Main Hall The main hall of the castle is kept warm and dry by a fire blazing away in the huge hearth at the far end. While moderately sized, as far as castle halls go, it still seems a bit crowded. Racks and shelves cover the walls, stacked full of books and bottles filled with strange floating things. Stuffed animals (and not a few monsters) stand, crouch, and hang mid-pounce in various areas, apparently placed at random, while live animals chitter, squeal and hiss in stacks of sturdy cages. What furniture there is is mismatched, overstuffed, and draped in acres of pink taffeta.

Once more, Olivia Weaver – Skeek and artist – bravely plunges into the legacy of Great Uncle Orifice in search of useful information. The challenge is daunting, given that Orifice often makes references to other notes within his notes, and occasionally uses some sort of alchemist cipher. But at least Olivia manages to organize the pile of papers. In doing this she realizes that several notebooks must be missing, based on the footnotes found within the others. Either Orifice hid them well, or somebody else did.

Nothing in the available notes mentions ghosts, glowing blood-like liquid crystal substances or anything else that Olivia has encountered in the underground workshop (but then, without the key they found in the apartment of the mummified Skeek the old Eeee probably couldn't open the doors to it). There are hints about a colony of 'troglodytes' under the old mansion property, but the notebook that presumably goes into detail about it is among the missing.

It's pretty clear that old Orifice was losing his mind near the end, and spending more and more time with his special homunculi projects (on which there is also little detail beyond passing references – but then the man probably good reason to keep such experiments secret).

Olivia, who is sitting cross-legged on the floor at this point, leans forward so her elbows rest on her knees and her chin rests in her hands. "Ah well, I sould've known. Nothing about this has been easy, so why start now?" she mutters. "Gah, those missing notebooks could be anywhere here… or hidden somewhere by the trolls. Well, guess I'd better start eliminating places." Slowly, she creaks to her feet and puts the stacks of papers back into the chest. Then she goes off in search of Dr. Pike.

There are various squeaking and chirping noises coming from one of the laboratories near Dr. Pike's study. There is even a little snatch of song, but not quite that of a Creen. Olivia can hear some squeaky muttering of the Eeee variety from within as well.

Olivia sighs to herself as she knocks gently on the door of the laboratory. I keep forgetting that Pike's boytoy is here all the time, she thinks. I would've thought he'd be tired out by now, but apparently Eees have more stamina than I first gave them credit for…

"Ahhh!" comes a shout from inside the room, and then Dr. Pike opens the door a crack to peek outside. "Yes? Oh, Miss Weaver! What can I do for you?" She appears to working, since she's got her giant rubber smock on.

Oh, she's actually working today. Makes for a nice change, I suppose. Aloud, Olivia says, "Thank you for letting me look through your ancestor's notes and journals again, but several of the ones I really need seem to be missing. I have no idea if I'll ever find them but I'm willing to try if you'll give me permission. I was thinking of starting with the room that has all of those symbols written everywhere."

"Oh, missing journals?" Pike asks, as something starts singing behind her. She spreads her wings to make sure Olivia can't peek past her. "Are you looking for anything in particular? You don't seem the type to be interested in alchemy, I mean."

Olivia appears interested in whatever is singing behind the Eeee but out of politeness, she does not try to look beyond the scientist. "Well, I'm trying to find any notes of Orifice's that mention something called a Philosopher's Stone. Apparently it looks like red liquid crystal or came from red liquid crystal, or something like that."

Pike lets out an involuntary squeak. "What? Where did you hear about that?" she asks in a rush. "And how do you know what it looks like?"

Olivia looks completely taken aback by this – and in fact, she even takes an involuntary step backwards. "Um… Buffy told me about it. Well, about what it looks like, anyway," she says in a soft voice. "I've known of its existence for a while now but I just didn't know what it was really called. The first name I heard for it was the Bleeding Stone."

Dr. Pike's mouth hangs open for several moments, until she finally asks, "Buffy?"

Olivia taps her forehead with her knuckles. "Oh yeah, that's right. You don't know yet. Yes, Buffy the Vampire Lapi is real. Just, uh, don't go spreading that around, okay? She's actually very nice and has been very helpful to me and I'd hate to see anything bad happen to her."

