[Adventure Idea] Secret of the Daleks

[rev503]

Just is just a concept thats been kicking around in the back of my head (actually I'm hoping typing it here will cause it to gel)

Back-story:
The Dalek invasion of Earth was a failure, in part because Daleks were getting bumped into time corridors to take part in the Time War (I remember Captain Jack made a comment that they all just "disappeared" though probably not in reference to this). In the aftermath, Torchwood became the Torchwood Archive and as Humans went Interstellar for the Second time in the 22nd Century, they were there, originally translating leftover Dalek databases and technology, as well as debriefing explorers to build a database of whats out there.
One of those captured databases gave co-ordinates of a Dalek research base near Sirius minor, so naturally Torchwood sent a mission.

Situation: The players are snug in their Tardis, traveling the vortex, when suddenly the Tardis hit a speed-bump (at least thats what it feels like), then again, then a whole bunch. Time-lords don't know whats going on as the readings indicate the Tardis is trying to effectively go into reverse straight from all ahead full just as the cloister bell starts ringing, then finally it does an emergency materialization in the cargo area of a spaceship.
On the spaceship the players meet the crew of Torchwood mission Alpha 23 - an expedition to an identified Dalek orbital research station around a dim red dwarf. The Tardis is powering down, although after some diagnostics, a better word for it would be hibernation.

At the Research base:
The base is cloaked in a perception filter (not very Dalek like). On entry, anyone familiar with Daleks (Torchwood for example) will be able to comment that the design isn't very Dalek like either. Rooms are sealed and areas of the station are extremely difficult to get into, strangely any time-lord character will notice that doors and lights turn on as soon as they get approach.
The deeper they penetrate into the base, the sicker the human members of the expedition get.

Resolution:
The Daleks were indeed researching at the base, because it was built by the Time Lords (Rassilon Era). It was in fact where a big part of the ability to regenerate was integrated into the Galifreyan race (I always had my own theories about how that particular trick worked). Penetrating to the innermost lab will allow any Time Lord to communicate mentally with the base computer and grant the humans guest status so the medical nanotech they've been inhaling the whole time they've been on station will stop killing them.
Security protocols will not allow the Time lord to query what exactly the research was apart from the fact that it was broadly about regeneration (Rassilon and co were secretive so and so's) but will confirm that as part of the security protocols, the base is emitting a signal that deactivates Tardises within a specific range.

Options:
- There are still a few Daleks trying to get more information about the Time Lords
- The Humans brought 2 or 3 mechanoids with them, which will suddenly stop recognizing the humans as authorized users as the nanotech starts affecting everyone
- The Time-lords were working on nanotech that was powered by temporal energy - so the Torchwood crew get sick, the Time Lords companions on the other hand can have anything from mock regeneration scenes (all wounds are healed but no new body) to getting very sick very very fast

[sutekh]

The idea of a bunch of Daleks hiding from the Time War in a secret base has great potential. Personally, I'd be tempted to have a group of Daleks in a location outside of normal time and space who are unaware that the war has ended and are paranoid about being discovered by their enemies. The idea of a group of Daleks who are unaware that the Time War has ended is inspired by the stories of WWII Japanese soldiers who were stranded on Pacific islands into the early 1950s. Perhaps the base is protected by a transduction barrier that keeps it slightly out of phase with the rest of reality - and the characters are the first intruders since the Daleks sealed themselves off. Obviously the Daleks will react strongly to the presence of a Time Lord amongst the characters...

For an interesting twist, perhaps these are the last remnants of the renegade Dalek faction last seen in Remembrance of the Daleks? They were on the losing side of the Dalek civil war and hope to sit out the Time War in safety before returning to depose the new Dalek empire.

(In Journey's End, it was revealed that Davros had come to some kind of accommodation with the Dalek emperor...presumably ending the civil war between the Imperial Daleks and the renegade Daleks)

The idea that the Daleks have occupied an abandoned Gallifreyan base is an interesting one. I'm not sure that I would run with the idea that this was the place where Time Lords received the ability to regenerate though - this is a Dalek story and deserves something with a bit more of an epic scope...

Personally, I would make the Gallifreyan base an extremely ancient place from the Dark Times before Rassilon. I like the idea that this is a place that even the Time Lords themselves had almost forgotten, a place mentioned in whispers. The exact coordinates of the base were recorded only in the forbidden Black Scrolls of Rassilon. Perhaps the Daleks believe that they can find something there that will give them some decisive advantage over their enemies? And perhaps they are meddling with something beyond their comprehension, threatening to release some ancient horror that the Time Lords imprisoned millions of years ago....

[Bob the Rutan]

Excellent seed and excellent inputs as well... Between the two of you, you've helped me resolve an issue i've been having working out the details of a adalek plot I'm working on... Good show!

Karma time!

[sutekh]

No problems. I'm actually thinking of developing this seed for my season finale. I like the idea of a big Dalek story to end the season arc.

The main character in my campaign is a Time Lady who used a Chameleon Arch to hide on Earth during the final stages of the Time War. Although some of her memories have been restored, the pocket-watch containing her bio-data was damaged in the first episode of the season. As a consequence, she is suffering from partial amnesia and has been slowly gathering clues about her true identity throughout the season - with the assistance of a few human companions that she picked up along the way. An unexpected encounter with the Daleks is just the thing needed to jolt her memories, revealing a dark secret about her true identity (heh, heh).

The idea of having a group of surviving Daleks scavenging through the ancient Gallifreyan ruins fits in well with the season arc, which has been built around hints that the characters are going to face some ancient evil from beyond time and space in the final episode. It also fits in well with established Doctor Who canon - the Daleks have previously attempted to steal ancient Gallifreyan technology with disastrous results...

In addition, I love the idea of the remnants of a renegade Dalek expeditionary force stranded on a dead world, desperately clinging to past glories. Completely unaware that the Time War has ended, they conceal themselves from the outside universe - paranoid that their sanctuary will be discovered either by the Time Lords or the Imperial Dalek faction. And in their desperation, they meddle with forces beyond their comprehension, attempting to release an ancient evil that has been imprisoned in a Time Lock for millions of years . The Daleks arrogantly believe that they can control the entity that they are trying to release....an assumption that is seriously flawed. The only thing that has prevented a disaster thus far is the fact that the extra-dimensional prison can only be opened by a Time Lord. And suddenly an amnesiac Time Lady appears in their midst...