Fear and Hunger: Pr_y For God - Part Two

Clutching his flint spear tightly, the Captain exited the Catacombs into the Church itself. He discovered that it had been retrofitted by the Bremen Army into a makeshift FOB, albeit one that was filled with corpses. Inspecting the dead, the Captain found both Bremen soldiers and more mask-wearing cultists from the Botanical Gardens. Whilst all the ammo was gone and the weapons were too damaged to be useful, he did find some healing items.

As he looted the dead, the Captain could hear gunfire from a high-powered rifle continuing above him, so he eventually decided to ascend the Church's belltower, spear at the ready. At the top of the tower, the Captain found a man hunched beside a large radio, firing a sniper rifle at an unseen target in the fog. The Sniper was dressed in tattered Garden Cultist robes, but wore a looted Bremen Army helmet instead of an animal mask. 

Before the cultist noticed him, the Captain lunged forwards from stealth and scored a vicious blow into the man's back. The Sniper quickly surrendered after a brief scuffle, begging for his life. 

When asked what he was shooting at, the Sniper pointed into the foggy courtyard below the Church. There, dozens of those strange, pot-bellied mutants were creeping across the open ground towards the pair's position. At their rear appeared a Dark Priest of the Alll-Mer, his face disfigured with the Sigil of the God of Fear and Hunger. The Preacher extoled the mutants to retake the Church in the name of the Crucified God, for he would save their souls from their corrupted bodies. The Captain promptly picked up the Sniper's rifle and shot the Preacher in the head, sending his horde of pious mutants scattering in panicked confusion.

The Preacher

Now out of immediate danger, the Captain demanded answers about what was going on in the Special Region. His prisoner told him the Bremen Army had tampered with the magic of the Olds Gods' and corrupted Lantern Island with the "God-Flesh" - growths of anomalous tissue that devoured foodstocks and had driven most the island's population to madness or mutation. 

The Sniper further explained that he was a member of the Garden Cult, a group that originally inhabited Lantern Island and now tried to protect the remnants of its forests from the God-Flesh's corruption. However, he wasn't a particularly fanatical member - preferring rationality and firearms over superstition and magic. He'd only joined to fight the Bremen, but now he was more interested in just getting out alive. Mollified by this story, the Captain gave the man some medical supplies and powered up the old radio mast to see if he could contact anyone...

[Meanwhile, in the Bremen Fort.]

After the Officer, Theologian and Yellow Mage retreated up the stairs from the flame-thrower wielding Bremen Soldier, they were confronted with a three-way junction inside the fort. The first door was labelled the "Courtyard" - but they could hear something massive, metallic and vaguely moist-sounding dragging itself around on the other side, so that wasn't an option. The other two were labelled "Comms Tower" and "Officers Quarters". The Survivors opted with the latter, out of the vague hope of finding someone in charge of this mess.

Although the Officers Quarters proved devoid of life, the trio did find coded military files and (far more importantly) a sealed refrigerator with two deliciously ice-cold Bremen Pilsners inside. The Officer wasted little time cracking open a cold one and reclining in a nearby chair while the Theologian began deciphering and the Yellow Mage nervously kept watch.

The files proved to be a treasure trove of useful information. They described the Bremen Army's discovery of the Jade Temple, an antediluvian ritual site dedicated to the Old Gods located within Lantern Island's deep network of karst caves. At the prodding of the Bremen, the Vatican's Dark Priesthood exploited the residual power of the Old Gods present in the Jade Temple to construct a massive, prototypical Blood Portal of the Alll-Mer - the largest in recorded history.

Blood Portal

This endeavour was hoped to be a proof of concept that Blood Portals could replace conventional logistics. The possibilities for imperial expansion were endless, if Europa was capable of driving entire truckloads of war material across the planet in mere seconds. They would no longer need collaborationists like the Shi Dynasty, such efficient supply chains would let them rule over all of Xuanyuan (and beyond) themselves.

Unfortunately, the Europan's magical tampering resulted in the rapid spread of an "unknown proto-organism" throughout the caverns of Lantern Island, which consumed food-stocks and released a corrosive fog that destroyed any equipment left exposed to it. At first, the military tried to cover it up and prevent the spread, but things became so desperate due to the encirclement of the Special Region by the Burning Tide that all of their efforts failed. 

Another coded log detailed the sudden arrival of Crown Princess of the Shi Dynasty, Deng-Shao. The collaborationist noble somehow knew of the secret archaeological dig below the Special Region, and demanded access to it for an unknown purpose. She was denied, but soon both the Princess and the dozen Bremen soldiers assigned to escort her around Lantern Island disappeared without a trace. The files ended soon after this entry, describing complete anarchy and madness overcoming the remaining Bremen garrison of the Special Region.

As the Theologian mused over his deciphered files and the Officer continued to sip his beer, the Yellow Mage noted the low rumbling of a plane flying overhead. Soon, a piece of paper fluttered through the room's open window, which she quickly snatched up. Even with her darker complexion, the other Survivors saw her face go pale. What she held was a pamphlet from the Burning Tide, crudely translated into various Europan dialects, which promised to bomb the Special Region to rubble. It gave no terms of surrender, instead swearing the Burning Tide would torture and execute every foreign subversive and collaborationist they found still alive.

Realising they must make all haste to escape the Special Region before the Burning Tide's assault, the three Survivors moved to the Bremen Fort's Comms Tower, a large room at the top of the complex filled with radio equipment. Upon turning it on, they heard the following broadcast:

"This is Kapitänleutnant Artur Sperl of the Manheim submersible. We are stranded outside of Lantern Island without fuel. To any remaining Europan military forces, we require immediate resupply so we may evacuate civilians and the wounded. This message will repeat.”

Even more fortuitously, the Survivors heard the voice of the Captain interrupt the Submarine's broadcast. Kapitänleutnant Sperl was ecstatic to hear that someone was still alive and sane in the Special Region, confirming to the Captain that if he could somehow get around four barrels of diesel fuel over to their stranded Submarine, he would be very happy to bring them along when he and his crew departed for safer waters.

Now with an actionable means for escape, the four Survivors made plans over the radio to regroup and transport fuel from the Bunker Network's generator room to the Submarine.

Maybe there was still hope they'd make it out of this nightmare alive.