Mint Dam – Inner Control Room
The inner control room is seen by very few outside of the Wingnut clan. Not that many would be able to make out what it is in any event. The room is absolutely covered in various levers, knobs, dials, and little fiddly bits. Every now and then, bells 'ping' somewhere in the room, registering who knows what just happened. The back of the entry door can be seen from here, and it appears to have one of the most complicated locking mechanisms in the entire town. It has no less than one hundred deadbolts that lock into the door frame, each connected to the rest by well crafted gears. It takes just the right rotation sequence of twelve different gears to get all the bolts to slide free from the frame at the same time.

Thankfully, it's dry in here. It certainly isn't outside. The rain is pouring down and the sky thunders overhead. It took Zahn about ten minutes to sequence open the main door and lead Amelia inside. He sets his pack in the corner and shakes off a bit. "Well, it's going to be a delightful night out on the dam surface," he grumbles.

While wringing out her tail, Amy looks nervously at the complicated door mechanism. "Uh, it's easier to open that from the inside, right?" she asks. If something does happen to Zahn out on the dam, she doesn't want to be trapped in this room, after all.

Zahnrad nudges the door shut. All the bolts click into place all at once. "Nope. We're now trapped in here all night," he deadpans, then grins. After a moment, he just reaches into the center and turns a small red knob and they all release. "Or … maybe not."

Amelia gives Zahn such a look. "Your sense of humor is scary, Zahnrad. Will anyone else have any reason to come here tonight while you're working on the dam?"

"No. And what's wrong with my sense of humor?" Zahn asks. He goes over and peers at a few of the dials.

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with it," Amy notes. "Just that it was scary." She goes over to watch the Kadie at the controls. "When you shut off whatever you need to shut off, can the controls be locked so they can't be changed accidentally?"

"Not really. We've never had much of a need for that," Zahn replies. The Kadie reaches out and pulls a few levers. There are several dull thumps in the distance and some of the dials seem to go dead. "There, the gearing under the walkway should be safe enough now. I won't get crushed while I work on it."

"Okay, so long as I don't have to keep an eye on the controls," Amelia says, and checks to see just how much room she has to move around in the room without coming close to any controls.

Amelia sees she's probably got about ten feet by ten feet of clear room in the center. It's not huge, but enough for a few people to work without issue if need be. "No, you shouldn't," Zahn notes, "Remember, I usually do this alone. It only really needs one person."

Sitting down in the center of the room, Amy faces the door. "And that door is the only way in or out, right?" she asks.

"Er, not exactly," Zahnrad admits. "There's the passage through the core, but no one uses it. I haven't even been down there in a few years."

Amy hmms at this, and looks around. "Where does it come out in here?" she asks.

"You're sitting on it," Zahnrad remarks, then grins. He reaches over and pulls one of the levers (one that's really, really, dusty). There's a groan, a creaking sound, then Amy finds herself being lifted up!

The girl hops up to avoid being tipped over, and spins around to see the trapdoor. "Well, I guess I'll know if anyone tries to come in that way then… "

The smell of fetid water and mildew emanates from the hole. "Huh, it does still work," he remarks, sounding a bit surprised. So, he pushes the lever back. However, the door doesn't close; well, not until he kicks it.

Amelia holds her nose. "Ewww, it's as bad as the swamp," she comments in a funny voice, since her nostrils are pinched shut.

"Well, it's damp down there," Zahnrad notes with a shrug. "Anyway, I don't see why you'd need to go down there. It exits around the third waterwheel. Well, I should say the water drain does. You'd have to climb through that to get out. It's really just a maintenance hatch."

"Is that near where you'll be working?" Amelia asks. "Maybe I could listen in through it if that's the case."

"Not that near. I'll probably pass by it a couple of times, but that's about it," Zahnrad replies. "Plus, it's raining. Not sure you'd hear all that much. but, up to you. You did want to come out here."

"I've got nothing else to listen to," Amelia notes. "So maybe I'll pop it open if I get really bored. How long do you expect your work to take?"

"Depends on how much damage and decay there is. If there's not much, I still have to grease and clear all the gears, which takes a few hours," Zahn says and lifts his pack back up. He looks around, then says, "You could also take a nap in here, I … guess. Not much to lay on."

