While there are no helmets to be found, you do find several robes embroidered with the Spindle Solution's insignia. They would make effective disguises to protect you from the facility's golems.
Austere wooden tables and chairs provide seating throughout this chamber. Against the wall opposite the only door is a spacious bar, stocked with crystalline bottles holding fine spirits, with glasses lined in front of each of the stools. The sounds of laughter and joy echo throughout the room.
Dozens of revelers here, indulging in drink and and merriment. One of the Azlanti men approaches, arms wide, grinning. "Welcome, my friends, to our end-of-the-world festivities! Indulge yourselves while you can, before it's too late!"
Simon immediately sees through the powerful illusions cloaking the room. The actual chamber is a ruined wreck, with broken chairs and spent bottles littering the area. Most of the revelers are not real, save for eight creatures. Beneath the veil disguising them, they are lurching skeletons with tangles of discolored entrails that loll from their jaws like clawed tongues. Mohrgs!
Simon knows that mohrgs exist solely to wreak havoc on the living. Their clawed tongues can cause paralysis in those they touch, and those slain by mohrgs rise as zombies under their command.
The half-orc quickly stabs the approaching undead, eliciting a snarl of pain! The illusion cloaking the room wavers and drops, allowing all of you to see the monsters before you!
The undead Simon stabbed punches him once and lashes him with its tongue. The other spring in to strike the half-orc before dashing back out of reach, avoiding opportunity attacks!
Ema liked the room they found with the beds. That could be very useful as they cleared out the wings of this place. The fact that Simon thought to look for uniforms was a good one and she nodded as they all donned them. "Excellent idea Simon."
As they entered the next room and saw the revelers Ema didn't quite know what was happening. When Simon yelled about the skeletons attacking Ema wasted no time in retaliating against the undead. She began to chant and gesture, her eyes flashed purple for a moment as she used her reserves to increase the potency of her magic, and she drew a symbol in the air with diamond dust. A great pulse of positive energy exploded to wash over the morghs.
Valentin moves back, flipping out his wand of Bless and activating it.
Terana strides forwards. "Hey, try this on for size!"
Victrix snorts and throws herself into the fray!
Three of the undead shriek and crumble to dust as Ema's magic blasts them apart! Terana and Victrix team up to take down another one, while Simon finishes off the mohrg he previously wounded. Only three monsters remain standing.
Again, they spring up to Simon and leap away, two scoring hits!
Terana takes a long step, trying to interpose herself between Simon and the creatures.
Victrix keeps on swiping!
The remaining mohrgs quickly fall to your attacks. With their destruction, the illusion cloaking the room vanishes for everybody. Unfortunately, there is nothing left of value here.
"That was interesting. I wonder how they were able to summon that illusion? It doesn't seem as if they had any items."
Valentin passes over the question quickly, not being bothered by questions that are out of his control.
"Well, let's go on to the next room, if you are ready, Simon."
You head down the hall to the next couple of rooms. The collapsed remains of a long wooden table sit in the center of the first room. The table is in two pieces, a perfect slice bisecting it, while broken wooden chairs are scattered about.
Finding nothing of note in this room, you head to the one across the hall. A mass of green crystal grows from the north wall of this chamber. Devices are arrayed against the edges of the crystal, each composed of precious metals. Lines of brass and silver crisscross the apparatuses, with pulses of violet and turquoise energy moving along them.
Studying it closer, both Ema and Simon are able to identify it as a communication device. The crystals could be adjusted to create stable illusory connections with similar devices across the world, though all the other devices appear to be currently inaccessible or inoperable. You can tell, though, that the last point of contact was with a location known as Citadel Arete.
Ema didn't recall anything about the Citadel Arete that Simon mentioned, nor a Xanderghul, but a Runelord did mean something to her. "I don't know why anyone would contact a Runelord from here. I doubt it matters anyway."
As Simon began to leave Ema called out, "You know, it might be smart to contact someone back on Avistan to warn them of what is happening. I don't expect we will lose but it might be smart if we made a contingency, just in case."
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Simon pauses and looks back, his Mutagen enhanced orc brow furrowing.
"As you wish. I do not know of anyone I would feel confident would be within a specific area in one minute of time, but perhaps there is someone.
Carver knows, Rillikimatai knows.The Mordant Spire elves know, though they are unlikely to care about Avistan."
He furrows his brow more and bites his lip with an exaggerated tusk. "Who do we know on Avistan who would both believe us, and have the pull to be believed in turn?"
He taps his chin for a moment, then shrugs helplessly.
