Now there should’ve been some mail! Can you ride over to the mailbox for incoming mail and check if anything’s been delivered? Almost regretting putting the mailboxes so far away…
Objectives: Check Nic’s inbox to see if any mail has arrived.
Rewards: 20 Jorvik Shillings, 20 XP
Reputation: 20 with The Stoneground Expedition
Ride over to the mailbox and retrieve the mail and bring it to Nic.
See! Brilliant! A letter! Ooh, from A.A.E. as well! They say they support me fully in my explorations out here in the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur, and that I should expect a supply of new resources soon! This is excellent news!
They also write that they’re happy to hear I’m actually alive, and that they thought I’d disappeared forever. We’ve got you to thank for that, Rita!
Quest completed
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Exploration Inauguration
So there we go, Rita! The camp seems to be in some kind of order, even if it clearly needs a few improvements to bring up the comfort levels a little… But most importantly, we’ve made a start and we’ve got the support of A.A.E. Now our exploration expedition can begin for real!
Do you want to help me explore the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur?
Objectives: Accept that you want to help Nic with his discovery of the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur.
Rewards: 35 Jorvik Shillings, 35 XP, Pink Science Jacket
Reputation: 35 with The Stoneground Expedition
We’ll go down in history!
Fantastic! This is great! Then we’re a team! As a thank you, every day this week I’m going to share all of my information! Everything I know about this place!
Quest completed
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Exploring the Nic Stoneground Way
We can all explore and find things in many different ways. Some ways are better than others and some are, well, garbage. You should remain aware that different approaches are necessary for different purposes, and you should always ask yourself: “What is the purpose of my expedition?” The answer will always let you know the approaches you should take, which Will then make it clear to you what equipment you should have.
I want to finish off my map of this area. You’ll need my half-finished map, a pen, and a pair of binoculars to check angles and figure out different positions and such. At the same time, I also want you to capture images of some places and that’s of course easiest if you use a camera. With a half-finished map, pen, tripod binoculars, and camera, you should be fully equipped for the task.
I will send you out to the places where I feel it’s important to fully document the geography and thus complete the map. Don’t leave anything behind at the places you document. An explorer must never lose sight of their equipment, because that’s how expeditions fail!
Understood?
Objectives: Listen to Nic’s instruction on how to carry out some successful exploration.
Rewards: 20 Jorvik Shillings, 15 XP
Reputation: 20 with The Stoneground Expedition
Time to become an explorer for real!
Right, then. A summary: Using triangulation, you’ll work out the distances between different distances and so be able to complete the map, and take pictures using the camera I’ll give you. Completely clear, right?
Quest completed
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Test Your Kit!
Oh, you want to test the equipment first? Clever! A real adventurer always tests their kits. How about this then? Take the kit out and try documenting that spot over there by the edge of the camp. Have a go, and come back to me when you’re done. Then we can go over the procedure one last time before you head off on your expedition!
Objectives: Give the adventure kit a test run. Use the equipment in the spots indicated just outside the camp.
Rewards: 90 Jorvik Shillings, 35 XP
Reputation: 30 with The Stoneground Expedition
Go over near the large tree south of Nic’s camp.
To completely explore a location, three objectives must be completed.
- Use the camera three times (on the areas that are higher off the ground)
- Use the tripod (place the tripod, use the tripod, then pick it up
- Use the map (place the map on the little snowy table, use the marker on the map, then pick it up)
Make sure you don’t leave any of your equipment behind! Return to Nic when you have explored the area near the camp.
That looked promising! I suppose you could’ve held the camera a little higher up and changed the shutter settings to be able to get a better exposure to compensate for the snow reflections. Otherwise, it was okay!
Quest completed
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Explore the Frozen Valelake
Right-o! Here, take the equipment and you can be off on your first real expedition! I think you could probably get started by exploring and documenting the Frozen Valelake down there. The lake makes up a central part of the crater. The water level is now much lower than it was at the time when the lake filled the whole crater…
As always with ice: Be careful! It can break, and there are cracks to look out for! You need to be very, very careful if you don’t want to fall through into the icy water.
Come back to me for a debrief when you’ve documented the four places on the Frozen Valelake!
Objectives: Document and explore the places marked on the map.
Rewards: 65 Jorvik Shillings, 35 XP
Reputation: 30 with The Stoneground Expedition
Use the same procedure to explore the four areas marked on your map. Don’t forget your equipment out on the lake!
Return to Nic when all of the areas have been explored.
WOW! You’ve found The Hidden Dinosaur!! I’ve only ever heard mention of it in the old travelogues of the early adventurers, and I’ve always wanted to see it for myself!
