(Dice rolls seem broken.  Here's the reroll.)

Attack: 7 Damage: 5 and 6 if it moves.

(Yeah, seeing that XD. Also, yeah, sorry, I'm still getting used to this. It's a delicate balance between using rules and maintaining post flow. That's kinda why this first encounter was really small.)

The final creature that's able to move pops like a disgusting little balloon, spattering foul-smelling muck against the door frame. Whatever they are, they're immature but still eager to attack anything that comes within their territory. The rest are easily dispatched with coup de graces.

It's over very quickly. In fact, Jules JUST arrives after it's already over from when he was called back.

"UGH! What did you four find? An ancient garbage heap?" he says, holding his nose.

Krinix feels relief, revulsion, and no small amount of shame at the way he carried himself in that encounter. He settles himself down and starts investigating the glowing crystals, intermittently casting minor illusion to create differently colored flames, trying to figure out what they're doing. He also instructs Glide to explore deeper in the area where the critters came from, but stop at 100' away for now.

How was the platform moving? I didn't quite understand that.

About what time is it? Do we need to talk about going back home soon or are we going to camp out here?

The platform is rotating, like a carousel. The innermost 'ring' has a depression that has some old, empty eggs in it that stays stationary while the outer rings slowly rotate around, the grooves where something was placed going in a slow circle. The glowing crystals are just resting on the floor of the chamber by the platform, and there are two silver plates as well.

Again, the crystals react to the magic as illusion is cast, but they seem to be in the wrong place to perform whatever function they're supposed to.

Krinix will try setting the crystals in the groove and activating them with magic. If that doesn't seem to work then he will place them in the eggs and activate them. If that doesn't seem to work he will set them on the silver plates and activate them. If that doesn't seem to work then he will gather up the crystals to study them further.

When Krinix places the crystals into the depression, they glow intensely. The runes around the platform illuminate. The eggs were just there because some creature slinked down into the chamber and pushed the crystals out, 'killing' the spell. A bit more experimentation later, and Krinix finds that the plates fit into the grooves of the turning carousel. The crystals' light is reflected by the plates, bouncing back and forth like some kind of timekeeper. 

Faerieth gets the overwhelming feeling that the trees... are happy. The runes that were carved into the roots illuminate, spreading out of the chamber and to the trees surrounding the platform. 

A distant booming comes from the direction of the city, like thunder. It calls out once.... twice... and in the fading light of sunset, a new glow can be seen even down in the maintenance chamber. 

"Oh my word!" Jules calls out. "Phlan! Phlan is lit!" he says. "Look, look!" he practically jumps up and down as he points towards the city. What looked to be ornamental decoration on the dwarfish walls that still stand are lamp posts. The ancient texts were quite literal when it said that the purpose of the machine was to make Phlan a beacon. The streets are lit up by a warm glow.

And of the stage itself? Illusions of butterflies materialize where the beams of light from the plates meet that flutter gently up. To have such magic being used for .. amusement... speaks of just how much has been lost to time. 

Should such distractions not be of interest, something else becomes apparent. There are lights in the depths beneath the maintenance chamber, as well. The creatures the party slew were clearly immature. Where there are offspring, there may be parents. It's unclear what the tunnels under the maintenance room might be for, but clearly, they're all part of the same system because there are lights illuminating the darkness of the tunnel.

(Also, award yourselves 50 XP)

Qiran watches, approvingly as Krinix shifts the crystals to and fro, restoring the old contraption.

"Well, light is good.  Light to see, good start."

He turns towards the tunnels.  Their work was not done.  Unless the infestation was purged, the device would probably just get broken again.

Krinix says,

“Well, it’s getting late. Are we going to go down there before we go home? I heard we don’t want to be outside the city after dark...”

Faerith smiles at the trees and thanks them for their help in pointing them in the right direction, "Finding the cause of the destruction... should be our next move. To ensure it doesn't happen again."

Jules marvels at what the group has uncovered for a moment before he looks back to the maintenance room.

"I think you might be able to relax about that." Jules says, writing in his log book.

"With the city lit up like this, this should deter the creatures that thrive in the dark. I dare say you've made it safer for everyone" he adds. "I'm going to report this to Jarvo now, you all keep working!"

And with that, the man hurries off.

The group is left with the lit-up tunnel. This too, is an ancient part of the city. The walls are clearly dwarven, little wonder they're still in perfect condition. A stream of water runs along the bottom of the tunnel, but it's not really a sewer. There's something else, as well; despite the ready source of water, nothing is growing down here. Not mushrooms, not algae, not even mold. The water smells strange, too. Metallic, like blood.

Krinix will reluctantly agree to continue exploring if the rest of the party is eager to do so. He will climb down the hole to the underground stream and try to figure out where to go next. He will send Glide upstream to scout, if possible.

