OK, we are looking for a way to open the box; we have a Comprehend Languages available tomorrow; we’ve searched the house (let’s cautiously pack the metal snake and bring that along to sell).
Ulf is going to justify all this to himself because it certainly looks as if the Wizard was breeding Owlbears, which attacked a village. So we can take his stuff. 
DM, is the above OK? Do we have any idea where the light Osvald saw came from? Could the explosion in the attic have done it?)
All of the above is OK. This looks like the location - from upstairs through the attic window you can make out what you guess to be Woolverton in the distance, so if a bright flash went off here you could certainly see it if you happened to be looking in the right direction - the distance is great enough that the house itself wouldn’t be noticeable from the town though.
As you pack up to leave you find Guern poking cautiously around in the bushes. He explains “Thought I heard a noise, but I di’n’t see nothing. 'Cept this.” He holds up the still-warm body of a rabbit, oddly twisted and contorted, with a couple of sizeable chunks of flesh taken out of it. The exposed flesh looks strangely discoloured.
Ulf thanks Guern and looks concerned.
Does anyone know anything about poison? Could there be another ‘metal snake’?
Does anyone fancy their chances of ‘biting’ the rabbit with the snake we hold, to see if the discolouration happens?
Ivar, can you do Speak with Dead, by any chance?
“We need find person who know about locks . . . maybe poison too . . . we not wait here we go get more smarts then come back?”
Jorund seems bothered by the rabbit’s silent death and draws out a hammer and starts looking around nervously.
I can do Speak With Dead at the expense of a Cure Moderate Wounds. Can that stack with Speak To Animals?
“Hmm… most fascinating.”
Osvald pulls out some parchment from his sleeves and begins to write details on the Rabbit.
“Perhaps I can record the symptoms and we can take the information to person more experienced with poisons and potions?”
:: He begins to scribble down facts and details about the rabbit’s coloration, smell, wound size, etc. ::
Good thinking!
Ivar will carefully inspect the box, noting the size, type of lock, and will furthermore shake it for good measure and listen to the sounds the contents make.
Ulf hopes that the sounds you hear are not some magic potion breaking. :smack:
(Hi everyone, I’m back from the long weekend. Looks like you have everything under control. Carry On.)
“We go? . . . Have all we need go find more smarts?”
Jorund gets ready to head back in the same marching order just incase whatever got the rabbit is still out there.
DM, can Ivar do [COLOR=Blue]Speak with Dead and Speak with Animals on the rabbit?[/COLOR]
Ulf will later try ‘biting’ the rabbit with the metal snake.
Then we use Jorund’s suggestion of going back to look for experts (same marching order), taking the box, snake and book (if it will travel without crumbling).
Ulf is thinking about his proposed ‘bear totem’ necklace, so will look for a craftsman to help him make it.
Surprisingly, it looks as though Speak With Dead will work with anything as long as you can speak with the creature type - which Speak With Animals will allow. So Ivar can ask two (2) questions at his level, bearing in mind a small inoffensive animal’s perceptions.
Guern, examining the poor thing, points out a single deep puncture wound, which looks more like a knife blade than a snake fang in his opinion, though poisonous snakes are very rare hereabouts.
You’re able to wrap up the book carefully; it shouldn’t take too much harm from being carried a few miles at walking pace.
Ulf will need someone who can provide him with wire - gold or silver would be good choices - and who can drill holes in bear teeth. As far as possible, Ulf should aim to have as much a hand in the making of his necklace as possible. And for once, I don’t need to tell a player not to make a fetish out of this, 'cos that’s exactly what you’re aiming to do. 
I’m just getting Monty Python-esque Imagery here of bunch Vikings standing around with a dead rabbit and a dead snake trying to make one attack the other here… :smack:
What should Ivar ask?
How about:
Ulf has a vision of travelling to the continent only to have a bunch of very rude Frenchmen firing cows at him (and farting in his general direction :eek: )
I’ll wait for Ivar’s word as to whether that’s what he wants to ask.
I don’t think the poisonous questions really matters what killed it and where it came from or maybe if what ever did the killing has been in the area recently.
I think we can tell its poisonous (and how would IT know? It’s a rabbit).
I agree with the first question, or maybe “How did you die/get attacked?”
and maybe something on if it knows whats going on here? Maybe it was sacrificed in the name of a spell or something? If it looks like those marks were made by a human knife or something- then maybe it was trapped by the Wizard who lived here?
Questions for the rabbit:
-“Who killed you, and why, if you know?”
-“What do you know about the human who lived here?”
“I don’t know. I was grazing, and then something hit me. It hurt a lot. I didn’t see what it was.”
“He lived here by himself. Sometimes he was away for more than a day. I stayed out of his way, men are dangerous.”
Guern mentions that the rabbit is freshly killed, and on looking around finds a place where the ground seems torn up as if by claws.