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Luke Gearing
Home Archives Search Feed Published Works and Downloads Wolves Upon the Coast
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RECENT ENTRIES

Split Initiative Mentorship Applications Open Traveller Animals for the Jungles
Prison Planet Review Men Sag River Extreme Cold Research Facility, Alaska.
Pariah Hexfills Inhuman Violence 2 Supplement V: Carcosa Wolves Upon the Coast
Grand Retrospective 2 Clerics Wolves 3rd Party Shit Writing NPCs Haystack,
Oregon. Mentorship 4 - Retrospective Alternative to Boasts Pariah Session 9 -
Play Report Lime Bullet Points vs Prose Pariah Session 8 - Play Report Pariah
Session 7 - Play Report Pariah Session 6 - Play Report 2. The Screaming Rock
Pariah Session 5 - Play Report USER.LOG Belgic Wickermen The Toothed Wind Pariah
Session 4 - Play Report Pariah Session 3 - Play Report Pariah Session 2 - Play
Report Pariah Session 1 - Play Report
October 25, 2023


SPLIT INITIATIVE

I’ve been doing a thing for a while in OSR Thinking Adventures style games I’ve
been calling split initiative which I almost certainly read somewhere else and
stole but here we are. Those of you using the Wolves rules have seen this
before.

Basically at the beginning of each round of combat (or general dangerous time)
each character rolls to get over/under some value. Those passing the check go
before the monsters (or danger or whatever) and those failing go after. Simple
as.

This adds a bunch of chaos - in the Wednesday game today this lead to all the
high-level PCs going last, allowing a bunch of Level 1 characters to be killed
by carrion crawlers. The easiest form of the check is just a d20 under
Dexterity, although Wolves does d10 under AC - reinforcing the Armour-as-Class
thing those rules are doing. If you wanted to decouple this from stats it could
be as simple as “roll 4+ to go first” on a d6, giving an even 50/50.

September 1, 2023 mentorship


MENTORSHIP APPLICATIONS OPEN

MENTORSHIP APPLICATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED

I am now open to submissions for round 5 of the mentorship scheme I’ve been
running. This is done free of charge to give back to the wider TTRPG scene.
Submissions sent before September 17th 2023 will be considered - anything sent
after this is not eligible for this round.

As outlined in the retrospectives (see below) the mentorship consists of regular
calls to discuss techniques as well as taking a critical look at other works in
the TTRPG space.

The mentorship prioritises marginalised people, although everyone is welcome to
apply.

Those who have applied for previous rounds, please send a new application (or
re-send the old if nothing has changed).


SCOPE

I am working with writers to develop adventures and sourcebooks for use with
games. I am focused on helping you take a set of ideas and developing that out
into a first draft - both in terms of generating quality ideas, but also
techniques to help with the writing process. Manuscripts in the early stages of
writing are also considered, although projects which have already had a round of
crowd-funding are not eligible.

I also help with finding resources for self-publishing, or for finding a
publisher. Engagements last for a variable amount of time, although there will
be regular check-ins to ensure we’re making good progress and that the
mentorship is still right for all parties.

If wanted, all communications can be held with a third party present - just
indicate this during the application process.


RETROSPECTIVES

Below are links to the retrospectives: written by the mentees and myself.

Mentorship #1
Mentorship #4
Where the mentee was unable to provide their retrospective I’ve elected to not
share my half either.


APPLYING

Before applying, please ask yourself if you can commit to an hour-long call a
week and spending a few additional hours working on the material discussed in
those calls. Ultimately the mentorship can only help you equal to the work you
are able to put in. Be sure to read through the retrospectives to get an
understanding of the format and process.

To apply, please send an email to lukegearing.games@gmail.com.

In the subject line, please put your “[Your Name] - Mentorship Application”

In the body, please introduce yourself with any links to prior work (not
required, just useful to have). If you consider yourself marginalised, please
mention this here (no details are required).

Then provide a pitch of your project as well as a summary of where you are with
it and any issues you’ve been having.

Finally, if you have any thoughts around self-publishing or being published,
that would be useful to know.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for considering applying.

August 25, 2023


TRAVELLER ANIMALS FOR THE JUNGLES

Needed an animal encounter table for a job the Travellers are taking in a
jungle. The planet is being colonised and has a reputation for the
hyper-predatory nature of the wildlife.

4+ on 1D to encounter, rolled twice per day.

2d6 Type (Pack Size) Size (in KG) Hits Damage Mod Damage Armour 2 Carrion Eater
(7) 50kg 17 -1D as Blade None 3 Eater (3) 50kg 14 -1D as Halberd None 4 Reducer
25kg 11 -1D Thrasher None 5 Hunter 400kg 23 +2D as Broadsword as Cloth 6 Filter
25kg+ 11 n/a as Body Pistol as Jack 7 Gatherer 200kg 18 +1D Hooves, Teeth as
Battle Armour 8 Chaser 400kg 21 +2D as Halberd None 9 Pouncer 1kg 5h -2 Posion
Stinger None 10 Event 3d6 Colonists. 30% Lost, otherwise rebels. 11 Trapper
200kg 14 +1D as Pike None 12 Killer (5) 50kg 15 -1D as Blade None

The names are given by the colonists, although multiple terms are often used.


2 “GHOUL”

Intermittent quadrupeds with over-long claws on their ‘arms’. These are used to
hew flesh from bone, scraping what gobbets are left after others have eaten
their fill. If one of their number is injured, they stalk the offending party.
Lightly furred, they shy away from the sun.


3 “MOSSCRAB”

Huge claws for cracking bone and armour alike. Low to the ground, the size of
small pigs. Their soft hides often bear symbiotic plant-life which gives them a
degree of camouflage. Usually encountered in trios - one of which appears to be
the child. If the child is killed, the ‘parents’ attempt to drag the body away
and bury it.


4 “TREETONGUE”

Soft-bodied lengths of muscle which secrete bone-dissolving enzymes, Treetongues
descend upon the carcasses left by the others, consuming the skeletal remains.
They are also attracted to metals, although it seems to act as a slow poison -
slow enough to give them time to thoroughly destroy engines and other complex
machines.


