The Strangford Expedition Ep 2 - "Just Beneath the Ice's Crust"

The Strangford Expedition Ep 2 – “Just Beneath the Ice’s Crust”

[The Strangford Expedition theme]

[A harsh winter wind]

Kim
As the rescue party from the Fang takes their first steps onto the ice, I think it’s time to present the Question that you must answer. Your Question is, very simply, “What happened to Captain Strangford?” It is a Complexity 8. We solve the mystery by finding the captain and rescuing him, or identifying his assailant and capturing or destroying him, or otherwise just… finding out what happened to him!

A unique facet of Carved from Brindlewood games is that I ask this question, and I have no idea as to the answer. We’re going to find that out through play. How we do that is by visiting locations, scanning the environment, doing strange occult rituals and prayers to the Isigaruk… Whatever you might choose to do! And rolling the move Find Clues. You will roll that with a relevant stat, and on a hit you will receive a Clue.

Once we have gathered a sufficient number of Clues, we will then attempt to Answer the Question. We will use all of our Clues to build a credible story as to what happened to Captain Strangford, either by incorporating the Clues into our answer, or explaining away the Clues. And then we will roll plus the number of Clues gathered, and minus the Question’s complexity. Makes sense so far?

Madeline
Yes.

Kim
Marvelous.

[A howling winter wind. Ice cracks]

Kim
I think the first thing I would like to have happen, as you all step out onto the ice, is a scene. You all have started trudging out into the unforgiving snow. We see Wolfgang ahead of all of you, leading the way. And right behind him, Lars Hegelund, the Swedish survivalist. And then a good distance away from that very industrious pair, the rest of you. As you’re making your way to the first location, what is it you all talk about? What are you doing?

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
You don’t think he could possibly just be camping out on the ice, could you? I wouldn’t imagine he’d be lost. Um… theories?

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
It’s possible his brain started to go. He could be seeing things. He could be experiencing something we do not understand. I would like to think he has more wherewithal to have an actual reason to go off on his own, but it’s been weeks. Has anyone seen anything weird? Has anyone seen anything that might have caught his attention specifically?

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
Not really. Einar, have you seen anything off?

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
“Strange” is an interesting way to describe something out here. If you stare at the ice long enough, you see all sorts of shapes in it. So have I seen Nøkken and Mara dancing in the snow? Maybe. But you see those if you stare long enough.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
You’re seeing dancing in the snow?

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
I think you would call it “hallucination”? Snow blindness? You stare at an empty field for too long, and your mind begins to populate it.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
Ah.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
What does it matter, though, whether the Captain wandered off on his own or was taken? That is not our job. Our job is to find the man, see if he is still fit to lead us. And if he is, put him back in charge. And if he isn’t? Well, we have worse problems to deal with.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
Does anyone else want to be in charge? Is anyone vying for this, or are we all pretty happy with Captain Strangford being in the lead? Redwell being next. I know you men love to be in charge… Is someone vying for something?

Kim
Tookoolito, next to you, sort of snorts a bit.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
[Chuckles] Ravi? I always see that lust in your eyes, huh?

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
Uh… N… No!

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
I am messing with you. I am messing with you. You are a good one.

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
That would be mutiny! I am here to serve and align myself with the true captain.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
Yes.

Robert
Einar, somewhat friendly, gives Lars a thump on the shoulder.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
How about you, Swede? We all know how much you like to be in charge.

Robert
He looks around at the rest of the crowd. A moment passes.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
It is funny, because, you know, Swedes don’t like to be in charge. They want everyone’s opinion on everything. It’s funny.

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
[Weakly] Ha ha ha…

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
No, it’s good. I understand.

Kim
Lars looks at you, a bit dismissively. He has quite sharp features. Quite cold blooded, both in action and in temperament.

Lars Hegelund (Kim)
Talk burns calories. Emotion wastes time. The ice does not care who cries. And so I learned to navigate by silence. And I have not been lost since. I would recommend you all follow my example.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
He’s the first one of you I’ve heard speaking a wick of wisdom.

Kim
Following this strange, yellowed map left behind by Captain Strangford, you arrive at the first point of interest. What looks to be an abandoned supply depot. It was never marked upon any of your official maps of this area. All around you, you see bizarre tools that serve no apparent purpose. There are some bare footprints, leading away from camp.

