Snow Days- Conclusion

[Skill check results listed in brackets to record their successes]

9pm, Friday: The walkie-talkies pinged with the call “Calling all SNOOPS! So, what’s the plan? Where should we meet and when?” Josh explained his morning chores, “Feed the chickens and collect the eggs, slop the pigs. I could make it to Hemingway Park say by 9am.” Lukas agreed, “Paper route. I’m usually done in time; I could make 9.” Eric was onboard, “Coach called off Lacrosse practice because of that little dusting of snow. I’ll pack a daypack of juice-boxes and snacks.” Ace laughed, “Like my parents would even know. I’ll let Miss Patsy know (maid) so she can pack us sandwiches.” Evan wanted to go earlier but conceded, “You know other kids are probably already out there looking. No later than 9am!” Ein was excited, “I’ve been on my computer researching dinosaurs. I’ve already uploaded some pictures and facts. Let’s just hope we don’t run into any of them. Or those robots!” 

9am, Saturday: Josh had the longest bike ride but arrived at the park in time. Evan checked his backpack to make certain he had Juneau’s (Fur Ball) squeaky toy and blanket. Ace suddenly jumped when Graves (Evan’s raven) landed on his backpack and began pecking. Ace announced, “Oh yeah. I brought some raw steak in case we need to distract any dinosaurs.” Ein mentioned, “You know dogs have better noses than humans. I bet Fur-Ball smelled the dinosaurs and chased after them. Hope she’s fast enough and smart enough to get away if she did run into one.” They already plotted their route to the access road where Mr. Evans said Fur-Ball ran off. A 45-minute bike ride from the park.

Access Road: As soon as they got on the road, Evan was already calling, “Fur Ball! Come on girl. Fur Ball, I’ve got your favorite squeaky!” They road east. Ein remembered, “The Greenes live around here. That’s where I got my wiener dog ‘Slim Jim’.” But the Loop truck parked ahead became more important. They rode closer to inspect. An empty utility trailer attached with ramp lowered. 3-wheeler tracks easily spotted in the light snow showed someone rode north, returned, then rode east. Eric opened the truck hood to feel the engine, “Cold. I thought it might be that Mr. Crandall I overheard yesterday making the phone call. How he was supposed to come out here to check on his missing co-worker, Mike Reed. This must be Reed’s truck from days ago.”

Evan sent Graves airborne “Keep Watch.” (He truly believed his raven understood all his commands.) Josh was ready to climb into the truck to drive off but realized he didn’t have a driver’s license nor knew how to drive with a trailer attached. Eric wanted to split up, “We can call on our radios if we find anything. I’ll go east along the road.” Josh agreed till Ace spoke with more reason, “The man obviously road north then came back. We’re already here. Let’s check that first then we can follow the tracks on the road. Safety in numbers if there are dinosaurs out here.”

10am, Penguins: They walked their bikes just a short distance north and came upon a familiar sight. Evan spoke up, “Dad calls them measurement stations (kids call them Penguins for their look). Something to do with power supply from the LOOP towers.” They could see a thick cable hanging down from the top from an open hatch. Ace boosted Josh who looked into the open guts of the Penguin. “Not sure what I’m looking at. But looks like a bunch of wires and laptop non-standard parts.” Evan kept calling for the missing dog and sent Graves airborne “Find her.” Lukas was more interested in the thick black cable that stretched northward.

Ein (the Computer Geek) climbed atop and looked in for himself. [Program- 10 die but failed. Used Luck to re-roll: failed] Josh [Tinker] pointed out, “Why does that laptop say ‘Hatch Closed…System Normal’?” That focused Ein to look a little closer. Ace called from outside, “Try disconnecting it and see what happens.” Sure enough, Ein rebooted the add-on laptop which ran thru lines of DOS commands before displaying a new message ‘Hatch Open. System Power Rerouted’. Eric immediately suspected the Loop technician Mr. Reed, “He did it on purpose! Wonder what he’s up to?! He road off east; let’s follow his trail.” Ein grabbed the add-on laptop and stuffed it in his backpack.

Tracks: [All rolled Investigate but Josh only rolling 2D6 rolled two 6s- successes!] Before they got back to the road, Josh pointed out, “Look at those 3-toes prints that parallel the 3-wheeler. I think a dino chased the man!” They hopped on their bikes and road east, following the 3-wheeler tracks while every once-in-a-while confirming the dino-tracks continued. Soon, they spotted the 3-wheeler dumped on its side but also saw a cabin 50 yards distant with shoes and dino tracks leading that way.  As they got closer, they could see the left side of the cabin partially collapsed. Eric and Josh stayed behind to get the 3-wheeler upright and running, while the others continued toward the cabin.

