They find themselves in a forest of what look to be evergreen trees on the side of a mountain. More specifically they're in a small clearing. There isn't any clear path visible the the underbrush is minimal so they could likely hike in any direction they choose. There's the faint sound of a small stream off to one side mixing with the quiet sounds of wildlife.

A quick glance around with myriad eyes indicates that they don't seem to be under immediate threat, he gently unwraps his friends, Ounu's dreamstuff retreating back into his body...mostly. They still leave enough manifest that they won't be caught off guard if something jumps out at them.

<Any idea where we are?> she asks across the group's psychic link, glancing around suspiciously and flipping open one of her zone-suit's numerous pockets to retrieve a wand, as much for the comfort of having it in hand as because she's detected any sort of threat to use it on.

He doesn't reply immediately, instead focusing on casting a divination to and determine the answer and trying to not be distracted by how oddly ordinary the nearby terrain is. Unfortunately, he doesn't meet with much success. <Sandy, your aura's still strong, enough that I'm not really getting any answers through it. Is something wrong?>

<There's something...strange, to the texture of reality here. It's subtle, so I'm not sure what sort of effect it would have on you two if we just let it in.>

Hm. <Alright, keep it up for now. We'll stick together and search on foot. We should try and find the rest of the Fleeting Mirage's crew, or at least the ship itself, before moving on with the mission.>

The others all assent, and so they begin tracing out a wide, searching spiral through the forest, keeping their eyes peeled for sides of a crash, or the bulky, white shape of people wearing zone-suits. Ounu is vigilant for psychic signals, whether of the crew or of unfamiliar minds, and Wrinkle continues working through his repertoire of divinations to see if he can spot the magic of the ship, or at least the magical residue of its wreckage.

The mountain that they're on is decently steep and the nearby stream is relatively narrow but appears to be clean. It shouldn't be too long before they find an overlook and in the distance about five kilometers off there's a fairly tall wooden tower past the edge of the forest. From the same vantage point they can see as an enormous plume of water erupts from the peak of the mountain they've been climbing. It doesn't appear to be dangerous.

No sign of the Fleeting Mirage, or the crew, or the missing ship they were sent out here to find. Damn.

She gives Wrinkle a psychic ping, just in case he's found something and forgotten to mention it.

He is, in fact, mostly distracted, since he's run through most of the spells he thought might be relevant and come to the conclusion that they're not only not anywhere in the Shadowfell (which in retrospect was rather obvious, given this place doesn't look like the Zones or a rim-jungle), but not in a Material Plane either, or even an astral domain. <That anomaly took us into the Beyond, I'm pretty confident. The fact that we ended up somewhere that looks even vaguely familiar is a blessing, and Sandy and Ounu's aura is probably a good portion of why we're still alive. We definitely shouldn't try taking our suits off any time soon.>

Sandy pings acknowledgement of the fact, and they can all feel the aura strength, just a little.

Regardless, what a mess. <Alright. For all we know the Fleeting Mirage and Iron-Beetle are as good as gone. Our priority should be finding a way back home, or at least finding somewhere we can shelter safely.>

And they do try to find the anomaly again, in the hopes that they might be able to figure out some way to reopen it and fly back through. Sadly, even after coming back to exact spot they first appeared there's no sign of it. With no other lead on how to get back, it's decided that Sandy should grab them, transform into a winged shape, and fly them to that wooden tower. It will serve as a place to set up camp if nothing else, and if they're lucky there might be some people there they can talk to learn more about where they've ended up.

As they approach they notice a bipedal person with blue and slightly shiny skin on a balcony near the top of the tower. The person is waving to them. As they get even closer they might be able to pick out further details like their large pointy ears them having four eyes, three fingered hands, the seemingly hand-made clothing from some sort of rough fabric, or the device they're holding in one of their hands.

Wrinkle is the first to get a proper glimpse at the form of the (presumed) locals, as they're still flying in, and sends the visual through the psychic link. <They don't look like any kind tallfolk or smallfolk I've ever seen, aside from the ears.>

He experimentally tries casting just the first part of a translation spell, but it fails, and the way it fails makes him realize his assessment of the divinations earlier was wrong. <The etherosphere here is almost completely undeveloped...almost elemental, except for being closer to the Prime Material in terms of energy levels. I'm not going to be able to translate for us. Ounu, do you think you can manage it instead?> 

They radiate a wordless confidence, and as Sandy brings them in to hover near the balcony, they'll extend and invisible tendril and deposit a psychic transceiver in the individual's language matrix, then signal completion to their host.

"<Hello!>" Sandy begins, speaking sounds that are plausibly entirely alien to the tower's blue humanoid but which through the transceiver are intelligible nonetheless. "<You wouldn't happen to know where we are, would you? We are very lost.>"

"That's certainly true. You don't look like any kind of people I've seen before not even the aliens we have statues or bones from. Given that I'm not sure how much help it'll be for me to tell you you're on Timber Hearth near the East Geyser Mountains."