5 “BIG FUCKING MANTIS”

The size of a horse with a tough chitin-clad body and scything arms. Noted to be
very cannibalistic. Moves eerily quietly apart from their ‘Tiger Dance’ -
performed when the gas giant looms large in the sky.


6 “HARPOON SLIME”

A rolling bulk of cut-resistant slime which fires bony spines at animal life.
The fallen leaves and ground-plants it consumes give it a pseudo-camouflage. The
more spines are embedded in prey, the faster it moves - otherwise inching
through the jungle floor. Leaves useful paths through the undergrowth.


7 “STONE GIRAFFE”

A tall, slender-limbed being wrapped in bone-plated armour. Highly resistant to
small-arms fire, it has been seen killing and eating animals unable to flee it’s
long, loping stride. Otherwise it grazes upon the tall jungle canopy.


8 “CENTIPEDE-LIZARD”

Eight powerful limbs propel this reptilian behemoth through the trees,
dextrously clambering over all obstacles in pursuit of prey. Rending teeth and a
powerful jaw enable it to quickly tear apart those it catches - although long
basking periods in rare clearings give much of the other life respite. The
scales are nearly paper-thin, giving no protection - theorised to allow for
easier basking.


9 “WASP”

Hiding in burrows of softer trees, Wasps jump from hiding to deploy their
stingers. The poison in the sting causes humans to rapidly undergo powerful
seizures before death - often from cardiac arrest causes by stress. Sufficient
sedatives and induced coma has been successful, but requires fast action.
Thankfully, the stingers struggle to penetrate anything thicker than light
clothing.


11 “???”

No surviving reports from the colonists yet exist. Something like a giant
starfish with a shovel-scoop mouth which it uses to dig covered pits wherein it
waits for prey, easily carving off limbs with its excavator-mouth.


12 “NIGHTMARES”

Packs of vicious killers which kill large swathes of wildlife before gorging
themselves on the devastation, resting for long periods of time. Each is the
size of a hairless wolf, propelled by four short powerful limbs. Their mouths
are filled with tiny, razor-sharp teeth at the end of long necks which they use
to whip prey back and forth, cutting them to shreds. Their hairless bodies are a
dull grey-green due to symbiotic algae which feeds on the gore in which they are
often covered.

July 26, 2023 review traveller scifi


PRISON PLANET REVIEW

Prison Planet is an adventure for Classic Traveller, first published in 1982 and
credited to Erik Wilson, Dave Emigh, John Harshman, Chris Purcell and Rose
Geier.

Something very striking about the early Traveller adventures is the total lack
of uniformity. Many are nearly totally unrecognisable to the modern concept of
an adventure whilst others prefigure some of the forms that became dominant
later on - such as Adventure 09: Nomads of the World Ocean, released 1983 and
being heavily plotted with many highly characterised NPCs. Adventure 08: Prison
Planet is definitely the former.

The premise is extremely simple - the player characters, for whatever reason,
have been sent to space-prison to mine radioactive ore. The simplicity of this
is great - it can be introduced mid-campaign as a consequence for player
actions, or a killer way to open a campaign. The rest of the book is dedicated
to delivering the premise of a prison complex, detailing almost everything you
need to run the prison and any attempts to escape it. There’s a map of the
facility, most of which is underground due to the air being tainted - requiring
a filter mask to move around outside. You’re also provided with a comprehensive
breakdown of the prisoners and guards present - quickly revealing a significant
disparity in numbers. One thing the module consistently does well is set up
these clues and routes to escape without excitedly pointing at them - leaving it
up to you (the referee) as much as the players to discover these wrinkles.
Another of these is present on the map - a huge tank of spaceship fuel is kept
right next to the laser-turret which guards the facility. There’s a number of
these tantalising nuggets spread around - doubtless me and my players missed
several. This stance towards the players and readers is extremely refreshing:
throughout, the simple facts of the situation are presented without elaboration
or knowing winks and nudges - with one glaring exception, discussed below.



Much of the actual play of the module is driven by a pair of tables, which
specify Events and Encounters which occur to each work-group of PCs on a weekly
basis. To add to the feel of a long-term incarceration, the speed of play ‘zooms
out’ to a weekly procedure wherein a couple of major occurrences happen, either
globally or to that specific group. In play, this set up a push-and-pull between
the proactive, player-led action and the reactive play of the Events and
Encounters. Most of these require a little work to introduce organically, but
once done a few times you quickly get to feel for it. I pre-rolled these before
each session so I knew what was coming week-to-week. This speed up play and gave
me more time to blend the events and encounters into the game.

One of the entries on the Event table - Incident - is one of the few missteps in
the module. Rather than being a conventional, generic Event, the Incidents are a
track of specified vignettes which happen sequentially - adding a degree of
planned narrative. Th earlier entries are very heavy-handed tutorialising which
felt extremely unnecessary, hammering home basic ideas like hiding contraband or
bribing guards. The bulk are fine, and introduce some interesting aspects which
could’ve been handled using the Events and Rumours before culminating in an
escape-attempt-on-a-plate. This is disappointing considering the wonderful lack
of interest in seeing PCs escape presented elsewhere in the module. In play I
scrapped this listing of Incidents and instead used it as a ‘faction turn’ for
the gang in the PCs cellblock demanding things from them.



The NPCs are a highlight of the work being done for you by this module: 60
prisoners and 18 guards. All of these individuals have been assigned work areas
and cellblocks, although indexing them as such would’ve been very useful.
There’s a few prisoners with little going on, although almost all have at least
one interesting wrinkle or alliance which makes them compelling in play without
being difficult to use. Many of them having access to some rumours adds an easy
way to track their knowledge, although using numbers to refer to each rumour
means a look-up is required. Having a PDF open multiple times makes this easier;
if I was running this in-person, I would definitely have printed out a copy of
the Rumour pages. The Rumours once again have an interesting stance:
specifically called out as being contradictory and occasionally false, there is
no guide to which are true or false. This reasserts the module as disinterested
in success or failure - only a statement of fact.

