The gate activation is normally on a tight schedule, as there are teams leaving on missions or returning from missions on a fairly frequent basis. Most of them produce nothing--a gate on an otherwise uninhabited world.

Once dialed, the gate can remain open for 32 minutes, though if the team doesn't go through by the 25th minute, the gate is shut down and the team departure is rescheduled for another time.

With the 5 minutes to gate activation, there's no time for any other activations, though an emergency coming in might also cause a delay or reschedule.

Nothing, however, happens in those five minutes. The address is dialed via the computer, and the gate is activated.

Once the wormhole is established, one of the $50-drones is sent through. This is to make sure nothing has changed at the destination: the gate has changed location, the DHD is still there, and there is no terrain or people waiting for them.

As the rest of the team arrives, the drone transmits the image back. Nothing appears to have changed.

"The only thing that concerns me," General Hammond announces from the control booth, "is the fact that there was no response from those people to the bright light from the stargate."

"In that gloomy atmosphere, it should have been easily visible. It is possible that they nothing about the stargate, only that it occasionally flashes with light. If nothing else happens, then perhaps they chalk it up to something like the Northern Lights."

"Anyway, be careful. As with most of these missions, there is probably something going on under the surface that we aren't aware of."

"Major Carter, did you get the 5 extra batteries for the drones? If the drones are still functional, you can use them. Without sunlight, the photovoltaic cells are pretty useless."

"Unless you have any questions, you are cleared to go."

In reply to _General Hammond (msg # 2):

“ Yes, I did Sir. No Questions here. ”


Jackie screams through the gate like a twelve year old on a roller coaster. Then she recovers her professionalism with very red cheeks.

Kyle stepped up to take his turn, just as excited as Jackie although running and screaming wasn't his style - more a bounce in his step and a broad grin on his face.

After stopping at Supply and getting his Team Bundle, plus the new Hazardous Atmosphere Bundle, he then stopped at the Armory for his weapons and was surprised to find himself issued a .45. He added the holster to his web belt and holstered the gun, then put the 3 clips into an ammo pouch. He sure hoped he didn't have to shoot any of the minotaurs. Well, he didn't really want to shoot anything, except Goa'uld. He also hoped the minotaurs weren't really 8 feet tall.

He stepped out of the Armory into the staging area, and saw SG-X8 sitting around on stand-by. Some were playing cards, one was reading a manual, and 2 appeared to be sleeping.

He smiled wryly to himself; it was nice to know that they had back-up if the excrement hit the rotary air mover.

He walked out of the staging room to the gate room, and his smile turned to a frown. Jason would have preferred he go through the gate first, as he was the more expendable of the team, but he was sure Carter could handle anything that he could have. There shouldln't have been any surprises on the other side, but he always took the phrase 'no plan survives contact with the enemy' to heart. In this case, they didn't know if there were enemies there or not.

With a brief salute in the direction of the control booth, he sprinted up the ramp and through the wormhole to catch up with the others.

Coleman lined up his equipment in his usual orderly fashion. This time, though, he was pretty well weighed down by his mission bundle, so, he used a cart to get it to the gate room. He waited for a couple seconds after Bjorn jumped through, then started throwing the bigger items through. Once that junk was through, he went ahead and stepped through himself. He loved this easily as much as the scientists did, but he always made a point to put on an air of seriousness... because every single one of these missions was quite serious, and that first step through was a critical point of weakness, so he wanted to make sure that everyone felt they could rely on him. The time for cracking wise was after they were on the other side and had secured their position.

Arrival on the other side is the same as previous trips through the gate. The drone hadn't shown any variance in the elevations, so you step through onto level ground as it looks like dirt and debris has covered over the steps down from the gate platform. The top of the platform is kept clear by the wormhole's manifestation.

Somewhat surprisingly, there is no sign of anyone around the gate. It only takes about a minute before you realize that the 'darkness' in the air is smog! It stings your eyes, and makes you cough. It also doesn't smell very good.

The smog isn't as thick down by the ground as it appears to be a bit higher up.

There's clearly a path among the rocks that leads down the hill to the rocky towers.

Kyle collects himself, looks around, and sneezes violently.

Maybe it was his military training... those times he was subjected to certain chemicals so he'd be prepared for the experience if it happened on the battlefield. Or, maybe it was just prudence and common sense... his momma hadn't raised no fool.

Whatever the case, he'd put the filter mask and his goggles on before stepping through the wormhole. If it turned out they weren't needed, he could always take them off.

Based on the reactions of the others, though, it turned out he had been prudent.

The scattered rocks provided too many places of concealment, so he quickly stepped forward about 20 paces to cover everyone and maybe flush out any enemies.

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 9):

Jackie starts sneezing as she berates herself and puts on her filter mask and goggles.

“ Stupid, not everything is about fun. ”

The instant he comes into contact with the air, Coleman's eyes start to water. He smiles as he pulls out his mask. Once he's got it on, he says "This is almost as bad as Beijing on a red air status day. Maybe a slightly more pleasant smell, though.

I guess our literal path is pretty clear. Shall we go see what the locals are like?"

Coleman motions to Bjorn to take point, and, if Kyle is still struggling with his mask, he lends a hand.

While the Colonel assisted Kyle with his mask, Jason made a quick perimeter walk, mostly looking for any signs of... well, anything... people, creatures, civilization, Goa'uld, whatever.

Then he headed down the trail, going only about 20 yards to make sure the others were following. Then he kept the same distance. The rationale, of course, was that he'd be the first one taken out which would give (hopefully) enough warning to the others. In reality, most intelligent species knew enough to wait for the rear guard. It was only creatures that he had to worry about.

Speaking of that rear guard, due to be the first to die... that was Coleman; after getting Kyle situated he herded Kyle to fall in line behind Carter. Then Coleman took the rear position.

"Thank you," said Kyle between sneezes.

The team moves down the rise, pausing every 50 feet or so to survey their surroundings, but there's no sign of anyone or any creatures. The smoggy air seems to be a bit less towards the bottom, confirmed when you reach the bottom.

Visibility is a bit farther as well. You can see at least three more rock monoliths in the distance, and possibly a fourth that may have fallen over and broke.

There are several crevasses amid the rocks to either side of the path where you could hide.

The closer you get to the bottom, the bigger the monolith looms over you. It's far larger than you at first thought.

It isn't until you reach the bottom that you discern the door into the monolith, which is 20 feet high and 10 feet wide. And closed.

"So, do we knock?" asked Kyle, and sneezed again.

"Hmm, do you remember the scale of the warriors compared to the doors in the video? Did the doors seem big compared to them, because the doors sure seem big compared to us!

No matter, though; even if they are giants, that doesn't mean we can't negotiate with them.

I guess knocking is the solution, unless you see a doorbell?"

Kyle began looking for a doorbell or any other kind of entry system.

"Doors? I don't think we saw any doors," Jason replied. "Although, I suppose, they could have been defending this area of the monolith. Wouldn't the doors have been closed? In case those outside failed to repel the invaders?"

"As for size, I don't rightly know if we saw anything that gave us a perspective that we can compare to what we are now seeing. At a guess, I'd say that the creatures were about half the size of this door. So, yeah, that makes them a bit on the giant side."

"Remember when the monster things retreated, they marched back to this monolith, the doors opened, and they marched in? As they were marching in, we saw their sized compared to these doors. That can give us perspective on them, as well as the things they were fighting."

OOC: In the description of the video the GM never indicated that the people were especially small compared to the doors, but, then, when marching into a fortification, it would not be surprising to have much larger doors than an individual person would need so he may have not mentioned it. I think the GM would have to rule on relative side, given that us players have no idea. The characters, at least if they were trying to gauge relative sizes while watching the video, however, should now have some inkling; it was already stated that the reason we couldn't before is because the drone had no idea of the ranges involved nor anything to provide a frame of reference to; that is no longer the case.

"Oh. Right. Guess I missed that part," a chagrined Jason replies.

"It was an opening, but I didn't quite get the size of it in relation to the creatures. It was dark, and the monolith was dark, but, yeah, I guess my estimate was about right then--10 feet tall."

"We still don't know if they were some kind of Minotaur creature, though, or whether they were wearing elaborate helmets."

He'll walk up to the door and knock.

Just as Jason is about to knock, the doors suddenly swing open, and it's all that Jason can do to scramble out of the way.

A dozen minotaurs charge out of the now open doors and stop as they see SG-X2.

It is now clear that they are, indeed, some sort of Minotaur creatures... that they aren't wearing masks.

"Quis es? Quod tu es?" one of them barks out in a deep voice.

 ]

Coleman looks at Kyle. "Is that... Latin?"

"Yes it is," said Kyle, thinking quickly for a good response.

"Uh, Es procul a nobis viatoribus terram. Venimus in pace."

"Quod sit mendacium. Illic es haud extremis terris Page. Expectare. Nonne per viam portæ Stellarum venis?" the Minotaur replies.

Kyle grinned.

"Sic autem factum est per portæ Stellarum."

He turned to the others.

"He just asked if we came through the Stargate."

The Minotaur turns to the others with a questioning look. Those, in turn, exchange similar looks with each other, as if wondering if any of them has a suggestion.

"Nemo advenit per stellam portam mille annis. Non puto vos ab antiquis. Quis es?" the Minotaur says.

Kyle smiled sweetly.

"Uh, nos autem tau'ri, et ex terris veniunt, quae quoque vocatur sol III"

He turned back to the others.

"They say nobody's come through the Stargate for 1,000 years, and wanted to know who we are."

"Autem ignorantibus Sol huius III, non enim audisse de terris vel Tau'ri. Non hostem. Tu locutus est ad collecti sunt seniores. Ego Tauranchula. De Turri-Urbem Septimus lapis placent intrant," responds the Minotaur.

Kyle told the others "They say they've never heard of us but as we're not the enemy they'd like to invite us in to meet their Elders. This fellow is called Tauranchula."

He turned back to Tauranchula and bowed.

"Gratias tibi. Ego Kyle. Velimus tibi gloria in occursum cum senioribus."


He was sure that none of his Latin teachers had ever envisaged such a conversation.

"Great news! I'm assuming you told them we'd be happy to meet their elders?

By the way, Kyle; they're speaking Latin... but aren't Minotaurs a Greek thing? Maybe we should keep an eye out for clues about that disconnect."

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 31):

“ That is a fairly close approximation, Sir. I believe he said it would us honor to have an occurrence with your Elders. ”
This message was last edited by the player at 23:06, Fri 23 Mar 2018.

"Yeah, the Minotaur is from the Greeks... mythology," Jason says. "Most people think it comes from the Minoan civilization, but that was applied by later scholars to the Minoans of Crete."

"It's hardly an anachronism, though, as Latin and the Romans came after the Greeks, so it's not unreasonable to have learned the language."

"If we find any archives, we might get an inkling of how that came about."

"There was only ever one Minotaur. In fact, that was the creature's name--Minotaur, as he was a man with the head of a bull. Every artist for the past 4,000 years has painted, drawn or sculpted what they thought made sense."

"The use of the term 'minotaur' for any man-bull humanoid comes from fantasy gaming of the last 50 years."

"I don't suppose there's any point in one of us staying outside, in case something goes wrong. Not much one person could do. And I certainly don't want to face that horde of their enemies by myself."

"If what you've translated is accurate and what they've told you is accurate, it doesn't sound like they have much if any experience with the stargate. Should make things interesting."

He followed the others through the huge doors and into the... to be honest, he had no idea what to call it. It was more than just a tower, more than just a pinnacle of rock.

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 33):

“ The Romans did have a few Minotaur stories in the few Myths that were their own. ”

Coleman looks a little surprised at Bjorn's response; "Well, good to know, you two, thanks.

Let's head in; Kyle, please let them know we'd be happy to 'have an occurrence'. Hopefully that does mean a friendly meeting!"

"I've already told them that we'd be honoured to meet their elders. As far as I can tell they're being friendly," said Kyle.

He led the way in, smiling at their hosts.

Tauranchula leads you in, accompanied by another pair of minotaurs, as the others close the doors. You find yourself in a large chamber with a ceiling that disappears into the darkness above. It has a wide ramp around the perimeter that leads upwards and downwards. There are also a number of doorways leading off of the chamber, to which the other minotaurs head. They would seem to be guard rooms, which would make sense to defend the front door, or to sortie out to confront the enemy. Several minotaurs remain on guard duty.

Up the ramp you are led, winding around and around and around. The minotaurs do not appear to be hustling, but their stride is so long that the four of you have to hustle to keep up. In the end, you estimate that you've walked at least a mile up the ramp, which, when you look down, you can now see gradually spirals inward.

You reach the top eventually. You know it's the top because there's no more ramp, but there's still a 50-foot diameter opening in the center that continues upward. At least now, there's a faint glow of light up above. It vaguely looks like it might be daylight, but you can't really tell.

