The Abyssinia, Imperial Chartist Vessel within Deep Empyrean
Three months ago (Standard Time), the Abyssinia left the fleet at Lucruzu Primus to travel to the planet Kelphis in the Incendia Paeniteo subsector of Mardannon in response to a plea for aid. Inquisitor Corvus Mandera and his Acolytes have embarked on this journey to a new world to help an old contact of the Inquisitor's. However, what they have uncovered en route is dire indeed.
Earlier this year, an Inquisitor named Marius Vex arrived on Kelphis and began to research into the planet's ancient structures at the bottom of Kelphis' hives. Soon after, he declared that warpcraft was a cancer eating at the pure heart of the Imperium - and that the psyker-heavy population of Kelphis threatened to tip the world over into heresy and debauchery. The Inquisitor gained the complicity of the planetary government, and declared that ALL psykers on Kelphis or entering the space around it must submit to a "purity inspection" conducted by Inquisitorial agents, most of the time by Vex himself.
Since the implementation of this dread mandate, not one psyker "interviewed" by Vex has lived to tell of what happened in the interrogation room. All have been burned at the stake, or are simply missing. No agency has been spared this purge, not even the Astra Telepathica or the Scholastica Psykana - but now Vex has his eyes on the Navigators living in orbit around Kelphis.
The head of the Navis Nobilite has called upon Inquisitor Mandera to stop Vex's lunacy. If too many more psykers are lost, Kelphis will be cut off from the Imperium and might never recover. However, the task before them is monumental, for no agency in the Imperium has the legal right to countermand the order of an Inquisitor - not even another Inquisitor.
It is up to the Acolytes that Mandera has charged with investigating Vex's activities to bring forth the evidence that Mandera will need to interdict Vex's mandate on Kelphis. They must now navigate a minefield of political intrigue, court room drama, detective work and maybe a few homicidal lunatics.
Inquisitor Mandera's Investigative Cell
- Khan Novus, Scholar
- Pioter Malcalvich, Cleric
- Malcom, Arbitrator
- Beutis Caine, Guard
- Gallia, Inditor
- Murkul Ivanovich, Tech-Priest
Campaign Log
Total Time: 26 hrs (3.23.14)
- Action Plan (2.23.14 to 3.2.14) Total Time: 13 hrs - The Acolytes are briefed by the Inquisitor on the nature of the threat and given their mission. They are instructed to investigate Vex's activities on the surface of Kelphis and produce proof his mandate is not a grievous error.
- The Acolytes meet the new members of their team and are briefed by the Inquisitor. They begin to formulate an action plan for investigating Vex. (8 hrs)
- The Acolytes are in a terrifying ordeal during warp travel where one of the Abyssinia's concentric Gellar fields is sabotaged, resulting in a warp bleed point that cost many lives. After braving the field's containment area and repairing the device, the Acolytes efforts help the ship return to real space safely. Thereafter, a Navis Nobilite ship arrives to help the stricken Abyssinia, which luckily had exited warp space not far from it's target. The Acolytes follow the Inquisitor to the Navis Nobilite's orbital platform, where they remained until the base was geosynchronous with Hive Abakum on the surface. Shortly thereafter, they are released on the surface of Kelphis to find Vex and observe his practices for two days. (5 hrs)
- Witch Pyres (3.9.14 to 3.16.14) Total Time: 9 hrs - The Acolytes begin their investigation of Inquisitor Vex and explore the strange hive of Abakum.
- After witnessing Inquisitor Vex execute a psyker firsthand, the Acolytes regroup and start canvasing Upper Abakum. Their investigation leads a few of them into a face-to-face meeting with Vex, where they seem to throw off his suspicions they may be enemies of the Imperium themselves. The Acolytes travel to the Administratum and to a nearby Arbites precinct where they run into some clerical errors involving rosettes and shotguns. (5 hrs)
- The players do some research and find the unsteady zone where they believe Markos fled. After nearly falling to their deaths in a huge, broken ventilation shaft, they get lost in the dark, cutoff zone and flounder about until they run into the mutant underground. They speak their case to the mutant leader, and are led into the mutant hideout where they find Markos. After hiding there until the next contact point, they attempt to extract the pskyer to Mandera's custody - but are thwarted when a sniper's bullet ends the astropath's rebellion against Vex. (4 hrs)
- Dark Beneath (3.23.14) Total Time: 4 hrs - The Acolytes discover more of Mandera's plan and take their search for the truth the dark underhive of Abakum.
- The Acolytes report their failure to secure the psyker to Mandera, who seems impassive on the subject. The Inquisitor directs the acolytes to meet with a muto named Hellves, who has left the building by the time the Acolytes clear up some confusion with the local Arbitrators. The Acolytes spend 3 days traveling downhive, and finally meet with Hellves. The muto chieftain tells them about the ancient Priory, shunned and lonely within the depths of Abakum. Soon after, Hellves reveals he is actually Captain Basterd, and shows them into the Priory's Gardens. (4 hrs)
That's all for Dark Heresy, at least for now.
