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"You know our Business. You can fill your forms with what you know." Chazzick said back at the Man.

The official and his men depart rapidly,
with him muttering apologies. Some men
begin unloading the craft.

Once the group's gear and equipment are
offloaded, a tiny battered-looking cherubim
servitor flutters into view, its cracked and
dirty cherubic face beaming. It looks like
a child, held aloft in the air on tarnished
metallic wings, with pearls in place of eyes.
It mutely hands the Acolytes a parchment
adorned with a seal recognisable as the
cipher of the Acolytes’ Inquisitor’s personal
cadre. The parchment instructs them to
follow the cherub to Aristarchus “who awaits
the pleasure of meeting you”.


Sights and
Sounds
of Port
Suffering
Port Suffering is a
crowded, ramshackle
and anarchic place.
The buildings are an
overbuilt mismatch
of prefabricated
metal sheeting, clay
brickwork faced
with crumbling
plaster and stone
blocks baking in the
sun. Everything here
is drab and dusty,
hot and reeking of
scorched metal. The
locals are grimy
and hard-faced, and
have a scavenged
appearance wearing
patched coveralls,
headscarves and
coats, most stained a
flat grey-brown with
dust.
During the day
the main streets are
a sea of dust-stained
workers, and anyone
walking them will
feel the press of
people, the din of a
hundred different dialects
and the strange
iron-sweet stink of
Ghostfire flowers
hanging heavy in the
air, mingling with
the heat and stink
of too many people
crowded into a single
space.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The servitor flies just over the heads
of the people, nimbly slipping by vehicles and
seemingly unmindful that the characters are having
a hard time keeping up. Periodically, it turns, realises
that the characters are lagging, waves at them and
then zips off once more.

Chazzik was the only one to notice individuals in local
grab, standing unmoving and staring at them from a
distance. Their faces-bright with gaudy blue and white
dye daubed in patternslike flame. All other people seem
to ignore these individuals.

As they shuffled through the Crowd, Chazzick moved himself beside Jansen, "We are being followed. Did you notice? Don't tell the primitive one though, he would make it known to our 'friends'."

"The ones with the Blue Faces?" asked Jansen as Chazzik pointed out the men following them. "That serf on the ship told me about them, the Ashleen. They're native to this world, so I heard in the briefing. Odd that they are following us, presumably they know who we are. Be on your guard, both of you." Jansen loosened his las-pistol in its holster.

Whilst walking through the many alleyways of
Port Suffering the group are accosted by a half-naked and
badly sunburned stranger with wild dirt-caked
hair and blue and white flame tattoos across his
face. The man shouts a string of wild phrases and
obscenities at them and cannot be calmed, charmed
or intimidated; he’s too far gone.

Jansen took a step backwards as the string of obsceneties hit him like a hammer, not one of which was even recognisable as a word. Jansen motioned to Zek with his hand: "get rid of this madman Zek, he's in our way."

"Oh, with pleasure boss." Zek takes a few steps towards the stranger, and bellows back, trying to force the man to back away. When he does not, he grabs him under the arms, and pushes him to the side, opening up a way past.

Seeing Zek manhandle the man away several young Ashleen start shouting at the group

"Begone off-worlders! We don't need your kind!"

They rush at the group. Leaving their guns in thier holsteers.

"Looks like we've made some new friends" Chazzick said turning to meet the oncoming group.

"Don't you jus' know it, pasty!" Zek laughs in defiance, and steels himself for combat.

"Keep your weapons away chaps, at least for now. Lets teach these younglings a lesson shall we? Get 'em!" Jansen slips his hands into his pockets and puts his knuckledusters on. He raises his fists in a combat stance.

"Come and get it, filth."

