As the PCs are greeting each other four figures emerge from the hall and begin walking towards them. Kora races behind these figures, rushing to get to the front door first.

The figures include a jaunty male half-elf dressed in lether armor and armed with a half-dozen daggers of different shapes, a dark-skinned dwarf with a sour expression dressed in green and brown robes and clutching a curved spear, an attractive but haughty-looking woman dressed in dark purple robes with a tattoo of a crescent moon on one cheek, and lastly a tall and handsome man dressed in polished breastplate carrying a bastard sword.

Spoiler: Knowledge (Local) DC 15
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These are the Jade Ravens, a mercenary company that has been in the Vanderboren family's employ for several years. The leader is the man in the breastplate, an outdoorsman named Tolin Kientai. The others include Zan Oldavin, the half-elf, Kaskus Kiel, the dwarf, and Liamae Teslikaria, the woman.

The man with the bastard sword walks up, eyeing the PCs pleasantly before saying, "Hmmm. You must be the help Lavinia's bringing in to do the chores. Best of luck to ya!" before leading his companions towards the front door.

Spoiler: Out of Character
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If you would like to interact with these NPCs you may, though at this time they do not have any significant role to play. You will interact with them more in a future adventure - anything you do/say now will have minimal effect on the immediate adventure since they have a different assignment.

Spoiler: If you don't want to interact with these NPCs
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Please un-spoiler the following and post it as a quote at the top of your next post:

Moments after the quartet leaves the manor an attractive young woman opens the door to the private dining hall, greets the PCs, and ushers them into the room for dinner.

Spoiler: Lavinia Vanderboren
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The dining hall is a comfortable and cozy room, softly lit by wall-mounted lanterns. A window overlooks the manor's central courtyard and the carpet is thick and soft. A large portrait hangs on the wall, a fine young man with a short beard. Wearing a long, flowing blue dress, Lavinia Vanderboren smiles as the PCs enter and introduces herself. After several minutes of inconsequential small talk she takes a deep breath and dives into the reason she invited the PCs to dinner:

"Well, as you may have heard, I recently inherited my parent's estate. Along with this fine house, unfortunately, came a large amount of debt - some owed to the Dawn Council, more to the harbormaster, and several smaller amounts to quite a few guildhalls. It seems my parents, for all their success as adventurers, were not as skilled at finance as one might hope. If I'm to get these debts paid, I need access to my family's vault under Castle Teraknian.

And that's the problem, you see. The vault is magically locked - keyed to special signet rings. Both of my parents had these rings, at least, until recently. My mother lost hers a few months ago. She arranged for a replacement, but it won't be done for another month or so - too late for me. This leaves my father's ring. He never wore it - he had a thing about men wearing jewelry. Instead he kept it hidden on his ship, the Blue Nixie. The problem with that is that the harbormaster has seized the ship until someone pays for the last four months of mooring. I've paid the fines to the man the harbormaster's put in charge of my ship, a brute named Soller Vark. Yet when I went to claim my ship, Vark's men wouldn't let me board, claiming that I hadn't yet paid the fines. I spoke to Vark again and he denied ever receiving my payment. My complaints to the harbormaster have fallen on deaf ears - he's a doddering old fool who trusts his man and won't relent.

Vark and his men are up to something on my ship, I know it. What I need is to find out exactly what they're up to. Unfortunately, Vark's not the type to react well to diplomacy or logic. I need someone who speaks his language...which is where you come in. If you can find out what he's using my ship for, or even better, recover the money I paid him, I'll pay each of you 200 gold crowns in return once I've access to my vault.

What do you say? Will you help me?"