Doctor Pike's late great-uncle Orifice left behind a large collection of notebooks. Most of them were filled with undecipherable symbols and chemical formulas, or even more bizarre diagrams. A few were written in plain Sylvanian though.

After some searching, Olivia finds one that talks about the underground complex below Stonebarrow. "I have discovered a hidden doorway in the wine cellar, next to the ancient game machine. The door was not originally meant to be disguised; which suggests that the previous owner of the castle wished it hidden for some reason. It opens onto a spiraling stair that descends quite a distance – several hundred feet I would guess. There are times when I nearly turned back, for fear that my lantern would run dry and my claustrophobia would set it. I persevered, however, and was rewarded with the discovery an underground apartment.

"Here was the source of the castles hot water and steam, controlled by an elaborate array of piping. The well also may have produced clean water at some point, but the sulfurous taint it carries now is most unpalatable. Perhaps it was meant for some other use. There is also an elevator which leads to what I always believed to be a small closet in one of the first-floor rooms of the castle. Most remarkable of all is the canal! A subterranean waterway which connects the castle to I know not what -yet! In my excitement, I was hard pressed to refrain from blurting out my discovery to Igor. The sunken chambers will be ideal for my research into demonology, and I cannot trust such knowledge to my servant."

The journal describes in some detail how Orifice smuggled his equipment past Igor and set up his underground laboratory. References are made to other notebooks containing his formulas and diagrams, but his successful creation of 'imps' is recorded in this one.

"Success! I have gone beyond the mere golems and enchantments that the Earth Mages hold claim to: I have created semi-autonomous homunculi. For safety, they are quite small and of limited intelligence for now, but that does not make them useless. They can perform certain tasks very quickly, and have very good senses from what I can determine. The faster they work, the quicker they wear out, however. But they are easy enough to recreate for now…

"The iconographic box is successful. A single imp is good for nearly ten pictures before it crumbles, and the response time and accuracy of it is remarkable. Armed with this device and a skiff found in one of the room, I am ready to explore the underground canal… "

Orifice apparently got as far as the second canal level, but could not get passed the locked doors of the apartments or of the factory complex. He did, however, explore further along the other canal.

"Does Lord Snapfish know what lies beneath his home? Should I tell him? I can scarcely credit it myself. First, there is The Device. It appears to work by spinning and vibrating a set of crystals via a small steam turbine. It is also heavy, but I believe I can drag it back to the castle and convince Igor that I had it sent from Chronotopia. By connecting it to the castles steam pipes, I think I can reactivate it…

"Beyond where I found The Device, the tunnel comes to an abrupt end and is replaced by a natural cavern. I cannot say if it connects to the surface, but it might be related somehow to the hot springs. Of more import is that this chamber is inhabited by shy creatures that at first glance terrified me. I must study them further, once I have regained my nerve. My high-pitched cry of alarm sent them scurrying, so it may be that the sound is painful to them, as I suspect bright light would be – that is, if they are not completely blind. It is possible that I have come across a new species of Gort, which in itself would be amazing. It suggests a link between Sylvania and the legendary Underground Empire of Moltpaa in far-off Kroz, beyond the Forbidden Zone of Bosch."

The final entry in the notebook talks about switching over to the voice recorder, now that he has perfected the coating for the cylinders.

The Skeek reads through this notebook's entries silently, her eyebrows quivering higher and higher until she reaches their end, at which point she looks thoughtful for a while. Then, for the benefit of the others, she re-reads the entries aloud, stealing glances over at Dr. Pike's servant every once in a while at the mention of a rather familiar name. When she is done, she puts down the notebook and says quietly, "Well, I guess now we know how that tower blew itself off the castle."

Gunther, for his part has mainly been staring intently at Igor through this. Well, except for the point where Olivia describes the strange crystal machine. Boy, do his eyes get big … and full of a dreamy look. "Oooooo," he nearly purrs, "Now … that will be mine!"

"Oh, the thing he talked about in the voice recordings?" Amy asks, from where she's sprawled across one of the overstuffed chairs. Throughout it all, Igor just stands near the entry to the hall that leads to Dr. Pike's laboratory, keeping at least one of his eyes on Gunther.

