Paraton is oddly curious, and offers their finger. They have never learned when discretion might be the better part of valor.

As Paraton and Attilisk move closer to Eleisai, the creature shuffles sideways a bit, its feathery antennae flicking back and forth rapidly.  At their display of touch, the antennae still for a moment.  When Eleisai extends her own digit towards it, it shuffles forward slightly and touches one of its antennae to her finger.  It tickles, and feels very cold and soft.  There's a spark of static, and suddenly Eleisai feels a rush of cold and a sudden draining, as if someone had taken her mind and was trying to pour it out like a pitcher of water. 

Attilisk, your poking through the tumbled objects with your staff had yielded a couple of items that looked promising as cyphers, but as Eleisai abruptly pales from the intensity of contact with the strange beast, your own connection with the machines of this place suddenly come into sharper focus.  You can sweep your staff to thump the fallen console in just the right area, and the translucent being appears once more, making the same grandiose gestures as last time.  The light startles the creature, who releases Eleisai and scuttles off to the opposite door, hurtling through it, every antennae twitching madly, now glowing a soft white.

Attilisk rushes to the older woman.  "Are you ok?  What happened?"  The cyphers would have to wait until later.

While Attilisk rushes to help lady Eleisai, the Seeker stands guard, an arrow nocked and ready, the eye trained on the door that creature escaped through. After the creature is gone for a while, Paraton hits the console again and pays attention, really pays attention to what the announcer is saying in a language long gone.

OOC: Paraton rolled 15 to Understand the ancient welcome message. They are Trained in any task that involves learning something new, whether you’re talking to a local to get information or digging through old books.

Paraton pays close attention to the second run-through of the light-being's performance, and gets a good idea of what it's trying to convey.  It seems to be welcoming and explaining to those who come here, and by gesturing at the other consoles (and the doors behind them), it seems these are entrances to particular places a new arrival could go.  A place of arrival and sorting, it seems, a hub to other places upon the moon.

Eleisai seeming to be safe for the moment (or at least beyond Attilisk's capacity to immediately help), the Jack begins again poking around in the debris to try and recover what cyphers might be available.  He focus on the ruins and broken pillars, not wanting to disturb the messenger (?) just yet.

Attilisk can find several bits and bobs that will definitely be useful as parts for a large project, some others that could be used as shins, and a couple of items that look promising as cyphers.

Eleisai can feel the segmented creature still connected to her mind, and while the pull is no longer as strong as it was, it still seems to be trying to pull the strength of her mind from her as long as they are connected.  However, she can sense approximately where it is as long as their bond remains active.

OOC: Attilisk finds 2 units of parts, 10 shins, and two cyphers amongst the junk on the floor:

Snow Lens
Level: 6
Wearable: A curved piece of smooth glass that will sit across the nose and ears, covering the eyes.
Effect: Protects wearer from snowblindness, extremely bright light, and other light- or vision-based damage. User gains +1 to Armor against these types of attacks for 28 hours.

Light Flyer
Level: 6
Usable: Small metal rod
Effect: Once activated, the rod creates a winged glider about 12 feet (4 m) across beneath the user’s feet. The flyer can move a long distance in a round, and it moves at the whim of the rider (requiring no action). It lasts for four hours, although if the user gets off the glider before then, it disappears, the effect ended.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:47, Tue 19 Jan 2021.

Attilisk stuffs his bag and pocket with the shins and parts.  He then begins examining the cyphers, trying to figure out both how he might use them, and why such devices might have been useful in the place they find themselves.

"Everyone ok?  I did find a few things."  He explains the objects he holds open in his hands.

I... feel weary. Traveling has taken a toll on me. I do not trust this place. It looks like a port, but feels so off. I think too much time has passed since people used this building, but too little time for this place to go back to what it was before we built here.

Paraton sounds more and more distant. They tentatively look through the nearest opening, bow at the ready again.

[OOC: Please remind me to search for cyphers next time, I could use some and always forget to search.]

The older woman staggers at the first contact, wincing in pain.

"I am... all right.  Telepathic contact with the creature is... somewhat draining..."

She attempts to glean what thoughts she can from the creature while still connected...


The older woman shakes her head to focus amidst the draining contact from the creature.

"Do you need healing... friend Paraton?"
This message was last edited by the player at 07:44, Sun 14 Feb 2021.

I need... Respite. I need to focus., the Seeker sighs.

