"Right, indeed," Stanley nods in acknowledgement to Starkweather. The man's personality is infectious, and Stanley can't help smirking. "And, while my background with aircraft is rock-solid, a lot of that has been working with developing the electronic equipment. Whatever sorts of equipment we bring, I can probably keep it running just as well as the planes."
[dice=Spot Hidden]1d100
Seamus nods at Starkweathers' remarks as he thinks, we got to pay money to make money. What has Mickey gotten me into.
Keeping a pleasant smile on her face Phoebe try to answer all of his questions, It is a pleasure to meet you as well. To answer you string of questions. I am 25. I graduated from Miskatonic University for nursing. I know how to tend to most injuries, I can stich up any wounds and set broken bones you all receive while exploring. My primary focus of study and work has been to treat the cynically insane. I work at the Arkham Asylum. I would have assumed you partner, Dr. Moore, would have already explained this to you. I have a wide understanding of how the mind works how to notice the precursors of various forms of madness. And in a isolated endeavor like this that skill will be rather useful I should think.
She pauses for a moment and makes sure she is looking Starkweather in the eye, My husband passed two years ago so he has no opinion on the matter. And my linens are none of your concern and this is the last time I will hear you mention them. I would assume you have not hired any ruffians that I should need to fear so I can hang a sheet in a corner for my modesty. Though I should also have access to a bit of privacy in the medical rooms that are to be my normal residence.
Turning her head to look in Dr. Moore's direction then back to Starkweather, I cannot help but notice how kind you have been with the others here and how direct you are being with me. Though with so many strong and able men about I should have nothing to fear. You are merely asking so bluntly out of gentlemanly concern for my safety and honor. Am I correct?
I assure you my book learning will not be neglected any time soon. I'm almost a decade ahead of the curve as well as the odd adventure.
"Mr. Greenwood, what you will lay your very eyes on will give you inspiration for stories as no others have seen before. If this is truly a city at the bottom of the world then who knows what writings from an ancient civilization will be there? The likelihood of reading it may be slim but it may be there all the same. How does that grab your attention?"
---
"Good, I like a man with confidence in his abilities! Glad to have you with us!"
---
Mickey chuckles, "Don't worry, we'll pull our weight too. Someone will need to carry the writer through the snow and those tools and machinery'll not move themselves! Me an Seamus'll be right on top o' that mountain with ye' Starkweather!"
Starkweather replies, "All we need is a Scotsman and a Welsh and the whole Kingdom will represent the new frontier in exploration!" he slaps Mickey on the back.
---
"This will teach you more than stuffy old books and craven old professors ever taught me m'boy!" answers Starkweather.
---
Starkweather frowns at Phoebe's response, "What I meant to say was that we'll not be able to accommodate the needs of you as a woman, you'll have to pull your weight the same as any man!
Moore spoke to me of your credentials I just wanted to hear what you had to say for yourself my dear".
He pauses for a moment sips his drink and continues, "I'll be frank then. I don't think a woman belongs on a trip like this. The last woman I brought on such a grand adventure did not fare well and that was in a place in the known world even if it was the African continent.
But Moore says you are qualified and can pay your own way so it will be up to you to prove me wrong then".
Fergus returns the salute. "I do fell that I've maybe got a bit of the Great Maker's ear, but he doesn't always follow my advise. My mind yearns for this endeavor, my body dreads it, and my soul is unsure... Still Gods will".
You perhaps. But given your seeming distaste for them, perhaps perhaps they simply hold your interest long enough time impart their knowledge.
Smiling politely to counterbalance his frown Phoebe waits for him to say his peace. My apologies if I misunderstood. First you claimed you pleased to see me then gave a slightly aggressive line of questioning. I intend to pull my weight in this trip. Also I was under the impression that this trip was already funded? Seeing as I am taking time away from work to join.
She steps away from Starkweather and walks quickly over to Dr Moore. Speaking quietly so the reporter cannot hear. Sir, I was under the impression that this trip was already funded. Mr. Starkweather seems to be under the impression that I am paying you to be on this little adventure. Why in the world would he think that?
