Meanwhile Gavin purchases the Fading Suns equivalent of a stillsuit - though it doesn't recycle bodily fluids, just circulates water through tubes to keep him cool. Marduk checks-up on Bishop Handross, who seems to have left for Holy Terra a while back. The group eventually meets-up again at the spaceport and quickly heads to the gate and jumps to Pyre.
Landing in the spaceport in San Pietro, they notice that even nearing nightfall, the town is abuzz with activity. After asking around a bit, they find out that the weather sattelites are synchronizing enough to allow pilgrimages to the Cathedra Avesti - an event which only happens once every 13 years.
They hire a guide named Kel-ber to get them to the Cathedra, thinking that the piece of the artifact they're looking for may be there. Kel-ber gets them supplies and they set off into the deserts.
Halfway through the journey they stop by Tarnatia, where the old Templa Vesti still stands. Thousands of pilgrims are also here, stopping for rest and to see the old Templa. The characters make a short tour of the Templa and, once they are convinced that what they seek is not here, press on towards the infamous Burning Desert.
Once in the Burning Desert they find that even with the weather sattelites synchronized, the desert is still more inhospitable than most other places. On the 5th day, while they sleep, they are attacked by a Pyrean Hellworm, which consumes most of their supplies and equipment. Luckily they are almost to the Cathedra, and still have most of their important equipment.
Once at the Cathedra, they find themselves in the maw of the beast, since they are eyed with suspicion and hostility at every turn. At some point Dan splits-off and finds the torture room, and listens to the screams of the unfortunates for a while, but not before he forms a mental link with Gavin. The others continue their search of the Cathedra, delving deep into the recesses of the mountain which it is built-into. While attempting to rejoin the others, Dan notices that some Avestites are headed down the same hall as his friends were going down, and hurries to catch-up and warn them. At a T intersection in the hall, Marduk and Kantarra decide to take a left while the others go right, hoping the Avestites will choose to pursue one group, and thus buy time for the other.
Meanwhile Sarili, dressed in Inquisitor's robes, has broken-off from the group to do his own little investigation, but when he noticed the Avestites, he decides to warn the others. Running down the hall towards Gavin and Don Roberto, he is mistaken by the Scraver and the Knight for a hostile Avestite. Gavin clicks off a shot with his blaster pistol while Don Roberto gives him a good solid kick. The two almost kill the frail Sarili, but he manages to convince them that he is their friend. They apologize and help him up, just as more weirdness strikes.
Dan, through his mental link to Gavin, begins trying to inform them that Inquisitioners are apparently looking for someone. Gavin, however, starts to think that there is a voice inside his head, and that the whole place is haunted, or possibly cursed. In order to make the voice in his head stop, he begins slamming his head into the walls and floor. Gavin, determined to escape the haunting, flees back toward the entrance. When Dan realizes this, he Headshackles Gavin and holds him in places so they can collect him. Gavin, now psychically dominated, can do nothing but drop to his knees and slam his head so hard against the floor that he incapacitates himself.
At that point Kantarra shows up, without Marduk, and informs the others that some Inquisitioners have imprisoned Marduk, and that they need to free him, though they should do so covertly. She tends to Gavin's headwounds and once he regains consciousness, they all head out to the main foyer to formulate a plan.
Once there they notice a group of recently-arrived pilgrims who are quite bloody and badly wounded. Kantarra notices that some of the wounded are children, and begins fuming at the sight of such a thing. The pilgrims confusedly talk about men with guns firing at them, saying they have set up a position just outside of the Cathedra blocking the incoming road. At this Kantarra storms out the door, determined to serve justice, while Don Roberto and Gavin follow close behind.
Outside they find two men in a machine gun nest firing upon them. With Don Roberto's powerful assault shield rendered useless by the raging wind and sand, and Kantarra dressed in her Brother Battle event uniform, they use the low visibility to avoid too much damage. Gavin clumsily shoots himself in the foot, ruining his stillsuit - it's really not his day. They find that the two men work for the Muster, and could have been hired by just about anyone. Apparently though, other Muster are on the planet and are for some reason attacking the Avestites wherever they find them. Kantarra decides that she will go fight the Muster while Gavin, Sarili, Dan, and Don Roberto free Marduk. Don Roberto, who is beginning to feel ill, is charged with the task of protecting the others during their task. Gavin and Don Roberto head back into the Cathedra while Kantarra wanders off into the desert.
Gavin, extremely annoyed that his new stillsuit is effectively useless, and decides that the only person who can fix it is Marduk, which makes it all the more important for them to spring him from jail. They get Sarili to pretend that he's an Inquisitor who needs to see the Vorox, which easily gets them past the guards. Roberto begins feeling increasingly sick, perhaps it is something in the air, or an allergy...
