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!