Beyond the Mountains of Madness was written by Charles“Chaz” Engan, except as noted below. Michael Blum con-tributed New York City detailing, the Gabrielle fire, vehi-cle and equipment writeups, expedition plans and logis-tics, the detailed design for the Gabrielle, scenes andarchitecture for the City of the Elder Things, the informa-tion for Danforth and Lexington in the City of the ElderThings, and lots of maps, charts, and plans. JohnGoodrich wrote the unpublished Pym text, stats and skillsfor the Starkweather-Moore and Lexington crews, theLexington histories, and the Antarctic exploration history.Phil and Marion Andersen provided loads of excellentexpedition preparation work, polar equipment research,the initial concept for Chapter Seven, rich views of Lake’sCamp, and glimpses of Melbourne. Mike Lay providedthe Starkweather, Moore, and Roerich biographies,Antarctic detailing, the Barsmeier-Falken Expedition baseand related details and plotline, input for Chapter Seven,

and encounters for the City of the Elder Things. JanEngan plotted and edited the investigator interviews in thePrologue, “Get Me a Woman” in Chapter One, and thesections for New York and Port Philip. Rob Montanarowrote the sections for Henning the Saboteur and theWallaroo. Frederic Moll provided Chapter Two. MikeHodges contributed various short articles and newsclips.Steve Hill wrote up the first looks at the animiculi andsome of the scenes.in the City of the Elder Things. SophiaCaramagno and Daniel Rohrer provided short articles andChapter Seven detailing. Lynn Willis contributed to theskills, chapter set-scenes, stats, and added various bits andpieces. Reginald Winston provided additional contribu-tions and fire support.

John T. Snyder painted the cover. Paul Carrick, M.Wayne Miller, and Mark Ryberg drew the interior illustra-tions. Michael Blum also drew the maps, plans, and dia-grams.

Clear Credit

Beyond the Mountains of Madness is published by Chaosium Inc.

Beyond the Mountains of Madness is copyright ©1999 as a whole by Chaosium Inc. All rights reserved.A large proportion of the text is copyright ©1999 by Charles and Janyce Engan. All rights reserved.

Call of Cthulhu ® and Miskatonic University ® are registered trademarks of Chaosium Inc.

Similarities between characters in Beyond the Mountains of Madness and persons living or dead are strictly coincidental.

H. P. Lovecraft’s works are copyright ©1963, 1964, 1965 by August Derleth and are quoted for purposes of illustration.

Except in this publication and in related advertising, art work original to Beyond the Mountains of Madness remains the proper-ty of the artists, and is copyright by them under their individual copyrights.

Reproduction of material within this book for the purposes of personal or corporate profit, by photographic, electronic,or other methods of retrieval, is prohibited.

Address questions and comments concerning this book as well as requests for free catalogues of Chaosium books, games, andsupplements to: Chaosium Inc., 22568 Mission Blvd #423, Hayward CA U.S.A.,

or by email to chaosium@chaosium.com

or see our website at www.chaosium.com

ISBN 1-56882-138-7

Chaosium Publication 2380. Published August 1999.

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America.

To ThoseWho May Yet

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No work of this size comes easily. We havedreamed of the Ice and suffered in the City for thepast three years; we could not have done it alone.It is not possible to list everyone who lent theirtime and patience to the completion of this voyage,but you know who you are. We love you all, unre-servedly, and you have helped to create somethingwonderful. Thank you.

Special thanks are due to a few, among the many, forcontributions above and beyond the pale:

Janyce Engan, Plotmistress and Den Mother, whostarted the ball rolling;

Phil and Marion Andersen, for their excellent researchand preparation on the subject of polar expeditions, and forour first breathtaking glimpse of Lake’s Camp;

John Goodrich, who gave the party members life, andbrought Arthur Pym home again;

Michael Blum, whose precise and encyclopaedicknowledge of the sky and sea gave us the SS Gabrielle, theBelle and the Boeings, and many scenes in the ancientCity;

Michael Lay, for the Barsmeier-Falken Expedition,encounters in the City, and a host of Antarctic details;

Steve Hill, for the Seeds of the Unknown God, and forsome ideas for City life;

Rob Montanaro, who gave us Henning the saboteurand the ill-fated SS Wallaroo;

Frederic Moll, for “The Death of a Sea Captain;”

Mike Hodges, for several short articles and journalisticadvice;

Sophia Caramagno and Daniel Rohrer, for scenedetailing and commentary;

Mark Merrell, who suggested Arthur Pym’s story andNicholas Roerich’s vision;

John Bleasdale, for timely information on matters geo-logical;

Catherine Rees Lay, for proof reading above andbeyond the call of duty;

Peter Devlin, for playtesting the manuscript, and forsome very valuable critiques;

The Arne Sacnussemm Memorial RevolutionaryBrigade playtesters (especially Kirk E, Kevin M, Jason F,Clare B, Mike B, Nic S, Renee M, Lisa D, Ken P, ChrisA, Steve H, Sophie C and Daniel R) for love and laughterand many hours of fun;

To Bob and Madge Engan, to whom I owe . . . well . .. everything;

To Stefan and Claire, for lots of patience with Momand Dad’s “big project”;

And to Lynn Willis and Chaosium, for giving us thechance, and making it all come true.

—Chaz Engan, December 1998.

Acknowledgments

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Table of Contents

FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12Dramatis Personae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

PROLOGUE: IN THE BEGINNING. . . . . . . . . . . . . 16What the World Knows About the M.U. Expedition to Antarctica, 1930-1931. . . . . . . . 16A Second Chance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Pn the Trail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

Chapter One: Arrival in New York . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26Settling In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28The Meeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29A Few Days. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32“Get Me A Woman!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33Ill Omens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter Two: The Death of a Sea Captain . . . . . . . . 37The News is Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37Looking for Clues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40The Funeral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Chapter Three: An Abduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47Lexington’s Mansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47The Warehouse . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48Roerich and the Kidnappers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Chapter Four: Departure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54At the Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54The Fire on the Pier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55The Next Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Chapter Four-B: SS Gabrielle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Gabrielle Side View and General Deck Plan . . . . . 70Gabrielle Inboard Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71Gabrielle Superstructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72Gabrielle Cross-Section . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73The Gabrielle at Port . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

Chapter Five: At Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75The Saboteur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75To Sail the Ocean Seas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76The Benefits of Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78Henning’s Sabotage Schedule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80Crossing the Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82Into the Holds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87Sabotage in the Holds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88Melbourne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91Welcome to Melbourne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93

Chapter Six: Onto the Ice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98INTERLUDE: Trip Log of the Southern Journey . . 98The Southern Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100The Relic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107The Ross Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

Chapter Seven: A Shock in the Lightest Night . . . . 114The Great Ice Shelf . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114The Lexington Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116

Chapter Eight: At the Mountains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124The Flight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124Settling In, Digging Out . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130Up Close and Personal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135

Chapter Nine: Balance of Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143

Descent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143Barsmeier-Falken Tents at Lake’s Camp . . . . . . . . 148The Die is Cast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150The Dyer Text Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153Destinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156

Chapter Ten: The City of the Elder Things . . . . . . . 160Ascent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160Human Feet on Alien Soil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168Bad Day in the Antarctic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174A Guide to the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178Discoveries in the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181Learning from the Carvings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184Locations in the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Chapter Eleven: To the Dark Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197Pursuit by Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198On the Ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202Inside the Tower . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204Above the Heritage Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209The Tale of the God Trap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210The Tales of the Wall of Skulls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215To the Wall of Skulls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220Below the Heritage Hall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 226Exploring the Valley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

Chapter Twelve: Return to Lake’s Camp . . . . . . . . 235A Council of War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236On the Ground . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237At Lake’s Camp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

Chapter Thirteen: An Arrow in Flight . . . . . . . . . . . 244In the Air . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245At the Cache . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246The Shadow on the Ice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

Chapter Fourteen: Mission of Mercy . . . . . . . . . . . . 254What Has Happened . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254Flying to the City . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256The Attack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

Chapter Fifteen: Exodus from the Ice . . . . . . . . . . . 265Timeline for the Exodus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 266

Chapter Sixteen: The Black Rat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268The Lost Souvenir. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268The Burning Rag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 270The Dogfight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274The Hunt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

Chapter Seventeen: Ab Initio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283New Zealand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283Back in the USA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284

APPENDICES: TABLE OF CONTENTS . . . . . . . 286APPENDIX 1: TIMELINES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288APPENDIX 2: ANTARCTICA MANUAL . . . . . . . 294APPENDIX 3: DEEP BACKGROUND . . . . . . . . . 310APPENDIX 4: GAME LOGISTICS . . . . . . . . . . . . 342APPENDIX 5: GAME STATS AND ROSTERS . . 349APPENDIX 6: VEHICLES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383APPENDIX 7: HANDOUTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 396INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436

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12 – Beyond the Mountains of Madness

Lovecraft’s short novel At the Moun-tains of Madness is an epic tale ofdiscovery and terror. Mountains tells

the story of the Miskatonic UniversityAntarctic Expedition of 1930-31, whichventured forth into the icy wastes of thesouthern continent in search of new dis-coveries, and instead found horror, tragedy,and a great and ancient secret.

The campaign you hold in your hands,Beyond the Mountains of Madness, con-tinues the story begun in Lovecraft’s novelof the Antarctic. It is the tale of the Stark-weather-Moore Expedition of 1933, men-tioned by Lovecraft, which bravely (andfoolishly) seeks to finish what theMiskatonic party began three yearsbefore.

