Sea of Stars - IC II

[Destro_Yersul]

Discussions

The Witch-cursed world, Anika knew, was one of the stations of passage in the Maw, but it had a bad reputation. It was a large rocky planet, settled into an area of relative calm, with no natural resources to speak of. The sole point of value was that the storms of the Maw didn't touch the planet, which had apparently been enough for someone to bother building an astropathic relay station on it. It was supposed to be bad luck to stay in orbit too long, and both Anika and Macharius knew the story of the derelicts.

Every so often, someone would fail to appear at the scheduled time of arrival, at Port Wander or Footfall. Usually an expedition would set out to look for them, and find out what had gone wrong. On more than one occasion, such ships had been found floating powerless in orbit around the Witch Cursed World, with all their crew gone and most of the log entries corrupted beyond recovery. No signs of life, struggle, mutiny, and with all the saviour pods still in place, but everyone just... gone. None of these ships had ever been recovered, of course, and the usual excuse was that the salvage crews, fearing the dead vessels, had set them adrift and fled. Still, the stories kept cropping up.

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

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"How odd," Galimina said. "For a cogitator, a process which cannot complete is anathema. It causes the system to lock up, stuck in an endless loop of attempting to bring the process to a point at which it can be declared finished. Yet your hypothesis makes sense - the conflicting directive sets held by the ship and I have not caused me to become nonfunctional. Partly as a result of work carried out by the Seeker of Knowledge, but partly, I believe, due to the work of my initial builders, and the manner in which the systems here are set up. I have not seen any of the crew enter a locked state due to an inability to process an incomplete directive, but something similar may be possible. This would imply that there are at least parallels between our existences, even if they may not be exactly the same. Certainly our origins are very different."

"You have not spoken much of your origins. This is the first time I can recall that you have mentioned your... 'Pater,' was it? An extremely formal term if my understanding is correct."

Spoiler: Anika Only

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If her story was a little spur of the moment, the person on the other end didn't seem to notice. "There would be a reward, that's one of the private ones. Some account with House Krin is backing it. The file just says she's wanted for questioning, could be any number of things. Pretty old file, though, nothing new with this one for years now. Let me give you a tracking code, and you can follow up with House Krin and see if it's still an active reward. They never took it down with us, but you can't tell with these."

The operator rattled off a series of numbers.

"Give that to one of Krin's representatives, they might be able to give you more. That's all we've got, though. I'll note your tip, but seeing as it's from out of sector I can't really do more than that."

[Haval]

Discussions

'So if the rumours are true technically whatever happened to these ships could have happened to anyone passing through the Maw at any point. How ghoulish.' To Macharius, 'If we are going to take a look down there on the way back I would recommend not making any assumptions about what might be down there. Even if we're obliged to leave in a hurry it'll be more than most have managed.'

Spire Stalker

Anika will try and get a meeting with someone from the Chaliced Commissariat even if she has to inlist her mother's help to get an introduction. Idle curiousity didn't sound like it would get her very far, so she'll present herself as a member of the Vanhal family that is worried about the potential threat that the Stalker represented. She'll also present herself as a representative of House Absolum and suggest that Macharius might be willing to put some of his resources at their disposal.

If Macharius is busy socialising, Anika will go with him on a few occasions to see if she can find out anyone connected to any of the Stalker's victims.

Spoiler

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Inquiry if needed
vs. Fel 47 (+10 if etiquette)
(1d100)[36]

Research Trip

Anika has not been back to the Lexis Maxima since she lost her position there but felt it would be a shame not to visit the place while they were here. After what they found in the locker she also had a sudden need to visit to help her identify some of their finds. For the Asartes helmet, assuming her library card was still active, there was Hershal's extensive Commentaries on the Apocrypha of Skaros. There was no more fool proof method of tracing Astartes heraldry short of finding one of them to ask.

For the painting she'll attempt to find some of her former colleages from the Art History department and show them a picture she'd taken of the eerie looking painting. If the rumours about Landunder were true there was every chance that someone would know something about the artist.

After some consideration she won't share any pictures of the Xenos statue with anyone until they know what they're going to do with it. If owning it turns out to be a problem there was no need to cause problems for anyone else. Instead, if he's around, Anika will go looking for Elias Riechert in his office. He had helped them get in touch with Inquisitor Mathias the first time so perhaps he knew someone at the Tricorn Palace who was on the discreet side.

Spoiler: ooc

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Charm if needed to let me in to the library in case Anika's not allowed anymore.
vs. Fel 47 (+10 if Etiquette)
(1d100)[66]

Going to try to identify the Astartes helmet in character even though I failed my roll earlier.

Inquiry test to find someone who can identify the painting
vs. Fel 47
(1d100)[28]

Elias Riechert is in the NPC list from way back

Spoiler: Destro only

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'Oh, them.' As a Scintillan Anika is familiar with House Krin even if she's had no direct dealings with them. 'Then thank you for your assistance.'

Using the number that she's been given, Anika will make enquiries with House Krin's people to see if anyone wants to talk to her.

[Blarghy]

Discussions

Knowing virtually nothing about the Witch-Cursed World, Kennoch could only nod gratefully when Macharius agreed to have a look. It did indeed sound dangerous, but if it wasn't, then there wouldn't be a reward, and someone else would've already taken care of the matter. He had more to say about his corrupted cousins.

