Elra doesn't respond to Arvel, focusing on Gundren with a smile.

--- The night before ---

Fae would gasp in excitement as she recognized all of the locations. She would divulge the name of each location and a very brief summary of it. The scholar would offer to elaborate on them and share her knowledge of the locations at any point in the future. It was time to allow him to focus on his other studies.

--- Current time ---

The wizard would finally open her eyes and look up to Tarja, "I sense no magic on the brazier. As expected, I sense magic from Ethan's bag, but nothing out of the ordinary. I did however..." Fae would pause. She'd glance to Arvel, staring at him for a moment, I wonder if Arvel would know... before looking back to Tarja. "I found this with the journal." The scholar would reach into her pack to carefully pull out the scroll. "It could be another piece to the puzzle you're searching for. It appears blank, but I sense illusionary magic on it." She'll glance back to Arvel guilty of assuming he could be a master of all things illusion, "Would you happen to be familiar with a way we could read it?"

Fae would be ready to head out when the rest of the party would be, though she shares the concern for Gundren. When Elra deems it safe for Gundren to travel back, she will.

In the morning the party finds Gundren sleepy but, once woken, slightly more alert and clear eyed.  He still very quiet and hesitant, but can walk on his own and will follow the lead of just about anyone who's nice to him, especially if they lead him by the hand or do anything else to make him more comfortable.  It's hard to picture him springing into action in this state if the party were to be threatened, he seems more likely to cower and curl back up into a ball even, but at least he's not completely immobile.  Although not greatly expressive, he also seems appreciative of any food and water offered.  Ultimately the party concludes he might be able to make the journey back on his own, but it would likely be slower than they would like.

"I think we should get ready to go back to Phandlin," Elra says, "it might take a bit longer, but we'll know he's safer there. And I'm sure Sildar wants to see him again!"

Ethan has been completely asleep through all of the others morning talk, only waking up reluctantly.

"ahh, ohh, I should not work that long at night."

Ethan wipes spit from the side of his mouth and then sleep from his eye's.

As Ethan stands you can see that the malfunctioning bag of holding is back in its cage, hanging from his hip. Beside it, in the leather holster, is a shiny new sleek looking Caster device.

Ethan's previous makeshift and jury-rigged Fire Caster is nowhere to be seen. Next to the holster is a few small flat rectangular cartridges, each with its own holder on his belt.

Ethan looks over seeing the others standing near the now much cleaner brazier.

"Oh wow Elra, that looks great!"

Remembering Gundren, Ethan turns around seeing him looking better he remarks,

"Hey Gundren, starting to feel better?"

Ethan turns back to Elra,

"Oh Elra are we still planning to take the brazier with us when we go? I could salvage some materials from the dining room so we can carry it more easily between us."

Ethan rubs his stomach,

"Hmm maybe time for breakfast first."

Elra nods, "Ya, I would like to. I just feel like it deserves to be somewhere people will take care of it.:

Ethan nods,

"Yeah, it is such a beautiful design, it would be a waste for no one to see and make use of it."

"A good design deserves to be used."

Ethan sits back down and opens his gauntlet and takes out some food.

Seeing something in his gauntlet, Ethan pulls out a couple of items from the magical storage space.

"I forgot about these items, I put them away when we were busy with the dragon and then the hobgoblins, last night"

Ethan holds up the unidentified goggles and the Elven Chain shirt.

"Do you want to use your identification magic on the goggles Elra?"

"Fae, I was thinking, this shirt is very light, you may be able to use it, even if you don't have any training with armour. You could wear it underneath your robes if you wanted to hide it."

Ethan places the items before him, and starts eating his breakfast.

"Zeke, do you think you could plot us a route back to Phandelin that avoids the spider? I wouldn't want...us to go through that again if it can be helped.

Etan, I overheard you talking about that unstable bag. How'd it work out?"

Tarja watches over Gundren in the morning. She casts Detect Poison and Disease as a ritual to see if there are any remaining effects from his captivity.

We should get back to Phandalin. We might have this castle for now, but who knows what else is going to show up.

Ethan looks over, as Arvel asks him about the bag.

Swallowing his bite of food, Ethan replys.

"Oh, um well, with Fae's help to deciphering some of the arcane sigils on the bag, I think we got close."

"It didn't collapse or, uh, explode, so that's real good. We also got to see some cool remote locations, due to the nature of the magic, Fae recognised most of them from her studies, it was quiet fun."

Ethan indicates Fae with a smile.

"I think with a little more tuning, I might be able to get it stabilised and reconnected to its original storage space."

"But the time it would have taken was going to be a little longer then I had left."

"So I decided to try finishing my new Programmable Caster, I already had most of it done."

Ethan pats his belt where the various cartridges are located.

