Razi follows Nelyna into the... den?  He is drawn to the wolf mounts.  Monstrous wolves in the forest.  Children who hear howls from the basement.  Now stuffed and lifelike wolves inside the den.  None of this settles the growing sensation that things are terribly wrong here.  Razi will approach the wolf mounts with his glowing hammer, inspecting them to see if there is anything unusual or that might provide a clue as to who or what they are dealing with... Investigation: 1

Jim raises an eyebrow.

"Oh really?" he says. "Except you're not in your room now are you? You're out here alone in the darkness, without your parents around. You also said that the monster was in the basement, so wouldn't they come looking for you in your bedroom and not out here?"

Jim thinks for a moment looking up at the house and back at the children before looking around the town. Something just didn't seem quite right. This town was mostly abandoned, they had seen that walking through it, and the houses on either side of their house were abandoned as well.

Their house clearly had seen better days as well. Almost as if no one had been looking after it, like as if no one had been living in it. Two children standing alone in the middle of a street in a town that was mostly abandoned... Jim didn't like it, not one bit.

He looks at the small children and believing he finally understood what was going on, he forces a friendly smile across his face.

"Say, that's a great little toy that you are holding there, could I have a look at it?"

Jim hold out an empty hand out to the small boy in front of him, waiting to see if the boy would place the toy in his hand.

(Persuasion: 23)

Caine sticks with Nelyna and Razi as they go through the hunter's den. Patting one of the stuffed wolves as he enters.

"Plenty of these wolves to go around," Caine says. "Maybe the parents captured one of those big dire wolves out in the forest and locked it up downstairs."

If there's any wood in the fireplace, or beside it, Caine will start a fire, then pour some wine and give it a good sniff and look to see if its vinegary or not. If it's not too pungent smelling he'll give it a taste too.

Finally he takes a look a the locked sports cabinet.

"Quick peak won't hurt, right?" Caines asks the air.

He kneels down, pulls out a small set of thin tools and sets to work on the lock.

Thieve's Tools: 25  (assuming using Dex is okay).

Caine's happy moment of accomplishment when the cabinet swings open, quickly turns to disgust as the wine in his mouth changes to blood. He spits it back into his cup.

Con Save: 9  

Jim is surprised to see that the toy is in fact corporal. He turns the toy around in his hands examining it. Maybe his suspicions were wrong after all, but something still didn't sit right with him.

"It really is a lovely toy. What's his name?"

Without waiting for a reply, Jim then hands the toy back to the small boy with a small friendly smile. Then he looked back at the house, peeing in through the door.

"Anyway, my friends are already in your big house. And they haven't encountered any monsters yet. How about the three of us go inside? It will be warmer in there. We will just sit on the stairs whilst we wait for your parents and my friends to defeat that monster.

What do you say?"

(Persuasion: 21)

Nelyna is studying the mounted wolf heads when she hears a choking noise. She turns to find Caine spitting something back into a wine goblet.

"Are you all right? Was the wine bad?" she asks, grateful that she hadn't thought to try it yet. "Were you able to unlock that cabinet?" 

She crosses the room and turns to peer into the unlocked cabinet. 

Razi puzzles over the wolves for a moment. 

Oh.  These aren't stuffed wolves at all.  Just fakes.  No... wait... 

But before he can stand in confusion any longer, he hears Caine unlock the cabinet.  He is about to chastise him for snooping, but remains quiet.  His unease in the home outweighs his unease over the distastefulness of B&E.

Missing Caine spit the wine, Razi instead moves closer to the fire.  "No one seems to be home.  Perhaps we should rest here a bit beside this fire before we explore the rest of the house?  Monster or no, I would prefer to face this town's secrets at full strength."

 "I could use a rest."

Caine flops down in one of the chairs by the fireplace.

"Oh yeah, you could say that," Caine finally responds to Nelyna. "Started out fine but over the course of a second it turned to vinegar and then tasted like blood. Now I feel like I'm going to throw up."

(Would vote short rest until we've explored more of the house, just to make sure it's safe to settle down longer).

Jim leads the children to the front of the house and calls into everyone else, "So what's going on any sign of these kids parents or what?"

Jim then turns around and sits down just outside the house facing the two children.

"I don't think we even introduced ourselves. My name is Jim and what do your parents call you?"

Caine: HD 9  and Saving Throw: 16  

Caine dozes a bit and kicks some dirt off his boots. He reaches for the wine again and almost pours it before he remembers what happened.

As a bit of time passes, he starts to feel better and a smile returns to his face.

After he rests a bit, he goes back to the cabinet and takes out the hand crossbow, weighing it to check its balance.

Overhearing Jim’s conversation, Razi will try to maintain a friendly conversation with the kids in the other room through the doorway.  “Rosavalda and Thornboldt… Rose and Thorn… Those are fantastic names.  It’s a pleasure to meet you both.  My name is Razikiel, but everyone calls me Razi.  I’m sure this is all very scary for you two but we will do what we can to help.  Is there anything you can tell us about your house?  Where is the basement, exactly?  We haven’t been able to find the stairs down.”