More dead bodies drop to the floor. You have to climb over them because you've all slaughtered so many goblins and bugbears. Unfortunately, nothing of value is on their persons, so go ahead and continue to explore the dungeon. Where to?

Mad Eye looks around " more Xanathar fodder it appears.." and he wipes his cutlass clean on a clean patch of bugbear and will head off to 23a then b if there's nothing of interest. 

Cade licks his wounds, sending healing power thorugh his bear-form.

(Expending a spell slot to heal 1d8...)

Healing: 4

Cade bear HP: 26/34

With his wounds at least not leaking any more, Cade trundles along in bear form after Mad Eye.  His claws make a clicking sound on the stone of the floor as he does so.

(writing from work on my phone, sorry about formatting.)

23a contains a human skeleton the goblins have turned into a marionette and have dangled it from ropes attached to the ceiling. Two halves of a cloven wooden shield lie in the room’s northwest corner. Each half of the cloven shield has letters etched into it. One half reads “Nimr.” The other reads “aith.”

23b This is where the bugbears hid out. There is a statue here. The statue has broken into seventeen fist-sized chunks of black stone.

Cade moves around, snuffling the fist-sized stones, the halves of the shield, and anything else of interest in the area.  After doing a round of it, and finding no enemies, he sits down so those with actual hands can do anything they wish to do.

"I'll keep an eye out."  He says into the group's minds as he sits there, watching any passages that enter these rooms.

perception: 11

Coming down twice from the high of battle in such a short amount of time was draining for Kasian and he lagged a bit behind the others as they moved on to the next area.  When he arrived at the area with the broken shield, he read out loud "Nimr...aith.  That mean anything to any of you?"  He'll then ponder himself if he recognizes the word

History Check: 23

While a very good History roll, the name "Nimraith" has no significance to you.

"I've got nothing." he shares after his moment of reflection, gently tossing the broken shield back to the floor.  Moving to the next space and seeing nothing of immediate interest, Kasian will offer to continue moving forward or take a short rest.

As the group decides to take a short rest Cade melts back into his normal halfling form, though looking fairly bruised and battered. He runs a hand up to the wooden branch hanging from the thong around his neck, feeling the smooth wood for a moment.

"It is good to be fighting along side yu lot." He says in his timid voice as he looks around.

HD for short rest: 14 (starting with 3 and we'll see how it goes.)

Another HD: 7

I’ll spend 2 hit die if we are resting. 

“That was difficult,” Rowan says seeming to have regained his calm, “but nicely done friends!”

6

"It's difficult when there's so many at once."  Kasian agree.  "At least they were only goblins."

2 HD: 14

And let's add one more: 13

HD 10

Mad Eye looks slightly disappointed in not finding anything exciting.   He will bat playfully at the dangling skeleton,  but then settle down to rest. 

"Cade, that was a mighty fine trick back there, can you turn in to other creatures? Or are you just like a Bear person?" Mad Eye will ask as we rest, having just met these folks shortly before agreeing to descend in to the Undermountain, he is curious about his companions.

"No, can turn into other things too." Cade says with a timid smile.  "Just has to be something I've seen before."  He goes on as his hand slips up to caress the smooth piece of wood hanging from its cord.  "Two of my favorites though are the brown bear and the giant spider."  He pauses, having spoken more words out loud in that bit than usual for him at one go.

Mad Eye shudders a bit "Spiders eh? Just so long as you remember who's who in a fight, you could turn in to the ***** Queen herself and I'll have you by my side!" and he'll laugh a bit.  "Well met Cade...."

Cade gives Mad Eye a shy smile.  "Well met."  he replies.

In Mad Eye's head...  "Any idea where we should head next?  I know you guys found those secret doors way back at the fiend carvings, so we could head back there, or we could move on here.  What do you think?"  His voice sounds much more confident when he speaks into your head.

As he speaks mind-to-mind, Cade's slightly-glowing eyes stare fixedly at mad Eye, then break away once he finishes speaking.

Once they had properly rested, Kasian will gather his things before looking towards the party and asking if they're ready to leave.  Assuming yes, he'll head towards area 22.

AREA 22 - THE EMPTY ROOM

A few burned torch stubs and discarded potion bottles suggest that adventurers stop here from time to time, perhaps to rest. The room is otherwise empty.

Cade peeks into the room from behind Mad Eye.  He frowns at seeing an empty room.

In Mad Eye's head...  "We should take note of this one, could come back to rest here if we need to."

He would then step back into Mad Eye's shadow and move on with the others.