S30 The Mountains of Dreams
Pete didn’t quite make it back after Christmas, laid low by a mystery bug - so the players looked at me and said “can you run something?” And so, after half a day’s fairly frenetic tapping on the keyboard... I did my best to keep the dates and times between things tied together, but some of them may have slipped into inconsistencies. This was a bijou affair featuring just Nevada and Wombat!
Nobfork Ranch, Tarsus/District 268/Spinward Marches, 210/1106
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He’d contacted them because one of his customers had mentioned them - Nita Maltby, the young archaeologist-adventurer who had travelled to Tarsus aboard the Short Walk, letting slip hints about her IISS-sponsored expedition to the mysterious Mountains of Dreams in the far north of Tarsus. She’d procured her supplies through Poole, and he’d picked up their last distress call: “They’ve gone! They’ve all gone! Send help, there’s only me left” followed by static. The sender was identified as Lee Brantz, hired as a hunter by the expedition on Poole’s recommendation.
Understandably, Poole figured that the Scouts were going to be unhappy if an expedition they’d underwritten for a bob or two was lost, and had thought of the Cats with Guns as his mind turned to a rescue. Wombat nodded; their very good relationship with the IISS was definitely worth putting a little effort into. Hayden passed on what information he had.
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The mountains are constantly shrouded in mist or cloud, and known to be very rough. Two previous expeditions which tried to explore them from the air met with failure; one had to abort due to not being able to find a landing spot, and the other made a landing attempt; everyone died. Nobody else had dared try for more than two hundred years.
[sidebar - expedition roster]
| Expedition Roster Scientists
Locals
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High Orbit, Tarsus/District 268/Spinward Marches, 211/1106
Not keen (apart from FIFA Dave) fancying ground transport, the Cats took the Long Walk into orbit over the mountains at a safe height. What they saw was daunting.
The reputation of the range is well-earned; at altitudes less than 1km of the peaks, violent turbulence and thick, clinging mist were going to make flying into them and landing impossibly dangerous. However, they were able to get a sensor reading from the expedition’s transporter, pinppointing the landing site.
Returning to the starport, they rented a straightforward wheeled ATV and loaded it aboard, then flew up to the mountains and the expedition’s landing point. They took several of their robot cats along for all sorts of reasons.
Landing Site, Mountains of Dreams, Tarsus/District 268/Spinward Marches, 212/1106
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All were closed up and neatly left, tickover power on to keep things warm. Hayden had provided access codes, which opened the pods without issue. The hab pods were accommodation – enough for 20 people doubled up, showing that Nita really did struggle to recruit her team. The forward base unit contained a meeting room, computer and comms station. It dawned on Nevada that, while the hab pods were civilian issue, the forward base was milspec and still had its psionic shielding.
The vessel itself was uninteresting, the nav console showed the flight plans from Newland and one plotted to take them back afterwards. Vehicle bays to hold two wheeled ATVs stood empty.
The forward base computer systems showed regular transmissions of expedition logs and results sent back to the bigger computer for analysis, plus regular mundane reports back to Newland to confirm expedition status. These latter stopped three weeks ago, and the distress call was relayed through 2 days later.
The reports gave a fairly good track on the vehicles for a week (200km into the mountains), up until four days before the signals stopped. After that, map references weren’t included in the suspiciously bland reports, and there was no explanation.
Loading up the ATV, they set off into the mountains.
Mountains of Dreams, Tarsus/District 268/Spinward Marches, 219/1106
As the ATV climbed into the mountains, the weather had deteriorated, constant howling gales rocking the vehicle and blinding blizzards of snow tearing across the landscape. Several tricky, narrow ravines challenged even FIFA Dave’s skill with ground vehicles, but they made it through. As they progressed, occasional wheel tracks from the expedition’s ATVs showed that they were on the right track.About a week later, they crested a ridge and came into sight of a very peculiar thing. The lowest reaches of the mountain ahead of them appeared to be unnaturally square; and it was emitting the most peculiar mixture of EM waves anyone had ever seen.
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The hab pods and ATV were unlocked, but empty; indeed, the hab pods showed signs that the crew had simply stood up and walked away in the middle of whatever they were doing. The forward base was a mess. Three bodies - Hendrickson, Klimas and Thornsberry - were sprawled in various positions. All had been shot with a heavy calibre handgun. They were dressed in plain jumpsuits not the expedition’s outdoor heatsuits. The base computer, used for compiling reports for transmission to the main base, had been riddled with shots, probably from the same weapon, and was completely inoperable, as were the comm systems. The food store had been very clumsily rifled and most of the ration packs were missing.
Whatever was going on, the answer was in the mountain.
Square Mountain, Mountains of Dreams, Tarsus/District 268/Spinward Marches, 219/1106
The tracks of the expedition ATV are fairly easy to follow, and in any case, the likely destination is right there. As the Cats got closer, they could see there is an arched entrance, its’ details crumbling with age but still clearly no script anyone had ever seen before. The second expedition ATV was parked outside, closed up and empty.Inside was what seemed like a cave, but which became more regular as it got further from the weather. A quarter of a mile in, a human body could be seen on the ground. It was Lee Brantz, expedition hunter, and he’d been dead for at least a week. He was carrying a hunting rifle, and had locally hunted meat in his back-pack. He’d been shot with the same handgun as the others.
