Part 31: All Things Merge Into One

Eventually, All Things Merge Into One








The river carries with it a chilly, damp wind that quickly penetrates your layers of robes and armor. Your creations are even less fortunate. They furtively pack close together to stay warm. It's not as cold as the ghost-frosted tunnels, but the wind makes it more miserable somehow.

Despite the endless moaning, you can hear the slow and steady rumble of machinery hidden somewhere in this river complex.





The intense heat radiating from these panels warns you away. It's an oddly energy intensive security system. Pylons seem like they should've been enough, but given that you've been willing to destroy pylons in the past, you suppose others have been, too. Obviously the Shapers determined that sterner measures were necessary to protect whatever is back here.

Random Asshole hovers a touch too near the red-hot panels and screeches. The radiant heat is enough to leave your vlish with severe burns on the bottom of its tentacles.



On the opposite end, past piles of unsorted rock and ore, you find a basic shaping hall.



The essence pools are intact, which proves convenient.



Tucked into an alcove is a spiral crystal. You're note entirely sure what it's powering, but you don't think it's the bridge -- there's no control panel for that. You try to shut the spiral crystal down, but you're forced to flee when you mistakenly overload it instead.

You hope that mistake won't come back to haunt you.



The two spans aren't so far apart. If the water weren't so swift and cold, you might've forded it the old fashioned way.



On a hunch, you check the radiant panels again. They've darkened considerably. They're still hot, but when you edge closer, it's merely unpleasant, not painful. You usher your team across quickly. The crystal must have been powering this device.





Now these are the security measures you're familiar with. The turrets are mostly irritants now, at least when they're not supported by other creations.





You clear out the defenses and investigate the area. The sole forlorn corpse offers up an enchanted cloak and an acid thorn baton. You consider turning the body over into the river, but some humans think that a body left in the water dooms the soul to an eternally wandering afterlife, so you cover it with loose rock from the scree piles instead. It costs you time better spent pushing on, but if it was your body, you'd want an adventurer to pay you some respect, too. Besides, you haven't found evidence of rogues yet, so there's no need to rush.



This place is full of good quality tools. It's a shame you don't need them, but you know some serviles who might be interested once you've cleared the way. You unlock the cabinet out of curiosity and find amid the ore testing materials a few flawed but workable crystals. Perhaps you can sell them.





You're not thrilled to find another set of radiant panels, but you brace yourself and quickly cross, cursing shrilly as your boots melt to the soles of your feet. Your creations are much more stoic than you even though you have to coax them across.

You can cross these panels the stupid way or the smart way. The stupid way is just to run willy-nilly across and take damage just about every tick. If your fire resistance is low, you're going to really suffer and perhaps explode into inventory goods. Game Over!

The smart way is to switch to the turn-based combat mode. Line up your character so that they will only touch one panel (and even better, try to shove your character up against the wall boundary!) so the character is only receiving damage for one (and ideally none) panel at a time.

In combat mode, the game only checks for environmental damage when you touch the hazard area and again if you're still touching the hazard area at the start of the character's next turn.

It's a good idea to use haste and, if you can, protective items and gear. You don't want to wear equipment that gives you a malus to fire resistance here. Have your creations cross the same way you have your PC cross, then top off the HP bars if needed. PCs are likely to have enough fire resistance that they occasionally take no damage when crossing these panels, which is quite nice.



There's an abandoned room here, almost like a worker's dormitory. You take the opportunity to rest and heal up the worst of your team's burns.





You decide that this, however, is ornkshit. Even if you could survive the passage, you would still be crippled after using up all your essence and pods on healing. You head west instead in hopes of finding some way not blocked by the business ends of eight ovens.



You and RickVoid blunder into a nasty crossfire situation with turrets because you're too focused on finding whatever mechanism can shut those panels down.



But even with this tactical error, the turrets can't present a terribly deadly threat. Their fungal minds are too simple to capitalize on your mistake.



You take your time and loot this dusty shop. Someone even left money on the counter when the place was mothballed. It's yours now.

Time has been remarkably kind to this processing facility. At first you thought it was for ore, but after finding so many crystals, you revise your hypothesis. The more you think about it, the more you're sure you remember someone telling you about these mines... but so many other events have transpired between now and that foggy past that you can't be certain you're not making the memory up.

