Lyra shrugs as well. "Well, guess we can take a look. Dazlyn and Norbus will appreciate us finishing the job," she says, then adds, "Probably best not to touch anything related to that horned, angry statue. Sounds like a pretty big warning symbol to me."

If the party decides to continue investigating, she will keep to the rear of the group. Once in the north alcove, she will examine the statue and the gem from a safe distance, trying to recall anything she learned during her time at the Temple that might give her insight into the purpose of these statues. (Religion: 21)

Everyone,

The group enters the tunnel single-file. As the ice melts around you, water begins to puddle in various places on the indented floor. When those depressions fill, the water runs to another spot further in, and so on until it runs down the steep section of the tunnel that disappears into darkness. At the tunnel exit to your right, the water is about one foot deep, but cannot enter the temple room as the stone wall is broken away higher than the water level.

An alcove in the south wall holds the rubble of a shattered and broken statue. An alcove to the north holds a statue of a dwarf with horns, which stares greedily at a glowing green gem in its hands.

Lyra,

Lyra points to the angry statue. "Ah! And there's dear old Abbathor again. Careful! He's known for enticing people to steal from him, just so he can punish them in all sorts of painful ways. I say we don't give him what he wants, no matter how shiny his treasure is!"

The halfling slowly—veeery slowly—backs away from the statue, as if she feared it might suddenly come to life.

Meira was nodding vigorously as Lyra mentioned Abbathor punishing those who steal from him. "That's what I was thinking!" she exclaims. "I figure that exploded statue is an example of what could happen if you get greedy." 

She does look over at Lyra though. "Doesn't it seem strange though that he's a god of greed but discourages greed?"

As the others wander into the room, she again takes a look about the room and a bit closer look at the statues themselves, wondering if they're may be sune hidden features to them.  (Perception: 17)

 Meira,

You don't detect any hidden features on these statues.

As Meira is looking about, she suddenly gasps and steps quickly back.  "Oh! There's bits of bone amongst this rubble. Think we know for sure this statue was trapped somehow. But it seems some have bite marks. Something was in here at some point."

Eldrin steps into the room, his eyes sweeping over the flooded stone, the ruined statue, and the unsettling dwarf figure cradling the emerald. His expression is measured, though his gaze lingers longest on the gem, faint reflections flickering across the surface of his eyes.

He crouches beside the rubble of the shattered statue, lifting a splinter of bone between two fingers. At Meira’s mention of bite marks, he examines them more closely, narrowing his eyes.

Turning back to the others, he speaks with calm certainty, “We’re not the first drawn to the gem. And likely not the last."

He takes a slow step forward, but stops short.

“We don’t touch it, not yet,” he says. “But I’d like to examine it more closely. From a distance. I would like to test a hypothesis, that there’s a magical effect bound to that stone or the statue itself.”

He gestures toward the rear of the chamber. “If this was a sanctum once, we should find out what it guarded.”

"Would you mind if we linger here a bit longer?"

Nature check to determine any thing about the bite marks: 22
Ritually cast detect magic 

Gareth shakes his head. "Can't say I'm not curious either," he remarks. "So it seems like the statues explode if you take the gem, but what if you plucked the gem from a distance?"

The ranger steps closer to the shattered statue with the fragments of bone. "Although doing that could possibly summon whatever gnawed on these bones."

Eldrin,

You spend several minutes casting detect magic and examining the bite marks on the ancient bone fragments.

 Everyone,

As you linger in this room, you feel a tremor and the room shakes for a moment. Several boulders cascade down from the blocked passageway to the West before coming to rest at your feet. Dust fills the room making it difficult to see. You hear several splashes from the tunnel you used to get here.

He turns toward the rest of the group, voice low but calm. “The gem radiates Illusion, the statue Evocation, woven into their very matter, not carved or cast afterward. No runes, no glyphs. This is old magic. Native. Possibly divine, possibly, not.”

His gaze shifts to Lyra. “It may not punish the greedy. It may feed on them. I advise we don’t touch anything we don’t understand.”

He steps lightly through the water to the tunnel entrance, peers into the gloom.

Perception Check to see what is making the sounds in the tunnel: Nat 20+3=23

Eldrin,

Meira hears Eldrin mention that the gem radiates illusion. "Makes sense. A god of greed wouldn't want to just give up a real gem in his trap." And then the room starts shaking. "Sounds like something may be coming to pay us a visit!" She quickly tries to find a good spot to stay hidden - perhaps behind one of the statues. (Stealth: 22) 

The young and tiny cleric is starting to feel pretty scared.  "Why don't we just leave? Half the rooms are already collapsed ... I don't want to end up part of the rubble!"

(ooc: she's going to try to go into "stealth mode", but she'd rather get out of here quietly than to stay hidden. Stealth: 24)

Gareth motions for Lyra to stay. "Wait," he says. "We need to stick together. And it sounds like something is coming straight for us from the only way in or out of this place."

Having said that, he takes up a position with a good, clear view of the opening to the tunnel. He nocks an arrow and raises his bow, preparing to shoot anything monstrous that pops its head out of the tunnel.

Eldrin narrows his eyes as he studies the tunnel, now half-choked with debris, water swirling around newly fallen stones like a rising tide hesitating before its inevitable surge.

“…Well,” he mutters under his breath, “that path seems less promising by the moment.”

He turns fully to the group, tone quiet but clipped with purpose. “The tunnel’s integrity is failing. Water’s rising, and the roof’s already come down in two places. A single misstep could bring the whole thing down"

Adventurers,

As Eldrin looks down the tunnel to inspect the damage from the nearby tremor, you feel a second earthquake. This one violently shakes the area (Everyone, please give me a dexterity saving throw: DC 8 or fall phone), and the tunnel leading to this room collapses completely. The cave-in pushes the water into your room and fills the floor with 2 feet of murky water. Surprisingly, the statue still stands with the glowing green gem in its outstretched hands. More shockingly, it doesn't appear to have taken any damage from the shaking. More rubble falls into the room from the Western hallway and the Eastern tunnel entrance.

Just as the rubble comes to rest, the Southern wall explodes out in a shower of debris, and a large chitinous creature emerges from the wall.

Combat Begins: Surprise round

The large creature lashes out with clawed hands at Zephyros as it enters the room.

Attack 27 Damage 7

Attack 22 Damage 2

Combat continues: Round one initiative

• Eldrin 19
• Chitinous creature 19
• Meira 14
• Zephyros 13
• Gareth 10
• Lyra 6
• Yarina 3

Lyra clamps her hands over her mouth, barely holding back a cry as the monster strikes Zephyros, who already bruised and bloodied, even after patching himself up. She ducks instinctively, dodging chunks of falling rubble as best she can.

Then, pushing forward through the dust and chaos, she rushes to his side, reaching for the last of her magic. "Nope, nope, nope! Falling down is not allowed!" she snaps, laying a glowing hand on him.

Dex ST: 11

Movement: right next to Eldrin so she can touch Zephyros, then back again (provided she can do that without causing AOO)

Action: Cure Wounds on Zephyros (13 HP). 

[OOC Dex ST=9; if you could let me know the consequence of this failure I can incorporate both it and describe what he does in initial round of combat]

[[I should have included the DC for you so you don't have to wait. My apologies. Dex save DC 8 or fall phone.]]