Session 2: A Rough Start

After arriving at the port of entry, as expected our credentials were checked and a bioscan was performed. Our plan of "talking our way through it" appeared to be working, except Braxton has bravado and no sense of understanding how to improvise on the spot. Luckily for us, Arath stepped up and gave us a plausible reason for being on the planet and for being in the city. With some extra assistance from myself we were able to give a reasonably realistic location for our accommodations. But upon exiting the space port it was obvious that someone was taking interest in us. More so than we were comfortable with, thus rather than going directly to the safehouse provided by the Inquisitor, we meandered our way to the local accommodations and made arrangements there.
 
After Braxton kindly made arrangements for our group, a shady figure approached Veck. I tried to pull him away by playing the part I was forced into by Braxton, a Noble's servant/companion. For some reason, he didn't seem to understand this and went to this questionable individual. Turns out he was an illegal arms dealer, or at least claimed to be. He made arrangements to meet with us within a couple of hours. After this encounter, we all met up in a single room to discuss our plans and the situation that we found ourselves.
 
Here again, Braxton's bravado was a hinderance. For a Noble, he seems very unaware of what keeping up appearances means. Veck has the excuse of being a Skitarri that wouldn't know exactly what keeping up appearances means, but Braxton as a Noble, has no excuse. The situation became an issue when Braxton reserved four rooms instead of five. The assumption was that I was his female companion as was stated by the clerk behind the desk. The thought of this nauseates me as he is representative of all the things I detest from Nobility, but I digress. When I pointed this out, he apparently thought that I wished to stay with him when in fact he had forced that condition upon me as it was decided that we stay at this location rather than move discretely to the safehouse, which was what I preferred. But it would appear that the Emperor's will was in alignment with mine as suddenly a gunshot was heard outside the window of our room.
 
This event showed the strength of character of each of my companions. Firstly, the "dapper" Braxton ran from the room leaving the rest of us. Meanwhile, Arath offered to use his deft skills to safely investigate the situation further. This was a pleasant surprise as this mining planet offers the perfect place for him to slip into the shadows and disappear. Given his history, I can see this as an appealing proposition for him, yet he's instead utilized his unique skill set to assist us in a time of need. Yarn also stepped up to the plate by immediately looking for an improvised weapon in the form of a chair leg, when in reality he probably should have just taken my staff first. But this ingenuity was greatly appreciated and he and Veck assumed a defensive and protective posture. This was expected of the Skitarrus, but the surprise in this situation was his immediate comradery with Yarn in this situation.
 
The horrors awaiting outside were another story. It would appear our eavesdropper was a three-armed mutant and his assailant was no where to be seen. Once Arath gave the all clear, Yarn was able to do a further investigation. Disturbingly, Braxton wanted to have the thumbs of the abhorrent creature sliced off for "proof" of some sort. I was a bit shocked that no one understood that the murder of the mutant was more a service to the Imperium than a crime. As requested Yarn took a "sample" of the mutant and in the process soiled my staff with the foul creatures blood. Hopefully, this will come clean with a bit more work, but it was an unfortunate turn of events as this staff is part of my regalia. But with this development it was suggested that we hastily make a visit to the Arbities, which was the obvious choice in this situation.
 
Once we arrived at the Arbites, I once again allowed Braxton to take the lead, despite it weighing heavily on me. So you can imagine my relief when I heard the clerk state they were expected the "disgraced Noble and deserter". I was able to abandon this ridiculous façade and get to business. As expected, when we reported the murder of the mutant, it was dismissed. The only concern the Judge had was that the murder weapon was a bolter weapon as they are not common in this area. Again I was surprised by my companions decorum, well with the exception of Braxton who attempted to break proper protocol with Judge Shirah. Here I was concerned that Yarn's rocky history with the Arbities on Fenksworld would taint him here on Luggnum, but he was very respectful and asked inciteful questions with respect. But here's what we were able to discover. A
 
Apparently there seems to be a ritualistic pattern to the deaths, which can be classified as murders given their descriptions. The patterns of these murders are one miner murdered in a ritualistic manner and then a Noble in a beastial manner described as evisceration. As Judge Shira was describing this, I was taken aback that this did not qualify as an incident worthy of Arbities investigation, but again I digress. The interesting part about this story is that the local law enforcement was not investigating at all and the Nobles appear to not be up in arms about it, yet they are increasing their security which has now caused a shift in the deaths being slightly more miners compared to Nobles.
 
With more prying, we were able to discover that there is a offshoot of a Cult that pressures the miners to work harder, faster and stronger in the name of the Emperor. This could have created an in for other cultist to infiltrate and corrupt. We wished to speak with the Administratum but the individual who was responsible for the data that we were interested in speaking to had gone on his mandatory 8-hour rest period, therefore we made the decision to retire to the safehouse. Given our situation, I requested permission to have firearms with us. The Judge allowed this request with a small cavoite, we could only carry pistols as they weren't so conspicuous as rifles. Braxton asked about transportation and the Judge was able to lend us an unmarked vehicle so that we would no longer have to travel by foot through the city. With that we decided to retire to the safehouse and then catch up with the Administratum the next day.
 
The safehouse was nothing less than what you would expect from the Inquisition. The security system was state of the art and approved by Arath, so that allowed me to rest more comfortably. Braxton also engineered two tripwires for the front and back doors. With security being handled, we were able to explore the rest of the house. In the lower levels of the house, we discovered a shooting range. This allowed Arath and myself to instruct Veck and Yarn on proper handling of the pistols since they are slightly different from their rifles. We would have also instructed Braxton, but once again he isolated himself to his room shortly after our arrival.
 
Who was that mutant and why was he trying to eavesdrop on our conversation? Who was his mysterious assailant that wields such an unusual weapon for this area? Who was that shady man that claimed to be an arms dealer and was he upset that we stood him up? Who was that mysterious figure that we saw upon exiting the spaceport? The answers to these questions may never be answered and may have nothing to do with our investigation but they still weigh heavily on my mind as I try to sleep in this unfamiliar place. But now it is time to retire and prepare for the next day. I'm not sure exactly what tomorrow will bring, but I feel as though this mission will unravel more mysteries as we dive deeper. Emperor protect us and guide us through this dark time.