Inquisition: Story

[Kaspar]

World: Eptruna
Location: Segmentum Tempestus, Loki Sector, Targus Sub-sector, Eptruna System
Status: Civilized World
Geography: 89% ocean, one continent
Tithe Grade: Solutio Prima (20%)
Population: 613 million
Capital City: Hanoa, 22 million
Government: Hereditary Aristocracy
Planetary Governor: Carinus van Heppel
Military Strength: Minor, capitol city protected by void shields
Main Exports: Marine biologicals, luxuries
Main Imports: High tech goods, luxuries

Eptruna has a single, small continent and numerous archipelagos. The planet has an extensive fishing and aquaculture industry, and exports many marine derived luxuries and exotic biochemical compounds.

The capitol city Hanoa is built on steep coastal hills at the south-eastern side of the mainland. A semi-hive, the city consists of several levels, arranged like steps of a stairway. The first area at near sea level contains the docks and warehouses, and buildings there are built to withstand flooding caused by frequent typhoons. The second area, three hundred meters inland and twenty meters higher, contains the industrial area and general housing. Many underground tunnels and rooms honeycomb the hills under the city.

Cresting the hills, the third area is the commercial downtown with many skyscrapers, most notably the Mechanicum TechSpire. Further out, sheltered by the hills, stretches the suburbs of the wealthy upper-class and the palatial estates of the Governor.

The Governor Carinus van Heppel seems to spend his time in banquets and aqua-hunts, leaving most of the actual governance to his sister, Lady Patricia van Heppel.


Mission:
Your mission is to an Imperial world called Eptruna from where a coded warning message was received. There you need to establish contact with an undercover agent called Jacobus Florenzi and solve the issue at your discretion.

Jacobus Florenzi works as a high ranked government bureaucrat and, secretly, Inquisition informant. A warning message was received, disguised as routine commercial Astropath message, signaling that Florenzi has found something important and needs assistance. His picture and house address provided with the briefing.

You will travel to Eptruna aboard a small merchant ship Galerius. The captain, Elenora Dolan, has transported Inquisitions’ cargoes and personnel before, and knows not to ask questions.

Spoiler: Galactic neighborhood

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Name Distance Type Terrain Population
Asken ~1 week Shrine Barren 20 thousand
A lifeless world that was once visited by RobouteGuilliman during the Great Crusade. Now hosts a shrine inhabited by twenty thousand priests and their attendants. A pilgrimage site for the Targus subsector.

ZP-717-IV ~1 week Dead Barren -
A lifeless world notable only for some crumbling DAoT ruins.

Besgion ~2 weeks Civilized Barren 30 million
A small, atmosphere-less world containing some valuable mineral deposits. The planet’s sole city is build underground in an extensive cavern system. It is ruled by a republican government with all adult citizens voting for the Governor every 6 years.

Monocerotis ~2 weeks Feudal Temperate 420 million
A sparsely populated feudal world. Most of the people are preindustrial farmers, but the ruling nobles have some off-world technology. Governor is a hereditary position. Exports luxuries, imports high-tech equipment, weapons, consumer goods.

Proelium ~2 weeks Civilized Temperate 2.37 billion
A developed world that is a major trade partner to Eptruna, ruled by a number of squabbling Noble houses.

Azara ~2 weeks Civilized Temperate 11 billion
Azara was settled 4 thousand years ago and has grown into a major trade and industrial hub in the subsector, housing a population of over 11 billion citizens. It is ruled by five Great Houses that elect the Governor from their ranks every 10 years. Many industrial exports, main competitor to Forgeworld Vanaheim.

Dentri Vasa ~3 weeks Civilized Temperate 2.1 billion
The head of a republican government serves as the Governor. Voting franchise extends to all wealthy citizens.

Sceptri ~3 weeks Feral Orks Jungle ~100 million
A jungle world infested by feral ork tribes using primitive gunpowder weapons.

Geletia ~1 month City Hives Arid 21 billion
Targus subsector capital. Rather infamous for high levels of government corruption.

Bahruk`s World ~1 month Ork warlords Forest ~800 million
The whole system is split between many warring ork warlords. Occasionally they go raid the nearby imperial systems. Battlefleet Bakka is scheduled to wipe them out sometime this millennium. Exports ork marauders and dakka, imports loot.

