Editing Journal - A Search for Answers (section)

==House on the Hill==

I was tired and rather clumsy by this stage, and Falcor jolted awake as I entered the temple. He instinctively reached for his sword, rising to his feet, and his armour materialised on him so that he was ready for battle - if I wasn't so tired I would have remarked on something so astonishing. As it was I could barely mutter a greeting. Arad joined us just a moment later, the temple having alerted him in some way. Falcor of course asked where I had been, as it was clear I had not just awoken. I explained what I had done, what I had found, and encouraged them to return with me to the house that I saw - after I got my head down for a bit.

I used Arad's new bed chamber to get some much needed rest without being disturbed. Meanwhile Falcor and Arad did some weapons training outside by the obelisk. As Falcor was training and remembering his meeting with the goddess Malada, a symbol appeared on the obelisk, matching a symbol on Arad's prayer book, but at a different angle. An arc with a straight line touching the centre point at a perpendicular to the radius... was this the mark of the creator god?

Falcor believed (now at least) that the Creator God was the first and that the other gods came afterwards. Karmana was the only one gifted with the ability to create life, which is why she was so closely linked to the forge of life.

After training, Arad called the village to breakfast, served to all as usual, but some kept back for me thankfully. Falcor even sat with the other humans and took breakfast ritually with them, which made a good impression. When everyone else was ready they woke me, and I quickly ate before we left for the evil house to the south.

Arad went ahead this time, with me on Falcor's shoulders following (it was faster that way and we had a fair bit of ground to cover). We tracked around the circle of death, headed to the south coast, and this time stayed away from the barrier itself, following the coastline instead. Just as we turned towards the east on the south coast, not all that far from our destination, we noticed about 200 yards to our left some goblins stepped out from invisible barrier.

I rolled back off Falcor's shoulders, tucking my legs in to spin over and land on my feet, but crouching low. I drew bow and arrow, but didn't engage without knowing we had been seen. Arad crouched as well, also with bow ready. Falcor ran towards them at full pelt, so Arad and I followed, trying to keep up. Some orcs emerged behind the goblins, and were more organised and alert - they looked in our direction and starting shouting orders at the goblins. The goblins drew swords and spread out in a line whilst walking towards us, whilst the orcs drew bows and followed casually behind.

We were as cautious as them, moving forward but using cover and not engaging. There seemed to be a red hand symbol on the orcs' clothing - not a symbol we had seen before. I say that we were cautious, but actually I was running and flipping across the relatively open ground in an attempt to catch up and reach the forest line for cover. The standoff ended when an orc loosed an arrow at Falcor, which embedded in the tree he was using for cover. Arad replied first, putting an arrow into the orc that fired, but missing with his second.

At this the orcs shouted again and the goblins charged, screaming, with swords up ready to strike. The orcs continued to move more cautiously, aiming their bows as they advanced. Falcor put an arrow in the first goblin, stopping its momentum, and it dropped dead on the forest floor. Arad tried to stay focused on the orcs, but missed wildly. I was close enough to engage now, and put an arrow into another goblin; it staggered, but managed to keep its feet as it got closer to Arad. Seeing the threat, Arad switched targets and finished it off with an arrow to the chest.

The orcs were now firing arrows at us, but most didn't penetrate the tree cover between us. Falcor loosed one at long range, finding his mark, and the first orc went down. Arad tried to line up a shot, but ended up taking an arrow in his shoulder, which badly hurt him. Falcor had his eye in, though, and put another arrow into an orc, although it exposed him and he was also hit - luckily it deflected off his armour. I focused on the closer targets, hitting the nearest goblinw, and Arad again finished it off, even as he tried to back away into better cover, arrows falling close to him.

I switched to the last goblin, striking true again... and again Arad followed up with his own arrow to kill it before it could close with him. Falcor seemed to be the target now, with arrows flying close to him, but he had still not been hit. With their goblins all slain, and two of their number down, the orcs decided to turn and run, quickly disappearing inside the barrier. Falcor shouted to leave them be, fearing as I did that they might bring reinforcements. Arad offered a short prayer to his god and healed some of his wounds, shouting "praise be to the Lord Creator" as he could freely move his shoulder again!

