"Excellent idea Anita!" Roxana says. "Let's try that first, do what we can to make sure our eyes aren't deceiving us. Then we can go in and check them out." 

"You've truly internalized the wizard's way, haven't you?" Rash smiles proudly. "A ready mind is the most powerful spell..."

Anita wastes no time in putting her resolve into practice and lights a torch, utters a short incantation, and then a disembodied hand appears beside her, grasps the torch, and holds the flame first to the chest... which doesn't react, not even when the fire touches its surface... then to the small metal box... with the same result.

"These must be truly simple objects, at least" the ex-Zhentarim sighs with relief, approaching and beginning to examine them. "Too bad they're locked..." she winks at Roxana. "...or perhaps one of us has the 'key'?"

"I wouldn't want to interfere with your area of expertise either, Roxana.," Spira smiles.  "Especially after such a smooth demonstration getting the door open.  Why don't I and Darvin go on Watch together, just like old times, and keep out of your way while you're working on these?  Not to mention keeping an eye out in case something tries to take advantage of our focus on these boxes to sneak up on us ... "

===***===

Perception 4

(hmmmm.  With that particular lineup of lookouts, and that PER roll ...  -- do you think our Spira is perhaps a little DISTRACTED by her present company ... ;-D.  But Darvin seems like a very practical fellow, and SURELY would be keeping half an eye out so his wife can relax and admire him? LOL ...

I'd drop his roll in here but, well, IDK his PER.)

Darvin puts an arm around Spira's shoulders: "Of course, my darling! There's only one door... no way anyone will be able to get past us and surprise our friends... Not on our watch!"

And so the practical Darvin, with one-half eye watching the door and the other one-and-a-half lost in those of his beloved, tries to ensure the rest of the party can safely take care of the chest and the small box.

Roxana moves into the chamber, first checking the chest for traps. (Perception: 18) If she sees none then she tries to open the chest, picking the lock if needed (DEX w/Thieves' Tools: 26)

While she will examine the chest first, she repeats the same with the small box. (Perception: 26, DEX w/Thieves' Tools: 17)

Roxana's careful examination reveals nothing inside the chest; so our heroine gets to work with her tools... and soon the lock opens with a satisfying click.

Once opened, the chest reveals a large quantity of coins inside: 170 gold, 1,300 silver, and 1,300 gold coins.

The same thing happens with the small metal box, which is free of traps... and whose lock doesn't resist Shador Archer's nimble fingers for long.

Lifting the lid of the box reveals this little treasure: some gemstones! There's one with opaque bands of red and white, one opaque black, one with a distinctive translucent rosy stone with a white star-shaped center, one transparent white, two translucent whites with a pale blue glow, and finally one completely black.

Roxana collects the coins from the chest and the box with the gemstones. "We can take a closer look at the gems later," she says. "And I'll divide up the coins."   She takes a moment to look about the room, wondering if there is anything else in the room to see.  (Perception: 12)

(OOC - The box has 7 gems, I'm presuming it is fairly small and would fit in a backpack) 

[[ OOC: Yes, the small metal box is small enough to fit in a backpack ]]

The room doesn't seem to hold any further secrets. And, as far as the party can tell, neither do the dungeons!

In fact, Mival enthusiastically comments: "We've really accomplished a marvelous exploration! Every path that's been found has been explored! And we've discovered secrets about Rassalantar that seemed destined to remain forever forgotten! Not to mention putting some restless spirits to rest and freeing Thetis! What do you say? Shall we return to the hamlet triumphant, announcing that we've fully explored the ruins, recovered all their treasures, and secured them, as we agreed with the Lords from Below? I think we've truly done all we can down here..."

"Or shall we deal with Sentyllua too?" Aidwyn reminds "If her thoughts are so evil, she'll act on them sooner or later... With us, she may have been deterred by our numbers, but what if she encounters less numerous and less experienced adventurers? She could easily trick them—or perhaps attack them directly—and kill them. Shouldn't we arrest her? Or drive her away, at least?"

"However," Anita comments "if we do as we agreed with the Lords from Below, visits to this dungeon should cease... So Sentyllua can't pose a danger to anyone, since the Lords from Below already know about her and she can't deceive them - and nobody else will come."

