Rayne and company made it just in time, ducking into the new tunnel just as the stone staircase collapsed into impassable rubble behind them. There was no way to go but forward and up now. Uncomfortably short, they were forced to bend over or crawl on all fours, and the passage was too narrow for any other formation than one-by-one in a line. "Not cool Rayne," Sylvia pouted behind the half-elf, "at least bring me back as a ghost so I can haunt you for your failures," and so saying she gave her fellow archer's tantalizingly waving rump a playful smack. As they ascended, the walls turned from rock to soil. Rayne almost tripped over a broken shovel discarded carelessly on the ground, but the wooden haft hadn't yet rotted away, nor had the metal blade rusted - evidence that this tunnel had been dug out not too long ago.<br/><br/>The soil was evidently easier to dig through because the tunnel widened somewhat, though it wasn't tall enough to stand up straight without bending their necks. At last they reached the end of the tunnel and a sturdy, dwarf-sized wooden door. It didn't even have a lock - though before they opened the door, a noise came from the other side. A low grunt of exertion, footsteps moving across the floor, then a creaking of wooden steps bearing weight, and finally rusty hinges squeaking and a slam as something shut. Then silence once more.