Dark_RP

The three agents left the boardroom having just finishing a briefing of Project Supervisor Conrad on their recent recovery of stolen artefacts from a small group of shape shifters, the forth member catches up with them having been examined by Dr Vald and his progenitors for the past 24hrs. Zukov left the group to go and conduct some detailed analysis of the morphing artefact recovered whilst the others began preparations to interrogate the captured lupine shape shifters, one sedated in human form and a second in a dire wolf form still frozen in ice although separated from the Hit-Mark with which it was frozen. After much preparation of metal scanning devices, physical restraints (including the presence of a void engineer operative Radavan Kosmovich an ex-cosmonaut who scanned the area for dimensional anomalies) and biological manipulation of the subject interrogation on the deviant in human form was ready to start. Paralysed from the neck down and tripping on a cocktail of progenitor drugs the interrogation of subject R56 began with a shot to clear the sedative from his system. Subject R56 is a large man almost oversized, he has light brown shaggy hair that falls across his face, and was brought in wearing a large brown trench coat over a black T shirt and jeans. R56 begins to regain consciousness even as the agents begin to probe his subconscious, taking advantage of the creatures befuddled state and suggestibility agent Hurst takes the part of one of his pack mates blurring the lines of reality in the subjects head whilst constantly scanning the surface thoughts. The subject was in a heightened state of confusion and with the careful application of pain amplifiers and friendly questioning he began to divulge information. Seemingly himself and his other pack mates had been attempting to investigate the destruction of a large section of forest near a sacred werewolf site when they were contacted through the Internet by a man calling himself "The 5th Star". The 5th Star promised that he and his associates would help restore the polluted forest wasteland in exchange for their pack committing an act of robbery against those who probably caused the destruction anyway. As a token of his power "The 5th star had the forest directly around the sacred site restored to its former glory. The pack agreed to do this task for the 5th Star and using a virus created by the 5th Star they broke into the Retreat and stole several items however only the morphing artefact was of real interest to the 5th Star.



Meanwhile whilst the interrogation drew to a close Zukov analysed the morphing artefact draining its primal energy and attempting to make it return to its natural state. After much manipulation and scanning the artefact did briefly revert to a stone tablet etched with nonsensical and esoteric Egyptian hieroglyphs and ancient Greek script. Intrigued, as much as a machine can be Zukov placed the artefact in stasis and resolved to find out where the item had come from.



Post interrogation the amalgam reformed briefly in the canteen to discuss their findings before agent Hurst and agent Zukov disappeared to secretly investigation their classified lead on the vehicle seen outside the gates of the retreat during the break in which had since been traced back to EasyCar Russia in Moscow. On the way there Zukov queried the machine device retrieved in the terrorist clean up mission, asking the device to find information on references to a 5th star. The device replied that the closest match given the parameters was intelligence recovered from a Russian tradition chantry about a cabal of seven stars. The two agents found the car hire office open and a single attendant at the desk. After some talk of data protection, confidentiality, feeding families and overpriced coffee the attendant willing allow Zukov to have a copy of the drivers license used to hire the vehicle (with a blurred picture) and access to the car its self which had been return just that morning by two gentlemen who seemed quite nice and friendly although obviously not Russian. Hurst hacked the low tech security system and managed to retrieve CCTV footage of two men returning the car one with darker skin and the other with lighter however, in every frame of the recording the faces of the two men were blurred. The sweeping of the car with various sensors turned up nothing no trace of DNA or traceable material. Heading back to the UMC facility they tried calling the company "Sultan Engineering" that Mr Rosco (the name on the license) worked for. The receptionist that answered did not know the name "Mr Rosco" and insisted that they had the wrong number, deciding that it must be a cover they tried the mobile number which rang through to a young man who had only purchased the phone this morning from the market. Taking a diversion Hurst and Zukov went to the market but again solid evidence was lacking all CCTV footage seemed corrupt with their faces blurred and the stall owner only vaguely remembered the man that sold the phone to him. They then decide that the best course of investigation is to find the source of the artefact which was missing from the original inventory of the retreat. Driving out north into the mountains and forest they were welcomed by agent Sergius who took them to a computer with access to the inventory database. Hurst set his team of experts on the job and quickly they found what was possibly the items entry in the database however, the entry was locked and encrypted at a very high security level after deliberating over what to reveal to their superiors Zukov and Hurst decided to directly ask Conrad for clearance as part of the follow up investigation, unfortunately even Conrad did not have clearance to access the data, only a member of the symposium could unlock the file. Zukov ask for a request to be put into the symposium for clearance and a meeting to discuss the artefact.

Returning to the UMC a request for paperwork was waiting from Boris in requisitions, Zukov put in a report criticizing Boris for his drunken behaviour. Having been awake for 36 hours the agents went to get some RnR and Sleep. As agent Hurst got into bed he found a neatly folded note. The next day or so was routine work, agent Hurst reported to Dr Vlad for a full medical scan and check up, secretly planting a bug in the lab whilst Vlad had his back turned. Volyova also wandered down to the progenitor labs to get some medical attention. Hurst later sent an ad into the evening Moscow Times Paper about "Serge Lennon". Meanwhile Zukov begins to feel the pressure and paranoia of going rouge and decides to implement and deploy some surveillance nanotechnology to watch his fellow agents.