Edresia (Loki Sector Capitol) ~2 months City Hives Temperate 36 billion

Forgeworld Vanaheim ~2 months City Hives Tundra 42 billion
Major armaments exporter. Eptruna’s PDF buys their weapons from here.

Tallarn ~6 months Civilized Toxic Desert 650 million

Bakka (SegmentumTempestus Capitol) ~6 months City Hives Volcanic 19 billion

Jurn ~6 months Ork Fortress Temperate 12 billion

Rynn's World (Crimson Fists Chapter) ~6 months Agriworld Temperate 200 million

Ophelia VII (Cardinal World) ~2 years City Hives Temperate 29 billion

Holy Terra ~4 years Hive Planet Urban 1+ trillion

[dojango]

Bartholomew had spent most of the voyage gambling and socializing with the ship's crew. They used little plastic chits, each worth an ounce of the ship's watered-down booze. Small change for Bartholomew, which was why he had deliberately lost most of the time. Made him popular with the crew, and it was better than re-reading the briefing they'd been given for the fiftieth time. "Something weird, handle it." Fine. Once they arrived at the spaceport, Bartholomew said, "Reckon we should rent an autocarriage. Who wants to drive? Not it!" he shouted a moment later.

[Janwin]

Mostly keeping to himself, Urial passes his time in the journey largely reading or entering data into his dataslate. He also does more than his fair share of snooping around where he shouldn't be, and gets returned to the group's quarters more than once by the ships security personnel.

Upon arriving at the spaceport, he glances over at Bartholomew and comments, "My driving would not be conducive to the continued good health of our group."

[RelentlessImp]

Tia split her time during the travel between meditating and examining parts of the ship that weren't off-limits to passengers. Her single mechadendrite set to record through its optics as she examined without touching, even though her fingers itched to touch and manipulate. Finally, on approach, she joined the rest of the Inquisitorial team, staring out the windows at the approaching planet, just shy of shoving her face up against the glass for a better look.

Upon arrival, however, she glances to her fellow agents. "Ah... as much as it shames me to admit, I've done no operation of such things before. However, assuming that the traffic isn't thick, I am willing to give it an attempt."

[Kaspar]

You have arrived to Eptruna aboard a small merchant ship Galerius. The captain, Elenora Dolan, has transported Inquisitions’ cargoes and personnel before, and knows not to ask questions.

As the ship enters orbit, the captain informs you that the cargo shuttle will be ready to depart soon. She warns you that there will be a customs check upon landing.

[RelentlessImp]

Customs. Right. Tia did a mental checklist of her equipment. There really wasn't anything in her own gear that would raise eyebrows; at least, she didn't think so. Her Mechanicus robes sat over her flak armour, including the hood over the helmet, which might raise questions? Then again, her autogun might raise flags, too. Hnh. She wasn't a hundred percent on how civilized worlds might operate with regards to weaponry.

"Will arms and armour be a problem for clearing customs?" Tia finally asked with a look to the Captain.

[Caellath]

Enoch was (somewhat) happy to be in a ship. While the small merchant didn't possess the oppressive vaulted ceilings and noisy drunnels of the Oath Unspoken, and even less the impressive array of weapons his birthship had, it was still like the equivalent of staying over at a relative's house for an imperial worlder's. A very distant relative with a house completely lacking in the power and majesty of their own birthplace, but still.

At least he did try his best not to remind all of the crew members they were all living in what was almost a glorified shuttle as far as he was used to.

Given the opportunity, Enoch returned to his old habits and spent quite some time helping in the logistics section of the merchant ship. Data-looms and cargo-cogitators were old acquaintances of his and despite his lack of socialization in most occasions he did strike a few chats with other workers in the same area. By the time the vessel arrived at the destination, he was feeling refreshed after getting some good old number-cracking done.

When the matter of clearing customs came up, the first thing the Tithe-Provost did was glance at the oversized cybernetic in place of his left arm, then he thought about his armor and the deactivated and unusual-looking thunder hammer he'd been lugging around for quite a while already. But then he looked at the Tithe-Provost identification and documentation he'd been given.