The investigators are members of theStarkweather-Moore Expedition, compet-ing against other expeditions, time, andweather to return to the Mountains ofMadness, deep in the Antarctic wilder-ness. There they learn the truth of theMiskatonic party’s awful fate—travelbeyond the mountains to see what onlytwo living men have ever seen—and pen-etrate a mystery far older than mankind,one that will test all life on Earth.

This scenario is a complex one.Mood and confusion play large parts inthe evolving story—confusion over loy-alties, allegiances, identities, and eventhe morality of duty. In the end theinvestigators find great responsibilitiesin their hands, and discover that the bur-den is not one they can ever put down.

Beyond the Mountains of Madness isan adventure for experienced roleplayers;however, the investigators themselvesneed no experience with the CthulhuMythos. Any number of investigators canparticipate; groups of four to six are rec-ommended. If there are more, the keepermay have to stretch a few numbers toallow them all to be present at the climaxin Chapter Eleven.

IN THIS VOLUME

Beyond the Mountains of Madness hasbeen organized into four sections. First isthe narrative, which lays out the adventureand presents as well the scenery anddescriptions that bring the tale to life.

The second section consists of sevenlarge appendices. These contain the topi-cal references and important informationthat will help keepers to play the adven-ture through. Timetables, charts, articleson history and exploration, and a myriaddetails needed to help the keeper makethe harsh and forbidding world ofAntarctica real for the players can befound here. The keeper needs to under-stand the general contents of all of theappendices, especially “DeepBackground.”

Near the end of the book, the num-bered handouts and assorted maps andinformational sidebars are repeated in theirown section, “Appendix 7: Handouts”(p396) for easy photocopying. Keeper’snote: this section mostly repeats the mapsand numbered handouts in the text., butdoes include some additional material,such as a detail map of downtown NewYork and an illustration of Antarctic cloth-ing, as well as the cargo manifests for theGabrielle. Without a doubt, every keeperwill want to photocopy more maps or plansor tables, and suggestions for what theymight be occur at the front of the handouts.But we cannot repeat so many moreimages in what is already such a very largebook. Please try to anticipate what elseyou may need before your session of playactually begins.

There is also a folded 16- by 20-inchsketch map of Antarctica near the back ofthe book. That is the players’ referencemap, up to date for 1933. A smaller ver-sion for the keeper occurs on page 31.The players’ map is not screened. Mooreturns to this map when he addresses theexpedition for the first time.

If you are a player preparing to runan investigator in Beyond theMountains of Madness, read no further.The rest of this book is intended for thekeeper’s eyes alone.

A TRAGIC TALE

Beyond the Mountains of Madness is nota series of interlinked scenarios. It is asingle long adventure presented as anintroduction, a prologue, and seventeenchapters.At the end of each chapter, ashort timeline summarizes key events inthe chapter.

The Introduction presents the keeperwith the many threads that are woven intoour story, introduces the other parties inthe tale, and explains how they fit togeth-er.

The Prologue provides the investiga-tors with the opportunity to join theStarkweather-Moore Expedition (SME),and gives them a chance to learn a bitmore about the Miskatonic Universityparty that preceded them.

Chapter One, Arrival in New York,brings together the men and women ofthe expedition for the first time. Theymeet the expedition leaders, Starkweatherand Moore, learn of a long-standing feudbetween Starkweather and his wealthyand enigmatic rival, Acacia Lexington.They also discover that someone is tryingto sabotage the expedition before itbegins, for reasons unknown.

Chapter Two, Death of a SeaCaptain, steps up the pace, as the investi-gators become involved with the murder ofa man advertised as an expedition member.

In Chapter Three, The Abduction ofRoerich, investigators watching AcaciaLexington’s house have the opportunity torescue an important man, and thereby tolearn a few more pieces of the plot.

Chapter Four, Departure, covers theparty’s last few days ashore. The investi-gators must battle to save their ship fromfiery destruction.

Chapter Five, Sabotage at Sea,details the trip across the Pacific Ocean.A hidden saboteur on board the shipwreaks havoc until he is discovered.

Chapter Six, Onto the Ice, followsthe expedition as it battles the forces ofnature to secure a toehold on the mosthostile continent on Earth.

In Chapter Seven, A Shock in theLightest Night, a disaster at theLexington encampment brings the twoexpeditions together. The investigatorslearn more about Acacia Lexington andher people as the two groups unite for anassault on the unknown.

Chapter Eight, Lake’s Camp, bringsthe combined expeditions once again tothe foothills of the Miskatonic Mountains,where Lake and his party died horriblythree years before.

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Foreword – 13

Chapter Nine, Balance of Power,continues the investigation at Lake’sCamp. As the explorers peel away theconcealing layers of ice to reveal the terri-ble truth of what happened there, a newgroup, the Barsmeier-Falken Expedition(BFE), arrives on the scene with an agen-da of their own.

Chapter Ten, The City of the ElderThings, sees elements of all three expedi-tions cross the Miskatonic range at last,into the City of the Elder Things. Whilethe investigators study the magnificentand ancient ruins, a mad survivor of theprevious expedition does his best tostrand them all in a last desperate act ofsabotage.

Chapter Eleven, To the Dark Tower,takes the investigators out of the City intothe unexplored lands beyond in pursuit ofa group of elder things. The trail leads toan ancient tower, where the investigatorsmust pay a terrible price in order to savethe world from a devastation they them-selves have caused.

Chapter Twelve, Return to Lake’sCamp, and Chapter Thirteen, An Arrowin Flight, follow the party as they pursuea group of refugees in order to keep newsof the tower and its terrible secret fromever reaching civilization.

Chapter Fourteen, Mission ofMercy, details the rescue of the last ofthe expedition from across the Miska-tonic Mountains.

Chapter Fifteen, Exodus from theIce, is an interlude that covers the with-drawal of the party from Antarctica.

In Chapter Sixteen, The Black Rat,the investigators find that they have notentirely left the terrible threat behindthem. Unearthly Seeds awaken and threat-en passengers and crew. The group mustlearn the secrets of the Seeds to survive.

Chapter Seventeen, Ab Initio, con-cludes the fateful voyage that started sixmonths before. The investigators decidehow or whether to keep the most impor-tant secret in the world from becomingknown.

After Chapter Seventeen, the Appen-dices begin.

Appendix One, Timelines, includesthe public timeline for the M. U. expedi-tion, the campaign timeline by chapter,and a fixed events timeline.

Appendix Two, Antarctica Manual,includes notes on clothing, injuries,antarctic weather, aircraft maintenance,climbing the Miskatonics, etc.

Appendix Three, Deep Background,holds most of the secrets of the campaign,discussing the elder things and theirConstruct, good notes about their writingsystem, the coming of the Unknown God,the Barsmeier-Falken Expedition, andreprints the four lost chapters from TheNarrative of Arthur Gordon Pym.

Appendix Four, Game Logistics,includes the pages of the Starkweather-Moore equipment manifest, showing howthe Gabrielle was loaded at New York, andalso the operating notes for aircraft flightsto Lake’s Camp for the SME and the BFE.

Appendix Five, Game Stats andRosters, contains nearly all the personalstatistics for the campaign, some bio-graphical notes, and pages of thumbnailillustrations set together for easier photo-copying. There is quite a bit of material.Of the very many BFE members, onlythose at Lake’s Camp are detailed.

Appendix Six, Vehicles, ignores theGabrielle, which is found in ChapterFour-B. Includes notes and illustrationsfor the Tallahassee, the Wilhelmina, sixaircraft types, and a snow tractor.

Appendix Seven, Handouts, repeatsthe all the numbered handouts of thebook, certain additional handouts, andmakes suggestions for what else might beuseful. There is a modified investigatorsheet, reflecting the new skills, and defin-itions of the new skills themselves.

WEAVING A TANGLED WEB

Beyond the Mountains of Madness can beplayed by itself (as a stand-alone adven-ture) or as part of an ongoing campaign.Keepers should expect to complete rough-ly one chapter per full day of play, for anoverall run time of 15-20 sessions.

Player characters can be rolled up asneeded, or the keeper may allow playersto use members of the Starkweather-Moore Expedition, whose descriptionsand statistics can be found in Appendix5, page 349, “Game Stats and Rosters.”The following Starkweather-Mooremembers are suited for use as playercharacters.

Pierce Albemarle

Morehouse Bryce

Timothy Cartier

Maurice Cole

Hidalgo Cruz

Albert Gilmore

Lawrence Longfellow

Thomas Lopez

Douglas Orgelfinger

Charlene Whitston

Keepers who wish to integrate Beyond theMountains of Madness into existing cam-paigns should do so gradually, making theinvestigators aware of the Starkweather-Moore party’s status as the expeditionleaders prepare. Investigators may becomeinvolved with the expedition in a numberof different ways. For example:

■ Investigators with appropriate scientif-ic or survival skills might be invited tojoin the expedition by Professor Moore.

■ Investigators may have had dear friendsor relatives among the members of theMiskatonic University 1930 AntarcticExpedition. Whether they lived toreturn or died at Lake’s Camp, thereare enough mysteries surrounding theLake party’s tragic fate that a returntrip seems in order.

