Capitulus Octo: Baron Hopes

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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The Aftermath

Post by ManWithDoor » Mon Feb 27, 2017 6:46 pm

Damien misses the presence of Rego. The Cleric was well-needed by the Arbites and others of this world, keeping them in the right way of the God-Emperor, and steeling the souls of his fellow Acolytes against the horrors of Chaos. He hopes that Inquisitor Sand sends someone with spiritual weight to this world, or contacts the Ecclesiarchy to do so instead.

In the meantime, he keeps busy helping with the cleanup and understanding of the Chaos incursion. Studying everything from the zombie bodies, to Assod Morrir, to even the Warp Bomb. Gathering all the Intel he can to give the Inquisition, to keep this from never happening again.
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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The Aftermath

Post by Grimbold » Tue Feb 28, 2017 8:49 am

Haxtes nods to the others and then puts away his weapons. The techpriest mechanically starts to clean up the HQ and first tries to get power back on and get the systems online again.

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The Aftermath - Sand's Arrival

Post by Vardaen » Wed Mar 08, 2017 3:22 pm

The week passes. The dead are cleaned up from around the Op Center proper but you find out there are thousands more scattered around the mines, not surprisingly at all those junctions and locations where the Warp Bombs previously had gone off, then they chaos spread from there. The Op Center is back up operational in two days with the help of Haxtes. Damien comments once about missing Rego, but it seems the soul of the serfs is in good hands as the Baron ministers to the population. Even Lucius' ever-watchfull-ness can't stop him from getting out among the masses. He calms them, lifts up their souls, reassures them, and gets them back to work; which is critical. Even with a week of low production the loss of minerals will be felt around the sector.

The Royal Scourges have arrived once more with mixed results. They bear with them a message from the capital city of Iceholm demanding an explanation of what happened. Their new Captain is just as much of an asshole as Movern was, but he's pragmatic, and for now his goal is to get the serfs back to work. So he assists the Arbites and the Inquisition without too much grief.

Then one day, totally unannounced a transport ship touches down in the Harrow, and Inquisitor Sand himself, with two bodyguards, steps out of the ship and makes his way to you -- well ahead of schedule. He gathers you in the briefing room of the Op Center and listens eagerly to your verbal report.

"Senior Acolyte Jerius, report...." his thin breath through his respirator wheezes.
Sand is a tall lanky man, draped in thick inquisitorial robes, clearly displaying the symbols and rosette of the Inquisition on his chest along with half a dozen other purity symbols and ranks. He wears a bolet on his hip and holds a long walking staff. His mouth and nose are covered with a respirator device, and one eye is clearly cybernetic. A dozen other tech priest like implants dot his body, and you wonder how such a sickly thin frame can support it all. His age is impossible to tell but clearly he is old.

I don't think I've ever posted a picture of him until now. Close without the respirator.

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"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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The Aftermath - Sand's Arrival

Post by Grimbold » Fri Mar 10, 2017 10:02 am

Haxtes has said almost nothing in the recent days and just works on repairing stuff and checking everybody's weapons (if they let him).

When Sand arrives, he joins the others, a silent figure in the background in his black and red robes and his assortment of mechadendrites.

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The Aftermath - Sand's Arrival

Post by Trogdor » Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:01 pm

Jericus does what he can to restore order to the mines. His strengths are not with cleanup or repair, but with administration, To that end, he takes what action he can to try and account for what has happened and to get at least part of the mine up and running again as soon as possible.

To the request from Iceholm, he uses bureaucratic doublespeak to give a response that it at once both perfectly correct and utterly meaningless. It won't do for the long term, but it will buy some time.

When Sand arrives, Jericus is there to meet him, frankly relieved to no longer be the man on the spot.

"At once," he replies when the Inquisitor asks for a report in the briefing room. "I have my full report here," he takes a dataslate from a pocket of his robe, along with the Imperial Rosette and offers them to Inquisitor Sand. "But I shall give you a precis to save time. I'm afraid things were as bad, or worse, than we'd expected. Morrir had demonic ties that allowed him to bring down massive destruction upon the mine complex. But let me start from the beginning."

Jericus then proceeds to give an abbreviated summary of their investigation and the subsequent conflicts that occurred, touching on all of the important facts, and omitting nothing relevant. He makes every effort to present the situation as it truly occurred, not coloring it to make anyone look better or worse than they really were. Let the truth speak for itself. If Sand found anyone lacking, it was for him to take the necessary corrective action.

"Since Morrir's defeat," he concludes. "We have been working to get the mine at least partially operational again, though with mixed success. The death toll was large. But I have confidence that at least some of the mines can be reopened in the short to medium term, with others taking longer. I recommend further investigations into the Chaos cults here. They've gone to ground with the loss of Morrir. But there are no doubt still members alive."

"Finally," he adds, "I want to express my regret that we did not maintain mission parameters. The captain of the Scourges was executed, which has caused tension with the queen in Iceholm, and The baron's identity was discovered when he was recognized by some of the locals." He makes no excuses, nor does he try and justify what happened. His report contained sufficient details for Sand to draw his own conclusions. And there was no question of taking the blame. He was the senior Inquisition acolyte on the scene. Everything was ultimately his responsibility.

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The Aftermath - Sand's Arrival

Post by Vardaen » Mon Mar 13, 2017 5:15 pm

Sand listens to the report, reads some of it, and looks over all the details for a good long while. He then takes Jericus off to a private area of the Op Center, allowing Damien and Haxtes to remain, but no other person, be them Baron, Arbite or Lucious.

