Dead in the Water (Dark Heresy IC)

[Destro_Yersul]

Annie and Enoch

Hiram half-turned in his chair, craning his neck to look in Annie's direction. "Hello," he said, somewhat shakily. "Are you a friend of..." trailing off, Hiram straightened. "Enoch. I didn't ask your name, earlier. Or give you mine. I'm sorry. Call me Hiram. Normally... there's not much normal about this, though, is there?"

He paused, patting his pockets and collecting his thoughts. "Please, miss, sit down. If you can tell me anything more about what happened to Thaddius, I'd like to hear it. This place has always been more my style than his. If I hadn't asked him to come along, well. I suppose you wouldn't be here, would you? I'm afraid I'm still not sure why you're here, actually."

Mouse

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"This way, then." The Waiter indicated to Mouse that she should follow, then headed towards the hall that lead to the back of the club. The hall was narrow, with an alcove off to one side containing a pair of restroom doors, and beyond that Mouse could see a swinging gate with an 'employees only' plaque bolted to its face. They turned, heading away from the restrooms, along a hall with a number of closed black doors to the left. Undoubtedly, these led to the club's compliment of private rooms. One of of the doors opened as they passed, a tall gentleman in a dinner jacket much like those worn by the fancier patrons out front emerging to close it behind him. He tipped his hat to Mouse and made his way down the direction they'd come from.

"Must have recognised a fellow creative," the waiter remarked, rounding the corner at the end of the hall and stopping near a final door with a gold star painted on it. He opened the door, holding it for Mouse. "You'll be on after Carlyn. It'll be about a half hour, so you might want to spend it rehearsing." Then he was gone, leaving her with the room and its other occupants.

The room was small, and mostly filled with chairs. There was a low table in the center holding a collection of ashtrays and dog-earred periodicals. A humming refridgeration unit in the corner was stocked with bottled water, and next to that was a full-length mirror, cracked and unframed. A curtain-covered opening to her right looked like the other side of the identical one she'd seen on the stage. The whole place was painted black, and poorly lit by a single old lumen-globe hanging from a chain. It looked shabby, which served as a reminder that this wasn't exactly the classiest of environs.

Then, there were the room's occupants. There were three of them: The first, a man with wild grey hair dressed in a suit that looked either behind or ahead of the current fashion, sat kicked back in his chair with legs resting on the central table. He was holding a notepad and spinning an autoquill around in one hand, reading his words back to himself in an accent thicker than Detective McKaren's. The second was sitting next to him, arms folded across her chest. She wore a plain white shirt and a black vest, and was trying her damndest to look wholly uninterested in what the accented man was saying, smoking a lho stick and sneaking glances at him whenever she thought he wasn't looking. She had a dataslate sitting on the table in front of her, but it looked like it had been turned off. The last was standing, pacing back and forth in front of the mirror, his every other step punctuated by the whirring hydraulics of a poorly maintained augmetic limb. He looked up when she entered, tired eyes regarding her from an otherwise handsome face. "Hello."

[LeSwordfish]

"Annie." Annie said. She had hoped to stay standing, but she didn't mean to attract any more attention than necessary if she could help it, so she grudgingly took a seat next to Hiram. "I 'magine you've been very nice and all helpful to me buddy here an' I 'magine you'll be wanting ter continue wi' that."

OOC

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I'll let Thragka/Enoch drive this, since IC Annie would start blurting out "he were killed by psykers" and so forth. If you've run up against a wall with Hiram, might be worth trying a few other victim names on him, but I didn't want to OOC spoil anything.

[ArtifcerProdigy]

As Annie's thinly veiled threats roll off her tongue, a man sitting at a nearby table stands abruptly. Previously unassuming, if impeccably dressed, he strides purposefully towards the discussion with a look of mild annoyance on his face. You are suddenly uncertain how he could possibly escaped your notice, as a wave of palpable self-importance radiates from him. The tap of his exquisite cane ceases as he reaches the table, he tips his hat to the group as he inspects the two newcomers critically, somehow managing to look down his nose the entire time.

He addresses Enoch, ignoring Annie's presence entirely.
"The patrons of this fine establishment are not interested in being interrogated Mr. Enoch, call off your dog before she bites someone. Mr. Hiram, we have not had the pleasure of being introduced, but as a a fellow respected patron, I will be sure to look into this matter personally and notify you of the result. I assure you that I have the necessary qualifications."

His attention returns to Enoch.
"May I have a word with you, outside?" clearly a statement, not a question. He turns and begins walking towards the entrance. His tone and manner obviously expressing his automatic assumption of compliance.