The fight is quick and painful, at least for the thugs!
One was quickly taken down by a double team of Chazzik and Jansen. One other decided no leave right there.
The other three wern't taken out so quickly but one managed a couple of damaging blows to Jansen. (he lost 3 wounds total)
(so take out count if ya interested is Jansen: 1 1/2, Chazzik:1 1/2, Zek:1)

The thugs reatreted into a nearby alley while the group gets cheered by the crowd.
The cherubim hovered overhead pointing a direction.
the group follow the cherubim again.

The cherubim eventually leads the Acolytes
out of the crowded streets and into a walled
compound through doors embossed with the
Imperial eagle. Inside, a functionary shows
them into a high-vaulted dark room, blessedly
cool after the streets of the town. Some effort
to make the chamber comfortable has been
made, as can be seen from the thick rugs
on the floors, the presence of real wooden
furniture and even a few tapestries bearing
Imperial motifs. Aristarchus sits at a table,
examining the local feeds on his data-slate:


Seated at a wooden table in an old leather
chair is presumably the man you’re looking
for. He wears charcoal-grey robes and has a
small smile on his lean, handsome face. As
you enter, he holds a set of large ivory cards
in his hands which he replaces in a silver
case and returns to the pocket of his robes.
“Welcome! I am the Seer Aristarchus. I trust the
trip passed quickly?” he says. He stands, comes
round the table and offers each of you in turn
a hand in greeting before gesturing for you
to sit. Close up, you see he has curious goldgrey
eyes and the sanctioning electoo of the
Scholastica Psykana imprinted on one cheek.
After shaking hands with you all, he adjusts a
black satchel hanging at his side. You notice
that the bag is made from emadar silk, an
expensive material, and held shut with several
lead purity symbols, each one bearing a long
crimson ribbon that trails behind him.

"Relatively quickly yes thank you, although we were accosted by a gang of Ashleen youth on the way here, so we would like a small amount of time to recover from that, yourself permitting of course. After that, we would like to be briefed fully on the situation here, and continue to investigate in which ever way you see fit." Jansen cleared his throat before continuing, "If possible, we would also like time to resupply and explore the town." [OOC: This would be a good time to hand out experience/let us go and buy more equipment]

"I'm sorry to here about the attack. But unfortunatley things like that are just the way they are on this planet." he sighed.
He signals for attention and blank-faced servitors bring in refreshments and carry away any baggage that the Acolytes have brought with them.
"Now is not a good time to go shopping however. Sit, please." he motions towards some chairs.

Once everyone is comfortable, he explains the nature of the mission:

“While I’m certain that the mission briefing you
received from our honoured master describes in
some detail the nature of our purpose here, I have
had the benefit of spending a few weeks in this…
unfortunate… outpost, and I have not been idle.
You see, Iocanthos, for all its squalor, is near to my
heart. The venerated Saint Drusus himself, to whom
I have the very great honour of being distant kin,
claimed this world for the Imperium, sweeping over
the savage peoples and bringing them into the light
and glory of the God-Emperor. As you know, the
cathedral of Stern Hope is due to be consecrated to
this great hero, and I would not see the memory of this
Saint diminished by heresy and such a holy purpose
thwarted by a backwoods witch or some such.”
“So, Stern Hope… the information I have been
able to discover does seem to suggest some psychic
phenomena occurring there. While I cannot say, based
on the muddled reports we have received, whether this is
the result of some reckless, previously undetected psyker
or of something far darker, the evidence suggests that
all such strangeness has occurred in or around the new
cathedral. Bleeding statues, manifestations, haunting
noises, sounds of scratching from the walls…” he
trails off and stares distractedly a moment into
space before retrieving a data-slate from his
bag and reading it for a few moments before
continuing.
“Ah yes, Stern Hope lies to the north, high in those
mountains you may have seen on your way here. On
a more civilised world, we would have gone directly
to the outpost by air, but that’s not possible here, so
we have to travel by the Pilgrims Road as they call
it, a rutted dirt path is more like it. I’ve managed to
secure us transport, an all-terrain flatbed, and I’m
hoping one of you drives, as I’ve never been much
of a hand at the wheel. We must pass through the
barren shale wastes first though, and this is not a
journey to be taken lightly. The locals claim that
the wastes have witnessed all of the greatest battles
of Iocanthos’ long and bloody past and remain
to this day a favoured battlefield of the clans. No
one knows for certain, but rumours claim that all
manner of terrible things lurk out there, although
bandits and marauders are the most likely threat, so
we ought to be prepared for any eventuality. Do you
have any questions?”

