🧰 Mission C1: Reactivate the Gate

Overview

What will happen:

Technicians at the Anywhere Academy have noticed the gate to their Earhart Space Station outside Neptune, has gone offline. The Earhart Space Station used to be the place where incoming Trainees all built their familiars before it went offline. 

Technicians have recovered the station ‘black box’ with the override code to reactivate the portal to Earhart but it is encrypted. Mission C1 should take place at the Gate on the Academy side, not actually in the Space Station. Just hide one Familiar in there to come out when they get the gate to work. 

The Earhart Space Station plot serves to connect the activity of building Familiars to the Academy at large. In addition, it begins to reveal the strange behavior of the shapeshifter across other worlds and Academy-affiliated spaces.

Trainee's Mission Objectives:

1. Reactivate the Gate - Solve the Puzzle

Trainees will seek to open the Gate to Earhart Space Station, which requires unlocking the station black box. This is a combination lock puzzle that they should try and brute force. 

The purpose is to get familiar with this puzzle system since the next mission will require the same system with an added complication

2.  Discover Why the Gate was Broken (continues on Mission C2) 

When fixed via puzzle solving, Trainees will learn that they need safety equipment to explore beyond the Gate, which indicates that there is a lot more to the story of the Gate being broken.

Structure

Note: The time duration represents the expected length of the role-play scene and crafting for the activity. 

Please account for components such as class time, lunch & breaks in your scheduling. 

1. Exposition (5-10 minutes)

Location: Anywear Academy HQ

• The gate to the sci-fi world of Earhart Space Station has been locked down for a mysterious reason. That is normally where Academy trainees build their familiars. To open it, they’ll need to decrypt the station black box.

2. Initial Incident (5-15 minutes)

Location: Anywear Academy HQ

•  Have the Trainees attempt to solve the box until they figure out the mechanism. Facilitate turn-taking as needed and promote communication on how it could work. 

Class note: Now would be a great time to host Broadcasting (1 hr each)

3. Rising Action (5-10 minutes)

    Location: Anywear Academy HQ

• Once they’ve unlocked the box, they’ll need to use the radio broadcast to send a signal to the Gate itself to reactivate it. 

• When they send the code, have someone behind the scenes reactivate the lights but set them at a lower brightness to indicate this isn’t safe

4. Climax (5-10 Minutes)

Location: Anywear Academy HQ

• Just before Trainees pass through, role play out a warning that the atmosphere is not safe on the other side, and there is no power/light or gravity nor can sound travel (need suits, this becomes Mission C2). 

5. Resolution Denouement (5-10 minutes)

Location: Anywear Academy HQ

• Trainees should leave documentation behind on how they think the puzzle system works. Additionally, they should theorize what has happened on the other side. Mention that they should start thinking about how they can use their wearables to communicate without sound.

• Documentation can include a paste bin of applicable code, a scrapbook page, or a group whiteboard that they can collaboratively work on.