They reached the site of the sacrifice in a short time, Thomas and Stanley leading. Circling up and around, they came to the edge of a small cliff overlooking the clearing at the foot of the mountain. Carefully pushing the vines, creepers and ferns that grew on the edge of the cliff (and cascaded over), it was unclear if they were too late to save Liisha or not. She was laying on a stone altar in the middle of the clearing, which was a shallow oval mound about 20m across.

This dry ground was ringed with torches that burned and lit the swampy clearing with an evil smoky orange-yellow glow.


There were three priests there; one making some kind of beseeching prayer while the other two performed a ceremonial dance beside him. They were facing the cliff, although it was likely with the torches in their eyes they couldn't see the figures on the cliff above them.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:54, Wed 01 May 2013.

Stanley aimed his shotgun, then paused, listening.

"They pray to the "Guardians". Of their gods. They say they are sending this "messenger" to tell the "Strangers from Beyond" it is not yet time for them to return."

"Typical priests - expect someone else to do the work for them!" groused Linus, who looked as if he was about to bolt out and grab Liisha from under their noses.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 3):

Walker looked at the targets.

He pointed to the priests, and held up 3 fingers.

He pointed to the first finger, and pointed at the left-most priest.
He pointed to the middle finger, and pointed at the middle priest.
He pointed to the third finger, and pointed at the right-most priest.

He pointed at Ken, and then at the first finger.
He pointed at himself, and at the middle finger.
He pointed at Lorain, and at the third finger.
He pointed at Linus, and held up two fingers, pointed at his eyes, and then he turned them away, looking over everything.  Same thing for Stanley and Neva.

Finally, he turned back to Lorain and Ken.  He mimed counting to three, with his hand, and after he counted to three, he mimed pulling a trigger.

Then he held his palm up, and looked at the others, head tipped, and quizzical.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:16, Wed 01 May 2013.

Linus nodded in understanding.

"What about fetching Liisha?" he asked quietly.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 5):

Walker whispered back quietly, "Kill all, scene safe," his tongue against his front teeth, changing the sibilant "s" sound into a lower frequency "th" sound.

He looked back at the others for any other questions or ideas.

In reply to Thomas Walker (msg # 4):

Neva nodded to Thomas and without saying anything moved her position to make sure she could cover more area.  She was ready and just waited for the others to go into action.  With luck, they would be in time.  Without luck....well sometimes it didn't pay to think on that.

Ken watched the scene carefully, looking for signs of other natives besides the three priests.  At Thomas' motions he nodded and readied his gun.

There wasn't time to engage in much debate over what was going to happen. Whatever was going to happen needed to happen now, and with Liisha they'd have to take out the priests anyways before rescuing her.

Thomas gave the "go" signal and he, Lorain and Ken fired. Ken and Thomas' shots hit home. Their targets fell over. Lorain didn't know how to use a pistol so hers missed, and the priest bolted like a shot into the swamp, disappearing from view.

Seeing the priest flee into the woods Ken ran forward to Liisha.  "Let's get the hell out of here!  He'll be back with a gang of angry friends."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 10):

Neva saw that they had scared off the priest and while she was tempted to hit him, she didn't like to shoot people in the back.  She wouldn't be so kind if he brought back others before they got out of there.  She kept an alert out and her gun ready as the others got Liisha.  She'd cover them and keep her eyes peeled for the priest and others to return.

Linus scampers forwards as well to aid in rescuing Liisha.

They scrambled down a path on the side of the small cliff where they'd fired on the priests. It was too late for Liisha... she was suffering from several wounds and was dead (unresponsive, no vital signs, etc.).

However, looking around they saw something astounding. They hadn't gotten a good look at the cliff before, and now it was clear why the natives had erected an altar here and conducted ceremonies. The cliff featured two statues of clearly human figures, approximately 4-5m tall. They were heavily weathered but still appeared to be wearing some kind of costume or clothing. Carvings decorated the cliffs around them, and the two statues were flanking what was clearly a door. The construction was either stone or some kind of permanent formed concrete.

In the middle of the door was some kind of diagram of concentric circles, surrounding a knob or control.


This message was last edited by the GM at 12:00, Sat 04 May 2013.

In reply to GM (msg # 13):

Ever the scholar, Lorain was stopped for a second by the tableau of the human statues. Then she continued to the altar where Liisha lay.

"Oh Liisha... Can you help her, Thomas?" It seemed, though, she already knew the answer.

"Dammit," said Linus, when he saw that Liisha was no more. He went over to look at the curious cliff face.