I feel strangely elated over this awesome skeleton, some kind of connection from the past that I can’t quite put my finger on… A little like I’ve got a really strong déjá vu.
You’ve taken some really outstanding pictures! I’ll work through some of this new information and I might come up with some additional information related to this later. May even need to send a report to A.A.E. about this and see if they have any more information for me…
We need to know more!
Quest completed
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Skeleton Samples for A.A.E.
We need to analyze the bones! Take skeletal samples from various locations on the skeleton with this test doodad. The paleontological department at A.A.E. will then analyze the samples.
What I said?
Polenta? No, no, haha! Polenta is a tasty corn porridge. Ha ha!
P-A-L-E-O-N-T-O-L-O-G-Y! Paleontology is the study of prehistoric life and organisms. Cool, huh?
So really, we’re all paleontologists here in the Valley of the Hidden Dinosaur. We’re real scientists!
Umm… Sorry. Sciencewoman and… Uh… Sciencehorse. Hmm… Oh, you say scientists whether it be men, boys, women, girls, or horses. Don’t ask me why.
Objectives: Use the test equipment to take paleontological tests of the huge dinosaur skeleton.
Rewards: 75 Jorvik Shillings, 35 XP
Reputation: 30 with The Stoneground Expedition
Ride out to the dinosaur and take samples from several places on the skeleton, then return to Nic when you are finished.
Thanks! The paleontologists at A.A.E. are dying to see these test results!
Quest completed
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Drilling for Ice Cores
The ice is old. For a scientist, it can tell us a lot about the past. If you study the different layers of ice, you can learn about what the climate was like before. This lower lake ice has been properly protected from outside influences until the big collapse in 1912…
A.A.E. has expressed a lot of interest in this, and want us to drill out ice cores to send to them for analysis!
While you’re out on thin ice, can you take some ice samples? Take this ice drill and drill for ice cores that we can send to A.A.E.
Objectives: Use the ice drill to drill out cores of ice to be sent away for scientific analysis.
Rewards: 65 Jorvik Shillings, 35 XP
Reputation: 30 with The Stoneground Expedition
Ride out on the ice and dismount your horse to use the auger. Collect three core samples, then return to Nic.
Great ice cores! Now we just need to send them with super fast mail so that they don’t melt on the way… I’ll pack them in fabric, styrofoam, foil so they should survive the journey…
Quest completed
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Mail in the Dale
Ooh, Rita, didn’t that sound like something fluttering into the mailbox over there?
Mmm! I promise! I heard it very clearly. Could you just run over and grab the letter and I’ll get my glasses out while you collect it?
Objectives: Check if there’s any mail for Nic Stoneground.
Rewards: 15 Jorvik Shillings, 10 XP
Reputation: 5 with The Stoneground Expedition
Mail gopher again…
There was a letter? Knew it!
Let’s have a look… I couldn’t find my glasses but this letter is written so properly that it should be fine to read anyway.
Quest completed
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Send the Samples
There we go, those samples are all packed into boxes and ready to be sent. Can you take them over to the outgoing mailbox and try squeezing them in there? It’s really important that they get to A.A.E. so that they can see my work here is in full swing!
Objectives: Mail both boxes containing the test samples. Place them in the outgoing mailbox.
Rewards: 75 Jorvik Shillings, 35 XP
Reputation: 30 with The Stoneground Expedition
Put the two boxes into the big red mailbox, then speak to Nic again.
Thanks for all your help, Rita! It’ll be really exciting to hear what A.A.E. has to say about these!
Quest completed
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An A.A.E. Colleague Comes Crashing In…
Hmm… I don’t know whether this is good news or not, Rita. Professor Einstein from Jorvik City University is apparently on her way here. Have you heard of her?
No, no, not that Professor Einstein. I’m talking about Professor Elsa Einstein: The world’s leading researcher in the field of quantum semantics. You’ve never heard of her? Lucky you, I was about to say.
You see, Elsa Einstein is known for her meticulous accuracy and precise planning in everything she takes on, contrary to how I usually structure my research, you might say.
What she’ll do here? There’s nothing here that’s got anything to do with her research, so I’ve no idea. All I know is that if she and I work together, it’ll go belly up within hours.
She’s apparently on her way here by helicopter; she must be mad! The winds over the valley took my balloon down straight away, so I’d hate to think what the bad weather would do to a helicopter!
Let’s see… Says here she should have gotten here yesterday, apparently. The mail isn’t so fast here, Rita, haha!
Wait! Are you thinking what I’m thinking, Rita?
Exactly! The weird noise we heard earlier must’ve been Professor Einstein’s helicopter crashing! We have to save her, Rita!
