ROLL4IT: DARK HERESY SUMMARY

Authored and Archived by Scribe Blacksun388 of the Adeptus Administratum assisted by Brother scribe VeteranHelldiver17

https://www.reddit.com/r/roll4it/comments/52stkb/an_introduction_to_40k/ 

To read up on Warhammer 40K Lore written by \u\ Trenchcoat Phoenix

“So great has been the calamitousness of these times, and such the inveterate malice of the heretics, that there has been nothing ever so clear in our statement of faith, nothing so surely settled, which they, at the instigation of the enemy of the h,uman 302514, have not defiled by some sort of error. For which cause the Holy Inquisition hath made it Its especial care to condemn and anathematise the principal errors of the heretics of our time, and to deliver and teach the true and Imperial doctrine; even as It has condemned, anathematised, and decreed.”

-Declaration of Inquisitorial Mandate Preamble, Founding Document of the Holy Imperial Inquisition, Senatorum Imperialis Archived Records, Holy Terra

Missed a stream? Want to catch up on the action so far? Read up on the story summary written by me, Blacksun388, at tiny.cc/R4IStoryDH or the pdf version typesetted by /u/blackbat24 at tiny.cc/R4IStorypdf  .

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Stream XXII: Civil War

Enter initiative. Enoch swings his thunderhammer and misses. Garret dodges to the side and scrambles for cover. Brander dodges out of the way and calls Servolinus to him disabling other permissions. Raevarn moves to cover and casts fire shield and calls Enoch, Brander, and Cassius to him. Enoch readies a grenade and falls back to cover Raevarn. Kahn takes cover behind a pillar. Khan’s Inquisitorial guard advances on Raevarn’s group. One Guard asks Brander’s allegiance and he says he sides with Khan. A guard rushes towards Cassius and slips on an oil slick missing him. Leasari advances into cover. Casius runs away from the guard and dodges a disengagement attack. Garret retreats from combat and calls to Cassius and Brander. Brander declares his true intentions and fires at the guard next to him at point blank with the bolt and plasma pistol almost killing him. Raevarn uses Dominate on an Inquisitorial Guard and controls his mind. Enoch readies and positions himself. Khan advances on Brander. An inquisitorial guard fires at Cassius with his crossbow and barely misses. A second Inquisitorial guard fires at Cassius and Cassius uses Foreboding and dodges the bolt. The power of the warp escape somewhat but not a lot happens. One guard sprints across the gantry to the north. Another guard runs to the aide of another guard. The dominated guard draws his auto gun and fires at a fellow Inquisitorial Guard and severely wounds him.

Leasari draws her auto pistol and fires at the Inquisitorial guard behind Cassius killing him. Cassius stands up and retreats behind cover. Cassius fires at the Inquisitorial guard prone on the ground and hits him and severely wounds him.  Garret levels his rifle and fires at Leasari with a hotshot charge pack scorching her arm and making it spasm. Brander disengages from Khan and runs from him stumbling away. Then he turns to Khan and fires slamming into his right arm and sets his plasma pistol to maximum settings. He shoots and wounds Khan’s leg.  Raevarn moves to dominate another guard and is successful. Enoch runs forward. Khan charges Brander and he barely dodges the thunderhammer. Raises his autogun and fires at Cassius and Cassius casts foreboding pushing himself and misses most of his shots and doesn’t get hurt. Cassius unleashes the power of the warp and energy crackles burns around him. The controlled guardsman fires again at his ally and kills him. Leasari picks up her blade again and fires at the Inquisitorial guard on the gantry hitting him. Cassius pushes his immolation spell at Garret and Garret dodges out of the way as the air around him ignites. The energies form a haywire field and damages electronics around them. Garret drops his rifle and fires the melta gun and Brander and misses.

Brander retreats and fires around a corner at Khan barely missing him. Raevarn draws his bolt pistols and fires at the guard on the gantry and the guard bounces around the railing but misses getting hit. Enoch runs forward and imposes himself between Khan and Raevarn. Khan throws Cassius’s token at his feet and charges Enoch swinging his thunderhammer. Enoch raises his own hammer and parries crashing the hammer against it. He then steps back and swings back with a counter but misses him. The Inquisitorial Guard recovers from domination and fires at Raevarn missing. Leasari fires at the guard as he reaches the forge master control console and hits him for minor damage. Cassius readies and smite at Garret which rips right by his head as Garret dodges out of the way. Cassius hides again. Garret retrieves his rifle and puts his melta away. Brander aims at Khan and moves to cover firing at Khan striking with the righteous fire of the Emperor and rips his chest open and sending him sprawling backwards on the floor. Brander levels his plasma pistol and fires at Khan barely missing his head. Raevarn readies his Doorway spell to summon door into the warp and opens a door 11m northwest making him curse out loud in high gothic. Enoch runs to Khan and swings with his flail and thunderhammer. Khan dodges the flail and Enoch swings his hammer where Khan parries and fails getting smashed with Enoch’s hammer and lies stunned. The Inquisitorial guard charges Enoch and ends up close by.  The inquisitorial guard hits the console and shuts off the warp forge…

Leasari sprints over to the gantry. Cassius steps to the other guard and casts smite and the guard dodges out of the way. Cassius notices the warp power bend around him and sees Khan is a psychic null. Garret readies and hotshot charge and fires at Enoch just singing his head. Brander fires his bolt pistol and hits the crates nearby. Raevarn again tries to open the gate and appears at the end of the railing of the forge. Enoch strikes out with the flail against Kahn ripping at his torso and rips his heart out of him and Khan breathes his last. Enoch swings behind him and barely misses the enemy behind him. The Inquisitorial guard raises his wrist las and fires at Enoch missing. Leasari runs across the gantry. Cassius hits a smite on Garret and he runs away again. Garret fires back and misses with his rifle. Brander runs across the field and fires at Garret and strikes with the holy fury flinging him backwards from his perch. Raevarn tries to figure out the symbols and announces that they are running out of time. As the runes fade the color runs out of the world and they hear a deep ethereal voice say “Humans are so… Interesting.”

All of them feel the presence of a daemon near them. Cassius tries to link minds with the demon Zephkael. He taunts them and tries to convince them to become his vessel. Cassius repels the Daemon trying to probe his mind. The presence pulls back and Enoch kills the guard at the forge console killing him. Garret leaps up and turns around to run away. Cassius psynisciences and checks the others Raevarn does the same. Leasari starts raising up in the air and mutates into a Daemon. Garret hits a locked door and braces himself against it. Enter initiative.

Zephkael appears on the field.

Raevarn casts Banishment on Zephkael and hits a powerful surge of energy damaging it for moderate damage and retreats from Zephkael. Garret tries to medicae himself and fails to heal. Brander fires at Zephkael with the plasma pistol and is hit in the arm and makes a large hole in its side. Enoch advances at the creature. The creature casts its gaze upon the group and cassius and brander fall to their senses but quickly regain them. Raevarn slumps to the ground shaken by the Daemon’s presence. Zephkael looks at Enoch and Brander. Brander and Enoch fall under Zephkael’s sway and he orders them to kill each other. Brander looks at Enoch with fury in his eyes and fires at him with his bolt pistol. Enoch is almost shot twice but survives by the emperor’s grace. Enoch responds and attacks with his flail missing but his follow up hammer swing is dodged by Brander. Cassius readies flame breath and catches it in its range harming it. Zephkael streaks off the fire and levels its gaze at Brander igniting the air around him with a swirling Inferno. However it loses focus and the spell peters out. Reavarn tries to stand up and Garret tries to medicae himself. Brander stands up and readies himself staring the demon down. He throws his pistols down and draws his flintlock. He faces Zephkael down and fires at it point blank with a pistol blessed with sanctified salt, silver filings engraved with scriptures, and blessed with holy water and liniments dealing a punishing shot to its chest. Brander draws his chainsword and readies himself. Enoch swings his flail and misses then misses the followup with his hammer.

Cassius readies his immolation and lashes out with the warp and focuses a beam out to it. He rears back and draws in power and sends it all out with his might. He unleashes the beam and splits the Daemon in twain. Leasari looks down at him and thanks him for saving her before perishing in the fire. Exit initiative.

As the demon fades it threatens Cassius’s father. They look at Garret and Raevarn tells him to submit to the inquisition’s custody. The others are weary of him but Garret submits with no resistance. He walks up to Garret and wipes his mind of allying with Raevarn. He then asks about the Skybeast and Cassius tells him that the void locks are destroyed. Cassius suggests a gate out and they step through to the Emerald Tigress where Captain Julius greets them. Cassius reports that Leasari died in the battle and Julius says they will talk later. The Emerald Tigress goes to warp and our heroes disappear into the void…  

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Stream XXI: Warp Forge Showdown

The meet Binus the Heretek priest and he says they must fight his champion in combat, the Heretek Genestealer. Garret sees some shimmer in the air and pillars and warns the others of it which makes them think some tech priests are about. Cassius demands to see the champion of Binus and they see a genestealer augmented with Heretek. Cassius demands the servitors be sent back to the daeus if they are to fight. Enoch checks the distance to the forge and the warp core to see how best to access it to destroy it. Binus agrees to bring them back and keeps the hidden servitor active. Cassius again challenges Binus to move his hidden servitors back and he complies. Enoch seems nervous that they will not make it if they face off against the creature but Cassius is more optimistic about their chances and Brander agrees. Binus eventually grows tired of waiting and decides to send his tech priests out to engage the group. Enter initiative.

Genestealer moves behind a wall, Garret and Cassius take cover, Enoch dives for full cover, combat servitors hold position, utility servitors advance toward the group, Brander advances and fires a bolt pistol and plasma pistol at a techpriest who has occupies a heavy stubber turret and damages the turret damaging the tech priest lightly. Enoch strafes across the field to another piece of cover. Binus lectures them a bit and the tech priests shift. The Heretek GS does something unseen. Garret searches for the Heretek GS and fails to find it. Garret takes aim at a glowing pillar which causes a combat servitor to come up and fire at him and misses. More firing as the tech priests open fire. Cassius moves to cover. Brander aims and fires on a combat servitor and misses once and gets high heat. Enoch sprints into the next cover and draws fire from the tech priest and he misses. Binus’s forces hold position. Garret fires on a pillar emitter and hits just next to it and doing no damage. Cassius steps to the corner and peaks around making a techpriest fire on him to no effect. Cassius fires a spontaneous combustion on a tech priest and causes some psychic phenomona as he does and strikes out with the righteous fury of the emperor slagging the tech priest behind the large stubber, making him fall into the ammo box and igniting rounds accidentally. Brander fires on another tech priest and misses with both pistols. Enoch sprints to another piece of cover taking fire from a priest and combat servitor and both miss. Binus’s forces hold their position. Garret fires on a pillar and strikes it causing the void shield to shut down on the mid part of the forge. Combat servitors fire on Garret and he dodges it.

The utility Servitors hold their action. Brander reloads and fires at a servitor slagging some of its legs. Binus lowers himself somewhere. Utility servitors hold action. Combat servitors fire and miss. Garret shoots another pillar and damages it but it's still active. A servitor fires on Enoch and misses. Cassius casts spontaneous combustion on the servitor and damaged it severely causing more phenomena. Brander fires at a servitor and hits with the plasma pistol blasting its arm off and exploding its ammo stores ripping it apart. Enoch advances and charges the enemy but is almost hit by interception fire critically (the grace of the emperor turns a killing blow into a near miss) and strikes with his Flail of Chastisement ripping the utility servitor apart. The pillars power up and cast void shields blocking Enoch inside them. The experiment charges at Enoch. Garret fires at the pillar emitters detonating the emitters and causing a cascade failure, knocking Brander to the ground and collapsing the void shield. A combat servitor fires on Cassius and misses. Another advances and takes cover but mind locks and stutters to a stop. Cassius casts a spontaneous combustion on a utility servitor burning it severely. A utility servitor slashes at Enoch and misses. Enoch strikes out and misses. Binus flies up into the air and fires on Garret and misses. The Heretekh GS runs across to a nearby container. Garret drops his rifle and draws his meltagun to fire at the Heretekh GS and misses….

Cassius readies a smite and reinforces it with sorcery and strikes the Heretek GS with a mighty blow and damages it severely. Enoch is attacked by a servitor and parries with the thunder hammer shattering the servitors arm and mindlocking it. Brander stands up and fires at a combat servitor and blasts the arm off it killing it. Enoch retreats and the heavy stubbers fire on him. One hits a utility servitor by accident and the other misses completely. Binus moves to cover. Tech priest holds position. The Heretek GS charges at Garret and Everyone but Enoch is struck with fear. Cassius flees from fear, Brander suffers a bout of PTSD and is stunned, and Garret is frenzied swinging his meltagun and missing. Enoch goes to Brander and tries to shake him out of his fear. The Heretek GS swipes at garret with its rending claws and misses. The Heretek GS lunges with a chain claw and misses again. Garret regains his senses and readies his chain axe striking hard at the Heretek GS ripping into it and stunning it. Cassius regains his senses and draws his force sword to slash at the servitor near him. Brander is slowly calming down. Enoch charges the Heretek GS with the Thunderhammer and smashes through its leg crushing its hamstring and knee. The resulting discharge rips the ribcage of the Heretek GS open and destroys it completely in a battle worthy of the greatest Death Metal Album art.

Binus angrily yells at them over the intercom and lightning strikes from the air and misses Enoch. Garret drops his axe and picks up his Long Laz firing at Binus who dodges. Cassius casts smite and hits the void shield pillar and shuts it down. Taking the opportunity the Heavy Stubber fires at Cassius and his Roasarius catches the shots that manageto  penetrate the pillar. Brander regains his courage and fires at Binus and shoots true blasting him in the face and jaw with the plasma pistol and damaging him. Enoch moves to cover. Binus retreats back to the console. Garret fires with his long las hitting Binus in the arm for minor damage. Cassius goes to cast a spontaneous combustion and a tech priest fires and misses. Brander fires at Binus with the bolt pistol hitting his leg and explodes his levitation coils making him fall 14 meters splattering his organs and shattering his chassis. End Combat.

Cassius orders the other tech priests to surrender and has them kneeled before him as Brander tries to stop the warp jump. Cassius orders Enoch and Garret to execute the heretics and Enoch brings the hammer down on one’s head. Garret orders one tech priest to deactivate the warp jump.  They drag the priest to the command console and Brander brings his pistol to its head. Just before the warp drive is active the priest disables it. Suddenly they hear thudding outside the ship and it seems Kahn is assaulting the ship. Cassius tries to contact Raevarn. In fear the tech priest tries to crawl back and slips over into the fire below. As the sound of chain weapons grows louder Garret grabs Binus’s case and the group try to retreat to the Skybeast.

A boarding torpedo crashes through the hull and Enoch takes a look down into the warp forge and sees the warp staring back at him corrupting his mind and soul. Opening the torpedo door reveals inquisitor Kahn and his personal guard who informs them that Raevarn is being declared Extremus Hereticus and that Garret will be rewarded for betraying his former allies. If they don’t join him Kahn will have them all declared heretics. Enoch is to be tested for corruption and will be executed if found guilty, Brander will be put to trial and imprisoned and his world will be put to the sword, and Cassius will be judged heretical for his crimes consorting with the powers of the Daemons. Cassius tells Kahn to feth himself, and the others say they remain loyal to the Emperor. As they go on Raevarn appears and warps into being on the opposite side along with another imperial officer, Leasari, at his flank. Cassius stands next to him as does Garret. Brander and Enoch next to Khan. Cassius says it is time for them to declare a side. Enoch says he has already chosen his side and charges Garret with his Thunderhammer….

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Stream XX: Sky Beast

The group’s mind is touched by the heretical energies of the warp and it frenzies their mind, causing all in the shuttle to frenzy and attack each other. Enter Initiative.

Brander draws his chainsword and attacks Cassius. Having noticed the change and saw into the future Cassius throws himself left and dodges it  making scratches into the hull of the shuttle. Garret leaves the co-pilot chair and bursts into the cabin and swings at Brander with a wild haymaker. Investigator Junka attacks Arbite Stevens and manages to wound him. Ennoch  draws his Thunderhammer and attacks Investigator Junka striking his leg and destroying his leg and killing him. Ennoch swings again and hits Stevens and tears his leg off and slagging some of the inner hull. Cassius draws his sword and readies to defend himself. After this the group snaps out of their warp madness. End combat.

The group snaps out of their madness and survey the damage. Enoch is shocked by the gore and what he just did. The others look angrily and Garret throws accusations at Cassius for it. Then he drags Brander into the cockpit. Suddenly there is pinging on the hull and light damage on the armor. Brander jumps into the pilot seat and everyone secures for combat. Enter intiative.

Garret jumps into the laser batteries and scans for enemies but finds nobody. Enoch snaps to his senses and goes to the co-pilot seat and scans for hostiles but doesn’t find any. The enemy craft fire again with heavy bolters and Brander and Cassius are thrown around the cabin. Brander recovers and straps into the pilot chair scanning for enemies and puts the Sky Beast through maneuvers to evade fire. Garret scans around and finds two Argus Light Shuttles and fires the turret lasers at one hitting them. Enoch sits on the pilot seat and mans the main bolter. One enemy shuttle tries to lock on and fails and the other makes evasive maneuvers. Brander brings Skybeast into a tight turn and faces the enemy shuttles. Enoch holds. Garret fires the turret Multi-Laser. Enoch unbuckles and tries to shake Cassius awake. The next shots fly wide of Skybeast and they fail again. Brander flips the shuttle as they zoom past and is perpendicular to the enemy. Garret fires at the shuttles as they pass but they miss. Enoch awakens Cassius and straps himself into a seat. The other shuttles try to manuever for attack but fail.

Cassius moves to the cockpit and tries to inspire Brander with his backrubs of faith but fails. Brander locks onto the shuttle and fires the heavy bolter and misses. Brander misfires the missile. Garret is locked onto the shuttle and shatters it with the laser through the center splitting the ship in half then smashing the fore and aft ends into a cloud of shrapnel. Ennoch readies a voidsuit. Brander dodges the lock on and shots from the enemy bolter. Brander locks onto the second ship and fires the main bolter smashing the armor and showering metal onto the enemy pilot. Cassius praises the Emperor to inspire the crew but the guns are too loud and everyone is too focused. Garret fires on the shuttle with the Multi-Lasers. He rakes the lasers across the craft and destroys the engines on the wings and shatters the engines making the rest explode. Brander dives down to the shuttle they were tracking hiding in the asteroids and follows it as it goes to an asteroid hidden mechanicus facility. End combat.

They fly into the docking bay behind the shuttle and Brander tries to engage the VTOL thrusters to stop. They see inside the shuttle bay is swarming with tech priests and servitors as they ready weapons. Enter initiative.

Garret aims with his Multi-Laser at the people in the observation tower and damages it but scores no hits.  Cassius calls the light of the Emperor and backrubs Garret to no avail. Garret flips him off and in response Cassius draws his sword to swipe his finger but decides against it and puts his void suit on. Brander maneuvers the Skybeast and targets the techpriests sweeping the bay and killing 2 tech priests and critically wounding one. The tech priests and others returns fire on the Sky Beast and causes minimal damage. The Tech Priest overseer uses a haywire field on the skybeast. Another tech priest fires a laz-rifle at skybeast doing minimal damage. Garret fires the Multi-Laser at the observation tower and damages it but scored no kills. Enoch readies up his void suit and Cassius uses the vox to intimidate the enemies outside and threatens to rain fire from the Throne down upon them. The shuttle next to them ignites its engines. Brander fires a missile at the tech priest overseer and misses the tower smashing the blast door holding back the void damaging it severely. The techpriests do some damage to Skybeast. The techpriests haywire again and shuts down the skybeasts thrusters making it fall to the ground crushing a few underneath. One ship tries to pin the Skybeast down and another flies in front to take the heavy bolter….

Garret tries to turn the turret forward and the turret shudders and fails. Enoch readies at the door. After dropping his warp pizza Cassius moves to the door and readies himself. The shuttle door opens. Brander fires at the shuttle in front with the heavy bolters and smashes through the engines and cockpit. Servitors fire on Skybeast damaging it. The overseer runs to the platform and shoots the skybeast causing negligible damage. Enoch attacks the overseer with his Flail of Chastisement and slams into him crippling his arm and ensnaring him. He then bares down with the hammer and crushes his torso killing him. The other overseer casts a haywire field and disables the hammer. Garret fires Multi-Laser at the shuttle in front and hits it making it explode from detonating its engines and power systems. Enoch and Cassius stay in the shuttle and ready to attack anyone who approaches the landing bridge. Cassius fires a meltablast and at a servitor blasting it apart and killing. Brander rams the shuttle in from causing it to explode and killing several of them and shots from the guns obliterate the shuttle in front. Garret tries to turn the turret and fires at a tech priest missing. Enoch tells Brander to fire at anything explosive and runs to cover. Cassius works a spell and hits a servitor and turns on his Rosarius. Brander tries to surge forward with Skybeasts engines and manages to break free of the other shuttle and fires the bolter at the overseer blasting him away in a shower of gore. Garret fires his weapon and misfires it. Enoch runs forward to another cover to try and engage the servitors. Cassius fires smite at a servitor and obliterates it. Brander gets the skybeast airborne again and tries to crush the shuttle but only gets above it. He then sweeps the heavy bolter across the gantry and destroys two servitors. The combat servitors fire at the Skybeast and do no damage. The shuttle from behind flies forward and fires the bolter at the cockpit. Skybeast shudders under the damage but continues to hold.

Garret fires the Multi-Laser and rips the shuttle to shreds. Garret shoots a servitor and blasts it away. Enoch charges a servitor with his Thunderhammer and slams it into the wall. Cassius casts a smite into another Servitor fries it dead. End combat.

Sirens begin to sound throughout the vessel and Brander turns the ship to the outer doors. Cassius psynisciences and feels an evil presence and a massive welling of warp power. The void shield at the front is down and that they should keep their guard up. At the sense they are preapred to vent the hanger Brander fires and destroys the mechanism to raise the gates. Garret readies to repair it and Brander locks down Skybeast. They summon Servolinus to auger array and they see that the environmental systems are down to the hangar and that the warp drives are being spooled up to go to warp. Garret goes to the door and breaks through the door lockdown. They move through the hallway to the forge and move through the corridors blasting any servitor that tries to get in their way. As they reach the forge they see Binus, the Heretek, and sees a crouched figure moving in inhuman ways….

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Stream XIX: Revelations

A few hours before the group awakes, Brander stays in his room after speaking with Raevarn. He makes an excuse to leave it and heads out to Skybeast and finds that Raevarn had it taken down to have it outfitted. He goes out to the area the shuttle is and the Skybeast is being armored and having weapons installed on it. Finding a hidden nook Brander hides his microbead and goes to meet Raevarn.

Inviting Brander in Raevarn speaks to him about “what’s coming” and that Khan seems to want to usher it in. Raevarn seems to want to stay out of the conflict and Brander pushes that he needs his help and that no more secrets should be kept about Icthion. Raevarn admits he had to mislead about Icthion before and that he was protecting Brander from being at risk of being disposed of. Raevarn apologizes about having to lie to him and that he might be working on something that allows him to stay around and find things out. Raevarn offers that he can only offer limited information because of his precarious position in the Inquisition. Brander asks about if there were people possibly alive down there. Raevarn tells that if his investigations and work can be verified then they might be able to convince the Imperium to recapture Icthion from the Tyrannid infestation. Brander understands the need for caution but pushes Raevarn to do his work quickly to stop the infestation and Raevarn agrees that he needs to move quickly. Brander accepts this and warns Raevarn about Khan‘s gifts and that none can be trusted at this point.

Moving on to other matters, Raevarn gifts a plasma pistol to Brander and Brander seems honored by the gesture. Brander asks about station Epsilon and Raevarn says not to worry about it. A final gift he gives is Carolinus now revived as a servo skull. He briefly explains how to use it and the two.

Returning to the room Garret awakens Cassius to speak to him. They both get up and leave the room and duck into a quiet corner to talk. Cassius notes about Khan and Raevarn’s adversarial relationship and how it affects the group. Cassius seems to think what is done is done but Garret appears to still have something bothering him. Garret mentions Carolinus said to speak with him about doubt in his team and since Carolinus is dead he trusts Cassius’s council. He offers the white token as a symbol of trust. Garret says that both Khan and Raevarn has expressed concern over his action and Garret himself has witnessed thing about Cassius that made him very concerned and that his powers have not acted as such before.

Cassius argues his powers have improved and he seems suspicious of Cassius’s actions over the past few weeks. Garret reveals to Cassius that he was asked by Khan to investigate him. Cassius is irritated that Khan and Raevarn seem to be at odds with each other and that all the inquisition should be working together and not accusing each other considering their record. Garret counters that they are only doing their job. Garret mentions the contents of “The Truth of Thror” to Cassius and he sees finally why Khan wanted the book so badly. It’s about splitting and anchoring daemons although he doesn’t exactly know what it means as much as Cassius. Still he feels there is definitely something not right with Khan and Raevarn. Cassius seems to trust what Garret says but he isn’t sure where his loyalties lie. Cassius then asks what they should do if Khan and Raevarn could not be trusted.

Garret isn’t sure but doesn’t want to get dragged into their conflict. Cassius doesn’t either but figures if anything both will manipulate them. Enoch is another concern entirely and isn’t to be trusted at this point. He might be allied with either and couldn’t be trusted around Cassius. They decide to go along with the orders of the Inquisitors for now to throw off suspicion and misdirect them but extricate themselves if their lives are being threatened. With this the two men go back to their quarters and Garret picks up his microbead and white token.

As Garret sleeps he hears some mumbling that disturbs him. He decides to go back to sleep.

In the morning Garret the lost shuttle is ready and informs the others. Enoch looks at the group and wonders about the Servo-Skull in the room. After Brander introduces the skull they take rounds of recaff. Enoch asks about the equipment delivery and Brander gives them the bay. Cassius uses Servolinus for his own amusement and Enoch opens the crate and pulls out a hammer with a Thunderhammer with a note from Khan. Garret takes a “gun shaped thing” and tucks it away. Enoch looks closer and sees it is a meltagun, Brander pulls out a plasma pistol, and Cassius pulls out his carapace armor and eagerly puts it on looking ornate and badass. Looking over the box he sees something missing and Brander hands him a box that is locked. Cassius tries several times to figure out what is in the box with psyniscience. As they prepare to leave they see a familiar figure approach.

Titus Khan walks onto the shuttle and gives them a briefing and sort of a confrontational pep talk. He asks about heretical items they might have and Cassius challenges him about the book “The Truth of Thror”. Khan, enraged, throws his fist at the hull and threatens Cassius to be silent. The others try to calm Khan down and he continues. He mentions the psykers at the Zebra Station and that their was something was off about them. Brander puts together what Khan is asking, that the psykers at the station didn’t match the ones mentioned in the original manifests. He doesn’t say it but Khan pushes him to admit what he knows or face summary execution or other punishment for abandoning his post. He then looks at the others and Garret mentions his reports. Khan mentions that the events in the reports makes him think someone within the Inquisition is trafficking in daemons and heretical artifacts. He storms off as they prepare to leave, clearly frustrated with Garret.

The ramp closes, having a little difficulty from before, and Enoch questions Cassius about his antagonistic relationship with Khan. Cassius is resigned that Khan will kill him eventually and tells Enoch to mind his own business. Enoch counters that he should mind himself and that conflicts inside the Inquisition don’t end well for anybody. Cassius storms off to the cockpit and warns the others Enoch is probably a plant and the Skybeast is bugged. Garret receives a transmission from Khan telling him to question his allies and continue to work for him. Garret asks about the situation between himself and Raevarn. He doesn’t go into details but decides to mention that those who traffic in heretical wares will be put to the sword.

They go to the Alpha Colony and land there Servolinus scans around and notes a heat source from the shuttle they are asked to investigate. The shuttle docks in the bay.

As they settle down Cassius notices some psychic residue on the box. He asks Garret to give it a once over and he can’t make any progress. Reaching out to the warp Cassius pushes power to the warp and unlocks the box. It is a Refractor Field attached to a fancy ribbon and, after Cassius explains what it means, Garret fires at it missing and almost hitting Brander destroying the cockpit. He decides to put it and turn it on which prompts Garret to fire at him but the others dissuade him. As they do Raevarn walks on in his formal attire. He informs the group he hopes to end the shuttle and the end of Magos Binus. They speak with Raevarn and decide on a course of action to investigate the shuttle. Raevarn makes a point that he removed any bugs or monitoring devices. They all seem dubious but Raevarn seems to be on the level, at least as far as Inquisitors go. Garret reveals that Khan came to them and that he told them to be vigilant about enemies within and without. He also mentions that it would be better to keep the ship bugged to keep the Inquisition from suspicion and Raevarn obliges them. He then goes back to the mission.

They ask about the pilot being the servitor and switch out their microbeads and Garret suggests putting something to monitor where the shuttle was to fake investigating and tracking the shuttle as it moves in the Skybeast to monitor them. Brander suggests that it maybe a tricky proposition to follow it but at least the pilot is unaware. Garret is weary that they are missing pieces of the puzzle but the others suggest that they continue on. Raevarn suggests putting fake cargo on the shuttle and seeing where it heads off to. He also offers to arm them to deal with whatever else happens and Garret goes off like a child to play with the turrets. Raevarn continues and tells them to disable the ship if it tries to move away and track its movements. Garret radios the Governor’s guard who helped them at Alpha and Enoch begs Cassius to stop him. Cassius asks Raevarn about why this mission seems so important to him and Raevarn calls them all over to a secluded place with Garret being pulled away by Raevarn’s mind control.