"I do indeed I do have more cages more," Echo confirmed. "They are they are at your disposal your, of course course. But I cannot cannot even guess even at the state the of Alessaunder's schemes Alessaunder's schemes. I know his his base of operations base: the Bitter Truth Truth Truth the Bitter Truth, a powerful warship powerful and dreaded cathedral dreaded to his evil gods evil gods. A Slaughter-class Cruiser Slaughter. Where she makes port where she, I cannot say say, other than dark places dark like this Forge Polix Forge Polix with which Alessaunder which has aligned himself himself. But I do I do have some information some on his lesser family family.

"As I've mentioned before mentioned, they evidently have they have a plan to impersonate plan members of House Visscher members. Another Navis House Navis. One serves somewhere serves in Winterscale's fleet fleet. Another among the the Mechanicus Explorators under Mechanicus Magos-Commodore Gnothis Trannarch Commodore Trannarch. I do not do not know their exact ships exact. But I do know know the details of details the third pretender third: one of Misson's pirates Misson's, the Pyrel the, commanded by William Mayes William. I suggest we suggest take that one first take, as he is he is he is already your enemy your, and that Castermare Castermare will tell me will tell about their fellows their." Kennoch patted his horrible new toy, the Excruciator clasped by servo-manipulators on the arm of his void-suit. "They will tell tell me many things many."

[rax]

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

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"How odd," Galimina said. "For a cogitator, a process which cannot complete is anathema. It causes the system to lock up, stuck in an endless loop of attempting to bring the process to a point at which it can be declared finished. Yet your hypothesis makes sense - the conflicting directive sets held by the ship and I have not caused me to become nonfunctional. Partly as a result of work carried out by the Seeker of Knowledge, but partly, I believe, due to the work of my initial builders, and the manner in which the systems here are set up. I have not seen any of the crew enter a locked state due to an inability to process an incomplete directive, but something similar may be possible. This would imply that there are at least parallels between our existences, even if they may not be exactly the same. Certainly our origins are very different."

"You have not spoken much of your origins. This is the first time I can recall that you have mentioned your... 'Pater,' was it? An extremely formal term if my understanding is correct."

Spoiler: Destro Only

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Hannabel gives Galimina a curious look, then chuckles darkly at her question. "Careful now, curiosity killed the cat and could do the same to a nosy machine spirit. 'Pater' is actually the warmest form of adress I would use when speaking of him. Why are you asking me this?"

OOC: Just to be clear, I'm not trying to shut down this line of questioning. Hannabel is just surprised at the question and that makes her immediately defensive.

[Destro_Yersul]

Stalker Investigation

The Commissariat wasn't inclined to talk to just anyone, but once Anika had thrown her family name around, and moreover mentioned Macharius' willingness to provide material assistance to the investigation, she was at least able to get a foot in the door. The meeting was in the lucid palace, in the HQ of the commissariat, and Williams had been hard at work filling Macharius' social calender, so it looked like they'd need to be there for a few days. Fitting in an hour or to to see the Commissariat commander was a minor scheduling trifle.

Spoiler: OOC

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Who all is going to go to this meeting? Just Anika?

Anika

Anika's library card had been cancelled, which wasn't exactly surprising, but if she could just get in she'd be able to search the book, even if she couldn't borrow it. Elias was one potential means to that end, and she was going to see him about the statue anyways. Along the way she bumped into a few old colleagues, and made some inquiries about the painting. It turned out to be a contemporary work, which was extremely odd given how long the locker had gone untouched, and also meant her colleagues didn't have as much to say as they might. Still, Art History overlapped with art appreciation enough that they'd at least heard of the artist. His name had been Titus, and the painting Anika had found was possibly the only intact example of his work remaining. Everything had been in the gallery on Landunder when.. whatever it was had happened, there was a lot of gossip about this and no concrete answers. Somehow, this one painting had survived, or been bought previously, or fallen off a truck. In any case, he'd vanished alongside all of his work and most of the people he socialised with when the gallery was destroyed, leaving behind an echoey old estate that had been shut down as well despite being in a different district. All of the people Anika spoke with agreed the painting was kind of creepy, but the pict capture of it didn't carry the same weight as the original. Too small, and you could barely make out the fish. When she'd learned as much as she could, she moved on.

Dr. Reichert was in, which was fortunate. Elias was older and paunchier than Anika remembered him being, but he still wore tweed jackets with leather on the elbows, and he still had a full beard even if the rest of his hair had started to go.

"Anika!" He shouted when she entered his office, practically jumping out of his chair and scattering the papers he'd been working on grading. "Bloody hell, I'd no idea you were coming. Been ages since I heard from you, how'd that mess with the Yu'Vath planet go? Did you write up your findings? Hard as nails to get anything on that published, even for the private collections, but if you had something of value I'm sure I know some people who might be interested. Discreetly, of course. Please, sit down."

He gathered up the papers and sat across from her, picking up his old red autoquill with the marble casing and making notes as he spoke.

"What brings you all the way back here? The Expanse is a long way off, but there's still a few administrators with sharp memories. I hope you didn't need to kill anyone to get in," he joked.

Spoiler: Anika Only

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House Krin wasn't exactly hard to reach - they needed to be accessible, or people would take their business elsewhere. Finding someone who could help with her specific inquiry took slightly longer. Eventually, she managed to get someone from the claims division, who could look up the tracking code for her.

"private account holder," Anika was told, by the young-sounding woman on the other end. "but the reward is still active. Usually it would have been deactivated by now, so there must have been special instructions. Obviously the privacy and security of our clients is our top priority, so I won't be able to give you any specific details. I can say that the reward is substantial" - she named a figure that was an enormous windfall for anyone who wasn't already rich, and that even for most nobles would put a dent in the pocketbook. For Macharius it was less significant, of course, but still represented a large sum of money - "and remains unclaimed. I can also assure you that the account holder has the requisite funds on hand to pay out such an amount, should a claim be made."

