Can we make arrows for you Progo ? I mean there’s wood and we probably got feather from hunting

Tryn will help to complete Progo's map with what he saw downstairs.

(I like Grimnirs summary of events.) Tharanau will go hunting and prepare the food. He will build a shelter for as many as he can and make himself comfortable to sleep. Even with the alarm, he will be ready to take on a watch, preferably the last one of the night (rolled perception 12 if needed). 

Rayce collapses onto the ground, she is completely out of breath after the fight and the run from the keep.

She takes a while to recover, then attempts to "help" by trying to construct a make shift shelter for the night involving a blanket and some rope to stretch it out into a tent. She clearly has little experience with this sort of thing and her attempt collapses quickly -rolled a 4 on survival.

She will then go join Progo and Tryn to discuss strategy for the next day. 

"Perhaps we can manage to climb the wall near the main gate? This will bring us to the area we know but will avoid coming in by the most expected route. If those ghouls or something else can operate a ballista, i wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it. On the other hand if they are stupid creatures and will just stay where we left them. They will be upon us in full number as soon as we approach the gate. We did very well attacking them from a distance. If we can do that again from another location the fight will be much easier."

She will also offer Progo 10 arrows from her stock.

"I have magic Progo and you are a deadly shot. Put them to good use."

You have the luck of a peaceful rest over night. Nothing more than some rustling in the bushes that was probably a hare or something similar. You have seen the dragon roaming the skies, but judging the distance it seemed to be flying a little way north-east from the phandalin itself. You are awoken to a new day. the air feels fresh and there is a lot of humidity. with pretty dense fog early in the morning. 

Tharanau wakes relatively rested. He stretches and yawns. Then he lights a fire and warms up the leftover meat from the evening meal. 

Once he finishes eating, he will take out his cartographer tools and look over the map that the others have prepared. He will make sure, everything is to scale and update anything they may have missed. 

When everybody is awake, he will address the group:"Yesterday was a hard fight. Maybe we can be more prepared when we enter the stronghold again? What are your ideas, how can we attack these creatures? Are we confident that we know how the ballistas work? Maybe we can use them to our advantage? I think I would like to try and attack the creatures from the entrance like we did last time and shoot through the arrow slits. What do you all think?"

"Yeah, I doubt they would use the ballistas," says Tryn between mouthfuls. "I mean, they chewed on their own limbs... We could just attract a few and get them down and rinse and repeat until we don't find any. The only important thing is to keep an eye on our retreat route. If we get cut off and surrounded, they might overwhelm us."

Goraseth gets ready, check that his armor fits and that all weapons are sharp. He also pick up the hunting trap he had layed at proximity of the camp.
"I agree, if we can shoot them from afar that would be good. Their faculty to paralyse us is a pain. I would vote to go back the way we came and see if we can again shoot them from the top floor. MAybe we could block entirely one stair, which would then force them to come at us through one spot only"

"Progo wonders where they will be wandering when we return. Perhaps we take advantage of their hunger, what if we trap them outside? Perhaps we do something in the kill zone entrance, a wall of some sorts un the open space so they can't get out. Then we lure them up the stairs and get them to drop out again like some did before. Then we make it so we leave enough room that we can get inside and make our way to the batista and have target practice."

"Seth, there were the two stairs and also a tunnel from the ground floor all the way up. Tharanau saw that. So there are three ways to get to the upper floor. We'd have to block two accesses."

"Progo, there was the portcullis that could serve for that trap. but how do we get them to climb to the upper floor and drop through the murder holes? I think this would be easier to do if we would manage to open the front doors and close the portcullis. Like that, I think, they would wander out of the front door if there is anything interesting. They were attracted to the fireworks the last time, for instance."

"I think I could sneak in and lower the portcullis, but I'm not sure if I could open the main gate to the fortress."

"I think the main gate is where they roam. I would not be happy to send you there by yourself. One bite that paralysed you and you're dead..." replies Seth. He then reflect on everybody's ideas and adds: "So...you could all wait below before the porteculli, I climb the rope and make some noise to attract them, come down and then Tryn that can reach inside could lower the porteculli. Then we shoot them in safety.."

"Can we make a barrier to prevent them from getting out into the open so them would be stuck between the gate and our new barrier." Progo sits back and thinks a bit, "Anyone have a shovel or some lumber!"

"i don't think we should make noise again. That is how we had all the ghouls in the keep descend upon us at once.

I can use my illusion to try to attract them. If some of them see a person i think their hunger will drive them to follow it. It will also be utterly silent and safe. We can try to lure a few of them outside in this way.

Building a barrier will take a long time and make noise.

Shooting them through the portcullis is a good plan but relies on Tryn getting to the mechanism by himself. If he gets into trouble he will be on his own."

Ok then, not long after waking up you talk a little and i assume go back to the Axeholm. I will post a map of lower level and higher level revealing mostly what you have seen already. The rooms will have names (a1 for example) so you can tell me what and where you want to do. The map does not show any enemy that you don't see so act accordingly to the fact that you do not know their current location, only where you last seen them. At the moment of arrival Axeholm is quiet and the stench of dead bodies is only faintly perceptible, as gentle wind scatters it.

"Wait a moment," says Tryn and taking out the Wand of Secrets and goes to the left (1) or right (2) hand side of the castle. There he'll check for a secret entrance. (1)

(In person view, i.e., when looking at the map, he investigates the left hand side of the map.)

Tryncaryn. Wand is pointing upwards. When you try to move around to find where the wand leads you. you end up at the base of the mountain, outside the walls. Wand is pointing at a chimney that protrudes from the mountain. It is not deep into the mountain. So your guess, is it might lead to one of the chambers you have already explored.
(Scaling the mountain requires a STR [Athletics] check) From wat you can see there is a lot of handholds and footholds, so it should not be hard to get there.

"Hey guys!" Tryn comes back to the others, "What do you say about getting in like one of those old, white-bearded, red-cloaked man from the fairy tales? You know the one that brings presents to the small ones?" Then he goes into detail explaining his finding.

Seth listens carefully and ponders about the course of action. “That could be an idea… but I’m not particularly keen. We’ll have to go down the chimney one by one with almost no way of escape. On top we don’t know what awaits in this he room where it leads. Imagine it is the room where the ghouls rest!”

he points to the porteculis “my vote is still to go back where we know the terrain. Let’s keep that advantage”

"Ok, if you think it is the safest way, then let's go along with this. Experience shows that you take the brunt of the attacks and it is only fair that you choose," argues Tryn. 

"So what I do, you want me to sneak in first and check out the situation? I could climb through the arrow slits and get up the stairs to see if the murder holes are safe."