Play@YSDC

After travelling for several hours, maintaining their heading of South by South East, you stumble across some tracks that lead across your path, though it is difficult to say if the tracks are probably heading due West instead of East. The tracks include sleds and people on foot, by the length of their strides, it does not seem as though they were fleeing.

Patrick turns the sled in the direction of the tracks.

After a hour or so following your tracks you can see in the distance the group ahead of you. About ten minutes later the suddenly veer off to the South.

OOC:   How do you proceed and in what order are you all travelling?

Patrick brings his dogs to a stop, then looks at Jesse. What do you suggest?

OOC:   Can we determine how many are in the group and can we still see them as they head South? What is the ground like here?

OOC:   I had assumed that we'd probably only have a single sled, with Patrick driving and Jesse either on the sled or towed along on Ski's - but it was entirely my assumption not discussed with Pappa G.

ghill wrote:

OOC:   I had assumed that we'd probably only have a single sled, with Patrick driving and Jesse either on the sled or towed along on Ski's - but it was entirely my assumption not discussed with Pappa G.

OK then - that's what it will be - though you will be joined soon.

dustakr wrote:

OOC,I want to be with expedition team, though I am not sure how should I catch up with Patrick and Jesse.

OOC:   For the sake of the game we can assume that as soon as the other party return to camp they quickly debrief everyone on what they found and anyone who wishes can set out in search of Patrick. I have asked for the others to let me know who wants to tag along for the ride so the entry below may be edited to include others.

ghill wrote:

OOC:   Can we determine how many are in the group and can we still see them as they head South? What is the ground like here?

The group looks to be large, say about 40+ Difficult to tell at this sort of range with any more accuracy. The ground you are covering is frozen drifts of snow and ice, the weather, although more or less permanent night is clear and frosty ... very cold. They are visible to you, although at times some of them may disappear as they disappear behind ice drifts, but the majority of the group remain visible at any given time.

You suddenly hear a shout from behind you as a two man sled and skier approach. The closer they get you can recognise that the sled bears Chris and Poo-Yet-Tah with Dougal being the outrider.

ghill wrote:Patrick brings his dogs to a stop, then looks at Jesse. What do you suggest?

Well we're here to warn the locals, so I think we should catch them up and let them know that there is something large and dangerous out here.

As he finishes speaking, he sees the dogs prick their ears and turn their heads back towards the direction they have come from, he nods at the dogs Something is coming up behind us a minute or so later the other sled appears accompanied by the shout.

Seems we have company, maybe cutting up bodies isn't as much fun as they thought.

OOC:   Jesse will be riding the sled, he is happy to take turns driving the dogs

Patrick will start to move the Sled forward the figures out on the ice, trying to pick his way through the worst of the drifts. He moves slowly because he doesn't want anyone following to lose him, nor does he want those he is following to be concerned about what Patrick and Jesse's intentions are. If Patrick can get near enough he will shout at the Inuit to alert them of their presence.

OOC:   Are the group following the trail left by the Inuit or 'cutting across' on an intercept course?

Once the three sleds are together, they move swiftly across the ice field. Suddenly a loud crack fills the air and the sled with Chris and Poo-Yet-Tah fall down into the opening crevasse. Fortunately they were a few feet behind the other two sleds so only they were caught. The loud screams of Chris and the huskies sound out above the moderate wind as they plummet downward and are suddenly stilled - too suddenly to be a good sign surely! Poo-Yet-Tah makes no sound other than a shout which was largely drowned out by the cracking of the ice as it opens. Was it a call of surprise or warning?

OOC:   Pretty imaterial now But Patrick having seen the Inuit disappear onto the ice would have cut a path directly towards them unless the ground looked unsafe.

Patrick brings the sled to a halt and asks Jesse to take the leads he then quickly unstraps two climbing ropes which he secures to the sled tieing one around his waist and looping the other through his belt before making his way, slowly and carefully towards the crevasse. Testing the ground with each step.

Spot Hidden 45: [dice]0[/dice] - checking the ice is stable and will hold his weight.

Very conscious of the possibility of giant prehistoric sabre toothed polar bears showing up, Dougal jumps off his sled then immediately unslings and loads his shotgun. Dougal will watch all approaches but be ready to help Patrick.

ghill wrote:

OOC:   Pretty imaterial now But Patrick having seen the Inuit disappear onto the ice would have cut a path directly towards them unless the ground looked unsafe.

OOC:   That was more for how long it would take to reach the Inuit as opposed to the reasoning/positioning behind the ice splitting

Reaching the edge of the crevasse and making sure that you are lying down to distribute your weight better, Patrick peers over the edge and looks down into the depths. At the bottom of the split, you can see the wreckage of the sled and dogs. Chris' broken body lies close to the bottom, his legs at the wrong angle to his torso. There is no sign of Poo-Yet-Tah at first. Edging closer to the lip of the chasm, you can see him some distance down lying face up on something akin to a narrow ledge. You estimate the distance as being about fifty feet below your current position.