The sound came from the other side of the lake, I’m sure of it. Ride there and look and I’ll see if I can find my first aid kit or something else useful in the refrigerator. Hurry Rita, hurry!
Objectives: Find Professor Einstein’s crashed helicopter.
Rewards: 25 Jorvik Shillings, 25 XP
Reputation: 10 with The Stoneground Expedition
Ride out onto the lake to see if you can find Elsa and her crashed helicopter.
Hmm. Who are you?
Well hello to you, Rita, I’m Professor Elsa Einstein. Are you by any chance a qualified helicopter mechanic?
No? How about Chinese? Do you speak Chinese?
No?
Blast. My knowledge of helicopters is basic at best and the manual I found is in Chinese, which is one of the few languages I’ve yet to master.
You have to understand that I simply don’t have time to spend 3.7 days – through reasoning and logical thinking – to learn either how helicopters work, or indeed the Chinese language from the manual. By that time, I’ll have frozen to death in this miserable place.
Quest completed
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Helicopter Replacement: 1 Horsepower…
Well, now you’ve turned up, a solution to my problem appeared. Such good fortune. Two people should, without risking your horse’s health, be able to sit on horseback with each other and ride along with the same efficiency to the nearest place with some kind of civilized temperature.
Now Rita, how does one get up in the saddle? In theory, it’s very simple but I notice that in practice, it’s more difficult to perform my movements in the order and accuracy as the theory requires. You’ll help me?
Thank you. That was kind of you. Now you get to steer this vehicle to civilization before my body temperature reaches a critically low level.
Objectives: Ride to Nic Stoneground’s camp with Professor Einstein.
Rewards: 25 Jorvik Shillings, 25 XP
Reputation: 5 with The Stoneground Expedition
Steer your four legged ‘vehicle’ back to Nic’s camp.
Mhm. What on earth is this place?
Oh, would you look at that. Nic Stoneground.
Quest completed
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Bad News Never Had Good Timing
Nic Stoneground, I see you’ve used, as ever, your unstoppable talent for ineptitude to build some kind of camp. How will you ever be able to conduct serious research in this kind of uncivilized setting?
We can discus this issue later, I see that you have a fire that burns and it must be only a matter of minutes before my extremities have frozen to the point that you could snap off a finger.
Nic, before I warm myself by the fire I must remember to convey the greetings of the board of the university. They want to express their congratulations to you on your discovery of this valley, and they look forward to the first results of your expedition here with great excitement. They also say that they will unfortunately not be able to fund your research any further before they get to see some real results.
And with that said, Rita, I can now declare that never have I been so happy to be close to such a primitive fire.
Aaaah, precious warmth!
Objectives: Talk to Nic Stoneground.
Rewards: 5 Jorvik Shillings, 10 XP
Reputation: 15 with The Stoneground Expedition
Tell Nic the news, the bad news, I guess…
Oh dear, oh dear. No more funding! That’s quite the setback…
Quest completed
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Research in Exile
Oh, Rita… If I’m ever going to be able to make any proper discoveries, I can’t have Professor Einstein poking around all the time. What’s she doing here anyway? She hasn’t said anything?
What? If she’s related to Albert?
Well, yes she is, but she’s from the smart side of the family.
Hmm… If she thinks this camp is so awful then she’s welcome to improve whatever she wants, just as long as she doesn’t bother me and my epic plans. Tell her that from me, Rita.
Objectives: Talk to Professor Einstein.
Rewards: 15 Jorvik Shillings, 5 XP
Reputation: 30 with The Stoneground Expedition
Oh gee, guys, way to act like respectable adults…
Hello to you again, young Rita. What am I up to?
Well, I… Umm, you know…
Right, listen. My recent experiments with the practical application of quantum dynamics weren’t so popular with the management at the university. They were a bit miffed that I’d built a very small nuclear reactor in order to generate enough power to run my devices. I assured them that it was harmless but apparently it didn’t matter; they were completely irrational and refused to listen to my entirely logical explanations.
To cut a long story short, we agreed that I would pursue my research elsewhere until this whole affair has settled down because apparently the authorities weren’t very happy that someone had built a hydrogen bomb in the middle of Jorvik City.
Why did I build a hydrogen bomb?
It was just a completely ordinary and entirely banal experiment; I’d never intended to detonate the bomb for real, and certainly not right then in any case. Well, well, not everybody can be rational. The university management found for some reason that this distant, isolated location they’d just heard about sounded perfect for me to conduct my research in. So here I am. Unfortunately, all my equipment was lost in the helicopter crash.
So, I don’t really know what to do now.
Quest completed
Return to Nic Stoneground tomorrow.
