Of course, there was always a chance you'd fail to open this lock and spend more time working on it, but within 5 minutes, you managed to completely unlock this door. You don't sense any traps (based on passive invest score). 

"What's the word? We have a few moments before the guards come by this way. They don't usually look down this alley, but I don't like to leave much to chance."

P.T. mimes stitching up his lips, and points at Edwyn, glaring. He then waves the loudmouth over with two fingers, and gestures at the unlocked door, giving a thumbs up.

Edwyn rolls his eyes and mouths, "This is a spell, my learned friend. Whisper to me in your mind, and only I will hear your whisper."

It occurs to you that the sound is, indeed, just in your head. His voice isn't actually coming out of his mouth. Edwyn takes a final glance out at the street before joining you. He seems to eye the door suspiciously before he turns the knob himself. Nothing happens. Edwyn steps inside.

Assuming you do the same, you are in a small entry hall way with 3 exits. One exit goes upstairs, presumably to the tenant's actual home. One across leads to a closed door. The final one leads to the shop itself as the archway is not closed by a door. Instead strings of beads line the arch and reach down to the floor. Edwyn makes his way to the closed door and whispers to you in your mind. "I'm sure the book I seek is here in his back room. Would you mind opening it for me? After that, we just need to avoid getting caught as we take what we want."

This lock is incredibly easy, you can do it without making a check. This is what you determine after some inspection of the door. After this, its up to you: do you want to ransack this back room first with Edwyn or do you want to go out to the main shop and see what you can nab?

“It stands to reason,” P.T. mind-whispers to Edwyn, “that the most valuable items would be in the back, not just the book but other stuff too. One second, though.”

Just to be sure, P.T. will scan around the door to the back room for any sort of trap or alarm device. One can never be too sure.

Flat D20(idk what type of check you want): 20

P.T. does not detect any traps! (It's usually perception or investigation, your choice.)

Making short work of the door and opening it, you open it up to a rather ominous scene. There is a big magic circle drawn on the floor in what looks like chalk with still burning candles at the points of the pentagram there in. At the center is a book ... This is what immediately draws in your eye. Otherwise, there are tables and shelves lining the wall. A preliminary glance of the shelves tell you there are definitely some things worth checking out.

(Roll 2d6 if you want to go to the shelves.)

P.T. stops dead in his tracks. Looking over at Edwyn, their expression is full of a mix of concern, bewilderment, and anger. "What the Hells is this?" they hiss. "Just what kind of book are you trying to get your hands on? I don't think anyone should be touching that thing, this number of candles can't possibly mean any good."

"Didn't think you the superstitious type, P.T. The shopkeeper shares your fear. This is a special spellbook. I'll wait until you are done looting to pick it up if that would help ease your fears. "

"...Right." P.T. then begins to comb over the shelves, making sure to move relatively quickly so as to minimize their time here. He tries to find any items that might look immediately useful or portable, rather than anything that might be valuable to sell but hard to carry around or useless to him, considering the possibility that he might not be in Neverwinter for long. While he searches, he racks his brain for any tidbits of knowledge he might have about the book and its... rather ominous placement. He has the book that he took from the old man, but this book seems like something else entirely.

Investigation: 11

Arcana: 22

Interesting items:

A small box of eccentric looking rings, one might be magical right?

Folded up leather armor that seems to be freshly made. At least it seems like it's never been worn.

A small trinket that looks like a vampire bat.

A black cloak with dagger patterns sewn along it's bottom. It has a cowl, so it looks really cool.

A dagger that is 100% magic, because it looks like a dagger made of ice, but the ice is not melting and is only cool to the touch, not freezing.

--

The only thing you can tell about that book is that it seems dangerous. Better him than you with regards to grabbing it.

If P.T. can take everything, they will. If not, they'll leave the leather, and if they still need to drop something he'll lose the cloak too. He'll then watch Edwyn to see what he does next.

They are able to take all. Once P.T. looks like they are done looting, Edwyn walks into the magic circle and lifts up the book. At first, nothing happens and Edwyn gives P.T. a smirk like 'See? Perfectly safe.' However, the lines on the circle begin to light up and arcane symbols of some kind fill in the blank spaces of the circle. Edwyn, caught completely off guard by this, makes a sudden movement, but then --

Make a constitution check.

This is Edwyn's 14

Save: 12

It's hard to describe what happens next in words. First, time slows down. Second, the circle starts to flare up, each point in the lines inside erupt into bright beams of light. Third, the book glows. Fourth, you see Edwyn seems to make a move to reach out to you. Fifth, the silhouette of wings erupt from behind Edwyn. After that, its a blur as time spend up again. You blacked out soon after time resumed.

You wake up outside laying on the cold, hard pavement. Your entire body aches and you see that Edwyn is laying beside you, his eyes closed. You are both covered in soot, but otherwise seem unharmed. Edwyn is clutching that book in one arm close to his chest. The most eye catching thing, however, is happening a block away. You see that curio shop is completely up in flames. Based on how it looks, you should be dead. Edwyn should be double dead, but you can tell he is still breathing. 