"I can sleep standing up if I have to," Amy claims. "But I'm too edgy right now for that. I don't know if I'm in the right place or not… "

"Right place for what?" Zahnrad asks. He then shakes his head, commenting, "Oh, right, my death."

"Well, for preventing it," Amy says.

Zahnrad raises an eyebrow, then says ominously, "Or … maybe you cause it." He then just laughs, goes over, and hugs Amy. "You worry too much."

Amelia hugs Zahn tighter than usual. "That… was my worry, from the way the vision went."

Zahnrad reaches up and brushes Amy's his hand along Amy's cheek. "You may be many things, but someone who'd kill me? Nah," he notes. "Drive me crazy, perhaps." He winks.

Smiling, Amelia says, "I figured I may have just distracted you at the wrong time. But now, I'm worried about someone else trying to hurt you."

"Eh, I'm a nobody. So, not likely a target," Zahnrad notes. "I mean, why would someone want to?"

"It doesn't have to be a rational reason," Amelia says.

"Eh, I suppose," Zahnrad admits, then sighs. "I should really get to work."

Amy gives Zahn a quick peck on the cheek, and says, "Come back alive and in mostly one piece, okay?"

Zahn's response to this is to actually kiss Amelia, on the lips, and this time … not quickly. "Well, I'd prefer to be in one piece. I'll be careful. So, no worrying," he says then heads towards the door. And then … Amelia finds herself alone in a room full of levers, strange dials, and pinging noises.

After her flush subsides, Amy sits down on the trapdoor and tries to relax. "I hope I don't start talking to myself," she whispers to herself, and settles down to wait. Hopefully, that's all she'll have to do.

And for the first couple hours, the room is deathly boring. No specters of doom, no hordes. Heck, not even a slug comes to bother Amelia. She does learn, however, the pings seem to happen once every three minutes, and that there's a rhythmic creaking which is probably from small waves. And that there are exactly eighty-three floorboards, twenty-two knotholes, and two of the boards squeak a bit.

Amy stands up and paces to keep from getting stiff. The attack on the Gorts earlier took more out of her than she wanted to admit, and her muscles are starting to complain. So, she paces and does some stretches to keep limber and warm.

Funny. As Amelia paces along the floor, she could have sworn she just felt a rather cold draft. It may have come through one of the knotholes.

Because she has nothing else to do, Amy begins reexamining the nearly two-dozen knotholes, to see if any of them open into another room or outside.

Hmmm. After a few minutes of checking, she determines it's coming from one of the knotholes near the trapdoor. Which is odd, really. The air wasn't cold coming from below when Zahn opened it earlier.

Getting onto her hands and knees, the dark Kadie puts her ear close to the hole, listening for… well, anything really.

Dripping water, and a bit more creaking … wait. She could have just sworn she heard a young voice. A minute passes and there it is again. But, the creaking of the dam muffles out what exactly the voice is saying.

"I could be just hearing things," Amy thinks to herself, then takes a good sniff at the knothole, to make sure it really is opening onto the same access shaft as the trapdoor.

Phew. Nothing like the smell of stagnant water. It's probably the same shaft.

Amy gets a sudden chill. Lots of people have died working on the dam, she thinks, getting the notion that she's hearing a ghost. Ghosts cause cold air, don't they? She scoots back a little… then shakes her head and leans back down to listen some more. "Probably just weird echoes, and a gust of wind blowing down the shaft," she whispers to herself.

"Somebody, please help me. Anybody," comes the voice this time, barely enough to hear. "So cold."

Ghost or not, Amelia can't take the chance. She goes to pull the trapdoor release lever.

And yes, she remembers which one it is too. With a halting motion, the trapdoor slowly opens. Below her lurks a dark passage, the stench of stagnant water heavy. And this time, the air feels a lot colder.

Taking a few deep breaths first to get used to the air from the shaft, Amy sticks her head into the darkness and calls out, "Hello? Can you hear me?"

And it's certainly dark down there. A minute passes, then she hears the voice again, "Is someone there? It's so dark. So cold."

"I'm here, my name is Amelia," Amy calls into the dark. "Are you hurt? Stuck? What's your name?"

"So cold. Can't get out. Help me," is the only reply Amelia gets.

Amelia pulls her head out and sits back on her haunches as she thinks. It's dark down there, and she doesn't know exactly where the shaft leads. But, if someone fell down under a waterwheel… With a sigh, she lowers herself into the shaft feet-first, hoping the water isn't too deep.

