I've progressed to the third mechanical device, and the plaque nearby has a picture of four vertical bars intersected by two horizontal bars. So far, I've found a spring, a screw and a gear, with only the screw being unused at this point. Unfortunately the screw doesn't fit the device. From reading around the forums it seems like there's one more of these parts to collect, however I unfortunately killed the frog king (sorry! ), and thus it seems am unable to access the Akaidian underground to retrieve the bracket. So my question is: is there another way around the third gate, or another way to get the bracket? Is there something I'm missing here?
Hopefully I'm just overlooking something obvious, but I've wandered around a while and explored everything up to that point (I think) and still can't seem to figure it out. Thanks!
Find something squishy by the fort, and then go look for the strange tentacle thing.
But as MrPeepers mentioned, you can bypass the need for that piece using the gated crossroads. Stand in the middle and remotely trigger the switch. That's what I did.