Daventry nods, hands warmed alongside Pardot by the fire. "Aye, I'll take point once more." She moves to the next door, pondering what the next set of wonders might be.

Perception: 22

Moving along back into the hallway where the staircase is located and crossing over the the west side you all open the next door which reveals a spectacle of scientific equipment and areas of study. Most of this room is taken up by long wooden tables that are covered with glass vessels and books. Cabinets with glass doors line the walls, and they contain all manner of specimens. Just below the ceiling in the middle of the room, colorful globes circle each other in an intricate dance. The far wall is almost completely covered by a map of the night sky, with a golden sunburst in the center above a closed door. There are many books and notebooks detailing experiments in chemistry, biology and physics. Across the room on the far west wall is another door.

(Let me know if there is anything particular in this room you are interested in looking at. You are in M11 at the moment)

"Another laboratory, interesting." Ludolf says to no one in particular as he moves into the room to investigate the books and then the map.
Investigation:25 Arcana:14

Triäsa looks around the room for any books.  Again she focuses on looking for letters along the spines, although she is curious what information the books might contain.  Anything related to other planes she might take a moment to look at further.

(Investigation: 15)

Daventry walks down the cabinet, sliding a delicate finger along the wooden surface just below the glass. She keeps an eye out for anything held within the cabinets that might be worthwhile or useful to the group.

Investigation: 8 (if needed vs the perception roll above)

She stops before the star chart, taking a look at the depicted sky. To Pardot or Klin (or both, or neither, depending on if they also focus on this) she says, almost wistfully. "I was trainin' to be a navigator, before. I loved the idea of picking a star and sailing towards it, knowing it would be the one to guide you to journey's end, or seeing that glitter on the horizon east and knowing she'd bring ya home. Didn't quite finish, though."

She looks over the chart, wondering what meaning it might behold.

Arcana: 18 

Pardot goes up to the star map and quietly, though quickly, pulls his map from his pack and begins to compare the two. ((investigation (adv?) 21))

Triäsa  and Ludolf look over the books in this room and they are all focused on science. Most are on various topics in chemistry, physics and math while a few discuss biology. There are no books in this room on other planes or traveling between them. You go through the stacks thoroughly but none of these books seem to have a letter on the spine. 

Those of you looking at the map note that is full of constellations which those of you with any experience in the night sky would recognize. It appears to be a star map of the summer in the North. You see the Centaur, the Warrior Women, Jassa's Dagger, Lavarandar's Latern and the Arrows of the Gods easily. As you are watching the map a single star in each of the five constellations begins to shine intensely. The light given off by the five stars is nearly blinding. They then dim and the sky starts to shift to a new season and Mystra's Star Circle comes into view.  As the new constellations rise and fall you do not see any more brilliant stars until the summer sky returns and the same five stars being to shine. 

Pardot when the season align you see the two maps are completely identical though the one on the wall is significantly more detailed.

Daventry goes through the cabinet's lightly tugging on each of the handles and the doors swing freely to reveal notes on various experiments in some and more lab equipement in others. As you get to the end of a row you pull on a cabinet expecting it to open however it does not. The cabinet appears to be firmly locked. 

"Huh. That certainly seems like it's something... Pardot, is there anything about those constellations that makes a connection, or any other connection between those stars, the ones all bright and bold?"

As Daventry speaks, she slips a lockpick from her pouch. As the halfling begins to make his assessment and focuses on his own star map, she herself returns to that pesky cabinet that stubbornly decided not to open, and attempts to pick the lock. She thinks about her roguishly good joke earlier, and figures she should try to be roguishly disarming as well.

Thieves' Tools (adv from inspiration): 18

Quote from Viper15E >>

"Huh. That certainly seems like it's something... Pardot, is there anything about those constellations that makes a connection, or any other connection between those stars, the ones all bright and bold?"

As Daventry speaks, she slips a lockpick from her pouch. As the halfling begins to make his assessment and focuses on his own star map, she herself returns to that pesky cabinet that stubbornly decided not to open, and attempts to pick the lock. She thinks about her roguishly good joke earlier, and figures she should try to be roguishly disarming as well.

