Late one night

[Haley Crusek]

Haley flashed her light down either branch. If one looked like it was less dirty from the passage of someone else, she followed it.

[Narrator]

They were both about even, honestly -- the one leading upwards seemed to be a tad cleaner, but that was really hard to judge.

[Haley Crusek]

Haley pushed on, heart racing, down the lower passage.

[Narrator]

It continued on...and then, stopped. Against a solid steel door. Somewhat reminiscent of an old, WWII bunker.

[Haley Crusek]

Haley looked over the door with her phone light to see if she could find a latch or handle to open.

[Narrator]

There looked like what was an old combination lock. Curses!

[Haley Crusek]

I should bring Cal down here...I bet he could think of a way to open this damn thing...

Haley thought about trying to force the door open, but thought better of it when images of booby traps and alarms and being pinned under a broken vault door while getting eaten by mice danced in her head. Instead she turned around awkwardly in the tunnel and took the other branch this time.

[Narrator]

This one ended in a heavy stone plinth, rigged up to some wires.

[Haley Crusek]

what the hell... Now I definitely need to come back here with backup...

Haley checked her phone to see if she got any signal to text anyone.

[Narrator]

It was only one bar, but there was indeed signal!

[Haley Crusek]

Haley texted Cal--he was probably awake this late...

hey. Wanna help me go on an adventure? ^_^

[Calvin Strong]

A reply came rather quickly. His phone was, after all, wired to his brain.

Is it time to take over the world? >:)
(Sure! Where should I meet you?)

[Haley Crusek]

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under the mansion lol.  No Srsly. Come to the main hallway on the first floor by that cool set of armor and shit.  Shit you not I'm in a secret passage.

[Calvin Strong]

kk, give me a minute. I need a flashlight?

[Haley Crusek]

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yeah, bring a flashlight. then i don't keep eating my phone's battery. i'll wait for you by the entrance.

[Calvin Strong]

There was no reply text. However, five minutes later, Cal was walking into the specified hallway, flashlight in hand and his "illicit activity" backpack on. "Haley?" he whispered loudly.

[Haley Crusek]

Haley had returned to the entrance, worked her way up and found a way to open the door just in time for Cal to arrive.

And all he heard was a slight click and the sound of something sliding open before a hand grabbed Cal's ankle. Followed by muffled giggling.

"Hiya!"

[Calvin Strong]

Cal jumped, looking down and glaring at her as he calmed down from the shock. "How'd you find that?" He asked, looking past her at the passage as he tried to play off that she'd just scared the cramp out of him.

[Haley Crusek]

"So you know our weirdo history professor? I found him climbing out of it. Then he kept lying about it, saying I must be seeing things. So I waited for him to leave and then came back and found it. It's kinda dirty and creepy but I found some interesting shit, thought you might be able to help. C'mon in. it's cozy. I think I can help catch you if you fall, too."

Wouldn't be anyone interrupting anything we did down here...

Haley grinned and disappeared down the hole again, floating back down to the floor to wait for Cal.

[Calvin Strong]

Cal stowed the flashlight, then climbed after her, turning on the flashlight once he had a free hand. "Whoa... Is this a bomb shelter or something?" He asked, looking at the door.

[Haley Crusek]

"I dunno what it is," she grinned, "but it's cooler and less creepy with a hot guy here to protect me."

Haley led them to the door with a combination lock. "You any good at trying to figure out things like this? I wanna know what's inside."

[Calvin Strong]

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Command: all points search on visual and specified input.

Cal carefully inspected the door, looking for any brand markings to try to come up with a model number, running all of it into a broad internet search to try to either find cracking instructions or specifications so that he could crack it on his own. Couldn't just be a lock I could pick, could it.

[Narrator]

The lock was an old model -- a model not made anymore, for sure.

That being said, lock enthusiasts (lock enthusiasts? Well, it is the internet) did have records of it being a pre-world war II era combination lock, and thus, missing a lot of the features of modern day locks. It could be picked by listening to the tumblers.

