In the antechamber, the servant ushers you forward. "Welcome, honored guests. You are most timely. My Lord awaits within. I would ask you to leave your weapons here, but I know your Oath. We honor the pact, but if you must carry them please refrain from any sudden movements. There will be crossbows trained on you at all times. This way please."

The master servant claps his hands and double doors open, allowing you to pass. Within is a grand hall of arched stone and skylights. No amber torches are needed to light this place.

"My Lord Davenish. May I present the Free Company from Verum."

Davenish is a portly man with a tight-cropped black beard and piercing eyes. He rises from behind a long meeting table bedecked in bowls and dishes of fine food.

"The Ratcatchers. Good. I trust you're rested?" Without waiting for a reply he continues, "Your service to my town is noted, but I must ask something else of you."

He looks disgustedly at a bowl of fruit set to the side of the table and slams his fist next to it. He plucks a now crushed insect up.

"Cockroaches. They're everywhere. This town has an infestation. Not this kind of bug though. Something more insidious and harder to kill. Have you heard of The Piper?"

You shake your heads.

"A cult leader, a traitor," Davenish continues. "He preys on the weak-minded and draws them to him with promises of streets full of food and iron if they will but join him in overthrowing the natural order of things. His gang of thugs has been attacking my patrols and sacked several shops. He must be stopped. Without the natural order, where lords shepherd the people, the peasantry would collapse into anarchy. They cannot rule themselves, let alone others. The ignorant fool, he would doom us all. There will be blood in the streets, and it won't be on my hands."

"No town or city can survive a civil war with the Deepwood at the gates. So I ask you, will you break from hunting witches and boogeymen to run this man to ground? I know this is not your contract here, but I will see you handsomely rewarded for your efforts. This town has stood for over five hundred years and never once has the line of lords broken faith with the pact. Now the town needs you. Will YOU break faith with it?"