Gooooooing dooooooooooown - and out

After finally getting out of the depths of hive Desoleum, we make our way back up to our apartment in the upper hive. We send a message to Aldius with our results, expecting to be showered with praise in return - but nope, we hear nothing. For 3 days. We use the time to acquire some new stuff. I finally get my hands on a plasma pistol, acquired through my dear cousin's network. I could swear I saw something wiggle under the cloak of the very hooded form of the seller, but hey - who am I to judge? It's not like I'm in the Inquisition!

Scorp hunts down some awesome-looking things which allows him to levitate around the battlefield at surprising speeds. He's starting to look like a proper kitted out Magos! Imk used his new friends in Gallow's Way to find a very nice-looking chainsword. Zharkon asks if it's ok if he uses the xeno staff that Ferue had, swearing up and down that it's not warp-infested. It somehow boosts his connection to the warp. He's a hard one to read, but I feel pretty sure he's telling the truth. More firepower? Yes please, and the Emperor probably won't notice the taint of the xeno all the way from Terra! Finally, Titus hunts down a twin to the bolt pistol given to him by Crimson, and we acquire 3 stummers for field work for me, Titus and Imk. I feel a lot better about our chances - we might even last a year now!

I use my contacts to verify whether Kalypsia's ship is still in orbit - nope. Huh, maybe should have done that first...oh well, at least the Emperor-damned warp/xeno/whatever objects aren't mind fucking us anymore. Don't know if that's a good or a bad thing, though I don't like Zharkon's smile when I ask.

Back down

At a bit of a loss what to do next, the problem is solved for us when we get another vox transmission from oath captain Nils. There's been another bunch of people killed with another fragment found on the scene. My skin had started to lose that lovely bouquet of sewer and sludge, definitely time for a refresh! So back we go.

We meet Nils at the Purity gate. We can start with the crime scene, or the bodies in the morgue. We go for the crime scene first.

An hour or so away from the Purity gate, the oathkeepers are doing their best to make sense out the crime scene, an abandoned warehouse. Seems there were two gangs fighting it out, but Nils swears neither group belongs to any local groups they know of. Zharkon senses traces of a warp signature from 3 of the crates that reminds him of our items. The missing items in these crates aren't very big, no bigger than a non-mutated head. We find some blood tracks, but Imk is off his game (he blames living in a "soft" place like Gallow's way/the Gantry/the swamp for too long, makes total sense), no dice there.

We're more lucky talking to one of the unfortunate souls claiming the nearby piss-soaked corner as his home. He spotted 4 guys exiting the warehouse, one of them looking pretty badly wounded. The guy barking orders even had a bolter. Yeah, these guys are definitely pros. They headed roughly thataway.

Having exhausted our options on the crime scene, we head for the morgue. There are 7 bodies in all. 4 are clad in rags, with tattoos reminiscent of the now defunct Blessed Flesh. Zharkon is sure they're Nurgle worshipers, but probably from another cult.  They're all armed with serrated swords, or they were according to the chirurgeon at hand. The remaining three are part of the merc crew, fairly well-equipped with flak armor, autoguns and even a sniper rifle.

As Zharkon is examining one of the bodies, it suddenly grabs him by the throat, an unholy light in its very dead eyes. Great opportunity to test my new plasma pistol right? Zharkon just manages to kick it away and for kicks I up the ante and turn on the maximal setting. The zombie/dead guy erupts in a spectacular shower of burning plasma/blood/bones turned to gas, and best of all - I'm unharmed myself. Blessed be the Emperor and his gifts! Or more likely some dead xeno race, who knows!

Titus is in the other room, examining the equipment left behind. Suddenly, the vox of one of the mercs crackles to life: "Sigma squad, return to base", with a response of "acknowledged, returning with one heavily wounded". Definitely sounds fairly professional. Scorp gets to work on tracking the signal.

In the meantime, Zharkon discovers some sort of bone fragments in pouches tied to the robes of the rag men. That plus the tattoos means he's able to tie them to another so-called strain of a Nurgle cult called Callers of Sorrow. Apparently, this group is an umbrella sort of organization, with individual cults like this one and the Blessed Flesh organized into autonomous strains (branches, for normal people). These guys seem to hail from another planet in this system - a cemetery world called Taur.

After a bit of trying, Scorp is unable to actually track the signal, claiming he lacks the necessary equipment. He is, however, able to decipher that they're probably using relays to transmit vox signals back to wherever their base is. There aren't many places these relays can be placed that doesn't go through the elevator at the Purity gate - we're able to narrow it down to 2 exits to the mid-hive. After a brief discussion, we resolve to split up to ensure we can get to them in time. Hopefully we'll be ahead of them since we can take the elevator.

And out

Me and Imk head towards a landing pad connecting to a space port higher up, while the rest head towards a transport elevator. After a few hours, Titus et al spot the team coming towards the elevator. The wounded guy looks severely fucked up. The leader calls in again, and gets the message that he needs to do whatever is necessary. Weirdly, there seems to be an element of caring somewhat - weirdly unusual in Chaos cultists. Or in Imperials for that matter...in any case, they carry the unconscious man around a corner, we hear the sound of an autogun smattering and they move up the elevator. Scorp sends the pict fly to follow them, then the rest follows. Me and Imk race to catch up, though we're about 20 minutes out.

