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I was thinking of asking to switch spells, but maybe two detect magics isn't bad when going to see a crazy elf that has had centuries to set up traps.

I can't think of any other precautions. Aside from those preemptive CLWs Heingst is offering.
Winnie shoulders her pack, makes a mental note of where the secret door out is, then tells the group she's ready.

Fingers gives one last thought to taking the secret exit and leaving the adventuring life forever. He puts the thought from his head when he realizes what happens to people who start thinking like they're just days from retirement.

"Okay, guys. Anything else we need to before we start? If you gotta pee, go now." He gives a look to his dog to see if Sprinkles needs to...well, tinkle.

When the party is all ready, Fingers leads the way down to where Markd's Squad said the elf could be found. Well, "leads" in the sense of getting behind the big strong fighter types (or little strong fighter types, in Bandy's case) and telling them where to go. When they get down to the tunnels, maybe he can scout. Then again, he's not sure an elf can't see right through an elven cloak.

Bandy excuses himself to go use the loo before they head down to try and... fight an evil elf that is trapped in caverns below the castle????

Alright... if that's what everyone else wants to do...

"Maybe we won't have to fight the elf," says Fingers. "I mean, if he's cursed, maybe we can fix that or something? We did it with the ghost princess, right? Do we know he's evil? Or just insane?"

I could make the point that, in the balance of things, evil is no worse than good, but we know that he did nothing to help Aeora. She looks at the goats present again but says nothing about then again. Still, I will keep an open mind. If he is touched in the head, it would explain a lot, and some kindness may do him well.

"Hey, do you supposed Aeroa's the one that cursed him?" wonders Fingers. "Or was he cursed before he ever met her?"

A more accurate description of the basement...
The stairs down open into a large staging area which would be useful for storage, but is presently empty. You enter at the middle on the long edge; the room is 100' wide and 50' across. There are two doors spaced out on the wall you're entering through. To your left is a reinforced, locked door which leads to the prison cells. To your right is a an open wooden door which leads down a short hallway to the storage room for all dry goods - which have spoiled and disintegrated beyond use. To open archways on either end of the the right wall lead to the smithy. The smithy is 60' across and 120' long - a massive and industrial operation suitable for provisioning all the needs of the knights who manned this city. It is suitable for the working of steel, such as humans could. Racks and lockers hold carefully oiled and polished weapons and armor which the ghost knights continue to maintain. Most of the racks are empty, as the ghost knights replaced their gear many times over the many centuries they were here. As Fingers maintains a keen interest in inventory, you inspect it all. You could piece together 2 sets of plate mail, and there are still a half dozen shields, a score of long swords, and a similar number of spears. There are only a dozen arrows left. Three armor stands at the end of the room hold suits of platemail with gilt trim and noble insignia - sized for humans but with the craftsman's marks of dwarves. The knights hold respect for the commander's armors of their former, living human sires and will not wear them.

Knowing you'll likely return this way and having decided your course to pursue the cursed elf, you pass through the storage room. It is 40x80 and oriented parallel to the forge and perpendicular to the first chamber, with doors to each. In the far corner of the storage room is a dug tunnel 8' diameter and roughly circular in shape. "The creature calls itself Gadrinest," offers the commander of the ghost legion, then they depart back up to the keep above, leaving you to progress alone.

With Winnie's light at the fore, you see that it branches 30' in, then each branch forks again no more than 50' after that. You get the sense that you face a branching maze before you...

(You can state a plan for how you proceed through extended forking, or I can handle it randomly. I'm not going to ask each fork. )

Date: 8:00am, 06 September 2021
Light: Winnie's continual light
Effects: None
Injuries: Winnie (moderately injured), Markd (minorly injured), Bandy (minorly injured)

Bandy nods at the suggestion and then suggests, "I have some wounds still from that skeletal troll... is it possible to heal me before we enter this labyrinth? I'd rather be in top form..."

"Also, let's take this slowly and carefully. The cursed elf has had ample time to make it rough on anyone who might visit him."

Winnie offers that she has a compass, and parchment and a quill to map with, if that might be helpful. She also has some extra rations they can use to persuade the elf. I wonder what he has been eating all these years.

Bandy's eyes go wide for a moment, "I'm not sure if we want to know..."

Hengist prays to Baudh to grant healing to Bandy.

Cure Light Wounds [1d6+1] = 3+1 = 4

The party debates. Bandy feels a bit better.

Date: 8:10am, 06 September 2021
Light: Winnie's continual light
Effects: None
Injuries: Winnie (moderately injured), Markd (minorly injured), Bandy (minorly injured)

Marullus wrote:Injuries: Winnie (moderately injured),
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viewtopic.php?f=353&t=7668&start=540#p405030
after heingst's healing, I had winnie at 7/8. What do you have her at?

Bandy nods at the healer, "Thank you, Hengist. Almost right as rain now..."

I’m okay with any exploration algorithm: depth first, breadth first, always go left, random walk, whatever.

Markd, too.
Just have a trap finder first? shield 2nd? etc.

Thanks for auditing your records. Winnie is at 7/7; both she and Markd are fully healed.

Date: 8:10am, 06 September 2021
Light: Winnie's continual light
Effects: None
Injuries: Bandy (minorly injured)
0

Winnie agrees to whatever pattern is agreed upon. As the moments wear on, she becomes increasingly intrigued with this "mad" elf. What would cause an elf to isolate itself under the earth to dig, as a dwarf would? Are the tunnels crafted to make some sort of pattern? Where did it come from, why did it come to this city, and why is it still here? Let's find this creature, she urges.There is so much to learn! I will do my best to create a usable map so we do not become lost. She pulls out her compass, and quill and parchment, then blows her Mother's Whistler, hoping to attract a mouse or rat that might lead them directly to the elf.

As they delve, she uses her knife to mark an X on the left wall of every fork they take, as a secondary precaution, hoping they will, at least, know if they are going in circles somehow.

Markd will assist her where possible, though using his elaborate surveying tools would slow them down too much in this environment.
He holds his knife tight as he walks.