Quoted By:
1. USE FLAMES
2. EVERYTHING IS RULED BY SOMETHING ELSE
3. DO NOT LET HIM TOUCH YOU.
4. DO NOT EVEN LOOK UPON HIS FACE. HE KNOWS WHEN HE IS SEEN.
5. THE GROWTH-TISSUE IS AN EXPRESSION OF ENVY
6. THE GROWTH-TISSUE SUPPRESSES – UNCLEAR HOW
7. THE CENTER OF THIS PLACE IS ALREADY HOLLOW
-R.E.
“Really? This is it? This is what passes for good advice around here?” Carter exclaims. “I don’t get why every occult dabbler feels the need to be so cryptic. I could write better than this. A child could probably write better than this.”
“Maybe the author wasn’t in the best state of mind when he was recording these notes,” Popov points out. He makes a noncommittal sound over the comm.
“um...Or to begin with…but, this does confirm some of our suspicions.”
He pauses for a moment before continuing.
“Both Seraph and I managed to recapture a carrier signal after the house burned down. Could have been a coincidence of course, but it seems to align with what the note is saying. The local concentration of anomalous tissue may determine the level of signal interference we encounter.”
It was an interesting hypothesis, and one that seemed to align with the information you had available. Whether or not it was really valid – of course – was another matter entirely.
“So, what about the last one. Center of the place being hollow? Pretty sure we’re not talking about a sinkhole here.”
“No good ideas here, captain. I’m not even sure if he’s talking about the coreof this settlement – or the centerof the entire occluded area.”
“Well, we can always wait and see.”
The next half-hour is fairly uneventful. After departing from the burnt ruins of the razed ranch-house, your force begins to follow a local freeway leading into the town center. A simple, straightforward path with good visibility and minimal tree cover. At least in theory.
At this point, you aren’t even surprised when you hit another complication. A few kilometers in front of your force, you make out a processing warehouse looming out from the pale mist. The structure resolves slowly as you approach. As such, you have more than enough time to realize that the shape is…off. The roof is supposed to flat, not lumpen. And the structure certainly shouldn’t be shifting.
It doesn’t take long for you to realize that you were looking at an advanced form of the growth-infection that Carter's team had sterilized in the ranch-house. The roof of the warehouse is decorated by thick drifts of black-red tissue that pulsate with disquieting regulatory. But the far more concerning part of the scene is actually scattered around the building’s periphery.
You see people. Too distant to make out specific facial features, but their silhouettes were unmistakable. Most of them are clustered tight around the growths, either periodically spastic or meandering in mindless, repetitive circles. It reminded you of moths swirling around a kerosene lamp.
