TEXT: The Fall  
  Without End
  A “No Security” Horror Scenario
  Caleb Stokes
  Written by
  Ean Moody
  Art by
  A Hebanon Games Product
  
  The Fall Without End
  INTRODUCTION
  The Fall Without End is a cosmic/survival horror sce-
  nario focused on a summit attempt on the north peak 
  of Mount Mckinely. Set in 1931, four to six charac-
  ters take on the roles of alpinists attempting to win a 
  mountaineering prize offered by the U.S. Government. 
  Midway through the expedition, things go horribly 
  and inexplicably wrong. Thematically, the scenario 
  simulates the unpredictability and despair of survival 
  situations by burdening characters in the midst of an 
  already dire situation with an unimaginable threat.
  This adventure starts with an overall description of 
  the setting and plot for the GM’s use. Information the 
  players can reveal through roleplaying can be found in 
  the gameplay section.
  1931: North Peak of Mount McKinely:
  Mount McKinely—from base to peak, it is the tallest 
  mountain on land, and 3rd highest point above sea 
  level on the entire earth. At 20,320 feet tall, its twin 
  peaks dominate the horizon for much of the Alaskan 
  wilderness, prompting the natives to call it Denali, 
  meaning “the tall one.”
  In 1910, the Sourdough expedition, staffed exclusively 
  with local alpinists, claimed the prize of First Ascent. 
  They’d climbed the dreaded Wickersham’s Wall, a sheer 
  face of rocks and ice infamous for spewing forth ava-
  lanches without warning. They claimed to have staked 
  a pole with their flag atop the North Summit. 
  An attempt to confirm the climb by looking down 
  from the taller South Summit failed in 1912. This Park-
  er-Browne expedition turned back mere yards away 
  from the summit on account of an incoming storm. 
  Remarks about Parker’s cowardice were short-lived 
  though; the very day the group arrived back in camp, 
  an earthquake struck the area and shook tons of rock 
  2
   INTRODUCTION
  
  and ice from the mountain in deadly waves. One year 
  later, Stuck and Karstans conquered the South Peak 
  from which Browne had been forced to retreat. They 
  claimed to have seen the Sourdough’s pole through 
  their binoculars.
  In the dozen summits of the South Peak after Stuck 
  and Karstans, not one expedition saw the pole on the 
  adjacent peak.
  Nearly twenty years later, the Sourdough expedition 
  is considered highly dubious amongst mountaineers. 
  Their names have been stricken from the record books, 
  and the 1928 Olympic Committee declared a success-
  ful climb of the North Peak grounds for medal consid-
  eration. The North Summit of the greatest mountain in 
  America remains untamed, or at least it is convenient 
  to think so….
  The American government has seized on the oppor-
  tunity. They need new “Lingburgh’s” in these trying 
  times, daring adventurers unafraid to tackle the great-
  est obstacles and capable of inspiring a demoralized 
  nation. Quietly, a large sum of tax money has been 
  funneled to the “McKinley or Bust” project. Local 
  lodging has been reserved, a film crew has been hired, 
  and the big newspapers stand ready to print photos of 
  the new American heroes as soon as they descend. 
  The first to the top can expect fortune as well as fame. 
  Rumors of a massive cash prize for First Ascent have 
  been quietly circulating amongst the alpinist com-
  munity for months, with a bonus offered for anyone 
  mad enough to drag a weighty camera to the peak 
  for a photo op. The prize is enough to last any family 
  through the hard times, and for some desperate climb-
  ers, Wickersham’s Wall might prove as much a test of 
  financial survival as physical.
  All is prepared as the climbing teams await the start of 
  their expedition at the Denali Trading Post, enjoying a 
  lavish send-off amongst the government handlers and 
  journalists. The locals have never seen such decadence 
  hauled so far into the wilderness, and their contempt 
  for the spectacle is as palpable as their need of the gov-
  ernment’s funds. 
  The old frontiersmen scoff at the tourists, whispering 
  prophecies of doom and damnation. Are they merely 
  trying to scare their resented American visitors, or is 
  there some truth to the curse of Denali’s North Peak? 
  Perhaps something lurks up there, older than land’s 
  owners, older than the mountain itself….
  GM INFORMATION
  The Monster: Vertiginous Horrors
  “Vertiginous Horror” is as specific a name that can be 
  devised for these creatures. They have no earthly cor-
  ollaries and exist entirely outside our biosphere. They 
  evolved on another planet, and their presence on our 
  plane of existence is infrequent and little understood. 
  The bridge which links the human world and their 
  own is inexplicable and intermittent (Location 10).  
  It’s opening is announced with all sorts of strange 
  weather phenomenon—sudden fogs, violent earth-
  quakes, blinding snow—and coincides with no known 
  environmental cycle or star chart. The opening blinks 
  into existence on the interior of Denali (among other 
  places), hovering in the middle of the deep crevice 
  scored into the side of Wickersham’s Wall. The portal 
  itself is a black pool atop a hollowed, truncated 
  pyramid with obsidian sides whose origin is any-
  one’s guess. The stone is so smooth and hard so 
  3
  No Security 
  NPC List
  “Coot” – owner of the Denali Trading Post, 
  scornful of the climber’s chances
  Yuri Clevchynko – old frontiersmen claiming to 
  have been part of the Parker-Browne expedition
  Booker Hamlin – director of the documentary 
  film crew set to record the climber’s homecom-
  ing
  Macey Sly – put-upon newspaper reporter sent 
  to document the attempt
  Ted Carpenter – treasury department employ-
  ee charged with monitoring the expedition and 
  awarding the prize
  Kyle O’Shaughnessy – local boy in charge of 
  maintaining base camp
  The Hutchison Brothers – three local brothers 
  attempting to beat the players to the top
  
