Elila helps Katarielle with the loads and gathers together the best two long bows and arrows and hands them over. Disappointed that there weren't any snack funds to be found, she grabs the best suit of chain mail and stuffs it into her pack. Maybe she can trade it for a meal.

Katerielle gratefully accepts the bow. "Sorry, I had to push the fight. They killed the dwarf...and, well.. there are probably more goblins or that spider things agents out there, so they would have just kept coming back. You know." Katerielle explains to her friend.

The casks and crates in room H19 contain salted meats and spoiled grains.  Edible by goblinoid standards, but not for anyone in the party.  There is one cask of exceptional dwarven brandy (20 glasses worth) that was buried  beneath the other crates and casks. 

There is also the bloody chain mail of human size, longsword with the emblem of Neverwinter and a heavy crossbow.

The crates and barrels in area Q19 are ancient and rotted through.

The bald man patiently waits until people are calmer and says "While it is quite understandable that you might want to loot this place, might someone cut these bonds?  Perhaps afterwards I will prepare us a meal and we can get to know each other.  Also is there a well?  I would like to wash up.  My masters warned that poor hygiene when cooking can ruin the meal."

Leek will take his (now very bloody) scimitar to cut the bonds.  BUT, before he does, he stares deeply into the eyes of the human.  If he sees the aura, he will attack him relentlessly.  If he does not see the aura, he will cut the bonds and continue bleeding out the hobgoblins close by.

(Oh, how tempting...but no.  No Aura.)

"Most grateful friend gnome.  Now, who's hungry.  Aren't you lucky you rescued a traveling cook?"  Q will start scrounging for food.

What passes for goblin food is nothing you'd want to cook for anyone else, let alone for yourself.  You have your rations to eat or anything you can hunt in the nearby forest.  (Survival check)

Katerielle will speak up,"I can share my days rations with you." She will mention to the once prisoner. "or Leek and I could look around for edible plants after we bury our associate." She will motion towards the dwarf. "from your capabilities even bound and your calmness that you were misleading them as to your ability to fight your way free. I am curious, did you take the risk of simply surrendering to them to find their base?"

Turning to Leek, "Would you use move earth to dig out two five foot deep connected cubes so we can bury our employer? Does anyone know what the map leads to or what future work he had for us?"

Leek looks up at Katrielle as he slices a hobgoblin neck and nods.  "Almost done," he mumbles.  Once he is done bleeding the evil horde, he looks for a nice spot near a tree and uses Mold Earth to excavate a nice grave.  

Quote from Giasrhen >>

Turning to Leek, "Would you use move earth to dig out two five foot deep connected cubes so we can bury our employer? Does anyone know what the map leads to or what future work he had for us?"

Katerielle knows Gundren was interested in her archaeology background.

Leek knows Gundren was interested in his race and age.

Rindelk knows Gundren was interested in him because he is a wizard.

Kitryn knows Gundren expected danger and the need to fight.

"Kitryn, Would you respectfully look through our employers remaining clothes and check him for any tattoos? For whatever he may have been able to secret upon his person to hide from his captors. I will look at the map and see if I can make out anything about it. Do any of you know how to read Dwarven?" Katerielle will ask everyone in the group. While she takes the map and begins to study it asking what any markings she does not recognize mean from the other members of the group. She will use her Cartographer skills(in this application I am guessing Intelligence will be the attribute so 20), her knowledge of History(of the maps area 8), and Investigation (to put the information together from the different clues and knowledge 17) along with whatever everyone else can add to the investigation or additional clues.

"We should also consider all the notes we found signed with the spider symbol and that the person or group that symbol represents knew what Gundren was looking for from the start. Meaning that it, they could have set this up so that we freed the first fellow, but made sure Gundren was killed and we fought for and received the map, solely so they could follow us to the location it leads. I am inclined to try to skip going to wherever the map leads until after we have tracked down this Spider, for lack of a better term, and dealt with it and its minions." Katerielle seems to be sharing her thoughts and process as she works with the clues, kind of like she is sharing with peers who have the same interests.

The map is a standard issued map of the sword coast, centered around Neverwinter.  In addition to that, Gundren (or someone else) has written and drawn extra details:

About 10 to 15 miles west of Phandalin, is an "X" with the caption "Wave Echo Cave".  There's a line snaking its way from Phandalin to the "X" and along that line there are sketches of what must be visual landmarks for navigation purposes.

I'm going to assume that we have a long rest before heading out.  I will take it now.  (Need it!)

Elila will trade watches with the rest of the party so somebody is always awake and aware while the rest sleep.

Katerielle, after burying the dwarf, that the group camp on a stable section of the 2nd floor. Leave a light or fire going in the bug bear's chamber in case any scouting goblins return, they go there instead of searching up here. We each take a 2 hour watch and we long rest for at least 10 hours.

I am a simple travelling, wandering with a thirst to see the world and all of its delights when these beasts set upon me.  With the stories I had heard it seemed it would be best to kill the root of the plant and not the flower.  I would appreciated the plants.  I will prepare them.  I will help burn these carcasses as well.  Perhaps when reduced to ash they can do some good.  There is irony is that, no?

"I am not sure about the irony, but there is truth. I only ask that you wait to set the corpses on fire until after we rest. The light and the smell of cooked flesh will bring predators." Katerielle will reply.

After burying Gundren, taking a long rest on the top of the castle and burning the pile of corpses, what does the party choose to do?

1. Back to Phandalin?
2. To the 'X' on the map?
3. Somewhere else you've been?  Thundertree?

"I am low on food, now. So either we take time to forage on the way to the spot marked on the map, or we head to Phandalin, sell the goods we don't want, and resupply. As a bonus we could also inform the old fella who got captured with Gundren of the dwarf's demise. Perhaps he knows of what the dwarf intentions were or whom is kin are. If we decide to go to Phandalin, then I would like to stop by thundertree, before heading to the cave, to see if we can assist the druid there." Katerielle will mention to the group as she carefully removes the iron or steel arrow heads from the arrows she has and with her quill knife sharpens the shaft to a point.