Capitulus Decum: Death From Above

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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Trogdor
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Securing the Scene

Post by Trogdor » Tue Mar 27, 2018 2:05 pm

"I defer to you, Proctor Rotlan with respect to the guarding of prisoners," Jericus observes. "You know best how to distribute your soldiers." Then he glances at the team. "I think we should retire to the chapel with the hand, the better to secure the hidden cache of chaos artifacts. We can begin cataloging the contents of the hidden basement and preparing the contents for removal by the Inquisition."

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Collecting the Collection

Post by Vardaen » Tue Mar 27, 2018 3:11 pm

Things begin to fall into place. Rotlan has two guards posted outside the door to the secret chamber and puts them at your disposal for use. They can assist with whatever you need, or they can stand there and keep people out. The rest of his men work to finish sweeping the manor, collecting enemies, and dealing with prisoners. That frees you up to deal with what you are here for, the relics and pieces of heresy. Roltan vouches for Merica and so she joins your efforts. Sisters of Battle are known to have honor and dedication with conviction to the Emperor and so you don't worry (too much) about the new face among your efforts.

You return to the chapel and head down into the chamber below.
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The door way is opened, the alter pushed slightly to the side to reveal the full reach of the door. Then Haxtes pulls it open and shines a light down. One by one you go down the narrow and steep stairs into the chamber below.

The room is immense. Dimly lit by dozens of servo-skulls floating above each display, a single light pointing beneath them. Rows upon rows of heretical proof are presented for viewing in an audacious display of wealth, influence and damnation. Any single exhibit could earn Thrungg a death sentence, and by Imperial law his family holdings can be seized, destroying the entire noble line.

You begin to document the chamber, pausing at the more interesting items, as Damien and Haxtes use their special talents as well to sniff out more dangers, hidden items or ripples in the warp. One by one you move to an item, record it, and inspect it, seal it away and move on. Many have small cards with various information write on them. Its a museum, meant to teach, and as such many items have accompanying information with them.

After many hours you have collected, documented, and packed up everything to be shipped to the Inquisition.
There are dozens of daemonic and xenos artefacts as well as several pieces of ancient text that the Ecclesiarchy will be glad to see recovered. In addition there is a collection of expensive weapons used by sergants and commanders during notable battles of the Angevin Crusade.

There are dozens of items down here. The more interesting ones:

* A Long Las with several scratched X's in the stock that was used by a Ratling to slay the Siegemaster during the Gunmetal Uprising. (Best Quality)

* A Eldar Sword. (Good Craftsmanship, Mono Upgrade)
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* A Bolt Pistol used by Commissar Gild during the Lugg City Massacres to execute over a hundred of his own men.
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* A laspistol with an odd knotwork pattern on the grip. (Unstable Quality)

* A Xeno Cloak from the thick skin of a Cruorian War Beast. (Good Quality Mesh Combat Cloak)

* This mask is of a stylized fox with a long beak like nose. It is crafted of the most delicate porcelain from unknown foundry. The mask lacks any way to actually attach it to the face. A small chip is missing near the mouth and a hint of blood stain remains there suggesting violence to the wearer.

* A decanter of Amasec so old that it no longer has a label (but remains sealed and fresh).
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* A large and ornate key made of tarnished silver, inscribed with archaic human symbols said to predate the Dark Age of Technology. A unique relic of human civilization. (Speak Language (Archaic), No one in the group speaks this. Sorry, no translation.)

* A fine chrono depicting an ancient and fading symbol on a thin titanium chain with a Auspex built into it. (Forbidden Lore Inquisition Test Jericus Success: The Symbol was once used by the Ordo Chronos.)
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There are dozens of books of various religious or heretical content, but a few are notable:

* Liber Ex Mentis a forbidden text rumored to cause insanity simply by reading its pages. (Forbidden Lore Daemonology Damien Success)
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* The Musing on Faith of Palatine Selera. This small unassuming leather bound journal was transcribed from the original text and will be valued by members of the Ecclesiarchy. (Common Lore Imperial Creed Hextes Success)

* Xenos bestiary, a book purporting to detail and catalogue a variety of alien creatures, are commonplace in the libraries of the wealthy. It contain little more than lurid illustrations and superficial descriptions of the more notable enemies of mankind and whatever local fauna is deemed appropriate. You can see some of the information seems inaccurate.

