Star Wars (7ABY; M03, D31-D35): The Pyramids of Gaumond
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Garth, Ganen, Mon, Roger, Kadia, and (Sekar) / [CP: 3.0]
Bevin had as awful week and decided not to play; Ruth had to work late.
Month 3; Day 31
Only moments after getting underway from Alpha 4 - 18, the PC’s were contacted by the leader of a flight of gunships which the governor had apparently sent out to check on them. After getting a very abbreviated sit-rep, the flight leader sent an element back to Alpha 1 to alert the governor and kept the other element on station to make sure that nothing exited the pressure dome. By the time the PC’s were about 1/3 of the way back, they saw more gunships plus several shuttles heading back towards the outpost.
After meeting with the governor and giving him a more detailed report, he paid them 1000 credits for their time and then offered them another job. “I’ve had all the information we have about that sketch of your ‘hive ship’ transmitted to your ship. If you’re willing to check it out and see what you can find out there; more money for you. Either way, your ship has already been refueled.”
The PC’s were back in orbit by lunch time and they caught Kadia up on what she’d missed. Though she’d never seen one, Kadia vaguely recalled having heard rumor of such droids being utilized by the Revan who were presently allied with the Hutt Cartels. “I think you guys could have taken him!”, Garth optimistically remarked of the droid.
The PC’s then looked over the information which Vincent had sent them…
The hive ship had been spotted on a planet which had been tentatively (but not yet officially) named ‘Gaumond’. It had been discovered in Month 7 of the previous year by an ISC scout team led by one Trakker Gaumond. It was a harsh desert planet; dotted here and there with ancient stone ruins but showing no current signs of intelligent life.
The largest set of ruins, which the explorers had nicknamed ‘The Capital’, was situated next to two enormous stone pyramids and was the area which they were exploring when the hive ship descended from the sky to the east. The ship came to a hover with its lowest point directly adjacent to a structure which they’d named ‘The Key Temple’: a stand-alone building located about a mile east of The Capital.
At that point; the scouts had all piled into their landing sphere, beat a hasty retreat back to their SkyBlind, and booked it back into hyperspace. One of their crewman drew a sketch of the ship next to the temple and had turned a copy of it over to the ISC. Trakker had since retired and his crew had dispersed.
Month 3; Day 33
Traveling along a barely-charted route with no nav beacon at the far end, the PC’s played it safe and traveled at around x8 standard speed. After a 50 hour flight, they reached Gaumond at around 14:00 on Day 33. A few scanning orbits revealed no indication of a 1200+ meter long vessel, and the PC’s descended towards the coordinates of ‘the capital’.
The area was laid out just as Trakker Gaumond’s notes had described. Just to the south of the stone city was a 300’ tall pyramid; and just south of that was a second pyramid nearly 500’ tall. About a mile east of the city and pyramids was the Key Temple, which was about 400’ tall and appeared to have been hewn from a big rock rather than constructed. Additionally; a couple hundred yards east of the city were a trio of what appeared to be starfighters parked on the ground. The PC’s decided that this was as good a place as any to set the Seventh Moon down as well.
The trio of fighters had obviously been abandoned for at least decades; possibly even centuries. Their fuel cells were completely dry, their landing skids had sunken a bit into the sand, and any markings which they might have had had long since faded. Judging by the relatives sizes of their weapons and engines, they appeared to be some sort of interceptors; probably roughly comparable to an A-Wing. Though their fundamental technology appeared to be ‘normal’, they clearly didn’t conform to any Republic-era standards.
Using a jury-rigged power source, the PC’s were able to get one of the cockpits open. Labeling on the controls had long since faded, but the chair and control layout indicated that they were built for humans or a species of similar size and anatomy. A slightly stylized helmet sat in a little cubby hole above the seat back, and the PC’s grabbed it and tossed it onto their own ship.
