The Story of A Vision of Hope Surpassed

The Beginning (Session 1)
Your journey begins. The crew boarded the ship A Vision of Hope Surpassed and met each other for the first time. Each member introduced themselves to the rest in their own way, and already lines began to be drawn in blood between the factions of the ship. However, it was early in their journey, and none could be sure what the others true motivations were.

However, they had more pressing matters. High Counsellor Fennoff of the system Canis Asteropaios requested a meeting with the crew of the new Rogue Trader Dynasty, both to cement a positive working relationship between the soon to be neighbouring systems, and to ask a favour of them, with reward promised of course. The Crew, while not fully trusting the man, decided it best to start off on the right foot if possible, and took him up on the job.

A request from Fenoff (Session 2 - TBD) Edit
High Counsellor Fennoff has made a request of A Vision of Hope Surpassed and her crew. It seems his Cousin, Delorious Fennoff, has started a small anti-noble coup on Zutune, and is funding it from behind the scenes. Not only that, but there is a chance that this coup is being co-funded by one of the Criminal Syndicates of Zutune, although Fenoff was not sure which.

He has asked that this coup be stopped, but had some stipulations. One, his cousin must not be implicated in the mess, and instead should be given a slap on the wrist and sent crawling back to Fenoff on his knees, begging for forgiveness, and Two, It must not come out to the greater public that Fenoff was the one who sent A Vision of Hope Surpassed to complete this task, as this would implicate him as being aware of the coup from the start.

Other than that, he has left the actual details up to you, and should you complete the task well, he will provide a contingent of Imperial guard for your ship as well as a significant boost in materials and goods that will be useful in starting a colony in the new star system.

- (Session 3)

The Crew of A Vision of Hope Surpassed travelled to Zutune to begin their investigation. The travel through the warp was thankfully uneventful, and they soon found themselves orbiting the hive world. After taking stock of the factions on planet, they made plans to gather information using the imperial guard. A number of squads from the imperial guard were sent planet side on leave, with the express orders to carouse with the locals and collect information and the general sentiment of the common folk.

The Master of Whispers and the Prime Engiseer were first to touch down on the planet. They landed in the Noble District, a ring built around the massive space elevator that was used to pass goods produced on this planet to passing ships. This ring was far above the packed, squalid living that the lessers of the world lived in on the surface, its golden towers and steal streets making for a harsh and intensly wealthy demeanor.

They were quickly greated by the local archbishop, Giormas. Their official reason for being there was a resupply, and he did not question this. He did invite the Crew to a party being heald at the God Emperor's Temple, put on by Delorious Fennoff. The crew agreed to be there.

The Crew arrived at the party and quickly got to work gathering intelligence on Fennoff and the goings-on within the noble factions. They heard some rumblings of economic issues, losing trade and even worry about the coup, although the people speaking about these topics were quick to quiet once it was found they were being overheard.

Fennoff was seen in an argument amongst 2 other men, a young noble named Ammius, and the older Imperial Army general Eckur Ironhowl. Unfortunately for the Crew, they did not overhear the details of this argument.

Soon, Lord Zutuné arrived at the party, immediately showing the party goers in praise and giving a short but empassioned speech about the future of the planet. He was a good looking and charismatic man, and while making his rounds introduced himself to many of the Crew. However, after some time of this, disaster struck. The doors to the party were flung open, and a mob of armed men and women made their entrance. Zutuné seemed to recognize the woman at the front of the group, smugly saying that her invitation must have been sent on the wrong vox channel, but clearly he misjudged the situation, and was shot for his effort.



-​ (Session 4)



Combat ensued. The Crew fought bravely against this terrorist attack, and although the captain was gravely injured, they all survived to tell the tale. During the combat, the Master of Whispers, Echo, made conversation with Fennoff, learning of him and seeing that he was not the best at hiding his intentions as he worried over the combat. After the combat was completed, Echo convinced Fennoff that although it seemed as though Zutuné would pull through, he would "Take care of the problem discreetly."