"I am an actual Tithe-Provost of the Administratum, as much as I thought that was an invented title when I received the promotion. The group will be my retinue of assistants, bodyguards and people more capable of talking about things that do not include bureaucracy, tithes and debts to the Administratum."

Enoch cleared his throat. "Captain Elenora Dolan, could we have backpacks or cases to carry some of our heavier items? Those and the ones that'd be too conspicuous to arrive dirtside in our hands or bodies. That'd be appreciated."

[BloodyMagpie]

Heidi had been lurking in a corner quietly listening to the discussion while smoking a lho stick. She'd been doing a lot of lurking on the voyage, and she'd yet to open up or say more than a few words to any of her fellow acolytes. She'd more or less converted part of the ship's longest hold into an improvised shooting range, though she'd been careful to clear it with the crew first and taken multiple safety precautions including installing a old slab of junk metal as a backstop, only shooting on an energy setting so low it'd barely blister paint, and making sure there was no personnel or anything flammable or explosive in the area. Visitors to the ship's shrine may have seen here there as well, always when it was quiet and vacant.

Now she leaned in as Enoch suggested the cover story for their party. "Seems sound. I can probably manage a cover as your bodyguard and driver... don't expect me to do much talking though."

[Kaspar]

“Certainly, we can get you some bags. And the Administratum documents should get you trough customs without much issue.” The captain tells you.
“The shuttle is ready to depart, ma'am.” The quartermaster reports “Shall we, then?”

As soon as everyone is seated, the shuttle undocks and begins its descent.

From high Eptruna appears like a typical garden world- deep blue oceans, some greenery and scattered clouds. A large storm can be seen to the east over the ocean.

The spaceport is located south of Hanoa, straight on the coast so that cargoes can be easily transferred from ocean going craft to spaceships.

As the shuttle sets down on a concrete pad, you disembark. Four people stand at the end of the ramp- two PDF troopers in light flak armor carrying lasguns, while the two in the middle appear to be customs officers.

The senior officer steps forward: “Good morning, please state your business on this world, visitors!”

[dojango]

Bartholomew put on his best haughty unelected bureaucrats' face. ""Tithe Provost Publican and retinue. Official Administratum business. Don't worry, we're not here to audit your department. We're here for... well, nevermind that. Destruction of records and obstruction
of an audit are class D felonies. Don't want to get you mixed up in all this. "

Spoiler

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(1d100)[64] v. 45 charm to get him to not want to get involved. Am the Fellowship guy I guess.

[Morovir]

Krell sat in the shuttle and waited patiently as it prepared for departure.

"There will be no issues with clearing customs."

The derision was almost palpable in his voice.

"You are representatives of the Adeptus Terra, on a sanctioned mission regarding the local government. You have the ranking authority. Any attempts to obstruct your progress will be treated as violations of the Lex Imperialis."

Upon leaving the shuttle, Krell followed the Tithe-Provost out and stood ramrod-staight behind him and to his left, his shock maul holstered at his hip and his shotgun clutched in his hands at the ready. He would do nothing yet. He was curious to see how the nominal leader of their assignment would handle himself.

[Caellath]

Enoch was wearing only his robes right then, having left his armor and weapons stored. Title aside, it would probably look weird had he just stepped out of the shuttle wearing it.

"Good morning. I am Tithe-Provost Publican, of the Adeptus Administratum. This is my team of assistants and guards." he simply replied to the officer while having the official Administratum documentation he was in power of displayed.

There shouldn't be any trouble with just doing things by the book, since it was all legitimate.

[Khan Cake]

Landing dirt side finally broke Oranius from his many week stupor aboard the ship. Lack of solid ground below him had always caused him to enter fervent pray and meditation. He stood patiently behind his fellow comrades, cracking neck and shoulder joints with leisure.

[RelentlessImp]

Tia, for her part, followed along without speaking, tucking her hands into her sleeves and doing what she could to appear as just another tech-priest. Settling quietly into the back of the group while Enoch introduced them, her optical mechadendrite recording.

[Janwin]

Urial also does his best to get through customs without speaking at all. While nothing he was carrying was necessarily illegal, he didn't really want to have to go through the trouble of explaining what a web grenade was to a bunch of simple-minded security guards who only think of grenades as things that go "boom! splat!".

