Timestamp: 7.811.996.M41

Location: The Haegum, Hive Tarsus, Scintilla, Golgenna Reach

Situation: Undergoing basic Inquisition indoctrination

Body: That first approach to Scintilla left memories that will not soon fade. You had all gathered in the observation blister for the event. A light meal had been prepared. There were drinks. Nice enough, but it was not the party that was memorable. It was the lights. So many and so bright... that they blotted out the stars. Endless strings of starships going to and from, light little fiery beads making their way across the void - only some of them turned out to be to the Maiden what boulders are to pebbles; quite a bit bigger. Then came the orbitals, draped around Scintilla like so many glittering necklaces. And finally the planet itself... hive Tarsus hidden from view by the orbitals, but then Sibellus slowly rolled into view... a billion billion lights covering much of the northern continent, only partially obscured by clouds and pollution.

While the Maiden headed for the great bulk of the massive orbital docks you boarded a lighter and descended towards the planet's surface. It moved at a ponderous pace, for Xerza seemed not to be in a hurry, and used few if any of the clearance codes that would have sped you along the way. The drop down was about as pleasant as they get - lots of shuddering and turbulence, the hull and plasma screens of the lighter the only two things between you and fiery doom. Then you were through and started to approach the immense lattice that makes up Hive Tarsus - gargantuan columns and girders stretching from the bowels of the earth and high into the sky, with entire cityscapes suspended in between, but leaving enough room for fliers to access most parts of the hive directly.

The cityscape containing the Haegum lay somewhere in the middle, in one of the commercial districts. The lighter put down, you got out, showed your papers and got ushered into a waiting lift. A lift that took you discreetly into to bowels of the stack, far beneath the regular workers posing as a front operation for Tancred's cadre. Seven sub-levels owned and run privately by one of Ordo Claixis' most eccentric Inquisitors. Containing living areas, training facilities, armories, librariums, operations centrals; all the things one needs to run an organization like this.

Upper mid-tiers, Hive Tarsus - many areas are accessible only by air (sign in a local language imported from Ixanid Sector)

Next followed three months of screening, training, and indoctrination. This was what you were supposed to have gone directly to - no wild journeys through the Immaterium. No rebels, orks, or cultists. The screening was supposed to make sure you were physically, mentally, and spiritually pure. You all passed that one. Training aimed at making sure you all had a set of basic skills; reading, numbers, shooting a pistol straight, killing with a blade up close, lores about the Imperium and other things, basic tech-use. Some of you had only a few holes, others quite a few more. Then there was indoctrination. Hypno-therapy. Pain simulation. Anti-interrogation techniques - including suicide options.

You were even assigned your own quarters for personal storage and later use; you would not remain here much longer, but you would return from time to time. For debriefing, rest, transit or advanced training. Finally, at the end of those three months you received your assignments; Haxtes and Maxi to establish undercover identities in Hive Sibellus. The others various other assignments.

I finally figured out how to add some nice images to the blog.

Check out the Scintilla post for example.

I'll add more as we go...

I'ts not all done yet, but go to the Downloads section and have a look at the new character sheet; once I'm finished it will work both to support character GENERATION and also to output a CHARACTER SHEET.

I'll also add room for psyker stuff, equipment and more on combat.

High orbital view of Scintilla and her two moons

Scintilla is the jewel in the Calixian crown. It is the second most populous planet in the sector and by far the most productive - although it has only half the population of Malif, it has twice that planet's Gross Planetary Product. Much of this GPP can of course be traced to Scintilla's position as sub-sector and sector capital, but there is still a marked difference - on Scintilla you find none of Malfi's overcrowded hab-ledges where unemployment rates approach near-total levels and people only survive on government vouchers and idle their days away with obscura and petty crime. You'll find plenty of poor Scintillans of course, but they have a planetary heritage of industry and commerce that infuses all levels of society, even down to the lowest layers of the underhive. They also have a deep-seated belief that money can buy anything - Scintilla is one of the most thoroughly corrupt worlds in the Calixis sector. Not corrupt in an entirely wicked sort of way, but corrupt in the sense that if you want something done you should be prepared to pay for it in cash or favors.

Scintilla was, and still is to a certain degree, a temperate planet with near-standard gravity and a breathable atmosphere. Thousands of years of human exploitation has left its mark, however, and the planet's biosphere has been decimated and climate has taken a turn for the worse. The situation has become aggravated under the Imperium - the past millennium has seen nearly a hundred-fold increase in population and an even higher rate of resource consumption...with resultant waste and pollution. The air remains breathable, except for the heavily polluted industrial areas within Hive Sibellus (but here the hab-blocks are sealed from the sky so it's not a problem for the inhabitants).

Planetary history: Scintilla has a settlement that dates back to the Dark Age of Technology. According to Vern it was probably one of those rare garden worlds that humans could colonize with only minor effort - no terraforming and no genetic adaptations required.  Only the world's remote location prevented it from becoming a major colony - by the time it was discovered, classified and settled the main drive to claim new worlds was winding down, and Scintilla received only a small number of settlers. The main site of the original colony was in the area of the now-abandoned Hive Tenebra, with resource extraction being conducted at distant sites rich with raw materials (it is believed that Ambulon, the Walking City, is an artifact from that time).

It is likely that Scintilla's low overall population and abundant resources (in comparison to its small population) enabled it to survive the Age of Strife relatively intact. The Inquisition archives indicate that Scintilla suffered few major psychic incursions during that period; what few incidents took place were dealt with before they could escalate. Steps were also taken by Scintillan scientist to weed out those bloodlines that seemed most prone to this new psychic madness - even to this day the Scintillan population scores somewhat below the average for psychic potential, a legacy of the purges undertaken during the Age of Strife.

Planetray map of Scintilla; Hive Sibellus covers most of the central part of the northern continent

Hive Sibellus: Hive Sibellus is the administrative and political capital (but not the religious or commerical one - that honor belongs to Hive Tarsus) not only of Scintilla, but the Golgenna Reach sub-sector and the Calixis sector. Sibellus was settled by the exodites from Hive Tenebra 'several thousand years ago' - no details of the event are available to the public. Scintilla and Hive Sibellus became the capital of the newly appointed Sector Governor Drusus in 348.M39, due to a combination of central location, good warp routes, and excellent resource potential. Scintilla quickly attracted masses of immigrants, both Segmentum Solar settlers and hordes of Adeptus Terra servants. Today, fifteen centuries later, the small hive that rose along the shores of the ocean has been transformed into a mighty megapolis unmatched in Calixis Sector, except for on Malfi.

Unidentified hab-zone, Hive Sibellus

Hive Sibellus is located on the western coast of the northern continent, at the site where once a mighty river crossed the rich alluvial plains to empty into the sea. Now everything is covered by a mighty urban/industrial sprawl that stretches from Fort Gun/Fort Dusus in the northern mountains, east to Port New Hope, and all the way south past the equator and down to the last remaining tropical wilds on the northern continent. More than half of Scintilla's population live in Hive Sibellus - an aestimated 130 billion people. The highest population density can be found around the western bay area; here multi-layered hab/factorium levels spill across the ground like an iron blanket, while clusters of mighty hive-spires reach up for miles, piercing the smog-clouds to let their noble inhabitants have a taste of real sunlight. Most of the rest of 'hive' Sibellus is a sprawl, although there are lesser satellite hives scattered about (Port New Hope is the most important of those).

Hive Sibellus hosts two important structures - the Sector Governor's Lucid Palace (located offshore on a rocky island) and the Tricorn Palace - the three-spired fortress-complex of the Inquisition Calixis.

