Inquisitor!
Previous session.
Notes by mechanteanemone .
Narthax accompanies Aenid Fraal and Xanthia to recover the Xenos craft. Various crates are being loaded back into the Adeptus Mechanicus area by Servitors. Xanthia cannot make visual contact with the craft, which is still in a crate too. She mentions this to Narthax, and he instructs her to just keep an eye on the craft.
Meanwhile, Teniente Alfarez Hernandez and Commissar-Cadet Jemadar head for the noble quarters to round up the conspirators, but they are nowhere to be found. Hernandez remembers the secret gentlemen's club where he first met them, so they head there; and find the massacred remnants of most of the conspirators. The men were cut down quickly while sitting at the table; someone or something managed to buzz-saw them all before they could take more than a step or two. Only the Shadow and Sir Evander Philus are missing, and the carnage is very recent. The sheer level of carnage is too much for Hernandez, and the sight of it is seared into his brain - fodder for his nightmares for weeks or months to come.
(Hernandez failed a Fear check and got an Insanity point)
In the cargo area, servitors start trying to move the crate containing the Xenos craft. After checking with Narthax, Xanthia blasts through the crate and contacts the Xenos craft. There are only two ways out for the craft: the Adeptus Mechanicus area and the space door. She asks the Xenos craft whether it is spaceworthy, and it suavely answers, "Of course..." but Xanthia has doubts.
Meanwhile, Hernandez and Jemadar reach the Philus quarters in the noble area and find the door open, the lock broken. Inside they hear a horrible scream, and Hernandez recognizes Sir Evander's voice. They rush in; bits and pieces of Sir Evander Philus all over the apartment. An individual in matte black body glove emerges from the shadows; he's wearing a belt, brooch, rings, goggles that all have inset stones glowing malevolently red. The enemy slashes three times at Commissar Jemadar, grazing her. She shoots back point blank and hits him - he seems unharmed, but one of the dozen red gems is extinguished. Teniente Hernandez shoots too, a superb hit, and several red gems flicker out.
In the cargo area, the Skittarii Tech Guard is now crawling all over the place. Xanthia commands the craft to fire on them, and it blasts them away with murderous pleasure. Far away in the distance, Xanthia can hear the Novice Atellus scream. She commands the craft to release him (he disappeared weeks ago) but nothing happens.
The intruder into Sir Evander's quarters turns to Hernandez and shoots him, doing minor damage. Calpurnia shoots back, extinguishing more of the gems. A pinkish mist starts to coalesce around the intruder. Outside, a sound like repeated impacts against the sides of the station can be heard.
A tech priest armed with a power axe, a glowing energy field, and Adeptus Mechanicus armour charges into the cargo area, while Xanthia and the craft grapple for mental control! Everything goes black for Xanthia, and she hears Atellus ask: "Xanthia, is that you?" The psyker dismisses the distraction, and wrestle control from the xenos mind. The tech priest slices off the craft's nose, and a horrible psychic scream resonates. The craft shoots back, shorting out the tech priest's energy shield but leaving him unharmed.
In the higher levels, Calpurnia singles out the larger gem on the brooch at the intruder's throat, shattering it with a laser blast; the rest of his gems flicker out and the mist coalesces around him. He shoots back at Calpurnia, wounding her; Hernandez shakes off the fog of war.
In the cargo hold, Xanthia unleashes her psychic bolts at the tech priest. Despite this, the priest continues to attack the xenos craft, and Xanthia hears its psychic scream as it dies. The body of Novice Atellus, badly tortured, rolls out.
The shadowy intruder takes another shot at Hernandez; the queen's stained glass armor protects Hernandez from a lot the damage, but not enough to save him and he falls to the ground. Calpurnia's last shot goes wild. The red mist tears the intruder apart, taking the shape of cruel Eldar faces; his soul is torn from his body and dragged screaming into the warp, and he crumbles to the ground. Outside, the rumbling noise is getting louder.
The tech priest swings at Xanthia and grazes her with his power axe; she starts running away from him and towards Narthax. Narthax starts frantically typing on his wrist keyboard, while Xanthia stays just ahead of the enemy. Several squads of Adeptus Arbites teleport into the cargo hold and start shooting at the tech priest. As soon as he stops running after her, Xanthia hits the tech priest with a stun bolt. Narthax creates a force field around the gates to allow Arbites landers launched by the Strike Frigate to board.
In the higher decks, a Penal Legion unit streams past Jemadar and Hernandez, having boarded the station from assault pods launched by the Strike Frigate. After the enemy is subdued, the acolytes are subdued, arrested and thrown in the brig for a couple of days. They are then interrogated by Narthax in excruciating detail, and finally released.
Inquisitor Skane herself comes to thank them for the work they have done, but also charges them with prosecuting an act of treason which occured during the operation. Rollando Hernandez will act as the Emperor's Wrath, prosecuting the case. Calpurnia Jemadar will act as the Emperor's Mercy, defending the accused. Aenid Fraal will act as the Emperor's Wisdom, ruling on the case and determining punishment. Xanthia will act as the Emperor's Vigil, watching over the other three judges to assure on pain of death that they perform their offices with dedication and vigor in the Emperor's name.
The accused is Rollando Hernandez. The crimes: apostasy, blasphemy, and disrespect towards an imperial icon.
***
Another rousing game as the Acolytes finish up their case on Ysai Ydumi, helping to break up a powerful ring of xenos artifact smugglers & their Adeptus Mechanicus connections, and helping to free thousands trapped on the planet's surface.
Sadly, Aenid Frall was not able to make it to tonight's game, and was sorely missed. I look forward to the next game in two weeks, when the acolytes will need their arbitrator to arbitrate!