In reply to Lorain Messandi (msg # 14):

"Nope." said Walker, touching her wrist with one hand while scanning for targets.  "She's bled out, and by the time we got her to an Imperial hospital, she'd have passed through rigor mortis and be bloated and fly-blown.  She's cold."

"Did we find what they were looking for?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:19, Sun 05 May 2013.

Ken frowned at the sight of Liisha.  "Damn, damn, damn...  She was a good comrade." He removed her from the altar and laid her down near the carved cliff side.  He glared out at the jungle.  "They'll be back soon and in greater numbers.  We should get under cover if we can."

Turning about Ken faced the carved cliff for a moment and stood silently.  "Well... that's... damn..."  He shook his head.  "That's old, look at the wear and tear and the clothing and gear is not modern at all."  He stepped closer; "They're human..." Ken glanced at Lorain.  "Could this be?  Damn..."

Ken moved up to the doorway and examined the diagram of concentric circles in the middle of the door.  "It looks like the diagram of a solar system with planets in orbit."

Lorain looked at the statues and the door.

"Well, I think we found what we were looking for! Stanley, could you please take Liisha?"

She moved up beside Ken. "Yes, that seems very likely. Good thinking."

"That writing, I recognise the script. It's ancient Vilani. Definitely Zira Sirku era, with some unfamiliar characters and modifiers. But I can't read the language, it's not not actual Vilani. Many of the Vilani's clients and others adapted their script for their own languages. I bet that's it."
This message was last edited by the player at 10:17, Fri 28 Aug 2015.

In reply to GM (msg # 13):

Carefully, Stanley gathered Liisha in his two upper arms, putting her in a fireman's carry. His lower arms were free to use his shotgun.

"There you go, Liisha. Don't worry, we aren't leaving you here."

Linus and Ken saw that the diagram on the door seemed to be a solar system. 3-planets, like the Mirayn system, a pattern repeated on the chests of the flanking statues. The "planets" were on circular runners. The door also had some kind of lock system and electric eye, long-dead.
This message was last updated by the GM at 19:21, Sun 05 May 2013.

"I wonder..." mused Linus.

"It looks like the 'planets' on the door move on those tracks... wonder if you have to line them up in a designated way to get the door to open."

Neva kept watch while the others investigated and gathered up Liisha.  "Not to break the mood or anything people but can you kind of hurry up your wonderful discovery?  These natives won't stay away forever and we had better be in a different place when they return."

"OK, Neva."

Linus moved closer and reached out to see if the 'planets' on the door did actually move in their tracks...

You said the statues had the same 'solar system' design on their chests. Is it the same on both, or different?

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 23):

The statues did seem to have a solar system map on their chests. Both were the same, with the planets lined up from top to bottom: outer planet on top, then middle, then inner, and then the sun. (This is barely visible in the illustration.)

In reply to Neva Alexovna Morozova (msg # 22):

"I don't know.  I think I've found some people who need shooting."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:07, Sun 05 May 2013.

Ken examined the statues and the door. "Go ahead and see if the little spheres will line up like those on the statues.  That might unlock things.  The detecting eye and lock appear dead.  We might have to power them to get inside though." He listened carefully to Lorraine's explanation.  "A Vilani script but not in the Vilani language?  How could some one like that get here so far from Vland?  They'd have to come through Corridor and down the Marches or across the Great Rift and then across the Trojan Reaches and on."

Standing back a little, Lorain looked at the door. "Linus, want to do the honours and set the pattern on the door?

"Linguistics wasn't my subject. But I read that something like seventy or so minor races, humans or otherwise, adopted or were forced to adopt Vilani script for their own indigenous languages. Vilani traders were big on this because it was a benefit to commerce. Typically because the aboriginal populations were too primitive to already have a written language or when Vilani supplanted their written language over time due to economic, social or political pressures.

"Even after the fall of the Zira Sirku, many races reverted back to their own indigenous spoken languages. But they retained Vilani script because it was ingrained and efficient. This seems like it's very early Vilani, though, and not late First Imperium. Possibly within the first thousand years? I don't know.

"A good example is the language we are speaking: Anglic. Anglic characters are partially based on the script of an earlier Terran language, "English". The English alphabet was actually based on an even older language, "Greek". The characters of Greek and Anglic are similar and some are identical, but if you only speak (and read) Anglic you won't be able to read Greek. Further, another people in what was apparently called "Russia" lacked a written language and so a single man, a priest, introduced the Greek alphabet in a form called "Cyrillic". When the Russians formed an empire that absorbed several other cultural groups that in turn lacked their own written language, Cyrillic was used. Someone who could read that language might recognise the Cyrillic and Greek alphabet but understand neither."