He confers with the others just to make sure, and yeah, none of that sounds familiar, at least in combination with the physiology of their interlocutor. "<Well, we've confirmed that we are about as lost as we thought we were at least. I don't suppose you'd be able and willing to host a handful of strangers while we try and figure out how to get back-- Oh, also, just to make sure, you haven't seen any green-skinned, broad-shouldered men wear similar bulky white suits and spherical helmets as my comrades, have you?>" He briefly turns the dreamflesh currently wrapped around Wrinkle and Mischief transparent so that their zone-suits can be observed.

"I can't say that I have. And sure, we have space especially with everyone who's off exploring. And food ain't scarce either though I can't say for sure if it'll be good for you, we Heathians have hardy stomaches."

It had been a while since the break for rations when the Fleeting Mirage got snagged by the anomaly. "<My comrades and I should be able to render food safe to eat, between ourselves. Where should I land?>"

"I don't think the stairs down would be comfortable for you so it's probably best for you to land at the bottom. I'll come down and lead you to town. That's where we have the most room to spare. Most other places aren't really bigger than they need to be since they tend to be purpose built."

"<Reasonable,>" he replies, and promptly does descend, retracting the dreamflesh once they're grounded.

Once the local comes out to meet them again, they'll find, in the center, a humanoid with a mane of bright red fibers sprouting from his head, two pale eyes with blue-circled pupils, and tan skin wearing a loose-fitting, draping outfit,

a tall humanoid in one of the bulky white suits, with dark eyes, long and straight silver fibers, and a pair of dark eyes visible through the helmet's glass shield,

and a child-sized figure wearing the other bulky white suit, inside of which there seems to be a humanoid so dark in color that she seems more like a shadow than a physical object, enough that making out finer details of her appearance is quite difficult.

"Are you all different sorts of people?" They ask before starting to lead the way down a dirt road leading in the opposite direction of the mountains they came from.

"<Ah, yes!>" Sandy begins as they follow. "<I'm...well it's hard to put an exact pin in it due the my particular history, but my base form is modeled on a human* with a few modifications on the part of the people who created me. Wrinke,>" he gestures to the taller one, currently on his right, "<is a first generation elven* exile, or at least that's our best guess, since his memory of the time before we picked him up is pretty spotty. Mischief,>" he gestures to the small one on his left, "<is obviously some variety of smallfolk, but she's a very private person, so I usually try not to pry.>"

(*The meaning conveyed by these words likely doesn't perfectly map to anything in the local language, but can be approximated 'a type of person similar to Sandy or Wrinkle respectively, with moderate variation in coloration, size, portions, etc., and with some additional implicit context regarding 'humans' and 'elves' generally coming from different places but having a non-zero amount of mixing between them.)

"I'm not sure if that means your answer is two or three different kinds but I suppose categories like that can be a bit arbitrary. Least that's what I hear from the biologists talking about things like ring species and such."

Wrinkle's eyes twinkle just a bit at the mention, and he chatters a bit to Sandy over the link.

He nods in return. "<According to Wrinkle, in terms of strict interfertility, the two primary distinct kinds of people where we come from are tallfolk and smallfolk, but that phenotypic variations within these kinds can still be pretty extreme.>"

He ponders for a moment. "<I'm also not sure whether I might be a kind unto myself, since the exact nature of my creation, and my bonding with Ounu-- that's the being whose dreamflesh* I use for shapeshifting and who's allowing us to communicate right now despite not sharing a language-- but yes, the fact that I was created artificially, and then further changed by the fusion between my and Ounu's vital substrates, seems like it could introduce some uncertainty as to what 'kind' I am. So I suppose overall "either 2 or 3 kinds, depending on how you look at it' is just about the best answer we can give.>"

(*This word seems indicate of the strange sort of shifting mass that, for example, composed his wings and the pseudopods he was holding Wrinkle and Mischief in earlier. It has some unclear implicit further context regarding how it might be different from ostensibly normal flesh.)

"The language thing is mighty strange. Took us a good ten years of work to get a handle on the Nomai Language and you just fly up being able to be understood. It's convenient but it also seems a little like cheating. All those unfamiliar concepts as addendums are a tad unsettling too."

"<I suppose I can see how that might. For what it's worth, at least the level Ounu and I are proficient in and comfortable using, it's only effective for communicating between two entities that both contain a very particular kind of informational embedding of the language itself. We wouldn't be able to, for example, pick up one of your books and read it.>"

He pauses to sigh.

"<And that's only fair, I suppose. Unfortunately I'm not sure how much I can do to avoid it. We don't really know anything about this place other than that it's very, very surprising that it's not even more different from where we came from, so I'm not really able to tell beforehand what things will be normal and what things will be strange.>"

"I expect it's good you ended up here then; if we've learned anything from the space program it's that most ways for things to be strange are also dangerous if you're not careful."

Space?

"<'Space' might be an example of the converse sort of conceptual roughness. You have a program for...sending things into the sky, where there is a lot of empty space?>"

"We do. It's more about going to the pockets of something in among all the nothing though. We have lots of names for those pockets, planets, moons, asteroids, comets. But those are mostly different on how big they are and what they're made of."

Sandy nods along, and the look of fascination on their taller companion intensifies.

