This is the second installment of the adventures of Inquisitor Drakks Acolytes.
PLAYER/CHARACTER
Leigh/Xanthis, an imperial Adept (Male)
Andy/Add, a feral Assassin (Male)
Jeremy/Sylon, an imperial Assassin (Male)
Daniel/Borgia Salomis (Spike), a hive Cleric (Female)
Jon/Barbosa Ragaa (Stubber), a feral Guardsman (Male)
Corley/Inez Drustilla (Steel), an imperial Scum (Female)
NPC
5 custodes (local police force)
Abitrator Captain Harkyn
4 x Arbitrators
Looking out of the house, the party noticed that there wasn't much left of the car, or the members of the gang who were stood around the vehicle. "Well, that solved that problem, but at what cost?" Xanthis surmised quietly.
"Nothing good I expect" replied Sylon, "But that filth got what they deserved!"
"Yes but at what cost? Nothing good I think."
"Who cares. Where I'm from they would have been killed just for looking at me!"
"But we're not on your world now." Xanthis replied with irritation evident in his voice, "None of us are!"
"At least that sniper is still sort of intact." Barbosa observed drily
"Good, cover me while I search his body for any identification." Xanthis replied, diffusing the situation, "They were members of this cult so they might have something to lead us further!"
Barbosa slowly walked out into the street, Xanthis walking behind him. The street looked quiet, with no one in the immediate vicinity. No one who looked like a threat in any case.
"Going across the street to the body now, everybody ready?" Xanthis asked.
"Standing in the doorway," Sylon responded, "No threats detected."
"In window to your left," Add added over the micro bead.
"I'm 10 meters behind you," Barbosa added, "OK for you to move out."
"Right, moving." Xanthis replied, "Keep your eyes open.
As Xanthis got to the corpse of the would be sniper, he started to look over the body. Dressed in, what was, good quality clothes, the scum did not look like any scum he was used to. Any armor he had been wearing had been shredded by the shrapnel. A small icon of the Angel had been bisected by a piece of the car. Lifting the lasrifle, Xanthis noticed that only 3 shots had been fired from the clip. There was nothing else on the corpse. Noticing a large dumpster further down the alley, Xanthis lifted the corpse, careful not to get blood on his clothing, and hid it inside, hoping that is piece of evidence would end up being recycled with the rest of the trash.
Watching the street, Barbosa noticed a woman further down the street. Wearing Beast furs over a flak vest, she seemed interested in the actions of the party. His interest piqued, Barbosa started moving towards the stranger.
"Woman, wearing beats furs, approximately 60 meters from the house." Barbosa informed everyone, "Moving to challenge."
"We see her, covering!" Add replied
"Xanthis has moved further down the alley, as soon as he's back, I'll cover you!" Sylon stated.
"Confirmed." confirmed Barbosa.
Barbosa moved towards the stranger, his lasrifle held across his chest. Add aimed his rifle at the stranger, ready for any signs of danger. When Barbosa got within 30 meters of the woman, she pulled out a pistol. Barbosa, who stopped at this sign of aggression, realized that the woman was pointing the weapon at Add. "Come no further or I shoot your friend!" the stranger called to Barbosa. "Drop your weapon and tell your friend to drop his!"
"Good luck on that," Barbosa called back, anger slowly entering his voice, "Your pistol don't have the range to carry that far!"
"Fine, have it your way," she said as the pistol moved to point at Barbosa, "Come any closer and you're dead!"
"You're mistaken, shoot me and you'll be full of holes before you get chance to pull the trigger a second time! Now put the weapon away and either go or explain what you're doing here!" Barbosa said angrily swinging his weapon to point at the stranger.
At this, the stranger laid her pistol on the floor and reached inside her furs. She pulled out an envelope. "Got this to give to you, if you're interested." She said indifferently, "Now, you going to be a man and come and get it or are you going to hide behind your gun like a pussy?"
"Ain't no pussy!" Barbosa replied, the stranger having touched a nerve, "Keep me covered."
A pair of voices confirmed his order as he moved forwards. As he slowly walked forwards, the woman slowly picked up her pistol an moved towards him, until Barbosa could see it was an envelope sealed with the sign of the Inquisition. "That's far enough!", the woman said. She reached out and handed Barbosa the envelope. Shouldering his lasrifle, he had to reach for it. Barbosa slowly pulled back his arm and broke the seal on the envelope.
