Gaining Friends and Replacing a Leader

We are about to engage with the Inquisitorial Kill team when out of the blue the Psyker and Sniper take out the rest of their cadre.

Uhm.... what??

They are Lothan and Arcadia, respectively, and inform us that Silas Mar had a favor he could call on with their team.  They want us to come with them to Macabeus Quintus. We agree to meet them at the space port the next day

We have a longish discussion about cleansing me. There is a church or something two days away. I don't really see the point.

The town is a lot calmer - guess that demon kept it's word. As we walk through the arbites canteen, suddenly I feel a strange surge as something leaves my body. My friend finds a new host, as Laz tries to kill the host it jumps to another. Laz does not fail this time.

We go to an astropath to deliver a report about the recent events, and that we're leaving for Macabeus. Obviously we don't tell everything. There is a message from Silas Mar. He says that Inquistior Whitlock is dead. Assassinated.

We are obviously a little taken aback by this. What does it mean? Is it true? Who can we trust? But these are the thoughts we face on a daily basis, and the reason I sometimes grab the opportunity to loose all thought and fear in a bottle or other means of escape.

We meet up at the ship. It is filled with pilgrims and religious nutters. Arcadia shows another side of herself. She is very extrovert and super flirty. It makes for a nice change. The psykers practice their sword skills on the flight. Holder-Smith reads and reads. I try to keep up my strength and fitness.

Holder-Smith has found something interesting in his books. All signs point towards the planet Mara, a mining planet and prison world. It is a forbidden planet due to all sorts of freaky shit happening in the past. Put short: teams just vanish over there.

We arrive and almost instantly a monk appears and hands a scroll case to Lothan. It a message from Silas to meet him in the catacombs. Silas is there in a chair, Psyker along side. Silas coughs up a bit of blood and greets us.

Whitlock has been killed by the Tyrantine Cabal about two months ago. A servant passes a scroll to Laz. We are officially Silas' cadre now. Whitlock was killed because of the desperate regards to secrecy that is the motto of the Tyrantine Cabal.

Silas says he is impressed with our work so far. He has received the reports we sent Whitlock. He also says he suspects that Mara is the key. There are three elements required to find the Blind Tesseract:

1. A pattern - Silas has it in the Greyskin Psalter
2. A guide - A scion or servant of Haarlock
3. A key - We have it - the Keystone

We need to prepare for the hell that is Mara. We are offered wards for our armour, blessed ammo and gear. We can also have a ritual done on us that will give us benefits against psychic attacks. We will also have a posse with us to Mara consisting of two psykers and ten maccabian janissaries. And a ship - Sigillit's Word.

Restoring Order and Releasing Demons

We drive off from Lady Amarite's mansion, the arbites provide us with the address for Euphemia Tessel. We might get to general Khan through her, and she seems like a more reasonable person than most of the inhabitants here. I feel really on edge, more so than usual. The strange thing is that it seems to go for the rest of the crew, and in fact the whole goddamn city. It's a tad late to go see Ms. Tessel, so we head back to HQ.

Back at the Folly there is fighting all around, enforcers are acting more aggressively after the noble killings. Attacks are thankfully completely disorganised. We head up to Precinct Marshal Skarmen's room. Dar has no trouble with the lock. The room is huge. Nothing of interest her really, then Laz finds a secret door.

There's a narrow and short hall leading into a small room. The floor in here is covered in dust, but frequently travelled by the look of the track marks. All the same person. The most recent tracks are about a week old.
Inside the room is the mirror! It is covered with a cloth. I start to approach, but Potter gets the eebie jeebies and Laz says we're not gonna enter. Dang.

Revisiting the good librarian - and it actually pays off. He claims that you can find some writing between the lines in volume three of the warpy books Holder-Smith got from the library. Need a prism, though.

Suddenly three empty men emerge from the morgue. We take them down, and I disarm one of the bombs. It has two separate mechanisms to set it off, one that auto executes on "death" and one the empty man can release himself. The body is covered in demonic writing. This might be part of the ritual that animates them. Holder-Smith draws some samples. This body has been autopsied here... a dock worker stabbed to death. Time to check out the morgue more closely.

The Tech Adept has quarters in the lower levels. We find him sleeping in some sort of harness and with two gunbots at his side. We wake him up and question him.

Checking the morgue, we find many bodies to be missing. About 30 in total, and all seem to be big, fit men who have been murdered.

Potter finds another secret entrance.

My memory here is hazy. I have the locket in my hands.... I need to go up. Up to the mirror.

We're all in the secret room at the Precinct Marshal's office. The mirror is unveiled. One half is whole, the other is a jigsaw of 13 puzzles, only two missing. There is a demon inside the mirror. It says I have an unclean spirit in me.

Holder-Smith is talking to the demon, it won't reveal it's name. It is trapped in the mirror by Erasmus. He claims to be in trouble if Erasmus returns. We can help each other it says. We find the missing pieces and release him and he will give us a vital clue to where Erasmus will return. It says the whole side of the mirror cannot be broken by conventional means.

We head down to discuss. We hear reports that general Khan's car has been shot down. Holder-Smith thinks we're dealing with a level 5 demon - malleus extremis. The Marshall arrives and marches inside the folly. He has empty men with him. We fight it out in the mirror room. The marshal goes into the mirror, as he does the risen fall. I yell for all to get the hell out. And we manage to get out before they explode.

We go back into the room and strike a deal with the devil, I mean demon. He vanishes further into the mirror.

Constantin arrives. We take him and a patrol and head out to the Clockwork court, filling him in on the way.
There is a big ass clock, and lots and lots of casualties here. The Precinct Marshal has killed the Planetary Governor. Holder-Smith addresses the government and reveals who we are.

Vice guvernor Maywroth is fighting with Tessel. Laz flashes the pin. Tessel seems pleased, Maywroth not so much.

Constantin will take temporarily take up the position as Enforcer General.

Now for the underbelly. We claim a meeting with the Rag Royals. They say that the team following us are an Inquisitorial Kill team of four operatives. A Son of dispater assassin, HB guard, Psykana templar and a tech priest.

We rest. They don't trust me now they know of my little "friend". More sleep for me, less weapons while sleeping.

The next day we have to head up to the space port to find a live astropath. Deliver a report.

Back on groun the Inquisitorial Kill team stops us in the middle of a street. They want to talk to us about the events on Xicarph, and invite us to "their" place. We insist that we can talk at the arbites HQ.

So... long story short. Holder-Smith mentions somethings about a Tyrant Star and all hell breaks loose. Oh yeah, and the big clue from the demon is that we need to find the Blind Tesseract.

Kill the dead!

We try to gather togeher the strands of our investigation to this point; it proves difficult. It seems that we know of 8 dead, who have had various things made from the shards of Erasmus' mirror. These 8 are

• Kalisto
• Legat
• The Viscount
• Sokken
• Bal Grey
• Juvinal
• Mademoiselle something
• Mr X in the canal (uncertain)

We consider that we really do not know who is behind all this; it is fairly sure that Erasmus' is behind it, but we have no idea who his agents are.  In other words, we have to dig further, and see what we might find out about someone who is driving the grand scheme here. We decide to start digging among the nobility.

Of course, in addition, it seems that we have 3 different sets of people shadowing us. 2 locals, and (worryingly) 1 unknown, but higly skilled, crew. Possible explanation of the subterfuge regarding the inquisition itself?

Anyway, the nobility. We drive to district 7, the Shadow Manses, to contact Margraeve Cal Sur'Meywroth. The district is walled, and a passcode is needed to enter. The Arbites provide us with one. Holder-Smith and Alpha make the machine spirit in the terminal report to us, in an attempt to find out who is tailing us.

We drive to Sur'Meywroth's estate. It is enourmous. I speak to some servant through a terminal, stating that we are the Arbites, and the ones who saved his barge. We are told 'Thanks', and not let in. I call on the mansion again, this time being more unequivocal about us being the Arbites, and this time we enter.

The Manse is utterly overgrown, dirty and worn down, and the servant that 'greets' us is wearing the remnants of a fine outfit. The Margraeve is a very old, very skinny and very frail man, and almost before we ask about the murders he tells us that he belives they are the work of the Undertow.

More useful: he has seen and used the spyglass, you would see yourself  from the outside. Most unsettling, he says. He also says that General Kahn is investigating the murders, and has amassed a large evidence base against the Undertow, and this will form the justification for a operation to "stamp out the vermin, once and for all". He also says that the selfsame general has a fragment of the mirror, in the General Office badge.

He knows someone else who owns a fragment, Rias Sur'Biscari, and he gives us the adress and a letter of introduction.

We are let into another mansion in terrible disrepair, and met by Sur'Biscari. Again haggardly thin and sickly. We cut to the chase quickly; he has lost the fragment gambling. It was lost to an offworlder, Salonius. Large, bearded guy, with a scar on his forehead. This Salonius has problems with Hesul, the Rag Queen.

He knows of another fragment, owned by lady Amonite. A possibly insane woman, who has not been seen for some 10 years. Her fragment is in the shape of a handheld mirror.

We ask about General Kahn, he describes Kahn as a powermad psychopath who will kill anyone in his way. As we inquire further, we talk about the council, he describes it as split between Meywroth, the evil one, and Euphemia Tassel, the good one, who says we cannot just starve everyone. As this happens we hear a 'thump', as from a breaching charge. It's the dead guys.

It is a very hard fight, the dead guys are very hard to 'kill'. And they hit hard, with some kind of poison. Dar is almost killed, as he receives the attention of several of them. During the fight we notice them going for Sur'Biscari. Has he been lying to us? We drug him and start the interrogation. It turns out that he still has shard, he is in fact wearing it, and it is his most priced possession. He has owned the locket for as long as he has been head of the family.