Rash, Gaer, Dawnborn, Darvin, and Khelbluen don't seem to have a strong leaning toward one decision or the other. But what will Spira and Roxana think?

"Thank you Aidwyn, a good reminder," Roxana says. She looks at Spira. "I didn't hear your thoughts earlier. I think I would leave Sentylla. But if you feel she must be dealt with, I will certainly help you."  She looks over to Mival. "And I think we definitely should speak with the Lords from Below to get their opinion as well." 

Mival Shrugs: "OK, we will ask them. However, until today their policy has simply been to ignore her - since she cannot deceive them, she is not a real danger for them".

And Spira? Would she prefer to deal with Sentyllua or to leave her alone?

Darvin is perplexed by Spira's long silence: "Are you thoughtful, my dear? You don't have a clear idea whether we should deal with Sentyllua or not?"

Spira leans her head to one side, considering.  "Well ... if I've understood you rightly, Mival, it seems Sentyllua mostly stays put and weaves her schemes from here?  As long as that's so I think I'd be inclined to leave her be for now, for the reasons Anita mentioned.  We're aware of her, and perhaps we could tell the Harpers or someone like that about her so she could be added to their list of 'possible threats to keep an eye on'.

Also, while we know she is thinking evil, she hasn't actually committed any that we know of.  Even in Berdusk we couldn't go as far as arresting someone just on a suspicion."

Roxana nods. "I think that settles it then. Should we head back out then?" She glances to the others. "Back to town." 

"Of course!" Gaer enthusiastically agrees. "As much as I love adventure, I always prefer open, natural spaces over underground. Let's see the light of day again!"

"Besides, every passing minute must seem like an eternity to poor Kara..." Dawnborn observes. "Let's not make her wait for many more eternities!"

"Yes, let's go!" Mival then suddenly seems eager to return. "At least I'll be able to reveal a lot to her about her favorite hero... For her, Rassalantar has always been the hero par excellence! I wonder how she'll react when she discovers she's one of his descendants!"

With all threats now eradicated, the journey back to the surface (and, later, the hamlet) is uneventful. And so it is, when our heroes finally return...

The tanned woman is working in front of her house, in the light of the sweet Ches sun, with sure and decisive movements of her expert hands, which are replacing a broken spoke on a disassembled wagon wheel in front of her.

She finishes removing the stumps of the now unusable spoke and chooses one of the right size to replace it. Before inserting the new spoke, her gaze runs for the umpteenth time to the forest, the natural curtain of trees that has fallen on the tragedy of her life. The disappearance of her son.

Her son!?

Despite the distance, Kara 'Tarsakh Flower' Sashar's eyes immediately spot and recognize the figure that has emerged from the woods! The new spoke falls momentarily forgotten, while the woman bursts into a run worthy of the little girl she had been twenty years ago.

Mival... Mival was walking with an uncertain, embarrassed smile... Mival had left fearing to hurt his mother—and now that he was returning he felt the weight of the knowledge of having cruelly hurt her anyway. Mival, the boy, the doppelganger, the monster who chose to cling to his own humanity, had not yet decided what words to say to begin to explain...

Then he sees her. He sees her running towards him. He has never seen her so happy. And then he runs too, instantly understanding that words are no longer needed. They literally fly into each other's arms. Are they saying something? Are they whispering something, those faces so close that they are almost one indistinguishable? Or are they communicating with a form of telepathy even more primal and powerful than the doppelgangers' mind-reading powers?

After an indefinite and indefinable time, the two separate... they dry their tears of emotion with each other... They still have much to say to each other... and yet she smiles and simply says: "Come" offering him her hand.

"Yes," he takes it.

And they set off towards home.

"As for you," Kara smiles brightly at the adventurers before entering, "I consider myself your eternal debtor! The thing I do best is repair wagons and their wheels—but if you ever need anything, anything at all, just tell me and I'll do everything I can to help you."

Meanwhile, Khelbluen, seemingly embarrassed, appears to be torn between his desire to follow Mival inside and a sort of hesitation about doing so without being explicitly invited.

Roxana isn't quite sure what to do with Khelbluen. She comes up to him and says, "Perhaps give Mival a moment with his mother. I apologize, I hadn't considered what you might want to do once we discovered Rassalanter's fate. Perhaps you place would be here with his descendants?"