Hive Tarsus: Hive Tarsus is a relative newcomer, having been constructed almost entirely by Imperium engineers since the planet was returned to the fold. Its equatorial location was selected as the landing site for the first Imperial forces to reach the world since it would enable good communications with the liberation fleet in high geosynchronous orbit. A long and wide rift valley was selected as the site; facilities were sunk into the rocky walls of the valley and a huge lattice of columns and beams were built, spanning the length and breadth of the valley. The lattice was then filled by the largest logistical depot in Calixis sector, from which the later stages of the Crusade was supplied. Later it became a transshipment point for the expansion of Hive Sibellus - and other locations throughout Calixis sector.

Over time it gradually grew into a Hive of its own - current population is around 75 billion, or closer to 100 billion if sattelite hives are counted in. The lattice was greatly expanded upon, spilling over the edges of the valley and soaring up into the sky, creating a much more compact hive than Sibellus. The lattice layout is also quite unique, at least in Calixis Sector, giving Tarsus a very segmented feel - crossing from one segment or section to the next a traveler gets the feeling that he's entered an entirely new city. Tarsus also retains the position as the transshipment point of Calixis - although much of the actual transshipment takes place in orbit high above the hive, within the confines of the monumental orbital habitats that are counted as part of Hive Tarsus. Because of the commercial activity Tarsus has also become the financial center of Calixis - all the major banking houses have offices here, and it is here that the Administratum Tithe Office is located. Finally Tarsus is the religious capital of Calixis - it is here that the Sector Cardinal has his residence.

Geostationary orbital docks above Hive Tarsus

Hive Tenebra: Hive Tenebra is the old planetary capital and the site of the original colony. It lies in one of the last remaining tropical jungle areas on Scintilla, separated from Hive Tarsus by the great bulk of the Nilhiem Mountains. Hive Tenebra and its inhabitants survived the Age of Strife, thrived even, but something caused several billion people to abandon their homes thousand of years ago to settle on the far side of the planet (leading to the creation of Hive Sibellus). No records exist that give any account of the exodus or the reasons behind it (not records that Vern has access to anyway). Intrepid explorers sometimes mount expeditions to Tanebra (some with permissions from the Administratum, more without) from time to time, but there is little of value left there now - the exodites took most of their possessions with them and most of rest has been plundered long ago.

Gunmetallicus (Gunmetal City): Lying beyond the confines of the Sibellus sprawl lies the Hive known as 'Gunmetal City'. Built entirely within a volcanically active montain it is a small Hive of perhaps 2 billion inhabitants. The reason for its relative fame is the unprecendented productivity of its 'fanes' - in essence vast family-owned production companies utilizing highly trained and specialized serf workers. The fanes of Gunmetal City produces huge quantities of weapons and ammunition for export - it is no boast that Gunmetallicus weapons can be found on every world, in every city, outpost, station and spaceship throughout the sector.

Ambulon: Ambulon is known as the Walking City - it is said never to halt. It is a technological marvel that has somehow survived since the Dark Age of Technology. It is a colossal mechanical beast with multiple legs that slowly walk across the northern continent, searching for raw materials that can be turned into works of art or techno-arcane artifacts by its resident caste of tech-adepts and master craftsmen. Ambulon is so big that several hundred million people make their homes aboard the metal beast, all of which must somehow contribute to the running of the city, resource extraction, production, or trade. Those that fail to meet their quotas or maintain the stringent guild standards are thrown over the side of the city - a most fatal experience. It is believed that more walking cities existed in the distant past - the hulk of one can be found on the southern continent (it is the home of several barbarian tribes that fiercely resist any attempts to reclamate it).

Other sites: Scintilla is also home to several smaller hives scattered across the world, with populations ranging from a few hundred million and into the low billions. None are as important and noteworthy as Gunmetal City/Ambulon. There is also a number of barbarian tribes living in the wilderness areas, espeically on the southern continent. Some have been isolated for so long that they do not even know of the existence of the Imperium!

+++PLANETARY DATA+++

GALACTIC POSITION: 88/23/CS/SW.

CLASS: Hive World, Sub-Sector/Sector capital

SUBSECTOR: Golgenna.

SYSTEM: Scintillan system; regular system with G3 V primary, seven planetary bodies in nine orbits; 1. mined-out irradiated rocky core, 2. rocky asteroid belt (planetary debris), 3. Hive World, 4. interloper gas giant, 5. dispersed icy asteroid belt, 6-9 icy gas giants.

SATELLITES: Two moons; Sothus - restricted Navy mothball area, Lachesis - quarantined by the Inquisition. Massive orbital docks geostationary above Hive Tarsus. Extensive orbital facilities and L-point habitats.

POPULATION: 250,000,000,000.

PLANETARY GOVERNOR: Sector Governor Marius Hax.

ECONOMY: Sub-sector/Sector Capital. Commercial/financial nexus. Religious capital and primary pilgimage site. Gross Planetary Product tied into Sector-wide economy.

PRINCIPLE EXPORTS: Hi-tech goods, especially military hardware and civilian weapons. Exported sector-wide.

PRINCIPLE IMPORTS: Raw materials for the industry; Scintilla has limited natural resources remaining (except in certain areas such as Gunmetal City, and certain commodities like oil and natural gas). Sepheris Secundus is primary supplier of minerals.

Scintilla can feed it's population in an emergency, but typically relies on imports of food from the sector’s agri-worlds to meet the demands of the upper class and upper middle class. The noble class is an importer of exotics and luxuries from across the sector.

MILITARY FORCES: Scintilla has historically been the largest supplier of Guard Regiments in Calixis sector; they are know as being both well-equipped/trained and reliable/loyal. Since the need for Guardsmen has fluctuated wildly since the inception of the Calixis sector there is a tradition for bringing home Scintillan Guard regiments that are no longer actively fighting (it's generally cheaper and easier to maintain them close to the center of things). Here they form a pool of reserves (in 996.M41 there were no such reserve regiments) that can be called up on need or if they are nearing the end of the viable service life that can be dismissed  - with a government-paid pension rather than a frontier land grant if they so desire. Current major deployments include Protasia and Kulth, with another 9 Division-equivalents currently out-sector (believed to be reinforcing garrisons around the Eye of Terror).

Scintilla also has a large good-quality PDF force based around Hive Tarsus (where they are close to both the Department Munitiorum and the Navy). The primary PDF force numbers around 5 million service-men.  The Scintillan PDF has extensive blue sea and aerospace/orbital assets. All hives, Sibellus included, maintain second-line garrison forces as well (around 50 million troops). A third-line militia force composed of former servicemen can also be mustered (this has never happened for real).

The Navy maintains a sizable fleet in-system. There used to be a Green Knights Space Marine Strike Cruise on standby here, but it was replaced a century ago by a Navy/Stormtrooper Rapid Reaction Force. The Inquisition (though not very militant in Calixis sector) maintains a small fleet and Stormtrooper force here.

CONTACT WITH OTHER WORLDS: Major warp routes link Scintilla, Sepheris Secundus and Iocanthos, as well as to all surrounding sub-sectors. Secondary routes connect directly to a number of nearby systems.

Scintilla is one of the planets on the path of the legendary Chartist vessel the Misericord.

Haxtes had a great idea regarding the character sheet and XP gains:

That I'd store the various older versions of the character sheets so that you could track you progress through the various stages. We'll store the sheets in the downloads section, one of each PC, with a sidebar link taking you straight there.

