Those of the group who cannot see in the dark scramble in their packs for light sources. When they are able to see again they see that Nes has disappeared, and that the black slime is starting to pour into the room. While there is gravity now, the whole space is on an odd angle so the balcony over the room is leaning backwards. They scramble to get past the slime before it is impossible to avoid. They have realised that they cannot defeat it. They all climb up the ladder to the trapdoor at the top, but it is hard going as the ladder is now on the worst possible angle. Chips and Kel both fall at one point but are able to use their telekenetic abilities to help them regain the ladder before they hit the ground. Through the trapdoor they find themselves back on the surface of the sphere, but it is no longer floating in empty space but is lying in the middle of a plain under a clear blue sky. Much of the dust has slid off the sphere and they can see a reef of dust surrounding the sphere. They also hear moaning and screaming of those that have fallen off the sphere, the sound of animals tearing at flesh, and can see figures running off into the distance. The plain goes off in all directions as far as the eye can see. The landscape is dotted with ruins and ancient buildings, but there is no sign of civilisation. There is nothing but plains. Nothing. No hills, no mountains, just plains. However there is no easy or obvious way to get off the sphere (other than jumping) so they find another trapdoor and go back into the sphere, navigating chambers and tunnels to try and find their way to the ground. Unfortunately one of the rooms is imbued with strange energy and the three heroes are all inflicted with a minor mutation. Buddy grows large, pointed ears, Chips grows a beaver tail and Kel reduces in size to 4'5". They find their way eventually to the ground and out onto the plain. They navigate over the large dust pile surrounding the sphere, avoid the broken hounds who are more interested in eating the broken bodies that have fallen from the sphere and head out into the wilderness. They walk aimlessly through the plains for weeks, finding ancient ruins to camp in and avoiding the various creatures. They are able to find water to drink in streams as they go, but for food they rely on some mushroom armour they found some time ago which gives them just enough food to survive by eating the armour. One night, staying in a ruined temple, a creature of darkness emerges from Chip's cyphers, attacking the group. They suspect that this event is related to what was affecting the lights in the sky city while they were exploring there. They continue onwards and come across a giant goldfish and his human companion, who tells them where they can find a nearby village called Jute as well as a number of other landmarks and a small city. As their closest option is a weeks walk away they head towards the village. They are very aware that they do not have any food left and spend the rest of the week surviving on what they can scavenge as they go. As they get closer to where the village should be, they come across a strange structure in a stream. While they are examining it, some cultists in yellow robes emerge from the wilderness. They are carrying heavy bags of supplies. The cultists tell the group (in no uncertain terms) to back off and when the group endeavour to question them about the structure they tell them to mind their own business. The group back off, then the cultists perform some sort of strange ceremony that concludes with a hatch opening in the structure. The cultists enter the structure and it disappears. However, upon examination of where the structure was they discover that one of the cultists has left a small bag behind. In the bag are a small amount of supplies, but also a journal that documents where the structure travels to when it disappears. They find a map showing that the structure arrived in this space some days ago and was due to leave today. They continue onwards and find their way to the village of Jutte. It is a very small village with no inn or shop, but people (a mix of human and abhuman) are very interested to see them. They are escorted to the home of the village chief, and elderly lady named Gralle. She explains that the reason the townfolk are so interested in them is that they are the second set of visitors that the village has had in the last year, and the last visitors had left that very morning. The last visitors were the cultists and were not interested in making friends - they simply traded shins and numenera for supplies and then left. The chief invites the group to stay the night, billeted in peoples homes and asks if they will attend a gathering the village will hold in their honour. The group decide to stay and spend the night drinking, telling tales and getting to know the villagers. They learn a few things during the evening: A group of aneen-riding bandits plagues the countryside, raiding the village and waylaying shepherds. Their leader is a woman named Milaconi, who has the power to heal or harm with a touch. A sphere of unknown black material rolls across the plains, seemingly of its own accord. Some reports say that it is 12 feet (3.7 m) in diameter, and others put it closer to 30 feet (9.1 m), which might suggest that the sphere changes size, or that there is more than one. A yellow flower is currently growing in certain locations on the plains. If brewed for three days, it forms a concoction that will make the imbiber aroused past the point of clear thinking for up to a day. A nearby lake is no longer safe to fish in. 3 villagers have disappeared at the lake and the villagers no longer go there. Near the lake are some hot pools. These are heated through energy coming from an ancient crashed spacecraft in the pools. However there have been some small earthquakes by the pool in the last few weeks which has created cracks in the ground near the spacecraft. A weeks walk to the south are the Lambent Fields, the burial place of the gods and a area covered with multicoloured glowing dust. On the edge of the fields is the city of Picalah, a guild operated city which trades the dust throughout the world. The villagers think of Picalah as a dangerous place, filled with immorality and danger. The group decide that they will travel to where the strange, disappearing structure with the yellow robed cultists is due to reappear, but will travel to the ancient crashed spacecraft along the way. They make their way to the spacecraft and find that they can enter it through one of the newly opened cracks in the ground. They make their way in and find that the interior is massive - leading deep underground with huge chambers - one of which is filled with a jungle. They make their way through various chambers and battle strange alien creatures. One of these creatures is a large automaton and during the battle, Kel manages to hack into the creature and take control of it.