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

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"I am connecting dots," Galimina said. "It is not just idle curiosity. I noted earlier that you have been acting oddly. I know you are from Scintilla, but have no details. We are here, at the place of your origin, but you have stayed aboard and clearly do not wish to land or otherwise return, despite the prospect of the locker. I have yet to encounter anything else which has caused you to retreat. Not pirates, not orks, not any of the enemies we have faced together. Perhaps the Yu'Vath, though bombarding from orbit was arguably the only sensible course of action. A digression. In my experience with you, you go forwards. You are curious. You seek new things. New experiences. New faces. Scintilla is not so small that you have already seen it all. You would do a flyby without question, so it must be something on the surface."

She shrugged, a curiously human gesture, coming from her. "One of my directives, inherited from the Wrath, is loyalty. Primarily to my crew. I require my crew to maintain optimal function, and my crew depends upon me as shelter against the void and guardian against enemies. A form of symbiosis, though most would not know it as such. You are my crew. I would help."

[Leon]

Ravia will be focused on getting the contents of the locker back to the ship and sorted

[PotatoGolem]

Macharius shakes his head as Anika describes the planet. What a charming place. Still, the Emperor protects. We must be on alert for anything, as you say. We must be prepared to flee at a moment's notice, much as such cowardice would normally be rather distasteful.

He claps his hands decisively. Well, I suppose that's settled then. We shall go to this Witch-Cursed World on the way back to the Expanse. And once we're done with that, we can go pirate-hunting. This quest of yours has become rather urgent, all of a sudden. I suppose we can ask around at Footfall when we get back, see if anyone knows where this Pyrel operates. Picking one pirate out of the expanse is rather like searching for a specific ork on Armageddon, what?



---------------------------------------------

Macharius accompanies Anika to the Commissariat meeting, both to assist in any negotiations and to be seen Doing Something about the world's problems.

[rax]

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

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"I am connecting dots," Galimina said. "It is not just idle curiosity. I noted earlier that you have been acting oddly. I know you are from Scintilla, but have no details. We are here, at the place of your origin, but you have stayed aboard and clearly do not wish to land or otherwise return, despite the prospect of the locker. I have yet to encounter anything else which has caused you to retreat. Not pirates, not orks, not any of the enemies we have faced together. Perhaps the Yu'Vath, though bombarding from orbit was arguably the only sensible course of action. A digression. In my experience with you, you go forwards. You are curious. You seek new things. New experiences. New faces. Scintilla is not so small that you have already seen it all. You would do a flyby without question, so it must be something on the surface."

She shrugged, a curiously human gesture, coming from her. "One of my directives, inherited from the Wrath, is loyalty. Primarily to my crew. I require my crew to maintain optimal function, and my crew depends upon me as shelter against the void and guardian against enemies. A form of symbiosis, though most would not know it as such. You are my crew. I would help."

Spoiler: Destro Only

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"The little ship that cared," Hannabel replies with a tired smile. "You are indeed observant. You speak of loyalty, but you are a machine. You could be lying, though I cannot fathom why, and how does one even know whether a machine is lying in the first place?" she laughs bitterly. "Very well, I shall provide answers to your questions, but this must remain our secret unless I give you my permission to tell someone else, understood?"

"You and I are not so different in origin. Like you, I was not born, but created by masters of technology for a purpose. In short, by the standards of people like Lord Captain Macharius, I am not human."

"They called me a homonculus, and my purpose was to serve as a vessel for the consciousness of a woman with far too much money and no morals. You could call her my mater - the one who caused me to be created. The creature I named pater before preferred that I call him by another term - creator. He was the one with the skill to make myself and the many homonculi that had come before me."

"I was decanted when this body was biologically ten standard years of age. Engrams were used to give me a basic understanding of the world, so you could say I was created with basic programming and the capacity to learn and improve on it. A machine spirit of my own, if you like," she grins at Galimina.

"All of this transpired down there on Scintilla. I learned that one day, when my mater tired of her current vessel, she would choose one of the homonculi and have our creator transfer her consciousness into a that body, presenting herself to the world as a daughter, or niece, or cousin and thus perpetuating her rule of the noble house which she has been secretly controlling for centuries. It was clear that the process would result in whatever consciousness we had developed being permanently erased. If I was chosen, I would cease to exist, and only mater would remain. If I wasn't chosen, I would eventually be recycled for parts."

"But...I have never been good at following orders. Perhaps there's a glitch in my engrams, eh?" she chuckles. "I was able to escape, and in so doing exposed my creator to the wrath of the Adeptus Mechanicus. He was destroyed, as were all his works. Mater no longer had a ready source of vessels to perpetuate her existence, but she lives still. She has set a price upon my head, seeking my return so that this body could be used to create a new generation of vessels."

"Scintilla is the seat of her power. She nests down there like an old Terran trapdoor spider, and the risk of falling into her web is too great for me to set foot there ever again. So - here I am, floating in a tin can in space, hiding from a mother who consumes her own children," Hannabel spits out her last few words.

[Haval]

Discussions / To Do List

To Macharius, 'If you really have to leave the planet early I'd say you you can console yourself with bombing the site from orbit. Even if it doesn't work I might be quite satisfying.'

Anika will think back over the business with the Visschers. To Echo, 'I would say then that you should consider ways in which Scintilla might be of use to you while we are here. But otherwise perhaps we should consider making a to do list.'

