Tattered Fates

The Red Cages

Muzzy-headed and befuddled by a cocktail of drugs, the Acolytes awake naked on the sandy floor of; a deep pit. Around them others, equally befuddled were awakening to the unpleasant surroundings - the floor of the pit was stained in blood and cracked and broken bones protruded from the sand.. The machine-spirits in Constantine's enhancements appeared to have been quieted somehow, and all were suffering from serious gaps in their memories, and for this first time in his life, Rabelais was unable to feel the uncomfortable nearness of the Warp. Zadion and Mercutio began exploring the pit - looking for some means of escape, while Plax tried to comfort some of the other captives, leading them in a somewhat befuddled, though rousing prayer to the Emperor.

Suddenly Zaddion and Plax noticed, an eerie howling noise coming from one of the vents that were evenly spaced around the walls. Fearing the worst, the Acolytes took up defensive positions, grabbling up pieces of bone to use a makeshift weapons! And indeed one of the grates started to raise, as the howling got closer. The grate stopped about half-way up as a seething mass of bone and meat  erupted from the darkness of the tunnel. Struggling and tearing at each other  in their haste to reach the pit a pack of hideous creatures, lean, feral things of jutting bones, and red-glistening muscle. One, faster than the others bonded ahead and leaped at one of ht other captives, showering Plax in gore. Fortunately the press of the creatures stopped more than one or two getting through at a time as the acolytes defended themselves with bits of bone or their bare hands. Zaddion spotted a figure, with an elaborate bird-mask moving about above, and a rusted iron ladder suddenly unfurled itself on the side of the pit. Rabelais tried to help two of the other captives up the ladder, but only one - Rumbolt managed to escape along with the acolytes.
Above the pit was a wide gantry with several exits - one of which was part open. There was also a control panel beside which Constantine found a body of a guard - presumably killed by their masked friend. The guard's throat had been cut and a cryptic note warning of danger pinned to a vis-screen with an expensive looking dagger. The acolytes recovered a stub-pistol and a meat-hook form the corpse and set out to explore further their surroundings. Their surroundings turned out to be a maze of twisting corridors and ducts - the air foetid and unpleasant. They managed to find some scraps of clothing in some abandoned lockers and then rested before setting out once more through the twisting labyrinth. At one point as they had to traverse a rickety looking gantry, it partially collapsed nearly catapulting Constantine into the abyss of a huge heating vent, and trapping Mercutio, Rumbolt and Rabelais on one side and Zaddion, Plax and Constantine on the other!

Mutation’s Edge

As slowly and cautiously the other acolytes made their way across the partially suspended gangway, Plax surveyed the area they now found themselves in. This are seemed even more poorly maintained than the one they had left, water ran down the sides of the walls, and any exposed metals were pitted with rust and the air hung heavy with a rank chemical smell. As they moved forward into the darkness, Plax was convinced she heard something ahead and signalled the others to stop. She moved forward silently to a n intersection and peered into a vaulted chamber. The chamber was lit by smoking torches, at the far end a huge pipe disgorged chemical waste into an open sewer, four mutants shuffled about the area apparently harvesting foul-looking algae that grew on the sodden walls of the chamber. Motioning the others forward, she immediately leaped in to a charge, her meat-hook swinging viciously into a surprised mutant. The other acolytes swiftly joined her making short work of the pitiful creatures. A search of the area revealed what looked like the mutant band’s living quarters scattered with rubbish, small animal bones (and not a few that looked disturbingly human). Nearby they also found a chamber where a foul idol stood, in front of it the body of a man – apparently a maintenance worker - who appeared to have slit his own throat in a foul offering. Plax moved forward to destroy the idol, when Zaddion suddenly stiffened as an unclean spirit attempted to possess him. Fortunately he managed to shake off the attempt as did Plax and Mercutio in turn. Rabelais, his psychic abilities still suppressed by the drugs in his system, having wisely left the room at the first sign of trouble! Assured, that having destroyed the idol, the unclean spirit would find it’s rest, they moved on through the twisting corridors, eventually finding themselves at the base of a shaft. Above them they could see the suspended wreckage of several gantries that had fallen from above, and trapped in the twisted metal was a body. Plax decided to climb up to investigate and after much ado eventually made it. She noted that the body had a holstered las-pistol and resolved to try and secure it for the party. Reaching out to haul the body out of the wreckage and let it fall below, she suddenly notice a frag-grenade attached to the belt – a somewhat corroded looking frag-grenade! She called a warning below, allowing the others to clear the area and then hauled the body out with a jerk. The body fell below and there was a dull thud followed by a sharp explosion. Fortunately, they were able to recover the las-pistol, and a few bits of carapace armour, unfortunately all the noise had alerted a couple of predators who leaped down out of the darkness and attacked them. After a brief struggle, and helped by their new acquisition, the acolytes were victorious,

