Report on Investigations on Acreage (3)

Following a disturbing encounter with an animated corpse, the acolytes followed the corpse-collector to a warehouse by the docks, where an eccentric old man was collecting corpses. The investigation turned violent, and an ill-timed grenade caused the warehouse to collapse, severely injuring all but Alaric. The acolytes retreated to the castle to recover from their wounds.

The next day, they discovered that Prince Olcan and his retinue had fled the city, leaving a hastily-promoted Brandic in command of the defenses. Defeat was inevitable. An emissary from the Rhozeia faction visited the castle and offered safe passage through the siege line.

In the Rhozeia camp, they met with ex-Imperial Guard Tholos and Archduke Ollard, Olcan's cousin. Ollard attempted to poison the inquisitors within minutes of meeting them; when that failed, he turned an artillery piece on them, forcing them to flee back to the ruined city.

Following the sewers from the collapsed warehouse, the acolytes discovered Ollard in conference with a pair of xenos, identified as 'Slaught', the Maggot Men. The team attacked and slew one Slaught, at terrible cost to themselves. The other alien escaped. They captured Ollard, who offered to treat with them, but Alaric refused all attempts at compromise and cut out the Duke's eye...

In the Crush of the Hive

Upon arriving at Constanthus Hive, the acolytes are met by Rig, an aide of Lady Marith Amaranth. He brings them to Gassy's Bar in the deep hive. There, Scam spots a woman named Modesty who is covertly observing the group. He insinuates himself into her confidence, and learns that she is working for a man named Dark who assigned her to watch the acolytes.

Meanwhile, a man in the bar was killed by an assassin working for the 'Mushers', a myconid farm guild. The blade was tainted with some mushroom poison or spore. Ignoring this crime and summarily executing the assassin, the team followed another lead - subliminal messages in the tapes playing in the bar. This led them to a blackmarket dealer named Hodde, who told them that the disks were often recycled, and that the data was not always fully erased. Many of the disks dated back to the Illuminated Brethren. Two further leads presented themselves - a man in the Hippodrome named Thaller and scavengers in the underhive.

Dorn visited the Inquisitorial stronghold, where he learned that many of the records relating to the Illuminated Brotherhood had been removed by Falco, a former aide of Inquisitor Drake who was killed in action on Constanthus.

The acolytes decided that Rig had betrayed them to Dark. They confronted Rig, who threatened them with the wrath of Lady Marith Amaranth, but they forced information out of them. He had informed two people of their arrival - one was a man with a cybereye, the other was someone in the Inquisitorial stronghold.

They then moved to capture Dark, but were interrupted by several armed thugs...

Transmission from Inquisitor Drake to the acolytes

Acolytes,
I have reviewed the information retrieved from Breaker. It appears to be connected to a heretical sect that flourished here some three hundred years ago. The Illuminated Brethren held that the common man should be educated and taught to read the Imperial Scripture, and that debate and discussion were a valid path to understanding. Laudable as these goals may seem to some, the Brethrens’ goal was to spread heresy and dissent.

The Illuminated Brethren were shattered by the Inquisition two centuries ago, but splinters of the sect continue to endure on some worlds. The documents you found suggest that connections between these shards are being re-established. We must act now to cut the head from this revenant.

Three courses of investigation present themselves.

Primus, the retrieved document mentioned that ‘Vant’ is ‘close to opening the basilica’. The Illuminated Brethren had a sanctum on the Hive World of Constanthus – they may have returned to that place of power.

Secondus, Breaker was recently visited by a Chartist trade-ship, the Blessing of St. Gustavius. The same vessel was at Constantus two hundred years ago. If there are Illuminated Brethen on board, they may have spread their heresy to Carric.

Tertius, there are few enough Adeptus Mechanicus in the subsector. The renegade of Mars must be known to the other tech-priests. Their fortress world at San Valuso may be an excellent starting point.

Choose your path and take the Ocula Imperatus immediately. Brook no delay - I wish to contain this outbreak before it grows.

Drake

++End Transmission++

Report on investigations on Acreage (2)

>SECURITY SEAL ENABLED.
>COMMUNICATION FROM INTERROGATOR RAIS TO INQUISITOR GRUMAIRE.
>SUBJECT: Report on investigations on Acreage (2)

The platform came under attack by a flotilla of vessels under the banner of Rhozeia, one of the two warring heirs to the Governorship. Most of the acolytes avoided significant injury, although Alaric was struck by incoming fire several times. Thondor secured a ship that brought them to the mainland.

There, guided by the swamp-dweller Eklo, they rested in a swamp-folk village for a night before making their way to Olrankan. Using a letter of introduction obtained on Emperor's Island and their seal, they obtained entry and spoke to Prince Olcan, who promised to aid their investigations.

While waiting for Prince Olcan's seneschal Kirith to find the document that had been responsible for calling in the Inquisition originally, the acolytes began to investigate.

Verbal and Thondor went down to the edge of the siege, as eye-witnesses had reported bodies vanishing from the field of battle.
Quint found a corpse-collector's cart and followed it.
And at the castle, a sniper attempted to assassinate the tech-priest with an energy weapon...