Cabin: Eric inspected the damaged wall and found a raptor claw embedded in the wood (now in his backpack). Claw marks and bash marks implied the raptor (or more than one?) eventually crashed into the cabin. He yelled out warning to the others, but they had already entered. No raptor, nor Mr. Reed, but plenty of claw prints on the wood floor, snow drifted in from the opening, and food wrappers littered about. The sound of the 3-wheeler announced Eric and Josh’s arrival to join in the search. Ein noticed the tape-player on the table and pressed “Rewind” then “Play”. They listened to the final message recorded by Loop technician Mike Reed:

As Eric pocketed the ejected tape, Ein concluded, “I don’t think he made it to his 3-wheeler.” No one noticed Evan walking out the back door. Lukas was busy collecting more rations from Reed’s supplies while Eric looked for a weapon to use against raptors. [He found plastic sporks and plastic knives.] “Oh God!” Evan’s scream from outside drew everyone to his side. Not enough snowfall to completely hide the shredded body of the late Mike Reed. [Empathy- fear] As Ace knelt to take the man’s wallet and remove his nametag (for police evidence), Lukas and Josh rushed back into the cabin and wanted to try fixing the collapsed wall. "What if it comes back?"

[Lead-4] Evan gathered everyone back inside the cabin for a rousing speech, “Remember, Mr. Reed was reported missing 3 days ago. The raptors are long gone. We’ll be fine. Let’s find Fur-Ball then head home to report all this.” But Eric wasn’t convinced and began making 4 torches out of broken chair legs wrapped with bed-sheeting and drenched with gasoline taken from the 3-wheeler. He handed out 3 of them (Ace, Evan, and Josh). Ein suddenly remembered, “The Greene farm! It’s back toward the truck and Penguin where we first found the raptor tracks. What if they were attacked?! Mrs. Greene hung up on her phone call Thursday night because her dogs barking at something outside.” Ace agreed, “We can call the police from there.”

Noon, Greene Farm: As everyone else road their bikes, Ace put his on the back of the 3-wheeler and drove along with the others. They soon passed the abandoned LOOP truck and turned south on the gravel road access to the Greene farm surrounded by a 6-foot chain fence. Barking dogs could barely be heard over the whine of the 3-wheeler. But they easily saw the dogs facing west while barking at 2 raptors on the other side of the fence! 

Evan recognized Fur-Ball inside the fence and up close, barking at a raptor just on the other side, trying to claw-climb the fence. They couldn’t hear the screams for help, but definitely saw the other raptor snapping at the bullies treed outside the fence.

Whatever plans they thought they had… the raptor at the fence stopped climbing, sniffed the air, turned toward the kids, and charged! Eric and Josh lit their torches, Evan and Ein rushed to the northeast corner of the fence and began climbing, while Ace revved his engine to attract the raptors in hopes of leading them away, “Come get me!” They all heard the “Chirp, chirp” bark of one raptor’s call to its mate such that now both raptors focused on Ace. Ace sped off westward with the raptors in pursuit. Eric threw his torch but missed as the raptors focused on Ace. [Force-2] Josh was close enough to hit one with the torch. Which gave him enough bravado to give chase for a short distance before finally throwing his torch at the departing raptors.

With the raptors gone, they easily climbed the fence (using the fireman’s lift technique and extended hand for the last). Mr. Greene came off his porch to unlock the front gate to let the bullies in. Mrs. Greene tried to comfort them all as she pointed out, “I sure hope your friend on that 3-wheeler gets away.”

Little did they know: Yeah, Ace got the attention of the raptors. At least the raw steak did. When he thought himself far enough away, Ace threw the steak that one raptor chased after. But the other raptor paused to sniff at him. [Empathy- 0, Comprehend-1] Ace thought himself a goner with the raptor after him as he was about to circle back to the farm. It was while in the turn Ace realized the juices of the raw steak has saturated his backpack. Ace tossed that aside which attracted the last raptor. Ace sped back toward the farm, only to run out of gas (remember Eric drained some to make those torches).

Everyone was relieved when Ace returned. Evan was already playing with Fur-Ball using the squeaky toy and blanket while feeding her milk-bones. Eric awkwardly mulled over what to say to the Greenes before he finally came out with it, “We need you to call the police to report a dead body at that hunter’s cabin to the east. Just don’t use our names as our parents will freak out.” Albert Greene announced, “Power and telephones lines knocked down days ago. I’m thinking that tall dinosaur ran thru them. That’s why I got my generator running 24/7.” The bullies (Randy and his goons) pleaded with Mr. Greene to take them home in his truck. Mrs. Greene suddenly remembered a neighbor, “Oh dear, I hope Miss Petersen is OK on her farm to the north.”