"I can't read this!" exclaimed Barbosa, "Can you read it Sylon?"
"Hold it up and I'll have a look through my scope," he replied.
As Barbosa held up the envelope, Sylon steadied his rifle and trained it on the letter.
"Hold the damn thing still will you! Your shaking like a Juve on Emperors day!"
"I am, it's you that can't hold your rifle steady!" Barbosa voxed back.
"Look, are you going to stop your lovers tiff and find someone to read the damn thing?" the woman uttered, menace entering her voice, "Got stuff to do you know!"
"OK," Barbosa said guardedly, "follow me and keep your hands visible!"
With the woman walking in front, they made there way back to the house, Sylon and Add never dropping their aim.
As they entered the house, Sylon shut the door behind them. "Now, who are you?" Sylon asked as Barbosa drifted towards Add.
"Read the letter frakhead and I'll tell you more afterwards!" the woman replied surly, "or are you too dumb to understand it."
"Why don't you read it to us then if you're so impatient?"
"Do I look like the kind to have spent in a Schola? Just read the damn thing!"
Sylon took the letter form Barbosa and read it carefully. "Says here that the Inquisitor has drafted you into this party. Now why would he recruit a piece of scum like you?"
"Because I know how to get around places that you don't which makes me more useful than you idiots I think."
"We each have our own skills to offer the Emperor, it's how we offer those skills that shows our commitment to His designs!" Borgia said softly as she picked herself off the floor. Her robes still smoking gently, "I suggest that we all take a moment to think about how we can serve Him in this time of peril."
At the mention of His name, they each took a moment to reflect on what the cleric said.
While the rest of the party was dealing with the arrival of the strange woman, Xanthis was upstairs in the room he had designated as his office. Interrupted while writing up a report for the Inquisitor, he listened to the conversation coming from downstairs, the voice of the stranger being caught up by the surrounding voxbeads to give him an idea of what was going on. Slowly rising from his chair, he made sure he had his pistol ready to hand before leaving for the stairs. As he descended, he no longer needed his voxbead to hear the conversation, nor the platitudes coming from the cleric. As he turned on the landing, he finally saw the woman for the first time. Dark skinned and slender, with red hair, the beast furs not quite hiding the flak vest beneath, he was instantly reminded of the paupers who used to surround the Schola he attended. Except this woman had an air of restrained anger about her. He was about to ask who she was when he heard sirens coming closer. "Get ready, I can hear sirens approaching!" He announced loudly, "stop arguing and get ready!" The room started to fill with the flashing of red lights as a ground car appeared outside the house.
As the vehicle screeched to a stop, 5 custodes leapt out from the vehicle, shock batons already drawn. They ran up the steps to the front door, entering one at a time. "HANDS IN THE AIR! NO ONE MOVE!" the lead custodes shouted. The party slowly raised their hands into the air, guns still in hands. The rest of the custodes surrounded the party, one of them covering the door to the dining room. "Now, each of you, one at a time, put your weapons on the dining table. Any attempt to resist will be met with force." He pointed to the woman, "you first!" Eaxch member of the party slowly, one at a time, moved into the dining room and placed there weapons on the table before moving back into the hallway. Before the custodes leader could even start to got through the process of arresting the party, the sound of a powerful engine could be heard pulling up behind the custodes ground car.
"What the hell?" the custodes leader exclaimed angrily, "whats going on out there?"
"Black APC, Arbites markings have arrived," the driver announced, "now exiting the vehicle and heading your way." As he said this, the sound of heavy doors could be heard opening and shutting. Heavy footsteps sounding on the steps leading to the door.
Moments after the sound of the APC doors closing, 5 arbites in black carapace armour, blank visors looking at the custodes. The party looked first at the arbites, then the custodes, sensing that they were on the verge of confrontation that could turn violent at any time. "What are you doing here?" the custodes leader asked menacingly, "this is outside of your jurisdiction and you know it!"
"I am Arbites Captain Harkyn," the first arbites announced, "the exploding of vehicles and firefights seem to me to fall into my jurisdiction, don't you?"
"Not really, seems to me to be a gang fight that got out of hand, hence falls within MY purview."
"How can it be a gang fight when one side are not local to the planet. Any firefights involving visitors, especially between an Adepts bodyguard and local street scum defintly falls under MY orders. Now I suggest you get your men out of here and do what you are supposed to be doing, like hunting common criminals and leave the inter planetary stuff to us."
