Evervigilant 28

<Vigilant_GM> IT IS THE 41ST MILLENNIUM...
<Vigilant_GM> The forlorn and decrepit Gallowsway near the very bottom of Desoleum City remains much the same as your last incursion into its depths. Citizens living here do so without hope, without much in the way of wealth, food, or even reliable light.
<Vigilant_GM> Known for the Mortuarius Factorums which process the countless dead of the hive, the Gallowsway retains its musty, putrid air about it - an unwelcome set of memories cross through your mind as your senses pick up on this now familiar atmosphere.
<Nitrous> "Deep end again eh?"
* Shiv puts on his rebreather.
<Baird> "Always Jack. Always." Baird follows suit and clips on his rebreather as well.
* Nitrous puts on his respirator
<Vigilant_GM> Arriving to the area described by Kaytian Nils, the newest informant attached to your cell, you find the Oath-Captain approaching you, two Sanctionaries several meters behind.
* Nitrous gives a nod toward Nils
<Vigilant_GM> "We have been expecting your arrival, officers," she says carefully.
<Baird> "Sorry to inconvenience you again Nils, the work never ends eh?"
<Vigilant_GM> "Unfortunately. It's butcher's work again, I'm afraid," she says nodding you to follow.
<Vigilant_GM> She waves off her escort, allowing you enough distance for privacy.
* Baird waits until her escort is as a comfortable distance and turns to Nils. "Anymore info to addon since last we heard Oath-Captain?"
<Vigilant_GM> "The Gallowsway has been very active since..." she trails off for a moment.
<Vigilant_GM> "Since the events which brought you here first," she resumes.
<Vigilant_GM> "We were sure, we had hoped, this was just more gang activity. That irredeemable sociopath, Vornas Crimson has continued his activities, as have many other of his rivals. It has been bloody, brutal."
<Vigilant_GM> She puts on her rebreather.
<Tony> "Ah yes the smell, How I missed it"
<Vigilant_GM> "I hate to say it in this way, but I was disappointed, and deeply concerned when I realized the so-called King of Blades wasn't involved in the scene I am about to show you."
* Tony Puts on his rebreather
<Vigilant_GM> As you arrive at a three-storey structure, its exterior plascrete and steel walls discolored with centuries of brime, Nils pushes open the rusted doors marked with well-worn industrial paint in which "H-11" is written. There are some additional words, but they are completely illegible and all but worn away.
<Vigilant_GM> The spacious chamber beyond the doors is piled high with junk, and the ceiling sags in several places. Nine pools of congealed blood arrayed about the room and the fresh las-burns and bullet holes scarring the wall speak to the recent violence. The air is thick with the smell of blood and an overpowering scent of rot and decay. Sanctionaries move about the room, taking picts and
<Vigilant_GM> speaking in hushed tones.
<Baird> "Fucking hell, it certainly looks like his work."
<Baird> "Alright let's spread out and look for evidence everyone."
<Tony> "If I were trying to assault the this place, where would I strike?"
* Tony tries to look into the towards a direction the shots could of been fired from
* Shiv looks around at the pool of blood.
<Vigilant_GM> Examining the crime-scene, Tony finds a small amount of fresh blood on the metal grating of the walkway along the exterior along with several blood spots on another gantry below, from which a short trail of blood follows.
<Tony> ++I found something, Jack follow me.++
* Tony As he begins to trail the lead.
<Nitrous> ++Yup++
* Nitrous goes to Tony
<Nitrous> "What we looking for?"
* Shiv tries to climb to the third tier of the warehouse. As he was making his way up, he slips on rubble on the staircase. He slips down the stairs into the railing with a loud scream followed by a crash. After a brief silence, he says "ow..."
* Tony points to the blood trail as he begins to follow it
* Nitrous starts trailing the blood
<Baird> "You alright there Itkit? Looked like quite a fall."
<Shiv> "I'll be good in a second, Boss."
<Vigilant_GM> "Medicae is getting ready for autopsies," a sanctionary comments, "if you're injured, it'll have to wait," he adds impatiently.