  as to provide the creatures no purchase once they burst 
  forth from the brackish water. The worm-like Horrors 
  are left to scramble for a grip on the side of the crevice 
  or crash into bloody heaps a kilometer below. Those 
  that survive remain crawling atop the alien mountain, 
  forced to find whatever sustenance they can in the arid 
  heights until they starve or are called home by some 
  unknown force.
  The creatures themselves are roughly 9 feet in length 
  and shaped like grubs as wide as tree trunks. They 
  are armed on both sides with identical mouths that 
  can distend outwards with sucking proboscis ringed 
  with hundreds of teeth—much like a leech. The dual 
  mouths are lined with three dexterous arms ending in 
  bone-hard talons strong enough to anchor in stone. 
  The things have no eyes, and the means by which they 
  navigate the world is a mystery.
  Both in their world and our own, Vertiginous Horrors 
  exist exclusively at high elevation and on the steep-
  est slope possible. They move exclusively by folding 
  themselves end-over-end. One mouth will bite into the 
  rock face, securing the creature’s weight by clamping 
  into the stone with its powerful jaws and talon-tipped 
  appendages. Then, the creature will contract the other 
  end of it’s meaty body either up or down, bite the rock 
  face with its other jaw, and let go of the original anchor 
  before repeating the process.  
  The creatures are lightning fast vertical climbers, 
  rolling up sheer rock faces as if unconstrained by 
  gravity. They are greatly slowed when moving hor-
  izontally, having to resort to an up/down zig-zag 
  pattern due to limited horizontal flexibility. On less 
  steep slopes or flat ground, Vertiginous Horrors are 
  quite clumsy, but their yawning maws still make them 
  dangerous.
  On whatever world that harbors these nightmares, it 
  appears there are only two directions worth going: up 
  and down. Whatever they eat, they appear to swallow 
  whole, dragging the prey into a meaty tube with row 
  after row of clawing teeth. Cold and wind and scrap-
  ping stone have no effect on their health. If they have 
  gender, it is unclear what distinguishes it. If they breed, 
  they must give birth through the same mouths they 
  eat, defecate, and move with. In short, Vertigi-
  nous Horrors have the biological efficiency only 
  found in nightmares. They eat and crawl, eat and crawl, 
  mindlessly. Perpetually.
  “Gotcha” Gaming
  The horror in The Fall Without End depends on the 
  idea that, despite the fact each character is knowingly 
  entering a survival situation, they are completely un-
  prepared for what terrors they are about to face. There 
  are two ways to get players in the proper mindset for 
  this type of play.
  Option 1 : Lie
  When asked why the film From Dusk til Dawn shifted 
  so suddenly from a noir thriller to a goofy monster 
  movie, Quentin Tarintino famously quipped that 
  the characters didn’t expect the vampires to show up 
  either. Braver GM’s might try to adopt this philoso-
  phy. If not playing with a rules set blatantly known for 
  horror, sneakier GM’s might claim they want to try a 
  mountain climbing scenario because watching Touch-
  ing the Void or reading Into Thin Air inspired them. 
  The bafflement of the players will inform their role-
  playing when giant, extra-dimensional creatures try to 
  eat them. Of course, this tactic requires a lot of trust 
  between the gaming group, and a lot of exploitation 
  of that trust by the GM. If it is even remotely possi-
  ble some players might get pissed to come back from 
  the bathroom and suddenly find their characters in a 
  different genre, do not lie about the horrific nature of 
  the scenario.
  Option 2: Focus on Character Motivations
  This is a sound idea for any gaming group, regardless 
  of whether or not the GM decides to be truthful. A 
  safer option for getting players invested in mundane 
  competition before all hell breaks loose is to make sure 
  their characters have a serious desire to win. Spend 
  some time talking with each player before beginning. 
  Why does your character want to be the first to the 
  top? Do they need the money from the prize? Does it 
  fulfill a lifelong dream of Olympic gold? Do they want 
  to stick it to their former climbing partner on another 
  team? If characters have an explicit motivation for 
  winning the prize of First Ascent, the contrast with the 
  cosmic horror portion of the scenario will be all the 
  more dramatically interesting.
  4
   The Monster: Vertiginous Horrors
  
  Playing in Pairs:
  Advanced mountaineering is almost always done in 
  pairs. Groups of three or more are sometimes used, 
  but that typically just means there are merely people 
  to hold the rope beneath the lead climber.  Until they 
  were discontinued around WWII, Olympic medals in 
  mountain climbing were often awarded in groups of 
  two rather than to individuals, and the history of the 
  sport’s greats is one of successful partnerships.
  As a result of this, no player can attempt The Fall 
  Without End solo. A climber attempting to summit 
  Mount McKinely alone would be considered suicid-
  al by the governmental backers, and other climbers 
  would likely view the madman as a dangerous liability 
  placing everyone’s lives in danger. If one of the players 
  insists on soloing to the top, allow it only if that players 
  knows that a single failed climb check means plum-
  meting to certain death (and that’s before anything 
  truly horrific happens).
  So players need to find a partner(s) before playing and 
  decide how their characters came to climb together. 
  The bond of trust between climbing partners is said 
  to be deeper than that of family; at multiple points 
  throughout any climb, the life of one is literally in the 
  hands of the other. In terms of gameplay, this also leads 
  to an interesting dynamic; each pair starts the game 
  in perfect cooperation, but their goal is to beat all the 
  other players to the top.
   
  Standard Climbing Procedure
  Once players have partnered up, it would be a good 
  idea to inform them of the basic structure of team 
  climbing. Essentially, one is going to have to climb 
  Lead and the other Belay, or they are going to have to 
  take turns.
  Lead climbers pave the way. They largely determine the 
  route of ascent and are the first to encounter any new 
  obstacles. It is their job to hammer in anchor points 
  and cut holds into the ice. They have no rope to assist 
  their ascent, but they are kept somewhat safe from 
  falls by the rope attached to their belay partner and the 
  anchor points below. Even with this limited insurance, 
  Optional Rule: NPC Belay
  In games that the GM plans to make especially 
  deadly or in groups that do not cooperate well, 
  NPC belay climbers are an option.
  In this instance, each player would be essentially 
  controlling two characters: the lead climber of 
  the team, and the belay climber of the player to 
  his or her right. The belay climber need not be 
  given stats yet, but each should have a fleshed out 
  backstory detailing why he is partnered with the 
  other character and what their motivation for the 
  climb is.
  This way, each player gets to compete individu-
  ally for the prize and boss his belay NPC around, 
  but the player doesn’t have to talk to himself 
  when speaking to his partner because the NPC is 
  controlled by the person next to him. The player 
  also doesn’t lose the chance for some interest-
  ing roleplaying with his partner as they attempt 
  the climb. The GM gets a helpless NPC to use as 
  cannon fodder for the monsters, and players have 
  a spare to take over in case their first character 
  goes plummeting into an abyss or down a mon-
  ster’s gullet.
  The downside of this rule is that when combat 
  comes around, certain players might try to exploit 
  their second half into becoming a mind-con-
  trolled kamikaze. Belay’s can also find themselves 
  in the position to “cut the rope:” letting a climber 
  in an unrecoverable fall to his doom in order to 
  save the partner. Considering the competition 
  between teams, is this a decision the person in 
  charge of an NPC belay can be trusted to make in 
  character? If the group is sophisticated enough to 
  avoid this type of meta-gaming, the optional NPC 
  belay rule can help create a more brutal, uncom-
  promising horror game while generously provid-
  ing players with an “extra life.” If the temptation 
  will prove too great, leave it out and have players 
  climb in two’s or three’s.
  5
  No Security 
  
  any fall could be potentially disastrous. A “Lead Fall” 
  means that the top climber will fall the distance to his 
  last anchor point—plus whatever slack is left in the 
  rope—before the line goes taut. If too much momen-
  tum is built up, the anchor points could give way, even 
  up to the point where the Belay climber is pulled off 
  the mountain as well. As a Lead, one missed handhold 
  can mean the death of the whole team.
  The Belay climber (or “belay slave,” as they are some-
  times called), climbs beneath the Lead. Going is easier 
  for a belay climber: they have a taut rope for support, 
  pre-cut handholds, and a tested route upwards. 
  However, Belay climbers are far from freeloaders. 
  Their instructions can be vital for the survival of their 
  partner, as they are sometimes afforded a much more 
  strategic view of the rock face than the man above 
  them. Belays are in charge of spooling up spent line so 
  the pair doesn’t run out of rope midway through an 
  ascent, and the easier nature of their climb means they 
  are typically given the responsibility of carrying sup-
  plies. This is made all the more difficult by the constant 
  falling rock and ice caused by the Lead’s scrambling 
  for footholds. Most importantly, the Belay’s duty is to 
  operate as a counterweight preventing a falling Lead 
  from plummeting into the void. The ability of a Belay 
  to hold on for a few more seconds has saved many an 
  expedition.
  GAMEPLAY INFORMA-
  TION
  Character Creation
  Since all the PC’s in The Fall Without End are expe-
  rienced alpinists, their character sheets will be very 
  similar regardless of the system used. Every PC needs 
  to be capable in all mountaineering skills if they’re to 
  have any hope of surviving even the early stages of the 
  Climber Terminology
  Adze: a thin blade perpendicular to the handle on 
  an ice axe that can be used for chopping footholds.
  Anchor: An arrangement of one or (usually) more 
  pieces of gear set up to support the weight of a belay 
  or top rope.
  Belay: to protect a roped climber from falling by 
  passing the rope through, or around, any type of 
  friction enhancing belay device. In the 30’s, the 
  device was most often the belayer’s hips.
  “Belay off”: called by a climber to confirm that a 
  belay has been removed from the climbing rope. Es-
  sentially, “don’t fall, because the rope isn’t attached.”
  “Belay on”: called by the climber to confirm belay 
  has been (re)applied to climbing rope. Essentially, 
  “rope is back on, but please don’t fall anyway.”
  Belay Slave: someone continually placed into belay 
  duty rather than climbing Lead.
  Bivouac: camping overnight in the midst of an 
  ascent, sometimes in nothing more than a hammock 
  made of rope.
  Carabiner: metal rings with screw-shut gates, used 
  with anchors. Usually oval or roughly D shaped.
  Crampons: metal spikes attached to boots for in-
  creased traction on snow and ice.
  Deck: the bottom of the mountain
  First Ascent: the term for the first successful, con-
  firmed summit of a mountain.
  Free Climb: climbing without rope or other protec-
  tive assistance.
  Harness: a canvas webbing device worn around the 
  waist and thighs designed to allow a person to safely 
  hang suspended in the air
  Haul bag: a larger, unwieldy bag in which supplies 
  and equipment are stored
  Hold: any place to temporarily cling, grip, jam, 
  press, or stand in the process of climbing.
  Ice Axe: an ice climber’s primary tool. This hard-
  ened pick can be used to cut holds out of ice and 
  rock or as a short walking stick. In desperate situa-
  tions, it can sometimes arrest slides and falls down 
  icy slopes.
  Lead Climbing: a form of climbing in which the 
  climber places anchors and attaches the belay rope 
  as they climb.
  Lead Fall: a fall while lead climbing, meaning the 
  climber will fall at least the distance back to his last 
  anchor, plus any slack and rope stretch.
  Pendulum: Swinging on a taut rope to reach the 
  next hold in a traverse.
  6
   GAMEPLAY INFORMATION
  
