Cultists do what cultists do - the Ministry cell followed the DCF cultists to one of the biodomes in the Gardens to find that they were using their infected biomass to bring a Vys avatar into Spire to infect the population in a more direct way!
After blasting their way through the DCF barricade with Gnollish rockets and an enraged population, the Ministers found themselves in the unusual environment of the overgrown Gardens, where whole communities are sometimes cut off from Spire for months or years in the overgrowth.
The newest member of the cell, Siraya, tracked the path of the cultists expertly (thanks to some fortunate reading choices!), but did not notice as they walked into an area permeated by occult Vys song, taking on a nosebleed as the others quickly rushed to plug their ears. Eventually they came across the plagued lake, observing the cultists slowly subsuming themselves into the writhing mass of an eldritch horror, encased in arm-thick bone carapace.
Sensing that this is what they were looking for, they opened a door to the Vermissian where a railgun was waiting and blasted a cannon ball sized hole through the horror, fought their way forward and rammed the first distilled vaccine inside, fighting off cultists and bone spike attacks as they went.
As they ran, the horror and the cultists collapsed behind them, sending tremors throughout the biodomes, sending huge trees toppling to the ground. Even Vyra, their fiery Vigilite saint, was knocked unconscious by a falling tree, and they were all eventually trapped in the Gardens, shut off from the outside world.
The Vys threat appears retreated and the DCF are gone - a new seat needs filling on the Spire Council as the Allied Defence Forces are deployed within the city limits to enforce a peace on the chaos that had been reigning in the lower districts caused by the Ministry, Vigilites and broken out prisoners. It is a new era in Spire but the aelfir remain in control. What new forces will establish themselves? Will the drow finally find a way through?
Will the Ministers even know, as they find themselves trapped in the Gardens, trying to find their way back?
We’ll have to find out one day in Season 3 
. But it seems the next step for now is a journey into the Heart!
Thank you to @Tea007, @Nat1, @krakentoa, @Skyve, @Myrm, @MixUpPixels, @Lux_Tenebraeque, @Aviron, @watermelon, @Olliisanoob and others for playing Season 2 with me and bringing Spire to life with your characters!
you depict things so well, it’s almost as if I were there too xD
Thanks for running Spire and making it so lively and detailed, despite having a laugh at all the chaotic comedic moments the city felt like a realistic crab bucket of interest groups pulling in different directions, with the Vys at the bottom rising up to upset the tower and causing all kinds of changes. Had a blast, thanks again! Can’t wait to get my Heart into it again