3.07 Calibration Redux

Order

3.06

Status

::FINAL::

Location

Status: something

GC PoC: someone

Parking: N/A

Notes: None Reserved

GC Point of Contact

Erik & Melissa

Location Notes

Over the Internet (we'll store the video on Youtube or somesuch). Likely out of the lab. (Erik's note: any Internet-based can also be implemented via some app, similar to what Ghost Patrol did.)

Type

Mandatory Puzzle

Plot Setup

As in Act I, once the machine is repaired it still needs to be "calibrated." But since the machine was (presumably) repaired more quickly this time, the viewoscope footage will be shorter, leading to a different solution.

Props

see Puzzle Theme.

Plot Point to Convey

Same as Act I, Doctor When must be located so he can be rescued. But also this time, that the machine was fixed before Doctor When lost his envelope. He still has it.

Short Description

Shorter version of Act I, with new solution.

Open Time Period

When?

Staff Instructions

Your Role: Lab Assistant at Trenchwood Institute.

What To Wear:

What Your Character Knows:

Puzzles At This Site:

Where To Get Materials:

Setup Instructions:

Handout Instructions: Do something.

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

• 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.
• Send them to mission training

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 last thing we need to do before we can open a portal to rescue him is to recalibrate the time machine. 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 destination coordinates he programmed into the time machine before he left. 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: That's odd...I thought he'd come right back to 2012.... 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 wait...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!

Site Close Down: Clean up.

Other Instructions:

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

Manager

Allen

Response to Correct Answer

?