Replying to Booker: I guess.
Hack-It shrugs, but tries to mentally think at the group. Finally, some folks that are properly scared of us.
Janzi does believe them sincere.
"Please little one, we mean no harm, and would even beseech thee for help if you're not here for ill intent."
"What help would you want from us?" Gig cries out skeptically.
Janzi isn't sure the giants speak Common, so he translates Gig's inquiry.
Janzi translates, though even this isn't perfect. Sivv doesn't translate at all, but "Tentacled Ones" does seem to work. The giants first introduce themselves" Arrog, Jurvir, Kezmir, and Trothdyr. It’s cramped for creatures of their size, but they have made it work as best they can. They try to make space for you in here. They offer you protein and water.
The one who calls herself Kezmir speaks, "We have been working our astronomical charts from memory, and we know a cosmological conjunction is coming up that will allow us to escape this prisonweaponship with magic, but our divinations have lacked precision as to when it is and what we need to do. We... must ask violence of you. We need the star charts that our former leader, Xiello, carried with him. Unfortunately, Xiello is among those giants who turned against the our teachings after being in the Vision Machines to instead follow the Tentacled Ones."
Janzi listens carefully, noting any hint of attempt to deceive.
He asks for a description of Xiello and compares it to the moon giants already defeated. If it matches: We have met and vanquished this Xiello. Much less willing to talk than you, and he asked nor accepted quarter from us. We did what needed to be done.
If all appears on the up and up, he sends to Booker, Wanna share that chart we found? I'll be that's their homeworld viewpoint, and why it didn't make any sense to us.
Booker telepathically reminds Janzi that the eclipse giant we parleyed with and slew called himself Emperor Xiello.
He produces the star charts taken from under Xiello's throne. "These are them, I'd wager." He holds them out to Kezmir.
"You.... you have vanquished him? And you have the charts? By the Phases!"
The other three giants stand. It's comically tight for them to do so.
"You. must. now. partake. of. the. telling." Kezmir speaks haltingly, like it's some kind of mantra to make this invitation. As if on cue, and further cementing your conclusion, the giants sit down in a lotus position.
Long ago, a Tentacled One named Vheiransch put their soul into the ship’s circuit-mind, but that circuit-mind has become corrupted. Vheiransch’s soul is likely to resist with all the power it can muster any attempt to shut it down. The circuit-mind-core is at the far end of the ship, more than a day away. It is not a thing that can me turned off like a New Moon. You will need The Process, and this we do not know. Most problematic is the fact that the circuit-mind exists not in the Material Plane; it functions in some kind of quantum state and must be called forth before it can be affected at all."
There is a pregnant silence, "This we have divined. This we know. We are sorry we know not more."
Janzi cocks an eyebrow, ready to make a sarcastic retort....and then what comes out is anything but. It's more than we knew before, he says simply, so that's valuable. Thank you for your divinations.
"It has been a while since we've ventured forth. Is the way out of this area still offline?"
"If you're asking whether it's safe, I think you'll find it is. Do you need something to be online?"
"We do not. We can now go home. We will use our magic to return. YOU, however, likely do not wish to stay here. While we cannot transport you to another realm, we can get you out of this area if you'd like."
"Yeah. I think I'm ready to go home. I have a tour prepare for and my keyboards are waiting for me."
Turning to the giants, Gig asks, "Would any of you consider a job working for security at my concerts? You guys would make a great team!"
"I am sorry small thing, we need to go home, but first, we shall send you beyond the blast doors. It will take but a moment, come let us walk there."
If you're ready, the giants bring you back to the locked double doors, the one with the blood trail and the mayhem.
Gig looks back and replies, "I am ready. Let's get us home."
Once ready, the giants, in their last act before departing this Space for theirs, bring you to the massive locked doors. With a quick ritual, they open a magical passage through the doors. Beyond is a tram station.
There is no control to choose your destination. There's only a button to close the doors. It's a long ride, and you think you've travelled nearly the entire length of the Devastation Ark by the time it stops.
When you emerge, there's but one door to open, and it opens automatically upon your approach. This chamber has wide double doors opposite two podiums with computer monitors on them. A smaller door stands north of one podium and another door is west of the other podium. The northern door bears a symbol that resembles knotted tentacles. The other door has an arch over a circle.
"Knot this door!", Gig puns as he looks at the northern door.
Nothing stands out from your point of view.
Booker checks the seams of the double doors for traps.
"See what you can find out on those monitors."
As Booker enters the room lights along the tops of the podia flash orange, and the holographic image of a gently rotating scutoid appears.. A telepathic message of “But wait, there’s more!” in Common echoes in your minds as the shape pulses.
"Right on it, Booker!"
Gig hops up to the podium and tries to access the computer system.
Gig finds that there's.... nothing to access. He does however, inadvertently trigger more telepathic broadcasting, “Brand new, for
you, today! Presenting 4.1, a state-of-the-art sivv virtual intelligence now with philosopher- recommended helping of independent thought! Available for only 9,999 easy payments of 9,999 years! Deal void in the Sivv Dominion. You’ve arrived in style in a luxury transport—sleek, smooth, and incredibly comfortable— from an all-expenses-paid vacation on the detainee deck, so it’s obvious you are a smart shopper. I’ve got a limited- time offer to wash away those tough sivv stains, if you are willing to act now. Do not delay!”
