DROHJO (Perception):
Stripping off his gore-soaked protective outer garments, Drohjo looks around the room casually, but notes nothing that catches his interest, however when he turns his attention back to his armor, he notices that the remnants of the exploded zombies seems to be "boiling" and disintegrating into thin air. As he swings the gleaming tip of his radiant spear closer to the garment, the rate of boiling seems to rapidly increase, just as if someone had turned the heat of a gas stove up from simmer to full. Moving the tip of his spear nearer and further a few times, he finds that this seems to the stimulus that affects how fast the zombie remnants deteriorate from his armor. Just as he begins to understand that one seems to affect the other, all of the remaining detritus boils away into dust, leaving his possessions just as they were when he arrived.

MAGNUS
Magnus examines the necklace left behind by the vanquished wight, which looks like a crystal pendant on a bronze chain. He notes it is unusually cool to the touch for something that was sitting in the middle of a bonfire only a few seconds ago. As he holds it up for inspection, he receives a telepathic sense that this is a glyph key...similar in function to the one Syranna had given them, albeit different in appearance. The item is not sentient - it does not "speak" to him through telepathy, but Magnus receives it's pre-programmed signal that the key is attuned to a zone of rooms known as the Dark Gardens in the Blood Pens sector of the Doomvault, which he would immediately recognize as the exact same attunement as the glyph key from Syranna.

(OOC: see update to the #glyph-keys chatroom of the Discord server.)

Clunks internal working continue to click and grind until all the damage it had just received is fixed. Sopa works steadily at his task.

Saoirse takes a moment to clean her blade before putting it away. She then gives Athrú a scratch between the ears, which he leans into. The eladrin paladin then moves over to the rest of the group and looks over at the doors that stand before them, "Do any of you have a preference on where to head to next? Do you suppose the Pale Gardens are the same as the Dark Gardens? We should probably make our way there first since it is the location of the glyph key we have been given. Securing it would at least give us a place to retreat to should we need it."

"I have a map if you like, and a way to scout ahead, if we can wait but a moment." Says Sopa as he pauses to stretch his shoulders before hunching back down over his work. 

After Yama's last strike, she remains poised and in stance, ready to rush forward and strike again.  No threats present themselves so she drops back into a more relaxed stance.  Before even celebrating the victory.  She crouches down to the last zombie she had set free from undeath and plucked the piece of paper she had seen out of it's shirt and would carefully read it.

"Well then scout ahead! I think Sopa still needs some time to finish whatever they are doing as well."

In the meantime Saoirse starts piling up the corpses together in a corner of the room. As she does so, she picks through them for any items of interest.

While Saoirse stacks bodies (and parts of bodies), Sopa continues focusing on his spell-weaving task while Yamatsunami retrieves and studies the parchment from one of the zombies. She pulls it out from underneath the corpse, and finds that it is a fragment (upper-right corner) of a copy of the same map of the Doomvault that Syranna had given the party just before they teleported into this room. This copy has notes inscribed on it:

FRONT

BACK
"Szass Tam has devised a ritual that enables the creation of 'dread warriors' and has altered the process to make it possible for a Red Wizard to take control of a dread warrior. By our observations, this effect creates a psychic link between a dread warrior and a Red Wizard, who can, for a time, experience the world through that dread warrior’s senses, speak with its mouth, and cast spells through it. More powerful wizards can control more than one dread warrior at a time...."