"I just needed to finish a couple of lines of sigils and run some gold wire inlay between the cartridge housing in the handle and the main spell delivery shaft."

Ethan pulls out the new sleek Programmable Caster and pulls out another cartridge, already in the base of the handle, to show the housing inside.

"So I can make up these cartridges to create a new magical effect and just slot them into the handle like this."

Ethan slides the cartridge back into the base of the handle.

"Then I feed magical energy into the handle from my hand and it is redirected into the cartridge to be, uh, modified, and then it is directed out of the cartridge into the main delivery shaft, or one of a couple of other delivery systems in the device."

"This cartridge replicates the effect of my old Fire Caster."

Ethan points the device out the nearby window and lets off a bolt of crackling fire, that shoots off into the sky before fizzling out about 120ft away.

Ethan then pulls the cartridge out and swaps it for another from his belt.

"This one is based on a design I make earlier yesterday. This one comes with its own delivery system built in."

Ethan indicates the two short spikes coming off the base of the cartridge, visible coming out of the base of the handle.

"This one will allow me to deliver a shock at close range for when something gets to close to use the ranged options effectively."

Ethan slams the but of the handle down onto the ground and there is a spark of electricity as the two spikes make contact.

"So with this and Zeke's equipment, um, upgrades? It was a successful nights work."

"The bag shouldn't be to hard to stabilise, although completely repairing it would be much harder task. I was hoping I could extract the power source from it and use it to make my gauntlet storage a little more permanent."

Ethan pulls the cage around so everyone can see the top of the bag.

"See the gem built into the clasp that keeps the bag closed? See the tiny arcane sigils that run from there all around the sides and rim of the bag."

"That gem is the power source, its kind of like a keystone from an arch. Most of the rest of the magical sigils and the like, are not overly hard to put together, once you know the sequence."

"But the power source requires a lot of work and fine details to create, and it is very unstable until slotted into the rest of the design."

"Once complete the whole thing solidifies, like an arch, making the whole item quiet resistant to damage."

"I know a technique for binding a compatible power source over to a second magic item, like another arch, while keeping the first one going."

"Then you can physically move the power source over to the new item. and finally you cut the ties to the old object, which then collapses, becoming mundane again."

Ethan seems to be getting carried away describing the details of everything, not realising that not everyone has had the kind of education he has, or is necessarily as interested in the finer details.

Arvel makes a desperate attempt to understand what Ethan has said.

Zeke finishes a quick sweep of the perimeter of the rooms the team slept in and ducks back in just in time to hear Arvel's request.

'I'd certainly be willing to try my friend, but I'm afraid my specialty is mostly standing tall and getting hit very very hard.  But I imagine between Tarja and I we can guide us back to town safely.'  A cocked eyebrow at the druid turns his statement into the barest hint of a question.  

Turning towards the artificer, the tiefling makes a small flourish 'Your work in modifying the equipment we found was no small thing Master Tinkerer.'  A broad smile splits his face as he stands to his full height and flares his wings out around the gleaming metalwork protecting his upper body and thighs.  'As I said, my specialty is standing tall and getting hit - this new armor will make that job much easier. 

Speaking of making things easier, if I go grab some wood from the remnants of the dining room, can we be ready to leave in 30 minutes?  Tarja on point, Ethan behind her, Gundrun and the Brazier in the middle and I'll take Rearguard?'

As he goes to leave the room to see to about materials for the Brazier, the barbarian leans in to whisper to Fae 'I'd feel better if that Elven Chain was between you and any danger.  I'd wouldn't want anything to happen to you'

Elra takes the goggles from Ethan when he offers them, "Ya, I can do that!" She loosely holds the goggles in one hand and her pearl and owl feather in the other, silently meditating on the object and praying to Oghma for the information her friends seek.

When Arvel mentions the spiders, Elra stays mostly quiet except for, "Ya...I think it would be better for Gundren if we try to avoid the... spiders... if we can."

Elra has a hard time fully understanding what Ethan is talking about with the bag of holding, but she listens to every word, fascinated by everything that he was talking about because he seemed so excited about it. "I think Fae should take it too," she agrees, "she needs to stay safe, and armor that anyone can use should be used by the person who needs it the most!"

As everyone starts to get ready, Elra gives Gundren another one of her rations and her refilled water skin to eat and drink from, before looking around for the shield. When she finds it, "Good morning Mister Shield, how are you feeling today?"

Hearing no feedback or comment on the scroll, Fae would tuck it back into her pack and stand in silence to ponder to herself. Her eyes would lose focus on the present as she'd dig through her mind, fishing for any knowledge she may have from her studies relating to illusionary magic and script. She'd even go down the rabbit hole reflecting on anything inspired by coded letters and invisible inks. The deeper in thought she'd go, the more she'd start to chew her lip.

