Survey Mission 6C Location: Centralia, PA (United States) Images:: x, x, x General debriefing: A mine fire has been burning underneath Centralia, PA since 1962. The town is now a ghost town, and FEAR monitoring at the site has spiked. You are being dispatched to investigate a possible source of the disturbance.
There are still five to ten living human residents of Centralia, but they have been deemed a non-issue. Civilian clothing recommended but not enforced. * C class difficulty level (must have a team of three, at least one of them must be an intermediate trainee)
MECHANICS
* MECHANICS: RP assembling a team, as necessary, before heading towards the Lighthouse portal to request a portal to Survey Mission 6C. Once there, roll a 100-sided dice and match the roleplay to the results below, as well as any reactions. Players can continue rolling until any of the players roll a BOSS ENCOUNTER, in which case the BATTLE PHASE begins. See below for battle phase mechanics. 1 - 20: While investigating a fissure in the concrete that is emitting a steady stream of smoke (although it has no smell, making it seem more like fog), you realize you are being watched by a skinny old woman on the sidewalk, in bare feet and wearing a bathrobe. She stares at you, retrieves mail from a mailbox, and then crosses the street to enter a ramshackle home you'd taken to be abandoned, all the while muttering something about "damn trespassing tourists." If you choose to pursue the matter:
The stretch of tarmac she walked across is scorching, blistering hot. If you knock on the door of the house you receive no answer. A quick glance through the windows reveals nothing but scattered debris.
21 - 40: You find one of the town's many enormous sinkholes, clouded with smoke and smelling noxious. From the corner of your eye you see a black shape scuttling across the rim, but by the time you turn to see what it is it has disappeared down into the hole. 41 - 60: The town is in a haze of mist or fog or perhaps low-lying smoke. A mangy feral dog half-lopes, half-limps down the street before disappearing into the rubble of an overgrown lot. If you follow it, you find that it has left charred pawprints that smoke where they pass through the brittle grass. 61 - 70: You find a smoking fissure in the earth, and inadvertently inhale a lungful. You are immediately beset by painful, terrifying hallucinations of twisted faces and the sensation that your skin or internal organs are on fire, burning abruptly and uncontrollably. The illusion is utterly realistic but fortunately short-lived: it passes within five or ten seconds. 71 - 80: Jokesters leave ominous graffiti all over Centralia--"HELP" and "I've Fallen In" next to deep crevices in old roadways--and so it is easy to ignore it. A particular neon green patch of it, however, is scored through again and again (straight through concrete) until it has been almost entirely defaced, and a shredded spray paint can lies nearby. A large streak of neon green paint runs from the ruined graffiti to the lip of a particularly dangerous-looking fissure. 81- 100: BOSS ENCOUNTER: - You spy what appears to be an explorer or perhaps a resident: a young man of perhaps twenty in hipster glasses, smoking a cigarette and gazing down into a sinkhole. He looks up at you and smiles as the earth crumbles beneath his feet, sending him plunging down. You see him take a calm drag before he's swallowed up. Barely a second passes before a great crawling shape heaves itself out of the sinkhole: a charred black being perhaps ten feet tall with a fiery gleam in the cracks of its joints, accompanied by little skittering, emberlike shapes that immediately launch themselves in your direction. It opens its glowing red mouth to roar at you, belching smoke and steam and the smell of sulfur.
- BOSS MECHANICS: This boss is a mob with a collective 100 HP. Every time you attack it (following the general battle rules), you TAKE 8 damage. You will need to deal with both the main monster and also the smaller living embers flanking it, although the latter can actually be stomped out as though they were cigarette butts, if they're in reach. Make sure to tally the boss's total HP (the damage you did to it) at the bottom of your post as well as your total HP and the damage you did that round. If the boss's HP hits 0, you have defeated it, and your team can now take the portal back.
* 2 mission reward points for completing this successfully
It had been a long while since the last time Gretchen had been sent out on a mission, and really, she'd have been happy with a longer reprieve. The memories of that first mission still lingered. How poorly it'd gone, how useless she'd been to the rest of her team. Devika was still giving her grief, this long after the fact, and she suspected the naga would continue to do so until her partner managed to do something impressive enough to prove she wasn't a waist of a white coat.
