Erku

Incident 453.2014.03.09

Background: Following gradual changes in the layout of the club in SCP-453, renovations of the secure area containing the weapons locker became necessary.
Incident: During initial survey, a previously undocumented hollow space was identified, comprising a crevasse between the secure area and the men's washroom. The depth could not be sounded with available equipment. The area was secured and survey equipment requisitioned.

Excavation log 453.2014 Day 01

Survey: Echosonographic, magnetic, and [REDACTED] equipment were requisitioned for initial survey of the site. Details of the cavern system identified may be requisitioned from the office of Dr Ersen; L4 or greater authorisation is required.

Management plan: In light of the scope of the cavern system detected beneath SCP-453, a team was assembled to manage excavation and exploration while keeping the cavern system isolated from SCP-453 script incidents.

Team:

• MTF 21 "Quarry Hounds" commanded by Agent Olivier.
• Biological/memetic expert, senior site staff, and field science lead: Dr Ersen
• Geological expert: Dr Oslo
• Excavation engineering lead: S. Fung
• Site/script expert: Dr Moriglioni

All excavation team members housed offsite at Foundation-secured hotel [REDACTED]. A small security pavilion is established in the staff-only area of the club in SCP-453.

Script, Day 03

Script 43, "The Cheating Wife" progresses on schedule with only small dialogue deviations noted. During beatings of the 43-males, 43-husband repeatedly shouted that he would "toss them into the midden, with the rest of the trash". This phrase does not occur in any digitally searchable logs of the script. Paper archives are being reviewed.

Excavation Log Day 02

• 0700 hrs: MTF 21 begins to set up perimeter privacy fence.
• 0800 hrs: Excavation crew arrives on site with equipment.
• 1000 hrs: Visual barriers, earth removal, and cleanup systems are satisfactory. Excavation team begins digging base camp.
• 1800 hrs: Digging halted in preparation for site activation. Equipment removed and perimeter secured by MTF 21 and site security.
• 1900 hrs: MTF shift change and handover to on-site command.

Script, Day 02

• 1943 hrs: Dr Moriglioni concerned at civilians gathering in the street to examine the perimeter. Several site staff sent to disperse gathering in hopes of restoring normal scripting.
• 2224 hrs: Script 19, "the Devil Dogs" plays commences, with major deviations (see on-site logs for more details). Neighbourhood canines have to be actively fought away from excavation site by site security, aided by night shift MTF 21 members.
• 0400 hrs: Script confirmed finished. Dr Moriglioni assures excavation team that his staff can continue to handle script deviations, encourages excavation team to become familiar with script log as quickly as possible.

Excavation Log Day 03

• 0700 hrs: MTF shift change and team debriefing.
• 0800 hrs: Equipment set up and digging resumes.
• 1800 hrs: Final inspection of base camp. Base camp is a pit structure covered by a camouflaged roof and equipped with defensive measures including [REDACTED]. Equipment stored in base camp for night shift.
• 1900 hrs: MTF shift change and handover to on-site command.

Script, day 03

Initially progresses as normal night in club. Several civilians enquire about construction yesterday, cover story of broken pipe seems sufficient. Script 43 plays again. This time, 43-husband does not arrive on schedule and is found wandering on top of the cover of the excavation site, stomping and calling for is wife. When he is directed indoors he attacks and kills all three 43-males, and [DATA EXPUNGED]. Site security is ordered not to interfere unless 43-husband compromises the integrity of the wall adjacent the crevasse, which he does not accomplish. Club cleared out for cleanup at 2328 hrs.

Excavation Log Day 04

• 0700 hrs: MTF shift change and team debriefing.
• 1130 hrs: Drilling equipment breaches target chamber. MTF 21-A detachment sent into caverns.

+ Helmet camera feed from Agent Shaw (MTF-21-A-2)

The camera feed activates and shows the base camp and the members of MTF 21-A: Agents Au, Rani, and Parva. Each agent is wearing a rappel harness, and a head-mounted light and camera rig. Agent Au is standing at the mouth of a pit roughly 1 m in diameter. She gives the order to descend, and drops down the hole, followed shortly by Agent Shaw and the camera view.

