Summary of Events

• Active Players: Jequin Hos, Jian Vang, Zacharya Caine, [[:katerose-von-kreuzer | Fio’El Bor’Kan Shase’la]]
• Return to Lucin’s Breath Successful. Captain Nemo Ironmine called to explain disappearance of two Imperial Navigators
• Remainder of crew goes shopping while he’s getting yelled at.
• Delivery of note saying that fourth artefact of Cognatius has been retrieved – meeting requested for delivery
• Iron Halo retrieved by Cold Trade, will exchange for salvage operations performed on an absent vessel in system.
• During inspection of Halo, Shazzy traces the Cold Trade back to a research warehouse for cataloguing – could steal later
• Hos negotiates for repair of Cobra Kai prior to departure
• Ships boarded – one frigate, formerly of Hos Dynasty, one unknown transport
• Attack by strange, Xenos scarabs. Destroyed due to Caine detecting ambush, and bridge crew rescued.
• Inspection of cases finds one object known as “Halo Device” missing. Search initiated.
• Transport covered by Warp energy, slight danger to soul. Weird stuff happens on ship. Jian briefly trapped in never-ending room maze.
• Enemy located, claims invincibility. Proven wrong.
• Copies of Halo devices made for return. Successful in bluff (for time being). Hos gets to keep one.
• Return to savlaged vessels finds Sarvus waiting for them, saying they need to come home.

Adventure Summary

• Active Players: Hos, Jian, Shazzy Law
• Decision made to explore Chorda’s Folly in search of materials to repair Cobra Kai
• Planet devastated, Chaos Star avoided as much as possible
• Ruined mining outposts discovered. Servitor bodies present. Human bodies gone.
• Shazzy begins being haunted by blue-robed figure
• Salvage operations commenced
• Ruined convoy discovered. Ore Hauler stolen to reach capital
• Capital “ringed” by lance destruction. Halo Barge brought in for transport
• Longshanks and normal humans rescued, heard tell of Chaos Raiders
• Guncutter reports attack. Apparently destroyed
• Halo Barge summoned. Blue Robed figures appear to try and destroy it. “Killed” by Shazzy
• Battle to rescue Ironmine Syndicate personnel successful. Chaos APCscaptured.
• Exploration installed, confrontation with figure.
• Figures all the same, possibly Herald of Tzeentch, definitely Shaper Te’Shek
• Te’Shek killed, gloats about ritual being completed
• Ship repaired, course set for Lucin’s Breath.

Adventure History

• Return to Lucin’s Breath, meeting with Farseer Anaris
• Anaris claims to have destroyed the Chains of Light, Feckward’s new ship
• Asks for help preventing Salaine Morn from destroying Craftworld Kaelor
• Note put on hold, shopping and debriefing at Lucin’s Breath
• Jian continues to extol the crusade, and the many treasures they have gained.
• Caine continues research into consequences of Svard
• Eckhart and Vasquez finalize the Rittenriters
• Hos and Shazzy meet with Aspyce Chorda, confirm salvation of Tau
• Feckward’s ruined flagship explored, sent as salvage for extra money
• Decision made to help, convoy follows Anaris through the Webway
• Confrontation with Soul Reaver. Initial strike damaging, Cobra Kai rams the vessel – crippling both.
• Face-to-face battle with Salaine. Hos and Caine go down.
• Jian uses PSyk-Out grenade to stop her psychic bullshit, Eckhart and Shazzy finish her
• Eckhart merges with Soul Reaver, decision made to not allow Kaelor to destroy it
• Emergency warp jump made out of system. Fleet scattered
• Cobra Kai, barely functioning, emerges at Chorda’s Folly.
• Chorda’s Folly destroyed by Chaos raiders.

