Operation Inferred, Midpoint Summary
Compiled by Lawrence "Devil" Sjurn, Reviewed by Jacob "Manitou" Akecheta
Preface
Given the amount of information accumulated and anomalous shit encountered by Armiger so far during their deployment I thought it best to write up a document covering the company's activities, encounters and neutral or hostile third parties encountered so far as a way to help get new members up to speed on current "story" events
Operations Summary
- 15th of November, 1967: Armiger was originally tasked by US High Command to assist the US garrison at Khe Sanh, located in the Quảng Trị Province, with the aim of countering VC/NVA insurgent activity by establishing a camp deep in jungle. Despite the annihilation of Oddball the camp was successfully established, with Guppy encountering members of the local faith, The Followers of the Palace Goddesses (abbreviated to FPG).
- 22nd of November, 1967: Following the reformation of Oddball and the transfer of Armiger to their new operations camp US Command tasked the company with investigating the suspected location of a VC camp, close the the FPG temple Guppy encountered. Upon arrival at the site Armiger found the aftermath of a fight, with the only thing of note found being the body of a VC "officer" with a damaged camera. Given the strange circumstances the camp was quickly abandoned, with Armiger entering a running battle against VC and NVA elements to the nearby FPG temple before disengaging. A member of Guppy, Lance, also took a relic of the local faith, The ashes of Mẫu Thượng Thiên, from the temple to prevent the NVA from stealing it.
- 29th of November, 1967: Armiger would next take the field during a suspected VC/NVA offensive, aiming to destroy AA and Artillery positions and marking targets for strikes from US aircraft and howitzers at Khe Sanh. Several VC targets were destroyed, included a missile based anti-air system in Armiger's sector. The company once again encountered the FPG, this time having been run afoul by an NVA "Cultural Advisor", who evicted them forcibly from another of the local temples. Following considerable violence the CA was found and neutralized, with the ashes of Mẫu Thượng Ngàn recovered from his corpse. This missions also marks the first encounter Armiger had with the "Spirit Beasts".
- 5th of December, 1967: Due to the amount of fighting Armiger had endured resupply was requested by Devil, to be airdropped in at a location of the company's choosing. The site was secured by Guppy and Oddball, with the removal of a VC SPAG array in a nearby village, only for the C-47 to be shot down during their approach. Armiger was able to reach the crash site, although none of the crew survived, and briefly secure the resupply. It was at this point that NVA T-54s arrived at the site, destroying the truck carrying the resupply and forcing Armiger to retreat from the site. Dangerously low on equipment and avoiding VC elements hunting them Guppy and Oddball returned to camp, where Devil managed to convince the local SOG command to reveal the location of one of their caches.
Once the supply cache was recovered Armiger set out to their second objective, the town of Lang Hoan Tap, to investigate reports of a firefight happening recently. The town was found to be in ruins, with several NVA vehicles destroyed and several VC weapon emplacements all pointing out into the crated rice field to the town's west. The site was secured, with several functional NVA vehicles stolen and equipment stashes recovered. It was at this point that the NVA/VC's killers made an appearance. From one of the craters smoke began to rise, with the very earth rumbling they rose. Towering creatures with jutting bones and blood red skin, they announced themselves with roars of hatred. Guppy fought back against the monsters , with yells of defiance and prayer using the equipment around them, but were eventually forced to retreat due to the unending tide of "Demons" and causalities. Oddball found itself alone after only having just arrived onsite, only for "Saur-Griever", a Spirit Beast to enter into combat with the Demons and annihilate them, proceeding to then "teleport" them back to the camps' command bunker, resulting in a very surprised Devil. - 12th of December, 1967: Marking the start of Armiger's "partnership" with the CIA, first through an agent known as Rock, the company found itself tasked with the recovery of the ashes of Mẫu Thoải and Mẫu Địa from the other two temples located in the north east of the Quảng Trị province. The company was inserted by helicopter into the water south of the temple housing Mẫu Thoải's ashes, where they encountered NVA and VC forces fighting the FPG, having now taken up arms against them due to attacks made on them by the North Vietnamese "Cultural Advisors". Having found the first set of ashes on a FPG body surrounded by a dozen NVA, Guppy moved north from the temple while Oddball headed west, presumably to scout for the second "Hellpit" that local CIA sources hinted at. The Hellpit wasn't found, but Guppy did find an entire NVA armored column in the town of Cu Yang, which they promptly bombed with a B-52 before obliterating a VC patrol.
