Evervigilant 13

Vigilant_GM> IT IS THE 41ST MILLENNIUM...
<Vigilant_GM> The Gallowsway is a miserable place. Inconsistent lighting, the whirring of burnt out machinery, the cramped streets, the awful 'rain' from up-hive sludge. Down here, at the Gallowsway, is the final presence of anything like order as Oath-Captain Nils explains it. Her garrison on the Purity Gate -a vast wall-like construct created to block out entry from even deeper in the hive to
<Vigilant_GM> the relative civilization above- is a singular isolated presence intent on bringing the law this far down.
<Vigilant_GM> As the oily water drips down on your heads on your way to the crime scene, Nils tells you about the so-called Charnel Houses. These Carrion Guild families maintain houses to store the hive's incoming dead before they are processed. You are headed to Charnel House 17, run by the Fayne family.
<Vigilant_GM> Through flickering light you see the crumbling facade of huge faces from old signs and tarnished reliefs arranged in a failed attempt to resemble an Ecclesiarchy temple.
<Vigilant_GM> Within the House, is a large entry chamber designed as a place where the house can prepare - or in some disturbed way, "welcome"- the bodies that choke the threshold. Beyond this are several cluttered offices, and halls lined with shelves for the dead.
<Vigilant_GM> The bodies are painted in a preservative paste to slow the rate of decay, though in truth it seems the chemical does little more than poorly mask its scent.
<Vigilant_GM> Entering Charnel House 17, you walk in on a scene of utter carnage. The walls are splattered with blood, gore, and visceral fluids. The ground is littered with tangled limbs of mutilated bodies, and the aftermath of a terrible and brutal melee.
<Vigilant_GM> In the centre of the carnage a single body stands out. Atop the pile, facing upwards in a disturbing pose that betrays the anguish that came with death, an odd pendant is visible around its neck.
<Vigilant_GM> The Sanctionaries at the scene are visibly unsettled, they whisper about unnatural powers at work causing the dead to attack the living, even as they glance at you with suspicion.
* Shiv in a high pitched voice, he says "Sir Daroshevik, any thoughts on first glance?"
* Shiv pulls out his writing pad.
* Baird moves forward towards the posed body to try and get a closer look at the pendant. "Brutal. Messy. Just the obvious. Oath-Captain Nils, does this facility have anti-theft? And more importantly was it triggered at any point?
<Vigilant_GM> One of the sanctionaries appears to scoff - likely more to do with the tense atmosphere and resulting nervousness than a wish to humiliate Special Concern Agents - but Nils shoots such a cold and sharp glare in his direction that he exits the room.
<Vigilant_GM> She picks it up from there to explain that no security systems exist. And that even if they did, they would be long-degraded into dysfunction.
<Vigilant_GM> Closer observation of the scene reveals visible differences between the oath-cogs worn on the bodies. The man wearing the pendant has none, though he does appear to be dressed in garb similar to the other bodies - if slightly higher quality. The pendant itself has no integrated chain nor an eyehole to thread. Instead it is looped with twine - on closer inspection it is no pendant at
<Vigilant_GM> all, but rather more of a shard originating from some larger object.
* Baird turns towards Nitrous in his disguise. "Understood, thank you Oath-Captain. Smith do a walkabout and check to see for signs of forced entry and possibly if any of the corpse shelves that are supposed to have bodies in them are empty."
* Nitrous nods and checks the "Shelves" for tags and missing corpses
<Baird> "Toby I need you to do a more in depth analysis of these wounds, hopefully we can find out what type of weapon caused this."
<Shiv> "Yes, sir."
* Shiv takes out a pict-recorder and approaches the body.
<Baird> "Mort if you would retrieve the pendant and see if you can find more information about what it might be from. Use gloves."
* Karpath nods and makes his way over to the body in the center to check out the pendant.
<Vigilant_GM> Upon closer examination of the bodies, an intriguing conclusion can be drawn: most of the bodies appear to have been dead longer (several days at least) than those wearing oath-cogs, and could not have fought in the attack.
