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Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice.

Posted by GM BadCatManFor group 0
GM BadCatMan
GM, 142 posts
Sat 18 Jul 2015
at 07:05
  • msg #1

Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice


Elona
Location: Rogue planet, between the Outer and Perseus Arms of Mutter's Spiral
Date: 26th June 4031 CE
Timeline: Post–Last Great Time War (Take 2)


As the ship materialised, it got cold. Every groan of the time rotor dropped the temperature by several degrees, until it was bitterly, bitterly cold. Breath misted, noses turned blue, and teeth began to chatter. Even the low Gallifreyan body temperature found it hard going. Soon even ice formed on the console, a light dusting of frost. This was a side-effect of inserting themselves into another environment, materialising around a column of frigid air, snow, and ice, and whatever system normally regulated the temperature differential had evidently, well, frozen. Either that, or Elona really wanted to drive the point home: it was cold outside.

Through the frost on the scanner, they could see an expanse of blue-grey snow, punctuated by massive jagged outcrops of pale blue ice, faintly gleaming in the weak light. It was very dark out there. It wasn't night, though: the sun was a tiny, dim patcher of lighter grey in a howling grey sky.

Some way off, about a kilometre away, was a spaceship, with snow on her wings and four small geodesic domes clustered around, for all the world like a mother duck sheltering her eggs.


GM BadCatMan
GM, 143 posts
Sat 18 Jul 2015
at 07:06
  • msg #2

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Yermak Maru and Archaeologists' Camp
Location: Rogue planet, between the Outer and Perseus Arms of Mutter's Spiral, the Milky Way Galaxy
Date: 26th June 4031 CE


The Yermak had made a smooth jump through hyperspace, soon arriving in the lonely dwarf star system. Finding the rogue planet in an erratic, elliptic orbit, they made their approach to the lost, ice-encased world, finding an unremarkable, rough blue-grey sphere. They made a few rapid orbits so the archaeologists could conduct ground scans, finding a dense mass of metal Ortega excitedly presumed to be a city, buried under the ice. He gave orders to set down on top of it.

They'd glided into the atmosphere, entering blizzard-like conditions. Fortunately, Borys was a skilled pilot and negotiated their descent with only a little cursing. The ship touched down, the landing gear crunching and compressing the snow and ice beneath. Already, the heat of the ship's engines and atmospheric friction melted the ice around, leaving thick slush.

The crew and archaeologists started unpacking and preparing their gear. Archaeologists like Vax and Hali weren't afraid to lend a hand and work hard, though Ortega spent rather more time supervising. Working together, they rolled out of the cargo bay doors four self-erecting geodesic domes. These bounced about, popped open, and settled neatly on the ground, forming four tents from within which they could work outside out of direct exposure to the elements. Heaters would be installed to keep them warm enough inside.

And those elements were intense. A chill wind blew constantly on this planet, a product of one side being warmed by the sun while the other remained in the cold of deep space, causing a temperature differential that drove comparatively warm air around to the colder side, and there was no moon's gravity to provide drag. The temperature was well below zero, survivable with protective gear, but still colder than anyone but Stirix had experienced before. The ground was slush, snow, or ice, but the Martian warned not to expect ordinary water ice: this was frozen air as well: nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide. Even what seemed to be liquid water could actually be liquid nitrogen. It was all cold enough to burn.

'Icehot.' Sky Light summed up sagely.

Once they were all set up and apprised of the dangers, work began on the archaeology itself. Vax Kent drove around in the all-terrain buggy, performing ground scans that produced some fuzzy maps and shapes only the archaeologists seemed to know how to read. Ortega confirmed his city hypothesis and they selected up likely spots to start their excavations, which necessitated a small relocation of the Yermak and the camp.

