Chapter 1: Blood on the streets (IC)

From his examination of the far wall Radomil is able to find one wickedly sharp shruiken disk, roughly half the size of a beer bottle cap, deeply embedded in the wall, and one just next to the door frame. There is the small spatter of blood on the outer blade of this disk. There is no sign of the third disk. The gun itself is well maintained, and it looks like it could be disconnected from its mount fairly easily.

Adelaide's ears perk up with interest. Having found nothing of interest on the bookshelf, she immediately moves to inspect this weapon.

"Did they jus' miss this, or was they too dumb to open the desk drawers?" She whispered, clearly indicating the officers outside with her eyes. She carefully picked up each book, slow enough to try and "feel" if it were connected to a booby trap of some kind. If she was confident, she took each book and thumbed through it, looking for notes or clues left inside.

Finally, She walked over to Radomil and inspected the disks. "Wonder who that blood belong to," she said hypothetically, staring at Radomil. No doubt that would be important. They needed a sample.

The books that Adelaide lifted seemed to be completely normal, none of the three weighing any lighter or heavier than their size would suggest and none suggested that they had been tampered with. A cursory flick revealed nothing either, just pages of words of diagrams.

While the shruiken disk which had been embedded into the wall was too deep to withdraw without use of an implement of some kind, the other had evidently been somewhat slowed before it impacted with the corner, perhaps by the person it had bloodied. It would be easy to remove.

Behind them Gabriel was down on his haunches, peering down at the floor. A lone finger reached out to trace something in the wood, before he scooted forward and examined another section. As he got to his feet after this, his handsome face was frowning in obvious thought, though there was a glimmer of a smirk to his lips. Making his way over to the desk, he too took note of the weapon hidden in the desk drawer before turning his full attention to the papers on the desk. Sitting himself down comfortably on the chair, he started to quickly sort through the papers, scanning each before putting them down into four separate piles. Halfway through this activity he paused for a long moment holding a small page about half as large as the others, before putting his page inside his jacket and continuing.

As he got up from the desk and moved over to you, his smirk was much more obvious, and his walk suddenly much more confident. While he might never admit how shaken he had been by his interaction with the Commissariat, this kind of investigation was something he felt very much at home with. Nodding his head in the direction of the door, he shook his at Adelaide as he answered her question.
"Possibly a mixture of both. I wouldn't get the impression that thinking is actively encouraged in the Commissariat, especially the lower levels. It seems pretty obvious whatever happened, Master Roget did not leave this room willingly."

He gestured behind him with a flick of his wrist.
"I had to get down on my knees to see it, but there are clear marks of something heavy being dragged towards the door. The marks are fresh too, most probably from last night. The marks are dulled somewhat though, as if there was something between the edge and the floor. As if they'd put something between it at the floor, or if it was in a bag or something.
Also I had a check at the desk. The papers there looked normal enough on the outside, all stacked up neatly, but when I tried to read them they are all in the wrong order. Diagrams on ore yields mixed in with basic surveillance and flight crew manifests, and room bookings. No one would leave papers like that. I'd suspect they were all thrown to the ground and picked up again but someone who had no idea what they were about and neatly stacked again."

While he was clearly quite pleased with these deductions it was also evident he had one last bomb to drop. With a flourish he withdrew a small page from inside his jacket and showed it to you.
On a plain white page, the message was bold and written in letters of different sizes and colours, evidently cut from different pages.
'YOUR DEBT IS OVERDUE. PAY US OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES. THE RED BEARDS'

Adelaide raised an eyebrow and nodded. "Damn. That was some good-ass detective work. Well done, Gabriel. We should take that funny gun though - could come in handy."

She didn't have much more to add. This wasn't her area of expertise; she was just glad she was with some people competent enough to handle it.

Radomil steps back to survey the scene"Huh. So our Major cut some bad deals, Redbeards came to collect. He lit a couple of them up, then they bagged him? Nah that doesn't make too much sense, we've got him on a vid getting off a train, right? What happened to the bastard he shot, you think? Not to mention we've got three shots and two slugs.

Radomil noticed the damp handkerchief lying next to the desk chair. He gingerly prods it with his boot to get a better look at it before picking it up and examining it.

As Radomil picks up the handkerchief he notices that it is noticeably sodden and there is a strong smell coming from it. The smell is vaguely familiar to him bringing to mind battlefield triage tents. Something tells him that it wouldn't be wise to sniff it too closely.

Adelaide is able to detach the shruiken pistol from its mount with relative ease.

[You can add the shruiken pistol to your equipment now Jeff. (Rng 30m RoF s/3/– dMg 1d10+4 (r) pen 3 Clip 50 rld 1 full WT 1.2 Kg)

Gabriel was leaning against the wall of the room. He looked across at the other two, and raised one eyebrow with interest.
"You have a point there Radomil. Something about this doesn't add up. If someone ambushed him here in his own office, would he say nothing to anybody and just quietly leave on the train? Unless they maybe overpowered him and forced him to leave? If so how did they get weapons through security? And yeah that's a good point about the missing slug. Ten to one, it went into someone which means its still there or has to have been removed since last night."

