Horror-Heresy! (IC - Dark Heresy)

[Hemnon]

In case you need it, here is the OOC (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=10248004#post10248004).

This IC..... is For the emperor!

Boxes lots of boxes... and crates.... thats the first thought running through your minds. You are all on the moonstation, which is orbiting Cal-thias. A few servitors are entering and exiting, as well as a tech-priest now and then.

The station is small, crammed, smelly, and gravity is no near stable, which causes thing to suddenly float and then crash to the floor yet again, with all of you smack in the middle, waiting for that damn transporter to arive.


(go on and introduce your characters and talk a little to eachother if you wish)

[Baveboi]

Another jump of the gravity system and the asleep Tech-Priest hits his head in one of the crates with a loud bang.

++ ++
I can hear your screams of pain, spirit of the cogwheels. I feel you...
++ Loading...++
++ Body and Limbs are functioning at 77%, Neural functions at 89% and rising... ++
My eyes flash open and I gaze at the rest of the crew. I had no optical lenses, my mother always loved my green eyes so I preserved this lonely sin.
I normally don't sleep among the unknown, specially around the agents of the Inquisition. It was a tiring week, however, I intend to exert my body and mind no more than necessary.
++ ++

The Tech-Priest was not among the others supervising the uploading of cargo material, but Mithras was among the crew that was to be transported to the Prison Planet Cal-thias. His green eyes had a weird watchful semblance to them, almost voyeuristic, a gaze so penetrating it was hard to meet it for too long. He had all the paraphernalia in himself that would any average Cogboy; the mantle of his Cult, many cyber-wires coiling and whipping about and a strange taste for augments that could make the weak frown. In the place of his mouth and nose one could only see a handcrafted respirator in the shape of a bony face with smiling fleshless teeth.

[♠Spade♠]

Standing stiffly erect, Conall waited patiently for the transport to arrive. He was in uniform, with flak armor under his blue trimmed, black commissarial coat and his sidearm belted at his hip. The fluctuating gravity was a minor annoyance, the hem of his coat kept rising and falling, and the constant motion on his stomach was beginning to make him feel nauseous. Trying to surreptitiously subdue his roiling stomach, he grasped the reassuring form of ceramite in his pocket. He immediately noticed the Mechanicum member, and like most people was somewhat put off by the man. With something else to conceal from his face, he glanced at the other people standing around.

[Calimos]

"Boxes...crates...servitors..what a mess this orbital station is...not even a proper lounge to sit and relax, read calmly the latest reports or review your notes. And worst of all, these fluctuations in gravity. Lord Emperor, what does a member of the nobility has to endure nowadays to provide for his scientific research. Well let's hope that those VIP suites they promised on Cal-thias will be up to proper accomodation standards and that the xenos species to be studied will be worth the trouble, probably belonging to some exotic - not yet encountered species - and not merely another decently paid repetition of already seen and known specimens. Hmmm, how else to pass the time on this boring station, till those incompetant transporter supervisors learn the meaning of punctuality, except from avoiding to throw up due to those gravity fluctuations....There are a couple of individuals already here, one of military background judging from his outfit and looks and, oh, the second one is actually a member of the vaunted Priesthood of Mars, a tech-priest of the venerated Adeptus Mechanicus. Well, my family and I personally have gone to great lengths to establish amicable and profitable relationships with the Adeptus Mechanicus and perhaps a discussion with one of them wouldn't hurt since I am stuck in this place."

The tall, slender young man, with the looks of a learned individual and the apparent scholarly attire of an ornate and expensive robe, carrying a fine backpack and a data-slate in his hands, gets up from his position and moves towards the tech-priest (Mithras) . He bows slightly and introduces himself impeccably as only a member of the Imperium nobility has learnt to do, after years of careful and refined execution of such formal procedures.

"Honorable tech-priest of the highly respected Adeptus Mechanicus of the Imperium, I greet you and wish the Omnissiah's blessing upon you. Please accept my apologies if i interrupted you in any way. My name is Castus Metallus Reinhart, scholar of the Collegia Hetairia Lexis, scion of the Reinhart noble family of the Malfian subsector. It is a pleasant surprise to find one of your kind here, since my family and I personally have cultivated an excellent relationship with the Archmagos of the Priesthood of Mars, responsible for overseeing the Lathe Worlds and we have on more than one ocassion cooperated for the benefit of the Imperium and Calixis sector. If i may ask you, what is it that requests your attention in such a detached and strange place?"

[Essie]

Meredi sits cross-legged, watching the techpriest rise and fall, rise and fall, and smiles in amusement at his waking confusion. He is especially fetching next to that commissar-alike, who's standing about waiting - and look, what have we here but a scholar, flaunting the circumstances of his birth. So full of purpose, so full of the absolute, blind certainty that there is anywhere to go, and that it really matters anyway, not compared to the broader scheme of things. The things of this world, the temporary, fleeting matter of station and moon and people would, after all, be but a twinkling in the King's eye - in ten times ten hundred years, . In her youth - she feels, at eighteen, that she has a youth she can fondly recall - she had toyed with the idea of simply not acknowledging, speaking to, or recognising anyone. To invest such little things, little people, with such recognition would surely be some sort of idolatry, like acknowledging a commoner before the omnipresent King of humanity.

No, she thought. She'd abandoned that folly, and she'd abandon this foolish train of thought. They were no less lowly in His eyes than before, but, well, so was she. If it was idol-worship to put someone else on such a pillar, then what would it be to put oneself there? No, she was just as lowly, humble, and low-natured as they were. Meredi hops off the crate, and joins the conversation.

With a slight, genial smile - only visible from the shifting patterns of golden gleam on her cheeks - she curtsies to the conferring pair, and begins, well, a piece of oratory.

'Wouldst thou consider me amiss, too forward, too indiscrete if I were to reflect your question back upon you? Prisons have need of doctors, of muscled guards and administrators and technicians, but thou wouldst not seem to be any one of them?

Please avail yourself of silence if this gives cause to offend, but it is pleasing to the balance of any conversation taking place above a world of prison cells for the questions not to be too one-sided, too interrogatory.'

[Baveboi]

++ OH!
Startled, Mithras notices the noble adressing him in such a savory manner and smile, not in muscle tissue, but in thought. As an observer at heart, the Technicia of Mars had few interactions with non cult-related flok, and the first meetings he had with the Imperium benevolence cost him his father and his life as an academic.
He slowly proccess the data.

++ Loading... ++
The Cog Technician words are heavy with a broken vox-like sound and a strong almost comical nasal accent. His own mouth unseen leaves anyone to only but guess at the state of his voicing aparatus and his cranial cavities inside the trademark red cowl and the skull-shapped respirator.
++ "Well zpoken. You said much about nothing that I can recall ever hearing about. pzzzz As for my quezt I only wish pzz.. ever wished, for the Omnissiah to zmile upon me. pzzzz..."
"The girl with golden hair is right. It'z unpolite to azk for my purpose without declaring yours. I don't think... pzzz that it'z a coincidence we all came... to be here... at the same time pzzzzzzz ”
Mithras almost became exhausted by the effort of speaking so many words. He's noisely gapping for air and the sound is moist, like there is salive in his respirator's tube. He tries for a few more words before turning as silent as the servitors.
++ Pzzzz... Name iz Mithrazz Ingot...

The Tech-Priest eyes keep darting from one to another, full of curiosity so much known for their kind. His green orbs are full of another sentiment, not as bitter as disgust nor as judgemental as distrust. Something closely related to both, akin to fear.

[Hemnon]

A small rumble, a muffled screech.... and suddenly gravity is gone.

over the old speakers (artifical female voice):
''Warning... Station is at Zero Gravity! please refrain from any windows and please remain calm. Artificial Gravitation-Generator no longer operational. a tech-priest have been sent to take care of the problem.''

[Essie]

Meredi, still walking towards Ingot and his companion when the message hits, begins to rise into the air, as if in the throes of some extremely cut-rate Rapture.

Her eyes close, she whispers a prayer.

We know not the covert and subtle forces that keep and sustain us in our hours of light and darkness. I thank you, King, for denying us the gravity of this station to remind us of this fact, and our weakness under your hand. Amen

[Baveboi]

Mithra's shakes his head at the golden haired gilr's litle prayer. His eyes seems adamant on the matter of studying both her and the noble archivist. Floating in zero gravity wasn't one of his expectations for the day, however, as it can easily be seen. The cogboy tries insesantly to put his robes down, his coiling cyber-mantle not making it an easier task nor a less degrading one.

++ "Thiz be the result of neglecting the AG-G'z Machine Zpirit. It muzt have seem some abuzze on thiz ztaff'z hand. pzzz..." At the mention of the Machine Spirit Mithras angry and disaproving eyes quickly dart around the room, from one technician to another.

++ Maybe I could interact with the Machine Spirit itself and proceed with the holy rituals myself. If only I could find it's MIU frequency or a Graft port to conect myself with it.

Boss, is it possible for me to try and help with the repairing rituals myself? It seems like a routine problem and this staff don't look THAT equiped to deal with it. I could try connecting via MIU (wireless :smalltongue:), using my Graft conection to transmite the Data into my Dataslate, or doing a direct link with the Machine by connecting my Electro-Graft into a Graft Port.

I gain +10 Tech-Use with the MIU and +20 if using my Combi-Tool + Graft and +30 using everything together.

[Calimos]

Castus, turns to the lady, who appears to be a servant of the Ministorum, bowing slightly to her as well.

"No offense my lady. The inquiries from a member of the Imperial Cult are always welcome, for it is your dutiful service that help us stay true in our faith to Him on Terra. It is most clever of you to wonder what a man of my stature may be doing in such a planet and the truth is that my presence has been requested by the overseers of this facility, on matters regarding my scientific research and specific field of expertise. And if i am not intruding upon your privacy, would i be wrong to presume that your reasons for travelling to this facility have something to do with leading perhaps those poor souls back to the Light of the Emperor, or perhaps steeling the faith of those tasked with the heavy burden and responsibility to guard them until the Lex Imperia has decreed their debt to Imperial society paid and their rehabilitation complete?"

As Castus finishes talking, the announcement comes through the speakers and he suddenly feels much more light than he has ever been. "Oh, it was said that knowledge can free your mind and allow you to be elevated but well i never expected such a thing", he thinks as he tries to move as little as possible, in an effort to stay calm until the gravity has been restored.

