Sojourn: The Angel's Litany

Adventure Log
Below are detailed logs for the adventures of the Acolytes under Inquisitor Felix Alaric Nolan's service.

If you want the cliffs notes version, it is here under TL;DR - HERESY.

The Initial Phase
Over the last few cycles, a few of the Acolytes who have answered the request for staffing by Inquisitor Felix Alaric Nolan have gathered upon Scintilla in Hive Sibellus. Hive Sibellus is a dense, incredibly packed city with layers upon layers of human life. At the lowest dredges, the cramped living habs and alleyways smell of acid, sewage and refuse, permeating the air in a dense fog that clings to the clothing. At the top and further out from the city, aristocracy enjoy fresher (though marginally) air and space in lofty manses, away from the common civilians' domiciles.

The contact information that Inquisitor Nolan provided had the four that arrived gather at a nondescript but generally un-busy pub, the door marked with a weathered placard of a carved rose. Below the placard dangled an acid-worn sign that has long since had its name marred beyond legibility from the acid rain that plagued the Hive. It was located near the mid levels of Hive Sibellus, where the air was not so cloying of the destitute, and yet not as free as that enjoyed by the privileged. A neutral grounds of sorts between nobility and the lesser subjects of the Imperium.

The Inquisitor greeted them with little more than one hired guard, and did little to learn of each person beyond an unfriendly, scrutinizing once-over. Cyrus, a tall and imposing Tech-Priest of the Myrmidon class; Batu, a equally large man, heavy set, and small of head, shrouded by a dark cloak; Reddin, a wiry fellow with the look of a former law enforcer; and former Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Atticus Caine, who dressed more like a Rogue Trader nowadays than a member of the Inquisition. It was obvious from the acerbic comments exchanged that there was little respect held between the two Inquisitors even after decades of at-arms-length acknowledgement.

Left with little choice but to accept whomever the Administratum threw into his service, Felix presented the prospective Acolytes with contracts. Inquisitor Nolan left with them a sealed envelope, delivered to Inquisitor Caine's hands with the command that he be in charge of the investigation (As he was the only one Felix was acquainted with, and for that matter, trusted the most... Not that he trusted any of them anyway). The envelope itself was stamped throughout with Ordos Hereticus Confidential seals all over, and within it were three measly sheets of paper; instructions for their new mission to investigate the Agri-World Novabella, general information on the planet, and a copy of a note that was found in the officio of the late Archbishop Zedikiah. The very note, penned over a quarter of a century before by Harvester-Prelate Felissimo, that launched the inquisition into Novabella, a once loyal Imperial Agri-World gone silent.

Felix, having delivered the envelope, subsequently left without so much as a suggestion or an attempt to help his freshly signed Acolytes. He also made due to remind (read: threaten) them that if they were to be absent or tardy, that their employ would be terminated, and it would be logged in their permanent records in the Administratum. Sink or swim, his actions clearly said, for they were merely cannon-fodder to be thrown at the enemies of the Imperium, and he personally cared little about them.

Given a deadline of six hours in the main space-port, the Acolytes were given leave to collect belongings and any other notable items and information before boarding the Inquisitor’s transport ship at Dock C-55 by 18:00 hours.

With little to begin with, and even less information from the mission dossier, Atticus led the newly minted party through the winding habs of Hive Sebellus toward the city centre, where the Officio Administratum was located. At the heart of the city, the Officio is an imposing building, a cathedral built to the sky for the glory of the Imperium. Great, broad steps lead up into the palatial building, and lines of people could be seen milling up and down the main courtyard, in and out of the Administratum's main door. To the left of the lofty Administratum building was their destination, a smaller, but no less opulent looking edifice, the Administratum's Grand Librarium.