He moved forward from his position and slung his hands into his jacket pockets.
"To me anyway there are a number of ways we can move forward. We could check out the vid recordings and see exactly what they show. We could visit the scene of the crime and see if we can pick up anything there and see what exactly that note is about. We can visit his apartment and see if there are any other clues there. Bit of a coincidence if his place was ransacked on the same night. What do you two think?"

"What'ya make of this, looks like anesthetic. Could be they drugged the poor bastard. I think we should look at the tapes, see if it was really our man getting off the train. If we're lucky maybe there's security videos of this level, see who visited him." Radomil pockets the handkerchief. "Doesn't make a whole lot of sense, all this. These Red Beards gotta be powerful stupid to come for him where he's dug in, especially after giving up the element of surprise by sending him a note. Plus its terrible opsec for the Major to take out the spare copy of the codes if he knows there's a hit out on him. Unless the codes are what the Red Beards wanted and they offed him anyway after he coughed them up."

Gabriel nodded back at Rodmil.
"I agree. There's something really strange about this all. We definitely need to see what vids they have."
With little else to examine in the room, the three of you prepare to depart. Feeling like it might be better to hide the recently found weapon Adelaide hides it beneath her robes, while Radomil places the damp tissue into one of his pockets.

As you exit the former Master Rogets room, there are three figures outside in the hallway. Besides the Commarssariat still standing guard, you find Master Blacklock waiting near the door to your right. A little way to your left, standing by the lifts you can see the old figure in brown priests robes, who attempted to get your attention before the doors closed.

Master Blacklock addresses you in a loud voice.
"Ah Estates Ordinates, I was hoping to find you here. If you would follow me into my office for a brief official meeting."
When he said the word 'official', there was a slight emphasis in his voice. For the briefest moment he looked meaningfully at you before turning on his heel.

Following him into his office you find yourselves in a very different room, to the spartan one you had just left. While it had the same basic dimensions, and the same furniture, an almost identical large brown desk, the imposing safe to the right and the wall on the left filled with circular holes and tubes, there were also a number of additions that the former didn't. The floor was softly carpeted in dark red and on the wall immediately behind the desk was a large relief of the Emporor, depicted in all his golden glory, and with eyes that seems to burn through you regardless of where you stood. Finally a detailed street map of the city completely covered the right wall, and was festooned with a multitude of different coloured pins.

As Master Blacklock took his seat behind the desk, you saw that you were not alone. An average looking scribe, somewhere in his middle age was standing to the right of the desk, just in front of the safe.
"Estate Ordinates," Master Blacklock began in the same tone as prior.
"I trust your investigations are progressing. The lamentable murder of my superior has been a shock to the whole Administratum and it is important that answers are found swiftly. While your investigation skills have come highly recommended, it had occurred to me that as relative outsiders to this building and its inner workings, that you may be in need of some extra assistance in completing your efforts in the required time frame. Therefore I am adding Adept Lesot, Scribe clerk of the Fourth Order to your Ordinate team. He has been working within the Administratum for many years, and will be able to provide you information that otherwise you might lose much time attempting to uncover..
Adept Lesot," he then said turning to the scribe.

"As of this moment you are relieved of your current duties and will instead act alongside the Estate Ordinates until further notice. You will assist them in any way they require to complete their investigations. Your superiors have already been informed. I do not have the time at present to give you a summary of the facts at present, but the Ordinates will inform you of any information that you need to know."

Again there was a slight emphasis in voice when he said the last three words. He paused for a moment before looking back at the three acolytes.
"If you have any questions, ask now. Otherwise I'm sure you have places to go and see."

[Welcome to the game Princeofhavoc. There's a lot of information on the case so far in the NPC and Briefing materials thread. If any of the other characters want to write out exactly what they want you to know they can do so, but as there is a lot of information there, they can also briefly detail what bits they want to tell you. I.E- just the key clues and information and none of the background Inquisitorial stuff for the moment. Up to you all.]

FLASH BACK

...

Log Number 153367948225431685

subsection 3583. *prepared for redaction by holy order.*

Third Scipio. How may this fourth aid you today?

No, I do not know why I would be required to attend to Master Blacklock. I will attend immediately.

Yes. My quill has been transcribing my log as I work.

Yes. It is still on.

End Transcription code 7736AT9

...

Thoughts raced through Adept Lesot's mind as he walked up the holy steps towards Master Blacklock's office. Each of the steps bringing him closer to the newest impairment of his current assignment, annoyance barely registering within his thoughts as he began the process of sifting through the possibilities. Had he failed in some way? No, he would know if he had made a mistake so egregious to have brought him before the Estate Imperium. Promotion? No, it could not be that either. Not enough time here and no interactions outside of his superior. No way to have distinguished himself enough to have earned movement within the Administration. Scipio using him as a scapegoat? No, not smart enough for that. Lateral movement? Possible, something requiring his skills? Probable need for a disposable functionary, good enough to fulfill the request while not impacting critical functions...

FLASH FORWARD

Adept Lesot stood ready and waiting for his new peers to inform him of their current assignment.

Adelaide exited the room, only slightly surprised to see Blacklock so soon. When he finished his briefing in his office, she looked the adept up and down and huffed. It was something between a sound of distaste and apathy.

"We gon' have'to fill him in on the way. Time ime ain't on our side." Adelaide still hadn't directly addressed Adept Lesot. Instead, she spoke generally to the group with a focus on Radomil and Gabriel.