[Hemnon]

over the old speakers(artificial female voice):
''AG-Generator malfunction corrected, gravity restore in 5-4-3-2-1....''

Gravity is back! and its a little more stable now.. still fluxing a little , but the interval has shortened.


over the old speakers again(artificial female voice):
''Transport-ship XY17 has docked, please proceed inside the vessel in an oderly manner.''

a big bulkehead door opens a few metres from you all and some boxes and crates are now being moved towards it, by a few servitors. the 4 of you may now board the transporter, which is located just beyond the, just opened, bulkhead door.

(king.com will be introduced soon)

[Calimos]

"Now, that's a relief. Gravity restored and the transport ship is finally here".

Castus stands upright once again, making sure his robes are set properly and his equipment and belongings are safely in his backpack, then makes a gesture towards the opened bulkhead door.

"It seems that our means of transportation has finally arrived. Should we move in? Ladies first, of course, as it is only right and proper", he says, nodding to the direction of the Ministorum servant that was discussing with him a few minutes ago. Castus' noble upbringing has left its mark on him, as his manner is genuinely polite, without false pretensions or elaborate appearances, intent on creating deliberately misleading impressions. After all, he's a scholar, a man that avidly seeks knowledge and truth, and to do otherwise would probably be against his nature.

[Essie]

Meredi curtsies to the adept, and gestures to the ship door again.

Brother, to go first would be to claim status and rank of which I am unworthy.

As the waiting travellers file out of the holding bay and its wavering gravity, she follows the others, and continues the conversation.

Of what sort of research does thy field comprise? 'Scientific research' is a field of great extent and magnitude, and, if it is not too bold to insist, I would note that thou remainst coy over your 'specific field of expertise' - is it, perhaps a secret project? Cal-Thias is not without its allotted panoply of life ...

As to myself, thou art correct, the return of poor souls to their master his knee is the usual and correct path for those of my station within the Imperium. Those who guard them are of less imminent need of salvation.

[Baveboi]

After the AG-G came back to life, Mithras met to ground with loud sound of plasteel and flesh striking rockcrete. Feeling anger and frustration he furiously gazes at the servitors and Tech-Priests present. The wires and cables that lazily falls from under his robes coiled and slashed the air, a resemblance of his own state of mind.

++ Forgive them, Lord. Spare thy wrath for the unjust and the hereteks.

Mithras gives his back to the station AG-G, only pausing a moment to adress some words of confort in the secret language of the Cult. His eyes, once again, dart among the strange crew. Filled with genuine curiosity the Tech-Priest goes past the rough and silent Guardsmen, the robed Adept and the female priest of Terra. He looks behind his shoulders with inquiring green eyes before adressing all of them.

++ "You should come. I appreciate the company... pzz You can dizzcuz proper etiquette inside, too.. pzzz"

[♠Spade♠]

Conall's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as he picked up his duffel and followed the group. While he didn't pretend to understand the tech-priest, they were all pretty much the same, making him the most known of the unknowns. The "researcher" was supposedly a member of some noble family, making his overly flowery words that much more suspicious. It was well known that the nobility say one thing while meaning another entirely, the subtle nuances of each word, movement, even the clothes they wear could determine if they were untoward or meant to see you dead. He was instantly catapulted to the top of Conall's threat list. The most enigmatic member of the group was the gilded girl with archaic speech. It was difficult to determine her age, what with the golden skin and all, but she seemed oddly young. Conall was devoted to the Emperor, as all should be, and attended all mandatory services, but other than that he had little use for the Ecclesiarchy. As a result he could not quite put his finger on what she was, thusly unable to divine her purpose. Resolving to watch her more closely as well, he could only think Throne above, but she seems so very young.

[Calimos]

As they walk towards the transport ship, Castus nods towards the priest and responds to her question, with a smile in his face and a calm attitude.

"Truth is, my lady, that the scientific project for which i am travelling to Cal-thias is a matter that even i am not entirely certain of. Now this may sound strange or cryptic of me, but i assure you it is none of it. Those overseeing the prison facility, apparently have encountered certain problems with local wildlife and from what i gather, they sucpect certain specimens of xenos origins. And since it is their duty in the name of the Emperor to keep His domain clear of any such threats, they wanted to obtain an accurate assessment on the nature of said creatures, calling upon the services of my expert knowledge on the field of history, biology and extensive study of the various life forms that have intruded our Imperium or have been encountered upon the worlds it encompasses. Now, what i'll have to do upon my arrival, well it largely depends upon the facilities that will be provided, upon the means of gathering the needed information and upon their specific requests. Let us pray that all will go well and perhaps that the research will provide interesting findings and results this time".

[Hemnon]

As you all enter the transport-ship, you are pleasantly suprised by the interior; recaf, Amasec... even Spectorin coral paste! either someone on the ship is a VIP, or you are on the wrong ship, which is not likely.

A female looking servitor wellcomes you onboard and asks you to take a seat, and as soon as you are all seated take-off is authorized and off you go. its first class all the way.

The trip goes without problems, until.....


5 minutes before atmospheric entrance
as the four of you, and the other few passengers are waiting for the ship to land, something seems... off.

Skill challenge!
I would like a Navigation: (Stellar), pilot: spacecraft, and/or a challenging (-10) awareness roll.

[Calimos]

Now that is a spacecraft fit for a noble scholar. The seats comfortable, the service impeccable. Well worth the delay at the station..."
As the ship descended to Cal-thias, something seems strange to young Castus. As a man of scientific background, he tries to understand as best as possible what would be wrong, utilizing a tool he had requisitioned from his contacts in the Adeptus Mechanicus, a device that essentially amplifies the senses of its user, allowing him better awareness of his surroundings.

The readings on it point out that something may be wrong with the ship's course. As Castus looks outside the window, to confirm it, it seems indeed that the ship is trailing without any apparent control on behalf of its pilot. As if there is no pilot...

It takes a couple of seconds for the not-so-used to spacecrafts adept, to realize the seriousness of the situation and he immediatelly alerts those close to him, in a hushed - but filled with worry and almost fear - voice.

"Something is wrong. The ship is floating sideways with no apparent control. We should check with the pilot. This is serious".

His eyes indicate that Castus is on the verge of panicking since losing his life upon a spacecraft, even one as comfortable as the present, certainly was not in his plans. Being a noble, he has been accustomed to having things flow smoothly for the most part and unexpected developments tend to ruin him.

[Baveboi]

Awareness, untrained and at -10... sigh. My score is 41, have to make it 10 or less. [roll0]

Mithras turns his attention away from his prayers and looks at Castus, his green eyes taking a grim shade.
++ "What... did you juzzt said? That izzz... bad, very bad indeed. pzz"
The Tech-Priest get up in a hurried jump, his wires are tense as he speedy runs for the pilot's cabin. He hits the door twice with loud punches. "Open it!" he demands. "What'zzz goig on in.. there?!" Mithras breathing seems worse with every spoken word, his eyes are franctic and his wires start to panic a bit.

[Essie]

The shuttle crashing down onto the planet's surface - what were the chances of it hitting the prison facility itself? If so, what would it be like to be hit by such a meteorically falling object? Would it break apart in mid-air, becoming a fine mist of flaming debris that sprayed burning promethium and fluids all over the buildings, covering them in acrid poisons, or would it remain coherent up until the moment at which it plunged through the planet's surface, wounding it and cleanly ending the lives of those inside?

Meredi is not particularly bothered that this may be the end of her life - the King protects, after all, and should this be her end, she does not wish to question His Will - but neither should one of His servants be slothful and simply shrug off the burden of action that should be shared by all. If this is not her time, then surely she would be indolent to let death come and claim her regardless. She gets up, and joins the gathering around the pilot's door.

Would the other side of this door be subject to pressure, and of an atmosphere palatable to humans? Would that we were possessed of some sort of tool to open it, to break it down!

... are we possessed of such a tool?

She thinks that this makes sense, and seems like a reasonable statement, at any rate. It's full of the kind of language that she read about in stories and technical manuals as a child.

[Hemnon]

as the 3 of you are standing so close to the door, you are able to hear this low.... hissing-like sound... its could sound like someone blowing air through a straw... or air being sucked through a tiny hole.

WAIT! was that a cracking sound?! and where is that servitor, it went inside the cockpit, but you never saw it exit again.

No matter how hard you knock on the door there is no answer... only that sizzling... hissing sound.... its very faint however.


(so... whatcha gonna do next?):cool:

[Essie]

Meredi raises an eyebrow at the noise, licks a finger, and holds it up. Together with the hissing sound - which she tries to find by moving her head about - this child's trick should help her find the source of what she's worrying about - a leak. If any significant amount of air is escaping, it'll make a breeze - a breeze that might not be ordinarily perceptible, but one that will cool the side of her finger that it blows against, thus providing a clear direction for any leak.

She read that in a book, once, at any rate. Why bother with the follies of elaborate, fallible machines, when the simple, King-given follies of human sense could be used in their place?

Opening the door by main force - I would simply reiterate that it might, just might, be a good idea.

[roll0] vs 30 (perception), 15 (awareness), +/- any mods.

[Baveboi]

Quickly rumaging inside his layered robes and flak vestments Mithras seems someone else entirely. His eyes are hard like rockcrete and his movements are precise, methodical, calculated. He draws a Lascutter from under a belt hidden among the confinments of his clothing. He aims it at the door that leads to the cabin and his frown grows ten times.

++ "How dare you! These vesselz are highly sought acrozz the syzztemz, cozzt a million thronez and can only be produced in very capable facilities. pzzz... If you cause only but a single damage on this ancient and noble machine, pilot, whoever you may be, the Omnissiah shall strike you down for your insolence! pzzzzz By my handz I shall make... it... SO!

The Lascutter began to emit a solid beam of red light, a projectile of intense and consentrated heat. The accute laser starts to melt down the door, steel, locks and circuitry, slowly progressing around in a precise mold of its form.

It's going to take some time. 10cm per round is a slow and delicate proccess. If someone, like Castus, can access the command panel from outside, please do it. Also, an Auspex to detect life-forms would come in handy.

If that bastard of a pilot makes me hurt this beautiful engine for nothing, I'm going to open his head with this Lascutter, this I swear as a death oath.

[Calimos]

Castus stands back for a while as the tech-priest after knocking at the cockpit door and receiving no answer, proceeds to cut through it.

