The Caverns of Tantalus

A New Space Templars Adventure

In neutral space between the Federation and the Empire, disaster has befallen a Federation scientific expedition. On the planet Tantalus, the scientists had been studying the indigenous life forms when a series of severe meteor showers forced their evacuation. Unfortunately, some prized research was left behind. It is of such a sensitive nature that it cannot fall into the hands of Imperial agents. Sending the Federation military to the planet could spark a major confrontation with the Empire so the Temple has volunteered to send two of their agents. The task has fallen to Brother Rugen and his trusty robotic sidekick Tee.

[Note: The adventure outline can be found here.]

Here is a summary of Rugen's video record:

Tee and I landed upon Tantalus very close to the caverns that housed the scientific station. We cloaked our vessel and proceeded on foot to the entrance. We encountered no danger along the way.

When we entered the caverns, Tee immediately spotted a trail of brownish liquid upon the ground. He bent to investigate it, touching his finger to the viscous fluid. His eyes performed a spectrographic scan and with his lips he "tasted" the liquid, performing additional scans.

"Bad news," he reported, "M351 oil."

"Imperial," I replied anxiously. They had obviously arrived before us and had some machinery in the caverns.

"It looks like they knew where they were going. We can follow it."

[Note: I rolled a boon for the first encounter. The oil trail may not look like good news, but I decided to create a trail that will help them find their way through the caverns.]

We proceeded into the caverns, following the trail of oil. At one point, the oil trail abruptly ended and then began again several feet further into the cavern. Foolishly, we continued to walk forward while we discussed the implications of this turn of events. Suddenly, the floor opened and we found ourselves falling into a deep pit. Frantically I reached out and just managed to grab the rim of the pit. Tee fell past me so with my other hand I grabbed his arm. He swung, hitting the side of the pit with a sickening thunk. I looked down and saw a rock, dislodged by our fall, dropping into the pit. I watched it until it disappeared into the blackness. I kept waiting, but never heard it hit the bottom.

My attention was diverted, however, as fingers began to slide from the rim of the pit.

"Tee, I can't hold very long! You need to get up."

"The servo in my knee is malfunctioning. I cannot move my leg at this moment."

"Use your other leg! Just hurry!"

Tee starting swinging in an effort to grasp the ledge himself. As he did so, my fingers continued to slide.

"Almost got it!"

"Hurry!"

At that moment, my I lost my grip. I began to slide into the abyss.

Tune in next time for Part 2!