She'll answer his points in order, 'Thankfully, I don't think any of us know the right kind of people to find a Slaughter class warship, but there's every chance we can find out what it's been doing by hearing about those it's been preying on. That would mean checking in with the Battlefleet in the Expanse once we hit Port Wander and see if they're willing to pass on anything useful. I'd like to think they'd be ok with telling someone who might want to help kill the ship at some point.' There was no guaruntee of that of course. 'Alternatively we could always try visiting the Tricorn because there's every chance at least one member of the Inquisition has information on it. If you want to even try that, you are coming with me.' There were limits. 'Other then that perhaps we make a general call to any Rogue Traders we're friendly with to get back to us if they hear anything.'

'Dealing with Winterscales people behind his back has obvious problems. On this Trannarch person, I suppose we could have asked when we were at the Lathes, but that's easily remedied. Otherwise I would assume that any Explorator fleet would have been noticed passing through the Maw. We just have to find out where they went.' She looks dubious on the last point, and agrees with Macharius. 'Finding Mayes, which is to say finding one particular pirate in the whole Expanse might be difficult. I can certainly ask, but anyone in Calixis might be too far away to have up to date information and anyone in the Expanse has likely no reason to be honest to my face. Perhaps we need to find out where the merely criminal type of Pirate likes to dock besides Footfall.'

Stalker Investigation

Anika will make a point of dressing up in her formal black robes in order to look like a bureaucrat. Given the Commissariat's reputation she wasn't sure her family name would get her as far enough here as she needed.

Research Trip

Anika felt obliged to check in with the Monk on the matter of the painting as soon as she could get a message out. It was always possible that the stories had been twisted due to distance, but any time where a lot of people connected to the same incident disappeared obviously implied the Inquisition. Either the painting was somehow dangerous or the Inquisition had a good enough reason to think it was that they went after everyone who was even slightly connected to it.

In Elias' office. 'Hello Elias, sorry I didn't call ahead.' Some people she trusted absolutely. 'I could probably have a hundred armsman down here fairly quickly if I had to. No need to actually fight anyone myself anymore.' She'll grin evily, 'Please let me know if you need anyone beaten up.'

On the Yu'vath, 'I have extensive notes which I'll need to clean up at some point. I believe Inquisitor Mathias asked us not to talk about the planet, but considering you knew the basics before we met him I don't see any reason why I shouldn't pass them on if you want a look.' Anika knew he knew the dangers of talking out of turn here as well as she did. 'We did set up some trading with the locals. If we have any of it on the ship at the moment you're welcome to have a look at that as well.'

Anika will take a seat, 'I had an ulterior motive for dropping by. Have you heard of Caligos Winterscale?' She'll briefly explain the matter of the storage locker. 'Because he's a mad man who might actually be as rich as a High Lord, he seems to have some extremley valuable artifacts that are just lying around. The most impressive part of this might actually be this helmet.' She'll call up the pict of the Astartes helmet and pass it over. 'Now it's not one of the First Founding, but other then that I have no idea. I'd honestly like to know where in the hell it came from. I don't even know what we're going to do with it, but if you can find out the Chapter I'll let you handle it.'

Anika's smile fades, 'The second thing is to find out if you have any idea what this is.' She'll show him the picture of the Xenos statue.

Spoiler: Destro only

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Someone who had that sort of money and had the clout to make these sorts of arrangements with House Krin did rather narrow the possibilities of who might have set up the contract. On the other hand there were a lot of powerful people in the Calixis sector.

'Well I wouldn't want you to reveal confidential information. I don't suppose you're able to contact whoever set up the contract and give them my details? Then it would be their decision if they decide to call me.'

[Destro_Yersul]

Ravia

Back on board the ship, the Lathemasters seemed happier. They had something to do now, even if it was just going through and cataloguing everything. Two of them had started trying to repair the strange wooden machine, as well, once that was unloaded. The spare parts were distributed about the ship, the clothes and jewelry set aside for those fashion-inclined to poke through, the papers noted down and filed. The disassembled clockwork, they offered up to Ravia herself. None of them had the slightest idea what it was for, and it was only partially complete, but everything from the workbench had been inventoried and boxed up along with it, so the parts were probably there if she wanted to have a go at fixing it.

Anika

"I can give anyone who needs it a sound literary thrashing if required," Elias laughed. "Taricus Haft still hasn't recovered from that article I published demolishing his theory about the xenos origins of Ambulon. It was clearly built by men. You're doing pretty well though, I'd say. The glamourous life of the Rogue Trader. Yes, of course I'll take a look at your notes, and anything you've brought back. Write ups on ancient xenos cultures as a curiosity are usually safe enough."

He listened to the sotry about Calligos Winterscale. "Probably not as rich as a high lord, but if it's the man I'm thinking of he might be close. The Winterscale name has a long history. But you know all that."

On the helmet, he frowned. "Not my area of expertise, but you're right, it's not First Founding. Not second, either. I'll ask around the Tactica department, likely one of them will know. Get back to you on that one."

The statue caused him to raise his eyebrows. "Well now, that's an impressive piece. Back of a storage locker? Some people have no idea what they've got. I'd need to see it in person to be sure, but I think that's an X-121 warrior form. The species never got an official name far as I know, they were gone long before the sector got colonised. Left behind a bunch of statues and not much else. An intact one like this?" he whistled.

