Kaylyn felt she was right about the circle and agreed with Pax on her assessment of the drow woman, definitely a demon.  Her concern for Pensive was heightened greatly as she was sure she would find Pensive here, or in the maze and now, nothing.  When Pax mentions a creature in a diamond fear strikes her heart and she strides quickly to the diamond to look inside of it.  

All of the time she moves about the room she is sure to never step into or disturb the circle. 

Pax glances about then, glancing at the demon, says mentally to everyone, "Good points all around, but let's talk about the books fate once we're out of here and the demons have been unleashed on the drow city. For now, shove it in this lead lined box and I'll hold onto it."  She attempts to have Kirin box the book up, and then puts it into her backpack. She waits for the result of looking into the diamond before suggesting they depart.

The plea of the drow priestess for release from the circle ceases when Pax declares her true identity. The soft supplicative voice turns to a harsh abyssal growl as the drow/demon protests Kirin's interference with the book. But knowing it can do nothing to prevent them, it instead turns to taunts:

It matters not, foolish mortals. Those rituals serve no purpose now. The coming of the demon lords cannot be undone - they are trapped in your world. The newly-hatched offspring of my mistress will spread uninhibited throughout the Abyss, creating a new generation of demon lords under her sway, and she alone will reign supreme. After a horrid laugh, the drow/demon continues to gloat. Lolth used Gromph like the unwitting puppet he is. She sent me to gift him the book, knowing he would not be able to resist the power - knowing he would underestimate the influence of the faerzress - knowing he would be unable to harness the spell when it turned to chaos. He got more demons than he planned, and has fled in shame.

As the demon continues its futile tirade, and the discussion on whether to destroy the book continues, Pax looks inside the diamond. A tiny... oh my, it couldn't be... Kaylyn runs over and peers into the gem beside Pax... sure enough, the tiny pseudodragon so beloved to Kaylyn is trapped inside, in a miniature form, and struggles unsuccessfully to break out of the enclosure. Indeed, Pax and Kaylyn can see that the gem is not in fact hollow, but somehow Pensive can move around inside it and even press up against the surface as it sees Kaylyn's face.

There don't appear to be any traps or anything preventing removing the book from the lectern. The contents of the shelves and cabinets are somewhat scattered and disorganised, as though Gromph hastily gathered the most precious of his belongings before fleeing Menzoberranzan. The items that remain are mostly mundane arcane paraphernalia, with two exceptions. In the lowest compartment of a cabinet a robe of exquisite grey cloth is carefully folded, and laying on top is a long rod with flanged ends.

Kaylyn's breathe caught as she realized poor Pensive was trapped in the diamond.  She snatched it up and looked closer. 

"I'm sorry Pensive,  I'll get you out,  I'll figure out how." She said with a tear in her eye.

Miffed that they won’t give her the tome, but she is relieved that at the very least they will consider bringing it to Candlekeep. “Do I bother to cast Zone of Truth on whatever is that thing? Or… I could try to read its thoughts…”

Pax mentally says to Rhayna, "Yes, read its thoughts. I'll try to provoke it into thinking something useful."

As she begins to concentrate, Pax shakes her head to Rhayna and says out loud, "No, the thing has already free revealed the entirety of its knowledge regarding the demons. It knows nothing else valuable about the situation." 

If nobody else takes them, Pax (the hoarder) will tuck the robe and rod away in her backpack for later identification.  "Shall we take the diamond so we can try to free Pensive from it once we have left?"

Pax gets a strange and curious sensation as she handles the robe. It is as though it rejects her... or perhaps she rejects it... as though she and the robe don't share the same values and ideals.

How little you know, sneers the drow/demon, taking Pax's bait. Long has my mistress planned her coup. The pathetic bleatings of you insipid mortals will avail you nothing, neither your ignorant efforts.