Dr. DeLanvier looks at those, and says under his breath…

Dr. DeLanvier (Kim)
If those are the Captain’s, he may already be dead.

Kim
I have a Paint the Scene, here. Paint the Scene is when I ask all of you a question, and you help me flesh out some details about a location that we have arrived at. Paint the Scene: what details about this supply depot make you think this camp is from Strangford’s second expedition to the arctic?

Madeline
There’s a table that maybe used to be where you would check out and actually get your supplies, put it on the ledger. And there has been things moved, where clearly there was an attempt at a torch, or there were certain papers spread around, a seat in a specific way… that is the way Captain Strangford likes to set up his office and look at things, see what’s going on.

It’s odd because he likes to sit low. I think that’s a funny sign. So there’s a very small stool there, because he likes to be eye – he can’t see very well. He doesn’t like people to know that.

Vyn
Tattered in the wind are different coats, long johns, underthings that don’t fit the current party. Textured ghosts of the last expedition.

Robert
While most of the consumables have long since vanished from this supply depot, there are a few tins still on the shelves, their seals cracked, their contents long since frozen or spoiled. There are labels, mostly have fallen off. But one still hangs on, made pale by the endless summer sun of this far north. You can just about read that this was once a can of tomatoes that went bad about two years ago.

Kim
I believe Ravi, you have a move that kicks off when you enter a new location, correct?

Vyn
I do!

Kim
Can you go ahead and read the details of the Photographer to us?

Vyn
Add a Vest-Pocked Kodak to your Sea Bag. You capture more than faces, you catch what’s coming. When you enter a new location, ask, “What is about to happen?” The Keeper will answer truthfully, though not necessarily completely. Once per game, if you find the time and space to develop your film, you may also ask, “Why?” The Keeper’s answer is a Clue.

So Keeper, what is about to happen?

Kim
Ravi, as you look around, you recall that on this long journey on foot through the ice, Dr. Norland has been unusually quiet.

[Unsettling ambience]

Kim
And now you see him standing alone, looking at the bare footprints that were left behind by… who knows? You start to see him begin to take off his coat, loosen his boots… Something is going to call him to walk out into the ice, never to be seen again.

Vyn
Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool… Pun unintended.

[Everyone chuckles]

Vyn
He’s going to just, very gently, nudge Maeve and jerk his head in the doctor’s direction.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
Doctor?

Dr. Norland (Kim)
Huh? Y-yes.

Kim
He says, taking off one of his boots and going for the second.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
What are you doing? It is cold. You are going to get colder. What is happening?

Dr. Norland (Kim)
I’ve been away from home for far too long, Miss Lindgren. I believe I should go home, now.

Madeline
Maeve walks in front of where he is walking, and just looks in his eyes and tries to see what’s going on.

Kim
His eyes are distant.

Madeline
I touch his hand. Is he responding to my touch?

Kim
He brushes it away.

Dr. Norland (Kim)
Now Miss Lindgren, please do not get in my way. It’s time for leave.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
Or what?

Dr. Norland (Kim)
I suppose I’ll take you with me.

Kim
And he grabs you by the wrist and starts pulling you away, into the ice.

Madeline
I’m gonna start going. I wanna see what he’s doing. I’m curious. I’m gonna go. I’m gonna see what happens.

Kim
Ravi, you nudge Maeve in the direction of Dr. Norland. And then the next time you look up at the two of them, they have disappeared. Wandered away from camp.

Einar, what are you doing?

Robert
Ever the practical person, Einar is going through the crates, the tins… Looking for any scrap of anything that might be useful.

Kim
Please Find Clues with Reason, please.

Robert
Okay. [Rolls dice] That is a 9 on the dice.

Kim
And Ravi, perhaps a bit shaken by the fact that you possibly just sent Maeve to her doom…

Madeline
[Chuckles]

Kim
What are you doing?

Vyn
He’s gonna scurry into the supply station and look for Einar.

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
Einar! Can I… Can I possibly bother you for a moment, please?

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
What is it?

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
Um… The doctor was seeming a bit homesick, and I tried to get Maeve to solve it, and now they’re both gone.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
Maeve is a big girl. She can take care of herself. Did you see what direction they headed in?

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
No. I wouldn’t have bothered you if I had an idea of what was going on?

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
So was your plan to wander off after two people, and get yourself lost?

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
No. It wasn’t. That’s why I was hoping we’d get lost together.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
Let’s focus on the captain, first. Then, if Maeve is still missing and the doctor, we can search for them as well.

