Lake of Sharks: more PDEE underwater

More from Mark:

Such was the excitement generated by the success of the JP Morgan Expedition (as it inevitably came to be called) that the Utterley-Barkinge Co. found it impossible to avoid promoting a second venture the same year. It departed for the Cretaceous a few months later, to the Lake Of Sharks, an inlet of the Western Interior Seaway.

Here are the expedition members. Left to Right: Sir Mortimer Wheeler (archaeologist and self-promoter); Albert Speer (architect, definitely not a war criminal); Lord Greystoke (plantation owner); Buster Keaton (movie star); and the expedition guide, again Miss Juno Utterley-Barkinge. Speer & Greystoke are armed with glaives, the others have spearguns.

The Lake of Sharks is a favoured habitat for many shark and ray species, including Pack and Apex Predators. As usual the expedition is limited (by air supply) to 8 Turns before it must rendezvous for extraction by the submersible. Each paying hunter wants to  bag at least 1 shark, and the trophies should if possible include at least 1 apex predator.

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After 2 Turns there are three Pack Predators circling in the distance, and one Apex Predator that has infiltrated behind the hunters.  The hunting party split into two factions on Turn 1. Juno, Wheeler, and Greystoke went to the L. Keaton and Speer went R. This comes of all hunters being very keen to pot an individual trophy. On previous expeditions such dispersal has always resulted in disaster.

 The Whale Shark (this was when these monsters still had teeth ;) Lots of big teeth) ended up taking a wound (from Buster Keaton’s speargun) but also inflicting a wound on him, before Roaring (aggressive posturing) which made all the hunters except Juno U-B hastily retreat.

I am using short and tall stands to show whether beasts are at low of high level.

On Turn 4, Mortimer Wheeler finishes off the Whale Shark, taking a wound in the process. The other hunters look on with jealousy, especially Speer (foreground) and Keaton (at R under the tail) who put in most of the work.

Turn 5 saw the hunters attention turn to the Hammerhead (Pack Predator).  By the end of the turn it has been attacked by / attacked every Hunter, wounding Greystoke & Speer, and killing Buster Keaton. It received only a single wound during this rampage.

Turn 6 was a catastrophe for the hunters.  The Hammerhead was attacked by Albert Speer, who missed two successive glaive thrusts and was attacked and received two successive wounds (fatal) in return from the beast. Then Mortimer Wheeler shot at the Hammerhead. He missed his first shot, was attacked, and never got to shoot again. The Hamnerhead was then finally despatched by Juno U-B (with her first shot). She then turned to shot at another shark loitering to her rear, but missed. Luckily that shark got an Alarmed reaction and retreated.

 Meanshile, as if all that wasn’t enough, Lord Greystoke moved back to join up with a Juno (the two of them being now the only survivors). Unluckily his movement caught the eye of a Tiger shark which promptly attacked and killed him.

Can Juno Utterley-Barkinge survive?

On Turn 7 she failed one white activation dice but the nearest beast (the Tiger Shark) got a Roar reaction and Juno survived her momentary panic. She reached a nearby coral outcrop, at the edge of the extraction zone, and hunkered down. 

On Turn 8 she failed her only activation dice. The nearest Shark got a Predate recation, so moved to feed on the nearest dead beast, the ex-Whale Shark. Then the submersible approached, luckily right on time, and as usual the sound of its engines scared the beasts away. 

Here’s an end-of-game shot showing Juno about to enter the submersible airlock. 

 The yellow markers show where beasts died (2 for a Pack Predator, 3 for an Apex Predator). The Blue markers show where the four hunters were killed.

We’ll have to call this a convincing win for the biota. Although the expedition did kill at least 1 shark per survivor & 1 apex predator, and Juno did actually kill the Hammerhead that was responsible for 3 hunter kills.