It took a few hours of zig-zagging across Lake Frunge, but finally the Bloody Bandersnatch comes to a stop where the compass in Aviri's hands is pointing straight down. The diving bell is readied, as various nets and ropes and other gear are strapped to the mounting points on its hull and the crane and winch are set up and attached. The Frog Lamps are also primed and lit, with one attached to the bell near the porthole, and the other attached to Medium Sized Jock, who will be scouting ahead of it.

Aviri helped with the lamps, but after that mostly stayed out of the way as the more technically-minded, and vocally-able, tended the bell. She stayed neer the wheel, perring over the railing into the water, sometimes turning and comparing the change in direction of the compass. Ensuring she won't cross anyone's way, she makes a few trips to the bow and back, gauging the depth of the artifact by parallax.

There isn't much change in the compass, so the depth is pretty deep compared to the length of the ship. Assuming the compass is pointing to the top of the sunken castle and not to some point deeper inside.

Lin charges the Zapper and sets it on the bench in the diving bell. "For any unfriendly monsters." She explains to Aviri, "Just keep it from getting wet. Oops and Uh-oh said it won't work when wet. I'll go ouside the bell on the way down and help Scarlet make sure everything's safe below." She melts back into the hustle and bustle of people getting ready and stops by Wadles to get her coil of rope and make sure her lockpicks are secured under her arm sheath.

With the bell finally suspended up off the deck, Trilup is looking around inside, with just her legs bellow the knee visible. "There's a little ladder, Aviri," she calls out, her voice echoing. She's got her climbing spikes strapped to her calves.

Scarlet is mostly directing the crew, which means making sure the ship is properly on course and no crewman is slacking off. "Oy, keep the weight balanced! No listing!" she shouts.

Aviri's brow knits at the instructions. She looks at the ceramic bell, then at Lin, then at the bell again. She makes for the bell, but stops as Scarlet's commands bark over the deck. With a frown she retreats to the other side of the ship and once again peers into the water.

The water of the lake seems calm enough, aside from the turbulence caused by the Bandersnatch itself. "Ready to swing it out, Cap'n," Rob Anybody declares from the crane controls.

Lin finishes securing the coil of rope over her shoulder and walks up to stand behind and to the side of Scarlet. "All set, Cap'n." She chirps.

"C'mon, Aviri," Trilup calls from the bell, and legs and tail vanish as she clambers up into it.

The lapi follows, a bit of trepidation as she slips beneath the edge of the bell. She hops up onto the bench, picking the spot with the worst visibility out the porthole, and tries to get comfortable. Not that she succeeds.

"Make it so, Rob! Swing away, jus' like de weekend parties!" Scarlet barks, grinning. "Nothin' like a good bell ridin' to get the skin shiverin'."

The First Mate salutes, and starts cranking winches. The boom of the crane turns to swing the bell out over the back of the ship, the thick cable creaking and groaning. It takes a minute for the vessel to stop swinging and spinning once it's clear of the deck.

"Looks like fun. Ever had anyone get sick in there with the spinnin'?" Lin asks the captain as they watch the bell stop rotating.

"Oh, a few times," Scarlet remarks and waves a webbed hand. "Sometimes the crew gets bored an go in, then we spin it till dey puke. Person who lasts de longest gets an extra share of the raids."

Inside the bell, Trilup squeals and waves her arms in the air. "This is fun!" she tells Aviri.

Aviri just braces herself against the side, holding her head back, and ensuring the zapper doesn't roll against anything by pinning it with one hand to the bench. She does manage a smile to Trilup's enthusiasm, though!

With that, Lin hops off the side of the ship and swims to a safe distance from where the bell is going down. She winces when the water hits her shaved spots and tries to smooth some fur over them.

Scarlet darts, then hopes onto a barrel, then spins as she hops one more and lands upon the railing. "Unto the depths! Only those wit' courage really live! Woo!" she declares as she faces away from the water and towards the crew. She bows, then leaps outward and back flips off the railing! With practiced ease, the pirate soon enters the water without making a splash.

"Down ye go, I expect the crane to be groanin' with all the loot it be hauling up later!" Rob calls, then releases a lock and the diving bell descends at a decent pace to the top of the water, then a bit more slowly sinks.

Aviri jumps in her seat slightly as the bell hits the water. She leans forward and peers down into the surface curiously, her smile turning more genuine at the spectacle.

The water rises up the cylindrical shaft at the bottom of the bell.. but then stops before getting to the bench level. A minute later there's water rising up over the porthole though as the bell continues to sink.

Once the bell is completely under water, Lin takes a deep breath and dives. She swims past the opening as they descend and waves up into the cabin. That done, she circles below, keeping a weather eye out for trouble.

Scarlet takes a breath and disappears beneath the surface; her shock of red hair rippling in her wake.

With the froglamp lit on the outside of the bell, and one held by Jock, it's easy to keep track of position. At least at first, as the lake gets darker and darker as they descend. The lamps also attract curious water creatures, like fish and eels and a fish with crab claws instead of fins.

"You gotta see this stuff, Aviri," Trilup says from her spot in front of the porthole. "There are lights too.."

Scarlet swims by the bell and makes a face at those inside through the porthole.

Aviri looks up from the water, peers at the port-hole, then shakes her head and points down into the rippling surface, where the luminescant creatures look distorted and broken as they swim, like ethereal ghosts fading in and out of exictence.

Lin looks down into the abys, straining her eyes against the faint light. She swims ahead, trying to make out any features that might indicate the bottom or the top of a temple.

One of the lights doesn't seem to be moving about as Lin dives.. and it's pink and vaguely triangular.

Lin swoops back and forth to confirm that the triangle isn't moving and then surfaces inside the diving bell with a grin. "Don't zap me!" She chirps, grabbing ahold of the bottom rung of the ladder. "I think I see the top of the temple or something. There's a glowey pink triangle down there."

Scarlet pops up right next to Lin. "Y' kin zap me anytime," she purrs to those inside the bell and licks her lips, then waggles her brow. "An yeah, like she said, shiny thing alert."

Aviri lifts the zapper, points into the water, then at the zapper, then on the bench, then shrugs. She sets the zapper down and rolls her eyes at Scarlet.

"How shiny?" Trilup asks, and then just dives into the water to find out for herself. She pops up a moment later, and asks, "Does anyone else thinks it looks like a nose?"

"A ring pointing to a sleeping glow giant at the bottom of a lake..." Lin pales under her fur then cocks her head, "What possble use could that have in a necromancer war?" She dives again to get a closer look before the bell gets there, just in case.

"Oh, a lot! Lemme tell you," Scarlet starts, then just sighs, "... about the giant throne of bones off ... eh, kids. Always snubbin' education." She sighs, takes a breath, then disappears under the water.

