"Are we there yet?" Did not look like it, at least Sekkar imagined a labyrinth full of demons and other monsters differently. Probably another misfire of that tremendously unreliable teleporting spells. And that wizard is going to stop the incursion of demon lords! If it will be as effective as his teleportation, everyone might as well begin to adapt to hell life.

Sekkar for a few more minutes was filling the void with his very sceptical opinions but then heed Vizeran 's warning and cleared his head of any thoughts, getting into the light half-sleep.

Kaylyn watched quietly as the celestial angel appeared.  She has been in the presence of a celestial being before.  In fact Pensive was a celestial being, but the angel was something else.  As she spoke Kaylyn could not help but step forward to be closer to the angel, such beauty and grace!  

"We thank you for your aid, for the gift of the feather and the knowledge of the task ahead." she says in Celestial as the angel begins to depart.

She was about to turn and take Vizeran to task for the missing information on the feathers and the number needed when Rhayna brought it up.  Satisfied for the moment she lets the moment pass.

Then they held hands and moved into the Astral Plane.  Another new experience.  She looked around at the silver sea and the patches of color.

"No Sekkar, not yet.  This is not teleportation.  It is travel, though different..." she lets the words trail off.

Continuing to look around she tried to recall everything she had ever learned about the Astral Plane

Arcana 12

Pax recalls her lessons from from she was young on meditation. Heeding Vizeran's warning, Pax follows the Drow's behavior, closing her eyes, and letting thoughts stay clear from her mind. As memories try to collect, or images spiral about she lets them slip away, going back to just existing, focusing on her fingers, her extremities, the feel of her breath pulling in and out, focusing entirely on the now. Images of the angel, or of the recent demons they'd face try to pry themselves in her mind, as to thoughts of the task ahead, but she lets them slip away, focusing once again on the feel of the air on her skin, her hair as it wavers in this place, the slightly too strong press of her shoulder strap that she'd overtightened.....

As Kirin floating around while trying to stay close to the group at least, "This is very bizarre experience on top of the myriad of the strange experience I've had since coming to the Underdark," slowly spinning around like gyroscope for fun, "So just to check, escape out is the helm correct? Do we have another methods of escape or not getting lost, leave some markers?"

Pax opens her eyes. "I will chalk my passage if we get separated. My symbol will be a star. I can attempt to cast a sending to various folk after a long rest to help us find each other in that case, but...it'll be many hours." 

Rhayna will heed Vizeran’s warning. First she will record her encounter with the Sliver into her Journal. This time, though, this particular entry feels very personal. She takes her time to slowly go over the event. Not because they had to wait, but she wanted to record every little detail. She finds that expensive very relaxing. After she is done with the Angel’s entry. She closes her eyes and meditates.

Rhayna writes and Pax relaxes and meditates while Kirin tests out some of the physical properties of the plane and contemplates their future travel and safety. With his mind a little more open than the other two, the random thoughts that float through the featureless plain take a little more hold in his mind. He feels the anguish of a small child whose favourite plaything has been taken from her by a cruel older brother. He senses the elation of someone dreaming of flying. And he perceives the powerful anger of an ancient god at the moment it realises that its existence is about to end. The thoughts are random and disconcerting, and threaten to overwhelm him... (Kirin, make an Intelligence saving throw)

Kaylyn scans the area, remembering that the Astral Plane is like an in-between place among all others - if other realms of existence were worlds, then the Astral Plane is the cosmos in which they float - or something like that. The patches of color she sees are links to these other realms, or planes, but she can't recall which color is connected to which other plane. And she remembers that the race of humanoids known as the githyanki reside here - a race of space pirates who fly about on strange craft and raid other worlds...

Sekkar relaxes and dozes slightly, but his sharp senses alert him to the presence of another being nearby. His eyes flick open, his tongue darts out, and he scans the open space in all direction until he sees it... a gangly winged creature with a bulbous head, probably several hundred feet away, watching the group, but making no threatening move. Sekkar can't recall what it is called, but gets the familiar tingle he usually feels at the sight of these evil aberrations, and when Dawnbringer also notices it she encourages him with a soft voice to strike down the abomination. Somehow the lizardman knows that with only a thought he could propel himself toward the vile creature...