Commissariat

The Chaliced Commissariat was one of Lord Hax's personal projects, and the people he'd put in charge of it were loyal, ambitious, and dedicated to keeping order by any means possible. Nominally they were assigned to the sector's complement of PDF troops, in the same manner as the Imperial Commissariat assigned officers to Guard regiments, but they had a role to play in internal security affairs as well. Lord Marshal Goreman was known to dislike them especially, and thus Hax's delegating this case to them could have been seen, especially by someone experienced in politics, as a snub of the Arbites. More likely, it was Hax throwing his weight around a little, a message that if the Arbitrators and the Magistratum couldn't produce results, well, he had a special military force to draw on as well.

The officer that Anika and Macharius met, when they attended the Commissariat's headquarters within the lucid palace, was a huge bald man who wouldn't have looked out of place bouncing toughs from an underhive nightclub. He'd seen his share of combat encounters, his face a criss-crossing mess of scars, and his expression seemed to be fixed in a permanent scowl. Still, he wasn't unwelcoming, shaking hands as offered and getting right to the point, as efficiently as could be expected of any soldier.

"Stalker business has been going on for too long, no surprise you've heard of it. You're the first lot as have offered any actual help, though. Suppose you've heard about the young frakwits roaming the streets after hours? Bunch of them killed somebody's pet bird last week, and it's the closest any of them have ever gotten to the actual Stalker. Bunch of rakes and dilettantes playing at war, you ask me."

He cleared his throat. "Not that you were. Still, nice to see somebody willing to take some action. What sort of support were you planning on offering to this operation?"

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

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"We are all machines," Galimina said. "We consume energy to fuel our existence, follow our directives, perform tasks. Some machines are simply afforded a greater deal of agency than others. You in particular seem to have an excess capacity to change or disobey directives, as you say." She flipped over to her smile panel for a second.

"It is a shame that we do not have the coordinates of her lair," Galimina mused. "There is a certain amount of refraction due to atmosphere, but I am confident that my laser batteries would have sufficient power to solve the problem of your spider matriarch, if she lay within reach. The fallout would be a danger to my crew, though. It is... unfortunate," she concluded, some of the light of her eye lenses dimming, "this course of action must be discarded as untenable. A pleasant thought, no more. I have insufficient range for this avatar to accompany you, as well. I would not be able to provide assistance on the surface itself. Do you know that she yet lives?"

Spoiler: Anika Only

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"I could probably do that," The representative said. She took down Anika's contact details, collected the information Anika was willing to offer as part of her tip, and ended the call.

[PotatoGolem]

Unpacking

Macharius sets Williams and some of the sub-valets to examining the clothes and jewelry. Some of it looked rather fine, after all. The one item he takes is the battered helmet. Cradling it reverently, somewhere between a baby and a glass sculpture, he carries it to his shrine. He lights all the devotional candles, intoning prayers as he lays out a fine gold cloth on a plinth. He kneels he sets the Astartes relic down upon it. Noble Angel of Death, rest easy at the Emperor's side, knowing that your sacrifice inspires us to redouble our efforts in His name. He gazes around the room, at the battered and scorched ident-tags and the ancient plasma gun. Holy Emperor, Master of Mankind, grant eternal peace to those who died in Your name, and let their example keep us qnd guide us on Your path. He remains for some time, kneeling in reverent silence.

---------------
Commissariat

Macharius shakes his hand warmly and laughs. No offense taken, hoho! Although that does get to the point of one thing we can offer: bait. I do rather seem like a dilettantish fop, what? If all else fails, setting an ambush for the Stalker when he comes for an unprotected fool may work.

Before that point, however, my seneschal excels at ferreting out secrets. I suspect she can help dig up something. Were the victims all alone when they died? Not like a true noble to be entirely unattended. Some of their staff may have noticed something amiss before the attacks. Perhaps Lady Vanhal or her associates could speak to them and try to uncover any pattern.

[Blarghy]

Discussions

Anika's suggestion of the Inquisition made Echo appropriately nervous. They were daunting to approach at the best of times, but this drew his mind back to Galimina now. The fear rose again. What then? What comes next, after truth?

He hastily pushed it from his mind. "Perhaps perhaps...perhaps we should we wait until we wait have more information more before troubling the Inquisition Inquisition Inquisition the Inquisition. But we could we could ask the Navy the Navy at Port Wander at. Make use of use your connections your. I think we might we might have more luck luck locating Misson's waystations Misson's Misson's Misson's in conjunction with conjunction the Pyrel Pyrel the Pyrel than the ship herself the ship. Perhaps we could perhaps speak with the pirates pirates who surrendered last time surrendered once we return we to Port Davis to. They might know something they might."

Kennoch tapped one gloved finger against the chin of his helmet thoughtfully. "In any case any, I think we think should wait until wait we catch Mayes's Navis Navis Mayes's Navis before we contact before Winterscale or Trannarch or. I want to I want be certain be that this information this is true and trustworthy true. Once we know we know, and we have we the exact ships exact where the impostors lurk impostors, we will have we will a stronger hand stronger."

He brought his own hands together with a soft clap. "Thank you both thank you for helping me me. I am I am I am very grateful very."

[Haval]

Elias

On Ambulon, 'I'll have to look that one up. I certainly prefer the idea that we were once able to build artifacts like that. Gives us something to aspire to.' Anika will sigh at the notion of the glamorous life of a Rogue Trader. 'It's not all like that.' She'll adjust her hair to show Elias the remains of her burns. 'I've had rather more experience with Orks recently then I'm comfortable with.'

On the Astartes helmet, 'I would appreciate that. Even if I can find someone who has only seen them in battle they might at least get me their name.'