Vault 13

After wandering for some time through the twisting maze of dark passages the acolytes heard a strange chittering sounds coming towards them in the darkness. Plax stood ready, her length of pipe in her hand, peering into the darkness. While Zaddion and Constantine readied,  Rabelais stood at the back with Rumbolt, asking nervously what was going on. Barely able to see in the darkness, Suddenly Plax found herself confronting a swarm of crab-spiders. The swarm spilt into three, one aiming directly for her, the other two swarming along the walls to her comrades. Shouting a warning to her friends, the cleric swung her length of pipe at the spiders crushing several,  but there were too many of them and they began crawling all over her, nipping at her with their mandibles. Rabelais and Rumbolt immediately fled back along the corridor they had come, quickly followed by Zaddion and Mercutio. Plax too fled and Zaddion was able to help her brush the loathsome creatures off her before they could do too much damage. Rather than rest here, they decided to press on. As they marched through endless dark corridors, often having to turn back on themselves due to collapses or flooding, there much debate about whether to adopt a more structured approach to navigating this warren or just wander aimlessly. Mercutio, the discipline of his Imperial Guard training shining through, strongly argued they should actually try to work out a logical approach, but the others seemed disinclined and were content to wander aimlessly. After a couple of hours they found themselves crossing a walkway , which suddenly began moving down and across the shaft it spanned. Rabelais nearly toppled off, but fortunately Zaddion was able to grab him before he fell.

The walkway now led to a section of tunnels that were lit once more by ancient glow-lamps. This area seemed in better repair than the one they had left and it was not long before they heard voices and the baying of some beast. They quickly dodged into cover and watched as three men clad in crudely stitched clothes of rough red cloth and un-tanned hides, each wearing a mask, attempted to manoeuvre a recalcitrant beast down the corridor. They divided to follow after and in short order found themselves in the entranceway to a huge vault. The centre of the vault was dimply lit by three enormous glow-lamp suspended from the ceiling, and the vault itself was packed with crates, beast-cages, thumping  machinery and around thirty or so of the masked figures, some heavily armed. Asking Rumbolt to remain hidden near they entrance they edged across the dimly lit area using the scattered piles of crates for cover.

Near them they could see two of the masked men who appeared to be clearing cages, and beyond that what looked like an imperial Guard medical drop-pod. As they watched a jackal-masked and armoured figure strode out of the pod accompanied by two hereteks. The men appeared to be arguing and as they strained to hear they heard jackal-mask mention an Inquisitor and gesture into the pod. He was obviously displeased with the hereteks responses, as a moment  later he gestured towards one and metal wires sprung out of his glove, electrocuting him. As two heavily armed and armoured guards moved out of the darkness to accompany him , Jackal-mask then strode off heading for an elevator in the centre of the vault. The other heretek without a glance at this colleague went back into the medical pod.
"After a brief consultation, they decided they needed to get closer nd resolved to grab the two men working at the cages in order to get their gear. Figuring that several hours of strenuous effort may have dimmed the effect of the drugs coursing his system, Rabelais decided to try his psyker abilities and managed to summon a glowing ball of light. He then made a noise to try and tempt them to investigate. When the men came over, curious about the glow, the others leaped out from the darkness and clubbed them to the ground.

Zaddion and Rabelias stripped the men and donned their unpleasant outfits, they made their way to the medical pod. Zaddion opened the door to what looked more like a torture chamber than a medical facility. The heretek was accompanied by two servo-skulls. As the heretek looked up form what he was working on – what looked like the mutilated body of a man - Zaddion attempted some pretence about coming to clean the place before using one of his abilities to mask his position.

The Inquisitor

Unimimpressed by their claims of only being here to clean-up , and particularly at Zaddion’s efforts at “sweeping” using a shovel, the heretek brusquely ordered them out. Hearing a tortuned moan from what he had thought to be a corpse on the operating table, Zaddion suddenly charged forward drawing a gun and pointing it directly at the heretek  ordering him to stand his guardian drones down. Rabelais meanwhile had charged forward and swung (somewhat ineffectually) at one of the drones with his shovel. Once the heretek was secured, Rabelais silently motioned  Plax and Mercutio forward.   