"<The ways that's similar, but also completely different, from what we're familiar with, continue to baffle us. Wrinkle says that sounds a bit like the Astral Sea* and the Lower Heaven*, but I get the feeling they're much, much further away than either of those. He also asks, do any of them lead to separate spatial domains, or is this all just one enormous continuum?>"

(*These refer to two distinct skies, somehow. The Astral Sea is the outermost sky, and contains 96 immovable stars that form thirteen constellations, but which is also apparently full of some kind of liquid rather than empty space, and has various other things floating in it other than stars. The Lower Heaven is apparently underneath a part of the world, and its stars are mobile and flow in currents, and mostly don't have anything else amidst them. In both cases, stars are themselves composed of portals that lead to otherwise-separate, self-contained spaces.)

"If I'm understandin you right they're all in the same spatial domain, well except maybe the insides of Dark Bramble. When we had to save our planet from the Bramble Infection we learned some mighty strange things about it."

Sandy chuckles. "<Oh, now Wrinkle is very curious. What was the Bramble Infection, and what did you learn about the place I presume it came from by overcoming it?>"

"A long time ago there was an icy planet where Dark Bramble used to be. Now all that's there are fragments and that damn plant. What we call the Infection is when a seed from that plant managed to land here and started to grow in the same sort of way. We don't know how long it would have taken but we knew it was bad news.

"The weirdness we discovered is that the seed was bigger on the inside what's even weirder is that the probes we sent through also triangulated as being inside Dark Bramble when we cranked up their beacons loud enough.

"Since then we've been slowly trying to map the inside but it's terrifying work what with the angler fish that can swallow our ships whole if they catch wind of them. That and the damn fog that means you can't ever see very far."

Sandy and Wrinkle both seem distinctly disturbed by that (which Ounu's telepathic link will convey, if the ordinary interpretation of those facial and postural expressions would be different). Mischief might as well but with her smaller stature and inscrutable face it's hard to tell.

"<That sounds almost Dungeon*-esque-- that's a...it's a sort prison dimension, built to contain a force of malevolence but which sometimes partially intersects with other parts of the world. Regardless, I'm glad to hear that you were able to neutralize the seed, and I believe the three of us are in agreement that we'd very much prefer to avoid Dark Bramble if possible.>"

(*Context was provided, but additionally the word is laden with a sense of isolation, danger, uncertainty, monsters, darkness or other forms of obscurity, chaos, deception, and similar feelings.)

"Sensible of you. We Hearthians are a curious bunch but the main reason we've continued even after losing some people is because that's where the Nomai's Vessel is and it's our best chance of exploring beyond the bounds of our solar system."

"<Good luck to you in-->" Sandy begins, before stopping as Wrinkle is apparently struck by a thought. Sandy raises a hand up to his forehead and drags it downwards exasperatedly. "<So, this seed, and Dark Bramble by association are things you've observed having any sort of spatial complexity to them? And that there's something that makes leaving this...solar system...difficult, or maybe impossible?>"

"No, there's also the black hole inside Brittle Hollow that goes to the white hole in a distant orbit. And it's not that we can't leave the solar system it's that we can't get anywhere else, on account of how far we'd have to travel."

The three of them pause and chew on 'black hole' and 'white hole' a moment, though not for too long.

"<Fair enough, I suppose I still haven't really processed just how large the distances involved here are. Still, given that we arrived here due to some kind of intermittent spatial anomaly, Wrinkle has brought up the valid point that, if we aren't able to find anything useful regarding this 'black hole white hole' pair, then the only other lead for how to get back home that we've picked up so far would be the seed. So...hopefully it doesn't come to that?>"

"I don't know enough to rightly say. Looks like we're getting close now." They point ahead and there's a building larger than the tower built around an enormous telescope just starting to come into view.

Goodness. "<What is that for? How much of your town is inside that one structure?>"

"The Observatory? Not that much, it is pretty important though, even if the telescope isn't quite as important as it used to be back before we could go places in person. The Crater's pretty big and it's full up."

Sandy nods along to that, and they follow quietly for a bit longer, with Wrinkle seemingly engrossed in some mathematical calculation. When he shares the result of that with the rest of the party, Sandy coughs with surprise, and quickly asks their guide, "<Just to clarify, would you say it's accurate that the distances between areas of relevance in space are on the order of tens to hundreds of millions of miles*?>"

(*Units converted to local equivalent)

"Sounds about right, least if you mean inside the solar system. The Attlerock is closer of course."

He and Wrinkle both seem deeply impacted by now having some rough idea of the scales involved for everything other than (presumably) nearest of these other places. They silently confer for a while longer, before Sandy speaks again. "<And you have ways of traveling to these places in person as well. What does that involve? The only thing I could imagine letting you travel quickly enough would be something like teleportation, but Wrinkle hasn't noticed any of the etheric* infrastructure necessary to perform more than the shortest of transpositions, let alone across such vast distances.>"

(*Relating to ether, a substance, sort of, that somehow permeates everything, or almost everything, and implicitly has something to do with how teleportation, and many other things, work.)

"We do actually use the Nomai's teleporters where it's convenient. There's at least one on most of the important planets though since the hub is on Ash Twin it's not always usable. For other trips though we either use our home grown rockets or the Nomai's shuttles. Mostly our rockets though. The Shuttles aren't very flexible."

