Chapter 1: To seek a Great Perhaps

[Wizard Lizard]

"Hey, can one of you brave warriors come over and help us with the flagstone? My back is killing me!"

[Urson]

Just arrived, and already baffled beyond words, Jake looks away from the dying beast and shudders. He moves to the flagstone and lends his strength to the effort.
I am Jacobin- called Jake.

[coil23]

Horton offers a greeting of sorts, welcome to the funnel, Jacobin. Only downward from here, I fear.

He goes to the others and offers his strength to help move the flagstone.

[Pulpatoon]

As Vanis, Horton, Jake, and Deet lift the flagstone, there is a sudden uprush of warm, wet air. A steamy cloud boils out to join the other clouds at the top of the Hall. The flagstone instantly becomes condensation-slick and harder to grip, but with four sets of hands on the job, the party is able to safely shift it.

The flagstone reveals a ragged, rectangular hole, and the hole opens onto a long passage—an old mineshaft. Despite knowing that the castle rests on a cloud high in the sky, this shaft is hewn from solid rock.

The Crooked Theodolite: 60x180'. The floor is 50' below. The shaft runs perpendicular to the length of the Hall.

The shaft is braced with massive timbers, and one of these supports runs by the hole you are peering through. It shows many claw marks across its surface that would match the paws of the monster you just so thoroughly dispatched.

The upper portions of the mine shaft are foggy with a layer of cloud, and there is a light drizzle falling. Below, the ground is black with patches of dully-glowing red. The drizzle hisses and steams as it hits the ground.

[GreyWolfVT]

Kurt satisfied with helping finish off the beast goes to see what the others are yelling about flagstones and such.

William re-sheaths his sword and follows Kurt.

Hans wipes the monster gore off his blade then re-sheaths the weapon and follows Will and Kurt. "Whats going on over here then?"

[mb.]

Map is updated, I think?

Deet and Schroff both stick their heads down into the hole, and quickly pull them out, sneezing thrice, in unison. Deet shakes his head, "Wet, far down, smells bad, and the floor's hot." He points at the big door at the inward end of the room, "better we go that way. Yep yep." He and Schroff nod in unison, and back away from the hole.

Odric pockets a few claws he severed from the creature, and joins them as they head uncertainly for the door. They move slowly, hoping others will join them, Deet calling back "yep! Better this way! Yep!"

What does a doggy nose smell down there anyway?

[coil23]

Horton nods in agreement. That sizzling on the floor below spoke of nothing but ruin for tender flesh- better on his back if they just walk anyways. He uses the spyglass to examine in all directions for any other oddities they may want to investigate, and also to see if there is anything strange about the door they are likely to go to next.

He gives a desultory scan of this motley crew. So the town crier rings the bell to unnecessarily draw danger near, and then the angry clowns dispatch it. I'm sure there is a limerick in that if I try but humor is hard to come by these days. Perhaps our story will be a cautionary tale for others, told around campfires to frighten children about the wonders and dangers found when combining curiosity and impulsiveness. And how it always ends in death. Yes, that seems more fitting for children. And my role in all of this? I suppose I am the safeguard, the final bastion in case we stumble upon a library in disarray.

[Wizard Lizard]

"yep! Better this way! Yep!"

Quite uneasy at the sight and smell of the mine shaft, Vanis decides that it does look wiser to simply take the door, especially considering the height at which he currently stands atop the clouds. Plus, him and his companions were invited, weren't they? Surely, if no loud noises attract more attention to them, they will probably be able to explore the place in a somewhat peaceful fashion.

"This dark place doesn't inspire me either, I say we go to the door too. After you, gentlemen."

is it a regular-size door, by the way, or a huge one like before?

[mb.]

There is a single wooden door, about the size of a stable gate, at the far end of the Hall. It is cracked open.

Deet hops from foot to foot as Schroff sniffs at the open door. Odric yawns.

