(This will be my last post until you act. Sorry for text dump; there's no need to rush this. If you want to rewind the clock to interact with anything or anybody on your travels between the Weekly Market and the old house, we'll bookmark this and you can do that now.)

Turning south down the overgrown path, you soon see the dilapidated and obviously long-abandoned house a few hundred feet in, standing perilously close to the edge of the cliff. The decrepit building sits on the highest ground in the area. Around it, a stone wall has crumbled in many places, exposing the interior grounds. An ornate metal gate lies open at the near end of the path. Wild flora grows throughout the inner yard, but all the years cannot hide the evidence of a well-tended garden that once sat here. Near the house, the rotted wooden roof of a water well rises out of the tall grass. On the northwest side is a collapsed porch or patio, covered in debris. Most of the windows are boarded up. A few stunted trees grow here and there, and the grass and brush is waist-high.

A few more details: There is a side door near the well. (The main entrance evidently faces the cliff.) The stone wall is about six feet tall, but it has partially collapsed in several places. The wall once enclosed a large garden, but a few broken gardening tools and tangles of weeds are all that remain. A single rosebush near the gate has overgrown the wall and choked out most of the other plants. It's now a big thorny mass along the north end of the garden.

The overgrown path you've been following continues south toward the cliffs, then curves west around the front of the house, where it apparently dead-ends. The front of the T-shaped house faces south, overlooking the ocean. (See map.) The well is on the northeast side of the house, near the side door and closest to you.

(Map: You are entering from the top right corner of the map, through the old, open, rusty gate, squealing a little as it moves with the cold breeze.)

Kelnan

Clearly delighted to be exploring a mysterious and spoooky place, Kelnan finds a comfortable place to sit and thumbs through his spellbook. "Have a look around, I'll join you in a moment. This place must be crawling with magic!" Detect Magic active, he takes a slow look around the house, especially looking at the doors and anything visible in the dim light through the windows.

Fianna

     Crossing the ancient bridge Fianna notices it's not just her feeling a bit off, but Kelnan too.  "The river have something against elves, you think?" She asks, noting that nobody else seemed to have felt anything.  She'll spend a moment looking over the sides of the bridge, and try to get a look under it as they wander off...  But a full inspection can wait for another time.

     Later, closer to the house, as Kelnan pauses to do their ritual, Fianna will wander onto the grounds of the house, cautiously looking around.  She'll absently head toward the well and if she gets there with nothing else catching her attention she will toss a copper piece in and make a wish as she listens for it to hit bottom...

Reed will go inspect the side door, checking for traps and if it's locked: perception 18

She'll spend a moment looking over the sides of the bridge, and try to get a look under it as they wander off...

An architectural mishmash of ancient buildings crowds both sides of the bridge, but Fianna does get a distant peek at the underpinnings of the bridge as she heads north toward the gate. It looks ancient, with massive stone arched pilings. It is very dark where the brown, slow-moving river flows underneath it.

Clearly delighted to be exploring a mysterious and spoooky place, Kelnan finds a comfortable place to sit and thumbs through his spellbook. "Have a look around, I'll join you in a moment. This place must be crawling with magic!" Detect Magic active, he takes a slow look around the house, especially looking at the doors and anything visible in the dim light through the windows.

Is Kelnan approaching the house? How close? What sort of path will he take? The distance from the gate to the nearest corner of the house is roughly 100 feet. (At its closest, the road approaches the house within fifteen feet near the southeast wing. )

(I will resolve Kelnan and Reed's actions as soon as more players check in...)

(I'll start from the east wall, near the road, going clockwise around. Probably about ten feet away from the house, unless there's something really interesting visible inside.)

(Does Lucky, Molo, or Katernin have anything they wanted to do or clarify on the journey from the Weekly Market to the old house? Otherwise in about eight or ten hours I'll post again and bring us up to the present to resolve Kelnan, Fianna, and Reed's actions at the house, together with any actions Lucky, Molo, and Katernin want to perform here!)

Katernin looks at the house, "Please be careful... we should probably be together."

Molo has been content to simply follow along as the others prepare themselves. He readies himself to assist any would be explorers to kick in a door, or become a step to reach a high window or something.

Lucky would like to help Reed checking out the side door.  He'll take his new glasses out and inspect it for traps or unusual mechanisms, plus try and see if he thinks it is locked.

Investigation (+7 with Advantage for glasses):  25

 EDIT:  In case it matters I spotted a mistake.  I'm "only" +6 with Investigation so that should have been a 24.

Kelnan slowly makes his way clockwise around the house. He has a faint momentary glimmer of something underneath the east wing of the house, but then it's gone.