P.T. groans, turning on to his side. It feels as if someone has taken a potato peeler to every inch of his body, inside and out. Eventually, they muster up enough strength to try and shake Edwyn awake, resorting to downright slapping him into consciousness if needed. 

"Edwyn... Edwyn! What in the name of Moloch's chitinous balls was that? What were you thinking, just grabbing that book?"

Edwyn indeed needed a slap to finally open his eyes. Before the slap, he sounded groggy and lost. "Huh... what..." The slap, however, helped greatly. It also greatly annoyed him. "How dare you-" He started to argue before hearing what P.T. had to say. Edwyn blinked and looked down at the book, then back up to P.T. "Hmm... I was thinking of currying favor with the Zhentarim by handing over this book, but it would appear instead... I may have just put more than just my hands on the line..." Edwyn looks out over the fiery wreckage. Guards seemed to start running over with buckets of water or casting what spells they had to control the flames. The gentleman looks you in the eyes and says, "Let's get out of here, shall we? I'll explain once we make it out of here."

P.T. struggles to his feet and goes about the business of slinking away into some shadowed alleyway or another.

”…You better.”

Despite how it would seem, slipping away is not hard at all. Everyone is so distracted, you manage to help Edwyn walk through back routes through the Tower District back to an empty home you sometimes use as a hideout. You could hold out there at least for as long as it takes Edwyn to explain himself. 

Inside this abandoned home, it would seem the former inhabitants left all their furniture behind and some pieces of clothing in the trunks. Whoever they were, they must have left in a hurry. You've used this as a hideout in the Tower District for a couple years now. Even with a curious inquiry, you were never able to determine who this home had previously belonged to. You imagine at some point in the future, possibly sooner than you'd like, this house will be given away by Lord Neverember to tempt more wealthy people, powerful people, or similar types to move into Neverwinter. 

Edwyn settles down in a single seater. The journey here, you noticed something. Edwyn has been clutching the book close with his gloved hands. However, more to the point, you realize that the hand without the book hasn't moved at all. No twitching, no shifting of the fingers. It's like his hand is fake. Of course, you've seen his hand before, so that seems preposterous... What it is is so much worse, you realize, as Edwyn removes the glove from that hand and you see what once was a delicate, unworked hand now had scars covering it as well as arcane symbols. Now you listen to Edwyn's tale:

"I owe you an explanation since I nearly got us both killed. I was told by the client that the book was harmless and would protect me even if something did happen. The arcane circle looked incredibly fake. Childish, really." Edwyn seems to be remembering the magic circle. It looked very much like a textbook magic circle you'd expect to see a hag drawing. "I don't recall what happened, but when you woke me up... I knew. Something extraordinary just happened." He showcases the book to you, letting you admire its navy cloth cover which has some strange symbols you've never seen before on it. "This is... celestial. P.T., this book is... an angel." Edwyn's eyes seem full of wonder, but the atmosphere of the room doesn't reflect it well.

P.T. looks at Edwyn. He looks down at the book. He looks back up at Edwyn. "Let's get you checked for head trauma," they say, looking around to see any bumps on Edwyn's head or blood in his hair. "Last time I checked, angels were big guys with swords and wings, not crusty old tomes. I'm certainly not denying that this thing's weird, but I think it's just a book. A dangerous one that was incredibly stupid to pick up, what with it did to your arm, but a book nonetheless." If Edwyn looks relatively uninjured, P.T. will sit back down and pull out everything he stole from the shop. "I managed to snag a few things before you blew everything to hell. You got any way to figure out if this stuff is magic?"

Edwyn rolls his eyes at P.T.'s insistence that the tome was not an angel. Somehow even as a crazy person, he wielded the air of superiority as a cudgel. For the most part, Edwin does seem fine. Except for his hand. The elf doesn't seem to want to comment on it and instead his eyes pour over the items. "Don't worry about me, at least not yet. I'll let you know what I see here... Hmm..." His eyes seem to shimmer just faintly as he fishes out a single ring from that ring box. It looks like a snake eating itself. 

"This curious ring has an enchantment on it. I can't tell you exactly what it does, but I know there's something here." Edwyn explains. "And this-"

"Transmutation. And this ear cuff is as well."

"Conjuration." He points at the cloak with daggers.

"Finally... evocation." He gestures to the icy dagger.

Edwyn leans back into his chair satisfied with himself. He fired off very quickly not only that most everything you looted aside from a dozen or so rings in the box. "That's what the angel told me. An angel, P.T." He does not appear to be willing to let that point go. "I don't think any of this is cursed, but there are two ways to determine what they do. First, you just put it on and hope for the best. Second, you find a wizard or other some such person and have them identify the spell written in the magic of the item. I may know of someone, but I find her highly irritating."

P.T. shrugs. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained." He pauses. "But don't take that as an excuse for your stunt with the book." With that, he begins adorning the items, one by one, taking off the previous one after he's noted how they make them... feel, I suppose.