DrBleeps Showboat Drafts

…in a single day and night of misfortune, the great city of Selchia was driven into the sea by the hostilities of man.
- Plato, 360 B.C. original unmodified quote.

Item #: SCP-3701

Object Class: Thaumiel

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-3701's location is currently patrolled by elements of Naval Task Force Delta-7 ("Northern Storm") following the events of I-3700-039. Surface and submersible craft approaching within 3 km of SCP-3701 are to be redirected.

Due to their physical properties and high rate of collaboration, SCP-3701-1 have been recognized as class V humanoids, and are considered class II assets due to their proclivity to produce weaponry and items capable of containment. A mutual cooperative treaty is currently being negotiated for the purpose of restoring SCP-3701 to an active state.

Update 4/01/17:
Per Tenet 6 of the Foundation-Selchia Cooperative Treaty, SCP-3701-1 shall be referred to as Finnfolk in all future documentation. Enactment of all components of the treaty are currently underway. Repair of [REDACTED] has been postponed until reactivation of SCP-3701. Weaponry from SCP-3701 is being distributed to Foundation personnel responding to anomalous and natural disasters. Applications of such materials in the containment/destruction of other anomalies are currently being investigated.

Update 6/23/17:
Due to SCP-3701's reactivation, Delta-7 has been reassigned. SCP-3701 is to employ its Distortion of Environment Cloak and Kinetoshield (DECK) at all times. Attempts to reverse engineer technology aboard SCP-3701 are ongoing.

Given the lack of information concerning EoI-002's location, abilities, and intentions, Foundation personnel have been instructed to avoid contact until such a time that these details can be ascertained.

Description: SCP-3701 is a large, motile, deep sea vehicle resembling a "hermit crab", specifically Coenobita brevimanus. The vehicle is approximately 1.5 km in length, 700 m in height at its tallest point, and includes both the crab-like section and an accompanying shell. It was not active at the time of discovery, due to a significant breach along the top of SCP-3701's metallic carapace, which allowed saltwater to flood portions of the interior and severed several points along a complex thaumaturgic circuit.

Following initial exploration (see exploration log 1) it was discovered that SCP-3701 is split into two distinct sections, with vastly different functions. Additional exploration via both manned teams and unmanned drones revealed the presence of two sub or "pocket" dimensions contained within the shell. These sections have been labeled SCP-3701-A, B, C, and D.

All components of SCP-3701 show recent signs of occupation by SCP-3701-1, a race of aquatic humanoids believed to have inspired several myths commonplace in the British Isles. Despite the relatively small number of remaining individuals, it is currently estimated that approximately 4-5 million SCP-3701-1 lived within the vehicle and its accompanying pocket dimensions prior to Incident I-3701-000. 2383 individuals have been successfully recovered.

ENTER CREDENTIALS FOR SCP-3701-A

CREDENTIALS ACCEPTED. DEACTIVATING MEMETIC COUNTERMEASURES.

SCP-3701-A consists of the lower portion of the vessel responsible for locomotion along the ocean floor, in addition to providing several complex defense, evasion, and anti-detection countermeasure mechanisms.¹ Pertinent details are provided below, with a more thorough description of features depicted within Exploration log 1:²

Segmented carapace, 800 m in length, and 700 m in height in its reactivated state. The segment's exterior is diverse in tone, having been intricately designed with combinations of blues, yellows, greens, and pink, creating a large, detailed depiction of a woman possessing four eyes.
8 limbs:
- 6 segmented legs, approximately 600 m in length, and 50 m across with sharpened ends. Complex thaumaturgic runes depicting a crab running across the ocean floor are carved into the metal in rows, and emit a dull blue luminescence.
- 2 claws, 200 m in length, and 100 m in width, attached to the anterior end of the vehicle. Appendages show signs of recent heat warping. Runes resembling bolts of sheet lightning are carved into the steel plating, and large 1 m holes line the interior of each claw, with a larger 5 m hole located at the center junction.
34 thaumaturgically powered weapon emplacements along the vehicle's top and sides, including two large emplacements located atop the eye stalks.
Interior consisting of 80 levels, with facilities equivalent to those found aboard modern US aircraft carriers. Smaller craft resembling common ocean fauna are present within Hanger facilities 1-12. Attempts to activate or otherwise utilize these vessels have failed.
SCP-3701-A contains 13, 20 m, crystalline structures emitting high levels of Elan-Vital Energy (EVE) particles, arranged in a thaumaturgic circuit near the center of the crab. Individual crystals are contained within Aspect Radiation (or ARad) resistant chambers, and emit roughly 200 MW of energy, which is channeled to nearby sections via a network of clear tubes. The chamber of crystal 5 was partially destroyed prior to reactivation. A number of unsuccessful attempts were made to repair the damage to the circuit post exploration, before a successful replacement for the ARad chamber could be properly installed.
In place of Maxillipeds and the Mandibles normally found around the mouth of crustaceans similar to SCP-3701, the crab possesses a barrel, 100 m in diameter, currently believed to be the vehicles primary weapon. Attempts to restore functionality are ongoing.

ENTER CREDENTIALS FOR SCP-3701-B

ENTER CREDENTIALS FOR SCP-3701-C

ENTER CREDENTIALS FOR SCP-3701-D

CREDENTIALS ACCEPTED. DEACTIVATING MEMETIC COUNTERMEASURES.

Prepared by the Department of Extradimensional Affairs

Designation: SCP-3701-D

Classification: Class 2 Thaumaturgic Bubble

Type: "Pocket"

SCP-3701-D is a thaumaturgically constructed sub or "pocket" dimension occupying a spheroid space estimated to be 9810 km³ in volume, with a combination of geologic and atmospheric layers.⁶ Entrance archways leading back to SCP-3701-B are scattered throughout the bubble; however, only a few remain active at this time. Initial unmanned explorations successfully mapped the varying regions of this bubble; such surveys were further expounded upon via repeat manned exploration attempts. The most relevant details per documentation are presented below. Further description of environments are provided in the exploration logs:

The surface layer of SCP-3701-D is host to a large, urban environment split into 4 distinct regions, where each region is a concentric ring. Individual structures are connected via functioning canals, filled with salt water. Canals are divided into two or more "lanes" with continuous currents projected in either direction. All structures within SCP-3701-D have been painted with primarily bright colors, including blues, yellows, greens, and pinks.
- The outermost ring consists of single unit residences, architecturally blending a combination of Mediterranean, and classical New England Victorian styles.
- The second ring contains primarily mid to high rise structures blending a combination of Greek Revivalist amd Medieval Scandinavian architecture. These support both large scale commercial facilities, and dense housing complexes.
- High rises and skyscrapers employing Gothic architecture are prominent features of the third ring. Said structures appear to have been almost exclusively used for commercial purposes.
- A large and intricately designed complex, which formerly served as both a palace and a religious temple for the occupants of SCP-3701-D, is located at the center of the city.
At certain points throughout SCP-3701-D, canals extend beneath the surface, into branching shafts. These shafts lead to industrial facilities consisting of large hollow chambers with specialized tools and construction materials, many of which are found within SCP-3701-A. A crystalline structure resembling those found in SCP-3701-A is located within one of these facilities; however, said structure is roughly 200 m in height, and is retained behind at least 2-3 m of ARad absorbing materials.

ENTER CREDENTIALS FOR SCP-3701-1

Supplementary Documents:

The following file contains an assortment of documents and recording transcripts from within SCP-3701.

Access fileserv:/S:/3701/records/memos

Hide Memos

The following documents contain extracted information from SCP-3701-A's thaumaturgic data storage systems, specifically those recovered from what was a private terminal. Files consist of back and forth letter type exchanges, and three official edicts issued by SCP-3701-1's governing body, a royal council of nobles believed to have advised the ruling monarch. All material has been translated using computer based algorithms. As certain words within SCP-3701-1's language do not have exact English analogues, certain phrases may appear abnormal. It is important to note that SCP-3701-1's written lingual style differs significantly from actual speech patterns.

05/01/5009 YSSS

Edict 21.3463.1

Greetings Denizens of the Kingdom of Selch,

By Order of the Royal Council of his Majesty King Aske, exchanges of the following order shall occur post hence:

The Enclave of Knoggelvi and Tyranny Defense is to be dissolved.

Command of Guð-Bani shall thoth be overseen by 1st Finnlor⁸ Skreyja.

Command and defense of the Mødherne's sphere shall be resigned directly to his Majesty's discretion.

05/02/5009 YSSS

Dearest Uncle,

I am irrevocably overjoyed to hear of your promotion. To be named Knight Captain of Guð-Bani brings pride to my heart, as I'm sure it does to yours. You must send a pykter of her at the nearest opportunity, lest you become Knight Captain of Mødherne's sphere too, whilst I am not looking.

Do you remember the sketches I showed you the last time we talked? The schematics, and how I had not yet reached appropriate calculations for feasible construction? I spent an inordinate amount of time in the Royal library, searching every book, and finally found the formulas I needed! I hope soon, with Father's blessing, I might request permission to properly engineer and begin construction! Can you imagine, how exciting it will be to expand our kingdom through additional mechanistics like Guð-Bani?

[Attached are 3 schematic depictions of vehicles of a similar nature to SCP-3701.]

I am uneasy here in the palace. I know you and father never saw eye to eye, and it is why you left for the Palidines, but I worry for father's safety. Skreyja hovers at his side, and whispers in his ears with that forked tongue. I have not been able to seek father's council alone, and on 3 occasions I have seen the yellow scaled worm slip powder into his drinks. I fear he may be poisoning him. Father will not listen to my concerns, as he has become most frail and feeble of mind. His council ignores me, as they dismiss my claims as those of a manic girl.

Please Uncle, I ask that you send father a letter, get him away from the palace, alone. Talk with him, make him see the lamprey in his reef before it is too late.

Sincerely,
Princess Hege

05/02/5009 YSSS

Geyma,

I hope your new position among the royal guard is treating you well. Your presence is sorely missed at night. I may have some leave coming soon, at which time we may visit the garden of finns once again.

I must request a dire favor of you. My niece speaks of troubling things in the palace. If she speaks true, and I have no reason to think that she speaks foul air, then quick action may be necessary. I need to know of my brothers health, and of the sway which young Skreyja currently holds.

Knight Captain Brim-Sker

05/02/5009 YSSS

My beloved [sic],

Skreyja has his claws in many, your brother included. Wherever your father goes, he is not far behind. Several of the Royal guard are wary, especially with your brothers declining health. If what Princess Hege speaks is true, then I fear your brothers weakened state of mind is a result of Skreyja's malicious intents. Should something happen, and you wish to move against Skreyja, do not hesitate to ask, there are many here who see through the hagfish's empty words.

Your presence is most sorely missed, I look forward to when you next receive leave.

Geyma

This Message has been successfully recovered from the Royal Archive. Status prior to recovery: Deleted, unread.

05/03/5009 YSSS

Aske,

We have clashed in the past over policy, and path; however, my contacts within your court, and your own daughter, report strange happenings. These are things I remain unwilling to discuss through unsecured channels. I do not know if I have any favor yet remaining with you, but I would request we meet and share an audience. Preferably within Guð-Bani, and away from the distractions of your effervescent court.

Your Brother,
Knight Captain Brim-Sker

07/03/5009 YSSS

Greetings Denizens of the Kingdom of Selch,

It is with our deepest sadness, and regret, that we announce the passing of King Aske. He eased into the great deep under the Mothir's blessing early this morning. Apothecaric examination concluded that His Majesty had been fighting a long and arduous battled with the gluch.⁹ The Royal Council has voted, and determined that due to Princess Hege remaining underage, 1st Finnlor Skreyja shall be named regent in her stead. By Council decision, Regent Skreyja shall retain control of Guð-Bani.

07/04/5009 YSSS

Knight Captain Brim-Sker

I wish to offer my deepest sympathies at the demise of your brother. I have heard rumors that you two had a falling out some time ago, and I imagine you may have some significant regrets at not being able to rectify such distance. I assure you that your brother was in gentle hands towards the end. I became quite close to him, and he quite amiable to me. I hope in time, we might establish a similar relationship.

On to more relevant affairs. If you have the time, and the disposition (which I've been assured you do, given the presence of your niece in my care) I wish to be provided with a full list of palidines and engineers underneath your command, most especially those you think would be most fit to serve in the garrison for Mødherne's sphere.

I also regret to inform you, that the project with which your niece had hoped to work has been discarded. The council, including myself, has regarded these activities unbecoming of a queen to be, and the designs impractical and unnecessary given Guð-Bani's relative impenetrability. She has responded quite negatively to this news, and I hope that you may be able to negotiate with, and calm her demeanor.

May our future relationship be ever fruitful,

Regent Skreyja

06/09/5010 YSSS

Dearest Uncle,

It becomes more and more difficult to remain within the palace walls. Skreyja's tongue lashes iron against those who displease him, several of my fathers closest friends amongst the nobles have disappeared, and rumor among the servants is they were thrown from Guð-Bani during the aequinoctium, to the Krakunge. He's replaced most of the Royal guard with rats and drunks. Geyma is the only non-supplicant that remains, but he keeps her far from me.

I've been beaten, hit, kicked, and insulted. I've lost count of the number, but my assaulter has always come out worse than I. I fear my strength cannot protect me from Skreyja. He is constantly looking in my direction, and not in the way I often saw you look at Geyma. It rends my stomach to turn in a manner most foul. I fear that he seeks more than just power from me.

