Ready to defend themselves, Attilisk takes point as Eleisai, Eris, Erin, Cube, Seeker, Q'nur, and Defino arrange themselves behind him.  Following the pure tone, they head out of the room, into the corridor, down a segment that is slightly inclined downward and floored in something that resembles short pale green grass (though it does not seem to be alive), bypassing a sealed door that glows a soft shade of pink, and to a large square opening, perhaps twenty feet on a side, that leads to a large spiral ramp that penetrates deep into the ground.  The ramp is covered with more of the "grass" and lit by a series of floating, glowing insects, each perhaps a meter long, triple-segmented and with wings that buzz constantly to keep them in place.  There is a smooth synth wall on the outside of the ramp, but the inside is open, plunging down at least a hundred feet.  To fall here would be... painful at best, but most likely lethal.  At at least two places you can see, you spy a capsular form stuck to the wall with some kind of pale orange webbing.  The pure tone seems to indicate "down" is the way to go...

Attilisk waits for the group to converge at the top of the spiraling ramp, judging the width of the walkway, diameter of the shaft, and the state of any railing that may be or have been present.  He also appreciates the beauty of the glowing creatures.

"Any thoughts on our progress?  Our path?"

The older woman considers.

"I could try scouting ahead first.  If the ramp proves stable, you can follow.  If not, I can Hover or Far Step out of danger..."

The shaft is perhaps sixty feet wide, the path perhaps ten feet wide, and the grade is not too steep.  There are no railings on the inner, open edge, so one must exercise caution.  Eleisai can scout ahead, finding the "grass" to be springy but also providing good grip.  It would be difficult to slip and fall, though stumbling or being pushed could still be accomplished.  As she draws closer to one of the cocooned beings, she can see that within their capsular form is a silvery humanoid with closed eyes.  Below Eleisai can hear a faint hissing sound, like the escape of gas from a vent, and a low thrumming, like that of great machine.

The older woman examines the cocooned being with both mundane and empathic senses.

Then she uses her Nano scanning senses as well...

Attilisk follows behind, about half a turn on the spiral farther back than Eleisai.  He continues to mind the Brethren-beastie detector and keep alert for danger.

The cocooned being is not human, though it is humanoid.  The face had broad cheeks and a projecting smooth muzzle, all of it in sleek, smooth silver.  Its closed eyes are huge, far larger than any human's.  It seems to be in layers of slightly squashy transparent wrappings that emit a sour smell.  It would be no bigger than four feet tall once no longer stuck to the wall. 

The detector still points down the ramp as where the tentacle-beast lies.  Q'nur indicates he'll go a little bit ahead to make sure nothing is coming up from below, giving the others a smile and a wave as he trots down a turn or two.  He comes back a little less jauntily a few minutes later, looking a bit more sober.

"There's a nice big bug-like swarm a few levels down, and a new cocoon that looks fresher than those two.  Beyond that is some kind of temporary wall with what looks like energy crawling over it, I guess to keep the bugs out," he says, keeping his voice down.  He also is sporting a flat synth panel of some kind, kludged together with a small red nodule and a few length of wire.  "Found a cypher in a busted panel though!  This one will make a nice little explosion if we need it."

"Swarm?  That's ... not good."  Attilisk looks down at the detector and fiddles with the controls.  Maybe he can change it from an audio indicator to an optic indicator.

The older woman frowns thoughtfully, glancing quickly to see how many other cocoons and bugs are visible from her current vantage point.

"These bugs may swarm and cocoon us if we are not careful.  Perhaps we should go back up the ramp now, and discuss strategy in a safer area..."

"The longer we wait, the more likely we will be to lose our best chance at finding that Brethren beastie.  If we move slowly, stay vigilant, and maintain a clear path to the exit, we should be ok."

Eris nodded, "Indeed. Keep moving"

Attilisk fiddles with his detector, but can't quite figure out how to get a vision display out of the thing.  The best compromise is to take a bit of a rag and muffle the port where the sound is being emitted for now, which at least dulls it.

