PlanetADnD.com

Then we'd best be about it, eh? Ari moves to inspect the area closer.

The courtyard remains quiet and deserted. The gate is on the south side. On either side are low, single story wings, and on the north side is a two-story wing with a balcony facing the courtyard. At the center of the courtyard is a small pool of water with some decorative plants and a statue of Dionysus. The rooms on the west wing have large double doors onto the courtyard.

The group's exploration of the courtyard is cut short when a bottle smashes onto the ground, just a foot or so from where Ari is standing.

Sword drawn Angel looks upwards, her blade lifting she keeps Liri close.

"We mean you no harm! We just want to talk!" Liri shouts, showing her bare hands.

A second bottle comes arcing down from above, having been thrown from inside one of the second story rooms. This one breaks on the stones, leaving a puddle of what might be wine or water that quickly soaks into the soil below the gravel.
The bottle is followed by a fist-sized stone, which also misses its mark.

"We mean no harm!" Angel calls up, sheaving her blade. "Come down, tell us what happened here."

Ari raises his shield for cover. Hold, ye blasted maniacs! He shouts up in the direction of the 'attacks'. We're here tae help! Quit yer foolhardy bottle flinging afore ye really rile me up!

Liri calmly takes a few steps backward, out of range of the "missiles".

It goes quiet upstairs, and no more missiles are thrown for a couple of minutes. Then a door opens and a boy about twelve years of age strides out onto the balcony. He has a bottle in one hand and a torch in the other. "There's nothing here for you. And we have sent word to the granary. Troops will be coming soon. If you leave now, you may escape with your lives. If not, I will set you afire where you stand."

Ari's face screws up in incredulity. Jest who tha' hell are ye anyway, boy? We come tae' see wha's happen here, nae ta take anythin'! Set yer fire aside afore ye sneeze an set yerself ablaze, ye bairn.

"You are a very valiant young man" Liri adds. "But you have nothing to fear from us. We have been sent by the legion."

"We arent here you hurt you." Angel Slams the sword into its scabbard, "We are trying to get to the bottom of this for once and for all, and to save our friend." She glares at him for a brief moment before waiting silently.

The boy raises the bottle as if to throw it, then pauses, lowers it, and looks behind him. He backs a few paces from the railing and speaks quietly to someone inside the house for a moment, the returns to the railing.

"Secure the gate and leave your weapons in a pile next to the pool. Then we can talk."

Liri looks to Angel, she is ready to do as the boy asked them.

"Leave our weapons?" Angel enquires, "I am happy to enter unarmed, but would prefer to leave at least my sword somewhere I can access." Dropping her quiver, bow and the axe by the doorway she removes her sword in its scabbard holding it close.. "This blade is all I have of my father. If we are to enter, allow me to leave it inside the doorway."