As the mercs reach the next level, the leader voxes that it'll take them one day to reach home base. He responds negatively to shortening this time. After a fairly short while, they reach the wall of the hive itself, in area where there is an opening straight into the open, as well as another elevator. They surprise us by strapping on parachutes and jumping down, where Titus spots dune buggies hidden under tarp. Blast!

We resolve to not engage the mercs, since we're only interested in tracking them to their base. Me and Imk catch up while Scorp is able to jury rig some missing parts from the remaining dune buggy (which they left behind, since they were 4 guys short). I place myself in the driver's seat as the only truly well-trained driver.

We're able to set out in the mercs' general direction. I try to speed up somewhat, but the buggy doesn't much appreciate my rough handling and I slow down to avoid a crash. The temperature is fairly high, the environment is the typical blasted landscape outside hives. A few ruins, but mostly a mix of sand and very fine glass coats the slightly hilly scenery.

After a few hours, a storm starts brewing. I've heard tales of travelers having their flesh stripped from their bones by tiny, razor-sharp glass fragments. We decide that caution = valor and hide out while the storm rages. After a couple of hours, the storm subsides. We set out again. A short while later, Titus spots 8-10 humans on some sort of speeders in the distance. Their intentions don't seem to friendly, which comes as a big surprise.

They really suck at target selection though - me and Titus make short work of 4 of them. The rest decide that's that and turn tail. We decide that nuh huh, we want one of you guys alive. Titus shoots out the tires on one of the bikes, and the rider goes flying, but survives. He picks up his sniper rifle, Titus shoots it out of his hands. Same with the pistol. Zharkon says that's cute guys, now watch this. The raider quietly sits down, hands out, ready to be manacled. Damn...

Zharkon gets out his gear and goes to work. The raider is the typical half-crazed type, screaming we're going to die, regret coming out here etc. We learn that he's part of the Gwydrae gang, led by Frorhn the Slayer. He's partway right about the dying thing - we notice the roar of hundredes of speeders in the distance. Titus puts a hole in the raider's head, ending the slightly annoying crazed cackling.

We get into the vehicle, I send a prayer to the Machine-God and floor the pedal - and the buggy cooperates! Gradually, the speeder roars dissipate and we're alone again. Right then, the vox crackles to life: "Sigma team to base, we're camping for the night at coordinates so and so. See you tomorrow". Well, that's awfully nice of them!

We sneak up to the side entrance. No one notices us, not even Scorp. Imk opens the door to a guard room, and we're greeted by one of our old friends, the elite berserkers as well as a grunt with an autogun. We make quick work of them.

Imk gently opens the next door, revealing the big hangar, roughly 100 by 200 meters. As usual, the agents of Chaos have made a mockery of what was once proud(ish) Imperial. In the middle of the hangar, there's sort of a...sludge fountain. At least 100 of what Zharkon calls Nurglings, tiny cherub-y Nurgle daemons, frolick around and in the fountain. Around 20 cultists with autoguns are spread throughout the room, showing various degrees of festering wounds and mutations, all on proud display. In addition, there are at least 10 of the elite berserkers here. At one end, we spot a dome or the like that clearly stands out. It leads down a set of stairs made out of what seems like hewn material.

We don't really feel like fighting everyone/thing in the big hangar, so we dirty up our beggars' outfit even more, make our best Nurgle cultist impression (without being too heretical, may it please the Emperor) and walk towards the stairs. A close shave later (Zharkon made some weird noises which seemed to soothe a gang of berserkers), we're down the stairs.

Imk sneaks forwards and sees 4 more berserkers guarding an entrance to what seems like a big area behind them. We hear what seems to be chanting and some type of other-wordly roar. Sounds like the Herald is on its way already.

Imk pretends to be a cultist with a message, while me and Titus quietly sneak up behind him. We put bullets into two of them, the rest go in and the remaining two make a retreat to the big room. Guess there's no way but forwards.

Inside, there's a big, natural cave of sorts. Ferue is chanting at the top of his lungs, it seems to be working - a truly monstrously big (and monstrous) daemon is making its way out of a portal. There's 8 of the elites, 6 of the autogun cultists and 2 of those damned chanters as well.

The smell is worse

At the sight of the daemon, both Zharkon and Scorp turn tail and run right back where we came from. The rest of us manages to limit the damage to shitting our pants, say a prayer to the Emperor, grit our teeth and start fighting.

The fight is long and hard, but in the end we prevail [neste gang må jeg ta litt notater fra selve fighten :P] and send the daemon scurrying back to the Warp. Ferue's staff is clearly part of the puzzle of xeno items we were looking for - there's a hole with a very orb-y looking hole in it. We also find some xeno trinkets which I know will ease transactions with certain shady characters a bit...though we better not be caught with them in our possession.

