Maggots in the Meat

From Lexicanum

An Unexpected Diversion

After enjoying the hospitality of the people of Iocanthus for a month, the Acolytes decided it was time to head back to Scintilla and report-in. They took passage on a battered trader and headed off into the Immaterium. Three days into the voyage, the ship's purser came to tell them the ship had been diverted on order of Inquisitor Gaius. The Acolytes were ordered to the planet Acreage. There had been a spate of disappearances and unusual murders in the city of Olrankan and the Inquisition suspected some kind of death cult was operating there. The Acolytes were to keep a low profile, investigate, find out what was going on and stop whomever was killing the Emperor’s loyal servants.
Three days later they were dropped of from the battered ship in an even more-battered lander at the Imperial port of Emperor’s Island. Emperors island was made up a series of floating landing platforms at sea. The “island” was dominated by the huge tower of the Adminstratum in the centre of the landing platforms and surrounded by a ragged expanse of wharves, barges and platforms that formed a hodge-podge floating town. While the landing platform remained absolutely level due to some kind of hydraulics the rest of the scenery moved constantly with the ocean’s swell. Plax and Sister Jenna had difficulty getting their sea-legs as they headed across the platform and felt decidedly queasy. As they walked Silvanus noticed a lot what looked like military activity on one of the other platforms, but given the ragged appearance of those involved, the ex-Guardsman put it down to mercenary activity rather than Imperial or local troops.
 
 There appeared to be no landing formalities on Imperial Island, so given their instructions to keep a low profile, the acolytes decided not to report in to the Adminstratum tower and headed straight for the surrounding “town”.  The town was a complete rabbit warren of platforms gangways and rope walkways which through mostly with locals and in short order they were quite thoroughly lost. Eventually they decided to hire a local street urchin, Tiplis, as a guide and asked him to take them to the nearest hostelry. The urchin led them to a sleazy looking establishment outside which a faded sign in Low Gothic proclaimed it to be “Veto’s Emporium of Ephemeral Delights”. There wasn’t much delight going on inside the dingy interior. In the dull red-glow of emergency lights, obviously pilfered from the landing platform, the acolytes could see various patrons sitting at tables, either slumped into unconsciousness, staring morosely into wooden tankards or arguing noisily , The air hung thick with lho-stick smoke and other more noxious vapours. On a quick perusal every type of intoxicant known to the Imperium seemed to be freely available and being utilised.

 Plax obtained a table by the simple expedient of pushing the hapless patron slumped across it onto the floor while Zaddion headed to the bar and order a bucket of what passed for the local beer. He quizzed the barkeep about the best way to get to Olrankan, being told that they’d have to take passage on a ship from the wharves at the edge of The Bilges – “The Bilges” apparently being the name of the makeshift floating town. As he returned with the somewhat salty beer, the others listened intently to the conversations of those patrons still conscious around them. They quickly discovered the main topic of conversation was the civil war in progress on the mainland between the two daughters of the late High-King.

City Under Siege 

The Acolytes spent some time in Veot’s soaking up the ambience and listening out for rumours. It quickly became apparent that what had been happening in Olrankan was common knowledge but everyone seemed to have different theories, ranging from the return of an ancient swamp god, to the prince of Olrankan and his nobles being shape-changers who prowled the streets at night feasting on unwary citizens. Zaddion did pick up one interesting snippet where a patron was speculating about the return of the Brothers of the Worms – a cult that had been suppressed by the Imperium about a hundred years ago, but really all that they got was rumour and speculation.
 
By the time they left Veto’s it was nearly midnight. The gangways and rope walkways that joined the various parts of the Bilges together were poorly lit by a combination of sputtering oil lamps (from the smell fuelled by fish-oil) and flaring torches and were even more treacherous that they had been in daylight. They cautiously made their way towards the edge of the “town” and the wharves there. The wharf area was quiet and deserted by the time they got there and the acolytes looked somewhat forlornly at the lack of ships. Their introspections were cut short by an attempt by some down-on-their luck mercenaries trying to mug them. The brief combat ended, predictably enough, with three of the would-be muggers taking to their heels and Zaddion and Jenna fishing a fourth, badly wounded, out of the sea for interrogation. The mugger told them they had deserted from Falcon’s mercenary company, after one of their number had fallen victim to the mysterious attacks in Olrankan – which he added was also under siege at the moment. He told them that they had secured passage out of the city on the Marsh Runner - a sloop that regularly ran the blockade. Having got all they could from him,  Zaddion was all for disposing of him quietly, but Silvanus persuaded him to let the unfortunate go. 
 
