"Why do we need to sign the register?"
Yrja looks askance at the book, suspicious of what it might mean to write her name in there.
"Rules!" says Gurra-Gurra simultaneously.
"Hm, very well, if it makes you feel better."
Yrja signs the register, but just in case she writes her mentor's name - Mahb. She feels a pang as she does so, briefly wondering how the old woman is doing.
Unless this rings any particular alarm bells for Dez, he follows Yrja's lead and signs the register.
Orik frowns, deep rivets in his brow, and watches as the others sign the probably cursed document. When nothing happens, he looks it over for a moment, and then grumbling, prints only his first name.
Your signatures appear to pass muster--no geas or hex passes upon you when you sign them, and Gurra-Gurra double-nods in approval, then busies herself, tidying up the place (or creating a lot of dust; hard to say if it's helping)--she does spare a hopeful backward glance at Dez, but she keeps to her tasks, muttering back and forth:
"Job well done, Gurra."
"I agree, Gurra."
"We'll put in a good word with Jadrenka."
"If she ever shows up again."
"Of course she will!"
"Yes, of course..."
You head out of the unlikely witch's chamber and find yourself in a narrow, dark stairway--not nearly as cramped and spiraling as the one you descended--but still narrow, at perhaps 7 feet in spots. It's all carved stone, with various glowing pebbles in the corners of the stairs to light your way. The maiden-and-sunflower motif continues, carved along the walls.
You can hear someone cursing and grunting very softly, as if talking to themselves, a bit further down the hallway. They are moving around somewhere out of sight, and their voice is deep and rumbly. You can't tell the language.
You can smell the far off reek of urine. Yuck. And it smells kind of fresh. No idea what creature did it. The uh, stink seems to be further off than the person grunting in the hallway.
Yrja raises her eyebrows at the others, nodding in the direction of the soft grunting.
"Shall we see who's there?"
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The party ventures down the stairway, noting that it gets noticeably colder, with some hoarfrost creeping up the steps and walls (the steps, though, have clear hoofprints and bootprints in the frost, already frozen over).
Further down the stairwell, grumbling in the dark, is a frost giant crawling on its hands and knees. Whatever magic allows Gurra-Gurra to traverse The Maiden freely was clearly not bestowed upon this invader. (maybe because he didn't sign the ledger?)
He stops muttering for a second and you can see the flash of his darksighted blue eyes in the dark...but despite his wariness, he hasn't heard or seen you--yet.