We quickly retrieved some arrows, and a few coins, from the nearest goblin bodies and then moved on. We headed south east to the coast and followed it around until we reached the stream I recognised as the place I had reached the night before. I found the shield that I had used as a marker, showing Falcor the dragon insignia. He found it strange and unfamiliar, whilst also reminding him of the first legion's livery. They were the only legion known to have a dragon as their symbol, and the gold-on-black shields matched the legion he knew, but the design was different in the centre. Perhaps it was an older design, although the significance (if any) was not clear.

We lined up along the barrier and stepped through together, ready in case we met resistance. The light levels dropped immediately, as before, with a stormy dark sky overhead. A hill that looked man-made was up ahead, as I remembered, about a hundred feet at its highest point. We were at the side with a gradual slope, the others being slightly steeper. It was about eight hundred feet from where we were to the top of the hill. A two-storey stone built manor house stood on the hill, perhaps five hundred feet from us. The dark forest we had seen before stopped on three sides at the base of hill, but the approach was clear in our direction all the way to the house. There were no light sources or signs of movement from inside that we could see. In fact it was ominously quiet, without any of the wildlife noises we had been used to outside the barrier. We could just about make out that there had been a track that ran from where we were up to the house, but it was barely visible now. An old path also used to spur off to the left into the forest, whilst the stream we stood next to angled to the right into the forest on the other side.

We cautiously approached until Arad and I could just about make out what was probably another two-headed dog beside the house. Arad and I took aim and loosed arrows together, although my aim was better, striking true. The beast, as expected, came bounding towards us down the slope. Falcor could now see it, and he also put an arrow in it; the strength of the blow knocked it off its feet with a yelp, but it got up and kept coming, albeit a little slower. We all had time to loose another arrow before it could close the distance, and Falcor and I struck it again. This time it didn't get back up.

Glad that we hadn't let it reach us, we were dismayed to see two more of the creatures leap out of a window of the house. They were sniffing and howling, not sure where to turn, and I let fly another arrow, again striking true. We didn't want to wait for them to charge, as it had proved too dangerous the last time. Arad missed with his shot (he was having a run of bad luck... perhaps his shoulder still troubled him?) but I landed a second hit before they turned their attention on us.

They charged forward, but had some distance to cover. I hit the first one again, staggering it, and Falcor put another arrow in it almost immediately; it dropped dead, leaving only one bounding forward, unhurt. I managed to put an arrow in it, but it wasn't enough to slow it down. I stopped taking aim, and instead jumped to the side just as it tried to knock into me, causing it to overshoot as I landed out of reach. Arad moved in, dropping his bow, and slashed its side with his sword, cutting deeply. It snarled and turned its heads to attack, but Falcor dropped his bow and charged its rear, flashing his sword out in an arc that cut so deep the beast nearly fell in two pieces.

Now we had a new problem; arrows flew at us from the house - one scratching my arm. Two humanoid archers could just be seen firing from cover in an upstairs window above the portico at the front of the house. We started sprinting forward, but I was hit again as I ran. Arad returned fire, hitting one of the archers despite the cover. Falcor reached the front door, pushing it open to see an entrance hall with a wide staircase inside. I was hit a third time, but just managed to stagger to the wall under the portico, slumping to the ground and crying out in pain. My armour had deflected a second arrow, which is lucky as it would probably have killed me!

Falcor rushed inside, and we heard him scream in terror! Arad shouted for me to stay and heal (that's what I was planning on doing!), then ran to the door to join Falcor. Falcor had been confronted by two legionnaires, but they were no longer human - what little flesh they had was hanging off them and they were more skeletal than anything else. Despite this they were moving forward to attack him, animated by some evil force as yet unseen. Falcor was so terrified by the sight that he could barely control his swords, not even landing a hit let alone doing any damage. One of them stabbed him, although he was able to turn away slightly to minimise the damage, and that seemed to snap him back to focus on the fight at hand. I was treating my wounds, pushing through arrows and snapping shafts before applying the ointment that Arad had found in the temple. It did work wonders, and I felt a lot better once I had tended to each wound.

Arad shouted at the undead legionnaires to flee in the name of the Lord Creator, but they just kept coming without any indication that they had heard him. Falcor regained his martial prowess and cut one of them down with good, clean strokes. Much recovered, I rounded the corner to help my friends, but the sight of the undead abominations caused the rage to build in me - these were a physical manifestation of the evil that had killed my people! I screamed in rage, charging forward and landing a blow on the one still standing... although my edged weapons were not the best for hacking at skeletons. Arad came around behind it and smashed it to the floor. Still enraged, I jumped up and down on the body a few times before starting to calm down.

