Attilisk continues his vigilance, taking slow steps along the spiraling path, keeping an eye out for danger.  And opportunity.  Perhaps a panel will open up controls or a cypher has been neglected along the floor at some point.

Outside the room, Attalisk's prowling yields some interesting results.  As he draws closer to the swarm, he sees the larger floating insects that are suspended in the central space turn to face him.  The swarm, though not advancing on him, begins to look less like a cloud and more like a three-dimensional hexagonal grid as their flight patterns change.  Examining the walls for any possible other cyphers, he notes another panel that must be like the one that Q'nur had found.  This one seems intact, but faint ciphers and a hairline crack show where it is.  Prodding one, he can get the panel to open, revealing a wealth of small disks surrounded by hair-fine green wire, a quantity of white sand circulating through small clear tubes, and a small squashy dome of teal... jelly?  It might be connected to one of the parameters of this walkway, you think, but more knowledge will require a bit of experimentation...

Trying to keep one eye on the newly-aligned insects, he pockets the Brethren beastie detector.  Attilisk begins to prod and poke and riddle out the materials, functions, and controls he sees before him.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:09, Wed 17 July 2019.

The older woman relays her findings verbally to her companions as she scans, ending with a concluding query...

"Shall I explore further, or am I needed out there, or do you want to come in with me?"

In the hallway

Attilisk examines the various components, and after a bit of experimentation, determines that several of the disks, when gently prodded, can affect the surface of the ramp, turning it from bluish to bright yellow to eye-smarting pink to pastel lavender, and then change the texture from grassy to stony to pebbly to fairly slick synth and then to something like smooth rollers (you had to quickly change it back or find yourself sliding down).  The sand-tube can be moved into different configurations with the help of the jelly dome, and prodding that seems to get a reaction from the larger floating insects, making them move up or down, cluster closer together, and turn in specific directions.

--

In the room

Eleisai, as you consider, the spiky central object abruptly goes all spherical, drops three feet, wobbles violently, and then slowly rises and resumes its spiky meanderings.  As it drops, the magnetic field around the slim doorway vanishes for a few moments.

As these changes take place, the older woman calls out to the others.

"Something is changing..."

She describes the changes as she sees them.

"What are you all doing now?  We should track any actions you are taking, if any, and match them to what I can observe in here..."

Attilisk responds, in a volume as loud as he feels safe at this point.  "I found a control panel.  I can manipulate the walkway and some of what the insect swarm is doing.  Why don't we go through some of the changes and you tell me what works for you."  Sighing, he leans his staff against his shoulder, and pulls out his tablet and writing tool, so he can start making notes to associate changes with desired effects.

He says, more quietly to the others in the hall, "Let me know if there is a bug configuration that seems safer for us.  Or more dangerous, so I can avoid that."

Delfino watches carefully as Attilisk cycles through several combinations of color and texture on the ramp, eyeing both the large insects floating in the center space, and the ever-changing swarm blocking their way farther down the ramp.  When he gets the ramp in the very bright pink color and the texture something like soft sand, Delfino gestures at him to stop.  The swarm is now in a series of vertical lines with enough space between them for you to slip through!  A little further prodding at the sand tube and jelly dome evenly spaces out the large insects and turns their attention upward (as far as you can tell), and makes them still.  You aren't quite sure what the large insects do other than provide light, but anything to not aggravate the situation seems to be a good place to start.

--

Eleisai and Cube, it seems when Cube plugged the entrance, the spiky ball had its dramatic drop.  If there is some field in the doorway where Cube is, perhaps a sensor or something having to do with the electronics in the walls, that might explain the change.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:07, Thu 15 Aug 2019.

Seeker, Q'nur, Eris and Erin head forward towards the swarm slowly as Attilisk had it arranged in a way that people could slip through it to the barricade beyond.  But as the four approach within a few feet, the swarm flares with light, blinding Attilisk and Eleisai (and possibly disrupting Cube's senses).  When the afterimage fades, all four are gone, as is the swarm, but in their place is a humanoid figure wrapped in anonymous robes...

"Um ... what the hell just happened?!"  Attilisk looks around extremely confused.  "Who the hell are you?  Where's Q'nur?  Where are the rest of them?"  Attilisk struggles to retain his composure.  His staff is again tightly gripped in his hands, note pad dropped to the floor.

Attilisk backs up to check on Eleisai, presumably still visible through Cube.  "Are you ok in there?  We just lost four people out here!"  He continues to eye the shrouded and motionless newcomer with suspicion.

The older woman turns away from her examination of the spiky ball, blinking in confusion and concern.

"Lost... four people...?  What happened?"

She makes her way toward the entrance...

"Q'nur and Seeker and those twins you came with all just tried to walk past the bugs.  They got swarmed, there was a bright light, and then they were gone, bugs and everything.  That ... person," he says, gesturing emphatically with his staff, "Is there instead now."  Attilisk turns to Cube.  "You saw that, right?"