  scenario. However, the basic premise is that of a moun-
  tain climbing contest, so the race to the top won’t be all 
  that interesting if all the characters have the exact same 
  stats and skills.
  When making characters, GM’s should give players a 
  list of skills organized into the following three cate-
  gories. The exact skills listed will vary depending on 
  the system used. Alternately, the GM can abstract the 
  various techniques of each set into a single skill of the 
  same name. For the purposes of suggesting skill checks 
  at specific locations, this scenario will use the abstrac-
  tion strategy.
  Instinct:
  Spotting the hold, predicting a change in the weather, 
  planning an efficient route, packing enough supplies, 
  hearing the creak of an impending avalanche—this 
  skill set entails all aspects of situational awareness and 
  preparedness that help a mountaineer get up and down 
  alive.
  Ascension:
  These skills determine how good the player is at doing 
  the physical work of climbing. How fast are they? How 
  far can they jump? How far can they stretch to reach 
  that next hold? How strong are their limbs?
  Endurance:
  No climber can survive ascending one of the largest 
  peaks in the world without a hefty amount of Endur-
  ance. Skills in this category determine a character’s 
  resistance to cold, exhaustion, and despair as the climb 
  progresses.
   
   It is up to GM’s to decide which skills will fit into each 
  category or if abstraction is the better option. Further-
  more, the GM has to decide at what level all the skills 
  in that category will operate. Obviously, much of this 
  is dependant upon the system used. It is suggested the 
  all the skills within each group be set at one of three 
  levels: Exceptional, Proficient, and Adequate. GM’s 
  might think of these levels as an 80%, 70%, and 60% 
  chance to succeed on tests, respectively. Alter ratings as 
  seen fit.
   
  This “yahtzee’d” version of character creation will allow 
  characters some personalization options while still en-
  suring a chance of survival (however slim that chance 
  may be). Furthermore, the prioritization of skill sets 
  will make the competitive portion of the game more 
  interesting and allow for more dynamic team builds.
  Example Character Creation:
  Frank and Doug want to role up “The Dynamic 
  Ducoti Brothers”, a pair of circus acrobats with 
  mountaineering experience seeking to cash in on 
  the government bounty being offered for summit-
  ing McKinely. The players come up with back-
  stories and buy a few skills to flesh out each  
  character’s personality, but now it is time to  
  purchase climbing skills. 
  Doug decides that his character, Giuseppe, is the 
  younger and smaller of the two. He’s a bit of a 
  show off and decides he wants to climb Lead. To 
  maximize his chances, Doug takes the Ascension 
  category as his Exceptional skill set.  This gives 
  him roughly an 80% chance to succeed on any 
  skill check the GM listed in that category. Doug 
  also wants to make sure Giuseppe can stand 
  whatever the mountain has to throw at him, so 
  Endurance is taken at the Proficient level. Finally, 
  his player figures Giuseppe is a bit too hot-head-
  ed for the Instincts skills, meaning it is left as the 
  Adequate set. Chances to succeed in that category 
  are better than the average non-climber, but not 
  by much
  Frank, wanting to compliment his climbing part-
  ner’s abilities, makes his character the stable, older 
  brother type. Iago Ducati is a much more cautious 
  climber than his sibling, so he takes Instincts at 
  Exceptional level in the hopes he can warn of any 
  danger. As he will be climbing Belay and might 
  need to hold onto the mountain for both men in 
  an emergency, he takes Endurance as his Pro-
  ficient set. Finally, Frank gives Iago Ascension 
  skills at Adequate because he figures the character 
  would rely on his younger brother’s trailblazing to 
  ease the way.
  7
  No Security 
  