<Vigilant_GM> Nitrous's search appears to reveal that some of the shelves have been disturbed in some way. Further, a damaged oath-cog is found - perhaps that of the pendant-wearer.
* Nitrous grabs the oath-cog
* Karpath checks over the pendant but nothing about it he is able to recognize, with his gloves on he begins to slowly and carefully take the pendant off the man.
* Nitrous walks over to Baird and displays the broken cog
<Vigilant_GM> The pendant -or shard- is clearly not natural. Even through gloves it feels cold to the touch, and somehow prickly, as though covered in tiny invisible needles.
<Baird> "Interesting. It could very well belong to the posed man. Toby can you help Smith with this damaged oath-cog, you might be able to repair it."
* Nitrous walks over to Shiv and displays it to him.
<Karpath> Feeling this he takes hold of the twine and hold that instead and then makes his way over to Baird and the others.
<Vigilant_GM> One of the sanctionaries approach Nils, they exchange a few words.
* Shiv puts down the pict recorder and takes the damaged oath cog.
<Shiv> "Let's see what I can do..."
<Vigilant_GM> "Only some of the oath-cogs match with Charnel House 17's registry," Nils shares out loud with you.
<Baird> "What about the others? Any hits on those as of yet?"
<Vigilant_GM> "Without access to our database, I will not have an answer," she says gesturing for sanctionaries to collect them for evidence.
<Vigilant_GM> "It will be a day at least."
<Vigilant_GM> Through some considerable skill, Shiv is able to repair the oath-cog.
<Vigilant_GM> Nils notices this, "I can try to run that one, too."
<Shiv> "Sire, it was difficult to tell what caused the wounds, but it was done very 'sloppily'."
* Karpath stores the pendant into one of the suits pouches for later investigation after joining the others.
<Vigilant_GM> The sanctionary specialist who scanned the other oath-cogs approaches Shiv.
* Shiv holds the oath-cog out.
<Baird> "Understood. If it's alright Oath-Captain I'd like to have the other Officer here with me accompany you back so if anything is revealed he can relay information to us and we can relay information back to you through him."
<Vigilant_GM> The rage and madness with which the crime was carried out has had an effect on you, too. The longer you linger, the more uncomfortable you feel. The sanctionaries back away from Karpath as well, such is their state of unease at the mysterious pendant and whatever significance it may have.
<Vigilant_GM> "I regard this matter as a cross-jurisdictional one. The Special Concern Officer may join us, of course," she replies.
* Nitrous whispers to baird "Few of the bodies have been disturbed."
<Shiv> "Mort, could you hold out the pendant again?"
* Karpath looks at Shiv, he then opens the pouch and pulls out the pendent by the twine and holds it out for him.
* Shiv uses the pict recorder to take recordings of the pendent.
<Shiv> "That will be all Mort."
* Nitrous whisper to baird "No breaches into the room."
* Karpath nods and put it back away.
<Vigilant_GM> Nils looks back at the report provided to her by the santionary specialist, and provides Baird with the identities and matches to Charnel House 17: these were all regular employees, accounted for in the rotation schedules kept by the Fayne Brothers.
* Baird approaches Oath-Captain Nils and begins inquiring about the charnel house's list of employees.
<Vigilant_GM> Nils puts a hand on her commpiece.
<Vigilant_GM> She begins writing something down.
<Baird> "Anything important Oath-Captain?"
<Vigilant_GM> She paces back outside and calls for Velam and her specialist to return.
<Vigilant_GM> "Darnis Fayne is missing," she says.
<Baird> "One of the Fayne Brothers I presume?"
<Vigilant_GM> She nods, as she approaches the bodies once more.
* Baird follows Nils over the corpses once again. "Any of them match his description?"
<Vigilant_GM> Her forensic specialist returns, and she barks out. "Run it against the Charnel House records."
<Vigilant_GM> "I had intended to do so in the station, the damage alone was" Nils cuts the sentence short with a glare.
<Vigilant_GM> Nodding, the sanctionary runs the cog as he did the others, against the house database.
