A badly-wrapped package.

[eternally_aggrieved]

A brown paper package sits on Ahrotahn's desk in Relto. It shakes and wobbles, giving the general impression that it is grievously annoyed.

Comments

[calledtoventure]

Perhaps spinning the turn-wheel will brighten the image.

[all_the_worlds_have]

More sparks fill the small hollow, but the image doesn't brighten at all.

[calledtoventure]

Is the slider still locked?

[all_the_worlds_have]

Yes, but it looks like there's a little inset handle that might pop out to let it move. Unfortunately, the slot is too thin for Ahrotahn to get her nails in.

[calledtoventure]

Can she thread the wick into the slot? If she can get the string behind the handle and back out again, she might be able to use that to pull it out.

[all_the_worlds_have]

No, but holding it so close to the hollow it seems to be about the same size...

[calledtoventure]

Aha.

She mounts the wick in the hollow, turns the wheel to light it with the sparks, and looks through the telescope.

[all_the_worlds_have]

The wick fits, and burns merrily, but the light still doesn't seem to be reaching the eyepiece.
As the device heats up from the candle flame, there's a small 'click' sound.

[calledtoventure]

Perhaps the slider is now unlocked?

Or, if not, perhaps the candle can be moved so that the slides are directly between the flame and the telescope?

[all_the_worlds_have]

The slider is unlocked! Sliding it proves to raise the candle flame up behind the slides, producing a warm red glow from the telescope's eyepiece.

[calledtoventure]

There we go. Telescope time at last.

[all_the_worlds_have]

The scene revealed is of a man sitting at the same table, staring down at the same box. His face has been scratched away from the slides. In the background, there are what appear to be engineering diagrams of the outer safe.

[calledtoventure]

Can she make out any details on the diagrams, or the positions of the tumblers on the safe?

If the image is not moving, does winding the clockwork again change this?

[all_the_worlds_have]

No.

The image is moving, but it appears that the man at the table is doing little but nodding his head to keep from falling asleep.

[calledtoventure]

What if she holds the lens between the telescope and her eye as she looks through? Or between the telescope and the slides?

[all_the_worlds_have]

The lens reveals -
Burning cyan letters have been scratched into the wall. The man with the scratched-away face has quarter-turned towards the camera, and gestures upwards to the words with one hand: meanwhile, the box rotates inexplicably on the table beside him.

There is a click, and a circular panel to the left of the telescope splits open, revealing a set of rings not unlike those on the front of the outer safe. These are marked with a three-pointed pattern much like a diagram of an atom. The pattern is not aligned at the moment.

[calledtoventure]

Excellent.

She enters the letters from the wall into the letter-tumblers.

Do the atom rings rotate to align?

[all_the_worlds_have]

No. There is a small issue with the letter-tumblers: she can only manage 'TRIA' - the final panel is entirely blank.

[calledtoventure]

(What was the fifth letter, on the wall?)

She tries aligning the atom-diagram rings.

[all_the_worlds_have]

"L".

The atom-diagram rings align easily. Too easily. They are, in fact, trilaterally symmetrical, making the markings practically useless for actually telling where the rings are positioned.

[calledtoventure]

Perhaps the lens will reveal further marks.

[all_the_worlds_have]

It does indeed.

The brass rings align more easily with the marks revealed in the light of the lens, which prove to be in the form of a horned skull.

As they click into place, a hidden compartment opens, producing the missing 'L'. When the word is completed on the tumblers, the entire viewing-machine slides back into the box, the side closing with a final-sounding snap.

On the front of the box, the seal marked with an eye turns ninety degrees and separates. Only two seals remain.

Then the keyhole-marked side beneath the letter-tumblers flips open, and a large square box slides out.

The front side has a small keyhole in the upper-right corner, and a large, circular door, locked tightly.
The left-hand side appears to have a safe dial, but the outer ring that would allow it to be turned is missing.
The right-hand side contains a cross-shaped slot and a locked drawer.
The bottom has nothing of interest.
The top is made of slats, which roll away when a catch is pressed: beneath it sits four spheres with embedded gemstones. One of them in the bottom-left corner faces directly towards the ceiling, its gem glowing with gold-green light: the other three point off in seemingly-random directions.
A folded piece of paper sits in the centre of the four gems, the same "AS" signature from before visible on the upper page.
None of this changes when viewed with the lens.

[calledtoventure]

Excellent.

Ahrotahn tries the large iron key in the drawer's lock.

She also unfolds and reads the paper, and tries rotating the other three spheres to point upward as well.

[all_the_worlds_have]

The iron key is clearly intended to fit this hole - the cross-like shapes match exactly - but there is a flat sliding shelf below that's obstructing part of the keyhole. It's impossible for her to fit the key in.

The paper reads:

"May 8th:

Mcallister returns with the rubbings from Egypt! The pattern continues. The Tibetans call the fifth element Space. To the Hindus, it is Aether. And now, to the Babylonians, it is simply Up. The other direction. The realm of Ishtar. Of yet more significance is the recurrence of the hexagonal glyph.

(The glyph in cyan paint on the back of the first safe is here reproduced.)

The same symbol, repeated in cultures separated by countless centuries and the span of the globe! Who will tell me that this is mere superstition at work? When my hands hold the first refined sample, then they will be forced to recognize me!

Presently, the skeptics have one more in their number. Mcallister has quit my service."

[calledtoventure]

She slides the shelf out, first, to see if there is anything of interest on it; then in, to see if she can get it out of the way of the key.