<Baird> "Don't worry about him. Focus on the crime scene." Baird turns to the Sanctionary as he speaks."
* Shiv patches himself up after his fall.
<Vigilant_GM> Closely examining the floor, Tony finds a fresh boot print crusted with thin sand that is unlike the grimey, muddy surfaces of the Gallowsway.
* Tony begins to stop and estimate the boot print as he begins to look around him to get a better idea where he might of went
<Tony> "Inform the others we may have a lead, these tracks are still fresh."
<Vigilant_GM> The prints are clearly moving away from the warehouse before they fade and disappear, indicating at least one survivor.
<Nitrous> +Found some footprints+
<Baird> Hearing the news of a survivor Baird turns to Nils. "Have any of your men been that way?" gesturing towards where Tony and Nitrous have gone.
<Baird> "There's been signs of s boot print and I'm wanting to make sure we won't be chasing down one of yours who was investigating."
<Vigilant_GM> "It's possible Sanctionary Kleyne has," she replies, calling him over.
<Velam> With his rebreather on the savant gives a cursory glance around the crime scene, his servoskulls clinging to his shoulders like loyal birds of prey.
<Baird> +Don't chase after them just yet. One oif the Sanctionaries could've made the tracks.+
<Vigilant_GM> "Kleyne, this is Officer Daroshevik from Special Concerns," she turns to you, "Sanctionary Kleyne was the first on scene. He can answer any questions you may have."
<Baird> "Give me a run down of what you saw Sanctionary Klyene. Being first on the scene you have the most valuable unfiltered information."
* Tony continues to trail the path as much as he can until it ends, as he begins to look about the surroundings for possible path they may of went
<Tony> "I guess we will have to relay on the blood trail."
<Vigilant_GM> "Took it to be a gang fight, at first. Common enough with the animals in this area. I was on a routine patrol, when the gunfire started."
<Vigilant_GM> "By the time I reached the source, the fight was over - corpses were all that was left."
<Vigilant_GM> "I knew there was something unusual, so I called it in to precinct, and had the bodies taken for examination to Sanctionary-Medicae Tomas before Captain Nils arrived."
<Baird> "Did you take pics of the corpses positions before you moved them, and how exactly did you figure it was..'unusual' as you said?"
* Velam stands to the back and right of Baird as he questions the sanctionary, soaking up the info.
<Vigilant_GM> He swats away at a fly, reinforcing his point, "The damned smell. We've spent hours looking for more bodies - bodies that may explain it. We've found nothing. I'm sure I got here just as the fight ended. The bodies at precinct mortuarius were still warm when I sent them."
<Vigilant_GM> "Picts will be coming back in a couple of hours," Nils assures you.
* Shiv walks down the stairs to see what Tony has been up to.
<Vigilant_GM> "As soon as you're done here, Officer Daroshevik, I can show you to the precinct mortuarius if you would like to analyze the bodies and their effects."
<Baird> "The smell. Logen, see if you can put the big brain you have to use and figure out where it might be coming from based on the information we have."
<Baird> "I would. Thank you Nils."
<Vigilant_GM> The blood trail, and its sandy footprint counterpart effectively disappear some fifty meters away from the crime scene proper. More abandoned structures surround the area. Unfortunately, so does the regular foot-traffic.
<Velam> "I can try, but I'd need more information, those bodies would definitely help." He coughs in his rebreather. "Would you like me to accompany you Raolin?"
<Tony> "Dead end."
<Nitrous> "Seems so."
<Baird> "Certainly Logen, you're always a great help."
<Velam> "It shall prove to be quite fascinating, thank you."
<Vigilant_GM> "Peculiar..." a pict-recording sanctionary comments as he comes to the trail discovered by Tony.
<Vigilant_GM> He drops a red numbered evidence marker, and takes several picts before returning to the building.
<Tony> "Alright lets inform the rest then."
* Tony goes back to the party
* Nitrous follows along
* Tony begins to explain him and Nitrous's findings to the gang
<Velam> "If you will, Raolin, I'll check it out and meet up with you shortly."
