Upon hearing that Sirius was going to wake up the moose, Perrin leaves his post by the door and pads over to join the others. Seeing the healing energy from Sirius begin to cause the moose to stir out of unconsciousness, Perrin crouches down and brings his head near the moose's head. "You better wake up, pal," he growls menacingly in the moose's ear. "You've got some questions you need to answer."

Short Rest Complete

Time now: around 1 hour until darkness

Inspecting Sepheks Crystal for an hour, Sirius learns of its extraordinary properties. It functions as a cape of the mountebank, but smells of freshly melted snow instead of brimstone and upon activation leaves behind a cold fog instead of smoke. It needs to be worn in some manner (necklace, sewn into clothes, hanging from belt) for it to function.

Upon recieving healing from the paladin, the moose opens its eyes. It needs some time to realize where it is, but soon the knowledge dawns.

It yerks its head up, roaring loudly and almost throwing Sirius off, ignoring Perrins growl [Intimidation 2]. It convulses, the ropes straining over the bulging muscles, but holding [Athletics 11]. The sound exiting the mooses mouth doesn't sound like animal speech, nor an intelligible language. It simply screams. And if it continues struggling like that, the ropes aren't going to hold for long.

Zenos, seeing the struggling of the moose runs over to give assistance if needed.  "Mr moose please calm yourself before you do yourself any more harm.  We don't really want to harm you at this point.  Just answer their questions and it will go a lot easier, do it for the sake of the little ones cowering in the corners as we do not mean to scare or harm them either."

Sirius yells at the struggling moose trying to scare it at least with the loud voice and threatening demeanor though it probably doesn't understand the precise words. "Calm down you fool! We knocked you out once, it'd be very easy to do again." Sirius smashes the ground right next to the head of the moose with his spear and raises it up once more ready to strike again. "Talk to Perrin so we don't have to keep you in pain."

((Not sure if Sirius makes a separate intimidation check or if this functions as a help action for Perrin.))

((Both is fine for me. If Perrin would like to be intimidating, he can choose to do so with advantage. If not, I will make a separate intimidation check for Sirius))

"You better listen to my friend with the spear," Perrin rumbles. "Keep struggling and he might end up doing more than just knocking you out." A part of him deep inside was horrified at the words he was saying, but he pushed those thoughts away. He felt so powerful right now! He was one of the apex predators of the north, and he wasn't going to let a moose stop him from being who he was. In fact, he felt like this was always who he was meant to be: a predator. Something to be feared, only spoken of in hushed whispers around fires. Perrin growls with wicked glee as he revels at discovering who he was, completely ignoring the feelings of horror at the back of his mind.

((Since Perrin already tried to intimidate, what if he gives advantage to Sirius instead?))

((Sirius getting advantage is fine with me. And another thing: due to the short rest, Perrins wildshape and speak with animals would have run out now. It's up to you if Perrin would revert to his normal form or use a charge to stay in the form for another hour.))

Sirius' yell seems to have at last had an effect [intimidation 19]. The moose stops struggling and slumps to one side, exhausted. Its breathing comes in laboured gasps, the powerful lungs filling and emptying rapidly.

It's voice comes slurred, but in common.

"I understand you, man-thing. Just kill me and be over with it. Revenge for the other man-things I've killed."

The animals in the back squeak and chatter excitedly as they see the moose start to move again.

Sirius is taken by surprise almost staggering back when the moose starts speaking in common. "I can offer you a quick and painless death but only after you answer to our questions." Sirius motions for the rest of the party to come question the moose too. "Firstly what does completing the ritual by burning things in the brazier achieve and when are the frost druids coming back here?"

The moose snorts. "I don't know the secrets of the man-things that lived here long ago."

"Ravisin returns after nightfall. If you value your life, you will leave by then."

With his attention directed towards the statues, Aubreen is caught a little off guard by the sudden eruption of a thrashing white moose. The yells, and snap of a spear butt against stone has him quickly turning in their direction. He stays his hand listening incredulously to a talking moose. "Now we need a Ravisin to burn in the brazier after nightfall, no wonder it didnt work. Wait what is a Ravisin? I thought we just needed a hand?" Aubreens confusion grows as he tries to puzzle out what the moose has said. "Oh you mean the thing in the sarcophagus is Ravisin, but it only comes at night?"

"Your kind would call Ravisin a frost druid. Blue-eyes asked when they return. You have your answer." the moose harrumps between sprays of blood leaking from its nose. It is still, but agitated and tense.