Suddenly, as the dust was settling, smoke bombs went off, and as quick as the smoke could be cleared, the woman leading the attack was gone. She looked to have been dragged away, although certainly gravely wounded, if not dead from the shot to the head that took her from the combat in the first place.

In a bold display of control, the Captain called for her own guard to come to the planet and begin a thorough investigation of the attack and the possible planning of a coup. She made her way back to the ship along with the Master at Arms. Meanwhile, the Master of Whispers and Prime Engiseer stayed behind, having their men investigate the scene while also whisking Zutuné away to their ship for medical treatment. Some interesting information was found, along with video of the event.

The Inquisition Representative and First Officer arrived on the scene surrounded by a few hundred guardsmen and began the dirty job of interrogating the party-goers, although Echo convinced them to give Fennoff leniency. However, as the Master of Whispers and Prime Engiseer were about to leave, a man attempted to escape, only to be swiftly killed by the Inquisitor. He looked at the man and found him to be a mutant, and proclaimed that his expectations of Heresy had been proven, and the party go-ers would need to be put through special interrogation.

Back on the ship, the captain (after being treated and everyone had rested from the combat) Called a meeting. Information was shared between the crew, and next steps were taken.

Echo spoke to Zutuné, asking him to hide that he was still alive for the duration of the investigation, and asking if he had any leads on who would plan his death. Zutuné claimed the most likely culprit was Fennoff, but for more information speaking to his own Master of Whispers would be the best path. He gave a location and keyword to Echo. The name, Subozlo, the keyword is Hummingbird. He can be found at Zutuné's mansion.

The Master of Arms spoke to his returning squad captains for reports on the carousing imperial guard. The reports he got back were concerning. Most groups spoke of general unrest and unhappiness in the populace, however 2 stories stood out. In one case, a report from a Guardsman that he ended up drinking with a group of revolutionaries somehow, and awoke the next day naked in a gutter. The reason the outcome is suspicious is that as a member of the Imperial Guard, the revolutionists should have despised the man, and just taking his clothes was a rather soft outcome. The other story is of a completely missing squad who failed to return to shuttles for pickup. The Master at arms justly declared them as deserters, but it is odd they would desert from a brand new faction with no missions under their belt. Their morale should have been high, not low enough for desertion.

The Captain met with both his First Officer and the Inquisitor to find out about the interrogations. What they found was disturbing, according to the Inquisitor. There is a clear sign of Heresy and dark plots being unfurled. He has requested that the Captain take into account that the revolutionists may in fact be directly opposing the God Emperor himself, not just the nobility. He also revealed a symbol of Skorne, saying he had found it on one of the nobles, claiming it as proof that there are Chaos worshippers on the planet.

However, on speaking to the First Officer in private, she was horrified by the Inquisitor's methods. He was insanely cruel and manic in his hunting for Heresy, and by her own description she is almost certain none of the men and women she searched were carrying that symbol, and is not sure where he procured it.

