The route from the castle kitchen to the base of the broken tower involves following Igor through a maze of halls and storage rooms, since the direct path is still in need of renovation and deemed unsafe.

A tackle and pulley hang from a crossbeam that's been laid across the open rim and connects to a large, heavy ironwood trapdoor in the center of the floor. The door shows a few signs of having been scorched, but is otherwise intact. A selection of oil lanterns, torches, candles and stone-working tools are spread out on the makeshift table.

Zahnrad scurries up to the scorched and melted walls. "Wow. There must've been a massive explosion here and intense heat," he comments as he stares at the stone. "I wonder what they were keeping in this tower, considering the top was a giant mirror, after all. Or maybe, the heat fused the tower and somehow made the mirror, hmmm."

"It doesn't look mirror-smooth in here," Amelia points out, then goes over to the table to pick out a lantern.

Olivia nods to Zahnrad and looks about, too. "Whatever happened here, it sure left a mess behind!" She glances up at the ruined stairs and adds, "Boy, I sure would've been unhappy to be halfway up there whenever the… something… hit."

"We didn't find any boneth or other mortal remainth," Igor says, as he goes about pulling the trapdoor open with the help of the rope and pulley.

"Depends on where the explosion started, and what it may have blown upward," Zahnrad comments absently as he runs his fingertips lightly over the stone. His tail flicks, then he shrugs and pulls out his lantern hat from his pack and straps it onto his head.

Olivia, sadly without a lantern-hat, goes to pick up a lantern of her own.

After securing the rope so the door doesn't fall closed again, Igor produces a small box of sulfur matches and strikes one against his teeth to set it alight. He uses it to light one of candles, which is then offered around to those who need to light their lamps.

Zahnrad waves off the match, then ignites the lamp via the little sparker switch on the side. "So, how is the structural integrity of the ceiling and walls down there?" Zahn asks.

"They haven't completely fallen down yet," Igor answers, then starts down the steep stone stairs in the floor. "Watch your thtep," he warns.

Olivia takes the light that is offered and thanks Igor quietly, although she blinks at his method for striking the match.

Olivia quirks an eyebrow at Amy. "After you?"

"Well, I suppose that's the best I can hope for," Zahn says and follows after Igor. He looks back at the other two, pausing halfway down and waiting for them.

After lighting her own lamp, Amelia holds it in one hand while clutching her 'broom' tightly in the other. "Okay," she replies to Olivia, and follows after Zahn.

"Nervous?" Zahn asks Amy, then heads into the darkness.

Olivia hesitates for a second, then sticks an unlighted candle and a few of Igor's matches into one of her pants pockets. "Just in case… " she mutters, then follows the others down.

The stairs wind around at least once, descending perhaps twenty feet down. The stone seems to be in good shape, with the only sign of age being a slight dip in the center of each stair from use over time.

"It's just a stairway," Amelia says to Zahn, sounding unconcerned. "I've been underground before, after all."

Zahnrad examines the walls lining the stairway as they continue down. He pauses near the bottom step and looks around critically. "Hm. Decently built, structure seems okay," he comments and scratches an ear. "Do you have any bags or whatnot to carry junk out in?" he asks Igor.

"Haven't cleaned up much down here," Igor says, somewhat apologetically. "Plathe maketh my nothe itch thomething awfull after a few minuteth."

"Oh… I can fetch thome bagth," Igor replies to Zahn. "Didn't know if the ones from the shelveth were okay or not."

"I brought a bag with me, but just the one. I should have known to bring a few others, but they were kinda full to begin with," Olivia says apologetically. She then pats the one bag she's tucked in between her belt and shirt.

Zahnrad considers, then says, "Given the moisture level in cellars, I imagine they've rotted," he comments, then glances toward the tarp. "We might be able to use that, though. Pile stuff on it and haul out a huge load at a time."

Amelia steps aside to lean her broom against the wine rack before sneezing softly. She sets her lamp on the floor and produces a handkerchief from one of the pockets on her borrowed pants.

Zahn glances at Amelia, then taps his cheek. "Say, grab us a few rags and a pot of water too, Igor. I have an idea," he tells the odd creature.

"I'll go fetch thothe then," Igor says, and shuffles back to the stairs, leaving rising clouds of dust swirling in his wake.

Zahnrad covers his nose and phews. "Lot of mold and dirt down here. We can use the rags, dipped in water, as a makeshift air filter," Zahn explains to the other two. "We won't have to suck dust all day." He then starts walking toward the tarp, glancing around as he goes.

