2156.11.7.1900 - 9 km north of Arctic Complex A large snow-covered hill stands before you, like an overturned salad bowl, with a giant crack splitting it in half and extending deep into the ground. Standing at one edge of the crevice [L0] and looking into it, it is about 30 meters [100 feet] from t...

2156.11.7.1800 - 6 km north of Arctic Complex You enter the snow-covered foothills … still following the path. About another 2 km into the foothills, you come to an area of beaten down snow. Someone stopped here long enough to clear an area before moving on. New snow has covered any signs of what t...

2156.11.7.1700 - 3 km north of Arctic Complex Mick observed a change in the tracks. What had been deep footprints became a wide, shallow drag path - like a toboggan. Some careful digging by herbie revealed footprints in the snow pushing or dragging something flat along with them (probably carrying ...

2156.11.7.1600 - Arctic Complex Olivia confirmed that the path north was clear as far as she could see … which was pretty far at that elevation, scanning for heat signatures against a sub-zero background. You have critters to the distant southwest, but nothing but snow for half a dozen clicks to th...

Thumper wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2024 9:06 pm I read the boot prints as upright walking boot prints vs drag marks from boots…correct?

Correct.

2156.11.7.1550 - Arctic Complex DJ went to work searching every box and cubby in the VET ATV as Jim removed access panels and began to ready the vehicle to accept power cables and fittings never designed for it. It was mostly an exercise in fabricating adaptors and re-routing salvaged power lines f...

2156.11.7.1540 - Arctic Complex Herbie was outside the ATVs practicing with his binoculars. Part of the goal was to just become familiar with his latest toy - Herbie loved gadgets - and part of it was an extra abundance of caution after the revelation that predators had been spotted only 1500 meter...

2156.11.7.1530 - Arctic Complex Herbie and Sophie explored the snow around where the finger and empty weapon had been discovered, but discovered no additional items. Mick headed to the VET ATV and started a search. Everything looked both neat and secure to casual observation, suggesting the crew le...

2156.11.7.1515 - Arctic Complex: [Joe and Jim] Joe and Jim evaluated the options. A “field trip” to Building 5 confirmed that the power feeds to the building had been melted and would need to be replaced with “something”. There were three options: REPAIR THE EMERGENCY SWITCHOVER: It was theoretical...

2156.11.7.1515 - Arctic Complex: [DJ] The part HAD left Building 1. The VET team HAD arrived in Building 5. The part was NOT installed on the roof. DJ climbed down the ladder and resolved himself to the task ahead … a room by room search of Building 5 for the missing part. It was hard searching in ...

2156.11.7.1515 - Arctic Complex: [Mick, Herbie and Sophie] As Herbie carefully removed layers of snow, Mick [Hunting-3] had time to study the patterns in the hard layers beneath the fresh overlay. Soon a pattern emerged. A path, made by a large pack traveling in a single column, dragging their kill...

2156.11.7.1500 - Arctic Complex: Building 3 Jim [Engineering-1] returned to Building 1 to access the stolen Manuals and the Master Control panel as Joe [JoT-2, Engineering-0] returned to Building 3 to access the Manuals in the Locker and the Control Panels in Building 3. Together they maintained co...

2156.11.7.1500 - Arctic Complex: near ATVs Herbie had begun to dig and search starting from where Sophie found the finger bone. He was clearing away the snow carefully … layer by layer … as Mick studied the ground for any clues. It was Herbie’s shovel that uncovered the next bit of evidence. Approx...

2156.11.7.1450 - Arctic Complex: Building 5 DJ sent Jim back to Building 1 to search the Specs for data on the Power System and overrides, then turned his attention to forcing open the door manually. A panel, difficult to locate in the dark, was removed with some effort to reveal a large bolt. A ha...

2156.11.7.1445 - Arctic Complex: Building 1 Following the now beaten path, Mick and Sophie reached the base of the stairs [F1] at Building 1 in a few minutes. Mick set Sophie down and began a close examination of the area of the stain. Sophie briefly paused to reacquire some invisible scent and exc...

2156.11.7.1440 - Arctic Complex: Building 4 JOE: [Building 4] Joe monitored the controls long enough to determine that everything was stable, then became bored. He started organizing the locker - sorting parts from manuals and stacking the manuals neatly - then was flipping through the manuals. Bet...

2156.11.7.1440 - Arctic Complex: Building 5 DJ, MICK, HERBIE, JIM & SOPHIE: [Building 5] As DJ was heading out of Building 1, Sophie stopped to sniff the blood stain at the foot of the stair. DJ was shuffling (snowshoes) briskly towards Building 5, wanting to get started, when Sophie “hit” on a...

2156.11.7.1420 - Arctic Complex MICK, JOE & HERBIE: [Building 3] The power plant slowly hummed back to life. For the first few minutes, readings bounced and fluctuated … It had not been a smooth, happy prior shut-down, so systems and settings registered their objections as internal diagnostics ...

2156.11.7.1410 - Arctic Complex DJ, JIM & SOPHIE: COMM roll = [11]+2 … exceptional success DJ studied the data and pieced together a chain of events. The trouble began with a critical system failure in the link between the Receiving Tower [T2] and the Receiving Equipment in Building 5. The auto...