The pods seem to be made of firm but slightly yielding material, and slide across the floor with a bit of effort.  They do not appear to be mechanical in nature, oddly enough, or have any kind of numenera in them at all.  Though the proportions are a little odd, you realize after a few moments of study that they seem to be meant for sitting or resting on.

Attilisk tests out one of the "chairs" to see what happens.

Paraton starts assessing the room, trying to understand the original or working layout of this chamber, the disposition of things, and the general purpose of everything in it.

They can't fathom a thing. It is a room. It is a room indeed.

OOC: Paraton rolled a 3 towards understanding the room full of not-mimics.

Attilisk, the pod is yielding but firm enough, and seems to mold slightly around your lower body.  Once slid into position, it keeps its place on the floor.  It seems to be a decent enough seat that adapts to whoever is sitting upon it.

Paraton, the room doesn't immediately make sense to you.  Soft seats, pleasant lighting, a liquid-filled tray of sorts - perhaps it is a spa?  Odd place for a spa, but maybe the builders liked to relax while traveling.

Delfino moves in cautiously, watching the orb that hovers above his shoulder.  He hovers a hand over the surface of the liquid-filled console, and watches at the orb runs down his arm until it hovers over his hand.  He concentrates on it and frowns, then takes a small probe from a belt pouch and touches the surface.

It yields like water, but nothing immediately happens.

Attilisk, content to know that he has, at least, found a comfy seat, hops up to check out the tray that Delfino is probing.  "May I?" he asks of his twin before studying the controls and the surface.

Chatting idly as he works, he says to Delfino, "I'd still be happy to give you a tattoo, if you want one.  You'd just need to pick out a design and a place on your body you'd want it."

Sliding his hands into the liquid, he feels a slight resistance at the bottom, as if the water turns to gel a few centimetres down.  The orb slides down Attilisk's shoulder to hover above his wrist, and the lights above comes down to reflect upon the water, showing a series of symbols.  One glows brightly in a series of six dots (similar to the pillar room), while a long oblong shows tiny faults of the light at the either end.  An arc is near the dots, at a lower level of light, while a soft orb pulses gently below it.  More symbols, similar to the ones in the "security office" nearby, also light up softly.

"Paraton, you've had some luck in that other room.  Can you come here and help me understand this a little better?  I think this is a link to the room with the pillars, and probably more."  Attilisk begins a slow and deliberate exploration/manipulation/trial and error in trying to figure out the function and meaning of the interface in front of him.

Paraton walks over and examines the room and the controls. Their mind is a bit clouded right now, the confusion impairing them temporarily.
But after a few seconds of slow breathing and temple calisthenics, they feel fresher. The seeker starts asking Attilisk what did they understand, and starts thinking, extrapolating to probable outcomes, trying different hypotheses. It's just like so long ago: solving seemingly intractable problems with a capable interlocutor. The stakes are a bit higher, though.

[OOC: Paraton helps out. They are trained in understanding and identifying Numenera]

Attilisks listens and answers and discusses with Paraton as he continues exploring the controls.

OOC: Rolled an 18.  Was trying to type in everything from the last roll, including Effort, plus Paraton's help, which should be 2 assets worth, since they're trained.  But that's up to the GM's discretion.

After some experimentation, including some help from Delfino to test out a few theories, Attilisk and Paraton learn the following:

Controlling each aspect of the board includes having one limb in the water tray and the other up touching one of the glowing motes (which dip closer to the water tray when it is touched).  It's not terribly comfortable, particularly for long periods, so it seems the original builders may have had a different body shape than humans.

The oblong with the marks through it seems to be showing the intactness of the vessel itself, marking the places where the nose of it is crashed and the place at the rear that is penetrated by the phased crystal skewer.

The six dots seem to be the columns.  Touching them, along with manipulation of the light-motes, seems to increase the thrumming within the vessel, and illuminates the arc.  Touching the arc seems to shift the vessel itself very slightly from side-to-side (assuming you aren't mashing buttons with excessive vigor, being in the experimentation phase and all).

