 Item number, SCP-354, Object Class, Keter. Special Containment Procedures Due to SCP-354's immobile nature, Area 354 has been built around it. Area 354 houses forces and D-class personnel, prepared to deal with threats emerging from SCP-354, as well as researchers studying SCP-354 and its properties. For their own safety, no on-site personnel are to approach SCP-354 at any time. Direct interaction with SCP-354 is permitted only for the purpose of research to eliminate SCP-354, and must be approved by O5 personnel. Area 354 was constructed to contain and neutralize any and all further threats emerging from SCP-354. At the heart of Area 354, a 20-foot wall of concrete reinforced with data expunged has been constructed around SCP-354 to prevent emerging entities from escaping into the area at large. High-speed motion detection cameras are placed atop the wall looking down into the pool, and armed guards can easily shoot down inside the enclosure from catwalks placed above the pool. Description SCP-354 is a pool of red liquid, discovered in Northern Canada. The liquid is of a consistency similar to that of human blood, hence the colloquial name Blood Pond, but is not of a biological nature. The pool does not have definite banks. Soil mixes with the liquid until, at a certain point, there is more soil than liquid and the ground is mostly solid. The liquid becomes denser as one descends deeper into the pool. If the pool has a bottom, it is yet to be reached. Periodically, entities emerge from the pool, an attempt to escape from the enclosure. Thus far, nearly all creatures emerging from SCP-354 have been extremely hostile and highly dangerous. SCP-354 is believed to have been first discovered in by survivors of a plane crash who encountered SCP-354 by chance. SCP-354 had developed into a local urban legend, long before Foundation personnel arrived to deal with the threat. After locating the source of the legend, SCP personnel set up Watch Station Epsilon-38 to monitor the pool and to deter future travelers from finding it. SCP-354 was classified as Euclid until its properties were further discovered. At 1403 hours on date undisclosed, an unidentified entity emerged from SCP-354. Contact with Watch Station Epsilon-38 was lost. Mobile Task Force was dispatched to deal with the entity and were eventually successful. All personnel at Watch Station Epsilon-38 were found dead. Area 354 was subsequently constructed to contain SCP-354. SCP-354-1A, partial log of entities to have emerged from SCP-354 prior to Event 354-20. SCP-354-1, original entity which destroyed Watch Station Epsilon-38, resembled a giant bat, neutralized by Mobile Task Force- SCP-354-2, bear-sized mammalian creature covered in razor-sharp spines. It resembled an echidna, was virtually bulletproof, but was unable to escape the enclosure surrounding the pool, neutralized via napalm. SCP-354-3, black metallic sphere capable of levitation, emitted concentrated levels of radiation and precisely directed beams, sufficiently to instantly cripple and later result in death. One area ahead, Dr. Boehr struck SCP-354-3 with a sludge hammer, disabling it. SCP-354-3 then self-detonated, causing minor structural damage and severely wounding Dr. Boehr. Said Dr. Boehr made a full recovery and has been commended for his bravery. SCP-354-4, humanoid reptilian creature, approximately 4.6 meters or 15 feet tall, escaped both the walled enclosure and area 354 altogether. Gunfire caused very little physical harm and was highly ineffective. Mobile Task Force Omega-7, Pandora's box, was dispatched and was successful in neutralizing the creature. SCP-354-5, data expunged. SCP-354-6 appeared to be a human male of Indian descent. As the enclosure around the pool had not yet been fully repaired, SCP-354-6 was immediately shot before it had a chance to escape. Area head Dr. Boehr has expressed his displeasure in the rash execution of SCP-354-6, which testing revealed to be identical to an average human being. Data corrupt SCP-354-14, majority of creature's body remained well beneath the surface of the pool. Five octopus-like tentacles were seen emerging from the pool and reached up over the enclosure. Several D-Class personnel were grabbed by the tentacles and pulled back beneath the surface of the pool. After receiving massive damage from gunfire, SCP-354-14 retreated back into the pool and disappeared. No personnel taken by the creature were recovered. SCP-354-15, feline creature, composed of a blue-hued crystalline structure, later revealed to be ice, was able to jump above the walled enclosure and was agile enough to dodge most gunfire, was actively hostile and mauled any personnel that engaged it. SCP-354-16 engaged upon its emergence from the pool and was terminated in the fight. SCP-354-16, feline creature, composed of a dark red-black stone, later revealed to be partially