Link to article: A Long Ways from Home.
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[[>]] [[module Rate]] [[/>]] **Transcript of briefing for Mission 453-07-01, Code name "Waypoint"** //Begin Transcript// Agent Walters, Agent Christensen, have a seat. You both are aware of the situation and have already had your operational, communications, and safety briefings, so I'll keep this short and make sure you both know what is going on. Both of you will be entering SCP-████ and use its anomalous effects to enter what are commonly referred to by non-Foundation groups as "Ways". Due to the nature of SCP-████, you will both be rendered unrecognizable as Foundation agents and will be able to safely enter "The Library". The bad news is, testing has shown that SCP-████ is a one way deal. Good news is, our teams have identified an exit point that lets out in Melbourne, Australia. We will have a team there to return you to this base when you need to exit. Don't worry, you'll get your bodies back. Both of you have received a copy of "Fahrenheit 451", simply open it up to page 47 and read what's written there. I have been told by our research team that you should not do this until you need to get out of there. When you are inside of the Library you are not to violently engage any entities, I repeat, //any// entities you meet in there. Period. Am I clear? Good, if you so much as think of being violent you will both be out of there faster than you can blink. You are simply there to try to get a grasp on how large this thing is and do general reconnaissance, you know the specifics of the mission plan. Audio recordings will be made daily by one of you giving us updates on the status of the mission and yourselves. Should either of you die on this mission, we have a recovery team ready to retrieve your logs and data. I'll be frank, gentlemen, this is the first time we've gone back in there for over a year since we lost all of Team Faraway. You are to stay safe, stay passive, and don't do anything that will give you or us away and make this mission a failure. Good luck gentlemen, you will both be the first members of team 453-07, code name "Surveyors". //End Transcript// **Audio log 10/21/████ - Agent Christensen, Call sign "Chaplain" - Location: Base ████████** Excited for this mission, first time working with Walker, little bit nervous. This guy wrote the book on anomalous reconnaissance. Praying I don't screw up on this. Also a tad worried by not having any immediate support or weapons. I guess we should be okay though. I got my hands on a video log from project Faraway, scary shit with the giant guys with lanterns and crap. Since this is supposed to be a passive mission we'll be fine, anyone trying to attack us will get the same treatment. On another note, Bill told me SCP-████ occasionally doesn't switch your mind and just your memories, though that's probably him messing with me. Anyways... gonna get a good night's rest before we head out tomorrow, Chaplain out. **Audio log 10/21/████ - Agent Walters, Call sign "Walker" - Location: Base ████████** This is agent Walters, call sign "Walker" reporting in. Date is 10/21/████, location is Base ████████. Thoughts on mission in 1600 hours: Jittery, as is becoming increasingly often. Reminder: See base doctor after mission about jitters. Thoughts on partner: Good, records indicate Agent Christensen call sign "Chaplain" has a solid record in anomalous reconnaissance. Prediction: Will not get in the way during mission, might be an asset if utilized correctly. Information received about SCP-████: ~12% chance of consciousness not switching. Thoughts: Probably should not tell Agent Christensen. Planned Actions: Will sleep at 1900 hours tonight. This is agent Walters, call sign "Walker", signing out. **Excerpt from Team Surveyor Records. Mission 453-07-1. Mission start.** > Researcher Reynolds: Walker, Chaplain, are you ready to proceed? > Walker: Ready when you are Reynolds > Reynolds: Roger dodger Walker, activating SCP in T-minus 1 minute. > Walker: Okay Chaplain, follow operating procedure, stay safe, and stick next to me. > Chaplain: Understood. > Walker: Good, when we go through, just stay calm, bad things happen to people who freak out during this. > Reynolds: Targets set, transferring in T-minus 10 seconds. > Chaplain: Oh boy. > //At this point SCP-████ activates normally and it is confirmed that Agent Walters and Agent Christensen were safely transferred to the targets. Targets take control of the bodies of Agent Walters and Agent Christensen. Bodies are secured and placed into stasis for return to their owners.// **Audio log 10/22/████ - Agent Christensen, Call sign "Chaplain" - Location: The Library** Personal Log 1, Day 1, Mission 453-07-01, Code name "Waypoint". Okay so Walker said I should make one of these to sort of summarize what I'm thinking here. It's a bit hard to concentrate when you're in a bathroom obviously not built for human use, I mean, why is there a bin labeled "Ice cream disposal" in here? What should I talk about? Okay so yeah, SCP-████ was fun, the whole process was very weird feeling but I think I've gotten used to this body, though this guy really needs to work out more. Once we switched I don't remember too many details, sensory overload I guess. Basically we're in a huge fucking library. Like you could walk for days and not reach the end, if there is an end. None of the other patrons seem very clear about the size, and we've got a lot of different answers. And the patrons, man, I've seen some weird crap but these guys just about take the cake. I had a conversation with a sapient lava lamp about our favorite books not ten minutes ago, and some sort of eldrich abomination just asked me where the men's room was. Walker seems completely unfazed, but he could be freaking out for all I know, the