Raevarn tells them that he was distraught in Binus’s fall into Heresy and that he worked with Binus on his work to use machinery to trap daemons and souls. He feels responsible and mentions he was involved in the ship The Omnissiah’s Blessed Workings. The forge on the ship was meant to be destroyed by the warp but it failed. The artifacts of the Omnissiah were entrusted to Raevarn’s disciples and Binus with the forge is the last one alive. Binus’s fall to heresy has made a volatile situation potentially disastrous. Enoch asks him to continue and Raevarn says he was hunting a demon many years ago and managed to leash the demon and split it into four sending each part into an artifact. It was meant to be temporary but he couldn’t find a way to destroy or banish it. Now the four parts are scattered and lost. He pulled the demon from a child he found and he took the child in to protect it. The first object was a geode found in the mines, the second was a blood of an acolyte, the third a battery on the station, and finally the forge on the ship.

It seems that Khan would want to destroy the artifacts wanting to destroy the daemon but he doesn’t realise it would only be released. Cassius asks who the child is but he decides to not tell. He mentions the partial name of the daemon as Zephkael, a demon prince of Slaaanesh, the prince who dances in the shadow. Cassius reveals the previous run-ins with the name and admits, pained, that Khan is merely trying to do the right thing. They worry the demon might be able to catch Binus and that Khan may try to destroy the forge. They cannot allow Khan to destroy the forge and release the demon in captivity. The other parts of the demon are no longer a concern and he gives them a parting gift, an arcane crate. He gives them a modified servitor to join them with medical and tech help and will notify him when they encounter it. Garret notes they need something to keep the fire burning and Cassius suggests himself for that but only for a final resort. Finally Raevarn gives the group two auto-injectors before leaving.

The group mull over Raevarn’s work and all have a different reaction. Enoch is enraged that an Inquisitor would deal with a Daemon. Garret considers that destroying the artifacts is a bad idea  but might be an option. They all see that the artifacts made their way to populated areas and that the artifacts corrupted all around them. Cassius suggests the artifacts were placed there to be accessed and renewed sometimes. Brander and Cassius hits on that the mine was relatively new and the mine was in disrepair. The populations sprung up around them and maybe the demon brought them into the area. The demon seems to be limited but still powerful which makes Enoch suspicious that the demon could be trying to draw them in. Cassius builds on that saying that the group is the only people who have gone after these objects and not fallen to chaos. Enoch dismisses that and claims that all men fall to chaos as they stay in the presence of daemons. As they debate the engines of the shuttle begin to spool up and they move to get into the shuttle to follow. Before they leave Raevarn offers to send two Arbites with them if they chose. They decide to take Junka and a younger Arbite who named himself Stevens.

After talking to Stevens they follow the shuttle up and see the shuttle coasting along to the asteroid belt and Enoch asks to scan with the auger array for transmissions. They elect to risk a scan and Cassius checks the mechadendrite they were given. One, the medicae, is indeed Carolinus’s. After scanning Garret displays the engine trails and the shuttle seems to be conserving fuel for a long haul and they see picket ships sent to check the anomalous signals from last time. Projecting the trajectory he sees nothing interesting except named asteroids.

Time passes and while the route is hard and windy they follow it over 12 hours. Cassius tries to refresh Brander and accidentally tears the warp allowing the corruption to flow in and inciting everyone but Cassius into a rage. Shapes move into view behind the Skybeast.

____________________________________________________________________________

Stream XVIII: Inquisition

As Cassius arrives with the other Arbites he smells the promethium burning and the sounds of the Arbites fighting. Garret comes up to him bringing Bander along with him. Garret mentions bad news and Cassius asks about what bad news and if Carolinus would be… He pauses and sees Carolinus’s charred corpse at the center of the explosion radius. He makes the connection that Carolinus is dead and sits in shock as Garret comes to console him somewhat. He asks Brander how he is and Cassius calls for a medicus. They go over to him and start taking care of him. He makes an inspection of Carolinus’s body and determines that he overloaded it himself. He checks over Carolinus’s body to see if he had any salvageable personal items and find only the knives on his person. They stabilize Brander and take him off. Before they leave Brander mentions the Tyranids they encountered. Cassius gently pulls the token he gave Carolinus off his charred robes and crushes it to sprinkle it over his body.

Garret convenes with Cassius and reports that they have now complete proof of where they took the leaches from. They will now have to continue their investigation without Carolinus and Cassius is unsure what to do now. Cassius suggests continuing their own investigation to try and find as much as they can about it. Cassius tries to psyniscience the area but the death of his friend now clouds his vision. Garret starts to enter the room where the explosion happened and Cassius goes to speak to the soldiers temporary outpost. He goes to speak with the lieutenant commanding the post and asks to retrieve the body of Carolinus. He then asks to check the walls of the mines and focus on the recovery of Carolinus’ body and helping them finish his investigation.

The group walks into the room spawning the leeches after donning respirator masks and survey the area where they were being bred. They make a survey of all the equipment and the bodies around and mark all the evidence of the operation appropriately. Garret requests the bones of the creature and Cassius asks to restrict the weapons of several of the bodies. He also asks the lieutenant to prepare to purge the prisoners for the inquisition to later investigate. Garret also notes to Cassius that this is not a contained situation and that if the Arbite commander has more leeches than what they destroyed here then it maybe prudent that they still be in danger. Cassius suggests bringing in specialists to investigate and that purging Alpha colony prisoners is necessary to try and contain the threat. Cassius then leaves Garret to watch over Carolinus’ corpse.

Cassius then talks to the lieutenant and offers a bounty for finding his residence or any place where he commanded the others for assisting the investigation. Cassius returns to the surface and sees they take Brander to Beta colony for medical treatment. Cassius and Garret speak to each other and see that they have to tread carefully now that they know of the conspiracy and do their best to not bring retaliation upon them. Cassius elects to watch over Brander and Garret responds to Cassius’ cynical outlook of the nature of their work. Cassius leaves Garret to continue their investigation.

Suddenly a runner comes to inform the two they have messages and passes one to Cassius and one to the group. Garret turns on the group message and it appears to be a message from Raevarn about their status. Khan and Reavarn are coming to  Cyrae Custodas and that they will arrive within a week. The situation seems grim as they have little evidence to provide, one member is dead, another is gravely injured, and they have a blasted laboratory and a ship manifest to show for it. Cassius charges Garret with continuing the investigation without him and leaving Cassius to his customs.

Garret asks to see Rhyo Kizmit personally and is surprised to get a quick audience. Garret informs Kizmit that Alpha has been playing host to a Tyrranid and that many have been infected. They need to track down the source of the infestation and asks if he can find the missing ship “The Omnissiah’s Blessed Works”. He then asks for two people: an investigator from Gamma and a Sergeant from Alpha who might be associated with the Arbite Commander. He gets two names with regards to Gamma and finds a discrepancy between the ship manifests and landing pad logs. There seems to be an obvious pattern where the launch pad is kept clear but somehow still used. Sergeant James Garrik seems to have been on duty during those times and Garret asks the investigators to look up camera feeds during the time but they seem to be deleted with their signatures also scrubbed. There are few in the colony who could do this including Marshal Trant. In regards to the Gamma Colony investigators, Paul Draecow has been missing for some time and Victor Heinrich is in custody for investigation and cooperating. He asks about Draecow’s file and goes to file a report to Interrogator Khan bringing them up to speed about their investigation.

In the morning an investigator knocks on Garret’s door informing him they have found Draecow. He appears to have committed suicide at Gamma colony. They also found he has been siphoning off cryo fluid. Garret takes his recaff and goes with the investigator.

Brander wakes up with Cassius in the corner of the room smoking a Lho Stick. Brander feels guilt about Carolinus losing his life for his own and Cassius offers some assurances to explain what happened the night before descending into Alpha colony. Cassius refuses to go into great detail but offers what hazy explanation he can. He tells Brander about the crate as he can and that he was called to council about the contents of the crate. The recommendation of Cassius was to destroy the artifact and that is what caused the explosion. Brander forgives Carolinus and knows he fell in the service of the Emperor. Cassius also notes he will likely reprimanded for his role in causing this. They curse their fated deaths together as men of the inquisition.

Garret gets off the lift to Gamma Colony and is led to a quarters with a corpse holding a laz-pistol and wearing Arbite uniform. Upon further inspection the body has a hole in the bottom of its jaws and fired upwards as if the Arbite was committing suicide. He see the pistol has discharged once and tells the crew to collect the pistol and get his contact. An investigator walks up and notes the other Arbite he has hunted, James Garrick, has been cornered and forced into a firefight with security forces at Beta Colony. Garret takes a shuttle back to Beta and when he arrives a sergeant comes and appraises him of the situation. He has taken hostages and barricaded in the basement of the building. Garrick retrieves some of his weapons and a chameleon cloak then returns to try and infiltrate the barricaded area.

Garret sneaks into a back door to the clothes store James is at and seems him holding two cashiers hostage. Garret takes an aimed shot and disarms him but also possibly kills him. After that the Arbites swarm the area and take him into custody. Contacting the Governor’s palace Garret asks for the duty roster and finds he was on late shift. A day of investigation is wasted as it turns up nothing. Brander contacts the governor’s office and tries to nail down how many facilities are on the planet. (For some reason he is under the impression of a 5th facility Epsilon)

Garret goes to the launchpad at Beta where James had late shift.  They try to look for a record on the cognitae unit but find the night with Garrick is expunged from the record. Garret tries to get a mechanicus on staff to help him but it doesn’t prove fruitful. After the Mechanicus is done sassing him Garret takes his name and continues the investigation. Brander recovers and Garret tasks him with finding the records and manifests of ships on the landing pad. He doesn’t find anything on ships in orbit but he does find one of Syrae Custodas’s listening post picked up a disturbance in the nearby asteroid field. The signals seem to be consistent with the events they are piecing together so far and the last time it happened was shortly after the events of Alpha. Garret on the other end tells Brander about the dead ends on unaccounted for people.

Suddenly they receive a message from Khan summarizing their reports to him and that he and Raevarn will be landing shortly. He suggests getting their work in order and to watch their tongues. Raevarn messages back to Cassius reprimanding him for trying to execute a battalion and to keep the unregulated minor communications are sent through Khan. He also mentions Khan is to go before a council for judgement to see if he is made an Inquisitor.

As they go to the hangar and wait they sit in silence as a dropship falls into the hangar. A new face comes out and scouts the area around the landing pad. He appears to be a veteran warrior but they can’t tell more. The figure beads up and Raevarn and Khan disembark from the shuttle. Khan introduces himself as an Inquisitor and Raevarn corrects him calling him provisional. Raevarn explains about Khan’s promotion and how it affects the chain of command. Raevarn then tells the group his condolences about Carolinus and Garret responds that they still have him which shocks Cassius deeply.

More to the point Garret informs them of the status of the investigation and that the records of the possible ships that could be smuggling things off world has been destroyed. It is quite possible that something has been whatever has been on this world has been smuggled away. Cassius seems flippant towards Khan and he is none too pleased about it. They introduce Enoch Epidicus and note that he will be filling in for the now dead Carolinus and that they will find quarters.

Enoch is a Witch Hunter and fights for the Emperor purging heretics and hunting rogue psykers which puts Cassius on edge. Raevarn tells him not to worry but it doesn't seem to make him any less worried. A mechanicus moves forward and the two talk about making Carolinus into a servo-skull. Garret offers the skull to the mechanicus and the mechanicus says that he has a crate for the group. The Garret tries to greet Enoch and Brander does the sign of the Aquilla. After the others leave Enoch briefly draws Brander’s attention to the container the Inquisitors left.

Cassius and Garret speak about the new arrival and neither of them trusts their new compatriot. Cassius is especially weary because of Khan’s disdain for him. Putting a witch hunter in a party with a telepathica is Khan’s way of threatening him. Garret simply sees Enoch as a trust to be made. They then talk about Carolinus being put to rest and Garret mentions he has something to do. They say their farewells and part ways.

Brander then speaks to Enoch and notes that The death of their comrade is an unexpected wrinkle and that he hopes his service will speed the investigation along. He then asks where they are quartered and how he could get settled.

Garret calls Khan and Garret goes to meet him in his office where Khan set up shop. Garret congratulates Khan on his promotion but he seems unperturbed as he drops his earpiece into a glass of water to render it useless. Khan sees that Garret has potential and Garret seems off put. Relaying his incident with the mechanicus Khan suggests he be more assertive or even coercive in his dealings as an agent of the Inquisition. Garret asks if there is a way to deal with troublesome individuals and pressing the mechanicus into service to replace Carolinus. Khan laments that it might be difficult to do this. Garret is questioning whether attempting to kill the Mechanicus would have been the proper thing to do. Khan responds that while it might not be a political thing to do, it would instill the respect due his rank into the others. Rule by might, as it were.

Khan then turns to the container that Carolinus had that Brander raised concerns of and asks Garret his opinion. Garret tells him of Cassius’s account and that he didn’t think at the time to question it. Khan suggests being more vigilant. Garret then notifies Khan of the seperate datapad for Cassius and Khan charges him to find out what was on it. Finally he mentions The Omnissiah’s Blessed Works and its role of in the smuggling xeno goods offworld. Khan suggests putting the Arbites to the test in order to root out traitors and Garret mentions that they need to find the ship if they want to find anything.

Cassius is told to meet with Reavarn and they meet at the private quarters. Reavarn spreads out a feast in front of him and allows him to eat. Reavarn also offers his old combat armor refitted to Cassius’ dimensions. Reavarn speaks about Cassius’ loyalty to him and asks about the crate that Brander was concerned about. Cassius is worried about the contents of the crate and says he cannot protect Cassius or Brander if they cannot be straight with him. Cassius is still hesitant about revealing it. Cassius says that the crate was an oversight from the workmen, or so he says, initially but that he and Carolinus had built a rapport and understanding that some rule bending is necessary to pursue the Emperor’s will. Cassius had been shown item and suggested it be destroyed. Carolinus told him it was destroyed but stored it away for later.

Cassius then mentions the psyker manual that he picked up and that he had seen some of its contents. He then tries to flip the script and asks about the runes Reavarn had inscribed on the wall of the station. Reavarn admits something was being kept at Zebra Station that he didn’t want to be let out. Reavarn offers some explanation to the runes but offers no further input. Cassius then asks about Enoch and Reavarn says that he was someone both Khan and him agreed on. Cassius is worried about what the Witch Hunter could do to him if he became unhinged to which Reavarn sets Cassius’s mind at ease by saying he is a reliable sort. Cassius finally expresses his distaste for the Empire and the Inquisition’s leadership and about how despite Carolinus’s curiosity he did his duty to the Emperor in destroying the item. They muse a bit more on the ethics of loyalty to the empire and the Inquisition and of the danger of curiosity. Cassius asks about Brander’s reservedness and his concerns with Garret’s loyalty and how it affects them. Reavarn promises to protect him with his authority and Cassius leaves.

Cassius returns to his room to destroy materials that Reavarn gave him with his psyker powers while Brander catches Enoch up on the details of the past weeks. He mentions that there are specimens of the Tyrannids that are popping up on different worlds and that they need to find the creature on the ship before it threatens more worlds. Enoch asks about Brander’s prior encounters and he responds he thought before now they were only tangentially related. Enoch wonders if this was a test by the Inquisition and Brander seems to not agree. The impression Enoch got is that he wouldn’t be one to sacrifice worlds to satisfy curiosity. Just then they get a hail from Khan to meet with him.  Enoch finally mentions that they are wise not to truly trust anybody regardless of rank.

Meeting with Khan he asks Brander directly about the crate that he was concerned about. Brander says that he was worried about everything on Cyrae Custodas betraying them and that Carolinus’s sacrifice shocked him and changed his opinion about him. He believes that Carolinus acted alone and that Cassius wasn’t privy to the contents of the crate. Khan turns to the issue of Brander’s world and that Reavarn covered it up and is considering committing Exterminatus on his homeworld whereas Khan would have been granted leniency. Brander is torn because he doesn’t want to see his home destroyed but also knows the danger keeping it intact entails. Khan offers Brander to spare his world and to reinstate his commission as an officer in return for his loyalty. Turning to Enoch he reminds him of his loyalty and service and that he should instruct Brander in matters of consorting with Daemons and Heresy. He goes on to point out that their meeting with Daemons is no coincidence but that they are tied to Reavarn. He is counting on Enoch to keep them safe from Daemons and Brander to keep the group on good terms. He concludes by mentioning the rewards of loyalty to himself and sends them away.

As they leave Enoch notes that both Reavarn and Khan are at odds with each other. They reaffirm that they are firm in their duties and go their own ways.

Garret shows at Reavarn’s quarters and comes into Reavarn preparing a meal. After settling in with wine Garret gets to the point and asks about the growing fissure between Khan and himself. Reavarn notes that Khan is trying to make his big impact and that he is ambitious and puritanical in his pursuit. Garret mentions some confusion as to the attitude he is meant to take as he tries to live up to Khan’s example and that he finds his comrades are lacking. He asks about what he should do and that he has found Cassius especially seems to go against the Inquisition’s wishes and the emperor’s work in trying to bend rules. Reavarn tells him to be clear and detailed in his reports and defer to him to deal with Cassius. Garret goes on to say that after Cyprae Copia he doesn’t seem to trust Cassius. Reavarn suggests he could go elsewhere and that he could be placed away from the group if he so requests but also that he has grown into a capable agent and it would be a shame to lose him. He then goes on to the incident of the mechanicus refusing to help him. He suggests putting the pressure down on the mechanicus and make him serve as an example. As to the Arbites who refused they might be more severely punished. He concludes asking about the ship they must find and asks to get more leads. Reavarn says he will catch up on the investigation and inform them of leads at that time.

After a restless sleep they wake up to the sound of an investigator knocking on their door telling them that the shuttle they were trying to track down has unexpectedly arrived unmanned and empty….

____________________________________________________________________________

Stream XVII: Carolinus

Arbites swarm the room to contain the fire as the inquisitors meet back up outside and Carolinus and Cassius make their case. The Arbites seem interested to see what happened but agree to take them to the medical facilities. One of the commanding Arbites asks Brander what happened and Brander offers that the container exploding was only an accident. He seems to accept it for now and offer his assistance but Brander dismisses him after some small details talk. Garret and Brander talk amongst one another and say they are utterly unconvinced about the story that an accidental Lho Stick caused the explosion. Brander looks over the container as it burns and sees the latch on the door seems to have been opened before as if intentionally. Brander tries to use his chainsword to leverage the lock open and manages to wrench it open quite easily causing the door to swing open. Looking inside he sees someone might have rigged the container to explode or ignite and that the hole on the outside is a melta weapon. Looking into the container he seems to see something of burning paper and hears some sort of sigh or growl come from the container. He closes the doors back as the container burns.

At the medical center Carolinus takes Cassius on his bedrest to the emergency room for treatment of his burns and takes another Lho Stick away from him. Cassius tries to get up but Carolinus stops him telling him they need to get him to a proper facility for treatment. Carolinus sedates him and they begin taking his possessions off him to allow him rest. Carolinus thanks the two for their assistance. They seem to have stabilised Cassius for now and will continue with their investigation. Brander walks in and asks Carolinus to explain himself. Carolinus seems reluctant to talk and Garret tells Brander not to push the issue for now.

The three go through the facility to continue their investigation and Brander suggests the get other quarters. They see the Arbites, Servitors, and indentured prisoners are already in the process of replacing the shattered windows. Carolinus talks to the servitors in binary for a status report and seems happy with the response. They return to their quarters and Brander tends to the glass in his feet. Carolinus orders the Servitors to clean up around their quarters and then asks the Arbites to give him the Vox of the one maintaining the Servitors. There appears to be nobody taking care of them and offers to do it himself and take the memory cores after their tasks are complete. The Servitors carry on their work under Carolinus’s supervision and leave after their tasks are complete. Brander notes that he is bleeding from his ears and that the explosion was strange. Carolinus tries to play off the details as just Cassius’s foolishness. Carolinus heals Brander fully and pokes him about getting a mechanical body as he is want to do. He then checks on the Servitors to wipe their cores and does it with some difficulty and goes to sleep.

Brander awakens and tries to sneak out to check the crate. However he awakens Carolinus by knocking over a chair and he is alerted to Brander exiting through the front of the habitation units. Carolinus gets up after a few moments and enters Branders room determining he didn’t sleep and waited for a while before leaving. He tries to look through the windows but cant seem to get a good angle on Brander. Following Brander, Carolinus makes his way rather clumsily along as Brander examines the crate. He opens the container and examines the destroyed contents along the crate and on the floor. He can’t really see what it was that the piles of ashes were and most of the contents are melted or destroyed. He can’t see much of anything that could tell him what happened. Carolinus clumsily makes his way and it reaches Brander’s attention. They dance around the container and Carolinus tries to lock Brander into the crate by chaining it up and tackles Carolinus down. They confront each other and ask about their intent to which they both seem to hold back. Brander confronts Carolinus about what he had in there and Carolinus tries to dodge his questions with offense. Brander threatens to do something if wont tell and Carolinus admits that Brander couldn’t be trusted with the contents. Brander retorts that Cassius being trusted got him into the burn ward. Brander then angrily walks off to bed clearly suspecting Carolinus and Cassus are suspicious. Carolinus goes to his bed himself. Before he does Carolinus sees two rogue pieces of paper from the book and secrets them away in his robes which Brander sees him do out of the corner of his eye.

In the morning Garret goes to visit Captain Zale to help them get an escort down to Alpha Colony. Carolinus goes over his work and waits for Brander to awaken and Brander walks over to get breakfast when Garret walks in the room to report his success getting help for being led into Alpha. Carolinus goes through the corpse in detail to try and get information out of it with little success. Garret goes along his way maintaining his equipment. Sergeant Hale comes in some time later and Garret decides to ask about the infiltration. First they ask about Hale accompanying them and go over their plan of attack using the map of the Alpha Colony and his limited information to identify prisoners, reinforce the entry points, and readying their exit points. A bit of small chatter later has Hale get up and leave after surrendering his microbead. Outside Garret asks about the card games in the barracks and Hale suggests about looking into it. Carolinus speaks to Brander about trust. He admits that Cassius trusting him hasn’t gotten him in a good place and offers to tell him if they survive the mission.

Later on Brander finds Garret in the mess hall and they joke around a while. They decide to go outside to talk in private and Brander reveals to Garret that he believes that the Promethium tank was set deliberately to destroy something. Garret accuses Brander if trying to drive a wedge between them. Garret can accept the promethium but is disturbed by the scream and the purple fire. Brander says that the nature of the fire was something they as the Inquisition fight, and Garret retorts with that fire is now gone and done with.

Back at Carolinus’s workshop he probes the files for more information and finds references to “Omnissiah’s Divine Work” and messages sent to Tech Priest Binus. After this the group meet and kit out for the mission into Alpha Colony.

At the breach point they meet Hale and the other arbites preparing the infiltration for the group. Garret and Hale talk about guns and he goes over the plan to drop food and supplies into Alpha and blasting a side cave. Carolinus tells them to use whatever means to subdue the population and Brander asks to be appraised of the situation with the distraction. Carolinus says prayers about the equipment and explosives and Garret blows the detonation packs. They begin the mission. Hale takes up point with Garret and Carolinus and Brander are on rear guard. The group moves quickly forward to the Red Eyes territory while dispatching any prisoners that they find and while they are sneaky the las sounds start hailing their position to others. The others are either dead or make themselves scarce as they move through the main tributary relatively unmolested. Garret microbeads to Carolinus that they might be meeting prisoners who are relatively organized to fight. Carolinus scans the map for alternative solutions and advises the group move through the sleeping quarters. The hall is dimly lit by bioluminescents and they move through killing prisoners who are resting or are subdued by the drugs in the supplies.  Hale awakens someone and Garret fires at the prisoner. Several others emerge from side passages. Enter combat.

Garret fires a shot to the head of a prisoner and misses. Brander draws his stub automatics and fires hitting the prisoner with three shots. Brander turns and fires on another prisoner killing him. Hale fires and misses his autofire. Carolinus fires off his flamer at the remaining two prisoners and burns them alive. Exit combat.

They move forward and stays relatively hidden as they hear parts of the mod ahead of them. Coming across several side passages they are surprised by some attacks but Hale makes short work of their attackers. They continue down into the mineshafts and eventually come across a large circle around a tunnel and Carolinus radioes that they are entering the territory. Some sporadic fighting appears to have broken out in the territory and Carolinus suggests that they close their distance to stay close. Brander looks over the bodies and sees different gang member markings wondering who the casualties belong to. It’s difficult to tell at this point and they move on. They meet some sentinels ahead and one of them sees Carolinus. He charges forward as the sentry calls for help. Garret fires at the man’s leg as he runs. He hits the mans leg and disintegrates his leg from the kneecap down. Brander moves forward fires on the other prisoner twice and hits. Hale fires on one of the prisoners and strikes with righteous fury blasting the man apart. They alert the others ahead. Enter combat.

Garret surveys the routes ahead and finds a barrel of cryo-coolant. Carolinus moves forward and Hale moves with him. Brander tries to unjam his weapon and somehow makes it worse. The prisoners advance with weapons ready. Garret moves into the corner and fires a semi-auto at one prisoner and hits in the leg and torso. He rips through the target and ccidentally fires his own gun into his leg. Carolinus readies himself and fires a burst of flamer just over the prisoner’s head. Hale readies and goes on watch for an opportunity. Brander runs forward and gets behind Garret and curses his jammed pistols. Hale fires the las-rifle and misses then advances. A prisoner advances on Garret and the other attacks Carolinus with a charge. Garret aces his dodge and the one firing on Carolinus misses. Garret rolls away from the spear strike of the prisoner and fires on the prisoner and blasts him away. Carolinus moves back and dodges a spear and fires the flamer setting the prisoner ablaze. Hale fires on another prisoner and strikes with righteous fury obliterating one prisoner and killing the one set on fire. Brander wheels around a target and fires with his good pistol jamming it. A prisoner charges Carolinus and hits hard with his spear with an explosive charge and hits him hard. The Gang Boss Red Eye appears with a mining drill and a pistol.

Garret fires on the prisoner melting a leg and killing him. Carolinus runs diagnostics on himself to heal the damage and lashes out but fails to hit with his mechadendrite. Hale quickdraws his pistol and fires into combat and wounds two prisoners. Brander quick draws a bolt pistol and fires. Both rounds miss the mark. The boss comes up and strikes at Brander with a drill and strikes his metal leg drilling deep into it and then the torso. Brander is shaved closely and has his stomach ripped becoming critically injured (by the grace of the Emperor). He fires at Brander at point blank and, shaken by the impact, misses him. Garret moves forward and faster than Red Eye can react. Hale moves over and Carolinus charges forward distracting him. Brander falls prone and Red Eye charges Carolinus with righteous fury knocking him down for serious damage. Garret drops his other weapons and aims a Long-Las  firing and grazing past the head of his target. Carolinus shakes off his stun and fixes himself with a medicae. Hale charges into combat and draws a grenade trying to bounce it off the wall. A flashbang explodes and stuns Carolinus but fails to stun Red Eyes and Brander. Brander fires semi-auto with both guns and hits with the bolter in the head hitting once and dealing damage. Red Eyes turns around and strikes Carolinus and Brander. Carolinus is struck in the chest ripping it open and his entrails shred out before his eyes and systems beep as they fail one by one.

Carolinus looks up with a pained smile and reaches out at his enemy. “Great machine god! Deliver my allies from danger and wash this heretic in the holy flame!”, and summons his last reserves and pulls the trigger. Realizing it is jammed he holds the trigger and lets the pressure build making the flamer overload and the tanks spectacularly explode in a flaming death wave. Brander rolls away and Red Eye is engulfed. Red Eye still stands but he is engulfed in flames and critically wounded. Garret reloads and misses. Brander fires one pistol and jams it. He fires the bolt pistol and puts one round into the battery pack of the breacher making it explode violently blowing his arm off. The second one enters his chest and detonates in it in a shower of gore and blood. Exit combat.

Garret looks around and Brander drops his pistol to his side. Hale rushes over and starts aid on him and stops his bleeding at least. They look over his corpse and Garret looks over Carolinus and cuts his mechadendrite off and head. Garret tries pulling himself up with the sword and asks him to stay on his own as he looks around with sergeant Hale. Garret grabs some of the data slates and leaves. Tunnels echo in the deep of fighting.

Ahead they see in the cavern a large hollowed out area where biological film covers the area. A Tyrannid breeding hive and Brander is hit with a wave of exhausted fear. Garret draws his rifle and shoots one of the juvenile tyrannids. Hale tries to gun them down as the egg sacks burst. Hale throws his explosive pack and destroys a great lot of them. Hale is caught in the explosion. As they pushed forward Zale and the other Arbites find them. The arbites push past to contain the situation and Garret holds Brander up as they move to the exfil point and meet Cassius with reinforcements from the surface.

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Stream XVI: Heresy?

The next day the group speaks at length about their failures and how they are recovering. Brander admits that trusting these Arbites was a foolish thing to do and Garret thinks announcing their presence wasn’t the best way to enter the situation. They rushed through the plan and moved forward without getting sufficient enough leads and that the person who was behind the heresy was the one who they trusted and that Trant would impede their investigation at every turn. Carolinus notes the group had few way to actually infiltrate the prison and that they could reveal themselves as inquisitorial agents when things do hit the fan. They were also limited in their resources and lacked provisions in case things go sour like they usually do.

At this point the medicus of the facility ask Carolinus to leave so they could rest. Garret is knocked out with anesthesia and Carolinus checks on the status of Cassius. It seems the medicae were able to help him fully recover. Carolinus praises the medicae for their work and he asks to see Cassius. He leaves a note written in high gothic to tell him to meet up in private. Carolinus then goes off to find some luxurious lodgings near the governor's mansion. He finds some apartments royally decorated from floor to ceiling and they rest up. Two days down the line they find their equipment delivered to them.

After a few days the group heal up and are invited to the governor’s mansion. Cassius refuses the invitation, still angry about the incident with the Arbites. The others decide to attend in their finest garb. Garret gets a proper suit that sort of allows him to wear his armor. Cassius decides to grudgingly go and gets his own clothes repaired. With this they go to the mansion under the Imperial Guardsmen escort. They drive to the mansion and see the mansion is being repaired after their previous battle and the imperial guardsmen have taken over the area. The group advance to the checkpoint.