solidified magma. Gunfire proved mostly ineffective against its hide, was not hostile to personnel and did not attempt to escape the walled enclosure, until being engaged by SCP-354-15, successfully terminated SCP-354-15 and grew less active as its body cooled. After fully solidifying and having remained motionless since, subject was moved to Dr. Warrant's office for aesthetic purposes. SCP-354-18, metallic humanoid machine, described by several D-class personnel as a terminator. Subject possessed a cloaking device rendering it invisible to human eyes. Subject was highly adept at combat and killed nearly 90% of Area 354's guard personnel as it rampaged through the facility. Approximately 60 minutes after emerging from the pool, subjects ceased function and powered down. Subject was dismantled and its power cell was disposed of. Subject's remains are under study. Note from area head, Dr. Warrant. That's thrice now that we've had to fall back on Pandora's box to deal with stuff coming out of SCP-354. Abel can't complain though, you can tell he enjoyed fighting SCP-354-11. Maybe we should set up some kind of hotline to MTF Omega-7. Subject 354-3A, log of exploratory mission 354-Alpha, personal log of Dr. Warrant. Our expedition to explore SCP-354, that gaping wound in the middle of Canada, has finally been accepted. The R&D boys have come up with what can only be described as a submarine with a drill on it. We know that the pool gets denser as you go down, so we suspect that at some point we won't be sinking, so much as digging, hence the huge mining device built onto it. It's not hydrodynamic at all, but we're not really going swimming here. My gut tells me that there's something on the other side of the red pool, and just like digging down, up to China, all we have to do is dig down, up to it. Personal log of Dr. Warrant. Had a nice long debate with 05 over who's allowed to come. I wanted MTF Omega-7 to come with us for protection, or at least SCP-076, but they won't allow it. Despite the massive damages he continues to cause, they still see him as too valuable to risk losing. Not that he isn't, you know, immortal or anything. Maybe they just didn't have the guts to ask him to go exploring. Ackler, that a**, wanted us to take SCP-076 with us, but I wouldn't allow it. The file says SCP-076 was just born before he came through, so he'd be useless as a guide. He might be of some use as security, but that's mostly cancelled out by the fact that he's data-expunged. He'd probably just expunged, anyway. The final crew compliment apart from myself consists of three agents, two D-class personnel, one geologist, and some guy from R&D who's going to pilot the ship. I already forgot all their names. Exploratory Team 354 Alpha, ET-354A, Mission Log, Day 1, Rotten Sword of Day to begin a mission. Rumor has it that last night there was a total containment breach in some area or other. Then it turns out that there's no coffee allowed anywhere inside of Area 354 for some reason or another. And the whole mission almost ended in disaster when it turns out that they almost forgot to load the extra fuel on board. Who the f**k is running the show around here? Anyway, we're now under way. For a while there I had a definite feeling of going downward, but now we're dropping much more slowly. Marty, that's the R&D guy's name, says we're sinking at a rate of 10 meters an hour. Apparently at this depth, the red pool is pretty damn dense. Mission Log, Day 2, nothing of interest happened, but I learned everyone's names. We have Marty, our pilot, Agent Swanson, Agent Turquoise, Agent 86, Dr. J. MacArthur, Chris Simmons, and Leroy Tucker, whoop-de-freakin-doo. Mission Log, Day 3, at about 4.30 am gravity suddenly changed direction. Boy, that was a fun way to wake up. We're now rising rather than sinking, which means we're more than halfway there. Mission Log, Day 4, we've reached the surface. Through the portholes it's mostly dark, which means it's night. We can't go out yet because for all we know, the atmosphere could be hydrochloric acid. We've got a s**t load of sensors outside of the ship analyzing a bunch of stuff. Whether the air is breathable, what kind of airborne bacteria we have to deal with, and simple stuff, like temperature, we'll know in 8 hours whether it's safe for human life out there. Mission Log, Day 5, turns out the air is totally safe, except it's been night for… going on 28 hours now. What's going on? Mission Log, Day 6, dawn finally came. The sun was huge and red. I'm a biologist, but I know enough about astronomy to know that we're orbiting a totally different star. Is this a different time, a different place, or a different dimension? Leroy guessed that we're in another plane of existence, and I think he's probably closest. The pool on this side is way bigger, more like a large pond or maybe a small lake. The banks are more