Then he remembers that the servitor went inside the cockpit a while ago and steps forth.

"The servitor went in a few minutes ago. Maybe it left the door unlocked. Let's try to open it normally first, before requesting the assistance of such valuable a tool, honorable tech-priest. As you know far better than me, we are not to request the assistance of such a dilligent and faithful machine-spirit if we can utilize a simpler method".

Castus then proceeds to grab the handle of the door and attempts to open it.

[Hemnon]

As you pull down the door handle.... the door doesn't open.. its like something.. or someone is pushing against the the door on the otherside...

[Calimos]

"Alright, it seems to be blocked from the inside, as if something is pushing against the direction it normally opens. Maybe we could try something else".

Castus then turns swiftly to the man with the military uniform.
"Sir, forgive me for disturbing you, but since we're dealing with a serious obstacle here and the Imperial Guard is famously known for its resolve to overcome any obstacles, could you please provide us with any insight on how to bypass this blocked door?"

[♠Spade♠]

Conall was snapped out of his own thoughts when he was addressed. It seemed he would have to put aside his distrust of the man, for the moment, at least. He nodded before digging in his bag for a moment. He pulled out his mono-axe and walked towards the door. Gesturing at the hinges on the door, he said "Have you tried the hinges?", revealing a faint brogue. Matching action to words, he jammed the axehead against the seam wear the door and doorframe met, and pushed down. After a moment, he turned his head and said to the others, "A little help would be appreciated."

Hard strength check to break the hinges(need to be below 11): [roll0]

[Hemnon]

As you jam the axe against the door hinges, a sudden spark of electricity jolts through the axe, shocking Conall, a little exposed wire had been jammed in the doorframe last time it closed by accident.

energy damage to Conall;[roll0] ignores armor. you still got toughness to resist though.

All power is now gone from the ship.... lights are out.... heating.... gravity.... and last but not least, life support.

[♠Spade♠]

Conall jerked his arm back as the jolt worked its way up his arm, and as the everything went dark, began speaking angrily starting with "Damnú air!" and moving on to other seemingly unintelligible words with odd syllables.

Conall has taken one wound.

[Calimos]

"Throne of Terra", Castus exclaims with fear and surprise. "What are we going to do now?"

It is evident that despite his best efforts to retain his calmness, Castus is a scholar and not a man who puts his life repeatedly in danger. He looks frantically around, then gives his auspex to Mithras, to see if he can identify what the exact problem might be on the other side of the cockpit door.

"You are much more suited to use this device master Tech-priest. Your brothers of the Lathe worlds who presented this to me, informed me that in the properly experienced hands it can locate things undetectable to normal senses. See, please, if you can convince the inquisitive machine spirit to provide his assistance on this time of dire need we are facing".

As per its description (DH rulebook pg. 150), after a successful Tech-use test, the Auspex can spot things not normally detectable to human senses alone, such as invisible gases, nearby bio-signs or ambient radiation. I don't know if it can helo us in our current situation, but that's all i have.

[Baveboi]

Mithras stood back when Castus offered his help, but the barbaric ways of the Guardsmen disturbed him for worse. The entire systems of the ship blacked out, they would be confined in the quarters until landfall now, unless he could open that damnable door. Now, fueled with anger and the passion normally unpresent on the Adeptus Mechanicus, Mithras refuses the Auspex. "Prioritiez are to ensure, friend of the Cult. Prioritiezzzzz. I will take the Door down... pzz you all stand back and ready yourselvez. I have to accezz the control... panel if we wish to... prevail. pzzzz"

++ "May the Omnissiah forgivez uz all for our broken wayzz..." The technician begins to chant in the secret Tech language, words of sorrow and sacrifice of both faith and true flesh. He steps between both the Adept and the Soldier, his Lascutter fills with heat once more and the firing arc strikes at the hinges, slowly eating them.

++ "Brace yourselvezz, comradez.pzzz Thiz izz going to hurt!"

Roll for luck attempt at cutting the door down without burning our remaining air nor destroying MORE of the delicate circuitry. [roll0]

[Hemnon]

The lascutter lights up the cabin as it cuts through the hinges, and the security lock as well. With a little push, the door falls backwards and hits the floor with a loud 'bong!'.

Inside the cockpit

a sudden suction of air happens and the Air level in the ship has lowered even more, there is a tiny hole in the hull of the cockpit, which is slowly sucking out the air!

its seems like the door was only locked.. and under low pressure as well. Breathing is getting a little harder, but its not critical yet. the cockpit itself seems to be thinly covered with ice, and the captain himself is lying dead and frozen on the floor, with somekind of dead parasite halfway out of his chest. the servitor is dead as well, a las wound to the head.

there is a red emergency lighting in the cockpit, so you are all able to see inside.

[Calimos]

Castus gasps for air as he enters the cockpit and sees the pilot dead with something that looks like a strange parasite out of his chest.

Can it be? Perhaps what i was called to investigate could have something to do with such a parasitic organism? But what am i thinking of, we need to close that hole somehow and steer the shuttle to the surface. Then i can conduct any research and evaluation procedures.

"Emperor protects us. That is why nobody responded. I think i can discern some clues at first sight but we have more pressing problems. A hole in the hull. Can we do anything to close it? And does any of you have any sort of training or familiarization with flying this kind of imperial spacecraft?"

[Baveboi]

Mithras drops the Lascutter to the ground with haste but doesn't move yet. The... alien on the captain's corpse is worrying to say the least. The Tech-Priest is not yet intimidated to leave his task undone. He runs past the beast, as far as he can and leaves it to others deal with. Hopefully.

++ "My friendz, you have to excuzze me while I try to reenpower our craft. Pleazze, deal with anything for the moment being. pzzz... I will be buzzzy." Mithras sits down on the main chair on the control painel, his fingers slowly touching the arkane glyths. He connects some wires from down under his cowl to the Tech Altar and starts to chant in a mild manner words of praise to the Omnissiah and the Machine Spirit.

Rolls. Awareness [20] first to detect the functioning MIU [roll0]
Now, regardless of success or failure to talk to the Ghost of the Machine, Luminem Charge on the main circuitry of the ship to repower our life support. [roll1] against Thoughness [40], since its a hard task, [-10] mod inssue.
It will take one entire minute to repower the place, if I SUCCEED. Please, comrades... protect me like the watchful gaze of the Emperor.

[Hemnon]

in the same second the tech priest links up with the alter and starts chanting, a voice speaks to him.

what it says is for the tech-priest only. oh and he doesn't get the time to use his luminen charge, because to the little voice

[Calimos]

"Alright, alright, see if you can re-power the spacecraft again and we'll try to somehow find and seal that hole in the ship's hull".

Castus turns and looks around, visibly stressed by the situation and the akwardness of zero-gravity conditions, having managed to supress his fear for now, by keeping his mind busy thinking of a way out of this situation. He suddenly turns to the priestess and the guardsman, with a glint in his eyes.

"That's it. Somewhere in the passenger's part of the spacecraft i saw something that can prove life-saving in our current situation. There was Spectorin coral paste. Now, i won't go on analyzing all the properties of this substance, nor refer to its extreme rarity and therefore strange occurence to have it on board, but i'll simply mention the most crucial of its uses, regarding our situation. It can be used as a makeshift hull repair substance, so if we get it and find the hole we can - theoretically - apply it there and seal the hull adequately. So, someone get the coral paste and the rest try to find that hole, while the tech-priest communes with the machine spirit of this craft and maybe we can get to see another dawn by the grace of the Emperor."

Castus points towards the passenger seats behind them, indicating the place he last saw the coral paste and then - consulting his auspex-enhanced senses - attempts to locate the breach in the ship's hull, concentrating on that hissing sound the air makes when been sucked from inside the cockpit.

His first efforts are fruitless but with the Auspex's help the young adept manages to identify the general direction of the leak and then after more time of careful search at the middle section of the cockpit's west wall, he finds the spot where the hull had been breached.

He turns to the others and exclaims in genuine joy.
"Found it. Emperor's grace, i found it, here it is. Quickly now, bring the coral paste to try and patch it up. Come on".

[♠Spade♠]

Standing in the dark of the passenger compartment, Conall says "I'll get it, I didn't exactly cover myself in glory a moment ago." Carefully making his way back to his bag, he dug around inside, searching by feel. Pulling out his lamp pack, he activated it and panned it over the compartment. Giving a reassuring grin to the girl of gold, he grabbed the paste and brought it to the flight deck. "Here it is."

[Essie]

The pendulum, temporarily in the 'His Will is that we live' camp, begins a ponderous arc towards 'I pray the King our souls to take', as Meredi silently stands there, waiting, watching the others scramble back and forth like ants. The discovery of the Coral Paste - He provides, clearly - reverses its progress, and swings back into the realm of life.

Fearing that she is at a loose end, the priest daintily steps over the corpse of the captain (as daintily as one can without gravity), leans down next to Mithras, and scrabbles about for some sort of vox-link, or microphone. She has no formal training in how to identify one, but it should be easy enough to find something with the requisite 'speaking tube'.

Once satisfied that she has found something that seems to work, she clears her throat - zero-g has a strange, quelling effect on one's breath - and delivers an oration, broad frequency, to whoever is listening.

O Cal-Thias ground authorities, this is the shuttle 'AR-317', en route to Cal-Thias cell-block 835 harbour station, Know these things:

- that resulting from ... from an incident on board, our pilot is incapacitated, and we lack the definite capacity to re-enter on a safely prescribed trajectory.

- that a minor depressurisation in the ship its cockpit has occurred, and consequently the vehicle is bleeding out air. We can still breathe at present, but the consequences of atmospheric re-entry in such a state are not promising, given the extreme heat that we will shortly be experiencing.

- that there may be some sort of hazardous biological or xenological material aboard this ship, which, its value to the Holy Ordos notwithstanding, should not be allowed to spread unrestricted over the planetary surface. I hasten to request that you do not shoot the shuttle down in orbit. While this crew has no regard for their corporeal lives, if such is the King his will, blowing up the craft would most likely scatter harmful material over the planet's surface. Please indicate a relatively uninhabited landing zone, and form a quarantine cordon. I believe, hope, and entreat He-Who-Sits-On-The-Throne to help us all in this, and would that you relayed news of this to His representative on this planet, Judge Suki Amorana.