Vyn
And he just starts taking one step back. And another step back. And another – and he’s out.

Kim
Alright. Trying to follow those footprints?

Vyn
Uh-huh.

Kim
This feels like a Find Clues with Reason.

Vyn
That is also flat. [Rolls dice] That is a 10, though.

Kim
Maeve Lindgren. Dr. Norland grabs you by the wrist, and starts walking with you out into the ice. Time passes. It’s hard to tell how much. The light here is so strange. The surroundings so alien. And eventually, you come upon an immense glacier, floating in the water.

[Strange, rumbling, alien ambience]

Kim
It’s tinged with red. There’s this red iron-rich water that seems to be seeping from a hole in this giant ice mass.

Dr. Norland looks at it.

Dr. Norland (Kim)
Miss Lindgren, I daresay it looks as though that glacier is wounded.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
Yes, it does. What brought you here?

Dr. Norland (Kim)
Look, Miss Lindgren. There’s a bit of an ice bridge, that I believe we could walk right to it, if we wanted to…

Kim
Paint the Scene. What about this place makes you want to reach out and touch the red ice, even though you know you shouldn’t?

Madeline
The way the wind has eroded around the red, makes it almost seem like there’s things being sucked into it. Like things have skittered across the ice to go to this thing. It feels like a gravitational pull to this seeping wound in ice. That also, by itself, it’s fascinating! What is it?

Robert
While the iron-rich ice might look like blood, it also catches the light in the way that blood does not. Almost glitters like a jewel or a sweet. So much so that you not only want to touch it. You want to break off a piece and taste it.

Vyn
Following that vein, the red, like claret, almost has like a wine-like texture.

Kim
Maeve, Dr. Norland is already starting to make his way across this narrow slippery little ice bridge, across the water, growing closer to this bleeding glacier.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
Doctor, do you care if you die?

Kim
You can no longer see Dr. Norland.

Madeline
[Sighs] Well, I have to go take steps closer… I don’t want him to just disappear.

Kim
Miss Lindgren, you start following the footprints left by Dr. Norland. But then you see them fade away. Dr. Norland leaves no mark upon the snow. And yet, you do see him, standing next to this bleeding glacier. But now that you look at him, you see frostbite covering his face, the tip of his nose gone. His eyelids frozen shut from cold.

Dr. Norland (Kim)
I do not care if I die, Miss Lindgren. Don’t you remember? On our walk here. I stopped for a break in the snow, and you kept going.

[Unsettling ambience]

Kim
Indeed, you lost Dr. Norland several miles ago.

Madeline
She starts to panic, a bit.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
I didn’t leave. I didn’t leave him. I didn’t leave him! I went with him. I didn’t leave him! I went with him!

Madeline
And she’s looking desperately around. She still sees the image?

Kim
Yeah. Dr. Norland is still here. He’s reaching out and touching the iceberg.

Madeline
I go to grab him, to pull him away.

Dr. Norland (Kim)
Oh no, Miss Lindgren. It’s deliciously warm. Come. You’re freezing.

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
No, we have to get you back. We have to get you back, because… We have to get you back. I did not leave you, and I have to get you back.

Kim
Miss Lindgren, this is going to be a Night Move. When you do something risky or face something you fear, name what you are afraid will happen if you fail or lose your nerve.

Madeline
I’m afraid that I will have left someone to die, again. That cannot happen again.

Kim
Miss Lindgren, it’s worse than that. This little ice bridge that you took to get here will shatter, and you will be left alone on this floating, bleeding glacier. With no way to return back to the crew of the Fang. This is going to be a Night Move with Composure.

Madeline
This might be something that – can I use my ability with?

Kim
Tell me your ability.

Madeline
Carpenter is, “When they give you a rope, a nail, and a reason, you’ll build what the moment demands. Once per game, you can describe the item that’s just needed and add it to your Sea Bag. Alternatively, once per game, when you use what’s near, ask the other players to name three objects. If you can describe how all three objects are helpful to the situation at hand, get an automatic 12+ on a single associated die roll.”

Kim
Okay. Are you looking to do the second option, here?

Madeline
It feels so hard, considering I’m surrounded by ice! Um…

Kim
There could be some things left behind, or… Stuck in the ice.

Robert
Previous expeditions.

Kim
Yes. Floating in the water.

