After learning of the Magic Lantern and Graphaphone discovered in the cellar, Dr. Pike decides to return with the Stonebarrow crew to investigate further, since there are still a few boxes up on the highest shelf. The Eeee nearly trips over a Lapi-shaped bottle that had been set next to the stairs though. "What's this?" she asks, her high voice slightly muffled by a dust mask.

"Some funky bottle from the shelf. Rather lewdly shaped, if you ask me," Zahnrad comments and glances toward the bottle. "It stood out from the other bottles over there."

"Apparently the glassmaker had a rather odd sense of humor," Olivia chips in, grinning at the Kadie boy.

"Lewdly shaped?" Amelia asks Zahn as she goes about gathering debris into a single pile.

"Aye. Lapi shaped. Counts as lewdly shaped in my book, given how they act," Zahnrad comments to Amy, then glances back toward the machine. "Say, Dr. Pike, have you seen any piping around here, or know what the tower was used for?"

"Hmmm, probably some sort of ceremonial wine then," Pike guesses, and sets the bottle into one of the empty spaces on the wine rack, then goes over to look at the cabinet-of-clockwork Zahn mentions. "Well, yes, there are pipes in the walls. I gather that at one time the castle had running hot and cold water. If the broken tower was anything like the other one, it would have had three levels of rooms in it."

It takes a few moments after examining the cabinet for Pike to turn around and look critically back at the stone passage the stairs pass through. "You know, I don't think this thing would fit through the door here," the Eeee comments.

"Ahah, then this machine was water or steam powered. I was right," Zahnrad says and walks over to the box. "It's some sort of game. I can probably get it running, but not down here. Some parts need work, and I'm sure a portion of it needs lubrication." Zahnrad also nods at that, adding, "It won't. It's two inches too small. So, there has to be another passage somewhere."

Olivia nods to the Eee. "Amelia noticed that, too. I think it was brought down here in pieces, then assembled. Although by the looks of it, that would have been one long assembly! It seems to be a pretty intricate machine."

"Aha!" Pike says, pointing upwards in emphasis. "The castle has lots of secret passages, so maybe there is one hidden down here," she says, and turns towards the wine rack. "Probably some combination of bottles in specific slots is the key."

Zahnrad quirks a grin and comments, "Now, if the building designers were really clever, they could have rigged the tower itself as a piston, then used water pressure to raise and lower it. What was the cellar becomes the first floor, and all that." He then glances toward the rack and says, "You're probably right, but the moving tower idea is neater." He heads over towards the rack and peers closely. Carefully, he starts running his fingertips on the resting points, feeling for small 'switches'.

Shrugging to Olivia as Zahn and Pike begin probing the wine rack, Amelia steps onto the lower shelf of the still-standing storage unit so she can reach the items stacked on top of it. She passes a small, dust covered box down to the Skeek.

Olivia goes over to join Amelia and takes the box from her. "Just as well to let those two work at the wine-rack puzzle," she whispers confidentially. "I never was very good at things like that."

As Zahnrad probes around, something latches onto one of his fingers and starts crawling along his arm on dozens of sharp little legs.

Zahnrad jumps backwards and swats at his arm. "Get it off, get it off!" he says, hopping around the room!

Olivia starts at the noise. "Get what off?" she asks in alarm, trying to see what Zahn is talking about.

"What… " Pike begins to ask, but then the long black centipede that was on Zahn's arm is flung off and lands in her hair. With a high-pitched screech, the Eeee starts jumping up and down while trying to shake the bug out.

"Hold still! I'll get it!" Zahnrad says and yanks off his dustguard. He waves it wildly at the Eeee's head.

"Ahhh!" Pike yells, thinking something else is attacking her now. She whips her head away from the rag, which in turn sends the centipede flying again. It arches past Olivia's shoulder, just brushing against her whiskers, and ends up in Amelia's tail.

Olivia aiees! as she watches the ugly bug land on Amelia. She grabs a few rags from one of the bags Amy explored earlier and tries to knock it off her. "Amy, try not to move! If you wiggle you AND the shelves will come down!"

Zahn chases after the bug, only to skid to a halt when he sees where it lands. "Yeah, what she says," he says feebly.

