"I am indeed Linene. And who might you be, young lass? An adventurer?" She notices your attire and weapons, and is disarmed by your response. "I have weapons and armour for sale dear, you let me know if I can help you!"

Callie clears her throat and says, "Yes, we are adventurers, and while I'm sure we could use some supplies, there's something a little more important at the moment. We found some crates with the Lionshield insignia in a goblin cave a ways down the road. We had a cart, so we brought them along with us as well, if you'd like them." She gets a look of some trepidation on her face as she adds, "Wait, this is the Lionshield trading post, right?"

“Oh bless your kind souls! Yes, those belong here. They were supposed to be shipped here last week— any word of the caravan transporting it?”

A large man, maybe 6"3 with large muscles, sun beaten skin with a shaved head and a thick brown beard appears from the back who had seemingly been listening, and Linene snaps her fingers towards him and points towards the cart. He nods and makes his way out the back, the floorboards creaking with each step. Linene begins counting out some coins and putting them in a pouch.

"No, although I think they were probably ambushed by the goblins. We found some dead horses in the road, but those may have been Sildar's. Other than the crates, the horses, and Sildar, there wasn't any sign of anyone else in the cave. I'm sorry." Callie just stands there and wrings her hands, a little uncertain and not quite able to keep it from showing.

“Damn bandits…” She lifts her head up again, smiling. “You lot deserve a reward!” She passes you the bag filled with gold coins (50gp total).

"And if theres anything I can do to help, please let me know! We have the finest weapons and armour you can get around these parts.”

"Thank you very much, it's the least we could do." Callie gratefully accepts the pouch of coins and passes them off to someone else in the party. "And if we end up needing new arms and armor while in Phandalin, rest assured you're the first person we'll come to." She looks to her fellows and asks, "For that matter, does anyone need anything?"

(We should probably give some of this to Sildar to help him along? How much do we think would be reasonable? Without meaning to be harsh, it's not like he did any of the work defeating the goblins, and the gold is more useful with us than an NPC... But not wanting to metagame too much. Narratively, how much would be sufficient to get him back on his feet? I have no concept of the value of D&D gold!

Giving him 10gp of this pouch cuts our share to 8gp each. But happy to take suggestions to the contrary, that's just an arbitrary amount I picked) 

(OOC: seems like we have 4 now instead of 5 - I vote we give him 10gp and keep 10gp each)

(not trying to force the decision, so if warlock is still around maybe a good time to speak up for his share.)

(The thought had crossed my mind as I typed, too. It's been 6 days since last post and 5 days since last online. Let's assume Sildar takes Bartholomew's share for the moment and we can rethink if he posts or the DM suggests otherwise.) 

"My goodness, thank you friends. This is more than enough to cover me. I solemnly swear on my honour as a member of the Lord's Alliance that I will repay you all for the good deeds you've blessed me with." He pockets the gold in his rough-spun pants and patiently waits for the group to finish doing business.

(Just to clarify, you guys received 50 gold from Barthens and 50 gold from Linene (100 total) so are you giving Sildar 10gp or 20gp (or a different amount) ?)

(OOC: we are giving him 10 gp)

(OOC: Squelch does not need to purchase anything)

(I think we're probably just giving him Bartholomew's cut? So 10gp from each payment? I think that's the simplest thing? Presumably the 50gp was based on 5 adventurers, so rewards tailored to give 10gp to each character each time, so giving Sildar Bartholomew's cut keeps the game balance too?) 

<Squelch> stops in the street after leaving the shop. He looks around, points in different directions, and shrugs. <Elmar's voice> “Harbin Wester, the town master...the Redbrands frequent the Sleeping Giant tap house"

Once out of the shop, Grum nods to <Squelch> who's listing our options. "We could go confront the Redbrands straight away, or we could go innocently visit the Sleeping Giant, to see if we can see how many there are and if we can work out any leadership hierarchy. Harbin Wester might be a good option actually, for information and a more "official" opinion. That might keep our heads down for the moment in terms of direct contact with them and not raise their suspicions"

Sildar nods, agreeing with your plan as he gently places his hand on Grum's shoulder. "Friends, if you do not mind I will make my way to the Stonehill Inn and secure lodgings. Would you like me to book you all rooms or would you prefer to do that yourselves?"

Callie scratches her chin as a scowl creases her brow. "I'm not sure that this Harbin Wester will be the better option, seeing as he's apparently content to just let the Redbrands run amok in Phandalin." An uncharacteristically angry expression forms on Callie's face as she adds, "As town master, his first duty is to ensure the protection of his people, be it by riding out himself or calling allies to do the same. No 'master' worth the title should be hiding from a drunken lout, much less some gang of up-jumped brigands too scared of the road to go out and mug travelers."

Caught up in her sudden flash of anger, Callie forgets about Sildar's query as she mutters a few choice phrases in Elvish.

Grum, without understanding why, is suddenly glad he doesn't speak Elvish.  "Sildar, we would be most grateful if you could secure lodgings for us.  We're not entirely sure what our next step today is, so it would be good to know that was taken care of."

As Sildar heads off to the  Stonehill Inn, Grum turns to the rest of the party and says, "I think that leaves us going to one of the inns then - either to the Sleeping Giant to either confront or discreetly spy on the Redguards, or to the Stonehill Inn to see if we can weed out more information from the townsfolk - possible even gather some allies in the cause?"

Brandor tosses his bag of coins into the air and swipes them back into his hand with a satisfying jingle. "You can go talk to this Wester if you want but I'm with the Elf. He's on the payroll if they are this much of a nuisance." The dwarf rubs his hands together and gives a broad smile, " Besides, we've got coin and I'm itch'n for a pint. I say we go get a drink, see what trouble lurks about first hand!"

"To the Sleeping Giant for a drink, then."