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Ben d'Tarkanan      Thanks to Edward, Lord Raedric's wife and child are back among the living. The lord of Gilded Vale is ecstatic that his child is not Hollowborn. That doesn't change the fact that up to this point, he's been dangerously unstable. How you choose to address that, and indeed, whether you choose to address it at all, is entirely up to you.

     There is also the underlying mystery of Waidwen's Legacy, an illness causing children to be born catatonic. Some say it's divine punishment for the death of the god Eothas, who was killed during his failed invasion of this country some fifteen years ago.

     One individual victim of Waidwen's Legacy has been cured, but there's still little hard evidence as to the cause. 'Little' isn't 'none,' however--two of you have a clue that might be worth investigating. Eder, the fighter (and Gilded Vale's sole remaining follower of Eothas) was quick to request that you continue your work in that regard.

     Ezra, meanwhile, has made a good impression with the town. He's also made a friend in Aloth Corfiser, the elf wizard. Aloth hasn't left town yet, and should Ezra appear, the wizard approaches him with a smile that almost looks relieved. As Ezra might recall, Aloth isn't popular with the locals--his accent, or his manner, seems to annoy them. "Ah, hello... Ezra, wasn't it? I didn't expect to see you again..."
Edward Blackwell      The real test is when the asshole is under the knife.

     It's the stench of cigarettes that tells the tale. The clinging, cloying smoke, thick as a factory's output. It's hard to breathe without gagging. What would normally be a thin layer of smog dripping from the knife-sharp chin covered in stubble is today a stinking storm from thin lips. Ash drips rudely from his lips, stick after stick inhaled and spat out onto the floor. No interest in ashtrays. No interest in respect in those dead-earth eyes. That too is different. Normally that disrespect is a quiet apathy. It's never personal, say the thin lips. It's just no desire to make time for procedure.

     But here is it most definitely personal. The twitch of delicate fingers says as much. The coin dancing across the knuckles of his free hand is anxious. The energy of barely-contained distaste. The bright pink t-shirt with JUICY written across the chest rises and falls as slowly as the labcoat dead across his shoulders. An attempt to calm down. An attempt to hold still.

     I could break through and fix him but I can't swear that that's all I'd do.

     Edward Blackwell has gone through more than one pack in the last hour and a half. His lighter is running low on fuel. He is not sure what he will do when it runs out. He might do something he can't take back.

     Again.

     But God knows he's doing his damnedest to let Tamamo do whatever the hell it is she's going to.

     He's determined not to fail this test.

     He's also trying to figure out how he can start raising the dead alchemists and mediciners back at the tree without any of them prying into how he's doing it, but one step at a time. First, do no harm.

     *Then* worry about doing harm by accident.
Ezra Mochizuki Ezra arrives, in his summer jacket, shirt, and jeans, after shifting out of his super suit. First destination: Aloth.

The man approaches with a wave. "Eh? Nah, I'm just a courier offworld, always busy. How are you doing?" There's a mild grin, as he moves to walk and talk through the town.

"So, any new 'quests'? I'd like to help out as best as I can. You're welcome to join me, if you'd like."
Tamamo <Tac-Paladins> 4 Tamamo says, "I do worry for them. However... we must consider that leaving him as-is, without his child, could have terrible consequences, as well, but do not worry. I believe we can reach a compromise that will leave him with hope, and encourage his recovery, without leaving the Lady Raedric within his immediate reach."

    . . .

<Tac-Paladins> 4 Tamamo says, "Whether he recovers or not, I could not yet say, but it will be up to his own efforts. I shall only provide him hope and motivation."

    Tamamo no Mae is present and concerned. The state of the Lady Raedric is not what one could call 'good,' but she's unwilling to simply break up the family outright, for her sake, for her child's sake, and for the sake of what hope there is that Lord Raedric might recover. There are no simple solutions for this problem, taking those future concerns into account. There is no easy replacement for a father, and the inadequacy of one's birth parent does nothing to change that unfortunate fact.

    That said, leaving them together is likewise unacceptable. One could hardly keep them together, as is, given the Lady Raedric's state. It's with this thought foremost that Tamamo goes to explain matters to the Lord Raedric, presenting her proposal as one impossible to deny. Yes, he has a child. He has an heir of his own blood, as is nigh-universally important to those of his position. But the revival of his family has left them in such a state as to need a great deal of time 'to recover.' A trustworthy relative might do for this, preferably of the Lady's family line, but if not, a trustworthy religious order would likewise offer protection and time for healing.

    As to how long this may take, she suggests, it is dependent on the damage he has unfortunately caused them to suffer. She's careful to couch these points as linked--his own countenance would now cause his wife's state to suffer, and so he must allow time for both his own recovery and hers. It hardly needs to be said, but if he should fail to reconcile before his child is grown, that would be an heir having never known his place in the world, nor the legacy he is meant to uphold, and he would lose all chance of meaningfully being a father.