There are various other minor objects on display such as a single Bolt Shell from an Astartes bolter, a pair of feeding brands used by ancient Scintillans to cook and eat their food at the same time, ork teef necklace, and a clay brick made from mud from Holy Terra (although this is easily uncovered as false).

As you pore over the dozens of heretical artefacts Haxtes' auspex keep acting up when he's near a data-slate that is on display in the back of the room.
Inspection of the data slate reveals it appears to be a regular data slate, Damien detects no warp signatures on it, but the data is encoded, requiring some attempts at cryptology to decode. Jericus has plenty of experience with script, but not cryptology itself. So he hands it over to Haxtes, and warns hims to be careful. Still the Tech Priest plugs in and quickly manages to decode the data slate, its not that hard of a cipher. It appears at first blush to a diary of Thrungg, he appears to have kept exacting records, including pict recording of seances he has preformed in an attempt to discover more about something called the 'Dei-Phage's Hand'.

It will require a great deal more reading as well.

Click the link to download the data slate.

the Image mentions Gunmetal City, just change that to that Iceholm.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ePuUn ... Hw3HKxa8oa
We are basically nearly done here. I'll work out XP and stuff, there will be some down time, etc.. coming up quick
"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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Collecting the Collection

Post by Grimbold » Wed Apr 11, 2018 6:47 am

Haxtes spends some time with the dataslate, running some decryption and hermeneutical tools through it. He seems lost in concentration and will not say anything for the moment.

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Collecting the Collection

Post by ManWithDoor » Wed Apr 11, 2018 7:25 am

"I wonder who this Skrivus person was, and if he had kept any records as well. If he was close to confessing to the Emperor's servants, then he may have collected evidence or documentation to hand over." The psyker shudders at the rest of the dataslate. "These are ill omens. This Dei-phage seems to have grand plans for this world. We may have only just begun our work here."
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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Collecting the Collection

Post by RorytheRomulan » Thu Apr 12, 2018 11:17 pm

Merica's hand hovers over the journal of the palatine, never touching. A moment passes and she draws it back, perhaps feeling unworthy.

She takes a turn to skim the data slate. "I wonder what the knight signifies in his supposed vision. Someone we could call an ally against this heresy? The right kind of 'someone', I should hope."

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Collecting the Collection

Post by Grimbold » Mon Apr 16, 2018 8:54 am

"I will check" Haxtes says, and logs into the information grid (or noosphere, if available) and sees if he can find any information about a person called Skrivus, maybe in the news reports or citizen address lists or the like.

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The End

Post by Vardaen » Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:00 pm

Some research is needed, but it becomes obvious rather quickly with some questioning of the servants that Skrivus was just some minor noble in Iceholm that was friends with Thrungg (apparently until Thrungg fed him to his beasts).

Contact with Inquisitor Sand takes some time, he's busy, always. Still you eventually make contact with him and relate all that has happened. The data slate is very worrisome to Sand, and with his help you decrytp a certain piece from it that seems important: "Day 80: I have borne witness to the fortress of the eater of gods. The temple of gold with a heart of coal. It stands alone against the darkness, shining for all to see. It is but a marker on the path, but a path to the Dei-Phage is a home to all who have the will to understand. A path to he who will swallow the unworthy god and supplant him. I will be at his side when Hekate’s champion rises from the brine!"

This marker on the path, it must be the next step, and you spend time in research hoping to find other references to a 'temple of gold with a heart of coal'. It takes weeks, but you figure it out, there is a place on the planet Baraspine called the Gilded Cathedral. Once that place is targeted as a possible link, you are on your way....
I'm going to start a new thread for the next part.
"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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