I think that's a great idea, but to be able to start it I need a little help breaking down the XP you've gained so far. This is what I've got written down:

- You started out with 1200 XP
- You both too two blessings for an extra 600 XP
- That was the first stage, 1800 XP at start

- You then earned prelude XP, 450 XP for Haxtes and 325 XP for Maxi
- 2250 XP total for Haxtes
- 2125 xp total for Maxi

- You both got 475 XP for the Shattered Hope...if my papers are correct
- 2725 XP total for Haxtes
- 2600 xp total for Maxi

- Then there was something in the Haegum which I haven't written down; if I recall you got some skills at a discount or some such?

- I have 425 XP written down for each of you for the Edge of Darkness (the one in the Hive)m should be correct.
- 3150 XP total for Haxtes
- 3025 xp total for Maxi

WHat I haven't written down is what you bought for those XP; so if you want my to do as Haxtes suggested I need to know what you bought and when...

Timestamp: 7.538.996.M41

Location: Maiden of Golgenna, under warp drive in the Golgenna Reach

Situation: En route to Scintilla from Sepheris Secundus

Body: And that was that really. They let you and the girl go and Odessa took you uptown to meet with Xerza. You stayed for nearly a week at the Imperial - the best hotel in town, more like a palace, catering to the nobility and the filthy rich. Xerza seemed t think they you've earned it. Some of you more than others, but still. You could have gotten used to it...the luxury, the view, the food, the everything. But even after a week you could feel corruption seeping in with that luxury...the feeling that wealth makes right.

Anyway, Haxtes made good friends with Trooper Rhia, one of the rookie Arbitrators. Probably a pointless contact to have, but if he ever got back to Sepheris and needed a firm but to fondle, she'd be ready. And Anna made some friends too, but that's just Anna - very friendly and outgoing. Maxi didn't make any friends though. Much too uptight.

But soon you were back aboard the Maiden. She'd undergone some temporary repairs - which was what had delayed your departure in the first place. She'd still need months in dock, but at least there would be no immediate danger of critical system collapse. Weird how quickly one can get used to the fact that one is traveling in the bowels of an abominable intelligence. Given recent events your troubles with the Maiden seem distant and unimportant. Guess that will come back to bite you in the ass some day.

En route - the trip would take almost fourteen days at the Maiden's current pseudo-velocity - you were given the opportunity to hear Vern lecture you a little about the sector in general and the Scintilla system in particular (see separate post). Other than that preciously little - Xerza didn't bother you too much with lectures and stuff either. Some bright head gave the girl the name Eris, short for SephERIS Secundus. Get it?

And then you were there, Scintilla, crown of the Calixis sector...

Well, I'm not dead, nor are you forgotten...but I've been working on other projects and now Nurgle is back in da house...

Timestamp: 7.454.996.M41

Location: Inquisition decontamination facility, Gorgonid Mine, Sepheris Secundus, Golgenna Reach

Situation: Undergoing screening and testing to ascertain level of physical/moral contamination

Body: Who would have thought that the Inquisition has these mobile facilities. You can see that they have multiple applications. Such as screening and testing. Or interrogation. Or research. Or whatever. Reminds you a lot of Guard-issue prefabs; you know, prefabricated hab units that can be assembled to serve as accommodations or command facilities. Only these are filled will all manner of stuff - holding cells, interrogation chambers, medicae-theaters, labratoriums, the works.

Actually it isn't all that unpleasant. At least not for you. The three of you are singled out from the onset and separated from the others. You three and the girl. Guess Xerza is calling the shots. Anyway it a pretty standard, if extensive, decontamination drill, followed by numerous tests. But the medicaes seem very pleased with the results. Oh, and there is sleep and food to be had also. Then there are interviews. But they seem to go well. You're actually feeling quite well so that shouldn't come as a surprise!

They don't tell you nothing though. But Haxtes has his special friend. And Odessa relays the good news. The brain-boys are quite astounded. All of you are in pretty good shape, in all the ways that matter. You are even led to understand that the guardsmen who had suffered quite a lot have - miraculously - made full recoveries. It's quite extraordinary. So extraordinary that the only reason you're still quarantined is because of your extraordinary recovery!

----

So you've a few more days to kill. Not too bad really. The food is bland, but Xerza drops by to say hello and she brings a few bottles of vintage. The fanboy that's guarding the visitation section forgets procedure and lets you have it. Good man. She tells you to relax, don't speak more than you have to, and never mention what happened down there to people without the correct clearance (something about having to kill them if you start blabbering - that's Xerza, never a happy thought).

The girl seems nice enough. A little thin and pale, but healthy-looking enough. Doesn't speak though. The Malleus Interrogators seem to think that she was some sort of sacrificial lamb. That there must have been others like her. But she doesn't check out with any appreciable level of psychic latency, nor is she deemed any more morally compromised than the rest of you. The non-speaking part might be residual trauma. Whatever that is.

You learn later that there was even a Malleus Inquisition to see her. His name was Ahmazzi and he was evidently already en-route by the time the shit hit the fan. You're left with the impression that he came down with the Arbites. At any rate he plainly didn't like the situation, but the girl passed every test, and seeing as Rykehuss has already claimed her for the Ordo Hereticus he could not prevent Xerza (also Hereticus) from taking her without causing a major incident (Conclave politics can be quite fierce).

----

Well, screw the old geezer. If he'd know what happened the day after, on the very last day of your stay, he'd have burned her on the spot. See, the brainboys had figured that drawing could help the girl cope. So you had a little drawing session. Jarra turned out to have a fluid line, drawing landscapes from Dusk.  Maxi was good at making funny little cartoons - even the mute laughed a little at those. Haxtes was surprisingly good at portrait sketches.

Not as good as the girl though. After drawing several alien landscapes of astounding clarity, she put Maxi's cartoons to shame with one of her own - detailing your underground struggles with swift and sure strokes. Then she tried her hand at portraits. For some reason she drew three women. Very lifelike. Jarra recognized her mother the instant she looked on the drawing...and Haxtes could feel old betrayals resurfacing as he gazed upon the likeness of his own long-lost mother.

Maximilian Elazar Dante looked long and hard on the face of the strange woman on the sheet of paper. Beautiful and regal. Somewhere deep inside the image merged with a faint memory - a laughing woman, a soft song, a sweet scent...

----

Shortly thereafter you were released to Xerza.

Timestamp: 7.437.996.M41

Location: The Shatters, Gorgonid Mine, Sepheris Secundus, Golgenna Reach

Situation: Inquisition-led Arbites team returning from mission, hostiles in pursuit

Body: Inquisitor Rykehuss was never much of a talker. At least not during your brief tryst in the dark. But he did instruct Maximilian regarding two things - that the girl must be kept safe, and that the Malleus must be alerted.

Haxtes also wants to be friends. So he tries to strike a conversation while you're hanging in the elevator - what to do, how to open the seal, that sort of thing. Only the Inquisitor isn't feeling very talkative. He completely non-responsive. To the level of not being alive anymore. That isn't going to reflect too well on you...but there is naught to be done, except relieve the man of spare weapons and ammunition. The dead don't need guns.

----

You could have gone out the way you came, but that was never really an option. Several of the troopers looked none too good - whatever was down here could easily be contagious. And even if it was not you could not risk showing the risen dead the way past the seal. Sure, 'Colonel' Haxtes had ordered the 97th Scintillan to establish a wider, overlapping perimeter with no discernible rear. But would that be enough? If the risen got out beyond the seal, could they not spread to other mines without ever breaking the surface? Most likely. No, Rykehuss had it right - you need to alert the outside and hope that they can relieve you before time runs out.