The ramp stops at a larger platform that also has several doorways off of it. Tauranchula leads you through one of them, down a hallway to another hallway that becomes a ramp up. You walk up this ramp that seems to spiral along the outer wall of this monstrous structure. From time to time, you pass a tall narrow, arched-top window that seems to look outside. Unfortunately, all that can be seen is the smog, though it seems to be less dense the higher you go.

Another twenty minutes take you up to the top of this second ramp. Although the floor levels out and continues on for a bit, there is a large doorway on the right and Tauranchula leads you through it down a short hallway to a large circular chamber. There are circular rows of tiered seating along the perimeter of the room. The center of the room is flat floor 50-feet across.

There are only 5 minotaurs sitting in the seats, and those are in the first row off to the left.

Magno natu imperii principatum: Hi sunt quorum stella porta iter per praecepta sunt vobis.

Kyle bowed towards the seated figures, muttering "These are their elders" to the others.

"Tibi gratias ago pro accepto nobis seniores. Nos in pace venire de terra longinqua, propter stella porta. Ego Kyle. Hi sunt Coleman, Jackie, et Jason.

He pointed to each in turn.

"Infeliciter ego loquor ad te solum una lingua."
This message was last edited by the player at 12:33, Tue 27 Mar 2018.

"I'm not sure if you have already, but it probably would be wise to let them know we've come here to trade."

"Good point. I'd stuck with the 'come in peace' bit so far."

Kyle thought for a moment, composing his sentences. Keep it simple.

"Nos venerunt ad te negotiatores tui."

Heck. He knew what they were after, but what did they have to offer?

He turned to Coleman again.

"What are we offering them?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:44, Wed 28 Mar 2018.

"First we are trying to figure out what they want or need. I brought all that fencing; but I figured that was more like a make-nice offering, rather than an actual trade good. Perhaps explain that we have seen them fight an implacable enemy and we're wondering if there are any supplies they need for shoring up their defenses. Or medicine. Or even food."

Kyle nodded, but waited for the Elders to respond.

 the Elder replied.

Kyle bowed again.

The Elder that spoke confers with the others either in a language that Kyle doesn't recognize or understand, or else it's Latin spoken so fast and low that Kyle can't get it.

 he replies to Kyle.

"They're interested in food," Kyle said to the others.

"Ok, we can do that, I think. I'm sure the SGC wouldn't mind feeding people in exchange for some new weaponry. Did you already tell them what we're after? Let them know that our planet produces excess bounty that we'd be happy to trade to them. We'll need to know what they like to eat, of course. And, of course, it'd be nice if Carter could get a good look at sample of the weapon, too, so she can figure out if we'll even be able to make it work."

Kyle nodded.

Kyle's request causes further murmuring among the Elders, which goes on for a long time. Finally, the speaker replies to Kyle.

"Is it your contention that you can repair the keraks? Perhaps even make them? Otherwise, we cannot trade for them. Every cycle, we lose at least one. We barely have enough left to repulse the Degra who seem to increase in numbers every cycle."

"You also spoke of medicines. Can they cure the witherwind?"


((OOC: Although Kyle is still the only one that can understand the Minotaurs, I'm not going to keep hiding the dialogue, as it's frustrating and annoying to the other players. Languages were a clever (and realistic idea in the beginning of RPGs, but the novelty quickly wore off, and it became tedious, time-consuming, annoying and downright silly. We always made the assumption that one of the players who could speak the language automatically translated for those who couldn't.))

"Until our technician examines one, we can't be certain, of course, but there is at least a reasonable chance that we may be able to repair, and, perhaps, even make, them.

As for medicine; we have fairly advanced medicine, but I'm unsure what the disease you are referring to as the witherwind is. Once again, we'd have to have a doctor examine a patient to get a solid idea.

I was wondering; are the Degra intelligent? What motivates them to attack you?"

"The witherwind blows through the holes in the Arc," replies the Elder when Kyle translates. "It leaves some of us weak and frail, and we soon die."

"Individually, the Degra are not intelligent, but when they swarm, they acquire cunning and problem-solving. Only the keraks enable us to fend them off."

"7,223 Minotaurs live in Taurium Arcologium now; we lost three in the recent battle."

"Tauranchula, please let their scientist examine your kerak."

Tauranchula bows in acknowledgement, then draws his weapon from its holster, holds it by the 'barrel' end, then walks over to Carter and presents the weapon to her.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:25, Sun 01 Sept 2019.

Carter looks over the weapon, and quickly realizes that it isn't a mechanical device, though it seems to have a few mechanical parts. Other than the arcology city, you've not seen any indication that the minotaurs have any other electronics capability.

The weapon is a bit heavy as 'handguns' go, and any human would need to wield it with two hands to have any chance of accuracy.

The trigger is twofold--that is, two different things have to be pushed/squeezed for it to fire. That's her estimate, as she doesn't need to fire it.

After studying it for a few minutes, and not finding any screws or latches that might give her access to the interior, she realizes that it's a 'puzzle-box' access. She has to push one part to the rear, rotate it slightly, and then slide another part in order to break the weapon open like a normal handgun.

Coleman and Kyle both notice the astounded looks on the minotaurs' faces as she does that.

Carter now sees that there is a single chamber within the weapon that holds a long bluish-purple crystal. She now realizes that the complicated method for opening it was because several functions had to be disengaged first. One of those is a ring that circles the crystal and moves forward around the crystal as it converts the crystal into energy. Based on the size of the chamber and the crystal, she guesses that the weapon is about half-charged now.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 52):

Jackie smiles as the sci fi geek in her has just seen a blaster or at least thinks she has.

“ Interesting, seems like a Blaster of some sort. Like a zat but possibly not electrical. ”

She hands the Kerak back smiling.

"Interesting. It seems like probably those crystals are the key to reloading, building, and, likely, repairing these things. Do you guys have any access to more of those crystals? Have you seen them before?"

Before Kyle can translate Coleman's questions, Tauranchula steps forward to take the weapon back and asks his own question of Kyle.

"Can your scientist show us how to open the kerak? We have never been able to do that! Once upon a time, when all the arcs were full, then we had that knowledge. It's been lost over the cycles."

"We have tales that the crystals powered the kerak but since we could not open it, we did not know. When the kerak runs out of power, it was no longer useful as a weapon."

"We have kept the old ones, and we have more crystals, but we have stopped gathering the crystals from the arcs because they were useless."

At that point one of the Elders approaches, having left his seat.

"The crystals were made in the Tower of the Dead. No one has been there in 100 cycles. The journey is too dangerous, and the psychors that now live there do not like intruders."

Kyle realizes that neither of the words 'kerak' or 'psychor' have any translation into English... or any other language that he knows. While 'psychor' is clearly an adaptation, he realizes that 'kerak' doesn't even sound Latin.

As Kyle translates the queries, Coleman smiles. Clearly they were on the same page. Obviously their biggest problem with sharing these weapons was not knowing how to maintain them; it was easy enough for Carter to figure that out; so now they would probably be willing to trade at least a limited number of these. And, clearly, these crystals contain a lot of energy; they may even be more useful as a power source than as a weapon.

In theory he could use Carter's better understanding as a bargaining chip, but he figured that showing that his people were potential friends, rather than adhering to strict merchantilism would probably net a better long term result.

"Carter, if you'd be so kind, please demonstrate how to open the kerak up, I'm sure our new friends would benefit from that greatly."

Considering what to do about this Tower of the Dead and whatever psychors are would probably the next order of business, but, for now, it seemed like these guys knew the score. They had several concerns, and the people of Earth could probably help in various ways; that had to be worth something.

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 56):

Jackie looks at it a little more to see how it opens. Finding it fairly easily, she speaks.

“ Well, here goes nothing. ”

She opens the kerak.

Carter has to show Tauranchula twice before he understands the complicated system of unlocking the kerak but he finally gets it. He spends the next few minutes repeating the procedure several times to make sure he remembers it. He then hands it to the Elder who repeats what Tauranchula did before he hands it back.

Tauranchula then strides over to another minotaur and shows him how to open the weapon. This goes on for a few minutes as all the minotaurs present are shown the process.


There was another aspect that Carter noticed. There was digital indicator on the side that was turned off that would, apparently, indicate how many 'charges' were left. Turning on the indicator was also probably a complex process. Then she recalled that the rotating section could be rotated an extra notch if you wanted the indicator to show the charges.

Kyle, despite being kept busy translating, was making observations of his own, watching the dynamics between the minotaurs as they interacted with one another.

Once it was clear that the first few minotaurs had an understanding of how to disassemble the weapon, and the knowledge was being passed down the ranks, Coleman figured it was time to resume the discussions with the council members; "So, now that you can revive some of the old karaks, you'll now have use for the crystals. Hopefully you'll even have enough of the karaks and crystals, that you could afford to trade a small  number with my people.

So, I guess the next impediment to sustainability is the Tower of the Dead and the psychors. I'm not sure if you have a plan regarding that, but may I ask, what are the psychors? Can you describe them and what makes them dangerous?"

"The psychors are creatures of shadow that prey on the mind," Tauranchula replies to Kyle's translation. "They are not affected by the kerak. They cause confusion, insanity and sometimes death. Only a few ever recover from a psychor mind attack."

It was Coleman's turn to be surprised. That sounded like something out of a horror movie. He looked to his squad to see if any of them seemed to have any idea about that revelation.

"If they're made of shadow, I'd guess that physical weapons would do little as well. What do you guys think? Can you think of any approach for dealing with such things?"

"Electro-magnetism?" hazarded Kyle, who didn't really have much of a clue.

"Magnets, how do they f#$%ing work, am I right?" Coleman grins.

"I guess we should have multiple plans for coping with these things. Some kind of electro-magnetic fields or something, maybe. Maybe just plain old bright light, since they are shadows and all. I dunno, maybe a strong fan to try to blow them away? We can try shooting them too, but something 'made of shadows' doesn't seem like something that would have a lead allergy.

Let's put together some ideas; Carter can you rig some things up that we can try?

And Kyle, why don't you ask them if there's anywhere we could encounter these things but have an easy means of retreat, in case none of our ideas work out?

What do you think, Bjorn? Ready to try to shoot something?"

"I wouldn't take it all that literally," Jason throws in his two cents.

"Sure, these Minotaurs are intelligent and reasonably smart, but that doesn't mean they understand everything that they see. I wonder... did they build these arcologies? And now they've lost the knowledge of how to do that?"

"Or did someone else build them for them... someone like the Ancients?"

"Anyway, these psychors might just be bats or something... monkeys maybe."

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 65):

“ Could we be talking about telepaths? ”

"I had assumed that they used some sort of telepathic attack, given the whole 'prey on the mind' thing. But I'm also assuming that when the psychors engage they do not do so with normal physical bodies, since they indicated that the lightning guns don't work on them."

"Only if you think telepathy is real," Jason replied.

"I'm not saying it isn't, but knowing so little about it, it's hard to say what it can do. I'm still not convinced that Travis could talk to Sarnak via mindspeak."

"I'd be more inclined to think it was a gas or pheromones or somesuch. I mean, think about it. If it only happens in one of these abandoned arcologies, might it not be some contaminant in the air? And even then, it might only affect minotaurs. Maybe it's something they are allergic to."

"Hell, for that matter, it might be an insect that bites them and they aren't aware of it."

"And maybe the lightning guns don't work because they aren't real... just hallucinations."

"I'm not ruling out anything, but I'm also not looking for bogeymen."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:49, Thu 03 May 2018.

"Good point; if it is entirely within the mind, then no sort of weapons would be effective unless you believed they would be, regardless of the actual vector of attack. In that case, I suppose, the only offense would be a good defense. So we'll want to do whatever we can to figure out the means of attack as well, since that will determine the means of defense."

"Well, we have one advantage over them," Jason adds. "We haven't forgotten how to use our science and technology, even if it isn't as advanced as theirs."

"I don't suppose anyone has a zat? How different is a zat, do you think, from a lightning gun? Should we ask to borrow a lightning gun... what did they call it? A kerak? After all, we've just given them a dozen or more lightning guns that they didn't have before."

"Also, is it just me, or do they seem more excited now? Less serious, less gloomy? I think they were looking at extinction not too far in the future here when the last lightning gun ran out of power."

"I was just thinking that the way the guns open is sort of like a child-proof cap on a bottle of medicine. Maybe that's what the guns were meant to prevent--children from opening them."

"Say! Did any of you spot children? For that matter, were there any females? How would we tell them apart?"

"So, Kyle, Carter... you two got any tricks up your sleeves for dealing with these psychors? What about sonics? What if we march in playing Flight of the Valkyries at a bazillion decibels? Might it affect them? Or their telepathy power? Disrupt them somehow?"

He wasn't sure what the next step was.

"Kyle, tell them we are going to go get some more crystals for them, but we'd like to borrow one of the kerak... just in case."

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 71):

“ Sonics might work so might just thinking about something repeatedly like Quadratic Equations? ”

Carter is beyond her depth think about a responde to a unproven theoretical ability.

"Hmm, ok, let's go investigate."

Coleman looks to the leader minotaurs; "Can you have someone take us to where we can see one of these psychors? We'd like to try to figure out how to deal with them."

