The Emperor’s plain clothes soldiers were on an Imperial ship orbiting Iocanthos. Scalprum Mazion, knowing the Cell had some new members & not having a lot of history with any, decided a bit of orientation was in order. He gave them a very brief overview of the Inquisition, what its purpose was & what their Inquisitor expected. Finally, he warned them that whatever their prior thinking – the Imperium was far more complicated & the threats to it far more dire than they were aware.

After the Acolytes rummaged through the ship’s supply locker, they were dispatched to the AgriWorld Hesiod’s Wake on the Trailing Frontier of the Calixis Sector aboard the Imperial Navy troop transport The Emperor’s Light. Intel indicated that the broken tarot card containing xeno circuitry that had been found in Stern Hope’s blood-soaked Cathedral had likely originated from there, of all places. Moreover, a routine inquiry with the Administratum had found that Hesiod’s Wake had somehow dropped off the Imperial grid – there was no record of any Imperial ship going there for over twenty years.

The Cell chose to go in under the cover of a joint Administratum & Mechanicus investigation regarding the loss of contact. The Acolytes met the world’s various leaders & pressed their investigation.

After agreeing to join the Planetary Governor “Bountiful Lord” Everlast Kathrinka for dinner later that evening, they chose to get a look at the Temple in the meantime. There was a service in-progress so they determined to get a look at whatever lay on the other side of a door near the Temple entrance. They gained access & came upon some living quarters…as well as a couple of inhabitants, whom they’re questioning now….

[Intios: Our entire team finally made it out of Port Suffering with Kosloff alive. We presented our findings to our prime, Scalprum Mazion, who debriefed us by saying that the daemon was on a path to return to Port Suffering. Two tech priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus then stepped in and showed us what looked like one of Aristarchus’s tarot cards. The odd thing was the tarot card had circuitry which they described as Xeno-tech. Apparently Esha Raine survived the incident at Stern Hope and went back to look for survivors after the daemon left. It was Raine, The Death Singer, who found this tarot card.

In the course of our debriefing, it was revealed to us that Aristarchus was a long descendant of St. Drusus. An investigation showed Prelate Skae had a meeting with a stranger from a different sector and received the xeno tarot cards. These cards were eventually given to Aristarchus. The origin of the xeno cards was linked back to the agri-world of Hesiod’s Wake. Hesiod’s Wake was colonized 4 centuries ago and until recent decades, was consistent in providing their imperial tithe.

While Administratum records show no ships travelling to Hesiod’s Wake in 20 years, there are records of high ranking Imperial officers at that time. Harvester-Prelate Felissimo was the highest ranking Imperial officer. Ti-lad, of the Adeptus Mechanicus, was shown to be on planet up to 25 years ago. Gtol Sorath was their Astropath psyker but there are no records of him for over 20 years.

Our mission is now made clear. Find clues to the origin of the xeno tarot cards and why Hesiod’s Wake has lost contact with the Imperium. Discovering the fates of the high ranking imperial officers may shed light on the loss of contact.

We boarded the ship, The Emperor’s Light, in order to make the warp trek to Hesiod’s Wake. Captain Jerak has given us the use of one of their light transports in order to land near the main city of Recompense. On our descent towards Recompense, we can see what looked like Imperial symbols in the crop formations. Upon landing, we helped breakup a confrontation between farmers and possible bandits trying to steal the recently harvested grain. The farmers were grateful for our intervention and first aid. In return, they offered to give us a ride to Recompense.

On our arrival into Recompense, we met with Governor Everlast “Bountiful Lord” Kathrinka and his brother, Viceroy Marteen Kathrinka. The Kathrinkas seem to have ruled the planet since initial colonization. The other leaders are Manus Barahona, the current Harvester-Prelate and Overseer Evaine Drackenstein, who heads the Agriharvest Sodality.

It seems the Governor has the use of his private guard as well as the Strictionists, who are in charge of enforcing the Imperial tithe. The Overseer heads the Sodality, who handles growing and harvesting of crops. The Harvester-Prelate heads what seems to be the Administratum branch of the planet. Now that we know who the major players are, we need to begin our investigation. How could a planet with such a vital Imperial tithe disappear from records?]