With just a thought, huh... That could be interesting. Definitely, entertaining - Sekkar felt like he meditated for the years ahead. He watched the creature through the narrowed eyes, while the snobbish Vizeran's voice in his head repeated again "...if thou sees something, don't think about it!" Right! "Don't think about a white crocodile" - any child knows that story! And when the cursed thing is right in front of you (so to speak), it's getting that much harder. How the wizard supposed they can do that at all?

Hunter's instincts called to action but the more experienced side whispered about caution - a hunter has to be careful on the unfamiliar ground. After some struggle between the two, Sekkar came up with a compromising idea. He aligned himself "nose-toward-the-creature", turned just a hair away to keep the abomination on a peripheral vision, and thought about moving toward it just as far as the closest party member was, curious if the whole "thought movement" works at all.

The thought-movement thing does indeed work, and Sekkar finds that he can travel slightly more rapidly than his normal walking speed would normally allow him. He glides just as far as where Kaylyn is and then stops, but notices that the creatures moves away just the same amount. Sekkar's hunter instincts tell him that he is being lured away, though for what purpose he cannot tell.

"Go no further" Kaylyn quietly says to Sekkar as he floats up beside her. 

"We must stay close together.   It has not attacked and is just watching us it seems. I do not know what it is but there are a people, the githyanki, that live in this plane.  That is not a githyanki but we know little enough of this plane of existence that we do not want to take our chances on whatever it is."

Kaylyn continues to just watch.

Pax cracks an eye open and checks out the situation. She narrows her eyes at the creature, then begins drawing shadow out of the silvery air around her, pulling it into her hand, where a sphere of darkness jumps and quivers, crackling slightly with energy.  She holds this dark energy ready in case the creature decides to get aggressive. 

Eldritch Blast readied spell, if the creature, or any other creature appears to aggressively approach the party. 

Sekkar licked his lips in antisipation. It's not like he did not understand what was going on - the beast was playing "crippled bird", luring someone interested away from the group. For a moment the hunter in Sekkar (Dawnbringer knew how to tempt him) won the inner battle and the lizardman almost ran (flew) after the aberration. But... Kaylyn was right, he knew it too. "Toying with us. Looks smart too and stinks of those dark-magic monsters, the freakish ones. I wonder if they come from here." He looked around with renewed curiosity as if expecting monsters to materialize everywhere. "Your githyanki found the strangest place to live in."

Sekkar stopped his experiments with thought-flying but like others kept watching the aberration, not readying spells, like Pax, but activating Dawnbringer. Just to see the monster's reaction.

Kirin Intelligence Save: 13 (.....I have a +11 to int saves)

As knowledgeable and experienced as Kirin is, the random and powerful thoughts that buffet him take him somewhat by surprise and disturb him enough that he has difficulty shaking them off. He remains restless for several hours as he employs several mental techniques to recover...
(Kirin doesn't gain the benefit of the long rest. Sorry Kirin)

The strange astral creature seems to be aware that its ploy has been unsuccessful, and it slowly backs away until it disappears from view. Within everyone a little more alert and cautious of other denizens of this weird realm, still there is time to rest.
(Everyone else can gain the benefits of a long rest)

Vizeran finishes his trance after a number of hours but seems to ignore everyone and everything as he pores over his spellbook. With nothing to mark the passage of time (not unlike travel in the Underdark) it is hard to know how long they spend here, but finally the slaad uncurls itself, and Vizeran announces that they are ready to depart. Once again the group form a circle, and the fiend's magic ripples through the circle. There is less of a sensation of travel from the plane-shifting magic than there was with Kaylyn's helm or other means of teleportation the group have experienced so far. Rather than the feeling of being transported across a distance, it feels instead as though a curtain has simply been drawn across reality to create a new backdrop. With Kleve concentrated simply on the destination of "The Gallery of Angels within the Labyrinth of the Northern Underdark", the curtain is drawn, the strange reality of the Astral Plane is obscured and the more familiar reality of the Material Plane is revealed.

