A Permit in a Dead Name

Among the floating wreckage you find a waxed leather wallet. Inside is a dungeon salvager's permit for the Cistern Stair beneath Keep Varrow, with the entry fee stamped PAID IN FULL for a party of four. Penciled on the back is a private note: "Third landing, behind the dry fountain. Do not tell Hask."

As the wind tugs at the worn leather wallet, you spot more papers tucked behind the permit: a loot-split agreement signed by four delvers—Joss, Hask, Wren, and Odd—and an unfinished letter reading: "Hask always counts the shares before we go down. If I'm late, he'll enter without me, and he doesn't know about the cache behind the third-landing fountain." You also notice the wallet's leather lining is suspiciously thick.

The gate warden at Keep Varrow inspects your permit, then glances at your crew. "Made out for a party of four, and the fee's stamped paid—that's all I care about." Sitting on the dungeon steps with their gear packs are three delvers waiting for their missing fourth partner. Their leader answers to Hask, and all three eye the dead man's wallet in your hand.

On the third landing, hidden behind a stone fountain that has stood dry for a century, you uncover an ancient ward-smith's workshop still covered in dust sheets. Joss had found it earlier and planned to return with a handcart—there is more loot here than your crew can haul up in a single trip.

With Hask's three delvers hauling alongside your crew, you bring the entire ward-smith's workshop up the stairs in a single trip: mirror-ward plates, a glass-cased ward-wisp construct, and drawers of silver wire. Outside on the steps, Hask divides the haul into four equal piles. "The fourth share belonged to Joss. He found the cache, he's dead, and you brought his permit back to us. Pick your pile."