Deep into the Infinite Stair

[Anastasia]

Valnala rises - and Jessica is with her. "Peace," she murmurs. "We don't mean you any harm."

[Ebiris]

"Vivantha loaned us her crown, we're not exactly fresh off the boat here," Alicia says even though Jessica's change in attitude probably blows their cover. "Now are you going to let me use this spell? It might give us the right questions to find something we've all been missing."

[Anastasia]

My apologies, sister, but I did not want a meaningless fight to happen.

"Let me see it," Valnala insists, "Such magic is a rare treasure."

[Ebiris]

Have I cast the spell or did she DM/spellcraft the scroll before I used it?

I normally fluff scrolls as disintegrating when cast from but I guess that's not mandatory.

[Anastasia]

I assumed interruption.

[Ebiris]

"Extremely rare, so you should be privileged that I'm prepared to use it on our conversation," Alicia says, standing up and approaching where Valnala reclines to show her the artfully penned scroll Bredanalundalum gifted her with.

[Anastasia]

The scroll is read.

"...It seems things are not as they appear," she says at last, the scroll returned. "I had thought you nothing more than crass treasure seekers."

[Ebiris]

"I can be crass if I want to be," Alicia says, stepping back with the scroll. "Now hold on while I use this..."

Now she'll cast from the scroll and see what question it recommends she ask Valnala.

[Anastasia]

It recommends the following question: You don't truly believe there is a bottom, yet what of the evidence you've seen with your own eyes?

[Ebiris]

Alicia clears her throat. "You don't truly believe there is a bottom, yet what of the evidence you've seen with your own eyes?"

Assuming scroll is minimum CL of 27 that's 1/5 questions.

[Anastasia]

"...There's just enough to suspect otherwise, but I never wanted to believed it," Is the answer at last. Valnala sighs, "It's too easily brushed aside as foolishness, but that doesn't mean that I can ignore the possibility."

[Ebiris]

"Why don't you want to believe it?" Alicia asks, this question coming from herself rather than the spell.

[Anastasia]

A pause here, a longer one. "I suppose that a mystery is only a mystery as long as you don't find the truth of it. That such a wondrous idea could be quantified and solved, like a cold equation the Inevitables provide."

[Ebiris]

A surprisingly romantic answer. Now what does the spell suggest for her next question?

[Anastasia]

The question you should ask is: With that in mind, how would you truly help us find the truth, if it were important for us to find it?