    Pointedly, this establishes that his family will be leaving, moving out of his physical and social reach, and that they won't be back until he can convincingly change himself. His chances of successfully doing this are of less concern to Tamamo, though it would be better if he did. The responsibility to overcome his major failings is on himself. This is all delivered in the manner of, as she is, a divine figure imparting 'what will be.'
Sumiko So what was her plan in all of this?  Did she manage to help prevent the Lord from actually dying...but did that actually help?  She drums her fingers on her arms, having crossed them as she sunk into thought.  She wondered, she knew it was more for Ben's sake of mind than anything else, but even then...

Her mind sunk back into thought, having to put down your own friend.  No, she realized, she had done it for herself.  Ben was likely strong enough to get over it, especially with the madness that took him.  The thought that he would have to do that...that was the real reason.  Still, too late now to have regrets.

She considers voicing her opinion aloud, but then again...they are likely within the eyes and ears of said paranoid guy.  This situation is fucked, she thinks.  Alright, she can't go off on her own right now.  It'd also be crazy of her to just go back on what she had done up to this point, fixing the mess by making a bigger one was just stupid.  

Tamamo has a plan so instead, she just hangs back waiting for either the other shoe to drop or for it to succeed.  Instead, she whispers to Edward.  "So...I fucked up, right?  I shouldn't have stopped the fight and getting him to see reason.  Because right now it just feels like we just moved the counter back on a time bomb instead of disarming it."
Edward Blackwell      Edward's reply to Sumiko goes completely unheard. He doesn't move his lips save to take another smoke. But Sumiko hears it loud and clear.

    EDWARD: The shitty thing is that even if he got killed I'd bring him back, so it's just cutting out the middle-man of making me do more fucking work.
Sumiko Sumiko shakes her head, that's...probably accurate, she considers.  It doesn't change the fact that her reasons were entirely selfish in the end.  Then again, considering this fact, was it selfish, or greedy?  Huh...she COULD justify it that way.  At least she's not feeling sick over this.  

"I guess so," She whispers again.  "We'd still be in the same jam," what goes unsaid is 'both separating him from his wife and child and from his ruling of the town.'
Ben d'Tarkanan      There is a hand placed upon Edward's shoulder as he silently puts together a plan. It's Ben's. His left hand, since the other is currently covered in blood.

     Tamamo's proposal gives Lord Raedric much to think about. For the first time, he takes off his helmet. He was a handsome man, once, before fear, anger and superstition frayed his mind. Now, he just looks haggard, though it's not hard to imagine his green eyes wide with violent, mad intent.

     For a moment it looks as if the armor he wears is a great burden. In that fleeting instant Raedric seems to have trouble holding himself upright. Tamamo's words have reached him. For the first time since her raising, he notices that the Lady Raedric can barely look at him, shrinking away as he gets near. She's terrified of him, and that seems to shame him into something resembling a lucid state of mind.

     "Very well," says Raedric hoarsely. "If I am truly so unwell, it should be Ygrid's decision."

     Lady Ygrid Raedric hasn't yet left her bed. She can hardly be blamed. Brushing her red hair aside, she speaks, softly but clearly. "We'll stay here. Raedric will go to the sanitarium in Defiance Bay, and stay there until he's well."

     "Very well," repeats Raedric. There is a shade of sadness in his voice. It's noticeable. He doesn't expect that he'll get to return. Either way, he calls for his squire, who begins assisting him in removing the heavy armor. "I'll be on the road before the end of the day."

     Raedric is packing, with plans to leave for a 'Sanitarium' in the nation's capital, Defiance Bay. What will you do now?
Ben d'Tarkanan EZRA & ALOTH

     "I'd be glad to," says Aloth with pleased surprise. "Aufra spoke very highly of you to some of the other villagers. I... took the liberty of looking around myself," says the elf, Tucking his spellbook under his arm and following along with Ezra. He blinks owlishly at the courier at the mention of the word 'quest.' "Nothing so... purposeful, I'm afraid, but there are a few people who could use help. The cook from the local inn is missing, the blacksmith is missing a shipment of raw materials, and apparently there's a caravan of settlers that's currently late by a few days." He pauses thoughtfully, waiting for Ezra's response.
Lilian Rook     Lilian knows exactly what Edward is like here. What he was like last time. The first time. What he'll be like now. No matter what he might say about the oath, his lifestyle, his principles, Lilian isn't someone who's gotten where she is by trusting people at their word and just expecting things will work out. Though she'd nebulously owed him some trivial pittance last time, the reason she repeats the gesture is entirely separate. Arriving at the scene, she just about beans Edward in the head with a replacement pack, followed by a second. A snap of the fingers and a little cantrip lights the newest choice with a marble-sized puff of flame in front of his face.

    "Slow down. I need you not going off the deep end here. Think of England or something." Lilian shoots him. "You felt something before. Didn't you? When you brushed the infant's soul. Something nearby. I need to know where it is. Well, I'd like to. It'd save us all a lot of time."
Sumiko "I have a suggestion," Sumiko says, "We could take him somewhere that would actually have a chance at fixing his mind, instead of...well let's just say Sanitariums of this era are...suspect at best.  It'd be stupid to put all of that effort into getting to this point, to only have you locked up in a place that'd be more likely to cause you to go into madness."

"There are many worlds where such help is common and actually good.  I know a guy who might be able to help.  I can't make specific guarantees...I'm not a doctor.  It's better than this."