As they entered the library, an old, shambling clerk greeted them. When queried about information on Novabella, the clerk scratched his ancient head, humming in thought- he'd all but forgotten about the rimward planet, but the name did ring a bell. The clerk, creaking on old joints, turned and (through the blessing of the Emperor, that they did not have to creep along behind him) activated his suspensor chair, leading them down a wide hall.

Tall arches to their right cut into the heart of the Librarium, exposing rows upon rows, floors upon floors of books, scrolls, documents, memoriums as far as the eye could see... Down each section, clerks and servitors could be seen organizing the shelves and cleaning off tables of abandoned research.

By the tenth arch, the clerk stopped, muttering to himself as he led the Acolytes into the section. Hailing a servitor skull and commanding it to find anything on Novabella, the old man bid his farewell to the party and departed.

While the servitor skull sought their desired information, Cyrus, with an utmost affinity for anything blessed by the will of the Omnissiah, spotted a servitor that seemed worse for wear- just as decrepit as the old clerks that puttered about the Librarium, and just as redundant; with arms that could barely raise, cogitators that clacked and ground, servos that could barely bear itself aloft, it was quite a pathetic thing to look at. With pity, the Tech-Priest analyzed the servitor's ailments, and anointed it with holy oil and renewed blessings of the Omnissiah. Now repaired to a reasonably functional state, the servitor returned to its primary function: loading and moving stacks of books to be returned to their rightful places on the shelves.

The servitor skull returned soon thereafter with the tiniest, thinnest little book that the Acolytes had yet to see in the Librarium. It was printed a century prior, with an outdated census of the populace of Novabella, agricultural catalogs, gravity, climes and general information on the governing dynasty, the citizens' main unionizing force, and the ecclesiarchy that led them in prayer. All in all, the book gave little more information than the mission dossier did. It was a mostly boring read, its pages filled with inflated paragraphs about the bullet-points they had already received in their dossier.

Finding their mission halting at a dead end in the Librarium, the Acolytes decided to make the most of their time to search for extraneous equipment that would help them upon their assignment. Following Atticus, the four made their journey to the space-port's dock.

Atticus, in particular, was looking for something very unique, and very unsanctioned. A product that the average Imperial merchant would not dare to carry. Reflecting upon his background growing up among Rogue Traders, he spotted the Star Siren docked between the other cargo ships, hidden in plain sight. Sleek of prow, modestly interesting but forgettable frame and heavy in the belly, it was a ship built to sneak and scurry quickly through the Warp to move goods; the mark of a Rogue Trader ship.

Curiously enough, the Star Siren seemed to have a majority of female crew, with a few strong looking, large men dotting the busy workers. They were a lively bunch, bantering and weaving up and down the landing hatch like milling ants, never stopping in their work.

Standing at the main gangplank overseeing the loading and unloading of nondescript looking crates and supplies, was a tall, buxom, red-headed woman. She held herself with more authority than the drudges hauling the goods. Deeming her as likely the leading overseer, Atticus approached her. Reddin, less keen on unlawful activity, despite his having left the service of his local Arbites force, hung back to keep watch. Cyrus, also anticipating that the Rogue Trader would likely not treat with Atticus in the presence of an Imperial Mechanicus, stayed with Reddin, opting to simply admire the Star Siren's construction in praise to the Ommnisiah. Batu followed Atticus down toward the fray, just as curious as to what he could find aboard the ship.

With a bit of charm, Atticus managed to get the woman to show him her more exotic goods. She led the two of them into the Star Siren, through narrow corridors that could stand barely two large men abreast, to a locked cargo room in the back of the ship. It was barely a few meters square, and housed five large weapon crates with keypads adorning the mouths- these crates looked nothing like the ones being hauled in and out of the ship's hatch.

Presenting the two with an array of goods that ranged from scarcely seen to downright exotic or strange to the average trader, Batu and Atticus were left to browse while she hovered nearby. One crate held large weaponry, chain swords and a power sword, another trinkets and vials, another grenades of standard and strange variety, missile tubes and las-guns, and the last unusual pistols.

