Dark Heresy - Wisdom is the beginning of fear.

[Kelne]

"I have a thought on acquiring a sample of the drug," Cryvus said, scrutinising Mithras to be sure that he was indeed somewhat better, "But we should see what the others have discovered before we act on that front, I think." Patience was the right course for the time being, but he couldn't help but worry what damage the cult might do in the interim. The longer they were left in place, the worse the final toll of damage would be.

[Capntastic]

Mik kept up his limping retreat, aided by Gunner.

[Besyanteo]

Gunner started moving out into the road with Mik. While they move, Gunner will take a potshot or two at their nearest attacker, or nearest as best he can tell.

(help Mik move, shoot at 5 once, twice if it's still possible this round and the first one doesn't kill him.)

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis ducked behind his cover, the impact from the shotgun blast hurting as he kept his back to the wall. As such, he knew he needed to get to better cover, and fast. As it stood, looking around, Mikolas and Gunner were both headed out...the damned bastards wouldn't stop coming out of the woodwork, at that...

He ran. An advantageous position is preferable. No need to fight the enemy on their terms. He had the ammunition for an extended fight with these enemies, and giving himself the range and cover advantage--despite lacking his rifle--would be optimal. Keeping an eye out for enemies from the south, he bolted.

[Running to behind the statue or, failing that, the upper alley, cover relative to the south side of the map, of course.]

[Jak Snide]

The Hustle

Crisis sped away like a bolt of lightning, the tattered cloth of his cloak flapping behind him as he darted across the square and took cover behind the largest of the stalls. The scent of sweetmeats of dubious origin greeted him along with the angry protests of the vendor, the man having taken exception to a "tarted up pillock" drawing gunfire his way.

Crisis:

Spoiler:

Orday's body is lying where you left it, clothes now soaking in a pool of blood. It doesn't look like anyone's made an attempt to loot it beyond the initial snatching of the case.

Mikolas and Gunner staggered out from between the stalls, the latter man firing his weapon one handed, his arm beginning to ache from the recoil. The result was worth the pain; his target's shoulder exploded, taking a chunk out of his torso and scorching his face. His attention was drawn elsewhere before the body hit the ground; the man who'd shot Crisis was now drawing a bead on him. He ducked the shot just in time, a nearby post splintering apart instead of his skull.

(Map updated. Crisis retreats a great distance while Mikolas and Gunner stagger a mere few meters. Gunner scores another big-damage instant kill with his personalised bolt pistol before evading a load of buckshot. There's still no sign of any intervention from the Magistratum being on the way.)

[Besyanteo]

Gunner would keep helping Mik move forward, but only as far as it took to get them out of the line of sight of this last (hopefully?) man. Then he'd turn around, put himself behind Mik as much as he could without droppin the big man, and wait for their attacker to round the corner. When he did, Gunner would shoot him. If he took longer than five seconds to come, Gunner would assume the man went after Crisis instead, and resume their retreat.

(movin' on up, conditional action(s) as stated)

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis ignored the loud, angry man and his dubiously-originated sweetmeats. Such things were unimportant as far as the battle went. As such, he ducked down, holstered his Carnodon, and proceeded to wait for anyone to try to come out and attack, Orthlack in hand.

[Overwatch over the southern area. If anyone who looks hostile shows up, he's pumping them full of lead.]

[Capntastic]

Mik continued his staggering, letting himself be propped along. He watched the other direction as Gunner made to cover their backs.

(Half move, ready to blast anyone that shows up in front of them.)

[Jak Snide]

The Hustle

Gunner and Mikolas continued their retreat, buckshot chasing them before Gunner turned around to issue his reply, the explosive round flying low and punching through a stall before detonating. His target was retreating now, casting a brief glance towards the man Crisis had kneecapped before slipping away around a corner, narrowly evading a shot from Mikolas' laspistol.

There were no more gunshots now. The only noise in the Hustle was the distant thunder of fleeing hivers and the whimpered sobs of someone who'd been clipped by a shot and fallen out of sight.

