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Now why in the Width and the Breadth of the Pattern would there be two servant's stairs, damn near right on top of one another? It - no, no it really doesn't matter. What matters is getting to the second floor without any more asinine distractions like this. Looking to preclude yourself from hemming and hawing over which stair to take, you temporarily slide your stiletto into the pocket with all of the False Silverware, setting the pinned blade carefully amongst the tines of forks and the handles of spoons. With you freshly freed hand, you carefully fish around in your bundled-up dress for a talent for a moment or two. Just when you are starting to think that it would be quicker to just decide which stair to take on your own, you manage to find a talent that had wormed its way into the protective layer of False Silverware that you had wrapped up around the Fuel Nodules for your wand.
Not wanting to take any more time on this, you quickly settle on having the left stair being the Likeness and the right stair being the Eagle. Looking to be done with this, with equal parts deftness and haste you flip the coin - onto your bundle in the crook of your left arm, as to not make any noise - then impatiently check the result. The talent turned up Eagle, so after pocketing the coin and un-pocketing your knife, you head straight over to the winning setting of stairs and climb up them. By the time that you have cleared the first few risers, you can understand why these stairs were in shadow; save for a little light peeping its way through a slit window over the landing they are completely unlit.Yet there is enough light for you to manage to make it to that landing, then over to the switchbacked set of stairs. However, you only get half way up this set before you nearly trip over yourself in surprise when Strange-Staining activates. Starting from a point about six feet out, the entire wall to your left is smothered in Strange-Stains, to the point where the only way you could see the wall underneath would be to suppress the Strange-Staining Glyph. Everything else looks clean though; it is just the walls - no, just the wall to your left, which if you aren't mistaken is the inside of the exterior wall. It is hard to see beyond the stairs in this less-than-middling light, but it looks like there is a narrow hallway at the top of these stairs.
> Please choose ONE of the following:
> As there are two sets of stairs, there is no reason to take any risks here. Backtrack to the first floor, and take the other set up.
> There might be another set of stairs, but if you are careful you could make these work. Besides, you might see something.
> Please choose ONE of the following:
> Re-light the remains of the candle
> Continue relying on ambient light