Arad charged upstairs, finding the bowmen he was expecting, and discovering that they were also undead. He managed to reach the nearest and land hit on it before they could react. His charge put them off their shots, so both missed when they loosed arrows at him. He then smashed the first one down before swinging around and following through to smash the other to the floor as well.

Two more of the things burst through a side door to confront Falcor, and I was just about to move to aid him when one of the fallen jerked up and swung a sword at my legs, slashing across them. I shouted "they're alive!" just as Arad had one of his foes begin to move again. How could we kill these things?! The new arrivals had spears rather than swords, and Falcor caught one with his smaller sword, but got stabbed by the other. I kill (well, stop from moving?) the first one that had come back to life with my shortsword, as Arad knocked his one down (again). Falcor landed heavy blows on one of the new arrivals, knocking it to the floor. I stabbed the lifeless one, just in case, before moving to help him.

Falcor hit the last one standing, but not enough to fell it. I yelled out that I had no weapon that would kill these things (I also shouted at Arad to try his fancy new hammer). I moved to help Falcor anyway, stabbing into the last one standing and putting my weight behind it, doing just enough to bear it to the floor. Arad saw the sense in hammering at the skeletal remains, pulverising one of the fallen skeletons nearest to him.

Another of the fallen started moving again right next to me and Falcor, and we heard sounds from the other door downstairs (to our right as we came in) suggesting that more were on the way! To make matters worse, two more crashed through into the room with Arad upstairs, although he had time to prepare himself before they reached him. In response to this new threat... Falcor fucked off! He headed through the doors at the top of the stairs, and then just about remembered to shout "follow me" from the corridor beyond. That was easier said than done! I jogged onto stairs, but had to turn to cover the rear or the things would have been on me again. One had already stood up, although he hadn't reached the stairs yet.

Realising that we weren't keeping up, Falcor thankfully returned - charging into the flank of the new skeletons that were headed for Arad, stabbing and crashing into the nearest. Arad advanced to aid him, smashing the same one with his hammer, and it went straight down. Falcor followed up on the next one with his larger sword, sending that to the floor as well. Falcor shut the door and shouted for me to join them upstairs. As he turned to do so he saw that two more skeletons were coming through the doors above me, so he charged back to engage them as I backed up the stairs, unaware that they were right behind me! Falcor's clash of steel as he reached them soon warned me of the danger, though. 

I quickly ran up to help Falcor, striking with my dagger but failing to have much impact on the bones - I was used to striking between bones to hurt things, but there was nothing between them to hurt! Arad swung his hammer again, feeling as if the weapon was almost guiding itself towards the target, and he shattered the rib cage of one, causing it to collapse into a pile of bones. Falcor was as effective as ever, knocking one down on his right, but now there were two behind us coming up the stairs to worry about.

I was stabbed as I turned, just before Falcor moved to slash his sword through the foe, sending him to the floor. I was badly hurt (again), and looked for a way I could escape immediate danger to treat my wounds. Arad charged around to join us, swinging his hammer again, and smashed clean through one - bits flying everywhere. A couple more started to get up, though, so I back flipped and rolled past Arad to get away from the immediate danger. I had not judged the situation well, though, as I found myself right next to another one that was just starting to rise!

Falcor was fighting hard, and shouted "can't we do anything to keep them down?!" I was too busy to reply, stabbing the one that was reanimating until it went down again. Falcor was hit badly, blood seeping from a heavy wound. I smacked the one I just put down again with my short sword, hoping it would stay down long enough for me to do something about my injuries. Arad hit out with his hammer again, smacking a skull clean off the shoulders of a foe, sending it rolling into the corner. He stepped in to help Falcor, just as Falcor landed another hit with his sword that staggered the foe enough to send its own thrust wide.

Falcor fully healed himself with a thought, which we were starting to get used to but was still incredible - almost as if reality had changed so that the wounds had never happened. I slapped some ointment on to my own wounds, which helped to stem the bleeding and made me feel a little better, but I was still sore and aching. Arad missed the one attacking Falcor, but swung around and landed a blow on one coming up the stairs behind him, sending it crashing into a heap on the stairs.