Moving cautiously down the ramp, soon you can all see the swarm of glittering yellow insects, almost like a sideways cascade of glitter, drifting up the column of space on the inside of the ramp, across the ramp like a shimmering curtain, to a fresh cocoon on the wall that glistens with faint moisture.  About fifteen feet further down the ramp is a crackling wall of electricity that the insects seem to be avoiding.

"We could try to span the inner space, maybe?" Delfino asks tentatively, eyeing the wall and ramp.  "Or push the insects into the wall?"

Attilisk scowls at the lack of visual setting, but some things can't be helped.

"Eleisai, are you able to transport us across the gap?  Even one at a time?"   He considers further, looking at the barrier.  "But would it even help?  Even if we make it there, the barrier may be just as dangerous to us as to those ... things.  If we can find a way to test it first, we may even be able to just jump ... leap from the level above, cross the gap, and roll when we hit that level, right through that doorway."

Considering carefully, Erin moves to the wall and presses one of the marks

Eris examines the wall more closely and finds some fine marks inscribed there, very much like the ones in the pod room.  Upon pressing one of them, a round door about five feet across irises open right next to her, revealing a spherical room approximately forty feet high with a small walkway around the circumference.  Floating in the middle is a silvery=gray spiky object perhaps two feet wide that pulses and constantly grows and retracts new spikes. Directly across from the entry is another round door, and to the left (what would be the downward direction of the spiral) is a slim, rectangular door.  The room is lit softly above and below by glowing panels, and smells somewhat of crackling ozone.

The older woman considers thoughtfully.

"I can only transport myself, and I would pass through the space in between.  If the barrier is lethal, then I would not survive."

She observes with interest as the round door irises open, and nods approvingly.

"Well done.  Someone please keep an eye on the bugs while I scan the spherical room a bit..."

Attisk positions himself to observe the insectoid forms farther down the spiral while his comrades explore the spherical path.

Eris readied her blade, even as Erin nodded at the priestesses request. Both remained quiet and still

After Eleisai passes through the round door the Cube slides part way through, functioning as a square peg in a round hole as only semi solid structures can.  With the path effectively secured the waiting begins, to see which side becomes more dangerous.

In scanning the room Eleisai can see metallic walls with electrical power running behind them in a cage-like pattern.  With the large diameter of the room her scanning can't quite reach the spiky object in the middle, but it can brush across some of the spikes at they grow and retract.  They are a mix of several metals being powered by something that is not immediately identifiable (at least with only a partial scan), but you gather the potential power is incredible.  The glowing panel on the ceiling glows because of bioluminescence.

The open doorway to the left has a faint magnetic field across it.  The doorway across the room is too far away to scan.

Cube, at the moment the only movement, aside from the spiky floating thing, is the insect swarm a couple of turns down.  It drifts slowly back and forth, occasionally coming close to the larger floating insects that are suspended in the central shaft.  When they do, three protrusions, like antennae reach out towards them, and the swarm hovers in a circular pattern as they do.

Attilisk moves slowly on his side of the doorway, listening for threats or discoveries identified by his companions on the other side of the door and trying to discern patterns in the behavior of the insects and more closely studying their form and anatomy.

With their gelatinous companion blocking the entranceway, Erin moves to support Attilisk, whilst Eris trailed behind both

The older woman continues scanning, stretching her extraordinary senses further into the spherical room...

Erin and Attilisk can see that beyond the small doorway is a room full of floor-to-ceiling strands that glimmer like slime.  Periodically suspended in them are orbs perhaps the size of two fists put together, glowing a soft blue-green.

Eleisai carefully scans the rest of the room, finding that the liquid alloys around the spiky sphere in the center are surrounded an incredibly powerful fission power source.  A strong magnetic field is being emitted from the light panels above and below.  The walls are shielded against electromagnetic fields, and the far door is nearly a meter thick and has power running to it.

Noting the threads and the orbs they trap, the thrumming of power from the room, Eris tensed, "These rooms are taut with opportunity, Walkers. Or danger. Tread carefully"