defined than on our side as well. We took an inflatable raft to the shore, Marty and Simmons stayed behind and headed north. The ground here, or at least around the pool, is almost totally devoid of plant life. The only green we saw was a sort of fuzzy moss growing on the ground that looked more like a kind of mold. The ground is grayish tan dirt that's like a mixture of sand and flour. MacArthur said it was some mineral or another, but I forgot what he called it. I half expected all of our electronics not to work out here, but that wasn't the first thing to fail. After about two hours of hiking across flat boring ground, the compass suddenly changed direction. Now, it points to what we had previously thought to be east. Evidently, this planet's magnetics, is it even a planet? Don't work the same way ours do. Not wanting to risk getting lost, we immediately made a 180 and headed back to the ship. I could have sworn that the trip was less than half as long as the trip out. Tomorrow we'll work out a way of navigation that doesn't rely on the compass being sane. In log, day seven, lousy night's sleep, the sun never went down. By my calculations, the day-night cycle here seems to last about 43 and a half hours, as opposed to 24 hours back home. That's going to take some getting used to. We agreed on a system of navigation. Firstly, we're going to travel only in a straight line to make sure that we can get back to the ship by simply turning around and heading in the other direction. Unless we encounter some kind of unnavigable jungle, we should be fine. Secondly, Marty's rigged a radio beacon thing. I don't really remember his explanation, but if we're anywhere within 800 miles, his little gizmo will be able to tell us exactly which direction to go to get back, and how far. Mission log, day nine. We set out a few hours before the sun was scheduled to rise, but when we got to the shore, we found that the green moss stuff was everywhere. It had grown in mass significantly. My guess is the stuff shrivels up in the sun during the day and expands at night to suck in nutrients or something. We decided we didn't want to walk through it, so we went back and waited for sunrise. Sun came up and we set out again. The moss stuff was back to its smaller state. It just occurred to me that there's been no wind at all in this place. The result is dead silence. I'm not ashamed to admit that the overall emptiness of this place is pretty scary. We found an area with none of the moss stuff for a few hundred feet around and decided to camp for the night. The sun is still up, but it's time for us humans to sleep, so I'm calling it night. Mission log, day ten. Sometime in the night, which was really daytime. F**k, this is going to get confusing. We were all awoken by some kind of roar. You remember what the T-Rex sounded like in that old movie Jurassic Park? It sounded a lot like that, big and reptilian. It was so loud that I was certain whatever was making it couldn't be more than twenty feet away. But when we all got out of our tents, we didn't see anything. The whole area is so flat that we see any sort of animal within half a mile or so, but there was nothing. F**king scary. We packed up camp and continued on. After a while, we stopped seeing the moss stuff. Maybe it only grows around the red pool, and the ground became rockier. In the distance, the land seems to grow more hilly. I think I see trees. Mission log, day eleven. The bare ground has ended. Now we're walking across a vast field of beautiful green grass. It almost looks like a well-mown lawn. The grass seemed ordinary enough until turquoise tripped over a rock and arose to find his hands covered with several dozen bloody pinpricks. Apparently, the tip of a blade of this grass is incredibly sharp and easily punctures skin. It's no threat to our foundation-issued boots, but we must all be careful not to fall on it. We came to a tiny stream, really no more than a trickle. Swanson suggested we could refill our canteens, but Lee Roy and MacArthur wanted to check the water for something or other first. MacArthur took out some equipment and, after a few minutes, announced that it was not water, but liquid carbon dioxide. CO2 is usually a gas at this temperature, and it's never a liquid. The laws of physics don't seem to be working right. Mission log, day fourteen. I haven't had time to record anything for a few days. We made it to an area sparsely populated by trees. The grass there was withered and brown. They're not sharp enough to pierce the skin anymore. The trees were ordinary, looked like birch, but the leaves were wrong. At some point we lost Swanson. This place is so quiet that none of us really feel comfortable talking, so we have no idea when we lost him. There's a good eight-hour window where he could have gone missing. We called to him, but none of us wanted to split up to look for him. During the night, a tree fell on 86's tent. He wasn't hurt, and none of the gear was damaged, although the tent got mangled beyond repair. 