Yank the lever!

Prancing over to the lever, you grip it in one hand, and then with the other you yank it down as far and hard as you can. It doesn't slide down with ease, instead creating friction in its primitive mechanism, but eventually, it clicks down.

In the centre of the room, a staircase emerges from the dirt. Dust flies across the room as the stone steps rise out of the earth. You step closer to it, feeling the ground rumble beneath you. Gulping, you look down into the staircase's depths, finding a flickering light at the end of it.

"Huh. I didn't expect something like that..." You chuckle awkwardly to yourself. "I wonder... how far does it go?"