Startled, Amelia ignores the advice about not moving and jumps up onto the top of the shelving unit, sending various small packages raining down as she dislodges them. Her long fluffy tail flays about rapidly, until something flies off and hits the stone wall with an audible crunch.

"Uhm, Amelia … are you all right?" Zahnrad asks weakly and goes over to the girl.

Olivia holds her head as it is bonked by several falling objects. She looks weakly after the centipede. "Is it dead?" she groans.

"Of course I'm all right," the Kadie girl snaps from where she's squashed between the top shelf and the crumbly ceiling. While still twitching in the lantern light, the centipede lays in multiple pieces near the pile of debris from the collapsed shelves.

After patting her now disheveled hair back into place, Dr. Pike says, "Oh my, that was a fright. Black centipedes are poisonous you know… did anyone get bitten?"

"Er, well, then … I'll go back over to the rack, then," Zahnrad replies quickly, then scurries back over to the wine rack. "I don't think I did. I felt it grab on and climb, but I don't think I was bitten," he says.

Olivia's eyes go wide. "Amy, what about you? Did you feel it bite you?"

Pike leans in to examine Zahnrad's eyes. "No, I don't suppose you did, since you haven't swollen up or started to twitch."

"I didn't feel a bite," Amelia says, and slowly starts to climb back down the shelves. Grabbing blindly for handholds, she clutches something near the top edge that makes a loud click.

Zahnrad's tail twitches at the loud click. Slowly, he turns around and looks, half-expecting to see something explode.

The shelving unit swings out a few inches from the wall, apparently hinged on one side. This time, Amelia freezes.

"Hey, you found the door," Zahn says weakly.

"Ah, a latch," Pike says, sounding disappointed that it would be something so simple.

Olivia backs up slowly as the shelving unit swings towards her. "And now we know why these shelves didn't come down," she adds.

"Right," Amy says, hopping back down to the floor. "I… uh… meant to do that."

Zahnrad looks equally disappointed. "Well, that's uninspiring. What a boring design," he comments.

Behind the shelves is an archway nearly four feet wide, opening onto a stairway that spirals down into the darkness.

Olivia looks among the others. "Shall we gather lanterns and have a look? Perhaps Amelia should bring her staff, too, while we're at it."

"Well, the machine will fit through that, but the stairs go down, not up," Zahn comments and checks his helmet lamp. He nods to Olivia and adds, "I want to see where it goes and what is down there. I bet there's some cool machinery that used to run parts of the castle." He walks towards the stairwell, apparently not willing to wait.

"Oh my, it goes down quite a ways," Pike reports, after leaning into the passage and sending a few sonar pings into it. "It might be a good idea to bring an extra lantern."

"Good idea," Amelia says, holding onto her staff. "That way, if something eats Zahn, we won't be left in the dark."

"Anything down there has to be long dead," Zahnrad comments, then steps through the hidden doorway.

Olivia locates her own lantern, then pats the pocket in which she stuck the extra candle earlier, just to make sure it's still there. Then she heads towards the stairway. "Well, here's mine. Will these be enough?"

"Those should be fine," Pike tells Olivia.

Following Zahn, Amelia notes, "Long dead doesn't mean non-dangerous."

Olivia nods to the Eeee, then follows after the rest.

"You worry too much," Zahnrad quips and heads down. "If I stopped to worry, I'd never get any machine done."

The stairs seem to go on forever, and the air gets progressively warmer (and more stagnant) the deeper they get. After what must be two hundred feet or more, multi-colored crystals embedded high in the walls begin to give off light.

Olivia says to no one in particular, "I'm beginning to think this is the stairway to the middle of the world! How much longer, any guesses?"

"Hey, this looks … uhm," Zahnrad says, then looks back Amelia. "Man, I wish this was my home," he comments, continuing downward. "I envy you, Dr. Pike."

"Really?" Pike replies. "I'm just glad that I'm not claustrophobic right now. Those light sources look like rainbow crystals… so we must be getting into an area of high background magic for them to be glowing like this." Indeed, the deeper they go, the brighter the crystals get.

"Really. This would be an incredible place to build a workshop and lab. Free light-sources and everything, and no one would find you down here," Zahnrad replies, flicking his tail about. "Hello down there!" he shouts down the stairs.