 While Mercutio stripped the heretek of his robes and gear. P;lax stood watch in the doorway while Zaddion and Rabelais questioned the badly mutilated man discovering that at he was in fact an Inquisitor – Karkalla. Though obviously dying, and keeping himself alive this long by force of will alone, Karkalla managed to impart some important information. He told them that they were on the planet of Quaddis, in the underworld of the city of Xicarph. He had been sent to investigate the activities of The Beast House, a group of slavers who also traded in forbidden xenos. He and his retinue had been ambushed and he had been brought here and tortured. The leader of the slavers – the Jackal Masked man – was involved in some insane plot also involving the Heron Masked man Zaddion had seen help free them from the pit. Before he died Karkalla warned them that whatever plot was afoot threatened Quaddis and every living soul on it and charged the acolytes to stop it.

 Mercutio put on the heretek’s robes and tied him up, while Zaddion and Rabelais then set about creating a funeral pyre for the fallen Inquisitor. They placed a bottle of surgical spirit next to a promethium canister and using spirit-soaked bandages as a fuse, set it alight and they hurriedly left. Attempting to look as if they were escorting the heretek and a prisoner, they made their way towards the elevator. Unfortunately one of the groups of guards they passed noticed the lack of cybernetic implants on Mercutio and challenged them. A fire-fight broke out which rapidly summoned more guards. After helping deal with the first lot, Plax and Rabelais broke for the elevator and summoned it. Zaddion and Mercutio held the rearguard, Mercutio using one of the fallen guard’s body as impromptu armour. Plax   meanwhile had spotted a  Walker nearby and climbing into it, managed to invoke its machine spirits to works and then moving forward went into “hulk smash” mode, crashing through the slavers, it’s mighty metal arms soon coated in blood and gore.   

 Eventually, the elevator arrived and the acolyte started piling in, Zaddion suddenly remembered Rumboldt who they had left at the entrance. He dashed across the Vault, ignoring the guards at the far side of the Vault who were finally starting to react, he grabbed Rumboldt and hurried back dodging bullets. As the elevator rose up into the darkness of the Vault, bullets pinged noisily off the underside as the remaining guards finally reacted to the escape.  

The Upper Levels

As the elevator-platform neared the top of the ascent, they began taking fire from above. Zaddion and Mercutio fired back. The first of the two guards above went down and the other guard's pump-action shotgun jammed. By the time he had cleared the jam, the elevator had reached that level and Zaddion and Plax finished him off. They were in the process of stripping the corpses of weapons and ammunition when they were interrupted by a large group of guards charging down the corridor towards them firing wildly.
 
Deciding that discretion was the better part of valour they took to their heels, eventually managing to lose their pursuers in the warren of tunnels. They decided to try and find somewhere to hole-up, Rabelais in particular, exacerbated by lack of food, was exhausted by their recent  exertions. As they searched they passed through a large room, where two servitors with huge metal claws in place of hands, were tending a massive vat. From a shaft high above, animal and beast carcasses fell into the vat, to be rendered down by whirling blades into an awful red slurry that gurgled in a lake of blood beneath the mesh-grated floor.

One of the servitors seemed to think that they had somehow escaped from the vat and tried to grab one of them to return them there! It was a bit dicey for Zaddion at one point, and he was grabbed but eventually both servitors were destroyed.
 
After resting in a nearby side-chamber they moved on, seeking a away out of the under-city.

An hour or so later they were met by a strange and sinister sight - a vault that opened up into what appeared to be a a once elegant but now abandoned and decrepit mansion, set amidst dead grey soil and withered trees. The eerie scene was lit from above by a broken lumen-sphere set into the arched ceiling. Feeling uneasy they nonetheless moved forward to investigate. If this house had been inhabited at some time there must be some way to get from it to the city above.

As they approached the eerie atmosphere began to get to them - Zaddion in particular feeling it's effect. Suddenly his nerve broke and laughing manically he began attacking Rabelais. Plax and Mercutio moved to restrain their disturbed friend. Rabelais meanwhile began hitting him with an iron bar - in an attempt to beat some sense into him presumably!

Eventually Zaddion snapped out of it and they Acolytes regarded the silent mansion warily.

The Dead House

Summoning up their collective nerve, Plax led the way while the remaining  acolytes entered into the ruined house behind her somewhat reluctantly. It was dark inside, the air inside was musty with the faint scent of old blood and rotting flesh, the atmosphere thick with menace.

