Because Because Because Because Because...!!! (Mint & Winnow)

Very close examination will show each lamp contains a glowing liquid, in which swims a very beautiful fish. However, its movements remain far, far too slow for nature.

Mint signals Winnow to stay back a bit further. Then she continues to advance carefully.

On the other side of the glass/crystal/whatever it is, various fish dart around. Mint doesn't recognize any of them. She sees something like a seahorse, fairly red in hue, with a protrubrance that makes it look something like a unicorn. Actually, there's a whole school of the tiny things.

In the distance she can see some other critter. Larger. Body the size of a walrus but thinner. Four flippers. A long neck and a tiny head. Swims up and catches a fish, pretty much swallowing it whole.

The new critter looks at Mint. Big eyes, with long eyelashes. Nothing really lizardlike about the creature, more mammalian. Her guess--something not unlike a seal. It looks at her for a little while then with a graceful push of its flippers heads out into the water.

Mint looks back at the creature carefully. She searches for any glimmer of intelligence in its eyes. If she finds any then she will pick up the pace. Either way once the seal thing departs she continues on remaining alert.

At the far end of the oval corridor under the sea, Mint spots a staircase -- one with wide steps and a deep enough depth for horses if need be. It curves gently upwards.

Emerging on the what is clearly the lighthouse island. Indeed, the lighthouse stands directly to her right, with an oval door over six and half feet high. Although there's no sign of human activity, it seems like a minimal amount of weeds have grown in and around the door. The door itself is an unusual pattern of dark wood she does not recognize. An odd off-center oval kehhole of brass is worked into the wood of the door.

Mint will signal to Winnow to bring the horses through to the island before continuing. Once all have arrived, she will have the others stand several yards back and examine the door and the keyhole closely. If she lacks sufficient light, she will light a torch for this purpose.

Does the keyhole appear to have any hidden catches such as what would prove indicative of a trap?

Does the shape of the keyhole appear to match the shape of the key that Mint carries?

"Winnow, am I safe in my belief that this is where our path does lead? Also do you spy any energies from this door whether of a sort you recognize or no?"

Mint has not yet touched the door.

The key would certainly fit this door.

Examination of the area will reveal nothing that looks like a trap, nor any perceivable magic. It is approaching dusk. Punch and Judy sniff the air and report no scent they recognize as belonging to that of any large animal. Just plants and small animals.

Before proceeding Mint takes the time to dash off three copies of a quick note to those she wrote to earlier in the day. She lets them know of their intent to pass through the door and she encloses in each note a few of the local flowers so they have something to use for the purpose of finding this place if they choose. That done she passes the envelopes to Winnow.

"Would you please pass these to the guardsmen? I'm unsure if we will have the same options beyond this point."

While Winnow takes care of the letters, Mint will feel the door for any sense of temperature and listen carefully with her ear to it as well.

Assuming those final checks reveal nothing and the letter delivery goes off without a hitch Mint will pull out the Key and open the door.

There's nothing at all odd about this door. No vibrations, heat, trip wires, etc.

When the door swings open, Mint sees a lovely wrought-iron catwalk centering around a long cylindrical tube of glass or crystal. Within glows some kind of liquid, and within the liquid float/swim dozens and dozens of tiny beautiful fish. This provides illumination.

The wrought iron looks in excellent repair. To the right is a staircase going up, to the left one headed down. Upon the catwalk is plenty of room. Swinging the door open causes a mild echo within the round interior of the lighthouse.

Mint takes one of her daggers and wedges it to keep the door open. Then she retrieves the key from the lock and pockets it once agian. Once sure that the dagger is firmly in place and that the door cannot close until someone removes it, Mint will enter silently maintaining her usual degree of caution. She then re-emerges briefly.

"Punch, Judy, please raise a rucus if anyone arrives in our absence. Sound seems to carry quite nicely. Once you have sounded an alarm take no chances, run if you feel the need."

"Winnow, if I thought you would do so I would ask you to stay, but..." Mint shrugs.

"I will start from the bottom, follow or head upwards as you wish."

Mint enters again and heads downwards into the depths.

The downward staircase goes about twenty five feet, opening up into a room with the base of the glowing tube. Said room is roughly seventy feet wide, a circular room with a dark red carpet and wood paneling on the walls. A large window shows the sea, from below the waves, and various forms of sea life dart around in its depths. In the distance what looks like a pair of long-necked seal-things like before appear to be playing.

Books shelves make up much of the rest of the walls, and a quick examination finds history tomes from a dozen or more worlds, including one of Uberwald (a Golden Circle member). Most she's never heard of. There are also a wide variety of novels. None originate anywhere she's ever heard of.

There are several comfortable chairs in the room, of light but hard wood, with dark red padding that matches the carpet. Tables dot the room as well. It gives an impression of a personal study. One particular table in front of the window is an oval, with a few chairs of simpler, lighter design, all facing the window but set out so people sitting there can see each other. Something about it suggests 'dining' to Mint.

A door in one corner leads to a simple but elegant bathroom, including a tub for a bath. If she checks, she'll find the controls to allow hot and cold water.

Winnow will give the mail through to the guardsmen. He will also give Mint the key when she realizes that she does not have it, by showing her his left palm. The key extrudes from the armor and he flips it out between two fingers.

If he understands Mint correctly that she wants him to stay at the base of the lighthouse on guard, he will do so.

Interesting, the staircases are either not built for defense, or for defense by and against left-handers, by the direction of their ascent and descent. Normal staircases twist counterclockwise downward so as to give advantage to the right-handed defender above.

He will ask the equines to watch the underground entrance, and he himself will take walking turns around the outside of the lighthouse, watching for threats or anything unusual. He will also take out Mint's Trump and delicately activate it, trying out his spying technique, to be that much quicker to contact her in case of trouble inside. He keeps one eye on her progress and one on the outside.