man is all business. We've been doing pretty well recon wise, the things that attacked Team Faraway are called docents, they sorta just walk around and guide people, seem sorta like the security dudes here, haven't gotten any of them to talk though. The other patrons say pretty much the only thing they seem to respond to is requests with help finding a book and violence, and considering how these guys are built no wonder Team Faraway didn't have a chance. The Library seems to be run and maintained by a variety of staff, most notably these things rooted to the floor at the reception desks people call Archivists and these weird spider things that are crawling all over the bookshelves that everyone else seems to ignore. When I asked someone about it they just looked at me and said that is what happens to people who break the rules. It was a bit creepy because he then slipped me a piece of paper that said "And who ask too many questions." Once I finish up in here I think I'll head to one of the reception desks and see if I can get a Library card, find out what I can about these Archivist dudes, maybe do some exploring of this atrium area where everyone hangs out. Gonna talk to Walker about maybe trying to get some definite proportions of how big this place is. Chaplain out. **Audio log 10/22/████ - Agent Walters, Call sign "Walker" - Location: The Library** Personal Log 1, Day 1, Mission 453-07-01, Code name "Waypoint". This is Walker, reporting in. Current location is men's bathrooms 200 feet east of our entrance point. Bathroom seems non-anomalous except for multiple items seemingly not built for human use, full report on items will be included with surveying documents. Entrance was uneventful, still adjusting to new body. Chaplain has shown to be an asset when socializing with other entities within The Library. Possible use for gathering information regarding size and security measures within The Library. Library is to be deemed information containment only, pending further investigation. Current intel shows that it would be near impossible to effectively bar physical access to The Library, due to constant appearance and creation of "Ways", of which there seems to be no effective way to predict the appearance of. The nature of the entities within The Library is varying and unpredictable. There does not seem to be one source of anomalous entities within The Library, and observation has already shown three separate incidents of anomalous behaviors from said entities. Only definite entities met so far seem to come from The Library itself, commonly referred to as "Librarians". We have encountered three types of Librarians so far. Most notably are a large hunchback-esque creature with a lantern for a hand, called by patrons of The Library "Docents". Possibly act as security for The Library, will investigate possible weaknesses. Will include full report on the Librarians along with Surveyor documents. Will discuss with Chaplain about possible exploration as to the extent of The Library, and I will be placing each other's logs on both of our logbooks should something happen to one of us. Walker signing out. **Audio log 10/23/████ - Agent Christensen, Call sign "Chaplain" - Location: The Library** Personal Log 2, Day 2, Mission 453-07-01, Code name "Waypoint". Finally got a chance to make another log, been really busy for the past day. Walker and I decided that we will personally explore the limits of The Library, since we aren't getting any solid answers from the patrons. We've bought a couple supplies from some patrons and have figured out the path we're gonna take to the edge, and if we don't reach an edge in two days we turn back. I haven't really caught any sleep since we got here, a nap here and a nap there, but once we set out I should be able to sleep some. We were told to find some lodging in the Reading Room, which happens to be completely controlled by the Serpent's Hand. Oh yeah, the Serpent's Hand. Wow, these guys are totally different than from what I've heard, almost all of them could be SCPs and enough of them have mind-reading powers that Walker ruled that we don't go in there. They seem pretty disorganized and most of them seem pretty laid back and just interested in reading books, a couple told me about their leader, L.S, whom appears to be very charming and chill, despite his hatred for just about everyone who isn't an SH member. Really interesting stuff, Walker compiled all the relevant information into the records, so I won't bother going over it. **Audio log 10/24/████ - Agent Christensen, Call sign "Chaplain" - Location: The Library** Sing it with me Walker! ... Come on, it's a good song. Seein' things that I may never see aga- Oh fuck you're right I'm recording. Personal Log 3, Day 3. Hey this is Chaplain yadda yadda we're doing great and we're heading toward the edge of The Library. Yeah I'm getting there hold up a second. Walker wants to let you know that we have traveled exactly 15.3 miles today as we head toward the edge, currently there is no end in sight and the bookshelves continue to go on. Yeah we've also been sorta seeing the same bookshelf every once in a while, and shelves seem to kind of bend and twist as if they're making us go in circles. We tried to get the help of a docent but it just sorta stood there and stared at us before it walked off into the shelves. There are still plenty of those spider things running around though, kind of creepy looking but they haven't bothered us yet. The shelves seem to contain increasingly random and useless information, possibly they can rearrange themselves so that someone will find the book most pertinent to them without going in that far. On another note, we met another adventurer like ourselves about a mile back, his skeleton was just laying there and he had some old book in his