<Vigilant_GM> "We have a match. One Darnis Fayne."
<Vigilant_GM> A finger on her commpiece, she reports back, "Not missing. Murdered."
<Vigilant_GM> In truth the damage is such that the disfigurement of Fayne's face would have made it difficult for even a family remember to recognize.
<Baird> "Oath-Captain Nils. What could you tell me about this House Fayne? Their other dealings and such."
<Vigilant_GM> "Little, I am afraid. The Fayne name came to be only as the incident reports came in. I alone serve in these depths, and we do what we can in the garrison with the resources we are given. All I can say is that as members of the Carrion Guilds, they operate this Charnel House," she pauses to think for a while.
<Vigilant_GM> "But perhaps I am not the only one to whom you can direct your inquiry. Charnel Houses 5, 9, and 38 operate in this area. These are operated by Jayir Gyis, Varius Keth, and Eris Vlador respectively."
<Baird> "Thank you Oath-Captain Nils. We will pursue some of those avenues in the investigation. It was a pleasure working with you and if we find anything I shall relay it to you through our companion who will accompany you back."
* Baird extends his hand towards Nils
<Vigilant_GM> She shakes Baird's hand firmly.
<Vigilant_GM> "I hope our combined efforts prove fruitful," she adds.
<Baird> "Agreed. Hopefully we can get to the bottom of this before history repeats itself."
* Baird breaks the handshake and gathers his group to head towards Charnel House 9, the closest to their current location.
<Karpath> On the way to Charnel House 9, he informs the other of the odd unnatural feeling they the pendant is giving off as he had picked it up, from its cold to the touch feeling, to the feeling of prickliness when holding it.
<Vigilant_GM> "IX" in fainted and peeling layers of paint is a short walk away. Somehow, this facility is even more run down than House 17.
<Vigilant_GM> Below the fainted number is the wide entrance.
<Vigilant_GM> Unlike 17, entrance here follows a rail to the corpse-belts on the outskirts of the Gallowsway.
<Vigilant_GM> The doors themselves are wider, to accomodate the rail vehicle carrying the bodies into the house.
<Vigilant_GM> A short, thin man opens the sliding doors and stops as soon as he spots you.
<Vigilant_GM> "You... you search," he says with a feeble voice.
<Vigilant_GM> A shaking finger pointed in your direction emphasizes his point somehow.
* Baird continues moving towards the door. "Good morning. I..I question. And I...search."
<Vigilant_GM> He pushes the door open some more, and walks back inside.
<Vigilant_GM> "Keth!" he exclaims, turning around suddenly, his hands opened wide palm-first in your direction.
<Vigilant_GM> A theatrical bow follows, "Vuris Keth."
<Vigilant_GM> "I saw the stars once! In my youth, I did," he appears to say to Karpath.
<Baird> "Good morning Mr. Keth, my companions are going to have a look around and I have some questions for you while they do so."
<Vigilant_GM> "You are a seeker," he nods understandingly
* Karpath looks at Vuris but says nothing.
* Nitrous grunts
<Vigilant_GM> He waves you in, awkwardly, as he reaches back and produces a starch-bar he begins to eat.
<Vigilant_GM> "What do you seek," he says taking a bite, "seeker?"
<Baird> "First and foremost what do you know of Charnel House 17. Owned by the Fayne Brothers.
<Vigilant_GM> "They see," he nods. "I see."
<Vigilant_GM> "Feynes of 17."
<Vigilant_GM> He begins to count on the fingers of his hand.
<Vigilant_GM> "One, two, and three. Brothers all. Feens of three ages."
<Vigilant_GM> He takes another bite.
* Nitrous looks around for similar things related to forced entries and missing bodies
* Karpath also begins to look around for anything along with Nitrous.
<Vigilant_GM> "Tormus. Ferrue. Darnis."
<Vigilant_GM> "Fiend brothers, you search." He suddenly drops the startch-bar.
* Nitrous grunts once
<Vigilant_GM> Placing a finger on Baird's chest, he pokes. "It's in the marrow of the matter you will find the truth!"
