So you're right that each combat turn takes approximately 3 seconds ....cuz remember combat is always a little abstract....so they say about 3 seconds. Now as soon as you're out of combat time moves slower, so just to be realistic with everything that has happened I'll say 1 minute has gone by since the elevator doors opened and to somehow reflect a little bit of the meta-discussion that has gone on. It's just with all the roleplaying flair that we give our actions, having had everything that happened happen in 12 seconds is a just not realistic....that's why unless knowing the time down to the second is crucial (i.e. say a bomb timer is ticking, or somebody is falling of a roof and you're trying to get LOS to catch him with levitate), then we'll say a combat turn is a flexible thing which is long enough to be able to include the roleplaying flair. You guys see what i'm saying?
I'll let you know how much time has passed in instances when it's not crucial. In your case you need to know how long your actions take to within the minute, not the second. So depending on what you guys decide to do, i'll just remind you guys about how much time has passed. So like I said, up to now 1 minute has gone by.
One thing I thought of doing is that when you're in combat, CT=3 seconds....this reflects the fact that reacting to super fast events forces you to do things as fast as possible. I don't know if guys other than Teyl have been in a fight, but a lot happens in a really short period of time and it kind of amazes you....or just think of sports...it's cuz you're using both red and white muscle tissue...active and reactive tissue. That's why if you work out by yourself at the gym...you might be sore...but it's nothing like if you get in a fight or have to run for your life....i've woken up seriously sore from that and been like...dang, why am i so sore? It's cuz i used the reactive muscle tissue as well.........so then outside of combat (no visible enemies) we could just say for general purposes a CT = 20 seconds. This is not to be overly analyzed cuz depending on the action this might seem too much or too little....just for bookkeeping purposes. I'll try to follow approximately this guideline, but not exactly.