Phillipa's documents

An assortment of pages purchased from Perfin. He obtained them from the adventurer Phillipa Venture, who in turn got them from her aunt. Perfin believes the documents are from the age of the empire and refer to The Cauldron.  While the documents were stored in a preserver box, several of them appear to have been old even when they were first put in the box.

The Awakened mind were a group of inventors working for Balri. Combining mechanical, arcane, psychic, and occasionally fiendish powers they worked outside the bounds of morality in order to achieve their results. The group was founded before the races alliance, with it's mission being "To use strength and magic to defend Balri from our countless enemies." While other groups of inventors and researchers existed in Balri and other lands, the Awakened were unusual in their mix of skills and the level of support they received from the government.
Early successes in the development of training for psions and several innovations that were commercially successful gave them the wealth and influence to have a bespoke research facility constructed for their use. Knowing that others may try to stop or steal their research, the group ensured the facility was well concealed. This facility, and a strict policy of not getting involved in political manoeuvring, meant the group retained their influence through several regime changes.
As a result of several fanciful tales about their inventions and the dashing heroes who used them, the group began to be referred to by the name of their facility and the original name was largely forgotten by the younger races. The tales were commissioned by the awakened mind in an effort to improve their reputation within Balri after several lands revealed evidence that the group had been torturing and killing in pursuit of their research.
The group's work continued during the time of the alliance, though their focus appeared to shift towards more subtle creations that were used to support groups like the Eyes rather than the military. As a predominately human land, Balri sided with the pretender Oscar during the war of ascension. Given their focus on victory over morality It seems likely that the Awakened mind were involved in Oscar's foolish attempts to draw the power of the lower plains during that conflict.
Excerpt from Felosial Liadon's The follies of unrestrained magic, published in the age of the empire

From what i've been able to learn the facility was accessed through magic and with none of the casters who knew the pattern left alive, and all their notes burned, there isn't anyway to learn it. Given the nature of the place it is safe to assume it is shielded in a variety of ways. I'll need a non-magical way to find it.

Bubeck had a good suggestion when we were discussing ways into old buildings. He suggested looking for those who built the place. I doubt any of the ones who worked on it are still alive, but they must have gone to best. That means Quonim. They are still in business and may have records. I'll need to find a way to acquire them.

This may be more difficult than i thought. The folks at Quonim clearly understand that the plans for important buildings are valuable and have them locked down tight. It's going to require a team to get the records. I might not be able to get at the records directly, but i can bribe someone to get me some information out. A lot of the information is useless, but one key piece caught my eye. There had to be a way in to build the place, and a backup entrance/exit in case of problems with magical transport. That might be my way in.

More gold spent and all i have is the name of a group that did some work for Quonim. They are based out of Limina, and I doubt Quonim would have let a sub-contractor have any useful information so that was a waste of gold. I can't even refuse to pay over useless information as i'm too reliant on maintaining this contact.

It has taken a ridiculous amount of money, but I now have a starting point. A valley in the south east of Balri. Makes sense, the cities wouldn't have been a threat and they would have wanted it a distance from the big three. I need to go this valley and locate a small hill by the river. Using the bearings of the two largest hills (50 and 92) I can then check my location.before going 240ft at 75. The hatch should be underground there.

The latest bribes have left me with almost no funds, but now i have the location and what seems like a way in. I'll see if i can find someone who knows this Sythion sequence before heading out. I would prefer to have a full team but there's nothing left for hiring anyone so i guess i'm going solo on this one.

The Frustrator
The pinnacle of combination locks, the Frustrator combines mechanical and magical elements to create our most secure lock yet. Features include:

• Multi-dial combination - so many permutations it would take millennia to try them all.
• Combination entry button - helps slow down any would be thief by resetting the dials every time a combination is entered.
• Steel and adamantine construction, further reinforced with magic.
• Anti-scry protection.
• Adjustable combination.
• Each lock is customer made for your specific door.
• Can be linked to the full range of Leafplate security mesures.

This flyer seems far older than the other documents

Perfin's notes indicate that Quonim was a dwarven builder, specialising in large scale construction. It is believed that that they were in business both before and after the years of darkness, with a main office in the capital of Balri.