Vesta glances past the hobgoblin and duergar to the religious shrine they were praying at, trying to see if she recognizes it.

History - 13

The sorceress thinks about how she wants to reply. She decides to try her hand at a little deception. "All glory to to the Mother, let her reign in chaos and blood," Vesta says solemnly. "Have you seen the artifact we seek? In Mother's name, we will use it to cast down her enemies." Vesta describes the artifact as told to her by the Wizards Three.

Deception - 18

Insight: 16

The pair relax a little, and the bugbear continues the conversation with Vesta in undercommon. "كلا ، لم أر قطعة أثرية خاصة بك. ولكن إذا كنت تخذل ملكة العنكبوت ، فابتعد لئلا تنزف عقابك علي"

 The bugbear then turns back to the wall to continue his prayers. The duergar regards you for a few moments longer before also turning back to the shrine.

Magrea watched on, her eyes darting between the pair at the shrine and Vesta. Once they turned, she spoke up.

"Did it work? Are they nice?"

(As a reminder: 

The remains of mold-covered broken wagons and barrels languish straight ahead of you in this large foyer. Five humanoid skeletal remains lie strewn about to your left, their swords and armor bent and rusted. Something gleams next to the bodies propped along the far left (northern) wall. Double doors on the east, northeast, and southeast walls are rusted shut, and a semicircular chamber that opens in the southwest wall contains a shrine. There, a hobgoblin and duergar worship at the shrine but turn as your light fills the area...)

(Link to map)

Vesta sighs and turns back to the others. "They worship the Spider Queen," she whispers. "I believe that means Lolth, the goddess of the drow. They are not hostile to us for the moment. I convinced them we also worship her."

The sorceress then kneels down to examine whatever is gleaming next to the dead bodies.

"Oh yeah sure, great, big spider demon lady. I dunno about this so we better go check something else now huh? Hey someone shine a light this way...ow!" Zyl hit the wall for a second.

Davis will follow Vesta's lead, since she is the one communicating to the followers of the spider queen, he feels it best to let her lead. 

As they move he whispers to her "Move carefully, if these skeletons animate, I will put them down, and that may change things."

Vanizi walks over to the northeast door while Vesta goes to look at what's gleaming. "Spider demon lady doesn't sound good. We should figure out how to move on from here."  Although they seem rusted, she checks to see how they might open. (Door handles, any sort of mechanism, etc. - Perception: 9)  

(OOC - Curious, in terms of the skeletons you mentioned, would those qualify as 'corpse' for Speak with Dead?)

Vanizi can see the large iron doors have metal rings for handles and a keyhole.  The skeletal remains and rusted gear belong to five long-dead adventurers - two dwarves, an elf, a gnome, and a tiefling. The shiny things next to the remains are actually fist-sized gemstones, maybe rubies! (Vesta - give me an Investigation check.)

Investigation - Nat 1 :(

Quote from owlbear89 >>

Investigation - Nat 1 :(

 Ooooohh shiny rubies!!!

Vanziz approaches the skeleton nearest the door, using Whisper of the Grave to speak to it. (Allows casting of Speak with Dead) She asks, "Could you tell me what happened to you here?"  (Persuasion if needed to try to get it to cooperate: 14)

"Pretty," Vesta murmurs. She picks up the rubies.

The remains of the tiefling answers Vanizi's question. "We died is what happened here. Tordek fell first, impaled by shadowed blades that emerged from the walls. Sylvara met her end when she attempted to disarm a trap, only to awaken a swarm of Lolth's sacred spiders. Garruk was consumed by a webbed abomination he tried to fight alone, believing his strength enough to overcome even Lolth's chosen. Erynn, blinded by his own ambition, miscast a powerful spell, causing the temple's very walls to collapse upon me and him."

The rubies are fixed to the floor and can’t be removed. Vesta needs to make a DC20 Dexterity saving throw, taking 45 lightning damage on a failed save or half as much damage on a successful one!!

(Oh jeez, I knew it haha)

Dex Save 18

Vesta is zapped by lightning and falls over, literally and figuratively shocked. "Ilmater's merciful tears," she groans. "I should have known better..."

Magrea was looking around the room as the others were handling their investigations. She looked over, though as Vesta touched the gem. Rushing over, she reached out her hand to help her off the ground. The moment their hands meet, Vesta may take 24 points of healing from a second level Cure Wounds.

"Are you okay? I don't think I can blame you, that thing is really pretty."

"Hey! What's going on! Why is everybody screaming! Ooh was that lightning!? Maybe we should be careful huh?" Zyl started wandering slowly in the vague direction of where she saw the lightning trap flash. "Hang on, ow!" She hit her foot on a small rock. "Maybe I should just light a torch or something yeah?"

Davis stays next to Vesta as she moves through the space, he has no issue as she grab's the ruby, and then is right there as she get's blasted by a lightning trap. "Damn" he mutters, looking at his friend on the ground. 

Then he hears Vanizi talking to the skeleton.

He raises his hand "Quiet!" he says to those close, as he attempts to listen to what the dead adventurer is sharing.

Setting the trap off reignites the suspicions of the two worshippers, who come around the corner from the shrine and look at you doubtfully. The duergar speaks in undercommon this time, then barks a quick laugh at you. "أول مرة تذهب إلى حافة الويب؟ ألم يحذرك معالجك من إبقاء يديك لنفسك؟"