After Kyle translates back and forth, Tauranchula offers a kerak to Coleman, and then tells Kyle that he will lead them to the arc where the psychors dwell.

Leading everyone back down the ramps, he gathers a dozen other minotaurs and they all stock up with an additional crystal for their weapons after Tauranchula shows them how to reload.

Then he leads the group outside. He and six of the minotaurs take the lead, while the other six bring up the rear.

They proceed cautiously at first, wary of being attacked by the Degra, but once they are far enough away from the arc, they relax a little bit, spread out a bit more, but still keep a wary eye out for any threat.

Tauranchula leads you past three other arcs, one of which has partially collapsed. There are huge piles of rubble around the base and you can barely see the top of the remaining tower at 200 feet up.

Finally, after almost three miles, they pause outside a fifth arc. It looks a little different than the others. There are extensive carvings all over the outside, and the material has a reddish tinge to it. On the previous three arcs, the doors were all missing. They are missing from this one, too. It's hard to say how long they'be been gone.

Tauranchula pauses about 100 feet away from the opening.

"We've been lucky so far. The witherwind hasn't come. The air within the arc is just like the outside, though not quite as bad. Only Septimus still has breathable air. The witherwind never enters the arc, nor do the psychors ever leave it."

"Once we enter, we need to keep as silent as possible, or else we will attract the psychors."

Witherwind? Kyle filed that away for future enquiry. He found it interesting that there were several other 'arcs' but all abandoned. How had they come to be? Were they from elsewhere? As in, dropped from space? Maybe these minotaurs were not native here...

Coleman accepts the kerak, and hands it over to Bjorn; he expected that Carter would need to keep her hands free for further investigation, and that Bjorn would probably have a better chance to be a good shot with it than McGuinness; all guesswork.

At seeing the abandoned arc, and knowing what they have already told him, Coleman guesses that those arcs were weakened to the point that the Degra had overrun them. Given that the Degra, apparently, have far less interest in the areas farther away from the occupied arc, it seems that the Degra must be some sort of parasitic raiders, as opposed to an actual warring faction.

"Before we move in, let's consider what we're seeing here. The material used in the construction of this is different than the others. Carter, you may want to take a sample, if possible, so we can analyze it later. Kyle, can you ask Tauranchula if he knows anything about the differences, like why are there symbols all over this and what is the significance, at least to them, of the red material? Also, can you make any sense of the symbols? Are they some form of language, or just symbolism?

Once we're inside, why don't we take a moment and check each other's gear for any clankers so we can keep noise discipline to a maximum?"

Kyle promptly started asking questions about the symbols, examining them himself as well.

Jackie studies the material of the construction trying to remember anything from that one material engineering class she fell asleep in.

Upon closer examination, Carter realizes that the material is probably some form of concrete. She didn't see any rebar in the collapsed ones, and the coloring was all the way through. Now that she sees this one, she also realizes that the others had each been a different color. In the dim light of the smog/fog, there just hadn't been a distinction.

Kyle examines the script, and discovers that it is probably a bit like the Rosetta stone--there are at least five languages carved into the building... in vertical lines. The first and easily recognizable is Latin. He also seee that there is Ancient and Asgard.

It seems to be a commemorative statement. It's hard to get a clearly idea because the columns disappear out of sight.

After questioning Tauranchula, though, the Minotaur informs  him that this is Primus... the first arc. That is why it is a bit fancier.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 79):

Jakie smiles and then frowns.
“ Weird, seems like some sort of concrete without rebar and different colors. ”
This message was lightly edited by the player at 22:48, Thu 31 May 2018.

"Wow!" said Kyle, looking at the different scripts. He started taking pictures for future study.

"Can I get up to see the rest of the inscriptions?"

"Hmm, if I'm not mistaken, ordinarily making something this big without rebar would result in a pretty unstable structure. Maybe that's why so many have collapsed."

Hearing Kyle's signature "wow". as usual, without comment, Coleman realized something important, at least from a cultural perspective, must lie in the inscriptions on the structure. When he started taking pictures and asking to climb the thing, that merely confirmed it.

"Well, I did bring climbing gear, but would a drone be able to get the imagery you need? I think it'd be a lot safer to go that route, if we can.
Also, what is it that you see here that's got you so excited?"

"Look..."

Kyle's arms were waving now.

"We have Latin, and Ancient... and parallel texts in other languages... this could be a key to them, like the Rosetta stone!"

Drone? He thought about it. Not as fun as seeing them for himself but... maybe for a first pass anyway. He'd rather climb up there.

In reply to Kyle McGuinness (msg # 83):

Jackie runs over and looks at it.

“ Yes, Yes. This is far more exciting. ”

"Oh... yeah, I guess those do look like normal letters there. Ok... so this could improve the SGC's understanding of these other languages, possibly significantly. We'll definitely want imagry we can pass back to others to study, so we should definitely use a drone to get that. But... Kyle... you look like you're hoping to scale this thing. And I know how much you like this kinda stuff. IF you really want to, go ahead and use my climbing gear. But be careful."

Coleman looks at Bjorn and Carter; "I don't suppose you happened to bring any climbing gear? I'd feel a lot better with one of the three of us up there helping to team-climb."

"Sorry, no, I didn't bring any climbing gear," Jason replies. "I brought the demolition pack."

"I don't think it'd matter any way. The only way anyone's going to climb the arc is free climbing. There's no way you've got enough rope to go all the way around it. Besides, if this is an arcology that houses upwards of 5,000 people, it's a lot higher than just what we can see. It's like an iceberg--the fog hides 75% of it."

"Well, it is made of concrete; unless it is more robust than our concrete, you can likely drive pitons into it to tie off to. And I agree that climbing the whole thing seems like kind of a herculean task, but if Kyle wants to get up there and see some of it, I can't say that I blame him."

Kyle grinned.

"Thank you... the climbing gear might come in useful, Coleman."

"Okay, if you want to pound pitons into it and risk causing the whole thing to collapse on top of you, be my guest," Jason replied.

"A drone with a digital camera is going to get a better picture of these carvings than your eyesight will. You might find some debris in them or maybe even a bird's nest higher up... well, maybe not. Doubt if anything else lives in this smog."

"Now, Bjorn, you know there's a reason we sent manned missions to the moon; we knew that robots could get all the data we wanted, and even bring back samples. But there's something about actually going there and touching it.

If it means that we need to escape getting rolled over by a giant bolder at the last moment only to get surrounded by angry natives, well, sometimes that is what it takes."

Kyle continued photographing what he could reach, then started getting ready to climb. Happy in his own little bubble.

"Whatever. I still don't think it's a good idea to be driving pitons into a building," Jason responds. "Since this is only one of two remaining, it may have religious or historical significance to the Minotaurs."

"How would you feel if someone decided to climb the Washington Monument and began driving spikes into it?"

"In any case, are we going to wait out here while he climbs? Or do we go inside?"

"I think it would be best to set up a defensive perimeter here; we may need Kyle's expertise inside, especially since he's the only one that can talk to the Minotaurs.

As for the Washington monument, I wouldn't worry about it breaking, but I would wonder why they needed to climb it, since it isn't covered in a Rosetta stone of sorts. If there was insight to be gained, however, I guess I'm not so emotionally attached to it that I wouldn't want scientists scaling it to gain that insight.

But, then again, we have the knowledge and technology to rebuild it, if we want. And we have loads of monuments and other buildings, whereas the Minotaurs only have the 2... and this one is the first.

Kyle; you did ask them how they felt about you scaling this thing, didn't you?"

"What?"

Kyle looked round, rather startled.

"Uh, no... do you think I should?"

"Uh, yeah, probably. I mean this is the first of their great buildings, so it may hold some cultural importance or something, right? Plus they are gigantic, yeah; if they decide to try to kill us for some kind of perceived slight, it will be non-trivial to defend ourselves, not to mention that our mission would fail."

Kyle nodded, realising he'd got a bit carried away in his excitement.

"Guess you are right."

He took a moment to order his thoughts, getting the Latin worked out, and then addressed the elders.

"Do you see the writings on the side of the ark? Some I can read, some I cannot. However, those texts I can read say the same thing irrespective of language, which leads me to believe that the ones I cannot read also say the same thing... which would give a massive boost in translation. Do you mind if I climb up to look at the inscriptions more closely?"

"Climb?" Tauranchula answered, looking up. It was suddenly clear to Kyle that minotaurs didn't climb.

"Will it damage the structure? We would not like to see this one collapse for this is where the crystals were made. Now that we can make use of the crystals again, we will try to find more."

"I don't think so... but I can send a camera drone up first if you prefer," said Kyle.

"Carter, let's get the drone up there and record as much of this as we can."

"Prefer you not climb," Tauranchula replies. "Maybe tomorrow."


Depending on how high it goes, it would probably take Kyle weeks to climb over the whole thing and record all the writing.

From what he can read, it appears to be the story of the Minotaurs... origin, history, etc. Given that there are 5 languages, it's probable that at least one of the 5 races was involved in the creation of the tower and the Minotaurs.

"All right, then," acceded Kyle, and went off to find the drone.

Unless you left the drone back at the first tower or the stargate, one of you should have it in your backpack.

It was a small collapsible drone. It didn't have great range in either flying or broadcasting images, but for $50, it was a helluva lot cheaper than a MALP.

Kyle settled down to assemble and launch the drone. It was one of the more enjoyable things he'd learned about since joining the SGC. Naturally they'd insisted he learned how to use all the equipment available. He'd not enjoyed learning to use firearms, but the drone was fun.

After about ten minutes of Kyle scanning the pyramid, Tauranchula steps forward.

"It is coming," he says. "Everyone inside! Quickly!"

He and the rest of the minotaurs move inside.

You hear the sound a moment or two later. It's like a rustling sound that kind of rises and falls. A red mist seems to be sliding down off the nearby mountains.

Coleman sees the urgency and moves inside with the minotaurs, pulling Kyle behind him. "We don't know what that's going to do to the drone, so see if you can get it inside as well. Otherwise, keep recording; some info is better than none."

Kyle brings the drone down and steps out to catch it, then rejoins the rest.

The doors to the First Arc don't close any more, but the red mist doesn't enter the building for some reason.

"Our weapons will affect it," Tauranchula says, "but while we were short on power, we never bothered as it doesn't enter the arcs. We have no idea why."

"Perhaps they clash with the things inside. Likewise, the things inside never leave the building."

"Interesting. Carter and Kyle; you get any readings off that stuff? Don't touch it, in case it wasn't obvious. It would be interesting if we could determine any way to protect ourselves form it, should we be caught out in the open."

Jackie looks at her equipment trying to see what she needs.

"Given the name--withering wind--it sounds a bit like a virus," Jason suggests. "On the other hand, if it's that fast-acting, it sounds more some sort of spore."

"If it's small enough, it can get through clothes and be absorbed through the skin."

Kyle is absorbed in the images captured by the drone, speed-reading to get the gist. He does keep an eye out for mentions of red mists or withering winds, even though he hasn't the knowledge or equipment to analyse the phenomenon directly.

"It seems like in order for even the electro guns to have any effect on it, though, it would have to be a complex organism. Maybe you're right about it being spores, but, somehow spores that communicate in some way to form a unified whole? Or maybe it is something entirely new and unheard of."

"That's what I was thinking," Jason added. "Scientists keep finding strange life forms on Earth, like in the black smokers, so there's no reason to think that there aren't going to be strange things out here in universe."

"We just get surprised by the unfamiliar, though it always makes sense when we examine it."

"This wind and the psychors will turn out to be the same thing... just some alien twist on what we already know."

"Anyway, we should turn our attention to these psychors."

As if on cue, you start to hear some whispering. It's just intermittent at first and seems to come from somewhere up above.

It quickly starts getting louder and more constant, like it's getting closer.

"It's not real!" Tauranchula warns. "It's in your minds!"

It soon reaches a point where it's annoying and sounds like it's all around you... behind you. It's always gone when you look, though.

((OOC: Everyone make a Will saving throw DC 15 to realize it is in your mind, and shake it off.))

Kyle continues working on his translations, giving no sign of even having heard the psychors.

---

OOC: 17:03, Today: Kyle McGuinness rolled 20 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 16.  Will save v DC15 to ignore psychors.

Coleman pulls up his P90 and flips off the safety, looking for a target. Not finding anything, he looks around for some cover he can take where he can get his back against a wall and maybe some partial directional cover. He heads to it as soon as he spots it.

"Weapons hot, I can hear them. If you see one, call it out so we can focus fire."

OOC: 10:37, Today: Coleman Hendricks rolled 13 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 9.  Will Save to recognize psychor tricks.

00:10, Today: Jason Bjorn rolled 8 using 1d20+4 ((4)).

"I hear 'em!" Jason shouted. "They're getting closer!"

He still has enough presence of mind not to shoot until he sees the whites of their eyes... if they even have eyes!

Some of the Minotaurs start firing first.

