The heroes returned to the trio of spectral creatures, saw a double door that was melted shut, but when asked, she had seen no children. They discovered some cramped rooms with sleeping benches lining the walls and a dead man with a magical two handed sword in one of them.
They also discovered a kitchen, where five draconians were attempting to butcher a kender. And in this case the heroes decided for violence and dispatched the aggressors in a couple of seconds. Followed by liberating the kender, Telbin Shadowchaser, who claimed to be the nephew of famed Acorn Nimblefingers, bard extraordinaire and one of the Godsbringers. And lost a fake eye while dancing to the Bard's rendition of one of his songs.
When the heroes returned outside, to store the loot in their wagon, and camp for the night, the horses were spooked, but were soon brought under control. They sleep and stand guard, but nothing happens during the night.
The next morning, they awoke to a drizzling rain and when they had gotten ready, they returned back inside. They discovered a secret door behind the statue where they had spoken to the caretaker yesterday. They found a way to open it and went down the stairs into another large room.
It was maybe 50 feet wide and as high as it was wide, and maybe two or three times as long. The floor was made of highly polished indigo marble that reflected the light the heroes had brought with them. Divided into slabs that were wide enough for two warriors to fight next to each other on each slab. The slabs were then divided in half by foot wide lines made of what seemed to be a more durable form of mother of pearl.
The walls were covered by carvings that turned and twisted, weaving in upon itself almost as if a living thing. Or as of snakes writhing below the surface. The ceiling was vaulted, supported by gilded plain pillars in the walls every two slabs turning into carved covered arches when they became part of the ceiling. The ceiling itself was of the same indigo marble, but not so polished as the floor.
In the center of the room were three gilded pedestals of curious workmanship. Above each floated a sphere of light unsupported around an object. Closest to the heroes a finely polished black rock was surrounded by a violet ball of light. Over the center pedestal, that was in the very center of the room, floated what looked like an exquisitely cut ruby surrounded by a crimson light. And furthest away was what appeared to be a diamond of purest quality surrounded by a white light. Each of the items were about the size of a human fist.
In the left wall, in a straight line from each of the pedestals, was a door. The imagery on the doors now something the heroes were quite familiar with, robed wizards whose faces could not be seen because of the hood or the direction they were facing and their closed fist formed the doorknob. Behind the wizards were constellations of the night’s sky, each door with a different constellation than the next.
Both the pedestals and the gems were enchanted. As the Wizard tried to find out how, he realized the he might be there for hours trying to figure things out. But that they at least had been enchanted with Find Direction. At that point, the heroes decided to return to this room later and finish their exploration of upstairs first.
Going back to the kitchen, where they had left things off last night, the scent of a stable originated from a nearby room. But instead of horses, they found an enraged griffon.
As the Bard apologizes for their intrusion, the griffon stops in its tracks. He then continued to explain why they were there. The griffon squawked in reply (Magnify the sound of a bald eagle,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIdZTSKLdBs, for size to get something close).
They discussed using gestures to try to communicate with it and when the Mercenary put his weapons away, the griffon approached him, now close enough to attack, and squawked again, though the sound was a little different this time.
As they tried to figure out what to say and what the griffon was trying to say, it just walked past the Mercenary and out into the corridor. The room in which the griffon had been chained to the far wall, by a chain now broken, had not been cleaned for some time and it smelled worse on the inside.
The Bard sang and the Mercenary looked through what was left in the stable, without finding anything. The griffon scratched a door the heroes had not yet opened and the Bard opened it. The door opened up to a large courtyard that once housed a well tended herbal garden, that long ago succumbed to neglect, and now overcome by weeds.
The courtyard was open to the sky and the griffon quickly leapt for the sky and freedom.