<Baird> "Marrow in the literal sense or are you just saying to cut the body open?"
<Vigilant_GM> He turns around, and mimes something like rainfall with his fingers, arms moving up and down, "Down below is where the bodies go... steps one and two and three."
<Vigilant_GM> Turning around once more, his eyes go wide in pleasant surprise. He extends his hand to Baird. "Veris Keth!"
<Baird> "You already introduced yourself Mr. Keth."
<Vigilant_GM> "Yes..." he whispers to himself. "Yes, yes."
<Vigilant_GM> The metallic squealing of rail rings from outside.
<Vigilant_GM> "Down they go! But first step one!" he exclaims, making his way to receive the incoming bodies.
* Baird Baird observes Keth hoping to shed some light on the inane babblings and cryptic words.
* Shiv gets out his pict-recorder to record the old man.
<Vigilant_GM> Varius hops on the railed transport, and slowly brings it in. Despite his ramblings, he knows his trade well. The process and storage happens in immaculate order.
<Vigilant_GM> As he gets into the rythm of the gruesome work, he tunes out your very existence.
<Vigilant_GM> After some time you get the feeling little else can come from staying here.
<Baird> Shaking his head in disappointment Baird calls to his companions that it's time to go. "Thank you for you time Mr. Keth."
* Baird begins moving outside to head towards the next Charnel House.
* Nitrous follows along
* Karpath follows as well.
* Shiv flows behind the group.
<Vigilant_GM> Charnel House 5 does not enjoy the benefits of a rail-carrier, but its proximity to the corpse-belts makes that hardly an inconvenience at all.
<Vigilant_GM> You can hear the operation of machinery inside, but the doors are closed.
* Baird approaches the closed door and tests to see if it is locked.
<Vigilant_GM> The door gives, and opens slightly.
<Baird> Opening the unsecured door Baird looks inside before heading in.
<Vigilant_GM> A servitor carries a small cart across the warehouse. A man, on the far end spots the acolytes and rushes down to the ground level.
<Vigilant_GM> Once down, he paces briskly in your direction.
<Vigilant_GM> Closing in, he holds up his hand, "No visitors."
<Baird> "Not visitors. Special Concern Officer Daroshevik and Co. I've got some questions and my compaions are going to take a look around."
<Vigilant_GM> "I don't think so," he shakes his head. "The Guild knows well not to come in here unannounced," he steps outside and closes the door behind him.
<Vigilant_GM> "Ask your questions."
8Global- [LordLicorice] AGDQ begins in ~12 hours https://gamesdonequick.com/schedule
<Baird> "We wouldn't announce ourselves when conducting an investigation. That would be foolish to let you know we were coming for a surprise inspection."
<Vigilant_GM> He explains in some detail why an inspection would be out of order, the man seems to know his way around the local authorities. He does, however, agree to talk. Your questioning reveals something of interest. The Fayne Brothers have gained control of more than just Charnel House 17. Relatively new success has seen them expand their business deeper into the corpse processing down-hive.
<Vigilant_GM> The local Mortruarius, which is fed by a majority of the Charnel Houses in the area, is owned by the Faynes. Locally, it is known as the Fayne Mortuarius, and Jayir claims that on occasion, gangers come and take bodies from the Mortuarius.
<Baird> "Your cooperation will be noted Mr. Jayir."
* Nitrous whispers to baird "he seems to be telling the truth."
* Baird turns and heads towards the final Charnel House on the list.
<Vigilant_GM> On the outer charnel district, House 38 stands out like nothing else. It is well taken-care of, and even from outside you can see the the large number of workers therein.
<Vigilant_GM> Approaching the House, all but Shiv spot a large man in a thick overcoat speaking to a cheery woman. He holds a small writing pad and appears to be jotting down information as they speak.
* Baird heads in the direction of the large man and the cheery woman gesturing at his compatriots to follow.
<Vigilant_GM> She looks over the man's shoulder as you approach, prompting him to turn in your direction.