Guppy would eventually reach the temple suspected of housing Mẫu Địa's ashes first, encountering a member of the FPG who had survived the NVA assault on the village of Nam Hung. He warned them of the temple's occupation and of the NVA helicopter which had landed onsite. Guppy's decision to delay the attack on the temple for Oddball to catch up resulted in the NVA finding and extracting the ashes via after mentioned helicopter. Armiger cleared the temple out, then proceeded to bait the VC and NVA out into the teeth of artillery and air support in revenge, before extracting back to Khe Sanh to plan a recovery mission. - 19th of December, 1967: With CIA sources tracking the ashes back to Hanoi Armiger found itself smuggled into the lions den, meeting with CIA agent Sparrow in the jungle outside the city. Once SR frequencies had be set, Guppy and Oddball split up to investigate different sections of Hanoi, with Oddball covering the western side and guppy the Eastern side. It was during this period that Oddball acquired NVA uniforms from a member of Sparrow's cell, left in a dead dropped car near the Hanoi train station, using them to scout out several NVA facilities in the city. Guppy would discover the location of a POW camp just as a convoy left carrying the prisoners. Sparrow would arrange a hastily organized ambush to free the prisoners, only to be unfortunately killed in the firefight, resulting in the entire CIA cell going to ground and disabling the SR network.
It was at this point Oddball encountered one the cell's members, who informed them of two potential locations that the ashes could be located. Guppy ended up stumbling into the correct compound while Oddball scouted the other, which turned out to be part of a major oil refinery. While Guppy were able to sneak into the compound the accidental breaking of a window inside the building housing the ashes roused the suspicion of a guard, who stumbled upon Guppy and fired a panic burst before being silenced. The resulting alarm drew the attention of several helicopters and hundreds of NVA descending on the compound, where Guppy were rapidly clearing the building trying to find the ashes, which were found but not reported as so.
What followed was a running gun-battle, where Guppy attempted to shake the NVA garrison. One of its members were separated but was able to get the ashes out without realizing it, while Oddball were none the wiser and had only just reached the correct compound only to find the aftermath of Guppy's assault. With no idea if Guppy were even alive Oddball headed to the Hanoi Naval Base, where the previously mentioned CIA member had told them of SOG boats. Having met up with the SOG team and CIA elements, Oddball would fight off a Mi-24A pursuing them before escaping while Guppy went to ground, eventually returning the South Vietnam several weeks later. - 26th of December, 1967: Having secured all four ashes back at camp and the support of US assets from Khe Sanh's CO,
Terrence "Staffy" MacDonald, the CIA gave Armiger the clearance to approach the Hell Pit at Long Han Tap (LHT). With "Rock" being reassigned to hunt down chemical weapons in theater the company found itself with a new liaison, callsign "Manitou". Oddball and Guppy departed camp with the ashes to link up with the mechanized company "Warhog" and guide them to the Hell Pit, interdicting NVA and VC attempts to delay the convoy. Upon arrival to LHT Armiger found evidence that the NVA had attempted to attack the village, with the wrecks of several BTR-40s and T-54s found. This would also mark the company's first encounter with "Lesions", some kind of anomalous entity that rapidly kills any living thing it touches.
Due to the CIA's successfully containment of the area Armiger were able to establish the ashes and a perimeter alongside Warhog without aggravating the Hell Pit enough to awaken the beasts inside. What followed was fifteen minutes of violence, with NVA and "2nd Legion" elements besieging the company while the sealing process continued. The Hell Pit was successfully sealed, with a rapid but disorganized withdraw from the area alongside the mauled Warhog while a flight of B-52s plastered the place. One of Oddballs' members returned to camp with his guts hanging out, somehow still in fighting condition. Armiger would encounter a large pack of Spirit Beasts during their return to camp, one of which dropping some kind of artifact disk (which we now know is part of some kind of compass). - 2nd of January, 1968: Having successfully sealed the Hell Pit at LHT Armiger prepared to strike against the mountain sized Hell Pit that had formed in the northeast of the province. Prior to this however Manitou "asked" the company to investigate a suspected lost temple he "divined" from the artifact that Chap received from the Spirit Beasts. Having been flown out and deployed in the river close to the temple Armiger encountered several armed skeletons inhabiting the temple's ruins. Once dealt with Guppy approached what seemed to be the ruins of the main temple building, finding a flaming sword and blessed warhammer sitting next to some kind of altar. Once the artifact and the cursed diary of Henri Eugène Navarre were placed on the altar, a flying talking turtle appeared (no I'm not kidding). With the turtle identifying itself as an "Immortal" called Tản Viên Sơn Thánh Armiger was informed that something called "Inferred" was responsible for the Hell Pits and other anomalous that had starting appearing. This unfortunately proved too much for one of Guppy's members, who committed suicide shortly after. Having purified the diary and awakening the Compass the Immortal left, informing Armiger that they had to find three other pieces of the compass before it would point them to where the Inferred is. The company called for extraction not long after to prepare for the assault on the Hell Pit.