The symbols similar to those in the "security office" seem to be the status of other rooms in the vessel.  All look to be of the same status, minus the column room (which does, to be fair, have something stuck through a wall).

Then there is the orb below the arc.  Touching that while sweeping down with the glowing mote above makes the vessel shudder and then vibrate hard enough to rattle everyone's bones.

And then very abruptly you are no longer looking through the clear synth "window" at a wall of some ancient facility, but instead seem to be hovering above a broad plain that is covered with sweeping purplish grass.  Twisted trees lightly dot the expanse, and a few darting forms can be seen running through the vegetation.  The walled expanse of a city can be seen several miles in the distance.

The oblong flares fitfully at the fore and aft, still showing damage signals, even as you hover a hundred feet above the ground!

OOC: 1 XP to all for the group intrusion.

Attilisk's eyes go wide in surprise.  He tries to keep his hands exactly where they were on the controls.  "Don't touch anything else." he warns.

He stares out the windows at the foreign landscape while he tries to wrap his head around what just happened.

Attilisk definitely remembers traveling these plains once - they're just outside the small city of Avarno in Navarene.  Approximately 1.5 miles, to be precise, on the southern edge, some two weeks' travel from where you were.  It's a city with a large presence of Aeon Priests, known for its fine meats, leathers, and cheeses in addition to having some excellent numenera workshops.  The walls of the city were already in place when people decided to live there, as were the shells of several of the larger buildings, so there are some places within the walls where there are odd configurations of prior-world streets or plazas that have been built over or converted to other uses.

The city uses a lightning dynamo that captures storm power for use in illuminating and heating parts of the city, as well as providing ways for the Aeon Priests to do some experimentation.

It seems the orb-marker on the water-tray has given you an understanding of what happened to the vessel - the phased lance that pierced the aft portion and damaged a column apparently sent the ship phasing in an uncontrollable direction.  By repairing the column and activating the propulsion again, you have managed to phase out of the underground complex where it had lain, returning it to its prior destination.  Though what is precisely here is uncertain.  All around you is grass, a few trees, and the furtive movement of animals.

Attilisk will explain to Paraton, Eleisai, Delfino, and the others where they are and how he knows this.  "Is someone able to check on the column room?  See if we've shed that phasing crystal?"

Once that is known, Attilisk will ask the next question that's struck him, given their new location and ... vehicle (?).  "Do we go back, if we can pilot this more?  Even above ground?  We were trying to locate that strange phasing beast and somehow make that area safe for the village above.  Are we still bound by that?  Are we even capable of that?"

He looks around the control room they're in, the displays, the mechanisms.  There is joy and wonder on his face.  "Because I really don't want to lose this.  This machine is incredible.  And if it can fly above or away from the Iron Wind, it's safe, too.  This could be a home to bring with us."

I'll check what happened with the phasing crystal. Let's go, orbies.
As they walk the short steps to the column room, Paraton starts thinking about what Attilisk just said.
Hm. Fitting to have a home I take with me after being taken from my home.

As they peek into the columns room, things look about the way you'd expect if you were stranded countries away from home in a strange ancient device floating high over the land.Hmmm. Looks... "fixed" to me...

[OOC: Paraton's player rolled 15 while checking to understand if the machine is fixed. Trained in the numenera.]

The phasing crystal, having had its point "wadded up" by Paraton is incapable of falling out of the vessel physically.  Nor does it look like it has phased away, still being rather present.  However, if Paraton wanted to try to reform the crystal "wad" into a more slender configuration, likely it could be pushed out.  Repairing the outer skin of the vessel may take more effort or stronger components, but then again you have barely begun to explore this place; perhaps there are replacement parts somewhere in one of the other chambers.

The columns look intact, the repair site still holding without any leakage.  The columns are swirling inside with silvery-blue energy, all of the pulsing at a slow rate, a hum permeating the vessel.

Up in the control chamber, Delfino nods slowly at Attilisk's questions.  "Perhaps we can, if we can repair it.  If there are holes... I don't think we would like to experiment with traveling and end up somewhere where something can get in when we don't want it!  But if we could, imagine the possibilities!  Is there a- a record of where the vessel has gone?  A map or chart or log or something?"