"Also, we could find Raedric's brother.  He'd be a good choice to stand in for Raedric until either his mind heals enough or until his son becomes of age.  Between him and Lady Ygrid they'd be able to keep the land stable, the people happy, and not cause the child to live out in the wilds if the other nearby lords decide to move in on these lands."

Things start changing towards the overarching problem, but she doesn't have anything to add here.  She doesn't have the toolkit, at least, she doesn't right now.  She could take one, but that'd be rude.
Edward Blackwell      Ben puts his hand on Edward's shoulder. It is not much of a calming effect.

     Lord Raedric says that he'll let his wife choose. OK. Good step. She says that he can go to a sanitarium until he's better. OK. Good step.

     He's about to say something when Lilian throws a pack at him. It hits him in the head, full-stop, and bounces to the floor. The second one he's ready for, and he once again proves that he is indeed more superhuman than he tends to let on. He bends forward to pick up the pack as Lilian lights his current smoke and gets a facefull of fire.

     It doesn't bother him much. Don't let the swearing say otherwise.

     When Edward straightens, he shoots her a look. "I'm fucking Canadian," he reminds her, knowing full well that she knows that, with a tone that says as much, "And I felt...*something*, but that was Tamamo's expertise. I was holding on for the kid's life. She's the one who was tracing it." He looks over at her. "Weren't you?"

     He's already brushing the burns off his face. Literally. He's just trailing his fingers down the parts that were accidentally on fire, and they sort of vanish in the process.

     EDWARD: I think he should be in fucking jail, but I think I'm doing a frankly fucking remarkable job of holding myself back in this evidently delicate situation.

     EDWARD: I want to hear if the townspeople want him in fucking jail. And the murdered doctors. His wife's just one victim. There's five others. Maybe more. Bending to his wife isn't really bending at all. But I'm not the right person to bring it up.
Tamamo     If the lord has agreed to leave, that leaves the lady in charge of the household and, thus, the township. Though her condition is poor, it was well enough to make this decision when it was offered to her, which gives Tamamo some hope that all will, within reason, be well. "Will you be quite alright, on your own? Do you employ a skilled steward?" It will be so much easier if she has good help, but she isn't going to just stick around to sort it all out. Finding Ygrid's brother-in-law might help, but it's just not as pressing in her mind, it's clear, as is finding the sources of the land's cursed state.

    Edward is asking her a question on that topic, and Eder, likewise. Does she know which way to go? "I do. It is some distance away, in... ah, let us see..." She orients, and suggests a direction and a distance, "Somewhat more than a day's walk, but I should like to spend less time in mere motion. One should not expect time to be an ally, in fighting a tangled curse." Toward Cilant Lis, it seems. The name isn't recognizable to her.

    She doesn't comment on the dead doctors, for several reasons. Wanting to get at the problem possibly caused by a dead god is just one reason.

    "Shall we continue on, as quickly as we may? To return here would not be unreasonable, but to tarry, as I said, may prove unwise."
Ezra Mochizuki "Quest, you know, like in a video game- you've never heard of a video game, have you? It's basically a term for a job, I played a lot of games growing up." Ezra seems sort of...distant saying that, but shakes it off rapidly.

"Let's look for that caravan, then. Do they think there's bandits? I remember there being a bandit problem, and if they have either bandits or a broken wheel, both are something we can get fixed."

If Aloth gives him the information necessary and it doesn't seem too troublesome, he'll be off with him, as a moderate pace instead of jogging him to death, to get to their road.
Ben d'Tarkanan      "As you wish," says Raedric to Sumiko. It's easy to convince him. He has no desire for the throne as long as he might get to see his family one more time. He's given up, at this point, focusing entirely on what's best for his wife and son.

     "As soon as Lord Raedric is ready, I shall escort him to the gate and see that he is left in the care of these healers," says Ben. "When he is well enough to stand trial, he shall. I shall inform Duc Wolf-Grin of Defiance Bay once Lord Raedric is in the healers' care." With that, he obtains the gate address from Sumiko, and before long, he and Raedric have left the castle.

     "Don't worry about finding Kolsc," says Ygrid matter-of-factly to Sumiko. "Believe me, as soon as he hears Raedric is gone, he'll either find me, or find you. As for me, I'll be ready for him. He's ambitious, but he's a good man." Tamamo and Edward in particular get a warm, but sad smile. "I wish it didn't have to be this way, but I know this is best. I can't thank you two enough for bringing my boy back--really, truly back."

     Eder speaks up next, stepping forward. Apparently, he's of the same mind as Tamamo. "I'll lead the way," he says, so that the whole group can hear him. "Just meet me in the courtyard when you're ready."
Lilian Rook     Lilian goes through Edward, then Tamamo, recording what information she has on the mystery at hand, faint and perhaps tangential as it may be. In the matters of Raedric, she has neither the concern nor the interest to handle him or his family; and besides, she knows perfectly well that Tamamo won't be able to resist when it comes to that last matter.

