Inactive Inquisition Quest: Mysteries of Brocante

[True Ukrainian]

BA

 

[ChumBucket]

I'm with Cap on this:
B Burn it.
B No. This knowledge is too dangerous.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

BB.

 

[Baltika9]

B Burn it.
A Yes, after all, knowledge is power...

Balda is the brains of this operation and an aspiring inquisitor, and this is stuff that we need to know.

 

[Azira]

DEVOUR SOUL!

 

[baud]

DEVOUR SOUL!

which means you're voting for A in the second option? I mean you can't exactly devour souls right now

 

[Azira]

Nah, just reminiscing. Not voting right now.

 

[Nevill]

Not very subtle, but that would us some time to set up a proper clean-up.

There is a word missing there.

B Burn it.
A Yes, after all, knowledge is power...

Take the risk. It might be relevant to the subsequent operation.

 

[Kalarion]

B B.

The Emperor's light is the only knowledge we need.

 

[baud]

Not very subtle, but that would us some time to set up a proper clean-up.

There is a word missing there.

thanks

Nah, just reminiscing. Not voting right now.

no problem. I just wanted to make sure

 

[baud]

For the first option Burn takes it.

As for the second option:

A Yes, after all, knowledge is power...
daveyarsegallant, Nevill, Baltika9

B No. This knowledge is too dangerous
CappenVarra, ChumBucket, ERYFKRAD, Kalarion

you resist the temptation to learn some forbidden knowledge! I'll start working on the next update, then

 

[Azira]

Aww.. Too late to ask for forbidden knowledge?

 

[baud]

Aww.. Too late to ask for forbidden knowledge?

well, I haven't started to write the update (I'll start tomorrow, I think), so... I'll accept any new votes.
If there's an even split, I'll just flip a coin

 

[Azira]

Well then count my vote towards forbidden knowledge.

 

[baud]

okay, with Azira's vote, we got a split between A&B, so I'll just roll a die: 1 => A Yes, after all, knowledge is power..., 2 => B No. This knowledge is too dangerous

Edit: well, seems like you're going back to take a look

 

[Azira]

 

[baud]

So maybe I should have kept in mind to not offer choices that I am not ready to write, though that's not the only reason this update took four months to write. I'd like to say lesson learned, but I'm not sure I won't be doing it again . At least I'll hope you'll enjoy the next part, should be up tonight or tomorrow

 

[baud]

​

Part 7: Knowledge is power

Deciding to burn down the decayed building is easy, you can't take the risk of leaving something like this behind you. You quickly give your assent to Telemacus and order him to prepare the fire, while you move toward the tainted building.

"Are you sure of what you're doing?", he asks, seeing your destination. "Remember, ignorance in a virtue when dealing of the Dark Powers."

"Gathering intelligence was part of our orders," you reminds him. "And I'd prefer to have something to give to Kyriakos instead of having to go through another of his inquiries, you know how obsessed he is with this. I'll be quick, once I'm out, burn down the building and we move on to the next target."

"Do not tarry, otherwise I might not wait before putting it to the torch."

You continue undaunted, thinking back at those sayings, drilled into you at the schola: Ignorance is your best defence. Be strong in your ignorance. Faith, Hate and Ignorance. But also that knowledge is power, power that will be used in the defense of the Imperium. And you've seen how your knowledge has already helped you, here and back in Wahun. You are also comforted in your decision by how Inquisitor Sargent dealt in such matters, carefully doling out bits and pieces of knowledge to his acolytes.

After a silent prayer to Saint Ambroise, you enter the now-empty factory. It is as you left, cultists sprawled on the ground, blood slowly pooling around them. Spent casings mark the area where your groups stood and a still smoking crater where your grenade exploded. After a cursory look, you confirm that the cultists aren't carrying anything that could provide any clue. Next to the ritual circle, you spot a pile of rags, most covered in blood stains indicating they were used to carry the grisly trophies used in the ritual, but there is also a handful of papers, dirty and creased, covered in dried blood and other unidentifiable stains.