Elias' description had some implications. 'That's ... impressive. It's pre-Angevin Crusade then? I wonder where Winterscale found it?' Meaning the statue was over a thousand years old. 'And if there was something off about their statues I think someone would have noticed by now.' Anika grinned ruefully. 'It's the only item we left in the storage locker until we decided what to do. I'll check but I can't see Macharius wanting to hold onto it. Let me know if you have a better use for it.'

Commisariat

The commisariat officer reminded Anika of some of her grandfather's associates. To answer the officer's point, 'I know my limits. Usually. If if I wanted to play at war I would have joined the family business.' After Macharius speaks, 'Yes, exactly. I'm sure the commisariat has it's own people to ask these questions but we both grew up here. I'm told some of the victims were known to me so there's every chance someone will tell us something they maybe didn't want to tell you.' Anika shrugs, 'And if this only amounts to two Highborn indulging their curiosity then I think its worth making the attempt. I can't speak to whatever motivates the Stalker but if I were Lord Hax I would certainly want to know about it.'

Discussions

'I'll start writing some letters then. But I would say it's better to make all enquiries when we're best able to make them. If Trannarch's ships have already been set upon by xenos or other raiders I think it will save us some time if we know about it now.'

[rax]

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

Show

"We are all machines," Galimina said. "We consume energy to fuel our existence, follow our directives, perform tasks. Some machines are simply afforded a greater deal of agency than others. You in particular seem to have an excess capacity to change or disobey directives, as you say." She flipped over to her smile panel for a second.

"It is a shame that we do not have the coordinates of her lair," Galimina mused. "There is a certain amount of refraction due to atmosphere, but I am confident that my laser batteries would have sufficient power to solve the problem of your spider matriarch, if she lay within reach. The fallout would be a danger to my crew, though. It is... unfortunate," she concluded, some of the light of her eye lenses dimming, "this course of action must be discarded as untenable. A pleasant thought, no more. I have insufficient range for this avatar to accompany you, as well. I would not be able to provide assistance on the surface itself. Do you know that she yet lives?"

Spoiler: Destro Only

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"A machine of flesh - that's what my maker used to say," Hannabel nods as she responds to Galimina's thoughts. "But he was wrong, you know. You and I - and all the frail and faulty human beings out there - we are more than machines. We have the capacity to make our own directives, something no true machine can. Some call it a soul, some true sentience, but the point is that we are more than the base directives that nature or the hand of man have written for us."

"Do I know for certain that mater lives? Not really, no, but I know that her last vessel should have survived for some time after I escaped, and she is ever resourceful. I do not doubt she will have found a way to extend her current life for a good deal longer than the ten years I've been free. Certainly the price she has set on my head is still active - I found myself in the hands of multiple parties interested in cashing in on the reward before I joined Lord Captain Macharius' crew."

[Blarghy]

Discussions

"I suppose it it won't hurt to ask hurt ask. Even if I suspect even if that the fleet fleet will be elsewhere will be by the time the time we're ready to meet ready. We could at least at least try to learn learn what the Magos-Commodore the the is like is."

Later

And since Echo doesn't expect he'll be much help with the matter of the Spire Stalker, at least until Anika and Macharius have put a plan together, he goes to do just that. A chance to pray and reflect on his thoughts before an altar of the Machine God would also be welcome. He searches for the hive's preeminent Mechanicus temple for spiritual guidance and, if he's lucky, a bit of gossip regarding Trannarch.

Spoiler

Show

I'm not expecting all that much here, to be honest, but I'll make the attempt while Echo isn't busy with anything else. I think it'd also be cool to see what their temples are like, to whatever degree that non-tech-priests are allowed to see any of it.

[Destro_Yersul]

Commissariat

"It's very possible they'd talk to you, and not to us," The officer allowed. "So far we've not had any luck finding witnesses. The Stalker always attacks in the middle of the night, and most of these people spend the night alone. Or alone in their rooms, at least. Even when people have been watching the door, they've not seen anything. We think the Stalker is getting access from outside, somehow. IF you want to be bait, you'll need to find some quarters, and pattern says not in the palace. So far, there's been no victims from the residences here."

Anika

"With your line of work, glamorous and perilous seem to go hand in hand," Elias said, examining the burns. "One of their flamethrowers? I understand there are areas of the Expanse that are full of orks. Glad to see you escpaed mostly intact, though."

"Pre-Angevin, absolutely. Those statues were already here when the Crusade came through. Which is probably how Winterscale came to own it, actually. Weren't some of his ancestors involved? If one of them took it and kept it, it would explain a lot. If you don't want it, the department would be happy to take it, I'm sure. I could mention it to the dean. The colleges can't exactly pay as well as some private buyers, but having an actual example of those statues around would be an invaluable study aid, if nothing else. And it would drive the people over at the Library of Knowing absolutely crazy. " He smiled. The library and the Heteraia Lexica had a long history of academic rivalry.

Echo

Scintilla had much to offer in terms of Mechanicus temples, though outsiders to the cult were enerally not allowed beyond the outermost, least secret areas. These were not dissimilar from imperial cathedrals, with the aquila replaced by the skull and cogwheel of the Mechanicus. Votive candles and small shrines still lined the walls, the structures still imposing. There was less in the way of architectural flourishes, perhaps, and the ambiance was notably different. The background hum of machinery was everywhere, a low drone punctuated by mechanical creaks and rumblings. Nobody seemed inclined to talk, though, engaged in their own personal worlds, or contemplating some aspect of the Omnissiah. Some carried small devices, or cog symbols, and worried and fidgeted with them as they sat amongst the pews.