The glow is closer now, and once Lin's eyes adjust she can make out more. There's a big stone wall, and in the center is a giant carved Lapi face with a glowing nose and a really gaping mouth. It's all a bit simplistic and overly smiley, like a child's toy. But the tongue sticks out, and there's some ruined stairs past the end of it as if it were a drawbridge.

Aviri tilts her head as she looks into the water, at the Lapi face. She smiles, and her torso jolts in a silent chuckle.

Lin floats infront of the nose with a paw oustretched a few inches from it. In a remarkeable show of self control, she withdraws her paw and checks the teeth for hinges or any part of the 'mouth' that looks like it could move and cut them off from the outside.

A minute later, the diving bell bounces off the bottom. Once the cable goes slack, Rob reverses and cranks it back until the bell is six feet over the bottom, although a cloud of silt still needs to settle.

The mouth is.. big. It's obviously an entrance, and there aren't any moving parts that Lin can detect. It's rather dark inside though, but Jock is swimming over with the lantern.

And Scarlet is as well ... by holding onto Jock's tail and letting him do all the work.

Lin waves the otter train in and points at the mouth, chomps her jaws at them, and then gives the okay sign. She swims up alongside Jock so she can take advantage of as much of the lighting as possible.

With the light added, there's an actual castle door visible inside the face's throat.. although it also appears to be made of stone, with some rather large ring knockers.

Scarlet tugs and propels herself ahead to check the door itself and see if it can be opened.

Up close it looks like it's just carved into solid stone. The knockers are also stone, and hang loose in their holders. They either had to be carved like that or else made with Earth Magic, since there aren't any seems.

Lin floats next to Scarlet, shrugs, then lifts one of the stone rings and knocks it against the door.

Aviri looks into the water, bites her lip, then, leaving the zapper on the bench, slides into the silt-settled water. She treads for a moment before taking as big a breath as she can (thankfull no corset!) and ducks under. After getting her bearings as to what's where, she starts for the Lapi maw.

The ring moves with a grinding noise, but the door doesn't open.. at least not outward! Trilup swims next to Aviri, in case the Lapi needs help, and makes sure she gets to where the others are.

Pushing doesn't help either! But the ring does make an audible noise when it hits the door at least - and it's more of a 'ting' sound than the thunk of stone on stone.

Lin raises an eyebrow at the noise and tries pulling the ring off to the side towards the wall. She sets her feet against the ground and pushes as hard as she can, trying to slide the door into the frame.

Pulling on the knocker sideways also doesn't do anything. It is, after all, a knocker.

Scarlet shrugs and tries to knock with her knocker now. She does prefer it when people play with her knockers, though. This just isn't the same.

Lin lets Scarlet keep trying the rings. She swims back out of the maw and tries pressing on the glowing nose.

Aviri pulls herself up to the maw using one of the Lapi's lower teeth, looks in, and watches for a few seconds. There doesn't seem to be any air yet, and for lack of any way to communicate, she turns and heads back to the bell, poking Trilup and gesturing her to follow.

Ting-Ting-Ting goes the knocker. And then the doors fly open so quickly it seems as if they just vanished, and the rush of water pulls everyone near the mouth inside. Aviri and Trilup are too close, and even Lin isn't safe just outside at the nose! It's a tumbling dark chaos, followed by a thunk of the doors closing and horrible gurgle-gurgle-gurgle sound. Jock and the lamp are spinning around, adding to the chaos.

Lin tucks herself into a ball and clings to her tail as she gets shot into the room.

Aviri's just closes her eyes and hopes she doesn't hit anything sharp wherever the current's taking them.

There are a few things to bounce off of, but no spikes or spinning blades or things with teeth at least. The gurgling continues until the water level stars to drop. This lets Jock gets to his feet and start shining the lamp around a bit more usefully. They're in a rectangular chamber with a vaulted ceiling and carved pillars.. or possibly totem poles, since they have faces on them. Skreeks at the bottom, Lapis in the middle, and Khattas at the top, each separated by a few feet of column. The gurgling sound is coming from the Skreek heads, which seem to be sucking away the water.

Scarlet is grateful for the air and takes a deep breath. "Whoo, 'ey, new business idea. We stake a claim on this place and market it as a ride. Betcha we make some money," the otter says, grinning.

At the far end of the chamber is another 'carved' doorway like the one outside, but without any knockers, just the Z logos.

Aviri picks herself up and instinctively tries to wipe and shake the water from her body, quickly remembering she's covered in pink. She looks with a bit of distates at the suit, then carefully wrings out her ears, wincing slightly at the still-fresh peircings. She tiltes her head at the totems, and smiles.

Lin uncurls and gets up, taking in the room. "Well, the first part's pretty cool," She chirps, "But the front entrance can't be all there is to the ride... How did you open it though? I pressed on the nose but I didn't see anything happen to it before I got sucked in."

"I jus' have a special touch when it comes t' knockers," Scarlet notes, then pats her chest proudly, grinning.

Aviri does shake her feet as the water drops away into the totems. She bends down, peers into a skeek mouth, then looks around them as though there'd be a "WATER GOES HERE" funnel or something, though she doesn't seem to mind that it doesn't exist. She looks, generally, pleased, and goes over to examine the doors.

There's a little wiggling stone tongue in the Skreek mouth. It's still wiggling, in fact.

Lin chortles and trots over to the new door. "So long as it's reliable an' works from the inside too." She chirps as she looks over the door and surrounding wall.

There doesn't appear to be any obvious way to open the doors - no handles, nobs, knockers or buttons.

Aviri waves to get Lin's attention, points to the ceiling, and makes a swooping-down gesture with one hand. It swoops down and claps hard against her other hand, and then she makes a big show of being thrown against the doors.

Lin looks back at aviri with her fist raised to knock on the doors. "Err... Is the compas saying we need to go somewhere else or-"

With Aviri's back against the doors.. they suddenly open. Instead of swinging open like proper doors, they split in the center and fold up and to the sides like curtains, revealing another dark hall beyond them.

The lapi doe makes a sharp cry of surprise as she falls inward, landing flat on her back.

"Ey, neat door. Dis mage was somethin'," Scarlet comments as she goes to try and help the spotty-doe up. "Whooda thought a lapi could have been so powerful."

Lapi ears, however, are unquestionably powerful: Aviri can hear movement ahead.. and also what sounds like a monotone voice saying 'cone' over and over.

The doe accepts Scarlet's help, again, looking a bit flustered, though smiling and completley unharmed. She dusts off her back and backside, stopping when she hears the movement and voice. She turns to face into the corridor, her ears alert, brow knitted in concentration.

Lin just lets out a deep breath and lowers her fist. She enters the hallway as well and walks behind Scarlet and Aviri.

Aviri taps Scarlet's arm and makes a talking gesture with her hand, then a walking gesture, pointing deeper with the compass.

