Its nighttime, and you stand outside a set of wrought iron gates at the bottom of the hill, looking up at your destination- an immense manor at the hill's crest. Only a few of its windows are lit from within, seemingly from a fireplace, judging by the way the lights flicker and the shadows jump.
As you listen to the receding hoofbeats of the carriage that brought you here, you unroll the parchment, reading it in the silvery moonlight.
'At 8pm on the 24th of this month, you are to appear at Gaunchley Manor in regards to the contents of a will, in which matter you have been named a beneficiary.
-enclosure, Alois Kark, Esquire, junior Associate of Ilsk, Orson, and Cragg'
So...someone left you something in their will. Someone you don't know. There's an imponderable.
As you start to push the gate open, you hear the telltale sounds of multiple hoofbeats...at least one is another carriage- you hear the whip-crack- but there may be other, solo riders. You pause.
Your guess was right. Soon, a carriage soon pulls up, disgorging a few passengers- presumably fellow inheritors. And there are 2 horseback riders. One is clearly a there to guard the other rider, a slender half-elf of indeterminate age but undoubtable position.
As she dismounts, you walk over and extend your hand to her...
"Alois Kark, I presume?"
