Odd story found in rural area. Handwritten notes and xeroxed paper tied together into a crude codex read as follows.
Day -3.
“Quick summary. We’ve confirmed that the calls for help weren’t pranks. Satellite imaging shows us that the crater is real and that it has had an effect on the surrounding area. A strange shift in color in the trees and grass. A thick fog over the crater. Will forward to administrator.” Paper stamped and signed. Stamp seems to depict a thick eel like creature. Initials are G. H.
Day -1.
“Operation planned and underway. Our people in the area have gathered what they could. Hazmat team will arrive early tomorrow. Reports of abnormal activity from wildlife. Object in crater causing strange mist. Disposal of field personnel ASAP. Will forward to administrator.” G. H.
Day 2.
“Oxygen tanks sufficient. More en route. Object in crater has been extracted and quarantined. Mist not subsiding. Field tests confirm offworld origin. Tunnel network under upper crust crater layer suggests exploratory species. Two T-3 arsenal crates opened. Underground team will breach ASAP. Geo activity readings attached. Forward to administrator and DPEK untit.” G. H.
Day 5.
“G. H. quarantined. DPEK equipment unable to get reliable readings. Tunnel network seems to shift every 3 hours. Topside changes frequent. Crystallized foliage disrupting electronics as expected. Tier 2 reaching tier 3 within days. Mist not subsiding. Hazmat insufficient. Local population sedated, awaiting transport.” M. G.
Day 6.
“The trees spoke to me and I saw the color of envy at the peak mound under deep underground ocean passage lift granted my wish now all will discover fervent rapture only before known to gods alive trusting beneath deep deep deep deep deep deep…” etc. etc. Many pages with the word deep repeating over and over. Small shards of glittering crystals on some of the pages. No signature.
Day 9.
“Quarantine facility roof breached. Crater object emitting light and mist. Suggest tier 6 hazard containment. Evac at location 3N.” T. M.
“HA! They just don’t learn, do they? Sitting in their bunkers, thinking they can solve it. You know what I mean, Janet? No, you don’t. Because you wouldn’t listen! A walking husk. That’s what you are now. Serves you right. HA!” Signed Aeron Master Power. Doodle of a “gray” alien next to the name. This is a joke, right?
Various other loose notes litter the codex. Ramblings. Plenty of tiny crystals somehow embedded in the paper.
The mist comes and goes. The tunnels are a mystery. And what about the meteor? It is a meteor, right?
What could it all mean?
Oily spoilies. Just more ideas. No looking unless this is something you’d like to work on implementing.
The meteor (or what’s left of it in the field quarantine vehicle (FQV)/mobile lab) is a large unusual looking rock which passively drains batteries. Using lab equipment on it will allow you to remove pieces so you can carry them around with you. Pieces will not passively drain batteries. The pieces are dangerous in that they attract lightning during storms. BZZA-POW! A piece struck with lightning will make it shine. Shining pieces emit light and will cause you to mutate more and more over time.
The mist! Plumes of the stuff come out of the crater hole every so often. It creeps all over the place and is most likely affected by weather. Imagine that.
The mist and wildlife. Zombies too of course. Corruption! Hostile creatures with crystal shards sticking out of them. Pretty dangerous.
The mist and nature. Everything has a purple hue now and is very brittle. Noisy crackling bushes and tall grass. Don’t cut yourself. Trees shatter if hit and will shoot crystal debris all over the place. Ow! Oh yeah. Don’t drink the purple water. That crystal gut action will MESS YOU UP.
The goal of topside exploration should be avoiding the mist (because you obviously don’t want to become a crystal man) and gathering enough field-modded specialist DPEK gear to survive the mist indefinitely. Regular DPEK gear (just a full set of enviro-armor) is ok but won’t keep you completely safe from the mist. Plenty of armor/gear modding recipes to be found. Crystal weapons too of course.
The tunnels! That special kind of crazy. Organic alien tunnels. They move around! Crazy, dude. Man. Whoa. Whooooa! Loot and wonders to be found. Aeron Master Power made it down there too, man. He’s been leaving those crafting recipes behind. Research notes. He knew this was going to happen, man. He got beamed up when he was young and now he just knows, dude! WHOOOOA! But he needs your help in the tunnels, man. He’s something of a pacifist, dig? No, really. Do you dig? He’ll tell you about the changes in the tunnels and ask you to dig into a certain spot to get him what he needs to make something special. Plenty of possibilities. He also teaches you about the secrets of the mist. Breathing it in isn’t all bad as long as you have the supplies to keep you from going crystal crazy. You can talk to nature, man! It also makes you really, really high. Really groovy, dude. Whoa.
Something like that.
I don’t understand the code enough to implement this idea yet sadly; even so, I wanted to say this idea is incredibly cool and i’d play a whole entire game just centered around this mist stuff and mr not!alien and talking to trees because i’m high on the grape-juice flavored water-air. Imagine humidity in affected places.
