Sea of Stars - IC III

[Haval]

Anika will leave the room before Macharius does. Outside she looks conflicted about something but will deliver the message to Lady Kindjal's people. She will also ask the guard for the name of whoever was in charge of Lady Kindjal's affairs on the basis that she should compare notes about the pilgrimage.

As soon as she's out of earshot of any of the household staff she will speak to Macharius in a low voice. 'I'd like to believe that I'm wrong but we may have a problem. Outside of our host's odd taste in Saints what is your opinion of her?'

[PotatoGolem]

Agreed. This seems like a surprisingly simple task, and we are certainly not the only ship that traverses the Maw. I expect there's more to this than meets the eye. Have your people look into these pilgrims' backgrounds. And I'd be very interested in how she's making arrangements for travel in the Expanse. Why is getting them there all she needs our held with?

I'm not entirely sure what to make of her myself. She seems diminished, but that may be an act. It's odd that she stayed so hidden.

[Haval]

Agreed. This seems like a surprisingly simple task, and we are certainly not the only ship that traverses the Maw. I expect there's more to this than meets the eye. Have your people look into these pilgrims' backgrounds. And I'd be very interested in how she's making arrangements for travel in the Expanse. Why is getting them there all she needs our held with?

I'm not entirely sure what to make of her myself. She seems diminished, but that may be an act. It's odd that she stayed so hidden.

'I'd expect she's a little vain. It's not entirely unusual. It's not like there are that many people of her generation that are still around for me to ask about what she looked like when she was younger.'

'Perhaps she intends for these pilgrims to make their own way on the other side. It's good enough for the Mendicant Orders after all, but someone who lives in a house like this doesn't suggest that kind of piety to me.' Anika doesn't look like she believes it. 'I didn't feel like I could honestly refuse her request, but you realise we can always change our mind before we leave Scintilla. If not, I'm sure they'll appreciate the stop at the Witch World that we're due to make along the way.'

'If anyone knows anything useful about the people Lady Kindjal is sending on this pilgrimage it would be my friends in the lower hive, and even though it's been a while since I've been back here, I would like to believe they still like me more then they like her.' There was one more thing that Anika really looks uncomfortable bringing up in public. 'You realise this isn't of academic interest? I would say that anyone trying anything on board the Sting would regret it anyway. Now...after recent events, I am certain of it.'

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Research at some pont after Anika leaves the Kindjal party

Anika is going to send Theresa to look for information on Lady Kindjal when she was younger. I presume there's some kind of records office in the Lucid Palace. Ideally she could find a picture as well. She'd do it herself but the other matter is more pressing.

Still trying to talk to the Kindjal Seneschal about the pilgrimage officially. Unofficially going to make some inquiries with the Kasballica if they know the kind of people who are the muscle for the pilgrimage. Are they dangerous mercenary types basically.

Inquiry test vs. Fel 47 (+10 Peer Underworld)
(1d100)[52]

[Destro_Yersul]

Anika

The Kindjal household steward was, Anika was told, the person in charge of organising the pilgrims, in conjuction with a handful of minor Ministorum functionaries. The Steward would be the person Anika would need to talk to, though. As of the night of the party they were quite busy, but before she left for the night Anika was able to get a tentative passenger manifest. With pilgrims it was always possible a few more would attach themselves to the group, or a few would leave, opting for a different transportation arrangement.

With Theresa dispatched on a research mission, Anika set about putting out feelers to some of her old contacts. A few of the people she once knew were no longer oprating, likely because they had been killed, either by the Arbites or a rival, who could say. The ones that were still around remembered her, and sent along a few details free of charge. Anika suspected this was because they didn't care about the pilgrims very much - the former guardsmen had indeed served in the Imperial Guard, and a few of them had been Frateris Militia, which was about what you'd expect. They weren't mercenaries, at least as far as the Kasballica knew.