Falcor cut another one down, although a return blow slid off his armour as he did so. He saw more of the things coming into the corridor behind the ones we'd already encountered, and with a little panic in his voice screamed that there were more of them! Arad cuts another one down with his sword, and Falcor smashed at it as well, trying to keep it down. I was being engaged again, dodging one attack, and put my short sword into it, putting it down again.  Would this fight ever end?

They had started to swarm Falcor and Arad now, coming from all sides at once; Falcor took a hit from one and Arad was only saved by his armour holding. Another one started to get to its feet behind Arad , making the situation even worse. Frustrated by the inability of my blades to do permanent damage, I gripped the skull of the one I had just put down and literally ripped its head off, throwing it down the stairs.

Arad pulverised the skull of another one - his hammer certainly seemed to be effective. Falcor and Arad landed further hits, desperately fending the attackers off, but no more went down. Arad shouted for me to watch the foes on the balcony that he had not been able to smash... well why did he think I was ripping their heads off!

Arad smashed another one, right from top to bottom, splintering it into pieces. He did get hit in return, but again his armour saved him from harm. Falcor also took a hit that rang loudly on his armour but thankfully didn't penetrate. He turned his attention to his attacker, felling the thing with one strong blow. Arad hit another with his sword, but didn't manage to put it down.

Falcor rushed past the heap of bodies, shouting for us all to come with him. He kept swinging, though, at he prone bodies on the way - seemingly doing some damage. One rose up behind him as he passed and Arad put yet another on the floor with his sword. I cut down another foe, although I was sure I had done so twice before! The things finally found a way past Arad's armour, and he winced in pain. Where did Falcor go?! He ran back in, perhaps realising we were in no position to follow him! He attacked two from the rear as Arad and I engaged them to the fore, knocking one down.

Falcor and I double-teamed the last one standing, bringing him down, but yet another one started to rise in its place. Arad smashed two on the floor to bits, aiming to stop them permanently. Falcor came to my aid, putting his weight behind a broad swing that knocked the foe down again. Arad called for us to take care of any that were not yet smashed. I shouted back that ripping their heads off worked, and to prove the point I ripped the skull off the one that had just fallen. Falcor went into one of the side rooms, asking us to finish off those that we could. He found an old bedroom in disrepair, although it clearly used to be finely appointed. There were no other exits on that side.

Arad smashed another body as Falcor returned to our room, to find himself confronted with another rising skeleton as he tried to cross. He knocked that down before it could even fully rise, then slashed at more remains on the floor as he continued around the top of the stairs. Arad smashed the remains of another... we finally felt like we were starting to clean up now, although we were exhausted from fighting for so long. I ripped the head off the last one that seemed to remain intact as Arad came over to check on my side of the room; he realised that I had it in hand, and instead we went to join Falcor as he explored some more.

Falcor was investigating the room on the other side of stairs. It had been some kind of dressing room, but all was now decrepit and rotten, although there was an arch to another room in the south. Before we could join him, four more undead legionnaires rushed into the main room from the north, two heading towards Falcor's back, and the other two on us. Falcor turned at our cry of warning, and bundled them both straight through the bannister onto the stairs below. Falcor just manage to catch himself and stayed on his feet above them.

Arad was stabbed twice by the new assailants and collapsed to the floor! I rushed to help, knocking down one of his assailants with two good blows. Falcor came around, outpacing the two he knocked down the stairs, and used his mind to fully heal Arad. Phew, that probably saved us all! I stepped up next to Arad, knocking another one to the floor in his defence as he rose to join the fight again. He moved forward to engage another attacker, shoulder-to-shoulder with Falcor.

Arad landed a good hit with his hammer, caving in the chest of the foe, which collapsed to add to the bones strewn everywhere. Falcor also landed a good hit, cutting through the arm of one into its chest, causing it to collapse. A stab to his torso in return luckily deflected off his armour. Falcor moved to the doors at the top of the stairs again, stamping on bones as he made his way there, but doesn't see any more enemies. Arad pulverised the skull of one on the ground with his hammer. Another one started to stir near me, but Arad came over and smashed it to bits before it could rise.

