Board Thread:General Wiki Discussion/@comment-7673575-20180915162630/@comment-26444017-20180916002431

Here are my thoughts.

I can't speak to the prior history of people attempting the staircase. That one's up to Helel.

The gatekeeper seems indifferent to whether he lives or dies, more or less resigned to his fate. Still, he doesn't turn away trial goers, so maybe he does want them to succeed, but expects them all to fail. Maybe he'd be open to a deal, but considering how long he's been around, people have likely tried that in the past, and gotten nowhere with it. Besides, the only deal that might interest him is being free of the staircase, and the only way to do that is to succeed at the challenge.

The mansion may only appear when there are no observers, or maybe it rewrites the memories of those in the city so they remember it being there all along. However, these are merely speculation on my part.

Obviously Helel has final say on the whole prior relationship issue, but personally, I really like the idea if it can be pulled off well.