The party enters through the shadowed archway into the once grand entryway of the castle. The air is dry and musty, and a fine coating of dust covers everything you see. Ahead of you, a rectangular chamber extends for almost 100 feet before ending at a rounded wall. In the concave portion, a spiral staircase made of burnished brass curls up to the second floor which has has a balcony ringing the area above you. The ceiling curves upward to form a some made of dark stone. A crystalline chandelier dangle from the central point of the dome. Pillars made of marbled stone and decorated with golden designs holds the balcony up every 15 feet. Immediately to each side of the party about 30 feet in each direction are two hallways that extend into darkness. Along the walls of the chamber are several large portraits framed in gold. The canvas of each have been slashed and hangs in tatters. In addition, the paint has faded to the point where the colors are almost indistinguishable. To each side of the spiral staircase are a set of double doors. The one to the right is slightly open. Several mounds of ash are spread throughout the room.

Aimon takes in the scene ahead of them, turning to see the hallways and looking up to the chandelier. He tries not to linger over the piles of dust; the constant reminders of what happened here.

”So, anyone feeling lucky?” he asks. “Two hallways and two sets of doors and a staircase.

He points to each in turn as he talks.

”Which way first?”

He nods towards the partially open doorway and says, “I’m always partial to doors that are already open, but . . . “

Oak takes a little coloured cube out of his pack. It’s made of some kind of stone and each face is painted a different colour. It’s maybe an inch across on each side, and the colours have faded somewhat. It looks like a very old children’s toy that’s seen a lot of use...

He rolls it, and it clatters on the stone floor a little before coming to a stop. Oak’s face fills with a childlike joy for just a brief second ( 4 )... it comes up ‘blue’.

”The doors to the right of the stairs” he says confidently, retrieving the trinket. “Yep, the ones that are slightly open”.

Aimon brushes some dust and dirt off of his clothes. What he wouldn't give for a hot bath.

He watches Oak take out what looks like a large colored die and roll it along the floor then he looks over at the others and smiles. 

"I would say the die and the open door have it unless anyone else has spotted something more interesting."

Trill has a look around at Aimon's comment.

Perception: 21

@Trill

Trill whistles softly, pointing at her own eyes, then circling a finger around the room.

Aimon turns at Trill's whistle and watches her hand gestures. His first thought is that she just wants to look around this room more, then he realizes she could just say that.

But he's not sure what she might mean.

"Did you see something," he whispers to her.

Trill ponders for a moment, before repeating his words back in a different order. "...something... did... see... you...", as she gestures in a circle with her finger again.

Aimon scans the room again then whispers to the others.

"I believe our dear Trill is saying someone is watching us."

As long as it's not another set up exploding statues we should be okay, Aimon thinks to himself.

He moves across the room to the slightly open doors, hopefully looking like he's unaware of anyone watching, and takes a look inside.

Oak nods to Trill, and tries to look like he’s not looking around... but his big eyes are flitting here and there...

Then he whispers to Aimon, “If you think really hard can you speak to your voice-friend?! Tell them we’re ‘IN’, and ask them where to go now?!”.

He clings to his greataxe like a security blanket and tries to make his hulking body as small and unnoticeable as possible!

Aimon looks surprised by Oak's question. He hadn't thought of trying to contact the voice. He'd just assumed it was gone.

After he looks in the room he will give it a try. A 'thought' message - We're here. Are you okay?

It takes a while for a response to come. The woman's voice is a quiet and strained whisper that says, "I'm fine, but I can't talk right now."

"She's still there," Aimon says to the others. "But she can't talk. I remember her saying to look for the tapestry. Maybe that's in here somewhere."

He continues to the open door and looks inside.

You peer through the open door, and you a large square of a room. The ceiling also curves upward into a dome with a chandelier dangling from the center. Thick webs obscure the upper half of the domed roof. The marble floor is covered with a couple inches of dust. Piles of ash are scattered throughout the room, but they seem to be in pairs. They are also arranged in some sort of patter. It takes you a moment to realize that this was probably a ballroom. To your left on the other wall, another hallway leads away from the room.

Aimon steps into the room, careful to avoid the remains of the dancers. He then scans the room for anything that might indicate someone has been here, any footsteps in the dust, or any tapestries on the walls, anything that looks out of place.

(Perception: 18 )

Trill chirps at Oak, calling him by his given name. 

"Trill, get up the $_&)@! mast and tell us whatcha ¥£π¶×% see!", she snarls in her old bosun's voice, gesturing to let the minotaur know he's the mast in this case.

Oak looks back at Trill with a double take, and beams a broad smile at hearing his old name again.

He hoists her up as high as he can ((how small is trill? Could she ride on his head or shoulders holding his horns? or something? Oak is 7’6”, pretty broad, and St18)).

“There you go, Miss!... ungh... You see anything?...”.

((Oak ‘helps’ Trill))

((She's just under 5' and just shy of 90lbs, so not a challenge for Oak to hoist, but she's too big to ride around perched to his horns.))

With a higher perspective, she looks around, trying to see if she can spot a pattern to the ash piles that will be vital to them not becoming ash piles themselves.

Perception: 22 (if Oak is able to help to grant advantage, if not, then just the first roll (*edit: which was the 20 anyway, but thanks for the boost, Oak Mast!))

 ((If you'd rather Investigation for that, she has a +1.))

Caelynn stays near the back of the group as they walk, the strange castle putting her on edge. She's still feeling a bit shaken from her encounter with the Fey Queen, and this place certainly isn't helping. Her hands hover over the daggers at her belt as she keeps a careful watch for anything that might jump out at them.

Perception: 8