Road to Phandalin

With the slow pace of the journey, Zurzg finds he has ample time to chase the local wildlife, shrieking and yelling as he chases after rabbits and birds in a manner not befitting a stealthy hunter.

Survival: 21

Margret leads the group south into the forest towards Phandalin while Kai and Relgalyn support Gundren. From time to time Zurzg darts into the forrest and each and every time he returns with a dead animal, that he gives to Relgalyn to hold for later. He catches 2 rabbits, a snake, a huge frog and a brown bird with long tail feathers. This constant excursions make it harder for Nobody to cover their tracks but it looks like he is doing a good job. After around two hours you come across what looks like the tracks of a group traveling from north to south only at a slight angle to you. Margret changes the direction of the group a bit to get more distance between them and whoever left the other tracks, together with Dain, Gundren, Relgalyn and Kai she keeps moving forward, while Nobody, Zurzg and Otrov stay behind for a few minutes to examine the tracks some more. Because of the dry weather the tracks are hard to read. It was a larger group, maybe 10 to 15 small individuals. The few footprints and tail drags that you find indicate some kind of two legged reptile creatures. The tracks are one or two days old. It only takes them 20 minutes to catch up with Margrets group again. After a total of three hours you traveled around 5 miles and with the setting sun you decide to camp down for the night. You come across a large Rhododendron bush that hides your camp from spying eyes.

During the travel, you talk a bit with Gundren, he doesn‘t talk much because he is still exhausted but he  happily answers your questions. He was waylaid several days ago when he was traveling from Neverwinter to Phandalin. From the things he overheared, The Goblins where looking for him personally and they had  the order by someone they called Spider to capture him with all his belongings. They were keeping him awake the whole time only allowing him to sleep a few minutes here and there. They were looking for him and his map of Weave Echo Cave. At one pointhe mentions a key that got stolen from him and that a drow was arguing with King Groll over it. While his memories and details of the first few days of ordeal are detailed and precise, they get more fussy and clouded the longer he was imprisoned because of his sleep derivation.  

Otrov asks the dwarf if he still has the map, or remembers much about where the cave is located. 

The she will stealthily scout ( stealth - 21 ) out around the group, in widening concentric circles, until they are ready to travel again. She has the Prick  ready for any unpleasantness that might occur. 
Perception - 6 

edit for lucky!

Perception - 12  

Quote from Bhuraelea >>

Nobody, Otrov hands you the whole bag he found, including the coins and all the potions. ( Inside the bag you find 3 small red potions, 1 pale green potion, a scroll, a map, 220 silver and 160 electrum pieces) You are fairly certain that the red potions are healing potions.

Margret, Gramm was the hobgoblin leader, he was the one you striped for the armor.

Otrov, i assume the room west you are talking about is the one where you found Gundren in.

Long rest: while Gundren is in dire need of one, you are not. You can only benefit from a long rest once every 24 hours. It is only around midday at the moment.

If you want to search more, roll me an investigation check.

 "We found a map, right Nobody?"

Yes you did. 

Dain would have Sabastian help with watches, and take one himself when needed.

Sabastian perception, aided by Dain, on Dain's watch:  25

"What did the key look like?"

Nobody held out the map and gave it a good few shakes in answer. Then as if remembering something, he gives it a once over to see just what kind of map it was, and where it might hint at their next destination could be... after returning to phandalin, that is. "Why is this key important? N-not that keys are generally important, but... you know..." The tiefling asked of Gundren, though trailed off at the end awkwardly.

(To DM: Does the map we got actually indicate where Wave Echo Cave is?)

Gundren takes his map and puts it next to your map of the Sword Mountains. His map is in a more detailed scale and he points out which area of the Mountains is depicted on it. His map covers a small area east of Phandelver, just west of Icespire Peak.

“I do not know exactly what the key is for, but my research indicates that it had to do something with working the Magic Forge in the cave. It is a small intricate  figurine of a tree. By what i overheard, i must assume that this goblin king never got it. I can only assume that it is either still with my dead horse or that one of the goblins who ambushed me and Sildar stole it. I think the longer we wait the more likely it is that we lose it. So i hope we could try to find it before we return to Phandalin. After all it is kind of on the way.„

Margret heart sinks and raises her hand ready to slap the tiethling Instead she shakes her head and walks away to let him explain her sudden action

She busies herself with keeping a watch for danger as they move

10

Nobody didn't know whether to smile or wince at the news, so he settled on just awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck. The whole Magret raising a hand to him only left him shirking back confused and instinctively bring to mind the components for a Shield, fearing all the same the sudden aggression. Seeing her busying elsewhere, more or less, the tiefling turns to Gundren with a weak grin. "Well, we shouldn't have to worry about either side getting a hold of it, uh, Mr. Gundren, sir. At least, they wouldn't have any reason to search place where it is." He admits. "B-b-bad news is... had to trade it to a Nothic -- least I'm pretty sure it was such --  for information. Assuming its still where it is, as there was something else already there it was obsessed with going by the conversation we had, we should be able to get it back without too much trouble." He admits.

"W-worst case scenario, seeing as they were still arguing over a 'key', it's lost and we'll have to do a bit of tracking. And, well, we'd have the upperhand still. While the competition twiddle its thumbs or come to us. A-at which point, we.. hopefully take'm out, or at least whittle down their forces. E-Either way, the sooner we get back to Phandalin, the sooner we can have a chat with our one-eyed friend again."

Gundren looks a bit confused and disappointed first, but becomes more hopefully with each of Nobodys words. At the end he nods in agreement, a bit less worried then before.

To avoid any unwanted attention, you refrain from making a fire tonight. Zurzg takes the extra time to clean his kill and burry the guts in a small hole he digs. Relgalyn seams a bit disgusted, but gives him a hand. (Zurzgs hunting produced enough meat so you won‘t need to mark of any rations for this long rest.) If no one got any other questions for Gundren tonight, then he turns in to sleep first.

I need one more perception roll (with advantage if you got darkvision) Already had three perception rolls for the night, so please ignore that one.

3,4,68

"I suggest we do teams, on the watch tonight, the more eyes the better. Me and Nobody on first watch"

(Stormbringer: i assume Marco is still following King Groll, please roll me a stealth check with advantage to see if he got spotted.)

The night passes without incident. And you wake to a beautiful morning. The Birds singing in the trees and the sun shining brightly in a blue sky. Gundren is still exhausted but he looks much healthier this morning. A nice meal and a good nights rest brought back some healthy collor to his skin. (3rd lvl exhaustion now)

You will still need to travel on slow speed. Who will lead the party today through the forrest?

3,9,71

Otrov jumps up, The Prick in hand, and decides to try lead the way.  “Thanks for the rabbit Zurgz, here you go! Maybe you can find more!”  She tosses the last of her bacon to the goblin. 

Survival - 22

Margret wakes up feeling refreshed wondering about her familiar (Stealth) 15

5

Survival 15

😫

Nobody spends the new day almost the same as the previous one; obscuring the path behind them as they went and as much as possible, but also snatching up moments to read his book. He felt close to a breakthrough, after all. It does eventually occur to him to thank Zurzg for the meal last, and so... he did so! At breakfast. As well as add to Zurzg, "I'm s-sorry that things didn't quite pan out the way you wanted back at the castle. But, I-I'm sure we'll run into those two goblins again."

"I've got another headache, how about someone else lead"

Margret admits