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.