===Bureau of Redacted Media: Case File 52===
Date of Operations: September 2022
Media recovered: Two (2) photo documentations, one (1) verification sketch, one (1) damage survey.
All confidential media files MUST be placed in the appropriate folder following acquisition. Failure to do so may result in demotion or similar penalties.
An eruption occurred underground in BELDAM COUNTY, ILLINOIS around five in the evening. At the time, our early detection systems did not warn us of imminent Abyssal threat despite the volume and scale of the emergence. The eruption occurred somewhere roughly past 20 meters underground, resulting in a massive structural and topographical collapse: within minutes, Bureau cleaners were dispatched to survey the damage -
SITREP:
- Over 1.34 million USD in property damages recorded.
- 15 critical infrastructures were damaged irreparably.
- Due to relatively lower population counts and joint emergency worker/Bureau efforts, casualties were kept to a minimum. Over 1000 individuals are unaccounted for, with 262 documented fatalities and 400+ injured in destruction around the outer edge of the emergence.
- 4,000 of the most relevant individuals have been administered memory control agents to stem information flow. The current dissemination process claims the source of the eruption to have originated from a large, undiscovered pocket of methane which caused a chain reaction under the entirety of BELDAM; no further dissemination needed.
- Agent U has been dispatched to guard the valley where BELDAM once sat. Stygian aperture located ████ meters below sea level. All traffic in and out of surrounding highway infrastructures is to be redirected into neighboring counties, with the surrounding perimeter walled off and made into an Exclusion Zone for remaining civilian life.
- All signs and geographical references to Beldam County are to be destroyed.
>Audio Log from first-response Cleaners, picked up using the ELLIS System:
Sinkhole below former Beldam County contains no serrations or groove marks, with the general breadth of it's walls being smooth and largely bored from the earth in one singular wave.
There is residual ink leaking from some of the sewage and tunnel systems that ran below the county. Eventually, light from above becomes scarce enough that it is difficult to navigate the near-vertical terrain without rappelling equipment.
For roughly 250 meters further, the hole is plunged into an eternal blackness that appears to occasionally move and emit high doses of Abyssal radiation - requesting possible allocation of Blackwatch resources.
Occasional vocalizations, both of humanoid nature and unknown, can be heard emanating from the deepest portion, indicating proximity to further stygian entities. Undetermined if some are the result of lost civilians or otherwise.
...
...
Something is approaching at high sp - [at this point, vocal logs abruptly cease and Bureau agents are assumed to be KIA].
Due to the nature of the catastrophe, several dozen new candidates for the Hunter Corp. have been approached for assistance in neutralizing imminent emergencies as a result of increasing Abyssal encroachment. In addition, an Entity of Interest under Bureau watch has been approached with the offer of cooperation in accordance with our ultimate goal: to effectively and permanently seal the rift between the Abyss and this terrestrial world.
Observations:
- Entity is privy to a vast store of information regarding the Abyss and its properties.
- Entity frequently navigates between adjacent territories and an as-of-yet undiscovered Abyssal dwelling; stygonauts are currently undergoing training for an investigation.
- Entity is acquainted with the nature of the threat which caused the BELDAM disaster, and actively assisted in its neutralization.
- Entity is to be considered a minimal threat to confidentiality, and nominal threat overall.
Entity of Interest spotted and intercepted near Upper Wabash at 2100 hours.
Sketch of observed facial façade of Entity during public traversal.
Conclusions:
- To date, this has been one of the largest breaches of normalcy that the Bureau has failed to acquire data on/react to in an appropriate timing. This, alongside capture/retainment of the results of PROJECT HOMUNCULUS are of critical importance to Bureau goals.
- Should the Entity detailed above show any semblance of mutiny, ulterior motivation, or hostility to Bureau staff, Hunters, or civilian life in the slightest, permission is granted to all Bureau agents to terminate with extreme prejudice.
-All knowledge of Beldam County having ever existed is to be officially scrubbed from public records. Any individuals professing knowledge of Beldam County are to be considered for amnestic treatment, or neutralization.
Written by William See
Content is available under CC BY-SA