Exploration Events

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Text events that happen after exploring POIs (point of interest) on Geoscape. To explore POI you need aircraft with at least 1 soldier. Exploring takes 4 hours. Events are random and not predetermined.


Contents

Events with choices

A Handful of Dust

The [AircraftName] has discovered the ruins of New Babylon, a city-state founded by a schismatic sect that broke off from the Disciples of Anu two years ago. Unlike the Disciples, who see the Pandoravirus as a challenge that must be overcome via evolution, the schismatics believed that all mutations were secretly beneficial and humanity must embrace them without question. When they left their old havens, they took many sacred relics that the Disciples would like to have returned.

These relics largely consist of mutated human remains: the bones of Anu martyrs, who died in the struggle for a more evolved humanity. But New Jericho takes a different view: these relics are actually dangerous bioweapons and potential sources of infection, and ought to be destroyed.

Return the relics

The Disciples are deeply grateful for the return of their sacred artifacts, reminders of the long journey they have been on. ""Perfection cannot be reached in a day,"" as a popular Anu saying goes, ""but those who have hope can glimpse it beyond the sunset.""

To express their thankfulness, they send us a shipment of valuable supplies.

Tech.png TECH +30, Materials.png MATERIALS +60, Food.png FOOD +220, Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +3, NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -3.

Burn the ruins and the relics with them

New Babylon burns. The so-called relics will be reduced to ashes, as they should be. These people were not martyrs, they were mutants. Maybe the flames will bring some kind of purity back to this place.

NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +3, Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -5.


A Luxurious Apocalypse

Our operatives have discovered what can only be described as a luxury shelter: an underground facility so extravagant it beggars belief. It has multiple swimming pools, a gym, a sauna, a cinema, even a dedicated VR room. The only thing it doesn't have is people.

Dismantle the lighter equipment and install it in our facilities

Entertainment is rare in this dark and miserable world, but nothing could be more necessary. Faced with the relentless horror of the Pandoravirus, our operatives often struggle to maintain their sanity, and having access to films and games helps them forget about what they've seen, if only for a little while.

These decadent luxuries are symbols of the old world. Destroy them

An obsession with superficial luxuries at the expense of meaningful growth was how the world ended up such a mess in the first place. It's not a coincidence that this shelter is empty. Better to destroy it and focus on true self-improvement.

Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4

A representative of New Jericho thanks us for our donation, which will be used to improve their training facilities.

NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4

A representative of Synedrion thanks us for our donation, which will be used to improve their entertainment centers. They are particularly grateful for a copy of the Complete Tarkovsky Filmography found in the shelter.

Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4


Aftermath

Our operatives have discovered an unsettling sight: on a hill near the ruins of a burned-down haven, eight New Jericho soldiers have been beheaded. Their heads, still wearing their helmets, have been placed on spikes. It's impossible to know what happened here, but it can't have been good.

Inform New Jericho of our discovery

A message from New Jericho thanks us for the information and asks us to bury the soldiers' remains. There is no comment as to what the soldiers may have been doing.

NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4

Hey, free helmets!

Whatever happened here, it's all over now. The dead soldiers won't mind their helmets being reused.

3 1anvil2 helmet.png New Jericho Heavy Helmets received

Inform the other factions of our discovery, suggesting New Jericho committed an atrocity here

An official statement from New Jericho disavows any responsibility for the actions of these soldiers, who are said to have gone AWOL weeks ago, and blames the Phoenix Project for deliberately inflaming tensions.

NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -7, Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +6, Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +3, Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to NJ.png New Jericho -7, Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to NJ.png New Jericho -7.


Behind the Walls

The [AircraftName] has landed in the remains of a gated community. Judging from the design, this place was built in the early days of the Second Mist, when the upper classes abandoned the cities. The place seems to be in relatively good shape, if somewhat overgrown. Perhaps there are survivors?

Investigate

The more our operatives investigate, the stranger the situation gets. It's not entirely clear, but evidence seems to suggest that the inhabitants of the gated community actually killed each other following a dispute about an inheritance. The turrets, meant to defend the compound's walls, are turned towards the inside, and the lush gardens are full of shattered skeletons. The only thing really worth scavenging is the VR entertainment system.

Tech.png TECH +130

Ignore

There is not likely to be anything of interest here.


Buried Treasure

Our operatives have discovered something of a treasure trove: an old underground lab full of functional tech. Unfortunately, the structural integrity of the facility is severely compromised. Deep cracks in the walls suggest collapse is imminent.

It would be possible to reinforce the facility to buy us enough time to retrieve all the tech, but it would be costly.

It's worth it. Retrieve the tech.

Costs 50 Materials.png MATERIALS. The operation proves exactly as complicated as expected, but also just as lucrative. Our operatives managed to retrieve so much tech from the old lab that it barely fits in the [AircraftName].

