As the second half of the group passes the house, they do their best to be quiet, but they appear to catch the attention of something in the fields. They hear the rustle of dead vines all around. Inhuman shapes emerge from the vineyard, their limbs cracking as they trudge forth through the mist and rain. Their strange, misshapen heads turn to follow the groups progress and they start to move more quickly toward the group. At a glance it looks like there are several groups, possibly five to a group. It looks like, at the rate they are approaching, they will reach the group in two turns.

Eithne makes her way inside through the western door. Bare hooks line the walls of this storage room. Shelves to the south hold several pairs of stained wooden sandals with oversized soles. Both doors to this room hang open. The one to the west is fitted with iron brackets and leads outside into the rain. Lying on the floor next to it is a five-foot-long wooden beam. Moving to the far door, she looks through and notices the rich smell of fermenting wine filling this large, two-story chamber. It is dominated by four enormous wooden casks, each one eight feet wide and twelve feet tall. A wooden staircase in the center of the room climbs to a ten-foot-high wooden balcony that clings to the south wall, which has four windows set into it at balcony level. Stacked against the wall underneath the balcony are old, empty barrels with “The Wizard of Wines” burned into their sides. The balcony climbs another five feet as it continues along the west and east walls, ending at doors leading to the winery’s upper level. Underneath these side balconies are several doors, some of which hang open. Beneath the sloping roof stretch thick rafters, upon which scores of ravens have quietly gathered. They watch you with great interest. 

The balcony creaks, drawing your eye to a wild-looking figure hunched over the westernmost cask, pouring a flask of thick syrup into it. She wears a gown made of animal skins and a headdress with goat horns, and her hair is long and unkempt. Suddenly, you see something skittering across the floor. It looks like a tiny creature made of twigs. It moves from its hiding place under the stairs and disappears behind the easternmost cask.

"I...  was talking to Bran " Lenn says to Nikolai "And I do not want to argue either but I'll always welcome you to speak your... " he stops mid sentence "Watch out. I think we've spotted.." he says seeing the approaching figures.

- Hey, l hope that goes for me, too - the bard says regarding being welcome to speak one's mind. He's not saying it seriously, but rather in a light and mostly joking way, trying to lighten the not so light mood that had seemed to come upon them moments before. 

But suddenly they, along with Cole, see the figures that are approaching and everything else falls in importance. 

- Well, fu...! Guys!? Change of plans!?? Run inside, lock the doors somehow and deal with the druids inside while trying to let these creatures out??

Bran stands ready to run for the west door.

(OOC: I've moved my token a little bit towards the house, just 5 feet in diagonal, merely to match my narration. Not going to move anymore for the moment as I want to wait to see if Lenn/Cole/Nikolai agree with entering the house).

Eithne stealthily approaches the savage figure hunched over the westernmost barrel, taking care not to give himself away in haste.

'How to lure her this one out, where the others are quietly waiting in all safety...' the savage stranger begins to think, but her keen hearing picks up worrying snatches of conversation coming from the companions outside.

"Wa...out....spotted"
"Well, fu... ange in plans.. druids insi... tures out??"

'We're in trouble Eithne!' the voices in her head promptly speak.
'They didn't see you! Get away and run away!'
'You are more important than…'
'We all know by now that she won't!' mentally sighs one of the voices, possibly more lucid or more resigned than the others 'she's attached to this motley crew almost as much as to us ... We're in her head... we all know what she's about to do'.
'That?! Eithne... you sure? You... Do you really think it's a good idea!?'

'Outside, my friends – who I care for more as…' she begins to retort the last of the dusk elf maidens mentally, but she corrects herself '…who I care for as much as I care for you, they've probably been spotted! Which means there's something there. Whether they decide to fight this 'something' outside, or decide to hide in here, it is clear that the druid up there is one too much. He needs to be taken care of quickly. So, instead of criticizing my idea so much... do you have any better ones?'

The savage stranger meanwhile continued to sneak up on the druid, taking care to keep out of sight of the easternmost cask (behind which she has seen the twig-creature hiding).

(OOC: Moved Eithne's placeholder on map. Did only one simple movement, because I think dash would not be that much stealthy...)

(OOC: I hadn't moved Lucian on the map yet because I was waiting for Chara to move, since she wanted to be in the middle. I'm assuming she'll still be in front of me, but I also figured we both would have followed Eithne at least part of the way into the building. So I moved him into a spot where Chara could put herself in front of him again without fully entering the room if she wants to.)