The return to realspace is often described by the more poetic of Rogue Traders as an explosion, but that was far more literal than normal as the Cobra Kai returned to realspace from its last mission. The assault by the Hrud had left the ship in shambles, and only the frantic efforts of Shazzy Law had kept the vessel intact for the return. Its warp engines were a complete write-off, and the vessel would need a full refit. Fortunately their hold was flush with the rewards reaped from the salvage of Genevieve Almace’s returns, and the flash-frozen Hrud corpses would be a valuable prize to the more -discerning type of heretical collector. Still, the Tau contingent stayed behind with the flagship to ensure repairs were done in an efficient manner.

Although their acquisition for a new Warp Drive was successful, the rest of the Syndicate was not prepared to lay idle. Jian Vang, dedicated to recovering the full relics of Saint Cognatius informed the Syndicate that the next best option was Ikeran, and the crashed cruiser of Jollus Marquette. Though he knew from Almace this was not the recommended next option, he didn’t want to risk it being skipped. Fortunately this was an easy sell as both Jequin Hos and Zacharya Caine had heard legends of the great treasure that was reportedly on board, and were eager to investigate it. Astropath Eckhart was also aware that Almace had recommended seeking out Nadine Aleynikov’s tomb next, but he was busy with forming a new Hossian regiment with Jenna Vasquez, and could not attend the investigations personally.

The negotiations for the journey went smoothly, perhaps because the Ironmine Syndicate had already recovered two of the Disciples, and their name was quickly spreading due to their well-published successes. The Syndicate was even approached by several black market groups attempting to negotiate for their own cut in exchange for their own Navigators. They eventually stuck with the Imperium, for though they’re oppressive and taking far too many Thrones out of this, they are highly reliable. Case in point, the group transitioned into Ikeran without issue, and the search began for Marquette.

With the now-dead planet featuring the final resting place of Genevieve Almace behind them, the Ironmine Syndicate prepared to return to Lucin’s Breath and prepare themselves for the next phase of the journey. Although the next lead pointed to Nadine Aleynikov, only Jian Vang had recognised the importance of that information, and was debating whether or not to reveal this information. He had what was estimated to be less than a seven-day Warp journey before arriving, so he would have time to make this decision. With that, the Navigator opened the portal to the Immaterium, and the Cobra Kai left reality.

The journey took each member of the Syndicate differently. Shazzy Law was forced to confront his new belief that reality was not as straightforward as the Ethereals had pretended. Inside of the warp illusion he had felt his suit be destroyed, had seen daemons and visions that rationality could not explain, and he was no longer sure of the calm order he had come to envision. As a result he threw himself into the calm, repetitive tasks of suit repair. As it happened, both his and Shazzy Fire’s Battlesuit were reporting a need for maintenance, and so he enthusiastically threw himself into the repair work.

Astropath Eckhart treated the journey as he would every other, continuing to plan out with Vasquez as to the new Death Bastard regiment that was going to be formed and slowly refocusing his need for vengeance against appropriate targets. As First Officer of the vessel, he was approached with the information that their food supplies were spoiling at a rate beyond what could be considered normal. Though he and Zacharya Caine launched a thorough internal investigation, they were forced to conclude that it was just a freak malfunction that had caused their food to spoil. Fortunately they should have ample supplies to make it back to Lucin’s Breath, so it was not of great concern.

Jequin Hos found his own trouble, as perhaps due to the imperfect nature of the integration of Eldar and Human technology, parts on the ship were slowly showing signs of increased care. Cursing the Mechanicus, he single-handedly began leading the repair efforts – only to nearly be killed when a catastrophic power surge damaged the ship’s primary lance. Resolute in the fact that his repair work had not caused this damage, he swore to get the array systems functional. Ultimately he discovered that it looked like a critical component had simply aged to the point of uselessness, triggering the entire cascade. Though he could repair the damage, combined with the reports that were going on he began to suspect something greater was at work.

Perhaps the clearest clue came from Jian’s mandatory self-defense training for most of the void crew. Taking the form of a padded ring where people would try to attack each other or the missionary in an unarmed style, Jian noticed there was a hooded figure that his other students seemed unaware of. They would walk around and give it a decent berth, but seemingly unconsciously as it moved in and out from between the figures. Suspecting some sort of warp foolery, he approached it casually before launching his witch lance at it. The spear grazed the figure, and as it turned to flee – still unseen by the remaining class – Jian managed to grab it, only to find it burned his skin on contact. With that, the creature seemed to waver and vanish though it was right in front of his eyes.

