You climb down from the insect’s body to begin searching the room for a key. Taking another good look at the chaos, you expect it to take a while and let out a sigh. Then you begin digging through the piles of books and trash like a mole.

To you right, a small river flows away from the tower and as you stretch your head a little bit out of the window you can spot the ridges of low, green mountains. You look down and see the towers entrance door, reminding you of the key.

In order to reach the window, you have to climb on the giant millipede’s body and thankfully it does not mind. Outside, below the waning moon whose acquaintance you had previously already made, wide fields and forests stretch as far as the eye can see.

After a moment you begin to feel relatively, even unusually safe in the presence of the large calm insect – it reminds you of a huge millipede – and proceed to look around the room. First, you want to try again taking a proper look out of the window.

You observe it for a moment. It does not seem to have any intention of harming you. You look at its long body, the smooth, hard shell that appears to be some sort of exoskeleton. At its head two long antennas wiggle rhythmically as it focuses on its work.

When its whole body is in the room the creature moves its front section…or head towards a spot where various automaton parts are piled up. There, using its countless small limbs, it calmly begins assembling the parts with an astonishing nimbleness.

Instinctively, you swing at the creature with your knife which immediately breaks as it hits its hard skin. You sit on the ground in what hopefully is just one of the liquids from the jars. The creature stops with its whole body now curled up in the room.

Stumbling backwards, you barely avoid shattering the lamp! A huge, immensely long creature on thousands, probably tens of thousands of tiny limbs is crawling through the window into the room which is getting noticeably tighter. You draw your knife!

You hold the lamp closer to it and see many tiny limbs scuttling along the outside of the window. Then the body blocking it disappears with them and you are greeted by the waning moon before it is blocked again by something now making its way inside.

You had assumed that it was the night sky that kept the room in darkness but as you reach the window you find that while it is indeed opened, there is something blocking it from outside. You push against it with your hand. After a moment it starts moving.

Further exploring the room can wait! Desperately, you rush to the window. You are sure that whatever it is you will see outside of it will answer more of your questions than this cold, stuffy place could. And most importantly, you long for fresh air!

A few feet in front of you, to your left you spot something that immediately lifts your spirit immensely: right next to a desk that is almost entirely buried under trash there is a big window. The first one you’ve seen in this place. And it is open!

Piles of torn books, furniture, boxes, crates and various broken jars with unidentifiable substances pouring out of them, staining the wooden floor. Most prominently perhaps, though: gears, screws; metal and wooden automaton parts - their cradle?

You hold the lamp in front of you to be able to see what it is that is piling up everywhere in the big room but, even so it is difficult to clearly make out. Right in front of the door is a huge pile of trash, explaining why it was so difficult to open it

It is not; drawing a sigh of relief from you. However, as you push for it to open there is some resistance, requiring you to use quite a bit of strength. Finally, you get it open far enough to slip through. The room you enter is in pure chaos!

Before proceeding upwards, you check the door on the other side of the landing and see the familiar layout with a bed at the far end and an automaton writing behind a table. After two more landings you reach a singular door that you hope is not locked.

For a good twenty minutes you dig through all the shelves. In the end, the only useful things you find are a small pouch for stone-storage and the least rusted knife that you apparently could hope to find in this place; for self-defence, if necessary.

Everything resembling food in the room is long rotten. You open a tin can with a rusted knife that breaks immediately afterwards and a thick disgusting foam accompanied by an even worse stench comes bubbling out of the can. You throw it into a corner.

You seem to have found a storage room-cum-pantry! There are various utensils, tools, cans, bottles, barrels, boxes and other things filling the shelves and floor. Your stomach communicates to you that food should be the first priority.

After a short struggle the lamp finally comes off and with it the automatons hand. The puppet loses its balance and falls to the ground where it pitifully keeps moving its legs in a walking motion. With the lamp in hand you enter the room.

You are sick of the dark! When the automaton passes you as it returns from its trip downstairs, you try to take the lamp out of its hand. Like the other automatons musket it is firmly attached; this time you decide to force it off!

After repeatedly pushing and pulling the door handle there is first a relatively quiet creaking and crunching noise and then an audible, loud clank as the broken lock hits the stone floor. The room behind the door looks packed with...things.

You shortly observe the automaton entering the room with the bookshelves behind you and then proceed upwards. As you reach the next landing you try to open the door to your right. It is locked. However, the lock is about to come apart. You push again.

After a moment the automaton appears around the corner. As you had anticipated – and desperately prayed for – it pays you no heed...and almost walks right into you with its new pile of books! You just about manage to dodge out of its way.

On your way back up you count the landings. After nineteen you are back where you started with the dangerously armed automaton awaiting you. Proceeding further upwards you hear footsteps again and this time decide to stand your ground.