Petersen?! All of the kids stared at each other, “You don’t mean Diane Petersen, do you?” Evan pulled out the picture he had taken from Donald Dixon’s house (Dog Days of Summer scenario). Mrs. Greene smiled, “Oh, you know her too? She moved out there months ago. Not much of a talkative neighbor or farmer. Haven’t seen her try to grow anything.” It suddenly dawned on the kids: the thick black cable that was hooked up to Penguin Station #23 that led north. “She must have been stealing power from the LOOP station. She has to be involved with those dinosaurs!” Mrs. Greene pleaded for the kids to stay, but they took off on their bikes, with Fur-Ball running alongside them.

1pm, Petersen Farm: As they rode their bikes following the cable, they heard weapon fire in the distance. Those hunter robots must have found targets. Relief the sounds distant. When they finally got within sight of the farm, it looked abandoned. 

Multiple barns and a central farmhouse. And dinosaur tracks of various sizes crisscrossed the landscape. A tractor laid on its side: its magnetrine disks removed.

The kids split up, each going to different barns. Lukas followed the cable toward the northeast barn, Ace took the long barn to the west, Eric wandered the area looking for antennas that possibly were sending signals to the dinosaurs (he was thinking about the last scenario of chipped birds- Dog Days of Summer). Evan and Ein headed for the eastern barn with the car parked in front. As they got closer, they heard noise from inside.

Evan and Ein peeked inside and found a Stegosaurus thumping its spiked tail against the interior walls. It was easy to see the barbed-wire tangled around its tail. They worked as a team: [Ein-Charm (0, re-roll 0) to calm it, Evan-Move (4) to cut it free] Ein failed to calm it as it more concerned about the pain. Evan found wire-cutters and maneuvered for its tail. And that’s when Eric arrived after hearing the nose coming from the barn. He stepped in, just in time to see Evan on a wild-bucking-bronco ride with his legs tightly gripping the Steg’s tail, while he held one tail-horn with his left hand while using his right hand to snip at the wire. [Investigate-1/Charm-2] Eric found a tarp and threw it over the Steg’s head. Blinded, it now calmed down enough for Evan to finish his task. Soon all the kids stood before the Steg as they removed the tarp. They were rewarded with Stegosaurus snot and slobber as it licked its rescuers. Then it ignored them as it hustled out the barn and headed toward the farmhouse to pace in front of it.

The Gate: And that’s when the radios crackled, “Squint to all SNOOPS! You gotta see this!” They found Lukas standing inside the northeast barn that had its southwest corner collapsed. Their jaws dropped at the sight of the machine: disk-like in shape (about 20 feet in diameter sitting on edge) with a metal support structure around it. 

Its circular center wavered with a beautiful (yet scary per live action) prehistoric landscape (Cretaceous period of dinosaurs).

·     The wheel-like disk was stopped; clearly intended to be spinning. The wheel-frame was metal and plated with copper. Bolted to the inside of the wheel were eight magnetrine disks (from tractor outside).
·     They found a huge diesel engine on the backside that spun the disk. The engine obviously off.
·     At the end of the diesel shaft was a hexagonal box labeled “The Spark”. Wires led to a nearby desk that connected to an Apple 2e computer.

·     Connected to the Apple 2e was a child’s toy synthesizer.

Ace and Lukas looked for tools to break it. Ein wondered if there was a “kill switch” and found the Apple 2e computer on a raised platform with its screen readout ‘Spark Successful. Gate Open’. He pondered the toy musical instrument attached to the keyboard. Evan suggested, “We should try to shut it down instead of breaking it.” Ein added, “It could explode and suck our world into the past! Who knows what would happen!!” Eric added, “We need to at least get Steggie back home.” Josh asked, “What about this Diane Petersen? Where is she?”

2pm, Farmhouse: Ace and Lukas were all grins (and tried to pet her) as they walked past Steggie pacing in front of the house. The house was empty, no Diane. But they did find:

Lukas and Josh went upstairs to the bathroom where they found a robot (Johnny 5) babysitting a bathtub with an electric blanket wrapped around 4 football size eggs and one about to hatch!

Ace went upstairs to the bedroom where he found a Walkman tape-player on the nightstand. He pressed “Play” and began listening to Diane Petersen’s favorite song: A-Ha’s “Take On Me.”