The PC’s next checked out the city, and quickly found it to be strange to say the least. Though completely empty of anything which could be moved, the stone buildings all contained a range of ‘built-in appliances’ (running water, lights, air conditioning, etc) which were all still working! The PC’s, however, could detect absolutely no EM signatures of any kind; nor could they discern any recognizable mechanisms by which any of these things were operating! Clearly they were dealing with some fundamentally different kind of technology than most of the galaxy used; and while Garth put forth the possibility that the machines were somehow harnessing the Force, Ganen vocally dismissed the idea as preposterous.
Among the items they found was what appeared to be a trash receptacle which could rapidly disintegrate organic matter. “This is going to be called a Garth Can!”, Garth eagerly announced.
After attempting and failing to find any way into either of the pyramids, the PC’s trekked across the sand to the Key Temple; apparently so named because of a large window above the large entrance which was shaped like a low-tech key. The majority of the sizeable structure was just hollowed out space; the walls riddled with windows to allow plenty of sunlight in.
On the ground floor was a large circular chamber with seven rather simplistic murals painted on the wall; starting on the west side of the entrance and wrapping all the way around to the east side. Below the 4th painting (directly across from the entrance) was a small archway leading to a set of stairs going down. From left to right, the murals depicted the following…
The first depicted a silver city in the background and ten people in the foreground. The people were divided into two groups (five each) which were facing each other.
The second showed the same city and the same people on the right, but the people on the left now had silver faces and monochromatic bodies of different hues (red, blue, yellow, green, and purple).
The third again showed the same city, with the colorful silver-faced people still on the left. The people on the right, however, were now gone; and what appeared to be a small fleet of starships could be seen in the sky heading to the right (‘out of the picture’).
The fourth picture depicted the five normal-looking people now in a desert. They were standing on the left side of the painting facing to the right.
The fifth depicted the same five normal-looking people in the desert facing right. A sixth normal-looking individual now stood on the right side of the painting looking back at them. Directly next to the newcomer (on the opposite side from the people) was what appeared to be an ornate statue. The statue wore a headdress which was unmistakably of a similar aesthetic style as the helmet which the PC’s had found in the abandoned interceptor.
The sixth imaged retained the desert, the original five people, the newcomer, and the statue. Depicted in the background were now a stone city and two pyramids (with the smaller one in front of the larger one).
In the seventh and final picture, there were now ten normal-looking people on the left facing right. The pyramids and city were still there, though the newcomer and the statue were both gone. Furthermore, the surrounding desert appeared to have been replaced by verdant fields.
Though it escaped most of the PC’s attention, Mon noticed that the smaller of the two pyramids appeared larger in the seventh picture than it did in the sixth. In the sixth, it was about 3/5 the size of the larger one; which reflected their actual relative sizes. In the seventh, however, it was closer to 3/4.
The PC’s generally agreed that the first four pictures depicted an exodus from a high-tech planet where the people were being replaced with robots or cyborgs (which might possibly relate to the cybernetically-augmented aliens which they’d been encountering) and a subsequent arrival there on Gaumond. The fifth and sixth, they guessed, depicted the arrival of someone who brought them new technology with which they’d built the city and the pyramids.
The seventh was where there was some disagreement. Some believed that they were ‘at six’ and that the seventh image was a prophecy (or just a hopeful projection) of what would happen in the future: the planet would be terraformed, the population would thrive and swell, and the smaller of the two pyramids would be made larger. Others were more inclined to believe that these things had happened already, but that something had happened later which caused the planet to revert back to its original state.
The stairs down narrowed as they descended until there was only room for single file at the bottom. At the bottom of the stairs was a circular chamber with a stone pillar in the center. Topping the pillar was a dome with a glowing green hemisphere embedded in the side facing the door.
Roger was the first to attempt to enter the room; and the moment he stepped in, the green light on the pillar turned yellow and projected a cone of yellow light onto him. After a few moments, the lights started flashing green as the pillar emitted an ominous buzzing noise. Roger quickly exited the room, and the light turned back to green.