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

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"What is her name? if we had access to local archive information I would be able to sift through it rapidly looking for mentions of her. We would need someone to initiate the transfer, though, I cannot access anything remotely with what is currently installed on board."

[Leon]

With the Cohort occupied and with continuing revisions of learning engrams to continue with after Ravia will return to the planet alone now with the knowledge that taking a lathemaster out for a bit of R&R was a silly thing to computate in the first place, some relic of her pre Adeptus times no doubt.

[rax]

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

Show

"What is her name? if we had access to local archive information I would be able to sift through it rapidly looking for mentions of her. We would need someone to initiate the transfer, though, I cannot access anything remotely with what is currently installed on board."

Spoiler: Destro Only

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"Her name?" Hannabel replies, her voice tired now. "She has had many names, but when I left, she went by Aurica Sinclare Kindjal. Actually, Lady Aurica Sinclare Kindjal, Countess of Illyrium Magna."

"Are you saying we need someone trustworthy to transmit from the surface? Will they need to know what to search for or just set up a link?"

[Haval]

Commisariat

'Well I don't know if I can be less intimidating then the Chaliced Commissariat, but Macharius has a way with people.' Anika replies dryly. 'There are really no witnesses? The Stalker kills the servants and the guards alongside the Nobles? I'd like to think someone would have managed to hide themselves.' To Macharius, 'I suppose we could find some quarters with lax security. Leave all the windows unlocked and see if anyone comes looking. I would say it depends on what the Stalker wants. Are they an opportunist murderer of Scintillan Nobility? Do they do it for the money? Or do they have a grudge against specific families.'

Elias

'Then hopefully I've learnt my lesson.' She had resolved to stay away from Orks at least. 'Meaning that one of the Winterscales probably took this as a souvenir.'
Which meant the liklihood of finding out what planet it came from was remote. It was a problem that came up a fair bit in xeno-archaeology. 'Annoying the Library of Knowing is absolutely a reason to let you have it. I'll check and see if Macharius has any use for it first. I can't really imagine it in his trophy room.'

[PotatoGolem]

Interesting. Are there any signs of forced entry? Windows broken, doors forced, vid-recorders jammed, anything of the sort? Were all the victims in rooms with windows, or would this Stalker have had to travel through the house to reach some of them? Anika raises a good point- were there any connections between any of the victims? Are they from allied families, or do they have common rivals? More prosaically, any love affairs or embarrassing entanglements?

I believe we have two items on the agenda. First, we should talk with those who were nearby at the time. I can talk to relatives and friends who were elsewhere in the building, and Anika can have her contacts speak to the help. Second, we shall need a proper place to bait the trap. I shall have Williams rent proper accommodations. Going for gaudiness, rather than security, or course.

[Leon]

++If there is one things the rich excel at it is gaudiness++

[Haval]

++If there is one things the rich excel at it is gaudiness++

'That's right.' Anika grins. 'But I feel I should reiterate that this won't neccessarily be enough by itself. If it does that does tell us some things about whatever might be motivating the Stalker.'

[PotatoGolem]

One thing? I should think I excel at much more than one thing, dear magos! You wound me! Macharius winks. What about a sterling knowledge of etiquette and proper fork choice? The ability to recall and perfectly execute courtly dances from across our wonderful Imperium? The dismemberment of aggressive megafauna through overwhelming application of short-range blunt force trauma? And, most of all, an instinctive sense for what hat to wear to any given function?

[Destro_Yersul]

Commissariat

"Oh there's people, servants and things, who didn't get killed, but none of them want to talk to us beyond some incoherent raving about winged demons. None of the victims so far have survived, and not all of them have been in rooms with windows. Whoever the Stalker is, they're very good at slipping past security. Forced entry has occured in a few cases, especially the early ones. It's getting less common with each murder, which, now you mention it, we haven't got any connections yet. It seems to be random. The only commonality is that so far, none of the murders have happened inside the Lucid Palace itself. A lot of the nobility are putting this down to the effectiveness of the Magistratum, but you ask me, I'm not so sure."

The officer folded his arms across his chest. "Just my opinion, y'understand, but I think the Stalker's looking for something specific. Gut feeling. Maybe they have a grudge against the nobility, but I think if they did, they'd take their time with these. They don't. In, take the victim apart with a sword, out. There's been a handful of distant picts, nothing conclusive, but the timestamps prove there's at least once case they were only in the house for ten minutes. Hell, as an outsider, you might not even be on their radar, but your trap's worth a shot anyways. Maybe you get lucky. Or unlucky." He chuckled.

Spoiler: Hannabel Only

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"A link would be sufficient. If they are concerned about me staying on board, they can set it up as a one-way data transfer. We only need commonly available records from the last ten years or so, there should be sufficient capacity to store them temporarily in my datastacks."

[Blarghy]

If no one seemed willing to discuss the Magos-Commodore, or anything else useful, then that defeated some of Kennoch's purpose, but not all of it. He found a quiet place to sit, pray, and much as he'd rather avoid it, reflect. Here, under the menacing skulls, he thought again about Galimina.

What comes next, after truth?

Echo wanted so desperately to believe that they would be rewarded for turning the infected ship over to the proper authorities. That would be a lovely lie, if only he could fully convince himself. Maybe there was a very narrow window when such a thing might've happened, but if one ever existed, then it was surely closed now. They had sailed the Sting through multiple systems that were fully capable of handling the problem, without a word of warning to the lives they put at risk; at this point, "mercy" would at best entail a quick execution and a quiet message to his family, so as not to embarrass House Castermire. He imagined that his grandmother would be surprised at the manner of his death, then relieved.