[Grognardsw]

Gwar!, brawler, and Butchness of Wrath, freak

Gwar!'s blood lust fades. He grabs the Butchness of Wrath and roughly kisses her, biting her lip bloody. "They will know us by the trail of blood!"

The warrior knocks out a tooth of the monster to keep as a vanquish totem. He notices the others efforts to lift the flagstone. He lumbers over to help.

The Butchness of Wrath watches, fingering her spiked mace.

[Pulpatoon]

Odric and GWAR! collect grisly mementoes of their encounter with the monster. Odric digs around inside the grisly eye-cavity, in a vain search for gems.

At the open flagstone, Schroff the semi-telepathic dog smells coal-smoke, stone-dust, and the slain monster... and maybe a strongly related scent—a second monster?

At the far door, the dog smells stone, some of it freshly cut, and the monster, again, but also clay, metal, and... not quite humans.

The dust around the door also shows evidence of foot steps. There are the plodding-sliding marks of the monster, but also smaller, ordered steps of human scale.

[Stirling]

'Shaggy' Beaker

"Yes, I've seen sinkholes appear in town, shafts dragging v homes and folk to grisly doom. Shafts are never pleasant, especially when you have to toll a bell bearing bad news. That looks like another 'bad news' shaft."

Beaker and Mouse will make their way to the doors at the end.

Do any of these statues resemble royalty we might have known?

[GreyWolfVT]

Kurt having a momentary lapse of intelligence speaks "I don't know about any sink holes but I did hear something about a demon roaming the castle halls that enslaves anyone who enters the castle. Maybe the demon has something to do with these sink holes?"

[Pulpatoon]

Do any of these statues resemble royalty we might have known?

The statues are bizarre and grotesque. They have too many eyes, and in too many places. Their mouths twist over misshapen teeth. Their proportions are unsettling in a way you cannot quite articulate. It is hard to imagine that these could have been based on living models, or if they were, that any people would follow such aberrations as king.

[mb.]

Deet turns around and in a half crouch hiss-whispers, far louder than he believes, "look here, looooook. Footprints!" He scratches his thighs and waves his hands at his sides in obvious agitation, before curiosity gets the better of him and he and Schroff peek into the open crack of the door...

[Pulpatoon]

Through the door, Deet sees a flight of white marble stairs, ascending. The stairs are 60' wide and each riser is 5' tall. The stairs have been carved to look like a stack of books, spines outwards.

The titles of the books are mostly legible. Among them are:
On the Use of the Various Parts of the Human Body
The High Importance of Codpieces
Attic Nights
On the Natural Facilities
Concerning the Days of Birth
Peas in Lard (with Commentary)
Dreams of Love
On the Eclogues
Concerning Posthumous Children and Heirs Unprovided for by Will or Disinherited

The cold draft that blows through the Hall is also blowing through the stairs.

[mb.]

Deet grins goofily and stage-whispers back at everyone, "stairs! Biiiiig stairs! Up-going stairs! Stair books!" He stands on his toes and waves his hands above his head to indicate height, perhaps exaggerating a little.

Odric pulls the door open as Deet waves Gwar over, "you want to have look Mister Gwar, don't you? Yup yup?"

[coil23]

Horton whispers, before we start on the stairs, should we consider replacing the flagstone in case something else is down there that might come up...behind us?

[GreyWolfVT]

Kurt heads for the stairs and stops at the books reaching for the one titled The High Importance of Codpieces "This one might be important." however Williams words stop him and he decides to leave it be.

William goes to stop his master "But sir that one could be trapped do you wish to get us all killed? Perhaps leaving it be is a smarter plan m'lord."

Hans mutters something under his breath "Moron, lucky for you Will was here."

[mjulius]

Langston and Brick amble about, following the party from the flagstone to the door.

Brick, peering at the titles: Codpieces, natural facilities, dreams of love. Friends, I think I'm home.
Langston nods towards Horton: I'm with the librarian. Perhaps we should replace that flagstone. Nothing good can come from the hot underneath. As he says these words, he make his way to the stone to lend his strength (ahem, 11) to the task.