(Map updated, which shows the last known position of #4. He's disappeared around the corner now and is retreating. Chasing him down is of course an option, but if nobody opts for this then combat is over. Crisis and Gunner and Lightly Wounded, Mikolas is Critically wounded, suffering from fatigue and is still moving at half rate until he receives medical attention. Attacker #2 is still on the ground and writhing in pain, weapon out of hand.)

[Besyanteo]

If Crisis wanted to mop up, that was his business. Gunner focused on getting Mik the hell out of here.

(Auto-GTFO, plz)

[Capntastic]

Mik wheezed and began to pick up the pace with his limp, hoping to hoof it before any other scum showed up.

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis holstered the two pistols as he moved to loot Orday's corpse. Weapons, gear, and anything else seemingly useful on his person. Following that, there was interest in the possibility that whatever the unnamed cyborg assailant was, he possibly dropped more than just the suitcase as he retreated. That alleyway would be checked, for sure.

If the kneecapped thug got away by then, there's nothing to do by then. If he was still there, it'd be a point to bring him in for interrogation... After disarming, of course. If he had the room for it, though, he'd also consider grabbing one of the shotguns and as much ammo from the dead thugs as possible...

[Jak Snide]

The Hustle

Crisis slipped across the square to riffle through the belongings of the deceased bounty hunter. He worked quickly, stripping the ornate bolt pistol from the man first, holster and all. Next came the contents of his pockets; a data-key with the word "GOLDENHAND" stamped on it (he recalled this being the name of the banking guild their own account was with), a magnetic key (undoubtedly for the case Gunner now had in his possession) and a set of documents that he had neither the time or inclination to inspect right now. A single magazine of weighty bolt pistol ammunition was his final discovery.

He was just about to head towards the thug he'd injured when he heard the ringing of a hand bell accompanied by a booming voice projected via vox-amplifier "Make way for the law!" Gunner and Mikolas both heard it too, coming from the direction they were limping away from. A man who'd been looting wares of his fellow shopkeep cursed, muttering something about greencoats and hurriedly retreated to his own stall.

(With Gunner's dedicated support Mikolas can move at his normal speed now, though running would be unwise. All three of the acolytes are aware that the greencoats, the planetary police force properly known as the Magistratum, have finally decided to intervene, broadcasting their arrival ahead of them. Crisis can still try to reach the man he injured, for whatever reasons he might have, but he runs the risk of bumping into Magistratum officers in the process. Gunner and Mikolas, should they continue on their current course, will hopefully get clear of The Hustle without incident. Then it's just a matter of deciding whether to return uphive immediately or persue some other agenda in the mid-hive. Possibly getting Mik's foot seen to, though the reputation of medicae facilities down here isn't stellar.)

[Besyanteo]

Gunner will try to get them uphive to a decent physician, provided it doesn't look like Mik will bleed out in the interim.

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis heard the voice from the south. While interrogating one of the thugs and looting the rest was an idea, it'd have to be passed up. There was one thing to do, though...the cyborg dropped the case--which Gunner grabbed, and that custom autopistol. While there might not be time to see if he dropped anything else, he figured that more guns--especially a custom job like this--wouldn't be a bad idea. Especially with ammunition so limited. And so for that, he made a mad dash down the alleyway where the hostage situation happened, intending to snatch the autopistol and then get the hell out of there before the Magistratum found him.

[Jak Snide]

The Hustle

Crisis moved quickly and quietly towards his destination, spotting the flicker of dark green to his right. The reasonable part of his mind told him to turn back, but he wanted that weapon. He waited for his moment and took it, darting out to snatch the autopistol when the Magistratum officers busied themselves with breaking apart a stall to question the woman within. Gun in hand he headed after his fellow acolytes.

---

House Strophes

It took Gunner's team a while to get back uphive after Crisis linked up with them just outside the Hustle. Mikolas' condition slowed them down for a start and they were questioned by the Magistratum when they attempted to return uphive. A combination of their papers and Gunner telling them an enhanced version of the truth eventually allowed them to pass, but not before they'd attracted some attention. No doubt word of this would spread quickly through the spires. They were met with alarm when they reached House Strophes, Laurent emerging from his room and summoning his personal doctor. The man did what he could for them, disinfecting wounds, removing bullets and offering Mikolas some painkillers.

