Session 4: And Then It Got Worse...

After arriving at the Administratum, I thought it would be a good idea to have a bit of a plan of attack before going into the office. I decided to lean on Arath and Yarn for this task as I felt that I needed to pay attention more to our environment. I had prepared a rudimentary list of questions to guide them and hopefully remove the randomness of Braxton's interference. We were led to the second floor, where we were introduced to the Administratum.
 
A small man walking around with a shock-mace appeared to be in charge and was quite the slave driver. We didn't get the man's name but he gave us the opportunity to speak with the Adept that had recognized the "iffy numbers". His name was Jarvis, an elderly man that has been behind a desk for far too long as his ability to stand upright had faltered. Arath did an excellent job of gaining his trust. I might have been concerned about Jarvis's faculties, except that he immediately recognized that Braxton was an idiot demonstrating that he was within his right mind and had all his faculties in tact. But I digress.
 
Jarvis, the very adept adept, had noticed that the numbers were off about 10 years ago and reported his findings. Being the thorough adept he was, he looked further into the situation. He managed to discover that the murdering pattern actually went back about 200 years. This news was very disturbing and started to confirm some of my greatest fears. We discovered that the Governor's Noble House was hardest afflicted with about 1/3 of the murders. With the use of a gentle female touch, I was able to convince Jarvis to give us a copy of his findings. Braxton of course decided it was more important to find a good place for brunch versus more information relevant to our situation. The only benefit to this stupid action is that Arath was now understanding my frustrations with the fancy boy. Before we left, Braxton wished to have a word alone with the adept in charge. I asked someone to go with him and Arath obliged my request. What was said, I do not know, though it was probably more inquiries into lunch spots.
 
Given that our next stop was going to be the Governor's Palace, we indulged Braxton's desire to fill his belly with brunch. There was a small café across from the Governor's Palace so it seemed as good a place as any to make our next plan of attack. Arath, being the ever vigilant or paranoid individual he is, took point to inspect the area in order to make sure that we were well prepared for our venture into the governor's palace. This decision would have turned out to be vital in our survival of the onslaught to come.
 
Veck and Arath began a communication of concern over the alarming amount of PDF chimeras venturing around the city. In addition, there was a strange blue energy beginning to emanate from the core of the governor's mansion. Initially we thought this to be an energy shield of some sort, but Yarn and Veck confirmed that was not the case. This incite came at the perfect time as the windows of the café were blown out by an explosion outside. The city was erupting into a warzone. We took shelter behind our table and quickly assessed the situation. Braxton of course felt slighted that he wasn't able to finish his brunch, but after recovering from that disappointment he assisted in the assessment. As we looked carefully outside, we were able to see that the Noble houses seemed to be evacuating to the governor's mansion. With that being our original destination, we decided to "use" our own pocket noble to get a ticket to safety.
 
If only it was that simple. We approached a couple with a group of armed guards. Veck was very apprehensive but I stayed his hand as we needed to get into the mansion. All we needed was to get inside to safety, so I thought, so I hoped. But hope is a dangerous thing, which I should have learned a long time ago, but Emperor knows I still have hope for some reason. But again, I digress. Braxton played his part well and introduced himself to the noble couple. All was going well and then it happened. The couple recognized his family name and were happy to hear it and said "They could use someone like him." At that moment, my blood ran cold and I realized exactly what was going on with the Noble houses in Lugg City.
 
You see, Braxton's family was murdered under nefarious conditions and the rumor was that they were killed due to heretical activity. Of course, that couldn't possibly be true. How you may ask? Well the answer is quite simple, Braxton would not be with us if this was so. I have experience with the Ecclesiarchy, too much for my liking, but again I digress. If a Noble house is found to be heretical they are often made an example of to the masses. Nobles are considered untouchable by most people, and they too consider themselves untouchable. This is a great flaw in their knowledge, because we live in a world where the power structure is constantly shifting and any opportunity to increase one's holding on the world is taken. Fenksworld is no feudal planet, and thus the Ecclesiarchy would have not only loved to make an example of the Vor House, they would have relished and enjoyed it. And as Braxton is still here to annoy me with his childish Noble ways, one can easily come to the conclusion that his family was not found to be heretical in any way. To be honest, this is the thing that bothers me most about Braxton. Based on what I know he was loyal to his family, but openly disagreed with their actions, which while they were heinous, were no more heinous than other Nobles throughout the sector and not heretical as outlined earlier. Normally a Noble family would ostracize those that openly rebel against their goals and ways, but Braxton acts as though he's been enjoying the benefits of being a Noble his whole life. So much that he is using his actual family name despite it being a fallen Noble house. But back to our adventures in front of the governor's mansion.
 
