<span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>ROUND EIGHT</strong></span><br/>of the Sunless Citadel<br/><br/>Time:  Two weeks prior to the Summer Solstice.  7:43 a.m.<br/><br/>Current Objectives:<br/>Acquire the fruit for Prof. Tiddlewinkle;<br/>Locate a party of adventurers for Kerowyn Hucrele<br/><br/>Party Order<br/>1.  Tevi (Init: 16)<br/>2.  Derek (Init: 15)<br/>3.  Darrin (Init: 15)<br/>4.  Rowena (Init: 13)<br/>5.  Stella (Init: 6)<br/>6.  Alfie (Init: 6)<br/><br/><hr/><br/>The party, led by Alfie, descends down a set of switchback stairs.  Back and forth the party goes along stown-hewn steps that have, at points, eroded into something resembling a ramp rather than a staircase.  As the party descends along the five-foot wide set of steps (with Alfie leading, followed by Darrin, Stella, Rowena, Derek and Tevi last), Alfie's lamp is just barely able to capture the top of a fortress emerging from the darkness.<br/><br/>The subterranean citadel, though impressive, seems long forgotten, if the lightless windows, cracked crenellations, and leaning towers are any indication.  All is quiet, though a cold breeze blows up from below, bringing with it the scent of dust and faint trace of rot.<br/><br/>The narrow stairs empty into a small courtyard, apperently the top of what was once a crenellated battlement.  The buried citadel has sunk so far into the earth that the battlement is now level with the surrounding cavern floor.  The floor stretches away to the north and south, and it is apparently composed of a layer of<strong>treacherous crumbled masonry (i.e., difficult terrain)</strong>, which reaches to an unknown depth.  To the west looms the surviving structure of what must be the Sunless Citadel.  A tower stands on the west side of the courtyard.<br/><br/><div align="center">(https://i.imgur.com/3NDtPqX.png)</div>