The locket was found in the uppermost room in the Folly. We discover just in time that the dead guys have implanted bombs in their spines, so we run. As we get outside we discover another mansion burning, it is the manse of Lady Amarite. We retrive the pict-fly we have had hovering about, it has a recording of the dead guys arriving; we see a flock of cyber mastiffs that just fall over as they arrive, and get up after they have passed. This looks like evidence of Logican involvement, but it is circumstancial at best.

We drive to the manse of Amarite, there is fire droids there. We find Amarite inside, beaten to death. The dead guys were there, before we met them...

The investigation continues….

Rupert spots someone watching us from a rooftop. Or at least it seems like this person is watching us. So he dispatches a pict fly. A jigamathing that can fly and somehow see, record things and transmit back to us. An eye if you will. Not so very conspicuous thing. A stone or two are being flung at the squad car. We cannot linger here where turmoil is a part of every day life, so we better hit the road again. Driving to the soup kitchen proves difficult with all the things blocking the road totally sometimes. But that gives Constantine time to tells us more about the Empty Men. Their four different stages of mutation before they die. The name Logicians is mentioned. A name that was associated with Mrs.Nile´s cyborg assassin on the House of ash and dust. Might be a coincident. He also suspect that the man on the roof is either a criminal or an agent of Mandato, the secret police. Which is surveilling both the law enforcers and criminals, and is very corrupt.
 Anyhow we arrive at Worm´s End, the soup kitchen located in the poor quarters of town. Not tempting to ponder how it got it´s name. Inside there´s a bloody mess. All inventory is broken and the place reeks. Five day old corpses tend to make a certain smell which we find very unpleasant. It´s obvious that someone´s been here searching for something on the late employees after their passing. Gunfire makes a whole lot of mess. This proves my point that a sharp blade is more pure and slices through the victims without making a mosh out of the bodies. There´s blood alright, but it´s more art like my way. Like painting, but only with red. Hope we encounter some heretics soon…..Nothing of interest here in this place. So we head out again. Our only conclusion so far is that on all the crime scenes the victims are killed on site by someone looking for something. After a little drive we pull over by a small group of people. One poor soul approaches us when we tell them that any information concerning the massacre at Worm´s End is rewarded with ownership of some extra thrones. The others involve them selves too and in the end we learn:
 * Three men in cloaks gunned the victims down
 * There was one survivor called Yeantra Yantra works at the wharf and is currently in hiding
 * The three men gives us a short description of Yantra.

Next stop is the wharf where a long queue of hopeful applicants stand by the fishing boats. Last man in line seems like an eager fellow. Eager to earn money, so after offering him some and thus gaining his trust he speaks to us about Yantra. A crone is taking care of him. He gives us the adress. After giving him some coins we´re off to the crone´s place. On the way we encounter a vigilant group of people blocking the road. It´s the neighborhood watch and they stop us and start asking questions. Ready to gun us down by the looks of it. This could get ugly. Then Rupert flashes the Inquisition rosette and they stand down. Letting us through the roadblock. Now our presence is surely known all over the place. Finally we arrive at our destination. The old woman looking after him hesitates when we ask her that we´re friendly and want to talk to Yantra, but we´re able to convince her. Yantra is a wreck of a man. Totally nervous and paranoid. All we get from him is that 4 men arrived at Worm´s End killing everyone inside, but Yantra was able to hide and lived to tell the tale. They were looking for a shard of glass wrapped in cloth, possessed by what everyone assumed was a crazy old man called Sokken. What had freaked him out the most was the fact that the men were already dead, as evidenced by the fact that one of them had a big gunshot wound in his face, yet moved and spoke in a ghastly voice. Since we most likely have blown Yantra´s cover, we take him with us to the Folly. Once again it´s time to move out and this strange person from the rooftop earlier is seen standing by our vehicle. He´s attaching something to the car which later turns out to be a tracking device. Government issue no less. Of course it´s removed and disabled.

Back at the Folly we enter the basement where the morgue is located. All the autopsies is conducted by Lecto Talanis, a bioadept. Finally Rupert gets his opportunity to engage in conversation with him. Bal Grey´s body lies here on a slab, so does all the nobles. Looks like they´ve been killed by something inhuman. Mutilated. Almost unrecognizable. Lecto gives us the case files and autopsy reports. This place is too cold to stay in unless you like freezing, which none of us do, so we take the elevator up to our floor. Lazerus and Rupert stays in our quarters reading through the reports and files while the rest of us are going to explore more of the Folly. Team bookworm finds out as follows:
* Money is not the motive for the murders.
* The noble´s names are: Mam´sel Samwa Rollart, Legat Senh´ar Dole and Wiscount Hiram sur´Sekulo.
* Rollart has many rings, but one finger is missing on the autopsy picture.
* All the inventory from the victims´ estates are stored here on the Folly and not considered important for the arbitrators´ investigation.

Me, Acadia and Cornelius are taking a look around the premises. Acadia seems to take the assignment a little too serious, sneaking and moving around tactically in a military fashion. Even behind an arbitrator. As if prowling. Or is she too bored to death by this investigation and is just having a bit fun. I can relate and think nothing more of it. There´s an itch for combat in my hands. Hope we encounter some heretics soon....Cornelius on the other hand raises an eyebrow at Acadia´s behavior and finds it a bit peculiar and consults Rupert later on. I don´t understand. As soon as someone, me or Acadia, do something a little bit off normal behavior we´re immediately under scrutiny. My new taste for fresh bloody meat and my self made icon for my rituals also qualify as very unnatural apparently, and I feel I´m being watched closely by especially Rupert and Cornelius. After the incident on Xiraph I could well understand the suspicion, but now I tell them I´m alright and feel fine. The aura about me is gone too. But still they´re somewhat skeptical. Now where´s did I put that fine dagger....oh, there it is!

Eventually evening catch up on us and we head back for some R&R. Nightmares seem to haunt this night except me and Lazerus(?). Horrifying dreams of some black suns and some lurking evil is coming. Morning is a great relief for those having these nightmares. They´re all very tired and out of shape. But we still have some investigation to do and head down into the storage area where we rummage through the noblemen´s stash and find:
* Rollart´s diary which speaks of a special ring she had.
* The ring´s center piece would reflect her image as a young and beautiful woman when she looked into it.
* Dole was a money loaner and we find a book with records of all loans and pawns.
* A box in Sekulo´s inventory, wherein a cylindrical shaped object would fit. A spyglass perhaps. But it´s gone.

 Dole´s book turns out to reveal something interesting. Rupert spots an entry concerning a man called Lexandro sur´Elbadah pawning an unusual diadem. The diadem is nowhere to be found among these items. On account of the terrible sleep last night the group decide to check in to a nearby hotel and then we´re off to visit Lexandro. On the way there Rupert has one of his urges to read again and we make a stop at the library. His craving for books and knowledge is admirable. It´s almost like mine for blood and carnage. I admit it´s a useful trait. But still....books!
Inside the library he strikes a nice deal with his hecuter and cunning. The librarian who pulls the shortest straw and the deal ends on his behalf with a bullet in the leg and five less books in his personal select collection of books. On the Elbadah estate we´re met by the janitor who introduces us to the lady of the house. She has some interesting facts:
* It was her diadem and which she had inherited.
* The center piece of it was made from a shard of a Haarlock estate mirror.
* Gazing into it enabled the viewer to see into the future.
* The mirror was shattered and all the 13 pieces spread around.
* Nepotamius, a scholar at the library, can probably tell us more.
* Lexandro hasn´t been seen for some months now.

 Lazerus donates 50 thrones to the poor woman and her family for our appreciation of her help. Now we drive back at the library to meet up with Rupert and also to talk with Nepotamius who´s having a very bad day. We drag him with us. After a debriefing we learn:
* Rasmus Haarlock experimented with sorcery.
* One experiment resulted in him making a pact with a demon.
* A double mirror was used in this experiment.
* One side broke and shattered into 13 pieces.
* Items made from the shards were: a ring, a diadem, a spyglass and 10 other unknown items with similar properties.
* The demon lingers in these pieces.
* They can drive the wearers insane.
*  The demon can possess anyone gazing into them.
* The Folly contains several secret rooms.

 Nepotamius is left in a holding cell at the Folly while we hit the road once again. This time to seek that Juvinal Priator. We ask around at a shady bar and again money talks and reveals that he´s been missing for 2-3 weeks. Roumor has it that he owned two pieces of shattered glass. His crew and girlfriend Flo hangs at another bar. Not too far from here. Everyone but Rupert enters. We´re trying to be incognito and act casual. Barkeep is approached and asked with the aid from our friend Mr.Throne. Flo has been missing too for about a week. The man behind the bar recommend we talk to Georg Lussk, a lieutenant in this organization. Lussk knows we´re working for the Inquisition so there´s no point hiding it no more. At least not from them. Our wish is to talk with his superior and after a while we´re offered a meeting with a man called Tiber. Only term is that we´re transported to his location blindfolded. Reluctantly we agree. And we´re taken to a large warehouse. Within this warehouse we´re met by a huge man. I mean really fat. Cleaving such a man in half would prove a challenge I reckon. Tiber is a smart man and knows these murders are not done by his enemies, but someone who´s certainly heating up the tension between the parts involved. A war soon is imminent unless we put an end to it.He wants to exchange information with us and can share the following:
* His former boss Calisto had a shard of glass and were brutally murdered.
* The addresses to Priator's 3 hideouts
* A floating corpse were found in the river, killed in the same manner as the victims in our case. Unidentified.
* Someone´s watching us. Doesn´t know who.
* Mandato is also watching us.
* Mandato´s leader is a man called ...…

 As a part of the agreement we also share some information. Then we´re off to Priator´s place. I take the lead, sneak up to the entrance and check for traps. None are found, so I enter the house. On the floor lies a dead doglike creature. Probably xeno animal. Nothing more in this room, so we move towards the next. In there we´re met by a grotesque sight of yet another slaughter. Three mangled corpses lies on the floor. Obviously tortured. And of course there´s a horrible stench fills the room. Five days old corpses tend to make a certain smell. But we carry on and start searching for clues. Acadia and her eminent searching skills detects a secret door, which I check for traps. This door leads to a small room and all we find inside is a dataslate, some drugs and a small box. Within the box there´s only a piece of cloth. Priator probably kept a shard in here. Nothing more is found so we roll back to the hotel.

