Spring RPG 2018 - Report

After action report

America, 1986, a small town somewhere in the Rockies. The Department of Energy had built a research facility on top of an old uranium mine. New solutions for fission shielding and geothermal power. Deep drilling and stuff. In 1987, something happened. While drilling at 400m, an explosion occured, and a large hole opens up in the ground (Daniel’s visual inspiration is the cave of swallows). The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy looks into the matter. Research shows that the geological layers thrown up by the cave-in simply don’t match the Rockies makeup. An extensive underground cave system is found. The above ground installation, designation Top Site, is being cleaned up and repurposed. The public is fed some story about subterranean explosive gases, the whole area declared off limits. Inside the cave-in, on the bottom of the hole called The Chasm, a makeshift forward base is built. From there, geologists start exploring the cave system. They establish a camp just about a day’s travel into the caves. In April 88, desaster strikes. Communications with the camp break off, and while the team still tries to figure out what went wrong, chaos engulfs the Base camp in the Chasm. Reports of mutilated corpses, explosions and fire come in. Most of the personnel is lost.

That’s where we came in. Col. James Conley, former USA Special Operations Command, summons an off-the-books Adversary Force to launch a Secure & Contain mission. On the team:

• Captain Gregory Lane, ret. Vietnam veteran, special forces training, tasked to run the military part of the mission (Jan)
• Sergeant Andrea Lombardi, ret. Vietnam veteran. Heavy weapons and tactics specialist, used to serve with Cpt. Lane in the ‘Nam (Christian)
• George Arthur Manuel, ret. Mountain Ranger Corps, of native indian descent (Horst)
• Jordan Williamson, a free climbing professional and cave explorer (Thomas)
• Dr. Jonathan Greenford, psychologist (Oliver)
• Gordon Hills, Jack of all trades in geology and controlled demolitions. Also familiar with subterranean biology (Lars aka Östi)
• Benjamin Hays, senior geologist and alleged scientific leader in the field. Later turns out to be an undercover british SAS sharpshooter (Jens)

Our first mission down to BaseCamp almost ended in desaster. While trying to secure the tunnels right around the lower end of the elevator shaft, we got ambushed by some strange sort of creatures. About the size of a dog, but a lot more ferocious and able to cling right to the rock ceiling. Attempts to secure the perimeter by posting some of our supporting grunts at strategic junctions led to first casualties. Cpt. Lane aborted the mission there and then to avoid further casualties. A second attempt was made, this time bringing two LMGs to secure the LZ. Decisive use of explosives seal off the enemy’s attack routes, enabling us to push forward to BaseCamp. There, we proceed to do a room-by-room sweep of the site. Early on, we’re ambushed by a new type of adversary. Again alien in appearance, the bipedal creature seems to be able to spit a high velocity glob of corrosive substance at us, causing trauma as well as acidic damage to those unfortunate enough to be hit. Coordinated fire takes out the attackers, and the sweep continues. We find gruesomely dismembered bodies of the former science team. While ascending to the upper level of the installation, the unknown enemy launches a full-scale attack on the team. Only through tactical use of our arsenal and the fire zones determined by the combat zone, we manage to survive the attack without any casualties. BaseCamp is marked secured after the final sweeps. We report back to Col. Conley, our superior, and his colleague, Dr. Osborn. After hearing our reports on what we call “species Alpha”, they briefed us on the classified nature of the whole operation. Apparently, our Chasm constitutes something called an Extra Planar Zone or EPZ. Those contradict the known laws of physics and seem to form an enormous subterran network of caves with conflicting geologies, and also contain exo-biomes. One was recently turned inactive in Antarctica, and the russians are supposed to have one, too. Another one is hidden somewere in Europe, but at least the Allies are exchanging intelligence about theirs. We are being tasked with containing the situation, recapturing the former forward camp and push further beyond it. He reminds us that, in other EPZs, teams had also made peaceful contact with entities, and that we shouldn’t necessarily shoot on sight.