When she knew that they were good and clear from anyone listening, she asked Radomil. "So we workin' on the assumption that they came fo' 'im, he was ready an' got the bes' uh one of 'em, and then they drugged 'im an' dragged him outta here... all without anyone seein' nothin'? Yeah, that adds up." She added the last bit sarcastically. It wasn't a dig at her teammates by any means, but someone had to have known something, otherwise they never would have got the body out of the office.

"Les' see them pict-recorders. My guess is it wuddn't him gettin' off that train. Smoke and mirrors."

Adept Lesot falls in line behind his new assignment, quietly following behind as his glow skull hovers along lighting his way. He slowly studies the operatives he has been attached to and wondered what he had done to deserve this turn of events. Either this was a punishment sent down from on high, or this was an opportunity to better his life... only time would tell.

"Excuse my interjection, it may be useful if I were given the particulars of your current investigations at this time. I may be able to provide information and knowledge that you might find useful..." No hint of emotion plays crossed the adept's face as he delivers his interruption in the same manner one would deliver an order for more office supplies. "... if I understand your needs correctly you might find it useful to know, the main viewing room for the complex wide pict system is on the 2nd floor. I can lead you their if you require, though it may not be helpful depending on what you wish to view. The system only covers entry ways and stations, and the angles would be easily avoided if you know were all of the recorders are placed. If on the other hand you would require my silence as I continue to stay out of your way, I will most assuredly do so as long as such will not negatively impact my existence." Pregnant silence follows as the adept continues to shadow the parties movements as closely as lower functionary following in the wake of his superior.

"Entrances will give us something to work with at least. Can't imagine a bunch of downhive dregs would slip past all of them unnoticed." Radomil makes a point of acknowledging the priest as they pass, staring him down. "Afternoon, Pater," Radomil remakes, without a hint of pleasantness in his voice.

Adelaide moved along with the others. Having not seen the Father running after them before, she makes no move to speak to him at all.

The grey haired man, identified as Father Fergal had been watching them openly as you made your way up the corridor towards him. Closer too, his face was lined with a great many wrinkles, but even these did not disguise the burst blood vessels at the end of his bulbous nose, or along his cheeks. And though his smile was wide and welcoming, there was a look of sharp calculation to his grey eyes. Both arms were folded in front of him, tucked inside the sleeves of his brown robe, just above his embalm of the Ecclesiarchy. He indicated his head as Radomil acknowledged him.

"Emperor's blessings on you my children."
There was a pleasant resonant timbre to his voice, one that spoke of musicality. He raised his eyebrows in friendly question.
"Would I be correct in welcoming the three of you to Agat Tha? Adept Lesot am I right? You of course have graced Agat Tha for a good while, though I don't think I've seen you often in the Cathedral."

He laughed at this, a deep belly laugh.
"Don't mistake me as a Commissar" his eyes flicked to Radomil.
"Or as an agent of the Inquisition. I am not here to monitor your devotions to our Holy Father. I'm sure you all have your local shrines and holy places. No my children, I am not here to monitor you. Indeed how could I attempt to do so, when only our Father can truly watch over us?"

He smiled benevolently again, showing dark yellow teeth, his eyes watching you all the while..
"As with all my children I have just come to welcome and greet you. From what I understand that you have been given an important task. Any help or assistance that I can provide I'd like to offer."

Lesot waits to see how the others react...

Radomil shrugs. "No offense Pater, but if we're needing the services of a priest we've done our job wrong. It's nasty business anyway, can't imagine you'd want any part of it."

"Indeed my child?"
The old figure in front of them, shook his head sadly, his sharp grey eyes still watching them.
"The word of the Emperor touches everyone on this planet, both willing and not. All good is done for it and all evil in spite. My fight and my privilege is against the very worst corruption and despair that you can imagine, against the very forces which inspire the 'nasty' business you describe. As such you will find me everywhere on this planet, no matter how deep you descend. There is little that occurs here that does not eventually pass these eyes."

He bowed his head towards you.
"I can only offer my guidance and aid freely. If you wish to reconsider you can find me here or at the Church."

Turning around he entered the lift again and after a moment, the doors closed hiding his appearance.

The four of you make your way down to the second floor, either by the stairs, or by waiting for the lift. Entering the second floor you find yourself in a wide low ceiling-ed room with a series of twelve long desks taking up most of the space. The desks are mostly filled with scribes either reading or transcribing text into a series of scrolls and thick tomes. Occasionally there is a grey robed person sitting next to them. The light in the room is bright and unfiltered, and from a series of naked strip lights in the ceiling. The longer you spend here, the more uncomfortable you find it on your eyes, and you notice that most of the scribes have digital viewing implants. Adept Lesot guides you beyond these desks and into the corridor behind. There are offices on both sides of this and you occasionally meet servitors and scribes, their hands full of scrolls, exiting these doors. At the end of the corridor, you find the light start to mercifully lesson. By the time you pass through the door at the end, it is a low gloom.