By all the Powers known and unknown, he wishes he could spend a lifetime just learning about this place. It's all so tantalizingly familiar yet simultaneously mind-boggling in how it arises from seemingly entirely distinct bases.

"<Wrinkle continues to be very curious about more or less everything, but I suspect it's getting to the point that he is wishing more for an archive to dive into than to try and get me to put words to every single question, and given the lack of the magic* we'd normally use for translation, we will hopefully be leaving before he has enough time to pick up the language the long way. Regardless, do any of these Nomai teleporters connect to Brittle Hollow, where we might be able to study the black hole? And, what about Ash Twin presents an obstacle?>"

(*Various abilities, techniques, and technologies associated with ether, but which notably doesn't include the ability that Sandy and Ounu are using to sustain communication)

"The teleporter on Brittle Hollows takes you right next to the Black Hole Forge. As for the trouble with Ash Twin, we call it and Ember Twin the Hourglass Twins because every month the sand cycles between them. When most of it is on Ash Twin, it buries some of the teleporters and they turn off until it goes away. Even for the ones that don't get buried you can't really leave the rooms with the teleporters in them. That's only for a couple days each month but it's still a pain."

Huh. "<Fair enough. Does the sand directly interfere with the teleporters in some way that takes time to reset, or is it just inconvenient to clear it all out? And, is there a calendar we could consult about when it'll next become inoperable?>"

"There's just a lot of it. We figure the Nomai didn't want to dump loads of sand on other planets. Also, the way the teleporters work they'll only do their thing when the other end is clear. Having to clear away a big load of sand would take a while."

Wrinkle gets a clearly thoughtful and perhaps somewhat tempted look, which Sandy then explains the provenance of. "<Wrinkle thinks that he and I could probably clear out a lot of sand and set up some tunnels between the teleporter rooms, and to a platform above the highest point the sand reaches, but I suspect that we should probably wait on doing that until it would not be a surprise to everyone other than ourselves and you.>"

"Maybe so, the towers are pretty big though. So are the walkways."

They've continued down the road and now the settlement has come into full view. While there's a few buildings smaller than the observatory dotted around at their current level the majority of the settlement is built into an enormous circular canyon. The canyon is filled with buildings of varying heights and a mix of dirt paths like the one they're traveling on and train tracks to facilitate travel. They can see more people than they can count walking between buildings and doing various tasks below and surely there's even more people inside the many many buildings.

He shrugs. "<We'll see once we're there I suppose.>"

Wow, that really is more of an actual town than the walk had lead him (or either of the others) to expect.

"<Is the shape of this canyon natural? Is it some kind of crater?>" he asks as they continue into town.

"It's mostly natural, we have dug out more of it to make space. As for whether it's a crater, we think it is. Can't be completely sure though."

"<Fair enough.>"

And they'll continue to follow their present guide in peaceable quiet (externally at least, and ongoing silent buzz of psychic conversation between party members as they hash out more details of what to do where and when).

Once they're more in the thick of the settlement Sandy will ask, "<So, is there anything we should do around here first, or anyone else we need to talk to, before we see about checking the teleporter?>"

"If those suits mean you don't need air to breathe then y'all could probably go straight to the teleporter, probably want a guide but there'll be someone by the teleporter. It's a bit of a trek, most people ride the train to get there; it's a good 50 kilometers away. I could also call someone if ya want. You're gonna surprise people regardless, everyone working on the space program is a curious type though they won't be too nosy if ya tell them to leave you be."

"<They should, they're built to stand up to the Paucal Zones, and unless I've misapprehended things that should be a significantly harsher environment than just a hard vacuum.>"

Hm...a bit over 30 miles?

"<How long does the train usually take to get there?>"

"About half an hour. More than that if you count the time for getting on and off."

Hm. Oh! "<Also, is this something we'd need to pay for? And, what do people around here generally take payment in?>"

"Train's free, as for payment, scrip's mostly for buying food and clothing and other little things. I expect people'll spot you for a while just cause of being aliens. If you wanna earn scrip yourselves ya could probably get a research grant for telling us about where ya came from or helping look into one of the mysteries we're still trying to figure out. There's also the classic ways of working in a trade or on a farm and such."

Mm. He could maybe live with that be doesn't think either Wrinkle or Mischief have the build for harder sorts of labor, and Mischief certainly doesn't have the temperament (though she is fortunately restraining herself from expressing this physically at the moment at least). Doesn't sound like there's all that much demand for the party's usual sort, either. An instant of mathematical consensus-seeking leads to Sandy's response. "<We'll take that in consideration. If it's free, though, and food isn't, then I think we'll probably take the train. But first, a meal! Hopefully that we can indeed get on the tab, so to speak.>"

And then they will, presumably, continue on to a restaurant, food stall, or other such establishment.

"Probably best I take you to the main market. I hope ya have a way to tell what food's safe for you, wouldn't want to poison you by mistake."

Moraine guides them deeper into the city, many Hearthians gawk or wave but they mostly don't approach or interrupt.

The exceptions are usually children who jabber excitedly about them being real aliens though there's also a few adults who come up and ask questions about how they got here or where they came from.