<Vigilant_GM> She speaks up, "My, it appears I am more popular than ever! How may I help you, gentlemen?"
<Baird> "Eris Vandor if I may presume, we have a few questions for you if you don't mind.
<Vigilant_GM> "I am somewhat preocupied at the moment," she says with a smile. "Who might you be?"
<Baird> "Special Concerns Officer Daroshevik."
<Vigilant_GM> "Ms. Vlador, please go back inside," the man says in a low grumbling voice.
<Vigilant_GM> Her face betrays her fear as she closes the door, disappearing from view into the building.
* Nitrous quick draws his shotgun and says "freeze" to the longcoat man
* Karpath notices this and his hand goes for his bolt pistol and pulls it out as well.
<Vigilant_GM> You notice, he too has a pistol now trained on you.
<Vigilant_GM> "Gun me down, and your friend gets a hole in the chest cavity."
<Baird> "We have no intention of gunning you down. You reached for a weapon so my guards raised there's as they are trained to do. Lower your weapon so they can do the same."
<Vigilant_GM> "Lower your weapons, and I may allow you to be taken into custody," he retorts.
<Nitrous> "Arbite?"
<Vigilant_GM> "Special Concern Officer Quintus, of the Desoleum Hive Carrion Combine."
<Vigilant_GM> "You will lower your weapons and accompany me to the Sanctionary garrison on the Purity Gate."
<Baird> "So on what grounds would a Special Concerns Officer have for arresting another. That wouldn't end well for you given the fact that we are working with the Sanctionaries. If you don't believe me feel free to contact Oath-Captain Nils. She can verify."
<Vigilant_GM> "Impersonation. Pure and simple."
<Baird> "You do realize how far fetched that is? Again put a call in to the Sanctionaries and they will verify."
<Vigilant_GM> "Produce your orders now, or you and I die."
<Shiv> "Sir, our investigation and our orders are on the need-to-know bases."
<Vigilant_GM> "Listen to me carefully." he begins.
<Vigilant_GM> "We will lower our weapons simultaneously. Afterwards, we will travel to Combine quarters on Desoleum City to resolve the matter formally."
<Baird> "Agreed."
* Nitrous lowers his weapon "Understood."
* Karpath lowers his bolt pistol with the others.
<Vigilant_GM> "Good." he lowers his pistol.
<Vigilant_GM> "Now, you will come with me to the conveyors."
<Vigilant_GM> He starts down the narrow turning street.
* Nitrous nods
<Baird> "We will head to the conveyor's together. On the way a member of my team will inform the Sanctionaries our investigation is on hold due to a misunderstanding."
* Karpath follows.
* Karpath follows.
* Nitrous follows
* Shiv follows.
<Vigilant_GM> The flickering lights make the tension palpable as you move across the slime-covered streets.
* Karpath contacts Velum to let him know of the situation as he moves up near Baird.
<Vigilant_GM> The Special Concern officer reaches into his pocket to grab a lho pack and matches.
* Shiv sneaky prepares a injector with Tranq.
<Vigilant_GM> He strikes a match, lighting his face.
* Shiv shanks the officer with the injector.
* Karpath grabs his shock maul off of Bairds belt.
* Karpath quickly moves up and uses it against the man.
<Vigilant_GM> He spits the lho-stick, shouting, "Fuck!" as he twiches to the side. Before he can fully turn, Karpath strikes his thigh delivering a crackling blow which sends him to the ground with a low wet splat on the dark sludge.
* Shiv dragging him to the nearest alleyway and starts stripping him down.
<Shiv> "Little help?"
<Vigilant_GM> His breathing is steady and heavy.
<Vigilant_GM> His body, limp.
* Nitrous looks out for any danger
* Karpath walks back to Baird and hands the shock maul back to him, "Good thing you keep this on you after I gave it to you."
<Baird> "Agreed."
* Karpath goes over to help Shiv.
* Shiv takes his cloths, puts it in a nearby bin, and sets it on fire.
