Xarian trots along with the others in the front line, maul in hands and his owl Bookmark occasionally flapping her wings to stay balanced on his shoulder.

Except what is going through his mind is more along the lines of:  bloody hell... how did I  end up charging headlong into this mess?

Then he sees the beleaguered town folk and grimaces, remembering why.

Russel, relieved that the man stayed behind, moves forward with the group, wondering what or who is attacking such a rumored, peaceful  town

Apollo smiles, patting the man's arm again. "Good man."

Gripping the glaive lightly, he moves to follow the others. 

Kiya hurries along to catch up with the group, strapping a shield onto her arm. As they approach the town proper, she begins to carefully and deliberately scan the area for people matching the description given by the merchant. Quietly offering a prayer to Lathander to guide her efforts.

Perception: 25+4(Guidance) = 29

Even moving at a fast pace, it takes you about a little under an hour to reach the outer edge of the town. By the time you do, night has fallen and the fires have spread. Between the light thrown off by the ongoing blaze and a half-moon, the entire town is illuminated in dim light. Many of the homes are mostly intact, not catching fire quite as easily as the haystacks and barns. But you can see deeper into a town where a few have been consumed by flame.

Trystane: As you come into town, you notice the building on your right has already been ransacked. The windows are shattered, and the door has been bashed in. You can see belongings strewn in the yard, but you don't see any movement near the structure. On the other side of the street however, you can make out a flurry of activity around the temple. A group of humanoids, mixed in height are huddled near the front door to the temple. 

You can see a second group just make their way around the corner of the southern end of the building. You swear you just catch sight of a large scaled tail retreating around the wall. Neither group has noticed you yet.

Kiya: You haven't quite made it to the intersection with Osborn's home yet...But the moment you hit the first building your senses are locked in. A warmth fills you as Lathander's power heighten your senses. You see everything Trystane does, but see not a blonde hair that might indicate the merchant's family is nearby. You are able to see movement through the stained glass windows. Frantic blurred shapes scurry about inside the temple.

Up ahead you can see the intersection the merchant spoke of. There's more movement up there - at least half a dozen humanoid figures carrying weapons right across the street from where you're trying to get to.

Xarian squints into the darkness as the flames around the town play tricks on his darkvision, unlike his owl, Bookmark, who peers around unblinking at the fiery chaos.  The big man's mouth opens, then closes, then opens again, as he tries to make sense of what is happening here.

"So just pillaging, then?  Setting fires, causing chaos and looting?  Orcs used to raid a couple of the foothill villages near mine, but none of those were anywhere near the size of Greenest.  And hell if I've seen any orcs tonight.  Where is the town guard?  Something feels off about this..."

Once again, Xarian trails off, as if just now realizing with chagrin that he has been speaking his thoughts aloud.  He coughs, and hefts his maul sheepishly.

"Trystane, Kiya - see anything?"

“Someone ransacked some houses at least. Not sure if it was the attackers or those who take opportunity of others’ misery. There are people around the temple. Some look like civilians, they might herd them there. I would bet I just saw a scaly tail. We might not face our average orc and goblin raiders but what? Lizardfolk? That would be strange indeed. There’s more movement in front of us and if we continue to the house Osborne indicated we will run into them. Should we try and sneak through that ransacked house, trying to avoid contact as long as possible?” Trystane says in a low voice to Xarian and Kiya and the others, while pointing out his observations.

"Let's move towards the merchand's house as fast as we can. If this group ahead are the attackers we could even ambush them if we approach silently. Once it is done I think we should go check what is happening at the temple !"  whispers Zelvynia.
She points at the ransacked house, "going through there will help us to stay out of sight... Let's go..."

"I think there's people trapped inside the temple." Kiya says, quietly continuing to observe the scene. "If we don't find the Osborn family in their home...It's possible they may be there." Her focus shifts to the road and intersection in front of them. "You're right though, to get to their house I think we need to be a bit more subtle and go around." A small frown draws her lips into a downward curve. "I'll admit, I'm not the sneakiest person though. My armor is loud. We may end up having to deal with them directly anyway."