Zaddion immediately began shaking and throwing up, while the hardened Mercutio passed out in a dead faint! Rabelais sensed something very bad had happened here and immediately summed a light using his psychic powers.  They made their way through to the kitchen, finding an elevator that might lead up the city useless without power. Searching the kitchen for food and water they were attacked by a pack of vapour rats that were swiftly dealt with. In short order Zaddion had a fire going fashioned from bits of broken furniture and the rats were roasting on a spit. Even sat by a cheery fire, the oppressive nature of the house was overwhelming and before long they felt the urge to press on. Someone suggested that there might be a generator in the basement with which they might be able to restore power to the lift. They found the entrance to the cellar in the scullery, but when the door was opened they were assailed by the reek of death. Moving even more cautiously down the darkened stairs, again led by Plax, they found a storeroom with two exits. As they stepped off of the satirs they were attacked by two Risen Dead.

Zaddion, already unsettled, was frozen in fear as one of the Dead attacked him. But Fortuanately Rabelais and Mercutio were able to deal with his opponent, while Plax dealt with the others

The Dead Master

Having disposed of two zombies, the Acolytes moved deeper into the dark basement only for Mercutio and Plax to be attacked by two more of the Risen Dead. Zaddion, badly affected by what had already happened cowered back, till Rabelais managed to bolster his courage using his Powers, after which he launched into combat shotgun blazing! After that they quickly located an emergency generator, unfortunately lacking in fuel. They found some in a storeroom, which they reached after battling some zombie dogs. With the offering of promethium Plax was able to coax the machine spirits of the generator to life and the basement suddenly blazed with light. Making their way back upstairs to the kitchen they were met by the sound of shuffling feet moving about upstairs.

They quickly headed  to the lift in the hallway to be greeted by numerous Risen Dead shambling down the stairs and through the dooryard either side of the hall. One of the dead was large and bloated  it’s foetid skin graven with symbols of Chaos. Zaddion, already in a funk, began pressing the call-button on the lift furiously, attempting to invoke it’s machine spirits to respond quicker. The sight of this fearsome  undead , caused Mercutio to faint again. Plax took up a defensive stance near the lift, and engaged in combat. The bloated zombie, raised his arms and launched a bolt of electricity crackling toward Rabelais - this abomination had retained his sorcerous powers in undeath! As his comrades engaged the lesser zombies, Rabelais called on his power, retaliating against the undead sorcerer with a series of Force Bolts. Mercutio managed to recover and joined Plax in holding back the swarm while Rabelais and the sorcerer launched crackling bolts of energy at each other. Plax, sensing an opportunity, smashed through the zombies surrounding her and launched herself at the sorcerer, club swinging, just as Rabelais launched another Force Bolt! The sorcerer crumpled to the ground, and as he did the other zombies also slumped inert and still once more.

The threat of the Risen Dead dealt with the party searched the rest of the mansion, managing to clothe themselves in a motley collection of finery from the noble’s closets and even managing to recover a stash of Throne Gelt from a safe in the master bedroom. Zaddion eventually managed to coax the machine spirits into opening  the lift door, and collecting  Rumbolt from where they had left him in the kitchen they ascended towards the city of Xicarph

The elevator emerged with a shuddering stop into broad daylight. They were atop a marble platform and appeared to be in the midst of a revel. Blinking in the unaccustomed light, the acolytes stared about themselves struck dumb by the incongruity as music played and gaily clad citizens cavorted around them,

Seek the White Scholar

As they wandered round the revelry-filled streets of Xicarph on the planet Quaddis, the somewhat dazed and bemused acolytes took in their surroundings. A crystal dome spanned over the city and the buildings, and people past whom they wandered, were plush and richly appointed. Quaddis was obviously a planet of plenty! They quickly gathered that the city was celebrating the Festival of Tattered Fates.