Memories are so unreliable... Maybe the old Shapers were wise when they left so many journals and ledgers around the island.



You find a pair of crystal spirals in another workroom. It seems like an odd place to have hooked up generators like this, but maybe they once powered the cold forge nearby instead of the radiant panels.



Your second and third attempts at shutting off the spirals here go about as badly as the first, with the added unpleasantry of shrapnel and falling stones hitting your creations. You're hit with some stone chips, but they don't even snag in your robes.



There are some cooling radiant panels to the west, but you check the southern door first. It leads into a changing station for the serviles who once worked here. The room must have doubled as a root cellar, too, since you find long-ruined sacks of meal here. You pocket a few crystals, toss a pebble into the river, and go.



The Shapers really should have considered putting up some sort of barrier to keep beings from stumbling into the river. Whoever designed this place didn't consider safety a priority. But here you are thinking of drowning while you're crossing a still too hot series of panels that might actually be semi-molten stone.






You've made it to the other side of the bridge, but finding a way to restore the straightforward crossing would be wise in case you need to come through here later.





The crystal spirals are located in a small room built in the large gallery. There's a control panel and even a couple of used or destroyed canisters. Such a shame. You give the panel a cursory look and decide to leave it be for now. The other spirals didn't have a control panel, so these might have a different purpose. As usual, nothing is well-labeled.





This corridor is blocked, so you opt to investigate the main foundry instead. You make an unpleasant discovery inside -- submission turrets were left behind to deal with intruders like you. But without venom turrets or other creatures to reinforce them, the turrets' ability to deal stunning blows doesn't halt your progress.





Past another set of radiant panels, you unlock an automatic door and discover another crystal spiral. You manage to survive overloading it.



The other small room is more of the same.



Yet neither of those crystals powers this barrier.



The last room to the west has several ruined crystal spirals that were left here untold years ago as well as several piles of tools, pots, canister shards, and even woven baskets. Of more interest is the automatic door.



It slides open to admit you to another crystal spiral and, to your joy, a canister!



Violet sparkles cascade up and down your body as the agents grant you the power to shape better clawbugs. You think of your very first with a fond nostalgia better suited for something that happened years ago rather than days.



Then you fumble around with the spiral pillar, fail to disarm it properly, and slam yourself bodily against the automatic door until it reluctantly spills you back into the gallery, just in time for the spiral to explode behind you. Somehow you make it out without the explosion even turning a hair beneath your hood.

Now that Solution has fucked up every crystal spiral, she can cross the Underground River zone safely!




You use the switch.




The remaining section of the bridge rises from under the river. It's slick and somewhat slimy with minerals, but it's intact, and that's what matters.



Even more exciting are the darkened panels.







Once you secure the apothecary, you ransack it for the paltry supplies that remain.



Then you backtrack to see if perhaps the other radiant panels have shut off. Your persistence is rewarded.



To your surprise, this tiny room contains a servant mind.

"Do you require any goods, Shaper? I am Dispenser."

The mind's tiny voice startles you. "Dispenser?" you ask. "You mean you give away items?"

"No, Shaper. I sell them. Insert money into my slot, and I will make an item available. I was created for this purpose by Agent Fellith. Would you like to see my wares?"

"What happened to Fellith?" That's a new name to you. Nothing you've come across has referred to Agents specifically til now.

"One day, she gave me a large store of nutrients and left. She said she would be back soon. I do not think she was correct. Would you like to see my wares?" Dispenser asks again.

"I would like to look at your wares," you say. Maybe the Shapers created Dispenser to manage some sort of scarcity issue.









You almost understand when you see the fine selection the mind offers, yet it's still beyond bizarre that Shapers set up a mind to handle the disposition of enchanted equipment. "A servant mind created just to sell items? That is insane," you say. A mind is better suited for tasks other than mere merchantry.

"I know nothing of this, Shaper. I am here to serve you. Would you like to see my wares?" Dispenser says. You aren't sure if you managed to offend it, since its tone doesn't shift even a hair.

"I don't want to see your wares again," you say.

"Yes, Shaper. When you want to see my wares, please return to me." It closes its eyes.

You leave Dispenser behind. The Guardian cloak was especially lovely, as were the boots, but you can't justify the prices to yourself. You've done fine without so far, after all.