■ Investigators who were students or fac-ulty at Miskatonic University may havefound hints of evidence in the effectsbrought back by the survivors of the1930 expedition: these scraps have leftthem certain that something was deliber-ately covered up about the disaster.

■ Investigators may possess documentsor memoirs written by Pym, Peters, orother long-ago Antarctic explorers thatconvince them that Lake’s finds weremore than mere fossils.

■ Experienced investigators with lots ofexposure to the Mythos may haveinformation from other sources, suchas the Yithians or mi-go, regarding thepresence of the elder things on thesouthern ice.

These are just a few ideas. Your own aresure to be better. The actual recruitmentprocess is detailed in the Prologue andChapter One. Keepers should read thesechapters before beginning play, as theycontain many recommendations usefulwhen guiding players to create their char-acters for the adventure.

No matter how strong the temptation,do not allow player investigators to jointhe Lexington or Barsmeier-FalkenExpeditions. These other parties shouldappear in an ominous light as long as pos-sible. In the end they fare worse than theStarkweather-Moore group.

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14 – Beyond the Mountains of Madness

DANFORTH’S LEGACY

One of the driving elements in the adven-ture are the efforts of Paul Danforth, half-mad survivor of the disastrous MiskatonicUniversity Expedition of 1930. Danforth’sdesperate self-made mission is to keepnews of the elder things and their ancientCity from reaching the world at large. Tothis end he engineers many of the mishapsthat plague the investigators as the sce-nario proceeds.

Danforth is able to get himself hiredas a pilot by the Lexington Expeditionunder the pseudonym “Kyle Williams.” Asa member of that party, he believes, hewill be capable of keeping them fromreaching the Mountains of Madness orwitnessing the lands beyond. He plaguesthe men and women of that expeditionwith nightmares, mishaps, and finallywith madness and sabotage in ChapterSeven.

Danforth knows, however, that hecannot stop one expedition while he istravelling with another. Therefore hehires saboteurs to keep the Starkweather-Moore party from reaching their goal.Danforth, in disguise, is the “red-hairedpatron” who hires the arsonist Jerry Polkin Chapter Four; he pays Henning, theGabrielle’s steward in Chapter Five, tocommit his mischief; and ultimately,when there is nothing left to lose, he him-self attacks the Starkweather-Moore air-craft in the City of the Elder Things inChapter Ten, in order to guarantee that noone lives to return to the North.

Danforth/Williams is an interestingcharacter and a good foil for the keeper.His concerns from the first are for thegood of all mankind, and ultimately theinvestigators may come to share his goals.Special care should be taken, however, toinsure that the characters never stay closeto “Williams,” lest his instability and too-careful observations come prematurelyinto view.

ON THE TRAIL OF ARTHUR PYM

Other incidents in the scenario do notarise from Danforth’s schemes. The Bars-meier-Falken Expedition and its patron,Albrecht Loemmler, have another goal inmind. They seek to unearth the remainsof the civilization discovered by ArthurGordon Pym in 1832 and profit from itstechnology and resources. They arebehind the death of J. B. Douglas inChapter Two, responsible for the assaulton Nicholas Roerich in Chapter Three,and were involved in the mystery sur-

rounding the death of Acacia Lexington’sfather more than a decade previously.

Despite their ruthlessness, Loemmler’sProfiteers are not cultists or even trueenemies. They are pragmatic men who arelooking for profit and are willing to grabfor it when it comes their way.Nonetheless their willingness to exploitthe secrets of the elder things may set theinvestigators against them in the end. Thisconflict could extend far beyond the lastpage of Beyond the Mountains ofMadness.

Directed ReadingThe keeper must read Lovecraft’s originalstory, At the Mountains of Madness, in itsentirety before beginning play. The tale isProfessor Dyer’s eyewitness account ofthe Miskatonic University Expedition of1930 and is a direct precursor to this sce-nario. In this campaign it is called theDyer Text. The keeper is encouraged tofamiliarize himself or herself with itsevents, characters, and feel. The novelcontains rich background details toonumerous to include here.

The keeper should also read E. A.Poe’s The Narrative of Arthur GordonPym. Lovecraft is said to have drawnheavily upon this tale for inspiration whilehe wrote Mountains, and of course itsconcluding chapters prompt the interven-tion of Loemmler’s Profiteers.

Both works contain elements whichfigure prominently in this scenario. Bothare themselves texts which may befound and read by the investigators inthe course of play. The keeper shouldhave them on hand. Both are appear inthe Chaosium volume The AntarktosCycle.

Synopses for both tales are presentedelsewhere in this volume.

The keeper is strongly advised tobecome familiar with the appendices. Agreat deal of this material does not appearin the chapter narratives, and often is notreferred to. Nonetheless, it includes ideasand essays of great value. Of particularimportance are the bios of Starkweather,Moore, and Lexington, and the wanderingessay “The Origins of the Feud.”

MORE READING

“The Conquest of Antarctica by Air,”National Geographic Magazine, Rich-ard E. Byrd, August 1930. Pages127–227. An account of Byrd’s 1928–1929 Antarctic expedition. It contains a

wealth of information, including dozensof photographs which can be used toset the mood for the adventure.

Diary of the Terra Nova Expedition1910–1912, Edward A. Wilson,London 1972. A useful account ofScott’s last journey. Available in usedbook stores.

The Endurance—Shackleton’s LegendaryAntarctic Expedition, Caroline Alexan-der, New York 1998. Previously unpub-lished photos by F. Hurley, expeditionphotographer. Best seller. Knopf, NY,ISBN 0-37540-403-1.

Home of the Blizzard: The Story of theAustralian Antarctic Expedition, 1911–1914, Sir Douglas Mawson, 1916. Thestory of Mawson’s expedition to Ant-arctica. This book, long out of print,has just been reprinted by St. Martin’sPress with a foreword by RanulphFiennes. ISBN 0-312-21125-2.

Little America, Richard E. Byrd, 1930.The excellently technical account ofhis first expedition to Antarctica—thefirst of its kind to significantly use air-craft. Putnam, NY & London. Thisbook is out of print, but frequentlyshows up in used book stores.

New Worlds to Conquer, Richard Halli-burton, 1929. A travelogue to manyplaces of interest, including an excel-lent contemporary description of thePanama Canal. Out of print, but fre-quently available in used bookstores.Bobbs-Merrill.

Scott’s Last Voyage—Through the Antarc-tic Camera of Herbert Ponting, ed. byAnn Savours, 1974. A wonderfuloverview of Scott’s 1911 expedition,including large numbers of Ponting’sphotographs. Praeger, NY. ISBN 0-275-52670-4.

Keepers, it’s in your hands now. The rest isup to you, so have fun, and good luck!

Chaz and Jan EnganBerkeley, California

June 1998 ■

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Foreword – 15

Dramatis Personae

The following characters figure prominently in Beyond the Mountains of Madness:

Barsmeier, Josef Leader of the Barsmeier-Falken Antarctic Expedition of 1933, he plans to survey the unknown region inlandfrom the Weddell Sea, in search of valuable resources.

Danforth, Paul Pilot and graduate student on the 1930 Miskatonic University Expedition. He and Dyer saw the City of theElder Things. The experience left him hospitalized with a nervous breakdown. Now partly recovered, he turnshis efforts to stopping anyone else from venturing across the mountains; see Kyle Williams, below.

Dyer, William Geologist and expedition leader on the Miskatonic University Antarctic Expedition of 1930. He and Danforthcrossed the Miskatonic Mountains and returned. He is on leave of absence from the University; his currentlocation is not known. He wrote the Dyer Text.

Falken, Klaus Leader of the Barsmeier-Falken Antarctic Expedition of 1933, he plans to uncover artifacts of possible long-ago residents of the Antarctic, as reported in Arthur Pym’s narrative.

Lake, Percy Biologist and explorer on the Miskatonic University Expedition of 1930, he uncovered remains of many plantsand animals unknown to science in the foothills of the Miskatonic Mountains before being killed in a suddenstorm along with his entire party.

Lexington, Acacia Millionaire heiress and world traveler, she plans to be the first woman to stand at the South Pole. She has alongstanding rivalry with James Starkweather.

Lexington, Percival Wealthy financier, now deceased; Acacia Lexington’s father. P. W., as he was known, died mysteriously in anapparent suicide in 1921. He was the last known owner of the concluding chapters of Arthur Pym’s narrative.

Loemmler, Albrecht German industrialist and millionaire, he made a huge fortune during the inflation of the early 1920s. Well-con-nected, with friends in high places in the German government, Loemmler uses the Barsmeier-FalkenExpedition to look for evidence of the truth of Pym’s unpublished conclusion, which he acquired from P. W.Lexington shortly before Lexington’s death. Loemmler leads important interests in Germany, here termed theProfiteers.

Meyer, Johann Leader of the BFE team at Lake’s Camp, Doktor Meyer has read the Dyer Text and the missing Pym chapters,but when he reaches the Tower, he is unprepared for the horror behind the truth.

Moore, William Geologist and professor at Miskatonic University, one of the leaders of the newly formed Starkweather-MooreAntarctic Expedition of 1933. Moore intends to return to the last resting place of his one-time friend PercyLake and discover the true reason for his death.

Priestley, Albert Photographer and film-maker; Acacia Lexington’s right-hand man on her Antarctic journey. Priestley intends tomake a documentary movie about the Lexington Expedition’s epic journey and their epochal discoveries.