Olivia now narrows her eyes at Gunther. "If we find it again, I think we'd better make sure that your brother is around before you touch it," she says sharply. "Just to be on the safe side!"

"Pah! I'm as good as he is. Better, even," Gunther asserts and thumps his chest with his fist.

Amelia also watches Gunther for his reactions to the news of an underground tunnel network… and a big cavern near the hot springs.

"Besides, I will need it for town defense! And it's even official Wingnut business, so people can't argue, hah! He even said there was a huge, inhabited cavern beneath our land. Now, we can't have that," Gunther adds.

"What, do you think you can go in and evict trolls?" Amelia asks Gunther. "It's probably 500 feet down… "

"It's also rather odd that Dr. Pike's great-uncle Orifice had a servant with your name, Igor," Olivia goes on, resuming her quiet tone. "One with a few personal traits the same as yours, too. So, er, how long have you been in service here?"

"You bet I could!" Gunther asserts, grinning maniacally. "There isn't anything I can't do!"

"Igor ith a very popular name among the trade," Igor says. "And it'th hard to thay how long. I do get vacation time you know."

"Technically, if you view the territory as going that deep, then the Wingnuts are trespassing on troll territory," Amy points out. "They were there first."

Gunther pops his fingers and toes. "See, I knew there was a horde around here somewhere," he comments, "And besides, they invaded the bath house, remember."

Amelia rubs her chin. "They didn't stay though," she points out. "Or take anything."

"They did too. Part of the stone floor," Gunther argues.

The Skeek smiles as if she expected such an answer and says, "If you say so, Igor. Although… we do have the land of Bosch in our world, so just about anything is possible. Someone with a very long life wouldn't be the strangest tale I've ever heard." Then she turns her attention to the discussion between Gunther and Amelia. "What I don't understand about all this is, why would the trolls start making trouble now, after so many years of living quietly underground? What triggered all this activity?"

"I don't think that's quite enough of a violation to declare war, Gunther," the older Kadie points out. "We need trolls around to eat the zombies. I think they made off with half of the ones we took out when the Necromancer attacked."

"Yeah, they did that too!" Gunther complains, "I wanted to smash the zombies, but nooo."

"I think Amelia hath it there: zombieth," Igor suggests. "Or perhapth people poking about in their territory."

"It looks like Orifice sure stirred them up with his stuff," Amy notes. "And if Clover hadn't left the chalk with Miranda, they probably wouldn't have found her."

"Now, if I get a hold of that machine, I can use it to tunnel down to the cavern," Gunther muses to himself. He digs in a pouch at his side. After he retrieves some paper and a rough pencil, he starts scribbling notes on it.

Olivia tries not to blush too much at Igor's second suggestion as she says, "So all of this is just an elaborate way of saying, 'Get out of our home and leave us the hell alone?' I'm not sure that would explain them trying to, uh, plug into Clover's head. To find what, I'm not sure… "

"That… well, I don't know what's up with that," Amelia admits. "Orifice also said he thought there were two different kinds of trolls. The big ones and the little ones. Maybe they have different agendas?"

"Wait, aren't there three kinds of trolls?" Gunther asks as he looks up from what he's scribbling.

"What?" Amy asks Gunther. "What do you know about trolls, Gunther?" she asks.

"Aren't the Blacktails just another form of troll?" Gunther asks with a huge grin on his face.

Amelia swats at the boy with her tail. "Not funny! You… little gnome!"

Gunther oofs and makes a grab for that tail! "If I'm a gnome, that makes you a gnome lover since you're snogging my brother!" he asserts.

"I said you were a gnome, not Wingnuts in general," Amy claims, yanking back her tail.

Olivia ignores the two Kadies' by-play as she considers Amelia's theory. "Well, that's possible… just about anything is at this point, since we know so little. I wonder how I could learn more about this – what was it? Underground Empire of Moltpaa in someplace called Kroz?" Lost in thought, the Skeek taps her fingers against her chin.

"Let me gnote that down, then," Gunther says and wiggles his ears.