"Who is trying to sell this stuff?! The payment plan seems really steep. Do we even want or need state of the art sivv virtual intelligence?"
"Of course you do!"
"Well, what can you do with it?"
Hack-It rolls his eyes, annoyed that Gig once more tripped something with a computer. "I'd hate to look at your mail's spam content, Gig. Do you really open every message?"
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"I keep getting these offers that if I take a survey they will give me a brand new laser rifle. Somehow they never seem to follow through on the prize. Maybe that's because I kept using your name and giving them all of your information."
Here is our EXCLUSIVE offer! "The Reboot Code" is the latest holonovel from best-selling author Anxshi Kindler! Twists, turns, and a surprise ending that will leave you sivv-less! I know where you can pick up a copy! Today!”
Janzi ponders the holographic scutoid a moment.
It's nothing Janzi has any reference to at all. The thing seems limited. Like it has VERY narrow options for reply. The word choice sounds like something off Absalom station.... maybe it's communicating with tone and syntax as it expects you to want?
Then he'll do the same for Sivvian, though this requires more concentration.
After rehearsing a bit in his mind, Janzi speaks.
“I’ve got to go, go, go! Explore a universe of possibilities in a new Sanjaval Spaceflight Systems Vagabond-class starship, with customizable expansion bays and faux leather seating! Keep data safe from devious hackers with ScrubShield anti-sivv program!”
It's not changing. It just sounds like..... wait a second. It sounds like an amalgamation of all the "so-and-so reacts to Thrull Magnar's solo." that Gig constantly watches.
Hack-It shakes his head. "It's cute that you think you have all of my information."
To Janzi he says, "You done talking with the commercials? Do I need to find the speaker system and disconnect it?"
The A.I. clears its throat and speaks openly. "I said... “Let the
power chords on the latest Apocalypse Unbidden techno- metal album, Devastation Is Here, rattle your bones! The dangerous lyrics by the sivv AI Vheiransch will rock your worlds down to their very foundations! Nothing will survive! Available from Sivv Dominion Records in physical format, only while supplies last.”
Booker grunts. "You got a problem with the sivv?"
"“I’ve got to go, go, go! Explore a universe of possibilities in a new Sanjaval Spaceflight Systems Vagabond-class starship, with customizable expansion bays and faux leather seating! Keep data safe from devious hackers with ScrubShield anti-sivv program!”
To Janzi he says, "You done talking with the commercials? Do I need to find the speaker system and disconnect it?"
You mean the speaker system in your head? Or just disconnect your head? Janzi says. Either way, I approve. Be my guest, go ahead and try.
"But WAIT, there's more! Unlock your dreams of tomorrow—today!—with high-definition transposition keys! These technomagical wonders will put you right into the action with unparalleled resolution.”
"Subpar quip, Janzi. C- at best," Hack-It says, starting to pay more attention to the speaker system.
"So we're talking to a sivv VI. Maybe like Osteth aboard the Maiden. And it wants to get out of here. Offering us a reboot code as part of the exchange. Might be even there's nefarious sorts trying to get at it right now even. Might even be able to help us get where we need to be. But for sure it's not interested in getting nuked with the rest of the galaxy."
He looks up, speaking out toward wherever the voice is coming from. "I get that about right?"
This AI is... weird. You get the feeling that it's trying to TELL you something, but its language is limited.
"“Lost? Depressed? Feeling adrift in the seas of this modern world? Ask your physician if Nearbyatrol is right for you. Side effects may include extensive searching, clashes with awakened sivv soldiers, dangerous eons-old technology, and death.”
"Right. You or whoever is up to no good is nearby. Sivv soldiers and old, probably malfunctioning tech. Delightful."
Hack-It looks back at the others. "Times a wasting, folks. Let's move."
The mechanic gestures to the door on the right.
Hold up a nanosecond, Janzi says, concentrating on the scutoid a moment.
With GM permission, I'd like to be able to spend a level 1 spell slot to be able to use it more than 1x/day, up to the number of level 1 spell slots available.
If amenable, that's what Janzi will do.
After a while, you zero in. This is a true intelligence, free will and all. It's slightly smarter than the average lashunta. It's surface thoughts are "crystal" clear. It wants you to destroy this place.... and save it. It's simply limited in how it can communicate. It's trying to give you hints.
Janzi creates a mindlink with the entity and conveys the scope of the sivv threat, what the five of them aredoing there, and the promises made to the moon giants and to the fungi previously.
Janzi finds the mind is extremely alien to his own. Suddenly the scutoid rises into the air. 4.1 hovers near the western door. “The ingenious engineers of Sivv Laboratories are working hard to bring about a better, brighter future.” It moves to the northern door. “Increase your productivity in our spacious offices, complete with a shared recreation space and medical bay. Reasonable rates available!”