A pooling of their investigations up to this point all pointed to the same culprit: A being of Xenos known as the Hrud. A nomadic race of scavengers, they were known to possess an array of bizarre powers that were not officially classified as Psychic by the Imperium, but nonetheless were thought to be responsible for rapid decay of both organic and inorganic matter in their surroundings. So warned, Eckhart began to scan the Cobra Kai, and found that inside the ship’s Engineerium were a large number of life forms, far more than could be anticipated. More disturbingly, despite being in the Warp, the numbers were slowly, impossibly, increasing.

An assault party of soldiers made to breach the Engineerium and fight them off, but were met with resistance by the heretek preists on board who insisted that armed soldiers would not be allowed to interfere with their sacred machines. Captain Hos persuaded his inner circle to be allowed entrance and investigation, with the Magos complaining the whole while that this was unneeded. Careful examination of the arcane machiner produced evidence that there were several of the creatuers, as ignored by the servitors and tech-priests as the rest of the crew. Captain Hos barely managed to spot one and snapped a shot off at it, before automatic defensive protocols by the Mechanicus turned on him and the Servitors attempted to restrain him, even as the creature fled.

Eckhart’s powers proved the most effective though, for as he fought them his own mastery of entropy conquered the Hrud, trapping one of them and freezing it solid. With that death, the creatures in the Engineerium turned on the Dynasty, and a fierce battle was raged. Though they were well armed and armoured, the weapons of the Hrud pierced inorganic material like it was nothing, but burned through organic material without issue. Caine himself was critically wounded shoving Hos out of the way of these things, and upon death the Hrud would stutter and their own power consumed them – leaving no evidence for the now furious Mechanicus.

When enough of the creatuers were slain, the Hrud retreated and Eckhart could present his frozen corpses which mollified the Priests somewhat. However, during the confusion Shazzy Law had been investigating the Warp drive, and found a strange shadow sphere slowly orbiting it. Apparently unresponsive, it resisted probes and scans, until finally he began shooting at it confident that it should not be there. Though initially dismissive, as the rest of the group caught up to the Tau to see what he was up to the sphere underwent a violent change, and began throwing bolts of incredibly destructive shadow-stuff at them, vaporizing large parts of the Engineerium and throwing Shazzy across the room, forcing him out of his now crippled stealth suit.

As Jian fought back a resurgence of Hrud, Eckhart focused his psychic powers on the thing and, enduring its mighty blows with his own psychic force fields, drew the worst of the attacks onto himself. Captain Hos attempted to communicate with it and, despite his arm decaying instantly upon touching it, ordered everyone to stand down and remain calm. Eckhart complied, and it was even possible the thing might have stood down as well, but in the pause, Law unleashed a storm of fire from his own weapons on it, banishing it back to whatever Hell spawned it.

The Hrud also disappeared gradually after that, but the Cobra Kai’s warp room was in shambles. It barely managed to hold on to reach Lucin’s Breath, at which point it was clear that it would need major resupplies before it could move out again. Nonetheless, they were back to their base, and ready to set out after the next disciple…

The sense of accomplishment and victory over finding the mortal remains of Nicodemus Keefe was palpable throughout the Ironmine Syndicate. Apart from the obvious fame and prestige that it was bringing them, and the now apparently unreserved support of the Order of the Hammer in funding their expeditions, it also meant that they finally had that thing they had been missing for far, far too long: some money to go shopping with. Upon returning to Lucin’s Breath, the Inner Council all split up to tend to their own personal enterprises before deciding on their next port of call.

