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Rishi	Now that you've made a deal with the ghost, it smiles with too many teeth showing and says "I came in here from the underworld, crawling up through some of the mine tunnels. There are two powerful hungry ghosts down there. One of them is contained at the bottom of the shaft over the lava. The other one is ...around. Before I left the bottom layer, I saw that the gate to get down there was positively encrusted with salt, so, unless it's clever enough to use the airshafts, as I did, I don't think it can climb up here." The ghost attempts to put a finger to it's mouth in thought and misses. "At the very least, it hasn't yet." "If you want to know more about those two, I think there were some murals down there that told the story, but I couldn't stop to admire the art. On these levels, there's a few more of these workrooms and all the attendant ...gadgetry." the ghost sniffs, or at least tries to. "But I imagine those things operate the manse and may help you get to the bottom faster." "It also seems that they had an army to serve them that was interred in the mines in these middle levels. I suppose the burial people wished to have their hungry ghosts serve as a deterrant to explorers, such as yourselves." The toothy smile widens. "You're perfectly safe from such things now, of course. No need to thank me."
Nine Roads Alani	Alani is paying significant attention, of course, but the mention of the hungry ghosts sees her looking back at the rantei with interest. "Hmm. An army of ghosts, you say? I'm guessing they're...what, a part of you now? Convenient...as long as we keep to our...understanding. If there were that many, though, that means the manse has to be big enough to accommodate them all, on top of all the other things we know it has. This is definitely one of the bigger manses I've been in. And one of the better preserved, too, at least for its age. I can't wait to find out everything it can do!" That said, Alani plants her foot between two of the spokes of her wheel, leaning on it as she balances it against the ground. "So. We have a lot to do. Is there anything else you can tell us about the place?"
Serene Herald	"It is still considered polite to offer such," Perfect Question says. "And seeing what we can find, history, or insturction that is not evident from looking at the equipment is helpful." He nods to Alani, "I suspect that if we search the rooms, it will go faster. Perhaps if we spread out our efforts to do so?"
Silk Moon Lotus	"Well, this trip has gotten more exciting. Is there a way to find the wandering ghost first? If the other one is trapped below, we should make sure that the other one cannot sneak up on us." Silk matches the spirit's grin with her own. "Should we start trying to fix the dragon lines? I know it wouldn't be a permanent fix. It would allow us to fix the lava pools. We may also look for some kind of room that allows us to manipulate the dragon lines."
Rishi	In response to Elena, the ghost smirks. "I believe they were buried in the attached mines. Plenty of room out there. Of course, now I'm a little too large to leave easily. But, if you can knock down that grate and scatter all the salt, I'd be able to join you." The ghost's grin goes away. "You don't need to worry about finding the wandering ghost. She will find you soon enough. All of you have quite enough blood."
Nine Roads Alani	With one last look at tthat horrifying-looking rantai, 'Elena' starts to wander around the foundry, yellow eyes searching, looking for anything useful or out of the ordinary. Alas, while there's plenty here to draw the eye and imagination, nothing of true significance jumps out at her. Her searching takes time, of course, and by the end she's taking to looking in the side workshop rooms again as well, hoping to find anything more of interest or value.
Rishi	This curved room has a number of large hammers held by machines standing out from the back curved wall, each designed to hammer into a large chute that runs along the back wall. Each has a large lever next to it. Near the door and at the two ends are a bank of large red levers along with several smaller ones. Labels next to them say, in Old Realm, "Emergency Stop" next to the red lever, while the others are labeled "Ore Open/Close," "Chute Travel On/Off," and "Fan Interlock Engage/Disengage." Silk will notice that the three Red Levers are all pulled out in the locked position, while the others are all in the closed or off position. Misa, as you're wanding around outside, you'll spot two things. There's an area down the ramp a little ways where the lighting sconces are throwing fire balls over the ramp...but beyond that, there's a fancier looking door that might have controls for the manse proper in it? Or something else interesting at least.
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk giggles a little. "I guess we get to pick a fight with a ghost. I've wanted to test myself against one for a while." Silk looks at the levers. "It looks like the emergency stops are engages so we should be ok. Everything looks locked down. We should start heading down the hall and engage this ghost on the best terrain we can."
Serene Herald	"You do not want the Chute Travel to be turned on? The Fans should be off. And the Ore closed. Opening things would allow for quicker travel. For us, and any others." He mutters slightly, "I should have brought salt. Next time, Question..."
Misa	"Question," calls Misa's voice- truth be told, she doesn't call that loudly. "And perhaps Silk," she adds a moment after. She walks partway down this small ramp, eyeing the sconces for a moment as they lob across the ramp periodically. "And... Elena, you may wish to bring some of your aerial trickery this way," she adds after a moment.
Nine Roads Alani	'Elena' looks up, listening to Misa. She trots over, wheel over one shoulder, considering the situation with a bit of a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Well, well," she murmurs as she comes closer, looking at the hallway. "I wonder if this is a defensive thing or just something else going haywire? Either way, I'm sure there's -some- way around it. Also..." She turns down her voice and leans close to Perfect Question. "For the record, our friend just told us of a bunch of salt crusting a passage somewhere. If the ghost in question can get around that already, and it sounded like she could, mayhap you have a better use for the salt a little later." "Anyway. Let's see what we have..." 'Elena' pauses and frowns as she focuses her attention on the fireball corridor. Is it on purpose? An accident? And is there a pattern for getting through? Maybe a way to shut them off?
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk pulls out a leather bag from a fold of her cloths. "You mean this?" She tosses the bag towards Question. "I suppose turning on the chutes could allow us to travel through the foundry." Silk heads over to the hallway and starts looking at the fireballs. "Well, this is different."
