You tie the rope around your waist and take ahold of the lighted torch given to you by Throm, as your Barbarian ally calls himself.  Taking ahold of the slack rope, Throm lowers you slowly over the edge of the pit and down into the dark depths below.  You can see by the light of the torch that the sides of the pit are extremely smooth.  You drop about twenty meters before hitting the bottom of the pit.  There you see another tunnel heading north and you call up to Throm and tell him of your discovery.  He calls back, saying that he is going to tie the rope around a protruding rock on the edge of the pit and will come down and join you.  You hear him climbing down and soon you are together again.  Throm retrieves his rope by shaking it off the rock, and you set off north along the new tunnel.<br/><br/>On a stone ledge in the tunnel wall you se two dusty leather-bound books.  Throm grunts his contempt for the written word, urging you to leave the books and hurry on.<br/><br/><em>Your choices are to open the red leather book, or to open the black leather book, or to continue north along the tunnel.</em>