Batu was quite taken with the power sword, picking it up to test its balance, and to examine the marking that it bore. Quite oddly the sword looked freshly forged, and scandalously enough, had the sigil of the Ultramarines emblazoned obnoxiously on the cross-guard. Likely an unfortunate accident for a newly promoted lieutenant led to the loss of a very expensive, and keen blade.

Inquisitor Caine, unsatisfied with the spread of human-make pistols, finally decided to speak plainly by pulling out an old, dented shuriken, handing it to the woman.

"I'm looking for something more exotic... Something that would likely throw one of these...?"

Amused, the red-head examined the piece of metal, before she shut the pistol crate, keyed in a new code, and reopened the box- revealing a hidden layer beneath, exposing weapons of Xeno make. She pulled out an Eldar pistol that looked reasonably in good shape, handing it over to him with the promise that it was very, very expensive.

Without batting an eye, Atticus dropped the name of a "very deep-pocketed Lord Felix Alaric Nolan," and without any further hesitation, the Rogue Trader was more than happy to send the exorbitant invoice to a man wielding such influence on Scintilla. She seemed almost too happy to also tally up and add a power sword, several grenades, and vials of smuggled holy oil to the shopping list.

After making such a grand sale, the Rogue Trader introduced herself as Captain Juliette Fawkes, and shared her transponder contact information with Atticus. More than anything, it was likely that they would run into Captain Fawkes and the Star Siren again in the future for business.

With their new toys in hand, Atticus rounded up the waiting Tech-Priest and Arbites, presenting them with gifts of holy oil and grenades. The grenades were received with less enthusiasm due to the nature of how they were acquired, but Reddin accepted them all the same with begrudging gratitude.

Since the Acolytes had no more agendas or loose ends remaining in the Hive-City, they made their way to dock C-55 ahead of schedule.

Docked in the bay that they approached was a transport ship that looked of higher quality and price range than the modest ships surrounding it. Beside the open hatch stood a disgruntled looking young man with an electoo of the Inquisitional Sigil over his right eye, munitorum green coat, and burgundy flak armor beneath it. He looked more than bored to be standing there, clearly waiting for something.

The Acolytes approached him and presented their contract slips, and Atticus attempted friendly banter with the dour young man, but found the boy lacking in enthusiasm. They were summarily motioned aboard, where they found Inquisitor Felix and the quiet, pretty woman sitting in quiet conversation. The cabin stunk of amasec and the lho stick that Felix was smoking. Two rows of seats lined the belly of the transport ship, with three forward facing seats- all of them luxuriously upholstered with some sort of velveteen fabric- populated the vessel's interior.

"Angelique, fetch Davrus, we are expecting no more. We might as well be underway," groused the Inquisitor, before he motioned with the glass of amasec to the Acolytes to strap in. As Davrus entered the shuttle, Angelique closed the hatch and keyed it shut behind the boy. Unexpectedly, the impatient young man sat down in the seat that the woman had vacated next to Felix, and she took to the pilot's seat, firing up the engines that had been idling for hours, and initiated the dock-release sequence.

A rather uneventful (and happily, safe) trip from ground to space flew the unnamed shuttle up through layers of space traffic, from smaller cruisers locked into orbital refueling docks, to large Imperial tankers and cargo ships that were bused by fueling barges.

Cyrus looked into the shuttle's spirits and made an offhand suggestion about the rear cogitators needing repair, and Felix brushed him off with withering acknowledgement. He made a note to himself to find the Angel's Litany's resident Mechanicus and inform them of such.

The approach to the Inquisitor's void ship, the Angel's Litany would only cement how ostentatious of a lifestyle that the Inquisitor held, with the gigantic cathedral of a ship it was. However, upon exiting the transport ship into the landing bay, it was obvious then that the Inquisitor’s ship ran on a bare skeleton crew, with few Imperial Guard detachments and staff, it seemed like life on the void ship itself was hectic if not barely functioning at a somewhat optimal level. The likelihood of any specialized crew on board was looking slim.