When Theresa returned, it was with a pile of notes collected from the records offices and archives, as well as a few old broadsheet articles. Lady Kindjal had been alive for a very long time, and had collected her share of news. A few of these had picts attached, though not of especially high quality. The family resemblance to her great niece was certainly there, though. She had borne a striking resemblance to the heiress back when she herself was a young woman.

[Haval]

Later

Anika will pass on her findings to Macharius. In private she looks worried. 'That is better then I expected, but to be honest, it still doesn't fill me with confidence. The Frateris Militia aren't the sort of people that you can talk out of acting as they please. If we give them a lift perhaps it's better to assume the worst regardless. On the Sting, anything short of confining them to quarters ought to be easy to justify.' Anika is going to make sure the others are aware of Lady Kindjal's request.

Anika appreciates Theresa's efforts but had not quite found what she was looking for. She will go so far as to start a file on the Kindjal's though.

[Leon]

Spoiler: Destro

Show

To Assembled Cohorts
++Soon your classification exams will commence and your new specialties will be chosen++
++Your work no matter where you are destined is for the betterment of the Adeptus, the Imperium and the Absaloms++

++Once your specialties have been selected you will be given a new branch of of intensive skill upgrades to better suit++
++Now you will each have fifteen minutes to appraise me of your current aptitudes and learning processes achieved thus far++

The process was expected to highlight what Unit was likely to be best suited to the tasks at hand and while she did expect most to be better suited for the Shipyards she still hope to have a core set to work alongside her in the other matter, it needing more finesse and decorum

[PotatoGolem]

It should be relatively easy to confine them to their quarters and a shrine. They're being transported as pilgrims, not combat advisors or sightseers. There's no reason they should be allowed free run of the ship. And for the Guard veterans, that should be what they're used to. I don't believe Guardsmen are normally allowed to wander Navy ships as they wish. Bad for morale, can lead to inter-service brawls, that sort of thing.

[Destro_Yersul]

Spoiler: Ravia Only

Show

Unsurprisingly, most of the Lathemasters - at least going by their aptitude scores - were best suited for the shipyards and other mechanically intensive labour tasks. They would be an asset to Port Davis, especially in the smooth operation of the space station's core systems. Ravia had enough of them to disperse to the shipyards and still be useful, while also retaining a few select individuals to act as her own assistants.

For these, the best option was selecting those who scored highly on loyalty, creativity, AND stoicism. There weren't many individuals who hit all three criteria, but there were a few. Five, in fact, enough for a half-sized fireteam. Their leader was a male Lathemaster named Azgit, one of the quieter ones, who mostly kept to his own counsel but seemed to carry respect from the others. When it was his turn to explain what he was good at, he grumbled a few lines about chymistry and basic medicae skills and left it at that.

[Haval]

It should be relatively easy to confine them to their quarters and a shrine. They're being transported as pilgrims, not combat advisors or sightseers. There's no reason they should be allowed free run of the ship. And for the Guard veterans, that should be what they're used to. I don't believe Guardsmen are normally allowed to wander Navy ships as they wish. Bad for morale, can lead to inter-service brawls, that sort of thing.

'That depends on them doing what they're told of course. As long as we're prepared.' Anika looks worried.

Party

If nothing gets in her way Anika will snoop a little. Looking at other people's books was a habit whether or not she knew the owner, but if she didn't find anything interesting she'll try and investigate the areas of the house that weren't supposed to be accessible to the guests. She'd didn't think she'd be able to sneak past the guards even when she was younger so she'll try and talk her way through. With a drink still in hand Anika will ask one of them if they could direct her to the nearest bathroom. Regrettably there seemed to be a lot of guests here tonight and she would have to queue otherwise to use the toilet.