Jason and Coleman hear the psychors way before they see them.

The Minotaurs can't seem to hit any of the psychors... perhaps because they aren't there! Carter and Kyle can't see what the Minotaurs are firing at.

Based on Tauranchula's warning, maybe they can see what Carter and Kyle can't.

Kyle looked up from his translations.

"What are you guys shooting at?"

In another minute or two, Kyle does see something. At first it's just one, then two more, four... about a dozen in all. They have a vague resemblance to a bat, crawling down the walls of the arc. Large bats, about the size of raccoon. Winged, a dark red in color with white stripes on the wings.

Most of the Minotaurs are shooting at areas of the wall where there are no creatures. Only Tauranchula is shooting at them, but he's still missing.

"Ah, there they are!" exclaimed Kyle, pointing.

"Kinda bat-like, dark red with white on the wings."

Coleman tries to focus on the one Kyle is pointing at; there's so many of them that it's very difficult to determine, though. Coleman makes a shot at one of the ones in the area that Kyle's pointing.

"There's so many of them. We need to try to focus fire. I'm going to try to spotlight my target with my flashlight, so we can focus on it. Then we'll move to the next."

Coleman pulls out his flashlight and lights up the one he picked out as being the "right" one to shoot.

OOC: His first shot was probably just general suppressive fire, with the actual action being to get the flashlight and focus it on the target.

Nobody seems able to hit the creatures, but Coleman soon realizes that he hits where he aims, but he doesn't seem able to actually aim at the creatures. He thinks he is, but somehow he keeps missing.

Since it's been established that the psychors affect the mind in some manner, it seemed mind-bogglingly possible that they had some sort of defensive mechanism that scrambled the brains of opponents.

"Crap, guys, I can't aim at them. They've got to be messing with my mind. It doesn't seem like any of us are hitting them. Hey, Kyle, pull out your camera; let's see if their mind tricks are good enough to mess with electronic representations of them."

"Okie dokie."

Kyle got out his camera and tried to get some close-up images of the creatures.

Coleman repositions to behind Kyle where he can use the display of the camera to get an idea of where to shoot. He knows it is a long shot, but he also knows he can't trust his eyes to target, so  he tries a few times to send a burst into one of the creatures on the video. He hopes that if he manages to hit one it will leave blood or something behind, so that he can be sure of his success or failure.

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 126):

Jackie watches the scene not sure she is quite believing that the psychors are real. She does have her weapon aimed in their direction ready to fire if they get close.

The trick with the camera seems to work, as Coleman aims where he sees one in the camera view screen, and seems to hit the creature, though when he looks up, the creature isn't where he was aiming. It didn't die instantly from the gunshot, but as he watches, it seems to shift location, kind of like blurring to where it was in the camera. And then it drops off the wall and falls to the floor.


"You got one!" Tauranchula calls out, apparently seeing the dead psychor on the floor.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 128):

Jackie sees Kyle and Coleman's camera strategy works and aims to do the same thing.

"Right on! Ok, Carter and Bjorn, keep them suppressed; I've got to dig through my pack a minute."

With that Coleman drops his "Secure Location" bundle pack, and digs in to get the cameras out. He then takes one over to Taranchula and shows him the display.

((OOC: Apologies. I seem to have written myself into a corner...))


"This is amazing!" Tauranchula exclaims as he looks through the camera. "If I didn't know better, I'd say it smacks of magic!"

"We are not out of the woods yet. We may not be the easy targets that we were before, but these creatures can still affect your mind. If they get too close, their mental assault can even kill you."

He begins using the camera to shoot the psychors. It is only after about a dozen have been killed that the other ones begin to retreat... climbing back up the wall.

"We have gathered all the crystals from this level. We believe they were made on the next level up. We've been hoping that there will be more up there... especially now that you have shown us how to reload our weapons."

"I hope so; the danger here is pretty dang high. Give me a minute to put my pack back together and we can get moving." Coleman reassembles the pack so that it can be carried once again.

"These crystals don't come from the psychors do they? Why do the psychors care if we come in ehre and get crystals? Is it simply that they are territorial?"

"We do not know why they live here in this tower, though possibly it is because it is the only other tower remaining other than the one we live in," Tauranchula replies.

"I believe that our existence has been deteriorating for so long now that we think only of survival, not of fixing the problems."

"It occurs to me that the psychors must have some other reason for being here and living here. They must be aware that we are no threat to them, so why not move into our tower?"

"You have no idea how much you have raised our spirits by showing us how to reload our weapons. It almost seems foolish that we did not know how to do that. For the first time in my lifetime and probably the lifetime of my parents, we have hope."

"Well, let's focus on getting some more crystals and try to avoid further conflict until we know more about what is going on. Tauranchula, hang on to that camera until we're out of here, and go ahead and lead the way, since you know where we're going."

((OOC: The usual excuses... got busy, got sick, procrastination, too soon tired, blah, blah, blah...))


As the group climbs up the ramp, things have suddenly got quiet, or maybe they were quiet all along and it was just the tension that has eased... shifted into anticipation for another confrontation.

The ramp is just like the one in the other arcology... gradual slope up to the next level. You do notice a bit of difference in the architecture. The walls here are carved in bas-relief with complex pictograms.

By the time you reach the next level, the atmosphere has begun to darken and become harder to breathe. You can barely catch a glimpse of the level, which seems to consist of around 50 pit-vats in the floor. They are all giving off the dark air, which isn't quite smoke.

You also notice at least a dozen of the psychors crawling, slithering across the floor to and from the vats.

And then the headache begins!

It feels like a combination of needles and pins being stuck into your eyes while a vise squeezes your head.

Everyone needs to make a DC 17 Will save or pass out from the pain. If you do succeed at the save, you need to make a DC 14 Con check to remain standing and act.

Coleman grits his teeth at the pain being produced in his head. He knows they can't take this long; "Tauranchula, we can't take this long. Get the crystals you need and lets get out of here. Once we're back to somewhere safe we'll need to discuss this whole situation." Coleman keeps a look out for his people; if anyone goes down he tries to drag them back to the top part of the ramp while trying his best to provide cover for Tarantula's people. "Let's make ready to retreat, people!"

OOC:
14:19, Today: Coleman Hendricks rolled 20 using 1d20+2 with rolls of 18.  Con Check.

14:19, Today: Coleman Hendricks rolled 22 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 18.  Will Save.

((OOC: Still here, Boss! Like the GM said, just waiting for him...))


17:31, Today: Jason Bjorn rolled 17,15 using 1d20+4,1d20+4 ((13,11)). Will save; Con check.

Just barely made both checks...

"Sonuva..." he barely managed to say as the vise tightened.

Jason dropped his weapon to his side and grabbed his head in pain, but he continued to stagger forward. At Coleman's words, though, he dropped to one knee as it was easier to turn around that way. He kept an eye on Kyle and Carter, though, to see how they fared.

Even through the pain, he managed the odd thought that if one of the minotaurs fell, they'd have a hard time hauling them back down the ramp.

He tried looking around, but he found it hard for his eyes to focus.

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 137):

16:23, Today: Jackie Carter rolled 6 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 2.

18:42, Today: StarMaster, on behalf of Kyle McGuinness, rolled 23,18 using 1d20+4,1d20+1 ((19,17)). Will Save, Con check.


The mental assault almost seemed to be useless against Coleman and Kyle, less so against Jason, and only Carter succumbed to it, slumping to the floor.

Strange sounds coming from the vats can now be heard, as well as the chittering of psychors and the moans of the minotaurs that are being affected.

You now have time to glance around a bit more. You can see what appear to be the skeletons of several minotaurs scattered across the floor, along with quite a number of the corpses of psychors.

Seeing Bjorn clearly in a devastating level of pain, though not totally stricken, Coleman decides that the sergeant should be the one to get Carter away from the problems. "Bjorn, get Carter down the ramp a bit and take up rear guard. Kyle and I will provide what cover we can from near the top of the ramp.

Kyle, let's take our position over there. I'll provide cover; you see if you can work out a way to communicate with these things. I have a really bad feeling about what's going on here, and I really hope I'm wrong, but we'll never know if we can't talk.

And let Taranchula know that he should make haste."

Kyle slumps to the floor.

---

OOC: Appropriately for someone who's been absent anyway...
11:45, Today: Kyle McGuinness rolled 9 using 1d20+4 with rolls of 5.  Will save requested.

Having dropped unconscious is laying there to be rescued.

It didn't seem to be the right time or place to take an aspirin, so Jason did his best to work through the pounding headache... well, it wasn't that pounding... perhaps 'pulsing' was the better word.

He moved over to where Carter had fallen, only stumbling once, reached down and picked her up, pulling her over his shoulders in a fireman's carry. Then he headed back down the ramp.

Once back on the lower level, he set her down by the door, in case they needed to make a hasty exit.

He knew basic first aid, of course, but this seemed to be just a wee bit beyond that.

"Now what do I do?" he asked the air.

He hoped just the distance would rouse her out of whatever condition she was in. Had the intense headache just make her pass out?

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 143):

Jackie wakes up holding her head.

" Oh my, now I know why they are called psykors "

"Whew! That's a relief... that your conscious again, Carter," Jason said to his teammate. "I didn't know what to do about it. How are you feeling? I've still got a headache, even down here now, but I didn't pass out."

If she's feeling okay, he'll help her up to her feet.

"Did you get a look at that set-up there? The vats are spewing out some sort of toxic gas."

Kyle might have been staggered for a moment under the onslaught of the psychor mental assault, but he never passed out.

Only two of the six minotaurs passed out. The others are shooting at the psychors on the wall. The fire is driving the psychors farther up the wall, but the mental attack doesn't seem to be abating any. Then again, the minotaurs are only killing a few while there appear to be hundreds on the wall.

Coleman keeps his head on a swivel, but only takes action against any psychors that seem to be attacking him or Kyle. The minotaurs could handle themselves. "Kyle, focus! Can you think of any way to communicate?"

"Mentally?" Kyle offered.

He tried to concentrate, focussing on one of the psychors and thinking peaceful thoughts at it.

"Maybe if I made physical contact...?"

Coleman looks at Kyle as if he's crazy, but realizes that it may be the only way and sighs. "Kyle, be careful. And, I guess you should probably give me your weapons, because they probably recognize them as dangerous. I'll cover you as best I can, but I have to keep my distance if we're going to have any hope."

"What makes you think they are intelligent?" Tauranchula says as his men start dragging the unconscious minotaurs back down the ramp.

"And what do you think you'll accomplish if you do make this contact?"

"Frax! I was hoping we could grab some crystals."

"Something about their behavior, and if they are intelligent and we can talk to them, perhaps they can be reasoned with.

As for crystals, are they ordinarily out in the open? I'm unfamiliar with how you harvest them."

"OK..."

Slightly startled to have been taken seriously, Kyle relinquishes his weapons then advances slowly towards the nearest psychor, thinking 'nice' thoughts and reaching out towards it...

The psychors are still crawling farther up the wall as Kyle approaches them. He manages to just reach out and touch the last straggler.

The instant he touches it, everyone's headache disappears as does the psychic assault. Kyle is thrown back more as a reactive impulse on his part because of the unexpected burst of information that suddenly floods into his brain than because of anything the psychor does.

He knows now that the psychors aren't particularly aggressive--they've just been defending their home/territory. It's instinctual. Also, they aren't intelligence individually, but they do have a kind of hive mind. They feed on the crystals.

Landing on his butt, Kyle's first word is "Ouff!"

Once he gets his breath back he says "I'm OK! The psychors are not aggressive, it's an instinctual defence of their home... an individual isn't particularly bright but they work in concert, a hive mind. I think I've convinced them we are not a threat..."

"Excellent work, Kyle! Taranchula, have your guys lower their weapons. We don't want to betray the trust they've shown Kyle.
Do they have any relationship with the crystals, Kyle?"

"Yes - it appears that they eat them. What I don't know yet is whether it's a finite supply or if they are generated or grown or something. Hopefully there's enough to go around."

Kyle scrambled back to his feet and looked around.

"Oh, what a relief. I thought they might be eggs or something. Ok, well food is obviously important, but at least this leaves room for negotiation.

See if you can find out how the crystals are produced, at least in vague terms, and if there's anything else they need or want."

"OK."

Kyle looked around for a psychor. He wasn't sure if he needed to be in physical contact or not, so he tried reaching out mentally. If that didn't work he'd have to get a hold of one.

Kyle's contact with the one psychor seems to have been relayed to all the others, as they are no longer trying to climb out of reach. So, Kyle can still go over and reach the one he'd touched before.

The best he can get is some vague images of where the psychor's feed... which, it seems, is the vats. He gets an image of crystals lying on the floor accompanied by a 'bad crystal' impression, while the vats elicit a 'good crystal' impression.

"There are some... vats?" said Kyle slowly, trying to make sense of the fragmented impressions.

"This is where they find the crystals. Those that fall on the floor are 'bad' - presumably inedible, those actually in the vats are 'good'."

