The Ancestor's Tomb

Act One: A Noble’s Dilemma

Shadows of the Past

Servalan LiHalan visiting her homeworld of Kish after completing her second Imperial Tour, was asked by her uncle Gregorius to assemble a small team of professionals to resolve “a matter of grave import for the family”. Servalan put the word out that she was recruiting and after holding many interview in her luxury hotel room in the city of Escoral, assembled her team consisting of Kelly Marr of the Charioteers, Adoline of the Engineers, Marcos Ti Rhea a Free Trader and Mal Urquel of the Escatonic Order. As they were due to depart, they were joined by the mysterious Velonia an Ur-Obun priest who advised he would accompany them “for the safeguarding of their souls”.

Servalan drove them to her uncle’s estate outside the city and they were ushered into an office strewn with papers and a camp-bed set up in one corner. Servalan headed across the room to a screened-off area where Gregorius was being hastily dressed by his manservant. Glancing at the papers on the desk Mal and Adoline spotted that most of them related to Li Halan family history while some appeared to be occult references. Velonia meanwhile noted the walls around the desk were covered in religious symbols and icons.

Emerging somewhat excitedly from behind the screen, Gregorius launched into an explanation of the mission to Servalan. One of their ancestors, Gilles LeFanu LiHalan, had used one of his holdings -  a remote mining colony on a moon near the Malignatus system -  as cover for a diabolic cult. The cult was eventually suppressed, but Gregorius had discovered in some old family papers that Gilles had been buried alive with a mysterious amulet that had allegedly allowed him to summon demons. Gregorius wished them to recover this amulet and return it to him, that it might be destroyed with the appropriate Church rituals and the stain of it’s possession removed from the family’s honour.

Suspicious of his possible motives,  Velonia scanned the elderly scholar with his Psi ability, but discovered he appeared genuine  in  his motives. Gregorius advised he had arranged transport for them and the ship would depart the spaceport at midnight. Which, as Servalan observed, still left plenty of time for afternoon tea!

Act Two: Descent Into Darkness

The Village and The Graveyard

The trip to the old LiHalan colony was uneventful  and, after being told by the captain of their transport that he would "return in 48 hours and wait for 5", they debarked. Marcos set his watch to countdown the minutes, to make sure they didn't miss their ride! Led by Adoline, and with Servalan taking up the rear, they stepped down the gangway out onto the moon's surface. The moon had obviously been heavily terra-formed in the past, and they stood in lush grass dimly lit by the reflected sunlight from the  gas giant they were orbiting. Ahead of them about half-a mile or so they could see what looked like ruins -  so they headed that way, firing up their flashlights so they could see.
 
As they approached the ruins they could see that most  of them were fairly small stone cottages, though there were a couple of larger buildings forming what was once the town square. Many of the buildings walls still stood, though from most the roofs were missing and all were heavily overgrown. As they moved forward, each of them became increasingly uneasy, Servalan and Mal relying on their military training to quiet their unease. The two priests looked at each other, suspecting this area was prime territory for husks!
 
One of the larger buildings, in the centre of town was little more than a large pile of rubble, but suspecting this was once a large manor house Servalan headed for it, Kelly meanwhile headed for what looked like some kind of assembly hall across the square which was relatively intact save from the collapsed roof.  Sifting carefully through the rubble, they found several skeletons and plenty of evidence that the people had died fighting and killing each other. In what she termed the "Village Hall", Kelly found more evidence of slaughter as well as some evidence that some of the survivors had then perished when the roof collapsed. Velonia ensured that any bones they exposed were swiftly reburied with a hastily muttered prayer to the Pancreator.

His fellow priest, accompanied by Adoline and Marcos, headed through the village to where a vast graveyard, containing far more graves that would be needed for a small settlement, stretched out across the fields, to where a huge mausoleum stood on a small hill in the centre.
 
Their feelings of unease were even stronger here, Marcos in particular feeling the strain. When the others eventually joined them Velonia noticed Marcos' discomfort and took particular care to bolster her comrade's Spirit with  a series of stirring quotes from Holy Writ.  Mal led the way across the graveyard noting that, somewhat oddly, the gravestones appeared to list the various sins of the deceased as well as their name. He also noted the list of sins recorded grew longer and more serious as they approached the mausoleum.

As they entered the mausoleum after summoning up their courage, their flashlights were instantly extinguished to little more than pinpricks of light. Fortunately Marcos had brought several torches which flared up and lit the interior with flickering flame. The  mausoleum was decorated with many statues and unpleasant bas-reliefs depicting demons variously tormenting humans.
 
At the far end of the chamber was huge statue of a four armed demon, covered in unpleasant looking dark stains, which held up the ceiling of the immense chamber. In front of the statue was a dais in the centre of which lay a slightly askew marble slab into which someone had driven several metal hoops. It was clear that beneath the slab lay a void of some kind. Kelly spotted some other metal hoops had been driven into the wall near the statue and speculated that someone had used them to create a pulley arrangement with which they could move the marble slab. With Adoline's help and engineering acumen,  Kelly used the ropes they had brought to jury-rig their own pulley. Even with the help of the pulley, it still took nearly all of their combined strength to move the huge marble slab.
 