Before Angelique left the transport, Cyrus learned from her that there was another Adeptus Mechanicus on board, who spent a majority of his time in the engine bay, and if not there, she knew no where else. She departed with passionate blessings of the Emperor for all the new faces on board.

Left to their own devices, the Acolytes wandered the ship to survey the Inquisitor's armory- The ship couldn't be poorly stocked with such few crew, could it? Were they flown into a massive coffin in the sky?

Thankfully, even without a tourguide to aid in navigation, the ship itself was decently maintained, with conspicuous signage along the corridors, and evacuation maps at major air locks. With such openly provided information, it was pretty obvious that the Inquisitor expected his crew to think for themselves and jump to their tasks without bothering him with petty questions.

They would find that the armory was decently stocked with standard issue ammunition, explosives, weaponry and armor- much to their relief.

It wasn't long after they had gotten into the Armory that they were found by the disgruntled Davrus, who with many sighs gave an uninspired tour of the ship, then showed the Acolytes to their individual cabins. Given the low population on board, they were afforded their own private quarters, each furnished with a modest bed, a storage chest, logic-center, data-slate and standard if not spartan amenities.

With their fledgling mission now underway, all that was left to the Acolytes were to put together a game-plan as the Angel's Litany set off en route to its rimward destination, the forgotten Agri-World of Novabella.

A Pit-Stop in Unsanctioned Space
However, it would seem that the Angel's Litany was not headed straight away to Novabella, for the Inquisitor had some business to attend to before they could continue on their mission.

The Acolytes found their way to the main bridge, where Felix was seated, watching the proceedings as his Astropath guided them to his secret destination. Silvanus was present, plugged into the logic stations and running all the cogitators on the bridge, while another man lounged in a dark corner of the space, casually vigilant.

Atticus tried to probe around, questioning a dark-clad man who looked to be of the Assassinorum for more information; only yielding in discovering more of the Inquisitor's eclectic retinue, made up of "Formers" and particularly specialized staff. With little patience for Felix's secrets and silence of the oncoming mission, he convinced the Inquisitor into allowing them full access to the data logs and records he kept. Felix relinquished the information, and satisfied, Atticus left, but not without dropping a parting insult.

Upon getting close to their destination, the Angel's Litany exited from Warp Space, and it began its approach to a lone station, the Long Star. The station floated in unsanctioned space, and it looked nothing like an Imperial port. The appearance of it was that of cobbled make, like every ship that passed through did a little bit of repair to contribute. Surrounding it were several other small liner ships, of every variety and make one could imagine. It would be apparent to the party, as they were ushered onto a shuttle, that they were about to embark onto a Rogue Trader star-dock, in the middle of a main trade-lane, away from Imperial lanes. They would not dare to dock the Angel's Litany, an Imperial cruiser, at Long Star, as not to incite aggression.

Zipping past the other ships, coming and going from the apparently very busy space-dock, Angelique made the appropriate hails to docking control, and they arrived unscathed.

The Long Star station itself was cramped, filled with milling workers ferrying shipments between ships, a cacophony of languages and yelling that echoed around the station in a steely din. Angelique led the party with her, weaving through the winding alleyways and galleys that made up the star-dock, toward its belly.

They would come upon a seedy looking dive-bar, with a rusted bolter welded onto the top of the doorframe. It was common knowledge on the station, and for those of the right inclination passing through, that the Rusty Bolter was a mercenary's gathering place, where people clustered to collect information and jobs. Music was playing loudly, enough to drown out conversation and provide privacy, but soft enough where the patrons didn't have to yell too loudly. The bar itself was conspicuously empty, most of the patrons sequestered off in booths and tables along the sides of the establishment.