Finally, after being cleaned up and dismissed by the doctor, Gunner and his team met with the other acolytes in private, Laurent having resumed his disdainful demeanour after it was clear that none of them were in mortal danger. He had seen fit to have a servant bring them refreshments though, along with something small to eat.

(It's now several hours later, in the early evening in fact. Cryvus and Mithras have had a chance to spend their time on something and, should Cryvus wish to, he can now heal Mithras again without risking something horrible happening to him.)

[ChristianC]

Mithras felt better, but he was far from good, and although he participated in the meeting, and presented no clear objection to being aided further by Cryvus, he soon became tired again and opted to return to his bedroom...

However, as soon as Gunner's team made it back to the house, he was up and about, a distraught look on his face as he saw the condition Mik was in... that the man-monster could get himself hurt this bad...

"What by the throne of Him happened out there?" he asked Gunner as soon as he could catch the man, "you were only to retrieve a package, was it a trap?"

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis typed up a short response to Mithras' inquiry.

'Hostile third party intent on intercepting or removing info. Noble sponsorship likely. Details later.'

[Capntastic]

Mik was sprawled in a chair, dressed in some ornate set of robes he'd been lent while his armor and disguise were patched up. He wheezed thoughtfully as he slowly partook of the offered goodies, very clearly out of sorts. The painkillers had yet to work their way out of his system, and even the act of bringing a delicate morsel of food to his mouth was a comically exaggerated gesture.

He took a moment to consider the question before answering.

"Some weird ass murderer shot our guy. Ran straight up a damned wall. His arms moved all wrong an' he punched right through my chest with some sorta...thing."

He drew attention to the fact that one of his beard's braids had been signed off entirely, before looking around a bit fearful.

"That's not the sort of thing Crisis is gonna turn into if we keep feeding it, is it?"

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis listened to Mik's statement, ready to facepalm before deciding instead to elaborate further on the attacker, typing out on his data-slate.

'To be more precise, we were attacked by what is likely a noble-sponsored assassin; one who has undergone several processes to have most of his or her body replaced with augmented mechanics. These machines performed well above the level of that of a normal person, granting the ability to move over walls, as well as, according to what Mikolas has said, superior rotation capabilities. Furthermore, this enemy was both heavily armored and highly mobile--as to the point that while I would suggest heavy rapid-fire weaponry for disposing of him in a most timely manner, even though we possess the funding for this, we are unfortunately limited by the imbecilic laws disallowing longarms in this area, thus limiting our firepower.

The augmentations he possesses also include multiple weapons. The first being a blade of unknown quality--I am not an expert in melee weaponry, however. The second, however, was an autopistol of extremely high-quality make--the latter suggests noble sponsorship. He was also demonstrated using an explosive of some capacity that I do not know of--this was dealt with by Gunner here. Nonetheless, this confirms my suspicions about Orday to be correct--it's likely that the sponsor of this assassin is one of the noble houses affiliated with the Choir, intended to silence him and destroy any information that he obtained. It is likely that if this mission continues, we will encounter him again, should matters turn hostile. I would suggest killing him if possible, to prevent him from uncovering our identities--unless, of course, we are to stay behind on certain outings.'

WALL OF TEXT aside, he then showed it to the rest.

[Kelne]

Cryvus had indeed performed further healing on Mithras, having decided tthat they all needed to be in peak condition. An attitude that was only bourne out by his first sight of the others.

"And Orday?" he asked, having listened quietly thus far. Judging from Mikolas's condition, their adversary had been formidable indeed, which did not bode well for the bounty hunter's survival. Still, the question needed to be asked. If they had been this battered and still thwarted in gaining information, it would be bad indeed.

[Jak Snide]

Brother Gear was looking a little pale, holding his tongue as he listened to the conversation. Sister Masha was nowhere near as restrained, having risen from her seat to devour Crisis' hurriedly typed report in a scant few seconds.

"Well equipped and competent, two traits of a professional assassin. Explosives are the mark of a man who has little to fear from the Magistratum or the Adeptus Arbites in Sibellus. A full breakdown of the attack would be useful. The most important question, however, is whether you recovered the data or not."