"I can drive, my lord. As for the questions, we were told in the initial briefing about a Abbot called 'Orland Skae' the founder of the Cathedral, what do you know about him? Also, although it may not be important or relevant, I would like to know about King Vervai Skull, particularly information relating to his threat level. Any information about threats we may face while travelling on this planet would also be extremely useful."

"King Skull is not important for this mission" He said dissmissively waving a hand.
"The abbot is a honourable man, doing a couragous job of having the first cathdral on this rockk. Hopefully it'll bring more people to the Emperor's light."

"Indeed? Perhaps with all the phenomena you mentioned it is doing a better job of leading innocents off of the one True Path? Still, time will tell just who is innocent on this planet.

What of the natives, the Ashleen? Do they have a command structure? If so, who leads them, and where can we find out about him. Most importantly, do they pose a threat to us?"

He looks shocked at Jansen for suggesting that Stern Hope is leading people awry. He however does not voice his opinion.
"As far as my sources tell the Ashleen shouldn't be a problem. They are to busy warring amoungst themselves to attack us.
They are based in tribes if that answers your command question"
Now then: Go about your business. Thats enough questions.
“We should leave at dawn. The longer we linger, the
greater the threat. The consecration is in five days.”

"Thank you Aristarchus" Says Chazzick as he begins to raise from his chair.

"It is our mission, not to mention their duty to the Emperor, the planet and the saint, to be there on time.

And now I shall retire for the night." He said rising from his chair.

"Your rooms are through there" he said pointing

"Indeed it is". Jansen stood up, motioning the others to do the same. "I think it would be best if we did the same." He bows, and walks towards the entrace to the living quaters.

"The Emperor Protects" Chazzick said aloud and made the sign of the Aquila before turning to leave, following Jansen to the Living Quarters.

Into The Barren Lands.


The landscape between Port Suffering and Stern Hope is anything but pleasant, It’s a hot, dusty ride and the road is little more than a dirt track. Their vehicle is a rackety old four-wheeled flatbed truck designed for cross-country use. It has no cab or roof but a tarpaulin cover that can be removed to double as a tent. It carries adequate supplies of food, fresh water and fuel for several days more than they need, and is equipped with a rack of high-power lights.

The party sit in the back of the truck with Jansen driving along the dreary, dusty path.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
The barrens live
up to their name;
the landscape is a
desolate plain of
dun-coloured stone,
loose, thin soil
and thorny weeds.
Stretches are pitted
with old blast craters
and marred by spills
of blackened earth,
so arid it seems that
nothing will ever live
there again. Every
few kilometres the
remains of a ruined
settlement or clan
camp lies empty
and abandoned;
some are old, while
others seem newly
destroyed and are
still splashed with
rust-coloured dried
blood. Here and
there skeletons lie
where they fell, and
eerily, the Ghostfire
flowers seem to take
root wherever the
dead rest, wrapping
their roots around
the shattered bones
and opening their
multi-hued iridescent
blooms. Then there’s
the wind. When it
blows, it seems to
squall from different
directions, kicking
up eddies and swirls
of choking dust, and
it always seems to
carry the stench of
the charnel house,
filling the nostrils
with the appalling
stench of blood and
iron, always iron.

"It's been very quiet for 2 hours now, and all I've been hearing is this beat-up engine and the sound of that damn wind. Does anyone have any war stories to tell? Or stories of any kind really, as long as it passes the time..." Jansen paused to round a particularly sharp bend in the track "One person needs to keep a good look out though, I don't want to be ambushed out here."

