Kale moves back to a safer distance allow Al-Ashari to attempt to open the door.  Hearing the boar still pawing impatiently below, he sends it a command to guard the foot of the stairs against any further surprises coming from the house below.

Then this is what happening - when everyone stayed back far enough, Al-Ashari will try to open the trap-door with Magic Hand.

Whitegaze will also move away from the door.

The trap door opens easily, a ladder unfolding.  The area above is dark and dreary.

Al-Ashari, after asking Kale's permission, would use the Hand and the light globe to illuminate as much of the room behind the door as possible.

Whitegaze will put away his flail and slowly and carefully advance up the ladder, alert for any attack.

The Attic...

This small, wretched room is barely big enough
for a human to stand upright. Cobwebs cover the
beams which support the roof, and the floor creaks
ominously under your feet, The walls have been
pasted all over with sheets of blank paper, and
books cover the floor in various states of disrepair.

The small attic feels unsafe to anyone who steps
on the floorboards. This room is decorated with
blank papers and books scattered across the floor.
However, they seem to have been desecrated - large
swathes of material have been excised and taken
from the room. These notes have been taken by
someone.. Either way, a letter fragment comes to
light to anyone who pokes about, it reads thus:

nk you for your kindness. Of
urse I will come. It sounds ever
so exciting.
other would never approve, bur as
u say, fortune favours the bold!
‘ve never heard of this inn that you
ention. What a peculiar name. The
..cing Spider. It almost gives me
oosebumps. Meet me there, and
‘ talk about what we discussed.

The edges are singed, as if someone tried to burn it.

As you read these fragments Unearthly bells peal throughout the city, chiming a single time.

New people...

You have been experiencing strange dreams of late.  Dreams of dark waters and a city submerged into that water.  After several nights of this, you come awake...

You find yourself seated in a small room, with a strange lady sitting nearby...

A small study lit by a merry fire. it is packed with books from floor to
ceiling. A desk sits at the far end, at which sits the
Duchess of Mordentshire (LE mage).

Crouched over a desk in the far corner, a thin and
gaunt woman is draped dramatically on a large
armchair. She is dressed entirely in black, with a
mourning veil covering her face.

"More visitors then?" The woman asks as she spots you, but does not seem overly surprised by your sudden appearance. "Do you know where my daughter is?"

Donfaldo Stougirdle, a medium sized lightfoot halfing with sandy hair and a slightly forming beer belly, scratches his head and chuckles to himself as he looks around wondering where he is and what's he's gotten himself into.

"So sorry miss!  I seem to have hit my jug a bit too hard last night, and it seems to be a bit of a foggy haze and I'm not sure how I got here.  Apologies if I'm intruding."  Then with a bow adds "My name is Donfaldo Stoutgirdle or Faldo for short.  Pleasure to make your acquaintance!"

Faldo notices there are others in the room, but doesn't recognize any of them either.  He turns and greets each one with a nod of his head and "Faldo Stoutgirdle, nice to meet you."

"This has the makings of a classic bait and switch," Kale says thoughtfully, studying the singed paper.  "So she snuck off on her own from under her mother's skirts, and possibly landed in a bit more trouble than she could handle.  Why don't we go downstairs and ask the Duchess or the butler about this Spider Inn?"

As he looks at the paper, he throws out some guesses:  "Dancing Spider?  Prancing Spider?  Entrancing Spider?"

Whitegaze will nod, "Sounds like a plan. By the way, talked to the creepy butler, with a little pushing, he suggested putting lilies on the grave, so on our way out, I figure we might try that, unless you have a better idea?"

"I'm no druid, but we can try illusory lillies, or very extremely short-lived real ones.  With the way magic's been working here, they'll probably turn into foxgloves when I cast it, though."  Kale scratches his chin.  "We could also just ask the Duchess if she has a few lillies to spare lying around the house.  No one said they had to be fresh, after all."

"Or we can not put lilies on the grave?" suggested Al-Ashari with half-smile. "Somehow interaction with the inanimate objects here proves to be even more dangerous than animated." She studied singed letter. "Judging by the length of the sentences - it has to be one latter, so, "Dancing Spider" sounds most appropriate. But we can not know for sure, of course. Let's talk to the butler"

She walked ahead all the way downstairs and after getting attention of the taciturn fellow asked first question: "I would like to ask you about Cecilia. Do you believe in those bandits that took her? And if yes - why?"

On their way down, Whitegaze would hear new voices and gesture to Kale, "Newcomer? Want to check?"

Merric’s eyes snap open and he notices another halfling, though not of the Ghostwise, and an old spindly human woman. He bounces up...and sways briefly as a wave of dizziness pass through him, his brown hair rippling slightly as his hazel eyes glaze over for an instant.

He forces the dizziness down, his body dropping into a fighting crouch, his hand dropping to the hilts of his rapiers.  His slight stature in no way lessens the sense of lethality he exudes.  “Brandobaris, where am I? Have you sent me here for a purpose?’ He prays quietly to himself.

”Which of you brought me here? To what purpose? I warn you, I will serve no evil purpose!” Then the woman’s words penetrate, and her unfeigned sadness and despair. “Far woman, I do not. I also can’t pledge myself to locating her, not yet, but I do pledge to do what I can.”