Cryvus, Mithras:

Spoiler:

You've only just really noticed it, but Brother Gear seems to have come down with a bad case of the shakes. He's doing his best to conceal it, but his arms are trembling despite him gripping both of the armrests of his seat.

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis hit the 'clear' button on his data-slate...before giving a one-sentence replay.

'The data is secure, and more than likely locked with a key which I took the liberty to extricate from Orday's corpse.'

[Besyanteo]

First, to Cryvus:

"Orday had only just stepped out from his hiding spot to meet us when he was shot by the assassin; One round to the head, it essentially exploded."

Then, to Misha:

"I have the case here," -he hefted it, albeit gingerly so- "which we assume is where Orday was keeping the data. Circumstances didn't make a full search of his corpse realistic. I lost sight of Crisis for a while, so he may have looked in a spare moment. Either way, I don't have a key for it. I don't look forward to trying to worry it open, though; Orday was paranoid, if justified about it. It may be trapped against unwanted entry."

He set that down on a table, and fished the remains of the melta from his pockets, which he set down nearby, keeping both pieces well separate from one another.

"We also have this, though I don't know how much use to us it will be. We can at least find a local expert to tell us more about it, but to be able to link it with anyone specific would be a stretch."

He took to a chair, the pain from his injuries starting to catch up with him... especially his back, right shoulder and arm. He'd been seen to, of course, but his muscles still screamed from abuse rather than injury: repeated bolter fire had a way of doing that. He made himself focus. He'd been asked to make an account of the fight. Well, that wouldn't take overly long.

"As for a breakdown of the fight... These are events as I recall them:
"Orday went down, additional shots still being fired. None of us were hit, but it was a near thing. The area was crowded, and any shot that hit us found a mark in nearby civilians. The assassin became visible while snatching up Orday's dropped suitcase. I ordered that care be taken to avoid the loss of civilian life, took aim and fired. The shot glanced off of him and detonated nearby... He didn't seem seriously impacted by it. Crisis opened up with full automatic fire while Mikolas charged... Unfortunately, Crisis' fire went wide, and added significantly to the civilian death toll. The assassin fled, literally running up a wall he had just had his 'back' to a moment before. The wall ran north to south; Crisis went one way, I the other, and Mikolas quickly hauled himself over the wall. At some point he must have tackled the Assassin, as next time I saw him through the throng, Mikolas was grappling with him, the Assassin's autogun no longer in sight. He put a blade to Mik's throat and ordered us to drop our weapons. I assumed if it wanted any of us alive, it would have simply killed Orday and fled with the case prior to our arrival. Mik wouldn't have survived if we did as ordered. I couldn't shoot with the bolter and expect Mikolas to survive, whether I found my mark or not, so I ran in and hurled myself bodily at his assailant. Crisis, opposite me, opened fire with his own autoguns again. I am not entirely certain what happened then. I was knocked into a nearby stall by the impact, and couldn't see everything going on during that time. I learned later that Mikolas took a round to the foot, and I heard rounds hit metal, presumably the assassin. As I stood again, I saw the assassin slap that-" He gestured to the melta "-onto the case and flee. I ordered Crisis and Mikolas after the assassin and rushed to diffuse it, which required my complete focus at that time. I still hadn't seen what condition Mik was in."

He paused here, shaking off the memory of how close to death he came just then, a flash of pain and then vaporization. There were worse deaths, of course, but still.

