The Plague Fortress

as played out at Dragon Flight 42

August 27 2022

Operational Log:

in Zero Point Achtung Cthulhu

August 27th to September 1st

Evacuation of Tallinn Aug 27 to 31

SOVIET FLEET

CA Kirov, DDs, PTs & transports: 195 ships

AXIS FLEET

KMS Tirpitz, Sheer (PB), Emden, Koln, Leipzig (CLs) & S boats

Finish Navy DDs, TBs & Ilmarinen (BD)

ACT ONE

Scene One: Escape from Tallinn

Players escape a burning city under shell fire and board the Elsa.

The Elsa is pummeled by near missing HE shells from the

Axis Fleet as she escapes Tallinn harbor and disappears into the night.

Players get acquainted on the Elsa as they sail to Leningrad.

Although the Elsa is still moving, she is sinking.

Scene Two: The Wall

11pm-ish Aug 31st, the sinking Elsa runs aground at Fort Alexander. In the heavy seas the Elsa's stern is swung around on the rocks near the concert dock as the ship spits in half. The team luckily is on the stern and can save about 400 of the 650 on Elsa before the current pulls both pieces of the sinking ship into deeper water where both sink below the waves. The survivors stand before the great twin Iron doors of Fort Alexander.

ACT TWO

Scene Three: Admittance

The sound of a loud motor and clanking gears are heard over the howling wind as the great iron doors open. Gas masked soldiers wearing Soviet Naval Infantry armbands over their oil skin great coats ushers the crowd into the courtyard. Shielded from the heavy rain, they assemble and watch the Iron doors close behind them.

Scene Four: in on the ground floor

The Naval guards open the doors to the ground floor of the wall. Entering

 there they start going through the crates stocked here. They find blankets

and cots and start handing them out. The guards are very quiet as they work

and only nod or point if spoken to. They never take off their gas masks.

Scene Five: The Summons

An officer of the Fort and a man wearing a lab coat

(both NOT wearing gasmasks) comes in from the court yard and  asks for

those in charge. The other survivors all point to the players.

The players are escorted across to the front gate building.

They hear the slow throb of a big diesel engine. They cross through a large

room containing enter a large defunct steam engine generator. From there

they ascend to the 3rd floor.

Scene Six: Top Shelf

The Fort officer takes the players to the commandant offices. There they meet

Naval Captain Georgi Sobelnsky, the commandant

Podpolkovnik (Lt. Colonel) Mikova, Fort Commisar

Doctor Konstantin Simonov, Lead Scientist

The players are read the riot act by Sobelnsky. He is irrupted by an antique green phone set up on a cabinet directly behind his desk, he hesitates to answer.

"Da........... they are not for you!"

He hangs up the receiver obviously flustered.

An alarm bell begins to ring with green light flashing. The Fort officers look at each other and then the commandant orders you to stay here and he then he and his men leave. The team hears the office door being locked after it is closed.

ACT THREE

Scene Eight through Twelve : What is that?

The team works their way down to the basement Labs to meet the TRUE

 master  of the PLAGUE FORTRESS

Scene Seven: Who goes there?

Moments after the commandant leaves, gun fire is heard from the courtyard

 below. It will take a few minutes to break down the office door.

Players can now explore the 3 upper levels and the roof. The rooms are now

 set for the rest of the adventure.

Realizing he has lost control over his modified guards,

Sobelnsky orders his officers and lab staff to abandon the island

and order it purged.

He and most of his men are in the courtyard getting one of the longboats

 onto a hand cartridge to deliver it to the dock.

The gun fire is from Guards turning on their former masters.

Scene Eight: Who is left?

Only three survive. Commissar Mikova and the Radio officer are in the

 Radio room on the roof. The last one is Doctor Simonov in the Lab

 Complex on level two.

Radio Room: Mikova and the Radio officer are trying to get a message off

 to the Soviet battleship Gangut  in Leningrad Naval yard to open fire on

 the Fort to Destroy it, but bad weather and technical difficulties have

so far prevented the message from being sent.

The Commissar and Radio Officer will fight to the death and won't tell the players what is going on.

The Lab Complex: while the Commandant went with the rest of the staff

 to get the long boat ready, the Doctor was allowed to check

on the status of the refugees and then get his papers from the lab.

The refugees were all missing, and the Iron door to the basement was

wide open.

Surmising that the Guards took the refugees below,

he heads up to his lab to collect his journals.

It's there that he hears the guards attacking the remaining staff in the courtyard.

He decides to await his fate.

 Lair of the Xothorian:

The basement and sub-basement are the lair of the Xothorain

and the gateway to the Void.

Scene Thirteen : Escape?

The team survivors get to the boat and get off the Island before the

Soviet battleship Gangut  in Leningrad Naval yard to opens fire on

 the Fort to Destroy it leaving it engulfed in cleansing flames.

As they ride the motor launch towards Leningrad the

three survivors realize they have all been exposed to the Xothorian

 spores, so

                  is it really

                                   the End?