From his hiding place, Gunther can see Olivia meet with her Secret Contact, the mysterious Igor, who is clearly a foreigner of some sort (or several sorts). Having scoped out the grounds plenty of times previously, the Kadie knows that there's a gate from the garden that leads into a small courtyard next to the kitchens, where the door is never guarded.

Gunther flattens himself against one of the castle walls lining the garden and scoots along it slowly. It's one of those moments that just screams for music, but Gunther knows better than providing his own theme song … so he scoots along quietly. "I bet the dragon is the real mad scientist," he thinks, "That Eeee couldn't invent her way out of a canvas sack."

The Kadie knows he's under the tower bedroom as he skirts over the wet spot. Shouldn't vampire bats pee blood? Or something weirder? It sure kills weeds though. There's talking up there, barely audible… so the bats may both be up in the tower.

"She's also too busy with that weirdo doing … whatever it is that they do to invent anything. She's just the front of the operation," Gunther finalizes his decision as he continues to scoot along the wall. "Maybe Olivia is really the mad scientist. She does dress all weird, after all. And she came here!"

The old gate to the kitchen courtyard is just ahead now, and probably is as extra-creaky as the front door.

But who needs a gate? Kadies can climb! And so, Gunther tries to climb over the old wall!

There are plenty of vines, creepers and chipped-out hand and toe-holds in the wall. The other side is devoid of people, but the smell of burnt grease from the kitchen is nearly a physical presence.

"Bleh, chemical warfare! The fiends!" Gunther thinks as he shimmies down the other side and slinks towards the kitchen door. With that reek of grease, surely the hinges are well-lubricated just by being near it.

The door is open, to let the room air out apparently. The walls are coated with grime, and there several pots and pans just piled up in the sink. There's also a lot of iron on display, from the stovetop to the pots and pans. Nothing is cooking at the moment, but there is a fresh-baked PIE cooling near the window… in a cage.

Gunther sneaks over to the caged pie. "For whom was the caged pie baked?" he asks it softly as he rubs his hand together and looks for the lock.

The lock is sturdy ironwood… but still shows signs of having been chewed on. The cage itself is also ironwood, but there's a mesh of metal wiring between the bars, to prevent anyone with a skinny appendage from getting through.

Gunther digs in one of his many pockets for an instrument to try and pick the lock with. "This must be very special," he murmurs. "Maybe it is to trap gnomes… "

It smells like… strawberry… or cherry. Maybe blueberry or apple. Or, impossibly, every pie-able fruit at once. It is a Mystery Pie, for certain! The key hole is small, for a small lock, but a few of Gunther's picks will fit it.

Gunther waggles his fingers, picks up one of his smaller picks, and starts working on the lock. He sticks out his tongue and bites it in concentration. His tail dances around behind him as he works.

The lock pops open with little effort! Of course, that's when Gunther also realizes that the cage door isn't nearly wide enough for that pie to have fit through.

Gunther stares at the cage, pondering what nefarious mechanism it may have to release the pie! In the end, he just tries lifting the cage off the pie.

POP The cage bars lift right up out of the holes set in the base, exposing the pie!

Gunther almost takes the pie … but the little Kadie is wise in the ways of pastry defense. He checks the bottom plate for a pressure switch.

There doesn't seem to be anything under the plate. The only odd thing is a little clover stuck into the center cooling hole of the pie.

Gunther tries to lift the little clover out using his pick…

The clover lifts out easily, and… the pie DOES NOT START TICKING! Whoever set this pie out clearly knows nothing about proper booby-trapping.

"Amateurs," Gunther says with a snort. He sets the cage back over the pie; he'll collect it on the way out. But for now … he has a dragon to hunt. The Kadie drops to the floor and slinks out the doorway leading out of the kitchen.

This brings the Kadie to one of the many dark, creepy hallways. And this one is occupied! Sort of! There's a door marked SECRET LAB – KEEP OUT IGOR! to one side, and hanging from the door latch, apparently asleep, is the biggest, most evil-looking black Creen Gunther has ever seen. It even has an eye-patch, like some sort of pirate! And it's sleeping!

Gunther goes oooooooooooooooooo at the sight of the Creen. All he needs is a sack or a pillow case and that Creen is his. "I just bet that's one of the dragon's babies," he thinks. "Now, if I were a pillow case, where would I be? Aha! The dungeon," Gunther decides. So … he looks for a door that might lead down.

The Kadie comes across a door that he remembers! It goes down to the Tooth Vault, but he recalls other rooms down there too. Or… well, there's the clothesline out back. But laundry is probably washed down in the dungeons.

Gunther tries to quietly open the door to the dungeons and other rooms of nefarious duties. "Into the abyss; the only place where laundry is done," he thinks. Never mind he has to clean socks out of the hot springs once a week…

The alcove next to the back door opens to the narrow, spiral staircase, which leads down to the chilly basement (or dungeon). The 'bone lab' is one of the rooms along the hallway, but there are plenty of others to check out.

And down, down, goes the Kadie. The first room he decides to peer in is the tooth room, because, well, freaks might enjoy doung laundry amongst teeth.

The room is dark, but not so dark Gunther can't tell it's just used for the bone sample storage. It's also just too cold for doing laundry in!

Gunther grumps for a few seconds, but soon he closes the door and is off to the next one in line!

The next door is also some sort of cold storage, full of sealed jars large and small – some of them glass!

Gunther ooos. He goes into the room to peer into the glass jars and just see what evil things they're storying down here. "Probably the souls of babies," he thinks.

There are… blobby things floating in liquid. It's too dark to see what color they are, but at a guess they are probably pink.

Gunther heads back to the hall to fetch, and light, a lantern.