Kadia tried next; and after receiving the same scan of yellow light, the pillar produced a pleasant tone and the light turned back to green. The same thing happened when Garth entered. Postulating that the pillar was made to recognize humans, Roger removed his helmet and tried again; and sure enough, it allowed him into the room.
[Earlier in the rotation, we ret-conned Ganen’s original face reveal. The first time any of the PC’s saw his face was on Baroonda when he removed his helmet to spit on Ceril Haas. Kadia wasn’t there at the time, so it was actually here and now that she finally had her big disappointment.]
Curious to see if the pillar would react any differently to the helmet which they found in the interceptor, Ganen sent Mon back to the ship to get it; and he returned with Sekar as well. Sekar had been noticing that the Force flowed very strangely in this area; much more orderly and structured. Still not ready to reveal what she was, she said nothing about this.
Meanwhile, in the security chamber between the door and the pillar, the PC’s found yet another translucent cybernetic brain-case unmistakably similar to the one they found on Tatooine and the one which Governor Wolf already had in the lab on Velabri. Though the exterior was textured like a brain just like the other two, its overall shape was rectangular and very unnatural-looking. Connected to it by cables were a pair of bright red devices; one was a blaster and the other appeared to be a sensor unit of some description. At the basses of the devices (where the cables connected) were what appeared to be cybernetic wrist sockets just like the one which the red alien on Velabri had. The PC’s wondered if this equipment’s former owner was killed so long ago that its body had turned to dust or if the pillar was able to completely obliterate organic matter.
Beyond the security pillar was a dark and completely empty chamber with seven walls. After a while of probing and experimenting; the PC’s eventually realized that if any of them thought about the pyramids or thought about keys, an image would appear on one of the walls depicted two embedded triangles. Like the seventh picture up in the entry chamber, the smaller one was about 75% of the height of the larger one.
It was Roger who finally put forth that maybe the triangles were depicting a relative perspective of the two pyramids rather than their actual sizes. If one were to stand close to the smaller one, it would appear larger relative to the bigger one than it actually was. Furthermore; given the positioning of the pyramids, one would get such a perspective somewhere in the city.
There was a broad thoroughfare which started near the smaller pyramid and ran north nearly all the way through the city; and at a point where that thoroughfare widened into what had probably been some sort of ‘town square’, the smaller pyramid appeared (at ground level) to be about of 3/4 the size of the larger one behind it. In the center of that town square was an innocuous-looking dry well, and at the bottom of that well was a tunnel which led to the south. After passing through another security chamber much like the one under the Key Temple, the corridor passed right underneath both pyramids.
Just like the city, everything in the pyramids appeared to still be functional; though it was more clear than ever that they utilized some utterly unconventional sort of technology. The language in use clearly shared its roots with what was now known as Galactic Basic, but also clearly diverged from it a very long time ago. It was at least close enough for the PC’s to be able to get the gist of what some sign or readout said.
The larger pyramid appeared to be some sort of powerful terraforming device, though it seemed to only be the core of a larger system. As best as the PC’s could tell, it was supposed to be connected to nodes of some kind spread out all across the planet. For some reason, the pyramid was currently unable to communicate with any of those nodes.
The smaller pyramid, on the other hand, appeared to be a utility distribution center for the city. But it was in the uppermost chamber of that pyramid in which the PC’s made their most noteworthy discovery…
In an otherwise empty chamber at the apex of the pyramid was what appeared to be an ornate sarcophagus. Standing on end with its lid open about 45 degrees, there was no question that it strongly resembled the ‘statue’ in the fifth and sixth murals in the Key Temple. The interior was padded and lined with black fabric which was showing no signs of wear or deterioration.
Mon was the first person to throw caution (and common sense) to the wind, step inside, and close the lid. As the lid snapped shut, he immediately felt his body lighten as though he was floating. He could also see right through the lid; and though he see everything going on in the chamber (mostly other PC’s face-palming), he couldn’t hear a thing. When he suddenly realized that he could no longer see his body either, he got a little alarmed; and his desire to return to normal seemed to put him back on his feet and pop the lid open.
