The others also greet or address Melek, and he answers them in turn.

I thank thee, Arkun, he says with another short bow, but I am uninjured, save in my pride.

Seeing that Rumble is struggling the most, Melek approaches and shakes his hand in greeting. May the blessings of the heavens be upon thee, Sir Rumble. As he speaks these words, warmth flow from the conjoined hands, and Rumble feels somewhat bolstered and able to bear his pains.

(Healing Hands for 4 hp. Hardly worth it, but helps to introduce who Melek is.)

Finally to Rylan, he responds more earnestly: I am a humble devotee of Rih-Al'sama, the Breath of Heaven. Hast thou heard of this god?

Melek responds to Sir Aldric's final question by also helping to search behind the tapestries, saying that he did indeed come with some simple gear, including a light set of armor. Those things matter little, he says casually. I am grateful to be leaving here with my life. Despite these words, Melek does appear to be searching for something...

"I'm afraid it isn't here," Aldric says to the newcomer after he finishes inspecting each niche. He distributes the share of the coin and indicates the remaining share, holding it out in one large palm.

"If we can't find your things, this will be yours," he says to the elf. "If we do find what's yours, I think it should go to the town. They've had to deal with this ... madman, and it will do them some good to receive a little compensation." He looks over at the spot where the Lord burned up.

Finally, the old knight looks up at the floating sigil. "Now, before we resume our work, the question is do we want to do anything about this?"

Though it took a moment longer than it should've, Rumble eventually registered the offered hand, and with a lopsided smile, gave Melek a surprisingly firm handshake despite his condition. "And may Tyr watch over you in turn..." The genasi said, trailing off near the end as the greeting conclude to look at his hand in confusion.

"Huh... That was..." He went to murmur and wearily test the limits of the newfound sense of relief with a few twists and turn of the hips among other gentle bouts of stretching. The distraction ensures Rumble ended up startling a little when Aldric approached to distribute coin. But, he swiftly recovered, accepted the bounty with a thankful nod, and ultimately voiced no complaint or dissenting opinion over how the remaining jewels and coin were to treated in the end. If anything, the genasi looked touch by the moment.

"Hmm... Well sir, I wouldn't even know where to start with that one. Which, uhh... is prolly no surprise there.. Heh. But, uhm....I-If'n the same goes for the rest of ya, might be we'd be better off sealing the entrance of the tunnel best we can if noone's got a better idea for, uhh, dispelling that whole mess. 'least fer now, anyhow." He offered, a note of uncertainty tinging the southern drawl of his voice. 

Aldric looks at the novice. "You don't think we should finish clearing out the mountain of abominations? If need be, we could take a rest first."

"Eh? What? N-no sir, I-I mean, Y-yes, I--Mn!" Rumble stops there, closes his eyes, and took a deep breath. "... Sir, as Tyr as my witness, I very much still believe we aughta check out the rest of the mountain, as there were plenty of paths we passed on the way here. I was just saying that as far as that--" He gestures to the eye symbol. "-goes, it may be prudent to at least /temporarily/ seal off the cave -- part of it, at least, so that whatever messed up magic is going on there won't affect anyone else. Well, again, least 'till we can get someone perhaps a bit more, uhh, experienced with dealing with occult stuff like this. That's all I meant." He clarifies, then sighs, shoulders sagging in defeat. "I... I need to sit down. Permission to relocate to that chamber with the skellies and start bandaging up these wounds, sir?"

Aldric gives a little nod and turns back toward the sigil. "By all means, tend to whatever needs tending."

The half-orc takes a few steps toward the anomaly, drawn to it for some reason. Then, as if catching himself, he shakes his head and turns away, scowling and looking around at the others. "Rumble is right. Let's get out of here ... away from this eye."

Arkun nods, turning to Aldric.  “Agree.  After you.  I might want to look at that other room quickly, to see what he was up to, but let’s get out of here..”

Rylan offers a simple shake of the head to Melek in response to his question. He's too focused on the eye.

"So, we're just going to... leave it here? What if this thing is the origin of all misfortune in this wicked place? Shouldn't we at least try to... smash it with a rock or something?"

