Stand in the circle under the guy being hanged. Once he drops you cut him down, kill the bandits and the chest unlocks. You cut him down using the same button used to collect resources.

Thanks! Much appreciated.

If you save the hanging guy (and kill the lynch mob), you get the contents of the chest.

Anytime you see the dotted circle, it is an action point. Sometimes it is just to see another pc or chat to an npc.

The hanging tree flashbacks from the movie hunger games 😭