The woman indeed looks somewhat haunted and ghostly, even frozen. It doesn't help that the walls of this circular chamber, like others you have seen, are decorated with sculpted reliefs depicting humans and demons partaking in grotesque revels.

Pud can see exactly where the (unadorned) doors leading south from the spiral staircase chamber lead, thanks to the nearby windows: to a small balcony overlooking the Court of Storms.

From this vantage point, Pud can better see the hole in the central tower that Elkhorn's friend Strongheart was clearly blasted through moments before being time-frozen. You can even see inside the hole a little, including sections of a staircase that survived the blast.

“Guys, this door leads out onto a balcony. I’m gonna look outside see if I can see anything.”

Pud opens the double doors and looks around a bit.

Perception check: 4

“Hey, Rizzo. Go check out that tower. Don’t go too far, just fly up there and let me know if you see anything interesting.”

Rizzo flies across the void and looks into the gaping hole in the tower. Rizzo returns quickly, indicating movement, life, activity. There is something or someone unfrozen and active in the central tower. 

"Ooh! Rizzo's excited!" Titaani points out the obvious, clearly delighted. "Pud, what did she find?"

Ben:

"Shall we work our way south?" asks Ben, adding, "perhaps there is a way to the central tower from the second floor we are currently on."

With Little other suggestion to offer Matilda nods at Bens notion.

"Whoa...hang on, girl. Settle down." Pud tries to calm down his little clockwork creation. "Huh? What did you see?!..."

Pud snaps his head up at the broken tower, shielding his eyes to try and get a glimpse of what Rizzo saw. He turns to the others and relays the info to them.

"Hey, guys. Rizzo saw something moving up there in that broken tower. Not sure what it was, but whatever it was got Rizzo all in a tizzy." 

Ben:

"Well, we could try and climb the vines if you like," says Ben, "especially if it is urgent--the library books should still be there when we arrive.  I would feel better if we had some good climbing equipment, though.  Falling would be...quite undesirable."

"Wow! Whoever it is, I hope they're friendly," Titaani responds to Pud. "But I don't mind going south. Lead the way, Ben!"

Ben:

"Good enough," says Ben, heading south to check out the door in the southern hallway.

Pud is unable to see anything more from where he stands, but Rizzo definitely indicated movement deeper inside the hole in the central tower.

Ben leads the way south down the hallway, carefully opening the double doors at its end. (Another branch of the hallway veers off to his left, where it terminates abruptly in a yawning hole where the gigantic vines have torn open the side of the palace.)

Through the doors, he finds another short hallway. Four three-foot-square oak panels are mounted on the wall along its east side. Each panel has a hinged hatch attached to a wooden handle. All four panels are closed. 

Ben:

Continuing into the short hallway, Ben approaches the closest panel and says, “Interesting.  Some sort of storage, perhaps?”  He checks to panel for any obvious ways of opening it or any apparent traps, preparing to investigate further unless someone else wants to check it out first.

Perception:  8

Pud follows the gang down the hallway. He stands back and inspects the panels from afar.

DM: Are there any etchings, symbols or any sort of imagery on the panels?

The four closed panels are unmarked and unadorned. But they each have a hinged hatch with a wooden handle. Ben sees no traps.

He carefully opens it. Revealed is a square cavity containing the decapitated head of a bugbear. It opens its eyes and barks,

"Yah!"

Then it closes its dead eyes and falls silent.

Ben:

”Well, that was unpleasant,” remarks Ben, recovering from the jump scare with less than perfect composure.  He looks at the bugbear head and asks, “Do you have anything useful to say, or is ‘Yah’ the extent of your vocabulary?”

Titaani screams, latching onto the person closest to her (Matilda, I think) as the bugbear speaks. Untangling herself sheepishly, she mutters: "I..I think I'll just go check what's over there."

She scurries further south, and checks the doors to see if they're locked. 

Matilda follows Titaani doing her best not to look equally freaked out ( Help actions if needed)

Trailing behind the others when the strange yell is made, Horatio moves up to make sure combat has not begun. Instead, he is left to wonder just what the noise had actually been, and why the others seemed so unsettled. "You guys okay?" He asks. 

The bugbear head does not respond to Ben's query. It remains quite dead.

Titaani opens the southern doors. Within, she finds a hallway with a sunken floor filled to a depth of about three feet with dark water. Lanterns lit with flickering blue flames hang from the ceiling some thirty feet above by short chains, spaced roughly ten feet apart. They produce eerie, ghostlike reflections off the water. As you take in the scene, an empty sailboat drifts into view from farther down the hall and makes its way toward you.

"Aww...." Titaani lets out a distressed noise at the sight of the water. Narrowing her eyes at the incoming vessel, she turns and asks the others: "What do you think, guys? Does that boat look like it will sink to you?"