STALKER teams Hound, Dragon, and an amalgam of elements of Wolf, Eagle, and Snake entered the Zone surrounding the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant, inserting into the staging post set up by wayfinders sent ahead by Vulture in an abandoned town.

The Zone around the NPP was thick with foliage after having been undisturbed for so long, but the STALKERS began finding the remnants of attempts to establish civilisation in the area. Another village, segregated by curtains of radiation, had long since been abandoned, like the rest of the Zone.

The STALKERS found that the area was host to high levels of radiation, while also infested with Rad-Zombies and irradiated STALKERS, as well as being host to a shrine of some sort, which the STALKERS would later identify as belonging to the Monolith. Logs from past inhabitants of the area were found, indicating the presence of valuable salvage and artifacts hidden somewhere under the dense cover of the forest.

Later, several safes would be found by the STALKERS, their contents unknown until further investigation revealed codes left by previous occupants of the area. Charged power cells and some unknown liquids in vials were recovered, one enterprising STALKER testing the contents of the mystery vials by drinking one of them. Thanks to a healthy dose of STALKER scepticism, the STALKER found he had chosen wrong the hard way, but he was fortunately revived by his both concerned and amused team-mates.

A Zone anomaly, colloquially known as the Font of Life, was observed appearing again in the Zone, and the STALKERS made use of this appearance, collecting its waters. Fortunately, they did not abuse this power lest they provoke the wrath of the Zone.

As the shadows grew longer and night crept ever closer, the STALKERS were pushed back into town by an increasingly aggressive pack of Rad-Zombies, herded by several agents of the Monolith, seemingly desperate to keep the STALKERS away from the shrine.

In the morning, after a tumultuous night of emissions, the Rad-Zombies had mostly retreated to their nests, and the STALKERS set out to destroy both the main nest and the shrine. The STALKERS were informed that scouts had found that the biggest nest in the area was drawing power from several artifacts located within the area around it, and that they must be removed before the nest could be destroyed. Unfortunately, due to the forces of the Monolith in the area, along with the Rad-Zombies, the STALKERS only had time to remove one of the artifacts, leading to the ultimate regeneration of the nest.

In brighter news, the shrine to the Monolith was destroyed, destabilising the Monolithians’ presence in the area. This, coupled with the launching of a highly experimental anti-radiation missile, means that the way into the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant is now open, mostly free from the previously extremely high levels of radiation present before.

The STALKERS now make their way deeper into the Zone on the orders of Comet, approaching the NPP’s main structures. The area directly around the NPP has not been entered since before the fall, so, as far as Comet is concerned, the thought of pre-fall tech is too good to pass up.