I take solace in your teachings, both of combat, and the sciences. Despite their best efforts, I am able to stele away to Father's secret library, and continue my designs. I am most grateful that you kept and returned the recorded copies I sent you, otherwise I might have been lost. I ask that you store these updated designs, for I fear that Skreyja may one day discover this place, and burn it to the ground like he did with the Royal library, and all it's histories. This is why I am attaching to this letter, all knowledge that I saved from that sacred space, and more from Father's own annals, so that we might preserve our people's histories.

I hope that someday soon, you whilst come for me, and carry us both from this nightmare.

Princess Hege

[Attached to the letter are a large number of historical documents, some of which have been fragmented, or decayed due to unknown circumstances. Of particular note are partial documents describing the crystals used to power SCP-3701, a deity like figure, and a brief history of SCP-3701-1's history with SCP-3456.]

03/01/5011 YSSS

Denizens of the Kingdom of Selch,

It is our deepest regret to inform all that Princess Hege has perished in an assault by our mortal enemy upon the palace. In the wee hours of the morning, a small group of Knoggelvi penetrated Mothir's shadow¹⁰ and infiltrated the Palace, setting fire to a previously hidden Library, where Princess Hege was found dead. Regent Skreyja stumbled from nearby to warn others, as he had been with Princess Hege when the assault began. The Regent sustained a torn gill, a broken nose, and a concussion in a valiant effort to protect our dear princess, alas, even his efforts were not enough to save the poor maiden. In honor of Princess Hege, Regent Skreyja has been declared the new King of Selchia. May he live long, and bring prosperity.

03/01/5011 YSSS

Beloved,

Do not believe this ókræsi-legr shit filled manifest for one second. I was resigned midnight patrol from the direction in which the knoggs proposedly appeared. There was never even one.

Geyma

03/01/5011 YSSS

Geyma,

You need worry not. I have confidence that Hege is alive, and likely well, though I know not where she currently be. Knoggelvi do not leave the finnfolk to live, nor do they they know how to toss a fat worm on it's belly, and deliver mothir's blessing to his head. No, only my niece could have wounded him so. Do you still have contacts loyal to my brother within the council and the garrison?

03/05/5011 YSSS

Sir,

You may want to come to Bay 12. Someone stowed away that you may recognize. It's of high importance that you come quickly, and immediately, lest those unfamiliar with this person's history with our so called "King" become loose of tongue.

Knight-Lieutenant Hollr-Lið

The following is a recording, taking place within Vehicle Bay 12, inside the tail portion of SCP-3701-A. This recording is visual only, as no accompanying audio could be recovered.

Number of times watched: 7401

Begin Recording, 03/05/5011 YSSS

The recording begins, depicting an SCP-3701-1 instance possessing gold scales, and blonde hair. She is holding a number of scrolls and square shaped devices, and is assumed to be Princess Hege.

A door opens to her left, and two additional male SCP-3701-1 instances enter the room, possessing black and red scales respectively. The female instance hands the male with black scales the items she is carrying, and proceeds to embrace the red scaled male, assumed to be Knight Captain Brim-Sker, for approximately 30 seconds.

The black scaled male proceeds to leave the room. The red scaled male and female individuals step apart, and initiate discussion for approximately 2 minutes. They cease conversation after 2 minutes, and both look towards a point directly below the camera. A small spherical device rolls into frame, and begins pulsing with blue energy, before emitting a bright flash.

Once the flash has faded, both the male and female SCP-3701-1 individual can be seen with hands covering and rubbing their eyes. 5 additional SCP-3701-1 enter the room, 4 of which are wearing heavy armor and possessing weaponry previously described in Exploration Log 1. The 5th individual is noted to have scales appearing as a mixture of green and yellow tones.

The yellow scaled male, presumed to be Regent Skreyja, appears to speak addressing both Hege and Brim-Sker for 30 seconds. The guards restrain both individuals, and take turns assaulting them for the next 3 minutes, at which time Skreyja proceeds to kick Brim-Sker in the head no less than 4 times, rendering him unconscious. Hege is then seen struggling against the guards grip in emotional distress, before being sexually assaulted by Regent Skreyja.

Skreyja and the 4 guards promptly exit the room, dragging Hege with them. Brim-Sker remains unconcious for 2 minutes, before the black scaled male returns, and the recording ends.

03/06/5011 YSSS

Geyma,

She's gone. She was here, and they came. The slimy son of a bastard's ass must've had her followed. I know not what to do, he threatened to dispose of her if I dare move against him. The public thinks her dead, he has no use for her, and I fear what abuse she may be subject to at the mercy of his lustful crooked claws.

If this were not a blister upon the ass of a goat enough, the Krakunge continues to grow in its horror. The men from mud¹¹ have disrupted its cycle of sport with Mothir's slumber spawn, allowing the latter to continuosly claim victory, at the expense of it not receiving any rest of its soul. I am concerned, that with Skreyja's incompetent impotence, and the mud men's interference, we may be marching towards our doom.

The last march of the FinnFolk.

Brim-Sker

03/07/5011 YSSS

You despair too quickly my love.

I hear whispers in the shadows, many are unhappy with Skreyja's rule. Many among the garrison. His demise will come soon, of this I am sure.

03/21/5011 YSSS

Greetings Denizens of the Holy Reign of Skreyja,

By Order of His Majesty Skreyja the Great, Edict 5011.231.43 will be enacted immediately.

A glorious hunt will begin post haste. Members of the garrison and crew of Guð-Bani chosen by Mothir herself will be sent into the world of the Mud Men to hunt our mortal and terrible enemy, the Knoggelvi in glorious retribution for Princess Heges Demise.

The Royal Council will be dissolved post-haste, and King Skreyja has been divinely chosen to rule directly over all.

Those who refuse Mothir's call will be punished, most hastily.

03/21/5011 YSSS

Geyma,

I care not now what he does, I will not let this spawn of a yellow sponge take you from my grasp. I will march to the Palace myself and impale him upon the very trident which he so defiles.

Brim-Sker

03/21/5011 YSSS

My love,

You cannot, Hege's life is still at stake. Skreyja has absolute majesty over us all, and there is nothing left we can do. He flushed those plotting to take back the throne from his tyrannical rule, straight into the Krakunges jaws. He cares not for his image any longer, and will destroy all in his path. We are merely obstacles to his unobstructed rule, and I fear you too will be purged.

Geyma

██/██/5011 YSSS

Greetings

It is with deep regrets that I must inform you that Knight Geyma has been taken from our midst. The Mud-Men discovered her body amidst one of their railed vehicles. She fought valiantly against our mortal enemies till the end, much like your brave brave niece. Your regrets must be great, but I must assure you. There was never anything you could have done.

His Majesty, King Skreyja

The remaining documents in this section consist of brief diary entries and unsent letters, which were recovered from deletion.

03/21/5012 YSSS

It's been almost…I've lost count. 7, 8? No 9, maybe longer, turns of luna since he took you. Yet my gills ache as if it were this very morning. Hollr-Lið presses me every day, he wants to go to war, wants to unthrone that slimy leech. I tell him I can't, I tell him we don't have the levies, we don't have the loyalty of the garrison. I've convinced him that it would be nought more than a bloodbath.

It's a lie. Those I've spoken with express dissatisfaction with Skreyja, and his policies. He plunders the poor, uses the garrison as his hammer and anvil and they resent him for it. They would gladly rise up, given leadership. But I can't. I cannot face the thought of losing you too, Hege. You're all I have left.

09/21/5013 YSSS

I saw Geyma this morning. She was in the long hall, to hanger 3, not more than 10 m away. I ran, crying her name, only to round a corner to empty air.

01/30/5014 YSSS

Hollr-Lið got sent onto hunt. I don't know how to greet the silence anymore, it's always there.

04/14/5016 YSSS

He blew 45 of the gateways. Convinced he can prevent me from invading, from rallying the ever more restless and disenchanted demeanor of our people to overthrow him. He is convinced our great city cannot fall, yet it grows more dense, with fewer defenses, and now virtually no routes of escape. He is foolish, and does not realize, that I am a broken Selch.

His letters have become deluded with paranoia, and nonsense. His decrees filled with absurdity. He lays out grand schemes, of righteous power and bizarre expansion. I cannot help but laugh. Here we are, standing opposed, and yet so alike in our madness, and so different in our convictions. Yet he tortures me with news of Hege as though she still breathed. How he has defiled her.

There are 1000 left under my command… from 15000. The garrison has dwindled, to a measly 3000, from the 100,000 palidines at the height of my brothers reign. All those brave soldiers, sent to fight and die against a restless vicious enemy, in the name of absolute power. What a terrible waste.

03/19/5017 YSSS

I saw you both, standing there calling to me. I know not if it was a dream. I know not what is real, and what is illusion. For a moment, I had you both within arms length again. And then you were gone.

Where do Skreyja's lies end. Where does this madness of my existence end. Mither, why has thoust forsaken me. Why do you stand behind them, four yellow eyes of supposed divine good watching as I suffer through this darkness alone.

03/21/5017 YSSS

The Krakunge came. I'm sorry Mither. I could not stay Teran's hand.

A single SCP-3701-1 individual was found within a sealed restroom facility adjacent to the location of the terminal from which the above files were recovered. Post-mortem examination determined time of death to have been 30 minutes prior to initial exploration, due to bloodloss from deep lacerations along the wrists.

Incident Log I-3701-000

Access fileserv:/S:/3701/records/Recovered_Logs

Hide Recovered_Logs

Recovered Recordings Composite Log: Incident I-3701-000

**Date: 3/21/2017 **

Subject: SCP-3701

Region of recording: SCP-3701-A and D

Foreword: The following file contains a composite recording of the near SCP-3701-1 extinction event which occurred on 3/21/2017. Post recovery analysis of thaumaturgic imprint recordings, and recovered data files suggests that SCP-3700-2 had reached the size, physical strength, and awareness necessary to detect and surpass SCP-3701's DECK, and breach SCP-3701-A's hull.

Audio has been translated using advanced lingual algorithms.

[BEGIN LOG]

[The recording begins, the recording device depicting the bridge of SCP-3701-A. 4 SCP-3701-1 individuals sit at what appear to be computers, with grooves carved into the side, emitting blue luminescence.]

[The angle shifts, and a Red scaled SCP-3701-1, assumed to be Knight-Captain Brim-Sker, comes into frame. His expression and posture indicate long term fatigue.]

Brim-Sker: "Any sign of the Krakunge?"

Blue-Scaled Individual: "Negative sir. Quiet on all sensors."

[The Blue-Scaled SCP-3701-1 stops what he's doing, and stares at one particular screen.]

Blue-Scaled Individual: "Correction, getting elevated Euclid Particulate readings directly above us."

Brim-Sker: "Bring up exterior visuals on the projector."

[The recording focuses on a spherical device 2 meters away. Several different exterior views appear, each depicting the same thing. SCP-3700-2 emerging from a large, ovoid spatial distortion, black and red in coloration.]

Brim-Sker: "How far out are the Mud-Men and Mothir's Spawn?"

Blue-Scaled Individual: "15 minutes."

Brim-Sker: "Keep us moving. I want to be as far away as possible when that clash begins."

Blue-Scaled Individual: "Understood."

[SCP-3700-2 hovers for a moment, before turning. Its tail cannot be seen, but it appears to be looking right at the recording.]

[SCP-3701 shakes and the attending SCP-3701-1 are thrown from their positions, with the exception of Brim-Sker. Klaxon alarms become audible.]

Brim-Sker: "What was that?"

Blue-Scaled Individual: "We just took a direct hit from the Krakunge!"

Brim-Sker: [He whispers.] "Impossible." [He pauses as the blue luminescence lighting the room flickers and dims.] "Where?"

Blue-Scaled Individual: "Crystal Chamber 5. We're losing stability."

[The sound of metal groaning is audible, and the recording angle tilts. The cockpit tilts, and the ocean floor becomes visible out the nearest view-port. A cloud of silt rises as the vehicle crashes into the seafloor, jolting all present from their positions once again.]

Blue-Scaled Individual: "We've lost all power to locomotive functions. Mothir's Night is failing, and weapons aren't responding."

[The recording cuts to Crystal chamber 5, where SCP-3700-2's tail is visible, having cleaved through the vehicles interior. The exposed crystalline structure becomes red in color, and emits several beams of red energy, causing the Eel to withdraw its tail. Saltwater begins pouring in through the hole, a number of SCP-3701-1 are overwhelmed by the rush of water and pushed out the breach. The recording cuts back to the bridge. SCP-3700-2 moves as if to strike again, but it's attention is suddenly drawn elsewhere.]

Brim-Sker: "If Mothir's Night is failing th-"

[The door to the bridge sustains a hit. Then a second. Then a third. A high-pitched vocalization occurs, and the door collapses inward. The recording's video cuts, and for 3 minutes, the screen remains black, still recording audio. Several screams are audible, alongside other typical sounds from close quarters combat.]

[The video recording resumes after 3 minutes, depicting Brim-Sker still alive, surrounded by the deceased forms of the other SCP-3701-1 and 3 SCP-3456 instances.. He leaves the cockpit, the recording following behind him. He navigates several hallways over the course of the next 2 minutes, before entering a room, and sealing the door. The recording ends.]