And in-game, the red indicator lights do flash. It's a nice touch.

The red light probably indicates some sort of danger, but that isn't surprising. The eastern obelisk here reads "Eastern Mines. Make sure defenses are not active before proceeding!"

Alas, it's one more warning that you won't heed.





Your creations react even faster than you do when you round the bend. The pylon explodes in a conflagration of acid, fire, and magic.





But it was far from the only pylon here. Worse, you catch a glimpse of more radiant panels. Your exploration of these minds is doomed to be tedious and painful.





You find yourself frequently confronted with radiant panels that turn otherwise open corridors into frustrating dead ends. The red blinking indicator crystals just mock you.







You stumble back upon the main paved path in the mines, and then leave it to investigate a side shaft. You find what must have been a break room. It's filled with litter, but you find a few crystals among the trash.



The ore bays yield some crystals, too. Your gem collection is becoming quite healthy. Too bad you've never been much of a rock hound.







As you destroy the defenses your predecessors erected, your thoughts turn to the serviles who once toiled here. Were they at least evacuated? Or did they scatter, turning up in Kazg and the woods where that barbaric tribe lives?





You suspect that you're the only one who cares about the answers to those questions. Even the miners' descendants probably don't care. The answers aren't relevant to their survival now.



You follow a masonry wall around to a set of radiant panels. Only two of them are still on. You very carefully orchestrate a crossing.

Yes, I probably missed that crystal around the corner. There are crystals all over the mines, and some of them are hidden by geometry. Spamming the g key isn't a bad idea here, as collecting crystals can yield some decent rewards.



You duck south and discover the main path again. Unfortunately, it leads to more radiant panels and another blasted pylon.



Perhaps your misadventures on Sucia Island will make you rich and powerful enough to bar the creation of pylons.



It's no more than wishful thinking, but the fantasy does a little to soothe your irritation.

The obelisk beside this door reads "PROCESSING." You opt to pass up the locked lever for the moment. The indicator beside it is flashing red, and that doesn't seem like a good sign. If there's a way to neutralize the defenses past the door without meeting them head on, you want to find it.





Your pylon-slaying hike does demonstrate one thing. Your creations have become much stronger over the past few days. It's not been very long since you first encountered pylons near the termination chamber. Now your creations can destroy a pylon before it can blast them with searing orbs.

And if your creations are more powerful, you are more powerful. That knowledge moderates your prickling irritation into a milder annoyance.



The medical station is a mess now, but you imagine it was also a mess back when the mines were operational. The mess was probably just of a more organic nature.





By the time you locate the western exit, your pockets and purses and even fists are bulging with gems scavenged from chests, cabinets, pylons, and rock piles. Those you've snatched from broken pylons are both clearer and more satisfying than the others.





The nearby obelisk warns you once again to mind the defenses here. You take a deep breath and decide to accept the old Shapers' signage in the spirit they intended, even though you've been obstinately bashing up against the defenses for hours now.



This old dining hall is now home to little more than dust and bones. It's a shame that even the oven is ruined, because you've grown a mighty hunger.







You wonder if the pools in this room existed when it was constructed or if they only formed after the mine was abandoned. It's no matter. You collect the living tool here, let your creations rest, and then aim to finish your look through the eastern mines.





Even though you've been lucky so far, you don't expect that to hold true forever. This previous explorer is a good reminder that one stumble could end you, too.

You return to the northern door and unlock the lever. The door slides open without complaint. You almost expect to see a servant mind here, but instead, there's an odd control panel flanked by a pair of crystal spirals. Their hum resonates in your teeth.






You send your creations back down the hallway in case something goes terribly awry.


"Huh." You pick up the crystal. It's a swarm crystal, no different from the other enchanted pieces you have in your pack. The processing must turn the crystals from green to orange. Interesting.

With that, you decide to push on.



“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it. The river was cut by the world's great flood and runs over rocks from the basement of time. On some of the rocks are timeless raindrops. Under the rocks are the words, and some of the words are theirs.

I am haunted by waters,” by Norman Maclean, A River Runs Through It and Other Stories

Next time: Sixteen Tons

Yes, the title was an excuse to say A River Runs Through It in this update.