The auction

Well, that was quite the auction wasn't it...I've heard tell that collectors often get a thrill from attending them, but I very much doubt that those auctions' crescendo were anything like this! But, I'm getting ahead of myself - I shall start, as they say, at the beginning.

We spend quite a bit of time eying not only the items on display, but also the other potential customers. Dar gets the same reaction to master Nonsuch as Acadia did - like death incarnate stands beside him. Given the later...revelation on Nonsuch's part, I believe that Dar and Acadia simply responded to him (or should I say it) on a more primeval level than the rest of us are capable of. A function of their upbringing? Generations upon generations reverting to a more barbaric reaction pattern, where fight or flee is still very much a very literal response? Either way, I surmise we would do well to heed their warnings and instincts in the future,

After a few hours of observation and small talk, we discover that the patrons have various interests in the different items. For completeness' sake I shall include them here, though I believe it to no longer be important.

• Octavia: The Greyskin Psalter
• The abbot: the widow
• Rubio: nothing in particular
• Jerger: the books
• Marshrek: the weapons
• The tech priest: the tech gear (!)
• Tressa: gem/dress/wristlet

We discuss amongst ourselves what we should prioritize buying. We end up focusing on a few items:

[Måtte ha lagt igjen papirene hvor tingene er beskrevet + mine notes på disse på spillinga, sorry - fyller ut i etterkant]

• The book unbound: [jernteppe, husker ikke hva det var]
• The greyskin psalter: apparently a prayer book of some kind, with notes from all the Haarlocks.
•  The silver key: [skrift jeg ikke husker på obskurt språk - noe med sleep å gjøre]. I get the distinct impression it is important somehow. 
• The wristlet of saint Meredith: made from her teeth, apparently it enables the wearer to damage warp beings - and mr Potter confirms it is indeed not mundane. 
• Greatsword: according to legend, able to cut through the armor of anything. Useful for Dar. 

During the showing, the abbot makes a great spectacle of the fact that the widow is not on display, demanding it be shown. One of the poor litigators is cornered by His Massiveness, protesting weakly against his demands. One of the "priests", the very aggressive fellow named Archo, actually attacks the poor fellow, resulting in an influx of PDF troopers to handle the situation. Everything seems to be under control when Archo amazingly punches one of the troopers and is subsequently shot. During this entire scene, we all hear the sounds of flapping wings, which are intensified as the situation escalates. Remarkably, the abbot calms down and then so do the wings. Definitely something out of the ordinary going on there...

Although mr Potter discovers that the onyx statue radiates warp quite strongly, we suspect that the other parties simply seem too interested in the item for us to be able to buy it with our measly funds. Thus, we decide to try to up the price and get Rubio interested in. I strike up a conversation with him, and he seems to take the bait, purely to upstage the other potential buyers. Given his limitless coffers, he should be able to pay more than anyone else - if mr Nonesuch's hostile behavior doesn't turn him off entirely.

After a while, we retire to our new quarters. Not long after, ms Nile knocks on our door, offering an alliance. She explains that she is only interested in one item - the Greyskin Psalter. If we agree to not bid on it, she will in return not bid on any items we are interested in. She also offers physical protection should matters escalate, which would come in quite handy given her cyborg bodyguard. We state our potential interest in an alliance but do not give her an answer right away.

We resolve to try to research this psalter, and head for the so-called "Reading Room", which is said to contain a fairly extensive library. On our way there, we stumble upon the corpse of an adept outside one of the crypts. His skull has been crushed and the brain removed in its entirety. There are no tracks nearby that we are able to follow. I put my thinking cap on and come up with a potential xeno that would focus on brains: slaughts. They are fairly rare, at least in the human parts of the galaxy. From what I've read, they can actually absorb the knowledge of whoever's brain they consume - a most useful skill indeed. It is of course impossible to tell if a slaught is actually present on the island, but if it is, we need to be very careful moving around. Hopefully we're too big a group and too well-armed for it to dare attack us.

