With a couple of players leaving very soon, I suggest we skip ahead a little, so their last sessions can be action..
The party have headed east, into Thay. They have identification papers organised for them by the Order of the Gauntlet and the Crotalan, both of whom have some work for the characters.
They have attempted to gain an audience with Nyliss, a Red Wizard whose insignia has turned up in Wave Echo Cave. Nyliss has said that the party can have an audience with him if they perform a service for him. There is a giant ant nest on the edge of his lands. He will pay 500 GP for each egg, 1,000 GP if it is a queen egg.
Nyliss lives south of Nethjet, which is around 160 miles from Phandelin. There are no roads between the two, a lot of hills, and a big river. It takes 7 days to clear the Tannath Gap hills and reach the River Umber, half a day to cross the river on rafts, then four days to travel across the plains to Nethjet. A day to get paperwork sorted, half a day to reach Nyliss' estate and a further half a day to reach the ant nest.