You pick up the others on your way up to the seal. Save for your guide. He's done his part and his reward is a swift death by bolt shell to the back of the head. In Haxtes opinion he's done much to save his own soul - but in the end only the Emperor can make that call. And the penalty for heresy is still death, repentance or not.

Speaking of executions - Commissar-Cadet Castus has also been forced to put down a few of his men. Worn out and injured some of them had started to succumb to the curse-infection-whatever that had already turned so many brave men into soulless ghouls. In Castus opinion it's better to die still a  man than to live on like that - and given the situation this is an opinion shared even by the men he's put down.

----

Topside. You could pop the seal now. You've got Rykehuss' Rosette and access to his still-fresh gene-signature. But you've already decided against it. Maxi tries the hard-line vox hanging next to the seal - it rings, but no one picks up on the other side. Haxtes has more luck with his old hab-wife; he manages to reach Odessa and relays key events and the general situation to her. She passes it on to Xerza. The order comes down though Odessa - keep the seal shut and stay alive, help is coming, but precautions must be taken before the door is opened. Figures.

You establish overlapping fields of fire in the main access shaft. You've got the Arbites squad, a demi-platoon of Guardsmen that can fight, several more injured men that can do little more than kill themselves if need be, a brave Commissar-Cadet, and three Inquisition Acolytes. Let them come. By the Throne, let them come!

----

And come they do. They try stealth first, but that doesn't work. They are not ghosts - and only ghosts can get past the watchful eyes of the Inquisition. So you pick off the first few stalkers and wait. Next they try a big assault. That nearly overwhelms you, but your preparations pay of - you bring a mass of firepower to bear within a narrow time/space frame, and power-maul wielding Arbites stand ready to clobber anything that get through the gauntlet of deadly energy and exploding rounds.

Time passes. The third time they try a multipronged assault - they've gotten to the higher levels by way of secondary accessways and now they move in from multiple directions. You keep them at bay for as long as possible, then fall back towards the seal in an ordered fashion. Once more you beat them back - but now you stand with your backs against the metal and the rock. Ammo is low, several men are missing, and more are injured or simply exhausted.

Haxtes moves back into the shaft area to recon. He can hear them down there, in the dark. Many more. This is it, the last stand. He moves back to join his companions...and the seal unscrews from locked position and swing outwards on massive hinges. Cool evening air rush into the mine...bringing with it the sweet scent of hope.

Correction; bringing with it hope - and a horde of black-armored Arbites. The Calixis Rapid Response Precinct has landed - rank upon rank of black human beetles. And behind them the massive black slab that brought them down from orbit - an Adeptus Arbites Orbital Drop Fortress, capable of carrying a division-sized force of the Emperor's lawmen from orbit and onto a rebellious planetary surface.

You've little chance to act - the flood of black bodies take you all down and secure you. They have their orders. Even their fellow Arbites within the mine are brought down and secured. They are clearly not taking any chances. Or playing at favorites. Haxtes gleefully watches Maxi being laid low by his own - and feels something akin to respect for these men and their unrelenting ways. Who would have thought.

----

As you are dragged outside and towards the waiting decontamination facility erected outside, the Arbites move forward, shotguns chattering away at full auto and power mauls hitting for effect. However many the risen number they are now outnumbered, outgunned, and outmaneuvered. It might be irrational to hate a bunch of animated corpses, but surely there was never a moment of sweeter revenge!

Timestamp: 7.437.996.M41

Location: The Shatters, Gorgonid Mine, Sepheris Secundus, Glogenna Reach

Situation: Inquisition-led Arbites team exploring lower levels of closed-off mine complex

Body: Returning to the nexus wheer you had seen the ghoulish guardsmen assembling you quickly pick up the trail again. Following it isn't difficult at all. You are alert and tense - the Commissar-Cadet Castus explained they had tried to make forays into this area before, but always been rebuffed by ghouls, mutties, even witchfire. But now it's just quiet - like the tomb that it is.

You eventually reach an area that looks more natural than the tunnels that you've followed so far. No, natural isn't the right word. The right word is different - the tunnels are definitely still made, but in a fashion quite unlike the very utilitarian Secundan mine-works. This is smoother, more flowing, lacking any utility at all...the tunnels just meander. You start marking your progress by spraying the walls with paint that registers well in the IR-band - it's better than bread-crumbs, but serves the same purpose.

Shortly thereafter you find the first body. Lying broken on the floor of the meandering tunnel. It's been lying here for a while. Rotting. And it wasn't in the best of shapes to begin with. Next to it, partially overlapping is the next body, and the next, and the next. Like corpse-beads on a string.

You keep moving. There are many more corpses, all of them badly broken and decomposed, all of them part of the same string. You don't need to be psykers (though some of your are) to feel that this is - unnatural, anathema, abomination. Still you press on...until you find the first intersection; the string of bodies split in twain, two strings now, disappearing down two dark tunnels. You don't need to be savants to see where this is going.

----

That's when you first notice the singing. You can't really make out the words, but the tune is quite catching. It's a tune that Haxtes know a bit too well - it's the Maiden of Golgenna, a popular tune with insane cultists around these parts. Cutting external pickups helps a bit - but the tune is still there, like a low drone that gets into your head no matter what. Enforcer Priestly is already having problems keeping his act together. Others might also be affected if you press on. That's not good.

In the end it's decided that Maxi will remain here with the Arbites for two hours before falling back to the others. There is a bit of name-calling of course, but really, thre is no real alternative. So while Maxi leads the other Arbites in paryer and contemplation of the Lex Imperialis, Haxtes and Jarra set out down the corridor. Surely whatever caused all this will be found at the center of it all...though you have no clue what it might be, nor how you will deal with it.

----

The corridors meander forever, twisting and turning, splitting and recombining. You try marking your progress, but it makes no sense. Several times you find marks you've already left, but when you move on nothing is as you remember them to be. The inertial locators are completely screwed too. Even your chronos are starting to display times that are meaningless; Jarra's piece even starts to run backwards at one point.

That's when you both decide - without a word being spoken between you - that this is where sanity ends and other begins. Haxtes can feel the bile rising in his throat as long-suppressed memories rise to the surface...of the Maiden of Golgenna, the fight on the bridge, and the thing that was not the captain. It has that taste to it.

With that out of the way Haxtes starts walking towards whatever is in there, rather than away from it. You press on, a sense of sudden urgency upon you, a sense of disaster looming - though you have yet to encounter a single animate enemy; no ghouls, no twisted mutants, no deadly wyrds.

----

Your dark world is suddenly turned on its ugly head. The earth heaves like mad. The sound of rocks crushing upon rock. A terrible wind sucking and pulling at everything - were you academically inclined you might have wondered why this was so, why the air was sucked in rather than blown out and away...but alas you feeble minds had no time for such niceties.

You get up, battered and bruised, but still whole. You pick up the pace, and suddenly you are standing in a massive chamber, still lit by multiple industrial light-beams. Or what's left of the chamber anyway - most of it seems to have been filled with masses of rock. Indeed, stones of all sizes, from boulders to pebbles, keep falling down out of the dark, seeking to fill the offending void at the heart of the mountain.

You see a few enemies too, but they seem confused and of no immediate threat. The falling rocks seem rather more dangerous. If the survivors don't get their focus back the earth will surely do the work of the Holy Inquisition on this day - the only good heretic is a crushed heretic! So you do what Maxi would have called 'About Face' and then you do what Jarra calls 'Haul Ass'. Meaning you get the hell out of there as fast as you can!

