Syzygy almost chokes on a mouthful of food as Quinn abruptly stands. Syzygy lowers his head a little. “Freda,” he says, pauses and swallows what was left in his mouth, “I’m Syzygy. Here transporting goods for the miners. You know, picks and shovels and the like. And, yes, like he said, to bury a fallen friend.” 

The bright “good morning!” Syzygy heard coming from the inn’s entrance only added to the tension in the room. He turned to assess the new arrival and recognised her affiliation before it was announced. The name ‘Selune’ was, for a time, a kind of beacon to Syzygy. He understood little about the power welled up inside him but he did know it was fueled by, connected to lunar light. Since leaving the Shadow over a decade ago Syzygy had occasionally sought the counsel of those ‘Touched of the Silver Lady’, only to be disappointed by the answers they gave. Syzygy didn’t see harm in keeping up with their literature though. 

“I’ll take one of those.” He reaches out his hand to receive a scroll.

 Quinn stops short of the door as this follower of Selune steps in. He crooks his head and squints at this individual. He looks down at the offering and snatches up a scroll.

"The Moonmaiden..." He looks down at the scroll and sighs.

Quinn is far from a devout follower of any one deity. Most in his clan worshipped Melora, some favored Pelor, and a few even prayed to Selune. One of his elders who taught Quinn all he knows of navigating the wilds was a follower of the Moonmaiden. This person's appearance and bright mood snaps Quinn out of his stupor.

"We sure could use the blessings of Selune...any sort of blessings for that matter. I take it you're from the temple?"

Quote from cbaer8 >>

Toblen, the proprietor, sighs and puts on a polite smile as he steps toward Kimberly.

"Kimberly, I thought we talked about you not doing this again..." he admonishes quietly through his frozen smile.

" Of course, Toblen. Of course. I would never, not to locals."

" You are all free to choose your own path as you wish.....thats why all were given Free Will."

" But these strangers, they simply haven't had the opportunity to learn yet...."

She smiled excitedly as both Syzygz and Quinn took pamphlets, turning slightly away so the light of triumph was shielded from all but Toblen.

" And you have suffered a loss? How terrible.  It is in trying times such as these that the Silver Lady can truly be a blessing to us."

" The Temple? I trained......oh, The Shrine.....Phandelver isn't really big enough for a proper temple.  We are currently in a cross-faith alliance with the Tymoran Shrine.....its....not ideal but we do with what we have."

" Did your friend have any requests regarding internment? Last rites? A will? Donations they wished to be made in their name to a place of worship....for example?"

"Papers?...That's right! How stupid of me. We collected some of his belongings and there were papers in there. Let me see."

Quinn drops to one knee, slings his pack around and begins rummaging through Sir Roderick's papers.

(DM and Damian_May, what does Quinn find?)

Quinn digs out Sir Roderick's papers. They consist of but three:

• A frilly, formal scroll of pedigree – a lot of cumbersome family names, a lot of bluster, the earliest generations of high nobility a bit fanciful, perhaps.

• A deed to a property in Phandalin – clearly a cottage of some sort that Sir Roderick had inherited. It lay on the east end of town, between Tresendar Manor and the Sleeping Giant tavern, from what you can glean from your notes of Gundren's descriptions.

•  A hastily-calligraphed note detailing his belongings and holdings (which consists solely of the cottage, his sister having evidently been bequeathed all the family estates.) Sir Roderick wills them irrevocably to "his boon companions". He likely penned it on the wagon trip, judging from the penmanship, whilst going over some potholes. He clearly knew death was a possibility and prepared for it.

Jurgen will also take a flyer. He says "Our friend Sir Roderick passed away while defending us. I... we, would like to give him a proper burial. I don't think he had any specific instructions regarding his internment, although I did notice him writing down what looked like a will."

Toblen opens the front door of the busy tavern and invites Kimberly to step outside. "Kimberly, why don't you show these newcomers the town? Or perhaps a tour of Sister Garaele’s shrine?" He continues to hold the door open with a smile, hoping Kimberly may opt to use it.

It is about noon. Sildar has long departed, hoping to meet you for dinner. Sir Roderick's body and a load of undelivered supplies lay under a tarp in the wagon behind the inn.

"Cloth, textiles, soft goods!" pipes up Freda hopefully, in her way of ending their conversation. "Find me here!"

The day is yours. What would you like to do next?

Quinn follows Kimberly as she's ushered out of the Inn. His nose is deep in documents as he walks out.

"Kimberly, as my friend Jurgen mentioned, we wish to bury our friend. And it does appear he left a will." Quinn pauses for a moment as he is taken aback by the details of the will. "I...it appears he...didn't leave any details as to how he wished his remains to be cared for in the event of his passing. But...he did leave all of us the deed to his cottage in town."

