Twin Suns and Treasure Maps

The saga of the good ship It’s a Sex Thing continues in our Traveller campaign. The crew have reached the world of Berlichingen, where they have come to sell cargo and deposit passengers whilst on their way back to Zuflucht. This session, they find a treasure map.

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They land at Berlichingen on 1106-149. It’s just a D-class starport so there’s not much there. Madeleine began the process of finder buyers for their cargo, which was due to bring in a sizeable profit. They said farewell to Michelle Mandeville and Karen Moore, the Imperium-deniers, and as she left the journalist Clara Lang was spotted putting some sort of device onto Karen’s handbag – possibly a bug or tracking device. The PCs kept quiet about that, but took note in case Clara tried the same with any of them.

On leaving the ship, the PCs headed for Spin City, the world’s capital and only entertainment centre. They were immediately accosted by sellers of fossils, ranging from small trinkets to large sheets of rock containing multiple fossils of the original life forms of this now dead world. Zanobia failed to spot if any were fake, but they decided to spend Cr800 on getting something that could be polished, covered in clear plastic and used as a table aboard the ship. I am trying to give each world something unique which can be remembered, rather than just being a set of stats and trade goods.

They then decided to take a ride on the train for a trip around the equator. The best way to relax after being locked up on a starship for a week is to spend another 5 days being locked up on a train. At least the train had windows, and they could get out to stretch their legs at various stops.

This also gave them a chance to meet strangers and talk to people, and they picked up a few rumours and bits of information.

Someone has been showing off some artefacts they claim to have found in the inner system. They say they have proof of pre-Solomani colonisation of the Islands.

There’s a new singing/sex/bondage show on at the Dead Poet’s Club. It’s really good, if you’re into that sort of thing.

There are people wanting to smuggle out gemstones. They are making them available at half price, but companies won’t be happy if anyone is caught.

Shinzaro is immediately interested in finding the Dead Poet’s Club once they get back to the city, and Khadashi gets the name of someone he can contact about the artefacts.

By 155 they where back at the city, and Khadashi tracks down Finn at a bar, who turns out not to have the artefacts, but is an engineer who did some maintenance on a scout ship called the Orca that had heat damage to the hull. It had been exploring the inner system, and he sort-of-accidentally-may-have downloaded the flight logs which show exactly where it went. The pilot, Iigurdikaa Khamlu, was later trying to sell some technological artefacts he claimed to have found in system.

So Khadashi paid Finn Cr500 for the logs of the Orca, plus another Cr100 for exclusivity.

Back at the ship, Madeleine hasn’t found much in the way of trade to take to Topas, other than some possible pharmaceuticals, since Topas is always short of anti-radiation meds. There are a number of people looking for low berths, and one young lady dressed in chic designer wear looking for middle passage. It turns out that she is Gyr, a singer, who Khadashi heard mentioned when he was in the bar as being really good. She doesn’t seem bothered by the plan of a short detour before leaving for Topas, but did seem nervous when getting on board and immediately shut herself away in her cabin.

So they headed inwards towards the first planet of the system, where the flight logs showed that the Orca had stopped off, and apparently dropped deep down beneath the planet’s surface. ‘Planet’ was probably a big word, since it was barely 500km in diameter, little more than a big asteroid.

A good Sensors check by Zanobia and they spotted a sink hole of some kind that went at least 2km down beneath the surface, but was barely 100m wide. Shinzaro though had no problems dropping their Far Trader down through the hole. About a kilometre down, the sensors picked up some sort of construction around the rim of the hole, plus were now detecting a floor about 3km deep which was reflecting rock, ice and metal.

Hovering at the construction, it was a walkway around the edge, with a large set of doors in one wall which appeared to have had explosives applied to them – enough to make a hole through. Clara was having a field day – videoing the crew as they made the exploration, and getting lots of footage of what they found.

It was around now, as they were prepping to leave the ship and explore, that Khadashi heard sobbing coming from Gyr’s cabin. She seemed to be in something of a state, but he coached her out and Madeleine took her aside to have a chat with her.

So Khadashi and Zanobia went out in Vacc Suits whilst Shinzao kept the ship steady. The controls on the door had script on them that was Aslan, and seemed like standard pressure door controls. Carefully making their way inside, there was a big empty room with mechanisms along the ceiling for holding and moving shipping containers. This had apparently been some form of storage depot.

Examination of the machinery showed that it wasn’t quite Imperium spec – the sizes weren’t quite right, and the Aslan switched to Imperium standard shipping containers sometime after the start of the Third Imperium. This was consistent with the site dating back to the Long Night at least.

Back aboard the ship, Madeleine had discovered from Gyr that she was heading back to her parents on Topas because of abuse she’d suffered from the boss of the Grand Mosaic club where she’d been singing. She seemed more worried about facing an “I told you so” from her parents who hadn’t wanted her to go off.

The crew discuss giving her free passage in order to get her home.

But first they want to go deeper into the hole to find out what’s at the bottom. That is something that can wait until next week.