Lucian peers inside, staying behind Chara yet also preparing to push past her in case combat ensued. However, his thoughts are interrupted by the shouts behind him, and he turns to see his companions in the other group looking at something in the distance. Whispering to Chara he says, "Uh... should we help them? Or should we continue on? Not sure if they want to try and get in here before whatever they are looking at catches up or not... though if we don't deal with that threat now it might be worse once we are inside..." He glances back inside, trying to find where Eithne went without much success. "Should we go in after Eithne? It doesn't sound like she's been spotted yet, but there is suppose to be a druid in there somewhere... If...if the others try to come this way, then they will probably give away our element of surprise while trying to escape whatever's coming their way."

(OOC: just in case, Bran wouldn't really be shouting. He'd be talking in a more anxious manner after seeing what's coming, but not really shouting. Regarding Eithne hearing some muffled words, that works for me)

Chara hesitates for a moment... then she sighs.

"I think we'd better go in after Eithne," she whispers back after a moment. "It's probably best to... to..."

She can't bring herself to say out loud that they're going to have to kill the corrupted Druid while they still have the element of surprise, but she's thinking it. A shudder runs down her spine, her tail swishing back and forth nervously.

"I know Eithne can handle herself, but she's still only one person... I'm sure the others will be okay, especially if we... well... if we... if we do what needs to be done quickly."

She looks utterly miserable right now, but the she-devil also looks determined. She knows what has to be done to help this family and bring some semblance of balance back to the broken land.

Lucian nods, "Okay..." He hesitates, taking note of Chara's tone of voice and realizing she's still thinking about...killing. He can also tell though that she is determined, and tries to cling to his own determination. Briefly touching her shoulder he says, "We can do this... Right?" He gives a smile that looks half-nervous and half like he's trying to boost Chara's confidence, before turning his attention back to the room ahead of them. "Well... uh... let's get in there before Eithne get's to far ahead of us... Do...do you want me to go ahead? Or are you still more comfortable with me behind you?" 

Chara hesitates for a brief moment.

"You should probably go ahead of me," she says. "I know that I'm not especially useful in close-quarters combat... let's just... get this over with so that we can get back to help the others."

Chara follows closely behind Lucian as they enter the building.

Looking at the number of creatures limping their way Lenn nods to Bran's words. 

"We better take them in our terms. Their numbers will be and advantage in open field. I follow you " he says to his companions "Just let me see if I can slow them for a little.. " 

With that Lenn closes his eyes and waves his hand towards one of the creatures and mouths a prayer. There is a small flash of light on his hand, among his extended fingers. Suddenly, a burst of flames appears at the feet of one of them. 

( Lenn will move with the others but will cast Sacred Flame. DEX ST dc 13 or suffer 5 radiant damage Just testing the waters ;) )

(OOC: So if I understand correctly, Chara and Lucian's tokens should be moved close to Eithne's and they'll begin their attack on the balcony druid. At the same time, Bran/Niko/Cole/Lenn's tokens should be moved inside -  and Lenn will be the last one entering -, next to the west door, and they lock it with the wooden beam. Is this right? For the moment, I've moved  Bran's token to reflect this.)

Nikolai agrees with Lenn that they need to force the wooden onslaught to come through a bottleneck of some sort in order to even the odds.  Inside seems like the best option.

(Eithne, please make a stealth check again; Lucian and Chara, please make one as well if you are going to be in the fermentation room (you can also move your token where you would like it to be in the house))

I've added the second floor of the house so you can see where the druid is.

(Lenn, Nikolai, Cole, and Bran, please roll initiative; Bran, I'm moving you out for now because I believe that Lucian and Chara would have gone in before you and I want to give them first pick of where to be)

Quote from LorenzotheGreat >>

(Eithne, please make a stealth check again...

Again? OK, if I must... Stealth: 6

Bran's initiative (game log)= 15

(and roger that!)

As Eithne begins to climb the stairs, the second step creaks loudly underneath her weight. She quickly attempts to shift her balance elsewhere, but it is too late. When she looks up, the druid is staring at her. The druid begins to giggle.

Eithne (and anyone in the room with her) please roll initiative.

Eithne's initiative: 17

Is it worth it to roll another Stealth check at this point?

(Certainly! If the druid doesn't notice you, they won't attack you and you'll get advantage on your first attack. They'll be rolling Perception, but if your stealth beats it, there are benefits)

(Having said that, if you are running to the middle of an open area, they'll see you. But if you are sneaking around under the balcony, they may not.)