<Velam> At the crime scene, he gives it a look after Tony points it out. "Oh dear...gentleman if what I'm seeing is true...Oh my. Whoever we are dealing with came from the outside. Excuse me, outside of the hive. This sand," he pokes it with the blade of his unsheathed knife. "This sand comes from the outside of the hive, the outside! Whoever did this came from the wastes!"
<Velam> He jots some notes in his dataslate. "Is there a trail?"
<Velam> "Oh right, you did." He turns around once they're done and brings everyone back to rejoin the group.
<Velam> "A bit of a disturbing find, Raolin, Oath-Captain." He then explains the interesting and disturbing detail Tony found.
<Baird> "Sounds like we need more information.  I believe we'll take that escort to the precinct to view their belongings and the picts Oath-Captain."
<Vigilant_GM> >> FFWD >>
<Vigilant_GM> Oath-Captain Nils takes you to the Purity Gate, site of the sanctionary precinct under her command. On its sub-level floor, the mortuarium houses the bodies which are brought for secondary analysis. It is a cold -though less than completely sterile- facility. Sanctionary-Medicae Scarun Tomas is in charge of the facility, assisted by several poorly-maintained servitors.
<Vigilant_GM> Harsh, bright glow-globes illuminate the room, and drains are set in the floor at numerous spots. Despite the fact that only "questionable" deaths are routed here, the mortuarium is clearly over capacity. When you arrive, the Sanctionary-Medicae is preparing to begin the autopsy, setting out various blades, saws, and clamps on a tray. He wears a blood-stained, white smock and prepares
<Vigilant_GM> a small vox-corder to records his observations. The first body is laid out on a cold steel table which has been tarnished by years of use, with permanent dark stains surrounding the drains on the floor underneath. Three additional bodies sit on gurneys in this room, covered by tarps and awaiting their turn, with five others in cold storage.
<Vigilant_GM> Nils removes her service armor and tunic, revealing her cybernetic arm. She puts on a clean white smock, before entering the room to introduce you.
<Vigilant_GM> "Oath-Captain," Scarun nods as she enters, putting down a scalpel.
* Baird follows Nils into the room nodding towards the medicae.
<Vigilant_GM> Before she can make the introductions, the medicae makes the observation out-loud. "Special Concerns? Who did we anger up-hive to deserve this?"
<Baird> "Itkit, Logen. Scrub up so you can assist the good medicae with his observations. Tony, Jack grab gloves, we'll go through the belongings. Don't think about it too hard medicae. We aren't here to dump on your division or anything." Baird steps over to a box of disposable gloves and pulls on a set.
<Tony> "Alright"
* Nitrous gets washes his hands and puts on gloves
<Vigilant_GM> He silently shakes his head, before pulling his facemask on.
<Shiv> "Understood, Boss." He takes off his work gloves and puts on medical gloves.
<Velam> "Of course, Raolin." Velam makes the appropriate preparations and enters the room, clean and suited up for some dirty business. "Been a long time since I've gotten my hands dirty." If anyone actually knew the savant he's never actually been this close to a corpse in such an environment but he's so desensitized from his new career it's not a problem.
<Velam> "Whenever you're ready medicae."
* Tony Puts on some of the medical gloves and gets ready to look though the belonging.
* Shiv joins Velam and the Doctor.
<Vigilant_GM> "We'll have their effects brought out in a moment," the medicae says as two of his servitors leave through a secondary door.
<Baird> "It's appreciated medicae."
<Vigilant_GM> "I hope so. We're up to our tits in ca--" before he can finish his sentence, Nils interrupts. "Enough, Scarus. They are here to help."
<Vigilant_GM> He opens up a drawer, and produces a rebreather and goggles, pushing the storage cart in your direction with his foot to offer you the same.
* Velam dons the proferred equipment. "My thanks." He says, the mask muffling his words.
<Vigilant_GM> He nods, fixing his own equipment on. He presses a rune on the vox-corder, a small bulb turning amber to signify its functioning.
