Carpe Noctem Mission

**Carpe Noctem** is the fifth mission in the Golden Phantom series. It takes place in the wetlands of Åkersvika, Norway in the year 2042 during an unimportant event in the timeline. The Space Time Continuum Task Force discovered this location from clues which suggested this swampy region houses the gate to The World Builder's sanctuary, known as The Cogworks. While engaging and avoiding local armed forces to avoid detection by The World Builder, several new foes also appeared known as the Minutemen.

## Synopsis

### Arrival

The Time Gate that transported the STCTF operators opened near the north-west section of the wetlands, near a destroyed home. The first discovery by the operators was that there was a fuel-deprived GAZ-2330 light armored vehicle with its headlights still on, and both dead and dismembered corpses of Russian armed forces soldiers. The blood was fresh which suggested that this assault occurred not long before the warp.

The team decided to continue moving towards the south west corner of their operational area where they suspected the portal to be located. Along the way, the team discovers the body of a Russian vehicle operator who had escaped a traumatic experience and was blinded in both eyes. With the assistance of the Space Warp Suit's (SWS) translation function the team was able to speak to the man who warned them of an enemy who massacred his entire squadron, and blinded him when he looked one of them in the eyes. The man succumbed to his injuries, and the team proceeded forward cautiously.

### Abandoned Airfield

The STCTF operators encountered an airfield to the west which was marked as a Space Time Continuity Zone by their SWS's early warning function, yet the team proceeded anyways. Upon entering the airfield's bounds, the laws of nature around them began shifting as lightning storms brewed, thick fog rolled from seemingly nowhere, and vehicle wreckages began floating in the air.

While clearing the buildings in the immediate area, the SWS warned of an unknown life signature nearby. One of the operators looked through the thick fog and saw a pair of glowing red eyes—belonging to the Minutemen. The team began engaging, but the being seemed to vanish from its original place and continued firing from another position. The enemy was clearly able to teleport and engage with some degree of combat efficiency, and seemed to take many bullets before falling. Upon killing one Minuteman and sustaining a casualty, the team retreated from the airfield as the fog began to clear. This new enemy was a difficult opponent, and was clearly brought here by The World Builder to defend the sanctuary gate.

### Scrap Yard

The team acquired a GAZ and moved to a heavily armed scrap yard to the south of the airfield. Due to the limited time before the closure of the Time Gate, the team decided to assault the compound head-on in order to catch the enemy by surprise and quickly discover any intelligence they needed before moving. This plan proved successful as most of the Russian forces in the compound were neutralized before the alarms were raised.

A quick sweep of the generator building revealed intelligence that marked the locations of both objectives the STCTF came to accomplish. The force split into two fireteams to assault different locations and moved from the scrap yard. Before leaving, however, another Minuteman appeared and caused the GAZ to be disabled during the engagement. It was during this firefight that the second Minuteman of the operation was killed.

### Agricultural Sawmill

The first team moved towards an agricultural sawmill which intel suggested recently faced a sinkhole forming in the center of the mill. Russian scientists had attempted to look into the water-filled sinkhole with cameras, but they were shorted by high levels of radiation being emitted from it. Two Russian divers had also gone missing in the sinkhole, despite only being several meters deep. The hole was guarded by several Russian soldiers as well as an unarmed GAZ, but after a quick engagement, the surrounding area was cleared of hostiles.

Two members of the Sawmill team suited up and dove into the sinkhole, discovering a large portal with strange symbols in the water. A voice inside their heads spoke:

*"Sometimes I humor myself with the thought that my creations are mere after images of my own self. That's right, just copies of the foolish being I've become after so much time. That's why I must cleanse this multiverse of all it's foolishness and start anew. It will all end at my final sanctuary of zen, my chaotic realm of conceptions, my Cogworks. Come visit me there, and I will show you my great atonement!"*

With that, the team moved towards the abandoned city to complete their side objective before rendevousing with their team at the primary portal.

### Abandoned City Engagement

The major abandoned city to the south of the sawmill contained large amounts of energy caused by the presence of The World Builder. This occurrence spawned the creation of a space-time matter known as Epochium, which was formed by the concentration of energy in a failing timeline. This material could be used by The Time Dialer to create a new iteration of the Space Warp Suits which will allow operators to dress more closely to the time period they are warping to in order to prevent confusion with the local population.

Upon arrival, several Minutemen were spotted nearby the city, but they did not appear to be interested in fighting with the operators. The team grabbed the materials and retreated from the city to regroup with the second team.

### Closed Time Gate

The team was being tailed by a large number of Minutemen who were maintaining a close distance and were not engaging. The team attempted to contact the Time Gate Guardian using the SWSs, but were unsuccessful. Once they arrived at the last location of the portal, the team discovered it had closed already—half an hour earlier than expected—and the gate logged the last time it was open as being 444 years ago. Clearly there was some sort of heavy time dialation occurring which caused their timeline to fail. The team was left with only one option: return to the sanctuary gate and enter it with hopes of defeating The World Builder. With that, the STCTF was transported to the Cogworks where they would finally meet their nemesis.

## Trivia

* Not all Minutemen are aggressive, just as not all Minutemen are strong.
* When all the particles surrounding a Time Gate disappear, the portal light disappears and a closed door appears in the archway.
* A second portal was discovered to the southwest of the sawmill, but was heavily guarded by Minutemen.
* The Minutemen appear to be humans under the dear-head masks, but with severely burned and scarred skin.