Evan and Eric went into the kitchen where they found a book “Learning to Play the Synthesizer”, shelves of canned food and a frig full of TV dinners. They also found a toaster oven plugged in and set to low-heat with something inside. Wrapped in a towel: 3 grapefruit sized eggs.

Ein stayed in the Livingroom where he found Diane Petersen’s journal with a diagram of her machine. “Calling all SNOOPS! Come read her journal.” 

Diane explained creation of her “tidal-gravity-assisted space-time field warping machine using magnetrine disks from a tractor. I call it Jules (based on Jules Verne’s book The Time Machine). I created a control device I call Spark that causes a rift in the continuum of time. By spinning the disks, I can stretch the rift opening.” Ein summarized, “She admits tapping into the LOOP power-station. And for a password, she uses the attached toy musical keyboard to play a melody.”

CLIMAX/SHOWDOWN (Threat level 12)

[Only successes over 1 count toward the Threat Level]

3pm: They had enough information to try to close the gate. “We need to hurry before more dinosaurs escape into our world.”

Ein rushed back to the barn and sat at the computer station to familiarize himself with the setup. [Charm-3] Ace sat beside him and played “Take On Me” that unlocked the computer for Ein to gain access. Ein found the startup/close checklist and soon discovered, “We need to start the engine to spin the disks. But the computer reports the fuel tank empty. It’s been running this whole time and obviously ran out of gas.” [2 toward Threat Level]

Ace remembered seeing the car outside the barn where the boys found Steggie, “We can syphon gas from it but I’ll need help.” Lukas [Force-0 but then used his Iconic Skateboard: 2] and Evan [Force-2] began syphoning gas and lugging the cans into the barn to fill the fuel tank. [2 toward Threat Level]

Evan collected the eggs in the kitchen and carried them into the barn. He stepped into the portal to place the eggs further inside. 

He sweated from the heat but also noticed a lean-to hut erected nearby with a Pterodactyl perched over it. He heard the moans of someone inside the hut. He lit his torch to drive off the huge bird and looked inside to find Diane prone, wrapped in a blanket and sweating with fever.

By the time Lukas and Eric got to the farmhouse bathroom, one of the eggs hatched- a baby Stegosaurus. [Comprehend-2] They had to tip over the robot that seemed protective of the eggs which they grabbed and hustled into the barn. Eric carried the hatched baby. Once outside, its mother followed them into the barn as she nuzzled the boys as if prodding them along. Once they climbed the ramp toward the Gate, they noticed Evan inside. Eric tried to call on his walkie-talkie but it didn’t work. [1 toward Threat Level]

[Investigate-2] As Evan tried to move Diane, he found more eggs she had collected, nestled inside her blanket. Now Evan realized why the Pterodactyl so interested in the hut. He gathered the eggs and rushed them outside and away from the hut. As he returned toward the hut, he saw Eric and Lukas at the opening and signaled them to come help. Before entering, Eric directed Lukas, “You go help with the gas.” Thus it was Eric and Evan carrying Diane out of the Jurassic world back into the present. [1 toward Threat Level]

COMPLICATION

3:30pm: And that’s when everyone heard the machine gun fire oh so close! They looked out of the barn and saw the T-Rex charging toward the barn with two robots in pursuit. Except at least one of the robots damaged (got too close to the T-Rex that bashed off an arm). The other robot also damaged.

[Lead-1] Evan spoke up, “Maybe we can lure it into the portal before we close it. I’ll stand at the top of the ramp and wave at it to draw it this way. You guys get ready to spin up the machine and Spark it at the proper time!” No-one noticed Josh rush off. With the fuel tank full, the engine started, and the circular device began to spin. Now it was up to Ein to activate the Spark to close the rift.

Sure enough, the T-Rex entered the barn. [Empathy]: Ein/Eric/Lukas quivered in fear. Ace (2 successes) calmed Ein down, “Stay with me buddy.” [1 toward Threat Level]

[Comprehend-2; Josh remembered the food in the farm kitchen] And that’s when Josh entered with an armful of canned food (he had used his multi-tool to pry open the lids to let the smell of the food release). The T-Rex followed the scent/Josh up the ramp. [1 toward Threat Level]

Both Evan [Move-2] and Josh [Move-1] tossed the cans into the Gate opening and jumped off the ramp at the last second as the T-Rex re-entered its own world. “NOW! SPARK IT!” [1 toward Threat Level]

3:45pm: [Calculate-2] Ein furiously typed on the keyboard to command the Spark to activate. It only partially shrunk the rift. [Pride (tries to do stuff himself)-automatic 1 success] [5 dice from Die Pool-1 success] Ein tuned out the external distractions and typed more commands. The rift shrunk to the size of a half-dollar… before completely closing. The spinning disks slowed to a stop as the circular view was nothing more than an empty window view of all the parts behind it. [3 toward Threat Level]

[Total Successes- 12: the exact requirement!]

