Stormhold - Bureaucracy (Open)

[Deeza]

A quest that tries to give the player something different to do.

Bureaucracy

The offices of the Imperial High Commission are in a panic. They won't explain what it's about, unless the player gets their disposition high enough. The orc Secretary explains that a massive fraud has been perpetrated by one of their colleagues, and it's only a matter of time before someone finds out. They could all face prison or worse if the secret gets out, so they can't tell the Governor. The player is offered help with various legal issues if they can take care of the matter covertly.

It seems that for years a member of staff, Carl Farseer, has been secretly taking a few gold coins out of tax reciepts and invoices here and there, adding up to a total of many thousands. They only found out about it last week, and Carl has already disappeared with all the proceeds! They ask the player to track him down and intercept him, inviting the player to search the office for clues to where he had hidden the money and where he might be going now.

The offices contain many interesting and dirty secrets (other white-collar crime by the staff, notes that reveal a hidden love affair, and so on). However, the player finally learns that Carl has a cousin living in Sloughpoint, and reasons that maybe he's hiding out there.

The player tracks down Carl, who protests that he was set up, and fled because he was afraid nobody would believe him. It doesn't sound like a very likely story, but the player can choose whether to believe him or not, and accompany Carl back to do some more detective work around the castle, uncovering additional clues.

It turns out that the real villain is the Secretary who gave you the quest in the first place - she set Carl up and hid the money, willing to go to jail with the others for letting it get lost, then collecting it a few years down the line after her release, when the heat was off! If confronted with evidence, the Secretary pulls out an axe and tries to make a getaway, and the player will have to defend themselves.

The basic reward if the player turns in Carl, minus the money, is to fast-track the player's papers to enter Soulrest or Gideon, their choice. If you successfully revealed the real culprit, you also get a limited "get out of jail free card" from a grateful Carl, in that the staff will remove the bounty on your head for minor crimes by making an "administrative error" (up to a couple of hundred gold).