Quillary is also ready to… sit quietly in a dark room with her eyes open.

Jorin listens as he continues weeding and offers, "In my mountain home, there is not much land to plant crops.  What little we have is no more than rock where blowing dust and dirt has collected.  It is quite important to keep these small gardens free of weeds, for the weeds grow up and take from the small soil that which is needed for our food."

He turns to the mayor and says, "Viallis and his cult are but weeds in your town.  We will uproot them same as we have done in this garden."

Then to his friends, "Let us rest the. Ight and then play at gardening at sun's first light."

Quillary, with her spores, is very appreciative of Jorin's analogy. She indicates as much with a squeeze on his shoulder with her hand.

(Remember to take the Long Rest for your characters.)

Before the sun rises the next morning, Old Fargo delivers breakfast to the two rooms, so the party has a chance to slip out without being noticed.

(What is the plan?
- Could head straight to the ruins, which will take an hour, but it is the direct route. (Anyone going from the village to the ruins will be on the same road.)
- Could follow the mayor's advice about taking the path-less-traveled, which will take 2 hours.

Hildigrim mentioned Viallis's house in the village. You were told that Yellowcrest is almost always in the ruins away from the village instead of the house.
Do you stop by before heading out of the village, or not?
- Head straight there
- Try to stealthily approach the house
- Something else??  )

 I think the Mayor-suggested path is the better plan.  Is Viallis house on or out of the way going that way?  If it wouldn't detour us very much, I'd vote a quick stop at his house just in case he is there (since it's early in the morning), but if it's much out of the way then I'd vote straight to the ruins.

Agreed. Survey the house in the village, then take the Mayor’s circuitous path.

Quote from Guiltysparc >>

 I think the Mayor-suggested path is the better plan.  Is Viallis house on or out of the way going that way?  If it wouldn't detour us very much, I'd vote a quick stop at his house just in case he is there (since it's early in the morning), but if it's much out of the way then I'd vote straight to the ruins.

(From the map in post 5330, Faerl's house was SE of the barn at #3 (west of where the river goes from N-S to E-W), and Viallis's house is at the top of the hill south of Faerl's house. The 3 houses along the path on that hill are all Viallis supporters. The ruins are to the SE of the tavern (#1), so that path is almost the opposite direction. Figure a minimum of an extra hour if you don't mind being seen walking to the front door and only do a quick survey of the house, and up to 3 hours more if you are being super stealthy and search the house carefully without any fights.)

Hildigrim has Volo do a fly-by while you are preparing in the morning. It is too far for Hildigrim to use Volo's senses directly, but after the owl returns it hoots yes or no to simple questions. The windows are shuttered up, no one came or left, no lights inside, and the chimney is cold/ no-smoke.

But it is dawn (maybe no one is awake yet), and you don't know if Viallis left anything interesting in the house.

Hmm, and the ruins are only an hour outside of town?  So, we're looking at 4 hours to get there plus do a thorough and stealthy search of the house?

Quote from Guiltysparc >>

Hmm, and the ruins are only an hour outside of town?  So, we're looking at 4 hours to get there plus do a thorough and stealthy search of the house?

(I'll list the times again, in case I'm confusing people.

1 hour - one-way to the ruins, most direct path
2 hours - one-way to ruins, without the risk of being seen by Viallis supporters in the village
1 hour - round trip from the tavern to Viallis's house and a quick glance through the house after breaking in
2-3 hours - round trip from tavern to house, avoiding being seen, careful search of the house after breaking in

All house-searching times assume that there is no one inside the house to interfere with your plans.)

So leaving before dawn, or at dawn, doing a thorough search of the house after breaking in (Quillary doesn’t care about violating Viallis’ civil rights), then a two hour trip the long way (total 4-5 hours) still get us there by noon or earlier. Quillary wants to do that. No telling what advantage we might find in the house, and Faerl won’t be missed until the next day.

Jorin agrees

(I'll do a group check for Stealth and Investigation. The better the rolls, the shorter the time and higher quality results.

