Saran pulls back curtain 7 to see what is there, ready to strike with the torch if needed.

It appears to be like rooms 2-4, normal dorms. (assuming you search it) You find nothing magical and... 20cp scattered in the bottom of a desk drawer.

Saran pockets the copper and continues searching the rooms, pulling back the curtain cautiously and ready to strike anything needed to be stricken.

So easy to lull you back into security...

Jk, you do not find anything that needs to be stricken. In room 8 (another bedroom) you find... 7sp and in the back left corner you find a secret room, about 4'x6'. It is mostly filled with a bed that is off to one side. Under the bed you find... a woman's gold necklace which you would guess is worth about 50gp.

In room 9, another bedroom, you find... 9sp. You also find a secret door to the same passage with the bed and secret door leading to room 8.

In dorm room 10 you find... 15sp.

In dorm room 11 you find... 1pp wedged behind a drawer. In the back wall you sense a faint aura of divination. It seems to be just behind a certain spot on the wall. The wall looks otherwise normal.

what are the walls made of?  Is there brick or something Saran could pry out with the knife?

Stone and mortar.

I will also remind you that you have the farmer's tool.

Ah yes, what was the word, "Whack!" and it's a chisel, which which Saran chips away at the mortar.

Ok, you go to work at the stone and find that your hand passes right through. Knowing that it is an illusion you see through the false wall to discover a leather cap.

You search Room 11 and find... 15gp. There appears to be more personal items here. Moldy books, moth eaten clothes, other nick-knacks. Nothing of particular value.

In room 12 you find a very old, dried-up corpse of a person dressed in a black leather, hooded cloak. The room is larger, and similar to room 1.

Saran dons the leather cap to see how it fits.  And takes the gold.  The dried up corpse reminds Saran that he hasn't eaten in a while and he takes a couple bites of magic gruel.

Does it look like the debris covering the stairs might be movable?

OK, sorry, were kind of doing a standard operating procedure situation, which I didn't really apply to this room 12. Assuming you search the body, you find a traveling spell book. I don't have my notes with me, so I can't say what spells are in there for sure, except Knock, Arcane Lock, and Blur. I think Mage Armor, Magic missile, Shield, and Alarm are too.

He has a dagger and a wand (mundane arcane focus). And... 15cp, 37sp, and 18gp. He also has a Healing potion. Everything else besides the leather cloak are in unusable condition.

You detect the magic aura of 1 or 2 active spells in the corner of the room radiating Abjuration and illusion magic.

The room itself has 46sp, 12gp, and 5pp.

I assume that a spell has to be in my own book (own writing notes, etc.) for me to count it as a spell I can prepare or use as a ritual?

Does the spell book have anything that would help identify its owner?  Anything else that could identify the body?

Take the dagger, leave the wand (no reason to take it, right?). Not sure I want a leather cloak I have to strip off a crusty corpse unless it looks particularly warm or useful.

Any immediate, noticeable effects from putting the cap on?

Saran inspects the corner of the room where the spell auras are.

If there is nothing else Saran next goes back to the stairs to investigate closer.

I would have to look it up, but I would say an arcana check to learn how to use it as is from another spell book. Dc 10+spell level.

No obvious affects. Arcana check 12 (roll once for each of the two effects) to get an inkling.

rolled 14 and 10 on arcana checks

You concentrate with your inner eye and feel like knowledge dealing with the wizardly arts is just outside of your mental reach. You think that if you attune to it you might gain useful arcane insights.

What about investigating in the corner?

Feeling along the walls you notice that there is the seem of a doorway being masked by an illusion. You push on it and it moves very slightly. The abjuration magic seems to intensify when you push.

Saran wonders if perhaps he is pushing against an alarm spell.  Could there possibly be anything left alive that would be alarmed?  Perhaps a lock spell.  He remembers seeing the knock spell as he quickly flipped through the traveling spell, book, but it seems still to be beyond his ability.  Perhaps the old fashioned way?  He gets out the chisel, and "Whack" it becomes a hammer.  He gives the door a good whack with the "whack".

You give it a good whack. It feels like hitting stone with a hammer, but it feels like you are hitting a stone door rather than an immovable wall. You see a little damage.

(I will need to come up with AC and hitpoints for the stone door. One sec.)

Here is what I will say. It is a medium, resilient object. So, an AC of 17 and 4d8 hit points (18).

The hammer will do 1d4 damage, but I think you apply a -1 because of strength. I am not sure if this is a rule, but your damage can never be less than 1. I am open to other ideas of how you might damage it, but I don't have anything in mind.

Once you damage it for half its hitpoints (9), a chunk will break off the frame which will make the arcane lock spell not function anymore.

So, it is up to you what you do. If you want to hammer away, go ahead and roll until you deal 9 damage and let me know how many. Or figure it out mathematically, rounding any decimal up.

Math says it should take about 40 whacks to get to 9 damage.  Did it in an excel spreadsheet and came out 1 round better at 39 whacks.  Doesn't seem too bad.

Oh, 1 crit miss in the excel sheet too if that matters.

Oh, I did it wrong the first time (forgot to include minimum damage of 1). Math says about 35 whacks. Spreadsheet was a little behind the average.

Ok, you chip away at the edge of the secre5 door for a few minutes, taking a couple breaks. At one point a largish chunk breaks away and the spell is broken. The door pushes in hinging on the right side. It open into a small space and continues to rotate past 90 degrees into another adjacent room. (I will draw a picture because it is confusing).

The room is another laboratory type room. You see a dead mage and a sprite who looks dead but perfectly preserved.

OK, I was waiting for a map or picture.

Saran enters the laboratory and starts to search around.