Profiteers, The A group of European, predominantly German financial interests who find the potential mineral wealth ofAntarctica to be of abiding interest. They finance the BFE. No member of this consortium is met in this cam-paign. Sothcott and friends in Chapter Three are their agents.

Pym, Arthur A young 19th-century seaman whose account of his travels in the Antarctic was related as fiction by EdgarAllan Poe. Pym died mysteriously in 1837. Only incomplete versions of his book were ever published.

Roerich, Nicholas Respected sculptor, painter, and international philanthropist, his paintings remind Dyer of many features seenat the Miskatonic Mountains.

Starkweather, James World-famous explorer and wilderness guide, one of the leaders of the newly formed Starkweather-MooreAntarctic Expedition of 1933. Starkweather intends to explore the unknown lands beyond the MiskatonicMountains. Starkweather has a long-time rivalry with Acacia Lexington, and will do everything he can to befirst into unknown territory.

Williams, Kyle A pilot on the Lexington Expedition. Williams is actually Paul Danforth in disguise, the only important charac-ter carrying over from “At the Mountains of Madness.” Throughout the adventure Danforth/Williams doeswhatever he can to ensure that no one returns after crossing the Miskatonic Mountains. ■

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16 – Beyond the Mountains of Madness

Beyond Papers P.1

Most of the following came to theworld via the Arkham Advertiser’spowerful radio installation at Kings-port Head, Massachusetts.

The expedition landed at RossIsland in the Ross Sea. After severaltests of the drilling gear and trips toMt. Erebus and other local sights,the land party, consisting of 20 menand 55 dogs plus gear, assembled asemi-permanent camp on the barri-er not far away and readied theirfive big Dornier aircraft for flight.

Using four of the aircraft, thefifth being held in reserve at thebarrier camp, the party established asecond base camp on the PolarPlateau beyond the top of theBeardmore Glacier (Lat 86d7mLong E174d23m) and did a lot moredrilling and blasting in that vicinity.During December 13–15, 1930,Pabodie, Gedney, and Carrollclimbed Mt. Nansen. Many fasci-nating fossil finds were made usingthe drill rig.

On January 6, 1931, Lake, Dyer,Pabodie, Daniels, and ten othersflew directly over the South Pole intwo aircraft, being forced down oncefor several hours by high winds.Several other observation flightswere made to points of less notewor-thiness during the week before andafter.

The published plan for the expe-dition at this point was to move theentire operation eastward another500 miles in mid-January, for thepurpose of establishing once and forall whether Antarctica was one con-tinent or two. The public alsoreceived word during this period thatLake, the biologist, campaignedstrongly for an expedition to thenorthwest before moving the basecamp. Therefore, instead of flyingwest on the 10th of January asplanned, the party remained where itwas while Lake, Pabodie, and fiveothers set out via sled to probe over-land into unknown lands. This expe-

dition lasted from January 11ththrough the 18th, and was scientifi-cally successful and marred only bythe loss of two dogs in an accidentwhile crossing a pressure ridge.During this same period, many sup-plies and barrels of fuel were airlift-ed by the others up to the Beardmorecamp.

The expedition’s published agen-da was changed once again when itwas decided to send a very largeparty northeastward under Lake’scommand. The party left Beardmoreby aircraft on January 22nd, andradioed frequent reports directly tothe Arkham for rebroadcast to theworld. The party consisted of 4planes, 12 men, 36 dogs, and all ofthe drilling and blasting equipment.Later that same day the expeditionlanded about 300 miles east anddrilled and blasted up a new set ofsamples, containing some veryexciting Cambrian fossils.

Late on the same day, about 10p.m., Lake’s party announced thesighting of a new mountain rangefar higher than any heretofore seenin the Antarctic. Its estimated posi-tion was at Lat 76d15m, LongE113d10m. It was described as avery broad range with suspicions ofvolcanism present. One of theplanes was forced down in thefoothills and was damaged in thelanding. Two other craft landedthere as well and set up camp, whileLake and Carroll, in the fourthplane, flew along the new range fora short while up close. Very strangeangular formations, columns, andspiracles were reported in the high-est peaks. Lake estimated the rangepeaks may top 35,000 feet. Dyercalled back to the ships and orderedthe crew there to ready largeamounts of supplies for shipment toa new base which would have to beset up in the foothills of the newrange.

January 23rd—Lake commented onthe likelihood of vicious gales in theregion, and announced that theywere beginning a drilling probe nearthe new camp. It was agreed thatone plane would fly back to theBeardmore camp to pick up theremaining men and all the fuel itcould carry. Dyer told Lake that heand his men would be ready inanother 24 hours.

The rest of that same day wasfilled with fantastic, exciting newsthat rocked the scientific world. Aborehole had drilled through into acave, and blasting had opened upthe hole wide enough to enter. Theinterior of the limestone cave was atreasure trove of wonderful fossilfinds in unprecedented quantity.After this discovery, the messagesno longer came directly from Lakebut were dictated from notes thatLake wrote while at the digsite andsent to the transmitter by runner.

Into the afternoon the reportspoured in. Amazing amounts ofmaterial were found in the hole,some as old as the Silurian andOrdovician ages, some as recent asthe Oligocene period. Nothingfound was more recent than 30 mil-lion years ago. Fowler discoveredtriangular stipple-prints in aComanchian fossil stratum thatwere close cousins to ones discov-ered by Lake himself in Archaeanslate elsewhere on the continent.They concluded that the makers ofthose tracks were members of aspecies of radiant that continuedsignificantly unchanged for over sixhundred million years—and was infact evolved and specialized at atime “not less than a thousand mil-lion years ago when the planet wasyoung and recently uninhabitablefor any life forms of normal proto-plasmic structure. The question aris-es when, where, and how that devel-opment took place.”

What the World Knows about the M. U. Expedition to Antarctica, 1930–31

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Prologue – 17

Later that evening—Orrendorf andWatkins discovered a huge barrel-shaped fossil of wholly unknownnature. Mineral salts apparentlypreserved the specimen with mini-mal calcification for an unknownperiod of time. Unusual flexibilityremained in the tissues, thoughthey were extremely tough. Thecreature was over six feet in lengthand seems to have possessed mem-braneous fins or wings. (Moredetail given, too much for this syn-opsis.) Given the unique nature ofthe find, all hands were searchingthe caves looking for more signs ofthis new organism type.

Close to midnight—Lake broadcastto the world that the new barrel-bodied animals were the same crea-tures that left the weird triangularprints in fossil strata from theArchaean to the Comanchian eras.Mills, Boudreau, and Fowler founda cluster of thirteen more of thespecimens about forty feet from theentrance, in association with anumber of small oddly shapedsoapstone carvings. Several of thenew specimens were more intactthan the first, including intact headand feet samples that convincedLake that the creatures were histrack-makers (an extremelydetailed anatomical description fol-lowed at this point). Lake intendedto dissect one, then get some restand see Dyer and the others in aday or two.

January 24th, 3 a.m.—Lake report-ed that the fourteen specimens hadbeen brought by sled from the digsite to the main camp and laid outin the snow. The creatures wereextremely heavy and also verytough. Lake began his attempt atdissection on one of the more per-fect specimens, but found that hecould not cut it open without risk-ing great damage to delicate struc-tures, so he exchanged it for one ofthe more damaged samples. Thisalso gave him easier access to thecreature’s interior. (More details—vocal systems—very advanced ner-vous system—exceedingly foulsmell —weird and complex sensory

organs.) He jokingly named thecreatures the “elder ones.”

Last report, about 4 a.m.—Strongwinds rising, all hands at Lake’sCamp were set to building hurriedsnow barricades for the dogs andthe vehicles. As a probable stormwas on the way, air flight was outof the question for the moment.Lake went to bed exhausted.

No further word was receivedfrom Lake’s camp. Huge stormsthat morning threatened to buryeven Dyer’s camp. At first it wasassumed that Lake’s radios wereout, but continued silence from allfour transmitter sets was worri-some. Dyer called up the spareplane from McMurdo to join him atBeardmore once the storm had sub-sided.

January 25th—Dyer’s rescue expe-dition left Beardmore with 10 men,7 dogs, a sled, and a lot of hope,piloted by McTighe. They took offat 7:15 a.m. and were at Lake’sCamp by noon. Several upper-airgales made the journey difficult.Landing was reported by McTigheat Lake’s camp at noon; the rescueparty was on the ground safely.

4 p.m., same day—A radio an-nouncement was sent to the worldthat Lake’s entire party had beenkilled, and the camp all but obliter-ated by incredibly fierce winds thenight before. Gedney’s body wasmissing, presumed carried off bywind; the remainder of the teamwere dead and so grievously tornand mangled that transporting theremains was out of the question.Lake’s dogs were also dead; Dyer’sown dogs were extremely uneasyaround the camp and the fewremains of Lake’s specimens. Asfor the new animals—the elderones—described by Lake, the onlyspecimens found by Dyer weredamaged, but were still wholeenough to ascertain that Lake’sdescriptions were probably whollyand impressively accurate. It wasdecided that an expedition in alightened plane would fly into the

higher peaks of the range beforeeveryone returned home.

