The Penance of Iocanthos arrived on Archaos (see "The Brutal Lament" for details) and the Explorers, with an entourage of exotic Death Cultist body guards, met Darien's old friends & family in a state reception, organised to welcome home the "adventurous noble scion".
Darien's mother's ladies-in-waiting hastily whisked off Captain Cobalt to "make her more suitable" as Darien's intended bride. Lynara was somewhat concerned but Darien encouraged her to put up with them and try to enjoy the pampering.
At the lavish function Darien met Duke Thomias Jerom Newton, Magnus Machenko's alleged co-conspirator and source of the astropathic messages they had intercepted. They traded barbed comments but didn't "make a scene".
It appears that Darien's younger sister, Schofield, has left the planet, en route for Port Wander, leaving at about the time Darien was kidnapped by the Fervian cultists. They also learn that Darien's mother is also due to wed (Lord Gold, head of House Vansire and speaker of the Planetary Senate, essentially the de facto Imperial Govenor).
Cobalt was eventually re-introduced to the welcoming party (which was now well into it's 2nd day) but Mord soon realised she has been partially lobotomised by the implantation of Cortex bionics. She is now compliant, giggly and (currently) phobic of starships.
Lomar received an astropathic message from Master Baccharus informing him that as Darien was believed lost at the hands of the cultists he has been disinherited. Lomar is to return to the Majestic Labour as soon as he is able.
The Explorers discuss what the "disinheritance" may mean - as far as Darien is concerned he may not be the "heir" (a level of responsibility he wasn't hugely keen on anyway) but he is still a member of the House and has responsibilities and duties to execute. It also casts a shadow on the necessity of the wedding; the Penance is legally and officially leased to them now and Darien has no inheritance to speak of. Darien is determined though; he gave his word and is prepared to honour it, but he wants Cobolt returned to her former state.
Mord then recieves a cryptic invitation to meet with a "Dr Smythe" he goes downhive to meet with the mysterious man and discovers a well dressed gentlemen who seems to know a lot about technology but isn't one of the Adeptus Mechanicus. He also seems connected to the underworld connections who smuggled Mord out of the Calixis Sector originally. Mord suspects that he is a member of the Logicians (see Dark Heresy: Disciples of the dark gods). Smythe asks Mord to do him a small favour - if he delivers a package to an acquaintance of his on Port Wander he will supply Mord with data and technical specs for a number of obscure and "lost" devices. Mord agrees.
Our Explorator isn't the only one who recieves an invitation. Theata is summoned by representatives of his House and Darien gets a request to meet with an individual claiming to be connected to the Holy Inquisition. After the missive he received on Port Wander Darien feels he cannot refuse. Lomar won't let him go alone though (especially after his previous abduction) and accompanies him, along with a cadre of Death Cultists.
They head downhive and meet up with an apparently learned sage & adept, Verunde Macabre, who alleges that he used to work in the employ of the Inquisition, in particular he worked for an Interrogator named Jareth who was in the service of Inquisitor-Exorcist Mordant Crimson (see Dark Heresy: Disciples of the dark gods pg 180).
Jareth has heard of Dariens studies and wishes to entrust him with something to assist him. They are led into Macabre's study where they discover a collection of artifacts, texts, objects and curios, some alien, some archeotech, some of cultist origin, many forbidden or heretical. Macabre says that this is his role now, to act as curator and archivist of this collection. He takes them to a plinth and with reverence hands over a small book bound in red leather. He tells them that this is "The Red Book of the Haxtus". The Haxtus are a noble family of Archaos, generally known for their debauchery and allegations of heresy. One of their number, some few hundred years ago, had rebelled against his clan and entered into service with an Inquisitor. This book was a journal he wrote about his time in service and the things he learnt, encountered and discovered. Verunde now entrusts it to Darien.
Theata meets with the local office of his House and is queried as to why he is still with Darien - their house contract is not for the Penance, nor with the Fervian Dairy Syndicate. He is therefore told he must return to the Majestic Labour with all haste. They will arrange travel for him. He decides he has no choice but to accept - his House is more important than his ties to individuals.
Darien and Lomar leave Verund's home but on their way back up hive they are accosted by Hive dregs. The fight never really goes against the explorers and the hive scum's leader sues for peace. He tells them that they were only there to try to take them to a meeting with one of his contacts. Darien and Lomar are intrigued and go with them.
They are eventually taken to an underhive bar and introduced to a gunslinger and desperado named Quint. He explains that he too is in the service of Mordant Crimson and that he knows Jareth well. He also believes Jareth to be corrupt and possibly a heretic, in fact some two centuries ago he accused him of such but the allegations were successfully defended, he (Quint) was demoted and he swore to one day prove that he was right. He also tells Darien that Baccahrus was involved and that the investigation is the reason he left the Imperium. To this day Quint believes the granting of the Baccahrus Rogue Trader Warrant was part of an elaborate cover up. He also believes that "Newton" may be one of Jareth's cover aliases.