They spent the night in a nearby warehouse, accompanied by the delightful odour of drying fish, and next morning went in search of the Marsh Runner. Unfortunately they discovered that the ship had departed on a run the previous afternoon and would not be back for a couple of days. Needing to find accommodation until the Marsh Runner returned, they found a flophouse near the wharves, where they spent a moderately unpleasant couple of days. 

On The third day, after making his way down to the wharves Zaddion spoke to Captain Ulrick and arranged passage to Olrankan. As they wanted to get into the blockaded city rather than get out of it Zaddion negotiated a cut-price deal for their transportation and that afternoon they set out.
 
As they settled down at a space on the deck indicated  by the bosun, Zaddion warily eyed the threatening black clouds, and sure enough, in short order the seas began to swell and the rain came pelting down. At shouted orders from the captain the crew rushed aloft and began taking- in sail just as the worst of the storm hit. Hunched together in a miserable huddle, the acolytes did what they could to stay as dry and warm as possible. Sister Jenna, her stomach already delicate, suffered terribly as the waves crashed against the ship which heaved and rolled in the storm.
 
Somehow they survived the night. The storm abated just before dawn, and colder wetter and more miserable than they could have believed they got their first view of Olrankan. The city had been built in a swampy area and most of the buildings were on stilts. There were numerous windmills dotted across the city obviously the major source of the city’s power. The landward side was protected by substantial walls and in the pre-dawn light they could see the muzzle-flashes and distant boom of cannon fire. They could also see a number on ponderous looking barges laden down with cannon that were blockading the port. Ulrick, swiftly ordered his crew aloft to make full sail and gather speed the Marsh Runner headed straight into the teeth of the blockade – seeming making for a gap between two of the barges.
 
There were a few nervous moments, but as the Marsh Runner squeezed through the gap, they could see the crew of the cannon-barges waving ironically at them - obviously Captain Ulrick had some kind of “arrangement” with the blockading forces. Their departure from the Marsh Runner was marred only by Silvanus falling into the docks and having to be fished out from the stinking swamp-water – a perfect end to a horrendous trip. After their miserable journey the acolytes decided that they needed to stay somewhere better than normal – particularly as Silvanus badly needed a bath. They took rooms at The Prince’s Head, a nearby inn, and settled in for a well-earned rest – punctuated by the occasional crash of a cannonball or volley of musket-fire from the walls. That night they settled down with a tankard or two the local rotgut to listen to the rumours in the taproom – finding more of the same kinds as on Emperor’s Island. They did ferret out  some additiona potentially useful information – all the attacks had taken place at night and mostly near the city walls – despite the fighting going on there – or indeed possibly because of it!

They also managed to obtain an impression of the genral layout of the city.Olrankan was divided into disctint areas – The Walls (where most of the fighting was); The Hovels (where most of the people actually lived); The Fabricators District (where most of the industry was) and The Hill (where the Prince and the other rich folk lived).

 Next morning, they set out to go the Walls to see if they could find out anything, however the were turned back from the area by the Plumes , the local enforcers, so called because of their extravagant hats with great feathered plumes. Noting that despite their odd attire, the Plumes were wearing modern armour and well-armed with modern weaponry they decided not to argue and headed through the Hovels toward the Hill. The Hill was fenced off from the rest of the city by a wooden palisade and was guarded by heavily armed Plumes. Zaddion and Silvanus noted Plumes' Headquarters building was nearby, so they decided to find a nearby hostelry and see whether they could pump any of the off-duty Plumes for further info.
 
By liberally spreading a few drinks and the charm around, Zaddion managed to get one of the officers to agree to show a bunch of inquisitive off-worlders the scene of one of the recent murders. Arriving at the crime scene  they began searching the area looking for tracks. Zaddion and Jenna  found faint tracks indicating that the body had been dragged into a nearby alleyway. in the alleyway they also found a strange three-toed footprint.  

They managed to follow the tracks with some difficulty as they searched around, but eventually lost the trail at the edge of the Fabricators District.

Once More into the Breach

 As the pondered their next move, the acolytes heard the now-familiar whistle if incoming artillery fire and dived for cover. One shell hit a nearby building showering theme with rubble and fragments of metal. Several more rounds of incoming fire came in. Obviously the enemy forces were laying down a barrage in this area. Suddenly the air was filled with the dull thump of a large explosion nearby, showering them with even larger pieced of rubble! Some 30 metres behind them, the huge city Wall had a gaping hole in it. Blue uniformed bodies of the troops who had been stationed there were lying twisted and broken in the rubble. Through the smoke and dust, the acolytes could see red-uniformed figures, muskets held high wading through the swamp.  The Plume officer who accompanied them, leaped to his feet crying – “they’ve breached the Wall!” Drawing his pistol, he called on the acolytes to help and charged towards the breach, only to fall instantly as a musket-ball took him in the head.
 