After tying her kerchief behind her head and pulling it up to cover her nose, Amy picks up her lamp goes to look at the nearest pile of spilt junk. "We should probably haul away these broken shelves too," she suggests.

Olivia waves some dust away from her face and eyes the boxy structure under the tarp. She points to it and then says to Zahn, "That may be something Igor wanted you to look at. He said it had small figures and clockwork in it. Sounds to me like something you'd be interested in, anyway."

The tarp is oilskin, and still in fairly good shape if obviously old. It covers something about five feet tall, three wide and three deep.

Olivia says, "Want to pull off the cover and have a look? You said you might want to use the tarp, anyhow."

Zahn's ears perk up. "Clockwork?" he says, looking at Olivia with intensity. It takes him about five seconds, then he runs over to the object. Carefully, he starts to ease the tarp off. "Like you have to ask!" he says.

The tarp pulls away to reveal a tall cabinet of dark mahogany. The lamplight flickers off of tiny enameled figures and several levers on an extended shelf that fronts it, below a large dark 'window' of clear glass. Behind the window is a scene of complex clockwork and intricate design: there is a suggestion of many gears and worm drives connected to rows of miniature monsters in a rectangular proscenium. At the bottom of the window is a small, self-loading catapult aimed to launch pellets upwards at the ranks of monsters. A pair of small, broken pipes protrudes from the left side of the cabinet, near the back.

"That looks awfully big," Amelia says of the cabinet, then turns around to look at the narrow stairway leading back up to the tower with a puzzled expression.

"What the heck… ?" Zahnrad muses, looking at the strange device. He peers at it, then all around it slowly. "You know … " he says slowly, "I think this is some sort of a game."

Chuckling, Olivia joins Zahn and helps to pull the tarp off to one side. "Huh, will you look at that! Just be careful poking at it – Igor said it looked to be about a century old!"

The side with the pipes sticking out has a few sliding latches that suggest it can be removed.

"I'll have to ask Igor if he's ever played it, then. He's probably about that old," Zahn comments with a smirk. He kneels near the pipes and taps them lightly with a clawtip. "I wonder if it was steam powered," he muses.

"Your guess is probably a lot better than mine on this one," Olivia comments lightly, then glances over to Amelia, seeing her look at the stairs. "Something wrong, Amy?"

Amy comes over with her staff held horizontally in front of her, and rests it on the shelf at the front of the cabinet. "Huh," she grunts, "there's a mystery. The outside of my hands mark the width of the stairway, but the cabinet is wider by an inch on either side, see?"

Olivia scratches her head at this. "Um, perhaps whoever put this down here had to assemble it in here? So it was brought down in pieces?"

Zahn glances at the stick, the marks, then Amy. "Hm, another doorway in, perhaps? Or yeah, what Olivia said," he says. Suddenly, the Kadie screams, "I've got it! I think I may know what happened to the tower!"

Amelia jumps back and nearly drops her lamp! "What? Don't shout like that!"

Startled, Olivia does a neat little trick where she jumps a foot into the air and two feet back at the same time. "Good heavens, Zahn!"

"Their boiler blew up!" Zahn declares and waves his arms about. See, if this thing was steam-powered, they'd have to have a boiler. It may have been partially powered by sunlight, y'know, light through a magnifying glass? That tower top was a light concentrator, focusing it through a lens!" He hops around a bit and continues, "It overheated and … " Zahn thrusts his hand upward, "Boom!"

"Wouldn't there be pipework in the base of the tower then?" Amelia asks.

"May have gone outside and underground, then gotten buried over the years," Zahn says and hmms. He starts trying to unlatch the side of the cabinet. "Or removed and recycled for something else."

"Oh," Amelia says, and shrugs to Olivia before turning her attention on the pile of stuff spilt from the nearest collapsed shelf.

The bottom half of the side panel comes away from the cabinet as the last latch is undone. Inside there is even more clockwork (including a very complicated ratchet and pawl system that lets the monsters drop arrows) along with a large ceramic cylinder that the pipes join up with. A piston arm exits the other end of it and connects to the main drive-wheel of the device.

"Hm. Definitely steam or water powered. Nice piston," Zahnrad muses. He starts looking to see if it has any obvious dismantle/disconnect points. "Say, Amy … mind if I borrow your broom in a few minutes?"

Looking up from the pile of debris she's rummaging through, Amy says, "Okay. Are you going to use it to break something?"