[LeSwordfish]

Annie visibly bristled, her hackles rising like the "dog" she was being accused of being. It was only with great force of will that she resisted the temptation to shout at the posho as he berated Enoch, but she did stand and stalk after him towards the door.

"I don't care if you come or not." she said to the psyker. "But you" -she pointed at Hiram "you stay here. We aint done with you."

[Thragka]

"Thank you, Ms Lee," Enoch managed, his sunken eyes studying the newcomer in cold, reptilian calculation, far removed from the warm-blooded thought processes of a human. "Sir. I am certain your precocity is born of ignorance rather than malice." The words came flowing back to him from some hidden groove in his soul; this was communication, not the vulgar prattling of the lesser classes. He rose to his feet, clutching his stave. "I am not 'mister'. I am Enoch, The Silver Aeon, and you will do well to remember that when you interrupt me."

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Enoch don't take kindly to jumped-up Johnnies-come-lately thinking they're better than him. Manifesting Fearful Aura on two dice. Target number 7: (2d10+4)[14]

[Destro_Yersul]

By the Stage

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For the second time, the room suddenly got very quiet. Most of the people in it were staring oddly at Enoch. Hiram, under a combination of Annie's threats and Enoch's power, had shrunken in his seat, and was quietly gibbering under the table. Those farthest from Enoch edged towards the washrooms and the back hall, looking unnerved. Then all hell broke loose, as patrons upended tables and chairs in their newfound haste to be as far from the psyker as possible. From her position just behind Kane, Annie could see the bartender, along with the rest of the serving staff, disappearing through one of the 'Employee Only' doors. The group of men in dinner jackets had fled for the back hall, and everyone near the front doors was bolting flat out for those, all but trampling each other. A few of the braver men and women remained, cowering behind upturned tables and glancing fearfully at the exits, as though wondering whether or not they could make it.

When Enoch had risen from his chair, the club had contained dozens of people. Now, less than ten remained behind, leaving Kane, Annie and Enoch standing in the middle of a suddenly deserted space, amidst smashed glasses and scattered food.

Mouse

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From behind the curtain that led to the club's main stage came the sudden sound of raised voices, followed by scraping furniture and running feet. The man with the tired eyes stopped his pacing to stare at the curtain, and the woman stood up from her seat near the table, taking a few steps towards it before pausing, evidently wondering whether or not she wanted to know what was happening out there.

Joss

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Over the hum of the air circulation, Joss became distantly aware of a new sound. The background noises of the hive had been replaced by shouting, the sounds of many people running, and.. was that a scream? Yes, someone out front of the club had definitely just screamed. Then the backdoor Joss was ostensibly guarding burst open, a good dozen of the club's patrons scattering in every direction.

[ArtifcerProdigy]

The unfortunate nobleman stares at the psyker with wide eyes, briefly transfixed by the apparition that has materialized before him. He begins to stumble backwards, dropping his cane, and nearly falling flat on his back as he trips over a discarded plate. His eyes shift sideways to the exits, calculating, as he does his best to keep the monstrous being in his field of vision.

[LeSwordfish]

Annie reeled back from Enoch, nearly falling over herself- but the brunt of the power was aimed away from her, and she managed to remain standing. Shaking her head to clear it, she started to round on Enoch- and then thought better, turning to the newcomer.

"Look what yer done now." she grunted. "Complete bloody ****-up. I could shoot you, right? Legally speakin', right now, I bloody could. You too." she added to Hiram."

Resisting the temptation to punch the newcomer in his smug face, she turned away. "Mouse! Shield-lady! Where've you gone?"

[Artemis97]

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Joss tenses at the sound of screaming. Something was going down, quarry being flushed. It was like the baying of hounds to the Acreage native. The instant the door opens he lunges to tackle the first person to exit from it, not entirely expecting the whole herd of people following. The assassin will attempt to hold on to the single fleeing patron while rolling both of them away from the door to avoid being crushed under the stampede.

[Thragka]

"Pathetic," Enoch muttered of the fleeing patrons, before turning to glare at Kane. "You were saying?" He held the skeins of the Warp taut as they stretched between himself and the noble.

[UncleWolf]

Mouse

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Mouse had been smiling to the other poets until the all-too-familiar sound of "Everything-Goes-To-Warp-In-A-Handbasket" begins to play through the air followed by someone calling her name. When she finally gets up the will to acknowledge it, she can't help but give a loud groan before standing from her seat. "I apologize, but I recommend you all leave through the back door. It doesn't sound like things are going well out there and I fear that my friends might be the result of it. Again, I apologize for the interruption to your nights. Just...um...next time I'll have to come alone."

