Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

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Re: Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Post by Scriven » Sun Apr 06, 2014 3:30 am

Finch shoves the hysterical Trafford aside roughly. "For Christ's sake, get a hold of yourself, man!" He begins pawing frantically through the scattered ampoules of Hingston's medical kit for morphine, emitting a steady stream of profanity as he does so. Finally he seizes upon a small glass vial and scoops up a hypodermic needle from the floor. "Hold on, Hingston -- just hold on! Try not to move!" In some not-too-recessed corner of his fatigued mind, he's back in France, working feverishly over a young artillery officer after an accidental shell explosion, a mishap while moving ordnance -- working feverishly, but knowing all the time that the medics would be too late. Abruptly, almost painfully, he snaps back into the present, bending over Hingston to administer the shot.

Should I roll for this, Dr. Gerard? Or is this a mundane enough experience for climbers and war veterans to obviate the need?
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Re: Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Post by Dr. Gerard » Sun Apr 06, 2014 3:39 am

[No need to roll. Hingston is still in possession of most of his marbles at this point and...his elbow hurts like the Dickens!]

Hingston is stoic as he watches the needle slide in. The delicious sensation of sparkling candy dissolving into his bloodstream is not entirely...unfamiliar.
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Re: Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Post by Scriven » Sun Apr 06, 2014 12:00 pm

Leaving Hingston for the moment, Finch crosses to the inert form of the "leper." He digs into a pocket and produces a utility knife, holding it warily in front of him as he stands over the little man, trying to make out additional details about his physiognomy -- particularly that horrible, fleshy sac attached to his abdomen. He considers the bizarre shape of the head and the facial features. Is this some kind of rare, degenerative disease that turns its victims feral? It would explain much. A sudden, clenching feeling takes hold in his chest -- what if Odell was on to something after all? Not yeti, of course -- such an idea is still patently absurd -- but could Mallory and Irvine have been attacked on the mountain by these devils? Finch casts an eye over the rags in which the "leper" attired. No, it's still impossible. Even if there were a whole colony of these . . . people . . . living on the mountain, they could not survive so near the peak, where Odell saw Mallory for the last time.

"I think he's dead," he says to Trafford over his shoulder, eyes still fixed on the abdomen for the tell-tale rise and fall of breath. "Let's get a tarpaulin and use it to drag him away from the camp. We don't want him anywhere near us, in case his condition is . . . communicable."
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Re: Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Post by Dr. Gerard » Mon Apr 07, 2014 5:38 am

[Wangdi has spent some moments standing outside the tent in a dissociative daze after carrying the man back to camp.]

Hingston, still snowed on an ampule of hop, winces lazily as he stoops over the man's body and checks for signs of life. His silence answers the question.

He clumsily wraps an arm sling out of a spool of gauze.

“No.” he says to Finch. “Wait. Odd. Before we quarantine the poor fellow...I want to...take a look.”

He looks from his broken wing to the knife in Finch's hand.

“And I will need help.”
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Re: Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Post by trevlix » Mon Apr 07, 2014 12:21 pm

Trafford giggles for a few more seconds after Finch shoves him away. His mind slowly recovers back to the present, away from childhood toys and how they could sometimes speak to him, both literally and figuratively.

He stands up, trying to compose himself and moves to apologize for his behavior, but then stops when he sees Finch and Hingston looking at the man who attacked them. Outside, he can hear Wangdi shuffling in the snow.

"I'll, er," he mutters. "I'll start helping prepare a meal."

Trafford leaves the tent, looking for any reason to get out and to hide his embarrasement at his actions.

Is it evening?
[Trafford: Insanity: 4, Exhaustion: 2]

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Re: Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Post by Dr. Gerard » Tue Apr 08, 2014 11:29 pm

As Trafford begins to set up a camp kitchen, Hingston clears the tent and prepares the body for examination.

The clink of cookware sounds lonesome against the cold hush of ancient ice and stone. The muffled clink of medical instruments inside the tent sounds slightly sinister.

The sky takes on a charcoal severity as daylight recedes. A column of figures approach from the north; Karma Paul and the support team will soon arrive with more gear to set up a proper camp for the night.

Hingston pulls back the dead man's clothes to expose the torso. He discovers a half dozen more of those spongy growths attached to the man's flesh.

"Let's remove one and take a look," he says to Finch, who still holds a pocket knife.

Pulling back the edge of the cyst, Hington lets out a small puff of air.

[FYI, Hingston is an NPC at this point; Howard has let me know he's unable to rejoin us at this time. I'll roll for him in the open just for the sake of interest. He's using his medical expertise to examine the man, to determine a cause of malformations. He's going to risk his Insanity for this. I think that's in keeping with the spirit of this character. He rolls a [6] [1] [5], and the last one as usual is the Insanity die. Thus, he achieves a [6] but for now keeps his marbles in the bag. However, I think he's going to need a separate Insanity check for the insight he's about to get from a [6]...]

"Stitches? Wait, lift the other side. Finch...these growths are not coming from this poor soul's body. They're attached to it! Grafted!"

He pauses for a moment, rolling the thought around in his head.

[He's able to keep his wits under command with a [2]] [Richard Hingston -- Exhaustion: 2 Sanity: 3]

"At first, I thought perhaps this was some form of microcephaly, the congenital condition of an underdeveloped head -- 'pinhead' disease, you know," Hingston says, pulling out a notebook with his good hand and scribbling with a blunt pencil.

