Seldom Spring

It's the only way to go, right? The other side of the t-junction goes back to the myconid cavern and we can see that?

Erric will help someone do a medicine check by having Jack rotate the head around in the air, moving hair/mouth as needed so that the checker can get a good look without having to touch it...

Maldorn has a look at the head with help from Erric/Jack

-> Medicine check: 17

The bit of neck skin still attached to the head gives you the impression that the head was torn off rather than cut off. Also, despite it not having any eyes (as grimlocks don't), the face has a permanent look of surprise. Oh, and it has a fairly big, gaping hole in one side of the head as if something as big around as a fist was used to skewer the head through the temple, but it didn't go all the way through. The blood around the hole would lead you to believe this happened before the head was torn off.

Seem like a long-dead head, or a recently-dead head?

"Ripped off... we should prepare to fight something big."

It looks neither long dead nor recently dead.

Jambiya looks at the head, keeping her distance. "Did something... eat... its brain?"

"Maybe the mind flayers the derro warned us about? Also this would be the seventh head the derro wanted. I guess this means we'll have to cut off the other six. Yuckeroo. Does this look like what a mind flayer would do? Do they eat brains? And that flumph told us that Thrakk's mind was foreign to Thrakk. What if the mind flayer went from this grimlock to Thrakk's head. We should check to see if there's any sign that Thrakk's head has an entry or exit wound. What if the mind flayer is still inside Thrakk and it could try to jump into one of us? I heard a tale once of a band of marine explorers traveled to a distant land and a creature jumped onto a man's face and they couldn't get it off and they brought him back to their ship... [proceeds to explain a maritime version of Alien]"

OOC: Erric's looked at Thrakk's head before, there's no wounds like this obviously, but nothing else that would seem weird? And have we heard anything about mind flayers/their pets that would inform us about this situation? 

At the mention of a possible brain meal, Erric causes Jack to angle the head wound and the torch so that the halfling can see better inside. He's no expert, but the skull doesn't look empty to him.

Erric never noticed any kind of gaping hole in Thrakk's temple. That would have been pretty hard to miss.

"Are the derro really expecting heads? That seems quite gruesome. Perhaps we could collect something less... bulky? How about left ears or left thumbs or tongues? Either way, we might want to tract back and collect those now. There is no telling if we'll get a chance to do so later." Maldorn pauses for a moment to scratch the back of his own left ear: "It also gives us another chance to check on Trunks."

Erric nods. "They did say heads, I think. But you're right, ears are more convenient. Maybe a bit less gross. Let's go gather them and look at Thrakk."

Listening to echoes and with the bit of darkvision we have, and the torch's light, does it seem like the tunnel beyond the head leads to a larger space, or like there's not much farther to go?

He passes by Ebokk. "Friend, are you okay? This is kind of a weird one. What do you think?"

Erric, you're not sure about the tunnel. You stopped Jack part way because of the head, and it's too dark for you to see any further.

Ebokk puts a hand to the back of his neck and raises his eyebrows. "This has been a strange, strange adventure." He smiles. "But who else can boast of meeting myconids, gray dwarves, an orc, a flumph, and grimlocks all on the same day!?" He looks down the tunnel. "If you want to go down there, I will accompany you and protect you as best I can with my shield. It is curious why there was a head just lying there on the ground." He grimaces. "Where's the rest of the body?"

“This is gonna make a great story for my dads,” Jambiya says, screwing up her courage. “I’m not really... keen on cutting off heads, or ears, but I do want to help Anafrey. Let’s explore this tunnel a little further before we go back to see if the derro really have something for us.”

She will head down the tunnel, keeping an eye out for more heads, headless bodies, or anything else.

She is not going first. Repeat, not first, but she will urge the party on.

Everybody's going first? Probably in the same order as before, but without Thrakk? What about light?

Erric nods, and will accompany Jambiya -- he is also not going first, probably just in front of or behind Jambiya. He has Jack walk ahead with the torch, 30 feet ahead of him, everyone moving slowly enough to allow for stealth and good perception.

Suggested marching order: Anafrey, Maldorn, Erric, Jambiya, Ebokk

OOC: Erric isn't this careful, but leaving Thrakk alone and about to wake up with some kind of mind control is a bit dangerous and the rest of the party would likely realize it in-game. We've bound him rather well -- are the in-game rules for remaining bound sufficient to expect he'll still be tied up? We were pretty careful about it, but if it's a matter of rolling a d20 every six seconds and breaking free on a 20, 19, 18, or 17 etc, then we can expect he'll be free by the time we get back from wherever this tunnel goes.

I rolled that Thrakk won't wake for two hours from when he got knocked out. While the PCs wouldn't know that, even if the PCs don't care, the players don't need to worry about it, either. At least not for a while. You all rested for an hour, so you still have almost an hour.

Not advancing quite yet in case someone else has other ideas for what to do next.

"I will lead the way" Anafrey would say as she lights a torch and holds it in her left hand. She would then pull out her flail and let it dangle near her right thigh. "I hope by the end of this mess I get a little better at swinging this thing..." She would say with a sigh... "But then again I would love to never see this flail again by the end of this adventure as well.... but I fear I might be stuck with this damned flail forever.." She would grumble. "I will try to stand between you all and any threats ahead but.. I haven't been very good at it so far." She would say as she thinks back to how many times her friends have taken some bloody beatings.

"Fine, Trambs can wait." Maldorn agrees with Jambiya before following Anafrey deeper into the cave. He has his bow ready to go, if needed. That said, he keeps a good 10 feet of distance between himself and the white-haired fighter.

The party continues up the tunnel toward where Jack "picked up" the head. Anafrey walks, torch in one hand and her unusual flail in the other. Ten feet behind her, Maldorn follows with his bow ready. Directly behind him walk Erric and Jambiya side by side, and Ebokk brings up the rear, looking backward a little more than forward to make sure nothing is sneaking up on them from behind. The echo in this cave is a little different than the others. There's also a very slight rushing or roaring sound up ahead.

As Anafrey reaches the place where the head had been, she can see the floor is rusty with smeared pools of old blood (not fresh, but like there had been pools). In the corner where the floor and wall meet, she also sees there is a severed grimlock arm. It looks to be about as old as the head. She turns to comment to the others when a large creature drops from a hidden cavity in the ceiling between her and Maldorn, revealing itself to be a vulture-headed beetle with long hooked claws!

As Maldorn specifically posted that he had his bow ready to go, I'll let him make a preemptive attack. Unfortunately, it's within melee range, so you'll attack at disadvantage.

“Ahh... What in the world is this horror!”

-> Longbow vs. Vulture-Beetle: Attack: 18 Damage: 8 piercing.