With that terrible apology done, she turns her back and heads out the way she came, a perpetual scowl on her face.

When she gets out to the others, she gives a glance at Enoch. She feels her skin grow cold as she starts to sweat and her hands tremble a bit, but she bites her cheek to distract her from the terror welling up inside of her. She could feel it and it made her unsure, but she had to take care of this before it got out of hand.

Those watching her will see her walking up behind Enoch, drawing her shotgun from her back as she does so before pointing it at him. "Enoch. Put it away or I'll put you down." She growls,knuckles white on her shotgun. "I don't give a frak about what happened here, but you've probably blown whatever chance we have at doing this properly."

[LeSwordfish]

"'zactly." Annie said, heading round behind the bar. "Thass why i'm searchin. Fer something."

Mostly she seemed to be taking the more expensive, more alcoholic bottles and slipping them into her pockets, but she was also poking around for papers, a safe, or any kind of record. "Might need someone who can read here. Pref'rably some bugger who can read and hasn't just dropped the fear of the gods on a poetry club to win a ****ing pissing contest."

She raised her head above the bar so they could see her roll her eyes. "Seriously, men."

[Thragka]

Anyone in front of him could see the disgust on Enoch's face as Mouse gave him an order. Nonetheless, he relaxed, and the currents in the Warp slackened and drifted away from him. He was a smaller, meaner man when the psykery departed.

"I didn't see you trying to interrogate anyone," he muttered. "Frankly, at least I got some information about one of the corpses. And this man," he indicated Hiram "might be a little more ... pliable, now, for all you know."

[Destro_Yersul]

Joss

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Joss' chosen patron was evidently quite surprised to see someone waiting in the alley, much less a very dangerous Imperial assassin. He stopped for a moment, and that was all it took for Joss to crash into him, sending them both rolling to one side. The other patrons fled down the alley, not seeming to care which direction they went as long as it was away from the club.

"You've got to let me go," The man in the Assassin's grasp squirmed. "There's... thing. In there." He was trying to get away, but Joss held firm until he stopped struggling. From the brief glimpse the warrior had caught before barreling headlong into the fellow this was one of the more midhive class people, simply dressed and probably not all that much good in a fight.

"I'm not sure what happened. One minute he was normal, the next... Great black thing looms up behind him." He gave a rough description of Enoch, and from his terrified ramblings it became evident that the Psyker had tried to intimidate someone in a rather spectacular fashion. Like as not the screaming from out front had been the rest of the patrons scattering.

Mouse

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The others nodded acknowledgement, standing and heading out the way she'd come in. They looked unnerved, but anyone would have been unnerved by the sounds that had just come from the main room of an otherwise sedate nightclub. Mouse had just seen the last of them stpe out the door when the curtain fell to block her view of the little backstage room.

The Main Room

Annie's search was slow going, and hampered by an inability to read most of what she found. There were a stack of bar tab parchments on a spike behind the bar, and a dizzying array of alcohol, expensive and otherwise. She'd never be able to carry it all, but a few of the choicer bottles were easily pilfered. There was no safe: that was probably in the back, and the employees were probably still hiding out in there. Most of the important records were probably back there as well. She did locate something that looked like a reservations book in the little podium by the lobby - the painting here had been knocked over by someone when they were leaving, and the canvas was lying on the floor with a dirty bootprint on it. It was worth a lot less now, Annie was sure of that.

Getting backstage was easy, using the little curtained stage door that Mouse had come out of. There wasn't much of worth back there, though: A few magazines on a low table and a refridgeration unit full of water. The bar had been a better haul than this, and the possibilities there had been shortly exhausted. If she wanted to find anything else, she'd need to check the private rooms or the staff areas, and either of those places could easily still be occupied.

From out front, she caught snatches of conversation: Hiram was talking again, now that Enoch had dropped the psyker buggery. He still sounded slightly hysterical, but it was an improvement over the wordless nonsense he'd been spewing a moment ago.

"Pliable?" the man was saying, "But I told you what I knew. Who are you? What are you?"

[LeSwordfish]

Annie re-entered the main room. "There might be more stuff to find in the other rooms. They probably got people hiding in them too, but I reckon that don't stop us, like? I reckon we're in fer a throne, might as well be in fer a titan. Make this look like a proper raid, like, make it seem all gang-y and get McKaren to squash any investigation."