86 swears that the tree hadn't been that close when he pitched the thing, and none of us can tell what caused it to fall. The trunk just snapped. We all agreed not to pitch our tents anywhere near a tree from now on. The next day, which was really night time, we heard the same roar from a few days ago. It sounded exactly the same as before, and again, we have no idea what made the sound. And none of us can even agree which direction it came from. Then it started to rain. We all pitched our tents for the night, this time a whole lot closer together than we had before. The nearest tree is about 300 feet away. MacArthur confirmed that it was actual rain and not more CO2 b**t, and we set up this funnel thing to refill our canteens. Leroy donated his tent to Agent 86, and I offered to share mine since it's a little bigger than the other guys. I asked Leroy what he did to wind up as a D-class. He said he raped a couple people. I think he might have been trying to freak me out, but who knows? Anyway, he's one of the most well-behaved D-classes I've ever met, so I don't think he's going to, say, assault me in my sleep. Mission log, day 17. Good God, the rain has finally stopped. Everything is soaking wet, including us, except for the ground. With that much water, you'd expect it to be muddy as all hell, but the ground beneath the grass is barely damp at all. Perhaps the plants absorb moisture from the ground more efficiently than the ones back home. We're setting out again. Perhaps the rain awakened some animal life. Data corrupt. Mission log, day 25. What seemed to be a huge cliff in the distance turned out to be an artificially constructed wall. It's made of solid, rusty iron that stands maybe 50 feet high. To the left and to the right, it goes on farther than the eye can see. I can't imagine how thick it is. We have no way around it. We'll have to go over it or through it. We made camp for the night. We'll work out what to do in the morning. Mission log, day 26. Leroy jury-rigged some kind of blowtorch thing with our equipment. I swear, this guy is f***ing MacGyver. We cut a hole in the iron wall big enough for us to go through. It turns out it's only about a quarter of an inch thick, but there's another wall behind it with less than a foot between. Apparently this thing has multiple layers. Leroy cut through eight of them before we finally made it to the other side. The grass on this side is black. Not burnt or anything, it's just a different color. And finally there's some wind. I was getting tired of... data corrupt. Concluded that coming here was a mistake. We have to turn back. Mission log, day 39. We passed through the second barrier and we're back to the weird place with the black grass. I half expected the whole Leroy cut through it to have sealed up or something, but it was still there. Thank God, or whoever runs the show in this world. I don't think MacArthur is going to make it through the night. He lost a lot of blood. Mission log, day 40. We awoke to find that MacArthur had crossed. We didn't want to do it, but we had no choice but to terminate him. 86 said that something back home might be able to help him, and he may have been right, but we couldn't afford to have him slow us down. We only have a few more days until... data corrupt. Mission log, day 48. We made it back to the ship with only an hour or two to spare. The first thing they asked us was what the f*** happened to Swanson Turquoise MacArthur in 86, as if a few dead team members are our biggest problems right now. Marty has us under way, and we're definitely sinking. I just hope they don't. Data corrupt. End of log. This document was discovered in the Central Foundation database. No such mission to explore SCP-354 has yet been suggested or approved. No records of any personnel mentioned in this log exist. The log's origin is unknown. Note from area head Dr. W... It has been 22 months since the last entity emerged from the pool. Before this, the longest period of time between emergencies was 8 months. I suspect this means one of two things. Either the red pool has died or powered down, or whatever the correct term for it is, or it is charging up for something big to come through. O5 believes the former is the most likely explanation, and has recalled 30% of our total personnel and cut 25% of our funding. Wallach can only hope that they are correct. If the latter situation is true, we're soon to face some terrible monstrosity, and we won't have anywhere near the force necessary to deal with it. I worry for all of our safety. Document 3544. Event log 35420. In the morning of data expunged, the entire staff of area 354 evacuated the facility. However, the staff also shut down power to the area, and