Part 44: Dead Ends

Dead Ends






Smells like victory. You spare a moment for your fallen fyora friends who brought you so far.



It looks like the power station may have influenced the development of these fyoras over the past centuries... or perhaps the Shapers who left them here used charged varieties to protect this type of facility. Either seems possible.



The charged fyoras aren't much of a threat. They run at any creatures they see and spit pathetic sparks. Killing them is a shame, but it can't be helped.

While you walk through the canyon, you find what must be a fallen outsider. It looks like he did his best to hold off the fyoras, but they must have overwhelmed him. Judging by all the thorns and javelins, he put up a good fight.





The northeastern door is guarded by another spitting fyora. Inside you find what might have been a barracks or worker's quarters. No one has been here in a very long time. Not even the serviles have reached this place to loot it.



Not too far from the first fallen outsider is a second, lying amid larger, older bones half-buried by blown dust.





Beyond that body are still more doors, but you don't find an obvious means of opening them.

The obelisk by the central door reads "Sucia Island Power Station." You wonder if disabling this thing would interfere with the operation of the Geneforge. It's worth trying before you search out Trajkov...







The southern defile is basically clogged up by charged fyoras. They battle your creations fiercely, but they're unable to leave much more than singe marks on your team. When you reach the end of the defile, you realize the fyoras struggled so hard because you've inadvertently left them no way to escape.





You manage to find an entry into the facility that isn't locked up tight -- part of the outer wall has collapsed, providing a means to bypass the door you found earlier.

Unfortunately, the interior is guarded by submission turrets and more charged fyoras. Fortunately, those creations don't measure up to yours.

The radiant panels barring the way are cool and dim, sparing you further trouble.



You investigate the three cases, but two have already been ransacked and one simply won't open. Nearby you find some robes meant for those who once tended this place, as well as a pair of shattered crystal pillars.

If not for the underlying thrum that makes your teeth itch, you would assume this place was completely defunct based on the damage you've seen so far.



There is a servant mind here. It still seems in good health, or at least it's intact. However, it is very thin and weak. It looks up at you and says, "Urrrrhhhhaaaa."

There are four sockets at the base of the creature's stone berth. They are all empty.

"Servant, I require your help," you say.

"Guhhhh. Uhrrr. Aaaah." The pitifully thin and hungry creature doesn't have the strength to respond.

It was worth a try. You try to revive the mind, but without food, you aren't able to help it.

None of the other doors near the mind will open. Looking around, you wonder if the four slots in the mind's pedestal correspond to old linkups from the destroyed spirals. If so, this situation might be well beyond your ability to fix even if you had a jar of mind nutrients left.

If only you hadn't fed Emarshal...





You pass sealed metal drums and more ruined crystal structures on the path outside the mind facility. At least the waste still seems more or less contained, not like the disaster at the workshop.

You locate what looks like a guard post, but the pesky fyoras inhabiting the place prove distracting.



To the north, you find the western gatehouse. Trajkov isn't on the western end of the island, though, so you ignore that road for now.



There's even an alcove filled with old protective gear.





The northern path has a number of rooms that seem to be either storage areas or perhaps old offices.



You locate an automatic door that still works, but whatever is powering the door is also powering a particularly deep set of radiant panels. You've fried your feet enough lately. Maybe if you can get that servant mind set to rights, it can shut these off for you.





Along the southern path, you find a particularly burly fyora that stands almost as tall as your glaahks. The fyora's superior size, though, makes it only marginally more robust than its more common cousins.



What lies in wait at the end of the path is much more concerning.







The drayk appears to be keeping these fyoras as pets. You'll probably never know, though, because the drayk doesn't speak -- it only attacks. It manages to seriously wound both Dmar and wedgekree before it dies along with its pets.



The chests are locked and trapped, but you use a living tool to make short work of them. They're full of coin as well as another pair of green boots like what you found within the Shaper crypts.



You backtrack a ways to a chamber in the north. A radiant panel between two braziers seems to have been positioned mainly as a heat source rather than as a security measure, but you still direct your creations to go around it carefully. This place might have served as the power plant's alchemical lab or perhaps even an apothecary to take care of the needs of the on-site workers.



But without being able to talk to the mind in charge of this place, you're no closer to finding Trajkov. You decide that it might be worthwhile to approach the Takers.

In the meantime, though, you want to check something at the Servile Warren. There was a well-locked door beyond the servant mind there, and it might have something of use...



Between your improved understanding of locks and your enormous supply of living tools, you manage to crack the sole locked door left here.



And just as you hoped, there's a canister in here, waiting for you to use it.



But it's not the kind of canister you’d hoped for.

Why would the Shapers make a canister to let people make ornks? They're fertile! Surely it doesn't take an inordinate amount of work to learn how to Shape them properly!



Look at these piles of wealth. LOOK AT THEM.



With that done, you head east and back into Rhakkus's domain. The cryodrayk doesn't immediately greet you like he has on prior occasions, so you slip into his lair to investigate the crypts.





You're studying the last sarcophagus when Rhakkus finds you.

Not seen: before Rhakkus goes hostile, he still opens his automatic greeting dialogue, so Solution sells off some junk and finish off the last of his gold before she finishes him!



The first thing you do is flee the tiny tomb. No good can come of being backed into a corner by a drayk defending its hoard.

Your vlish attack with a well-coordinated flurry of terror spells. Rhakkus casts speed on himself, a disconcerting demonstration of magical aptitude in a creation. It's bad enough that some serviles discovered a means of using magic, but drayks as well...? They must be put down.



Geokinesis strikes the last blow and Rhakkus trembles, coughs once, and falls. With all of his minions also slain, you've weakened the drayk menace in this corner of Sucia Island, if not outright ended it entirely.



You even got a nice pair of gloves in the process.