Making our way back to the Gantry, Crimson remains true to his word and hands Titus his bolt pistol. Huh. We make our way back topside with a few new contacts (trader Lockstock, gang leader Crimson and oath captain Nils), some fresh wounds both physical and mental and pride in doing our part for reducing Chaos' influence in a tiny corner of the galaxy. Hail the Emperor!

Walking dead, red walkers and green swamps

The green walkers
So how are we going to get down into the swamp? Convincing Crimson to let us down there just got a lot easier now that we have a Blessed Flesh cultist doing cult-y things in his own domain. As good as Zharkon is at interrogation, I imagine Crimson might be even more persuasive! Though come to think of it, he might have some issues with this one. Hmm, I can't quite put my finger on why though...hmmm, what was it again...

Ohhhh yeah, the gaping hole where his head is supposed to be! For some reason, Titus thought it was a GREAT idea to put a bunch of bullets in his head after we got the info we needed. Not that he didn't deserve it, but he also deserved a few extra hours worth of torture before he was sent to his putrid, stinking god.

Oh well, back to the drawing board. We go to Omar to suss out some more info on Crimson. Apparently, he's a psychopathic nihilist with extreme violent tendencies. Huh, never would have guessed. One way to gain his trust is by winning one of several challenges. The red run (400 m dash up the wires keeping the Gantry suspended, knives allowed), knife lock (...) and tangled in death (something involving a meshed wire cage and knives again) all sound like appealing options to Imk.

We decide to just roam the Gantry a bit more, trying to find some cultists, more info, whatever. Great plan. We're executing it beautifully when some weird, green fog comes roiling upwards. What the...the swamp is preeeetty far down - and Zharkon informs us this ain't no natural (or whatchamacallit) fog! Filtration plugs go in, our skins tingle a bit but we seem ok for now. The mist is thick enough that we can't see more than a few yards. Something comes shuffling out of the fog...a Gantrist who looks pretty dead (as evidenced by the slit throat), but is still moving and intent on a little nibble of Eizen flesh. Imk cuts him down easily before he gets that far. The corpse looks fairly recently deceased.

We figure we'd better get back to Omar's castle before we're potentially overrun by Nurgling walking dead and start running. The front door is locked, no one answers. Scorp gets to work and opens the door in a minute or so. Whoops - there are about 30 more of those shufflers right inside. Imk has the presence of mind to slam the door shut. I have an inkling this might be the "ritual" the brainless cultist was talking about!

Me and Titus are still missing our weapons, and we have a feeling Omar might be behind this as well so...we decide to find a way in. We climb up with our newly acquired clip and harness, meet 3 more walking dead, finish them off without trouble. We find a window to Omar's office. Inside, he's cowering behind a desk, a combat servitor at his side. The door to his office is about to give, and we barely make out a horde of more walking dead. Scorp tries smashing the window, but it's reallly solid - but it gets Endish's attention. He looks absolutely terrified, so guess he's innocent. Through gestures we get him to point out the nearest window. It's too late for him though...the dead come poring into his office. The servitor takes out a bunch before it's buried beneath the onslaught. We don't need a lot of imagination to hear Omar's screams as he's taken apart limb by limb.


The Red Walkers 
We still go into his castle though, finding a few weapons for me and Titus - a rifle and an autopistol. Not kitted out of course. On the way out, we suddenly hear the unmistakable sound of bolter rounds. Hard to hear where they're coming from, but someone rich and dangerous is about, that's for sure. We decide to head to the gate and secure our weapons in any case, we're also missing all our grenades and backup guns for the rest.

On the way we run into some red walkers, who tell us the dead are climbing up from the swamp. At the gate, there's about a 100 of them trying to get to the red walk gangers defending the gate. One of them's broken off the heavy stubber from its turret and pointed it at the dead. It's extremely effective, but even so we can see they're about to be overrun. Thinking quickly, I suggest we help them, both for getting our weapons back and for getting some cred with the gang when facing Crimson. It's a bloody battle, but through some clever manouevering we manage to avoid serious injuries.

The gangers are of course glad to still be alive. We join them on the way back to their gunship. As we get there, the last walking dead is put down but a bolter round to its head. The owner of the bolt pistol, is, of course, Crimson himself. He makes for a fairly imposing figure as he strides down the walkway.

Det var alt jeg rakk i dag, argh. Skriver resten ordentlig til neste gang. Kort på resten:
- Ferue er en gigant, 2m, 200 kg, weird staff, masse mutasjoner.
- Blir guidet ned i sumpen av en liten mutant-looking duderino fra red walk
- 3 timer på sludge river, kommer frem til en liten tørr flekk med ei råtten hytta hvor Blessed Flesh-kontakten holder til. Stchtøgg jævel + 2 elite berserkers.
- Interrogation hvor Zharkon bruker flesh puppet for å flexe litt, finner ut:
- The GRAND TEMPLE er 1 time unna, bare en vei å gå (planker/gantries/etc gjennom sumpen)
- Det er ingen feller/vakter på veien
- Templet har 2 hovedinnganger bak/foran, 2 på siden, alle er bevoktet, det er ingen alarmsystemer
- Ritualet går ut på å bringe "the Herald" inn i verdenen
- Det er Nurglings i nursery

- Når vi kommer frem til THE GRAND TEMPLE viser det seg at det er bunkers i plasteel fra the imperial guard som er run down som f (Valkyrie fighter jet base). Rundt er det relativt åpen sumpområde. Vi sniker oss rundt til en av sideinngangene som IKKE har vakter. Vaktene ellers er sløve. En heavy stubber guard tower på toppen. Let's roll!