Olivia shakes her head a bit at Zahn's theorizing, then goes over to the shelving unit that is still intact on the wall. She sets her own lantern to one side – far enough away so if the shelves do fall, they won't shatter it – and carefully reaches up to take a chest from the lowest shelf.

"No. I'm going to sweep the floor a bit. I want to see if there are drag scratches in it. May indicate if it was pulled in here through another door," Zahnrad replies and glances over, much of his hair hanging into his face.

The chest is fairly ornate, with a red lacquer coating and fancy reliefs of vines and grapes carved into the wood. It's a bit heavy, but not too much so for the Skeek to slide out onto the floor. There's a latch to keep the lid closed, but no lock.

"Alright," Amelia says, and pulls aside a broken shelf to reveal an old sack full of… well, they're rags now.

Zahn grins and says, "I leave breaking things to you." He goes back to looking in the box, checking the sturdiness of the wood as he does so.

Olivia slides the chest closer to her lantern so she can have a good look at it. She runs her fingertips lightly over the top first, admiring the carvings. "Very nice," she murmurs then thumbs open the latch and lifts the lid.

Igor returns with a bucket of water and an armful of rags and burlap sacks. "Here you go," he says, setting them down near the stairs. "Do you need anything elthe, young marthterth?" he asks.

From what Zahn can see, most of the framework inside the cabinet is held to the wood with simple ceramic nuts. They don't look brittle, but after such a long time they could easily be about to crumble or else be fused solid.

Zahnrad gets up from looking at the device and heads over towards Igor. "Are there any other doors coming in here? Ever see any evidence of piping near this tower?" Zahnrad asks. He picks up one of the rags, dips it into the water, then wrings it out and ties it around his nose.

Inside of the chest, set in red velvet, Olivia finds a large, odd-looking lantern. The sides of it are all dark, and next to it is a complicated piece with a cracked glass lens in it.

"Haven't theen or heard any piping," Igor muses. "No wandering muthicianth at all. And I don't thee any other entrantheth here either, unleth they're behind the wine rack or thomething."

"Hmmm. All right. So … about that game thing. Is it ours to take?" Zahn asks hopefully.

"It doethn't theem the thort of thing the doctor would want to keep," Igor says, rubbing his… chin. "You'd need to athk her though, after you get it out and thee can have a look at it."

"How very strange," the Skeek girl murmurs, then lifts the lantern out of its chest and tries to see some way of looking inside it, since the sides are so dark. If she could see inside, then she might be able to discern where the lens would go – assuming the two are a set, of course. And if that is how the lantern might work.

"I'll probably have to dismantle it some to get it out, unless there's another door," Zahnrad says. He shrugs, then goes to get Amy's broom. Time to see if there's drag marks to indicate another door.

Two opposite sides of the lantern are set in grooves, so that they can be slid upwards. The lens piece is mounted on a rectangle of wood that should fit in place of one side as well.

"Jutht holler if you need anything," Igor says hurriedly, and covers his nose as he rushes up the stairs to avoid the dust that will be kicked up by the sweeping.

With a bit of fiddling, Olivia manages to slide one of the lantern's sides completely off and slide the lens into place there, placing the free pane of glass into the chest. Then she slides the other side up and looks for a wick within the lantern.

"These clothes are rotted," Amelia reports, kicking aside an old sack before looking into the next one.

Olivia turns a bit, half tuned-in to Amelia's comment as she looks at the lantern. "A pity. I could use some good scraps for some of my projects."

Zahn fetches the broom near Amelia. "No good, eh?" he asks, then pauses and grins under the rag. "You know, I feel like the bandit Kadie. Grrr," he comments, amused. He walks back towards the machine.

The lens housing makes one side of the lantern jut out like a muzzle. A little wheel lets the lens itself be adjusted forwards or back in its own little nested box, and near the base of it is an open slot. With the rear panel lifted up, it's possible to access the interior oil lamp, which has a standard adjustable wick and a glass reservoir.

Amelia moves towards the opposite pile of debris before Zahn starts sweeping, not wanting to be too close to the dust cloud herself. "Find anything useful yet, Olivia?" she asks the Skeek as she walks past.

Zahnrad starts sweeping slowly and carefully, trying not to kick up too much dust. As he does so, he looks for dragging marks in the stone.

"Possibly," she says to the Kadie girl and holds up the lantern she's been toying with. "Found this in a chest. I've been trying to figure out how it might work – if it works at all now. This lens thingy I found is cracked, so it might not." She indicates where she's slid the lens in at one side.

