Vilma looks at the scorch marks, and realizes during the battle that nothing like the constable was fighting them. They were both men. And while looking dessicated and all corpsey, they had beards. Even their armor and weapons have a distinctive cultural "feel" about them, and they spoke in an unfamiliar accent.
Vilma steps past Lillian and Vessex into the hallway - a 5' wide passageway running for 15' N-S, with spiraling stairs to the west. The passage to the north ends at a door.