As Starkwearther talks about receiving funds from Phoebe for the expedition Seamus gets an uneasy feeling. Seamus holds his tongue but thinks, Perhaps we are the ones being chiseled here.
Moore whispers back, "Don't worry about it Mrs. Barrett. I will handle it".
As Moore whispers to Phoebe Starkweather speaks to the assembled group.
"At this point I think it is safe to say that you are all a part of the team now! We will be leaving for the Antarctic in September. This leaves you with two months to head home and wrap up affairs or stay here and meet the other team members.
The owner of the Hotel is a monetary partner and has rented this entire floor out to us until the expedition leaves. If you choose to stay here, you can put your name in at the front desk and a room on this floor will be assigned to you.
I may need you from time to time for press and public relations events if you do decide to stay in town so be prepared for that.
Do any of you have any further questions for myself or Professor Moore?"
"As far as I'm concerned I believe there will be ample time on the long journey for many questions. I do believe I'll take advantage of your offer however. I haven't procured quarters here, and it's unfair to take advantage of the church by using their parsonage when I'll be leaving again so soon".
"I think I'll take you up on staying here," says Stanley. "If we already have a fleet of planes ready to go I can familiarize myself with their schematics. If we don't, then I can research an opinion on which models would be best suited for the environment where we'll be taking them."
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Thomas thinks for a couple moments before answering. "I'm inclined to agree with you, Lt. Starweather."
At Mickey's comment, Thomas is quick to answer.
"Of that I can guarantee you will not be needed. Even if the writing machine are useful, I still prefer the old method of writing... and you'll unlikely need to carry me anywhere... unless we face some dire creature chasing us... quite unlikely in the abandoned continent."
"Thanks for the offer Lieutenant, but I prefer to spend my next two months with my daughter." Thomas then comes closer to Starkweather and talks in a lower tone. "During my trip to meet you, I was reached by an old man that made it pretty clear that I should not join your quest, and, even if I do not fear for any threats towards my life, I'm still worried about what he could do to my family while I'm away. Any chances you could send some protection to assure my family's safety?"
Christopher will spend the next two months studying everything he can about the expedition and the people on it.
Nodding to Dr. Moore. Phoebe heads off to place her name on the desk.
Seamus ties up lose ends before the expedition. He gladly takes up the offer of a free room at the hotel.
Thomas
Phoebe
Seamus
Christopher
Fergus
Stanley
Fergus throws himself into his work.
Library Use (55%)
Library Use 2 (55%)
But is distracted, and obviously visiting his flask to often.
Fergus throws himself into his work.
1d100 Library Use (55%)
1d100 Library Use 2 (55%)
But is distracted, and obviously visiting his flask to often.
Interesting, how is the system different? d20 based?
** spoiler omitted **Fergus throws himself into his work.
1d100 Library Use (55%)
1d100 Library Use 2 (55%)
But is distracted, and obviously visiting his flask to often.
Fergus asks everyone involved to attend church with him on Sunday, and even if they decline he tries to arrange a Sunday afternoon gathering where all can exchange information, and get to know each other better.
"I seem to be perplexed and at a standstill in my investigations. Could some of you perhaps research the area we are heading, and perhaps come up with some in depth information concerning the last mission".
"Perhaps I'll ask for a roster of the remainder of our expedition, and find out what I can about them".
TGOO
If you google Gumshoe system you'll find some quick start stuff, but basically there are two types of skills; General Skills, and Investigative skills. General skills are from a refresh-able pool and are for things like "Shooting, Brawling, Carousing" etc. There is a fixed target number, and you can spend points to add to your chances to succeed at these tasks. You roll a d6 and add as many points as you wish for success. Usually target number is 3 or 4.
Where it really shines though is the investigative skills. Basically if you even have 1 rank in the particular investigative skill then you are already an expert, and you get the clues needed to move on. Sometimes you can spend points from these pools to give you more information (A short cut to an answer etc.) as well. Even having two ranks of an investigative skill makes you an expert. You don't even roll dice for these skills you just get the clues, or spend points for additional information. The party tries to make sure all the skills are covered, and it allows everyone to have their chance to shine.