The Passing Of The Barque of St. Anbas

>SECURITY SEAL ENABLED.
>COMMUNICATION FROM INTERROGATOR SCYTHIA TO INQUISITOR DRAKE.
>SUBJECT: Report on investigations on Xaladros
As per your instructions, I dispatched four acolytes (sanctioned psycker Lupus Wolsey, Arbiter Cortez, Lionus and Adept Praetus Dorn) to search the offices and home of one Sebastian Carric, recently arrested on charges of conspiracy and heresy. Carric made his home in the city of Breaker, near the great graveyard of ships.

On being discovered by the cult, the team took refuge in the wreck of the ancient freighter Barque of St. Anbas. They dealt with their pursuers, only to discover the cult was actually operating out of the wreck and had somehow activated the ship's ancient engines. The acolytes fled the ship, which began to collapse. A huge rust cloud engulfed Breaker.

I arrived from Hemonite later that night, in the company of Tech-Priest Gristus, who had divined that the cult were attempting to reactivate the ship's Warp-space machinery. A team composed of the Tech-Priest, the acolytes and some servitors re-entered the wreck to lay the ship's spirit to rest. Everyone within the ship was dead, but the acolytes did recover the remains of a 'renegade of Mars' as well as a decoder talisman.

Applying the decoder to the documents from Carric's house, I discovered several disturbing notes, which I pass onto you by secure courier.

Inquisitor Drake

Ageless and imperturbable, Inquisitor Drake has been a fixture of the Antioch conclave for decades. His mind is like an autocogitator, constantly sorting and correlating information from his many informers and spies. He has a relatively small retinue, preferring to act only through a handful of trusted agents. Drake's base of operations is on Outremer, where he has both a mansion in the capital city and a fortress in the wilderness. This keep, nicknamed the Lair, was once an Adeptus Arbites fortress during the Reconquest.

Drake is a mystery even to many within the Inquisition. He is believed to be a member of the Ordo Hereticus, but he studied under famed demon-hunter Adjorin of the Malleus. His political leanings are equally obscure - he has abstained from many conclave votes, preferring to observe the actions of his fellow inquisitors.

Drake's infamous temper is at odds with his mechanical demeanour. Any failings are met with severe censure, and some acolytes who have failed him have vanished into the depths of the Lair, never to be seen again...

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See also: OUTREMER, INDEX OF BANNED BOOKS, DEEDS OF DRAKE, DEEDS OF ADJORIN, LUMINOUS REPROACH, PILGRIM'S PROGESS

Report on investigations on Acreage (1)

>SECURITY SEAL ENABLED.
>COMMUNICATION FROM INTERROGATOR RAIS TO INQUISITOR GRUMAIRE.
>SUBJECT: Report on investigations on Acreage (1)
Master,
following reports of a death cult on the feudal world of Acreage, I dispatched four acolytes (the assassin Verbal, the spy Quint, the barbarian guardsman Thondor and the tech-priest emissary Alaric; see attached documents of verification and sanctification) to investigate. After having them blessed by Thurman, the Watchful Angel docked with the lander of one Hetter Brum, who brought the group to the spaceport of 'Emperor's Island'.

Agents report that they learned of the ongoing conflict between the two princesses of Acreage, Rhozena and Rhozia, and how their vassals are respectively holding and besieging the city Olrankan in the swamp. While Thondor tried to find a guide among the swamp-folk, Alaric visited the agent of Rhozena in the city and acquired a letter of introduction to Prince Olcan of Olrankan. The other two visited the agent of Rhozia, only to find his tower abandoned.

The shelling of Emperor's Island began.
[[[ FILE CONTINUES ]]]

Inquisitor Albrecht Grumaire

Three hundred and thirty seven years ago, the Rogue Trader vessel Seraphic Benevolence drifted out of the Empyrean and was investigated by Ordo agents believing it to be a space hulk. In truth, three crew members remained alive and untainted - a dying Navigator, an aged servitor, and the youngest son and heir to the Trader, Albrecht Grumaire. The Seraphic Benevolence bore the wounds of Xeno weapons fire, but the ship's spirit was strong. Young Albretch put himself and his ship into the service of Inquisitor Ephram Coron, the Scourge of the Witch Stars. The ship was repaired and reconsecreated as the Watchful Angel, and served as swift transport for Coron and his retinue for a century. When Coron passed on in battle with the Xeno, his rosette and title passed to Grumaire.

Since attaining the rank of Inquisitor, Grumaire has been involved in numerous holy actions on the fringes of Human Space. He is an expert on Xeno cultures and threats, and the Watchful Angel is one of the swiftest vessels in Antioch Sector. He retains his familial charter as a Rogue Trader, but now he traffics only in human souls, buying them back from the taint of the Alien.

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See also: WATCHFUL ANGEL, LIST OF EXTERMINATUS ORDERS, DEEDS OF GRUMAIRE, DEEDS OF CORON, WITCH STARS, THE CHASE OF HERACLETE