Tech.png TECH +150

Tempting, but a waste of resources

Not every treasure is worth pursuing, and greed can be dangerous. We'll have to get our tech elsewhere.


Embalmed

In what appears to have once been a textile factory, our operatives have discovered hundreds of mummified bodies covered in a thin film of mucus. It is unclear whether this mucus was deposited on the bodies by an external source or whether it was excreted during the process of mummification.

Representatives of the Disciples of Anu demand that the bodies of the "martyrs" be turned over to them for study, while New Jericho demands that the bodies be destroyed to prevent infection.

Allow the Disciples to study the bodies

The Disciples thank us for protecting the bodies of the martyrs from the heathens at New Jericho and reward us for our good deed.

Food.png FOOD +300, NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -3, Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4

Demolish the building, burying the bodies

We receive a message of thanks from New Jericho. They're glad that we have the sanity to look at a bunch of mummified bodies and see a health risk, not objects to be worshipped, and they're not averse to expressing their thankfulness in material terms.

Materials.png MATERIALS +320, NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +3, Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -3.


Ghost Ship

Our operatives have located the wreck of a beached ship. The Mortzestus was a cargo vessel registered in San Francisco which mysteriously disappeared in the Sargasso Sea in 2026. How it ended up here is anyone's guess; the captain's log is nothing but mad scrawls, and the ship's interor is covered in a sticky, translucent membrane. The wind echoes weirdly down its corridors, distorted into an eerie moaning by the membrane. The cargo appears to be intact.

Retrieve the cargo

The cargo is indeed intact, but some of it is quite badly stuck in the membrane. Getting it out is exhausting, and once it's done, our operatives get out of there as quickly as possible. There's something unsettling about this ship.

Tech.png TECH +70, Materials.png MATERIALS +120

Get out of here

The Phoenix Project is a science organization, not a ghost-busting outfit. Not that ghosts exist. It's just that our operatives would rather be doing something else.


Limpet Surge

Our operatives have discovered a military depot that could hold highly valuable supplies for our cause. However, the building is overgrown with enormous, mutated purple limpets, and they appear to be multiplying exponentially. The facility will soon be covered in so many layers of limpets that drilling through their shells will be nigh on impossible.

Let's do this while we can (-20 tech and -30 materials)

The process is boring and cumbersome, but eventually, our operatives manage to break through and recover the military equipment. Humanity 1, Limpets 0.

Exhausted.png Stamina -10, Player obtains 3 Incendiary Grenades, 1 Gauss Assault Rifle, 1 Gauss Sniper Rifle and 1 Gauss Machine Gun.

This isn't worth the effort

The limpets keep growing. How strange and alien this world has become.


Long Pig

Our operatives are disturbed to report the discovery of what they describe as a "pig pipeline" - a bizarre growth resembling the stitched-together bodies of pigs, several miles long. It is unclear to what end the Pandoravirus created this organism, or why it recombined pig DNA to achieve its purpose. Perhaps the entire thing is an aberration.

Investigate it (-5 TECH)

At some point, it disappears into the ground. Readings suggest it may continue for several more miles in this fashion. Our operatives attach a number of sensors and take several samples. Perhaps some of the data thus collected will prove useful in our research.

1sheep.png Research +100

Burn it (-15 MATERIALS)

It would be impossibly costly to burn the entire thing, so our operatives only set a section of it on fire. It writhes like a snake as it burns, and a dark brown liquid emerges with an awful gurgling sound. It smells of bacon.

NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4

Let it be. It's probably an error

Lost Expedition

Our operatives have discovered the broken remains of an experimental Synedrion mobile lab. Apparently, the vehicle suffered a containment failure; there are no signs of the crew, but some of the equipment could be salvaged.

Salvage the equipment without informing Synedrion

The research itself is sadly lost, but there are some useful parts that can be extracted from the lab.

Tech.png TECH +300

Inform Synedrion regarding our discovery and give them the equipment

Dr. Hussein Habinek, a Synedrion scientist who helped design the lab, sends us a message of thanks. He had argued against deploying it so early but was outvoted.

"There is little pleasure to be had in being proven right about something so terrible," he says, "but at least we know what happened, and can learn from it."

Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +5

Take everything useful, then inform Synedrion

Dr. Hussein Habinek, a Synedrion scientist who helped design the lab, sends us a message of thanks. He had argued against deploying it so early but was outvoted.

"There is little pleasure to be had in being proven right about something so terrible," he says. "I wish I knew what happened. I suppose it will always haunt me."

Tech.png TECH +175, Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4


Memories

While exploring a seemingly unremarkable ruin, our operatives stumble across a book half-hidden in a pile of rubble: an old copy of Olaf Stapledon's visionary novel Star Maker. It is unusually well-preserved.

