Ramious shakes his head, "No way, I'm leaving it behind."  (He continues holding it in his hand.) 

Inhaling a breath, hoping it doesn't escape her this time, Alyssa would finally break her silence. "Yes." She'd look up. Her eyes clouded in white finally begin to clear, revealing her vibrant irises once again. "You and -" The wizard would glance down to her feet before looking back to Ramious, then to the axe. "The axe. Are cursed." Her voice was soft. With a few gentle gestures of her hand and fingers, she'd use her magic to clear the tiefling of their companions blood before clearing the blade of the cursed weapon. "The axe passed it on." The elf would then hold out a hand as if to accept taking the axe from Ramious. Her eyes would meet his. "I suspect it will not allow you to part with it."

"Why don't we find a safe room, take a break, and let our minds calm down.  No one should make an important decision when they are freaking out," Bernard suggests.  As he does he slides his sword back into its sheath and calmly moves towards Ramious and pats him on the shoulder.  "We'll get through this."

“a rest would probably be a good idea.”  Leon agrees.  “Not sure here is the best option for that though, no way to tell if those cats will come at us again or not...”

Bernad finishes up picking what darts he can, at least the non-destroyed ones or the ones too close to the statues.  "Agreed, let's try another room, or even a hallway."

Ramious accepts the pat on the back from Bernard as would a puppy who'd just been reprimanded for digging a hole in the yard. 

He glances to Alyssa, and shrugs, "Yes, that's right....it was the axe, it has cursed me!  Here you go, take it, I don't want it!"  He hands her the axe.  He still holds onto the handle.  She gives a bit of a pull on it.  He holds on.  Then he looks down, and wills his hand to release the axe.  As she pulls it away though, he stands right next to her. If she tries to get more than a few steps away he continues to follow, uncomfortable close to her, making sure to keep the axe within arms reach at all times.  "Thank you for taking it from me. I'm glad to be rid of it."  (he steps closer to her)

Alyssa didn’t waver when she spoke of the curses. It was a matter of fact and not a guess. “And it’s not the only one active at this time.” The elf would purposely switch the axe to her other hand, holding it more towards her other side, watching for Ramious’ next choice of movements. She knew he wasn’t free of it. And likely won’t be the last.

With Bugs and Leon being eager to leave the room, her eyes would then pan the area again. She had not completed a full investigation of the altar she had stood at, or the rest of the items on the wall. Alyssa would pad her way back towards the altar.

Perception: 18 + Guidance: 2 

Ramious walks around Alyssa, making sure he's always within an arms reach of the axe. "So...." as if he wasn't standing right next to her and shuffling around to keep near the axe, "...so...where to next folks?  Back to that sports hallway to rest maybe?  Seemed safe.  Oh, you know what, if we rest, that path through that one block will be gone, it only lasts an hour.  Can I have the axe back, I might need it to make another way out, in case of an emergency."   He attempts to non-aggressively, but persistently grab for the axe. 

Now, with the statues out of the way, you can truly look around. With Ramious right behind her shoulder (inconspicuously trying to get his weapon back), Alyssa walked along the walls studying all the wall decorations more intently.

The calendar, a great wheel of stone, is carved from limestone. In the center of the calendar is a familiar symbol of the sun surrounded with various sigils depicting seasons of the year. The stone is ten feet across and is mounted five feet above the floor. Alyssa can see that it is held onto the wall by a smaller rod of stone behind it with a few inches wide gap between the calendar and the wall. The sun symbol is traced with barely visible space, like a button would.

The carving on the other wall (the one resembling the face of a snarling tiger with hollow eyes) right above the stone altar with the golden cat on it seemed to have a secret of its own: the right eye contains the catch - or something resembling it, a definitely movable part.

As she looked around thoughtfully, Alyssa would casually shift the axe once again to her other side, away from Ramious’ attempt to help himself to it. “I trust we are safe to take a short rest here.” She’d gesture for them to take a seat. “And when you are ready to proceed, I believe there’s a secret door to open.” The elf only needed half the time of rest and could keep watch should they be concerned about the statues coming back to life.

“If you say so.”  Leon says with a shrug, tkaing a seat.

Ramious stops reaching for the axe, while Alyssa seems to be completely ignoring him.  "Can I have the axe back please?  I'm the most qualified to hold onto it. I know axes. Little known fact about me, is that...i was...a...uh.....tree chopping guy...for....a long time. So...I really know my way around you know...axes.  So...I should hold it. Can I have it? Give it to me.  You might cut yourself or catch a curse if you keep holding it." 

"Hey Ramious, why don't you come over here and ill patch you a little.  While I do that, tell me alittle about trees you use to chop.  My bugs love the tree," Bernard says as he gets the healing kit ready.

Ramious mutters, "As soon as she gives me back my axe, which I was nice enough to hand to her when she asked for it, now I'm askin for it back all nice like." There's a bit of threat in his voice. 

Bernard is slowly setting his healers kid own.  Calmly he says, "Ramious, how am I to help heal you when you are being all figetty?  We are going to need your help to clear out other monsters.  You want to do that right? Get moving back on where we can have you swinging that axe like you know how to?  Well, right now you are prolonging that.  Not us.  Sit still and let me do my thing."

"AXE FIRST!" he growls loudly. He holds out his hand expectantly to Alyssa.

Alyssa had not necessarily been ignoring Ramious, just focusing on gathering her information and trying to communicate. But she understood that importance of it was not shared. She’d pause and the softest of scoffs would leave her at his last comment before Bugs spoke.

The elf was reaching to consider finally giving the insistent tiefling his axe when he would go sour, then growl at her. Her brows would furrow. Taking the axe with both hands, she’d shove it at Ramious. “Take your precious axe. I’m done.” Alyssa would let go and walk away. 

Leon just sits as the axe is passed back and forth. He shrugs, not much they could do about the axe situation until they got out of here anyway.

Ramious takes the axe. "Well......well....good!  Thanks!"  Ramious turns and looks around the room, avoiding eye contact with Alyssa.  "So, uh...what's goin on in this place..."  He glances around as if seeing the room for the first time.  He walks up to the calendar, "Hey, look at this rock calendar, I bet this is pretty interesting, right?"  He doesn't look at Alyssa.  "You know....I think this might be a button in the middle.  Should I push it?" 

“Probably best let me use my mage hand, or have Bugs use his bugs.”  Leon points out.  “Not a good idea to just push buttons around here with your own hand, might get you another curse...”