Rumboldt, grateful for having been saved form a doubtless unpleasant fate, offered to put them up in his apartment in the Guild Sector, which offer the Acolytes gratefully accepted. The accommodations were a bit cramped, however at least it was clean. After bathing and cleaning themselves up, they gathered in Rumboldt’s rooms to consider their options. The obvious course of action was to locate “The White Scholar” as advised by Inquisitor Karcalla, but they had no idea how to locate him in the middle of a city whose current population was boosted by the attendees for the Carnival ! Mercutio quizzed Rumboldt as to where a scholar might be found in the city and was advised to try the Refutation sector, populated mainly by the archivars and scholars of the city, all drawn together in this place to record and collect the hundreds of noble houses and the ways the crossed and united during the time of the Festival of Tattered Fates

After resting they headed out. Rabelais only managed to get them lost once, and they eventually arrived in the Refutation. The buildings in this area were mostly libraries and seats of learning, and although the buildings were still splendid, it an a faded splendour. Although the carnival still thronged the streets,  there was an air of weariness and almost desperation beneath the gaiety.   One huge building bore the seal of the Imperium and Rabelais led the others in a bee-line to it, presumably seeking some Imperial backup.  When they arrived however the place was eerily silent, there was no sign of the usual queues outside an office of the Administratum, nor indeed any sign of life at all in the massive building.

Rabelais hammered on the door and some time later was answered by a querulous voice, refusing them admittance. Rabelais asked about an appointment with the Prefecta only to be told that the only way to secure a meeting with the Prefecta was at a meeting with the Prefecta! Plax then tried to convince the elderly official that they were representatives of the Inquisition but when pressed to prove it, had no way of doing so. Eventually Zaddion took over and managed to con the old man that they were a team of auditors from the Administratum sent to check the books. This, somehow, seemed to work and they were ushered into the cavernous interior of the Administratum, where rows of silent servitors churned out reams of paper to be collected by other servitors. As the old man led them through a huge series of vaults filled with shelves that groaned under the weight of paperwork no one had ever read, they pumped him for information, quickly discovering that Quaddis appeared to have been basically forgotten by the Administratum, and no-one had even bothered to appoint an Imperial Governor since the death of the last one. There was no formal Inquisition or Arbites presence on the planet, so no likely backup there. The administrator told them that the Festival happened every 60 years or so when a planetary alignment known as the Grand Conjunction occurred. Due to the gravitation fluxes caused by the alignment, it is impossible to leave the city until the Grand Conjunction has come and gone. He also told them that during the Conjunction, all laws of the Imperium can be broken, and it will be a period of great violence and chaos in the city.

Eventually leaving the Administratum they eventually located the White Scholar in the Athenaeum – on of the huge Archive dotted around the area. They quickly convinced him of their identity using the pass-phase Karkalla had given them before he died and the Scholar began filling them in on what he had discovered.  It appeared that Karkalla and his retinue had been investigating the Beast House for smuggling dangerous xenos for the arenas of Xicarph when they had stumbled on to something far darker. One of their leaders, the Heron Mask, apparently was plan to use the blood and chaos of the Grand Conjunction for some dark purpose of his own that threatened every living soul on the planet. His researches on behalf of ther Inmquisitor had found a myriad on seemingly unconnected events all of wwhich were really inextricalby interlinked. The Pilgrims of Hayte, who wore heron masks, were involved - a cult who liked nothing better than to go out into the Carnival and create bloody mayhem - normally thorugh indiscriminate use of grenades. There was also somehow a link to a mysterious serial-killer called The Widower and all of it was connected to the legacy of the Haarlock family, the oldest noble family on the planet, and the Masqued ball scheduled to occur on the estate to celebrate the Conjunction. The Scholar also suggested that if more information, and acess to the Masque,  was needed someone called the Spider Bride in the city would be the best source. Just as the Scholar was telling them more about the mysterious Spider Bride they were interrupted by the arrival of a group of heron-masked men whom the White Scholar identified as Pilgrims of Hayte. The Pilgrims drew weapons and demanded the White Scholar be handed over to them.

Though outnumbered and seriously unprepared the Acolytes moved to defend the White Scholar. As the bullets flew and chain-knifes buzzed, battle was joined. What would have been a fearsome encounter was suddenly  curtailed a Rabelais hit one of the Pilgrims of Hayte with a force bolt - taking him out in the act of throwing a grenade.  This caused the unfortunate cultist to kill most of his comrades in the resultant explosion - severely evening the odds and allowing the under-equipped Acolytes to prevail.

Preaching to the Converted

Leaving the White Scholar, the Acolytes decided to try and locate the mysterious Spider Bride in the hope she might be able to give them more information about what was going on. As they crossed one of the city squares Zaddion notice a small crowd gathering around a preacher of the Imperial Cult. As they passed by they heard a reference to “heron mask” in his ranting and stopped to listen. The preacher was ranting against someone called “The Beloved”, a false prophet masked like a heron. Intrigued the moved forward to listen, as they did a huge brawl broke out in the audience. Suddenly Mercutio spotted one of the a man, dressed like the Pilgrims of Hayte they had fought earlier, draw a dagger from beneath his robe and begin making his way towards the preacher’s back. Mercutio called out a warning and dived into the brawling crowd, swiftly followed by the rest of the acolytes.