January 26th—Early morningreport by Dyer talked about his tripwith Danforth into the mountains.He described the incredible diffi-culty in gaining the altitude neces-sary to reach even the lowest of thepasses at 24,000 feet; he confirmedLake’s opinion that the higherpeaks were of very primal strataunchanged since at leastComanchian times. He discussedthe large cuboid formations on themountainsides, and mentioned thatapproaches to these passes seemedquite navigable by ground partiesbut that the rarefied air makesbreathing at those heights a veryreal problem. Dyer described theland beyond the mountain pass as a“lofty and immense super-plateauas ancient and unchanging as themountains themselves—twentythousand feet in elevation, withgrotesque rock formations protrud-ing through a thin glacial layer andwith low gradual foothills betweenthe general plateau surface and thesheer precipices of the highestpeaks.” The Dyer group spent theday burying the bodies and collect-ing books, notes, etc., for the triphome.

January 27th—Dyer’s partyreturned to Beardmore in a singleair hop using three planes, the onethey came in and the two leastdamaged of Lake’s four craft.

January 28th—The planes wereback at McMurdo Sound. Theexpedition packed and left soonafter that. ❏

Beyond Papers P.1, contd.

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PROLOGUE

An introduction to the adventure.

I n September of 1930, researchers from Arkham’s Miskatonic University set sail for the Antarctic continent on abold venture of exploration and discovery. The Miskatonic University Antarctic Expedition, privately funded withsupport from the Nathaniel Pickman Foundation, left Boston Harbor in two ships. Two months later they landed

in Antarctica near Ross Island: twenty men, fifty-five dogs, and five large Dornier aëroplanes were set upon the ice.Their mission was to survey a geologic history of the Earth’s last frontier, to chart from the air where no human foothad stepped, and to determine at last, once and for all, whether Antarctica was indeed one land mass or several.

In The BeginningIn much of this they were successful. FromNovember of 1930 until mid-January of1931, the expedition achieved goal aftergoal, milestone after milestone. Theirresults were broadcast daily to the world,via the waiting ships and the great listeningstation at Kingsport Head. Thousands ofsquare miles of previously unexplored ter-rain were overflown and mapped. Sledteams and aerial explorations led byProfessors Dyer and Lake took core sam-ples from scattered spots over nearly aquarter of the continent. Advanced light-weight drilling apparatus, designed andoperated by Doctor Pabodie, enabled theteams to extract core samples from deepwithin the ice, as well as the ancientexposed rocks of that frigid land.

However, history does not rememberthe Miskatonic Expedition for its success-es but for its final tragic failure.

The end of the expedition came just asthe team seemed on the brink of their mostspectacular triumph. On January 23rd, alarge aërial party, led by the biologistProfessor Lake, broke through into anunbelievable treasure-trove of ancientbones and fossils in a series of caverns atthe foot of a hitherto-unknown mountain

range. For two days they explored thecaves, bringing up specimen after speci-men in a fantastic palimpsest of earthlyhistory. Some of the specimens uncoveredby Lake’s teams were utterly unlike anyliving things that have ever been studied byscience—and they had been preserved,through some freak combination of thecold and the terrain, to such an extent thateven tissue had remained intact after mil-lions of years.

Lake’s initial reports were seized uponby the scientific world. The photographsand samples he collected promised to leadto whole new fields of biological knowl-edge. The transcriptions broadcast of hisfirst crude dissections have been copieduntold times, and are available in everylibrary of science worthy of the name. Hewould, it is certain, have gone on to reportstill greater marvels of science—but evenheroic efforts must end, and Lake and theothers chose at last to rest, after nearlytwo days of frantic activity.

They were never heard from again.On the afternoon of January 24th, a

tremendous Antarctic gale swept the camp-site, killing every man in Lake’s party andscattering his samples, notes and equip-

ment beyond recovery. A rescue missionthe following day found only silence, use-less scraps of machinery, and a few pathet-ic remains of the tragedy. None of the menat Lake’s camp ever returned home. Theremainder of the expedition retreated northa few days later.

A SecondChance

Now, in 1933, a new expedition isforming, intent upon a return to thatforbidding Antarctic plateau and

Lake’s campsite.British world explorer James Stark-

weather and American geologist WilliamMoore have joined forces to attack theAntarctic. The two men have experiencewith harsh environments, both havingtraveled in the Himalayas, and Stark-weather on the Arctic ice cap as well.Their stated goal is to return to the high,cold interior of the Antarctic continent,

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and to finish the work that Lake and theothers began three years ago.

The two are gathering a team of scien-tists and technical experts which theybelieve will allow them to succeed despitethe dangers. Like their predecessors, theyplan to use aircraft to move swiftly fromplace to place.

The goals of the Starkweather-Mooreexpedition are summarized in the nearbynewspaper interview with the two expedi-tion leaders.

Signing UpStarkweather paced the floor, his tall,lean frame radiating barely sup-pressed energy. “Have you seen thepapers, Moore? Have you seen them,

by God!” One large hand swept out inan extravagant gesture toward thetable, covered in newspapers. Stark-weather grinned, eyes feverish withexcitement. “By the time I’ve finishedthey’ll have forgotten there ever was aMiskatonic Expedition!”

Sitting across the room, Moorepushed his glasses further up on hisnose, his expression quietly bland.“We have three more to speak to thismorning.” The words were subdued.“One of them is a woman.” Moorepaused to search through a huge stackof papers on his lap. “Ah, yes.” Hedrew out a sheet to gaze at it. “Abotanist, of some reputation—MissCharlene Whitston.”

Starkweather stood utterly still. “Awoman? This trip is no place for awoman!” His eyes narrowed, suddenlythoughtful. “Damn the botany, Moore!Has she got any money?”

The Starkweather-Moore Expedition firstappears in the news in May, 1933. The earlyannouncements are large flashy photospreads showing James Starkweather inadventuresome poses, sometimes with asled or dogs, accompanying slender newsarticles (see Beyond Papers P.2, “Antarcti-ca or Bust!” or the interview a little earlierin this chapter). Details in the public pressand on the wire services are slight, but afew facts are plain.

� The expedition leaves in September andwill return before July.

Prologue – 19

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NNeeww YYoork (APP))—World famous explorer JamesStarkweather announced today that he wouldlead a party of scientists and explorers into un-charted parts of the Antarctic continent this fall.

Starkweather, accompanied by geologistWilliam Moore of Miskatonic University inArkham, Massachusetts, intends to continuealong the trail first blazed by the ill-fatedMiskatonic University Expedition of 1930–31.

The Starkweather-Moore Expedition will setsail in September from New York City. Liketheir predecessors, they intend to use long-rangeaircraft to explore further into the South Polarwilderness than has ever been done before.

“This is not about the South Pole,” Stark-weather explained this morning, in a preparedspeech in his hotel in New York. “Many peoplehave been to the Pole. We’re going to go placeswhere no one has ever been, see and do thingsthat no one alive has seen.”

The expedition intends to spend only threemonths in Antarctica. Extensive use of aëro-planes for surveying and transport, according toStarkweather, will allow the party to chart andcover territory in hours that would have takenweeks to cross on the ground.

One goal of the expedition is to find thecampsite and last resting place of the twelvemen, led by Professor Charles Lake, who firstdiscovered the Miskatonic Range, and who werekilled there by an unexpected storm. The map-ping and climbing of the mountains in thatrange and an aërial survey of the lands on thefar side are also important goals.

“The peaks are tremendous,” Starkweatherexplained. “The tallest mountains in the world!It’s my job to conquer those heights, and bringhome their secrets for all mankind.

“We have the finest equipment money canbuy. We cannot help but succeed.”

Starkweather, 43, is a veteran of the GreatWar. He has led expeditions into the wildernesson four continents, and was present on thetrans-polar flight of the airship Italia, whosecrash near the end of its voyage on the NorthPolar ice cap received worldwide attention.

Moore, 39, a full Professor of Geology, is alsothe holder of the Smythe Chair of Paleontologyat Miskatonic University. He has extensive fieldexperience in harsh climates and has taken partin expeditions to both the Arctic and theHimalayan Plateau.

MAY 26, 1933

“AANNTAARRCTICCAA OR BBUUSSTT!”Renowned Adventurer Sets His Sights

on the Bottom of the World

Beyond Papers P.2

Noon Edition3¢

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20 – Beyond the Mountains of Madness

� They are privately funded and owe noallegiance to any school or corporation.

� Their mission is one of exploration anddiscovery, not detailed research.

� They will do most of their exploringby air.

� They expect to revisit many of theMiskatonic Expedition’s sites.

� They are recruiting now.

The investigators most likely come froma variety of different backgrounds andhave many different reasons for wishingto join the expedition. Some might seekout the party leaders and ask to join theteam, while others might themselves berecruited by Starkweather or by Moore.These details are left in the keeper’s capa-ble hands; all recruitments have in com-mon the final interview.

The keeper may wish to play throughthe interview and hiring process in order to

strongly establish the personalities ofStarkweather and Moore, to allow newcharacters to come into play, or to give theinvestigators a chance to meet one another.While the announcements begin in May,initial recruitment for the expedition iscompleted in July.

James Starkweather and WilliamMoore are an effective team largelybecause of the differences between the twomen. Starkweather is dynamic and charm-ing, with an excellent sense of theater anda drive to see and do, but little patience fordetails, while Moore is quieter and muchmore thorough but lacks Starkweather’senergy and vision. Between the two ofthem they form a solid and experiencedleadership for the trip south.

