A long-delayed promotion seems to reward a minotaur's service, but a murder investigation turns the new Wojek into a convenient suspect. The strategy game Clans & Legions helps him recognise the simpler arrangement behind a confusing field of evidence.
Skormak's apparent survival of poisoning and a guard's connection to the Rubblebelt expose the scheme. Aresaan tests the material evidence and backs the Wojek against his superior. Their cooperation matters because status had previously made trust unequal.
Skormak points to genuine discrimination against elementals while trying to excuse killings committed for advancement. Weslyn refuses to let that grievance make the plot acceptable. Aresaan's intervention restores a measure of justice without disproving every criticism of the institution they serve.