Well, Gretchen would have liked that, and she was certainly eager to prove herself, but she was still nervous as she headed up to the hill to the lighthouse.
Nervous and cold. There was still snow on the island, and there was a good chance that there'd be snow wherever it was they were heading. The trainee had her coat buttoned up tight, scarf wrapped up over her nose and mouth, and instead of shorts, she was wearing a thicker pair of jeans that hid her prosthetic leg, save for the odd way the denim fell around the bar that made up her left shin.
moonkitsune
miliardo kason
Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 1:52 pm
Roland hadn't been on an EM since he was deployed to Russia, it seemed to be a thing, going to Russia to work off base. Recently the weather saw it fit to dump more snow on the island then he'd ever seen. All of it lead to people getting stir crazy from being cooped up in their rooms or dealing with the snow. For himself he stuck to the labs and reading on rune carving. He was due for another dive but the water was far to cold for him to consider that. Never mind Sylvia seemed terified of the idea again.
With that in mind he was relieved to get the message telling him to report for assigment at the lighthouse. He grabbed his gear stuffing a runic dagger into his belt rather then his boots, the usual slim long boots where replaced with thicker heavy snow boots that had a soft lining that didn't hold his dagger. Jacket buttoned, scarf wrapped around his neck and trailing down his back he started out into the snow towards the light house.
Even as he walked he brought up the mission on his phone flipping through. A town in PA, constantly burning, more FEAR spikes. What was interesting was this mission wasn't solo. Gretchen? Melvin... He'd heard, weird things about Melvin, the guy was a bit odd to begin with but the rumors welllllll. He decided to ignore that for the time being.
Finally at the portal he looked around spotting a girl standing about as well, "Gretchen I assume?" He shuffled through the snow offering her a hand, gloved, but fingerless even in the cold. "I'm Roland, we're on the same mission it seems today.
Miliardo Kason
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MoonKitsune
Romantic Exhibitionist
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Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2016 3:31 pm
He hadn't been on a External Mission in some time, but he felt rusty and out of practice. Being in the labs all day even made him restless after a while, so he signed up to get off the island.
Part of him had been hoping for Russia, but the call had been for Pennsylvania. Dressing warm as always, he had a dull yellow sweater on (not one of his favorites as he didn't know if it would get ruined), jeans, and boots on along with a thick coat and scarf.
Walking to the portal, he noticed the other two there. He wasn't all that familiar with Gretchen, and didn't really know Roland that much either.
"Morning." He said, making his way over. "Melvin Wood. I'm guessing you're Mrs. Howard and Mr. Taft?"
Beejoux
Miliardo Kason
Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 3:29 pm
Trudging feet meant the rest of her party was approaching. Gretchen turned so she'd be ready to greet them, smile already affixed to full lips as the first of their band of merry men came into view. "Howdy." She took his offered hand, shaking firmly before letting go. "Yessir, that's me. It's a pleasure to meet you."
She looked up as another hunter joined them, smiling at him as well before giving a small shake of her head. "Just Gretchen is fine, or even Gretch. Mrs. Howard was my mother." And to her, that was quite the witty little joke.
She flashed the both of them a grin before twitching her head towards the door to the light house. "Probably warmer in there. I'll admit I'm not all that familiar with missions, only been on one."
miliardo kason
moonkitsune
Beejoux
Wrathful Demigod
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Miliardo Kason
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Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2016 5:21 pm
"You know me Melvin, we've done some training. It's been a while. Just call me Ro," the same was of course extended to Gretchen as well. Hand shakes done he stuffed his own into his coat pockets glancing towards the portal.
"Doubt it'll be warmer really, even if the towns on fire under ground, we'll mostly be above ground. Shields do wonders, but they can't keep us from frying up under extended exposure like that." He paused a bit, "I just really hope its not snowing on the other side."