Thankfully, it's not. The floor only has a few puddles at this point. with the light streaming down from above, Amelia can just make out a small oil lantern hanging on a hook near the ladder she came down on.

Taking down the lantern, Amy checks the reservoir. No telling how good the oil is if it's been sitting for as long as Zahn suggested.

It's a bit sludgy, but probably usable for a little bit anyway. The worst of the goo seems to have settled to the bottom. "Help me," comes the voice again, off in the darkness. It's shortly followed by a rush of chilling air.

Amy shivers again, but at least she's dry by now. She checks to see if the lantern has one of those self-lighting sparky things like Zahn's do.

Alas, no. This one just had some striker rocks hanging on twine.

In a way, Amelia is relieved to see the lantern works on familiar principles. She goes about trying to light it, while calling, "Hold on, I'm coming to find you," down the shaft.

"Please hurry," comes the plaintive voice. It takes a bit of work, but the lantern lights in the end. With a bit of adjusting, the passage now fills with a soft orange glow. Ahead of her is a long, narrow passage lined by stone walls. The cut of the stone is rather impressive, as the blocks lock together perfectly. What isn't rather impressive is that she can just make out that some slugs have made their home down here. Not hundreds, thankfully, but she can make out a few slimy masses moving along the stone.

"Ugh," Amy mutters as she heads down the passage, watching her step to avoid any slimy surprises. "And here I always pictured the dam as being solid all the way through, too… "

Far from it. It appears to be a honeycomb of stone and wood supports, all interlocking to re-enforce each other. There is also what appears to be ceramic piping along sections of the walls. Thankfully, it's also just wide enough she doesn't have to touch any of the slugs. After a short walk, Amelia can just make out an odd, pale, light ahead.

"Can you hear me?" Amy calls ahead, moving towards the light, which she figures must be where the shaft opens up under the third waterwheel.

"Yes," comes the voice which appears to be near the light. There's a large column between Amelia and the light now. And oddly, the air grows colder as Amelia gets closer.

"Keep talking so I can find you," Amelia says, and holds the lantern out ahead of her as she squeezes around the column.

"I think I see you. I see a light," the voice says. And as Amelia rounds the column, she comes face to face with a small Kadie boy. Well, it looks like a small Kadie boy, except that he's glowing pale blue and is translucent. He's curled up a bit on himself and shivering. Stranger still, his fur seems to float and ripple as if he was floating in water.

Amelia freezes, feeling every muscle in her body go cold. "Oh, my… " she whispers. "You poor thing, you… you drowned in here, didn't you?" she asks quietly.

"Drowned? What are you talking about? I'm not dead. I'm just stuck in here. I fell trying to work on the dam. Mom will be mad; she told me I was too young to be out here," the apparent ghost says. It then reaches out towards Amelia and the light in her lantern flickers.

Amy pulls the lantern back before it can go out, then chides herself and extends her other hand to the ghost. She can't keep it from shaking though. "H-here, take my hand," she says.

The translucent Kadie reaches out and touches Amelia's hand … and passes right through it. There's a sensation of cold, of water and of being unable to breath. The sensation passes as the ghosts hand leaves hers. The small Kadie looks shocked, eyes wide. Amelia's seen that expression before, too. The boy could almost be a young Zahnrad; he sure looks a lot like him. "W… what's going on?" he says, now looking at his own hand, which is opening and closing slowly. "Why can't I touch you?"

Letting out the breath she'd been holding, Amy sets the lantern down and sits across from the apparition. "This could be awkward. Can you tell me your name?" she asks the ghost.

The Kadie curls back up again. "I'm Stephen," he says. "Stephen Kettenrad Wingnut. I live near here." His head tilts and he looks at Amelia with baleful eyes. "Are you new in town? I thought I knew everyone in town, but I've never seen you before."

Hugging her knees up against her chest, Amelia say, "Oh, I was afraid of that. Stephen… you've been down here for a long time. Do you remember your little brother Zahnrad at all?"

"Yeah, of course I do. He's like four now; his birthday was just last week. Mom makes me look after him when she's busy. She got mad at me once because he fell into a grease bucket while climbing around in one of the shops," Stephen says. "What about him?"

"Well, he's all grown up now," Amy says. "He's up there working on the dam as we speak. And Gunther is big too. I'm not sure if he was born before you… before you ended up down here."