----

Back at the Arbites watchpoint the men have also gotten back on their feet. A few have been hit by smaller rocks, but there are no serious injuries (blessed by thy carapace). The infernal singing has stopped. But the rad-meters have spiked - the readings are weird, matching no know radioactive source, but the end result is the same...stay here for much longer and you'll die, protective gear or not.

Then suddenly something comes out of the corridor - not the one Jarra and Haxtes took, but the other one - nine guns at the ready in an instant. Nine guns pointed at a large man carrying the Rosette of an Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor on a gold chain around his neck. He's a big man, not as big as Maxi perhaps, but bigger than most. Covered head-to-toe in once-magnificent battle-plate. Now it's just an incredibly dirty, bloody and dusty piece of carapace armor. He's got a bolt pistol in one hand, nothing strange there, but in there other is something altogether more odd - a young girl, perhaps ten to twelve years of age, pale of skin and with fine features framed by long dark hair clinging to her form.

"Inquisitor Rykehuss, Ordo Xenos. Stand down Arbitrator, or face the wrath of the God-Emperor of Mankind". Rykehuss. Of course. Only an Inquisitor could have have survived this holocaust. Well, the time is up - five minutes ago - and no sign of Maxi or Jarra. No reason to linger. Not when you have an Inquisitor and his quarry to ward. So off you go, heading back to the surface.

----

Jarra and Maxi run like the Powers were right behind them (which in a sense they are). Behind them the roof finally caves in completely and forever buries whatever was in that chamber. Undoubtedly for the best. But you still have some unburied dead to take into account...and now they decide they've had enough lying around. So they get up. Only a few at first. Unsteadily. Broken hands trying to grab at your running feet. Nothing that bolt shells and power blades cannot handle.

But even as you reach the end of the corpse-beaded necklace you can hear them coming for you. More and more. Like a wave of broken men given a semblance of life once more. It's bad enough certainly, but its 'just' animated flesh...not the otherness that was in the Maiden's captain. Thank the Emperor for even small mercies...

You keep moving. Stopping only to pick of a few of them that get too eager. Haxtes manages to reach Maxi on the vox. Convincing him to hold the charges until they are past the promethium tanks. Maxi is already at the lifts. He looks at the Inquisitor, but he decided to interpret his silence as consent. They hold the elevator and delay the charges. Jarra and Haxtes make it to the lift and the slow ascent begins.

Below the first of the flesh-things have reached the bottom of the pit. The law-men start putting them down. You have to get higher before blowing the charges or you'll all burn. At 50 meters you no longer have a choice, it's crawling down there, and some have even begun climbing after you with surprising speed.

BOOM! The charges are blown and thousands of liters of promethium are set on fire. It burns with great intensity, consuming everything in its path. Who knows how many of the things the flames take to final rest. Very many. Perhaps most. But not all. No, not all. But you're safe for now - shotguns deal with the few that try to go after you, and the smoke is bad, but survivable - even the girl, who is without armor or rebreather lives through it.

Timestamp: 7.436.996.M41

Location: The Shatters, Gorgonid Mine, Sepheris Secundus, Glogenna Reach

Situation: Inquisition-led Arbites team exploring lower levels of closed-off mine complex

Body: Following the trail wasn't exactly difficult...try dragging 5.000 or so dead (and semi-crushed) soldiers AND an unknown number of mutants down your hall and see if you can't follow the trail ;-)

The Arbites team was holding up quite well. As well as could be expected anyway. None of 10-man squad had ever experienced something quite like this - but then again neither had Haxtes, Maxi, or the guide. But somehow they kept going, kept sane, and somehow it all started to seem...normal somehow. Wading the river of rotting human fluids...just another feature, like the heat and oppressive darkness. The human mind and all that...

----

Then you came upon a gun position, poorly camouflaged, but expertly trip-wired - the alarm being the directional flechette mines that would have shredded all of you. Good of Haxtes to cut the wires for you and sneak up to the position - unseen and unheard in the dark. A quartet of Guardsmen guarding the post, a multi-laser as their support weapon...a good thing perhaps?

But something subtly wrong...impossible to see in the dark...but for once it pays to have a sixth (or whatever) sense...one man leaves the post and disappears down the tunnel...but three is one too many to take silently...so frag them - literally. Boom - and they are gone, but Haxtes hunching on the other side of the rocks lives, if a little shaken. A very brave man Haxtes...his infiltration skills highly useful...but when happens the day he is spotted moving in the open and the enemy open up? Swift death or hours of screaming agony mayhap. Only time will tell.

Arbites moving up, guns at the ready. Flashes of lasfire light up the dark - the last man returning. He is cut down by bolt pistol fire, but manages to injure one of the Arbites - punching through a weak spot in the black beetle armor - nothing terribly severe, but with these unhealthy conditions infection will be a real danger. But surely a multispectrum shot will take care of that?

You move on. Fortunately no general alert has been raised - good thing the soldier returned to fire on you rather than flee and call for aid - Emperor be praised! If the men had doubts about firing upon guardsmen they are dispelled upon inspection - you risk a little light to look at the downed man. He looks like the one that assaulted Haxtes - hair falling out, heavily blood-shot eyes, loose teeth, pale skin, scabs and sores...not an altogether healthy specimen of the human race. The lights are cut once more and you move on. But one question lingers - such illness, such mutation, after only days...what could have caused it? Perhaps best not to dwell too long on it - the answer might be one that you'd rather be without...

----

You enter a huge storage area, where great promethium tanks dominate. Clearly a supply depot where trucks would come to refill their tanks. The Arbites rig the place to blow - in case you have to fall back and need to prevent the enemy from following. It goes without saying that the heat, the loss of oxygen and the toxic smoke will be dangerous to you - but you must trust in your wargear and hope that it will keep you alive (the Arbites and the guide are all clad in fire-proofed carapace, so Haxtes is more at risk).

Another attack! A huge an misshapen mutant makes ready to strike at the men readying the charges. Once again Haxtes proves invaluable, spotting the beast just as it is about to lunge. Doing a lunge of his own Haxtes shows what a powered blade can do against scaly flesh. The beast screams and flails, but to no avail - it cannot seem to lay its wicked claws on the lithe assassin. Soon it lies still on the ground while Haxtes strides of unscathed.

----

A company of former guardsmen are assembling in  a nearby nexus. The same sense of wrongness - they work in near-total darkness and speak with grunts and hisses - real guardsmen would not do that. Haxtes keeps them under observation, but there is nothing he can do. When they come for you you must fight and flee, blow the tanks, and hope for the best. But no attack comes - instead they move in another direction! The God-Emperor is watching over you still.

After a quick conference between Haxtes, Maxi and Chasterner Barnes you decide to go after the soldiers (rather than continue along the river of flith). Clearly they are up to no good. A while later you find out what they are up to - a fire-fight erupts between the former guardsmen and...someone else. You hit them hard and fast from the rear, and within a few minutes you have boxed them completely in between your own heavy squad and whatever other force they were assaulting. From there in it is just a question of methodical slaughter - the Arbites prove very good at this, keeping up a steady stream of fire while the shield team prevents any sudden melee attacks on the fire teams.

Commissar-Cadet Castus and his survivors greet you heartily. They all wear re-breathers and have tried to cover themselves up as best they can - makshift precautions against the horrible conditions down here. Turns out that things went to hell about then days ago - before that it looked like a breeze assignment, just holding ground and letting the Inquisitor do the real work. But then one day he hadn't come back from the deeper tunnels - and that was when the enemy struck. Hordes of mutants supported by wyrds of horrifying power.