Of rational decisions and investigations

We slowly (since the skiff isn't exactly a speed boat) make our way into the city, Alpha steering towards the imposing building known as Haarlock's Folly. Sinophia has never been a very populous planet, but everywhere signs of its downwards spiral (a 92.5% decrease in population from its heyday) are evident. Neglect is omnipresent, and the city seems all but devoid of human beings. The streets have flooded in many places, transforming the city into a weird canalscape. Paired with the steady downpour and dark skies, it makes for quite the gloom portrait.

I am interrupted in my musings by the now all too familiar sounds of gunfire. Alpha edges the skiff forwards around a corner, where we see a transport being attacked by a gang of ruffians. We briefly discuss whether we should engage. Alpha and Lazarus in particular argue we should (though I suspect Alpha just wants some action), so I give in and we press the attack. I did some quick mental calculations and according to the criteria I set this was a clear no-brainer:

I am quite open to altering the critera, but if looked at logically I am very certain this was a very solid no go. However, this is where my recent reading of "A guide to well-adjusted social behavior: how to make friends and not enemies" volumes I-III came into play. I was fairly certain Alpha and Dar would look incredulously at me if I presented the basis for my vote. Lazarus would probably understand, but disagree anyway since his moral code as an arbitrator (which, given the events on Xicarph, seem to be fairly...fluid) would force him to act. Mr Potter didn't seem to care either way and my impression is his approach to knowledge is more intuitive rather than grounded in sound logical principles.

Either way, the upshot was that I deemed it unlikely to be able to convince my compatriots and thus only expressed mild surprise and disapproval that we chose to engage.

Alpha pointed the skiff towards the skirmish, the rest of us firing with various firearms at the bandits. Potter concentrated, then telepathically flung a big stone gargoyle directly at one of the bandits' vessel, completely destroying it. The fight seemed to be going well, but 4 snipers presented a challenge, nearly incapacitating poor Dar. Without mr Potter's healing abilities I am quite sure our cadre would have had some new members by now - if indeed it would exist at all!

In the end we prevailed. The boat turned out to belong to one Zul Maywroth, a minor noble with residence in District 7. The PDF arrive in a heli once the shooting stops, not surprisingly (given Sinophians' reputation) they don't give the slightest vermin's bottom about the bodies except for looting them. Their "report" consists of their captain scribbling something on a notepad then tossing it overboard as soon as Lazarus' back is turned. Lovely bunch. The captain on the barge shares some gossip, including one exceedingly interesting tidbit: about one year ago, pretty much exactly when we released the Gilded Widow from its prison in the house of Dust and Ash, the Folly was struck by lightning - 13 times. The adrenaline and rain had me shivering already, but I swear to the God-Emperor my spine was quite close to jumping out the top when I heard that!

We travel onwards towards the Folly. The building itself is quite impressive, as expected. We all notice the Haarlock symbol on the archway entrance: a golden spider in a web, with stars caught in it. Hubris? Not at all...

We are met by Fihad Constantine, arbitrator adjutant and our contact on Sinophia. He leads us into the building proper, explaining that the arbitrators moved in about half a year ago. Mr Potter uses his sensitive side, and not unexpectedly has a chilling reaction. He explains that he felt like a small child surrounded by infinite darkness, an ancient evil clawing at his back. Lovely, just lovely.

We take one of three elevators up to the second floor, where the officers are stationed. Constantine explains that their previous HQ was blown up by a group we've heard of already: the Logicans. Apparently the PDF was infiltrated...by themselves. The Logicans had managed to position themselves in positions as physicians, experimenting with gene altering on hapless victims. Most died, but they managed to cultivate a virus that turned some soldiers into "super soldiers", the so-called Empty Men. One of these gained entry to the Arbitrator HQ and overloaded the plasma generator used as a power source, killing 90% of the men, leaving a scarce 30 Arbitrators in the entire city.

We are led into a control room. A big map is on the wall, with an abundance of tools, cogitators and so forth spread throughout. A spiral staircase leads up to the quarters of Marshal Scarman, who is currently out on a mission. Constantine is of course happy to inform us about the previous cases, but tells us a new murder has taken place a scant two hours ago and suggests we go to the crime scene. I am quite eager to talk to the biologist adept Lecto Talanis, but agree that going to the crime scene takes precedence. This was my quick mental calculation of this scenario:

A clear "go" scenario.

Constantine informs us that the murder is both similar and dissimilar to the previous ones. The methods are similar, but the target is new in that it was not a nobleperson. Always interesting when the MO changes. This one took place in the 13th district. We take our own vehicle and drive out.

The scene is a hab unit in a fairly large building in a run-down district. There is blood spatter in the hallway and the door has been ripped off its hinges. The body seems to have been torn to pieces, 10-12 shotgun shells are scattered about it, clearly used in defense. I secure scans of the entire hallway and room with my auspex and camera before we disturb the scene.

The body has indeed been torn to pieces, and more disturbingly by what looks to be human hands. A secret compartment in the floor has been ripped open, wherein we find 6 vials of ghost pollen and a red silk cloth. The victim's name is Bal Grey, a so-called "rag baron" (a minor crime lord), ex-PDF. We are informed by arbitrators that there's another body in a nearby alley. Interestingly, this chap has been dead longer than mr Grey...and yet, his bullet wounds are consistent with the caliber and other details (angle, distance etc) from the hub, suggesting he was killed by mr Grey! My oh my, do we really have a zombie case on our hands?

Our investigation of the scene complete, we go to interview the reportee, a tired old bloke living in the hub capsule downstairs from the victim. He saw four men arrive, heard a lot of noise, gunfire and horrible screams from mr Grey's apartment. A short while later, the four men walked down the stairs, one of them staggering then lurching off into the alley. The rest simply walked on, not a word being exchanged in between them. Their faces were covered by cloaks.

The old man tells us that Bal and another rag king, one Juvinal Priator, were having a row previously. Insults were exchanged, then shots, then they seemed to come to terms again after mr Priator delivered a small package wrapped in red cloth to mr Grey. A veritable font of knowledge, the old man also tells us that there's been another murder similar to this one down in "the Sinks" (from my memory the most slummy part of the city), where 8-9 people where slaughtered four days ago. This was not reported to the arbitrators/PDF - the populace in that area prefers to take care of their own business. We also learn that Priator is either dead or undercover, as he hasn't been seen for a while (?).

There's certainly no shortage of directions to take here - let the God-Emperor guide our minds to decisive and rational decisions and allow us to stop these probable undead fiends from taking ever more lives. And then, of course, there's the Folly with its utter darkness, secrets and ancient evil...

Heaven is a place on Quaddis

It's strange, it's not that we're leaving right now, but it sure feels good to have an open space port.
The recent events are still playing in the back of our minds, most of all: what the hell, Dar? He can't really give any explanation to why he attacked Mallear. Sounds like some sort of mind control, but what triggered it? Is he a loose cannon?

Still it's about time we deliver a report to our inquisitor. We find the nearest astropath, and hold nothing back. In addition Holder-Smith sends a private message. Dunno whether that is suspicious or not. Do nobles use astropaths regularly?

The space port is bustling with people. Glad to have survived, and many mourning lost ones. I just know one thing, and that's that I would kill for a neat whiskey right about now. Finally the rest of the team are down for a bit of r'n'r. Enjoying my scotch is just slightly interrupted by the gruelling sight of Dar digging into a raw piece of meat. What's going on with you, dude?

Ofcourse, some people in the party find enjoying life to be overrated and start looking into our next point of action. Dang, can't we just party tonight and worry about the rest tomorrow? We could easily have gotten killed about a dozen times in the last days.

Guess not. One lead we have is Sinopiha Magna, referred to by Haarlock as his "folly". We discover that this planet was settled by a Tressa Sinoa, hence the name. It does have an interesting history. They managed to make enemies of most of the major noble families on the major metropolis', like Scintilla. Due to sector politics of some sort, I think I was, still missing my scotch and didn't quite catch the events. The result at least, was that Sinopiha got cut out of all trade routes. It has dwindled away since this, from about 2 mill to 'round 150 k in the capital. That's about the death rate per day in my suburb on Volg... Anyways, it is an ogliarchy, which I have learnt means that it is ruled by noble families. We discuss looking into the matter with that Vulpa-character as well.

Down in Xicarph we rent a flat. Not that much demand atm, to say the least. It looks like people are abandoning this place again. We have noticed that Dar has made himself a little icon of some sort, carved from bone by the looks of it. I don't make too much fuss about it, isn't he part of some
blade loving cult? Potter on the other hand is not convinced and confronts Dar about the things that are going on with him lately. In the middle of the argument there's a knock on the door. There a noble-looking man outside, his head shaved except for a braid in the lower back of his head.
"My master asks your presence" he says. "Vipus?" Mallear replies. Indeed the bald headed messenger represents the old geezer we met at Gabriel's chase. Not bad.

Wrapping up we decide to leave Dar out of guard duty. Indeed we are guarding us against him atm. We will watch over his weapons at night as well. He reluctantly agrees. He has an evil aura, Potter say. And his eyes turned black when he attacked Mallear.