Mon scarcely got out before Garth jumped in; experiencing the same sensations after closing the lid. Thinking that this might be some kind of master control module for the pyramid, he began visualizing some of the other control areas he’d seen; trying to form a link or something. What happened instead was that the sarcophagus disappeared and rematerialized in the control area that he was visualizing. With another thought, he was able to take it right back to where he’d started.
Sekar was next, and decided to see just how far this thing could go. After a test run over to the main cargo hold of the Seventh Moon and back, she visualized the lab where she and the other PC’s had spoken with Governor Wolf and Vincent. Sure enough, the scene materialized around her. Though she couldn’t hear anything, she could clearly see panic suddenly running rampant through the area. All around her people in lab coats were dropping things, staring in shock, running, and so on. An alarm was sounded, and Sekar finally decided to pop back over to Gaumond when a squad of armed stormtroopers ran in.
Once everyone had had their fun, a heated argument began as to what they should do with the thing (which was very reminiscent of the ongoing argument about the creepy dagger). Thankfully, the majority were at least in agreement on the first two steps: to take it with them and to not hand it over to Governor Wolf (at least not immediately).
Month 3; Day 35
By the time the PC’s returned to Velabri late in the evening on the 35th, the naval presence in the system had nearly tripled since their last visit and everyone was on high security alert. The PC’s were able to get in touch with the governor, and they told him the truth up to and including finding the sarcophagus. Then then claimed that it had vanished while they were trying to figure out how to transport it. This very clever lie prompted Wolf to the conclusion that it must have reacted to their subconscious desire to get it back to his lab, and the PC’s managed to act surprised when he informed them that it had briefly shown up there (and was the cause of all the extra security). As to it disappearing again, he just assumed that it was reacting to being surrounded by armed hostiles.
The PC’s also asked about the killer droid, and Wolf informed them that his ground troops had taken it down. The remains, he said, had been turned over to ‘Vesa and Brock’ for examination. The governor paid them an additional 2000 and had their ship fueled up for them. Shortly after midnight, they exited the system.
Garth, Ganen, Mon, Roger, Kadia, and (Sekar) / [CP: 3.0]
Bevin had as awful week and decided not to play; Ruth had to work late.
Month 3; Day 31
Only moments after getting underway from Alpha 4 - 18, the PC’s were contacted by the leader of a flight of gunships which the governor had apparently sent out to check on them. After getting a very abbreviated sit-rep, the flight leader sent an element back to Alpha 1 to alert the governor and kept the other element on station to make sure that nothing exited the pressure dome. By the time the PC’s were about 1/3 of the way back, they saw more gunships plus several shuttles heading back towards the outpost.
After meeting with the governor and giving him a more detailed report, he paid them 1000 credits for their time and then offered them another job. “I’ve had all the information we have about that sketch of your ‘hive ship’ transmitted to your ship. If you’re willing to check it out and see what you can find out there; more money for you. Either way, your ship has already been refueled.”
The PC’s were back in orbit by lunch time and they caught Kadia up on what she’d missed. Though she’d never seen one, Kadia vaguely recalled having heard rumor of such droids being utilized by the Revan who were presently allied with the Hutt Cartels. “I think you guys could have taken him!”, Garth optimistically remarked of the droid.
The PC’s then looked over the information which Vincent had sent them…
The hive ship had been spotted on a planet which had been tentatively (but not yet officially) named ‘Gaumond’. It had been discovered in Month 7 of the previous year by an ISC scout team led by one Trakker Gaumond. It was a harsh desert planet; dotted here and there with ancient stone ruins but showing no current signs of intelligent life.
The largest set of ruins, which the explorers had nicknamed ‘The Capital’, was situated next to two enormous stone pyramids and was the area which they were exploring when the hive ship descended from the sky to the east. The ship came to a hover with its lowest point directly adjacent to a structure which they’d named ‘The Key Temple’: a stand-alone building located about a mile east of The Capital.
