World Tree MUSH

    Last time, on Radial Drive.

    "This star system is one giant anomaly. It's orbital patterns are all over the place."

    "There's a lot of magic down here, Alpha, Charlie and Kappa."

    "I'll escort a team down to Alpha, the out-versers can take Charlie."

    The group approached a structure buried in the green dust of a lifeless rock. Talia jumped in.

    Landing at the bottom with a dull CLOK, runes light around the Jedi as a field reaches up to where the others are stood watching. The field seems to cushion and slow descent, and even allow ascent like a gravity lift. Justina steps out into the field and floats downwards to join Talia on the platform at bottom of the crater. "Facinating, this technology is running off Primus-infused circuitry and is drawing power directly from the local leylines... even we can't do that sustainably." the elf remarks, kneeling to trace some of the runic inscriptions. "There should be a keyphrase in the runes that operates the mechanism." she adds, gesturing to a slightly raised area in the center of the structure. It looks like a stage of some kind, surrounded at four corners by pillars that are equally covered in the same runic script.

    Dealing with her PTSD and the loss of her beloved brothers and sisters, and their mentor figure in a wya that's probably kinda sorta her fault? Hell no, Talia's not brave enough for that. Jumping into a pit? Hell yeah.

    She lands gracefully at the bottom after slowing her descent with the Force, only to notice that won't be necessary. "Hmm. How fortunate." She muses, drawing her lightsaber and using it like a makeshift torch. "I can feel it, there's something that we should be able to do, right?" Talia says, sensing and trying to harness the energies about them.

    Matsu Shuzenji is... hesitant.

    Very... very hesitant.

    "You want me to... that's... are we sure we can trust this?"

    She's already wearing one of these weird, embarrassingly form-fitting space suits! Now she's expected to just jump down into an energy field. Even after seeing others do it, the little healer is balking. "I... i-isn't there some other..." She looks back at the ship. She looks down through the gravity field. She looks back at the ship again, then down into the gravity field again. Frown.

    Everyone's doing it, right? It's safe, right? It's gotta be safe. They landed just fine.

    Matsu takes a step forward.

    Trips right over the edge.

    And makes a slow, graceful descent, headfirst and flailing in an attempt to right herself.

    When she lands, it's roughly on her shoulders and the back of her head. But it's gentle enough that all she does is utter a soft, annoyed, "Ow." Very quickly, the phoenix-girl rights herself, steps out of the field, brushes herself off... and then shoots a look around at everyone that absolutely screams, 'Not. One. Word.'

    It takes a few moments before Circe will follow, because for all her varied abilities flight isn't one of them and she'd like to be certain she isn't going to crash land. She manages not to flail or panic too badly on her way down, though the sense of relief at being back on the ground is almost visible even through her spacesuit.

    "I guess that's what I'm here for, then." She'll say, not looking back at Matsu, only having eyes for the runic script and the technology. This, at least, was worth the trip here. She'll quickly move forward, kneeling down by one of the runes and looking at it, though what she's actually doing is using her implants to try and probe the area for anything she can connect to through a variety of transmissive means to interface much more directly with the technology, circuitry appearing as glowing red lines in her dark red eyes as she works, losing a little bit of focus on those around her. Though someone could still grab her attention if they needed to, it just might take a few tries.

    Morrigan watches as Talia jumps. Mary Contrary leeeeeeeaaaaans over on the Warlock's shoulder to watch, too.
    "Wow she's really brave." The shinki comments.
    "Or reckless and battling a lot of demons inside." The warlock replies to her ever faithful companion. "That looked super fun though." She considers before taking the plunge, stepping over the edge, she floats her way down to join the others, before helpfully aiding Matsu in righting herself, at the bottom.
    "Keyphrase?" She considers. "Is this like that 'Speak Friend And Enter' thing?"
    Morrigan proceeds to say the word 'Friend' in about eleven different languages. Elvish included among them.