Eckhart was approached by Lieutenant Vasquez, who had assumed the role of interim-Seneschal and Dynasty minder while they were out on mission as the only high ranking original personnel left to the Dynasty at the moment. Her investigation had turned up how Winterscale’s Realm was near to bursting with mercenary groups interested in signing on with successful Traders and Pirates as a freelance army, and thanks to the fame from rediscovering the body of a sacred figure to the Imperium, they were at no shortage for those interested in throwing their hat in with him. Eckhart recognised in Vasquez the desire to avenge everything she had lost at the hands of Fel, and as his revenge against Winterscale no longer seemed to be possible, he resolved to help her deal with her rage in the most Imperium-approved manner possible: Bloody vengeance.

Caine, through a combination of intimidation and friendly smiles managed to ingratiate himself even further into the Cult of the False Dawn, and managed to track down that bizarre amulet he had been given that seemed to effectively block psychic powers practiced by his Astropath. Working amidst the friendly heretics was the horrible wreck of an Adeptus Mechanicus Magos named Hulgast, who had been obsessively cobbling together the tiny amulets packed with dense, arcane circuitry. At first sight, Caine reflexively brought his claws up in an attempt to kill the Magos, an act that the man seemed to take in stride. He explained that the devices were complicated life sustainers that sealed a bit of his “cursed soul” inside of them, and extended his horrible affliction to any that would come in contact with it. Enduring his sombre and self-pitying prose for more than half an hour, Caine procured another amulet and presented it to Captain Hos, who believed that the Magos was referring – obliquely – to being an Untouchable, and that he had somehow attempted to extend that protection to others. He also resolved to buy the Magos the supplies he needed to expand his manufacturing capabilities, as there would be many willing to pay an exorbitant amount for such a treasure.

During his time away, the contingent of Tau that Shase’la left on Lucin’s Breath had been successful in finding someone capable of secreting his people away to a relatively safer part of the galaxy. Meeting with this Rogue Trader, she relayed to him a tale of how many small Xenos races, driven to near-extermination by the Imperium, had banded together to form a small Empire that was fiercely anti-human, but she believed they would no doubt welcome the presence of the Tau among them. Her plan was to give the Tau a transport which they could claim to have stolen, and then enter the system and be taken in as refugees. Despite her belief that this would work, she was up front about how there would be no way of knowing for sure as humans were not welcome, nor would she imagine they would be allowed to leave. Nonetheless it was an option. Asking what she expected in return, Shazzy was told that she wanted nothing, as she was simply jaded from decades among the Imperium, and believed that the Tau’s attitude left them the rightful inheritors of the Galaxy. Though he had questions as to why the ruthless Aspyce Chorda would be willing to espouse such views, he nonetheless promised to consider the offer.

As the crew made friends and alliances, “Captain Ironmine” and Jian continued in their quest to track down the remaining relics of Saint Cognatius. The information from Keefe’s relics had narrowed down the search to a region of space on the far side of the Expanse, and it was hoped that the other three Disciples might be able to further refine their search. The last resting place of all three was thought to be known, but Genevieve Almace was by far the closest and despite rumours that she had fallen in battle to the Ruinous Powers on that planet after being abandoned, the Captain was confident that they could handle an incursion into such a place. Equipping their men with weapons blessed by the Ecclesiarchy, they lay in a destination for Loretta and the next Disciple to be uncovered.

The journey through the Warp was pleasantly calm, and upon arrival at the planet despite a worrying psychic resistance the world itself appeared lush and verdant. There were no signs of battle or strife, and the conditions were even perfect for a later colony to be founded there. The Sensorium officer very quickly picked up on what appeared to be an Imperial lander on the surface of the world matching the description of Almace’s vessel. Caine immediately seized on the unlikeliness of locating one ship so small on a planet so quickly, but there was nothing more to be gained from orbit and the Dynasty along with armsmen equipped with blessed bolters descended on the world. Worried for his safety, Caine insisted that Captain Hos wear one of the null amulets they had acquired and, despite the pain it caused his nascent warp senses, he agreed. The Lander itself was in as pristine a shape as the world they found themselves on, and the men split up to secure the area.