Light makes it all the more gruesome. The jars are filled with parts. From fingertips, to hearts and even eyeballs! Each jar has a paper label with a code of letters and numbers, along with the names of … donors. The really big, opaque ceramic ones often list specific organs, like 'liver', 'kidney' or parts like knees and ribs. The labels for those are more intricate, because they look a bit like the cards in a Library book, showing names and dates – as if the same organ had been used by multiple people.

Gunther actually feels … horrified by this discovery! It takes a couple minutes for the Kadie to recover himself … then he goes about checking all the names to make sure none are people he knows.

Some of the names in the 'checked out' columns of items belong to some of the older town residents. There's a container of ribs that has a very familiar name in the checkout side… but one that's been mostly rubbed out, and no date is next to it: Zahnrad.

Gunther's eyes narrow. He checks the side where the ribs supposedly came from. "And if he thinks he'll ever return them … well, he better think again. I'll kill that Skreek before he touches my family!" the Kadie thinks.

Something makes a sound outside… like a chuckle? It's pretty faint.

Gunther checks again for a name on the 'source' side of that pot before scurrying to the door and peering out as he looks to see if someone is coming down.

The 'donors' were all Kadies… as are those on the 'checkout' side, from the clan names. But the dates are old. The hall is empty outside the room, when Gunther holds the lantern out.

Gunther slips out of the gruesome room and checks to see if another door is ahead.

The next room is bare of body parts, but no less scary. The walls are covered in tools, and large rubber gloves and aprons hang from hooks. There are mobile stands with empty bottles hanging from arms, and a central table with a body-shaped depression in it and multiple drains. Along one wall are several large cabinet-style doors, and it even seems colder in here.

Gunther, every the curious Kadie, slinks over and opens one of the cabinets to peer in it. "This is where they torture prisoners!" he decides.

As for torture… well, the central table is clearly lacking in any sort of restraint mechanisms. The cabinet opens into a coffin-sized space with a sliding slab. It's empty, thankfully!

"Eeeee… " Gunther mutters when he realizes what this might be. Even though he knows better … he checks the other cabinets. Since there haven't been any recent deaths in town, the rest of the morgue slabs are also empty.

Gunther closes up the cabinets and slinks towards the door. He stops just before leaving, though and looks back at one of the rubber gloves. The Kadie ponders … would the Creen fit in that?

That Creen looked… big. Bigger than a glove, unless it just went over its head.

Gunther shrugs and slips out of the creepy body chop room. He shines the light further down the passage, seeing if another door is ahead or not.

One door remains, and it's half-opened already.

Gunther slinks down to the remaining door and peers around the door frame.

The room is still and shadowed, although… something seems to glint back.

So … Gunther holds up the lantern to illuminate the room and see just what is in there. "Well, well, what have we here?" he thinks.

The lantern shines back from the eyes of a half-dozen horrific monsters, all ready to pounce!

Gunther jumps up and straight back! So much so that he bangs his head on the ceiling and then lands on his butt! Somehow, he manages to keep hold of the lantern; perhaps due to years of Kettenrad training with tools and dangerous machines. "Ow," me mutters as he keeps one eye on the door to see if the monsters are coming out…

They still stand ready to pounce… and frozen. Each one has its own base, with inscriptions! "Balfrog", "Ettercap", "Momerath" and other bizarre names.

"They're stuffed," Gunther realizes as he gets back to his feet and dusts off his butt. The Kadie, now curious, slinks into the room to see if he can identify just what the creatures were.

It's a taxidermy studio. Some of the monsters are clearly made up of different parts of regular animals… but a few are either genuine or else are made of monstrous animal parts.

Gunther has a twinge of jealousy now; he wants a pet monster! Hmf. And yet no laundry room in sight to swipe a Creen-catcher. What kind of freaks don't keep the laundry in the dungeon? Thee Kadie slips back out of the taxidermy room and makes a decision! He'll measure the Creen and build a container the perfect size. He can always sneak back in…

Once he's in the hall, and his back is turned on the taxidermy room… something reaches out and grabs him by the back of his shirt! Darkness falls as something wraps around the Kadie's head, and his ears ring with the cries of, "Aauuuuugh! Auuuughh! Getitorf! The PAIN, the PAIN!"

"Wah!" goes Gunther as he flails about under horrific Creen attack! So, the Kadie does what comes natural, he tries to headbutt the wall do dislodge the beast!

Of course, the Creen lets go just before Gunther's head impacts the wall. BONK! From down the hall, back at the stairs, the boy hears the sound of a raspberry being blown, and glimpses the black Creen bobbing its head up and down in amusement.

Gunther glares at the Creen as he rubs his now hurting head. "You'll get yours when you're my pet!" he tells the nasty beastie. "Oh yes, he will. I just have to build the right trap!" the Kadie decides as he heads back towards the kitchen…

He can still hear the Creen, back at the door to the SECRET LAB, rattling the door handle. But even worse… the pie is gone! Someone came and stole it before he could liberate it!

"Curses!" Gunther declares and shakes his fist to the ceiling, "No one steals my rightfully stolen pastry! No one! Only the most fiendish crumb would dare cross me in such a way! They'll rue the day, rue!" And as Gunther slips out the kitchen door … he thinks, "What does rue mean, anyway?"

"Gunther?" comes the familiar soft voice of Parsley Chalk, who is just now entering the kitchen from a different direction. "Did you want some of the pie I made for Clover? There's another whole one back at the Kettenrad kitchen – well, unless Amelia and Zahn have found it… "

"I've been spotted!" Gunther yells, "RETREAT!" And so the Kadie does! It's amazing how fast one Kadie can climb over garden walls…

"Oh… I guess he didn't want any pie then," the Lapi says, watching the retreating tail. She sits down in the courtyard and eats the slice she brought herself then…