Passing through the door you find yourself in a cramped busy space. Two walls are entirely made of thirty six separate vid screens all which seem to be showing live footage. Large corrugated metal shelves are stacked haphazardly and seemingly at random, their shelves filled to bursting point with mechanical detritus, from tools, to spare parts and broken equipment. A trio of servo skulls buzz through the smoky air, all making a variety of noises, from sharp shrieks, to guttural mechanical drones. Winding your way through the shelves, you find a large workbench in roughly the centre of the room. A large screen sticks out from one end and its surface is made up of even more tools. A man is hunched over it, in the process of stripping some mechanical device down to its starting pieces. At present it is a mess of mechanical pieces and wires, and none of you can quite tell what it originally was. As far as you can tell, the man before you is old, his left eye a faded blue, and the third of his scalp that remains has a number of stray grey hairs. His mouth is still natural, as is the few teeth you can see, but his nose and the entire right side of his face is mechanical. A spiky servo arm sticks out beyond his right shoulder and though he is wearing a loose grey robe, you can see his arms and legs also appear to be implants.

He starts suddenly as he becomes aware of your presence and his head turns smoothly to face you, an unsettling experience for those who have not experienced it before, while his body continues with its work.
"Visitors? Visitors! Visitors yes. Seekers, who seek to seek? Come yes, come yes and come. Request the request you would like to request. Speak and I will speak to your speak. Germanacus knows, Germanacus can show, Germanacus can discover."

"We're Estate Ordinates," Radomil replies, somewhat perturbed this arcane den filled with devices beyond his understanding. "We need to view any security footage you have of the 32nd floor, specifically the office of Master First Class Roget."

The man who referred to himself as Germanacus turns his face towards Radomil. His faded left eye, darts over your face before flicking up and down your person. The right mechanical eye is completely still, and though turned in your direction, it is hard to tell exactly what it is staring at.

"The 32nd floor? Security footage of the 32nd floor? Vid files of the Masters floor? Impossible. Inconceivable. An unobtainable quest. There are no video recorders on the upper floors of the Administratum. Indeed there are none on the lower floors either. There are only recorders on the ground floor, in the entrance bay, in each of the stations and locations in Planetfall."

At this, his body finally finishes what it is doing at the table, and leaving aside the disassembled device reaches over to a heavy oblong box. While its left arm starts twisting the dials, the right arm takes a red and white patterned wire and plugs it into the side. Immediately the screen attached to the table lights up. The images upon it is portrayed in a series of shades of green, and they are being flicked through with so much speed that it hurts your eyes to look upon it.
While all this occurs, Germanacus's face is still turned toward you.

"However Germanacus can show you videos. Indeed Germanacus can provide you moving images of Master Roget. Germanacus has already found you the necessary video's. Come and watch. Come and view. Stand to my side and you will observe for yourself."

The video screen attached to the table has stopped cycling through its images now and it appears stopped and ready. As you move closer to observe it, it starts to play. The image is coming from high up on the ceiling and the centre of the image is focused down at the familiar two pairs of three gates. Though the gates are the main locus, you can still make out the reception desk, the casual sitting area and the entrance to the antechamber where you stored your items. The way the camera is angled, it is obviously focused on those coming into the building rather than those leaving, and you watch the back of a female scribe approach the gates on the left, flash her badge and be allowed through. Next two large Ogryns approach the gate, each holding onto the strap of a rectangular dark bag, which is hanging between them. They don't even need to show a badge and are immediately shown through. And immediately behind them there is a figure with a dark snap brim hat and light overcoat with the collar turned up. You recognise both of these from the photo Major Elzele showed you. He appears to be of average height and moves with a relaxed smoothness. After holding up his badge, he is also allowed through the gate. At this point the vid pict paused.

"This was at 20.05 yesterday. Master Roget passed through the checkpoint at 20.05 yesterday. The checkpoint guard noted down Master Roget's badge code at 20.05 and when we checked the vid screen we immediately recognised his hat and coat."

The  image on the screen suddenly changed. It was still showing the entrance way but it was much busier now. One man in dark robes is being searched by the right hand gates, while in centre frame Master Roget suddenly steps out from behind a group of slowly moving scribes, presents his badge and moves through the left hand gates. His face is immediately recognisable from the picture you had been shown, clean shaven and wearing the same hat and coat as before. The image suddenly pauses again.

"This was from 07.50 yesterday. Master Roget came through the checkpoint at 07.50 yesterday morning. This is Master Roget from yesterday morning and he is wearing the same clothes. I have one last image to show you. This is the final video of Master Roget. I will now show you the latest pict evidence of Master Roget leaving Station 4."

The image on the screen suddenly changed and instead displayed the busy exit to the station. Many bodies move across the screen, so many that you have difficulty trying to find who you should be looking at. The image suddenly stops and then rewinds. It begins again but this time focuses in towards the top right corner. Suddenly you see that same light coloured grey coat, with the collar turned up. And that same dark brimmed hat turned down at an angle, so that the brim almost touches the top of the collar. The figure moves at the same pace as those around him, quickly, but yet he seems unhurried, and several figures push in front of him before he exits the screen.

Lesot hangs back and lets the ordinates handle the conversation, though he does quietly remarks how he had, "Told them so..." when the subject of the recorder placements was discussed.

Radomil grunts. "What time was the vid from the station captured?"

"Thirty five minutes past the twentieth hour. This video was taken thirty minutes after the first video I showed you. Master Roget was caught on camera leaving station 4 at 20.35."

