22/05/1944 - Combing Sant'Elia

Sicily is invaded, and so the Order wants the party in Italy. The issue is Volkenhauer is still free and he may be trying to test the terrible virus on Italian civilians and to trouble Allied offensive by spreading the plague in the invaded soft-belly of the Reich.




That's how the party passes more than one year in Italian land, investigating every conquered town, searching for Volkenhauer and his terrible minions.
After the bloody battle for Cassino something happens. As the Germans withdraw to the North, and the Allies are combing the nearby towns, they find a German pocket of resistance in a small town on the hills: Sant'Elia. It's reported less than a platoon in the area.
Civilians are sent to tell that if the Allies will try to attack or shell the town, the Germans are going to spread a mortal virus. They just need two days to evacuate, and then the town will be free.
The fact is taken less than hilariously by the Allied HQ, and in a couple of hours an armoured company is ready to go and take the village.
But the Order has eyes and ears everywhere, and so the Allied HQ receives an high rank order to stop the attack and let a bunch of ill-sorted commandos to search the town before any attack is made...

The party gets the order too, they have got one day to find out what's happening, eliminate any living-dead, clean the village and find out any real virus-threat.
It is very important to keep the thing secret even to the Allied. The Order doesn't want the virus to be known to any army... they may well use it against their foe, and the risk for civilians is too high.

By the way... what happened to Bertrand? After Al-Mohad the poor guy fell in a deep state of confusion. He's been seen roaming around the fields searching for foes to kill, believing he is some kind of immortal super-hero... one night he came back wearing a firefighter helm and a rescue axe. He may have found these things in a nearby abandoned town. He never wanted to get rid of this stuff.

bertrand pompiere

So the party start moving into Sant'Elia, they approach the town moving into a bombed area in the west side. Bertrand and Claire move in.
Partenza 1

Backed up by Claire, Isaac and Elias.
Partenza 2

The mobsters and the LRDG take a south position, behind a low wall. From there they can cover the advance through the main square.
partenza 3

The town looks quiet. The only noise is a constant and pounding industrial noise.
Sant'elia, vista

Tony notices that the noise comes from a tall sigarette factory... the door is shut, and in front of it, trying to get in, there is bunch of living dead!
Zombie siege

Past the rubbles, Isaac and Elias get into a garage, and a zombie shambles through the room, trying to get them!
Isaac Room cleaning

The gunfighters eliminate the wretch, but, attracted from the gun noise, more zombies shamble down the stairs. The cowboys fall back, as Bertrand throws himself into the garage wielding his axe.
Bertrand vs Zombies

Meanwhile, on the south side, the Mafia guys and the Brits are reached by some automatic weapon shots. The mimetic uniforms of some SS show on the city hall's roof.
SS in stazione

The party returns fire, but more Krauts show in the top floor of the tall green house near the square. There is a sniper up there! If the mobsters or the Brits don't get the sniper, it could prove deadly for the guys coming up from west.
That's the plan: while the LRDG lands covering fire, Tony, Vanni and Totò will assault the house and eliminate the sniper.
They go, and everything works fine, but Totò is reached by a bullet.
Gary runs out of his cover to grab the wounded comrade, dodging the bullets and defying death. The action is a success, and Totò is now safe.
Gary salva Totò

Tony and Vanni are in the building, and they climb up to get the sniper. The SS is captured, and the mobsters are now in the best fire position of Sant'Elia.
Mafiosi in casa

From there Tony and Vanni engage the SS on the City Hall.
mafiosi in copertura

After a few shots, Tony grabs the sniper rifle from the ground, and as the bullets of the StG44 scream all around, Tony manages to keep his nerves, adjusts his aim and takes down the SS.
SS steso

From that position, it is possible to see the whole Town. Called by the firefight many zombies move out in the streets. Beside the green house there is an M13 Carroarmato, a light Italian tank. Some jerry cans and bins are stacked in the square, and a wire, starting from the, goes into a house nearby. It could be a mean to blow the noxious gases up and contaminate Italy!
barili vw

Montana and the French Pilot try to get some pressure away from their comrades, and so they try to run over some zombie. The small but nervous engine of the Topolino carries the two in a zombie safari.
Carmageddon1

Windscreen wipers try to clean all that gore...
Carmageddon2

The thing is funny, so they make a screaming U-Turn to get more zombies.
Skid

But in that moment... Sophie Bert and doc. Elias, cleaned the garage from the zombies, step into an abandoned Citroen, wanting to speed up things and get into the heart of battle. AS they get out of the garage, the cross the firefight between Tony and the City Hall, then they turn left into the main street... where they risk a collision with the blood-crazy Topolino!
incidente

the Citroen is ok, but the Topolino looses control, and flips. Montana is Ok, but the French Guy is unconscious. A zombie smells blood and shows up.
Topolino ribaltata   zombi

Montana gets rid of the living dead, and carries the pilot on his shoulders to get him out of the action. But something goes wrong. An SS pops out from a nearby house and pours fire on them. Montana is ok, but a bullet reaches the French Pilot, who receives a deadly wound.
SS all'ESU

The Citroen, avoided the collision, runs through Sant'Elia. Bertrand and Sophie jump into the cigarettes factory and knock out a surprised German. Ha tells them that the factory's machine was kept running to produce noise that attracted zombies, and kept them away from the team's main goal: get rid of the Virus!
Sophie e Bertrand ripuliscono le case

Sophie interrogates him roughly, speaking a simple German: "What? Eliminate the Virus?". The SS answers with a proud tone: "Yes, we are soldiers, not plague-bearers... Captain Volkenhauer is a madman, he wanted us to get us to get surrounded and to free the Virus, to turn the Allied host in a shambling mass of living dead. This would affect civilians, and spread God knows where. At first we obeyed, but them seeing the effects of that thing, we tried to emend this fault, and we bought time with menaces to bury those jerrycans and avoid this tragedy". All is clear now, the SS are on the party's side! Now it's time to clean Sant'Elia from the zombie infestation and take away any remaining portion of the Virus. And the Germans? As long as their hate for Volkenhauer is burning, they are valuable comrades.

It's time to do some cleaning, and doc. Elias kills many living-dead with his revolver.
Elias   Citroen

Sophie screams an order, and Claire puts a generous quantity of C4 by a house. The plan of the Maquis is simple: make some noise, draw the zombies out of their hideouts and take them all out. The explosive is set, and Claire runs away while a house is blown up.
Claire fa il botto

Now Gary, Howard and Isaac reach the M13 Carroarmato, covered by Robbie smoke grenades.
M14

The Zombies start moving toward the explosion, but they find Claire's SMG and the 47mm to face them.
m14 tramonto

Howard applies his ballistic knowledge to the crude Italian gun, and blows some Zombies up.
m14   claire

The freedom fighters tear apart the undead scum, and purge the abomination out of Sant'Elia.
m14   claire


Epilogue:
Bertrand jumps around the rubbles maiming some still moving corpse, while Rev. Isaac gives the last rites to the dead French Guy. Gary and Howie share a Woodbine, sitting on the chassis of the M13. Montana and Robbie put the jerrycans on the Citroen and the Topolino, they'll take them to the Order: someone will study them and maybe find a cure to Volkenhauer's scourge. Doc. Elias cures Totò, who's been hit on a shoulder, and will be ok, while Tony tries to squeeze the Germans and make them tell anything. They are very collaborative, and they want to stop the Vergeltungswaffen as much as the party does. Even if Italy survived this danger, maybe Belgium or France will not, and the German people is in danger too... they know their first duty is to protect their country, and so they don't hesitate to tell the place where they know one of Volkenhauer's hideouts is.

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