Everything seems to be going fine, with no signs of anything larger than a lizard inhabiting the cave. As he makes his way down a side passage, however, several things happen all at once. Outside, another peal of thunder rolls across the landscape, accompanied by the sound of splintering wood, loud enough to have been almost directly above him. The second, difficult to hear above the explosion overhead, is a woman's cruel, almost mocking laughter. The third, and most noticeable, however, is the sudden giving way of the floor beneath his feet, the path taking on a sharper angle than he expected, as he set his foot down, causing him to slip and fall down an unexplored passage, sliding downhill about thirty feet, coming to a hard stop in a pile of loose pebbles that breaks his fall.