<Vigilant_GM> "Victim identity uknown #189233. Chain of custody, Sanctioanry Kleyne, Sanctionary Oar, Sanctionary-Medicae Tomas," he says pulling back the shroud to reveal the corpse.
<Vigilant_GM> "Degree of decay, advanced," he lifts the corpse's upper lip with the blunt end of the scalpel. "Inconsistent with reported elapsed time since death," he adds with some interest.
<Velam> "There are certain venoms that could cause such damage, we'll need to see the stomach to confirm, however."
<Velam> "I apologize for my interruption, medicae, I am just adding my notes to your investigation."
<Vigilant_GM> He nods, adding in his measured narration, "Las-wounds to chest located near a curious pattern of buboes in upper torso. Lethal in appearance."
<Velam> "Emperor preserve us." He whispers to himself, barely audible. He becomes much paler as he blanches in horror. He clears his throat and asks the medicae to continue.
<Vigilant_GM> The servitors re-emerge, pushing one evidence cart each, and place it on the end of the room.
* Baird approaches evidence carts and begins searching the belongings with the help of Tony and Nitrous.
<Vigilant_GM> Of the nine corpses brought in, four had been wearing tattered and filthy robes and two were wearing typical downhive workers' garb - one of which is numbered as belonging to #189233, the corpse on the autopsy table. Three other corpses have odd facial scars, light armor, and rugged clothing. Of the first group, one rusty cleaver, three stub revolvers, two autoguns, and several grisly
<Vigilant_GM> trophies including a shrunken human head, several sheets of filth-smeared parchment written with unholy prayers, and a rusted iron talisman depicting three circles in triangular fashion.
<Nitrous> "This seems familiar." noting the rusty cleaver
<Vigilant_GM> The second group was recovered with two laspistols, one autopistol, two lasguns, a shotgun, rebreathers, three sets of badly damaged flak armor, and a portable vox. The bodies all were carrying some amount of petty cash in Guild Scrip, while one had several coins scrimshawed from bone.
* Tony taking interest in the Portable Vox he begins to inspect it properly.
<Vigilant_GM> The Sanctionary-Medicae cuts into the corpse with his scalpel, and prepares an auto-saw.
* Baird scoops up the coins made from bone and begins to inspect them.
<Vigilant_GM> As the buzzing against tissue and bone begins, a host of wriggling maggots spill out, prompting Scarus to jump in surprise.
<Velam> "Disgusting..."
<Velam> The savant looks sick, and somehow even paler. He however doesn't recoil.
<Vigilant_GM> Before Scarus can recover his wits, the corpse's eyes open and it bolts upright, immediately attacking the medicae, clawing at his face, ripping away his rebreather and drawing blood.
<Velam> "EMPEROR'S BALLS!"
<Tony> "Frak!"
* Tony Quick draws his Hand Cannon in both hands and moves up closer to try and point blank the corpse in the face
* Nitrous draws his sniper rifle and fires at the monstrosity
<Velam> On instinct he draws his plasma pistol and shoots the thing, somehow hitting the zombie in the leg.
* Shiv pulls out his Chainsword and swings the undead. He saws into the ribcage and removes chucks of flesh..
<Vigilant_GM> Sanctionary-Medicae Tomas leaps out of the way, behind an adjacent table.
<Vigilant_GM> The living corpse turns awkwardly, picking up a bonesaw, and strikes at Shiv narrowly missing him. Yet, by the time it finishes its strike, the wounds inflicted upon it begin to get covered in maggots from within its body.
<Vigilant_GM> Nils reaches for her sidearm and fires at the abomination, missing it by several feet.
* Baird draws his bolt pistols and shreds what was left of the abomination.
<Vigilant_GM> "What... the, FUCK!" Tomas barks out, throwing his goggles across the room, while holding onto his bleeding wound.
<Velam> "Itkit, see to him please. Raolin, I would suggest we brain the other corpses, to be on the safe side."
<Velam> "Nils, if I might have a private word with you and Raolin?"