The Gantry

We lick our wounds at the Oathkeepers' HQ while we wait for a response for further action from Aldius. Once a day passes, we reckon we need to make the decision on our own. We inform the Oath Captain that their fortress might be attacked by hordes of heretics at some unspecified time in the future. She chuckles grimly, joking that she'll surely get reinforcements with this very specific piece of information. Doubt she'd get any in any case - who in the upper echelons care if a tiny outpost at the lower levels gets swarmed? No one, that's who.

So, look like we need to kill a few thousands heretics on our own. Or maybe just the leadership, we'll see. We decide to go to Lockstock first to see if we can get some additional info. We also need some gear - Imk is running around in some godawful armor that looks like he made himself for example (and he ain't no armorer).

Lockstock says there's a guy called Omar Endish who lives on the Gantry, who's somewhat of an info broker as well as purveyor of "exotic" [read: heretical] goods. The Gantry is run by the Red Walk, which is run by Vornas Crimson. Gantries, walks, red, crimson - get your shit straight guys!

Mr Stock also offers us a guide to the Gantry if we take care of one of his rivals, who tend to a place called the Boneyard which is....a yard with literal human bones. We accept, thinking there's little harm in killing some scum. As it turns out, the Boneyard is run by a minister from the Ecclesiarchy. Whoops. Now, I'm not their biggest fan, even though I love the Emperor as much as the next acolyte, but just straight up killing 8-9 of them....weeeelll....seems a little on the heretical side. Instead, we warn the ministar that Lockstock wants him dead, which comes as no surprise to him. We part amicably.

We set out towards the Gantry, which is supposed to take roughly a day. About halfway there, we're actually surprised by a Chimera APT which comes charging at us! Or wait, it's actually some sort of warp/xeno/mutant beast, intent on having us for a light starter. Luckily, it's about as intelligent as a Chimera, so through cleverly hitting it on the head with swords and axes and shooting it with rifles we manage to take it down fairly handily.

The Gantry 

We soon discover why it's called the Gantry - it's a lump of stuff suspended in mid-air by innumerable wires with gantries leading to it. In the distance, we make out the hollowed out remains of a (space?) ship, ostensibly the HQ of the Crimson Gantries, eh Red Walk. As we arrive, there's a retinue of guards waiting for us, demanding we surrender any ranged weapons. Great, forgot that these guys have a gigantic hard-on for up-close-and-personal (aka the Idiot's Way) combat...looks like we don't have much of a choice though, so we turn 'em in. Me and Titus resolve to be optimally helpful in any combat situations that might arise, meaning we'll bravely run away.

We're really not sure where to start, so we end up at the local water hole, this one called the Sanctionary Gallows. Again, since these guys are big on literal names, there are a couple of Sanctionaries strung up outside the bar. They've been there a while too. Lovely.

After a while of not much happening, we decide to take matters into our own hands and walk about. We end up finding Omar Endish's house and just knock on the door. An unusually foul-looking, stunted mutant opens the door and shows us in. After some sparring, it becomes obvious that he suspects who we are, so we just show our cards and ask him to be our agent (or else...). He tells us the following:

• The Blessed Flesh is run by one Ferue Faine. A true believer, unlike Vornas Crimson. 
• The two cults have sort of a plan to take over the Gallows, though their agenda differs significantly. 
• Faine needs weapons from the Crimson Gantries, while they need bodies. Different strengths and all that. 
• TBF's headquarters is down in the swamp below, with one controlled access point only. Omar can help us down. With our ranged weapons? Eh...maybe? 

We leave, but keep a look out. Not surprisingly, Omar heads out to have a chat with the mr Crimson. We know they're in kahoots, sort of...the trick here is probably going to be to play on their paranoia and greed. 

Going back to the inn, we spot someone with the tattoos of TBF. We wait until he retires, then storm his room. Inside, there's a weird sort of altar and an elite berserker as well. We kill the berserker, then Scorp manages to ever so gently convince him into talking to us. Apparently, he's here to prepare "the ritual" (big surprise). Their HQ is about 3 hours north on the river Stygian as you come down into the swamp from the Gantry. Well alright, that narrows it down significantly! 5 against 3.000, here we go! 

Carnage in the charnel house

The factory
[For reasons unknown, har det ikke helt klart for meg siden jeg ikke var med på de to foregående spillingene - liket med de fine klærne var eieren av fabrikken el no?] we decide to head to the factory. The idiot oathkeeper Clemet apparently has an oversized ego, since he pulls out his gun on me when I order him about. Possibly a bit too carelessly - sometimes my background gets the best of me. You try growing up in mansions the size of a small hive and see how down to earth you are. I'm (sort of) happy a hiver's average lifespan worth of dealing with scum and heretics of all kind has kept the worst arrogant tendencies to a minimum. I think.