Zaddion, used to navigating unruly crowds in his homeworld, was first to make it through the melee, and immediately confronted the Pilgrim, drawing his weapons. As the cultist lunged at Zaddion with his dagger, Rabelais cast a force bolt. The impact of the force bolt knocked the cultist to the ground causing him to drop the dagger, which Zaddion immediately kicked away. The Pilgrim began laughing hysterically and reached under his robes for a grenade.

Zaddion immediately leaped towards the unsuspecting preacher to protect him. The Preacher, seeing only an armed man lunging towards him, dodged Zaddion’s attempt to get him to cover, just as the grenade went off. The cultist was splattered all over the square, but Zaddion, the Preacher and a newly arrived Mercutio were caught in the blast. As the crowd rapidly dispersed, Rabelais dashed forward and used this ability to heal the Preacher after which he helped the old man to his feet. The Preacher introduced himself as Obadiah and thanking them, invited the Acolytes back to his lodgings for a meal.

Once secure in the Obadiah’s lodgings, he told them that his small congregation had been taken over by a smooth talking, self-styled prophet, calling himself The Beloved, who wore a heron mask. Obadiah told them he was convinced The Beloved was tainted by Chaos. When Obadiah told them he had been trying to raise support to confront this false prophet, Rabelais immediately offered the services of the Acolytes to assist.   Next morning they set off, accompanied by the few brave sould Obidiah had managed to raise for his “army” and headed towards the Shattered Palace’s area of the city. They found the door of the small chapel open and a scene of carnage greeted them on entering. The chapel had been desecrated, daubed with symbols of chaos and the slaughtered remains of Obadiah’s parishioners lay scattered in the pews. A huge pool of blood lay before the desecrated altar and Obadiah stood before it in disbelief. 

Suddenly the pool began to roil and heave and three Horrors of Tzeench erupted from it and tore into Obadiah and two of his men – killing them instantly. Confronted by such horror the rest of Obadiah’s small army fled. The acolytes made of sterner stuff moved to confront these very manifestations of Chaos. As the battle raged, things took a turn for the worse when the continued manifestation of his psyker powers caused Rabelais to fall foul of the perils of the warp causing a spate of mass possessons in the area. The demons proved fearsome foes and Zaddion, Rabelais and Mercutio were near to death before the demons were finally despatched. A search of the scene revealed some partially destroyed documents. The documents included astronomical and astrological data concerning the coming planetary alignment as well as genealogical charts relating to the Haarlock family and showing a connection to a Melua family.

The Spider Bride

After causing a major outbreak of demonic possession, Rabelais felt the least he could do was to treat everyone to a slap-up lunch, so off they all trotted to a nearby café. While there much of the discussion among the patrons was to do with another murder apparently by the quasi-mythical serial killer known as The Widower. Following up the lead the
 White Scholar had given them they quizzed the patrons.  It quickly became apparent that about half the people there though The Widower was just a bogeyman that authorities pinned murders they couldn’t solve on, where others were convinced he was real.  After a leisurely lunch they headed off to the “Akasen Follies”, the pleasure district housed in a giant garden-like area of the city, in search of the mysterious information broker known as the Spider Bride. 
 
Plax and Mercutio spent some time asking around for the Spider Bride, but aside from somewhat fearful looks, they got nothing. Eventually Rabelais was approached by a young masked woman who told him that if they would meet the Spider Bride to return in two hours. This they did, to be met by the woman who offered them silken blindfolds. They were led through the Akasen Follies and brought into the presence of the Spider Bride.
 
The Spider Bride agreed to give the Acolytes an invitation to the Revel of Darkness to be held at Gabriel Chase if they agreed to “deliver” a present from her to someone called Papa Grist, which they agreed to. She also told them that The Widower was bound to the Haarlock line and his apparently random murders were an attempt to extinguish the bloodline and make himself free. She also warned that Heron Mask walked with the Ruinous Powers and that both his schemes and the schemes of The Widower could lead to great destruction. The “present” was an ebony and silver casket which Rabelais took possession off and they headed out into the city to find Papa Grist.
 
They eventually tracked Pap Grist to his gambling joint – Fate’s Wheel, in the Promenade District. Eventually they secured a meeting with Papa grist, who opened the box. Out of the box the spider bride had given them, a little servo- spider appeared, which, jumped at Grist instantaneously and decapitated him!
 