Aldric stops and turns. He looks at the eye again and then at Rylan. "If we're going to attack it, we should all get as far away as possible first." The half-orc turns back and resumes his march toward the mouth of the chamber. Once there, he slides a dagger out of his belt and begins bouncing it in one hand, preparing to throw.

Arkun walks behind, readying himself and getting behind cover.  "I can send a mote of magic at it as well... let's see how the dagger goes."  

Rylan sees what Aldric's about to do and immediately regrets his own suggestion. He moves out of the orc's way, taking cover with his shield at the ready in case of any... problems.

Having already taken Aldric's acceptance of his earlier request, Rumble was well on his way back to the skeleton chamber. Though his pace was such that he hadn't gotten so far as to entirely miss further debate about the eye, he paused if only briefly, his earlier relief twisting towards guilt. But with a heavy heart and a sigh of defeat, he carried on his way down the tunnel, but at a slightly slower pace. That way if there was any call of alarm or command for his return, he would swiftly respond. If he's otherwise able to make it to the skeleton chamber without incident however, the earth genasi still sits down near the tunnel leading back to the others, breaks out a healer's kit, and immediately set to work jury rigging something to help him apply some salve to his still aching back.

After everyone else is behind him, Aldric throws his dagger at the floating sigil.

Attack at disadvantage because I'm sure we're more than 20 feet away: 8

Does an 8 hit?

Melek is still a little groggy, but he can offer no additional insight about the nature of the floating sigil. If the dagger attacks (or other attempts) yield no additional data, then Melek speaks a word in the Celestial tongue, waves his hand, and tries to determine what school of magic the sigil is drawing from...

(Cast Detect Magic)

Aldric's dagger flies misses the sigil, clattering against its pedestal beneath the image. Without a noise, the image flickers before disappearing entirely.

Behind one of the tapestries, alongside some of the Lord of Lance Rock's personal items and clothing, Melek finds his remaining belongings.

OOC: Here's an image of the entirety of what you have seen of Lance Rock for you. Let me know where else the party would like to explore, or if you are ready to leave.

(OOC: Rumble would be in the workshop area by the time the others caught up, and would like to check out what lies up the stairs to the east from the shop after the group gets a short rest.)

Aldric begins to grumble at his poor aim when the sigil's disappearance stops the noise in his throat. He holds his breath, half preparing for some new danger.

After 10 or so heartbeats, the half-orc begins breathing again. "Well, that as they say is that," he mumbles to himself. He walks back into the chamber and retrieves his dagger, his eyes watching carefully for a return of the sigil. If it never returns, he backs back out of the chamber, still looking for the sigil's return, and only turning once he has reached the split passage.

The old knight marches back to the workshop, not pausing again until he reaches the bottom of the winding staircase. Looking up, he comments to Rumble, "The sigil disappeared. I did not hit it, but perhaps the act of violence against it was enough to scare it away." He looks back at the novice. "I'm going to look up here to make sure there is no immediate threat while we rest."

Without waiting for a response, Aldric begins creeping up the stairs (stealth at disadvantage), his shield and axe at the ready, to look at what is at the top of the stairs.

((I'm not sure how much of this place Melek has seen, but I'm curious what's up that stairway beside the workshop. That's my vote, and since Melek is uninjured, he would be happy to accompany Aldric for recon.))

Though initially taken aback, Rumble shook his head to the side, and then started to rise intending to follow after the old knight. He scarcely gets more than a couple inches off the ground without another twinge up pain in his back leaves him grumbling and settling back down against the wall. "A-aye, sir. I'll, uhh... Keep watch from down here." He said, before with a defeated sigh let his head rest against the wall. "I see ya found yer stuff. That's good." He says to Melek. "From the sounds of it, whatever nonsense that drove that poor fella mad has then up and disappeared. But, I wouldn't count on that being the last time we see that symbol around. This whole thing... this whole stinks of something rotten at works given everything else we've heard going about. I just know it." He says to the others. 

Arkun watches Aldric ascend, he listens for any worrisome sounds.  Before departing he searches the workshop thoroughly, looking for any diary or notes, manual as to what this Lord of Lance Rock was doing, and why.  He searches the room since they fought and ran through here quickly, he wants to see what he can find before they depart.  After a few moments he calls up to Aldric, “Everything okay up there?”