"Real? And… how does she know about the Philosopher's Stone though?" Pike asks. Behind her, the singing stops.

"Buffy has actually been protecting Stonebarrow for a very long time," Olivia explains. "From the way she talks, it appears that she knew your ancestor when he was alive. That's how she found out about it. From him."

The Eeee nearly falls to her knees. "She knew Orifice? Oh my… what else did she say about him?" she asks.

Olivia fingers the chalk that Buffy gave her inside one of her pockets. "D'you want to ask her yourself?" she asks, with a mischievious twinkle in her eyes. "I could try summoning her to the castle… if she wants to come, that is. We'd have to go to a more private place, though. I don't think she'd appreciate it if I summoned her somewhere too public, where just anyone could walk in on us."

"Oh my, you can do tha-" Pike starts to ask, until there's a crash behind her and the sound of bits of wood rolling around. "Oh no, it can't escape!" she cries, and spins around. The Eeee misses seeing something streak between her legs before she manages to close the door, but Olivia can't help but notice it because it runs right up into her pants leg.

Olivia EEEEEKS and starts pulling up that leg of her trousers! "Arrrghh, get OFFA ME!" she squeaks, trying to shake the thing off and see what it is at the same time. "Dr. Pike, your creation is wrapped around my leg!"

All of the flailing about seems to work, as a violent kick sends the critter flying from Olivia's pant to smack into the stone wall with a CRUNCH sound.

Olivia goes from looking alarmed to looking like she just got caught with her hand in the cookie jar… and then broke it. "Ooops." She cautiously creeps over to the wall to examine the thing.

It must have started out as a mouse – likely one from the many cages Dr. Pike keeps in the main room of the castle. It's been stretched and streamlined though. The neck is longer and more elegant, and the tail thicker and covered in white fur, save for a golden tuft on the end. The face is still mouselike, but the ears are more pointed, the muzzle a bit blunter and cuter, somehow. It also sports golden scales on its underside, and what might be the nub of a single horn growing from its forehead. It lies still, clearly crushed from the impact… but then starts to make a crackling sound and begins to fill back out again.

"What!?" Pike yelps as she opens the door to the lab and looks out. She squeaks in alarm at the sight of the fallen critter and goes to scoop it back up.

Olivia stands very still and watches as the modified mouse starts coming back to life with a very familiar crackling sound. By the time Dr. Pike has picks the thing up again, all of the fur on the back of her neck is standing on end. "Dr. Pike," she asks slowly, "where did you learn how to make that creature heal itself?"

"I didn't… " Pike starts to say, and then the mouse-thing opens its eyes. They're both gold, with just a slight hint of red glow to them. It looks at Olivia over Pike's fingers, twitches its whiskers, and starts trilling like a lovestruck Creen.

"By the gods… this mouse has troll characteristics!" Olivia whispers, unable to wrench her gaze away from the thing. "The healing properties… the reddish tinge in the eyes… does it have silvery claws, too?"

"No, they're gold," Pike says, sounding a bit in a daze. "Umm… any chance you can forget all about seeing this, Olivia?" she asks.

Olivia finally looks at the Eeee again. "I won't tell anyone I saw this, if that's what you mean. For now, anyway. I just… I just hope you know what you're doing, Doctor."

"Well… I had to try something, because… " Pike starts to say, then comes to her senses. "Really, it's nothing to do with the Trolls, Olivia. It's something I'm working on with Mage Qing. The red tint is just from my having to use a drop of Philosopher's Stone, you see, to get things started. I only have a very very small amount though, that Orifice left me, you see."

Olivia walks slowly over to the Eeee and looks again at the trilling mouse-creature. Gingerly, she reaches out with one finger and attempts to stroke the mouse's head, just to see what will happen. "Ah. So that's why you got so upset when I mentioned it. If it helps to ease your fears at all, I don't want to take away the little of the Stone you have. I need to find its source. That's why I thought Orifice's missing notebooks would assist me."

"The source! You mean there's more out there?" Pike asks. The little mouse-thing purrs when Olivia rubs its head – and sprouts a long mane of gold hair down its back.

Olivia starts at this and mutters, "Ooookay, I didn't expect that to happen!" But she continues to pet the creature as long as it doesn't try to attach itself to her again. "I believe so, yes. Everything I've heard about the Stone so far indicates that there must be more."

