Deep into the Infinite Stair

[Ebiris]

"What's the bottom of the stairs? The end? Or the start?" Alicia asks. Yes they have a lead on godseeds and that's why and that counts as treasure, but if such things are there there's no way they're just sitting loose and unattended. Someone put them there, and someone likely watches over them still.

"Where do these stairs come from? Who built them and why? That's a mystery, isn't it?"

[Anastasia]

Jessica grunts at this.

Meanwhile your hostess considers, gaze on you. "We don't know," is the final admission, "There are legends and tales, but no truth to be had."

[Ebiris]

"Well, Vivantha thought you were the best starting point for this, we didn't expect you to just walk us right down there," Alicia says, unbothered. "Why don't we put our heads together for some of those legends and see where we get to?"

[Anastasia]

"We're not here to waste time, birdie," Jessica agrees shortly.

To this Valnala says, "Very well, as Vivantha sent you." She leads you inside - a few chair suitable for humans are here, as well as a cushioned divan that Valnala goes for. It's decorated minimally within, almost austere. Just a few bits of colors - flowers and a curtains.

"The most common story is that a great treasure lies at the bottom, for everything that falls off is said to end up there. Amid a sea of corpses is a mountain of treasure." Valnala explains, "Or that a great dragon resides there, or that the treasures of the lillend are stored within."

[Ebiris]

"Well if it was the last one you'd know about it, wouldn't you?" Alicia asks, sitting herself down on one of those chairs, adjusting the swords at her hips for comfort before she leans forward with her elbows on her knees.

[Anastasia]

Jessica plops down, the chair taking her weight well. With a look he adds, "Unless you're bullshitting us."

"I'm not," A crisp reply from Valnala, a cool look over at Jessica. "The point is that many legends come down to it being a treasure trove. None are true that I know of. No, we lillend have looked in every direction, and we have not yet found the bottom of the stair, or any limitations. There is always more to search."

[Ebiris]

"So what about some of the more out there legends?" Alicia asks, hoping Valnala has something more esoteric to go on that they might be able to pursue and take somewhere. It wouldn't be the first time after all.

[Anastasia]

"Many," Valnala says, "One that a great wyrm hides there, and some claim the lost dragon deity Io sleeps there. Other stories whisper that a portal to divinity itself resides there, and others yet say at the bottom is where Creation itself was formed by the Great Creators. Other stories yet say it leads to a place where all life returns to be reborn in time, or that the Yggdrasil tree is there."

[Ebiris]

Portal to divinity, could that be the thread Jessica found that pointed them this way? "Lots of wyrms and dragons and dragon gods in the legends," she speaks up. "Why do you think that is?" A staircase isn't very thematic for a dragon after all.

[Anastasia]

"Treasure," Jessica scowls, "You see treasure and anyone with half a brain thinks dragon."

"Yes," Valnala agrees to that, "Some mistake us as half dragons as well."

[Ebiris]

"Still, no one actually sees the treasure, it's all just wishful thinking isn't it?" Alicia asks. Might be worth asking Io however. "It being where Creation was formed... can sort of see that, the staircase touches every corner doesn't it?"

[Anastasia]

"There is a theory that agrees with that, amid us," Valnala says, "That the Infinite Stair is the backbone of Creation, from where all comes and all rests."

[Ebiris]

Alicia personally isn't sure. Yes it works as a backbone but nothing really springs from it, it just fits into the framework.

"If it was, might be something important there. Or even just the location would have power, as the source. Good reason to have it hidden and hard to get to," she muses, drumming her fingers on her thigh and looking over at Valnala. "So what's your pet theory?"

[Anastasia]

"I think that there is no bottom," she says at last, "But if there was, you'd need something to reach it. No amount of traveling will do by itself."

[Ebiris]

[18:27] <@Ebiris> roll 1d20+51 sense motive
[18:27] <Penuche> Ebiris invokes Penuche's magic: < 58 > [d20=7]

Does she really think there's no bottom?