The hall seems similar to the first chamber, but is taller and has a second level walkway. The lower level has many doorways, which become apparent as light starts to shine through them. Light which gets stronger and bobbles a bit, as if it's moving.

"Oh? Company? 'ere? Can' be. Who could still be livin' down 'ere? Well, coul' be undead," Scarlet admits. She undoes the heavy strapping that held her sidearm to her leg and pulls it out. One good thing about steam-chemical rounds, they're waterproof. She nods, satisfied it's undamaged.

As they pass each door, Aviri's careful to listen into each one, trying to track down where the movement is coming from. She does take a bit of a lead, though, so the others'd have some warning if the Moving Thing started getting too close.

"Or the place could be enchanted to wake up when it senses people in it." Lin suggests, peering through the nearest lit doorway.

There isn't a lot of time to prepare, as strange things start spilling out of the doorways. They're about four feet tall and look like tapered cones, moving on multiple Waddles-like feet. The last six inches of their tips are glowing brightly, certainly stronger than candle-light. Each has a Z on one side, and they mutter the word 'cone' at random as the scurry towards the intruders.

Scarlet blinks. "...kay," she says. "Dat be the oddest defense force I ever seen. What, dey poke us to death? We die of giggling?"

The doe starts and retreats back to Scarlet, one hand instinctively going for her talisman, which she suddenly remembers she left on the ship. Though judging by the 'Z's, it'd not have done any good, anyway, since it certainly didn't protect her from the Chest.

"Show them the ring!" Lin suggests, "Odds are we're supposed to be here if we have that." She shuffles back, away from the tide of cones.

Aviri, clinging to Scarlet's arm, holds out the compass, her knuckles tight around it, her hand quivering as the cones approach.

The cones cluster and jostle as they surround the group, muttering 'cone' all the while. They don't touch anyone though, and eventually wander off save for three that stick close to Aviri and Scarlet. At least they provide light.

"Cone," Scarlet repeats back at them, then laughs. "I t'ink dey harmless," she says and pats Aviri's shoulder.

The lapi's eyes are wide with fright, and relief, as most of the things leave. She slowly releases Scarlet's arm and takes a tentative step foward.

"Really cool way to light a magic water-base up though!" Lin chirps, walking around one of the remaining cones, "You can have a light wherever you want it an' you wouldn't have to enchant as many lights as if you'd done lit ceilings or lit walls."

Moving back is much better than moving forward. Aviri grins, liking these enchanted monstrosities much better than Waddles already. She looks at the compass, points, and starts walking, albiet still looking as though she could bolt at any moment.

The Zehn Cones keep pace, spreading out as needed to provide enough light. The compass leads towards the doorway at the far end of the great hall.

Aviri's tail wriggles uncertainly at that, but she presses on, glancing between compass and the hall to ensure she both doesn't hit anything or go off the path. She pauses at the doorway, though, thoughtful. She looks to Scarlet and Trilup, and frowns, looking a bit frustrated.

Aviri slides her foot along the floor a few seconds, making right-angle turns occasionally, before she stops and scribbles out the invisible lines. She shakes her head and continues into the door, though a bit less energetically and optimistically, now.

"Wonderin' weather we should loot before or after takin' the thing we came for in case the temple colapses?" Lin asks, "I don't get it..."

Trilup keeps trying to grab onto one of the cones to see if will carry her, but they're pretty nimble. There's a corridor at the end of the hall, which ends in a banquet hall. More cones are walking around on the high ceiling, some clustering to form chandeliers. There's a huge table in the center, made of polished wood with matching high-backed chairs (that have Lapi heads on top). There's a sense that things were in motion just before the group entered though, and a wineglass at one of the table settings is still wobbling slightly before it settles down. There's no food on the table though, at least not yet.

Aviri shakes her head at Lin's question, but upon seeing the banquet hall, offers no other clarification for what is bothering her. She skirts to the left side of the table, walking more carefully, eyes now more on the table than the compass.

"Ey, a self makin' table. Handy. Now, what I want is a self-makin' bed," Scarlet remarks. The otter follows that with a grin and a firm pat on Aviri's ample bottom. "But 'ey, I gots you for that, right?"

The pat makes the Lapi leap forward a pace, her tail bobbing. She smirks and nods to Scarlet.

"I am a teapot," the teapot tries to sing, in that weird monotone. It starts waddling up and down the length of the table, while a train of teacups tries to keep up.. but generally seem to fall over a lot.

Whenever someone gets too close to a chair, it turns towards them and urges, "sit. relax. sit. chair."

Lin starts at the sight of the marching teacups then churrs with glee. "I wonder if they can magic up food with that too." She muses as the teapot tries to do a musical number. As the teapot is passing her, she asks, "Do you actually have stuff to drink?"

"I am a teapot," the pot replies. If there was anything it, it surely would have sloshed out by now. "sit. chair." "cone."

Aviri shakes her head to the others at the spoken advice. She starts as she realizes she meandered a bit close to a lapi-headed chair, and turns to give it a wide berth, moving toward the back of the room.

Scarlet, the unflappable, plops her backside down in one of the chairs, then swings her legs up onto the table. "Ah yeah, I coul' see livin' with evert'ing tending to me."

The chair following Aviri gives up halfway to the wall and returns to the table. "chair," it says, in what might be disappointment. And then wall opens up near Aviri and a cart walks out. It's got covered platters on it, and there's some steam leaking out of them as it marches towards the table.

Lin picks up the teapot and lifts the lid to see if it's really empty. "Maybe Aviri should take the self-making tea set." She suggests, "You know, for when we're picking loot." She sets the teapot down when the cart comes out and scoots over to it to sniff at the steam coming from it.

Aviri backs away from the cart, giving it room. She sees Scarlet already sitting, and deflates a little. Though her eyes turn toward the end of the table, and she makes for that.

It's a long table, able to seat 20 people at least. The teapot is empty.. but there's some tea-like residue inside. At least it stops talking when picked up. The cart goes to Scarlet first, since she's sitting down. "cart," it predictably says. "bread."

Biting her lip, the spotted lapi sits in the chair at the end of the table, looking down it's length with a little smirk.

There is indeed bread, and it must have just been steamed. Not that it mattered, since it is clearly more petrified than the animated furniture.

Another cart saunters over to Aviri. It's mostly a bucket with legs, and it has a dusty bottle of wine in it.

Aviri plucks the bottle of wine out with a polite nod to the bucket. She turns the bottle around in her hands, trying to find a label.

Lin wrinkles her nose at the bread when Scarlet lifts the cover. "Prolly hasn't been touched in seventy years." Seeing that Aviri's stopping for a wine tasting, she grabs a seat for herself and waits. "It's prolly vinegar after this long." She notes.

The bottle's only marking is an embossed Z on the green glass. The cork is made of stone, and also has a Z on it.

The Lapi glowers at Lin, and gently shakes the bottle, and pulls on the cork to see if it's loose.