Sandy reassures Moraine that they do, and he and Wrinkle both wave back to those who wave to them, and Sandy will repeat that they fell into some variety of spatial anomaly and appeared out in the woods, over by the mountain geyser, and that as far as they can tell they're from an entirely distinct reality from this one, however many times he's asked. Mischief seems remarkably attuned to where people's attention is pointed and will make sure that Sandy and/or Wrinkle are between her and anyone who comes up to them.

Once they arrive at the main market and begin to browse the food available, it becomes apparent that the sort of routine the party has regarding potentially dangerous food involves Sandy waving his hands over the food (close enough that some thread-like tendrils of dreamflesh can detect the chemistry), following by Mischief and Wrinkle pointing a couple crystal dowels they extract from two of the many pockets of their zone-suits at the food, with Wrinkle additional chanting some strange syllables that Sandy either can't or chooses not to translate. They'll repeat this process for every new kind food they try (and Mischief will repeat her part of it for everyone individual food item she's offered).

As it happens, the spices the Hearthians use vary from quite spicy to outright poisonous. The raw meats and produce are generally safer though often in need of cooking. Their liquors are also probably hazardous though there's safe water and juices to see to that need. And then there's marshmallows a ubiquitous fluffy sugary food that seems the most common base for desserts.

Mischief and Sandy can handle spicy (and Sandy could probably handle 'outright poisonous,' frankly, though he's not convinced that he would enjoy the experience the way a Hearthian might), but Wrinkle will be having everything unseasoned (or seasoned with magically finger wiggles according to Sandy, if anyone asks).

"<Is there anywhere we could set up a cookfire?>" he asks, directed either towards Moraine or the nearest local who looks like they might know if Moraine has left them to their own devices.

Moraine has stayed with them, "Generally people don't start fires in the middle of the city it's a bit unsafe but there's a communal kitchen with some burners over there." Moraine points the way to a small building with wide open doors.

Well, that would explain the lack of marked firepits he supposes. Still, burners inside for a communal kitchen? Surprisingly generous. "<Alright then. I suppose, as the one who greeted us, would you care to dine with us?>" he asks as the party promptly heads to the kitchen.

"Sure, it's been a bit since I ate."

Then inside they're go!

And inside is where he'll cook. Despite his sensitive palate, he's also the only one of their party with any experience cooking a proper meal. Mischief can feed herself when times call for it, and Sandy could survive on wood pulp and rainwater with Ounu's help, but he actually knows how to make food taste good, or at least better-than-just-barely-tolerable.

First, though, he needs to assess what sorts of seasonings and cooking fats are available. He can make do with just what they've already bought, but there's no reason to limit himself if there's a communal supply he could dip into (after going through the whole checking-for-safety song and dance) instead.

The supplies in the communal kitchen are pretty minimal there's some cooking oil and salt, a couple types of bulk spices and some starch.

Fair enough. Given what's on hand, a basic stir-fry seems like the best option, at least given Mischief is radiating impatience already and so he doesn't want to take more time planning things out and experimenting than is strictly necessary.

He'll initially limit the seasoning to just salt, leaning on the produce and oil to do what prestidigitation won't for his own portion, before removing his portion early and adding the careful combination of spices he's puzzled together from the sensory data that Sandy provided, letting it bloom in the oil, and then serving up the remaining three portions to Moraine, Mischief, and Sandy.

"<He also wants to apologize for the lack of flair, he didn't want to take too long, and that he hopes it is enjoyable anyway,>" Sandy says to Moraine as Wrinkle hands out the first portion.

"Thank you. I'm sure it'll be fine."

Then they'll go ahead and eat!

Wrinkle seems to enjoy his portion, though it's not hard to find food enjoyable after it's been magicked to taste good. Sandy more so finds the local food interesting more than he actively likes it, but it's not hard to eat, and taking apart the chemistry and learning more about how the local texture of reality has influenced (and not influenced) the local biochemistry is an interesting intellectual diversion to share with Ounu. Mischief, as always, does not readily share her experience of the food, but she's eating it about as unforcedly as she ever eats, so plausibly she is enjoying it.

The three of them are also notably fast eaters, as they've all grown accustomed to have to watch the clock and sometimes even eat on the run.

Moraine eats more slowly and deliberately. "So, y'all keep doin those gestures and such. How's it work anyway? Some sorta implants or something?"

He has his own basic understanding of how normal magic works, but he'll confer with the others psychically for a moment before attempting an explanation.

"<In my own case, I can extend semi-material tendrils of Ounu's dreamflesh from my fingers, which I used earlier to 'taste' and 'smell' the things we were thinking of acquiring with a very high level of detail. For Wrinkle and Mischief, the gestures are used to activate various pieces of etheric technology they have, mostly anchored to those crystal dowels they were using earlier, which are mostly Wrinkle's inventions, though some are copied that we've acquired from other sources.>"

"So all your tech's based on stuff that's not made of normal matter? Am I understanding that right? I think the Nomai had a little tech that was like that. Some way of linking things together at long distances without anything we can measure connecting them."

"<Not everything, but most things, probably. There's some special interest in technology that depends on ether as little as possible in the Shadowfell* because the Paucal Zones have almost none. That's what there is a 'paucity' of, or at least I think that's where the name came from?>" He looks to Wrinkle, who shrugs, and then Mischief, who doesn't seem to react, and so Sandy shrugs as well.