At that point; the scouts had all piled into their landing sphere, beat a hasty retreat back to their SkyBlind, and booked it back into hyperspace. One of their crewman drew a sketch of the ship next to the temple and had turned a copy of it over to the ISC. Trakker had since retired and his crew had dispersed.
Month 3; Day 33
Traveling along a barely-charted route with no nav beacon at the far end, the PC’s played it safe and traveled at around x8 standard speed. After a 50 hour flight, they reached Gaumond at around 14:00 on Day 33. A few scanning orbits revealed no indication of a 1200+ meter long vessel, and the PC’s descended towards the coordinates of ‘the capital’.
The area was laid out just as Trakker Gaumond’s notes had described. Just to the south of the stone city was a 300’ tall pyramid; and just south of that was a second pyramid nearly 500’ tall. About a mile east of the city and pyramids was the Key Temple, which was about 400’ tall and appeared to have been hewn from a big rock rather than constructed. Additionally; a couple hundred yards east of the city were a trio of what appeared to be starfighters parked on the ground. The PC’s decided that this was as good a place as any to set the Seventh Moon down as well.
The trio of fighters had obviously been abandoned for at least decades; possibly even centuries. Their fuel cells were completely dry, their landing skids had sunken a bit into the sand, and any markings which they might have had had long since faded. Judging by the relatives sizes of their weapons and engines, they appeared to be some sort of interceptors; probably roughly comparable to an A-Wing. Though their fundamental technology appeared to be ‘normal’, they clearly didn’t conform to any Republic-era standards.
Using a jury-rigged power source, the PC’s were able to get one of the cockpits open. Labeling on the controls had long since faded, but the chair and control layout indicated that they were built for humans or a species of similar size and anatomy. A slightly stylized helmet sat in a little cubby hole above the seat back, and the PC’s grabbed it and tossed it onto their own ship.
The PC’s next checked out the city, and quickly found it to be strange to say the least. Though completely empty of anything which could be moved, the stone buildings all contained a range of ‘built-in appliances’ (running water, lights, air conditioning, etc) which were all still working! The PC’s, however, could detect absolutely no EM signatures of any kind; nor could they discern any recognizable mechanisms by which any of these things were operating! Clearly they were dealing with some fundamentally different kind of technology than most of the galaxy used; and while Garth put forth the possibility that the machines were somehow harnessing the Force, Ganen vocally dismissed the idea as preposterous.
Among the items they found was what appeared to be a trash receptacle which could rapidly disintegrate organic matter. “This is going to be called a Garth Can!”, Garth eagerly announced.
After attempting and failing to find any way into either of the pyramids, the PC’s trekked across the sand to the Key Temple; apparently so named because of a large window above the large entrance which was shaped like a low-tech key. The majority of the sizeable structure was just hollowed out space; the walls riddled with windows to allow plenty of sunlight in.
On the ground floor was a large circular chamber with seven rather simplistic murals painted on the wall; starting on the west side of the entrance and wrapping all the way around to the east side. Below the 4th painting (directly across from the entrance) was a small archway leading to a set of stairs going down. From left to right, the murals depicted the following…
The first depicted a silver city in the background and ten people in the foreground. The people were divided into two groups (five each) which were facing each other.
The second showed the same city and the same people on the right, but the people on the left now had silver faces and monochromatic bodies of different hues (red, blue, yellow, green, and purple).
The third again showed the same city, with the colorful silver-faced people still on the left. The people on the right, however, were now gone; and what appeared to be a small fleet of starships could be seen in the sky heading to the right (‘out of the picture’).
The fourth picture depicted the five normal-looking people now in a desert. They were standing on the left side of the painting facing to the right.
The fifth depicted the same five normal-looking people in the desert facing right. A sixth normal-looking individual now stood on the right side of the painting looking back at them. Directly next to the newcomer (on the opposite side from the people) was what appeared to be an ornate statue. The statue wore a headdress which was unmistakably of a similar aesthetic style as the helmet which the PC’s had found in the abandoned interceptor.