[Another recording device activates within the interior of SCP-3701-D, at the palace complex, on the steps of a large temple like structure containing a large intricately carved statue of a humanoid female possessing four yellow eyes in the center of a series of large Greco-Roman marble columns, and smaller versions of the same statue. Other structures, incorporating similar motifs, are visible nearby. The recording turns from the statue, to 4 columns of SCP-3701-1 dressed in cloaks and armor containing large amounts of Nordic runes across their surface.]

[A small group of 30 or so individuals stand in front of the columns, with a Green and Black scaled individual standing at the very front. Their expressions indicate strong negative emotions.]

[An SCP-3701-1 instance with yellow-green scales, believed to be King Skreyja, appears to be speaking to them.]

Skreyja: "And so on this glorious day, you chosen few shall join your brethren, who tread so bravely before you, in our holy war against the Knogg-"

[The ground appears to shake for 3 seconds. Skreyja stops speaking, and glances back towards the recording, his expression indicating fear.]

[Approximately 15 seconds of silence pass, before Klaxon alarms begin. Hooves become audible, and smoke begins rising from large sections of the city beyond the complex. A skyscraper directly in front of the temple is completely cleaved, two large red scaled wings briefly visible as it slides into the canal, crushing a crowd of SCP-3701-1 fleeing towards the complex.]

Skreyja: "Garrison to me! You must protect your King!"

[15 seconds of silence, several large SCP-3456 instances become visible in the distance. Unlike previous observations of their behavior, they appear uninterested in capturing individuals. Instead, they engage in purely homicidal behavior. The SCP-3701-1 in front of Skreyja hesitate.]

Skreyja: "Are you listening? I said protect me now! This is all a ruse, an attempt by that traitor Brim-Sker to oust me from my glorious reign! He will appear any moment and attempt to drive his blade through my heart!"

[10 more seconds of silence as the equines grow closer to the complex. Small groups of younger and elderly SCP-3701-1 run through the Palace perimeter. The Green-Scaled steps forward, and rips a piece of metal from his armor, tossing it onto the ground.]

Green-Scaled Individual: "You are no king of mine."

[The individual turns, and begins running towards the perimeter, drawing his weapon. The rest of the gathered individuals do the same.]

Skreyja: "Traitors! Fools! I will have your heads on the Mither's pla-"

[The ground shakes again. Through the exterior boundary of SCP-3701-D a cloud of silt rises from the ocean floor. A human hand emerges from the cloud, and appears to reach through the barrier, the hand materializing within SCP-3701-D, the palm oriented directly at Skreyja. A voice, consisting of thousands of individual voices becomes audible. All present SCP-3701-1 individual stop, and turn towards Skreyja. The equines fall to the ground, hands pressed against their ears.]

Voice: "Skreyja. Thou hast committed unforgivable and careless greed, murdered thy brothers and sisters in reckless ambition, and doomed thy race to Teran's foul beasts."

[Skreyja backs away, the recording following him as he does so, turning to the large statue, he falls to his knees and initiates 30 seconds of indiscernible begging.]

Voice: "For thine sins, thou shalt be subject to eternal suffering."

[There is a flash, distorting the view for 0.5 seconds. When the flash clears, a beam of yellow light is visibly engulfing Skreyja. He now floats 2 meters off the ground.]

Voice: "Thou shalt be stripped of thine tongue, so that thou can never worm thine way again."

[Skreyja emits distressed vocalizations, as his mouth is forcibly opened, and his tongue ripped from within, dissolving instantly.]

Voice: "Thou shalt wander the shifting sands of Osiris's reign, beneath the never ending sun shall your skin turn red, your mouth be ever dry, and your stomach empty. Go now, and face your judgement."

[Skreyja emits a series of distressed vocalizations, as his body slowly dissolves into a pile of sand within the yellow light. The process concludes after 3 minutes, and Skreyja falls silent, leaving a pile of sand and clothing in front of the large statue. The recording turns back to the hand, as it withdraws from SCP-3701-D.]

[END LOG]

Exploration Logs:
The following section details the initial exploration of SCP-3701. Logs were recorded via a combination of helmet and vehicle mounted cameras, aerial and ground based unmanned drones. Entry one depicts the exploration of SCP-3701-A and B. Entry two consists of aerial unmanned footage of SCP-3701-D following the establishment of an expeditionary foothold within the rear section of SCP-3701-A. The third entry depicts the exploration of SCP-3701-D, and retrieval of surviving SCP-3701-1.

Access fileserv:/S:/3701/exploration/log1.log

Close file

Three experienced reconnaissance teams, with accompanying tactical insertion teams, were deployed via Deep-water Exploration, Pursuit, and Tracking Submersibles (DEPTHS) to assess and evaluate a large metallic structure following the events of Incident I-3700-039. Delta-7 lost contact with Recon 2 shortly after visual contact with the object, Recon team 3 was forced to return to the surface due to an explosion which disabled several key vehicular functions. Recon teams were provided with standard exploration gear, several non-traditional amenities, and helmet mounted cameras.

Initial Exploration Log Transcript

Date: ██/██/████

Exploration Team: Delta-7 Reconnaissance team 1

Subject: SCP-3701

Region of exploration: SCP-3701-A and B

Team Leader: Silus Smith (R-Cap)

Recon Team Members: Rugio Balet (R-1, Demolitions), Sarah Ochev (R-2, Engineer), Quigon Chin (R-3, Scout), Milo Statch (R-4, Linguistics), Jane Sandora (Pilot, Sharp Shooter)

Tactical Insertion Escort Team: T-Cap, T-1, T-2, T-3, T-4, T-5

[BEGIN LOG]

R-Cap: "Mic check?"

R-1: "Check."

R-4: "Avvinning."

R-3: "Roger Roger."

R-2: "Check."

R-Cap: "Statch, might need to get Ochev to look at your universal translator."

R-4: "Sorry cap, that was Norn. Check."

R-Cap: "Stick to languages the translator can process Statch."

R-Cap: "Tactical, what's your status?"

T-Lead: "All mics are good. We're ready to go."

R-Cap: "Good signs so far, Command, you reading us?"

Delta-7 Command: "Signal is coming through clear Recon Lead."

R-Cap: "Alright, here's the deal folks. There's something big, and metallic sitting about 5 clicks down. We're going to approach on a direct horizontal route, avoid any surprises that way. Command wants to know what it is. You know the drill from there. If we're lucky, its just a bunch of shipwrecks that got disturbed by those seaquakes earlier. If not, well, we might be a little late for dinner."

[Light laughter. R-1 raises his hand.]

R-Cap: "Go ahead Balet."

R-1: "Are the jarheads necessary for this? Ain't like we've needed them before."

R-Cap: "We're going in blind, in heavy Nuck territory. Command thinks we might find more than just a bunch of wrecks, and wants them to tag along just in case, to, you know, test their toys."

R-2: "So we're bait?"

Pilot: "Pipe down folks, we're 2 km out from the target. Gonna have to navigate through both the silt and the shipwrecks. Keep yer yaps shut for the next 15 minutes else we might end up plastered on the sea floor."

[R-Cap and the rest of the recon team approach the view-ports. The silt storm has increased in intensity, something seems to be stirring the clouds of dust and sand. A silhouette is just barely visible through the thick clouds. The shape is almost impossible to discern; however, for a few tenths of a second it resembles a giant hand, before it vanishes. The outline of the metal object can be seen in the distance.]]

[The Pilot looks at several readouts as she counterbalances the currents buffeting the submersible.]

Pilot: "I'm picking up unusually high levels of ARad emission. Pressure readings ain't right either, its like we're on the surface."

[The submersible continues to approach the metal object, the view obscured by large amounts of silt and sand kicked up in the ongoing seismic activity. The camera on it's exterior capture two other submersibles trailing behind. Visibility degrades as the subs get closer to the object.]

[R-Cap moves from the window to where the pilot is seated, and begins looking over the same readouts. A six digit number comes into frame, blinking red.]

R-Cap: "Sweet Mother of Jesus, 100,000 ARad."

R-2: "100,000? That's impossible! We'd be fried."

Pilot: "You're not wrong." [She pauses for approximately 5 seconds, and bangs a hand on the console with the ARad counter output.] "EVE sensor must be on the fritz again. Will have to get it checked out."

R-4: "Hey Cap, you're gonna want to see this."

[R-Cap walks back to the viewport in time for the camera capture four glowing yellow orbs passing beneath. The orbs flicker twice, before disappearing into the silt.]

R-Cap: "Jane, don't bank on the sensors being out. Think we might have more than just a hunk of metal out here."

[Several clicks are heard as R-Cap's camera turns to face the back of the vehicle, and the bulkhead separating the two teams.]

R-Cap: "Command, we might have an issue."

Delta-7 Command: "Go ahead Team Lead."

R-Cap: "2 km from object, we made visual contact with four yellow orbs, silt is too thick to give an accurate estimate of how far down, but if I had to make a guess probably bout 100 m below us. We also picked up extraordinarily high ARad readings, up around 100,000."

[The comms remain silent for 2 minutes, during which time Delta-7 Command notifies Operations command of these developments.]

Pilot: "Smith, we're almost within visual range."

[R-Cap turns back to the viewport, as command reinitiates radio contact.]

Operations Command: "Reconnaissance Captain, this is operations command. We've opened a secure line to you and your team. You are to inform your tactical escort that the orbs were artifacts of bioluminiscent organisms, and administer Class A1 amnestics¹² to them, and the other recon teams. Should something occur, and the orbs prove hostile, we've got Tau-5 standing by.

[R-Cap visibly stiffens at the mention of Mobile Task Force Tau-5 ("Samsara").]

Operational Command: "You've been granted temporary Level 5 authorization. Any, and all information on the orbs gathered during this operation are to be added directly by you. No one else. Do you understand?"

R-Cap: "Understood, Command."

[R-1, R-2, and R-3 appear confused, and R-4 opens his mouth; however, before anything can be said, the Pilot interrupts.]

Pilot: "Smith we've reached visual range."

[External feeds break through the seemingly impenetrable cloud of silt, into a debris free bubble, stretching a km above the top of the object in front of them.]

R-4: "Holy crap."

[Team 1, 2 and 3's subs come to a stop 600 m away. SCP-3701's metal form is spread across the ocean floor, tapering off into an opening on a giant shell with spike like protrusions. Bluish white light illuminates the surrounding area, illustrating bolts of lightning on the vehicle's dented and heat warped claws, and depictions of a crab scuttling across the ocean floor on the legs. The cameras briefly zoom in, revealing the complex network of Nordic runes constructing these images, before shifting to the shell, illuminating green patches composed of similar symbols. From where the cameras are oriented, a large hole can be seen in the top of the carapace. A bright blueish white light is visibly pulsing within the hole.]

R-3: "More like holy crab."

[The recon team groans.]

Pilot: "Activating spotlights for a better view of this puppy."

R-3: "I think you mean crustacean."

[Pilot presses a couple buttons and the forward spotlights sputter to life.]

Pilot: "Would be a shame if someone 'accidentally' got launched out of a torpedo tube."

[The spotlights illuminate the exterior of SCP-3701 as the exterior feed pans across the object, revealing diverse tones, the hull having been intricately designed with combinations of blues, yellows, greens, and pink, creating a large, detailed depiction of a woman possessing four eyes.]

R-3: "You can't do that."

[The pilot presses a few more levers, re-initiating propulsion systems. The subs begin moving towards the metal crab, spotlights illuminating an increasingly large number of details, including large 1 m holes lining the interior of each claw, with a larger 5 m hole located at the center junction. As they get closer, it becomes apparent that the Maxillipeds and the Mandible around the mouth have been replaced with a large structure, at least 100 m in diameter, resembling the barrel of a cannon.]

Pilot: "Tell that to Dr. Henry."

[The sub bucks suddenly, R-1 and R-4's video feeds spin for 0.3 seconds, before stopping. Several lights begin flashing as they draw within 50 m of the breach.]

R-Cap: "Jane is that just turbulence, or should we be worried?"

[The pilot wrestles with the steering equipment, as the sub is buffeted by shifting currents. Her attention is focused on the viewport. Exterior camera's pick up distorted pockets of water. She points out the viewport.]

Pilot: "Time to be worried. Picking up ARad readings of 20k. We got spatial distortion!"

R-Cap: "Pull us out!"

[The Pilot jerks the stick up, R-2 and R-3's camera's spin for 0.5 seconds, followed by a dull thud. They remain upside down for 5 seconds, as the sub lifts up at a 45 degree angle.]

Pilot: "Working on it!"

R-3: "I think I'm going to be sick."

[The sub clears the area of distortions, but is buffetted by an explosion. External camera signals are lost, and the feeds of all Recon team members but Pilot are level with the floor of the sub. Klaxon alarms fill the interior. It takes approximately 30 seconds for the team to regain their senses.]

Pilot: "Everybody Ok?"

R-Cap: "We're good, though Chin may have lost his lunch."

R-3: [Groans.]

Pilot: "Great, just had these floors waxxed too… What about tactical?"

T-Lead: "T-5 took a hit to the head on the bulkheads, probably has a concussion. Otherwise, we're fine."

R-Cap: "Roger. Teams 2 and 3, do you read?"

[Approximately 30 seconds of silence pass, before the radio reactivates.]

Team-3 Lead: "Team 3 here, we're ok, but Team 2 is gone. Their sub got caught in a spatial bubble, collapsed right in front of us, lighting them up like a firework. We took some damage, our oxygen filters are shot."

R-Cap: "Shit. Command, you got that?"

Delta-7 Command: "Roger that R-Cap. Team 3, return to the surface for retrieval. What's the status of Sub 1?"