There doesn't seem to be any obvious markings on the flagstones around the cabinet. The stones aren't exactly smooth-surfaced though, being fairly rough-cut.

"Zahn has a little lantern that looks like that, somewhat," Amelia says, testing the little adjustment wheel. "This is certainly fancy for a lantern though," she admits.

Zahnrad sets the broom aside, looking a bit disgruntled. After a few sneezes, he heads towards the wine rack, remembering what Igor said.

"He does, hm?" Then the Skeek girl calls to Zahn, "Hey, when you get finished over there, can you have a look at what I found? Amy says you have something kind of like it. Maybe you know what it is."

The wine rack reaches nearly to the ceiling, almost seven feet. It's a simple criss-cross construction though, and the wall can be seen through the unused spaces. The bottles themselves are varied, with no two looking quite alike (aside from the crust of dust), except for one near the cabinet that is made of a white ceramic instead of glass, with the neck molded into the shape of a Lapi head.

Zahnrad tries to take the strange bottle from the shelf. As he does, he glances back towards Olivia and says, "Eh? All right, I'll be over in a moment. I don't want to pull the head off this Lapi."

While she waits, Olivia nestles the lantern back in its box and goes over to the water bucket Igor brought. She sneezes several times to rid her sinuses of dust, then rigs up a wet cloth mask for herself, too.

The bottle slides out, and can be seen to be entirely Lapi shaped… although not like any Lapi Zahn has seen. The body is overly plump and heavy-chested, but obviously a doe. There aren't any markings on the bottle or the wooden stopper.

Zahnrad walks over towards the others. "Hey, check out this weirdly shaped bottle. It looks almost like Clover; well, if she ate too much. I bet the head is hollow like hers too," he comments with a grin and holds up the bottle.

Amy is probably scowling behind her kerchief, from the look in her eyes. "Don't mess around with that stuff, Zahn," she says. "Aiken has to figure out if any of it is valuable first."

Olivia shakes her head. "I see the glassmaker who made that had a strange sense of humor," she quips.

Zahnrad rolls his eyes. "You sound like I'm going to break it. I was looking for a secondary doorway," he comments with a shrug. He sets the bottle down near the stairway and says to Olivia, "Okay, what did you want me to look at?"

Olivia leads Zahn over to the lantern she's found. She takes it back out of the chest and hands it to him. "What do you think this is?"

Zahnrad holds the lantern carefully and peers at it. Holding it towards the doorway, he tries to look through the cracked lens as well. "Hm… " he muses.

Amelia looks around in the open chest, searching for pockets in the velvet. "I think there's a piece missing from the lens part," she says. With the light from Zahn's lamp shining into the lantern, the open slot in one side is lit up from inside.

Olivia says, "Just be careful of the loose panel of glass I put in there. Don't want to break anything if this is valuable."

Zahnrad tilts his head, trying to see what things look like through the other side. "I think it's to focus light in a direction, or somesuch," he says as he squints at it. He then sighs and says, "Gah. The both of you seem to think I'm going to break something." He offers it back to Olivia and adds, "Don't ask me to look at something if you're going to then comment about me possibly breaking it."

Olivia gives Zahn a puzzled look. "I was talking to Amy, actually. I had to slide one panel of glass off the lantern to fit the lens in. I'm not yelling at you."

"Maybe there's more to it in this box," Amy says, pulling out the other chest from the bottom shelf. The chest certainly looks the same as the first one.

Olivia smacks her forehead. "Ugh! Now why didn't that thought occur to me – just look for another box! Sorry, the dust must be affecting my brain." She goes over to give Amy a hand with it.

Zahn is left standing holding the strange device. He shrugs slightly, then walks back over to the strange game. He sets the lantern aside in a safe spot, then pulls his pack over to his side and takes out the various tools he brought. Carefully, he sees if any of his wrenches will fit on the ceramic nuts, careful not to turn them as he tries.

Inside the second box are several velvet-lined compartments, each with a stack of glass plates in them (or in some cases, glass shards). Pulling one out, Amelia holds it close to her lamp. Sandwiched between two panes of thin glass is a little painted scene.

None of Zahn's wrenches are an exact match for size, but one is close enough to get a grip. It doesn't help that the nuts are five-sided, either.

Zahn nods once, then sets that wrench aside. He then settles down on the floor and pulls out some paper. He starts making quick diagrams of the inside from his vantage point, noting where nuts connect and the basic layout so he can re-assemble it later.