In any event, Titus decides to whip out his biiiig dick and slap it in Clemet's face, which calms him down enough for us to proceed. Good thing, shooting him in the face inside the Oathkeepers' HQ would have been awkward.

We're naturally a bit skittish about approaching the factory given our earlier not-entirely-optimal encounters with the crazy Nurgle guys, but the really, really careful approach pays off and we get to the factory without incident.

It looks like we need to take the long way around to the offices of [dude bro], which might take a while - the factory is, as always, meaninglessly big. The entry point is called the body dock. Workers, machines and servitors sort bodies into seemingly random piles before they're led down various chutes, hatches and conveyor belts. Further in, body after body slams down on rows of platforms, where it's jabbed by a bunch of gigantic needles and drained of fluids before it's transported further. Half of said fluids leak down into a pool below the gantry walkways. Emperor protect, glad I never served in the army...though it might have gotten me used to the nauseating smell.

The noise is absolutely deafening, but we can clearly see that everyone is very aware of our presence. Idiot guy Clemet in his oathkeeper uniform probably isn't helping, though the giant tech-priest or the lunatic licking his chain sword might also be giveaways that we aren't ordinary factory workers. We ask various people on the way for directions to the main offices. After a while, I spot one of the workers handling something that looks unusual even for this place: a frag grenade. Two other guys with autopistols also stand out.

Zharkon manages to get the grenade guy to throw the grenade in another direction, but apparently something went a bit awry as there's a HUGE bang and everyone is stone deaf. Great!

Scorp actually leaps across a gap of at least 3 meters with no running start (those bionic legs sure are nice!), but misses the bad guy on the other side who runs away. A few minutes later, the bad guys are dead, we're not quite as deaf anymore and we're in one piece and manage to capture one of the workers to interrogate. He tells us he was ordered by Josiah, a scary guy with even more scary contacts. These guys apparently run the factory, and call themselves The Blessed Flesh. Hm, I wonder if there's a connection with the guys who almost killed me.

We can apparently expect more attacks (said the worker before his unfortunate demise), so we move towards one of the walls to minimize our exposure. After a while, we come into a new area: the flensing pits, a huge, open space where bodies are stripped of their flesh by gigantic machines with spinning blades of doom going everywhere. I have a feeling the workers contribute a decent amount to the throughput here.

Another three of those crazy fanatics come storming towards us as we come to a t-section. Scorp gets a big hit, but pokes himself with a bunch of needles, machinery and blood packs and comes out looking as good as new. "Unfortunately", he's unable to save Clemet, who suffered a case of "head severed from body". Still, good man/machine to have on our team!


The Office (Desoleum version) 
And finally, we arrive at our destination. The offices are visible up high, a glass dome above the factory floor. I say visible, but that's an approximation - the air is filled with some sort of very fine, white-ish dust. We quickly discover why. Apparently, even the bones of the skeletons themselves are put to use here! Transported in via massive conveyor belts, they're dropped into big grinders which quickly reduces the bones to said fine dust. We can't see well for more than a couple of meters...great.

We move along the edges, nervous and wary. Me and Titus set up at the bottom of the stairs leading to the office door, where a guy peeks out, then quickly closes the door. The rest start filing up the rickety stairs single file, lambs to the slaughter.

Sure enough, eventually the doors open and 3 grunts with autoguns and an elite berserker engage us. There's a lot of back and forth with the door being shut, opened, grenades thrown and more. At the same time, me and Titus are attack by two berserkers at the bottom. One of us runs up and pops off while the other disengages a step at a time. Eventually they're all dead, but we take a solid beating.

There's a set of double doors at the end of the corridor in addition to four smaller ones, which turn out to be empty offices. We hear chanting behind the double doors...always a great sign. We set up some ramshackle barricades, spread out in the 4 door openings and open the doors.

Inside, the big office room has been turned into an impromptu altar room, as Chaos worshippers are so wont to do. There's a really big guy with assorted tentacles and other oddities poking out of his ooze-infested body (my guess is that's Josiah in all his glory), 4 more of the elite berserkers and 3 grunts with autoguns. Sounds like a fair fight.

The elites charge, and we're left with a choice: stay and fight, or try a tactical retreat? We opt for the latter, which turns out to be a pretty great choice. Josiah (?) is dumb enough to poke his ugly mug out through the door, and 2 seconds later sports another couple of mutations - two holes in his head, courtesy of myself and Titus. Zharkon manages not to deafen everyone, but instead sets the brutes on fire. Scorp and Imk take the heavy hits as usual, but in the end we get on pretty well without casualties.

Inside the altar room, we find the log of one of the cultists called Feru. Apparently, the Blessed Flesh send all the...products from the factory along to the Gantry, rather than to wherever they're supposed to go. He also mentions a place called the Temple, the headquarters of the cult, somewhere down in the underhive.