"I'm glad nobody replied," Amelia says, keeping her broom-staff at the ready. "Long way to walk for some lights."

After another hundred or so feet, the stairs finally level off into a long, wide hallway. The stonework here is in much better shape than in the wine cellar above, and a series of heavy-looking doors line both sides of the passage. At the far end is another chamber, although not as well lit as the hall. The smell of stagnant water is also very strong, and familiar to anyone who has visited the swamp.

Olivia shines her lantern at the line of doors. "Hmm, this may become a game of 'pick one, see what happens,'" she comments idly. "Or should we try the room at the far end?"

Zahnrad glances at Amelia, then just shrugs. "I say we search all the doors. But … hm," Zahnrad says, rubbing his chin. "Mind if I go search for any sort of trapping at the doors?"

"Trapping?" Pike says, almost hoarsely. "Well, maybe we should see what the far room holds before exploring the others, just in case. Wouldn't want something sneaking up behind us."

Olivia gives the Kadie boy a weak grin at the mention of traps. "Who would know better about boobytraps, eh?" she quips. "This seems to run in the family."

Zahn nods, "Yes, trapping. You know, pits of doom, swinging balls of spikes, tripwires, things like that." He looks at Olivia oddly, "Are you implying something about my family?"

"Yes," Olivia replies flatly, although without any malice.

"I thought it was more of a bald statement than an implication," Amelia says, grinning. "I think I'd like to see what's at the other end of the hall too. Something stinks."

"Well, okay then!" Zahnrad declares. He turns, sniffs under his arm, comments, "It's not me." then heads down the hallway.

Olivia just shakes her head and follows along after Zahn, albeit a bit more slowly. She looks around cautiously as she goes.

After passing five widely spaced doors on either side of the passage, the group comes to another archway. Beyond it, after a few short descending steps, is a platform extending out into a canal of black water. It runs off to the right into a dark tunnel.

Zahnrad looks at the stinky water, then hmms. "I got it!" he declares.

Amelia jumps at the shout, and snaps back, "Don't shout like that!"

"Got what?" the Skeek girl asks.

"Inflatable boats!" Zahnrad goes on. "Fits in your pocket, inflates and you can float on them. It's a great idea. Man, wish I thought of it a week ago. We could use one right now."

"What about the oars?" Amelia points out. "Would they be inflatable too?"

"You have a tail? Small board, instant oar," Zahnrad says, refusing to be deflated.

Pike, meanwhile, just rubs her chin in thought. "I suppose it makes sense to have an underground canal. I've heard about underground railroads to the south," she finally says.

"I wouldn't stick my tail into that," Amy says, pointing at the fetid water.

Olivia shines her lantern directly into Zahn's eyes. "Are you sure you didn't get bitten by that black centipede?" she asks warily. "You're starting to babble."

"I would," Zahnrad says and looks back at the canal. "You people … you just don't appreciate good ideas."

Olivia rolls her eyes ceiling-ward at this last comment, then turns to look out at the black water, too. "The question is, where does it lead?"

"Inflatable or not, I wouldn't want to carry a boat down all of those stairs," Amelia mutters, then looks into the dark passage the canal follows. "It probably leads to the swamp. Maybe we're at the same level as it now?"

"And how deep is it? We might be able to just wade through it," Zahnrad says, rubbing his chin.

"It may have been a sewer too," Pike points out. "Certainly not something to wade into without testing it for toxicity first."

"Waterproof boots, another idea," Zahnrad says with a firm nod. "Thank you, Dr. Pike."

"These masks don't keep out the stink very well though," Amelia complains. "I'm ready to look behind some doors now, to get away from it."

"Good enough for me," Olivia replies. "Shall we move on?"

"Okay, okay," Zahnrad concedes. He pats Amy's back and comments, "I'll make it up to you later for dragging you down here." He starts to walk away from the canal.

Amelia twitches her tail back and forth, but then follows along without asking what Zahn meant.

Olivia merely shrugs to Dr. Pike at this and heads away from the canal.

The first door on the right has a small handle and appears to open inwards. There is no sign of a lock, simply a trigger-like lever inside the handle.

"Stand back, please," Zahnrad says, then takes his rag again and wraps it around the handle, against the trigger. He pulls the rag taut, trying to activate the trigger without touching the handle. He sticks out his tongue in concentration.

