Having scoured the memory banks of the In Purgatio Lumen, Explorator Artifex Felicis has uncovered some location that could start to complete Jequin Hos’ mad dream of cementing his standing as his dynasty’s latest warrant holder. A salvation beacon from The Emperor’s Bounty, long since lost in the Angevin Crusade has been discovered residing inside the Lumen’s ancient cogitator, and this mythical treasure ship would be the foundation upon which to build his ambition. First though, a Writ of Salvage must be procured from Port Wander, the last bastion of Imperial Society before the lawless Koronus Expanse is entered.

Transiting into system in their war honoured ship, the Explorers quickly found themselves unsure of the actual protocol needed for acquiring the Writ of Salvage. Although one could be legally purchased from the Battlefleet Calixis representative, or the endless bureacuracy of the Administratum, these methods would be time consuming and expensive. The current leader of Port Wander, Commander Larius Sans, was viewed as an unknown quantity, with his family’s past history staining his honour. With his lack of proven qualifications, and only a nominal Imperial presence on the stations, options were explored.

Arch-Militant Zacharya Caine pulled in his contacts gained from his experiences as a bounty hunter and learned of a name that might be able to provide the Explorers what they needed – Karsus Har. A one-time officer of a Rogue Trader, he was abandoned in a failed raid and the only survivor of his boarding party. He now serves the Ventan Iron Hounds, a press-gang group selling soldiers to Rogue Traders and other interested parties in the Port, as well as rumoured to possess other less reputable forms of information.

Rogue Trader Jequin Hos visited the Voidfarer’s Rest, a bar popular with the Imperial Navy, and through a concrete strategy of name-dropping and heavy drinking quickly established himself as a fellow voidsoul to the crew there, improving his reputation and establishing a few contacts among the Battlefleet Calixis personnel there.

Explorator Felicis visited the local Mechanicus shrine, and after a perfunctory introduction to Magos Toronos, attempted to compare what he knew of the Emperor’s Bounty to the existing Mechanicus records on the region, as well as to identify any other possible rumours to follow up on during this voyage. Perhaps fortunately, he did not meet with success in this endeavour…

Navigator Maturinus Pazzano and Astropath Zacharya Caine joined the Arch-Militant outside of the Iron Hounds office to meet with Karsus Har. Reluctant to reveal any specific information, they attempted to steer the conversation towards how a Writ of Salvage might be acquired through his contacts. Lasting about six seconds into this conversation, Astropath Caine soon hit upon the more direct option of raiding Har’s mind for the information sought. An extraordinarily successful plan, the Astropath’s mind was soon filled with the knowledge of Har’s contacts on the station, as well as several key figures in Port Wander’s central authority who Har was blackmailing to do his dirty work. The infiltration had even spread to corrupting the machine spirits inside the Mechanicus Shrine, although the full extent of this compromise was not revealed to the Astropath’s untrained mind. Excusing themselves from the conversation, ostensbily to bring back their Rogue Trader who could seal the deal, the Explorers retired from the night to ponder their options.

Rogue Trader Hos soon hit upon the ideal solution. Rather than exposing their plans to an unknown quantity, he would trust in the Battlefleet through proper channels and use the gleaned information to bring down what they could of Har’s operation. Revealing the names of the compromised personnel inside of Port Wander, Commander Sans requested that the Explorers follow through with the acquisition of the bogus warrant, and then when or if the personnel inside of the Port made their move, the Battlefleet would be able to expose the conspiracy.

A highly successful negotiation with Har later and the plan appeared to go off without a hitch. Within a few days, the Explorers were summoned back to Commander Sans’ office and presented with a Writ of Salvage for The Emperor’s Bounty. The Commander was so thrilled with the result and professionalism of the Explorers that their down payment was even compensated by the Battlefleet, and with his fulsome thanks they now had everything they needed to enter the Koronus Expanse and search for the derelict vessel.

Following the dismantling of Karsus Har’s network of informants, the Explorers set out for The Koronus Expanse and the hidden prize of The Emperor’s Bounty rumoured to lurk therein. Before departing, the Lord-Captain Hos made a decision to supply as much foodstuff as possible on his ship to better bargain once he arrived inside of the Expanse. Meeting up with a local trader, Erasmus Boldt, he acquired a supply of grain from Humboldt at rock-bottom prices, pledging to sell it in Footfall on the other side of the Expanse.

Entering the Warp, Navigator Pazzano quickly deciphered the basic Warp route information he had been given and reached The Hermitage in what felt like a matter of minutes. There they made contact with Confessor Animus Todd and Carmine Carotento, the apparent leaders of respectively the Cult of the Divine Flame and the Ministers of Pure Benediction, two rival Ministorum factions in The Hermitage. Having pledged to remain neutral in this conflict, the Rogue Trader appointed Navigator Pazzano and Arch-Militant Zacharya Caine to deal with Todd, and Explorator Artifex Felicis and Astropath Eckhart to deal wth Carotento.

The Ministers of Pure Benedictions seemed initially open to the idea of blessing the crew and providing a staging point for operations, but they were quickly revealed to only agree to this plan so long as the Explorers agreed to take a half-dozen of their preachers with them on their journeys into the Expanse. Despite having no concrete evidence to reject this proposal, the soft-spoken Cleric was viewed with suspicion, and after some unconvincing excuses the Explorers returned to their ship.

The Cult of the Divine Flame were much less pleased to see a Navigator step foot on their station, but recognising House Pazanno as one of the Noble-Born houses they were prepared to tolerate their presence. Their request was simple: To prove themselves loyal members of the Imperium, they would head to The Battleground and recover a lost Transport that had been bringing members of The Cult into the Expanse to try and reclaim lost worlds. Navigator Crayne, a brow-beaten wreck of a young woman provided a more direct route that would not involve going to The Temple, and after a tense stand-off between the Confessor and Arch-Militant Caine, the Explorers returned to their ship with a new quest.