"What are you talking about? I just got here," the ghost insists, looking plaintive. "I saw him no more than an hour ago. He was making gliders out of paper scraps."

Amelia licks her lips nervously, and thinks back to her witch training dealing with spirits, none of which really dealt with talking to them. "You see, Stephen… there was an accident while you were working. It's been about fourteen years since then. Everyone misses you, especially your mother, but… but you've been dead all that time," she explains, wishing she could hold the boy.

Stephen shakes his head from side to side, his expression going from plaintive to absolutely pleading. "You're lying," he insists, sounding as if he's trying to convince himself as much as Amelia. "You have to be lying. I can't be dead. My family needs me … I … I'm supposed to look after Zahnrad. I have to get home."

"Can you stand up?" Amy asks, trying to change the spirit's line of thought. "I can lead you out of here if you can get up."

The ghost gets to his feet slowly. Standing, he looks that much more transparent, his fur still disheveled and floating in that eerie, aquatic, manner. Where his feet 'touch' the floor, wisps of frost form.

"That's good," Amelia says encouragingly. She gets up as well, and picks up the lantern. "Now, try to follow me, okay? We'll go to the control room."

Stephen curls his arms around himself and nods weakly. "Mom will be mad," he says quietly.

"She won't be, I promise," Amy says, and starts back around the pillar. "Nobody is mad at you."

The pale light seems to be following Amelia now. So, Stephen must be following. In his wake, he leaves small frosty footprints on the floor.

Amy keeps to a relatively slow pace. She isn't sure if a spirit can wear itself out by doing too much or not, but doesn't want to risk it. She also worries less about the slugs, given the circumstances. "So… what were… what are your hobbies?" she asks, not wanting to be moving in silence with the ghost behind her.

"I like building small machines. I gave mom this great music box last year. Took me months to build it and paint it," Stephen says, his voice sounding a little bit better now that he's not being told he's dead.

"That must be something really wonderful to hear," Amy says, genuinely impressed. "I bet she listens to it every night."

"I hope it doesn't break so she can. Of course, I can fix it if it does, anyway," Stephen insists.

At the end of the shaft, Amy hangs the lantern back onto its hook, and looks up through the trapdoor. "Do you think you can climb up through here okay?" she asks the specter.

Stephen doesn't answer. He seems to be staring at a wall. Even his shivering has stopped.

Amelia gets nervous, and looks at the same wall. "What is it, Stephen? What do you see?"

"I … " the ghost says. He blinks, then says, "My brother is in trouble. I have to go. Sorry. Thank you for showing me the exit." And with that, Stephen's body dissolves. Or rather, much like water flowing from a glass, his form ripples downward, then is gone.

"Zahn?" Amy whispers to the still-cool air, then quickly clambers up through the trapdoor, thinking she has to get to him as well!

As Amy reaches the control room, she hears something. Something that sounds like a crash, then wood splintering apart. A couple of the gauges on the wall are jerking wildly.

"No!" Amy yells, and runs to the door, grabbing at the release knob. "No, no no no no! I'm not going to let anything happen!" she chants to herself.

The locks on the door seem to release stubbornly slow. The door then releases and swings open. The crashing sounds can be heard a lot clearer now, even with the occasional burst of thunder. Something strikes Amelia as odd, it doesn't sound like machinery. It sounds like something Amelia knows well … it sounds like a fight.

The girl runs out into the night, and pushes the door closed behind her. "Zahn!" she calls out, and tries to locate the direction of the noise.

"Amelia, no, get out of here!" comes Zahn's voice from somewhere on the far side. "Ame… " Zahn's voice shouts out again, then a sickening crack of something hard and wooden splintering. A moment later, a splash.

"Zahn!" Amy shouts again as she heads up onto the dam, looking around frantically, afraid he's been knocked cold and fallen into the lake.

A dark and shadowy form flickers briefly on the far side. Unfortunately, it's quickly out of sight.

Rushing to the lake side, Amy calls out again, "Zahn! Zahn!" as she tries to find him in the darkness. "Stephen!" she then calls out. "If you're here, help me find Zahn!"

The rain is not helping matters at all. The lake is rippling with waves, but Amelia can't tell if any are from splashes, or just the weather. When she reaches the far side, she finds the remains of what looks like a nasty fight. Several bits of railing have been broken off. One looks like it was even used as some sort of club, almost shattered in the middle from hitting something.

