The zombie shakily pushes itself up.

Her Splash hits it this time, catching it at a worse angle but still sizzling about as much as Julio's did. That brimstone emulation is coming in handy. There are still marbles between her and the zombie, but she still edges a bit away for safety.

Mika pulls another dagger from his belt and throws it. It slams into the zombie's eye! "Hah! Take that, dead bastard!"

Julio's acid bubbles harmlessly on the floor. Miss.

Anton's beam of positive energy burns a hole clean through the zombie's chest.

The magic animating it comes undone. It falls to the ground, unmoving.

Mika takes a few breaths. "There any more of 'em!?"

"I don't see any!" Good. A clean win, and the only damage they took getting here was her scrape from that goblin. That should be fine by tomorrow. Preparing for these fights is so amazingly important.

In she goes to loot! She can clean up the marbles on the way out, the students might try to hide something they found now that they don't think she's mysteriously all-knowing. And the two hundred gold sail investment for the betting is not coming back to her any time soon, not with her current plan, so she actually does need the money at least somewhat.

Matei's desk contains exactly what she remembers.

The first compartment has the red book, the book titled Serving Your Hunger, the eight black onyx gems, the dodecahedron crystal, and the old mint gold sails (a few dozen of them). The second has the green book and the grey book, the silver dagger, and the ring.

Unsurprising. Detect Magic, just long enough to not obviously be lying about things.

"The ring is interesting, the books are magic. I'm not touching them now, but if we take them out and put them in a corner my friend there can read them for traps. I have a way for it to shake off exploding or whatever. Could be that anything in there will destroy the books as well... Let me see if I can get anything from the auras, and if not I'll leave them with you two. The ring..."

She pushes it around a bit, has the shadow prod at it, and eventually picks it up herself to examine. Looking reckless is fine, this is quite a bit of money for someone in the position she's claiming.

"Looks like a standard Ring of Protection to me. I... might have a buyer, for a bit over nineteen thousand silver shields. Even split four ways, that's a solid sum. Or if one of you can get a better price, that would work, but best we have it sold before the Festival. Prices are always a bit up around now. The rest will surely go for something of value, but I can't price it on sight."

She flicks the Detect around. "Oh, and I see something in the other room over there. One of you want to check for traps and whatnot?"

Julio walks over, casts detect magic, and looks in the desk compartments.

He backs up suddenly. "Do not touch the red book, it's got secret page and explosive runes. Good thing the runes weren't on the cover... you would be dead if they were."

She jerks back from the book. "Good to know. I see something else on it as well... Let me see if I can make out what. Preferably without touching it."

Can she get anything out of her own Detect? She is getting better at reading the auras...

She recognizes an arcane lock on the red book, similar to the one on the stone door.

"I think it's also locked like the door was. I don't spot anything else, and he surely didn't buy a Permanent Aura for the book, right? Does Runes destroy the thing it's on if you trigger it? And do either of you remember how large the explosion is?"

"Explosive runes does as much damage as a fireball in a ten foot radius. I highly doubt the book would survive."

"Ah, well. I thought some traps didn't hurt the place they were put. You'll need a way to get around it, then, unless a Scrivener's Chant can copy it without triggering the runes. You'd know better than I, being from the Academae and all. Can you tell what the aura is on the other books? It doesn't look destructive to me, but I'd prefer a second opinion."

"We'll probably have to buy a dispel magic or two to defuse it. The other books are coated with an unguent of timelessness but are otherwise nonmagical."

"I'd guess that's what's in the dresser over there, then, the auras look similar. Can either of you read the books that aren't going to explode if you stick your noses in?"

By now, Anton has wandered over to the desk.

"The other books are in Necril. Neither of us can read it, but I can copy comprehend languages into my spellbook at the Acadamae. I'm overdue to learn that spell."

"We'll trust you two on those, then. Mika, over to check the dresser for traps? The unguent's magic, someone should be able to find a buyer."

Mika heads into the bedroom and starts working on the dresser. "It's trapped, this'll take a bit!"

A minute later, the top drawer clicks open. "There's a bunch of bottles and jars and things, if you want a look. I can't tell which one is magic."

Detect Magic. "That one. The rest is probably worth something to the right wizard, can you two find a buyer? And is there anything in the other drawers?" They're going to be too trapped to open, unless something has changed or her approach shifted their mood, but it wouldn't make sense for her to know that.

"Maybe. I'm not sure what most of it is."

Mika begins to work on the second drawer. "Let's see here... this one's trapped too..."

The drawer clicks open. "Hah! Got it." He peers inside. "It's... uh... more vials and some weird looking stones and a mushroom."

"Those ones," he points at a group of vials "are alchemist's fire. It's a nonmagical liquid that ignites when exposed to air. I don't recognize the other stuff... it might be ingredients or components of some kind. Looks like Matei was a bit of an alchemical dabbler."