Ema considered Simon's question and then said, "I suppose you are right Simon." Ema looked back at the device once more and then said, "Let's go," as she turned away from it, "we can always come back later before we confront the monster below us if we change our minds or find the need."
Victrix hoists her axe and prepares to move onward.
A simple wooden bed and a large lavender rug are the only pieces of note in the spacious room across the hall. A thick of layer of dust covers everything, save a gemstone sitting atop the center of the rug.
The gem turns out to be a clear spindle ioun stone. When you pick it up, though, the stone glows with a luminous vibrancy as tendrils of pure light gently move toward each of you. You each feel a moment of mental connection with a being that can only be described as an embodiment of pure good. You feel as if you can accept the contact or turn away from it...
Valentin also accepts contact, though much less warily.
Ema felt the strange contact like the others in the room and, given the goodness she felt from it, decided to accept the contact as well.
The air before you wavers as a regal human woman appears. She floats in the air in a lotus pose, her features serene and beatific. She radiates a shifting aura of many colors and murmuring voices that seem strangely familiar.
"Greetings," she says. "I am Lurisian. Severed from this material plane, I wander the stars beyond this universe in search of enlightenment. Your appearance in this place has momentarily pulled me from that most sacred of tasks, for I sense in you the import of your mission. What was wrought in this place cannot be unleashed, be it by the hands of Jazradan or the actions of the veiled masters."
"The Synchrony Device is a weapon of mass destruction. Upon detonation, it channels the extraplanar essence of one of any of the Inner Planes, depending on how it is calibrated, in an enormous radius. Air, earth, fire, water, or postiive or negative energy--any choice would result in enormous devastation and loss of life. Its creation was a mistake, and should it be deployed, the consequences for your world would be dire."
"Why would Jazradan unleash it?" Terana asks, rather disturbed by that insinuation. "Can we destroy it somehow?"
"In the moments preceding Earthfall, panic gripped the few survivors within the Compass. While other members of the Spindle Solution retreated to enact their own life-preserving plans, I patiently meditated in my chamber. Sustained by my ioun stone, I came to accept my people’s end and my own mortality. Thus, before death could claim me, my soul was reborn as the higher being you see before you.
"Azlant is dead and gone, but Jazradan refuses to accept that. The Azlanti people’s influence should stop guiding the fate of Golarion’s rising empires. You cannot risk the device falling into his hands."
Ema was surprised to hear who this being was tha tthey spoke with. Lurisian, while not someone she spoke with often, was someone she knew. It seemed teh past truly was coming back to haunt the future. What she said of the device was a shock. Ema didn't know of it, was unaware it even existed, and that had probably been a good thing because she wouldn't have countenanced it's existance if she had.
Ema listened intently to what Lurisian said about it being time their people ceased guiding the world and she found herself nodding as she said, "I'm glad to hear that yo umanaged to survive the fall, after a fashion anyway, Lurisian and you are likely right. With any luck the death of the Veiled Master and then lich will let that finally come to pass." She smiled in wry amusement and then added, "My or I suppose it will have to wait until I die as well. Who knows, maybe I will just retire and be done with it all after that. Live the rest of my life in research and enjoying whats left of my time on Golarian."
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Simon eyes Ema askance, not quite trusting her easy acceptance that her father's "spirit" can't be trusted.
In response to Lurisian's warning, he quickly agrees though. "No person, no matter how well intentioned, should have control of a device capable of the level of destruction. I will do whatever I can to destroy this device and the research that allowed it to exist as well.
There is a problem though. Jazradan's spirit is not the only Azlanti remaining who remembers the research that went into this weapon. Auberon, the lich, will also need to be dealt with.
Lurisian, are you capable and willing to provide us with any aid in eliminating this threat?"
”I cannot interfere with events on your plane,” Lurisian says placidly. ”I simply urge you to heed my warnings. I trust you will do what is right. Namaste.”
She bows her head before fading out of existence. Her ioun stone crumbles to dust in your hands.
"...alright." Victrix clears her throat.
"Are you ok Ema?" Terana asks, addressing the Tarrasque in the room. "That was some pretty harsh stuff to be said about your father."
It wasn't until Lurisian vanished that it dawned on Ema exactly what she had said about Jazradan. Ema could only blame her shock at finding out her father was still alive, sort of, combined with all the memories resurfacing as she wandered these halls. She squawked out, "Wait, what did you just say about my father?1"
It was no use of course, Lurisian was already back to wherever it was she had ascended to. Ema glared at where the being had been and then turned away in a huff. It did get her mind working though. Surely her father couldn't manipulate anything in his current state, just how would that work?! Could it be that the Veiled Master was masquerading as Jazradan?