    "I doubt it's as simple as that--" begins Justina, as Circe finds an interface point in the ancient tech. Surprisingly similar to the terminal access aboard the Archemedies. This access seems to trigger something, and the central stage rises into a square-ish plinth with ports in small diases at the center of each side for something to be inserted. The whole assembly seems to be, humming faintly like the sound of crystal glass being run across by a wet fingertip.

    "Whatever you just did, I think it worked... Now we need to figure out what it wants. remarks Justina, stepping over to one of the plinths and kneeling down to examine it.

    "There's no way it's that easy." Talia says to Circe as she begins to stuff a dongle into it, without any thought as to what kind of programs she might catch that'll be adverse to her cyberware. Sighing, Talia just goes to try and read the scripture, politely not commenting on Matsu's hilarious crash onto the ground level.

    And then bang, it activates. "Oh. Alright then." Talia concedes. "I suppose it is that easy."

    Circe does her thing while Morrigan continues to rattle off words in different languages. Eventually it works... Circe's interfacing works at least, but Morrigan is the one who raises her hands victoriously.
    "I did it!"
    Mary stares for a beat. Before raising her hands triumphantly, too.

    Matsu eyes Morrigan sidelong. There has been help. There has been a lack of judgment.

    You will not be burned this day, Morrigan.

    Brushing aside her embarrassing descent, the Phoenix Maiden steps forward, extending her supernatural senses towards the whole platform-slash-apparatus that's just risen up. She might not know tech, but if this tech runs on magic, she can at least try and see if there's anything she can discern on that side of things. Maybe she'll notice something.

    "I am quite literally a goddess of this kind of thing." Circe will say, still seeming more than a little absentminded. She'd been primarily probing through various wireless means, but a physical probe with nanotech also helped. She'll see if she can get anything else, perhaps some 'help' documentation or a nice riddle to give them more to go off of.

    She won't even shoot Morrigan a dirty look for claiming credit or anything, mostly because she's too wrapped up inside her own head to really notice that part.

    The monolith feels, to those that are probing it for magical signals, 'off'. Like it's missing something important. The whole rig has power, but this plinth assembly seems to be a void, where the platforms power doesn't go.

    Those physically inspecting the platform would find the little diases seem to be ports of some kind, likely meant to have something installed to, 'do something'. Circe's investigations find a fragmented file referencing 'filling the phial to overflowing', and 'A steady hand poureth the Source'.

    Talia makes a face, switching off and stowing her lightsaber. "Something feels very off about this place. Like something's missing." She says aloud, eyeing Circe. "Find anything yet?" Unfortunately she left her datapad on her ship.

    Oh, part of that sounds Proper Noun-ish to Circe, and she's not quite certain what it could be referring to. "Does the phrase the Source mean something special to any of you, particularly the locals? Maybe as some kind of fuel? It's telling me that we're supposed to fill the phial until it's overflowing, with a steady hand doing it."

    She'll pause, and then add. "I've spent a decent amount of time in bars, but it's mostly been as a customer, not the person doing the pouring. Any of you feel super confident in your skills there? If we even have some of 'the Source' to work with."

    "The mana is flowing steadily in this machine," Matsu observes, opening her eyes. "But this central section here... it's not getting any. Either the path for it to flow is obstructed, or the missing parts are the path for it to flow," she muses. "Or there is no path for it to flow, and this central section is meant to be imbued separately." She looks it over, then glances down at her hand and frowns faintly. "It's possible this 'source' is mana. I could try, but my mana is very strongly-aspected to Fire and Light, and divine besides. I don't know that it would work well with some off-world... magic-machine."

    She pauses, then adds, "Or my guess could be wrong, and attempting to imbue it directly would fail. Or break it."

    "I have no clue what this Source is." Morrigan admits. "And I've got an okayyyy pouring hand?"
    Morrigan shrugs.
    Mary shrugs with her.
    "It could be a reference to mana, like Matsu says, but all my means of outpouring that are pretty offensive in nature."