At the checkpoint on the way to the governor the Arbites disarm the group. Garret tries to sneak a pistol in while Cassius tells them off to keep his blade. The Arbites draw on Garret and pat him down for weapons. Brander drops the weapons off from his coat and surrenders his chainsword grudgingly. Cassius finally relinquishes his laspistol and the group walk on. Garret looks over and asks about the tattoo on the back of their escort’s neck which he replies he was a guardsman. The security guard walks them over and Carolinus reminds Cassius to contain himself until they leave. The group meet with Governor and his wife and greet with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Garret is somewhat off putting to the ones of higher birth than him but Cassius tries to make his graces with the addition of a clunky leg. Carolinus catches a smile. Garret helps himself to the dinner laid out to him. The group sit down to dinner with him. They make small talk with the governor a bit and Khizmit admits he owes Dracul a debt for saving his life. Lady Khizmit asks if Garret wants to visit with the guards and allow him to play with their weapons and takes a wine bottle from the table.

Garret goes off with the security forces and the group go back to their conversation. Cassius asks how it happened that the Arbites were so corrupted and Khizmit responds that he had his concerns and that they mostly went unnoticed. The group note the Arbite commanders are dead and need to be replaced with commanders that will be loyal to the emperor and the planetary governor. They suggest Talon and Junka for their work pursuing Trant and the others under his control. They also note that others had fought against the Marshal and his men. They need to stop the production of the brain slugs and preserve as many of the samples as possible to further their investigation into the production and origins of the parasite. They will look down into the mines at Alpha block and Cassius asks for a way in. They ask about the Tech Priest responsible for putting the brain slug into Khizmit and Khizmit reports that he perished in the firefight back in the tower. They agree that they need to go into the hole soon and try to keep their presence as low as possible to make sure none of what they are investigating is destroyed. They feel they might go down with the next supply drop and take their chances with something of a relaxant or paralytic. They also consider going into the caves by some lesser known entrance and search for the group as prisoners. When they find where the slugs are bred the Arbites could bust them. If all else fails Khizmit should use the nuclear blasts as a last resort. Khizmit agrees to drug the shipments to get the populace pacified and off-balance and get Arbites ready to charge in to support. The Arbites are also to extract a prisoner with good knowledge of the caves to guide them.

The group go back to Garret after Carolinus checks on the governor’s health. Garret is firing off rounds at the Arbites training range. He takes the Carbine and takes aim at 50 meters striking the target three times. Another Arbite fires off a round at 1000 m from a long las. Garret takes his own shot and seems unsatisfied. A bolter is up next and the Arbite fires and hits targets. The Arbite hands Garret a las carbine and he decides to keep it.

 The group arrives at alpha block riding skybeast and walk up to its modest collection of buildings where the Arbites have snatched a prisoner up and interrogated him for information. The Arbites are set up to assault the caves if things go wrong. Cassius asks if the prisoner can be sedated before they enter and a medicae sedates him and asks that the captain leave and disables the surveillance. Carolinus goes to the other Arbites and asks about the ones that made it out of the blast. Rudolph is helping Junka with the administrative work and is recovering from the injuries. He asks also asks about the item he had requisitioned and the Arbite responds that it was delivered successfully. He is brought to the interrogation room and checks on his requisition. Garrett is led to the edge of the pit and he asks about the void shield around it and about Alpha block itself. He asks about the society and how the prisoners interact with each other. The prisoners are sent here for high crimes when they aren't seen to mingle well with the more civilized parts of the jail or are not significant.

The group leave Cassius to his work and he psynisciences into the prisoner’s mind. Cassius detects a strange feeling about the prisoner that slightly dampens the power of the warp Cassius draws from. Something insidious taints the air around him and Cassius tries to read his mind with some difficulty. The prisoner works for the Red eye gang who owns the lower level of the mines and they are a major power players with weapons and organization. The Red Eye leader is a strong individual and seems to have convinced other smaller gang leaders to ally with him. He gains a moderate understanding of the cave network and calls the others back in. With no other need for the prisoner Carolinus puts a probe in his brain cavity and kills him.  They need to be ready for the Red Eyes to attack with real weapons and need to move quickly to keep them off balance. The man was a low level operator and doesn’t know the exact location of the guarded secrets but might give them an idea where to search. With this they decide to kit out with weapons that they could store in their uniforms. Garret tries his hand playing a local poker variant with the Arbites and asks how they infiltrate the mines and take prisoners. Garret fleeces the Arbite and gets a royal flush with a sleight of hand trick on the first round. The Arbite asks his friends to frisk Garret on the suspicion he is cheating. They try to frisk him and Garret struggles with them to break free. Garret tries to move past and the Arbite draws a shock maul. Garret responds by drawing his pistol and the other Arbites draw weapons. The captain goes to retrieve him and they go back to their work.

Later on the information packets that Cassius builds are distributed and Carolinus meets with Cassius to speak about things on his mind. Carolinus notes that things are stacking against them as the investigation goes on. Cassius notes he has Raevarn’s ear and that they have an ally in the Inquisition. Carolinus is weary of Khan and what he might be responsible for since the library mission. Cassius notices that something might have been more important than Khan might have let on and that the warp has been frustrating him. Carolinus laments that he has seen that the missions they have been on are suicide missions and that Khan disregarded and destroyed a potential boon to their work. Cassius laments that he too is frustrated about the job as well and that the treachery they face often comes from those they thought to be their allies. Carolinus asks if Garret was right in killing the creature and wondering if perhaps they are on the same side. The creature seemed to be without malice towards them. They ask questions about the restrictions placed upon them and the rules in place that could limit their potential but at the same time note that they are also there to protect them from heresy and corruption. They then note that some are able to take this power of knowledge for themselves and in particular Raevarn using Runes to contain the artifact.  

Cassius goes back to a conversation about staying the course and making the rules when you have the power. He posits that heresy to one is not so to people with power and that they should stay the course to gain that power as well. Carolinus then speaks of his uncle who advised him in a similar way. They speak a bit further on the matter of knowledge and power versus the danger that wielding it holds.  Carolinus reveals that he knows Khan might not have destroyed everything from the library Cassius admits that he too kept something from the library. Carolinus asks him to follow him out and the two find a private spot by the cargo container. Carolinus produces a key and advises Cassius that he kept something dangerous hidden away. He asks Cassius his judgement to keep or destroy the object he kept and opens the container revealing a box with medical equipment around it. He sees the blood pumping book from the library on Cypri Copia. Cassius is shocked and appalled at the item in front of him and is scared the implications of it.

Carolinus admits that he read some of it and his curiosity led him to look more into it. He also admits that he leaves the choice to Cassius to destroy it or keep it on the chance it may empower them to take the Emperor’s will. Cassius also admits he has delved into forbidden knowledge that has empowered him. They know that what they are doing is committing heresy but that it needs to be considered carefully. Cassius uses psyniscience on the book and sees that this is a book of power in it and has a crude type of intelligence to it. Reading the book he sees the will of the book is foul and wrong. They are disturbed by its actions and that it might be luring its readers into reading it. Carolinus suggests that the Jokaero also seems to be similar. Ultimately Cassius decides to destroy the book even as Carolinus seems to gently protest doing it. Carolinus sees the Chaotica speaking to him. Carolinus is resigned and agrees to destroy it and never speak of it again. Cassius and Carolinus set up a canister of Promethium to destroy the book and takes cover.

Cassius readies himself and Carolinus locks the door to contain the blast. Cassius lets out a melta blast at the book and a psychic scream emerges from the void awakening the group. The book is obliterated in front of it and its remains billow up with dark energy. The blast hits Cassius and injures him putting him on fire. Carolinus tries to put him out and the others rush to his aid and puts out the fire on Cassius. Brander asks Garret to follow him and Carolinus tends to Cassius’s wounds. He manages to heal up some of the wounds and the others arrive on the scene. Cassius lies that an errant Lho stick caused the Promethium canister to explode and Garret and Brander seem to believe him. As they try to move Cassius another piercing scream of pain emanates from the crate and the air is sucked from their lungs. The warp rips into everyone with a lash of energy and Cassius goes temporarily blind. Windows are shattered and fires turn purple. Garret and Carolinus carries Cassius back while Brander looks around and surveys the damage in shock.

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Stream XV: Marshal Trant

Garret and an Arbite lock eyes and he enters initiative.

He looks in and sees the Arbites, Trant, knocked over tables and trays, and Khizmit. The Arbite moves closer and fires with his shotgun. Garret dives off and still gets hit  with the door splintering apart. The rest of the group enters initiative. Rhyo Khizmit sits there and continues drooling. Garret brings his Laz-pistol to bare on the Arbite and he ducks the shot. The other Arbitrator moves into cover. Trant picks up Khizmit to use as a human shield. Brander tries to break through the door and fails. He then opens the door regularly which triggers the Arbite on the other side fire on the door. Brander takes the hit and is wounded with shredded armor and surface wounds. Trant holds on to Khizmit and draws his bolter pistol and fires on Brander hitting his leg after going through the wall. Arbite fires at Garret’s head and misses him entirely. Cassius ducks out and casts spontaneous combustion on the Arbite with sorcery. Garret notices Cassius losing his focus and failing to cast. Rhyo fails to do anything.

Garret fires at the Arbite’s head and hits him damaging his helmet. The Arbite pulls a grenade and throws it at Brander and Carolinus. The grenade bounces off Carolinus and goes behind Brander stunning him for 6 rounds. Carolinus uses his medicae mechadendrite on Brander to help him and helps him majorly. Brander fires at the Arbite with dual pistols and The first shot misses but the second shot hits the arbite he wasn’t aiming for and it pings off his shoulder guard. The third shot misses Cassius and Garret.  Trant fires on Brander and fires wide missing him. The Arbite against Cassius and Garret and misses as they dodge out of the way. Cassius tries to immolate an Arbite but he resists it. Rhyo fails to do anything as he struggles. Garret turns up his pistol charge and fires on the Arbite. He misses and overheats his power pack in the process.

The other Arbite advances and fires on Brander hitting high as he ducks the blast. Carolinus draws his shotgun and fires on the Arbite hammering him across the chest and wounding him heavily. Brander aims and fires at the Arbite hitting 6 times and sheers his leg off with righteous fury killing him. Trant orders his other Arbite to kill them, drops Khizmit, and draws a grenade and throws it at Brander and Carolinus. Brander is stunned for 4 rounds. The Arbite tosses a grenade at Garret and Cassius and stuns Cassius for one turn while Garret dodges back. Garret reloads on the fly and turns his pistol to max overcharge firing at the Arbite. He misses and overheats the pistol severely. Carolinus moves forward behind Brander and drags him away from the door. Brander is dazed as Carolinus draws him away. Trant draws a shock maul and fires at Cassius.

Cassius gets slammed with shrapnel as the pistol round hits the door and wounds his face. The Arbite fires at Cassius and misses shattering part of the wall. Cassius fires a melta blast and the Arbite dodges out of the way. Rhyo uselessly lies on the floor. Garret puts his overheated pistol away and draws the other and fires on the Arbite at overload and slags some of his armor and severely wounds him. Carolinus ducks behind the wall and readies himself. Trant charges Carolinus with bolt pistol and shock maul firing on Garret and swiping on Cassius. He shoots wide on Garret and gets a hard strike on Cassius’s leg breaking it. The arbite runs up to Rhiyo. Cassius fires a meltabeam at Trant and Trant dodges it. Garret backs away and fires his laspistol on overload to hit. Carolinus advances and draws a bead on the Arbite behind Khizmit. Trant advances on Garret and strikes twice missing him. He then brings his bolt pistol to bare and clips the side of Garrets head. The Arbite fires at Carolinus but to no effect.

Cassius fires a smite at Trant hitting him in the armor and the head smashing through his  plating. Garret fires and misses over Trant’s head. Carolinus levels his shotgun and fires jamming it. Trant takes aim at Garret and swings with the shock maul and misses. The arbite fires at Carolinus and barely misses him. Cassius casts a spontaneous combustion and (AMAZINGLY) misses. A small rift in the warp opens up and steals the breath away from Cassius, Trant, and Garret. Garret fires at Trant. Carolinus strikes out with the butt of his shotgun and the Arbite meets it. He lashes out with his mechadendrite and swipes past him. Brander finally snaps out of his daze and charges the Arbite.

He fires at the Arbite with one pistol and strikes with righteous fury! As one gun jams he uses it to jam into the Arbite’s armor and point blank fires three times into his chest killing him. Trant swings at Garret with the shock maul and Garret dodges out of the way. Cassius casts spontaneous combustion and finally manages to hit Trant and engulfs him in flames and him bringing him into critical health. Trant scurries around as he is caught on fire and Garret fires his laz gun and blasts his leg off then puts his foot on Trants face and fires into his chest killing him. Cassius crawls over to Trant and Cassius and Garret light Lho sticks on his corpse. Exit combat.

The group then attends to Khizmit and Garret pats out the fire on Trant’s body. Carolinus diagnoses Khizmit and then goes to tend to Cassius and Garret. He sees Trant’s body and lifts the tapestry Garret used making a bolt pistol fall to the ground. After a bit of banter Carolinus inspects Cassius’s leg and suspects it is salvageable. He maybe in pain for a while. Garret stands up from the rest and searches around for a communication device while Carolinus goes about his business repairing Cassius’s leg. He significantly improves the leg although it will take some time to heal up superficially. Cassius gets up with surprisingly little problems even though Carolinus mentions that it will hurt when the feeling returns. Brander brings the Governor to a seat and watches him as Cassius calls Junka to let him know Trant is dead and that traitors will be dealt with. He then sits on the table and eats the dinner on Khizmit’s table.

Khizmit himself is  now at least conscious and Carolinus takes a good examination of him finding a small puncture wound on the back of his neck and finds a lump that might have merged itself into the back of the brain. Brander and Cassius tries to call Garret back but he continues searching for a communication device. He finds a door with Arbitae handcuffs on them. Finding nothing Garret goes back to the dining room and searches Arbite corpses. After finding nothing he goes back to the door to shoot the cuffs off. Cassius’s voice makes the governor let go of Brander and Carolinus tells them they need to move Khizmit to a proper facility. Brander walks over to Trant’s corpse and takes his equipment away and Cassius joins him going over the Arbites equipment. Cassius mentions to Junka that Trant and the governor are dead to try and prevent reinforcements from assaulting them. Garret shoots the locks off and finds the Governor’s family tied and gagged. He rescues the wife and asks where the communication devices are. She refuses to tell and Garret asks again with the added incentive of a gun in their face. The Governor’s wife relents and Garret returns to allow Cassius to rescue their family. Carolinus tries to reassure her but to no avail. Cassius once again tries to calm her and reaches her. While trying to undo her bonds Cassius tries to wipe the wife’s mind of Garret’s description. Wiping her mind the wife quickly grabs a nearby vase and throws it at Cassius missing him. She then runs into the other room and shields her children. They try once again to reassure them and finally she calms herself enough to believe them and Carolinus offers her a pistol and Cassius reveals his nobility and she seems to know of him.

Looking at the credentials they finally get her quieted a bit and Garret calls the medical clinic after failing twice. He informs the center about the predicament, inadvertently giving away their position to hostile arbite forces thinking the governor is dead. The windows are awash in flash grenade and arbites run through the bottom floor. After trying to assert their authority Brander is tackled and arrested while Cassius and Carolinus try to shepherd the governor’s family away. Justicar Zhevran raises Cassius on the vox and Cassius orders his men to stand down. The Arbites swarm in and arrest the others. Garret and Brander get thrown in a transport to be tended to after verifying the identities and authority and Cassius demands they all snap to attention. Calligo meets with the Justicar and Carolinus goes to check on their comrades. Cassius commands the Justicar line up his men and make them all answer to the Inquisition for assaulting them. The Justicar, against suggested response, wants to sort it out at the station but Cassius demands he comply or face summary execution. His threat doesn’t land but Cassius records all the badge numbers and Zhevran as “Future Executions”. They put all the members in a cell and Cassius and Carolinus speak briefly. The other two wake up and Carolinus helps Garret recover.

After a while the governor’s wife visits them to figure out what happened to her husband. The group tell her about the brain parasite threatening Khizmit’s life and recruits Carolinus to perform surgery to save his life while the others are freed to go. They are brought to outprocessing and Carolinus tells one arbite to ready Khizmit and a surgical theater. Cassius considers executing the whole platoon of Arbites and they all go on the armored transports. The arbite briefly apologizes for assaulting them and they go on the transport.

Carolinus goes to the surgical theater and the others go to a medical facility for healing. The two other Medicus greet him and Carolinus informs them of the parasite and, while they are not knowledgeable, he will make use of them as he can. With careful precision two hours of work removes the brain parasite and has the thing put into cryo storage. After which Khizmit is put to rest and Carolinus returns to his quarters.

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Stream XIV: Failsafe

Garret appears confused about the situation and Cassius tries to explain the situation. Rashmus affirms the story. Brander is the most wounded by the attack and Carolinus tends to him.  Carolinus tries to give Brander a local sedative but makes a mistake and locks his leg down paralyzing it. The Arbites suggest that they try to go to interrogation and sort the situation out. Cassius responds that he can deal with his superiors and the Arbite agrees to send his message off when they get to Beta colony. After the lie that Garret was hit by a chair explaining his amnesia he goes up to the Ogryn and antagonizes him. Rashmus goes to speak to the Arbites to implicate Friedrick. The group consider that news of his defeat will have reached Marshal Trant and Beta will be locked down. Cassius notices the green light on Friedrick’s radio and asks about it. The group want to go to the armory and vox room to see who is calling. Cassius also suggests that the men be detained and that the others be redirected to keep them out of the way. Taking another look at Branders leg Carolinus reconnects the prosthetic limb. Rashmus goes to assist the other Arbites in keeping the Marshal’s men off their backs. The group convince the other Arbites to gather allies they trust to be weary of traitors in the group. Carolinus picks up a shock maul and Brander gathers one of the shotguns. Brander notices the shotgun has its safety locked.

The Arbites responding to the riot start slowly coming in and the group is led by the Arbites into a Vox room. Cassius introduces themselves and their purpose here. He remarks that everyone’s lives are at risk now because if things go wrong Trant can destroy the whole block with nuclear weapons. As they settle in to strategize in the Vox room Carolinus notes the Vox room is being contacted by Marshal Trant. Carolinus orders the Arbite escorting them to report that everyone in the prison block was wounded and he doesn’t know what is happening. While he is talking Cassius explains what happened in the conspiracy. Trant and Friedrick go way back as a drug addicts and eventually found a stimulant that increases aggression. Together as Arbites they destroyed local threats and rose to the ranks of prison marshal. They appointed allies to their cause and started harvesting the drugs with the leeches to keep control. They murdered some of the workers who found out, which they used the gas leak as a cover story, and raised the suspicion of others. They use prisoners in Beta to cultivate the drugs and circulate them with the Arbites. It’s questionable who else is involved. Finally Cassius reveals the nuclear bombs and that they are all in serious danger. Cassius asks how best to get into Beta colony to try and arrest or kill Trant. The Arbite relays that he tried his best but Trant doesn’t appear to believe him. The Arbite suggests maybe a cargo elevator could be used to move them back to Beta colony but Carolinus is more confident on making it through the hangars.

Suddenly one of the Arbites notes that he can’t reach Beta on the comms and they might have locked Delta colony down. Carolinus notes that they need to move quickly and shepard the others out of the Vox room. Cassius asks to raise the planetary governor Khizmit. He makes the case that Trant will probably attack Khizmit to get rid of him. Garret asks the Arbite, Rudolph, to bring them to a transport.  As they try to get to the transport they hear weapons fire in the hallway as the Arbites loyal to Trant exchange fire with the ones loyal to Rashmus. As a parting gift Rudolph gives Cassius a data stick with his testimony and evidence. The group run through the outside and to the buggy driving it to Beta. The drive is rough and tiring but they finally get on to Beta colony. Carolinus suggests that they return to the ship to try and re-arm but the others think that their ship will be under guard and Cassius suggests going to reach the planetary governor before Trant tries to kill him. They then see a bright flash and hear a deafening roar from behind. Delta Colony is enveloped in nuclear fire and the buggy is flipped end over end and everyone is thrown across the buggy from the force of the blast flipping it over and over. The group brace as the pressure blast retreats and buffets the buggy again and debris batters the group. Brander is slammed against the buggy walls and the others are injured as well.

Suddenly Carolinus notices his limbs go numb. The emp from the nuclear blast disables his bionics, Brander’s prosthetic leg, and Cassius’s contact lenses. Garret climbs out to survey the damage and the group slowly move as their technology reboots. The others try to move around and pull Carolinus up off the floor. Carolinus then tries to pick himself up as he moves slowly forward. The others look back at the devastation and muse about the Emperor’s will. Cassius notes Trant may have sent his men to Delta or Alpha to fight the riot or against Arbite Rashmus’s men. Seeing Brander wounded heavily Carolinus tends to him and looks over the engine of the buggy. Deciding it’s salvageable he returns to assist Brander up and walks with him. He recruits Garret and Cassius to try and flip the buggy over. They succeed together and Carolinus makes prayers to the Omnissiah to provoke the machine spirits to action. The spirits hear him and ignite the engine. They get settled in and check their equipment and Brander realizes his extra ammunition is missing. They drive back to Beta and the group look over to the scene behind and consider picking up survivors from the blast.

Carolinus turns the buggy around and find about a half-dozen vehicles that might have escaped the blast. They check the bodies and see many of them wounded by the blast or shaken. One of the Arbites approaches and speaks to them. He reports Rudolph was leading the evacuation and is wounded. Talon, however, was helping fight the Marshal’s men with others and brought up the rear. He is missing in action. Carolinus looks over Rudolph and manages to relieve his cranial bleeding. Rudolph is brought back from the brink and to consciousness. He asks what happened and Carolinus informs him that the Marshal detonated the nuclear weapons. He asks Rudolph how many made it out and the other Arbite says only 47 made it out alive. Rudolph hands Carolinus his shotgun and tells him to make Trant pay for the Arbites he slaughtered here. Cassius looks back over his memories and sees Trant needs both codes to destroy the facility. That raises several possibilities possibly implicating the governor in his scheme or at least being under his thumb. Garret and Cassius then goes out and sees someone in the distance. A heavily wounded Arbite dragging two others walks toward Garret and collapses. It appears to be Rashmus from a glance. Garret reaches him with Carolinus and Cassius pulling him and the other two up. Carolinus examines his multiple injuries and stabilizes him, another Arbite is dead, and the other is heavily wounded.

They regroup and plan a strategy. They charge Rudolph and the other remaining Arbites to try and cause chaos at Beta as a distraction. The group could sneak through the governor’s private port. They check the weapons and mount up with Carolinus healing up Garret. Carolinus gets Investigator Junka’s vox frequency if he needs support. They start going toward Beta colony. On the way Brander is starting to have problems breathing and the air runs out in his rebreather. Cassius shares some of his with Brander. The group have about an hours journey back and are running out of air quickly.

 As the buggy goes on and Brander is trying to hold on and runs out of energy and breath. Cassius tries to reinvigorate him and causes some strange phenomenon draining the energy out of everyone else. Brander struggles again for another while and Cassius takes off his rebreather and hands puts it onto Brander. Cassius manages much better breathing and casting an invigoration. However he slightly has things go wrong and produces a foul smell as it assaults his senses. They finally reach the colony perimeter and attend to Brander. They suddenly hear someone behind them who came up to the buggy and they see a maintenance staffer. Carolinus signals Garret and Garret clocks him on the back of the head. Cassius tries to take the respirator and Carolinus tries to stop him. They step out of the buggy and Garret takes the man’s clothes. Carolinus convinces Cassius to not kill the man and Garret goes up to the maintenance door. Cassius retrieves the keycode and punches it in. The group go inside the airlock.

Carolinus looks around for any sign of traps or security and doesn’t find a lot. He readies his shotgun and signal Garret to walk forward. Carolinus asks if there are any places they could procure more disguises and they see that there is a breakroom to raid but innocents might be involved. The group try to move quietly but get seen by a maintenance worker. Initiate combat. The group tackle one and alert another who tries to run away. Garret tackles the other and takes him to the restroom to take his uniform and Carolinus tends to Brander. Carolinus commands Brander to avoid combat for now and Brander notes that if they avoid being caught they wouldn’t need to. They move on to the break room without much problem and walk into the room. Garret goes through to the others to flawlessly distract them as Garret finds an unlocked locker. He finds a revolver and a few coins as well as a uniform for Carolinus. Carolinus however doesn’t want to and they get recognized. Cassius however goes to erase the man’s mind as the door closes. The group hide away in the bathroom and the man goes to take care of business. Carolinus, after the man leaves, decides to hand Brander the suit to wear.  The group move towards the governor’s residence and survey the perimeter for signs that the Arbites are causing commotion. The place seems almost unnaturally quiet and devoid of Arbites or guards. In the distance there seems to be heavy equipment and troops far away. Carolinus sees that the Arbites are indeed making a distraction and that there are no guards at the Governor's Palace. Finally he notices an Arbite faceplate inside briefly.

The group tries to reconvene and figure out what to do. Governor Khizmit might be alive or Trant might have gotten to him. The group decide to hide and continue the discussion. Carolinus brings up that the Governor doesn’t matter anymore and that he might be under the mind control of Trant. He asks Cassius for a decision and he responds that he wishes to follow with the Governor. Garret suggests they might be a team to repair the maintenance team. Cassius reaches Junka who notifies that the Arbites are causing a commotion to distract security. He also notes that the Governor not having guards is very suspicious and against protocol. Carolinus is weary that this maybe a trap in waiting. Brander suggests that they announce their intent immediately but Carolinus shoots down his suggestion. Carolinus counters that Garret should infiltrate the building. Garret goes around to the back and tries to go to the backway. He is almost seen by an Arbite and gets to the door. Garret tries to get through the card reader and just barely makes it. He enters the back entrance and radios to cassius asking what room the governor might be in. Cassius isn’t aware but Garret is undeterred. He follows an Arbite up and hears Trant talking to the other Arbites. The Governor is alive but unconscious and his men are dead.  Garret tells them to go through the back entrance and join him.

The group ready their weapons and stack on the door. Readying themselves they open the door.

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Stream XIII: Max Sec (with special guest star cKnoor as “Arbite Investigator Rashmus Talon”)

The group awaken in the surveillance room and the Justicar rouses them to go to the conference room to meet a new assistant assigned to them. They decide to get up and go to the conference room. They are nervous about the person following them around and how informed they are of the group’s investigative purpose but elect to stay with him for the time being. They make their way past some Arbites with shotguns at the ready without comment of where they might be going. The aide is standing next to the Arbite Cassius shared a smoke with the previous day. The Aide introduces investigator Rashmus Talon and the others speak up to introduce themselves and Talon in turn introduces himself. Talon asks the group what their purpose is in regards to the plague and they speak to how the plague could disrupt the prison colony or cost valuable man hours and forces of the Arbites. Rashmus asks about the plan and Carolinus brings him up to date on their investigation so far. They mention that they want to go into beta colony to try and investigate the population and the Justicar mentions that they received a message from Interrogator Kahn. Kahn now leaves a scathing message about Talon at full volume after the dataslate malfunctions in Garrett's hands. Talon slowly reaches down to the data slate at his side to hit the record button while everyone else is distracted. While annoyed at the message he drops his irritation and leads the others to Beta colony prison.

The group settle and march to the gate of the Beta colony. They march through the security gate and register the weapons they are carrying on them. While they walk down the street the intercom heralds their arrival. When one prisoner steps out of line and challenges Talon’s authority he pulls out a charge lance and bull rushes the prisoner. Enter suprise.

Talon charges forth and swings three times. The prisoner dodges the first blow, takes the second to the stomach, and a third to the head. Exit surprise.

The prisoner falls to his feet and vomits on the ground. They continue on and Cassius talks to Talon about the prisoner who shouted out but Talon ignores the question. Talon continues on to the location of the gas leak. One of the domes suffered a leak and the prisoners were executed after they all showed interesting symptoms making them all passive and useless. As they pass a section of the wall Talon points to a prisoner who spoke out and commanded he give the prisoner his own ration. Carolinus notes the state of the prisoners and asks about the prisoners in the block. As he starts to speak about the prisoners workload and responsibilities Cassius asks about trustees of the prisoners to the Arbites and Rashmus confirms they do indeed exist. As they walk to the sight of the gas leak they notice the prisoners watching the group from afar. They seem interested in the technology and armament of the group. Cassius psynisciences the area for signs of psyker activity but doesn’t find anything of interest. Carolinus looks around at the people who seem to be carrying improvised weapons and worries about violence in the system. The surroundings seem to be ramshackle and cobbled together and as such the weapons are crude and improvised.

Reaching the housing units they see the smaller domes and see the nature of the limited ability to repair it. Cassius asks about any prisoners who have radical shifts of mood but not anything of note hits his notice. A female prisoner greets Talon and they speak for a while as Carolinus looks around the architecture for any obvious signs of repair or damage. Popping out a Lho Stick he asks the prisoner for the area it happened which she agrees to for a carton of Lho Sticks. The prisoner brings them to the central part of the dome and brings out a ladder grabbing a loose pipe from it. After she walks off Casius casts a spell to erase her memory of the deal with Cassius and Rashmus soon thereafter reinstates it. Using the ladder Carolinus uses his mechadendrite to inspect the pipe thoroughly. It appears that the maintenance crew only repaired the pipe after the leak and Talon checks with his records to be sure. Something about the pipe interests Carolinus about their function and investigates further. Carolinus returns the ladder and asks about the maintenance crew executed by Trant’s order. Only a few of them have family and one of the maintenance crew has a soon who is an Arbite on the station. Maximillion Rolland is one of the favored Arbites of the Marshal and they want to ask him about it. At the mention of investigating a plague Talon accidentally incites some unrest in the prisoners but is able to control the situation. Aside, Carolinus mentions the gas pipe that supposedly broke was actually a water pipe which is strange and warrants investigation.

