The night does wonders for Bratrizik, who manages to heal enough from his encounter with Panelliar on the previous day. After a hearty breakfast, they discuss their options. They don't know who is left in the Temple of the Twelve, but the undead elf monk continues to guard the place and they will need to confront him again if they wish to get inside. After careful consideration, they decide to bypass the Temple and head up the second set of stairs up the mountain. BARGO must remain behind, so Nict instructs it to stand guard by the history pillars.
Departing the Forsaken City, the party ascends the mountain and returns to the plateau where the Temple stands proudly against the background of tall peaks, and take the set of stairs that continue to to climb the mountain. The steep staircase follows the ridge and enters a perpetual snow zone, and by mid-morning they catch a large snow-covered structure sitting atop Alhuenar Spire, the largest peak in this area of the Singing Range.
Carefully coming close, they find a small landing with the well-preserved ruins of what appears to have been an observatory. The building is of the same material as the Temple, and is as well preserved. Two large wooden doors bar the entrance to the building, but they are not locked. Quietly opening them, Bratrizik surprises two Devourer cultists inside a large room, moving large crystal tubes of various heights and colors from one of the four corner altars to another.
Surprised at the party's appearance, the cultists immediately take shelter behind overturned altars, and begin firing. Yiris uses overheat, while Bratrizik uses his trusted mind thrust to quickly dispatch the male lashunta cultist. Nict, meanwhile, fires back at the remaining cultist and scores a hit. Yiris launches an arcing surge, which weakens the last enemy, but does not achieve it. Nict successfully lands the death blow on the second cultist.
Bratrizik searches the bodies and finds a few credsticks but not much else of value. and piles them against the only door out of the building, preventing anyone from entering from the outside and surprise them. Examining the remaining two standing altars, they find crystals of various heights and colors placed randomly on each altar. Bratrizik takes a closer look, and realizes that they were trying to replicate the same pattern on the four altars.
Aside from the altars and thousands of the crystals spread all over the floor, there is only a small wooden door in the corner opposite the entrance doors. The floor itself is made of a constellation map similar to the one Bratrizik noticed in the Temple of the Twelve and to the one they saw on the ceiling of the Stargazer.
Yiris opens the door and finds herself in a small room with a staircase heading up. From her vantage point, she can see the open sky, indicating the staircase leads to an exposed platform. Worried about a possible trap, she returns to the main room. Bratrizik decides to explore that staircase. He ascends to the first landing, where he is shot by a sniper. He returns to the main room, and closes the door.
While Bratrizik is busy being shot, Yiris moves crystals around. After several fruitless attempts, she reproduces structures similar to the seven pillars by the Temple on each of the altars. The constellations on the floor come to life, and form a three-dimensional map of the stars as viewed from this observatory. By adding other crystals, the android is able to manipulate time forward or backward. Playing with the crystals, they discover that the constellation of twelve stars was built about 150,000 years before the beginning of the Gap. Bratrizik videotapes the constellations.
Readying themselves to leave, Yiris melts water, then pours it on the door, effectively turning it into a large ice cube. This should stop the sniper from following them. As they head back down the mountain to the Temple of the Twelve, looking for answers to their questions, they notice the shadow of a large satellite antenna built on top of the platform where the sniper took shelter. That's what the communication gear they spotted on the video of Paqual's party before their departure of Qabarat was. Who did the cult of the Devourer contact?
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