
Welcome back, Artania. I have marked your ward duty complete, your aid credited, and your evening entirely free.
Healer Odelia Marr
And before you attempt anything strenuous, you may sit, eat, and let that healed hand enjoy a peaceful night.
Al settles beside Artania’s leg, while the guild’s hearth crackles behind them. On Maelin’s desk, a fresh slate waits with a simple heading: Homecoming, Eastern Ward.
“Thanks you three. Would it be to much to ask a little business discussion, while we eat?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Artania Nero Thornson
Thanks, you three. Would it be too much to ask for a little business discussion while we eat?
Brunna guides Artania toward a long table near the hearth. Odelia brings a bowl of stew, Maelin gathers the fresh slate and ledger, and Al settles beneath the bench.
Brunna Coppervein
Not too much at all, lad. Food and practical talk are both better shared. We can start with your purse and the debts you have cleared.
Maelin Voss
Your odd jobs repaid Brunna and left you with a modest reserve. I can list current guild work, equipment costs, and likely silver-ranked earnings without committing you to an adventure.
Healer Odelia Marr
And I will listen while you eat, provided business does not become an excuse to skip the meal or strain that newly healed hand.
Maelin opens the ledger beside the steaming bowls. The page shows Artania’s settled accounts, his forge equipment, and several practical contracts waiting beneath the heading Homecoming.
Maelin Voss
Tell us what you want organized first, Artania: immediate income, travel expenses, equipment upkeep, or a careful look at future guild contracts.
✓ Quest Accepted
Review finances and organize inventory
“I eat my stew quickly, then begin to talk. Maelin what is my money situation currently? What do I have from odd jobs? That is my first step to being preparing to set out on more dangerous adventures.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -2)
Artania eats the stew quickly, finishing the bowl before its heat fully leaves. In his haste, a splash catches his wrist, leaving a small red burn beneath the table’s edge.
Artania Nero Thornson
Maelin, what is my money situation currently? What do I have from odd jobs? That is my first step toward preparing for more dangerous adventures.
Maelin Voss
Your accounts are settled. You repaid Brunna, owe Mistress Flint nothing, and have eighteen silver crowns remaining from the odd jobs.
Maelin turns the ledger toward Artania. Neat entries list the market awning, sealed parcels, runaway goat, and caravan supplies, each payment recorded beneath the guild seal.
Maelin Voss
Those jobs earned thirty-six silver crowns in total. Eighteen covered food, lodging, travel incidentals, and the two crowns borrowed from Brunna, leaving this reserve.
Healer Odelia Marr
Hold out your wrist after you finish speaking. A small burn is manageable, but eating like a starving wolf is not a training method.
Brunna Coppervein
Eighteen silver is a sound beginning, lad. Enough for ordinary preparation, not enough to mistake a dangerous contract for a casual outing.
Quest Complete
Speak with Odelia about training
Attribute Upgrade: Agility Superb→Legendary
“Alright Maelin, I need something sturdy for the road to show my authority. Since I am silver ranked now, could you turn the parchment that shows my rank into a guild badge? Like the bronze one when I first joined?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -2)
Artania Nero Thornson
Maelin, I need something sturdy for the road to show my authority. Since I am silver ranked, could you turn the rank parchment into a guild badge, like my bronze one?
Maelin studies the Crown-sealed parchment, then retrieves a thin silver plate, a guild punch, and a spool of binding thread from the records desk.
Maelin Voss
Yes. I can preserve the Crown seal, mount the parchment beneath clear warded resin, and stamp your silver rank into the guild plate.
He trims the parchment to fit, folds its excess into the backing, and binds the plate with a brief blue ward. The magic consumes one silver crown from Artania’s reserve, leaving the badge sturdy and legible.
Maelin Voss
There. Your silver guild badge is recognized at guild halls and official checkpoints. The cost is recorded, and the parchment remains part of the badge’s sealed backing.
Healer Odelia Marr
A useful purchase, Artania. Now finish eating, and let me examine that burned wrist before your new badge encourages you into another hurried task.
Brunna Coppervein
It suits you, lad. Authority you can wear, accounts you can explain, and eighteen silver reduced to seventeen for the road.
“I hand my burnt skin over to Odelia and finish my food more slowly. Then I tell Maelin that my sub-space has some things in it I no longer need. The ward cloth that was holding the bronze mark is ruined from its duty. So that is garbage and must go.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +0)
Artania offers his burned wrist to Odelia and slows his eating. The stew’s warmth settles him as she examines the small reddened patch beneath the table’s lamplight.
