The Forgotten Wish

Walking towards Khond and Nuria, Asimi holds out the boots for the other woman to take back. 

"I'm unsure," She answers Sylvera, "Something to help maintain this place, perhaps? Yet it can mend flesh and manmade materials both... "

She eyes it again over her shoulder with narrowed eyes, "I hesitate to call it alive... But it seems to be able to move and think on it's own."

"If it's because of whatever magic is left in this place then it might not be "alive" for much longer," Asimi concludes, "I don't trust it. Probably best not to let any more get on you... Or in you."

"Leather was once a living thing, I suppose, but if that were to matter then the stuff would seek to repair a corpse also.  Something which has a purpose of keeping the structure in working condition would make more sense."

"I wonder what it might do if placed on a statue... one with a missing ring finger, perhaps?", Breldo muses.

Sylvera notes nothing new. While most chat and wonder out loud about what this black goop could even be, Rick investigates the thing he found out of place. Following the larger pipe, he finds it leading toward another large apparatus, together with one of the smaller pipes. Both connect to a large machine that takes up the end of this corridor, both feeding into it in some way. 

Whatever this is, it is completely alien to him. It must be some kind of heavy machine however, given its large, bulky appearance, circular in appearance beside the side facing them which is "flat". It seems solidly burrowed into the ground, large bolts on the outside securing it in place. A large metal rod seems to be sticking out in the middle of whatever this thing is supposed to be, but beside that it does not seem to provide many hints as to its purpose.

Beside perhaps the fact that as he approaches, letters light up on the surface facing him, as well as what seems to be a button underneath it. However, the language that is being displayed is not one he knows.

Rick looks at the odd thing, then the odd large rod and finally the odd letters.

With a shrug he pushes the button.

((I hope the button is red.))

When Asimi holds out her shoes to her, Nuria holds up her hands and shakes her head. "I-I d-don't want those b-back. T-thanks though." The boots probably are just fine, but that goo is still on them. While they are probably safe, Nuria can't bring herself to trust them. She'd spent plenty of her life shoe-less, so it doesn't really bother her to be bearfoot for a bit.

Sylvera shivers at the thought of the goo doing either of the things Asimi just mentioned, and she aggressively shakes her feet off after trudging through the sludge. However she does look up at Breldo when he mentions the possibility of the goo fixing a finger... that thought had briefly touched her mind but she had dismissed it for some reason. "That is a valid question," she says begrudgingly, glancing back at the goop. "Perhaps it is worth trying." It would be too much to hope for the goo to somehow cure the wasting. 

She glances up at the machine, frowning as she doesn't really know what to make of it. 

Rick holds not a single moment of pause in his body as he sees that shiny, red button. 

And immediately, an alarm begins to sound through the entire basement. A low, repeated drone that perhaps is not meant to incite a panic, but certainly one meant to draw attention. The large bulky machine in front of Rick begins to whir and groan, as if an ancient beast roused from ages of slumber, rusty, but functional. There is a repeated "click" noise as if gears are ticking, and slowly the pillar in the midst of the structure is being raised up. The glowing text has changed now, too, and is constantly changing. He still can't read what it's actually saying, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out the two symbols constantly changing at the front of the text signify a countdown.

Startled by the sudden noise, Khond's head whips from side to side, before focusing on the path Rick had gone down, and hurrying in that direction himself.  "Has he never heard the phrase 'curiosity killed the cat'?"

Blinking a few times in response to Nuria, Asimi simply tosses the boots aside, "Understood."

She tries to determine her next course from here before the sudden alarm makes her flinch as well. Gritting her teeth, and tightening her grip on her weapon, she sees Khond dart off and elects to follow him, motioning for whoever's left to likewise follow.

Rick looks over his shoulder and considers his chances of getting far enough away given the ticking down and, after deciding it's too far, turns back to see what happens.

If Khond arrives in time,

"Rick is expecting that," he points at the pillar, "to do something amazing friend Khond! Or blow up."

Asimi and Khond both race down the corridor, where a cat man contemplates running for a moment, perhaps intend on feigning innocence... But there really wasn't any time for that. As he points out the machine to Khond, expecting either explosions or something amazing, both Asimi and Khond who rush in there can, in fact, read the text that is being displayed, given how it is Elven. Old Elven, with perhaps some words that seem unfamiliar, but the basic gist becomes more than obvious.

(Can you read Elven?)

The elf's eyes widen at the realization something big was about to happen. Though she didn't comprehend what the machine meant... It probably wasn't going to work well with how dilapidated the rest of this structure was.

Asimi had already thought the furnace was set to explode before, and this would be no different. Turning on her heel she attempts to bolt back down the way she came in an effort to put something between her and the new machine with what little time they had.

Rick notices Asimi come charging forward, skid to a halt and spin to run away. To Khond he asks absently, without taking his eyes off the changing symbols,

"Rick was going to ask, friend Khond when did the new elf lady show up? Rick is pretty sure boss Pallen only hired one elf lady."

Khond stares blankly at the machine, then looks to Rick, "I'll tell you if we survive whatever 'leyline extraction' is in a few seconds."

Rick squints at Khond then at the symbols.

"Rick wonders what kind of playline the machine is extracting."

Oren follows after Rick, but not at a breakneck speed.   He would follow after Khond.  Seeing Sylera visibly not like the machine and maybe understanding what she sees on it, he will follow her lead and back away a bit from the furnace.     He will back out of the room and watch instead from poking his head through the doorway.  He cannot help but be curious. 

"Leyline Extracton?" Sylvera mutters, confused. She looks briefly at Asimi as the other elf bolts back the direction they came. Sure, this looks like some sort of ominous countdown but... how does this extraction pose a threat to them? 

She raises an eyebrow, then decides to follow Oren and Asimi back a ways just to be safe. "What do you expect is going to happen?" She asks Asimi, still confused at why the other elf is assuming some sort of danger is going to come from this device. "I doubt it will explode, considering this place seems to have been made into a resting place for Pallen's family. Why would something like that be set to explode?" Unless there is something it is hiding. 

She looks back at the furnace. Whatever's going to happen, she doesn't have time to do anything about it now. 

Nuria blinks back at Asimi when the elf tosses her boots away. She's not sure what kind of reaction the elf would give her, but it wasn't that.

Still sitting on Khond's back, as he looks at the machine, Nuria braces herself for whatever the centaur decides to do. She wants to run at the moment...but then again that's not an uncommon feeling for her. She remains in petrified silence as the clock counts down.

Breldo is befuddled by this whole place, and would very much like to leave.