The secret door in the dragons’ lair leads to this long, wide hallway. The passageway extends 80 feet before ending at an iron portcullis.

A wide hallway stretches away from you into the darkness. As you advance down the hallway, you see a portcullis ahead, its iron bars preventing further progress.

This apparently empty hallway hides a deadly trap. A DC 21 Search check reveals that the last 10 feet of passageway is a barely noticeable pressure plate. The pressure plate extends to within 6 inches of the walls on either side of the corridor, but a character who succeeds on a DC 15 Balance check (or who jumps over the plate) can reach a 1-footwide section of safe floor in front of the portcullis.

As the PCs approach the portcullis, read the following. Beyond the portcullis, you can make out a flight of dark stone steps leading down. Closer to you, a lever is set into the wall next to the iron grate.

Development: The PCs are safe once they move beyond the portcullis.