Madeline
That’s true. I think that’s more fun.

Kim
Alright. So as Miss Lindgren is trying to resist the siren-like call of this hallucination in the ice and make her way back across the ice bridge and away from the bleeding glacier, what objects are around here that could possibly help her?

Robert
Half buried in the snow is an old, rusted harpoon, scrimshaw still visible in its handle.

Vyn
Nearby is the concept of a sled. Bits and pieces and curls of wood. Still hardy and ice worn.

Kim
I wanna say stuck to the side of this glacier, almost like a bandage trying to stay the bleeding of this iceberg, is a flag from a previous expedition.

Alright, Miss Lindgren. I will let you take a moment to think about how you will get yourself out of this situation.

[A whistling winter wind]

Kim
Einar. Combing through rotting boxes in this supply depot. Much of what is left here is of little consequence. Some frozen cans of food. Worn coats, boots… A few journals, nothing of note. But buried at the bottom of one of these boxes is a most unusual spyglass.

[Eerie, whistling ambience]

Kim
And as you hold it to your eye and look out onto the snow, you see strange colorful patterns in the ice. And blinking lights underneath the ice’s surface. That is a Clue, but you may also add this spyglass to your seabag.

Robert
Ooh…

Kim
But I do have to make your life a little difficult.

[Unsettling, haunting ambience]

Kim
Einar. As you are looking through this spyglass, you see a large silhouette against the white. Motionless, watching, enormous. And while moments ago, you heard the other crewmembers of the Fang starting to make camp, conducting their own cursory investigations amongst the supply depot, now you hear nothing.

[The ambience fades to a low volume]

Kim
And unearthly, unnatural silence. How can you tell that you are in some strange, waking dream at this moment?

Robert
It’s the silence. Even though he may have felt like he was the only one trying to solve the problem at hand, Einar could always hear the other parts of this expedition team chattering to each other, making noises as they bluster around, backing over boxes and whatnot. But that silence, now… Nothing but the wind howling amongst the ice.

Kim
That silence is interrupted by deep, rhythmic thudding beneath your feet.

[Deep, rhythmic thudding]

Kim
Like something vast and patient, beating just beneath the ice’s crust. And echoing it, you hear a deep, rhythmic knocking on the door to the supply depot.

Robert
A lot of Einar’s job is all about feeling vibrations. Knowing when the ropes are too taught, when the beams of the mast are going to snap under pressure. Feeling that beat underneath him, in front of him, at the door… It’s a little like a spider who feels not a fly struggling in their web, but the hand of something much larger destroying the web casually.

Einar goes towards the door, but carefully pulls the knife that he always keeps in his boot out, and has it on hand. Just in case.

Kim
Einar, you hear the voice of Captain Strangford.

Captain Strangford (Kim)
Gunnarson, are you in there? It’s freezing like the devil out here. Please, open the door.

Robert
A little bit of his caution gone, Einar opens the door.

Kim
Make the Night Move with Sensitivity. What are you afraid will happen if you fail?

Robert
Well, I’m afraid it’s not Captain Strangford, but something much worse.

Kim
Einar, it’s worse than that. As you open the door for this entity, it will enter not just the supply depot but your mind, your body… You will spend eternity in mere seconds, dying at the hands of this god. And yet, feeling blessed and awed to have ever even been in its presence.

Robert
Almost unconsciously, Einar’s hand goes from the knife to the smooth stone that he keeps in his pocket, as though reaching for a piece of home to give him a little bit of luck and comfort in this moment. I’ll be invoking my smooth, polished stone, so that I roll with advantage.

Kim
Please mark it, and take the roll with Sensitivity with advantage.

Robert
[Rolls dice] That is a 1, a 3, and a 4. So a 7. But with my Sensitivity of -1, a 6.

Kim
You open the door, and Captain Strangford stands before you. Behind him is just this endless expanse of shadow. And then those shadows start moving into this small office, climbing up the walls, coating everything in black – as dark as pitch. Seeping around your boots, and then traveling up, pulling you deeper into this fathomless dark.

[Ancient, eldritch ambience]

Kim
Making its way into your eyes, into your nose, into your mouth. And then cutting you from the inside. You feel something eating at your intestines, pulling you, being so careful to keep you alive as it feasts. And there’s some part of you that smiles and feels grateful. You have sacrificed yourself to something so much larger, so much more powerful. Indeed, it will make better use of your life force than you ever did, Einar Gunnarson. To give your life to this creature is an honor.