  Plot Hooks (Getting Character’s Together)
  Characters should start at the Denali Trading Post the 
  night before heading up to establish base camp. This 
  gives characters a chance to interact with each other in 
  a casual setting, dream about the prize money, ques-
  tion government sponsors, and pose for a few pictures. 
  Locals can also provide a bit of the mountain’s history 
  and current events.
  After reaching base camp, it is generally assumed that 
  players are going to split up in an attempt to gain the 
  lead. This is fine. Once they discover what lurks near 
  the summit, they’ll be eager to get back together soon 
  enough.
  LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  GM Map versus Handout
  The flowchart on page 20 is a map for GM use. This 
  page provides a helpful reference as to the mountain’s 
  geographic features, the difficulty of traversing them, 
  what threats might be found there, and other locations 
  accessible from that position. Though players can be 
  informed of this information through play once they 
  arrive at a location, they should not be allowed to see 
  the GM version of the map until after the scenario is 
  complete.
  The handout for players is located on page 19 and is 
  meant to represent a hand-drawn map torn from an 
  alpinist’s journal. Players are encouraged to look at 
  this handout whenever they please so as to plan the 
  fastest route to the top. However, they should be aware 
  that their information about the route up Wickersh-
  am’s Wall is possibly inaccurate due to a lack of proper 
  survey, untested navigational routes, local supposition 
  confused as fact, decreased visibility above the cloud 
  line, and a number of other factors (like the extra-di-
  mensional portals and hellish nightmare creatures, for 
  instance).
  When setting up scenes, the GM should describe each 
  portion of the mountain in such a way that highlights 
  the differences between the reality of the situation 
  and the map.
  1. Denali Trading Post
  The Denali Trading Post is shoulder to shoulder with 
  people. Local loggers and trappers have come from 
  miles around to see the spectacle of a Hollywood 
  movie crew, journalists, and the brave explorers. The 
  tiny log cabin is crammed to bursting with the send 
  off party Ted Carpenter insisted on throwing at great 
  expense. The booze and food is more for the press 
  than the athletes, as Ted is keen to remind his climbers 
  between the forced smiles of countless photo ops. The 
  government has paid handsomely for this little adven-
  ture, and it will not be pleased unless a noble Ameri-
  can hero that can restore consumer confidence walks 
  off that mountain.
  “Coot” couldn’t be less pleased with the affair, despite 
  the money he’s making off the spectacle. He hates all 
  these outsiders traipsing about his store, and any time 
  one of the locals scoffs at the outsiders’ chances, he 
  can’t help but snicker and righteously spit tobacco juice 
  in agreement. Curmudgeon that he is, “Coot” will be-
  grudgingly respect any character he deems sufficiently 
  tough. He might be persuaded to sell some last minute 
  crampons and provisions to such men. A really persua-
  sive tough guy can coax the old man into revealing a 
  secret that only the locals know: the Hutchison broth-
  ers, three local boys who have climbed on Denali their 
  whole lives, are damned if they’re going to let some 
  government pets take away the honor of First Ascent 
  from Alaskan men. They mean to beat the govern-
  ment’s men to the top, and they have a one-day head 
  start. It’s already night; any hope of catching up will 
  have to wait until daybreak.
  Yuri Clevchynko would be at the trading post regard-
  less of the proceedings taking place around him; it is, 
  after all, the place where supply trucks drop off the 
  booze. The leathery drunk is the closest thing Coot has 
  to a friend and regular. Those curious enough to make 
  small talk with the old Russian find that he claims to 
  have climbed Denali many times in his youth, once 
  with Russian army buddies and many more times after 
  he went native. He even claims to have been a guide 
  on the Parker-Browne expedition’s failed attempt up 
  the South Summit. Clevchynko warns anyone who 
  will listen that Parker, fearing criticism, left Yuri off 
  the expedition’s records because he refused to lie about 
  8
   LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  
  what happened. The Russian claims that more 
  than a storm contributed to the team’s decision to 
  turn back. The group said weather had been acting 
  strangely for weeks, baffling all almanac predictions. 
  They’d found strange droppings far above the death 
  line from no animal anyone could identify, as well 
  as bloodstains on the stone and carvings made by 
  no human tool. A mist of “otherworldly” persistence 
  obscured their view throughout the entire trip, and 
  each night at camp the men swore they could hear 
  a sound like crunching gravel in the dark. The men 
  near hysterics, Parker turned only a few kilometers 
  away from the summit. The man found himself 
  vindicated by the freak earthquake that struck upon 
  the expedition’s return and immediately set about 
  swearing his men to secrecy about the fear that 
  really caused their return down the mountain. 
  If prompted, Yuri claims to know nothing about the 
  Hutichison brothers and denies any attempt to scare 
  the climbers away from their attempt. Clevchynko 
  will not tolerate accusations of dishonesty; he’s had 
  his fill of that over the years, and quietly returns to 
  his drink rather than argue with fools.
  Macey Sly disintrestedly goes about the tiny party, 
  gathering quotations and asking the minimum 
  number of questions. Her annoyance at being 
  dragged out to the wilderness to cover a silly pub-
  licity stunt is palpable. If any climbers point out her 
  unprofessionalism, she’ll be keen to defend herself; 
  she does recognize the men are legitimately risking 
  their lives due to her long-term interest (romantic?) 
  in alpinists. She thinks the Sourdough expedition’s 
  claim for First Ascent is legitimate and that this 
  whole thing is a ridiculous spectacle meant to dis-
  tract the public from corruption on Wall Street and 
  Capitol Hill. Climbers who are honest about their 
  motivations for the climb, be it the prize money or 
  the glory, can earn her respect, and perhaps even a 
  date when they get back down the mountain.
  Objective versus Subjective Danger
  Mountain climbing is an insanely dangerous sport. 
  Mount McKinely alone has a documented kill count of 
  over 100 climbers as of 2012. Alpinists are aware of this 
  danger, even drawn to it, but they think of it in different 
  terms.
  Mountaineering is divided into objective and subjective 
  danger. Objective dangers are threats presented by the 
  mountain itself: avalanche, rock fall, temperature. Sub-
  jective dangers rest on the individual climber: fatigue, 
  equipment failure, unpredictable weather. In short, 
  objective dangers are considered when plotting a route, 
  but the only defense against subjective danger is training 
  and luck. Estimations of objective dangers for each area 
  are listed on the player map, and the actual danger level 
  of each is on the GM map.
  In game terms, any failed climbing check should have 
  negative, possibly even deadly, consequences. Failed 
  checks in areas of heightened objective dangers will 
  have more extreme consequences. For instance, missing 
  a handhold on a gentle snow slope is less severe than 
  missing one while trying to mount the overhang over a 
  bottomless chasm.
  Areas with higher levels of objective danger might 
  also require more frequent skill checks or checks with 
  a higher difficulty rating. The differences between 
  extreme, high, medium, and low danger zones are up to 
  the GM and largely dependent upon the dice mechan-
  ic used. Regardless of how difficult the climb is made, 
  GM’s should exercise discretion when doling out con-
  sequences. The Fall Without End is designed to be an a 
  short scenario where death lurks around every ledge, but 
  dashing a character’s brains out on the rocks with two 
  hours left to play might not make a very fun experience 
  for that player. Failed checks could mean slowed ascent, 
  lost equipment, increased exposure, or dramatic near 
  misses. Save death for a climactic moment or a series of 
  unfortunate rolls.
  Conversely, if climbers risk a dangerous route and 
  succeed, feel free to reward their bravery with speedier 
  times or bonuses on future rolls. These characters are 
  adrenaline junkies, after all.
  9
  No Security 
  
