Renn did not attempt to start the forge again.
The unfinished metal remained inside its crucible while he studied the illuminated controls. Some symbols responded when his hand approached. Others stayed dark. The ring had recognized him as an authorized successor, but recognition had not given him the knowledge of the dwarves who built the place.
"Can you keep the constructs inactive?" Rod asked.
"They stopped when I ended the defensive state."
"That was not the question."
Renn looked across the motionless metal soldiers. "I don't know."
The honest answer decided their next action. They withdrew from the central controls without touching anything else. Ward specialists marked the position of every construct, while Dirk and Rod searched the accessible edge of the lake.
They found Helmar's blood on the broken platform and pieces of his artificial hand fused into the grating. The current carried everything else into submerged channels beneath the forge.