"Well, seems like great harvesting advice: stay away from the vats; only pick up the ones on the floor." Coleman looks around to see if he can spot any on the floor; if he finds one he tests this arrangement out by picking it up.

There are no crystals discernible in the immediate area, and Tauranchula informs you that they've never been able to get past this area before. The best they've been able to do was make a mad dash up to here, grab what crystals they could, and dash back down.

Without being able to reload their guns, the need for the crystals had declined to the point where it wasn't worth the effort to get more.

He has no idea about any crystals in the vats.

Coleman puts Kyle's gun on the floor, then shoulders his own, keeping his hands clear of anything that may be used as a weapon, then he approaches one of the creatures, and, while imagining he and Taranchula walking further into the building, looking at the floor for a crystal, reaches out and touches one of the psychors. He hopes that he can get his point across; this isn't exactly a form of communication he's used to.

Coleman doesn't have as much success as Kyle, but he does get the impression that the only reason the psychors were 'attacking' was to defend their territory. In a way, it's like trying to approach a feral cat--it doesn't know that you are just trying to be friendly. The psychors were the same way.

Now, they seem to understand that you aren't invading their territory and aren't any threat to them.

"Taranchula and Kyle, let's head onwards and see if we can find any crystals on the floor. If we can, we can bring them back. Taranchula, you should probably have yours guys retreat back down to where Carter and Bjorn are, just to set our hosts at ease."

Coleman radios down to Carter and Bjorn: "Coleman here; we managed to communicate with the psychors and they've settled down. Keep your thoughts happy and try not to raise any tensions if you can help it. We're going to head in a bit farther and see if we can get any crystals."

You move farther into the level and have to go over halfway through it before you find any crystals laying on the floor. These seem to be smaller, though, than the other ones you've seen.

With Carter feeling better, Jason heads back up the ramp to see what's happening to the others. He catches a glimpse of Coleman and Kyle moving through the smoke (?) and heads after them.

Passing the smoke-spewing vats, he puts his hand over his mouth and nose as he glances in, trying to ascertain what's happening.

00:12, Today: Jason Bjorn rolled 19,11 using 1d20+4,1d20+2 ((15,9)). Spot check to see something and Intelligence check (no relevant skill) to interpret what he sees.

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 167):

Jackie thinks about when she was visited in the academy by Professor Jackson. How he convinced Stargate Command to let me apply.

"Taranchula; will these crystals work? They seem smaller."

Jason can see that there appear to be crystals sticking up out of the viscous liquid that bubbles and gives off the toxic fumes. Some crystals appear larger than others, and seem to be in different colors.

Jason is aware that crystals can be grown, though he doesn't know how that is done, but that's what looks like is going on here. The crystals are being grown in these vats. Or were. Some of the smaller crystals look like they are okay but the larger ones seem to be distorted somehow.

__________________________________________________________________________________


"I don't know. I don't see why not," Tauranchula replies to Coleman. "Maybe they won't work as well, though."

"Well, for now, let's gather these and head back. Now that you know how to interact with the psychors, it seems like gathering crystals int he future may be easier."

"Carter! Get up here!" Jason calls over the radio.

"There's something screwy about these crystals. I think they are growing them in these vats. Need your scientific expertise."

Hearing the call over the radio, Coleman urgently sends an unsolicited reply: "Do not approach the vats or touch any crystals that are not ont he ground; they harvest the ones in the vats for food; that is why they were hostile on our first entry; they believed we would steal their food."

After Carter joins Jason, she cautiously peeks into the vats and then begins running some test.

She's pretty sure that the vats were designed and built to grow the power crystals. The process seems to have a by-product of the noxious fumes given off. She discovers that there is an almost 95% match with the atmospheric smog.

She can also tell that the crystals in the vat now aren't exactly power crystals. It's like there are impurities in them, although, apparently, the psychors feed on those impurities.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 174):

" Interesting, Artificial Gem creation. "

"True, but that's not what I meant," Jason replies to Carter.

"It appears as if the pure crystals aren't being grown any more and these contaminated crystals... or whatever they are... feed the psychors."

"Doesn't that suggest that there weren't any psychors when these vats were first set up? And what about the fumes the vats are giving off? That's the same stuff that's poisoning the atmosphere, isn't it? That can't be right."

"Tauranchula seemed to indicate that his civilization had been on the decline for a long time... I don't recall if he had a timeframe, but I got the impression it's been centuries. It only took about two for us to alter the Earth's atmosphere."

"Isn't there something we can do to... well, reverse this?"

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 176):

Carter examines the crystals and the generator.

Other than just crystals that seemed to be something akin to piezoelectric crystals, Carter starts examining the crystals with a bit more depth. Without a full-blown lab, her results are going to be limited, but she picks up an odd reading of energy... electrical energy, to be sure, but it has an odd frequency. It takes a few minutes for her to come up with why it looks familiar--it matches alpha waves in the brain.

She has to double check her readings but she doesn't find anything to confirm her suspicions. The crystals aren't alive in any way she understands, and they aren't sentient. On the other hand, recent theories about the Goa'uld symbionts have speculated that alpha waves may be the basis for telepathy.

The crystal she examined was one of the 'corrupted' ones. She next examines one of the normal ones: there's no trace of the alpha wave modulation.

In reply to StarMaster (msg # 178):

" Weird, alpha wave generation in corrupted crystals. "

Kyle looked up.

"What? As in brain waves? How?"

He thought hard. He didn't know much about brains, but if the psychors ate the crystals, did that affect their brains?

In reply to Kyle McGuinness (msg # 180):

" As this is not my specialty and we are talking corrupted alien tech, that I point out I have had very little time to investigate either the tech or corruption. I have no clue how or probably more importantly why or more so how the non living crystalline structured stone here has alpha waves are connected or not connected to the psychors since the very nature of the psychos seem connected to the corruption.

Jackie prattles on about the nerd stuff.

"Are you saying what I think you are saying?" Jason asked Carter.

"The psychors came into existence when they started feeding on the corrupted crystals? Before then, they were just cockroaches or something?"

"So, if we stop the production of bad crystals, they'll eventually go away?"

"Aren't we talking like the Prime Directive scenario here? These Minotaurs screwed themselves by making these bad crystals. It's not our place to save them from themselves, is it? Assuming, of course, that we even can."

Kyle, a fan of science fiction, grinned.

"What Prime Directive? We aren't Starfleet!"

"Of course we aren't, but that doesn't mean we have the right or responsibility to interfere in another species' development," Jason replies.

"Don't get me wrong. I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I'm of the personal opinion that if we see something wrong and we have the ability to fix it, then we should... because it's the right thing to do."

"I just want to make sure that what we're doing is the right thing. I don't want to make the situation worse."

"The psychors seem to be sentient at this point; ending their food supply without some alternative plan available would be tantamount to genocide. I'm not prepared to make that decision, nor, really, to implement it.
Right now there is no apparent immediate need to change how things work, especially since we've discovered a way that the Minotaurs and psychors can coexist. Ideally the psychors could be fed and the Minotaurs could have crystals without producing the waste gasses that seem to have brought this world to its collective knees, but we don't have enough information about that yet. And we haven't even had a chance to figure out how the red misty death stuff or the slavering hordes play into this all yet, either.
Let's get as much data as we can about the 'polluted' crystals and their production, but let's not try to 'fix' this for now."

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 184):


Jackie laughs.

" If we were starfleet, the whole Damn SGC would be court martialed for Prime Directive Violations. So, what should we do? Well our potential allies, the Minotaurs asked us to help deal with the psychors. So, we figure out how to destroy the tainted crystals, the corrupted psychos, and how to stop further corruption of the crystals preferably allowing crystals to still be created. "

"I don't know about Prime Directive violations or whatever you're talking about, but the Minotaurs did not ask us to help them deal with the psychors; we just recognize it as a problem that they have, and, despite that, we have already found a peaceful way for them to interact, thanks to Kyle's bravery. If we go messing with the food supply of the psychors, I can guarantee that the solution we've found will no longer be viable; that will initiate an all out war. The process in place now works, it just has a nasty long-term side effect. But before we go addressing that long-term problem, we need to make certain we won't introduce more acute problems along with the solution.
What the Minotaurs did ask for, keep in mind, is dealing with the hoards of things that attack them on a regular basis. We've already helped a bit with that, by showing them how to maintain their weapons. But until we have more information on that front, we have no idea what else we may be able to do.
That is not to say that this whole crystals and psychors problem doesn't need further work; if we are to secure any of the lightning guns, it will also require that we secure a long-term reliable means of producing the crystals. But we're not there yet; if the Minotaurs won't trade us any guns, then the current means of producing crystals is likely sufficient for just their needs."

Kyle nodded, wondering what Hendricks thought he'd done that was brave.

"Step by step, we need to discover more about how the crystals are formed in the first place, and how they get tainted... and where the psychors fit in. Work out how the minotaurs can acquire the crystals they need for their weapons without the psychors being starved or feeling threatened by them."

"Sounds like a plan," Jason commented.

"So, how do you two brains plan on going about that?"

He was finding it a bit hard to believe that the psychors were a result of the crystal-growing process gone awry.

In reply to Jason Bjorn (msg # 189):

" spend more time studying, Staff Sargeant. "

Kyle grinned.

"Jackie has the right of it. More study is required."

"So... you're just going to stand here and stare at the vat until it becomes clear what happened?" he asked for clarification.

It's not like he didn't already know that; what he was curious to know was just HOW they were going to study it.

"Bjorn has a point; presumably studying the process further without touching the vats or crystals within will require more equipment than we've brought. Unless you've got a proposal about how to go about studying the situation without jeopardizing the tenuous peace that we've managed to obtain, I believe we should come back to this once we've better established the other circumstances on this planet."

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 193):

" That is true. But, this could solve our problem. "

"Then we will definitely need to get the right equipment and come back here. I wonder if there's some interaction between the psychors and the hordes that attack the minotaurs. Let's come up with some testable theories."

"Sorry. Not a nerd," Jason quips. "I don't know what doodads and gefangles y'all brought with you."

"Remember, though, that we're an exploratory team. Once we go back and report, it'll be a scientific investigation team that will come back here... not us."

"What about collecting a sample of the liquid in the vat? Can't the MALP analyze it? It test atmosphere, right?"

"I can think of a couple of ways to test some theories on the horde. It'd require moving one or more psychors outside, though, so that's probably not doable. 'Cause, does the horde stay away from this place because of the psychors or because of the toxic waste being produced? Or maybe it's the 'cleaner' air here."

"And the more I think about it, the less beneficial these weapons are. Maybe, if we could take one back with us, the techs could disassemble one to see how it works. They still may not be able to duplicate it. Then there's the problem of scaling it up to defend the planet. Gonna take a lot of time... and a lot of crystals."

"Makes me wonder how the psychors would react to a Goa'uld. Do you think a Goa'uld could possess a psychor? Would the Goa'uld then have the telepathic abilities of the psychors? I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be a good thing."

"Anyway... can we study one of these horde thingies? Figure out what it is, where it comes from. And see if we can find out where these weapons were made. Sure, the minotaurs don't know how to make them any longer, but they seem to have a very long life span. Very durable. That'd be some nice technology to go back with."

"I agree on all fronts, save one; we need to make sure the psychors are ok with us taking a sample before we try; they're understandably protective of their food source."

"Shall I try and ask them?" offered Kyle.

As an archaeologist, some of the more scientific approaches went over his head too. Analysing stuff, for example. His expertise was in working out how people (in the widest possible sense) lived from what they'd left behind. He liked talking to the locals as well, their legends often held important clues.

"I seem to recall something from high school chemistry about molarity or something," Jason replied.

"Or saturation or something. The current status of the vats may have achieved a sort of equilibrium. Taking a sample could disrupt that."

"Also, how many vats are we talking about? For that matter, how many psychors are we talking about? And how do the crystals get out of the vats? Do the psychors harvest them? If that's the case, then we probably won't disturb the equilibrium... if there is one."

"All the crystals that the minotaurs use are found outside the vats, just laying around on the floor. Right? How do they get there? Do the psychors harvest a crystal and then examine it and discard the inedible ones? Cause, if that's the case, then we have a perfect opportunity to establish a... sort of... symbiotic relationship between the minotaurs and the psychors."

"On the other hand, the crystals on the floor might be left over from before the problems began."

"Yes, Kyle, please ask them, see if they mind.

As for the crystals outside the vats, the psychors don't like them; either because they've already fed from them or because they are simply rejects; either way, though, I think the Minotaurs and the psychors can establish a sympathetic equilibrium. But it will be fragile until both parties have well established boundaries of behavior. I'm pretty sure they aren't simply remnants of a lost age, so to speak, because the Minotaurs indicated that they would come get them as needed; if they were as useful as they are and no longer being produced, they all would have been gathered up and kept someplace safe and easily accessible."

Kyle went off to find a psychor to ask.

Apparently now that they know there's no threat, the psychors have slowly been crawling back down the wall to get closer to their food source.

