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Your party has known each other for a short time. You all hired on as caravan guards for a man named Silas Gribb. You have had a little time getting to know each other as the caravan made it's way from Cassomir to Belhaim, the town in which you now sit.
When your caravan arrived two days ago, it was swiftly stopped and detained by the town constabulary. Next thing you know, Gribb is arrested on a warrant for smuggling. You all are able to quite easily claim your ignorance and innocence in the matter and local law enforcement releases you to your own devices. Within an hour, the sheriff and his best deputies are on their way to Cassomir with a shackled Silas in custody.
Stranded in this small town of Belhaim with very little money, Talia Orem, the young proprietor of the Wise Piper Inn, takes pity on the you all and offers free room and board for a few days—long enough for your now aimless party to at least figure out what to do next.
Sitting in the common room of the inn, enjoying a free meal of fresh bread with cheese and honey, washed down by watery mead, your party chats among yourselves.
A small gnome bearing Tian armor sits atop a booster chair in order to be at level with his larger companions. His well-crafted cane sits propped up next to him and a properly gnome-sized backpack lies on the floor near his feet. Now half-finished with his cheese and having only a few crumbs of honeyed bread remaining, he appears to have taken an interest in terrorizing what cheese he yet has with his dagger. Exaggerated motions accompany dramatized sound-effects and muted cries for help, presumably on behalf of the eviscerated cheese.
"Ahhhhh, help me! Ahhhh noooo don't eat me, aahhhhh..."
...sits atop a booster chair...
...backpack lies on the floor near his feet.
A rather unremarkable-looking human man sits across from the gnome, biting into his last slice of honey-drizzled bread. Watching the cheese-terror, he chuckles at just the wrong moment and coughs a bit, spewing a few sticky crumbs across the table.
"Oopsh," he says with a full mouth, letting fly a few more crumbs. Miming further apology, he puts his bread down and wipes the crumbs from his lips.
Then he looks at his now-sticky hand, with a single strand of honey stretching several inches between his palm and mouth.
"Son of a..." he begins, trailing off as he starts wiping up with a napkin as best he can.
Dagon finished his bread and honey, but leaves the cheese on his plate and pokes at it suspiciously. "Finished playing with your food, comrades?"
He eventually gives up on his cheese. "Before I retire to the tub for the night, perhaps you two should wash up. We'll need to look presentable when we go looking for more work in the morning."
Kaelic drops his dagger and crosses his arms. "I'm going to die in this town." he complains.
Juma blinks for a moment, looking at his compatriots curiously.
"Why do you have to wait until we've washed up before you can retire to the tub?" he asks of the blonde one. Addressing the gnome, he continues, "And why do you think you're going to die?"
"Everybody dies. The bad part is doing it here. Slowly." Keolic says before he resumes eating his cheese.
"Hey Dagon, I think I found your trident!" he says as he picks up a three-pronged fork, stands it up, and uses a minor magic trick to make it dance on the table. "Ha!"
Juma rolls his eyes. "Why do you think you're going to die here?"
"Why do you have to wait until we've washed up before you can retire to the tub?" he asks of the blonde one.
"I'm certainly not going to let you crawl in there with me after I've fallen asleep!"
"That caravan gig was a good job. You think this place has respectable work for a gnome? I'm going to have to sell myself to a circus for bread and a straw mat." Kaelic replies, making the fork bow in conclusion of its performance.
As you all sit around the inn, garnering not a few stares from the other patrons, suddenly the inn wall rattle as if shaken by thunder! People in the inn look around in bewilderment then begin heading toward the door and windows to discover the source!
Through the windows, you see a cloud of dust rising into the air to the northeast, when suddenly a villager bursts into the inn, screaming.
Galvanized by the news, everyone in the inn jumps from their seats and lurches for the door at once. Eventually able to make your way through the crowd gawking at dust plume rising into the air. The three of you head toward the direction of the collapsed tower, overhearing people abuzz about dozens of kobold bodies found amongst the rubble!
Arriving at the collapsed tower, two locals putter about aimlessly. One wanders about scratching her head, and the other stands with hands on his hips, chewing on a stalk of grass. These two, as you have learned while in town, are Letha Mulle and Varyl Hodd, the least experienced of Sheriff Benhovy’s crew and clearly out of their element with the sheriff on his way to Cassomir.
Someone from the crowd suggests checking to see whether the wizard Hunclay knows anything about what happened, given that his manor shares the hill with the tower. The deputies argue for several minutes, over who’ll knock on the wizard’s door, before a older woman grumbles that she will go and ask. Walking across the street, she stops and exclaims. "There is a burnt kobold body over here!"