Once the players escape the prison facility itself, they have to tangle with the
terrible conditions on the planet: unbreathable air, killing heat, and the
occasional carnivorous animal stalking them in the wilderness. The Referee is
given a hexmap of the planet (each hex being 540 kilometres) and a set of
encounter tables for each type of terrain. Given each hex takes between 5 and 20
days to traverse, this seems like it would be a desperate experience for any
escapees. I’m speaking hypothetically here as my players stole an ATV from the
prison after setting the nuclear reactor on-site to explode, destroying the
entire facility. In an ATV, it’s a mere 3 day drive to the only known settlement
on-planet, Circle City. Whilst this originally would have required some
exploration, the encounter dice favoured them: they met a band of geologists and
claimed their navigational computer was broken.

Circle City itself feels a bit under-developed, although I wouldn’t be surprised
if this was due to a lack of space: 64 pages is commonly accepted as an upper
bound for staple-bound books, which Prison Planet runs right up against. These
is enough here to riff off of, although I would’ve liked there to be more -
especially with some of the possible escape routes involving a trip to the
hospital in the city for those too injured (or appearing too injured) for the
meagre infirmary of the prison itself. You could definitely use the existing
Traveller encounter procedures in Book 3 to run this section. That said,
extrapolation from minimal detail is part of the joy of running Traveller -
entire worlds invented from a quick string of numbers.

Running this module is an absolute blast, and reading it is deeply interesting:
offering a vision of adventure-modules as a collection of physical spaces and
tool for running them rather than the modern conception of space-alone (dungeons
etc.) or the heavily plotted adventure-path style Trad adventures. There’s
definitely improvements that could be made - marking the cameras on the map,
details of where the power for the prison comes from - although these mostly are
to save the referee work when the players ask. As is often the case with these
Traveller adventures, you can use this a few different ways too: the
fully-mapped out nature of the prison means you have everything you need to
break someone else out of the facility too. This seems to be a guiding principle
in these adventures which I’ve not seen elsewhere outside of Mothership.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


BONUS: PLAY REPORT/SUMMARY

Immediately after arriving, one of the PCs talked back to the warden and got
beaten by the guards and assigned to the Danger Zone - the most dangerous part
of the mine. They met their cellblock-mates (including the de-facto leader, head
of a gang) and started a fight with the biggest, meanest looking prisoner in
there. After the guards broke it up, one of the PCs immediately snitched without
thinking.

After making such a good impression, they began settling in to prison life. Some
of them got assigned to the machine-shop (wherein one PC got degloved and spent
the rest of their stay in the infirmary, thanks to a random Event) whilst most
toiled in the Danger Zone - where there was the least oversight. One PC, who
deliberately wrote provocative letters about wealth-management and cooked books
was dragged upstairs by the vice-warden to assist in a coup against the inept
incumbent warden. Another worked in the infirmary, and assisted the prison
doctor in cutting drugs to sell to the prison population.

The gang leader of their cellblock was spurred to demand a sign from the group
that they were “on his side” - the murder of a guard. This took a few sessions
to set-up, and involved borrowing money in prison for a bribe, but they
eventually killed their man and hid his gun and equipment. Due to some
unfortunate rolls, this gun was found by another prisoner they’d met previously,
who insisted upon a dragon dwelling within the mine and hungering for souls.

They discovered a few possible escape routes. The first, a cave which led to the
surface (they deduced due to the presence of cave-bats) but also contained a
giant horrible lizard which tried to eat them. The other was a collapsed
elevator shaft which could have been carefully excavated slowly to dig a way out
of the mines. The PC in the machine-shop built a way to disrupt the radio-comms
after repairing a few broken guard radios, hiding this jammer in their person
effects. All of this planning was thrown out of the window when the prison who
stole their stashed SMG opened fire on the guards during a random search. The
PCs led the population to kill the guards on their floor, stealing their guns
and equipment. Then they jammed the comms and piled into the elevator, dressed
as guards. From here they took over the prison, set the reactor to explode and
escaped in an ATV, leaving nothing but a glowing crater. They did all this in 10
weeks in-game.

July 19, 2023 odnd monster


MEN

1HD, AC as Armour, Damage as Weapon, Morale 7.

1d100 appearing, rolling again and combining results if 90+ is rolled.


BANDITS

From the cities burnt, from villages parched, caravans left to dessicate in the
heat of the wilderness. Many will wear stones of prayer to their city-gods, now
lying in rubble at the feet of the victors.

For every 10 Bandits, a 2HD leader is present, wearing medium armour. If 30+ are
present, a 4HD leader in heavy armour is present.

Bandits originating in Urttum ride rangy Landsquids and wear masks of pilfered
silk. If more than 30 are present, they fight from a Portage Squid. All have
javelins, lances and axes of flint which are at -1 to hit against any armour.

Bandits originating in Shurupak may re-roll failed saves against magic, wearing
fragments of their shattered divinity still. It has been generations. For every
10 present, one is a Magic User, with level equal to the number of Magic Users.
They use slings and bronze axes.


BARBARIANS

Those who dwell in tents or beneath the sky or in caves bear the label. They do
not speak the tongues of brick and field, and so the label slides from them like
blood from a blade. Some know enough to make demands, to sell the people of one
city to another. Their warriors are resplendent, draped in the goods of
civilisation, a demon heavy with art and weapons, deliberately ignorant of how
such items might be made. They live with their animals nearly always.

Or so it is said in the cities.

Soldiers of the cities must test Morale when first encountering Barbarians in
combat.

Barbarians from the Urkysh Mountains have bows of horn, with which they add +1
to hit. They also carry long knives of bronze. They add +1 to morale, and have
no leaders.

Barbarians from the deep Burnt Lands ride their own, cannibalistic breed of
Landsquid. Rumours abound of the interior having huge wild specimens which the
barbarians worship. They wield lances of bone set with bronze tips. For every 15
present, a 3HD Tamer-of-Squids is present, accompanied by a pack of 2d6
Landsquid.

Barbarians from the Sea wear horned helms with bright plumes, wielding their
bronze axes carefully. Their favourite technique is to hook the ankle with the
beak of the axe, tripping the careless whilst another hacks the prone man to
death. Each group of 30 is led by a 3HD Captain, with their ship nearby. If 4+
ships are present, they are led by a 6HD Sea People King, wearing looted heavy
armour.

Barbarians upon the Razor Coast coat themselves in the black blood of the earth.
They set this alight, the flames leaving them unscathed as long as they do not
retreat in battle. They wield two-handed swords, made of a single curved piece
of wood set with shark teeth on the inner edge. For every 20 present, a 4HD
Burnt-Hide is present, held with knotted rope until their battle-frenzy takes
them.

