Potential endgames. They need to be fleshed out once we figure out what the artifact is, etc.
Time: Late (10pm or later)
Premise: Get the students someplace interesting (for instance, the President’s Garden, perhaps under the Isaac Newton tree) with the object.
The players assemble in the location, under the light of whatever moon (or lack thereof) exists. They are told by riddles to assemble at a specific time in this specific place. Suddenly, and without warning, a man steps forth, clad in whatever futuristic garb we want (silver spandex with facepaint, or dark robes, or whatever), introduces himself as a time traveler from the future, returned to that point in time in order to pick up the assembled device so that he can return it to the future so that they can have it to repair the time machine so that he can send his future-future self into the past to pick up the device so that he can return it to the future so that they can have it to repair the time machine so that he can send his future-future self into the past….etc, etc. He takes the device and tells them that he wishes he could repay them, but there is no way he can give them anything without further complicating the future, so he does what seems natural and appropriate: he leads them in a dance of the Global Anthem, Michael Jackson’s “Thriller”. He begins dancing towards the infinite, the people following him until we have a group of people dancing to “Thriller” down the infinite, where he alights on his Future Bike (a bicycle covered in tin foil) to ride to the open time portal (wherever that is) so that he can go back to the future. Players wave goodbye, he leaves, everyone wins.
Time: Approximately 4:47 PM (during MIThenge)
Premise: Get the players into the infinite under the premise of capturing some magical light or something like that.
The players are led by puzzles to go to the infinite to capture light in some form or fashion, be it by harnessing the light to shine it through a crystal to project a message on the wall, or to power a sterling engine or something. (Harnessing the light to generate enough heat to power a sterling engine would be kind of cool….) Anyway, the players do some feat of something that gives them the pleasure of having done something. Perhaps they accomplish the goal and then some embassator from the future comes in, takes it, thanks them, and then they celebrate by dancing to “Thriller”.
ALTERNATELY:
Instead of having someone from the future show up, it could just be that the device gives them the directions that they have to dance or do something stupid in order for everything to work out all right.
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