They argue for a while about the state of the prison that Carolinus and about Talon’s duties here. Carolinus seems not to want to give up pressing Talon on his duties and that his feelings about Rolland would get in the way of their investigation. The group arm up to go to the high security facility to speak to Rolland. They take buggies across the expanse to Delta. They walk up and enter the gate. They meet up at the security checkpoint and relinquish their weapons. Cassius tries to establish a psy link with Carolinus and reaches through his defenses in order to establish communication independent of the Arbitees ears. Cassius is weary about keeping Talon out of hindering the investigation. Passing through the checkpoint they find Rolland in the kitchen on duty and feeding prisoners in Delta Block.

 The group see a much harsher and uniform cell block in Delta as they walk through it. They meet with Justicar Friedrick. He appears to be exasperated about their assignments but agrees to lead them to Arbite Rolland. The Justicar directs them to speak to Rolland as he works. The max sec prisoners taunt and joke around with them from the cells and Garret and a prisoner start talking with each other. The prisoners grow agitated and Garret notices the Arbites on the higher walkway are absent. Suddenly an alarm sounds and doors in the block unlock. Enter initiative.

A riot has broken out in Delta Block. The door in front of Garret opens up and a massive Ogryn appears. Garret retreats to cover at a nearby table. Rashmus tries to radio reinforcements to the block and the Justicar responds that nobody will come suggesting he opened the cells. He draws his Shock Mauls. The prisoners sprint out of their cells and the Ogryn runs after Garret. Other prisoners start attacking each other. A prisoner strikes Carolinus in the leg and hurts himself in the process. A prisoner attacks Rashmus with a shiv but misses his swing and stumbles forward dropping it. Two prisoners strike Brander and one knocks the wind out of him and the other strikes his bionic leg damaging it. Cassius returns a smite on one prisoner and strikes his jaw ruining it. Cassius looks over the man and strikes him with smite with righteous fury and kills the prisoner in a spectacularly gory manner. Carolinus then pushes off and charges another prisoner to take him down. He misses it by inches and he strikes out with the Mechadendrite striking hard into his thigh. Brander strikes the prisoner in front of him and strikes him in the leg. Garret glances around the room for an improvised weapon and finds nothing. Rashmus turns to the enemy currently engaging Brander and strikes with his Shock Maul. He is hit twice in the leg and the head bending his leg back and and cratering the inmate’s face apparently killing him.

Faced with the shocking display several of the other prisoners flee back to their cells. The heavy prisoner strikes at Talon and hits the plasteel armor deflecting it. The Ogryn is busy looking for Garret. Cassius moves forward. Carolinus charges another prisoner that the others have now engaged and misses. His Mechadendrite lashes out and strikes him lightly ripping some of his ear. Brander punches for the prisoner but misses. Garret sprints out the door and past the Ogryn. Rashmus strikes at the prisoner with his shock mauls and misses by fractions. A heavy returns with a table leg. The Ogryn throws a chair at Garret as he flees and Garret barely dodges it and the chair shatters. An inmate grapples with Rashmus and tries to disarm him of his shock mauls. The prisoner barely misses his mark and stumbles past. Cassius casts smite onto the Ogryn and the lightning surges through him which he ignores completely. Carolinus strikes the prisoner and smacks him to no effect. Brander punches and misses.

Carolinus hears a hissing and the sound of metal boots on the gantryways.

Garret runs to the smashed chair and grabs a large piece as an improvised weapon. Rashmus lashes out with his shock mauls and savagely smash him in his torso and he falls to the floor. The Ogryn goes to Cassius and another prisoner attacks Rashmus with a chair leg. The leg strikes true but Rashmus is unphased. Cassius channels his sorcery and casts smite on the Ogryn again. Cassius tries to cast it and opens a rift in the warp and, for a brief time, takes on a demonic appearance (HERETIC) freezing the Ogryn in terror. He takes the opportunity to flee the Ogryn. Carolinus throws another kick and the prisoner is knocked to the ground. Brander strikes out at the prisoner on the ground and does minimal damage. Garret turns around to see Cassius take on the form of a demon and starts freaking out. He frantically throws the chair at the Ogryn and misses him. Rashmus strikes the prisoner on the ground with his shock mauls and strikes viciously at the prisoner smashing his head in and killing him. The Ogryn is paralyzed with fear still. Cassius casts a mind wipe on Garret and Garret tries to fight him off but fails. Garret’s mind is erased for about 10 minutes.  The Arbitees reinforcements surge on the gantry. Carolinus grabs a table leg and runs to support Garret. The Arbitees order the prisoners to their cells and for the others to identify themselves. Brander picks up a shiv and equips it. Garret slowly walks towards the armed Arbites. Rashmus shouts out his identity and a brief overview of the situation. He then prepares to jump into a cell if it is Friedrick. The Ogryn is once again paralyzed in fear. Cassius moves to the group. Carolinus moves back to the group.

Garret calls out Friedrick and causes Rashmus to dodge into a cell nearby. Rashmus calls out that the threat is neutralized and to stand down. It is unclear what the group should do right now. Cassius readies a psylink on the Justicar and Carolinus clears his hands of the chair leg and waits for a response.

The Arbites advance and fire on the group with shotguns and all miss. Carolinus dodges into the cell. Brander dodges into a cell. Garret dodges into a cell. Rashmus goes across to Brander’s cell and calls on his radio for assistance. Cassius dives into a cell block. Carolinus braces himself in the door. Brander runs out and faces the Abeit’s shotgun and dodges them. He takes a swing at the Arbites and misses. Garret tries to shove the Ogryn out from his fear and fails. Rashmus charges Justicar Friedrick with his shock mauls and strikes him in the head, arm, and torso stunning him heavily. The Ogryn finally overcomes his fear and snaps out of it. Cassius fires a smite at the Arbite and lashes out bolts of energy ripping his enemy apart. Carolinus runs up to an Arbite and the Arbite draws a shock maul to strike him. The shock maul strikes and Carolinus is stunned. The Arbite against brander draws his shock maul and misses him. Brander grapples with the Arbite and pins him on the wall. Garret convinces the Ogryn to attack the Arbitees. Rashmus charges the second Arbite and slams both with a flurry of blows. He strikes with righteous fury upon the two and knocked one out. The Ogryn comes down the hall and challenges Rashmus. Cassius tries to mind read Justicar Friedrick and Cassius punches through his mental defenses.

Searching his memories he sees the Marshal and Justicar Friedrick are the ones that set up the riot, that Trant was producing the drug, Trant had a drug addiction, and more incriminating evidence.

Brander takes the shiv he collected and stabs at the Arbite. Garret asks Cassius what is happening and Cassius fills him in. With the Ogryn charging Rashmus, Rashmus charges back at him and strikes at him with righteous fury! The blows hit hard. The other two Arbites push the Ogryn back into his cell after allowing Cassius to leave. The two then manacle Friedrick and the other and demand the others submit. Cassius reveals himself on behalf of the Inquisition and charges the two Arbites take control of the situation.  

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Stream XII: Syrae Custodas

After the inquisitors have sorted themselves they go to a conference room on the Emerald Tigress to discuss their next move. Back in the conference room Carolinus and Cassius once again look over the book that seemed so important before and Cassius uses some of his sorcery to try and boost his perception nearly causing a catastrophic breach in the warp and almost destroying all of creation. (Our heroes! God Emperor help us.)

But he reins it in and both look over the book in extreme detail and find almost nothing extraordinary except that Raevarn put it as payment to the the owner for “services rendered”. Also inside is annotations musing on the Inquisition and the Imperium. Trying to consider the writings Cassius find most of it is beyond his paygrade but a study of the general book can help raise their understanding of the Imperium. Turning back to Garret and Brander they seem to be on to being undercover to infiltrate the prison but searching a planet is difficult. Brander suggests that they allow the enemy to come to them by being undercover yet obvious. Allow the enemy to see them investigating and scare them into making a move against them to silence them. Carolinus counters that they only need to limit their search to the facility and that instead of the enemy coming to them it might scare the people involved with the production of the drug off world. Cassius suggests that both sides have merit and they must balance safety and simplicity which has Carolinus concern. Cassius asks whether they could go under the guise of the Administratum doing an audit of the facility. They can use it as an in to get around to inspecting places with power surges. Carolinus agrees that their search should be limited to likely areas of infrastructure with power access and sterile environment. Cassius suggests also looking for signs of behavioral shifts in the prisoners or guards in case the drug is being produced to control prisoners.

Brander also notes that the fact that the parasite must be extracted killing the host might allow them to establish a pattern. The prisoners could be set against one another and have the slug extracted from the corpse. They are suggested to be armed except in certain areas and they can get a credible backstory with the Administratum members. They don’t figure the corruption doesn’t reach to higher levels of government based on the size of the drug ring. They figure that perhaps the Medicae is one of the best places to start the investigation. With their plan settled they consider that they notify someone high up in order to make the infiltration smoother. They decide to meet either the Planetary Governor Rhyo Khizmit or Marshal Trant of the Arbites to try and make someone aware of their presence. Carolinus suggests going to Marshal Trant instead of the governor and Cassius agrees.

Going to the captain’s quarters Cassius hopes to meet with Julius to meet with the astropath to send a message out to Marshal Trant. Cassius asks Julius if he had visited the planet and if he had dealings with Marshal Trant. He doesn’t have much on Trant but does know Khizmit’s military history and governorship. He able to speak for Trant but offers some advice on Khizmit and his lackluster history in the imperium. Cassius mentions the book and asks if Julius was was once an initiate much like themselves. He says that it might be true and that Julius got out of the Inquisition which makes Cassius hopeful for his own future. After a short time smoking Cassius sends his message to Trant. Justicar Augustus responds to get the credentials of the group and they relay their business on behalf of the Administratum. The rest of the group find a few more drinks and game while they wait for the ship to arrive. Cassius remarks that Khizmit was sent to the planet as a punishment for military incompetence and that might put him in suspicion about the ring. Trant however seems duty bound and honorable making him an effective choice. Carolinus suggests that the governor might be a difficult lead to follow and agrees with going for Trant.

After a drunken night of shenanigans Cassius wakes and finds he received a reply from Trant  confirming what he sent in his message. The group reconvene into the main room to ready themselves. Cassius reveals the Marshal Arbite is ready to receive them and the group are relieved to hear he is on their side. He also notes that he will need an alias to go by to hide his recognizable name. He settles on Ichabod Kohl while Brander settles on Gregor Athorne. Carolinus settles on Omadon. They decide to try and cooperate with the marshal to keep him monitoring their situation. The group ready up for the mission and Cassius has a pass at Leasari and Leasari kisses Brander on the cheek to snuff him. Crawling into the shuttle they make their way to the planet. Before taking off a brief scuffle in the cockpit between Brander and Garret ensue. They finally get underway.

Flying down to the surface of Syrae Custodas they see the giant armored dome of the food processing plant. Because of the hostile environment Carolinus unpacks the voidsuits at Branders warning but then they decide against it. The slightly acidic taste and higher gravity of the world take their toll on the group except for Brander with his rebreather. Carolinus takes off at a full sprint and reaches the door quickly. Cassius struggles at the heavy atmosphere and gravity to the door. The Arbites meet them and usher them into the main complex. Cassius then asks for the Arbite’s name and rank to include in a report for his earlier rudeness. The Arbites in turn take their identification with the false name. Cassius is straining under the strain of the atmosphere of the planet where he isn’t used to it and the others do well enough. The blessed airlock opens and the group return to their senses and breath well. They are greeted by a Justicar and are lead around the Arbite Marshal’s office. The world seems a bit smaller than a standard imperial planet but at least has all the amenities of a semi-civilized society. The Arbite’s facility however seems a large black-grey monolithic block. The main prison fortress and the intake for Beta colony. The group talk with the Justicar about the prison and what type of prisoners are kept here. The non-violent offenders are kept in Beta and allowed to stay mostly unchecked. The spaceport is tightly controlled with explosives that can be triggered if anyone tries to escape. They do have reserves of food, mostly for the Arbites, that can last for years and a limited capacity to grow their own food. Finally the mines do have a layer of atmosphere to cover workers from the effects of the atmosphere. Carolinus then gets a notification on the dataslate that all the stuff he has taken has been dumped onto the planet for their stay.

The process to get through security is a long and laborious process and one Arbite talks to Brander about the rebreather. They make their way through the security checkpoints and to the Marshal’s office. The Justicar rings them in and the group enter the office. The room is very plain and basic with chairs that are by design uncomfortable in front of the Marshal’s desk. Marshal Trant seems exhausted to deal with the Administratum. Cassius asks to turn off the recording devices and Garret and Brander to block the door. Cassius reintroduces themselves on behalf of the Inquisition. He seems still exhausted to deal with the Inquisition and to sweeten the deal Cassius offers to deal with any problem that the Marshal cannot handle through official channels. Brander looks over the man as he goes over the credentials and gets the sense that he is over exaggerating to an extent but does seem genuinely concerned and hostile. The Marshal decides to help them outside the normal structure of command, offers them access to the equipment of the prison, and a lead on where to look first. In exchange the Marshal wishes to be kept abreast of the situation and have he will do the same to make their stay here easier. Finally Cassius asks about Khizmit and his activities on the planet. He has mostly stayed out of the prison’s affairs but the Marshal is still not overly fond of him. He mentions a military failure that cost him his command and Brander vaguely remembers something to the effect of a military defeat to the Orkz. They thank the Marshal for his cooperation and leave.

The Justicar leads them to their lodgings and shows them to an interrogation room. Carolinus asks to requisition weapons and is turned down for taking them into high security areas. They talk about how the Marshal might have some grasp of the situation going on inside of his prison more than he let on. This might put him under suspicion of collusion in the ring and thus make him a threat. However it seems unlikely that the Marshal would risk his position and reputation by having a hand in it. Carolinus then proposes a counter argument that maybe the Arbites are not involved at all and maybe a guard captain, the governor, or some low level gang might be the real ring leaders. Cassius then turns to Brander about the battle that supposedly got the governor demoted to his current situation. Cassius suggests poking the Marshal for reactions by falsifying a small bit of the reports they send with particulars of the parasite and see what happens and judge his reactions.

They decide to try and equip for the mission as best that they can. The group must strike a balance between weapons and secrecy on this mission to avoid raising unwanted questions. The Marshal should help them handwave some of them but it still has them concerned. The group hail the Marshal’s aide to bring them to the medical facilities for their inspection. The cover story is that the group is investigating Synthetic Bubo-Carcinogenic Plague outbreak in the colony. Carolinus takes some time to investigate his records to ready himself for it. Returning to the shuttle to grab their weapons Carolinus makes a show of ordering around his “hired help” but the Justicar is less than impressed with them.

She takes the group over to the medical facility and the group get to work. Carolinus looks over the triage facility and looks over the medical logs. The orderly comes along and demands that he stop looking through the logs and when Cassius tries to intervene Carolinus tries to calm her. It doesn’t work and she storms off in a huff. Garret tries to get the orderly and Cassius tries to talk to the Justicar. Garret tries his best to persuade the woman and his rugged charm eventually wins over Rose’s trust. Carolinus asks for incidents of the plague and a stock list of drugs so that Carolinus can look over it.  He then looks over the bodies of the Arbites and speaks to one of the injured ones. Cassius hits up the Justicar who admonishes him for accosting the medicae and Carolinus looks through the stock of drugs and looks through the list for any anomalies. It has a wide range of drugs but nothing really stands out to him about the list. Cassius goes out to smoke a Lho Stick as Carolinus takes Rose through the steps and procedures involved in containing and treating the plague and updating the stock to help contain infections in one block of the prison. Carolinus continues to talk to Rose, apologizing for his earlier behavior, and gets the names of Junka and Zebrom who head up the other medical facilities of the prison blocks. Garret speaks to Rose a bit further and asks about any strange or uncharacteristic behavior from the prisoners. She says she doesn’t know of anyone who might be affected like that recently but she agrees to watch for it. Garret goes to recapture Cassius and instead takes a Lho Stick to join him. After a time smoking away the two return to the group and they all go to corpse storage. Brander also mentions they should look at shipments of medical equipment for anything untoward and Carolinus agrees to look. Carolinus goes over the cadavers in the storage in fine detail and sees that apparently none of the Arbite corpses have an indication of parasites or surgical tools. He doesn’t find anything out of the ordinary on the corpses which indicates they were probably not part of the drug ring even tangentially.

They move on to the cryo facility and Cassius asks about requisitioning respirators from the marshal. The cryo facility has Garret fascinated and Brander goes around the room to scrutinize everything. He finds nothing but a bottle of booze loving stored to keep it chilled and makes sure not to notify Garret of its existence. Carolinus’s inspection doesn’t go over much better and cryonics seems to not be his specialty. He seems to be interested in the tools rather than the storage devices but again it seems out of his depth to scrutinize. Carolinus suggests getting into the secured console in order to try and reach some data that can affect the investigation. Cassius goes to the Justicar to ask about accessing the terminal and she agrees to allow them access. With that Carolinus looks up information about the incident 2 years ago. 114 died from the gas leak, more were exposed, and some were never reintroduced to the general population. He then goes over the list of equipment shipped to the planet for clues.

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Stream XI: The Room

Two weeks after the attack by the Dark Eldar on the station Carolinus spent the time fixing the station long enough to survive until the Imperial Navy could pick them up. Examining the Lance Battery further they find a Dark Eldar bomb that caused the electrical disturbances they found earlier. The charge was dumped close or manually flown onto the station but they find nothing more useful. Looking through the research area they find most of the equipment and area has been ravaged. There is a heavy blast door that survived the attack however that captures Carolinus’s interest. He tries to drill through the bulkhead but doesn’t make much progress. Looking through the computer core Carolinus finds nothing about the age of the door or the room it protects. Using his Auspecs Carolinus sees that the signal is dampened and nothing seems to be going through. Interfacing with the keypad Carolinus works on opening the door and encounters biometric locks. He requests Cassisus to speak with the recovering astropath on the station to see if he can find anything out.

The Astropath has moved back to his bunk on the crew quarters. Cassius finds him in his quarters and asks him about the room. Cassius and the astropath go through their memories and exchange what people look like to find the station commander Joseph Ciarh. After that the Astropath goes to rest and Cassius takes a look at the bodies on the station to try and find the face to no avail. It seems only conscripted guardsmen and the Mechanicus members are among the dead meaning that the station staff and researchers maybe dead and missing. The mechanicus members might be able to access the eye scanner but the finger scanners might prove difficult. With no other choices open to them Carolinus goes to retrieve the Mechanicus eyes and Cassius takes the opportunity to use Warp Perception, practicing sorcery to try and perceive some of the more minute details around him and picks up a note of a discharge on the door or an explosion which he notes to Carolinus. Carolinus tries to find more out about the possible but doesn't find much. Brander, after being in the medbay for a while, looks through the station to find anything out about the room but that it wasn’t hidden from the schematic.

At the scanner again the Mechanicus eye and Cassius’s eye doesn’t work. Garret explains that they have a bomb onboard, the Eldar bomb on the station, to see if they could open the door. Carolinus is not so sure and wants to determine the yield of the bomb and its destructive capabilities. Garret further presses that they could use the bomb as they are abandoning the station and Carolinus still thinks its best to study the weapon before using it before it blows the station apart. Looking at the bomb Carolinus determines the bomb is running on low power and seemingly its function has been fulfilled. They might not even be able to use it based on its complexity. Carolinus returns to confer with the others and reveals his findings that it is significantly drained of its full potential and that he could seal the station to prevent as much damage as he could. There seems to be no way to remotely detonate the weapon directly but other triggering methods could work. They decide to use another explosion to detonate the device and retreat to what they believe is a safe position. Brander seems nervous about the situation and suggests looking into using some of the station equipment to slice into the door. They decide to try that before detonating the device as well as finding void suits for safety.

Using the cutting lasers on the station Garret makes some headway into the door and Carolinus gets to the Adamantium layer and smells some strange crystalline component to the metal. Inspecting it further something flickers red on the keypad. The keypad informs them that some security measure has been activated. Carolinus tries to hack through the keypad and arcs of electricity goes into the dataslate and into Carolinus’s arm. The dataslate is destroyed and a second warning light flashes across the keypad. They decide to shut off main power to the station section and the security still works.

They consider offlining the station and its emergency power to see if the security will deactivate and ready the station to make sure nothing will happen. As the power goes off and the gravity shuts down Carolinus goes to the keypad and waits. The keypad shuts off after 4 hours and Carolinus waits longer to confirm it and uses his Auspecs to detect anything out of the ordinary in the room. He determines that the keypad and security was hooked up to the auxiliary power which is odd. He then scans some more and finds a few more oddities and after a day he is confident that no more security measures will impede them. The group decide to suit up as they continue cutting the door and move everyone to the main CIC.

Carolinus continues cutting and has trouble getting through the adamantium layer and makes some headway. After another day he tries again and doesn’t get anywhere with it. Carolinus considers trying to cut the way around it but he might have to consider bringing life support back online. Carolinus and Garret are slowly suffering the effects of minor hypoxia and Cassius sees the symptoms of it in him. Carolinus feels that he is at the limit of his oxygen deprivation and decides to keep cutting. Garret meanwhile has stormed off to other parts of the station and he gets lost in it. Cassius meanwhile tries to get to the power room and gets lost and Brander and the Astropath follow him down. After 4 hours they reach the generator and Carolinus has only cut through some of the power cables before Cassius announces he’ll switch the power back on. Garret finds himself in a strange round room. Cassius tries to turn the power on and turns on… Something. Brander doesn’t help the problem and the Astropath walks over and presses the correct button to get the button on. It turns out Cassius maxed the station generator out and didn’t introduce the coolant which could have caused a meltdown if it didn’t get coolant. Garret falls down hard on a stairwell and smashes his head on it hard. (He survives two Dark Eldar raiders but a stairwell almost kills him). Carolinus decides to give up on opening the door and Garret moves the alien device to the door.

After two days an Imperial Frigate carrying Raevarn and the group make their report to the Inquisitor. They all go to the docking bay to receive Raevarn and the delegation of tech priests flanking him. Cassius presents the Eldar weapon and armor to the Inquisitor and reports the alien is dead. Brander has some harsh words for Interrogator Kahn and Raevarn admonishes him for questioning Kahn’s order and if he has a complaint about it. Brander quickly excuses his crassness and says only he is distraught about the state of his leg. Raevarn then presents Brander a cyberleg replacement and Cassius warns Raevarn of the traps littering the station. He also makes mention of the living Astropath and the Mechanicus body. Raevarn goes to the sealed room and seems angry that it was attempted to be breached. Cassius tries to explain why the door was breached and his explanation doesn’t agree with Raevarn. He turns to Carolinus for an answer and he explains what really happened. Raevarn then opens the door himself. The room is largely empty except for a very high tech battery that fairly recently discharged whatever energy charge it once held. They are interested in why the energy cell discharged its charge and Raevarn asks about strange energy readings and Brander reports that the bomb did show them strange energy readings. Raevarn reveals the bomb was made to sap energy and concludes that must have caused it. Raevarn commands Carolinus help fit Brander’s new leg and Cassius to check out any daemonic presence around. Cassius uses Psyniscience and cannot get the spell to work. He then goes to enlist the astropath to join him to check the station. The Astropath senses something not of this plane was here and he is intimidated and panicked. Cassius helps him steady himself and calms the astropath down so he can locate the source of the distress. He mentions that the disturbance is on the spine and the guardsman ushers the astropath to the frigate.

Cassius and Garret go to Raevarn and reports that there was an incursion on the station Raevarn asks where on the edges of it. Raevarn then dismisses him and Garret’s crassness makes Raevarn dismiss him as well. Before he leaves Cassius asks what will happen to the astropath and begs his mercy for his service in the mission. Raevarn dismisses Garret to speak to Cassius about his position on the Psykers. Raevarn tells him that he can be merciful to Psykers unlike Kahn seems to be. He tells Cassius to give him a copy of his report when they report back to Kahn and tells the guardsmen to take care of the astropath. He also mentions to Cassius he should be discreet in sending him more information when requested. He admits the Inquisition can sometimes gain friction between its members and that he will be on Cassius’s side for the most part. The inquisitors board the frigate and leave off the station.

Carolinus and the tech priests help out with hooking up Brander’s new prosthetic leg. It is a simple procedure and before he realizes it Brander has a brand new prosthetic leg. It is a quality leg that can feel pressure and basic sensory perception. Raevarn asks Carolinus if there is anything that the others have left out and if they found any of the psykers on the station. Carolinus reports no others were on the station aside the astropath and the corporal guardsman.

Raevarn then dismisses Carolinus and turns to Brander offering answers to whatever is on his mind. Brander asks Raevarn to reveal what is on Icthion as they had found Genestealers on it. Raevarn reveals that people and Genestealers are on the planet but they are local and isolated. Also a few other sites of the inquisitorial interests. He pushes on how they are alive and Raevarn reveals that the memory of the exterminatus of Brander’s home was an implanted memory. Raevarn reveals that while the inquisitorial conclave debated exterminatus of his home any others would have been killed who were possibly exposed to Genestealers. Raevarn saved Brander from death and overrode his memory. Brander presses him on why Genestealers were allowed to continue to exist and Raevarn responds that while Exterminatus would normally be required but that Icthion is important related to the retreat of the warp storm and humanity as a whole. He is not willing to throw away such an asset and will continue to block the planet’s destruction. He mentions that there are necessary steps he must take in his role as Inquisitor that might go against his personal feelings and that of Brander. The people down there are trapped and fighting against the tyrannids for their lives and can’t be taken out because of the quarantine. Brander says that after their business with Icthion is finished they should destroy the world completely. After this Raevarn offers to station him further off from him. Brander mentions he is okay with his station but that he is dissatisfied with Kahn after the incident on the research station and the corrupt librarians on the hive world. He is angry about Kahn sending them on missions possibly to try and dispose of them. Raevarn reminds him of his commitment to the Emperor and his duties and leaves him be.

Outside Carolinus talks to Raevarn about the state of the acolytes and how Kahn operates with them. Carolinus mentions that Kahn is devout and single minded in his work and that this can be advantageous but also presents a certain inflexibility that locks out  paths of performing their duty. Raevarn responds that faith and small mindedness can lead to blindness and that he appreciates the Mechanicus’s work regardless of his beliefs. After he leaves Carolinus speaks to Brander about his relationship with Raevarn and that Brander has a more personal bond with him. Brander remembers the time Raevarn met him that he was being pursued by something whilst going after some object. Carolinus reveals that he was brought into the Inquisition by the will of the Omnisiah and that he had dangerous knowledge of a type. They then are summoned to the CIC after a bit more small talk.

Raevarn greets them after they arrive and briefs them on a new job. It seems there is an issue on Serae Custodes, a prison world, where prisoners are making an illicit drug and the inquisition doesn’t know where it originates and how it is shipped. It is a compound used for truth serums in interrogations named Veritas that is formed from a cranial parasite. They are to find how the drug is being produced and shut it down. They are being transported by the Emerald Tigress to the world and get their items back from where they left them. With that Raevarn leaves them and Carolinus parts way to speak to the Mechanicus about the Servo Skull and the augments. They do not have the parts needed for a Servitor Skull.

Captain Valentine greets the group in his lavish gold embossed cruiser and offers them drinks and food. He is saddened at Ciarh’s death and seems to be taking it well. They sit down to dinner and Leasari joins them. The group talks over their recent adventures including the time Cassius was shot in the library and Brander’s encounter with the xeno assailant that cost him his leg. Leasari goes to bring the ship to warp and Cassius stands up causing her to tell him off. They continue the evening with food and drink and retire to their rooms. The next day Cassius shows Julius his captured Splinter Rifle and offers to buy it off from him or trade for an item of his own collection. He trades the rifle off for corneal lenses and a photovisor. Garret finds him next and asks Julius about the state of Raevarn and how he seemed irritated with the situation in general and with the station. Julius opts to try and dodge the question and offers that he may be stressed about Joseph’s death and the destruction of a valuable asset. Garret again pushes the subject and asks if any other station has suffered an attack of a similar nature. Julius mentions that Dark Eldar are able to impersonate allies and mentions that there might be a solution to it in psyniscience. Garret finds it odd that psykers were on the station, that there were none left after the attack, and that the Dark Eldar don’t employ them themselves. Brander checks on the repairs done to the Skybeast and looks over the work to his satisfaction. Carolinus finds a small shipping container in the cargo bay that he finds interesting.  Carolinus goes to Julius for help in acquiring cerebral implants for himself and offers the splinter rifle and the poisoned dagger in trade. It's a hard sell to be sure but Julius says he will take a look for Carolinus.

They all group up and decide how to infiltrate Serae Custodes. The planet is a prison colony world that is barren and has a corrosive atmosphere and higher than standard pressure. It is split into five sections and a main hub with each section containing different level of security levels and manufacturing plants. The primary objective is to find out who is producing and shipping the drugs and shut down the operation with either arresting or killing any participants. They need to find the brain parasites that are on the planet and destroy them. Cassius suggests going under the guise of Mechanicus checking the manufacturing plants. Carolinus shoots the idea down and Garret offers a few other ideas and Cassius suggests disguising themselves as Ministorum agents that could gain demographic information. The records don’t show any record of strange shipments to help limit their search. Brander suggests that the cave is out and Cassius agrees. Garret suggests that the manufacturing plants are the best area to check followed by the forbidden zone. Carolinus suggests that the guards maybe cohorts in the drug ring or even running it to use the drugs to control and suppress the prisoner populations. It is said that the parasites maybe vat born and could require a significant amount of power to draw that they could follow but that is a hard lead to track without more knowledge. They decide to infiltrate as part of the Ministorum and prepare to come into the orbit of the planet.