Another section of the wall opens, revealing a string quartet.. or the instruments at least. They start playing themselves, but clearly haven't been tuned in some time. The bowstrings in particular haven't stood the test of time very well, and start shredding almost immediately.

The cork pops out with little effort, and the bottle says, "Welcome to Zehntopia, where every need is met. Better living through magic!"

Trilup jumps, as a cone had snuck up behind her and said 'cone' when she wasn't expecting it.

Aviri recoils at the words as though the bottle bit her, pushing it across the table, though not hard enough that it doesn't tip.

"Aye, might," Scarlet agrees. She pushes her legs off the table and rises. A quick sashay later and she's trying to get the bottle to inspect it and sniff the contents.

"Do enchantments ever wear out or go squirrely over time?" Lin wonders aloud. She gets up and goes over to the string quartet. The shredding strings probably aren't salvageable, but she checks around the walls inside the booth for any replacement parts.

"Hey, wine smells good!" Scarlet declares. She then takes a swig to be sure, because pirates and booze are one of nature's miracles.

There's no sign of any maintenance related tools or spare parts that Lin can find.

The wine is fruity, and doesn't have much kick to it. Maybe Zehn was a lightweight in the drinking department.

Scarlet makes a face. "Nice flavor, but ... meh! It would take at least two bottles fer me to get a buzz," she complains. "Lapi wine. Makes sense, cuz, well, Zehn was a lapi. Coul' sell it to lapi's I guess. At seventy years, can prolly ask a pretty shekel."

Aviri scoots the chair back and stands, one hand still closed around the stone cork, thoush she doesn't seem to notice. She checks the compass again, then at the others and motions with her head the proper direction.

Lin shrugs and starts working her way anticlockwise around the room, peeking into offshoot rooms for anything maintenance related, starting with the open wall the cart came from.

More serving carts appear and move about. An empty soup tureen, a salad serving station that is covered in black muck and most disappointing is the dessert tray, because it has fake representations of the treats that it could have been serving.

The service door is low - just high enough for the carts, but Lin can see that it goes to another room that might be the kitchen.

"Wanna check out the kitchens?" Lin chirps to Trilup, not noticing that Aviri's moving her head in a direction, what with that being a silent movement that she's not looking directly at.

Aviri follows the compass to wherever it points, though she stays inside the room for now.

While Trilup goes to join Lin, Aviri finds herself at another door, this one next to the room's giant hearth (although how can it have a chimney underwater?).

The otter spy glances over her shoulder and waves a paw at Aviri and Scarlet. "We'll be in the kitchens. Scream if you find anything!" With that, Lin ducks under the access door and into the kitchens.

Scarlet rolls her eyes and slips herself out of the chair she was lounging in. "So, whatcha find, spotbutt?" she asks as she saunters towards Aviri.

Aviri turns to Lin, confusion on her face, but she shrugs and takes three steps to the right of the door, looking to see if the compass points at the door itself or something beyond it.

While Lin and Trilup dash down the service corridor, Aviri is pretty certain the compass is pointing past the door, since moving side to side a bit doesn't shift the pointer much.

The lack of compass movement makes Aviri frown. She shrugs to Scarlet to answer her question, then gestures toward the door, though her eyes flick over the various things in the room thoughtfully.

The kitchen is.. scary. Arms grow out of the walls, wielding stone knives or other implements of cookery. The oven looks suspiciously like a glowing mouth (and might have 'tongues' for cooking on) and there are cauldrons that seem to be extruded from the walls, giving off warm glows as water bubbles away in them. There's some sort of animated pantry as well that services some of the carts, but it's pretty clear it hasn't been stocked recently.

And Scarlet's hands, both of them, grab onto Aviri's butt. "Ya need to relax. Treasure hunts are fun. Yer wound tighter than a Chronotopian time keeper," she tells the spotdoe. "Wanna look past dis door?" she asks.

Aviri starts, hopping a good half-meter into the air at the buttgrab, her tail flicking indignantly through the pink suit. She smiles sheepishly at Scarlet, and nods, then shakes her head, thinks a moment, then nods again. With a glance toward the kitchen, she enters the next room.

"Iffin y'all aren't gettin' cooked back dere, we headin' to the next room!" Scarlet calls to the kitchen, then follows Aviri.

Lin steps to the side of the service hallway to get out of the way of any cart traffic and looks out for any doors or indication they've been made. "Alright, this kinda reminds me of that freaky hallway thing under Eve's castle. Same guy, I guess." She siddles around the walls, ducking the waving arms, and works her way to the other side of the kitchen.

Trilup stays near the cart entry. The wall near Lin sprouts an arm, which says, "potato" as it makes a slow grab for the otter.

Beyond the doorway is a hall that curves off to the right. Several of the cones crowd past Aviri to light the way. "cone."

The bunny starts again, though it's really just an aggravated twitch, at the jostling cones. She takes a deep breath, then walks down the hallway, eyeing the walls.

"Cone!" Scarlet chirps in Aviri's right ear, then giggles maniacally. "Relax bun-butt. Nothin' alive down 'ere but us," she adds, following.

Lin squeaks and slaps the back of the extruded hand as she dances out of the way. "I'm not a potato, you faulty piece of half-rate spellwork!" She scolds. The otter slinks back to the entrance of the kitchen and calls back to Scarlet, "We're coming." She raises an eyebrow at Trilup. "Unless you spotted anything cool?"

Aviri hip-checks Scarlet for the joke, glaring, but only with her eyes. She does seem a bit more relaxed. A bit.

There's more natural looking light around the curve of the hall, until it finally ends in a large chamber..

Zehn Garden
The stone ceiling in this chamber glows to mimic both sunlight and sky, each palm-sized section glowing an appropriate color to form the overall dome-shaped mosaic. The chamber seems circular, and is filled with overgrown vegetation and statuary, but no animal or insect sounds - only the soft gurgle of flowing water.

It's difficult to see the far end due to the clutter, but there are apparent paths through the garden, made of smooth white stones.

Lin hustles after Trilup, out of the kitchen, and turns off to take the passage Scarlet and Aviri went through. "We miss anything?" She chirps as she catches up, "The kkitchen's a bust. No access passagaeways or anythin' obvious. Prolly something hidden by those weird movable walls for restocking but-... Oh."

Scarlet oofs! "Quite the breedin' hips yah have now," the otter teases after the hip-check. "Oh, hey, a garden! Quick, bunny powers, eat the paths clear!"

The lapi's face lights up at the vegetation! Finally something she can understand properly! Her gait is practically springy as she lopes toward the nearest overgrown shrub to examine it.

It's got long leaves with alternating petals.. a bit like a fern. It's also pink, and wiggles a bit as Aviri gets close.

Aviri slows as she notices the wriggle, and tentatively pokes at one of the leaves.