Falcor said "let's get out of this room!" Yeah... when we're safe from skeletons rising from the dead again and again, maybe! He was looking down the corridors further into the house, checking for more threats. I pulled the head off a skeleton next to me, throwing it away. Arad increased the size of his hammer, impressively, but then wildly missed a prone skeleton that wasn't even moving and smashed a hole in the floor. I guess he was still getting used to it. I jogged to the doors to see what Falcor was doing, not seeing any more immediate threats.

Falcor came from my right towards the left corner of the corrider, saying "I heard a sound, come with me." I joined him at the corner to listen. Arad finally managed to hit the last skeleton, smashing it into dust and ending what seemed to be an endless fight at one point. On the way to join us, Arad apparently saw the "girl from the tree" come through a door in the world, saying "oh, it's a bad time, I'll come back" and disappearing again (although he wisely didn't mention this to us at the time). He joined us at the corner of the corridor, looking down another corridor leading towards the back of the house with doors on each side.

Falcor noticed my wounds and healed me in the same way as Arad - in an instant it was as if I had never been wounded - so wondrous! I moved forward and listened carefully at the wall on our left, where the sounds seemed to be coming from. I thought that I could make out more than one creature... light footed, but large, and most of the noise was coming from their bodies hitting the walls as they moved around. We carefully moved forward, seeing an open room to our right that was long decrepit with a couple of tables, there was a way through to the corridor on the far side. I moved towards the door ahead on the left. The door rattled as something thumped against it from the inside heavily. Thankfully the door seemed to be relatively sturdy and held.

Falcor moved into the room on the right, disturbing dust as he moved... and then noticed that the dust moved slightly towards the wall on his left, which was odd. Looking closer he could make out a concealed door behind the table. I tumbled forwards to the next door along the corridor, which was opposite another opening to the right. That room was as decrepit as the last one, although the dust had been significantly disturbed - it seemed that the skeletons had come from here to confront us.

Falcor pressed the concealed door, which clicked and popped out towards him, and he could feel the slight air movement into the edges of the door. He said quietly, thinking we were still close, "this way guys!"  We had moved on, though, with Arad joining me further along the corridor. I moved over to the door on our left, listening carefully but only hearing the wind, likely from a broken window. I opened the door just as Falcor popped his head round and said "Oi! This way!" We started moving back towards him, but Arad provoked another heavy bump on the door as he passed... the door might be sturdy but it looked as though the hinges might come out of the wall! I tumbled past door, which was looking very unsafe now, and resolved not to come this way again! 

Falcor explained that he had found a secret door, which he opened carefully with his weapon. He found the preserved mummified remains of a human inside, wearing rough looking clothing, but newer than the remains of the house. His woolen cloak, covered leather armour, and a backpack. There were also a couple of sacks in the small room with him. Perhaps an intruder of some kind, force to hide from the things we fought once he discovered that they could not be easily killed?

Written on the west wall, seemingly in his own blood, although long since dried, was the following:


Together forever, one soul that we share

Split into two by the fire that bears all

Mine are the Skies, the Land and the Sea

And Mine is it all but I gift it to thee


So empty, so powerless... Where are you gone?

So cold, so lonely.... Where are you gone?


I still know your love from the skies up above,

Your voice is the one that fills all of my soul.

You speak to me from the skies up above,

Your voice is the one that I hear over all.


So empty, so powerless... Where are you gone?

So cold, so lonely.... Where are you gone?


I still know your love from the skies up above,

Your light burning bright fills all of my soul

You burn the skies in joy at our love,

Yours is the light that I see over all.


So empty, so powerless... Where are you gone?

So cold, so lonely.... Where are you gone?


I still know your love from the skies up above,

The touch of your fire fills of my soul

You tend to my children with care and with joy

Yours is the touch that I crave over all.


So empty, so powerless... Where are you gone?

So cold, so lonely.... Where are you gone?


Apart through the ages, one soul split in two

Born in the fire, a third can make one

Joined across time by bonds forged in stars

Together forever, one soul that we share.


I got closer to see what they are looking at, as Arad started to copy down the text. It was quite dark in the recess, but there was just enough light to make it out. Falcor grabbed the sacks, hesitating for a second, but then pulled them out into the room to look inside. Falcor said that there was something odd about body, and warned to be careful. He approached and examined the body carefully. They had been male, human, an adult; the dark cloak would have covered him but was aging badly. He wore soft leather boots and leather armour and trousers. He had been armed with a dagger and short sword, both still in scabbards. He also had a backpack and pouches still on his body.

