“Thank you,” Taiga says politely to Mila as she passes through the door into the darkness of Urgon’s home. She always had wanted to come and visit him in his home, he had invited her often, but she had always put it off as something that had still time. How wrong she had been. Emerging tears didn’t help much to adjust her eyes to the new light conditions when she entered, but at least no one was likely to notice the tears, too. “Right,” she replies croaking to Rel after wiping over her face. Then, she glances over the room.

The party steps within the doorway inside Urgon's cabin, and it immediately becomes clear that the Grassblade being posted guard only after the funeral had been a tragic mistake. The weak sunlight that filters through the frost-covered windows falls upon two empty shelves, the contents of which have been scattered across the floor. Kitchen utensils, dried foodstuffs, adventuring gear, and a few books are strewn haphazardly across the wooden floor.

The cramped, dark log cabin might have been considered a cozy place when its owner was alive. Now, an unmade bed stands beside a cold fireplace, the mantle above decorated with the hanging head of a snarling white beast with gray horns — its anger frozen in time. On the other side of the room, a small table covered with dirty dishes stands beside an empty dwarf-sized chair. It is cold inside. What will your characters do now, standing within Urgon Wenth's home?

Elbert will look around for a lantern to light and failing that he will use one of his own torches to illuminate the interior.

Once he has expelled the darkness he will inspect Urgon’s adventuring gear for any clues to his ailment or any items that might prove useful for the upcoming trials that he is expecting this group to face.

Perception 18

"They even searched his bed," Taiga mumbles incredulously. "I think we can blow caution into the wind. Someone touched everything already and someone else will have to clean up this mess, too." Taiga strolls through the room inspecting the books on the floor, reading their titles, opens the first page where typically a dedication would be, and flaps quickly through the pages (Investigation: 8). "I might keep one of them," she says, "to keep his memory, you know." "Also our problem has just grown in proportion, apparently someone else is searching for the same thing as we are," she reasons, "but is already one step ahead of us. I wonder who that could be."

Ragnus is a bit uncomfortable in the space, seeing it ransacked makes it worse. He starts to head back outside, on the way he says to the others, "I'm no help in here, my skills favor towards battle. I'm going ta get some fresh air."

Carina takes a moment to take in the mess.  Someone got here before us.  Looking for Urgon's relics, or... ?

As Ragnus begins to walk back out, Carina touches the dwarven paladin's shoulder.  "Ragnus, may I ask, could you do a circuit around the cabin?  There is a fresh blanket of snow.  You may be able to spot tracks (other than ours and Mila's) of whoever ransacked this place.  If so, we can follow them."

(Carina is more or less asking Ragnus to do a Survival check while he is outside to look for the burglar's tracks in the fresh snow).

She herself remains inside and begins to use her darkvision to search for any items of interest that remain within the cabin.  "Whoever broke in here had no care for hiding their presence.  It did not matter to them that their break-in would eventually be discovered."

However, Elbert's light jars Carina's attention and in the end, she does a poor job looking.  Perception:  9

Engrossed in his search, Brix mumbles something of an agreement to Carinas suggestion and proceeds to poke and lift items with the blunt end of his spear.

(Occ: @Okin Since we will have multiple investigators how would you like to handle the investigation check? Do you want each of us to roll and if we do, do we get advantage because we're helping each other? Do you just want to do one group roll with advantage using the highest modifier in the group? I won't post a roll until you say.)

The entire walk to the cabin he had been going over events in his mind trying to recall any past recollection he may have heard of pertaining to this type of phenomenon. 

History: 16

Your characters may attempt to work together to investigate different areas or items within the room, in which case the party member with the highest modifier for that ability check can roll with advantage. They must, however, be searching the same area of the cabin together. Elbert decides to look through Urgon's adventuring gear that is scattered across the floor, amongst which the Ranger finds a silvered maul, a grappling hook, a lantern, hooded, and dwarf-sized splint armor along with bulky, fur-lined clothing. Taiga flips through the pages of Urgon's books strewn on the floor, but finds no particular clues within them, and Carina finds nothing of note either.

Brix Philbin, as he searches his memory for anything he may have heard regarding this mysterious phenomenon — recalls an old tale of Eiselcross he had heard during his time of accompanying shipments for the Brewers Guild. Legends tell that during the Calamity, the flying city-state of Aeor was cast into the Biting North. Aeor was known as a place of inventors and magic, said to have crafted weapons that could kill gods. All traces of the nation had seemingly disappeared until recent explorers spread rumors of discovering Aeorian artifacts and arcane secrets hidden beneath the ice of Eiselcross. That was all it was, old tales and rumors — but perhaps this powerful magic said to be frozen in Eiselcross was not to be ignored. What else could cause such a mysterious disease?

Ragnus does as Carina asks, stalking around the cabin as carefully as a dwarf can. Drawing on his experience as a soldier, where he needed to track hostages back to a goblin hideout, following a trail through a forest.