Barbarians from the Lycaneum Penisula dwell in huge complexes of clay marked by
labyrinthine tunnels and filled with smoke. They wield spears and wide hide
shields.

Barbarians from the Chewed Hills ride Giant Locusts. They are lead by
Matriarchs, who have a blood-relation to all members of the band. They use
lances and bows of bone and swords made from chitin.


LANDSQUID

2HD, AC as Leather, Damage 1d6, 1d6-2 if debeaked and without war-beak, Morale
2d6.

Across the known world ranges the Landsquid, faithful companion of man. Their
undulating gait, powered by their nine tentacles, has moved poets and brought
tears to the eyes of warlords. Stories abound of the taming of the first
Landsquid, but the truth is lost to history.

In most cultures, the beak is removed in infancy, reducing injuries and making
them entirely dependent upon their owners for food - usually a paste of crickets
and tubers. Used in battle, the men of the cities fit them with war-beaks of
bronze, with which they snap at enemies pinned beneath their bulk.

An injured Landsquid can grow back missing limbs, although they are usually
killed and eaten instead.


PORTAGE SQUID

9HD, AC as Unarmoured, Damage 2d6, 1d6 if debeaked, Morale 5, 12 if lobotomised.

Swollen with gasses, Portage Squid are harnessed and weighed down with baskets
and sacks - the largest able to support howdahs. Wild Portage Squid are smaller,
floating higher, their beaks unclipped and able to snip a donkey in half.

Squid-Handlers from the cities know how where to pierce the rubbery flesh to
deaden the mind, how to trim the beak that the beast may not eat unaided and how
to direct their charges with tall, hooked poles. Some rare few still know how to
break a Squid and ride upon the back, controlling it with ropes, the brain
unpierced. This art was mostly lost with the destruction of Urttum.


GIANT LOCUST

3HD, AC as Chain, Damage 1d6-1, Morale equal to number present.

The Chewed Hills host this localised plague of skipping nightmares, the night
everfilled with their songs of hunger. Those ridden by the barbarians swirl with
fantastic designs, each a carrier of some fragment of their history - only the
swarm as a whole might form a cohesive tale of shifting game-pieces, heroes
dying and reborn as the mounts leap and skip.

July 14, 2023 adventure horror delta green


SAG RIVER EXTREME COLD RESEARCH FACILITY, ALASKA.

On October 6th, the agents receive the usual summons: “Special delivery requires
pick-up. Unit 798, Eastside Industrial.”

Within the unit, the door unlocked, a large table with a large shipping crate.
To the side, a tape-player and a manilla envelope marked with a green triangle.
Within the envelope, a shipping manifest, a tape and a chartered flight
contract.

The tape is a recording of Mr Green.

“Hello. This is Mr Green speaking.
On the 5th of October, we received a tip-off from a friendly asset that
something unusual had been caught in a random search of private flights. A
shipping manifest should be in the room, alongside the object we intercepted.

Our researchers have identified the object as a “mellified man” - a human
corpse, mummified in honey. The flesh is said to be a potent magical cure. The
shipping manifest is false - analysts believing the shipping company, Industrial
Solution Logistics, a front for black operations conducted by the Office of
Naval Intelligence. As far as we have been able to tell, this shipment
originated in Okinawa.

What does not seem falsified is the destination - the Sag River Extreme Cold
Research Facility. This is located in Northern Alaska, downriver from the
Prudhoe Bay Oil Field. The only settlement is the working town of Deadhorse.
This facility has minimal records, legally existing at a bare-minimum, with some
indications of military affiliation. We currently believe it to be a government
contractor, though we have no assets able to tell us more at this time.

You are to travel to Alaska and determine the nature of the facility and why
they purchased this object. If there is anything anomalous, you are to capture
or destroy it. If you are able to determine who owns or operates this facility,
this will give us more to follow-up on. Given the extremity of the locale,
support is limited. We have chartered a private flight for you - take off is in
12 hours. There are will be no customs checks - you touch down at midnight,
October 7th. Prepare appropriately.”

The shipping manifest reads as follows.

“SHIPPING TRANSCRIPT

PLACE OF ORIGIN:: PARIS, FR, EU.
CARRIER: Industrial Solution Logistics (REG. Suitland, Maryland)
DESTINATION: Postmaster, Sag River Extreme Cold Research Facility, AL
MANIFEST: One (1) Art-Object (Duty paid). UNINSURED - High Fragility.
CARE OF—- Mr. A. Ross.
DOMESTIC CARRIER:::: Collection Oct 8th DEADHORSE DELIVERIES, Deadhorse
Airstrip.”

The chartered flight contract details a nearby airfield, booking a one-way
flight to Deadhorse, Alaska. The pilot, Isaac Davidson, is an easy-going yet
cocksure pilot who scrubbed out of Air Force service due to drunken behaviour.

Within the shipping crate is a heavy stone sarcophagus, unmarked. Bands of gold
once sealed it shut, but have been expertly cut. Within is a corpse, suspended
in half-crystallised honey. The borders between the hairless body and the
surrounding honey are fuzzy, the flesh seemingly dissolving outwards into the
substance entombing it.


DEADHORSE

Wikipedia Entry

At the airfield, no-one comes to meet the agents. All the buildings on the
airfield but the traffic control tower are dark and empty, the controller in new
boots that squeak.

Almost everyone here works on the oilfield or services those who do. Almost none
have heard of the facility - those who have only know it as a turn-off down the
road that follows Sag River.


DEADHORSE DELIVERIES

Owned and operated by Laura Sears, 41. She is hard, no-bullshit woman who mostly
lives her in vehicle, emerging like some beast of the tundra for food when
needed. She smuggles alcohol into this dry town, but never drinks any whilst in
Alaska. A network of old scars inch their way across her legs. Within them still
lurks fragments of glass and metal.

Asked, she curtly shares that she’s done a few deliveries to the facility. She
knows nothing of the contents and aims to keep it that way. For anything more,
she demands payment: $200. As she tells it, the facility itself is a large, ugly
building surrounded by a wirelink fence. She’s never been inside - rifle-armed
security men take receipt of the delivery outside, hauling it around the side of
the building rather than going in the main entrance. There’s a covered carpark -
usually with the typical winterized trucks of the region, although twice she has
seen a luxury SUV with tinted windows parked there.