Armiger alongside an entire company of US Army infantry performed an airborne landing directly onto the Hell Pit, with the area being plastered by strike craft a minute earlier, quickly setting up the ashes to begin the sealing process while the US infantry cleared out the remaining Demons and skeletons onsite. With Angel striking from the skies with a AH-1G and copious amounts of ordnance Guppy and Oddball held out against the Demon/ skeleton onslaught, making use of the Lesions around the pit to bottleneck enemy movements. The sealing process ended with the awakening of the volcano under the pit, incinerating the Demons crawling up its' interior but completely obstructing any view of the site from the air, with Armiger quickly regrouping their isolated groups to defend until they could be airlifted out. Despite leftover Demons and other creatures attempting to stop them the company extracted intact, with Armiger making a second pass on the mountain to recover a member of Oddball who had been separated in the chaos before returning to Khe Sanh. - With the Immortal Compass point at three different locations Armiger decided to go after the piece hidden in the Mekong Delta first, utilizing PT boats to move up the rivers and engage NVA and VC emplacements. Upon arriving at the temple site Armiger encountered some kind of "teleporter" anomaly, which upon entering sent them to what seemed to be a French artillery position during the battle of Điện Biên Phủ. The French didn't seem to react to the presence of Armiger, allowed the company to proceed to what seemed to be a command bunker with two medics inside. Guppy and Oddball found another teleporter anomaly inside the bunker next to a body bag and blood splatters on the wall, with the body bag having the dog tags of a "Charles Piroth".
Having then gone through the anomaly Armiger found itself inside an area walled in by cliffs, with considerable foliage and bunkers present. The company would then find itself under attack by Inferred thralls of the medieval era, including what seemed to be some kind of necromancer. Having dealt with the situation with minimal casualties Armiger prepared to enter the temple, however no member of the unit has any recollection as to what happened inside the temple itself, other than the recovery of the Compass piece that was needed.
The Story so far
Armiger's original mission was the assistance of US forces in the Quảng Trị Province against VC and NVA elements marauding around the jungle beyond the garrison's reach. This was achieved with considerable success, with dozens of NV vehicles destroyed and hundreds of personnel killed. Armiger would encounter members of the local faith, know as the FPG, who seemed strange but were otherwise were harmless. Due to hostile action by the VC and NVA however the company would eventually come into possession of four vases carrying the ashes of the local faiths' gods; Mẫu Thượng Thiên, Mẫu Thượng Ngàn, Mẫu Thoải, and Mẫu Địa.
Armiger would begin encountering to encounter "anomalous" happenings in their sector, with giant "apes" and mangled NVA vehicles with VC corpses and dismembered limbs. This would come to ahead at the town of Long Han Tap, where Guppy found the signs of a massive firefight between the NVA and some unknown third party. Armiger's presence in the town caused the awakening of several Spirit Demons, overrunning the area and forcing the company to hastily retreat.
Following this encounter Armiger found itself under the liaison (command really) of the CIA, through callsign "Rock", being tasked with retrieving the ashes of all four Goddesses in the hope they may be used to seal the Hell Pit in LHT. The company was successful in initially retrieving three of the vases, with the NVA able to fly out one of the vases back to Hanoi, prompting an infiltration into Hanoi itself to recover it. This was successfully done despite pissing off the several thousand NVA garrisoned in the city.
With a new CIA liaison in the form of callsign "Manitou" Armiger would move on the Hell Pit in LHT with the ashes and, with the help of Warhog, a mechanized company, and copious amounts of fire support were able to successfully seal the pit despite attacks by the NVA and 2nd Legion. It was near the end of this operation that Armiger would be confronted by a "pack" of Spirit Beasts, one of which delivered an artifact disk to Chap. This disk from then taken by Manitou, somehow (this man scares me).
