I'm in the ruins and am having trouble with the "Strange Machine". Can anyone shed some light on this?

Which ruins and which strange machine?

I'm in the Netheril Ruins, in the Wind Valley or whatever. I'm SPOILER|||
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trying to find the lich apprentice woman, and am fighting my way through lots of slaads. That's where I am.

I found a secret door and went through it. In the secret room there were loads of Basilisks, but I killed them all. Also in the room is a Sphinx statue. That's where I am.

I went down the corridor attached to the secret room and found a stange machine. There are pillars telling me what to do, like "put ten tongues of a creature from another plane in attack". So I put ten tongues into one of the urns, but nothing happens. I take those out and put them all into the other urn, but it doesn't work. I tried the same with all of the other reagents. What am I supposed to do?

spoilers--->
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You put one set of compenents in one Urn and another set in the other. And you get a magic devise that has two uses based on the two components, one offensive, the other defensive like it says on the pillars. I dont know which urn is which though.

If you can de-stone the sphinx, he'll tell you about the machine, but I don't know what he tells you because I used the machine before I de-stoned him. :(

Sorry I don't have a total answer, but maybe someone else knows more if the sphinx doesnt tell you which urn is which.

I JUST finished that part less than an hour ago so it's still fresh. Spoilers below.

BTW, has anyone found the THIRD ruby???? I found two at Jergal's statue but not the third. SPoilers please.

Spoilers:
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If you use the stone to flesh ointment on the Sphinx, AND solve his three riddles he will give you the details of which urn is OFFENSIVE and which is DEFNESIVE. (okay, the urn on the RIGHT is OFFENSIVE and the urn on the LEFT is for DEFENSE). [img]smile.gif[/img] In addition he will give you details about some of the items to place in the urns.

Once you go into the machine room, read the six pillars on the perimeter of the room. They will give you details albeit not always clear about which item does what when placed in the appropriate urn.

Major spoiler
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Here are the combinations that will work in the machine:

Offensive (right) urn:
-1 Ruby: Fire damage against one target
-3 Rubies: Fire damage against multiple targets
-4 Belladonna Roots: Slow nearby enemies
-1 Dragon Blood: Wind Burst
-10 Slaadi tongues: Death spell around the user
-1 Fairy Dust: Stun nearby enemies

Defensive (left) urn:
-1 Ruby: Spell Mantle
-3 Rubies: Greater Spell Mantle
-6 Belladonna Roots: Haste
-1 Dragon Blood: Greater Stoneskin
-6 Slaadi tongues: Energy Buffer
-1 Fairy Dust: Improved Invisibility

Spoiling
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After you talk with the formian queen, you can climb a boulder in her chambers up to a hidden room. IIRC there is ruby in this room.

Thanks Chewbacca. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I found it eventually after backtracking. Those Minogons were tougher than ANY of the slaads. lol

No doubt! Poor Deekin was certainly screaming for a healer after those guys. Which in and of itself is quite amusing. :D

My favorite Deekin lines:

At the top of Excavation in the Interlude: "Deekin sees dead people...."

In a random conversation:

Deekin - Is boss afraid?

Me - Yes, a little. It's okay to be afraid.

Deeking - That's good. Because Deekin is scared a lot.

And the unforgettable song: "Doom, doom ..... "


How can you not love this little guy? [img]smile.gif[/img]