SAG RIVER EXTREME COLD RESEARCH FACILITY

3 hours down the Dalton Highway, where the flat immensity of the landscape
begins to crumble, a track snakes away from the road, passing between the low
hills like waves of earth. The cold weather has frozen heavy tire-tracks into
the track - matching those of 4x4s.



The facility consists of 3 large steel modular units combined into a crooked
shape, surrounded by a razorwire topped chainlink fence, 10’ tall. A covered
garage stands within the perimeter. Behind, two generators, external to the
building, are connected with bundled wires umbilical. From outside, observers
can see the lights are on internally. Long observation reveals no-one leaving,
nor any movement - the curtains are not drawn at night, and no lights are
switched off. Cameras jut from each face, lazily pivoting left and right.

No-one reacts to any perimeter breach. They are gone.


THE CHIMPANZEES

Haunting the building are six chimpanzees. Each was cryogenically frozen and now
walks despite the delicate structures of their brains being near-entire
destroyed by the freezing process. Physical trauma is minimally effective - they
simply pick themselves back up. They hunt their erstwhile captors, but are
unable to distinguish between humans. Those they kill they do not eat - instead,
they are dragged towards the basement. They cannot be distracted, but they can
be tricked.

Evasion: +0
Shooting: None.
Melee: 2d6. Always receives one Injury as it fights without self preservation.
Adds +1d6 for each additional Chimpanzee assisting.
Harm: Whenever a Chimpanzee is Injured or Downed, roll 1d6 on the table below.

Xd6 Result 1-17 The Chimpanzee rises up despite their horrific injuries. When
rolling on this table again, add an additional 1d6. 18+ The Chimpanzee is
destroyed utterly, a heap of gore.

For every 10 minutes spend searching the facility, there is a 2-in-6 chance that
the Chimpanzees have found the group. They know enough to use cover and spring
ambushes.


KEY

Reception
A metal door typical to the region gives way to a disarmingly conventional
office reception. A large sofa to the side, flanked at one side by a coat rack
straining with heavy outerwear. Behind the desk, a series of papers recording
comings and goings - the last update the 4th of October, showing “Mr Adrian”
leaving after a stay of a single day. Bland corporate art sits on the wall,
depicting nothing. The door deeper into the building is deeply scratched on the
corridor-facing side.

Mess Hall
Long steel benches fill the space. Old mugs of coffee and tea sit, long stale.
Some have been knocked down, smashed upon the floor and leaving Rorschach blots
of dried, sticky drinks upon the floor. Most of the mugs read “Best Parent
Award” or have pictures of children far away from here.

Kitchen
A low, musty-sweet smell of rotting fruit fills the kitchen space. A fruitbowl
slowly collapses. The doors to the large double-width refrigerator have been
torn off, spoiled food falling out as if the appliance is vomiting. Separate
from these heaps, chewed mouthfuls deposited as if spat out. A gleaming set of
kitchen-knives are undisturbed.

Recreation Room
A pool table, the felt hopelessly torn up. A large, expensive television on a
mount in the corner in front of several sofas, seemingly chewed. A bookcase has
been ripped from the wall, scientific and fictional works destroyed, pages
scattered by the fall and recombined by chance into new strange works.

Gym
A full-featured gym, silent. A plastic bottle sits beside a treadmill,
half-drunk. A towel stiff with dried sweat is draped over the handlebars of a
stationary bike.

Residential Rooms:
These rooms each contain a bed, a bedside table and a wardrobe as standard. The
below focus on the unique features of each room.
1
Empty of personal effects. Atop the unmade bed, bedclothes of silk. A
triple-bolt lock studs in the interior of the door.

2(Shiv)
Stacks of chess books. On the beside table, a set-up chessboard and a stack of
letters, each detailing a chess move.

3(Laird)
The September issue of Guns & Ammo. A book on Alaskan wildlife, and a hunting
permit registered to Laird Meyer.

4(Jerred)
A collection of VHS tapes - all cheap monster movies.

5(Cletus)
Heaps of well-worn detective novels. Three balled-up drafts of letters to Vivian
Olson. They detail a desire to rekindle a romantic relationship. A set of keys
with a printed label hang from a hook glued to the wall: “IF FOUND RETURN TO
SECURITY.” On the reverse,in ballpoint pen: “Cletus if I find these again I will
skin you alive.”

6(Karsyn)
A heavily annotated and creased copy of “The Prospect of Immortality”. The
annotations are almost all negative. A small stuffed bear, old but well-cared
for.

7(Marcus)
An antique Colt Single Action Army in .45 Colt with 36 rounds and high-end tools
for maintenance. A bottle of Glenfiddich 12.

8(Devon)
The core three books of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1e, clearly thumbed
through many times. A pack of polyhedral dice with no signs of use. A small
collection of fantasy paperbacks.

9(Truman)
A heavy family Bible. A rosary hangs upon the wall.

10(Piers)
A fat leatherbound journal, encoded in a simple Caesar substitution. It details
dreams, carefully dated, with extensive commentary. A copy of the I Ching in
French.

11(Gurat)
A huge collection of photos coat the walls. Each is of a man wearing a turban
and a suit, smiling next to a figure usually dressed in religious attire. On the
back of each photo is a date, location and a name. Those familiar with New Age
religions recognise many of these figures as debunked leaders of such movements.
Those involved in deprogramming or the Cult Awareness Network recognise the man
as Gurat, a self-described “Guru-Buster” who goes by his mononym.

12(Stafford)
The latest archaeological journals, particularly those detailing digs in Bronze
Age sites. In the bedside table, a dirk, a rondel dagger and a duck-bill bronze
axe.

13 (Frang & Olga)
A pair of beds. A small radio, switched on and tuned to white noise - currently
muted. Within each bedside table, a Voors Head Device.

Empty
Seemingly an accident of architecture, this room contains nothing.