[ArtifcerProdigy]

As Enoch released his grip on the terrors of the warp, and the shadows of the room faded to normalcy, the petrified nobleman began to regain his composure. Leaning on a nearby table he closes his eyes for a moment, breathing deeply.

When his eyes open, he turns and strides over to retrieve his cane before slowly and carefully moving to greet Mouse, avoiding both shotgun barrel and psyker as best he can.

"Ah, I hope that the room's average common sense has just increased slightly, I am glad to see someone else who is, mmm... disturbed by this turn of events."

As he approaches mouse, he greets her formally. "Kane Verspasien Talbec Theophilus the second. More detailed introductions must wait, I'm afraid, I must see what I can salvage here before the arbitrators and enforcers arrive and McKaren starts respectfully asking questions about why you're starting riots."

Once he finished conversing, Kane moved to look through the paperwork Annie was rifling through, memorizing the bar tabs and name list for cross referencing when he had time later.

"I will point out that people were scared off by a monster, McKaren has no power to squash the rumors." Kane responded offhandedly to Annie's comment as he works. "Plus, if we wait, there will be... paperwork..." he adds, with the utmost disdain.

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My post is a bit long, if someone wishes to interrupt, I will modify Kane's response.

Otherwise, if the others go into the staff areas anyway, Kane will reluctantly follow and continue investigating.

[LeSwordfish]

Annie raised a finger. "Oi. Yeah, excuse me. One question. The **** are you doing?"

She let that hang in the air for a second, before correcting herself. "Two questions, sorry. The **** are you doing, and how ****ing dare you talk to me like that."

[Artemis97]

Joss growls out a single name "Enoch." As he hauls his captured patron to his feet and back into the bar.

Inside the main barroom the assassin glances around at his comrades, looking the stranger Kane over with his cat-like eyes, sizing the man up, before finally settling on Enoch. "What spell did you cast on these poor people?" The fuedalworlder rasps.

[ArtifcerProdigy]

As he hears Annie's questions, Kane sighs and replaces the papers he was perusing over by the bar. He fishes through his jacket for a lho-stick and lights it up as Joss drags his victim inside.

"Ohhhhh good, a primitive, and with mid-hiver prey to boot..." he says under his breath, in that distinctive noble fashion, such that he can be heard perfectly across the room.

While Enoch responds he leans against the bar, shaking a tiny bit, still attempting to banish the horrors echoing through his mind. After a long draw he places his hands on the bar. He glances around the room, hoping that the stragglers had enough sense to get out by now, and drops all pretexts.

"Now, I assume everyone has arrived. I was hoping this discussion could wait until we were in a more secure environment, but since subtleties and deduction are clearly not your strong suit, I will make the situation painfully clear."

Kane reaches into another coat pocket to withdraw and display an arbitrator badge.

"Taking interest in your case, probably long before you arrived on planet, I had taken on the role of a disinterested noble adventuring into the seedy mid-hive to investigate correlations between victims. As this was approximately my real identity minus my profession, it was quite easy. After many days of setup, I was just beginning to ingratiate myself to the other members of the targeted poetry club to gather the required clues to proceed. At this point a group of gun-toting individuals enter the picture. These individuals start questioning and threatening the patrons in a fashion even more conspicuous than their dress, obviously in imminent danger of tipping off my quarry. I attempt to dissuade these people from their current actions so I can explain the situation before it deteriorates further."

Kane opens his arms in a gesture encompassing the room as he puts on a wry smirk.

"As you can see, that worked handsomely... So here I am, explaining myself to a group who has ruined my investigation, done their best to frighten me to death with supernatural powers, are quite angry that I insulted them while undercover, threatened to shoot me because it is legal, and have given me little to no reason to have any respect for their opinions or abilities. All the while time is wasting as the paperwork inducing authorities approach. Are there any further questions, or has this been sufficiently exhaustive to return to fixing things? Or perhaps, as Enoch The Silver Aeon has suggested, you can get all the information you need by continuing to frightening the patrons you have captured until they turn into gibbering wrecks. I must admit, that sounds like a solid alternative to my investigative plan."


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If nobody starts yelling at some point and nobody shoots him, I'll count myself lucky, and he'll turn to continue investigating.

[Artemis97]

Joss narrows his eyes at Kane and unceremoniously drops the mid-hiver he'd captured. The assassin's face showed little expression, except for a gleam of curiosity in those strange eyes, studying the nobleman as he spoke. Hidden behind his scarf a small smile formed as he approached the new man before, in a blur of motion, hauling out to punch Kane right in the nose.

