The Emperor’s Acolytes believed themselves to be in a largely unused filing area of a Strictionist Precinct in the capital city of Recompense on the frontier agri-planet Hesiod’s Wake.

They were at a door that seemed to lead to the populated area of the office but they failed to defeat the lock & decided not to try to force the door. There was the sound of alarmed voices some distance behind it & they overheard, what sounded like, that Governor Everlast had been attacked. Odessa banged on the door & Trantor made the sound of an alarm to get someone’s attention. Someone indeed came but in the chaos of the apparent assault on the planetary governor their disturbance was ignored & seemed to be forgotten.

The Cell laid an ambush for their betes noires in the filing room at the top of the stairs but their adversaries didn’t arrive. However, they found their foes with some Strictionist officers in the underground hallways and were able to quickly dispatch both a Strictionist & one of the wyrds they were looking for.

The way back up to the Ecclesiarchy living quarters was blocked & defended – so they withdrew back to the Strictionist filing room. From overheard conversations they suspected that they themselves were the target of a manhunt.

Trantor found a ventilation duct in the filing room that he could fit into and through it gained access to another Stictionist backroom containing desks & some cots. He found a small very dusty filing room beyond that. Then went through a window and found a shed with water damaged files. Intios& Odessa joined him there.

Given the dusty state of the smaller filing room, they figured they would be undiscovered there for the time being & set about over the next few hours trying to uncover answers in the files they were surrounded by. Their trained sleuthing revealed quite a bit of what’d been happening on Hesiod’s Wake in the last twenty years.

Arion couldn’t fit in the ventilation duct so they set about figuring a way for him to escape. Intios donned a Strictionist uniform they’d found near the cots & exited the shed into an alley. He checked the temple & living quarters area as a possible getaway route for Arion – but he found Strictionist officers & Talus himself.

[Trantor Severus: There was static in the universe as the rulez were in flux, then the Omnissiah! took control and the universe steadied.

We continued to explore the unoccupied section of the Strictionist’s office then approached the lit office which had sounds of occupancy behind it. The sounds changed to concern and alarm, something about a murder. Meanwhile I overheard motion behind the door we’d come in through (behind the file cabinets), and Odessa and Arion went to hold the doors. I and Intios attempted to reach the Strictionists in the lit office but they were preoccupied by reports of an attack on the ruling Kathrinka family, and were fully occupied. We blocked the Strictionist door with filing cabinets and headed back to combat the psykers. Setting a strategic killing ground, this unit used my auger array to scan the platform and stairs, finding nothing. Arion stealthed poorly to the platform, this unit moved to the door and scanned the bottom of the stairs, detecting nothing. Arion moves the table to the top of the stairs for cover and turns on the lamp, I scan again, and detect nothing to the corner of the hallway.

I enter the cell room to find that it’s also clear. Odessa has been suffering from headaches but they suddenly seem worse. She examines the doorjambs and discovers some psychic-damping glyphs. While the others worry about an attack, I attempt to bring the machine spirits back to life with my luminen capacitor but the power is of a different sort and my power is not accepted. Odessa claims that the machine presents a hazard, and I am unable to confirm or deny this, and have some concerns of my own that the machine may be used (or designed) for blasphemous purposes. I remove the 26/62 important fizzik circut and add it to my tool kit, then scan the hallway on the other side of the door to reveal a humanoid standing in the dark hallway with slightly back-lit by the trap door behind him. I take 1 burst with the autogun and storm ammo . . . and drop him. Another heretic peaks around the corner and Odessa tried to set him on fire but the attempt fizzles, and the head pops back around the corner. I hold my action expectantly, and when a head pops out near the ground, I heroically use all actions to call a shot on the eye, shoot, and miss. The higher head pops back around the corner, and Odessa tries to burn the lower eye’s owner — she seems to succeed but Intios is suddenly subjected to some sort of ice attack. More firing, more misses, and I realize that the dead figure is wearing a uniform, probably a Strictionist, and the others are not using psychic powers against us. Arion moves down the corridor and confirms that the body is a Strictionist, and more light is coming down the ladder as additional Strictionists come down.

Intios demands that the Strictionists cease fire, but a familiar voice claims we are heathens. I reply “we are servants of the Omnissiah! eat hot lead” and shoot the upper eye with two bursts of Storm. The owner cries out and falls behind the corner.