Spoiler: ooc

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Deceive vs. Fel 47 (+10 Etiquette)
(1d100)[90]
probably better that this failed

Spoiler: Destro only

Show

This is a fishing expedition and it's dependent on the guards letting Anika through anyway. She doesn't trust Lady Kindjal but doesn't know enough to know what she should be looking for so I thought I'd throw an Awareness roll at the problem while Anika is in her house.

Awareness vs. Per 43 (Awareness +10) (+20 if she has a chance to use her Auspex where no one else is around)
(1d100)[60]

And if she gets to use the auspex, Tech Use vs. Int 53
(1d100)[14]

Pilgrimage Preparations

At some point after the party Anika will call the Sting to inform her subordinates that they would have guests for the return journey. She'll look to prepare quarters in the ship that are at a relative distance from anywhere important. She'll also ask the crew to keep an eye on the Kindjal pilgrims for the whole journey.

Stalker Investigations

Anika will do what she can to investigate any leads on the Stalker. She will rope in Theresa, Macharius or anyone else who might be around to assist her.

Spoiler: ooc

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Going to try and roll to follow up on some things while I'm trying to catch everything

Are there any specific details that can be understood by looking at autopsy reports of the Stalker's victims.
See https://forums.giantitp.com/showsing...postcount=1455

Scrutiny vs. Per 43
(1d100)[60]

And from a post of Rax
https://forums.giantitp.com/showsing...9&postcount=90

No idea how to work out motive from first principles. At best we can maybe discern it from other things.

But otherwise, is there a pattern from all available records to how the Stalker seems to get inside the premises of the victims. Do they deactivate everything, do they use brute force or is it unclear how the Stalker gets inside in the first place
Scrutiny vs. Per 43
(1d100)[72]

Logis Prophesying
Given the social circles that each of the victims moved in, can the connections of subsequent victims be anticipated? Ideally Anika is trying to create a red string board to look for patterns.
vs. Int 53 (might be a vague question)
(1d100)[7]

Spoiler: Destro only

Show

Research

Hannabal's revalations had made Anika interested in following up on everything she knew about the Kindjals while they were still on Scintilla. Mother had mentioned a tangentiable association with Tech Heresy. Anika will make inquiries with the Commissariat to see if they could tell her some of the details.

ooc - Lead I realised I didn't follow up on
https://forums.giantitp.com/showsing...postcount=1455

Inquiry vs. Fel 47 (+10 Etiquette?)
(1d100)[73]

And I should check if the servo skull network mentioned here went anywhere
https://forums.giantitp.com/showsing...1&postcount=93

[Destro_Yersul]

Anika
Party

Anika wasn't able to bluff her way through the guards, who politely but firmly told her that if lining up was necessary, then that's what she'd have to do. The rest of the mansion was closed to guests, and there were a large number of washrooms in the available areas, so it wasn't like the wait would be long. It did, however, give her an excuse to duck into one of them and try her auspex, which spit out some very strange readings indeed. There were a lot of biosigns in the area, which was to be expected, but for whatever reason the device couldn't determine the precise number of them, and kept warning of xenological biosigns mixed in with the human ones.

Investigations

Scouring autopsy reports seemed like the sort of thing Theresa would be useful for. She'd proven efficient at collating data before.

While she was working on that, Anika dug through everything else she could regarding the crimes. The Stalker's mode of access wasn't clear - usually, nothing had been brute forced, but security systems had failed to activate. They probably had some technological help, something that could fool the usual motion detectors and pict recorders, built into the suit, but there was still the matter of physical locks. A multikey, perhaps? There were a lot of ways a skilled infiltrator could get through Imperial security systems, and Anika couldn't be sure what the Stalker was doing, and turned to her logis device looking for answers. She fed it all the information she had on the current victims, and started building a conspiracy wall. The information she'd given the machine wasn't perfect, and the question was vague, but it kept generating connections. Almost too many of them to follow. The victims had all been nobility, had all been socially active, regularly attended events outside their own homes, regularly hosted events within their own homes... the list went on and on. Ultimately, it did seem to be focusing on the social interaction aspects of the victims, though - it kept paring out the possibility of servant changes and other activities, and suggesting that it all came down to parties.

