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.
Showing posts with label Drake. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Drake. Show all posts
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
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...
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...
Sunday, June 29, 2008
The Clockwork Moon (3)
Uller ordered his gun-servitors and acolytes to kill the inquisitorial team. Fortunately, the group were too close to the Magos for the Titan to open fire, but a hail of autofire from the machines severely wounded many of the team. Dorn was able to reach the shuttle and call for aid from the Oculus Imperatus.
Lupus Wosley drew on previous unsuspected reserves of psychic power and lashed out with electricity. Metal melted and flesh caught fire in the fury of his wrath. While the rest of the acolytes fled to the shuttle, Lupus opened himself up completely to the Warp...and something came though.
The Oculus Imperator blasted open the airlock, and the shuttle flew out. The Inquisitorial vessel jumped away just as the Guardian of the Moon opened fire.
* * *
Blasted and broken, with her navigator dying, the Oculus Imperatus limped through the Warp to the nearby world of Testament. For six months, she was buffeted by warp-storms and dark powers before tumbling into realspace once more. On Testament, the acolytes made contact with several potential allies, including Jermais, who claimed to be a friend of Drake, and the mysterious trader Twocoin. They discovered that Gristus the Techpriest had visited the outlying regions, and that these regions had once been the lair of Illuminated cultists.
Under the shadow of a storm cast by the arrival of the tithe-ship, they set off into the wilderness.
Lupus Wosley drew on previous unsuspected reserves of psychic power and lashed out with electricity. Metal melted and flesh caught fire in the fury of his wrath. While the rest of the acolytes fled to the shuttle, Lupus opened himself up completely to the Warp...and something came though.
The Oculus Imperator blasted open the airlock, and the shuttle flew out. The Inquisitorial vessel jumped away just as the Guardian of the Moon opened fire.
* * *
Blasted and broken, with her navigator dying, the Oculus Imperatus limped through the Warp to the nearby world of Testament. For six months, she was buffeted by warp-storms and dark powers before tumbling into realspace once more. On Testament, the acolytes made contact with several potential allies, including Jermais, who claimed to be a friend of Drake, and the mysterious trader Twocoin. They discovered that Gristus the Techpriest had visited the outlying regions, and that these regions had once been the lair of Illuminated cultists.
Under the shadow of a storm cast by the arrival of the tithe-ship, they set off into the wilderness.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
The Clockwork Moon (2)
Pursing Tantoblin, the acolytes travelled to the lifeless world below, and entered a vault of stored machines. In the depths of the vault, they discovered Tantoblin trying to use a warp engine to open a portal to the Empyrean. He held the stolen corpse of Magos Vulcan, the foul root of the Illuminated corruption. The intrusion of unnatural energies reanimated Vulcan, and he implanted a device into Sham's head. This implant allows the acolyte to sense the presence of other parts of Magos.
The psyker Lupus was able to seal the warp breach, and the team returned to the Clockwork Moon, only for Malthus the Techpriest to accuse Lupus of heresy. Lupus invoked a power and disabled the gun-servitors, but was unable to escape. The team were able to calm Malthus down...then Sham revealed his implant, and that he could sense the corruption of Vulcan within Magos Uller...
The psyker Lupus was able to seal the warp breach, and the team returned to the Clockwork Moon, only for Malthus the Techpriest to accuse Lupus of heresy. Lupus invoked a power and disabled the gun-servitors, but was unable to escape. The team were able to calm Malthus down...then Sham revealed his implant, and that he could sense the corruption of Vulcan within Magos Uller...
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Clockwork Moon
The acolytes returned to Outremer, where they reported to Inquisitor Drake. He was unimpressed with their failure, but with the growing crisis on Constanthus, he was forced to spare them. All of them were punished with agony boxes; Scam and Lupus both excelled, and Lupus was entrusted with the acolytes' one prize from Constanthus - the Eye of Cius Amaranth.
The group then travelled on the ship of Imperial Courier Tarit to the Clockwork Moon of San Valuso. There, Magos Uller-Gamma4 allowed them access to the archives. A priest called Tantoblin was assigned as their guardian. In the archives, the acolytes uncovered several clues. Many years ago, Magos Vulcan passed on his cybereyes, one to the navigator of the known heretic vessel Blessing of St. Gustavius, and the other to the Amaranth family. Other components from the monk's body were installed into other Techpriests, including the traitors Lazarus and Gristus.
Meanwhile, Lupus was taken by Tantoblin to have his teeth replaced.
One of these investigations triggered a defense mechanism, and the team were attacked by a robot, who set the archives on fire. They fled. Tantoblin and Lupus returned, and Tantoblin leapt into the flames.
Returning to Magos Uller, the team voiced their suspicions. Uller spoke privately to Techpriest Malthus, and found that the records relating to the monks who were given relics from Vulcan's body had just been deleted. While the two priests conferred, the rest of the acolytes were surprised to be attacked by Lupus's new teeth. Battling off these bizarre tiny machines, the acolytes realised that Tantoblin was the traitor.
A quick search revealed that he had vanished from the Clockwork Moon, but was still somewhere in the system...
The group then travelled on the ship of Imperial Courier Tarit to the Clockwork Moon of San Valuso. There, Magos Uller-Gamma4 allowed them access to the archives. A priest called Tantoblin was assigned as their guardian. In the archives, the acolytes uncovered several clues. Many years ago, Magos Vulcan passed on his cybereyes, one to the navigator of the known heretic vessel Blessing of St. Gustavius, and the other to the Amaranth family. Other components from the monk's body were installed into other Techpriests, including the traitors Lazarus and Gristus.
Meanwhile, Lupus was taken by Tantoblin to have his teeth replaced.
One of these investigations triggered a defense mechanism, and the team were attacked by a robot, who set the archives on fire. They fled. Tantoblin and Lupus returned, and Tantoblin leapt into the flames.
Returning to Magos Uller, the team voiced their suspicions. Uller spoke privately to Techpriest Malthus, and found that the records relating to the monks who were given relics from Vulcan's body had just been deleted. While the two priests conferred, the rest of the acolytes were surprised to be attacked by Lupus's new teeth. Battling off these bizarre tiny machines, the acolytes realised that Tantoblin was the traitor.
A quick search revealed that he had vanished from the Clockwork Moon, but was still somewhere in the system...
Thursday, June 5, 2008
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...
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...
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
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...
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...
The Tainted Dream
A year before being sent to Constanthus, Cortes, Lupus and young Sham were sent to investigate xeno taint on an agricultural world. They traced a series of mysterious suicides to a travelling merchant, who had been peddling alien 'eggs' from a Rogue Trader, Faris, who visited the world a year before. The mayor's wife had been mutated by addiction to the drug contained in the eggs, and had transformed into a xeno horror.
Learning this was complicated by accidental exposure to the drug, which sent the three investigators into a surreal hallucination. Moments before killing themselves, they fought their way out of the alien dream and were able to return to the mayor's palace and slay his wife with his power sword.
Learning this was complicated by accidental exposure to the drug, which sent the three investigators into a surreal hallucination. Moments before killing themselves, they fought their way out of the alien dream and were able to return to the mayor's palace and slay his wife with his power sword.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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...
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++
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++
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
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.
>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.
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