The party enters the central power grid hub and encounters a security checkpoint. Here, they are forced to give up their weapons before entering the hub proper. After being frisked and scanned for magical items, they proceed upstairs to meet with the head of security, Caeda Caiwenys. Caeda, a stern yet competent elf, lets them scrub through her security footage on a crystal orb. They discover that a minor explosion occurred in a maintenance zone adjacent to the control room. Zooming in, they see a tiny clockwork automaton causing the explosion. The theft itself happened invisibly, with the wardstone chamber's surveillance crystal showing the wardstone being lifted off its pedestal, placed into what appeared to be a bag of holding, and replaced with a replica. Caeda berates herself for not investigating it further and directs the party to speak to Gilbert Gearboot, the chief engineer, for more information.

The party heads down to the control room, where they encounter the head magister, Luw Xei. His haughty demeanor and refusal to look at the party is off-putting at first. However, Senzorin realizes it's a front, as Luw Xei feels outraged that a group of teenagers is investigating the theft he failed to prevent. Senzorin charms Luw Xei into believing he will be credited as critical to the investigation, thereby saving face with the Council. Luw Xei reveals that whoever made the replica of the wardstone must be a powerful magician or artificer, as it was so convincing that they did not realize the theft had occurred for days.

The party proceeds to the maintenance zone and meets the chief engineer, Gilbert Gearboot, a gnome tinkerer. Combing the maintenance zone, they find parts of the clockwork automaton. Gilbert recognizes the work as belonging to Azura Glimmerwrench, a talented artificer with the Department of Arcane Innovation. Azura has been missing for some weeks after presenting an invention to her peers and being mocked cruelly for it.

Deciding to find Azura, the party heads to the Department of Arcane Innovation. They face a labyrinth of workshops and offices, but Saziver successfully spots the pattern and leads the party toward Azura's workshop. They move through the twisting hallways, coming upon a display area called the Hall of Theoretical Magitech, showcasing inventions like Aetheric Communicators, Self-Heating Culinary Utensils, and Luminary Orbs.

Eventually, they find Azura's workshop, identified by a plaque reading "Azura Glimmerwrench, Experimental Magitech." They break in, but a clockwork sentinel in the corner fires a whirring blade at them. The party disables the sentinel and investigates the room, finding books on extraplanar energies, blueprints for various magitech, and a hidden journal detailing Azura's plans to activate her invention, the Extraplanar Resonator, at an abandoned celestial observatory in the city. With the full moon approaching in a few hours, they realize Azura plans to use the wardstone's energies to open a rift between planes. Zel'eon identifies flaws in her design and insists they must stop her.

The party rushes to the observatory in the northeast of the city, arriving a few hours before midnight. Using a cloak of invisibility found in the workshop, they scout the observatory and find Azura guarded by several clockwork automata, having finished building the Extraplanar Resonator. Reporting to Dalen, he congratulates them and tells them to await a strike team. Doubting the team's timely arrival, the party decides to take down Azura themselves.

They lure Azura downstairs with a promise of connecting to a deity, and spring a trap, paralyzing her with a spell and attempting to knock her unconscious. As Senzorin and Arche try to gouge out her mechanical eye, Zel'eon stops them, enraged by their brutality. They knock her unconscious and put her in their car, deciding to keep her alive to mentor them in magitech.

Returning to the central power grid hub, they ask Gilbert for help but are rebuffed. Calling Dalen Blackwell, he surprises them by appearing from the shadows. He commends their bravery and admits the Council never planned severe punishment for Azura. He promises to see if it can be arranged for them to study under her and sends them home to rest after a job well done. The party, satisfied with their success and newfound loot, heads back to their home in Arbalest, ready to rest and prepare for their next adventure.

For their tactical approach to combat, overcoming traps and obstacles, and successful investigation, the party earns 500 experience points.

- A bag that can hold up to 500 pounds of material, not exceeding a volume of 64 cubic feet.

- A small leather-bound toolkit that is embossed with the emblem of the Department of Arcane Innovation, a stylised gear in the shape of an eye. It contains a set of precision tools, each with a handle crafted from an exotic material such as bone, mithril, and ebony. Rach of the tools is inlaid with runes that glow faintly green while in use. On the leather of the case is scratched runes that read "Property of Azzy!" in Gnomish.

- Enhanced tinker’s tools that grant a +1 bonus to checks made using them.

- A patchwork mess of fabrics and wire that when activated, distort and refract the light around it to provide total and complete cover.

- Grants invisibility when hood is pulled up for up to 10 minutes. One charge, recharging after a long rest.

- **Scroll of Identify**: A scroll with intricate runes that allows the caster to identify magical properties of items.

- **Scroll of Magic Missile**: A scroll enabling the casting of Magic Missile spell, unleashing darts of magical force.

- **Scroll of Arcane Lock**: A scroll that can cast Arcane Lock, magically sealing a door, window, gate, or container.

- **Scroll of Invisibility**: A scroll that allows the caster to become invisible for up to one hour.

- **Extraplanar Resonator**: Detailed schematics for building a device capable of opening rifts between planes.

- **Clockwork Construct Combat Vehicle**: Blueprints for a two-wheeled vehicle designed for combat, powered by clockwork mechanisms.

- 5x clockwork sentinel power gems

- books on magitech, detailing theory and application

- metal wings extracted from clockwork automaton

- extremely detailed astronomical charts annotated with Azura's scribbles, some of which make reference to Ruatis and other archaic deities representing celestial bodies