Session 10: The Cave, the Cathedral, the Feather and the Self-Locking Door

Well it wouldn't be a day in the Imperium without the random mob of Mutants trying to kill you, am I right? And this group of Mutants had a psyker with them, because of course they did. And surprise, surprise, they had a feather motif like every other cultist heretics we've encountered.
 
Braxton engaged the first target he could reach. Needless to say, it was not the psyker which was odd given his recent "reward" from Lady Rathbone. Not to mention his tendency to accuse me of, what was as he called it, I think it was "warpfuckery" or something of the sort. Emperor knows what goes through the mind of that fallen noble. But I digress. Again everyone engaged a target, but no one managed to get a shot off on the psyker before he could call forth his powers of the warp.
 
The world suddenly became cold, but only for a second before I shook off the foul magics. It appeared as though Veck also managed to avoid being affected by these magics. And while Arathus and Yarn were clearly effected, nothing would compare to what happened to Braxton. Deep in combat he fell to the ground unconscious. No seriously, he just passed out, from some cold. I mean I knew he was weak willed just listening to him talk, but I had no idea he was just weak minded in general. It was somewhat funny to be honest. To be fair, his suit was torn and he did begin to bleed, so the shock of that may have been the cause, but we'll never know.
 
Then Yarn was able to take a shot. I was a bit frustrated that he stole my target, but it was only natural that he would choose the psyker as a target as that was the real threat. I've come to expect that the least threatening looking target is the greatest threat. This lesson was also burned into Arathus and Yarn I'm guessing given their reaction to the gene stealer cult we encountered on Luggnum. Yarn, with his shiny new weapon, managed to take him down in one shot. It was a relatively easy clean-up after their psyker fell. With my previous target now down, I moved to one of the lackeys and felled him in one shot, but not before giving Yarn a piece of my mind for stealing my target.
 
With the mutants dispatched, the members of the Ecclesiarchy were able to "assist" us, as expected. We were then told that the mutant cultist were a normal occurrence. Information that would have been useful earlier, but the Ecclesiarchy isn't necessarily known for their generosity with information, well useful information anyways. But that handled, we were able to begin our trek to the Heamatite Cathedral. The trip was uneventful and we arrived to find a very gothic inspired building, dilapidated from time and neglect. The grounds were overgrown from neglect and a building we assumed was the groundskeeper's quarters. We decided it was best to search the grounds so we wouldn't be surprised by anything that might be lurking around.
 
Searching the grounds, we found the remains of an ornamental water feature that appeared to feature a waterfall. Given that the waterfall was no longer operational, we found what we assumed to be a hidden cave. Cautiously we went inside and found some decomposing corpses. Upon further evaluation by Cortana, Veck's lovingly named medical servitor on loan from the Inquisition, we were able to ascertain the bodies had been there for at least two weeks. The decayed state of the building predate these murders so the grounds are obviously not abandoned. I was able to find writing on the back wall that was etched in blood saying "Burn in a thousand hells Gusta...", it trailed off after leading to an iron blade covered in blood. Analyzing the blood reveled it to be the same blood on the wall. We searched the rest of the grounds including the groundkeepers quarters but found nothing more.
 
Now was the time to go into the cathedral. Cautiously we looked through the windows to see if anything was inside, but saw nothing. I was about to say we should set Veck on point when Braxton burst into the cathedral. Luckily, nothing was in the nave and his reckless actions didn't hurt us, this time. The inside of the cathedral was in as much disrepair as the outside. The pews and other furnishings appeared to be bolted to the floor, which is odd in general. But what was odder was the large quake cannon replacing the pulpit. There was one item that seemed fine though a clock that was keeping perfect time.
 
Upon seeing this clock, I asked someone to join me in investigating, that someone was of course Veck as I figured he could maybe figure out what or how the clock was being maintained. He discovered the clock was a facsimile powered by a power pack and was concealing what appeared to be a key hole of some sort in the shape of a cog. After exploring the entire nave, we decided it would be a good idea to investigate the rest of the cathedral, except for the Sanitarium, which was barred shut from the outside. We thought it best to leave the place quarantined off for last.
 
We inspected the skulleria first. Such a fancy name for a kitchen, nobles and their silly ways, but I digress. Within the skulleria we found only one thing of interest, a cookbook mentioning Nikaea Hekate. I know this name sounds familiar, but can't place it at the moment, but say nothing as I'm not sure of myself. The cook who wrote this entry knew her and didn't seem to fancy her at all. From his notes she sounded like the common noblewoman, barking orders and never happy with anything.
 
With the skulleria cleared, we moved on to the trophy room. The room was full of stuffed beast and there were two fixtures prominent in the room, a gun and a desk. Oh, and there was also the feather that fell when we opened the door, but I think that was on par for the creepy happenings and visages found thus far. The boys headed for the gun, naturally I instead searched the desk. In it I found a letter voicing concerns about Koronath Hekate's questionable actions as of late and was signed by Vorkas Hekate. Again my memory is jogged as Koronath Hekate sounds familiar as well. But before I could even start to think about it, Braxton was started by something.
 
He found a door with bloody handprint on it and as he was inspecting it the door locked from the other side. Feeling there was a threat behind the door, we rushed into the other room to find nothing, well nothing living that is. We found a large portrait of a large woman in a very unique looking dress. Below the painting was the desiccated remains of a woman wearing what appeared to be the same dress. In her dried out hand we found what looked like half of a cog. This must be one half of the key. There was one other interesting thing we found, or rather didn't find in this room. There was a glass case that had been shattered open with a plaque that said: Zanatov, Warrant of Trade indicating that the Hekate family were most likely also Rogue Traders and this was probably the source of their wealth and influence. And at that moment I remembered where I had heard those names. There were on the Ecclesiarchy acquisition list under the entry for the Haematite Cathedral there was an entry that said the following:
 
"Ecclesiarchal Holding #120. Haematite Cathedral. Locatd upon the Twilight Ridge
along eastern coastline. Clergy in Residence None. Assign no clergy to this accursed
place. Request Ordo Hereticus investigation into activities of Koronath Hekate,
Gustavus Hekate and Nikaea Hekate."
 
The pieces are starting to fall into place and now I'm worried about how Gustavus Hekate is still around. This mystery is getting creepier the farther we investigate.