Gabriel turned from the table with the video screen, and toward the rest of you. There was a contemplative expression on his face, and his right eyebrow was subtly raised. Thrusting his hands into his jacket pockets he looked directly at the scribe.
"Adept Lesot isn't it? Gabriel Kantor. You asked earlier what the parameters of our current mission is. I'm sure you have a good idea now. Master Roget was found dead early this morning and we are investigating the case. An investigation that you have just joined. After watching those three video's do you have any thoughts?"

He then looked at Radomil and Adelaide.
"Anything strike either of you?"

Gabriel raised his eyebrows across at Radomil.
"I'm impressed. Not just an ex guardsman are you? I was thinking exactly the same. Say whoever is behind this takes out the Master in his room. They need to get him out of this building, or else this is exactly where suspicion is going to fall. So yeah someone dresses up as him to fool the camera's and out he is transported. Next question though is to where and why? I didn't find any trace of blood in his office so he was possibly still alive when he was transported out."

He checked the timepiece on his wrist.
"It's just coming up to 13.00. Where do you want to head next? We've got either his apartment which gets cleared out at 16.00 or the place where they found his body, this Olafur's Axe."

"'Spose if the clock's ticking we should search his apartment. Less likely to get chopped into little bits there anyway." He turns to Germanicus. "Thanks for the help, adept."

If the rest of the party is in agreement, Radomil heads towards the exit and the Major's apartment.

Lesot waits for the others to finish their discussions before volunteering his own knowledge on the subject. "Apartment would be a good start. Karl and Friedrich will be difficult to interrogate, and nearly impossible for you to level accusations against." He waits to make sure the others are paying him attention now. "If they are involved, it would mean the Perfect or the under Perfect had given them direct orders to at least follow the directions of whomever ordered them to collect the Master."

Gabriel looked over at Lesot, raising one eyebrow in surprise.
"I'm guessing that this Karl and Friedrich are the two Ogryns from the vid? And they are somehow connected to either the Prefect or the under Prefect?"

Giving a low whistle, he rubbed his hands together, a look of barely contained excitement on his face.
"This is indeed a murky case, with links all the way to the top. All circumstantial so far though. Maybe they just happened to be carrying a bag in front of him. Interesting though that they didn't appear in the second video. I wonder where they went with the bag..... In any case I agree with you, lets head to the Master's place. It's at station 1, barely any distance from here as far as I recall."

Standing back behind the others Adelaide had stayed quiet carefully observing the vid logs and listening to her companions. As they came to their decision she spoke up from behind them.
"Let's get movin to the apartment. No more time to waste."

Germanicus's attention was already away from you and back on his table and didn't seem to notice you leaving. It was a short decent back to the main reception on the ground floor. Adelaide, Gabriel and Radomil were able to move through the checkpoint easily by showing their new passes courtesy of Master Blacklock, while Lesot was able to show his adept card. The reception was a little changed from an hour earlier when you arrived, no one was sitting in the chairs by the entrance and a couple in grey robes were busy sweeping a pile of ash from directly in front of the reception desk. While Gabriel picked up his box of items from the desk, Radomil and Gabriel moved through to the lockered area to pick up theirs.

[Awareness test +20- Radomil or Adelaide]

Meeting up with their companions again, the four moved out through the doors of the Administratum. Below the descending stairs in front of you was a busy square where you could see a number of food carts set around the edge, and behind this the entrance to Planetfall station.

The four of you progress down the stairs and make your way through the crowd in the square and then towards the station. To your eyes, nothing stands out as suspicious. The same hastily moving locals. The same uniformed officers in green. Unbeknown to you however, a fifth figure is carefully tracking your movement, into the station and from there into a carriage. These are slightly quieter than they were earlier in the morning, but still packed with plenty of different faces.

The four get out at station 1 and proceed outside. Two men in blue uniforms stand outside, casually watching you. The streets here are different to those you saw at the port rail station. The central street is still a wide tarmacked thoroughfare, empty this time, with pavement on either side, but instead of low slung factories, this area seems entirely residential. Block after block of medium towers, about five or six floors high and many of those near the station with extensive balconies. The further these are from the station though, the less grand they appear. These tower blocks are broken up every so often by clusters of shops, and occasionally what look like parks. This is evidently an affluent area, where a lot of the powerful people of the planet live.

A map to the side of the station tells you that the apartment block you are looking for is two blocks down and three away from the main road. The three acolytes and their scribe start to proceed in this direction.

[I'll leave it up to you FelicitousPsychicFerret if you want to describe how you keep them in sight. You can see though that this area is a lot quieter than the area you just left. If you wish to keep yourself from being seen you'll need to roll Stealth again]

As Adelaide, Gabriel, Lesot and Radomil made their way along the pavement, they noticed nothing particularly suspicious. The streets were largely empty, with only the occasional figure coming into sight in the distance, before moving again beyond their vision. Radomil didn't get the impression that this was an advanced surveillance operation, instead that it was simply a quiet residential area at a period when everyone was at work. Behind them, the figure of Tessera kept her charges in sight. As a result perhaps of the empty streets, a certain over confidence or rash speed, she was fairly obvious in her tracking but the four acolytes, who perhaps had been stricken with the same, were perfectly oblivious to her.

