Session forty-six

Having finally arrived on Byzantium Secundus the cadre find accommodation in the Imperial City and meet up with "Pandemonium Max" a Muster Guilder who fought with De Havilland during the Emperor War and has been called in by the Marquis to offer some support.

While Anton goes to appear before the Phoenix Order the rest of the group head to the planetary agora to try to locate Corteaz's missing investor. After making enquiries they locate the office of Constance of San Tandere. She initially welcomes them but as soon as they mention that they represent Corteaz she tries to run for it, attempting to escape out of the office window. Hemlock and Max manage to catch and restrain her and convinced her to explain her actions. 

She narrates how she is just an agent and that her investor stopped sending funds and communicating with her. Before she was concerned enough to chase them up she was approached by representatives of the Scravers Guild who warned her off and threatened violence if she either contacted the Investor or Corteaz. She is now afraid that if she was seen with known agents of Corteaz's then "they" would try to kill her. 

Unfortunately, due to the time it took the group to find her (i.e. failed skill rolls), "they" have got wind that the cadre are paying Constance a visit.  On cue, three armed Muster "rent-a-thugs" arrive at the office to teach them all a lesson.  The PCs pointed out how outclassed they were and intimidated them until they backed off and left, Hemlock sneaking after them. 

Meanwhile, Mal and Max stayed with Constance and negotiated that, if the Cadre  could get her to Cumulus space station, once there she would reveal details of who the actual financial backer was and how to contact them. 

Hemlock tracked the goons to the local Scraver guild house, where they meet with Master Alfredo Garcia (Hemlock's Father's deceased seneschal), apparently now alive and well. 

When Hemlock reunites with Mal and Max they ask Constance about Alfredo Garcia but she doesn't recognise the name however, when described to her, she says that he sounds like the Scraver "Boss" who came to threaten her.
They then board the monorail, heading for the comparative safety of the capital.