As they fanned out, one of them almost without warning turned his bolter on Jian and attempted to slay the Missionary on his approach. Fortunately he had – as ever – been suspecting treachery and killed the man, only to find his body horribly mutated upon death. On board the shuttle, the body matching all descriptions of Genevieve Almace and thirty women and men clad in crusader gear sat as if asleep inside of the landing shuttle. They read as alive to Shase’la’s and Caine’s scans, but Eckhart could not pick up any activity from their minds. Without warning, Caine, Shazzy, Eckhart and Jian each felt as if a warm, stinking breath was laughing on them, and then found themselves transported into an old-style concrete and steel prison. Still equipped with all their weaponry, the walls stood no chance for them, whereupon they met a now-living Genevieve Almace who told them that they had been trapped here and to seek an escape from their Daemonic captor, as she was fated to do battle here until her foe was defeated. Though Jian was initially willing to fight alongside the Disciple, as an army of daemons slowly overcame the walls of their prison the four again found themselves moved without their consent to a new location.

They first found themselves in a library, filled with scores of books on history and war for both the Imperium and the Tau, and an instruction that they had to find their race’s greatest shame among its walls. Their host was a being shaped like a human, but with blank, putty like skin that healed itself immediately upon Eckhart trying to kill it. Suspecting this was some sort of insane, riddle bullshit Shazzy hypothesized that their sin was being alive and the four found themselves in a garden being served a variety of fine dishes and told they could not leave until they had consumed all of them. Naturally destroying these foods, their faux-server departed to get more, and when followed led them to an abattoir where daemons harvested the flesh from various races that were chained there, and turned them into the elegant creations from the hall. Burning the prisoners and the daemons alike, they were freed from this chamber as well and sent on to the next challenge. However, as reality began to blur and change, Caine abruptly vanished from around them as, in the “real” world, Captain Hos took this moment to split the null amulet over his neck and snap him out of reality.

They then found themselves in Holy Terra itself, as an innumerable crowd gathered to listen to a man preaching from a far-away pulpit, his voice amplified to spread across the masses. Jian recognised this as a speech given by Goge Vandire, and they resolved to expose and assassinate the aged heretic to escape this challenge. Making their way towards Vandire, Jian activated his own laud-hailer and was attacked by the Brides of the Emperor bodyguard, yet refused to engage him and continued to argue against the insane heretic. Eckhart and Shazzy made their way through the Ecclesiarch’s temple to try and assassinate him, but found themselves confronted by another retinue of bodyguard whose faith powers protected them from Eckhart’s sorcery, and weapons proved more than a match for Shazzy’s battlesuit. As the Tau destroyed the seals inhibiting Eckhart, the Sisters destroyed his battlesuit, but not before he and Eckhart managed to destroy the shields blocking him, and he was able to subdue the combatants. As for Vandire, with Jian out-debating him, he began to revert to a purely daemonic form which the crowd and the surviving Brides turned on, and they were free again.

The darkness they found themselves in with Almace had the Disciple reveal that they could now escape, and that she would fight against the daemonic hordes to buy them some time. She insisted that they had to run from this battle as it couldn’t be won, which though Jian and Shazzy saw the logic of, Eckhart had suffered through enough sanctimonious sermons to recognise it for a lie, and stabbed the apparition revealing her to be yet another daemon trying to trick them. With that, the “true” Almace appeared to set them free, telling them that there was a doomsday weapon she had tried to activate on board her shuttle, but died before she was able to. She and the spirits of those loyal to her would protect the group when they returned, and they need only activate the device in order to affect an escape, and deny the daemons a further victory.

In reality, the three found themselves awake and aware, and the comforting illusion of the idyllic planet stripped away. The troops that had come with them lost their mind and souls, screaming to the skies or, if they were lucky, turning their weapons on themselves. The Syndicate members found themselves horrified to the core by what they saw, but nonetheless gathered everything of value, and though Hos ordered anything retrieved of value, Jian, Caine and Shazzy all decided to activate the doomsday device – with Jian taking time to grab any relics of Almace and Cognatius he could find – and they barely made it off world before the virus bomb obliterated everything on the surface, and the daemonic taint below.