"Slow down." Terana says, laying a gauntleted hand as gently as she can on the arcanist's shoulder. "Tell me about your father, anything you can remember. It may be that Lurisian is mistaken, or that we met some sort of imposter."
Although he was no aberration. She thinks, but doesn't say.
Ema considered Ema considered Tarana's question for a moment. There was much she knew about her father but he had been trapped here as a disembodied mind, a literal ghost in the machine. Who knew what that might have changed about him?
Ema finally shook her head and said, "The father I knew would never want to use a weapon like what was just described to us. He wanted to preserve life not destroy it. Having said that..." Ema sighed and looked worried as she continued, "But his mind was put into the system here, something like the computers found in the wreckage of that crashed space fairing ship. I can't say that this wouldn't change him, watching everyone he knew die, unsure if I had survived, trapped here for two thousand years...."
Ema's eyes teared up and as she leaned back against the wall. "I thought that my plight, not knowing anything about my past was bad, but my father, he suffered far worse. He has remembered all this time but could do nothing. I don't know which is actually worse."
and
"Hey." Victrix approaches Ema and lays a hand on her shoulder as well.
"We'll put it right."
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Simon grunts. "They enemy they were facing was more powerful, ruthless, and uncaring. They probably felt that an escalation of force was needed.
Regardless, we can all agree that the weapon should be destroyed now, yes? Power corrupts.
As for the hologram... It is no longer your father, Ema. It is his memories, but not his soul. I doubt there are any emotions left in it. That is what makes it truly frightening. We should listen to it, of course, but we should not trust it. The veiled master likely still has a sense of self preservation. Even Auberon still has that. This hologram though - I don't think it deserves to use the name of your father - it could do absolutely anything if its calculations felt the cost was worth it."
Moving back into the hall, he glances back at the crumbled gemstone. "Then again, I stopped trusting much of anything once the stalkers revealed themselves.
Well, let's keep going. At least now we have some idea what we are looking for."
You cross the hall to check out the room to the north. Glass display shelves line the walls and center of this rectangular stone room. Roughly half of them contain equipment, including a glistening sword with a golden hilt, a shield emblazoned with various triangular emblems, a porcelain figurine of a lion, an elaborate silver-and-gold helm, and a floating portal of utter blackness.
The item cases contain various powerful magic items, including a +2 keen thundering longsword, a +3 impervious heavy steel shield, a figurine of wondrous power (golden lions), a helm of telepathy modeled in the same fashion as the Ioun Imperative’s helms, and a portable hole. The portable hole contains several dozen sets of Azlanti noble regalia, worth 6,000 gp.
Terana seems rather keen on the helmet, but the other items are of little interest to her.
"How do I look?" She asks, trying the silver and gold headwear on.
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Simon considers the prizes in the museum with appreciation, glad that the party got the chance to rescue them.
He straps on the longsword in place of his +1 longsword, then helps Valentin to strap on the shield.
Putting the regalia back in the portable hole, he considers what to do with it. "I've heard that bad thing can happen if these get too close to other interdimensional items. I have. Handy Haversack and Victrix is carrying the Bag of Holding. Maybe you can hold onto this, Terana?"
He examines Terana, in the robe and helmet, impressed by the effect. "You truly look like a member of the Ioun Imperative now. Quite intimidating actually.
These new regalia do raise the possibility of an alternate disguise, but I think the robes make the most sense currently."
Tightening the robe again, he looks toward the door. "We are almost to the end of the research wing, yet we haven't seen any evidence of research being done yet. Odd, isn't it?
Victrix eyes the portable hole with discomfort. "Why? What's supposed to happen if the two meet?"
"As long as I don't put it in my scabbard it should be fine." Terana agrees, folding the item small and securing it under her breastplate. "Let's push on. Every minute we waste is a minute longer for the veiled master to arrive."
Colossal arrays of bookshelves rise sixty feet high, ending just a foot below the ceiling. These bookshelves are arranged in meticulous lines, stepladders of varying heights interspersed between, allowing access to the multitude of tomes contained in the area. This archive is easily a hundred feet long and just as wide.
An elderly Azlanti man steps forward to greet you. "I am Axloral, custodian of the archives. The knowledge here has lain fallow for far too long. I am happy to grant visitors such as yourselves undisrupted access to the stacks. I will even assist you in your research, and in exchange, I ask only that you spread the knowledge you learn here to whence you came."