Approaching the bar with a note, Angelique was directed by the bar-tender to a side door, that led to a quieter back room with several tables for people to skulk over. Two parties were present, one table that already looked in discussion, and the other seated with a lone helmeted female with a large carrying case beside her chair that looked to be waiting for someone.

Sister Angelique, suspecting that she had found the person she was looking for, approached the woman and offered her a contract after confirming that it was a miss "Karen". It was apparent then to the party that the Angel's Litany was stopping through Rogue Trader space to add a mercenary to the ranks for this investigation on Novabella. Whatever deal or contract that the Inquisitor had negotiated to get this warrior, well, it was a seedy one, but it would get the job done.

With fifth member in hand, the party departed from Long Star without any incident, and returned aboard the cruiser.

The Angel's Litany recalculated its trajectory, and re-entered Warp space, this time on the way to Novabella without stops along the trip.

It would take several days for the party to reach Novabella, and they spent their days playing regicide, drinking in the canteen, and making minimal social engagements to discuss the terms of their mission, poring over the information they could find on the government, citizens and ecclesiarchy of the silent planet.

Once the ship dropped from Warp Space, they would see that the Agri-World appeared to be intact, yet there was conspicuously no other ship outside of orbit nearby, nor any stations in orbit.

Angelique roused Atticus, Batu, Reddin, Karan, and appointed the current Sergeant Guardsman of the guard staff on board to take several of his guardsmen down to the planet to aid in their investigation. The plan to drop the investigating party outside in the farmland was drawn up, and preperations were underway. Angelique warmed the heavy transport shuttle's cogitators; the acolytes gathered their weapons and issued coms, stowing them; and the guardsmen removed lasguns and extraneous equipment from a Chimera tank, making enough room for everyone to ride inside. They decorated and adjusted the Chimera's appearance to be that more resembling a civilian transport and secured it in the shuttle's vehicle bay.

The journey from the Angel's Litany to breaking atmosphere was uneventful, and soon the party was descending toward the planet's surface. From the viewports in the shuttle, the crew could see as they lowered in altitude, the vast sprawl of Recompense off at the center of what seemed almost like a web of roads that snaked out from the epicenter, dotted with villages where the long tracks intersected. Between the roads and the villages were enormous fields, planted with crop in the patterns of Imperial sigils and the Aquila flanking the largest road. All along the roads were massive caravans making their way toward the villages, weaving into huge kilometers-long processions toward Recompense that could be seen.

The ambient pinging of a vacant landing pad could be seen on the navigational radar that confirmed it was located further down the main decorated causeway. Curiously, there were subtle symbols of eyes woven into the devout ones, spotted throughout the crops... Atticus paused Angelique in her descent to observe them, and though he and the Sergeant had their suspicions, Karan did not recognize the symbol as anything more than possibly a local human sigil.

The shuttle ignored the beckoning of the landing pad and veered away from the city center, choosing to drop further out in an empty field that had been recently harvested and cleared, and several kilometers away, a huge dust cloud signified a moving transport- A large caravan of collected tithes to the Imperium headed toward the village.

After unloading the Chimera and the crew to be manning it, Angelique parted with a long and passionate blessing of the Emperor, wishing them good luck on their mission. She promised that she would be a vox transmission away should they require further aid.

Left to their own devices, the party and the guardsmen all agreed that following the caravan and blending in to see what was happening was the best course of action.

As the Chimera caught up and drove in along the other crawling vehicles, the villagers and farmers that they joined gave them a sidelong look, merely curious for a moment, before their attentions were drawn away to the splendor of their tithe offering. Surely the Harvest-Father would be pleased with their gift this year, and come to accept the crop. He had been disappointed with them for years now, and they feared they had been abandoned by him...

When the caravan arrived in the modest village, the heavily laden transport was drawn to the center, in front of a tall, spired church that seemed to wholly be out of place among the shabby buildings that surrounded it. The construction looked newer, gaudy and unnecessary compared to the ringing infrastructure of the village. The accompanying escort carts and vehicles were all parked outside of the village in a ring, as not to create undue traffic for the following hour of worship. The chapel's bell began to toll, beckoning the villagers and visitors from the outer fields to gather.