"Oh, well that makes more sense", Aubreen slowly pulls his sword while taking a small step forward. "Why don't we just get rid of the moose than and talk to a person?". Still advancing slowly, "Unless you can tell us how to unlock the doors, or use the mirror you have no more use!".

The moose doesn't reply to that, instead closing it's eyes in anticipation.

"Well the town does want us to get rid of it but I would hate for it to end that way.  Mr. Moose if we let you go would you promise to leave the area and never return?"  You can see that Zeno is not comfortable with killing the tied up beast, its one thing if it is attacking but a different story once defenseless.  

Instead of ignoring him, the moose opens its eyes to look at the satyr and his proposal [persuasion 22]. It replies in a tone of bitterness.

"You don't know what you're asking, man-thing. It is a matter of honor. The people of the towns have killed many of my kin. They have killed the animals of winter. They have killed the kin of Ravisin. So I return the killing in kind. I will not stop."

 "Understood. Though I can't accept what you did, I respect you for sticking to your honor. By the law of Tyr, I must avenge those you murdered by execution. Have you any last words?" Sirius gives the moose a moment. His expression turns somber and he strikes with the sharp point of his spear into the back of the head of the moose killing it instantly. Sirius mutters to himself: "No one deserves a painful death." and wipes the blood off of the spear with his silk cloth.

Sirius goes to explore what is beyond the door that is first on the left. "I suppose we can explore this place while we wait for the frost druid. Since the rite is apparently of some ancient peoples, it probably isn't evil though requiring a humanoid hand sure is strange."

Aubreen strides forward, a quick slash to the neck, merciful. "Let Torm take your soul". Wiping the blade upon the fur he stops catching the looks of the others. "It was a Tyrant. Called, created, controlled by that Druid, however they do it. Justice must always prevail, the Laws of nature are broken here" a sweeping gestures at the menagerie of creatures shrinking into the corner.

"We are wasting time. If that druid catches us unaware Torm will not be able to save us. Allied with a rampaging moose and a cold hearted killer! I do not question their innocents." Suddenly his attention fades elsewhere, drifting from his companions to the tied up moose, then towards the ceiling. "We need to get the jump on Ravisin, we barely beat Sephek. We can knock him unconcious too, but I dont think a conversation should be had before. We cant give him time to prepare". 

"Do you think we can use this moose as a counter to a rope snare, right there at the door!, if we can get him grappled and on the ground quickly we might stand a chance, Torm forfend?" He looks back at his companions..."oh, uhmm, Unless you think we should get out of here, Im feeling a little uneasy about this." A grim smile crosses his face "I have nearly died twice, and we have only been in two fights."

"Well the moose made his choice, I thank you for making it as painless a death as possible.  I sure wish he would have just gone away but I understand that we had to do it, just glad I wasn't the one that did it."  Zenos will search the moose to see if it has anything of note and if not will remove an antler to bring back to town as proof completion.  Then will assist Sirius in looking around the area.

After Sirius and Aubreen kill the moose, the smaller animals scatter with fearful squeaks and whines. They clamber up the incline to the exit and scamper off into the snowy forest.

Sirius quickly finds that the two doors that are reached via the stairs, northwest and south, don't have an obvious way to be opened. The only features are the half-moon engravings on their surfaces. There is less than one inch of a gap between the doors and the doorway on both sides - peering into the gaps you can see that a bolt is in place, sealing the entrances shut.

Other than the three elven statues, the scattered bones and the now empty nests of the animals, you see an old mural on the wall, depicting elves. It follows a particular elf going through its long life, it's achievement in attaining wisdom under the watchful gaze of the moon and ultimately it's death and burial in a tomb. The motifs of the twig, pinecone, flame, feather, and humanoid hand are repeated above the illustration of the tomb. On the illustration, other elves are surrounding the tomb in poses of admiration and thanks.

After the others interrogated and promptly executed the moose, Perrin suddenly shifts back to his normal form. He looks around at the cave, more than a bit confused. How did he get here? The last thing he remembered was the moose charging him, and then… wait, was that the moose over there one the ground? Who killed it? And why was his beak coated in dry blood?

As Perrin promptly began rubbing the dried blood off of him, his memories of the past hour suddenly rush back to him. He had been a wolf! How did he do that? And why did he feel so angry and bloodthirsty as a wolf? He was quite excited to discover that he could transform into animals, though he was more than a little frightened at how being a wolf made him feel. Probably best not to do that again unless he really needed to. 

Once he feels a bit normal again, he repeats Aubreen and shakes his head, “Think we should get out of here, Im feeling a little uneasy about this.”