  Booker Hamlin pesters PC’s throughout the entire 
  event, lining up imaginary shots and snapping flash 
  bulbs. He’s convinced his choice for shooting the doc-
  umentary footage is based on his artistic vision, not 
  the fact that he comes cheap and is dumb enough to 
  drag his equipment into the Alaskan wilderness. Any 
  discussion inevitably leads to romanticizing the climb-
  er’s struggle against the mountain, the motif of man 
  against nature, the refusal of the American character to 
  submit to blah blah blah…
  The scene ends when characters have had their fill of 
  the conversation and head to bed. The march towards 
  basecamp starts in the morning.
  2. Base Camp
  Base Camp is to be set up the following morning. As 
  it is merely a hike to a basin where the camp is set up, 
  GM’s should treat this scene solely as a roleplaying 
  opportunity. Players can get to know each other on 
  the trek, or they can use the opportunity to intimidate 
  their competition. 
  Kyle O’Shaughnessy is the local teen hired to maintain 
  the base camp in the absence of the climbers and the 
  only NPC accompanying them. Perceptive characters 
  might notice that O’Shaughnessy is feigning his loyalty 
  to the expedition and actually quite resentful of the 
  characters. The boy is a friend of the Hutchison broth-
  ers, and he’s decided to do whatever he can to sabotage 
  the expedition to ensure their success. Those aware of 
  the Hutchison brothers and suspicious of O’Shaugh-
  nessy’s demeanor can try to intimidate him into telling 
  the truth.
  If O’Shaughnessy is undetected, he’ll try to do one of 
  two things: sabotage equipment or dismantle camp. 
  His first priority will be gaining access to the climbers’ 
  haul bags. The original plan is to set up base camp, 
  relax for the remainder of the evening, and head out at 
  first light. Once players sleep, O’Shaughnessy plans to 
  remove non-essential equipment from as many back-
  packs as he can, stealing sleeping bags, extra rope, and 
  food. His intent is not to kill, merely to force the more 
  experienced climbers to turn back so that the Hutchi-
  son’s cannot be overcome. 
  If the players already know about the Hutchisons 
  already, O’Shaughnessy improvises in his panic to aide 
  his friends’ chances. He suggests the expedition let him 
  set up camp by himself so that the mountaineers can 
  immediately start their ascent. It will mean bivouack-
  ing (camping) on the side of the mountain midway 
  through the climb once darkness falls, but it’s the only 
  chance to catch up to the locals. If players agree to this, 
  Kyle will wait until they are out of sight before leaving 
  with their stored equipment. Though just a mild 
  inconvenience if the climb goes successfully, injured 
  or exhausted climbers returning to find their tents 
  gone might not survive a march all the way back to the 
  Denali Trading Post.
  If O’Shaugnessy is caught in either plan, he’ll admit 
  his deceit and retreat back to the trading post without 
  much fight. Whether characters decide to forge ahead 
  or stay the night, the mountaineering skill checks 
  begin after characters depart from Base Camp.
  3A.”Knife’s Ridge” (Low Objective)
  Approach to Wickersham’s Wall is from the Peters 
  Glacier, but the valley surrounding the ice field can 
  be traversed as well. The western edge of the glacier 
  is known as “Knife’s Ridge” and constitutes a massive 
  shale cliff that steeply rises above the crevices of the 
  glacier. Crossing the ridge requires walking across 
  the narrow spine of the shale pile. The loose, jagged 
  shale and narrow ridge prevent icing, so this is typ-
  ically considered the safest, fastest path to the wall. 
  However, it is rarely travelled; the massive overhanging 
  rock face directly above this approach is considered 
  impassible and requires a lot of extra vertical climbing 
  to navigate around. “Knife’s Ridge” is not without its 
  dangers. Rogue winds can strike from the West and 
  blow climbers from their narrow perch, and the loose 
  shale covering the rock face makes falls damaging and 
  difficult to arrest.
  Climbers travelling along the Ridge will see a figure 
  approaching from further ahead. Upon closer inspec-
  tion, it appears to be a climber in extreme distress. The 
  man is horribly frostbitten and blood-soaked from 
  lacerations across his chest and face. Coat in tatters, 
  he hunches and mumbles to himself, feeling his way 
  forward with an ice axe. Climbers with good Instincts 
  will recognize a man suffering from snow blindness. 
  10
   LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  
  The man doesn’t respond to any greetings, merely 
  blindly continuing his desperate stumble down the 
  mountain. When he comes within a few feet of the 
  climbers, they become visible as blurry shapes and the 
  man enters a blind, feral panic. This is a combat: the 
  hysterical climber is armed with an ice axe, and the 
  narrow path prevents players from ganging up on him. 
  However, he is severely injured and nearly blind, so 
  even inexperienced fighters should have a chance to 
  best him.
  If players can grapple him to the ground without 
  falling down the shale pile, the crazed man can be 
  knocked unconscious. This, of course, complicates 
  matters for the players; dragging the man back to base 
  camp will eat an entire day’s worth of time. Taken back 
  to base camp, the man can be revived enough to rave 
  madly about “worms eating the mountain” and ask, 
  “Where’s Josh? Did they get Josh?” Beyond that, the 
  man’s mind is irreparably broken.
  If players can’t knock him out, the climber will keep 
  attacking until killed or the players flee. Successful 
  attacks against the assailant will either gut him with an 
  ice axe or send him on a fatal tumble down the shale 
  embankment. Victory should be damaging to the at-
  tacking character’s psyche; this outdoor adventure has 
  turned into a brutal murder in a matter of seconds.
  Whether subdued or killed, the climber drops a nearly 
  empty haul bag monogrammed with “P. Hutchison.” It 
  is streaked with frozen blood.
  3B. Peter’s Glacier
  The glacier is cross-hatched with deep crevasses in the 
  ice that could break men’s legs or necks. Getting across 
  means winding around atop the ice slabs and avoiding 
  unstable snow bridges. Failing to tell the difference 
  between ice and a snow bridge can mean plummeting 
  straight down as the packed powder gives way, possibly 
  even dragging the flat-footed Belay in afterwards. 
  Good Instinct is necessary to tell when a snow bridge 
  is safe. For heightened suspense, GM’s might roll these 
  checks in secret and tell players whether a bridge 
  seems safe depending on the result. Recovering from 
  a snow bridge fall requires an Ascension check from 
  the falling climber and an Endurance check from the 
  Belay. This recovery takes time and slows a team down. 
  Especially reckless teams can try to shave time off their 
  glacier trek by making an Ascension check to leap 
  across a crevasse rather than finding a bridge. Failing 
  this kind of check would be a very bad idea; a missed 
  leap would mean not only a fall, but a hard slam into 
  both crevice walls.
  3C. Snow Slope
  The other side of Peters Glacier is dominated by a 
  snow slope. While much easier going than the glacier 
  itself and free from the falling danger of the shale em-
  bankment, this slope is where the Wickersham’s Wall 
  approach gains its infamy for avalanche danger. 
  Players foolhardy enough to try this approach must 
  deal with an avalanche sweeping down from the peak 
  of the slope and towards the glacier itself. As a snow 
  avalanche and not one composed of ice and rock, there 
  is little chance of the collapse killing anyone outright, 
  but the event can still be potentially deadly. Instinct 
  checks can recognize the tell-tale creak of snow about 
  to give way and allow climbers a chance to prepare. 
  Climbers that anchor themselves can weather the tide 
  and make Endurance or Ascension check to dig them-
  selves out. Failed checks mean the buried climbers take 
  damage from suffocation and cold.
  Isolation
  As soon as players pick separate paths, they can 
  no longer communicate with each other. Separate 
  routes are too far away for any communication to 
  be heard; even shouts are snatched away by the 
  mountain winds. Climbing partners and groups 
  along the same route can speak to each other, but 
  only if no one is significantly ahead of the other. 
  Even visual communication between routes is in-
  effective. If other climbing teams are even in sight, 
  they remain no more than indistinct shapes on the 
  horizon. Giving up the competition and regroup-
  ing for safety is a major dramatic choice later in 
  the scenario, and the isolation of a separate route 
  should be apparent to other players at that point 
  in the adventure.
  11
  No Security 
  