While Amelia inspects the glass plates, Olivia goes back to retrieve the lantern Zahn set aside. She says quietly to the Kadie boy, "Sorry for the confusion," and then leaves him to his work.

Olivia takes the lantern back to Amelia and kneels down beside her. "What do you see in that little thing?" she asks. "Can you make it out?"

"Mmm," Zahnrad mumbles, not looking up from his sketching. He pauses now and then to take measurements and add them to the diagram.

Amelia turns the glass square back and forth, holding it by a wooden handle along one side. "Looks like… uh… water? Or sky," she says, then gives up and hands the slide to Olivia. "You're the artist, maybe you can make better sense of it?"

Olivia takes the slide, but instead of inspecting it, she looks back and forth between it and the lantern. Trying out an idea, she attempts to fit the glass slide into the open slot on the lantern.

"Ah, it fits!" Amelia says, as Olivia slides the glass into place. "But why? Do you look through the lens at the picture with the light behind it?"

"I think so," the Skeek answers. "I can try to light the lamp now, if there's any oil left in this thing… " She shakes it carefully to see if she hears any leftover oil sloshing around.

The glass reservoir is quite empty. "We can use one of our lamps instead, can't we?" Amelia suggests.

Olivia nods to Amelia. "Good call. I think I'd make a fire hazard out of this place if I tried to extract oil from one lamp to put it in this one." Carefully, she turns the lamp in her hands so that the light from her lantern is shining into it, via the side with the raised pane of glass. Then she looks through the lens.

Looking the lens is almost painful! The glass warps things around and makes the lamp flame seem brighter.

Olivia aughs! and leans back a bit from the lens, blinking her eyes until the sparks of light fade from her vision. "Let me try this wheel thing," she mutters, "maybe that will help. Or else I have to back off from the light… "

"Hey, I could see some of the colors on your face when you were leaning in to look," Amy says, and gets up. She walks over to the cabinet, and asks, "Zahn, can we borrow this wood panel?"

Zahn glances up from his diagram and asks, "Why?"

"I want to shine the lantern on it," Amelia explains.

Zahn shrugs, saying, "Have fun, then. Though you might have better luck on a white surface." He holds up a couple pieces of blank paper too. "Hold this against the panel."

"Oh, thanks!" Amelia says, taking the panel and the paper. She sets the wood against the wine rack, and sticks the paper to it with a bit of water from the bucket. "There! Shine the lantern on this, Olivia."

Zahnrad, satisfied with his current diagram, thanks the wrench that seemed to fit all right. He tries to carefully loosen one of the nuts … one that doesn't look like it's structurally important.

Olivia does as she is directed and shines the lantern on the makeshift screen. "At least this is better than blinding myself," she says lightly.

After a bit of knob twiddling and sliding the lantern closer to the screen, an image forms on the sheets of paper: a cobblestone street, flanked by tall, white-columned buildings with a large body of water in the distance. There's even a tiny airship in the sky.

There is a sharp cracking noise, and the nut shatters as Zahn tries to loosen it. Once the pieces have fallen away, the Kadie can see that the bolt is threaded in the opposite direction of what he was expecting.

Olivia gives a little gasp as the picture forms. "Brilliant!" she says and inspects it closely – that is, until the cracking noise makes her jump for the second time.

"What was that?" Amelia asks, looking up from the picture.

Olivia says, "You okay over there, Zahn?"

Zahnrad mutters, annoyed. "Figures," he says and shakes his head. He picks up one of the bits from the nut and squeezes it between his fingers to test the strength of the nut. "It's nothing," he replies shortly.

The nut fragment stands up to the squeezing, having already broken along whatever strain fractures it may have had.

"Well, we have a picture of an airship over here," Amelia reports.

"Mmm," Zahnrad mutters and gets up. He drops his wrench near his pack and heads over to the other two. At seeing the picture, he moves in close and tries to get a look at the ship.

Olivia watches Zahn pick through what's left of the nut and says, "This seems to be our day for mishaps – I shine light into my eyes, things fall apart on you. Ah well. Yeah, you want to see this airship? It's not very large in the picture, but perhaps we can make it a bit bigger."

The image is a tiny reddish blot, with any details hidden by the vagaries of focal lengths.

"Moving the lantern back makes it bigger," Amy notes. "But it won't fit on the paper then."

"It's a flying blob," Zahnrad comments. "Doesn't help that the lens is a bit damaged." His ears flick, and he suggests, "You could move it back, then move the lantern around some and fit portions of the picture on the paper at a time."