The sixth imaged retained the desert, the original five people, the newcomer, and the statue. Depicted in the background were now a stone city and two pyramids (with the smaller one in front of the larger one).
In the seventh and final picture, there were now ten normal-looking people on the left facing right. The pyramids and city were still there, though the newcomer and the statue were both gone. Furthermore, the surrounding desert appeared to have been replaced by verdant fields.
Though it escaped most of the PC’s attention, Mon noticed that the smaller of the two pyramids appeared larger in the seventh picture than it did in the sixth. In the sixth, it was about 3/5 the size of the larger one; which reflected their actual relative sizes. In the seventh, however, it was closer to 3/4.
The PC’s generally agreed that the first four pictures depicted an exodus from a high-tech planet where the people were being replaced with robots or cyborgs (which might possibly relate to the cybernetically-augmented aliens which they’d been encountering) and a subsequent arrival there on Gaumond. The fifth and sixth, they guessed, depicted the arrival of someone who brought them new technology with which they’d built the city and the pyramids.
The seventh was where there was some disagreement. Some believed that they were ‘at six’ and that the seventh image was a prophecy (or just a hopeful projection) of what would happen in the future: the planet would be terraformed, the population would thrive and swell, and the smaller of the two pyramids would be made larger. Others were more inclined to believe that these things had happened already, but that something had happened later which caused the planet to revert back to its original state.
The stairs down narrowed as they descended until there was only room for single file at the bottom. At the bottom of the stairs was a circular chamber with a stone pillar in the center. Topping the pillar was a dome with a glowing green hemisphere embedded in the side facing the door.
Roger was the first to attempt to enter the room; and the moment he stepped in, the green light on the pillar turned yellow and projected a cone of yellow light onto him. After a few moments, the lights started flashing green as the pillar emitted an ominous buzzing noise. Roger quickly exited the room, and the light turned back to green.
Kadia tried next; and after receiving the same scan of yellow light, the pillar produced a pleasant tone and the light turned back to green. The same thing happened when Garth entered. Postulating that the pillar was made to recognize humans, Roger removed his helmet and tried again; and sure enough, it allowed him into the room.
[Earlier in the rotation, we ret-conned Ganen’s original face reveal. The first time any of the PC’s saw his face was on Baroonda when he removed his helmet to spit on Ceril Haas. Kadia wasn’t there at the time, so it was actually here and now that she finally had her big disappointment.]
Curious to see if the pillar would react any differently to the helmet which they found in the interceptor, Ganen sent Mon back to the ship to get it; and he returned with Sekar as well. Sekar had been noticing that the Force flowed very strangely in this area; much more orderly and structured. Still not ready to reveal what she was, she said nothing about this.
Meanwhile, in the security chamber between the door and the pillar, the PC’s found yet another translucent cybernetic brain-case unmistakably similar to the one they found on Tatooine and the one which Governor Wolf already had in the lab on Velabri. Though the exterior was textured like a brain just like the other two, its overall shape was rectangular and very unnatural-looking. Connected to it by cables were a pair of bright red devices; one was a blaster and the other appeared to be a sensor unit of some description. At the basses of the devices (where the cables connected) were what appeared to be cybernetic wrist sockets just like the one which the red alien on Velabri had. The PC’s wondered if this equipment’s former owner was killed so long ago that its body had turned to dust or if the pillar was able to completely obliterate organic matter.
Beyond the security pillar was a dark and completely empty chamber with seven walls. After a while of probing and experimenting; the PC’s eventually realized that if any of them thought about the pyramids or thought about keys, an image would appear on one of the walls depicted two embedded triangles. Like the seventh picture up in the entry chamber, the smaller one was about 75% of the height of the larger one.
It was Roger who finally put forth that maybe the triangles were depicting a relative perspective of the two pyramids rather than their actual sizes. If one were to stand close to the smaller one, it would appear larger relative to the bigger one than it actually was. Furthermore; given the positioning of the pyramids, one would get such a perspective somewhere in the city.