The little indestructible mouse-creature keeps trilling and singing, and squeaks, "She's waiting for you at the Bleeding Stone, Olivia."

Olivia looks at the mouse-creature for a few long minutes, her finger suspended motionless in midair. Then she puts her fingertip underneath its chin and tips the mouse's head up towards hers. "Can you… can you take me to the Stone?" she asks in a shaking voice. It's a long shot, but I have to try, she thinks.

"What?" Dr. Pike asks, assuming Olivia is talking to her. "I suppose I could show you what little I have left." Apparently the Eeee did not hear the mouse-thing talking.

"I wasn't speaking to you, Doctor, but I would like to see the bit of the Stone you have," Olivia says softly. Then she looks again at the mouse and repeats her question.

The mouse thing has stopped singing, and is washing its whiskers just like a normal mouse might. "Pardon?" Pike asks, looking around to make sure nobody else is around – especially given how Igor manages to just appear behind the Eeee all of the time without her noticing.

"Are you talking to the hybrid?" Pike finally asks, sounding nervous.

"Yes, since it spoke to me. It doesn't seem inclined to speak any more, though," Olivia sighs. "I'm sorry if I confused you."

"It spoke to you?" Pike asks, holding the critter up and looking more closely at it. "I just heard it singing. What did it say?"

"It said, 'She's waiting for you at the Bleeding Stone, Olivia,'" the Skeek repeats for her.

"Who is waiting?" Pike asks next.

"My sister," Olivia answers sadly. Then, after a pause, "May I see the part of the Stone you have now?"

"Oh… Oh!" Pike says, and turns to lead the way back into the laboratory. On the worktable is a cage with a dead lizard-thing that has the same colors as the mouse (including short white fur) and a few empty cages, plus the broken one on the floor. How the little critter managed to move the cage on its own is a mystery though, as Pike puts it into one of the other cages and makes sure it's locked in good and secure. She then produces a small glass vial. At the very bottom is about a fingernail's worth of glowing red liquid crystal. "This is all I have. I suppose it does look like blood, but… can a stone bleed? I'm not sure where Orifice got this much. I think he used it to create his little imps though."

Olivia leans into look at the glowing stone in the vial but makes no attempt to touch the vial. After that mouse sprouted golden hair on its head, I'm afraid this thing would explode or something if I tapped on the glass! "Well, I'm hoping to find out where the rest of it is hidden. As you can tell, I have a good reason for trying."

"Well… uh… you do?" Pike asks. "Oh, you mean… finding your sister? Are you sure about that? You almost sound like Clover."

Olivia gives Pike a small smile. "I'm not even sure if I'll find the Stone but I'll give it my best shot. My sister's body shouldn't be there, anyway, it should be properly laid to rest. I'll search for the Stone for simply that reason, if nothing else."

"But it sounds like she's a Troll… pardon me for saying so," Pike says, sounding apologetic. The little mouse-thing starts singing again, and somewhere out in the castle, Gaspode cries out, "Ohh! The pain! The pain!" in response.

Olivia blinks at this. "She would have to be alive if that's true," she says softly, almost to herself. "Of course, that's not for certain, either." She sighs and rubs the back of her neck with a hand. "Anyway, thank you for showing this to me. At least I'll know the rest of the Stone when I see it now. I should probably get to searching for those notebooks, if you'll allow it."

"Oh yes… I always meant to take a closer look down in the sub-basement laboratory where all those cages were," Pike notes, and then wraps her wings around herself. "But I really don't care to be so deep underground for long. Even if there's all sorts of fabulous stuff down there. If you do find more of the Philosopher's stone though, I'd really appreciate it if you could bring me some. It has so much potential! And now I suppose it has some connection to the Trolls as well. Before now, I only ever used it on plants."

"What did the plants do when you used it on them?" Olivia has to ask.

"Usually they turned cannibal or ran around or bit me," Dr. Pike notes.

"Heh, plants that eat you instead of the other way around," Olivia says, grinning weakly. "Charming. All right, if I find any more of the Stone, I'll let you know. As I've said, I'm going to start with the black room first, that has all the symbols drawn inside."

"The creepy place?" the doctor asks, and shivers. "Well… be careful, Miss Weaver. And hush-hush on the mouse. Don't even mention it to Mage Qing, alright? I didn't really think it work and I'm not sure of what will happen next."