(*The outermost shell of solid matter in the world, or the world these three came from at least. It sits atop the Lower Heavens and beneath the Astral Sea.)

"Sounds like your universe isn't much like ours. I don't think we have anything like that Shadow-Fell. Speaking of weirdness it isn't exactly spatial weirdness but maybe I should also tell ya about the uncertain stones. They distort the world around them in a sense, they make it so there ain't one persistent truth about things. Ya blink and things move around you sometimes even big things. The most extreme example is the wandering moon. It moves around the solar system swapping what planet it's around from one moment to the next."

Sandy shakes his head. "<Not at all, really, no, not beyond some very superficial similarities at least.>"

The party all consider and silently discuss the relevance of the uncertain stones.

"<Are there any examples of them that we could examine before we see about visiting Brittle Hollow?>" he asks, once they've come to an agreement that it warrants investigation.

"There's a small one in the observatory museum and another larger one in the ancient glade canyon. That bigger one was where we really started studying them led by an eccentric named Gabbro. The Nomai studied them too and once we found some of the challenges they used to teach their children we learned even more."

Hm... "<Would it be much of an issue for us to poke at the one in the museum?>"

"That's what the museum is there for, long as you're not planning to break it or anything but the stone is pretty durable. There's also an exhibit about Brittle Hollow, it'll let you get used to the gravity crystals and tell ya how to recognize gravity tiles."

The three of them silently convene for another moment, with Wrinkle nodding confidently, before Sandy replies again, "<We should be able to avoid damaging it, and preparing for what we'll encounter there seems reasonable as well.>"

And once the four of them are all done, Sandy will gather the utensils and other place-setting and see if he can find the place to wash them.

There's definitely a sink with soap and some cloths for drying or scrubbing.

Then he will do some cleaning! Perhaps a bit disconcertingly for the other patrons of this communal kitchen, given that he extrudes the extra arms necessary to wash all of their used settings simultaneously.

Once he's done and placed it all wherever seems appropriate (whether that's back with where they first grabbed the settings or if there's clearly some other place that freshly cleaned things go), he'll return and ask Moraine, "<So, the museum's just back at the observatory I assume?>"

"Yep. It's kinda in the name. There's bigger ones around but the best stuff ends up in the Observatory. It's tradition."

He's initially tempted to ask why, but it occurs to him a moment later. "<Well, I suppose we'll be headed there next. I don't properly know what we took you from, and I think we can probably make our own way there, and then to the train, so this may be where our party parts ways with you?>"

"Wasn't anything urgent, especially not compared to visitors like you just some routine maintenance. If ya want to go it alone I can leave ya to it but I'm happy to stick with you if you'll have me."

"<Oh!>" He looks over to his partymates, and then with silent confirmation turns back to Moraine, "<Well in that case, please lead the way.>"

And then they presumably make their way to the observatory('s museum), if nothing stops them.

Indeed, and once they arrive, they're greeted by another Hearthian. "Moraine! I see the rumors were true! Oh my welcome welcome welcome! I'm so excited to meet you all!"

"Hello Hornfels. Our guests here wanna see the Brittle and Uncertain stone exhibits."

"Of course! I'd be delighted!"

"<Oh, rumors? And, yes, we're thinking that the black hole forge and uncertain stones might help us figure out a way to go home, and are bit more accommodating than whatever's going on with Dark Bramble.>"

"Ah, you know how it is exciting news spreads quickly. Actually do you? It seems that the Nomai were like us in that way but you're a whole new people we know so little about."

"<Oh yes, we're quite familiar with how quickly rumors spread! And, while the three of us aren't precisely scholars in the conventional sense, we do know a decent bit about our peoples and the world we came from, so if this is more of a two-way exchange of information that seems fair to me.>"

Mischief seems a bit rankled by that, but with psychic reminder that it's unclear how long the zone-suit's internal etherosphere will hold out away from Sandy and Ounu's aura, decides against sneaking off.

She is visibly tempted, though, which means she wants it known that she is tempted.

"<Right, yes. Mischief is very private so probably we should not be giving out any sort of personal details. Hopefully that's not too great a disappointment?> Sandy says with apologetic tone.

"I'm more interested in broader questions. You seem quite nonchalant about encountering a new type of people are there a lot of those in your world? Oh and which exhibit would you like to start with?"

"<Well that's fortunate!>" He pauses for a moment as the party convenes briefly, then continues. "<The uncertain stones exhibit would probably be the better place to start. As for whether there are lot of types of people, I suppose it depends on what exactly you mean. Tallfolk like Wrinkle and smallfolk like Mischief are the only kinds that have any appreciable quantity to them, but unique entities like myself, or isolated small populations, are quite numerous collectively and vary even more than you do from us.>"

Hornfels leads the way into the building and takes an immediate turn to the museum portion of the building. The entrance hall is a gallery featuring pictures of the founding members of the space program and many more pictures from early work and missions. Hornfels will pause if they show interest but otherwise keep walking.

"Unique entities you say, that suggests to me that there's paths other than evolution towards people coming to exist in your world."

