Towers And Tubes - Temporus Timbers

General Summary

As the Wardens make their way through the massive forest inside Vlypeum they decided to take a rest, despite the unchanging sun above. Adama showed off a new spell that created a protective barrier for the group allowing them to take their rest in safety. Being the most paranoid one in the group Myra took first watch waking up Hagren for the second shift, about 3/4 of the way through Hagren's watch he looked up in the trees to notice a green eye of a robot looking down at him.

Watch

Hagren, executing a prefect warden's dance to return into the dome wakes up Myra and Adama to alert them of the new friend. When Myra and Hedwig, with Adama through her eyes, poke their heads out the don't see what Hagren was talking about. They tell him they believe him and to continue to keep a sharp eye but without something to investigate further they were going back to sleep.
The rest of Hagren's watch passed uneventfully and Hagren chose Tintreach to lead the final watch.

• Tintreach reluctantly woke up grumbling about waking up so early
• During Tintreach's watch the tower flashes and the area changes from fall to spring
• As Tintreach sits outside the dome 4 monkey like creatures with 6 arms approach cautiously and curiously
• Tintreach feeds them providing some of his rations
• Aside from his new friends nothing else noteworthy happens on Tintreach's watch

Forest

The group restarts their journey toward the central tower

• About 2 hours in the green flash and chime sounds
• The entire domed area seems to shift and rotate clockwise
• About a minute late there is a faint briny smell coming from deeper within the forest
• We pass some more of the apelike creatures Tintreach saw on watch
• The flora and animals still seem to watch us curiously

Access Granted 

• After another 2 hours of walking we find a clearing with a 4 silver pillar in the center slightly overgrown with an odd coloration
• The top seems to be a glass dome with odd striping and coloration
• As Myra touches the pillar the dome stabilizes to a milky white with lettering flashings across the top 
• Myra asks if anyone in the group can read it but no one can
• Myra double checks with Kanna who replied "I'm not really much of a reader" Raijun replies "That's why we're best friends" earning a look and a response of "No" from Kanna 
• As Raijun probes the dome further it turns green and with 2 options appearing
• Meanwhile Hagren and Trenchcoat investigate the pillar itself which appears to go beneath the ground and clearing the ground around the pedestal they find more of the metal extending about 6 inches out from the pillar before transitioning back to the dirt, with small sigils and signs. Hagren also notes that the height makes it appear console height
• Raijun pressing buttons he doesn't understand causes a needle to come out and jab him before he can duck away 
• After the needle recedes a loading bar appears and after a second Raijun exclaims that he can understand what the computer is saying noting that calibration is complete. 
• The computer reports that a system diagnostic is overdue but there is a data and system error 
• Raijun asks for a broader system diagnostic and the computer reports that the general status is unknown, the "Echotone Channel" is currently locked the "Equinot" is unresponsive
• Adma, interested to see if more of us could gain access asks Raijun to step away and puts his hand on the dome
• The dome flashes red and Raijun reads the response as "unknown user" 
• Returning Raijun to control we ask what the "Equinot" is - the computer response "Habitat 0437 Temporous Timbers. Equinot time piece alters seasonal effects to promote study for classification" the group discusses that it was essentially a pressure cooker for animals that they wanted to test their survivability and adaptability in relation to seasonal change
• Raijun asks about the Anzu  - "Subject 1384732 - waist sized bird, experiment combination of aspects in light of extremes inclement weather."
• Raijun asks about the tower in the middle of the dome - "Everseason Overwatch - 4 layers bottom receiving areas, 2 habitat and "celebrium", 3 sentinel launch and access to observatory apex, 4 observatory apex
• Raijun asks how the Echotone channel could be unlocked - " Level 4 admin or level 3 sentinel access required"
• Raijun asks if the sentinels are the robots - "Sentinel keepers, organic & part construct as part of ."
• Raijun asks for the keeper status - " Keeper status unknown"
• Raijun asks where the keepers are "Keeper within facility 2 "Vitae Vigilia", Keeper within Temporous timbers"
• Raijun asks to show a picture of keeper one - Keeper 1  
• Raijun asks to see keeper 2 and it shows a photo of himself 
• Raijun asks after the Emerald Ascenion - "Higher clearance needed for " 
• Asks how to gain higher acccess - " Access can be granted by Voice of animation and life" 
• "Voice prime selector unknown location distress indicated - last known location everseason overwath"
•  Raijun asks how likely he would be able to tame the Anzu - the computer shows an image of the small bird again the computer recommends feeding procedures of the tongue of a fire newt or the electric gland of a Bahir. 
• The computer mentioned a "Champion" status at some point Raijun asks about them - "Champion status 4,583 champions saved. in order to [glitch]" 
• As the computer starts to glitch the tone sounds again but this time Raijun hears "Assistance required, prime sentinel in distress. Location Everseason overwatch, prime sentinels assemble." 
• After the glitch and the tone the computer seems to go dark. 