(OOC - I don't know if it help with the mood, but I was listening to this song when I was writing this and it burdened me....a lot.....so I suggest looping this song a listening to it while reading.)





"I had just woken up" Chazzick began, seeming to be lost in thought "and the sun was just rising, dawn was beckoning the new day. My target was fast asleep in his cozy little bed, as opposed to the pipes and muck I had to sleep in to avoid detection. My Partner was beside me, she had not woken me up in time." Chazzick paused and looked blankly at the side of the flat bed,"My partner." He began again "I was tasked a partner for this mission because the mission was incredibly important, they had decided if one assassin could get the job done, then two should make it a cake-walk. She wasn't the smartest assassin for she still had the one thing every assassin needed to lose, her heart. Though with her heart, she was beautiful, her hair was a silky golden and it would change with her mood to a color that was associated with the mood. They made her keep it short though, but even with her short hair she was a sight to behold with her face. Her face, that what was the most beautiful thing, all the women in the Universe couldn't amount to her beauty, but now, seems that all the women in the universe won't have to worry about that anymore, but even now, no man could forget those eyes. She had these big blue eyes that would shine when she was happy, and not that many things made her happy so seeing them was a sight to truly behold.
We were in a building that was overlooking the targets room, we had found a place where the guards couldn't reach or wouldn't think to look. As I awoke, I saw her by the window with this, longing look in her eye as she looked through the scope of her rifle. I crept my way over to the wall beside her and put my eye to my scope to see why she was acting that way. The target, you see was a simple man, a minor, husband, father, and the leader of a rebellion that was threatening to cease supplies to the war front from the entire galaxy. Without their leader, the rebels would be leaderless and in the time of confusion the Imperium would strike once given the signal. As I observed the targets room, his family had come in to serve him breakfast and to spend the morning with him. He played with his son and daughter, kissed his wife, and said their prayer as they ate their breakfast. Looking through the scope, that must have been what a normal man's life in the imperium was. Spending time with his family, blessing and working for the Immortal Emperor, and then greeting your family at the end of the day and sharing the process again, but this, in the middle of a rebellion. It made no sense, how could there be happiness out of rebellion? It makes no sense, it only brings war and death yet these people can be happy during this time. As I was thinking about this, I pulled back from the scope to look at Evelete, how could I forget to mention her name? It brings a burning fire in the heart just to say her beautiful name. I looked over at Evelete to see her blue eyes sparkling, but, they weren't from happiness. She was crying, she lay there and cried without making a sound. Letting the tear drops slide down her face and patter onto the pips that were under us. 'Why do you cry Evelete?' I asked her. 'Because I can never be a normal woman and find happiness like them. I can never settle down with a man I love, and have a family that loves me as much as I love them.' she replied with enough sorrow to make me feel a little swayed by it. 'This is not happiness' I said to her ' They have started a war and good people are dying. They risk more lives yet because with its foolish rebellion they are halting the supplies that are going to sons and daughters of other people who are fighting to keep people like this alive'. She said nothing in response, she only looked down and continued to weep. I cradled my gun closer to take the shot that should have been already taken.'Dogs like this need to be put down. That's why they send us' As my finger tightened around the trigger, I was mere millimeters from the shot taking the life from the man, I was dead-lock targeted on his heart. I could almost hear his heart beat. Feel his chest inflate as he took his breaths. 'NO!' She screamed and shoved the gun off my mark, the shot flying out of the barrel. Looking down to my target, I prayed I had hit my mark. My Improved eyes allowed me to see enough, I had missed, he was shoving his beloved wife and children into cover. They're scared, screaming faces being hid while their father went back off to war. I looked angrily toward Evelete and she was weeping openly now, crying and balled into a fetile position. I remember how I felt toward her at that moment still to this day. I was furious, I had never missed a shot in my life, but not, because of her I was no longer a top marksmen, she had ruined my score and I was mad at her for it. Though, with a mission still to do, I quickly suppressed my feelings, as I had done all others. I grabbed her arm and began dragging her until she got on her own to feet. We had very little time to get back to our hidden shuttle. This attempt was failed, we had to leave the area quickly and return in time to finish what we had started, although, there was less than a weak before the mission was considered failed and they gave up hope on the two of us and left us for dead. As we ran through the complex, alarms could be heard at a distance. We reached the roof, far across the horizon all that could be seen were building as massive as the one we had holed up in. Why our target chose to stay lower in the other building is still to this day a small mystery to me. We began running and jumping across the rooftops to wear our hidden shuttle was when the enemy air patrols started up. We tried to stay hidden as we ran as long as we could but eventually they found us.Their guns sound odd compared to standard las weaponry. We neared where we had hidden our shuttle without a scratch, I was glad for that. Though when things go too well it is usually an omen to something worse. I had just lept over the last separation between buildings that was a mere 2 meters long and had activated the shuttle, when I turned around and saw what made me almost weep with sorrow. I turned to see Evelete take a round through here right shoulder. The force threw her over the gap, but she was too far away and only made it far enough to grab on to the ledge. I lept to grab her and disappeared from the air patrol, making them have to search for me. I grabbed her as she slipped and was the only thing holding her from falling down an unknown height into oblivion, the Chances were her body would have vaporized before she got to the ground, or been a bloody puddle on the ground from the force. Holding her, struggling to pull her in, she began to smile, I stopped struggling and looked at her to see why. She seemed to be crying again, why would she be smiling and crying. I thought this only to realize that she was not crying, it had been me crying, my tears were dropping and rolling off of her face. I looked into her eyes, and I lost myself there, never to be found again. She began slipping and I redoubled my efforts to bring her up. The Surgeons could heal her, I just knew they could. She was missing a large part of her right breast but I had heard of people surviving much worse and survive. Pulling her up, she began to rasp for air, it was when hear head was beside mine that she told me the thing I wanted to hear least, 'Its okay' she began, 'My heart belongs to you and we will be together again when the Emperor Beckons you'. When she pulled back, she pushed away from me, throwing herself down into the deep abyss.' Chazzick slumped against flat bed side and his head drooped to face the floor, 'that day, the monster in me found the one thing I never thought a monster could have' Chazzick looked up from the floor,'a heart.'.