"Then you be careful, too, Doctor," Olivia replies seriously. "I'll talk to you later." She turns and heads back down into the depths of the castle.

As she leaves the lab, the little mouse creature sings at her. It seems to have sprouted a small pair of wings in the past few minutes…

Down the long spiraling staircase and back into the sub-basement Olivia goes. The hallway still seems long and dark, and the barricaded door to the well room probably adds more ominousness. At the far end, just before the new wall that separates the hall from the canal is the pipe room, where strange creatures sometimes go to take naps. But before that is the ritual chamber, with its black walls and arching, twisting arcane symbols.

Olivia cautiously enters the chamber with the lantern that she borrowed from Zahn just before he left to look in on Clover. Once inside, she looks around for a way to light the room without having to carry the lantern everywhere. She seems to recall that there were candles in the room the time she was there before, but that's been a while ago now.

The candles are still there, in a wooden box in one of the slightly askew corners (or perhaps it's just an optical illusion that makes the room's corners seem… un-corner-like) along with a few rags, matches and leftover ritual supplies that the Mages didn't quite clean up or else didn't need any more.

Olivia sets up a number of the candles in the leftover stands she finds and lights them all with the matches. That, plus the glow from the lantern, gives her enough light to see by as she begins to go around the room, looking at the walls and floor. She's particularly looking for any bricks or stones that may appear loose, bulging out from the rest, or recessed at all.

The first thing to strike Olivia is that none of the bricks are even, yet somehow all fit together. The lines and symbols that cross the gaps between them even seem to extend into the gaps, so that if one could move the bricks there might even be symbols on the other surfaces. Or it could just be a trick of the light. Every brick has some part of a symbol or line crossing it as well, which means some of the bricks are really large or bizarrely shaped. The only one that doesn't have anything on it is surprising rectangular, just like a normal brick.

Okay, so maybe I should start with the one normal stone in the whole place, instead, Olivia thinks. She walks over to the plain, rectangular brick and taps on it, then tries to get her fingertips around its edges.

The brick gives a little, sliding inward slightly instead of pulling out.

Olivia nods to herself and tries pushing the brick in further.

Click! The brick depresses about three inches in, and then all of the symbols in the room light up! And then the bricks and stones start to move, folding and turning (and showing that yes, the symbols do extend to other sides of them) until they've folded back to reveal a doorway into another room of black stone.

Olivia nods to herself again and picks up the lantern. "Now we're getting somewhere! That somewhere may shred me into tiny Skeek-bits, of course, but I guess I'll find out." Then she steps cautiously into the second black room. If all goes well, she'll bring some of the candles in from the first room.

The lantern doesn't help much, because everything is black, even the furniture, such as it is: low chairs and tables, all carved or assembled from the same black stone and fixed into place. A few sweeps of the light eventually show some scraps of paper on the floor, and an empty bottle in one corner. On the stone desk or table at the back is a black wooden chest.

Yep, I'd better get some of the candles in here, Olivia thinks, then spends the next few minutes transporting them from room to room. Once this is done, she walks over to the fallen scraps of paper first, and picks them up to look at them.

They look like napkins, of all things. There are even some stains on them that look dark brown in the candlelight. Like dried blood.

Olivia sees a sudden image of herself actually lying on the floor in little Skeek-bits and shivers. She drops the papers for now and wanders over to look at the bottle on the floor, just in case there's anything crusted on the outside of it.

Nothing on the outside, but on the inside… yup, more dried blood.

"Well, this just got real creepy real fast," Olivia mutters, "but what was I expecting in an all black room?" After replacing the bottle on the floor, she makes her way over to the wooden chest. She sets the lantern down on the desk and gingerly tries opening the chest.

Eureka! There are several notebooks inside, stacked neatly to one side. This is probably to make room for the severed, mummified head of an Eeee, its empty eye-sockets glaring up at Olivia.

Very, very carefully, so as not to touch the mummified Eeee's head, Olivia lifts the notebooks out of the chest and puts them on the table in front of her. Then she glances inside once more and grimaces before closing the lid. I don't think I can concentrate on reading with that… thing… staring at me, she thinks, then opens the first notebook.