Chapter 2.1b: Search Party (Hochoch)

Manthis and re-armored Arya return through the forest to meet Jonel and Rosemary as they finish stacking the rocks in the cairn. Rosemary gladly receives her gear and begins a conversation with Arya. Now that he's not being threatened and feeling braver with companions in the daylight, Jonel returns to find the carcass of his trusty mule to retrieve any supplies that remained. After finishing up there, he goes to examine the dead adventurers in the nearby camp site. It is a sobering thought, looking on the five corpses: not long ago, they too were adventurers with dreams of making their way in the world. In addition to the weapons they wielded in death, tatters of clothing and rotted, moldy packs still cling to their bodies. By their armaments and the remains of their gear, it's obvious that these were adventurers weeks or months ago. The one with a falchion bore a shield whose painted symbol of a tower is pocked and scarred from age and sword blows. The one with a dagger is wearing the remains of a leather suit stained a dark brown. The one with a club has a tabard with half of a sunburst symbol still visible. The one with a short sword has small metal studs embedded all across its blackened, moldering torso. The one with a staff has a copper torc around its neck. It's foul to be handling these decaying corpses to get at their gear, but Jonel well knows that adventurers tend to be better-supplied than country yokels, and if anything didn't decay completely, it might be something valuable or useful to him or his companions.

Manthis follows Jonel back to the site where his mule was eviscerated by the dead adventurers. The mule had fallen on the saddlebags, crushing most of the contents. Going through the bags now, many of the items are ruined from blood, but Jonel finds his old hooded lantern and bedroll undamaged and still usable. Together, the two of them return to the first camp site nearby, where the three Dungeon Busters had camped so close to where the dead adventurers were walking the Dim Forest.

Arya and Rosemary are engaged in their conversation; by the time they catch up to the others Jonel is finishing laying out the dead adventurers' equipment while Manthis keeps an alert watch. Most of the gear and clothing has decayed, but there are still several items of possible interest.
The dead one with the falchion also had a short bow, a quiver containing two types of arrows (eight with black fletching, and two with white feathers), and a crystal pendant hung on a necklace.
The dead one with the dagger (which turns out to be silver) also had a hardened leather pouch of ball bearings, a hardened leather pouch of small tools and twisted wire, and a silver earring hanging from the side of its face.
The dead one with the club also had a metal badge depicting a hand holding a lightning bolt and a small stoppered vial of liquid.
The dead one with the short sword also had a short bow, a quiver containing the same two types of arrows (seven with black fletching, and one with white feathers), a small book, a set of cooking utensils, and a bone die.
The dead one with the staff had a small red gem embedded in the staff, and a large book with many notes written in multiple languages.

Which of these items do you want to inspect and/or claim before you decide where to go next?

It is fairly clear that these adventurers died less than a year ago. The softer leathers have decayed, and there's some amount of mold on everything organic, but the bows have less than most (which could be easily cleaned off), and the arrows are likewise usable. The metal items - such as the hand weapons - are in good shape.

Arya examines the two books: like all books in her experience, these have been written and illustrated by hand. The larger book is written in multiple languages and contains many diagrams and arcane symbols. It is obvious to Arya that it is a spellbook, though it would take careful study by a sage or wizard to discern what spells it contains.
The smaller book appears to be a book of poetry, written in Imperial. The poems vary wildly in quality, ranging from from mediocre to magnificent, philosophical to lewd. There is both great beauty that touches her and crudity that surprises her.

Without magic, this is what Manthis observes about the weapons:
The falchion is like a heavy scimitar: a wide, curved slashing weapon. It weighs four pounds. Even if it has no magic, it will have a base 1d8 slashing damage, but is versatile for 1d10 (mechanically identical to a battleaxe). It has seen much use: the wide bronze guard has many nicks and scratches.
The short bows are standard short bows (not including any magic, they will deal 1d6 piercing damage with normal arrows).
Between the two quivers, there are 15 black-fletched arrows (probably using crow feathers), and three white-fletched arrows (probably using swan feathers). All seem usable. With no way to know if there's any magic, they seem to be normal arrows.
The short sword is very finely made: a straight blade with a narrow guard atop a grip wrapped in greenish copper wire. There's no telling if it's magic, but absent any magic, this light finesse weapon will deal 1d6 piercing damage.
The club seems to be a heavy cudgel cut from the branch of some dense oak; a little tuft of grass grows from one of the cracks in the wood where dirt was packed as it lay on the ground before its wielder's corpse was animated. Even if it's not magic, this light weapon will deal 1d4 bludgeoning damage.
The dagger has a long silver blade and no guard. Not considering any magic it might have, this light, silver, finesse weapon will deal 1d4 piercing damage. Like all daggers, it also has the thrown property.
The staff is made from ash wood, very solid. Any magic aside, this versatile weapon will deal 1d6 bludgeoning damage wielded with one hand, and 1d8 bludgeoning damage when wielded with two hands. The red gem does not seem to have been socketed into a place carved for it in the wood; it's unclear how it remains attached.

Rosemary steps in an examines the red gem; it comes away in her hand at a touch. There is no mark on the staff where it was (Rosemary can roll an Arcana check regarding the red gem).
She looks at the crystal pendant: peering deeply into the cut facets of the translucent crystal reveals whorls and curlicues and straight edges, almost as if there was a mechanism itself formed of crystal within the jewel.
The vial of liquid appears to be a potion of some kind, but knowing which kind would require tasting a little sample. The nature of beneficial potions can usually be discerned in this way, though some detrimental potions - like poison - are also apparent, because they take full effect immediately on such experimentation. (It's up to you whether any of PCs decides to sample it or not).
This person had either been a culinary artiste in life or just had aspirations to become one: while there is some overlap, the set of cooking tools here includes many that Rosemary herself does not have with her focus on baking.

Edited to make it more clear that any of these items could be magical.