Meeting Room 1
A single long table is surrounded by chairs. At the end of the room, a
whiteboard with a magnetic eraser and pens. Upon it are written hieroglyphics.
Translated, they read:

“Come for my soul, O you wardens of the sky! If you delay letting my soul see my
corpse, you will find the eye of Horus standing up thus against you … The sacred
barque will be joyful and the great god will proceed in peace when you allow
this soul of mine to ascend vindicated to the gods… May it see my corpse, may it
rest on my mummy, which will never be destroyed or perish.”

Meeting Room 2
Knocked-over chairs are scattered, mingling with broken porcelain - all stained
by coffee.

Archaeological Room
Three long workbenches divide this room. Upon the northernmost workbench:

 * A heavy stone Mycenaean sarcophagi, carved with Linear B text. Set into the
   stone are swirling designs of gold, forming clouds. Above the clouds,
   chariots are carved, each heavily armed. The charioteers are blank-faced. The
   head chariot is driven by a figure depicted in gold. The sarcophagi is empty.
 * A ruin of stinking flesh in a puddle of putrefaction which drips onto the
   floor like tar. Despite the decay, evidence can be found of tissue samples
   being taken.

Upon the central workbench:

 * A heavily burnt Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi, much of the detail lost. Lead
   has been melted into the seams as if to seal it shut. Within, a damaged
   mummy, the hands black with long-dried gore, the fingernails protruding from
   the bandages.
 * A sophisticated, computer-controlled imaging device designed to scan the
   interiors of objects without opening them. Beside it, an instruction manual
   open to the troubleshooting pages. Several passages are highlighted.

Upon the southernmost workbench:

 * The Röst Girl, thought destroyed. Tissue samples have been taken.
 * The upper half of a human body, preserved in salt. The hair is long and
   white, much of the face hidden behind a beard. The fine hairs move with the
   air-currents in the room. Tissue samples have been taken.

Upon the walls are wax-rubbings of the sarcophagi and sketches of the corpses.
Delicate tools - files, brushes, hammers - flank them. Against the northern
wall, two large chest freezers in stainless steel. The left contains tissue
samples in small glass containers. The second contains a mummified dog.

The eastern wall is hidden behind large steel bookcases, stuffed with
archaeological reference texts - all focusing on funerary practices. Many have
bookmarks, focusing on artefacts thought to store the dead before some spiritual
- or material - return from death.

Break Room 1
The doors have been torn from the cupboards here, their contents smashed and
destroyed. Dried blood as if from knuckles studs the damaged walls. The coffee
machine is still functional, although the output is unpalatable.

Storage 1
Chairs, tables, heavy coats, rifle ammunition, emergency rations and fuel are
packed into this room - barely navigable without causing a chain reaction of
collapse.

Break Room 2
A pristine break room, seemingly untouched. Clean cups sit beside a sink which
still smells faintly of bleach. The refrigerator contains spoiled food which has
burst its container - the smell, still contained within, is enough to cause
vomiting.

Ritual Space
A wide room, empty but for the central tableau. A boat of skin, stretched into
place by bone, sits in the centre of the room. Beside it, a thin knife of
crystal, the handle antler. Connected to the boat by its entrails is a pig, long
expired. Three paces away, outside a circle of chalk which surrounds the rest, a
lectern. Upon it is a single sheet of paper and a gourd within which some liquid
remains. The liquid is a potent hallucinogenic tea brewed from psilocybe
mushrooms. The sheet has two block of text - the top half a photocopy of Old
East Slavic text, the lower handwritten in English. The English text is widely
spaced, with additional notes in red ink by a different hand.

“Those who would journey … … … prepare a vessel of skin stretched by bone. The
bones must be taken from a mother cow who has seen her calves bear their own
children. The skin must be that of lambs killed the day of their birth,
unsullied by their first meal. [? might refer to breastfeeding] The vessel must
be large enough to carry all those taking the journey, and each voyager must
imbibe the tea. [looking at local practices, we’ve brewed the ‘tea’ from local
hallucinogenic mushrooms] They must then wait in the vessel. There are three
ways to return. The pilot may carry a blessed knife to cut his flesh, firm and
unyielding without a blade. A cord of entrails, anchored to a pig, may also
provide a trail home. Finally, a rope of umbilical cords may be anchored upon
the earth.”

The Old East Slavic text reads:

“Those who would journey to the Lake of Seasons must prepare a vessel of skin
stretched by bone. The bones must be taken from a mother whale who has seen her
calves bear their own children. The skin must be that of lambs killed the day of
their birth, unsullied by their first meal. The vessel must be large enough to
carry all those taking the journey, and each voyager must imbibe the tea. They
must then wait in the vessel. There are three ways to return. The pilot may
carry a blessed knife to cut the waters which are like flesh, firm and
unyielding without a blade. A cord of entrails, anchored to a dog, may also
provide a trail home. Finally, a rope of umbilical cords may be anchored upon
the earth.”

Occult Library
Heavy wooden bookshelves surround tables, heavy with lamps, magnifying glasses
and translation-dictionaries. All are occult tomes - many are copies, although a
few originals of lesser works are amongst them. Most detail ways to transcend
mortality, whether by extending the lifespan, creating a new body or inhabiting
the flesh of another. Most are accompanied by hand-written commentaries, noting
similarities with other works and attempting to achieve synthesis between them.
The end of most of these detail that the grimoire is false, or unlikely to be of
use.

Storage 2
Freezers full of food hum quietly. Six three-man inflatable military boats sit
in their packaging, complete with the machines to inflate them.

Stairs Down
Wide stairs lead downwards, thick cords of cable emerging from the gloom below
like tendrils. They lead to the Basement. Descending the stairs, the temperature
noticeably drops.

Airlock
A heavy steel door bars access into the Security Operations Room. A camera
watches the space, the light blinking gently. A welding torch or an hour of
effort could smash down the door.

Security Operations Room
CCTV monitors stud one wall, each showing scenes of emptiness. A rack with three
pump-action 12 gauge shotguns and three .303 hunting rifles stands to the side.
The opposite wall is plastered with pinups. Between them, a small whiteboard.
Upon it is written “DAYS SINCE C-BOMB: 0”. A bank of charging stations for
short-range radios is empty.

Storage 3
Broken-down shipping crates litter the room, as well as several crowbars. A set
of snow shovels lean against one wall, just beginning to rust.

Cargo Lift
A heavy-duty lift, allowing access to the Basement.