So, Kyle has no trouble approaching them again. As he reaches out slowly to touch one, he's prepared for the mental contact this time.

It's nowhere near the same as before. In fact, it isn't there at all... at first. Before, he'd been instantly connected to the hive mind because they'd been unified in defense of their territory.

Now, there's just the one mind... weak, almost non-existent. But, the contact triggers a reaction... to 'connect'. And then there's the Mind... it still isn't any more intelligent than, say, a dog, but there's a perception of the world around it.

Kyle presents his question... and the result is... uncertain. The understanding of the question does not seem to be within their ability. They don't fully understand the concept of the liquid, only that it is where the 'food' comes from. As such, they have no objection to taking a sample.

While in contact, Kyle asks if they know anything of other sentient lifeforms on this planet.

There's not that much sentience there. The hive mind isn't even aware that it's a life form.

Kyle broke contact after thanking the psychors and reassuring them that no harm would come to their food source.

"OK. The psychors are OK with us sampling the fluid. It's quite interesting, they are a hive mind and it's only when they link in concert that they become sentient. One psychor on its own is only about as smart as a dog, if that. Even the hive mind isn't very smart. Their awareness covers food and the immediate area, they don't know much about the planet outside of this tower."

"That is significantly valuable information. It certainly gives us a basis of how to interact with them and what to expect.

Carter, feel free to take your sample and get started on your analysis. Take a big enough sample that we can bring some back for SGC to analyze as well."

In reply to Coleman Hendricks (msg # 206):

" Probably best to send it back to SGC to have biologists or chemists look at it rather then the astrophysicist slash archaeologist look at it. I am multidiciplined but lets send this back to someone who specializes in biology or chemistry.

"Roger. Let's get that sample and head back to the Minotaur's tower, then."

"If we can get one of their weapons, that might fulfill our mission statement," Jason reminds the others, "but there's no guarantee that anyone will be able deconstruct the gun to learn how it works."

"I mean, we have a pretty good understanding of how the stargates work, but we're a hell of a long way away from being able to build one."

"Sure, a tech team can get sent through to figure out this crystal-growing vat, but at the rate we're going, we'll have several hundred off-world teams trying to figure out some new technology while the Goa'uld are destroying Earth."

"This isn't a solution. Maybe we won't find that technology, but we've haven't finished exploring this world yet. There might be other things that the Minotaurs know about. Now that they can defend themselves better... and hopefully reverse the downward spiral of their civilization... maybe we get one or two of them to act as guide."

"But, yeah, send a sample back. See if there's anything we can provide for the Minotaurs while we're at it."
This message was last edited by the player at 22:04, Sat 16 Feb 2019.

You get a sample easily enough, and then head back to the Minotaur's tower.

Now that you've shown you can and are willing to help them, the Minotaurs are a bit more friendly toward you. Not that they were ever 'unfriendly', but now they don't look at  you suspiciously.

They are willing to give you a tour of the tower... not because they think there might be something there you can use but because they hope you'll find some other way to help them.

Kyle is excited to get a look around, hopefully he'll learn more about Minotaur society.

Coleman is definitely ready to take a look, if only because it will give them a chance to find some place to rack out. It's been a very tiring day, and the next hurdle to deal with seems to be even more challenging.

As they start to move up one of the ramps, you hear a message come over the radios:

"SGC to SG-X2. This is General Hammond. Do you copy? I am sending two additional people through to assist you, along with additional supplies."

Not sure if the Commander heard the request, Jason chose to reply, as it was protocol to respond.

"This is Bjorn, General. We copy. Everything's green here. Send them on through. Watch out for the Degra, though. That's the horde of vicious little creatures that we observed through the drone. I'll meet them outside... just in case."

He figured Coleman would have heard his response even if he hadn't heard the radio. You couldn't really be sure what was going to penetrate the walls of this place.

When Coleman looked at him, he just shrugged his shoulders and headed back to the door.

As john walked up to the stargate, he felt amazed at its surface, he stood there admiring it, until he was almost pushed through it by FRED.

He stepped through the gate, appearing on X3F-1622, and started to geek out a bit.

"Holy Crap!, Im on another planet!"

Taking control of FRED, he took him to the side of the ramp down, and waited for SSGT Stewart.

Karen watched as TSgt Ward goes through the stargate with a smile. She studies the surface of the stargate portal as she gives him a 10 count. She takes a deep breath and steps through.

She appears on X3F-1622 and laughes.

"Now that was intense!" She heads down to the man at the end of the ramp. "You ok Sergeant Ward, sir?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:35, Wed 20 Feb 2019.

Before Bjorn takes off, Coleman replies to him: "Since you're heading down to the gate, we may as well send the samples back now, rather than later."

"Good idea, Colonel," Jason replies. "That must be why you're the boss-man."

He gets the samples from Kyle and heads back to the door. The Minotaur guards let him out, and he notices for the first time that a section of the doors about eye-level for a Minotaur is transparent like a window... yet it doesn't appear to be an actual window.

He heads out with his weapon at the ready and jogs up the hill, getting there just as the two new people and the MALP come through.

Nope, not a MALP... a FRED. There were different models, but the MALP was a wheeled recon ROV. FRED had treads; it was better suited for moving over rough terrain. Meant for support and longer duration. It had a pile of stuff on it.

"Hey! Glad you could make it to the party!" he called out to them.

"I'm Jason Bjorn, your tour guide to Petropolis. I've got a package to go back, so be with you in a bit."

He activated his radio.

"General Hammond. Sergeant Bjorn here. I've got some samples to send back through. Need an analysis of them as quickly as possible. It could be important."

"I'll dial back as soon as the gate closes."

"Roger that, Sergeant," the General responds.

A moment later, the gate shuts down.

Jason waits for a few seconds and then dials the Earth address. Once the outgoing wormhole is established, he uses his GDO to transmit the security code.

He wraps the samples up in a towel and tosses it through the gate.

The General acknowledges receipt, and Jason shuts down the gate.

"Okay, that's taken care of," Jason says.

"Let's get down to the arcology and get inside."

"Oh, a word of caution... these... um, Petropolitans? You know... I have no idea what they call themselves. Anyway, they really are Minotaurs... BIG Minotaurs. So, try not freak out."

"Also, I don't suppose either of you speak Latin? That's the language they speak, according to Kyle. It's all Greek to me."

"They also dress like Roman Legionnaires. We haven't learned out what's up with that yet."

"Anyway, keep an eye out for the Degra. They tend to swarm."

"all good here SSGT"

John turns and looks at SSGT Bjorn in amazement

"Minotaurs that speak Latin?!"

"thats amazing!"
John pulls himself back from geeking out fully, and responds to Jason

"yes, i can speak Latin, i will be able to translate if your not able to"
This message was last edited by the player at 21:11, Wed 20 Feb 2019.

Karen smiles and nods at TSGT Ward.

"This is pretty awesome!"

She does her best to hide it, but she's clearly excited.

When SSGT Bjorn calls out she turns and watches him. When he returns his attention to TSgt Ward and her she says, "Hello Sir. I'm Staff Sergeant Karen Stewart, Air Force Pararescue."


"Minotaurs sir? Actual minotaurs, not men wearing costumes? "

"I also speak Latin."

She arches an eyebrow. "Roman Legionnaires? That is odd, since the only stories we have on Earth about them are from Greek mythology, not Roman. "

"Thank you for the tip Sir. I'll keep my eyes open. On your six Sir."

"You both speak Latin?" Jason asks, eyes going wide. "What is this... a Latin America convention?!"

"I guess that's why Hammond sent you along. But, yeah, we already have someone who can speak Latin. Otherwise, we'd have been fubared. It never hurts to have more speakers of a language."

"Now get that FRED moving!"

John Kick starts FRED, driving it behind Bjorn, marvelling at there surroundings

"I also speak ancient Egyptian, ancient Greek,Russian, french, Chinese, Old Norse,German, and Klingon, yes Klingon, i was a huge nerd for it in high school"

"Im also up to date on all our knowledge of Goa'uld languages"

"You could say im ok with languages, there one of my passions, and i just seem to 'get' them"

John babbles like this for quite a while as they walk
This message was last edited by the player at 00:41, Thu 21 Feb 2019.

She chuckles and stands out of TSgt Ward's way so he can access the FRED. She continues to scan the area as she speaks. "I also speak Spanish, French, and Italian Sir. Speaking Latin helps with learning Roman mythology sometimes. And you're right having more translators or interpreters never hurts."

She glances at Ward. "Klingon? That's not the easiest language to learn. Also, embrace the nerd stuff. Gives you character, makes life more interesting."

She falls in behind SSGT Bjorn as they walk, eyes constantly scanning.

When the new arrivals roll on into the archology, Coleman heads down to meet them. He smiles as he greets them.

"Bjorn, I see you brought me a couple of flybo... uh fly people? And one of them's a rescue ranger. I guess they got us outnumbered now, huh Bjorn?

Nice to meet you Sergeant Stewart and Sergeant Ward. I'm Coleman Hendricks, and I guess you're part of my unit now. As you probably figured out when you were greeted at the gate by an Army Ranger, we're a mixed unit. Right now we've got 2 others you haven't met; Major Carter's AF, like you, and Dr. Kyle McGuinness is a civvie.

Right now we're working out arrangements to rack out for a while; tomorrow we've gotta see if we can get any intel on the gremlins that are constantly attacking the Minotaurs here.

I do have to make something absolutely clear, though. I know you guys are the best. The smartest and the most capable in your specializations, otherwise the SGC wouldn't have picked you, and Hammond wouldn't have sent you to me. What that means is; speak your mind. The problems we face out here are not your typical military fare... or even like the stuff any of the special forces deal with. At least 90% of it is going to depend on thinking outside the box.

Any questions?"

John greets Hendricks

"Yes, i have a few questions,"

John pulls out his notebook, where it seems he has prepared a few questions.

"One,What are the Psychors like? i read in a report that they attacked you guys?"

John flips the page of his book.

"Two,May i have a look at one of the Minotaur's weapons? i would like to examine it, possibly find something we can use"

He motions towards one of the Keraks

Karen smirks at the 'fly people' comment.
"Nice to meet you Sir."

She waits for Sergeant Ward to asks his questions. Smiling softly as he flips through his notebook.

"I also have questions Sir. 1) What Intel do you have on the Degra? 2) Who is the other Latin speaker Sergeant Bjorn mentioned? I assume they're in charge of communication between us and the Minotaurs. Lastly, are there any restricted areas we should know about sir?"

As the three of you get back to the arcology, most of which vanishes in the dark fog above, the Minotaur guards open the doors for you to enter.

They are so fascinated with the FRED that they almost forget to close the doors.

Another Minotaur approaches.

[Language unknown: "Iepo t lifor onesonthe eve koree se eenerehis?"] he asks.

John explains; [Language Latin: "We call it FRED. it helps us transport gear and equipment through the gate"

"Don't worry, it cant hurt you, i control it with this device here"

John shows the Minotaur how the remote controller works, hoping this will ease any tension about FRED

John stares at the large open room they are standing in, and he loses control, starts geeking out at the old walls and writings

"This is Latin writing, on a planet on the other side of the galaxy! This is incredible!"

"Do you have any records of how you got here?"

"Or better yet, do you know what a 'Roman' is?"

John realises his curiosity got the best of him, and stops rambling on

"Sorry, first time on another planet, this is all so... amazing"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:21, Thu 21 Feb 2019.

Karen smiles at the Minotaurs and chuckles at Ward's enthusiasm. "You took the words right out of my mouth Sergeant Ward."

She looks over the room wide eyed.

[Language Latin: "Hello. I'm Karen. What is your name?" She asks the Minotaur that spoke.

[Language unknown: "Ut a andstrwas Urerom,"] the Minotaur responds. [Language unknown: "K inyin waurofen retete... t hasovethanot. Ic lastr elave oun ngomte p ectwil'thaoer. Chhoto, ch na ieeela, ratar ame rom er."]

John looks at Guntruk

[Language Latin: "I would be delighted to! I should be able to help"

"Would you be willing to let me poke around inside a kerak as well?, Im very interested in how your technology operates"

John finishes up with FRED and adjusts his gear, waiting for Guntruk

Kyle, who was reading some of the writing on the wall, turned at the sound of Latin being spoken by human voices.

[Language unknown: Isseti ev an el ul riers meolpa thsan eraameess case ioadad tastof. Totha Een.]

Karen walks over to the walls and starts reading as Ward and Guntruk talk. At the sound of Kyle’s voice Karen turns to him. She smiles as she walks over, hand extended.
[Language Latin: “Hi Kyle. Name is Karen Stewart, Air Force Pararescue Staff Sergeant. Nice to meet you. Find anything interesting? Like why they dress like Roman’s interesting?

[Language unknown: "Lahiec Butsheard. Tra aloupo ng WE ourtheest Linthable? M cahisa paasti li ekst llic romtrales selo Esstinlesthi, whe hetowe os ain asioai ametioout intdayent ei Ovelarshe. Hasou m th ma ainet ad lar lipo artio ted, k artvenous isthil whitiooeronenti ereiouomeith ove st omederineher."] Kyle said to the newcomer.