Tower

After another hour of walking we approached the base of the tower. Above us stood a large ornamental silver structure, part way up a large tree stuck in seasonal transitions seemed to break into the hourglass like structure. Around the base of the structure the forest sounds seemed to quiet. Circling around the tower on the direction that could be considered 12 o'clock was an odd circular opening, further inspection revealed it to be an oculus door stuck in a half open position.

Level 1

Boosting each other through the half open door, we see another half closed door that that says "habitat airlock". Going through the half open door there seems to be a force field blocking entry to the other side. Myra attempts to push Raijun through the door after his gloating of being the chosen one, misses but causes him to tumble into the field which doesn't move. Adama and Hagren find a a panel in between the force field and the door that look hand sized and ask Raijun to provide his credentials (Put his hand on the panel). As Myra starts to suggest maybe some wait outside the airlock Raijun puts his hand on the panel and the iris door begins to shut. While the door closes the lights begin to flash with Raijun hearing "Door Jam, airlock failure" as both paths of escape are closed off. Gwen is able to mend the door and Raijun tries the panel again. With much grinding the Iris is able to fully close and the energy field on the far door recedes. Before the group can exit the group is blasted from the walls with dusty air leaving most of them coughing as the enter the following chamber.
Stumbling out of the airlock, the group makes it into the second room where they are met with a statue of a wolf-like quadruped with wings next to what looks like a more humanoid figure. As the group fans out they find two teleporter models that look similar to the ones initially seen on the Tangent Wave. As Myra drags Raijun over to them he translates the sign between the teleporters as "Level 2 repair bay and subject surgery". Hagren investigates the debris by the statue and finds a plaque and calls Raijun over to read it while he continues to investigate finding three more pillars similar to the ones we found in the forest: one completely smashed, one compresed, and one whole but inoperable. 
Raijun returning to the statue reads the plaque "Temporous Timbers Research facility in dedication to ". Gwen tries to piece some of the statues back together with mending but the cracks are too large. Meanwhile, Tintreach finds another teleportation device on the other side of the chamber but it looks inert in comparison to the one that leads to level two. Raijun is called over and translates the signs as "Ecotome Channel".
As the only active teleportation device seems to be leading to level two the group files in to them appearing on the level above.