People flocked from every building, every cart that had settled on the perimeter to gather in the village center in front of the chapel's pristine steps, where three priests appeared, gliding out from inside the building. Compared to the rest of the populace, the priests looked well fed and of better health and visage.

The party split up among the silent gathering, listening to the praises that the Seed-scribes recited, with near synchronized responses from the villagers. The affair would go on for a while, litanies and hymns performed by the collected masses.

Reddin, keen of eye, pointed out the appearance of eye symbols within the Chapel, and around the village, placed conspicuously around, just as readily as Imperial sigils were displayed. Now on alert, the party continued to scrutinize the crowd for anything untoward.

A whisper of psy energy drew Karan's attention, however, and she reached out, sensing the presence of two psykers in the crowd, and a third one, conspicuously close. However, as she reached out, the other psykers too, could feel her questing energy, and withdrew. She alerted the party to the presence of the two that had split up, but the third one, she recognized as a member of their investigative party and did not make mention.

The harvest-mass came to a loud crescendo, with many blessings of the Harvest-Father thrown out. It didn't take long for the crowd to disperse, filing out of the village center, back to their transports and make-shift tents and homes. With the caravan blessed by the Harvest-scribes, it could continue on to the next village, so on, and so forth, for the week-long journey it would take to get to the capitol. The village would celebrate in the morning with a feast before sending the pilgrims on their way.

Once the crowd was gone, the Sergeant strolled into the chapel, amicably sharing words with the few that stayed behind for individual blessings. Atticus casually engaged a seed-scribe to ask about the symbols on the walls.

The Eyes belonged to the Living Saints, lauded as avatars to the Harvest-Father, they blessed the citizens of this tiny village with their presence. The Saints would come, give blessings and offerings, and then disappear among the common folk as though one of them; it was through some blessed power that they conveyed the words of the Harvest-Father and brought fortune among the destitute. The scribes and the folk they spoke to had nothing but nice things to say about these Living Saints, and it was assumable that the psyker presence that they had felt earlier were their quarry, disappearing into the congregation.

Atticus, feigning further ignorance and pretending to be an ignorant farmer from an even farther village joining the pilgrimage, learned that the Living Saints had started to appear in Recompense, before spreading among the villages outward from the capitol.

As it was getting dark out, and unable to find more information without looking too inquisitive, the party retreated to the Chimera.

With the prospect of travelling for a long, boring week among the caravan with the citizens of Novabella being a rather distasteful option, the party began to formulate an audacious plan to draw the Living Saints out into the open...

A Need to Give Chase
As the party argued among themselves, throwing out different ideas in how to lure the Living Saints to them, it became apparent and quite heated between them as to what was the best approach.

Atticus championed subtlety, not wanting to be caught out in the open where connections could be drawn back to the Inquisition, not yet.

The Sergeant recommended an air strike that they disguise as bandit attacks- which drew the question, what bandits on a backwater Agri-World could wield such firepower?

Karan remained neutral, giving neither helpful nor uninformed advice and suggestions to their approaches.

"What if we captured one of the priests and interrogated him?"

This was met with incredulous stares from both the Sergeant and the former Inquisitor.

"Sure, we suspect the ecclesiarchy, and the sodality to be behind something, but we always suspect that. The Living Saints seem to be a separate entity all together."

"I still say we plant timed explosives on the Caravan and make it look like bandits."

"There is no way bandits can call in an air strike, that is hardly subtle."

"An Orbital strike, then, we could vox up there-"

"Then they'd know the Angel's Litany is out there and that would be even less subtle!"