Care should be taken in the early chap-ters to avoid painting Starkweather or hisexpedition in a bad light. Keepers shouldminimize the bad press and rumors for aslong as possible; these will surface soonenough in Chapters Four and Five.

If the keeper instead decides to skip theinterview process, and assumes at start ofplay that the investigators are already a partof the Starkweather-Moore Expedition,then skip the remainder of this prologue.Play begins with Chapter One, “Arrival InNew York.”

WE ARE LOOKING FOR . . .Starkweather is trying to build a competentand well-rounded party. He is short ofcash, having spent his remaining fortuneon vehicles and equipment for the comingexpedition. Because of that, most membersof his land party are volunteers; the expe-dition cannot afford to pay salaries to any-one but the most critical employees.

Nonetheless, the expedition needsgood men. Anyone with skills or occupa-tions useful to the party will be considered.Scientists and researchers in particular arewelcomed; so are pilots, mechanical orelectrical technicians, and guides andArctic experts of all kinds.

Beyond Papers P.3

Intrepid EExpllooreerss Readdyy Exxppeeddition(cont. from p.1)

“We’re going back,” Starkweather said.“The job’s not done. We’re going back, andwe’re going to finish what was started andbring the whole lot out to the world. It willbe a grand adventure and a glorious page inscientific history!”

Professor Moore, sitting quietly to oneside, was less passionate but just as deter-mined.

“A lot has changed in the past threeyears,” he insisted. “We have technology nowthat did not exist three years ago. The aëro-planes are better, brand new Boeing craft,sturdier and safer than before. ProfessorPabodie’s drills have been improved. And wehave Lake’s own broadcasts to draw upon.We can plan ahead, with better materials anda knowledge of the region that none of themhad when they prepared for their voyage. Yes,I am optimistic. Quite optimistic. We will suc-ceed in our goals.”

When asked what those goals were, thetwo men looked briefly at one anotherbefore Starkweather answered, leaning for-ward intently.

“Leapfrog, gentlemen!” he smiled. “Weshall leapfrog across the continent. A base onthe Ross Ice Shelf; another at the South Pole.One at Lake’s old campsite, if we can find it;and, gentlemen, we plan to cross over thosefantastic mountains described by Dyer andLake, and plant our instruments and our flagright on top of the high plateau! Imagine it!Like a landing strip atop Everest!

“We’ll have the finest equipment, andskilled men. Geologists—paleontologists—we’ve got Professor Albemarle from Oberlin,he wants to study weather. Glaciologists,perhaps another biologist or two; the team’snot all made up yet, of course. We’re notleaving for another five months!”

“It is important,” added Moore, “to try tofind Professor Lake’s camp and bring homewhatever we can from the caverns he discov-ered. The prospect of a wholly new kind oflife, a different taxonomy, is extremely excit-ing. It would be a shame if, having found itonce, we were unable to do so again.”

The two explorers plan to land thirtymen on the southern continent, half againmore than the Miskatonic Expedition. Theexpedition is privately funded and owes noallegiance to any school or institution.

The Arkham Advertiser, May 30, 1933

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Below are listed some skills/occupa-tions useful to the expedition. The keepermay add others as desired.

Cartographer/Surveyor

Dog Handler/Sled Driver

Electrician/Electrical Engineer

Guide/Polar Survival Expert

Journalist

Mechanic/Mechanical Engineer

Mining Engineer

Mountaineer

Outfitter (expert in cold climates)

Photographer

Pilot

Physician

Radioman/Radio Engineer

Scientist/Researchers, especially ex-perts in Archaeology, Biology, Chemistry,Geology, Glaciology, Meteorology, Min-eralogy, or Paleontology also make goodexpedition members. If possible, the keep-er should encourage the players to includeat least one geologist and/or paleontologist,as these specialties have the best chance ofproperly interpreting the finds at Lake’sCamp and in the City beyond.

Anyone who is experienced and expert inone of these areas—that is, who has anappropriate skill of 60% or more, or whois well known as an authority in a field—and who is not expecting a salary is wel-comed aboard with enthusiasm. The per-sonal assistants of these experts are alsoaccepted.

Investigators who wish to travel withthe party but who do not have these neces-sary qualifications can always buy theirway aboard. Starkweather is delighted towelcome any individual who can con-tribute at least $1000 to the expedition’scoffers, regardless of their qualifications.Dilettantes and others of no useful skillmay purchase berths in this fashion.

There is in fact only one group of peo-ple that Starkweather is reluctant toemploy or to travel with: women.

. . . A FEW GOOD MEN

It is a sad fact, but in these times a com-mon one. James Starkweather does notbelieve that women have any place in anexploratory party.

Starkweather refuses to accept womenfor his expedition, with three exceptions.

� If a female investigator is a known expertin some scientific field useful to theparty, such as geology or paleontology,and no male scientist in that area hascome forth to be included, Starkweatherwill accept her with reluctance.

� Female investigators who offer enoughmoney can always buy their way aboard,though they must offer at least $2000for the berth (“so that someone else canbe hired, if need be, to carry thewoman’s load”).

� At least one female explorer will bebrought aboard at all costs, regardless ofmoney or qualifications, in the wake ofAcacia Lexington’s announcement inChapter One. See the section “Get Me aWoman!” for details.

The purpose of the interviews is to givethe investigators a taste of Starkweather’scharacter, and to allow them to ask furtherquestions about the expedition’s goals.Both Moore and Starkweather will be atthe final interview, but Starkweather doesall of the talking.

THE FINAL INTERVIEW

Investigators may be recruited by letter,wire, telephone, or personal visit, butsooner or later all applicants must meet theexpedition leaders in New York City.

The interviews give Starkweather andMoore a chance to meet the applicants.The keeper can use the interviews to givethe players a taste of the characters of thetwo leaders, and to allow them to ask anyquestions they may have. Moore, whilepresent, merely watches and listens. It isStarkweather who speaks. The keepershould be familiar with Starkweather’s per-sonality in order to present him effectivelyduring the interview; for much more abouthim, see his stats and biography on page352, Appendix 5, “Game Stats andRosters.” Moore is a quiet shadow, sittingin the background and taking many noteson his ever-present clipboard.

These final interviews are conducted inJuly of 1933. For most of the month, thecity simmers under a wave of heavy wetheat which wilts shirt collars and hat brimsand makes everyone uncomfortable.Outdoors, an occasional fitful breeze shiftslitter on the sidewalk; indoors there is norelief at all.

Starkweather has a large luxurioussuite on the 5th floor of the Amherst Hotelon 44th Street in Manhattan. Most of thesurfaces in his sitting room are coveredwith newspapers, telegrams, and other bitsof paper, while photographs in frames or

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JAMES STARKWEATHER WILLIAM MOORE

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on cork boards lean against the walls. Allof these feature the expedition; most focuson Starkweather himself.

Professor Moore, a small dapper manwith a goatee, answers the door and intro-duces himself and Starkweather. He takesany resumes or other references the inves-tigators submit, and offers them seats.

THE PITCH

Starkweather’s interview technique withmale investigators varies with the personwhom he faces.

Scientist characters are treated with re-spect, even deference, but little understand-ing. James Starkweather is not a scientistand has little interest in intellectual pursuits.He is eager to have researchers on his expe-dition because “that’s the way it’s done.”

Journalists are treated like royalty.Starkweather is determined that this lastgreat adventure makes his name known inevery household. Anyone who can help himachieve that fame is like a newfound broth-

er, a beloved partner in the great gamble.He welcomes all of them without reserva-tion and is honestly delighted at their pres-ence on the team.

For other investigators who have skillsuseful to the expedition, the interview con-sists of Starkweather ballyhooing the com-ing voyage. No questions are asked aboutthe applicant’s experience or abilities;apparently the decision to accept them hasalready been made. Instead, the investiga-tor must listen to glowing and enthusiasticvisions of uncharted landscapes opened upfor exploration, new vistas in science, andquestions along the lines of “Are you upfor it, my good man?”, “Will you join mein this grand adventure?”, or “It will makeyour name, sir—will you go?” Affirmativeanswers earn the investigator a heartyhandshake and a slap on the back; the newexpedition member is told to return to thishotel on September 1st with personalequipment and effects.

Men who need to buy their place receivea similar sort of interview, though one more

evidently a sales pitch. Starkweather ques-tions them none too subtly about theamount of funding they can provide, andstresses the great expenses involved inmounting an expedition to the Ice. He is notabove haggling with the investigator inorder to wring out more cash; however, he isa good judge of character and will not drivea good prospect away by pushing too hard.A place will be held for the applicant untilthe check is in Starkweather’s hand—thenthe investigator gets the same welcominghandshake and the same follow-up instruc-tions from Moore.

THE FAIR SEX

Female investigators receive very differenttreatment. To them, Starkweather is politebut condescending, and he does not both-er with his expedition speech. He asksthem one or two pointless questions, suchas “When did you graduate?”, “How oldare you?”, “What does your husband thinkof all this?” or perhaps even “No nicetieswhere we’re going, Miss; d’you really

The growing preparations of the Starkweather-MooreExpedition are big news. Once the investigators sign on, theybegin to receive calls and letters from representatives of thepress. These are not obtrusive so long as the characters simplygo about the business of their daily lives, but as Septemberdraws near and the investigators travel to New York, requestsfor interviews begin to trickle in.