Amy gets down on her hands and knees where the railing is broken, and searches the water as best she can. "Zahn! Stephen! Anyone, please answer me!" she pleads.

Something catches the corner of Amelia's eye. It's not on the lake side, but on the river side. The river is rough due to the heavy rain and flowing fast. In the distance, she can just make out a pale, glowing, light, shooting along, just under the surface of the water.

Amy rushes to the spillway, and jumps into the rushing water. "I've got to catch them," she thinks, and tries to ignore the coldness of the river as she struggles to swim along with the current. She also gives silent thanks to a certain flirtatious otter for teaching her how to swim in the first place.

The current is not being kind to Amelia. The glow seems to stay just about the same distance from her, at least for a few minutes of swimming. Then impossibly, the glow seems to just stop in the middle of the river and Amelia suddenly starts gaining ground.

Amy pushes herself, making promises to swim more often, even if it means getting pinched by otters. She isn't sure what the light stopping implies, but hopes is means Zahn has washed onto shore.

When Amy reaches the light, she suddenly discovers what the stop meant. Just beneath the surface, she can she the translucent form of Stephen. His face is contorted in pain and strain. In the immediate area around him, the water has gone completely still. And in that stillness is Zahnrad, floating face down. Even in the dim light, she can see he has been badly beaten. His clothing torn, and several places where the blow was so hard from a blunt object, the skin was actually torn. And somehow, in all this, she hears Stephen. "Get him. I can't get him out. Hurry, can't … can't hold this."

Amelia dives down to get under Zahn, wraps her arms around him, and kicks hard to bring them up and towards the river bank.

The glow follows Amelia, giving her just enough reprieve from the current that she's able to get Zahnrad to the shore, then pull him onto the bank. The flickering form of Stephan follows them out, then collapses on the bank. The wet soil around him frosts.

"Thank… you… Stephen," Amelia pants, as she gets Zahn onto his back and checks to see if he's breathing or not.

He isn't.

Don't panic, Amelia thinks, and forces herself to calm down a little. Tilt the victim's head back, make sure the tongue is clear, take a deep breath. Amelia opens Zahn's mouth, pinches closed his nostrils, and locks her muzzle to his to blow into his lungs.

After a few tries of getting breath into Zahnrad, his body convulses. He starts to cough and a flow of blood-tinted water bubbles out of his mouth. Stephen, though all of this, is laying there, watching with horror.

Amy rolls Zahn onto his side, so he can clear his lungs easier. She frowns at the blood, and carefully feels his chest for broken ribs, while wondering how far they went downriver.

Zahnrad coughs again, and a fair amount of water flows from his mouth. As Amelia feels his side, she finds at least two ribs that feel like they may have been fractured. Stephen forces himself to sit up, still watching. "I … I'm really dead, aren't I? That's Zahn. He's … old. But … I knew it was him," he says sadly. The dam is in the distance, only barely visible thanks to … there's some light on the dam. Someone is up there now.

"You still looked out for him though," Amy tells the ghost, her muscles burning now. "I've been trying to. I'll keep trying… "

The ghost reaches out and touches Zahnrad. Or tries to anyway, as he traces the outline of his now older 'younger' brother. "So tired," Stephen says, the pale light of his form fading away. "Everything looks funny. Sounds funny. So distant," he says, then reaches over to place his hand on Amelia's. The cold is still there, but weaker, and his spectral fingers close in a mimic of taking her hand. "Thank you. Tell mom I'm sorry for me? I wish I could have grown up with them. I wish I could have said goodbye," he says, voice fading now too, just a haunting whisper now.

Wiping some water from her eyes, Amelia promises, "I'll tell them, Stephen. I'll tell them." She looks back towards the dam, to see if any lights are coming towards them or not. It's still closer than the Blacktail compound, even if she can't trust all of the people there.

And with that, the pale light of Stephen's form dissolves into the night. Nothing remains of him that would suggest he was ever there to begin with. The lights are approaching them, rapidly. "Don't you move!" comes a cry from Gunther's familiar voice in the distance.

Amy lays back on the bank next to Zahn, now that she's sure the people coming are friendly. "You'd better remember who did this to you, Zahn," she whispers. "Because someone is going to pay… "