A third roll for each character will be for something they are good at.
Jorin (Athletics) to help the party climb the hill (to avoid being on the path that is probably being watched).
Hildigrim (Sleight of Hand / Thieves' Tools) to get into the house.
Quillary (Perception) and Drusk (History) will focus on any clues in the house.)

Stealth: 9 , 15 , 17 , 7

Investigation: 6 , 16 , 6 , 14

Misc: 7 , 14 , 13 , 20

The party takes 2 hours to check out Viallis's house.
(Not great, not bad. If the party is looking to do a lot of short rests later, time may limit you.)

It goes about as expected.

Drusk and Hildigrim struggle to stay quiet going up the hill away from the established path, but the group carefully makes it to the house without being noticed. The front door is picked by Hildigrim, without the need for Jorin to loudly smash down the door.

Inside, the house appears almost abandoned.
Jorin and Quillary find looking around the house tedious, and Drusk isn't sure what they should be looking for, so it is mostly Hildigrim doing the searching.
Only the kitchen and the main room show signs of recent use (recent being weeks ago), and the place holds nothing of importance or value. The bedroom has no valuables, and a noticeable layer of dust is on top of the bedsheets, which do not seem fancy enough for a wealthy man.
You spend a little more time than you would like, but you are sure there are no hidden compartments or papers of importance.

Satisfied that there are no clues at the house, the party carefully backtracks to the tavern, and follows the path advised by the mayor. You avoid anyone walking along the path, or being seen by the farmers working their fields in the morning.

It is shortly before noon that you arrive at the ruins of the old tower you were told about.
You are currently hiding in a small depression next to a large tree, short distance away, while deciding how you want to approach the area.
Amid a grove of gnarled scrub trees stands a half-fallen stone tower.
Rough workers’ tents, piles of timbers, and tools scattered about show that the site appears to be under reconstruction, though little headway seems to have been made in restoring the tower to its former glory. There is no activity (except for random wild animals), and no one in sight.

Hildigrim suggests using Volo again to get a lay of the land before venturing further. He sits, closes his eyes, and then can see through his owl's senses. The owl takes off, scanning the area from the air in a purposeful loop.

Perception for Volo (at advantage): 14

The signs of construction are largely spurious. The timbers that might have been used to shore up and help rebuild the tower walls are years old and beginning to rot. The tools are rusted.

The tents show signs of recent occupation (currently empty, but people were sleeping last night) but contain no personal effects.

Inside the tower, a 10' wide stone staircase leads underground. The stairwell is dark, but there are flickers of torchlight below.
(If you plan on sending Volo down the stairs at some point, Hildigrim will have to be at the tower.)

"The fiends are below.  They lie even about rebuilding the tower.  Let us wet our blades with their foul blood."  Jorin says and will begin sneaking his way towards the tower.

The party is at the top of the stairs, without interference.

The 10’ wide stairs are like a ramp. (Think of the stairs in front of a modern city library or government building.) They go south 40’ before leveling out, but you don’t have a good angle to see beyond that.

Quillary crouches by the entrance, and whispers, "If we wish to go unnoticed, I can shroud within the Veil, us as I have done before. It may be the best way to approach the villain while leaving innocents unharmed."

OOC > Pass Without Trace or +10 to Stealth rolls.

Drusk will add to Quillary's comment that he has the Silence spell memorized, so that is available for any plans the group is making.
(And Hildigrim has Invisibility .)

"I agree, we prowl like the crag cat and then pounce from the shadows to deliver bloody vengeance." Jorin pauses for a moment and looks to his friends, "It will be bloody this time, yes?  Or are we sparing these as we spared the others?"

"Let us enter together," Hildigrim whispers. He looks at Quillary. "Your magic will serve us well. If we get into a situation where we think one of us should go alone, we can use my invisibility spell at that time." Volo flutters down and lands on the halfling's shoulder. Hildi reaches up and scratches his chest automatically.