Staircase: No Return

The balustrades of this fearsome staircase are carved like gnarled roots. The stairs lead up to the baroque archives, while a much humbler iron ladder descends into the substructure. Whether up or down, there is no return from this passage. “To advance,” Don Óscar Zavala wrote of this stair, “is to die to your past hopes and submit to the Haustorium’s consumption.”

Staircase: No Return (Locked)

When I approach, the darkness quivers. Hostility? Anticipation? Either way, I can’t enter until I ensure an exit. Essential: Assistance Required: 2 Rose, 2 Lantern, 2 Knock

Opening it will Expose:

• Staircase: Bravery
• Fermentation Cellar

Contents

• Potted Monstera
• ‘Lord Jacob Gristwood’
• Gnarled Bench

Wing: Watchman’s Archive