Otavia places her hands upon the cold stone doors, but they refuse to yield to her efforts.  After just a moment, she feels the cool metal ringlets of a chain shirt press against her back and muscular legs just touching the backs of her thighs, as two hands appear just outside her own.  A glance back reveals Aleric, his lips twisted into a smirk.<strong>"Just giving you a hand, milady,"</strong>he says with a wink.<strong>"Now push."</strong><br/><br/>As she feels his muscles strain against her, it feels for a moment as if she is going to end up pinned against the doors, her soft body trapped beneath his powerful soldierly frame; then they give way, swinging open to reveal a stone stairway spiraling downwards, lit by the orange light of torches burning along the wall.<br/><br/>Aleric regards the passage with am eyebrow quirked upward; Merrick, with his eyes wide in surprise; Kent, with a deeper frown than usual.<strong>"Torches?  Here?"</strong>Kent growls.<strong>"How can this be?"</strong><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">I'll give you that Otavia would suspect that the torches were magical in nature--everburning torches.<br/><br/>Should you decide to press onward and downward, I would like a spot check and a fortitude save.<br/><br/>Also, I'm playing with color-coding your companions' speech for ease of reading (green for Aleric, blue for Merrick, maroon for Kent)--what do you think?  Better this way, or better the way it was before?</div></div>