    She spends only a very short while conversing between them through private channels as to whether Raedric should be removed on a permanent basis, but given the bunrei's reluctance to break up even this bizarre and abusive relationship in the name of pragmatism, Lilian gives up swiftly (with some perfectly suppressed complaints of her own). What she leaves Edward with, in his inner turmoil, is: "I'll put it this way. You're a doctor, not an executor of law, or any form of nobility. I consider it best that, when in doubt, one stays in their lane. I respect and defer to your decisions in all matters of medicine. Justice and civil engineering, I'd be less inclined to."

    "More than a day's walk. Perhaps half an hour if I move quickly then."

    She means conventionally so. Due to the number of serious projects she's found herself building up to in the meantime, she's taxed her extra hours relatively deep today, and would prefer not to use them traveling. Lilian takes the direction in mind, severs ties with her weight on earth, and cuts straight over the forest, flying high enough to get an aerial view of any noteworthy places a few miles before coming into contact with them. She intends to head straight to the anomaly.
Edward Blackwell      Raedric thanks him.

     A long, drawn-out, frustrating internal conflict, voiced only briefly on the radio and over his psychic powers, comes to an end. Edward sinks his shoulders slightly. He taps his cigarette in the ashtray. Then, with a surprising humility, he says,

     "Just doing my job. I'm glad he and your wife are okay. I hope you get yourself sorted soon. Sorry I had to traumatize like half your soldiers. I'll send 'em fruit baskets."

     He really will, too.

     That's not a joke.

     Where do you *think* his paycheck goes (besides back into the Paladins, or various charities)? Apologizing to people.

     "Lay on, MacDuff," he says to their guide.
Sumiko Sumiko nods towards Ben, feeling a little LESS like a fuck up, and glad that things were going to somewhat work out.  She gives the address to Ben and turns towards the lady who gives a better explanation.  "Well, that's...good.  Good luck, for both of you," Clearly meaning the baby.  

To Raedric she shakes her head, "You're only going to get better if you really want it.  It takes a lot to gain control of your life after everything goes pearshaped."

To both of them, "If you really are that grateful.  I accept payment in gold, various gems, money, stuff like that." A pause if she gets stares, "What?  I'm /still/ the Cardinal Voice of Greed."

On the road again, she's on her flying glass bird thing.  Wanting to spend as little time as she can actually traveling the spooky forest medieval land.  "Ugh, seriously.  How do people get on without electricity and hot water?  I am still not sure how I survived my world for so long without these things."
Ben d'Tarkanan      "It could have been," says Aloth. He frowns, as if debating whether to tell Ezra something. "They... would have passed near a ruin. Cilant Lis, in the language of the bygone Engwithans." He continues. "It might have been Glanfathans seeking to protect the ruin... or a biawac." He pronounces that second word 'BEE-uh-wik.' As that word will likely draw *just* as blank a look as 'quest' did for Aloth, he provides an explanation. "'Spirit wind,' in Glanfathan. It's a storm that can shear the soul from a body--a person would be lucky to get out alive."

CILANT LIS

     Ezra and Aloth will find the ruins before they find the caravan. Lilian can easily pick the ruin out with an aerial view, as there are only so many ruins which fit 'a day and change, north-northwest of Raedric's Hold.' It also looks very... ruin-y. Eder will lead anyone without such talents to the place, and once he arrives, that pretty much accounts for everyone still on this world.

     Pale white stone which might've once been somewhat grand fights a losing battle against an abundant force of grass, and healthy, thriving trees. You come to a circular clearing where a few signs of this bygone civilization still stand. Stone circles, perhaps of some mystic purpose, one larger and two smaller, lead to a crumbling staircase. The upper level of these outdoor ruins leads to the mouth of some cave or complex. The buzzing of flies near this entrance betrays the presence of a corpse. If there's treasure, it's probably in that cave... but it might be dangerous.

     What is likely to draw the most attention, however, is on the other side of those three stone circles. A towering machine of stone, brass, copper and some manner of highly magically active green gem or mineral. It is composed of three 'tiers,' each a great spinning disc. It looks ageless, perhaps thousands of years old, but the discs spin perfectly. There is a sickly air around the machine, the hairs on the back of your neck standing up as you get closer.

     Flanking the machine are three... figures. They look grey and charred, standing motionless, each wearing some sort of headdress that conceals their faces--except for their mouths, which are open in silent, anguished cries. The slightest touch or disturbance, and they disperse into clouds of ash. Aloth looks white as a sheet.
Sumiko The bird lands before shattering into glass again and fading into nothing.  Taking stock of her surroundings as others gather up she doesn't notice the corpse at the entrance, as the large machine draws her attention.  Huh.  The gem, however, much more likely has her attention.  Hitting the machine is likely a bad idea.

Instead, she summons a blade in her hand and attempts to use the diamond cutter blade to try and pry the gem out of the socket.  Sure she has to get CLOSE to it, but the gem was green.

And valuable looking.

And potentially easily accessible.  
Edward Blackwell      This place is unnerving.

     A lifetime of living in cities, and perhaps the Canadian wilderness a few times, does not prepare you a man for this. This arcana. This towering, massive stone edifice from another age. This is archaeology writ large. More than that, it's magical archaeology, and it makes Edward twitch. There's something wrong about this. But he approaches anyway, cautiously, to brush his hand against one of the ashen figures.

     It falls to pieces.

