You go right. Do you want to check out the human merchant's cabin...

You take a few steps to the right. You walk in the direction from which you suspect the sounds that attract your attention might be coming from.

You take careful, quiet steps, trying not to make unnecessary sounds. This is not so easy, considering that every step you take causes pain due to your bandaged wound on your left leg.

In a minute you reach the place you need.

You see the door to the cabin of the human merchant Cornelius Oberkap.

You approach the wooden door of his cabin. You listen. Sounds again. It sounds like a muffled grinding of metal. And the sounds of some liquid flowing. And something else...

You listen. Your ear came close to the wooden door. It's good that it's late now. Most of the ship's crew and passengers are probably asleep. You are alone in this corridor and no one can accuse you of eavesdropping.

After ten seconds you distinguish muffled words...

The words that come from Cornelius's cabin: “Damn it! I hate it! Fucking shit! Why can’t I do it?!... I don’t have much time left... Calm down... I’ve almost completed assembling the mechanism... The last stage of preparation remains... I’ll succeed... I have to do it..."

You are surprised by this muffled swearing. Previously, you had the impression of Cornelius as a calm and balanced old man. What exactly can bring you out of a state of calm?

The situation is quite strange. You feel intuitive impulses that prompt you to take action... Actions that will help you understand what Cornelius is doing now. This will not be entirely correct. Just like the fact that you were eavesdropping. But you feel a strong desire to understand what is happening.

The wooden door of the human bookseller's cabin (as well as the doors of the other passenger cabins) is closed with a rather primitive door hook. You carefully unsheath your thin elven dagger, the metal of which has a silvery tint. You slowly push the narrow blade of the dagger into the gap between the door and where the door meets the wall. You are making a quick movement. The blade of the dagger catches and throws off the metal door hook. Now the door can be opened.

You open the door slightly and you carefully look inside the merchant's cabin. The wooden door creaks slightly. But the stooped human merchant does not notice this. He has his back to you and is busy with something strange. All his attention is absorbed by some incomprehensible mechanisms that stand on a large table.

On this large table, which is located in the far corner of this room, there are many strange things: flasks and retorts with bluish-colored liquids, miniature metal mechanisms, several thick open books. In the center of the cabin there is a smaller table on which there is an object whose purpose is unclear to you. This thing looks like a complex structure that consists of metal parts, fixed flasks with a bluish liquid and strange miniature regulators that look like small levers only about 8 centimeters in size. You cannot yet take a closer look at this incomprehensible device. But you notice that this device looks like a thing that consists of many complex components.

You try to get closer and get a better look at this mysterious thing. You take slow, careful steps, trying not to attract the attention of Cornelius Oberkap. The Human merchant continues to concentrate on performing some strange actions with flasks and metal parts. His attention is currently diverted from you. He stands with his back to you.

You slowly move towards the central part of the cabin. Step by step.

You look around: in addition to two tables in the cabin, there is a small wooden bed (with a fabric blanket on it), a closet filled with books, and a couple of chairs. On one of the chairs is a backpack and Cornelius clothes.

As you get closer, you once again examine the mysterious structure in the central part of the room. You notice that at the base of this structure there are several compartments made of transparent material, which are filled with a powdery substance of a light scarlet hue. You also notice that in the upper part of the structure there is a certain small hole, which seems to be intended for fixing some miniature part about 5 centimeters in size and about the same thickness.

While you are looking around, Cornelius mutters something inaudibly and continues to work on his mechanisms.

You are about to leave the room. You almost have time to turn around, when suddenly Cornelius lets out a satisfied exclamation: “Finally! Happened! The exemplar has been cleaned of impurities!”

With a speed that is unusual for such an elderly human, he turns to face the central part of the cabin...

You don't have time to react...

He notices you.

Cornelius says quietly: “What? Jerome... You are here... You saw..."