Expedition Stage 7:  Evasion Tactics  pt 1

At the revelation that English was a second language for Fritz, the Agents hurried into action, in so far as one could do while suspended in ropes and huddled on rock and ice ledges along a mountain.

"Jack, bring up some wind, we need to hide !"  Ben said. "Barrier of Naach-Tith stirs up wind !  Everyone hold on !"
"Goddammit," Thorne complained, as the ice crystals began to whirl around and pelt them, "Why didn't I just write 'follow the damn map' ?"
"I wasn't supposed to read your journal at all," Fritz said, hugging Bruno, who was whining at the sudden weather.  "And there were three maps.  All different.  I took the one I was given."

The roar of the plane's engines was close now, but they couldn't see it through the snow and ice; it went past them and over the massif, heading West.  There was no real way of knowing if it had seen them or not.  A couple of the huskies made some noise, probably not loud enough to be heard by anyone in a noisy airplane.   When they could no longer hear the plane, Jack let the spell drop, his wand a heavy weight in his hand again.  The snow was already settling anyway.   Above them, the albatross still waited, floating on the winds.

With care, the Agents lowered the sleds back to the plateau, noticing the upheaval of the ice had fallen short of the thin ledge right next to the massif.  They would risk avalanches and rocky terrain hidden under ice, so the going would have to be cautious.
"Your map, lead the way," Thorne said to Fritz.  "Gehen Sie voran !"
"Happy Birthday, Thomas," said Fritz, lugging Bruno's harness around as the huge beast scrambled down the slope next to him.  "If you shut up and get your team back together, perhaps I have a bar of chocolate to give to you."  The sour look on Thorne's face was priceless.

"Jack, I'll drive the second sled, Fritz will lead us.  We'll give him a good length, Bruno kicks up a lot of snow,"   Ben said, clumsily climbing down with the ropes Spider had secured to the Massif.  "Spider, take the third sled, with Thorne, keep an eye out for that plane."  As they assembled their teams and sleds on the ice shelf, the albatross again circled, with the rough coughing call, then angled into the wind, North-North-West.

Bruno's huge clawed feet were indeed throwing up ice and snow, but the sled was moving well, with only a few scrapes over stone.  Above them, slightly ahead, the huge sea bird drifting along effortlessly.  About an hour later there was an echoing *boom* from the West, and then a drift of black smoke rising, from miles away.
Snow trickled down from the Massif, hitting the last sled, with Spider and Thorne, the worst.  The dogs slowed and shook it off, as Spider noticed that the topmost drifts of snow were starting to slip from the Massif.
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GM: Actions, etc, please roll d100 for either Navigate or Survival, please respond by Saturday 26 August, next post Sunday
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Not wanting to take chances with the drifts becoming even worse, Spider urges his dogs on, and calls out, "Move it!  This thing may come down any moment!"  He knew that loud sounds were sometimes blamed for avalanches, but he also knew that was more myth than reality.  But he didn't want to take any more chances than necessary.

Expedition Stage 7: Evasion tactics pt 2

Spider mushes his team faster, as chunks of snow are pelting him and Thorne now.  The stuff is falling so thick that he is losing sight of the other two sleds, though he can hear them - and the sound of the plane returning.  The dogs are pulling for all they are worth, and so far the ice shelf they are on is holding firm.

Roll vs. Survival by diceroller:77%.

A blossom of orange fire briefly lit the sky above Spider and Thorne, as the plane came over the mountain; the thunderous report echoed across the plateau, and then the avalanche came.   Spider could hear someone screaming, but then the snow hit him hard, knocking him from the sled and bowling him over like a a tumbling die.  Very quickly he lost equilibrium, covered in snow and pinned beneath the weight of it, not even aware of which way was up.  Dimly, he can hear shouting, dogs yowling, and the crack of a rifle.  It wasn't Matilda, though; he could feel the strap of the big rifle's case digging into his shoulder.  He was trapped in the snow.

Meanwhile, Jack, a passenger in the second sled, holds on for dear life as Ben mushes the team, hanging onto the gee pole with his left arm.  The avalanche has taken out the third sled, piling on a huge mass of snow, and Ben is trying to get the sled clear of the tail end of it.  In front, Fritz has slowed Bruno down and has taken a rifle shot at the Navy plane that just dropped some kind of bomb onto the Vinson Massif.  The plane crosses back over the Massif and Fritz steps off his slowing sled, ready to take another shot should the plane return.