With two disciples located, their relics recovered, and their souls probably safe, the Syndicate made for the Warp to return to Lucin’s breath, and plot their next move…

The rescue of the Order of The Hammer from the attack by the Captain LePonce earned the Ironmine Syndicate the favour of the Ecclesiarchical branch, but sadly little in terms of profit factor or re-sellable goods. Though they did get a line on the location of the last resting place of Nicodemus Keefe – the planet of Vaporious. Father Pagni of the Order requested an alliance with the Ironmine Syndicate in order to find the last resting place of Keefe, as well as in rebuilding their wayfarer station. In exchange for re-crewing their vessel and the information, this bargain was struck.

Though their next destination was fixed, the Syndicate still had to return to Lucin’s Breath as per their arrangement with the Nobilite. The Navigators were annoyed that the journey had not as yet produced any profit, but a combined negotiation effort from Captain Ironmine, Mr. Snrrub, and Pilsner Oldenhaüs, coupled with Father Pagni’s testimony as to the actions of the Syndicate convinced them to continue to sponsor the search for Saint Cognatius, and a destination for Vaporious. Their vessels still required repairs from the battle, and by managing to successfully dip into some Hos Dynasty funds, as well as negotiations with the Order of the Hammer, repairs were secured for the Black Adder, and the Cobra Kai. Coupled with the repairs needed from Shazzy Law got their vessels operational.

With most of their nascent fleet repaired, the course was laid in for Vaporious. The Navigators’ alliance produced another smooth journey, and the arrival was met by a small planetary guard fleet swearing allegiance to Calligos Winterscale. The fleet was small, but outnumbered the Ironmine forces enough that a confrontation was not advised. Fortunately they saw no problem in allowing a trade operation, and contact was made with the Priest-King city of Djenessey.

Met there by a local Missionary named Lanate, an audience was granted with Priest-King Anansai whose advisor greeted them in his name and offered them a taste of the water summoned from his planet. Drank by all except Jian, the water was found to be incredibly refreshing and calming, and put the Syndicate at their ease. Though records were sought concerning the history of the planet, private access would only be granted to those who proved their worth – in this case through a hunt of the fabled Sand Tigers of Vaporious.

Zacharya Caine managed to successfully locate a Sand Tiger after a few days, time which was spent with the Priest-King’s advisor Zahur telling them verbally the history of Djenessey, and regularly doling out water again to all but Jian, who had his own supply. Upon locating the creature, it attempted a sudden ambush by creating a brief whirl pool in the sand, but its primitive tactics were no match for Eckhart, who simply held the creature still in its mind while Jian then used his flamer to slowly roast the creature to death. Caine then successfully skinned the beast, and the skeleton was ready as a gift.

On their way back to the city, both Eckhart and Caine grew suspicious of the water and began to try to wean themselves off it. Despite an urge to keep drinking it, they were both successful – though Caine took a little longer to shake it. Upon presentation of the skeleton, they bore witness to Anansai’s power. Moving to the pit at the centre of the city, he managed through sheer force of will – or so it seemed – to summon up a massive geyser of water seemingly from the centre of the planet, which was distributed to Hos, Law, and all who were willing to drink it. Though Hos was too enraptured by the thought of more of that precious water, Eckhart realised that there was a strong Psychic force coming from deep within the planet – where the water originated from.

Hos and Law by now were completely unwilling to leave or sabotage the city. Though they didn’t seem changed, they were very much opposed to doing anything that might mean they couldn’t have the water of the planet – though didn’t seem conscious of their refusal. Bringing down Shazzy Fire, and an up-and-coming piilot from the Cobra Kai to serve as a shuttle pilot, the three still-lucid members of the Syndicate made their way down the shaft, and despite a rough landing, explored deep in the depths of the planet, along the path the smooth tunnel the water had come from.

Whatever they were expecting to find, a vast underground jungle in the bowels of the planet was not it. Making their way through the jungle, they bore witness to a vast psychic emanation collecting the condensation from the forest and sending it up to the surface of the world, presumably explaining where the water came from. Heading for the rough “centre” of the jungle found a crashed Imperial void ship, a heavy dose of radiation, and a creature formed from the very plant matter. As Eckhart read its mind, learning it was a centuries old life form that had been growing all this time, it read Caine’s to learn how to communicate with the Dynasty members.

