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Van lets out a heavy sigh. "Brothers. What have you got us into?" He looks to Sorril. "Once more into the breach!"

Van enters the arch as the others did. A few steps into the room he feels an uncomfortable Lurch and finds himself transported! Abruptly he finds himself in a bare, rectangular room the same size and shape as the one that appeared just beyond the arch! [10x20]
Two main differences make themselves immediately apparent. For one, an 8 foot tall gargoyle looms in the other half of this chamber, arms poised to strike! Only a moment passes before he realizes that this is, in-fact, but a immaculately carved statue! The work has four arms, though one lies palm-up on the floor; having been broken from the main body.

The second feature that distinguishes this room from the other is the presence of a 3-foot wide tunnel in the back wall. No sign remains of the archway through which he had passed. The whole party is crammed into the space; close to half of which is taken up by the very large statue. There is some little illumination from Faldair's lantern, but the mass of adventurers makes the shadows play chaotically on the walls and statue..

"Hey Van. For a minute we thought you seized the opportunity we all been transported to have a little party in the other room." Galan says. "So, now that we are all here.. there is the tunnel to check and the statue. See if it's hand arm broke or is it a mechanism that the fallen hand can be used as level." Galan wait to see who goes where and goes himself to check the statue. He examines the whole structure from all position and focuses on the head, wings, arms (including the broken one) and the base of the statue.

Van nervously looks around.

Backing up until his back is against the wall farthest from anyone else. But especially the statue.
"Are sure it is actually a statue? I mean gargoyles basically are statues, yes?"

Another nervous look around.

"Brothers... About that tunnel. I sure hope it is better than those tunnels in the kobold caves we explored as kids."

Not used to being this closento his brothers while they poke around Van's eyes will dart around.

"Dear Galan. I will excuse this because you just met my Brothers. But they will always sniff out the party, even if the party is with a dreadlord!"

Galan begins to investigate the statue more closely. Aside from its ferocious appearance and impressively lifelike construction, the only oddity he discovers lies in the palms of the hands. The large clawed hands on the statue have small concave niches carved into the palms, large enough for a small coin or a gemstone the size of a human thumbnail. The palm of the fourth arm on the ground, bears no such concavity...

Zafron says "It getting tight in here with all of us. Tabbi and Bryce go investigate this pathway and see where it leads. I will be right behind you."
Tabbi starts tugging on Bryce's arm. "Let's go. Oh, you are more muscular than I thought."

As Tabbi finishes her last words Zafron pipe in again. "I have determined that we are about 30 feet below the surface which is about as deep as we were when we entered the dungeon."

Van rolls his eyes. Then remembers where he is.

He inspects the walls closest to him while the others check forward.

Once a few move forward he will check the craftsmanship of the statue, and see if there are any hidden levers or pockets on it.

"Come, check the palm on the hand that is attached to the statue. It looks like something can fit there. Want to try put some coins there? Maybe it fell on the ground. Have a thorough check of the floor." Galan searches the floor to see if anything is there.

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(OOC: Again, does riddlemaster gives him any clue to how the gargoyle palm niches work? Was there a gargoyle in the riddle?)

Van checks the walls and finds them quite plain and not concealing any secrets that he can devise. The statue seems to have no hidden or secret attributes either, save for the niches in the palms that Galan mentions.

Galan searches the floor, but finds no coins, gems, stones or other items that might once have fit there. He does, however, find a tiny pile of what might be colored sand directly under one of the arms. There is not even enough to fill a thimble.

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This area does not seem to be part of the riddle, though it -did- say to go through the arch to discover the second great hall. He is sure this is not the second great hall

Does the coloured sand stand out because it is coloured, or because it is not sandy in the area?
I might be stretching but he could use engineering or spellcraft to see what the sand is from?
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Van will take look at the sand, but only touch it if he thinks he can actually identify what it is from.

Otherwise he will look, and step back to the back of the room.

"Any luck up there boys?"

"Ahmm... So what do you think about trying to put the Gargoyle arm back in place?" Galan asks Van and Faladair.
"Well, I know you long enough to not try and persuade you to avoid such dangerous experiments, but maybe you would wait until the others report what is in the nearby rooms?" Faladair grumbles.

Van inspects the 'sand' closely. There is grit and crumble in other areas, but nothing quite as distinct as this little pile. After very close inspection, without touching, Van notices the granules are somewhat translucent. It seems likely that this was a small gemstone that was crushed into powder, and its position suggests one of the Gargoyle's hands directly above it did so...

[Is Tabbi proceeding or shall we wait on Bryce?]

"Well, well..." Galan says. "It seems you put gems in its palms and it crashes them... Maybe some of payment. Any available gems? Maybe colors in the riddle refer to the colors of the gems." Galan suggests while waiting for the 'expedition' to return from the next room.

Sorry for the wait.

Bryce will accompany Tabbi to the new hall and start checking out the hall with her.

As the others investigate the room and statue, Bryce and Tabbi make their way into the somewhat cramped tunnel in the wall. Despite their stature, both are forced to either hunch over considerably or progress on hands and knees. The roughly 3 ft diameter passage is so narrow, that even as the two smallest of the group they cannot navigate it side by side. The passage turns left abruptly about 10 feet in, and continues for another 20 feet before an apparent dead-end. The end of the passage is unlike the rest of the rough stony walls, in that it is perfectly flat and of a golden hue. It gives off no light, but no shadow, stain or blemish can be seen on the surface...