It takes a great effort of will for Elisani to keep herself from rolling her eyes. As it is, she doesn't quite manage to suppress an exasperated sigh. "That went well." Her tone is drier than Rahadoum in summer. "Given that the one being in this building who might have the information we seek- the spellcaster- is currently escaping, I suggest we pursue."
Oh, Caleb, how I wish you were here! The silver-tongued halfling has a gift for smoothing ruffled feathers. A skill that Elisani has never been able to grasp, despite her best efforts. And if anyone here possesses such skill, they did not see fit to use it. I shall simply have to do my best with what resources I possess.
Estella nods. "Let's see what we can find around here, though I'm afraid she might be long gone. The good news is, we probably know where this mystery spellcaster, this Lucrecia, went to, right?" She permits herself a sly smile, but it falters quickly.
"Best we can do now is focus on our chase. Maybe we can smooth things over with them later, but otherwise, it's not likely our paths will cross again for a while. Though come to think of it, we might be dealing with those giants at some point..."
For now, Estella simply starts looking around the room, trying to see if she can't perhaps find the place the spellcaster was speaking to us from.
Tarphrex points out where his magical pit was located. "Lady-voice with not-here spell not in room, voice come from hall."
Sherman has no means to see what is invisible, but at least magical auras could be revealed.
If there is nothing pointing to something lurking around, he'll start looking through the Ogre corpses.
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@Sherman: You detect no additional magical auras; the magical gear from the ogres has already been stripped from their corpses and there are no illusion spells popping up in your sweep.
@Tarphrex: Correct on the voice coming from the hallway.
@Estella: You look for the source of the voice, coming up empty. But you do notice that one of the smashed pieces of furniture in the room has something interesting. It's a wine cabinet, and a hole punched in it shows that it has a false bottom. You can see something flat and metal inside, but can't make out what it is.
"Elisani, you wanna take a look here? I'm no expert, but this looks like it could be trapped."
While Estella is searching the wine cabinet, Sherman studies the magical properties of the items they found on the ogres.
The ogre hook
There are 2 potions.
His armor is magical.
His belt is magical.
A potion.
An amulet.
A headband.
Tarphrex looks over the items, but most are beyond him at the moment. He does hold up a short shaft of gnarled wood with a rune engraved on its base. "Magic stick makes small breath like Tarphrex. Tarphrex keep?"
He holds up a ring almost large enough for him to wear as a bracelet. Having examined it, he sticks out a tiny clawed digit and hangs the ring on it, causing the magical bauble to shrink up to fit. "Make you harder to hit. Tarphrex like, but fighting friend should wear this."
"Of course." Elisani steps over to the cabinet, silently berating herself for woolgathering at a time like this.
@Elisani: No trap there, just a metal box in a hidden compartment. The compartment itself is broken, though. You'll have to pry the wood out of the way to get to the box.
Frowning at the cabinet, Elisani steps back and beckons to Estella. "There's something hidden in there. Can you use your spear as a lever to pry it out?" She points out the metal box where it lies trapped by the broken cabinet.
Tarphrex moves over to peer at the puzzle Elisani has identified. "Maybe Tarphrex help. Some acid here and here, weaken wood, maybe make easier Estella break free?"
"With pleasure." After Tarphrex offers some additional preparation, she jabs her spear into a gap and tries to break it open.
With the wood weakened at critical points, the spear pops the false bottom open to reveal the box. It's a flat box of unadorned metal closed with a simple latch. Almost a foot square, but only 4 or so inches deep, it likely contains parchment of some sort. And the weight suggests that as well.
Underneath the box, a pair of dark green leather boots are stowed. A quick inspection of them reveals a) they are magic and b) a silver locket was slipped into one of them.
Tarphrex tilts his head to the side, casting a cantrip to examine the discovered items.
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While Tarphrex inspects the items, Estella can't contain her curiosity and she opens the box.
Elisani reaches into the cabinet to retrieve the box, inspecting the latch for any unwelcome surprises. It’s probably not trapped, given that it was inside a secret compartment, but last time she thought that she ended up hallucinating for several hours thanks to a poison needle trap.
@Tarphrex: You are unable to determine the magic on these boots. But you can tell that they emit faint abjuration and transmutation auras. The locket is not magical, and nothing in the box detects as magic.
@Elisani and Estella: Elisani inspects the box carefully but is just (8 minutes) to late to beat Estella as she pops open the lid to reveal a cache of papers. Sifting through them, they appear to be letters.
"Boots of the Mire, it seems. Good for anyone planning a trek to a swamp."
Sherman casts a glance at the discovered papers, but they appear as complete gibberish to him. So instead he takes a closer look at the locket.
@Sherman: It does, in fact, open.
Estella takes a quick look at the letters before shrugging frustratedly. "Best I can tell you is that it's not Common. I'm no linguist, but I think it's Sylvan? Or maybe Draconic."
Sherman opens the locket.
"Oh, a lock of hair. This must have been important to someone."
You may 3 questions related to nymphs, if you wish.