Now, the crew had to reorient the engines so they faced at downwards angle and blasted the snow and ice into oblivion, acting as a thermal drill to create their initial borehole. Although the engines could rotate normally as a part of take-off, they weren't designed to fire continuously at that angle, and so required numerous mechanical readjustments to lock them in place and prevent explosions. This didn't seem a big problem, though some might note they wouldn't be leaving in a hurry.

There was also the matter of connecting the plasma torches, via their long flexible insulated tubes, to the engines as well. Its heat output would also power these.

Other labour-intensive tasks included carrying out archaeological equipment, setting up the camp, and mopping away slush.
This message was last edited by the GM at 06:29, Sun 26 July 2015.
Trace
player, 43 posts
Meddling Kid
Adept Engineer
Sat 18 Jul 2015
at 16:59
  • msg #3

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

With a coil of cabling looped around his shoulder, Trace trudged through the slush. Every couple of steps he dropped loop onto the snow, leaving a cable leading back to the ship.

"Morning Mr Frosty," the boy said to a snow man standing amidst the domes, doffing an imaginary hat. The snowman itself wore a real hat that one of the crew had found somewhere. On its side, a coiled cable resembled a whip on as belt.

He reached one of the domes, darkened unlike the others. Trace pushed open the door and stepped inside. Dropping the cable coil on the floor, Trace picked up the end and pulled it over to a stack of machinery. After some fiddling in the dark, the young mechanic found the plug socket and plugged the cable in.

With a series of clicks, beeps and whirring of fans, the lights, computers and heaters all started up.
Tarys
player, 52 posts
Time Lord Seer
Tue 21 Jul 2015
at 03:25
  • msg #4

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Tarys studies the environmental readouts for a moment, and looks up at Axander, puzzled.

"This isn't calibrated to some obscure Earth temperature scale, is it?  Because, if not, it really is astonishingly cold outside."  She winces.  "I'm afraid I did not exactly have a chance to pack for this."
Axander
player, 56 posts
Bookish Time Lord
Story Points: 12
Tue 21 Jul 2015
at 05:27
  • msg #5

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Axander, for his part, is standing by the console with his arms across his chest, hands folded to him as best he can manage. His shivering has dropped his glasses almost to the edge of his nose, and he doesn't appear to be pushing them back into place.

"Y-yes, it is-s quite c-cold. I d-don't sup-p-pose you know how t-to recalibrate the int-ternal environmental regulator?" Apparently he doesn't handle the cold as well as all that.
Trace
player, 44 posts
Meddling Kid
Adept Engineer
Tue 21 Jul 2015
at 18:48
  • msg #6

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

After connecting the power to the heaters, Trace stood underneath one of the heat lamps. Basking in its warming red glow. He may be wrapped in multiple layers of clothing, wearing the best cold weather gear that the lowest bidder could provide, but the biting cold still wormed its way between the layers. There might be work still to do but for a few minutes at least, he was intent on doing nothing more than getting warm.

Not wanting to get caught time wasting, the boy pushed back his sleeve the reveal the scanner gauntlet on his arm. Hopefully its sensors would let him know if there was anyone nearby and whether or not he could grab a brief rest or not.
Bluetooth
player, 30 posts
Rakshasa (tiger-folk)
Inexperienced Youth
Tue 21 Jul 2015
at 20:26
  • msg #7

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

There wasn't much for Bluetooth to do right now, at least not in the repair department, so he chose to apply his second function--security. Despite the cold, he was insulated against it to a certain extent, but he put on cold-proof boots even if they did interfere with his claws and a hooded winter parka.

He picked up one of the pulse rifles (a.k.a. 'laser drill') and headed outside, reconnoitering the perimeter of their base. He paid particular attention to the ice underneath the ship. It wasn't likely to give way, but that didn't mean something couldn't cause it.