Further investigation reveals what appears to be a collapsed library. Sealed off under the rubble, the books have remained almost completely undamaged. While not useful in our war against the Pandoravirus, these books represent a vital part of humanity's history. Would digging them out be worth it?

Yes, this is part of who we are

Costs 25 [File:materials.png|30px]] MATERIALS, 15 Food.png FOOD and 10 Tech.png TECH. Digging out the books takes a surprisingly long time, but the bounty is rich, including the Complete Works of Doris Lessing, Robert Byron's The Road to Oxiana, and a worn copy of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's The Final Circle of Paradise, long thought lost.

Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +6, NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +3, Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -4

No, humanity must embrace new ways

Perhaps in this new era, the past should be left alone.

Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -3, NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -3, Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +5

This choice should be left to a future generation if we survive the war

Perhaps the best way of preserving these texts is to let them stay exactly where they are, safely underground, until one day this war is over and there is time for books once more.

Sometimes You Get Lucky

Approaching the burned-out husks of a New Jericho convoy, our operatives are suddenly startled by a shout. From a rudimentary shelter dug out under one of the burned vehicles emerges a battered New Jericho technician, waving his arms and laughing.

Exhausted by the ordeal yet deeply grateful, the survivor offers to join the Phoenix Project.

Recruit him. We can always use more people

"This month has not turned out the way I'd expected it," he comments as he sits down in the [AircraftName], wiping the dirt from his face.

The player obtains one New Jericho Technician training.png technician soldier.

Send him back to New Jericho

The survivor is too relieved to be alive to really care about being rejected. We receive a message of thanks from New Jericho for returning their man.

NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4

Execute him

This is most likely an attempt to infiltrate our ranks. We will not fall for it.

NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -6, Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -2


Steel

Our operatives have discovered an abandoned scrapyard which appears to have once been used as a refuge by a group of steelworkers. The workers heroically defended this location for years until hunger finally forced them to abandon it. Remarkably, they recorded their history by engraving it onto the large metallic plates they used to keep out the enemy.

These plates would be extremely useful as construction material, but representatives of Synedrion have asked us to preserve them as a source of inspiration for future generations.

Resources are resources. Recycle it all

We cannot afford to be sentimental about such things. Metal is metal, and images won't win this war.

Materials.png MATERIALS +260, Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -4, Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4

We must remember our history. Preserve them

If we remember those who fought, if their struggle inspires our own, then their deaths were not in vain. In this way, these works of art may help us win the war for humankind.

Synedrion.pngSynedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4, Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project -4.


The Games We Used To Play

What at first appears to be a bunker that might hide survivors turns out to be more of an archive: at some point before the collapse, someone used this facility to save an extensive collection of computer games for the long-defunct operating system DOS. Word of this discovery causes an unusual wave of nostalgia and excitement, culminating in requests from New Jericho and Synedrion for the material to be shared.

Share it with New Jericho

The enthusiasts of New Jericho are thankful for this precious artefact of old-world culture, which those anarchist hippies at Synedrion wouldn't know how to appreciate.

"They probably don't even know how to set up a sound card," the message from New Jericho notes.

NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4

Share it with Synedrion

The enthusiasts of Synedrion are grateful for this precious artefact of human ingenuity, which the crude militarists of New Jericho wouldn't be able to appreciate.

"Most likely they don't even know how to recreate the proper CRT look," the message from Synedrion notes.

Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +3

Share it with everyone

Everyone is very pleased, and just for a moment, it seems like we could all get along.

NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +3, Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +3, NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to Synedrion.png Synedrion +3, Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to NJ.png New Jericho +4.


The Forgotten

Our operatives have discovered the location of an abandoned lab. The doors appear to have remained sealed for at least twenty years. Unfortunately, it is impossible to ascertain the lab's purpose from the outside.

Break in

"The scientists who once worked in this lab are nothing but skeletons, starved to death long ago. It would seem they kept working to the end, trying to find a cure to the Pandoravirus.

As our operatives strip the base, they find a note left by the scientists. It's a short, simple message: "Make it all mean something."

Tech.png TECH +120, 1sheep.png Research +150, Exhausted.png Stamina -10

Let it be

Perhaps it's best not to know what is in there. Our operatives will bury the lab, leaving its mysteries for another generation, should one ever come to pass.


The Signal

Our operatives report seeing a strange, spindly, quivering line on the horizon. When the [AircraftName] gets closer, they discover a gargantuan spinal column extending hundreds of meters into the sky. Rising up from a pool of mucus, it holds itself in place with an array of thin, near-transparent tentacles. It seems to emit a low hum.

Dynamite it

The explosion shatters the vertebrae and the entire column collapses, almost hitting the [AircraftName]. The tentacles ship madly for a while before the whole thing seems to finally die.

NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4

Study it

It almost seems like the whole thing is some kind of emitter. An organic communications array, perhaps? But to what end? Our operatives retrieve as much data as they can, but answers remain elusive.