    "Primus... we call it Primus in modern vernacular." remarks Justina as she stands. "I think we may need to have the Archemedies send down some specialist equipment for us to rig this up to a Primus Nexus to run power into it... my guess it this, and the other two are some kind of 'key' to whatever's happening in this system. She looks between Morrigan, Matsu, Circe and Talia. "This device is old. Very old. I'm talking literal millenia, some kind of precursor civilisation built this, for some reason."

    "Ah. Yes, that would be an awkward situation." Circe will say, as inflectionlessly as she can manage. "But whatever tools that you can get us would help. Is your hand for pouring this Primus a steady one?" She'll ask, since she's not sure if it's a form of energy that'd be within her ability to manipulate.

    "Not that I would generally know anything about this, but are you sure the precursor civilization isn't trying to trick us into bringing them back by sacrificing us, or some other horrible plot like that?"

    "I see," Matsu says. She's listening intently, looking between Justina and the device. "Then it's pretty much entirely beyond me, I think. Magic is a little closer to my experience, but all this offworld technology..." A little shake of her head. "I still don't get any of it. So I'll follow your lead. Or Morrigan's."

    "I'm not quite sure the Force works like this." Talia muses. "I suppose I leave this in your hands, or Morrigan's." She says with a shrug of her shoulders.

    "Oh that's silly." Morrigan says to Circe in regards to the precursor civilization making a deadly return. "They're probably all long dead. Probably." She says.
    "Okay if we're leaving this in my hands I'm going to need a pickled octopus tentacle- I have that, don't worry- a blood sacrifice, and your absolute trust in me."

    Justina steps onto the gravity lift to get a better signal to the orbiting ships to request the equipment, in case Morrigan's plan of action doens't follow all the way through.

    Meanwhile, the system seems to be waiting, almost impatiently as some kind of presence appears to be watching through the structure... or that could just be the residual creep factor of the long abandoned construct.

    Circe will hum. "Yes, probably." She'll say, managing to mostly hold her tongue. "I'm not the sacrificing sort, though, so one of the rest of you will have to volunteer your blood if we're going with this plan." 

    The presence does get felt by Circe, who will give a look around, peering into the shadows of the place, that faint glow still present in her eyes. "This place feels like a burial grounds, doesn't it?" She'll say after a few moments, sighing and deciding that she's jumping at shadows.

    Talia thinks. "I feel like we're being watched by someone. Or something, for that matter." She muses aloud, tapping her chin as she approaches the structure, poking it and channeling the Force into it, trying to get some kind of vibe off it.

    Matsu stares at Morrigan for several seconds, then looks at the slowly-rising Justina. "Is it too late to change my vote?"

    There is a pause, where she's simply turning her attention back to the device, and staring. After a short while, her lips curl into a soft frown. "I think I feel it too," she replies to Talia and Circe both. "It's just an impression, not anything I can really put a finger on... but I'd rather be wrong about it being something, than wrong about it being nothing."

    In a moment, even Morrigan is eyeing the machine warily.
    "Yep. Sure does feel like a graveyard in here." She agrees with Circe.
    "Maybe this is something we shouldn't mess with?" Mary ventures.
    "I mean I'll still do it if we wanna but now I'm getting the chills. And I don't get the chills."

    Aslmost as soon as it's felt, the 'presence' disappears. Perhaps it was just a lingering creepiness that once brought to attention ceases being creepy.

    That still leaves the device waiting for power to be fed into it; however.

    "Well, as I said, I'm not sacrificing my blood, so if you really need that then someone else is going to have to give it up. Mine's far too valuable for that." Circe will say, folding her arms and sounding quite firm on the matter. "Besides, it only seems fair for everyone to contribute, and I did already do a bit."

    In spite of her stance there, she'll keep her attention outwards, trying to see if she can pick up on that presence again.

    Once again, Matsu is silent for a second, looking between Talia, Morrigan, and Circe.

    There's a long-suffering sigh.

    "I'm really going to have to do it, aren't I." Grumble. "Morrigan, you can use my blood. It probably counts as divine, and phoenix blood, if that's an issue. But if not, then let's just get this over with. I'm used to pain, and it'll heal quickly. Do we have some way to do this through my suit?"

