Crimson Sands of Time

Evading the rug, picollo finds her way to the end of the hall, passing another tsbke of roses. The door opens onto a long corridor.  To the left, three doors are marked wtih familiar symbols, indicating they are magically sealed. The first wo are lions, the third a hart.  At the end of the hall, the corridor tuens right to reveal three more closed doors, but before the end of the hallway, there is an open passage on the right side to access a set of stairs spiraling upward. But, even before that, a linear set of stairs beginning abruptly at the doorway.

(recap: 3 locked on the left, three open on the right. In order: linear stairs, spiral stairs, three more doors)

Anyone can call the next move and you don't all need to stay together. That's up to you.

"Spiral stairs can sometimes be lucky!"

Trisk sprints up the stairs using the railing (or wall if there is no railing) and his hands to help pull himself along and speed up his ascent to the next level bursting upon the landing before anyone or anything can react to how quickly he appears.

"Follow me!" he shouts down to all the new companions that had just grouped together and met each other below.

Uriel:

Shrugging, Uriel walks after Trisk.  Though he seems to just be walking at a normal pace, the unarmored warrior seems to keep up with Trisk just fine (60 foot base movement speed).  "Any clue where the queen is?" he asks the enthusiastic fellow.

Piccolo, too curious and not particularly cautious, will open door #1, peak in (perception: 15)

T follows Trisk as well, studying the movements of the new  companions. 

Quote from Brian_Avery >>

"Spiral stairs can sometimes be lucky!"

Trisk sprints up the stairs using the railing (or wall if there is no railing) and his hands to help pull himself along and speed up his ascent to the next level bursting upon the landing before anyone or anything can react to how quickly he appears.

"Follow me!" he shouts down to all the new companions that had just grouped together and met each other below.

 The walls of this circular chamber are decorated with sculpted reliefs depicting humans and demons partaking in grotesque revels. A spiral staircase with a golden handrail is in the middle of the room.

The spiral staircase ascends 30 feet to double doors sealed with a lion crown lock.

Quote from shimshon123 >>

Piccolo, too curious and not particularly cautious, will open door #1, peak in (perception: 15)

 The door to the right is locked with the symbol of of the hart, but the other two bear no sign. Trying the first, Picollo finds it opens onto a grand ballroom. The northern part of its floor are littered with the splintered remains of three doors that have been knocked from their hinges, leaving openings through which you can see adjoining rooms.

Throughout the ballroom, royal courtiers stand motionless, their eyes fixed on a black iron cauldron atop a dais in the middle of the chamber. Dark vapors rise from the cauldron, and a huge, dragon-like monster is coiled around it. The dragon’s body twitches slightly, and its closed eyelids flutter as it dreams.

Two figures are frozen, statue-like, off to one side of the cauldron: an imperious, middle-aged woman with long white hair and white robes, and a younger woman clad in armor and wearing a white cape. The older woman is reaching desperately toward the cauldron, while the armored woman at her side is grasping a fine-looking quarterstaff.

Frozen courtiers, at a glance:

Uriel:

Freezing quietly himself, Uriel realizes that the rising smoke from the dragon-like creature means it is not frozen like some of these other figures.  Seeing it twitch as it dreams, the warrior decides to go silently instead of his previous jovial approach.

Stealth:  27

It continues to sleep.

Drain:

After the look about outside with Hawky, Drain will catch up with the others....recalling hawky for now.

"Hello all, I am knowns a Drain.  I should let you know, there appears to be some kind of time freeze or time stop in effect.  There is a courtyard beyond the wall to the right...dark clouds at it's base and an explosion stopped in time....This magic is beyond mine.  There is a another tower at the top of a....Vine?"

He will pause at the door piccolo opened, hanging back while the others look inside.

The tiny girl imitates Uriel, tip toeing around to not make noise (34 stealth), she looks around for anything else of note other than the dragon. ( do the people move or are the frozen?  She will look into the cauldron and at their items the hold.

Trisk takes a moment at the top of the spiral staircase before the locked double doors.

Is there a keyhole for the lock?

Or a small gap under the door?

"What do you think Tesservett, private chambers... a bedroom, offices, or a treasure room?"

Drain:

After making his comments Drain will enter into the room quietly following the others..  He will point at one of the mages and use the message spell to talk to the mind of one of the Drow mages.

stealth 22

message to one drow mage that only he can hear:

Quote from shimshon123 >>

The tiny girl imitates Uriel, tip toeing around to not make noise (34 stealth), she looks around for anything else of note other than the dragon. ( do the people move or are the frozen?  She will look into the cauldron and at their items the hold.

 They're frozen.

The cauldron is empty.

Trisk has seen a bunch of these symbols and his knowledge of arcana suggests to him they all unlock under a common condition, a Boolean if:x then open, else closed

He's seen 2 different symbols, rhe hart and the lion and wonders if the two states are mutually exclusive 

The drow is frozen in time. It cannot do, see, think, etc. It is outside of time. 

Piccolo goes back to the other two doors and opens the one to the right, very carefully (looking for traps and glyphs.) (Perception: 11)

She plays a quick note on her instrument (and Drain and Uriel see an image of a door down the hall opening in their mind: Musical Telepathy, she has not spoken).

Drain:

Drain will send a silent message to Piccolo and follow with Uriel  (they can reply as well):

Message Spell:

Quote from shimshon123 >>

Piccolo goes back to the other two doors and opens the one to the right, very carefully (looking for traps and glyphs.) (Perception: 11)

She plays a quick note on her instrument (and Drain and Uriel see an image of a door down the hall opening in their mind: Musical Telepathy, she has not spoken).

The one on the right has a crown lock (hart), but several of the walls are collapsed sp you can easily see a bit if the adjoining rooms.

The dragon destroyed the furnishings in the two rooms to the east and weat of the room where it now reats, and smashed through the doors leading to areas. Nothing of value remains.

To the north of the room with the cauldron (the Ballroom) you find a room with a large round table at urs center.  The doors leading into this room have been knocked from their hinges, and the doorways are wide open. This chamber contains a round, marble-topped table ringed by high-backed chairs.

One of the chairs has a smiling quasit carved into its back, near the top. Tge marble surface of the table bears the following inscription, engraved in the Elvish script: “I rule by the verdict of my heart and the slam of my fist.”

Between the table and a curved wall of tall, slender windows stands a motionless, white-haired wizard wielding a staff that has glittering frost erupting from its tip.

Uriel:

Moving over to the Hart door on the left (away from the dragon) as silently as he can, Uriel touches the door gently, wondering if the symbol of the crown might react somehow with the thorny headgear his is now wearing.