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GM:  Actions, etc, for the next minute of game time, please respond by Saturday, 2 September, next post Sunday
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When Ben gets the sled free of the avalanche tail, and (presumably) slows to a stop, Jack will jump off, wand in hand. Since the plane pilot has obviously seen them, Jack gives up on obscuring their location and instead tries to locate and free Spider and his team.

Expedition Stage 8: Evasion Tactics pt 3

Jack jumped off the sled as Ben yelled "Whoa !" again to the dogs.   The avalanche had ended, burying most of the third sled and neither Spider nor Thorne are seen.   Just barely visible in the heap of snow are two dogs of Spider and Thorne's sled, the lead dogs - Princess and Suka, digging their way out.   The plane was coming back, and someone - he glanced back - it was Fritz - was chanting as he raised his rifle and aimed.  Jack had heard this spell before, from college football star Flash Braddock, back in his undergrad days at Miskatonic University - and Flash Braddock never missed when he delivered a pass.

Jack's wand was in hand, and he was slogging through the mounds of snow and ice to reach the buried sled.  Behind him, he heard Fritz's rifle again, and the immediate alteration in the plane's noise; it veered from its path.  A split second later, he heard the impact on the other side of the Massif.  Bruno, his harnesses snapped, galumphs through the snow beside Jack, baying.  The monster begins to dig, flinging big wads of snow aside.  High above them, the albatross wheeled in the air currents, waiting for them.  Ben and Fritz are now headed towards the buried sled, both carrying entrenching tools.

Spider was somewhere stuck in the snow, along with Thorne, a lot of their survival gear, the sled, and most of their dog team.

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GM: Actions, etc, for the next minute of game time, please respond by 9 September, Saturday, next post Sunday
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Part of Spider wanted to simply accept his fate.  But he couldn't let the others down.  Nor let them suffer at Cressida's tongue-lashing if he did not come back.  He tried using the big rifle to help dig himself free...

[OC: Sorry, having a rough time lately.]
Jack tries to use the wand to blow or lift the snow mass off his friends and their dogs. He is already tired, but knows that seconds count in such scenarios, so is willing to tire himself further.
     If he can’t find a way to use the wand, he will help Bruno to most efficiently clear the the exposed dogs and follow the leads to the rest, while yelling for Spider and Thorne to poke something up through the snow.

Expedition Stage 7: Evasion Tactics pt 4

Spider wiggled Matilda, trying to figure out which way was Up.  His sense of balance was definitely impaired, but the snow seemed to move when he pushed out in front of himself.  There was definitely noise of digging going on, and the huskies were being vocal.  He could also hear voices; Ben and Fritz.
Ben said something about shooting, and seemed miffed.
Fritz responded loudly with a curse directed at Ben, and then yelled "Trip, where are you ?"
Then Bruno was baying, with the rest of the huskies chiming in with various sounds, and there was light on Spider's left side, the sun shining through the clumps of snow he was under.

A massive paw swiped away a big mass of snow, and suddenly Spider was looking up at Bruno's ugly scarred snout.  The hellhound breathed hot, horribly rank breath on him and bayed again, before continuing to dig along Spider's side.  Then Ben was there, grabbing Spider's arm.  "Spider, are you all right ?"  The sun seemed bright, striped with wisps of cirrus clouds.

Jack flicked the wand at the place where the two lead dogs had dug, and soon the rest of the team was shaking off the snow.  None of the dogs seemed to be greatly hurt - and all of them were alive.  Bruno was digging here and there, and had found Spider, near where Ben was digging.  But nothing was more frightening than the single-mindedness of Fritz digging in the snow for Thorne.  As a wave of nausea and fatigue swept over Jack, he fell to his knees, the wand still clutched in his grip.
Bruno knocked him over as the big beast charged past him, responding to something only the dogs could hear - they were suddenly yipping and yowling. Jack struggled back upright, feeling distinctly weary.

The hellhound and Fritz more destroyed the snow and ice than removing it, both of them frantic.  Then they both jumped back, as a hole opened up in the ice, showing a cavern hidden below.  "About time !"  Thorne called back from the depths.  "I'm stuck, and you better take a look at this !"
Fritz yelled down in German.
"I'm fine.  Just stuck in the snow.  Can't get my legs free."
"What's down there ?"  Ben wanted to know.
"A big damn frozen worm and a lot of other stuff."
The Agents worked quickly, finding that there was stonework below the snow; a roof that had fallen in, and that Thorne had fallen through into a big heap of snow.  He waved back, then looked aghast as Bruno jumped through the hole into the cavern, enlarging the gap.  The Hellhound bounced off an ice pillar and hit the snow pile, plunging deep into it.   Thorne ducked as snow flew, Bruno quickly digging his way out of the pile.