You quickly decipher the scribblings on the first sheets: some kind of deployment orders and from them, you gather that the rest of the group, numbering about twenty, is in the compound where you are headed next. At least this way you won't have to hunt them down all over the area. The next sheets are in an even worst state, but you notice symbols you remember from previous encounters with the cult, either cut into their victims or tattooed on the cultists. Other than those symbols, those pages are covered in writing in an unknow script, its letters jagged and cruel.
But despite being unable to read, a name appears in your mind, burning itself in your brain while your soul recoils at the words.

Skorofax, thrice-annointed of the fourth fane of blood.

As you can't even begin to fathom what accursed knowledge you acquired, you see the same face you saw earlier in the smoke coming from the ritual circle, leering at you.

"The Emperor protects, my Faith is my Shield. The Emperor protects."
"The Emperor protects, my Faith is my Shield."
"The Emperor protects."
"My Faith is my Shield."

As you repeat the prayer, the vision dissipates, leaving behind a taste of blood. Shaken, you quickly leaf through the rest of the papers, identifying among the writing the ritual circle you disrupted, among similar diagrams. So you had found the source, or maybe one of the sources the cultists used when trying to summon a daemon in the Materium. Such knowledge is very dangerous and making sure it's not left behind, even in a burning building, is a good thing, as such incursions have invariably grievous consequences. Deciding you've spent enough time on this, you take pictures of the papers with your dataslate, if you decide to study them in detail at a later date...

You shove the bundle in your coat, but on the last sheet of paper, you spot a faded stamp, either half erased or written with some kind of sympathetic ink and revealed by time and the tribulations the paper went through: an inquisitorial seal, with the central column adorned with four skulls arranged in a square, which must be the personal seal of an inquisitor, a copy of their personal rosette, but not one you are familiar with. More important, this would mean that the document had once been in the hands of an inquisitor, so how did they end up in the hands of cultists? Lost, stolen, or worst, sold or given? But for now you can't do anything about it, so you make your way toward the exit.

As you leave the building, papers securely stored, you see the patrol van leaving the area:

"They're taking the wounded to an enforcer station for treatment, the van will then wait for us on the way to the compound." answers Electryos at your unasked question, "And don't worry, I've taken note of the location, so we'll know where to collect them for debriefing."

As Telemacus joins you after starting the fire, you relay what you learn concerning where the rest of the cultists are. You also state that you collected some heretical documents, which you will have to give to either Kyriakos or interrogator Vince, though you don't expand on the exact contents of the documents.

Aided by promethium taken from the tanks of the vehicles, the fire is climbing up quickly on the structure, setting it ablaze and hopefully purging the corruption from this place. You turn to Saive and the other enforcer who was keeping watch on the cultists before you arrived:

"Keep an eye on the fire and if firefighters of any kind arrive, don't let them put it out. At most they can just prevent the fire from spreading to other buildings, but this one must burn down to the ground, understood?"

At their assent, you board one of the APC, leaving toward your next target.

====][====​

This time you're onboard Pradier's APC as your little convoy makes its way through the city and then into the countryside. The mood in the vehicle is tense, both from the casualties taken and from the enforcers realizing that it isn't a simple bust, but something much more dangerous, both to themselves and their souls. In the end, maybe killing them after the cult is purged would be better, rather than them continue to live with the memories of what they what witnessed.

The further away from the town you go, the worst the condition of the road, until it's nothing more than a muddy track winding up between abandoned boreholes and towering slag heaps.
You stop just before arriving, hiding the vehicles behind a slag heap, in order to observe your target undetected.

The compound itself is set on the side of a hill, a group of low buildings arranged around a courtyard, crudely constructed and bare of any ornamentation. The road runs along one side of the compound before reaching the courtyard, closed by a gate, next to a building that seems repurposed as a guardhouse. In addition to the gate, you also spot a few doors on the sides of the buildings, including alongside the road. Even though the buildings look disused, covered in rust with the windows barred, you spot a half-dozen persons keeping watch, clustered around the gate. And even though they try to hide it, you see they are armed, with both melee and ranged weapons. From the intel you recovered, there should be more cultists, likely in the buildings.

As you make your way back to the vehicles to plan your attack, you're met by Electryos:

"I managed to get in contact with Kyriakos, they are on their way and should be here around nightfall. As we know that the rest of the cultists are here, we might be able to wait for them. Though there's no guaranteed our targets aren't preparing anything or how they will react when they realize the group in the city has been neutralized."