Theresa returned while Anika was checking the skull network to see if surveillance had turned up anything. The skulls had scattered throughout the hive, hovering around at roof height, and there were a lot of feeds to go through. The rooftops of Scintilla weren't very active, so it was mostly boring viewing - Anika caught a lot of rodents, couriers, other skulls, and lovers' trysts. She had also got some better images of the Stalker, from the cameras within their target area. It was still impossible to make out features - the Stalker appeared to be wearing some sort of hood, or a mask, but they were certainly a woman. Sleight build, acrobatic. About the right size to be Etula, but.. perhaps not at the right time. The skull picters applied large timestamps to their picts, if Etula's whereabouts could be confirmed during the timestamps where the Stalker appreared, then the person in the photos couldn't possibly be her.

"Death by blood loss, most of them," Theresa reported, when Anika had a moment. "Multiple stab wounds, punctured organs. Some had defensive-style injuries on their arms, some didn't. Rate of death varies. Some were faster, some bled out. Head injuries on all of them, with enough force to puncture the skull. Some of these were post-mortem, which is a little unusual. No other post mortem injuries were recorded."

[Haval]

Party

Did the Kindjals have xenos pets? If so they didn't seem interested in showing them off. While hiding in the washroom Anika will make an effort to identify and locate the xenos signals.

Spoiler: ooc

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Going to see if I can get more information
Forbidden Lore (Xenos) vs. Int 53 (+10 Talented FL Xenos)
(1d100)[20]

Scrutiny vs. Per 43
(1d100)[23]

Investigations

The connection of the murdered to the parties they had attended seemed to just raise more questions. Anika was quite willing to believe that the Stalker's motive might turn out to be something as petty as one noble being shown up by a another over the wine or the enertainment at another's party. She will start drawing links between the victims to see if there was any attendee at a particular party that hadn't yet been visited by the Stalker.

To Theresa, 'Hopefully there weren't too many picts. I don't think I could be paying anyone enough to look at images of dead bodies for work.' She wasn't a psychologist but the manner in which the victims were killed seemed to suggest a disturbed individual rather then a calculating assassin. Assuming it wasn't literally a servitor of some sort. Inflicting wounds after death seemed to sit oddly with the Stalker's technological prowess.

Ravia

At some point Anika is going to go find Ravia to make use of her expertise. 'I'm working on a theory, although I seem to be barely sleeping lately so feel free to let me know if I'm not making sense.' Anika has a dataslate full of evidence with her. 'Whoever this Stalker person is the most interesting thing about them is the tech that they seem to be using. Picking locks is nothing. I could do it myself with the right tools. Deleting yourself from any local pict recorders is something else entirely. But the other devices are surely still working. If the Stalker is going in and deleting the data what are the chances that they leave something behind? And frankly if we know how the Stalker is disabling everyone's tech perhaps we could close whatever loophole they use to do it. I feel like the Commissariat ought to have their own Tech Priests for this sort of thing, but perhaps the Mechanicus only lends out their more incompetent members for this sort of work.'

Spoiler: ooc

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Going to try and borrow Ravia's Tech-Use to see if the Stalker leaves a trace of itself behind in the cameras. Maybe it's like a Recycle Bin

Anika can give +10 if its needed

Spoiler: Destro & Rax only

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At some point after the Kindjal party Anika will find a moment to call Hannabel in private.

'Getting straight to the point. Your friend has given us a contract. We've been asked to ferry a group of a hundred or so pilgrims to Footfall when we return through the Maw. I don't think they're all heavily armed but some of them certainly seem to be former Guard. Supposedly they're intending to mount a lovely tour of some notable sites in the Expanse starting with the statue of the Emperor in Footfall.' Anika will pause for a second to see how badly Hannabel takes it. 'If you hadn't told me what you did I might have believed she was sincere.'

