Going Down

She looked at the tunnel around her, dimly lit by her lantern. Though the rest of the tunnel had been almost free of debris, a large rock was conveniently nearby. She lifted it experimentally. It was so heavy that she could barely lift it, which was what she had hoped. She manoeuvred it to a position close to where the tunnel emerged into what she assumed must be the Arsenal, and placed it on top of one end of the ladder. Then she dropped the other end over the edge, extinguished her lantern and put it in her pouch, and began climbing down. (Trying to climb down with the lamp in one hand would be unnecessarily risky.)

1. She reached the floor safely, took out her lamp and relit it.
2. She reached the end of the ladder (she had carefully counted the rungs as she descended), but had not reached the floor. It might be only a foot or so below her, or it might still be a long way down.
3. Halfway down, the ladder started to move. Her weight must be causing the end to slide away from under the rock!
4. Meanwhile, back in the room from which Checkers had come...

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