We press the attack, I reload with standard ammunition and charge the attackers. Arion pursues a figure in robes climbing the ladder and stabs him doing huge damage, but the priest continues to scream and live. I round the corner and fire, but my shots strike the wall. As I run up to the ladder melee combat I see a Strictionist above preparing to shoot Arion with a handgun, and fire at him. I miss, and he returns fire at me, missing as well. Intios takes a shot at the same guy, I take a shot as well. The Living Saint on the ladder falls, living saint no more. The Strictionist upstairs slams the trap door closed. Being very slow, I head back to the Strictionist office while the rest of the group loots the body. Then they discuss plans and decide to press the attack through the trap door. Odessa says she detects warp poison above and the decision is made to pursue the witches. I head back and take a position around the corner (as grenades have been discussed) with my optical dendrite extended toward the machine room. Odessa becomes enveloped in flame and tries to open the trap door but it’s locked. She drops the scary flames and takes the key and swipes it. It clicks but she’s still unable to open it. She descends and she and Intios shoot at the door, which does seem to damage it. A hole is made, a shotgun comes through the hole from above and shoots, missing us all. We enter into discussion with Sanctionist Egan Dunfor who declares that we are guilty of attacking the governor as well as killing priests and Sanctionists. I’m convinced that this effort is not in the Emperor’s best interest and head back to the Strictionist building. The others overtake me before we get to the Sanctionist office.
We’re blocked again with no way past the Sanctionist office. In the bathroom I find a vent, remove the wicker grate, keeping the 2 half-used candles, then wriggle through the vents to a dark room with desks, cabinets and some cots. I cut through the grate and drop down. I take a Strictionist uniform. There are two doors out, one leads to the occupied office, the other to an unused, dusty file room with a window. I figure out the filing system but find no files related to Teliad, Gtol, or Fellisimo. Intios joins me and also searches, but finds no files either. I defeat the window security and pass through it, with Intios, into a dank shed of files and mildew. Using one candle’s light, I unscrew the lower hinge, loosen the top hinge, and discuss strategy with the Acolytes. Our best plan is to circle around to the Church and see what the situation outside the priest’s quarters is like.

About this time, Odessa and Arion hear that the voices in the Strictionist office have quieted except one, and it seems that the Viceroy is giving a speech about his brother and he seems angry. We decide to search the rooms while considering things and hope to get 3 hours of searching done. As a seeker, I use my last fate point to invoke the blessings of the Omnissiah! and find no information about any ships coming to Hesiod’s Wake. Find information about the Kathrinkas, but we already knew it all. Everlast has been in power for quite some years and is obsessed with keeping the tithe, and left most of the other duties to his brother the Viceroy, and his wife is strong-willed and doesn’t have a lot of confidence in the governor, but she suddenly took ill some years ago and is bed-ridden. Find that Gtol died suddenly of an illness which might have been similar to what’s wrong with the governor’s wife. Find a private report which seems to be Gtol’s hand, that he has concerns about the new harvest prelate, his age and the circumstances of his ascension after the death of Felissimo. Gtol’s office is near the entrance way to the psyker cells, he wore multiple hats though his main function was telepathic communication, but also detected emerging psykers and had security apparatus to hold them for the black ships, but his office had been transitioned into file storage since no new astropath had been found. Complimentary and respectful attitude in reports about Felissimo, and the file on Telad is empty. In the deepest place we find a misfiled file that claims concerns around the psyker cells stopping functioning, and there’s no astropath, and the authoring Strictionist is very concerned — it’s dated within 2 years of the death of Gtol, and laments that the psykers have escaped — almost feels like a journal, he doesn’t know what to do, but dearly hopes that the astropath will be replaced soon, and hopes that the Emperor will help hold back the forces of the warp. Find files on notable people like on the living saints, they suddenly came to power, loved by the people, Harvest Prelate loves them. Everlast has a couple of councilors whom he relies on, Klavious Enhinjer and Quiana Allanson. A file on Viceroy’s councilor Jaleb Samtoll, he’s powerful, has Felissimo’s ability of being extremely on it — no matter the subject seems to know what’s up. Another file talks about the Harvest Prelate and the governor’s family having an unidentified metal object, prayer foci, odd because the lead investigators think they don’t belong here. Governor Everlast’s symbol of authority is a large medallion which was made from part of a melted-down landing pod foot from first contact. I record all these files to my memory.

Intios dresses in the Strictionist uniform and leaves his stuff behind except his laser pistol which he wraps in a spare shirt and carries in his hands, while Odessa and I stay in the shed and Arion stays back in the former astropath’s quarters. Intios approaches the dumpster and hears something bumping inside, but safely makes it past both the dumpster and the dangerous tarp. He successfully makes it back to the front of the church and finds that Talus is there, and a lot of cops. We discuss diversionary tactics, then end for the night. Please send more Sacred Ungents.]

[Intios: After fighting off what turned out to be a combination of Strictionists and Living Saints along the hidden corridor underneath the trap door, our team decided it was not advantageous for us to continue up the ladder we initially came through.

We discovered that the office at the other end of the Cell room belonged to the previous psyker astropath Gtol. We found a vent in the ceiling of the bathroom, which three of us were able to crawl through into other parts of this office complex. Odessa, Trantor and I eventually all crawl through the duct to drop into another filing office. As we formulate a plan to try to get Arion to join us, Trantor is pouring through the records in the office. We were able to find writing from Eigen Dunfour, the head of the Strictionists at the time of Gtol’s death. There was quite a bit of information regarding the astropath Gtol, but not much regarding the tech-priest Ti-lad.

In the adjoining room next to the filing room, we find a shed that has a window to the outside. We find a Strictionist uniform and it is decided that I go out in disguise to scout the general vicinity. Although I strap on the standard issue stub revolver, I will not part with my Las Pistol, so I wrap my pistol underneath some clothing. The window out of the shed lead to a back alley of the office complex we were in. I walk to the front of the building and confirm that indeed, this is the main Strictionists headquarters. I walk further toward the church we initially entered and discovered that Talus was in the courtyard and directing some sort of search. Apparently the Governor was attacked this evening. If the fire fight underneath the trap door is any indication, we may be the targets of their manhunt.

Now we need to devise a plan to get Arion out of the back office and past the Strictionists. Do we setup a diversion or do we blast our way out?]