Tactical Tuesday: Operation Ruinfall

Pulp-Military Encounter Scenario:

Setting:
The story unfolds in the crumbling industrial underbelly of Tasrin City—a swampy, corrupt port town that sweats oil and smog. The squad has commandeered an old factory—what used to be a meat-packing plant during the good times. Now it serves as a forward base in the heart of chaos. Around you, rusty machinery groans, exposed wires crackle in the damp air, and shadows skitter along walls dirtied with age and ash. Outside, a storm churns like a bad omen, hammering rain against the towering smokestacks. This is where the gritty, the desperate, and the doomed come to fight.

You and your squad are seasoned vets, grappling not just with conflict but the existential churn. You’re tired, hungry, working on adrenaline and caffeine pills. It’s “another day in the office.” Only this time, something’s wrong. You feel it—like a hound smelling a storm.

The Situation:
2100 hours. The tension snaps when a garbled voice crackles through your squad’s comms. There’s been an incident on Crescent Rail Line 7. “Gunfire reported near warehouse zero-seven. Possible hostiles or smuggler activity.” Command wants someone to clear it up. You barely give a grunt of acknowledgment, already motioning for your crew to gear up. Five minutes later, you’re locking and loading, ready to head out. Business as usual.

But then the air changes.

An unearthly whump rattles every chunk of steel in your already teetering base. The reinforced glass in the radio room cracks like brittle ice. And then it happens—the floor beneath your boots bucks like a wild bronco. The room flashes with a sickly light, as if the sun has died and its ghost is trying to claw through the stormclouds. The sound that follows can’t even be described—it’s part explosion, part roar, part something else entirely.

When your vision returns, the base isn’t just damaged—it’s a tomb waiting to be sealed. The old factory has collapsed inward, steel beams twisted like devil’s thorns, concrete slabs splitting open like rotten fruit. Your squad is scattered through the wreckage, some screaming, some buried, others silent. Smoke wafts through every crack, and somewhere in it all, a faint, oddly rhythmic thump-thump-thump echoes. It’s not just wreckage—it’s the drumbeat of something alive.

Squad Mission Objectives:

1. Survive the Collapse. Check yourself and your squad. Adrenaline might keep you moving, but bleeding out or suffocating will bring the game to a fast and ugly end.
2. Find the Source. Whatever detonated wasn’t a simple bomb. The seismic shake and unnatural light suggest something far worse—a pulp-tech device created by some megalomaniac who decided today was the day to go loud.
3. Locate Key Personnel. The building wasn’t just a forward base. Somewhere in the rubble is an eccentric “consultant” with ties to deep military research. Command wants her out alive—no matter what she might’ve been working on.

The Rub:
The factory’s innards are a twisted labyrinth, made worse by the collapse. It’s dark, claustrophobic, and filled to the brim with pulpy peril. You’ll have to grit your teeth and keep moving through unstable wreckage, all while noises in the dark suggest you aren’t alone. The factory’s ancient foundations have given way, revealing sections long buried—old holding tanks, a labyrinth of pipes, and… something else. Every corner creaks like a dying animal.

Hostile Forces:

1. Saboteurs: This wasn’t a random accident. A splinter faction known as the Black Talon Raiders planted the device—or something worse. These soldiers-turned-mercenaries are hardened, brutal, and fighting for more than cash. They’re in the rubble, armed and hostile, hunting survivors while following orders you aren’t privy to.
2. The Unnatural: Whatever the pulpy device was hooked into didn’t just blow—it shifted. The bomb’s aftermath has stirred up something massive and alien. From the lower depths of the factory, strange, oozing shapes writhe, pulse, and emit guttural vibrations you can feel in your bones. These things aren’t just here—they’re hungry.

Challenges & Obstacles:

• Unstable Environment: Razor-sharp metal frames hang precariously overhead, ready to slice through reckless soldiers like melted butter. Pools of toxic water spill from cracked coolant tanks. Electrical fires spark where snapped wires hang like angry serpents. Move carefully or die stupidly.
• Strange Energy Fields: The space around the device’s impact zone warps perception—time seems slower, heavier. Colored lightning arcs between derelict machinery, creating barriers that disintegrate metal and sizzle flesh if touched. These fields must be navigated carefully, forcing players to think creatively or risk a fatal misstep.
• Limited Ammo and Gear: Your equipment is damaged or blown to hell. A lucky search roll might uncover a working flashlight, a pistol with two rounds, or a radio… but nothing major. Scavenge effectively, or fight by smashing rocks if you run out of bullets.

Key Decision Points:

1. Rescue or Sacrifice? One of your squadmates is pinned beneath a collapsed cargo crate. You could try to save them—but the longer you stay focused there, the closer hostiles and the oozing “things” creep toward your position.
2. Fight or Flee: Deep in the ruins, there’s a strange energy signature. You suspect it’s related to the secondary device—a prototype the saboteurs didn’t destroy but activated. Do you risk defusing it at ground zero, or bug out and hope Command sends backup before the whole block goes up in flames?
3. The Consultant’s Intel: Dr. Kaschev, the civilian consultant, was working on something classified before the explosion—something Command is desperate to keep out of enemy hands. You find a data core filled with that intel. Do you risk extracting both Dr. Kaschev and the device, or cut your losses and make the tough calls?

The Climax:
Toward the factory’s depths, beneath the last stable section of its foundation, the pulpy arc device hums like a dying heart. Its glowing tendrils stretch over exposed pipes, stone, and shadows too alien to describe. The Raiders aren’t alone—their leader, clad in some sort of exosuit, isn’t just guarding the device—he’s feeding it. To what purpose, you can only guess.

If you take too long, the device will overcharge, obliterating not just the factory but a city block. If you act faster than the Raiders, you might just find a way to pry the core free or overload their system instead. Success won’t come quietly or cleanly—but that’s not why you signed up, is it?

Pulpy Aftermath:
Whether you stumble out into the howling rain as the earth shakes behind you or find yourself dragging half of a squad through smoke as the factory implodes, the mission changes everything. The device? That’s not your problem now—but the war it’ll soon ignite? That’s coming whether you’re ready or not.

And hey—at least you can say you punched a Raider in the face on your way out.