She indicated the statues.

"Now where these people got Vilani script from is a mystery. The Vilani Imperium extended all the way to Vanejen in the Spinward Marches. Vilani language and culture penetrated even into Foreven, if not Far Frontiers sector."
This message was last edited by the player at 07:04, Mon 06 May 2013.

Ken shook his head at Lorain's explanation.  "That makes sense.  The script is an older version of the Vilani writing which might say that these people gained the writing from the earlier, expansionist Vilani.  So maybe these people had hand me down Vilani tech and used it to set themselves up as the Sky Raiders.  Does that make sense?  That is if this is a cache from them."

Standing guard, Stanley grunted a laugh. "You may get your wish! But it may take time for them to return."

"It does make sense. But there's only one way to find out!"

Not knowing what to do with the revolver, she held it loosely at her side. "Maybe you should take this back. I'm rubbish with it."
This message was last updated by the player at 20:09, Mon 06 May 2013.

Concentrating, Linus moved the 'planets' on the door along their tracks until the atrrangement mimiced that of the chest motifs of the statues.

Ken nodded to Lorain.  "Let's hope there is more than just junk inside the door.  The place certainly looks important."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 32):

There was an audible "click" from somewhere behind the portal, but nothing else happened.

Ken stood still for a moment waiting for the cliched huge rolling stone ball or the spears to impale them.  When nothing happened he examined the door and the area around it.  "Does it look like it opens inward?  Something went 'click'."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 34):

Ken couldn't see any hinges or other exposed mechanisms. Who knew what it was supposed to do? Lorain didn't, and shrugged to show her own puzzlement. "What, you want me to go first?"

Ken shook his head and smiled.  "This isn't a case of 'ladies first' Lorain.  You're our best hope of figuring this out so you stay out of the line of fire." He leaned down to peer at the electric eye and then shrugged; "It seems dead.  After a couple thousand years you'd think any trap would be safe."

Assuming nothing stands out Ken will push gently and then more firmly on the door.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 36):

With a little hesitation the slab portal swung inwards on a squeal of hinges. It was quite amazing it opened at all, given the exposure to the elements over thousands of years! A difficult technical feat, if not impossible even given TL 15 materials.

"My hero! That's what I was hoping you'd say. Yes, it's actually amazing anything's survived in this jungle swamp. Considering it's been several millennia. There could be some kind of electrostatic or repulsor field but that's very advanced, beyond Imperial tech. Possibly Ancient origin?"

Linus peers in. If necessary, he gets out a flashlight.

"Shall we...?"

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 39):

Walker doesn't take the rifle down from his shoulder, eyes scanning the jungle, constantly.

"I shall be last."
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:55, Tue 07 May 2013.

Ken smiled back at Lorain.  "Well we all do our part." As the door opened so easily he was surprised as well.  "If the Sky Raiders had very advanced tech it might explain some of their success.  If they were Vilani influenced though their tech wouldn't be much more than 11.  They could be like the Darrians and came to some kind of epiphany when mixed with an outside group.  They got to tech level 16."

All this is moot for the moment as the door does open and he peers in with the others.

Still carrying Liisha's body, Stanley added, "I won't be going in, I will stay here and keep watch."

Ken steps inside carefully.  He is looking for traps and such.  He will shine his flashlight around.

Neva nodded to Thomas, acknowledging him being last.  "I'll go with them.  Before we all go in should we see about being able to get back out? This wonderful discovery might turn out to be our tomb."

Linus picked up a large rock and placed it so that the door couldn't close fully. Then he stepped in after Ken.

Inside was a second door down a 5m corridor, forming a kind of airlock or entry chamber. There were no visible traps but there was a long-dead terminal on the wall to the right of the outer door. Blocks of faded script were written on the inner door and walls, no doubt instructions or some kind of identification.

Both inner and outer doors were outsized, 2m wide by 4m high.

The antechamber walls were of a melted native rock, the floor some kind of rubberised matting. The walls weren't the work of fusion or plasma guns or tunnelling but probably a mining laser array (due to the striations). There was no light save that of their flashlights.

Linus looked curiously at the writing on the walls.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 47):

The writing seemed to be related to Vilani characters; a few seemed recognisable but altogether unreadable. (GM Note: imagine trying to read Serbo-Croatian written in Cyrillic script.) There were no pictograms or graphic symbols.

Ken glanced at the terminal and then the written script for any kind of patterns.  He called back to Lorain as he went to carefully examine the inner door.  "You'd better come in and look at this Lorain.  See if you can make any sense of it."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 49):

Stepping inside, Lorain smiled while shrugging.

