"Where could these stones come from?" Helena asks quietly as she moves to one of the boulders. "We didn't see any signs of any sort of catapults or something outside of here, nor any signs on the ground of them having been there and removed." She frowns as she looks around. This is a mystery she has to figure out and tries to rack her brain a to what could have happened here...

Straight int check?: 24

Ryndar checks the two cottages that are south of the village entrance. Both are empty. They have clearly been ransacked by someone: ordinary household items are strewn about everywhere. A boulder has destroyed a section of the one that is further from the gate.

Helena studies the nearest boulder. It must have fallen from a good height to dig into the ground the way it has. There isn’t more kicked up dirt on one side or the other, suggesting that it came from straight above, rather than being catapulted at an angle from outside the village. It definitely hasn’t been there for more than a few days.

"Perhaps the surface is as dangerous as the wilds of the Underdark..." Daerthe mutters to herself, looking towards the building where the sound of the bell is coming from. She considers moving closer but then turns to look at someone else. "So who is going to search for what is making that awful noise?"

"These boulders fell straight down." Helena informs the others. She dusts her hands off after running them over the top of one boulder. "Something dropped these on the village from above, not from a catapult or siege equipment, from directly above.." She informs the others. "Let's move on, maybe check out that bell..."

Great, Bramble thinks to himself. Bramble now divides his attention occasionally looking to the sky. For any shapes of inky blackness that shifts and blocks the stars.

Essie looks up to the sky when she hears Helena talk about how the attack came from above. She stares up at the sky for a few long moments, her head tilted to the side. Well, that makes no sense. Then she blinks a few times and moves to catch up with the others. "Shouldn't there be people?" she murmurs. She might not know much about things like towns and cities, but she's pretty sure she's on the right track here. "If this was an attack of some kind - I mean, even injured or bodies?" 

"None of this is particularly comforting, that is for sure.", Ryndar states, returning from investigating the cottages. "No signs of life in the cottages over there either." He breathes deeply, attempting to focus. "One problem at a time... let's figure out what is ringing that bell."

Ryndar nods towards the sounds, starting to advance carefully towards the racket.

Stealth: 13

Perception: 12

The group begins to move toward what they presume is the temple. The door is on the east end and as you approach, you can see that it is wide open. All is dark within. As Ryndar advances carefully and peers through the door, he can see that the main room seems to be empty. At the far end is a simple altar with a bowl and some candles. A half-open door is on the back wall next to the table. It likely leads to the bell tower, given the placement you observed from outside. 

(What would you like to do? Who will enter?)

Daerthe will slowly make her way into the place, continuing to be as silent as she can while keeping her eyes and ears open for signs of life. "Putting ones life on the line is rather bothersome..."

Stealth: 21

Perception: 8

Helena stays back by the door to outside, letting those more silent, and without a light glowing in their hands, to do the scouting of the place.

Ryndar follows Daerthe into the building, eyes darting around the room attempting to identify threats.

Stealth: 7
Perception: 5

Essie steps just inside the door, following the others inside without much thought. An actual place of worship... Her white eyes dart around the temple, taking it all in.

Perception: 12

Bramble will stay near the light. If there’s no light within and no one enters with light, he’s staying put. He would prefer to go in (strength in numbers and all) but going in blind is worse than guarding the rear.

Helena and Bramble hover anxiously outside the door, as those with darkvision quietly enter the temple. Well, mostly quietly. Ryndar bumps into a small table at the back of the room that he didn’t notice at first. It clunks against the wall, and everyone freezes in place. As they all stand silently for a moment, Essie just makes out the sound of voices coming from the direction of the door at the west end of the room. Is it someone arguing? Possibly. In any case, there doesn’t seem to be any reaction from whoever is beyond that door to the clunking sound.

(What would you like to do?)

(Map: Mansion Furniture Tokens by @2minutetabletop)

"I'll go see what's going on!" Stigandr announces loudly, as he pushes thru the door and further into the room.

"Ho! Whoever is in here, come out and face Stigandr of the Sky Pony tribe!" He brandishes his maul and squares his shoulders, waiting.

With this announcement, the voices rise in agitation for a moment. Then a small figure peers through the doorway, yelling, “Go away, we don’t want any!” in Common. The short humanoid has reddish skin, pointy ears, yellow eyes, and sharp fangs. She wears dark leather armor and has a scimitar at the ready. A second goblin peers over the first one’s shoulder.

"Or we can do things that way..." Ryndar shakes his head, "So much for the element of surprise." Knocking an arrow as he calls back to the group, "We've got goblins, at least 2, probably more."

Responding the goblins, "Tell us what happened to the residents of this town, and we may let you leave unharmed."

((Ryndar readies an attack action if a goblin makes an aggressive move against any of the party))

Daerthe curses as she does her best to stay hidden, keeping her how at the ready, looking between the two goblins to picks target. She waits to see if they come closer, her arrow trained on the second one to come out.

(Ryndar, please roll Intimidation.)

Intimidation: 17