Beejoux
Moon Kitsune
Posted: Fri Mar 11, 2016 5:32 am
"Right. It's been a while and I only tend to see full names during these reports for external missions. Sorry, Ro. It's nice to meet you, Gretchen."
He looked at his phone to refresh himself on the mission. "I've been a few. Just keep your eyes open for anything strange, trust your instincts, practice caution, and stay close to the group." He said, offering the things he learned during his times out.
Pocketing his phone, he smiled at them both. "So good to head out?"
Beejoux
Omg! I didn't even see any notifications. Sorry.
Miliardo Kason
MoonKitsune
Romantic Exhibitionist
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Beejoux
Wrathful Demigod
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 10:26 am
"I'm ready!" Hopefully she sounded more excited than nervous. Missions had a tendency of turning out poorly, or at least they had whens he'd been in attendance. She hoped it was a bunch of bad coincidences.
Another look to Melvin, and Gretchen headed into the lighthouse, not quite leading the way, but eager to get out of the snow. She wasn't sure she wanted to be the first man out of the portal on the other side, though. Maybe let one of the more seasoned hunters take point.
moonkitsune
miliardo kason
Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2016 6:03 pm
Roland only offered Melvin a shrug, "Don't worry about it, not a big deal most people call me Ro at this point so its practically my name."
Adding onto Melvin he looked at Gretchen, "This is a much, much smaller mission. The odds of things going really wrong are pretty low. It could get bad. But we're not talking like Horsemen of the Apocalypses attacking the island bad."
With that he turned towards the portal marching ahead of the group and into the glowing light.
Beejoux
MoonKitsune
Miliardo Kason
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MoonKitsune
Romantic Exhibitionist
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Posted: Sun Mar 13, 2016 8:24 am
"I like to err on the side of caution for any mission." He pointed out, following behind Ro into the portal and to the other side.
Centralia was dusted in snow, and he stood there, looking about on the misty grounds they were standing on. There was a smell of ash and smoke in the air that made him want to cover his nose.
"Well, Gretchen. Ro. Not exactly a homey town, is it?"
Beejoux
Miliardo Kason
Posted: Thu Mar 17, 2016 3:04 pm
Stepping out of the portal, Gretchen had to stop, a hand coming up to tug her scarf up over her nose and mouth to dull heavy scent of ash and burning things that hung heavy in the air. "Gosh, that's awful. What is that?" Certainly not a campfire, or a bonfire. It smelled so much worst, industrial.
Melvin was very right about the state of their surroundings. Hand lingering on her scarf, the trainee took a couple of steps away from the boys so she could get a proper look around them. The place looked, for lack of a better word, dead. it was cold, though not as cold as one might have expected. The trees all looked sparse at best, the road cracked and pockmarked, and there as a certain griminess that pervaded the nearby buildings that smoke of quite a few years of neglect. (Though it might have been the smoke hanging in the air.)
"So what're we lookin' for now?" She asked the other two, dark eyes lingering on a row of broken windows on the closest building.
moonkitsune
I have the worst luck and seem to hit boss early a lot
Like the others Roland was quick to adjust his scarf, grabbing at his own tied to his sleeve he took a moment to pull up his hair and wrap the scarf around the lower half of his face as he took in their surroundings.
"Cautions fine and all. But I doubt it'll be too bad. We monitor this area fairly often." Done with his scarf he started to move forward through the thin layer of snow.
"What we do now is look for whatever might be causing a ping on our radar. If this mission was listed then something must be lurking about again." Strolling forward he made his way to the closest fissure in the ground. Smoke billowing lazily out of it.
He leaned in for a closer look the smoke causing him to cough pulling in some of the ashen air before his lungs suddenly burst into flames. He was coughing hacking, smacking at his arms which felt as though they too, where burning. He'd almost stumbled his way back to the other two hunters before falling onto his back gasping for air he was sure he was going to-
And then it stopped. He could breath, he wasn't burning, he wasn't even ********.... Don't... don't breath any of that ash...."
Melvin moved over to Ro as he coughed, standing beside him and looking around for any sign of danger before looking down at him to assist him should he need to be brought back to the portal. When it seemed the coughing stopped, he could only be relieved. "Good advice. We should watch the cracks for any sudden pockets of gas and ash then."
