As Caine steps into the room, he sees that the skeleton has several golden teeth. Strangely, it's jaw is open agape at a extreme angle, as if it had died screaming in mortal terror. 

"Staying here after darkness falls is likely unwise," he says to Cedar.

Then he reaches down and plucks the book from the lap of the skeleton, hoping it will reveal more than the one from downstairs.

Tam's unease continues to grow,

"What do you think is keeping them?"

Cedar nods "Being here at all is unwise. Something killed this man, and I don't want to find out what."

Caine slips the book in with the other and turns back to Cedar.

"Only through understanding can we avoid making the mistakes of others," he says. "But day is moving on, and I agree it may be unwise to stay longer than is necessary. Let us rejoin the others and we can look over these books again when we make camp."

He then heads down the stairs to find the others.

Caine steps forward towards the skeleton. The floor creaks with his step, and the chair begins to rock back and forth. The skeleton holds the book firmly in it's hands, but with some time and effort, the tome is removed from it's grasp. On a first glance, this book is also written with complex symbols, but of a different nature than the first. Strange illustrations of monstrous creatures fill the pages, which are stained a dark brown in several places. 

What Caine doesn't notice however, is the small wire that was gingerly wrapped around the skeleton's fingers. The wire which ran down the rocking chair and into the cracks in the floorboards. When the book was removed, the wire gives an almost imperceptible twang. 

The floor underneath Caine opens up! Suddenly, the monk finds himself plummeting down a dark pit. But instead of landing on the first floor, Caine falls farther and hits a cold stone floor, the skeleton and chair falling down with him! 

(DEX Save DC 20 or 7 damage.)

At the bottom, Caine finds himself in what seems to be an ancient tunnel system. The air is warm and humid, unlike the cool fall temperatures above. With the only light shining down from the top of the pit, Caine's darkvision lets him see four tunnels entrances around him. From the distance, a certain noise grows louder- the scurrying of rats. 

Cedar sees a trapdoor open up under Caine's feet. A loud crash can be heard by even the ones outside as the wooden rocking chair splinters into pieces

Caine barely has time to grab on to the book before the floor gives out under him.

(Dex Save: 9  )

While he crashes down with the flooring, the chair, the skeleton, part of the first floor, he's able to keep his balance and jump from broken flooring to part of the chair, and in the end roll out of the fall, remaining relatively unharmed.

He quickly scans his environment checking to see if it's possible to climb out of the tunnel back up into the house, while at the same time trying to determine from what direction the sound of rats is coming from.

(Perception if needed: 14  )

“Where is everyone? We need to catch up soon or they’ll get away!” Exasperated, Helena remembers where the tracks start and tries to find everyone so they can keep going.

Seeing the two start toward the door, Jaesali heads down the stairs. Her head whips around at the sound of the crashing and she runs back up.

"Caine! Cedar!" She reaches the hole and looks down as she reaches into her pack for a rope. 

((Is Caine within range of her darkvision and a rope?))

Cedar turns sharply and calls back "You folks ok?"

Tam looks around and then back into the building,

"What? What are they doing in there? They are going to attract attention."

He pushes himself up against the building an has no intention of going inside.

(OMG, I completely missed the post where Caine fell into a pit 😳) 

Cedar turns his attention back to the hole. He creeps over on his stomach, carefully assessing the threat level- how deep is the pit and is there anywhere to fasten a rope to above it. 

"Caine, I am going to try to toss you a rope. Be careful down there, and shout if you need me."

Nolla also glances inside, she sighs and looks around for a moment. "I best go and see what is going on, keep a watch out here ok?" She requests, then heads in to see what is happening. Upon seeing the trap door, and the two with ropes, she says. "Can you get him out? If so, please hurry, we want to be after the bandits before it is full dark..." She then would return outside. "Seems one of them fell into a trap door, the others are trying to get him out with ropes." She informs those outside.

Tam shakes his head at hearing someone fell in a hole but keeps quiet. He does nod in agreement with the sentiment that they want to get moving.

(Cedar or Jaesali, who-ever is holding the rope, please expend a use of Adventuring Gear).

@Caine

Those looking down the pit with darkvision will see Caine among a pile of rubble. Humid air and the smell of rot rises from below, and Caine seems to be in some sort of ancient tunnel system. All is quiet- nothing seems amiss. A rope can be easily thrown down to assist the monk. 

(Athletics check for Caine to climb, DC 13). 

Caine looks around for the source of the voice, suspecting it's referring to the two books. The far more disturbing suspicion is that the voice might be somehow linked to the rats themselves.

Rather than wait to see how many rats are about to come out of these tunnels, Caine grabs on to the rope Cedar lowered and begins climbing up.

(Athletics Check: 15  )

“How does someone who’s survived a huge diseased bear fall in a hole?” Helena, frustrated at the delay, pulls an arrow out and squats, beginning to trace the path they’d taken so far through the woods in the dirt, comparing to the one back in town to calm herself.

Tam shrugs at Helena's question and says quietly,

"Too much curiosity. Curiosity provides it own punishments."

"Once they get him out of there, I still vote we move off, staying in this place doesn't seem wise to me." Nolla puts in.

Jaesali lays on the ground and reaches out to grab Caine when he is in range. STR 16