"But you'll miss out on the... legendary sights White Plume has to offer."

Alexandria watches the others investigated the cave for the door, sighing before deciding to help as well. Purple eyes looked up and down as she walked towards the hole where the steam exhausted, waiting for it to stop to look down the hole itself, hoping to see something.

Investigation: 14

Wruce follows the riddle's guidance into the dimmest, muddiest end of the cave where the sounds of the party are muffled by the echos. Roderick approaches to investigate the spout of  steam. Both of you notice it: The steam is lifted by a light draft from below every once and a while. Peering closer, you notice the mud shift as air escapes. 

"I don't recall anything about doors being strictly on walls..." Cleese's words spark an insight. Getting your hands dirty, you clear the mud off of an ancient stone seal, hewn in a perfect circle and devoid of any etching or image. You pry it out, and soon all twelve of you stand gathered around a rough, stone staircase barely large enough for one person to fit down.

Karnys will stomp over to it.

"Hrrrrmph!  If ye have a death wish, ye ken go dern first.  Or, ye could let me test the waters.  I ken defend meself."

“Okay,” Alexandria starts with a grin on her face, glancing around the group. “Who wants to go down first?”

((no colored text due to being at work! Sorry!))

after you

Yuno peers into the darkness and begins slowly descending the stairs. She has her arms close to her chest and appears to be a bit scared.

Karnys will shoulder his way to the front, grumping about fool children trying to get themselves killed.  His detect magic should still be active.  He will have his [monster]lizard[/familiar] help him search for danger and traps.

Investigation: 17

(Whoo boy, can already tell this is gonna be great.  That was with advantage . . .)

"Ah! This is EXACTLY what I was looking for... Venturing into the unknown, the anticipation of what may or may not come... I know we've only barely scratched the surface, but I can tell that the tale we'll come out with will be one for the ages!" Cleese says with equal parts excitement and nervousness as he makes his way down.

Mathers Marshall will pick up a nearby pebble and cast Light on it and drop it down the staircase for the others to see, then he descends down as well.

Dennis quickly muttered an incantation, casting mage armor on himself. As he was about to descend the staircase, he decided to splurge a bit on the magecraft- after all, it's dark and dangerous down here. "A spell to help see in the dark..." he muttered, paging through his spellbook. After a moment, he paused, looked up, and snapped his fingers, causing the tips to glow. "Right. The light spell. I don't need the book for that."

Wruce waits a moment allowing the distance to grow between him and the bright and loud adventurers that preceded him. He glances at the elf with the outstretched arm for a moment and gives him a nod, accepting his invitation to enter. He pushes forth down the stairwell. 

Alexandria mentally thanked the ones who casted light magic, wishing she could have the dark vision some of the group had. She followed down the stair well, trying not to be the last one just in case something came from behind. 

Mathers Marshall's lighted stone rolls for a good 200 ft, illuminating the stairs you will have to walk. Then, without warning, the light ceases. You reach the bottom of the stairs with a splash-- the floor is submerged beneath a foot of water! Though you can't see to the end of hall, the ceiling and passageway widen to indicate a large space ahead. A dull glow emanates from where you lost sight of Marshall's stone, a few feet in front of you. Its source must be deep below the surface...

Yuno says as she stands on the water, "Oh dear, you don't think we'll have to go underwater do you?"

Alexandria thinks back to the message as she waits to step into the water.

“To rescue Wave, you must do battle / With the Beast in the Boiling Bubble / Crost cavern vast, where chain-links rattle / Lies Whelm, past water-spouts double.” She says aloud. “Don’t know if that message was in order of events or not so, maybe not underwater, but I think we got a fight upcoming.” 

Wruce continues down the stairs coming to a halt just behind the human. He looks out into dark expanse as his eyes adjust. Wruce closes his eyes for a moment and when he opens them a new world devoid of colour appears in front of him. His Devil's Sight ( Darkvision up to 120 feet ) is in full effect. 

Heeding the humans warning Wruce looks down from the expanse and focus' his eyes on the water to see if it appears to be boiling.

Yuno says (in response to Alexandria's comment), "A battle? You mean against some kind of monster? Do you think we'll be able to beat it?"

Slightly annoyed by the chatter Roderick continues his descent silently focusing on ambush spots below.  He knows if there is a fight its better to try and win it before it really starts.

Karnys, recalling the riddle, will continue his combat preparations.  He utters a few arcane words, and suddenly there's four of him (mirror image).