For the time being, he's quite content to let the Adeptus Administratum get him through the door.

[BloodyMagpie]

Heidi was so flabbergasted by Krell's bullheaded statement she couldn't even manage to laugh at the absurdity of it. When she did speak, she couldn't keep an edge of contempt out of her voice. "By the Throne... you got hardly any sense in that thick head? Might as well be shouting 'Hey, we're the bloody Inquisition, just ignore us!' We should try and be discrete. We don't even know what our mission is yet until we meet our contact, it'd be pretty damn stupid to spook potential prey before even beginning to hunt."

Once planetside, she allowed Enoch to speak to the customs officers while she stood behind him giving her best stern, silent glare.

[Morovir]

Krell turned his deadpan stare on Heidi.

"I made no mention of the Inquisition, as you would have noticed had your senses not been addled by shellfire or whatever you Guard meatheads get dropped into. We have the appearance of an Administratum-sanctioned inspection, and as such, we have an authority superseding that of the local government even without any Inquisitorial backing. Such inspections are common enough, and will give us the cover we need to carry out our assigned task, without any mention of the Inquisition."

[Kaspar]

The officer briefly confers with his partner and uses his datapad to verify the documents before returning to the group.

“Everything is in order. Welcome to Eptruna, Tithe-Provost. If you wish to meet with the resident Arbites representative, his office is here in the main port building. And I can arrange for transportation, if you wish to head elsewhere?”

[Caellath]

"Yes, I would like to pay a visit to the Arbites representative." Not paying a courtesy visit to the Arbites after being offered one would likely look strange, and Enoch wasn't against the idea. Not all of the places he'd operated in had actual Arbites presence instead of local enforcers, and having them around tended to be a boon when he bit more than he could chew. It was thanks to them he had his lock-arm, after all.

"The local void-commerce bureau would be a fine place to visit afterwards."

Spoiler: OOC

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Since PbP games do tend to slow down, I suggest we find an excuse to go to the place our informant works at then go from there. We just need not beeline to them to avoid drawing suspicion.

Talking to the Arbites representative is a way of keeping up appearances so we're not going straight to a government building, and since it's a short visit my intention is keeping it to a quick note instead of a full-fledged RP situation.

As a further note, anyone who disagrees can say it OOC or have their character disagree in an oblique way IC, like suggesting looking for lodging or food before visiting the government building. Or suggesting a different place altogether.

[dojango]

"Your Excellency, we'll need a place for you to stay while we are here. Perhaps this good official can recommend a fine hotel to stay at? One that conforms to administratum reimbursement rates, of course."

Spoiler: OOC

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We don't have to stay there, of course, but it helps to lay a false trail if we want to.

[Caellath]

"A good idea, if there are no dignitary quarters available." By now it's clear Enoch is either good at playing the humourless bureaucrat all too happy to smash your skull in for debts to the Imperium or that is just how he usually is.

[Kaspar]

The group is quickly taken to the office door of the planet’s resident Adeptus Arbites agent.

Judge Zacharias Hessman
Adeptus Arbites
Lex Imperialis

The customs officer opens the door for the visitors, ushers you in, bows and scurries away.

The arbite is a tall, black haired man, leaning back in a chair behind a wooden table. He places down the data slate he was reading from and rises to his feat.

“Hello. I’m Judge Hessman. What can I help you with?”

[Caellath]

"It is an honor to meet you, Judge Hessman. Tithe-Provost Publican. I came to pay my respects, have my presence known for the sake of cooperation, and to ask if you have any notice or register of Imperial citizens displaying tax-unrest, tax-hesitancy or any other tax-related objections and doubts."

"That would be be a sign of present lack of compliance or future desire to do so."

[dojango]

"Also, his excellency the Tithe-Provost may have need of your assistance, if he runs into... obstacles... in his collection efforts. Better to let you know it is a possibility now, rather then when we are in the middle of a high-intensity asset forfeiture debate."

