Jeb approaches the cubby hole in the wall, and sees inside a battered wooden chest. The faint blue light glows within it, exiting the seams of the chest. 

(Waiting for John and clarification from Arikon before next post.) 

<Sorry. I keep forgetting John.>

John seeing Jeb pushed into the ravine, screams in rage at the assumed death of his mentor and friend. He moves to the far bridge to flank the one-eyed beast and fires his crossbow at him. 

Attack: 3, Damage: 4

(Arikon uses the nearest bridge) 

Quote from Thoradin_Orcbender >>

Seeing that no one is taking the manuscript, Maglath waves it once then drops it back on the ground.

”This first bridge is a trap. It will fall.”

 Just wanted to bring this up. 

(For the sake of expediency, Arikon finds a spot with line of sight.)

The sizzling blast strikes the creature, who screeches at it's staggering force. While John misses, the creature is injured enough to reconsider this fight. 

"Gah...how dare you!"

It turns around and dodges before moving into the storeroom. Maglath and Murmen have opportunity attacks, with disadvantage. 

Murmen swings his hammer backhanded at the retreating creature . . .

Attack: 10 Damage: 4

Maglath slams his war hammer down towards the retreating abomination.

Attack: 8 Damage: 12 

Both opportunity attacks miss. 

The creature scurries away, beginning to pass a corner. But before it vanishes out of sight, the party's turns are up. 

Maglath runs after the creature, crossing the 30’ to get within striking distance.

One last swing of the hammer.

Attack: 19 Damage: 9 

John moves down the passage to the far bridge and would run across the bridge to the entrance of the storeroom. He will pause there beibg sure to remain out of sight from the beast and rearm his crossbow to fire his next turn.

Jeb will investigate the chest for traps or locks before opening it. Perhaps it holds something that will empower the party in their endeavor both with the one-eyed monster and their infiltration of the Redbrands lair.

Investigation: 10

Lyre will follow Maglath, forgoing his Crossbow for a Dagger he takes out of his coat, and take a swipe at the bulbous green eye.

To hit: 13 dealing 8 damage and 1 Sneak Attack damage.

He will Dash as a bonus action in order to catch up to it, taking the upper bridge around.

Arikon would run along the chasm until he got line of sight of the beast again. He would hurl another Eldritch Blast at it asking himself how many it was going to take to kill the monster. Hit: 9 Dmg: 3 

Maglath rounds the wall, only to find the creature cornered in the storeroom. While there doesn't seem to be any exits, the creature is frantically scratching at one of the walls. The goliath slams his hammer into it, while Lyre's bolt whishes through the air and embeds into it's head. It unleashes a final telepathic outburst before slumping onto the ground.

"No! How have I let myself come to this?" 

The green glow in it's single eye fades, and the creature becomes inert. Maglath waits a moment, but it doesn't seem to get back up. The party is now free to continue their exploration of this underground complex. 

Jeb investigates the battered wooden chest for any traps, but there doesn't seem to be any. He does notice that the bottom of the crevice seems to be unnaturally cold. Meanwhile, the half-eaten corpse lays on the rubble, clutching the piece of red cloth. 

What do they do next? 

Jeb calls softly from the bottom of the chasm towards the others at the top. "Is it done?"

Maglath looks down at the dead Nothic and shakes his head. It did not need to end this way he thinks to himself. 

"Did he really know anything about my tribe?" he says out loud.

Then he looks at the wall the creature was scratching at. Was there a hidden door there? He looks more carefully at the wall.

(Perception: 22 )

Lyre will retrieve the bolts embedded within the creature, returning them to his quiver. Habitually sticking to the shadows, he slinks around the room, investigating: 4 where the creature went. A dead end was a dead end, right? Lyre will investigate the wall the creature was scratching at, careful not to open anything or make too much noise.

Afterwards, he will head to the mass of corpses left in the crevice, and begins to 'harvest' serviceable meat from the bodies in his customary erratic and jerky, yet precise, movements. He was a scavenger, and his years left in the wilds has left him rather oblivious to acceptable customs, entirely unaware of what the Nothic said and how it is making him look. He's happily trilling some jolly tune during the entire time.

Above the crevasse, John hears Jeb's call. He rushes over and yells down the chasm. 

"Jeb! Are you alright? I thought that....that you were dead."

Meanwhile, Maglath searches the wall for a hidden door. He may have missed it at a first glance, but the creature's scratch mark reveals it: a small gap in the stone where two iron hinges can be seen. When Lyre swings over, the avian rogue confirms the presence of a secret door. It seems to be unlocked. 

Lyre heads down the crevasse and begins...carving away at the corpses? John and Jeb would see this. How do they react? 

Maglath confirms the location of the door and walks back to the crevasse to help get Jeb out if he needs it. But then he sees Lyre scavenging the corpses. It's not the first time he's seen it but it still doesn't make it easier to watch.

"Lyre," he shouts down. "You know you can't do that in front of people."

He turns to John.

"He doesn't mean any disrespect. His kind are," he pauses. "His kind are different."

He then looks down at Jeb. 

"Do you need help?"

Jeb looks at Lyre as he moves to the semi-consumed corpse. Once his intentions become clear, Jeb distracts him by calling his attention to the chest. He says, "Lyre, come look at this chess. I need some help carrying it after my tumble." Jeb moves aside so the faint glow is more perceptible to the Kenku. 

Jeb calls to John and Maglath, "I am a little worse for wear; but alive. I've found a chess that I need some help with. Lower a rope and we can hoist the chest and myself up from this dank hole"

Maglath unfurls 50' of rope from his pack and tosses one end down to Jeb. He ties the other end around his waist, trusting his own strength over that of the pillar.

While waiting for Jeb to tie the rope to the chest he thinks about what the creature said about, Lyre. Lyre had earned the benefit of the doubt but he still had needed to hear what the kenku had to say. 

"Did that thing tell you anything it could not have guessed at?" he asks the others. "It said it would tell me what I wanted to know. But that is a carnival fortune teller trick. People always want to know something."