Survival: 23

As Brix continues to poke around, sniffing jars and opening boxes, he comments,  "You know I've visited Eiselcross myself a time or two. Legends tell that during the Calamity, the flying city-state of Aeor was cast into the Biting North. Aeor was known as a place of inventors and magic, said to have crafted weapons that could kill gods. All traces of the nation had seemingly disappeared until recent explorers spread rumors of discovering Aeorian artifacts and arcane secrets hidden beneath the ice of Eiselcross. Perhaps it's an artifact that did this. And speaking of "this", he spreads his arms out wide to indicate the disheveled room, Brix returns to the guard and asks, "Any idea who else has been here prior to us?"

Taiga glances over to Elbert, spotting the dwarf’s armor, “I bet Ragnus could make good use of that. Might be he appreciates a token of remembrance from his great uncle.” She picks a random book and pockets it, then walks to Brix, “Whoever was here already searched the obvious, we need to look for hiding places if we want to find something they missed, I think. Let us have a closer look at the floor, perhaps he had a loose floor plank or something. I had one when I was a child and it was a great hiding place.” Taiga offers to help investigating for hidden compartments or doors in the floor and walls.

Having failed at her attempts at searching, Carina is content to clear the debris to help others wherever they look.

I don't think the... special items... Urgon brought back from Eiselcross are here any longer.  More's the pity.  Especially since one may be a disease agent!  Stands to reason that Tulgi may have been behind the burglary, unaware of the danger.

She agrees that the party should take all of the found items of note, but especially the dwarven-sized splint armor for Ragnus.  In fact, she carries it outside for the dwarven paladin as she checks whether he has found any tracks of note.

(Should be a +1 to AC compared to the chain mail that he has right now, I think.)

Elbert will take the grappling hook and the lantern, attaching them the exterior of his backpack. Seeing Carina delivering the armor to Ragnus, he will take the heavy maul and stand it up leaning against the wall. 

As Taiga suggests checking for loose floor boards, Elbert gives her a nod as he drops to one knee and begins systematically tapping each board with his knuckles.

Investigation with help: 8

As Taiga and Elbert work together investigating for hidden compartments or loose floorboards, the Ranger's position near the floor allows him to make out footprints in the dust and scattered snow that were previously unseen in the cabin's dim lighting. Although no hidden compartments reveal themselves, Elbert can clearly see a trail of small footprints separate from those of the party — the spacing and erratic placement giving the sense that the owner had been searching desperately for something. The trail of footprints circle back towards the door, and it is outside the cabin where Ragnus finds the rest of the footprints, a trail of small prints pressed into the fresh snow that seem to be leading towards one of the other cabins.

By the doorway, Mila watches the Paladin as he partakes in his search, only noticing the trail of footprints once Ragnus brings them to attention. To Brix, the Elven woman turns, her eyes wide. "Shit — I didn't think to check inside. I don't know who could have been here before my post." The Grassblade looks stressed, her cheerful demeanor quickly replaced with growing anxiety. "I've done a bad job," she laments to the Artificer.

"Well, they told you to guard the cabin and the cabin is still here," Taiga says with an attempt at humour. “I mean it isn’t your fault that someone entered before you arrived,” she says more seriously and turns to the group. “Let’s see where these steps lead,” she says following Elbert.

As Carina steps outside with the armor, Ragnus notices a set of footprints leading towards another cabin. He points them out to the group. "Carina, I dont know if can accept that. No one else wants tha armor? Was his maul there too?"

Turning to Taiga and Elbert. "Aye, Taiga, let's see where they go."

Brix pats Mali on the arm as he passes to follow the others. "Can't stop what you're not here for. Just make sure no one but us goes back inside. Still could be something we missed and we wouldn't want a similar fate to happen to another." He says echoing Taigas sentiment.

“There is a maul just inside the door,” Elbert replies to Ragnus. “It looks to be a fine weapon indeed if you favour a heavy swing. I myself favour a more nimble two-hander,” he adds, gesturing to the glaive he carries on his back.

He continues following the trail of footprints as Ragnus points them out. As the trail leads him to another cabin he approaches and looks in the window.

Ragnus circles back to grab the maul, he doesn't feel right just leaving it behind. As he follows the trail with the others, he removes his chain mail placing it into his backpack and dons the splint armor.

He sees Elbert peering into the window of the cabin and waits to hear what he can see.

The Grassblade nods gratefully in response to Taiga and Brix, a bit more at ease thanks to their reassurance. She returns to her spot in front of Urgon's door, watching your characters as they move on in their investigation.

The party follows the trail of footprints through the snow, letting the tracks guide them towards another log cabin. Elbert tries to peer through a window, but they're all shuttered. The snow-covered cabin is the same size as Urgon's home, and it appears peaceful and quiet from the outside. A steady stream of smoke that flows out of the chimney indicates a roaring fire inside, but the home is otherwise silent. What will you do next?