'I did consider trying to talk Macharius out of agreeing to it, but then I feel like I would have needed to explain what the problem was. The good news is that I would say there's no reason to think they know anything about your actual location. If they know where you and intend to come for you on the ship I'd like to think they would have brought more men with them. But if you don't want to spend the journey to Footfall in your quarters I think we need to confer. Assuming you'd not rather we go to Macharius about this?'

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro & Haval

Show

"A pilgrimage? Well she's either up to something or she really is desperate for redemption," Hannabel sighs. "You're right though - even if she's somehow found out where I am, it's unlikely that all the pilgrims are her agents and it ought to be extremely difficult to get me off the ship even if a smaller group manages to pick me out and corner me somewhere. Perhaps I should wear a cowbell from now on, so you can hear me coming and start worrying if you don't?" she chuckles.

"But...the mission is to deliver the pilgrims to Footfall? Wasn't that where you said you'd spotted me when you called the number on the bounty posting?"

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

Show

'I will consider holding you to that. Perhaps with some sort of tracking device.' Anika replies also chuckling. 'But yes, the story was I had seen someone matching your description in the Ogyrn's Head on Footfall. If that is where they're going I don't think it would be that difficult to keep an eye on them.'

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

Show

"Well, if you're trying to track someone down and the trail's gone cold, sending your hunters to the last place the quarry was spotted is the natural thing to do. I imagine they'll start asking around if they can't turn up any leads at the Ogryn's Head, and it's possible someone else will remember seeing me on Footfall. I'd hate to have to dodge the Countess' hunters every time we dock there," Hannabel muses.

"We can't really do anything about them until we get to Footfall anyway. If these ex-Guardsmen are the Countess' agents, then they'll probably be meek little lambs as long as they're posing as pilgrims. Short of spacing the lot of them on the way to Footfall, I think we'll have to wait for them to break cover. Once we know who they are, we can deal with them without raising too much suspicion - Footfall's a dangerous place, after all."

"As a bonus, we might pull that off without worrying the Lord Commander's pretty little head..."

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

Show

'Then I wonder how easy it would be to plant evidence that you had set off for somewhere more scenic. Perhaps Ork territory or the Rifts of Hecaton. How enthusiastic do you think they might be to follow you out that far?'

'The idea of engineering some sort of accident had occured to me. Who knows, perhaps the trip through the Maw might resolve the problem for us. Have you heard the stories about the world Kennoch wants us to stop at?'

[Destro_Yersul]

Party

The signals weren't any sort of reading Anika recognised, which ruled out almost all of the more common exotic xenos pets, and a lot of the uncommon ones. This was something else, something new or at least very rare, and it was... strange, to say the least. There would have been trouble enough pinpointing it with thick walls and all manner of electrical wiring around, some of it very old, but on top of that there seemed to be something about the signal that Anika couldn't quite compensate for. Sometimes, the auspex would spit out an error message and just stop seeing it... whatever it was. Anika was out of time, though. Another guest had started knocking on the door insistently.

Investigations

"You see worse downhive Landunder," Theresa said. "Autopsies are very clean compared to the Render clan."

She paused. "If you're offering me a raise though, I wouldn't turn it down."

Working the party angle, Anika couldn't single out anyone. Not everyone who had been to a party had been targeted, nor even all those who had hosted them. Though.. the ones who hosted and hadn't been attacked mostly had homes within the Lucid palace, and nobody from there had been targetted at all. If the hypothesis about accessibility was correct, and you eliminated that group... then it wasn't attending parties, it was hosting them.

+++

Later, Anika had Ravia check the devices, and the Magos found that things hadn't been deleted. Everything the cameras had recorded was there. There was a loop region, though. For about an hour, right when the murders were happening, the picters and audio snoopers had simply recorded the previous hour's worth of footage again. It was easy to miss, if you weren't going through with a fine-toothed comb, and Ravia confirmed that it was possible to pre-set a cogitator to perform the necessary data manipulations, but the talk got very technical very quickly, and the short answer was that very few people had the acumen to do that. Which meant the Stalker had probably outsourced.

