Dark Heresy - Chapter 1: Inspiration Grows From The Barrel Of A Gun

"Am I..." he looked over to the drugged up Remedy distastefully, "...We, going to be leashed for this assignment? Am I going to have to mind my P's and Q's around the nobles and tip toe, or will I... we... be allowed to rough up a few snobs if the need arises?"

Varius' grimy fingers tapped for a moment on his Tarot hand, "We do not suggest causing any unnecessary conflicts with the nobility. It might well have very grave consequences if it is idle and unwarranted, particularly regarding assets as disposable and expendable as yourselves. But, nonetheless, your primary and overriding directive is to find the answers we are seeking... so long as you are pursuing the directive and making clear progress, anything and everything is permitted to you in pursuit of that which falls within the parameters of the Ordos... and there is very little that does not. But, if you invoke the authority of the Ordos too rashly, you may find the justified fear and notoriety that name generates closing many leads to you, which may result in you making little progress... which is likely to bode ill for you if I and San Leor are unimpressed by what we observe and if we do not hear of swift and discrete success."

"When we find this killer..." She rolled her eyes back down and straight onto Varius "do we bring him in or do we execute him?" With that her eyes rolled back and she once more started reliving good kills.

Varius took a quiet sip of the rotgut booze, "The two are much the same, in the end."

"You have no need to worry. I have been known to apply a strong arm in my investigations, but I do not do so lightly." Julian thumbed his cards for a few moments then looked back up at Varius, "As you know, I've not gotten a look at the case files, so I'll need as much information as possible. What can you tell me? Modus Operandi? Patterns? Motives? Timing?"

With a single flicking motion Varius slid a rather advanced dataslate across the table, which one could tell was being uploaded data from some remote outside source, "This should be all that the Arbites have collected on the matter... unfortunately, it is not much. You may overlook it at your leisure, but there is little of substance... we have suspicions that there is more that has been... accidentally suppressed or misplaced by certain elements within the Arbites."

Julian snorted derisively as he scanned over the data slate, "Hardly surprising."

Interrogator Varius leaned back a little in the booth, "The latest victim's name was Farelda Liore, her home, also the site of the latest incident, is given in the dataslate."

"It would be best to start there then, before any more evidence gets... misplaced." Julian looked over to the drugged up Remedy, then looked back to Varius, "Are you sure this partnership is necessary? Babysitting a Obscura fiend is only going to slow me down."

Varius took one quiet sip of his rotgut booze before stoically nodding, "Yes. We would not have undergone the incalculable expenditure of shipping her across half a sub-sector if we did not deem her to be of some utility."

Julian sighed in resignation, "Very well then. Is there anything else you can tell us? Or anything else we should know?"

"I can do things that you cannot, my good Arbitrator. Before this is over you will need my skills." She cracked her neck and continued to enjoy her Obscura induced bliss and let the two men handle their business and discussion in peace.

"Even when floating with the faeries?" grumbled the Arbite.

"Especially when floating with the faeries..." She snapped her filed teeth together, making a sharp snapping sound in the room, like she just bit the wings of one of the faeries.

Varius shook his head, "I do not believe so, and I must going. I have a great deal of business to attend to." Pushing himself away, his hunched ganger-form began to stand up, before, as though remembering something he turned back and said luridly, "Don't forget your winnings," though you had not actually played a single hand of Tarot, and casually slid a hundred Thrones across the table. Mixed in with them you found two, though not proper rosettes, small writs of paper affirming that you acted under the authority of the Ordos. Even as you looked up from the money, you only caught a glimpse of Varius' tacky vest leaving the bar.

Julian picked up one of the writs and examined it carefully before pocketing it.
"I'll be looking after this." he said sternly as he grabbed the money before Remedy could, "We can use it for pay-offs, and I don't trust you not to squander it on your addiction."

She smiles and tilted her head forward and looked into Julian's eyes, looking quite serious for once. "I'm an asassain that stalks people in the dark and slits their throats before they even know what is going on. I can get Obscura easily and if you think you can hide anything from me..." she chuckled and licked her teeth. "I am Remedy Dragos, mr Arbitrator. I am an asassain. I can get whatever I want from whomever I want to get it from."

"Then feel free to get my boot from up your arse if you mess this up." he growled in a low voice, "You're good at killing people, I get it, but don't go turning every situation into a blood bath."

Remedy took a deep breath and started rubbing her temples. "I wont be killing anyone for a while...How about I go back to my place, check my weapons, and then I meet you at a designated area. Unless you want a depressed asassain roaming the streets of the nobles with you."

He sighed heavily and reached into his coat and pulled out a loaded injector.
"Take this, it may help." he slid the injector across the table to Remedy and stood to leave, "It's Stimm. And try not to take too long, this case is time sensitive."

"I'll take it if combat arises." She got it and pocketed it quickly before she stood up and started pacing. "We need to see what the nobles know. Chances are it's either a noble getting kicks out of tearing his victims apart or a lower-class person/mutant acting out of spite or basic instinct. Doesn't narrow it down but it gives us something to look for. If it's a noble he'll try and pin it on someone else for sure." Sighing and still rubbing her temples she was fighting the urge to break down and wallow in despair.

Julian nodded a stiff farewell to Remedy then stepped out of the bar. Pulling a pair of dark circular sunglasses from his coat and perching them on his nose, he gazed around and moved off into the crowd.

On his journey to the crime scene of the latest murder, Julian stopped at the closest armourtorium to purchase more ammunition for his trusty shotgun. He had a bad feeling he was going to need to extra shots.

(I purchase 20 shells for 1 throne of my own money, bringing my total up to 32 shells.)

Remedy silently followed after him, wishing she had a pair of shades as well. "You wouldn't happen to have an extra pair of thos glasses do you?"

Before walking off Julian cocked a brow at Remedy, "Not for you."

It took almost three hours to make their way up to the spire, past the doubting and immensely skeptical guards keeping the boundary between the spire and middle hive, and making your way through the opulent yet decadent boulevards to the manor in question. The spire was a truly strange place... not many people to be found compared to the middle-hive, and no workers... mostly day-servants, adepts, house workers, and the buildings themselves were both fabulously rich and yet betrayed their age and their wear very greatly, in its own way it seemed to be coming apart just as much as the middle hive. Julian had never been up to the spire before, and Remedy still could ill-fathom a land of metal and filled with so many people let alone take in this incalculable wealth.

Making your way towards the place in question, it was not hard to find... a particularly expansive and well-kept manor of the spire, cordoned off at the moment and being patrolled by the somewhat thuggish Enforcers.