Inside they find a young Eskatonic and a badly burnt Obun have also been imprisoned along with Marduk. Don Roberto burns the lock off of Marduk's cell with his Flux Blade, while the others formulate a plan for escape. After some discussion they decide that they will take out the two guards and lure the original Bishop into a cell where he can rot away. They manage to disorient the guards and incapacitate them, while they free the Eskatonic, a boy named Eruj Salyvot, and the Obun, who has a hard time staying conscious. They put Eruj in the guard's robes, though he meekly protests, and proceed to have Sarili find Bishop Sumpter, the man responsible for imprisoning Marduk, as well as member of the Circle of Light.
Sarili manages to bring Bishop Sumpter back to the cells where the group lies in wait, where they proceed to have a short standoff with the Bishop's guards. Marduk and Don Roberto make short work of the guards and begin torturing the Bishop while Sarili begins studying the Bishop's features so he may later imitate the man. They cut-out the Bishop's tongue and leave him in a cell, while Sarili, who now looks like the Bishop, leads the others out of the cells. Sarili convinces some random Avestites to take escort them to his room (Bishop Sumpter's room), where they ransack the place and make it look as if he was leaving in a hurry. They then are led to the proscribed technology vault, where they retrieve Marduk's equipment, as well as some other interesting things which were being kept there before destruction.
Marduk uses the remote pilot he recently installed on the ship to fly it near the Cathedra, where everyone sees the Bishop leading the Vorox and some others to a small black ship. They quickly make an obvious escape and begin looking for Kantarra.
After a short search they find a single al-Malik soldier wandering the desert (not the Burning Desert though). They land and Sarili introduces himself as an al-Malik noble. When he asks why the soldier is alone the soldier responds by saying that a woman in Brother Battle regalia attacked his base eariler. She was supported by a few peasant conscripts who fought like fanatics - not dying even after several shots. The soldier tells them which direction she went at which point the group loads back up into the ship and heads that way.
A short while later that night they find Kantarra wandering the deserts, alone. They land and pick her up and find she has been shot several times, though she is more angry at the fact that her nice dress uniform has been ruined by bullet holes. She tells them that Muster and al-Malik forces are attacking pilgrims and Inquisitors, though with little success ; the fanatical Avestites ofen do much damage before they finally die, and if this keeps up, the invasion will grind to a halt. She then heads for Roberto's room to see what's wrong with him. They soon head-off in search of the artifact.
The next day, around noon, Marduk gets some odd readings off the ship's sensors and decides that it's the thing they're looking for. They land and find nothing, so Gavin starts digging, intent on finding something. Around nightfall they finally unearth the side of a structure, obviously of Ur origin, though they only uncover a wall.
Meanwhile Roberto is lost in a terrible fever. He dreams of the stars all fading into nothingness over and over again. At some point a man of semitic origin approaches him. It is incredibly dark, and the man holds a brilliantly-glowing flux blade - the only source of light around. He is dressed in ancient armor, and bristling with weapons. The man holds the flux blade before Roberto and says "This is Manjusri, the holy blade. Only the righteous may wield it. Do you know what this is?" Roberto finally awakens, whispering "Manjusri... the holy blade..."
Later that night they uncover the entrance and find another dome-like structure covered with glyphs and lit by an eerie purple light. Gavin notices that inside there are no shadows, and he and Marduk begin to investigate. Just inside the room sits an extremely old man with a beard so long it wraps around him several times. Behind him is a pedestal with the piece of the artifact they have been seeking. The man motions for them to come closer, which they do. He then whispers to them, "Sometimes, when angels are denied enough of the divine light, they can become demons." Immediately afterwards he falls over, dead, and his remains quickly turn to ash and are blown away.
After gathering the artifact, they hurry back to the ship. Just as they're about to take off Marduk detects a humanoid shape headed towards them. Using the ships sensors he finds it is the undead priest which has been following them across the Known Worlds. Marduk hits the "go" button and they head for orbit.
Shortly after achieving orbit they are hailed by an Inquisitorial Frigate which claims to be commanded by Inquisitor Alexandra - their friend from Aragon. She asks permission to dock with them so that they may speak. Marduk agrees and the two ships dock. Alexandra informs them that the Circle of Light was seriously weakened by the loss of their Neutronic Wave Emitters on Leagueheim, and that now is the time to act against them. From what she has gathered (tortured) from captured Circle agents, their greatest resource is a thing called the "Hellstone," which resides on the Ukari homeworld. From there they can summon the N'rlak, and peek into the important activities of their adversaries. Marduk and the group resolve to make Kordeth their next stop, and the Inquisitors part company with them once again.
2. In the vault of prisoners' belongings is a box of various things, among which is a knife. I don't recall who was first to comment on it, but the response was basically "a knife? A simple wedge is proscribed technology?"
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