Thanks Stabbey for such a quick and useful reply.
1. When I tried that before it didn't work (That sounds like a lame excuse but, no, it really didn't work. Honestly!...See below.). But after reading your tip, I tried again and found out more:
If I looked more carefully when I right clicked on the pouch it showed an open barrel graphic for a tiny fraction of a second. Almost too quick to see, and too fast to see if there was anything in it. So there was definitely some kind of bug there.
However, if I reloaded a previous save and did the Thelyron routine again I did get it to work - but only if I opened the pouch immediately after picking it up. Then it would open normally. If I searched anything else first - for instance looking in the chest in Thelyron's bedroom - then it went back to being buggy again and I couldn't open it or retrieve the contents.
Weird. I wonder if that's just on my game or if it's reproducible?
Thanks for pointing out that it should work, and prompting me to keep trying.
2. I thought that would be the right approach but I just couldn't find the right tool amongst the party.
I'm not that familiar with which spell belongs to which group, but I have a pretty good idea who will sell us a scroll for the spell you mention, so we'll pay him a visit and grab one.
Thanks again for your swift and accurate help.