Serene Herald	"And ore to take other paths. Fans to take still more. Best to leave them sealed, except for chute, I think," Question myses, before walking over to the other door to look around it. "Ah...interesting. What is inside should illuminate more."
Misa	"Perhaps more to see on the other side?" Misa muses aloud before moving as if to take a step directly into the path of one of the fireballs... only to blur out of sight. At just about the same time, another figure blurs into one's vision on the far end of the ramp- and it's... Misa. A moment after, the rushing sound of someone bursting through the wind at absurd speed washes past the group as the woman quietly settles her robes again. "Let me know if there is anything you are looking for in specific," she calls back to the others mildly.
Rishi	Elena would guess that, rather than this being a purposeful trap, there's simply too much fire essence flowing into these sconces from somewhere. Properly identifying why it's flowing in here would take hours of examination... or you can simply try to block the flow of fire essence into the sconces or give it somewhere else to flow. For the second option, A long piece of fire essence compatible material like the red jade steel this place has or a piece of orichalcum might be able to reach from the wall near the sconces to the metal lattices that form the centeral shaft. For the first option, the sconces in that room the Rantai was in were dimmer. Perhaps it could supress them out here?
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk stares at the fireballs and listens to the sound they make. She starts to move in a fluid dance the the bear of the fireballs. After a fwe moments they stop flying as quickly. After a few more beats, the fireballs stop completely. She continues to dance while making her way through where the fireballs were. Through her dancing she calls out "I don't think I can keep the flow off for more than a few moments. Move people!"
Nine Roads Alani	'Elena' doesn't need to be told twice. She may not be as fleet of foot as Misa, but then, who is? Instead, she leans forward and all-out sprints, her mundane but exceptional athleticism coming to bear as she lights out at top speed for the other end of the corridor. Once on the other side, she'll keep an eye out for any dangers, or anything else interesting, while the rest of the party makes their way.
Serene Herald	Perfect Question takes in a deep breath and then leaps forward wuickly, not runing, but just a prodigous jump to carry him through the area of danger. "Here," he says breathing a bit faster. "Ready I am."
Misa	Misa nods to the others as they catch up, smiling faintly. She glances at the sconces a moment- then turns her attention to the elaborate door. She walks up to the door with a tilt of the head, considering the sight before tapping the backs of her knuckles against the surface here and there- and then pushing at the door to see if it'll simply... swing open.
Rishi	Now that you're all here, you can examine the door. It is only slightly larger than normal, and has some gold ornamentation of a lion on it. Above the door, is a sign that says "Mid-Level Control Room." Pushing on it...causes it to swing open.
Rishi	Inside, while the walls are native stone, the floor is made of thick glass set into a lattice of metal triangles. Below, you can see complex sets of metal gears and shafts that connect to a large bank of levers set into the ground. The wall in front of the levers has a metal label attached over each lever and a series of glass and metal ..diagrams? ..maps? set into the wall. Hanging from a chain on the back wall is a book. Examining it shows that it's pages are made of thin, flexible metal covered in Old Realm and full of technical jargon. While not technically encoded, it is definitely difficult to decipher, even if you do know Old Realm.
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk takes a moment to gather her hair back away from her face and wipes some sweat from her brow. "That was a workout for sure." She doesn't appear to be breathing any harder than when she started dancing. She looks around the room for a moment. "This place is wild. I don't know that my skill set will be of much use in here. I'm not a scholar."
Nine Roads Alani	Slowly, with a measure of reverence, 'Elena' walks into the room. There's a tiny little smile on her face as she walks in, fingers barely touching the metal of the console...like the touch of a gentle lover. She turns slowly in a 180 degree arc, taking in the room from left to right. "Now this...this is the kind of thing I like to see. I haven't the -slightest idea- how to work any of it, but it's spectacular, don't you all think?" With a flourish, 'Elena' does a bit of a spin of her own, then turns to study the map in detail.
Rishi	While the book is too dense to read all of in a short period, Question is able to find the right combination of levers to engage with the windmills in the central shaft, and power up the gears. He's also able to activate the Ore haulers in the central shaft, that haul rocks up and down. Meanwhile, from examining the map like structure, Misa and Elena have found that there are regular hatches in the grates that lead into walkways in the central shaft, presumably for repairs. Putting both of those together, it looks like you could simply find a hatchway, then ride an ore hauler down to the bottom...but from what the ghost said, it seems like one of the two powerful ghosts is entombed at the bottom of the shaft. Who knows how she'll feel about visitors "dropping in" unexpectedly?
Silk Moon Lotus	"So we could get down to the bottom and deal with that ghost. We still need to deal with the wandering ghost that will seek us out because we have too much blood? I'm sure we can get back up from the depths without too many issues."
Misa	"So far as I am concerned," notes Misa over her shoulder as she and Elena go over the map. "It would be more expedient if this wandering one followed us down there and we dealt with both at once."
Nine Roads Alani	'Elena' slowly nods as she and Misa piece together their part of the puzzle. She looks at everyone with a quirky grin. "Mmm...well, look at it this way. I'm not sure it'd be wise of us to -want- to fight both at once. But I think we can safely say that for -several- reasons we don't want to just ignore or go around the ghost. I think we should deal with it directly. As the strategists like to say, at a time and place of our choosing. In other words, maybe we can get the drop on it." She smirks. "And as Misa can attest, I do like to drop things. On their heads, preferably."
Silk Moon Lotus	Silk chuckles at Elena joke. "I do like the way you think. Let's get down there and deal with the ghosts. Then we can look around for lost treasures."