"Trollth alwayth thounded Thkreekith in thtorieth," Igor offers. "And the Underground Empire wath thupposedly made of Thkreeks."

"That would explain Djivan. Maybe he's an escaped troll," Gunther offers.

"Kroz is on the other side of Bosch though, like Orifice said," Amy points out. "And Bosch is ancient. For there to have been an underground connection and a colony here, it'd have to have been before Bosch got as bad as it is now."

"How do you know? It could be that Bosch stuff doesn't go too far down in the ground. Maybe you can traverse Bosch by tunneling under it," Gunther offers.

"Well, something made the old Empire collapse," Amy says.

"Cabbage," Gunther offers.

"Bosch only thtarted getting really bad about 1200 yearth ago," Igor points out, ever full of trivia.

"Cabbage?" Amy asks. "How can cabbage destroy an empire?"

"And how old are you again?" Gunther asks Igor. To Amelia, he states simply, "Cabbage gas … in tunnels. No one could survive that for long without going insane."

It takes a while for Olivia to parse what Igor has said in his lisping way, but at last she gets it. With a look of dawning understanding on her face, she turns to Amelia and says, "In that case… we'd need to talk to someone who knows rather a lot about Bosch, wouldn't we? Well, along with Igor here," the Skeek adds, turning another curious look upon the Skreek.

"You just don't like cabbage, I bet," Amelia says. "You think the trolls came from Bosch then, Olivia? Or are the result of… Boschian influence? We know what it's capable of."

"No one likes cabbage," Gunther notes.

"When the other kidth played outthide, I read bookth," Igor tells Olivia.

"And how long ago was it that you were a kid?" Gunther asks Igor.

"I sure don't," Olivia grins to Gunther, then looks again at Amelia. "That's about as good a theory as any we have right now. Until we find out more, that is. I may need to do some more… research."

"Long enough," Igor says, crossing his arms. "I hope you don't pethter women about their age. I know my thithter Igorina ith thenthitive about that."

Olivia doubletakes at this. "You have a sister?" she asks, somewhat incredulously.

"I'll keep pestering until I get an answer. I don't give up on my prey easily, I'll have you know. Ask Olivia," Gunther says and waves his tail towards Olivia.

"And the trolls don't talk, but they sing somehow," Amy says with a sigh. "So it's not like we can just ask them."

"He askth you about your age?" Igor asks Olivia. "You're barely older than he ith, thertainly."

"Nono," the Skeek says, recovering from her surprise and smiling. "He just continues to pester me… usually about being part of a horde. Which is ridiculous, since I'm still only one person!"

"We could always cut him in half and count his rings," Gunther whispers to Amelia.

"Unleth you are really the Queen of the Trollth," Igor points out.

"Which she might be!" Gunther pipes up.

"I'm not sure that would work," Amelia notes.

"Never know until you try," Gunther counters.

"As for all thith curiothity about me, though," Igor says, and shuffles over to the open trunk. He rummages through it until he finds a box, which he blows the dust off of before opening. A little more rummaging produces a glass plate – an imp-painted iconograph image, no doubt – which he offers to Olivia.

"Oh, come off it, Gunther! I was already examined by both Isolde and Natasha and I'm not a troll in disguise. I already told you that, sheesh!" Then Olivia starts as Igor hands her the glass plate, but eventually she thanks him and peers at it with interest.

Held up to the light, the image shows a somewhat nondescript, if hunched over, brown Skreek with a lightning-bolt shock of white amidst an unruly mop of black hair. He's wearing a black vest and britches, and holding his tail nervously while trying to 'smile' for the camera. His teeth aren't bad, per se, but a bit uneven.

Olivia looks from the glass plate to Igor with a question in her eyes, waiting for him to elaborate on the image.

"Whatcha got there?" Gunther has to ask and tries to peer over at the picture.

"Thee? That Igor doethn't look a thing like me," the Skreek claims. "He'th got brown eyeth, and mine are yellow."

Actually… Igor's right eye is more of an orangy-green, but the left one is definitely yellow.