  If climbers are caught unaware, they will be swept 
  down the slope towards the glacier. They must make 
  an Endurance check to arrest their slide with an ice 
  axe. If successful, they stop and must make the checks 
  to dig out listed above. If failed, the momentum of one 
  climber drags the other down too, even if that climber 
  already braced or stopped his personal slide. Both 
  climbers must then make Endurance checks for one 
  last chance to arrest their momentum. Anyone failing 
  this check reaches the bottom of the snow slope and 
  slides into a crevasse, taking serious falling damage. In 
  addition, they must make the same checks to dig out of 
  the snow listed above least more damage be accrued. 
  Finally, any climbers in a crevasse must rescue them-
  selves by picking holds into the ice and climbing out, 
  severely delaying the ascent.
  4A. Skirting the Overhang
  Due to its elevation, the Knife’s Ridge meets Wickersh-
  am’s Wall mid-way up, saving alpinists a few hundred 
  feet of vertical climb. However, directly above is a huge 
  overhang at least 10 meters long. It would require a 
  Lead climber to travel that distance hand-over-hand 
  across ice-glazed rock before pulling themselves up 
  to the vertical face. Then, the Belay would have to 
  perform the same impressive feat, or the Lead would 
  have to plant an anchor of sufficient strength to allow 
  the belay to swing out into the void and climb the rope. 
  The route is rumored to be impassible, and the hun-
  dreds of yards worth of horizontal shimmying required 
  to skirt the overhang negates any benefits of taking the 
  Knife’s Ridge.
  With a successful Instinct check, climbers under the 
  overhang recognize that if a climber could mount it, 
  the time saved would be immense. Climbing teams 
  must decide if gaining such a lead is worth the risk. 
  Either way, the lead must make at least one Ascension 
  check to get them to their destination.
  4B. Mantling the Wall
  Wickersham’s Wall presents a stark end to both Peters 
  Glacier and its parallel snow slope. The climb doesn’t 
  initially seem too daunting, but reports say that the av-
  alanche danger and truly difficult climbing doesn’t 
  start until nearer the cloud line.
  A mountaineer with good Instinct recognizes two 
  things before mantling onto the wall. Firstly, there 
  seems to be a section of oddly colored rocks near the 
  base of the cliff to the East. Secondly, the beginnings 
  of a fissure are visible high up the rock face, just below 
  the cloud line. This fissure isn’t listed in any surveys of 
  the mountain, and there is no telling how far up it runs 
  past the mist.
  Investigating the oddly covered rocks reveals them to 
  be painted in a splatter of frozen blood. Nearby is the 
  shockingly mutilated corpse of a fellow climber. Those 
  that can keep their head after seeing such a sight can 
  make an Instinct check to discover that the state of the 
  body can’t be blamed on a fall alone. One entire arm 
  is missing, and the head is connected by no more than 
  a string of tissue. It looks like the poor bastard was 
  passed through a meat grinder before being dropped 
  off the mountain. Anyone with a stomach strong 
  enough to search through the pockets finds a few spare 
  crampons and some mittens monogrammed with “C. 
  Hutchison.”
  5A. The Overhang
  Mounting the overhang requires a series of three in-
  creasingly difficult tests for a lead climber. Firstly, the 
  character must make an Ascension check to gain pur-
  chase on the icy ceiling. Next, the climber must make 
  an Endurance test to keep their grip, then another 
  Ascension check. Finally, the Lead must succeed in 
  Instinct, Ascension, and Endurance to find a safe hold 
  across the lip of the overhang and muscle over it. The 
  Belay climber can make the Instinct check at the last 
  minute if the lead fails; the lower perspective provides 
  a better view of what lies beyond the Lead’s vision. 
  If any of these checks fail, a Lead fall occurs. At that 
  point, both climbers better pray the Belay set good 
  anchors (Instinct) and can hold on (Endurance). Even 
  if disaster is averted, the prevention of a deadly fall 
  only means that the lead climber gets to smack against 
  the rock face…hard.
  If a Lead manages those three checks, they are con-
  sidered safely perched on a ledge above the overhang. 
  If they don’t want the Belay climber to have to go 
  through the same process, they can make an Instinct 
  check to secure an anchor strong enough to support 
  the partner’s full weight on the rope.  
  12
   LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  
  While waiting for the Belay to catch up, the Lead 
  hears a strange crunching sound from above and feels 
  the tinkle of gravel. Looking up, the first Vertiginous 
  Horror comes thrashing out of the cloud line, bar-
  reling down at the Lead climber like some gigantic 
  hookworm. The creature’s goal is simple: consume the 
  climber in its free jaw.
  If the climber manages to stay sane at the sight of the 
  thing, the GM can present them with options. The 
  climber can try and fight the thing off with an ice 
  axe, risking consumption for every round the Horror 
  survives. If a hit is scored with the axe, the climber can 
  leap from the wall, dragging the wiggling thing into 
  the void before letting go of the handle. At this point, 
  the anchors set by the Belay would be the only thing 
  keeping the humans from a certain death as well.
  Finally, the Lead could attempt to climb back down the 
  overhang, essentially reversing the checks made to get 
  up there in the first place (this matter could be further 
  complicated by a very confused Belay climber trying 
  to head up at the same time). Though flexible, the 
  Vertiginous Horror has trouble bending itself into the 
  complete circle required to get a grip on the overhang’s 
  “ceiling.” In its zealous pursuit of prey, it may lose its 
  grip and fall to the jagged rocks below. 
  Particularly evil GM’s could say that as its jaw is ripped 
  from the mountain side, the Vertiginous Horror slices 
  the anchor rope amidst its thrashing.
  Surviving climbers might choose to head back at this 
  point, but doing so would require difficult climbing 
  checks to get off the cliff face, or extremely difficult 
  checks to get under the overhang. For those that 
  skipped setting up base camp, night is falling as well. 
  Even if they could get off the mountain, it would just 
  mean sacrificing the other climbers to whatever that 
  “thing” was without so much as a warning.
  From this stage, a mountaineer can either ascend to 
  Parker’s Rebuff, an ice slope within view of the South 
  Summit that has never been climbed, or move side-
  ways towards a massive fissure. An Instinct role will 
  reveal that weather is going to come in from the South, 
  buffeting Parker’s Rebuff with a storm. Crossing the 
  fissure, while dangerous, would provide shelter from 
  the winds to come.
  Bivouacking
  If players decided to rush through setting up base 
  camp and get straight to the climbing, it should 
  be getting too dark to continue around the time 
  they reach locations 5A and 5B. Night climbing is 
  nearly impossible, making it necessary to bivouac. 
  This involves securing oneself to the side of the 
  mountain via a harness and trying to get some 
  sleep while perched on whatever narrow ledge is 
  available.
  Getting through the night requires Endurance 
  checks against exhaustion and cold. Each failed 
  check costs a climber health. If Kyle O’Shaugh-
  nessy stole supplies, three Endurance checks are 
  required for each climber. If players have had 
  nothing stolen or lost but both fail an Instinct 
  check, two Endurance checks are required. If 
  someone succeeds an Instinct test, the climbers 
  are well-prepared and only make one Endurance 
  check for the night.
  Bivouacking is made all the more uncomfortable 
  by the odd sound of crunching gravel echoing up 
  and down the mountainside. Climbers unfortu-
  nate enough to have already encountered the Ver-
  tiginous Horrors will recognize this as the sound 
  of freakish jaws biting into stone. The creatures 
  are patrolling up and down the rock face, blindly 
  searching for prey in the dark. At any moment, 
  one could roll itself onto the camp and devour a 
  climber, or bite through a rope and send a sleep-
  ing mountaineer tumbling to his death.  Even 
  those lucky enough to avoid such a grisly fate risk 
  going mad with fear. It’s gonna be a long night.
  As it is a means to build tension, night should 
  fall at a dramatically convenient time for the 
  GM. After a group at 5A has faced a Vertiginous 
  Horror, but before the teams at 5B run into a 
  horde of them would be an opportune time, for 
  instance.
  13
  No Security 
  