Over.

If the vox-link is part of the MIU - I can't really tell, but I'd guess that they have redundant systems - Meredi's going to instruct Mithras to give the following speech, blithely unaware of what he may or may not be hearing through the link.

I'm hoping that there's a long-range radio/vox in the cockpit, though, as you'd want some sort of rough-and-ready comms system like that.

[Hemnon]

As Meredi opens the hailing vox, spoken the warning and let go of the speak button, you can all hear background screaming from the vox. what the hell is going on down there!? then a high pitched screech from some... animal?
please make a hard (-20) forbidden lore: (xeno) mister xenologist

It seems that you where lucky that the vox runs on an emergency charge pack, but before you get a chance to say anything else, it shuts down with a crackling sound.

[Essie]

Meredi's brows furrow, if only for an instant. That was a well-worded homily she had there ...

Instead, she turns to the xenologist, fixes him with a stare, and - eyes still flickering back to him every few seconds - begins to examine the bodies in the cockpit. The las-weapon, for a start - is it in the hands of the captain? The servitor? Is it dropped? Using the haft of her scoriada, she pokes a little at the parasite, wondering wistfully if maybe it could be a daemon. Malefic presences excepted, she continues to probe, looking at how fresh the blood from implantation looks, and simply what this creature is.

Brother Castus, I ask one question of you - indigenous or alien, in your reckoning?

[Hemnon]

In the same second Meredi pokes the parasite, it cracks in two... its head is now floating slowly through the cockpit. first now you realize that it was frozen solid.

The laspistol seems to be in relative good shape, but its locked into the frozen captains hand.

[Essie]

Continuing to bat the head away with the scoriada, the priest uses its lazy rotation through the air to get a good look at it from various angles.

Meredi may know absolutely nothing about Xenos or animals in general, but is it a bug-like parasite, crustacean, spider, etc ...

[Calimos]

Castus looks up, startled by the sudden screams that came through the pilot's vox, then turns to the cleric.

"I cannot be certain of its exact nature, my lady, but what i can say is that there's no mention of it on the planet's fauna, according to the latest and updated historical and scientific reports. Its origins are elsewhere and currently unknown to me. What worried me more though were that hideous screams that came out of the vox after you finished your transmission to the planet below. Let's pray to the Emperor that nothing tremendously unfortunate has happened".

[Essie]

The souls of those below, I believe may already be with the King, which is a far, far, better place for them than in their cells of plascrete, and their cells of flesh. What is of greater worry to me, however, is the fact that our situation may have changed. Rather than going into a situation with a living, breathing, xenotic cargo, and risking contaminating it, we instead would appear to be plummeting down into one.

She pushes idly at the spinning parasite-head.

Is it possible that it exerted some control over him, stealing his will and self-direction, or did the servitor bring it against him? That the beasts of other stars might subvert our wills is, well, troubling ...

[♠Spade♠]

Conall returned once again to his bag, pulling out his photovisor, lascarbine, combat webbing, and the gasmask for good measure. Returning to the flight deck, he fulled a monoknife from the webbing and severed the pilot's fingers to retrieve the laspistol before tossing it and the lamp pack to the scholar. He then proffered his Primer to the man while holding his own sidearm grip first to the young woman. "There may be other creatures on board. The primer has a section on xenos, so it might be of some help to identify that thing. I'm going to check the cargo compartment for any other stowaways. If nothing else, opening the compartment should release more air for us."

[Calimos]

"Sir, while i appreciate your initiative to ensure that i can defend myself on a potential encounter, i must say that i am not familiar with such a weapon and it's charge pack seems depleted as well. Probably due to the cockpit incident with the servitor. Do not worry though, i made sure to be able to defend myself upon undertaking a journey to such an infamous world".

Castus fastens his black flak cloak ensuring it's covering him properly, opens his backpack and takes out a respirator, which he puts over his face and then reveals a holster on his belt, drawing an elegant and expertly crafted handgun. Holding the lamp pack on his other hand he turns to the guardsman again.

"Well, sometimes even we scholars need to be prudent when such "scientific excursions" are to be carried out. I'd propose though that you first put a thick layer of the coral paste over here to that hole in the hull, to seal it and then we can go search the cargo compartment".

[Baveboi]

The Tech-Priest disconnects from the mainframe and jumps back passing through Meridi and the captains corpse ignoring both. His mind is compeltely focused on the task at hand. As he slowly floats to the door, and the cut cabble near the delicate circuitry Mithras draws a Combitool from under his clothing.

++ "Power will reztart in a minute now... brace yourselvezzz."

Tech Use [roll0] Int 32 +10 from combitool (+20 for its asimple routine job). I will use one of my spare wires.

Fate point spent, result is 6

[Hemnon]

......(over vox, female artificial voice:)''Main CPU-power restored... lifesupport status: online. Artificial gravity: online. Warning temperature low, Heating: online. electronics: online. warning low pressure... attempting pressure re-stablizing.... error, hull breach in cockpit, pressure unable to stablize '' it seems that the ship is getting back online.

[Baveboi]

With a loud thump Mithras comes back to the ground. He hurriedly crawls up still tasked with important duties to the craft. The heating is fucntioning, but as Meridi stated it won't do any good when the craft start planetfall. Running across the cockpit Mithras get ahold of the coral paste unthinking and unstoppable he goes toward the breach on the wall. He simply keeps going, smearing the past all over the breach, wherever he can feels the strong air current.

++ "Thizzz... should do."

[Hemnon]

(same female artificial voice)''Hull breach sealed, commencing pressure restabilization....pressure stable.....Alert 1 minute to atmospheric entrance, please take seat.... error, pilot unable to fly... switching to autopilot.... autopilot unstable.... chance of succesful landing: 35%''

the autopilot has kicked in... but it is malfunctioning, making inflight unstable.
make a tech-use check to see if you know what's wrong.

[Baveboi]

The Tech-Priest is exhausted and slwoly drag his feet to the altar of the main pannel. Again, reciting the proper rituals, Mithras connects his own cabbles and wires to the machine and speaks to it's spirit. Even though his communication is one of mind alone the Tech-Priest prefer to sounds his worries aloud.

++ "As promissed, honourable YX-665, I have healed you. I need you to keep your side of the bargain now, most blessed spirit, show me your malefictions. Speak to us, to me and the rest of the crew, what can we do?"

[roll0] for Tech-Use to interact with the Machine Spirit and read it's cogitator correctly. It's 32 +20 from my Electro-Graft and MIU and -10 from fatigue plus any other modfier.

[Hemnon]

(yet again with the female voice:)''External repairs needed, please return to your seats and strap in. entering atmosphere in: 30 seconds....29....28....27...26....''

you really have to hurry up and return to your seats... its gonna be rough.

[Calimos]

After listening to the warning coming from the speakers, Castus goes quickly to his seat and fastens his belt, readying himself for the landing procedure and grasping firmly in his hands his heirloom family medallion that hangs from his neck.

[♠Spade♠]

Swearing to himself, Conall has no choice but to take a seat and brace for the landing.

[Essie]

Meredi nods in quiet amusement - but of course the spirit would work in their favour, how could it not? There were no 'spirits', after all, only Him. She sits down, but, before buckling herself in, begins to speak, in a low voice trained to carry well and be heard by all, so that they might join in. A prayer for travellers? Hmm ... the Invocation By Sant Kristof might work best here.



Grant us, O King, a steady hand and watchful eye.
That no one shall be hurt as time passes by.

She lays a finger upon the forehead of the priest of Him in his form of gears and clockwork, and draws a threefold sigil there. This man's belief is a folly, but a necessary one that his kind bears for us all.


Thou gave me life, I pray no act of mine
may take away or mar that gift of thine.

She lays a finger on the forehead of the scholar, whose divinely-given knowledge of the flora of this world spared them from the void.


Shelter those, dear King, who bear our company,
from the evils of fire and all calamity.

On the forehead of the guardsman, who would protect them all, and lay down his life for He Who Sits Upon the Throne.


Carry us where thou wilt, as is thy need;
Through space eternal, 'pon metallic steed

She passes a hand over the other passengers, the ones who were caught up in plans greater than them (but what plans aren't).


To see the beauty of your worlds; that thus we may
With joy, surrender and humility go on our way.

At last, she sits back down, and buckles herself in. Her? She doesn't presume to know what her role will be yet.


O King, holy patron of travelers, protect us and lead us safely to our destiny. Amen.

[Hemnon]

(ships spirit)''Entering atmosphere in: 5... 4... 3... 2.... 1....'' as you enter the atmosphere is ship starts to shake.

''Warning, autopilot malfunction.... rerouting power.....'' you can feel that the control of the ship is gone... if the autopilot doesn't start to work again, you my all burn up on the way down.

''System power restored, autopilot: fully functioning'' just as you all thought that, this is the end, the autopilot works again. it transports you all safely all the way down.

''Landing succesful, please take on an EBG (enviromental body glove) before exiting'' from the ships roof, small panels open, and 20 body gloves are now hanging there, ready to be put on.


Somewhere inside the underground prison compound

Calk wakes up in the interogation room.... its dark but a dull light is shining under the doorframe to the hallway. worst of all... its quiet.... not a single sound.

[Calimos]

Castus unbuckles his seat belt and stands up, looking around him to see if all the others are in good condition. He sighs with relief..."Thank the Emperor, we landed safely".

Then he proceeds to take one of those environmetal bodygloves and takes some time to wear it properly and adjust the rest of his clothing and equipment.

"Excellent work with the ship's machine spirit honourable Tech-priest. And thank you for your prayers, my lady. Should we check now the cargo compartment of the ship, alongside our brave guardsman, before heading outside?"

[Baveboi]

Mithras lift his head from under his own hands, looking up to see Castus bright face smilling down with words of praise spilling from his lips. A strangely busy and optimistic man, but who wasn't?

Mithras stands up and almost trip, his cabbles still plugged on the altar's chair where he stood talking to YX-665. Carefully, with a mental words of praise for her skill and dedication, the Tech-Priest slowly removes the wires from the altar's ports. Turning to the others in the passanger's bay he follows Castus in his quest to the cargo compartment, still dazzed of all this.

++ "I... pzz should check on the servitor, later. See if there are any salvageable parts or data. pzzz I don't wish to be left... alone... however." Mithras is visibly shaken, but still keeps a firm grip of his wit. His eyes are a bit drifty, his hands are trembling slightly, but his composture is not yet lost.