My ever so dutiful friends want to check out the Beast House before we leave the planet. Bleh, on with the masks and we head over there. My moral is low. Is there no time to recharge around here? This is worse than the navy. Luckily, the Beast House is closed. They seem to be packing up.
Dar seems especially keen to get in, and even suggests climbing over the fence. The gun turrets tell the rest of us that's not a great idea. Mallear says nope, and I kindly suggest we do something completely different: the Akazen follies.

To my delight they agree! I've actually never been to a "pleasure house" before. Oh, I heard enough about it in the navy, but we never seemed to have time off in any place with some size to it. Then I got "promoted" to the Inquisition. By the stories I've heard this place must be one of the finer ones. Lots of different guys and gals to choose from, and a lot of exotic looking people. Quite skilled as well, I would say. Not that I have much experience in that area. Dating wasn't really a thing when you were trying to stay alive back home. My fighting skills both kept me alive and very much a virgin.

I feel a lot better now, as we head over to see Vipus. The address he gave us is to what looks like a store front, a tailor or something. Entering it we find that we have come to the right place. We are escorted through the building into the back yard to see the most fantastic aviation device. An ornicopter in the shape of what I'm told is a dragonfly. It's beautifully crafted from brass and wood, I struggle to take my eyes off it. The mechanics of it is thrilling. I ask to sit in the front with the pilot, and am allowed. We occupy an "eye" each so to speak. As he starts it up the ornicopter starts flapping it's wings faster and faster and faster. Then it begins to hop along the yard before it lifts off. It has a cruise speed of about 5-600 km/h. We are told it's a 6 hour ride to Vipus' estate. Partly because his feafdom is far away, but just as much because we have to fly tactically all the way, following this border and that while the defence systems beep and flash desperately warning us of targeting missiles. It seems like this is the normal state of things.

We arrive at Vipus' estate, in the jungle. The hearty welcome takes my mind off being in the jungle, all the lifeforms make me a bit uncomfortable. Vipus himself is there to greet us with his retinue. He treats us like returned heroes, which is really nice, and very new. They are all dressed in light summer clothes. Vipus presents his servants and say that we are welcome to one of our choice. And by welcome I mean welcome to all of their delights. Sometimes it's really nice being the only woman... To boot he gives us 5k gold and invites us to stay on his estate as long as we wish. We are free to use his means of transportation, but are urged not to fly ourselves due to the hostility of the feafdoms. We discuss what will happen to Xicarph now that the Widower is gone. Will someone take over? Two glorious weeks we spend there.

We travel back to check if our Inquisitor has replied. The first time we check there is nothing. But I get a chance to spend my hard earned cash. It is easily exchanged for a gleaming carapace armour and a heavy bolter. Hooyah!

A few days later there is word from our leader. He asks us to head out to Cyclopea to back up the units there in an extermination mission. Efficient as usual we head out on the first ship we find heading in that direction. Well, for 2k a head a lot of ships seem to head in your direction. There's an astropath aboard, and before long we get a counter message saying we should go to Sinopiha. Come to think of it we did question the security level of the first message. It was open for all, which is pretty unusual for the Inquisition. Must have been a decoy. The rapport reveals there have been a lot of attacks on the noble families on Sinopiha. Extreme violence, and the target unknown. Violence beyond normal human measures.

The captain agrees to ship us to Sinopiha instead, and we arrive after 3 weeks of training and reading respectively. By that time even Dar's freaky aura has disappeared. That's a relief. We grab a shuttle down.

Sinopiha is grey and dreary, with a low cover of clouds. It's really quite like home. The rain seems fairly acidic, like I said, like home. A guy approaches us, other than that the place seems deserted. He welcomes us and introduces himself as Sharan, jr. administratum official.

The main city is a city of channels, it is really quite a sight. We head down a spiral stair case and find the river. There are motorskiffs there for rent. We buy one, they're not expensive. However, the petrol seems to be!

The reveille of darkness

We keep moving about Gabriel Chase. We find tracks inside the walls, but no Heron-masks. Among the revellers we find a Lady Obelia, a Scintillan noble. She has actually met Erasmus Haarlock, while he was still a happy man. We ask her about heron masks, and she tells us 'he came with a bunch of them', pointing at Lar'ax Melua.

He is standing in a corner, looking lost. Holder-Smith and I approach him. He is not responsive, and is bleeding profusely. We get him to an adjacent room. Holder-Smith examines his blood, it is 'dead'. Potters magic does not work on him either.

Then suddenly 6 heron masks and a demon come pouring through a secret door. Again we fight for our lives. Alpha passes out at the beginning of the fight, and eventually both Potter and I are spent too before we finish them of.

After the fight Holder-Smith examines Lar'ax more closely; his hart has been removed and he has been, well, dead for several hours. Probably his still be able to move is a result of the ritual we saw the remnants of not too many hours ago. Holder-Smith severs his spine, and tells Du'landra that he is dead. She grieves, but we convince her to come along.

10 bells. They shake the entire castle, ending with the sound of 1000 cogs turned in unison. I talk to Old man Vipus. He remebers the previous reveille, it was different from this one. The sounds and the severity of the bells was less. He dislikes the kills of the widower as well. He also tries to comfort Du'landra.

11 bells. Incredibly loud sound. People start looking scared. It ends with a barely audible, high pitched laugther. We see the jackal mask in the crowd, he nods his head at us, and disappears.

We try to recruit some help, and wind up in conversation with some Gunmetal nobles. Nobles/crimelords if one third of the stuff I have heard is true... They should, on the other hand, have some experience with combat. At least in shooting at living things, though probably not immortal assassins or warp-infused megalomaniacal chaos worshippers. Note the or, much less with an and. Not that we have experience with that, least of all with an and.

12 bells, the lights go out, we feel a draft and hear a squishing sound. When the light goes on there is blood and remains on the clock, and a hand in the hands. Du'landras, it turns out. Someone recognized the old blood, and put it where we want it. Poor girl. The clock radiates cold, and it is very difficult to be close to it.

13 bells. A cold wind through the room. The sun disappears. The nobles look at each other. All the 1000 clocks in the amphitheater start ticking in sync with the steel clock. Then they all start on the 13 strikes. Holder-Smith and I stand right by the clock.

THE heron mask, Beloved, starts shouting, calling the Widower. The Jackal mask comes walking through the crowd. But it is not the Jackal mask, but someone wearing his mask, and under that his skin. The Widower. Beloved and Widower stand staring at each other, while heron masks murder indiscriminately among the nobles. We see again, a bright dark; we are standing in the light of the Tyrant Star.

We start breaking the clock face. Dar breaks it, and the clock shatters, shooting cogs in all directions. Holder-Smith takes the stone, and Dar charges him. We later found out that Dar was under the influence of his dagger, but at the time we were very confused. Of course, we are used to not understanding, and so we grapple him to the ground. All the while Holder-Smith is trying to break the stone.

Widower and Beloved fight; Widower strikes at Beloved, for every connection one of Beloveds minions fall, and Beloved blasts away at Widower with some incomparable warp magic. Eventually the Widower is killed, reduced to protean slime and a mask. Beloved grabs the mask, laughs loudly, and leaves.

Holder-Smith fails to break the stone, he tries with all we have, and with Haarlock blood in the mix, but no effect. The Steel Clock was probably the Widowers hart, and breaking it we made it possible to kill him. Beloved seems elated with the outcome, and does not seem to take interest in the stone. Holder-Smith charges of after him.

We hear a demonic voice from the mask, as we close with Beloveds minions. A short but uneffectual fight, and Beloved is gone through a portal. We leave Gabriel Chase, looking for Beloved. Grasping at straws we search out the Spider Bride. But there too havoc has called, she and her handmaidens lay broken about, she states she has been killed by destiny. She says that Beloved has left Xicarp

Letting it all sink in, we come to the conclusion that the Widower underestimated Beloved, and that Beloved is looking for the Haarlock Warrant. The Spider Brides final act is to tell us that Beloved has gained a very powerful oracle in the remains of the Widower. Of course, as we have learnt, oracles are seldom a blessing, so he shall be welcome to him.

Gabriel Chase

After the fascinating visit with the Spider Bride, we set out to get ready for the Grand Conjunction party. Costumes and/or masks are in order, and will certainly not be wearing the dirty Beast House attire. The decently fashionable clothes we bought earlier will suffice, and I pick out some rather well-done Eldar masks (choosing a classical Farseer mask for myself, which I'm quite pleased with). Dar refuses to wear one, given his unfortunate history of enslavement period by an Eldar group, so I pick out a Laer mask for him.We also stop by the local weapon shop, picking up some additional armaments as well as spending a decent clip on blessed ammunition. It doesn't take a farseer (hoho) to see that we will likely come up against yet more foul Warp beings.

The estate itself is rather large, around 3 kilometers in diameter. Quite the throng has gathered on its way to the manse, nobles wearing the most outrageous costumes and their entourages. A palpable sense of excitement, fear and dare I say blood lust pervades the crowd - everyone knows what is coming, and quite a few seem to look forward to it.

At the gate our credentials are checked by the meagre Administratum acolytes present on Xicarph, and we're let through. To our surprise the walls contain a jungle - of the literal kind. The species is a common one present in many systems. In the distance, we spot dome-like construction reminiscent of the type surrounding Xicarph. From my readings I know that Gabriel Haarlock was quite the collector, fond of xenos of all types, many of which are likely contained in those domes. I could probably have spent a good 10 years in this estate, reading through the books and cataloging xeno species...but alas, we only have 13 hours.