"But this skull shape -- this does not seem to be some corruption of the human skull. This is something wholly other. Finch, what if this were a forgotten race, like the Neanderthal skulls Schmerling found in Gibraltar? By gum, this could be a new species of hominid! What if the so-called Yeti were just a smaller, dead spur of ape evolution? Finch! Think of it!"

And then, dusk becomes twilight, the sherpas arrive, and the camp is busy preparing for a very cold night.
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Re: Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Post by Dr. Gerard » Sat Apr 12, 2014 4:40 am

Karma Paul and the sherpa support team arrive, greet members of the forward party, and silently begin to set up camp.

Trafford takes on the role of camp cook for the night, with some help from Norbu who bolsters the stewpot with supplies from newly arrived crates. Trafford is muttering to himself and clearly distracted, but manages to produce a grayish concoction out of bully beef, tongue, and several large tins of spaghetti.

Ansfrid, who lagged far behind as he struggled with skis unfit for the conditions at hand, arrives with the sherpa team. He appears to be exhausted.

The weather has turned bitter, and the temperature plummets to an unforgiving level.

Wangdi erects his own tent and changes his bloody clothes, staying oddly silent and distant during the bustle.

Finch remains in the first tent with Hingston, acting as perioperative nurse during the grizzly autopsy. Hingston is cold and scientific as he takes note of the man's curious deformities, cataloging the state of various organs as he removes them and places them like cold cuts onto a shallow tray. Karma Paul passes by outside the surgery tent, and asks if everything is ok. After an uncomfortable silence, Hingston tells Karma Paul that all is ok, and that he is treating a minor injury on his arm.

During the operation, he pauses for a moment to reach into his bag and takes another dose of morphine.

Exhausted, the expedition crew settle in for a long winter's nap.

[Everest crew, if you want to do anything special or ask questions in or out of character, now's the time. Tomorrow I will post about what happens next, assuming everyone collapses into an exhausted sleep -- which is perfectly plausible. According to the original schedule, this game ends one way or another on Monday, April 15th. So I'm going to push the narrative forward through the weekend. It might take me a few more days to wrap up after that point, but I can get there with a little extra Keeper fiat. If anyone feels they'd rather extend the deadline at this point, let me know. I want to wrap up, but I also want to end the story in a way that's satisfying for everyone who has invested so much great writing and characterization and overall attention to this project. Please let me know your thoughts!]
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Re: Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Post by Dr. Gerard » Sat Apr 12, 2014 9:00 pm

Twilight becomes night. At length, the waxing crescent of the moon rises above the toothy Himalayan horizon to the east.

Hingston sews up a last stitch in the torso of the man who was shot and then beaten to death in the camp. He has set aside some samples for later examination, including one of the grafted bulbs of flesh.

Hingston insists that no one speak openly about the incident, the man or the operation. Only three years ago, seven sherpas died in a tragic avalanche during an attempt on the summit. Given the perilous state of this expedition, it seems best to keep secrets for now...

But the immediate question at hand is...what to do with the body.

At first, Hingston suggests interning the corpse back in the place where it was discovered (alive at the time), in the boulder garden along the west side of the pass into the East Rongbuk valley.

"But it is cold. And late. And I am not much help with this broken wing of mine. Perhaps it's best to keep him in this tent with me overnight. When first light arrives, before the others wake, let's take him back to the boulders."

[I'll wait until early Sunday morning EST for any other input about this. There are plenty of plausible objections and alternatives, so please don't feel fenced in if you have a different idea and some time to post tonight. To some degree, we can retroactively insert or embellish preparatory activities here. Otherwise, I believe the group is going to collapse into a deep slumber, and accept Hingston's plan.]
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Re: Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Post by Scriven » Sat Apr 12, 2014 9:56 pm

Throughout the lengthening day, Finch has been chewing over Hingston's speculation that they may have a new type of hominid to reveal to the world. But the considerable attractions of fame have lost much of their luster for the rangy Australian on this trip. And those fleshy protuberances attached to the "man's" torso -- his stomach lurches at the recollection. Emerging from his reverie, he turns to his companions.

"No, I don't want that...thing...in the midst of the camp tonight," he says, tersely gesturing in the direction of the body. "Maybe it is an undiscovered hominid, as you say, doctor. All the more reason to distance ourselves from it until it can be studied in safer conditions. What if it carries contagion that we have no defense against? Ask the natives of the Americas how well such exposure worked out for them."

He rummages about and produces a tarpaulin large enough to contain the man's body. "Come, doctor, return your specimen to the body. I'll sew it all up safely and take it outside the camp. The cold will better preserve flesh, anyway." He casts a glance at the fleshy bulb HIngston has set aside and shudders.

Aw, man, I apologize for not being more on top of these posts lately, Dr. Gerard. It keeps slipping off my radar in the press of other business. I generally have email alerts set up to warn me when new posts appear in the thread, but I haven't received any lately so I assumed things were moving more slowly. This is, and has been, a GREAT story -- creepy, atmospheric AND it's really widened my fund of knowledge about the period. Finch is one of my favorite characters EVER.
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Re: Cthulhu Dark -- A Secret Everest Expedition

Post by Dr. Gerard » Sun Apr 13, 2014 3:03 am

"I will dispose of these tissues," Hingston says, "but I will do it myself."

He turns his back on Finch and cuts a slice out of the growth as though it was a pudding. He places the slice into a large apothecary jar, and carefully seals it with wax.

Can you manage to drag it...him away from camp yourself?

[No worries at all, none of my aggressive story-driving is meant to cast shame. I just want to bring this to a resolution so we can all sit back and marvel at what an epic it has been.]
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