Illidan you spot an Adept that stands out from the rest. Most are wearing Grey robes but this one is wearing White. He's a man in his later years and he is walking toward one of the buildings.
Illidan taps Auraxis on the shoulder and gestures to the priest to look at the odd adept
"Shall we"
illidan begins to walk as naturally as possible in the same direction as the adept
Constantine you recognize the old Adept. It's the White Scholar!
"My friends!! The God-Emperor smiles upon us!!!"
"That is the White Scholar....."
illidan snaps a photo with his pict recorder of the white scholar.
"It seems that we have found our current objective, let us find the answers we seek
Auraxis scans the crowd to see if anyone else is interested in this man or us.
Awareness
No one else around here seems to fit the description and Brother Constantine seems to think this man is one of the Acolytes that came to this planet with the Inquisitor.
He's making his way into one of the buildings. Do you guys want to cut him off or wait till he gets where he's going?
"Consantine you head him off, dont want to rush him with this many people. Plus never know who else is watching him. We may blow his cover if he is working on something. No one would suspect anything wrong from a priest running into him. We will watch your back. "
Illidan activates his pict recorder and stays within ear shot.
Brother Constantine approaches the old man in white robes and he turns toward him with a bit of look of shock.
"Brother Constantine? Is that you? I thought you were dead! Please come inside quickly we must talk."
He moves a bit quicker into the building he was headed into. Do the rest of you follow?
Illidan will follow keeping a small distance until they are inside the building where he will proceed to catch up once they are out of the public eye.
The building the White Scholar leads Constantine into is a library of some sorts with a lot of terminal but it's quite empty at this time due to the festivities going on in the city. He leads Constantine down a hallway that turns and zigzags a lot and eventually comes to a dead end with a single door. He opens the door and proceeds to enter.
Auraxis you do not spot anything suspicious about this place or the man and it's very quite here. There aren't many other ways in and out of here and the way he's leading Constantine seems like it's the only path to this room.
Do you two want to approach them now as they enter the room?
Illidan approaches quickly as they enter the room followed up by Auraxis not to far after. The White School looks a little startled and confused as the two new individuals enter his office.
"Who are these men?" He looks to Constantine for answers.
Huntarr will sign up and see if he can borrow a cannon for the competition.
The man you approach to join the games smiles with a big grin and slaps a Hand Cannon in your hand with 5 bullets in it and an extra clip with 5 bullets.
We will subtract the cost of bullets from your winnings IF you survive. He laughs really loud.
You are stripped of your armor before you are allowed into the small arena where a man wearing ragged clothing is standing waiting for his next opponent. You saw this man take 3 shots at his last opponent to drop him.
Opponent Initiative
Seeing how fluid you are with your movements the man seems to try to rush to pull out his gun to shoot you.
Opponent Init (10 total)
Illidan approaches the White Scholar.
"Please don't be alarmed we are friends. We have been in search of he who is known as the White scholar. If we could have a moment of your time all things shall be revealed. I am Illidan please to meet you. "
illidan looks to Auraxis
Init.
The White Scholar looks between the three of you and answers "Emptiness... Now where is the Inquisitor? If your not dead Constantine and this man here knows our secret code then the Inquisitor must be around."
Illidan remains quiet for its not his place to inform this man of his fallen commander.
"As Brother Constantine has stated the Inquisitor has fallen, but not before we swore a dying oath to him to carry out his mission. There are 4 of us that were thrown together pitted in combat forced to stand together against unknown forces."
Illidan pauses to keep himself in check
"We made our way through an underground maze known as the red cages, but before exiting our starting location we stumbled upon the inquisitor. His body was half mutilated. he was far to gone for us to save."
"We are trying to connect some pieces together. We were ask to seek you out and join forces with the squad that will take down those that would oppose the Emporer of who sits on the holy throne."
"We seek your counsel but Auraxis here is better with words than I if you would entertain him a bit, in the mean time Do you have a computer I may use to look into a few resourceful matters"
There are no consoles in this room.
"... And then I saw you weaving through the crowd so we decided to follow you in here and Thats our story."
The opponent attempts to dodge!
A hollow look entered the White Scholars eyes as he hears news of the Inquisitors death. "I... I see. Well, I suppose you'll want to know what happened then? We were investigating the Beast House, it's leader Vulpa. We'd heard rumours he'd been trading in megafauna without a licence, then we found out about experiments on xeno-breeds..."
"Well, we went in prepared for one thing, but found that the Beast House was involved in something far more foul. I believe that we may be dealing with a group known as the 'Pilgrims of Hayte', though until now I was not certain but based on what you described..."
“From what I can tell, you had a brush with the Pilgrims of Hayte back there. The Psyk-scouring you related, at the beginning when you first awoke? That seems to point to the Pilgrims looking for something in your minds.” The man scratched his chin.
“I’ve been doing research into this issue, here’s what I’ve managed to gather…” He paused to look down at his data-slate.
“Firstly, the Pilgrims of Hayte turn up throughout this sector, here and there. The references are often scattered. From what I can tell, they’re an apocalyptic murder cult. The central tenants of the cult are that humanity's true place in the universe is that of a squalling, blind creature utterly at the mercy of a deadly cosmos and a hungering warp. To them, civilization, reason, faith, love, family, morality, hope, pleasure, and honor are all lies and stillborn dreams. The answer is total destruction, the violent self-immolation of mankind's carefully wrought web of lies and deceit.” The scholar paused, “They see the universe around us as a lie, I believe. The truth can only be found in death and obliteration of the self. Heretics, and dangerous heretics at that.”