After walking for a kilometer or more, we arrive at the manse proper. It is round, roughly 300 meters in diameter, with 3 stories that are layered on top of each other. The craftsmanship is exquisite - nothing but the best marble and gold, silver and other expensive minerals used expansively throughout. While I come from a rich family, the Haarlocks' wealth is, or rather was, at an entirely different level.

The entire ground floor is open in the middle, with an odd display at the center - the so-called theatre of clocks. This is a huge construction, 30 meters in diameter, reaching up to the top floor, with various clock faces displayed all around. We wander around for a bit, eventually coming up to the second floor where we notice something very odd. There's a gallery near the clock extending around the entire structure. Right in front of us there's a pendulum, moving through what seems emptiness. Mr Potter theorizes that the steel clock will appear in this area when the Revel of Darkness will be upon us. The pendulum is certainly reminscent of the description given to us by the Spider Bride.

As we stand there, the clock rings loudly - the first hour has passed, and the estate is now closed. We all feel a bit queasy, but Potter seems particularly struck. I inquire, and it seems the Warp is perilously close to our world...and Potter got a glimpse of some particularly unsavory part of it. As we stand there, we notice yet again one of the Pilgrims in their heron masks in the corner of our eye...but of course, he is gone when we pursue. It seems this ability to be seen then disappear must be a gift given to all of the cult by their dark master.

After walking around some more, we discover a library! Maintained by Gabriel himself, I am sure we can find useful information here. I resolve to research, while the rest of the cadre sets out to scout the rest of the manse. Just as they are about to head out, screams are heard from the neighboring room. Rushing to investigate, we find the body of a noblewoman turned inside out...it seems the Widower is among us already. I notice a rather disturbing picture, portraying "The death of Tanis", with Tanis being a world that the Haarlocks obliterated by planetary bombardment. Potter is able to discern the runes inscribed around the painting's frame: "time, distortion, slaughter, captivity". Lovely and cryptic, in true Haarlock style.

While I read up, the rest head out. After a while, they hear shots and rush in that direction, ever the heroes. A noblewoman (later revealed to be one Lady Chaderon) has been shot by a heron-masked man. Her guards are furious, while the Pilgrim just laughs in a raspy voice. The guards eventually shoot his face off. Lovely. Meanwhile, Alpha notices that an arm...coagulates out of the noblewoman's blood. And just like that, another one of the demons we have faced previously is among them. This time, we are prepared with blessed ammo and some solid hits from Alpha and a flurry of force bolts from Potter finish it off in short order.

After a couple of hours, I find a sheet of paper cleverly inlined in a book. My excitement rises when I see it is written by Erasmus himself, detailing three central locations:

• Sinopiha Magna (my little folly...)
• Xicarph
• Solomon (House of Dust and Ashes) 

 Meanwhile, the rest of the cadre has covered much of the manse, not really seeing anything that interesting - but Alpha has noticed that there is some sort of...spatial disturbance or the like. The rooms and walls don't seem to quite match in size, and she discovers why after a while: the walls are all, in fact, hidden passageways! A nobleman is in the room when she discovers this and wanders off into the maze...and a muffled explosion is heard shortly thereafter. Apparently we need to be careful navigating the secret paths. All of us head into the walls. Potter prepares one of his powers to discern mechanical traps, when the warp seems to take hold - he turns white, then green, but apparently manages to keep the Warp at bay...barely. An unwelcome reminder of just how fickle the Warp can be, even for an experienced psyker.

After some wandering, we come upon a small room with three bodies with their entrails removed, a pentagram on the floor and the smell of incense in the air. They have been killed not too many hours ago. Unfortunately neither me nor Potter manage to make heads or tails of it. We find our way down to the basement level, which is off limits to the guests, in hopes of getting into the clock mechanism. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to extend to the basement floor.

We decide we have time to explore the domes and head out. The entire manse is filled with nobles mucking about, but the path to the domes is devoid of any other people. We come upon the middle dome as we exit the jungle. It's locked, but Dar quickly picks the lock. Within the temperature is quite high and the humidity must be 90% or more. Our senses are assaulted by smells and sights - all around us, xeno plant species are to be found. I recognize many (though the xeno biology is not my main field of expertise), but as many seem to be entirely undiscovered species. Like I said, I could spend years here - but I resign myself to pict recording everything.

We make our way through the dome, forced to follow the pathways as the vegetation is much too thick to cut through. In the middle, a huge tree is found, with a sign warning people to stay away. I recognize the species and a chill runs down my spine. It's from Dusk, and is known to be a sentient species that is able to control other beings by piercing them, injecting a chemical that makes the host a mindless puppet. Quite lovely. Dusk sounds utterly fascinating, but I do believe I'll stick to reading about it.

Nearby, there's a study with notes by Gabriel himself. I pict record everything, then make an (even more) interesting discovery: Erasmus has been here, and he's left some sort of code. It's the type where you need a key to interpret it, as it is entirely mumbo jumbo. I also sense that there are parts of the code missing, 2 pieces in fact...again, a farseer is not needed to predict where the other parts will be found.

The rightmost dome has a sign simply saying "Predators" outside. Dar picks the lock and we enter. Yet another jungle landscape opens up before us, this time aroundc 25 meters below, with platforms and rope bridges suspended from the roof. We make our way to the central platform which contains an elevator. Below, there's a moss-grown Imperial bunker. We take the elevator down, with Lazerus staying behind with the elevator raised 5-6 meters above ground level in case we need to make a quick getaway.

We walk through the iron-grated corridor leading towards the bunker when a gigantic dinosaur-like being comes out of the jungle. I recognize it as a Carnosaur, a most fearsome predator. It eyes us intently. We stand perfectly still for a while, before realizing that the beast is about to charge. We rush towards the bunker, the Carnosaur reducing the corridor to little bits of iron trash behind us. Lovely.

Inside the bunker, we find yet more notes by Gabriel, and another piece of Erasmus' puzzle. I am fairly sure the puzzle will be of no use to us right now, but chances are we'll need to figure it out later. Going back, Potter has an excellent way to deal with the fearsome, but very stupid beast: he transforms into a bird of prey and flies out. The carnosaur rushes after him, we run to the elevator, get to safety and meet Potter up on the platform, looking quite pleased with himself.

The last dome contains yet more plant life, but it seems the life support system might be failing - there are a lot of fungi and moss. In the centre there's a lab with more notes and the last piece of the puzzle. There's a servitor bot which is out of function here - Alpha quickly fixes it while I gather the necessary information, and it goes to work fixing the life support system.

We've spent quite a few hours here, and as we make our way back towards the manse, the clock rings again - 8 bells. The time for the grand showndown with the Pilgrims and the Widower is fast approaching...

Preparing for the End

We’re back at the hotel; the «gift» is with us. Melua and the priest are there as well. The two nobles exchange pleasantries, or whatever they call it. She tells us a bit more about what happened to her crew. They took down some Beast House members and by that discovered that her brother was here in Xicarph. She is aware of the lunatic Pilgrims; actually she is the noble lady we heard was asking around for the White Scholar. She got on his track because the Beast House was looking for him.

Then you have the priest. I guess he still is ‘though he lost his congregation. You know, to the Heron-masked they call the Beloved.

The gift and our mission get a pretty cold welcome. Holder-Smith gets all riled up about it. Like, what the fuck were we supposed to do? You go talk to that spider-machine-woman-xeno-thing, and get us a better deal. And yeah, watch the time while you’re at it. Mallear gives Holder-Smith an hour to check out some background on the Spider Bride, while we look into the mobsters. By we I mean, myself, Mallear, Dar and Melua. Our plan is basically to try to get some info on our hit.

Walking down one of the main streets minding our own business, suddenly the calm is pierced by screams. By the sound of them it’s a case of life or death. Sho nuff, a great big entity of some sort is coming. It’s hard to tell where it begins and ends, but its impact is instantly seen in guts spilling from the individuals who strife in its path. A movement from atop one of the building catches my eye, and whadd’ya know if it isn’t a Heron-masked figure. As if by its signal, his flock of herons appears, joined by a horde of demons. They engage with the monstrosity. My mind boggles, they’re trying to kill it? The hellish entity continues relentlessly. Shifting and changing, like a storm rolling inevitably towards its destination. For a second we are stood motionless, until survival instincts kick in and we realize that, shit, that friggin destination seems to be us. We grab Melua and jet into a side alley. We are still considering our options when suddenly quiet sets in again. What the hell? We double back along a parallel street to check it out.

It’s an outright massacre. Bodies are strewn everywhere, entrails hanging out from its owner or draped on door handles, benches and the remains of flower beds. Like the work of a chaos worshipping artist. Civilians, heron-masked, demons too, are among the casualties. The monster is nowhere to be seen. The guards of the noble houses have taken to the streets, patrolling. The Widower truly is alive.

Mallear decides it’s time to tell Melua about her “heritage”, as we head back to the data crypt to join the rest. She knows she is a descendant of Haarlock.

Meanwhile, things have been calmer in the crypt. The brainiacs have discovered that the Spider Bride was Gabriel Haarlock’s fancy. He was the last Governor her in Xicarph, they remind us. She has concubines, a gift from Haarlock. He must have been very fond of his Spider lady as these things are fast, shape shifting xenos – with venom.

Good to know.

Holder-Smith and the Lady stay in the crypt; Holder-Smith will try to find some more info about our new friend, the Widower. The Lady, well let’s just face it, is a major liability, so she can stay put as well.

Heading to the scene of the crime again, we chat to the guards. They suggest that the Pits will be more fruitful for the type of info we’re craving. We find the local tattle-tale and he can tell us that Papa Grist came to Xicarph about 2 or 3 months ago. He saw the opportunity to make money out of the grand conjuction. He deals in xeno stuff –referred to as The Cold Trade.