Manitou would "divine" the location of a previously unmarked temple somewhere to the south of Khe Sanh, sending Armiger to secure and investigate the site prior to their attack on the second Hell Pit. Clearing the area of literal skeletons, the company would acquire a pair of "infused" weapons and completed a ritual to summon the Immortal Tản Viên Sơn Thánh taking the form of a turtle. Here Armiger would learn that the anomalous happenings were being caused by an entity called Inferred, a being capable of copying any living being it encounters and replicating it perfectly for its own designs. Having removed the curse on the diary of Henri Eugène Navarre and reawakened the artifact disk, which is actually some kind of compass to tract down the Inferred, the Immortal left.
Armiger extracted back to Khe Sanh to acquire the ashes and rearm before flying out to the 2nd Hell Pit alongside a company of US infantry, with Angel providing overwatch from above. With the area saturated by US strike craft prior to the arrival of Armiger the site was relatively clear, allowing for the company to land directly on the Pit and quickly establish the ashes. Despite attacks from several Demons and packs of skeletons the sealing process was successful, resulting in the detonation of the volcano the pit sat in.
With the successful foray into the Mekong Delta to recover one of the Immortal Compass pieces Armiger now has one of the required three components for the artifact disk, despite interference by several Inferred Thralls.
Neutral Groups
- The Followers of the Palace Goddesses; Initially a peaceful religious organization, the actions of the NVA in attempting to steal the ashes caused the group to go to ground, returning as warrior monks. They have been spotted sabotaging NVA operations throughout South Vietnam, although they have been quiet since their most recent action.
Only fire on them if fired upon. - Spirit Beasts; Standing several meters tall, these creatures are absolute power houses. Able to throw tanks around and leap short distances, they are not to be underestimated. They appear to have a hatred of Spirit Demons, considering that they ignore everything else to beeline towards them when encountered. It would appear the feeling is mutual, as Demons act the same was when sighting a Beast.
Only fire on them if they get aggressive towards you
Hostile Groups
- NVA/VC: Currently at war with them, enough said.
- Spirit Demons: Extremely aggressive to anything they encounter, Demons are relentless killing machines capable of throwing tanks around and jumping short distances much like Spirit Beasts. We are unsure if they are linked to the Inferred or if it purposely aggravating them as a distraction to it's awakening. Will remain in proximity to Hell Pits, choosing not to venture beyond its immediate area. Are immune to the effects of Lesions. Appear to have a "rivalry" with Spirit Beasts, ignoring anything not between them and the Beasts to attack them.
Avoid them if possible, retreat or fight them if needed.
- 2nd Legion: Originating from North Vietnam, the Legion seems to be some kind of "anomalous corps", acting to contain or capture unnatural entities for use in the war. Dressed in all black uniforms and better equipped than the NVA, they seem to prefer ambushes and squad tactics compared to mobbing tactics. Horribly mauled by Armiger during Mission 7 and didn't make an appearance in Mission 8, despite signal intercepts suggesting otherwise. Unsure if working with the Inferred.
Kill on sight. - The undead/reanimated?: Encountered exclusively during Mission 8 in limited numbers at the lost temple and en-mass at the Hell Pit, these creatures are held together by magic or some other kind of energy. Aggressive and sometimes armed with guns, they seem to rely on swarming tactics to overpower their enemy. Are extremely vulnerable to flame based weaponry.
Try to avoid if possible, obliterate them if engaged otherwise they won't stop chasing you. - Inferred Thralls: These are individuals or creatures that have been exposed to the Inferred in some form and were "copied", being recreated with the Inferred's energy to serve its goals and fight it's enemies. Weapons and abilities vary depending on when the individual was copied, with the French 13th Half-Brigade suspected of being the most recent recreation.
Hazards
- Hell Pits: As the name suggests these anomalies are pits ranging from small craters to volcano sized entities if constantly aggravated. Are the only known source of Spirit Demons. Can only be sealed with the Ashes of the Palace Goddesses. Avoid them if encountered without the Ashes, sealed them if Ashes are on hand.
- Lesions: White in colour, these entities seem to only appear in proximity to Hell Pits. They rapidly kill any living entities that step on them and seem to drain the magic from the undead/reanimated, eventually killing them. Extremely vulnerable to flame based weaponry and break down without the presence of a Hell Pit.
Avoid them, try to use them to bottleneck large groups of enemies.
I also did some digging regarding the previous two Mixed Commando Companies deployed to Vietnam, Lance and Halbert "Slaughter", to recover any combat logs they may have left. Turns out there were actually four "Mixed Commando Companies" prior to the formation of Armiger; Pitchfork, Lance, Rapier and Halbert. Every single one of them encountered anomalies in some form or shape.