Realising that continuing their investigation might prove difficult with an army rampaging through the city sacking it, the acolytes charged forward into the breach drawing weapons. Silvanus tossed a fragmentation grenade into the first squad of enemy musketmen blowing them to smithereens! Zaddion’s efforts with a grenade were less successful – but at least he managed to avoid killing anyone on his own side! At first their modern weaponry gave them an advantage, but eventually it came down to hand-to-hand combat - punctuated by irregular artillery barrages!   The acolytes managed to hold the breach until Olrankan reinforcements arrived and helped drive off the assault. Leaving the Olrankan troopers to fill in the breach in the walls by piling rubble in the hole, the acolytes decided to return to the Prince’s Head for a well earned-rest – and another bath!
 
Next morning they restarted their investigations. Deciding they needed some expert help, Plax hired a shifty looking tracker called Gerd to help them follow the trail they had lost the following day. The tracker led them through the unpleasant maze of warehouses and factories eventually stopping near one warehouse where he pointed out the body had seemingly been dragged up onto the roof. Plax and Mercutio went round the front of the building but it was securely locked-up and there was no response to a knock on the door. According to the sign above the door, the warehouse belonged to the Samson Export Co. Plax went to the warehouse next door and asked the warehouse-keeper there where she might find the company’s office – not surprisingly she was informed it was down by the docks. So she and Mercutio headed off across the city.
 
Meanwhile, round the back, Rabelais used his warp-power and walked up the back wall of the warehouse. With his lack of tracking skills  he couldn’t see any traces of anything significant but he did discover the skylight to the warehouse was open, and peering into the darkness could see it was full of bales of something foul-smelling. Plax returned about 30 minutes later. She had obtained the key to the warehouse with a little bit of persuasion (and a large amount of waving about her Inquisitorial Rosette).
 
Inside, the warehouse was full of huge bales of something foul smelling, but apart from that they could see nothing unusual. They tried to convince Gerd to climb up the bales and see if he could find anything, but the weasel-eyed tracker too one look at the bales piled precariously towards the ceiling and refused. Rabelais opened the skylight and tossed down a rope, but even then Gerd wasn’t happy. Eventually Silvanus clambered up the bales but found little interesting apart from the curious fact that many of the bales near the top had been opened and some of the contents – sheets of dried but still foul-smelling vegetation of some kind – had been extracted.

Warehouse of Death

While Plax headed off to see if she could find a ladder that would enable them to get the reluctant tracker up to the roof, Silvanus continued poking around up there – but found little of interest. He then started climbing down to join Zaddion in the back alley. Unfortunately the guardsman slipped and came crashing down on the boardwalk – narrowly missing the swamp!  Plax returned with a ladder and they coaxed the reluctant Gerd up to the roof – but not even the experienced tracker could find anything of interest. Somewhat stumped for ideas, they decided to wait nor nightfall and stake out the warehouse. Mercutio took up station in the rear alleyway and Zaddion on the roof; Silvanus and Plax took up position across the street.
 
All was quiet around the Samson warehouse, but around 9.30, Mercutio spotted two men, leaving the rickety warehouse next door with large weed-wrapped bundles over their shoulders. One of the men was Smeed, the warehouse-keeper Plax had spoken to earlier. Thinking this was a strange time to be doing deliveries he called Plax and Zaddion on the vox-caster to alert them. Around an hour or so later the two returned and disappeared into the warehouse. While Zaddion dropped down from the roof of the Samson warehouse heading for a trapdoor he had spotted, Plax and the other headed straight for the front door, kicking the door in and announcing themselves as agents of the Inquisition.
 
The interior of the warehouse was dimly illuminated by oil lanterns. To one side was stacked long bundles wrapped in weeds and at the far end of the warehouse was a raised office. Two figures could be seen in the gloom, Smeed and his partner-in-crime Smoo. Silvanus ordered the two to surrender, but instead they turned, drawing snub-pistols. Silvanus fired off a bolt from his las-gun, hitting Smood who dived for cover behind a stack of bundles and fired back. Smeed, wounded by hits from Mercutio and Plax dived into the doorway of the office and fired a couple of rounds. On the roof Zaddion eased open the  trapdoor and looked down on the scene.
 
Deciding they needed to take prisoners rather than kill them, the acolytes drew melee weapons. Silvanus dashed forwards and, leaping over the bundles, clubbed Smood into unconsciousness. Mercutio charged the office, sword drawn, and swiped at Smeed’s leg - breaking it. The warehouse-keeper immediately fainted!
 