And the debate went round and round, extrapolating all the merits and possible consequences of each action, of their roused suspicions of both the ecclesiarchal presence, the sodality, and the possible cult origins of the Living Saints- those eyes suggested more, perhaps the doings of Chaos.

As the party tried to formulate a battle-plan, Karan noticed the familiar psy presences from the harvest gathering earlier, faintly gathering and fleeing the village in the general direction of Recompense.

Since the Living Saints had sensed the unfamiliar psykers among them, they had chosen to escape the village in the cover of night and report this phenomena.

Not wanting to lose the lead they had by chance found for the Living Saints- the party buckled in and charged after them in a high-speed chase through deserted, dark road.

While in pursuit, the Sergeant Guardsman voxed up to Angelique, requesting her to prepare reinforcements and to keep the shuttle in orbit, to be prepared at any moment to provide support.

Karan was able to sense that the cars had both psykers split between them, five to an autocarriage.

It wouldn't take long for the military vehicle to catch up to two fleeing civilian autocarriages. As ordered by the Sergeant, the Guardsmen opened fire on the approach once they were within range of the multilaser and heavy bolter while the driver attempted to ram the car in front of him. As the Chimera collided with the rear of the second autocarriage, the gunfire tore up the first, sending it tumbling off the road into the ditch in a flaming wreck.

The remaining vehicle fared better, and took heavy fire from the mounted weapons on the Chimera before it swerved, the driver losing control of the wheel. The party's car rammed into the side of the autocarriage, sending it tumbling wheels over bonnet into the ditch by the side of the road.

They disembarked quickly, surging to the wreckage to fish out anybody still alive to interrogate- finding to their luck, the lone survivor of the crash was the first car's psyker. Attempting to attack them, the psyker and Karan locked into a psychic battle, and the masked woman had the upper hand, whipping the prostrate psyker with such a mental backlash that it knocked the man out.

Atticus ran back to the Chimera, dragging the medkit out to find sedatives, while Reddin manacled the unconscious psyker. They drugged up the man with depressants, and dragged him into the Chimera. Karan fashioned a nullification pendant out of a stone from her briefcase and strung it on the man as further precautionary measures.

While Atticus and Reddin tended to the unconscious psyker, Karan, Batu and the other Guardsmen pilfered what they could find off the second, dead psyker's remains, and began to disguise the crash sites as thug attacks. For it was likely that bandits roamed the deserted streets, waiting for lone carts to ambush.

Climbing back into the Chimera, the party waited for the psyker to recover consciousness. Weary, beleaguered and confused, at first he was unable to respond to Atticus' questioning, but after a few more attempts at communication the man readily believed Batu to be a former friend, and sensing the other psy presences in his immediate company, his resolve crumbled. He urged them to find the Arch-saint, to join the Living Saints to make a difference for the common man. Further query revealed that the Living Saints' headquarters were sequestered in the catacombs of the city, and to find them, they had to simply follow the Saints' creed.

Follow the red skulls with eyes of fyre,

Where fyve eyes cross, speaketh,

"The vigilant among us watch over the sheep,"

And lo, the lambs shall lead the way.

With that information extracted, finding no further usefulness for the psyker, and out of fear of him gaining any further awareness, Reddin executed the man on the spot with a clean bullet through the skull.

The Sergeant ordered his cadet to dispose of the body out the back of the Chimera, which was met by some confusion and naive bluster as the body was summarily thrown out, followed by the boy attempting to scoop brain matter into his hands to toss out the hatch. With the grisly evidence of murder cleaned out of the vehicle, the party considered their next steps.

While the party had been interrogating the psyker, the Guardsmen had started up the Chimera and they proceeded to Recompense... But after some consideration, they decided to go off road, bee-lining overnight to the main city without trying to outrun the likely caravans that were still making their tribute pilgrimages to the city all along the way.

Arrival at Recompense
The party found themselves at the outskirts of the city by dawn, and merged into the slow, oncoming traffic trying to make its way to Recompense' heart.