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...