(OOC: Flannad, and anyone else interested, can continue to play with his new bag of tricks as much as you like, but I'm also going to move you forward. We can assume the bag experimentation is happening along the way.)
The party recommits itself in its mission of finding the kidnapped children. Feeling that the last unopened 'Z' door is the best chance to get to the way down, the party sets off in that direction. The group removes Flannad's defenses from the night before, and slips through the secret door in the south wall of the lab. Passing by four more gear doors before reaching the intersection, Flannad notes glyphs with the letters 'N', 'E', 'I', and 'D'.
Flannad scouts ahead, but doesn't find any fresh signs of trouble. The group crosses the pit trap that the gnome had disabled previously, and they note gratefully that it still safely supports their weight. Heading into the map room, Flannad pulls out the 'Z' key. After a careful inspection, he unlocks the door, which rolls into its frame without incident.
Flannad leads the party into a small corridor which runs south for twenty feet, then ends in a T-junction. Looking west, the group sees a four way intersection. The northern part of the intersection looks like it must lead to the other gear door leading into the map room. Further west past the intersection, the corridor appears to lead into a larger room with two short flights of steps leading upwards past some kind of landing.
20 feet to the east, the group sees that the passage opens up into a large hall that holds what look to be some black pillars. Of further interest, a floating light can be seen bobbing and weaving in the gloom of the hall.
Which way?