The orc's sapper-tunnel was a way into the crypts, presumably for the orcs to rob them. The proper way in was a stair-and-hallway under the shrine. Vairar had sealed that path from inside, but now that he was not harassed by orcs, he was able to return through the sapper tunnel and open the way. The group gathered the orcs and filled the sapper tunnel with their bodies, and collapsed the tunnel on them, leaving false evidence, in case they were discovered by roaming orcs, that they had perished in their greed.
Within the shrine, there was a device for communicating with the manor-house (the reason the Daggerfordians had come) and they found it with a bit of difficulty. It was a carved soapstone, hanging from a silken rope on the wall next to a beautiful tapestry depicting the passage of seasons.
When activated, a voice filled the room, a woman speaking elvish, "Who is there? If you have desecrated our family crypts, you will not live long to regret it."
Vairar recognized the voice as that of Shalendra Floshin, Lord Darfin's sister. He had met her once, at the manor house, but clearly she was unaware that he had gone to secure the crypts (he was not a member of the house staff, but an occasional guest, this time only recently arrived.)
On the shrine's floor there was a patterned mosaic, and a circle began to glow brightly within it.