    Talia raises an eyebrow at the prospect of using blood to fuel the thing. "Hell with it." She produces a knife, before trying to slice her hand open. After a wince, she slices open her palm and holds it out to Morrigan. "Let's do this. Make it quick before I get woozy from blood loss." The Jedi says, as her palm oozes with very red blood.

    Right then. They're doing it. This is what would be called pulling a Leeroy Jenkins on Morrigan's world.
    She futzes with her suit's medical apparatus for a bit before producing a syringe.
    "I actually don't need a lot for this soooo..."
    Matsu gets little pinch and thusly Morrigan now has divine phoenix blood and--
    Talia cuts her hand.
    This is ALSO handy and Morrigan collects that as well.
    "OKAY just give me a moment..." The Warlock says, using her boot to inscribe an intricate spell sigil on the ground around the apparatus, has Mary pull out a picked octopus tentacle from her belongings, sets it in the center and kneels by the edge of the circle.
    "I usually use this spell to summon horrible nasty tentacles and stuff." She explains. "I have no clue how Phoenix and Space Wizard blood will affect the spell AT ALL so this is a learning experience for me too!" She says starting to empty the syringe onto the spell circle.

    While Matsu is having her blood drawn, the Jedi does something drastic.

    The white-haired phoenix girl just stares at Talia.

    Then utters an irritated, long-suffering grumble. "...come here," she finally grouses, walking over to the Jedi after Morrigan has done her work. "Hold out your hand." Assuming the Jedi does so, the Phoenix Maiden will lift up her own hand, and unleash a smallish, shimmering wave of healing flames. It feels quite pleasantly warm, and immediately blunts the pain. It will take only a dozen seconds or so before the wound has closed up entirely.

    "I thought it'd help!" Talia says in protest when Matsu gives her /the look/. She does however give Matsu her hand, as the phoenix healer begins to sear the wound shut with her magic flames. "Not...nnh, not the sensation I expected." She says, as her wound seems to close. "Hnnn. Impressive, most impressive."

    Luckily for Talia, the suits they're all wearing have automatic sealing systems to prevent catastrophic decompression. Not that slicing open the palm of the suit's hand and the hand beneath would feel good regardless of the sudden slice in the green flesh beneath. The suit constricts and seals off the hand area while working to repair the glove and seal it back up before opening the constriction again. The healing manages to go through the suit easily enough, circuits within the material helping direct the magical properties to where they're needed more efficiently than just bathing the whole area in magic.

    Justina starts descending again, bringing a pair of Dolls, and some equipment including four glowing cylinders, various cables, and a much larger fridge-sized construct that has gleaming runes inscribed in its surface... very reminiscent of the structure around them; though these runes are a clearly different dialect. "How goes your attempt, Morrigan?" comes the elf's voice.

    "Alpha team reports they found a similar structure, and are making to activate it using equipment from the Archemedies."

    Circe will mutter to herself in Greek, too low to really be made out as she watches the reckless bloodletting before her. Clearly, she's not super thrilled with either the act or Morrigan's description of the normal use of the spell, but she'll restrain herself from stopping others from taking part in that.

    "I do hope this is going to work, if you're all going so far." She'll say, much more loudly and clearer.

    Putting her glove back on, Talia will wait for the moment. "We're currently in the middle of attempting a spell." She answers Justina over comms.

    "Next time, wait until the mage tells you how much they need before you go mutilating yourself," Matsu replies, concluding with a soft, 'hmph.' Then, she turns to watch Morrigan work. "My body will heal almost anything within three days," she replies to Circe as they stand there. "And my healing for other people is powerful enough I can even bring back the recently dead, if I have to. So it's not a big deal. If you have a healer here, you might as well make use of me."

    With the spooky blood ritual complete, using holy blood and midichlorians or something, Morrigan's spell comes to life. There's light. There's sound. Stuff happens!
    "I have no clue." The Warlock answers honestly to Justina while the magic does its thing.

    The spell awakens, the local area quakes as some eldritch abomination heeds Morrigan's call. Tentacles spring forth from the portals, and jam themselves into the dias appertures. Energy flows in, and the platform begins to 'sink' in layers, from the outside to the center.

