Rift City Recap #18

Clover’s Log

We’re in the Mechanus book. The gears melt away, and we are standing on pages as they are written, just as before in the book that showed us the truth of Revana. The modrons, however, do not melt away. Quickly taking in our surroundings, I notice there are three plaques in the “room,” one on the far wall and one on each side. I quickly cover the distance to the closest panel as the fight begins. My companions start taking on our enemies, Nyx trying to give Ronan a boost to increase the amount of attacks we can score against them. Unfortunately, one of our enemies has the perfect counterattack, somehow miring some of my friends in a haze that makes them sluggish. I’m lucky enough to avoid this and take full advantage of my speed, zipping around the room to inspect each plaque, which our enemies can apparently regenerate from after they’ve been taken down. Each plaque has a question on it, and we must find the true answer. Each is about the true history of our city and people. Fortunately, after learning some of this truth, we are able to deduce the correct responses on each plaque, and they flash gold, releasing us from the book.

Key truths from the text include:

• Decades ago, a portal to Mechanus opened below Thalos, creating an underground network of mechanisms that seamlessly integrated into the city’s infrastructure: the Clockwork Nexus.

• This system ensured efficient distribution of resources, from water to goods.

• The Clockwork Nexus also served as a judicial system, modrons being impartial lawful constructs.

• The guilty were detained in cells fashioned from indestructible metals and were monitored by tireless sentinels.

• The exact location of the Clockwork Nexus was a guarded secret but was rumored to be within a day’s travel of the Cistern.

• Young engineer Lira discovered the location and encountered an Inevitable—a towering construct designed to enforce cosmic laws.

• Judged worthy, Lira was shown the place’s secrets and took them back to Thalos to help the city thrive.

• The modrons invited Lira to be the first mortal to live among them in the Nexus.

• As long as the Nexus thrived, Thalos would continue to be a city where law and efficiency reigned, the forces of chaos held at bay.

Now we have another decision to make. We are joined by one of Oman’s acquaintances, Lady Kanton, granddaughter of Brendel’s Syndicate contact, Lord Kanton. She tells us that the caravan holding the scale we forgot to steal will be on the High Road over Divot this very evening. The caravan, a moving vault on a large floating disc, never stops, and stealing the scale will be tricky. If nothing else, we could try to find a way to identify this particular moving vault and get the information to my father so his people can find it again later. While my father deems this an important mission, he also believes the Church is building weapons in the Crimson Hall and thinks we should head there soon.

Pass phrase: Pay the toll.

Answer: I’d like to speak to the Tollmaster.

While we’re handling these tasks, Shadow will learn the location of the remaining broken power cores. We ask Oman if he might know someone who can help us get more information on these moving vaults, and he becomes suspiciously evasive, especially about his parents. He tells us they are candlemakers, which doesn’t seem to explain their wealth and importance. He says he’ll reach out to them, and when we suggest going to visit them, he tries to put us off, saying it would be rude to show up with so many people on their doorstep. Instead, we decide to pay a visit to Nyx’s nemesis, Boss Hollen, in the Darkheart. On our way out of the caves, we discover a hidden Brotherhood cache of counterfeit wine. We steal a fair portion of it and Nyx sets the rest ablaze.

When we reach Boss Hollen’s office, Nyx is clearly itching for a confrontation. She threatens him with grievous bodily harm if he does not give us information about how to identify the caravans. In fact, she threatens harm no matter what he does, which gives him little reason to comply, so we dial things back a bit. Eventually he tells us that the caravans are not marked but that enslaved Warforged are the guards for Syndicate shipments. We let him live and leave. The plan is to head to Oman’s parents’ house despite his protestations, but something tells me it won’t be that easy.