Ironroot ponders the words in the last query for quite sometime before finally nodding.

"The, what did you call him, the Rotting Man," Ironroot begins, taking his time with the new name, "the Rotting Man, keeps himself in a broken tower of stone. Something made by the barkless many, many cycles ago. It is next to the pens of living dead. He might have such items in there."

He thinks for a while longer.

"We do not keep the possessions of the treefallers. We let young saplings grow where they die. If they had anything special it would be under the roots, beneath the soil."

"Understood. Well... may the saplings draw nourishment from the treefallers. Pens of living dead? The barkless who are now under the sway of the Rotting Man, I take it? How many does he command?"

"There are many. Not as many as the trees in the woods, but many more than you," Ironroot says. "The miasma spewing ones are unpleasant but the foul, once trees, are more dangerous."

Ironroot gestures towards a tree back behind the palisade wall.

"Quietwalnut will show you the way," Ironroot says.

And where you had only seen a large walnut tree before, you now see that it is actually another treant. Large, gentle eyes open and blink a few times and branches stretch up to the sky, giving the impression of someone yawning and stretching as they wake up.

Jan will approach and bow respectfully. 

"Greetings, friend Quietwalnut, I am known as Janelle."

"Janelle," Quietwalnut says in a voice quite different from Ironroot. Quietwalnut's voice has a soft, smooth, velvety quality when compared to the hard, almost stern timber of Ironroot's. "Janelle."

Quietwalnut nods slowly and starts to turn very carefully and deliberately towards the north and the still dark woods.

"Not yet, Quietwalnut," Ironroot says. Then he looks to Jan and Ethel. "She has the impatience of youth. It can take hundreds of rings before they truly begin to mature. But I think I need not convince an elf of that."

He turns back to Quietwalnut.

"Some of them are still sleeping." Ironroot says before stepping back over the palisade wall. "When you are ready, let Quietwalnut know and she will lead you. I must go and let the others know that you are friends."

"Thank you friend Ironroot. We all find our own pace in time. We will let you know when we are ready to go, Quietwalnut." 

Jan gives Ethel a bit of a wide-eyed look at the turn their watch has taken, before asking K to keep tabs on those sleeping and let her know when folks are starting to stir so she can brief them before they get startled.

As folks begin to wake, Jan will greet them and gently inform them, "We had some treefolk visitors, don't be alarmed, they like us since we didn't fell any trees on our way in... I'll make introductions once we're all awake."

Marrin yawns and blinks sleep out of her eyes on waking, relatively snug in her coat sleeping bag inside a tent, and sees first Jan's crusty crow then Jan herself.

"What do you mean you will make introductions?"

She answers equally gently back,

"You mean they are still here? You said had but if introductions need to be made... Have we gotten signed up for something?"

She sags in her sleeping bag.

"Why can't it just be point A to point B?"

"Apparently the forest doesn't like all the dead stuff that the Rotting Man has been accumulating, and is willing to provide us safe passage to the other side in return for dealing with him."

 "Isn't it markedly less safe if we have to deal with the rottenman? Maybe that deadly river was the better choice, probably would have had undead fish or something else ridiculous."

Marrin doesn't get up as she complains.

"You going to check that chest this morning? Might as well ."

"Ethel and I thought it was not to turn down a treant, in the middle of the night, while surrounded by who knows how many others, with most of our number asleep. Better to be agreeable, and make our determinations as a group in the light of day, don't you agree?", Jan says meaningfully.

She sighs, "Yeah, I suppose we ought to have done with it and take a peak at least."

"Yes" Avaria mumbles in agreement with Jan with her eyes still clothes and not having moved an inch.  She finally stretches and sits up, and she sounds a bit excited when she adds, "Treefolk?  How cool!  Are they big or small?  Are they nice?  Did you talk to them first or did they make first contact?"

She yawns and then starts getting up, "You say they are still here?  Oh yeah, chest first.  Let's get that over with.  Sure wish I could join you in there..."

"Quite large... if you're ready, I'll introduce you."

"Good morning Quietwalnut. These are my companions, we aren't quite ready to leave yet, but will be soon. Quietwalnut has been tasked by Ironroot to show us the way."

"No, I agree. I just don't think I need to be happy about it."

She mumbles to herself before levering up and poking her head out of the tent to look at Quietwalnut.

She'll wave at Quietwalnut and say,

"Hello Quietwalnut, I'm Marrin. A pleasure to meet you."

She'll look around the mostly empty camp in the morning light and ask,

"Quietwalnut, if I may ask? The people that built this camp, they are... well they aren't coming back, right?"

((Presuming an affirmative response))

Marrin will start going through everything, and say to the rest,

"We might as well salvage everything we can before it gets ruined in the winter. Also, if we can find these people's names we can pass on word that will hopefully reach their families."

In addition, Marrin would like to put together an authentic 'lumberjack/jill costume'.

Investigation (?): 18

Just before she starts going through things she will nudge Jan,

"Into the ring now?"

"Yeah. Might as well do it in one of the tents, less questions to answer... Is there anything you can do to ease my way? Can ask the others too."

((Ula or Ethel have anything they can do to boost Jan's chances?))

After everyone else has buffed Jan, Marrin will follow her into the tent. She'll take Jan by the shoulders,

"Jan, you are one of the most competent people I have ever met, you're not going to have any issues with a box."

(D8 of bardic)

"Especially if nothing can see you."

Casts invisibility on her.

"I can hold the ring while you're in there."

She holds out a hand and waits for Jan to do whatever it is she does.

((Peeking at sheets, seems like most useful from Ula would be Enhance Ability, if we know what sort of checks are likely to be needed, or guidance if I want more flexibility, but a shorter time frame. Jan's decent at the dexterous stuff needed to possibly pick/disarm the chest, thinking she might benefit the most from Enhance Ability to her Int? Better able to Investigate the chest, and give her a better Arcana shot at figuring out what anything she sees in there is?))

Quietwalnut blinks her eyes open and looks with some curiosity at the new faces greeting her. She nods her trunk slowly and waves a branch in return.

She thinks for a long moment after Marrin asks her question about those who made the camp. QuietWalnut looks around the camp from her side of the palisade then she slowly shakes her top branches, causing the leaves to rustle.

"They are no longer living but also not dead," QuietWalnut says. "They cut short the lives of many, many trees before we stopped them. But we did not take them away after that. The rotten one did."

Ula looks carefully at Jan and does what she can to help (Enhance Ability to Intelligence). "Be careful. To be guarded by a ship full of fighters and then to send wyrms after it must mean its valuable but it could also be very dangerous."

((Sounds like zombie to Marrin, proceed with the 'salvaging'!))

Jan will take Marrin's hands in her (invisible) ones, before the touch of her hands vanishes and the ring drops into the bard's palm. She'd be doing this inside one of the tents. 

Once in her ring, she'd inspect the chest, looking for traps or any markings.

Investigation (w/thieves tools Prof?): 11 + 3

Inside the relative safety of her ring, Jan examines the chest and actually can't seem to find a mechanical lock. The blue metal lid and the body join expertly together, with no gaps of any kind. She's not an expert, but realizes that this was crafted by more than your average blacksmith or other metalsmith. It's possible there's a hidden panel or switch but if there is, it must be invisible as the smooth, metallic surface appears to be completely unblemished.

She takes a step back and then realizes that there doesn't even appear to be any hinges. If she had to guess, the lid should just lift straight off. But it doesn't.