     His fingers are covered in human ash.

     Edward stares at his hand. In the end it's just a cadaver. But it was a burned cadaver gone beyond human recognition.

     They're dead. He can't save them-

     Wait.

     They're bodies.

     Edward removes the cigarette from his mouth. He discards it thoughtlessly, letting it burn out against the stone. A new cigarette comes to his lips. Flick, flick. The lighter.

     He's holding the new smoke in an odd way, though. The smoke is a mask in front of his face. It hangs in the air in front of his eyes.

     He needed a new stick so he could focus on the flame at the tip. So he could move the smoke in the right way with ease.

     So he could see how they died, and if someone less obvious than the Massive Death Machine was responsible.
Tamamo     Tamamo arrives at a strange place, of unknown design, intent, and meaning. She finds Lilian's hand, preferably while everyone else is busy looking at the probable-death machine and the corpses, and gives it a squeeze. Quietly, "My knight."

    But she has things to do, no matter how strange this place is. Things to find, a trail to follow. She no longer has access to that first point, the starting point in the trail, the soulless child-body, but it led her here, and so, she must be able to find it again. She searches out, looking for traces of magic, of curses, of touches of the divine, finding where in this place those trails might lead her. If they lead toward the towering construct, she looks closer, reaching not just through its present form, but back and forth along such strings of Fate as bind it, to find the lives and meaning it brushed against.
Lilian Rook     Given her relevant speed and ability to completely skip the forest, Lilian is likely the first to arrive -- along with Tamamo and possibly short of Ezra, depending -- but puts her spare time there to little use. Ruins are ruins. Generic as they may be for most 'adventuring' types out in the Multiverse, glossed over save for their layout, foes, traps, and potential treasure that they like to expect, Lilian is used to these sorts of things having considerably greater, and less materially overt, significance.

    She spends a significant amount of time scouting out the bleached stones themselves, pulling aside creepers and scraping mosses, scanning their walls for iconography, examining their pillars to tell where the loads would have been pacing between their fragments of walls to get an idea of their size and shape. She wants to imagine what these old pieces would have been part of in their prime, because she feels it may very well be extremely relevant to what else there is to find here. She's not exactly an archeologist, nor an architect, so in lieu of actual clues, she'd have to make some considerable guesses. She only spares a shallow peek for a dead body, interested only in as far as how it may have been killed, as valuable information.

    But there's no ignoring that . . . machine. That unreal, even alien thing, still blithely turning its frictionless gears aeons after the extinction of its architects. An unwholesome thing of brass and perpetual motion. It doesn't take her more than a second of that queasy, crawling feeling to decide she doesn't like it, but she takes a bracing breath and opens her senses to examining and analyzing its magic all the same, both its source (albeit she expects it to be obvious) and its nature.

    "Whatever that is, I don't want it here." she says. "There's no reason whatsoever that I can think of to let it stay. There's no possibility that it serves any important function in this area, nor the town." She frowns at the mere sight of foliage, then, turning slowly a full three hundred and sixty degrees. "But it's strange that here of all places is where the grass is green and the leaves bear trees."

    She releases Tamamo's hand when she moves towards the silently spinning colossus, following only for a few more paces. "Please, tell me what you find. I'll attempt destroying it if necessary. I'd think something with this revolting sort of aura would be the source of the sickly state of the forest south of here, under ordinary circumstances."
Ben d'Tarkanan THE GEMLIN

     "Be careful!" Aloth seems genuinely concerned for Sumiko's well-being, perhaps mixed with angry at perceived carelessness with unsafe machinery.

     His concerns are well-founded, and not just because this thing might have turned those masked figures to ash. The moment her blade touches the green material--'adra'--her consciousness is briefly overwhelmed with memories. A man she's never seen, yet somehow knows... no. She Knows this man, or at least did... His name eludes her, but she knows that he is some sort of authority. An older man, just enough to have more grey than black in his beard. He speaks. "Your brother has done his part, and you have seen the power of his contribution." His robes are embroidered with a language that she has never seen, but which is strangely familiar despite that. His headress bears two wing-like protrusions, the mask hiding his eyes behind expressionless metal. At the utterance of the word 'power,' the man in her memory gestures to the machine behind him. Was this recent, or has he done this before? "In the sight of the Queen that Was, will you fulfill the oath? Will you take your place beside your brother in the endless esteem of Her memory that is without flaw? Step forth, and be assured of the great worth of your life's course."

     Then she sees it--the machine whirrs to life under this man's command. Blinding beams of light strip the souls from the bodies of the other robed figures, the wispy essence flowing from them and rendering their bodies inert piles of ash.

EDWARD

     Edward can assuredly surmise that the machine is what killed the masked figures. The question is why--because 'how' is pretty obvious. Through the smoke, Edward sees it play out. The machine stripped their souls from their bodies completely, under the operation of some sort of hooded figure, perhaps a leader to these others. Their sacrifice was willing, at least, it appears to have been, the way the smoke depicts it. This would probably be the source of the resistance that he felt when trying to resurrect the young Raedric, as a matter of fact.

