(Dovakiin) 

Dear Esteemed Adventurer, Dovakiin,

I hope you don’t find my use of that title presumptuous. I appreciate that you have a quiet life now, with a wife and kids with kids of their own. However, if that yearning for adventure that once ran through your veins beats within you still, I have an offer for you.

Please come to my home in Bildvatn, at 1pm on the 17th of Eleasis to discuss it. I would have you hear me out in person. You will be paid 200 gold pieces for simply attending, and will be free to walk away if what I say doesn’t interest you. You will be rewarded far more if you complete the project I intend.

Know that I chose you carefully. Sun soul monks are a dime a dozen in Heldsgard. But you… It’s time you came out of the shadows.

Yours faithfully,

Lord Jezediah Vance III

***

Dovakiin and Marion continued their surveillance.

“So, what do you know about this guy?” Dovakiin whispered to Marion. The two lay side by side, peering out through the bush at the manor grounds. Marion’s automaton stood guard once again behind them.

“Only a few pieces of information,” Marion responded primly. She had the careful vocabulary of someone from an educated background, so maybe there was something to the idea of her being a mage after all. “I wasn’t able to learn much, because although his family has lived in this manor for generations, they’ve consistently been recluses - the current lord is no exception. No-one really knows that much about him around town, except that he’s extremely wealthy. He had an ancestor – the first Jezediah – who was one of those highly successful adventurers who retired extremely rich, and the family’s been living off that fortune ever since.”

She paused, considering for a moment. “People think he’s unmarried, but he doesn’t particularly socialise that often even with the other nobility in Heldsgard and he’s in his sixties, so that’s unlikely to change any time soon.”

She grimaced. “All in all, not enough information to paint a clear picture.”

Dovakiin nodded. This matched his own enquiries. “So, why is a recluse who never gets out or does anything suddenly inviting adventurers to his house for a job?”

Marion hesitated. “...I’m not sure.”

“Oh?” Dovakiin glanced at the woman next to him. She’d held something back there, he could tell. Marion stared straight ahead refusing to meet his eye. “What are you not telling me? Any interesting hints in your letter?”

“That- that’s none of your concern!” The automaton moved protectively forward as Marion’s eyes flashed angrily.

Dovakiin raised his claws in submission, “Ok, ok! Forget I asked! I’m old! Don’t you know that old dragonborn speak their mind? Classic thing we do.”

Marion looked at him, suspiciously. “You seem rather more than just an old dragonborn.”

“Ah, that’s just because I eat my vegetables,” Dovakiin lied with a grin. “Very good for you. Gives you healthy bones.”

She looked at him suspiciously. “I’m… pretty sure that’s milk that does that.”

She didn’t believe him, but he didn’t expect her to.

“Aaaanyway,” he continued, changing the subject, “I was just wondering if Jezediah mentioned things like ‘great rewards for services rendered’, secretive meetings, things like that.”

Marion stared at him for a couple of seconds, and then seemed to relax. She turned towards the grounds again. “…Something like that.”

They continued watching the grounds for a few minutes, and Dovakiin had begun to think he wouldn’t get anything more out of her, when Marion said, “He knows more than he should.”

It’s time you came out of the shadows.

Dovakiin’s own eyes narrowed slightly.

“Y’know,” he conceded, “you might be onto something there.” 

***

(Marion)

Dear Esteemed Performer, Marion Ette,

I know who you really are.

Come to my home at 1pm on the 17th of Eleasis. We have much to discuss, and I have work for you to do. You will be paid 200 gold pieces upon arrival, and if you perform the work well you will be richly rewarded.

In money, and in answers.

Yours faithfully,

Lord Jezediah Vance III