
The Halfling came rushing up to you in the Dirty Ditch tavern just as you are finishing your mid day meal wringing her hands, "Oh, you must help me! I think my Uncle Beto is in trouble!"
The Halfling was named Sarah and she owns the Dirty Ditch, you were new to town, but you had met her when she drew ales and brought bowls of stew out for each of you.
"He and I send messages by carrier pigeon, you see, and I just got this message.", Sarah laid the small piece of paper out on the table where you were drinking, it read...
"Help! They're at my door and my magic isn't working! Send help!"
Sarah says, "Uncle Beto is a wizard. He moved out of Mecklingburg a couple months ago to a cottage about a mile north of town. He said he needed privacy for his magical research and the folks here in town kept disturbing him."
Sarah, still wringing her hands, pleaded with you, "Go try to save him, please! I'll pick up your bar tab for a month if you'll do it!"
-----
That was under an hour ago, back at the Dirty Ditch. It was no trouble getting to the cottage. You passed through the Mecklingburg City Gate and went up the road and then down a path to a clearing just as Sarah told you.
You are near the Old Wall that crosses the isthmus that separates Mecklingburg and the peninsula south of it from the mainland. The area south of Mecklingburg is reported to be pretty safe, the area between the town and the Old Wall not too dangerous, but the mainland beyond, well that's dark and deadly country. Of course you're new here so you don't know if what you've been told is true. The whole area could be teeming with all sorts of dangers for all you really know.
However, here you are, looking at a small cottage with a couple of out buildings in a small clearing. You have cover from bushes next to the path so you can observe without being seen. Looking around you see there is thick forest around this clearing, but afternoon sunlight filters through the leaves showing the clearing and its contents clearly. There is an outhouse, a barn...you think...and the cottage. Everything looks normal. Yes, it certainly looks peaceful enough. Why, there is even a trail of smoke rising from the chimney. But wait a minute....the door!
The door appears to have been broken and is hanging half open by one hinge. Something is wrong with this picture...
What do you do?
OOC: So who has come to check on Beto the Wizard...and get a free month of ale? Introduce yourselves and decide what you do next.