Descent through the passage takes about thirty seconds. The sides of the passage are smooth drilled limestone. As Agent Shaw drops through the bottom of the hole, the view expands into a roughly square room, about 4 meters to a side. The floor is chipped black and white ceramic tile, and the walls are robin's egg blue, laced with creeping black mold. Heavy water damage has caused the plaster of the walls to bubble and flake off. Numerous limestone outcroppings have pushed up through the tiles or out of the wall, and stalactites almost obscure the ceiling, which appears to have been rolled tin plates. A few plates still hang at awkward angles and a few more have fallen to the tiles. Agent Shaw drops to the floor and quickly moves aside to allow the other two members of the detachment in.

AU: Weapons ready. Light the place up.
A quick survey shows that the room is empty. Parva and Rani set up a dim light and motion detector as Shaw and Au check the one doorway out of the room.
AU: Command, are you getting feed?
ERSEN: Crisp and clear, Agent. This is all in keeping with our surveys. That hallway should be about twenty meters long. Does that fit with what you are seeing?
AU: Yes, sir. I see one doorway about five meters in. Orders?
ERSEN: Leave an agent to watch the hall, and check the opposite wall of the room you landed in.

Au moves to the opposite wall as Parva takes up guard. The opposite wall is the most heavily damaged, with limestone protruding through the entire middle section, about half the wall. On closer inspection, a splintered wooden frame can be seen at the base of the wall where the limestone comes through, and the limestone appears less contiguous than in other areas.
ERSEN: Thanks Agent. We think there's a stairwell behind there that's been caved in, and Dr Oslo (inaudible conferring) yes, Dr Oslo agrees. Until we've got more information I want you to treat that as a possible entrance point for the room.
AU: Yes sir. I'll leave a guard here before we move on. If I may, sir? This room is large enough to fit some equipment. We could get a few people down here and make a checkpoint.
ERSEN: Agreed. We'll send down Agent Olivier to take command of that. You take the rest of your team and explore the hall.

Camera continues down hallway to flank door. Agent Au shines her light in, then beckons team. They scan the room cautiously from the doorway, then enter.

This room is much larger, about 10 by 20 meters. The ceiling is about twice as high as that in the hallway and the entry room, about 4.5 meters. The floor is the same cracked black and white tile, but steps down into a hardwood dance floor; the wood is in reasonably good condition compared to the rest of the structures seen. A discordantly intact disco ball hangs in the center of the room. In the nearest corner of the chamber, a high dais is topped with an unidentified piece of equipment. The far wall is too distant to make out clearly in the darkness.

AU: Shaw, you inspect that equipment. Rani, you're with me.

Shaw climbs a small step onto the dais and examines the equipment. A turntable and mixer are recognisable among the devices. He bends down to blow the dust off an unidentified device, and several of the switch labels can be seen to be written in Latin.
SHAW: Command, I have no idea what most of this stuff is.
ERSEN: It's all right Agent. Leave it alone, we'll get the team in to look at it. I saw a box by your feet, can you confirm?
SHAW: Oh, I see it. It looks like old records, sir.
ERSEN: Check it out for me, please.
Shaw pulls out a cardboard box, minimally water damaged. It is full of cardboard-sleeved vinyl records. He leans the nearest record sleeve back so that the cover is visible. It shows several white-clad figures bowing to a central, red-robed humanoid with its arms held high. The title reads, "Amplecti Pluraliter, LXXXII volume"

SHAW: This mean anything to you, sir?
ERSEN: It does, Agent. Thank you. Please rejoin your team, and when you get off-duty please review the site briefing information in detail. I cannot stress it enough.

• The remainder of the exploration recovers no logworthy information. Motion detectors and a camera network are established. The remainder of the day is spent recovering artifacts from the DJ table and excavating the stairwell.
• 1800 hrs: Crews withdrawn to surface, motion detectors and cameras left in place to be monitored by on-site video feed at basecamp.
• 1900 hrs: MTF shift change and handover to on-site command.

Script, day 04

Script 33, "Shore Leave", plays two hours later than usual. All the sailors order limoncello-based mixed drinks rather than the usual beverages in the script. No further deviations noted. Prior to commencement of Script 33, Dr Moriglioni was required to raise alert for possible instance of Script 82.

End of stuff at 'readable rough'. Stuff that follows is at 'Erku's notes to self' level. You can totes still read it though. No spoilers yet.

Excavation Log Day 05

Staff and Crew Meeting, 0700 hours

Excavation delayed for mandatory briefing on major scripts. New staff encouraged again to familiarise themselves with all scripts, as SCP-453 is becoming increasingly unstable and rare scripts may become more common.