As the party goes about their individual task they hear Sopa clap his hands loudly. "Success!", he cries out and holds up his newly minted smiths tools. He quickly goes about storing the items, spreading them between his pouches and shield attachment points. From one of those pouches he produces the stone he had magically tinkered with. "Here is the map I promised." He sets the rock down and taps the top. A map of the doom vault appears floating above it. "As for scouting I will send my spellbooks manifested mind ahead so that I may see through its eyes and alert us to the dangers ahead. Now if you all would gather." Sopa pauses for a moment and then launches into his plan regardless if anyone has actually gathered or not. "As you recall we are to make our way to the Temples of Extraction. But by the look of this map there are no passages that connect to them. It appears that the only way there is to use the internal teleportation rings. To use the rings we must find glyph keys. I would suggest we go south to "The Masters Domain" Seems to me like a place dedicated to masters would be a likely place to locate a key. Of course we might be able to re attune the one we already have we just have to locate a communications portal. So while digging about did any of you find something that might aid us in that endeavor? "

Drohjo had spared a quizzical look as to the effect his radiant light had on his clothes, but then simply shrugged and put hem back on once they were cleaned.

Arms crossed, leg splayed in a stable waiting stance while his spear leaned on the nearby wall, he listened to the strangely businesslike turtle humanoid character, giving the occasional grunt or 'Hmmm' to punctuate Sopa's observations and suggestions, but otherwise abstained from commenting on any of it.

"I did not find anything of particular interest. The corpses were just that and didn't have any belongings of note," Saoirse replies as she finishes with her gruesome task. Thinking on it a moment she shrugs.

"I suppose it is bese we go with your choice? It seems we have little else to go on. After all what is the worst that could happen? Onwards!"

Yama holds up her little map scrap she found and then looks at the new map from Sopa.  She looks back and forth a few time and then passes over her map.  

"I found a map scrap.  It's got some additional notes that seem useful.  Also on the back is a bit about the Reds making something called dread warriors and they can donsome mind link thing with them to control them like puppets and see through them."

Saj shrugs. "Sounds like as good a plan as any. I should probably ask - Anyone need any healing?"

"Not me! I am as fit as a hippo in a mud bath!" Saoirse declares in response with a wide grin. "So shall we follow this course of action then? I suppose we will be meeting these dread warriors at some point. I just hope they won't be too squishy."

"Okay, then it's decided." proclaims Sopa as he summons his spectral spell book to his side. He proceeds to the south door. Opening it just a crack he lets the glowing apparition slide through the narrow opening. Once through he shuts the door tight before leaning against it. He closes his eyes and begins to recount what it sees on the other side of the portal. 

The tortle wizard directs the book to illuminate and look at all corners, floor and ceiling of this room.

Seeing through his spectral spellbook, Sopa sees a short, unlit hallway about 15 feet long with another set of double doors at the south end. Above the doors is a small brass placard with the words "Pale Garden" embossed upon it. The surfaces all appear normal, with no ornamentation and no creatures are visible. The scent of decaying plants is evident.

"Hmm hallway seems clear. We have another set of doors leading to the pale gardens. Let us send Clunk to investigate." Sopa explains to the others what he sees. He then steps aside as he swings the door open allowing Clank to step through. Sopa closes the door behind the mechanisation. "Go open the door."  Sopa commands. Clank obeys dutifully. 

From the other side of the closed doors, Sopa can hear his construct open the set of double doors at the southern end of the hallway. He hears no immediate commotion such as the shouts of alarmed inhabitants or the triggering of traps being sprung. Clunk's gears go silent a moment later as the metal servant comes to a standing halt after having completed Sopa's task.

DM's EYES ONLY

Sopa closes his eyes and once again his manifested spell book shows him its surroundings. He relates what he sees to the rest.

WHAT SOPA SEES:

An underground garden: white vines, trembling as if touched by an unfelt breeze, twine around cracked pillars that glow with pale light. Between the pillars, ashen flowers, sickly gray shrubs, and giant mushrooms stand in dense groves around a couple of gravel paths.

Many baskets full of plant matter are stacked on shelves carved into the walls near the doors. Twelve unarmed humanoid skeletons wander the area, harvesting plant material in large baskets. As they tear off growths, a crackling sound accompanies an increase in the glow of a nearby pillar, and the harvested plant starts to rapidly regrow.

A narrow path winds its way southward through the garden and appear to veer to the west at the southern end of the room.