Gouto looked at Rowan skeptically and took his hand off his holstered gun. "Oh, it seems nice?" He scoffed, it was like these people were trying to get themselves killed. Messing around in the forest and poking the local wildlife without thinking of the consequences. He was almost tempted to leave them to their own devices, but he was duty-bound to keep the group alive, no matter how ignorant their decisions were. He shook his head disapprovingly and crossed his arms. "We don't know if that thing's dangerous or not. I don't care what it looks like or what it gave you, I don't our lives to be at risk because of something as stupid as... this thing!" He gestured at the blobby creature. "Look, just leave it alone. If it leaves, I won't have to kick it out. We have to think about our outing, anyways.
The feelings of the survivors were quite divergent. Gouto was rather hesitant about working with the blob, while Wyatt was excited to meet the little guy. Centauri saw the creature as friendly and was appreciative of its gift to her, but while Rowan trusted her judgement, he was still a bit creeped by its gelatinous form. Polaris was concerned about the creature and Crazyon wanted to study it and the crystal, but no one was very comfortable with allowing him to do either. A few hours had passed and the time seemed to be around noon. The members who had previously stated they were going with Gouto were preparing for their departure. Crazyon was beginning to clear the ship of the deceased, and the rest of the survivors were organizing the camp. No one however would be prepared for what they would soon encounter.
Crazyon was in an oddly cheerful mood, many interesting things had happened, and he was preparing to depart into the unknown wilderness. As he was preparing, he sighed. "Ah, nothing better than going into the unknown..." He mumbled.
Wyatt packed his belonging as quickly as he could for the departure. He was rather excited to go exploring, a bit more than he should have been, but his determination to keep the moods of the survivors high was what kept him from insanity. He planned on accompanying Gouto, Crazyon, and Jack, all of whom decided to come for their own reason. The goal was simple, search for useful supplies which could be utilized by everyone, and investigate the existance of other species on the planet.
Gouto briefly glanced at the gelatinous creature before returning to what he was doing. The thing's still here, he thought. Truth to be told, he was getting used to having the thing just sort of... stand around camp. It hadn't tried to get at their food yet, in fact, it hadn't tried to do anything at all recently. He was fine with that, it meant he wouldn't have to waste shots on something that he was sure tasted horrible. He looked over what he was bringing one last time and confirmed that everything was in order. It wasn't much, but it was all they had, and hopefully all they would need. He tapped his foot a few times impatiently as the noises of the planet's insect population droned in his ear slits. This planet was already getting to him. They had to find something to get them out of here, and soon. He paced around the campsite a bit, waiting for the other members of the expedition to get their bearings. He came to a stop behind another one of the Pelican's security officer, Wyatt. "Hey, you ready to go out?" He gestured towards the forest. "Can't be too sure what we're going to run into out there."
After checking that he had everything on him, Crazyon hopped down from a large piece of scrap metal and proceeded to walk towards the two. Looking at both of them, Crazyon grinned under his mask. "I'm ready to head out, I'm almost giddy with excitement to discover what surrounds us."
The previously designated travelers proceeded on their way inside of the forest. As Jack, Gouto, and Wyatt were discussing the requirements of assured survival on the planet, Crazyon was running around collecting different plants and herbs, mumbling while he worked. Jack looked around at the surrounding trees and noticed their peculiar curve. "Does this look odd to you?" He asked while pointed at the trees. Wyatt and Gouto looked around and observed the odd pattern. All trees to the left of them were curved away from them, and the same to the left. "Looks like what a landing ship would make..." Gouto stated. "Exactly!" Jack exclaimed. "They appear to stop over there." Wyatt said pointing to the point in which the trees stood tall again.
Placing the herbs he had gathered in a container he had made with salvage, Crazyon continued to examine his surroundings. Silently running up behind them, Crazyon noted Wyatt's observation. "Indeed, I suggest we examine the sight for useful salvage, and information." "Oh, and be careful about some of the flora, it's unnaturally large and some are poisonous." "I wouldn't be surprised if there were carnivorous plants around here..."
Rowan watched those who were going away from the camp for a few seconds before turning around to view the wreckage once more. The crash site was gigantic. It was difficult to make out which part of the ship was where. Rowan began to search through the wreckage, beginning with what he assumed used to be some sort of lounge.
Gouto swore under his breath and fiddled with his gun at the mention of carnivorous plants. There had been enough bad run-ins with vicious flora in his past, and he didn't have much enthusiasm for meeting another. But there was a more important matter at hand: There might be another ship down here! He waved his free arm around to discourage the local insect population and looked closely at the tree line before turning to the group. "Yeah, you're right. Come on, we need to check it out." He motioned for the group to follow him into the peculiar line of trees in a hunt for... anything. Keeping himself safely behind his pistol, he slowly advanced, all three eyes carefully scanning the area. Never knew what could be lying in ambush, after all.