On we go to the Fate’s Wheel to find Mr. Grist. It’s a pit gambler’s dream. Pit fights on every screen, small private tables, and ample liquor stock. The VIP is a flight of stairs and a few gold away. Heading up there, we spot Papa Grist in the back. The rest of the clientele look like nobles, or rich traders. We walk over to him and say that we have some cold goods for sale. Grist has an unsanctioned psyker with him. This individual checks out our parcel, and whispers something in his master’s ear. We decide on a price of 3000G.

Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. And I have seen a few things in my life. As Papa Grist opens the lid on the Spider Bride’s gift, something immediately shoots out and latches on to his face.  Before my jaw has had chance to drop, it slits his throat. And dropped. Needless to say, we have a battle on our hands. Potter does is scary thing, which frankly I still don’t know whether is most effective on us or them. Damn him. I find myself in a bit of a tight spot at one point, and Mallear saves my ass. The psyker is actually spooked by Potter for a while, which helps somewhat. And we manage to take control of the situation. There are still about 50 nobles and guards on the floor. They part to make way as Potter grabs Papa Grist’s head and floats up and towards the exit. I pray the Emperor sees light in our dark, dark ways, but I fear my soul is eternally doomed if not before, then certainly now. I see no way past killing – kill or be killed, it’s the story of my life. Laz holsters his weapons and declare to our witnesses that we have no beef with them. They say nothing and let us pass.

Back at the crypt, Holder-Smith informs us that the Widower was the assassin for the first Haarlock who governed Xicarph. A one-man army. Nothing can stop it, no door can hold it. He’s not human (no, really?), he is a being from outer space bound to service, bound to Xicarph. Its true appearance is not known, it has changed over the years. He is vulnerable at one time only, under the Revel of Darkness at the Grand Conjunction. Haarlock blood can set him free. He appears in his true form and stalks the streets for the old blood. This is the first time in 500 years the Widower has been seen, and it had thus died down to a legend until this very day.

Finally we are getting paid for our vile deeds before. The Spider Bride, the oracle. As we enter her cave yet again, I notice just how many of those xeno-mech-spider-assassin thingies she really has. – it is unnerving to say the least. As we approach her with the head of the thug formerly known as Papa Grist, the particular xeno attached to his lifeless skull detaches and skitters towards his mistress. It crawls on to her lap, and she strokes it lovingly. Like I’ve been told mothers do.

The Spider Bride is bound to this very place. She claims there is no redemption for her. She is xeno, linked to this mechanical web, but she was human once. She refers to herself as The One Who Serves. She tells us there are many scions of Haarlock. Their blood is needed by Haarlock’s servants to perform rituals. We learn that the Heron-masked and Jackal-masked had a deal: a list of names for exciting xenos for the pits. She also discloses that this Grand Conjunction is special. The clock will align perfectly this time, at the end of the Revel of Darkness. If we can’t interfere, this world will die and all of us with it.

Plot dispersion and plot thickening

We start with a thorough going through of evidence and leads. If this was a major investigation we would have lots of paper and scribes and diagram at this stage, but we are alone, and with no time to organize and consolidate the information. Luckily at least some of us have decent memory... We have hopefully not forgotten anything important in the following list

• The Beast House has received a list of persons, according to the White Scholar.
• The White Scholar and Inq Karakalla was taken in an ambush by Pilgrims of Hayte
• The widower has been mentioned on the note left by Heron Mask 1 and again by the White Scholar
• Karkalla said 
• the Beast House are pawns
• kill the Jackal Mask
• Heron Mask intended Karkalla as bait
• We are here because of some great conjunction
• Heron Mask needs 'the old blood', probably the blood of Haarlock
• Something about the/a false prophet

We have about 4 venues open:

• Check background/backstory on Karkalla
• There was a noblelady inquiring about the White Scholar
• The Oracle
• Pursue Vulpa, aka the Jackal Mask

We decide to start of with the Oracle, and as we make our way through the hordes of revellers we overhear a man preaching about the false prophet. We move towards him, and as we approach he is attacked by a Heron Mask. Damn things, I am really starting to dislike them. On the other hand I am thoroughly intrigued by the entire mystery. Most stimulating. Nice combo. Anyhow, we kill him before he kills the preacher. Also very stimulating...

The preachers name is Obadaiah Psalter(?), he is i a pilgrim priest who came here with his congregation. But his congregation was stolen by a silver-tongued and charismatic heron mask. This heron mask has built an altar to some ruinous power in the Shattered Ramparts.

Obadaiah shows us to the altar, and to our horror we find a shrine built of human remains, rife with symbols of the ruinous powers. Holder-Smith tells us that some powerful ritual seems to have been performed there. As we investigate more closely 4 demons raise from a pool of blood. It becomes a horrible fight, and we seem to be losing. Several of us are paralyzed by fear, and at least Holder-Smith looks like a certain loss. But suddenly Alpha shakes the shackles of fear, and starts fighting like an avenging angel from some ancient tale. She singlehandedly turns the fight, and we finally send the abominations back into the void. Not just another day in the Inquisition, fortunately.

Examining the remains of a camp, we find that whoever was there was staging for an assault on the Haarlock estate in the middle of Xicarp. Lots of ammo, maps, and a painting of the estate. Among the stuff they've burned before leaving we find the remains of a map of a secret entrance to the Haarlock estate. We pict-record the entire scene.

We think we might be able to find the entrance. We head back to the hotel to examine the papers, and rest up. Holder-Smith and Dar are desperately in need of some rest. Among the papers we find a lineage map of the Haarlock family, including persons who married out and therefore changed names. Someone is definitely mapping out the old blood.

Holder and Dar stay at the hotel, the rest of us go to look for the Oracle in the Twilight Borders(?). This is a place with a lot of weirdness going on. Goes for the rest of Xicarp as well, but, well. We're met by two women who welcome us, and without us saying anything guides us to the Spider Bride. She certainly looks like it too, married and fused to a spider. Disturbing.

She will answer questions if we are willing to take a gift to Papa Grist, a noted crime lord. This gift will kill him. Certainly no demon this time. I am sure. Well, no not really at all. But we accept to take it to Grist, who stays at a place called Fate's wheel.

We start heading back to the hotel, and suddenly we are approached by a young lady. She introduces herself as Du'landre Melua. She is looking for her brother Lar'ax Melua, who was kidnapped on Malfi. She has followed him here, with a complement of bodyguards. We are sceptical, but we let her stay close. Of course, with all the double crossing going on, this could be the Heron Mask wearing the Lady Mask for all I know.

She has an image of her brother, and I recall that I saw him during transport, but not in the pit where we came around. We agree to take her with us and protect her. We don't tell her about all we know about the old blood, which we could have, in light of the fact that she and her brother are on the list of married out half-Haarlocks. As we are speaking on the street both she and Potter suddenly turn pale, and say that they felt like som ancient enormous evil brushing against them -- the Widower, perhaps. We had not seen Heron Masks for a while, but suddenly we start seeming them out the corner of our eye, again. Damn.

The Joke Is On Us

Wow – Xicarph is the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen! I swear almost every building is made of marble – one more lovely than the next. Just to top it off the climate is excellent, perfect temperature at all times. The air is just right, not like home – like breathing in death and decay, and not eerily clean and moist like in the wilderness *shudder*.

Quaddis was discovered by Solomon Haarlock, and somehow escaped government by the God Emperor. It is a sanctuary for the nobles. Solomon did some clever wheeling and dealing, giving away lots of the land on Quaddis, but managing to maintain the only city and spaceport in his own feafdom. Xicarph is supposed to be ruled by a Haarlock, but since they are scarce someone else is ruling in absentia. Lots of new terms with these learned mates of mine. Can’t remember the dudes name, though, makes no difference to me.

Oh well, time to get out of these awful clothes. The sight of them bring back strange memories, nightmares… Laz asks a local where the inns and shops are. He takes a look at us and suggests the Collapsed Palaces. Laz gets the point across that looks can be deceiving, and gets new directions to the Guild Enclave. 

Following the latter instructions, we head south and come upon a massive wall. Behind it elaborate spires are visible. It takes me a second to realize this wall is not the wall to an area of town, but to a single estate – Holder-Smith suggests the Haarlock’s.

We find the shops and stock up on the basic stuff, guns, more guns and some bladed stuff. We also invest in some crazy expensive clothes. Booyah! My old gang should see me now. They would laugh their heads off – and I would shoot them in the face.

Following up on our only lead we go to the university quarters to try to locate the White Scholar. We got a fair enough description of him, and stumble upon someone who knows him soon enough. Unfortunately the guy’s gone underground. Can’t really blame him. The university guy refers us to lector Manu, says he knows where Dexter might be. Lector Manu seems skittish and won’t tell us much, but we get the drift and tell him to tell Dexter that we’re at this inn, etc.

So we play the waiting game, and it doesn’t take long before a messenger finds us with a note. It says to meet him at a place in the Adept district.

On the way there, we feel like the heron-masked is here, then there, several times. We chase after, but can’t track him down. Taking precautions, we head towards the meeting place, it turns out to be a student theater. It seems quiet, and we take our time checking for traps as we enter. Potter senses a single presence, and sure enough it’s Septimus Dexter. He fills us in quickly.

He and Inquisitor Karkalla were tasked with checking out the Beast House gang. In the process of this they got ambushed by the Pilgrims of Hayte, he describes them as a murder cult. Apocalyptic nutjobs intent on destroying humanity. They are lead locally by sorcerers, and are generally erratic. The ambush, which included demons!, was lead by a figure in a heron mask. When Karkalla understood the gravity of the situation he commanded Dexter to flee. Someone had to report this to the authorities.

