"Well...that was a short trip, me frens.  Let me see if'n I can find a way around or through.  Also, there be an entrance to the Infinite Stairs...not that I'm thinkin' we should do that now, just lettin' ye all know."

Merric begins checking for a secret door or anything similar.

Investigation: 15

OOC: that's just terrible.  +11 investigation and I get a 15 total. LOL

Should investigation reveal nothing in addition to the entrance of the Infinite stairs, Al-Ashari would  move towards downstairs rooms. Probably with everyone else.

Kale hands the keys over to Merric.  "Probably more useful to you than me," he shrugs.  Another round of prestidigitation re-warms everyone's clothing for a longer trip, and he also begins to search for clues as to where Room 13 might be found.  "Hey," he tells the bear, who's waiting at the foot of the steps.  He pulls out the satchel of herbs that Cecilia had on her.  "Sniff around, try to find where this scent is coming from," he instructs the bear, waving the satchel under its nose.

Investigation: 30

Bear Perception: track the scent with Keen Smell! 14

There appear to be no secret doors or passages.  A quick trip down the stairs, to the lower level, reveals another blank wall.

The bear though smells the herbs and then moves to the entrance to the infinite stairs, clearly indicating that was the direction the girl went.

"Great."  Lia says as the bear does so.  "Like we need to deal with that place again..."

Merric smiles a tight smile of agreement with Lia.  "Aye, lass, I'm thinkin' you've the right of it.  Still and all, if that be the path, so be it."  He pauses then, a thought occurring to him.  "How long ago did Cicero say the beastie claimed the stairs?  How long has the lass been missin'?  Tis possible, are ye thinkin', they be the same?  If we were elsewhere, I'd not be thinkin' it but in this madhouse, who's tuh say what can be?"

He shakes his head.  "In any event, that be the path.  Who's fer takin' it with me?"

"We all shall go (or try to do so) but before I would like to check something."

"If the key does not let you see the room, what should you do see it? Right your name in the book?" Al-Ashari returned to the skeleton and tried to reach him telepathically: "I have the key, how I enter the room?"

Kale only rubs his forehead silently at the news, and sends an apologetic look to his bear.

"… I wonder, though… if those keyrings will be useful on the staircase somehow," he mutters aloud.

Whitegaze will lean against the wall at the top of the stairs, "I've been there once, and I'm not eager to return, more importantly, after last time, I'm not sure we'll all make it. Hopefully the key helps..."

"Well, death comes to us all, me fren.  Though if'n we can all get inside, this time, I'm thinkin' we'll be havin' a better chance," Merric says.

The skeleton doesn't seem to even notice Al-Ashari's attempt to speak mind-to-mind with it.  (It knows no language at all...)

Lia sighs and nods.  "So be it, let us give this thing a try again..."

When the group is ready they move to the entrance, and attempt to cross through.  It goes much easier this time, the group's minds more easily able to adapt to the wrongness of the stairs. Soon you find you are all on the stairs, even the bear.  You have a large number of keys with you, which one do you wish to try first?  All around you are doors, with numbers associated with the various keys you have. Whenever you hold a specific key that door resolves in front of you.  Are you going directly to #13, or do you wish to try other keys first?

„Business before pleasure?“ Kale says to the others, holding up Cecilia‘s room key.

"It is," echoed Al-Ashari stopping at the door with number 13 on it.

Merric moved to the door and examined it carefully, looking for traps, listening closely.  "Stand back, me frens.  No need fer the rest o'ye to get blasted," he says with a grin.

Investigation: 20, if the first roll is 12, use this one: 22
Perception: 10, if the first roll is an 8 use this one: 9

Assuming it is safe, and once everyone moves back, Merric takes the key from Kale inserts it carefully into the lock and opens the door.

Whitegaze will try to position himself between the party and further into the stair, ready for whatever that thing from before was.

Kale tells his bear to ready an attack against anything hostile that might make a move against the group.  Similarly, Kale himself waits at the ready, to use some vicious mockery on anything hostile that might appear in the vicinity as Merric works.

The door is not trapped and opens with the key.

- Room 13

Entering this room, you can see the rain battering against a fragile window pane. A storm rages outside. The wooden walls here are covered in paper, and string runs between pins connecting various images, texts and notes in a web that spans the entire room. Some threads even stretch between walls, requiring you to duck under them if you cross to the far wall. A discarded blanket lies in the corner, as do several candle stubs.

The walls are covered in notes and hand drawn sketch maps of Elysium. The maps are all wrong, the shifting streets having moved the locations away by now. However, the existence of all the locations of the city can be deduced from these maps. More worrying are the notes, which detail the actions of the characters since they have arrived in Elysium. The notes are scattered, and some of them have been damaged by the damp, but a careful character could arrange them into chronological order and discover that someone has been watching them every moment of every day. Even private moments in pocket dimensions have been recorded in a spidery script.

"This is creepy." Lia says as she looks over the place, seeing mentions of her battle with the various creatures prior to meeting up with the group.

Areas you have not yet visited that you are able to find with use of the papers in this room...

Undercity, it appears there is a city below the lake as well as above it.
Tower of Babbles. There is a tower in the city the city's dead are taken to.
Changing Faces Press. The city has a newspaper office that seems to be still running.
Grand Library. The city has a library.
Prison ruins. This is the location where you were told the gods of the city use to live.

Kale walks around the room, comparing the spidery handwriting to that he has seen of Cecilia's.

Investigation or Perception (same roll) : 30

"While I wouldn't mind being an exhibitionist, I usually prefer if it's by choice," Kale says with a grunt.  "Well, there's little to do about it now.  What surprises me is that it was Cecilia doing the watching.  I was under the impression she was kidnapped long before we arrived here.  Strange."  He peers at the maps, noting the new locations.  "The library is where that kid stole the book from.  Soveliss is gone, though, so I don't think they'll bear us a grudge for not returning it," he mentions.  "This seems like a good place to plan what our next move should be.  Whether out in the city, or here in the infinite staircase, with that whole lot of rooms awaiting us."

Merric looks on in disappointment, then gives aid to Kale's investigation.  After that is finished, he looks over the notes.  "This be top notch surveillance.  They even have me double-strikes on those things that was attackin' ye, Lia.  And the umberhulks.  In fact, whoever 'they' be they be probly watchin' us now."

Looking at the others, he takes a deep breath.  "My vote be fer cleanin' out the Hidden Stairs o' that creature.  I'm thinking with all o' us, we be havin' a fair chance to kill the beastie.  If not, me second vote is fer this undercity.  Maybe it's the halfling in me but I'm liking places underground...long as they ain't too dank, mind."

Whitegaze will look over the notes without much stress, living on a crowded ship for months on end leaves little room for privacy, but at the mention of it being Cecilia, he frowns slightly, "It could be her, or it could be the same thing that took her, or lured her out here or whatever. In either case, I'm curious what the plan is behind watching us all..."