As a sailor, of course he looks to the horizon for sail or hull of ship.

Winnow will be startled to realize his Trump contacts feel ever-so-slightly 'off.' The nearest analogy he can come up with would be moving against a wind that offers no real effective resistance, but can be felt.

The lighthouse is at the edge of a very short cliff, but protected by a finger of land jutting out and no doubt interfering with the strongest part of the surf. Its walls are quite thick, and made of a fine stone that looks like it might last forever. Doesn't seem to be any wear upon the surface. Mortar is incredibly thin. Around the island Winnow sees several different kinds of fruit trees. The finger of land he noted earlier has a wooden pier on the far side, that then reaches out at a right angle out into the sea. Its end widens out and has a roof not unlike the gazebo back in one of the gardens back in Castle Amber.

For fishing probably. No personal boat in sight, though.

Mint checks the front and back inside cover of a couple of books looking for any sort of frontispiece or inscription. Many people put their names in their books or receive inscribed books as gifts.

Regardless of what she finds she will work her way methodically up through the tower checking each and every available room.

None of the books contain anything proclaiming an owner. Some of the histories include notes on the edges, in a variety of colored-inks but all in the same rather beautiful hand-writing.

The level above the ground floor (two levels up from the library) is what looks like some kind of workroom. Several very sturdy tables fill up different parts of the place. Roughly a third are taken up with different clay sculptures. One table seems designed for making clay, but some of the ingredients look unfamiliar. Far more familiar is the scale model copy of Castle Amber, rendered in minute detail and enclosed under a glass/crystal dome -- four feet high and meticulous in the extreme.

Without moving the dome, Mint looks in the windows to see if any model people are visible within the halls and rooms of the castle.

Again she preceded onward and upward, room by room.

Even getting near the dome gives her a strong sense of major league sorceries surrounding it. There are zero figures she can see within the clay castle -- although the detail remains utterly eerie. Closer she looks, the more precise it seems.

Mint turns instinctively at what she almost thought was movement, but all she sees is a table with a variety of clay animals. Something that looks like a cross between a dog and a weasel. A series of different sized birds resembling sparrows. A cat sitting up with its head tilted. One other thing that looks really strange -- a pickle-shaped thing with multiple limbs, flat wings, and an oval head on a long neck, said neck having lots of little tentacles and feelers. That one is nearly a foot in length (or height).

No point in disturbing things here further right now. Save that for the second pass through. Onward and upward she goes.

The next flight of steps goes up two levels without a break. It open up into the lamp area, where the glowing tube now becomes a sphere. Behind the sphere, twelve feet above the floor, are mirrors set and aiming the light through a lens. A mechanism at chest level allows an operator to set the mirrors to do a circle, or to aim the light in a general direction. A comfy-looking bed takes up a far end of the room. An oval door leads to a wrought iron balcony that circles the top of the lighthouse. A few collapsible chairs hang on hooks next to the oval door.

A cabinet is built into a wall, and examination reveals several dozen little balls of different colors, looking like large exotic marbles. Each glows from within its depths, barely. Each also has a different (faint) odor. One resembles roast beef. Another fish stew. Still another smells like some kind of baked goods with berries, piping hot. Another, cool to the touch, smells like lemonade. Another, hot chocolate.

Mint steps out onto the balcony and calls out to Winnow. "No people. No traps. Might as well come in." Without waiting for a response she ducks back inside.

What to do next? Best not to mess with the lights til last. They will prove visible from quite a distance. Books seem dull, but safest. Too much magic on the toy castle. I mistrust the clay. Golems are a classic.

Mint takes the lemonade sphere and begins to experiment with it as she walks. She tries rapping it with a knuckle, scarring it with her blade, dripping a bit of water on it from a canteen, and spitting on it in that order.

Interspersed with the sphere experiments, Mint begins to look for an entry into the missing floor. She starts upon the stairs between the floors. She raps with the pommel of her sword upon the wall listening for hollow spots. She examines with eyes and fingers for hidden catches. She sings a harmonic song which her father taught her which tends to trip verbal commands. If the search proves fruitless upon the stairs she will repeat it on the floor of the area above, then do what she can from below.

Actually, once she gives a hard enough blow to the 'marble' it instantly becomes liquid lemonade. Makes a bit of mess. One scratch with her dagger no doubt did it. Evidently this at least was supposed to be pierced within a container. Odds are all of them work the same way.

The stairs don't reveal anywhere for an extra level to be. Just an empty space with a ceiling below and floor above. All well-lit by the tube.

It won't be too long before she realizes the clay cat is missing.

Great. Now my hands are all sticky

As soon as she walks past the spot where the clay animals resided she spots the change.

Quick as a wink she takes off for the nearest exit, door or window and calls out, "Keep eyes peeled fro a clay cat." If she used a window she reseals it to trap the cat inside.

She makes her way to the ground and circumnavigates the lighthouse. If the cat jumped out it would have left an impression and she will spot it no matter how small.

"Punch, Judy take up positions on opposite sides or the building. Call out if you spy a feline."

Mint sheaths her sword, string her crossbow, and loads a quarrel. She will stop the cat even if the damn thing can fly.

Finding it proves anything but difficult. The clay cat is sitting atop a chair in the library, tail flicking the way cats' tails' do and its eyes watching Mint as she enters from above. It blinks.

Mint yells out "Found it" up the stairs.

"Hi there, kitty. What's your name? i knew a glass cat once with pretty little pink brains, but I have never met a clay cat before now. I wonder what sort of brains you have?"

Mint sets down her crossbow, and plucks the quarrel from it's place returning it to her quiver. She wants her hands free to respond to the cat's next move.

"My name is Persephone," replies the clay kitty. "Hello."