So, a few days ago I did a restart of my laptop, returning it to factory settings in an attempt to fix some of the problems it has picked up. No luck. As a result of this restore, my Microsoft Word is back to not working (and generally ticking me off) so this is written in wordpad. As a result, I have no idea how many words it is until I finally upload it so apologies if it is a little short! And, again, back to the online spell checker to make sure I didn't make any painful mistakes.

Onwards!

"You mean to tell me that Arnic, our quiet little scientist, is the man behind this whole horrible ordeal? Why on earth would he want to destroy our village?! He has lived here for years. He has done nothing but help our people. He and our doctor work together to keep these people safe!" Tonetta Merrin was distraught and pacing before her guests. He had known this news would upset the young woman but he had had no other choice but to tell her.

Arnic Shir was their prime suspect in all of this, he had thoroughly researched the dufferin creatures and had a family history of attempting to mess with nature and create something unnatural. But it didn't sit right with Hershel. If Arnic truly had created the Dufferins it would not explain everything else that was going on. Why would he have stolen items and then kidnapped people? It didn't make sense but one thing was blatantly clear, he needed to find the man and speak to him.

"We don't know this for sure, it is simply looking like that at the moment. I cannot say anything for sure." He attempted to calm the woman but she seemed to be having none of it, shaking her head at him as she continued to pace back and forth.

"The village will be devastated to hear this. I don't know how I am going to break it to them.."

"Hershel.." Emmy touched his arm and leant close to him to whisper beside his ear. "We need to calm her down. We don't want to turn the entire village on this man just because of what his family did many years ago. We have no solid proof yet, wait until we get into those tunnels."

Emmy was right so he crossed the room and caught the pacing woman by her wrist. He steered her to the chair behind her desk. "Please, sit. And now you must listen to me. We do not know anything for sure, we are simply keeping you up to date. I do not want you to tell anybody else until we have solid proof, it would not do destroying a man's reputation because you are scared for your people. Let us check the tunnels again and we shall come back to this."

The young woman looked at him for a long time and he could almost see her trying to decide what to do. There was a look in her eyes that worried him she may continue with her plan to tell everyone it was Shir. "Alright, I will keep it to myself. But please, Professor Layton, hurry. I am worried for the missing people and the ones who remain are scared that they will be next."

"We are heading into the tunnels after we leave here. This time Madigan has agreed to escort us with one of his men, both men will be equipped with lamps and their batons."

"I would send you with a sword, Professor, not a fencing one either. This is sharp and ready to take out those creatures."

He appreciated the offer, they were in desperate need of adequate protection. Madigan and his man would be helping him open the door then they would stand guard in the tunnel. A sword would be of great use to him once they were inside the room, in case there were more of those damned creatures within. "Thank you, Ms Merrin."

XXX

"You look like an old warrior with that sword, Professor!" Luke sounded incredibly excited considering the task ahead of them but Hershel was pleased the boy was not afraid of going back in. He had attempted to leave him behind in the safety of their room but it appeared the boy was truly having none of it.

"Thank you, Luke, if only I had some armour too?" He laughed with the boy and double checked that the sword was secured at his waist. He prayed that he would never have to use it but it was nice to have something to protect himself this time.

"You ready to go, Layton?" Madigan grunted, a smaller man by his side but no less threatening in appearance.

"Yes, we are ready. You have some other lamps for my little companion here?" Madigan handed Luke the spare lamp before he and his companion laid theirs on the ground.

"This is.." He grunted with the effort it took to move the door with the unnamed companion, leaving the heavy door resting open. "This is Tom."

"Lead the way, Professor." Tom gestured after fetching the abandoned lamps.

Madigan lead the charge with Hershel, lighting the way in front whilst Tom and Luke lit the sides, Emmy walking between the two. They followed the exact path they had taken before and found themselves before the door in no time. And were confronted with the heavy duty padlock.

"I have some tools here, move aside Professor." Madigan strode up to the door and left the lamp at his feet. He first tried bolt cutters but the padlock was simply too thick to snap, even when Hershel helped push the arms of the cutters together. All they were rewarded with were sore hands. But thankfully the man then produced a dwarfed sledge hammer. One, two, three blows and the padlock broke apart, clattering to the ground. He unhooked the rest and stepped aside.

