Many apologies for how late we are with this one! No excuses save for being busy (and that we’re starting to think about the end-of-year zine!).
This (okay, last) month’s one-page scenario is inspired by two of my favorite podcasts. A few weeks ago, over at The Cryptid Keeper, they discussed “Organism 46b,” a supposed monster discovered by the Russians in the sub-glacial, antarctic Lake Vostok—this material was far too good not to find its way into a scenario sooner or later. (I highly recommend The Cryptid Keeper, both for inspiration for your horror gaming, and just as a great podcast.)
Then, more recently, The Good Friends of Jackson Elias have been discussing Lovecraft’s At the Mountains of Madness, which takes place in Antarctica. After re-reading Lovecraft’s novella to keep up with the podcast (like ya do), I knew that I had to do something that played with both this goofy cryptid and Lovecraft’s imaginary version of the most southern continent.
We’ve opted not to include pre-generated investigators with this scenario, instead letting your players develop some adventurous scientific types of their own. I would, however, recommend that the Keeper read this scenario first so they can guide the players just a bit in character creation. Enjoy!
~Noah
Deep beneath the Antarctic ice sheet, a newly discovered lake may be the deepest ever discovered. Radio soundings have put it at nearly 10,000 feet, twice the depth of the currently known deepest lake in the world. Dubbed Lake Carter, the Americans have leaped upon this discovery, sending out an expedition to drill through the ice sheet and probe the mysteries of the maddeningly deep abyss…
A few extra resources…
If you’re going to run this scenario, go ahead and listen to the “Organism 46b” episode of The Cryptid Keeper. I’ve also pulled together a few websites that talk about the creature and about glacial drilling in Antarctica (be forewarned a couple of these sites are a bit phishy):
“Is 14-legged Killed Squid found TWO MILES beneath Antarctica being Weaponised by Putin?”
“The Organism 46b Conspiracy and the ‘Aliens’ of Lake Vostok”
“Russian Scientists Breach Antarctica’s Lake Vostok”
As always, if you want to know more about the technical processes your investigators might be undertaking, Wikipedia is your friend.
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