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]

She reads the note, first.

[all_the_worlds_have]

"June 21st:

Take note of this date. It is the most significant in human history. I have done it!
A human subject was required. The catalyst was my own body!
Fatigued by my studies, I entered the chamber without disabling the mechanism. When I regained consciousness, I had succeeded!

The condensed fifth element is beyond curious, being neither quite energy nor matter. I have already made great strides in its study, specifically in how it refracts the light.

As its discoverer, I suppose I will have to name it: but nothing yet suggests itself. No matter. Tonight, I open the wine!"

[calledtoventure]

She affixes the safe-dial to the safe. (How is it labeled? With numbers, or something else? Or not at all?)

She examines the knights, dial, and knob through the lens.

Can she move the knights at all?

[all_the_worlds_have]

The knights do not appear to wish to shift, but she can just see some sort of gem or glass wedged in behind the one that has no weapon.

The safe-dial is marked with a single pointer. The safe has six catches around its outside edge: two adjacent catches are marked with a single dot and a pair of dots, but the rest of the catches are entirely unlabeled.

Nothing is revealed by her observations through the lens.

[calledtoventure]

She turns the dial to the one-dot catch, then to the two-dot catch.

If that doesn't work, she turns it clockwise one full rotation, clockwise further until the one-dot, then counterclockwise to the two-dot.

If that doesn't work, she turns it counterclockwise one full rotation, counterclockwise further to the one-dot, then clockwise to the two-dot.

[all_the_worlds_have]

The catches unlock as Ahrotahn turns the dial to them, but as soon as she comes to the third catch (proceeding clockwise), the previous two catches relatch.

[calledtoventure]

She turns it to the one-dot, then clockwise directly to the two-dot, then counterclockwise back past the one-dot to the unlabeled catch directly counterclockwise of the one-dot.

[all_the_worlds_have]

It unlatches.

[calledtoventure]

She proceeds counterclockwise through the other three catches.

[all_the_worlds_have]

When she reaches the next catch, all the opened catches relatch. How annoying.

It takes another two attempts before she has all the reversals, but then -

Another key. A rather complex-looking one.

[calledtoventure]

Would it happen to fit the rather complex-looking keyhole on the front side?

[all_the_worlds_have]

No, though it looks about the right size...

[calledtoventure]

Perhaps it has moving parts, and can be reshaped or reconfigured to fit.

[all_the_worlds_have]

Indeed it does. While it is more complex than the first puzzle-key, having two independently rotating sections, each with four directions, once you know it is a puzzle-key the puzzle is practically solved. The rest is merely tedious rotations and comparisons to the keyhole.

Turning the key reveals-

A compartment surrounded by whirring clockwork, and darkness that seems to go on for further than it should. A dial with a star on it sits on a red velvet pillow.

When the dial is taken from the safe, the door closes on its own. The key does not appear to want to come back out from the keyhole this time.

[calledtoventure]

Does the star dial fit into the indentation in the center of the large gear symbol?

[all_the_worlds_have]

It does!

As soon as it is put into place, the second seal - the one marked with a keyhole- separates. Only one lock remains between Ahrotahn and the contents of the second safe.

(With her luck, it'll probably be another safe.)

The side she has just inserted the dial to splits in half, and a large clock emerges. It appears that she has just inserted the central dial of the clock face.

On the front of the clock, there is:
A push-button in the upper-left corner.
An oval socket beneath the clock-dial.

On the right-hand side, there is:
A large flat panel, held in place by a latch with a tiny keyhole.
A panel with four screws.
A small sliding panel with a triangle pointing upwards on it.

On the left-hand side, there is:
An assembly of gears with a hand-crank to turn them.
A small slider.
Another brassy circle with one corner missing and a circle on it. This one is marked with a pentagon.

[calledtoventure]

So many new things to play with!

She looks at the clock through the lens.

She pushes the button.

She slides the triangle-marked panel upwards.

She turns the crank.

She tries moving the small slider.

She tries fitting the three-quarters brass knob with the concentric squares to the three-quarters brass circle with the pentagon.

She tries fitting the brass knob in the oval socket.

[all_the_worlds_have]

Nothing is revealed under lens-light.

When the button is pushed, a small gear in one corner of the clock face shifts outwards and temporarily interlocks with a second one. Since neither gear is turning, this does nothing.

The brass knobs are, alas, all firmly attached to the box. They do rotate nicely, though.

There's another three-quarters brass knob with a matching triangle symbol behind the triangle-marked panel, though this time the point of the triangle is pointing at the floor.

Turning the crank causes some of the gears on the side of the box to spin, but the missing gears mean they do nothing.

Moving the small slider causes one of the gears on the side of the box to shift to the left, meshing into a different set of gears.

[calledtoventure]

She holds down the button and turns the crank.

[all_the_worlds_have]

Nothing at all appears to happen on the front side of the clock, but after a few moments' turning, the top of the box shifts upwards, revealing another hidden layer. There is a very oddly-shaped hole in one side, and directly on the opposite side there is a drawer with four circular latches, each with one quarter of the circle missing. The latches are marked, each with their own symbol: a triangle, a circle, a pentagon, and a pair of concentric squares.

A new brass dial marked with a circle has appeared on one of the corners of the box, as well.

[calledtoventure]

She turns the brass knobs so that the missing quarter of each one is in the same position as the correspondingly marked latch.

[all_the_worlds_have]

It turns out that the arrangement works in exactly the opposite way, but Ahrotahn has the essence of it. The drawer pulls out, revealing...

An extra gear and a rubber band.

[calledtoventure]

She takes the gear and the band.

She moves the slider back to its original position, holds down the button, and turns the crank.

[all_the_worlds_have]

Nothing happens.

However, it appears that pulling out the drawer has revealed three rapidly-spinning gears above the area where the crank is. None of them are currently connected to anything.

[calledtoventure]

Can she connect them using her loose gear?