++ "Work firzt. Conzzcript, you lookz like you could uze medical care. pzz It also... occurred to me you never zzzpoke your name." While walking across the cockpit and entering the passangers bay the Tech-Priest directs his gaze to the guardsmen.

[king.com]

There it was again. That nagging feeling that things weren't just the regular kind of bad but the kind of bad where you expect heavily armed arbitrators to come storming in, shotguns blasting anything in sight. No nobility to save his neck now. Immediately, Calk checks to make sure all his equipment is still there, drawing his shotgun as he gets a grasp on the situation.

Getting up and moving to the door as quietly as possible, he figures the best course of action is to find the fastest, safest route away from this Emperor-forsaken planet. Maybe to a nice Hive World, the gleaming tall spires, serving the finest Amasec and Melion Wafers. Hell, he'd be more than satisfied with the lower hive, it'd probably be safer than here.

Summoning up whatever reserves of confidence he has, he peaks out into the hallway and carefully makes his way down it.

[♠Spade♠]

Rising and obtaining one of the bodygloves, he looks at the scholar. "My name is Conall Séighín." he said, pronouncing it kul-al shane. "Also, you appear to be under some misapprehension as to my auspices. I am a duly appointed member of the Commissariat."

[Hemnon]

Calk, alone in the dark

The hallways are dimly lighted, and spooky as hell. scattered over the walls, you see clawmarks, and as you look at the floor, you see bloody drag marks.
+20 fear check, its very creepy, and a +10 willpower check to resist insanity points
there is no noise at all, exept for your own echoing steps. The hallwy turns left and at the end you can see the main entrance, which you when you arrived earlier.

[Calimos]

"It's an honour then, Commisar Conall. Good thing I am no guardsman myself right? But then again if I was, I'd be instantly aware of your rank and privileged position. Forgive me please for the misunderstanding. Even though my older brother serves with distinction in Battlefleet Calixis and my grandfather, whose pendant I bear as a family heirloom, was a commander in the Imperial Guard, my grasp of military ranks is subpar it seems. I trust that having the honour and joy to be in the company of such illustrious servants of the Emperor is a good omen, despite the dire circumstances in which we find ourselves".

[♠Spade♠]

Conall blinked before cryptically asking "You really can't help yourself, can you?" Turning to the young woman and handing her another bodyglove, he asked "Do you require assistance, or perhaps privacy?"

[Essie]

Thou art too kind, Cadet Commissary.

Retreating behind a crate, Meredi re-emerges a minute later with her shield robes worn over the bulky environment suit. It suffers a little in practicality and style, but is a worthy example of the necessity to 'fly the colours'.

She pats down her pockets, draws out a small clock-like device, boggles vacantly at its readouts for a second or two, then passes it to the machine priest.

I suspect that thou might find this more useful than I, mechanical priest. It might aid us in determining what manner of threat we are likely to encounter without - animal, physical, or moral. The first two seem reasonable assumptions, given what we have heard and seen, and should it be the third, then He can look out for us.

Rummaging around in her valise, she produces a bundle wrapped in coarse cloth, and from that, produces a long, curved blade that glimmers unnaturally in the half-light.

Not that He cannot use us as an instrument, of course.

[Baveboi]

Absent-minded Mithras took the apparatus from the woman's hand. "Thank you..." he said in a mild voice, covered by his stylized respirator. He changed silently, away from the other's sight. The bodyglove would be almost imperceptible under his robes, if not for the fact that so many constricted slashing wires and cables made his figure dance slightly.

++ "You spoke nothing of your past, mizzter Conall. I am not familiar with the Commissariat. Izzzit an Imperial Guardsmen organization?"
No matter how hard Mithras tried he couldn't think straight. He just followed tail and did what the others were doing. For the sake of piling strangeness, he also began to scratch his neck now and them when he thought no one was watching.

++ "Wait... pzz were are we now? pzz Did we land on the ztarport?" He starts to worriedly look around the craft for an open window, something very hard to come by.

[Hemnon]

you are indeed on the planets landing pad... intact.

[♠Spade♠]

"The Commissariat does work closely with the Imperial Guard, but also with the imperial Navy, the PDF and others as well." Picking up his duffel, he started toward the exit.

[Hemnon]

Conall reaches the exit without problems. a bulkhead door with a scanner is blocking the way out. the scanner activates and reads your whole body. (YX-665)''EBG worn, lungs contaminated...... Lho smoke detected, non-harmful. Acces granted, please proceed.'' the door parts and allows you to continue into the decontamination room.

(this is gonna happen to all of you, please proceed outside the ship)

[♠Spade♠]

Shrugging, Conall pulls his knife back out and slides it on the mount of his carbine before walking through the door. As he departs, he asked "Shall we?"

[Baveboi]

Mithras is walking behind Conall, not fully aware that he didn't catch the entire meaning of what is the Commissariat. For the time being he just calms down his cables and circuits. In his hands is the arkane device that Meredi gave him, abesnt-minded the technician keeps probing at it now fully interested.

I will use my recently acquired Salvation Auger to indentify any possible harmful gases, biologic life forms or substances that could pose even a single threat, more for the sake of testing the aparatus. It seems in very well shape. I should thank Meredi.

[king.com]

Right, thanks mum and dad. Really good lesson your teaching me, Calk thought, what with the unimagineable horrors around every corner. Doing his best to avoid and even pretend the claw and bloody drag marks don't exist, he carefully makes his way down the corridor, shotgun leading the way, doing his best to keep an eye, ear , nose and well anything that might help keep him a good distance from whatever had caused those marks.

[Calimos]

Following Conall and Mithras, Castus proceeds to the exit as well, making sure he didn't forget any of his belongings in the spacecraft and taking care to see if Meredi needs any help and ask her politely to exit the ship before him, according to etiquette. What may wait them in the landing station occupies his mind all the same, but this is no reason to forget his manners, as his mother used to tell him sternly when he was a young boy.

[Essie]

Shamshir drawn and ready, Meredi half exhorts, half intimidates the other passengers to remain in the shuttle, and to bar the door. If they were to die, they would die anyway, but at least this way they will not be as so much wasted, dead weight for the rest of their little band.

This done, she follows the rest of their little group outside, through the scanner, and into the plascrete mangrove of the prison complex. Castus' offers of help are brushed aside, politely but firmly. She will meet Him on her own two feet, or not at all.

[Hemnon]

Outside the ship

A very disturbing sight, hits you as you depart from the ship. You can see a womans upper body leaning up against what looks like a big blastdoor..... and her lower body-half is.... gone.... the only thing there is left is a big dried blood spatter right infront of her. As you look around you see more mangled bodies.
A fear check from each of you...and a will check to resist insanity points (if you succed your fear check you gain +20 to the will check to resist insanity)

there is a panel on the wall next to the blast door.

a huge fence is surrounding the bunker entrance, 8 big guard towers are placed at the fences edges and a few buildings are scattered around.

[Essie]

Meredi nods, and goes on nodding, for quite some time. Once the fit is out of her, she turns to the scholar.

I have heard tell that there are two types of predator; those who hunt for food, and do so with great parsimony, taking only what they need ... and those that do so for the joy of the hunt, tearing apart the bodies and flesh of their prey. This would be the latter, I take it?

[Baveboi]

Mithras lock his stare at the mutilated woman's corpse, unwillingly noticing the morbid details with an unhealthy fascination. His face contorts in the unholy spawn of a joyless smile and a horrified expression, bits of unnoticed tears streaming down on his respirator. He noticed many details that would scar his mind forever, fleshy details. He had never seen a woman without proper clothing before, for a first time it was disturbing to say the least. He kept trying to look away from it all and pay attention to what Meredi was saying, to concentrate on something else, to forget what he saw of the corpses around him. But every time Mithras closed his eyes even for blinking he could see the Priestess, the Adept and even the Guardsmen, all slaughtered down to bits, their innards and bare flesh showing.

He said nothing of it. He said nothing at all. His only apparent reaction was a slight increase of his neck scratching and the disturbing look on his horrified and strangely fascinated green eyes.

[Calimos]

"Emperor's mercy! What happened here?"
Castus gasps at the terrible sight in front of them, his mind unable to cope with that measure of sheer brutality and carnage.
"It can't be...no his eyes trick him, it can't be...all those mangled bodies...each body a mouth, a scream, heard all together in unison from the spacecrafts vox-caster...or perhaps the screams were not human at all, but something else, that horror which ended the lives of those poor souls. Souls that even now scream at them from the horrid spectacle arranged before them, as an act of cruelty or just reckless carnage".

He then turns to Meredi, listening to her question and responds.
"You are probably right my lady, but the magnitude of this slaughter is disturbing to say the least...and judging by the fact that the exterior is heavily fortified i don't dare to think what we may encounter inside..."

[Essie]

You raise a very, very, very interesting point, Castus. What shall we find inside?

More bodies, I expect.

But do we looking at the aftermath of some creature entering the facility, or leaving it?

Meredi, largely indifferent to the chaos and mayhem, walks over to the bodies, offering a very late last rites over each one, and closing their eyes.

[Hemnon]

The fences are fully intact, and there is no way that, whatever did all of this crawled over the fence, since there are guardtowers, automated autocannons and much more to stop anything from entering.

[Baveboi]

Turning his head from Meredi to Castus and back to Meredi as he accompained the conversation, Mithras never spoke. Only kind of looked like he wasn't really there, his mind entertained in thoughts.

++ "What?" he said out loud. "What did you zzsay?" He turned to Castus, than to Conall and back to Meredi, once he noticed no one spoke a single word to him his eyes went very wide and panicky. "Oh, n-nothing. I muzzt be tired. I will go... take a look... pzz on that altar over there."

The Tech-Priest leaves the rest and walks up to the painel that sits on the landing plataform. He examines the glythes and runes in it, ignoring his own growing madness as hard as he can.

[Essie]

Meredi blesses the corpses, but that doesn't mean she can't rifle through them as she does, especially if doing His work. On each body, she looks for a radio, a personal vox unit, a microbead, anything of the kind. If she can spot anything of that sort, she'll flick through the various channels, or frequencies. Even if command - whoever she was in contact with while in space - is knocked out, destroyed, or worse, she should at least be able to get in contact with some survivors out there.