Excavation report

• MTF-21 sent to checkpoint and finds motion detectors and video equipment have been dismantled and piled in a heap in the checkpoint room. No alarms were raised overnight. Video feed is reviewed and found to cut out at approximately midnight, shortly after Script-33 began. Night crew insists they had constant video feed throughout the night, but records do not corroborate.
• Excavation of stairwell ordered to continue upon MTF-21 confirmation that area is secure. Drs Ersen and Moriglioni confer to determine appropriate course of action regarding apparent SCP-453 interference with underground system.
• It is decided that the exploration should continue, as exploration may improve future ability to contain or neutralise SCP-453. Awareness of potential _K-level event by both researchers is noted on the permanent record and faxed to local O5. Permission to continue is received.
• While stairwell excavation progresses, MTF-21 detachment sent to explore discotheque and finds some of the stone in the room has moved overnight, revealing an upward staircase. Detachment sent up.
• Completed excavation of stairwell and checkpoint room. With excavation completed, another door leading off the stairwell landing uncovered, leading to kitchens and a small restaurant/cafe area. Food in cupboards is still fresh.

Exploration log, Agent Dutu, 1430 hours

(log: helmet camera from Agent Dutu. Climbs stairwell for a very long time. Notes it changes from an old concrete stairwell to a wooden stairwell to a metal access stair. Stairs end abruptly in a smooth concrete wall. Telemetry shows that stairwell terminus is directly behind the wall of the club adjacent to the men's washroom, where the initial crevasse was detected.)

Senior staff meeting, 1515 hours

• Log of meeting of senior staff to determine best course of action for keeping area secure.
• Problems: MTF staff don't know how to respond to scripts. This makes them more susceptible to becoming part of the script themselves. However, not enough bar staff to respond to several scripts if too many are relegated to the caverns.
• Decide to have another training session with top-scoring MTF members while excavation team and remaining MTF team work in the tunnels, accompanied by as many site staff as can be spared.
• MTF members with the best script memorisation separated into Alpha Squad and divided into guard shifts for the excavated areas. Cameras and motion detectors set up again, this time with monitors off-site.

Script, Day 05

• At 0000 hours, no script manifests and 82 containment methods are enacted.
• At 0023 hours, three off-service MTF members attempt to enter the club. They are not recognised by door security and allowed in, issued decorative personal protective equipment for the "theme night" as with all other civilians.
• At 0028 hours the off-service MTF members use their security clearance to enter the staff area of the nightclub.
• At 0029 hours security breach is recognised and a response team is dispatched to the security area. MTF members heretofore designated Unidentified Script (UIS)-Rogue-A through C. UIS-Rogue-A grabs a door handle on the wall closest to the men's washroom and opens a door leading to the stairwell identified earlier in the day, as security team enters room. UIS-Rogue-B and -C enter stairwell as security team issues challenge. UIS-Rogue-A does not respond.
• At 0030 hours, security team opens fire and kills UIS-Rogue-A. Site command activates alert on security detail at base of stairwell. Club security detail progresses down stairwell while tunnel detail progresses up stairwell. Teams meet in center without locating UIS-Rogue-B or -C.
• Dr Moriglioni declares site compromise and activates lockdown protocols.
• No further manifestation of scripts observed during the night.

Excavation Log Day 06

Senior staff meeting, 0700 hours

• Dr Moriglioni believes the only option is to continue excavation, but he is concerned that the SCP seems to be recruiting specific individuals to enter scripts, and that undocumented scripts have started appearing. He expected to have more time before the SCP started straying from recognised patterns.
• Dr Oslo and Engineer Fung expect digging to become only slower as depth increases and are becoming concerned about the safety of the excavation crews, as there are now at least two rogue agents in the facility with totally unknown whereabouts.
• Some discussion on value of obtaining total site lockdown with further foundation involvement, but Dr Moriglioni cites a previous attempt to do so which led to activation of script 05, "The Dreadful Maiden", with an unacceptable civilian and foundation casualty rate.
• Staff agree that there are only two options: Continue excavation until SCP-453's motivations can be elucidated or instability becomes unmanageable, or fill the hole with concrete.
• Dr Moriglioni asserts that at this stage he is capable of managing the level of chaos observed, as it hasn't yet exceeded previously documented site instability. Dr Ersen and Agent Olivier agree. Engineer Fung abstains from offering opinion. Dr Oslo dissents but is considered overruled, with his dissent noted on record and option to leave the project. Dr Oslo elects to stay on the project at this time.