-...Speaking of the artefacts. Are they still in possession of Arbites? Or did Ordo Xenos arrested those xeno-trinkets? With a sample and suitably equipped librarium I can start unveiling this piece of enigma.

Oh, and one more thing, Septimus, my friend - by subtlety I mean obfuscating the true nature of the office we serve. You will hardly cause any suspicion masquerading as but another arbitrator-provost investigating the breach of Lex Imperialis, and Arbites' modus operandi tends to...

A cruel smile touches Astaroth's lips for a fraction of second, before a mask of civility gets back on his face

-...lean towards quite overt acts of law enforcement, doesn't it?

Making a small mental note about Astaroth, I answer him confident.

"Yes, as it is written down in the Codex Arbites fear through intimidating force shall uncover the true nature of the suspect. I guess you are right and we will not cause much startling. In any case we can prepare a cover secundus. Maybe if the local law enforcers suspect, we are not just thoroughly followers, we could confess to be working for a concerned noble house. Even if it hurts me, but such private requests are not as uncommon as I would like them to be."

Turning towards Scab.

"So, Scab. I am a little surprised. You know about the ways of the machines to be able to work with an Auspex? You would not also be able to tend to the wounded, would you? I have a bad feeling, as if there might be some violence in our soon future."

"I am learning, yesyes! And thank you for the, hem hem, mission summary.", he replies with eager glee, while placing the auspex back into his bag with great care, and rummaging within. A cursory glance may reveal he wraps the device in a sturdy blanket to shield it and keep it functional after the inevitable bumping about within a hive world. "I do not know, hrn, how much it can truly tell us, but, it is safer to use it, than to look into the, gnah, warp just like that near unknown, hem, devices.", he then pauses in his flow of words and cants his head to the side, before asking: "You are arbites. How do we relate to this, hem hem, cover?"

"I should have my old seal of office, which should give us access to the files and evidence, if they are still there. If we are lucky it will be a bigger fortress, where the bodies are stored. So we might just have to pass a watch servitor or lower scribe, as the real Arbites will be busy trying to fight the enormous amouts of crime a hive like this produces. If not and we have to talk us past skeptical Arbites, I will try to apply on their comradeship towards a fellow Arbites or maybe try to bribe them...Lho-sticks are a common weakness under the stressed out."

I am loosing myself a little in eagerness, forging a maybe too complex plan for a per se easy task.

"If this won't work, we will fall back and dear Astaroth will take over, telling them, we were asked to investigate, because a big noble house is concerned about the ongoing terrible deaths of friends and associates. Maybe he can make use of his name's influence...pointing out, that the powerful wish to be included in the investigations and that they might reciprocrate."

Lost in my plans, an discontent look intermixes in my facial expression.

"And if we seem to have caught the resentment of our Lord Emporer, we will simply stick to the truth and force our entrance through the might of the inquisition."

After all I am content with this preparation.

"But I am positive, we will encounter no big problems. Do you two want to add anything to the plan or our overall mission or should we get to the footwork?"

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I assume somethings, while playing. If they do not apply, please correct me. E.g. do I have an old seal of office for the arbites?

I just went with the flow and what felt right for me, but I am ready to confess, that it was maybe lost or taken away

He bobs his head again, rubbing his palms together briefly in a rodentlike manner, and says: "I know, hemhem, people justly fear my talents. I would not like to draw, hrn, attention to them. That is another, mhm, reason for the auspex. Beyond that, I am ready and , hem hem, eager!"

-Either that, or the image of intelligence officer shold do the trick. But I would still like to know where exactly those xeno-trinkets are before we move on. Other than that - your plan looks good on paper.

"Well my friend, I cannot give you a definite answer to that, as our master was scarce with information. I would guess, that the artefacts are stored near the bodies for evidence. If they were moved, the scholars at the morgue should be able to tell us, where to. In any case I could only imagine, that an other Ordo operation could have moved them, which our master would have told us, if he knew about it."

"Hmmm, only one way to find out, yes?", Scab says, and hefts his stick with his bundle of belongings up over his shoulder again.

-------

I assume somethings, while playing. If they do not apply, please correct me. E.g. do I have an old seal of office for the arbites?

Yeah, it makes sense that you would still have your seal of office. So you guys are traveling to the arbiters station now?

Yes. I grap my helmet, but only tie it to my belt and we call for a ride.

Scab trails behind the other two on the way to their destination, by his hunched demeanour and plain garb seeming more a serf or servant than a fierce, intimidating psyker.

Nodding to himself and allowing his sight to wander once more over the books and robed female figures guarding the strategium, Astaroth keeps up with the Septimus.

The three of you arrive at the Adeptus Arbites facility which over looks the noble residential district. This particular district is among one of the lower levels of "the Apex", being the highest levels of Hive Desoleum. The building itself is three stories tall, blue steel, with typical cathedral style windows which vary from normal sized to being large enough to reach from floor to ceiling. The surrounding neighborhood is decorated lavishly with natural trees and grass, but the sky above is an artificial painting upon the floor of the next level of the Apex. Many of the houses here are two story tall stone structures with a decent but not too impressive amount of land, gated and protected by a small team of private security. The streets are traveled by moderate quality autocarriages (cars).

I look around and try to get a feeling for the atmosphere around the Arbites facility. Which time do we have? Is there a lot of traffic in the Arbites facility? Might I know when there are shift changes? (Should I roll for that on common lore?)

