No, Acolytes, YOU are the Heretics (IC)

[MorkaisChosen]

Erian takes his dataslate and walks to the hangar, glancing briefly at the other acolytes but saying nothing. He keeps himself away slightly from the others, as if uncomfortable in company.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Vorin nods in confirmation and follows the rest. His breathing is audible, though he isn't really tired at all, because of the respirator he has. His entire lower jaw has been replaced with a mechanical skulls mouth, painted in dark grays and blues, with some white for details- the colors of his home-ship. The skulls "teeth" are only made to look like teeth, and are infact part of a vox-sponder built into his head, as well as the respirator unit itself.

[an kobold]

Following the corridors you arrive to a previously shut door that leads into the Inquisitorial hanger. The narrow space you were in gives way to a vast space full of ships of all shapes and sizes, including one Thunderhawk transport. Close to the hallway you came from is an Aquila lander painted black and gold with several tech priests clustered around, each intent on getting the Holy Rituals of Refueling and General Maintenance perfect. One of them looks up and gestures you to the entryway. The pilot and gunner are already inside.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

As Vorin walks he nods toward the tech-priests and walks up to them before getting on. He nods again in deference to them and makes the cog-wheel symbol of the Omnissiah. Greetings brothers, may the Omnissiah bless your work. Might I inquire as to when this holy vehicle shall be fit in your eyes to take us to our destination?

[Forum Explorer]

Quirt climbs into the thuderhawk, sits down, rest his shotgun agianst a wall and begins to read the dataslate.

[Verruckt]

Helena glances quizzically at the arbite in the thunderhawk before climbing into the Aquila and strapping in, making sure her gear is stowed beneath her feet.

[an kobold]

A tech-priest turns to Vorin and replies, his mechanical eyes glowing beneath his red hood.

It is fit now. Inquisitor Wilkes had us go over it twice, as she recently had to purge some of her cadre. You can never be too careful, you know. Still, to think such blasphemers could have such an understanding of the Omnissiah's works to trifle. . .it is frightening indeed. May your journey be blessed, brother, and may the holy lander see you safely to landing.

Another tech-priest detaches the last of the hoses from the small transport and the group as a whole begins to move away.

Already in the Aquila, the first information to greet Quirt's eyes is general information about his destination.

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Huma

+++PLANETARY DATA+++

EQUATORIAL CIRCUMFRENCE: 34,149 Miles.

CLASS: Developing/Mining World

SUBSECTOR: Golgenna

YEARS AND DAYS: Huma takes 295 Terran Days to complete its orbit and 27.5 Terran Hours to rotate on its axis.

CLIMATE CLASSIFICATION: Arid. Desert except around coast, where jungles flourish.

MEAN SURFACE TEMPERATURE: 40°C.

PLANETARY GOVERNER: Elected Representative Johan Armenius. The planetary governor is elected by the leaders of the various political land powers of Huma, who may or may not use such democratic practices at home. Typically, whoever is elected tends to hail from the Polatum Empire, the largest and most powerful nation.

ECONOMY: As water by far is the most valuable commodity in the desert where mining takes place, Aqua is the term applied to thrones here.

PRINCIPLE EXPORTS: Huma’s primary exports are its vast resources of metal beneath the desert sands and rocks. At least half of the metal comes from developing or full blown hives from Huma’s past, made uninhabitable by the various weapons lobbed about once every hundred years. These ghost cities are surrounded by settlements populated by millions who scavenge inward. There is some manufacturing in the developing hive cities, but mostly raw materials are shipped off.

PRINCIPLE IMPORTS: Fresh water and manufactured luxuries for the high class. After the eventual centennial world war, work vehicles and food are in high demand.

COUNTRIES AND CONTINENTS: There are four main land masses, each essentially deserts bordered by jungles that give way to ocean. Each one has a single nationalistic government except for the largest continent, which has two. The most powerful of the nations is the Polatum Empire, whose northern location and large size (second largest continent) gives it an advantage in both raw materials and food supply over its rivals. There are no polar ice caps but a small, uninhabited polar land mass does exist in the southern most ocean.

Imperial Guard Recruitment: Huma has four IG regiments serving abroad, mostly specialized in desert warfare, which all are trained to excel at. Their vehicles and equipment are also specially designed so the choking sand does not interfere with performance.

DEFENCES: Each political power maintains a standing army. All standing armies are required to donate a regiment to the PDF for an annual tour.

CONTACT WITH OTHER WORLDS: There are stable Warp routes between Huma and Scintilla, Settlement 228, Cyrus Vulpa, and Landunder.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Vorin nods to the tech-priest Frightening indeed. Thank you for the information, may the Omnissiah guide you always. with this he steps inside the shuttle and sits down near his companions, and he continues to read the Data-slate. After a moment or two he makes a mental note to speak with some of the tech-priests of this world, the information on these desert techniques, among other things, might prove useful.

[Destro_Yersul]

Asanti steps onto the Lander. A Desert world? Well, that was certainly interesting. He finds a seat and straps himself into it, looking about the inside of the ship. He never really trusted space travel, as long as they had given him to get used to it. Well, no matter. They were going to be doing the Sun God's work, and that was enough for him.

[Rockbird]

Tower

Following her fellow acolytes into the ship, Tower takes a seat and reads her dataslate.

[MorkaisChosen]

Erian

Erian enters the lander and straps himself in, muttering a quiet prayer.

[Verruckt]

Helena finishes perusing the dataslate and looks out at her fellows. "So, I have names, but I don't know your skills. What are we all bringing to the table in the assistance of His plans? I suspect I'll be providing some muscle for the group, and I know Vorin to be one of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and Quint is fairly obviously an Arbite, but what about the others?" Her accented Low Gothic is made even thicker by chemical scarring on her larynx, making her sound as though she has smoked Iho around the clock her whole life, though in truth she's never touched a stick.