Robert
I think I would like to mark a Burden so that doesn’t happen.

Kim
Alright. Let’s talk about the Burden mechanic, here. All of the players share the Burden of the Icebound Dream. This is similar to the Mask mechanic in The Between, or the Crown mechanic in Brindlewood Bay. But instead of narrating your personal character flashbacks, each Burden of the Icebound Dream narrates a piece of Captain Strangford’s history. There are five in total, and they are shared amongst you. So choose your moments to mark a burden very wisely.

I will give you a moment to think about that, Robert.

Ravi. You try to follow the footsteps left by… who knows… in your attempt to find where Maeve and Dr. Norland went. But there’s so much fresh snow, here. Soon, the footprints become lost and messy. Only because you marked a 10 do you not find yourself lost on the ice, and away from camp.

[Whistling, ringing ambience]

Kim
But as you stand alone on this endless expanse of snow, you see something. I think, possibly for the first time, if Einar’s ribbing has any truth to it. The northern lights. Awash in beautiful colors of blue and green. And yet, as you gaze upon them, these lights shift in their flowing, graceful travel along the sky, into sharp, angular patterns resembling letters or claws. That is a Clue.

Vyn
He squints a bit, trying to decipher the letters or the shape of the talon to a certain animal. But then remembers the dry hallucination bit from Einar, kind of shakes it of. And squints and tries to stare at something else, despite the beauty of the colors.

[A harsh winter wind]

Kim
You feel a wet nose on your hand, as Wolfgang has padded up to you and is biting at the edge of your coat, trying to pull you back to camp.

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
Oh! Hello. I have to go find the doctor and Maeve. You wouldn’t want to come with me, please?

Kim
Wolfgang looks at you, taking the measure of you. Unsure of your survival. And then you see, coming up just a couple steps behind Wolfgang, the cook of the Fang – a Reginald Dumpley.

Reginald Dumpley (Kim)
Well now, boy. Why have you gotten so far away from camp?

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
Because the doctor and Maeve have disappeared. And I didn’t want to lose anyone else. I was just going to take Wolfgang and hopefully we can find some footprints, or something.

Reginald Dumpley (Kim)
And you’re a keen ice master are you, young Ravi?

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
I mean, I have the most capable of canines to accompany me, so I would think that the skill kind of balances it out, a little… Teeters over the edge.

Reginald Dumpley (Kim)
Don’t mistake me. I think Wolfgang would survive here better than all of us. But I think if I let you go out onto the ice, I would have just another missing sailor. Come back to camp, lad.

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
Come with me!

Reginald Dumpley (Kim)
Now Mr. Ravi, I’m working on a stew. I cannae just leave it alone, can I? Pray, help me, boy. Those fingers look like they are just as capable of slicing a potato.

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
[Sighs]

Vyn
Kind of dodging back and forth, almost like a dance. Trying to decide.

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
I… I have to go. I’m so sorry. I have to.

Vyn
And is already taking steps in a direction.

Reginald Dumpley (Kim)
On your own head, Ravi!

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
Mmhmm!

Reginald Dumpley (Kim)
I won’t come looking for you!

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
[Distantly] Mmhmm!

Vyn
Getting softer and softer.

Kim
And Wolfgang pads alongside you.

Vyn
Yes!

Kim
Gives a light little harumph, and a, “I hope you know what you’re doing.” As the two of you head out into the snow.

[Unsettling ambience]

Kim
Maeve Lindgren. You have been given a abandoned sled, a blood-soaked flag, and an old, rusted harpoon. How are you going to use these items to escape this hallucination in the snow, and make your way back across the ice towards the no doubt dying Dr. Norland?

Madeline
Maeve realizes what’s happening. She has tears frozen on her wind burnt cheeks. And as she looks around to see what she can use, she remembers… It’s been weeks. She’s watched Einar strengthen ropes and maneuver lines, and put things together. And she’s seen the way this works. And she takes off her own scarf – the long scarf – and winds it with the flag by ripping it into one long piece. And winding them together, to strengthen them.

She attaches it to the harpoon, and tries to mount it on a sharp piece of rock behind her. So she can attempt to throw this harpoon to the other side and walk along the ice bridge with some of her weight lightened on the rope.

Kim
Incredible. And on a 12+, you just do this.