He made a note of all potential escape routes, which were also  possible vulnerabilities in their defense. He looked for defensible high ground, rocky or icy outcroppings to hide behind, and even small loose stones that could be thrown at an enemy.
Tarys
player, 53 posts
Time Lord Seer
Wed 22 Jul 2015
at 04:37
  • msg #8

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Tarys glances across the controls.  The sense of reproof from the time capsule, however, is palpable to a person of Tarys' sensitivity.  "I'm not sure that what we're dealing with is exactly a mechanical fault," she says carefully.  "<purple>In any case, the temperature inside hardly concerns me.  We need to get there--"  She points to the image on the scanner.  "--and I should like to do it without having the blood turn to slush in both our veins.  Do you have any cold-weather gear?  Anything at all?"
Axander
player, 59 posts
Bookish Time Lord
Story Points: 12
Wed 22 Jul 2015
at 07:26
  • msg #9

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

"P-perhaps not mechanical, but t-t'would certainly get the point across that we got the p-point..." Axander tries taking a deep breath to clear his head and think, but it just sort of shudders in and out.

"Cert-tainly, wardrobe's-s-s'is way." With that, he starts walking off down the corridors, looking for warmer clothes. His steps are quick, not only trying to get there faster, but trying to stay warm while doing so.

The inside of the ship is still modeled more or less after the mansion it had been, with the console room as part of the basement. Heading back up the stairs to the "ground" floor, the path to the wardrobe doesn't enter any of the more primary rooms, instead winding through far more wood-paneled corridors than had been there before the vessel regained its internal dimensions.

"...going to need more rugs if the weather's going to keep getting in..." Eventually, the pair reaches the room they're looking for on the first floor (second floor to Americans, unless the American author is terribly mistaken).

"Ah, here we are!" It's essentially a walk-in closet that offers a decent selection of clothing, broken into quadrants on multiple levels accessible by a pair of spiral staircases (one leading up, the other down). The Time Lords likely don't bat an eye at the dimension of the room, clearly stretching into the rooms "beside" it in the hallway, up above the top floor of the house, and down into the rooms below. Dimensions within dimensions are child's play for a Gallifreyan craft.

"T-take your p-pick. Winter wear's conveniently enough on th-this level, back and on the right. No stairs while frosty, you know. Might slip. Changing rooms in the cent-ter of each level, should you feel like changing rather than just adding a layer or th-three." Axander offers a smile and lets Tarys in first, still shivering.
Elona
TARDIS, 6 posts
VWORP! VWORP!
Thu 23 Jul 2015
at 09:43
  • msg #10

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

TARDIS

Studying the environment readouts, Tarys saw the external air temperature was somewhere around that of Antarctica in winter, around −40 °C on the Earth scale. The air was breathable, but thin and too chilly to breathe without a breathing apparatus. But the ground temperature was far colder, hovering around −200 °C. Strangely, it also read as breathable atmosphere – a frozen atmosphere. It was all nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water, frozen hard as stone and covered in a layer of snow of the same elements. It would be safe to walk on, though touching it with bare skin could leave some severe burns.

They found the "wardrobe" quite easily, and the cold-weather gear more easily still, ranging from snug, fur-lined coats and things such as Mawson or Hillary might have worn; to advanced Spacefleet-design environmental suits; to hyper-advanced body-hugging skinsuits for those who favoured the near-nude look. All would be sufficient outdoors.


OOC: Just out of curiosity, I rolled for Shifting Structure: 13 against Difficulty 12 or less is a Success, though I don't know how the sliding scale of results would apply.
16:31, Today: GM BadCatMan, on behalf of Axander, rolled 13 using 2d6+9 with rolls of 2,2. ingenuity(5) + resolve(4).

But since Elona is Overprotective, when you return to the console room, you also find a first-aid kit suited to cold weather, blankets, a thermos of hot tea, and some books on arctic exploration. :)

GM BadCatMan
GM, 147 posts
Thu 23 Jul 2015
at 09:44
  • msg #11

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Archaeologists' Camp

With the heaters on, the ambient temperature inside the dome rose rapidly, though it was not so much growing warmer as less cold. The frost on Trace's boots melted and evaporated in moments, while the ground turned to a floor of polished ice. Fortunately, they didn't need to equip an air supply as well, as the evaporating snow provided breathable atmosphere inside the domes. Trace didn't even need a breathing mask indoors after a while.