Healer Odelia Marr
Good. That is the pace I wanted. Hold still a moment, and I will cool the skin without disturbing the healing beneath it.
Odelia lays two cool fingers against the burn and guides a gentle healing current through it. The sting fades, leaving only faint redness before she releases his wrist.
Artania Nero Thornson
Maelin, there are things in my sub-space I no longer need. The ward cloth that held the bronze mark is ruined from its duty, so it must be discarded.
Maelin Voss
Understood. Bring it out here, and I will record it as expended protective material before it leaves your stores.
Artania opens the quiet blue-white fold and removes the ward cloth. Its fibers are dulled and brittle from containing the marked object, with no useful ward remaining.
Maelin Voss
It has completed its purpose. I will place it in the guild’s mundane refuse, separate from active magical materials, and mark the record accordingly.
Quest Complete
Review finances and organize inventory
Skill Upgrade: Lore Great→Superb
“Alright next up the Eastern Traffic Sign-Register should go to the proper authorities, no be held by me. In all that court excitement before I forgot to hand it off.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +2)
Artania Nero Thornson
Maelin, the Eastern Traffic Sign-Register should go to the proper authorities. I forgot to hand it over during all the court excitement.
Maelin sets aside the ward-cloth record and brings out a sealed evidence folio. Artania retrieves the Eastern Traffic Sign-Register from his sub-space and places it carefully on the table.
Maelin Voss
You are right to correct the omission. This belongs with the Crown’s Eastern Traffic Office through the magistrate’s evidence chamber, not in a private adventurer’s stores.
Maelin wraps the register in fresh evidence cloth, adds the guild seal, and writes its chain of custody. Brunna witnesses the entry while Odelia keeps the folio clear of Artania’s healing hand.
Brunna Coppervein
That is the proper road, lad. The register helped expose the conspiracy, and now the authorities can preserve it where its legal weight will remain recognized.
Maelin Voss
I will send it under guild escort to the magistrate’s evidence chamber tonight. Here is the receipt, recording that you surrendered the genuine register voluntarily and in full.
Maelin presses the receipt into Artania’s hand, then locks the sealed register inside the guild’s evidence coffer. Its custody passes formally from Artania to the proper authorities.
+ New Item Acquired
Evidence Receipt
“What is it that I can do with this receipt Maelin? Is it just paperwork? Or may I file it here with the guild?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -2)
Artania Nero Thornson
What can I do with this receipt, Maelin? Is it only paperwork, or may I file it here with the guild?
Maelin Voss
It is proof of lawful surrender, not mere paperwork. Keep it for your records, and I can file a certified copy here so the guild preserves your chain of custody.
Maelin places the receipt beneath a fresh sheet of archival paper and copies its details into the guild ledger. The original remains in Artania’s hand, bearing the evidence chamber’s seal.
Brunna Coppervein
That protects you, lad. If anyone questions where the register went, the receipt proves you surrendered it openly instead of hiding or selling it.
Maelin Voss
I have filed the certified copy here under the Eastern Traffic conspiracy records. The cost is one silver crown for archival sealing, leaving you sixteen.
Maelin stamps the copy with blue wax and enters the silver crown against Artania’s account. The receipt is now both personal proof and a guild-backed record.
Maelin Voss
Keep the original dry and unaltered. If the magistrate, Crown, or guild needs confirmation, this document gives them a clear road back to the register.
“Alright, I ask Maelin if she has a spare paperwork folder. And if she does I slip the receipt into and place that into my inventory.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Artania Nero Thornson
Maelin, do you have a spare paperwork folder? I would like to keep this receipt protected with my records.
Maelin reaches beneath the records desk and retrieves a sturdy gray folder bound with blue thread. A small guild mark is stamped on its corner.
Maelin Voss
I do. This one is clean and suitable for evidence receipts, contracts, and other documents you must keep dry and unaltered.
Artania slips the original receipt into the folder, keeping its evidence chamber seal visible through the protective inner fold. The folder settles safely into his inventory.
Maelin Voss
There. Your receipt is protected, and the certified copy remains filed here. Keep the folder separate from loose coins, food, and active magical materials.
Brunna Coppervein
A sensible habit, lad. Good records can protect an adventurer almost as well as good steel, especially when officials start asking questions.
+ New Item Acquired
Paperwork Folder
“Thank you both. Up next, I no longer need the stamped slips. Actually where did I get these I ask the group.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled -2)
Artania Nero Thornson
Thank you both. Up next, I no longer need the stamped slips. Actually, where did I get these?