WRAP-UP

Saturday, 10am: Bob Crandall’s pager went off, waking him from the couch. He called into the office and got his butt chewed, “I thought we told you yesterday to cover for Mike Reed? We’ve just got a reading that station #23’s hatch is open. Is that you? Did you find Mike? Get out there and check on it.” Bob hung up and took his sweet time as he stuck his pot-pie lunch in the oven, “I’m paid by the hour. I’ll get out there.” It was closer to 3pm when he finally found Mike Reed’s truck and the open hatch of Station #23 and called in the suspicious cable leading out of it. He wasn’t an electrician… not his job to disconnect the cabling!

Saturday, 4pm: Roger Kelmp (Evan’s dad) sat at his terminal and suddenly realized power to his project fully restored.

Albert Greene retuned from dropping the bullies off in town. He found Bob Crandall in his truck waiting for more LOOP personnel. Albert told him about Mike Reed being dead at the cabin. Sunday’s paper reported death by attack from wolves.

Only one robot returned to the abandoned airport. The men in the black sedan downloaded its files to learn where the other robot was broken/motionless. They also recorded the kill sites where the robots had fired at and killed raptors. The men sent teams out to collect the dinosaur carcasses.

It wasn’t long after Albert Greene’s report and Crandall’s call in, that LOOP personnel found the Petersen farm. Anyone going back to the area wouldn’t find any evidence of a time-portal device.

Diane Petersen was laid up in the hospital, under quarantine, for exposure to a rare/unheard of disease. It would be weeks if not months before she recovered... released into police custody.

SUNDAY/FADEOUT

Ein: you log into your BBS to find the number of hits to your posted game has slacked off. Which means you are not earning any money. You need to write a new game to stay competitive. What will it be called?

Eric: remembered the phone call his mother got Thursday from the night guard offering to escort her. Now Eric began to wonder just what all was going on at the Loop?! Would his mother be safe? Should he tell her what really happened? Should he let her listen to the taped report of Mike Reed? Eric was quiet most of the day. New Problem: Distrust of Authority.

Lukas: woke to his mom screaming from the kitchen, “Lucas Dean Strange!” You rush in to find mom standing on a chair as Oscar is loose and tormenting her. Finally, Oscar is back!

Josh: while doing his morning chores, Josh noticed strange, colorful birds (1.5 times size chickens) in the coop. And found extra-extra-large eggs that became best sellers at mom’s grocery stand. Sadly, the dinosaur birds died within a month and the eggs never hatched.

Ace: sat in his basement watching MTV. Time alone to realize and appreciate all that he had, compared to his friends. Miss Patsy entered the basement with a piece of paper in her hand, “Mail arrived while you were gone all yesterday.” Ace opened the letter addressed from school and found his report card. “Only a B+ in Latin class?!”

Evan: put the raptor claw on his display stand along with his other collected items. When he stepped into the hallway, he caught his little sister (Sarah) drawing on the walls. He expected the worst when his mother happened to climb the stairs and found the permanent markings. Instead, “Oh, look at her so creative. What lovely drawings. We need to enroll you in art class.” Evan returned to his room to radio his uncle, “Raven to Grunt, come in. I’ve got a copy of a tape you want to hear.”

Within days the kids ran into the bullies at the arcade. Evan mocked, “Best $25 I ever earned.” Eric whispered how he should show the raptor claw to see their reaction. Lukas bluffed, “I kept one of the eggs and plan to train it to be my bodyguard. And how to climb trees.” The kids and the bullies went their separate ways, but had they been watching, they would have noticed Joey being a little more kind. Even Randy wasn’t the total jerk he usually was.

BEHIND THE SCREEN

A fired Loop scientist, Diane Peterson is experimenting with time travel. She built a device that opens a Time Gate to the Cretaceous period. To accomplish this, she needed a huge power source. She moved into a small farmhouse northwest of Boulder City and tapped into the Loop power grid to run her machine. She successfully opened a portal to enter the Cretaceous period to steal dino eggs to raise, tame, and use against her former Loop colleagues.

But while in the portal, she became sick and trapped by a motherly Pterodactyl wanting her eggs back. Meanwhile, Cretaceous era dinosaurs began wandering through the portal.