A plan is made concerning the Black Orb (Spider Cult of Mirkwood part 2.5)

Late June – late August 2946...

 [From ICE's Mirkwood (map by Peter Fenlon).]

Upon returning to Lake-town, the company returns the locked box to the merchant Thal Eolsen. Delighted, the merchant rewards each companion with 20 gold coins. Eolsen also offers a boon to each member of the company. Hengil accepts a finely crafted sword, whereas Hartmut accepts a mighty longbow. Ulvmund requests that Eolsen use some of his many contacts to find what information he can about the Galmund ancestral home, including its precise location. (Ulvmund knows only its general location, as most of his family and their records were destroyed when Smaug razed their home in T.A. 2774.)

Hengil spends much of July and August meditating and studying some of the ancient texts of the elves [healing corruption caused by the black orb]. He also decides, with advice from Luinwen, that the black orb should be taken someplace west of Mirkwood for safekeeping—either to Radagast the Brown, Saruman the White, or Galadriel of Lothlórien. Radagast is selected by the company, as he is closest.