TAMAMO

     The machine has great meaning, but only to a few who still live. It has been used relatively few times, as well, once in recent years, and once very, very long ago. Both times, the people who were using it believed that they were doing the right thing. Use of the machine invokes a terrible cost, however... In addition, she can detect two others besides this one, built to serve some grand and frightening purpose.

     The most momentous occasion of its use would certainly be the last time it was used by its original caretakers, the Engwithans. When this place was still new, before nature had even begun to use it, they gathered in the thousands, stretching out well into the forest and the cave network, joined in hands, prepared to pay the price. 'Why' they all gathered to do this is apparently a jealously guarded secret, as it proves hard to track down, almost as if something were fighting her.

LILIAN

     Lilian knows how to look for old things. Her detailed search for iconography, pictoglyphs and the like does bear fruit. There are depictions of people carrying vessels full of water (which is probably not literally water) to and from some sort of pool, where it is later poured into larger humanoid figures. Based on the depictions, this place was built expressly for the machine, and the machine was some sort of last-ditch effort. Maybe it was to save themselves, or maybe not--there are probably no Engwithans still alive today to ask.
Edward Blackwell      Edward drops the cigarette. It hits the ground, spilling ash everywhere.

     "What the *fuck*!?"

     They did this to themselves. They did this to themselves. Why? For what reason? For what purpose? Why would they anchor themselves to this? Why would *this* be something they desired?

     "Why would this hold the kid's soul?"

     "What *possible* fucking reason would *anybody* have to do something like this to themselves?!"

     Edward actually swipes his hand through the ash pile angrily. "God dammit!"
Sumiko Sumiko is grabbed in the soul and is...living something?  Her body is still attached to the stone but does not seem to get better or worse.  So that's...good?

In the dream, Sumiko is trying to remember what she is...who is she?  No, it's not trying to get into the head of another person, but rather into the mind of a previous her.  The machine stands open before her, as the machine whirls into action.  She is being asked to fulfill the oath?  Her brother?

As people fall to piles of ash, she refuses.  At that moment she breaks into a run.  She won't die like this, to some machine based on what she assumed was a lie.  What person would just throw themselves into oblivion over a memory?  
Ezra Mochizuki As the others learn things about the ash piles, Ezra ignores the Revelations and the Main Plot. As Aloth warns Sumiko, Ezra moves over to the rotting fly corpse, and starts looking for belongings. Edward's probably done with it, if he even knows about it.

His goal is to see if any of these people were in the caravan, and if not, who they were - and if this corpse was with them, or someone they murdered for getting to close.

"Aloth, how many people were in the caravan?"
Tamamo     "Three sources of the curse, there were, as I saw. And now, I see three machines." Tamamo returns her sight to the here-and-now, and relays, in brief, what she's seen. "There can be no such coincidence, it is clear. Whether it is the taken souls who still act upon the world, from wherever they have gone, or it is that they never could force the machine to cease its rampant consumption, or that there was some hidden flaw in its operation, is not yet so clear."

    She shakes her head. "To destroy it may ruin such purpose as for which it had been built, and overturn that sacrifice. Or else, perhaps, there is no saving those who rendered themselves lost, and their purpose has long since ceased. In either case, to allow them to continue will..."

    She trails off, pauses, then questions, "Yet, what is this to do with the slain god? No, the timing of its use means little to this malady. Did the slaying of Eothas break the machines, a divine soul caught in the gears, or did the god of rebirth have some hand in preventing their malfunction? These pieces still elude me."

    She approaches closer. "And where have these souls /gone/?" Just a little more information, before she commits. Even if she needs to touch the doom device directly, Tamamo has to find out whether it was just a soul-catcher, or a lid on a jar, or is itself some constantly spinning container of trapped souls. Though it certainly seems like Lilian's suggestion of wrecking it is the way to go.
Lilian Rook     Lilian is, for a time, perfectly well occupied with the ruins themselves, instead of only with the overtly important machine. Her tour around the decrepit stones bears fruit. Though little of the original structure has survived, the reliefs carved into its surface, for future generations long gone, have lasted just as long as the stubborn rear guard of architecture they adhere to. It takes some cutting and scraping to remove all of the necessary plant life, but the sort of pseudo-religious significance of this place, and it's history as a Great Work -- an ancient arcane pharaoh's pyramid -- becomes apparent.

    Lilian backs away from the largest of the pictographs to take in the whole all at once. Tapping her chin, mid-contemplative stare, she tilts her head this way, then slowly that way. "Molten metal?" She can only guess at the vessels and pools, but it seems a solid bet. "The only thing I can imagine being worthwhile to cast into moulds like this. I wonder if those still exist, whatever they are? If they're anything like that monument, they may still be here. Perhaps even functional." Though she goes looking for anything that would suggest their role, the best she can conclude is "Wishful thinking would hope that the rest of these reliefs didn't involve scenes of war, but I'm not so hopeful."

    <J-IC-Scene> Lilian Rook says, "There's also the alternative. A garden has to feed and water itself somehow."

    "You should be able to figure out why." she says to Edward, in the present. "If they're all dead now, something was responsible. Whether an enemy, a crisis, or mere inevitable entropy, all civilizations die out for a reason. All of them will eventually reach the greatest extent of their means to prevent it, before the end. If that'd be this kind of magic, it'll happen at some point. That's how people are. The few for the many is an old, old concept."