More excellent Navigation later and the Explorers found themselves in The Battleground quite close to the damaged Holy Promethium, whose engines and augur array appeared to have been damaged. Adrift in a graveyard of wrecked hulls, the Explorers were on approach until Void Mistress Nichols alerted them that lying in wait were two Chaos Raiders. Not one to refuse such a worthy target for the In Purgatio Lumen to claim as its first target, the Explorers quickly rallied the crew and unleashed a devastating volley from their Star-Flare Lance, completely obliterating one of the Chaos Raiders.

As the other Raider turned to flee its just vengeance, a Transport also emerged from the wreckage and very slowly attempted to escape. Crippling both vessels, the Explorers then closed in on the Transport after learning that the raiders may have captured some of the Pilgrims from the Holy Promethium. Crippling its engines, the Rogue Trader and Astropath personally led their troops to secure the Transport. Though the Rogue Trader was driven off, the Astropath stormed the bridge and led his troops in slaying the Chaos Champion, though heavily injured by the Champion’s axe that they eventually sanctified and safely removed.

Having rescued the Pilgrims and captured the Transport relatively intact, Explorator Felicis attempted to commune with the central cogitator to learn more about this vessel. Informing him that the transport was until recently in Imperial hands and that the bridge was the corrupting influence, the Explorers made some quick field repairs and divided the crew to transport the captured vessel back to Port Wander for an extensive retrofit. Saying their goodbyes to Void Mistress Cornelia Drake of the Holy Promethium, the Explorers set out for retrofitting.

Arriving at Port Wander more than less uneventfuly, they left the Transport in the hands of the Battlefleet and instructed Seneschal Leopold Phipps to do whatever is necessary to restore the ship. The Lord-Captain was also summoned to meet with Commander Larius Sans, who informed him that the body of Karsus Har had been found. He had been badly tortured, but his head had been left intact so there could be no mistake.

The new leader of the Ventan Iron Hounds on Port Wander was Dante Balthazar, who had delivered the body of Har that morning. Indicating that he was aware of the Explorers’ roles in Har’s downfall, the Lord-Captain decided to meet with Balthazar, and attempt to hire him as protection for their new Transport while it was being retrofitted. Seemingly caught off-step, Balthazar informed him that the Hounds was “restructuring”, but would have time to deal with the Explorers soon.

Armed with this knowledge, but unsure if it would be better to move against the Hounds or wait to get a better grip on the situation, they left Seneschal Phipps and a small contingent of their guards to deal with the retrofitting, and set out for Footfall. Arriving in no small part due to the excellent mapping skills of Navigator Pazanno, they had a rude introduction to the lawless port when some men posing as Imperial Officials attempted to extort a ludicrous docking fee, but only received a broken nose out of the deal.

Negotiating a respectable profit for their store of grain, the Explorers were encouraged by this possible new trade route, and proceeded back to his ship to fully explore the new Expanse and the treasures hidden within.

Having successfully completed the first step in their efforts towards Establishing a Grain Route, the Explorers found themselves with a little bit of free time in Footfall. Contacted by Vladyam Tocara, assistant to the Liege of Footfall, they found themselves invited to dinner that evening at Lieges Court. Not wanting to appear rude, the Lord-Captain Jequin Hos accepted the invitation, leaving his crew a few hours to spend at their leisure on Footfall.

Navigator Maturinus Pazzano and Arch-Militant Zacharya Caine both attempted to gain access to the Chapel of the Third Congregation to pay their respects to the Imperial Cult. Although Arch-Militant Caine was quite successful in applying a combination of shoving and threats to reach the central shrine to display his piety, Navigator Pazzano was not as successful. Nonetheless they all left feeling accomplished.

Navigator Pazzano left for Saul Shipping Services to fetch himself a rather fine quality new desk for his offices aboard the Cruiser, while Arch-Militant Caine continued his exploration of Footfall. Explorator Artifex Felicis first attempted to track down information on his long-time rival J0-N11 at the local Asteroid Skimming Track, but was informed he had made it big in the Scintillan leagues and had no plans to come out at this time. He then visited the Obsidian Emporium, successfully playing himself up as a large mover and shaker in the Adeptus Mechanicus and receiving an invite to the covetted auctions held there.

Arch-Militant Caine was no slouch himself in this department, gaining exploring Warpsbane Alley to listen to the word of the mad ramblers and try to divine some sense of the lay of the Koronus Expanse, and acquired several pieces of gossip. He then moved to Grant’s Bounty Office, where he learned of the current outstanding Imperial bounties that were present in the Expanse. Finding that most of them had to do with destroying the Chaos Reavers that had been threatening the area, he scrolled for information on the ship they had destroyed during the action at the Battleground. Shockingly, he found the bounty for the ship the Adventurers had destroyed had already been claimed by one Krawkin Feckward.

Outraged over this injustice, he stormed around the Bounty Office demanding answers, but was told the bounty claim was legitimate. Feckward had delivered the central cogitator of the destroyed Chaos vessel, which is proof of its destruction and therefore he is entitled to the bounty. Outraged, he swore to track down all information on Feckward so that this slight against his crew could be avenged.

These difficulties caused him to miss the dinner at the Liege’s Court. In attendence were Rogue Trader Hos, Explorator Felicis, Astropath Eckhart and Navigator Primarus Dionisio Pazzano. Navigator Maturinius was ordered to stay behind by the rotund senior Navigator, under claims that he could not properly represent the dignity of the situation. Dinner was held with Liege Tanthus Moross, The Provisio of the Tutors, Preacher Ywane and several local rogue traders: Lord Admiral Bastille VII, Abel Gerrit, Lady Sun Lee… and Krawkin Feckward himself.