As the creature spits its taunting words, Rhayna scans its surface thoughts. The demon lords are not trapped here - that was a lie. They can be banished if defeated. Lolth was counting on them remaining in the Material Plane long enough to buy her sufficient time to supplant them. Perhaps one or two could be banished, but what mortal can defeat the mighty Demogorgon, much less all the demon lords? And besides, there is still the book. The suggestion that the book is now useless is also a lie. The book would work perfectly well out of the Underdark, away from the interrupting influence of the faerzress. The rituals within not only allow one to summon any demon lord, but grants them complete control over them. When word spreads that the book exists, every evil wizard in Faerun will be clamoring for it. It was created by Lolth and can only be destroyed by driving a Holy Avenger sword into it while within the confines of the Demonweb Pits. That book in the hands of power-hungry mortals will surely keep the demon lords busy long enough for Lolth to gain sole control of the Abyss.

Kaylyn snatches the diamond and holds it close.  "Of course we will.  I need to free Pensive."  She tries to determine what she knows about how he may have been stuck in the diamond.

Arcana 20

Kaylyn figures that the spell that snatched Pensive away in the statue room is the same that trapped him here inside the diamond. It must be a powerful spell, but even the most powerful spell can be dispelled, and targeting the diamond would probably do the trick.

With the distasteful robe shoved in her bag along side the rod, box and book, and with the Pensive diamond in Kaylyn's hands, Pax mentally says, "Alright, time to go. Likely the statue will be there when we get back. Our job is escape the tower, free Pensive and prepare, then find a place somewhat safe to 'watch' from, and notify the Drow wizard to trigger the summoning. Are you all ready to go? If we get to one side of the room, I can put a wall of force up to keep the statue to one side so we can leave. So, try to do that."

Rhayna telepathically tells her companions that the Drow/Demon is lying, and that basically most of what Vizeran said is true. Then she reports on how to destroy the tome. With a heavy heart, she has doubts that she should bring such knowledge to Candlekeep. “We should leave this place.” Says Rhayna sadly.

"Sounds good, let's do it." Sekkar glanced again at the demon, now not bothering to mask itself (not that it changes anything) and still trying not to step on the circles, walked... "Where is the exit, exactly?"

There is another 'doorway' on the wall behind where the group came in, similar to the dark portal doorway of the first room.

Pax waits until everyone is ready and agrees to depart, before leaping through the gateway into the room, ready to defend herself from an angry statue. 

Kaylyn isn't sure what spell caused Pensive to be trapped but she is sure she can figure it out.  But now they needed to escape the tower and figure out where to put the talisman.  She isn't paying much attention to the words of Pax as she is too busy trying to puzzle how to free Pensive.

"Right, yes let's go." She says distractedly as she follows Pax into the void.

The intrepid adventurers step into the dark portal once more. The good news it that this portal seems to be designed to circumvent the maze and simply deposits them back into Gromph's study. The bad news is that Kirin's spell has indeed worn off, and the statue once again stands only a few feet away and resumes its defense of the wizard's sanctum...

We will continue with the same initiative as before...

Kirin 23, Sekkar 22, Rhayna 21, Statue 15, Pax 11, Kaylyn 11

"We're leaving right?" Kirin question before turning to the statue, "Disappear," he points his staff at the statue and cast Banishment once more.

Cha Save: 18

LOL   

CHA save (for what its worth): 6

... and for the second time in just over a minute, the fearsome stone drow statue with four mighty sword-wielding arms POPS safely away into some other dimension.

The talisman is still safely tucked away where Pax left it. The room is once again empty with the only sound being the scraping of a piece of parchment on the floor as it wafts in the eddies of the air currents created from the sudden removal of a large mass from the nearby space.

Pax glances at the empty space where the statue just was, then glances back at Kirin, "Or that."  She glances towards where the talisman is tucked away. Mentally she says, "Well, let us go from here. The Talisman is planted. We can find a safe spot to observe from, and then let the wizard know to begin his ritual." 

Sekkar was about to call fort Dawnbringer when Kirin simply removed the problem altogether. "Good. Let's begin then. But first, we need to leave this place. Meaning, posing as a drow again and hoping others will buy it. Maybe send the message now? Then everyone will run away anyway and might ignore us altogether."