Alarven nods, moving up the passage a bit to catch up with the others, aiming to stay about 10 feet behind Neldi.

Advance towards cabin staying inline with Neldi

Telorn glances back up the ravine but starts carefully moving down towards the cabin.

You set off into the cul-de-sac, the cliffs on either side of you as you approach, makes the darkness of the night seem even closer, more claustrophobic. Your thoughts wander a bit as you realize that if anyone were on those cliffs...well, best to keep your thoughts on what you know, right?

You near where the cul-de-sac opens, mere paces from where the remnant of the fence stand as a delineation rather than a barrier. The gate stands wide open and the state of the ruin before you becomes a little clearer.

A modest dwelling squats in the middle of the cul-de-sac, cliffs tower over the sides and rear of the structure. The rough stone walls of the first floor look mostly intact, the second floor has completely collapsed. Rubble and dense weeds choke the yard.

Made of smooth stone blocks, this building stands in shambles. Thick vines creep up the side and most of the windows are broken. The front door hangs open, barely on its hinges, under a sagging and partially collapsed porch.

The source of the firelight is now much clearer, it emanates from the fireplace on the left side of the house. It's weak light illuminates the room it resides in and the partially collapsed walls of that room give easy access to your probing eyes. What can be seen is little more than the ruins of a long abandoned building. Rotting furniture casts wavering shadows across the walls, and piles of debris cover the floors.

The firelight grows weaker still as it gets further from its source, the collapsed porch does nothing to help in your endeavor. Visibility through the front door and the broken window between it and the holes in the fireplace wall, is not as easy. The broken windows to the right of the front door are completely dark, anything could be standing there, watching you, waiting.

Are you continuing on?

Neldi continues past the gate, stopping just off the porch. "Hail in the building," he calls out.  "We don't want to quarrel, just looking for a place to rest the night."

The wind through the trees above the ravine and the soft crackle of the fireplace are the only response Neldi receives.

Neldi steps up on the porch and approaches the door, peering into the dimly lit interior.

Perception? or am I getting stabbed in the face and don't need to look around anymore?

Small mounds of debris litter the floor of the building’s interior. Loose stones, dead weeds, and grime cover virtually every surface. Paintings must have once adorned the place as indicated by the particular stain patterns marring the walls. The only light comes from the fireplace in the room to the left.

A stair case heading up to the collapsed second floor is further in on the right. At the end of the room is a set of double doors. To your immediate right is another door.

Map will be pinned in Discord

Neldi walks slowly into the main room of the building, testing the floor as he goes and angling for the fireplace.

He makes it into the room with the fireplace. Not a single instance of falling through the floor can be found.

Assuming nothing attacks me...

Neldi pulls a torch from his backpack and lights it at the fire, looking around the side-room before walking back out into the main room.

Moving back into the main part of the living room, Neldi can see the staircase directly across from him, the double doors to his left, the side door next to the front door, and the front door where he sees the pale faces of his companions as they watch him brave the ruin.

Neldi takes a minute, standing in the center of the room and looking around at the dirt and debris on the floor with the added light of his torch, looking for footprints that aren't his own and other signs of recent use.


15:55, Today: Neldi rolled 4 using 1d20.  Perception.
Gonna assume I see nothing, I know nothing.

He looks back at the fellows at the door, "Do any of you want to come in and help me look around?  I'll understand if you would rather wait..."

Alarven turns to his companions, and gestures for the stair. "Right then, can I have a volunteer to check upstairs with me? If I'm to find trouble, I wish to find it with a friend at my back."

Alarven will move to the staircase, and visibly be waiting for one of his companions to join him before he moves upstairs.

While taking a moment for the others to decide who will come with him, he addresses Neldi. "Assuming I don't find any houseguests upstairs... I will probably take up watch up there. If you have to fire the house, give us a solid shout before you put the torch to the place, alright?" Alarven's last remark seems full of humor dry enough to use as tinder.

Telorn swallows and steps inside away from the front door. He clutches his club and watches the side door.

"Here, light one of your torches from mine," Neldi holds his out to the man.

"I'll go with you," Teloen says as he makes he way towards the stairs.

Alarven waits for Telorn to get his torch lit, and cautiously ascends the stairs leaving Neldi, Menden, and Kalve below.

do you need Telorn and I to make Perception tests as we head upstairs? I am checking each step as we ascend before putting full weight on it, because part of the building has collapsed or seen better days.

Neldi opens the double doors, one of which twists out of his grasp as its hinges give way and it collapses to the floor. The room appears to have once been a sizeable dining room, but the furniture is all but rotted away. A door sits in the wall to the right.

Alarven and Telorn head upstairs, each step seeming to be the one that will give way and cause the whole structure to collapse. Stepping over debris from the collapsed roof does nothing to ease the mind.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:33, Mon 17 May 2021.

"Try not to step on the bits of roof there, Telorn - If you twist your ankle, I'm not carrying you downstairs." Alarven comments dryly, gesturing to the collapsed roof and walls to their right.

After giving a glance through the shattered bedroom, Alarven shakes his head and mutters out, "Could have sent a guide. Should have sent a carpenter. Might have sent a guard. Sent a tailor..." before turning his attention instead to the left side, closed door, and tests to see if it is locked or jammed.

The door doesn't budge, could be debris behind it or it could be swollen shut, definitely not locked.

Following Neldi, looking about each room we enter.

trying to make sure we do not step thru floor, looking for tracks other than party

Alarven calls out down the stairs, "If you're in the room beyond the main room by the stairs... Watch your head. I'm going to try and force a stuck door soon."

“I’ll watch the way we came then.  The signal can be a bloodcurdling scream if anyone needs help.”  He watches out the door the way they came trying to have some sort of cover from outside.

Neldi calls back to Alarven, "Go ahead!"