"It's aliiiiive!" Lin warbles from behind Aviri. She kicks at one of the pathstones and tries digging at the edges with her footclaws.

The leaf.. or frond or whatever.. immediately curls up toward the central stalk. All of the others curl up as well, but they don't all curl up completely. The result is lots of fuzzy curls that roughly form the shape of a Lapi, with two fully extended ones on top for the ears.

The lapi - the real spooted bun - takes a step back, then pokes Lin and gestures toward another fern-thing on the other side of the path.

"Alright, fine. I getcha." Lin chirps and gives the other fern a poke. "Now, become dark Lin, destroyer of sanity, secrets, and small towns in the countryside." She intones.

Aviri starts along the path, heeding Scarlet's command to be the pathfinder, though she pays attention to the plant Lin poked.

The one that Lin pokes curls up into another Lapi, except this one hugs the otter.

Scarlet snickers. "Welcome to BunnyLand, hugs are gratis," she remarks and follows after Aviri. As lax as she seems, her eyes are constantly flicking about, alert.

"Ngyaf!" Lin squirms and squishes her palm against the fern lapi's face. "It is dark Lin. A cuddly bunny that runs around dispensing hugs. My worst nightmare." She wriggles and attempts to free herself from the animated fern.

The stones at least don't shift underfoot. A chain reaction seems to ripple through the plants, causing more fold up into Lapi shapes.. but the really overgrown ones just look like misshapen creatures. The statues become clearer as well - also Lapi, but nude does wielding gardening tools. Ahead on the path is a fountain, with more Lapi girls atop it in odd positions that might be dance poses.

The plants don't have very strong grips, and are easy to escape from. "I wonder why they hug?" Trilup asks, then brushes some pollen off of Lin.

Aviri seems quite pleased that they're not mimic-plants, but bunny-plants. She beams at the others, and even swoops in and gives Trilup a surprise bunnyhug, whose fluffy goodness is impeded by pink suit, to demonstrate why the plants would hug.

Lin shrugs, watching the procession of plant bunnies. "Maybe Aviri would know. This place looks like it was made for her specifically somehow. Plants, everything bunny themed, totally benign enchanted thingumies. I'm feeling gitchy; it's too friendly an' tame fer a dungeon." Lin makes as though she's shaking herself dry.

"Bet the owner was just lonely," Scarlet remarks and gestures towards the plants.

The fountain has water pouring out of the Lapi mouths in arcs, back into the central pool. But it's also slowly rotating clockwise.

The living lapi in the garden doesn't offer any particular theories as to why the place was made how it was made, she just enjoys its existence. She's smiling a lot, too. She smiles at the misshapen ferns, she smiles at the fountain, she smiles at a patch of moss with tiny white flowers that look like a dusting of snow.

The fountain is starting to spin faster, and the water pressure changes as well. It's soon a sprinkler, squirting water out all over the garden.

About halfway through the garden, Aviri seems to remember she's not here as a botanist or Lapi, but on a treasure-hunt, and checks the compass to ensure they're still going the right direction.

"I t'ink de owner was also a bit of a drip," Scarlet remarks after she gets sprayed.

Lin stands in the path of the sprinkler on purpose and turns, rinsing off some of the grit from the lakebed. "Still, finally somethin' actually useful asside from the cones!"

The compass is pointing off to one side. It looks like the path splits at the fountain, indicating three different entries.

Trilup is less certain, given that the water is coming out of the statues' mouths. "It's spitting on you though," she tells Lin. Jock doesn't seem to care one way or the other.

The spray lessens and the spinning winds down, until the fountain is just a fountain again. But that's when the statues start to climb down from their plinths.

"Ooookay," Scarlet remarks. "Builtin gardeners. Wish I had mini-gnomes t' make me bed."

Aviri's gaze lingers on the compass and path options only long enough to pick the one closest to the compass' direction before returning her attention to the garden itself. In time to see the statues start to move, whereupon she darts to the side of the path in case one of the statues wants to pass.

Lin shakes off most of the water and waves at one of the animated statues. "Bet ya a bowl of hotroot soup on the way home that they're just as dumb as the rest of the magic junk we've found so far." She whispers to Trilup.

Not all of the statues seem to be working well. A few of the garden-shear bearers have broken shears, which might explain the overgrown plants. But the hoe bearers hoe, the rakers rake, and the spaders.. spade.

Although, all of the ones that have to bend over tend to wiggle their behinds, which.. is odd, since they're clearly made of stone. Stone isn't known for being jiggly.

Aviri make a tear-rolling-down-her-cheek gesture at Scarlet before doing a little hip-sway-thing and carrying on up the path, slowly, taking care to note all the plants, how they're planted, and the like.

"I don't get it," Trilup finally says, trudging over to Aviri. "None of these plants are edible, are they? And no fruit or nuthin'!"

"So, do you have anything interesting to say?" Lin asks, standing next to one of the hoe weilders.

The statue actually pauses, turns to Lin, and smiles. "Hoe," it says to her. This makes Jock snicker.

Scarlet barks a laugh. "Career advice, that!" she hoots, before heaving after Aviri. "Dese plants worth anyt'ing?" she asks Aviri.

"Heh." Lin gives a single chuckle an' rolls her eyes. "Hey, Jock. wanna ask this one fer fashion advice?" She strolls over to one of the statues with broken shears and snarks, "What kinda dress d'ya think Jock there would look good in?"

The spotted bun wraps an arm around Trilup's shoulder and points at her own eyes, then at a small cluster of clover-like plants. She smiles and mimes a blooming flower with her free hand, and then just looks content. She turns to Scarlet and shrugs non-commitally.

"Hey, guys! This one said something asside from 'Shear'!" Lin exclaims and bounces around the disfunctional statuette. "Okay, okay. How long have you been working in this garden?" She asks, finally excited by something.

"We canna take the garden with us," Scarlet apologizes to the spotted lapi. "But hey, if you grab a pot or two, might be able to take a couple plants with you," she suggests.

"shear," the statue replies, and goes back to trying to prune an overgrown plant with one of her blades missing.

Aviri shakes her head to Scarlet, bends down (intentionally or not, looking kinda like the statues in the process), and pats one of the clovers gently. She straightens up and smiles, and walks on, her tail bouncing.

Lin harumphs and plants her foot on the statue's behind and gives it a slow push, trying halfheartedly to overbalance it into the planter box it's failing to tend to.

The statue is a lot heavier than Lin, and may even be rooted to the ground somehow, since it doesn't notice the attempt at all.

Leaving the garden means being crowded by chatty cones again. The corridor beyond is pretty grand, with a high vaulted ceiling. It's wide, and there are doors in the walls at even (if wide) spacings, each with a number on it. The door handles are smiling bunny heads, unsurprisingly.

"Heh, surprised the knobs aren't breasts," Scarlet snickers, "A grope with every twist!"