Some of the men survived the initial attack, but were driven apart and hunted down. Only the Commissar-Cadet's group has managed to keep alive thus far. At least Castus thinks that it is so - they met several other groups during the first few days and joined together their forces, but eventually there were no more sane people to be found. Only sick and half-mutated men with little sanity left - they put those down rather then risk them turning into monsters.

All the while they continued searching for the Inquisitor. Not that they didn't want to get out of this place, but they knew there was no way past the seal without Inquisitor Rykehuss' seal. Castus is certain that the Inquisitor survived the onslaught as well. They move and searched they saw signs of his activity in several locations - down by the deeper parts, down where the mine ends and the caverns begin. Castus was intending to go down there again a look for him when the enemy attacked...and you came to their rescue.

----

Somewhat later you are on the move again. Castus has taken his warriors back to their hideout and collected a few non-walking wounded left there (as well as their remaining supplies) and headed to the rear (they are, in all honesty, completely worn out, and can not be relied upon to contribute much to anything). Chastener Barnes (whose knee was shot out during the fight with the mutant guardsmen) and Enforcer Law (also seriously injured) go with him, as does the overseer. They are to leave the main mine area by the same way you arrived and set up position in the great chamber with the gravel-field.

Jarra, Haxtes, Maxi and the rest of the squad head down the trail of filth leading ever deeper into the earth...

Timestamp: 7.435.996.M41

Location: Gorgonid Mine, Sepheris Secundus, Golgenna Reach

Situation: Inquisition team entering the sealed-off section of the Shatters

Body: The human mind is very flexible indeed. It can be bent ever so far, broken even, and still it will repair itself given enough time. Almost as good as before - most of the time anyway...

----

The ten-man Arbites team was kitted up in full combat gear, carapace armor, guns, spelunking gear, the works.The team consisted of Chastener Owen Barnes (squad leader), Regulator Kate Flack (flamer specialist), Regulator Mike Mason (melee specialist/shield-bearer), Regulator Clint Langley (melee specialist/shield-bearer), Regulator Darius Hinks (sniper), Enforcer Raynor (medicae), Enforcer Andy Law (demolitions), Enforcer Zoë Wedderburn (vox-operator), Enforcer Marc Gascoigne (regular trooper), Enforcer Rick Priestly (regular trooper).

In addition you brought with you the old miner as a guide - dressed up as an Arbites (for his own physical protection and to avoid him sticking out). Maxi also used the same equipment as the rest of the Arbites squad. Only Haxtes stood out with his own light armor (and no longlas at this point, pistols and swords only). And Jarra of course - hulking above the rest of you in a strange mix of old guard-issue gear and Arbites odds and ends; and her massive adopted Astartes bolter of course...

----

Hours passed as the overseer took your through increasingly unused tunnels, ever deeper into the earth. Past partial collapses, through sections that seemed untouched by human hands, along an underground river, past a majestic waterfall, over a vast field of pebbles in a cave so big your lights never touched the walls...and into a tunnel that connected to the closed-down mine.

Haxtes led the way. Unseen, unheard. Scanning his surrounding constantly. No sign of life. None at all. No runaway serfs. No mutants. No wyrds. No 5.000 men of the 577th Scintillan Light Infantry Regiment. Where did they all go? Of course you had yet to fully take in the size of this underground warren - you could hide 50.000 bodies down here and they might never be found...

But wait! An old pick-axe has vermin crawling all over it. Inspection reveals human residue clinging to it. The beetles and centipedes are eating it. Haxtes pushes on, the others following behind, weapons at the ready. Arriving in a tunnel nexus you find another clue - a body, badly mangled, lying in a push-cart, covered by a plastic sheet with rocks strewn on top. A serf miner by the looks of him. Nothing about the regiment or the Sons.

----

Approaching the central access shaft through a massive spine tunnel. Signs of struggle. Haxtes moves on, leaving the others to light their illuminators and investigate. They see scorching on the walls. Las-fire. Blood and body fluids that have since dried up. But no bodies. Reaching the access shaft Haxtes finds a multi-laser. It's abandoned, not broken. It sits quietly on its tripod, a half-full clip still attached. A box of replacement cells sits next to it, with half a dozen discarded cells lying about. No Guardsman would abandon his weapon so...not willingly, not whilst still alive...

According to the overseer the shaft is about 800 meters deep counting from the access level, which you should be about 100 meters - or two landings - above your current position. But he hasn't been around these parts much, so he doesn't know the layout anymore than you do.

Haxtes quickly ascends to check. He's correct. Two landings between your entry point and the entrance level. The seal - a great adamantium vault door - is there, undisturbed. Except some blood handprints. There are marks on the rock floor - as if people were dragged away while trying to hold onto the stone with every shred of their strength.

You decide to descend by rope. You're all skilled at that sort of thing - although the dark will make it difficult. Better than the massive rusting basket-cage-elevators though. Turning on one of them would announce your presence to everyone. Might be used to get up again through - if they work at all.

----

You stop to investigate each landing. There are signs of struggle everywhere, but no bodies.

----

Haxtes reaches the bottom of the shaft first. He lands in keen-deep filth. The stench has become intolerable - it is a good thing your carry re-breathers or you might not have manage to pass into the depths at all!

Lighting reflexes save Haxtes from inglorious death as something comes for him, wading through the muck. Power blade flashes - the blade not even ignited, but the metal deadly enough by itself - once, twice, thrice. There is no more movement.

The others come sailing down their ropes from above, forming a strong defensive circle of Arbites carapace and automatic shotguns. Soon you are all wading through the muck...you risk a little light to inspect your surroundings (infrared vision will only reveal so much).

The dead man seems normal enough at first glance. Emaciated and sickly...covered only in filthy rags. Perhaps not so normal...and how did he hear, let alone see Haxtes in the first place. And why would an unarmed man attack a black-clad assassin? No, not so very normal...but quickly forgotten as the light reveals something far worse - the muck is not much at all. It's body fluids - blood, piss, feces, whatever. Putrefied body fluids - like they have lain here stewing in the damp dark for quite a while...for about ten days Enforcer Raynor - the strike teams medicae - suggests. A veritable lake of it...

So no you know what happened to the dead - they were hurled down the shaft...but where are the bodies?

Timestamp: 7.433.996.M41

Location: Icenholm/Gorgonid Mine, Sepheris Secundus, Glogenna Reach

Situation: Looking into the things that got stirred up in the Royal Palace

Body: Haxtes started his questioning. Lacking any particular skills in that direction. Or any sort of plan for that matter. Just keeping his act together and keeping what amounted to a giant bluff going  - one man pretending to have authority over thousands. A giant bluff that could well be called at any moment. But he kept it going, holding the crowd mesmerized while the Arbites loaded into their Valkyries and made ready to descend into the mine.

But did anything come of the questioning? Indeed it did. What should/could have taken a long long time resolved itself rather quickly. Almost as if the culprits wanted to get caught. A household servant stepped forth, claiming to know something. Something secret. Something he could tell only to the good Inquisitor. So he stepped forth and whispered into Haxtes ear. A name most foul. A name with power. N'rgl-ee. The young assassin felt the world sway madly, his soft psyker mind especially vulnerable to such filth. When finally he came to his senses the man was singing - to the tunes of an unknown song he repeated the words 'Maiden of Golgenna' over and over again. How could he know the name of the ship - and why would he sign its name? Haxtes shot him in the head before he could speak more of his rambling insanities.