The premise is that if you put yourself in the position to get the next clue then you get it. The game is to pick the right place to look for the clues, not to roll well enough to get them. Plays much better than it sounds :-).
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"Hum... I think this is a good idea, Lt. Starkweather... yes, I'll do this. Now that this matter is settled, I'll return home and come back here two weeks before our departure, when I'll bring Sarah and Anna with me, so they can be sent to your estate."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Back in Arkham, Thomas searched for any written report of previous expeditions.
Unable to find anything useful, He decided to meet his friend, Prof. Williams Abbot, from the Miskatonic University... perhaps he knows something about it.
Stanley puts his name in at the desk for one of the rooms reserved for the expedition party. He spends the majority of the time preparing for the expedition, but he also spends some of it talking with Professor Moore when he gets a chance.
"I'm aware that there was a previous expedition from Miskatonic, but I'm not exactly clear on what happened -- apart from the fact that it reportedly ended in disaster. I think it would help my preparation greatly if I knew more about that first expedition and what happened to it. Perhaps there's something they overlooked which can be prevented with preparedness."
You approach Starkweather alone regarding the roster of the remaining party. ”Christopher asked me that as well Old Bean. Well since you and I are old friends, I will tell you of the ones here in the city so you can speak to them yourself if you wish to. The rest, I will keep in my pocket for now”.
Richard Greene is a Physician who works at Columbia Presbyterian in New York.
Finally, Peter Sykes is our Arctic guide who is also here and beginning to put together a training regiment for those who have signed on.
Your trip back and stay in Arkham are all uneventful. You visit Dr. Abbot the Chair of the Applied Sciences Department and he greets you warmly.
”The Miskatonic Expedition? I know it was a debacle, bad weather. Unpredictably predictable if you take my meaning. From what I understand some specimens were brought back and are on display here at the University. What makes you ask about that my friend, your next book perhaps?” he asks with a grin. [/b]
2. In 1920, Starkweather was recommended to Acacia Lexington’s father by a mutual friend as the ideal person to guide
Lexington’s daughter on an African safari. Despite a few minor mishaps, the trip went smoothly. When the time came to return to Nairobi, Lexington had seen everything she had hoped to, with the exception of a giraffe. She demanded to see a giraffe before returning home. Starkweather knew “just the place,” and it would add only two days to their trip. The location lived up to expectations and after a day spent photographing more giraffes than she had hoped for, they returned to the ford to find that the quiet stream had risen and was now a roaring torrent, carrying the previous day’s rainfall down from the hills. You find a newsclipping regarding the tale:
Nairobi (INS)—The dark continent where the wonders of nature can turn on man and prove deadly has shown once again that wherever European man goes, so goes chivalry. Wireless reports out of the Belgian colonies in Africa tell of the daring rescue of our own socialite scamp Acacia Lexington by that gallant Englishman, Captain James Starkweather.
Lovely Lexington has been touring the regions of darkest Africa dominated by the mighty Lake Tanganyika. Savages fight daily with alligators longer than a Deusenberg to ensure the passage of commerce in this wild
region. Against the advice of her elders, Lady Lexington insisted upon seeing the fabled giraffe mating grounds of Eyasi. Under the expert leadership of Captain Starkweather the band braved the wilderness and arrived at the plains of tall swaying grasses the giraffes find so compelling for their very survival.
The wild beasts, gentled by our own lovely Lady Lexington, came within a few feet of the party without making threatening gestures. Lady Lexington’s presence was so compelling that when she came upon a baby giraffe in the grasses, she immediately tamed it and was able to even embrace it briefly before it returned to its herd, earning her the nickname among the savages as ‘“The Woman Whom the Giraffes Love.”
On the return trip to Nairobi, sudden rains caught the party crossing a branch of the mighty Nakuru river. The party was nearly lost as savages panicked under the onslaught of the rain and river. Brave Captain Starkweather rallied the natives and had them chop trees and fashion rafts to carry the supplies to safety. A
personal trip by Captain Starkweather to a nearby village procured enough canoes to carry the party across the river. The crossing was treacherous but under the skilled hand of Captain Starkweather the entire party made it
to port in time for Lady Lexington’s return trip to America.
