Posted by Gamemaster Christopher Bennett (GMT) in Main Sim: Planet Surface

Posted by Lieutenant Junior Grade Cassidy Abrams (Chief of Security) in Main Sim: Planet Surface

Posted by Lieutenant Zeke Drake (Chief Medical Officer) in Main Sim: Planet Surface
Posted by… suppressed (6) by the Post Ghost! 👻

(snip)

Abrams wasn’t able to see and her scans didn’t indicate that anything was wrong. As she got closer to the tree line, she could tell several well worn paths that lead from the clearing into the woods. One of paths showed signs of being used in the last day or so, and had size 13 human feet. They lead into the woods.

Zeke went to make his way to where the graveyard was. He flipped open his trusty medical tricorder to get some scans and compare those to the baseline readings that he already had on file.

CMO

Zeke’s scans would show that in the humanoid graveyard were several species from the Alpha quadrant. All of them in various states of decomposition. The oldest was about 200 years old and the youngest, a klingon male seemed to have only died in the last few weeks. There were humans, Vulcans, Andorians, Klingons, a dozen bodies in all. All of them were buried between 5 and 6 feet deep and all male. Over each grave was a bunch of stones set in different patterns. Some metallic readings were also coming from the bodies. They appeared to be weapons, some crude, some finely made, but all weapons. However, the cause of death was all the same, decapitation.

-GMT

Zeke remembered that Abrams had asked for everyone to leave their combadges open! So, he tapped his badge and reported his findings to the away team at large.

CMO

Avik pressed her comm badge to an open channel and waited until Abrams did her sweep. Her eyes followed the officer stepping down from the shuttle and onto the planet’s surface. Her eyes lifted up to scan the area, but no signs of life. She didn’t attempt her limited telepathy for concern about what she might discover. The tension was thick in the XO while she waited.

When the area was determined to be clear, she moved out to stand with the rest. She listened to Zeke’s observations with his tricorder and digested the information. Avik walked over one of the tombstones and scanned a copy of the stone patterns. She then compared it to their data banks. She wanted to see if the patterns matched with anything in relation to the victims’ various cultures.

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

OOC: Just checking, but did Cass’ scans of the area show anything different than the CMO’s?

~Linds

None of the stone patterns matched any known pattern except from Earth. The oldest graves had stones in a cross shape, much like you would find on earth, however, the patterns seemed to evolve over the years, the newest grave seemed to have a pattern that one might find if one tried to combine a human and klingon burial practice.

Outside of the foot prints leading into the forest, all other scans showed nothing unusual.

-GMT

“So I have to wonder,” Zeke asked aloud (almost as if he was asking himself) “… Why did our mysterious planetary researcher cut all the heads off of these people? Then went to all of the trouble to carefully bury their bodies! If it was me, I’d stick their heads on pikes as a warning to keep out.”

CMO

“You’re assuming he wanted to keep people out.”

Avik didn’t agree with Zeke’s out loud statements about keeping people away. There were more effective ways to keep people away from the burial site and none included displaying the heads. No, she didn’t believe he wanted to keep people away. She rose upright, her scan complete.

“It seems he was doing this for a while. The burial designs are mostly earth-based with the last one being a mix of Klingon and Human burial traditions. I do recall once reading in human history that decapitation was believed to prevent spirits from bothering the living. However, it was a cause of death. Another theory is that this is a ritual sacrifice.”

she had read up on the matter once and found herself shudder inwardly at the brutal executions.

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

OCC: Fixed a typo

-GMT

OOC: Thanks.
-Janice B.

“Whoever he is, at least he’s shown some respect for the bodies,” Zeke said. “He could have just left everyone to rot. Or simply used an energy weapon to disintegrate them. That wouldn’t have left any traces.”

CMO

Cassidy rejoined them. ” All clear. There area few paths leading away from here. One used just a day ago that leads into the forest. Human, likely male judging on the large size of the feet.”

She frowned as she looked at the readings from around them. “Heads?” She shuddered. “Our best bet may be to explore that path into the forest. Find out where he went.”

Abrams, COS

Avik turned to Cassidy, seeing her return from her survey of the terrain. When she described someone walking one trail a day ago, she immediately thought back to their fleeing culprit. The scans indicated he was human. She was pulled from her thoughts when Abrams suggested they check out the recently used path into the forest.

“I agree. These graves have given all the information they could for now. The path might help provide more pieces to this puzzle. Lead the way.” Avik didn’t move until Abrams moved, ensuring their CoS was in front first in order to combat any trouble they might encounter.

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr

Zeke took up the rear. “I’m certain that he’ll come to us when he’s ready,” he said. “I think that he saw us land.”

CMO

“If so, then he might come back this way,” Cass said as she headed towards the forest path, weapon at the ready and set to stun. She took in the sights and sounds, trying to keep her body relaxed so even the smallest sound didn’t make her jump. There was such a thing as being too focused.

Abrams, COS

The path leading into the forest was well worn, appearing to have been traveled for many years. Branches and trees looked like they had been trimmed to give the path a more open feel. It continued on from the grove about 200 meters before coming to a small clearing in the forest. Under the dense foliage of trees above, a 15 square meter area seemed to have been cleared for a small campsite. The campsite was divided by paths and grown bushes into what looked like 5 different areas, however, only two had a sort of shelter in them.

Both shelters were primitive in nature, consisting of large sticks, greenery propped up a triangular fashion, but were larger and looked big enough for two or thee people to sleep in. One of the shelters was in serious disrepair. There were openings in the roof, and several supports were cracking or falling down. The other shelter looked well taken care of, and when comparing the look of the paths, still appeared to be active.

In the center of the campsite was a fire pit, which looked like it had been used many hours ago. There were large logs around the fire where 8 or 9 people might sit comfortably. Leaning against a propped up log was what looked like several tools, some made simply of wood, others of metal, mainly bronze or copper. The remains of what looked like a local deer was sitting on a bed of sticks near the fire. Next to the animal were a few bowls made of combination of wood and animal skin. Each held a different kind of local fruit and wild vegetables. They looked like they had been picked in the last day or so.

At the opposite end of the camp, several other paths, some more worn then others disappeared off into the woods.

-GMT

Avik walked a bit behind Abrams, her steps attempted to not disrupt any foliage or dead branches. Her eyes were peeled for anything ahead of them. For a moment, she tried to recall the location of any native villages or camps. Before they went more than a few meters in, Avik remembered there being a campsite not far from the gravesite.

“We might want to proceed with caution. If I recall the tricorder scans, there’s a makeshift campsite not far from the graveyard. It could be from the man or the locals. Any sign or evidence of it being the locals, we fall back to the shuttle.” Avik stated, unsure if they should continue the path. She wondered if they should’ve followed the man from the start.

–XO, Avik, Lt. Cmdr