Contains Spoilers for the Chemical Burn adventure!

This whole place felt like being in the thick of combat. Arn knew he was on edge, hyperaware of everything, reacting to every sound and movement. He also knew what could happen when he failed to maintain control of that awareness. The hivequake had been terrifying. He didn’t mind admitting that to himself. He tried not to think of the thousands upon thousands of levels above him, but they became very present when the whole place shook and there was the sound of things collapsing. The screams, dust, debris and blood that followed kept him on edge. He was jumpy. He knew there was nothing that could be done for the man who was trapped following the floor collapse, but he’d tried. He was the diligent soldier. The diligent, on edge solder.

The grapnel snagged the side of the buttress exactly where Kael’ion had intended. She climbed rapidly, a shadowy insect against a gargantuan monument to the God Emperor. The idea tickled her. A devotee to the Omnissiah using all of her augmetic grace to ascend this gaudy symbol. The open vox-bead channel allowed her hear everything that was going on: an intransigent holy supplicant transformed by the sight of an icon; the distracted interview with the run down man; the thumping on the table to bring him to his senses; the whimpering of a mind broken.

The woman was obviously distraught. They had tried to free the trapped man, but it was for naught. He’d died a painful death, pinned to the ground by the weight of collapsing hab and furniture. They all toiled in the name of the God Emperor. The hivequake was merely a side effect of that sacred work. He offered a consoling word of the Throne on Terra. The look she’d thrown him was blasphemous in its contempt. Jaq had almost gone for his Laspistol to end such sedition, but in the moment he found clemency before his fingers snatched the weapon. The woman was obviously distraught.

They’re just a few snapshots from the characters. Here’s what happened in Session #2:

  • While assessing the equipment in the safe house everything began to shake. A hivequake. This showed how brittle the hive and life in it can be.
  • The party travelled (downhive) to the Cathedrum of Obligatory Modesty. Their influence, or rather that of what they represented, saw them brought directly to Vidame Gullar’s cloistered room.
  • There they interviewed the enfeebled man, his body and mind evidently wracked by his addiction to Gratis.
  • He told them he had been supplied the drug through an administrator at Battery Manufactorum 6.938, a concern he previously oversaw. He believed that man to be dead.
  • He also described its effects, making the hardest toil seem blissful…
  • He revealed that he thought the Vylathi Knives were somehow involved.
  • The party made their way towards the Manufactorum, Jaq unsuccessfully flirting with a woman selling recaf near a small vertical conveyance.
  • They set up a stake out, waiting for the shift change at the Manufactorum, hoping to spot anyone who looks like they might be dealing to workers.

And that’s where we left it.

Until next time,

Owen