Olivia also goes back to looking at the image, trying to discern if it is some sort of miniature painting done on the glass lens or if it was made by other means. "Okay, I'll try moving it around." She goes back to the lantern and tries to make the adjustment to fit parts of the airship on the paper.

"That makes sense," Amelia agrees, and picks up the panel that serves as the screen. As Olivia moves things around, she tries to hold it where the magnified airship will be.

It takes a bit of repositioning and pulling the lantern back nearly to the shelves, but finally the airship is centered on the screen and in better focus. Zahnrad can easily identify it as an old style Olympian design, and Olivia can make out subtle brush strokes in the image.

"Olympian. The short stabilization wings and sloped airbag indicate that much. This stuff is probably imported. That would explain the deranged reverse threaded bolts back there," Zahnrad comments. "Must've either been Olympians, or fans of them, that lived here."

"There are dozens of intact pictures in that box though," Amy says. "Just because one shows Olympian stuff doesn't mean they all will."

Olivia hmms to herself. "I'll have to take a really close look at these glass slides and see how they might have put a painting on one… or the reduced image of a painting. I should buy a magnifying glass from you, Zahn."

"I also wonder if Dr. Pike would let me keep all of this," Olivia adds, waving a hand at the two chests.

"We should get a new lens fashioned for the box, too. Replace the cracked one," Zahnrad replies and kneels down near the panel the light is being projected on. He starts looking for a maker's mark or date.

Olivia claps her hands in delight. "Could you do that? That would be great!"

"Those little squares of glass can't be more than two inches across," Amelia says, looking to Olivia. "Can you paint on something that small?"

"I could try. I'm making no promises. I'll need some good quality glass, and some really, really, pure clay to grind and polish it with," Zahnrad says, not looking up. "Lenses are very difficult to make."

"You can, although it's a very difficult art," Olivia replies. "Some of my art books talk about painting in miniature. But you wouldn't get this level of detail on such a small slide. Which makes me think these images were large at first and then reduced somehow to fit on the slide. I'll have to find out more to be sure."

The edges of the image are dim and not as clear as the center, so any mark or signature can't be made out.

Olivia gives Zahn a considering look. "I may be able to wrangle some glass from somewhere… from someone who owes me a favor, perhaps. I'll look into it."

"Maybe you just need a bigger lamp and lens, then you wouldn't have to shrink the picture?" Amy suggests, going back to the shelves. There are two larger chests on the next row, and some smaller boxes up on the uppermost shelf.

Zahnrad stands up and dusts off his knees. "I'll make a note to look at making a lens, then," he says. "Depends on when I'll have time to work on it, though, with the other various jobs going on. It'll need to be thick, large, and fairly clear. If it wasn't made well, the consistency and density will vary, making it useless as lens material." He then glances over toward Amelia and asks, "Want me to help get the others down?"

"If you can, thanks," Amy says to Zahn, as she tugs at one end of a chest. "These are bigger and heavier than the bottom ones where."

Olivia makes a mental note of all Zahn has said. "Right. Thanks!"

Zahnrad shrugs. "It's no problem. It'll take me a while to dismantle that game anyway. I'll probably have to come back later, or stay the night," he says and heads over to the shelf. He takes one side of the chest, then nods to Amy.

Together, the two Kadies lower the big chest to the floor. It's very much along the same lines as the first two, only this time done in a dark blue lacquer and having a curved lid.

Olivia then kneels again at the picture-lantern and begins to re-pack it carefully into its chest, unfitting the lens as she does so and sliding the loose pane of glass back on. Then she re-packs the slides, tossing all of the broken ones into a nearby rag and tying it shut to prevent glass from going all over the floor.

Zahnrad looks at the chest and scratches his cheek. "If I stay, you'll need to tell my mother I won't be at dinner," he tells Amelia. He kneels down and tries to carefully open the chest.

Amy opens the new chest to reveal a chitin sound horn (with a nasty crack in it) and a fancy looking box with a crank handle on one side and an arm raising up from the top with a drive belt and turning disk attached to it. Next to it is another armature with several complicated pieces connected to it.

Zahn raises his eyebrow. "I … think it's some sort of music or sound thing. The horn on it amplifies the vibrations the disc causes," he says. "I imagine it still works, if you want to try it," he adds and looks at the other armature.