"Now we just need to heave the door aside." It took the three men to move it out enough for entry. The only conclusion he could come to was that it was not designed to be opened from this side. But one man could open it from within. That led him to believe this was not a used entrance, probably just a way to block off the tunnels beyond.

"Be careful in there, you three, we will be right here. We have enough oil to last an hour, each, including the lad there. And I have one spare can with enough to get us out if we run out of time. In other words, be quick." Tom had already turned his back and was watching intently for any sign of Dufferins, his baton out ready to defend.

"We will, thank you Madigan." The guard turned to his post beside his friend and Hershel cast one last glance at the diligent pair before entering the room. "Stay behind me, you two."

Thankfully the pair did as they were told, for once, and allowed Hershel to enter the room first. The room was dark within but several lamps hung on the walls, unlit. He could hardly see a thing and seeing as he didn't hold a torch he called for Luke to hand his over. His free hand rested on the grip of his sword in case he really did need it. The room appeared to be empty of all living things so he encouraged the others to join him.

"Light the other lamps so we can see what is going on." Several lamps flickered to life and the room was fully revealed to the trio.

A normal sized door stood at the back of the rectangular room, made of what looked to be solid steel. It amazed him as to how somebody had gotten all of these materials down here and forged such items but he doubted he would ever find out how it all occurred. Bad guys were not known for spilling every piece of information to do with their plans.

The walls were lined with several sketches of various objects, some similar to Shir's sketches of the Dufferins that they had removed from his offices. But they looked like the person who drew these pictures was not the same as the creator of the previous sketches. And there weren't just pictures of the dufferins, they were sketches of numerous other creatures from ones he recognised to ones Hershel prayed did not exist. They looked vicious.

The left wall was lined with heavy tables, covered in remarkably neat stacks of papers. A lot were covered in writing whilst many were even more drawings. This time of some strange machines the purpose of which he could not decipher. He placed the lamp down beside at stack and started to flick through the papers.

"What is this place? There is just so much information." Luke was looking over the drawings on the wall and pulled down one of the particularly vile looking creatures. "Do you think that these things have already been created?"

"I really hope not. We have enough trouble with the first creation, we do not need another.. Or several others actually. It's already gone against nature as it is." Hershel was trying to pull out a few pages that he could keep, making a silent prayer that nobody would notice the pages missing. They didn't seem to be in any particular order as far as he could tell.

"What should we take, Professor?" Emmy was at his side, looking at what he was examining.

"I will pull out a few pages to take, we can compare the writing and drawing to the style of Arnic Shir. You have your camera?" She raised the item from around her neck. "Take picture of all the pieces on the wall and of the door leading out of here, as many as you can. Luke, hold the lamp up for the pictures."

He wanted to spend as little time in here as possible whilst gathering as much information as he could. The door at the back was interesting and he was itching to look behind it, but that meant he may open them up to danger. He rolled up the few pages he had stolen and tucked them into his coat. "Emmy, are you finished?"

"Just one more- Got it! I will find somewhere in the village to develop these. Luke, let's go." Emmy ushered Luke from the room after turning off all of the lamps. It was just a matter of hope that they had cooled before anybody entered the room.

Hershel stood before the door, examining it thoughtfully. The handle was right there and there appeared to be no lock on it. From what he had read of the blue prints there would have been no reason to lock this door was the only access to what lay behind was through the heavily padlocked door they had broken down. He patted his pocket to make sure he had a replacement, it would do for aesthetics for what he hoped was just long enough to solve this mystery. He reached out to touch the door handle, ready to pull it when a horrible noise made him freeze.

"I think they are on the opposite side of the door.." He whispered softly, mostly to himself. "Out, everybody, close up the door!"

As soon as he was back in the tunnels Madigan and Tom pushed the door closed behind him. Hershel handed them the lock and Madigan stuck it back in place. The group made a hasty exit, not wanting to meet any creatures nor their master.