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[Tiruin]

"I didn't check closely, but he has a bomb is all I know...said he got drugged and a vague 'they' stuck it on, and he has ideas for it..."

[Yoink]

"Oh, by the way sir, our guides seem to have made themselves scarce. Quite unprofessional, really; running at the first sign of trouble and all that. No backbone, the lot of them."

>Leave cups of recaf out for whoever would like one, then go back to my tent and sleep as everyone else fusses about.

[Dsarker]

Roth tries to go to sleep, but is probably unsuccessful.

[mcclay]

((that text your using Tiruin is really annoying))
Argia attempt to sleep the horror away.

[NobodyPro]

The night passes and the acolytes emerge from their tents having managed to find some sleep in the night. Both Roth and Aristarchus have clearly not slept well.

The hauler is soon moving again, the barrens stretching to the horizons and the oncoming foothills silhouetted against the raising sun. Shale Crows wheel above ruined camps and settlements and the ghostfire blooms appear to be more frequent than before. Around midday the hauler reaches the hills.

As it begins to climb the foothills of the dark mountains, Lyssian, Hurk, Alba, Mira and Argia spot a shadowed shape standing atop a rocky outcrop about 100 meters off to the side of the trail. With the sun behind it, the figure is quite indistinct and seems to shimmer before disappearing from sight.

[mesor]

Observe the ground around us.

"Everybody happy now I've got a collar on? Gonna stop muttering about me every time my back is turned as if I'm deaf? It's getting annoying."

[Yoink]

Bernant observed the distant figure for a moment, narrowing his eyes slightly. 'Could be another occurrence like that dead fellow last night; could be something entirely different. I'd rather not panic the others about it unduly, though.'

He decided to tell the Seer, leaning towards him and lowering his voice as he indicated the area he'd seen the figure,
"Sir, I'm fairly sure I saw something up there. Not exactly sure what, could have been a human shape but I couldn't tell for sure."

>Tell the Seer!

>Also place the loaded shotgun across my knees as we go, ready incase anything should attack us.

[NobodyPro]

The Seer peers in the direction Hurk indicated and without bothering to lower his voice "I sensed something. Some kind of disturbance." He taps on the cabin's window. "Acolytes, we're investigating this."

The hauler pulls over and the acolytes all jump off, leaving the vehicle unguarded. The route to the outcrop is dangerous as there is no clear path through the jumbled rocks. As they climb, the loose scree gives way under Argia and Gabriel's feet. While Gabriel manages to right himself, Argia falls and takes Alba and Hurk with her. Hurk is the most effected as he is at the bottom of the resulting pile.

When the party finally arrives at the outcrop Aristarchus stops in his tracks. As the acolytes move past him the cause of this behaviour becomes obvious. Burned into a flat sheet of rock is a crude rendition of a bird. The bird is grasping a skull in its talons.

The Seer fans his hands against his chest in the sign of the Imperial aquila, "Throne."

[mesor]

Draw my rifle, check the immediate area for any other clues or signs of what has been here.

[Gamerlord]

"Is it an Ashleen symbol?"

Allion states, drawing his laspistol and looking around cautiously.

[Yoink]

Bernant sighed and stooped to draw his autopistol, having left his shotgun in the truck.
All this gadding about through the countryside, over hills and ravines and stumbling over crumbling rocks was quite unseemly, and it would be doubtless moreso if one was lugging a shotgun around with them too.

He straightened up, pistol in hand, and dusted off the front of his suit. He was smarting from the earlier fall, but he wasn't about to show it. Instead he looked more closely at the symbol ahead before glancing around.

>Draw pistol, keep an eye on the surroundings whilst waiting for the Seer to explain.

[Caellath]

Lemanov shows worry for the current state of the Acolytes who fell into a jumble, but noticing they seem mostly well, he decides that whatever caught the Seer's attention is of a higher level of urgency.

He examines the symbol from a little afar, not truly wanting to do it throughly. If the Seer had felt some kind of disturbance with the bird rendition as its source, it probably meant the image retained some kind of power.
"Seer? What does this mean?"

[mcclay]

Argia studies the symbol intently before asking "What is it? Some tribal symbol or something more sinster?"

Try to determine what the symbol is.

[Tiruin]

Try to remember anything about skulls, birds...or any kind of protocol to do in this current situation fro the Lore I know.

Draw ye Bow and Arrow.

"I believe a bird with a skull is a bad thing, then?" Mira said as she readied her weapon. "We're being watched, or something very weird is up...does anyone think we're setting foot on consecrated soil or something? Seer, did we disturb anything on the way here - or did anyone incite anger from the locals?"

And inquire

[NobodyPro]

"Seer? What does this mean?"

The seer just says "This is indeed an age of miracles." and unconsciously puts his hands to the deck of cards, still concealed within his robe.

Try to determine what the symbol is.

Try to remember anything about skulls, birds...or any kind of protocol to do in this current situation fro the Lore I know.
And inquire

While Argia truly can't decipher what it means, Mira eventually realises that the skull in the bird's talons is a variation on the blackened skull and sunburst iconography used by general Drusus's Second Army Group. With this new information, Argia realises that the symbol is an archaic one associated with Saint Drusus.

Argia discovers that the rock around the symbol is still hot to the touch. Gabriel checks the perimeter but finds nothing to indicate somebody entering or leaving the area.