Although Aviri's demeanor changes back to wary/paranoid once out of the garden, she still seems to retain a bit of that joy she'd had inside. She glances at the compass, then heads for door 6, apparently at random.

Lin shrugs at the statue. "You could have been cool." She admonishes and scurries off to check out what's new with the compas.

The compass is still pointing down the hall, but the door Aviri chooses isn't locked and opens inward. There's a fancy looking bedroom beyond it. It doesn't have any windows, but does have fixed lamps in the walls that glow like those of the cones.

Aviri closes the door gently as though not to disturb the non-existant person sleeping in the room, then returns toward the center of the hall to follow the compass.

"Pity the chairs don't walk. They could carry us around," Scarlet comments and elbows Jock. "Oh hey, you could carry me."

The lapi turns around and walks backwards for a few minutes while putting her palms together, tilting her head, and resting her cheek on her hands.

"There's someone sleepin' in there?" Trilup asks Aviri with wide eyes. "A real live person?"

"You can spend loot, and share it out 'tween the crew," Jock points out, then grins at Lin. "So, do you want to be loot?"

Aviri rights herself and shakes her head at Trilup. She turns, in the process casting a wink to someone, though who exactly is hard to say, and resumes walking forward.

"Naw, though maybe we kin find somethin' lacy fer you to wear when we get topside an' you kin be part of 'Viri's next show." Lin counters Jock's jibe.

Scarlet blows a raspberry at Jock, then grins. "Fair 'nough. I be too badass to be a treasure anyway," she quips.

Aviri tilts her head at that, takes a not-so-discreet look at Scarlet's butt, and looks thoughtful for a moment. She shakes her head and grins.

The hall stretches on, with a few cross-branches that look identical, save for the numbering on the room doors. There's animated cart, but it isn't doing anything, just standing to one side of the corridor with nothing on its shelves or top. The compass seems to be pointing towards a gold door at the end of the hall.

Aviri follows the compass until she's standing at the foot of the door, and only then appears to react to it, looking up at it curiously, as though not quite realizing it's made of gold.

"You jus' wanna use it for yer cabin," Jock claims. It's a big, ornate double-door, arched on top, with the Z logo on each side.

"If you turrnes the Z arouns, you could make them S doors for Scarlet." Lin chirps.

The doors swing inward, and this time the cones don't all rush in but stay in the hallway. There's a light in the ceiling of the room beyond the doors, which seems to be rather barren - just four blank walls and the stone floor. But in the center is a two-bench sleigh. Instead of snow runners though it has many, many little legs and feet. The Z crest is on the front, and the wood is very shiny red lacquer.

Trilup inspects the vehicle, and reports, "I don't see a key or anything to make it go with."

"Coul' be a torture bed. Y'know, de agony of de feet," Scarlet suggests to Jock and waves a webbed hand at the strange bed.

"Try the ring, like as not, it'll mke it start up. It did lead us here afterall.' Lin suggests, giving Aviri a little nudge towards the sleigh.

Spotbutt nods morosely at Scarlet's suggestion. She clenches her fists at her sides, one around the compass, and walks toward the sledge. She pauses halfway, and gestures for everyone to get on first.

Trilup is already sitting. Given their size, the benches could each easily hold three Lapi-sized folks.

Lin looks back at the hallway of doors and lets out an almost imperceptible sigh. "You'd best to in front." She chirps at Aviri right before she bounds into the seat next to Trilup and settles in. "How would a Waddles sleigh even help in a necromancer war?" She wonders aloud.

The compass isn't pointing at the sleigh, but through the apparently solid wall ahead of it.

Aviri takes a few steps around the sleigh, looking at it from a few different angles. Even from the sleigh it's easy to see she's shaking again, her fists still clenched. Her jaw flexes against itself, she takes a few deep breaths, and then takes a leap for the centermost position of the front bench.

Scarlet sighs and sits up. Then she leans forward so she can drape over the first bench and Aviri's shoulders. "I protect you," she claims

Once Aviri is seated, the outer golden door closes and the wall before the sleigh slides aside to reveal a dark corridor. The sleigh 'stands up' another inch, and the little legs carry it forward into the darkness.

The wall closes behind them, and then colorful Z signs begin flashing on and off along the walls. There are noises too - discordant ones that might have been music before something wore out.

Aviri's nod of thanks can probably only be felt by Scarlet; the bunny herself has her eyes closed tight, her hands clutched in her lap, and she leans back into Scarlet's awkward hug.

The broken music stops, and a wall to one side lights up. It's a bas relief of a young Lapi sitting at a reading desk in a library. The relief comes to life as the rabbit turns pages and takes notes. There's a plaque above that reads, Young Zehn Studies Magic.

"The life and times of Zehn?" Scarlet has to ask. "Open yer eyes Aviri, dis is silly."

Aviri nods slightly again, and opens her eyes to cast a glance at the mural. She does smile at it, and it seems genuine. She relaxes ever so slightly in Scarlet's arms.

The sleigh starts up again, jog-jog-jog, until another wall segment lights up. It shows a grown Lapi in robes (covered with little Z's of course) holding a rolled up scroll and showing a ring that glows. The name of this one is Zehn The Journeyman. Only the face is animated, smiling proudly and looking around with pride. Except for the expression, Zehn looks eerily like.. Aviri. Non-spotty Aviri, anyway.

"I... I don't know weather to be excited or horrified anymore." Lin mumbles, "Maybe it would be better with the music?"

"'Ey, you related to dis guy?" Scarlet asks Aviri. "Ya used t' look just like 'em."

Aviri tilts her head at this, her smile quirking into something more thoughtful. She shrugs and shakes her head, though keeps looking up at the wall.

Zehn winks and smirks. Then the animation repeats, and the light dies down. The broken music starts up, and the sleigh trots forward to the next relief. This one lights up, and claims, "Zehn Comes To Sylvania." This one shows a slightly older Lapi, still in his mage robes. He's surrounded by grapevines, with rather large grapes. He's waving his hands, making the vines move and the grapes grow. Happy farmers on either side seem to be praising him.

"Maybe Aviri's a weird reincarnation thing... Or we're gonna come up at the end of this... thing... an' Zehn will reveal himself to be 'Viri's great great grandfather." Lin suggests.

Aviri sits up straighter at this, her eyes glued to the vines and grapes, then at Zehn in the picture. She looks back at the others, as if to confirm that they're seeing the same thing.

The sleigh shuffles forwards again. The next panel is 'Zehn Finds Love' - and shows Zehn and a pretty doe, sitting in front of a fireplace. The fire actually glows and wavers, casting highlights on the motionless profiles. A fluttery 'ribbon' is wrapped around the doe's throat, with her name on it: Leela Chalk.

Lin goggles at the nametag for a moment then smirks and pats Aviri on the shoulder. "I'm sorry, Aviri. You're probably a wizard."