[Leon]

++There are sadly misbegotten wretch's that manipulate the Holy Tech for nefarious means outside of our purview for the right or wrong price++
++They may have trained as Laypeople under our adepts, do as much as we are we cant do everything everywhere most often++

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

Show

"I suppose we won't know until we try. It's worth a shot at least," Hannabel answers with a smile.

"The Witch-cursed World? Only bad stuff - nothing to see or do there, but sometimes derelict ships turn up with no crew and no way of telling where they went to. Why does Kennoch want us to go there?"

[Haval]

Party

Anika will make a mental note to investigate whether her auspex was actually working correctly but knew that that probably wasn't the problem. Without neccessarily even knowing that she was curious about it, something was evidently capable of hiding from an auspex scan. What the hell are the Kindjals up to?

After letting the other woman into the stall she will go so far as to briefly vox Macharius. 'There's something odd going on here. Keep an eye out.' She will head in the general direction of the signal just in case it was inside the area that the guests were free to move through.

Spoiler: ooc

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Awareness +10 vs. Per 43
(1d100)[86]

Investigations

To Theresa, 'I'll see what I can do. Up to a point I think I still count as rich. As long as you don't need a personal spaceship I think I should be able to work something out.'

While working through her evidence board Anika is becoming increasingly convinced that the Stalker murders may somehow be tied to some inscrutable point of noble etiquette. If there was some connection to the hosting of parties that she wasn't quite seeing she will try to make some calls among those members of the Scintillan highborn that she was still friendly with. How well regarded were the parties that were hosted by the victims of the Stalker? Did anything stand out about them to someone who might have attended them?

Spoiler: ooc

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Inquiry test vs. Fel 47 (+10 Peer Nobility)
(1d100)[17]

There was also a second point she could follow here. Other then those able to hide out in the Lucid Palace, were there many members of the Scintillan highborn that were known to be prominent hosts of parties that were still alive? She didn't need the logis device to tell her that anyone of that sort seemed like a likely future victim.

Ravia

'Who needs formal training.' Anika replied absently referring to herself. 'You read enough translations of the right texts and you can pick up the basics.'

On Hereteks, 'My understanding is that Tech Hereteks tend to be either highly motivated laymen (who I can't honestly see having the skills to do this), or the sort of scary and capable types that the entire sector will hear about eventually. I would be quite in favour of letting Macharius deal with the latter sort but I would expect them to be quite able to hide themselves from anyone who might be looking for them.'

Anika will pass Ravia a dataslate containing the collected autopsy reports, 'I don't why you know how the human body works, but it is a gap in my education. I would appreciate you taking a look at this at some point.'

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Leon
See the ooc. Anika needs the help of someone with medicae just in case

Etula Hax

Anika will pass on what data she had on the Stalker's movements in the hope that it gave Lady Hax an alibi. 'It's the least I can do after you humoured us at the Kindjal party. I don't expect it to entirely stop the accusations but it might suppress them a bit.'

Friends in low places

Anika will make some enquiries if anyone in the Kasballica knew anyone who was capable of hacking the security systems in a house.

Spoiler: ooc

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Inquiry vs. Fel 47 (+10 Peer Underworld)
(1d100)[14]

Spoiler: Rax and Destro

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'I think he owes someone a favour. The Telepathica wants someone trustworthy to take a look at the place. Regardless of his reasoning, I wouldn't want those people to be irritated with us by not living up to our end of a bargain.'

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

Show

"True enough," Hannabel agrees.

"So, besides the Countess suddenly finding religion, did anything else interesting happen at the party? And when do we fill the Lord Commander in on the fact that both the Inquisition and the Adeptus Mechanicus are spying on us?"

