It is feared that other enemies might attack Stern Hope so every member of the clergy and as many lay members as could be found has been moved inside the temple. The impromptu militia is also ready to defend the site. And Kos'ke and his warriors are arrayed outside as well. Following the evening trial a late supper is arranged within the confines of the Cathedral. Even Aristarchus attends - he is much more coherent now. Preacher Skae relates how he left Scintilla sixty years ago to spread the word of the Emperor among the heathens of Iochantos. His break came twenty years ago when he finally managed to secure backing for the building of a great cathedral on this site (the building of which will incidentally make him the first Bishop on Iochantos). The site was not chose at random - he always felt a special affinity for the place, a calling from the Master of Mankind - the Cathedral could not be build in any other place. And so Skae gathered his followers and came to Stern Hope, near enough twenty years ago... ....but the locals were not so eager. The site had a bad reputation and was traditionally shunned by the Ashleen (the human indigens of Iochantos, descendants of pre-imperial settlers). In the end, after years of proving his dedication to the cause, he managed to win over Esha Raine. She became a convert to the Faith and many Ashleen joined her. From that day life in Stern Hope become easier to bear and construction could begin in earnest. That was more than ten years ago. Kos'ke, who was but a minor warlord back, gradually came to rule the local area through cunning and ruthlessness. He never approved of the Cathedral, but for some reason Esha Raine's word carried great weight with him...and there was the prospect of material gain from aiding the Ministorium...so he allowed the settlement to exist in relative peace. Everything was going according to plan up until six months ago. Even as the Cathedral drew close to completion the trouble started. At first it was little things. Unexplainable things. Later it became acute. People disappeared. Animals turned on their masters. Shale Crows become aggressive. But most of all it was characterized by a growing paranoia, as kin came to distant kin, and friends took to arms against each other. Fearing that this might undo the holy work Preacher Skae made contact with Port Suffering and persuade the Consul to discretely request aid from the Inquisition. In the form of an old acquaintance, Globus Varaak. Enter Aristarchus the Seer. Although not formally an Acolyte, Aristarchus had served Globus as an agent for years. He had many times over proven his value when it came to divining the cause of such troubles. Meanwhile Globus made ready a small team from his meager cadre of acolytes. During the course of the supper Aristarchus describes some of his divinations. That a great evil was once defeated on this very spot millennia ago, by the great general Saint Drusus. It is, according to Aristarcuhs, imperative that the Cathedral be consecrated to prevent this malevolent force from returning. ..and he feels that he is to have an important role in coming events. On the other hand this is the man who divined that Esha Raine was behind the attack on Preacher Skae...and other less accurate readings of the Tarot. Can he be trusted?

The following day is hectic for all: Maxi, Azhmut, Lanmark and Kos'ke are busy readying the defenses of Stern Hope - and preparing the Cathedral for what could be a long siege. Because outside, in the mountains, there is a great host approaching Stern Hope from multiple directions. It is the fanatical zealots of Seth the Voice. Seth is said to be a self-proclaimed prophet who aims at scouring the faithless from Iochantos by force. The Maiden is the eye in the sky...she even calls down divine wrath in the form of lance fire...but her demi-lances are not battleship weapons...the damage they cause are sporadic and the fire inaccurate. The host does not stop. Preacher Skae and his clergy are equally busy - preparing for the sanctification of the Cathedral. Urged on by the divinations of Aristarchus they work without pause - the Cathedral must be ready before Seth strikes...or all is lost! But there is no assault. In the dead of night he has exfiltrated Stern Hope and found the likely location of what will be Seth's command area. Come midday he is in the middle of the enemy formation. He strikes as soon as Seth is alone in his command tent - and once again he stays his hand. So very unlike Haxtes! They speak at length. When they are done Haxtes leaves openly. Seth has agreed to hold his attack, to allow the Holy Ordos to do the Emperor's work. He will hold the attack for as long as his conscience and his Lord will allow it, no longer... Next: The sanctification, the choir sings, and someone unexpected drops by...

As the day fades the signs grow ominous again. Shale Crows descend upon Stern Hope in numbers, unsettling all with their ravenous shrieks. The rays of the setting sun create strange shadows and even stranger emotions - doubt, fear, anger. It appies equally to all - Seth's zealots, warriors of Kos'ke, Stern Hope citizens, the newly deputized Frateris Milita, even those inside the Cathedral... ...to bolster moral and drive the evil way the Choir begins to sign hymns to His praise. Their beautiful voices provide some relief for the men that can hear them - but soon the wind picks up outside...and only those within the hallowed halls of the Cathedral can hear their song. By midnight another storm is brewing. The air is filled with sand and static. The generatorium fails again for no apparent reason. Vox calls become almost impossible. The men inside - a few hundred clergy and militia, as well as the Inquisition - are cut of and blind. They seal the doors and wait. The sanctification continues. Something happens during the dog watch - Haxtes races to see what has happened, backed by Karen and Parsifal, the two whom he thinks most resistant to corrupt influences. The find Aristarchus in the sacristy (which in an Imperial Gothic Cathedral is a spacious area - and in this case mostly empty). He is bathed in radiance and hovers above the floor, his Tarot cards spinning rapidly around him. It seems impossible to reach him... ...but before they can figure out what to do there is another development. The song changes tone and tempo, becomes more intense, is layered with another song, one almost unheard...a song by a choir of Shale crows and daemon winds upon the Cathedral's spires. Haxtes responds instantly. Parsifal and Karen to watch Aristarchus. Then he races of. Maxi is slower to comprehend. Only when the first grenade goes of in the apse (i.e. the semi-circular end of the temple's nave, from which the priest speaks - prominent people get to sit her, the aquila hangs her etc. - and the choir is placed here) followed by the staccato sound of a bolt pistol firing at full auto. Calling upon the Explorator to back up down the isle Maxi races back - to find Haxtes butchering the remaining choir boys. The remnants of what must be Preacher Skae is somewhere in there. Sweetness in hand Maxi quickly decides and puts one begging boy out of his misery. Better to be safe than suffer a heretic to live. Then the Explorator is the, skidding to a halt and ripping away at the soft little bodies with a hail of hyper-velocity projectiles. The carnage is...hard to describe...the desecration of the Cathedral complete. And with that it is all over...or isn't it? Has the real evil been dealt with? And what about Aristarchus...