She chuckles. [Language unknown: "Rewahi thwabe llpre si Ingessfor ssevanfo derfortra. Ac, n riweur hind us eete on iopl lesavevorugh Stroulwer. Een, Derec a thevirill onsdayund. Adar ntceng o aswhi oreherwas p fo nteencere. Ev nien ect Ulllpa? LIOUT Houersnte asai'oshe Wiltravir, dinc resic wana. "]
She looks at the wall Kyle is working on.

Kyle grinned back.

[Language unknown: Ugheenvirnot ore a ivit der oerionhat ngevtr son nd alleauder etwherutie. Has korenctio saain urdi ourrutthasom tioantati llplur it icouil u oussonderlat arai waswitive ckev tewer ceaconna astta n la mincst strintpre. A ivewaswitndekor neweto i sewhof der plall o io riheic ni ruttr pebela unek'adwhsi e adacseanul, illstawhi.]

Language Latin: “So telepathic bug like creatures? If I was anywhere else, I’d find that odd.”]
She shakes her head and looks back at Kyle, as she leans up against the wall.
[Language unknown: “O ughan lial manbe is utmen ca wiilad heulas vor Etfiinse? Fi’k loeion esta Alioal wafinc th chlete derrealat, romsheerawitpro notwhelat omlo’ro avetinillineicaill oveandnce a Etatic eauounundcom ma ei.”]

Coleman smiles as the questions begin answering themselves. Those physics nerds think there are only 4 fundamental forces... but they simply ignore the 5th; geek-gravity. Irresistible.

As soon as the gibberish starts, Jason turns to the FRED and starts examining all the stuff piled on top of it.

"Hey, Kyle," he calls out, "want to tell Tauranchula that we've got some food supplies he can hand out to his fellow Minotaurs?" He says this just as their guide walks up.

"It looks like Hammond sent about 200 pounds of granola bars along. They're kind of small for a Minotaur, of course, but I'm sure we can get more. By the way, now that we're all buddy-buddy with them, maybe you can find out how many of them there are. Didn't we establish that this is the only tower still occupied? I'm guessing that, back on Earth, the grouping of the arcologies would count as a city, with each one functioning as a separate neighborhood."

"So, are there other cities? They might not be in contact with them any more. We haven't seen anything that looks like a radio. Physical contact is probably impossible through that polluted atmosphere, not to mention the Degra."

He begins unloading the granola bars. He had to admit that was a clever choice. No need for can openers or cooking. Just tear open the package and eat. As he looked at the wrapped bars, all in something akin to fishnet, he realized that the individual bars really were on the small side--convenient for humans, but could the large Minotaur hands deal with them? He glanced up at the Minotaurs around them, specifically at their hands, and for the first time noticed that the Minotaurs only had 3 fingers plus an opposable thumb.

[Language unknown: "Lasino a p out thehathasder foone nce i moom p," ]Tauranchula informs Kyle as he approaches.

It's hard to tell Minotaur expressions still, but Tauranchula seems pleased that there are now others that speak his language.



Guntruk lets out an odd sound at John's questions, which John realizes is a laugh.

[Language unknown: "M t leurno ieone ho ur,"] Guntruk replies. [Language unknown: "Readaycom rinoon Hou proaintha ne resen p siwiec iv evlein, aster asev oun ounpo e ousectwer, to est thminaie oset leiebena i usacwhpr n pr. Ishe llhitool liinli erehisverati enc n us a manmenest ilanevis us neec sirom."

"E ionblever re usas to oneeradin i romstrour eau es ave ofitieil pahi. Wi ntiad of eebeonpa p art."]


Tauranchula has to be shown how to open the wrapper around a granola bar as he was about to try and eat the whole thing. He sniffs at the bar inside, licks it gingerly, then puts the whole bar in his mouth and begins to chew. His eyes widen in surprise and pleasure.

[Language unknown: "Tivor ll admo-issi! Ieate la ithwi oer! Elev un ettra ndta o?"] he asks.

Kyle smiled at Tauranchula.

[Lamguage Latin: "We have some food that you and your people might like. Please try it."]

He gestured at the granola bars, then grabbed one and unwrapped it,offering it to the  minotaur.

Karen gives Tauranchula a nod when he approaches and smiles at the exchange between Kyle and the Minotaur.
"Talk to you later Kyle." She says as she walks over to SSGT Bjorn. "Help you unload Sir?" She says as she reaches the FRED.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:28, Thu 21 Feb 2019.

John looks over to the room Guntruk was pointing to

[Language unknown: "Aimaou!"

[Thuvirwerous Atbeic: "Of derce di whek nc o, are us u hana [Ntiomepre Butno]"

John runs to the Kerak room with glee, eager to check them out


He picks one up and starts examining it, eventually getting it open. he pulls out his electricity meter, and tests depleted crystal.

*Btzz*

"Jesus Christ!"

The electricity meter shows that this crystal could be used to power something like a flashlight for about a month straight - and that was a depleted one.


Thinking to himself, John starts experimenting with certain materials in his pack to see which ones conducts it best, hoping to find a use for it on earth

It does seem like the kerak must have some sort of capacitor in it to store the energy in a concentrated form until it reaches sufficient strength to create the electrical discharge. Otherwise, it'd be like a low energy battery in a flashlight that produces a weak light.

The kerak appears to have sealed construction, so there's no easy way to open it.

The crystal seems to be some sort of electrical energy storage. It's only giving off a trickle charge now.

Karen starts pulling the rest of the granola bars off the FRED. She turns to Tauranchula.
[Language unknown: "Prosomureromrat, ncevirard oerpr O dilo loposa?"] She motions to the 200 lbs granola bars.

There were 10 net bags of 20 pounds each. That's about 2,800 bars!

Tauranchula has no problem picking up all 10 bags and carrying them over to a room that turns out to be the kitchen. He simply drops the bags on the floor.

"When it comes meal time, we'll hand these out 2 or 3 at a time," he explains. "Perhaps every other day... to make them last. We do not want to become dependent on them, though. We do not know when we will get more."

Karen looks slightly surprised as Tauranchula picks up all the bags and follows him to the kitchen.
[Language unknown: "Oninriou are ngpala n rom. Ivhing-whad, A din m ounoutant us thunc werstaear ca? "] She faces the Minotaur and smiles softly.

[Language unknown: "O anicfi, Mooubeieerwi,"] Tauranchula replies.

[Language unknown: "Ss po es di i di?"]

[Language unknown: "It si o moic no derallpro a menstrove thaer wer p unri ncelatastout we."] She pulls out a pad of paper and a pen.
[Language unknown: Dertr, Wiss, Seeitr, Ilernd, Riusri, Etromi. Si ol e nceeautha noicwi inglinhaslar? "]

[Language unknown: "He, ou n bemino pllepr paera diosmeio u i,"] Tauranchula answers. [Language unknown: "Weal al ame whiatienc with hisratera a?"]


Meanwhile, John continues to go through the keraks. He finds all of them still have a crystal in each one, and the crystal has the same energy level of the first one. There is insufficient charge to activate the lightning bolt.


Everyone else is resting.

[Language unknown: "Chee ess tait setprethu. Tha she, ennoat aveartrea om he i ur wh osres lohe. K ckng ngsiol o con p eenyinnte din ven traateyin ratainrution siekaneiom."] She studied Tauranchula. [Language unknown: "Re et et hawas wiulitio ardoveble ratatiess i fiss evelatvor?"]

John takes out a few of the crystals and places them in a special container, wanting to study them further.

He Yells to Karen

"So they dont know any Roman and Greek gods?"

"thats disappointing"

John focuses back into the Keraks and runs some more tests

Kyle returned to his study of the walls. He was more accustomed, as an archaeologist, to gathering evidence from inscriptions than by talking to actual living specimens of the culture he was studying!

In reply to Kyle McGuinness (msg # 255):
" ask them about Ra, Apophis and Ba'al "

As Karen returns to looking at the wall she yells back to John.
" Yes it is. Would have explained things. How's the Keraks study going Ward?"
Karen returns to looking at the wall and starts reading. She glances at the Major when she speaks. "That's a good suggestion Ma'am."

John looks at Karen as she asks him the question

he explains: " they seem to be like batteries that used to be in a RC car, too low to use in a RC car anymore, but still have charge for something like a clock."

"they still have plenty of charge left, if we compare them to our power sources, but no one crystal here has enough power to fire a lightning bolt".

"Im testing linking a few together just to help the minotaurs fight the degra until we find a way to actually reload them"


He turns back to the Keraks and continues his work.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:18, Sun 03 Mar 2019.

After Karen relays Jackie's question, Tauranchula replies that he does not know any of those names either.

"The history of this place is written on the walls?" he asks in surprise. "We thought it might be more than just decoration, but none of us can read it."

"What does it say?"

"Ward, has anyone had the chance to brief you on what we found in the other arcology? The one with the psychors, where these crystals are supposedly harvested from?"

"Tauranchula doesn't recognize them either Ma'am." She turns back to Tauranchula. [Language unknown: "Wer ac tima ho, thiwasill Ic ine wer weiear. O llolmo atesfi ek fiore foniadil one et? Hawieeev ndul traas vorughthi kor shewervirwhi?" ]

"Most of the writing is here on the ground level in these great halls," Tauranchula replies, "but there is also much of it in the Meeting Halls and the Council Chambers."

"We thought that meant those were important chambers, which is why we use them as such."

[Language unknown: "Aiurck wit tinhasich us mo allis et icaionsta thiionlar? Nien rompreenc ica ta maouwaev asulse ore li one oveardast u uthosi titr acunee ei buteramenred. ]

John looks up at Hendricks

"Yes sir, i was briefed. i still want to test out this way of using them, just in case reloading the Kerak's is more complicated than it looks. i doubt you just smack a Crystal in the gap for it".

"Theres probably something you have to hook up first"

"Something you might want to see though sir, im think im about ready to run my first test on the linked crystal shot."


He yells to Tauranchula;

"Tauranchula, is there a firing range of sorts where i could test this?"

He motions towards the mess of cable and wires he has hooked up to 5 or 6 Kerak's
This message was last edited by the player at 20:58, Wed 06 Mar 2019.

This message was deleted by the player at 03:19, Tue 05 Mar 2019.

Tauranchula replies by pointing to the main doors.

The crystals are octagonal in cross-section, with both ends coming to a point.

John can either tape a dozen or so of them into a bundle or try to lay them out in a string end to end. The long way would be difficult to keep even.

He also has to decide whether to wire them together in series or parallel. It depends on whether the weapon needs amperage or voltage.

He also realizes he may need to 'prime the pump' somehow... that the stored electricity within a crystal isn't just going to flow out because he puts a wire on it. A normal battery works that way, but not these crystals.

There's a technology at work here that he doesn't fully understand. He has no idea how the electrical energy is stored in the crystal, and even less idea how it gets into the crystal, though, apparently, it is grown that way... somehow.

Inside the weapon are the components that would 'extract' the electricity... as well as regulate it.

His best guess is that the weapon boosts the voltage, and that would mean that the crystals need to provide amperage. So he hooks them up in parallel. Not only does that make the most sense, but if there isn't enough voltage to push the amps, then nothing will happen.

[Language: Latin "Where are we bunking down at?" ] She asks Tauranchula.

Tauranchula indicates the same room where Coleman, Jackie, Kyle and Jason were resting.


Whatever the case, John is able to get one of the lightning guns to discharge once... and only once. As near as he can tell, there is only sufficient charge in the crystals that, when added together, produces enough electrical energy for one shot.

"So, it seems like they really are kind of like batteries; even so-called dead ones still have some charge left. I wonder if they are rechargeable? Anyhow, we're going to need to get some rest; with most or all of the lightning guns out of commission, and only minimal capability to erect defenses, we're going to be in for it if the gibbering hordes decide to attack.

I wonder if we brought the discharged crystals back to the psychors if they could make any use of them? Maybe it is something we'll need to try."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:33, Mon 18 Mar 2019.

John heads to the others to go to sleep

There aren't any beds in the room, but there is a raised ledge around 3/4s of the room that are apparently supposed to be a sleeping platform.

The military personnel don't have any problem getting some rest as they are trained to rest whenever and wherever they can.

The plan wasn't to get a good night's sleep anyway, but just to get a bit of rest.

After about three hours, everyone starts waking up again.

Tauranchula is waiting outside the room when everyone's ready to go. He's still willing to be your guide to the upper levels of the tower.

Chipper after getting a couple hours of rack time, Coleman tries to get everyone working; "Thanks Tauranchula. Let's make hay while the sun shines, everyone!"

Kyle didn't feel rested at all, but got up and stretched out the kinks, ready to resume reading the walls. Or whatever else people wanted him to do.

John was woken up by people talking and got up feeling better.