In private, the Inquisitor revealed the horrors of the Chaos God Skorne to the Captain, and showed her images that would scar her mind permanently, insisting that if his warnings are unheeded the entire world will be turned away from the God Emperor's light.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">Meanwhile, the Prime Engiseer studied the videos and dataslates collected from the combat. He found that using infrared cameras collected from one of the party go-ers implants, he could see that the weapons used by the group that extracted the leader of the raid were in fact Imperial Guard weapons. While not damning evidence, the Imperial guard tracks its equipment closely and seeing it in the hands of revolutionaries is suspicious. He also found data that confirms the connection between the revolutionaries and Fennoff.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">Echo, after speaking to Zutuné, made his way to the planet again, ending up at a meeting with Imperial Army general Eckur Ironhowl. He asked some questions about Fennoff and about the boy he had been arguing with, Ammius. Through some charming conversation he had Ironhowl reveal that Ammius had killed a cousin of Zutuné in a crime of passion one night, and had come to the General to have the problem cleaned up, which he had done for the boy. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">-​ (Session 5) <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">The Prime Engiseer and the Master at Arms traveled to the Imperial Guard base to find out how the rebels could have procured Imperial weapons. Pulling rank, the Master at Arms was able to get access to the servers where acquisitions and transfers were kept. Through masterful technical skill, the Prime Engiseer was able to reach out to the machine spirits and gather than not only were the records seemingly tampered with, but that the person who the equipment was signed under didn't exist. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">To find out more, they made their way to the inner sanctum of the base, finding a massive vault that when opened revealed the Planetary Prime Engiseer, a massive bundle of wires and flesh, with only a single half skull that indicated it was once a man. On speaking to each other, the Planetary Engiseer was convinced that someone must have edited his memory files as well, and the only things that could do that would be powerful beyond understanding. He requested, privately, that the Prime Engiseer install a connection to the Floating city so he can interface with it and confirm if there was a powerful ancient AI, a Gravemind, harbored somewhere in the city. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">Meanwhile, their Captain was still recovering from the severe injuries she sustained during combat with the rebels. Although she had already been given basic assistance by the Chief Chirugeon, she knew from seeing Zutuné miraculous recovery that he had stronger, more effective healing methods available to him. After inquiring about it and agreeing to the process, she was subjected to an extremely violent healing, leaving her feeling incredible, but also leaving a horrible burn scar across her entire leg. She also found herself enjoying the process by the end, and learned to take pleasure from the pain. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">Echo, not happy to sit idly by, made his way to meet with Ammius, planning to kidnap the young noble. He was successful in he efforts, spiriting the boy away with ease to his personal hold within the ship. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">-​ (Session 6) <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;"> <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">Echo began his interrogation of the boy in earnest by pretending he had also been captured with him. He was able to find out that Ammius had a codephrase he would send to General Eckur Ironhowl daily to ensure he was safe. However, getting what else he needed was proving difficult. Giving up on the subtle path, Echo ordered Ammius restrained, and force fed him drugs that heightened his state of being, putting him in a dreamlike state, more open to questioning. Despite Ammius clearly being trained in information obfuscation and anti-torture tactics, he was able to find the codephrase, as well as confirm that Fenoff was the one behind the rebel attack that night. He also found that Ammius felt that Fenoff was a fool for what he had done, and that had it been organized by him, he would have done things differently. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">An unexpected problem arose when the boy began to breakdown mentally, and was invaded by some representative of Chaos. He began to speak in tongues after strongly hinting that his parents had been killed for worshiping Chaos themselves, and unfortunately for Echo, one of Echo's men went temporarily insane from the Chaotic presence, his fear driving him to slit the young man's throat. This was dealt with swiftly by Echo, but the damage was done. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">He brought the body to the Chief Chirugeon, to see if he could revive him, or if not, if he could discreetly remove the body. Upon finding out the body had been tainted by chaos, the Chirugeon burned it to ashes, leaving no remains. Echo asked about someone who could translate the Chaotic speech that he had recorded, and was directed to speak to the Space Marine Inquisitor. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">Finally, the Master at Arms and the Prime Engiseer returned from their excursion to the Imperial guard base. The group met to discuss what they had found. On speaking of the Inquisitor, he appeared as if he had been listening, and seemed angered that he was being left out of important talks. He was calmed when Echo and the Captain said they were going to come to him directly after the meeting, but he asked he be included in these talks in the future. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">After the Engiseer and the Major General Filled the rest in on what they had found, the Master of Whispers and the Lord Captain went to speak to the Inquisitor. During this conversation, it was revealed to the Inquisitor that Ammius had clearly been influenced by Chaos. The Inquisitor demanded that the planet be brought Exterminatus immediately, and that his order be called at once to complete the job. The Captain and Echo were able to convince him to give them some time. He agreed, but brought an ultimatum: <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">'''The Crew has 2 days to discover the source of the chaos and eliminate it to the inquisitor's standards. If this is not done, he will assume that not only the planet is lost to Chaos, but that the Crew were corrupted as well due to their extended exposure to it, and as such will call Exterminatus on not just the planet but the Crew of A Vision of Hope Surpassed as well.''' <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">After this, Echo went and spoke to the Choir Master Telepathica and her Ward, requesting they inform him if the Inquisitor asks for her service. <p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.38;margin-top:12pt;margin-bottom:12pt;">