Madeline
Obviously there’s no one around but the wind, but she is mumbling to herself. Just…

Maeve Lindgren (Madeline)
You deserve this. You’ve done this. You deserve this.

Madeline
She’s going through and she’s beating herself up, doing this task. To try and get as fast she can back to where she believes the doctor is.

I forgot one thing. The sled, the idea is to throw it across to the other side to then drag it with her, to then put the doctor on, once she can find him.

Kim
Incredible. Because you are utilizing your Carpenter special which gives you a 12+, I will say that you arrive just in time to save the life of Dr. Norland. For now.

Madeline
Mmhmm.

Kim
You come upon him laying down in the snow. Almost as if he’s asleep. It’s only from the slight rise and fall of his chest that you can tell that he is not completely frozen to death. He is in a very bad way, though.

Madeline
Maeve will try to just rub certain spots on his arms, on his face. She takes off her own coat, to put it around him, after strapping him to the sled. And she knows he might not make it back, but she’s going to try her damndest to get him back.

Kim
Marvelous. No roll necessary. I think we’re still riding off of that 12+.

Madeline
Yes!

Kim
It’s slow, but you start pushing this sled with Dr. Norland, clinging to life, upon it. And clinging to something else. Clasped in his frozen hands is a piece of paper. When you arrive back at camp, Dr. Alphonse DeLanvier starts ministering to Dr. Norland, trying to save what bits of his limbs he can. And you manage to pry this piece of paper of Dr. Norland’s frozen grasp.

It looks to be a page torn from a journal. It’s a farewell letter, written in what you know to be Captain Strangford’s hand. But curiously, dated tomorrow.

Madeline
Is it to all of us? Or is it to one person?

Kim
Excellent question, Madeline. And here’s where I say that some of these Clues are kept purposefully vague, so that when it comes time to answer a question…

Madeline
Ah…

Kim
You may add that bit of color, to help support whatever answer you would like to arrive at.

Madeline
Awesome.

[Deep, rhythmic thudding]

Kim
Einar. That knocking grows louder. And as you move to open the door, the person standing opposite you is not Captain Strangford, it’s Tookoolito.

[The knocking stops. A winter wind]

Tookoolito (Kim)
Are you alright in here?

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
Yes, um… I was actually looking for you. Either you or Lars, since you are the ones who are supposed to know your way around this area. I found this.

Robert
And he holds up the spyglass.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
Do you know if any previous expeditions through this area would have left something like this? And if so, where they would have gone?

Tookoolito (Kim)
I do not know, Mr. Gunnarson.

Kim
She takes that spyglass and looks through it, and then drops it. Places it back into your hands.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
Yes, uh… I should have warned you, perhaps. It is a bit of a strange sight, on the other end.

Tookoolito (Kim)
Do not follow those markings, Mr. Gunnarson. That way lies death.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
Hmm… Well, from my perspective, most ways out here lie with death.

Kim
How are you feeling in this moment?

Robert
Einar’s rock steady confidence has been shaken by this odd moment. Seeing these strange lights, feeling the pulsing heartbeat-like thumping from underneath the ice, hearing the knock on the door and his Captain’s voice, when it wasn’t his captain at the door. He’s used to the shifting waves underneath a boat, but solid ground should feel more solid than this.

Kim
Please take the Condition: Watched by the Isigaruk.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
Well, if you suggest that we do not follow the direction that this glass leads, what would be your recommendation for where we should head? After all, you are the guide.

Tookoolito (Kim)
Mr. Gunnarson, my advice would be for us to save ourselves while we still can.

Einar Gunnarson (Robert)
Unfortunately, my loyalty is to the ship and its captain. And so, as long as I think that we can still rescue Strangford, that is my first priority.

Kim
Speaking of Strangford. Robert, you have marked the first Burden of the Icebound Dream. Could you please read the first prompt for us?

Robert
Narrate a flashback to the height of Strangford’s fame, when the royal explorer’s club toasted his name in smoky salons. Tell us about the expedition that made him a hero. What discovery cemented his reputation, and what promise, spoken or unspoken, did he make that still echoes in his choices today?

[A harbor, bells ringing]

Robert
In the spring of 1903, two ships left safe harbor in an attempt to cross the legendary Northwest Passage. The Gjøa, under Captain Amundsen, out of Oslofjord. And the Gorgon, captained by Strangford, sailing out of Liverpool.