Nodding at him, Crazyon followed him silently. He had a large sack slung on his back from the various materials he had gathered.
The four walked forward, passed the dense forest, only to find a rather surprising sight. A giant crystal, nearly four stories high, was surrounded by an inhabitated village. The inhabitants were noneother than the same species as the gray blob who has found it's way into their camp. "Hello?" One of the blobs stated without moving its body. "Can you four understand me?"
The hylotl stopped in his tracks as soon as the crystal came into view, almost causing one of the others to run into him. He stared the giant crystal and quickly shifted his gaze to the area surrounding it. More of those... blobs wandered around, all of them bigger than the one that had wandered into their camp, and all of them seemingly acting in methodical, civilized way. The buildings erected around the crystal had an odd alien feel, but still seemed familiar in a way. How those things could build a functional building was still a mystery. He heard a voice, it seemed distant yet... frighteningly close. He somehow understood that it came from one of the blob creatures, but it didn't appear to move at all. There was a small bit of doubt in Gouto's head. Was he imagining that? He turned his head to the others and asked, "You hear that? I'm not going crazy, am I?"
The polite voice emerged once more. This time the blob moved forward. It had a bluish tint to its grey exterior, and an odd sort of white wound in its chest, in which it seemed some sort of rock was lodged. "No, you have not lost your sanity, although we're afraid you have lost most everything else. Unless we make a request to the authorities, the only equipment for survival we can arm you with is general information. Our species is called "Null". We are native to this planet, although many alien species have crashed here due to the natural elemental energies locally situated. I'm afraid the number of Stranded such as yourself has made us rather suspicious, so you must excuse us if our methods are somewhat circumspect. Now then, are there any burning questions?"
Staring at the Blob silently, Crazyon nodded, than spoke. "I can understand you, I don't know about the others." Crazyon was grinning inside of his mask.
Wyatt listened attentively as the Null talked, but the fact that he was talking, without moving, bothered him. He took a second to let that thought wander out of his mind and proceeded to ask his question. "What is that giant crystal, and why have you built a village around it?"
After a short and somewhat unusual pause, the Null, as it had called itself, resumed 'speaking'. "That is an Aether Heart, one of the largest crystals of Aether, one of the eight elements found here. There is Aether, Fire, Water, Earth, Air, and Entropy. We here draw energy from the Aether Heart and use it to live and complete tasks in our daily lives. All Null can use a crystal on their own, but only a shard." The Null motioned to the little rock poking out of its chest cavity. Upon a closer look, it was similar in color and texture to the massive Heart nearby, although with slightly dulled hues. "These shards are nearly currency among our people, since it is both our source of energy and can be harnessed to alter reality. In fact, only recently our-" The Null stopped suddenly, unmoving. It seemed like a human staring off into the distance, only without the eyes. After a few tense moments it moved once more. Only this time, it was not welcoming, or at least passive. Now, the chest cavity, and its shard, began to glow faintly. Pebbles around the Stranded began to fly, all of them towards the unlucky aliens who had the misfortune of crashing. *** At the camp, all was quiet, or at least mostly. A small breeze blew by and the small fire cackled occasionally. It was interrupted when a Null stepped through the leaves. A large figure just over 7 feet, the creature was intimidating, with three small, light blue spikes protruding from its chest cavity. It stopped, and stared at the little Null who had arrived that morning. The hulking figure stood stock still, almost as if it was staring off into the distance.
Moving quickly aside, Crazyon pulled out one of his knifes and threw it at the shard embedded in the creatures chest.
Gouto covered his face from the airborne pebbles and quickly took cover behind whatever was in sight. Seeing Crazyon attack the creature that had just previously been... less hostile towards them than anything else on this planet. Had he gone crazy... er? He yelled at the scientist, "Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing?" The creature was clearly not going to be happy about having his... chest crystal be attacked. He unholstered his weapon and switched it to the "Stun" setting, causing the lights on the gun to shift from red to a bright yellow. He silently prayed that the blob's nervous systems worked like most nervous systems did.
While the rocks may have ceased their unnatural movement as gravity and normal physics took hold again, the knife began the inverse process. It slowed down to a stop, just a little ways away from its intended target, still spinning in mid air. Then, after a moment's pause, the knife began to move again, although this time its target was Gouto's weapon. However, this was poorly aimed and clattered to the ground a few meters behind the Hylotl, and about half as far to his right. The Null, meanwhile, had begun to run deeper into the village, its somewhat amorphous appendages supporting its weight surprisingly well. However, it was obvious that while this Null may be unwilling, or perhaps unable, to pursue the Stranded, there was an entire village here. It was only a matter of time before people were mobbed.