"As the melta went silent, a shotgun was fired nearby, an unarmored, unaugmented gunman to the south. I quickly took him out, another shot ringing out nearby. I believe it was Crisis, taking out another gunman intended to take over where the previous man failed. He moved to take cover, giving us a brief respite. I took the melta parts and the case, and went to aid Mikolas, intended to escape before we could be swamped. Mikolas used one of the stalls to prop himself up and fired to the south. I was facing north, still trying to reach him. He suddenly let go and dropped, and buckshot shredded some abandoned clothing his head had been in front of a moment before. I turned and snapped off a shot in return, taking cover behind a nearby column. I missed, and took a hit in the leg for my trouble. I noticed just then that Crisis was still nearby, just around the corner. I took a chance on grabbing Mik and helping him to head further north; The angles the structures we and our assailants had been hiding behind would cut off the gunman's line of sight with us if we moved just a bit further north, and sighting us again would require wandering into Crisis' line of fire without being able to see him. It worked, and Crisis was able to shoot him point blank in the head, but another shotgun blast splintered the woodwork nearby. I worked as best I could to continue helping Mik to flee the scene while firing back; I got lucky and got him in the shoulder, he went down instantly. Even luckier, I ducked in time to avoid losing my head as another one of them showed up. We hobbled far enough north for the man to lose line of sight on us, and I turned and waited for him to come back into view. When he did, Mik and I both fired, and missed, but he got the message. He turned and fled... and finally it was quiet again. Mik and I did our best to leave the area. The Magistratum caught up with us, and I gave them a condensed, revised version of this story. We made straight for here from there."

He sat back and waited for the others to consider the story.

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis added with Gunner's statement. 'I looted Orday's corpse as the others were on their way out. I found a few things of interest--including some documents stating that he was going on a ship out right after this meeting, a key for the case, and a data-key. There were also some incidental things that only I'd be interested in, but that's irrelevant.'

[Jak Snide]

Masha, after expressing clear relief that the case of data had been recovered, examined the dissembled explosive as Gunner gave his account of the attack, a the sensor-studded head of serpentine device slithering out from inside the sleeve of her good arm to pore over it while her organic senses were fixed on the acolyte.

"That is a remarkably detailed account." she commented. "The presence of additional gunmen suggests that this assassin knew about the meeting well in advance, far enough ahead for him to contract them. Their presence could have either been a safety net in case he encountered more resistance than he expected, possibly to slow you down if you gave pursuit. The Magistratum may have captured one of them, though it is unlikely he would know much. If nobles of Sibellus behave anything like they do elsewhere, which I have every reason to believe they do, they would have taken care to conceal all but the barest of details from any outsourced hands. There is always a chain to follow, however, and that may be worth pursuing, as would discovering how the assassin learned of the meeting. I suspect that case," she gestured with her good hand, the augmetic device retracting from view, "is our best avenue of investigation. Please, do not let me delay you from opening it."

She took Crisis' amendment and read it over once the others had a chance to inspect it. "As for you," she said contemptuously in response, "the relevancy of what you recovered from Orday isn't for you to decide. Whatever trinkets you robbed from the man's pockets might contain important clues.

[ChristianC]

Mithras read over the note by Crisis quickly and frowned, helping to care for the wounds as best he could as he listened to the conversation, tentatively wondering if they had perhaps stepped on a toe somewhere, a invisible, but highly important toe that would send an army of feet their way...

But then he noticed Gear, and his worried frown creased into concern... the man had quaffed the drug last night, and he had not received quite the same aid as Mithras... could it still be affecting him badly?

He nodded to Cryvus to get his attention as he spoke in a quiet tone to Gear, "Brother Gear, is something the matter?"

[NamagomiMk0]

'Orday's weaponry contains no clues. However, a dead man has no use for weaponry. Thus, I have found it more effective to claim it for myself, especially considering that it is of a type and caliber that may have an effect on the assailant despite the limitations brought upon by the laws in this area--though the rate of fire is left lacking.' Crisis typed back in response.

[Kelne]

Cryvus frowned, still giving most of his attention to the debriefing, but watching Brother Gear closely, even going so far as to see if his more... unnatural senses could pick up anything out of kilter. This might well be the potential doom coming home to roost.

[Jak Snide]

Brother Gear looked up at Mithras, startled by his inquiry, before giving him a friendly smile and responding in his usual accent. "I'm fine, my boy. Just feeling a little under the weather. Probably shouldn't have eaten before heading to bed last night."

Masha ignored Mithras' concern for Brother Gear, instead focusing on what Crisis had typed. "And that is all you found? What of this data-key you mentioned?"

[ChristianC]

Mithras nodded to Gear, slightly nonplussed by the man's response, but then returned his attention to Crisis and the others, nodding in agreement with sister Masha.

