Felix is too focused on the food to think about anything else, but Arnie considers Omm's question for a moment, then says I have an idea.  May I borrow the Captain's card?  Assuming that whoever has the card hands it over to him, he goes to the throne, holds the card forward in a manner that might almost be called "brandishing," and calls out Great warrior, I hold your card, and I command you present yourself to me at once!  He then looks about expectantly, waiting to see if it worked...

Zar is not even that hungry, he finds, so he eventually drops his food stuff on the empty throne. Because he is pretty sure he does not want the place of one of the card playing skeletons.
''Do you notice? Things align itself to get us to play. To join the game of the Fool. Which, well, would be foolish thing to do. I guess the Blue and the Yellow Mage each lost their own game of Elimination Hearts.''

''I also suspect that you cannot meet the object of the cards you possess. easy enough to verify - we can simply pay a visit to the Ladies. I believe we won't find them though.''

''Omm's questions holds true though. What's next? It still boils down to the Red Mage, the hell hole, or the Ladies.''

''We have all major cards, don't we? Captain, Ladies and Priest. Might be time for the hell hole...''

Omm, having taken his fill of food and drink, is growing edgy with each passing moment of indecision. "To the hell hole then," he remarks with a tone of apprehension. "We haven't fully explored it yet, so might as well..."

Omm volunteers to lead the way, mostly to get the party moving toward getting out of this place. For good.
This message was last edited by the player at 03:44, Mon 20 July 2015.

Felix grumbles but follows along.  Arnie, doing his best to act in accordance with his god's wishes, proceeds a little more bravely.  But only a little.

''Ok, I suggest we try the Ladies' room first then, just to check whether Zar's theorie about them being gone is right? After that, it is the hell hole.''

Sidd orders their skeleton crew to follow them, if they can be budged to leave their game, and leads the group up the stairs first. He secretly hopes they are still present though.
However, if they are indeed gone, the group will then proceed to the foul pit.

It is a strange thing mystifying that the cards-playing octet had shown no inclination to rise until Sidd motioned them towards the manor tower, rather than towards the low gate.

Inasmuch as you're not expected, not having been invited to a second High Fete, you have to bang indecorously upon the door to their tower chamber. In response, you hear feminine giggling and then a harridan's hush. All is silent until the door groans open the width of one of Signe's tresses. It wide enough to absorb the fully unimpressed visage of the matron -- ever vigilant, ever ready -- to defend her wards' always imperiled honor.
This message was lightly edited by the GM at 22:47, Tue 21 July 2015.

Omm fights the urge to blurt out something rude and defers to one of his companions to say something nice and polite. Should nobody offer up anything of the sort, he will have no compunction taking a direct tact to force his way into the room.

Brandishing the card of the Ladies (but out of reach of the matron's thick arm), Zar simply states ''Step aside, matron, and answer our questions. Surely you are part of this card and bound to obey.''

Sidd meanwhile tries to peek beyond the matron's forbidding body and waves at the ladies inside.

Felix and Arnie have both shifted to the back of the group at this point.  They await the matron's response to Zar.

The mass of the matron precludes the peeping. You can content yourselves with their grunts and exhalations as they fling themselves bodily upon the great expanse of the matron's back -- perhaps compelled by the magic of the card. It is no use. She can't be budged.

The matron's face sours further (such a thing was possible, you now can confirm), "Those greasy cards can't command me."

"Want me to deal with it?" Omm asks of his companions.

Not waiting for their response, the impatient warrior gruffly calls out, "We say again, step aside madam. We have business here and no man or woman for that matter can say otherwise. We have already defeated several denizens of this realm. Don't add yourself to that menagerie!"

Zar waves the issue aside. ''Ah, let's go. Remember how I suggested the Ladies would be gone? This is just like it. I suppose only harm can come from attacking the matron. Let her be.''

''The hellhole it is.'' Sidd adds bleakly.

Omm's drops his chin in defeat and sighs, "Okay then. To the hellhole..."