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Stream X: Hunters in the Dark

Under the corpse Cassius makes a Psyniscience and can’t focus enough to sense a lot. Cassius regards the corpse in disgust as Carolinus severs the wrists and ankles and cuts the corpse down. Cassius rifles through his pockets quickly and then presses himself on the wall trying to open a door to a side door. Nothing happens. He then asks Carolinus what the best way to get the power back on and the group discuss the current power situation on the station. The life support, shuttle room, and some systems seem to be active but might be on a dedicated system. The problem is with main power with the life support and artificial gravity being spotty. Brander suggests going to the main generator to restore power and after that Cassius adds they should find some way to contact the Imperial Navy or Inquisition for assistance. They need to decide what their next objective is and go to it. The soldier has dogtags indicating he’s part of the regiment of gaurdsmen sent to retake the station. Carolinus looks over Branders suit and finds a puncture hole the self-sealed. He mentions it is probably for best to continue wearing it. He also admonishes Garret for not using his to which Garret just shrugs and disregards him.

Cassius decides to urge the group to move forward into a side room. Carolinus opens a side room and it opens to a bathroom. Carolinus quickly checks the plumbing and sees no pressure in the pipes suggesting the power is indeed off. Under Branders guidance the group move forward carefully to try and find a more secure location to hole up and begin their way to the generator. The group is not pleased not finding any guardsmen that are alive and hopes to find soldiers as they move on. Carolinus takes point with his light and leads the group forward. The vox shudders to life and a scream of pain echoes from it before falling silent. Carolinus tries to measure out the distance from the noise to locate where it came from with the auger array. Cassius psynisciences the area (and finally hits it) getting the smell of blood and fear all around. Malice and pain haunts the rooms. Carolinus tries to stop the group with Cassius hitting him. Carolinus sees a trap ahead. It doesn’t seem like an Imperial contraption, maybe something crafted hastily in desperation. Upon further inspection it seems to be a shaped charge of an alien design. Carolinus agrees to illuminate the device while Garret attempts to disarm the device. The complication of the device confounds him and the tremors set the explosive off.

Garret is caught in the explosion from the side and gets burns all down his arm and face getting moderately wounded and knocked down. The others rush to Garret and Carolinus works on him to heal up his wounds. As he is finishing up a shot rings out and hits Carolinus. He feels something foreign enter his bloodstream and feels poison within him but he shakes it off after a while. He sees the puncture wound in the spacesuit seal and turns around looking for the assailant. Brander decides to fire in the direction Carolinus turns in order to try and hit or suppress the enemy. Brander while moving forward trips over something. Picking himself up he sees it is another mutilated corpse and he scampers backwards in fear towards the T-junction. Carolinus yells at him to stop but Brander fails to do so and an emergency door comes crashing down on top of him. He moves to try and get clear of the door but it crushes his leg and pins him under it. Cassius commands carolinus to cover him while he tries to get the door off of Brander and he and Garret set up an overwatch. Carolinus and Cassius run over the corpse to reach Brander and Brander tries to lift the door himself and fails. Carolinus tries to leverage the door open with a small trolley which snaps throwing Carolinus back and coming back onto Brander’s leg. Cassius and Carolinus try again to lift it up and jam it open allowing them to reach Brander and having Carolinus patch him up. They find some chemical lights and improvise some scraps together to cobble together some improvised items. While they do something fires at Garret and the group swing around

The group looks around for the assailant and after stepping on Brander’s leg accidentally, Carolinus senses blood and directs the group forward taking point as Brander reloads. A groaning in pain comes over the station vox unit and Carolinus uses his auger array to pick up the relative location of the voice. Carolinus notes that the vox unit and the original assailant points to the fact there maybe multiple assailants on the station. They look around the floor and come across the mess hall and Carolinus suggests leaving improvised weapons and traps to slow any pursuers and act as a warning system to make sure they aren’t surprised from behind. Looking around they consider their options for a while. As they do a person fires on Garret and Cassius tries to psyniscience but fails to pick up anything significant. They decide to try and move forward and find a hallway with no gravity on. Before they move on however Carolinus tries to find something that could make a noise to try and create a fake wounded soldier to draw out the assailant. They can’t set the trap now but will consider it for later. With this they move on to the zero-g corridor. The corridor is filled with odds and ends floating gently in zero-g with a grisly severed hand among it.

Carolinus uses his auger array picking up laz cells and cordite from kinetic weapons. He sees a corpse floating near him in military fatigues. He reaches out into the zero-g corridor and pulls the corpse towards him. A grenade falls out of the corpse, apparently trapped. Carolinus dives on the grenade and covers the grenade up with the corpse to dampen the explosion. The grenade explodes and obliterates the corpse and Carolinus takes some minor damage to his right hand. His void suit is pretty mangled but otherwise Carolinus is okay. He allows his mechadendrite to heal him up. Brander readies his weapon as Carolinus grabs part of the corpse and props it up against the wall and retreats to the group. Leaving his microbead on the corpse Carolinus is trying to set a trap for the enemies by having Brander broadcast to it and Brander tosses a light out to illuminate the area. The group try to lure out the enemy to try and ambush them. Carolinus sees the edge of a gun and then a body in a strange carapace armor with spikes along the side and glowing eyes. The enemy goes through to the propped up corpse and draws a knife to take a prize. Carolinus aims, activates the STAB light, and opens fire on the enemy.

Carolinus opens fire and hits twice for minor damage on the arm and leg. Brander draws his pistols, fires, and hits once in his leg. Cassius fires a smite using his heretical knowledge in sorcery to strengthen his power and strikes him fiercely causing major damage. Garret draws his weapon and fires on the enemy hitting his head and smashing through the helmet. Enter initiative. The enemy draws a knife and retreats to cover. He throws the knife at Carolinus but misses his knife. The enemy then retreats into the stairwell and into cover. Garret wheels around and fires on the assailant melting his leg and severing it. The assailant screams and then falls silent. Exit initiative.

The group venture forth to inspect the kill. They see the assailant is not a human and that his armor is in rough condition. Carolinus retrieves the knife and drags the corpse back out of the zero-g area just past Cassius who is slowly trying to chase after it. Upon further inspection the knife is poisoned and not of human origin. Brander stays in the background as they bring the corpse back to the grav environment. Cassius tries and fumbles trying to get the armor off of the xeno. Carolinus picks up the rifle of the Xenos with great care and Cassius struggles to go through the enemy’s armor. Carolinus gives the rifle a look over but can’t get a lot of information without looking at the particulars in a controlled setting. He carefully wraps the xeno rifle with the shredded void suit. Cassius tries to remove the helmet with Carolinus’s help and he damages it in the attempt. After his slip up Carolinus goes to medicae his hand and Cassius fools about with the helmet. Brander, keeping his promise from before, takes his chainsword and slices the xeno’s head off. The group cannot figure out what the assailant is or what they are doing here. Garret goes to watch the groups six. Cassius asks if the helmet has any sort of communication device that could give them an edge in combatting them but cannot figure out the devices. Carolinus urges the group to press on. They decide to trap the body of the Xenos with a fragmentation grenade to try and delay anyone who maybe on their way to investigate the disturbance.

The group makes their way through the low gravity corridor. Garret and Carolinus get to the end of the corridor and look over an area built by the Mechanicus finding litanies and offerings. Looking around Carolinus finds a member of the Mechanicus horribly mutilated and ripped in half on the wall. Along the wall are more members of the Guardsmen platoon crucified on the walls. Garret and Carolinus are shocked by the sight and Carolinus picks up a weak heartbeat near the end of the hall. Catching up to the group Brander and Cassius sees the crucified bodies. Cassius feels fear fight at him but manages to hold himself steady. Brander however is terrified and runs away with Cassius trying to command him to keep control of himself to no avail. He goes and rushes back into the zero g hallway. Carolinus and Garret find the one who is barely alive with his ribcage ripped open. An imperial guardswoman is breathing lightly and is in pain. The dog tags identify her as Jeanette Vice. Carolinus tries to gently piece her back together and works as a makeshift life support for her to try and get information from her. Cassius shows her the helmet of the alien and her heartbeat increases. Carolinus tries to regulate her heartbeat and the corporal mentions one more alien. Cassius tries to enter the corporal’s mind to try and dives to see the events of the past.

The soldier is in the troop transport and has her group move to capture the gerneratorium. When they do so the soldiers the soldiers seem to have trouble with their electronics. The soldiers suddenly come under attack in a dark corridor. The guardsmen get cut down quickly and the group splinters. Later the splintered group finds the crucified bodies and is attacked again. The xenos crucify her and mutilate her body leaving her to die with a toxin keeping her alive. Cassius is shaken seeing the trauma she has endured and recoils. Brander back in the hall feels a sharp pain as something cold and metallic penetrates the back of his head. He feels a cold numbing seize his face and Brander, through sheer force of will, keeps his senses about him. Enter initiative.

Brander shouts in pain into his microbead as assailant takes another strike at Brander. Brander tries to dodge but he doesn’t have anything to push off of in zero-g. Brander is stabbed and drops his pistol in the corridor. Brander’s suit is torn up and he must act quick to survive. Brander draws his chainsword and activates his flamer function. He fires at the assailant and narrowly misses and bits of flaming promethium are now in the stairwell. Brander then draws a pistol and misses. The xeno pulls off his helmet and attacks Brander with the knife striking him in the leg as he fails in zero-g. The leg of Brander is lopped off and he is bleeding heavily and screaming. He lies there stunned and near death. Cassius withdraws from the mind of the Corporal and Carolinus stops her life support. Cassius mercy kills the corporal and Carolinus runs off. Carolinus and Garret sprint across the station with Cassius lagging behind. Garret sprints into the stairwell and the xenos starts to drag Brander through the stairwell to the opening. Carolinus brings his light to bare on the assailant and Garret fires on the Xeno splattering its right leg and killing it in one shot. Exit Combat.

Carolinus quickly moves in to save Brander and stops his bleeding bringing him back to the fold. Brander is still heavily wounded and lost his leg but alive. Cassius tries to revitalize Brander to help wake him up from unconsciousness.  The group make their way into the generatorium and the equipment is running cold. Cassius quickly picks through the xeno corpse and picks up the helmet of the xeno. After a bit of effort the group restore power and reset the equipment. Carolinus finds a vox unit that has pained screams on the other end. Cassius relays the corporals memories and Carolinus is flabbergasted that two xenos caused all of this. Carolinus uses the vox to check on survivors but to no avail. The gravity and life support come on line and regular lighting is restored. The Gantry and the command center is currently breached but no major warnings are sounded. Carolinus decides to try to help Brander to a lift to get everyone to the control center.

Moving to the command center they see several activated traps and find a man in a white cloth outfit attached to an intravenous drip making him scream in pain. Cassius psynisciences and discovers he is another psyker. Carolinus moves to treat the screaming man and manages to calm him. The psyker tells him that he tried to warn them and the group informs him that the xenos are dead. Cassius tries to psionically assist him to try and get a message to the Imperial Navy. There is still a hostile ship out there and it must be destroyed if they are to be saved. Carolinus moves to the command center and checks the system stations. The shielding is down, the macro turrets are loaded and functional, and the lance would need power rerouted. Race against time begins as the ship grows closer.

Carolinus  bypasses the blown capacitors to get the shield recharging. Brander informs Carolinus that circuits need to be rerouted to power it. Cassius moves to the Vox console and orders any surviving crew to come to the command deck to help combat the ship. Carolinus powers up the stations Lance Battery and Brander is at the gunners chair of the macro battery. The ship moves closer and starts to pitch. The prow cannon on the enemy ship fires and the void shield absorbs it. Brander fires the macrobattery at the enemy ship barely skimming the surface of the ship. The second shot hits dead on the enemy ship and does a good amount of damage. Cassius notices that the ship has a camouflage on trying to obscure it in space. The Lance Battery is charged and Brander fires at the ship. The transport ship is hit by the lance and the ship has several explosions in the aft section. It starts to turn tail and flee engagement. Brander fires again and misses the ship by a wide margin as it flees. Carolinus uses the retro thrusters to try and spin the station slowly. Brander fires the final Macro Cannon and the round flies wide. The ship flees and Carolinus considers his options with the Lance Cannon. Carolinus miraculously by the Machine Spirits repairs the Lance and he has three more shots. The first shot misses and Cassius inspires Brander to focus. The lance strikes the aft of the ship and at first it doesn’t seem to have worked…. Then something breaches, gasses vent out into the void, then the ship violently leaks out dark energy, explosions rock the ship as the engines and generator overload, the ship violently explodes in the void. The Lance also overloads and destroys the command console destroying the Lance. After a short reprieve the group goes about the grim task of cutting the bodies down. Carolinus brings down the Mechanicus brothers carefully and does the same to Corporal Vice. Cassius collects all the guardsmen’s dogtags and picks up Corporal Vice’s Laz Pistol. Carolinus suggests her skull be used as a servoskull. Brander is rather solemn about the event as Cassius agrees to hand her body and pistol over.

Brander then remembers to requisition a ship to search for the Sky Beast and they find it orbiting the nearby planet. The group go aboard the Navy ships and make their way back to report to Khan.

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Stream IX: Darkest Corruption Timeline- Halloween Special!

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Stream VIII: Space Station Zebra

The group take a week off on Cypri Copia and Garret hangs out with Khan’s guards. Cassius goes behind Interrogator Khan’s back and goes to Raevarn through astropaths about Khan’s questionable behavior trying to be a secret from the Inquisition and hopes to seek his council. Raevarn responds that he perhaps was too eager to follow the chain of command and that he is thankful the issue was brought to him. He is interested in Khan’s behavior and asks that Cassius bring any more questions about it to him through astropathing Until that time however he should continue following the chain of command and report to Khan for the time being.

Garret spends the rest of his time repairing the Skybeast, Brander learns how to fly the Skybeast and looks through the list of ships carrying the genestealer, and Carolinus studies the strange device attached to the living book. Carolinus buys another room away from Cassius to try and experiment with the living book. Carolinus takes a look at the book and gathers that the book is dying slowly but is still basically alive. Carolinus sends a message to his uncle seeking his advice and his uncle encourages him to go forward with his experiments. Carolinus goes to the local medicae to offer his assistance to the people and gets medical supplies for his experiment. Carolinus then tries to repair the pump and get it in working order to set up his experiment. After repairing the pump and setting things up Carolinus revives the book and starts pumping blood into it. After the book reconstitutes itself he begins to read it to himself but the only page that shows clearly is the one with the mouth and tongue.

Carolinus tries to provoke the book and tries to read the high gothic on the book tongue. Carolinus gives the book tongue a drop of blood and it comes alive slurping up the blood drops. “The Prince who dances, Who walks in Shadow, Who stands in your path”, seems to be regenerating and fades after a while. He tries to read it again and vaguely picks up some of the High Gothic language seeing it talks about a particular person who was exalted among the gods many centuries ago and his eventual fall from grace. He falls into delight in the torment of man and it vaguely refers to daemons. Strangely, the words seem to disappear at certain places. Carolinus records what he writes down and, seeing whispers of the void, is corrupted somewhat. It seems the book is a biography of sorts for an unknown person. Further study may reveal more about the books secrets.

Brander checks out the list and cuts it down significantly of a dozen ships that are unrelated to the investigation.

Khan sends the message for the group to meet in the resonance hall of where they are staying and addresses them. A research outpost for the Inquisitors, spacestation Zebra, has gone silent and a regiment of the Imperial guard will accompany them to find out what happened to the station. The station was subjecting psykers to the warp to find better navigation through the warp and amplifying their powers to a point that burns them out. Khan detests the practices and, upon the determination that heresy has been committed, will destroy the station completely. Garret asks if any other stations are doing this and Khan reports one other station is operating and has not reported any problems. Carolinus asks about survivors and Khan tells them that they are Inquisition property and any heretical crew or expended psykers are expendable. The station received a report about taking on a new group of psykers and then they lost contact with it. Additionally all the pysker activity normally expected around the station has ceased possibly indicating that the psykers are all dead. Upon the remark that Carolinus says that ‘not everything’ gives it off. Cassius and Carolinus sees Khan smirking at this and they note that Khan is being a jerk and hinting that Carolinus and Cassius know what the chaos is like and .

Carolinus asks why he was mentioned particularly and Khan responds that his knowledge of the warp and other information will be of use,which makes Carolinus uncomfortable. He asks Khan if they are to report directly to Khan or to normal channels. Khan mentions that the mission can be sent into normal channels and that the other mission should be put out of mind and Khan mentions a joke that puts the group on edge for their previous performance. Carolinus is worried about the state of the station and Cassius shares the concern. Cassius postulates the testing caused excess emotion that creatures of the warp may have attached to and pushed through the immaterium to get across. As Cassius gives a lecture to Garret Carolinus tells Brander to prepare the skybeast and that he will be sending a message to the Mechanicus Adeptus for info on the station.

The group try to quickly gear up and study station Epsilon, the sister station, to try and study the station defenses and internal security measures. They then try to requisition new equipment.

The shuttle of Imperial Guardsman pilot brings them to the edge of the warp storm and to the station. Garret is impressed by the size, scale, and look at the warp storm. Cassius instructs Garret more on the warp and mysteries of the universe. Carolinus offers advice to Garret about how enticing it is to look but that he should be careful lest he be lost to it. Cassius moves himself between it and him and Garret snaps out of the trance that the warp had him in. The flight lieutenant comes and reports that they are here at the meetup point. They consider scanning for the craft and whether they should risk being detected from anything trying to find or attack them. Scanning around passively they sense a bubble in the warp. Carolinus suggests waiting for a while and passively scanning for any contacts. While waiting Carolinus tries to make blinders for Garret, Garret tests his gun in the long hallway, Brander is looking over the scan results, and Cassius is relaxing.

Brander gets a fantastic readout of the station and gets its details as well as an energy return from an imperial transport and a derelict. Brander reports that the Imperial Troop Transport is already docked and the station is running on minimal power. Passive scan reveals no ejected blocks but there is a strange EM signature on the station. They also want to check the space derelict using void suits. Although the suits seem in disrepair they are in fact well cared for. Carolinus notes that they need to investigate the strange signal on the space derelict soon. Brander agrees to bring the ship closer to the derelict but upon further review of the charts he can’t seem to find it in the background. They can’t find it again but the group want the flight lieutenant to keep an eye out. Suddenly the navigator goes to the bathroom disoriented and throws up. The group is concerned.

Carolinus pokes Cassius to put the voidsuit on and Brander memorizes the station layout. They move towards the station. Brander pilots sloppy and hits a puff of warp blinding sensors for a while. Carolinus tests the vacuum of space on the suit briefly. The EM signal is fading on the station. Finally the ship begins docking with the station. Cassius and Carolinus notice the station seems very deserted and the troop transport is cold. The station is on minimum power. The airlock clicks into place and the group face the doorway into the station…

Brander sends a message trying to get the Imperial Guardsmen on the station and doesn’t get any response. The group argue for a while on entering the station and Carolinus recommends against firing weapons inside. The group ready up and open the door. Walking into the door the airlock locks behind them. The group shifts into the oriented gravity and decide what direction they need to go. They decide to split and Garret and Brander decide to stand watch. Carolinus uses his mechadendrite to look around the area to try and find any heat signals. He sees random odds and ends floating in gravityless sections and some neat and orderly sections. Near the station entrance to the transport he gets a faint heat signature of a possible dead body. Carolinus asks Cassius to use his glow globe to scout the way ahead. Rolling the globe forward it illuminates a data slate as a floating object, and Brander walks noisely down the hallway. Looking over the dataslate he activates the slate and notices that it is a shipping manifest for 28 psykers. Khan mentioned 30 which seems odd.

Inside the Imperial transport ship Cassius and Carolinus looks at the cockpit and finds two half stripped dead bodies with blood globbed around in zero-G floating around. Both of the bodies are seemingly flayed heavily from the torso. For the female body it seems an eye was removed and the other one has an eye partly gouged out. Carolinus looks around the room for any other strange happenings but finds nothing much. Garret hears something and then notices the light from the Glow Globe is extinguished. Cassius tries to extract the flight recorder and looks over the cockpit finding the flight recorder, captains log, and not a lot else except a dataslate. They search the ship for what caused the light to die. Carolinus picks up sonar in what seems like light, rapid footfalls.

The group ready weapons and overwatch the area for any signs of movement. Of the commlink the flight lieutenant radios and asks what happened. Carolinus responds that the globe likely malfunctioned. Listening to the captains logs they find that the station has had no contact from a ship. It may have been a mistaken identity that caused them to die. Cassius suggests retreating from the station and Carolinus confronts him about what they would report back. Garret insists that they should investigate what killed the guardsmen.

While debating the group hear the sound of an energy weapon starting up and the group jump their feet with Brander and Carolinus taking cover. The sound of metal boiling from a lance blast and suddenly everything starts exploding and they are all knocked prone. The troop transport decouples from the station and starts drifting away twisting the airlock off and the shuttle they came in explodes. Carolinus tries to pull the others and send them back into the station. He grabs Brander first and flings him into the station. Cassius tries to push off a nearby item and flops around in Zero G. Garret flips forward and sails himself into normal gravity. Cassius activates his grav boots and is stuck to a wall. The airlocks twisted metal is leaking atmosphere. Carolinus guides brander up the corridor. Carolinus moves slowly ahead in the darkness and Brander and Garret are slowly advancing down the corridor. Cassius finally get to the twisted airlock and starts to get into the station. The troop transport finally twists and bends the gangway. The group needs to run and the pressure has dramatically dropped. Garret sprints down the corridor and runs full charge into a wall. Cassius is lagging behind and Carolinus moves to him to try and grab him and he is yanked forward. Carolinus moves through the air lock with Cassius and calculates that he wont make it. Carolinus tells Garret to close the airlock after Brander is through. After Brander sprints through the door closes leaving Carolinus and Cassius in the gangway. Carolinus holds a support beam and watches as the troop transport rips the gangway away. They are trapped in zero-g and vacuum but alive. Cassius tries to radio the lieutenant for pick up only for Carolinus to tell him that their ship was destroyed. Skybeast is still okay but floating away slowly. Cassius’s magboots lock to the station hull and the group communicate their short term plans. The Garret and Brander need to hold until Carolinus and Cassius can get into the station.  

Garret and Brander hear the fwipping again while they try to look around and Carolinus tries to get inside the station. Garret gets his in the leg with something from an unknown assailant and pain spasms in his leg from a critical wound and Brander can’t see where it came from. Brander draws his pistols and blind fires into the corridors not hitting anything. Brander is hit in the arm from an unknown assailant and goes into spasms from it. Garret tries to locate the shooter and Brander tries to find cover. Brander tries to work out where the shooter is. Carolinus continues trying to open the airlock. Garret and Brander fires down the corridors and nothing responds. They continue firing down the halls and hit nothing. Brander investigates his wound and sees many shards impaling his arm. Garret fires at the darkness so much that the laz-pistol jams.

Finally Carolinus opens the door and the group reunites. Brander and Garret explain what happened to them and Carolinus mentions that the transport was destroyed and the skybeast was damaged and floating a ways off. Garret takes one shot at the darkness and hits something much closer than before and some shape and color shines down the corridor. Carolinus swings his mechadendrite around and sees a human chained to the ceiling with bolts drilled through it and the skin flayed alive. Garret and Brander lose their nerve while Carolinus and Cassius are startled by the gruesome sight but manage to keep their composure. Garret runs away and Brander stares at it in horror. The group have to consider very limited options. They either try to risk a jump to the skybeast or try to find a way to contact outside help. Cassius remembers the lance turret outside and how it wasn’t likely to fire on the ship. This means that either another weapon on the station fired or perhaps the lost ship they detected earlier is what fired on them.

Carolinus asks if Brander could operate the station weapons and he could give it a shot. Scanning the area Carolinus picks up minor power grid fluctuations and odd readings from the lower laz turret. Atmosphere is slowly decompressing and the powergrid is minimal. Carolinus asks if Garret is alright on his bad leg and approaches to treat it. He heals up the injuries on Garret and Brander. Carolinus takes a small sample from Garret of the poison in the blood and flesh to try and analyze the toxin in the wound. The group is now at a crossroads, trapped on a station without a way out, and running out of options….

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Stream VII: Cypri Copia

Riding on their new shuttle, The Sky Beast, the group now go to Cypri Copria to retrieve the book “The Truth of Thror”. Garret decides to experiment with his new found drug of choice, Obscura, and starts tripping balls on it. None of the others bother him until Garret starts pressing buttons at random and Brander tries to stop him. Carolinus and Cassius respond to the bridge, thinking that an emergency has happened, and find Garret in a dream like state. They struggle to restrain him and Garret enters a state of rage and looks at Brander attacking him.

Enter initiative time. Garret grabs for his laz-pistol and shouts “HERESY!”. Cassius rushes to the scene and tries to wipe Garret’s mind. Garret’s mind is wiped easily and he becomes unaware of the surroundings. Brander guns one afterburner and throws the ship around trying to use the momentum and everyone is thrown around the shuttle from the inertia with Carolinus being thrown to the back of the craft and manages to grab a part of the craft before being thrown out. Garret comes back to his senses somewhat and tries to get back on the chair. Exit Initiative time.

The shuttle lands and Brander locks the controls and checks on Carolinus who damaged the part of the shuttle he grabbed onto. Cassius looks at the drug paraphernalia from Garret and has no idea what it might be. Cassius takes the extra Obscura dose and replaces the paraphernalia where he found it. Brander checks on Carolinus and while he’s a bit burnt from the afterburner he’s otherwise okay. Carolinus angrily flares his mechadendrite at Garret who flinches in fear. Carolinus asks to run tests on the substance Garret had and notes he will report the incident to their superiors. Carolinus looks at the drug and finds out about the Obscura, its triggers, and effects. Garret continues tripping and the others debate what to do with him. Suddenly a new person appears, a port authority, and asks if they are alright. They inform him of what happened and they ask if there is a medical facility to keep Garret at while he sobers up. The authority directs them to a hospital they could keep him at and the group try to disarm him. Suddenly Garret hallucinates a bit before Cassius wipes his mind again and the authority comes back. The group asks him to take Garret into custody and another enforcer try to drag him away making him freak out and attack them. Garret strikes one of the guards and the guards respond with shock batons until he is unconcious. With this the group begins with their investigation.

After about half an hour of traveling the group go to a Parthenon looking building and the group go over their objective. They need to look at shipment 27A and determine the whereabouts of the book. They debate whether to pull their authority as Inquisitors but decide to limit their exposure as much as possible. Cassius is frustrated with Kahn’s orders seeming beneath them and Carolinus shares his concerns but resigns that orders are orders and they must carry it out.

Going into the library they meet scribes and inquire about 27A on behalf of the Ministorum and the archivist calls a young one to get the minister Valloren. Valloren greets them and Cassius shows the shipment orders to him to inquire of its whereabouts. They go to the archives and follow him to where the shipments are kept and scanning over the books he sees “The Truth of Thror” is gone from the manifest. Cassius asks about the book and the Ministor refuses to say there is anything missing. They then ask to inspect all the books on the shipment register and has the books brought to an area to be inspected.  The Ministor has the servitors bring the books to a quiet area and gives the group a full manifest of the shipment. With the books in the room they look over the manifest and see the book isn’t on there either. They consider it was either a secret shipping job or, in worst case scenario, intercepted in transit. Cassius tries bribing the younglings who brought them the books and one of them tells them one of the servitors was tampering with the box before and manipulating one of the books in the receiving bay. It replaced the cover of one book for another and took one. Looking at the box itself they carefully remove the books and Carolinus notices stripped glue that supports the girl’s testimony. Brander asks Cassius to psyniscience the box to try and locate if the book might be in there. He doesn’t see anything that might tip him off to the location of the book. While Carolinus and Brander search through the tomes Cassius goes to retrieve Garret from the enforcers custody and they reveal that Garret is scheduled to be executed tomorrow. Cassius asks to speak to the garrison commander and the Watch Captain comes to talk to him. Asking to speak in private the Watch Captain leads them to an interrogation room. The watch captain asks Cassius about possible drug smuggling. Cassius produces his data slate with the Inquisition authority and tells him to pardon the executions.

Following their talk Cassius wipes the mind of the Watch Captain and picks up Garret and his things.

Carolinus and Brander meanwhile are looking over the shipment of the books and cross referencing the titles and contents to try and find mostly boring or unrelated titles. Garret and Cassius light a lho stick together while Cassius catches him up. They agree that the servitors are acting strangely in each of their previous missions and notice a disturbing pattern. Garret changes into his regular clothes and Carolinus catches them up on the findings. Two of the books have been checked out and one is transferred which catches his attention. The group seems disturbed that the servitors keep acting out but still wonder if they are simply being used to hinder the investigation. Carolinus wants to investigate the noble, Sir N’yetch with Historical Treaties of the 37th Millenium, and the library first that a book was transferred to.

They go to the estate of Sir N’yetch and Cassius asks to see him about the mix-up at the archives. The group is let into N’yetch’s home and the servant goes to fetch him. N’yetch offers them refreshments and brings out the tome to the group. They wish to examine it more closely and at first inspection it seems to be a volume of treaties and notes analyzing them and theorizing on them. They find nothing of interest in the volume and choose to leave. After a slight prodding from Carolinus the group decide to go to the library to search for the book next.

The group goes to a younger and lesser developed hive to continue their search for the book. After the landing bridge does some janky lowering from Carolinus’s brush with the afterburner (and Carolinus promises to help fix it) they disembark. The group meet another enforcer and Cassius offers him a bribe to try and make him forget the group was here. The enforcer accepts and walks off closing the bay for maintenance (and Scribe Black Sun face palms later at the expense report seeing how Cassius “Misplaced” 200 Imperial Crowns). The group look over the damage to the shuttle and Brander gets a list of components to repair the claw marks and piston. The team prepare for their visit to the library and go to the large library dome with Auger arrays constantly taking in visual feeds. Cassius is worried about the records but Carolinus doesn’t seem to mind. They go to the door and Cassius requests the book “The History of Imperial Midwifery in the 38th Millennium” of the door monitor and is allowed to proceed.

