The bird screeches again; clearly the intent of your words struck it. Wracked with psychic panic and grief, it flies towards the back of the room, but can't make it through any exits, instead flapping around in terror. 

Eagle: -36

Graelor steps into the room and quickly takes in the situation. He levels his right arm with an open hand at the bird and casts SACRED FLAME. I rolled 2 points of damage. 

The attack hits it, inflicting some extra damage on top of its existing wounds.

Since both Hugh and Bilyur's players have been offline for a while, I'm gonna say that Hugh's case of NPC Flu has spread to Bilyur, and they are now both stuck in a rather disconcerting loop talking to each other, repeating the same prompt for a 'side quest' over and over, whilst Galochka is hidden somewhere within the room, quietly observing the party. This means it's now the eagle's turn.

[For Cheez and Sundial, NPC Flu is a disease in this campaign that Hugh originally caught, and it makes the character, as the name suggests, act like an NPC. It's pretty much just a funny explanation for offline characters that don't have a reason why]

The presence of another bird in the room disturbs the eagle, and it attacks Salamander Pie in an attempt to make it go away, gouging at his stomach with his beak. To hit: 18, 8 piercing damage on a hit.

Then, the eagle flies round and goes to attack Eggo Lass with its unnaturally large talons, that seem to have been twisted and warped by Shadow Weave exposure, and sort of resemble the harpoon arms of a Lonely Sorrowsworn: 12to hit, 16 slashing damage on a hit and you are grappled (Escape DC 10)

"Missed me." quips Eggo Lass as she takes a step away from the eagle and sends an eldritch blast at it.

Move: 10ft away from the eagle
Action: Eldritch Blast

To-Hit: 8+6 = 14
Damage: 4+4 = 8 force

The blast just hits, and the bird goes careening into the floor, feathers flying up as its gigantic body hits the stone. It soon regains stability and flight, but it's definitely looking worse for wear.

Eagle (-46)

Salamander Pie manages to push off the bird from attacking his stomach. "GET OFF ME!" He growls. His tail twitches.

With his daggers in hand, he runs to go stab the bird after it makes its attack on Eggo Lass. "Nice one!" He shouts over at the drow. He would give a thumbs up if he hands weren't full.

((Dagger to hit 3 + 4 = 7 :( Damage 3 + 2 = 5))

((Dagger to hit: 11 + 4 = 15 Damage 4 + 2 = 6))

Focusing back on his Hawk Spirit, he holds his hands out and directs the spirit towards the creature, sneering at the beast. 

((Bonus Action: move Hawk Spirit to where the giant eagle is))

((He also uses his Reaction to give an Advantage to whoever attacks the giant eagle next))

"Best of luck!"

Graelor runs to assist his Goblin friend and attacks the Eagle with his mace. I rolled a 20 to hit and 7 points of damage.

Salamander Pie's dagger tears through the wing of the bird and it squawks out in pain and misery, before Graelor, guided by the Hawk Spirit, lands their mace directly into the monsters neck. The Eagle is dead, combat is over and you are out of initiative.

Sly glares at the shadow bird, slowly getting up and patting down her robe. You see a young pale purple tiefling that seems to currently be disgusted by everything around her, including her wet clothes and spell book.

Before she even introduces herself, she releases a barrage of spells at her outfit, magically cleaning and drying everything.

After this, some amount of composure reenters the wizard and she straightens up somewhat.

"Well."

"Mighty kind of you fine gentlemen to help resolve this particular incident. This infused avian insisted on pursuing us here from the temple of the amber god."

She does not offer a handshake, but inclines her head in a polite bow. "My name is Sly. I'm a researcher of magical secrets and transmutation. Pursuing this end has brought me to this veritable menagerie of the blood archivist."

“Greetings, Sly. My name is Graelor and I serve Helm as a Priest of Life…at your service”, Graelor bows. “You are injured. Allow me to tend to your wounds.”

OOC: DM, can I get a summary of the Hit Point situation of our group so I can best decide how to heal them?

[Yeah, sure, it looks like it’s just Sly that’s injured currently, and she’s missing 5 hit points out of 20]

He raises his fists in the air when the creature is dead, hooting and hollering. "HAZZAH!"

"It is dead. It is dead~" He dances to his own tune, furiously blowing on his birdpipes that he suddenly whipped out as soon as his hands were free and he had put away his daggers. The Hawk Spirit, still flying overhead, seems unamused by this, but Salamander Pie does not care about what the spirit had to say. It does not talk! "The wicked bird is dead! Wicked bird!" He kicks the corpse. "Phooey."