The second armature looks like it would fit into the top of the box opposite the first one, and has a free-turning disc on it with a raised, five-sided stud in the center. A rail is attached to the top, with a bulb-shaped device on it that comes to a very sharp point. It looks like the sound horn might attach to one end of it.

"I've seen Emmett's band use some weird looking instruments," Amy says, "but nothing that looked like this."

Olivia finishes her packing and puts the two red chests to one side, safely out of the way. Then she starts rummaging among the debris from the fallen shelves looking for unusual cloth scraps or whole pieces of clothing. She casts curious glances over at the others now and then.

Zahnrad motions towards the contents and asks, "Shall I? I've read about these before. I think I have, anyway. It seems familiar."

Amy scoots back to give Zahn room to work. "Go ahead," she says.

Zahn nods and sits down. He pulls out the first piece and sets it disc-side up. Then, he takes the odd second part and examines it, then goes about fitting it on top of the first one. "Can you see in the other chest? I think we need to put a disc on this thing that has grooves and bumps on it," he says.

Standing up, Amelia opens the next chest without taking it down from the shelf. "This has got scrolls… uh, hold on," she says, and reaches in to pulls out a cloth wrapped cylinder.

After unwrapping the object, Amy hands it over to Zahn. It's got grooves on its chitin-like surface, certainly, but is hardly disk shaped. At each end is a five-sided depression though, that matches the raised studs on the other disks.

Zahnrad looks at the device, then scratches his cheek and glances at the scroll. "Oh! Yeah, right. The newer models use the disks, I remember now. Some travelers were talking about it once. Hah," he says and grins. "You'll like this," he says. Once satisfied he has the top part on, he takes the sound horn and tries to fit into the slot he thinks it goes in, then fits the cylinder between the two disks.

Fully assembled, the cylinder is held above the box in the two arms, with the small horn riding on the bob that sits on a rail so that it can traverse the cylinder. "It looks like a clothes wringer on a washtub," Amy remarks.

"Thank you, Dr. Blacktail," Zahnrad comments with a grin. Zahn holds the bob up some so it doesn't drag on the cylinder and turns the crank some to see if the device is spring wound, manual, or flat broken.

There is some resistance, and then the cylinder begins to turn with the cranking. A horrible snarling sound that might be speech comes from the horn.

Covering her ears, Amy says, "Yuck, even Emmett's band sounds better than that gargling!"

Zahnrad winces and tries to reset the needle. "Oy, that's nasty," he comments. "I hope that's just misalignment and not someone talking. Get another cylinder."

Amy fetches another cylinder from the chest, and hands it to Zahn. "At least we've found some broken glass," she comments to Olivia.

Zahnrad quits cranking and removes that cylinder. He sets it gently in his lap and fits the new one on. He sets the needle, then starts to crank again. "Okay you, sound good," he tells it.

Olivia quirks an eyebrow over at Amy and gives her a questioning look.

After a few seconds of hisses and pops, a somewhat tinny voice recites, "Twelfth entry. I have manpoped to capture one of the hissites. It is secured in the old dungeon now, but I don't snarlpop how long before screechscratchpoppop … " At this point, the cracks in the sound horn widen and the chitin construct breaks into several pieces and falls to the floor.

"Great, and me without my glue," Zahnrad comments and sighs. "I should have stayed in bed."

Olivia's interest is immediately caught. "What-ites? I wonder what kind of thing the voice was talking about… "

Amelia just stares at the device for a moment, then asks, "How can it talk? Boxes aren't supposed to talk! Is there a spirit inside?"

"Well, maybe the other scrolls say. But, we're not playing them without some repair work on this," Zahnrad says and looks at Olivia. "If you have some good cloth and glue, we can re-enforce the horn. As for the scrolls, we can reproduce these with wax to replicate the ridges, then make copies … maybe." He then looks at Amy and says, "No, it's just a machine. The little needle here slides in the grooves on the scroll and vibrates. The vibration reproduced sounds, which the horn amplifies. Nothing magical, sorry."

"Still sounds like magic to me," Amy mutters. "Sound out of grooves and pins… "

Olivia drums her fingers on one knee. "I don't have any strong cloth and glue on me right now, but I can easily lay hands on some back at the Weavers'. I can take some of the broadcloth we have – that's plenty sturdy."

"Then I guess that would make me a wizard? I could probably build one of these things if I worked at it. I can certainly repair it," Zahn replies with a shrug. He then glances to Olivia and nods, "If Dr. Pike will let us have it, we can get together and try to repair the horn and such. It would be a shame to ruin its look, so once we patch the cracks, want to repaint it?"

