The party descended from the sealed bulwark into Old Lockford, only for Punmiri and Nessa to immediately lose their footing on the city's steep volcanic streets. Their noisy fall attracted three Clockwork Defenders, and attempts to distract with magical effects backfired when one of Nessa's artificed toys rolled straight back toward the party. Two defenders cornered them into an alleyway, and a chaotic melee followed. Many attacks missed in the narrow space until Ragnum eventually smashed apart a defender; and despite being caught by the other robo-dog and being electrocuted, Nessa steadily dismantled it with her rapier.
Realizing that open combat inside the city would quickly become suicidal, Punmiri concealed the group beneath divine magic and Azimuth guided them unseen toward Town Hall. Inside the abandoned building, the bodies of Little Lockford's militia still lay scattered where they had fallen during the Lockdown. Azimuth unlocked Mayor Kreem's private lockbox and recovered several Potions of Healing, Potions of Magic, and a packet of Dust of Disappearance. Though the bridge to Cavemouth was lifted, the party chose to get to the warehouse district by way of the Slagline, an industrial bucket transport suspended over a sea of magma. They rode in empty ore buckets between loads of volcanic stone while the machinery repeatedly stalled above the lava sea, leaving them exposed to any passing Clockwork Observers, but they travelled unaccosted to the first loading dock.
The dangers of Cavemouth, no longer actively protected, became apparent almost immediately. Nessa stepped on a loose nail and cried out in pain, alerting a Shambling Mound formed from underground fungi and roots. The party fled back toward the transport terminal, Ragnum fireman-carriying little Azimuth as the gnome slowed the Plant by altering the stone terrain in front of it. During the panic, Nessa somehow shattered a flask of oil on Ragnum while attempting to light the mound on fire; it was just not her day. With Zamzu's Boots of Striding and Springing, she jumped inside an outgoing Slagline bucket, while Azimuth magically empowered Ragnum as the dwarf leapt into the incoming bucket fifteen feet from the ledge.
Punmiri, however, was caught in-between, and nearly tumbled off the cliff's face into the magma below. As the Mound closed in, she channeled Ixhis' divinity, and the creature was momentarily distracted by a perfect copy of the cleric. Azimuth used that brief opening to cast a magically-created net and drag her aboard their passing bucket. Though safe from the Shambling Mound, Punmiri dangled precariously above the magma, with not enough room in the bucket to fit all three. When the Slagline then stalled once again above the lava lake, Azimuth used his map magic to teleport next to Nessa, and Ragnum monkey-crawled over to the next bucket to allow Punmiri room. Fortunately, no Clockwork Observers passed nearby during the maneuver, and the group disembarked at Cavemouth's southern loading dock having miraculously evaded death.
On to Warehouse 6, the party discovered an impressive machine beside two dead militia members and a pool of oil. The scene, of course, was deceptive: the oil was a psychic Grey Ooze working with a Mimic, who posed as a gnome corpse. Azimuth managed to resist a deadly psychic crush by the ooze while Ragnum willingly grappled the mimic despite knowing that he would stick fast to its body. The party eventually burned the ooze, and with Ragnum holding the mimic down, beat it to death with repeated strikes, stabs, and bursts of fire. They investigated the Apparatus of Igna, sure that the mage had barricaded herself inside, but she refused calls for help until Nessa loudly and repeatedly hammered against the machine's hull.
The crusty old mage proved abrasive, filthy, and immediately hostile, somehow recognizing Nessa from her childhood years as a thief. Despite refusing to leave her Apparatus, Igna freely admitted that she wanted Tixie Tockworth dead. She revealed that the key for Tockworth's workshop fail-safe was locked on the workshop's second floor, and explained that Tockworth had fallen into increasingly-delusional behavior, speaking aloud to someone named "Poots" despite nobody else being present. Igna also warned that Animated Armors in Tixie's workshop were rebuilding broken constructs, and that Tockworth had somehow restored Igna's former Shield Guardian, though likely not its magical amulet. Igna was willing to work with the party, but would not leave her Apparatus, which was useless while the bridges were out.
Though the meeting ended on poor terms, the party departed with valuable information and narrowly avoided the same Shambling Mound a second time while returning to the Slagline. They rode it to Smoldertown without further incident and made their way toward Ragnum's favored tavern, the Motherlode. Through grimy tavern windows, Punmiri spotted Tixie inside, surrounded by emptied casks of alcohol and quietly speaking to someone unseen. Tockworth stood and informed "Poots" that it was time to return to work, and the party quickly hid themselves before finally entering the tavern to rest. Much of the Motherlode had been drunk, but Ragnum finally got his Oofenklanger's Finest.