We take stock of our ressources. Apart from some basic admin facilities, some private security team guarding the base perimeter, and a few soldiers, all we have is a basic science lab and a bunch of bored geologists who complain about not being allowed downstairs anymore. We decide to invest some of the funding Col. Conley gave us to upgrade the perimeter fence, and to also start constructing a fence on the edge of the Chasm itself. Stopping species Alpha from escaping our base seems paramount.

And not a day too early. Soon after, some new form of creature, this time a hulking brute with leathery skin and regenerative capabilities, crawls out of the hole, smashes into a nearby living container, eats two of our staff, and then rips straight through our old fence. Decisive action by the team stops it a mere hundred meters outside the base. We track its path back to the bottom of the Chasm, finding nothing but a large, gooey bit of strange membrane. We pass it on to the scientists, but they tell us it’s the same as with the bodies of the creatures we shot before: It all decomposes really fast, they can’t make heads or tails of it without better equipment. We pass out a story about a rabid bear to the locals.

With no other pursuable option, we launch an expedition into the depth of the cave system. Recapturing the old camp was still our current mission objective. After a day’s slog through dark tunnels, caves and stalacmite fields, including a couple of skirmishes with species Alpha specimens, we reach the former camp site. The enemy surprised us with a new tactic there. On the mound where the old camp used to be, some sort of tree-shaped thing had taken hold. Surrounding it were a couple of the critters we designated “dogs”, but also a new form of horror: A floating monstrosity with many arms. We designate it “gnat”. Heeding the Colonel’s warning, we refrain from attacking the enemy. It is the first encounter we have where IT does not immediately attack US, nevertheless. After a while, the floating creature and the dog critters retreat, leaving only the tree/spore thing behind. We approach carefully, hoping to establish peaceful communication. As we circle it amidst the torn ruins of the old tent camp, it violently explodes, dispensing a giant cloud of spores onto us. No immediate sickness seems to take hold, but we are disturbed nonetheless. The captain’s decision to attempt peaceful contact is being questioned by members of the team, who in hindsight of course “knew it all along”. Any outward similarities between the spore tree and some sort of giant brain are dismissed as fantasies.

We take a few hours’ rest, then press on further into the dark. We can’t find a trace of where species Alpha retreated to without losing ourselves too deep into the maze, but not far from the camp, by some underground luminescent pools, we encounter yet another strange creature. Some sort of lizardman, wearing primitive tribal clothing, bow and arrow and a sword on his back, seems to be refilling his liquid supply from the pool. Dr. Greenford establishes rapport with the creature, who seems to be intelligent, careful, but ultimately non-belligerent. Dr. Greenford trades his stainless chrome-vanadium steel combat knife for a necklace, but seems happy with the overall results. Comments from the military team that it might be unwise to equip this primitive creature with state of the art earth technology are ignored. Ripples in the pool cause the creature (later designated species Sigma) to put a hand to Dr. Greenford’s headlamp, covering the light and indicating him to be still. The rest of the civilians promptly and sheepishly follow the lizardman’s lead, for reasons unfathomable to the military personnel. Captain Lane yells for everyone to turn the lights back up, but is suddenly and viciously attacked by an abnormally fast, 12 meter water snake monster, which leaps from the water, almost taking his leg off. Only concentrated fire by the brave Sergeant Lombardi distracts the monster long enough for everyone including the captain to retreat to safety. The lizardman departs the other end of the cave. With the captain barely able to walk, the team decides to return to the surface. Having been showered in alien spores, we remain in self-imposed quarantine underground until the resident doctor declares us safe. We thereby miss a chance to get into contact with the locals and dissolve their irrational fears, which had lead them to hold an activist-lead public demonstration and concert near our fence. Later, the security team finds evidence that someone had broken through the fence from the outside and took a trip inside our base. We never find out who or what happened to them, but through a local newspaper article we also learn that we are being watched by some of the activists from the rocky hills surrounding one side of our site.