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(1d100)[71] vs 43 WS, to see if I can hit him. Not meaning to cause actual damage, here, however.

[Destro_Yersul]

By the time Kane started speaking, the only stragglers left in the room were Hiram, who had been specifically told by Annie to stay put and showed no signs of intending not to listen, and the fellow Joss had dragged in, who looked distinctly unhappy about the current arrangement. He looked even less happy when Joss took a swing at Kane, who as far as he was concerned was the only reasonable person left in the building.

When Kane finished his tirade there was a moment of silence. Then Gabe, who had until now been sitting somewhat quietly with his head in his hands, looked up and cleared his throat.

"Paperwork won't be a problem. We can have all that nicely brushed under the rug, so to speak." The priest stood, setting his glass down on the table beside him, one of the few that hadn't been knocked over. "That said, we've undoubtedly drawn attention. Well, some of us. This place isn't yet a dead end for Mouse, Joss, or myself, if we leave before somebody worse than the authorities shows up: the press. None of us wants our faces on the evening news, yes? Yes."

He pointed once each at Hiram, Kane, and Joss' victim. "I'd like you to come with us, for now. If nothing else, I can apologise for this little incident with drinks, purchased from somewhere other than here. Kane, you said your name was? You're with the arbites, and you've been here longer than we have. I want to hear what you know about the case before we decide our next move."

Even standing there in the middle of a half-destroyed nightclub, Gabe was ever the clever politician. A smile here, a compliment there... Joss was inadvertently reminded of an entirely different Gabe, weapons in hand, staring down blank-faced metal horrors beneath the sands of Klybo. Even then, the priest had remained focused on the mission.

His point made, Gabe started walking towards the door.

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Apologies to Thanatos for borrowing his character, or if any of this seems out of character for our good priest, but I need some way to help resolve this amicably, now don't I?

[LeSwordfish]

Annie barked with laughter as Joss swung at Kane. "Point've order, though. I aint shooting you cos it's legal, i'm shooting you cos I want to, and cos legality don't really apply to us."

She was unwilling to say more in front of the bar's patrons, but she'd have paid a lot of money to see the jumped-up topper's face when he realised who they were.

"Fine then. New plan. We help the staff get away from the scary thing and do some raiding while they're gone. Pillers of the ****in' community, then, but we 'ave ter do it now." This was addressed to Mouse- she'd have dropped her pistols down a sump-hole before admitting that Kane might have something approaching the edge of the tiniest smidgen of a point.

[Artemis97]

Frustrated, his slitted pupils narrowing, Joss considers drawing the dagger he had readied for the fight he'd prepared for in the back alley. His anger, however, was quickly headed off by Gabe clearing his throat and speaking. The assassin had marched through a practical hell and back at that man's side, and was inclined to listen to him, and his words carried even more weight as one who served the God Emperor.

Joss took a deep breath and stepped back out of arm's reach of Kane, though he was wary for any retaliation the man might pull. But what nobleman would sink so low to fight back against a 'primitive'? Then again, how many might've died at this one's hands? Was he the kind to just give orders? Certainly talkative enough. Or did he like to get his hands dirty? Was that why he was here?

"You're right." Joss agreed. "We need to retreat for now, and quickly." He moved to collect the man he'd caught in the alleyway and escort him out the back door again. Hopefully the others would have enough sense not to walk right out the front door.

[ArtifcerProdigy]

As Joss leapt forward to strike, Kane was forced to dance backwards, the surprised look on his face shifting into one of exasperation.

Once the feudal worlder seemed unlikely to continue his pugilism practice in Kane's general direction, Kane resumed ignoring Joss' presence and quickly returned to work. Trying to get a look at all the paperwork before the group manages to get out the door, he quickly strides out after Gabe upon completion, grumbling quietly.

"Paperwork may not apply to you... Who would have thought, that the cleric has the most common sense. The wonders never cease."

Kane zones out a bit as the group walks, falling into his habit of disassembling the statements of those around him when frustrated.

"Also, barring insanity, it is practically a logical impossibility to do something you do not want to do. This implies that stating an interest in shooting me also implies desire, making your clarification unnecessary. The ability to do so legally is simply an enabler and component of the circumstance..."

He trails off into silent thought, processing the events of the day, and taking a cursory look at the data he collected.