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GM: Please post actions for the next hour or so of game time, as in are you going into the ice cave or not, setting watches, respond by Saturday 16 September, next post Sunday.  Sorry things are rough, J, hope life improves for you
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Bone weary, Jack is already picturing himself back under the furs and blankets on one of the sleds when he learns that Thorne has inadvertently discovered more subterranean structures. This piques his interest and gives him enough energy to join the group looking down into the hole.
   “We’re here, we at least have to take a look at what’s down there. That’s the whole point of this trip — recover ancient artifacts. Fritz took care of the immediate threat — thank you for that, by the way — so we should have some time. We also need to record this location as exactly as we can, for future reference if someone has to come back to it. But right now, some of us need to poke around down there, while someone stays with the dogs. I nominate Fritz for the latter, in case another plane comes round. I’ll unpack some lanterns while Spider rigs the ropes.”

Spider scowled and replied to Ben, "You know me.  Never better."  From all his times in the mountains, he was used to being cold.  But this was as close to hypothermia as he ever cared to come.  He began to warm up, and hit the shivering phase.  But once Thorne's situation became clear, he roused himself to start handling and setting up the ropes to get him, and Bruno of course, out of the hole.  "I'm sure there's lots of fascinating stuff down there.  But we don't know when they'll send out another plane."

Expedition Stage 7: Evasion Tactics pt 5

Jack dragged himself upright, the lure of something new to look at being irresistable.
"No, I am going down into the cavern for Thomas," Fritz flat-out refused Jack's order, already in a harness to climb down.   Ben looked over at Jack and shook his head slightly.
"Bring him back safely, Agent," Ben told Fritz.  To Jack, he lent a helpful shoulder to lean on.  "Use one of those patches," he said. "We need to keep moving, for certain, but this discovery may be important.  Why else would we be told so clearly to be here ?"   He brought Jack some blankets from the sled and stood above the entrance to the cavern, watching the proceedings cautiously.

Spider did his best to shrug off the weariness and cold, and set up a harness rig, noting that Fritz was pounding pitons to act as anchors into the Massif.  "No, we don't know if there's another plane, but there's Thomas to rescue," Fritz said, the image of tightly controlled anger.  "If another plane shows up I'll shoot that pilot too.  And the next one, and the next one, until I run out of bullets."  He clipped his ropes to the rings and expertly tied a friction hitch.  Spider could not help but be impressed that Fritz had remembered every bit of his climbing lessons.

With Jack and Ben remaining above with the rest of the dogs and sleds, Spider followed Fritz down into the hole.  The cavern was about eighty feet (24 meters) tall, and maybe 200 feet (60+ meters) across, with an array of stone pillars, some topped, some standing fifty feet high, arranged in a five-sided pattern.  Coiled around the largest five pillars was an enormous serpent, the eel-like skin glistening with ice and giving off a faint grey glow.   The creature had to be more than three hundred feet long (90+ meters) and at least twenty feet (6 meters) in diameter, with a starfish-shaped head that reminded them all too much of the Elder Things.   Thomas had fallen into a snow drift and was now using Bruno to haul himself free of it,  near the centre of the cavern.  Ice rimed the walls of the cavern, heavily patterned in spirals and loops, definitely not the dot-writing of the Elder Things.

Fritz was down on the floor first, descending quickly, using a slanted pillar to ease his descent.  Spider was there a few seconds later.  It was a significant find, clearly a temple built to worship the creature within it.  Ice-crusted holes in the walls indicated that it had been able to come and go as it pleased, but now it was frozen, or perhaps hibernating.

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GM:  Looking around ?  At the worm, or the cavern ?  Anything else ?  Please respond with actions, etc, for the next half-hour of game time, by Saturday, 23 September, next post Sunday.  Hope all is well with you both.
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Spider calls up to the others, relating what they see, including the decorations and the giant serpent.  "If you really want to document it, drop a camera.  I'd like to get out of here before the snake wakes up!"

Jack shrugs mildly at Fritz’s contradiction and says, primarily to himself, “It wasn’t an order. You’re just a better shot than we are.”
    He pulls one of each type of patch from a pocket when Ben reminds him, and slaps them on his neck under his shirt collar.  Then he trots to the sled to fetch a camera for Spider, loops the strap around one of the ropes, and slides it down to him.
    After that extertion, he re-wraps a blanket around himself and stands back from the hole a bit, watching the sky and the ice around them for threats.