Speaking off, he glanced down at where Ro had looked at the crack to see dulled out graffiti written in splattered font all over the road. "Seems some of the local kids had fun with their town's problems." He commented, walking to look at a few. Help. I've Fallen in. So Deep. No Escape. It was all rather grim if you thought about it too hard, but like any teen punk, they poked fun to help he guessed.
That was until he saw a green splatter of paint of some type of word that was now scratched out INTO the concrete. He would have assumed another crack or the weather, but this hadn't looked natural. Slowly walking, he followed the splatter to a gaping hole in the rode where the rocks leading down were stained green with the paint before the color went to black ash.
"Maybe....someone cried wolf?" He hoped not. "Or...uh, a elaborate joke?" He said, more hopeful.
"Watch your step, everyone." He said, moving back to them. He went to check back with Ro. "You doing ok?"
41 - 60: The town is in a haze of mist or fog or perhaps low-lying smoke. A mangy feral dog half-lopes, half-limps down the street before disappearing into the rubble of an overgrown lot. If you follow it, you find that it has left charred pawprints that smoke where they pass through the brittle grass.
They had started to investigate, spreading out a little bit to search the area. Of course, no sooner had Roland tried to be reassuring, then it seemed something had happened, because the Mist started coughing violently and smacking at his own arms as he stumbled away from a fissure in the ground and collapsed at their feet.
"Roland?" Gretchen dropped down to kneel beside him, a hand coming out to rest on his chest as the cough slowed and he finally lay still. Don't breath the ash. Well she hadn't intended to anyways, ut now she was definitely going to try to void it. "You alright?"
She glanced up as Melvin edged closer to the crack in the pavement, a cautioning word on her tongue, but he'd heard Roland's warning just as well as she had. Still, she was tense as she watched him, waiting for him to come back to their side. "Do people even still live here?" What kids in their right mind would dare come near this place? That was crazy.
To her, at least, a joke didn't seem likely, but she didn't say that. Instead she got slowly to her feet again to offer a hand down to Roland. They should probably keep moving.
Further down the street the fog seemed to thicken, laying heavy and hazy around them until visibility was low, and sounds seemed to muffle. It meant Gretchen didn't hear the dog before she saw it slink out of the gloom, limping along across the street towards a lot that looked like it held nothing but rubble. Frowning, lifted a hand to point it out to the other two, but paused as she noticed what it had left in it's wake. "That dog's feet were scorchin' into the pavement..." What the Hell?
Roland had made a very good decision in staying on the ground where he was. Though he was no longer in pain, burning, or disoriented it was nice to have the solid earth so close to him as he recovered from whatever just hit him. He'd watched as Melvin wandered away and nodded as he seemed to mumble on about practical jokes and crying wolf.
"I'm fine. Go with Gretchen I'll be up in a moment." Turning towards the girl in question he waved a hand. "I'm good, I think it was an illusion? Or maybe gas. Probably fear. What ever was in that smoke it felt like I was burning up from the insides."
Slowly he moved to get up trying to pull himself away from the smoke and ash of the near by crack but a breeze, one that seemed to move the opposite of the way the leaves on near by trees where blowing caught the gas pushing it over Roland again.
At once it took hold, his whole body boiling up inside as he started to cough again falling back to the ground. He was a bit more prepared this time but it still didn't help. He remained where he was coughing and hissing, his breath ragged and fast as he gasped for air his lungs couldn't tell was really there.
He watched with Gretchen as the dog walked by, answering their question if something lived here, and then the feet said otherwise. "I guess it's up to how you define 'living' on that one. Never saw a dog like that before." Mimipets didn't often look like real animals entirely, and the only way it gave itself away as something else were the pawprints.
The coughing started up again and Melvin walked back, moving back to Roland and kneeling down to pat his back. "I think leaving you behind isn't in anyone's interests at the moment." He pulled off his hunter scarf and offered it to him.
"Maybe it will help block some of the smoke for you?"
Survey Mission 6C
