Meredith looked worried, " I have no real idea what your talking about....you think he was taken elsewhere? By accident or could something have taken him?"

“shut the door to open the door…, unlock the door to unlock it…, don’t forget scepter…”

" What does it mean...."

As Meredith speaks, Erudisia listens. After a moments thought, she shuts the door to the study, just to see what happens. 

As it did when you opened it earlier, the door groans on its hinges, then it clicks shut. 

Erudisia asks for the key. “Let us try and unlock it as it is and open the door, and if nothing changes then let us lock and unlock it, and try again.”

She chews her lip for a moment, thinking. “If this works, let us not go through without this scepter. We may not be able to come and go as Matreus does without it.”

Erudisia takes the large key in hand and inserts it in the old-fashioned lock. When she twists it, a clunking sound indicates the bolt has locked the door shut. Turning the key the other way unlocks the bolt, allowing the door to be opened again, with another groan of its hinges. 

She sighs in disappointment. Nothing…

" Don't forget scepter........maybe Scepter is a command word?", Meredith mused..." Could also be another door I guess......"

Quote from NycrolB >>

Erudisia asks for the key. “Let us try and unlock it as it is and open the door,

 

(To be clear, this is as much of this post as I illustrated. The door, as of my last post, is open.)

Rogi shakes his head. "I don't think those notes refer to this physical door. It must be open and shut, locked and unlocked, countless times. Rather, I think they refer to a magical "door" which leads to an extradimensional space. Can any of you detect magic? I think that would be the way to find it."

Bell raises her hand.  "I can perform a ritual that allows me to Detect Magic but, with all these books and the silence spells on each room... it may be like looking for a glowbug with the sun shining in my eyes."

“We must try I suppose. If not, then what option is left to us but to inform the sages?” 

While they ponder, Erudisia returns to the portrait. She looks more thoroughly now for anything that might be called a sceptre depicted within. 

Quote from Damian_May >>

" Don't forget scepter........maybe Scepter is a command word?", Meredith mused..

(The DM’s eyes cut encouragingly to Damian_May. “A command word. As in, a Verbal part of a spell-casting?”)

Quote from NycrolB >>

“While they ponder, Erudisia returns to the portrait. She looks more thoroughly now for anything that might be called a sceptre depicted within. 

 (Good idea. But, no.)

Quote from Kol_Drake >>

Bell raises her hand.  "I can perform a ritual that allows me to Detect Magic but, with all these books and the silence spells on each room... it may be like looking for a glowbug with the sun shining in my eyes."

 

 (Since she knows the silence enchantment is there, Bell can likely filter it out.)

(( OOC:  For some reason, today - my head has Bell portraying Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh... "Oh, bother... ))

"Okay, I will give it a try."  Bell collects herself and makes space so she can do the ten minute ritual casting for Detect Magic

Once the spell has started, she can walk about the room for 'closer looks' if there is anything worth looking at.

The ten minutes pass quickly for all except Bell, whose constant verbal repetition of triggering phrases and arcane muscle-work to muster the magical energy to cast the spell is a strain. But not without rewards. When the final word is spoken, the final gesture of divination made, Bell becomes immediately aware of a sixth sense feeding her brain new information about her surroundings. It is, she finds, impossible to describe the sensations except as metaphor in relation to th five senses she knows.

Yes, the abjuration magic of the silence enchantment permeates the space, a gray damper all around, like the smell of…moss? But there are other things imbued with magic too. Where? Scanning the books along the floor, nothing. The desk, her companions, nothing… except for Erudisia. Around the noblewoman’s neck, the little pendant she wears glows brightly with conjuration magic, like a sunbeam passing through ocean spray, it feels like a fractured rainbow sound, shining with potential.

But there is more here, of this same flavor. For when Bell turns to scan the door, she senses that same feeling. Potential. Conjuration. And more than the door, the wall to either side of it, and, reaching up to the ceiling and bending along it. A large magic doorway dwarfing the actual doorway. Completely invisible to sight, touch, or any earthly sense…

Unaware of any revelations and successes of the Detect Magic spell, Erudisia sighs. “This blasted sceptre. No sceptre anywhere. No rod, no staff, no wand, no etcetera and definitely no sceptre, no, no. Except-for a sceptre for Matreus, I suppose.” She walks blindly back towards the door. “I’m going to talk to the sages.”

(One clarification. The door is open. That part of the magic door is actually attached to the physical door. So the surface area of the magic door, if you will, is only complete if the physical door is closed. We’ll say this fact was revealed by one of Bell’s “closer looks.” Thus the opening framed by the doorframe is not magical; looking out of the room down the hallway does not require looking through a magical sheet as it were. The door remains open and it has been open since last mentioned.)

Meredith watches Bells line of sight....definitely not lost in her eyes, just assisting.....definitely......

" What do you see?", she says with a slight tinge of jealousy.

" Erudisia! Wait...."

(Ooh. I see). 

Erudisia stops when Meredith calls, before leaving the room.