Once the Gabrielle arrives, and the party members gather atthe Amherst Hotel, the press gathers as well. Reporters andcameramen camp out on high roofs to watch the ship, and lingerat the hotels or clubs favored by the explorers. Anyone recog-nized as an expedition member is accosted for an interview;after Douglas’ death, and the fire at the dock, one or two sets ofreporters and photographers try to sneak onto the ship to takepictures and find or invent evidence of a conspiracy. At leastone of the ship’s sailors will be bribed to look about the pas-senger areas and pass gossip or odd observations to a reporter.Investigators hiding contraband (such as cases of weaponry orhard liquor) aboard the ship may be surprised one morning tofind their possessions discussed on the front page. Imagine thepublic interest if Mythos artifacts, such as weird sculptures orstrange idols, are discovered amongst the personal belongings!

The keeper can use interviews with the press to plant theseeds of many questions in the minds of the investigators. Someof the questions asked in the interviews, such as “Who wouldwant Commander Douglas killed, and why?” are obvious; oth-ers, such as “What do you think of the rivalry between your Mr.Starkweather and Acacia Lexington?” or “They say that anyonewho ever entered the cave at Lake’s Camp either died or went

mad—do you think there’s a curse of some kind on the bones?”may give the investigators pause.

Investigators who are eccentric, colorful, or who stand out insome way are in for a thorough and painful scrutiny by the press.Those who pack excessive weaponry, or react strongly or unrea-sonably to the nosy reporters only attract more attention. Rich,criminally connected, strangely foreign, or other unlikely partymembers are featured in Sunday supplements, and any scandalsin their pasts are unearthed and lingered over. Reporters do nothesitate to search luggage in hotel rooms, railway baggage, orcabins aboard ship.

Impertinent questions are posed in nightclubs, in taxicabs,on the telephone in unlikely places, and in supposedly secureareas of the docks near the ship. Photographers pop flashbulbsin the investigators’ faces any time a door is opened; small boatslurk near the ship carrying reporters armed with binoculars andmirrors on poles (to look in portholes). Requests for back-ground information will be made by telegraph to news organi-zations in or near the investigators’ home towns, and terribleminutiae about their earlier lives become printed features.

It will indeed be a relief to get away from it all.Player characters might recall, however, that as long as they

are away, the interest in their adventures will continue unabated.Radio transmissions back home will be monitored by variousnewspapers, and their exploits sent around the world. Upon theexpedition’s return, the full force of modern reportage will like-ly descend on the survivors—tales of madness, internationalfriction, and hidden horrors will only whet the appetite of thepublic and press. ❏

The Expedition and the Press

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fancy changing your linens every day in aroom with thirty unwashed men?”

If this does not scare them off,Starkweather thanks them for their time,asks each for an address or telephone num-ber and says his decision will be forthcom-ing shortly. The interview is over.

A female investigator who is a knownexpert in a scientific field, or who is oth-erwise extremely useful, is quietly inter-cepted at the door by Moore. He softlyasks her to wait for a moment outside,then returns to the suite and closes thedoor behind him. A heated argumentensues; an investigator making a suc-cessful Listen roll gets the gist ofthings—a heated fight about the advis-ability of including “the girl” in theparty—but not much of the actual dia-logue. After a while, Moore reappears. Ifthe woman is still present he tells herthat her application has been acceptedand gives her the same instructions aboutreturning in September.

Should a woman try to buy a place onthe expedition, Starkweather will be blunt.How much money does she offer, and howsoon will it be in hand? He asks for $5000in the hopes of driving the applicant off,but is willing to settle for $2000 if need be.Female explorers who meet the demandreceive the same instructions for returningas the others.

Lastly, women may be brought aboardat this point as part of the staff of a maleinvestigator, i.e., an assistant, a graduatestudent, an aide, or some similar position.Moore will ask that the female character bekept out of Starkweather’s way for the timebeing, at least until the party is at sea. Aslong as the expedition is in New York, thisis easy to manage.

On the Trail

Afew enterprising investigators maywish to use the months before theysail to gather more information on

Starkweather or Moore. Extensive biogra-phies for both men may be found in the“Game Stats and Rosters” appendix. Thekeeper may offer portions of this informa-tion to the players, with caution.

Other curious players may want toinvestigate a bit further into the back storyof the Miskatonic Expedition. A chronolo-gy of the events connected with Miska-tonic’s expedition can be found in the“Timelines” appendix.

The story of the expedition can befound in every major newspaper of the day.Most of it is common knowledge even toschool children. A handout summarizesthis information (see Beyond Papers P.1).To find out more requires that the investi-gators track down and interview the sur-vivors of the original land party, or thatthe investigators find and analyze thematerial evidence brought back by thesuvivors.

Before interviewing the player char-acters, the keeper should be familiarwith the first few chapters of Lovecraft’sAt the Mountains of Madness, so that heor she is comfortable with what hasalready happened.

The SurvivorsOf the twenty-two men who visited Lake’sCamp, five can be located. The others aredead, missing, or out of touch. A keeperdocument lists the remnant’s whereaboutsin the summer and fall of 1933; see thebeginning of the appendix “Game Stats andRosters.”

The five men who can be found areMcTighe, Pabodie, Sherman, Williamson,and Wylie. McTighe and Pabodie are easyto find: Pabodie is still teaching atMiskatonic University, while McTighe’sacceptance of a radioman’s post at thenow-famous Kingsport Head transmitterstation was widely publicized. The otherthree men can be located by means of aprivate investigator, through connectionsin the police department, or with the helpof a major newspaper. One is in the Army,another lives in Indiana, while the thirdworks in Galveston, Texas.

All five men were a part of the Lake’sCamp rescue mission. They saw the condi-tion of the tents and the camp and helpedto bury the bodies. Three of them will notexpand upon anything that was released tothe press about the condition of the camp,nor are any of them willing to speculate onthe causes of the catastrophe.

McTighe and Pabodie, however, have abit more to say, if the investigators arepolitely attentive and make successfulPersuade rolls. Both currently live andwork in New England, not too far from theexpedition’s physical samples depositedand exhibited at Miskatonic University.Thus they are conveniently grouped if theinvestigators wish to make the visits.

PABODIE

Professor Frank Pabodie is a short stockyman with a broad square face and a bristling

white moustache. He looks much older thanhe did only a few years before. He spendshis days at Miskatonic, and his evenings athome with his family in Arkham a fewblocks away.Pabodie lets noone bother hisfamily or cometo his home. Hewill, however,allow a briefinterview in hisengineering de-p a r t m e n toffice.

After goingover the facts ofthe case as theyare known, hestops, and saysnothing moreof interest unless he is asked why he is notreturning with Starkweather to the Ice. Thenhe gets very still, eyes looking far away intonothing, and says only,

“I will never go back. Ever. Nothing inthe world could persuade me to set footdown there again—and I cannot explainin any way that you would understand.Oh, the poor, poor men, my friends, thefools. . . . It is not a place for us. Mankindwas not made for such a place.”

MCTIGHE

Arthur McTighe is a tall angular fellow inhis late twenties, with a shock of black hair

growing backfrom a widow’speak, with longhands, and awide expressivemouth. If theinvest igatorscall upon himhe invites themup to the radiostation where heworks, a coupleof miles fromArkham onK i n g s p o r tHead. (Keepers

may wish to combine the visit with anadventure set in Kingsport.)

McTighe’s easy manner and wryhumor quickly set most folks at ease, butwhen it comes to talking about theMiskatonic Expedition he too quicklybecomes serious.

“The Mountains of Madness. That’swhat Dyer called them. I guess they call

Prologue – 23

FRANK PABODIE

ARTHUR McTIGHE

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them the Miskatonic Mountains now.Incredible things—God in Heaven! Likehallucinations—they reached up so high,impossible peaks and spires. And evil.They looked evil.

“I think they were.”Then, somewhat later in the chat,

“Professor Lake . . . all of us . . . we wereso excited. You should have heard Lake,talking so fast, I could hardly keep up.Those things he found—like weird kelp, orbig starfish—millions of years old, and hewanted to take them apart to see what wasinside. He went on, and on, wilder andwilder. You should have heard the things hesaid! Crazy stuff. Most of it made no sense.I think, by the end, they were all goingmad.”

If the investigators question him on fur-ther details of the “crazy stuff,” hebecomes increasingly uneasy and says lit-tle more of use, insisting he does notremember. Those who make a successfulPsychology roll can tell he is lying, justa little. He does not cheer up again untilthe topic turns to other things.

Speaking of the trip home, McTighesays, “Danforth’s the one I felt sorry for.Not that I ever liked him much, the snotty

bastard. But God! How he cried! Screamsand moans, and curses in weird languages.. . . We had to tie him down, all the waythrough the pack ice. I thought the crewwould murder him so they could get somesleep.

“Mountains of Madness. Yeah—andthey got one victim good, at least. Youheard they put him in a rest home. Heneeded a lot of rest.”

UNIVERSITY EXHIBITSMost of the physical evidence and speci-mens brought back by the 1930 expeditionare available for review at MiskatonicUniversity. A few pieces are in cases at theGeology department, but most are not onpublic display, and are accessible only withthe permission of the school or someresponsible party.