When the cover eventually removed, the void below exposed th echarnel reek of the grave which  made all of them gag. Eventually Mal and Velonia led the way down, Servalan folowed, but unfortunately slipped on the steep mould-covered stone steps. Velonia, immediately below her managed to step aside, unfortunately this meant Servelan hit Mal and she tumbled with the Brother Battle down the steps.

As they got to their feet,disentangling themselves, they looked around warily. In the light of the torch Velonai held halfway up the stairs, the  tunnel in which they stood was dimly lit. It seemed to be some kind of ossuary with large numbers of what appeared to be human bones embedded in the walls. There was unsavoury looking mould growing on the bones,which their fall had seemingly disturbed, casting spores into the foetid air. Immediately Mal and Sevalan covered their faces, followed by the others. Marcos, obviously still shaken, was a litlle slow in following suit but suddenly, as he breathed-in the spores, found the tiredness and fear he had been feeling seeping away.

Mal led the way down the bone-lined tunnel, which eventually led to a circular chamber from which six other passageways radiated. Moving forward in the dim light from Marcos's torch some distance behind him, he stumbled over something in the muddy ground - a body! As he got to his feet, he froze, as he heard the disctinct sound of a wheezing breath....

Act Three - Tomb Raiders

The Autopsy Temple

Before Mal could react, the body jerked upright and screamed. Grabbing at Mal, he shouted what sounded like “Run!”  - before trying to bite the Brother Battle’s face off!

As the second body lurched to its feel also screaming incoherently, Adoline charged forward, drawing her broadsword. Kelly meanwhile  manoeuvred to where she could get a clear shot in. Somewhat disturbed by this turn of events, Velonia moved forward with the torch to ensure her colleagues had sufficient light.

Fortunately as their opponents were armed with mothing more dangerous than an entrenching tool, and their orange jumpsuits proved ineffectual armour against the attacks of the Party and the party quickly triumphed with only minor injuries.

As the bodies fell to the floor, the charnel stench of putrefaction instantly filled the room. When the bodies twitched in their death throes, for a second Kelly An Adoline thought they say  a vaporous cloud in the faint outline of a human form hover over the body. Then it was as if a breeze cleared the room, the bodies went limp and all was still.

After treating their wounds as best they could, they continued down the  bone-lined corridors of the underground necropolis. Suddenly they came across what looked like the corpse of a priest of some kind, propped against the wall, surrounded by an artistic display of flesh, bone, and muscle. Leaving this gristly sight behind, they followed a corridor lined with ribcages to what looked like an underground temple dominated by large autopsy table on which stood a lamp that emitted a pale violet light.

In the flickering torchlight they could see figures in orange jumpsuits moving about, they were wearing goggles which also emitted a faint violet light which looked eerily unnerving in the darkness. Mal strode straight into the room and confronted one of them. Predicatably, the response was  belligerent, the man insisting that they were archaeologists, had a contract, were on Scravers  Guild business and ended by asking them to leave.

The conversation, such as it was,  went round in circles for a few minutes, none of the Party noticing that three of the other orange jumpsuit clad figures were surreptitiously drawing blasters. Eventually Velonia, exasperatedly said that they were here under the authority of House LiHalan -  implying that trumped whatever contact the Scravers might have.

At that, all hell broke lose, the Scravers leader diving for cover, as his men opened fire. In the short battle that followed all of the Party were wounded, Velonia quite badly, before their opponents were slain. In the aftermath they began patching up their wounds and stripping the corpses of any valuables.

The Armory, The Library and The Museum

Mal led the way forward through the far exit. As he came to a three way intersection he saw a shadowy figure beckoning to him, but resolutely ignored it0 Adoline however was unable to resist and moved up the corridor to be confronted by a gruesome apparition that caused her to flee in fear – rushing past a concerned Kelly who had followed her.

AS they progressed, trying to keep up with Mal who seemed to be in something of a hurry,  Velonia desperately tried to calm the terrified Engineer, with the soothing message of the Pancreator – to  little avail. As they went through the labyrinthine tunnels occasionally ancient security cameras leaped into leaf regarding them with beady red-lights, and the grinding of ancient gears.  They ran into another patch of the hallucinogenic mould that seemed to badly affect Mal for a while before, to Kelly’s relief, the Brother Battle shook off the effects.

Eventually they arrived at what was some kind of armoury, but it was clear that the Scavers had been there before them , as most of the items save for some suits of ornate armour and an armoured case containing a Flux Sword, were gone.

Nearby they found a Library, with thousands of data storage devices. Kelly and Adoline managed to active the holographic Librarian who was more than willing to answer any general questions and specific questions relating to the LiHalan colony, Gilles, various members of the family their retainers and especially the colonists and their litany of sins.

Eventually, Mal got bored with this and he and Velonia wandered off, not before spotting that the entire Library had been rigged with explosives, which according to Kelly and Adoline were of recent manufacture. Kelly and Adoline followed them down a short corridor which led to a huge chamber.