[Hemnon]

the blessed looting, by Meredi

on what looks like the remnants of a guardsman, maybe he was a leutenant, there is a vox-caster... its badly damaged though, but not beyond repairs. you also find his microbead, but it seems to be crushed into his head.... most likely from a forceful blow to the head. there are 3 charge packs on each of the other 2 guardsmen lying close to this guy and each of them has a lasgun, one of them is broken beyond repairs. they are each wearing what looks like EBG's which is also badly damaged by whatever killed them. The leutenant guys seem to be wearing what could look like carapace, but its hard to see because of the damage, dirt, blood and entrails.
make a search check


The techpriest and the alter

The alter is somewhat intact, but as you look closer, you can see that it need some minor repairs to work. a small box is standing next to the alter. a small bit of text, in binary language, is written on it.
+20 tech-use check to repair the alter, and if you can binary the text says: ''spare parts''

[Baveboi]

Mithras looks down at the small box, picks it up and place it over the altar.
++ "You will be bleszzsed, my friendz. Few outside the Cult can zztare at the ritualz I'm about to perform..."
The Tech-Priest start chanting in a mild voice the words of praise to the Machine Spirits. He lights his glowglobe, in the fault of proper candles, and places it over the small box of parts. His chant increases with more rambling in Tech Language, he connects his own cables to the machine, his Electro-Graft pumps with life as it communicates with the machine, wires coiling and slashing. In his hands the Combi-Tool flashes into life and he begins the simple repairs of the sacred altar.
[roll0] against 32 + 20 + 20

++ "Oopz..." Mithras says in a worrying tone with his broken voice. "I think I shouldn't have nudged thizz part after all..."
He goes to work, still concentrated but a bit worried of what he might have done with the internal circuitry.


After a minute or so of prayers in his strange language, of clicking and conecting cables and welding mechanisms, he finally feels the touch of the Machine on his brain and a smile, not in his face, crepts open.

++ Loading interface... Hello, dormant engine. ++

[Hemnon]

(Alter spirit:)''intruder, you have fixed this unit.... thank you... but i cannot grant you access, without an autherized access card..... please unplug from this unit, or security will be notified''

the spirit is a little low-tech which means, less personality.

[Essie]

Suddenly, Meredi is there behind Mithras, a small bloody square of holographic polymer in hand.

An access card like this one, false intelligence?

[Baveboi]

Feeling a little startled, and more than a slightly shy, Mithras takes the holocard from Meredi's hand and reads it, translating the code from his mind to the Machine Spirit. He pauses to gaze back at Meredi for a moment. "Thank you..." he says.

[Hemnon]

Guys (and girl) on the outside

(Alter spirit:) ''code accepted, wellcome Leutenat Ryga charkston.''

the big blast door rises with a loud rumbling sound. and you can all see the enctrance to what looks like a decontamination room.

Chalk in da bunker

You hear an deep rumbling sound, that echoes through the empty hallways. now you see the first dead body... then the next... one more! signs of combat is apparent... a few weapons can be seen among the scattered corpses and las burnmarks are on the walls and floors. right infront of you, there is the decontamination room that you went through earlier and the rumbling seems to originate from teh big blast door that is on the opposite side of the decontamination room.

[♠Spade♠]

Eager to be out of the killing field, Conall moved towards the opening blast door, motioning the others to follow. In a low hiss he said "Let's get a move on before whomever is inside comes to investigate this racket." before crossing the threshold.

[Calimos]

Castus watches Mithras intently as he performs the necessary rituals over the machine, then speaks up in apparent awe. Technology always left a lasting impression upon him.

"That was a great demonstration tech-priest. It is truly an honour and a privilege to witness such an act. The secrets of Technology are many, great and mysterious and the Adeptus Mechanicus perform more than adequately their duties regarding their preservation and continuance".

Then he turns to Meredi.
"Excellent find my lady. Let us be prepared though for what we may encounter inside".

He makes sure his fate-bringer is loaded and his flak cloak properly donned and speaks to Connal.
"Commisar, i think that you would be the most appropriate and expertly qualified to lead us through such a situation, requiring tactical thought and preparations for potential confrontation with hostile entities".

[Baveboi]

The technician of Mars took in the compliments made by Castus with a nod of his cowled head. He proceeds to get back his glowglobe and the spare box, putting both in a safe place inside his layered vests. One could only guess at how he held so many things inside those robes or if the unnerving coiling wires that slash and dash around his feet has anything to do with it.

Packed, the Tech-Priests says a whispered farewell to the Machine Spirit, mentally scanning its cogitator and placing the data inside his own files on the dataslate (it's like taking a picture of the machine's spirit, just less so). He then dislodges his cables from the altar and, drawing his laspistol in hand, proceeds to follow Commissar Conall.

++ "Let uzz join the fray, then!"

[king.com]

Working his way through the bodies, Calk managed to assemble a fairly nice cache of weapons, piling everything he found into a corner. He even managed to piece together a full suit of Guard Flak armour and armoured himself for whatever horrors was going on around him. Pocking the grenades, lasgun charge packs and broken plasma pistol (if only for good luck), he also swung one of the lasguns over his shoulder should he run out of his limited shotgun ammunition.

All of this was just in time for the big blast door to start opening, making Calk hurry for a place to hide, gun trained on the door as it opened.

[Essie]

Join the fray? I hope not. But it behooveth us nonetheless to press on, into the darkness, and trust that some path, some course of action, may be found.

Shamshir lightly raised, Meredi presses on, with the rest of the group, into the darkness of the decontamination chamber. Some good it did keeping 'contamination' from 'purity' so far, though ...

[♠Spade♠]

Moving at a half crouch, with his carbine at high-ready, Conall made his way into the room, scanning for threats.

[Hemnon]

Decontamination room

As you all enter, you can hear the sound of the decontamination room powring up. the walls are covered with small holes, as well as the ceiling. the floor is covered with drains, most likely meant to collect the decontamiantion liquid.

as the blast door closes, a voice speaks over the rooms speaker.
(artificial voice)''Stand-by surface team, Decontamination in progress.''
in the same moment the voice appear, the decontamination liquid is being sprayed on the lot of you from the holes in the walls and ceiling.

as the cycle ends the same voice appear in the rooms speaker.
(same voice)''Decontamination complete, please proceed.'' the door in the other end of the decontamination room opens... the hallway on the otherside is dark, a dim light shines from wall lamps. there is a lamp on each side of the hallway for every 3 metres.

it takes a few seconds for your eyes to get used to the darkness, but as you all start to walk towards the door, you seem them.... all the dead mangled bodies, some are not close to be intact at all..... others are missing a body limb.

[Calimos]

"Emperor's mercy!", exclaims Castus. "The screams we heard were a true indication of the horrific fate that befell those poor souls."

[king.com]

At the recognisation that they were not the ones who had been a part of the....distasteful acts comitted and were just as much bewildered by the ongoing events, Calk decided to show himself. He figured that he would be found eventually and on the off chance he isnt killed on sight, he might just have a few more human shields between him and whoever..or whatever DID cause that mess.

Comin up with his shotgun aimed in their direction, and being very close to cover should he need to dive back into it, he called out.

"So, something else is actually alive down here. Would someone care to explain what exactly is going on and the location of the nearest exit. A ship would be absolutely wonderful."

[Essie]

Meredi steps forward, raising her hands and lowering her eyes.

Down here? No, sir, we hail from orbit, and from beyond. Know this, before ye make any rash - but reasonable - action with your weapon, that ye level your weapon against a party of duly appointed servants of he-who-sits-upon-the-Throne, as innocent of guilt, and as ignorant of explanations, as yourself. We just came from the exit, and our ship crash-landed.

Making a blather check - [roll0] vs. 22 to put Calk at his ease/off guard. Meredi is being very much sincere in her speech, but if she can distract the shotgun wielding dude a little, that can't hurt.

[king.com]

Calk holds his gun firm, keeping his weapon trained on the guardsman looking character, mostly ignoring the words the priest or whatever she was. That was until he heard the words crash landed and he snapped out it.

"I'll lower my weapon as soon as you lower yours, duly appointed servants of Him on Terra." Calk responds sarcisticly.

"A techpriest, guardsman, adept and yourself? Thats a most interesting appointment. If you speak the truth, what was your assignment here?"

[Baveboi]

Mithras have been deep in thought about the mess of mangled bodies, decided against voicing more of his own despair. It was when a scoundrel, out of a pile of rubble, decided for the wiser would be to point a gun to the already nervous Tech-Priest. If it wasn't for subtle augmentations on his index Mithras probably would have shot the man instantly. No sign of his stressed condition was visible, his body wouldn't shake if his mind didn't command such was the nature of coghood. Besides, the tech-priests form was a heavy red mantle that covered him head to toes, altogether with a one or two odd cable that made itself visible while he moved.

With all that indumentary how could Mithras still feel so exposed? He waved the sinful worries of the flesh aside and, while cables cracked as whips, the cogboy decided, against his will, that it would be unwise to scold the scoundrel for his behaviour.

Only after that enormous train of tought had finally stopped that Mithras noticed Calk talking to him. Actually, it was more about him, but the thought didn't register on his cogitator.

++ "You zzpeak loud and wide, azzkz queztionz without giving any answer. Don't insult uzz any further, Mr. Scoundrel. pzzz... If you want to know about our affairz, zztate yourz firzzt. For all we know, you could be rezzponsible for thizz." Mithras said with a broken vox-like voice, eyes dead serious as he waved around in a great arc.

[♠Spade♠]

"I am no Guardsman. I am a duly appointed member of the Commissariat and if you don't lower your weapon, I can and will execute for sedition against the Imperium and Him on Terra." he said coldly. Taking in the man's appearance and his haphazard collection of equipment, Conall added "I've half a mind to do it anyway, for the having temerity to take up arms against us.

[Calimos]

"I think that it would serve you best young man to state your identity and purpose of being in this facility first. The reasons of our presence here are many and varied but suffice it to say that the current state of this facility seems to trump and supercede them, at least for the time being. Do you have any idea regarding what caused this massacre of the facility's military personell? Did you hear or see anything connected to that? And what is the situation inside compared with the one out here?"

[king.com]

Calk payed close attention to the tech-priest, having spent a good deal of his live interacting with them in one way or another and held his tongue long enough for him to speak. When he was referred to as a scoundrel however he puffed out his chest very slightly and his ego was brought to the front.