Immediately al hell broke out as Grist’s bodyguards and the club’s bouncers attacked. While the others fought for their lives, Zaddion, still suffering from the horrors of the undercity, was paralyzed with fear and hid behind a table firing the odd shot here and there. After a veritable bloodbath the acolytes managed to escape.

Gabriel Chase

Returning to their digs, the Acolytes began their preparations for attending the Revel, of Darkness. They decided that Plax should go to the masque as on of the nobility and the rest would be her retinue and bodyguards.  As they went out into the ridden town to purchase suitable garments, it quickly became apparent that the situation in the city was reaching fever-point. The tension in the air was palpable and was only exacerbated by word spreading of another series of brutal and unnatural murders being blamed on the legendary Widower.

By late afternoon their preparations were complete and they joined the queue for entry to the estate that dominated the centre of the city. Fortunately the invitation that the Spider Bride had provided them was genuine and they were able to join the party without incident. As they walked up the impressive driveway through the wooded estate each of the acolytes could feel their sense of foreboding growing. Rabelais with his warp-attuned senses could feel the very fabric of space and time warping around him as unwholesome energies moved to a peak.  On arrival at the manse they were greeted by a liveried functionary who basically told them that the whole estate was open to everyone throughout the night but that guests were requested to assemble in the Theatre of Clocks before the Steel Clock at the 13th Hour.

The party was in full swing, and looked like it had been for some time. Music played, wine flowed as liveried attendants moved soundlessly through the assembled nobles and merchants while steely eyed bodyguards watched the revels impassively. Beneath all the gaiety was an aura of quiet desperation and the sense that everyone was on a hair-trigger. Plax began circulating to see what gossip she could pick up, while Mercutio made a bee-line for the Steel Clock and began examining its twisting  workings. Inside the clockwork a massive pendulum swung waited with a curious crystalline rock about the size of a fist. Rabelais, as he followed Plax, informed him that the Steel Clock was the focus of al the energies swirling about the gathering.  As he stood there he was approached by an old nobleman who introduced himself as Vipus. Vipus was a garrulous character who regaled Mercutio with lurid tales of the Haarlock  family, about their massive wealth gained through their trading across 100 different systems, how the last lord of the line - Erasmus - had lost his wife in daughter in a family feud and hen exacted revenge by slaughtering his entore extended family, how according to legend the Widower was linked to the Haarlock line and somehow linked to the Steel Clock.

As Plax circulated she worked in her conversations as to whether anyone had seen any of the Melua family in attendance. One of the guests suggested he had seen Lord Lar’ax Melua in one of the libraries. Followed by Zaddion and Rabelais, Plax set off to locate the young lord. As they walked through the labyrinthine passageways of the Manse, Zaddion happened to glace down a side-passage where a young woman was walking – somewhat unsteadily. Suddenly an arm snaked out of nowhere and dragged her backwards. Alerting Rabelais, the two darted down the passage. When they arrived there was no sign of the woman or her assailant; however there were obvious signs of blood-spatter on the floor and wall. Examining the wall, they found a secret passage, inside which two Pilgrims of Hayte stood over the woman’s body. A brief fire fight ensued in which the acolytes prevailed. Another two Pilgrims were quickly despatched at the far end of the passageway which contained two spy-holes into the Library.

In the Libray they could see Plax talking to a pale-faced young man. She had  located Lord Lar’ax. Lar’ax did not look at all well; he stared vacantly off into space and was uncommunicative, though was compliant when Plax moved him to a nearby seat. As she did she noted that the front of his shirt was sodden with blood. As Plax opened his jacket, Zaddion and Rabelais arrived in time to see her open the young lord’s  shirt they saw in horror that his chest had been ripped open and his heart removed yet somehow he maintained a ghastly semblance of life.

Mercutio meanwhile had left the Hall of Clocks in search of her comrades, on her way a particular painting caught his eye. The painting was massive depicting a starship in the Haarlock livery orbiting  a planet above which a black sun burned. The painting was titled The Death of Tanis, and it’s edges covered in occult runes and symbols and the guardsman resolved to bring Rabelais and Plax back to see it.

On seing the painting Plax and Rabelais were able to decipher the words "distortion", "slaughter", "time" and "captivity", repeated several times..