Cube, moving a little slower than normal, vibrates in its peculiar voice in the hallway outside the control room, The priest was left behind. The jump in location was unexpected.  I landed on a doorway, and the orb opened the door.  It has some kind of controls for those with limb protrusions.

There is an orb now hovering above Cube, vibrating as it talks, the small holes spinning rather rapidly as it tries to find a single place to hover on Cube's strange form.

The seeker takes a while examining the protrusion from all angles, taking notes, drawing diagrams, measuring the extent of the damage it has caused to the inner hull, and finally shouts back
Weeeeeeeeelllllll... So. The crystal is still here, and I *think* I can push it out. But I don't like the odds of flying with a hole on a side. I'm no expert on ancient flying artifacts, it just... I don't think it's a good idea. Maybe we can find a few spare sheets of synthsteel, or better. Maybe we can land for repairs instead of doing a "warm swap", as we say.
Paraton then goes back and describes the situation in more detail. Attilisk looks so happy with this vessel it's sad to be the bearer of not-so-good news.

[OOC: Paraton used their Planner ability to assess the best way to conduct these repairs. That should bring down a level their next task interacting with the crystal.]

OOC: at some point, [In-Character Thread] became [In-Character Threat] and that's totally fine.

Attilisk tries to figure out what all this means and what to do with it.  "Well, we can't even try to find the priest again if we can't get there safely."

Turning to Paraton, he asks, "I thought the crystal was phasing ... or something.  Did it unphase?  I was rather hoping we could just ... phase it through the wall and not worry about it."  He sighs.  Nothing was ever simple.  But this was a complication more than worth figuring out.

"How about this idea: we find a safe place to move this ... aircraft to and let it remain in the air, but close to the ground.  We thoroughly examine the craft and its contents, and then come up with a plan.  Perhaps we will find a way to repair damage done by removing the crystal.  Does this work for everyone?"

Before everyone has a chance to answer, Attilisk becomes distrated in admiring the machine around him.  "And a name.  We need a name for this beauty."

Oh, yes, it's not phasing anymore. I can phase-mold it and remove it, and we don't have to worry about it anymore, I'm sure. Maybe some village below... They pause, but carry on. It's the big crystal-shaped hole in the outer hull that I'm worrying about.

The seeker is defaulting to their chirpy, matter-of-factly tone they used to use when they find themselves agreeing with someone else but the discussion goes on because everyone is saying the same thing with slightly different words.

Your idea seems good to me. As for the vessel, I vote to call it Meschitra. It's a name that's stuck with me, for some reason.

"Meschitra is a worthy name, and I have no objection to it.  Are there any other ideas?"

As he waits, Attilisk turns around and surveys the "bridge" again.  "This craft, though.  It thinks.  It feels.  Does it know its name already?  Will it embrace the name we give it?"

The phased crystal still has that somewhat otherworldly, there/not there quality, but yet its presence within the vessel at the moment cannot be denied.  Paraton, with their crystalline hands, believes they can get it out with minimal difficulty.  Examining the hole as well as they can before removing the crystal lance, it seems that the structure of the vessel is a solid blue-black material, consistent all the way through.  It does not seem to be amenable to phasing, so likely it cannot be fixed in that way; likely this is why the phasing crystal was so effective in damaging the vessel in the first place.

A patch of similar material would seem to be the best place to start, as well as the tool-headed lizard-creatures who had been attempting repairs and improvements while the column had been damaged.  Paraton knows the lizard-creatures retreated beyond a small hatch in the wall near the floor before the vessel moved, so presumably they are still there.  As for patching material, there doesn't seem to be any obvious material handy, at least with not possibly depriving the vessel of a part of itself it might need, but you haven't even investigated most of the other rooms in this place.  There might be storage facilities somewhere onboard...

"Perhaps we should see what's in the rest of the ship.  If there's some kind of threat, we want to eliminate it now, while we're paying attention."

Attilisk looks around at the room full of unknown controls.  "I would still like to find a way to keep in communication with the ship's ... brain, so to speak?  Certainly I want to know if there is anything approaching the craft outside."  He looks around for an interface that might allow him such access and notice.