Delfino edges a little closer to the strange figure, though still a good twelve feet a way, extending a hand slowly.  The robes shift a little, as if touched a physical hand, and Delfino takes a step or two back.

"I think whoever that is is alive," he says in a low voice.  "There is warmth under the robes, and it's not hard like synth or metal."

The figure glances to an adjacent door, then eases back from it.  He lowes his hood, exposing a face as human as anything you'd find in the Ninth World.

Raising a hand in a peaceful gesture, he speaks.  "I am Wyddno, I mean harm only to those who would harm me.  I was ... exploring, when a cloud of glowing insects, well, they apparently brought me here.  Possibly the same who removed your companions"

"Well that's just great for you, Window and the bugs you came in on!  But we're trying to track down the miniature clone of a giant trans-dimensional monster that attacked us and we just lost half our party to that insect swarm, including my friend and one of the only two people that might be able to communicate with the beastie clone!"

Delfino, a man who looks nearly identical to Attilisk in every respect, squats down to examine Wyddno with curious eyes.  "So you are not a transformed or melded form of our companions?  Very odd indeed.  I am called Delfino.  My Source of this Form is Attilisk," he points back to his double.  "The older woman is Eleisai, and the square one is Cube.  As Attilisk said, we are seeking a very angry tentacle-beast who can phase through walls and likely also through dimensions.  Our instruments suggest it went this way, except our way was blocked.  When we tried to find a way to bypass the glowing insects, other members of our group vanished.  We are a few days out from the Black Riage, in west Navarene.  Where were you before you came here?"

Wyddno ignores the rude stranger and addresses the friendlier one.  "Black.. Riage?  I've heard of the, but it's far..  I'm from, I was exploring a ruin east of Orrila.  The lights appeared and I was here.  I was alone then, and saw nobody during my, transition.  And yes, I am quite alive, and as human as anyone is likely to be in this day and age"

He turns to face Attilisk.  "I had nothing to do with your companions.  If those chose to explore such a place as this, they should have known the risks.  As I am here, I can help you with your hunt."

"Good, we can use all the help we can get!  Thank you."  Attilisk visibly relaxes a bit.  "That still doesn't answer how you got here, where they went, or how we might get them back."

He pauses a minute.  "Where is Orrila?  Is that along the western shores of the Steadfast?"

Attilisk bends down to pick up his dropped notebook.  "And what do you do?  I mean some help is only so helpful, depending on the situation.  Me, my tattooing ... not very helpful so far.  But dealing with machines ... much more useful ... right up until half the party disappeared."  He leans his staff in the crook of his arm and begins reviewing his notes about the control mechanism, trying to figure out what when wrong.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:16, Thu 22 Aug 2019.

"Not really.  Milav does have a coast, but Orrila is inland.  Trust me, I'm keen to find out how I got here as well.  As to what I do, this.  I explore the ancient places.  I can protect myself, and do unto others.  I have certain ... gifts" Wyddno gestures, and some small pebbles float up into his hand

He looks around to get his bearings.  "I assume we are below ground?  How far have you come?"

"Q'nur and I had come from the nearby village, in the foothills.  The entrance we found was a few miles from there, at least. Apparently the big tentacled monster, not the clone, had broken through to the surface above by the ... that other place you mentioned, Eliesai.  Anyway, the other people, including Cube, came in through that hole.  From there, we've come, what, a couple of hundred feet or more?  Less than half a mile, certainly."

Attilisk tries to call to mind a map of the Steadfast, calculating a rough estimate of how far the newcomer had been transported.

To the best of Attilisk's knowledge, just estimating from roughly mid-Milave to west Navarene, it seems that Wyddno has been transported at least a thousand miles!

As the two talk, there is another flash from the vicinity of where the swarm had been, accompanied by what sounds like nothing so much as a backwards chiming sound.  Standing there, where Wyddno had arrived a few moments ago, is a different figure, this one tightly wrapped in clothes all over, even over the face.

Delfino stares at the extra newcomer, then looks back at Attilisk with his expression one of surprise and some alarm at having a second mysterious figure appear in so many minutes.  "That one is not of the Brethren!  We don't assume Forms like that!"

Attilisk sets down the notebook and readies his staff again.  "Window, did you have a traveling companion where you were, one that we should be expecting?"

Hey. I'm right here!
The person speaks slowly, with a throaty, metallic voice. Then it collapses to their knees. It's hard to discern anything about them under all the layers that cover them, save that they are tall. After a few seconds, they get up, coughing.

Damn this, Wyd. I said not to touch that slab. What is this? Who are you all?

After looking around for a bit, it stretches their arms and legs, and stands visibly relieved.
Nice place, this. I'd turn the lights down a bit, but nice. Hello. And no, I'm not one of the Brethren. I have many other charms, properties and small flaws, but not that.

They seem friendly.

"Do you even know what the Brethren are?  I only just found out today, and that was totally by chance."  Attilisk relaxes his stance just a hair.  The newest newcomer seems to know the other and neither has been aggressive ... yet.