"Nope, still can't read it. Primitive cultures are my forte.

"It's stencilled... probably technical, doesn't look particularly ceremonial in nature. It could say "shut off engines while loading and unloading" for all I can tell."

Neva stepped into the chamber and put her back to the wall so that she could cover the rest of the group as they went ga-ga over the discovery.

Ken shook his head his voice half serious.  "Or maybe it could be the disarming procedures for the explosives on the other side of the door."  He stepped up to the inner door and examined it before trying to open it.  "No traps so far, let's see if we can get this thing to open." He'll look for seeing eyes or locking or opening mechanisms as well as trying to find any obvious traps.

Lorain thought about it. "This is where my father would be in his element. Looting tombs, following maps to space pirate treasure! I would think if the Sky Raiders were essentially pirates, then they would be on guard against others of their kind, who'd know their language. But it could be in some kind of pirate code.There's no way to know now, unless we find a "Rosetta Stone" translated into some language we already know, like Ancient Vilani."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 52):

It seemed the inner door was some kind of hatch that opened inwards, secured by two handles on the left and one on the right. If any existing traps (or alarm) used power it seemed like the electricity was long gone. It didn't seem to be a sliding door like an iris valve, the hinges were on the inside.

As for traps or tripwires, none were visible. If present they might be on the inside of the door.

Ken glances back at Lorain and nods.  "If we can't decipher the script immediately then I say we just stay cautious and move forward with our explorations.  The natives will be back sometime soon and we still need to figure out how to get the hell out of here.  Ideally if we could jump Kalamaru's ship and get off the planet entirely that would be best."  He moves forward and waving the other's back and then undogs the handles and attempts to push the door open.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 55):

With the clock running down and no realistic chance to decypher the script, it was time to push on. Literally. So Ken pushed the inner door and it opened. Inside was a small chamber, 5m square, and in the middle of that was a stone bier, 2m by 3m, 1m high.

On the bier lay 2 figures, each covered by some kind of shroud. Laid around the figures on the bier and on the floor were what looked to be pieces of jewellery and other objects made from precious metals and fine wood, inlaid with sparkling gems and jewels. Propped at the head of the bier were a pair of laser carbines of unfamiliar design.

Everything was coated by a layer of grey dust, undisturbed for perhaps millennia.

Ken stood at the door and swore in a soft voice.  "Holy..." He looked around carefully and then stepped into the room to examine the bodies and rifles.  "This is sure at least a down payment on the treasure of the Sky Raiders."  Ken picks up one of the rifles and examines it more closely.

OOC: Are the skeletons or bodies human?

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 57):

Behind him, he could hear Lorain gasp. She was literally biting her fist to avoid talking. Gathering herself she said, "normally, as an archaeologist I'd take pictures, catalogue the items, preserve the scene, carefully pick apart the layers of meaning. We don't have time or equipment. So... let's take what we can."

Under the first shroud (made of some synthetic material which was stiff and crackly from age), the skeleton was recognisably human. Dark bone never before exposed to sunlight was covered in scraps of brown flesh. Additional jewellery twinkled from around the throat and limbs of the dead Sky Raider.

One item in particular was a necklace of iridium links, connecting a think disk of iridium lying on the chest. In the middle was a large gemstone of unknown design.

"Hmmm... fascinating."

Linus took a closer look at the necklace.

Ken nodded.  "Let's take the necklace, one of the rifles and anything that has writing on it and get the hell out of here.  We can seal this back up and come back for it later."

"All right," said Linus and took the necklace.

Neva watched them take from the dead and automatically mumbled a prayer of forgiveness.   She wasn't totally superstitious but she also didn't believe it would hurt to say one.  It was one thing to interrupt the dead to take pictures and record for history sake but it was another thing to rob from them.

The necklace came away easily as Linus released the catch and pulled the chain out from under the neck.

There were quite a lot of valuables, probably several kilos worth of jewellery, adorned artefacts and other precious gems and diamonds. They were taking a very small portion of it. Nothing other than the weapons seemed to have writing on it, all seemed the product of fairly primitive (if skilled) artisans.

Studying the wealth scattered around and on the bier with a critical eye, Lorain fashioned a crude satchel from one of the shrouds and began placing items inside.

"Well, this all looks pretty valuable, and who knows if it'll remain intact now we've breached the sanctum? I never thought I'd be grabbing the loot and running for my life, I guess I'm my father's daughter after all."

In reply to Lorain Messandi (msg # 65):

"Grab one of the rifles.  If it's any good, it might be useful."