"I also suggest caution, lets find out what the owner of large tail was," Russel suggests quietly while following behind "Maybe the roof tops would help us? Unless someone, somehow, can see from above."

Apollo shifts his gaze back and forth between the temple and the crossroads up ahead. They could do both, but they made a promise to Osborn. 

"Through this house or around the back of it and into the pumpkin field. You've got the right idea Trystane - we can try to remain unseen for as long as possible. And if it ends up we need to fight our way through so be it." He looks around at the chaos: the fires, the looters, and the belongings strewn across the yard. "I don't think his family is still going to be holed up in their home still...But it's worth a look. Kiya has a good point though, we should check the temple after."

"Agreed, let's circle around the house through the farm and check out the merchant's house and let's be quick about it. If no one is there - as we suspect - we turn to the temple. If we find people there, we might find answers if not who we are looking for," Trystane nods along with the others' suggestions and ducks behind the rampaged house towards the pumpkin field, trying to avoid being seen or heard by those further down the road (Stealth: 14, 23).

Ducking low, Apollo follows after Trystane. He does his best to move quietly and carefully...But the clinking of his chain mail makes a fair bit of noise.

Stealth: 14 9

With the grace of an experienced hunter, Russel moves like a stalking wolf. Stealth 18 in game log  

Quote from Stormbringer4729 >>

"I also suggest caution, lets find out what the owner of large tail was," Russel suggests quietly while following behind "Maybe the roof tops would help us? Unless someone, somehow, can see from above."

Xarian glances uncertainly to Bookmark, perched on his shoulder.  Smiling nervously, he motions to the owl with his eyes to fly up and scout the mayhem from a bird's eye view and see from above as Russel is suggesting.  Unfortunately, Xarian is not a wizard yet, and Bookmark is not a familiar yet, so the small owl merely stares back at the big man as if he has lost his mind and goes back to preening herself.  Xarian turns back to the group sheepishly.

A look which turns even more sheepish once he realizes that the party is looking to sneak with stealth, which has never been Xarian's strong suit, at least not in his battered and clinking scale mail.  Yet somehow, this time, the big man is able to move quietly in his armor, slouching even more than normal.

Xarian Stealth at disadvantage:  19 (rolled 17 on both dice)

Kiya follows the others around the other end of the building, making for the pumpkin patch. Her armor is noisy however, despite her best efforts to move carefully so as to not make it clink.

Stealth: 9

Stealth: 19

Your party cuts around the first ransacked building, crouching low and doing your best to hide in the smoke as you move north. You hop over the fence into a pumpkin patch, which so far is surprisingly untouched by the chaos that has descended upon Greenest. While you're on the move, Xarian is able to make a few adjustments to the straps in Kiya's and Apollo's armor to make it clink less.

You make your way in between the actual home and a small barn on the property, putting you directly east across the street from the house Osborn told you to go to. You're able to see that the door has already been broken in, and you don't see any movement inside of it.

The group of raiders to the south is still just barely in your line of sight. There were six total, though two of them have gone inside a thatched-roof building they've all gathered in front of you. Some of them have hefty cloth bags they're either carrying or have dropped to the ground at their feet. Most of them seem to be carrying scimitars, but you see one man with a spear and shield, standing guard and looking about.

As you peek around the other corner, you can see another group. Three kobolds are gathered around the door of the home directly north of Osborn's, fiddling with it as if trying to get it open. Another creature circles around them...Something you may or may not have ever seen before. A long scaly creature that almost seems like a cross between a lizard and flightless dragon. It's short and squat with muscular limbs, and about the length of horse not counting its tail.

Greenest Southeast Corner
Note: I just did marching order roughly in order of stealth rolls. You can adjust it as needed before making your next move.

Apollo crouches down, checking around both corner. It looked like they were pinched on both sides, getting into the home of Osborn's sister-in-law unnoticed was going to prove to be a difficult task. He turns around to the bard, Zelyvia. "Did you say earlier you can disguise yourself? Magically?"

"I have a notion to just dash into the house," argues Trystane, "With some luck they just don't look in that moment, or they just take me for a hiding merchant. It looks empty anyway but I would like to make sure they are not hiding. "