Just after casting Aid twice, Crannoc would give his two brewed Elixirs to his companions.

Since Maggwyn received the lesser of his two castings of Aid, he gives one to her and randomly chooses the other recipient, landing on Kass.

(For 10 minutes after drinking this elixir, you gain a +2 bonus to Ability Checks, Attack Rolls, and Saving Throws made with Strength and Dexterity.)

Deeply disturbed by the absence of life in the clearing and the deep, black pit in the middle, he looks at Miesha and sees that she is in the midst of something (Divine Sense).  So he waits to hear what she finds, fearing the worst.  Some fiend or undead opening a festering wound in Temuth's grand and wild tapestry.  In the meantime, he murmurs for Temuth's Guidance and peers around for an ambush or other hidden hazards.

Unfortunately, the presence of the pit is too distracting for his usually keen observational skills.  Perception plus Guidance:  11 + 2 = 13.

(Apologies, I forgot to add this)

Miesha - As you use your Divine Sense in this clearing, you feel a faint unease in the entire space, but you can't identify what type of entity caused this feeling until you get close enough to the pit. It emanates with a powerful fiendish force.

Jasper had been fiddling with his new dagger all day, mostly ignoring the plentiful nature all around as well as the dark change in terrain as they approached their destination.

Upon finally arriving the tabaxi looks around and says "ah, apprentice, have we discussed cutting one's losses...?"

     “I sense a fiendish presence,” Miesha says walking slowly closer to the pit, gently leading Eilc. “Can’t be more specific than that though.  Sorry.”

     Miesha will walk the perimeter of the pit, straining to peer into it and see what she can see.  Specifically she’s trying to diss out the dimensions of the thing, how deep it is, is it a straight drop or…?  But she is also listening and watching for signs of life or movement of any kind…

     “I think we may need leave you out here,” Miesha says, reaching up to scratch the elk around the antlers. 

(One additional note, I don't think anyone ever added the Potion of Invisibility that the town included in their reward to their inventory)

Miesha - The opening of the pit is roughly a five-foot diameter circle. It appears to plunge straight down and, despite the sun coming down directly onto it, it is too dark to see more than a couple feet down.

Jasper walks up to Miesha and says "do not worry, I shall guard your elk with my life while you are down there."

Jasper sits down and pulls out his spell book. He starts a ritual casting of Detect Magic so further check out the hole.

(added the potion to my inventory but anyone can take it, or add it to your sheet now if you want and I'll delete mine)

As Miesha attempts to take advantage of Maggwyn's chattiness, she sees the tieflings eyes are alight with an excitement that she might have caught during the battle in the house with the gnolls.  Maggwyn holds Miesha's gaze, "Do you feel the magic?  Its a chaotic feeling and it is coursing through my veins - is it in yours as well?  I had this crazy dream, then woke up with this strange and amazing feeling.  Not sure yet what it means?"  She shrugs, then shakes her head a bit like she is trying to clear it, then goes back to what she was doing, not elaborating on it any more, seeming deep in thought.

As they approach the black hole in the middle of the dead grove, she gets a feeling of foreboding.  Not in the mood for Jasper, she snaps back at him, "I have a name." when he calls her apprentice for the umpteenth time.  She stands on the edge and looks down with her darkvision...

She then picks up a good sized dead branch, pulls out a flask of oil from her pack.  She wets the tip of the branch and after replacing her flask, she holds the branch out away from her body, oil tip up.  "Jasper, think you can actually hit the top of this branch with your firebolt and not me?  If not, I'll find another way, I'm already worried."

Assuming Jasper lights up the branch for her, she heads to the edge of the pit again and tosses the branch in, watching it fall.

     “But I was going to light you like a torch and drop you down the hole,” Miesha replies to Jasper teasingly.  “I hear you always land on your feet…”

     Miesha, however, finds a scrap piece of cloth and ties it around an arrow instead of the cat.  “Could someone light this before I shoot it down?” She asks.

Crannoc obliges Miesha, lighting the scrap of cloth with Prestidigitation.  Same with the top of Maggwyn's branch if not already lit.

Now that the journey is over and the party is here, he is unsure what to do in the face of something so alien.

He prays to Temuth for Guidance, trying to draw strength from the nature that still remains, surrounding the clearing.

Once we toss things into the hole, Perception plus Guidance to see inside or what effect it has:  11 + 3 = 14.

"Is that a cat joke?!" Jasper feigns offense before admitting "but yes, always on the feet." He grins and snickers a little.

