Your hometown of Sandpoint is a quaint seaside settlement that periodically has problems with monsters, such as wicked goblins, but the citizens always manage to endure and survive. Lately, however, a far greater danger has come to threaten the town.
A few weeks ago, livestock started to disappear from nearby farms. Sometimes a half-eaten corpse is found, sometimes only bloodstains. The people of Sandpoint are afraid, and mayor Kendra Deverin is growing desperate. She hopes some heroes will volunteer to search out this menace and put an end to it before it kills a person. she's offered a reward of 1,000 gold pieces to the group that stops this mysterious creature. Although no one has seen the killer directly, a long black fang was found in one of the animal corpses, prompting the locals to dub the unseen killer, "Black Fang."
While you would normally not have anything to do with this, the promised reward is too much for you to ignore. So when you heard people in the Rusty Dragon begin to plan an expedition, you volunteered your own assistance.
So you have decided to join the quest to put an end to these brutal killings, and line your own pockets with plenty of reward money. Rumor holds that Black Fang is living in an old cave not too far from town, which has been used as a den for many monsters over the years. You've gathered your gear and are now approaching the entrance to this dungeon, but you still have a few moments to get to know your fellow adventurers.
Your three companions are all humans, though they are all different to your eyes. One, an older man with a hard face and a weary look leans on a fine carved walking stick (the only weapon he appears to carry) and sighs. He says, "Dragons, bah. Ten to one says that it is just some boys who decided it would be fun to burn and kill."
The other male laughs, causing his heavy armor to jingle as it bounces around. In contrast to his companion, this human carries a variety of obvious weapons, each swinging from either a scabbard or a leather strap. "Ehh, come on Ezren, don't be a stick in the mud. Shayliss promised me dancing if I brought back a dragon's tongue. We nip out, stop the killings, and ... " his grin grows even wider. "The rewards will be almost as great as the company!"
The final member, a calm human female wearing blue robes, in the Qadiran fashion, over her own armor. She wears a wickedly curved scimitar in a scabbard through her belt, and a holy symbol that you recognize as belonging to Sarenrae, the sun goddess. Her mouth quirks in an almost smile as she says, "Valeros, we need to find the lair before we worry about that, are you sure that's the cave this Black Fang is supposed to be in?"
The human warrior shrugs, "That's what I was told, Kyra. Whether we'll find a dragon or not, I couldn't say, but the guy down in the tavern said that cave was where it would be."
Ezren, the older man, offers you his hand, "Ignore my companions, they bicker as if they had known each other all their lives. My name is Ezren, my companions here are Kyra and Valeros. What should we call you?"
"You can call me Ears if it makes you happy Stick." "My name is Merisiel."
"I believe I heard you mention a Dragon?"
Ezren coughs, "Valeros can be easily excitable. A friend of his down at the Rusty Dragon said that everyone knows this Black Fang is a dragon." Ezren's dry tone shows that he doesn't really believe it. "Myself, I believe that it's likely goblins, or men. People always want to see monsters, but in my experience, people are the worst monsters of all."
Valeros puts his hands up defensively, "I just know what Frankarwen said, Ezren. I doubt it's a dragon, or even a large dog. Goblins are as likely an explanation as any others." He spits briefly, "They are surely thick enough in the country here. For Shayliss though, well, let's just say that the story will certainly have a dragon in it."
Kyra puts her hand up impatiently, "Whatever they are, it doesn't change the fact that we need to put a stop to them. The loss of this livestock means that many will go hungry this winter." Her voice turns harder as she continues, "and anything that can eat half a cow without a trace, could just as easily be eating children next week."
Ezren sighs as though this argument has become old, "At any rate, Valeros' information indicates that there is a cave near here where this Black Fang lairs."
"Oh, so no guarantee on seeing a dragon then?"
"and here I thought this town might finally be interesting..." "Just as well... a dragon doesn't sound like the friendly sort."
Valeros shrugs, "No way to tell, Ears." His smile indicates amusement at the offered name. "Frankarwen has never let me down before, but if there's a dragon, I don't know how anyone ever saw it survived."
The older man rolls his eyes, "Like I was saying, Valeros. It's goblins, or men. And where is this cave?"
Kyra touches the holy symbol at her throat and points at what appears to be a curtain of moss falling over the side of a hill. "Is that it?" she asks slowly.
Valeros squints at the moss, "That might actually be it, can't hurt to check. What do you think, Ears?"
"Why are you asking me lover boy? You are the one who got the tip, but in all honesty it could be here. If lover boy doesn't know which cave it is it can't hurt to check."
Valeros looks around, clearly including you in the conversation, "Well, how should we handle this?"
"Well Lover Boy, and Scarf look a little bit noisy and all of you are humans, so why don't you let me peek around inside and tell you what I see. If I do get caught I can always call for help or run outside."
"What do you think of that?"
Valeros appears somewhat conflicted, "I suppose those eyes and ears are more likely to spot anything than anyone else, but how about we all walk to the entrance, then you sneak inside, take a peek, and report back?"
Ezren shrugs in an off-hand way, "We would be closer at hand that way, but I still say there's nothing in that cave at all."
"If nothing is in there whiskers, it shouldn't be a problem to check it out."
Valeros and the others hurry to catch up as you approach the curtain of thick, green moss. To the right of the entrance you notice an old, weathered stone statue of some kind of warrior. As Valeros and Ezren bicker amiably from behind you, the curtain suddenly parts and a pair of small, green creatures with melon-shaped heads and toothy mouths charge out, swinging crude swords. These are goblins, a common pest that lives in these hills. Howling battle cries, they charge to attack.