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Road to Nowhere - The Last GroupRoad to NowhereThis is the distilled wisdom of official reports by Knights and Cohorts of the Company of the Phoenix. The contents of this document are not to be discussed outside the Company; passages marked Secret are not to be discussed with those not specifically cleared for the details in question. Knights
Cohorts
Representatives of the Church [NPCs]
MissionTo discover the whereabouts of His Grace the Duke of Cadavus, Commander of the Company of the Phoenix. He had taken upon himself an unknown quest, and was last heard from on the backwater world Nowhere. Likelihood of finding him alive is considered slim. BriefingThe group were briefed as usual, by His Grace the Duke of Salamandra, Acting Commander. It was decided that in order to raise awareness of the work of the Company a press conference would be held. [Note: This was a bad decision. The Company will not hold press conferences in future.] At the conference a journalist named Emil Lassiter asked Brother Millard directly whether he was a member of the Kalinthi, the Church’s secret order of demon-hunters. This was denied. [Secret: It was true: Brother Millard was a member of the Kalinthi.] Outward JourneyThe group were issued with a small ship and a crew. At Criticorum they had an unfortunate turn of events when the jump gate there was to take a week to recharge, but after a few days they were joined by an Imperial Navy fleet. The dreadnaught Indefatigable and its escorts, under Commodore the Most Honourable Lady Mia Justinian, Marchioness of St. Omer, were on the way to relieve part of the Stigmata blockade. They used one of the Navy’s ‘reset’ keys to force an early end to the cycle, allowing the party to continue. [Personnel note: There was an unknown animosity between Lady St. Omer and Lord Little Deane; this may have been something to do with a past encounter, since Houses Justinian and Hawkwood are typically on very good terms.] A Sathra IncidentAt a subsequent jump it was found that the ship’s sathra damper had been disabled, allowing dangerous psychic radiation to permeate the ship. Members of the Church immediately set to discovering what vandal might have caused the failure, as well as checking that nobody aboard had become addicted to the euphoric experience, known to be a cause of cult activity. The Third Engineer was proved to be responsible, was confined and eventually delivered into Church custody at Nowhere. However, the incident also brought to light the psychic abilities of Sir Arthur Hawkwood, who was not publicly declared penitent (as Church law requires). He was in discussion with his superiors as to how the situation could be resolved, but unfortunately died in a gun-cleaning accident shortly after the discovery. [Secret: Arthur had not been declared penitent at all. A Bishop friendly to the Company’s cause was prepared to announce that he had already been accepted as penitent but that his nature had been kept secret for security reasons, but the accident claimed him before arrangements were made.] NowhereThe group made planetfall on Nowhere, and traced the last known steps of Lord Cadavus. First the expedition travelled into the desert to the Gargoyle. [Secret: The personal experiences of encountering the allegedly-psychic statue are not a matter of record.] Next they tracked him to the abandoned campus of a Second Republic university, where they discovered a previously lost jump key. [Secret: They were attacked by Symbiots. This is the only recorded Symbiot encounter outside of Stigmata and the quarantined worlds and is not to be discussed with anyone, for any reason. Do not worry: Although not normally considered dangerous, Nowhere is on the other side of the Stigmata blockade.] [Secret: It was around this time it was discovered that Sister Alba was not Sanctuary Aeon originally, but was rather on secondment to them from the Brother Battle Order. She was also Kalinthi.] Beyond the Gate[Note: The events of the Nexus and Paradise are Top Secret. None of this section is to be discussed outside the distribution list of this document.] When used to activate the Nowhere gate, the new jump key opened the way to a previously undiscovered space station. There they discovered Lord Cadavus. He appeared to have become an antinomist and potentially a Symbiot, and was guarded by a collection of demon-tainted Symbiot guards. The Imperial Navy dreadnaught Indefatigable, under the command of the Commodore, destroyed the station and all hands, including Cadavus. The jump gate there was different: capable of being opened to a large directory of destinations without a key. Among those was Paradise, lost homeworld of House Justinian, which appeared to be the most recently-used destination. The group travelled there, leaving explosive charges to destroy the gate. Paradise appeared initially to be intact, and the Prince of House Justinian formally invited the Knights, Cohorts and representatives of the Church to an audience. On reaching the planet is was discovered that the planet’s leadership had succumbed to the antinomist-Symbiot taint, and it was assumed that in the years since the world was lost it had been completely compromised. The Indefatigable used nuclear weapons to make the planet uninhabitable, hopefully even to Symbiots. [The secret and sensitive nature of the above cannot be overstated. Do not forget that nuclear weapons are banned by treaty and it is a secret of Imperial security that Navy dreadnoughts even carry them. Not to mention the difficulties Lady St. Omer would have if it were to become known that she was involved in the destruction of her House’s lost homeworld, or the embarrassment it would cause House Decados if the corruption of Lord Cadavus were made public.] Brother Millard of the Kalinthi was lost on Paradise: his theurgy bought the time the Zephyr needed to take off. The group were able to open the Paradise gate to return to Imperial space, leaving charges to destroy that gate as they left. Aftermath[Out of Character note: There was a big epilogue sequence when we realised that the nobles were quite old not to be married, but I’ll mention only the most important bits in the report.]
By Matthew at 2010-02-25 20:35 | printer-friendly version
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