hands. Can't read it, looks to be Dutch, but it seems kind of foreboding. Ok I'll talk about that. We made friends with this SH chick back in the Atrium, okay, //I// made friends with this SH chick. She looked really familiar and then Walker recognized her as the sister of the whatsit that got us here. I struck up a conversation with her and she seems pretty cool, has the same abilities as her sister, though with longer range. She said she could switch me wherever I wanted if I just said where and- What the fuck is that?! //Sound of retching// Okay, get it out Walker. No I don't think less of you now. We can't control our body's gag reflex. You want me to explain it? Uhhh, this is Chaplain and basically we are looking at what looks like three corpses, except, not corpses? Uh, some of their skin is missing in places and you can sorta see inside of them, which is pretty gross considering I can't recognize any of the organs and there is this greenish stuff just //everywhere//. They seem to be rooted to the floor by some weird artery and god the smell is awful, smells like the boy's locker room where someone just sprayed Axe everywhere. Two of em are growing extra limbs and this really muscular one's hand has become this cage thing that glows intermittently. Yeah take your photos let's keep moving, I don't wanna stay here any longer. Anyways... I guess that just about wraps it up, tomorrow we'll turn back if we don't reach the edge. I don't think it would be smart to continue after that, hopefully The Library isn't trying to send us a message with those bodies or anything. Chaplain out. **Audio log 10/25/████ - Agent Walters, Call sign "Walker" - Location: The Library** Personal Log 3, Day 3. Walker signing in, I am recording this around the corner from our campsite, out of earshot of Chaplain. We currently seem to be followed by a humanoid entity that seems to have some sort of visual cloaking mechanism. This entity disappears around a bookshelf whenever we look at it, but otherwise seems to remain about 100 feet away at all times. It seems to have disappeared for the moment facilitating the recording of this log. The night was uneventful except for Chaplain claiming that it was watching us, but a little exploration showed nothing. I have reason to believe that Chaplain has been compromised by the Serpent's Hand, as a comparison between mental scans that I made while he was sleeping and when we arrived show tampering. He has been making multiple statements that could be construed as treasonous and seems to want us to end our mission prematurely, citing what happens to people who ask too many questions. I will continue our expedition till noon today and then we will turn back and begin making our way toward the Atrium where I will figure out a way to detain Chaplain and return us to the Foundation. Another reason for this is the rapid increase in disturbing sights, including one I had an adverse reaction to yesterday. Chaplain seems to grow more and more irrational the farther we go in. This is Walker, signing out. **Audio log 10/25/████ - Agent Walters, Call sign "Walker" - Location: The Library** Personal Log 4, Day 4, Mission 453-07-01, Code name "Waypoint". This is Walker, signing in. Chaplain seems to be putting on appearances of having a good mood to cope with his fear. I am currently recording this around the corner of a shelf, as the entity seems to have temporarily disappeared. Our progress had been good up to this point, and I have decided to turn back now, before something happens that compromises the mission. Chaplain has just said something, I will continue this log in a moment. Chaplain? Status? Where am I? Who the fuck are you? (//This is confirmed to be Agent Chaplain's current voice//) Chaplain! Turn around! RUN GOD DAMMIT CHAPLAIN! SHIT! (//At this point the recording continues for several hours, with various noises identified as tearing, gurgling, and an unidentified voice speaking in an unknown language going on in the background.//) **Excerpt from Team Surveyor Records. Mission 453-07-1. CO Comments.** I'd just like to get it on the record why Chaplain and Walker were chosen for this mission. There are multiple agents that we have that are much more qualified to go into The Library and get intel on it. However, none of these agents were deemed expendable at the time of assignment and due to Chaplain's rookie status and Walker's has-been status, they were natural choices for an expedition in there. Our records indicate that they did much better than we had hoped and our retrieval team managed to recover almost all of their documents and their logs. Of course, all they could find of their bodies was a green film that covered the retrieval area and several severed limbs. Their bodies are being kept in indefinite stasis until we can guarantee that they are completely back in them. Hopefully this will be soon but for now I will be expunging this whole thing and making it Level 3 Access Only, on a need-to-know basis. We will be conducting tests on their bodies in stasis momentarily, and it seems there is some evidence that Chaplain may have made it back. I will be investigating it personally when I return. //This log was created by Commander Arnold Baker. Commander Arnold Baker was KIA during the containment breach of SCP-████. This breach is attributed to Serpent's Hand operatives.// ---- Deep within a Foundation site, a button was pressed, a tube opened, a body fell out and collapsed to the ground. The air chilled and mist began to flow everywhere. "Jesus. It worked... Who the fuck are you?" Agent Chaplain looked up through the clearing mist at the man standing above him. "Welcome to the Resistance, Agent Chaplain." @@ @@ [[include :scp-wiki:component:license-box]] [!-- N/A (No Images) --] [[include :scp-wiki:component:license-box-end]]