You might use Meril as a character if you need an extra one. Whoever plays Meril will need to be aware of their weakness compared to the other characters. He may be more appropriate for more experienced players because of this.
Meril knows how to play the piano in the drawing room, and knows the family song by heart.
If they find the treasure after great danger, Meril will give them a finder’s fee of 10% of the coins. If he’s impressed and grateful, he’ll give them up to six of the Courlander gold rings.
“We don’t have any official records. When word got out that the Colonel was dead, and his lieutenants with him, the army scattered back to their homes. The goblins attacked Lisport a few days later. The town was destroyed. My great-grandfather came back after the battle to bury the family, then he retired to Lisport House and our manor here in Fork. It was all we had left.”
“It was chaos. He didn’t even know who he buried. By the time they got back, only one of the twins’ bodies could be found.”
“Yes, that’s the poem. It wasn’t an axe, though. She used a knife. And we don’t really know anything. All we have is the word of one servant who survived the attack. Honestly, we don’t even really know who did it if the servant’s account is right. Meryl and Melody were twins. One of them died, and one of them disappeared.”
“There had to be some treasure. The armies were volunteer armies but they still needed to be paid occasionally. But a cache hidden all these years? From goblins, looters, and my own family searching for it? I doubt it. The treasure was probably a chest of coins long plundered by the night trolls.”
“I thought I saw her once... my crazy aunt. Out in the garden, I was only nine or ten. Our parents used to take us out here at least once a year. They’d get us dressed in the morning, we’d set out early, see the house and Arn, and play in the garden. Then we’d go home late, spending the night on the river. One of those days, bright, sunny, and peaceful, I looked up in the upper window and saw a pale face staring down at us. I cried, I can tell you that, and it was gone. I had nightmares about that for years.”
“I don’t know if you can prove a curse from two deaths, but it’s not a lucky place.”