By the end of the day everyone had returned to the Erronius estate. Darien discovered he had a visitor and also that Scythia had been trying to get hold of him from the Penance. The visitor turns out to be his "Thronemother" - a sister of an Order Famulous who works to guide and assist the House. This is the new sister, his previous Thronemother having passed away since he left the sector. She discusses his forthcoming wedding and gets out of him the detail of what has happened to Captain Cobolt. She agrees that the marriage is "unsuitable" with the captain in her current state and offers to have her spirited away so that Darien can attempt to have the implants removed and her restored to her former self.
Mord examines the device that Dr Smythe gave him - it appears to be human tech (it appears to be a rod that interfaces with a standard Servitor data port) but it is not from a current Adeptus Mechanicus Standard Template Construct - Mord believes that it is a lost & ancient design from the Dark Age of Technology but it has been manufactured recently....
The Explorers reconvene and swap tales (leaving out plenty of detail and generally skewing things certain ways). Theata proposes that he returns to the Majestic labour on Darien's behalf to explain things to his father (not mentioning that his house is sending him) and that he'll be leaving in the morning. Darien protests but eventually concedes.
They then speak with Scythia who advises that the Fervians are demanding that they get underway to take delivery of a new milk shipment. Darien explains that the captain is incapable of command and they agree that the First Officer, an ex-naval man by the name of Killroy, take command for the time being. Mord and Darien then hit upon the idea that Mord joins the ship uses the medicae facilities (and the time away on the journey) on board the Penance to try to remove the Captain's implants. Scythia sends a shuttle to collect them and Darien contacts his Thronemother to arrange the abduction/collection of the Captain.
Mord packs and he and Darien meet the sister and return to the Penance. Darien speaks with Scythia and returns to Archaos in the early morning (Archaos time) and decides to wait up to see Theata off. He does so and is then attacked by Que'Toh, one of his Death Cultist guards. The guard explains that he is committed to regularly testing Darien's defences to ensure he is ready for combat but until now Darien had been seeing enough danger without additional "surprise attacks".
Theata takes a shuttle to the transport waiting for him, is shown to the sparse passenger berth and settles down with a book. He very soon discovers that his House has booked transport for him on the Penance (as it was the first vessel leaving Archaos with Port Wander on it's itinerary)....but he decides to remain as a passenger and enjoy the opportunity for a bit of peace and quiet with no work.
Over the next few weeks Darien works the social circuit working to charm away the rumour mill and spread his own derogatory rumours about Newton. His mother, Lady Tsatsa Erronius, questions him about where his fiance has gone and the conversation breaks down - his mother summons him to her office that night.
Meeting his mother that evening Darien discovers another side to her. She is well read, studious and intelligent - explaining that the noble life tends to lead people to dabble in various activities for enjoyment and to ward off the boredom of such a lengthy, rejuvenat extended, existence. For her it wasn't drugs or pleasures it was study - including texts that some may have been considered heretical (she alludes that it was to better understand or relate to his father and to share his interests). They discuss his father and why he left - she's not aware of the details other than he felt it was his only choice, and he's not returned since. That was over 100 years ago. Darien (and his sister) were concieved using "some of himself that he left behind".
Mord realises that he doesn't have the surgical skill necessary to remove the captain's implants so employs the help of the ship's new chief Chiurgeon. While Mord passes his rolls to assist the surgeon fails and the captain dies on the operating table. Mord tells Scythia who instructs him to keep it to themselves (she will deal with the Chiurgeon). Mord sends Astropathic messages to Darien and Theata to advise them that the captain's dead and it wasn't his fault! The Penance's Astropathic choir send Theata's message then later receive it again and it is delivered to him aboard the same ship...
Darien is shaken by the news - he never loved or felt attracted to the captain (being used to the idea of an arranged marriage for political or diplomatic reasons) but in his words she was "significant" to him. He continues his charm offensive over the next few weeks, but somewhat more subdued than before. Eventually Newton encounters him at a party and they trade words. Newton says that working together they could gain more than alone. Darien asks why he started the rumours and Newton's response was "It brought you here." The Thin White Duke eventually walks off with the parting words of "Enjoy your reading material."
The Penance returns to Archaos with a full cargo bay and collects Darien. Theata makes himself known and recommends that they charge more for passage in future if his House, with their limited budget, selected their ship. Lady Tsatsa wishes her son farewell and gives him a letter to pass on to his father. Darien responds that it was finally good to meet "her".
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