    Once the central column locks into place, a hovering sphere of something appears and floats above the column, and the diases lock back down into the structure.

    That's when a disembodied voice speaks "Power Restored. All local systems online. Teleportal ##$^&!^*&%"!!% active. Teleportal ~#@@:;>< online, at Integer ?>||Z" the structures lights dim slightly, to 'ready standby' instead of 'fully active' and the party is left to wonder what the hell just happened.

    "Oh, that's probably a good sign." Circe will say, stepping forward as the lights work and words ring out. She'll be looking for the source of that voice, to see if there's something in the way of a control system that might now be active with at least a little bit of power restored that she can try to interface with.

    "Teleportal seems pretty obvious. Any guesses where it might send people to and from?"

    The spell Morrigan casts already has Matsu Shuzenji on edge. Within seconds, she's taken several steps back, and has an ofuda in one hand defensively. She doesn't go beyond defensive posture, however; simply standing there waiting and watching with narrowed eyes. When the device finally 'speaks', she tilts her head faintly. "So I'm not the only one who didn't understand those words? It wasn't just weird technology talk?" Slowly, the little miko straightens up. She's keeping that ofuda handy, though.

    Even Morrigan looks a little surprised when her spell works. To a degree.
    "Huh. It actually worked." She crows, pumping her fist as the tentacles do their thing.
    "So it's a teleporter." That much is answered. "I know a loooot of languages, but I sure don't know what those words are." She confirms for Matsu, crossing her arms over her chest.
    "Where it leads is another good question."

    "Seems like it worked." Talia's seen this movie ,and she looks to Circe. "Think you can interface with it again just like before? I think I know what we need to do, just...plug in and do whatever, until it can change language settings I suppose."

    Justina watches impassively, and then silently instructs the Dolls to head back up the lift as she approaches the central sphere of... something.

    Just as she's about to reach out and touch it, one of the Ur-dolls from the other team appears on the platform, a rush of energy and a flickering of purple energy lines. The doll operator has the bodylanguage of someone highly confused, before managing to wrangle their position and actually speak. "Well... that answers that question... the sphere it some kind of interface for the teleporter system, it opens you select a destination and it takes you there." the voice says, it sounds gruff but feminine through the suit comms. "I saw another two pips on the interface, they were labeled as 'dim', so, I'm guessing Kappa needs to be activated, but the last node was... in the center of the sphere, with these three on the surface."

    "Oh!" Circe will say, before looking over the doll that had appeared and trying to see if it actually came through fully intact. "So.. if we activate Kappa you think we'll be able to teleport to some kind of hidden base? It is probably worth it; there could be something really worth finding there. Even this kind of teleportation is amazing, especially that it's still working thousands of years later."

    After a pause to think that through.. "..Though what happens if the teleporter down under is now covered by rock or something like that? Or if it's just the local underworld and we can't get back out?"

    The instant the Ur-doll appears, Matsu lets out an alarmed little noise and throws her ofuda; as she's swinging, it lights up with glimmering flames, and the slip of paper flies with uncanny straightness and accuracy.

    If it manages to impact, it does... approximately nothing, unless an Ur-doll is harmed by purification effects. It will mostly just stick wherever it hits and look kinda silly.

    "...a-ah... s... sorry."

    The talk of spheres and pips goes a bit above her head, so she mostly kind of just watches the others for her cues.

    Talia is about to draw her lightsaber in surprise when the ur-doll shows up until it begins speaking. "Ah. Right, yes. I suppose into the portal we go, right?" She says to her compatriots. At this point, the advanced magitech is way beyond the poor Jedi's brain. For now, she's just going to have to go along with things.

    "Ensign, head back to your team... we will return to the ship and plan our next moves very carefully." replies Justina.

    The Ur-Doll operator looks at Matsu, then the ofuda, then attempts to peel it off. "Uh... no problem?" the operator says, then steps back to the sphere, places a hand on it and suddenly vanishes.