Project supervisor Conrad summons the amalgam together in the boardroom, its mid morning and breakfast, coffee and vodka is spread out on the large black glassy table. After some small talk and the request that Oleg get more experience in the field after being away for awhile on training courses he gets to the point, a UMC oil drilling platform off the northern coast near the town of Kyr has had to be closed down. The staff have gone on strike complaining that the platform is unsafe, we have already done a mundane health and safety inspection which although shows a relatively high accident rate and large amount of maintenance work for a platform of this age it all seems fine. There are many rumours of supernatural events on the platform mainly spread by a few employees resident in the town of Kyr. We want you to investigate the situation find out if there is anything to these complaints and rumours, Mickheil has the helicopter waiting for you on the roof.



The helicopter flies out in bad weather which only gets worse as they travel North, Zukov looks slightly uncomfortable at one point during the flight (though not from the weather, more from a data dump by the machine conduit). On the way Hurst connects to the UMC database and pulls up information about the platform, finding news articles about the shut down but all with cover stories about equipment malfunction and storms. it also seems the platform was refitted about four years ago and an entire new staff brought in to work the platform, there is no information about the platform before that even though its 30 years old. During the refit a low level union control AI was installed to monitor operation and interface with UMC HQ without revealing itself to the men aboard. A full storm is raging as the black ops helicopter approaches Kyr, were agent Hurst is dropped off to question the employees. Whilst the rest of the amalgam flies straight out to sea and to the platform itself.

Agent Hurst finds himself in a modern town with a relatively good economy, many boats and ships moored in the harbour including a large oil supertanker. The streets are clean and wide, laid out in a grid around a central square where a complex of Porta-cabin offices have been set up as the temporary site for the platforms operations and staff. Meeting with the platform supervisor, Hurst request several of the men be brought in for interviewing namely those who are most concerned about supernatural incidents. Each selected employee is brought to the office that has been given to Hurst and each has a story to tell of weird events aboard the platform:

“I was down in the shaft making repairs when I heard static on my radio, I radioed up but no one was trying to call me. Anyway I carried on doing what I was doing when the static came over the radio again, louder this time in what sounded like a whispering scream. I thought I must just be picking up some offshore pirate radio station or something. Anyway a little later the static came over the radio again a clear voice could be heard this time saying my name and telling me to get out the shaft or I would die. It shit me right up, so went up topside for a break to calm down and check to see if one of the guys was playing a joke. Anyway whilst I was having a break something struck the section of the shaft I was working on and the broke the seals flooding that section.”

“I’ve seen strange shadows on the deep sea radar and imaging arrays, too big to be any kind of fish or sea creature other than something like a whale, but we don’t get whales around here! And this was snake like...”

“My work comrade and I was installing some new wiring for the drills. Anyway we both double checked the power and all the cables were dead, so we begin cutting out the old wires and cables suddenly my comrade he gets 1050 volts through him, dies almost instantly. I’ve search and search for how that happened but I can find the cause, those cables should not have been live.”

“Many workers have been caught sleepwalking and ranting occult scripture in their sleep but this one night we found one of the guys sleepwalking with two of the flare guns. He shot his best mate with one then himself with the other. Both survived with sever burns but he swears he has no memory of the incident.”
“I was in the control room late one night, the grave yard shift, all the drills were offline so not much to do but watch TV. Then weirdness started happening, the Tv lost its signal and faces appeared in the static, then as I looked up green mould was spreading across the wall at an alarming rate, roots started to grow out of the floor wrapping around everything I tried to run for the door but tripped and banged my head. Don’t remember much after than, next thing I new I was in the infirmary.”



Whilst the interview continued the rest of the amalgam landed on the platform, a standard looking oil drilling platform with multiple open decks and several shafts straight down into the ocean as well as a burning flame at the top of the pumping tower. As the helicopter comes into landing a crackly voice comes over the radio headsets:

“Message from passive platform control system AI EARL: welcome UMC agents: I am here to serve”

The agents split into too groups only passively acknowledging the AI system, agents Krenyenko and Oleg go investigate one deck whilst Zukov and Volyova go investigate another deck. Krenyenko using a PK EMF meter (which has been monitoring a low level of activity since arriving on the platform) start by investigating the Machine room filled with heavy duty equipment, including diving pods and spare parts, as they enter the rooms a drop in temperature and a slight increase in EMF output. As they move through to the workshops faint almost subsonic whispering and throbbing starts. In the centre of one of the workshops stands and large (5 meter diameter) drill undergoing repairs, as Kreyenko and Oleg approach the drill the PK meter jumps several points. They continue through to the offices and the throbbing becomes louder and more irregular. Zukov and Volyova begin their investigation in the storage lockers filed with driving equipment and general supplies, again they feel the drop in temperature and the low audio frequencies. Making their way through the barracks and control rooms they finally converge at the main drill shaft in the centre on the platform with Krenyenko and Oleg and also agent Hurst who has flown across to the platform after interviewing the various staff. Zukov opens the airlock into the shaft and with out a word to the others leaps into the shaft.