[Fane, please make an Arcana check to identify the potion with a taste.]

Tilliman, still struggling with his tinderbox, doesn't realize the fight is over at first. He takes a moment to look around before muttering, "Oh...Well, then..." He puts the tools away with a sheepish grin. "I suppose... these are-em... unnecessary."

After stowing the tinderbox, he pulls out the dust, and inspects it, announcing to the others, "This is the sole result of my search, I'm sorry to say.... Now, let's see here..." He studies the powder, tasting it if necessary....

Arcana: 16

Eron sheathes a sword pulls a torch and his flint & steel.  Now armed with one sword and a torch he descends into the cellar.

Try as he might, Tilliman can't quite place these alchemical powders, or what exactly they are used for.  The best he can conclude is that the probably have some value to someone operating a laboratory.

Fane has better results.  She is instantly able to recognize the bitter-melon taste of a magical potion of growth.

Torch in hand, Eron begins to lead the party down to the lower levels of the house.

As he moves down the steps, there is a rush of cold air up from below, whistling loudly as if echoing through a long, deep cave. 

Another sound is heard as well... it is a bit like someone smacking their lips, or slurping up long, wet noodles.  In the gloom at the bottom of the stairs, a shape appears, peering around the corner.  It leers up at you hungrily, a long tongue hanging out of its mouth, before it retreats back out of sight with an oafish chuckle.

“Very creepy!  Please let’s drop the performance, the gigs up.  Surrender give back Arlynn’s belongings and clear out while you still can.  If you don’t there’s gonna be trouble!”  Then Eron rushes down the stairs.

Fane is a bit freaked out by the creature she just saw, nonetheless, she wants to determine if it was an illusion she just saw.

Investigation: 8

Fane, you are unsettled to be unable to locate any evidence of a trick or spelltrap here.

The concerns are proved meaningless as the party follows Eron downstairs to find... no monster.  

There is a rank odor of decay in the air.  You find yourselves in a 25' x 40' wine cellar.  Your eyes are drawn to what looks like a corpse on the floor.   In the center of the room lies a human man's body clad in plate mail; a longsword lies by its right side, and a large shield covers its legs.  Three crossbow bolts protrude from the chest of the plate mail.  A small, lit candle rests on the floor beside the body, the only light in the room other than Eron's torch.

Shoulder-height wooden bottle racks line the north and west walls here. There appear to be no intact bottles left in the racks and shattered bottles cover the floor.

Against the east wall, at the foot of the stairs, rest two large metal storage bins that appear to be empty.

Most of the space is empty, and there doesn't appear to be anywhere to hide.  It looks like there is no one down here.

The blue-haired half-elf cautiously moves closer to the body, trying to determine where the shooter would have been standing, at point-blank range it would seem, or had he sprung some kind of trap? "We weren't the first ones to investigate this place it seems, let's hope we are more fortunate that this one." She says grimly to the others as she looks over where she believes the shooters had been standing. "I wonder why they would simply let him lie like this? Maybe it happened recently and that they hid somewhere when they heard us coming?" She says as she looks around suspiciously at the wooden bottle racks.

Perception: 5
Investigation: 5

(The two potions are still up for grabs, maybe Eron would be best off with the growth potion? :-)

Eron will accept the growth potion assuming it is suggested.  (Added to his inventory)  Then he somewhat angrily moves to the fireplace and investigates for latches catches releases anything that may trigger a hidden passage…  “Nevermind clearing out you’ll answer for this.”

Leo will fly up to the ceiling and take a birds eye view of the room to see from that angle, Perception: 20

Fane will check out the storage bins Investigation: 10

Then investigate the body to try and determine if they really died from the bolts, etc: Medicine: 14

Investigating the fireplace, Eron doesn't see any latches, but discovers something much simpler.  Alongside the fireplace, there is a false section of wall, with stone facing plastered onto a wooden frame.  It has no handle or latch and looks to open with a push into another, hidden room to the south.

It looks like the body has been moved and staged in this position, so he and his assassins could have battled anywhere on the property.  Standing near the body, Arlynn spies a solitary wine bottle hidden underneath the wooden racks.  Before she can move to grab it...