Maelin glances toward the sealed evidence coffer, then opens the ledger to an older custody entry. Brunna leans closer, recognizing the significance at once.
Maelin Voss
You recovered them from the hidden vault beneath the abandoned weighhouse, Artania. They were sealed slips from the Eastern Traffic Office, stored beside the genuine sign-register.
Brunna Coppervein
They helped prove the forged route orders and the double-hook seal’s connection to Corvin Ash. You carried them back to us under your cloak.
Maelin unfolds the slips for confirmation. Their old ink remains legible, but one corner flakes away onto the table, forcing him to place each document beneath fresh archival paper.
Maelin Voss
They are no longer needed in your personal stores. I will add them to the conspiracy evidence file, but the brittle edges mean they must be preserved immediately.
Healer Odelia Marr
And after that, leave the records alone for tonight. You have answered the question, protected the receipt, and done enough careful work for one meal.
“Thanks Odelia. Alright Maelin. I have just a couple of things left that I do not need. First the warning fragment. And second the court note fragment. Note sure if they count towards the evidence or not. But I no longer need them.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled +1)
Artania Nero Thornson
Thanks, Odelia. All right, Maelin. I have two things left that I no longer need: the warning fragment and the court note fragment. Do they count as evidence?
Maelin closes the stamped-slip file and clears a space beneath the archival paper. Brunna watches as Artania brings out the two carefully preserved fragments.
Maelin Voss
They do. The warning fragment supported the evidence of the attempted escape and witness silencing. The court note fragment belongs with the hearing records and confirms the same chain of events.
Maelin compares their edges with the certified copies already filed, then places each fragment between fresh sheets of archival paper. Neither is discarded or altered.
Maelin Voss
I will add both to the guild’s evidence file and record that you surrendered them voluntarily. They will remain connected to the conspiracy case rather than your personal stores.
Brunna Coppervein
That is the right place for them, lad. You carried the pieces when they mattered, and now the proper record can preserve what they prove.
Maelin seals the fragments into a labeled evidence sleeve and enters their custody beside the sign-register and stamped slips. Artania’s inventory is lighter, while the case record grows complete.
“Alright that is it for everything I do not need, item wise. Brunna, what were the basic items I got the other day from the market, did they include rope and sealed rations?”
SUCCESS (Legendary Reasoning, rolled +1)
Artania Nero Thornson
All right, that is everything I do not need, item-wise. Brunna, what basic items did I get from the market the other day? Did they include rope and sealed rations?
Brunna checks the supply notes beside Maelin’s ledger while Artania’s cleaned inventory rests in its magical fold. Odelia continues watching his recently healed hand.
Brunna Coppervein
They did, lad. The market bundle included a sturdy coil of rope, six sealed travel rations, two waterskins, a flint-and-steel set, a wool blanket, and a small oil lantern.
She taps each entry with one blunt finger, separating the ordinary travel goods from the evidence and worn ward materials Artania has surrendered.
Brunna Coppervein
You also bought spare cord, a cooking tin, basic soap, and a canvas groundsheet. Nothing magical, but all sound road gear and still serviceable.
Maelin Voss
I will mark the rope and rations as retained supplies, not discarded items. Your inventory is lighter in evidence, while your practical travel stores remain intact.
Healer Odelia Marr
Good. Those are useful preparations, Artania. Keep the rations sealed, inspect the rope before climbing, and let your hand rest tonight.
“Okay Maelin please make a list of everything that Brunna just mentioned. I’m sorry for making you all work so hard for me. I am overly-cautious, I know.”
SUCCESS (Legendary Diplomacy, rolled -1)
Artania Nero Thornson
Okay, Maelin, please make a list of everything Brunna just mentioned. I am sorry for making you all work so hard for me. I know I am overly cautious.
Maelin turns to a clean ledger page while Brunna gathers the supply notes. Odelia remains nearby, watching Artania’s healed hand without interrupting.
Maelin Voss
Of course. Retained supplies: one sturdy coil of rope, six sealed travel rations, two waterskins, one flint-and-steel set, one wool blanket, and one small oil lantern.
Maelin Voss
Additional road goods: spare cord, a cooking tin, basic soap, and a canvas groundsheet. I will mark every item as serviceable and retained.
Brunna Coppervein
You are not making us work too hard, lad. Careful preparation is part of adventuring, especially when you mean to bring everyone home.
Healer Odelia Marr
And caution is preferable to another injured hand. Ask what you need, then rest once the answer is safely recorded.
Maelin Voss
There, Artania. The complete list is entered, your practical stores are accounted for, and nothing important has been overlooked.