"You could have replaced yours, though," Gunther points out, "What with all those scars who knows what is original… "

Olivia passes the plate to Gunther and says, "Show that to Amy, too." Then she nods to the Skreek and offers in some embarrassment, "I apologize. It was a rather… interesting coincidence, that's all. And there wouldn't have been anything wrong with it if our theories had been true."

"Oh ho, tho you thay," Igor claims. "But I know there are two pitchforkth for every adult in Thtonebarrow." Amy looks at the photo as well, and says, "He's right, this isn't him. Didn't you work for Lord Snapfish seventy years ago, Igor?"

"Yeth, your great-grandfather tried to hang me," Igor admits.

"Tried?" Amy asks.

"The rope broke eventually," the Skreek says.

"And you didn't die because… ?" Gunther has to ask.

"Like I thaid, the rope broke," Igor notes. "We Wrathbones have very strong necks. Natural thelection, if you consider lynchings natural."

"So, there were two Igors around back then," Amy surmises. "What happened to Orifice's?"

"So, shouldn't that mean it's your duty to finish it?" Gunther asks as he glances to Amelia.

"If you survive the noose, it's generally considered a sign of innocence," Amy points out.

"Hmph," goes Gunther.

"Oh, after Orifice vanished, he probably tidied up the place and moved on," Igor guesses. "Joining up with gypsies most likely. Does your boyfriend have any Igors in his line, Olivia?"

"Not that I'm aware of… but then, it's like pulling teeth to get Djivan to talk about his family, so who knows?" Olivia answers, somewhat distracted by the turn the conversation has taken.

"I thould think he'd be proud of an Igor ancethtor, not keep it a thecret," Igor opines. "Unleth… it wath really an Ysnor claiming to be an Igor… "

"A what?" Gunther asks.

"One of the Knuckleback clan," Igor says. "There are two major families who serve… cathtles… in Sylvania. The Wrathbones and the Knucklebacks. All male Wrathbones are named Igor, and all male Knucklebacks are named Ysnor, by tradition."

"That's goofy," Gunther observes.

"It maketh things simpler," Igor claims. "There's an Ysnor down at Blackshire Castle. They tend to go for therving Mages and Wizards."

Olivia thinks about what Djivan has told her about his family and shakes her head. "No, sorry, those names don't sound familiar to me. I don't think there's anyone else in the tribe with those names, either."

"We do prefer cathtles, tho that isn't too much of a thurprise," Igor says, nodding.

"So you can amass your army?" Gunther asks.

"Don't be thilly," Igor says. "We exist to therve. You have the spark of a good Igor in you, Mathter Gunther, if only you were a bit more humble."

"I do not serve!" Gunther insists.

Olivia makes a few notes on the pad she keeps stowed away in her flowered hat, then rises from where she's been sitting near the trunk and dusts herself off. "Well, I suppose that's all we can learn from Orifice's things," she says. "Now I should move on to this Underground Empire. Thank you for your time Igor, and tell Dr. Pike thank you, as well."

"Count Tempest had hith Igor construct a lightning and thunder machine, tho that he could thet it off at dramatic moments in his conversations," Igor notes, with a faraway look on his face. "But my Mithtress wears pink fluffy slippers and is afraid of thpiders… "

"And keeps a vampire for a pet," Gunther points out. "That weird cousin of Liliana's."

"Well, maybe you can hire an Igor one day, Gunther," Amelia suggests.

"I do need a minion," Gunther says, looking thoughtful.

"Good luck, Mith Olivia," Igor says, bowing low. "And remember, if you ever need any improvements made to your boyfriend… " he offers, letting the rest be unsaid.

"If you don't need me anymore, Olivia, I should try to find Viktor to see about starting sword training," Amelia notes. "You'll take Gunther home, right?"

Olivia starts backing towards the door at this suggestion, saying merely, "Um… yeah. Thanks, Igor. I think." Then she grabs the Kadie boy by the elbow and takes him with her before Amelia can put any more dangerous ideas into his head. "Yes, of course," she agrees.

"And don't touch that machine. It's mine, I tell you, MINE!" Gunther shouts towards Igor as he dragged off by Olivia.