    "I've reason to believe the former, however. And that those ruins are no doubt occupied. This wasn't just a ritual site to this thing, but there was a proper workshop around here somewhere. Some arcane forge or another. Likely underground, if it still exists. I don't know if it's still functional, and I'm not sure that I care to dig it up, given the current, pressing concern, but . . ."

    "I'd like if if they'd all be so lucky that an ancient irrigator of souls would be responsible for the blight that they're so terrified of. The alternative would be far, far worse. In either case, I have no use for it. Finish up."
Ben d'Tarkanan EZRA

     Aloth isn't taking it much better than Edward. The wizard falls silent, taking a seat on the stairs and doing his best to turn away from the ash figures. It takes him a moment to realize that Ezra is talking to him. "Ah... yes." He retrieves a little scrap of paper for note-taking from his grimoire, and hands it to Ezra. It's a list of names.

     Ten people, in all.

     "I doubt they were a part of it," says the elf, nodding towards the ashen figures without looking at them. He sounds a lot more certain than just 'doubt,' but now might not be a good time to bring that up. This is almost as upsetting for him as it is for Edward, whatever the reason may be. "But he might be. If they were coming from New Heomar, they would have taken the road through Cilant Lis to save time. There was... no need to cut through the ruins to get to Gilded Vale, though..."

SUMIKO

     >Run

     She had turned and ran, unwilling to allow her life to be used as a bargaining chip. He could find someone else. He always would. That was what was dangerous about him... How persuasive he was. Who was he?

     The memory fades, and she's left in the present, a scene similar but different to the one that she saw. It must have been a long, long time ago... because the 'ruin' in that memory wasn't 'ruined' at all. Was that man an Engwithan? Who talked *these* poor souls into throwing their lives away? It couldn't have been him... could it?

TAMAMO

     Eder, the sole follower of Eothas remaining after the destruction of their temple (by, yes, you guessed it, Raedric), takes a particular interest in Tamamo's musings. He begins humbly, speaking not as an expert but a local. "Way we were taught," drawls the fighter, "When it's time to go, Berath's Wheel turns, and they--Berath, I mean--guide you through it. Eothas brings you into the world brand new." He frowns at the machine. "I never heard of anything like this, though..."

     >Where have the souls gone?

     Tamamo gets an actual, verbal answer from something. It's probably a god. An eye opens, winking into the fabric of her attempted fate-scrying, obscured occasionally by the drifting fog of destiny. "To an old place," it answers in a chorus of a thousand shifting voices. It is impossible to ascribe age or gender to this being. "A place of punishment. A place far below, where only the faithful may tread without fear of death. A dark place. A forgotten place, for forgotten things. You're going to go to this place. You're going to need allies. We'll talk later. Bring something to trade."

     EDWARD

     Edward is able to resurrect the nearby decomposing body. He is a man with slight pockmarks on his face, brown hair and a pack bereft of items. Likely stolen by looters. His name is Heodan, and he had hoped to start a new life in Gilded Vale with the grant that Lord Raedric was offering settlers. He explains that he was part of a caravan of like-minded people, which was forced to take shelter in the ruins to escape a storm called a 'biawac.' This angered a band of Glanfathan hunters who were nearby at the time. Following the ruins' interior out to the other side, Ezra and Edward will find a slow but steady trail of dead and dying would-be settlers, eventually totalling ten. Several of them have arrow or axe wounds, corroborating Heodan's story. One of the settlers, Calisca, mentions a sister in town by the name of Aufra. Aufra, Ezra will recall, is the expecting mother who now has a measure of peace-of-mind thanks to his and Aloth's efforts.

     The machines are the source of the resistance that Tamamo and Edward felt when trying to save the young Raedric. There are three in total, activated for some unknown purpose, by hooded fanatics. Whatever the reason for their activation, the consequences are dire indeed. One of the machines is relatively close, in the nation's capital of Defiance Bay. For those seeking an end to the Legacy, that might be the next step.
Ben d'Tarkanan LILIAN

     That elf wizard doesn't seem to want to leave Ezra's side for long, but Eder stays put. "I'd like that, too," says Eder. "Especially if it means we can just turn this thing off." He packs his pipe with something pale and leafy, striking a flint to light it up. The fighter takes a practiced draw, shaking his head. He's careful to exhale away from the others--his mother didn't raise him to be rude. He's concerned--his furrowed brow and frown practically spell it out, and it's not hard to imagine why. He wouldn't even know if it /can/ be turned off, much less how to do it.

     "I'll tell you this--I've lived in the Dyrwood my whole life, fought for it in the Saints' War," he says. That'd be Eothas' attempted invasion--which means that the fighter fought against the forces of his own god. "Never seen anything like this."
Tamamo     While some would find an interruption in their scrying cause for great alarm, Tamamo merely listens to the message, then repeats it, exactly as she'd heard it, into her tactical comm. She doesn't keep on hand such a convenience as a tape recorder, herself, but trusts that Lilian does.

    To Eder, she asks, "Would Berath's Wheel resemble these that spin, perhaps?" A grand cycle of rebirth is not at all an unknown concept to her, at least. But from his latter comment, it sounds like this sort of thing didn't show up in any illustrated scripture.

