"If you destroy an Object in the Room, another mundane Object takes its place, and gets a new power. We're not limited to only what we've been able to identify. That's... the main resource I have, really, other than the key."

He sighs.

"I'm afraid I don't know much. After Arlene, we all went our separate ways. I can show you- we recorded it. We thought it would be monumental, that future generations would want to see it...well, I was always reluctant, but Arlene wanted to change the world." 

"Can we see it?" 

He nods, going to find it.

He sorta thinks Arlene had it right, here.

He returns and inserts a VHS in the player.

The footage is short.

A woman eagerly wields a familiar Key as her audience watches in anticipation. She approaches the door to room 9, which has several Objects affixed to it.

She unlocks the door and the footage becomes choppy and ends shortly after.

"...what happened after?"

"She was too close to the- rift- that we opened. We never found her body."

"How'd you stop it?"

"We didn't. She disappeared- jumped inside, I always thought. To save us. She must have realized somehow what would happen. It stopped when it took her."

"What were the Objects involved?"

"The ashtray, the watchbox, the pack of cigarettes, the clock, the toothbrush, the nail clippers, and the key." 

"Why those, in particular?"

"Arlene thought they could open some kind of...portal? Or make us all powerful, I was never sure. She was always ambitious, which I admired, but I never could keep up with her. It didn't bother her, but when she started wanting bigger and bigger things, it scared me. I wish- well. If wishes were horses." 

He shakes his head.

"Combinations are tricky. The watchbox prevents things from decaying. You know what the key does. I'm not sure about the others, but those are all individual abilities. Combinations are tricky." 

"I know of only a couple, and only secondhand..."

"Combinations are unpredictable. They don't have anything to do with the objects that are in them."

"So you tried that combination at random?"

"No, there are sometimes patterns. Arlene was relying on what she knew about the individual objects, hoping she had the theory right." 

"I see. Do you still have those Objects?"

He shakes his head.

"Not a one. They might be in the vault, or they might have gone to one of the other groups."

"Ah. And—how do we access the vault?"

"You'll need the right combination of Objects to get inside..."

He describes the defenses.

"Okay, that's ingenious. Thank you. We'll—do our best."

"Thank you for speaking with us."

He nods, and replays the video.