The 13th Hour

While Plax cruised the party seeking the last surviving Melua,  Lord Lar’ax’s sister, Rabelais and Zaddion maintained a close watch over the Steel Clock as it counted down the hours. With each hour’s passing the tension rose, tempers frayed and propensity towards violence ramped up, especially after the skies began to darken as the Grand Conjunction began. Plax eventually located the Lady Dul’andra and escorted her to where her brother was being cared fro for fearful servants and a somewhat nonplussed physician unsure whether to attempt to treat the young lord or to simply take him to a mortuary!  

As the sun began to be occluded and the darkness deepened, servants began lighting candles, as unnatural energies swirled round the mansion the Pilgrims of Hayte continued their random assassinations and  occasionally The Widower struck  – once scant metres  from where Rabelais stood observing the Steel Clock and the energies swirling about it. Several times various members of the party though they spotted Jackal Mask moving through the crowd but of Heron Mask there was no sign. However the presence of the Pilgrims of Hayte strongly hinted he was around somewhere . As the 12th hour rang out the energies began to crescendo causing fits, sometimes fatally in those of a less strong mind-set. As Rabelais and Zaddion noted that the hundreds of clocks in the hall began to synchronise their ticking with that of the steel clock , Plax rejoined them in the main hall and all of the  other guests began to congregate. As the 13th hour began to ring the hall was plunged into an unnatural darkness, blanking out even the candlelight. When the darkness lifted moments later the Steel Clock was daubed in blood and a shocked Plax recognised the be-ringed severed hand of Dul’andra placed atop the mechanism.

When  the 13th and final chime rang out there was a moment’s silence an expectation of the violence that was about to erupt as the Emperor’s Law was suspended. But before anything could happen Heron-mark leaped onto the plinth which the Steel Clock stood atop and began addressing the stunned audience using the sorcerous power of his voice to ensnare his victims in the lure of the Ruinous Powers. His oration was rudely interrupted when Jackal Mask strode forward and challenged him. As Heron Mask reacted angrily, drawing a power sword, Jackal Mask removed his mask, then the face beneath, to reveal a protoplasmic mass of writhing flesh. Heron Mask called out “The Widower!” before leaping to attack.

Before the acolytes could react, they were assaulted by waves of Pilgrims of Hayte. Zaddion, not messing about, went on fully-auto - spraying bullets into their assailants. Rabelais started hurling force bolts into them and Plax loosed her great-hammer (from where she had somehow secreted it in her party frock) and waded in! The carnage quickly escalated through the crowd of onlookers, who finally succumbed to the Revel of Darkness in an orgy of violence.

The first wave was swiftly dealt with but before they could catch breath a grenade went off right next to them causing carnage and a second wave was upon them. As this second wave was being dealt with the capricious nature of the Warp intervened as one of Rabelais’s powers back-lashed casting his consciousness into the startled form of a nearby nobleman across the hall.As he made his way back to the combat it gave Rabelais a moment to think and ponder on something Mercutio had said earlier about the Steel Clock, it’s pendulum, and the link between it and the Widower. He fired off a couple of shots from the nobleman’s las-pistol to no effect and even tossed a couple of coins towards  it – presumably to see whether the Emperor’s visage on the coins had any beneficial effect!

Zaddion and Plax meanwhile had disposed of the last of the Pilgrims of Hayte and had finally turned their attention to the real threat – the Widowe. They were just in time to see the Widower rip Heron Mask’s head from his shoulders. Immediately, ignoring their wounds, the acolytes charged into the fray. The Widower was a fearsome opponent  extruding, beaks claws and biting jaws from his protean form to attack them. Zaddion unloaded round after round into the creature while Plax pounded on him with her great-hammer. Unfortunately, the Widower though not impervious to the damage seemed to heal as fast as he was hurt, his ever shifting form absorbing and reforming the wounds dealt to him. In return he was dealing fearsome damage to the acolytes battling him and they had to call often of fate to protect them from the fearsome wounds dealt. Rabelais making his was closer to the Steel Clock had time to launch off a series of force bolts before reaching his destination and beginning to try and wrench the pendulum from the mechanism, however as eEven the doughtiest or warriors could only take that damage for so long and Zaddion paid the ultimate price for his service to the Emperor

Eventually Rabelais succeeded in his attempt, but as he wrenched the heart-stone from the pendulum, the Steel Clock exploded in a mess to twisted metal, with shrapnel going everywhere. As the Steel Clock exploded, the Widower’s form slumped into an incoherent mess of protoplasmic flesh till only the face remained, still babbling incoherently.