PERSONAE · THE VALE

Doran Penn

aka the fair clerk, the toll-clerk of Hewngate

Hewngate's toll-clerk from before the takeover, kept alive in the undercroft because Bron Coldhand needs a true hand on the ransom-roll — the one man in the keep who writes down every name so that some day a name can be answered for.

Doran kept Hewngate's honest toll for House Vandahl for eleven years, and when the Broken Lances took the keep he was not killed, because Coldhand values a fair number the way he values a fair blade: it is the only honest thing in a dishonest business. So Doran balances the toll-books and the ransom-roll under one guard, sleeps in a cell, and keeps — hidden, against a hanging — every chit and count of what is truly done here, because he cannot stop it and will not forget it. He is no fighter and makes no pretence of it; his courage is the ledger. He has read the accounts closely enough to know the thing no one in the keep will say aloud: that Coldhand feeds something up the castle road, at the Foldfast, and is afraid of it.

KIND

mortal

SPECIES

Human

ROLE

toll-clerk (captive)

LOCATION

Hewngate Keep

Connected

Hewngate KeepPLACE · Kept in the undercroft to balance the toll-books und…House VandahlFACTION · Hewngate's toll-clerk for the House, eleven years, b…The Broken LancesFACTION · Held by them, kept alive only because Coldhand needs…Bron ColdhandCHARACTER · Coldhand's captive clerk; the fair hand behind the r…The Ransom-RollTEXT · The fair hand on the ransom-roll.A Fence's ChitTEXT · The chits the clerk keeps against a hanging.

Game Data (1)

Read live off disk from data/content/*.json — the game data itself, not a copy.

data/content/npcs.json

idhewngate_clerk

gendermale

canon_refcharacter.doran-penn

nameDoran Penn

factionhouse_vandahl

regionthe_vale

zone_idthe-vale

health60

difficulty2

disposition60

interior_onlyyes

behavioridle

greetingKeep your voice down — one guard's enough to hang us both. Doran Penn. I kept this keep's toll for the House eleven years, and I keep it still, because Coldhand needs a true hand and a dead clerk balances nothing. You're not one of his; nobody's been paid for me. If you're cutting people loose, cut me loose — but read what I've written first. It's worth more than I am.

grant_sayHere — every chit and count I kept hidden, and my own word on top of it. Take it to the Writ, to Vandahl, to anyone. The keep was BOUGHT before it was broken; the accounts prove it. And there's a line that goes up the castle road, to the Foldfast, that Coldhand feeds and fears. That's where this ends, not here.

grant{"id":"hewngate_clerks_testimony","name":"The Clerk's Testimony","type":"book","text":"hewngate-clerks-testimony","rarity":"fine","value":0,"weight":0.2,"lore":"Doran Penn's own account, pressed into your hand — how the keep was bought, and what goes up the castle road to the Foldfast."}

topics{"coldhand":"Bron doesn't rage — that's the fear of him. He runs men and prisoners like inventory and hangs whatever won't tally. He pays his own to the copper and keeps me in the dark to keep his books fair. A robber who insists on being honest is a worse thing than a robber.","the toll-books":"I balance them because he demands they balance, and because a true number is the last mercy I have to give. But the Foldfast line does not balance for me — he sends more up that road than any watch-post could eat. He takes a fair toll on a stolen road to feed something further up it.","the foldfast":"The old watch-post above the Sered pass. A share of every take goes up the castle road to it — grain, coin, and once a month a covered cart Coldhand loads himself. The two men who asked what was in it were sent up that road and never came back. Go there. That is where this ends.","the prisoners":"Toll-payers, mostly — folk who couldn't buy through the chain, held till their people pay or their backs give out at the wall-work. And Edda Vossk, the Old Lances girl, taken to make her uncle bid. She counts the watches in the mortar. She'll not thank you for the rescue; she wanted it cut, not bought. Free her anyway."}

bounty_on_assault0

bounty_on_kill800

racehuman

Type Fields

kindmortal

speciesHuman

roletoll-clerk (captive)

locationplace.hewngate-keep

affiliationsfaction.house-vandahl

disposition60

voice_notesQuiet, precise, ledger-minded; speaks of a true number as the last mercy left him.

axes{"law":15,"mercy":20,"method":-20}

All Relationships (9)

located_in

→Hewngate Keep — Kept in the undercroft to balance the toll-books under guard.

member_of

→House Vandahl — Hewngate's toll-clerk for the House, eleven years, before the keep was taken.

enemy_of

→The Broken Lances — Held by them, kept alive only because Coldhand needs a fair hand on the roll.

references

→Bron Coldhand — Coldhand's captive clerk; the fair hand behind the ransom-roll.
←quest.the-undercroft-keys (unresolved) — The captive clerk is the rescue target and the testimony.

authored

→The Ransom-Roll — The fair hand on the ransom-roll.
→A Fence's Chit — The chits the clerk keeps against a hanging.
→The Toll-Books of Hewngate — The true accounts, kept fair by the captain's order.
→The Clerk's Testimony — The freed clerk's own account, pressed on his rescuer.

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