The beginning leg of the journey was somewhat uneventful. Both ships were neck and neck as they rounded Baffin Bay and crossed into the narrow, icy straits of the arctic archipelago. And then fall turned to winter. And by October, both ships had been iced in.

[A harsh winter wind]

Robert
The captains made the best of their time frozen in the cold expanse of the North. Sending teams on dogsleds or skis out to try and map whatever they could find. While others simply sat at the ship, keeping themselves warm, waiting for the coming spring.

Spring wouldn’t come for two years. Not till 1905.

The first sign of life that anyone from the outside heard was in the small town of Eagle, Alaska, where a strange man with a foreign accent burst through the doors and insisted on using the town’s telegraph lines. The Gjøa was free, and was sailing on to Nome, and would be there shortly. Amundsen himself had made the trek.

And so that summer, the citizens of Nome kept an eye out to the harbor, waiting for the Norwegian to make his way. And were shocked when it was in fact the English vessel hat they saw first.

[Deep cello music]

Robert
This was maybe Amudnsen’s mistake. When he left his ship alone and made the long, harsh walk so that he could let people know that his men were still safe and alive, he cost them a few precious weeks. Strangford, on the other hand, pushed through. Caring more about the adventure, about the accomplishment, than the safety of his men. Or the value of his name in the outside world.

Kim
Ravi. You and Wolfgang set out into the arctic, in search of Maeve Lindgren and Dr. Norland. Not knowing that that pair is already making their way to camp. Indeed, possibly arrived moments after you left. The two of you walk. The wind howls. And in that wind, you hear a voice. Who is it, Ravi? Who calls to you?

Vyn
His mom…

[Ghostly, mournful whispering]

Mrs. Falkenberg (Kim)
Ravi, angel. Where have you gotten yourself to? Always on grand adventures. I looked for you one night, and you weren’t in your bed.

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
You’re… not… real.

Mrs. Falkenberg (Kim)
Always the most imaginative boy. Come, Ravi. You’ll catch your cold outside.

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
I am leagues away from home. My bones might as well be ice. And you’re… not… real.

Kim
Hearing this, Wolfgang licks at your hand and nudges it, tacitly saying, “I am real. Stay with me.”

Ravi Falkenberg (Vyn)
[Sighs] You’re here. You’re here, Wolfgang…

Kim
And the two of you continue to walk. And Ravi, I don’t know who it was who told you the story of the colossal diamond. But now you see it before you: real. An iceberg with a perfectly reflecting surface, polished to a mirror-like shine. Without distortion.

[Alien, rumbling ambience]

Kim
Paint the Scene: As Ravi looks into this mirrored iceberg, what part of his reflection changes subtly, the longer he looks?

Madeline
Where the middle of his eyebrows were looking terrified, kind of nervous, quickly eyes darting around… His eyes narrow and get very serious in intent. And look… could only be described as malicious.

Vyn
The smile lines deepen, and the skin grows a bit more shriveled and hollow. As he doesn’t grow but ages by decades.

Robert
And it’s hard to tell if it’s just a quirk of the reflection and refraction of the ice, or something darker. But as he stares into his own eyes, the eyes staring back are dark, multifaceted. Like an insect’s.

Kim
Ravi, as you continue to stare at this mirrored iceberg, watching your reflection change, what memory of yours comes to mind? What is the ice showing you?

Vyn
Despite denying the voice, the reflection is him back home. He was an only child. A fierce mama’s boy. Miss Evangeline Falkenberg. Did all kinds of activities with her. From the more masculine – hunting, skinning, etc – to sewing, paining… Anything to spend more time with her, specifically.

Kim
Cool.

Vyn
Okay, pulling back… The Photographer: Keeper, what is about to happen?

Kim
I’m so glad you asked that. Ravi, the voice of your mother Evangeline will return. You will be visited by the Isigaruk, appearing to you in the form of your mother.

[The Strangford Expedition theme]

Kim
The Strangford Expedition is a Kitten Marlowe production. This episode was edited and produced by Kim Dalton, and featured a theme song by Jason Myers. You can find out more about us by visiting KittenMarlowe.com, signing up for our newsletter, or following us on socials. For Discord access, exclusive cast talkbacks, ttrpg materials, and more, visit Patreon.com/KittenMarlowe and join our doomed crew, the Kitten Marlowe patrons, in supporting artist-driven storytelling. Thanks for listening.