Tex, you approach and look inside the opening behind the torn down portrait. You can see a stash of various coins, mostly gold, and resting on top of the pile is a 6 inch diameter, jet-black orb that is glowing with the evocation aura you had seen earlier

The color of Rel’s eyes when she’s angry, Tex thinks to himself but says, “The black orb causes the evocation aura, we should handle it with care.”

Zane peeks around the corner at it and backs away back to the door.

"Want the sack? Can tie a rope to it, throw/place it over the orb and pull it from the other room. I can even make this whole area silent if that helps."

Rel looks on the orb strangely.  It is the color of my... patron and yet... antithetical to her I think.  She steals life whereas here, in a house of vampires, this may represent something to do with undeath which she abhors.

"Does someone wish to investigate for traps first?  Not my forte, if one of you wishes to try and another help.  I fear something will be triggered if we remove these things from their current location."

She summons her mage hand and holds it ready.  "Having transferred my belongings to the magical handy haversack that the merchant at 'Buy the Way' gave me, I can then move the black orb into my old backpack using the spectral arcane hand so no one has to touch it."

“To me it looks like it is just a magical orb with powers yet unknown to us but that need to be activated.” Tex says, “ but if you feel more safe to handle it securely, I won’t object.” Tex looks up in thought, “Didn’t you identify something on the Dragonfly, Zane? Or is my memory failing me? If you did, maybe you can identify this orb in place.”

"The point is, it's magical. So, we take it." Concluded Lana. "And the rest too. If the place is about to be destroyed anyway, and the picture was here forever undisturbed by any squatters, it is only fair we keep the gold. You might even afford that pearl of yours, Tex."

She fully approved of the use of magical hand - so far any magic here was malicious one way or another, better to stay safe, and came closer to check for the traps. (Investigation 5, 4 with help) "Can not see any traps, but I have not seen them before either. Would not trust my judgement on this."

"Oh... Do you think it would be safer to put that thing in the magical bag? If Tex could feel it through the picture, people here might spot the moving magic too."

Rel waits to see if anyone else wishes to inspect the treasure and orb further or look for traps or alarms before using her Mage Hand.

She answers Lana:  "As for tracking, I have to assume the people in this house know we are here by now.  I am not sure how this strange orb will react to a magical extraplanar sack.  So I am leaning towards just putting it in my old backpack.  But in truth, I do not truly know what is wise."

If no one else takes further action, she does so.  Standing at a full thirty feet away, Rel uses her Mage Hand to carefully move the orb from its resting place into her backpack, which she has placed open on the floor.  She then also deposits the coinage inside using the Mage Hand, then uses it to close up the backpack before slowly picking it up herself.  Trying to remain ready for any unexpected occurrence or trap to the extent she can.

Tex doesn't object to the extra cautious handling of their finding and already returns to the main entrance hall to peek through the eastern doorway looking for anything magical in the eastern room and if there is still light behind the northern door. 

As Rel proposes his Mage Hand idea then Zane nods and heads to the central room, saying "I'll go create some silence at the door with light".

He positions himself 15 feet in front of the eastern door, in line with long the eastern corridor and starts ritually casting silence at a point where it would cover the door. If there are other doors nearby then he would try to position it in a way that it would cover multiple doors. It's a 20 ft radius sphere, so it's quite large.

"Makes sense," nodded Lana to Rel's words and watched the treasure transportation to her backpack. "So, where to now? The south door or should we check the stairs first?"

As Rel finishes loading up her haversack with the goods, there is no reaction from the orb when it is picked up by the mage hand and it is safely stowed away. Meanwhile, Zane creates another silent sphere in the hallway. 

"Like I said earlier I rather check the eastern hall where there is light seeping beneath the door. There could be valuable information in that room. Plus Zane has already set up another zone of silence" says Bellamy

Bellamy them moves into the eastern hallway

"You did say so," nodded Lana, "and I am with you if we want to meet people here sooner rather than later. But others thought we better clean up "safe" rooms first. The silence field covers that south door now, does not it? We might as well check it on the way."

Zane nods, "Lets not leave too much unexplored space behind us, don't really want to get surprised by anything."

He moves up to the closer (south) door in the corridor and looks it over, inspecting it for traps (investigation check: 11).

Then he'll stand next to the door (not directly in front of) and try to open it.

Tex remains close to Zane and on vigil for magic signatures and lending a hand or an eye for the investigation.

Bellamy keeps his eyes peeled for anything of note as he travels down the Eastern Hall

Perception

14

Rolled in game log

Rel breathes a sigh of momentary relief as there is no adverse effect from placing the orb in the backpack.  Given the way the party had been deputized and sent into harm's way, she feels no compunction about taking the coins.  She divvies them up into five equal value shares as follows:

Rel:  3pp, 55gp, 38sp
Bellamy, Lana, Tex and Zane:  4pp, 45gp, 38sp
(Total was 19pp, 235gp, 190sp, total value of 444gp, five shares with each share worth 88gp, 8sp).

Rel then resumes her role as rear guard, following behind and watching for danger from the back.  But not before reaching for her father's divine guidance and tapping Lana's shoulder, imagining her to be the best forward scout.  (Extra d4 on next check).

Lana accepted her share of the gold with much appreciation. "Whatever is waiting ahead - it was already worth it! Anyone knows another building the city wants to demolish? I am beginning to like it." She smiled, indicating the joke and walked to the south door with the rest of the team.

The door was already scanned and Lana truly felt out of her element here to hope to add anything to the investigation but the house proved you can not be overly cautious here. Besides, encouragement from Rel was inspiring. She tried her best to add skill to the traps search.

(If Zane already opened the door and nothing attacked us - Perception for the inside of the room behind the door: 15
If the door is locked - Thieves' Tools for 19
Additional Guidance: 2)

Zane is able to open the door without issue as it is unlocked. Looking inside you find this to be a large sitting room with bar. Three exquisite sofas surround a decorative rug near a closed curtain window.

Lana

Tex happily accepts the gold from Rel, then concentrated on opening the door with Zane. Tex tries to get a good view of the room to see if he can notice any magic, but if there isn’t it does look like there might be some really expensive drinks to be found. Assuming the Briarwoods intended to return here… and no one else cleared it out already. “Wait, do vampires drink?” He suddenly wonders out loud, “I mean apart from blood, obviously.” Though his voice makes no sound as he stands in the silenced zone, Well, wasn’t that important, he thinks to himself.