The foot of a broken stone staircase in a mountain setting. There are the first six steps and then nothing else and no more stairs, the stairway leads just to empty air, with the sixth step being broken. It is nighttime and there is a bright moon and a starry sky providing the only light. At the foot of the stairway stands a guard. He is a handsome and athletic man in his thirties, black short hair, clean shaven, blue eyes, in scale mail armor with a lion crest, a sword, he is tall and athletic.