"So they should be here in 40 minutes. Any idea who's with him?"

"Should be two guys from Sargent's strike team, but they said they hadn't brought any special equipment."

"Even then, if they're with the Inquisitor's team, they must be reliable combatants. We'll see if we wait for them or not." you conclude. You also realized that once Kyriakos is here, he will most likely take command from you and be the one to secure any artefacts or pieces of knowledge from the group of cultists.

You met with the enforcers squad leaders, who had scouted the compound alongside you.

"The ground around the compound is too irregular for the vehicles, so they'll have to stay on the road when we attack, even the APCs." states Cordier.

"Well, an APC could easily ram that gate, delivering its crew right in the guards' faces, so they won't be able to stay in cover in the guardhouse. But those loonies are madder than a redemptionist on obscura, so I say we don't get too close." says Navarro, for once slightly circonspect.

"We could just shoot them. That'd work to our advantage." you say.

"We don't have any long-ranged weapon, except you two, " explains Pradier, while pointing at you and Electryos "so to get in effective range of the guardhouse, where most visible enemies are, we'd have to get quite close to the compound, risking getting engaged in melee by enemies coming from the buildings. But that might work."

"Or we stand farther back and we use the grenade launcher. They either come at us and we shoot them or their buildings will collapse on their heads." Telemacus proposes "We can stay in cover behind the APCs to reduce the risks."

"We'll run out of ammunition before they run out of buildings and that would leave them time to prepare any surprises they might have stashed." adds Electryos "We also risk damaging whatever evidence is in the buildings."

So you decide to

[] Wait for Kyriakos, who'll take command.
[] Follow Pradier's plan (get close and shoot at them)
[] Follow Telemacus' plan (stay far, keep firing and let them come at you)
[] Write-in a plan

If you want more details on each plan, on the layout, on the visible enemies... don't hesitate. Also for the plan you're along the road in the lower right corner, next to the orange arrow.

Current forces:

Balda - grenade launcher, autogun, revolver, knife
Telemacus - shotgun, autopistol, riot baton
Electryos - lascarbine, electrified caestus

Navarro's riot squad (6), with a riot APC
Pradier's riot squad, (4) minus two wounded, with a riot APC
Cordier's patrol (8), with an enforcer van.
A riot APC has capacity for 8 people, the van for 11 people.

 

[baud]

pinging a few people to see if anyone's interested in voting

Nevill , Baltika9, Azira, Kalarion, Gondolin, ChumBucket, daveyarsegallant, ERYFKRAD, CappenVarra

otherwise I'll just select an option/roll randomly next week

 

[Baltika9]

pinging a few people to see if anyone's interested in voting

Sorry for the silence, I'm currently on vacation.

[X]Wait for Kyriakos, who'll take command.
I see no reason to court failure here. Wait for backup, and hopefully Kyriakos will act like an adult and help us with the investigation.

 

[True Ukrainian]

Plan Telemacus

 

[Kalarion]

[X] Wait for Kyriakos, who'll take command.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

[X] Wait for Kyriakos, who'll take command.

This.
Sorry for the delay, my tactical decision cogitator shorted.

 

[Nevill]

typos

The compound itself is set on the side of a hill, a group of low buildings arranged around a courtyard, crudely constructed and bare of any ornamentation. The road runs along one side of the compound before reaching the courtyard, closed by a gate, next to a building that seems repurposed as a guardhouse.

ornamentation, runs

Even then, if they're with the Inquisitor's team, they must be reliable combattants

combatants

It's not like I treasure our command too much, but we may be on a timer.

[x] Follow Pradier's plan (get close and shoot at them)

They are all getting purged anyway. Maybe. Let's make a better use of these brave souls.

By the way, what happened to the assault team led by Javert?

"But the assault team of the precinct is currently putting the smackdown on some scum with inspector Javert and should be back in 60 to 90 minutes, if you feel you can afford the delay. This assault team is much better armed and better trained at dealing with violent opposition, which looks like is going to be tonight's business. That'll delay your departure, of course."

We went to attack the compound without them, but shouldn't they be back by now?

 

[Azira]

I seem to've forgotten to vote.

[X] Wait for Kyriakos, who'll take command.