Masquerade Castle opened for its second event one week after Golden Axe reached Kildra for the first time.
The Grand Masquerade had begun long before anyone put on a mask.
Five days before the castle opened, registered parties crowded into the small office Giston had established beside the bridge. Gnome clerks sat behind a row of polished desks and handed each party a sealed contract. The targets changed with every event, as did the owners, the guards, and the stories surrounding them.
The Hearthguard opened their envelope at a table in the Sanctuary tavern.
The party contained three warriors, a healer, and a priest whose talents were far more useful when someone was bleeding rather than when a lock needed to be opened. None of them could move silently. Their leader, Marra, wore enough armor to make sneaking across an empty room impractical.
Their contract named the Banner of the River Court.
