"I look forward to our next meeting. I am curious about the variety of beings you have encountered and experience day to day. Your world seems very diverse.
I suppose I am something like a source of knowledge and wisdom to these beings. To me, they are ... hmmm ... I guess I would say they are 'company.'
To leave, follow the mosslight."
You come 'awake' from your encounter and find that you are no longer at the entrance of a cave on a mountainside. Instead, you are someplace very dark. A few minor movements seem to echo off walls very close by. You scan the area with various eye settings before finding faint traces of patches of something glowing. It's barely enough light to distinguish it from the darkness, let alone to illuminate the surroundings. You lean quite close, mere inches away, and the light is strong enough to give an outline. It does indeed look mosslike. You spend an hour carefully scanning the tunnel walls, floor, and ceiling for additional traces, following the trail as yo upick it up. at one point, yo are forced to retrace your steps. You come out of the cave system very close to the level of the dark mist that separates this living world from whatever lies below. Looking about, you find the edges of the city off to your left, and you head that way. You climb and walk for another hour before entering the city, which is eerily quiet. No sounds of life, no movement, not even a wisp of wind. Your own footsteps clank once each on the hard pavement. Any echo is eaten before it returns to your auditory sensors.
You return to the portal, enter in, report, and are directed to a conference room of sorts, where you are interrogated for some time about your experience. several beings ask no questions - instead making copious notes as you talk. dozens of sheets of paper are filled in this way. Some are referred to when another interrogator wants ot ask a specific question. Every aspect of your experience is probed, from your ravel time, to the weather, to the linguistic capabilities of the various beings, to the imagery you experienced in your visitation, to the chemical makeup of the atmosphere, and more. In truth, you didn't think to record data on many of the subjects requested. One interrogator begins to criticize the oversight, but he is cut off by another, who reminds him of the parameters of the mission, and the lack of specific orders regarding fauna.
"A data gathering mission seems justified. Perhaps a couple. We need to know the composition of that atmosphere, first, so that we can send people who won't die immediately upon stepping throgh the portal.