Yeah, very much with Miss Paladin on this. No turning on that machine. Can't possibly be good.

And I'm kinda reminded of a quest in Drakensang River of Time.
Basically, at one point you have to fight a demon that some ancient wizards bound as a watchdog sabertooth cat and experimented on.

Cause why not try and make a embodiment of primordial chaos more dangerous, right?

Anyway, those guys were a tad smarter than the usual sort of precursors and mad scientists. So, they sealed the thing off and- in a incredible display of foresight created some glyphs that can shut down the buffs they gave the thing. Which again, puts them way ahead in the brains department as far as such things go.

So, the predicable happens. Your party needs something from the bad news side of the ruins. So like any not completely brain-dead adventurers you gather the demon debuffing macguffins.

Enter Archon Megalon (Which seems to translate to collosal jerk the way he acts) big shot magic guy researching the oh so pleasant topic of fear. So he makes you an offer: You go fight the demon and afterwards he will exchange any unused glyphs for rewards. The more the better obviously.
Something about fear vs. greed and with is the greater motivator.

So this set up might be similar, assuming this isn't just about creating ghouls or reactivating the mines.
Does greed override fear?
Is the massive reward- actually needed to escape to complicate matters -more appealing than self-preservation and the desire not to make this deathtrap even worse?