"The wizard said it before I could. I told them nothing except that which was needed and will offer no more then that to you." Daerthe says in a way that is not insulting but is more directly to the point.

Over at the bridge, Bramble the Spider gets a good start on his web. Despite his personal inexperience with being a spider, the form itself seems to retain its skills and know-how. The strands of sticky webbing shoot across the gap and adhere to the bridge on the far side. As expected, it will take some time to have enough webbing for secure passage.

Meanwhile, Kella gives Helena and Daerthe each a thoughtful look for a moment. “I’m surprised at your mistrust. But I applaud it. Most people foolishly blather on about their personal business at the slightest excuse. And I understand why you don’t remember what I told you about myself. At the time, you were mostly concerned with the mystery of the cloud giant attack. Perhaps I am a fool, but I will tell you my story again: I am a monk of the Sunrise Spire, traveling to connect with and learn from other followers of Lathander. I asked about your group, because I’m curious about your skills and motivations. You found a village under attack, competently took care of the goblins, and have stayed to explore further. You, too, could simply head on to Daggerford or Waterdeep or wherever your business takes you. Yet here you are.”

The last time Kella told her story, it seemed plausible. This time (based on passive Insight), something seems off to all three of you. She seems genuinely curious about your group and approving of your careful mistrust and your handling of the goblins. But she rattles off her story about being a monk as if it is a carefully rehearsed line.

Bramble knew that the web he would weave to bridge the span would not have the elegance of the webs he had seen in the wild but he had seen how the strands supported each other, strengthening the whole. He remembers watching how the spiders would cross their own webs testing the strength of their handiwork and add supporting strands to areas that appeared weaker. The natural instinct to build the web was strong and, in this case, guided by the higher intellect to create the structure not to catch insects and to survive wind, but to allow passage across the gap.

Bramble is not a perfectionist but he will use as much time as he needs to make the structure sound.  He will even, given he has the time, go so far as to shore up both lengths of the wooden bridge by adding strands of support webbing to their under girders.

"And, as I don't believe you are who and what you say you are, we are at an impasse." Helena points out with a shake of her head. "I'm starting to wonder if you had something to do with all of this honestly."

Daerthe gives the woman a cold glare as she crosses her arms but instead moves to watch the giant spider construct a bridge. Upon seeing it her hand moves towards her neck where a necklace of some kind may have once been. It quickly drops though and her normal angered expression darkens considerably.

Kella smiles and answers, “Once again, I am impressed. I suppose the monk bit wasn’t really a very good story. Truth be told, I wasn’t that invested in it. But here’s what you do need to know: I had nothing to do with the cloud giant attack. What could they possibly need from me? Could I throw one of these boulders? Or dig up the Nightstone? My business here is completely unrelated.” At this point, she drops the smile, her eyes narrow, and she leans in a little. “All I will say about that right now is that you had best not interfere. My friends would be very unhappy to arrive and find that I had come to any harm.” She turns and begins to saunter away, back toward the trading post. This conversation has all been happening just south of the fenced field that lies between the trading post and the cottages you were planning to investigate.

Helena waits until the woman is far enough away not to overhear.  “We have bigger issues.” She tells those with her.  “She.”  Helena nods in the direction the woman just went.  “Has friends coming.  I don’t know if we want to face whomever that is, without some preperationns.”  She looks up towards the keep.  “If there are allies up there still, that might be nice to know, but, otherwise, we need a way to know when these others will be arriving...”  She looks back towards the trading post thoughtfully.  “If I could summon my familiar, with those items I took from there, then I could have that familiar keep an eye out for anyone coming up the single road.”  She turns back to the others.  “Thoughts?”

"My thought is that we should end her and make it look as though the goblins were blessed with enough luck to end her. Threats should not be allowed to fester or else it will become problem later." Daerthe says as she moves to pull her bow from her shoulder, ready to fire an arrow into the human's back.

“We don’t know enough about her to do that.”  Helena says with a shake of her head.  “It might delay us a bit longer, but I’d like to take an hour now to summon my familiar, and have them keep watch on the road.”

Essie watches the stranger walk away, then looks at the other two. "If we find a secure location for you to work, Dee and I can guard you while you - summon a familiar?" She wrinkles her nose, then shakes her head. Not worth questioning now, not when there are more important things at hand. "But I'd rather not attack Kella until we know what's going on. The friends she mentioned arriving... we should tell the others, too."

"Very well but if we are forced to deal with her then know that it would have been wise to do so now." Daerthe says as she sets her bow back into place, moving to sit against as they wait for the bridge to be constructed.

(Just for clarification: The women were all heading toward the cottages in the east when you had the conversation with Kella. The back of the trading post is about 20 feet west of you, the nearest cottage is about 20 feet east of you, and the edge of the bridge is about 80 feet southwest of you. Kella has disappeared around the corner of the trading post. You can see Ryndar and Stigandr watching a giant spider spinning strands of web across the gap in the bridge. Does Helena want to cast Find Familiar right here or move somewhere else first? And what do the others want to do while she casts it?)

(While she's casting, Essie will stand guard over her and keep an eye out for any type of attacks/people approaching. Just guarding our squishy wizard.)

Helena will continue on to the cottages they were going to go and check out.  She will start the ritual inside of one of those cottages.

Helena continues over to the cottages east of the trading post. (It sounds like Essie will follow. Does Daerthe? Or does she go to the bridge?) The first cottage seems to have avoided damage from boulders and looting by goblins. It has shutters over the windows and rows of intricate runes burned into the front door. A boulder has smashed into half of the second cottage, further to the north. There are flowers all around this one, both in a small garden and in flowerpots.

Daerthe will go with them just to see if she can continue to find something that may catch her eye.

Quote from Karmoli >>

Helena continues over to the cottages east of the trading post. (It sounds like Essie will follow. Does Daerthe? Or does she go to the bridge?) The first cottage seems to have avoided damage from boulders and looting by goblins. It has shutters over the windows and rows of intricate runes burned into the front door. A boulder has smashed into half of the second cottage, further to the north. There are flowers all around this one, both in a small garden and in flowerpots.

 (What would you like to do?)

Helena will move to the second cottage and will do her ritual there.

Essie enters the cottage before Helena, scoping out the situation. Never quite forgetting that there was a second goblin, and they haven't seen neither hide nor hair of them yet. Overall, she wants to make sure that the cottage is safe and secure enough for them to take a break there.

Perception: 24

Helena ignores the first cottage and moves on to the other. As she approaches, Essie swoops in ahead of her to make sure that it is safe. The boulder appears to have crashed through the front room in the house, but a simple cooking area and bedroom are intact. Given the small size of the furniture, it looks like a family of halflings or gnomes lived here. Like other buildings, the place has clearly been searched by goblins, but they left behind some items that suggest that someone in the family was an apothecary: a mortar and pestle on a table, a few empty vials and flasks, etc. Some drying herbs and flowers hang from the ceiling. As Essie searches through the house, she notices a loose floorboard under the kitchen table. Would she like to investigate further?