Leaving Dave at the ATVs, they ventured in.
After half a mile, the cave came to an end at a heavy door made of a metal no-one had ever seen before. This was standing open, and various ordinary equipment lay around it – crowbars, electronic lockpicks, a carefully isolated box with Explosives written on it, a laser cutting rig on it and so on. The door had a section burned out of it with the laser cutter to get it open.
There was a fairly strong breeze of rather warm air flowing out through the door.
On the far side was a short passage in the same metal, lit ambiently and somewhat low by human standards, leading to a crossroads. Three doorways were visible in the distance.
Alien Base, Mountains of Dreams, Tarsus/District 268/Spinward Marches, 219/1106
Once into the corridor, the Cats noticed that it was quite warm, the air felt rather thick, and the gravity was around 0.5g. No comms worked from inside to the outside; in fact, no detectable emissions at all.
A crossroads was visible around 50 yards ahead, with passages going left, right and ahead. Carefully stationing cats at the junction, they turned right and eased down the passage. It opened into a large square room, containing clusters of what look like small beds, each surrounding a central unit
with controls on and a large lamp. Large side rooms opened out to three sides.
To the left was a room with a counter running around the
outer three sides at around groin height, with very low stools set rather too
close to it. Boxy machines were placed regularly around this, each with a
comparatively few controls. Nobody felt inclined to meddle with anything.
Straight ahead the side-room had a large oval pool in it,
with water that slowly circulated and was rather warmer than the air.
To the right, a smaller side-room contained a selection of
very weird frames with weights and springs, some of which can be moved by
manipulating other parts of the structure, and some of which can’t be moved by
being physically reached.
Taking the straight-on passage, they emerged into a remarkable-looking room.
In the centre was a sphere of what might be glass
or crystal, on which is projected or displayed an image they recognized as Tarsus from space, incredibly detailed. A moment’s observation
revealed that things like clouds and the terminator were slowly moving; it
appeared to be real-time.
Surrounding it were seven consoles and what were probably
seats, though they were too small and close to the desks for a human occupant. The consoles themselves had unfamiliar
instrumentation – none of it labelled – and what looked like a table-lamp with a
silver shade, though it threw no light.
Four human bodies, were sprawled on the
floor, killed by the same high-calibre pistol as the ones at the base.
Squeezed into the seat of one of the consoles was a tall,
bearded, heavy-set man. His console had no silver dome on the ‘table-lamp’; the
dome was on his head. He looked rather malnourished, though there were several empty
standard ration packs scattered around the desk. He was dressed in the same
heatsuit as the other expedition members, and had a pistol holstered at his
belt; a heavy hunting rifle lay at the side of the chair. He did not register
the intruders despite shouting and prodding, but was clearly alive. His suit said “Harold Marvin” but the pair recognized him - he was Hank McClure!
In fairness, the players said they were taking the cap off McClure, but I didn’t hear them - I know, old and deaf. Things would have been different if I had. I still think it was more fun this way!
Again, the Cats decided against any meddling (though Wombat did wonder what the silver domes would do if he put one on), and satisfied themselves with easing McClure out of his chair and tying him up.
Returning to the crossroads, they headed over to the left-hand room.
This was lined with racks, each holding what
looked a little like a mechanical exoskeleton, such as a powerloader. Most were empty. Two had the very, very
dessicated remains of a local predator inside – it was notable that the frame had altered its shape to accommodate them.
Six had the remaining expedition members in - Nita Maltby, Arden Younglove, Rayford Perlman, Harland Caywood, Martin Keatts and Theron Mensah. They looked rather unhealthy and had some injuries caused by the frames being too small to
accommodate them properly; broken shins, crushed feet, dislocated shoulders. Connections from the frames pierced their bodies and
fluids were moving in and out, which appeared to be what was keeping them alive. Mud and leaves
clung to the feet and legs of the frames, indicating they had been outside. In the centre were two workbenches, somewhat too low, with
support jigs and tools for working on the frames, looking a bit similar to battledress armour benches.
Very carefully, Wombat and Nevada investigated the frames. Gingerly, Wombat attempted to disconnect one, and the tubes retracted into the wall. However, the frame started moving, straightening up and delivering a heavy blow which would have killed the doctor without his armour. Lurching forward, it advanced on the pair, who backed off, aware of its still unconscious occupant. As they did so, the other ones containing humans unhooked themselves and joined the nightmarishly slow advance, The things seemed massively strong, but not especially quick, possibly because they did not fit their occupants properly.
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Aware now of what had happened, Nevada casually walked back to the control room and shot McClure through the head.
It took hours to gently extract the survivors from the frames, with Wombat applying what first aid he could manage on site. Makeshift stretchers were constructed and the casualties ferried down the cave and into the ATVs. Even with two vehicles it was a tight squeeze, but eventually the vehicles set off back to the landing site, Nevada rather nervously following Dave’s lead as they retraced their route.
As they travelled, they discussed the burning question. Who were they going to tell about this?
Session Date: 9th January 2024