Something a little different for tonight, partially inspired by current events!! 
Since i first cracked Typhoo about a year ago one part had gone unseen and it had bothered me ever since. Its not really an obvious part, in fact if it wasn't for a single remaining brass plate on a lift control panel you would never even know it was there (so shusssh! its a secret yeh!) Some would say its my attention to detail, others would say its just luck but i happened to spot the lift controls on one of the many lifts in the factory had 4 floors instead of 3. The original brass plate on the lift controls was covered in many layers of paint but someone had written the function of each floor over the top in maker pen. The usual things were there, 'loading bay' 'blending floor', what you would expect in a tea factory i guess, however the lowest floor was simply marked 'Dungeon'.. Interesting i thought! Upon further investigation you could see where the paint was flaking off to reveal the original engraved plate and after a little scraping the 'Dungeon' morphed into 'Strong Room'.. Sounds like a challenge!
My first thought was ''There must be stairs!'' but after half hour of running around searching nothing seemed apparent or even possible for that matter. This secret floor must have only had access by lift, a lift that had since had its cables cut and appeared to be rather precariously dangling somewhere between the ground floor i was on and whatever lay below! Carefully balancing on the lift expecting it to fall any second i peered down the side but not much was apparent. Only a small gap just about big enough to squeeze down guarded by a precariously wedged counterweight that appeared to have fallen the length of the shaft, its impact bending and buckling the surrounding framework, wedging the lift into position.
Fast forward a year to this week and i had finally found time to look further. Stories of criminals boring into safe deposit vaults and abseiling lift shafts were a little bit of inspiration to get back and have a proper look what was down there. I mean i wasn't expecting much really if the rest of the place was any indication it would be empty but you never know with these things, maybe the lift had been cut before the place was emptied and it was still full of epic, only one way to find out!
Heading Down!
I dangled the fibrelite down the gap and said a little prayer before squeezing down the side of the suspended lift. I didnt really know if it was going to go anywhere at first but as my legs passed the bottom they started to swing inwards into a void. All seemed good so far!
The Gap
As my head ducked down i could suddenly see the path was clear. Well more or less anyway. The bottom of the shaft was full of junk but the wicket gates were open and i could even see the top of an open strong room door, result!
Underneath The Lift Car
What We Came For
Crawling across the mountain of dusty cardboard and bouncy car tires i slid down into the strongroom itself. Ahh its empty.. Or is it! After a little mooch there was actually as much tea related stuff down here as there was up top really, Old shelving marked up with blending related phrases and the odd scraps of paper left laying face down in the dust. Not a total fail at least.
Sparse?
Not So Bad!
Better!
Old Paperwork
Actual Loot!
Time To Make A Get Away
Way back out!
Sorry if that was a little bit of an anticlimax for you but thats how it goes, to win some , you loose more. Always good fun tho so hopefully it will inspire people to go explore and see what they can find!
Since i first cracked Typhoo about a year ago one part had gone unseen and it had bothered me ever since. Its not really an obvious part, in fact if it wasn't for a single remaining brass plate on a lift control panel you would never even know it was there (so shusssh! its a secret yeh!) Some would say its my attention to detail, others would say its just luck but i happened to spot the lift controls on one of the many lifts in the factory had 4 floors instead of 3. The original brass plate on the lift controls was covered in many layers of paint but someone had written the function of each floor over the top in maker pen. The usual things were there, 'loading bay' 'blending floor', what you would expect in a tea factory i guess, however the lowest floor was simply marked 'Dungeon'.. Interesting i thought! Upon further investigation you could see where the paint was flaking off to reveal the original engraved plate and after a little scraping the 'Dungeon' morphed into 'Strong Room'.. Sounds like a challenge!
My first thought was ''There must be stairs!'' but after half hour of running around searching nothing seemed apparent or even possible for that matter. This secret floor must have only had access by lift, a lift that had since had its cables cut and appeared to be rather precariously dangling somewhere between the ground floor i was on and whatever lay below! Carefully balancing on the lift expecting it to fall any second i peered down the side but not much was apparent. Only a small gap just about big enough to squeeze down guarded by a precariously wedged counterweight that appeared to have fallen the length of the shaft, its impact bending and buckling the surrounding framework, wedging the lift into position.
Fast forward a year to this week and i had finally found time to look further. Stories of criminals boring into safe deposit vaults and abseiling lift shafts were a little bit of inspiration to get back and have a proper look what was down there. I mean i wasn't expecting much really if the rest of the place was any indication it would be empty but you never know with these things, maybe the lift had been cut before the place was emptied and it was still full of epic, only one way to find out!
Heading Down!
I dangled the fibrelite down the gap and said a little prayer before squeezing down the side of the suspended lift. I didnt really know if it was going to go anywhere at first but as my legs passed the bottom they started to swing inwards into a void. All seemed good so far!
The Gap
As my head ducked down i could suddenly see the path was clear. Well more or less anyway. The bottom of the shaft was full of junk but the wicket gates were open and i could even see the top of an open strong room door, result!
Underneath The Lift Car
What We Came For
Sparse?
Not So Bad!
Better!
Old Paperwork
Actual Loot!
Time To Make A Get Away
Way back out!
Sorry if that was a little bit of an anticlimax for you but thats how it goes, to win some , you loose more. Always good fun tho so hopefully it will inspire people to go explore and see what they can find!