Pilot: "Navigation and propulsion systems are fine. Exterior visual systems are shot. Sensors, ARad, and Hume detection equipment are fried. So, in summary, we can move, but we're going to be blind the whole way."

[One minute of silence.]

Delta-7 Command: "Team 1, proceed with exploration efforts. We will send an additional sub for retrieval."

R-Cap: "Roger command."

Pilot: "Looks like there is some sort of landing bay there. Gonna take us in."

[The next 5 minutes of footage involve the entry of the sub into a hangar facility, at which point a set of metal doors slide closed behind them, and all water is drained, before the sub is pulled into an adjoining chamber by a set of mechanical arms.]

[Both the Recon and Tactical teams emerge from the sub, and enter the hangar proper. Helmet mounted camera's capture a number of smaller craft resembling common ocean fauna. Craft are noted to be covered in a network of complex runes depicting the vehicle performing various actions. R-2 walks over to one and begins inspecting it.]

R-Cap: "What are you thinking Sarah?"

R-2: "We could maybe use couple of these things to speed up exploration."

[She runs her hands over the vehicle. After a few minutes she frowns, and shakes her head.]

R-2: "Doesn't seem to have an on switch."

R-Cap: [He's stopped listening to R-2 and is looking at the walls, where several deep 5 digit claw marks are visible.] "Unfortunately we don't have time to tinker with these. We have bigger problems." [He indicates the marks drawing the attention of both parties.] "Best get moving before they come back. Chin, you've got point. Tactical, watch our backs."

T-Lead: "Roger, we know the drill."

[The exploration team moves through the interior of SCP-3701-A for 10 minutes, passing through a series of narrow, but tall hallways. Cameras pan back and forth between blood splatters, claw marks, and distorted or torn sheets of metal, interspersed between larger rooms containing ocean and beach based motifs. Several rooms of displaced equipment, strange computer shaped devices with active screens, a kitchen like area, with fresh fish sitting on the counter fade in and out of view.]

[The team eventually reaches a large room, with displaced exercise equipment, and a large diagram depicting the layout of the vehicle. A couple of almost human shaped shadows are visible, but the party does not appear to notice them. They stop and survey the diagram. The diagram splits into 3 sections as they approach, with one section indicating their current level, and the other two cycling through horizontal and vertical dissections of 80 different decks.]

R-Cap: "Visor must be malfunctioning, can't make out what the diagram says."

Pilot: "I'm seeing a bunch of squiggly symbols. Maybe it's a cognitohazard?"

R-4: "Armory."

R-Cap: "Wait, is your visor working, Statch?"

R-4: "It's Norn, or rather, portions of it are."

R-Cap: "Ya might need to elaborate there."

R-4: "Well, see, it's all written in Runes, they're consistent with the Orkney/Shetland dialect but… There seems to be some atypical incorporation of symbols, like they've incorporated bits and pieces from other languages. Like, there are some Greek letters, Cyrillic alphabet, a little bit of Arabic, and even a Kanji or two. The really weird part, is that everything is arranged according to English grammar, which makes no goddamn sense."

R-Cap: "How much of it can you decipher?"

R-4: "All of it, it's a clusterfuck, but it's readable."

R-Cap: "Good, so, lets figure out where that breach was."

R-4: [He points to one of 13 large chambers on the vertical dissection of the vessel.] "This is where the breach is, crystal chamber five."

R-Cap: "Good. We avoid that section at a- Statch what are you doing?"

[R-4 approaches the wall, his camera tilts down tracking his hand along the bottom of the diagram. There is a clicking noise, and a spherical device slides out from the wall. The diagram goes dark.]

R-1: "Son of a bitch, Statch what did you do?"

R-4: "Made the map portable."

[He presses a circular indent on the surface, and a holographic depiction of the vehicle's interior is projected into the air.]

R-1: "Oh."

Pilot: "Quick thinking, reminds me of what you did with the drones in Fukushima, Ochev."

R-2: "That was just luck. There was no way I could have known Nucks were enraged by smoke."

[R-Cap presses a button on his helmet, resulting in clicks as the sphere cycles through maps of the various levels.]

R-Cap: "Command, this is R-cap, we've located a spherical device containing maps of the object's interior. Uploading them to you now."

Delta-7 Command: "Roger R-cap."

[1 minute of silence passes. Delta-7 Command runs the maps through an advanced language algorithm during this period.]

Delta-7 Command: "R-cap, we're altering the mission directive. Proceed to entry chamber 39, within the adorning structure labeled "Home". Document the surrounding structure. Recover as many thaumaturgic devices as possible. Do you understand?"

R-Cap: "Roger."

[The team begins to move towards one of the doors, but are stopped by T-lead holding up a hand.]

T-Lead: "Does anyone else hear that?"

[The camera's microphones pick up muffled reverberations in the distance. Over the next 20 seconds the noise gets louder, until it is recognizable as the steps of a horse walking across metal. R-cap puts a finger to his mouth, T-lead makes several hand motions, pointing to his gun, to which R-Cap's camera moves side to side. A shadow falls across the doorway, a silhouette of a man fused to a full horse. It sits in place for 10 seconds, before the human torso bends, and the head of the horse bows. The horse stomps, and neighs, and the torso sits up, turning in the direction of the door. A metal clang somewhere else in the structure draws it's attention, and the silhouette disappears, its hoofs still audible for 20 seconds.]

[The party becomes visibly relaxed after approximately 1 minute.]

R-Cap: "This is Fukushima all over again."

Pilot: "It's worse than that. We had drones in Fukushima, and a place to hide."

[T-2 and T-3 are visibly unsettled. There is a dull tearing noise, followed by a snap. The mutilated body of an SCP-3701-1 individual falls in front of the tactical insertion team, startling the entire party, and causing several of the tactical team to unload their weapons on the deceased individual. T-5 stumbles backwards, and inadvertently activates a device, which begins blasting unfamiliar workout music.]

T-2: [T-2 begins to vocalize at a high pitch, exhibiting signs of extreme emotional distress]

T-Lead: "HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

T-3: [T-3 is startled by T-2's distressed reaction, and opens fire on the mutilated corpse.]

T-Lead: "HOLD YOUR GODDAMN FIRE!"

Pilot: "Oh for fucks sake!"

[Pilot steps forward and smashes the music device with the butt of her rifle, silencing it. In one motion she sweeps T-2 and T-3's legs out from under them, knocking their guns aside with her own rifle.]

Pilot: "Stop that before you alert everything that's in here to our presence."

[She pauses for 5 seconds.]

Pilot: "Fucking triggerhappy idiots."

[The room is silent for 2 minutes. R-2 walks over to the corpse and begins looking it over, her camera panning along the distorted features. She uses a piece of exercise equipment to turn and push it. T-4's camera tilts up towards the ceiling.]

T-4: "Hey Cap."

T-Lead: "James?"

T-4: "May wanna look up."

[The entire party looks up, revealing 30 corpses hanging from the roof of the room. A layer of pink and red tissue appears to be the only thing holding them in place, though several of the corpses have clearly been damaged by additional gunfire.]

R-cap: "Must have caught the crew by surprise."

Pilot: "Clawed'em to death and then strung'em up like bats. God damn."

[R-2 looks up from the fallen corpse and calls to R-cap.]

R-2: "Cap, these things ain't human. They got gills and fins."

[A chain of high-pitched vocalizations begins, between 300-400 meters from their position.]

T-Lead: "Sounds like they've figured out they aren't alone."

[Another chain of vocalizations becomes audible, only 100 meters away.]

Pilot: "And they brought friends."

R-Cap: "That throws the stealth option out the window. What are our options route-wise, Statch."

R-4: "We have two. We can take the long route, go close to the outside of the hull. Or we can skirt inside through these hallways." [He points at the map.]

R-Cap: "Short route will take us too close to those distortions. We take the long route."

[The Vocalizations begin again, this time only 50 meters away.]

T-Lead: "We'd best get moving. T-1, T-4 you're our rear guard, use this door as a chokepoint. You open fire as soon as those things come through, hold them off as long as you can, then seal the door and run."

T-1 and T-4: "Yes sir!"

[The party moves down the hallway at a brisk pace. T-1, and T-4's cameras remain pointed at the door. After 2 minutes of moving down the hall, the vocalizations begin again, and gunfire can be heard. The party stops and the cameras swivel back, as the gunfire ceases. T-1 slams the button on the door.]

T-4: "Weapons don't work! They just bounce right off!"

[T-4 throws away his rifle and begins to move away from the door, but his footage stutters, and the camera falls to the ground. The camera swivels, revealing a long arm ending in bony claws. The door presses down onto his torso, pinning him. T-4's screams echo off the metal of the hallway, as the door slices through his abdomen, severing him at the waist. His camera feed stutters and cuts off.]

T-Lead: "Son of a bitch!"

[T-lead starts to move back in the direction of his squad members. His camera jolts to a stop and he turns. R-Cap is gripping him by the shoulder, stopping him from running back down the hall.]

R-Cap: "He's already bought us time, we can't afford to waste it."

[T-Lead looks back down the hall, as T-1 catches up with the rest of the party. The metal door is already bulging out with dents. T-4's upper half is now roughly half a meter away from the door, a thick trail of blood leaking behind him. T-lead turns with the rest of the party and moves down the hall, taking several lefts, before turning into a collapsed hall.]

R-4: "Well, that's not good."

R-Cap: "Is there another way to reach the outside route?"

R-4: "Not until we get past the breach."

Pilot: "So, it's either run through spatial distortion, or get mauled by those things. If you want my opinion, I'd take our chances with the distortion."

[The sound of a metal door giving way can be heard.]

R-1: "We need a decision, preferably before we end up like the fish men."

[R-4 Motions for the party to follow him, and runs back to the previous intersection. The camera veers right, and then makes an immediate left, into another room. Shelves, and racks line the walls, with weapons, primarily bows, curved swords, axes, and spears. Each weapon has been intricately carved with runes, blue light flowing through the canyons, emanating from small crystals.]

R-Cap: "What is this?"

R-4: "Armory of some sort."

[R-4 seals the door behind them, and walks over to a bow, picking it up. He pulls on the string several times, testing it's strength, before handing it to Pilot, alongside a quiver, with long red feathers and hollowed shafts, similar to those found on the body of an SCP-3701-1 individual in SCP-3046.]

R-3: "So what now?"

R-Cap: "We wait, and hope they lose interest. Go back to what they were doing before."

T-lead: "Then we make a beeline for the breach."

[30 seconds of silence pass. Various members of the party pick up and experiment with the weapons.]

R-1: "What are the chances that thaumaturgic weapons can pierce bullet resistant skin?"

R-2: "Probably bout same as finding giant metal crab at bottom of ocean."

[Conversation stops as the sound of hooves approach. Both the Tactical and Recon teams level weapons at the door. The door is struck once, twice, three times, before the metal tears. T-4's mutilated upper half is thrown into the room, striking T-2.]

[T-2 emits a series of highly distressed vocalizations, struggling with T-4's torso. He rolls T-4's remains off of him, as 3 SCP-3456 instances charge into the room, one of them catching T-2 by the throat, decapitating him and sending a stream of blood across the room. His camera spins as the helmet flies through the air, the lens shattering against a wall ending the feed.]

T-Lead: "Rogers!"

[The remaining party members raise their weapons. The entity holding T-2's head swats aside the spear T-3 is holding, and lifts her into the air by her neck. It emits a noise, vaguely imitating a human laugh, while it visibly squeezes the struggling squad member's neck.]

[The entity is struck by a red feather, a high-pitched screech originating from it as it flies through the air. It staggers backwards several steps, releasing T-3 who is hauled back by T-1 and T-5, as she grasps at her throat, still struggling to breath. 2 seconds following impact, a red light begins emanating from the equine's human torso, spreading out across it's form. It emits 3 high-pitched squeals of distress, before it spontaneously bursts into flames for 10 seconds then dissolves into ash.]

[The party looks towards Pilot, holding one of the bows leveled at where the the entity used to be.]

Pilot: "That actually worked? "

[The remaining two 3456 instances begin backing towards the door. T-lead throws a spear, impaling one, and R-cap throws an axe, slicing the other's human head in half. Both entities undergo identical thaumaturgic combustion, leaving behind 3 mounds of equine ash.]

R-Cap: "No time to question why it works, just pick up some weapons and lets move."

[The squad emerges from the armory, each member carrying several weapons and a bow. They begin jogging towards the location of the breach, dozens of hooves audible behind them.]

[R-Cap and T-Lead are the first through a set of giant bulkhead doors, blown out by a blast of great force. Their cameras stop moving, as they track a spatial bubble drifting across the catwalk. Blue light illuminates the interior of the chamber. A roughly constructed barrier of blue-white energy separates the fragmented catwalk from the wall of seawater pouring through the breach into the levels below and out the other side. A 20 m tall crystalline structure hovers in the remnants of a cube shaped chamber, with various pipe like protrusions snaking in all directions.]

[Pockets of space seem to bend and twist in front of the party, spatial distortions that appear and disappear at random. They wait for the distortion in front of them to fade, before moving towards the other end of the catwalk. The doorway has been blocked by debris.]

R-4: "That's really not good."

R-Cap: "Balet, any chance you can blow the debris for us to get through?"

R-1: "I have 2 door charges, won't be enough to blow through reinforced steel though. Will have to jury rig some of my other explosives for remote detonation."