Dougal races over to Patrick's sled. Carefully putting down his shotgun near at hand, Dougal takes up the rope, ready to assist.

"Paddy lad, give me the word and I'm ready to help lower you down or pull you up. Are they alive down there, can you see them?"

Conroe halts the sled little ahead of Patrick's sled, and starts calling loudly towards inuit group ahead for help until the group figures fade away..

Patrick rolls over onto his back to look over at Dougal. Don't worry about pulling me up Dougal the ropes tied off on the sled, the dogs can do that for us. Best do the same to yourself with a rope tied off on your sled as well in case the ice at the edge gives way. Then I'll go down with this second rope and we can start hauling them up. I can see Chris and Poo-Yet-Tah, I'm not sure Chris made it, he looks pretty broken up. then rolling back to look down the crevasse. He shouts "Poo-Yet-Tah, can you hear me are you OK? Can you see if Chris is still alive?"

Dougal is happy to bow to local expertise. He quickly slings the old shotgun and races back to his own sled to organise ropes as Patrick suggested.

"All set!"

Poo-Yet-Tah does not respond, and worryingly Partick can see the ice beside his head is starting to become stained crimson.

Waving to Jesse at the sled Patrick starts to lower himself down into the chasm. But a rough outcropping of ice stops him from descending while he tries to work out how to get to Poo-Yet-Tah

Climb 40%[dice]0[/dice]

"'I'm already rather committed" says Patrick clearly trying not to laugh as he tries to clear the latest obstacle "but as long as your tied off to the sled that'll do for the moment"

OOC:   I assume there are others up at the top who can also handle the dogs and thus lower Dougal down into the chasm. I'm not entirely clear who is with us and who is not and with what Skills, I know Jesse on Patrick's sledge can manage their dogs.

Dougal slings his trusty shotgun again (Messrs Purdeys' finest) and starts crawling carefully towards the crevice. He pauses at its lip.

"Conroe, Jesse, anyone, someone please get my sled to start backing up towards the device so I can get lowered down."

'I guess I can hold this sled steady and start backing up..just make sure to reach to the ground before everyone joins the party...' Conroe gets the sled backing up slowly towards crevasse.

Dougal starts scrabbling down the crevice as the rope lowers. He suspects being a stumpy, clumsy Scotsman with short arms may not be the perfect choice for a crevice climber. At least he left the kilt at the base.

OOC:   Dougal's climb skill is 40% and in case he needs it he rolls... [dice]0[/dice]

Jesse slowly backs the sled that Patrick is tied to, giving the slack necessary to descend the ice face.

He calls down to Patrick in inuit Are you ok down there?

Patrick.

"I'm good Jesse, its not the easiest thing to get down, but we'll get there. Better safe than sorry. We'll not help anyone getting injured ourselves."

You both reach the ice ledge and although it is less than two foot wide you manage to find reasonable footing, though you have to bear in mind that you are on a narrow ledge with a sheer drop on one side and a sheer wall of ice on the other which will restrict your movement. As you look down at Poo-Yet-Tah's prone body you cannot notice anything out of the ordinary other than the blood stains at the upper end of his body and his right arm dangling into the abyss.

You look down at Chris' broken body and realise without any further doubt, not that there was much to start with, that his time on this expedition has come to an unfortunate and untimely end.

Suddenly there are shouts from above. As you look up you can see several Inuit faces that you do not recognise staring down at you. They throw ropes down to you and shout that you should hurry in case the crevasse suddenly closes. You can see them pointing down at Chris; body and several ropes are thrown down towards him and the Inuit swiftly clamber down to his location. They secure their ropes around his body and start to pull him up. The Inuit down there start to root around where he fell, pick up a few items and ascend once more.

Patrick quickly puts a bowline into the end of the rope looping it under Poo-Yet-Tah's arms and then signalling for the Inuit to be pulled up. Then he pulls hard on his own ropeto signal to Jamie to pull him up. Once at the top he clambers to his feet and goes to meet their new arrivals.

Jesse pulls Patrick to the top. Once he see that he is clear, he ties the dogs off and heads over to him and the inuit arrivals.

OOC:   Sorry getting a bit caught up in the turn of events and not thinking it through realistically. Patrick will first move Poo-Yet-Tah well away from the crevasse (probably back to the sled, make sure he's warm and deal with any obvious injuries. Once he's happy Poo-Yet-Tah life isn't at immediate risk, he'll head over to join Jesse and Inuit.