Angered and quite unbalanced Haxtes took to sterner measures. He began walking among the men of the household, shooting at random. Screaming for confessions and repentance. There was much begging and screaming, but any information of worth was drowened by a cacophany of nonsense. Until one man stepped forth, an old miner-turned-overseer. He explained that yes, he had once belonged to the Sons of Malice, but that he had parted from them some time ago, because they had strayed from the Sons 'true path'. Which in his mind was spreading a gospel of disobedience and sabotage that would eventually lead to the Imperium 'wiping the slate clean'. Which meant killing everyone - as if that was a good thing (admittedly the serfs have little to live for, but even among them this sounded extreme). It happened several years ago. After the wyrds came. Then the Sons became sullied - turned away from the Emperor's light even, to worship something unspeakable that they found down in the dark. Now only the insane, mutants, and wyrds are part of the Sons. Like the one Haxtes just shot.

But perhaps more importantly - the man could take you past the seal without opening it. According to him all the mines - or almost all - are interconnected at some point, so you could get in if you were willing to take the long road. He knows becuase he's taken the route a few times in the past. To search the abandoned mine (it was closed down before the Inquisitor arrived, remember?) for ore fragments or abandoned gear that might be worth something. Strictly illegal of course, but profitable.

----

The Arbites descended in force and secured the place. The entire manor was seized by the Inquisition and its contents confiscated. All its inhabitants - nobles and servants alike - were taken to the Solitarium and confined there. The horde of serfs without was not taken there wholesale, but put through mobile processing stations first - with the 'promising' ones weeded out and sent up.

Xerza arrived with Maxi (still in his Divisio Immoralis guise). Talked to Haxtes, got his agitated report. Held his hand even, trying to calm him. But he only ranted and raged all the more. For a while she looked concerned, but finally the irrational outbursts subsided and he regained his composure - the rot had not taken hold, only upset his balance. Good. He would not need to be terminated - yet.

Then she returned to Icenholm to calm things down while Haxtes and Maxi look through the manor for promising clues, seizing things of particular value (to the Inquisition that is). The Arbites would process everything in detail of course, but they take their time doing it, so it always pays of to take a quick preliminary scan. There might be visible clues, or perhaps materials best taken in directly by the Holy Ordos...

----

The two survivors of the court attack were thoroughly interrogated (too bad the cable-car attack team feel to their deaths). They turned out to be in the employ of the Baron Brothos - agents not directly associated with his household, but nevertheless in his employ. They may or may not have been affiliated with the Sons of Malice - the two survivors were not proven to be, but one or more of the dead men might have been. When the Baron was taken they did not think - they merely acted. It is tempting to assume that the Sons were somehow involved and that it spurred them into action. But it was not proven...and the Sons are not the most rational group, so trying to ascribe the attack to them rather than human folly might be mistaken.

Little more of importance was uncovered; except for one thing...what about supplies? The soldiers of the 577th had been gone for 16 days now. How much food and water had they carried with them into the dark? A quick check with Division revealed that they might have had enough for 14 days IF they had started rationing early on.

Clearly something was awry. But the seal could not be opened. So Xerza bade her minions prepare and expedition. Haxtes, Maxi, Jarra and a squad of ten battle-hardened Arbitrators liaisoned from the Solitarium - Proctor Rotlan sensed blood in the water and wanted in.

And so it was that they made ready for a little spelunking. Led by a self-professed former cultist of the Sons. Landing at the Brothos estate they looked back at the darkened sky one last time before the earth closed over their heads...

Timestamp: 7.433.996.M41

Location: Icenholm/Gorgonid Mine, Sepheris Secundus, Glogenna Reach

Situation: Stirring things up instead of investigating undercover.

Body: While Maxi continued to maintain his cover as an officer of the Divisio Immoralis (as sub-branch of the Departmento Magistratum) Haxtes suddenly felt to urge to act. Perhaps he had grown afraid that Maxi would somehow screw things up, maybe he got a little bored, or perhaps he had a premonition that urged him to do something. Doesn't really matter why, but act he did.

Using the Colonel cover to secure a Valkyrie transport to the Solitarium, Haxtes arrived to find Maxi gone - headed for the Icenholm court, where he planned to appeal to the nobles for aid. With a Guard Division on the ground and an Arbites fortress in orbit, he figured that all it would take to cleanse the mines was for the nobles to join together with the Imperials and that would be it. Little did he know that the Inquisition had declared the mines off limit and that no amount of unity would change that fact.

But there was a reception - even the Queen attended. Her decrepitude and wandering mind clear for all to see. So it was left to the First Minister to do most of the talking with the Immoralis officer. He made it clear that he had sent the summons for aid because the Queen - as could be so readily seen - was not fit to rule at all. And the Imperium has sent aid thank you, and soon the situation would be resolved. No reason for Lord Sector Hax to be concerned. First Minister Porium would see to it that all would be well again - the tithe would flow and this little incident would soon be forgotten. Clearly this was going nowhere.

Unknown to Maxi there were other members of the cadre present. Rogue Trader Jax Guilliman and companion, with Odessa and Ignace close by (armed bodyguards are not allowed into the Queen's presence of course, but must remain just outside the Chambers and halls of the Court, where they are well covered by scanners, guards, and gun-servitors - just in case).

The Session of the Court was about to close (to be followed by the customary social event that inevitably accompanies a gathering of the rich and powerful) when Haxtes decided he had had enough of the proceedings. He had arrived some time before and observed the ineffectual First Minister and the witless Queen, concluding that this line of inquiry was going nowhere. Flashing his Rosette to the First Minister he coerced him into taking Maximilian to the Queen - though no words to that effect were spoken it was implied that Haxtes carried the full authority of an Inquisitor.

Upon seeing the Rosette for herself, and hearing the situation explained to her the Queen suddenly had a clear spell. At no point was the Rosette openly displayed, but the more cunning nobles must have understood that something out of the ordinary was taking place in their midst, and the eyes of  the court were suddenly upon the trio surrounding the Queen. And even the dim-witted paid heed as the Queen's voice rose into a maddened pitch! Rage consumed her - without her consent her First Minister had begged her liege for aid! Intolerable. Utterly intolerable! Poor Porium tried to reason with her - she had been ill and he had been forced to act. She must relax and not strain herself. His excuses made her all the more angry - but he had a point - she should not have strained herself so. With a gasp the Queen went rigid and keeled over, falling out of the throne and onto the stone floor.

There was great confusion. Someone at the back screamed bloody murder and people started to leave. Except the Queen's guard that moved to take out the presumed killers. Sensing things were about to go very wrong there was no other option - display the Rosette and make it all public. For one moment it all hung in the balance as vengeful guards closed in, but then generations of conditioning to utter obedience to authorities kicked in and the guards relented. The Chambers and Halls were sealed at Haxtes' orders. Far above Xerza could feel the future shifting...

----

Haxtes didn't really know what to do next. With the resources at hand he could not hope to detain and question all these nobles. He could try of course, but soon they would see through his deception and the spell of fear invoked by the Roesette would be broken. Not something that the Inquisition would like to see happen. But he was unwilling to let them go. He could feel it in his bones - someone must know something.

Salvation came in the form of Odessa. Or rather in the form of her psychic mind that chanced upon the thought-patterns of one concerned man. The Baron Brothos was thinking about the Sons of Malice - hoping that these new Inquisitors would overlook the heresies he was sure could be found among his own serfs and servants. Sons of Malice...pretty close to Brotherhood of Malice...another long shot, but better than nothing.

