Look for someone more knowledgeable about how Stern Hope was before the cathedral. Then hit the hay.
You can't seem to find anyone who knows more than just "It used to be a hill."
>Try and remember what it is we have planned for tomorrow, again. Can't have that slipping my mind.[/b]
Ah yes, thinks Bernant as he falls asleep,
meeting the Abbot...*Dreams of tea*
Return to Quarters, begin slumber but AFTER trying to examine the current area for anything strange - if found, just follow Allion, preceding any returning back. If not, then former action {Return and sleep}
You don't notice anything unusual as you return to the inn.
The next morning, a worn out-looking Aristarchus leads the party to their meeting with the Abbot. "Feel free to ask whatever seems pertinent," he says, "but you should remain polite and keep your eyes open."
Brother Lamark greets you at the doors to the cathedral and eagerly ushers you inside. "The Abbot was unable to meet you in person yesterday because he was tending to a young girl. By the Emperor's grace she will live, she opened her eyes this morning."
He leads you through the centre of the building, the inside of the dome has a massive mural depicting Saint Drusus standing triumphant, a short-bladed sword held aloft in one hand and a golden aquila in the other, with a shadowy half-suggested figure laying crushed at his feet, surrounded by intricately engraved patterns of flowers and wheeling birds.
You walk through a door at the back of the cathedral and enter the meeting room, a large square room with a lectern in one corner and furnished with numerous rather crudely fashioned pews and benches. The walls of the hall are decorated with hand-painted scenes of the life of Saint Drusus. Inside is a scarred man with a flak vest over his robes, a laspistol and an axe at his belt. and an elderly man with a staff, plain robes of dark grey cloth, a silver aquila at his neck and a white stole to mark his rank as Abbot.
“Good morning, I am Prelate Orland Skae. I have the honour to be Missionary-Abbot of Stern Hope. Good Brother Lamark greeted you last night in my stead, and this tall and dangerous-looking fellow you may remember from the gate is Brother Severus, our Intercessor here. My apologies for not meeting you when you arrived but my duties kept me from it. Thank you all for coming to us in our hour of need. When I first issued my request for assistance I could not have hoped for more prompt attention.
“Let me first tell you of ourselves and our place here, by way of context. I know what you all must be thinking—how did this worn out old man talk the Ecclesiarchy into building such a magnificent cathedral on this forsaken rock? It wasn’t that difficult, really. In another life, ages ago, I was of a noble family and not without a few connections. I let my family know that an old man’s memory is far more apt to slip when he has nothing to occupy his time. That, coupled with the wonderful story of a “lifetime of service”, and working many hours with the locals, has given birth to this place. ‘The Throne helps those who plan well’, as the saying goes, and thanks to the diligent toil and faith of the good people of our congregation we have brought forth a miracle in the barren land, and not one I will see endangered.
“In recent times we have been plagued by signs and portents, visions and phantoms that may indicate that some foul evil has come to my congregation. There have also been disappearances, deaths and other portents. I am a priest of the Imperial faith and I have seen much in my years and do not take such things lightly, and so I called on those who you serve to aid us. I ask you, I implore you, get to the bottom of this. If it is nothing—so much the better, but if there truly is…a moral threat… find it, destroy it, purge it! Tomorrow on the feast of Saint Drusus we shall consecrate our cathedral to his glory. Nothing must stop that, nothing. You will have our full support. Now I imagine you have some questions?”
Author
Topic: Dark Heresy: Illumination IC - Faith Betrayed (Read 39952 times)