Ignoring the man who cheated him of his bounty, Rogue Trader Hos attempted to strike up a conversation with the most likely ally among this group – Lord Admiral Bastille. Knowing a lot of his past naval victories, the Lord Captain was polite and complimentary towards his fellow Rogue Trader only to be rebuffed and scorned as a dilettante and pretender to the glorious history of the Imperial Navy. Bastille’s tone was so perfunctory and discourteous that a stir went up around the table, including a loud bark of laughter from Krawkin Feckward, who seemed to take delight in this flaunting of social norms.

Quickly pegging the man as a small-time bully and lacking any true wit or integrity, Astropath Eckhart seized control of the attention of the table by ingesting a Deep Warp Eel, a disgusting and heretical device known to provoke mutation and destruction in others. He proceeded to swallow it with an easy smile. With the rapt attention of the room, he commented on the “piquancy” of the dish, and basked in the appreciative applause at this feat. Explorator Felicis then asked, not so politely, if Rogue Trader Feckward had the same temerity to try this dish. Seeing no other way out, and failing to deflect attention to any other party, he was forced to save face by attempting to duplicate the Astropath’s accomplishment.

He was much less successful.

The eel forced itself up out of his throat, along with the contents of everything eaten so far, and possibly up to several days back. Rushed from the room by his attendants, he was ill the entire way out. Playing off of Feckward’s Failure, Rogue Trader Hos parlayed this into more favourable interactions with Lady Sun Lee and Abel Gerrit, potentially forging a strong alliance between the two powers. For their role in embarrassing Feckward, Eckhart and Felicis both were the new hot topic of Footfall, and garnered quite a few pieces of interesting gossip.

Zacharaya Caine meanwhile, unaware of the events at dinner, headed to the Renowned Blessing to track down more information on Krawkin Feckward. Entering this high-class gentleman’s club he immediately set about intimidating the bartender and demanding information. Upon realising through the judicious application of large bouncers threatening to have him thrown out that this might not be the best idea, he hit upon the much more effective idea of using his Rogue Trader’s money to buy everyone in the bar some booze. A lot of booze.

Once tongues were loosened and people stopped actively trying to get him to leave, he sought about for any of Feckward’s crew who might be in this bar. He did manage to locate some, and learned that quite a few of his crew were dissatisfied with his performance as Lord-Captain, but he failed to get any more information out of the crew. Unable to squeeze any more information out of this bar, and aware that he was on his last legs in terms of what they would put up with, he returned to the Lumen.

The day after the events at Footfall, when hangovers were dealt with and exorbitant bar tabs were paid, the Explorers set under way for the Magoros system and attempted to salvage the Emperor’s Bounty. Scanning Feckward’s ship, the Chains of Dusk, before they left learning that it was carrying far more people than the normal crew complement would indicate. Theorizing that he was either in the mercenary trade for Seldon’s Folly or could be into slaving. Either way they vowed to continue to monitor this scurrilous rogue.

Setting out towards the Magoros system, the Explorers went through the standard Aquairre route of going through Corpse-Fortune, False Hope.Passing through Rain and finally arriving in Magoros. Apart from a brief detour into the False Hope system where they received an astropathic message meant to tempt them into the nebula. Upon realising that this message was a fake, they proceeded to the Magoros system.

Composed of three planets encircled by a giant asteroid belt, the Magoros system has a dead star lurking in its center, with no signs of in-system life. The star blared out radiation that would regularly damage ship’s system. The combined teamwork of Explorator Felicis and Lieutenant Nichols isolated the cycles of the radiation and were able to insulate the systems.

Magoros Secundus was a jungle world buried under a layer of frost. Spotting ruins identified as the long-dead Egarian civilization, the planet was abandoned covered only in its mazes and odd crystal spires. Apart from detecting some damage in one of the ruins, they also noticed that the planet was reacting to the radiation spikes, sending a “beam” of energy towards Magoros Prime. Journeying to the dust-storm planet at the hart of the system, they discovered a similar structure of mazes and towers, but unlike the ice planet, this one had a unique reaction to the power being beamed from the ice world. One of the spires reacted oddly to the energy beamed from the distant world.

Reasoning that if this structure might be receiving power then survivors from the Emperor’s Bounty may have tried to flee there, the Explorers landed to investigate. Threading their way through the maze, they reached the central spire to notice the same indistinct crystal structure that had no working energy or parts. In the center of the crystal tower was a small dais that Rogue Trader Hos stood upon to examine. When the next power surge hit the planet from Magoros Secundus, the tower was transformed into a mixture of an observatory and a planetary record. It beamed thousands of years of knowledge into his head, showing the collapse of the Magoros system from a habitable paradise into the dead system it now was. When he thought about the Bounty, the observatory showed in the Bounty’s entrance into the system, and its subsequent refuge that it took inside of the asteroid belt.

Pinpointing its location, they set course for the Shard Halo on the outskirts of the Magoros system. The Bounty was right where Lord-Captain Hos said it would be, although extensively beaten by the millennia in the asteroid field. Astropath Eckhart seized upon the idea of clearing the field with the lance battery onboard the In Purgatio Lumen. A remarkably successful blast later, and a path was cleared for the ship’s guncutters. The Explorers along with the Death Bastards landed to secure the vessel, although clearly nothing could survive the two millennium since the ship was last active. Despite being heavily damaged by its time in the asteroid belt, life support, the bridge, cargo holds and Enginarium were all operational. Navigator Pazzano also discovered that the Gellar Field was operational, and periodically re-activating. Explorator Felicis and Astropath Eckhart secured the enginarium, while Captain Hos, Navigator Maturinus and Arch-Militant Caine took the bridge.