Solomon, as Caine named it, meant no ill will towards the Dynasty, and admitted to regularly feeding those on the surface in order to care for them akin to how one would care for a pet. He had no objection to exploring the vessel – the legendary Lux Salvationist of Nicodemus Keefe – with the caveat of avoiding his “heart” inside of it. The Syndicate recovered many aged but significant relics of the crusade, and even discovered Keefe’s inner chamber with the body of the missionary, his legendary power hammer and his writings from which they hoped to decode the message of Saint Cognatius.

Solomon admitted that he was putting something in his water in order to pacify the people and make them stop fighting, presumably explaining the drug addiction suffered by those on the surface. Caine, through an amazing act of reason and empathy, convinced him to slowly wean the people off of the dependency to let them act for themselves again, and then let them go. Once recovered, Hos demanded to meet with this creature, and managed to convince them to allow Caine to go and view its heart, as his augmetic body could withstand the radiation. Inside the vessel was a legendary piece of archeotech known as the Ubertas device, suitable for terraforming worlds. Solomon appeared to have grown around it, and it was very clearly damaged, but Hos immediately seized on the possibility of salvaging the device.

Caine, Fire and Law all seemed against it, and Jian espoused simply killing the creature where it was stood. Hos instead negotiated with the being to ask it to help him grow crops if they were provided, which was agreed to. The people of Djenessey, now freed from the mental compulsion to be calm were starting to show signs of discontent with their monarchy, and so the Ironmine Syndicate left, aware that if war were to break out it’s possible that those down there would again fall to the creature’s mental influence, but many of the Inner Council believed that might be for the Greater Good, at least for the time being.

With some profit, and priceless relics, a course was laid in to return to Lucin’s Breath, where then the next step on the path of Saint Cognatius could be taken…

The journey to Lucin’s Breath was a slow one, but far more reliable than the members of the Hos Dynasty were used to. The Tau-style warp skimming kept their two vessels in reasonable tandem, and they arrived in Lucin’s Breath no worse for wear – though much, much hungrier. A vessel that would’ve taken them a few weeks in the Lumen – days with Maturinus – now took months to complete and stretched the on-board food supplies to the limit, but ultimately they did arrive at their destination successfully.

True to her word, Captain Shen had done some preliminary groundwork for them in finding information on crew, Navigators, and leaving behind a small amount of money that they could hopefully use to turn into something greater. Their resources were meager – a small cache of Dark Eldar weaponry, a pair of Tau battlesuits that people were unwilling to part with, a few stolen museum pieces of archeotech, and the location of an intact corvette that would be suitable for salvaging. Naturally, Captain Hos – now going by Captain Ironmine – would have none of it.

Once on the surface of Lucin’s Breath, the Dynasty split into tasks. Jian went around enquiring as to the events that had happened since they had been gone, confirming that their imprisonment, and warp journies to and from the Nexus of Shadows, added up to a little under two years of time. Since then, the Maw had been closed, Damaris had reasserted itself as an Imperial colony and closed its borders, several allies had not been seen since, and both Chaos and the Orks appeared to be in ascendency.

Shazzy Law patrolled the colony on his own, attempting to find examples of unusual human architecture or technology, but ended up disgusted by the shabby and ad-hoc nature of human construction and returned to the vessels to study the Dark Eldar modifications to their ships, though not before noticing that he seemed to be followed throughout the city. Hos, Eckhart and Caine collected bounties and rumours hoping to make some easy money, but found most of them were on the score of personal grudges or pirates, and without Navigators or contacts proved difficult to find information about.

