Loten sheathed his sword after the tensions in the room subsided. Striking alight a torch from his pack, he tossed it down into the opening. The wood clattered below reverberating echoes as before. Peering over the edge the paladin sought to gain further knowledge of the platform, but again nothing was revealed.

Nanith scratched his chin as furrows formed across his forehead. Pulling a silk rope from his knapsack, he instructed " Let me down slowly." emphasizing the last word. He looped the rope once around his waist and made a rudimentary knot. " If I scream, yell, or yank the rope, pull me up." He received a sunrod from the mage and was lowered into the hole by the bulks of Loten, Teflar, and Erelis. It was apparent that the rogue took initiative in the discovery of the unknown and gained the admiration of his fellows in this ungrateful darkness.

1 PM: At the bottom, Nanith notified the team that he was fine and asked for a few moments to analyze his surroundings. With the time given, Teflar retrieved his sword and examined it for nicks while Aramil moved back and eyed the walls abstractedly. Moran settled upon his arm apparently reluctant to help the halfling with his search in the lower room.
" Gailwind," the mage prompted " Do you believe you can discern some location from all your books and knowledge where the last battle was fought with the star?"

The sage, distracted from his anxieties, looked up from his silent vigil of contemplation in the doorway. " I have the general idea, Aramil, but I would have to research it a little deeper to exact where the myths and the facts conflict." He plucked at his pointed ear " Are you wanting to cross the entire continent of Lavenrae and brave the fierce north? Leave the region of Zegithir, you say?"

" You can pull me up now!" suddenly piped a high voice from below; the rope jerking playfully in Loten's right hand. As the paladin pulled the light load up through the hole, the wizard answered " I and Teflar have been thinking that exact notion. The Hall of Ursadrunn is where a resurgance of evil could blossom if ever there was a place. I would want to be there before the starpoints are united as one."

The room went silent while Nanith clambered out of the floor and briskly dusted himself off. " Well, nothing substantial to report, unfortunately." The hobbit looked himself over, seemingly satisfied that he looked half-respectable. " When I first got down there, I thought it might be some sort of lair." He waved his hand towards the hole with nose twitching " You'll understand when you're down there. I spied some very old scratch marks, but no beast made these. The rest of the chamber only contained some scattered debris. I'm also glad to announce that I did not find any traps!" A smile formed in the corner of his mouth. " I did find something interesting, though. There is another trapdoor similar to this one, but the other is nailed tightly shut. The nails looked strangely bright, but I could not distinguish their age. Nothing new I can be sure." The halfling charaded his actions with the heartiest of charisma " I put my ear against the portal, but I heard nothing. I suspect it was nailed to keep whatever was beneath from getting out. I think, however, that if there was something down there, it would surely not have survived."

Teflar peered down into the hole as if seeing something he couldn't before. " If it was nailed shut recently, there could be prisoners down there. I doubt that it harbors a monstrous beast ready to tear us apart. A handful of nails wouldn't stop anything large and determined. I say we go down and take a look."

Aramil, Roslyn, and Gailwind volunteered to stay above and guard the entry while the rest climbed on down safely and searched the new den. It was a majority decision to understand and bypass this latest barrier.