The Heidrun Incident

The following message, sent from Nela Cephas was intercepted, decrypted and disseminated throughout the Antilles subsector by unknown means, causing an influx of interested parties to the planet Heidrun. This is something the Conclave would have preferred to avoid. The savant responsible for this inexcusable lapse in security protocol has since disappeared. The Conclave has despatched Inquisitor Jakob Ghast to Heidrun as the manifestation of its will.

+++ ACCESSING FILE +++

+++ ENCRYPTION LEVEL: UMBER+++

+++ OPENING FILE +++

Esteemed Colleague,

It is with no small amount of sadness that I send this communique. The burden has fallen upon myself to inform you that our mutual friend and former mentor, HB, has passed into the light of Him on Earth, after many decades of service to His most Holy Ordos. I am told there was no pain in his passing and that he slipped away in his sleep, a luxury afforded to few in our profession and one I feel our friend has certainly earned. Truly he was a stalwart and dedicated servant. May his service continue in the afterlife.

Tragic though it is, it would seem that the untimely passing of our friend has brought with it an interesting development concerning an event known as the Heidrun Incident, which occurred some fifty years ago in the immediate locality of my present posting and the place of our training, the Inquisitorial Fortress Nela Cephas. Although I am sure you are familiar with the incident I shall recount what was previously known, and the surprising new information I have been made privy to, in full for the sake of completeness.

Godryk Aventine was counted amongst the greatest Inquisitors the Ares Sector had ever known, so great, in fact that in the one hundred and twenty eighth year of his service to the Ordos he was elected to the most honoured position of High Protector by the Sector Conclave. It was only then that his radical, nay, heretical leanings became clear. Using the services of all manner of vile mercenaries and pirates as a distraction, Aventine launched a raid on the sacred catacombs on Nela Cephas and absconded with a number of incalculably valuable artifacts linked to the Imperial Saint Sevastus, who banished the Daemon Prince Gorefiend many centuries ago. Aventine fled to the planet Heidrun, an important hive world, and most significantly, the supposed place of St. Sevastus' death. Aventine's intentions are uncertain, even with the newly declassified information made available to me, but there can be no doubt that he intended to enact some form of diabolical ritual on the planet. His plans were brought to an abrupt end, however, when he was hunted down and slain by a cell of Inquisitors lead by none other than our mutual friend. The heretic Aventine was stopped but the artifacts were unfortunately lost, hidden amongst the moldering ruins of Heidrun Primaris' underhive - until now, that is.

It was not the sprawling geographical immensity of Heidrun Primaris which made locating the relics of St. Sevastus so difficult but the simple fact that their exact names and descriptions were unknown - the heretic Aventine stole many items, destroying a great many vaults and reliquaries in the process, in order to misdirect his pursuers. It would seem though, that an inventory of items was compiled, and suppressed for unknown reasons, until those involved in the Heidrun incident had passed away. This list is now in my possession.

The Sector Conclave is currently moving to act on this new information, to recover the relics and perhaps to uncover Aventine's original plan. I must admit that the primary purpose of my contacting you, aggrieved though I am by our friend's death, is to inform you that I intend to travel to Heidrun to begin an investigation of my own. I am no field agent, however, and thought that perhaps we could rendezvous on the planet and work in concert to complete the Conclave's objectives ourselves. Success in this matter would surely make your name as an Inquisitor and perhaps even have me promoted to a more prestigious position than the one I currently occupy in the Librarium. I implore you to reply as quickly as is practically possible, as time is of the essence.

Your Friend,

VS

****

I suppose a bit of context is in order! The Heidrun Incident was an Inquisitor campaign I ran last year with my gaming group. Unfortunately I kind of let it fizzle out in the end but I've decided to use it as a narrative backdrop (I might even get some battle reports posted up at some point!) for the Inq28 minis I've made so far. Aventine and Soryn were actually made with the Heidrun Incident in mind and I'll be working my newer warbands into the narrative too.

With that in mind, as well as posts for WIPs and painted minis I'll be doing the odd 'Dramatis Personae' post, focusing on a specific character. This is a nice excuse to take some better photos of my older minis and also to provide some background for them. It's a bit poncey I suppose but it's something I've wanted to do for a while - I just tend to get a bit carried away when I've finished a new mini and want to get photos taken and posted up as soon as possible!

Anyway, if you've read this thank you and stay tuned for more updates!