After moving two blocks along the main road from the station, the three acolytes and their scribe turned to the right and passed in between corridors of more apartment towers until finally reaching their destination. It was an apartment tower like all the others you had passed, unremarkable save for the fact that this one had some signs of life outside it. A green uniformed man was standing to attention just in front of the door. This was though, only an attitude he had adopted in the last few seconds as he had caught sight of you. Up until then, he had been attempting to chivy a group of kids away from the front of the building. These four children, two boys and two girls were clothed in dirty and rough looking robes were standing five or six paces from the man, and were absently tossing something between themselves, though it was clear their attention was mostly on the guard, and now on you too. As you neared the apartment, you could also see that each of the children carried a painful looking scar across their face. Beyond the children you could see a local shop which appeared to be open.

As the group approaches the building, Radomil breaks off and approaches the group of children. He takes a Munitorium standard dessert-flavored ration bar from his bag as he gestures to them. "You. From around here? I've got a ration bar for anyone who can tell me if they've seen anything strange going on around that apartment in the last couple days."

The four children paused their game, and turned to look at Radomil as he came closer to them. The tallest, and thus probably the oldest was a dark haired girl, who looked to be on the verge of entering teenage hood. Her face was the most marked out of the four, covered as it was in burn scars, with two brown eyes staring out of the unnaturally white flesh. The next oldest was a pale skinned, blond haired boy with a red rag tied over his right eye socket. The final two were a couple of years younger, the girl with long black hair, cut to show her missing ear and the boy with a scarf around his forehead and mouth, just two green eyes looking back.

It was the older boy who'd stopped the game and was now holding what they were throwing, something wrapped in rags. He looked now to the older girl, obviously deferring. She took a step towards him, eyes flicking quickly between the proferred bar, Radomil, and the three standing behind him. The ex-guardsman got the impression that there was some rapid calculations going on in her head.

"I be from around here mister. More than you. Never left Agatha. You soldier?"
There was a pause while she looked again at the ration and then back up at Radomil. He may have been expecting suspicion, fear, even trust or cunning, but instead the face that looked up at him was blank. The voice too was dull and the speech a little slurred.
"Ain't our neighbourhood but we got here a few hours ago. 'other group here then. Red Beard kids. We chased 'em. 'ee wasn't too happy with that."
She nodded at this point up to the Commissariat officer standing by the door, just out of earshot.
"'ee's pretty blond and blue'd though. Makes sense. Ration?"

Radomil holds out the ration bar, but doesn't let go. He nods towards the object they're throwing. "What's that you got there?"

The girl reaches out to take hold of the other end of the bar, but doesn't attempt to pull it.
"Its our toy. Took it from other kids. We be playin with it."
The eyes that looked up at Radomil's were decidedly unchildhood like, akin to the expression he might have seen in a war ravaged city. The older blond haired boy, who was holding the bundle, stood his ground, a pace or so behind the girl, watching Radomil.

"Let's have a look at it then, youngun." Radomil says firmly. "May want to trade you for it."

The girl gave Radomil a long stare, eyes tracking over his body and the different items he held. Her hand still on the ration, she turned her head to look at the blond haired boy.
"Show 'em Lukaz. Careful like. 'e's only lookin."
The blond boy took a step back further away from Radomil, and held the rags up. Closer to, the ex-guardsman could see that it was about the size of a fist and loosely wrapped. As he unwound it Radomil caught sight of something in the middle. It looked like an identification card, like the ones that were used to enter or exit the Administratum.

The smallest child, the girl who looked about six and missing her ear, started to shake slightly, a little wailing sound emitting as if she was nervous by this growing gap between the older children. The youngest boy snapped something, and the small girl suddenly moved up to join them, one small hand clutching the older girls robes.
"Surika...."
"Hush. We be trading."

Looking back up at Radomil she continued.
"Told you information. And shown you our toy. You going to trade?"

Radomil lets go of the ration bar and checks his pockets for something else to trade. He produces a hot shot charge pack from one of his pockets. "How about this? It'll make a nice big bang if it gets hot enough. I'll trade if for your toy."

As soon as the ration bar left Radomil's hands it appeared to disappear into the folds of Surika's robes. She showed no particular reaction to suddenly having this important food source, no word of thanks or look of pleasure. There was a shift in her expression though as he produced the hot shot charge pack. Initially her eyes were wary, but also greedy, flicking over the piece of military equipment like a drunk might eye alcohol through the window of a closed and barred store holding. Eventually her eyes made it to Radomil's again, and he could see that she was deliberating something. After a moment her hand shot out to the shoulder of the small girl, who the ex-guardsman suddenly noticed had been edging closer and closer to him, almost out of his eye line. The older girl pulled her back and then looked over her shoulder at Lukaz.
"Shake and split."

In a few moments the trade was done. Radomil was now in possession of the ID card and the children were a couple of paces away wrapping yet more rags around the ammunition, attempting to make a sling to carry it. In his hand, the card was easily identifiable. It showed that now familiar face of Master Roget. Holding it close to his face, he could identify a smell coming from as well, a faint but clearly complex floral arrangement that stood out from the more general grime smells. Finally, there was an odd circular red mark on the back of the card. He was fairly sure it was dried blood, and that it had been pressed there by a finger.

While Radomil had been talking to the kids Gabriel had ventured up the stairs to talk to the Commissariat guard at the door. He now returned to the others.
"According to," he lowered his voice, "that scum faced little shit in his shiny boots and uniform, no one had entered or left the building since he put it on lock down. There are two neighbours on the same floor as him who should be present. You find anything useful? We should probably head up and see what we can find."