[Calvin Strong]

"All right," Cal murmured. "Need some quiet here," he told Haley, then put his mechanical hand and his ear to the door, listening carefully as he started slowly turning the dial, listening for the tumblers to fall.

[Haley Crusek]

Haley made a motion zipping her lips, and watched with interest.

[Narrator]

They were old, and it would take some time, but if Cal was patient enough, he'd get it, eventually.

[Calvin Strong]

Cal was nothing if not patient. He kept at it, his computer brain keeping track of the what he'd done in case something went wrong. And once the last tumbler would click into place, he would try the handle to open the door.

[Haley Crusek]

Haley watched with interest for quite a while, but did look frequently at her phone.

[Roland Sackville]

A decently high voltage (though again, non-lethal) electric shock would be triggered when the door was opened.

What it opened into was what looked like the remnants of an underground bunker (well, that explains the doors), albeit quite a large one.

That may not be the most notable aspect about it.

The room was filled with trinkents, momentos, and the like. The wall was covered with shields, and swords, guns and armor and banners -- oh, so many banners. Suits of armor, military uniforms, and the like were likewise strewn about. There were shelves full of books and trinkets, paintings and sculptures, and chests -- so many chests, overflowing.

[Calvin Strong]

Cal jerked his hand back by reflex, but thankfully electricity wasn't exactly as much of a discomfort to him as it was to everyone else. He knew enough, though, to ground himself out and lose any residual charge to prevent passing any of the shock to Haley.

"What... The hell is this?" Cal said, awed. As always, everything he saw was recorded, and he started trying to put names and dates to things via Internet resources.

[Haley Crusek]

"It...it looks like a freaking history museum. Why the hell is it down here? Did our history professor steal all this shit from a museum or something?" Haley said in awe as she stepped into the room, looking around.

[Calvin Strong]

And at that suggestion, Cal started cross-referencing what he saw with reported thefts.

[Narrator]

Cross-referencing it to thefts would take some time, but things began spinning away.

The flags and banners, however, could be easily dated -- here was an old Union Jack, and there was a 15-star US flag. That one was much older -- a flag of the Ottoman empire? That sword over there had some kind of Roman crest -- a bull with a golden eagle standard. Another one had a crysanthemum logo that hadn't been in use for several hundred years, at least.

There was an old samurai armor -- if everything in it was period correct, that came from the era of the warring shogunates. Another one seemed older and European, but the identifying logos had long since worn off. The patches on that jacket, over there, matched up to some English WWI logos. In the chests and things were a ton of old, old coins, stretching across the years.

That's not to say everything was easy to recognize -- a pair of blue and white striped pyjamas? Some kind of old, moth-eaten hat? There were a lot of things that, while old, were just that.

None of the paintings or sketches on the wall matched anything in any of Cal's databases, though, if he had an eye for art, he might have some guesses as to the styles, at least.

[Calvin Strong]

"Christ. This is... holy shit is some of this old. Can't even guess at how much these would be worth. THis... you said the history professor was in here?"

[Haley Crusek]

"I'm assuming so. He popped out of that secret panel in the floor, and I don't think there's anything else down here."

[Calvin Strong]

Cal gave the room another slow once-over, trying to get a visual on everything in there. "There anything else down here?" he asked.

[Haley Crusek]

"Yeah. Something with a bunch of wires poking into it at the end of the other branch of the tunnel."

[Calvin Strong]

"Let's go have a look at that. I'm getting that 'better not to stay in here too long' feeling right now," Cal said.

[Narrator]

The wires were connected to a large stone slab. From the rise in elevation, could this be the end of the tunnel? If so--where the hell were they? GPS would put this well outside the manor proper.

[Calvin Strong]

Cal frowned, then began cross-checking the GPS signal he had with satellite views of the area to see if anything matched up.