"alright, give me a few minutes to check my pack, and ill be good to go"

He starts preparing his pack

Karen stands and stretches. She walks over to stand next to Kyle. "Hey Kyle. I'm going to start translating in one of the other rooms. Maybe we can compare notes at lunch?"

Kyle grinned.

"That sounds like a plan."

He gathered camera and notebook and went off to continue his studies.

Karen grins as Kyle heads off. She grabs her gear, double checking she has plenty of paper, before she heads over to Tauranchula. [Language unknown: "Tolest Urhaie-mose. Trca mi cefoma oveeveoul pl a oreca ithoneateles p al encsomion ate? "] She looks to Coleman. [Language unknown: "M str an ek u, Ncame manvenons t tho nemone ngut te nd iv ectaveprohatrat weul ofioof nc simith Ch." ]

instead of going with Karen and Kyle, John moves over towards Hendricks, packed and ready

"Alright sir, ready to move out. where to?"

"I think we're going to explore the upper reaches of the tower. Perhaps, though, we may attempt another foray over to the other one, if we can come up with some experimentation to perform with the crystals."

As Tauranchula begins the tour, you start to get a better sense of the size and layout of the place. It was just a bit too big to tell if it was totally circular or perhaps an oval, egg shaped or something similar.

Internally, it was built in concentric circles. There was a 'solid' core that presumably held the mechanicals and infrastructure, which still seemed to be working for the most part. Around that there was a hallway, then another ring of habitats, another hallway, a second ring of habitats, an access hallway, and then finally the outer ring of ramps.

On the 'ground floor', the two rings of 'habitats' were storerooms and meeting rooms, as well as four lavatories around the outer ring. There were also four connecting hallways.

The second floor consisted of four large gallery-like rooms, one of which is where you met with the Elders. The inner ring was habitats for the Elders or other important people. Tauranchula shows you one such habitat, which consists of a central living area, two bedrooms off to one side, and a kitchen and bath off to the other side.

It is fairly spacious, but not very well appointed. Minimal furniture, some wall decorations, but nothing fancy. Tauranchula explains that this is his living quarters. His wife is at work and his son is at school. Both work and school are on the lower level.

It isn't until you reach level 7 before you realize that the ground floor is 4 levels high and 2nd floor is double height level; thus, the ground floor is levels 1-4. This is only determined by the length of the ramps--four times as long (all the way around the tower) as the upper ramps for the 1st floor and twice as long (halfway around the tower) for the 2nd floor.

At the 7th level (and all upper levels), ceiling height is only 15 feet. The levels then are grouped in by 5: habitat level, general (work) level, habitat level, play level, habitat level. This then repeats 2.5 times as you climb to level 20.

Level 19, a habitat ring, is only partially inhabited as it is borderline dangerous. Level 20, which would be a play area, is empty due to toxic fumes. All levels above this are also full of toxic fumes.
This message was last edited by the GM at 15:15, Mon 01 Apr 2019.

"Phew! Talk about cardio!" Jason comments as they climb level after level, ramp after ramp.

"I don't suppose there's an easier way up and down these ramps? Maybe we could give them a couple of golf carts."

"Toxic fumes? In that case, won't be gas-powered carts. Maybe we could convert one to run on these crystals. Once we get them growing again, of course."

"They'd have to be golf carts modified by Tim the Tool Man." Coleman snickers at his own joke, then realizes the rest are probably too young to have enjoyed his childhood favorite.

"Nevermind; yeah, giving these guys some sort of means of transport would probably improve their lives a good deal. Even if it was just a way to easily get back and forth between the towers. But it seems that their most immediate problem is the hoards of gremlins. The toxic atmosphere is a major problem, but I've seen no evidence of anything that could fix that quickly. I'd guess that more than just the one tower is producing the atmospheric toxins for it to have poluted the air so badly."

Meanwhile Karen continues to translate the walls of the meeting hall, taking detailed notes for when she sees Kyle. As she works she hums some AC/DC to herself.

OOC: Anything interesting? Same thing as main hallway?

The interior walls of the lower level were covered in writings that were clearly meant to be decorative even if the writing was pithy sayings... poems, prayers, etc.

Here in the meeting hall it was different. Karen quickly realized that this was a story. It was the story of the minotaurs... of their origin and development. The minotaur-folk were created by someone/something called the Alterans as a means of thumbing their nose at the Goa'uld. The minotaurs would be a powerful host except for the fact that the Alterans made them poisonous to the Goa'uld.

Apparently, the minotaurs weren't the only species thus created out here in the globular cluster.

The Alterans built the arcologies for the minotaurs. They gave them the crystal-growing vats and the lightning guns... as a means to defend themselves against the Goa'uld should the Goa'uld decide to attack just to destroy the minotaurs out of spite.

Originally, there were seven arcology towers but only was inhabited at first. Each of the others would open up once the local minotaur population became large enough to need them.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:47, Thu 04 Apr 2019.

"So, how toxic are these fumes?" Jason asked, both the rest of his team and Tauranchula. "Can we hold our breaths long enough to check out the next level? Will putting a wet cloth over our noses and mouths help?"

He was wondering what would be producing the fumes up here. Was there a breach in the upper levels of the tower? Obviously the lower levels here weren't producing crystals. Were the upper levels? Just too toxic to go up there to get them?

"Well, I didn't bring a gas mask, which was poor decision making on my part. But I guess we could send the bot up there, even if it is unsafe to breathe."

Karen swears under her breath as she realizes what she's reading. ~Holy crap. I should probably find Coleman and see what he wants me to do about this information. Also ask Tauranchula if they've expanded to the other arcology towers.  Plus I should check the council chambers to see if they're different. Tauranchula is probably with Coleman, doing a tour of the upper levels. I think?~

"Good point, Commander," Jason responds. "I've got the mindset of never sending someone into a situation that I wouldn't go into myself. Guess I was thinking of the bot as just 'one of the guys'."

"We could also send a small camera drone up. Don't know how far the signal will penetrate these walls, though. We could lose control as soon as it's out of sight. The fumes could foul the engine as well."

He turns to their minotaur guide and has Kyle relay a question.

"How long has it been since your people went up to these higher levels? Do you know what is up there?"

"It has been a long while since any of us went up to this level," Tauranchula replies. "I would guess 100 days... probably more. We think there are crystals up there, but we cannot stand the fumes for long."

"I think we'd have to go up three or four levels before we might find crystals. I don't know if they were made here or if they just belonged to people."

"Those who go up there now don't come back."

"Well, let's try sending a flier down a few levels, to see if moving through the levels will cut off the signal. If it doesn't, then great we can scout with that, otherwise we may have to try to scout however far we can with the bot. I guess we can try the filter masks that we came through the gates with, but I suspect we're not going to get much farther than Taranchula and his fellows have, even with that help."

OOC: I forgot we were given those, haha. I was trying to remember what I did with my gear picks and junk. Also, apparently, the only bundles with any sort of breathing protection are the aquatic duty bundle and the diver personal bundle; and even they only imply it, in case anyone was wondering.
I didn't figure out what I used my second pick for (my first pick was for a first aid kit). Maybe someone took a gas mask for a pick?

Karen finishes translating and taking notes. ~Wow. Time to find the others.~ She leaves the room and starts heading up.

"Don't think so, Commander," Jason answered. "Since the atmosphere at ground level was breathable, I guess everyone thought the filter mask would be enough... if it came to that."

"So, I guess it depends on what the atmosphere up above is. If it's the same as outside, we should be okay... for awhile. I suspect the filter mask will get clogged up with too long of an exposure."

"At a guess, though, I'm thinking this inside pollutant is different than the outside. Remember, the outside is nearly down to the ground... only 20 to 50 feet above ground. Wouldn't this inside stuff have sunk all the way to the ground by now?"

"No, I didn't bring a gas mask either," John adds. "But, I think you can account for the difference with internal air circulation."

"There must be some sort of air system to keep the air fresh on the higher levels. Also, hot air rises, so just the fact that the minotaurs are on the lower levels might serve to keep it from going lower."

"If it's slowly winning out, though, it could be due to a declining number of minotaurs or it could be because the air filters up top have gotten clogged."

"We should definitely look into the infrastructure of this arcology. It definitely sounds like and appears to be malfunctioning."

"Well, sergeant, uh, Ward, why don't you go ahead and experiment with running your bot down a few levels and see how far it can get before you lose signal. Bjorn, why don't you grab a flier and do the same, to see if that works. While you guys do that I'm going to put on my filter mask and forge ahead just a bit. I'll determine if I can detect the pollutants through it or if I start to feel woozy. That will gives us a bit more info on what we're dealing with here. I've got a weather sensor with me, so I'll turn that thing on, maybe it can give an idea of the type of particulate we're dealing with. Once we have our basic findings, we can maybe form a plan from there. I understand you're something of a gadget guy, Ward; maybe you can do something with the electronics we do have to make something that will help."

With that, Coleman puts on his filter and starts slowly making his way into the smog, keeping his eyes up, but mostly focusing on how he's feeling and what his nose, tongue and lungs are telling him. At any sign of trouble he'll immediately retreat back to where he started.

The filter masks are just the kind that you'd see in a hospital... or wear if you were spray painting. They aren't full-on respirators like those you'd use for dealing with hazardous material.

So, it'll mostly keep any biological or hazardous substances from getting into your nose and mouth. It doesn't protect your eyes or skin.

John and Jason both find out the same thing... the radio signal does not penetrate the walls, and after about two levels, the signal gets scattered by the curvature of the walls too much to maintain control of the robots.

Just as they lose control, Karen reaches the level where the flying drone is and it crashes to the floor.


Coleman advances up the ramp. His weather equipment begins picking up particles in the air when he's gone about 100 feet... before he can actually see them. His equipment can't identify them, though.

He's gone up a full level without feeling anything yet, but as he reaches the next level and can see the outer circular hallway, he spots a minotaur body laying on the floor about 20 yards away.

Since he's not feeling anything yet, he figures he should probably bring the body back for whatever the usual burial rites are. He heads back down, trying to drag the body with him. If he starts to feel anything, he'll definitely stop exerting himself and head to fresh air, though. If nothing else, apparently they could bring the bot up her accompanied by someone and let the bot do the heavy work. Over the radio, Coleman gives his update: "I've made it a ways up. There's definitely particulate, but my sensor isn't really meant for this, so I have no idea what it is. There's a body here that I'm trying to drag back down so it can be taken care of in accordance to their traditions. So far I haven't suffered any effects that I can tell."

Almost as if he spoke too soon, Coleman has dragged the body about half way down when he begins to feel a bit groggy. It's so gradual, though, that he doesn't realize it until he misses a step and almost falls down.

A moment later, Tauranchula comes running up, tosses Coleman over his shoulder, grabs the legs of the minotaur and heads back down the ramp at a jog.

He sets Coleman down against a wall and then sits/collapses next to him as he gulps in fresh air.

Karen jumps in surprise when the drone crashes. She picks it up and rushes up the rest of the way. She stops at the group, panting. She holds up the drone. "Who...does...this...belong..to?" She asks between breaths. She turns and sees Coleman and Tauranchula are on the ground and places the drone on the ground. "Coleman? You ok?" [Language unknown: "Asncsabeth howit whi na? "] She walks over ready to help if they need medical attention.

"Just... hypox... ia"
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:27, Sat 20 Apr 2019.

"Well that's not good. I'm going to give you a once over, but I say we definitely need to get you away from whatever is in that stuff. " She squats down next to him. "You'll need more oxygen. I should have what I need in my gear, back where we bunk down." . [Language unknown: "Leassscent, pail at ers eleve but t ni m ect u ek dison el?" ] [Language unknown: "Hat arnice ad veron Loatek ti tedvorica ulunll At inerearat urehe?"] She looks up at the others.

"I am fine," Tauranchula replies to Karen. "I can carry Coleman farther down if you need me to."

Being much larger, it takes a bit more exposure to the gas to affect him.


As near as Karen can tell, there does not seem to be any long-term effects on the colonel. He should recover fully in just a few minutes. However, she can't say what longer exposure might do. As she thinks that, she glances over at the other minotaur that Tauranchula ragged back down. She has to blink twice to confirms what she saw at first--that minotaur appears to be breathing still!

After helping move Coleman farther down the ramp to the next lower level, Jason jogs back up the ramp a bit until he makes contact with the MALP again and then directs it back down.

"Well, so much for our remote viewing of the upper levels," he comments.

"Were we breathing in this stuff even through the masks, or was it entering out system through our skin? What is that stuff that does that? DSMO? DMSO? Dimethyl-something-or-other."

"Hey, John! You got any other tricks up your sleeves? I don't suppose the MALP is carrying any chemicals that we can mix up to cause this gas to precipitate out of the air, does it? Any chance of finding some here in the tower?"

Coleman, still breathing heavy to try to refresh himself, tries to give as much info as he has about the problem.; "The effects seemed to come up out of nowhere, and they didn't bother me until I started exerting myself. That might hold some clues.
I guess it might not have been wise to try to drag that guy back down here, but I thought Taranchula's people might appreciate being able to lay him to rest."