"Looks like the Major's ID card. Those young'uns said they took it off some Redbeard kids nearby. Wonder how they got their hands on it, seein' as the Major was offed back at his office. Swiped it off the body maybe? 'Spose we should talk to the neighbors though, see what we can find inside too." Radomil proceeds up towards the apartment.

"Red Beard kids? That's an odd coincidence to see their name come up again. Maybe they have something to do with it after all. It would be useful to talk to the kids. If they swiped it from the body, they might have seen who dumped it. That's if it was on the body. I still like your idea that he might not have been the one using the card to walk out. But yeah, lets check out inside."

The group of four made their way towards the apartment. The blond haired Commissariat, stepped smartly out of the way, having already seen Gabriel's pass. Radomil was aware as he stepped across the door frame of two brown eyes staring into the back of his head.

Noone seemingly had noticed the auburn woman standing back and carefully watching. She noticed something strange though. As soon as the door started to close behind the acolytes and their scribe, one of the children, the older girl who had been talking to Radomil put her fingers into her mouth and let loose a piercing whistle. This was loud enough that all four now inside to hear it clearly. The four children then gathered up their package and started to hurry along away from the apartment.

Inside the apartment the four acolytes could see an elevator directly in front of you and a set of stairs to the right. You can see from a panel on the wall that Master Roget's apartment is on the second floor.

[We aren't quite entering combat but it is time sensitive depending on your actions.]

From the moment that the Acolytes had gotten off at Station 1 and continued their journey on thought, the idea had occurred to Tessera that backup wouldn't hurt. An idea reinforced by certain subsequent details she noticed as she continued to tail them.

No time to call in any criminal contacts. She couldn't afford to lose the Acolytes' trail. Immediately she remembered Aksel.

Aksel was a fellow agent, a tech-priest by trade and innate nature. Not a bad fellow, even if he wasn't very receptive to Tessera's jokes. And, more importantly, Tessera had the means to call on him at a moment's notice.

So she'd pushed that caricatural red button and activated the beacon. With luck, 'His Aksel-lency' will arrive at just the right moment, servoskull in tow, his Martian red robes blowing in the breeze. Now THAT will be a sight for sore eyes.

And now, as she observed the commotion from afar, Tessera once again wondered how long it'd take for the tech-priest to arrive. Things were in motion now. That whistle was clearly a signal, but to whom?

Unable to follow the Acolytes into the building, but well aware that whatever was on its way, she would need to be in position to see it coming, Tessera nonchalantly waltzed over towards the shop nearby and made a good show of looking at the wares on display outside. But beneath that idle facade, Tessera was on high alert, like a cat about to spring on a mouse.

With Tessera
The shop that Tessera had seen was separated from the guarded apartment by one other apartment building. As she was making her way toward it, Tessera found that she was briefly following the four kids. They had moved down the walkway away from the apartment before taking the first available right turn between the two taller buildings. As she passed this, the Outcast could see the four carrying their package in the gap between the apartment and the one beside.
Beyond this was the shop. It appeared to sell general items of all kinds. Household furniture that looked mass produced and utilitarian were stacked outside, including tables and chairs and one wooden wardrobe. Inside, the shelves seemed to be mostly stacked with food, most of it packaged, or in cans, bright labels on the outside showing their wares. She couldn't see who was in charge of the store, but was fairly sure if she walked in she would be greeted.
Otherwise the street was quiet and empty. Moving as she did, she could no longer see the car was back on the main thoroughfare, and with the kids departing, the only one left was the man in the green uniform standing in front of the apartment.

With Aksel
Back at Station 1, a man in the red robes of a Priest of Mars stepped out into the main walkway. He could tell from his tracking device that Tessera was about ten minutes walk from here. First he would need to follow alongside the main road before turning right. The road was empty apart from a black veichle parked by the walkway some distance ahead. There were a number of others who were in or around the station.

Leaning against a wall just outside were a group of four, whose facial tattoos and odd bulges under their brown cloaks revealed them as likely to be gang members. Two of them were men, big bulky and hairy, one bald with a brown beard and the other clean shaven and a blond mullet. Both were passing a lho stick between them and laughing uproariously about something. Just next to them were two women, who also offered an image in contrasts. One was smaller, with long brown hair and generously and attractively curved. She had a torn and scrappy book in one had and appeared to be flicking through it. The other was tall and thin, her blond hair shaved tight to the sides of her skull, the top leaving enough for a half quiff and two hard blue eyes staring out. These passed over each and every person moving out of the station with a contained hatred.

The others who had left the train at the same time as Aksel, two scribes and a factory worker had differening reactions to the group of four. The two scribes put their heads down and moved quickly up the walkway, while the factory worker paused and lit up a lho stick of his own.

Radomil hears the whistle and stops dead in his tracks. He used to hate the sound of whistles with a passion, always calling his companions over the top to their ends. Any hatred in him as long since burned out however, leaving him with just an empty sense of foreboding. He doesn't notice that he's drawn his pistol. Snapping back to reality, he glaces over at Adelaide. "Think you've got the right idea on stairs, Chief," he remarks as he begins climbing the stairs to the second floor.

Elsewhere.