R-Cap: "How long will that take?

R-1: "Four or five minutes, tops."

Pilot: "We may not have that long."

[Several SCP-3456 appear in the doorway on the other end of the catwalk. Pilot, T-1, and T-5 fire several shots, taking down the first group. Another appears right behind them.]

R-Cap: "Get started, we'll hold them off as long as possible."

Pilot: "Cap, we each got about 15 of these feathers. My gut tells me, there are a lot more of those things than we have arrows."

[The squad continuously takes precisely aimed shots, making every feather count. They manage to hold the equines off the catwalk for 3 minutes before the feathers finally run out.]

Pilot: "I'm out."

T-1: "Everyone's out."

R-Cap: "How much longer Balet?"

R-1: "Just a few more seconds!"

R-Cap: "We can hold'em."

[The team draws their melee weapons and prepares for hand to hand combat. Four SCP-3456 charge the group from the door. They make it halfway along the catwalk, and suddenly stop, looking towards the crystal. The structure turns red, and the spatial distortions seem to shift in frequency towards where the equines stand. For 15 seconds, space seems to warp around the equines, before suddenly collapsing inwards, smashing the entities together innumerable times before the bubble explodes outwards. A fifth SCP-3456 charges from the door as the bubble explodes, pushing it through the energy barrier into the water of the breach as blood and tissue fly across the catwalk. Pilots camera tilts down, capturing the entity as it drifts down. The sand on the ocean floor below vibrates momentarily, before a 30 m long chagoi carp, with four yellow eyes, emerges, and swallows it.]

R-1: "Done! Stand back!"

[The party moves back for a moment, the crowd of SCP-3456 on the other side hesitating. The Explosives detonate, temporarily obscuring the video feeds, while clearing the debris. The party moves, running through the door. As T-lead smashes the button to the bulkhead doors, an angry buzz becomes audible, and the red light of the crystal becomes maroon. For a moment, there is silence, and then the entire vehicle shakes, a wave of distressed equine vocalizations reaches the squad, before the vessel falls quiet.]

T-Lead: "What…what was that thing?"

R-4: "Some sort of living crystal…"

Pilot: "A living crystal that took out 5 nucks, and a sub full of trained personnel."

R-Cap: "We still have a mission to do, refocus. We're not far from our target."

R-Cap: "Command, this is R-Cap. We've successfully passed the breach."

Delta-7 Command: "Roger R-Cap."

R-Cap: "We encountered 60+ SCP-3456."

Delta-7 Command: [45 seconds of silence occur.] "How many casualties?"

R-Cap: "Two members of tactical went down. Rest are functional. Command, please advise retrieval teams that armory's aboard the object contain Nuck killing weaponry. Tactical's new weapons do not work."

Delta-7 Command: "Roger R-Cap."

[The squad begins moving again, traveling along the remaining interior of the crab before exiting into SCP-3701-B. Camera's depict a long sloping cavern, winding upwards and out of view. Several tunnel entrances are visible in the nearby spaces. Salt Water is visible 50 m below where they stand, terminating at the entrance of the shell, entirely filled by the tail of the crab.]

R-2: "I wonder how far up this goes."

R-Cap: "Alright Statch, where to from here?"

R-4: "We can take that tunnel over there." [He points to the closest tunnel near a 100 m high column of silicate.]

[The party makes their way through the tunnels. They pass signs of 3456 activity, including several SCP-3701-1 corpses. It takes approximately 15 minutes for both teams to reach their destination, a 15 m tall spherical cavern with two arch structures along the back wall. Both are noted to be "active" with an unknown metallic liquid filling the interior of the arch. R-2's camera tilts down as she pulls out a Kant and ARad counter, both of which begin beeping.]

R-2: "Cap, receiving elevated readings from both Kant and ARad counters. Might be some sort of spatial anomaly through archways."

R-Cap: "Command, we've reached the target destination. Two arches along the backwall are connected to another one of those crystals."

Delta-7 Command: "R-2 prep your aerial drone for exploration of the right arch. Additional squads have been deployed, Tactical 1 your squad will be relieved upon arrival. R-cap, should the Drone verify a non-aquatic environment, your team will be deployed with MTF elements from Delta-7 for exploration and retrieval purposes. Stand by for further instructions."

[END LOG]

Access fileserv:/S:/3701/exploration/log2.log

Close file

Aerial Drone Exploration Log Transcript

Date: ██/██/████

Drone: Remote controlled modified (SKF-1952) hover drone.

Subject: SCP-3701-D

Purpose: Determine the nature and composition of SCP-3701-D. Acquire telemetry data for purposes of exploration/mapping.

[BEGIN LOG]

[The Drone enters the right arch. 0.5 seconds of bright light distort the drone's camera.]

[The camera refocuses, revealing several items of interest. A canal like structure is visible in front, and below the drones position, grooves and beams of blue light flow in two different directions, creating a perceivable current in the water, and separating the structure into lanes. Floating in the water, and lying on the surrounding grass and walkways are thousands of deceased SCP-3701-1 instances.]

[The Drone swivels, turning the camera for a more panoramic view of the surrounding area. Claw marks, hoof prints, and physical damage to the surrounding structures are all visible. Mid and high rise structures line the canal, marble columns lining the sides, with steep angled roofs, culminating in outcropped corners and edges resembling scales. As the drone continues to turn, interiors of several of these structures can be seen. The presence of shelves, and decorative signs would appear to indicate some sort of commercial structures.]

[In one direction, the buildings taper off into smaller structures, resembling residential units of a suburban environment with a combination of symmetric facades, clapboard walls, arched windows, and red tiled roofing. In the other, mid rises become high rises and skyscrapers employing heavy buttresses, stone columns, stain glass windows, and gargoyle-like statues. Further view is obstructed due to a collapsed sky scraper. All observable structures have been painted with primarily bright colors, including blues, yellows, greens, and pinks.]

[After approximately 30 seconds of footage, the drone begins gaining altitude, rising vertically. As it clears the midrise buildings, it becomes apparent that SCP-3701-D is completely occupied by an urban environment separated into 4 concentric rings, 3 of which are visible as described above. The drone collides with a perceived ceiling, and is unable to climb any higher. At first, it appears that this ceiling is some kind of barrier separating the city from the ocean floor; however, it becomes apparent, based on telemetry data, and camera feeds from approaching retrieval teams outside of SCP-3701, that the perceived ocean floor is in fact the perspective from the top of SCP-3701-B.]

[The drone begins moving horizontally, decreasing in altitude to avoid further collisions with the barrier. At this point a previously unobserved complex comes into view for approximately 10 seconds. Several moving humanoid shapes are briefly visible, before a burst of bright blue light obscures the camera's lens. The drone begins losing altitude, and the camera spins for several seconds, before stopping. Recording continues for 3 seconds, depicting a statue of a female humanoid figure with four yellow eyes.]

[END LOG]

Access fileserv:/S:/3701/exploration/log3.log

Close file

SCP-3701-D Exploration and Retrieval log

Date: ██/██/████

Exploration Team: Delta-7 Reconnaissance team 1

Subject: SCP-3701

Region of exploration: SCP-3701-D

Team Leader: Silus Smith (R-Cap)

Recon Team Members: Rugio Balet (R-1, Demolitions), Sarah Ochev (R-2, Engineer), Quigon Chin (R-3, Scout), Milo Statch (R-4, Linguistics), Jane Sandora (Pilot, Sharp Shooter)

Mobile Task Force Delta-7-1 ("Sea Marines"): Michael Saur (M-Lead), Marie Steinbaum (M-2, Small arms), Marius Sanders (M-3, Type Blue/Support/Medic), Souichi Yin (M-4, Heavy Weapons).

Notes: The following log is an audio and video recording transcript of Recon Team 1's excursion into the pocket dimension. <> are used to indicate feed switches between cameras. In instances where multiple viewpoints were spliced together, no individual is indicated.The goal of this expedition changed significantly the further the team progressed into the space, evolving from exploration, to retrieval, to an attempt to prevent SCP-3701-D's complete collapse.

During the latter portions of this log, operations command deployed 34 squads of experienced personnel from MTF-Delta-7-2 through 14 for the purpose of search and rescue of any trapped SCP-3701-1.

[BEGIN LOG]

[Camera's switch back on. Technicians walk back and forth across the field of view of each squad members cameras, MTF personnel equipped with weaponry recovered from SCP-3701-A stand at the entrance to the spherical space.]

R-Cap: "Alright, mics back on."

Pilot: "We need to go through another mic check?"

R-Cap: "Negative, just make sure your green light is on."

M-Lead: "What's the plan Smith?"

R-Cap: "Command wants a comprehensive assessment of the situation."

Pilot: "So, they want us to romp through a field of corpses? Got it."

R-Cap: "Corpses and collapsed skyscrapers. Drone footage showed signs of a full on Nuck assault before it was popped out of the sky by something. Coincidentally, Command also wants to know what that something was."

R-4: "What about survivors?"

R-Cap: "Command don't think there are any. As far as I can tell from the drone footage, they're wrong. Someone is still alive down there."

M-2: "And if we come across them?"

R-Cap: "Command didn't say. Assuming they're non-hostile, safe to say we go through retrieval protocols. Any other questions fore we go through? No? Alright, lets move. Faster we get this done, faster we get out of this tomb and get some Schwarma."

[The squad proceeds through the right arch, 0.5 seconds of bright light distort the cameras. 3 seconds pass before they refocus, revealing the same scene as before. They spread out across the path.]

R-1: "I've never seen so many dead anythings. Jesus Christ."

Pilot: "We sure all of this is just Nuck work? Don't recall seeing them kill like this."

M-3: "Fish-Folk here mostly died from having their wind pipes ripped out, with claws."

R-3: "Sounds like a Nuck to me."

[The party stops at an intersection, capturing footage of a collapsed skyscraper.]

[<R-2's feed tracks slowly over the building. It is apparent that the Skyscraper was cleaved, at a 30 degree angle, causing the top half to slide down and into the canal below. The exterior of the structure shows signs of heat damage, including melted steel.>]

[<Similar collapsed skyscrapers are visible 200 m in either direction, effectively blocking the party in.>]

Pilot: "I do not want to tangle with whatever did that."

R-Cap: "Ochev, what have you got for us."

R-2: "Based on GPS, and what mapping data we get before it went down, drone is 5 blocks in front of us." [She pauses.] "May have slight problem, seems it is moving down."

R-Cap: "Down?"

R-2: "Yeah, 10 km down. Either drone has fallen into deep water, or this ground we're standing on ain't solid."

Pilot: "So the real question is, how do we get past this clusterfuck of collapsed buildings?"

M-Lead: "Cutting through one of these undamaged buildings will probably be the fastest."

R-4: "We'll be blind and in close quarters."

R-3: "I'd rather not be within clawing range."

M-Lead: "The other option is we double back, and circle around, try to find a route that's not blocked."

R-3: "What's the downside to that?"

M-Lead: "It'll take longer. And-"

[<M-Lead is cut off, and the ground vibrates shaking his camera.>]

[<R-4's view tilts up. For approximately 15 seconds, the barrier of the pocket dimension appears to shift and vibrate, as if it is losing cohesion.>]

[<R-3 swivels towards the blocked intersection. The top half of the nearby skyscraper shifts, metal and rock can be heard scraping against each other. The sound of hooves walking on concrete can be heard 3-4 km away in the direction that the party came from, inducing a series of small seismic events which shake R-3's camera.>]

M-Lead: "Giant Nucks."

R-Cap: "Cut through the buildings it is."

[They move towards one of the buildings.]

[<R-3 steps through the doorway, his foot failing to make contact with solid level ground, and falls face first into a stream of salt water. For 2 seconds luminescent blue lines are visible before R-3 emerges from the water.>]

R-3: "Son of a Bitch! Who the fuck thought it was a good idea to replace the floor with salt water."

R-4: "Aquatic humanoids."

R-Cap: "Alright, tone down the chatter. Watch your step, there is solid ground beneath the water, but we don't need anymore flopping Chin's."

[The squad proceeds further into the building, wading through 1 m deep salt water hallways.]

[<R-Cap's feed captures debris along the lower floor. Passages have been blocked by debris, forcing the squad to climb to a higher level. They proceed into the building's interior for 2 minutes, before stopping. The hooves heard previously are now approximately 20 m away. Audio at this time has been enhanced as party members communicated via whisper.>]

R-Cap: "One of the nucks must have caught our scent."

R-1: "Should we keep moving, not like they can see us?"

Pilot: "We start moving, they'll hear us. Fuckers have better hearing than a barn owl."

R-Cap: "Jane's right. Best to just wait them out."

R-4: "Didn't we try this in Fukushima?"

[There is a 5 second pause in conversation. The hooves are no longer audible.]

R-Cap: "We did."

Pilot: "They almost dropped a goddamn building on our heads."

R-4: "Won't they just do that again?"

R-Cap: "Not if they don't know where we are."

[30 seconds of silence occur, followed by a 140 decibel vocalization.]

[<The ground shakes and the sound of bending steel, splintering wood, and stone shattering can be heard.>]

M-2: "What the hell was that?"

Pilot: "A building being torn apart."

R-Cap: "That is our cue to start moving, double time."

R-4: "I hate being right."