Still playing his birdpipes, he wanders over to the purple tiefling after Graelor had made his introduction. "Nice." He blows on the instrument. "To. Meet. You." He plays a rather random series of notes. "I. Am. Salamander. Salamander. Pie."

"A researcher? Do you know what this creature is. It has been corrupted."

He does his own little investigation, sniffing and examining the bird despite just kicking it earlier.

((Perception: 15 + 4 = 19; Investigation 11))

"Hm.. why am I here? Oh yeah-"  

"The KING! STUPID KING." He shakes his little fist, "The BLOOD... MAN. He RAISED THE RENT on my SWAMP!" Jumping around the dungeon floor on all fours, it seems he has a lot of pent up energy for this because he is going at rabid speed. "I! AM GOING TO TAKE HIS THRONE AND- then remove the rent. THEN I DON'T CARE WHAT ELSE! I'LL CEDE OR WHATEVER. Who makes you pay money on a piece of land that is mostly water?! WATER IS FREE. COMES FROM THE SKY. I just like the murkiness. I swim in the mud..." He sort of just trails off from there.

Letting Graelor take the healing on this one, he announces. "I WILL MAKE THE GOODBERRIES. Yeah. For next time." And then he does so, casting Goodberry to make the magical blue berries appear in his hand. He wraps them up into handkerchiefs and hands half over to Eggo Lass and the other half to Sly. 

Graelor puts his hand on Sky’s wounded leg and mumbles his prayer for CURE WOUNDS. Graelor’s hand becomes a bright white light that engulfs Sky’s leg. When the light subsides, Graelor removes his hand and the wound is gone, barely leaving a scar. “May Helm’s blessings be upon you”

OOC: Sly, you have 11hp restored.

Graelor begins to explore the room, looking for traps, secret doors, and TREASURE!

Graelor asks, “Are you OK, Sal? You did good back there.”

Salamander Pie investigates the bird and notes the following things; it seems to have been corrupted by the Shadow Weave it dwelled by, and as a result, it grew slightly larger than a regular Giant Eagle, with bigger wings, feathers and talons. It seems the corpse is otherwise in fairly good condition, with the only damage being the thin knife slices down the breast and wing, and the soft tender part at the back of the neck where Graelor struck it. As you examine it further, you also notice that the black feathers leave a black chalky powder on your fingers when you touch them, and the meat below is a pale white.

[Cheez, if you're gonna examine the room, can I get an Investigation or Perception check please?

Also I'm already absolutely smitten by Salamander, I can't get enough of tiny goblin swamp gremlins lmao]

OOC: DM, as an uncommon magic item, I chose Sentinel Shield. I rolled a PERCEPTION check of (9,6) + 3 for a 12.

[Yep, I saw that, all good]

Graelor scans the room, using his shield as his eyes and allowing him to focus on his other senses, such as hearing. You don't see or find anything interesting about this chamber, but you just pick up the quiet chatter of a group in another room to the south. You don't recognise the language, but the voices are low, grumbling and hushed, as if they are scheming or plotting something.

Graelor turns toward the group and puts his finger against his lips to warn them to be quiet. Graelor slowly and quietly moves toward the room to the south, shield and mace ready. Graelor will take cover behind the entranceway to the south and try to listen more carefully.

[I took the liberty of making a few rolls:
Insight- 15
Perception- (17,7) Advantage + 3= 20
Stealth- (4,17) Disadvantage + 1= 5

[No problem at all, you can always make rolls without being asked, so if in doubt, roll for it!]

Graelor walks to the southern door, his footsteps echoing on the cold stone floors. You listen closely at the iron door, and hear what the inhabitants are saying more closely. You hazard a guess that there's many people in there from all the voices, and though you don't know the language, you can judge from the harsh guttural sounds that they're speaking Orc or maybe Giant. However, a combination of your footsteps, clinking armour, and heavy breathing, means that it appears the inhabitants know there's somebody listening, as the conversation slows to hushed whispers and then goes silent. You then hear the movement of the figures as they struggle with some equipment, but nobody opens the door yet. 

Sly looks surprised at the healing abilities of Graelor. "Oh, thanks. Very fortuitous to have met one with such abilities here."

To Salamander Pie she says: "As far as we were able to ascertain, the shadow weave is corrupting creatures. We saw it happen with a human and now we have evidence that it possibly extends to all sorts of creatures."

"The shadow weave is the creation of the blood archivist, the grand mastermind behind these dungeons."

Graelor moves to the side of the door that will give him an advantage. My action is READY and I will have my mace and shield ready to attack once the door opens.

I also try to get the rest of the party’s attention so they can get ready.