The beacon flashed silently in his palm. No larger than a ration-bar, it was a simple device. Functional. Ghostly white, his fingers caressed the beacon's single switch, pressed down, and relaxed at an audible, "click." The flashing stopped, and the small display screen presented a string of Binaric runes: coordinates.

With an involuntary sigh he gripped the edge of the dark metallic workbench he'd been hunched over, and heaved himself off of the stool.

"It seems the Omnissiah has work for us, my old friend." He ran a pale thumb across the forehead of the skull that floated silently nearby, his hand cradling it with strange fondness. After a brief Binary incantation, the skull whirred, hummed, then drifted to his left shoulder.

Aksel gathered his few possessions, tucked the beacon into a small belt pouch beneath his red gown and departed for the transit station.

Station 1.

The priest stepped onto the promenade. More mendicant than cardinal, his robes were dirty with grease and oil stains, with burns and patches hinting at a lifetime of service in the Machine Cult.

From beneath his hood he scanned the street, regarded the malingering crowd for a brief moment, and began his walk towards Tessera's last known position. With no interest other than reaching his destination, he walked purposefully, his gait bowed slightly by a hidden weight.

Silently, the skull followed at his shoulder.

With the Acolytes and Lesot
The four moved quickly up the stairs, trusting in the reliability of their own bodies rather than in the vagueries of the apartment technology. As they reached their destination, the second floor, they could see a long plain corridor with two doors on the right and one on the left. The latter suddenly slammed out and a small body came running out of it. She wore similar dirty robes to the children that Radomil had been talking to in front of the building, and had long black hair. She was also carrying a book of some kind in her hands. For a second she paused, looking at the acolytes and then away towards the end of the corridor where the acolytes could see an open window. She started to run.

[Decision time: the child is currently 12 meters away from you and running. As its such a limited event we won't go into Combat. Rather you will have time to complete an action before she reaches the window and another before she escapes out. Or not, you can ignore it and she will disappear shortly.]

Adelaide looked to Radomil and gave a quick nod. That one comment alone had showed that the Guardsman had been paying attention to her, and something close to the most basic essence of sentiment at his simple skills of observation nearly overcame her. The hardass as ever, though, a simple nod and shift to action was her only response.

As she reached the top of the stairs and saw the child, muscle memory took over. There were too many similarities here for this to be coincidence. Outside of the chaos and random vengeance of a daemon world, there was no such thing as coincidence. She said nothing, simply springing into action and taking off at a dead sprint.

Spoiler:

Radomil barrels after Adelaide, somewhat less fleet of foot. If necessary he helps grapple the target to the ground and secure the book.

Her arms pumping, the little girl moved as quickly as she could towards the open window and her chance for escape. But she wasn't quick enough. The two adults behind her could double her stride easily with one of theirs. And with the light slap of sandles, and heavy thump of boots against the polished floor, easily drowning out hers, the race was run. Moving in front of her quarry, Adelaide suddenly stopped. The resulting collision seemed to have no effect on her, but the girl hit the ground sharply and slid back a couple of feet. Breathing sharply she remained on the ground, her arms wrapped tightly around the book, looking up at the two acolytes looming over her. Her eyes were wide and darting, lips bared and showing white teeth. Her forehead was marked with a roughly circular burn mark.

"If you touch me, I'll scream for the Commis."

Adelaide took a step forward and regarded the girl with eyes that brokered an absolute 0 when it came to taking shit. Very briefly, for only the faintest moment, she channeled the horror she had experienced in her years prior to meeting the Inquisitor.

Slowly, she reached under her robes and onto her thigh, pulling the sleek chainblade from its sheath.

"I don' wan' hurt you, chil. But you either losin' the book, or you losin' your hand. Now drop it."

With the acolytes
The girl stared back at Adelaide, her eyes wide and fearful. Her mouth opened wide and it was obvious that she was going to sprout a lung buster. She knew that she was safer to trust herself in the hands of the Commissariat than in strangers brandishing knives. In a nice area like this, when kids went missing they never turned up again. However, following Radomil's words, she held her tongue. Turning her head she observed the ex-guardsman and the two others standing behind him. For a moment her dark face stayed firm considering his words, and thinking about the man blocking the entrance, before slumping back in obvious defeat. Reaching over she placed the book on the ground between Adelaide and Radomil, but otherwise remained lying on her back looking up at them. She looked to be about 9, and as she spoke you could see her shoulders faintly shaking.

"I'm not sir, I'm not. Don't take away to the Meshchansky. I don't know what this is. Just was told to search for 'teresting items. It was the 'Father' sir. The father told us to search. I only got this."

The book now lying on the ground had a faded dark red cover but you could still make out the title. Treatise: St Barthomelua's Sermons.

With Askel
As Askel moved away from the station he could hear the faint sounds of a disturbance. They didn't pay any attention to him however, and the noise quickly faded away. After a couple of minutes walk, he was able to locate in front of him, the point at which he would need to turn right and follow a street between two apartment blocks away from the road. It was a standard block in front of him. There was nothing stopping his progress to it. However he could now discern that the black vehicle he had noticed earlier had stopped by the edge of road, next to this street. Its windows were tinted black, and so he couldn't see it. However he could see that the rear left window was slightly open and optical lenses of some kind were balanced on the edge of the glass.