Summary author: Caillte (Oak)

Thunderwing has a caffeine crash and returns to the barracks to have a nap. On the way up the stairs she passes Malum coming down, who then sneaks up behind Zygomatic. He asks what’s going on and as Zygomatic starts to explain the Clockwork creature starts to boot up, and we hear others around the corner approaching. As we move forward to meet them we can see the whole room; a long corridor with lave pits on the side, with rows of conveyor belts at set intervals pointing into the pits, and on the far wall we see another crystal, this one deactivated. There are a total of four Clockwork Pushers spread throughout the room, and whenever we get close they try to push us either onto the belts, or directly into the lave.

We deal with the Pushers, and Malum goes up and touches the crystal, causing it to glow blue. We then realise that Phobia isn’t with Malum, and it turns out they are wondering around the stronghold on their own, but soon catches up with us, carrying a map in their mouth. It’s of the Burning Sunscape with three crosses marked on it.
We then go back up the spiral staircase, and take the passage to the west and find some stairs going down. At the bottom we find a large sealed gate that has four crystals embedded into it, two of which are glowing blue, and assume that once we find all the crystals this will be our exit.
There is a door to the east, and around a couple of corners find a room with a campfire and three Fetchlings. We introduce ourselves and they explain they are part of the Umbral Brood, specifically Corpse Cleaners who try to keep the tunnels clean after the Dominions mishaps.
We ask if they’ve seen any of the blue crystals and they say there is one further ahead in a room with a lot of pipe, but due to how this place loops around are not sure where. We also ask if they have seen a corpse matching Charles’ description, and they think it might be in the room we saw with the large robot, but they didn’t want to get too close so can’t be sure.
They request that we deal with it, and we agree we’ll try once we’re at full capacity.

We continue east and the corridor leads to a laboratory. There are three tables around the room, each of which has different items on it. One has a mask and some notes, one a vile of liquid and the third some hyena drool, that seem to indicate it’s where Phobia found the map.
Malum and Caillte look at the items and it seems that the liquid is a concoction that can be used to filter out small particles, so we think it can be combined with the mask that will keep out infected air. The notes are a blueprint of the mask, which are marked prototype 5.2, and looking at the mask we find number sewed into it that suggests it was made in a central workshop back in the city. Caillte thinks he can recreate the mask, but may need to return to his workshop to do so. He doesn't think he can replicate the liquid without some very specialised equipment, and would need some ground down Power Cores. They are hard to find, and normally require either cash or a favour to obtain.

We show Malum around the rooms we have seen so far, and end up in the room with the large Clockwork creature. In the north-west corner is a set of stair leading down, and we’re able to sneak to them without the creature activating, and find the room with pipes the Fetchlings mentioned. We’re able to connect the pipes from the north wall to the south walls, which opens a hidden door, revealing a third crystal, that we activate.

We don’t want to fight the Clockwork creature yet, and instead decide to try and find another way to the doorway we see behind it. After exploring for a bit can’t find anything, so head back to the Fetchlings to see if they’ve seen a path we’ve missed. They haven’t, but thought that the reading room was a bit odd as it wasn’t as functional as the rest of the stronghold.
We head back there and read though the diary again, realising that it mentions waiting for time to pass, so investigate the grandfather clock. We spend some time trying different ideas until Zygomatic gets annoyed and smacks it with their shield, revealing a hidden door. Behind the door is the forth crystal, and a path that leads south to a locked door, that we think would be the one behind the large creature.

We head to the main gate and all its crystals are active, allowing it to be opened. On the other side is a large room with another staircase down, which has been covered in Dominion warning tape.