"I honestly don't know," Sessativa answers. "If we are chasing after someone, now would be the most opportune time to go. But I think they have a good head start on us, and we shouldn't blindly follow.
"If we rest for the night, I will be able to prepare better spells to understand what is going on. I could even get me or you to enter the portal invisibly, though with your armor, the noise might give away your presence."
"Sending a dog through will not get us much information apart from whether or not the portal works both ways. That assumes he knows how to get back. It's an okay idea, and I'll leave it up to you."
She will bring the other items, and will point Durgan in the right direction to cast Detect Magic on the rings.
Zork isn't quick to a decision as the thought of simply sending one of his faithful friends off doesn't sit right with him. He says nothing only looking on to see with what Sessativa comes up for now.
Then an idea jumps into his head and he tells it, "You were reading that book and got to know this place it must have said something about this portal?"
Out of Character: That portal might lead us to a place within this building.
"Nothing comes to memory straight away," She replies. "But let me ponder it. I don't know how long I will take so you might as well have a rest. I might have a better idea the next morning though."
Sessativa thinks back to the tome that possessed her and to the journals by the bedside. It nothing comes to her, she will read the available books more thoroughly to see if she finds any relevant information. If she finds nothing until nightfall, she will just go to sleep.
As she thinks, Durgan will remove his armor and start grooming himself and wiping the grime off his skin. Then he retreats to the bedroom and drops onto the bed.
Sessativa spends a few hours going over the books. All she finds is the references to the mage wanting to be in a new place away from the issues here. There is Some comments about a crocked man that he refers to as M. He describes this M as a person to avoid at all costs. The mage does say M is not one to cross or get on his bad side. He does go on to say that he hopes M comes to this place and finds the portal if he survives the 'pets'.
The night passes quickly and everyone gets a nice night of sleep.
Sessativa keeps the information to herself, so she can sleep on it and present it tomorrow.
After studying her spellbook in the morning, she says, "It seems the mage we were chasing has run into the same mysterious stranger as we have, the enigmatic M. As is quite evident to us, M is not our friend, but it also suggests here that he has power - political or magical, I don't know.
"The portal can either lead to a destination far from here to which the mage retreated or it's a trap for M, probably the latter. Could be both, maybe the mage is waiting in ambush, though that would get boring fast. All I know is that this mage is our best possible lead, if he's still alive."
With Read Magic prepared this morning, she uses it to read the new spellbook and scrolls (If she knows she has to use it twice, she prepares two of them. Otherwise she prepares Unseen Servant).
Once that's done, she uses Knock on the double door downstairs.
The spell books contain several spells. The range from first level to the sixth level. Thus you are able to understand about 1/3 of the spells and have a good idea about 1/2. The rest you have a glimmering and could probably fumble your way through if you tried. One spell book above your understanding and you can tell it contains some of the more higher magics. 7th to 9th level spells.
Once down stairs the knock spell opens the double doors and you can walk out into the court yard. You can now see the door once it is open but if closed you can see how cleverly it melds into looking just like the wall thus looking as if no way in.
"No more clues in the spellbook," Sessativa says. "But a lot of useful knowledge for me."
When she opens the double doors, she reacts with awe, "Wow! This is really expert handiwork. I didn't even notice it with my sharp elven eyes. We are really fortunate to have found the basement door."
"Since we aren't going through the portal, we should take stock of the items we picked up and prepare to go back to town."
Out of Character: Sorry that I didn't keep a list as we went, I hope we can get a full list. I believe I successfully identified a longsword (+3?) and a Cloak of Resistance +2. Apart from the books, were there any scrolls I could read as well?