"<I think we've encountered a point of linguistic disconnect. Evolution in the sense of...an unrolling of people, or forms? I suppose the way the original tallfolk diverged into the orcs, humans, and elves, and the goblins separated from the lower smallfolk, might be an example, but I'm struggling to think of others. Is this something that's commonplace here?>"

"As far as we understand, all of the life on our planet is part of an enormous family. That includes everything from insects to plants to us. It's not something that happened quickly, the process that led to all this diversity took millions of years and perhaps even billions."

"<Millions or billions of years?>" Sandy boggles for a moment, before seeming have his thoughts clarified by Wrinkle explaining that roughly matches with how much larger this world is as well. "<I can scarcely imagine how much history there must-- though, I suppose if people only started existing after the first however many million years, that would limit how far back history could be. Given how long ago it was, and that there weren't any people around initially, I don't imagine you know what the primordial who created-->" he pauses again, as Wrinkle seems to communicate to him once more. "<Do you know whether there was primordial who created life here at all, or if it arose some other way?>"

"We don't have any evidence of a person starting the process but we can't rule it out especially if you take the Nomai's beliefs about the Eyes of the Universe seriously. There's enough similarity between us and the little bits of life we've found on other planets and what we've been able to learn of the Nomai that we believe there's a common origin."

"<Fascinating...It all rather gives me the impression of a creator that's rather gone derelict, but I suppose what our own did might not have been all that much better, so I suppose I'm in no place to judge.>"

"The Nomai actually believed that the Eye of the Universe is in our solar system just in a very distant orbit. We have extensive evidence that they were planning to use a time loop to search for it but one of the pieces of their plan didn't work and within the next couple years they all died or vanished. We're still not sure why, though we do have suspicions it's related to what we call ghost matter because there's no Nomai records of the substance and it's quite dangerous."

"<I can tell already that Wrinkle will want to look into that. What do you know about it other than that it's dangerous? I'd assume there's something ephemeral or spiritual to it, going from the name, but that could just be a metaphor.>"

"It's an old name, we called it ghost matter because it's usually invisible and it's very dangerous, some early explorers died before we came up with ways of noticing it. It's also very confusing even to this day. It's one of the few things that seems to behave differently with creatures like us and things like trees and insects."

Huh. "<It's rare for things to respond differently to intelligent beings than unintelligent ones here?>" That would explain part of why the texture of the world here is so different from home. "<And, what is that difference in behavior?>"

"Ghost matter condenses into crystals, usually it happens very slowly but it accelerates dramatically when it's in contact with intelligent beings and they grow into people's bodies. If it happens in the wrong place there's nothing we can do for them."

Hm. Sandy idly extrudes a small pseudopod of dreamflesh from the palm of his hand and morphs it around, bringing into and out of a vaguely crystalline shape. He wonders how this ghost matter will interact with him and Ounu?

"<Well, we'll see how it goes, I suppose. Do you have any other questions for us?>"

Also, are they to the uncertain stones exhibit yet?

"Oh I have more than I could count but choosing which ones to ask is a challenge. Oh, how does that language tool you're using work? It took us a long time to translate the Nomai's writing."

They've gotten through the entrance hall and now they're walking down a hallway with various symbols and pictures marking the entrances to other exhibits. "Ah, here we are. Uncertain stones."

The new exhibit is filled with pictures of strange dark purple and blue rocks with swirling patterns covering their surface. There's also a doorway to the outside where a similar rock sits on one of the three tree stumps in a little courtyard.

"If you're going to inspect the rock it works best for one person at a time. After all, they only move when nobody is watching."

Sandy and Wrinkle nod, with the former moving to just inside the door while the latter heads out, getting as close as he can manage without leaving the aura, then begins doing his best to invent some basic divinations that might give him deeper insight in to what this stone is doing. He'll check back in later.

"<Wrinkle will be careful to not do anything that might damage the stone. As for how the translation is being performed, my symbiote Ounu exists in a way which places them closer to minds and concepts than to physical matter, and with some training we've learned there's a fairly reliable way to circumnavigate the need for language by finding the particular informational structure within the recipient's mind that encodes and decodes language into and out of the internal meanings as they're embedded in the broader structure of their mind and transmitting my own meaning, with a bit of extra context to enable the recipient's cognition to remap my concepts into their concepts. Essentially, rather than translating my thoughts into my language, my language into your language, then your language into your thoughts, I'm directly translating my thoughts into your thoughts. It's not an easy trick, but Ounu and I are quite skilled, if I do say so myself.>"

"Incredible. I don't think the Nomai's technology can do anything like that, it does seem like it can notice people's attention and we've found text suggesting they developed the ability to record and restore memories but I don't think we have any evidence of them being able to decode them and their memory technology is still beyond our understanding."

Wrinkle makes as many as several curious, surprised, fascinated, awed, confused, and other emotive sounds, occasionally loud enough to be heard from the other side of the door.

"<Attention is often one of the easier things to pick up on initially, when looking at the world from a perspective like Ounu's, and memory not too many steps of further elaboration from that, so it makes sense that if they were developing a science of the mind only to suddenly be overtaken by the ghost matter or something related to it. If we encounter some of that technology, I'll see what we can make of it, maybe we can help you make a breakthrough on that front before we make our way back home.>"

"That would be incredible. We've never been able to activate the Nomai memory statues and we're not sure if that's because they were designed to be used in the time loop or because they only work for the Nomai."

