Meira is still standing not far from Eldrin and the column that had been filled with skulls. "Interesting," she says as she takes the box. "I'll see what I can do."

She takes out her Thieves' Tools as she inspects the box for traps. (Investigation: 8; OOC - rolled with Advantage due to tools proficiency per XGtE.)

Presuming that she dies not see any signs of traps, she tries to unlock it. (DEX + Tool Prof: 14; still 14 with Advantage!)

As Meira crouches to examine the box, Lyra kneels beside her, the cleric's eyes sparkling with curiosity. She wiggles her fingers in the air, as if stirring invisible threads. Then, with a grin, she gently boops Meira on the shoulder. "Just a little push. You've got this."

A subtle shimmer settles over Meira, like catching the glint of a coin tossed into sunlight—there one second, gone the next. Lyra leans back, hands on her knees, watching intently.

Yarina & Zephyros,

With the aid of the second torch, you can see the passageway curves to the East 15 feet south from the entrance. (For brevity) Moving down the hallway you see the turn to the East. At the end of the hallway, you see a closed door. Halfway down the hallway, another door leads to the North before revealing another secret door that opens back up into the main room of the temple. Updated map below.

Meira, & Lyra,

Taking the lockbox, Meira searches it for traps. Confident that you find none, you begin working on the lock. When you're about to give up, Lyra offers her guidance, which gives you the encouragement needed to press on. The lock pops open. Inside, you find a velvet bag filled with a variety of gemstones. Fifteen in total.

Eldrin,

You sense one particular gemstone glowing with a magical energy. It just so happens to be similar (not the same) to the one Lyra offered up to open the door. A moonstone glows with an aura of abjuration magic.

Eldrin watches quietly as Meira works, her arms folded, brow slightly furrowed, not with impatience, but concentration. When the lock gives with a satisfying click, his gaze shifts to the interior of the box. He leans forward as the velvet bag is opened, eyes scanning the contents.

His attention is drawn immediately to the soft glow pulsing from within, a familiar, silvery shimmer. He reaches in, careful fingers selecting the single moonstone radiating abjuration magic. He turns it between his fingers, watching how the light curls and refracts across its surface.

There’s a flicker of something faint, approval, perhaps, as he looks to Lyra and gently places the moonstone into her hand.

“You gave yours freely. It seems the temple returned the favor, in kind.” A pause, then the smallest, rare curve of a smile. “Order, after all, is not confined to books. Even the divine leave patterns for those willing to trace them.”

Arcana check to determine what magical properties the moonstone possesses: 18

Eldrin,

You've read about these types of stones in many of your studies. You suspect this is a stone of good luck. It provides a boon to the person who attunes to it.

Meira smiles as she sees the gemstones. "Gems!" she exclaims. "There are... twelve... fifteen of them in here. We'll have to divide them up."

After she finishes counting them, she is surprised to see Eldrin pull out a moonshine like Lyra had sacrificed. "Look at that Lyra!" Once the halfling has taken it, she gives her a light boop on the shoulder and quietly whispers to her. "Thanks." 

Still holding the bag with the rest of the gemstones, Meira focuses on where Zephyros and Yarina had gotten to. "Probably should check up on those two that disappeared through the hidden door." 

Zephyros sighs not in disdain, nor in joyfulness but rather as in recalling a memory. "I've spent some time in dark passageways. Brings back memories, good and bad. What about you, Ms. Yarina? What was your life like back with... what was it... the Icescale Brotherhood?" The armored man questions the dragonborn whilst picking his torch back up and proceeding ahead into the dim, torch-lit hallway.

After discovering one doorway leads to the main chamber of the temple Zephyros looks to the next. "Would you look at that? Another door." The strong man tenses and positions his trident for an attack. "Comrade? Would you mind getting the door please?"

Zephyros would like to take the Ready action: Trident throw if there are any creatures that show hostility toward him or his allies.

Attack: 16

Damage: 9

Lyra, still kneeling beside Meira, beams as the lock finally clicks open. "Great job, guys!" she chirps, practically bouncing in place as the bag of gemstones is revealed.

She's still grinning when Eldrin reaches down and places something into her hand. She blinks down at it, and when she realizes it's a moonstone, like the one she gave up earlier, her breath catches. She looks up at Eldrin, and the smile that breaks across her face could have lit the whole ruin from floor to ceiling.

Without thinking, she springs to her feet and throws her arms around him in a quick, fierce hug—a bit awkward given the height difference, but earnest, despite that. She pulls back and says, "Thank you! Seriously! I feel like ... like we pulled a little bit of the bad history out of this place and made something good again. And I'm totally counting this as divine approval!"

The cleric ties the piece leather strap she had around this new moonstone, and loops it around her neck once again. She nods and smiles to Meira, saying "Anytime, partner in crime!"

Before hurrying after Zephyros and Yarina, Lyra kneels by the scattered skulls. She places a small hand gently atop them, closes her eyes, and breathes a soft prayer. "I'm sorry for what was done to you," she whispers. "I hope you find peace now." Her fingers linger for a moment longer—then she rises, a quiet resolve in her chest, and turns to catch up with the others.

(ooc: I guess I cannot attune to the moonstone right now? That takes time, right?)

Yarina follows Zephyros into the torch-lit hallway, her greatsword still drawn and resting loosely at her side. At his question, she glances over, her expression softening slightly. “The Icescale Brotherhood was...strict,” she says after a moment. “Honor, duty, discipline—those were the pillars of our lives. Every day was training, either of the body or the mind. We were taught to endure hardship without complaint, to stand firm against anything that threatened the weak. It made us strong, but it also...kept us distant from the world. Duty came first. Always.” She speaks with neither bitterness nor pride—just quiet truth.