took a number of supplies and vehicles from the facility, indicating that the evacuation had not been done due to an emergency. Mobile Task Force Theta-12 was dispatched to investigate the cause of the evacuation, and, if possible, make contact with area's staff. However, before MTF Theta-12 could make contact with area 354 or its evacuees, the area's onsite warhead was detonated, resulting in the destruction of the entire facility, and the deaths of data expunged. MTF Theta-12 was ordered to make contact with the evacuated personnel, and, in the event of hostility, was given clearance to terminate any uncooperative personnel. A large convoy of vehicles taken from area 354 was spotted heading southward from area 354 at high speed. Final audio logs from NTF Theta-12 indicate that the convoy was made up of area 354's staff, and that the previous chain of command had broken down in its entirety, with armed D-class personnel and research personnel firing upon MTF Theta-12. MTF Theta-12 was annihilated, and no further contact with the former personnel of area 354 has been made since. Document 3545 Following the total destruction of area 354, the Red Pool Containment Site was constructed in its place. Basic maps of the new facility can be found in... Unlike the previous facility, which was focused on research and neutralization of entities emerging from SCP-354, the new facility is devoted entirely to the containment of SCP-354, and entities which may emerge from it, as well as any unforeseen forces which it may create directly. This is due largely to the advisement of the new site head, Data Expunged, who believes that the events of log 354-20 were the results of a psychic or mental attack generated by SCP-354 itself. Document 3546 An interview between Dr. W. and Agent W. regarding Data Expunged. Dr., is it alright if I record this? Agent, yes, go ahead. Dr., good, good, so let's start at the beginning. What happened at the Red Pool Containment Site? Agent, looking back now, it seems strange that nobody ever suggested draining the pool. When Dr. W. came up with it, it seemed like such a good idea at the time. Dr., exactly what about the idea was so appealing? Agent, it was a way out. That SCP entry, I've read what it says. It's a joke. It makes it seem like we have the pool under control. Dr., I take it you do not. Agent, there's a half-meter slab of reinforced concrete in place over the pool, and yet every time some beast tries to come through somehow, it manages to get loose into the building. People die, every single time. I've seen Data Expunged, a man's own intestines. Can you imagine what that looks like, old man? Dr., so to you, and of course to the other people stationed at the Red Pool Containment Site as well, draining the pool seemed like a fine solution to the suffering caused by SCP-354. Agent, chair scrapes as Agent W. stands up. Suffering. That thing doesn't just... Dr., please sit down. This is going on record. Pause. Agent W. sits. So, 05 approved the draining of SCP-354, and then what happened? Agent, they evacuated the non-essential personnel to a location a couple kilometers away, leaving just basic defense crew and the people who'd run the equipment, mostly D-Class, plus a few agents to keep things going. Dr., and you were among those agents. Agent, yes. Dr., how did they go about draining the pool? Agent, tech guys brought in this big pump thing with all these hoses. We retracted the slab, but... Dr., but... Agent, have you ever had a dream where it seemed so real, but you knew you were dreaming, and it felt like you had to wake up to escape from it? Dr., I can't say I have. Agent, yes you have. We all have. That's what it felt like when they put the hose in to try to drain it. Everything stopped being real. It was like we had to escape right now. Dr., and you were the only one feeling this sensation. Agent, no. Everyone had it at the same time. It came from the f***ing pool! Dr., please lower your voice. What happened when they activated the pump? Agent, we never did. We couldn't. It wouldn't let us. Dr., what wouldn't let you? Agent, the pool! Dr., please, I ask you to lower your voice. Agent, up until now it's been content just throwing monsters at us. It's been playing, but now we have it locked up, and we just tried to execute it. Now it's angry. Dr., to PA, guards, please restrain Agent. Agent, my buddy measured its banks once and compared them to the photos from its first discovery. You know what he found? Agent grabs Dr., Dr., guards! Agent, it's growing. The pool is growing. It gets bigger and stronger every day, and now we've made it angry. Get your hands off! Dr., sedate him. We'll continue this in the morning, if he's lucid by then anyway. Lesson complete. If you missed the previous orientation, go watch SCP-353, Vector, right now. Or for the complete course, watch this playlist.