Skiving off and warming up these few moments, Trace enjoyed the less-cold for a while, until his thermal scanner showed someone else approaching.

The outer door soon irised open, admitted another muffled-up figure. They all looked more-or-less the same in their thick thermal jackets, hoods, face-masks, and goggles, but Trace could tell at a glance it was Sky Light – the Red Kang had spray-painted all her gear in red paint, complaining she needed to show-and-tell her red. The girl was staggering under a crate of sensitive archaeological equipment, which she promptly dumped roughly on the ice. Then she quickly dashed under the heat lamp to warm up just as Trace had done. 'You got the heaters on! Icehot!'

*

Despite the rogue planet being supposedly uninhabited or abandoned, and apparently completely lifeless, Bluetooth warily prowled the perimeter like a tiger patrolling its territory. They'd landed the Yermak in a small plain resembling a wide, shallow bowl, ringed around with the jagged fang-like outcrops of harder ice, mostly solid oxygen, looking like frozen waves. The ice beneath the ship and camp had been loose and unstable, and had partially melted from the heat of landing and their subsequent activities, but had soon refrozen even harder from the colder ice beneath, so the scientists pronounced it quite stable.

But getting further away from the camp, plumes of what looked like smoke rose from fissures in the ground. Every few moments, the ground trembled as distant glaciers cracked and quaked.

Bluetooth didn't find any rocks to throw, but the snowballs would pack quite a wallop.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:39, Thu 23 July 2015.
Trace
player, 45 posts
Meddling Kid
Adept Engineer
Thu 23 Jul 2015
at 19:48
  • msg #12

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Pushing his sleeve back over the gauntlet and peeling off his breather, Trace grinned. "First thing on my list?" He said nodding towards the heat lamp.

He stamped his feet and rubbed his hands for a moment. Then looked at the crate. "Should probably put that away before Professor Fancy Pants sees it. Last thing I want is another lecture on how 'lesser minds cannot be allowed to impede the uncovering of history by shirking their responsibilities'" Despite his words, his smiled as he remembered the last lecture Professor Ortega had given to seeing the snowman outside the domes.

"Any ideas where the others have got to?" He added after a second.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:48, Thu 23 July 2015.
Sky Light
NPC, 3 posts
Fri 24 Jul 2015
at 02:54
  • msg #13

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

'P'fessor Fancy Pants show-and-telled me all about how to pick it up and put it down.' Sky Light pushed the crate with her foot to the side of the dome. 'It outgoes here.' Back in front of the heater, she pulled off a mask, revealing a small grinning face inside a furry hood with red hair peeking out.

She thought for a moment. 'Captain Borys is making fix-its on the engines for the... boring heater stuff. Big pussycat Bluetooth is being outlook for... I dunno, snowmans, mayhaps. Vax Kent is driving around in the go-kart making the, um, ground scans. Hali and Bossyboots Ortega are loitering in the cargo bay where it's toasty warm, show-and-telling me what to take out, and "planning".'

She warmed her boots for a moment, before looking to Trace and saying with a smile 'Captain Borys says not to throw snowballs, 'coz they're icehot and burny. But mayhaps we can make snowmans and snow towers later on?'
This message was last edited by the player at 06:16, Sun 26 July 2015.
Stirix
player, 47 posts
Ice Warrior Scientist
Fri 24 Jul 2015
at 02:59
  • msg #14

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Not noticing the cold as much as the others, meant Stirix volunteered to do a lot of the things that required longer exposure to the weather. He wasn't -immune- by any shot, but it certainly wasn't as cold to him. Which was lucky, because that way he didn't hear the discussion about snowballs.
Tarys
player, 54 posts
Time Lord Seer
Sat 25 Jul 2015
at 03:22
  • msg #15

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Tarys finds a set of polymesh environmental gear with a close-fitting cowl and snow goggles.  It seems to have enough give that it will afford her relative freedom of movement, and it fits nicely enough over the snug bodysuit she normally wears.

