Eye, Tooth & Claw (2)

The acolytes escaped the Musher ambush via a back alley. Cortez, Franz and the techpriest Malthus circled around to attack the Mushers. Franz was able to slay several with a mysterious blade of xeno design before falling into a chasm, while the bolter of the techpriest sowed death among the mushroom cultists. However, there were too many, and when the renegade Techpriest Lazarus joined the fight, the acolytes were forced to retreat.

They were brought back to Outremer, where Drake ordered them to prepare for the chase of the Blessings of St. Gustavius. First, though, they must return to Constanthus, as an agent has just revealed the location of the traitor Falco.

Eye, Tooth and Claw (1)

The acolytes travelled to the outlying town of Candletown, where they found thousands of strangely preserved corpses buried in the fields. These were being scooped up by automated shuttles from the titheship. The acolytes stopped this harvest of the dead, and discovered that an 'Auriel' within the Administratum was responsible for ordering the fields around Candlemas to be harvested.

The titheship carried the acolytes to Hive Constanthus, where they were debriefed by Interrogator Scythia. They met with Malthus the Techpriest once more, and were given new orders by Drake - they were to search for the trader Fritz, and all the relics he brought from Outremer. Most of these relics were shards of the ancient Marine base - others were relics and religious curios. The investigation led to Thallier, the great merchant of the Hippodrome. He gave them the address of the hotel where Fritz was staying.

Dorn learned from Baron Carlos of Outremer that Fritz was traveling to Constanthus to meet with a buyer named Falco! The trail of the renegade acolyte was hot once more.

After watching a psyker ork branded with the Illuminated symbol slay the Ogryn Othar (who was wearing the teeth once given to Lupos Wollsey), the acolytes proceeded to the hotel, where they were ambushed by mushers once more...

In The Crush of the Hive, Part 3

Lacking further clues, the acolytes chose to investigate the Underhive. Joined by a mendicant Techpriest, they travelled into the depths and followed a psychic trace to a hidden shrine of the Illuminated Brethren. The keeper of this shrine was an old woman named Matron Rho, who they recognised as being a scion of the Amaranth family. In the shrine was a statue containing the skull of her father, Cius Amaranth.

Rho explained that when the family chapel was defiled by 'men with flamers', she and her father fled. Her father died, but she enshrined his skull and cyber-eye here. She also mentioned that a nice man named 'Falco' often visited the shrine, and that the cyber-eye of her father was stolen after one of her visits.

Unfortunately, the acolytes let slip that they worked for the Inquisition, and Rho attacked them. As they fled the burning shrine, they were attacked again by the Mushers, and sustained considerable wounds as they retreated to the upper hive. There, they found a scene of carnage. Rioting had begun in the Basilica of the Founding and spread across Constanthus Hive. The acolytes travelled to the Basilica, where they discovered hundreds of thousands dead. The Amaranth crypt had been broken into, and the Illuminated Brethren - led by a man with a cybereye - were conducting a bizarre ritual.

The acolytes were unable to stop the ritual, but they were able to capture the cult leader as the Imperial Guard turned their guns on the Mushers, and blood and fire consumed the sanctity of the ancient basilica...

In the Crush of the Hive, Part 2

With a hail of autopistol fire, Sham cut Dark down, then grabbed the bigger man's autogun and turned it on the rest of the ambushers. Cortez leapt from his hiding place and supported Sham, preventing the thugs from rushing into the alley. Meanwhile, Lupus used his psyker powers to escape his pursuers, and Dorn escaped to summon aid. Modesty fled the scene in terror.

After driving away the ambushers, Sham discovered something horrific in Dark's belongings - an Inquisitorial identity card. Dark was an Interrogator! The acolytes dragged Dark's body back to their cheap hotel and stashed it next to Rig's corpse. They also destroyed the body's features so it could not be identified. A message was waiting at the hotel for Rig, inviting the acolytes to dinner at the Amaranth Palace.

The team stopped off at the inquisitorial fortress to scrub up and to confirm that Dark was indeed a member of the Inquisition. Dorn also contacted They then proceeded to the Amaranth Palace, where Lady Maris Amaranth questioned them extensively. She asked after her missing servant, Rig, and about the acolytes' knowledge of the Illuminated Brethren. She mentioned that Drake's deceased acolyte Falco questioned her mother a few years ago.

During the dinner, Dorn received a reply from Drake, ordering him to pull the team offworld.

Rather than accept her invitation to attend the upcoming Basilica ceremonies in the Amaranth family chapel, the team headed back into the city. At the cheap hotel, they discovered that everyone was dead and the bodies were gone. There were signs the Mushers had been there and left a booby trap to kill the acolytes. Meanwhile, at Modesty's apartment, Sham found signs indicating that someone was plotting a riot at the Basilica...

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...