June 13, 2026

Hook

Explore the base and find a weird city

Plot Synopsis

Creature has not bled yet
Figure on dock is wrapped in a non-nullcorp giant puffy coat
Time: Late afternoon
Standing there looking at our lifeboat (in a normal way)
Hint of beard, they look tall-ish
Giant eye was not looking at Raye

FULL INVENTORY
Character-specific supplies
2 full backpacks of tinned fish
Several unlabelled brown bottles of cloudy liquid
Smells like lime (fruit [or stone whatever you want ig])
Anti-scurvy drink probably
Lovecraft? He was doing nothing of the sort.
Goin’ to the dock
Stepping onto dock makes it get colder (chilling your soul cold)
You feel… bad…
Something more than normal cold, something weird is going on and making it colder, penetrating cold protection, not normal cold
Dock is squishy/fleshy
Stomping on dock now dock is normal
Maris’ hands start shaking (muscle spasm) as she floats over the dock
Leon gets a tightness in his chest, breathing in causes it to disappear
Chest is sore in the aftermath
As Inara steps onto the dock, it feels like she is hit by something in the chest
Guy in the coat reveals his face to be an oldish elf man
Name: Anton
So far: Mostly just weirdness, reactor issues
Didn’t seem to see us, but saw the boat on sensors. Hasn’t yet seen THE THING
We go to base
There is a shed, there is a snowmobile in the shed
Raye continues to see the eye
Anton recognizes Maris
When asked what he is studying, he changes the subject
Research base is not all the way up the mountain, nestled into the side
It’s colder than usual, we should “Ask Kushtau about it”
The base steps look quite old
Inside is slightly warmer
Anton takes us to the main area, Natasha is there.
They have a submarine?
THE SITUATION
They’ve been noticing weird things going on
Evidence of creatures moving through the base
There is a bottom layer to the base that is shut off
Goes pretty deep
Reactor is draining much faster than it should
Fuel rods look a year and a half older than they should be
There’s a weird flash from a nearby table and Null appears
Null goes to do stuff
Rest of the base is similarly cold
We hear footsteps on our way to the reactor, run into Rylee
I FOUND A WAY INTO THE CITY
Found a cave that leads into the city
Remains of a Cleemadore society, hunter gatherer types
Rylee thinks there was an even older society there before them
Minimum 50 thousand years old
Passage seems to have evidence of stonework
Heard noises and so turned back
One part clattering one part slapping flesh
Research base seems like it was not meant to last as long as it has
The deeper you go the older it begins to look
But also more permanent
Anton, Raye, and Null go check out the reactor
Null knows more than she is letting on, but is keeping mum about it
Warning lines around the reactor
Turn off the reactor
The reactor area is sort of misty / foggy
You haven’t looked at this reactor in the past 10 years?
Made changes to the reactor a few months ago to try to fix to the fog
Reactor glows, gets brighter, then dims to a steady state
Seems to be normal
Exit reactor

Head back to main area
Hear yelling on the way up
Natasha and others?
Others sound vaguely like Null
Anton doesn’t know what’s going on
“I do not know who your Donald Trump is!”
The Maga conservatives are here
One of them is painted orange, nothing physically wrong though
Trump Mobile doesn’t have coverage in Jaern/Cayhali
Commits a microaggression against Natashya
“She’ll take the Baja Blast, it’s the only thing that reminds her of home”
Y’all must be some of them liberals
MAGA conservatives have twisted souls
Don’t feed the fascists
Mary Grace McKinsley and Jeff McKinsley

Etherealness still doesn’t work
This facility used to be a military base
Has been a research facility for 10-20 years at this point
Some arrangement with the Pthoran government
Truth detecty spell interfered by the shit happening, Maris receives 1 million gongs
We are reaching the limits of Anton’s knowledge (Probably a lie), there used to be a research base before the military base, super duper redacted to the point that they don’t know about it, and they don’t know what they were studying
There was some project going on pre-military base, minimum 50 years ago
Project had a weird name
That’s what is in the tunnels below
Cleared the place out before it became a military base, unlikely to find anything.
There is something other than lichen that is growing in the tunnels
Unethical grilling for information continues
Null is repeatedly bonked in an attempt to subdue
The blood is frozen when null casts Blood Spike

Heading to the city
Outside feels somehow even colder
Arrive at the forward base
Enter tunnel to city, cramped but not terribly so, easy enough to fit
Weird hole, worked stone, don’t hear anything from up ahead
Surprisingly good condition for a city in a mountain, though only stone remains
Giant mural on a nearby wall
In the center is a large indistinct figure
Very round, round shape to it
Eroded away or rubbed away by something
Likely a leader or important religious figure
Lizard figures travelling towards the figure in the center
Other side has gaunt humanoid figures walking away from the center that don’t seem to have faces
Instead have runes where their faces should be and another marking on their chest
Sea animals along the bottom, clouds along the top, seems like something is coming from the gaunt figures and going towards the larger figure
Not quite a face on the larger figure, but it seems to have a head potentially
The priests in the party get a weird sensation looking at the mural
Sense of awe or connecting with a higher power is present in the mural
Hear a clattering in the distance
As it approaches, the lantern begins to dim
As it gets even closer we begin to hear a leathery scraping, like a bag being dragged across stone
Clawed leathery arm reaches into the light from a different direction than the sound

Noteworthy Postgame Events