In the Enginarium, the team discovered Logs of the Emperor’s Bounty, indicating that the ship had been stranded there for some time, and the Captain had ordered the atmosphere vented to grant the crew an honourable death. Further logs also indicated that the captain somehow survived this purge, and had descended into madness. On the bridge, the crew had been suffocated and were strewn around. By the Captain’s Throne was the upright figure of the Captain, along with the body of the ship’s navigator. Approaching the Throne, Navigator Pazzano attempted to investigate that captain, only to discover he was surrounded by some sort of force field. Shooting it with his Hellpistol, the captain swung around and declared that the ship was his, and the bridge sealed itself as the long-dead crew started to wake…

Following the previous adventure, Navigator Maturinus was face-to-face with the former captain of the Emperor’s Bounty, who although appearing as dead and dessicated as his crew, he still possessed some wild spark of vitality with which he confronted the Explorers. A few potshots from Arch-Militant Caine failed to pierce whatever shield surrounded the command throne. The captain did nothing but rant and demand the Explorers leave his ship, and was generally unresponsive to external influence. At least until Jequin Hos pulled out his Writ of Salvage and proved that the Battlefleet had granted him control of the Bounty.

At which point with a mighty roar, Navigator Maturinus sensed warp energy leak from the command throne, and the formerly dead crew started to rise again. Their bodies were weak and infirm, and most blasts from the Death Bastards would drop them again, but somehow their injuries would repair themselves and they would just keep coming. Although the Explorers were not in danger in any individual sense, it quickly became apparent that the dead crew would just keep regenerating and wear them down through attrition. Jequin Hos and Arch-Militant Caine continued to pound at the shield, but were unable to penetrate it. It was only through describing it to Explorator Felicis that they realised somehow the ship’s Gellar Field had been routed around the Command Throne, trapping the captain inside. Whatever override was occurring was periodically fading though, allowing brief snippets of power to escape and reanimate the crew.

The husks that were attacking the Explorers were just starting to wear them down when Explorator Felicis and Astropath Eckhart arrived on the scene with a relief crew. Managing to get the door to the bridge open, the fresh soldiers stormed in, with Astropath Eckhart using his Force weapon to banish one of the puppets back to the warp. Furious, the captain managed to remove whatever shield was around him, and waded into single combat. The full force of his terrifying demonic presence overwhelmed most of the crew, leaving Rogue Trader Hos to face down the beast alone. The Captain was armed with naught but his fists, but surrounded with the baleful energies he proved formidable. However with some covering fire from Zacharya Caine and Astropath Eckhart arriving to pin down the captain, Captain Hos managed to slay the warp-infused Captain and claim the ship for his own.

Explorator Felicis managed to remove the power to the locks on the main cargo hold, and the Explorers were free to claim their treasure. And it was indeed a mighty treasure; the hold filled to the brim with loot plundered from the Bounty’s decades of conquest in the Koronus Expanse. After some debate, the Explorers decided to take as much as they could hold back to Footfall, sell what they could and hire someone trustworthy to come and salvage the ship itself. Unfortunately, a xenos vessel was detected in system by Josette Nichols, who quickly summoned the explorers back to the In Purgatio Lumen for combat.

Despite opening up as peaceful a diplomatic channel as any man in the Imperium can be capable of, the vessel immediately launched boarding torpedos and began an assault on the Explorers. Fortunately, some superb piloting and outstanding gunnery quickly brought the vessel to destruction. However a lone shuttle survived and managed to board the Lumen, and despite hopes of capturing a specimen for study, the invaders were found to possess a powerful suicide device that made such a thing impossible.

With the xenos ship destroyed and the Bounty somewhat secured, the Explorers returned to Footfall to begin selling their loot. However, Navigator Maturinus has noticed that Benetek’s Device appears to now be following him, although no one else has witnessed this…

Arriving at Footfall after their previous journey in the Magoros sector, the Explorers immediately set out to have their treasure from the Emperor’s Bounty appraised, as well as look into the identity of the mysterious Xenos vessel that had previously attacked them. Navigator Maturinus took the time for the journey in-system to consult with Astropath Breia Poe regarding the strange device recovered from the Emperor’s Bounty, as well as the conduct of both Astropath Eckhart and Navigator Dionisio. Both parties agreed that their respective charges had to be watched, and events have left them convinced that the Warp is not as friendly as it once was.

Once on Footfall, bargaining with the Obsidian Emporium, Jequin Hos and Explorator Felicis learned that they would be all too happy to sell this fabled treasure, and at prices that they would be unlikely to approach on their own, but that the collection would require the majority of the collection and only a scant few items would be left for the Explorers themselves. Deciding that this proposition was ultimately to their benefit, they tentatively accepted pending the delivery of the remaining treasure from the Bounty.

While debating their fortune and the optimal course of action, Arch-Militant Caine decided to track down more information on Krawkin Feckward. Reaching out to the Black Brotherhood, peddlers of information on underworld dealings on Footfall, the Arch-Militant, Explorator, Rogue Trader and Navigator Secundus set out for their stronghold on Footfall. The initial foray was initially stalled when the Black Brotherhood detected several prohibited devices on Navigator Maturinus. Further diplomatic failings resulted in all but Rogue Trader Hos and Scribe Barnard Kroon being expelled from the meeting.

Proceeding inside, they met with the closest thing that the Black Brotherhood has to a leader – Calcus Calinnicus. This vat-grown muscle headed brute proved himself to be a fierce, yet ultimately reasonable leader, after a brief exchange of Thrones bought what information was available on Krawkin Feckward. The man himself was an unknown quantity, having arrived in the Expanse shortly before the Strangling, and has made himself a large number of enemies in that time. Confirming Astropath Eckhart’s suspicions that Feckward engaged in slavery, they learned that Feckward has betrayed many people in his time in the Expanse, and that many parties gun for his death should he ever visit Footfall proper. Unable to gain any more information, Rogue Trader Hos attempted one final act of assertion with the Black Brotherhood, resulting in a heavy steel door nearly crushing him as they sealed the entrance.

