The city, though no longer silenced by the Oracle's magic, was far from peaceful. Lord Valerius's lies were a new kind of poison, and the heroes knew they couldn't fight it with swords and spells. As they faded into the celebrating crowds, the Truth-Stone in Arthur's hand served as their compass. It didn't point to a magical anomaly but to a subtle corruption. Its warm glow directed them away from the cheering masses and down a narrow, dimly lit alley.
"The stone isn't pointing to a magical signature," Seraphina observed, her voice low. "It's reacting to a lie, a foundational lie that Valerius is built upon."
The alley led them to a large, unassuming building—the city's Hall of Records. The doors were locked, but not with a magical ward. This was a physical barrier, a test of a different kind.
"This is our battleground now," Gabriel said, a glint in his eye. "Not on a battlefield, but in the shadows."
With Lyra's deft hands and a lockpick, the heroes were inside in minutes. The interior was a vast, silent repository of the city's history—shelves upon shelves of scrolls, deeds, and ledgers. The Truth-Stone thrummed with a nervous energy, pointing to a specific section of the archives. Here, amidst the genuine historical documents, was the source of Valerius's power.
Elias, with his deep knowledge of ancient scripts, identified the documents as property deeds. But as Seraphina examined them, her brow furrowed. "These are all recent," she whispered. "And they are for all the most valuable land in the city."
The Truth-Stone pulsed an urgent red, revealing the hidden truth. The ink on the ledgers was real, the seals were genuine, but the signatures were forgeries. They were the signatures of deceased merchants and nobles, copied and falsified to transfer ownership of their properties to a newly established trust, all under the control of Lord Valerius.
This was his lie. He wasn't just promising a new future; he was stealing the old one. He was building his empire on a foundation of stolen land and forged documents, all in the shadow of the Oracle's chaos. He had used the city's vulnerability not as a victim, but as a predator.
With the crucial evidence in hand, the heroes knew their next move. They couldn't just present the documents and expect the people to believe them. Valerius's words were too powerful. They had to expose him on his own stage, in a way that would shatter his political power forever. The first of the thirty villains had been unmasked, and the heroes were now armed with a new kind of weapon: undeniable proof. The battle against the whispers had begun in earnest.