Aviri's smile grows at the name. She nods energetically to Scarlet, and points at her own chest.

"These things otter have dates or something," Trilup complains. "But din't the Chalks show up.. uh.. a long time ago? A hunnert years or more?"

"Well, this whole mission thing is a little over seventy years old. Seems fair to figgure Zehn would be gettin' pretty old by then. A hundred years ago is only a thirty year gap between when we're supposed to have gotten here an' when the Chalks came to Stonebarrow." Lin reasons.

"Zehn was one of the greatest earth mages to have ever lived, yannow," Scarlet explains. "No one has ever quite equaled 'is achievements in animated furniture and shaping. 'e's like a legend in the University circles, and to us treasure hunters. I mean, dere are entire courses dedicated to 'im an his years of activity. 'e was a right odd-one; never knew he actually had someone 'e loved. Didn' really get along well wit' people most of de time."

Aviri shifts on her seat, leaning forward a bit, her face practically shining at what she's seen so far. Her little tail wriggles excitedly behind her.

The next relief is simply titled: Oops. It shows Zehn with his arms outstretched upwards.. and fingers turning into branches, then leaves sprouting, as the man is turned into a tree. This goes on for some time after the transformation is complete, even, showing lichens and mushrooms and other things growing on him.

Not even this strangeness seems to be able to damper the spotted rabbit's interest in this odd person.

"See why I try to avoid that word?" Lin checks in with Trilup, "Nothing good ever happens when people say it. Kinda feel bad for Oops and Uh-oh. They're stuck eith it."

The next scene is 'Zehn Awakes' and shows the tree turning back into a Lapi, albeit one with a bit of moss on him. He looks around, then slumps down. Below this: All Alone.

This manages to make Aviri's tail stop bobbing, and she looks at this image with a bit more contemplation. Especially the "All Alone" at the bottom.

Next in the series is the slightly older Zehn, this time surrounded by little friends - his golems. Most of these are little geometric creatures, rather than sculpted looking people. 'Zehn Makes Friends' is the caption. Some of them look like mushrooms with bug legs, or flowers.

"Huh ... I wonder," Scarlet says and rubs her chin. "We need to check de garden again."

Again contemplation from Aviri at this. She puts her elbows on her knees and rests her cheek on her hands, peering sideways at the wall.

"Maybe they're in the rooms we haven't checked." Lin offers "Though I'm still not sure how they'd be valuable as loot."

"'E could still be alive," Scarlet explains. "Wha iffin he be a tree again? Look, I know treasures good, but findin' Zehn? Dat would be priceless."

The next one shows.. creatures. Most likely zombies! Zehn is seen hunkered down in little castle. 'Necromancy Spreads!' is the title, lit in eerie green. Zehn looks angry.

Aviri's stays in her hunched pose, her eyes glancing only briefly over the zombies before settling on Zehn, though a bit more de-focused than they used to be.

Lin grimaces and checks out the sceen with more interest. "Wouldn't he be a decarpet old prune by now though? He'd be over a hundred years old!"

The sleigh moves on. The next panel has the ominous caption of 'Zehn Goes To War', although it mainly shows the Lapi working on things. He's hunched over, and the relief reshapes to show Waddles. Waddles then changes into something more like a coffin. This time there are other figures.. women in pointy, broad-brimmed hats working on the coffin. The scene shifts to show a witch carrying off a coffin, then she splits into two witches with coffins, then four.. then eight.

"Amenlichli and 'er damned servants," Scarlet growls. "Dey burned de sky and killed so many."

"Are those the coffins like Isolde had," Trilup asks in a hushed voice. "The one they put Valicross in. Necromancer coffins?"

"So waddles either is one of those coffins or is some kind of supercharged version that also... Does laundry?" Lin asks, she scratches her left ear and frowns slightly. "I don't get it. Asside from 'eats necromancers'. Not like it came with a manual or anythin' helpful like that."

Jog-jog-jog. The next panel is titled 'Apprentice' and shows Zehn with a young Khatta. As it changes, Zehn becomes older and the Khatta grows up. A ribbon arches over the Khatta, with the name Phelix Kurai inscribed into it.

"Like the grabby hands in that underground passageway were really similar to the ones in the kitchen. Just bigger and grabbier." Lin agrees quietly.

The doe tilts her head at that, and settles back down onto her knees, watching Zehn's history pass.

'The Sanctuary of Zehntopia' is the caption for the next, showing Zehn creating his palace, apparently as a refuge bunker to wait out the war! He seems to get more stooped as he progresses, finally sitting in a chair all alone again.

Aviri lets out a long, slow breath at the final scene, then turns her head away from the wall to face forward. Her tail doesn't bounce any more.

"The lines in the war were ... bad," Scarlet notes a bit subdued. "It's unlikely anyone could have traveled far, not after the undead lords established their territory."

"Hey, Silver, getting any ghost readings off this place? No dead people spirits floating around?" Lin asks, then realizes her hat's back on the ship. "Oh..."

The next panel shows Zehn standing up, and receiving visitors! The caption is 'New Inspiration'. It shows a hooded figure with a feline tail, the name ribbon above labeled 'Az' while a hunched over Skreek figure with mismatched body parts is holding up a flask to Zehn. The inside is depicted with a red crystal that glows.

Aviri seems a bit surprised to see another panel, and sits upright when she notices, looking over the two visitors carefully, then the flask.

The hunchback certainly looks like Igor.. although who knows how many faces Igor has gone through.

Scarlet blinks. "Y' can't be serious," she says as she leans forward, almost squishing Aviri! "'Oly crap, Jock," she blurts, "Okay, we turn dis castle inside out."

Aviri scrambles as she's almost pushed off the bench, and re-settles once Scarlet leans back. She turns and looks at the otter pirate, confusion and a bit of worry on her face. She looks back at the wall, then again at Scarlet, the knitted brow still there.

Lin shrugs and pokes Trilup with her tail. She holds out four fingers where Scarlet can't see then taps one with her other hand and winks at Trilup.

Despite the disruption, the sleigh begins moving forward again. The wall now shows Zehn and the maybe-Igor working on something in what might be a tub. There's a red glow depicted by glowing crystals pulsating in 'rays' from within. The caption is 'The Final Weapon'.

The Lapi doe is slow to turn away from Scarlet, her eyes turning form curious to suspicious before she looks to glance at the next panel. She looks at the compass, than back at the tub-thing.

"Magic superweapon. Right." Lin nods and leans back in her seat. "So he's takin' on the whole war singlehandedly. Somebody has a hero complex an' a half."

"But what is it?" Trilup asks. "That's a tub, like uncle makes scumble in. It don't glow red though."

"Maybe it washes away the necromantic energy. Like a bath of anti-doom." Lin guesses.

Aviri turns to the others, points at the compass, then at the tub, then at the tub's caption.

"Finally, a good answer to my 'How is this useful in a war against necromancers?' question." Lin lets out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding.

