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

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

"Shall we...?"

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 39):

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Linus looked curiously at the writing on the walls.

In reply to Linus Spruance (msg # 47):

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

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

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 49):

Stepping inside, Lorain smiled while shrugging.

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

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

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

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

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

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 52):

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

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

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

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 55):

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

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

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

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

OOC: Are the skeletons or bodies human?

In reply to Ken Jenkins (msg # 57):

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

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

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

"Hmmm... fascinating."

Linus took a closer look at the necklace.

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

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