[<R-3's camera feed vibrates as the team moves through the building at an accelerated pace, reaching the far side within 70 seconds. They pass a number of rooms, with the doors torn off, strange devices glowing with blue light, green, paper-like material bearing writings in SCP-3701-1's language. Another building can be heard collapsing, closer than the first.>]

[<R-Cap tosses a cylindrical device out of a hole in the side of the building onto the walkway below. The capsule releases an inflatable cushion.>]

R-Cap: "Alright, everyone out the hole. Go go go."

[<R-3 is the first to jump, the footage shaking on impact with the cushion. He moves off the device, and turns, tracking rest of the squad as they exit the building.>]

[<M-3 turns 180 degrees briefly capturing a bony appendage gripping the front side of the building from which they had emerged, the rest of the entity is obscured by a cloud of debris. The appendage disappears as the building collapses. He turns to the right towards an intersection, and follows the rest of the party who are already moving.>]

R-Cap: "Jane, you see the size of that one's hand?"

[<R-3 is the first to reach the intersection, turning left. The palace complex can be seen 5 intersections away.>]

Pilot: "Hand was the size of my house. If that thing is as big as I think it is, no way in hell we're going to be able to outrun it."

M-lead: "What's the plan then?"

R-Cap: "We run till it catches up, then we turn and fight."

R-2: "You honestly think these weapons will be effective against one that large?"

R-Cap: "Hell if I know, but we don't have much of a choice."

R-3: "Oh fuck me running."

[<R-3 stops moving forwards, a cloud of smoke and debris flows into the canal in front of his feed, 200 m in height. A silhouette manifests in the cloud, an SCP-3456 instance, 100 m tall, with 5 human torsos fused to its equine back, and 8 more fused to the torsos themselves, hanging limp and lifeless. 10 seconds of silence occur, before the torso's straighten, 14 pairs of red eyes staring out of the cloud of debris. The entity releases 13 separate vocalizations, glass can be seen shattering on those buildings not blocked by the cloud of debris.>]

Pilot: "Gonna have to pass on the offer Chin, got bigger fish to fuck."

[The entity puts one hoof forward then a second, emerging from the cloud of debris slowly. All 28 eyes remain on the party, each torso smiling.]

[<R-Cap, and Pilot both draw their bows, and fire a single shaft at the same time. Their feeds trace the arc of the projectiles, striking the entity on its equine head, below the eyes. Red lines appear for 13 seconds, and the entity emits a distressed vocalization for 2 seconds. It does not spontaneously combust as seen in previous smaller iterations.>]

R-Cap: "That answers that question."

Pilot: "Weapons ain't gonna do much good alone, nothing more than a bee-sting to that thing."

M-lead: "Yin, you got anything that could take this thing down?"

M-4: "Negative, nothing I've got will touch it."

[<R-Cap and Pilot move backwards, raising a scimitar and spear into view, respectively. The entity takes a few more steps forward, the debris cloud dissolving behind it.>]

[<R-4's perspective turns to the surrounding buildings. Small distortions are visible.>]

Pilot: "Silus, please tell me we have a plan B."

R-Cap: "Not this time Jane. Ain't like Fukushima, no fresh water to cross."

R-4: "Hey Cap?"

[<R-Cap moves further backwards. The entity advances another couple steps. A dull hum becomes audible.>]

Pilot: "So, we just going to up an die now?"

R-Cap: "Not without a fight."

R-4: "Sir!"

[The hum grows in intensity.]

R-Cap: "Statch?"

R-4: "The buildings."

[<R-Cap turns to the surrounding buildings. Several groups of humanoid figures come into frame, obscured by the shadow of the equine. They remain for 15 seconds, before disappearing. The hum continues getting louder.>]

M-2: "What's that noise?"

[<R-3's camer turns, looking back down the canal. A blue light appears behind the entity, originating from the palace complex.>]

[<SCP-3456 turns towards the source of the hum. Its body language changes, torso's sitting up in a rigid position. It emits a panicked vocalization, and begins backing away, stepping over the squad in the process.>]

[The hum stops for 0.3 seconds, and the light appears to dissipate. A bright flash and a thwapping noise occur.]

[<A beam of blue and red light flashes into and out of frame, as it hits the 3456 instance on its equine head.]

[<R-Cap turns in time to capture the incineration of the Equines head. The torsos emit distressed vocalizations, and the remainder of the intact entity spontaneously combusts, before promptly dissolving into ash.>]

[30 seconds of silence occur, during which time Chin produces a cross from beneath his armor.]

R-3: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on ear-"

R-Cap: "Chin, pull yourself together. Everyone else alright?"

[<The rest of the squad nods at R-Cap.>]

R-1: "What the hell was that."

M-4: "No idea… but I want one."

[Further conversation is prevented by the appearance of 30 SCP-3701-1 in a circle around the squad, pike-like weapons pointed at each persons neck, corralling them into a tighter circle. Additional groups appear to materialize around the squad.]

R-Cap: "Where are they coming from?"

R-4: "It's the armor and cloth they're wearing. Its got the same symbols on them that shell did."

M-3: "They're runes for obscuring, makes them damn near invisible while moving."

R-1: "They look like humans."

R-2: "No. Have layer of skin that fold in and out, make them look like us."

[<The shaft of a spear appears within R-2's frame of reference, before her perspective tilts up. R-2 does not speak further.>]

[<The aquatic humanoids appear anxious, those not directly engaged with the squad glance at the surrounding environment.>]//

[<R-Cap raises his hands, and motions for the other members of the squad to do so.>]

R-Cap: "We come in peace!"

[The SCP-3701-1 instances stare at R-Cap for 10 seconds, but do not respond.]

R-4: "Don't think they can understand you Cap."

[A group of older looking individuals stand 5 m back from the circle. They appear to be engaged in heated conversation. Pilot and R-Cap are pressed right on top of each other, and begin whispering back and forth. Audio has been enhanced.]

Pilot: "Silus, what's the plan here?"

R-Cap: "Patience Jane, I'm thinking."

Pilot: "Patience isn't something I'm overflowing with when I have spears pointed at my neck."

R-Cap: "Easy, we don't engage unless they get overtly hostile."

Pilot: "This isn't overtly hostile to you?"

R-Cap: "We're still alive, and the guys in charge are talking. Means they probably don't want us dead."

Pilot: "Little bit of a leap don't you think?"

[<Pilot shifts slightly. An SCP-3701-1 instance brings a spear shaft into view. The camera tilts up at an angle.>]

[<The ground shakes and R-4 looks up. The barrier above loses cohesion for 30 seconds.>]

[<The SCP-3701-1 instances lower their weapons slightly and appear unnerved.>]

Pilot: "Something tells me that's not a Nuck."

ljóss: "Your assumption would be correct."

[The youngest officer from the group of SCP-3701-1 steps towards the group, and makes a hand motion. The circle of humanoids lower their weapons, and move, creating a path for the individual. Her second skin withdraws, revealing black scales and a number of scars.]

ljóss: "Forgive me." [She bows, arm and leg fins extending to full volume.] "I am Knight Sargent ljóss, 2nd in command of Selchia's garrison, or rather what's left of it."

[5 seconds of silence.]

ljóss: "Under normal circumstances, procedure demands that we wipe your memories, take the weapons you've acquired, and deposit you on the nearest landmass."

R-Cap: "Sounds familiar. Why are you telling us?"

Pilot: "And, more importantly, why haven't you done that?"

[ljóss indicates the damaged buildings, and columns of smoke visible.]

ljóss: "These aren't normal circumstances."

Pilot: "Clearly."

ljóss: "We are in a great deal of trouble."

M-Lead: "The nuck incinerating canon, and small army previously at our throats would indicate otherwise."

ljóss: "Appearances are deceiving."

M-3: "Evading makes us less sympathetic, given you had spears pointed at us."

ljóss: "There are 500 of us in the palace, of which 200 are Palidines. We have 8 Turgic cannons. Nowhere near enough to ward off another assault."

R-3: "Why not just leave?"

ljóss: "The Knoggelvi can sense our location. They will not approach within the range of our weapons, but once we leave they will descend upon us and ensure our extinction. If we might restore the palace path, we may be able to evacuate into Guð-Bani."

R-Cap: "How exactly do we play into all of this?"

ljóss: "Ah, that would be, how do you Mud-Men say, kissing without telling? Come, walk with me."

[She turns, and begins walking towards the palace.]

[<R-Cap's arms briefly come into view and initiate a quick motion. He begins moving forward, turning just enough to capture the squad following behind. The armed SCP-3701-1s follow at a slower pace. They constantly look behind and around them.>]

ljóss: "To reach us, you had to descend to the floor of the ocean, and cross Guð-Bani yes?"

R-Cap: "Not without incident."

ljóss: "Then it has been secured."

R-Cap: "Yes."

ljóss: "And how many of your… people have occupied it?"

R-Cap: "That information is restricted."

[15 seconds of silence. The group reaches the palace complex. The structures are intact, with little signs of damage or debris. The statue, recorded during the drone log, stands at the center of the complex. Several dozen SCP-3701-1 sit, or stand on the grass surrounding temple complex in which the statue is housed, weapons on their back. They stare at the squad as they pass, the SCP-3701-1 following behind them dispersing. Helmet cameras capture several moments of video inside the surrounding buildings, depicting a disproportionate number of younger SCP-3701-1 crammed together in various spaces. They stop in front of the statue, a rather large pile of sand resting directly in front of it. ljóss kicks the pile of sand, and utters several words, in a state of clear agitation. She returns to a calm state after 5 seconds.]

R-Cap: "As much fun as it is to watch you pound sand, it's not why we're here."

ljóss: "Of course, of course. You're here for flying wheel."

R-2: "Which you shoot out of sky."

ljóss: "A reactionary shot taken out of fear, I assure you. Unfortunately, we don't have wheel in our possession."

Pilot: "Then where is it."

ljóss: "Before I can tell you, we must ask for your help. I understand fear, and hesitation you must feel at such a request."

Pilot: "You put spears at our throats."

ljóss: "A necessary precaution. Our history with Mud-Men, especially those in your type of organization, has not always been clean."

M-lead: "We don't go out of our way to help anomalies, we lock them away. Besides, based on how your companions are looking at us, I don't think they want our help."

ljóss: "They are reluctant, this much is true; however, they understand severity of situation. They may not like it, but they will accept Mud-Men help." [She Pauses.] "Engineering our thaumaturgy will be much more difficult if you do not have us for guidance."

R-Cap: [Presses a button on the side of his helmet.] "Operations Command, are you reading."

Operations Command: "We're receiving R-Cap. Your interactions with SCP-3701-1 have been closely monitored. Given the thaumaturgic technology, and documents recovered from SCP-3701-A, SCP-3701-1 have been upgraded to a priority 2 asset. You are to ensure their survival. The O5 council have been notified of these developments. You are to inform the surviving leadership that we are willing to negotiate a cooperative treaty. Delta-7 is deploying tactical insertion and MTF teams into SCP-3701-D to initiate clean sweep operations."

R-Cap: "Understood." [5 seconds of silence.] "Command wants us to stick around, ensure they survive and are extracted. Once that's done, they want to set up a cooperative agreement."

[ljóss bows.]

ljóss: "I am in your debt."

R-1: "Can't believe we're being asked to babysit a bunch of fish."

R-Cap: "Balet, put a can in it."

Pilot: "Don't thank us too quickly. We're still in hot water."

R-2: "How long will it take your thaumaturges to bring portal back online."

ljóss: "We're not entirely certain. Skreyja, that raven starver of a false king, destroyed most of paths himself. Damage to the palace one was especially severe, it could take many hours, even days."

R-3: "Looks like we're not getting Schwarma."

[Pilot smacks him across the back of the head.]

Pilot: "Now's not the time Chin."

ljóss: "There is another problem."

Pilot: "As if we didn't have enough on our plates."

ljóss: "A wyrm descended into deepworks."

R-4: "A Dragon?"

ljóss: "Yes, a fire snake. It took your flying wheel with it. My commander, Knight Lieutenant Logi, took 15 palidines and went after it. We've not heard from them since. The number of quakes since is worrisome."

R-Cap: "That's a problem, but we can't afford to go dungeoneering, our priority is getting your people out alive."

ljóss: "None of us will survive if drake destroys soul crystal."

R-Cap: "Soul crystal? You mean the blue magic crystals?"

ljóss: "Yes. There is one in deepworks which energizes Selchia, and holds bubble together."

Pilot: "I take it the quakes are the dragon trying to destroy it?"

ljóss: "Yes."

M-2: "Well fuck."

Pilot: "Guess we don't have a choice."

R-Cap: "How long ago did your superior go down?"

ljóss: "2, maybe 3 passes of dial. I believe you call them hours."

R-Cap: "How far down is it?"

ljóss: "Come, I show you."

[ljóss leads the group into one of the larger buildings. A large open area, with several tables, and a large number of empty shelves is visible. ljóss walks to one of the tables, and presses on two imprints, projecting a spherical map into the air. She walks over to a metal pole leaning against one of the shelves, picks it up and tosses it to M-4.]

ljóss: "That is for you. Press green button when we reach wyrm. The crystal's chamber is in largest deepworks room, 10 of your kilometers below us. Unfortunately, major access routes nearby were destroyed during initial assault, and route that Logi took collapsed after they went down."

Pilot: "So we have no way down there at all? What are we going to do, drill through rubble?"

ljóss: "No, that will take far too long. There is an old access route, hasn't been used in many years, through palace, in old dungeons. We can access it by moving that scroll holder."

R-Cap: "We'll need to take the map with us."

ljóss: "Not problem."