She slings the bundled survival kit across her body, and straps the sheathed Possible Knife on over the cold-weather suit.

She starts for the main level and the TARDIS exit.  "Coming?"
Axander
player, 60 posts
Bookish Time Lord
Story Points: 12
Sat 25 Jul 2015
at 18:59
  • msg #16

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Axander trails along behind Tarys. After she'd picked out her cold weather wear, he grabs a similar outfit from right beside it. The one he picks is a little bit big, but he has a plan.

"Of course, on my way!" The pair head back to the control room, where Axander grabs his psychic encyclopedia and slips that into a pocket, then grabs his leather messenger bag and awkwardly puts that on under his not-quite-parka. As an afterthought, he also goes over to the roundel with the odd book and slips that into his messenger bag, before closing the warm jacket over it to protect his books.

"Alright then. Warm clothing, survival gear, books, key, all check. We have no plan, which is kind of exciting. Making sure not to think too hard before we head out. More check. I suppose that makes it time to go." He takes a deep breath and puts a hand on the door control.

"To adventure?"
Elona
TARDIS, 7 posts
VWORP! VWORP!
Sun 26 Jul 2015
at 06:54
  • msg #17

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

TARDIS

Axander operated the control, and the doors swung inwards, assailing them with a gust of even-colder wind, carrying snowflakes and stinging ice that billowed around the console room and settled in the roundels and on the controls. The sense of embarrassment and apology from the TARDIS was almost palpable.

The two time-travellers pushed into the cold and the wind. To adventure they went.

*

They emerged into a bleak and lonely icescape, gazing upon an expanse of blue-grey snow, punctuated by massive jagged outcrops of pale blue ice, like fangs or frozen waves. They gleamed faintly in the weak light of a dim and distant dwarf star in a howling grey sky. A chill, stiff wind blew constantly. Here and there, plumes of what looked like smoke rose from fissures in the ground. Water vapour, condensing in the air. Every few moments, the ground trembled as distant glaciers cracked and quaked, but things seemed stable enough around the TARDIS.

And the TARDIS... It had transformed into a short, tooth-like outcrop of blue ice, with a black fissure to mark the real-world interface. In fact, it was exactly like every other pointed outcrop of blue ice arranged around them. Finding it again would be like finding a needle in a haystack, or an icecube in a whole freezer full of icecubes.

Sometimes, there was something to be said for a malfunctioning chameleon circuit.

But did either Time Lord dare adjust it?
Axander
player, 61 posts
Bookish Time Lord
Story Points: 12
Sun 26 Jul 2015
at 07:35
  • msg #18

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

As the ice and wind came through the doors, Axander shielded his face even more than his gear was already doing.

"That's alright! Don't worry, we can fix that later!" Once the wind died down enough to hear clearly, his voice returned to speaking levels as well. His hand went to dust some of the snow from the console.

"First trip after so long and all, I'm actually very impressed so far, myself. We can take care of this when there's time." Mention of time gave the young Time Lord a chuckle. Access to the greatest time travel technology the universe had access to, with no less than two experts on the subject, and yet they were in a hurry. The thought passed and he patted the console.

"Alright, we're off!" Afterward, he bravely stepped out into the cold. Only to immediately regret not having thought to deal with the chameleon circuit issue before leaving. Once both Time Lords were outside and had a good look around, Axander turned to Tarys.

