Vault Beneath the Sable Steps

You find a small, dust-choked vault beneath a collapsed stairwell — no guardians remain, only the press of age and the faint scent of old oil. The vault looks like a waystation: trunks for a merchant caravan, a battered chest with a simple ward (already sprung), and a locked niche that once held curios for trade. The party's careful search turned up a mix of usable craft goods, a few gemstones and trinkets, two helpful potions, a 2nd‑level spell scroll, and one modest magic blade — the sort of cache a mid-tier dungeon (or a caravan's secret storeroom) would conceal for traders who never returned.