[Kaspar]

“Certainly. I have to say Eptruna is a rather quiet place, so I'm the only Arbite on the planet. I liaison with the local police, and insure that the local laws and regulations are in compliance with Lex Imperialis. If necessary, I can send off an Astropath message, a couple squads of Arbites could arrive here in a week or two- depending on how favorable the Warp is. Until then, we would have to rely on local forces. The local PDF aren’t all that bad thought. There are several Air mobile infantry units based in the Governor’s palace, and they can respond rather quickly.”

“As for the locals, I don’t have much to tell. There are always merchants trying to skirt port fees, of course, and Hanoa has some gang problems, especially in the dockyards area, but otherwise, not much cause for concern. The local clergy hasn’t even charged anyone of blasphemy recently.”

[Caellath]

"Fee-skippers... I see. I appreciate the information, Judge Hessman, and it has been a pleasure. I will keep your vox-codes and contact or visit you personally in case something abnormal happens during record-dredging and tithe-collection."

"Now to the void-commerce bureau before we look into accommodations. The sooner this audit is done, the better for the Imperium."

[Kaspar]

Two government cars with drivers are assigned to you. Leaving the space port you head towards central Hanoa.

The downtown is the busiest part of the city, full of steel and glass skyscrapers. You pass the particularly impressive Mechanicum Techspire and soon reach your destination.

Mathias Jole, the Director of Interstellar Commerce, turns out to be a rather jumpy, short statured man.
While rather shocked about being audited by representatives of Imperial Administratum, he insists that all the books are in order.

However, when you passingly inquire about Jacobus Florenzi, he reveals the man is not here.

“Senior Manager Florenzi? He fell ill four days ago and we are not expecting him back for a while. But I assure you, we have all his tasks handled just fine. Now, here are the last year's import/export records ….”

[Caellath]

Enoch had asked for a tour of the place, and had at least in theory asked about the location of a missing employee every time they saw an empty seat or office. Eventually they got to Jacobus Florenzi, and the information they got didn't sound good. He was their informant, and hopefully he was simply laying low instead of dying or dead.

"Excellent, Director Jole. I will have the employee data as well, in case there is need to interview the scribes directly. And I will also take this year's partial transaction records as well if they are available at the moment. In case they are not, I trust they can be arranged soon."

The employee data was partially an excuse to visit Jacobus, and partially so he could also make a proper probe after the Inquisitorial mission was over. In the end the Provost only had to fall back to what he was used to doing whenever there wasn't any violent collection to be made. He even checked his data-slate to make sure there weren't any outstanding debtors in the Administratum-produced list he carried around.

"Now, does the government provide accommodations for visiting Adepta or will we have to procure those?"

[Morovir]

Krell waited patiently as the tithe-provost conducted his conversation with the Arbite representative. Upon the conclusion of the conversation, as the others made to leave, he walked up to the Judge and greeted him with the sign of the aquila.

"Sir, I am gladdened to see the sanctity of the Lex Imperialisupheld by such a man as yourself. In your opinion, how would you rate the local enforcers? Where do their loyalties lie - with the governor, or with us and the Lex?"

[Kaspar]

"Sir, I am gladdened to see the sanctity of the Lex Imperialisupheld by such a man as yourself. In your opinion, how would you rate the local enforcers? Where do their loyalties lie - with the governor, or with us and the Lex?"

“The Governor runs a tight ship- or I should rather say his sister, Patrica, does as the Governor’s Right Hand. Lord Carinus is not even in the capitol thought because he left on a cruise. Deep sea fishing, or something, as I heard.

The local nobility haven't caused any trouble in a long while now.

The Defense forces are modestly sized but well trained. And local law enforcement is competent. There was a recent uptick of gang violence in the slums, for example, and the Hanoa's police responded quickly and harshly.

All considered, I'd say the armed forces are quite loyal to the central government.”

"Now, does the government provide accommodations for visiting Adepta or will we have to procure those?"

“Perhaps I can be of assistance.” A female voice intercedes.

You see a tall woman of indeterminate age and long black hair, dressed in an elaborate emerald green gown. She is accompanied by four liveried guards.

She slightly bows her head as she addresses Enoch:
“Greetings, honored provost. I am Lady Patricia van Heppel, the Governor’s Right Hand. In my brother’s name I welcome you to Eptruna. Our resources are at your disposal, and we welcome you to the hospitality of our palace.”