The group find themselves standing in a wide, sloping winding passage, with a trickle of water running down the decline. Nothing signals the direction to the Gallery, but the consensus seems to be to go upward, and the group climbs the passage as it corkscrews through the stone, finally emerging through the floor of a small, dark, damp cave. The low ceiling is almost completely covered with stalactites, all wet with moisture, and most of which have merged with their corresponding stalagmites that rise from the uneven and broken floor, forming single columns throughout the cave, somewhat like the cramped undercroft of a cathedral. As the travelers begin to move between the columns, they realise with some surprise that some of them have faces with tortured expressions, and that stretches of rock near the ceiling above these stony visages are actually petrified feathery wings! Closer inspection reveals that several of the columns are in fact humanoid statues set in poses of suffering and anguish, barely distinguishable from the natural stalactite/stalagmite formations of the cave, and many of which are themselves dripping with water or merging with the natural features of the cave itself.

Rhayna conjures some magical light which casts eerie shadows on the jagged walls as she moves, giving the macabre impression of winged creatures flying restlessly through a dark chapel. Altogether, eight angel statues can be identified, each of which has a distinctive pose or expression:

The first reaches toward the the ceiling, its face a mask of hatred.
The second appears to be reaching out as if offering something.
The third points at a spot on the cavern wall, and its mouth hangs open in horror.
The fourth stands feet apart, head downcast, arms at its sides.
The fifth holds its hands to its face, concealing its visage.
The sixth covers its eyes with its arm but appears to be smiling.
The seventh kneels on the floor and buries its face in its arms.
The eighth claws at its eyes, and its face appears torn and rent.

Vizeran looks impassively at the scene before the group and says: One feather each from two different angels should suffice. More if you wish to be certain. It should matter not that they are petrified. Make your choice and we can depart.

Kaylyn looks around at the different angels eventually stopping in front of the fourth.  As she walks through them she casts Detect Magic.  Unless she notes anything from the spell she reaches out and touches the arm of the fourth angel.

Pax makes a wry face, and pulls down her visor, lifting her shield up.  She moves into the middle of the room and readies herself to defend her allies. Out loud she says, "I don't understand. Why is this place filled with petrified angels? Was there an angel convention...of...unhappy angels...and a pack of basilisks wandered by? Does anyone know anything about this place? And....are all of them angels? Could any be...false angels? Do we need to pick the right ones based on their pose do you think?" 

She cautiously glances at all of them once more. 

"2nd and 4th seem most angel like to me. The others....feel suspect." 

"You are saying angels do not get angry or frightened?" Sekkar did not have much experience with angels (non, to be precise, aside from this appearing in the library) but he saw big winged creatures somehow caught, frozen in a moment, and did not like any of the ways someone or something can pull off such thing. "If there are demons around (angels are against demons, right?) I would get angry too, in their place. But how did they get caught...." 

He did not rely on magic but on his own senses to detect the danger - sniffing, looking, tasting, if need to be.

Perception: 29 (+11 for favorit terrain?)

Also: Primeval Awareness for 1st slot

Kirin grumbles from lack of sleep as he peers upon the angels before moves up to angel that stands feet apart, head downcast, arms at its sides. Kirin reaches for a feather, "This one seem the least malicious but keep an eye on me just in case," Kirin states with his hand out, hovering over the feather looking at the cleric before pulling the feather.

"Please wait a moment Kirin. I would like to take a look at them first. If I may..." Rhayna asks the Wizard. She walks around the statues, and tries to determine if knows anything about any of them from history books. (History: 21) She also examines the angels to see if these are being that have been Petrified or just statues. (Medicine?: 11) However, deep inside, she is thinking. "I wonder if under the stones, there are dead angels. Perhaps..."

(If they are petrified, how are we going to get a single feather?)