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis glared through his mask at Masha--and Mithras' agreeance with her, before typing further. This had gone far enough

'If anyone can discern anything relevant to this mission about a data-key that pertains to the Goldenhand banking guild, then go ahead. I, however, approve of neither your condescension toward me, nor your seeming insistence that I am withholding information from you and acting in a manner that is deliberately impeding the outcome of this mission, and thus demand you cease and desist from this immediately. My patience is already wearing thin in these accursed Spires and their asinine, highly impractical, arbitrary society, nevermind the ever-so-convenient restrictions upon armaments that is placed upon us, that I do not need to tolerate being interrogated by someone who appears to have done nothing thus far in this mission.'

With that, he threw the data-key towards Masha. She seemed to be interested enough in it, she might as well be the one to receive it.

[Capntastic]

Mik inhaled sharply, with a tinge of raspiness. "Tap tap tap tap... So what're we up against next? So long as it ain't more buckshot, I ought'a be fine."

[Jak Snide]

Crisis didn't wait for Masha to finish his statement before tossing the data-key. It took her by surprise, striking her squarely in the chest before dropping to the floor. Her gaze drifted upwards, fixing themselves on Crisis for a second, before returning to the data-slate to finish scanning what was written there. A second later she calm set it aside and took a single step towards the assassin.

"Do you think me some interloper, intruding on this operation? Let me explain, very carefully, what our purpose here is. This is an investigation, one undertook with the authority of Inquisitor Skane, and thus to be considered a task commanded of us by the Emperor himself. My purpose here is to provide expert information, analyze collected intelligence and ensure that both Acolytes Octus and Rastin are able to make informed decisions. Your role is to strike down heretics when commanded. Your duty is ever so simple, yet you do not seem to be satisfied with it. Your "speak" beyond your station, offer nothing but complaints about the task before you and have now decided that you are the authority on what may or may not be relevant to our investigation. My patience is wearing thin, Crisis, so seat yourself, switch off that data-slate and behave in a manner befitting your purpose before I decide that you have forgotten your God-given duty."

[Capntastic]

Mik exhaled, wheezing.

"Yeah, just imagine if he could talk, right? He's been...."

Mik thought better than to escalate the situation, and changed his tone to a lighter one.

"He's been needin' somethin' like what they just gave me. Whoo. Make him more approachable."

He flashed his broken smile, hoping he'd defused the situation a notch.

[Besyanteo]

Gunner gave Crisis a tired, aggravated look. His feelings fell somewhere between disbelief and a sense of inevitability. His face softened, and he turned to look at the case. With all the back and forth, it hadn't actually been opened yet. It was time to fix that. He took the key, opened the case, and examined the contents. A sophisticated data-slate holding lists of names with a variety of numbers attached to them. The latter Gunner recognizes thanks to his dealings with the Goldenhand; they appear to be banker's codes for that very banking guild, though none of them have any listings that would indicate them as such. That was all that was plainly visible within. He explains what he's seeing as he sees it, for the benefit of those not close enough to look or, in Mik's case, those incapable of reading information for themselves.

He rubbed his chin. This couldn't be everything; They would have wrung Orday's neck for lying to them. ... Of course, that was all that it was displaying right now.

"Masha, see what you can do with this please. I wouldn't be surprised to learn that this holds the data Orday was promising us, or that the data key you're holding is somehow involved in retrieving it."

[Jak Snide]

Gunner's decision to inspect the case drew Masha way from Crisis, leaving him stewing in his own thoughts. It even managed to raise Brother Gear from his seat, an act that seemed to take no small deal of effort on his part.

"These are, as you said, bank account details" the white haired woman announced, having seated herself to operate the data-slate with her one good hand. "None of these names mean anything to me as of yet, but given the efforts made to prevent our retrieval of this information I suspect that we are now in possession of a list of accounts that the Joyous Choir would rather keep secret. Alternatively this may be nothing more than dummy data designed to conceal something else. Orday no doubt believed them to be the former, thus the price he named. He was, after all, a fellow client of the Goldenhand Banking Guild." She held up the data-key Crisis had thrown at her. "I believe it was via them that Lord Strophes paid the man. But I digress. Brother Gear, examine the contents of the slate, if you will."

