Otavia's hand passed easily through the flame, and she felt no heat; Kent accepted her explanation with a grunt, and the party began to wind its way down the stairway, Merrick stepping carefully at the lead, Aleric following him, and Kent guarding the rear behind Otavia.  Occasionally glancing back as they walked, Otavia could swear she caught his eyes straying to her backside a couple of times.<br/><br/>The stairs spiraled downward for a long time; it was difficult to gauge how far beneath the surface of the earth they had gone by the time the stairs ended in a stone hallway, leading past a stone arch into what looked like a natural cavern, this one too lit by torches mounted upon the wall.<br/><br/>As the party stepped through the arch, Otavia noticed something that nearly had escaped her--what looked like scrawled markings upon the arch were actually somewhat sloppily-drawn characters of Draconic script, and she could just make their meaning out:<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Draconic</div><div class="spoiler_body">"Only a woman of royal blood may unleash our greatest secret."</div></div><br/><br/>The three men continued unconcerned into the cavern, where they paused to look about.  The walls were smooth but for the torches, grey, and seemed to be solid stone, although the path ahead seemed to rise and fall a few times, making it difficult to see far.  And then a sound began to echo down the cave from ahead; it sounded like several deep-voiced men singing or chanting, although the words and the sounds were entirely indistinct.<br/><br/>Aleric looked to Otavia from the corner of his eye, his eyebrows arched and a smile playing at the corners of his lips.<strong>"Looks like we've found the ruin's new owners.  How shall we proceed, milady?"</strong><br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Sorry for the delay--I have a big project I'm wrapping up.  Should be clear of the worst of it now.</div></div>