Fae, still in her half present state would lend an ear and a polite smile when Ethan would credit her help before diving into his lengthy description to Arvel. Her smile would shift into a smirk as Ethan continues methodically through his lengthy review and the charlatan makes an honest effort to pay attention to the detailed response he may or may not have been expecting. She had been so lost and deep in thought processing all her theories that she had completely forgotten about the artificer's earlier suggestion for her to take the elven armour. It wasn't until Zeke's presence leaned in toward her that her eyes would snap back to focus. Her violet pupils would dart to meet Zeke's, then shift to bounce between Elra and Ethan before looking back to Zeke. She could feel the heat rise up to her cheeks. "I-uh-oh-um." Fae would stammer, before nodding. "Okay." She'd offer a shy smile before glancing down to the ground.

The wizard would tentatively make her way over to where Ethan layed out the armour. She'd pick it up, experiencing for the first time how a piece of elven armour felt. Fae did not have much experience handling armour, let alone wearing any. She'd turn it over in her hands a few times to appreciate the craftsmanship. I can wear it underneath my robes he said... Fae would think back to Ethan's simple explanation of the shirt. She'll then hold it up against her person, backwards unbeknownst to her, as if to compare the fit like one would do when shopping for clothes. "I've never worn armour..." Fae would whisper, looking down at it, remembering how much Elra would fidget with her armour when they first started their journey. It takes some getting used too... She'll look up from her shirt and pan around to everyone else. This shirt was a lot less complicated than what the others wear. It should be simple. Right?

Elra looks up, "Oh, it'll be okay. It's weird at first, but it feels fine after a while. You might be able to pull that over like a shirt, lucky duck."

A small chuckle would leave her lips when Elra would call her a lucky duck after some words of encouragement.

Fae will take a breath. She'll call upon her mage hand to hold the elven shirt up at the ready for her as she worked on removing her black scholar robes. Beneath her robes, for civilian clothes she wore simple black leggings and a sleeveless black blouse that revealed the extent of her burn scars. They not only covered her hands and forearms but trailed the full length of her arms beyond her elbows with specks and patches dotting her shoulders and collarbone.

The wizard would exchange her robe with the spectral hand for her new elven shirt. She'd check it over tentatively again, making sure to put it on the right way. While quickly looking over the fit, she realized she would no longer need her bracers. Feeling exposed longer than intended, Fae would shift uncomfortably as she worked on removing the bracers. Once off, she'd then exchange those with her mage hand for her robe, putting it back on with haste. Her posture would visibly relax once her exposed skin was covered.

With a single gesture, Fae would send her mage hand over to present Ethan with the Bracers of Defense. "For our Master Tinkerer to find a new purpose for."

Fae will look to Elra then to Arvel while tugging at her sleeves and make a suggestion, "Our familiars can scout from above in a similar formation to how Zeke's organizing us?"

Elra nods in agreement, "Ya, sounds like a good idea."

Gundren just looks at Ethan and blinks when spoken to but doesn't respond.  Tarja doesn't find any poison or disease in their employer and, based on his fearful body language since they found him, surmises that his current state is mostly psychological.

Elra casts her spell once again and finds the odd goggles to be Goggles of Night.

As the party makes preparations to leave Yeemik shows up again, followed by Fraac and Ikket, the two other goblins who were present the day before when the party had their encounter with the (real) Spider.  One has a small, torn and weathered backpack and the other just has a long piece of cloth wrapped around his torso with some string tied off to form a bit of a satchel.  Yeemik remarks "ok well, ah, nice doin' business with ya but you never know when the Spider with return so maybe you best be going, eh?"  "If the big guy wants to stay here and help protect your ol' pal Yeemik, that'd be ok though.  Anyways, Fraak and Ikky here will go with you back to the road to keep the spiders away, if ya want."

(Does the shield respond to Elra?)

(oops, yup, forgot to write that down as something to respond to, thank you for keeping me honest!)

"Well good morning to you!  Interesting, I suppose I'll have to take you at your word that it is in, in fact, morning, won't I?  Doing quite well, quite well really.  I do not sense the fear and the danger I sensed upon our meeting.  I trust there are no dragons today?  I was just contemplating.... what was I contemplating?  Hmmm.  Ah well, this whole situation is really quite fascinating really, isn't it, once one gets past the absolutely dreadful fact that one is dead and apparently trapped in a shield and all of that, of course.  As I was saying I was contemplating...something, definitively...something.  I find my mind...do I have a mind?  Anyhow, my mind to be quite foggy and it is very hard not to slip down the proverbial rabbit hole of one particular thought.  I could not have told you how much time has passed since we last spoke, come to think of it.  Was it an evening?  A week?  YEARS?!?  I should not have assumed morning meant that no more than a day had passed.  This was poor logic and I shall strive not to repeat the mistake."