We find a map, indicating that the cult plans an attack, or as they call it, The Great Test. The map shows Gallow's Way, with five entry points and a lot of dots which might indicate the number of cultists who are supposed to attack. There's references to "wiping them out" (oathkeepers?) before The Grand Attack. Big on superlatives, cultists. We also learn that it's possible to exchange cash for "artifacts" in the Gantry.

Luckily, there's a backdoor leading out of the factory inside the offices. We make our way back to the oathkeepers' HQ (?), where we send a vox transmission to Aldius with our rapport, recommending the complete annihilation of the factory. There's no way that place can be reformed and any innocents have failed by letting things get out of hand - so let the Emperor's Fury consume them all!

Ordinary ordnance and extraordinary goods

3 stakes

Being really clever Inquisitorial agents, we show up early for the meeting with Eldric's contact. We manage to drive fairly close without incident, and Titus scouts the area for any trouble. None that he can spot.

At the designated time, we walk in. There's a big guy with various cybernetics, scars, a bolt gun on the gantry along with 5 standard issue grunt elite guards. Everyone's obviously very alert yada yada. We do the same song and dance I've done a thousand times before. Since our cover story pretty much matches up with what I've been doing the last 20 years, he believes me (I assume he checked out my background). We pay him half of an exorbitant amount of money in exchange for another item in the orb set, to be delivered tomorrow. He could get another item, but it'd have to wait a few months. After some prodding he refuses to out the names of his suppliers. Damn. We briefly consider starting a fight right there, but the setup is in their favor and we prefer to get some better info.

On the way back we get our first taste of the wonders of the underhive: an ambush. An IED goes off under one of the cars, and the local scum/mutants start firing in our general direction. I can't say it's routine, considering it's our first actual fight together, but we handle ourselves pretty well and finish off the scum without too much trouble. Me and Titus rack up the best body count with our sniper rifles, take that Imk! Cred to Scorp for splitting one of the mutants in half lengthwise with his axe though!

Back in the regular lower hive, Titus contacts some of his less savory acquaintances and manages to actually get the name of our trading partner. He's called Zax Haltare, and is a high-mid level guy in the faceless trade, trading more or less exclusively in high-end xeno/warp items. Even better, Titus manages to find out that Zax's lair (do people actually have lairs?) isn't far away from the factory where we met him around 2 clicks +/-.

Things that make you go hmmmm boom

Back in the upper hive, we discuss how to handle the situation. There are tons of options here, and obviously none of them are easy. To be on the safe side and to have more options, we stock up with two essential items: a pict-fly for surveillance, and a ton of explosives. We decide that our course of action will likely be to scout the area with Titus/Imk and the fly first. Based on that info we'll either assault the lair, set up an ambush on the way or in the factory. Or other actions.

We grab the same 4 guards that survived yesterday + a new one and drive down. Once near the factory, we send out the fly in a circular sinus curve pattern at roughly 2 clicks from the factory. It discovers a gang of scum/thugs/take your pick, an abandoned refinery of sorts, a fort, an acid lake with a band of bikers nearby and a bit more. Of that lot, the refinery looks slightly promising with regards to faceless-trader-guy-lairhood while the others do not, so we drive nearer while we send the fly in for a closer look.

Sure enough, the fly discovers a watch tower with a sniper on semi-alert, with entrances welded shut and blocked from the outside. Titus sneaks nearer for a better look. There are three entrances with wheel tracks going in and out. Two of them converge near the factory, the last one takes a bit of a detour bit but also ends up at the factory.

After a fairly long discussion, we discard the "breach the lair" option (too dangerous) and go with the "blow them up!" plan. We'll try to catch Zax alive and use web grenades to secure him, but it really depends on the roll of the dice with our bombs. Scorp rigs two bombs, one slightly bigger than the other. We use one of the guards and the fly for surveillance. We plan to set off the bomb on one of the two roads that converge. Luckily I manage to spot a screamer well hidden on one of the roads, otherwise we'd be pretty thoroughly screwed.

Around 30 mins before the meeting time, three bikers approach the factory. We let them pass, waiting for the bigger fish.

A bit later, two cars roll out, one slightly bigger than the other. We see around 8-10 guys in the bigger one, the smaller one is hard to see into. We set up in our designated spots and wait for the vehicles to approach. I have to honor of pushing the button, and I'll be Emperor-damned if the hit is a biiiit too direct - the smaller vehicle is reduced to next to nothing in a spectacular inferno. The bigger one barely survives first contact, so to make sure we set off the second bomb as well, annihilating all signs of life. The three bikers arrive after a while, me and Titus pick them off with our rifles. Who knew being in the Inqusition was this easy?

The refinery

Unfortunately Zax didn't survive the blast, so we won't be able to interrogate him directly. We approach the refinery and get in through one of the entrances without too much trouble. Taking the standard precautions, we don't find anyone in the facility at first pass. There are a bunch of crates with a lot of valuable items. In one of them, Zharkon senses something warpy and true enough, it's the missing piece of the orb set! Great, I did find it fairly unlikely that it got blown up by a paltry bomb. I point out that it'd be a shame for all the valuables to go to waste and propose that my cousin takes possession of the crates, splitting the profits 50/50 with our team. Not entirely surprisingly, everyone agrees.

