SCP-1527

Description

SCP-1527 is a remote settlement in [REDACTED]. Upon discovery, it was devoid of human life, but bearing signs of recent habitation. The architecture of SCP-1527 consists mainly of an unidentified and currently indestructible white stone. Artifacts recovered from the settlement are consistent with those of human design but feature several unknown and presently indecipherable languages. SCP-1527 is believed to have been inhabited by individuals operating for or affiliated with the Serpent's Hand.

SCP-1527-1 is a church or temple at the approximate center of the settlement. The architecture and artifacts of the building appear to be associated with several distinct religious bodies or practices. A clock tower rises from the structure's southern-facing wall, and contains a metallic bell of unknown composition. The bell and its peripheral architecture are likewise indestructible.

Once every 24 hours (at 12:25AM), the bell inside SCP-1527-1 will autonomously toll a variable number of times (this is considered to be the activation of SCP-1527-1). All efforts at impeding this event have failed. After this has ceased, a variable number of entities designated SCP-1527-A will manifest inside SCP-1527.

The bell tower of SCP-1527-1.

SCP-1527-A resemble crustaceans, bearing an armored carapace, segmented limbs, and no identifiable "head". They are both slightly translucent and luminescent, producing a variable-color sheen. The entities possess an average size of roughly 1.5m x 2.7m x 2.9m, typically with 4-5 limbs. SCP-1527-A have been observed to spontaneously produce additional and fully functional appendages, including wings, clawed hands and arms (used for digging), and several orifices of unidentified purpose, though observations suggest usage in feeding.

SCP-1527-A possess some telepathic capability, and are capable of inducing suggestibility, confusion, and compulsion in sapient targets at an approximate range of 50 meters. Due to prior tests with [REDACTED] it has been discovered that this telepathy is vulnerable to disruption from radio interference. After implementation of these protocols, incidents due to telepathic properties have been reduced by 78%.

SCP-1527-A will attempt to breach Zone-245 through all available means, and do not demonstrate protective instincts or incentives in regards to fellow SCP-1527-A. While their exact intelligence level is unclear, they are to be considered adaptive hostiles due to previously observed maneuvers utilized against personnel. The carapaces of SCP-1527-A are resilient but not impregnable against conventional weaponry, for full details on termination protocols, see DOCUMENT-SCP-1527-A4.

Addendum [1527-001]: Observation Log
The number of tolls generated by SCP-1527-1 was 5 upon discovery, the number has increased to 8 in the span of containment at Zone-245. Additionaly, the number of SCP-1527-A instances produced by SCP-1527-1 activation events has increased from an average of █ to ██ entities per event.

Addendum [1527-002]: Incident Report
During the activation event on ██/██/20██, a personnel stationed on the southern perimeter wall was telepathically attacked by an SCP-1527-A instance and transferred to Armed Site-245's quarantined medical bay. Approximately 23 minutes after said personnel's removal to the medical bay, they made the following utterances:

Watching…waiting to send the (the following words match no known language)…not the shells, the shells are just…just eyes eyes eyes eyes eyes are supposed to see not eat not eat-

The remainder of the speech is unintelligible vocal sounds. Personnel recovered 4 hours later and claims to not remember the events after the attack.

Addendum [1527-003]: Recovered Materials

The following letter was discovered beside the corpse (believed to have self-terminated) of a Serpent's Hand member in SCP-1527.

I can see you coming, but I doubt you'll get through this door for hours, and I will be long gone before that happens: I'm not interested in becoming another pet of yours.

But there's still some good you can do.

All creators with a mortal mind (I cannot speak for greater beings) need a sense of curiosity, and for that, they need something to inspire them. Our Bellmaker drew upon all the worlds in the expanse of chaos as his inspiration. When his bell tolled, the skies above our town gave way to fantastic places even we could scarcely understand. The bell would toll twelve times a day, each toll would open passages to different places. Even those that did not travel the pathways of the bell could look upon the places and visions in the sky and bask in their majesty.

The Hand, as you know them, sought the aid of the Bellmaker to reach places even they could not reach. He agreed, naturally: he closed his pathways to no one. They told me of you, when they came. They told me that you would lock him and his bell away, close the passages to us. I could not let such a thing happen, I joined them, to protect the places in the sky.

But it appears now that there is no other option.

For so long, our Bellmaker drew upon inspiration in the sky, but he was ever curious, ever searching for inspiration yet untapped. Eventually, he came upon the edge worlds. Of course he could not help but be enthralled. [REDACTED], [REDACTED], you know them by different names, of course, but you also know exactly why my pen quivers simply from writing about those places. I do not know what happened to him out there, but I knew what he sought when he returned.

Emotions are as wide and varied as the universe, but those of us that have seen as much of the universe as we have know which is the most powerful of all: fear. Abstract and uncomprehending terror, that is what he had seen, and he had become dependent on it for inspiration. He began to bring in the things he had seen out there, and the terror of the people in our town became his inspiration.

So we banished him to the very worlds he had become so attached to, and it pained us to see him depart, as twisted as he had become. However, even as we grieved his loss, the bell tolled once again, and once again sublime terror arose on our doorstep. From the edge worlds, the Bellmaker still commanded the power of the bell, and he made it toll every night. We could not destroy the bell, or even the tower itself, we do not know what he did, but he must have foreseen his banishment and prepared the bell for our inevitable attempt to destroy it. So we did all we could to stop the things that came…the Opal Shells, we call them. A mundane monstrosity, but still formidable in their own right. We should consider ourselves lucky it was just them. We do not know why the Bellmaker brought only those creatures from the edge worlds, given what lies out there, but we can hope that he simply cannot create passages that can bear them.

We had everyone evacuate the town, my friends will take care of them. I opted to remain behind to ensure that you got here and were informed. Everything is said, and now, Jailers, it is time for you to do what you do best.

-████ ███████

Those with Level 5 Clearance may see Secure-File-Thanatos-1527 for further information.

Addendum [1527-004] Incident Report

On ██/██/20██, during the SCP-1527-1 activation event, SCP-1527-1 tolled 11 times, surpassing the previously recorded total. No SCP-1527-A entities were produced by the event; the reason for this is unclear.