So with this extra information it should be clear as to why I was concerned. At hearing the words, I looked at their clothing and saw that they too wore the feather motif and my fears were confirmed. I immediately said, "Veck, I take it back!" in a panicked tone. Braxton was clueless as to the implications of those six words, and was thrown off by the fact that Veck immediately stabbed the closest guard. A confrontation was the last thing that I wanted, but at this point, it wasn't safe for us to go with them. I saw that the guards were armed with Laz rifles and instructed Veck to take the gun. He was in a bit of a righteous rage and chose to attack using his own blade, understandable as it was familiar to him. When the scuffle began I took refuge behind Veck as he honestly was the best source of cover at the time. I took a shot with the pistol provided by the Arbities and hit the second guard. The shot hurt him, but his flak greatcoat protected him. This lack of foresight on my part would cost me as he lunged forward with a blade and sliced into my arm. To my surprise, Braxton came to my aid attempting to brawn the guard, but unfortunately, he must have been rusty and not sparring lately as the guard was able to easily deflect his attack. Veck then noticed the situation and eliminate the guard with one fell swing of his blade. It penetrated his neck and well, let's just say I was no longer only red from rage.
 
Meanwhile, Arath decided to join us and used his impressive skills to take out a guard in one felll swoop. I believe I heard him say something about a necktie, but I can't be certain given all the chaos. Yarn also joined us and listened to my suggestion about picking up the rifle. He took a shot and two of shots made their mark. That was all it took as the guard was shredded from toes to stern with the impact of the laz energy. There were two guards left. One guard focused his attention at Arath opening up an opportunity for Braxton to redeem himself in combat. And again I was surprised by his quick actions. He took to the air, flying deftly toward the guard kicking him squarely in the face. The guard didn't know what hit him as he stumbled backwards clutching his face. He lowered his hands to reveal a bloody broken nose. The shock of the noble landing such a strong blow was enough to allow Arath to finish him off using the laz rifle he acquired from his first victim. At this point there was only one guard left and I was a bit unhappy with the slash in my body armor so I decided to shoot him, but this time I aimed for his head. The shot was clean and his right eye was now replaced by a bullet and he fell to the ground. Only two heretical nobles left.
 
Given that Veck was on a mission, he went straight for the first noble. Knowing that we still needed information, he chose to overpower him. This was met with resistance as the Noble stabbed him in the face with a dagger. The dagger managed to penetrate his armored face. At that Veck stabbed him in the stomach and he fell to the ground. The other noble was killed by a skilled shot from Yarn. I tried to get some information from the heretic as to whom he served, but he didn't want to talk. Luckily he had a data slate on him that could do the talking for us hopefully. At this point we saw that the PDF that was guarding the governor's mansion started to double time it in our direction. We were about to make haste and leave when Veck caught Braxton trying to pocket the knife that was used to attack Veck. This dagger was the same as the one that caused his eyes to bleed earlier. It makes no sense why he would want to take such a heretical item especially given what happened the first time we encountered them. Was he actually complicit in his families actions after all? Well there was no time to discuss that and with the strong suggestion from Veck, he put the dagger back.
 
Now we were running for our lives through the streets of Lugg City. In front of us we saw a horror that made me grasp my lockbox and say a silent prayer to the Emperor. At the end of the street was a parade of horrors, three armed men being led by a being with four appendages and that was clearly not human. They hadn't seen us yet so Arath and Veck broke into a residence that we hoped was abandoned. That was not the case as we discovered shortly after taking refuge in the building. A faint glow from a loh stick could be seen on the other side of the room and a familiar voice rang out. "It looks like we've overstayed our welcome". It was the mysterious Inquisitor we had encountered earlier that day. He seemed to be communicating with someone and he relayed the information in a good news/bad news fashion. His bad news was pretty much old news to us, there was a civil war going on between the Noble houses and the gene stealer cult. Though at this point we could say that it was a chaos cult comprised of nobles, which was more accurate. The good news was that the star port had been secured. So our next move was to go to the star port with our new "friend".
 
There are still so many mysteries to unfurl and we have no time to do so. As I begin to feel the weight of my injuries, I wonder if we can make it to the star port and off this deathtrap in one piece, but only time will tell.