Chapter 1: Willowdark, a Village Repressed

Corman's the man in charge. He's deeper in the wood, in a small hut. He's just a bandit, a sneakthief. We don't know nothin' about no armies no how. the man stammers, fear clear on his face.

Shut yer hole Dwalik. They don' need to be knowin' that.

As you get closer, you see that it is a hinge of some sort, on strips of heavy looking wood. All in all, you can see a circle seven or eight inches across of the material.

It appears to be pretty normal metal and wood. Oak, perhaps maple. It's hard to tell in this light. You do see that a bit of moss is grown onto the wood.

I... I have no idea. Let's see if we can easily open it?

As you look at the wood, you realize opening the hinge side is silly and likely any opening would be the other side. You do discover that as you bump the wood, the dirt around the edge falls away revealing more wood.

Your foot meets a resounding thump and some dirt does fall away. You see on the left edge a sharp corner, like that of a chest or crate. Judging by size, the total thing is maybe 14 inches across, all told (assuming that the two hinges you can see are the only two and that the other side is equidistant from the hinge as the first side).

The dirt falls away pretty easily when you start digging with your hands. In a few moments you uncover a small-ish chest. It appears to be oak planks with polished hardware. There is a hefty looking lock through the hasp on the front.