Almost at the limits of his energy, Hemlock advances to just within range and throws a ball of fire at the creature. He follows that up with another luminous arrow.

Movement: To within 30ft
Action: Cast Produce Flame and throw at creature - To Hit: 16+6=22, Damage: 8 [fire]
Bonus Action: Luminous Arrow at creature - To hit: 11+6=17, Damage 8+4=12 [radiant]

Sha stands and pulls another javelin to throw at the bear frog but his whole body spasms and the javelin drops in front of him he walks further away, praying his friends will be okay.

Two frogbears defeated, there is no immediate evidence of another in the vicinity. But there are bubbles rising from the murky lake, and some of the mattes of algae are beginning to swirl around something in the middle.

You can see a door on the impressive but overgrown hut, though there are no windows on your side of it.

We are out of initiative.

Hemlock breathes a sigh of relief as the second frog -bear hybrid creature falls.

He looks to the hut, but then back at the large corpses.

”Apologies Saoirse, but perhaps you could cut some meat off one of those for the mimics? Maybe some from the leg? And avoid the burnt bits”.

Sha-gravis looks at everyone’s injuries trying to assess whom he should cure wounds.

Medicine 20  (whoever he thinks needs it most 11hp, himself)

Then he gives vigilant blessing and guidance to Lam and Saoirse respectively.

Saoirse sheathes her weapons, which are still shining, and quickly approaches Hemlock and Sha. "Gods, that was close. I'm relieved to see you both on your feet."

To Hemlock's request, she replies, "They must be hungry, right? I'll take care of it, yes. Why don't you two approach the hut and catch your breath there? I'll follow in a moment."

With that, she proceeds to cut some meat for the hungry mimics. The frogbear doesn't look like the most inviting of foods, but the tiny monstrosities did seem voracious enough to be able to enjoy this kind of meat. (22 Survival + 2 Guidance)

Hemlock nods, glad Saoirse had given him an excuse not to have to watch the butchery.

He approaches the hut with whoever else wants to come, keeping a keen eye and ear out for hostility or in indeed any other sign of life.

Perception: 10+6+1=17

Lam looks back and forth between Saoirse, Hemlock and Sha trying to decide where he is most needed. He decides to follow Hemlock and Sha, not wanting a repeat of what just happened to Sha- but he tries to follow at a distance and keep a lookout to make sure Saoirse is ok too. Splitting his focus, he doesn’t notice anything as well as he otherwise would.

Saoirse's cut is clean and precise, and she manages to slice away the poisonous mucous. What she's left with is a nice big slab of meat that looks ready to throw onto a grill or over a spit - and you can almost ignore where it came from. If you give it to the mimics, however, they start to eat it and munch a little one the sides, but as soon as the leg cools to ambient air temperature, they loose interest and squeak in protest. These little monsters want live food, but this will hopefully be enough to tide them over for another day.

There's no obvious life at the hut itself, other than the vines and various insects making their homes in them. You will have to cut one of the vines away to be able to open the door. You notice a smell coming from inside the hut - the smell of slow decay. Something or someone died in there, and hasn't been removed or eaten in the years since.

The mattes of algae on the lake continue to swirl slowly around, and bubbles are rising in the middle. There is something very big that has been disturbed in there, and it is waking up.

Hemlock is grateful the Saoirse helped with the meat for the mimics, but is a little disappointed that they didn't take to it.

"I don't know how I am going to turn these little critters into vegetarians", he mumbles, half an eye and most of his concentration on the bubbles in the lake.

Turning his attention back to the hut, "The smell of death is ripe".

But he does not approach further, having no means to cut away the vines.

"We could ask Aspen's people when we finally meet them. They might have ideas on how to achieve what you want," Saoirse suggests, her disappointment that the little mimics hadn't shown much interest in the dead frogbear's meat also evident. The genasi wasn't entirely convinced that the mimics' nature could be changed and wondered if they would have to resort to feeding them live meat. But she kept these doubts to herself, determined to support Hemlock, at least until they had exhausted all the options. 

Contrary to the druid, she approaches the vines, trying to determine their nature (ooc: Nature 8), but she doesn't recognize the plant at all, and is only certain that this species that doesn't grow near her home. 

"I don't recognize this plant at all. I could try to burn it, or cut it with my dagger. Given how thick they are, it will take a while, though Lam's axe will certainly speed up the process" , she glances at the lake, "But I fear it may disturb whatever dwells in the lake even further."

Saoirse follows the vines trying determine wheter they are growing from the earth - as common vines do - or if their source is inside the hut, or in the lake itself (ooc: Perception 9). Not finding anything remarkable, she says "I can't think really of other way to enter the hut. So, what do you say? Do I proceed? Perhaps it is best if you both stayed away. Just in case", she adds towards to Sha and Hemlock, who are still  hurt from the previous battle.

Hemlock leans in a little to get a closer look at the vines himself, in case he recognises them and can give Saoirse any advice.

"Perhaps you are right, Aspen's people might know more about mimics than I do", he agrees as he looks.

"Nope, I don't think I have seen vines like this before either".

Nature: 5+1=6

"Well, I'll do a small cut first and see what happens, okay?", Saoirse draws the dagger and waits until Hemlock gets away. If no one opposes, she'll then do a light cut with the radiant weapon on the vine blocking the door, and wait to see if there's any reaction before doing anything else.

Hemlock nods to Saoirse, and takes the step back.

He keeps an eye on the bubbling in the lake as she looks to address the issue of the vines.

"I think you should do it".

(If the test cut doesn't yield much of a reaction, Saoirse will just keep cutting, asking Lam for help to speed up the process.)

If Lam is asked for help, he will try swiftly slashing away at the vine with his greataxe to free up the door and make it available to open.

Sha-gravis is hurt but watching his friends cautiously prepare, he looks for a tall tree and perches 30’ up away from the vines and lake.

perception 23

The cut vines ooze a thick sap, and Saoirse's practice cut lets a drop of that sap touch her skin, causing an extremely itchy rash. (1 acid damage, disadvantage on concentration checks or checks to maintain a grapple until you next gain hp).

Any further attempts to cut the vines require a DC10 dex save to avoid touching them or their sap.

From Sha's vantage point he gets occasional glances between the moving mattes of algae. There is a creature in the lake with long tentacles, and the creature is significantly larger than the frogbears. There is also something manmade under the lake - it almost looks like a glass room or floor. Very difficult to make out exactly what it is.

Saoirse gasps in pain and steps away from the vines, letting out a string of curses in Ignan as she examines her rash-covered skin. For such a small wound, it itches like hell. She turns to Lam and says, "Careful with your cuts, okay? That ooze is pretty harmful."

With that, she approaches the same vine again. Knowing what she knows now, she tries to cut it more carefully, positioning her hand at an angle to avoid getting splattered by the ooze. (DEX ST 14)

As Saoirse approaches another vine, Hemlock keeps his distance.

He does however apologise profusely to the vine, explaining that they only wanted to gain entrance to the building it was growing over, and they would stop if it moved to allow that.

(OOC: Uses Speech of Beast and Leaf Firbolg feature. Plants can understand him, he can't understand them though - advantage if he needs to make a CHA check)