<Vigilant_GM> Left nude, and without any signs of rank or affiliation, Quintus blends in with the anonymous corpses left around the charnel house district. The acolytes turn their attentions further underhive, for the Mortuarius said to be run by the Fayne family.
<Vigilant_GM> Along the way, in a sort of half-level, between the Charnel Houses and the Mortuarius, the acolytes discover a community - or as close to one as can manage to exist down here.
<Vigilant_GM> A scrap market is surrounded by improvised sheds and dwellings.
<Vigilant_GM> There is little that would catch the attention of anyone who has seen the world outside of this horrid underhive life. Yet one voice, low and with a metallic ring, catches your attention.
<Vigilant_GM> More machine than man, he appears to command the respect of his fellow underhivers.
<Vigilant_GM> "Cog Lostock!" he eventually cries out by way of introduction to you as you walk past. Evidently the man recognized you as outsiders, and sees in you business opportunity.
<Vigilant_GM> "No scrip, no problem!" he gesticulates.
<Vigilant_GM> "Cog Lostock trades! Trade in goods. Trade in favors!"
<Vigilant_GM> He waves you over.
* Baird approaches the man.
* Nitrous follows warily
<Vigilant_GM> "Men of authority," he observes.
* Shiv follows cautiously.
<Vigilant_GM> "Cog Lostock may interest you in some... observations. For a price!"
<Shiv> "What's the price?"
<Vigilant_GM> "What do you seek, men of authority? Men such as you don't wander down here."
<Vigilant_GM> The metallic parts on his face move in a disturbing way. It takes you some time, but you realize that he is doing something close to smiling.
<Baird> "We are trying to find information on gangs that interact with some of the mortuaries further down."
<Vigilant_GM> "Cog Lostock knows names! All the names, down here! Cog Lostock observes much."
<Vigilant_GM> He leans in, with a whirring and hissing as his recycled and poorly-installed cybernetics move.
<Shiv> "How much for a list of names?"
<Vigilant_GM> "Help Cog, and Cog will help you!"
<Shiv> "Help? What do you mean?"
<Vigilant_GM> He pulls to the side a flap of his robes, revealing the worn mechanical parts and decaying flesh of his body.
<Vigilant_GM> "Blood and muscle, for weak flesh."
<Vigilant_GM> A slab of tissue is brought forward.
<Vigilant_GM> "Help Cog revitalize."
* Shiv pulls out his medikit and tries not to vomit. "Let's see what I can do..."
* Shiv starts to remove the necrotic tissue and replacing it with the 'fresh' flesh and blood.
<Vigilant_GM> The plates on his face move and turn, a patterned hissing along with it - he is laughing.
<Vigilant_GM> "Yes! Very good. Cog is renewed!"
<Vigilant_GM> "Now. Who do you want to know about? Cog will tell anything he knows."
<Shiv> "I feel sick. Just... just give me a list of gang names that my friend asked for."
<Vigilant_GM> A crackling begins.
<Vigilant_GM> Eventually, he reaches into his robe, and tears a long ribbon of paper.
<Vigilant_GM> Ink-imprinted names. Hundreds of them.
<Vigilant_GM> He hands you the list.
<Vigilant_GM> "Gangs Cog knows."
<Shiv> "T-Thanks. We need details on which ones operates around the mortuary."
<Vigilant_GM> He looks at Shiv for a while.
<Vigilant_GM> Clicks behind the cranial plating.
<Vigilant_GM> "You seek the corpse trade."
<Vigilant_GM> "Cog observes the corpse trade."
<Shiv> "Ok... this is fine, I guess? I think we are done here."
<Vigilant_GM> "Mortutarius offices. Records of items taken from corpses. The brothers will keep records. Cog observes!"
<Shiv> "Thank you for your help."
<Vigilant_GM> "Cog thanks renewal from small rat man."
* Shiv tires to ignore the 'rat' comment and turns to Baird "Sir, we should get back to work."
<Baird> "Agreed. Thanks again for your help Cog." Baird turns and heads back towards the lift to descend down to the mortuaries.