"My men are not..."
"Ah, i see you thought that was a suggestion." Harkyn said quietly, "let me put it this way." He aimed his next comment at the 4 arbites who had followed him in, "if the custodes are not out of this building within 10 seconds, arrest them using whatever force is necessary. I'll think of a charge once we get back to the block house. Getting in the way of an arbites investigation should be a good one to get started with!"
"You haven't heard the last of this," the custodes leader announced loudly, "you'll be hearing from my superiors."
"Lets just hope they have more intelligence than you then," Harkyn said quietly, "1... 2... 3... 4..."
Before he caould say 5, the custodes had quickly filed out of the door and had started to mount their ground car. The arbites looked at the party, their blank visors making them feel uncomfortable. The one who had called himself Arbites Captain Harkyn removed his helmet, revealing a scarred, lined face. Grey fuzz covered his scalp, obviously cut as short as possible. He looked over the group before turning to Xanthis and saying, "your party can put their hands down now. Perhaps you would all like to collect your weapons, then we'll get down to business." The woman was the first through the door, seeing so many guns and melee weapons on the table, she decided to help herself to a compact laspistol from the table. Pocketing it as quickly as possible. As she turned to leave, she noticed Barbosa giving her a pointed look. She avoided his gaze before going back into the hall. Once they were all standing in front of the arbites, she noticed that Sylon had an angry look on his face, Barbosa still giving her a pointed look. Harkyn cleared his throat, gaining all of their attention. "I have been given orders that you are not to be disturbed by the local custodes, but I can only protect you so far. Please refrain from blowing up any more cars, or getting into such public firefights. I can only do so much before I can't protect you."
"Understood," Xanthis replied evenly, "we'll do our best, but I do have one question."
"OK, but got to be quick or else people will start asking questions themselves."
"I noticed," Xanthis began, "that all the custodes were wearing Angel pins but you are wearing the Aquila. Why is that?"
"The local custodes are free to worship who they want, but they're not supposed to openly wear any form of religious items except the Aquila. I'll have to bring that to the attention of my commander. We're all trained at a Schola Progenium within system, so we are not influenced by local religions as we are not from this planet."
"That explains a lot, thanks Captain." Xanthis replied.
"Anytime." Harkyn replied, extending his hand. Xanthis reached forward and took it, as he let go he flashed the electoo of the Inquisitorial seal on his palm so only Harkyn could see it.
"OK, so that's where the orders have come from then. Thought it must have been someone powerful to get the Commander to move so quickly. If you need help, call and I'll try to assist as much as I can."
"Thank you Captain," Xanthis replied, "your discretion would be much appreciated in this matter."
"Just another matter, there's been something going on in Sector 6. Some messy murders have happened there. Perhaps you might want to have a look there first."
"Perhaps we will, with the discretion of the Arbites of course."
"Of course." The Captain nodded and proceeded to leave, the rest of the arbites following in his wake.
"Now, who are you?" Xanthis turned to the woman, "and where did you get that letter?"
"Names Inez Drustilla and someone bearing the Inquisitorial seal gave me that to give to you. Guess I'm joining you in this little escapade. I suppose it beats trying to hussle people for a living."
"Or stealing!" Barbosa observed pointedly. Sylon's head spun round and glared at Barbosa.
"What do you mean?" he said, "I'm missing a laspistol and you make a remark like that."
"I'm not saying anything," Barbosa replied, "just that a regular income is better than hustling and stealing!"
"So, where's my frakking laspistol?" Sylon almost shouted, "have you got it you piece of scum." He started to advance towards the woman, murder in his eyes.
"Here," she said, "I took it to teach you a lesson. Never let your weapons leave your sight!" She, took the laspistol from beneath her furs and spun it round in her hand, butt pointing towards Sylon. Sylon grabbed hold of the gun, quickly checked that the clip was still in place and hadn't been damged before drawing it back as if to strike Inez.
"STOP!" Xanthis shouted, "THAT'S ENOUGH! Barbosa, take Sylon into the sitting room to calm down. Inez, I don't care who sent you, but the next time you pull a stunt like that again, I won't even try to stop whoever tries to hit you again. Understood."
"Yeah, whatever." Inez said sulkily, "I'm here to do a job so lets just get on with it!"