Level 2

Arriving in an abandoned hallway the group immediately notices the level of dust on everything and the large claw marks that mar the floor. Some of the claw marks are as wide as an arm and seem to lead to the door on the right hand side. Kanna charges into the right hand room saying that if something needs help she wants to help it before charging through the door. As the group enters the room they notice the cages and large spiders that appear to be dead. Myra calls out to Gwen letting her know that she may want to investigate the other room. As Kanna, Myra, Hagren, and Trenchcoat further investigate the find a cage broken into and the spiders seem to have a green ichor coming out of them. As Hagren turns over the room Myra moves up to Kanna and asks if she's ok. Kanna notes that it looks like the spiders died naturally which is good but whatever killed the spiders seemed to almost be playing. After her investigation Kanna waves a hand and the spider bodies start to decompose as Kanna wonders aloud what killed them. Meanwhile, Hagen has followed the claw marks out of the room and to the teleporter at the end of the hall that looks like it would lead upstairs. 
Meanwhile, the other have opened the left hand door finding some kind of workshop with some of the windows overgrown the vegetation. The room is full of some kind of pads with 2 large figures standing atop 2 of them. Paper and tools are strewn across desks in the room and Tintreach notices the pads seem to be pugged into conduits on the floor. Gwen goes through the desks finding notes, unable to read most of them she manages to find a few in Elvish. The papers talk about refinement of metals and materials to incorporate resistance to magnetic discharge, though it was unclear if the experiments were successful. The notes also talk about "Purger hull integrity failure" noting that they are weak around the "eye stalk" when they use their emulsion ray. Finally she finds a third set of notes that says the prime sentinel project is complete with the first proof of concept complete. 
As the others join them in the room Adama asks Hagren to look into the panels on the floor. Hagren notes that some of the panels seem inert some seem more active. He also notices the two sets of armor seems like larger forms of the bipeds that were on the boat. Hagren does notice two of the pads have almost sundial like selection panels that point at the far left two tiles. 
Back in the other room Kanna remarks to Myra that she isn't sure that the people who were conducting the experiments in here knew what they were doing. Given the destruction in the room it's unclear if the animals were actively being hurt. Kanna remarks that whatever killed the spider had claws and teeth and could use the claws to grab, like it had hands. 
Raijun, having been given some of the notes by Gwen, scans over them quickly noting that they are mostly maintenance logs: "Encounters in echosphere rendered drones quicker succession, additional tooling for drone capacity. Lifeshaper unit 43812 while maintaining proper nutrition encountered 38117b. Further repairs to energy fields. 3A384 unit B requires upgrade. 4817C engaged and adapted. Keepers not able to subdue with cold breath. 48174 retriever unit dismantled and diagnosed, teleportation distorted outside of ecofield range." As Raijun gets bored of reading the notes he starts moving around the room and Hagren notices that as he does the pad closest to Raijun flickers and lights up. As he moves across the room each of the pads lights up as he walks past including the pads with the sundials. 
Not wanting to change injuring ourselves so early in the tower the group decides to move upstairs rather than conduct further experiments. 

Level 3

Appearing in another corridor that looks similar to level 2 the claw marks continue from the teleporter into the room on the left, with some grooves deeper than those in level 2. Entering into the room there is an odd blue light emanating from a machine in the middle while in the back of the room stand two stable cannisters and one that seems to have been smashed from the inside. To the right of the cannisters is a crane and operating area. Myra and Kanna walk up to the cannisters, the left one has a coiled form with parts of tis body amorphous with broad shoulders and a cylindrical shaped head. Hagren peers in the other one and sees a form with feathers and the curved tail of a scorpion. Raijun and Adama check out the smashed cannister and notice that there is no blood. Raijun looks at the flashing monitor in the center of the room and it reports "Subject 3 containment breech." 
Tintreach checks out the loading area with Hagren and note that the claw marks seem to leave through the loading dock with some of the deck bent under the claw marks. Kanna remarks that she didn't really want to get a look under the carriage to understand what was happening here. As the group talking about the claw marks they speculate why the thing would have gone down to the second floor and back up and what could have left such powerful marks in the floor. Kanna mentions the bit about the animal being able to control the claws from downstairs and this leads the group to mention that Myra had once transformed into a dragon. Myra quickly tries to deflect saying this clearly wasn't her and that the marks looked different. Someone asks why Myra doesn't talk about her time as a dragon insisting that she should tell Kanna about it. This leads Adama to ask Myra if she had a problem with dragons nodding to Tintreach. Myra stumbles through some words insisting that she doesn't have a problem with dragons. She then indicates that maybe they should continue upwards and steps into the teleporter to the next floor. 
Meanwhile, as the others taunt Myra, Hagren was investigating the smaller room on the right side of the hall. He found two machine lights came on as he investigated a server in the back of the room and called Raijun over to interpret the words that appeared. As Raijun came over a screen appeared "System failure. Reroute power?" with an accept or decline button. As Raijun accepts a warning comes up "Warning life containment system will fail if restarted" with a question if he wished to continue. Raijun relates the question to the rest of the group, Most of the group is silent so he asks Kanna directly who indicates that "they should be free." With no one opposing Raijun accepts the warning and all of the lights go out. The machine emanates a new message "Life containment reboot in progress 10%" as a noise comes from the canister room.

Report Date

16 May 2021