Best looks at the board and says "D3 (white's white squares bishop) to G6 should finish things here.  Do we want to try the move?  I can use my magic hand to make the move from 30 feet away.  What do you guys think?"

Nephris looks a little closer at the chessboard and chuckles. Completely forgetting his own words and drawn in by the moves on the board, he moves the white bishop.

(OOC - so to make it easier, let's say top to bottom is A - H and left to right is 1 - 8. So he moves the white bishop from F4 to C7.)

"I believe that's checkmate, my friends," he chuckles to himself again as he sees the moves available to the other white bishop on F1, covering the possible moves of the black king.

Before Best is finished speaking Nephris makes the move.  Best jumps back as far as he can to avoid any 'evocation' consequences.

(OOC - haha I didn't see your post first, @Laser. We must have posted around the same time and with the exact same move... gold :P)

(Okay, so we abandoned traditional chess board notation, but then that is not checkmate either. Though it is the solution.)

As Nephris places the white bishop piece into place on the chess board, there is an audible click. Then the door which Katharine previously investigated begins to slide open. On the other side of the door is a stair case that leads up through the tower.

Now you find yourselves with a choice of direction to travel. Either take the staircase leading up, or the staircase leading down.

(OOC - yeah sorry, couldn't remember notations and wasn't able to look them up at the time.)

"My thought is to continue upwards. Cade did find our grinchy friend upstairs," Nephris says as he stands in the doorway, looking up and down.

Best listens to Nephris and says "That is an option but I will be much better prepared if I can get ahold of the equipment that Liche stole from me.  Can we make a quick look downstairs to see if it is hidden there?"

"Yep, did not see any of our stuff up there." Cade says with a shrug. "I did not go up to where the wizard was at though."

"Hmm, he did say he'd destroy it," Nephris says as he strokes his chin in thought, "It's really a toss of the coin. He might have stowed our things downstairs, but I'm of the mind that he has it all with him. I'm happy to go either way though, I mean, curiosity does have me wondering what's down there."

Best thinks for a minute and says "Is someone else able to magically locate our stolen items?  I would do it but I don't want to lose the power I already have invested in my spiritual friends, at least for as long as it will last.  If not I can cast it and let my spiritual friends off the hook.  That magic should lead us directly to our stolen merchandise!"  Best looks at the others for interest.  If no one else is able to cast the spell Best will drop concentration on his spiritual friends and cast locate object, specifically looking for his staff of power.

Nephris shakes his head, "Sorry friend, I don't have that ability. Though, do you think that our thief might have somehow magically hidden our things? So that we cannot easily locate them? Alas, he did tell us he had them, so he may just want us to head straight to him."

Best thinks and then says.  "The door is open!  Let's go up and see what we see!"  Instead of casting locate object, Best leads up the stairs.

Cade turns back into an air elemental and follows up the stairs.

"Wait," Katharine says. "Do you really think that is wise?"

She then rushes to the bottom of the stairs as the others begin to climb up the staircase.

"Did we come here to defeat Dresden or rescue our belongings and presents?" she shouts up the stairs after them. "I'll feel much better once we get our treasures back. Do we really want to climb all the way to the tower, to only come all the way back down?"

When you finish climbing the stairs you find yourselves in another room.

This room is a curved hallway that boasts two doors—one in the middle of the hallway and one at the end. You can return to the floor below by taking the stairway that leads downstairs. The only sound in the room comes from the heavy ticking of a massive grandfather clock standing against the wall by the stairwell.

At the centre of the hallway lurks a spectral figure wrapped in a large, heavy chain. The chain it draws is clasped about its middle. It is long and wound about him like a tail; and it is made of cash-boxes, keys, padlocks, ledgers, deeds, and heavy purses wrought in steel. After you’ve had a moment to observe the apparition, it turns its ghastly attention to you and speaks.

“I wear the chain I forged in life,” says the creature. “I made it link by link and yard by yard; I girded it on of my own free will, and of my own free will I wore it.
Is its pattern strange to you?”

Best stares in amazement "You look like my old friend Jacob. The only chains we want to break are the ones guarding our stolen items! Old Jacob, tell me more. Speak comfort to me Jacob.  Where can we find our stolen items?"

"I was once known as Jacob Barley," the spectral figure says. "Though I don't remember you."

“Within that library,” says the spirit, pointing toward the middle door, “you will face three powerful spirits. Without their visits, you cannot hope to find what you seek. Expect the first when the clock strikes One… Expect the second when the clock strikes Two... The third, when the clock strikes Three. Look to see me no more; and look that, for your own sake, you remember what has passed between us!”

The spectral figure then disappears in front of your eyes.

 "When the clock strikes one, then two and three..." Katharine repeats. "So what we have to wait here for two hours?"

Katharine checks out the middle door.

(Investigate: 18)

From the air elemental, everyone hears Cade's voice in their heads. "Do we want to trust the word of anything in this place?" Still he moves towards the indicated door, as he has no other ideas on where to try next.

Katharine examines the door to see that it is locked. However, she sees that the door slides open and it seems to be attached to some sort of mechanism.