3.09 Send Players To 1986

Order

3.071

Status

::PROTO::

Location

Status: "Trenchwood Institute" -- Highlands Elementary School, 2320 Newport St, San Mateo, CA 94402

GC PoC: Erik Stuart, (650) 395-8463, lab@trenchwood.com

Parking: School lot, free

Type

Mandatory Activity

Plot Setup

Players realized that they can't access the envelope because the Doctor never lost it during his shorter trip through time. So they have to go back in time to where the envelope is.

Props

"So You're Going To Be A Time Traveler" pamphlet.

Short Description

Players enter the time machine and go back in time.

Open Time Period

When?

Staff Instructions

Your Role: Lab Assistant.

Handout Instructions: This is a very complex series of activities you need to guide our (sleep-deprived) players through. For each team you will:

• Fabric Of Time puzzle--give it out and receive the answer
• Calibration Redux--help them discover that the Doctor has not bounced around in time as long as the last time
• Watch The Doctor--Watch the video of Doctor When in 1986
• Guide the players to realizing that this time the envelope is not in 2012 and that they will have to go into the past themselves.
• Activate Time Machine--Send each team through the time machine

The interactions should go something like this (but feel free to improvise):

VISITOR: Who would have guessed--there's a hidden message!  It says, "To create a new future ending go back in time and revise the writing on the newspaper - replace right with its opposite."

LAB ASSISTANT: Well, then we had better repair the time machine ASAP! The time machine uses a Heisenberg Compensator to dampen time stream-altering ripple effects.  We suspect it was damaged in the accident, and that the world has been strangely altered in subtle ways.  

Before we can fix the time machine, the fabric of time must be restored!  Can you use this model to guide us in suppressing events that shouldn't happen and enabling connections that should happen?  The correctly arranged time stream should reveal which of the many people exposed to timeline perturbations could help us repair the machine.

The lab assistant hands the visitors the Fabric of Time puzzle, and they proceed to solve it.
VISITOR 1: It says "Clare"!

LAB ASSISTANT: Clare?  Fantastic.  We'll contact Clare Abshire.  And meanwhile, you can help us with our next research project.  

Using your co-keypad design we almost have the time machine working.  But now we need to recalibrate it before we can open a portal to rescue him. The Temporal View-O-Scope has recorded flashes of the different times and places he's visited.  If you can predict the next time he'll materialize in, we can use that to set everything right. You don't by any chance know that, too?

VISITOR 1: Last time it was at the Big Bang.

Lab assistant fiddles with the machine.
LAB ASSISTANT: Darn it, that didn't work.  Maybe we've already altered the timeline. Let's look at the View-O-Scope log.  

The visitors review the Temporal View-O-Scope footage again on a lab computer using access code 100030.  It is exactly the same as in Act I, but ends after only a few vignettes.  (Most importantly, it ends before Doctor When loses his envelope.)  Based on their memory of the longer film from Act I, the visitors know that the next place the Doctor will be is France right before the revolution.
VISITOR 1: Good thing we double checked. Actually the next place he'll be is France right before the revolution.

LAB ASSISTANT: I'm recalibrating using that. It works!  

I've opened a portal taking him to his original destination.  Let's just lock the View-O-Scope onto him and see what he's up to.

Enter code 100031 into your copy of the View-O-Scope Computer Remote Access Program and watch the Doctor in 1986.
LAB ASSISTANT: Now what was that you were saying about changing a newspaper?

VISITOR 1: The yearbook pieces told us to change the writing on the newspaper.

LAB ASSISTANT: What newspaper?

VISITOR 1: That envelope that Doctor When had contained a newspaper with a message on it.

LAB ASSISTANT: But we just saw Doctor When put the envelope in the locker! That newspaper is in 1986.

VISITOR 1: This is a problem.  In the last timeline, we found the envelope here in 2012 and sent it back to him.  But this time we fixed the machine so quickly he didn't bounce around in time long enough to lose the envelope.

LAB ASSISTANT: Then I suppose we'll have to go back to 1986 and change the writing there.  But none of the lab assistants or even Prof. Chronos can go back...we're the only ones who know how to operate the time machine. Who could possibly undertake this task?

VISITOR 1: Uh...we could go back....

LAB ASSISTANT: What?! That plan is crazy...so crazy it just might work!

So I guess we're finally ready to send you back to 1986.  Are you ready?!

VISITOR 1: Yes!

LAB ASSISTANT: OK, so you've never time traveled before.  Don't worry.  This should be easy.  No pressure. But the structural integrity of the universe does depend on you.

All you have to do is step into the chamber, wait till it opens a time wormhole, and then walk through into 1986! Then just walk over to our old high school, find the envelope, change the writing on the newspaper according to the instructions from the yearbook pieces, watch the action to make sure it worked...and try not to change anything else in the timeline unless you have to.  

When you're done I'll project a return time portal archway for you.  You'll be able to see it, but the people in 1986 won't.  

If the archway glows green, that means head on through.  If it's red, then it's not quite ready.

Oh, and I probably shouldn't even bother to mention this, but if it flashes red, that means there's some sort of temporal anomaly that you'll have to fix.  But that's very unlikely to happen.

If you have any other questions, here's a little pamphlet that a helpful government agency prepared.  

The lab assistant hands them a flyer entitled, "So You're Going To Be A Time Traveler."
LAB ASSISTANT: Oh, and make sure to bring anything you might need with you! In particular, anything from 1986 that might prove useful...

VISITOR 1: Like a cassette tape?  Or a Choose Your Own Adventure Book?

LAB ASSISTANT: Sure! Oh, and I suppose those yearbook pieces are from 1986, too.  Better bring those just in case.  You do know where the high school is, right? Remember, your smart phones and internet devices won't work in 1986 -- and you won't have your car, either!

VISITOR 1: Yes, we know where it is. Let's go!

The lab assistant adjusts the time machine to May 31, 1986, 2:30 PM and ushers them in.  The time machine activates and the players walk through a tunnel with cool lighting and sound effects, exiting outside the lab.  They then walk to Paine Memorial High School.

Site Close Down: Clean up.

Other Instructions:

• Stay in character.
• Except ... if a team says "time out," break character and help them.

Detailed Description

Sound...lights...smoke...lasers!

Puzzle Answer

n/a

Credits

Todd for set Ellen for sound

Manager

Melissa

Response to Correct Answer

?