The sunlight and the sight of the open world beyond the structure were a great relief for Kalia. Never mind the fact that the water was scummy and there was still no clear way out of the strange building, just seeing the promise of freedom to come was enough to lift her spirit. She'd been trying to repress the horrifying thought that there was no way out at all, that she would die trapped in the strange building she'd woken up in without ever seeing the outside world again. For a brief while she had considered the notion that she had died and been sent to some god's twisted idea of an afterlife, a punishment for her wrongdoing. Now she could set aside those notions, and it felt as if a weight had lifted from her shoulders.

Kalia's forward progress was halted by a rusty metal door. That in itself wasn't worrying, since it was already ajar and presumably could be opened all the way without much trouble, but the sound coming from behind the barrier halted her where she stood. She heard footsteps and clanking metal, probably meaning it was someone wearing armor moving around, but they sounded distant. New fears rushed into her mind, but she couldn't let that stop her now. Kalia felt so close to breaking free of this nightmare she'd found herself in, and cowardice would only hold her back. None of these brave thoughts moved her forward, however. In the brief seconds she stood paused in front of the door, the thing that got her moving again was the thought that since the footsteps were so quiet it meant that the source couldn't be anywhere near the door, so she'd be safe so long as she stayed quiet.

The rusty door presented an obvious problem in the stealth department. If the hinges were as bad as the body of the door itself, they would creak loud enough to wake the dead. There was nothing for it but to try, so she moved to the door and gave it a light experimental push, ready to bolt back down the passage if it made a loud sound. The hinges seemed to be in decent condition, but there was something behind the door that resisted her push, something that made a rattling metallic noise. It wasn't very loud, and there was no shout of alarm from the room, so she kept on pushing the door slowly open. Once there was enough room for her to slip by, as with the stone before, she slipped through the gap.

Just inside Kalia found pieces of armor piled up against the door. She hadn't knocked any over with her gentle door opening, else there would have been a racket probably loud enough to draw the source of the footsteps. For a moment she considered just moving on ahead, but then she remembered the few people who would be following shortly. She wouldn't be surprised if one of them came barging through without a care, scattering armor and making tons of noise, and that would ruin all her caution. Sighing at the necessity, Kalia started moving pieces of armor carefully away from the door in order to make enough from for even the big man who'd helped with the vine to get through, hoping she could get it done before the others caught up to her.