[ljóss presses another indent, and a spherical device rises from the tables center.]

R-3: "They sure do love their spheres."

ljóss: "Let us go, must not waste anymore time."

R-Cap: "You're coming too?"

ljóss: "Yes."

R-Cap: "I think it might be smarter if you stayed here."

ljóss: "Nonsense, you will need me to access deepwork, special code is required to get past lock-down."

Pilot: "I've got a bad feeling about this."

[<R-Cap and M-4 move the bookshelf at the back of the room, revealing a doorway. Unlike the well lit entry room, the passageway beyond the door is black.>]

[<The squad passes through the entryway, for a moment, only darkness can be seen. ljóss conjures a small orb of light, revealing their surroundings as they move further into the tunnel.]

[<They descend 3 flights of stairs, before the green stones of the hallway widen. On either side of this passage are doors. The path winds down at a slant beneath the party.>]

R-4: "ljóss, how is it that you speak English if your people were so secluded?"

ljóss: "It is long story. We had change in regime 6 years ago. New regime declared war on Knoggelvi. Started sending palidines into the Mud-Men realms for covert operations. All of it was, how do you say, farce? Was political exile, meant to suppress opposition to new regime. Was foolish, depleted our defenses."

R-4: "You didn't answer my question."

ljóss: "I was on most recent list for exile. All who were exiled were forced to learn Mud-Men languages, prevent us from exposing our true nature. Certain words are still a struggle, but structure, not so much. Krakunge broke Guð-Bani fore I was due for expulsion, and then chaos."

R-4: "Political purges, that's horrible."

ljóss: "Indeed, lost many friends. Enough talk, let us focus on path ahead."

[The squad advances further into the dungeons.]

[<R-4 carefully pans across each wall, and door that the squad passes. It becomes clear that the area has seen recent use. Several lit torches light the path around a single door.>]

R-Cap: "I thought you said this area hadn't been used in a long time?"

R-1: "Those torches aren't even halfway burnt out. Must have been lit recently."

ljóss: "I know nothing bout this. Was told dungeons were cordoned off, unstable tunnels make it unsafe to travel through."

Pilot: "Someone was clearly using them."

R-Cap: "Its got some sort of triangular keyhole, any chance we can pick it."

M-3: "Its a thermokinetic lock. Lockpicks won't work."

ljóss: "One of these might. Found this in the pile of sand."

[<ljóss extends a ring with several polygonal shaped metal keys. R-Cap takes it. His view tilts down as he attempts to fit several within the hole before one sticks. A metallic click is heard, and R-Cap pushes the door inwards.>]

[Despite the light from the tunnel, the interior of the chamber is barely visible. No furniture, or furnishings can be distinguished, only a pair of shackles on the right side of the back wall, and black space in the corners. It appears, at first, that the room is empty. Something shifts in the right corner, reflecting a flash of gold light back at the cameras. There is a click, and a light originating from just above R-Cap's camera lens illuminates the room.]

[A female SCP-3701-1 instance, with gold scales is curled into a ball in the back right corner. Her figure is thin. A few rags of torn clothing are wrapped around her torso, filled with holes. A piece of rope is tied around her neck. Attached to the rope is a a torn piece of paper with an incomplete name reading Heg. The rope is partially blocking both the gils and the folds from which her second skin would extend. She raises a hand, blocking the light from her eyes.]

[R-Cap turns back towards the party.]

R-Cap: "Ochev, Balet, get her out of those shackles. [2 seconds of silence.] "Give her some of your rations. Not too much, she's probably undernourished."

[The camera centers on ljóss.]

R-Cap: "Any idea who this is, and why they were being kept all the way down here?"

[ljóss leans to the right, and squints into the barren chamber.]

ljóss: "Appearance is familiar, but have not met before. Likely political prisoner, maybe daughter of rival noble? No time to inquire further, we must move."

[R-Cap turns back to the humanoid as her shackles are cut. Balet produces a ration bar from a hip pouch, and offers it his canteen of water to the individual. She stares at the object for 5 seconds, before taking it from his hand and inhaling. The bar vanishes within a minute of being taken.]

R-Cap: "Alright, get her up. Let's see if she can walk."

[Before either squad member can touch the humanoid, she stands. An attempt to walk occurs, but she falls back to her knees.]

M-3: "She's too weak to walk on her own. Probably suffering from long term malnutrition."

Pilot: "We leave her here, she's going to die. We have to take her back up."

ljóss: "No time, every minute we waste, wyrm get closer to killing all."

R-Cap: "Then it's settled. She comes with us. Statch, you're the least encumbered, she's your responsibility."

R-4: "Got it boss."

[<R-4 proceeds into the chamber, and helps Heg stand. He places an arm beneath her shoulder, and they begin to walk. R-4's perspective bends, unzipping his hip pouch and producing another ration bar. The humanoid takes it, and again consumes the item. He takes a knife from his belt, and cuts the ropes around her neck. The material falls to the ground, catches fire, and disintegrates within 0.5 seconds of being cut.>]

R-4: "Can you understand us?"

[<Her face fills R-4's feed. Her eyes remain unfocused. She opens her mouth, and an attempt at vocalization occurs. The attempt causes her to recoil slightly. The camera tilts down, highlighting a significant amount of bruising and rope burns around her neck. She shakes her head up and down.>]

R-4: "Alright, just do what we say and we'll get you back topside safe and sound."

[<R-Cap proceeds down the hallway, followed closely by the rest of the party, with Statch at the back supporting Heg. Progress is made for the next 20 minutes, the pathway steadily gets wider, the green stones become metallic plating after 15 minutes.>]

[<R-3 pans back and forth as they move deeper underground, the walls become lined with large luminescent symbols composed of hundreds of carved blue lines. They pass several branching hallways, large numbers of deceased SCP-3701-1 line the walls. They walk forward for another 5 minutes, stopping in front of a large set of bulkhead-like doors. R-3 tilts back and up, capturing a large square shaft from which a stream of salt water seems to be both falling, and climbing upwards. No light comes from the shaft.>]

ljóss: "Beyond doors is crystal chamber and main assembly. Will need second to override lock down."

[The ground beneath the squad shakes with significant force for 45 seconds.]

R-Cap: "Make it fast."

[ljóss nods, and turns to a circular panel on the door, sliding a metal component upwards. She presses upon glowing indents on the device in several different patterns. An audible tone plays, and the metal slide returns to its original position. A series of clicks and whirs occur during the next five seconds, and then the doors begin to slide open, hidden wheels squealing.]

Pilot: "So much for stealth."

[<The doors finish opening, R-3 pushes into the chamber before the rest of the party, and pans across it. The room has a large ceiling, 600 m in height, and extends 2 km in front, and 1 km to either side of where he is standing. A large number of intricate looking metallic devices are scattered in front of R-3, arranged in a similar manner to factory assembly lines.>]

[R-3's camera focuses on the center of this chamber. A large, cuboid enclosure is attached to the ceiling, and anchored to the floor below. Within this chamber is an amorphous crystalline structure roughly 200 m in height. A number of pipe like structures extend from the chamber and integrate into the walls and ceiling, streams of blue energy flowing through them.]

[A large serpentine organism has wrapped itself around the cuboid. From a distance the features of the creature are distinguishable. It is 200 m in length, 30 m wide with 2 broad wings, 2 legs with clawed feet, a long tail with a blade-like edge, a head with 4 horns along the brow, and an elongated snout containing rows of serrated teeth. Red scales run along its length.]

[Its tail continuously spikes against the cuboid chamber. This appears to be inflicting minimal damage on the structure; however, cracks are starting to form. Its focus seems to be somewhere below, and in front of where it perches, and not the chamber itself.]

[R-3 turns, and signals to the rest of the party. They join him behind the piece of machinery, as the creature emits a low pitched vocalization and releases a stream of blue fire from its mouth onto the area below it.]

R-Cap: "I believe we've found your superior."

ljóss: "Logi must be pinned."

R-4: "That's not an ordinary dragon. It's a Wyvern."

Pilot: "What's the difference?"

M-3: "Two legs, and the ability to use magic."

[<R-Cap looks over the edge of the machine. The Wyvern's flame has stopped. A stream of green and pink fire strikes the creature, the origin point indiscernible at the current angle. The creature appears unphased, and its head makes several motions, which is followed by several lightning strikes from the ceiling and a clap of thunder.>]

R-Cap: "Alright, here's the plan. Steinbaum, you circle out to the left with Saur. You two draw its attention, while we circle to the right and find Logi's people. Once we've regrouped, we'll split into two additional groups and draw its attention by hitting it from behind and the right flank. Yin, once it's sufficiently distracted, you use that device to hit it head on. Statch, you and our guest hang back. Any questions?"

[5 seconds of silence.]

R-Cap: "Good, lets move."

[M-Lead and M-2 split to the left, while the rest of the team heads to the right.]

M-Lead: "Hey big ugly! Over here!"

[<M-Lead's camera arcs back as he notches a projectile on his bow, and releases. The projectile bounces off the Wyvern's scales. It emits a vocalization, and his feed shakes, as he rolls behind a piece of machinery.>]

[<The rest of the squad reaches a rather large machine who's front side shows signs of extreme heating. A tall SCP-3701-1 instance with green colored scales is pressed against the backside of the machine. He raises his weapon at the approach of the party, but lowers it again when ljóss breaks from the group, and rushes forward, tackling the individual to the ground. 5 other SCP-3701-1 instances are also propped against the machine. 4 more lie on either side of it. They do not move.>]

Logi: [Speaking in Selch, and translated via algorithim.] "ljóss, what in Mither's name are you doing here."

ljóss: [Speaking in Selch] "I brought help."

[Logi looks at the party.]

Logi: [Speaking in Selch] "You brought Mud-Men? Are you sure that was wise."

ljóss: [Speaking in Selch] "There were no alternatives."

Logi: [Speaking in Selch] "They're likely to die."

ljóss: [Speaking in Selch] "They have a plan."

Logi: [Speaking in Selch] "Very well." [Switches to English] "I would offer good tithings Mud-Men, but our predicament prevents me from doing so. ljóss tells me you have a plan."

[<R-Cap's feed bobs as the party joins the SCP-3701-1s behind the machine. R-Cap divulges his plan.>]

Logi: "I do not know if this will work, but it is as good a plan as any."

[<R-4's feed centers on Logi, as he appears to notice Heg to R-4's right. His expression demonstrates surprise, but he says nothing.>]

[<R-Cap and the remainder of the exploration team remain behind the melted construct, his helmet camera tracks Logi as they move to another machine behind the Wyvern.>]

[<R-4 and Heg move back to a more distant assembly piece, as originally instructed. His feed tracks M-2 and M-Lead's continued distracting of the creature, as M-4 moves behind an assembly piece less than 30 m away from the Wyvern.>]

R-Cap: "Go!"

[<R-Cap's feed shifts, a shaft is notched to his bow, and then released. He tracks the projectile as it bounces off the beast. Additional shafts and a blast of hydrokinetic energy strike the entity. None of the strikes do damage. Projectiles and kinetic thaumaturgy from both M-Lead, M-2 and the group of SCP-3701-1 strike the Wyvern as well.>]

[<R-4's feed depicts the Wyvern unable to concentrate on any one of the groups, as each hit draws its attention. M-4 can be seen standing, pointing the previously received metal pole at the entity. She presses the green button. The metal of the pole expands, before splitting down the middle, wrapping around M-4's extended arm. It continues to expand, complex symbols appearing across its surface, forming detailed runes. Within 3 seconds of pressing the button, M-4's entire arm is encased in metal, and a large cannon like device has formed. Blue light begins to gather around the end of the barrel, and charges for 5 seconds before firing, striking the entity in the chest.>]

[<R-Cap's feed peeks over the top of the assembly piece. The Wyvern has sustained a minor injury at the site of being struck, but remains active.>]

R-Cap: "Not good."

[<R-4's point of reference shows the Wyvern moving its head and wings. Before any of the 3 groups can react, a combination of lightning, and cryokinetic blasts strike behind the machines. All but R-4's camera feeds are lost, vital sign tracking indicates loss of consciousness in all but M-2, who flatlines.]

[Operations command orders the clearing of several shafts leading to the chamber, and a retrieval team descends. Evacuation of surviving SCP-3701-1 instances begins through the Palace pathway, at which time they are housed within SCP-3701-A.]

R-4: "Son of a Bitch."

[<R-4's camera turns towards where Heg was propped beside him. She is no longer there. He turns back towards the Wyvern. The camera focuses on Heg, walking towards the entity.>]

R-4: "What the hell are you doing! It's going to kill you!"

[She does not acknowledge him. A gold light begins projecting from her scales. Streaks of gold light originate from various random places within the room, all concentrating on Heg. A bright flash occurs, and the camera's view is obscured for 3 seconds, after which it refocuses. Heg's outline is visible, floating, 40 m from the Wyvern. All features are obscured by intense gold luminescence.]

R-4: "Holy fucking shit."

[A singular voice is picked up by R-4's microphone. It drowns out all other auditory stimuli, including the roars of the Wyvern. For the purposes of review, the audio has been excluded and replaced with closed captions, due to a disproportionate number of operations staff experiencing sudden spiritual distress.]

Voice: "Come one who carries the blood of my creation, of Triemides. Awaken."

[4 Yellow orbs, and a large humanoid outline surround the floating Heg. The Wyvern opens its jaw, the vocalization it emits is inaudible. It releases a stream of blue fire, and initiates another wave of thaumaturgic lightning. The fire breaks on an intangible barrier around Heg. A similar result occurs with the lightning.]

