Truth Plains Mission

**Truth Plains** is the fourth mission in the Golden Phantom series. The operation takes place in some cross-reality area of Belgium in 1815, presumptuously around the final months of the Napoleonic Wars. The Space Time Continuum Task Force deployed to the timeline via a Time Gate warp after determining this event contained the key to finding The World Builder's sanctuary.

## Synopsis

### French Base Camp Assault

Upon warping to the 1815 Belgian countryside, the STCTF began on foot towards a British Army camp located at the base of a large hill. Although the STCTF uniform and equipment is very future age for these soldiers, the British footmen did not seem phased, and were more in a state of shock. Further investigation of the camp showed many wounded and fear-struck men. The team made contact with British Section Officer Ryan who was unable to properly respond to the group of English-speaking men with very different military uniforms and weaponry.

The officer informed the STCTF operators that just before a vital push against the French forces could take place, the French Army incurred weapons of incredible power and were able to almost completely repel the British Army whilst incurring very few casualties themselves. The Brits described their firepower as "strange, fast, and powerful", likely describing modern day weapons that had somehow ended up in this timeline. Officer Ryan told the operators that there was another French artillery division to the camp's east, and if this British camp were to fall, they would almost certainly lose the war. The STCTF decided to move towards the French positions in hopes of repelling their attacks and ensuring the timeline remained true to history.

After engaging French artillery positions to the east, the team moved due north towards the large French command camp situated atop the hill as marked by Officer Ryan. A firefight ensued when operators noticed some French soldiers wielding modern day AK-47 assault rifles instead of their single shot muskets. Once the hill was cleared, an officer log was retrieved and translated using their Space Warp Suits' (SWS) human-parse ability. The log wrote:

*[TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH] "We're not sure what kind of happening has befallen us, but what seems like magic can only be explained as divine intervention from the gods Themselves! Our prayers seem to have gathered favor in His eye and He has blessed our troops with new weapons to fight with and has cursed the foolish British Empire with death and disease. We follow our great leader to victory, and we hail to the gods for this new power!"*

### Sanctuary Key

Moving due east from the French base camp towards another small encampment down the hill, the operators reached a clearing where off in the distance they were able to spot floating cubic clouds surrounding an unnaturally placed rock formation with a tower atop it. This anomaly was resonating with the SWSs, thus meaning it was the high energy corruption source caused by The World Builder that the STCTF was searching for. Clearing the encampment was a simple task with no meaningful intelligence that could be collected, but it served as a waypoint between the primary French camp and the towering corruption off in the distance.

In the woods surrounding the large rock formation, glowing markers were scattered all over the ground akin to a minefield. When walked over, the player's screen would glitch and a few seconds later a triple burst of lightning would strike down and kill anyone within the circle. There were several dead French soldiers in the forest, which likely meant the rock was occupied. Indeed there was a French outpost setup under the rock formation, which the team promptly cleared of soldiers.

Once the operators scaled the rocks and avoided the lightning traps, they reached the tower where a voice spoke sternly in their heads:

*"So you were stupid enough to climb this tower and try to look me in the eye. I must, well... I suppose I should at least commend your bravery, but it is futile. The worlds I built are nothing but empty visualizations of what I expected utopia to look and feel like... Feel. It's like I don't even know the word anymore. You were foolish to think any of this could be stopped, but I suppose I can't hide forever. Now that you've found the key to my hidden 'paradise', all that's left is for you to find the door and open it, I daresay. I hope your guts run out before you reach that point, for if you enter my realm—my SANCTUARY—your very souls may be erased from all existence. You've been warned."*

### The Escape

The Time Gate guardian notified the team through their SWSs about the imminent corruption of the timeline as it repaired itself in the absence of The World Builder's energy. Every operator needed to return to the Time Gate otherwise the whole event would collapse during its self-repair and the timeline would be lost forever, causing significant damage to The Multiverse. As the operators retreated towards the location of the Gate, anomalies were occurring all around. Weather patterns were changing, players were experiencing vision discolouration, and armies from all sorts of timelines were marching and battling in the 1815 event for apparently no reason. The chaos proved a challenge for the STCTF as their escape routes were being blocked by modern, futuristic, and Napoleonic soldiers and vehicles engaging in combat all around.

Fighting their way back to the British Camp, the team experienced several casualties that needed immediate attention. Whilst providing medical treatment to the downed operators, others were defending the camp from the various other-era soldiers in order to protect the British victory path that is historically accurate. As time decreased to when the Gate would close forever, every operator arrived at and defended the Time Gate whilst attending to their wounded. Once all members were accounted for, the team warped away with their sanctuary key in hand and the timeline repaired.

## Intel and Clues

One clue was uncovered during this mission.

### Sanctuary Key

The sanctuary key is a clue that leads to the next event in search of The World Builder. The location discovered by this clue will send the team to an event where they will be able to find the entrance to The World Builder's sanctuary realm.

## Trivia

* Most of the French soldiers who were equipped with future gear used present day AK-47 assault rifles and their variants, for some reason.
* The energy inserted into the event also caused the plague that spread through the British Army.
* The corruption around the sanctuary key location caused clouds and trees to be reduced to their fundamental universal information, represented by simple cubes and spheres.