We enter Zax's office, and in the inner chamber we get an unpleasant surprise: a gun servitor comes roaring to life, twin-linked heavy stubbers and all. We go balls to the wall aggressive, and somehow manage to shoot it into smithereens before any of us die - though Imk and Titus get hit pretty good, bleeding out of twin sets of new orifices. Luckily, Scorp is quite adept at (gently) removing extra orifices, so they survive.

We find a data slate with some very, very interesting info. A bunch of client names (including Lans) and a list of other faceless trader names being one of them. We find that Zax bribed at least one and probably more scribes to look the other way when shipments arrived. And last, but definitely not least: Zax expects a BIG and IMPORTANT shipment in 6 hours, with one "SH" as the recipient.

The port 

I recognize one of the names from the traders list, one Helios Gaunt. Since that's our only lead, we drive upwards to the shitty bar he hangs out in. I offer him a deal he can't refuse: take his name off the list of traders before we hand it over to the Inquisition if he gives us the name of the scribe Zax bribed. He sees the wisdom in avoiding the Inquisitorial spotlight, and we get a name: prefect Gaius Antschern. I also enlist him as an informant to use later.

The port is closed for unauthorized visitors, but luckily money and knowing how to properly bribe guards works as well as any badge. Entering the Administratum hall, we're approached by a scribe. We kindly inquire after Antschern's quarters. He kindly refuses, then kindly acquiesces once I show him the Inquisitorial pin.

Entering Antschern's office, we once again flash the pin. I know, I know...Kalypsia ordered us not to throw her weight around (so to speak), but we think this is a great strategy. One, Zharkon erases the memory of the scribe, who wanders off not knowing what just happened. Two, Antschern agrees to continuing his work and becoming an Inquisitorial double agent. That's a win-win right? Except he still ships some questionable items onto Desoleum but well...if it's not him, it'll just be another guy. Believe me, the Inquisition is in no danger of wiping out the faceless trade just yet.

The cargo in question is set to arrive from Lander 341 beta in an Arvus lighter shuttle, setting down on platform Tertius-9. Apparently, the shuttle will be piloted by the Lander's own crew, which is highly unusual. Antschern is unable to discern who owns or pilots the Lander. Guess it's another kill/capture mission for us!

Well that escalated quickly

Training is over

Another day, another training session. Of course, this being the Inquisition, the "training session" is still lethal and will get you killed 20% of the time. Better odds than we'll be likely to face out in the real world though.

Scorp the semi-autistic tech priest questions my leadership without knowing it (I think?), since Erioch the semi-civilized "I kill for fun, what else is there to do?" Imk attacked the damned servitor despite Scorp's warning that it was about to blow. Mr Imk pointed out that you take the kill when you Emperor-damned can and you don't pussy about in case you might get some owwies. Fair point, but also not.

Controlling these guys in the middle of real life combat isn't really something I'm all too keen on, but it might be needed. Titus the ex-arbitrator turned criminal scum/save my own hide guy survived a penal colony by organizing a gang, so really, this should be on him. On the other hand I'm probably more used to dealing with very weird people/shit (well, except Warpy shit...Zharkon can take care of that) than him, so in the end it's good enough I suppose. I also somewhat care about the value of a life (or well, some lives), something I'm not entiiiirely sure Titus is too big on. For my own conscious' sake it's probably better that I'm leading. Here's hoping Imk doesn't have a shaving accident in my general direction because of it.

Our first mission

As we exit the training area, Adeon approaches, congratulating us on a job well done. Apparently we've cleared the Inquisition's hurdle for the coveted "these guys might actually end up killing bad guys instead of themselves" badge, and just like that we're done with training. Also hopefully, done with this Emperor-damned ship.

We're taken to a rare audience with Kalypsia, who's looking fine as ever, especially for being 300+ and having seen enough to drive a thousand men screaming into insanity or worse.  We're given our first mission: find out what fishy going-ons are happening in noble circles in the main hive on Desoleum, and stop them if possible. Apparently a nobleman killed his entire household, then himself. Another tried to do the same but was stopped. There are rumors of Inquisitorial pawprints on the scenes, but we don't know for sure. And now, another noble has demonstrated peculiar behavior. There are suspicions of Warp taint and/or xeno tech. That's all we have to go on...not much. The Inquisitor also asks that we keep a low profile, as she would prefer to keep her name out of this case. Fair enough, matches my preference anyway.

Not entirely surprisingly, there appears to be factions (within factions) in the Inquisition as well - Kalypsia hints that we should probably avoid other cadres, just to be safe. Ending up in the dungeons of some firebrand Inquisitor does not seem like a good time, so I make a mental note to follow her advice.

Desoleum

I've visited the planet a few times before. They are a weird bunch, utterly obsessed with their oaths. Cadre members were instructed to read the background info on their data slates, I'd be happily surprised if more than half did.