The ceiling of this chamber was vaulted stone, the walls not lined with  bones and clearly were unfinished. Along the right wall, a series of six statues of noblemen from the LeFanu lineage stood. In front of each statue was a low pedestal. On the last pedestal a preserved mummified head mounted on a marble base. On the left wall a long low shelf stood with a series of the heads, each one meticulously preserved in a different facial expression depicting sin.

At the end of the chamber  a central dais held a marble statue similar to the four-armed guardian beast that held up the ceiling of the mausoleum above, behind which a massive metal door stood. Bolted to the wall on either side of the guardian statue, identical crucified statues hung from metal shackles. On close examination Mal determined that the statues were covered in skin that has been flayed and stripped, revealing intricate and exquisite musculature that had clearly been preserved, sewn and stitched together.

They quickly determined they needed to match the heads with the statues, but quickly determined that none of the heads belonged to the nobleman depicted in the statue. They spent some time randomly placing heads on pedestals before they eventually hit on the idea of using the resources in the Library to identify the pairings.

After some work with the holographic Liberian they eventually determined the heads belonged to the favoured retainers of the noblemen and manged to match them up.

As they placed the final head on the final pedestal, the shackles on the two crucified “statues” were released. The flayed bodies landed resoundingly on the stone floor and then adopted a kneeling posture at which the began to lift the dais, revealing a sloping passageway beneath.

As they began to move towards the passageway, a group of orange jumpsuit clad figures charged into the room behind them, blasters firing!

Act Four - Flee, Flee Flee

The Guardian Demon

As the archaeologists fired wildly, Kelley, Adoline and Servalan fired back.. Mal and Velonia meanwhile header for the ramp that led under the dais holding the giant statue, finding themselves briefly stopped by the cold hand of fear at the top. The Party’s firing was much more accurate than that of the Scravers and soon the all lay dead. The bodies were quickly stripped of anything useful, including what looked like a detonator which Servalan claimed, and they joined the others in the area below.

The area below was a huge cave, which in the light to the low light goggles contained a stone sarcophagus and tow unlit braziers. As they approach the braziers flared into life, nearly blinding them through the goggles. While Mal and Kelley retreated back to the top of the ramp to guard against any further intrusions, Servalan carefully examined the tomb of her ancestor. The sarcophagus was completely unmarked, a slab of black marble forming the lid. With the help of the others she was eventually able to shift the lid revealing  the tomb empty save for a winding sheet and a black square amulet with a small candle in the centre. Unable to resist, Servalan went over to one of the braziers and lit the candle, immediately plunging the whole area in unnatural darkness.

Above, Mal was rudely interrupted as a huge fist slammed into him -  the guardian statue was if fact not a statue but an actual demon of the outer dark. Kelley called out a warning to the others and took to her heels, the guardian following with unnatural quickness, its multiple arms slamming in to her and Mal several times. Mal’s armour took the brunt of it’s blows, but the more lightly armoured Kelley was badly wounded. They both returned  fire to little effect as the blaster bolts seemed to glance of the demons stony skin.

Far below, Servalan stood stock still as the ghostly form of Giles appeared before her offering to teach her the secrets of his Power, for a moment Servalan seemed tempted, but when informed the price would be her friend’s souls, she quickly backed off, heading to the ramp, followed by Giles’ s silent laughter echoing in her mind. Adoline and Velonia headed up the ramp, Servalan following. Adoline started firing at the deamon, to as little effect as the others, but also manged to get to Kelley and adminsiter soem healing, before joining the others in trying to flee from the demon. The demon was unnaturally fast, ad it was no easy task, Velonia got too close and one of the demon’s blows, stove-in the cleric’s skull. Adoline tried to rescue the fallen cleric, but quickly realising she was dead fled with the others.

They ran in terror through the twisting corridors, revisiting some of the rooms they had crossed earlier, running unheeding through several clumps of the hallucinogenic spores, which seemed to speed on their efforts. Being injured, Kelley was slowest and at one point the demon nearly caught her, but Mal hung back to protect her and Adoline helped her limp forward. As they neared the exit, the apparitions that haunted the complex made a final attempt to possess them, but no one succumbed, and they fled up the stairs to the cathedral one step ahead of the beast. As Mal finally reached them, Servalan pressed the detonator and they hear a distant series of explosions below as the tunnel began to collapse. They quickly exited the cathedral, which was itself staring to collapse as its foundations were undermined.

As dawn began to break they could see a light in the sky as their ship began its descent. Adoline quickly commed them warning the pilot to prep for a quick departure as it was a hot landing zone. As they made their way to the landing area, they heard a crash of masonry and an incoherent roar, as the demon burst through the masonry that they hoped had buried it for ever. Running as if their very souls depended on it, which it did, they dashed into the ship and ordered an immediate dust-off before the demon could get to them.

As the ship ascended into the sky,  the demon raging impotently below them, Servalan, clutching the amulet, thought she heard the faint sound of laughter in some distant corner of her mind.