    "One matter has been answered. I see no reason to allow this device to still stand." There are still a number of possible dangers, but so long as none relate to the souls that were taken, it's rather less of an issue in her mind. "Mere force may be up to the task, but I might suggest all others, uninvolved, to retreat to a safer distance. Perhaps a few ri... that is, an hour's trek away." That would help with plausible deniability, too, after someone possibly blew something up in an ancient ruin that is jealously guarded by an unmet group.
Sumiko Sumiko and the gem finally fly off of the machine.  Sumiko on her rear rubbing her head as the images of the past(?) version of events mix in with what was going on in reality.  This is...wow.  Layers of messed up.

However, the gem is in her hands and dollar signs might almost shine in her eyes.  Well, it was worth it at least.
Ben d'Tarkanan      "'Fraid not," says the fighter, shaking his head and smiling wryly. "Unless you see a funny little dwarf or a dead lady somewhere around here." What? /What?/

     "Anyway, look--blowing it up's gonna draw a lot of attention, so you better be ready to run." His expression hardens slightly, no longer an amused, wry smile, but a serious frown. "I wanna help you all beat this thing. But... it might be a good idea to steer clear of Gilded Vale for a while. I'll be in Defiance Bay, if you need me. Copperlane District." He leaves shortly afterwards.

     Aloth, for his part, lingers, pausing. It's as if he wants to say something, but can't, or won't. He shakes his head, dismissing whatever the notion was. Tucking his grimoire under his arm, the wizard leaves without a word, hurrying slightly. He's already unpopular in town--why risk implicating himself in the destruction of Engwithan ruins?
Lilian Rook     Of course Lilian takes records. There's absolutely no good reason not to, as far as she's concerned. Constantly dressing with a wearable computing item, as is apparently casually customary in post-modern society, halfway means the death of privacy anyways, and she has hers set to 'bodycam and then some', as well as taking records of chatter for later replay and consideration. Recording what Tamamo has to repeat is no effort at all.

    Stomaching it is a little different. "Who told you that?" she asks as the need to record clearly ends. The 'the hell' part is silent. "What constitutes a trade here, and why should you have to give a perfect stranger anything at all? Especially one so unacceptably obtrusive."

    Within the space of a breath, Lilian's tone has changed completely. Resolved. No-nonsense. Dangerously feather light. "Mhm. Alright. I'm tired of this." She says. "That's more than enough. Take your distance if you'd like." That is to say those are the only plans she has to take any further 'input'; the implicit or explicit 'you should wait until I feel like I'm at a safe length away'. Beyond that, she intends to do exactly what she suggested to begin with. She only thinks to herself that it'd have been nice to have explosives on hand, but given the region so far, there'd been no reason to expect any use for them. It would have been a lot more convenient.

    She rises upwards into the air again, getting some distance herself, but partly to be able to sight the thing from top to bottom, instead of having to aim somewhere perpendicular to its axis. It also means that anywhere with an unobstructed view of the sky for a long distance can see the glow of Lilian gathering magical energy into herself and coalescing it into a critical mass. She doesn't know what elder materials it may be made out of, thus she errs on the side of overkill, wanting to make certain that it is at least too damaged to keep functioning.

    Multifold magical circles contract around her, rotating on several axis, clockwise and counterclockwise against her. Popping flashes of lambent gold release into the air, strobed with pitch black counterparts, like shadows of stars. The constellation of stellar flashes coalesces to a point, and then there is an eye-searing flash and a deep, tearing, semi-subsonic roar. A beam of black-gold energy lances from the sky, pierces the ground, and flares a hundredfold wide. Matter in contact 'frays apart', torn, or perhaps shaken, to so many tiny pieces, releasing a secondary explosion of coruscating flame up into the air, flinging dirt and debris at the edge of the blast zone.

    It's not a nuclear-powered purifier beam, but Lilian unleashes a considerably powerful Physics Event on the eldritch edifice, doing Interesting Things with energy and particles with that mystery energy, hoping to leave as little of it intact as possible.
Ben d'Tarkanan      Engwithan machines, if this one is any indication, are extremely powerful and complex. Whatever the purpose of this one, its makers did not anticipate that anyone would bring to bear such a level of force against it. The device explodes spectacularly, a dire purple light briefly flashing into the air. It sets the hairs on the back of the neck rising--even in those who are leaving. That stone, hewn with exacting accuracy, fragments into jagged pieces, cast in stunning relief against the violet light. Brass and copper rings, cogs and other intricate mechanical innards are flung yet further, warped and bent out of shape by heat and force combined. The remaining ash-figures are blown away into fine dust.

     When the last clod of dirt has fallen, the last faded stone tumbled, a pall falls over the ruins of Cilant Lis. The machine has been destroyed. You've taken a step towards what may be the end of Waidwen's Legacy. Two such machines likely remain--one but a few days away, the other in a place 'only the faithful may tread without fear of death.' Until you can get more information from the mysterious entity who told you that much, the nearer machine--likely in Defiance Bay--is the best pick for those seeking to end the curse of the Hollowborn.