"I'd probably start with the one near Split, actually, since it's grabbing anyone not entering through the main gates and probably anyone missed by the other gates."

"True. There are other priorities than our own efficiency."

"Also sounds fun!"

"And there's that."

"Onward to Split, then? I'll bother Haskill for a map, but I think I should be able to find it..."

"Sounds like a plan." What do the papers have to say about the test at Split?

Glint goes and acquires a map! With warnings it only sometimes vaguely applies.

The test at Split: intruders are pulled (usually upon arrival, sometimes afterwards, either by teleports or a 'siren call' that creates a mental compulsion in those who haven't passed any test to come to the facility) into a chamber, which contains a false gate upon one end - it permits entry from outside but not exit, and tricks people who entered in through other portals into thinking this was the portal's set end. The chamber has one usable exit, and is protected by the chaotic energies harnessed to create the facility from anyone taking unapproved exits.

This exit feeds into the first of a series of rooms. Each room contains a challenge, and is named for its central theme - Avarice, for instance - that usually has two modes (one Manic, one Demented, depending on the whim of the controller) that will either try to drive the occupants insane or try to kill them. Sometimes both! Intruders must pass through some number of rooms - the order and number is somewhat randomly determined - and only those who survive every room with their sanity intact may enter into the Shivering Isles. (Those who go insane are usually just incorporated into the Isles' population, eventually.)

It's the most orderly of the tests, in an odd way, which is cited as a reason for its retirement. The mechanisms have fallen into disrepair, though there's a - rambling, somewhat insane - user manual. Proposals to repair the mechanisms have been rejected.

Are any of the repair proposals reasonable? Or thematically unreasonable, she supposes.

There's a summary included. One person thinks the crystals used to shape the facility just need to be re-tuned with a tuning fork; that same person apparently thinks that this is nonsense and the crystals need to be manually realigned. Someone else either thinks the entire thing needs to be re-structured from the ground up, or that the control mechanism just needs a dusting and a good kick. A third person thinks the traps are actually all perfectly operational, it's the initial siren's call that needs repairing by realigning the owlery (spelling as in source), and the continued comment from this same person is that the owlery idea is of course nonsense, but surprisingly the fundamental structure of that argument is quite appropriately insane, and will naturally work with a bit of tweaking, and it's clearly the resonant crystals - clearly different from the control and formation crystals - need to be gotten back to the proper resonance, which is where the tuning fork comes in, because apparently (this person opines) they're surrounded by people who only approach the truth on accident.

"Something to do with the crystals, it seems."

"No idea what that works out to, but we can probably find locals to ask." She checks and memorizes the names of the three people cited.

"At least if they're as unhelpful as the manual there will be someone to hit."

She laughs. "There will be! Maybe they'll be more helpful if persuaded, then."

"One can but hope."

"Best to get moving, then!"

Out into the city and then the road? Cutting through Mania seems their fastest bet, here. The road's in better condition at least.

If the road's available, it makes sense to take it.

Sure.

The road's the same for part of the walk, before they turn onto one of the side roads. The town of Split, to the facility's south, is like New Sheoth half Demented and half Manic construction, split along the border line.

This one's a bit different, though - it quickly becomes obvious either there was a rash of identical twins, or there's two of each person, one dressed in the styles of Mania and one in Dementia.

Glint hums, looking around.

"Looks like we have two chances to ask questions."

"Maybe!"

She heads over to one of the Manic residents, a male human, asking for the most recent of the commenters, Jastira, who seemed to know the most about what they were doing.

"Look, I really need to get back to work," he says, fidgeting, "Especially with those copies around."

"Awwww," Glint says. "Well, if you tell me where Jastira is, I'll stop bothering you, and I won't even torture you, and maybe I'll bother your copy!"

"That layabout won't think you're bothering him," he grouches. "They're a terrible drain on productivity... But, sure, Jastira's over there. The one counting everything. Both of them, actually, but you'll want to talk to the Manic one. Better sort."

"What makes that one better?"

"It's these damn Demented copies. They're all twisted. The wrong half of our originals," he says. "The Demented ones are all treacherous, and obsessed with killing or breaking things - Jastira's copy only counts dead and broken things."

Glint hums. "I don't know. Killing stuff's fun, sometimes, just as much as making stuff or transforming stuff! The treachery's no good, but what's creation without a little destruction?" she says. "You gotta have a bit of both, y'know."

He snorts. "Well, none of us have 'a bit of both.' Some damn mage came through a bit back and cast a spell splitting us all in half. We'd do a damn sight better if someone just killed all our copies - which we can't take care of ourselves, if we don't want to end up on the Hill of Suicides."

"You don't want to be put back together?"

"What? No! I'm better off without that damn layabout in me," the man says, sharply.

Glint rolls her eyes, but then hums. "Well, thanks for the pointer. We'll let you get back to work, maybe think about your little problem."

"Too much thinking these days, not enough doing," he grumbles, but wanders off.

Once he's out of earshot, Glint says: "I want to glomp them all back together. That sounds funny, even if we just tie them to each other, and will probably get us better answers about the facility anyways, 'cause otherwise we'll only get told how to do half of it."

Elatra chuckles softly. "Agreed."

"Probably gonna involve magic somehow, though... And this is when the Wabbajack would've come in handy, huh. Bet it'd reset people."