Thieves' Tools (adv from inspiration): 18

 

As you look at the lock you notice that something seems a bit off about it. Leaning down to pick it you notice a small needling in the keyhole poised to strike the unsuspecting thief or intruder. (I used your perception from earlier) You carefully and deftly remove the poison needle and mechanism from the keyhole. Once the trap is removed and given enough time you have no trouble  picking the lock and opening the cabinet. 

The contents are rather sparse, in fact, you find just one item, perhaps not surprisingly it is a book. A book with a single letter on the spine, the letter T.

Triumphantly, Daventry holds up the book with the 'T' to Ludolf and Triäsa. 

Pardot in now solely focused on the map on the wall and his map. Not looking to make his more detailed, but specifically looking at the constellations and any minor stars that may be missing from his. He then looks to try to make sense of the golden sunburst in the center, attempting to see if it relates to anything on his map.

Triäsa smiles as she see Daventry with the book with the 'T' on the spine. "So, 'B', 'I", 'R', 'E', 'Y', and 'T'... right?  How about 'BREVITY' or maybe 'LIBERTY'? Hmm, I cannot think of any others." 

It's only now, after having gone through the books and puzzling over the letters a moment, that she really looks up at the star map.  "Oh, do you suppose the door leads to the observatory?  Is that our next destination?"  She steps over a little bit closer to the wall.

Quote from kevtr0n >>

Pardot in now solely focused on the map on the wall and his map. Not looking to make his more detailed, but specifically looking at the constellations and any minor stars that may be missing from his. He then looks to try to make sense of the golden sunburst in the center, attempting to see if it relates to anything on his map.

(Just as a clarification the is no sunburst in the center. The bright spots you see are from 5 different stars, one star from each of the 5 summer constellations. As far as anyone knows there is no significance to those stars or relationship between them.)

"Excellent Daventry, one letter to go and we have yet to investigate that planetarium, behind that door I presume. And yes, well done Triäsa, I would not be surprised if one of the two command words you suggested turned out to be the one we are searching for." Ludolf says appreciatively while studying the five bright stars. "You can be sure there is some significance to these particular stars, questions is what it is." Ludolf exclaims, pondering this. Arcana:23 because why not. He is otherwise ready to move into the next room.

(If anyone had business or interests in the lab feel free to post them I don't want to rush you along just wasn't sure when I would get to post next and it seemed like most of you were ready to move on.)

Klin -- It's a riveting read. The first few pages detail how physics are still important in the world even though most magic users have found ways to circumvent the natural laws. You get the impression the author is not fond of magic and he spends most of the first chapter justifying the study of physics. You don't get much farther as the others start looking at the next area.

Ludolf -- The map has obviously been enchanted or infused with some sort of magic that allows it to cycle through northern sky's through out the year. You feel like it might have another magical purpose but it would take a considerable amount of study to puzzle out.

As you all open the door on the far side of the room you are struck by a very odd sight in front of you. The room opens up into a large wide open space. The ground is covered in grass and stars of the summer sky shine brightly above you. Stepping out on the grass however the ground feels hard and firm, like the hardwood you have spent the last few hours traversing. Similarly, the air has the stale feel as the rest of the house not the cool fresh chill of a summer night. The sky perfect, no clouds, no light polluting your view of the heavens. Staring up at it you see the five constellations on the map with their five stars you noted on the map to be shining brilliantly, more so than any other star in this odd sky above.

On the ground you also see five telescopes firmly embedded in the ground. In the center of the 'grassy knoll' you see an ornate stone pedestal with a beautiful crystal embedded in it. The pedestal is craved with arcane markings you don't understand.  

If possible Ludolf rolls up the map and brings it with him, unless Pardot does so first.

"Five constallations, five stars and five telescopes. A coincidence, I think not." Ludolf mutters to himself but heads over to the stone pedestal, making an effort to understand the un-understandable arcane markings. Arcane: 18