Door under her bed. The words seem to echo in Olivia's mind as she approaches her small cabin at the weavers where she had left Zahn, Gunther, and Amelia…

Olivia stands in the doorway for a moment, the bucket dangling loosely from one hand. "You found an underground door beneath my bed?" she repeats, aghast.

"It's not a trap door!" Amelia says, trying to keep Olivia calm.

"True, it's not. I don't see any traps on this side. Well, there might be some on the other side," Zahn calls from under the floor. "Got that bucket? I have to get another load of dirt out of here, then I think I can open it."

Gunther, meanwhile, is examining the foot of Olivia's bed. "Interesting," he murmurs.

Olivia enters her room now and walks back over to the ever-deepening hole and all of the Kadies. After dropping the bucket back down to Zahn, she asks, "Well, what kind of door is it?"

"An ironwood door. Got a heavy handle on it too. Doesn't seem to be lockable," Zahnrad notes as he takes the bucket. There's the sound of shoveling after a minute.

"Did you run into any otters?" Amy asks Olivia, trying to distract her from the hole.

Olivia still looks concerned but allows Amy to divert her attention – at least until Zahn tells them what's behind the door. "Yup! As you predicted, Emmett was waiting for me in my aunt's garden. Got a nice little trade of information out of it, though. He tells me that Gunther is about to become an Otter Scout… or at least, he will be when he completes his first mission."

"You don't have any notches in your footboard," Gunther declares, "Isn't that a bit of a lie? Emmett's always said that you notch the bed when you had a new girlfriend. He always waggled his brow, too, when he said that. Maybe I should check Djivan's bed… But that would mean escaping the socks … hmm."

"Why would you destroy your bed like that?" Amelia asks Gunther, then turns to Olivia and asks, "Okay, so what's his mission then?"

"Nothing! Emmett is just making that up," Gunther snaps, "You're so gullible."

Olivia starts ginning at Gunther's reaction, but otherwise ignores him and continues, "He's supposed to write a love letter to another Skeek who lives in Rephidim. To convince her to come to Stonebarrow and build some fun machines for us!" She looks thoughtful for a moment, then adds, "However, I never got an explanation of what these fun machines were supposed to be. Ah well… maybe I can ask Nene and Bebe sometime."

"Ah, that will be a challenge for Gunther," Amelia admits…

"Bah, I could build them without help!" Gunther declares.

"Bucket o' dirt!" Zahnrad declares, "Haul away! I'll get to work on the door… "

"I thought you just said that Emmett lied about all that?" Olivia asks him. "Changing your story already?"

Amelia hauls up the dirt bucket.

"He lied about writing a love letter. He just suggested inviting her here to help," Gunther grumbles.

Olivia takes the bucket from the Kadie girl in preparation for another trip out into the garden. "Well, if you need any help writing the letter, I'll do what I can," she offers.

"Have you ever written a letter before, Gunther?" Amy asks.

"Sure I have! I've used the letters F, G, H, and all other others pretty often! Except for Q, it's a freaky letter," Gunther offers.

"Never mind… want to open the door before dumping that dirt?" Amy asks Olivia. "I mean… in case we need to bury it again in a hurry?"

Olivia sighs loudly and rolls her eyes heavenward. "No, no – Amy wants to know if you've ever written an entire message to someone you've never met before," she explains.

Olivia considers Amy's suggestion next and nods. "Sounds like a good idea."

"Sure I have! They just … require special tools to read them later," Gunther admits. "Like a candle, or Creen droppings, or a mirror, or… "

"Wow, this is gonna take some work," Olivia mutters.

There's a rather disturbing series of bangs, cracks, and thumps that echo from beneath the floor. There's a pause … then a really loud bang. Another pause, followed by Zahn saying, "Oops."

Amelia looks over the edge of the excavation. "What oops?" she asks.

Olivia gets the bucket ready rather quickly, just in case that "ooops" is followed by a scream. "What did you just do, Zahn?"

"I think I broke one of the hinges. One more moment, I'll have it open," Zahnrad calls back. Another few minutes pass that involve some unpleasant noises. "Oh Gods!" he then declares, "This is not what I expected at all!"

"Another box?" Amy asks.

"Well, what IS it?" Olivia asks, sounding tense. "Don't keep us in suspense!"

"Some really nicely carved stone stairs. I had expected a ladder," Zahnrad notes. "Grab a lantern from the tools and get the thing lit."

"Get the lantern, Gunther, if you want to come along," Amy suggests. If Gunther has a lantern to carry, maybe he won't cause too much trouble, she reasons.

Olivia looks like she suddenly needs to sit down. "There's a staircase under my bed," she says in a very small voice. "Why is there a staircase under my bed?"

"Well, if it was on top of your bed you couldn't get any sleep," Amelia points out. She doesn't have her halberd with her, but she does draw one of her stilettos from… somewhere.

"Mwahaha," goes Gunther and he hops into one of the crates. A bit of rummaging later, and he hops back out with a carefully balanced lantern resting atop his head. "I feel a bit lightheaded," he quips.

"Don't mess around, Gunther," Amy chides. "Let's go see what's down there."

"I don't think I'm going to get any sleep now," Olivia replies, trying to regain her equilibrium. "Yeah, my aunt's definitely going to have to hear about this… and give me another room to stay in for a while."

Gunther hops out of the box and heads towards the hole in the floor. He pauses, then says to Olivia, "I wouldn't worry about it. This town was built on top of ruins and such, you know. Probably an old cellar from a previous place." After that bit of unusual lucidity from the Kadie, he disappears into the hole … presumably down the stairs.

Amelia hurries after, before Gunther can destroy anything.