Fane send Leo up to investigate the room (and receives the same message about the hidden door).  The storage bins are as empty as they appear, but the corpse is decidedly more interesting.  It is no illusion... there is a deceased human man inside the plate mail armor.  From the smell and putrefaction, he looks to have been dead for a couple of tenday.  Cause of death is impossible to say with certainty, but the placement of those crossbow bolts suggest they were indeed the fatal blow. 

Looking closer, Fane is alerted when there is a slurping sound and a vibration from inside the body... and then two swarms of rot grubs spill out of gaps in the armor.  At a glance, the grubs’ appearance looks unnervingly similar to curdled milk being squeezed from a bladder.

Intitiative:

1. Arlynn
2. Tilliman
3. Rot Grubs
4. Fane
5. Eron

"AAAAAHH...WHAT IS IT WITH THIS PLACE AND ALL THESE PESKY SWARMS??" The blue-haired half-elf screams, nearly panicking at the sickening sight, quickly backing off to the corner of the wine cellar, placing her hex on the mass of grubs closest to the white-haired elven warrior mage before unleashing a dark azure beam of eldritch cracklig force towards it.

Move to northeastern corner.
Place Hex on easternmost rot grub swarm.
Eldritch Blast: 15 Force: 14 Necrotic: 5 

Tilliman retches when he sees the grubs pour out of the corpse. If there was a time to kill something with fire, now would be it.

He pulls out another vial of oil and launches it at the swarm closest to Fane, loudly muttering "Ugh... vile... disgusting... wretched... foul..." in a nauseous wavering voice as he does so.

He then quickly ducks away, positioning himself just to the east of Eron and hiding behind a crate.

Arlynn blasts the rot grubs nearest Fane with a beam of eldtitch force, smashing and bursting many of the hungry maggots, then she retreats to the NE corner of the room.  

Tilliman douses that same swarm of grubs with oil, then disappears behind a bin in the SE corner.  

The maggots them swarm into action.  One pile of grubs surge and ooze across the flow slowly in the direction of Arlynn.

The other swarm crawls into Fane's space, toothy grubs working their way up her boots and onto her pants, looking for bare flesh to burrow into...

Rot Grub Attack:  4  (Miss)

So far none of them are successful in biting her.

[Fane and Eron are still up this round, then back again to Arlynn and Tilliman!]

Fane will use her sword and dagger to scrape and flick off as much maggot swarm as possible lips tightly pursed to avoid nausea or the horrendous possibility of any crawlers getting near or in her mouth… then she will move toward the stairs.

Action attack shortsword 22 damage 7

Bonus action attack dagger 18 damage 3

Move 20’ around and up the stairs.

Eron looking back sees Arlynn & Fane backing away from the maggoty corpse.  If the swarm where Fane was is still wriggling, Eron will drop his torch on the oily buggers as he makes his way to the left of the body drawing his second sword and flashing his blades through the mass of maggots near the head of the deceased.

move to swarm one drop torch 1 fire damage + 5 for oil splashed free action continue move to swarm two action attack 15 for 8 damage bonus action attack 20 for 5 damage drawing second sword as part of attack special if either attack hits mark as favored foe for 4 additional damage.

Fed up with disgusting swarms, the blue-haired half-elf makes a desperate dash along the wooden racks down to the opposite corner of the wine cellar.

(Dash action)

[Athletics or Acrobatics check from Arlynn, please (your choice of which to roll).]

Fane scrapes and smashes the grubs and then flees upstairs.  The grubs are able to get a last gasp attack in, but fail to pierce her skin with their toothy fore-mouths.

AOO Bite:  2

Eron lays his torch down on the pile of grubs and it alights Tilliman's oil.  The grubs erupt in a bonfire that illuminates the room and produces a cloud of smoke.  The last of those grubs perish.  He then moves to the other pile of grubs and attacks it twice.  He cuts and stabs at the grubs, killing some of them but not destroying the swarm.

[Tilliman is up, then the grubs.]