Faerieth's nose curls up. "That... smell, is unnatural." She prepares herself to go down the tunnel to figure out what is wrong.

Qiran cocks his head.

"You're all almost strong.  What are you concerned about?"

He points towards the trapdoor.

"Especially - if we are down there, we are not out in the wilds."

The illumination of the crystal was no small wonder for Chroma, and her face exudes begrudging wonder at the contraption activating. "That is certainly something," she says, scratching the back of her head. She peers at at Jarvo skittering off into the distance. "Let's hope he makes it back in one piece. I hope the beacon provides ample safety for the residents and explorers alike. Speaking of," she expresses, pointing to the lights beckoning from the underlit chamber, "It appears the place has not been thoroughly cleared. I would hate for this place to fall back into disorder. I would rather prevent any damage from befalling this place as possible, which means we should investigate underneath the chamber." Noticing Krinix enter the tunnel, she hurriedly follows - if anything lies down there, fragile members should avoid exploring ahead, and she conveys those thoughts to the rest of the party. Her snout curls up at the smell of the river, and she turns to the more academic members of the impromptu group. "Is this ringing any bells for you?" 

As the group travels down the tunnel, they soon come upon evidence that they weren't the first to find this place. They were the first to figure it out, but not to find it, coming upon the skeletal remains of a few unfortunate explorers. One of them has a crude spike lodged in its chest cavity, while another seems to have had its skull caved in. The clothes that the explorers wore look too new for these to be old deaths. Their bags have been emptied, though the contents have been scattered about. Whoever looted the corpses was interested only in specific items and discarded the rest. There's some official looking documents, one of them still sealed.

Further down the tunnel, however, there's a sudden bend right and some disquieting chittering noises can be heard coming from that direction. They're quite far off, it seems, but because of the echo, it's hard to tell exactly how far off the sounds may actually be.

Krinix would like Glide to head down in the direction of the chittering but stop at the bend for now and don’t exceed 100’ distance away. He will be out sentinel for a moment.

Krinix would like to try to answer Chroma’s question. Is there anything he can learn about the water from smell and appearance alone?

Krinix would be very interest in examining the corpses to determine cause of death.

Krinix will also quietly warn the group that he won’t be able to reproduce the sleeping trick again unless he gets a rest.

Should clarify, the cause of death does seem apparent, but he is curious to know if the little creatures have been at the corpses.

Chroma would like to sift through the remnants of the adventurers, attempting to discern which specific items had been taken, and which items were left out. It wasn't usual for opportunistic ambushers to leave valuables behind, so she rules out foul play for the time being. This begs the question - what was a group of adventurers doing here? In an attempt to answer this question, she will additionally pocket the sealed document, assuming the corpses were fallen adventurers - the administrators would be glad to know the fates of one group that was sent out. Afterwards, she stands guard before the rest of the group, prepared to defend against anything that might come their way.

The little creatures DEFINITELY have been gnawing on the skeletons. The bones actually look worn, and some of them are hollowed out, the marrow having been sucked straight from them. In fact, there's 2 sets of tooth marks, those that are small and delicate and a set that have almost carved holes in the pelvis and skull.

Glide turns the corner and doesn't go any further as he spots in the distance creatures apparently very, VERY unhappy with the tunnels being lit up. They're humanoid, and about human size, but hunched over. Some of them have scraps of clothing clinging to them while others are completely naked, but they appear to be former orcs with huge, pulsating tumors distorting their bodies. The rear ends of the disgusting little grub creatures hang out at the centers of these pustules, some of the orcs having more than one twisting their bodies. The heads of the orcs have been twisted, their mouths hanging open and revealing the same circular rings of teeth the small creatures have. Several of them are carrying crude clubs, others are holding onto old stable nails to use as makeshift shivs. They're swiping and slashing at the lights, but the stone figures that produce the glow as little butterflies are too durable to be so easily broken by such clumsy assault. There's 6 of them, with more further down the tunnel.

There's a fork further down the tunnel that takes a sharp left.... which would lead out of the city, towards the farm lands. Glide can smell the water having a stronger metallic scent coming from there. Maybe that's what's been causing the crops to grow so poorly, if there's tainted water flowing. It's still unclear what these tunnels were used for, since they're not sewers.

Meanwhile, something catches Chroma's eye when she pockets the official document. It has the same seal as what could be seen on the outfits of those three obnoxious brothers, the crest of Hillsfar.

Krinix stops his examination of the corpses and his eyes stare unseeing at the wall as he uses the sight of his familiar, and he quietly murmurs a description of the disturbing scene around the corner. He suggests that the creatures might be taken by surprise, though he also expresses concern that violence might attract the attention of others, and who can say how many of these things are down here.