Plot.

Prologue

Greyhollow was once numbered amongst the greatest of the Free Cities, unbound to any kingdom. Protected by Hevesta, a local and very active deity of prosperity and trade, Greyhollow passed an entire century safe from the envy of greater nations.

Recently, Hevesta's powers have declined. She hasn't been seen by the people for over ten years now. Greyhollow's merchants used their wealth to compensate for the loss of the deity's protection. They bought guards for every waypoint, hired a mercenary police force, strengthened city walls, and paid for the execution of any captured criminal. Unsafe without their goddess, they became paranoid.

Greyhollow's coffers have run dry. The hired mercenaries are fewer and fewer in number with every passing month. Most merchant princes have either left or become paupers. Bordering kingdoms look to the once glorious city with an eye to conquest. Greyhollow's free days are coming to a close, and everyone knows it.

Even in its last days, Greyhollow is still a popular gathering place for adventurers and people looking to hire on adventurers. Now, when money is scarce within its walls, there are even more people looking for work. Everyone says adventuring pays off--provided you survive.

A new notice has been posted on various walls and other vertical surfaces within the city. Someone is looking to hire capable of combatants to retrieve a lost family heirloom. The location is dangerous, but the offered compensation is more than fair. Interested parties are to speak to Fiona Witherfox in an inn called Hevesta's Grace found in the market ward.

Elsewhere, a man cloaked and hidden in shadow delivers letters, each written on good parchment with gleaming ink. He requests your services in retrieving a powerful artifact, and he offers your heart's desire in payment--or dwarven gold, if that's your preference. He awaits you with more information in an abandoned temple to unpopular gods in the shadier part of town.