The scholar looked back down at his data slate. “I believe they are following a cultist known as “The Heron”. There have been scattered records in Xicarph’s limited law enforcement records to people having been attacked by, or confronted by a man in a heron mask. This is probably the same individual you’ve had brushes with previously. I don’t know what he’s after, but after digging through local folk lore, I found reference to… Where did I put it…”
He placed the data slate on the table, and turned to a battered and worn old book. “Here it is… “The Legend of the Widower”, it’s an esoteric text, but it seems to be the most solid lead I’ve been able to find.”
“According to the legends and folklore of this despicable city, the Widower is a local bogey-man, a monster from legend. The story goes roughly like this… long ago during the birth of the Calixis Sector, the Rogue Trader line of Haarlock brought with them across the stars a servant to protect their secrets. Ancient and terrible, it knew every price the Haarlocks paid for power; it was named the Widower and brought death to any who would try to learn its master’s secrets. It was a slave, and had no form of its own. There’s reference to “Living in Masques”, and the “Nameless Flesh”, but they’re scattered. Occasionally horrific murders are attributed to the Widower, but most are easily explainable by Carrion feasting on corpses… But here and there the corpses left behind are too… mangled to be the work of mere creatures of flesh and blood.” The scholar paused, checking his texts to make sure he had made no errors. Seemingly satisfied, he continued.
“It seems evident to me that the beast is just a fairy tale, but the insanity of the Pilgrims of Hayte may see them treat it as a real entity. Whatever they have planned, it revolves around the legend of the Widower, and is tied to “Haarlock’s Clock”. Fanciful fairy tales, as I said.”
The scholar paused and looked up, “Before I go any further, I need to know… Are you following this?”
Illidan punches the wall
"How deep does this rabbit hole go. First kidnapping, illegal pit fights, xenos experimentation, murder, megafauna. These heretics will pay."
[I] Illidan starts pressing buttons on his pict recorder and draws fourth some holographic images of the symbols at the church inscribed on the altar in blood, the astrological signs, blue prints of some structure. The painting rent Gabriel Chase. [I]
"What do you make of these images.?"
Your shot strikes the man in the body nearly ripping him in half and he gets a shot off at you.
Attack , Shot goes wild due to him trying to make a hurried attack (no quickdraw)
He cringes at the sight of the symbols. "I would destroy that device if I was you..."
He turns to Auraxis "I would trust no law officials on this planet as they may already be compromised."
The scholar coughed and continued, "Well, the best lead I've found thus far speaks to a woman known as the 'Spider Bride'. She's a sinister figure, who's said to live in the Asken Follies and in the Twilight Pavillion. Apparantly she's centuries old and is said to know pretty much everything that goes on in Xicarph." He paused to bite the nails on his left hand. "I think this would be the best place to start. See what she knows about this mess... What the Pilgrims are after. I'll stay here and continue to--"
Before the scholar could continue, there was a commotion in the corridor outside. As you turn you see, as if coming from nowhere, a group of four men standing over the tangled remains of a Librarium servitor, all wearing Heron Masks burst into the room. As one, they doff their masks to reveal faces covered in bloody cuts and wide grins. The leader then speaks:
“Forgive our master’s jest, but is time for the pawns on the Regicide board to play their parts; now give us the old man and you can go back to the dance…” The leader points at White Scholar and beckons with a finer. The scholar sat in his chair, white as a sheet and trembling in terror.
"Take him, try to avoid killing the Master's board pieces if you can." The man at the front spoke, bale fire burning in his eyes.
Initiative + 3
"any way we can resolve this gentlemen without anyone being dragged off?"
Huntarr simply fires again.
vs 67
damage, if successful.
The man attempts to dodge the next shot.
He fails horribly moving into the bullet as it lays him dead flat instantly.
The crowd goes wild at the shot and the game master motions you to come over to collect your aware of 475 thrones!
As this is all going on you notice a very beautiful Nobel woman staring at you intently. She is in her younger years no more than 25.
What do you want to do?
Huntarr handed over the hand cannon and took his prize money without comment. Then he slipped into the crowd.....
Concealment vs 49%
Silent Move vs 59%
He moves to appear behind the Noblewoman.
"Generally, staring like that means you have more in mind than simple spectacle."
The woman turns around startled as you surprise her and blushes a bit.
"You startled me!"
Just as she is about to speak to you 2 people interrupt her and stand on each side of you. One a very large burly man and another a gaunt looking woman. The Nobel woman looks a bit on edge and scared. The big man speaks.
"Excuse me but Papa Grist invites you to meet with him." and he motions in a crowded direction.
"Papa Grist? Never heard of him. Please explain to me why I should care. While you're at it, kindly apologize to the young lady. I was speaking to her first, and I hate being interrupted."
"If you do these things to my satisfaction, I will meet with this Grist fellow as soon as I arrange to speak with the young lady at a later time."
Huntarr waits patiently while the two make their move.
The big man grabs you by the arm and the woman says "This was not a request."
Compel Psychic Power
"Come"
Willpower Test
You have this odd feeling like you want to go with them.
They lead you down through some passes and you eventually come to a building with a man garbed in tattered, ash-strained rags and isfestooned with broken and grisly trophies. He smiles as you approach with his two henchmen.
"Ahh I see you have met Crackmarrow and Bliss, i'm so glad you would come and meet with me. I was very impressed by your gun skills and would like to utilize your skills in return I will give you what you seek."
"And what is it that you think I seek?"
Grist smiles brightly.
"What all men like you desire, Thrones and Information."