There was a broad thoroughfare which started near the smaller pyramid and ran north nearly all the way through the city; and at a point where that thoroughfare widened into what had probably been some sort of ‘town square’, the smaller pyramid appeared (at ground level) to be about of 3/4 the size of the larger one behind it. In the center of that town square was an innocuous-looking dry well, and at the bottom of that well was a tunnel which led to the south. After passing through another security chamber much like the one under the Key Temple, the corridor passed right underneath both pyramids.
Just like the city, everything in the pyramids appeared to still be functional; though it was more clear than ever that they utilized some utterly unconventional sort of technology. The language in use clearly shared its roots with what was now known as Galactic Basic, but also clearly diverged from it a very long time ago. It was at least close enough for the PC’s to be able to get the gist of what some sign or readout said.
The larger pyramid appeared to be some sort of powerful terraforming device, though it seemed to only be the core of a larger system. As best as the PC’s could tell, it was supposed to be connected to nodes of some kind spread out all across the planet. For some reason, the pyramid was currently unable to communicate with any of those nodes.
The smaller pyramid, on the other hand, appeared to be a utility distribution center for the city. But it was in the uppermost chamber of that pyramid in which the PC’s made their most noteworthy discovery…
In an otherwise empty chamber at the apex of the pyramid was what appeared to be an ornate sarcophagus. Standing on end with its lid open about 45 degrees, there was no question that it strongly resembled the ‘statue’ in the fifth and sixth murals in the Key Temple. The interior was padded and lined with black fabric which was showing no signs of wear or deterioration.
Mon was the first person to throw caution (and common sense) to the wind, step inside, and close the lid. As the lid snapped shut, he immediately felt his body lighten as though he was floating. He could also see right through the lid; and though he see everything going on in the chamber (mostly other PC’s face-palming), he couldn’t hear a thing. When he suddenly realized that he could no longer see his body either, he got a little alarmed; and his desire to return to normal seemed to put him back on his feet and pop the lid open.
Mon scarcely got out before Garth jumped in; experiencing the same sensations after closing the lid. Thinking that this might be some kind of master control module for the pyramid, he began visualizing some of the other control areas he’d seen; trying to form a link or something. What happened instead was that the sarcophagus disappeared and rematerialized in the control area that he was visualizing. With another thought, he was able to take it right back to where he’d started.
Sekar was next, and decided to see just how far this thing could go. After a test run over to the main cargo hold of the Seventh Moon and back, she visualized the lab where she and the other PC’s had spoken with Governor Wolf and Vincent. Sure enough, the scene materialized around her. Though she couldn’t hear anything, she could clearly see panic suddenly running rampant through the area. All around her people in lab coats were dropping things, staring in shock, running, and so on. An alarm was sounded, and Sekar finally decided to pop back over to Gaumond when a squad of armed stormtroopers ran in.
Once everyone had had their fun, a heated argument began as to what they should do with the thing (which was very reminiscent of the ongoing argument about the creepy dagger). Thankfully, the majority were at least in agreement on the first two steps: to take it with them and to not hand it over to Governor Wolf (at least not immediately).
Month 3; Day 35
By the time the PC’s returned to Velabri late in the evening on the 35th, the naval presence in the system had nearly tripled since their last visit and everyone was on high security alert. The PC’s were able to get in touch with the governor, and they told him the truth up to and including finding the sarcophagus. Then then claimed that it had vanished while they were trying to figure out how to transport it. This very clever lie prompted Wolf to the conclusion that it must have reacted to their subconscious desire to get it back to his lab, and the PC’s managed to act surprised when he informed them that it had briefly shown up there (and was the cause of all the extra security). As to it disappearing again, he just assumed that it was reacting to being surrounded by armed hostiles.
The PC’s also asked about the killer droid, and Wolf informed them that his ground troops had taken it down. The remains, he said, had been turned over to ‘Vesa and Brock’ for examination. The governor paid them an additional 2000 and had their ship fueled up for them. Shortly after midnight, they exited the system.