The older woman nods thoughtfully at this, and stretches out her empathic senses.

Perhaps she could make contact with the ship itself.

If her first efforts are not successful, she moves toward whatever looks like a nearby main control, and experimentally touches it while stretching out her telepathic senses...

OOC: Attempting empathic sensing and Mental Link.  :)

Paraton agrees, and starts walking around the other rooms in this area of the vessel, taking notes, comparing heights, depths and widths, thinking about the relative distribution of places, and about the devices found in each open room. Their security clearance makes access easy, but understanding is left to the Seeker's power.

They then call Attilisk to a particular room: Hey. I think these devices are here for a reason, but I am unsure.
Paraton does not want to intrude on Eleisai's meditation.

OOC: Paraton used their Planner ability (When you observe or study a location for at least one round as your action, the next time you interact with it (possibly in the following round), the difficulty of a related task (such as finding a clue, a tool, or a secret compartment) is reduced by one step.)
After the study, they try to glean understanding of the rooms they've seen. They rolled 9 using 1d20.  Searching the ship for new stuff. Trained: numenera, tasks abt learning something new...

So that's about 2 or 3 assets, one for Planner, the rest for training.

Am I the only one who finds "trained in understanding the numenera" a bit too vague?

Elesai, as you extend your senses, you feel a presence, large and strange and quivering with energy, very different from the minds of your companions.  It feels awakening now, far more than it did before, and while you don't quite get a sense of words, you do get certain images that seem to take the place of words.  You see the ship in a starry void, approaching a great orb of cloudy blue, descending through the clouds with frightening speed until it stops above an unfamiliar landscape.  If it is the same area you are in now, it has changed all out of recognition - while now it is a grassland, the landscape in your vision is a glittering city where the crystalline towers rise and fall like a frozen tide.  As the vessel appears above the city, the towers flash, and a lance of something shining is launched from a rather spiky-looking squat tower.  It skewers the vessel and then it vanishes from the skies.

Attilisk and Delfino can examine the ship's controls more closely.

Paraton, you go to explore the ship further.  You had noted other doors as you were exploring, but had been concentrating on the few with the most relevance.  There is the door to the front controls that seem to affect the vessel's movement - that is where Attilisk and his twin are.  There is the "security" room that had been explored first.  Then the room that seems to hold the vessel's power source in the form of the smoke-filled pillars.  Cube had said it had found another room, and you find there is a hatch to a lower room that has floating motes of light and several protruding levers, along with one of the chair-like sitting places in the center.  Now that the vessel is active, you can see that the walls of the lower chamber have become translucent, giving you a magnified view of the surrounding landscape.  As you view it, you can see as you turn, the area gets sharper, as if the act of looking allows the vessel to enhance what you're seeing.  Upon tracing flows of power, Paraton is fairly certain the controls here can exert a great deal of force: this is an energy weapon control room.

One room is a large, mostly empty space with rods and springy cords that emerge from the walls.  A few rounded containers about the size of a large melon sit strapped into one gently-rounded corner, but the rest of the room is empty. One could store a great deal in this room.

The second to last room has curved benches along one wall, with more seats and some protruding ledges along the other, one marked with several odd depressions. Though the proportions are odd, the curved benches could be places to rest or sleep.

The last of the remaining rooms is a small room next to the security room with its control-motes arranged in a circular pattern above one of the odd chairs.  Sitting in the chair lets the motes begin to orbit one's head.  Then you have a sense of speech.  Do you think of anyone in particular, and anything you would like that person to know?

Finally, Paraton has a plan to fix the hole in the vessel's aft portion, and was going to investigate if there were any spare sections of hull or anything else useful.  However, once they had pushed out the phase-crystal lance and then turned back to make measurements, they realize that the hole is smaller than before.  Watching carefully, Paraton can see the vessel's wall begin to fix itself, as if it just needed someone to remove the deadly lance before its own self-repair could kick in.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:38, Fri 11 Sept 2020.

Attilisk does wander around the control room, with Delfino's help, examining, comparing, perhaps making minor trials of hypotheses now and then.