Felix taps Omm on the knee to console him and says Don't worry about it too much buddy.  A woman like that, she probably wouldn't go down in a fight anyway.  Beat you to death with a wooden spoon or something.  No, you'd need some kind of trickery to get past her.  Something about the word "trickery" lodges it in Felix's mind, and he does his best to remember that idea in case the party does come back here later.

Isn't that always how it is? You've got your head so close to some honey's cunny that you can smell the sewage and hear the buzzing, and then you realize you're not at the mouth of some cunt (or three) at all. No, it's a bleepin' hellhole that you uncovered beneath a flagstone in the room with the low gate.

The faint scent of rotting meat had hung in the air and now you know it comes from within more than without.

What you have, and not what you wanted, is a narrow, muddy shaft that stretches beyond the feeble gleam of your torch, candle, lantern, or what have you.

From the throne room, you can hear the happy slapping of cards as the octet resumes its rudely interrupted game.

''It's either this here, or giving the red witch our cards without knowing what we are doing,'' says Zar through clenched teeth.

Sidd is pale but leads on. Putting a hand before his mouth and nose. Sweat glistening at his temples.

"Here," Omm interjects, "let me lead the way." The warrior then moves into the lead.

Omm searches to see whether he can find a somewhat safe path down the narrow, muddy shaft. Assuming he finds one, he will lead the trek into the abyss.

Arnie does his best to look brave and valiant as he brings up the rear.  He can't hold it for more than a few seconds at a time, but you've got to give him credit for trying.

Felix doesn't bother with any of that.  He just scrambles for any dry(ish) surface he can stand on to keep his boots as clean as possible.

So narrow is the shaft, it will only permit the descent of the scrawniest of humans but little people could drop right down to the bottom, wherever that might be. With some lubricant and no armor, a hulking human might be able to slime his way down.

From the other room, you hear the curses of one of your servitors. He has drawn the singleton queen on the no-pass hand!
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:08, Thu 06 Aug 2015.

Felix looks at the shaft.  He looks up at the others, looking down at the shaft.  He looks back to the shaft.  And before anyone can say what he assumes they are all thinking, he says No.  No way.  Not gonna happen. ... Okay, at least not without dropping some light down there first so we can see what kind of floor we're dealing with.

''Uhm, dropping down a torch on a rope is tricky business. Does anyone have a lamp?''

Omm shakes his head in the negative. "I don't have any source of light, whatsoever."

"I think I am too big to fit down there, otherwise I would give it a go," he adds in a moment later.

"Wait," he snaps his fingers, "Maybe we can filch a candle or something from the great hall?"

Then, Omm goes and does exactly that. Returning with a handful of candles and a way of lighting them, he removes his armor and prepares for his descent into the hole.

Once the candle is lit he says, "Well, here goes nothing..." and slides down into the hole.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:55, Sun 09 Aug 2015.

''Oh dear oh dear oh dear oh dear.'' Sidd is as pale as if he had to go down there again himself. While Zar just clenches his teeth together. Both are assisting Omm as good as they are able to, holding the rope and scanning for dangers.

The narrow descent yields to a crag-walled crevice cut into the rock beneath the manor. Hundreds – no, thousands—of black flies crawl along the walls, creeping in and out of cracks spider-webbing the wall, the drone of their wings filling the air.

The stink of rotting meat is nearly overwhelming. Water is pooled on the floor, rising nearly to Omm's calves. He can spy broken swords and the occasional spear half-submerged in the inky waters.

Omm looks around for any signs of an exit from the bottom of the water-filled muck. He calls back up to his companions and reports his findings:

"It's filled with water down here. Some weapons in the water, but I don't see any signs of an exit!"

Omm then begins to retrieve weapons from the water, examining each in turn to determine whether any are of decent quality. At the same time, Omm feels around in the water for any signs of a trapdoor beneath the water. The warrior runs his fingers along the floor, hoping to find something...