There's a bit of resistance, until the lever finally gives with a loud click. Nothing else happens, and the door doesn't move since it's meant to open inwards.

Holding the rag firmly, Zahnrad nudges the door with his foot to open it slightly.

The old wooden hinges haven't been oiled in quite some time, if the squealing groan the door makes is any indication. Light spilling in from the hallway illuminates something dark and shiny on the far wall of a relatively small room. The nudge only manages to open the door about a foot.

"Well, I should have brought an oil can," Zahnrad comments, peering in the room. "I'll go look, if people want. Looks safe enough."

"All the same, you want anyone along as backup?" Olivia asks.

"I don't detect anything moving in there, so it should be okay," Pike reports.

Amelia grabs onto the end of Zahnrad's tail. "If anything happens, I'm going to yank you back out," she says.

Zahnrad glances back at Amelia and wiggles his tail in her hand. "I think you'd yank even if nothing happens," he comments with a grin. Then, the Kadie carefully steps into the room and peers around.

With the door only partially opened, Zahn's lamp is the primary source of light. It illuminates some empty shelves, a pile of moldering rope, and a small flat bottomed boat made of some chitin-like material leaning against the back wall.

"Hey, a boat!" Zahnrad calls back, pleased. He makes his way slowly toward it. "Anyone want to go down the canal?"

"Not right away," Amelia says.

"I wonder if it's a zombie love canal," Zahnrad muses and carefully tries to move the boat and look behind it.

"That's great!" Olivia calls back, glad that they now won't have to haul boat-making materials all the way down those stairs. "Perhaps we should wait until we've tested all the doors, though?"

A closer inspection of the boat shows it to be made of some kind of black resin. There aren't any oars or poles nearby, and nothing is hidden behind it.

"No oars, though," Zahnrad calls back, "But, I'm sure we can find something for your tail, Amelia!" He grins playfully.

The Kadie girl clicks her teeth, and asks, "Do you even know how to pole or row a boat?"

"It can't be that difficult. Push against the water, go in a direction. Simple physics," Zahnrad replies and comes out of the room. He runs his hands through his hair and says, "Not unlike air. Air flows like a fluid too, you know. And, you know I've been working on designs for that." He also nods to Olivia and says, "And yes, let's check out the next room. You want to do the honors?"

Olivia answers, "Sure, but if it looks like there might be signs of a trap, I'll need your help to diffuse it."

"I think Igor knows about boats," Pike offers, before standing aside so the others can get to the door across the hallway. It looks identical to the first door.

Zahnrad salutes Olivia, "Aye aye, Captain." He looks over at Amelia and just grins.

Olivia gives a jaunty return-salute of her own and heads over to the door across from the boat room. She looks it over carefully for anything odd.

The latch has the same trigger-in-handle style as the previous door, with the only noticeable difference being that this one is hinged on the outside.

"Now, if I were designing this place, I'd have it so a jet of slime would fire from one door outward, through another door, inward," Zahnrad quips.

"A jet of slime?" Pike asks. "Whyever for?"

"To deal with nosy people," Zahnrad replies.

Amelia and Pike move to be clear of the doorway, just in case.

Zahn, however, doesn't. He remains nearby in case he's needed, eyes narrowed.

"This has the same mechanism as the first door, so I guess I'll open it the same way," Olivia muses. She goes over, unties the rag from the trigger of the first door, ties it to the trigger of the second door, and pulls it taut carefully. "Here goes… something," she says to the others in warning as she pulls.

The door makes the same horrible screeching sound of poorly maintained hinges, but opens wider than the first did. The room beyond has it's own crystal-light, and is filled with a forest of ceramic plumbing. Two large central pipes as thick as tree trunks run from floor to ceiling, with smaller pipes branching off of them. Some go back into the floor, others to the ceiling or into the walls. There are wheeled valve controls on just about every pipe.

Olivia shines her lantern into the room and ahas! "Looks like your steam pipes are in here, Zahn! Come and see!"

"Oh wow… " Zahn says, wide eyed. Walking past Olivia, the Kadie walks into the room. He twitches some, not unlike a child in a candy store. "Look at all the controls… " His hands fidget nervously.