Along the front (south side) of the house Kelnan detects nothing. Waves boom against the rocks far below him at the bottom of the cliffs. The view is breathtaking. The cliffs have eroded very close to the house, especially at the southwest corner - it's more than a little nerve-wracking circumnavigating that portion of the building. (He has to cling closely here, briefly breaking his ten foot distance.)

Moving north again on the west end of the house, Kelnan detects the strong signal of something from the Illusion school, in the western wing, maybe ten feet south of the rotten porch inside that westernmost room.

The windows are boarded shut, but the wood is old and rotten and full of gaps. What little Kelnan can see inside appears to be rotten and decaying - no signs of movement or light.

**

Meanwhile, Fianna approaches the well. It's in poor condition, but it's dark and deep. She tosses a copper piece in, and hears a splash as it hits water at the bottom.

**

Reed and Lucky check the side door. The door is not locked. In fact, it's barely hanging on its hinges. Lucky notices a fresh fingerprint.

Kelnan continues his circumnavigation of the old house.

Pushing through the deep weeds and scrub of the old garden, Kelnan picks up another disturbance in the Weave: a similar signal from the School of Illusion, somewhere in the northeast corner of the north wing, inside the room nearest the well. Kelnan makes eye contact with the party as he nearly finishes his circuit.

That's when the beast struck. Springing from its hiding spot in the tall grass, a six-foot furred animal with a long body and short, rodent-like legs lunges at Kelnan, and attempts to grapple him:

Grapple attack (strength check): 12. 
(Kelnan should make a contesting Strength or Dex check - his choice - to avoid being grappled.)

Movement in the tall grass suggests there are several of these creatures.

Initiative:
Creatures: 17
Fianna: 7
Katernin: 18
Kelnan: 23
Lucky: 17
Molo: 7
Reed: 6

Kelnan, Katernin, and Lucky may act first. 
Reed, Lucky, and Molo are near the side door, 40 feet away from Kelnan.
Fianna is near the well, twenty feet away.
Katernin is between them, thirty feet away.

Lucky is no hero, but he doesn't want to leave his new friend in the lurch.  Especially considering Pointy was one of the only people on the ship who was kind to him.   But he's simply not cut out for rushing into the fray.   Trying to see how he can help out he moves carefully and quietly as he can to the shadow of the well near Fianna, and ducks down behind it.  Peering around the corner he tries to see if there is anything he can do to help but he is trembling in fear.  His hand slips inside his long, hooded cloak and closes around the old handle of his trusty knife.  Not that he's ever used it before other than to skin a few dead fish.

Stealth +5: 25

Kelnan, quite taken by surprise, attempts to leap out of the way of the beast.

Dexterity: 17

Slipping clear, he turns and points his rod at the thing. "Balangi!" and a sphere of swirling lightning streaks toward its target.

Attack: 19 Damage: 18 (Chromatic Orb, lightning damage)

 Kelnan dodges the beast's attempt to grapple him, and fires a four-inch sphere of crackling energy at it. The ball hits it dead on. The beast collapses to the ground, smoking and twitching, dead. But there others not far behind it.

Lucky, meanwhile, melts into the shadows behind the well. Peering around the corner, he sees Kelnan destroy his attacker in a single blast. But he also counts several more behind it.

Katernin may act next. She is about thirty feet from Kelnan, maybe thirty-five from the nearest creature, which are just barely visible in the high grass.

The high dead grass twitches here and there as several of these beasts prepare to act. Kelnan is in danger. 

Katernin is up next, before they may act. She is about thirty-five feet away.

Moving forward her whole movement, Katernin's shield starts to glow as she speaks to the beasts, "Halt now, what is the issue here?"

((Casting Speak with Animals))

The beasts pause their assault as Katernin chitters at them. They reply:

Let's roll a Persuasion check as a proxy for their reaction to Katernin's outreach: 7 

The beasts continue their aggressive stance. Another attempts to grapple Kelnan: Strength check (Grapple): 2

 A second one tries to bite Kelnan with its powerful jaws: Bite attack: 16. Damage: 7

 The creature's teeth bite deeply into Kelnan. He collapses in its mouth, unconscious and  bleeding profusely.

A third one pauses and stares at the party. It chitters,

 Fianna, Molo, and Reed may act next.

"Please dont hurt them," Ksternin says, "they're just defending their territory."

Reed pulls out his shortbow. Yeah, and I'm just defending my neck.

He aims at the closest creature to him and lets loose an arrow:

Attack: 18 Damage: 6