Quinn takes a deep sigh, carefully folds the documents and secures them in his pack. He turns to the group and addresses his friends.

 "Let's bury our friend. We can go outside the town somewhere and find a place for him. Then we can figure out what to do next."

He looks to Kimberly with a question.

"Would you be willing to help us lay our friend to rest? Do you have any suggestions on where would be a good place to bury him?"

Jurgen follows along solemnly. 

Kimberly finds herself outside with the newcomers, " A burial? I can certainly....well, it will be my first....humanoid.....burial but I do know the ritual."

" There is a lovely glade on the edge of the woods past Alderleaf farm, I go there sometimes to commune with my Goddess....or perhaps in the grounds of this cottage?"

She suddenly looked a little uncomfortable, " Uh...there are um....I will need some ritual supplies to do this properly....any small donation you can make...."

" When did you want to do this?"

“Err, noted” Syzygy says to Freda, then polishes his plate clean and follows the others out of the inn. 

“Perhaps, we should see this cottage? Sir Roderick’s own soil might be the place to rest his body.”

Unless you have further business at the inn, you explore a bit of town toward the east. 

The muddy street climbs toward the ruined manor house on the hillside on the east side of town. The town is full of ancient ruins, but Tresendar Manor was by far the largest structure - more a castle than a house. It's almost completely destroyed now, and appears quite uninhabitable – just a jumble of crumbling stone walls and fallen timbers.

On your left, you pass the Sleeping Giant, a run-down, ramshackle taproom. Several disheveled, surly humans linger on the covered porch, perched on empty ale barrels or leaning against the dirty wall. They all wear grimy scarlet cloaks and are drinking heavily. They watch you with hazy curiosity as you pass.

On your right, in the distance, you can see Alderleaf Farm, clearly a small, working farm. Beyond it you can see woods and thickets, but also some scenic bucolic spots amongst the wild meadows that could be a peaceful resting place.

And then you spot Sir Roderick's cottage – a small, squat stone cottage with a few rotting timbers for a roof. It looks like somebody attempted to replace some of the fallen thatching in recent years. There are boards over several of the windows. It clearly dates from the old days, and is in very poor shape, but unlike the huge manor on the hillside, it looks like it could be inhabitable again with some (significant) work. The yard is waist-high in dry grass, sprinkled with old masonry and relatively modern garbage.

(Sir Roderick's cottage circled in green, below:)

Tessa

"Looks as if Sir Roderick hasn't been home in a while. What do you say we lay him down in his house for now and deliver these goods. My father was a carpenter, taught me to build a coffin if we can find some wood."

Once at the cottage she will look for scraps that might work better for a box to be buried than for rebuilding the cottage and figure what would need to be bought or cut.

Jurgen

"I can help with that." He looks about for materials and tools to build a basic box to lay his friend. Find it he begins to put it together.

"I also  need to find/buy a gem or crystal worth 100gp so I can create a metal aid for defending the party. Some one that can fight along with us." His sentence trails off with "... something I can repair."

Quinn stands in silence, listening to all the suggestions.

"Thank you Kimberly for your input on the matter. But, I believe my friends here are right. Perhaps burying him on his own land would be more fitting. He did seem like a civilized, city folk sort of fella.  And by the looks of things, he did respect and honor his family name and his heritage."

He stands quiet looking at the group trying to gauge their thoughts.

"Shall we do as Tessa suggests? Take him to his home and then go about delivering the goods? Perhaps that will earn us some coin and with what Sildar offered us, we should be able to pay Kimberly to help with the services, resupply and take it from there.

Perhaps we can even find Jurgen what he's searching for."

Jurgen agrees with Quinn

There are a few scraps of wood in the yard, and more that could be pulled off the cottage windows - but not enough for a full casket, likely. However, it looks like even more could be scavenged from another ruin to the west. You can also see what looks like some very large timbers hanging off Tresendar Manor in the distance, but they may be too stout to be useful, at least without a lumber mill handy. Anyone: Make a Perception or Investigation check to see how much wood you can find.

Jurgen thinks back on where he might find a gemstone for his arcane tinkering project. (Is there anywhere on the map, or heard in conversation, that comes to mind that you'd want to visit? Or anyone you want to go back and ask?)

Taking a peek inside Sir Roderick's cottage, you spot a shirtless man sleeping on the floor under a threadbare blanket in a corner of the darkened main room. Two very small bedrooms lay adjacent, filled with what looks like debris and rubbish. A large jug sits next to him. The floor and walls are covered in years of dirt and ash, and daylight penetrates sections of the roof.

(Did you bring the wagon and Sir Roderick with you on this walk, do you think? Or is it still behind the inn?)

Jurgen investigation: 10

Jurgen would ask at the miners exchange?

( Does Kimberley recognise the sleeping man?)