Part 23: Inside the Rathole - Part 1

Inside the Rathole


Well, that's something different, isn't it?

We found the location of a major COTUC city, and need to snoop around for hard evidence. This is not their main headquarter, but pretty much the heart of their religion. Seriously, several COTUC members will refer to this place as the "Holy City". So it's kinda like the Vatican, only more evil. But the twist of this mission is that we'll be going in undercover, which means no weapons, gear, or vehicles. Yeah, the only thing that we are allowed to bring are bugs for our airstrikes and nothing else. Nope, not even a pair of binoculars. If you do bring any other items, your cover will not work and you will get killed really fast. So aside from looking for clues, we also need to procure some equipment if we want to fight the COTUC forces in the city. As I said earlier, this mission is quite different and actually hard. You really need to figure out a good plan to succeed here.


Equipping my unit goes really fast this time


I want to keep the heavy bombs for the last mission, so I only equip the plane with two small bombs. I really don't need to bring more, to be honest. If you happen to have more bombs at this point, go nuts! But it's really not necessary.






Let's hope this works

But before we go on, let's take a short peek at what lies ahead of us..

Yeah, that looks like a proper city. This area is pretty huge, and the fog hides a lot of stuff. But we'll discover it piece by piece. See those two wood covered dugouts behind the gate? That's the reason why you can't just assault the city from the beginning. They hide two T-55s, and you have very slim chances in taking them on. And even if you can pull it off, the rest of the COTUC will come running and basically drowns you.


Since Sorana was so terrible at lying last time, I think it's fair to give her a chance for redemption.




I think now is a good time to talk a bit about the special unit that the COTUC has - The Undead Knight.

I'm sure most of you already figured out that these are the guys who other folks have described as demons or ghosts. Remember when that priest got lit up with a minigun? Yeah, that was an Undead Knight! What they exactly are is still mysterious at the moment, but I think it's safe to assume that they're some kind of altered humans with an exo-armor. The armor is probably also the reason why they can turn almost invisible and can carry such heavy weaponry. We'll eventually find out what's up with those dudes, but for now we have to be content with knowing that they're dangerous enemies that should not be fucked with.

Okay, now that we entered the city, let's break down how the first part of this mission works.

We have a lot of green markers on our map, and we need to investigate each one to complete our snooping. The first marker is already in this shot..


This is the response that we'll get all over the city. We're just some monks from the country, and have no right to enter the various facilities round here. Of course, we really want to enter some of them, but we'll figure that out when it's time. This area will eventually have a small stash of explosives, but getting them is kinda tricky. There is a spot where you can hop the wall, but the patrols are tight around here. And you actually have to wait for a cutscene in which a truck driver stops by and drops off the explosives before you can get them. But triggering the scene is kinda iffy, so I won't bother. Our plane can do all the exploding that we'll need.


Onwards we go!


In front of the next marker, we can find a couple that's having an argument.


Welp, Undead Knights don't fuck around


Aside from witnessing the most hilarious voices in the game, triggering this scene is necessary. Since we now have the code for those particular Undead Knights, we can enter the compound of the bodyguard. If we want to find any weapons, that's probably a good spot. Also, this scene taught us a bit more about the Knights in general. Keep in mind what the women said about her son and what the COTUC supposedly did to the Knights.

Our next stop is the production plant.

In the back is a stash of medkits, grenades, and some mines. But the trouble is that you can't hop the fence. You actually have to bust through it, and I really don't think that it's worth the trouble.


In the center of the city, things start to look more important...


This area looks really neat. And I think the developers took some inspiration from American sights like the Washington Monument, or Capitol Hill.

Let's check out the Obelisk first.




I hear you, Prof. That's some pretty good evidence right there! But we have more markers to check, so let's control our lust for murder a little longer.

The other structure in this area is the main temple.

And the Knights around it also turn us away. But it does look neat, with the whole glass-case around it.

Onwards to another marker.



The forbidden zone, eh? Well, since there are some dudes in white coats around, I'd guess that this is some kind of laboratory.

In front of this marker is also another talky-person.

Maybe we can probe him for some information about this place?


Well, shit. If there was any doubt left about the guilt of the COTUC, it should be gone now. They use the virus on their own people, and also seem to experiment with it! If that isn't a clear reason for bombing the shit out of them, I don't even know anymore. At least we saved Kolja, and convinced him to leave.

Speaking off, he will actually leave the city.

If you follow him, you can witness a little extra scene.


We tried, okay?

No use in moping about this, we still have a few more places to check out.




The large area ahead is the compound of the bodyguard. If you haven't triggered the scene with the couple, the guards will not allow you to enter.


But with the code from the Knights, you can enter it under the guise of making a complaint about them. There are a few lines of dialog for this, but you don't really need to see that, right? We also don't want to enter the compound now, because there is one last marker behind it.


This airstrip will play a major role in winning this mission. The guards also don't allow you to enter, but there is a way around that. If you squint your eyes, you can see a plane on the right, and a chopper on the left. This is the sexy chopper that I was hinting at in the last update. Believe me, it's the best!

And after scouting the last marker, a scene gets triggered..

Now we have our final objectives - blow shit up and secure the labs. How we'll accomplish that is a story for the next update, but there is still something that I want to discuss here.

Getting your new objectives also triggers another thing. A COTUC speaker will make a little speech over the loudspeakers all around the city, and announces two events that will happen shortly. Sadly, the game is dumb and overlayed some other text on top of the beginning of the speech, so I'll have to transcribe that.

"Attention brothers-in-faith, attention! Today there are more events that you can attend in HIS name. Our esteemed leader, Ameilus, is holding a mass at the temple. All brothers-in-faith are welcome to join and receive his words."


Btw, this announcer will also alert the whole city if your cover is blown.

The first event is purely for fluff, so watch the video if you want to know a bit more about the religion of the COTUC. The second thing however is a bit special, and therefore I have to discuss it during the next update.