Cable winding room · Velstraven

A small room of chapter 2. When you walk in, the room card reads: The enclosure lift cable hangs slack on its winding drum.

Narrated walkthrough

Cable winding room from its entrance — Cable winding room: how to solve it

Getting there

Chapter 2, first upper floor, a dead end. Go through the Projection workshop (west of the Teaching court) and down its south passage. Its wound cable is one of the enclosure gate's conditions.

What is wrong

"The enclosure lift cable hangs slack on its winding drum." The Guide's card: "The flared guide stands crosswise to the cable; a peened tooth marks the notch it should sit in."

What you can work

Guide: The flared cable guide, standing crosswise to the cable.
Tail: The slack cable tail hanging beside the guide.
Crank: A hand crank that winds the drum a little with each stroke.
Clutch: The drum clutch; engaged, the crank turns the drum; released, the ratchet alone holds the cable.
Drive: A stone-sided thermal drive coupled to the crank; it can only repeat a stroke the crank has already made.

Solution

A nudge

Standing crosswise it blocks the cable's run to the drum. Swung into its notch it lines up with the cable.

The full solution

Handle the Guide once.
Standing crosswise it blocks the cable's run to the drum. Swung into its notch it lines up with the cable.
What you see: "The flared guide swings into line with the cable."
Handle the Tail.
The loose end has to run through the guide to the drum before winding can take it up.
What you see: "The cable tail feeds through the open guide."
Handle the Crank once.
One stroke winds a little cable. More importantly, it shows the coupled thermal drive the stroke it should copy.
What you see: "The drum winds cable and its pawl seats."
Cast Repeat motion (Fire + Will + Will) on the Drive and wait about five seconds.
Repeat motion warms the drive and makes it repeat the demonstrated crank stroke over and over, winding the drum until the cable is taut.
What you see: "Heat drives the demonstrated crank stroke." The Crank card then reads "The drum is wound and the cable taut."
Handle the Clutch.
With the clutch out, the ratchet pawl alone holds the cable's tension, which is how a wound drum is meant to rest.
What you see: "The clutch changes engagement; the ratchet carries existing tension." Then "Cable winding room settled."

Other ways that work

No spell: Handle the Crank five times in all, since each stroke winds a fixed length, then Handle the Clutch.
Draw (Wind + Will + Water) on the Tail feeds it like a hand. Orient (Will + Will + Water) on the Crank strokes it like a hand.

Watch for

The Guide toggles: a second press swings it crosswise again ("The flared guide swings crosswise to the cable.").
Crank refusals say what is wrong: "The crank strokes, but the cable rubs against the crosswise guide." / "The crank strokes, but the loose cable tail has not entered the guide."
Repeat motion before any stroke is refused: "The thermal drive has no demonstrated stroke to repeat." Heat alone does not run it.
Release the clutch only after winding. With the clutch out, neither the crank nor the drive winds anything.
Enclosure rule: the enclosure gate checks only that the drum is wound taut. Once it is, the ratchet keeps it that way.
The Reading lamp (Handle it, or Heat it) and the Reading shutter (Handle or Orient it) stand in every room. They only light the room to read by and work none of its fittings.

If it goes wrong

This room has no failed state. To put it back as you found it, hold R for one second (pad: Start, then Restart from autosave); that reloads the autosave made when you entered the room.

Achievements here

Wound Tight: Solve the Cable winding room.

Spells used

Repeat motion, Draw, Orient.