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.

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 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...