She spoke her finding into Haxtes mind, the Baron was seized and the members of the court allowed to go. Wasting no time Haxtes headed for the Baron's estate, taking poor Brothos with him. Sensing danger aplenty Haxtes summoned Jarra by vox, arranging for her to meet them by the cable-car station. Meanwhile Maxi remained in the court hall, keeping an eye on the Queen and First Minister. Wathcing the Royal Scourges and the medicae treating the Queen for signs of treachery.

----

Gunmen suddenly pushed into the court chamber, using the confusion to slip past guards and security systems. They appeared to be going for the Queen, or maybe the First Minister. Or maybe both. Or perhaps they were gunning for the Inquisition agent standing guard? Be that as it may. Three gunmen there were, but they had not accounted for the training of the Arbites. Soon one of them was dead and the other two incapacitated, and whomever they were here to kill...they had not succeeded!

Haxtes also came under attack as they descended into the Gorgonid in the Baron's luxurious cable car, the long cable taking them straight to his manor in the lower mine. Another cable car came after them, its occupants blazing away with autoguns. The baron was killed in a hail of fire, but Jarra responded with her bolter and the enemy car was blown to flaming pieces and fell into the abyss.

Arriving at the Brothos manor they found it to be much like other such manors. Rooms and corridors hewn into the worked-out mine face, a tall guarded wall protecting a wide courtyard, and the ramshackle homes of thousands of serfs ringing the compound. Haxtes once again took the role of the Inquisition agent - a dread Colonel of Inqusition Stromtroopers no less! Every member of the Baron's family and household were assembled in the courtyard, except his guards who were ordered to round up the serfs - ever last on of them - and assemble them outside the gates.

Up in Icenholm Maxi alerted Proctor Rotlan, asking him to take the downed gunmen into custody and ensure that Colonel Haxtes Guilliman got the support he needed.

Directed energy weapons (not to be confused with various exotic energy weapons) are also a common sight in the Imperium. Instead of shooting a solid projectile of some sort at the target, they cause damage by directing some form of energy at the target. The manufacture of energy weapons generally relies on high-tech not readily available to the Imperium – as a result most energy weapons are made by the Adeptus Mechanicus, or by local tech-guilds producing under Mechanicus license (mostly pure lasweapons).

Lasguns: Laser weapons – or lasweapons as they are known – are very common in the Imperium, made under Mechanicus license on thousands of worlds. The ubiquitous lasgun is also made iconic because it is the standard longarm of the Imperial Guard – there are quite literally billions of such weapons floating around the galaxy. Many xenos species also utilize las-weapons. The Eldar, for example, equip their Guardians (and certain Aspect Warriors) with advanced lasguns that fire into the Gamma-ray part of the spectrum (a technological feat only certain ancient Magi can duplicate).

Lasguns are among the most versatile of beam weapons, with a wide range of offensive and defensive applications. All lasguns are solid-state, using a solid crystalline material as the lasing medium. They require no hazardous chemicals and are compact, light, durable, and easy to use.

Laser weapons usually have variable settings; ranging from dazzle lasers that cause temporary blindness, via blinding lasers that cause permanent damage to eyesight or optics, to high-energy lasers that physical burn damage. Many military lasguns will only have the high-energy setting and many such weapons also have a hotshot option that increases output/damage at the expense of firing rate and energy consumption. All state-of-the-art lasweapons are of the variable-spectrum type, with the integrated machine spirit automatically attuning the beam frequency for optimum performance (meaning that lasweapons can operate effectively in vacuum, fog and atmospheric pollution, even underwater). Military lasweapons are sometimes capable of automatic (or pulse-mode) fire. When firing on automatic lasweapons deliver longer and more energetic pulses, but with less beam coherency, leading to somewhat increased damage at the expense of armor penetration (some models can actually fire in pulse mode even in single shot or semi-automatic modes).

Although the lasbeam is invisible the use of a hi-power lasgun will give away the firer's position because of DEW lines (Directed Energy Weapon lines – a very brief visible line caused by the energy release ionizing air molecules and burning atmospheric pollution along its path – reminiscent of a faint and short-lived lighting bolt), thermal blooming (the air around the gun's muzzle will heat dramatically – easy to spot using IR-equipment) and associated sonic shock wave (the sudden increase in pressure and temperature causes a thunder-like sound). Lasweapons are also effectively recoilless, but the powerful thermal/sonic effect on the atmosphere next to the muzzle tends to slightly disrupt aiming, meaning that lasguns are highly accurate but not fully stabilized when used as automatic weapons.

Hellguns: Hellguns (or blasters) are similar to lasguns in that they fire a beam of coherent light at the target. The difference it that hellguns use the las-beam not only to cause burn damage, but to guide a beam of charged particles at the target (so the hellgun is really two guns in one – a lasgun and a charged-particle accelerator).

Hellguns are much more portent than pure las weapons, but sacrifice the low bulk and ease-of-use that characterizes lasguns. Hellguns are also much more difficult and expensive to make, which of course prevents ordinary guard units from employing them – hellguns are usually only carried by Stromtrooper Regiments or other elite formations.

Hellguns come in a variety of shapes and sizes, ranging from hellpistols, via rifles, to heavy heavy support weapons (such as the Oerius Pattern Hellripper Support Weapon). Since hellguns go through a lot of power very quickly they are often attached to an external power source – like an atomic-stack battery (found in most power armors or carried as separate backpack units by Imperial Stromtroopers for example – such batteries contain power to last through most battles). Support weapons are invariably either connected to a heavy-duty capacitator or more frequently runs of a dedicated power generator or siphons power from an external power source (such as a vehicular power plant). Hellpistols are by comparison severely limited – even with less powerful blasts they go through a standard power cell very quickly.

Plasma guns: Plasma guns are another variation of the lasgun that use a powerful laser to turn a hydrogen pellet into a high-temperature plasma state. The plasma is contained and subsequently accelerated and released along the path of the laser beam – or rather along the evacuated tunnel left by the laser beam (otherwise the plasma would immediately scatter.

The plasma guns produced by the Adeptus Mechanicus are incredibly advanced weapons that only they can build and maintain. Capable of variable rapid-pulse/sustained fire these weapons are among the most devastating weapons found in the Imperial arsenal, capable of shredding hordes of armored opponents or bringing down even hardened single targets. Cruder versions crafted by lesser tech-guilds can also be found, but such pieces are invariably bulky and incapable of outputting the same volume of fire (but they are no less deadly). Several xenos races also utilize similar weapons – the Tau deploy powerful and slow-firing plasma-pulse weapons.

Plasma weapons have good ranges and excellent penetration due to their dualistic kinetic/thermal payload. The effect of a sustained plasma blast on flesh is devastating – only bones and deeply charred reside will remain. Even if a plasma gun fails to penetrate armor it can – quite literally – cook the wearer. Plasma weapons are loud and bright – similar to lasweapons, only several magnitudes more intense. Plasma weapons range in size from pistol, via rifles, to support weapons.

Melta guns: Melta (or fusion beam) weapons are a variant of the plasma gun that sacrifices range and rate of fire for pure destructive power. The name of the weapon is evocative – the star-hot temperatures of the plasma beam literally melts through armor and burns the target.

The only faction within the Imperium with the skills required to make these weapons is the Adeptus Mechanicus – they make melta weapons strictly for military use, supplying them to the Imperial Guard and Astartes for use as anti-armor weapons. Inferno pistols (miniature melta weapons) are very rare, but priority units can expect to have access to melta guns if the situation warrants it. The Eldar are known to use melta guns in the anti-armor role.