Amelia presses a palm against one of the big pipes, and says, "I don't feel anything. No vibration or heat."

"Careful there," Olivia says lightly, seeing Zahn's hands twitch. "You don't want to blow off another tower, do you?"

"Oh my, can you imagine what sort of pressure was needed if these go all the way up to the castle?" Pike says, tapping at a pipe with a clawtip.

Nothing in the room is labeled, beyond the occasional notch-mark on a wheel, and there is no sign of a boiler for producing steam or hot water.

"Bah," Zahnrad says dismissively. He leans over to a pipe and taps on it, then listens. "Well, decent, but consider as long as it's a sealed system and you don't change sizes much, your pressure should be constant throughout," he says absently. "And, it may have been the pressure came from above, instead of below. Water weight in the tower could create amazing pressure down here."

"So what's it all for then?" Amelia asks.

Olivia considers all the machinery. "And if the pipes are in here, would the boiler be behind another one of these doors, d'you think? Or would that have to be situated elsewhere?"

Zahnrad glances over at Amelia and says, "I have a few ideas, but I need to confirm something first." He goes to one of the smaller valves and gives it just a slight nudge to see if it moves.

The valve remains frozen in place.

"Hm," Zahnrad says, then tries to turns a bit harder. "We should check the other doors, though," he concedes. "There may be a boiler or somesuch, as you suggest.

Olivia nods and backs out of the room towards the next door on the same side of the hall as the boat room. She quirks an eyebrow at Zahn, and asks, "You or me first, this time?"

The next pair of doors along the hall are slightly different. The one on the right once more is an inward-opening door with a simple latch, while the one on the left opens outwards but is secured by several sturdy-looking sliding bolts, and has another sliding panel in the center of it.

Zahnrad shrugs and gives up on the valve. "I want to check out the door with the bolts," he says and heads towards that door. "They may have re-enforced the doors to more complex and dangerous items. Or! This might be that cell mentioned on that voice scroll."

"Are you sure we should open it then?" Amelia asks, sounding concerned.

Olivia pauses in her movement towards the opposite door. "And should I wait until you've tried that one before I try this one?" she adds.

"I'll look through the panel first," Zahnrad replies and looks over the door carefully. "What's the worst that could happen? I'd be eaten alive?"

"No, the worse is that you're only half-eaten and still alive," Amy suggests.

"Oh, well, that's only half as bad then," Zahnrad says and winks at Amy. He knocks on the door, then asks, "Anything in there?"

"Even the undead need to feed," Pike points out. "So there shouldn't be anything dangerous left in there. That is, that can move."

Olivia looks worried herself at Amelia's suggestion. She decides to wait and see if the door Zahn is testing is safe before she proceeds.

There's no reply to Zahn's query.

Zahnrad tries to open the panel to peer in.

The panel slides open with a bit of difficulty, revealing a slit view into a small room. The crystal in the ceiling is either damaged or abnormal, since it flickers fitfully to illuminate a pair of heavy-duty ironwood chains and manacles hanging against the far wall, and a floor covered with what might have once been straw.

Zahnrad turns this way and that, trying to get his lamp to illuminate more of the cell. "I was right, prison cell," Zahnrad replies. "Looks vacant so far. Crystal looks damaged, so hard to see. Nice chains in there."

Olivia cranes her head so she can see through the opening. "See any movement? Or any, uh, remains of something that would have been moving?"

Bending down take a look herself, Pike says, "Oh… yes, quite nice. I might be able to use manacles like that… "

Zahnrad arches his eyebrow and looks at the Eeee. "For… ?" he has to ask.

"Manacling things, of course," Dr. Pike replies. "What else would you use them for?"

"What do you have to manacle? It's not like anyone else other than Igor lives with you," Zahnrad points out. "Unless you plan to kidnap gue… Nevermind." He turns back to the door and starts to undo each sliding bolt, one by one, pausing to listen for movement afterward.

Olivia exchanges stares with Amelia behind the doctor's back. 'Yikes!' she mouths silently.

There's nothing but the silence of the crypt from beyond the door.

Amelia just shrugs to Olivia, and whispers, "You want to ask what Zahn was going to use them for?"

Zahnrad pulls the final bolt, then nudges the door. "Well, here goes an adventure … " he says, then holds his breath.