<Shiv> "Hold still". He examines Tomas before starting to patch him up. "I had to deal with bigger bites than this."
<Baird> "Agreed. Jack, Tony, think you two can handle the double tap on the other corpses while we have a talk?"
<Vigilant_GM> She nods, and leaves to the side-room used for temporary evidence storage after giving the medicae one last look.
* Velam follows her in, and after Baird enters, shuts the door. He then takes his mask and goggles off.
<Tony> "We will handle it."
* Nitrous puts a sniper round into the corpse again
<Nitrous> "I did what I could."
* Tony as he begins to go around at the other corpses double tapping in the head
<Velam> "This is bad, very bad, those things...they are tainted, unholy abominations. The things we did a month and a half ago was not enough. I do not know if it's directly related, but these things are like the walking corpses we dealt with then. I suggest, Oath-Captain, a full purge of the entire basement, all corpses, all evidence. Holy flame. And your medicae may be infected. He needs to be quarantined."
<Vigilant_GM> "Emperor preserve us..." she says, making the sign of the Aquila.
<Baird> "I trust Logens knowledge on the subject and urge you to heed him on this."
<Vigilant_GM> "He's a good man, Scarus... the only medicae specialist in the Gallowsway, Emperor's Teeth."
<Velam> "Better he die, than spread this taint to your whole force. And if that happens there's a risk the entire hive would...ahem would succumb to this."
<Vigilant_GM> "Is there not... a cure? Something you can do?"
<Baird> "We leave the quarantine and his fate in your hands Oath-Captain. Unless you'd prefer we do it for you."
<Baird> "The Emperor is his only salvation at this point."
<Velam> "This is an unholy taint, your best bet would be of the spiritual, perhaps holy water and incense, and much prayer. But beyond that...no."
<Vigilant_GM> Nils is visibly shaken, her demeanor changes to that much like she had during the dread ritual below Gantry's sump-rivers.
<Velam> "Another thing, if you see a symbol," he briefly describes it, gagging at the end of describing it. "Excuse me, if you see anything, items, persons, anything bearing that symbol. Purge it. No hesitation, extreme prejudice." He makes Nils look at him, eye to eye. "I cannot stress how dangerous this is, Nils."
<Velam> "Have faith and stay vigilant, mamzel, you are not alone in dealing with this." He looks to Baird before looking back to her.
<Tony> "Right Jack lets check that Vox we found, maybe it still works."
* Nitrous nods
<Vigilant_GM> "I... I understand. The curse remains. The horrors have not ended."
* Baird reaches out and places a hand on Nils shoulder. "We will get to the bottom of this. It is our sacred duty. If you cannot bring yourself to deal with the medicae, we can assist. I understand the difficulty of having to personally consign someone to this fate."
<Tony> "Itkit got a moment?"
* Tony As he begins to check the vox channel it was set too.
<Shiv> "One moment, Detective.". he scurries his way to Tony.
<Vigilant_GM> "I will keep him. I will beseech the Emperor; my prayers may be answered," she nods, finding her faith again.
<Baird> "It is always worth the attempt Oath-Captain. Just do not let it blind you to practicality should the moment come."
<Tony> "Lets see who you work for..."
<Tony> "Any luck Itkit?"
<Vigilant_GM> "I pray it doesn't come to that," she says, sadness in her voice.
* Shiv activates the Vox and channel frequency is visible, but there's no response or chatter.
<Shiv> "Nope, nothing."
<Shiv> "But this is the right channel."
<Vigilant_GM> She finds her composure, and goes back into the autopsy room.
* Shiv carefully opens the vox.
* Baird looks to Velam once Nils leaves the room. "Any other information about this that's need to know Logen?"
* Tony puts down the Pict Recorder close for anything that may come about it
<Shiv> "There's like a chip in here or something like a decipher key so that frequency isn't gonna work any other casters."
<Vigilant_GM> "Scarus. It's important that you recover away from the field, away from any strain," Nils explains to the medicae sanctionary, with a gentle tone.
