Capitulus Sextus: Rejoice for you are True

In the nightmare future of the 41st millennium, Mankind teeters upon the brink of extinction. The galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man is beset on all sides by ravening aliens, and threatened from within by malevolent creatures and heretic rebels. Only the strength of the Immortal Emperor of Terra stands between Humanity and its annihilation. Dedicated to His service are the countless warriors, agents and myriad servants of the Imperium.

Dark Heresy is a roleplaying game based upon the universe of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000. The setting of Warhammer 40,000 is a dark, gothic future where the Imperium of Man is beset by dangers within and without. In Dark Heresy players take on the roles of Acolytes of the Inquisition, aiming to uncover and combat the enemies of mankind, be they aliens, heretics or mutants!

Run by the Grand Inquisitor Vardaen
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ManWithDoor
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Re: Purge the Unclean

Post by ManWithDoor » Tue Dec 30, 2014 5:11 am

"Haxtes, if you would be so kind, please figure out how to power on and off this despicable device that keeps myself and sword from accessing our Emperor-sanctioned powers." Damien rubs his temples, feeling a headache coming on from the wards around him. "Since we will likely be here for a while until an Inquisition team arrives to relieve us, I have time to see if the effect can be mitigated or countered. If our enemies have access to these devices elsewhere, we will need to know how to cope, besides just blowing up the entire area."
Since we may be here for days or weeks or something, I'll spend my time constructively trying to figure out ways to detect/mitigate/counter this Psyker-blocking archeotech. OOC, I'm fine with Damien making no progress. But it will keep him busy until we get relieved, and he can add his findings to the report to Inquisitor Sand.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

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TetNak
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Re: Purge the Unclean

Post by TetNak » Wed Dec 31, 2014 1:37 am

Sword nods, "Do not break it, though, I am sure the Inquisitor will want to see if for himself." Sword immediately takes his leave, the place troubling him greatly...
"Kings have no friends, only subjects and enemies."

- King Stannis Baratheon, First of His Name

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Grimbold
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Re: Purge the Unclean

Post by Grimbold » Tue Jan 06, 2015 4:33 pm

"I will attempt to study it a bit, and try to shut it down. Then we should seal the lock again and wait for the inquisition." Haxtes says. "We should also ask this person. " he indicates their prisoner. "If she knows our assassin. I belive he is the key player here."

If no one objects, he looks over the machine and tries to find out how to shut it down without breaking it.

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Vardaen
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Re: Purge the Unclean

Post by Vardaen » Tue Jan 06, 2015 9:55 pm

Then next few days are critical. Jericus takes Damien to the Restless City's authorities and reveals your rank and position as Acolytes of the Inquisition. They at once fall in line and provide you all the man power that your need. The temple is shut down, locked down, and the whole area is secured by the Arbites. Ordered to not enter the basement the men do as they are told out of fear of the Inquisition's wrath if they were to break that command.

Sand is contacted, and his reply is a bit quicker in coming than you expected, he orders you to hold your position and interrogate any prisoners. Those prisoners turn out to either kill themselves the first chance they get or appear to be such low level lackeys they have no information that is new. That includes those members of the Joyous Choir who are in fact just seeking to be happy in the eyes of the Emperor and seem to have no knowledge of the Serrate Query's goings on. You do however get a name from your female prisoner, Theodosa -- the grey robed assassin that killed Orday, was at the Alabaster Court, and over saw this lab here on Ambulon.

It takes several weeks but Sand eventually arrives on site in Ambulon himself. During the wait time Haxtes and Damien and Sword investigate the strange workings of the extra dimensional space and the anti-pysker wards. Unfortunately the 'science and magic' behind what could possibly make the lower chambers larger than is physically possible you can not figure out. It is a heresy no doubt, and is some how tied to the Warp. Millions of little symbols cover the supporting structures and walls, but not a single one you can find is associated with the Chaos Powers. The same "circuitry" seems to be at work here as well limiting the pysker's powers, like the chamber found in the Alabaster Court and on the Tarot Card of Aristarcus, however you still have no true understanding of how it functions. It will require far more than just a few weeks of study.

The servitors are shut down after watching them work for a time, and the evidence is cataloged. During the long wait for Sand Jericus takes a trip back to Hive Sebellus to inform Laurent Strophes of his nieces' situation. Lord Strophes is grateful for the new in person and swears to be of service again to you if you should need him. A powerful ally to have among the nobles of Sebellus to be certain. This is where you learn for certain that the Alabaster Court and ALL those who lived among it were slain. The same night that Strophes was raided so were they, and Caros Shaol the founder of the Joyous Choir was assassinated. A few others you met that night too were slain, but others, guests and unwitting nobles survived like Lady Borella and Elsergi Krin.

So it is finally that Sand arrives and you debrief him on all you discovered, from the cults forming in the Middle Hive to the Alabaster Court's fate. You tell him about the Oracle Occulare, the Serrated Query, the drug Farsocia, and more.

To your shock perhaps Sand has heard of The Serrated Query, but doesn't believe that they are a monolithic criminal organisation. Rather, he believes them to be a series of mercantile cells that use the name Serrated Query and the fiction of a “faceless master” as a smokescreen for frightening the superstitious criminal elements of the Calixis Sector. Various cells that he has uncovered in the past have uniformly been involved in highly illegal activities, ranging from the acquisition and distribution of xenos artefacts to slavery. (None of which helps to explain the existence of the extra-dimensional drug lab though.)
We are basically at an end of the chapter here. Anything you'd like to talk to Sand about or do before I wrap it up, now is the time.

