"The entire summit ridge and final peak of Everest were unveiled. My eyes became fixed on one tiny black spot silhouetted on a small snow-crest beneath a rock-step in the ridge; the black spot moved. Another black spot became apparent and moved up the snow to join the other on the crest.” -- Noel Odell, member of the 1924 expedition and last person known to have seen George Mallory and Sandy Irvine alive.
In the early 1920s, Britain launched three unsuccessful expeditions to reach the top of Mount Everest. The race was part of a tug-o-war between Britain and Russia over control of central Asia, a political chess match nicknamed
“The Great Game.”
1st Attempt: 1921 – Five-month reconnaissance expedition in which George Mallory discovered the northern route to the summit, reached 23,000 feet and was the first to set foot on the mountain.
2nd Attempt: 1922 – Reached 27,000 feet. Bottled oxygen used for the first time. Seven Sherpas died in a tragic avalanche.
3rd Attempt: 1924 – George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine vanished high on the slope. Through a mysterious break in thick fog, climber Noel Odell was the last to see them alive.
Because of the loss of life in the latter two attempts, Tibet has since closed its borders to Britons and any future expeditions.
Now: Spring, 1925
But at great personal expense, the chairman of the Mount Everest Committee, Sir Francis Younghusband, has launched a secret mission to recover the bodies of Mallory and Irvine and – perhaps – to make one last attempt to claim the peak for Britain.
Why did Younghusband recruit you for this mission? What skills do you have that he thought would help the team? Do you have any personal connections to previous expeditions?
Dramatis Personae
Normally, Player-Characters in Cthulhu Dark need only declare a name and a profession to get started. This scenario was originally written for pre-generated characters, so here are some possible historical figures to play as characters if you want, or use them as the basis for your own creation…
Edward “Teddy” Norton: Climber, Leader and Soldier. Teddy was a member of the 1922 expedition and took over as expedition leader in 1924 when former leader Charles Bruce contracted malaria. He wrote a book about the 1924 expedition.
Trafford Leigh-Mallory: Beginning Climber, Pilot and brother of missing climber George Mallory. He has trained for one year in high-altitude flight and alpine climbing to prepare for this mission, but has never been to the Himalayas.
George Finch: Australian Climber, Chemist, Skier, and inventor of the high-altitude oxygen system. He was part of the expedition in 1922, but was excluded in 1924 due to a scandal over his accepting money for lectures. Rumor has it that he was spurned because the British didn’t want an Aussie to reach the peak first.
Howard Somervell:Climber, Surgeon, Soldier, Pacifist Missionary. He was a member of the 1922 and 1924 expeditions. He was a close friend of George Mallory, and the two used to recite Shakespeare together to pass the time. He is deeply haunted with guilt over the death of seven Sherpas in the 1922 expedition. He nearly died choking on a dislodged chunk of his own frostbitten throat in the 1924 mission.
Richard Hingston: Climber, Physician and Naturalist. He has traveled extensively in Central Asia and has written many books on the creatures of the region. He served as the head physician for the 1924 expedition, but was one of the least experienced climbers. He collected 10,000 specimens during that expedition, and discovered the highest-altitude spider ever recorded.
