We left Vaarak’s Cell engaging the town of Recompense in combat, a development of pursuing the rogue psyker Talus to the last. The acolytes dispatched their prey, laudabo imperatore, though were subsequently compelled to surrender to Recompense’s guardians.

From their cell, they convinced the concussed & deflagrated Viceroy of their righteous intentions, despite their unfettered wounding & killing of civilians.

Freed & empowered by the Viceroy of the Harvest, the inquest’s focus moved to Harvest-Prelate Manus Barahona, whom the Inquisition’s soldiers suspected of warpish malfeasance. The search didn’t last long, finding the top Ecclesiarchy official in his own bed with his throat cut. Trantor discovered where something might have been hidden in the back of a dresser.

They questioned Everlast Kathrinka’s four main counselors in the Infirmary: Klavius Ehinger, Quina Allanson, Rachell Mortz & Angelika Pemelton.

The Cell then canvassed the living quarters of the Living Saints, animas damnari. They found a key in Corus’ room & found that something had been burned in the trash can of Talus’ room.

[Trantor Severus: Trantor and Intios kill a few Strictionists running toward the building they are on the roof of, then descend the ladder and run toward the rest of the acolytes. Arion parleys with some Sworn Protectors while Odessa deals the death blow to Talus, confirming his identity, and comes under attack from a shotgun wielding Strictionist while obeying a Sworn Protector’s orders to fall. She is wounded, then suddenly all the Sworn Protectors and Strictionists near her suffer serious wounds from an invisible blade, she scrambles to her feet and takes cover, miraculously uncut.

Once the group is reunited we surrender to the authorities and the Viceroy comes to visit us in the Strictionist building. He tells us that the Overseer suspects the Ecclesiarchy of reducing the efficiency of the crop growing. We believe that the Harvester-Prelate is a psyker. Between these two circumstances, we need to bring her in. The Viceroy informs the civil and military authorities that we’re working for him, and should be cooperated with, and we’re released and our belongings returned. We’re provided with a Strictionist patrolman named Letscher as a liason. I return to the scene of the attack (4th floor) to recover my staff.

The Overseer tells us that the crop yield is not what it could be. Blames the Ecclesiarchy for planting at the wrong times, and that the lack of efficiency has been increasing, with the result that there are increasing hunger in the fields. Doesn’t suspect that crops have been stolen. They don’t use machines for harvesting because they are not working.

We go to the Harvester-Prelate’s home and find him dead from a cut throat about 2 days. We search his home and the food storage/preparation areas, find a place on the back of his dresser where something 10×12″ had been suspended, and a list of foodstuffs and the names of the Prelate, 5 living saints, 2 of Everlast’s councilors, and two other councilors. The recovered murder weapon has the planetary Ecclesiarchy symbol on it. All 4 councilors are staying at the Governor’s palace, so we go there. The girl councilors tell us that they sometimes order from the Ecclesiarchy’s kitchen, but not recently.

We take those 2 and go to the infirmary where we find the other 2 councilors. We talk with the 4 of them, and are told that the Harvester-Prelate seemed to let Talus take control over the past 4 years. Samtoll arrived on the scene rather suddenly a few years ago and seemed extraordinary competent — last seen 2 days ago in the Governor’s area, keeps very much to himself.

Ignus: she is an angel who protects or burns the the crops of the rural farms according to legend. Most recent word has been a couple of months, eldest report is 5-10 years ago. Holy visage of the country folk.

We are radioed that a ship from Inquisitor Nazauth Karalla has arrived in orbit and the Inquisitor is coming to the surface, he’ll be here in an hour.

We go back to the Living Saints lair and find that each photo is signed by the Living Saint depicted, as well as a door key inscribed “HPMB” (Harvest Prelate) (Corus’s room). In one trash can we find a book with the spine name “HPMB” (Talus’ room).
Everything else is the same as how we left it, including the Living Saint’s body at the bottom of the ladder.]

[Intios: From our rooftop vantage point, we can see a small group of Planetary Defense Force soldiers coming towards the town square. At the same time, there are still four Strictionists coming toward us on the rooftop of the Overseer’s office. Both Trantor and I take shots at the Strictionist carrying the long arm weapon. Trantor hits with multiple shots while the other three were able to reach and enter the building.

I reload both my las weapons and decide to go down the ladder to ground level. Odessa and Arion are beginning to be surrounded by Strictionists and PDF members. As I make the long run behind the buildings towards to town square, I can hear Odessa invoking her warp powers once again. There are muffled screams, which Odessa later described as invisible tendrils reaching out and slashing at everyone within a fifteen meter radius. Apparently it was warp powers gone awry again.

When I reach the corner of the town square, Arion is speaking with a Sergeant Makulik of the Sworn Protectors. The Sergeant is asking the entire cell to show ourselves or else he will open fire. While it was against my judgment for Inquisition members to surrender to local forces, being surrounded and outnumbered meant no other choice but listen to the Sergeant’s commands.

We all surrender and are taken to the Strictionist’s precinct. We are initially interrogated by Lt. Furian Haddaway of the Strictionists. We ask to speak to Viceroy Kathrinka in person. One of the Viceroy’s councilors meets us and tells us that the Viceroy needed to stop by the infirmary before meeting us. Upon the Viceroy’s arrival, he did not seem too worse for wear considering he was put on fire by a rogue psyker just hours ago. The Viceroy believes our evidence of rogue psykers and allows us to be released and continue our investigation.

We are assigned a Strictionist officer Geta Letscher to act as our guide through Recompense. We first speak with Overseer Drachenstein. The Overseer tells us she is wary of the tithe yield and that Sodality has machines that could help with the harvests but none are operational because they lack the technology to repair them. Her suspicions do not shine a good light on the Ecclesiarchy of this planet.

Our next stop is to check in with the Harvester-Prelate Barahona. We discover him dead in his quarters with his throat cut. The body seems to be 2 days old. We do a thorough search of his room and discover a hook behind one of the dressers which used to hold something. Next to Barahona’s quarters is the kitchen used by the living saints. In the kitchen, we find the names of the living saints on a menu but also a few more names of councilors to both the Governor and Viceroy.

We go to the Governor’s office to meet with Mortz and Pemelton, who were the new names on the menu. Between the councilors in the Governor’s office and the infirmary, there did not seem to be any new leads. At this time, we get a call from our transport in orbit telling us that Inquisitor Nazauth Karkalla has arrived in system and will be in Recompense within an hour.

We returned to the Living Saints’ quarters to search for further clues. We found a key with “HPMB” inscribed as well a burned book with the same initials inscribed. Could these have been used by the rogue psykers against the Harvester-Prelate?

Our last lead to follow-up on was regarding the local legend of Ignis. We may have to return to the frontier regions to get more information. The immediate decision we need to make is whether to stay for the Inquisitor Karkalla’s arrival or continue with our investigation.]