GM - Alarven will take a deep breath, square up, and reach for the door handle.

He will attempt again to jostle the door free, more firmly this time than his tentative push before.

If met with impassable resistance again... Alarven would attempt to shoulder the door open with his body weight instead.

Telorn moves away from the door to stand by the stairs in case the floor nearby collapses. He still keeps an eye on the rest of the room and the ceiling in case anything comes in from the night sky.

With a mighty heave and a welcome word of encouragement from Telorn, the door is forced from the loving embrace of its frame and goes tumbling down, revealing a bedroom that now houses the remains of the roof.

Alarven will cautiously move into the new bedroom, looking around this room- and testing his footing very carefully before trusting the floors.

I would like to be looking specifically for signs of habitation in the last few years here in the (left bedroom). if I can move safely to the broken wall area that goes into the (top room) and (bottom room), I want to glance into those as well.

I'm not necessarily trying to inventory the rooms like looting them, this place has been abandoned a while. I'm seeing if it looks like the area has been disturbed, debris moved out of the way, clean corners to lay down in, etc...

Alarven can be heard moving around the upstairs, the floor boards creaking ominously and the occasional muttered curse as debris slides out from underfoot.

Neldi listens to the ruckus upstairs for a moment, making sure there isn't any screaming, and then proceeds to check the door in the righthand wall of the dining room.

Turning to Telorn, "It should be safe to go tell Neldi to finish checking out the house. I will stay up here for a bit, to keep an eye out. Nothing up here but us and the squirrels."

Alarven will move carefully back into the left room-

Sending Telorn down with their torch, so he's not obvious silhouetted in the collapsed roof hole-

and keep an eye towards the ravine they came thru and the trees above.

Neldi enters the remains of the kitchen. The shelving has long collapsed and the remains of the butcher block work table has collapsed in the middle of the room. The stone oven is a bit covered in old vines, but appears to still be in good shape.

A set of stairs is off to Neldi's immediate right and seem to lead down into a basement. The remains of the door to his left, and part of the wall, opens out to the backyard of the place.

Neldi stays in the doorway from the dining room into the kitchen, holding his torch and looking back and forth between the back door and the basement stairs.  "Kalve, come here, I need your eyes for a moment," he calls and waits for the fellow to come.
This message was lightly edited by the player at 17:28, Tue 18 May 2021.

Telorn comes downstairs carrying his own torch. "Nothing up there for a long time."

sure thing boss, but I thought we came out here to look at gems not rotting houses

Moves to assist Neldi

"I'm more worried about what might be in the house right now," Neldi says and advances into the kitchen. "Watch the stairs down while I check out the back door."

Checking out the back door with the torch, looking for anyone or anything hiding back there.

okay dokey
Sneaks over beside basement door

Kalve quietly moves to the top of the staircase that leads down into the basement, realizing there isn't a door there. Meanwhile, Neldi looks out into the backyard.

After checking the backyard, Neldi has Kalve reposition in the dining room, just outside the kitchen door, telling him, "Keep watch in the room, make sure nobody sneaks in from the back or up out of the basement."

With that taken care of for now, he goes to check behind the last door on the ground floor.

Alarven, left on the second floor without a light (albeit by his own design) keeps an eye on the ravine ridge lines to see if he can spot more tree movement.

Moves to where instructed

The door opens with relative ease to show what was once the office of the mine owner. The bookshelves and desk have thoroughly rotted, the remains of papers are scattered about and several small rodent nests can be spotted in the debris.

After giving the room a quick once-over, Neldi calls Alvaren down from the 2nd floor and assembles everyone in the dining room.

"The only place we haven't gone over yet is the basement," he says quietly.  "Menden, I want you to stay here, stay out of sight and keep watch through the doors to make sure no one sneaks in the front without us knowing. The rest of you, come with me into the kitchen, and I'll check the basement. Be prepared to come down if..."

Neldi trails off and swallows hard before straightening his back and continuing, "If anyone is down there, I'll likely need help, so be ready. Questions or suggestions?"  He looks around at the small group.

Alarven looks around the kitchen with an appraising look, "I saw what looks like an old library open, at the bottom of the stairs... Have we seriously found no signs of activity other than the burning fireplace yet? I don't want to seem like we are inviting trouble or being too cautious... But if no one is down there, what's next?"

"Then we keep our guard up and rest in shifts until dawn, and continue to stay alert while we check out the mine."

do we want to see if there is an outdoor entrance to basement

Move back to kitchen

Menden nods when told what to do, “I’ll do what I can.  If there is a library and we don’t get murdered in the next few minutes I can take a look through it tonight.  Along with that folio.”

"There's an entrance to the basement outside as well, alongside the kitchen, I'm not too worried about it, though." Neldi steps closer to Kalve and lowers his voice to a whisper, "I want you to go out the back door and stand at the corner of the building to watch it, don't go down the stairs." He raises his voice to normal conversational levels again, "Ok, let's finish checking this place out, then."

Everyone has marching orders now, so I'd like to go ahead and move to the stair and start down after Kalve gets in position outside.

The staircase down to the basement is choked with debris, but Neldi picks his way through it. The cellar is partially collapsed, but appears to be stable at the current time. Along one wall, a crumbling wine rack still stands, although age has left a pile of empty and broken bottles at its base.