[Destro_Yersul]

Asanti looks up, and finally says something to someone. His answer is short, and he's got a fairly deep voice. I am Asanti. I hunt those the Great Eagle deems unworthy. The hunting rifle, with it's sight and silencer, should be enough information as to what he hunts with.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Vorin nods silent assent toward the guardsman, one of the many times he will do so no doubt. As you mentioned I am of the Adeptus Mechanicus, I can only hope my technological knowledge will prove an asset in times to come, as well as my knowledge of weaponry. This last is added as an afterthought, as he glances at the no-doubt unsanctioned hunting rifle, the unspoken question of its sanctioning hanging in the air.

[MorkaisChosen]

Erian

Gesturing briefly at his staff and the sanctioning brand on his forehead, Erian says, "I am a psyker- Sanctioned by the grace of the God-Emperor, praise be to Him. I have some skill with a gun and can find those hiding nearby."

[Forum Explorer]

Helena is right, I'm an Arbitator. With that Quirt goes back to reading the dataslate and rereading it when he is done.

[an kobold]

The Aquila lifts off smoothly once the tech priests have cleared the area. The pilot and gunner both are silent, concentrating on their jobs like all in an Inquisitor's cadre should. The descent is uneventful and provides plenty of time for small talk as well as the completion of the data-slate.

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Atellus Ravion

+++Personal Information+++

Atellus Ravion was born in the scavenging community known as the Iron Gullet in the Polatum Empire. His parents are unknown. He moved to the developing hive city of Polatum in his twenty-fifth year. Despite having no political or societal connections whatsoever, within five years he was widely accepted by the city's elite. He has since moved past them and is now fraternizing with the movers and shakers of the planet, including Elected Representative Johan Armenius.

+++Charges Levied Against+++

More than one noble has come forward to the Inquisition claiming to have evidence that Atellus Ravion moves in heretical social circles. He has been recorded heading out into the desert at night to rendezvous with mutants. There is proof of his heresy. However, the source of this proof has disappeared since.

+++Your Duty to the Emperor and the Inquisition+++

It would be easy to move against Atellus Ravion alone. The Inquisition knows where he lives, available below. However, Huma is not safe until the cult he is with is not rooted out as well.

[Destro_Yersul]

We should start with the desert. If we can follow him, even just once, we will have our proof. And that will be all we need. Asanti smiles, hefting his rifle.

[MorkaisChosen]

"Not so hasty, Asanti. It is all very well to remove one heretic, but our mission is to discover the cult to which he is connected. If we kill our only lead, there will be no way to find them."

[Verruckt]

Helena looks up from her slate. "Who said anything about killing? We could always follow him out into the beginnings of the dessert, put a round in his leg and a sack over his head..." She leaves the possibilities hanging in the air.

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Vorin shakes his head at this prospect But if anyone saw, more than likely if hes connected to a cult, then they would know something was up and dig in. No the best course of action is to follow him, watch where he goes, and find evidence of his whole cult. Then we can either infiltrate from their, or call in some aid, if any is available, to clear the nest of Heretics out.

[Rockbird]

Tower

Having gone silent with the effort of reading the data slate Tower finally looks up.
Another option is to try to infiltrate the cult. It's probably more trouble than it's worth, but we should keep the possibility in mind. Oh, and the name's Tower. I'm a... Well, no point in hiding it.
She smiles apologetically.
Con artist would be mostly correct, i guess.

[Forum Explorer]

I could investigate amongst the nobles, starting with any of the nobles that have disappered. Oh if I'm gong to do that I'll claim I'm working on my own Quirt offers, ignoring the fact that Tower was a con artist. Afterall if she was a acoylte then her skills were serving the Imperium no matter what her past was.

[Verruckt]

"Hmm, my only concern with infiltration is the simple fact that it does not play to our talents. I think, however, that surveillance is not out of the question. If we found the mutant colonies that he is speaking with and then alert the local PDF to their presence we can force him out of his plans and still appear innocent to the act. Ravion will hopefully be oblivious to Inquisitorial involvement an will be more vulnerable to our attack. We abduct him then and see if we can't get anymore information. The cult will simply suspect he has gone to ground and ignore his absence for long enough that we may locate them." Helena reaches into her pack and pulls forth a flask of low quality amasec, taking a slug before offering it to the others.

[Destro_Yersul]

Asanti takes the flask, gulping some down before speaking again. So we're following him? Good. It is better to watch first than to risk Chacta's bite.

[MorkaisChosen]

"Yes, that sounds safer. I can apply my... talents... to countersurveillance- ensure no-one is hiding nearby, and such. We will need care- a cultist could look like any upstanding Imperial citizen..."

[Verruckt]

Helena's eyes widen at Erian's comment. "And so must we, I fear walking about the wrong city in flak armor and carrying a multitude of rifles would draw very much unwanted attention. In some of the rougher areas that won't be such an issue, but if we track him into the more affluent circles we will need to tone down our arms and armor."

[Lord_Asmodeus]

Indeed Vorin concurs, his head nodding once again I can most probably carry my laspistol concealed if nothing else, and my robes shall hide my armor quite eloquently. Also, we should establish where we will be convening and where, and when, we go about tracking Ravion

[Verruckt]

"Right, and I have a few small stub pistols should anyone else need a concealable weapon." Helena turns back to the slate to see if she missed any information about a safe house.

[Destro_Yersul]

I have a small Laspistol. And this is a hunting rifle. Find out if there is anything worth hunting on this planet. Asanti mutters something about nobles and their expectations and goes back to reading the data slate over again.