Swamped

After a bit of thought, you resume playing the piano.

Specifically, you play Ballad of the Lone Survivor. It's well above your skill level, so it sounds clearly off. Quill holds his hands over his ears.

"What in the hells are you doing?"

You don't bother thinking about how to formulate an answer. You just keep playing until you hear a commanding voice.

"Ringer. Treat that song with some damn dignity."

Crosswinds storms in, clearly annoyed.

"I can only assume you were trying to get my attention with that travesty. Well, you've got it. I hope whatever you've got to report is important enough to warrant pissing on Fallet's grave like that."

"Er, it probably isn't," Quill says, apologetically. "Ringer saw some odd light in the wall outside, and it seems to react to the piano. We, ah, thought it would be good for you to have a look at it."

Crosswinds gives you a fierce glare.

"Fine. I'll look at it. And then I'll have a little talk with Ringer about showing respect for a great composer."

You ring your bell in shame. You understand Crosswinds' frustration; you just didn't have any better ideas.

Quill guides Crosswinds to the wall, and you slink along afterwards. You don't know how much you can help; even if you get ideas, it's not easy to convey complex concepts. But you may as well do what you can.

"Now that's real odd," Crosswinds says. "This wall's supposed to be one of the solid ones. I've crawled down the halls here a hundred times and never saw an opening into it."

"So, do we just open up a hole in it?" Quill asks.

"First, we figure out if it really is solid," Crosswinds says, knocking on the wall. "Doesn't sound hollow to me. So we can't just open it up. Might even be important for holding things up on higher floors."

"But if it's not hollow, how is there a light source inside?"

"Beats me. Maybe a rat burrowed in and hid something shiny there. If the burrow's small enough, I wouldn't catch it on a quick knock like that."

"Oh, one more thing," Quill says. "The light seemed to move a bit when Ringer played the piano."

"Maybe the rat likes the music," Crosswinds shrugs. "It's weird, I'll give you that, but there's not a lot I can do about it right now. Unless one of you has any bright ideas."