An EXCERPT from Stuart Lloyd‘s forthcoming Savage Realms gamebook, At the Ice Wastes of Madness: A Cthulhu Mythos Gamebook…
INTRODUCTION
Tuesday the 16th, February 2027
Massachusetts, USA
You are in Antarctica… again…
You are standing in a blizzard, wearing the simple clothes you would wear on a summer’s day back home. The cold is crippling and you cannot see more than an arm’s length in front of you. Then, you hear the voice ― a loud, unearthly voice that inspires terror. You hear the sound of a beast’s paws thundering towards you through the snow. A shape comes out of the blizzard…
You wake up in your bed, drenched in sweat. This is the third nightmare in as many days, but you’re sure it’s just anxiety about the meeting with the Vice Chancellor. You have no idea what the meeting is about. Analysing mineral cores is a lot more boring than your time spent on an Antarctic base, but you didn’t think you had let your boredom affect your work. You get ready for the day.
Three hours later, you are sitting in a chair in the office of Vice Chancellor Lyndon Ford. It is everything you would expect from a Vice Chancellor’s office ― plush carpet, wood-panelled walls, and bookshelves lined with old books and various paraphernalia that were probably gifts from prestigious people in America’s history. On his desk, is the Nobel Prize for economics. The Vice Chancellor, himself, is a vigorous, middle-aged man who enjoys rock climbing and fencing when he isn’t doing Nobel Prize-worthy work.
The Vice Chancellor looks at you over his desk.
“You might be wondering why I called you in today. Well, it was at the behest of a higher authority than I…”
The vice chancellor slides a file across the desk to you. You open it to find papers with “CLASSIFIED”, “CIA”, and “DEFENCE DEPARTMENT” stamped all over them. So this meeting isn’t about your excessive photocopying!
“Here’s the summary. Last night, one of my old friends, now in the CIA, called me. Apparently, we have lost contact with the researchers in Antarctica.”
“Which researchers… and which base?” you ask.
“All of them! The only contact we have with the bases is a distress signal coming from the Kolodiny Base played in morse code on a loop. Everything else has been silent for a week. No one is answering our communications! Satellite and aerial photos seem to show everything intact, but no signs of life…”
“The Kolodiny Base? That’s been abandoned since the 1980s!”
“Indeed, it has. This is all a big mystery. The most predominant theory is that the giant iceberg that broke off of the ice shelf last month may have released an ancient, prehistoric virus that has been trapped there for aeons. If the virus just happens to have the right genes to infect humans, and, if it gets into the wider, civilized world, we could have another global pandemic on our hands ― a pandemic worse than any that have come before it! Antarctic ice has been melting for decades due to climate change. To some of our officials, this kind of disaster is a matter of when, not if…”
“I’m no doctor,” you reply.
“No, but you HAVE been to Antarctica and know the bases, which is why various departments in the government are mounting an expedition to find out what happened. Since you have done exemplary research in Antarctica in the past, you have been selected to go with it. Your job will be to act as a guide to the medical professionals who will accompany you.”
“But my paper deadline and my experiment with…”
“This is not a request! This is an order from the highest officials in our government. You will be picked up from your house at 1PM. I suggest you go home and pack.”
You pick up the file, stand up, and go to leave the Vice Chancellor’s office. As you reach the door, you hear him send out a parting shot.
“When you return, we can discuss your photocopying!”
1
You are a whirlwind of excitement and dread as you drive home. You are returning to the place where you felt most alive, and yet, you are becoming embroiled in a potentially deadly mystery. By the time you get home, you barely have time to pack and tell your loved ones before a black SUV turns up outside of your house. Two men in black suits and sunglasses get out and wait. You walk out to meet them and one of them takes your luggage and puts it in the boot. You get in with them.
What follows is a blur of events ― you are briefed about the locations, probed for all of your knowledge about your expeditions, driven to an airport, flown to Argentina, introduced to dozens of people, and then put on a ship that will take you all to Antarctica.
It has been an exhausting four days since you were picked up from your home, and your sleep has been infested with vivid nightmares of the cold and an unknown presence that inspires dread.
On the morning of the fifth day, you are in your cabin, hurriedly preparing. You are eager to get on the deck and see King George Island. You are within minutes of landing at Villa Las Estrellas, a small hamlet on the south of the island. You can’t wait to set foot on Antarctica again.
BOOM!
You are flung across your cabin as the ship lurches sideways from an explosion. Alarms ring out and you can hear shouting.
“GET TO THE LIFEBOATS!”
You get to your feet and scramble to the door and fling it open. Panicked crew bolt past you. You dash down the corridor, but should you escape straight away or do you want to see what’s happening?
If you head straight for the lifeboats, turn to
If you go to the engine room, turn to
If you head to the hold, turn to
The Kickstarter launches February/March 2025 time frame and Tony Hough has signed on to do all of the artwork! From the author/artist team who brought you Asuria Awakens, comes the next title in the Savage Realms Gamebooks series…
At the Ice Wastes of Madness: A Cthulhu Mythos Gamebook!