When Zephyros gestures to the next door, Yarina steps forward without hesitation. She plants one gauntleted hand against the stone then braces herself. “Ready,” she rumbles, glancing back at him with a faint smirk. With a smooth, forceful shove, she moves to open the door, muscles coiled in readiness for whatever waits beyond.

Zephyros & Yarina,

You open the door to the next room. It's fifteen feet squared with the Northeastern corner of the room filled with rubble. The ceiling appears to have collapsed in this area. Partially covered in the rubble is a dwarven skeleton with only its upper torso showing which is wearing a rotting leather armor and something around its neck.

Lyra,

Correct, you would need to spend a bit of time with the stone to attune to it.

Lyra, Eldrin, Gareth, & Meira,

As Yarina and Zephyros move away from the group, the light in the main room vanishes until the door in the South of the main room opens. The room then fills partially again with a very dim light that again fades quickly. This doesn't effect Eldrin or Gareth nearly as much as Lyra and Meira. However, as the light fades to darkness the temple takes on a much more oppressing feel and unsettles you all. 

As the ones with the light come and go, Meira pulls out her lantern and lights it. "We should catch up with those two," she says. "I would have thought Mom and Dad wouldn't have just left the kids behind in the dark like that," she says jokingly. She quickly moves to where they had opened the newest secret door for a moment. She pauses though at the door to make sure the others that need its light are not left behind. 

Eldrin barely flinches as the room dims into near-darkness, his eyes long accustomed to shadow and study alike. Yet even he cannot ignore the way the air grows heavier, as though the stones themselves whisper of forgotten things best left undisturbed.

At Meira’s joking remark, a faint lift of his brow is the only outward sign of reaction, dry, reserved, but not without a sliver of cynicism.

“They move with the impatience of those unburdened by history,” Eldrin says, his tone stating fact, rather than scolding. He adjusts the strap of the satchel slung across his shoulder, fingertips brushing the worn leather-bound cover of his spellbook within. "In places such as these, untempered curiosity is more often recorded in blood than on parchment."

He nods toward Meira, appreciating her prudence in waiting for the others.

“Together, then. Always better to face the unknown as one... especially here.”

Without further ceremony, Eldrin moves to follow toward the open door, his steps measured and careful, glancing back only once to ensure Lyra and Gareth are not left behind in the wavering circle of lantern-light. His mind already turns, cataloging the change in the temple’s energy, the strange pulsing gloom, the silent threats that patience, not recklessness, will unravel.

Lyra is taking a closer look at the moonstone, thinking that if she spends a little longer with it she might be able to attune to its magic properties, when all of a sudden all light disappears. She flinches, but relaxes again when Meira lights her lamp. Probably best to leave the gem for later.

Sticking close to Eldrin and Meira, the halfling follows them until they reach Zephyros and Yarina in the room with the collapsed ceiling. She gazes around, her voice sounding sad as she muses, "Poor people... did no one survive the avalanche?"

Under the soft glow of the torches and the lamp, she leans a bit closer to the dead man, her curiosity returning. "Hmmm, what is that?" she wonders aloud, eyeing the thing hanging from the corpse's neck. (Investigation: 16. Or 18 if Religion works.)

Yarina takes a few steps into the partially collapsed room after Lyra, keeping a wary eye out for signs of a further collapse or any more slimes. "They were worshippers of an evil god. Such actions have a price, one way or another."

Survival: 15

"I know, but..." Lyra trails off for a moment, her brow furrowing as she glances around the room. "... it still makes me sad. I mean, sure, people make bad choices, but... everyone deserves a second chance, right? Now they don't have that. And it's all because... what? Abbathor didn't get enough shinies? I don’t like it. I really don't."

Meira keeps to the rear of the group as they follow down the hallway. She just keeps an eye out for anything back the way they had came. (Perception: 7)

Zephyros shakes his head as he enters the secluded chamber. "Young cleric," He says to Lyra, as a father imparting wisdom to his children would. "These cultists have had many chances in life, and yet they still chose immorality. They have reaped exactly what they have sown."

The armored man steps over to the deceased being, and crouches down to look closer at the trinket. Taking it into his hand Zephyros rubs his thumb over it's surface inquisitively, but not covetously. "Do you guys think it's magical?" Ironheart questions his friends.

Standing up once again, he shows it to both Lyra and Yarina hoping to get their perspectives.

Investigation: 1

Zephyros,

As you pick the trinket up you feel a thick layer of grime on the neckless. Wiping it away with your thumb reveals a tiny jeweled dagger on a silver chain.

Lyra,

You immediately recognize this as Abbathor's holy symbol.

Yarina's eyes widen just slightly as Zephyros casually picks up the item. "These cultists are exactly the type to leave curses behind," she warns, ever cautious.

Eldrin watches the exchange in silence for a moment, eyes keen behind the pale gleam of Meira’s lamp. He steps closer, his voice steady and measured as he studies the jeweled dagger glinting in the weak light.

"A holy symbol of Abbathor," he states, tone clinical rather than reverent. "Objects like this often serve as foci for both blessings and retribution. It would be prudent to assume the latter in this place."

He folds his arms, weighing the risks a moment longer before continuing, "I suggest we isolate the object without touching it further, perhaps securing it in a pouch of some sort. I can examine it more thoroughly with magic once we are out of immediate danger."

He glances meaningfully at Zephyros's gauntleted hand, then back toward the rest of the crumbling room.

"But standing here debating it risks more than curses. The collapse above is unstable, and the longer we linger, the more likely the mountain will finish what it began."

Eldrin’s gaze sweeps the group evenly, his conclusion simple and firm:
"We remove the object carefully. Then we leave this room. Further study can be done somewhere safer."