The exhibits consist of a large numberof rock shards, core samples, tubes of icemelt from varying depths, all carefullylabeled and identified as to source andcontents, and of course many fossilizedbone fragments from the cave at Lake’scamp. Supporting all of this (and muchmore) is a huge document: ProfessorWilliam Dyer’s Summary Report on the

Miskatonic University Expedition toAntarctica, 1930–1931, a copy of whichrests prominently among the items ofexhibit.

THE SUMMARY REPORT

If any investigator buys a copy or finds away to study this fat university press docu-ment, read aloud the rest of this subsection.The Summary Report can be purchased atMiskatonic’s student book store for $5.00,or studied in major academic libraries. TheNew York Public Library has a copy. Itrequires at least a week of careful perusalto understand. The text is pedantic anddense, couched in abstruse technicalvocabulary. It is dry reading. The finds ofthe expedition are discussed in detail, withgreatest attention paid to the geology of theregion; see Lovecraft’s At the Mountains ofMadness for details, which are too numer-ous to recapitulate here, and also the shortarticle “Chrono-stratigraphy of Antarctica”in Appendix 3,“Deep Background.”

The following paragraphs accuratelyconvey the contents of the SummaryReport.

The report praises Lake’s work againand again, but carefully turns aside fromsensationalism. The “Pre-Cambrian foot-prints” referred to in the newspaperaccounts of the day are identified as the fos-silized imprints of some incredibly ancientform of sea-dwelling plant life, similar tothe more recent well-preserved specimensfound by Lake’s party in the fossil cave.These are discussed at length, and theremaining evidence catalogued; the speci-mens are identified from Lake’s notes anddrawings as a large thick-bodied plant simi-lar to kelp. (Lake’s description of the speci-mens as “animals” with “internal organs” ischalked up to scientific error resulting fromover-excitement, lack of rest, and possible“snow craze”; his soapstone “carvings” arelikewise dismissed as unusual water-shapedsoapstone fragments.) No physical speci-mens were brought north; the ones excavat-ed by Lake were reportedly lost when theblizzard destroyed the camp.

The remainder of fossil finds, bones,and imprints of a wide variety of plant andanimal species are well represented in thecollection and the report. These paint a fas-cinating biological history of the Antarcticcontinent, confirming the notion thatAntarctica was once a warm and verdantland and lending substantial support to evi-dence of continental drift.

Dyer is at a loss to explain the disasterat the camp, though his sorrow and regret

The 1933–1934 Antarctic summer season sees a total of five expeditions on the southpolar continent. Three of these—the Starkweather/Moore, Lexington, and Barsmeier/Falken Expeditions—are fictitious and have been created for this scenario.

The remaining two expeditions are historically real and are described below.The keeper may wish to use them as background color or ignore their presenceentirely. The scenario has been written so that, if all goes according to plan, theinvestigators are gone from the ice before the historical explorers can arrive.

THE ELLSWORTH-BALCHEN EXPEDITION

Doctor Lincoln Ellsworth and Berndt Balchen arrive in the Ross Sea on January9th, 1934. Their goal is to fly across the Antarctic continent, from the Bay ofWhales to the Weddell Sea and back. Their ship, the Wyatt Earp, a 400-ton motorvessel, offloads Ellsworth’s aëroplane, the Polar Star, without difficulty; however,the plane makes only one short proving flight before shifting ice on the barrier dam-ages its undercarriage. Ellsworth is gone from the ice by January 16th, not to returnuntil the following summer.

The Polar Star is a Northrop Gamma, similar in overall design to AcaciaLexington’s Belle but intended for use by no more than two men.

THE RICHARD EVELYN BIRD EXPEDITION

Byrd, a famous explorer, returned for his second year-long stay on the Antarcticcontinent, dropping anchor in the Bay of Whales on January 19th, 1934. His flag-ship, an 8500 ton vessel called the Jacob Ruppert, carried almost 100 men and threeaircraft. Byrd and his scientific team reopened their previous winter home at LittleAmerica, and successfully stayed an entire year on the Antarctic continent, sup-ported and financed by several corporate sponsors (CBS, the Pep Boys Club, the U.S. Mail, and a couple of breakfast cereal manufacturers). ❏

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are very clear. He concludes from the stateof the remains that the men of the partywould almost certainly have died from theblizzard in any case, but lays the blame forthe destruction of the dogs and dispersal ofthe evidence upon a person or personsunknown—possibly the student GeorgeGedney, who ran amok during the hours ofthe storm. The terrible desolation, the coldand dismal conditions, the thin unhealthy air,and the hours of overwork are cited as con-tributing factors.

He discusses the anomalous mountainrange in some detail, confirming Lake’sbroadcast opinion that the great peaks areof Archaean slate and other very primalcrumpled strata unchanged for at least ahundred million years. He discusses with-out analysis the odd clinging cubical for-mations on the mountainsides, hypothe-sizes that the cave mouths indicate dis-solved calcareous veins, and expresses hisconcern that a model for the preservationof such relatively soft stone in peaks ofsuch great height has not been made.

Of the lands beyond the higher peakshe says little, describing them only as “alofty and immense super-plateau as ancientand unchanging as the mountains them-selves—twenty thousand feet in elevation,with grotesque rock formations showingthrough a thin glacial layer and with lowgradual foothills between the generalplateau surface and the sheer precipices ofthe highest peaks.”

A LAST RESOURCE

Professor Moore himself is a possiblesource of information. Moore remains inNew York City throughout the summerbefore departure. Though he is busy, he isalways willing to meet with members of theStarkweather-Moore Expedition shouldthey come to call.

As a member of the Miskatonic facul-ty, Professor Moore knew many of the ill-

fated Miskatonic party quite well. Lakeand Dyer were good friends, Atwood andPabodie familiar faces from the facultylounge, and several of the graduate stu-dents (including Danforth and the missingGedney) attended his lectures at one timeor another. Their great tragedy concernshim still.

Moore was at the University all throughthe time the expedition was away. He readthe papers, listened to the broadcasts, andwas as excited and fascinated by the finds asanyone in the school. When disaster struck,he fretted; when the news of the deathscame, he grieved. And when the batteredremnants of the party returned to BostonHarbor he was there to greet them.

How much of this Moore tells theinvestigators depends upon them. A suc-cessful Persuade roll at the least isrequired to get him talking. Once begun,however, his concerns for the survivorscontinue to tumble forth.

“I only saw the Danforth boy once after-wards, coming off of the ship. He did notlook at all well, and they took him to a hos-pital straight away. A total breakdown, wewere told. He was in the, ah, institution fornearly a year before he ran away. Went backto the school, tried to break into the geolo-gy department after hours during examina-tions. A guard ran him off—I don’t know ifanyone has seen him since.

“Pabodie, Sherman, McTighe . . .” hesighs. “Good men, all of them. After thevoyage they were changed. Quieter.Morose. They didn’t like to talk about theIce; none of them would say why.

“My greatest fear is for William Dyer.He was so terribly different when hereturned! Dyer used to be a fine speaker, adedicated scientist, one of the more popu-lar teachers in the department. He was . . .charismatic, I suppose. After the voyage,we scarcely knew him.

“All of his good humor was gone. Hewandered the halls, day and night, returningto his office to write his report. His worksuffered, and so did his students. He lostweight, and I do not think he slept well. Hiseyes had that hollow lackluster look oneused to see sometimes in veterans of theGreat War. But that was not all of it.

“William and I used to be chums. The‘Double Bill,’ they called us, a few yearsback.” He smiles, remembering. “After hisreturn it was almost as if he no longerknew me. He would avoid me in thehalls—fail to return my calls—be late formeetings—miss engagements—I simplydo not know why. There was a horriblesense of guilt about him! As if he were car-rying around some horrible sinful secretthat aged him visibly by the day.

“I cornered him once. Demanded toknow—to help—but he refused me flatly.He was vicious about it, too. Said things.Hurtful things. Said I presumed too much,and he didn’t need burdensome friendslike that.

“I told him he was hurting everyone,not just himself; he said that he was leav-ing as soon as the report was done. And hedid. Signed up for a dig in Montana, thenanother one in the Yucatan, then one or twomore, always far from home.

“Last December he wrote requestingindefinite leave. We haven’t seen or heardfrom him since. The only word I everreceived was a short note from Hawaii inMarch. ‘I am sorry’ is all it said.”

Moore searches the faces of the inves-tigators for a moment. “So you see, myfriends, I have to know what happeneddown there. What was able to hurt myfriend so terribly. And no one alive up hereis willing to say.”

There is a last brief pause. “I hope he’shappy, wherever he is. I hope he’s sleep-ing well.” ■

Prologue – 25

September 1930 — Miskatonic Univer-sity Expedition departs Boston forAntarctica.

January 1931 — After two months ofhighly successful exploration, PercyLake’s party discovers an unbelievablyrich fossil “treasure cave.” Shortly afterinitial analysis of the find the party goessilent during a blizzard. Professor Dyer’s

rescue team reports finding everyonedead, all their evidence scattered bywinds. The expedition returns home.

December 1932 — Dyer requests indefi-nite leave from Miskatonic University.Starkweather and Moore decide to travelto the ice and finish what Lake started.

March 1933 — Private recruitment ofexpedition personnel begins.

May 1933 — First public announce-ments of the Starkweather-Moore Ex-pedition. Public recruitment begins.

July 1933 — Final expedition inter-views occur in New York City.

September 1933 — Starkweather-MooreExpedition gathers in New York beforedeparture. ❏

Prologue Timeline

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