We land in the Upper Hive, the Spire glittering in the sun and stretching into the void, where the world's rulers live in the so-called Apex. The cloudscape stretches out beneath us, hiding the blasted glass surface below. I notice several areas even in the Upper Hive that are closed off and derelict, more than on earlier visits. Seems like the tech-priests still haven't figured out the proper rites to appease the archeotech machine spirits. Hmmm....a possible business area for the Khanes? I'm sure somewhere there is tech that could help - and I have a feeling Lady Aud Killian wouldn't look too closely at the origins if it could help her hive from falling apart.

We've decided to operate under my actual name, since it's pretty much the perfect disguise - close to the truth and within my (previous, I promise) domain. We meet my cousin Corretta who's in charge of the family's business here, sharing a decent meal and a few bottles. I express an interest in the weird cases that's been going on, citing possible exotic acquisitions, and she's more than happy to supply answers. She's quite the gossip like most nobles (myself included), of course she's happy to share.

Apparently a "merchant" named Steinmüller appeared on the latest scene, local Sanctionaries (this world's arbitrators, sort of) in tow. Another nobleman, Lans Gulijan, has committed the (more or less) ultimate crime - not keeping up appearances in public. Additionally, he's been overheard mumbling something prophetic sounding, as well as speaking in an unknown language. But clearly, the not keeping up appearances part is the most important sign here.

The tragic fate of Lans Gulijan

We decide to scope out Lans' estate. Casual reconnaissance doesn't reveal anything besides the estate being very ill kept.  The direct route works (sometimes), so we walk up and knock on the door. The servant opening the door isn't very cooperative, refusing to let us in despite my promise of great wealth for his master.

Then, suddenly a scream bursts forth from the estate's second floor, chilling enough to make the hair stand up on our necks. Claiming Scorp's medicinal skills we rush upstairs, the only security guy at hand acquiescing. Opening the doors to Lans' room, a grisly sight greets us. The noble is on his knees, blood streaming from his ruined eyes and face, letter opener in hand. On his desk there's a perfectly round and jet black orb - to my trained eyes, clearly xeno in origin. The doomed noble is babbling, a few intelligible words can be made out. "We are all doomed", "the wheel that wails" and "the pale child, the pale child!" is repeated over and over again.

Zharkon proves his worth here - he digs into Lans' crumbling mind, extracting priceless info. He's able to see a xeno kingdom of unknown origin. Lans both loves and is terrified of the black orb. He acquired the orb from a big guy by the name of Eldric with a fine metallic mask in a rundown bar. And - the orb is part of a set. The connection is severed, and Lans drops dead on the floor.

Most of the (very few) servants have gathered outside the doors of the study by now. I make a quick decision - we can't have possible witnesses blabber to others about this. We finish off the hapless wretches without much trouble. There's a furnace big enough to dispose of the bodies in the basement.

The Screaming Wheel 

Not sure how he did it, but Scorp manages to find the name of a bar that he's fairly certain matches the one in Zharkon's vision on a nearby data slate - or so he claims. Imk laughs in derision, certain that the tech priest is wrong. In this spot I'd rather go with the info guy than the kill everyone guy, it's worth a go.

We descend into the lower hive to get to the bar. It takes us roughly 3 hours - the lower we get, the more we need to make detours due to debris, fallen buildings, gangers and so forth. Eventually we find the place, leaving Scorp and Titus behind to guard the car.

The Screaming Wheel is, of course, a shithole. Entry is by a gantry with thin rails and the stability of a Navy sailor early in the morning after a night of debauchery. A shaky ladder leads down into the darkness. As we enter we're assaulted by the stench of sweat, lho sticks and worst of all, Irokian bile-fly gruel.

We get a table and order what seems like sort of safe drinking options. After an hour, we're rewarded - Eldric walks in, power sword at his waist, with five other men, all wearing the weird masks. They're obviously nobility, and obviously behave like they own the place. Imk huffs, muttering something about dumb luck.

A poor wretch walks up the Eldric's table - seems like he owes a debt or the like. He gets down on his knees and begs for his life, Eldric just laughs and shoots him the knee with an autopistol before one of the others knifes the guy many times. He sputters and bleeds out on the ground. Everyone else performs their best "I didn't see anything" act, and I gotta say, they're pretty good at it. Essential survival skill in the lower hives.

I ask one of the serving girls about them, turns out they're called the Babyfaces. They're one of the cloud boys, an informal name given to lower rung noble criminal gangs. Apparently Eldric is the leader of the Babyfaces.

I decide the direct approach might be best again, so I walk up to the table, posing as a buyer of exotic items who's talked to Lans and who's interested in more pieces of the set the black orb was part of. After the standard prodding and poking each other, we set up a deal for the next day at 6 PM, where Eldric will introduce us to his dealer.

We show up early the next day, everything seems in order. Eldric comes strolling in 15 minutes late with his crew. He casually remarks that he's heard that Lans has disappeared, I do my best "I know nothing" impression. He gives us a meeting place and time to meet his contact - 12:00 at an abandoned factory in 3 Stakes. I've vaguely heard about it, a gangland filled with psychopathic murderers, toxic waste and mutated monsters of all kinds. Lovely, just lovely. At least we won't have any issues disposing of the heretics' bodies!