Oblivious to the discussion outside, Tacita stopped inputting more figures, her arm was getting tired and it didn't seem much use anyway. Without much enthusiasm she touches  the barrier with her spear, hoping that touching it from the other side might end in a different result.

After that she surveys the room again, while performing some stretch exercises. She checked then panel, barrier and door, now she is looking for anything she hadn't tried yet.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:55, Wed 05 Feb 2020.

Along the ledge...

Alberic regarded the ledge, thoughtfully, glancing between it and the large clock-hand he is using as a crutch. "Looks like a two-hand job." He grunts.

He shrugs off his pack, rummages for his length of rope, then rapidly fashions a harness to lash the crutch to his back. Having secured it thus, he dons his pack over it, and carefully remvoes the mitt from his left hand to reveal an unpleasant mass of mechanical joints and linkages, that with a bit of effort, he separates into three crude digits. With this and his conventional right hand, he begins to cautiously make his way onto the ledge. His left is stiff, but strong, and he soon begins to adopt a loping rhythm to move himself along.

In the cave ...

Tacita's investigation doesn't yield much new.  The walls, floors, and ceiling are made of the same whitish material.  It's difficult to tell if it is metal, some kind of fabricated stone, perhaps a ceramic, or something else.  It is quite hard and seems to absorb sound to some extent.  It is not patterned or decorated, except for the tessellation of the "tiles", which are tight enough that not even your knife point will intrude in the gaps.  The light fixtures are flush with the ceiling, and while none of them is particularly bright, there are enough to provide good lighting within the space.

The room seems designed for humans, or at least human-sized beings.  The doorways are roughly dimensions you are familiar with.  The ceiling is neither very low nor overly high.  The control panel is at an easy height to access.

- - - - - - - - -

On the ledge ...

Alberic's path along the ledge is tense, but manageable.  Although his feet slip once or twice, there are good places to grip that remain firm under his fingers.  After what feels like a long time on the edge of a deadly precipice, the the ledge seems to widen as it enters a cave.  Just beyond the cave, but within the gorge, the ledge quickly diminishes to an impassible lip.

While the cave is shadowy, Alberic is able to hear occasional voices within.

With a sigh of relief, Alberic swings himself into the cave: if there is to be trouble, he'd rather not face it on a ledge. He places a hand on the harness lashing his clock hand crutch to his back, ready to loosen it, but does not release it... yet. Instead, he rests his left hand against the wall, and calls into the cave: "Er, hello...? Order of Truth people?"
This message was last edited by the player at 08:28, Fri 07 Feb 2020.

Worry was now knocking on the door of Tacita's mind. Something she was not used to, but now she was stuck in this room.

She
Was
Stuck

She was attached to her freedom, she really liked it and was starting to feel uncomfortable over it's loss.

The young delve sat down in front of the barrier with a sigh, started poking it with the blunt end of her spear and started to think what more she could do.

In the cave ...

Nalla and Zalbane hear an unfamiliar male voice from the direction of the gorge.  It is a bit faint, but that's likely due to the intervening tunnels.

"Er, hello...? Order of Truth people?"

The sound does not reach Tacita's ears, the barrier dampening sound as well as the rest of the walls.

Unaware of the visitor, Tacita stood up and waved at the two woman on the other side of the barrier, then pointed at her panel illusion.

The panel was in it's clean active state, a blue square to the bottom, and a red laser emitter on the top. The, slightly in front of the panel, there were now shapes forming, first a cube, then a crystal, a key, and some other forms.

The mute woman stood in front of the barrier with a tilted head looking in concentration at her illusory image shifting.

OOC: 21:47, Today: Tacita rolled 19 using 1d20 with rolls of 19.  Int test +1 Effort.

As Tacita cycles through various shapes with her illusions, she notices that some of the crystalline forms take longer for the scanner to read.  A few even are even read twice before being rejected.  As the scanner appears to not have any lock-out mechanism for repeated attempts, Tacita is able to experiment and refine her illusions in an attempt to find something closest to what it's looking for.

After many, many iterations Tacita finds that a crystalline shape resembling a faceted disk, a heptagon from above or below, barely a few millimeters thick and roughly the diameter of a small coin is the "best received".  The scanner reads it three times slowly before flashing yellow and turning off.

Still somewhat surprised at her success, Tacita stand still looking at the weird disk for a moment. Then she enlarges the disk illusion, retrieves her bag from her shoulders, and starts rummage. Finally she retrieves some Responsive Synth and starts to shape it into a copy of the illusion.

Looking extremely satisfied, the young woman places the newly crafted disk in front of the panel, anxious to see it's reaction.