Voice: "Sealed beast from the void, return to your stone."

[R-4's camera tracks both Heg's and the outline's right arm as it rises into the air. Thousands of golden spheres of light manifest in the surrounding air. The Wyvern releases the cuboid chamber, and launches itself at Heg.]

[Flashes of light obscure the majority of the next two minutes of footage; however, Heg can be seen continuously launching golden spheres at the entity as it attempts to breach the barrier around her. R-4's camera moves position during this time, approaching the other members of the recon team. There is a singular final flash of light. Upon refocusing, the camera shows Heg being gripped by one of the Wyvern's claws. Nothing occurs for 3 seconds. The Wyvern's scales crack, and the entity shatters into hundreds of pieces, falling harmlessly to the floor, before dissolving. The aerial drone lands 5 m from R-4.]

[Heg turns in the air, the Humanoid outline and gold light fade for 10 seconds. For 5 seconds, her blue eyes are yellow in tone, and she appears to possess two extra eyes. Her feet land solidly on the ground, and these traits demanifest. She makes her way towards where R-4 is standing. She stops, 1 meter from the camera, and slumps against the machine. R-Cap Pilot, and M-4 regain consciousness at this time.]

R-Cap: "What happened… am I dead?"

Pilot: "If we are, then heaven looks a lot like the hell we just came from."

M-4: "Oh my head. Do you people ever stop bantering?"

R-Cap: "No. When you've been doing this as long as we have, the only way to get through the mission is to find humor in the smallest of things. It's the only way we cope with the terrors in the shadows, and the people we've lost in the line of fire."

[The rest of the Recon and MTF teams regain consciousness. R-4's camera tilts up at the approach of ljóss with Logi leaning on her for support, a large laceration across his right leg. R-4 extends a hand to R-Cap, helping him and Pilot both up. Neither are visibly injured, but numerous small lacerations are visible.]

R-Cap: "Let's get a headcount."

R-1: "Alive, my camera's shot though."

R-2: "Broke eve counter and half electronic equipment, Wyvern not tough to kill after all."

R-3: "Goddamit, I got a cut on my chin."

R-4: "I'm in one piece."

M-4: "Still here, though I took a hit to the head. May need help walking."

M-3: "Took a magic ice blast to the arm, but otherwise still kicking."

M-Lead: "I'm good, but M-2's gone. Got cooked by lightning and impaled on an ice spike."

[R-4 turns to ljóss and Logi as they reach the group.]

R-Cap: "Where are your people?"

ljóss: "Did not make it afraid. Took brunt of blast, shield us from most."

Logi: "Would probably be dead right now, if it weren't for Princess Hege."

[30 seconds of silence. R-4 looks in Hege's direction. Her expression indicates fear.]

R-Cap: "Who?"

Logi: "Your golden scaled friend."

[R-4's camera pans across the squad as they turn to look at Hege.]

ljóss: "I knew she looked familiar."

[Hege coughs.]

Hege: "Skreyja?"

Logi: "In hell."

Hege: "Good."

R-Cap: "Commands going to want to know how you did that."

Hege: "Mither."

Retrieval: "R-Cap, this is retrieval. What is your status?"

R-Cap: "Retrieval, this is R-Lead. In one piece more or less. 11 alive, including 3 SCP-3701-1. Lost M-2 during the fight with the Wyvern."

[30 seconds of silence.]

Retrieval: "R-Cap, please repeat last part of your statement."

R-Cap: "We lost M-2 during the fight with the Wyvern."

Retrieval: "Roger. Extraction will take place 300 m from your current location. ETA is 30 seconds."

R-Cap: "Understood." [He pauses, turning back to the squad.] "They don't believe we fought a Wyvern."

Pilot: "Fought is an overstatement. We pestered it. The princess did the fighting."

R-Cap: "And Steinbaum paid the ultimate price."

M-Lead: "Lost a damn good shot, a drinking buddy, and a friend."

Pilot: "We've lost too many good people over the years."

R-2: "Is unfortunate part of trade."

R-Cap: "We'll make sure she gets a special commendation… and toast to her over Schwarma. It's the very least we can do. C'mon, I hear the extraction team."

END LOG

Following the events of Exploration Log 3, debriefing of all involved parties was conducted. Footage, cooperating statements, and historical documents cooberate the identity of the SCP-3701-1 instance formerly known as Heg to actually be Princess Hege. She has been designated a level 3 asset, and crowned as the ruling monarch of SCP-3701-1 instances.

Foundation Cooperative Agreement:

Access fileserv:/S:/3701/documents/Foundation-Selchia_Cooperative_Treaty

SCP-3701 Reactivation Log:

Access fileserv:/S:/3701/Reactivation/Reactivation_log1.log

Close file

Reactivation Log RE-3701-001

Date: 6/23/2017

Subject: SCP-3701

Region of recording: SCP-3701-A

Involved Parties: Queen Hege Aqualian, R-Cap (Silus Smith), Pilot (Jane Sandora), Commander Delta-7 Naval Task Force (Ruth Goldwater).

Foreword: The following log depicts the events that occurred during the reactivation of SCP-3701. EoI-002 has not been successfully located since it's initial appearance. Given the entities type black¹³ classification, and general lack of information regarding it, further investigation is required before containment can be attempted.

[BEGIN LOG]

[Footage begins within SCP-3701-A's cockpit. Several Finnfolk are interspersed between Foundation personnel, a mixture of both Human and Finnfolk technology powering on.]

Commander: "What's our status looking like Sandora?"

Pilot: "Power restoration is complete, looks like the circuit is back in working order. Gotta say, these glasses are fantastic, I wouldn't be able to read any of this gibberish if it weren't for them."

R-Cap: "Stay focused Jane. This is important."

Commander: "Are you sure you're up to driving this thing? This isn't a sub."

Pilot: "Sir, they asked the same thing about the Mekhanite spider in Mogadishu. I figured out it was a jumping spider before the techies could decipher the controls."

[The Commander turns to Hege. Her expression indicates discomfort, and anxiety. A scroll with SCP-3701-A's blueprints is in her right hand. The Commander gives a slight bow.]

Commander: "Your Majesty, I believe it would be unfair for any but the Queen of the Finnfolk to reactivate the vehicle. It is only right, that you be the one to restore your people's legacy."

Hege: "Your respect is appreciated Commander. The transition from containing, to collaboration cannot have been easy for your people… and your patience with mine is appreciated."

[She steps forward towards a lever on the console next to Pilot. She places her hand on the mechanism, and pauses.]

Hege: [Speaks in Selch.] "By the Mithers' blessing, I reactivate Guð-Bani in the name of those who fell to Skreyja's treachery. I pull this lever in memory of Brim-Sker, a great man who held his ground against a tyrant, and broke in isolation."

[She pulls down on the lever. Blue luminescence spreads rapidly across the interior of the room. Metal scraping and groaning becomes audible. The entire vehicle shakes. The ocean floor visible out of the view-ports disappears from view after 20 seconds. Camera's mounted on the exterior of escorting subs depict SCP-3701 rising from the ocean floor. The vehicle rises to full height, and the orange mechanical eyes atop the stalks emit luminescence. SCP-3701 promptly vanishes from unaided view.]

Pilot: "The DECK is back online."

Commander: "Very good, all subs switch to Horizon filters."

[Escorting subs enable the Horizon filter, negating the DECK's effects.]

Commander: "Sandora, go ahead and push her forward. slowly please."

Pilot: "You got it."

[Pilot pulls several levers, and presses her foot onto the center left of four pedals. Exterior cameras depict one of SCP-3701's legs rise, before coming down, sending silt into the surrounding water. This process continues slowly, and the crab begins to move forwards. SCP-3701 emits a low-pitched tone.]

Pilot: "Uh, what was that?"

Hege: "That was Guð-Bani, she is glad to be awake once more."

Pilot: "So its alive?"

Hege: "In a way. When the Soul Crystals are connected, they form a collective… mind."

R-Cap: "Can they move the crab on their own."

Hege: "They provide feedback and listen to the motions of their driver. But no, they cannot control the crab themselves."

Pilot: "Good, the last thing we need is angry crystals driving a magic crab towards civilization."

[Hege turns towards R-Cap.]

Hege: "I've heard Crystal 5 may have intervened on your behalf. Most curious, given the Crystals do not normally act, even on the behalf of their crafters."

Techie: "Commander, we're picking up two points of elevated ARad emission levels 1.5 km out and above us."

Commander: "Onscreen."

[Forward mounted cameras capture SCP-3700-2 emerging from a large, ovoid spatial distortion, black and red in coloration.]

R-Cap: "That is not fucking good."

Commander: "I thought we were rid of that thing. Sampson, get a hold of Logi, I want to know how close we are to reactivating the main weapon!"

Sampson: "Logi says we're several hours, maybe days away."

[SCP-3700-2 has begun swimming towards SCP-3701.]

Commander: "Activate all batteries!"

[Cameras on the exterior of SCP-3701 capture a firestorm of projectiles, consisting of various elemental kinetic blasts originating from the top and sides of the vehicle. SCP-3700-2 is unaffected by the barrage, and continues towards the vehicle.]

Commander: "Raise the claws!"

Pilot: "On it!"

[SCP-3701 raises both claws, the 1 m holes lining the interior spark, and beams of lightning begin flowing across the gaps, until every hole is lit. The hole at the center of the claw fires a large metal projectile, carrying the lightning with it. It strikes the eel. The eel crashes into the ocean floor and remains still for approximately 15 seconds, before rising up and continuing towards the vehicle, showing only minor damage.]

Pilot: "Oh fuck."

R-Cap: "Brace for Impact!"

[All but Hege grab hold of solid pieces. Hege moves towards the front of the cockpit, and stares out the viewport as the eel approaches.]

Hege: "She's awake."

[SCP-3700-2 does not strike the crab. After 15 seconds, personnel within the cockpit look up. The eel's face fills the entirety of the projector screen. Exterior cameras show SCP-3700-2 being gripped at the tail by a hand, 44 meters in width, and emerging from a cloud of silt and sand. The hand begins to glow. The eel is suddenly bent along the tail. An audible snap occurs followed by a physically distressed vocalization. In one motion, the Eel is ripped in two, and begins dissolving.]

Delta-7: "Commander, this is Delta-7. We're picking up enormous amounts of Gamma Radiation and ARad emissions near your location. [He pauses, and addresses someone else.] "Are you sure? Commander, the ocean floor is sinking."

Commander: "What?"

[The projector's view tilts up, the surface of the ocean appears to be moving in an upward direction, or rather, SCP-3701 is moving down. A massive cloud of silt is launched into the surrounding water, obscuring further view.]

Commander: "Sampson, get Operations Command on the line."

Sampson: "Sir, all communications are down, its like something is blocking them."

[The crab stops moving forward, jolting all personnel forwards.]

R-Cap: "Jane, what's happening?"

[Pilot pulls and presses on the levers. The crab does not respond.]

Pilot: "Not sure, it's refusing to move further."

[30 seconds pass, as the vehicle stalls in the cloud of silt. 15 additional seconds pass. The silt and sand are promptly blown away.]

Pilot: "Is that?"

R-Cap: "It can't possibly be."

Hege: [Speaking In Selch.] "The Mither is awake."

[The projector displays a humanoid face, with four yellow eyes, and red hair. External sub cameras depict an entity with human anatomy, standing 1 km tall. The entity has placed both hands on the carapace of SCP-3701, preventing it from moving any further. It closes its eyes for 5 seconds, and then reopens them. It begins speaking. NOTE: Audio has been removed, due to similar issues experienced in Exploration Log 3. Audio is available to level 3 and above personnel upon request.]

The Mither: "Children of the Sea, and of the Mud, I awake from slumber to a restless world."

[The entity pauses. Hege falls to her knees, the other Finnfolk within the cockpit fall to the floor and assume a position of worship. The entity's eyes appear to focus on Hege, and it smiles.]

The Mither: "One who carries the blood of Triemides, my blood, I sense fear in your heart. I have slept too long, for your people have forgotten my kindness."

[It stops again, and looks in the eastward direction. Then to the South, and West.]

The Mither: "I do not feel the others. Hints. Traces of their essence. Decayed. Am I alone?" [It pauses, all four eyes narrowing.] "Teran wiggles beneath the Earth. His bonds are loose. The Knoggelvi run free."

[The entity pauses once again, and looks back at SCP-3701. She releases the vehicle, but it remains still.]

The Mither: "My children, I must leave you. I must wander, and discover the fates of those most dear to me. The sealed bear an intolerable force between them, and if I am truly alone…" [She pauses, a tear appearing and dissolving into the surrounding water.] "Then I must face the darkness alone. I must prepare."

The Mither: "Be well, Hege, daughter of infinite stars."

[The entity proceeds to dissolve into a 1 km tall mass of seaweed, before drifting apart in various directions.]

[Approximately 30 seconds of silence. Hege stands slowly, visibly shaking.]

Commander: "Was that?"

R-Cap: "A Type Black, sir."

Sampson: "Picking up thousands of ARad signatures all around us."

Commander: "On Screen."

[The projector depicts several different views, all of which show approximately 75,000 Finnfolk swimming in the space around the vehicle.]

Pilot: "How many more surprises are we going to get today?"

Commander: "What is this?"

Hege: "The Palidines returning home."

[END LOG]

Footnotes

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