...Pasty...Just...Gak. I dunno, that took serious quads to... Boop, I never hadda' deal with this feth back home... But if we're tellin' stories, I got one. Maybe it'll pick up ya spirits. Anyway, its foundin' day. Me anna' buncha' me mates all got rounded up together. Ma' best mate too. Gal named Shala. Proper tribal girl, eh? Fought likka' teyegah, and as cunnin' too. We'se had a coupla days till we got all boarded on that space plane, an' got our trainin' sorted. Our new colonel, some gak-hound from another tribe, decided to settle some old scores. He couldn't well do it the ol' way, though could 'e? So he sets about makin' it hard on all us from Lum'jack. Tha's ma' tribe, so ya know. Anyway, We'se decided it's enough, and time to get our own payback. The colonel, he sported this great, big, bushy mustache. Some tribal thingy. He loved the gakkin' thing. So, me 'n Shala, we'se snuck inna' the 'eads tent, an' shaved the whole thing off! Next mornin', 'e was furious, but 'e couldn't do anythin', could 'e! Could 'ardly go on a witchhunt for a missing mustache, not wiv'out bringin' the commissar on 'is 'ead! 'E organised a propah fall in, to "Make straigh' sure we'se ready!", 'an I 'ad this brainwave. I said, "Pawl, I gotta plan!", an' we got some glue, an' got ta' work. Jump ta' the parade ground, an' the colonels marchin' along wit' his major. Reaches Pawl 'n me, an' sees 'is mustache glued on Pawl's face! 'E was furious, but Couldn' do nuffin wiv'out showin' himself up! Tha' major, throne save 'im, was tryin' so 'ard not ta' laugh! A major pain in the rear on the space plane, but it was worth it! 'Ah, gak... I miss 'em guys... It was too gakkin' soon...

