The Wayfarer's Inn

You guessed correctly about the open space between the crypt and the wall. The lid of the crypt (imagine it simply as a huge stone vault) is the stone slab with the web of cracks. Of course, nobody could actually walk upon it, but it would be possible to use it as a place to stand on (bracing the wall, of course) to reach the secret door in the wall above it, and probably shattering it that way.

Man, some areas are really hard to describe.

Sol looks the situation over and then says "This is obviously an elaborate trap. Dumping us in this pit and then unleashing whatever evil is behind the secret door. Would it make sense for us to get out of the hole and get up on the sloped lip over this pit, then one of us could use the boots of levitation and either figure out the secret door or trigger the apparent trap with the lid of the crypt? That would get us out of the way of whatever is behind the secret door that is expecting us to be in the bottom of the pit. Just a thought..."

"Sounds like a good plan", says ahi, nodding.

Gaderon might have had another plan in mind, but, after a moment of hesitation, he simply nods.

"I hold my magic ready, in case we need to protect you, nonetheless."

After you've all climbed out of the sunken chamber again, Eilkhan puts on Gaderon's magical boots and her kid gloves and levitates down the wall until she reaches the bas-relief with the three serpents. After cautiously searching the area for a while, she levitates up again.

"The secret door is obviously a pivoting panel. I could find no signs of a trap there and will now proceed to open the door, if that's easily possible."

Levitating down again, you see her start to push at the panel, but it doesn't seem to work because the force that she extends at it pushes her immediately away from the wall and to the other end of the room.

"Levitation is useless", she calls out as she glides up the shaft towards you. "There's no place for me to hold fast or stand on, except for the crypt lid, and that door needs a bit more than a tender push to open it. Any ideas?

OOC: FYI, levitation, in 1st edition is like being weightless. You can only control the up and down direction.

Sol looks at the others "Perhaps Gaderon would be willing to try opening the secret door or the crypt with a knock spell or something similar?"

Gaderon shrugs.

"I can do so, but it would take us some time. I am not... A 'spellthief', I think is the term. I will need some time to read up on this. Maybe an hour, or two."

...But then Gaderon sneezed, in utter desperation.

"...Where was my mind, again? - I have it here, right here... I guess it's true what people say about aging wizards..."

[Knock on the secret door.]

With a grinding sound and a trickling of dust, the secret door pivots open, responding to Gaderon's magic.

"Let me look." Eilkhan jumps into the shaft again and levitates down to the opening in the wall. Using her magical gem for lighting, she cautiously looks inside.

"There's a passage here, hewn out of the solid rock. It's perhaps twenty feet long and looks as if no one has been here since centuries. At the end is a stone block - another portal most likely. There's an inscription on it, but I can't read it from here. Looks like these old glyphs again, so it's perhaps better when Ahi tries to decipher them." Levitating up again, she pulls off the boots and hands them to the priest. "Does you spell still work? I haven't checked for traps yet...."

"Aye, it should", says Ahi. "It lasts for about half an hour, usually...".

Ahi then prepares to lower himself to the new tunnel.