As they enter the library a younger looking monk walks up to the group and they ask about the book that was rebound and finds the book is out on loan for the Roule family. Taking a shuttle to the Roule family estate they decide to allow Cassius to do the talking. As they walk to the estate they are met by a woman and man on a horse. He introduces himself as Emir Roule and Cassius introduces himself as a member of the Ministorum and this is his wife. He directs them to the midwife that might have the book and buys their story about the circumstances under which it is misplaced. Meeting Esmerelda, the midwife, Cassius goes to ask about the book. They retrieve the book and gives it to Cassius who gives it to Carolinus to check. Looking over the book Carolinus sees that there is a difference of the cover and the book pages raising his suspicions. The pages seem correct but the binding, ink, and cover seem to be much newer than the ledger would suggest. Cassius asks Lord Roule if he can inspect the books in their library and also speak to their courier.

Inside their library Carolinus inspects the books and the work station for touching up and restoring the books. It doesn’t appear that the book was repaired and rebound here but still the difference between the book pages and its cover and ink are odd. Furthermore a servitor was involved in handling the books, a disturbing trend in many of their past investigations, and the group is concerned.

They wish to go back to the hall of vigilance and go to the check out service and see the servitors bolted in place at the checkout desks. They request the librarian retrieve the security recordings of the captain of the guard retrieving the book. They see the captain leave with the tome as he claimed and it seems that nothing is out of place. After bluffing their way back into the security office the librarian Geralt offers them all the documents, footage, and security archives regarding the book. After leaving to retrieve it Carolinus looks to try and bypass the security on the terminal and by the Omnissiah’s grace manages to access the surveillance archives and follow the book from the moment it arrived until it was picked up and the others stand guard. Carolinus scans the footage and notices a back room not covered in security and an acolyte bringing the book to it and leaving without it. Looking further it seems someone has put on a newer binding and was made from an older leather book. It seems originally the high librarian and several other people are responsible for altering the book. The librarian returns with the people they asked for and Carolinus hastily replaces the insides of the terminal. The group tries to distract the librarian from the acts they commit and successfully hide everything from sight.

Carolinus tries to lie to the librarian about his dealings and seems to be suspicious but ultimately plays it off. He leaves Geralt with the group. When Cassius follows up his lie to the restroom small bits of the stall suddenly shower of him to the sound of gunfire and Cassius is hit three times. The others hear the shots through the microbead and move to rush to his aid. Enter Initiative time.

Garret draws his pistol and shoots at the librarian and hits twice with max charge and downs him. Librarian sprints into cover. Brander cross draws his pistols, moves, and fires at a librarian missing. Cassius readies a smite and hits the librarian in the left arm and burning it and zips up his pants. A librarian takes aim and jams his weapon. Another librarian fires at Carolinus and misses. Another Librarian takes cover and fires at Brander hitting his left arm. Another librarian sprints toward the group. Carolinus gets low and charges one librarian and striking his leg. Then he sends a killer elbow to the groin snapping it and driving it through the librarians femur breaking it. Garret moves forward and and waits for Carolinus to move out of the line of fire. The Arch Librarian returns to engage in combat with plate armor and a chain axe. Brander aims his pistols and fires hitting the Arch Librarians right leg. Cassius draws his sword and slashes at the librarian on the left arm severing it and sending him spiraling to the ground. Librarian fires at Carolinus and misses. A librarian advances and fires at Garret who is hit in the chest and gets a bullet to the rib. A librarian advances and sees his dead friend in the bathroom with Cassius standing over him. Carolinus charges another librarian and misses his initial strike. He strikes with the mechadendrite and misses again. Garret shoots at a librarian striking him twice and kills him. Then Garret wheels around and aims at another librarian striking him with two laz shots shaving off part of his right arm and blows out his ribcage. The Arch Librarian strikes hard with his chain axe and just misses Brander shearing through a nearby table. Brander responds with his dual pistols and fires wildly emptying his pistols and missing. Cassius runs to the other librarian who responded to his downed comrade in the bathroom and charges him spearing him in the side with his sword. In response, the librarian draws a combat knife and swipes missing Cassius. The librarian against Carolinus backs away and tries to retreat giving Carolinus a free shot at the face and Carolinus throws a devastating straight jab. The librarian fires back and shoots wide. Carolinus goes all in on a mechadendrite strike but misses, striking a bookcase behind them. Garret fires at the Arch Librarian and hits the right arm. The Arch Librarian misses with the chain axe again shredding the floor around Brander. Brander quick draws his chainsword and slashes at the Arch Librarian’s legs doing minor damage. Cassius strikes again with his sword and misses. The LIbrarian against Cassius stabs at him and succeeds with a hard thrust of the knife to his torso. Carolinus strikes with the mechadendrite and the chain scalpel digs into the librarian and revs up, splitting his face in twain and killing him. Carolinus then moves into combat against the Arch Librarian. Garret aims and fires at the Arch Librarian hitting him in the leg and wounding him severely. The Arch Librarian strikes hard at Brander and Brander dodges to the side with a smirk on his face. Brander revs his chainsword and strikes with righteous fury at the Arch Librarians leg shattering it and sending him to the floor bleeding out profusely. Brander takes a short moment to bask in his victory and taunt his slain foe. Librarian in the bathroom thrusts his knife at Cassius and misses. Cassius counters and pushes the librarian past himself as he thrusts and rams his sword into the back of the librarians skull killing him. Exit initiative.

Carolinus goes to heal his companions and the rest of them go to collect the weapons. Several of the members have keys on their person that are very ornate and have complicated patterns on them. Carolinus finds heretical seals on the items and goes to the task of destroying them. Cassius goes to remove the chest piece of the Arch Librarian. Carolinus sees that the seals are a litany to Slaanesh and a demon known as “The Prince who dances” and might be of the Chaos Undivided lesser demons. Seeing this, Carolinus’s mind is whispered to in shadows and he gains a point of corruption. Cassius sees it and comes to the same conclusion.

Carolinus goes around to the door seen in the security footage and walks into the office. Carolinus moves the false bookshelf away from the wall and reveals a passageway. Carolinus tells Brander and Garret to guard the door and kill any who approach. Carolinus and Cassius enter the passage and Cassius psynisciences the surroundings and feels the dripping dark energies from the stonework. The two make cautious progress and near the bottom see eight pointed symbols in different designs and images of people and rituals. The two pray together as they move and Cassius notes it is a symbol of Chaos Undivided. Other symbols are not pleasant but he cannot place them.

After going through the passageway the two come to a round room with a desk in the center. The books in the room seem uncharacteristically warm and Carolinus points to one book that might be what they want and also sees strange devices seeming to pump blood into the books. Upon witnessing this act of heresy Carolinus asks for Cassius’s sword and asks he destroy it. Cassius hesitates because it might be the book they want to return. After confirming that the book is not the one they want Cassius and Carolinus go about looking for the one they want. Cassius sets a book alight and prepares the others. Cassius looks for the book himself and sees several books about the use of Sorcery and tries to steal them. Carolinus catches him but says nothing and Cassius explains that the book is not for him but for the Inquisition’s interest. Other books reference the demon from before.

Soon they find The Truth of Thror and it is open to a ritual about splitting and confining a daemon. They take the book and torch the secret library quickly scooping up the living book and smashing the pumps. Suddenly a psychic scream assaults their heads driving them mad. Seeing the book bleeding heavily Carolinus asks for Carolinus’s pack to keep the blood from staining the floor. Seeing markings above the door Carolinus reads them and runs out. Cassius sets fire to the room and runs out. Carolinus yanks a cloth off one of the alters and covers the bleeding book. He then tells the others to contact Interrogator Khan and they flee the library.

Carolinus contacts Interrogator Khan that they have the book, need to destroy the library that was staffed by heretics, and tell him about the book they took away from it that needs to be contained. Kahn is concerned about the library and will section off the Library so Inquisitors can look through the texts individually and save what they can. Khan tells Carolinus to destroy the living book and return the Truth of Thror to him. While they go along returning to meet Khan Cassius opens the text about Sorcery out of curiosity and cautiously scans the passages. Through the forbidden knowledge Cassius learns of dark and forbidden secrets of the warp increasing his corruption and strengthening his psyker powers. Carolinus gives into his curiosity and gives the system keeping the flesh book alive a quick look.

Later, Interrogator Khan meets the group in his pimped out shuttle and armor. Khan takes the book away from Carolinus and Cassius hands over the sorcery text. Khan flings the book aside and orders a soldier to destroy it with fire. He thanks Cassius for giving him a heretical text and a heads up on the Librarians hoping to make psykers from sorcery. He congratulates the group on their work and dismisses them.

In the next few days the group relax and explore the hive world. Carolinus moves alongside Cassius as the walk and hopes that he really hasn’t taken looks at the heretical texts. He seems genuine about it but Carolinus is still suspicious about Cassius’s motives. Over the down time Carolinus continues to study the pump and decides to keep the book about the minor demon for a while longer.

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Stream VI: Servitor

Verdun is restrained on the ship and the group must prepare for interrogation. They are not sure if he knows of the tech priest and questioning if he might have the same device in the previous captive and if they ask the wrong questions they could lose their captive. Carolinus decides to do a thorough medical procedure scan to try and determine if he has the device on him. They put him in a heavy cargo area and Carolinus begins his examination. He doesn’t find a device like previously and finds a few other minor augmentations including a storage area in his abdomen, presumably for smuggling items. After this they lock him into a bolted down metal chair. Searching the cavity they detect two long cylindrical metal objects.

Carolinus begins to open up his abdomen and finds a small cavity. In it he finds a lockpick and a small shiv as well as a high grade data crystal. Placing it down on the surgical tray Carolinus puts him back as he was and takes the crystal to the others. They decide to try and read the crystal before they proceed to the interrogation. They notice that a Servitor is bringing the prisoner food and Garret wishes to speak with Carolinus while Brander goes with Cassius. Carolinus picks up his items in the shuttle bay and Cassius reaches the bridge of the ship to meet with Valentine to read the crystal. Valentine directs Cassius to the crystal reader at the aft of the ship. He also offers Leasari an advance and Leasari offers a half-hearted reply. He made an impression however on Leasari.

Going to the office Cassius finds the volume the captain mentioned and thumbs through it quickly. He offers it to Brander, noting it was odd he mentioned it outright. Not finding anything of interest in the volume the group go to the crystal reader and see that it requires a passcode. They decide to get the passcode from Verdun and go to interrogate him. However when they get there they smell burnt smoke, plastic, and flesh to find the servitor who was sending him food had stabbed him many times with the fork. Their captive is dead and the servitor that murdered him is destroyed. Carolinus inspects the Servitor and Garret inspects Verdun’s body. It is quite clear that the Servitor burned out its brain by exceeding the voltage limits on its brain and destroyed its brain stem. They consider if they can inquire about what happened by any data transfer or recording and Carolinus asks to examine the Servitor in great detail. Carolinus asks Cassius to ask the captain about anything he knows of the situation. Carolinus will ask the tech priests about the servitors on the ship and continues his examination. Garret asks to examine the corpse to try and find any other implants.

Carolinus asks Cassius about the crystal. It seems to await a verbal input to try and access the crystal and Carolinus suggests asking around to figure out the password. Garret accidentally splits the intestines open after a hand slip and saws off a portion of the corpse's skull. He takes the spoon and digs through the brain with it finding nothing.

The others decide to meet with the captain in the cigar room to ask him about anything that might lead to their password. On the way Carolinus asks Brander about his experience with the heretical witch on R’oh. Brander doesn’t seem to be very affected by his peering into the warp but Carolinus is still concerned that he might be affected by them. While they sit in the room Garret chimes in with his (lack of) finding anything of notice. Carolinus considers hard passing the security and notices Brander reading the tome from earlier. He asks if he can read the book and inspects it to find…. Nothing.

Cassius goes to the bridge and meets Leasari. Leasari calls for the captain and the two take to the Cigar Room where Carolinus and Brander are waiting. They meet and informs Julius that his servitor murdered the prisoner. Mentioning the number Julius opens a terminal and asks the computer to bring the data of the servitor. The servitor was commanded to clean out the shuttle that they had just brought back about an hour ago. The security video from the hanger shows that this command was never followed and that indeed the servitor abandoned its duties. There has been no more movement from the shuttle and the logs for the servitor reveals the shuttle cleaning was the last task it received possibly meaning something was erased from its files. Julius suggests looking at the servitor’s corpse in the shop. Carolinus returns the tome to the shelf and regards that there are many things on Julius’s ship that are beyond his knowledge. Julius considers wiping the servitor and reinstalling their programming to eliminate any possibility of the other servitors going rogue. The servitor seems to have been in for repair for a defective leg and might have been compromised. Carolinus decides the servitors are to be restrained and examined. Julius remarks the servitor on his ship are higher grade than normal which has Carolinus concerned. Any ability of the servitor to think on the level of a man is heresy and is not to be tolerated. Cassius bows out from the conversation to join Julius and Garret is recalled with a servitor in tow with Verdun’s guts.

Brander and Carolinus go to the workshop to meet with the remaining servitors as well as Garret and a third servitor holding the entrails of Verdun. They ask Garret exactly what happened and asks him to drop it. Carolinus asks the group to ready themselves and calls one of the servitor to lie down on the examination station. Carolinus pushes gore into the servitors ears and goes about trying to disable their motor cortex, which he does with great efficiency. Carolinus asks to find inconsistencies between the local copy of orders received and executed against the ones logged to the ship. Carolinus also notes a program passively monitoring the senses of the servitors and tries to remove the memory cores without triggering the program that could destroy the brain.  He ejects the memory cores from two servitors and searches for any signatures or makers marks on the augments. He sees Magos Qunitillius’s name on it and that they were created on a different forge world Goblizsts. With this Carolinus offlines the servitors and asks Garret to guard the servitors. Brander follows Carolinus back to the cigar room to report his findings.

Back at the Cigar Room Cassius and Julius speak about the past and how their work in the Inquisition sucks sometimes and weighs on their conscience. However they resolve that the Emperor’s will must be done. Cassius presses that at some point the murder of innocent in pursuit of the guilty is something that can become evil itself. Julius responds that he has a responsibility to decide to declare war on others like Xenos and heretics. It seems that the Inquisition is split internally on how to deal with heretics and if the guilty should be caught in the crossfire. It weighs heavily on his mind. Julius believes that there are also rogue traders who are like the inquisitors in that their approach to heresy differs and that it gets better when the person questioning is the one making the decision.

While Brander helps dig through the guts of Verdun he confronts Garret about his actions with Jakaero and posits that the xeno was helping them. Garret fires back that he made a decision because the others were so infatuated with it that he had to destroy it. Brander insists it was not his call to make to destroy it and insults him to which Garret refuses to acknowledge it and writes the conversation off.

Back at the Cigar Room Cassius and Julius are getting drunk and Carolinus enters. He places the memory cores on the table and wants to cross reference the orders in the cores to the ones in the ship registry to find inconsistencies to reveal if they have been used in some clandestine operation. The orders are much the same and Carolinus is frustrated. He then asks the captain about their construction and maintenance by Quintillius. It seems the captain trusts Quintillius which only raises Carolinus’s suspicions. It’s possible on of the Mechanicus could have installed the monitoring program on their last maintenance on Eradus Dyr. Asking the name of the one servicing them brings up Tech Priest Binus. Cassius is familiar with the name as he heard the one speaking of fearing the tech priest mention that name and now the memory is clear. Carolinus draws a connection that the Midnight Runner had made the run three times. Julius is very concerned about the Genestealer that has been delivered on his ship and that twice the cargo was delivered to Eradus Dyr. The group draws the connection that Eradus Dyr may have a bug problem as the other deliveries were made a year ago and 8 months ago. If they have had a year and eight months to breed the Tyranids have already had a significant time to possibly establish a foothold to invade the planet.

They decide to return to Eradus Dyr to investigate. Carolinus sinks into his chair upon the revelation that the genestealers have had time to roost and Cassius resigns that it is their duty to report it to the inquisitors. Carolinus tells Cassius his report from Kahn was negative with the methods that they chose to take. Kahn took exception to Carolinus’s action about the Jakaero. Cassius notes that Raevarn was more favorable to bending the rules to accomplish the mission. Cassius says that he believes subtly and espionage is needed instead of a rigid approach that would destroy an asset before its use has run its course. Carolinus posits that if the Jakaero was allowed to live then they might not have needed the tribe and that they could have been spared. While Carolinus is not pleased with the actions of Cassius imitating the God Emperor he does sympathize. Cassius admits that he destroyed the village to cover up a part of himself he is uncomfortable with, weakness and compassion that could blind his choices. They then turn to the decision of Eradus Dyr. If they wait on it any longer than a chance to root out heresy would be lost and Eradus Dyr would be put to the sword. They need to act quickly and decide. Moreso, the group consider Garret and how he made the decision acting on his own and how it could lead to him betraying them if he sees the others as heretical. Carolinus concludes that while Garret is an ally he would still choose Cassius’s life over Garret’s. Cassius dismisses such talk and wants to try and teach Garret some ability to be flexible in his dealings.

As they talk a servitor brings them a message from the Inquisitor that he has a mission for them: an item was stolen from the Inquisition archives on Exemis Pandera and they need to recover it quickly and quietly as possible. They must now decide to inform the Inquisition of Eradus Dyr and Cassius relays a message to Inquisitor Kahn of the Genestealers on Eradus Dyr and asks for an extension on their duties or if they should pursue their new orders.

The item is a book that talks about the ruinous powers called “The Truth of Thror”. It is not a heretical item but still important for the Inquisition. The Inquisitor stresses that the mission must not be discovered or it will reflect badly on the Inquisition. The book was sent to Sypria Corpria and possibly mishandled. Kahn tells them that they will need to conclude their business quickly and retrieve the book quietly. He would be interested in retrieving it himself in a few weeks.

The group informs Brander that there are possible genestealers on the planet that they need to be worried about. If they have been killed then they have no more duties on Eradus Dyr but if they live it seems Eradus Dyr is to be put to the sword. Cassius is very against going after the book and hunting the genestealers. Carolinus wishes to make an informed decision and advocates either option as the book in the wrong hands can be disastrous.  They are going to go after the book but the group seems split on how to work Eradus Dyr. Carolinus considers going after Binus as a way to find the genestealers. The group is split on how to handle the situation.

Ultimately the group decides to go to Eradus Dyr to try and root out the Genestealers. Brander seems disturbed by the thought of it and Carolinus pushes him on it. Brander tells them about the Tyranids operations and how he has seen how the Tyranids have taken a world he has been on. They move after decades to destroy worlds and operate in secret using infiltrators and brainwashed normal people. It is possible people are brainwashed on the planet including Binus. Carolinus wishes to speak to the Adeptus Mechanicus about Binus and Garret asks him if they would continue to bring in more specimens from off-world. Brander confirms it as a possibility and Garret further states that the crew could also be agents of the Tyranids. It seems odd that the captain would be so ignorant of the happenings on his ship but that if he was it seems odd Raevarn would trust him.

Carolinus contacts his order about Binus and his order responds that he is marked as Heretical by the Mechanicus and that his works are also heretical. He has been hunted for 9 years and he is heavily augmented. Carolinus tells the Skitar that they are pursuing Binus and that they have raided Binus’s workshop. One Genestealer corpse was found and the other is mentioned but not found. The genestealer was in the middle of being cyberized and he left with another figure. Skitari Sub-Sector General Phasio agrees to keep him updated on their investigation. Carolinus thanks them for their cooperaton and particularly mentions interest in the genestealer that wasn’t found. Carolinus informs the others of his findings and they decide what to do from there.

In trying to crack the data crystal Carolinus tries to crack the password only to fail once. Carolinus draws Garret away for Cassius to try and get him to convince Julius to get the illegal programs to crack his data crystal.

During this Garret apologizes to Carolinus for tricking him about the Jakaero but asserts that it was necessary because it was clear that the alien had enthralled Cassius. Carolinus admits that Garret might be correct that they were under its influence but is concerned about how Garret’s actions led to destroying the village and that next time his decision to end its life upon a whim is worrying. The two remain a bit distant over their differing ideologies and Garret insists that he tried to talk to Cassius about the creature and that he decided based on Cassius’s reaction. While Carolinus still disapproves of Garret’s actions he understands it better.

Returning to the office they look over the data crystal and finds Magos Binum did work on the ships and oversaw the transfer of the genestealers. There was also a falling out between Verdun and Binus over the price of the transactions. Verdun was a very greedy person in his dealings and acted in heresy over this. His final end is most fitting being in a bunch of gore buckets. Carolinus shows the group the documents he received from the Adeptus Mechanicus about the Skitari raid on Binus’s workshop. The corpse of the first genestealer was destroyed but the second was being modified cybernetically. He then points out the hunched over figure seen when Binus was fleeing. They consider that possibly the genestealer was modified or forced into obedience and prevented its ability to procreate. If the genestealer is off-world then Eradus is likely out of the firing line and they can also look at getting the book Kahn wanted. Garret suggests getting the list from the Skitari about what ships were in port and narrow the list as they investigate. Cassius is worried about damaging the name of the Mechanicus but Carolinus doesn’t think that much will come of it as the contact is a high member in the Mechanicus and that they could well be aware of the connection. Garret suggests Carolinus speak to Kahn to limit the damage to his order. Brander is relieved that Eradus Dyr is spared and agrees to pursue the book and hope that the genestealer is off the planet.

The book named “The Truth of Thror” was shipped out in an order of books that someone perhaps intercepted in transit or afterwards. Julius bids the group farewell and gives them presents in their luggage. Carolinus gets Annasec and Sacred Ungents, Garret gets Gnorr wine, Brander receives a map of his home world as it once was, and Cassius is offered cigars from his world and asks the captain to pass on a message to his father that he is well and that he will return home with the shame of his name gone. Finally he offers to sell them the shuttle they used before and they purchase it. They dub it “The Sky Beast” and Brander takes the helm as they go down to the surface of Sypria Corpria. They look over the grand mighty hive world as they descend to the surface. And get lost in the sprawling skyline.

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Stream V: R’oh

Carolinus sees the orangutan alien playing with the assault rifle and Garret and Brander walk back to the ship. Garret asks about the Genestealer and while they don’t have a lot of information about it it is suggested that Brander has a history with the Tyranids that he cannot suppress or hide in conversation. Garret presses Brander for information and Brander reveals that he killed an injured one and fought them. The two throw a grapple to the ship and retrieve the arm needed. As they tighten it the cloth rips and Garret hands it to Brander. While trying to get a view around the area the claw tightens and rips through getting blood onto Brander’s trousers causing him to jump and hit his head on the roof of the ship. Garret draws his pistol in surprise but slowly puts it away as Brander explains that it’s acidic blood. Garret sees tracks running away from the ship and it’s a good bet that the Genestealer ran that way. It starts to sting a bit and dig into his leg. Brander throws the cloth down and tries to reuse the bag to wrap the genestealer arm up.

Cassius is using his mind reading on the orange alien drawing on the floor. It draws a double helix and asks for the “code of life” possibly referring to the genestealer DNA. They have no choice but to wait and the alien goes back to the assault rifle. The alien is slightly more fluent in speaking. Brander and Garret return and Brander goes to get the acid washed off while Garret gives his concerns to Carolinus only. He tells Carolinus that Brander was splashed with alien blood and Carolinus is concerned about it greatly. Carolinus decides he wishes to see the wound to be sure there is no danger to him. Carolinus asks Brander the situation and Carolinus asks to see his leg. His leg is red and a has damage on the surface. The alien reacts badly to the injury and Cassius tells Garret to move back and Garret takes his las-pistol to threaten him. Cassius tells Garret not to kill him and that he can be useful in the future. Garret aims at the Jakaero and pulls the trigger. The Jakaero tried to offer something in exchange for its life and suddenly screams out psychically causing him to stumble around as Cassius’s mind is assaulted with a psychic scream. The group enters initiative.

Garret fires and takes a shot to the head of the Jakaero. Its head explodes and the body falls to the side. Exit initiative.

The others demands Garret explain himself and Garret explains his hatred of Xenos causes him to act. The others tell him their reasons to keep the xeno alive but what is done is done. Garret speaks to the others about how the alien is heretical and how they all fell under his spell so he had to act. Carolinus looks over the autogun and the corpse. Carolinus demands that Garret clean the corpse and Cassius starts cleaning it up begrudgingly. Brander throws his pistol down in anger and Carolinus looks at the parts of the ship it worked on and determined the relays and sensors were not rebuilt in time. A few minor systems were also taken apart and the autogun is broken.

Examining the corpse Carolinus sees a similar formation of the brain of the Jakaero to a human. Carolinus reports his findings and the group decides to report to Valentine. They also consider going to find the path to the north to search for probable survivors but aren’t hopeful that the genestealer hasn’t found them and killed them. Cassius suggests using the Auspecs to track it but Carolinus seems to be worried about how quickly they could do it. They then question Brander about the abilities of the Genestealer and search the ship’s black box. The group needs to hurry before the planet becomes a hive world. Carolinus breaks the encryption on the black box with ease and finds what happened to the ship before it crashed. It seems like the crew welded the door to the cockpit shut and ran to the armory and left the ship after the crash.  

The genestealer’s containment unit was opened from outside which makes them suspicious and Carolinus finds the actual ship manifest. Brander goes to the observation post to see if there are any hostiles and can’t see any through the haze. Garret suggests that they walk down to the smoke to search for survivors. Carolinus says that at least three survivors are possibly left and that other creatures are around. He also mentions that there was someone or something on the ship that released the genestealer purposefully. Cassius tries to psyniscience and finds the a tinge of something alien. Garret makes a guess that if Tech Priest Daiquiri had an implant to kill him then the same was used on the ship to kill the crew. While they argue how to proceed at this point on destroying the genestealer themselves or bringing in heavier firepower they do agree that they should probably conclude their business soon. Further examination of the black box reveals that they have captured genestealers before on Icthion and how they have done it. Carolinus relays the information to the others and suggests using this to subdue the xeno. Not so much that they should hunt it but if they are attacked. Brander suggests hunting it themselves considering how fast a world can become a Tyranid hive world. Imperial or space marine reinforcements might come too late. They contact the captain and tell him to relay to Interrogator Kahn and Inquisitor Raevarn that the crew of the runner is alive and that they have found a Genestealer on the planet. If they don’t return he has permission to evacuate the planet and destroy Icthion as it is the origin of the genestealer.

The captain seems very angry or scared about the mention of destroying Icthion but agrees to relay the message and to relay any response. With that they decide to maybe use the lander to travel to the crew.  Cassius requests a sample of the genestealer’s blood and Carolinus extracts a sample for him.

The lander takes off and heads north to find the encampment that the crew of the ship made. Looking for the site suddenly Cassius hears something and almost sees something long and thin zipped past them. Coming to the smoke source they find a mud and peat hut village and scan the area seeing several bodies around the area of the fire. Brander flies the lander 100m off and the group disembarks. The fire is close to dying at this point and Garret suggests this isn’t the crew but the tribes dwellings. Carolinus sees something in the distance and Garret sees people within the bodies shifting and pointing rifles at them. The group enter initiative.

Brander fires at Trademaster Verdrun and shoots wide. The naval armsman takes cover in the mud hut and fires hitting Brander in the right arm. Garret fires on an armsman and blasts his head clean off killing him instantly. Carolinus retreats into the ship and scans the area with the Auspecs detecting rock fomations, heat signatures to the east, 2 heat signatures in the village, and five signatures in the nearby sands. Cassius also retreats to the ship and takes cover. Brander fires again and misses. Armsman fires and Garret dodges off and to the ship. Garret fires back at the armsman and doesn’t hit. Carolinus draws his hand-cannon and fires at the armsman hitting him in a very long shot. Cassius resheathes his sword and does a psyniscience check finding little. Brander fires on the armsman and strikes him hard in the torso. The armsman fires on Carolinus and hits his mechadendrite on a glancing blow. Garret fires on the armsman and misses hitting the hut. Carolinus fires on the armsman and hits his arm and leg. Cassius stays inside the ship. The armsman fires at Garret and misses him. Garret fires back and obliterates the armsman with righteous fury. Pause combat.

Garret, Carolinus, Brander, and Cassius advanced forward as the firing dies down. Trademaster Verdun steps out with two pistols and fires on them. Wild feral warriors rise from the sands  nearby. Combat resumes.

Verdun fires on the group and hits Brander in the Torso wounding him then fires a laz-pistol at Garret missing both after Garret dives down. Carolinus tries to heal Brander but doesnt get far. Cassius casts smite upon him and Verdun fails to dodge him surging into his leg and burning his flesh. Brander fires on Verdun and strikes true. Feral warriors advance. Garret moves behind the hut. Verdun fires at Brander and Brander gets struck hard with the bolter. He fires with the las-pistol and gets hit again on his right arm knocking him prone and incapacitated temporarily. Carolinus fires on Verdun and misses hitting the hut behind him. Cassius draws his blade and fires a smite on Verdun taking damage and making him crumple in immense pain. The feral warriors seem to be fearful but the leader brings them into line. Garret hears the sound of a scared person and fires on a feral warrior missing the side of his head. Verdun aims at the warrior and fires killing him. Carolinus fires on Verdun and misses with Verdun’s dodge. Cassius fires off another smite to the chest subduing him for a long time and reducing his stamina. Brander orders the ferals to stop attacking and they ignore him. The feral attacks him with the spear and knocks verdun out. Pause Combat.