So – what the hell happened? The heron-masked might have played the Beast House, who according to Dexter is “nothing compared to the Pilgrims of Hayte”. Dexter says he and Karkalla didn’t even know the Pilgrims were on Quaddis. The Beast House are in the slavery business, and operate around the sector. They have lists of wanted slaves, Dexter informs us. I presume this might have something to do with the descendants of Haarlock again. Something in the blood. Or maybe I’m turning paranoid… We show the Scholar the note the Heron-masked left us. ‘Hmmm’ he says, the Widower is a known myth on Quaddis. It refers to a monster who kills people, looking for the old blood. No shit… There have been strange murders in Xicarph lately, people left with their entrails hung up on display, and that sort of stuff. But there is no one to investigate, the families take care of business themselves. Septimus Dexter says that he thinks the heron-masked is a false prophet. An evil wizard with grand plans. He goes on to say that he will continue to research the matter, and that we might find help in a female called the Spider Bride. She is an oracle of sorts, who resides in the Akasen Follies, the red light district. ‘Is she human?’ we ask. Dexter shrugs, he doesn’t know. Suddenly we see forms approaching us from the shadows.

The heron-masked! No, wait, another?! And a third..? What the hell - there are five of them! They remove the masks, and reveal hideous faces. Riddled with cuts, and all flaunting that sick joker smile. ‘Forgive our master’s gest, but it is time for the pawns on the regicide board to play their parts. Now give us the old man, and you can go back to the dance.’  

Like hell! We draw weapons and engage immediately. Sadly Dexter falls almost at once, and we must focus on taking down the opponents. We fight like you would against an apocalyptic murder cult – like your life depends on it. We take them down with inspired shooting and swordsmanship – the God Emperor smiles on those who do good.

As a respect to the late Septimus Dexter whe get him cremated. 

Out of the dark

After relieving the unfortunate chap of his meager possessions (a stub revolver I believe), we head back into the main room. We have little idea of where any exit might be, so we continue with our grand plan of following the right wall. Lazarus spots some tracks, probably a large mammalian quadruped of the canis species. Given our lack of armaments that might be troublesome.

We walk for a further 20 minutes before coming face to face with a set of gigantic double doors, probably 15 meters or more in height. There's a lever mechanism we assume will open the doors, but for the nonce we decide to leave them well alone, given that several more animal and human tracks go through them.

After another 5 minutes, we come upon a normal-sized door and enter it. There's a staircase inside, at the bottom we find a corpse and the words "help me" scribbled in (presumably his own) blood on the wall. Helpfully, the corpse possesses a stub revolver with 2 clips as well as a fragment grenade. Me and Mr Potter share the bullets while he takes the gun, leaving only Lazarus without a ranged weapon. Excepting Dar of course!

We enter the door at the bottom of the stairs, and another gigantic room spreads out before us. A few of us spot a large flying xeno of some sort diving down towards us, clearly intent on, well, killing us. I take careful aim with my gigantic pistol, fire and manage to hit the thing square between the eyes, killing it instantly. Frustratingly, I am unable to identify the beast. And to think I don't have my pict recorder! Most annoying.

We go back up and find another door after a short while. Inside there's a rank smell of meat, as well as two men chatting and smoking lho sticks some 20 meters ahead of us. In the dark they don't spot us. One of them has an animal mask, both are wearing leather aprons. After 5 minutes they go into the same room. The room opposite turns out to be a storage room. We pick up some tools, lights and the sort. Unfortunately there is no water or food - and we are on the verge of becoming seriously dehydrated.

Because of this, we chance looking into the room the two cultists (I assume, or maybe they just have a very strange fashion sense) entered. The room is fairly large, stretching into darkness. Cells line the walls, containing both beasts, xenos and men. Around 20 meters ahead, 4 chaps are struggling to get a xeno into what looks like an elevator. And most importantly - around 10 meters ahead, there's a big tray filled to the brim with disgusting yet glorious-looking water!

We hurriedly concoct a plan. We will shoot one of the cultists, hopefully setting the beast free which will then take care of the rest while we deal with whoever is still standing. I manage to get another bullseye with the monster gun, and the beast starts casually (or so I like to think) eating the face of one of the slavers-turned-meal. It ends up killing two of the men while the last one runs. Me and Dar run after him, being the cardio enthusiasts in the group, while the rest finish off the wounded xeno.

Unfortunately, ahead there are another 3 cultists, and these look like guards of some sort, armed with shotguns. Not liking the odds of the two of us out in the open versus 3 shotguns, we turn on our heels and run back. We manage to grab a bunch of water and quickly make our exit. We discuss where we should go and end up going back out into the big room. We are not followed.

A few minutes later, we find another door leading into what seems like the same area. We do not enter, assuming an alarm has been sounded. A bit further ahead there are some stairs leading down into an area that seems much older. There's a split left-right, we go left for 10 minutes before we come upon a courtyard before a partially razed noble mansion. I'm able to recognize the noble family style, a now extinct but at the time very powerful family from my dear home planet Malfi. Someone's obviously been here before, probably to rob the place of its riches - there's a path into the house. We follow it. We come into a dinner area of sorts, with a very old corpse sitting at the head of the table. Unfortunately there is nothing useful in the room, just a gold ring with an encased ruby. A bit further ahead, the road is completely blocked. We find the would-be thief under a big pile of rubble. Luckily, he's got corpse starch rations enough to fill us up and last us another day. I must say, it's not half as bad as it sounds...he's also got a backpack and a shotgun. Aren't we quite the looters!

We go back to the junction and take the other way, but we quickly run into a dead end. By now we're very tired and it doesn't seem like we will find an exit anytime soon, so we decide to make camp and go to sleep. Dar sets up a trap of sorts in the stairs, which will warn us if anyone comes looking for trouble. Sure enough, on the last watch, the trap is sprung. We see 2 men, probably scouts. We will probably be able to kill them, but they might have enough time to sound an alarm, so we decide to try to hide in the noble courtyard.

Unfortunately it turns out there are six men in total in the party, as well as what looks like two sabre tooth tigers. Ordinarily this would have me quite excited as they are a very rare race indeed, but the prospect of studying their gigantic teeth from inside of their mouths dampens my enthusiasm a tad. The animal handlers loose the tigers when they're about 20 meters ahead. We decide to use our grenade, and Alpha runs forwards and manages to score a perfect hit, right in the middle of the group. ALL of the men go down, with just the tigers left! They charge us, but in their weakened state we quickly dispatch them, Dar suffering a bite but nothing lethal.

What looked like a dangerous encounter has now turned into an opportunity: we can enter the complex disguised. 4 of the cultists had masks, so everyone but Lazarus don their outfits. Our dear arbitrator puts on a guard outfit instead. We then head back into the cultist lair. We quickly find a room with more than sufficient provisions, canteens and backpacks. Some stairs and a corridor later, we find ourselves face to face with a rather large door with "Vault 13" imprinted on it, as well as a biohazard sign. Well, there's nothing to do but give it some stick and enter is there?

Inside, a huge area, at least 100 meters in diameter, opens up. 3 gigantic lamps illuminate parts of the area, lots of crates are spread throughout, the floor is mostly made up of metal gratings and there are a lot of cultists in the area. At the other end there is what looks like it might be our way out: an elevator, with 10-15 cultists in the immediate vicinity. We head towards it. About halfway another group comes towards us, we nod to them and walk past without incident. Excellent.

Closer to the elevator, we come upon an Imperial bunker and a hospital unit. Most strange...it is quite rare to find such buildings outside of the Imperial army. The doors of the bunker opens up, and out comes a familiar face, or should I say mask: the jackal-faced man and two hereteks. Jackal face is clearly not happy, shouting at the hereteks that an Inquisitor was brought here by the Heron without his knowledge, to be pried and mutilated. He kills one of them with what looks like a flaming whip, and instructs the other to discover what the "mangled Inquisitor" told the Heron, then goes into the elevator with a couple of guards. The heretek enters the hospital unit.

We discuss our options, and see no other course but to try to rescue any Inquisitor that might be held captive here. We enter the hospital unit, which not entirely unsurprisingly has been converted into more of a torture chamber. Ah cultists, quite predictable and ever so charming fellows. Blood is everywhere, the telltale instruments of torture are scattered throughout the area, and what looks like human skin lies on several slabs. The heretek is standing by one such slab, where an unfortunate fellow is hooked up to life support gear. A closer look reveals said gear to be quite vital to his survival, as all of his limbs have been cut off, an eye has been burned off and his Inquisitor pin has been seared into his bare flesh, in addition to more standard evidence of torture like burn marks, stab wounds and so forth. 

We quickly dispose of the heretek and go to talk to the mutilated Inquisitor. Here is what he tells us.

• His name is Inquisitor Nazauth Karkalla (whom I remember is a seasoned Inquisitor of the Amaltine faction belonging to Ordo Xenos) 
• We have been brought to the pleasure planet Quaddis, more specifically the Red Cages, which is a blood sport area run by the Beast House (legally)
• "The heron-masked man must be stopped, or the entire world is doomed!"
• He and his cadre came here to investigate the cult, but were ambushed. The only one left is one Septimus Dexter, nicknamed the White Scholar. He is somewhere in the city above, probably in areas connected to learning (such as there is on a planet like Quaddis). When we meet him, we are to ask "What can be found in the 9th stack Prol[...something]? His answer is to be "Emptiness". He is fairly easily recognized since he has an augmented arm and eye as well as long, grey hair.
• The Inquisitor calls the Jackal-faced man a "fool". His name is Marcus Vulpa.
• A festival called the Festival of Tattered Fates is fast approaching on Quaddis. It is marked by the Grand Conjunction, where the three moons of Quaddis line up to block the sun. During this time period, all laws are void and chaos reigns. Often used by the noble houses to settle scores. 