We’ll all be thanking Captain Starkweather for the safe return of one of the brightest lights of our social season. Hurrah for him and hurrah for chivalry!
3. In 1922, Starkweather was commissioned by the Chandler Foundation, in conjunction with the University of California, to lead a five month expedition to cross some 1,200 miles of Australian desert, from the Great Sandy Desert to the Great
Victoria Desert. While the expedition began well, the group did not find hoped-for wells or springs in the Great Victoria Desert south of Limejuice Camp. By the time Madura was reached, in Southern Australia, all of the camels had been killed, and the party had been without water for two full days. Starkweather claimed that it was his leadership and self-sacrifice that allowed the party to survive.
4. In the summer of 1925, he agreed to lead a group of Miskatonic University geologists in a daring survey of the western
Himalayan plateau, despite a general unfamiliarity with mountaineering and an ostensibly closed border. Notwithstanding
losing three weeks’ worth of supplies, a local guide, a number of local bearers, and several yaks to an avalanche, the survey managed to carry out enough data to claim success. This expedition marked the first meeting of Starkweather and Moore.
5. The Himalayan expedition also marked the first of Starkweather’s books. Titled Survival at the World’s Roof, published
in 1926, Starkweather aggrandizes himself and his role in the amount of data collected.
6. James Starkweather had the misfortune to choose the ill-fated Italia expedition, an attempt in 1928 to fly over the North Pole. Despite the confused and indifferent organizing of the expedition, the airship Italia achieved the North Pole, but crashed on the return journey. Although rescue attempts were made by various countries, they were also poorly organized
and were failures. In the end nearly a third of the crew died. Some spent more than two months stranded on the polar ice cap. Starkweather managed to get himself rescued early, and reportedly swore off expeditions involving ice. He returned, quite contentedly, to his safari tours.
7. In 1929 Starkweather retired from the Safari business and began to write his memoirs.
8. As a favor to his friend Doctor Moore, Starkweather accompanied a minor Miskatonic University expedition to Costa Rica
in 1930. Starkweather’s job was to capture small animals alive for study.
Most recently, he has obviously agreed to lead this latest expedition to the Antarctic.
2. From Miskatonic, Moore went to Yale for his graduate work, specializing in stratigraphy, the study of the layers and age of rock formations. Although his studies at Yale were more rigorous than those at Miskatonic, Moore did a great deal of work outside of his academics. He won several trophies in intercollegiate fencing competitions, and participated in an amateur astronomical organization. There is a brief gap in his Academic history following this period.
3. His doctoral thesis, “The Theoretical Compositional Dynamics of Asteroids, Drawn from an Analysis of the Composition and Organization of Elements in Meteorites,” was well received by those competent enough to understand it. In 1922, Moore earned his doctorate at Yale and was quickly hired by his old mentor, Doctor William Dyer of Miskatonic.
4. Moore became interested in the relatively recent technique of radioactive dating, originally proposed by Bertram Boltwood in 1905. Realizing that this concept could be applied to topics of special interest to him, Moore organized a small expedition into the Arctic, where he and his team spent the summer of 1923 drilling ice cores. Dating the deposited volcanic dust led to some very interesting results and some interesting climatological speculations, based on the depth at which various samples were found. Although the expedition was a success, some felt that Moore could have achieved greater things if he had not withdrawn the expedition at the first sign of bad weather—in fact the autumnal storms did not arrive for another three weeks.
5. In the summer of 1925, Moore was involved with a Miskatonic University expedition to survey the Himalayan plateau. Scientifically, the expedition was a great success, though it was marred by the unfortunate deaths of a number of local bearers, a local guide, and several yaks. Moore himself spent much of the summer collecting paleontological samples and specimens of the surrounding rock for subsequent dating. This expedition also marked the beginning of the strange friendship between Moore and the English explorer, James Starkweather.