Not willing to suffer further humiliation at the Black Brotherhood, Arch-Militant Caine proceeded to Warpsbane Alley to try and find information on the crystals recovered from Magoros. Despite confirming their unusual properties with light, no real progress was made. However Navigator Maturinus met the fallen Astropath Attar Soloket, who interpreted an odd dream that the Navigator had recently. The only thing that Maturinus learned is a cryptic statement saying that Jequin Hos is not one man, but three.

Following the Black Brotherhood excursion, Explorator Felicis decided to investigate the local Asteroid Hopping track, with the vague intention of making a bet on one of the races. Accompanied by his Rogue Trader who wanted to see what all the fuss was about, Felicis began inspecting vessels in the second heat to see if he could find a “good one”. Not really able to aid in this gambling, Rogue Trader Hos instead decided to swagger around and strike a mean pose. His swagger did not go unnoticed, as Hadarak Fel, holder of the Fel Warrant of Trade and ancient enemy of the Hos Dynasty noticed this swagger. engaging in a duel of charm with the young Captain Hos, he acquitted himself much better than the last person to try it, but still fell victim to the Lord-Captain’s wordplay and accepted a bet on the next asteroid race that his racer would lose to someone.

Inspecting some of the craft, Explorator Felicis came across a young pilot who had just had her Enginseer quit under unusual circumstances, heavily suspected to be bribery. Unwilling to resist, the Tech-Priest quickly wowed the pilot with his prior knowledge in this sport, and was hired as a replacement Engineseer for the upcoming race. Suspecting the possibility of sabotage, Arch-Militant Caine and personnel remained behind to guard the ship, along with a complement of ship troops. With no activity in the night, the next morning the RACE WAS ON! Except it would be on in the afternoon as it was the third race. None the less. IT WAS ON!

Leaving the Explorator to work on his vessel and get it up to running condition, Captain Hos visited the Bounty Office to see if the Xenos vessel he previously destroyed was a Rak’Gol Cruiser. Although there was no official bounty posted for that vessel, as few Rak’Gol ships are well-known enough for bounties to be put up. The information would have to be a reward in itself, and Captain Hos departed still having yet to claim a bounty for destroying a vessel. With nothing else to do before the race the next day, Captain Hos retired to attend the RACE WHAT WAS ON.

Before being on though, Navigator Maturinus decided he would not be in attendance and visited Hopko’s Firearms, to retrieve his staff from Kadin Hopko who had been upgrading the edge into a weapon worthy of a Navigator. The proprietor mentioned a possible business deal with the Hos Dynasty in the near future. He also visited House Dwemer, where he managed to turn his maps into licensed routes that others could plot against granting the Dynasty another boon to their struggling Profit Factor. The Dwemer representative also asked that if they would be returning to The Foundling Worlds soon if the crew could attempt to chart a route to Grace and report on the Warp Storm activity, as there were rumours that lost world would soon be accessible again. Feeling a great sense of accomplishment, he set out for the race track to fill the Rogue Trader in on the news.

Joining Dale in the Brave Zipper, Felicis was up against the Long Shot, the Calixis Fury, the Fel Dagger, the Crazed Missiler, and Lathimon’s Grace in this competition. Right out of the bat, the Long Shot leaped ahead attempting to out-race its competition to the finish, taking a number of pot-shots in the process, but basically holding together. The Fel Dagger however focused its fire on the Zipper, and in one mighty salvo nearly destroyed it. Approaching the first “asteroid”, the Long Shot again held onto its lead despite heavy damage. The Fel Dagger ignored the Zipper, choosing to focus on its turn… and disastrously overcompensated, resulting in it smashing head-on into the asteroid, destroying the vessel instantly. The Lathimon’s Grace, attempting to mimic its turn also was destroyed, and Hadarak Fel suddenly got very quiet. The Long Shot eventually fell to the combined fury of the surviving ships, followed shortly by the Calixis Fury. With only the trailing Crazed Missiler to worry about, Explorator Felicis put everything he had into coaxing one last burst of speed from the engines… and failed. As the missiles closed in, he believed himself to be lost, only for the slightest of miscalaculations resulting in the final salvo going wide. The Brave Zipper, and the Hos Dynasty representative in the race took the pot!

The next morning, nursing a hangover, Explorator Felicis waited on the ship whereas the rest of the Explorers visited Hopko’s Guns to learn more about the mission that the arms merchant had spoken of earlier. It seems that several weapons shipments to Seldon’s Folly had failed to arrive, and he wanted the Hos Dynasty to make the next shipment in their much more intimidating ship. Agreeing to think it over, on their return to the ship they found themselves ambushed by Kroot mercenaries, who tore into the Explorers both figuratively and literally. Using their wicked Xenos beak on Arch-Militant Caine, Rogue Trader Hos and Astropath Eckhart, the fighting was initially fierce. Things did not go as planned for the Avian Xenos, as the one attacking Rogue Trader Hos fell victim to the Captain’s power sword destroying its beak, and the one attacking the Astropath panicked when tasting “Tainted Meat”. Attempting to flee, Astropath Eckhart brought down the one that had injured him, while Rogue Trader Hos restrained the one he had mangled with the other two making it into the crowd. Interrogating the Xenos assassin, in exchange for a swift death to cope with the shame from defeat and losing of its beak, the mercenary revealed the man who had hired them. Krawkin Feckward.

