There are a number of runes that look to be etched into the stone on the wall, and you have enough experience with arcane magic that they resemble somatic movements that are a required part of most spells. You get the sense that the runes themselves do not open the door, but rather trigger some sort of spell that awakens something on the other side of the door. The wall itself looks fairly standard and with a little more looking you could probably find a way to open it to the chamber beyond.

"Just going back on record saying this is a bad idea," Gibson says, glancing back up at the group. He looks to the wall and squints at the cracks between the stones, slipping his fingers around the edges, looking for some sort of latch or opening mechanism.

Investigation: 10

With a little effort, Gib finds the door hinge and the secret door opens towards you all to reveal a clutter of broken glassware, pottery and earthenwaren piled on the floor. Copper wiring runs from the secret door further into the room where you see a body laid out on a long rectangular table in the center of the room

Elsewhere in the room, a bench runs down the western wall of the room that clearly once was the sanctum of the wizard Dilpas. On the bench are jars, canisters, and dried herbs and flowers long since past their usefulness for whatever purpose the wizard once intended. There is a table along the south wall that forms an L-shape with the bench. There is a book laying open on the table. Also on the table is a stub of a unlit candle, and a variety of other objects, that, even in this light, seem to glimmer with the warmth of pure gold. One of these items appears to be a human skull.

What do you do?

Gibson makes a beeline toward the gold but stops short to look around and see if there are any of these wires or strings or more glyphs or anything else that might tell him that this way-too-easy cash grab could be booby-trapped.

Investigation: 13

Tul follows Gibson cautiously into the room. She waits for Gib to finish examining the area for traps before following the metal wires to the the corpse on the table.

"Something in the runes the skeletons were trying to press may have been trying to animate this body," Tul says. "Do you think it's safe to just detach these wires to keep it from coming to life?" 

She looks at the intact body and another thought comes to her, and eyes Hugh and his axe.

"Would separating the head from the body help?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it's perfectly fine..." Gibson trails off, waving a hand over his shoulder without so much as looking to see what Tul is referring to.

Arvastan peers into the room, making a face. "I don't trust it," he mutters, eyeing the glitter of the gold items. "Wizards are, as I said, strange." 

Gib, you feel pretty confident that there are no traps as you approach the table. On the table you see the following objects all seemingly made from pure gold

*Skull (20 gp)

*An apple (5 gp)

*A rose (5p)

Near the golden objects, you see a book titled Ye Secret of Ye Philosopher's Stone, with no acknowledged author. It is written in Common but seems very technical. With some study you might be able to ascertain the general nature of the text.

You also find (with that investigation roll) -- a spellbook that clearly once belong to the wizard Dilpas. Though no one in your party might be able to use it, it might fetch a pretty penny should you be able to find a buyer in town.

Gibson picks up the skull in one hand, the apple in the other, and turns to the rest of the group entering the room. "I hereby rescind my previous statement regarding this being a bad idea," and he fumbles to pick up the rose and both books before awkwardly carrying them back out to his bag.

Do we recognize the body on the table? Is it just another skeleton? How fresh is it?

"All wizard's have spellbooks, do they not?" asks Tul looking at the book that Gib is greedily coveting. "If so, I do not remember finding one that belonged to Sanbalet."

She then examines the wire connection to the body on the table, seeing if there is a way to remove them beyond just yanking them out.

As Tul and Hugh move to examine the body, they see a skeleton dressed in a wizard's cloak and hat. There is a small black bag at its waist, which is empty but has a surprising heft to it. You also find in his hands a smooth stone that seems to hum with some sort of power.

Tul Perception: 16

You look around, but other than severing the cables that connect to the skeleton's body or physically dismembering the skeleton, there doesn't necessarily seem to be a way to remove the being from whatever apparatus has been fashioned for it..

 Dimma looks over at Gib struggling to carry everything out of the room. "Mind if I take  a look through that?" she says, indicating the wizard's spellbook with her finger.

"Sure, sure, why not? If you want to help carry some of this haul, who am I to question it?"

After handing Dimma the book, Gibson notices the stuff Tul and Hugh are checking out. "That's a neat looking rock and all but can we fit some of this junk in that bag so someone can help me carry stuff back to town? This sack is getting a bit cumbersome."

Hugh hefts the humming stone, giving it a small sniff, obviously unsure of what to do with this kind of thing. Does it seem magic to him?

Arcana: 9

Investigation: 8

Hugh -- the stone definitely seems like magic, and as you hold it and the hums moves into your body, you feel a confidence in the skills and abilities you've developed over your years on the sea and as a brawler. 

Gibson starts unloading/loading roughly half his hoard into the second bag.

Gib -- something unusual you notice as you start putting items into the bag the party found on the wizard's corpse --as you put them into the bag, it does not seem to change the shape, weight or density of the bag. Yet, sure enough, when you reach into the bag, the items are still there.

(It's a bag of holding. Adventurers are familiar enough with them that you'd be able to recognize it as such.)

"Whoa! Did you guys know this was one of those magic carrying things? It's a, uh..." Gibson trails off, snapping his fingers, looking for the words. "Holder sack? Pouch of possession? Satchel of having? Bean bag? Oh you know what I mean!" He redoubles his efforts to see if he can fit all of his jetsam into the new toy.

Hugh would hand the rock over and the 3 books he found earlier (7gp each) over as well. “This stone feels special,” he grunts to Gib. “Why don’t you just hold on to all this stuff for now, and we can divide when we get back to town.”