Olivia gives Zahn a mischievous grin. "You sure you trust my sense of color for that?" she teases.

"I live dangerously," Zahnrad deadpans.

"My kind of friend," Olivia replies.

After retrieving her broom-staff, Amelia feels a bit more secure as she eyes the walls and floor suspiciously.

Zahn wraps up the cylinders carefully and puts them pack in the other chest. He then carefully repacks the device. "Amy … these are decades old. Whatever it was talking about is likely long dead," he says.

"At any rate, have you decided if you're going to stay the night here or come back tomorrow?" Olivia asks. "I will have to return to the Weavers' in a few hours, myself. It's my turn to take the new bolts of cloth to the general store, ugh."

"Maybe so, but the voice mentioned a dungeon," Amy points out, then says, "Zahn has to go home for dinner tonight, and I should stop off at the Weavers with you, Olivia."

"Haven't decided. I'm supposed to go to a family dinner tonight. Amelia is as well," Zahnrad says and shrugs. He glances at Amelia, considering. "But then, this stuff has sat here for years. One night more won't hurt it. Maybe Pike'll let us move the chests up into the main castle for safety."

Olivia nods. "That sounds good. Why let this stuff get any more broken than it already is, eh?"

"However, you could always go to my mother's dinner without me," Zahnrad points out to Amy, then nods to Olivia. "Along those lines. We can't move the game, though. Won't fit. I'll have to dismantle it … without breaking it further." He sighs.

"What, and be all alone without a guide to your crazy family? No way," Amelia says. "This kerchief makes my nose itch, and I could do with some fresh air. Let's go ask about bringing up the chests."

"You could survive my family without me," Zahnrad says as he stands again and dusts off his knees.

Olivia smiles broadly underneath her own cloth mask. "This sounds like a fun time."

"You're going to that dinner, Zahn," Amelia insists. "What would your mother think about you spending the night in a castle with an older single woman, afterall? Especially one that you've been so interested in?"

Zahn waves a hand. "Interested in wings, not her. My mother knows that," Zahnrad points out. "Afraid of being alone with my mother, are you?"

"Yes," Amy says, flat out.

Olivia says, "Okay, maybe taking cloth to the general store isn't all that bad… "

Zahnrad grins, saying, "Smart girl." He walks over and pats Amy's shoulder, adding, "Don't worry, I'll be there. But, I can bet she'll drag you off to chat at some point, regardless. She's like that, and stubborn."

"Chat?" Amelia squeaks. "What about? I don't know how to chat with mothers!"

"About you, of course. Just be yourself; you'll be fine," Zahnrad says and waves his hand again. "It's not like she's going to put you on a rack, or something."

"With that family, I wouldn't be so sure," Olivia mutters to herself, then goes back to looking through piles of debris.

"Your cousin looks like she'd have a rack though," Amy says, and takes one end of the chest of record-cylinders. "Let's start carrying this stuff up though."

Olivia comes across a spilled box of necklace beads and other junk jewelry – mostly shiny glass and stones.

Zahnrad takes the other side and starts to lift. "She does have some really weird frames in her cabin she hangs ropes and knots on. I've never quite figured her out," Zahn replies with a nod. He then leans forward and whispers to Amelia, "Really, you'll be fine if she does. Don't worry."

Olivia hahs! and sets that box aside to look through as soon as she carries the red lacquered boxes upstairs with the others. "I seem to have struck artistic pay-dirt. Wonderful!"

Walking backwards, Amelia starts up the stairs with her end of the chest. "I think I'd better get those clothes altered in a hurry then," she says. "Somehow, I don't think showing up in her son's extra pair of pants is going to give the proper impression."

Zahnrad laughs. "I don't think she'd care. It's no crime to borrow someone's pants. What, you think she'll think you beat me up and ripped them off me?" Zahn asks as they head up the stairs.

Olivia picks up the first of the red-lacquered chests and follows after the others, shaking her head at the Kadies' by-play.

"More likely she'd think I'd grabbed the wrong pair while trying to sneak out of your cabin in the dark," Amy teases.

Zahnrad's eyes go wide and the lining of his ears flushes out some at that comment. "Ah, er, uhm, well, heh," he stammers, looking flustered. "I don't think she would think that. I mean, that would mean she'd think we were uhm. I don't know why she'd get that idea it's not like … oh wait. Yes, get the clothing altered." He nods, then nods again, "Quickly."