(OOC: Bonus points if you can pick out the references)

"Dammit Chazz, as if the mood wasn't bad enough driving past all these bodies, and you have to make it worse with Sob Stories?" Jansen shook his head. "I think I prefered the silence...

On second thoughts, I did not prefer the silence. Next time you tell a story though, don't try and rip our hearts out."

Jansen sighed, "For the record though, I hope you see her again. It'd be nice to know there is some kindness in this uncaring Imperium."

"My apologies" Chazzick said hiding his face a little, "I merely told what was on my mind at the time. Well, you know two 'adventures' of ours, what about yourself Jansen?"

"Me? Not much to know about me, and what there is is too fresh in my mind for me to talk about it right now.

I suppose I could tell you a little about my time on Kratos Prime, where I was born, and how I got into the Inquisition. Kratos Prime is near the Mordant Zone, in Segmentum Ultima, if you're interested. Anyway, the government at the time was corrupt as hell, with bribes, illegal drug traffiking, slavery of loyal imperial citizens, prostitution, you name an activity of the corrupt, it was there. Now, as one of the planets Arbites, I was often required to be an instrument of this corruption, something I deeply regret and which haunts me to this day. I was never really happy there, but I did what I could to help people who were suffering, mainly using the bribe money I recieved from the 'statesmen' - " Jansen spat out the word as if it were a foul taste in his mouth and looked straight ahead, his face hard and stony. "I never knew my parents, but on the day I found out why I vowed I would take down that government once and for all. I left the Arbites and started up a one man war against the scum. I don't know how I survived those dark days, and some of that's a story for another time, but before long I had gathered a group of like minded people willing to take down the person we had identified as being the most corrupt. So using my old contacts from the Arbites, and believe me when I say that a bribe goes along way with some people, we found out that this person - a man named Karle Degaal - would spend a small amount of time each month with few guards in a private house outside the main cities. This is when we had to strike.

We spent 4 months on the run laying our plans in complete secrecy. We organised it so that the main body of our organisation would not know about our plans until the time we struck, in case we had a weasel in our ranks. It turns out I was correct in that assumption, but again I won't go into that. So, we finished planning and moved into the preparation stage, with the entire group being issued with weapons and preparing to move out to Degaals private house. When we were ready, we assualted the house.

As soon as we broke from cover we knew the reason there were hardly any guards - the entire place was automated, and I lost 5 good men in that first assault. For reasons we didn't understand at that point, many of the automated turrets were either disabled or very badly focussed, and it was a miracle I didn't lose more men. Still, we got inside the house, and that was when it got weird: everywhere we went it seemed as if someone with the same agenda as us had been there 5 minutes before, and the bodies of what guards there were littered the floor, as well as other less decent bodies...

As soon as we entered his living quaters, we saw what had happened. Someone had got there before us - an Inquisitor of all things! We burst in with a shout of 'For the Emperor!' just as the guy was executing Degaal. Of course, the Inquisitor hadn't expected this either, so his retinue had regretably killed a few of my men before he could react, but as soon as he had worked out why we were here he laughed and apologised profusely for the loss of my Comrades. I was completely bemused at first, especially as he seemed such a decent guy and I had been brought up to believe that Inquisitors were as hard as the rock beneath my feet and as distant as the stars above my head, so it was a bit of a shock to discover one that wasn't. We got talking, and once he had discovered what I had been doing since I left the Arbites, he offered me a place in the Inquisition, just like that. So I left the organisation in the capable hands of my Second in command, and left for the Calixis Sector. What happened during that trip I will not say for any money.

Now I think about it though, I suspect he had some sort of ulterior motive, as from what I hear it's never that easy to get into the Inquisition..."

"Very Impressive" Chazzick said with much intrest, " Do you keep in touch with your old organization?"