With the end of the conflict Milamber struggles to focus on what to do next - the sounds of the machine starting to affect his stomach. The queasiness began to bother him some and he decides he wants to get away from the massive mound of metal.
"This noise is very troublesome, let's get out of this room while we figure out how to shut this machine down. Iona, check to see where those double doors to the north lead."
Aladir seems to notice the sound of the whispers from the rift grow more prominent in the sudden silence following the end of the combat.
"We need to get out of this room before the Rift drives us insane!" he says to the others as he reappears, dismissing the invisibility and moving swiftly to the floor next to the corpse of Ursathella to search her body before leaving the room.
"Milamber, is there any chance of us actually closing the rift?" he asks as he searches.
Milamber takes a moment to search his memory for the words Queen Galfrey left with him before her departure.
"Destroy the Nahyndrian Refinery. You must travel to the Midnight Fane where Nahyndrian crystals are refined, search the fane for the methods by which the demons and their allies are creating these elixirs, then destroy their tools, resources, and inventors."
"Close the Midnight Fane Rift.Next you must use the Lexicon of Paradox to close the small but permanent rift within the fane that connects this world to the Abyss."
"We can communicate by tapping the stone...I suggest using the year of Mendev's founding...4622. If I receive that number, I will know it is you and I will teleport to you immediately, bringing the Lexicon so we can close the Rift!"
"We need to figure out how to shut down/destroy this machine. Once that is done I think we can contact Queen Galfrey using the stone."
Milamber flies over the machine looking for ways to control it.
"We also need to discuss what to do with Mutasafen. The queen will probably want us to kill him if he won't join the crusade. Once the machine and the alchemist have been dealt with, I think we are prepared to close the rift with Queen Galfrey's help. I think our chances on closing the rift are good, but we should probably discuss this away from the rift."
Iona nodded before moved to the double doors and opened them up while the others retreated for the moment.
"I'd say we could take it apart but that would take too long and keep us too close to the rift." She shouted back.
" We have the Lexicon, do we not? Could we not close the rift and stop this infernal whispering that's emerging from it and then destroy the refinery in relative peace?"
"I thought the Queen had the Lexicon and would bring it to this place once we had the Fane secured. Also, we are supposed to travel to the Midnight Isles - one of the planes of the Abyss. That type of travel is currently beyond my abilities, does anyone have the ability to travel to the Midnight Isles from here?"
"I think we also have some ill effects from that poisonous cloud that Ursathella made which need to be removed. Iona/Hyram are either of you capable of some divine magic that can benefit us?"
"Not at the moment." Iona answered. "I have the ability to ask it of Iomedae, but it wasn't something I asked for when I prayed this morning."
"Gah! Of course, you're right...this accursed whispering, I can't even think straight! I'm going to get out of this room before I'm driven mad!" the elf says, quickly moving to the adjacent room, but still close enough to the others to hear the conversation.
Iona, Hyram and Milamber are plagued by the incessant whispers, while Aladir finds some relief in the hallway...while he can hear the faint susurrus of the Rift, there are no whispers constantly distracting him...
The double door to the North reveal as small room: The north wall of this otherwise empty room is covered by a strange contraption. Two three-foot-diameter discs of glass float amid a network of glowing metal rods extending from the walls, while between the discs sits a small table covered with glowing runes.
Milamber will enter the room with the discs and rods and try to figure out what it was used for (he assumes it controls the machine), how the controls work.
Once Milamber enters the room, the Rift whispers fade and he can finally hear himself think!
Leaning over the machine he intuits the following:
Manipulating the runes on the table in a precise manner causes a long-lasting floating disc to rise up from one of the two glass discs, at which point the floating disc’s motions can be programmed. The discs can be programmed to travel anywhere in the fane.
How the machine is powered is not obvious.
At some point in the future Milamber will check to determine the properties of the 3 scrolls, magical chain shirt, the magical scythe and the magical cloak.
"Hmm, floating discs. This is not what I expected. You use floating discs when you need help carrying very heavy things. I would have thought the giants would be able to lift/carry the crystals. There must be some reason why you wouldn't want to carry them. We may want to be careful about touching any crystals we find."
With no obvious power source, Milamber will search the room more carefully.
"Aah...that's much better...I can hear myself think again." the elf sighs in relief. From this position, he attempts to shout to Milamber.
"Milamber, are whispers of the rift in the chamber you're in? If you need any assistance in there, please say so!"
"There are no whispers in this chamber. I could use another set of eyes. I can't find what powers this machine and perhaps you might be able to see something I missed."
Aladir quickly hurries through the machine with the tear in the rift, doing his best to tune out the whispers filtering through it, to join Milamber where he is so that he can help search for any way to work on the machine.
"I don't have a mind for machines, I'll admit, but I have a sharp eye. I might be able to point out things that could help you know where to work."
Aladir looks over the strange contraption, running his sensitive fingers over the smooth material, his eyes noting various imperfections.
A feeling makes him go back to a seemingly smooth area on the side of the machine, drawing two fingers together to a specific point, where he gently pressed...