[Thragka]

"Fires of Terra, do you ever shut up?" Enoch muttered in Kane's direction. He had spent the past minute or two vigorously massaging his forehead - perhaps the brief tangle with the Warp had adversely affected him, too. Despite his confrontational tone, he didn't make eye contact with Kane - he seemed to have deflated in comparison to the arrogant force of personality he'd exhibited moments before. Gaze low, he turned to Annie. "If that's what we're doing," he added, "I'm taking the Ebrius."

[UncleWolf]

Mouse is silent during all of the talking and simply puts away her gun as she looks around once more. "Yes, we need to leave. Give things a night to settle down before we show ourselves again. Otherwise we'll be moving too fast. If we head back to the apartment, we can discuss things there and formulate a plan. I have an idea of how those of us who were exposed here can proceed." With that she gives everyone a quick glance before shrugging and heading for the door. "But we need to leave first. Meet you back at the tram."

[LeSwordfish]

Annie looked at the labels on the two bottles in her hands, before throwing one at random to Enoch. "Sure."

She shrugged. "Fine, we do things your way. Probably easier to get the arbites to search this place anyway." Taking a swig from the bottle in her other hand, she tucked it in her pocket and followed Mouse and Gabe to the exit. She studiously ignored Kane as she did so, and clinked with every step.

[Destro_Yersul]

Gabe had picked the back exit to leave from, rather than risk just running out the front door. Taking the alley was a short detour, but less likely to connect them to the club if anyone saw. The party of 8; five acolytes, one noble, and two 'hostages,' stepped out into the evening crowd of the street at the other end of the alley without so much as a second glance from most of thepeople hurrying through it. This seemed to be a busier thoroughfare than the little street that the Darkroom Club was on, though the businesses here were just as rundown. Neon lights glowed outside the plate-glass windows to the sea, and up ahead a tram was travelling past, headlights stabbing through the murk. They caught a tram back to their home spire, but Gabe evidently felt it was not the best time to take their newfound friends back to the apartment, instead picking a streetfront cafe that was still open across the street from the tram station. The selection made sense to the more stealthy-minded of the group. Hide in plain sight, act natural, and nobody will think twice. Plus, they were far enough from the club now that running into any of its patrons was extremely unlikely. Managing to find a booth near the front of the cafe, big enough to hold all of them and removed enough from the street to afford privacy, they settled in.

Calling for drinks, Gabe started the conversation. "So, Kane? Now that we've got a moment to sit back, I'd like to hear your thoughts. What have you found?" He glanced to the side at Hiram and the midhiver that Joss had dragged along. "My apologies to you two, by the way. It's in your best interests to tell us what you may know, and also not to repeat this conversation to anyone."

During the tram ride, they'd had time to go over the few items Annie had managed to pillage from the club, as well as to impress upon their captives the need for silence. Hiram seemed willing enough to cooperate, though he kept nervously sneaking glances at Enoch, as though he expected the psyker to explode at any given moment. The midhiver was a bit more surly, having been essentially tackled by Joss and forced back into a situation he didn't much care for. Kane's arbitrator badge had been enough to keep him quiet for now, though.

Annie's haul, in total, consisted of a stack of bar tabs, both paid and incomplete. There was a good-size pile of them, but it was only for the one day. They wouldn't be able to tell repeat customers from this, just who had stayed for a while, at what times, and how expensive their drinks were. The reservations booklet was more helpful for the repeat customers. It would take longer than a single tram ride to go through effectively, but anyone who made a regular habit of appearing at the club was sure to show up. On the less-helpful side of things, Annie had also managed to make off with half a dozen bottles from behind the bar, in varying states of emptiness and quality.

[ArtifcerProdigy]

As the group entered the cafe, Kane found space between the booths to store the painting unobtrusively before sliding into the group's booth, picking his seat to place himself optimally as far away as possible from Enoch, Joss, and Annie in order of priority.

He orders a fancy, but extremely potent drink with about 4 kinds of alcohol.

At Gabe's statement, Kane raises an eyebrow with a sidelong glance at the captives. He surveys the room briefly to determine how many people might be within earshot while responding.

"I thought you lot handled bystanders differently." he said, skeptically.

"If you find the questionable present locale and company to be acceptable, I am prepared to give an in-depth analysis of my suspicions, hunches, and deductions. As infiltration of the club was my first step as far as investigation, I have access to no more information than yourselves. However, there are countless avenues along which to proceed."

[Thragka]

Enoch ordered recaf, black as the depths of the ocean, bitter as his humour.

"By all means," he said when he'd sat down with the others. "Since you interrupted our earlier line of inquiry, I'd say you owe us that much."