Departing Footfall for Port Wander to check on the progress of the Abs Innocentina, as well as replenish their crew and minor damage taken during the skirmish with the Rak’Gol vessel. Lord Captain Jequin Hos first stopped in at The Hermitage to try and get his recovered power axe and golden power armour further sanctified by the Cult of the Divine Flame. Contacting Confessor Todd, the Explorers learned that their little deception in getting the Chaos Axe blessed had not gone unnoticed, and he demanded the destruction of the Axe of Mahr before any further negotiations could be conducted. Fortunately for the Explorers, Cleric Carotento of the Ministers of Pure Benediction was listening in on this conversation and offered to perform the conversion in exchange for continuing their discussion on joining the In Purgatio Lumen as onboard missionaries. Infuriated, Confessor Todd quit the channel, and Jequin Hos turned down Cleric Carotento with yet another stalling excuse, feeling that the calm, serene atmosphere projected by the Cleric could hold nothing good for the Explorers. Relying on Deacon Yauz to perform the blessing, they continued on to Port Wander.

At Port Wander, communication with Seneschal Leopold Phipps revealed that the recovered Transport has been successfully overhauled, and was awaiting relaunch by the Rogue Trader. Naming it the Abs Innocentina, all that was left to do was find a crew. The first thing that had to happen though, was Arch-Militant Caine was practically sprinting down to the medicae bay to get his new Augmetics installed. Placing him out of commission for at least a month while this was happening, his disciplinary measure and gentle cry of telling people to listen while slamming tables would be a void the crew could never really replace.

Lord-Captain Hos and Artifex Felicis also visited Magos Toronos to return two extremely rare Adeptus Mechanicus components recovered from Emperor’s Bounty – an Omnissiah Rod and a suit of intact Caraphract Armour. Explorator Felicis initially attempting to wait to see what the Mechanicus would provide for this return, but Lord Captain Hos reasoned that the good will of the Priests of Mars would be more valuable in the long-term and returned them both without issue. The Magos was extremely grateful, almost showing emotion in her flat, synthesized voice and pledged to personally see to the Arch Militant’s Upgrade, as well as guaranteeing them a Good Reputation with the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Navigator Maturinus visited the Navis Nobilitae quarters in an attempt to learn more about Benetek’s Device. Unfortunately, he found that Navigator Primarus Dionisio was already there, and had ingratiated himself with the resident navigators. Dionisio still did not believe the stories of the magical “moving worm”, and dismissed the young Secundarius’ concerns with a laugh and a wave.

While preparing for the maiden voyage of the Abs Innocentina to join the In Purgatio Lumen in recovering the Emperor’s Bounty, the Lord Captain Hos now required a crew for his transport, and wished to avoid press-ganging both for the reputation and the low class of personnel it might acquire. both Lord-Captain Hos and Seneschal Phipps drummed up a crew for the maiden voyage of the Abs Innocentina at the Voidfarer’s Rest. Although they did not reach full crew complement, enough retired or non-deployed Imperial Navy personnel agreed to join that the crew was brought up to skeletal status. As well, Dionisio used his contacts within the Navigator houses to secure two House Ortellius navigators for the voyage.

Visiting Commander Larius Sans, Captain Hos informed the station commander of the success of the mission, and the location of the Emperor’s Bounty. Inquiring as to rumours of the Inquisition that he had heard earlier, the station Commander most emphatically assured Lord Captain Hos that there was not an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor aboard the station, even if there was they would not be also investigating the corruption he’d been looking into and he’d NEVER even heard of Linetta Res before. Understanding his meaning, Jequin also inquired as to if there was any way the Imperial Navy could help tow the Emperor’s Bounty back to Port. Commander Sans had just such a solution to this problem, as he had contacted Commander Daniel Keel of the Battlefleet, currently on extended patrol in Foulstone. Apparently he had asked for the Dynasty by name, and if they would complete whatever favour the Battlefleet wanted, then the Battlefleet might be able to help them out as well.

Before leaving, the last order of business was finalizing trade negotiations with Erasmus Boldt, who agreed to supply a portion of his world’s foodstuffs in a regular route to Footfall. Believing all matters were concluded, Captain Hos was surprised to receive a message from Dante Balthazar, who had a business proposition for the Captain. Agreeing to put the bad blood behind them, he revealed that the Warp Storms around Grace were in fact abetting, and that soon the world would be open again. The Ventan Iron Hounds had lost a transport, The Widening Gyre in the system when the Warp Storms were closed. In exchange for the recovery of the Cogitator and all onboard cargo, unopened and unexpected, the Hounds would formally cede control of the Star Clipper, and even pay for any repairs and retrofitting the Explorers required. When questioning this deal, Balthazar pointed out this was as much a proof of the Explorers capability of trusting him, and his organisation’s ability to trust the. Negotiating a crew of midshipmen officers for the Abs Innocentina, Rogue Trader Hos eventually accepted the mission, and the Explorers pledged to head to Grace after a brief stopover in Footfall.

Leaving Seneschal Phipps to captain the Innocentina on this mission, the Lumen stopped in at Footfall only long enough to complete their trade route in the Hab-Fanes. Meeting with Konrad Boethius, Captain Hos was unmoved by the request to lower his prices so that the poorest could afford his prices, and instead struck what he felt was a fair balance between affordability and profit. Moving swiftly on to Grace, the Explorers handily reached False Hope, where they were caught in the wake of a dissipating Warp Storm, which Navigator Maturinus easily avoided. Believing that this was a sign the storm from Grace was departing, once they dealt with another Astropathic Message from False Hope, they proceeded along the previously known Warp Route to Grace. Although the ride was smooth, upon transiting into the system they “collided” with the spiritual remains of those trying to flee Grace who had been caught in the Warp Storm. Although they posed no physical harm, crew morale was heavily impacted by this event.

Arriving in system, they found that there was a vast ship’s graveyard which was presumably where those exiting Grace attempted to enter the Warp. The vessels had been completely destroyed, although Josette Nichols confirmed that the damage was more than simple Warp Storm damage would account for, and many components were missing from the hulks of the ship. Setting a course for the super-massive Gas Giant in the planet’s Outer Reaches, the Void Mistress detected an unknown vessel lying in wait for them in the shadow of the Gas Giant. Hailing this ship, the Dynasty was contacted by Cap’n Hammertoof, who was surprised that the “Dum Humiez” could see through his cunning ambush. Believing that this was a sign, he proposed negotiations with the Hos Dynasty so that they could work to take down the Ork Warboss deeper in system.