Falcor used his weapon to cautiously look under the cloak. The dagger was in particularly good order; a dragon curled around the pommel and another was etched along the length of the blade. Gold binding made it look even finer, and it was clearly in better condition than the short sword and completely free of rust. Falcor took it, refusing to consider that it might be of more use to me considering its size. Hmm... I will remember that... Arad did find some better tools for locks and traps than the ones I had cobbled together, though, so that was something. Clearly this person had meant to loot the place, or perhaps look for information like we were... interesting. There was also a hooded lantern and two flasks of oil that I took, with flint and steel to replace the ones I had given to Falcor. We shared a little money that we found, but the rest seemed beyond salvage.

I warned Falcor about the door and advised him to avoid it, so we headed into the other corridor. We passed a storage room, with several cupboards and drawers, but very run down. There was no sound from last room on the right, and I listened carefully at the door. Arad moved into the central room to see if there was a similar secret door to the last room, and quickly found that there was. He opened it to find a few sacks and a small chest. Meanwhile I opened the door on the right of the corridor, finding another bedroom inside, which looked recently occupied due to the patterns of dust disturbance. There was a quiver of arrows and a short bow inside, next to the window.

Arad popped open the chest, and set off some kind of trap as the room rapidly filled with a noxious gas! Thankfully Arad was not badly affected, although he coughed and choked a little. He found a significant number of coins inside. Falcor, hearing Arad's coughing, came to the doorway and asked if he was alright. As he seemed to be fine, Falcor went into the recess to retrieve the sacks, finding silver and copper coins.

We divided the arrows and coin and then met back in the corridor to start back towards the front of the house, looking up in case of any roof spaces. Arad checked out another bedroom in southeast corner near the stairs as Falcor looked at the (formerly) well appointed southwest room. I was still catching up! Falcor found an iron chest, but could not force it open. Arad clearly had a sniff that there might be treasure, sprinting out of the room he was in, heading for where Falcor was! At least he offered to give me a lift, so we both arrived together.

I approached the chest, wary of traps, as Arad quickly stepped back. I didn't find any obvious traps, so set about trying to spring the lock with my new tools. As I was working, Arad spotted two goblins emerging from a bush and moving to the west, with the bush about one hundred yards to the south of the corner we were in. Eventually the lock on the chest clicked satisfyingly and it was ready to open. The others were now covering the outside with bows in case any goblins came closer. Unfortunately I must have missed something, as there was an intense flash of light and heat from the chest, which burned me badly even though I had tried to keep to the side, and caught Falcor slightly, blinding us both. Arad jumped over the bed to help, uttering a prayer to the Lord Creator to heal my wounds, and thankfully restoring my sight as well. He did the same to Falcor, who was calling out in surprise and alarm, still unable to see.

With the immediate aftermath dealt with thanks to the Creator, I had a look inside the chest. I found a small ornate inlaid gold wooden box, a large leather pouch, and a metal scroll case. I handed the scroll case to Falcor, who cried "ouch!" and threw it at Arad! Arad, rather more calmly, opened the case and looked through the three scrolls inside. Apparently they meant nothing to him, so he handed them back, individually, to Falcor. This time he took a closer look, and apparently they were arcane scrolls enabling a door to be locked, acid to be created, or to possibly turn us all invisible (which sounded really rather useful to me).

Arad had a closer look in the other corner of the room, and found a concealed door. He asked me to check it before any of us tried to open it, moving hurriedly away. So little faith! How many explosions can you set off in one room, anyway?! He moved to the window again, and saw more goblins to the south. This time, though, they had crossbows trained on the house. I guess that they saw the "fireworks" and wondered what was going on in here! Arad shouted a warning to Falcor, who moved to a window to see.

Having determined that the door was safe, I opened it... but it turned out that it was just the garderobe! There was nothing of interest there, so I made my way back to the others. Arad was drawing his bow as if about to fire, which alarmed me! I asked him not to shoot - we didn't want to bring a swarm of goblins down on us! I was hoping the fear of the things that were usually here would keep them away. I also suspected that there was a goblin tunnel exit in the bushes outside... would that link to the basement of the house, if it had one? Falcor shushed us as we debated whether to engage or not, and told us to come downstairs.