The next few weeks are spent recovering from the mission. We use the debriefing with Col. Conley to request funding for an upgrade to our medical facilities and our biochemical lab. The outer perimeter fence is finally being replaced with a vision-blocking corrugated sheet iron wall, and the inner chasm edge is lined with a circle of trip-wire triggered claymore mines. Several strategic meetings are being held to discuss further priorities. We agree that containing species Alpha needs to be our primary concern. With the local public already being suspicious, and Alpha being both highly aggressive as well as disturbingly alien, securing our entrance to the EPZ and keeping things under wraps seems imperative. As we still lack any actionable intelligence on Alpha’s biology, source or motivation, we decide to launch another expeditionary mission.

Before we get there, we have to deal with another surface incident. One of our geologists is found murdered, and the investigation concludes that another geologist by the name of Akdorf had been the killer. The Akdorf character had bribed one of our soldiers into letting him access the Chasm, where he promptly infected himself with something contagious. He murdered his colleague after he was found out. The team quickly puts the pieces together and reveals Akdorf’s infection under interrogation. Specialist Manuel repeatedly suggested torture, but Captain Lane remains adamant about not harming the prisoner. We send him to the lab for the doctors. They tell us that the infection is related to species Alpha, and that Akdorf is beyond hope. We task them with extracting as much research from him as possible, and to ease his passing with morphium. Our decision to focus on the containment of species Alpha was obviously not misplaced.

From our monthly funds, we ask for support by a professional public relations manager, to handle our standing with the local community. Col. Conley grants our request and also assigns a team of pioneers to support our exploration. They start installing rappels, ladders and winches throughout the main route into the deep, and we establish a forward base, designated Camp Badger, about 5 hours in.

From there, the captain and the sergeant once more lead the team into the unknown. We plan to venture beyond the cavern with the ponds and the snake monstrosity, and the captain wisely plans ahead to remove that danger once and for all. Allegations of a desire for personal revenge by certain members of the civilian team are dismissed by the determined military professionals. Using a couple a claymore mines, the captain daringly poses himself as human bait to lure the creature out. It is summarily defeated. Certain dental samples are taken for later scientific research. Traveling through a couple of strange underground locations, including a large cavern filled with thousands of bones, the team finally encounters yet another unknown species.

A caravan of about four dozen humanoid, furry creatures (designation Rho) with large eyes and floppy ears makes camp for rest. Brandishing primitive spears, they seem unsurprised to encounter the team, and while not speaking our language, clearly indicate to us that we could proceed into their camp if we dropped our weapons. Dr. Greenford takes half the team into the camp. The guards seem to have no trouble identifying our weaponry as such, although it must be centuries beyond their technology. Greenford is lead to the leader of the caravan, a tall humanoid of yet another alien species (designation Chi), which the Rho species seems to serve. The leader is brought a box from which he takes a prism-like crystal device. He signals for the team to hold it to their foreheads. Dr. Greenford and the others comply, and via an unknown effect are suddenly able to speak a common language with the caravan leader. He turns out to be a trader, both in wares as in information. He clearly evaluates every bit of information he gives and refuses all attempts at small talk. What he agrees to reveal without a countertrade is that he and his caravan travel the cavern system trading. He has had contact with humankind before, but refuses to tell with what nationality or where. He seems interested in our reports of species Alpha. After a while, he offers information on species Alpha and other aspects of the underground world in trade for information on how big our expeditionary force is, and in which direction and at what distance our access to the underground world lies. After a debate with the rest of the team, we conclude that we cannot give away such potentially dangerous tactical knowledge to an unknown faction. The trader basically refuses to talk further unless his proposal is accepted, and the talks almost come to an end there. Dr. Greenford asks for the price of the translation crystal, since the team considers this completely unknown technology to be highly interesting. After some deliberation, the trader names a bar of gold and a bar of platinum as the price. Not having such payment at hand, the team has to decline the trade. Talks end here, and the team reassembles outside the caravan camp. Simple trials are conducted to find out whether Dr. Greenford have actually learned the foreign language, but the effect turns out to be working somehow differently. Simple phrases being taught to members of the team that have not been exposed to the device are unintelligeble when repeated. Also, the effect wears out after a while. The team returns to Camp Squirrel to rest.