<Velam> "I would not taint your mind with the specifics, Raolin, it's dark stuff. My gut feeling is that ritual we disrupted only bought us time. That there were other cults down there worshipping this filth..."
<Velam> He ponders a moment. "It seems as if these things were being hunted or fought by another faction. The other corpses, what did they have on them?"
* Baird nods. "The other group had weapons, armour, guild scrip..as well as a vox caster and these.." Baird reaches into his coat pocket and produces the bone coins.
<Shiv> "Thinking about it. This chip is commonly smugglers everywhere in this sector."
<Tony> "It's a lead, though that can lead off and branch out."
<Tony> "Hmm, there must be a way down here to get outside for them to come down this far."
<Velam> "Curious, the coins are the common currency of Thor, the shrine world. If I were a guessing man, and by my own vast intelligence I would be," he chuckles to himself at his comedy, "I would infer that these men who fought these tainted corpses, cultists even, are crusaders of a sort. Going by the evidence presented the footprint at the crime scene has traces of sand from the wastes outside of the hive, as I explained earlier.
<Velam> Either one of these dead men made it, or the survivor/s did. These men snuck into the hive to hunt these things. I think we have a seperate faction fighting this cult. Emperor's teeth, they have a vox so they must be organized somewhat. I say we find them and see if we can't make use of them."
<Velam> "Keep the coins with you, they could be useful." He adds with an after thought. "I would not trust the rest of the evidence though."
<Baird> "That may not be a bad idea. Always handy to have religious fanatics at our backs when hunting a cult. I will, and yes, the rest should be purged. Except for perhaps the voc caster. Who knows what information we can glean from that."
* Baird walks back into the autopsy room. "Any luck with the rest of the belongings gentlemen?"
<Tony> "Mostly interested in this Vox Caster here, but does the Oath Captain, know anything about any places down here that could lead to outside the Hive?"
<Baird> "Oath-Captain?"
<Tony> "From what we gathered, this Vox has a chip, so getting information out of it would be tricky, but this chip is very commonly used among many smugglers."
<Velam> "That could be fun to crack...with the right tools."
<Vigilant_GM> "It's a risk, but past the Purity Gate, a collapsed ventilation system was used by gangers a year ago.'
<Vigilant_GM> "Otherwise, you can, of course, return uphive. Tradesmen lander platforms should be accessible to you along Desoleum City."
<Baird> "Well first and foremost let's get people down here to purge this area Nils and preferably allocate a workspace for us upstairs so that we may take a look at this vox caster. Once the purging and quarantining are complete I'd appreciate it if you could show us the ventilation system."
<Vigilant_GM> "I... I can't risk that," she shakes her head regretfully. "Ganger activity makes it impossible for sanctionaries to go beyond the Purity Gate without risking certain death."
<Velam> "A detailed map then, perhaps?"
<Baird> "A map then and we can investigate it for ourselves. For now purge and quarantine."
<Vigilant_GM> "I will provide what I can."
<Vigilant_GM> "Though..." she adds, a thought lingering in the air.
<Baird> "Whats on your mind Oath-Captain?"
<Vigilant_GM> "You have far less to fear from the Red Walk than I. If they still hold the upper hand in their unending ganger struggles, they would be in a better position to aid you than any of us."
<Velam> "In manpower perhaps, but we will still need support from you Nils."
<Baird> "Ah then just the work space for the work on the vox caster and we'll head below and leverage assistance from them."
<Vigilant_GM> "Of course. You can use my office."
<Vigilant_GM> "And one more thing, if I may..." she says, looking back at the medicae in the corner of the room.
<Baird> "As always your help is appreciated Nils. What is it?"
<Vigilant_GM> "Could you, perhaps, sedate Scarus? It would make this process easier."
<Baird> "Of course. Itkit." Baird looks at Shiv and nods over towards the medicae.
<Tony> "Going down there alone Raolin? I would not recommend it."
* Shiv nods. He injects Scarus with Tranq.
<Baird> "Not alone. We'll go down together after figuring out the vox. We might need it."