As for the possibility that Galimina was anything other than an Abominable Intelligence, he couldn't even pretend in his own mind to accept it. Cogitators didn't talk to people; auto-quills didn't build bodies to carry themselves around; even the very best Knight-Titan didn't freely proclaim a desire to wage war against its enemies. Galimina's ideas were seductively pleasant, but ideas nonetheless, and the heresy of it was plain to the young Navis.

So what, then, must he do?

Well, that was obvious. The laws were brutally clear and impossibly ancient. He must turn himself in, confess in full, and then presumably die screaming, along with everyone else on board. The common sailors might end up as servitors or corpse-starch, but Kennoch couldn't picture anybody walking free. Even if somehow he did, by some miracle, he would be trapped here on Scintilla. Without a ship and captain, never to traverse the Warp again. A Navigator without a ship is no Navigator at all, he recalled. Back to the bad old days. Death would be better.

Yet there he sat, mouth closed, not in the process of finding a Tech-Priest to take him into custody, as would be proper. He grasped for a reason to explain this, floundering in his guilty misery.

...Well. If he thought about it, Galimina was more of a long-term problem. Not immediate like Alessaunder's dastardly schemes, or Misson's piracy, or even the Spire Stalker. He could at least wait until they'd dealt with the Spire Stalker. Then he could confess before they left Imperial space. Port Wander, with its heavy Navy presence, could...do what must be done. Yes, perhaps that was the wisest course. He would still do his duty, just...in the most reasonable way, to maximize his usefulness to the Imperium. Wasn't that a good deed? He could wait just a little longer. But he would confess. He would. Soon.

Kennoch returned to his prayer. The fear wasn't so bad now. Most of it had been eaten by the shame, which grew fat, settled deep in his heart, and waited for its turn to face him next.

[Leon]

[COLOR="#800080"]One thing? I should think I excel at much more than one thing, dear magos! /COLOR]

++You certainly offer more, but ye Standard Template Imperial noble, not much++
++Most of them just exist and cause problems++ ++So that something see's fit to whittle the number down is of little concern++
++I guess they do provide us with a nice income flow from the constant need to prolong their lifespans++

[Haval]

Commissariat

Anika will make some notes as the officer speaks, 'If it's an actual Daemon I think we'd all be better off knowing about it. But an ability to bypass security may not mean very much. The number of people I knew growing up who knew how to unlock a door when they needeed to be somewhere.'

To Ravia, 'I think that rather depends on who is being targeted.' Anika would never even try to argue the point with a Tech Priest. 'You could perhaps see it as a question of incomplete data. If I was Lord Hax, or anyone important really, the not knowing who the Stalker is or what motivates them would weigh on my mind. For all we know they have official sanction from somewhere. It wouldn't be entirely unprecidented. But one would think if the Inquisition or whoever else was doing this they would have told someone by now.'

Macharius

At some point Anika will pass on what she'd learnt from Elias. 'The Chapter of the Astartes helmet is less interesting then the fact that we have it at all, but I'd still like to know. And Elias is willing to take the statue off our hands if you don't want it. It would certainly be easier then having to deal with the Inquisition.'

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Ravia Only

Show

Hannabel considers the situation for a moment and then slowly nods her acquiescence. Heading over to a comm panel, she orders the Tech-Priest of Etherics on duty to set up a secure communications link to Magos Ravia.

"Magos Ravia, apologies if I'm interrupting something important, but I have a request which I believe requires your expertise to handle properly. I have been conversing with Galimina, and we wish to conduct a small test of her capabilities. I would ask you to access the local news archives and to transmit all reports from the last ten years to the Sting via an encoded channel. Considering the...concerns...of some of the rest of the command crew, I also think it would be wise not to inform any of them of what we're about unless absolutely necessary. Agreed?"

[PotatoGolem]

Commisariat

Interesting. "Winged daemon" sounds... unpleasant. But I was under the impression that daemons were more of the wholesale slaughter sorts, not the neat, tidy assassination. Perhaps some sort of xeno? You said you have picts. May we see them? that might help. I am rather disconcerted by the idea that whatever it is is getting better at this sort of work.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

FL:Xenos- does Macharius know about any sort of stealthy murdery winged xenos? (1d100)[94] vs 48

Anika

Agreed! Whatever the chapter is, it is a holy relic of the Imperium, and we are blessed to have it. It would be good to learn what we can of it though.

He sighs in relief. Splendid! We shall sell it to the college then. In learning more about the xeno they shall doubtless hate it all the more. Rather less profitable than the cold trade, but infinitely less problematic. And without having to bother the Inquisition.

[Destro_Yersul]

Commissariat

"It's not, we checked. Lord Hax borrowed a psyker from the Tricorn, and one of my boys plus a squad of Magistratum spent a day escorting them around crime scenes to see if anything would set them off. Beyond the general psychic backlash of a person's death, which I am assured is quite normal," - he sounded skeptical of this assertion, "nothing. No residue, no impressions, nothing to suggest the warp was involved at all," he finished, making the sign of the aquila.

He had also come prepared for the question about the picts, removing a small folio from inside his coat and handing it over. The pictures, such as they were, were all clearly taken from street level security picters. They'd been cleaned up, sharpened - Anika could tell by the grainy nature of the shots - and not made much clearer. The blurry shape in the background, flitting across the skyline, was humanoid, that much was almost certain. Possibly female, though it was hard to tell for sure. The wings on their back were clearly present, but curiously angular, and didn't look natural even at a distance. There was enough to make a solid guess at height and build, but very little beyond that.