The door opens with the now-expected amount of noise. Light from the hallway lessens the flickering effect inside the room, but nothing else seems particularly unusual. The floor of the cell is indeed made of old, extremely brittle straw. A rotted bucket sits in one corner, and the back of the ironwood door is deeply gouged by huge claw marks. In fact, just about every wall of the stone cell is gouged, now that the light makes things clearer.

Zahnrad looks to Olivia. "Hey, Olivia," he says, "Come here. Do these scratches look familiar?" He then peers closely at the gouges, curious to if they are similar to what he saw in the crypt.

Olivia comes forward to look at the claw marks. Softly, she says to Zahn, "They do. They look like the marks I saw on the underside of that sarcophagus lid."

"So, we have an idea of what was held down here then?" Amelia asks.

"Iiiiinteresting," Zahnrad intones. He looks back at the other two and says, "I bet we could find the bottom of that hole down here. Er … that's not comforting. It's gotta still be down here, somewhere."

"Something with very powerful claws, from the look of it," Pike observes, comparing the width of the gouges to one of her own claws. "Very big claws too."

"We've seen it before. In the forest," Zahnrad tells the doctor.

"Oh, some sort of burrowing animal then?" Pike asks.

"That likes to live off corpses," Zahnrad adds to Pike's statement. "It burrowed into a tomb and ate the remains. Or, at least took them."

Olivia looks grimly around the cell. "If we do find the other end of that tunnel we saw on the way to the castle, perhaps we should try to plug it up, too? If it is a burrowing animal, as Dr. Pike suggests, it might make its home in the earth. We could at least stop it from entering the castle again… unless it is around in these cellars somewhere already."

Zahn nods to Olivia. "But, we're safe. We have Amelia with us. She'll protect us," he says and grins at the other Kadie.

"I don't hear anything besides ourselves down here," Pike offers.

Amelia blinks, and grips her staff tight. "Right. No gopher is going to get us while I'm around!"

Olivia touches one set of gouges in the stone wall and says, "No wish to offend, Amelia, but with claws like this, your staff might not be enough to protect us."

"That's right. Remember, you pummeled that frog creature," Zahnrad says with a firm nod. "Anyway, shall we look at the other roo … " He pauses, then walks into the cell and looks straight up.

Looking straight up into the flickering multicolored crystal is probably not something anyone would want to do for very long.

Zahnrad looks for a hole in the ceiling, or in the walls near the ceiling. "Did it dig out of here? I mean, the cell was locked," he says absently.

"Someone must have taken it out and closed the cell up afterwards," Amelia suggests.

"It would have had to been a big someone. Or, had drugs," Zahnrad muses and looks down again, blinking. "Wow, that would make me mad too if I was stuck under that for a long time."

Olivia now looks at the straw-covered floor. "Is the floor here made of stone, too?" she asks. "Or does this straw just cover earth?"

Beneath the straw is more stone, also gouged and scarred by sturdy claws.

Zahn exits the cell. He rubs his hands together and offers, "Next door." His eyebrows waggle.

Across the hall is a door identical to the all of the others that they've encountered on that side: inward opening, with a simple handle-latch.

Olivia still looks somewhat ruffled at the thought of whatever had occupied the cell, but follows Zahn out and towards the next door. "Guess I'll give this a go," she offers, then reaches carefully for the handle.

Zahn goes over to stand next to Amelia. He nods to Olivia and says, "Go for it."

Olivia releases the latch on the handle, then turns it and gives the door a slight push. She raises her lantern to see into the opening.

The door opens with the usual protest, this time revealing a small workroom. A long table rests against the far wall, with a complicated collection of glass vessels, tubing and oil burners atop it. There is a bin full of waxy blocks, and another full of bare voice cylinders devoid of any coating.

Olivia releases the breath she didn't know she was holding and pushes the door open wider so they can go in. "I guess this is where those sound-cylinders were made," she comments.

"Ooooo," Zahnrad says and walks into the room to look around. "Hey, I wonder if they have a way to duplicate the ones we found. That way, if we break another we won't lose the information," he says.

"Oh foo," Pike laments as she goes to examine the glass apparatus on the table. "Whatever was in these overcooked, it looks like. See where it's coated the inside of the glass? What a waste… "

"Glass not useful to you, then?" Zahnrad asks.