THE BASEMENT

Accessible by either the stairs or the cargo-lift, the basement is filled with
large metal dewars, partially set into the floor. Each is connected to the
ceiling by bright yellow pipes, all connecting to a single huge tank towards the
back of the room. It bears a proliferation of warning stickers, clearly
labelling the contents as liquid nitrogen.

Between the dewars snake thick power cables, hooked up to UPS units. The walls -
poured concrete - sprout banks of monitors, providing read-outs on internal
temperatures on graphs - six are bright red, reading as COMPROMISED. The
corresponding six stand open, their lids adjacent - each buckled up and outwards
from inside the container. All six are empty. Investigating the others reveals
them to be full of liquid nitrogen, preserving an animal corpse.

Tucked into one corner is a sophisticated chemistry lab as well as several thick
lab-books, detailing experiments to revivify frozen animals. None have been
successful. None of the chimpanzees were due for tests for three months.

Those exiting the basement find themselves in the Other Facility.


THE OTHER FACILITY

The Other Facility is an exact duplicate of the Sag River Extreme Cold Research
Facility. Within, most of the staff of the facility still survive despite their
transport to the Lake of Seasons, upon which the Other Facility floats atop a
slab of earth. There is no natural light in this place, although the generators
are still working, providing electric light. There are no Chimpanzees here. Use
the descriptions in the facility above, although signs of decay and damage are
absent.

The staff have divided, the occultists fearing one another after the botched
ritual. Each suspects a deliberate botch to transport the entire facility to the
Lake of Seasons, though none is able to provide a cogent reason as to why
someone would do this. The rest of the staff, entirely out of their element,
have divided themselves up amongst the occultists. Staff are marked S for
security, C for Cryonics.

All of the groups will be shocked at visitors, and demand answers, hoping for a
way to return to reality. None have been moved to violence against the others
yet.


SLAVKO GROUP

Frang and Olga Slavko have holed up in the basement, gathering Devon (S), Marcus
(S) and Karsyn (C). The sisters are desperate to survive this situation, and
consider anyone else expendable in this goal. They were previously Voor’s Head
Device devotees after escaping a human trafficking operation, but have since
devoted themselves to the study of Dream. Now their dreams show them only huge
crawling hives of insects who speak of things to come in a maddening drone -
especially of a bargain made for escape. Where possible, they try to speak
through Devon and Marcus - Karsyn is near catatonic with fear, and does the
sisters’ bidding mutely.

Devon is a failed novelist who turned to security work thinking he would use the
free time to hone his skills. He is observant, quick to catch out liars, but far
too curious to leave things alone.

Marcus is in love with guns and violence. He has a large tattoo on his forearm,
half-covered up with roses: it used to mark his membership in a biker gang, now
split up and moved on by the Hell’s Angels. His knuckles are scarred.

Karsyn was obsessed with cryonics - the grief of a dead child consumed him, and
he was determined to ensure no-one else would have to feel this pain again. Now,
he is nearly entirely hollow. Fear has consumed him.


LOUVOUN GROUP

Piers Louvoun has gathered his flock in the Ritual Space, at first thinking the
vessel would still be there. His poor translation caused the ritual to transport
the entire “vessel” - the facility itself - to the Lake of Seasons. Despite his
failure, he feels no remorse. He is filled with a hunger for knowledge, seeking
to unravels the mysteries of the world that it may no longer do him harm. Jerred
(S), Cletus (S), Laird (S) and Shiv (C) have gathered around him, although they
are doubting his leadership - he wishes to sent them out to explore the Lake of
Seasons. He claims this is to find a way out - he simply wants to know what lies
out there. If he can be convinced that the situation is hopeless, or his thirst
for knowledge is slaked with the blood of others, he admits the knife Gurat
holds could be used to escape the Lake of Seasons.

Jerred would describe himself as “a regular type guy who likes beer.” Asked
about home, he says it was only boring. He is surprising himself at how well he
is taking the entire situation.

Cletus is a forgetful, fretful man who was discharged from the US Marines for
assaulting an officer. He is at his limit, and ready to explode. He never goes
anywhere without his .44 revolver.

Laird grew up in Alaska, and took this job to get away from home after a messy
divorce. He will latch on to any hope of escaping - he wants to make amends with
his ex-wife.

Shiv was head-hunted from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences to lead
the cryonics research here, leaving behind his family in the huge mansion bought
with his signing bonus. He has made his peace with his death being the cost of
their happiness, although a good shot at escape would renew his efforts.


GURAT GROUP

Gurat prides himself as a “Guru-Buster” - a professional sceptic, travelling the
world and proving his mark to be a fraud time and time again. Hired to weed out
bullshit, he is now facing down a reality he cannot accept. He and Stafford (C)
are in the Kitchen, armed with knives - Gurat holding a duplicate of the crystal
knife found in the Ritual Space. Some part of him wants to die here, rather than
escape and undo his life’s work.

Stafford was trying to pursue a romantic relationship with Gurat, the two having
bonded over their love of history. Watching the man crumble is destroying him.


MODIFIED KEYS

Kitchen
Gurat and Stafford are here, untrusting of all the others. Convincing Gurat to
give up the knife is difficult: if framed as a ritual tool, he is more liable to
destroy it. Stafford could be convinced to wrestle it off him if he believed it
would save them both.

Archaeological Room
All of the mummies and corpses are missing; their containers are not.

Ritual Space
The ritual accoutrements are entirely absent. In their place is Piers Louvoun
and his group - Piers trying to corral them into exploring the Lake of Seasons,
reporting their findings over radio. After initial questioning, he shifts focus
to the newcomers, promising that their explorations will help find a way out.

Occult Library
This room has been ransacked - many of the tomes flung about, smashed apart,
pages marred with vicious strikes of ink.

The Basement The Slavko group are holed up here, despite Devon wanting to move
out and explore the area to find out what exactly has happened to them. Told of
the planned expedition, he happily abandons the sisters in favour of action. If
they are brought reports of the Teeming Augur, the Frang begins sobbing whilst
Olga explains their dream-visions.


THE LAKE OF SEASONS

The Other Facility rests upon a large slab of earth, floating in an infinite
black ocean, unlit from above. The sound of water gently lapping at the earth
can be heard below, although it cannot be seen without a torch. The effect is of
nothingness - a solitary sphere of material in a total void.