"Good, now, when Sylon has calmed down we'll talk about what we're going to do. In the meantime lets get some rest shall we?"
Xanthis disappeared back upstairs to his office, the rest of the party nodded and went away lost in their own thoughts.
A little while later, the party met back in the dining room. Sylon had calmed down but still kept his distance from Inez. Xanthis had changed from his adept robes into plain street clothes and addressed the rest of the party.
"OK, this is what we'll do." Xanthis started, "myself and Borgia will go to the Cathedral and have a look around, the rest of you, go and have a look at Sector 6. Something has obviously concerned the good Captain, so lets, at least, find out whats going on there shall we?"
"OK, but who's in charge of our little team?" Inez asked hopefully.
"Barbosa is. He seems sharp and intelligent enough to keep the rest of you in line!" Xanthis replied, "any objections?"
Nobody said anything to this. "OK, lets get going then. Back here in 4 hours. Before you go, check your weapons and please, try and keep a low profile!"
There was a clutter of metal on metal as people checked that clips were secure and knives were in easy reach before the party left the house, going separate ways.
After walking for about an hour and a half, Xanthis and Borgia finally made it to the steps of the Cathedral. "We don't have long so lets make this a quick look ok?" Xanthis said to Borgia, "nothing in depth, just see if there is anything amiss."
"May the Emperor's hand guide us towards the truth and help us to uncover any thinking that has deviated from His path!" Borgia, replied with all the strength of a true believer.
"The Emperor Protects." Xanthis replied automatically, autmatically ending Borgia before she could get going. As they approached the great, main doors to the Cathedral, a young cleric was stood next to the doors holding a collection box. As people passed, they were putting donations into the box, the cleric muttered platitudes and benedictions automatically. Xanthis approached and made sure the cleric saw the large denomination note that he swiftly deposited into the box. "Thank you sir, may the Emperor smile upon you and welcome you to his side when He calls your name." The cleric said excitedly, "thank you again kind sir." At this, the cleric pushed open a door artfully concealed behind him, letting Xanthis and Borgia enter the Cathedral with out the press of the crowds around them. Once inside, they took a moment to marvel at the great stained windows, showing the Emperor in all his glory before their attention was grabbed by a massive statue in the center of the of the Cathedral. It showed the Emperor smiting daemons, but on his right, not quite as big but still impressive was the Angel of Fire. Obviously a man, if a man could look so angelic, wielding a flaming sword in one hand, a massive shield blocking the attack of a daemon that would have surely have took the Emperor from the side. I became suddenly obvious that the worshipers of the Emperor were all on the left, while those for the Angel were on the right. Xanthis and Borgia slowly started walking around the statue, taking everything in but couldn't see any sign of hostility between the two groups. As they were just about to come to the end of the circuit, they spotted another young cleric to one side, on the right of the Cathedral. He was holding a collection box, a stack of books next to him on a table. The two slowly moved across to have a look at the books. As they drew closer, they could see that they were prayer books. On the cover was a depiction of the Angel of Fire. Borgia picked one up and started to leaf through it when the cleric cleared his throat. She looked at him and was about to say something when Xanthis reached into his pocket and withdrew another high domination note. The cleric bowed to Xanthis when he saw the money and once it had disappeared into the box he reached underneath the table and brought out a book that was heavily gilded and was of obvious richer quality than the books on the table. The design on the front was the same but was highlighted in gold leaf. The cleric handed the book to Borgia with a smile followed by a deep bow. Xanthis nodded his head at the cleric, before taking Borgia by the arm and gently leading her away from the table. "Let's withhold our observations till we get back to the house, not sure if we're among friends or enemies here." Xanthis whispered, "just walk without saying anything." As they exited from the cathedral, a pair of eyes watched their departure with interest.
Barbosa, Add, Sylon and Inez watched as Xanthis and Borgia walked away. Once they were out of earshot, the bickering started almost immediately. "Don't know why she is coming with us, she's nothing but a petty thief!" Sylon started
"Because she comes to us from the Inquisitor, thats why. Lets just get this over and done with ok. We're burning time here and we don't have much of it." Barbosa said.
"Look, I don't need you defending me ok," Inez started angrily, "it's not like you have covered my back or anything."
Barbosa let the obvious return drop and turned away. Add came and sttod next to him, and in their tribal dialect asked, "you saw her take that gun but you didn't say anything."