  5B. Wickersham’s Wall
  Wickersham’s Wall is dangerous due to the length of its 
  sheer vertical ascent and the risk of avalanche. Ascen-
  sion checks are dangerous and frequent. Belay climbers 
  don’t have to make these checks due to the stabiliz-
  ing rope, but they have the added danger of rock fall 
  sparked by the Lead’s movements. Every so often, large 
  stones come pouring down from the weak footholds of 
  the Lead. The Belay climber must either make an As-
  cension check to dodge out of the way or take damage. 
  Midway up the wall, an odd sound like the crunch of 
  gravel can be heard. Tiny pebbles start drizzling down 
  from somewhere above in the mist. Rock fall might 
  even threaten the Lead climber, dislodged by some 
  unknown source. 
  Instincts can lead climbers to an odd gleam in the 
  rock. Nearby, strange circular impressions can be 
  found on the cliff face, concentric rings made from 
  hundreds of triangular cuts. The gleam is from an ice 
  axe still embedded in the stone, a hand still clinging to 
  it, dangling an arm. The etching in the handle reads “C. 
  Hutchison.”
  As climbers approach the mists of the cloud line, the 
  first Vertiginous Horror slinks into view. Followed by a 
  second. Third…
  If climbers can suppress their revulsion long enough to 
  maintain a level-head, they can make an Instincts roll. 
  Success recognizes the descending doom. The things 
  are huge and headed towards them almost as fast as 
  men fall. Since they have the high ground, there is no 
  way to out-climb or outfight the things. Traversing 
  sideways is the only hope.
  The way to the right leads to a sharp corner and the 
  void. Left towards the fissure is the only option, but as 
  long as the climbers make a simple Ascension check 
  they can outpace the creatures. The things don’t seem 
  well-adapted to moving sideways, only able to do so 
  by stagger-stepping with their mouths in a movement 
  reminiscent of parallel parking.
  Once reaching the fissure, team’s can finally get a 
  look at the massive scar inexplicably running up 
  the mountains side. Black, sharp obsidian stone marks 
  the inside of the crack as if it had been burned there. 
  Crawling inside it would cut ropes and hands to pieces, 
  and it’s a good 25 yards to the other side. Players are 
  faced with a choice: face certain death in the jaws of 
  the monsters, attempt a risky maneuver called a Pen-
  dulum Traverse, or cut their ropes and try free-climb-
  ing up and away from the Horrors.
  Free-climbing is insanely dangerous—one missed hold 
  means death—but it greatly speeds up the laborious 
  process of anchor and belay climbing. It is the only 
  chance for characters to stay on Wickersham’s Wall and 
  outpace the monsters, hopefully finding respite on the 
  ice slope of Sourdough’s Deceit
  Players choosing to use the fissure as a stop-gap for the 
  beasts should look to location 6 for a description of 
  that process.
  6. Pendulum Traverse
  A Pendulum Traverse is a difficult maneuver at the best 
  of times, not to mention when being pursued by car-
  nivorous monsters. Whether players are approaching 
  from the Overhang or Wickersham’s Wall, the process 
  is the same. 
  A Lead climbs high up on the fissure and plants the 
  securest anchor possible (Instinct check). He then puts 
  his full weight on the rope and prays the point holds. 
  The Belay then puts their full weight on the rope, using 
  the Lead as a counter-weight. The lower climber begins 
  running back and forth across the rock face, building 
  momentum. The Belay then leaps into the void, hoping 
  to reach the other side.
  Swinging across the fissure is an Ascension check. 
  Failing the check means the jumper slams against the 
  rock face on the return, taking damage. The climber 
  above will also have to make an Endurance check to 
  hold on. Once the leap is successful, the Belay then 
  climbs up the other side of the fissure to the same 
  altitude as the Lead and inserts an anchor of their own. 
  The Lead then removes the anchor, respools the rope, 
  climbs down to alleviate strain on the line, and makes 
  the swing.
  14
   LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  
  A second jumper in a rush (say…because he is about 
  to be eaten?) can cut the rope to the original anchor, 
  falling until the remaining line snaps taut and sends 
  him hurtling to the other side. If the secured partner 
  can hold on (Endurance) and the anchor holds (In-
  stinct) AND the crazy man can grab on after smacking 
  face first into a cliff (Ascension), it just might work. If 
  this risky maneuver fails or the monsters grab hold of 
  one of the climbers, the dead weight of the suspended/
  eaten climber will inevitably break the anchor and pull 
  both men to their doom. In this instance, both men 
  will certainly die unless the top climber makes the hard 
  choice and cuts the rope. If players take this option, 
  the GM should allow enough time for the characters to 
  make an appropriately cool final exchange. Needless to 
  say, a climber pragmatic enough to kill his best friend 
  to survive is not going to be mentally healthy anytime 
  soon thereafter.
  7A. Parker’s Rebuff
  Parker’s Rebuff is actually comparatively safe from 
  both climbing hazards and otherworldly nightmares. 
  The slope is gradual and snowy, making it difficult for 
  the Vertiginous Horrors to maneuver. Still, moving 
  around the area is no less dangerous. There are dozens 
  of the creatures laboriously trying to reach their prey 
  by wrenching themselves upright, wavering like a 
  hollow, tentacled tower of meat, then crashing forward 
  and repeating the process. It is a horrific sight, as if the 
  mountain sprouted a fleshy forest with a need to eat.
  So long as characters can keep moving, the real danger 
  is the incoming storm front. The abrasive, whiteout 
  gales—combined with the high altitude and panicked 
  fear—creates a murderous environment. At this point, 
  it takes successful Endurance checks just to incur 
  minor health damage. Failed checks cause serious 
  damage such as fingers, noses, and eyelashes lost to 
  frostbite. Anyone losing all their health points due to 
  these checks falls from exhaustion, unable to contin-
  ue. Unless their partner is willing to take risk more 
  damage in an attempt to drag them to shelter, they’ll 
  have to be left to the Vertiginous Horrors.
  The only respite from the storm is a strange blue glow 
  in the distance (location 8). The summit lies above that 
  point, offering little solace in lieu of the monstrosities 
  around it.
  7B. Sourdough’s Deceit
  Sourdough’s Deceit is far steeper than its parallel path, 
  Parker’s Rebuff. As such, the Horrors have a much 
  easier going than climbers. Mountaineers unfortu-
  nate enough to be in this position will find themselves 
  trapped on both sides with monsters ascending Wick-
  ersham’s Wall below and rolling down the ice slope 
  above. The only glimmer of hope is a strange blue glow 
  near the summit (Location 8) that appears free of the 
  creatures, but there a lot of teeth between here and 
  there.
  An Instinct check reveals a slim hope of survival. The 
  ice slope faces the sun, causing a cycle of melting and 
  refreezing that makes the Wickersham route so dan-
  gerous in the first place. A climber mad enough to 
  rush at the descending Vertiginous Horrors and go 
  chopping with his ice axe might trigger a hard slab 
  avalanche. 
  Hard slab avalanches occur when entire sheets of 
  jagged ice break free of the mountainside and begin 
  sliding. The friction of the moving sheets and the 
  sudden absence of decades old ice causes even more 
  sheets to fall until a cascade of gigantic ice sheets 
  rumbles downwards. In many ways, this event is a 
  climber’s worst nightmare. The sheets are so massive 
  and move so quickly they can easily cut a man in 
  half…but the same could be said of a horrific mon-
  strosity.
  Players should be given an opportunity to survive such 
  a desperate maneuver. How this is done is up to the 
  GM’s discretion. Perhaps it is a simple as coming up 
  with the idea in the first place, or maybe an Ascension 
  check is required to maneuver out of the way in time. 
  Games focusing on the true desperation of a survival 
  scenario might use some mechanic approximating 
  blind luck to see whether or not house-sized sheets of 
  ice pulverize the characters.
  If the tactic succeeds, all the Vertiginous Horrors on 
  Sourdough’s Deceit go sliding off the peak of Wicker-
  sham’s Wall. Though some Horrors still climbing the 
  sheer face below likely survived the icy collapse, 
  they are too delayed to catch up. Shielded by the 
  15
  No Security 
  