Dressed in his finest clothes and carrying his biggest weapon, Arriving on the vessel, Cap’n Hammertoof was pleased to see what a new ship he had acquired for himself, and generously offered the position of captaining his old Frigate to the Lord Captain. Unprepared for the strange Xenos mindset, Explorator Felicis attempted to come up with an excuse saying the captain had an emergency to deal with. Unfortunately, Cap’n Hammertoof believed that HE was the captain of this vessel, and set off to deal with it. Refusing to allow Orks any further on his ship, the Explorers launched into combat with the Ork menace. Giving in to the rage from his axe, Rogue Trader Hos easily dispatched three Orks, including Hammertoof. Astropath Eckhart and his fearsome Psychic powers accounted for two more, whereas House Troops brought down one final Ork, though suffering casualties in the process. Seeing the ferocity of Rogue Trader Hos’ Chaos-fueled rage, the surviving Orks quickly recognised that THIS was a Warboss worth following, and after a brief inter-xenos battle with one casualty, a new Ork Captain was appointed, who pledged his ship in the service of their new Warboss.

With their ship now bolstered by Kap’n Chaintusk and his Orkish Frigate Da Ship Eata, the Hos Dynasty turned their eye towards the central planet in the Grace system, and its orbitting void station, the Dagger of Fate. Explorator Artifex Felicis was confident that if the station could be retaken, then he could persuade the still loyal servants Omnissiah aboard to locate the The Widening Gyre, and the materials they were sent to recover. Armed with the knowledge from Chaintusk that the Orks in the system had grown impatient with Warboss Toofgutz refusing to declare WAAAAAGH on the planet, Captain Jequin Hos ordered the two vessels into the Grace system to confront the Warboss.

As a mark of respect to his new Warboss, Chaintusk sent over his strongest, loyalest and confrontationalest Weirdboy, Barka Da Squigcalla. Although the Weirdboy was quite blunt with Chaintusk, he did show a measure of respect to Lord Captain Hos and his crew, and spent the bulk of the journey following Navigator Maturinus around asking questions about his Psyker abilities. In turn, Navigator Maturinus did his best to avoid the new Weirdboy and focused on strategy for the coming conflict. It was decided that Lord Captain Hos would seek an audience with the Warboss, and ascertain from there whether or not negotiation was possible, or if more more permanent measures were required.

Astropath Poe and Void Mistress Nichols did not detect any transmissions during the long transit to the planet, but once in orbit they did find that both the station and the planet below were attempting to hail them. Answering the planet first, they received a passionate plea for deliverance from sin, but it was quickly jammed by the station, who invited the Rogue Trader and his retinue aboard under a banner of peace, and the promise of return unharmed. The station itself was in surprisingly good condition given that it had been infested by Orks for presumably around two decades. Despite Astropath Eckhart’s misgivings about the situation, it was decided that the crew would board.

The Orks in the landing bay were initially confrontational, and not ready to recognise the “humiez” and their right to travel aboard the station. A round of succesful intimidation from Barka put them in their place, and they were escorted towards the Warboss. En route, it was noted that their escorts were weak and immature Orks, who ordinarily would have been killed shortly after gestation. Still in the dark, but aware that something was wrong, they were brought before Toofgutz, who made clear his plans. In exchange for the Orks leaving the planet unharmed, he expected 10% of the In Purgatio Lumen’s crew to be turned over to him as slaves, at which point he would leave the system.

Unwilling to consider this offer, but determined to unravel what was going on with their host’s decidedly un-Orky behaviour, Jequin Hos and Navigator Maturinus engaged the Warboss in conversation, while Explorator Felicis attempted to surreptitiously approach the Cogitators to regain control of the station. Though the Warboss saw through their deception, Captain Hos had studied his opponent in return and realised that his behaviour was consistent with the hated Dark Eldar.

With that, a burst of energy struck the captain full in the chest, knocking him down to the ground. At the same time, two Wychs and their leader burst from the air vents, slaying most of the Orks still in the room before turning on the Explorers, and two more warriors dettached from the shadows at the other end and began laying down devastating fire from their xenos weaponry. Although the Explorers managed to overcome the Wychs in combat with them, it was not until Barka “lost control” of his powers and summoned a horde of squigs directly around the now clearly disguised Warboss that the tide began to turn. Although the tiny Orkish creatuers would not do much on their own, Astropath Eckhart managed to psychically blind the Xenos, rendering him helpless against the tiny creatures’ attacks, eventually reuslting in his death. With both of their leaders fallen, the two surviving Warriors disappeared from the station’s bridge. For a full account of this battle refer to the Navigator Secundarius’ personal log.

With the Station now under their control, the Dynasty now had to deal with a station of Orks who were desperate to begin an invasion of the planet below. Normal attempts to persuade had failed and all seemed lost, when Astropath Eckhart managed to delude Kap’n Chaintusk into giving the order to pursue the Dark Eldar instead of invading the planet. In the confusion, Explorator Felicis managed to gain control of the station and vent its atmosphere, killing all of the Orks aboard except for Chaintusk, Barka and his Minderz, and an immature Ork whose life had been saved by Felicis during the fight. Recoiling in horror as he was bashing the Vox system, Chaintusk was tricked into thinking that he was the one who had killed the Orks on the station and that the Dynasty would hide it from the others as long as he pledged loyalty to the Dynasty.

