Curse of Strahd 28: Terra Nova

In 1911 Captain Robert Scott led an expedition of adventurers that were dead set on being the first to reach the South Pole on Antarctica. They had received funding for the expedition from the public with the support of a government grant. The admiralty provided transportation and experienced seamen for the journey. It was supposed to be a heroic success proving to the world yet again the superiority of the British Empire. Hubris and arrogance was brought in great supply.

The preparations for the expedition were a complete disaster with Scott opting against using dogs to pull the sleighs, which was a proven method, instead opting for horses. Horses were a much more romantic way to travel after all, more fitting for a gentleman. He also brought a specially built motorized sleigh. The man who had built the sleigh was supposed to join the journey but was told to stay behind last minute, meaning nobody could fix it when it eventually broke down. He also brought five men instead of the four he had planned for, and messed up his calculation of the rations on top of that meaning they brought way too little food.

He also didn’t properly seal his fuel containers, in spite of having experienced that in a previous journey, making them leak and robbing the crew of the ability to cook and keep themselves warm.

On top of all of this he only brought one navigator who wasn’t trained in reading latitudes.

The expedition reached the South Pole, second after Amundsen’s expedition, missing them by 34 days. On the return journey they were unable to find their supply drops, due to their navigator having messed up the coordinates. All of the five men perished from the cold and starvation.

Campaign: “Curse of Strahd”, Dungeons & Dragons

Music by: Metatron Omega, Flowers for Bodysnatchers & Wordclock

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