We eventually make our way to the Reading Room, and it's sizable enough. Mr Potter discovers two books that he marks as especially interesting, given his detection skills. Without much thought I open one of them, and immediately feel almost physically assaulted by what is written within. I'm left feeling slightly...soiled, but oh my! The knowledge within! A treatise on all things related to the warp, I feel an almost desperate need to possess the item...and apparently Mr Potter's book is also quite interesting. We come up with a plan for Dar to smuggle the items away while we distract the servitors in the room. I'm so eager I almost forgot our original purpose here!

After some searching (they actually have a catalogue!), I find a book where the Greyskin Psalter is described. Oh my, I certainly see why ms Nile and her compatriots are interested. The book is of course not a prayer book, but rather a coded navigational chart of the Haarlocks' journies beyond the Calixis sector into the uncharted realms, complete with warp jump spots. In the right hands this could lead to untold riches, or very dangerous knowledge...we immediately resolve to try to get our hands on it at all costs.

We depart, and our ruse works without too much of a hitch - Dar sneaks out, one of the servitors notice him but luckily mr Potter is able to disable it long enough for Dar to make his getaway. The books are ours! Ah, such a catch. We make our way back to our room, and soon thereafter ms Nile knocks again - but not before we find the bug planted in our room...given our newfound knowledge about the psalter, we regretfully deny her proposed alliance. She takes it well of course, being quite the smooth operator as they say.

The night remarkably passes uneventfully, and the day of the auction is here. As we arrive in the so-called garden, we notice security has been upped somewhat. There are around 10 PDF guards present, as well as 8 combat servitors and 8 monitor servitors, in addition to a lot of adepts and mourners. Mr Potter is instructed that he must wear a headband that will dampen his psychic powers to enter. He refuses, and stays outside instead. Probably wise, if trouble starts I'd rather he'd have access to his full array of powers. The auction starts with the lesser items, first of which is the wristlet. We buy it for 30.000 Thrones, outbidding Tressa. The other items are sold to various persons, I shan't bother to go into detail given the following...

Before the greater items are displayed, adept Blaund informs us that the there will be a demonstration of the widow, as several patrons have asked for this. The statue is brought before us. It is quite large [human-sized?] and very life-like - you can see the gleam of something malevolent in its eyes. In a rasping voice, it commands us to ask it questions about the future. I must admit I've quite forgotten all of them, shaken as I am. During all of this, Acadia notices that a lot of mourners keep filing into the room.

After some questions, the widow suddenly starts spouting off what seems like gibberish at first...[skal skrive inn hva hun sier her, må få det fra Dole først - upshot: vi har 13 timer på å finne en arvtager til Haarlock som skal være på øya, og fylle en bolle med hans/hennes blod - hvis ikke vil vi bli devoured av the children of the kingdom]. The entire island starts shaking, and the mourners throw themselves on the ground, chanting something or the other. Adept Blaund seems very shaken, and suddenly Head Mourner Grel looms behind him, his staff extending to reveal a power blade - cleaving the adept nearly in two.

At that moment, havoc breaks loose. Master Nonesuch's skin simply...splits, and reveals nothing other than a Slaught Overlord beneath. His "servants" suddenly spring to life. Nonesuch starts killing at seemingly random, with a weapon [?] of some kind simply reducing his victims to ashes. The mourners also possess weapons similar to Grel and start slaughtering customers. Ms Nile's cyborg rushes to the Psalter with unnatural speed, smashes the container and runs off with the item. Marshrek just runs off at a neck-breaking pace. Meanwhile, we have to decide whether to grab any items or just run off. There is little time for calm discussion to say the least, so we simply act on our own. We are also attacked by mourners, but luckily they aren't all that dangerous. We manage to grab the staff, the Eldar catapult, the key, the seal, the wristlet, the book unbound, the hrud fusil and the greatsword.

Just as we run off, the Slaught takes notices of us, but luckily we manage to run away. Outside, Potter has dispatched a few mourners, and then we simply run away, without a plan. A quick glimpse outside confirms our fears. We are locked in the building, some sort of force field outside. We don't even bother trying to break it, preferring to get to (temporary) safety.

That was quite the auction indeed...