It is a testament to the Inquisitors' legendary willpower that Karkalla is even alive when we find him. Once he is able to divulge the critical information to us, his will to live quickly fades. I administer an overdose of painkillers, then we burn his body so the cultists cannot further desecrate his body.

We decide to take a quick look into the command bunker. No one is there, but a far more welcome sight greets us: our gear! Well, not all of it - most weaponry and mundane gear is gone, only the exotic stuff remains. Personally, I am beyond thrilled to find the pict recordings of the Greyskin Psalter and the Book Unbound untouched. If the Inquisitor's description of the jackal face is correct, he probably did not realize the value of what he was sitting on. We also find a carapace armor, which is obviously quite interesting for the more martially inclined in our cadre, as well as some money.

We decide to just go straight for the elevator, chancing that no one will question us given the amount of people in the area. This turns out to be quite correct, and we arrive unscathed to the surface. There's a big courtyard in front of a huge building on one side, and an exit to the streets of the city on the other. We go for the exit, and the guards do not stop us. Freedom!!!

Into the dark

In the middle of our dinner our dataslates light up: we have all received emergency messages from Lorelei Decanta: "HELP". That is all it contains, so of course we run of, pack up our gear, and hail a taxi for the only viable starting point, her apartment.

We approach carefully, Rupert hacks her door, and we enter. No trace of anything but normal life. We comb her apartment, and Alpha finds a well hidden secret compartment in a wall. It contains a slate, a box, a holy book and some credits. Rupert manages to convince the machine spirit of the slate to talk to him.

The spirit has a lot to tell, mostly normal inquisition material, and cases she has worked. Currently she seems to be working on infiltrating the Beast House, in disguise and under an alias. Her alias Dalia, was supposed to meet some Lothar about 24 hrs ago, at a warehouse called 134A6. She has also requested 6 imperial guards from Cpt Leviticus. Some checking reveals that these 6 also are missing.

We rent a van, and set out to 134A6. En route I write up a message of where we are and what we are doing for Inquisitor Whitlock, an queue it up for transfer at an astropath.

The warehouse looks worn and long abandoned, but we still enter very carefully, scanning for everything and anything. If what is here could take out Lorelei, we sure have to watch our step. Inside the warehouse looks every bit as bad as the outside, but in the middle there is a large, sturdy steel cage built over a deep pit with rafters on all sides. The Beast House stages fights with all kinds of beasts, and this looks like such a place. It smells horribly of death, both new and old. The new death comes from 3 bodies carelessly dumped into the pit. All executed by headshot.

We find a door, and proceed inward, avoiding a simple trap. Then we arrive a a 4-way intersection, into a torture room, a room with a dataslate and a stair down. We postpone the torture room, Rupert starts investigating the slate, that needs to have all entries closed to work. The rest of us head down, into the animal pens we find out. Here the stench is unbearable. We find more bodies. At the end of the room is something more interesting, a large tank recessed into the wall, and struggling on the surface is Lorelei. The tank seems to be filling...

We run like madmen, up the stairs, through the torture room, barely noticing the horrifically tortured corpse placed there, and into the room above the tank. Both waterflow and door to the tank is controlled by another slate. This one is trapped. We decide to get Rupert, and Dar rushes off to fetch him.

Rupert, Alpha and Potter succeeds at unlocking the door and turning off the flow, while Dar and I stand guard. Lorelei is also severly tortured, and in very bad shape. While we fix her up, a fairly large party of men in carapace armor, with masks of all kinds of beasts approach. We escape into the complex, as a voice hails us over loudspeakers 'Welcome to my little mace'!

In the next room we all eventually fall prey to a sleeping agent that is released, probably because we failed to appease the machine spirit at the slate in the room. Sometime later Rupert told me that he managed to get away from that room, but that he turned himself in at the threat of all of us being shot.

---time passes with horrible dreams in the dark and cold---

We wake up, with many others, chained half naked, standing to the thigs in cold water. We watch some creature with a gilded jackal mask with purple (something). A human (?) in a box does something horrible by magic to someone else, and this person is taken away.

---time passes with horrible dreams in the dark and cold---

We wake in a pit, with nothing, about 20 people all together. Judging from the growth on our faces I say that we has about a month and a half of facial hair. Everyone looks disoriented and worse for wear. Again a pit, smelling of death and decay. No points for guessing some connect to the beast house again. We hear a sound of metal against metal, and watch as a character with a heron mask pulls a lever, and a gate into the pit opens.

A few disgusting creatures appear, Rupert calls them spindle maws. In the beginning a few, which we kill easily, then more and more. Then heron face pulls another lever, and a ladder falls into the pit. We escape up it, while everyone else in the pit is killed.

At the top of the ladder we find a control terminal with the carcass of a very fat man hunched over it. He is so throat cut his head is practically falling off. Protruding from the desk a finely decorated dagger, piercing a note. The body also has a handcannon with 4 shots, and a meat hook. We take everything. (Haaken har glemt note, noe om en 'venn' i hallene over, men også noe om at ingen av oss kan stole på noen).

We set off, into huge halls, devoid of life. Going down some stairs we find a cave in with a skeleton partly buried. We manage to salvage an autopistol with some ammo and a flak vest of the skeleton. If just Potter could start functioning again we'd all be armed.

Proceeding we find another dead person, more recently dead. He lies on a small ledge above some underground lake, or waste repository, more like. This person has cut his own throat in front of some idol made from bone.  He has a slate with some text (denne har også Haaken glemt hva inneholdt).

T

We are examining the door to the crypt. There is definitely something puzzling about it, or them, rather. A crypt with two entries? I guess it makes sense if you are a Haarlock. And there seems to be a machine spirit loose behind one of them, the 'death is but a door'-door. Riddles, riddles, riddles. I like riddles, but it seems I can get enough of them.

Concluding we are stumped, we move to the private chambers, to see if we can suss out something useful. We see three pdf-troopers at the gate, among dozens of bodies. They are examining the barrier. We hail them, and I requisition their aid, in the name of the Inquisition. They tell us that the bodies are mostly pdf-troopers, killed by Grel and a group of his mourners. Also, one of the pdf-troopers has been aided by a highly skilled sniper, in the main hall.

We proceed into the private chambers, checking every one of them. We find little of interest, except the case for a really powerful sniper rifle in Marshreks chamber, marking him as the sniper. We proceed to the administratum wing, dropping by the pdf-armoury along the way to stock up, again to look for information and find the control room for the pdf-servitors.

At the control room, Alpha again appeases the machine spirits, and talks to them. There seems to be several spirits in the machine, and that the original spirit has been replaced by another, much older spirit, that comes from an unknown place. The replacing will cause all servitors in the complex to go amok in 30 minutes. To be sure we disable all combat servitors.

Alpha and Holder-Smith examine the old spirit further, and find out that one of the crypt doors will open. They work on tricking the old spirits secrets from it but fail, until the time that the crypt door will open. We go to watch. Turns out it is the 'herein lie the children of the kingdom'-door that opens. From the maw horrid creatures with snake bodies and humanlike heads and arms pour. We withdraw, and then proceed to the auction room, only to turn on our heel and head to the lilbrary.

At the library we find two erratic-behaving servitors, Dar taunts them into running into our ambush, and we destroy them easily. Inside the library it looks like a bomb has gone of. I get no points for deducing that Grel and the mourners has killed Septimus and his retinue, and Miss Nile' ashen tear assassin. Two children of the kingdom arrive, up close they are terrifying. Both Holder-Smith and I panic and run, but Dar shows off some really magnificent swings, and kills the things.

Moving again, we proceed to the main hall, and we find Marshrek in the 'rafters' above it. He relays that Wymer and Quill are dead, and that Jerger is hiding in a crypt. He has also seen Nile with a few servitors heading in that direction. She knows what we think, and it is safe to assume that she is going to kill Jerger to get out of the house of ash and dust. At Jergers hiding place we find his bodyguards dead and Jerger gone. The logical place to go is the auction room and the gilded widow. Marshrek comes with us. We run into more children, but we kill them. Dar again kills with abandon, but is wounded.

We find Nile with Wymer and Quill, and quickly realize that we have to kill them. At least I realize; I am very sure that Nile is a Logican, and that we have to kill her sooner rather than later. If we kill her now we can get that done, and maybe find a way out without having to control her at the same time. I also don't want to kill Jerger if I don't think I have to. We fight them, and kill them, but Dar is again gravely wounded, and frankly I don't understand how he even survived. The emperor smiles at us.

Then more children appear, and the situation suddenly seems much graver. I deem that we must gain exit NOW, and so Jerger needs to die. I am sorry for this, but no one can expect to live forever. His blood is just gathered in thin air, and slides into the chalice, I am stunned to realize I have freed a demon host. I truly should have seen it coming, but it never crossed my mind. The demon host says that she will stay true to her word and lower the shield. We gather a few choice items, and run for our lives, and onto the Zygan Martyr.

The trip to (hive) is uneventful; we report to Mar, and Holder-Smith pict records the Grey Psalter and the Book Unbound. I read the Book Unbound, it is utterly fascinating: unknown worlds, new civilizations, endless mysteries. And another mystery, the book itself: it contains veiled references to another book. There is no description of how to get anywher, and this book is a travel account. Intriguing. The start of the book is Solomons discovery of Calixis Sector, written by his own hand. The end of the book is Erasmus story, his writing changes profoundly after the schisma in the family, and seems to descend into madness.

Silas Mar meets us at the dock. He thanks us for our effort, and says he is 'most impressed'. He wants the books and the staff. The rest we can keep. I volunteer for a mind scan, I pass, and he rips apart our contract, and says we are free to do as we please. We find a hotel, and a decent dinner, and decide it is time for some well earned R & R.