Ssatschia cracks open some rabbit bones for the tasty marrow within while Ferin Blackleaf introduces dinner guest Zanna, a wizard-looking gnome wizard, to Alpha Company. Zanna explains the anticipated mission to Mystery Island where known genius supervillain Warbis Sparkcoil has been recently located since long evading the attention of Zanna’s Gnomish Intelligence Team. GIT suspects Sparkcoil of hatching a diabolical plot to destroy all indigenous life on Mystery Island with his weapon of mystery destruction, the MechaGnome. Exactly what life Mystery Island stands to lose is, frankly, something of a mystery but might include woke talking animals and mixed humanoids.
Alpha prepares spells and equipment and invites Zanna for his teleportation skills. Ssatschia offers up a warrior’s benediction: one blow, one kill, hooah.
Alpha materializes in a grove of trees along a pleasant coast line just north of the mine entrance to Sparkcoil’s alleged base of operation. The rocky cave mouth gives way to worked stone. A pile of boulders carefully removed by Nala and Ssatschia reveals a door. A faint rustling can be heard through the door which Moth opens to investigate. The orderly library beyond comprises books, mostly authored by Warbis Sparkcoil, and some reading tables. One open book on one of the tables is flipping back and forth through its pages for no particular reason other than to cause the attractive rustling. Ssatschia places the flat of his blade across the ghost book inciting several swarms of flying books to converge on the party. A central smothering rug, relationship unknown, joins the fray. Books and rug are dispatched with neither too great an effort nor reinforcements. Snory searches the shelves for helpful tomes regarding MechaGnome and locates five rare volumes [up to 50 gp each] that provide considerable insight into Sparkcoil and his work centering on an otherwise unknown algorithm that may or may not involve a portal.
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Ssatschia and Nala combine their brute force to defeat a formidable lock on a door through the east wall of the library leading into a fancy gallery of scientific and technologic knickknacks prominently featuring a large, central, hand-turned mechanical orrery. A smaller orrery is along the south wall. A gratuitous portrait of Sparkcoil adorns the east wall. A transparent yet impassible doorway / window situation to the north shows off a large iron scaffolding that one could easily imagine hosting a transplanar portal. Snory’s trap finding spell certifies the room is safe for reckless exploration. Ssatschia and Nala go straight for the orrery operators and spin the planets in various directions. Moth declares the heliocentric display as ignorant and heretical. Ssatschia and Nala declare it fun. Snory locates five more rare Sparkcoil tomes with some very specific and foreboding details on the MechaGnome and, significantly, what looks to be the consequential Sparkcoil Algorithm. Even brainiac Zanna finds little familiarity in the equations.
Moth crosses to the door through the west side of the library. Radically advanced fixtures light the hallway. Around a corner, a laboratory features a pair of reclining procedure beds, fluid tanks, and other apparatus arranged for unknown but worrisome purposes. Nala admires some inviting levers that appear unrelated to the other devices. Specimen jars arranged around the room contain sundry human samples and possibly one cat head. Several unconventionally locked doors are dispersed around the room, each with an adjacent key slot indicating a discouraging red. Undiscouraged Nala and Ssatschia again combine their efforts to force open a door to the south. The fractured doorway reveals surrounding bolts, now askew. Nala enters an appealingly tidy private office, most likely Sparkcoil’s. Snory fiddles noncommittally with the levers to learn whether they would release the door bolts. Moth, eager to explore a room to the west from which some whimpering and scratching can be heard, nudges Snory aside and gives a lever a proper push over. Clicks sound around the west door suggesting success. Ssatschia opens the door to a gore-coated procedure room suggesting a problematic experiment within. A flying scalpel lunging for Ssatschia suggests the experiment is not yet concluded. A blood-soaked mage cowering in the corner suggests they leave her alone. The mage has been confined so long that she has forgotten her name. Might be several days, even months. One thing for sure, she cut up that gnome “scientist” pretty well. One other thing for sure, she is darn well leaving now and no one argues with that particular point. Oh, and in case it helps, there was recent chatter about an un-unlockable door that could only be accessed by removing power to it. Spontaneous advice like that should never be ignored. The nameless mage departs. Snory collects the pituitary gland of the deconstructed gnome “scientist” but locates no identification in the gore.
Ssatschia and Nala explore the similar, but less icky, adjacent procedure room and recover some slightly damaged medical supplies from a cabinet. Ssatschia operates the final lever releasing the north door lock. Nala enters in time to see a few spheres rolling out of installed copper delivery pipes. The spheres unroll into a couple of regular rolly units and one big rolly unit. Nala wastes no time greatswording the rollies. Moth comes in critically punching. Ssatschia inflicts such wounds as to attract the worst of the rolly revenge fisting and must clerically sustain his consciousness. Snory conveniently finds no good place to stand adjacent and safely collects death tolls from the next room. The rollies are defeated leaving the room safe to explore. A logbook on the table dates back to pre-rolly times when actual unionized guards would patrol and record their encounters. Ssatschia takes a look down some stairs.