  mountain from the incoming storm, climbers are left 
  to hobble towards the strange blue glow above at what-
  ever pace they can manage.
  8. Strange Crevice
  Scorched and surrounded by melted stone, the cave 
  cut into the side of the summit appears to have been 
  recently blasted there by lightening or some sort of 
  inexplicable volcanic activity. The stone is still slightly 
  warm to the touch despite the icy maelstrom, and it is 
  unclear whether the blue glow from the cave is reflect-
  ing off of the glassy, blackened stones or coming from 
  the rocks themselves.
  In the narrow confines of the cavern, GM’s can throw 
  a single Vertiginous Horror at the climbers. The rela-
  tively flat ground and the narrow confines should give 
  characters a chance to slay one of the things with ice 
  axes. If the climbers are already barely alive, feel free to 
  leave the cave hauntingly vacant. 
  At the end of the hallway of melted stone, a narrow 
  chimney descends into the heart of the mountain. The 
  climb down is easy (especially if a rope is sacrificed 
  to tie off up top), and a glimmer of light can be seen 
  emanating from the bottom of the shaft.
  9. Summit
  Those with the determination (or insanity) to per-
  severe despite being attacked by monstrosities from 
  another dimension can reach the summit. There, they 
  will find a blazing snowstorm obscuring any scenic 
  vista that may have rewarded them. The last Hutchison 
  brother is there, frozen in a pool of blood from his own 
  raggedly-sliced wrists and staring blankly to the West. 
  In his lap rests a wooden pole with the tatters of a flag 
  frozen to it, a final insult from the North Summit actu-
  ally conquered twenty years previously. The Sourdough 
  expedition told the truth; the whole venture was for 
  nothing.
  Buffeted by the storm, climbers face a choice: they 
  can descend their original route and try to seek refuge 
  from the creatures in the oddly glowing cave, or they 
  can risk the winter winds by descending the 
  opposite face. Doing the latter should require a 
  number of Endurance checks with health lost to frost-
  bite, hunger, and exhaustion. If the players succeed, 
  they make it to a place suitable for bivouac and can 
  descend the rest of the way without incident the fol-
  lowing morning.
  10. Portal Chamber
  The strange crevasse empties down into a bizarre, inex-
  plicable chamber. The same jagged stone surrounds an 
  obsidian obelisk in the shape of a truncated pyramid, 
  topped with a lapping pool of what appears to be 
  motor oil. The thing appears to be resting atop some 
  sort of pillar, but climbing downwards reveals that it is 
  hovering in midair. The fourth wall of the chamber is 
  open to the air; this is the top of the fissure that makes 
  up the Pendulum Traverse (Location 6).
  The three walls surrounding the pyramid teem with 
  Vertiginous Horrors. The creatures fight for position 
  on the walls, stabbing each other with their claws, 
  ripping junks from rivals with their distended jaws. 
  The wet thumping of the falling worms punctuates the 
  constant gravel-crunch as the things cling to the walls. 
  Some find escape by shuffling out of the fissure and 
  to Denali’s exterior. Others try to crawl blindly across 
  the ceiling where the characters hang. These unlucky 
  creatures break off stalactites with their weight and go 
  crashing into the slick obsidian sides of the pyramid 
  before sliding into the abyss.
  Upon entering, the origin of the creatures becomes 
  clear. One of the giant worm things comes crashing 
  out of the black pool, arching into the air like a leaping 
  whale before smacking into the glassy obsidian sides. If 
  it’s lucky, the thing will grab a clear spot on the fissure’s 
  sides and arrest itself. If it’s not, it goes falling into the 
  black to be dashed on the rocks far below.
  There is no way to climb on the fissure’s walls without 
  getting eaten by the Vertiginous Horrors. The only 
  chance to descend this route is the strange obelisk 
  itself. By tying on another rope to one secured atop the 
  chimney, climbers can descend and perch atop the lip 
  of the black pool. Any rope used this way will have to 
  be sacrificed. To determine if the climbers have enough 
  rope descend from the floating obelisk after giving up 
  so much line, have players roll an Instinct check to 
  16
   LOCATIONS AND NPC’s
  
  determine how well they packed. Characters can still 
  proceed even if they don’t have the line; they just have 
  to save the rope by leaping into inky waters of the pool 
  (Location 11).
  Once balanced on the pool’s edge, climbers will find 
  that there is nowhere to tie off. In order to descend 
  without touching the ravenous walls, one character will 
  have to sacrifice himself by staying behind as a count-
  er-weight. Alternately, they could swim to the bottom 
  of the pool and see if there is anything to secure the 
  rope to under the water…(Location 11).
  Once a rope is secured, characters can safely descend 
  the shaft (though the Vertiginous Horrors snapping at 
  them from all sides is certainly disconcerting). Near 
  the bottom, the fissure narrows to the point where the 
  things cannot maneuver. To reach fresh air, climbers 
  need only scale the mounds of still twitching Horrors 
  killed in the fall from the portal. Getting outside 
  means a safe descent from the mountain starting from 
  Wickersham’s Wall (location 5B), though at this point 
  death would likely be a mercy.
  11. ?????
  Entering the pool instantly causes characters to sink, 
  drifting through a disorienting, bottomless void. Just as 
  their breath is about to fail, they burst through a new 
  surface rather than settling to the floor.  After reorient-
  ing, a hellish new world on the other side insinuates 
  itself.
  Another truncated pyramid of black obsidian hovers 
  beneath them, holding the inky pool that spans two re-
  alities. Above, a canyon of unimaginable heights rises. 
  Out-of-place stars and too many moons shine through 
  a narrow slit as the immense canyon walls assault the 
  sky.
  17
  No Security 
  
  The entire gorge is completely obscured by a blanket 
  of Vertiginous Horrors fastened to the canyon walls 
  in crowded, fleshy braids. They writhe on every side, 
  biting at each other for purchase. One creature falls off 
  just so another can vomit out wriggling spawn in its 
  place. In both directions, the cliffs are lined with the 
  monsters, so much so that there is a constant rain of 
  gigantic, screaming worms plummeting into the abyss. 
  Those that land in the pool find themselves on Denali. 
  Those that don’t, fall…seemingly forever.
  Witnessing the origin of the Horrors is enough to 
  flay most men’s minds. Those strong enough to hold 
  themselves together for a few moments longer notice 
  crude carvings of the creatures at the four corners of 
  the pool. A rope can be tied to these and strung across 
  the inexplicable nexus between worlds, thus saving an 
  otherwise stranded Belay climber.
  Whether or not anyone wants to be saved after seeing 
  the hell that waits on the bottom of the pool is another 
  question entirely.
  ENDGAME
  After characters reach the summit or make their 
  escape via the Portal Chamber, GM’s should handwave 
  much of the descent. Though climbing down is often 
  one of the more dangerous aspects of mountaineering, 
  it will reek of anti-climax after fighting otherworldly 
  demons atop a wintery peak. Furthermore, even for 
  the most sadistic of gamers, killing the players for a 
  single failed climb check after they’ve conquered a 
  mountain and murdered hell beasts with their bare 
  hands is just a bullshit move. If dice must be rolled, 
  make the checks fast and quickly transition from scene 
  to scene.
  That said, The Fall Without End stays pure to its roots 
  in cosmic horror: survivors’ lives should be very nearly 
  shattered in the aftermath. There is no hope of ever 
  discovering exactly what the hell just happened. Incur 
  health penalties for failed checks on the descent until 
  the characters are barely alive, especially if O’Shaugh-
  nessy made off with the supplies at Base Camp (Loca-
  tion 2).
  Surviving characters should stumble back to the 
  Denali Trading Post broken men, covered in blood 
  and sweat, faces horribly mutilated by frostbite, raving 
  insane stories about impossible worms that no one will 
  ever see again. Those characters that somehow manage 
  the whole ordeal unscathed are just up for criminal 
  charges; who would ever believe the Hutchison’s were 
  eaten by monsters? 
  A GM that manages to get a lone survivor back to 
  camp—barely alive and completely crazy—will be 
  truly aligned with the scenario’s themes of survival and 
  cosmic horror. Ideally, The Fall Without End finishes 
  up like many other horror scenarios begin: a crazy, 
  scarred old man rants and raves exposition disguised 
  as madness in a bar, warning a new set of doomed 
  protagonists about the monsters….
  18
   ENDGAME
  
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SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Any (Any System Generic)/No Security - The Fall Without End [OEF][2013].pdf