The priest shuffled over, touching the hybridised icon hung about his neck before gingerly picking up the slate. A few minutes of gentle tapping and the occasional curse passed before he spoke up.

"There's something there here alright," he said nervously, "something buried deep. The signs are there. But Emperor forgive me, I can't find it." He was sweating now, as if the act of sifting through data was a physical strain for him.

"I was under the impression that your primary task was to perform all technological tasks." Masha replied coldly.

Cryvus:

Spoiler:

You can place his behaviour now. You damn yourself for a fool for not seeing it sooner. You've seen something like this before, well over a decade ago and at a posting far removed from anything involving Inquisitorial service. A colleague of sorts, the man entrusted with executing you should you ever become compromised, had become physically dependant on concoction or another. Convincing your superiors that he was unfit for duty was quite a task, given your relation. Regardless of all that, the signs are similar. Unless you are mistaken then Brother Gear is addicted to something, and it doesn't take a great stretch of the imagination to figure out what that something is.

[Kelne]

Cryvus's frown had only deepened over the course of the course of the conversation. Part of that was down to Crisis's obstructionist behaviour. Honestly, it seemed to him that the man was intent on destroying himself on occasion. That kind of arrogance, indulged overly long, would lead to alienation and outright enmity among one's fellows. They were going to have to sit him down and have a nice long talk at some point.

However, it was upon Brother Gear that his attention had been focused ever since noting that telltale trembling of his limbs. Concern vied with anger as the truth became apparent. Yet this was not quite the same situation as Warden Locan's. Or at least, Cryvus sincerely hoped not.

"Give it here, Gear," he said, extending a hand, "You're not fit for duty now, and you ought to know it. I would like to believe that this is an isolated reaction to that foul concoction, but this is ongoing, isn't it?" At least now he knew the reason why the man was at greater risk than the others. Addiction was an ugly thing, and would destroy a man slowly and thoroughly as few other things would.

[Jak Snide]

Brother Gear handed over the slate reluctantly, restrained misery written all over his face. That changed the moment he levelled an accusation of an ongoing reaction at the man. His face turned as red as the robes he wore and he was gripped be a fresh bout of shakes, brought on by fury rather than withdrawal.

"How dare you!" he bellowed, making full use of his orator's voice "I'm not some junkie stumbling from one dose of 'scura to the next! I am in control of myself, but those damn heretics have put the warp in me, the warp in us all, and it's doing something evil to me! It pains me, sweet Emperor, but I can't resist it. The mind refuses, but the body demands more." His voice had dropped to an earnest whisper now, either out of shame or the realisation that he'd most likely been overheard by one of the Strophes' servants.

Cryvus, Gunner:

Spoiler:

Brother Gear is either a very, very convincing liar, entirely deluded and in denial about a long-term addiction or, most worryingly, these withdrawal symptoms are the result of a but one dose of the drug some of the others imbibed last night.

It hadn't taken long for Cryvus to discover the hidden files on the slate. He was a astonished that Gear, a man who had been at least partially initiated in the Priesthood of Mars, had managed to miss them. They were encrypted, of course, but he could already see patterns woven through the raw data. With any luck it'd take him just a few minutes to crack the cipher.

Cryvus:

Spoiler:

An excellent Tech-Use test followed by a Logic test has discovered the hidden files and cracked the encryption on them. What you have discovered is significant enough to be relayed via PM.

[ChristianC]

Mithras had taken a step back as the conversation turned sour, he hadn't intended to try to force Crisis to do something, but suddenly there was an open confrontation between the silent killer and sister Masha, and he felt like he'd taken a plunge in too deep water. He receded back into his chair and watched and listened, his growing suspicions of brother Gear likewise being strengthened as the priest had a sudden and unexplainable outburst of anger.

What in the name of the Emperor was happening to their group? The distraction presented by Gunner was quite welcome, and he moved up to inspect the inside of the case, rubbing his chin. "Can you figure out what it is?"