"I wanted her to be truthful, Add, she just can't see it."
"Perhaps it would be best to leave her here?"
"No, I'd rather keep her where I can see her, my friend," Barbosa finished, "let's just get going."
When he looked back, he could see Sylon and Inez following behind them, a marked distance between the two.
After walking for an hour, they came to a busy intersection. Across the way they could see Sector 6, the faces of the buildings along the thoroughfare were well maintained. Traffic was not to heavy along the road and it was well lit. But when the party looked closer, they could see that the alleys between the buildings were darker, as if the city was trying to hide something. "What's with the buildings, looks too rich to be the site of brutal murders." Barbosa observed.
"Window dressing," Inez responded, "don't want the rich and powerful to look at s£&% when they go about their business!"
"Guess not," Barbosa replied, "so we go down the alleys, lets move."
At this, the party crossed the street, easily avoiding the traffic travelling along the road. As they neared the entrance to the nearest alley, they realized that that they could only see about 30 meters down the alley. Not looking back, they filed down towards the center of Sector 6.
The further they moved down the alley, the darker it became, until there was a dim street light every 20 meters or so. They soon came upon an intersection where they stopped to take stock of where they are. As they looked around, Barbosa noticed a mark on one of the walls. Too him it just appeared to be a squiggle that was marked in a dark, flaky ink. As he touched it, he felt something awaken in the back of his mind. A buzzing started just on the verge of his conscious mind. He took a pen and a piece of paper out from under his armour and started to copy the mark onto the paper. As he tried, his hand shook. When he looked, the pen had not even touched the paper. The buzzing started to get more insistent in the back of his mind, awakening an anger that he didn't know he felt. "I can't do it, I can't copy that mark. We need to copy that mark to show Xanthis and Borgia."
"Let me try," Sylon said, "pass me that pen and paper and I'll do it." He took the pen and paper and tried to copy the mark onto the paper. Just like Barbosa, he couldn't bring himself to do it. His mind was stopping him. And, unknown to the others, he felt an anger growing in the back of his mind. "I just can't do it. I just can't." Without saying anything, Add took the paper and pen and tried to copy the mark with no result except a growing anger in the back of his mind.
"Look, if you guys are finished can we get going. Times ticking etc etc etc!" Inez said to the rest of them, taken aback by the look of suppressed anger on their faces. Barbosa barged past her and the rest followed him, deeper into Sector 6.
In Sector 6, three of the four party members were slowly getting angrier. Like tentacles, it started to worm it's way forward into there minds, until all they could think about the things that had really upset them. Sylon and Barbosa couldn't help bet strat to direct their anger towards Inez, while Add (being a feral worlder) started to hate the city they were in. He missed the open plains, the forests of his home world. As they penetrated deeper into the dull, almost lightless alleys of Sector 6, they came upon another intersection and another mark on the wall. This one subtly different to the first one. Add and Sylon felt the anger grow larger in their minds, but managed to keep it under control. Suddenly there was an outburst from Barbosa that startled the rest of the party.
"What the frakk are we doing? We're here, in this dark, stinking hole while those two are nice and cosy in a nice cathedral. Hell, I bet they're already back at the house enjoying a drink laughing at us idiots. I say we go back and tell THEM to come into this stink hole and investigate it themselves." Barbosa said, his voice rising, "come on. I was made leader of this group and I say lets get back NOW!"
"What, and miss this little excursion?" Inez said breezily, "what are you, some kind of pussey?"
Before she could react, Barbosa pulled back his fist and swung for her. It was so sudden that it was Inez's life in the gangs that saved her from taking a blow to her head, instead it glanced off her right arm. She took one look at Barbosa's eyes and knew that she had pushed him too far. Like a fox that hears the hounds, she ran along the alley, deeper into Sector 6. "I'll kill you, you thieving b£*%&!" Barbosa said, swinging his lasrifle up to his shoulder. As soon as it was in aim he fired, the las bolt narrowly missing Inez. As she heard the bolt hit the wall near here head, she dived into a doorway, thinking about how she could turn this to her advantage, how she was going to survive...
Will Barbosa manage to kill Inez?
Who was watching Xanthis and Borgia at the Cathedral?
All will be revealed in future episodes of...
THE FRENKS WORLD INVESTIGATION