"Not for alchemical use, no," Pike says, shaking her head. "This big one even has a crack from being heated too long. It's like someone just left the burners going until they ran out of fuel."

"Or was killed by the creature from the cell on the other side and couldn't turn them off," Zahnrad offers. He kneels down to examine the floor for scratches … or odd stains.

Olivia also enters to have a look around. "I also wonder if there might be materials in here with which we can repair that sound horn, or whatever you call it," she says as she inspects the room. "You know, the thing that sat on top of the cylinder as it rotated around?"

"This stuff is just beeswax," Amelia says of the waxy blocks, dropping the one she was holding back into the bin.

"We can build a new sound horn from the remains of the old one, Olivia. A good fabric and some glue will right it," Zahnrad says and glances toward the Skeek.

There are plenty of odd stains where things dripped onto the floor or ran across the table, but nothing really suspicious.

Olivia ahs. "Well, just a thought. If there were materials here that matched those of the original horn, I thought that might be better for repairs."

"I see now," Pike says. "The wax was used to coat the cylinders for recording, then a resin was boiled and recondensed to coat it for permanent preservation of the grooves."

Zahn stands and dusts off his knees. He does look around the room for a new horn, though.

There doesn't seem to be any other parts related to the recorder beyond the cylinders themselves.

"And … no horn parts," Zahn goes to tell Olivia. "So, we'll have to fix it. Save up scraps of the narrowest weave cloth you can muster."

"Ah well. Thanks for helping me to look, anyway," Olivia says to Zahn, then joins Dr. Pike at the worktable. "So, if the wax, cylinders, and the resin are here… where is the apparatus to actually record one's voice on them? Or is that also done with the machine we found upstairs?"

"It may still be down here someplace, I suppose," Dr. Pike says. "There are still six more rooms after all."

Zahnrad goes back over to Amelia. "Sorry," he says. "You're stuck with two dorks fascinated by technology." He offers her a smile.

Amelia smiles, and asks, "Did you just call Dr. Pike a dork?"

Zahnrad quirks a grin, "And myself, so it's all fair." He shrugs lightly and nudges the Kadie.

Rolling her eyes, Amelia heads out into the hallway again. "This next door isn't bolted," she reports from the other side of the passage. "But… uh… it's ajar."

Zahnrad shrugs, and follows after Amelia. "Well, let's check it out," he says, then calls back to the others, "We're checking the next door. Feel free to continue looking, or follow."

Olivia gives a last glance around the room before following. "Nah, I'd rather drag on your coattails," she says mischievously, wiggling her nose at Zahn.

Zahnrad taps the light on the top of his helmet, adjusting it to be a bit brighter. He nods over to Amelia, then puts his hand on the door. "And, here we find behind the open door … " he says calmly. Afterall, nothing has been bad so far. The Kadie gives it a push…

The room beyond the door is very well lit by a crystal, unfortunately. The walls are covered with brown stains and bits of old cloth and mummified shreds of skin. A chair in the center of the room is broken and on it's side, next to a fallen table that held a device with a small sound horn, now in several pieces. A box on a tripod stands on the opposite side of the chair, still intact, and faces the far wall where one set of manacles had clearly been pulled out of the stone. From the remaining set dangles a skeletal arm, with large, sharp, spade-like claws on it. Claws that look like they're made of metal.

Zahnrad looks in abject horror and stunned silence at the room. "Dear Gods," he says in a whisper, "It's a room of horrors." The Kadie takes a step back and bumps into Amelia. He wrings his hands nervously together, muttering, "What sort of person lived here? What sort of creature has an arm like that? Did someone make a creature down here?"

Olivia starts at the sight inside the room… particularly at that of the single skeletal arm hanging from the manacles. She notices the metal-like claws and shudders. "Still think we could fend off one of those with a wooden staff?" she asks quietly.

Amelia is speechless, hugging her staff close to her chest and staring wide-eyed into the room.

Behind them all, Dr. Pike hasn't actually looked into the room yet. She's busy staring intently down the hallway towards the canal chamber. She pushes her glasses back up along her nose, and says, "You know, I think I might have heard a splash just now… "