[PotatoGolem]

Party
Curious. We shall have to investigate these "pilgrims" more closely. Wouldn't do to be bringing xenos onboard.

Investigations

Macharius considers Anika's findings. Quite the deduction! It would be rather funny if this was all about being snubbed at parties, would it not? A touch macabre, but still rather humorous. I wonder if there's anyone who wasn't invited to those parties who could have had some expectation of going? If you find that some hosts are still alive, see if we can compare guest lists from the surviving hosts and the decedents.

We may also be able to bait the blighter more easily with this information. Williams! Begin organizing a party. A celebration of House Absalom and Scintilla. He looks rather pleased by the prospect.

[Leon]

Party
'I don't why you know how the human body works, but it is a gap in my education. I would appreciate you taking a look at this at some point.'

++Certainly++
++It is probably for the best you don't know how I know how it works++

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

Show

'About that. The auspex picked up something unusual while I was in the bathroom. There was something xenos in the Kindjal household for all that it seemed to be keeping out of sight. I don't suppose you can shed any light on that?'

'As for the other thing, I'm frankly torn between getting Macharius up to the Sting for a quick chat and leaving that until we're leaving here. Whenever we have that conversation I would appreciate you being in the room.'

Macharius

'I'll look into it. If that is the Stalker's motivation I'll have no problem handing them over to the Inquisition.'

Ravia

'You are probably right.'

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

Show

"You brought your auspex with you when you went to the bathroom? And found a xenos? Are you sure it wasn't something you ate?" Hannabel smirks, trying to keep a straight face.

"I'm not aware that the Countess had any particular fondness for xenos before, but her great goal has always been just to keep on living. I know she used to consort with hereteks - perhaps she's moved on to xenos," Hannabel speculates. "As for the surveillance business, I'll be there when you feel it's safe to broach the matter."

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

Show

'I feel like you never know when you might need it, and my bag is very spacious.' Anika grins at Hannabel amusement. 'In any case, I have the readings recorded. Just in case we ever want to send it along to the Ordo Xenos and let them tell me what the hell it was.'

[Destro_Yersul]

Party

Anika walked around a little, but couldn't easily get the auspex back out where people could see, and didn't notice anything odd in the accessible parts of the estate, which made sense. If there were hidden xenos somewhere about the place, they'd be in the cordoned off parts of the house, not the ones full of guests.

Investigations

Chasing down leads amongst the nobility, Anika got a lot of answers that were perhaps at odds with what she'd expect. None of the parties had been disasters - many had been fairly standard, with nothing special about them, but nothing especially bad, either. Nobody she talked to could remember any consistently terrible interactions, though there was of course the usual set of petty grievances and sniping back and forth, there hadn't been any big scenes. The one place there had been, was at an event thrown by one of the people who lived in the Lucid Palace, and was thus still alive.

She did find an extremely likely future target, though. One of the habitual party animals, who was still alive, had a house within the confines of the geographic predictions Anika had already made. Ma. Ord. Edmund Hamsha (ret.), formerly of the 134th Scintillan Fusilliers, had yet to be targeted. He had hosted hundreds of events, generally inviting just about everyone who was anyone, but with a special regard for other former military comrades. Many of his guests were also retired guardsmen.

Ravia

Ravia was able to identify the weapon, based on the reports and the description of injuries. Or weapons, rather. There were at least two. The majority of the injuries did come from a sword, likely a double-edged dueling blade similar to the one Etula carried, but by no means unique to her. The peculiar post-mortem head wounds came from a hollow-tine. Normally this was an agricultural implement, useful for caring for large grounds, but it seemed to have been repurposed here for some reason. An ice pick would have been much simpler to acquire and use, and the improvised nature of the object was at odds with the bespoke nature of the rest of the Stalker's gear.

