FRONT DOOR
You stand in front of a large wooden door with metal reinforcements, secured shut with a thick iron bolt. The door itself is worn with use and looks exceedingly heavy, giving it an imposing and formidable appearance. It’s best to keep this locked until you’re able to figure out who murdered Auberon. To the right, a large bookcase stands tall against the wall. To the left, a barred window looks out onto the street. A cloaked figure, perhaps a dark elf, is leaning their back against the wall, watching the room.
You gaze upon the towering bookcase and your eyes light up with excitement. The shelves are brimming with ancient tomes, grimoires, and spellbooks that seem to pulse with magical energy. You can sense the knowledge and power contained within each one.
The bookcase itself is made of sturdy oak wood, with intricate carvings of dragons and arcane symbols etched into its surface. Some of the tomes have covers made of exotic materials, such as dragon scales or unicorn hide, while others are bound in leather or adorned with gems and gold.
You can feel a gentle breeze emanating from its direction, carrying the faint scent of ancient parchment and rare herbs. The flickering lanterns of the inn cast dancing shadows across the spines of the books, making them seem to shift and move on their own.
Peering out the window you see the street outside the Dread Dragon Inn cloaked in a blanket of darkness. The bustle of the earlier evening has long since quieted, leaving the night to claim its domain. The only light comes from the occasional flickering of a streetlamp, casting eerie shadows across the cobbled street.
In the distance, you can barely make out the silhouette of a lone figure walking down the deserted street, their steps echoing in the stillness of the night. Your eyes scan the shadows, looking for any signs of danger or trouble, but all appears quiet and still.
You turn to the shadowy figure and startle to find them already watching you with strange, glowing blue eyes. As you draw close, you start to notice a subtle energy radiating off of them. Magic? It’s hard to focus on the sensation with them staring so blatantly. The sense of it slips away from your awareness like smoke.
“Well met, mageling. It is unfortunate to meet under such circumstances, though were we to meet otherwise… let’s just see that perhaps this way is better.”
The figure speaks with a nonchalant manner, seemingly amused by the events that have transpired.
“I’m known as Zyn. I have known Auberon Greatstag for a while. We parted ways years back when I started down my… current career path. It was good to see him for the celebration of his birth, of course, but I did also come here on… business.
Hm. I wonder if everyone here is too afraid, or too polite, to mention it? I left Auberon’s adventuring group to join the assassin’s guild. That is why I came here tonight. I was not the first, either. It’s a well-known secret in the guild that Auberon Greatstag is an infamously impossible target to kill.
No, I vow, it was not me. I am both happy and sad to say someone else accomplished it first. It would have been an honor and a heartbreak to take Auberon’s Greatstag’s life. Perhaps the person who paid the contract did not trust the guild to follow through. After all, the last pair sent to slay Auberon Greatstag returned three days later, still hungover, and calling him their new dearest friend. Perhaps look to who it is that would have the most to gain from his death. In this line of work, an inheritance of gold or property is the most common motive. The dwarven maiden, for example, is set to take over this grand Inn and Auberon Greatstag’s collection, is she not?”
You gaze upon the towering bookcase and your eyes light up with excitement. The shelves are brimming with ancient tomes, grimoires, and spellbooks that seem to pulse with magical energy. You can sense the knowledge and power contained within each one.
The bookcase itself is made of sturdy oak wood, with intricate carvings of dragons and arcane symbols etched into its surface. Some of the tomes have covers made of exotic materials, such as dragon scales or unicorn hide, while others are bound in leather or adorned with gems and gold.
You can feel a gentle breeze emanating from its direction, carrying the faint scent of ancient parchment and rare herbs. The flickering lanterns of the inn cast dancing shadows across the spines of the books, making them seem to shift and move on their own.
Peering out the window you see the street outside the Dread Dragon Inn cloaked in a blanket of darkness. The bustle of the earlier evening has long since quieted, leaving the night to claim its domain. The only light comes from the occasional flickering of a streetlamp, casting eerie shadows across the cobbled street.
In the distance, you can barely make out the silhouette of a lone figure walking down the deserted street, their steps echoing in the stillness of the night. Your eyes scan the shadows, looking for any signs of danger or trouble, but all appears quiet and still.
You turn to the shadowy figure and startle to find them already watching you with strange, glowing blue eyes. As you draw close, you start to notice a subtle energy radiating off of them. Magic? It’s hard to focus on the sensation with them staring so blatantly. The sense of it slips away from your awareness like smoke.
“Well met, mageling. It is unfortunate to meet under such circumstances, though were we to meet otherwise… let’s just see that perhaps this way is better.”
The figure speaks with a nonchalant manner, seemingly amused by the events that have transpired.
“I’m known as Zyn. I have known Auberon Greatstag for a while. We parted ways years back when I started down my… current career path. It was good to see him for the celebration of his birth, of course, but I did also come here on… business.
Hm. I wonder if everyone here is too afraid, or too polite, to mention it? I left Auberon’s adventuring group to join the assassin’s guild. That is why I came here tonight. I was not the first, either. It’s a well-known secret in the guild that Auberon Greatstag is an infamously impossible target to kill.
No, I vow, it was not me. I am both happy and sad to say someone else accomplished it first. It would have been an honor and a heartbreak to take Auberon’s Greatstag’s life. Perhaps the person who paid the contract did not trust the guild to follow through. After all, the last pair sent to slay Auberon Greatstag returned three days later, still hungover, and calling him their new dearest friend. Perhaps look to who it is that would have the most to gain from his death. In this line of work, an inheritance of gold or property is the most common motive. The dwarven maiden, for example, is set to take over this grand Inn and Auberon Greatstag’s collection, is she not?”