Down the Murder Hole

Nearly a century ago, the Imperium withdrew from its more isolated provinces and abandoned the border tower known locally as Goblinwatch. Nearly forty years ago, a group of bandits occupied the tower and threatened the region until they were brutally exterminated by a wandering band of adventurers. Twenty years ago, reports of haunting and demon possession in the ruins lead a roving monk to exorcise the ruins in a night of flashing lights and terrifying sounds that have convinced the locals to stay away from the hill - although everything of value had been picked clean roughly five minutes after the Imperial legions left, and surely by the time the adventurers were done mopping up the bandits. Even so, two weeks ago a rowdy band of freebooters came through Keppelshire, boasting about the treasure they were going to pull out of Goblinwatch. The locals watched with amusement as the rich kids went up the hill full of vim and vigor; but they never came back down...

Two days ago, a courier passed through Keppelshire. One of the missing adventurers had been some relation to a Lord High Mucky Muck down in Arl's Grange, and he's looking for his relative. Last night, you and some similarly distressed compatriots were drinking in the tavern and the subject of gold in the dark earth came up. If Goblinwatch is empty, then what happened to the rich kids? And more importantly, were they right about the treasure the fortress holds?