tencandles

Strike Team Antares

Alex Ward

Oct 6, 2023 • 2 min read

It was just past midnight when the call came in, a regular occurrence on the "bone shift". Established nearly a year after the collapse, Strike Team Antares is a small group of 30 individuals - the elite. Those few who could both survive the horrors of the eternal night, and lead others to safety. Each one of you has been through hell, and survived. But not just survived - acted as a light in the darkness for those who might follow. Dispatched in small groups known as "talons" you venture into the dark places and retrieve that which was lost.

The truth is, we've been on the defensive ever since the Noctal Event swept the entire planet into darkness. We know the day-night cycle is intact, and the sun is still out there but, no light of the visible spectrum makes it down from the sun. It's as if there is a dark sheet blanketing the planet that just appeared one day with no warning. Within days of that event, they appeared. Casualties were in the hundreds of thousands within weeks. What's left of the government has holed up in what's left of Andrews Air Base - fortfied with the strongest lights and generators we can muster.

It's from here that Strike Team Antares is dispatched, and today it's no different. Your talon has been given the order to head south, towards Atlanta - to the underground portion of the Center for Disease Control. You are to retrieve a Dr. Glaston, their research, and a small case which they are protecting. The shocking part of this order is that until this moment, you'd been told that Atlanta was completely overrun, with no government presence whatsoever. The instructions note that building itself is rubble, but there is a secret entry point through the sewer system. There is no clear landing zone within 5 miles, so you'll have to land and head in. The helicopter is an acceptable loss - there will be another means of extraction.

Suit up and head out.

Notes: This is similar to A Call for Aid in that a team of individuals is heading into a dangerous place to accomplish a mission - broadly in the "adventure horror" genre. For this one, you can have this go south in any number of ways, but it's very likely that not only is the Helicopter expendable - the characters likely are too. Probably also the scientist. What's in the case? And so on. It's all left deliberately vague so the GM and players have options for what, exactly, the serum is. Perhaps it's a bioweapon that targets people?

Areas of Note: Andrews Air Base, Atlanta Landing Zone, Sewer System, Underground Laboratory, Hidden Tunnel, Extraction Zone

Goal: Fly to Atlanta, Cross Them-Infested landscape to the secret lab under the CDC, rescue Dr. Glaston, their research, and a mysterious case - and reach the extraction zone.