"Well, look at this. This place looks nicer than many planets I guess...Are you ready to enter, my dear colleagues? Or do you want to prepare yourself out here anymore?"

If my colleagues agree to enter, I tighten my Armor, dust off any dirt I can see, set on a stern expression and march with long steps into the building.

Astaroth chuckles at the description of the neghbourhood, lightly kicking a small pile of fallen leaves, sending them flying a few inches above the ground.

-Well, definetly less sophisticated compared to my family mansion, but functional and could pass for what a self-respecting human could call a tolerable place to live. Let us proceed, arbitrator, for my family is interested in solving the mysterious crime, and you gave me a hand - or that's what they will know. Oh, and my own hired gumshoe might be extravagant, but I insisted on his participation, right, Scab?

Educated, or rather brainwashed, on Holy Terra, Scab seems to lack certain vocabulary and therefor looks a tiny bit puzzled for a moment, but soon enough eagerly nods along in agreement, once he'd finished staring around with wide eyes and taking in the sites and sounds. The ceiling, especially, seemed to fascinate him and put him in a pensive mood, before the others' words jerked him out of his thoughts.

"And his lordship, hem hem, makes offers one cannot refuse, yes? Yes!"

No time like the present to describe the inside of the building, eh? Each floor has a 10 foot high clearence between ground and ceiling. The place looks like any typical police station: Arbiters hurry here and there, filing reports about their activities and hustling back out the door to tackle yet another gangster who roamed out of his designated housing district. Personel from the Administratum work to manage the daily logistics of this precinct. There are various hallways connected to the main entrance hallway, one of which says "to medical wing." If one party member were to follow this and pass a -10 stealth check (add in any further modifiers, traits, and/or talents as applicable) they would be able to lead their friends to the medical wing unnoticed by any of the arbiters, if one so desires to do as such.

EDIT: Floor one is the administrative level of the building. Floor two and three are different and require visitation to know what's up there.

Since we're getting into page three now, and everybody has been roleplaying so well, all of you can have 400xp for reaching page 3, and another 200 for roleplaying. That's 600 experience points in total.

As I dislike the stealthy way and I don't think so low of my old brothers (or us so good in sneaking), I advance to the reception, giving my follow acolytes the possibilty to act differntly. When I reach the reception, I try to charm my way past the receptionist:

"Greetings my Brother Arbites. How are things going here? I am Arbitrator Ferro Septimus." Showing my old seal of office. "I need insight in the files on the dead nobles of the upper hive, those which were found in connection with the unknown artefacts and erratic behaviour. I guess you know which I mean? My commanding officer has the suspicion that some cases at our district might stand in connection to these here. He is quite the pain...if you know what I mean and has send me here to crosscheck the bodies and evidence...could you help to get this over with, before night falls? I have a certain other appointment...you know? ;)"

While saying this I would slip either some Throne money or a 2 Lho-Sticks, which ever I think would apply to the person behind the desk more. (Should I only roll a charm-test or also one of influence and what will be the modifiers?)

----

Well...thanks I guess we spend them after the adventure, don't we? And if I may ask, how many pages are there? I don't want to down the mood, but it feels like a lot^^

((We're gettin' XP for this? I wasn't actually expecting any! But thanks ))

The small, bald man lowers his hood respectfully in the station lobby, trailing behind the noble investigator in a diagonal distance of a good one and a half meters away, approximately. He wears a noncommital smile as he does so, simply waiting and letting his fellow acolyte do his job.

Astaroth casually walks in a distance as if he was right at home in the house of judgement, trying to remember any document, formal letter or other paper which could allow an adept of different, non-inquisitorial branch of imperial machine get access into Adeptus Arbites' business, how difficult it would be and is it even possible at all - just in case they would not be conveniently cooperative.

__________________________________________

This would be scholastic lore, I presume - whatever specific lore it is matters little, for I treat them all as known and Scribe-tines give me the bonus, yet it is for Frosty to give the final modifier and information in case I succeed.

We're on page three of the thread, to be specific. The adventure is about 7 pages. You can spend the experience points whenever you like.

To charm the receptionist, make a +20 Charm test along with any other modifiers you would have on your sheet. If it is an unknown skill, roll it at +/-0 instead. Upon success, the receptionist will take the bribe and give you a pass to roam the station as you please. If you fail, she returns the bribe and tells you that she is too honest and by-the-book to let you in.

To think of any helpful letters or papers, roll your scholastic lore with a +10. If you succeed, your character thinks that the administratum may be required to document the status of dead nobles, thus allowing him to bluff his way around under that ruse. If you fail, he has a brain fart.

This is where it's nice to be able to walk around the table and look at people's sheets xD

98, lots of DoF

For my own good i'd rather stay quiet for now.

Fel 33 +20 - rolled 38 = 1 DoS, but it can still fail depending on the receptionist's willpower..

If I should succeed: "Thank you my Brother-Arbites. Before I forget it, these are my two specialsts. I vouche for them and will oversee them. May the Emporer bless your day, my friend."

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well, about the sheets, we could send you them but you would have to update them or we can keep those on Page 1 up to date...

As it is very generous of you to offer us, spending XP when we like, I think I will spend them still between adventures...let's call it habit ...or do you want us to improve our chars further?

May I ask, if one of you two (my follow players) will learn Medicae?

Scab offers a polite, noncomittal smile to the receptionalist, as well as a servile half bow and a mumbled: "Emperor's grace."

I can handle medicae as well as any int-based skill, and it makes sense for an all-around scholar