6. The summers of 1927 and 1928 saw expeditions to South Africa and Minnesota, respectively; the surface rocks of both areas are particularly old, and Moore hoped to find and date rocks of sufficient age to validate certain predictions made in his own post-graduate work. In 1929 he organized a trip to Costa Rica, prevailing on his old friend James Starkweather to help. The Costa Rican expedition, designed to compare current species with the limited fossil record of the area, was yet another feather in Moore’s cap.
7. Moore shared in the preparations for the 1930 Miskatonic University expedition to Antarctica. His arctic experience proved to be useful in the planning, but a bout of pneumonia kept him from accompanying Professor Dyer south into the icy wastes.
Most recently, he has obviously agreed to lead this latest expedition to the Antarctic.
Medical research yields other dangers than the ones you researched, sunburn and snow blindness ca also strike people on the ice as well as altitude sickness and hypoxia.
For some reason, most of the crew there seem to be inexplicably unavailable when you attempt to meet with them…
”Indeed I was at the University all through the time the expedition was away. I read the papers, listened to the broadcasts, and was as excited and fascinated by the finds as anyone in the school. I was also a bit disappointed as I was to accompany my mentor on the trip but a bout with an illness held me back. When disaster struck, I fretted; when the news of the deaths came, I grieved. And when the battered remnants of the party returned to Boston Harbor I was there to greet them”.
You and Mickey hit the bar scene over the next few weeks as rumors about the Expedition begin to take off. Mid-town is same old same old but the Depressed economy is starting to be seen even here, businesses closing, people on the streets begging for change or food. The situation here is looking grim, rumors of Government intervention seem hopeful but a long way away.
Starkweather
Moore
Seamus and Mickey hit the streets keeping their eyes and ears open. Between the liquor and the women they don't really notice anything else.
Thanks my old friend. It sounds like you've assembled quiet the experienced and capable crew. I'm a bit surprised but delighted that you're even bringing a woman along. I've always thought they were a big slighted by society".
Psychology (55%)
Idea (70%)
Stanley does his best to mimic the phenomenon he's observed in others called 'tact.'
"It sounds like a lucky illness. I'm sorry for the losses you suffered from such a long distance, though there probably wouldn't have been anything you could have done had you been there. I don't really know that, of course, since the extent of my knowledge about that expedition is that it went south, both literally and figuratively.
"I don't mean to be insensitive about all this, really. I just need to know -- as the tech guy -- if any part of the downfall of that first expedition could have been solved by better or different tech. Or maybe it was act-of-God-level catastrophe? Is that why we're bringing a priest?"
Hopefully his tone carries the intent of curiosity on that last question, rather than accusation. It just seems like an odd choice of personnel for a scientific expedition. But, then again, so is a writer and a kid.
Seeing as most people seem to want to avoid her she will spend more time doing research.
Moore seems un-receptive to the request but Starkweather agrees to provide you with a list.
Starkweather waves his hands, "The woman is Moore's idea, truth be told I am hoping she drops out when she realizes how difficult this all will be. Such conditions are no place for man much less for women!"
Moore shrugs, "Not unless you have access to equipment which changes the weather Mr. Chastain. I think that the advancements in planes will allow us to explore those further reaches and retreat without having to spend too much time on the ground close to those mountains of madness. I think James is bringing the priest for just that reason, maybe God will protect one of his own sort of mumbo jumbo. I hate t say it but James acts on gut instincts and not scientific facts".
You dig in deeper into both mens’ pasts:
1. Starkweather was known for tactical brilliance in the war which got him the safari guide position but his men had high casualty rates.
2. Lexington was not so enamored of the choice to cross the river which Starkweather foisted upon her and she never spoke with him again despite the accolades in the press.
3. An undergraduate on the trip, Mark Peabody, into the Great Desert refutes Starkweather’s version stating that the trip was successful despite Starkweather’s attitude and leadership.
4. The expedition lost three weeks of supplies, several yaks to an avalanche, one of the guides, and several of the bearers along the way.
5. You find nothing else of note about this event.
6. A third of the crew died on this expedition as failed rescue attempts did not reach the expedition for months. However, while Starkweather did not help matters the organizers failed to set this trip up properly.
