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.