Esvele, holding the door open for the others, walks in when the last of the party crosses the threshold. She walks to the door, her shield shining off light, and looks the blood over trying to figure out how old it is.

She also comments, "We should check these doors and room for traps and locks. Are there any other footsteps here? Which doors seem to be regularly used?"

"Maybe we should use a rock or something to prop this door open?" Darastrag asks in a whisper.

Aerin and Darastrag are able to determine that the trail of blood and the substantial smear of crimson along the door are few days old, perhaps left around the same time as the goblins in the tower met there untimely deaths.

The northern door at the end of the hall doesn't look as if it has been used for quite some time as it is draped with thick silky cobwebs. Most foot traffic through this hall appears to go in and out of the western door, with the ominous stain of blood soaking into the old wood.

The warlock does not detect any traps as she scours the area at the end of the cold stone hall. 

"So, blood? Or the path less traveled by?" 

"This decision will make all the difference," Darastrag intones frostily.

"We are still looking for the hunters from the village - Jon and Benjen," N'ruel asks the group and points toward the blood-smeared door.

"Yes, we should check.  From the looks of things someone might not have much time."

N'ruel moves to the bloodied door and looks back to the others for confirmation before opening it. "Are we going through?"

Esvele walks over to the door, her shield shining a bright light, and gives the door a cursory look ( Investigation 13 , 10, giving her disadvantage given the very cursory and careless glance at the door), saying, "Looks clean, let's go."

Aerin considers the door with a scowl.  Perhaps she is simply nervous from before but that blood...  It never hurt to get a second opinion, right?

"N'Ruel, you seem to have a deft touch.  Why don't you use these tools to give the door a second check?"

She hands him a leather wrapped roll of tools meant to aid the detection and removal of nasty surprises.

    "We go then," he says with a nod. With a heavy sigh to prepare himself for whatever is to come, N'ruel opens the door slowly from the side and then peaks around the corner to quickly check the next room.

Perception 26

N'Ruel cracks open the blood smeared door and glances into the room beyond.

The monk spies crudely executed symbols and glyphs, scribed in bright green dye, decorating the large and irregularly shaped crumbling chamber. A large pit in the center glows with the dying orange embers of a recent fire. A metallic cage in the middle of the southern wall contains a gaping hole and stands empty, but for a scattering of bones along the floor. A small wooden bench draped with green cloth is next to the cage, several small objects rest upon it. A bedroll lies near the wooden bench, and the sound of whimpering comes from inside it. In the northern corner of the room sits another smaller cage, covered with a short rotting cloth that does not reach down to the floor, revealing the rusted bars underneath and the slumped shadow of something lying inside.

Peeing over the drow's shoulder, Aerin looks into the room.  She is careful to check for signs of magic with her new ability to detect magic as well as any potential threats.  The whimpering sounds make her wince as well as the cage.  Whatever was going on his couldn't be good but who was in the bedroll? 

Perception 4

Esvele steps into the room directing the light shining from her shield towards the northern corner, the cage there and it's contents. 

A sharp hiss escapes from the cage as the light falls upon the northern cage. 

Something shifts in the shadowed space behind the ragged covering.

Esvele whispers, "Whatever is in that cage, is alive... I'm going to get a close look. What of the whimpering bedroll?"

Esvele cautiously, and as quietly as she can, moves towards the cage to the north. She stops to observe the crude glyphs attempting to make sense of them. 

//  Are the glyphs reminiscent of something Esvele has seen before, whether it be earlier in her career or just somewhere else in these ruins.  //

"I will guard the door. You go check the cage," Darastrag hisses, then takes a position of watchfulness while the others inspect the situation.

"One thing at a time," N'ruel replies to Esvele. With sword drawn, N'ruel carefully makes his way towards the cage as well. When he gets near, he bangs the side of the cage with the flat of his blade. 

The hissing stops as N'ruel's blade strikes against the cage with a muffled clang. 

The shifting within the cage stops abruptly. A muttered guttural phrase queries out from behind the ragged cloth.

The guttural tongue is nothing that Aerin knows but it is a mortal tongue.  There is no endless reverberation of something other.  A small relief.  Following behind the  she others she eyes the runes doubtfully.