I have posted XP and put it on your sheets. You can start spending it.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Trogdor
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Re: Purge the Unclean

Post by Trogdor » Thu Jan 08, 2015 4:31 am

Jericus takes care of his duty with sharp efficiency. He does not abuse his position as an Acolyte of the Inquisition. But neither does he accept anything less than full cooperation. This is a serious matter, and he will not tolerate any lack of cooperation. Thankfully the mere mention of the Inquisition greases all the wheels.

The scholar is surprisingly compassionate with Strophes. Having lost almost his entire family in a war, Jericus is no stranger to the pain that Lord Strophes must be feeling. He spares the man the details he must for reasons of secrecy, but tries to tell him as much as he's allowed to. He doesn't try and sugar coat the fate of Strophes's niece. Strophes is a man of the world, after all, and need not be shielded from ugly truths. He deserved not to be shielded. Still, Jericus tries to be as gentle with the news as he can. Privately he will tell Strophes that he ended the girl's half-existence himself rather than run the risk that she would be allowed to continue in that horrible state. He ends with a sincere apology that they were not able to find her sooner.

By the time Sand arrives Jericus has a detailed report prepared for his review. It includes all of his theories about the original inhabitants of this system and their ancient technological heresy. Jericus also makes himself and the others available for any questions Sand might have.

It doesn't shock Jericus at all that Sand knows about the Serrated Query. After all, Jericus was aware of them. If that was the case, it was certainly not unreasonable that Sand would have the same, or more, information about them. As Sand reveals more, the scholar makes certain to catalogue the added information that Sand provides against the time they comes up against the Serrated Query again - which might be sooner rather than later. Jericus is not certain that everything Sand says is accurate - whether intentionally or unintentionally. Even though the man has shown them a great amount of trust, and Jericus has never wavered in his loyalty, he understands that there may yet be reasons that Sand cannot reveal the truth to him.

In a private moment, Jericus approaches his superior. "Inquisitor Sand," he says, waiting for permission to continue. When it's given, he proceeds with his thoughts and questions. "I understand that knowledge is power, and you must guard it well. If you tell me I have no need to know anything else, I shall say no more. But if we are to face more of this cult in the future, it may be in the best interests of the Inquisition that I have some additional information."

"Based on what we've seen, it's clear that the Serrated Query, or some cult associated with them whose identity we have yet to uncover, has revived some of the heretical Adranti technology that was supposedly wiped out by St. Drusus in the Angevin Crusade over a thousand years ago. Whether they've done this by uncovering lost technological devices and studying them, or whether they've had the technology all along, kept hidden for all these centuries, is unclear. Based on my knowledge of the Serrated Query, they may well have been in existence long enough for the latter to be possible."

"My question is simple," Jericus says, his face impassive. "Is there any information you are both allowed to reveal to me, and think wise for me to know regarding the Adranti, their technology, their heresy, or their destruction?"
My plan had actually been to keep the woman sedated until Sand arrived. (Yes I know that would involve sedating her for weeks, which is horrible and dangerous to her long-term health. But as she's a heretic who's going to be executed anyway, its no big deal. That said, I understand if interrogating her is a dead end.

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Vardaen
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Re: Purge the Unclean

Post by Vardaen » Thu Jan 08, 2015 9:44 pm

Sand is pleased with all of the reports and he commends you on your actions both with Strophes and the Serrated Query and Joyous Choir. His main focus becomes the anti-psyker tech and the extra dimensional space inside the temple.

When he sits down with Jericus the slender Inquisitor who for the first few years of your service was rarely seen outside his examination room studies his Acoltye through his augmented eye. The man wears a respirator and has plenty of implanted tech but you still have the sense he's rather fragile in the end. "I believe that if you wish to study up on the Adranti as our enemy I can find a few sources for you to do so with. I will need someone to continue to focus efforts on this tech and if the Adranti are connected to the Serrated Query in some manner we should continue to pursue them. I will grant you limited access to my libraries Senior Acolyte Jericus."
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Trogdor
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Re: Purge the Unclean

Post by Trogdor » Thu Jan 08, 2015 10:13 pm

"Thank you, sir," Jericus says, bowing his head respectfully.

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The End

Post by Vardaen » Thu Jan 08, 2015 11:52 pm

Over the course of the next week you assist Inquisitor Sand in dismantling the drug lab and packing and shipping much of the contents to an undisclosed location out of Ambulon. Additional resources are also called into investigate the extra-dimensional chamber including members of the Tech Priests of Mars and the Ordo Malleus who deal with the Warp and its dangers.

Once the reigns are passed over you find yourselves returning to daily life. Sand has pressing need for you now and releases you for some time to persue your own agendas, perhaps to keep up some alter ego cover stories or to rest and train or do research like Jericus will. Whatever your goals your time and efforts with the Joyous Choir and the Serrated Query here on Scintilla are at a close.... for now.
Here ends the Chapter!

Excellent. We had some rough patches as Trog was away for a time. I also know that investigation/large party scenes can be a bit difficult at times also. Still all in all I think it was pretty good.

In the next chapter TrueStag will be joining us!

XP has already been given out. If you have something you'd like to do in the down time let me know. I know for example Jericus is studying up on the Adranti.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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