He smiles, nods, and continues answering questions (and occasionally asking, when one occurs to him).

Finally, after a decent while, Wrinkle is able conclude...that the uncertain stone is beyond his ability to properly test without risking damage to it (and its surroundings!), but he's still learned something.

<It's elemental, or close enough to it that I should be able to jury-rig further tests, if we can some samples that are a bit more expendable, and that we can take somewhere isolated.>

Then (with some reluctance) he peels himself away from the fascinating object and returns through the door.

"<Ah! Wrinkle's finished his analysis. It was a bit inconclusive, but we at least know now that once we wave a less valuable sample to experiment we should be able to learn more. I suppose the Brittle Hollow exhibit is our next stop?>"

"Some of the other stones are pretty big but we've generally not taken many samples. And other things lose the effect pretty quickly if they're taken away from the stones. But yes, on to the next exhibit."

The museum isn't that big so it's quick walk. As with every exhibit they've seen so far the walls are covered with pictures. There's photos of a planet with a few gaps in it's rocky surface visible from orbit looking down into a massive hollow interior. Some of the other pictures show a massive hanging city with parts covered in an intricate purple pattern and others with various painted artworks and spirals of purple text. Large crystals of ice frame the hanging city in all the images. There's also a few pictures of other landmarks including a massive conical loosely woven basket of a structure a weird structure with no clear analog and of course the massive light warping blackness of the black hole at its center.

On one wall with a number of ramps and railing nearby there's a glowing purple crystal mounted to the wall.

Huh. "<Is it known how the surface of the sphere avoids collapse into the center? Intuitively I'd expect it'd be resting on an ether pressure differential like the Shadowfell, but that seems unlikely given the broader context.>"

Wrinkle gestures at the center, presumably the 'black hole' that was mentioned previously. Sandy makes a curious sound again and nods. "<And, that black hole, purely on a visual level, seems quite similar to what appears when an agent of Torog suppresses a Dungeon incursus. Is it just that way continuously or does it...pulse, somehow?>"

After pointing that out, Wrinkle will approach the the wall with the ramps and inspect the purple crystal, both visually and with some of the spells he'd developed to study the uncertain stone.

Mischief, meanwhile, having glanced up and down the room and assessed its construction, walks up the ramp (though careful to make sure that if it works the way she think it does that she won't be leaving the aura).

"We don't know why Brittle Hollows is stable. In fact, we have some evidence that it isn't because occasionally bits of it do fall inward; but somehow it's survived for the million or so years since the Nomai built there and however long it was in existence before that.

"The best answer we have, though a fairly unsatisfying one, is that gravicite, the same material that's refined to make that purple crystal over there, is somehow increasing the structural integrity of the planet and through some sort of dynamic process maintaining the position of the black hole in the center. But we and the Nomai have avoided studying the process actively out of fear that it would disrupt it and collapse the planet and passive observations haven't revealed the full details of the mechanism."

The purple crystal exerts a force near it that reduces the pull down and increases the pull towards the wall. It's turned to be stable once you're fully in its area of effect but outside there's a gradient of effectiveness.

Wrinkle looks a little disappointed, but nods along with Sandy as he responds. "<Reasonable to not want to risk having the entire place collapse.>

It works just as she suspected. It's good that her Dungeon-delving sensibilities are still sharp.

It does make sense to her, if these things can basically rotate which way is down, that having them laced all throughout a thin should could let you set it up so that it floats at whatever height you like.

With that now ascertained, Sandy (and Wrinkle, a little while later, after he's satisfied that there isn't more he can learn from the gravicite without damaging it) will join Mischief on the wall, and generally familiarize themselves with what moving around the gravicite's area-of-effect is like. Then they'll see what information is available about the 'gravity tiles' that were mentioned earlier, as well as about Brittle Hollow in general (and in particular the structures, and what they can expect from the environment immediately around the teleporter destination near the black hole forge...and about the black hole forge as well, if there is much information about it).

The gravity plates are a purple glowing tile. They work mostly like the crystals but their range is more limited so jumping is often enough to go beyond their range which is potentially very hazardous since the teleporter to Brittle Hollow places you on the ceiling upside down and only protected from falling by those plates.

The Black Hole Forge is actually a movable building built on rails that descends to brush against the black hole at the center of the planet when it's in active use. The Heathians have leaned enough to make simple teleportation cores using the facilities there but more delicate and sophisticated applications are still beyond them. The entrance when it's raised is on one of the lowest levels of The Hanging City. You can move between levels with either grave lifts or with long shafts with vertical gravity plating that allow you to walk between the various levels.

Well, the plates are simple enough to navigate, even if it's somewhat inconvenient that aerial maneuvers aren't going to be reliable there.

Oh, the black hole forge is related to how the locals construct their teleporters! Well, that potentially bodes well for it being the right place to start their search for a way back home, at least.

Receiving Wrinkle's intent, Sandy poses another question to Hornfels, "<Is there anything more you can tell us about how the black hole forge is used in helping create these 'teleportation cores', or how your people use them?>"