The Eye In the Ice

Scenario Description

The world is Arth. It's a world much like our own Earth, but... different. The year is 1924. Eight months ago, Wells University received a grant from the Society for the Advancement of Mankind (SAM) to put together a certain Antarctic expedition. A risky venture for this day and age, when radio communication is new and not very reliable.

Two years ago, SAM funded another Antarctic expedition through Boston University. The Fielding Expedition consisted of 22 men who set out to research the geology of the Ross Mountains in central Antarctica, exploring their natural structure, and assessing the potential value of their minerals. For two months everything went well. The Fielding Expedition set out on the ice and arrived at their destination. They transmitted regularly scheduled radio transmissions indicating that everything was normal and the research was going well. Until September 5th, when their regular transmissions suddenly stopped. The radio base set up in South America tried repeatedly to contact the expedition, but always with no reply. Then suddenly, on September 10th, five days after the last transmission should have come in, the South American radio base received the following transmission:

We woke up this morning and everything was not as it should be. The dogs had gone mad in the night. John, who should have been keeping watch was not there. Oh, God, why did this have to happen? They found it in the rock. Yes... Look, I haven't much time. Tell my wife, tell Sarah, that I won't be coming home. It's already infected the food supply, the dogs, Samuel. I'm afraid it's going to infect me soon. That or the endless ice. Oh god, why did this have to happen? Tell Sarah I love her. She mustn't cry; not for long. She must find a new husband and... Oh god! It's here... Look, stay away from the crystal eye. Stay away from here! We are all dead! Dead! We're already gone. Oh, God, no!

Following this final transmission, the South American radio base continued to send messages daily, prompting for a reply. None were forthcoming. Eventually hope was given up, and the newspapers wrote up the Fielding Expedition as one of the biggest scientific failures of the time. It faded out of public memory and into the background of history. Until now.

Characters

Due to the nature of the scenario, details of the characters cannot be revealed in advance. Here is a brief listing of the characters and their professions:

Dr. Joseph Jaeger, 46 year old Geologist from New York

Bill Christian, 34 year old survival expert from Denver

Kara Sherman, 26 year old radio expert from New York

Hanz Speer, 52 year old doctor from Berlin

James Trane, 30 year old occult expert from Chicago

Sarah Goodnow, 38 year old archeologist from London
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