Etula

The timing on the images turned out to be useful. Etula told Anika that on at least one of those instances, her own location could be confirmed by half a dozen others who weren't directly employed by her or her uncle. It might not entirely get rid of the rumours - Anika was correct in thinking that was unlikely - but it did give Governor Hax considerable ammunition to use as denial of his niece's involvement, and in terms of the investigation, it meant she was no longer a suspect.

Spoiler: Anika Only

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From her friends at the Kasballica, Anika got back a list of twenty reliable tech-adepts that could be counted on for discretion and quality. Scintilla had plenty of people capable of doing the work that had been required, as was to be expected for a city of its size, but the Kasballica knew who was the best. The list came annotated with recommendations for the top five. Lady Charuv was a noble scion herself, who had engaged with the Kasballica before, and picked up a wide array of technical knowledge through personal study. X-864 was a renegade of the Adeptus Mechanicus, stripped of everything except a designation, who hid amongst the industrial refuse of the lower hive. Delphium Thule aspired to be a techpriest, but had never been formally inducted - he took the famous Magos Thule's name as a form of self-aggrandisement, but by all accounts was quite skilled nonetheless. There was a note on his file saying he'd been hard to contact recently, so maybe try the others first. The Auditor was a mysterious one, who nobody had ever actually seen, as they preferred to work through intermediaries. They had come from Gunpoint a few years ago, and had connections to the underworld there, but beyond those scant details little was known. The final name on the top-five list was Harmon Gex, an extremely secretive techpriest who was, officially, still a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus. He had control over some minor processing station deep in the hive, and was known to have accepted the odd side job. The Kasballica thought it was because he chafed at his own lowly position within the Adeptus.

Macharius

Williams was an obediant servant, and began preparations immediately. He was also a man of the dynasty, however, and warned Macharius that it might take some time to put a proper event together, and with recent heavy spending the dynasty's liquid assets were not so great that they could afford to leave the flagship in orbit around Scintilla, not making any money, indefinitely.

[PotatoGolem]

I see. Perhaps we are better off attending this other party, then. Williams, we can delay the party until we've caught the AAtalker. Scintilla may foot the bill then, hoho! Macharius himself will make the social circuit, to ensure that his name is mentioned in the right places to get an invite to the party.

Spoiler: OOC

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Charm to make a good impression and finagle an invite.(1d100)[66] vs 122 (Peer Military or Nobility)

[Haval]

Party

Anika is on edge but there was only so much she was willing to do to call attention to herself at the moment. She will hang out with Macharius for the rest of the evening.

Spoiler: ooc

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Nothing more to add at the party because I don't want to try asking the Kindjal's guards to take Anika to the Xenos.

Anika will pass all this onto Macharius when they aren't in public.

Investigations

'At the very least it's worth going to see this Hamsha person to give them a friendly warning.'

Ravia

To Ravia, 'How knowledgeable are you about gardening? That does rather sound like the Stalker is taking something after the victims are dead.'

Everyone

Over the command channel, 'I may be obliged to do something slightly illegal. I will probably need Ravia to accompany me for moral support. The rest of you are free to come along as long as you promise to dress down.'

[rax]

Spoiler: Destro and Rax

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'I feel like you never know when you might need it, and my bag is very spacious.' Anika grins at Hannabel amusement. 'In any case, I have the readings recorded. Just in case we ever want to send it along to the Ordo Xenos and let them tell me what the hell it was.'

Spoiler: Destro and Haval

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"Was the trouble that you couldn't get a clear reading or that you couldn't make heads nor tails of it?" Hannabel asks. "Because Galimina and I could take a a look at the readings if it's just a matter of interpreting what you found," she suggests.

[Haval]

Spoiler: Destro & Rax

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'You're welcome to take a look. There's always a chance I could have learnt more if I got closer, but getting out my auspex in public seemed like a bad idea. Whatever it was, it was not something that I'm familar with, which does rule out a lot.'