The two deputies run over and inspect the body, before Hodd knocks loudly on Hunclay's door. When there is no answer, Mulle reaches for the door, but Hodd grabs her wrist, stopping her. "Whatever magic did in that kobold might still be active on the wizard’s door! Best let it alone!" At this point, everyone is just standing around, not know what to do.
Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Juma approaches the base of the now-collapsed tower, eyeing the ground around it.
"I wonder what would cause a landslide under a tower...?" he wonders aloud as he looks for tunnels or burrows or anything strange in the ground that might weaken the foundation.
Kaelic looks around for active kobold in case any might be alive.
He also tries to determine the nature of any magic behind what might have happened here.
And finally, he examines the wizard's door for magical wards or traps.
Juma and Kaelic notice nothing else of interest and Kaelic cannot ascribe any magical couse to what may have happened, nor can he find any traps or wards.
As the three of you look around, the town’s baroness, Lady Origena Devy, arrives soon thereafter with her son Arnholde to take charge of the situation. After listening to reports from those gathered at the site, she looks briefly at the obviously overmatched deputies and then scans the crowd, her falling on the three of you.
With a grim smile she strides over to you. "You the newcomers in town, no? Today’s your lucky day. Mulle and Hodd here can’t handle this without the Sheriff to hold their hands, and I want to know what happened here. You seem to be a capable bunch. If you go in there and look through the rubble—find out what happened and why there are kobolds in my town—I’ll pay the lot of you 500 gold pieces. While you’re looking around in the ruins, keep an eye out for any signs of our local eccentric, Hunclay. It seems somewhat suspicious to me that he’s not answering his door. Let me know what you find.” She starts to walk away, accustomed to be obeyed, but then pauses, turning to await your answer.
"500 gold pieces, eh?" Dagon asks, glancing again at the burned kobold. "Plus hazard pay, right?"
"I think what he means is, this could incur some personal expenses that would offset the real value of such a bounty. Surely you'd be willing to consider such expenses in the adjusted sum?" Kaelic proposes slyly.
Smart enough to know to leave the talky bits to his colleagues, Juma begins pondering the situation, trying to come up with leads or theories. Leaning on his staff, he eyes the ruins and tries to recall anything he can that might be relevant...
"Hrmmm..."
Devy thinks for a moment, then says. "I could entertain that idea, but I will wait to see how you handle exploring the tower before I agree." She smiles widely. "So do we have a deal? 500 plus a possible hazard fee for investigating the Tower?"
She would go on to become a great hero, and the mercenary company she founded— the Slayers of Nazilli—defeated more dragons than any other group in those days. Her final triumph was slaying Aeteperax in the heart of a swampland deep in the part of the Verduran Forest known today as Dragonfen.
For her service, the Taldan emperor awarded Tula the title of Baroness and the stewardship of the Verduran Fork region, including all of Dragonfen. Her legions of admirers soon founded a town bearing her name, its buildings built of limestone quarried nearby. In 3676 AR, as Belhaim was still finding its place in the world, a band of Iroran priests presented themselves before the Baroness of Belhaim and asked her permission to build a monastery east of the town, overlooking Dragonfen. Lady Tula graciously granted their wish, and soon thereafter, the monks built a fine monastery on the far side of the swamp.
The Iroran sect grew and prospered in this setting along with Belhaim, and over the years developed strong ties to the town. Lady Tula eventually married one of her fellow Slayers, Arturic Canteclure, and built a castle atop one of the town’s hills. The couple had four children, but each one died of accident or misadventure before the age of 9, leaving the new barony with no heirs. Tula and Arturic’s relationship grew strained as the baroness grew morbid and obsessed with building a grand tomb for herself and her family. As she and her husband grew apart, Tula amended her will to have Arturic buried in a separate part of the tomb, rather than alongside her.
"Then one rainy day, an argument became heated. After bitter words stung both their hearts, Tula fled the room crying. As she ran onto the balcony, hoping the rain would wash away her sadness, her feet slipped. She toppled over the railing and was impaled on the horns of a dragon statue below. Overcome with grief and guilt that his words caused this tragedy, Arturic mounted his horse and set out to find someone, anyone, who might help. But fate had other plans. Not a hundred feet from the castle, Arturic’s horse reared at a thunderclap, throwing him off, and he broke his neck in the fall. The bodies were found by servants soon thereafter, and Belhaim mourned a tragedy they couldn’t understand or comprehend. The bodies were quickly taken to Tula’s crypt and buried according to her wishes, and the site was sealed."
