Capitulus Quartus: Duplicity

[ManWithDoor]

Thank the Throne that the Psyker travels light, and his tattered robes do much to hide his armour and weaponry. He drops off only his toiletries and changes of robe. No one going through his stuff, should they do so, would get much of anything from their search. He keeps close to 'Jonath', as a dutiful servant would do.

[Grimbold]

Harold/Haxtes has sold his lascarbine and metal staff. He now has another new lasgun. He has his weapons hidden under his robes. His two mechadendrites on his back twitch around nervously, the one with the eye at the end "staring" at the others consecutively.

[Trogdor]

Jericus/Jonath smiles at Solaria's comment, but doesn't break character to comment. Instead he simply says, "thank you," and adds, "we're all tired and hungry from our trip. Best we get something to eat and drink that hasn't been reconstituted. Use your best judgment to find a good place that should meet our needs."

OOC

Perfect excuse for the Smoke House.

[Vardaen]

The group stashes a few items at this place, but by the look of the staff you aren't sure things are entirely safe here. No one leaves anything of import behind. An excuse is given, if only to yourselves to help keep your personas ingrained in your head. To the Smoke House it is.

Crossing the square and not having to leave the district the collection of Acolytes-turned-Merchants near the Smoke House. The middle hive is alive with activity, merchants hawk wears in small prefab buildings with walls that swing up to form awnings and can be closed to lock the place up tight. Children, orphans and street rats run back and forth playing, pick pocketing and generally causing troubles born of youth. A few hivers lingers in the shadows, eyes watching you pass, obviously armed with pistols or knifes the men are scum of the area, but are wise enough not to bother your group.

A low flying skiff passes over head. It appears to be an open air flying transport. With no roof, and only railings on the side to hold passengers safely in, the air-ferry hums with anti-grave tech and ferries paying customers from one side of the Hive to the other -- for a price.

Eyes follow you from all quarters of the road, from windows high above, from the shadows, the street and the gutter, but you find your destination without confrontation. The Smoke House is a large corner of a Gothic spire that reaches up into the spire above. A rare break in the towers gives this one corner of the hive some sky above it. The harsh toxic winds from outside the hive whip through the area and assault your clothing and your skin. The buildings once had many carvings and designs, but are scrubbed smooth now by the never ending gales.

The sign hangs over the door to the Smoke House, but even without that you'd be able to guess you've arrived. Two tall chimneys poke out of the top of the building and billow smoke into the air that instantly is turns horizontal by the wind and blown back into the hive proper which gives the entire area its smell. A few lazy Munitorium patrol the street hardly giving you any notice, their anti-weather cloaks wrapped tightly around them.


The Smoke House (Right)

[jigglypuff69]

Solaria nods at the building, "That's it. Hope you all don't mind a bit of bush meat, cause there's no telling what they're serving. Stay away from the snakebite, too. Nothing good ever comes of drinking that stuff. Shall we?"

[Trogdor]

"You're the local guide," Jericus/Jonath says with a wave of his hand. "I'll trust your judgement on this." Then he follows her into the establishment.

[jigglypuff69]

Solaria is the first in, looking around the bar and taking in the sights. Her eye pick through the shadows and look for trouble. After a second or tow, she motions the others in and finds a table for them, one where 'Jonath' can sit with his back to the wall.

Display

Awareness is on overdrive!

[ManWithDoor]

The Scribe shuffles in as well, trying to look the part of an uninteresting asset to the obvious power of the group, Jonath. His eyes do dart around the room, taking in any details of interest.

[Vardaen]

Solaria is the first one through the door. The rest follow hot on her heels.

The Smoke House is an odd shaped building, from the outside you expected it to be wide and large, but once you are inside you can see that it only controls a small portion of the building it is inside. Perhaps only ten meters square the building is poorly lit and hung with a permanent pallor of smoke, aptly so. The narrow chamber isn't the end of it all however, for it reaches upwards about nine stories into the air. A single spiral staircase is set in the center of the room, the rusted metal railing broken in a few places as it crawls its way up up up. Every so often a small landing leads to balcony areas around the interior of the room, where tables, allow tall and narrow sit with their surfaces at chest height, no chairs around them. There must be a dozen of these interior balconies that ring the tower like building. A stained glass window high up allows in red colored light form outside, and a few glowlamps illuminate the rest of the place.

The void between the stairs and the balconies is filled with smoke and small flying servo skulls that fly up and down the various levels with small trays laden with various tobacco like products. The Smoke House it seems isn't an eatery or a tavern, but a smoke shop, a place to come and inhale the exotic and traditional smoking treats of the Imperium.

On the ground floor ahead of you, effectively plugged into the structure is a corpulent man. His face is hidden among a jumble of replicators and breathing tubes, a cybernetic eye and hardly any hair. Other implants plug him into a large panel in the wall behind him, and arrayed before him is counter of sorts. Two armed guards, heavy handed guards, stand watch on either side of him, hand cannons in hand, and flak armor from head to toe. They aren't threatening, and do their best to just be present, and not interfere.

The chamber is filled with loud echos of the chattering and laughing patrons of the place on the floors above, but down here on the ground level there is no one but the owner and his guards and the servo skulls zipping up to the various levels delivering the Smoke House's goods to them as they place orders through small vox systems in the walls high above directly into the man's ear.

He pays you no attention until you near him, then his eye lights, his breathing grows louder through the masks and respirators and you think he might be smiling behind it all. His voice is thick rough and broken, the vox caster scratches as he talks through it, "The Smoke House aims to please. We have a little room left on level eight."

[jigglypuff69]

"We'll take it. My master would like something a bit more intimate, as it would be." Solaria plays up the fact that she's a hired hand. Making eye contact with one of the guards she smiles and winks at him, looking him up and down. They going back to the large amn, like she suddenly remembers what she's here for, she speaks, "Shall we be shown up? Oh and we'll need a pinch of Ghostflower Pollen sent up as well..."

Display

This is the same place as the "Smoke Chamber" in Sand's report, right?

Gm Edit: Yes, this is the same place. Smoke House, Smoke Chamber close enough.