Olivia stares after Gunther strangely for a moment, then puts down the bucket. "Gods only know why I'm doing this… " she grumbles, then drops down into the hole after all the others.

Olivia's Basement
A set of narrow stone steps lead down to this rectangular pocket in the side of a canal-tunnel. The stone is smooth, having the familiar fused look of the tunnels to the north. This one runs roughly east to west, though, and the water level is too low to carry actual traffic now. Across from this surface access pocket is an alcove bearing a tunnel-marker statue: a horned Creen (or a very skinny dragon). The place is spotlessly clean, except for a ramshackle attempt at a display shelf, made of old planks and mismatched bricks. It almost appears to be some sort of shrine, covered in old trinkets and drawings.

"Hey, it's one of those canal marker things like we saw under Pike's castle," Zahnrad, master of the obvious, comments and points at the statue of the horned Creen.

"It's part of the same canal system then," Amelia notes. "But… I don't see how it could connect, since the other is so much deeper."

"Water pumps and a water elevator," Zahn offers, "Like we found."

"Just what have you been doing and why wasn't I invited?" Gunther demands of Zahn and Amelia.

"Dating and snogging," Amelia claims.

Olivia notes the canal's obvious features, just as Zahn and Amy have, then wordlessly goes over to inspect the collection of things on the makeshift shelf.

It doesn't take long for Olivia to recognize some of the junk on display. There is the baby Skeek doll her father made for her as a child, which her mother threw out as soon as she found it. Several pairs of woven mittens and old clothes fill the corner of one shelf, while stacks of faded crayon drawings are spread out next to them. Broken toys and other loose bits trigger old memories as well. Everything here was created by or belonged to Olivia as a girl, and was thrown away or broken by her mother during one of her rampages.

"Oh. Uh … " Gunther says, uncertain quite what to make of that.

"We don't snog much, though," Zahnrad whispers to Amelia…

Amelia elbows Zahn and whispers, "He doesn't have to know that."

"Well, maybe I would like to snog more," Zahnrad mutters and rubs the spot elbowed.

Olivia just looks at all of the items on the shelf for a long time, still saying nothing. The expression on her face is rather hard to read, too. But at long last, she gently lifts the baby Skeek doll from its place and puts it into the pocket of her overalls, so the head is just peeking out. Then she takes off her flowered hat and digs her pad and a colored pencil out of its hidden pocket. She quickly starts sketching something on a blank sheet.

"That can be arranged," Amelia whispers to Zahn, with a wink.

"Are you okay?" Gunther asks as he slips over to Olivia to try and see what she's drawing.

Olivia gives the Kadie boy a quick smile before finishing her drawing. "Sort of… it's kinda hard to explain," she answers softly. When Gunther peeks over her shoulder, he can see that the sketch is of a very young Skeek cradling the toy Skeek in its arms. There is a big smile on the girl's face and underneath are the words, "Thank you." She tears off the sheet and puts it in place of the doll.

"Do you recognize this stuff?" Amy asks Olivia, finally looking over the shelves.

Gunther peers at the picture, then looks back to Zahn and Amelia. Making sure Olivia can't see the motion … he twirls his finger near his head and then points at the Skeek.

Olivia pats the head of the doll peeking out of her pocket with one finger and nods. "All of these things used to be mine, when I was younger," she says. "I think the little troll I used to be friends with took it all and put it here."

"Uh, why?" Zahnrad has to ask. "Why not just, well, return it to you."

"Hmm … troll horde," Gunther muses as he eyes Olivia.

"How could it know this was under your room though?" Amelia wonders. "Maybe trolls can tell where they are somehow."

"Well, if they live underground, maybe they travel by sound like Eeee do. Maybe it just followed her voice?" Zahn offers.

"From what I was able to remember, the one parent troll that I met didn't seem to like me all that much," Olivia explains. "Perhaps that was enough to keep the little one from seeing me again."

"Could she have been that loud then? And why put it here as if expecting her to find it?" Amy asks, then blinks. "What if it was all put here just a few minutes ago, when you started making all that noise against the door?"

"Well, that would be easy to check. Look for dust on the stuff or footprints," Zahnrad offers. And … he goes to look for just that.

"There isn't any dust on anything though," Amelia says, raising her arms. "There's never any dust in these tunnels."

"Oh sure, ruin my plans," Zahn complains. Gunther grins, then quips, "That's what girlfriends do!"

Olivia thinks about all of this and just shakes her head. "I'm not sure how this troll knew where to look for my bedroom, either," she says. "Unless trolls have sensitive hearing as well as eyesight? Or unless," she says, looking at Zahn, "they have the same sort of maps as you do."

"I doubt they would have maps as detailed as what the Wingnuts keep. We mapped the old parts of the town, as well as all the new ones. All they could have is old. Well, unless someone gave them copies of the new," Zahn admits.

"Like Abner?" Amy suggests.

"Er, well, maybe like him, yes," Zahn has to admit.

"I think for now we should return to the surface and find a way to lock that door," Amelia suggests. "We aren't equipped to check this out, and we don't want the other Weavers to find out about it either."

"Well, locking it shouldn't be too bad. Just fit a beam between the door and the flooring above. That shouldn't keep it closed," Zahnrad suggests and heads towards the stairway. Gunther, meanwhile, is trying to peer down the canal.

Olivia takes the younger Kadie boy by the arm and leads him back to the stairs. "C'mon, Gunther, we can go down there later. When we're more prepared," she says.

"But, but, hordes!" Gunther argues.

"Never mind hordes," Amelia mutters. "Worry about Olivia's aunt Augusta… "

"Oh yeah," Gunther agrees.