"Scoundrel? SCOUNDREL? I am Calthaluak Victus. Of HOUSE Victus from Landunder, 37th child to the heads of the family. The same Noble family that heads the transportation and distribution of the Adeptus Machincus' productions from the Lathe throughout the entire Calixus Sector. I atleast show enough respect to debase myself and use this pitiful language."

He turns to respond to the next in line.

"Quiet yourself, guardsman playing Commissar, you may be the pet of Lord Hax but you hold no authority over me, even if I was a guardsman."

Finally he addresses the Adept.

"Young Man? You don't look any older than me but you do make an excellent point. Doesn't mean I'll lower my guard but I can tell what I've seen....which does not help us much at all I'm afraid. I have been unconscious for a good long period but I do believe that it has to do with the crate, a woman armed to the teeth and the small army guarding it."

[Calimos]

Castus' face grimaces in surprise upon hearing the man's origins and interrupts him promptly, speaking, this time, in High Gothic.

"You are a scion of House Victus of Landunder? A member of our sector's nobility? Throne of Terra i didn't expect to find a peer of mine in this place, let alone in such a situation. I think i must introduce myself properly sir. I am Castus Metallus Reinhart of the Reinhart noble House, dignified rulers of Malfi and long standing friends and associates of the Fabricator-Generals and the Magos ruling over the Lathe worlds. It is quite a coinscidence to find an individual of your origins upon such a planet. Our families could have worked together in the past since their areas of interest seem to overlap at certain points".

"As for more pressing matters, you said there is a "crate" inside the base, guarded by armed personell under the commands of a woman if i understand well? Oh and please, if you'd be so kind, do lower your weapon sir, to have a proper conversation as civilised people and see how we can resolved this particularly unpleasant situation".

[king.com]

Calk's eyes flash open for a moment when he is addressed in High Gothic, returning his answer in kind. Raising his eyebrow ever so slightly at the mention of Malfian Nobility.

"I am as surprised as you to find myself in this situation, let alone another nobleman amongst these dregs of ignorant clerics, brash guardsman and nearsighted techpriests. Regardless, this crate and this...walking armoury is perhaps a better term for her were on the transport I was aboard. Guarding the crate was a contingent of soldiers, armed with hellguns, plasma guns and more. An impressive array of firepower. Their purpose I cannot guess, holy wards were carved into that crate...no maybe a box is a better term. It seemed ancient, though I am no archeologist, and seemed designed to keep something contained inside. Perhaps whatever it was got out? Or worse still, was released."

Calk lowers his weapon unintentionally as he ponders this thought. Worst still his mind drifted to the stories he had heard of Malfian Nobility, and readily expected a knife in his back at the first opportunity. He would have to keep an exceptionally close eye on this one.

[Calimos]

"These are grave news indeed. But please, tell me, what happened to those soldiers and the woman? Where is the shuttle that brought you here and more importantly where is that box?"

[Essie]

Meredi stands back, smiling slightly to herself as the nobles butt heads with each other. So as the low beasts of this world, so as the the noble men. Once they're quite finished discussing their ties to the material world, she steps forward, clearing her throat at Calthaluak of House Landunder of the Lathes or whatever claims her pretended upon the world.

In High Gothic, she composes a little oratory of her own, only mentally gritting her teeth against the noble.

Brother Calthaluak, I too would fain know the location of the box, but at present -

The gestures at the bodies scattered liberally throughout the building.

- I do not feel that this would be particularly helpful. Something got out, but whatever it was, it has long escaped its confines. If thou would, I would know why thou believed this cask to be 'holy'. What made thou think this? High Gothic prayers? Aquilae? Seals of purity? Such insight and wisdom might aid us in identifying what we would hunt.

[Hemnon]

Time for a -20 awareness test! (its dim light, and you are talking)

ps: if you are equiped with a photovisor its a +/- 0 check.

[Essie]

Time for a -20 awareness test! (its dim light, and you are talking)

ps: if you are equiped with a photovisor its a +/- 0 check.


vs. 10

[king.com]

Calk raises his eyebrow ever so slightly at the priest addressing him in High Gothic though honestly not entirely surprising.

"You know what made me think it holy? The small army guarding it, from my experience, people tend to guard that which is important or valuable. Holy is simply the ecclesiarhy's word for the same idea. Not to mention the wards engraved into its very structure. Not mere purity seals added as an afterthought but as a part of its design and construction. Something perhaps a techpriest would be better answering should he be given an opportunity to inspect it."

Calk gawks at the mention of hunting

"Hunt it? The being that managed to casually remove these guardsman? What makes you think we would have better luck?"


[roll0] vs 9

[Essie]

Regrettably, in this fallen world people tend to devote significant resources towards the guarding and protection of things that are not of Him, but of this world. Thou claim that the wards were intrinsic to the cask's structure? Were they, I suppose, powered, or ornamental?

Spare my curiosity, I am curious to know whether or not those transporting this fatal cargo were trying to contain it with psychic, holy, or merely technological. Each answer might give us a different path to follow - psychic predators such as the Mara strain might cause us to look to the psychically active, daemons and other warp entitites are clearly confined by holy wards, and a technological approach might suggest that we are simply dealing with a being that is strong, fast, tough, venomous, or so on ...

And why, Brother Calthaluak, I believe we shall become quite bored if we just sit around waiting for it to come to us and kill us where we stand, all the while batting words back and forth like a game of rackets. Speaking of which ...

[Baveboi]

++ "You dizrezzpect the zzpiritz of machine, preacher of the Golden Throne. There iz no such thing azz something merely technological and I azzk you to not adrezz the techno-miraclez of my cult with such dizzdain..."
[roll0] against 10. Remember that I also have the arkane device that Meredi gave me.

Turning to Calk again the Technician is still confused and perplexed as to how threat diplomatical matters like this one. Not one to talk of such things, Mithras decide to pick on a healthier subject.
++ "You said thiz crate of yourzz... haz wardz? I could examine it, but only if I see it firzzt. Don't be fooled, sir Calthaluak, there izz more to the heavy guarded then simply value... There iz herezy, deviance, corruption and the scourge that plaguezz mankind that are also bezzt guarded."

[Hemnon]

you are all standing there talking... with dead corpses scattered around.....

Initiative time!

[♠Spade♠]

Conall glowered at the mouthy newcomer. "I do not serve Lord Hax or his Chaliced operatives, but the true Commissariat." he growled before continuing, "I have no authority over you, do I? Are you not wearing the accouterments of the Emperor's Imperial Guard? If you pull out your Primer, you will see that you are in violation of Articles IG 3645/67k, IG 3678/47k, 9898/23t, and are dangerously close to violating Articles 8055/14v and 0001/01a. If you are not a soldier, I can only infer that you are a looter, which puts you in violation of Article 1132/54d and possibly 5577/93z. All but one of those charges is punishable by summary execution. Now, in light of our present circumstances, I am willing to overlook the multitude of violations and absolve you of all wrong doing...provided you assist us while we get to the bottom of this. After which, you will no longer be beholden to us. Is that acceptable to you?" Before the man could reply, Conall spotted movement in the hallway and upon realizing what it was, said "Throne help us, the dead are moving."

[Essie]

Disrespect the machine? The only miracles of this world are his, though his works may be wondrous indeed. And - oh ...

Meredi looks to the bodies, as they begin to twitch.

[roll0] initiative.

[king.com]

Calk looks between the shifting corpses and the commissar, trying to decide whether a snapping retort is worth the risk of not immediately dealing with these abominations. Wait a minute...

"I believe your forgetting Protocol 5T-1782 paragraph 11, act 2 which very clearly states that in the eyes of the emperor every man is a viable and may use military equipment if they are authorized by an officer, threatened by abominations of the warp OR the act is in the name of the emperor. Im sure our priest here would support me on the last two accounts. "

Calk finishes as he throws one of the spare lasguns to Meredi.


Intiative: 1d10+4

[Baveboi]

Slowly Mithras turns to see what had made Meredi stop in mid sentence. Terrible, terrible nightmare of flesh and bone, to think that such a thing would inevitably come to haunt a cogboy was an idea worth taking with a pinch of amasec.

++ "Emprah and Omnissiah, protect me..." The name of the God of Mankind on the Tech-Priests hidden lips sounded strange with that touch of vox-like nasal sound.

[Hemnon]

there are 3 moving corpses right now, 2 of them are missing their lower half of their body... dragging themselves across the floor. The 3rd one is standing up and is intact, except for a gaping wound in its stomach.

the 2 on the floor, that crawls are about 2 metres behind chalk, and the standing corpse is about 1,5 metres from the lot of you.

__________________________________________________ ________


FIGHT!

[Hemnon]

Prototype map attempt

Hallway Encounter MAP (https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B66n9PyByxeOZTRiOGM5MmUtNTJlMS00NGZiLTgzZTM tZDc0MTg1NjUzZDMx&hl=en)

initiative
__________________________________________________

THE GOOD GUYS

The Adept: 7

Commissar Cadet: 5(2nd)

Miss Confessor: 8(1st)

Cogboy: 11

Noble Scum: 5(1st)

__________________________________________________

THE BAD GUYS

Creeping Dead: 8(2nd)

[Baveboi]

The Tech-Priest curse under his unseen lips, head deep down in the red cowl. His hands reach inside the robes, buried beneath there is a weapon worth of Magus, the second Memento of Mithras: a Heavy Laspistol "Steel Burner" from the mysterious Sollex Society. He draws it out, slowly inspecting the las charge and the masterly handcrafted parts of this death engine. The arcane signs point at full. Mithras had never fired that weapon in his life, to think he was about to have his first time with such a rare and marvelous weapon was thrilling.
Silently he whispers into the weapons barrel.

++ "Machine Zpirit... may your shotz be TRUE!" Infuriated with the flesh heresy he's seeing, the Technician thinks not much of anything else, just start unloading at the standing monster's general direction.

My actions will be, in that order, draw the Heavy Pistol and then shot to the head [roll0] BS 34

[Essie]

Startled at the weight of the lasgun in her hands, Meredi looks down at it, and then at the crawling figures moving towards her. She's feeling scared for a little time, some human base instincts to get away from the body, but they pass away in time, what seems like hours of standing there, watching them. A deep, alien sense of calm washes over her, as if her soul is being shorn of its edges, of its human aches and concerns, by the lapidary action of some greater being - and she smiles. There's nothing to worry about. He'd take care of everything, as He always does.

