The stairs turn out to go down for a long while...

You gather up all the courage you can muster, and slowly step into the spiral staircase. The flickering flames of the torch make shadows dance along the walls. As you descend, the blackness at the bottom of the stairs seems to go on and on, seemingly getting blacker and blacker. The tangled growth of mosses and vines crunches and snaps under your weight with each step. Some sections of the staircase are not as overgrown as others, and you realize the tapestry of a story continues down the entire wall. You don't want to waste your time playing archeologist, but some of the half-exposed pictures catch your eye as you continue onward.

Although you can't be completely sure what story the pictures are telling, they seem to be getting more and more unpleasantly graphic as you descend. At first, they seem to be mostly pictures of a peaceful nature, just showing creatures living peacefully in their day-to-day life. Farming, raising families, hunting for food, gathering together for celebrations... But as you travel further, the glimpses of the wall carvings you see begin to change in nature. Not only do the subjects of the pictures begin to change, but so does the art style of the carvings. Not having much artistic experience, it's hard for you to describe. Somehow they look more... Twisted, demented. The idillic, serene scenes from the top of the stairwell have begun to give way to depictions of conflict and strife. Wildfires destroying villages, people burned at the stake, great armies facing off at each other... The images go on and on. The staircase feels like it will never end, although part of that is due to the fact that your pace is slowing as you become uneasy at the grotesque displays on the walls.

Just as you're starting to have your doubts about descending, you see something in the upcoming wall that looks a little different. Jutting out from the wall is a small podium. As you get closer, you notice something hanging from the podium onto the floor. You freeze in horror as you realize it is the arm of a skeleton, holding onto something jutting out of the side of the podium. You gasp and recoil, not having been prepared to enounter this on the narrow staircase. Assessing the situation, you cautiously approach the skeleton. He seems to have met his fate here quite a while ago, being half buried in the tangled creeper vines. The vines also obscure the podium he is hanging against.

The skeleton is lightly armed, with a helmet and chestpiece made of a combination of leathers and metals. It looks too heavy to be of use to your slender frame, and you're sincerely hoping that any armor will be unnecessary for your journey. Still, perhaps if you cleared away some of the growth surrounding the bones, you could find something of use.

Scavenging will have to wait. Obviously there's a reason this soldier had fallen here. You follow his arm up to the podium, which is obscured by the tangled mass of overgrown plant material. Deciding to investigate, you once again use the butt of the torch handle to scrape away at the podium. Being focused on clearing away the brush, you don't even take time to try and comprehend what it is you're revealing. However, considering that this could very well be a life or **** scenario, you decide that clearing away the entire podium to get a big picture concept of what youre dealing with is essential.

You finally finish clearing away the overgrowth, and step away. In your fervor to clear the podium away, you didn't realize what was depicted, and realizing what it is slightly embarrasses you. The podium consists of three life-sized women, all bending over, their bare asses displayed right next to eachother in a half circle. The craftsmanship is remarkable. The luscious curves of each ass are perfection. Each smooth stone ass focuses down to a point at the anus, and below each one has a meticulously carved pussy. If you didn't know better, you'd think they were real... But you dismiss that as a ridiculous notion. The only seemingly unnatural-looking part of each woman is a perfectly round hole where their vaginal opening would be.

You finally realize that the peg the skeleton is holding onto is sticking out of the left womans' hole. Maybe this is some sort of puzzle? Apparently the left choice was not correct.

This is a lot to process all at once. You slump against the wall and lower your body to the ground of the stairwell, resting on a step. Time to consider how to proceed.