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!