Fellowship of the Dice

"The most dangerous weapon this galaxy has ever produced is faith. All other force is merely a shadow of what that terrible power can achive."
-Inquisitor Globus Vaark, Ordo Hereticus Six days has past since the reports on the heresy in Corcarla District reached the hands of Inquisitor Sand. Since that day life in the Corcarla District has been made nearly impossible for those living there. An Inquisition backed sweep of the district by the Magos Biologis and Adeptus Arbites followed the reports. Everyone was rounded up and processed to check for taint and heresy. Forensic teams are still checking the ruins with a fine tooth comb and it will be a long time before things return to normal there if ever.

The long-term outlook for the Coscarla looks to be bleak. For the people of the southern district, rumours will begin to circulate as to what took place, some of them true, some verging on the heretical. Soon horror and mass hysteria will take hold, and as the rumours spread the Coscarla will become an even more shunned and blighted place in the lower hive of the city. One form of terror has been replaced with another.


You are contacted by Interrogator Sand one evening via datatransfer to Jericus' dataslate. The group is still under watch by the Inquisition for signs of heresy or taint, as a few servoskulls seem to always be following you about when you leave this small Inquisition provided hovel three levels down in the hive below where Sand's labratory is located.

A game of cards is just finishing up, Solaria having had the Emperor's luck winning most of the games of Hearths and Thrones. Boredom has set in, your wounds have been tended too, and your training and practice has improved over the week, even some shopping has been completed by various members of this group.

The dataslate beeps again and then the encoded vox of Haxtes sitting on a shelf fuzzes to life with some static (recognized as purposeful interference to jam evesdropping). Sands voice comes over the vox, "<Kashhhck> Emperor's Blessing on you this evening Acolytes. Your time of idleness is at an end. You're performance in the Corcarla Distict has earned you all another chance to prove your worth to the Imperium. I am sending data to Jericus' dataslate as we speak." There is a pause in the voice as the vox continues to hiss and pop with jamming signals.

Data streams onto Jercius' slate...

Solaria is accustumed to this kind of environment, but spends most of her time shopping and learning a few new tricks. The others don't see her much during this time, mostly just for meals. She keeps the others updated on any Hive activity she thinks interesting and still takes some time out for weapon maintainence and such.

Solaria immediately goes to work securing her gear and belongings. "Honor to the Imperium and the Ordos, Inquisitor Sand", the once Arbite says to the vox, showing her respect to their new employer. "What does the slate say, Jericus? ANother mission to the bowels of the Hive?"

For the past few days, Jericus has been out of the hovel as much as he's been in it. Mostly he's been dealing with the local representatives of the Administratum, processing requisition forms, though he has found time to access one of the private Administratum libraries that his former status as a scrivener still allows him access to.

His habits are neat and simple. He eats nutritional, if bland, food, of the sort that's mass produced to keep the citizenry fed and reasonably healthy. He keeps his are of the hovel clean and tidy, and doesn't cause trouble. During the hours he's at home he doesn't seek out conversation. But neither does he shun it. All in all, he's a fairly unobtrusive housemate.

When the call comes in, and Inquisitor Sand relates that information has been transferred, Jericus immediately, slips his dataslate out of his pocket and begins scanning it. He nods at Solaria's question. "Off-planet," he says simply. "Iocanthos. Trouble with a new cathedral." Then he holds up his hand for quiet, and adds, "Two pages received, Inquisitor Sand. The transmission appears complete. Is that the extent of what you transmitted?" The Inquisition was reputed to be very careful about data transfer. But mistakes happened everywhere. And it paid to be careful about such things.

Sand's voice comes through the vox with a squeel, "<keeeshk> Two pages yes. You will leave tonight at midnight on the Brazen Sky a rather inocuous down-at-heel cargo hauler that is heading to Iocanthas. The trip shall take several days through the warp. <static> The manifest suggests three days, but my faith in the Brazen Sky is not so strong. When you are ready the servoskull waiting outside shall escort you to the spaceport and launch pad. Do not be late."

"Understood, Inquisitor," Jericus replies. "Our diligent action shall be turned to the task at hand." Then he waits to see if the others have any questions for Inquisitor Sand before he provides the details that were sent to him.

Solaria's pale skin, if even possible, has further paled in color. She holds an auto-carbine mag in one hand, frozen as she was just about to put it into her web harness. Two words slip past her lips, "Off... World..." She looks over at Jericus, sheepishly and her head down, "I've never been out of a Hive before. Is it a Hiveworl we're going to or something more like an Agri-world?" For perhaps the first time, Solaria seems shaken.

"Agriworld fits as good as any label," Jericus replies. "It's not a hive world, or even a proper Imperial world. But it doesn't sound as bad a feral world." The unspoken 'barely,' hangs silently in the air.

"Oh... I guess there's a first for everything." Solaria tries not to show it, but she is at home in a Hive. This assisnment will shake he notions of normal to the core. But it is her duty to bring Order and Law to the Imperium, and so be it...

Xanthia pretty much grins at Solaria's discomfort. "There's a first time for everything, sister. Trust me, this place doesn't sound like the absolute worst place for a first time offworld." She keeps any other ribbing to herself for now though, since Sand is still on the line.

Haxtes has kept mostly to himself, doing some shopping and repairing the hunting rifle. When he has completed it, he offers it to Xanthia or Solaria: "Here, it is completely functional again."
When he hears of the mission, he says nothing and bows his head. "The Machine orders and I follow." He is ready to leave as soon as possible.