Carolinus runs over to Brander to help his wounds and Cassius puts his sword away and extends a hand to the ferals. Cassius extends negotiation to the ferals while Garret stands ready to fire on the ferals. Showing the ferals a glow sphere he offers them it as a present. He demands the ferals give him Verdun and they agree to do so. The feral takes Verdun’s hand with a jagged flint knife and Cassius orders them to stop and offers the globe as compensation but fails. They take Verdun’s hand and ask if Cassius can fight in “the trials”. Carolinus is tending to Brander and stabilizes him. With Brander so wounded Carolinus is wary about bringing him back. They agree to get Verdun to the ship and to return to the village for the trial. The tribe leave and the others get to the ship.

Carolinus hears whimpering as from a nearby hut as they head back and notes someone else is here. Cassius commands the voice to reveal itself and a metal object is thrown to them. A relatively young man appears and Cassius shows the Order of the Inquisition authority. He identifies himself as a scribe and has a broken dataslate. The scribe is scared and quickly walks to the ship. Carolinus quickly takes a look at the armsman corpses and recovers their weapons and ammo. He also takes a flak helmet. Cassius presses the scribe on the to the cargo bay and seal the shuttle up. They receive two messages from their commanders and it is suggested by Raevarn they kill the genestealer and return any other specimens. The group are wary of fighting the genestealer and look for alternative methods for engaging it than single combat. Outside the sandstorm kicks up and Carolinus tells the group they need to leave soon. The group strap in and try to get some height in the lander and Cassius attempts to contact Julius but the magnetic interference prevents him from doing so. They instead look for an area clear of the storm and continue the discussion on how to kill the genestealer. Carolinus takes his weapons as a pistol and a las-pistol. Cassius hears a psionic speak and focuses on it hearing a voice from a psyker to the east. The group have a decision to make and Brander decides to fly towards the east to the village. Brander flies to the village and sets down in a special spot made for it. The leader, her second, and the psyker woman stand to greet them.

Carolinus notes the Heresy involved in pretending to be a god and reminds Cassius of Garret’s actions compared to his own words. The people take Brander to the psykers hut so she could try to heal him and the others follow him. The healer mends Branders wounds and is slightly corrupted by it. Carolinus is scared and for good reason as the Warp rips and demons whisper heretical secrets of the Warp to the group. Carolinus is able to block out the demons but the others talk to them about their greatest sins and failures. All the group except Carolinus is subject to the will of corruption. Brander is healed and paying attention and tries to stand up but Carolinus stops him. Cassius tells the group they need to leave and Carolinus confronts him about it. Carolinus decides to stay and quickly end the mission as promised. Cassius decides to go into the cave to face the beast and Garret decides to watch Verdun. Carolinus and Brander agree that they should take Garret and their weapons to fight the beast.

While the three party members were in the village getting brander's wounds treated, Garret is in the lander furiously logging the Heresy he witnessed. He intends to upload the log to Interrogator Khan as soon as the shuttle has range and signal with Captain Julius' ship especially pointing out Cassius' charade as the “Godem” to these tribespeople and Carolinus and Cassius’s affection toward the xeno, suspecting them both of being under its heretical influence

They take the tribe to the ship and order them to guard the two prisoners. The scribe begs the group to take him with them even though they are going on a suicide mission. Garret notes that this is a place of heresy to Carolinus and he agrees. Cassius and the others including the tribe leader Phe’hnn and her second named Pit walks to the cave where the trials will begin. Brander asks about the beast and it seems to have arrived recently and poisoned the water supply. Reaching to the cave the ferals Garret tries to shove the scribe into the cave but he, in his cowardice, refuses. Garret shoots him and the scribe dies. The group runs into the cave with Phe’hnn and Pit leading the way. Carolinus scans with the auger array and finds something rapidly approaching. Phe’hnn throws her spear at the water and Pit is attacked from below and leaps out of the water. Enter initiative time.

The predator strikes at Pit and strikes twice ripping his head off and piercing his abdomen. Brander aims his shotgun and fires missing hard. Phe’hnn strikes with the spear and misses. Carolinus lights the creature up and fires shooting wide. Garret is struck by fear and flees while the predator strikes and misses it. Cassius tries to smite the predator and hits it hard. The predator attacks Phe’hnn and is ripped apart. Brander aims a semi-auto and hits it twice in the leg and the torso damaging it heavily on the legs. Carolinus fires and strikes hard knocking it down. Garret screams in terror from the entrance. Cassius attacks with his chainsword ready and smites the predator with righteous fury and the beast boils alive. Cassius stabs its head and rips its head off. Brander meanwhile revvs his chainsword and stabs it through shredding it in anger all the way through. The beast is dead and the group consult with Brander about how much fuel they have to burn the village and its people for heresy.

Back at the village they group show the monster is dead and consider how to destroy the village. The witch does something that Cassius notices and Garret considers killing her. Cassius addresses the crowd and takes their lamp back. Garret goes back to the lander and Carolinus follows. Cassius addresses them to prepare the food and they will return. The group goes into the lander and takes off towards orbit and returns to the Emerald Tigress. Carolinus tells Cassius to prepare the weapons and destroy the village, the cave, and the Midnight Runner. They will also end Verdun after interrogating him. They suggest to Julius to destroy the village and the Midnight Runner’s wreckage as well as keeping Verdun restrained.

The ship turns so its prow is towards the planet… and fires the heavy lance on the village killing everyone and destroying the cave. As Cassius turns away he hears the woman psyker’s voice one last time telling him that their ends were necessary and that “The Prince” dances in his shadow.

They file their reports and Cassius ends staring back at the planet.

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Stream IV: Emerald Tigress

Arbites come up to try and find out what the noise was about with Brander barely dodging the shotgun. Garret climbs out of the window and to the side of the building and Cassius draws his blade across him to make it seem like he is bleeding. Brander slips on the rope a bit but manages to hold on to the rope and goes down. Carolinus climbs down and tries to help Brander but he loses his group. Brander eventually climbs onto  a pole and climbs the rest of the way down. Cassius acts wounded and goes down the stairs directing the Arbites to the “crazy guards” upstairs. Cassius gets out of the front of the building and contacts the group for a meet. While trying to run Brander finds two enforcers which Cassius tries to throw off.

Brander fires on the guard with a semi-auto sub pistol and rakes him across the face instantly ending him with a shot. Garret draws his Laz-gun and fires at point blank melting the guard away ending combat. Garret says to run as someone calls the Arbites to them.

Quickly dispatching the guards the group hurry to stash their weapons and Cassius erases the mind of the person who tried to give away their position. They take quite a while to make it out of the region where the Arbites look for them. Considering what has happened Cassius believes that Horatio thinks that everything is on the level. Money seems to be flowing between Daiquiri and the other crew members and they need to find the connections between them. They were also to meet the Midnight Runner to run the blockade and accept the trade but the ship never showed. They would have to go to R’ho to find its fate.

They decide that they must run down Daiquiri and the other officers to decide whether the captain has a connection to the ring. The captain seems off put by the thought of running the blockade and seems like he doesn’t know the smuggling is taking place and might be the best chance for a meeting with Daiquiri. The group decide to lay low until they can get this meeting. While they wait they all consider the armsman’s involvement but decide not to pursue the angle further. They decide that they should inform the captain in order to keep his reputation intact and offer to take care of the problem without him having to involve himself. Cassius and Captain Julius decide on a place to meet and Cassius goes alone.

At the meeting place Cassius meets Julius and an unknown woman sitting with him. As first Julius believes that Cassius’s intent is questionable despite Cassius’s assurance that he is only here for Julius’s reputation. Cassius informs Julius that a person connected to him is engaging in questionable practices. Cassius is wary about the extra person that Julius has brought with him and refuses to go into detail until she leaves and they cold speak privately. The two toast the Emperor and drink then get to business.  Cassius says that he is afraid that his crew are doing operations under his nose. Julius then speaks to looking into Cassius and asking who he really works for. Cassius then decides to reveal his connection to the Inquisition and name drops Raevarn. He also mentions that he knows the crew is smuggling and that one person is dead already, Petty Officer Nichols, from the attack at the hotel. Cassius asks Julius to put him in a direction to find the Midnight Runner and Julius agrees to make a run to R’oh. First mate Leasari leaves and the two men agree to a deal. The two men decide that the Petty Officer Daiquiri’s personal health is not a concern and Cassius leaves.

Garret expresses concern that other people maybe affected by this and they decide that a thorough interrogation would be helpful. As they prepare to leave Carolinus sees that Cassius’s hand is uneasy and offers him stimulants. Brander sends a certain message to an unknown party and returns.

At the port they see the Emerald Tigress, a cutter class vessel, and meet Captain Julius. Cassius talks to Julius about calling the Petty Officer to his quarters for and interrogation and Julius suggests something more subtle than his quarters for the task. They talk a bit and Cassius goes about establishing himself and the ship takes off.

Captain Julius sits around with his pimped out Servitors in his cabin and Cassius goes to join him for a drink. The others follow suite behind him and Carolinus praises the servitors on the ship. Cassius jests that the ride might be worth it even despite the costs and Brander joins the group in a drink. After this he has the servitors show the group to their luxurious rooms. Carolinus is a bit disgruntled with the surroundings of the room as it might interfere a with his ability to commune with the machine spirit. Garret has a bottle of Gnorr wine in his room and Cassius muses on Julius’s exquisite tastes. Carolinus performs a scan of the area and finds listening devices that are surprisingly disabled. He then goes up to Cassius’s room and scans again. Cassius notes that such tricks are common in intrigue but is more concerned about the luxuries on the ship, especially to the fact that a rogue trader would have it and not a more utilitarian approach to the ship’s design. The captain obviously has a large source of income and it might explain why he is able to overlook some of his fortune gone missing with the racquet that the crew and port authorities run. They are on edge that Julius has been overly generous to them and aim to maintain a healthy paranoia about him.

Garret meanwhile couldn’t be merrier sharing his Gnorr wine with Brander. He has already consumed a goodly amount and wants to do more. Brander reveals that he was chosen after a selection by an inquisitor he impressed. Cassius and Carolinus arrive and see Garret drunk and explaining how the Inquisitors recruiting him. Garret’s home was destroyed by the Inquisition when he was away from it and, with no more home to return to, asked the Inquisitors to employ him in exchange for his life. In a few hours a servitor notifies them of dinner and the group suit up for a formal affair. Brander in particular gets a brand new Imperial uniform which he readies up for dinner and polishes up his chainsword. The banquet hall is an enormous room and finely crafted with the finest of materials and precision.  A junior officer, an older man named Rubrius, joins them. The group engages in conversation as they wait for Captain Julius. A bit of socializing with the mechanic and trying to woo the first mate Julius arrives in extravagant fashion and joins the group. Cassius engages him in conversation and flirts a bit with Lasari much to Carolinus’s shock. He then brings out a coral token of Cassius’s culture and offers it to him as a sign of his regards and says not to feel obligated to reciprocate, but Cassius insists and he takes the token in turn. Cassius then asks how Julius knows of the Calligo name to which he replies that he did business with his father and that his family is losing holdings and disputes with the Lomo clans have degraded their power. He notes some time later that he is enhanced with cybernetics which interests Carolinus. He also brings out swords to try and dine in the Verseppian tradition, which Cassius takes an interest in. They talk about Cassius’s father from before his time and Cassius shows interest about learning about him. Cassius’s father was more adventurous and daring before his children had forced him to settle and become more guarded. His father has lost much after his departure and Cassius longs for home. Brander speaks to Listrali about the navy and seems to get her disinterested.

After the meal the chief engineer and the first mate return to their duties and Julius offers them after dinner enjoyments of alcohol and Lho Sticks in the library. The library has many rare and valuable volumes with famous names and Julius suggests inviting the petty officer for a chat. Carolinus suggests that they move to a less fine area of the ship. They go to the aft hangar and Carolinus preps the others for combat while Cassius asks for a drugged drink to give him. Daiquiri appears and the servitor brings drinks to the group. Daiquiri falls over drugged and directs them to the cargo room adjacent to the hangar set up for their interrogation. The group gathers up tools and materials for the interrogation.

Carolinus is interested in not brutalizing Daiquiri but having him weakened so his Psy powers can have a greater effect. Carolinus has Brander bring oil to a boil and bring a stool that he takes three legs off of and sets him onto. Every time Daiquiri falls Garret is to hurt him. This is  meant to tire him mentally and harm him physically. Daiquri immediately falls down and Garret kicks him, Cassius starts the interrogation and after some encouragement and establishing dominance they get to the point of asking about Nichols and the smuggling ring. Daiquri is uncooperative and Carolinus gets the oil ready to drip onto his skin. Over the course of the interrogation Daiquiri admits to not knowing about the particulars of the smuggling operations but just getting the crew through customs inspections. He tells the group that they paid off the right people at certain shifts to inspect, how they run the blockade, and how the handoff between himself and nichols operates. It seems he is only the middleman in the operation and Nichols is the brain.

Carolinus then puts his hand on the shoulder of Daiquiri and Cassius advocates for him playing the good cop to Carolinus’s bad cop. They take a walk around the cargo bays to keep his mind and body tired intentionally making him trip and fall over several times. After sitting him back down Daiquiri mentions that the smugglers may have been smuggling animals and human slaves. He claims the captain and Verdun are friends and asks to go to the chroniclarium for proof, not knowing how that they already have and it seems to contradict his story. He changes his story retracting his statement and before he could name a name something in his brain explodes and the crew move to try and read his brain. Daiquiri is dead and Cassius dives into his brain quickly picking out fragments of memories and details about payments to a tech priest and other basic concepts of the process of the work, Verdun’s involvement, and the captain knowing almost nothing about it. Carolinus orders an autopsy to figure out what happened to Daiquiri. Carolinus finds a device that is attached to the brain, a small explosive, that activates when a certain name is said. Cassius finds only that a person in the Adeptus Mechanicus, a tech priest, is feared by his mind. They need to find people and forge worlds that this person could be connected to in order to try and get a lead. Cassius goes to speak to the captain for further details with Brander in tow and Carolinus and Garret continue to examine the corpse.

Cassius and Brander go to speak to the captain and inform him that Daiquiri is dead. It seems that someone has gone to great lengths to cull intrigue around this incident and they need to tread carefully. Cassius asks about his associates and anyone in the Adeptus Mechanicus that Daiquiri might have associated from. The captain notes that the cameras in the bays during Daiquiri’s watch were deactivated or jammed when the Midnight Runner was in dock. The Runner was on course and was meant to be on the surface of the planet for a short while but never reported back and it was assumed they crash landed and were left for dead.

The group makes their way to R’oh, a feral world with a desert climate and hearty warrior like humans in villages, that is largely devoid of animals and plants except domesticated animals as well as a primitive belief in the God Emperor. Carolinus sees Cassius to see to his health and make sure that he is mental welfare is intact after such a dive into Daiquiri’s shattered mind. They discuss that Brander was struggling a bit at the dinner and Cassius may mentor him how to deal with what he saw from the warp.

Getting to R’oh the captain offers a lander to the group and that they can set off to the area where the ship was last detected and he would stay in orbit for a week. The group load out for the mission and Brander flies the ship down to the planet. They trudge out to the Midnight Runner’s last known location and find a ship that matches the description of the ship. Cassius psyniscience’s the area and warns the group to ready weapons. They search the area and Cassius catches a small set of tracks that goes north but he can’t seem to get much further. Carolinus checks around and finds multiple parts of the ship destroyed, mainly the cargo bay is damaged from the impact of the crash. Cassius looks into getting the ship flight recorder black box and Brander reminds them that this destruction might mean the creatures they transported could be loose. Garret goes ahead of the group and checks the cargo bay finding several containment bays and one in particular with several shredded bodies that were opened by force and others opened by seeming normal operation. The group ready their weapons as they investigate further.

 Garret hears something moving about and warns the others. Investigating the ship cockpit and the bay Carolinus finds a signature behind a closed door and Brander examines the claw marks and finds something disturbing about them, thinking it maybe something he knows. Cassius Psynisciences the area and catches the distinct feeling of death before, during, and after the crash. This would explain why the midnight runner crashed into the planet if an animal got loose and started attacking the crew. As Garret walks to the cockpit he notices that the bodies here are different from the ones in the cargo bay as if they were savagely mauled by something sharp. The other bodies seem to show signs of battle with discharged weapons left behind and the cockpit is arc welded closed. A soldier seemed to fired his pistol into the ceiling, although it is unclear that he hit anything. Carolinus makes a strong scan and picks up some foreign protein marker from the other side of the door looking particularly for non-human blood.

As to the sealed door Carolinus tries to figure out a solution. They can’t access the door through the power and Carolinus offers to look through the cockpit window. Garret climbs up to the cockpit and sees the canopy is shredded as well as the cockpit crew themselves and a mysterious looking blue animal arm that is incredibly sharp. Whatever the creature they were transporting is long gone. Brander looks at the scene after joining Garret in the cockpit. They reach the black box and Brander sees the arm for himself. Brander is deeply disturbed by the sight of the arm and expresses his concern that a Genestealer Tyranid has been unleashed on the planet. Carolinus and Garret recognize the name of the Tyranids and the group is very concerned. Cassius continues combing the rest of the ship and finds data slates, grenades, information on the trade deals to the noble on Eradus Dyr, the tech priest, an autogun, and the dealings of the crew in regards to the smuggling.

As they turn to go back to the shuttle they hear the sound of metal against metal and hear something from the lower levels. They try to determine what is making the noise but can’t seem to. They must risk opening it to find out and Garret and Cassius are wary of opening it. This cage seems different from the other cages as it seems to be a low security cage. Carolinus takes a wrench and bangs on the container and recognizes the thing inside is giving a fibonacci sequence and then tapping binary out on the cage and trying to communicate. Carolinus opens the door and sees a large alien that is quite ape-like and doesn’t seem aggressive. The group see the creature and Carolinus taps out “Friend” in binary. Carolinus looks at the creature and sees some type of enhanceent. They try to communicate the creature as it walks past and fills up on ration packs. Carolinus tries to communicate further in binary but to no avail. The alien seems to fiddle with a data slate it seems to have requested from Carolinus. The alien then throws a tracking device to Carolinus and the data slate back. Booting it up Carolinus sees it is running faster possibly showing some sort of intelligence. He crushes the listening device and, after the creature requests Carolinus’s autogun, takes it to another room with neatly arrayed tools and works on it. Cassius and Garret are very wary of the alien and Cassius dives into alien’s mind and is able to communicate with the animal on a very basic conceptual level. The creature seems very interested in the technology of the group and wants to follow the group back to the ship. The creature seems to have been captured by humans and wants to get to the ship which they oblige him. The creature identifies himself as “Jakaero” and the group take on the alien. They try to talk to the creature about the whereabouts of the Genestealer and it offers to recalibrate the sensors to try and track it down. Garret and Brander offer to return to the crashed ship to investigate further while Carolinus and Cassius stay with the creature.

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Stream III: Eradus Dyr

The investigators take several days ensuring that all of the paintings are destroyed and the Administratum keeps them all in paperwork and Bergman is now the Count of Haer Iridian. Attending his coronation and resting a few days they get a message from a scribe from the imperium. The data slate activates and shows Inquisoitor Raevarn. He tells the group that there was ship running an imperial navy blockade and that the details are highly secure. The vessel left the dead world of Icthion and ran the imperial blockade to meet a trader, the Emerald Tigeress, who is currently docked at Eradus Dyr. The Inquisitor is clearly on the fence since the trader, he admits, is a friend of his. However he asks that they use their best judgement in the matter and do not hesitate if heresy is tainted the situation. It is probable this smuggling ring is shipping imperial or heretical artifacts off imperial worlds for profit.  Ship that they seek is captained by Julius Valentine and he might not be guilty of breaking the imperial edict but the other ship certainly does. After interrogating them they are to kill the illegal smugglers and recover or destroy the cargo as needed.

As Raevarn leaves the face of Titus Kahn, the handler of the region, pops in its place. He tells the group to use their judgement in this case and bring the Emperors wrath upon any xeno, mutant, or heretic that crosses their path. Cassius wishes to go to Icthion to try and find more information but they are not allowed to break the quarantine unless authorized by a person of sufficient status. The Emerald Tigress has taken an unusual route to its way and the group look into information about its flight path to try and ascertain its whereabouts and where they could intercept it. The ship has a trade license and a skilled pilot to navigate the warp. Seeing this the group decide to go to Eradus Dyr to try and catch the trader when they make port as well as pick up the log to track the trader ship’s whereabouts.

A few days pass and an imperial patrol offer to take them on and drop them on their way to Eradus Dyr. During the trip Cassius stops to talk to Garret and offers a Lho Stick to him. Cassius mentions the warp energy that discharged on Haer Iridian and is concerned that things of the warp that the discharge unleashed is weighing heavily on them. He warns Garret that he shouldn’t focus on it and that this will go away after a time. Cassius then offers Garret a token of his people that he is owed a favor and that if anything begins to trouble him he should find him immediately. Going to Carolinus next he is found in a heated debate with a tech priest which he quickly waves off. He invites Carolinus to council and the two walk to Carolinus’s quarters where he offered much the same as he gave to Garret.  Brander keeps to himself in the hangar.

The group arrives and chooses to search for the Emerald Tigress’s manifest and flight path to try and determine where the ship might be going or coming so they could catch the Tigress. Brander leads the way to the Administratum on Port Dyr to try and find the ship chronicle. Cassius asks around on the local ship docks to find the Administratum office and is pointed to Hangar B Chroniclarium. Once there Cassius asks around for the office and gets more information about where the chronicle is. Brander has doubts about pulling rank to move the other naval officers around or just trying to keep quiet. They allow Brander to take the lead and try to use his rank to try and get access to the chronicles of the Tigress.

The Administratum servitors and scribes are busy with the daily recordkeeping and Brander attempts to bluff his way past the scribe by claiming a false ship and captain and saying it is new. The scribe asks for his identification and papers and remarks on the state of his uniform. Cassius offers his hand and introduces himself. Cassius presses the scribe to try and release the chronicle to him but the scribe refuses. After the group loses this chance they decide to walk away and Carolinus catches the scribe telling the Servitor to get people to follow them and to check the name of the ship Brander lied about. The group decide to leave and not linger around the port electing to try and stay dark.

Cassius goes around and asks some of the scribes and deckhands of the ports where they could lodge for a while. A local points them to a boarding house named “The Emperor’s Faith” and the group walk along looking for anybody suspicious. Garret notices two armsmen who seem suspicious and Garret notices the two using a radio. Cassius decides to confront them directly and Cassius tries to throw them off the trail. He successfully threatens the two men and tells them to leave to collect the groups information next day. Cassius tells the group that he bought them time and suggests they not enter the lodging they were headed for unless they can successfully get the needed paperwork. They need to get a name to search for first and move quickly to secure the papers to give them legitimacy or else they will betray their purpose here.

The group decide to try and get a captain to try and find some way to get legitimate papers. Cassius looks out and asks for ship captains with conflicts but doesn’t turn up a lot in the next couple of ours. He then sends Kahn a message explaining the situation and requesting help with the mission to secure clearance. With this the group retires for the night.

In the morning Cassius takes time to appraise the group of the situation and before he reaches his room he meets the arms men from before. Apologizing for the the delay in his paperwork he tries to get more time and the guards don’t buy it. The guards try to arrest him on suspicion of illegal access to the chronicles. Carolinus steps out of his room and faces the Arbites to be arrested as well. Carolinus tries to intimidate the guards but also fails to impress them. Finally Cassius pulls out the documents showing the Inquisition authority and the guards back off with their tails between their legs. Garret believes the situation is hilarious but Carolinus is less enthused. The group decide to go retrieve the documents and limit their exposure to the populace. In the interest of expedience Brander asks for the Captain of the Emerald Tigress and fails to find anything. Carolinus returns to the dock to ask if anyone as serviced the Emerald Tigress before. Garret checks for anyone that might know of smuggling operations and fails.

Two days of waiting brings the clearance papers they ask for and they return to the Hangar to get their chronicles. The same scribe is on duty and is dubious but eventually allows them access and sends a servitor to assist them. The Servitor sends them to a far away desk and half an hour later all the servitors bring the associated paperwork of the captain and the Warrant of Trade is shown to be granted by Inquisitor Raevarn about 140 years ago. The group consider something strange is happening and the ship chronicle seems incomplete to support this. After a week and a few days of going through worthless data the group hits on a major breakthrough. The chronicles go vague around a few planets in the way of the former warp storm and the goods are sold at higher profits than normal. They also find Petty Officer Nichols is the attending officer each time the Tigress is docked and oversees onloading and offloading. Perhaps there is a connection and they choose targets to interrogate for information. Suddenly the Armsman they intimidated earlier is there informing that the Tigress is entering the system and that Nichols is once again the officer in charge of taking care of it.

The group harass the armsman a while and eventually reveals that Nichols was asking around for what they were doing looking through the records. They tell the armsman to inform on Nichols movements and what others are saying about them. They decide to look up information on Nichols and see if he is involved in any illegal activities and his dossier. Garret asks around on the area and finds the name of a man named Daiquiri that might be helpful to their investigations. Carolinus and Brander have a good session and find payments from Daiquiri (a crew name on the Tigress) to Nichols and the payments are in varying amounts as if a cut of profit and then are distributed to other armsmen. Cross Referencing the name of the squad from the armsman they find one of the soldiers on the squad is taking payments. They decide to have the armsman to lure the soldier Kizaak to a point where they can talk to him. Cassius asks around the seedier part of Eradus Dyr and is led to a fighting arena where smugglers can help smuggle things off world at the back room. They find themselves face to face with Nichols and several other people. Cassius successfully bluffs Nichols into importing some rare creatures from Icthion and strikes a deal with Nichols for sum of money. Nichols suggests the Tigress to transport and 10,000 Imperial as payment. Garret is more about the fighting arena which Nichols briefly explains about and they close the deal.

Reuniting with Carolinus and Brander the two exchange their discoveries. Nichols pays off four of the port authorities and the trail goes back to the Tigress. The Tigress has been ferrying over animals from Icthion, supposedly a dead world, and bringing them to the arena for the pit fights. It seems Valentine isn’t a part of the conspiracy as much as Daiquiri is. They decide to retire for the day and Cassius returns to the Emperor’s faith with Carolinus in tow.

In three days the Tigress docks and Cassius receives a message from Nichols telling him that there is a problem in the arrangements delaying them. They get suspicious that something is happening and they might have been exposed somehow. Carolinus scans with his auger and doesn’t detect anything. Cassius receives another message asking him to meet on Nichol’s terms. The group suspect a trap and suggests running down the line another way and get the armsman to talk to Kizzak and draw him into the open. Cassius asks around to find the crew and instead gets the location of Captain Valentine at the “Gentleman’s Cane”. Carolinus suggests they tread lightly as the captain is a friend of the inquisition but still find it odd that the captain appears to be innocent while illegal cargo is smuggled onto his ship.

Cassius goes to the Gentleman’s Cane and inquires about the Captain. Going in Cassius is geneprinted and sees a selection of many high ranking and powerful people and entertainers. He takes a seat and has an audio message sent to him. Valentine invites him to his booth to speak. Cassius asks Valentine to head to Icthion and Valentine refuses to attempt to run the Imperial blockade. Valentine points them to the Midnight Runner and it’s unfortunate end. Cassius feeds Valentine a story which Valentine agrees on and the two become good acquaintances over drink. After this Cassius heads back home.

Going home Cassius sees that the doors to all their rooms are inexplicably open. He radios the others and awakens Brander. He wakes up and sees someone with an armsman uniform and a shotgun approaching in the darkness. The group enter initiative time.

Brander shouts into his microbead to rouse the others and quickdraws his pistol. He squeezes off a semi-auto burst and hits twice in the torso and arm quickly killing the armsman. The shots wake Carolinus and Garret. Cassius sees the armsman and draws his sword. The armsman draws his weapon. The armsman facing Garret swipes with an axe towards him and misses barely. The armsman facing Carolinus attacks with a knife and stabs him hard. Carolinus attacks back with his Mechadendrite and misses. Garret searches for his las-pistol in a panic and leaps to the other side. Carolinus jumps up and attacks with his Mechadendrite missing again. Brander stands up and grabs the chainsword revving it up. Cassius fires a smite onto an armsman and strikes with righteous fury through the wall and smashes him into the floor burning his arm clean off. Carolinus strikes again and misses. Brander sees Nichols and fires at him with the pistol and clips him with a shot but doesn’t wound him. Cassius moves forward a small bit. The guardsman swings at Garret with his axe and misses him. The guard against Carolinus pulls out the pistol in his pocket and shoots missing with an auto-fire. Garret aims at the armsman’s head and puts his las-pistol to full power and blasts his skull a new hole killing him instantly. Carolinus grabs his hand-canon and readies for combat. Nichols aims at Brander and pulls out his shotgun and takes a shot to the torso wounding him and sending him reeling. Carolinus swings with the mechadendrite and strikes the armsman’s arm. Brander attacks with the chainsword and swings true with righteous fury and Nichols drops his shotgun as his arm starts to bleed heavily. Cassius, indecisive for a moment, charges into Brander’s room to help. Garret runs to Carolinus’s room. Garret takes a shot against the armsman as he retreats from Carolinus’s room. The shot thrusts through his chest and kills the armsman. Carolinus uses his mechadendrite to try and heal himself. Nichols draws a chainknife and swings at Brander who side steps and barely misses him. Brander swings back with the chainsword and Nichols trips and gets his leg sawn completely off. He is very quickly slain. Exit initiative.

The team regroups and Carolinus looks over his armsman for identification. The Armsman is Kizaak that they were hoping to find. Cassius searches Nichols. Carolinus drags the corpses into a single room and suggests that they find any injured non-combatants and tend to Branders wounds. Carolinus takes his time in healing Brander and does well. Cassius sees a group of Arbites enter the hotel lobby...

