Session Recap
Lady Ysabet arranged invitations to a Highcourt masquerade because the party needed access to people and records they could not approach openly. Before entering, she coached them on which nobles could be questioned without causing a diplomatic incident and warned that Valec’s household had begun asking who was responsible for the Saint Orien expedition. Aster attended visibly as a knight, while Tomas entered under a social identity built around gambling debts and minor mercantile connections. Mira used the servants’ galleries, Corin remained near clerical guests, and Nyra focused on scholars attached to the court.
Tomas gained entry to Chancellor Valec’s private salon by presenting himself as someone useful rather than important. He found ledgers recording payments routed through shell accounts to transport companies and private guards operating on the Saint Orien road. The entries did not use the words Eclipse Court, but dates matched the archive fire and threats at Brighthollow. Mira followed servants carrying sealed packets between the salon and a genealogy room normally used for inheritance disputes. Nyra later examined the room and found copied family trees emphasizing advisers who served Queen Seraphine but were not members of the royal line. Several branches had been annotated with the Veiled Flame sigil.
Corin spoke with priests debating whether old solar prophecies had been suppressed because they were false or because rulers feared the political consequences of admitting uncertainty. No one could provide an intact prophecy. The conversation nevertheless established that Seraphine’s reign had been edited in both religious and royal institutions, not just the archive.
The investigation was interrupted when an attacker moved on Queen Maelin during a ceremonial procession between ballrooms. Aster saw the approach early enough to intercept the strike. The assailant escaped the immediate grapple but was injured, while a second conspirator created panic among the guests. Mira tracked blood into a service corridor but lost the trail at a prepared exit. Tomas recovered a waterproof map dropped during the escape. It marked Lake Auriel and a route to a shoreline ruin.
Valec publicly condemned the attack and offered the Guard his household’s assistance. The party did not accuse him because their evidence still showed access and payments rather than direct orders. In private, Maelin reviewed copies of the ledgers and authorized Voss and the party to continue the investigation beyond normal jurisdiction. She admitted that Valec had served her family for years and that accusing the Chancellor without undeniable proof could fracture the court.
Nyra compared the genealogical notes with the Saint Orien letters and found the same missing families recurring around Seraphine’s non-royal advisers. Her own surname did not appear, but several lines ended where records had been deliberately removed. The party left Highcourt with stronger evidence against Valec’s network, a direct lead to Lake Auriel, and the knowledge that the conspiracy was willing to attack the queen while maintaining a respectable public face.