Season 14, Episodes 5-6

Episode 5: Secrets of Atlantis

Taking a touristic break, Lady Penelope and the Count of Saint-Germain decide to visit ancient Atlantis at the time of its splendor, in the mythic age of pax atlantea and orichalcum, well before its fatal destruction. But soon, the two travelers draw the attention of the hidden force at the heart of the Atlantean empire – Kronos, the imprisoned god of Time…

Episode 6: Hidden Agenda

After her narrow escape from the temporal clutches of Kronos, Penelope crash-lands the TARDIS in 2020 – in one of the safest places in the universe: Ashworth Manor, her stately family home in Kent (UK, Earth). While her ship is self-repairing, important guests start arriving. Torchwood. UNIT. The British Army. And, of course, the Prime Minister himself.

Episode 5 drew heavily on The Time Monster Atlantean background, mixed with various elements of my own creation about Atlantean culture, the influence of Kronos on the very reality of Atlantis and how the power of the crystal-imprisoned entity was exploited by its so-called “Eyes”, a group of time-sensitive seers acting as the power behind the throne (a bit like the Euphors in 300). The ending was particularly dramatic and stressful for Penelope, who had to cross the Minotaur’s labyrinth to rescue her abducted TARDIS from the clutches of Kronos himself!   Her departure from Atlantis was very chaotic and resulted in an emergency re-materialisation at a safe, familiar location (Ashworth Manor!), providing me with the setting for the next (very different) story.

Episode 6 took place entirely within the confines of Penelope’s stately family manor – used by Torchwood to host a very important conference regarding the future of UNIT in the UK; in our campaign (which follows an alternate continuity after the 10^th Doctor era), UNIT has not already been mothballed and the episode focused on this very idea… which was actually a devious “soft invasion” plan devised by the Zygons to get rid of the only force able to prevent their intended takeover of the country, with the Prime Minister as the top-level infiltrated Zygon. For this pro-Brexit, anti-Harriet Jones PM, I used a NPC of my own invention (the honorable Rupert Dorrington), who could be described as a mix of Boris Johnson (of course) and Jools Siviter (Hugh Laurie’s character in the early seasons of Spooks).

Season 14 is now taking a break and will be back in a few months!  See you then!