The footpads and the pirates gazed in awe at the ancient magical working as the doorway appeared, swallowing tons of sand without any apparent ill effect. Calliope gazed down into the darkness, but her keen eyes could discern nothing other than a series of stairs hewn crudely from the sandstone. Almost as one the bandits turned their eyes to the two pirates thinking, no doubt, that the time had come to remove their 'partners' from the endeavor. Calliope wagged a finger at them in a scolding fashion.

"It would be a shame for something to happen now when we haven't even seen what is inside," she pointed out reasonably. The bandits exchanged looks for a moment before the leader took charge.

"Nothing will happen of course, we have sworn brotherhood even though you are not of this land," Hayikk exclaimed, managing to sound hurt despite the fact he would almost certainly have put a knife in her back if she had been foolish enough to turn it. Calliope had not become the Tyrant of Callaverde by being overly trusting however. She pulled her veil tightly across her face and moved over to join Markus on the stairs. Lifting his blade he sent a spark of light down into the space below, though all this accomplished was to illuminate a bend in the stairs a few dozen yards down. There was a faint and uncertain stench from the tunnel below, perhaps putrefaction that had long been dried by sand and heat till it was hardly noticeable. Calliope threw her sarong back so that it no longer impeded her sword arm, the saber she had taken from a guard during the escape was heavier than she preferred but a blade was a blade.

"Shall we see what is inside?" she suggested eagerly.