The waters of the Lake of Seasons causing rapid ageing, thankfully localised to
that area. Being totally submerged is certain death. Individual droplets are
harmless - separated from the whole, the waters lose whatever power it is they
hold.

No compasses work upon the Lake - all navigation can only be conducted in
reference to the light emitted from the windows of the Other Facility, and other
other sources discovered.

Any journey taken has a 1-in-20 chance of attracting the attention of 1d6-4
Entropy Survivor, emerging from the Lake’s waters.


ENTROPY SURVIVORS

The Black Worms, The Coils of Consumption, The Eels of Season.
When all energy spreads infinitely thin, something will survive as a
concentration in the flat empty dark. These entities will seek one another,
winnowing down their numbers to eke out some few millennia more of existence.
Predators and basking sharks, immense coils of ribbed worm set behind mouths fit
to extinguish suns. Within the Lake of Seasons, some echo of these final
inheritors of existence lurk, preying instead upon those who come to the Lake
too early. They are tiny in comparison - merely the size of underground trains.
They are attracted to heat, light and movement. They consume electricity,
radioactivity and light before resorting to living things.

To Hit: Automatic hits.
Shooting: N/A.
Melee: Those targeted must dodge or be consumed and destroyed utterly.
Harm: Whenever an Entropy Survivor would be Injured or Downed, roll a d20,
adding +1 for each prior roll this engagement. On a 20+, it is driven away for
d8 hours.


LOCATIONS

Each journey takes 1d20 hours, and leads to one of the following locations. Once
discovered, these locations may be found again, taking the same length of time.
Randomly determine which is found first, second and third. Those choosing to
remain in the Lake of Seasons could discover other things further afield. The
Lake is infinite.

THE FALSE SHORE

A crescent of material, afloat upon the Lake of Seasons. At a distant, it seems
to shimmer and shift. As one approaches, they see it is covered in a living
carpet of giant insects: The Teeming Augur.

In buzzing voices remembered but never heard, they bargain in their multitudes.
For the price of an egg-carrier, submitting willingly, they allow riders. They
can be ridden anywhere, anywhen. They will happily accompany groups back to the
Other Facility.

The egg-carrier, to conventional medical techniques, seems entirely normal. Two
days after their return, they begin to experience time-loss. This develops into
5 minute loops of time experience, hastening the incubation and trapping them in
cycles which self-cancel yet crowd their mind with impossible memories. After
months of increasingly long loops - reaching entire years towards the end -
their skull explodes into more of the Teeming Augur, who infest the local area.
Chrono-aberrations begin to proliferate in the area, causing it to step out of
sync with conventional human time. This would not be the first area upon the
Earth to be erased this way. That house at the end of your childhood street was
the same.

THE TEEMING AUGUR

Stream-steeds, Dream Carriers, Graceful Mounts, Slow Angels.
In their thousands they buzz and dance, dwelling upon the shores of Time. They
skitter across the surface freely, compound eyes drinking in all the sights
offered, drinking deeply where some eddy in the flow gives their fanged
proboscis purchase.

To the human eye they are each the size of ponies, scaled, built out with limbs
too-slight to bear their weight. Wings of soap-bubble thin gossamer twitch
frenetically from their back.

They can be ridden through time, although they will take a companion to incubate
a brood of their eggs. They leave it up to those who would ride upon them to
decide who bears this burden.

To Hit: -1 (Speed)
Shooting: N/A
Melee: 2d10.
Harm: Whenever a Teeming Augur would be Injured or Downed, roll a d20 and
consult the chart below.

d20 Result 1-12 The attack ricochets off their armoured hide. 13-15 The weapon
used reverts to its base materials: metal to ore, wood to seed. God help those
who attack unarmed. 16+ Resolve the Injured/Downed process normally.

THE CAVES

Floating upon the Lake, another mass of earth and stone - this one riddled with
holes, the uppermost of which bleed smoke. Within, a band of twelve
Neanderthals. They are led by an experienced Traveller, leading their expedition
into the Lake of Seasons. The rest are hopeful braves, here to prove themselves
against the Black Hounds. Six have already succeeded, having drunk the residue.
The other five are restless for the hunt, but their dugout canoes have crumbled
to ash. If the Traveller could be convinced the group are not the half-person
Demons they believe inhabit the Lake, and the remaining hopefuls can be helped
in their hunt, she would lead all back to their respective times and places.
Doing so using only gesture is challenging to say the least.

U-519

Atop the waters, the U-Boat 519 floats, a wound in her hull through which no
water pours: only Black Hounds. The surviving 22 crew, having arrived mere hours
ago, are terrified out of their wits. Half their number were killed by the
initial attack of the Black Hounds, pouring through the impossible wound in the
hull. They huddle amidships, armed with SMGs. The communications specialists
killed themselves after using the radios, and none have dared touch it since.
Naturally, all speak German.

In 30 minutes, the same 18 Black Hounds emerge from the wound and begin their
hunt anew.

BLACK HOUND

The Peril, The Warden’s Dogs, Vanguards.
A face shredded like a bouquet of flowers, wrapped in black plastic and left by
the side of the road. Behind this disaster a long body of taut flesh over
many-knuckled bones, flexing and moving independently. There are too many legs.

From ridges and tears in the real the hounds emerge, silent, ignoring any
gravity or terrain. The unfortunate notice that each leg terminates in a human
hand, some with rings.

They hunt those who survived initial breach events, marked for death. They are
left as dust, all moisture driven from them. Electronic devices cannot perceive
them, although they trigger moisture-sensitive systems.

To Hit: -4 (Speed)
Shooting: N/A
Melee: 2d8. Always causes 1 Injury regardless of result.
Harm: Black Hounds ignore Injured results from shooting. Downed results send
them sprawling, but continue the hunt next round. In melee, they take Injuries
and Down result normally. Any Injury or Down result from an explosive destroys
them utterly.


THE CRYSTAL KNIFE

The knife of crystal works true: one carefully lowered to the water could cut
into it as if through flesh, hacking a hole which leads to the exterior of the
Sag River Extreme Cold Research Facility. Such a hole in time will attract 12
Black Hounds in 15 minutes. Their destruction, or the death of their prey, seals
the wound shut once more.

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