The sleigh shuffles forward again. The section shows Zehn holding a familiar puzzle box. He hands it to the Igor, then points behind the rat thing. The caption here is 'Find Phelix' and the Igor shuffles out of frame with the box.

The next panel shows a very tired Zehn looking out of a window, which shows water rising outside until it goes over the top. There's even a fish that swims by. The caption is 'The Upheaval Buries Zehntopia.'

Aviri tilts her head at the mural of 'Find PHelix', and puts a finger to her chin, looking thoroughly confused. That look remains until the next one, where she perks up and grins at the fish.

"That means Zehn was still here when it was sunk." Lin muses, "He might actually still be here!"

"That was seventy years ago, 'cording to Granny," Trilup says. "When the Oggtons started their trek to the promised land."

The sleigh begins to move again, but this time it there aren't any more animated vignettes to see. The wall opens up ahead, revealing a room just like the one they started in. The sleigh stops, the wall closes up, the light shines. There's another pair of golden doors ahead.

"Been around fer three decades kiddo," Scarlet comments dryly. "You even out of the single digits yet?"

Aviri looks a bit disappointed that the show is over, but since it seems to have brought the story to the mostly-present-day, she nods, although to nobody in particular. Her method of debarkation involves vaulting over the front, getting as far from those feet as she can in a single bound.

"We're both like.. nearly grown up!" Trilup claims, putting an arm around Lin's shoulders. "Any day now we'll pop!"

"Yeah! I'm thirteen, I think." Lin scrunches her brow, "An' Trilup's just a little younger than me. We're gettin' there though!"

"It really sleighs the audience," Scarlet adds, grins toothily, and sashays towards the doors ahead.

Trilup tries to vault over the front too, but doesn't quite make it and falls to the floor. Nothing goes pop when she does.

"Now ye know why she hadda leave school," Jock whispers to Lin as he climbs out.

The doe brushes her butt off of whatever dust might've gotten onto it from the seat, checks the compass, and then waits by the door for the others. Her ears are down against her neck, but she looks excited, almost.

Lin just nods quietly as she flits over the side. "Still pointing ahead an' not some weird direction?" She asks, appearing at Aviri's elbow.

The doors swing outward, onto a landing. "cone." There are several cones waiting. Stairs curve off from the landing, going upward and downward, as if there were the inside of a tower. There's just no empty shaft, as both sides of the stairway are walled.

The spotted doe tilts her head at this, then looks at the compass from the side to see which direction to take.

"Yay, stairs," Scarlet grumbles. "And they are stone, so y' cannot claim t' tread lightly."

Aviri points to the upper stair, and then leads upward, her tail bouncing once more not just out of her energetic climb of the spiral.

"Well, at least the stairs aren't moving." Lin counters, looking rapidly towards the walls and the stairs and barking "Ah ha!" at them.

Once Aviri steps foot on a stair.. the stairs start to move. With nothing to grab onto, it's a challenge to keep balanced. New stairs appear at the bottom as the conveyer progresses.

"You had to say that!" Trilup says to Lin, going down on all fours to make it easier.

"Heh, no way some old guy was gonna walk this," Jock notes with a grin. Sea legs sure help.

Lin cackles maniacaly, "I think I'm gettin' the hang of this!" She plants her hands on her hips and lets the stairs sweep them up the tower.

"Now, if it were me, this is the part where the spinning blades would come outta the walls," Jock says next, still grinning.

The bun squeaks harshly and falls forward onto the suddenly-moving stairs, but once she's assured she's not going to topple backwards, she slowly gets to her feet and starts climbing, albiet cautiously.

Nothing comes out of the walls. There are even windows, eventually, showing darkness. After a few minutes, the stairs end at another landing, with another set of golden Z-branded doors.

By the time the others, waiting for the stairs to do the work, reach the top Aviri's practically bouncing from foot to foot - being on her toes doesn't make much sense for her, but the spirit's still there. Once she sees that everyone made it she eagerly presses on these doors.

"Lots o' demons in Stonebarrow, apparently," Trilup says, managing to not trip at the end of the stairs.

"He's an honorrary member of the Scouts back home." Lin explains, "Sets all kinds of fun traps but he's really easy to set off on a crusade against 'Invading Hordes'."

Scarlet goes to join Aviri, curious about what lays beyond. "Sounds like 'e be a good crewmember. He lookin' for a new job?" she asks.

"He may be a crazy, murderous psychopath, but he's our crazy, murderous psychopath." Lin says firmly.

The doors swing open on a semi-circular room. The walls have tall windows looking out into the lake, with just a bit of daylight reaching down. The only piece of furniture in it seems to be a huge four-poster bed - the posters being Lapi does of course. Or rather, all the same doe; Leela Chalk. A figure stands before the bed. It might be Leela herself, wearing a peasant style dress. Her hands are clasped before her, and she says, "I'm sorry, but the Archmage is indisposed."

Aviri steps toward the doe, a bit confused at first, trying to take everything in, and then bows gently toward her.

"When you get a chance, maybe let him know the larder's completely empty." Lin suggests, peeking around the bowing bunny.

The doe returns the bow, then repeats, "I'm sorry, but the Archmage is indisposed." Her inflection and tone are exactly the same as the first time she said it.

Scarlet enters and steps to the side a bit. Experience tells her that the mage is here, but only in spirit. She approaches the bed in spite of the statue's comment, expecting to find the remains of Zehn within it.

The spotted doe smiles, looking a mite awkward in her garish pink suit, but she tries to make the best of it. She lifts the compass to chest-height and points at it, then toward wherever it's pointing now.

The doe doesn't react to the otter sneaking past. The compass is also pointing at the bed. And sure enough, the shrivelled almost-mummified remains of a Lapi are there, tucked in save for one hand that is clutching at something on his chest. Liquid red light shines through the nearly transparent skin of the shrivelled fingers.

Aviri's eyes follow the compass' direction, and spy the mummy. Another squeak manages to pass her lips. A spotted hand covers her mouth, and she manages to cross to the other side of the bed from Scarlet before she sinks to her knees, hangs her head, and sniffs against tears.

Lin walks up behind Scarlet and humms, "You know, Aviri, I'd bet that that one actually does repell undead."

Trilup doesn't say anything, sticking to the foot of the bed and biting her lip.

"Jock," Scarlet says, voice cool, "Block de door." The otter then undoes the clasps on her leg anchoring her terrifying-looking gun and slips it free. A flick of her webbed thumb cocks back the hammer and the pirate smiles, her expression cold and devoid of any feeling. "Well, gotta say, y' did all right. Y' got me here ... but our little partnership draws to a close," the pirate says as she turns and levels the barrel at Lin. "No 'ard feelings, eh? Dis just business and all. And 'ey, t'ink of it dis way ... yer spirits can keep Zehn company on de other side..."