Rule of Belhaim fell to distant relations of Arturic’s, the Canteclures. In 4500 AR, Baron Sarvo Canteclure, a vicious lord who imprisoned subjects for the slightest infraction, joined an ill-advised rebellion against the Grand Prince, and his family and the castle were destroyed in retaliation. Upheaval was not limited to the town of Belhaim that year, though. A month prior to the razing of Castle Tula, afterward referred to superstitiously as the Witch Tower, the monks of the Monastery of Saint Kyerixus vanished mysteriously and their home fell into ruin.
Back in Belhaim, a man named Sir Arkold Devy was awarded the Barony of Belhaim for his role in helping to put down the seditious Canteclures. His descendants have ruled for the past 2 centuries. During this time, a few memorable events touched the region—most notably the earthquake that left the town relatively unharmed, but caused the town’s quarry to flood. With access to the quarry’s fine limestone lost, Belhaim’s fortunes slowly receded.
"Very well, that sounds reasonable. Are we ready to get started, fellows?"
"Indeed, we have an agreement. Now if you can get those deputies to clear out these gawkers, we'll be about our business and you can be about yours." Kaelic says as he rolls up his sleeves, preparing for greatness.
Juma takes a couple of steps back from Kaelic and the door, preparing for mediocrity.
After a couple of minutes of watching the pretty-talkers do something other than pretty-talking, Juma heaves a sigh and steps forward, rolling his eyes.
"Here, let me."
The party approaches Hunclay's abode. The grisly remains of a kobold, the flesh charred badly and limbs contorted by fire, still lie on the doorstep of the manor house.
The door was once trapped, but was triggered by the unfortunate kobold. The trap does not appear to have reset and the door is locked.
"Let me see about this lock..."
Kaelic tries to pick the lock, but finds he can't quite make the tumblers fall in place. Examining the very solidly built lock, the gnome realizes he couldn't pick the lock even if he took all day.
"Well, if we're not really expecting him to be in there anyway..."
Juma gestures the gnome aside, then leans back and heaves his shoulder against the door.
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Kaelic applies a thumb of pressure on the door while the fighter charges it.
It doesn't help.
Juma takes a running start and throws his shoulder into the stout wooden door. The door shudders slightly, but the lore warden bounces backward off the door and lands on his back in the dirt, as he rebounds off the portal.
"Hmmm..." Juma muses as he picks himself up. "So much for the quick way. How would the rest of you feel about burning down the door?"
"I think this may be more trouble than it's worth right now. No need to set the town on fire or make a ruckus. Shall we skip to step two of our plan?"
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"Hmmm..." Juma muses as he picks himself up. "So much for the quick way. How would the rest of you feel about burning down the door?"
"How about instead of that, you just focus on breaking the lock?"
"I have a feeling my staff would break before the lock would; do you have a crowbar or something?"
"...I've got a dagger. Will that work? We could always go into town and buy a crowbar, I suppose."
Kaelic taps his foot impatiently.
Juma scowls at the impatient gnome.
"Thanks for volunteering, Mr. Toomuchenergy." He tosses the little one a platinum piece, and continues, "Here, run back over to the shop and get us a crowbar and maybe a hatchet or something."
"You're going to get us all killed." he responds, but nevertheless trots off with the platinum.
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After retrieving a crowbar, the three of you are able to eventually break the door frame enough to allow entry. Peering through the half open door, you see the entry hall. The floor of this well-appointed entry hall is adorned with two expensive Qadiran rugs and decorated with several overstuffed leather sofas. Two dozen paintings with gilded frames hang on the walls, portraits and landscapes, all of exquisite artistry. To the north sits a large bird cage. Wooden doors open in the east and west walls, and an elaborate spiral staircase of iron both ascends and descends in the southeast corner.
Dagon steps inside and looks around the room, whistling in appreciation of the fine art. "Shall we go left first?"
"That is exactly what you would say, isn't it."
Kaelic straightens his jacket before proceeding. "Well, go ahead then Juma."
"You're right, we should lead with competence." Juma quips. "Now, someone hit me up with some light; it might get dark in here," he says, holding out the end of his staff toward the others.
Dagon takes a step into the manor and promptly feels the floor disappear from underneath him as a 30' deep pit appears.
"Son of Pharasma! Watch your step there!"
"Hence my request for light, genius," says Juma, still holding out his staff.