7. You find nothing else of note about this event.
8. This expedition was the least dangerous and taxing of his career and the most successful.
1. While well-argued his thesis was widely considered incorrect.
2. You find nothing else of note about this event.
3. You find nothing else of note about this event.
4. Moore has regretted pulling this team out ever since and has claimed “he would do it differently” if given another chance.
5. Same as the information above, many unfortunate deaths resulted from this trip which included both Starkweather and Moore.
6. This trip gave Moore financial freedom from the University and much of the funding for future trips likely sprout from its success.
7. You find nothing else of note about this event.
Medicinal Research
Your further inquiries are stymied as so few people have had much experience with these illnesses.
You do discover though that the best way to become acclimated to the high altitude is to make several short trips to the high altitude returning to the low altitude within the same day.
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"Yes and no, and even the 'yes' part is not what you might think!" Thomas laughs. "As a matter of fact, they are planning to make a second run at that expedition and I was hired/invited to accompany them... My task will be to document this expedition, thus my next book will be indeed about that theme, even though it is not one of my 'actual' books."
Thomas pauses for a moment.
"As you might relate, every bit of knowledge is important... could you show me this specimen, my friend?"
Setting out Christopher begins to research his fellows.
Abbot shows you the specimens odd to be sure though even by the volume of what was brought back it is hard for you to make heads or tails of what these things are.
"I am surprised Moore has even agreed to go after what happened to his Mentor Professor Dyer. If you wish to find a coy of the summary of the findings, the book store sells them for $5".
You spend a great deal of time researching the other professionals on the expedition. You find very little leading you to believe that in most cases this expedition is their "big break" professionally, academically, or scientifically.
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Thomas looks carefully at the shown specimen, trying to make any sense of it. Finding none, he looked back at Dr. Abbot.
"Hum, that might be a good idea, my friend... nevertheless, thanks for your time. I would like to ask you only one more favor, even it is a big one... Sarah and Anna are being sent to England to stay in the Lieutenant Starkweather's house and should be taken care for by his family. The problem is that there is always a chance that something goes wrong and I do not come back. In this unfortunate case, I do not know for how much the lieutenant will keep them with their family, and I need you to make sure she will receive all that I left for her... there is no other friend I could trust in this matter."
Dr. Abbot smiles, "Of course I will handle tat matter for you. Worry not, I am sure that a seasoned adventurer like Starkweather will bring you back safe and sound".
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"Then I thank you once more, my dearest friend. I'll leave in a couple weeks to New York, spending there sometime with Sarah. I hope I see you soon."
After leaving his friend behind, Thomas went to the bookstore and bought a copy of the mentioned expedition.
He spent the next couple weeks with his daughter and Anna, not yet knowing what she expected of him. Anna was the daughter of and old maid that worked for his family and he had known her since she was a baby girl. Now she was a woman and he knew he could not treat her as a girl anymore.
In the last day, just before the two departed to England, Thomas knelt besides Sarah. "Sarah, my dear, each day you looks more like your mother, and it feels me with joy. You'll grow up to become my most perfect masterpiece. Be good to Anna and with mister Starkweather's family. I know you'll enjoy this trip and always remember that I love you." He hugged her like never before, trying not to cry like his daughter. "Now, go ahead, for I need to talk to Anna."
He looked to her and decided that he could not withstand leaving the things in this manner no more and regretted not to have talked to her before. She looked away and started to assure him that she would take care of Sarah. He interrupted her and with a gesture made her look at him once more. "I have no doubt that you will, Anna, for she sees you as a sister and I know you feel the same towards her. You grew up to become a beautiful woman, Anna and even if I tried to always see you as a girl, I find myself without my will anymore." He came closer to her, almost hoping that she would push him, but she did not. He kissed her for a couple moments before parting away. "I regret not having seen you like the woman you are before... when I come back, I'll properly correct this mistake if you had yet not forgotten this kiss... " he turned away, walked a couple steps and turned back to see her still standing in the same place. "... for I know I will not."