Pursuing the few Dark Eldar who survived and fled, the Lumen and Da Ship Eata came across the docking bay for the powerful Dark Eldar Cruiser that was evacuating the Eldar Homunculus and the remaining Eldar. Although their leadership was destroyed, the Cruiser put up an impressive showing against the Dynasty, almost able to overwhelm the Lumen itself. However, eager to reclaim his honour Kap’n Chaintusk ordered scores of Orks into boarding torpedos, and the demoralized the Dark Eldar fell victim to the Orkish Horde’s assaults. Attempts to replenish their crew through boarding actions were repelled due to the Hossian Regiments on board, and Sergeant Tollak’s Iron Hound mercenaries. With the boarders wiping out the crew and completely destroying the cruiser’s ability to maneuver, they turned into easy prey for the Dynasty. In the end, although damaged it was the repeated depressurization and Orkish boarding parties that finally did in the Eldar vessel, as its xenos crew were slaughtered to an Eldar, leaving a wounded but triumphant Captain Hos to add the recovered treasure to his hold and yet another ship to his growing fleet…

Following the defeat of the Dark Eldar on board the Promise of Agony, Lord Captain Jequin Hos decided that this was a new vessel to be claimed in the name of his Dynasty. Heavily injured by his fight with Findecano Calefas, Captain Hos elected to merely send a boarding party over and secure the vessel. Despite the complete slaughter of the Dark Eldar, Void Mistress Nichols reported that the Orks aboard the vessel were diminishing. Although this was put down to Orkish exuberance, their resident Orkish Expert eloquently described through a series of monosyllable words that this was not expected behaviour for their race. The Void Mistress also identified two anomolous life signs that did not correspond to either Eldar or Ork aboard the vessel.

With First Officer Eckhart leading the boarding action, a combination of Hos Dynasty troops and Ventan Iron Hounds secured one of the Eldar landing bays. Shortly after their arrival, they were confronted by one of the Orkish boarders who appeared maddened beyond reason – even for an Ork. However, this Ork was no match for the massed firepower and was quickly felled by las and bolter fire. The two life signs were identified up near the bridge and down by the slave quarters inside the vessel, resulting in the two groups splitting up. Eckhart, Barka Squigcalla and the Dynasty troops went towards the bridge, while Navigator Maturinus and the Iron Hounds went down towards the slave quarters.

En route to both locations, the two groups would run into isolated Orks who seemed bent on unthinking destruction, but would be easily cut down. Signs of a massed battle between Eldar forces, human slaves and Orkish berserkers littered the corridors, but there were no signs of any survivors apart fro mthe random Ork marauders. The Hos Dynasty troops eventually identified a mysterious gas being piped through the ventilation system, that was hypothesized to be On board the bridge, Astropath Eckhart discovered the corpse of a Dark Eldar Homunculus, and a mysterious cat-like creature. Identifying the creature as some sort of latent psychic, the Astropath was unable to make friends with as Barka attempted normal Orkish pet-training tacitcs, which terrified the creature into fleeing into the ventilation shaft. Unable to locate any sort of recognisable technology, the Astropath ordered his group to meet up with the Astropath.

The area near the slave quarters turned out to be some sort of unusual pharmaceutical complex that housed a variety of Dark Eldar toxins and poisons, as well as the facilities for which to grow them. There was also a simian-like creature standing guard over a mysterious tank, who appeared to collapse from exhaustion and damage inside the pod. Although the Navigator Secundarius and an accompanying Tech-Priest accompanying them was able to identify the toxin in the atmosphere was probably produced here, they were unable to find the part that was connecting to the filtration system. Unfortunately a piece of corroborating evidence was Weirdboy Squigcalla falling victim to the toxin in the air and going berserk, necessitating him to be knocked unconscious by his Minderz, and a series of lasgun stocks to the face. With enough Xenos technology and a reasonably secure ship, Lord Captain Hos and Artifex Felicis boarded to secure the vessel.

Whatever was affecting the Orks continued to spread amongst the Orks on board however. Void Mistress Nichols detected that left unchecked they may tear the vessel apart. Enough of their Orkish instinct that they would congregate to a sufficiently loud noise or event on board. While waiting for the captain to plan their next move, Navigator Maturinus entered the slave quarters to see if any human lives could be saved, but tragically the Slaves who had not joined the Dark Eldar as cannon fodder appeared to have been cut down in their cells where they stood. The Navigator also came across the mysterious Xenos creature from the bridge, but once he rejoined the others and it saw the Ork from before it fled in terror.

The Lord Captain and Chief Explorator finally arrived onboard, along with a hastily assembled honour guard led by Dalia Gour and equipped with the Heltor Honour Blades for protection. These were more than sufficient to deal with the Orks encountered, although the Lord Captain also encountered the cat-creature, which he identified as a Gyrinx and submitted to its psychic bonding. The captain’s incredible knowledge of Xenos species and technology was also able to identify the second creature as a Jokaero, and the device he submerged himself in as an advanced Recovery Chamber used by the Dark Eldar to restore their victims who had been accidentally tortured to death. With the various boarding parties reconvened, a two-fold plan was devised. Captain Hos and Explorator Felicis would head to the Eldar Engine room to disable whatever was pumping into the ship’s atmosphere. The Astropath would lead the bulk of the forces to the landing bay and generate enough noise to draw the Orks there to be finished off once and for all.

The plan went off almost flawlessly. Heading to the Engine room, he identified a strange device hooked up to what was presumably an air conditioning unit that Explorator Felicis was able to disable, freeing the ship from its deadly contamination. Astropath Eckhart and his troops, as well as Severian Tollak and the Iron Hounds set up in the firing bay and with overlapping lines of fire slaughtered the Orks suffering only minimal casualties. With all hostile Xenos races defeated, the Hos Dynasty was well and truly able to claim the Eldar vessel as their prize.

The next stop was to find The Widening Gyre and lay claim to the reason that they had come to the Grace sector in the first place. With the Eldar dead and the surviving Orks still loyal to the Dynasty, what further problems could present themselves?