OOC: Using Right Tool for the Job with 1 unit of Responsive Synth. 1 Intellect is converted to 1 Speed via Quick Wits, which my Speed Edge of 3 will cover.

Tacita carefully shapes and molds the iotum into a physical form identical to the odd crystal.  She tries her best to replicate the translucence, the refractivity she believes the crystal will have.  Holding forth the precious material, she presses the panel.

The blue light appears.  The red laser scans the makeshift "key".

Nothing happens.  Nothing happens for longer than any previous pause during Tacita's testing of the panel.  But the blue light remains.

The laser scans again.  It is slower this time and passes back and forth along the faceted disk in a way Tacita has not seen before.

And again there is no reaction.  No change.  Tacita's lungs begin to burn from the breath she didn't realize she was holding.

Suddenly, the blue light blinks twice and the force field sizzles a moment as it deactivates.  Even as it does, the crystal disk disintegrates, likely an adverse reaction to the intense scanning of the laser.

There is no way to know how long until the barrier reactivates, or what happens if she's crossing the threshold when it does.

Getting no reply, Alberic pauses for a moment, concentrating on the sounds he can hear from further in the cave. He sniffs at the air for a moment, thoughtfully, then nods, with satsifaction. "Numenera." He murmers. "Best proceed with caution."

He loosens the harness holding the enormous clock hand to his back, and grips it firmly in both hands, like a quarterstaff, ready for trouble. Or perhaps more like a punting pole, as he keeps one end on the ground to offset his lopside gait. He moves forwards as quietly as he can - which for Alberic, is not very - alert for danger.

08:50, Today: Alberic rolled 9 using 1d20.  Approaching Stealthily. No Assets.

With a sharp intake of breath, Tacita is completely mesmerized by the panel's scanning process. For the young delve, it almost seems as if the world stops but for the panel. Once, twice, it rejects the disk as a key. When finally the blue light blinks twice, the young woman unconsciously hops, clapping in her hands as she released the air she didn't know she held up.

Quickly Tacita steps towards the barrier and make a dive roll through the opening. Relieved to be on the other side, the mute woman rushes up Nalla and hugs the wright tightly, feet in the air, with elation on her face. She then moves over to the Zalbane and hugs the jack with a wide grin.

Finally releasing herself, Tacita hops from one feet to the other, proudly pointing at the, for now, empty opening.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:26, Tue 11 Feb 2020.

Even as she waves her arm in the direction of the doorway, the trio hears a buzz of energy and the barrier snaps back into place.  Had Tacita been wearing looser clothing, shreds of her dangling sleeve would now be on the floor of the white room.  The barrier now exists as it did before, an impenetrable crackle in the air, just barely visible.

Nalla doesn't seem particularly into the hug, but at least she doesn't squirm.  ”Now that that is over we should return to the camp and see if we can make a move permanent solution.”

Tactica blinks in shock as the barrier snaps in place. She smacks her left palm with her right fist in annoyance. Now they would have to find another way to open it...

But that would be for another time. Tempting as it was to get through the barrier again, she had enough of that room for this day. Turning back towards the entrance, the young delve crafted another illusion. An hourglass appeared, the final grains of sand falling from the top chamber into the bottom pile.

She figured the hour they had agreed upon had passed, and her lust for discovery was sated. For now at least.

Suddenly she stops and lifts an open hand and looks intensely forward. Near the mouth of the cave, glowing yellow footprints appear leading into the cave, with the left side of the footprints double the size of the other. While they might not be accurate in their position or speed, they do signal what she thinks is going on.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:44, Tue 11 Feb 2020.

”I hear them too, let me see the end of your spear for a movement, and be careful who you touch with this thing.”

When she touches the spear it begins to glow with the same radiance as the door behind them, clearly holding that power until something causes it to be released.  Reaching back to touch the wall again Nalla recharges herself as well with another ever so brief flickering of drain on the near inexhaustible wall, then heads off in the direction of the footsteps to see what is trying to find them.

Alberic limps forward with his rapid but uneven gait. Feeling the shift in power around the Numenera, and realising that he has no chance of being quiet, he reverts to his original strategy, pausing in his steps and calling out: "Er, hello? Order of Truth People?"

Tacita looks at her spear with with renewed respect and nods in thanks to Nalla. She is tempted to touch the tip, but can restrain herself from the experiment.

As the intruder announces himself, the young delve grips her spear with both hands. Seemingly in a relaxed stance, her muscles are tense and she could spring into action at any moment. She looks straight at him, as if giving him the opportunity to explain.

Clearly not threatened by one, or even most of a, man Nalla stops a few paces away from him and asks him to be a bit more specific.

”What is your purpose here, and who sent you?”

