Fortune's Vanguard stood a hallway between the Assembly Line where clockwork creations were built, and a Water Pump(?) room. Recently, we had fought a Mindful Clockwork Warrior that was guarding the way to the Vault of BETA. Given that we were so unsupplied, we narrowly escaped. After spending a few moments discussing, we set out to secure the area before we slept. We wandered through the maintenance hatches we left open the previous day, sending the stealthy J'ack Rameur out with the protective invisibility of Cleis Frostclaw's font of arcane power. Ripley used a mix of her own inventive creations, and Cleis Frostclaw's excess pool to invisibly aid it too. We had only 40 minutes before the warding Charm on the Purple Clockwork Soldier faded.
Our Martinet and Innovator returned, we were able to rest peacefully in the cramped quarters. Ripley ripped apart a Clockwork Overseer. She learned all she could from its remains. Woodsworth Moure petted the concrete and asked a pertinent question:
How old is this place?
According to Ripley - 100s to 1000s of years old. Upon closer study on the lesser-maintained parts of the maintenance hallway, it is understood to be around 2468 this one may have been established.
Then, Milu Soma made mention of a powerful mage, from a 1000 years ago. They discovered a ruin in Wodford. They cleared it. Then, with the help of powerful magic, they constructed numerous houses that would become Egland. Egland's buildings are mostly made of stone, and well outpace the population in quantity. Egland was thusly settled. Several hundred years or so after, Morgana Vida would arrive from the forests of Wodford. She would leave Caduceus in the The Patriciate - already constructed before she'd disappear from the world.
In the old world, before the need for the written word, there were people of great power. Those that could heal just by being present. Those that could shape stone with mere words, whose swings could fell beasts larger than any horse.
( The Ancient Evil constructed a facility to Learn of Longevity (see: Legends of ALPHA ). According to Silent Hedera 's Testimony, a bipedal skeletal creature was seen at the Mystic Riverstones: Rosemore many hundreds of cycles ago. That is the above-ground entrypoint into ALPHA. If we could isolate WHEN this being bent on longevity arose, perhaps we can find WHERE it broke ground. )
We discovered much work was done throughout the night in Sanctum Beta. Massive walls were erected in hallways as doors were welded with additional metal. We formulated a plan to move through backways, to find SC4BB1E, and to disable this place. Xael was convinced we would be unable to destroy this place, and insisted we should leave. Based on the intel we did have, it would be easiest to destroy the Assembly Line on our way out. We headed there, first.
With numerous elemental layers of protection, Captain Woodsworth Moure doused the group with invisible rain, forming a sphere of invisibility where the Vanguard could still see each other. We moved into the well-lit, loud, Assembly Line. To the north of the chamber, numerous Overseers and other machinations held a defensive point. Fortune's Vanguard led their first successful ambush, at a small cost - An Alarm sounded. The hallways became spiked again. J'ack Rameur formulated a plan: go through the northern hatch. Woodsworth Moure would hide the party again with invisible rain.
We passed by the northern Springcoil, discovering a wall of metal on the other side. Ripley theorized it could not be thick. Cleis Frostclaw readied to make Xael invisible again once we broke through. Our champion would strike through the wall, giving us a chance to surprise the enemy. A glacial storm appeared upon our enemies, as we made our second ambush!
The remaining High Security defense forces funneled at us, as an errant fireball exploded the spring coil behind us. Milu Soma narrowly escaped the shrapnel, maintaining his heart-quickening instructions. Ripley prepared a message of peace for the Mindful Clockwork Warrior. Cleis Frostclaw barraged the glacial storm with cryoballs. J'ack Rameur held the line, disabling and destroying the clockwork creations as they ran at us. Xael dove into the storm, swinging Rend to dispel our enemies. The Purple Mindful Clockwork Warrior almost struck down J'ack Rameur; were it not for his innate skill to deflect enemy strikes. Xael gave no second chances to the intelligent construct, and cut it in three.
The storm faded, and our second ambush successful. We made way to the security room, and recharmed SC4BB1E under Milu Soma's control. We ordered our temporary red-coated friend to open the door to the Vault. Inside, we dispatched the remaining overseer.
In the vault, the south wall shows a summary of all readings in the facility.
The north wall features numerous symbols and strange switches. Some glow in different colors. It has echoes of planes and nature. It seems to interlink with the facility itself.
A strange stairwell leads into the crystal cavernous floor below. It is dark.
Despite our successes today, we need to rest yet again. The Slowcart Foundation, and Maklus, likely want updates. As will Ripley's "handler".