Zenodur huffs in frustration as his magic seems to have no effect. "It doesn't appear to be a thinking creature as such, so maybe there is something or someone around here that controls it? I'll send Irraxan down the trapdoor to look. Maybe Pinky could go the other way?"

He sends Irraxan down the trapdoor with instructions to look for any kind of creature, or a magical device, or anything that looks like it could be controlling this thing.

The trapdoor/hatch doesn't lead anywhere, it is more like a shelf or cupboard but instead of holding anything else of use there was just the black orb.

Zenodor ponders this, and tries to puzzle together the clues. He's not sure he has got it right, but starts thinking out loud for the benefit of the others as it looks like they do not have the luxury of time - with the orb floating around trying to get  to them.

"So, if that hole does not go anywhere ... and the orb came out the hole ... and there's some obscure arcane writing on the walls ... perhaps this whole room might have been a type of containment facility for this black orb. Maybe we should head back out of this room and see if the orb remains trapped inside by the arcane magic?" He starts heading back towards the way they came in from, and gets ready to dash if the orb looks like it's about to do something (like speed up to catch them)

Randall:

”That may work,” Randall says to Tempe, “but I expect if the runes are part of the containment for the sphere, they are focused on keeping it inside the hatch, not just inside the room.”

”if you can teleport, perhaps you should lure it back into the cubby and teleport away while we slam the hatch behind it,” suggests Randall.  As he speaks, he looks at the hatch for any indications of arcane runes that might support his theory.

Quote from Scott_R_Simmons >>

Randall:

”That may work,” Randall says to Tempe, “but I expect if the runes are part of the containment for the sphere, they are focused on keeping it inside the hatch, not just inside the room.”

”if you can teleport, perhaps you should lure it back into the cubby and teleport away while we slam the hatch behind it,” suggests Randall.  As he speaks, he looks at the hatch for any indications of arcane runes that might support his theory.

 "Excellent idea! Let us try that. Whomever the globe is following, try and get it to follow you down into the trapdoor."

Z casts Arcane Gate with one gate below the trapdoor, and one gate at the top preferably somewhere near the exit.

"Once it has followed us down there, just step through the gate and I will close it behind us before the globe gets back out - while someone from the top can slam the trap door."

[I don't really know who is being followed by the globe at the moment. If it's Z, he will do the luring, if not whoever the globe is currently focused on can hopefully lure it down there]

Tempe has Pinky on his shoulder "I suppose it won't hurt, hopefully." he follows the plan.

It has been following Tempe, or appears to be. If you follow that plan and lure the black orb back into the hatch, teleport out, and shut it... the black orb appears to stay inside, as if the whole thing was reset. (Just don't open the hatch again and all should be good.)

"nice thinking Z, now how do we get behind that door." pepin wonders. 

Quote from Secretfool >>

"nice thinking Z, now how do we get behind that door." pepin wonders. 

 "Has anyone tried just opening it? Perhaps we should just try that using Mage Hand or something similar? The trap door was not locked, so perhaps neither is this one."

Panting Tempe looks at the group, "Whew! Lets take five, or an hour, first."

(Happy to have a short or even long rest if anybody wants to. Looks like we'll be fairly safe here unless someone opens the trap door)

(Merry Christmas!)

As there seem to be no objections, Z starts setting down his pack and getting his rations etc out for a long rest. It seems prudent to open the next potentially dangerous door after we all had a brief rest.

(ooc: I'm still using the 1 hour long rest/5 minute short rest rules.)

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

(ooc: I'm still using the 1 hour long rest/5 minute short rest rules.)

 (Thanks for the reminder)

(If no one has any objections:)

The party takes a break for an hour, to recover, check their equipment, prepare spells, etc. After an hour, everyone is rested and ready to get going again.

"Alright. If everyone is ready now, shall we try this door?"

Tempe looks over the door, for traps  perception 11 Then he ritually casts detect magic and checks the door for magic. 

While Tempe investigates the door, Z casts Invisibility on himself [at will, via ability] and similarly Irraxan makes himself invisible. Better to be safe, he thinks to himself

The door doesn't appear to be trapped. It radiates abjuration magic.

Zenodor takes a deep breath, and says "Alright. Let us just try opening it" and uses Mage Hand to try to open it while standing well clear of the door just in case something comes out, or in case it is trapped after all.

You can still see the glow as the door remains shut and doesn't budge an inch.

"Does anyone have a way to dispel magic?" Pepin asks