In reply to Thomas Walker (msg # 66):

Neva went over to the rifles, not trusting an archaeologist to determine if a rifle was good or not, and looked them over.  If she found two of them that were good, she'd take one for her and one for Thomas as well as looking for ammo for them.

At least that made more sense than taking a gold bauble.

Seeing Lorain start gathering loot Ken laughed.  "Well, I guess it's ok.  I'm dead broke so why not."  He grabbed the laser rifle and filled his pockets with gems.

Lying at the head of the bier were two laser carbines of unfamiliar (certainly non-Imperial era) design. They each had a power pack. Unfortunately, they were both thousands of years old. It would be interesting if they could be charged again but for now, they were antiques that might be as useful as the gems and jewellery... if sold to a museum.

The power cables and harness straps for the power packs (which rode at the small of the back) were so old and brittle they easily cracked and came apart in their hands as Ken and Neva picked them up.

As for the valuables, there was literally around 10 kilos of the stuff lying around.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:22, Tue 14 May 2013.

"And they're just dead! Terrible joke, I know. This loot, some of it I recognise as Reynirjik in origin, from the indigenous culture of the period before the collapse. The rest, I think it's taken from the worlds the Sky Raiders visited on their way here. We'll need to catalogue it, see if it provides additional clues."

Lorain had about as much as she thought she could carry in her makeshift sack. Ken and the others still had their survival packs; room could be made to carry most if not all the valuables left in the tomb.

"Do you need a hand with that, Lorain?" asked Linus, digging out a bag.

In reply to Lorain Messandi (msg # 70):

Walker shrugged out of his pack without taking his eyes off the jungle.

"Here's mine.  I have a question.  Do we sell off all of it, and divide it evenly, or do we sell it off a little at a time to pay for group costs, and keep the rest as long as possible?  Personally, I think we should sell off as little as possible, and save the rest to go off-planet with us.  Maybe we'll get a better price for it, or we can sell it to a museum."

Ken chuckled a bit at Lorain's comment.  "I'm glad you can laugh Lorain.  We all can use some humor." He looked about.  "Let's load up and take everything we can gang.  Use your packs and shovel it in.  Does anyone have a camera?  We should record what we can while things are pristine and get the hell out."  He will scoop up what he can manage.

Lorain shook her head in disbelief that she was participating in the looting of a millennium-old archaeological site.

"I think we'd be arrested if we showed our faces back in what passes for civilisation on this planet. The plan is to hijack Kalamanru's ship when it returns, we can divvy up the swag while we're in jump like jolly old space pirates!"

Poking his head in the door, Stanley said to Thomas, "I hear drums. More tribal warriors will be on their way. Let's go now!"

Soon, the tomb was emptied of valuables. As well, the antique laser carbines, useless as they were. Still, not a bad haul, they should get more than a few credits out of the deal!

Indeed, outside it started to rain again. As the night cooled (a little) a mist rolled in off the swamp, blanketing the area.

In reply to GM (msg # 76):

Walker led with Stanley.

He looked at the rain, and said "This happens here a lot.  It should cover our tracks, some."

Ken nodded and hurried through the rest of the looting.  As they headed outside he frowned in the direction of the drums.  "See what you can do to obscure our tracks.  Let's clear the area a bit first, head in a different direction and then clear our tracks while we change course and try to break their trail.  We need to get to the island where the landing site is at."

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 78):

"Right.  Then Stanley, you take the lead, Ken and I will clean the backtrail.  Pick the wrong direction to begin with, go a klick, and then correct our path back to the hovercraft."

Ken glances around one last time to make sure they have everything of importance and that no one is left behind.  He helps Thomas clear the back trail and heads off.

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 80):

Neva follows a little behind Stanley keeping watch out.  Hopefully they will get to their destination this time.

Still cradling Liisha's lifeless corpse in his upper arms while carrying his shotgun in the lower ones, Stanley nodded in agreement and understanding.

"This is a good idea. Let us go now."

Linus shouldered his share of the burden and tagged along.

Taking a last look around the burial vault, Lorain sighed. "I swear, this are the most articles I've ever recovered from a :site", but I still feel a little dirty.

"Looking at the room and the fittings, I would say it was repurposed. Probably a communications vault for antennas that were on the mountain, the highest ground this side of the lake. Well, no use crying about it now."

She fell in with the others as they made their circuitous way back towards the other group.

In reply to Lorain Messandi (msg # 84):

"We can always come back with a properly funded expedition.  Or a punative one, if there's enough money in the jewelry."

"Yes, we know where it is now..." added Linus.

Ken nodded as well, his eyes on the woods around them.  "Definitely a punitive expedition..."