It's hard to focus while I'm changing so much, internally and externally. I'm thankful for having you near at this time. I appreciate your presence. Paraton sounds more and more detached.

Elesai gets a sense of where the creature is, not just getting insight into its emotions (startlement, fear, surprise, seeking-home) but also brief flashes of what it is seeing!  She saw the door it went through, then a long green corridor, out into another large circular room ringed with shelves filled with what looks like cubes of colored glass, some of them having fallen to the floor, scattering pebbles of glass everywhere.  A few more segmented creatures are there, having made nests of the glass.

Back in the "greeting hub" room, the door where the segmented creature had fled is glowing a soft green, while the two remaining doorways are respectively a soft pink and soft blue.  The green door, upon closer inspection, has a symbol of repeated squares, three by three, the pink door a set of three orbs in ascending size, and the blue door has concentric circles.

While the others are still assessing the situation (and themselves), Attilisk clears an area on the floor by the most intact pylon and sets down the treasures he has found.  He's unlikely to need them soon, and they can carry them up to the vessel on their way out, if they are so inclined.

He begins moving around a bit more, peering down the hallways and trying to get a better sense of what path might be the best.

The older woman touches her companion reassuringly.

"I am thankful to be here for you, friend Paraton..."

She describes to the two of them what she is able to sense of the creature through her mental link.

"... so it seems that there is more to explore.  Do we want to approach our creature and companions, or should we leave it alone?"

As the group rests and watches for the moment, Paraton sees a faint glimmer in the corner of their eye.  The blue door with the concentric circles has released a fan of pale white light that sweeps the room, then pauses on Paraton.  After a moment, it vanishes, and the blue door irises open, revealing a long green corridor lined with a series of green-black orbs, perhaps a foot around, right down the center.  There is a faint humming sound coming from the other end of the corridor, and you can see another light-figure, similar to the "greeting" figure, that is partway down the corridor.

The older woman regards her companions quietly.

"Which way, my friends?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:56, Mon 03 May 2021.

The seeker feels compelled to investigate. Something in this place seems to know something about them that they do not. Paraton rises and approaches the corridor carefully, their long quarterstaff at the ready.

Attilisk will take up of the rear, cautious and watchful, but holding his staff in a defensive posture rather than an aggressive pose.

As you move slowly down the corridor, you feel yourselves moving oddly slowly, as if every movement is being stretched out.  The sensation passes after a few seconds, but if you take a look over your shoulder, the door behind you is much, much farther away than it should have been.  There's a faint scent of spice in the air, and a crackle of ozone, as you approach the light figure.  This one's gestures are sharper, more abrupt, and it crosses its arms several times.  It seems to be a warning of some kind.  The final set of gestures seem to indicate opening something, but the light fragments and splinters into disorganized shreds, as if the mechanisms producing it are failing.

Beyond the figure is an archway full of pale blue light that is curious opaque, with fine tendrils of wire and synth trailing from one side panel, the area around it ripped, melted, and slightly... fuzzy?

The older woman stretches forth her extraordinary senses to scan the panel, the archway, and the light figure...

From the archway, a businesslike demeanor.  From the panel, pain.  From the light figure, caution and worry.

"Does it mean that we should not go that way?  Or that there is danger, and that is the safe way out?"

Attilisk leans in for a closer look at the decayed panels and their entrails.

The older woman stretches forth her Nano scanning senses as well...

The cristallified seeker does not trust any of this. They attempt to perceive what lies ahead, sensing with all their body, catching every whiff, every vibration of the stale air.

]

Attilisk, it seems like the panel was damaged deliberately, blasted by some kind of energy, and something organic is growing on the shattered panels.

Elesai, you sense a forcefield made of hard light, organic matter on the panel, and a fungal intelligence within the wall (which is made of metal and stone).

Paraton, your eyes catch the light figure, looking into the patterns that make it, seeing deeper into it, your eyes drawn down into the depths of cascading light.  Inside the patterns of its making are spirals and nebulae, stars and constellations, a million billion galaxies swirling together around a single point of infinite darkness...

Their maker lost control. They honor the maker with their devotion to their tasks. Others are here who do not know of the maker.  They do not know how to stop them. They are being consumed-!

Paraton feels their eyes burning, and for a moment can see nothing but stars and blackness, momentarily blind to everything and everyone around them, stunned and reeling.

Then sight returns with a few blinks, but the knowledge remains, indelible...