1sheep.png Research +100

Let the Disciples know about this

The Disciples are very grateful for the tip. This could be a holy site of great significance, or at least an opportunity to learn more about the ways of the new world.

Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4


What Was Happening

A heavily-fortified building explored by our operatives has turned out to be an abandoned "server farm" for the social media platform Plapper, which collapsed in the mid-2020s. Millions of short messages are archived here, documenting in detail the lives of the pre-war middle classes.

Is this information worth preserving, or should we just take all the spare parts we need?

Take what we need

Pre-apocalyptic hot takes are not exactly a valuable commodity. Our operatives take all the parts we need, the past be damned.

Tech.png TECH +125

Preserve the information

Perhaps one day we can figure out why people thought snarky comments were going to prevent the apocalypse.

Synedrion.png Synedrion's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +4, NJ.png New Jericho's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +3

Just smash it all

This vile idiocy does not deserve to be remembered. Better to smash every single drivel-filled drive before such foolishness can infect us all again.

Anu.png Disciples of Anu's attitude to 1pp.png Phoenix Project +6


Events without choice

A Good Haul

Our operatives have set down at an abandoned industrial complex. This looks promising. Search the area. Nothing weird, just lots of useful resources.

Tech.png TECH +60 Materials.png MATERIALS +500


A Voice in the Wilderness

Our operatives have discovered an abandoned Phoenix Project site. What appears to be no more than a small, nondescript shack in fact leads to a heavily-fortified underground nuclear bunker built in the 1940s. Here the Project stored much of its older archival materials, in addition to various oddities collected by its eccentric first Administrator, Randolph Symes. Search the bunker.

Sadly, a significant part of this archive seems to have been destroyed by mold. However, a number of highly valuable documents have survived, including several compilations of the Proceedings of the Phoenix Working Group, one of the Phoenix Project's predecessor organizations. These accounts of investigations conducted more than a century ago can give us new insights into how we approach our work today.

Tech.png TECH +90, Materials.png MATERIALS +140, Food.png FOOD +80, 1sheep.png Research +100


An Injury to All

Our operatives have located an abandoned mining camp. The miners appear to have been killed not by Pandorans, but by entirely human security forces, most likely during one of the major strikes that occurred in the course of World War III. A number of banners detailing the miners' demands are still fluttering in the breeze, the writing bleached by the sun. Search the site.

Our operatives have recovered all the resources they could find. It looks like after the miners were killed, no-one ever came back here. A typically meaningless tragedy of the kind human history is full of.

Tech.png TECH +40, Materials.png MATERIALS +500


Cold Dead Hands

[AircraftName] has flown over an abandoned village. Our operatives have set down near an old church. The graves have been disturbed. It's almost as if someone dug up all the bodies, or they came alive and ripped their way out of the ground. But that doesn't happen... does it? Search the village.

On further investigation, it turns out the bodies were dug up as part of some forgotten experiment. One of the houses in the village has been converted into a lab, and is full of human body parts fitted with cybernetic enhancements, preserved in some kind of embalming fluid. At least we know that the Pandoravirus hasn't started animating the dead.

Materials.png MATERIALS +160, Food.png FOOD +60


Nature's Triumph

Our operatives have discovered the Grand Temple of the Pan-Cosmic Ostara, a compound belonging to a Nature-worshipping cult that arose in the late 2010s. It's hard to tell whether the compound is occupied, as the cultists rejected electricity as unnatural and refused to perform any repairs on buildings they owned.

The compound houses over one hundred beds, and there is a decayed corpse in every one of them, each with a plastic bag wrapped around its head to symbolize ecological disaster. It seems the Ostarans followed through on their belief that humanity was a virus by committing mass suicide. There is nothing of any value here. Leave.


Remains

Our operatives have located an abandoned military outpost. It is unclear which nation's military it belonged to, since this region's government fractured heavily during World War III. Search the site.

All available resources have been recovered. No additional information regarding the site itself has come to light.

Tech.png TECH +50, Materials.png MATERIALS +300, Food.png FOOD +180.


The Towering Incompetence

Our operatives have discovered a highly-fortified skyscraper. The site appears to be abandoned. Our findings indicate that this location was fortified by the owners of a hedge fund, who intended to outlast the end of days here. Although the structure is beginning to crumble, it would have been a good place to survive the early years of the apocalypse.

This tragedy is something of a puzzle: despite the availability of tremendous technical resources and enough supplies to last a century, the owners of this structure apparently died from voluntarily drinking unfiltered water.

Materials.png MATERIALS +400, Food.png FOOD +80.


War

This valley was the location of a major battle of the Third World War. The ground is poisoned and thousands of skeletons, now overgrown by mutated moss, litter the countryside. There is absolutely nothing of value here. Leave.