Deciding manners always wins, he follows the lead of the other halfling. “Merric Rosewater...at your service.”

Joetaro's eyes open as he glances at his holy symbol of Selune. The paladin is a board-shouldered half-elf with blood-red hair and a five-o-clock shadow. He is dressed in his Vistani silk and armor underneath while he keeps his shield and sword close to him. "Sweet Selune," he whispers after waking up. "I'm sorry mam, I don't know where your daughter is. I will pray to Selune for guidance. My name is Joetaro."

"But how can we resist?  This whole city is a puzzle, a challenge, just waiting for us to unlock it.  It's almost a shame to leave such tantalizing clues like white lilies on graves unanswered.  Although if they actually want a pale vampire named Lilly to lie on a grave, I'll have to think twice about solving that riddle," he jokes to Al-Ashari.

"Huh," he says to Whitegaze, catching wind of the voices now too.  Motioning for the boar to stay put for a moment, Kale leans in and listens to the sounds coming from the Duchess' study.  He draws back with a wince after eavesdropping on their conversation.  "Sounds like we got ourselves two new lost sheep in this town... just like us when we first came here," he tells the others.  "One of them's a religious fanatic," he adds in a slightly weary tone of voice, indicating that Kale might have had problems with those types in the past.  "But we should greet them anyway... better us than the mad denziens of this plane, don't you think?" 

On entering the room, Kale gives the newcomers a slight wave and grin.  "Kale, Kale Fencan's the name, and surviving this place is our game.  Local bard extrodinare, at your service," he adds with a bow.  "Ah, and that's Sweetpea," he says, gesturing at the lizard-like boar breathing heavily behind him.  "He's friendly.  And he bites."

Merric turns slowly as the three newcomers enter the room.  "Merric Rosewater.  Are you the ones that brought me here?  Also, since you are the local bard, perhaps you can explain what this place is?  Where it is?  And why surviving is so hard that it's your job."

"Quite the direct one are we Merric?" adds Faldo with a smile.  He turns to the newcomers and gives a bow "Faldo Stoutgirdle, pleased to meet you.  It sounds like maybe you can help us out with some insight since none of us know how we got here."

"Well, sit back," he tell everyone, "and take a short rest while I begin my tale."  As Kale begins to fill the others in on the background of their adventures so far, he does it in such a way that he is quite the Inspiring Leader (everyone can refresh or add 20 temporary HP to their HP total).

As he is speaking, he keeps his eye on Merric, and with his expressive hand gestures, signs at the halfling in thieves' cant: 

Are you a brother of the guild as well? There's danger here for us. Beware of any rats you might see.

"We don't know each other.  But who ever really does?" Kale begins as he strums his lute now and then, providing his own dramatic background music as he speaks.  "Seven adventurers, pulled from different places, different spaces, different walks of life, linked only by our restless dreams, before we were pulled into this realm of nightmares."

"Al-Ashari, our beautiful young sorceress of dreams -  I thought she was a little bit haughty at first.
She doesn't know how she came to this land of screams, but at adventuring, she's becoming quite versed.

Whitegaze the warrior, tall and strong, he gave the lady Thursday his heart,
There were times we didn't get along, but he was very sad when his lady did part.

Soveliss, the mage, and his familiar, a raven - he's a very strange elf.
With arcane secrets he's quite the maven, but he prefers to keep very much to himself.

Lunastra, our firbolg druid who could, but under that calm lies a rage beneath.
She much prefers to spend time in the woods, when she can keep that anger sheathed.

And of course I am known as Kale, a part-time thief and fully curious soul,
A master of the weaving of tales, who is trying to keep this party whole.

There are others we've lost, but they're long gone,
And you new ones who've joined us with this new dawn.

We've explored and found that magic here is twisted,
Your spells and prayers may work, but not as you insisted.

Our surroundings outside are particularly vicious,
And many denziens of this city are violently malicious.

There may be one or two you can find as a comrade,
But at best, the great majority here are simply quite mad.

We few from afar still retain our sanity,
But unless we find a way out, that is a matter of pure vanity.

It seems that into madness we are all destined to fall,
Unless we can solve these sets of riddles, and escape Elysium's wall."

Kale ends his song and begins to tell the others of their adventures together, letting anyone interject and add their own opinions:  Cicero's bar, and Cicero, their only unlikely ally to date.  Fiddler & Blind's auction house, and the importance of silver coin in trade in this strange land.  The talking mire birds that have warned the party of encroaching death, and the illusory rat that somehow cursed Kale.  Of the water elemental in the wishing well, and also of Nurse Joy and the Adamant Asylum, home of the even-more-mad-than-normal.  Lastly, he tells them of the Tarrock Reading which Cicero gave to the party when they first arrived (page 2, post #24).

As he thinks over these things, Kale says to the group,

"You know, that fifth riddle...the "donjon" - it's probably a dungeon.  I don't know why I didn't realize that before; a dungeon, which we cannot succeed at alone, and trapping something that probably wants freedom... and likely shouldn't have it.  Just a thought.

Anyway, we're currently on a mission to rescue this Duchess' daughter, Cecilia -" Kale flashes the picture of Cecilia to the others, here - "And we have two clues.  A name of an Inn, and a strange bit of poetry.  I'm sure one of the others can tell you more about that if you're interested."