"This might be an issue. Should we make her more conspicuous, or trust ourselves to find her again?"
Tarys
player, 55 posts
Time Lord Seer
Mon 27 Jul 2015
at 03:31
  • msg #19

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Tarys keeps her opinions about Axander's enthusiasm over "adventure" to herself.  All she had known in her life was war.  Missions for an Knight-Errant might not all be grinding combat against implacable Daleks and their slave warriors, but they were unrelenting danger and risk, and she didn't know a good way to convey that to the inexperienced Axander without coming across as hardened, or cruel, and oddly it seemed to have become important to Tarys that he not think these things about her.  Strange.

"Don't worry about finding the Ship again.  You have a bond with this vessel and, it seems, it has some empathic concern for you in return; I feel that when we need to find it again, it will make itself known to you."

She looks at the temporal locator as she steps out into the cold.  After their experience with trying to follow its readings into the Vortex, she wasn't sure that anything it might show them would really indicate a viable trace to find their way back to the Temporal Exterminator.  But she did have a strong sense of familiarity about this world -- faces she believes she should know flicker in and out of the edges of her memory: human males, and a Martian, and a felinoform with lots of hair.

"We should be cautious," she adds. "We're intruding into a very inhospitable situation where no one should have a casual reason for just showing up.  Don't be too quick to let slip our true objectives."

Let me know if & when I'm skating too far out on available meta-knowledge.
GM BadCatMan
GM, 148 posts
Mon 27 Jul 2015
at 05:32
  • msg #20

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Axander & Tarys:

Locking the, ah, icicle behind them, Axander and Tarys set off across the snow-field, in the general direction of the spaceship and camp that lay about a kilometre away, shrouded in blown snow and fog. They negotiated the jagged outcrops of frozen oxygen and the cracks in the defrosting ice, but had no serious problems there. Elona had set them down some place reasonably safe.

Unfortunately, she'd rather neglected the problem of distance. They were only a kilometre away, but it was slow-going getting there, trudging through thick snow and negotiating slippery or unstable sections of the ice, dragging their journey time out to about a quarter of an hour. They were relatively snug in their polymesh coats and cowls, but the constant bitter wind still blew inside, and the cold had a way of seeping into their bones. It if had only been a brief walk outside, they might have been fine, but a long hike through sub-zero conditions would test anyone's endurance, no matter how protected.


OOC: Tarys & Axander, please make Strength + Survival checks, plus relevant bonuses, versus Difficult 15, or take 1 damage to Coordination.

That's fine, I should have discussed it with you. I'll PM you next.

GM BadCatMan
GM, 149 posts
Mon 27 Jul 2015
at 05:32
  • msg #21

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

Bluetooth & Stirix:

Some might have called Bluetooth paranoid for patrolling the perimeter of the camp on an uninhabited landscape. Indeed, Professor Ortega had called him paranoid. But then, there had been that last "Security" entry in their contracts.

So he might have felt a little vindicated when he glimpsed two dark figures moving through the wind-blown snow and fog, blurring and disappearing. He wasn't sure, though, so he had to wave Stirix over to confirm. The Ice Warrior's arctic-adapted visors more clearly picked out two humanoid forms walking through the snow and wind toward the camp.


OOC:
14:48, Today: GM BadCatMan, on behalf of Bluetooth, rolled 9 using 2d6+6 with rolls of 2,1. awareness(2) + resolve(2) + Keen Senses(2).
14:53, Today: GM BadCatMan, on behalf of Stirix, rolled 15 using 2d6+9 with rolls of 2,4. awareness(3) + resolve(4) + AoE: Arctic(2).

Axander
player, 62 posts
Bookish Time Lord
Story Points: 12
Mon 27 Jul 2015
at 05:52
  • msg #22

Re: Chapter 3: The Thing in the Ice

[This oughta be good. No idea what bonuses the survival gear Elona gave us will have, but here's the base roll:

22:45, Today: Axander rolled 13 using 2d6+3 with rolls of 5,5. Str+Survival.

o_o That was...surprisingly good. Um. Does the survival gear give any bonuses? Say...+2? :D Other than that, I'm happy spending 1 Story Point to bring that up from Failure to Success.]

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