As things calmed down, Silvanus began trying to bring Smood round for interrogation – as he did however something leaped down from the rafters attacking him -  a xenos horror all teeth and claws. The xenos launched a ferocious assault n the guardsman ripping his arm from it’s socket in a welter of blood.   Plax and Mercutio immediately rushed too their colleague’s aid and with sword and hammer dispatched the foul creature – but it was too late for Silvanus.

From his vantage point above, Zaddion spotted another of the xenos ripping Smood’s throat out with a casual swipe of it’s claw. He opened fire, wounding the beast which snarled and leaped towards the office – obviously intending to finish off the unconscious Smeed. The acolytes managed to kill the horror before it could reach their last remaining prisoner.
 
Once things had settled they searched the warehouse – discovering that the weed-wrapped bundles were in fact bodies. Smeed, once brought round to consciousness, proved more than happy to spill his guts when they forcibly reminded him they were agents of the Inquisition. He claimed that they hadn’t killed anyone – they had simply been commissioned to collect bodies and deliver them to and old skymill at the edge of the swamp. He wasn’t able to tell them much more, and claimed to know nothing about the xenos.

Rather than inconvenience the local Plumes, Zaddion decided that Smeed was no longer required and the malefactor was sent to the Emperor’s judgement with a single bullet. After retrieving the pair's ill-gotten gains, they left the warehouse. As they did Zaddion casually tossed a frag grenade over his shoulder. The rickety building shuddered once and then collapsed with a graceless thud into the swamp. 

The Old Skymill

 As the Acolytes headed across the city to the old Skymill, a figure shrouded in a heavy-cloak approached them out of the gloom. In the moonlight, under the cloak, they could see the gleam of implants and they symbols  which identified the newcomer as a Tech-Priest. He introduced himself as Constantine, and showed his rosette identifying him as a member of the Inquisition. Constantine informed them he brought a message from Inquisitor Graves, requesting that they wrap up their investigations here as quickly as possible and return to Scintilla. Having delivered his message Constantine offered to assist them in completing their mission to which they readily agreed.
 
The old skymill was right on the edge of the city, in a run-down area which had been partially abandoned as the swamp encroached. The Acolytes his in an abandoned hovel about 100m form the skymill and hatched a plan of attack. Plax and Zaddion headed off on scouting missions to find an entry point – one crawling through the undergrowth the other wading through the swamp. Both found the skymill to be in considerable disrepair with walls broken down and many gaps and holes which let in the foetid swamp water. As they got close they could also detect the too-familiar reek of the charnel house emanating from within. They called back on the vox-casters to the others to come-up. Mercutio and Constantine headed to join Plax while Sister Jenna waded into the swap to join Zaddion. Rabelais in the meantime, decided to go his own way and headed for what looked like a loading bay. Co-ordinated by their vox-casters the acolytes simultaneously entered the building – apart from Jenna and Constantine who had some problems wriggling through the holes they’d chosen.
 
Within the source of the charnel-house reek was all too apparent – bodies littered the floor of the skymill in various stages of decomposition and many appeared to be dismembered and partially consumed. The sight was horrific enough that the acolytes were shaken and the hardened guardsman Mercutio even fainted dead away! In the face of such horror, the acolytes deployed carefully into the building with weapons drawn. Zaddion reached the foot of the staircase that led up the skymill, when what looked like one of the bodies leaped off the pile and attached him. His mind had just time  to register what looked like humanoid figure composed entirely of worms before it shut down in denial at what it had seen!
 
Rabelais and Plax moved forward to engage, as did Jenna and Constantine (once they had extricated themselves from where they were stuck in the walls). After a brief firefight they drove the loathsome xenos up the stairs – even though the weapons they had brought to bear seemed woefully underpowered against their loathsome opponent who fired back with some kind of unknown energy weapon. The all were shaken and disturbed by what they had seen. Mercutio, recovering from his faint joined them and, somewhat reluctantly they made their way upstairs.
 
When they reached the top of the skymill, they found two of the loathsome creatures accompanied by two of their fearsome “hounds”. The first of the slaugth ordered their pets to attack and the acolytes crashed up the stair, firing as they came.  Constantine’s auto-shotgun proved a most effective weapon against the hounds and the others concentrated their fire on the loathsome slaugth and one was driven off into the swamp and the other slain.
 
After a search of the premises the acolytes found evidence that this slaugth incursion was part of a wider infiltration by the xenos into the Calixis Sector and resolved to report their findings to Inquisitor Graves with some urgency.