The stair makes almost a full circle around the tree-trunk, rising perhaps twenty feet as it does so; obviously old age has had little effect on Chicken Bone's agility. An opening in the platform spills a little lantern-light on the top of the stairs; as he steps up Crow can see that the space he is entering is quite large--much bigger than he expected. The platform extends roughly twenty feet out from the tree-trunk and seems to encircle it entirely. Only about a third of the platform can be seen; the rest is hidden behind rice curtains suspended from a high ceiling.Rotipher of the FoS wrote:The bard accepts the lantern, then glances at the elf, whose pushiness is starting to annoy him. Do all outlander hirelings countermand their employers' peers...? Or is it an elven character-trait to be so crass?
"Beg pardon, but we don't know if this 'Chicken Bone' is familiar with, or fond of, elves. Best if he sees a human face first."
Crow shoulders his way past Seaven, then sets his free hand against the moss-encrusted bark of the great tree and begins making his way carefully up the rickety stairs.
It is brightly lit, at least compared to the stygian darkness of the swamp, with two lanterns set in far corners of the room and numerous candles burning at a pair of low altars covered in statuettes and icons. There is no other furniture, at least in this section of the platform. The floor--of wide wooden slates, not quite perfectly joined--has been scrawled over with chalk many times, and burn marks and bloodstains are both apparent here and there over its surface. A high shelf built into the tree trunk holds several skulls, which seem to look down on the room with macabre jollity in their lipless grins.
"Entrez, m'sieurs, madame," a soft, hoarse voice says. The rice curtain is thrust aside to reveal an old man, his close-cut and tightly curled hair white and his face heavily lined. Gesturing with his hands, he invites Crow to step up and take a place in the room, to which he directs him by gestures; as the rest of the group file in, he directs them in the same way, bringing Gertrude and Rolande to the front and placing Crow and Buchvold together, a little to one side.