First aid roll: [dice]0[/dice]

'I guess we might need 2 or more rope in our direction to make this sled secure, .. Dougal you getting out.. where is Dr. Hamilton...' Conroe now holds the sled steady.

The Inuit who assisted you watch you warily. After a few awkward moments, they start to speak slowly ... for those who can speak Inuit, they seem to be asking you,

"Why are you are following us ... what you want with our tribe ... what have we done to you that warrants your attention?"

Patrick coughs trying to get a moment to gather his thoughts.

Early today my friends found the bodies of two hunters out on the ice. These men had been savaged, as if by a Nanuq worthy of great respect, but the kills had not been fed on. Worse still they looked as though they had been toyed with. I thought it piqujait, for me to find and warn you something is on the ice and to tell you of these men's passing.

Patrick waits a moment then adds "I also thought those who live on the ice their entire lives might know what might have killed these men."

One of the Inuit leans in to whisper something to the 'lead inuit' who had spoken to you. after a brief muffled conversation between the two where he mays "No" forcibly and makes a chopping motion with his hand before he turns to you once more,

OOC:   Listen rolls to overhear the side conversation if you want

"You are the mad foreigners from the ...," he pauses to find the right phrase "... from the permanent camp? We bid you welcome in these trying times." He touches his chest in the ritual greeting which marks him as a member of the Timber-Wolf clan on a successful Anthropology roll at +20%. "The two bodies you found were not of our tribe as all our hunters are guarding the movement to another site and were seen with my own eyes before we left our previous camp. Perhaps one of the other local tribes, though you will encounter difficulty in finding one and I would not advise the other."

Patrick strains to Listen in on the side conversation between the two Inuit [dice]0[/dice] he smiles to himself, when he hears the tribesman's words

None of them are mad says Patrick, emphasising the fact he's clearly not including himself among the 'foreigners'. But they are not used to living out on the ice and they wish to learn about this world. Its is good the hunters were not Timber Wolf clan, but this does not change the matter that a beast is on the ice, one which does not kill for food. All should know of this matter. These other clans what difficulty will prevent me from doing what is right and warning the first clan?....and why should I not warn the other?

Keeper,Has Patrick ever heard of a tupilak?

Patrick looks at the lead Inuit. If you know what the beast is then it is *piqujait you share this knowledge with those whose lives are at risk.

*piqujait, the inuit sense of doing what is right.

Patrick,You can roll against your Anthropology skill of you want (1%) to see if you have heard of a tupilak.

The lead Inuit looks at you with hard eyes and speaks to you very brusquely.

"I need no lesson from you as to what is or is not piqujait." He steps forward and the other Inuit tense.

"But as you seem so keen to listen to the talk between others, I suppose I had better put you right - a tupilak is nothing more than an old woman's tale who wish to keep unruly children in check ..." he glares over his shoulder at the young Inuit who had whispered it.

"... children such as Lom-Yat there who is so young that he still remembers his mothers scolding tales. The young man turns crimson while the others snigger at his expense.

"Now there is nothing further that we have to impart to you, the next nearest clan is in that direction ..." he points the way. "... the Blue Seal Clan, though I seriously doubt they will be as friendly as we have been as they are fiercely territorial. There was another clan, the Red Caribou, but you will struggle to come across them, now go!"

They turn and head toward where his clan are heading.

Patrick looks at the lead Inuit he does not allow the expression on his face, nor the tone of his voice to change.I and my friends came to warn you there was something on the ice which kills for sport. We came to share this knowledge not keep it secret, so that we could perhaps save lives. Two of my friends were injured doing so, one you call a mad foreigner, may not live for his efforts and you insult us and him for doing so. So I will ask you again in plain words so there can be no misunderstanding. Do you know what walks upon the ice and kills men for sport, old wives tale or no.

Dougal finally crawls, climbs and is hauled out of the crevice, uttering vile naval oaths under his breath. He dusts the ice off his clothes and observes Patrick's interaction with the native folk.

After taking a quick swig from his hip flask, Dougal goes over to check again that there is nothing that can be done for poor Hamilton. Assuming Hamilton is now well off this mortal coil, Dougal crosses himself and does what he can to preserve the late Hamilton's dignity.

"Eh lads, I think we need to abandon this venture. We need to take our wounded and our dead back to camp."

Jesse follows the exchange between Patrick and the Inuit with interest. At the mention of the word tupilak he searches his memory, trying to remember if any of the local inuit mentioned it when he was growing up.

Roll,Anthropology[70] [dice]0[/dice]

Conroe moves sled away from crevice..then looks at one of inuit points toward direction..'That's not where we look for help in this weather..we can always set out expedition plan for tommorow..we need to go back to camp..'

Patrick says nothing. Just looks at the Inuit leader to whom he just addressed himself.