From there, an attempt is made to follow the trace of the species Alpha specimens that had retreated from here earlier. After exploring deeper into the caves than before, the team encounters a group of critters lurking underneath one of the gnat creatures. It is then that we learn another trick up the enemy’s sleeve, this one with the potential to render our only technological advantage, ranged firepower, completely useless. It seems the gnat creature can create a bubble of space that effectively blocks any high-velocity objects and cancels out their forward momentum. How this effect works is nothing but conjecture, but we recall that in our briefing, it was mentioned that the laws of physics as we know them don’t necessarily apply in the EPZ. Our attempts to take out the gnat creature and its supporting critters are thwarted, and again the team has to retreat to avoid permanent casualties. While retreating, the team discovers yet another hitherto unknown alien type. A creature that seems to be able to spawn the membrane that was encountered before, and from that membrane bring forth the dog type of critter. While the team struggles to defend against that two-fronted assault, the new creature type seemingly vanishes right into the membrane. The tactical possibilites of this ability, if observed correctly, are highly worrisome. The enemy seems to have a way of getting behind already secured lines and bring in support at potentially any time.

Back at the base, Sergeant Lombardi comes up with a plan. Based on the physical effects observed when throwing grenades and flares at the gnat, he proposes to use a flamethrower to shower the creature in liquid fire from above the sphere of effect. The burning liquid would, upon entering the sphere, simply sink down vertically, ideally igniting the creature. The team agrees to go with that plan.

Before we get the opportunity to set out on that mission, an event on the surface again holds us up and demonstrates the danger and versatility of species Alpha. One of the staff is found dead in a facility room, their throat and esophagus having been penetrated from the mouth downwards, causing death by suffocation. To our surprise we learn that the deceased staff member has just been seen traveling towards the surface in an elevator, and leaves the topside facility with a colleague before we can stop them. The team theorizes that we are dealing with some sort of body-cloning or shapeshifting parasite. We follow the departed staff into the local town, finding the colleague killed by the roadside. The enemy is encountered inside a shop, and when not responding to communication attempts or orders to surrender, has to be taken down with firearms in the parking lot. During the brief fight, it attacks with tentacle-like appendages from the head area. Our clone theory seems to be somewhat correct. The team retreats with the corpse hastily, while local law enforcement pursues. The newly arrived PR manager is tasked with dealing with the situation.

The team quickly prepares for the final combat mission. A flamethrower, several claymore mines and an assortment of grenades are being taken along. Most of the team also gears up with any armor available. Upon returning back to the chambers where the enemy was engaged last, the team has to advance slowly through enemy skirmishers and more of the spitting-type specimens. The ground is covered in some strange sort of webbing, reminding the team of a yet unencountered alien type that Col. Conley had briefed us about: Some sort of humanoid/spider hybrid. The team unfortunately encounters none of them during this mission, but burns away the webbing with the flamethrower. We are hard pressed to finally approach the gnat creature and apply the flamethrower tactics Sergeant Lombardi had developed. Dog critters, acid spitters and even a number of the hulking brute creatures throw themselves at the team relentlessly. Slowly but steadily, the team fights back. The gnat it is forced to retreat, and eventually succumbs to the fire and heat. To our great dismay, we are unable to locate anything specific that justifies this massive enemy presence and resistance. No nest, no breeding specimen, no sort of origin for species Alpha lies beyond the battlefield. A short exploration into the ongoing tunnel system reveal nothing out of the ordinary, the narrowing corridor even contradicts the theory that the enemy came from further down the tunnels. The team is nevertheless satisfied with their victory, but given the heavy toll the battle has taken, returns to the surface.

End of report.