Nightstone

Nightstone got its name from a massive chunk of obsidian that once stood in the middle of the village square. The obsidian megalith had strange glyphs carved into it and radiated magic under the scrutiny of detect magic spells, but its properties and purpose couldn’t be ascertained. The villagers assumed it was a relic of some bygone age or kingdom and left it alone. Three days ago, a cloud giant castle passed over Nightstone and dropped large rocks on the settlement and its keep. Unable to defend themselves against the bombardment, villagers who weren’t killed in the attack lowered the drawbridge and fled into the nearby hills, taking refuge in some caves. Once the village was abandoned, four cloud giants descended from the sky, uprooted the nightstone, and bore it back to their castle for further study, believing it to be an Ostorian artifact. The cloud castle then drifted away with its prize.   The villagers were surprised to find a clan of goblins and an allied pair of ogres lurking in the caves. The villagers were ambushed, captured, and brought before Hark, the goblin boss. Hark interrogated them, learned of the giant attack on Nightstone, and sent a band of goblins to plunder the abandoned village.
After following the trail for ten miles, you hear the ringing of a bell. The sound grows louder as Nightstone comes into view. A river flows around the settlement, forming a moat. The village itself is contained within a wooden palisade, beyond which you see a windmill, a tall steeple, and the high-pitched rooftops of several other buildings. Apart from the ringing of the bell, you detect no other activity in the village. The trail ends before a lowered drawbridge that spans the moat. Beyond the drawbridge, two stone watchtowers flank an open gap in the palisade.   South of the village and surrounded by the river moat is a cone-shaped, flat-topped hill on which stands a stone keep enclosed by a wooden wall. The keep, which overlooks the village, has partially collapsed. A wooden bridge that once connected the keep to the village has also partially collapsed.