Forgotten Past Mission

**Forgotten Past** is the third mission in the Golden Phantom series, and is the first time players conduct an operation in an alternate timeline. Upon discovering a clue from a Zeus Token found at Olev's Arms Yard, the Space Time Continuum Task Force concludes that the next clue location is in the southern African country of Inyoni.

## Synopsis

### Background

Upon determining the next location on the timeline, the STCTF requested from The Orb to go to an alternate timeline where they believe the next clues were to be. This alternate location was deemed to be Inyoni, a southern African country that was split due to a control war put forth by US and Russian forces. Both sides of the war intended to use the resources found in Inyoni's bountiful forests to build the first highly potent chemical weapon. During the Flightless Crows Rebellion, a group of rebels decided to take back their country from the foreign invaders and began conducting brutal guerrilla warfare attacks on the enemies. It was during one of these attacks that a member of the Flightless Crows discovered a Zeus Shrine in a forest near the capital city, thus hinting there may be more in the country.

### Operation

The STCTF operations requested to be taken to the Inyoni timeline, and The Orb did so by opening a Time Gate between the two timelines. Upon arrival the team was notified by the Time Gate Guardian of their two hour timeline before the gate closes for good, so they were aware of what could be done within the operational limits.

The group split into two parties to increase efficiency for checking sites they wished to investigate. The first group of two operators moved to the old abandoned Flightless Crows base which was not too far from the Time Gate's activation site. The second group moved towards the suspected location of the second Zeus Shrine in Inyoni, at the Kwanele Gravetown.

#### Flightless Crows Base

When the duo arrived at the old Flightless Crows base, they were met with two armed US sentries. Deciding that eliminating them would be the best course of action despite their own allegiance to the US military, and so the team proceeded to take out the guards and move to the base. The site contained wreckage from old captured vehicles, and junk left over from the now dissolved rebel group. Two bodies hung from the tree next to the base, and two more were buried near the base of a nearby tree. When approaching the graves, the STCTF operators were prompted with a message.

*"You find two faded names etched on these gravestones of a different time in a different world. You don't know who they are or recognize these names, yet it instills a slight sense of sadness, frustration, and betrayal. All you can do now for them is move on, because failing to uncover the mysteries of this world may lead to the destruction of the universe, and the loss of their memories."*

This message insinuates the STCTF operators may have been involved in the Flightless Crows Rebellion in some way, and were feeling a strange nostalgia trip due to the emotions passing from one timeline to another.

#### Kwanele Gravetown

The main group branched off and moved towards the destroyed town of Kwanele. Supposedly, the bombing of Kwanele was what prompted the Flightess Crows to become a rebel force, which symbolizes the significance of the town. Moving through the woods in the dark of the night yielded little issues, as patrols and vehicles were not able to easily spot the operators moving through the trees. When the team arrived at the town, they discovered the presence of US troops who also appeared to be searching for something themselves.

One of the US soldiers discovers the Zeus Shrine and begins to move closer to it when the STCTF operators begin to open fire. The soldiers are all neutralized and the token can be collected from the shrine. Its message read:

*"My temple stands upon a landmass of stone, green as far as the eye can see. You may wander for days without ever reaching my safehaven, and even if you do, my vanguard are on alert. No mortal has ever set foot within the bounds of my domain, and those who come close are admitted through the gates of hell without hesitance. 4d 61 6e 73 6f 61"*

The first section of this message was a clue towards where The World Builder's sanctuary might be located, and the last part was a hexadecimal code that translates to 'Mansoa', which was another town on the map. The team decides to regroup and move to this town, as there clearly was something present there.

#### Mansoa

After organizing a regroup with the duo from earlier, the team moves to the hills due west of Mansoa to setup a recon position. The town was converted into a military installation and a large dome tent covered what appeared to be the site of the last Zeus Shrine. The operators setup for a coordinated assault, and executed it. In the confusion and exchange of gunfire, one operator moved to the dome site and collected the last Zeus Token which read:

*"I suppose its worth commemorating your valiance in discovering this many of my altars. It is a place for the beings I create to come worship me, and somehow the likes of you have managed to find and resonate with it. I will be honest, I did not anticipate mere humans to be this persistent in travelling to my godly realm... But since you're all so steadfast on arriving at my sanctuary, I'll give you a little guidance. Don't disappoint me, I know well as day the rest of the multiverse has—but MAYBE there's a chance of salvation for you all... maybe. The key to my temple can be found in a certain timeline at a specific event. Its probably completely changed by now, but where's the fun in letting history write itself. Find my key in the year [image clue] don't be late."*

Once the team had the clue, they extracted as the gate only had half an hour before closing. As the gate timer began nearing its end, weather patterns and laws of nature began to morph as more anomalies occurred. The team arrived at the gate minutes before its closure, and were promptly warped out with all members still in tow.

## Trivia

* Inyoni's power landscape shifted in favour of the US side once the rebels all either fled or were killed.
* Lt. Benoit was one of the corpses buried. No one knows for sure who the second buried member of the Flightless Crows is.