As Tacita comes through the forcefield, Zalbane smiles at the delve's cleverness and resourcefulness.  Zalbane turns with surprise at the sudden speech from behind her, staring at the stranger with trepidation.  Her light shines brightly on the newcomer, and she prepares to unleash a barrage of painful color if he proves to be a foe!

"Ah, good day!" Alberic nods in a friendly way. He has a travelling pack slung over his shoulders, and wears long, dark brown duster coat that is buttoned up to cover most of his body, and a blue cloak. From the left sleeve, in place of a hand, a mass of mechanical appendages emerge, curling around a six-foot long clock hand that he has been using as a crutch. His right hand - entirely conventional 0 tips his broad-brimmed hat in greeting as he stands before them, revealing a gaunt but cheerful face, lightly bearded, and thinning brown hair atop his head. His left eye is nothing more than a sphere of blue crystal, the socket around it scarred and twisted, as if it had been installed without proper care. His face, however, is opened into a lopsided grin, as if the left side were somehow stiffer than the right. His right eye twinkles cheerfully. "My name is Alberic. Some call me the Half-Consumed, care of a little mishap while I was studying the Iron Wind." He wiggles the mess of digits making up his left hand. "A reckless exaggeration - I assure you, it is a third at most. More to the point, I was sent here by your friend Mustane. We had both had a run in with the Exigen, and had been pulled into a pocket dimension. Mustane kindly managed to negotiate our release, and I find myself out here. I am some distance from where I used to work, and have probably been missing for six months, so I am in some need of work. I am an adherent of the Order of Truth - Mustane tells me that you, too, are with the order, and pointed me in your direction. He, er, seemed in a hurry to get back to his carpentry." He coughs, and looks expectantly at them. "I thought I would bring you the good news of his return, and, er, see if you might have need of a skilled Wright on this expedition."

As always Nalla has an almost painfully detailed plan for just this sort of occasion, and lays it out step by step almost as if reading it off a checklist list.

”I know a Mustane, and lets assume you aren't the reason for this whole distraction.
But we don't know you, and you probably don't want it to stay that way for long, so lets have you toss away anything that looks like a weapon and leave this cave.
If you can lead us back to where Mustane is, and he confirms your identity we will talk about giving you back your stuff.”

Alberic does not seem to take this amiss - indeed, he seems quite thrilled at the prospect of a two way conversation, and proceeds to allow a stream of one-sided conversation gush forth: "Ah, yes! A wise precaution. Afraid it's been a month or two since I had proper conversation with anyone, so I'm perhaps a little rusty on the social niceties. Don't get me wrong, it was nice to speak with Mustane, but he's quite a quiet fellow - not one for conversation, as he put it. Though, ironically, that was precisely how he negotiated our release. What a thought!" He chuckles, then seeing belatedly that the others do not share his amusement, he hurriedly rests the large clock hand he carries against the wall of the cave, and backs away from it, patting at his pockets. "Now then, let's see. I don't carry much by way of weaponry. I'm an engineer, rather than a warrior. Now I have had a few causes to use the old clock hand, so I'll turn that over. I'm afraid I walk a little lop-sided without it, but I can still get around. And to be honest, it wasn't that easy to carry into this cave, so it'll be quite the relief to let someone else deal with it!" He again starts a laugh, then realises that others do not see the funny side. "Now, let's see. I've no weapons in my pack - saving a few tools, you understand, but there's no way of you knowing that without rummaging through it, so let's say I'll just take it off and pop it down here." He shrugs off his pack and places it next to the clock hand. "Now, I do have in my pocket my pipe. Not dangerous you understand, but I realise that you have no way of knowing firstly, what I have in my pockets, and secondly that it isn't some pipe of dangerously explosive dentonating. Which of course, it isn't... although... now that I think about it, it would be quite fascinating to give that a go..." He becomes lost in thought, as if he had quite forgotten his predicament.

The young delve looks at the organized wright with an almost puzzled look, but then shrugs. Without saying a word, the she walks rather nonchalantly over towards the newcomer using the spear as a walking stick.

Silently, but with a rather friendly smile,she attempts to lifts the clock hand, feels the weight and 'nopes' and shakes her head.

She then kneels besides the pack and opens it to give it a quick look. She slings the pack over her shoulder, slightly awkward half-over her own pack. Finally she holds up her open hand towards the mechanical wright, looking expectingly.

Alberic watches Tacita's activities with some interest. He looks at her extended hand for a moment with some fascination, before realising that she is expecting something from him. "Ah." He says, sheepishly. "My pipe?"

He slowly reaches his right hand into his pocket, and pulls out a large, but plain-looking pipe. He carefully places it in her hand. "Just careful with it. You can get a lot of smoke from that if you're not careful... and you need to be careful about mixing the flavours. There are some less... pleasant combinations."