When Maggwyn snaps at him Jasper's back gets up and his ears stiffen. Eventually he turns away and mumbles quietly "will have to put that on her review..."

Crannoc says in a low voice after lighting Maggwyn's branch:  "A short time ago, I vaguely perceived a shape trailing us as we approached the clearing, but it has since vanished.  I am unsure whether it was friend or foe."

(Jasper may react to Crannoc's news but for now he's probably concentrating on his ritual until the DM says otherwise.)

     “See what you can see here,” Miesha says, climbing up on Eilc.  “I’ll do a quick look around if our perimeter and look for spies.”  Miesha then spurs the elk into motion, aiming to do several widening and then shrinking circles of their location looking for…  anything.

Perception: 13
…

Miesha - Mounting Eilc and surveying the surroundings, you see no such figure. You don't even see evidence of creatures other than your party being in this place.

Jasper - You cast Detect Magic and are hit with a very mixed response. The magic that is present here is very complex, but the most prominent schools are conjuration and transmutation from the pit.

Crannoc - As Maggwyn drops the lit stick into the pit, you watch it descend. You would estimate that it fell around fifty feet before the light is extinguished, though you hear no impact.

Now that the group is finally here at the clearing, Crannoc feels a vast weight of uncertainty.  How to address threats outside of nature through nature?

Somehow he feels as if he should know what to do in this situation but he does not.  With hesitation, he speaks up:  "It is due to my words, at least in part, that all of you are here, having enjoyed our journey through Temuth's wilds (or not) to different degrees.  For that I thank you all, though I know that some of you may be looking for different rewards than my thanks.  If we decide to enter this strange void, it seems fitting that I volunteer to be the first."

He pauses, thinking about his faith and why he head set out in this direction to start with.

"My only other idea is a ritual that I have learned but never used before:  Augury.  It would appeal directly to Temuth for a sense of whether a course of action will result in weal or woe (or both or neither).  Such as entering here.  I feel I can only do so once reliably without a further night's rest."

Jasper reports the complex nature of the magic here and the focus on conjuration and transmutation. Once again to Maggwyn this knowledge of magic is all very new to her tabaxi friend.

Jasper nods in approval towards the use of Augury. He whispers to Crannoc "do you need me to survey the woods for whatever might be following us?"

      Once back at the pit, Miesha advises that she saw nothing on her little reconnaissance ride.  “Could be the Eilc and I aren’t the quietest pair, that we didn’t know what to look for, or that there was just nothing there,” she sums up with a shrug.

     Miesha dismounts and gives the elk a couple strong pats upon his shoulders before allowing him to roam about as he saw fit. 
   “The line forms behind me,” Miesha tells Crannoc with a smile after listening to his speech.  “Stay close by, mind ya, but I’m best equipped to deal with random mayhem out of the darkness…”

     “Anyone have some rope?  A light?” She asks casually, realizing she’s I’ll equipped to go delving into the dark.

Maggwyn rolls her eyes, "Humans" she mutters as Miesha claims she is best equipped then needs equipment.  

"Jasper, check out the woods, make sure no one is following us.  I'll go down first, I can see."  Her glaive then in hand, she unfurls her black wings.  She gently takes to the air, tail flicking a bit as she does.  "Oh yes, because I am not carrying you." she reaches into her pack and pulls out a 50' coil of rope and tosses it to Miesha.  "It might be further down than that, Jasper better have his rope with him that you can tie it to, or else I'll be skinning a cat tonight."

And with those parting words, she starts lowering herself slowly into the hole.

Crannoc starts to speak and then stops short twice.

First to respond to Miesha, ready to acquiesce to her offhand demand to go first, even though he is not certain she is best equipped.  Second to say that he was going to cast Augury as a ritual for ten minutes first, but it is too late.  Maggwyn is already descending into the hole.

As he sees the tiefling's signature eye roll, he gives her an eye roll back and taps her on the shoulder, giving her Guidance from Temuth.

     Miesha sighs as Maggwyn rashly flies down into the hole..."Good that you can see whatever is down their to eat you, I suppose," Miesha adds with an eye roll of her own.

     "Looks like your ritual is off, Crannoc...  No time to dawdle about tying a nice secure line while you cast, we better follow her.  Just in case seeing isn't all it's cracked up to be."  As she speaks, Miesha is already looking for a close but sturdy looking tree around which to tie the rope so that the rest of the group can begin to climb down.