Summary Report
The report praises Lake’s work again and again, but carefully turns aside from sensationalism. The “Pre-Cambrian footprints” referred to in the newspaper accounts of the day are identified as the fossilized imprints of some incredibly ancient form of sea-dwelling plant life, similar to the more recent well-preserved specimens found by Lake’s party in the fossil cave.
These are discussed at length, and the remaining evidence catalogued; the specimens are identified from Lake’s notes and drawings as a large thick-bodied plant similar to kelp. Lake’s description of the specimens as “animals” with “internal organs” is dismissed as scientific error resulting from over-excitement, lack of rest, and possible “snow craze”; his soapstone “carvings” are likewise dismissed as unusual water-shaped soapstone fragments. No physical specimens were brought north; the ones excavated by Lake were reportedly lost when the blizzard destroyed the camp.
The remainder of fossil finds, bones, and imprints of a wide variety of plant and animal species are well represented in the collection and the report. These paint a fascinating biological history of the Antarctic continent, confirming the notion that
Antarctica was once a warm and verdant land and lending substantial support to evidence of continental drift. Dyer is at a loss to explain the disaster at the camp, though his sorrow and regret are very clear. He concludes from the state of the remains that the men of the party would almost certainly have died from the blizzard in any case, but lays the blame for the destruction of the dogs and dispersal of the evidence upon a person or persons unknown—possibly the student George Gedney, who ran amok during the hours of the storm.
The terrible desolation, the cold and dismal conditions, the thin unhealthy air, and the hours of overwork are cited as contributing factors. He discusses the anomalous mountain range in some detail, confirming Lake’s broadcast opinion that the great peaks are of Archaean slate and other very primal crumpled strata unchanged for at least a hundred million years. He discusses without analysis the odd clinging cubical formations on the mountainsides, hypothesizes that the cave mouths indicate dissolved calcareous veins, and expresses his concern that a model for the preservation of such relatively soft stone in peaks of such great height has not been made.
Of the lands beyond the higher peaks he says little, describing them only as “a lofty and immense super-plateau as ancient and unchanging as the mountains themselves— twenty thousand feet in elevation, with grotesque rock formations showing through a thin glacial layer and with low gradual foothills between the general plateau surface and the sheer precipices of the highest peaks.
It is September 7th 1933 and all of you have either been in the city the last few months or have just arrived back at the Amherst Hotel from your travels across the country.
The next morning on September 8th, you all find notes slipped under your door:
Good morning Expedition Members -
Please be so good as to join us at the ship as soon as you have freshened up.
SS Gabrielle, Pier 74-B, 12th Avenue at 34th, next to the Italian Royal Mail berth.
It is time for the entire team to meet and greet one another.
Regards,
Moore
Fergus sighs, and begins his final preparations.
I will probably die of old age if the voyage takes as long as the meetings before leaving.
Stanley reads and re-reads the note over a buttered bagel, and then some more when he's getting dressed. It's a short note, but he doesn't want to miss anything important -- like whether this is just another meeting or if this is the actual expedition's departure. He'd hate to show up to just a meeting with all his things and checked out of the hotel, but it would be even worse to show up for the expedition departure with all his things back in the hotel.
After he's finished getting ready he checks the note just one more time. confident that this is not the final departure, he heads out of the hotel and down to the pier and the SS Gabrielle. He's not exactly eager to meet even more people, but this should be another step closer to the step where they actually head down to the frigid continent at the bottom of the world. Some things just have to be done, regardless of how unpleasant he might find them.
Rolling out of bed and going through her morning routine to be ready for the new day of isolation and reading. Perhaps I will go to the park, at least then I may fine someone to talk with beside the damn librarian. Heading to the door and stopping short when she sees the note. Picking it up and reading it, Well, no trip to the park for me today or they will have a bit of a wait. Hmm.. It does not say we are leaving today so I just bring myself I suppose. I need to work on this talking to myself.
Turning to fix her hair and put on slightly nicer clothing since she assuming the press will be there. Once she deems herself ready to face the press and making sure to pick up her journal full of notes on her new employers she heads downstairs to get a cab.