He takes the dateslate from Jericus, but not the Rosette, and leaves that in Jericus' care without comment or fan fair. "First, congratulation on your success. You have done the Imperium a great service, and have proved yourselves yet again. I am most pleased with your efforts and the results. Had things escalated further you could assured the planet's tithe would be impacted long term which would have had terrible consequences for the entire sector as well. The loss of Sword is a blow, but the Luminous Reproach's recovery is more vital than the pysker's survival." He will accept the return of the blade at a later time, but he will take the blade back now that Sword is dead. "This Lucius seems another matter worth investigating, a mental block regarding fear could prove useful. Do you think you could work with him on further projects? If so I shall conscript him into your unit. Otherwise the man knows too much and will have to be executed at once. I leave that choice up to you."

He continues to debate the merits and flaws of the whole situation, "Ignore Iceholm, I'll deal with the Queen, that is no longer a matter for you to worry about. The Baron however, execute him. He's proved his uses despite what help you report he's given us."
"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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The Aftermath - Sand's Arrival

Post by Trogdor » Mon Mar 13, 2017 6:36 pm

"Lucius has been useful," Jericus replies to Sand's question. "More importantly, he's been completely loyal; he hasn't violated a single order I've given, in fact, or even in spirit. I think if kept on a proper leash, he'd be an asset to the Inquisition." There was no need to say that it would be Jericus who would have to keep him on that leash. It would be safest, Jericus knew, to simply have Lucius killed. But the Inquisition couldn't afford to be so profligate with its potential resources. There were few enough capable acolytes out there. If Lucius could be useful, it was Jericus' duty to make sure he was kept in line sufficiently such that he would be useful.

"I should like to request access to what portions of his Inquisition file I'm authorized to see, however," the acolyte adds. "He's implied that his normal Administratum and Arbite records include notes on what he experienced. I assume the Inquisition records contain more detail." Jericus knows he would certainly not be privy to all of that detail; likely not even 'most.' But even 'some' would be useful. He suspected that he'd get more information out of the scrubbed Inquisition files than he would from even the full Administratum or Arbite records. It wasn't prurient interest that motivated him. But if he was going to be responsible for the man's good behavior, he wanted to make certain that he understood what made Lucius tick.

Then Sand gets to the baron and orders the man's immediate execution. For just a moment Jericus hesitates, surprise showing in his eyes, if not on his face. This is the first time that he's ever disagreed with what Sand has ordered him to do, and he can't help a minor reaction. He'd thought the baron would be useful in rebuilding the planet and getting the mines working again, and he's startled to hear to the contrary.

But then a glint of understanding replaces the flash of surprise. Sand was not petty or vindictive - not that Jericus knew. If he felt that Ulbrexis had to die, he had a good reason for it. The Inquisitor moved on a much higher plane than the acolytes did. He was privy to more information than they were, and he weighed considerations on the level of a sector or the entire Imperium, rather than just a city or a world. He had made the tough call that, alive, Ulbrexis was still a danger, and in that he was almost certainly right. Jericus had been blinded by the needs of the planet to see the danger to the sector that a live Ulbrexis posed. Worse, he'd also allowed his personal feelings to intrude. He liked Ulbrexis and what the baron intended to do for those in the mines. But as an Inquisitor, Sand had to do what was for the best of the Imperium. And today that meant killing Ulbrexis, despite all of the reasons that the man deserved to live. That was what it meant to be an Inquisitor." Jericus had thought he was calculating and dispassionate. But he sees that he still has a way to go before he could be trusted to make the sorts of decisions that Sand makes on a daily basis.

"We'll attend to it immediately," he says after the briefest of hesitations. Most people wouldn't have noticed the pause, but Sand almost certainly would have. Damien and Haxtes might have seen it too, having known Jericus for so long. "Do you want it to look like an accident? That would make it more difficult. A straight execution would be easier and more certain."

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The Aftermath - Sand's Arrival

Post by ManWithDoor » Tue Mar 14, 2017 12:34 am

Damien does not have as much control over his expression, despite his prodigious willpower. He might be able to fight off a Daemonic possession, but he doesn't have to keep his face straight while doing so. He sighs regretfully, shaking his head. "Regrettable. He appeared to be a more competent administrator than the current 'royalty', with the loyalty of the populace to boot. Would likely hasten restoring their Production Quotas. But I assume there is the long-term concern over unorthodox philosophies taking root and spreading, or issues with the Ecclesiarchy over his ungranted 'Saint' status." He tilts his head, then shrugs. "But our lives are the God-Emperor's, not our own. If his Holy Inquisition declares a death, then so be it."
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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The Aftermath - Sand's Arrival

Post by Grimbold » Tue Mar 14, 2017 9:07 am

Haxtes just nods, showing no emotion at all. He waits patiently for Sand's answer to Jericus' question. Accident or execution. Ulbrexis having an accident might have some positive consequences: The people would see him as a martyr in his fight against Chaos and thus having a bonding effect on them. They would work harder and with fewer complaints with this sort of religious symbol.

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The Aftermath - Sand's Arrival

Post by Vardaen » Thu Mar 16, 2017 5:29 pm

Sand notices Jericus pause, they group has worked together long enough for Sand to know your ticks and traits. "You disagree with this order Jericus?" He glances to Damien, who also puts forth some comments about the situation. "I think you have earned the right to speak your thoughts to me." His respirator whistles as he breaths into it listening to the comments to come.
"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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