A small compartment springs open, revealing a small cavity filled with multicolored filaments, all converging on a simple , silvery ring.
Milamber will inspect the ring and check it for magical properties.
Iona watched the others as the looked it over. "I know a few people who would say just take a blade to it, but I know better than to do that around things like this." She said with a small laugh. Mainly trying to deal with the fact they where in a highly dangerous situation.
"Could it be as easy as pulling all the filaments out?" She asked.
Milamber removes the ring in order to inspect it.
Milamber siezes the ring and pull it out of the machine. A few of the filaments bend with the ring as it exits, but all lose their glow...the rest of the machine also ceases to glow.
After a few minutes of study , Milamber can confidently declare that he hold a Ring of Force Shield
"Did... that do it?" Iona asked.
"It looks like it shut down the machine in this room. Check the big one that crushes the crystals and see if it is still running."
Iona nodded and moved to check as he had asked.
'By the Goddess please let it of worked.'
Looking back into the larger room, the grinding machine lay quiet, but still aglow with whatever demonic energy empowered it.
Realizing the machine in the smaller room does not control the grinding machine, Milamber recalls the Queen's directive:
destroy their tools, resources, and inventors
"We have to destroy the machines to ensure no one ever tries to refine crystals in the future."
With the power source removed, Milamber draws his sword and begins to hack at the machine that is no longer powered.
Hyram will join in the destruction!
Milamber , Hyram and anyone else who join in the fun, have no problem reducing the disc generator to rubble...it was rather delicately constructed.
Eyes then turn to the large grinder in the next room, parts of it softly glowing with demonic energy...the destruction of which looks to be a more daunting proposition.
Hyram is not put off by the large machine. With a grimace, which is Hyram's attempt at a smile, he motions to the machine and says to Milamber, Shall we?
Hyram steps back into the grinder room, immediately beset by the Rift's whispers, and takes a hack at the large machine.
He delivers a solid blow, but only takes a small chunk out of the machine's strange materiel. Milamber's attempt does not even manage that.
Then as he draws back to deliver another blow, Hyram's eyes widen as the damage he inflicted on the machine, slowly begins to repair itself, until it was once again pristine, as if he'd never damaged it.
The whispers threaten to overwhelm Hyram and Milamber and they retreat back into the other room...
"Perhaps there is some clue to its destruction in the things that Ursathella wore or used."
Milamber will go to the location where Aladir moved those things and will attempt to determine their abilities .
"I could attempt to use powerful magic to destroy this machine - but I fear it may take all of my remaining new found mystical powers."
"We could ask Mutasafen if he knows how to destroy the machine. If he does not agree, I'm sure Hyram could aid in persuading him."
[ooc]It is a magical machine, or rather a device....lots of gears and pistons and gnashing, crushing parts inside... [/occ]
"Let us ask Mutasafen first, see if there is an easier way, but if there isn't I do have an idea. It might explode... But it should work. So, I've a fall back plan!" Iona said with a nod. The she headed back to speak with Mutasafen.
Milamber follows Iona back to the alchemist's lab to talk with Mutasafen about the machine's destruction.
All the talk of magic and such is over Aladir's head, having never seen himself as more than a simple bowman. He scratches his head for a moment, then, recalling his link with Arueshalae, reaches out to her.
"My sincerest apologies for taking so long to get back to you! We all made it through the fight in one piece, I'm happy to say. We're trying to figure out how to stop this infernal machine...no pun intended. It seems to have some kind of self healing abilities, though. I don't suppose you'd have any ideas? he asks, describing the machine and their surroundings in detail, including the open rift.
Hyram is surprised when the machine repairs itself in spite of being struck with Radiance. If this sword can't do it, I have nothing! he says with an air of frustration.
Walking quickly, the party walk past Ursathella's body into the incubi's room and through to the alchemy lab.
There you find that the alchemical equipment has in large part been shut down, whatever contents within gone black.
Mutasafen putters about, placing some alembics into boxes, gathering up beakers and stacking measuring jars on shelves.
He looks up as you enter, straightens and asks, "I assume Ursathella is slain along with her brutes?"
"You are correct. You have been helpful thus far, perhaps you can be of assistance once more. We have been instructed to prevent the refinement of the Nahyndrian crystals. The destruction of the grinding machine is a necessary part of that prevention. The machine repairs itself rapidly and we were hoping you might provide us with some insight into how to destroy it permanently. Do you possess such knowledge?"
Mutasafen nods, then contemplates Milamber's question, "Not my specialty of course, the Witch brought in some of Deskari's finest artisans to build that thing. I'm not surprised it's durable " he says with a smile, continuing to pack alchemical supplies in boxes filled with straw.
He turns , tapping his chin "I always assumed that the Grinder fetched it's power from the Rift. Close that and it may be easier to destroy..."
I am glad that you...I mean, all of you are safe. Hmm, Areelu Vorlesh had the resources of Deskari at her disposal, so one can assume that many powerful magicks were used in it's construction. It may prove difficult to destroy....perhaps you can disable it's mechanism?