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Stream II: Haer Iridian

After filling the paperwork and destroying the bodies of the 12,500 witnesses, the party once again meets after two months. The smell of death covers Arnhaus and the group is met by a servitor who offers a data slate to Drakul. The data slate opens to the holo of Inquisitor Rivaan. He thanks the acolytes for their service and gives them their new assignment to overwatch a world recently brought into the fold of the Imperium 2 weeks away in the warp. Overseeing the transfer of power on the planet as a new Count Elect is enthroned and the Adeptus Administratum Prefect Allard is their contact. The world is a feudal world named Haer Iridian and it is a relatively primitive world recently uncovered by the retreating warp storm. Dracul draws attention to the fact it is feudal world and the fact they are working with the Administratum. Carolinus gives his deference to Cassius to dealing with the Administraum and reads the details of the Count’s Vigil and to make sure everything about the Count Elect works out for the Imperium. They decide to leave their advanced technology at home and restrain themselves from performing abilities that might be considered witchcraft.

Planning this contact they look over the contact and the lords on the planet and concealing their technology. They have a requisition by the administratum waiting for them to allow them to more easily blend in with the native populace. En route to the world Carolinus asks Cassius for an audience. It maybe necessary for Cassius to alter a person’s memories to keep their actions here secret. Their choices for using Cassius’s powers are limited so a more permanent solution to witnesses may be required.

Garret and Cassius requisitions feudal world plate armor from the Administratum but they are unable to find it and provide it. Cassius wishes to get something that can disguise him as a medicine man or physician of the world. He chooses to go with a concealed pistol. Brander asks for a flintlock pistol which the administratum provides with extra ammunition. Arms and supplies are limited because of the militias and militaries bulking up in anticipation of political conflicts.

Haer Iridian seems like a typical terran planet and the city is more populated than one might think. An impending castle does appear in front and the inside is more modern plasteel and concrete. Navy and guards are humming around. Cassius asks for Prefect Allard and he is pointed to the Administratum buildings. They go up to the office of the Administratum and find the office of Allard. Allard is a man who looks quite busy and sleep deprived and buried in data slates and paper records. Cassius introduces the group and their purpose saying they are with the administratum and the prefect seems dubious about it. The prefect gives up and approves them and Cassius defers to him to give him a choice on how to proceed. Cassius asks if the body of the count has been examined and if the Count has any enemies. The Prefect gives him a half-hearted answer about the Count’s enemies, as being in direct contact with the Imperium gives the position significant status, and gives them their requisitions from the Administratum and the map of the area explaining the locations.

Allard warns them about Lord Bergman acting strangely and the Psyker tide that has gotten 247 people stoned to death as witches. Meanwhile Carolnus looks over the information in the office with the Mechadendrite about the planet and requests to see the body of the former Count while Cassius negotiates their living quarters. The Prefect writes a letter allowing Carolinus to examine the body and they exchange contact information.

The group go around through the administratum building and to their rooms. Carolinus looks over his robes of the Medicae, Cassius scrapes a troublesome bit of manure from his boots, and the group looks over their quarters and options in the robes to conceal their weapons. Carolinus gets into his Medicae robes and coils the mechadendre around his back and does surprisingly well concealing them under their robes. Garret puts his chainmail on and Brander decides to pass on his armor and put his chainsword in wrappings. Cassius decides on using a cloak to conceal armor.

The group decides to go out to try and gather information about the local lords looking for rumors and the general feel of the political climate on the planet. After a brief accident with the chainsword of Brander the group reach the town and ask for opinions of the lords. Marin Conrad III had a bastard child who was recently exiled, Bergman is the favorite to be Count Elect, Berger Metz has bought several town and auction items. Seeing Berger in the tavern Cassius approaches and offers to buy him a drink. Berger offers him something in exchange for his courtesy and mentions his auction house and mines. He tells Cassius about his business dealing with his silver mines and the Administratum as well as his own run of the art auctions at his art house. He makes mention of a box that plays music and Cassius shows his own. Cassius then asks about the metal item and if he can requisition one for himself. The item is a work of a machinist and a local Duchess. The Machinist is well renowned and he tells him how to get in contact with him. Cassius makes his goodbyes and Claus Mettz slouches over drunk.

Cassius briefs the group on his findings and Carolinus is intrigued by it. Cassius is questioning whether the Count was really dead by natural causes or if he was murdered. A local guard listening to the conversation goes over to offer how to get in contact with the Duchess and thus the machinist in her employ. After a nice talk with the guard they offer to set up an audience with Duchess Luhdtholdt. Carolinus offers to retire for today and aside asks to visit the tomb of the former Count. Cassius asks the Prefect to forge documents to show their noble birth and they make for the Bastille and straighten their stories out.

The travel to the Bastille is a long one and the people notice them as both strangers and people of status and some people start moving around them. A few figures in some strung out thug robes and surround them drawing their weapons. After a successful intimidation the bandits think better of attacking them. The Basilica is open and inside is lit with candles for the Count’s funeral. Cassius psynisicience checks for emotions that are out of the ordinary and finds nothing that would alert him to anything wrong. Carolinus makes a check for the basilica's floor plan and occupants and nothing interesting comes up. The priests are around the body of the Count and Cassius and Carolinus go to speak to the head priest to exhume the corpse. Garret tries to stealth up and Brander goes to the door pretending to be an attendant at the church which he then flubs up.

Cassius asks the father to speak in private and asks him if he could re-examine the body of the Count. He agrees to move the body down to the preparation chamber for exhumation and monks carry it off with Cassius and his companions following. Garret elects to stay outside and the group goes into the preparation chamber. They are led underground and the body is on the slab with rudimentary tools nearby.  Carolinus looks around the room and finds a hidden door on the wall. Cassius looks for the door but can’t find it and Carolinus examines the body and finds no traces of foul play or assassination initially. He finds an old scar but fails to find anything that indicates assassination. His age suggests it might be strange that he would die of exhaustion and Garret is no help in elaborating. With his examination concluded Carolinus tries to find the door his radar detected but finds nothing. Garret takes his hand at finding it but also fails. With their business concluded the group head to the bastion and sleep the night away.

The group decide to go to the Count’s End (poetic) to meet with Duchess Luhdtholdt. The other guard causes a commotion inside mentioning the Duchess is injured or dead. The group consider lingering near to try and offer their assistance with Carolinus acting as a medicus. They go inside and the area is nice with the mechanical contraptions and no open windows. Garret asks about who brought the food to her. Carolinus looks and determines she has been dead for several hours. Upon further inspection he sees nothing untoward. He asks about all the guards and people around for signs of foul play. Cassius wonders if the machinists contraptions could be the cause and Carolinus goes to inspect them. Cassius also does Psyniscience on the object and finds nothing about the machinists work. There is a dedicated spirit about it. Carolinus picks up the most recent item and finds nothing odd about the shadow puppet theater object. Carolinus finds the connection of the machinist and the deaths interesting. They push for an audience for the machinist and again offer their services to the guard. Cassius mentions their role with the administratum and the guard is put on edge.

Speaking with the guard they figure out Bergman might have a conflict with the Duchess. His dealings with the mines and the continued rivalry between the Duchess and Bergman makes him a likely candidate for conspiracy. Berger Metz can also be somebody involved in the murder or can be another victim. They consider if the auction house and the machinist has a connection, if perhaps it could be used to distribute his works and somehow, and that’s how things work to kill the nobility. The group see a commotion around the Berger Metz’s where they met Berger Metz and hear from the crowd that he is dead. They decide to try and see what happened and how this might be connected to the other deaths. Garret decides to stealth and go to the window of Metz’s house. There he sees the room Metz died in and examines the crime scene. No blood, broken whiskey bottle, and no body. Garret sees people downstairs and decides to leave. Before that Cassius asks Garret to check for items of the machinist but can’t contact him. Cassius does a Psyniscience on the stretcher and Carolinus scans with his augers. Cassius finds that something of Metz’s personality has been stripped away from him. The two ask Brander to find what happened to Garret and they will puzzle out what is happening with these murderers and the connection to the Machinist.

Brander tries to jump for the window and falls off. He then tries to go through the window, successfully and looks for him upstairs. Seeing Garret, Brander calls to him and snaps him out of an apparent trance. They meet up in the street afterwards and Garret and Brander reveals what they felt. Cassius reveals his feelings about the warp and the possible connection to the machinist works or paintings. Carolinus checks Garret for physical signs and finds nothing odd. Cassius suggests putting Garret’s skills to use and stealing the bill of sale for the paintings and other items in the auction house.

At the auction house Garret tries to break into the auction house and Cassius uses Psyniscience on the building pushing to get a leftover imprint of some kind. Garret breaks into the auction house and finds several documents to look over and the Carolinus and Brander move to join Garret. Garret finds the bills of sale for the work of the artist named Bernard and he stays at Metz’s in. He also has more paintings commissioned and the paintings have been sold to all four of the nobles. There are more waiting for the next auction. With this evidence in hand they elect to go back to the Administratum and ask them to bring Bernard in for arrest. Cassius sees a young gentleman walking up with recent colors on his fingers and calls the others. The man introduces himself as Bernard. Cassius draws his pistol and gives him his credentials. Bernard invites him to the house and they go to talk at his place. Cassius psynisciences him and sees him as a genuine type of fellow.

They go into his house and start interrogating him about his art and something is up about his paint. He mentions human tones in particular and Carolinus becomes curious about it and auger scans while Cassius psyniscience. Carolinus uses his mechadendrite to check on it and knocks over the paint. The mechadendrite reports that the paint has human blood in it. Cassius tells Brander to arrest Bernard. Carolinus moves to try and take him down and smashes him in the face knocking him down. Using psyniscience Cassius isn’t finding much. The others notice the paints are acting strange and the colors run off the painting and form a shifting human-like form. It whispers and warns the group they shouldn’t have done that.

The creature looms and the group faces the creature down. They enter initiative time.

The creature acts first and strikes Garret, Carolinus retreats from it, the monster makes them all fear for their lives and the paint demon attacks Brander failing to attack him. The demon looks at Cassius craving his blade and attempts to attack Cassius psionically. Cassius counters and causes a Shadow of the Warp to flash inside their minds. Brander avoids being harmed by it but Carolinus and Garret get corrupted by it. The demon attacks Garret and harms him lightly and then pierces his chest and arm. Garret loses strength in his arm and it dangles ruined off to the side. The demon then attacks Bernard on the ground and rips his arm off sending his blood spewing out. Garret is shocked to his senses and runs to Cassius. The demon attacks Cassius again but fails and turns to Brander to strike him which he dodges completely. Garret continues to run for Cassius. Cassius reaches into the warp and attacks the demon with Smite and hits the demon with the smallest of damage. He then steps closer. Brander grabs his chainsword and attacks the demon with a mighty swing doing some damage to it.  The demon attempts to use its spell and attack Brander and fails. Garret draws his Laz pistol. Cassius looks around for paint thinner and finds a bottle of red liquid. Brander attacks again with the chainsword and gets it stuck in the table. The demon attacks Brander again and he ducks under it. Garret recovers his strength and fires on the demon with his Laz Pistol and splashes its head around. Cassius attacks the demon with smite and doesn’t find the power. Brander pulls his sword out and attacks the demon again and with righteous fury slams his sword into it injuring it seriously! The demon attacks Brander and misses. Carolinus finally snaps out of his fear. Garret fires on the demon after Cassius moves and scores a devastating blow on the demon exploding its head and crippling its perception. Cassius attacks with Smite once more and fails once again. Brander attacks and get the sword stuck in the table. The demon fails to use its power and the attack. Carolinus draws his pistol and Garret fires on the demon hitting it once again and the color drains from its head. Cassius strikes the demon with a final smite and void energy surges in its body, boils up, and explodes in a violent surge of energy flecking paint everywhere.

The group drops from exhaustion and Brander tells Carolinus to tend to Garret and he manages to stop his bleeding. They agree to burn down Bernard’s house and the auction house as it smacks of Heresy. They also want to gather up the bills of sale and give it to the Inquisition so they can track down the paintings that are already distributed so they can be destroyed. Bernard’s house and the auction house is destroyed and the paintings are likewise put to the flame. The demons trapped in the paintings are released to return to the Immaterium.  

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Stream I: Arnhaus written by Brother Scribe Trenchcoat Phoenix

The episode begins on an imperial station situated in the Eximus sector. This is where four inquisitorial acolytes have been called to meet by Inquisitor Raevarn. The first person to arrive in the empty meeting room is Garret Ironhand, an assassin hailing from a feudal world. Realizing, that he has arrived several hours early, Garret takes a seat and decides to wait for the others. The second acolyte, Cassius Caligo XII, a nobleman, arrives 15 minutes early. Cassius greets the assassin and tries to strike up a conversation, but is interrupted by the arrival of the other remaining two acolytes. Brander Thraile, an ex-navy pilot, and Carolinus Dracul, a tech-priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus and a chirurgeon, enter the room and find a seat for themselves. Before they could begin discussing why they have been called there, a door opens, and a fifth man steps into the room.

Immediately recognizing the man as Interrogator Kahn, one of Inquisitor Raevarn’s most trusted servants, Cassius and Brander stand up to greet the interrogator with the sign of the Aquila and a salute, respectively. Kahn returns the gesture, and when it becomes apparent, that Carolinus and Garret aren’t going to make any effort to greet him, he tells the team to take a seat. After sitting down himself, the interrogator activates a holo-projector, displaying the image of a barren world called Arnhaus. Kahn explains, that the reason why the acolytes have been called there, is because the inquisition has received a number of reports about bionic implants and prostheses malfunctioning and killing or severely injuring their users. All of the implants could be traced back to Arnhaus, a Mechanicum Forge world, which used to be the sector’s number one source of bionic implants until it was engulfed by a violent warp-storm several centuries ago. Some 15 years ago, however, the storm started to recede, and Arnhaus was reclaimed by the Mechanicum. Kahn goes on to explain, that there are concerns among members the inquisition, that the corrupting effect of the warp could be the reason for these incidents, and thus, Inquisitor Raevarn has seen it fit for a team of acolytes to be dispatched to investigate. As such, Kahn tasks the team to journey to Arnhaus and look into the matter.

Upon finishing his briefing, the interrogator asks if the team have any questions. Garret inquires about how the holo-projector works, but Kahn ignores the question and departs. As the interrogator is leaving, Cassius reveals, that he is somewhat concerned by Carolinus’ optical mechadendrite (which has been buzzing around the room during Kahn’s briefing), and asks if it’s dangerous. Emboldened by Cassius’ inquiry, Garret begins bombarding Carolinus with questions about the workings of his mechadendrite. Carolinus turns the questions aside, arguing, that while this line of inquiry could be of some relevance to their mission, it would be wisest to study the implants from Arnhaus, not his. Agreeing, Cassius turns to Brander (who has been mostly silent up until now), and asks him if he happens to know any bars on board the station. Brander takes the group to an officer’s lounge, where they settle down and begin formulating a plan.

Studying the intel provided by Kahn, Carolinus learn a number of details about Mechanicum operations on Arnhaus. Following the reclamation of the Forge World, the tech-priests have been struggling to bring the foundries up to 100% efficiency, and most most of the facilities are either being restored or are operating at about 50% capacity. The list of locations of interest is composed of Lazarus Forge, the “primary” Mechanicum installation on the planet, and three mines designated “Charion”, “Taurus” and “Forza”. These are the mines that supply the factories of Lazarus Forge with raw materials like titanium, aluminium and, in the case of Charion mine, tormaline, a type of crystal used in the construction of Mind Impulse Units (MIUs) and neural interfaces. Additionally, the intel mentions, that the team’s transport will depart two days hence.

Weighing their options, the crew decide, that they should requisition forged documents and false identities from the interrogator. Cassius mentions, that they need a cover, and proposes that they should operate under the guise of having been sent by the Fabricator-General to inspect the servitors working in the mines for sign of corruption in their machine-spirits. The team is in agreement, and settle on using Cassius’s plan. Before they could leave, a hunchbacked figure interrupts them, and introduces himself as Zachariah, an agent of Interrogator Kahn. The crew tell him of their plans, and ask him to procure the appropriate documents. Everyone then retires to their quarters to pack their belongings and make preparations for the journey.

Carolinus, trying to make effective use his time, visits every member of the team to inquire about what equipment they intend to bring. He finds Garret first, who shows him a chainsword, a standard las-carbine and a las-pistol. Expecting Garret’s arms to be in terrible condition, Carolinus is pleasantly surprised to learn, that the feudal man has been utterly fascinated by imperial technology since his “ascension”, and has gone to borderline-fanatical lengths to maintain his gear, compensating for his lack of technical skills considerably. Carolinus then leaves to ask the others, and finds Cassius and Brander drinking together in the officer’s lounge. Cassius reveals, that he is not exactly what one might call a combative type, and carries only a short sword, which he has been training with all his life. Upon being asked about his staff, he explains, that it was given to him as a gift by his father upon his departure from his homeworld. Brander, on the other hand unsheathes a chainsword and a stub gun. Brander is surprised to learn, that Carolinus, despite being a tech-priest also favours ballistic weaponry over more advanced weapons. As Cassius is about to leave, he turns back and asks Carolinus to come by his quarters later, as he wishes to speak to him privately.

Several hours later, Carolinus make a visit to Cassius’ room and find him smoking a Lho-stick while pacing around. Cassius explains, that the reason why he had called Carolinus to meet him is because he would like to confide in him. He reveals, that he is a sanctioned psyker of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, and was unsure about how the others might react upon learning this fact. Given the fact, that Carolinus is also a sworn servant of the God-Emperor, Cassius was reasonably certain, that telling his secret to the team’s tech-priest and chirurgeon would be the most prudent course of action.  Cassius also mentions, that he wanted to tell someone, as eventually his powers would be revealed to the rest of the team, and he wanted someone who could support him when the time comes. The two are interrupted by a knock on the door, and the visitor is revealed to be Zachariah, who came to hand the team their documents and forged papers. Cassius, half-jokingly asks if he has been listening in on their conversation, but Zachariah wryly replies, that he has been eavesdropping on the team for the past two days on the interrogator’s orders.

Once the two days have passed, the crew board an Imperial Navy vessel, and begin their voyage to Arhaus. One day Cassius finds Garret staring blankly at one of the shuttered view-ports of the ship, while strolling around the corridors. Asking him why he is standing there, Garret explains, that he is utterly perplexed by warp-travel. He wonders what is out there, and asks if Cassius knows. Saying, that unless (God-Emperor forbid) the Gellar-fields fail, they will never know what the warp looks like up close. Contemplating Cassius’ answer, Garret muses how curious it is, that while primitive, uplifted people like him live with open eyes, most imperials still live “shuttered lives”. Though agreeing with him, Cassius cautions Garret, that it might not be prudent to speak so openly of such matters, as there are many, especially in the inquisitions, who would consider thoughts of this nature nothing short of heretical. Then, almost as if to reassure him, Cassius adds, that he has nothing to worry about when they are in private.

Arriving on Arnhaus, the team make planetfall, and land at Lazarus Forge. There, they encounter a tech-priest, who inquires about their business and directs them to the Forgemaster, Magos Quintilius, upon finding, that their papers are in order. The group make their way to the administrative building, where they encounter an unusually high number of skitarii. When they reach the office of the magos, they are told, that the Forgemaster is busy, and they should wait outside. After some time, the door slide open, and a heavily augmented woman, whom Carolinus recognizes as the Fabricator-general of the Eximus Sector, steps out and turns back to tell Quintilius to assist “her agents” in their investigation. Quintilius then invites the crew into his office, and gives them directions to the mines.

The team decide it would be wisest to investigate Forza mine first, as it is manned exclusively by penal workers, and they could be a valuable source of information. While heading to the motor pool, they encounter Harlon, a tech-priest, and the foreman at Forza mine. Though he is somewhat curious about why the team would want to start their investigation at the mine with the fewest servitors, he proves quite amicable in the end. The crew then take a speeder, and head out.

After several hours, they arrive at Forza mine, where they find a shantytown of criminals and debtors, policed by the skitarii. The group splits up, and everyone tries to gather intel independently. Most of them have minor run-ins with some of the more violent workers (Brander, in particular almost gets mugged, despite having a chainsword on his person), but Carolinus’ presence is enough to deter most of the criminals, and prevent the threats from escalating to open violence. Knowing, that harming a member of the Mechanicum would have severe consequences for them, the miners decide to leave the group alone. Cassius, however, manages to avoid the worst of the rabble, and succeeds in extracting some information from one of the indentured workers. He is told, that a number of workers are fresh arrivals, as the entire penal workforce was transferred to Forza mine from Charion some time ago after a plasma reactor containment breach had killed a couple workers in the tunnels, and the lover levels were deemed unsafe for unaugmented humans. Intrigued by this development, he quickly finds the rest of the group to tell them about the events at Charion. Cassius feels, that the reactor meltdown story is quite suspicious, and warrants further investigation. The rest of the team is in agreement, and they depart from Forza mine.

Arriving at Charion several hours later, the group finds a brass gate embossed with the sigil of the Mechanicum. Upon knocking, an irritated voice answer through a vox-speaker, asking about their business. Cassius holds their papers in front of an optical sensor, and explains their mission. Finding everything in order, the tech-priest, still seemingly annoyed by their presence, opens the gate. Carolinus parks the speeder in the main hall, where several utility servitors are performing maintenance work on a few other vehicles. The tech-priest comes out to meet the team, and introduces himself as Reclaimator Glich. Cassius requests access to the mines, but Glich is quick to deny them, arguing, that only servitors can operate in the irradiated tunnels. Cassius asks if they could remote control one of the servitors to perform the inspection for them, or bring the others up from the mines. After a short pause, the reclaimator realizes, that he has run out of excuses, and returns to the depths of the facility to get the necessary equipment for driving a servitor down into the mine.

Somewhat suspicious of the reclamator, the group expects him to try and attack them, but Glich does not return. Instead, the servitors slowly begin surrounding them, which the group fails to notice, as they are still expecting Glich to ambush them himself. Realizing, that they have been boxed in, Brander wastes no time, and opens fire. As the first of the servitors falls to the ground, the rest charge the group, swinging their improvised weapons wildly. The team get ready to defend themselves, but Carolinus, having left his weapon on board the transport, is forced to use his medicae mechadendrite. Though the servitors possess heavy augmentics and thick armour, their lack of combat programming means, that they are incapable of cooperating or using cover to overwhelm the group, who manage to fend off the attackers with almost no injuries. Carolinus gets a few broken ribs when a servitor catches him in the chest with a power tool, but he quickly patches himself up and rejoins the fray. Once only a few servitors remain, some of them begin malfunctioning and become “confused”, becoming unable to defend themselves due to unknown causes. The team make quick work of the defenseless servitors and start looking for the heretic Glich. Before they could find him, however, he calls out to them through the vox-system. The reclamator tries to taunt the crew, telling them, that “the Omnissiah speaks to [him] through the stone”.

A set of doors then open up, and Glich, visibly armed with an excavator-staff, takes cover behind a corner. Carolinus scans for outgoing vox-signals to find a comms room where he could request reinforcements, but Glich tells him, that they will have to kill him to get in there. Without hesitation, Garret charges down the hallway to meet the traitorous tech-priest, narrowly avoiding a luminen blast. The rest of the team then joins the fight, while Carolinus tries to get the door to the comms room open. The group fight valiantly, but when Cassius attempts to parry one of Glich’s blows, the heavily augmented reclamator overpowers him, and ends up driving one of his staff’s chainblades into the nobleman’s shoulder, severely injuring him. Brander and Garret finally manage to gain the upper hand, though, as one of Brander’s strikes knocks the tech-priest to the ground. Glich is finished off by Garret, who takes out his las-pistol, and shoots him in the head at point blank range, spraying blood and sparks everywhere. Carolinus, who was repeatedly refused entry by the door’s machine spirit, rushes over to Cassius, and tends to his wounds. Despite being quite messy, Cassius’ injuries are not life-threatening, as the chain-blade didn’t reach any organs or major blood vessels.

Once he is finished bandaging the nobleman’s wounds, Carolinus walks over to Glich’s headless corpse, and begins searching his pockets. He does not find much of interest, save for a data-slate and some small chunks of tormaline. Inspecting the crystals, he finds, that the normally transparent crystals are cloudy, and polluted. When he sees the clouds shift, he immediately throws the tormaline away, and cautions the team not to touch them. He then hands the dead reclaimator’s staff to Garret for his excellent work.

After opening the comms room and calling in reinforcements, the team discuss their next move. Coming to the conclusion, that the “reactor meltdown” was just an excuse used by Glich to cover up his murdering of the workers and to requisition more servitors to corrupt, they decide to venture into the mines. As Cassius is in no state to go spelunking, he and Garrett stay behind, while Carolinus and Brander descend into the tunnels. At the bottom level, they find a tormaline crystal of gigantic proportions with the same clouds swirling inside. Carolinus quickly averts his gaze, and urges Brander to do the same. Returning to the surface, they inform the inquisition of their findings, and tell the interrogator, that the mine must be quarantined. In a couple hours, the skitarii lock Charion mine down completely, and begin cleanup. The group quickly finds out, however, that the crystal will be more difficult to destroy than they initially thought, as servitors refuse to go near it. Since the crystal represents a significant threat to augmented people, Carolinus or the skitarii cannot go down into the tunnels. Fearing the touch of the Warp, Cassius also refuses to go, and only Brander and Garrett remain.

Garrett volunteers to go, and is given basic training in the use of melta-charges, and takes the elevator down into the mines. There, he attempts to plant the charges, but the tormaline fills his head with dark promises of great fortune and glory. Panicking, Garret drops the bombs and runs back to the elevator, then breaks down crying. Once on the surface , sobbing, he tells the others, that he simply couldn’t do it. Fed up with the group’s inaction, Brander goes down into the tunnels, determined to solve his problem himself. Once he picks up the charges, the crystal begins whispering to him as well, but Brander resists, and succeeds in planting the melta-bombs, then bolts back to the elevator. As the explosives go off, he feels a chill wash over him, and hears a sinister voice say “Thank you”. Back on the surface, Cassius feels the Warp ripple around him, so he attempts to use psyniscience to determine the cause of the disturbance before recoiling in horror. When Carolinus asks what happened, Cassius explains, that his visions of the warp are usually foggy and indistinct, but this time, he saw something well defined and sharp flying up the mineshaft. Fearing, that this is not the last time he will see the “tormaline spirit”, Cassius theorizes, that the danger might be greater, than they initially thought.

The final matter for the group to decide, is what to do with the penal workers. Cassius believes heresy to be virulent and proposes purging them all to ensure this heresy cannot spread, Carolinus, on the other hand, argues, that only the ones that were transferred from Charion should be exterminated, as killing them all would have a substantial impact on Mechanicum operation on Arnhaus, and would likely result in the inquisition having to deal with severe backlash. In the end, Cassius manages to convince the others, but ultimately defers to Interrogator Kahn: should he feel, that purging the workers would be inconvenient for the inquisition, he can overwrite the command to purge all the workers.

The episode ends with the group overseeing the purging of the penal workforce. In the end, the skitarii execute a total of 12.500 indentured servants. Cassius feels entirely justified in his decision, saying, that no sacrifice is too great when the fate of the Imperium is on the line.

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The Emperor’s Champions

EnterElysium: GM and Narrator

Aavak: Carolinus Drakul, Tech Priest of the Adeptus Mechanicus

Season 1 Fate: Fallen at Syrae Custodas Α Colony by explosive flamer suicide, now a Servo Skull

Enoch Epidicus, Witch Hunter

Season 1 Fate: Labeled a Heretic and fought against Inquisitor Kahn

BenthamPlays: Brander Thraile, Ex-Navy Pilot of the Imperial Navy

Season 1 Fate: Labeled a Heretic and fought against Inquisitor Kahn

Shenryyr: Garrett Ironhand, Feudal World Assassin

Season 1 Fate: Betrayed the group and fought for Inquisitor Khan but was captured and mind wiped by Cassius

SplatterCatGames: Cassius Calligo XII, Psyker and Imperial Nobleman

Season 1 Fate: Labeled a Heretic and fought against Inquisitor Kahn

Also Featuring

cKnoor: Rashmus Talon, Arbite Investigator of Syrae Custodas

Season 1 Fate: Survived the nuclear bombing and Now acts as defacto ranking officer of Cyrae Custodas

Allies of the Inquisition

Inquisitor Acaedius Raevarn

Inquisitor Titus Khan

Inquisitor Rivaad

Zachariah

Tech Priest Harlon

Administratum Prefect Allard

Count Marin Conrad III

Nobleman Berger-Metz

Nobleman Bergman

Duchess Luhdtholdt

Captain Julius Horatio Argo Wren Valentine III, The First Captain of the Emerald Tigress

First Mate Leasari

Junior Officer Rubrius

Phe’hnn and Pit

Skitari Sub-Sector General Phasio

Ministor Valloren

Sir N’yetch

Lord Emir Roule and Lady Roule

Midwife Esmerelda

Imperial Guardsmen and Naval Officers

Imperial Guardsmen Corporal Jennette Vice

Arbite Rudolph

Planetary Governor Rhyo Khizmit

Female Justicar

Sergeant Hale

Justicar Zhevran

Arbite Guard Captain Zale

Arbite Stevens

Arbite Investigator Junka

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Daemons, Xenos, Mutants, and Heretics

Reclaimator Glich

Tormaline Spirit

Bernard the Painter

Paint Daemon

Flight Officer Daiquiri

Petty Officer Nichols

Private First Class Kizaak

The Jakaero

Trademaster Verdun

Feral Village Healer

Wounded Tyranid Genestealer

Forgemaster Magos Quintillius

Hereticus Tech Priest Binus

Corrupted Temple Librarians and Arch-Librarian

Dark Eldar Marauders

Dark Eldar Ship

Justicar Friedrich

Delta Colony Prisoners

Arbite Marshal Trant

Alpha Colony Prisoners

Red Eyes Gang

Red Eye

Chirurgoen Weiss

Chaotica Spirit

Zephkael, Demon Prince of Slaanesh, He who dances in the Shadows

Heretek Priests and Servitors

Heretek Genestealer