Teflar looked at the anchor and then down at the trapdoor. " I don't know. It appears to be wedged fairly tight. I think we will need to remove some of the nails first. We could, however, chop a hole in the center of the trapdoor and angle the grappling hook through it. We could all go up top and yank the door open in relative safety."

Erelis applied his dagger blade to the wood again. Sawing its edge underneath a spikehead, he agreed " This may work, but not without a lot of time and acknowledgement of the noise created by our effort."

Nanith's eyes lit up. " I may have the tools to aid us!" Again, he pillaged through his belongings and brought out a leather case filled with many crafty apparatus of ordinary make. " Grabbing a tiny saw and pliers, the hobbit set to task of pulling out the silver nails.

While the three joined together in the chore, the foursome slid down the rope from up above and joined them. After an hour of speculation to the silver-seal, tenacious work to remove half the nails, and the puncturing of the door with pounding blades, the fellowship managed to rip up the trapdoor with the grappling hook and forced pull of the rope from the common room above. The door shrieked in metallic resistance as the rest of the wedges gave way to hard determination of the comrades. Everyone then prepared for something to happen as swords were readied and nervous eyes spied the broken trapdoor. After endless minutes of sheer silence, the group gathered into the lower room staring down into an empty void. Held torches revealed nothing but another similar room below.

Teflar exhaled a strained breath; the shortsword in his hand quivering slightly. " Hey Loten, why don't you come here. I think I'd like your special senses near me at the moment." The paladin stepped over and indicated to everyone that indeed there was a morbid presense below, but couldn't determine anything specific. He reminded his friends to bear any silver weapons, if possible.

Nanith and Rosyln gathered the loose nails that were lying around and held them out in their fists as if to pose a new defense. Aramil looked to the others as his peregrine falcon flew in from above. The bird seemed agitated and refused to take simple scanning orders. " I hate to say this, but I will not go any further because whatever is down there is extremely dangerous. Moran's natural instincts refuse to allow her to venture farther into this forsaken den. I must stay behind once again and act as guard."

Erelis shook his head with nervous energy while preparing his rope for the descent to the second basement room. " I respect the cleric wholeheartedly, but I second-guess his choice to leave us at this time." He hooked one end of the grappling to the edge of the hole and tossed the silk rope to the floor below. " Teflar, our 'leader', should go first." The psionic wore a sarcastic yet unprovoking grin as he waved the ranger ahead.

Taking another deep breath, Teflar acknowledged the retort, but replied " Lower me quickly. I want my hands free just in case. If things go wrong, try to draw me up. If you can't, don't come down after me. Whatever is there to help us may be worth my life, but not the mission." With those troubling yet brave remarks, the woodsman dropped Aramil's sunrod below to light his way and descended slowly down into the inner depths.