[Spoiler] I'm confused about how fully restoring Gauntlight works

[MirelurkCakes]

My players have just defeated

AP Spoilers:

Volluk and freed Lasda but there's a few things I'm confused about with regards to Belcorra fully activating Gauntlight. Is there a reason why she can't just grab all the fulcrum lenses and blast Absalom or is that the point, to give the PC's a time limit to stop her before Gauntlight's ready to fire again? Also is there a reason why she's waiting to not fully activate it in the first place? I'm also struggling how to convey to the players that the Gauntlight is still active and that they're still on a timer, even though it appears that they've shut it off after freeing Lasda, should Otari know about the lenses or should he just be hinting that it's still active?

[Thebazilly]

Otari knows Belcorra is still a ghost deep below and should warn the PCs that she could find a way to rebuild or reactivate Gauntlight unless they stop her permanently. I don't think he knows about the Fulcrum Lenses.

Leave your party plenty of time. They are off the time table for now. The next timer is Dorianna's illness in Part 2, then collecting the lenses before Belcorra does.

I don't think there's anything technically stopping Belcorra from jumping ahead to blowing up Absalom, other than giving the party a fair chance at stopping her.

But consider: Belcorra doesn't see the party as a true threat until they breach Floors 8-9 (and even then, not until they survive several of her attacks personally!). She has been biding her time for several years already. A few weeks or months are not a big deal in her grand scheme, and she can sacrifice minions to keep the party busy as long as she still has the temple and the lenses.

[Snake0202]

I'm also very confused about this. Like what does Belcorra need to do to actually fully restore Gauntlight? Does she just need to gather the 4 lenses and use them in the temple (j20)? How exactly does Gauntlight become fully restored so it can unleash it's powerful attacks every minute on Absolom? I can come up with good reasons for her to delay or whatever, but I need to understand the actual mechanics of how the lenses interact with the lighthouse to fully restore it and the book doesn't exactly explain it well... or at all...

[skotothalamos]

I'm pretty sure it's more complicated than just gathering them

Spoiler:

It's my understanding that the Fulcrum Lattice needs to be installed at the top of the Gauntlight lighthouse with all four lenses in place to restore the Gauntlight. Before that can happen, the lenses need to be charged in the Empty Vault, but one at a time, because they're dangerous all in one place (obviously).

The issues to completion have been the two barriers between the books and Belcorra being site-bound to the bottom three levels of the dungeon.

So, near as I can tell, It's not possible to move the Fulcrum Lattice and Lenses into position until the Urevian barrier comes down. And even then, Belcorra is sitebound to the lower three levels, so she needs her minions to do it, and the PCs have been undoubtedly killing those on their way down.

At the time the PCs arrive in the Empty Vault, she is charging the Ebon Lens. I don't recall if that's the first or last lens that needs charging, but in any case, she's still waiting on at least one loading bar to finish.