Ultimately the group settled on attempting to track down information on Saint Cognatius based on the relics of his that were found from the Dark Eldar collection. The planet that they believed he had last visited was not in Imperial records, but that was hardly unusual given that the Saint’s journies in the Expanse pre-dated most serious exploration, and the systems were likely in a name known only to him and his disciples. Since his last location was unknown, the Dynasty decided to track down the relics of one of said disciples, in the hopes that could provide a clue to the Saint’s resting place. Settling on Nicodemus Keefe, said to rest in the system of Foulstone, they made ready to make a journey there, but now faced their largest task: Acquiring a Navigator.

According to Jian’s rumours, the Navigators had pooled their resources to buy a palatial fortress inside of each of the Lucin’s Breath colonies, and would only deal in strict, confidential agreements. Although initially negotiations were presented with a minimum of evidence to prevent the Navigators from simply taking the information for themselves, the Dynasty was eventually forced to present the Torch of the Saint, as well as the goal of their quest, though they kept the ultimate location a secret. This seemed to be enough to sway them, and Ironmine’s tongue was enough to convince them that one of the keys to the Saint’s arrival was stored on their absent Corvette. A bold lie, but one that the Navigators bought into and they agreed to salvage the vessel before providing them Navigators and crew for a trip to Foulstone and back.

This last point proved contentious, but for reasons echoed by Eckhart, this was to ensure that once a ship had left orbit the Navigators could not simply be taken and forced into slavery. Each would be provided a heavily armed escort, and none were to be permitted entry or to demand anything else of the Navigator. The trips to salvage the Cobra Kai were slightly offputting, especially to Law who was not used to the full Imperial warp jump, but quickly and easily done, and the Ironmine Syndicate set off for Foulstone and the legacy of Nicodemus Keefe.

They had twice been to the Foulstone system, each journey finding the system desolate and uninhabitable, but this time an in-depth scouting mission was to be done. Fortune favoured them though, as the first – and largest – planet they visited showed signs of an active void battle: An Imperial Frigate up against a small, wayfarer station. The Frigate identified itself as belong to a Captain LePonce, who was retrieving his stolen property from a band of pirates, while the station could not defend itself having had its communication systems damaged. Though there was no sign of deception from Captain LePonce, the group nonetheless decided that outnumbering it three-to-one would secure an easy victory, and potentially some allies or prisoners to interrogate about the whereabouts of Keefe.

This assumption was almost their undoing, for the Hos Dynasty was used to the power of the In Purgatio Lumen, and unused to fighting on more fragile Raiders and Frigates. The Black Adder and Black Mamba each soared ahead to try and score an early kill with their weapons, but were met by a counter volley of torpedoes and macrocannon fire. The Adder lost control of its thrusters, leaving it coasting through the void all-but-helpless, and the Mamba took a solid Macrocannon salvo knocking its lance weaponry offline. Though the raiders did manage to score some damage onto an already damaged frigate, it came down to a battle between the Kai and the LePonce ship.

The first pass by the Kai did little damage, as did the return volley from LePonce. Eckhart again employed his Psychic might to burn a good portion of the enemy vessel, but driven by fanaticism, desire for their wealth, or self-preservation, the fight persisted. LePonce unleashed another torpedo volley at the Cobra Kai, and were it not for the Emperor’s favour that might have been it, but only one torpedo hit, and but for a glancing blow, barely damaging the Corvette. The return salvo from Caine manning the lance struck true, and the enemy Frigate was destroyed.

The Adder managed to repair its thrusters, and the Mamba was restored to working order, but hundreds of Tau and Kroot aboard that vessel were lost to Law’s horror. Nonetheless, the Wayfarer station was saved, and revealed to be the Order of the Hammer, those that preserved the legacy of Nicodemus Keefe. Though most of their relics were stolen by LePonce, and subsequently lost in the destruction of his vessel, a few were salvaged and returned for which the Syndicate had their gratitude. With their station basically lost, most pilgrims were happy to join and return to Lucin’s Breath with the Syndicate for repairs, in exchange for the name of the true planet where Nicodemus Keefe was said to have failed and laid down his life – Vaporious.

With a new destination in hand, and Jian ready to avenge his prior wrongs, the only challenge now was to convince the Navigators on board how to take an impromptu detour…