Putting the lasgun to one side, she charges - no, walks, strolls, almost - up to the nearest crawling corpse, shaking her head in quiet regret.

O King, please accept these straying souls that linger too long away from your side, kept beyond their time by this fleshly prison. Into Your hands I commend their spirits.

With a quick motion, she then brings down her blade on the head of the nearest creature.

Moving to C4 (not enough room to charge, and making an attack action against the right-most corpse.

[roll0] vs. 24 (WS) + 10 (it's prone, I think?) + 5 (good quality weapon) = 39.

If I hit - [roll1] damage.

[Hemnon]

The dead moves closer, slowly dragging their bodies over the concrete floor. the first crawling zombie (C5) takes a swipe at meredi.

Attack: WS 25 vs. [roll0] hits your head
Damage: [roll1] primitive rending damage

the standing zomibe just drags its body closer to the lot of you (moves on squre forward)

the last crawling zombie drags itself towards calk.

[Calimos]

"Throne of Terra! What abomination is this?" exclaims Castus, taking a step back and aiming with his fate-bringer at the walking corpse. As he looks better, the gaping wound in the creature's stomach almost shifts and its empty eyes seem to glow unnaturaly. Fear rises up Castus spine, cold, bony fingers gripping his neck. He falls back, near the door, bracing himself and resuming his aim.

Full action aim.

[king.com]

Raising his shotgun to his eye, Calk gets a good clear look at the moving corpses he had just stripped clean of valuables.

"It's mine now..."


Half aim and shoot at the crawling zombie approaching Calk.
[roll0] vs 93 (43 + 10 for Aim, +30 point blank, +10 for prone)
Damage: [roll1]

[♠Spade♠]

Trying to control his fear without letting the others know that he was scared, Conall brought his carbine up and took a shot at the standing enemy.

DC of 26 (46-20 for fear): [roll0]

[Essie]

Meredi shakes her head, as if she can somehow clear her head of the sensation of that ... that poor, poor abomination grasping at her. With a gleam in her eye, she lashes out again at the creature with her sword, trying to cleanly end its unlife.

All out attack.

[roll0] vs. 24 (WS) + 10 (enemy prone) + 20 (all out attack) = 54.

If I hit?

[roll1] R damage.

[Hemnon]

The second Meredi slice the crawling zombie, in the body, there is no blood.... but out of the wound comes.... maggots! the spill out on the floor, twitching and wiggling.

the crawling zombie is still moving tough....

[Hemnon]

th 'intact' zombie slowly drags is feet across the floor, moving forward (from B5 to B4)

the crawling zombie to the left (A5) begins to grab on to calk.
initiates a grapple (may do it as a half action): WS 25 vs. [roll0] you may make an agility check as a reaction to avoid it, if i hit...

the 2nd crawling zombie, starts to shake... twitching slightly to begin wth, but slowly getting more intense.

i would like a callenging awareness from mithras, calk and conall.
a routine check from castus (rolled awesome on his forbidden lore [xenos]), and an ordinary check from meredi

[Hemnon]

as the crawling zombie tries to grab on to calk, it misses so widly that it falls right back down on the floor. while lying there, the helmet covering its head, rolls off and hits the wall gently. (its stunned)

[king.com]

Awareness: [roll0] vs 29

[Calimos]

"The bodies must be under the influence and control of a parasitic bug, like the one inside our pilot. Aim for their head, to kill the bug as well".

[Baveboi]

Paying heed to Castus advice, Mithras take his time to aim at walking abominations's head and finally pulls the trigger.
Half action to aim, and a simple attack. On the head.
[roll0] aganst 34 +10 from half action aim, +30 from point blank. If hit [roll1] +4
The barrel overheats a little and throws the aim out, the shot exploding furiously at the ceillings hull, doing a marvelous job of its namesake.

[Calimos]

Castus concentrates on his aim after yelling the warning to the rest, watching the red dot of his "fate-bringer's" sight dance on the walking corpse, and holds his breath trying to calm his trembling hands.

Time to prove your name exquisite heirloom, he thinks in regard to his weapon, as he pulls the trigger.

Completed full action aim and now standard attack.
[roll0] vs 53 [33 (BS) + 20 (full action aim) + 10 (red-dot laser sight) - 10 (shock)]

[Hemnon]

the walking zombies head explode violently, causing skull fractures to fly everywhere. oddly enough there is still no blood, but small maggots fly among the fragments of the head. the zombie stops right in its track, and falls backwards, hitting the floor with a loud crash.

you can hear the bullet hit the far end of the hallway.

a small parasitic insect-like bug tumbles out of the remnants of the head, first its upper half, then the lower half.... it seems like castus shot right through it, killing it in an instant.

[Hemnon]

OOC: the crawling zombie is shaking and is not trying to move, so its basicly helpless. so go with the 'helpless target' rules from the core book)

PS: its not your turn yet essie. thank you.

[king.com]

Aiming at the slug thing crawling around inside the guys head, Calk prays he a little more successful this time.


[roll0] vs 73(43 + 30 point blank, + 10 prone, +10 aim -20 called shot)
[roll1]+4

[Hemnon]

(will roll the extra hits from your shotgun, scatter is epic when point blank range)

Head: [roll0]+4 damage

Arm: [roll1]+4 damage

[Hemnon]

the stunned crawling zombie on the floor gets its head blown into pieces, scattering it all over the floor.... its not possible to find thebug pieces among the crainal fragments.

[♠Spade♠]

Conall held his fire as he said "I can't get a clear shot at it." Could he have fired? Most certainly. However, even in his less than calm state, he was unwilling to risk shooting the young lady by accident.

[Baveboi]

Mithras saw the blood and gore with an unamused apathetical look on his eyes, a mind occupied by higher thoughts was a mind hardly distracted. Those thoughts being primarily of survival and self-preservation, however, didn't help his situation, he kept shooting the Steel Burner and las-shots kept flying harmlessly away from the zombies' soft-spots.
Trembling-like he aims yet another shot, at the remaining monstrosity's head.
Half-Action aiming, standard shot. Again.
[roll0] against 64 (34 + 10 from aim + 30 from Point Blank and + 10 from prone zombie, -20 from Called Shot - Head)
If I miss this one I will permanently retire my hands...

[Hemnon]

The last crawling zombies hair are burned away..... now hair and eyebrow less, you can see that its eyes has closed from the sudden bright light. its still shaking like crazy, which must mean, that the bug is still alive.

[Essie]

Let Him save the seat of your soul, poor creature.


Meredi dances back out of the spray of maggots, then springs back again and sinks her blade deep into the brainpan of the zombie.


[roll0] + [roll1] + 2 R damage.

If I get one 10 -

[roll2] vs. 54 (same as before) to confirm Righteous Fury

If I get two 10s, or confirm -

[roll3] + [roll4] + 2 damage.

[Hemnon]

the zombies head gets severed by the neck, sending it flying down the hallway where it lands with a muffled thud. you can all see the dead bug, slowly leaking out of the heads air tube.


gratz to you all, you survived the encounter.
400 exp to all (you repaired a space ship, on its way to crash into the planet, you got the ship down intact and you survived your meeting with the bug-resurrected zombie personnel.

please tell me in the OOC what you have used your newly gain exp for.

EDIT: faith points are also refreshed.

[king.com]

Calk absentmindedly reloads the shotgun shells as he looks around at what remained of the attackers. The bug is what most interest him though he looks around at what is apparently his new....companions, distasteful as that idea was.

"Well, that went far better than i expected."

He looks over at the bloodied end of the priest's blade and smiles a little nervously.

"Remind me not to receive a confession from you in the near future...regardless I don't believe we have been introduced properly. You may call me Calk."

[Baveboi]

The tech-priest is still feeling the thrill of victory while inspecting his exceptional Laspistol. The sheer amount of energy it consumes and produces is surprising alone. The custumary red beam of light las weaponry even takes on a faint blue hint, a resemblance to the deadly Lascannon shots. Bewildered, but still in wit, he turns to calk.

++ "You may call me Mithrazz. Mithraz Ingot."

He turns to Meredi now. ++ "You waz hit, priezzt? Are you feeling well? pzzz. I have a dermal underzztanding of firzzt aid, if that doezzn't dizguzzt you I could take a look at any injuriezz..."

[king.com]

Calk nods approvingly at the techpriest. That kind of knowledge could keep him alive, maybe his family's connections would help.

"Ingot? I wonder what you spend your time doing...Regardless, do any of you have an information on this...creature, making the dead walk?"

[Calimos]

Hearing Calk asking about the parasite, Castus promptly intervenes, to share with the rest his insight and knowledge on that particular subject. Gesturing to the rest, he approaches the now dead bug, kneels down and retrieves from his backpack a leather bound book, bearing an inscription in High Gothic on its cover, quickly shuffling through its pages. When he founds what he looks for, he sets his auto-quill, commiting to paper extra details about the parasite. While doing this, the so-called fever of scientific research almost consuming him, Castus pauses for brief intervals, to "illuminate" the rest of his companions on this strange form of parasitic xenos life form they encountered as well as to share his personal assumptions on the situtation at hand.

"Here it is you see. Calk perhaps this might be the first time you lay eyes upon it, but for the rest of us, this looks very much like the one we found inside our dead captain's stomach during our almost tragically ended travel to this facility. During my research on various xeno forms some years ago, i happened to encounter this phenomena on another planet.

I cannot recall the exact species, but I do know that this parasite resides inside its victims head, where it proceeds to attach itself to the victim's nerves, effectively controlling the body of its host. The victims are slow in movement and reaction for the first few months, but after that time, the bug has complete control of the body and the hosts brain is totally gone about an hour after cranial entry.

As i told you already, during the confrontation we had before, the best way to kill it is by shooting the victims head off, killing the bug at the same time. There may be a shred of hope for the victims, but only if the bug just recently entered the body and there are the means for the victim to be restrained and receive medical care. Thus the parasite can be operated out, saving the victim in the process.

Regrettably, this was not possible to be done for those poor souls, given the severity of their situation and the absense of available medical personell and facilities Most of them were cut in half and even the one who could actually stand had such a gaping wound in his stomach, that he'd be considered dead even after a successful operation. Moreover, the presence of corruption in the victim may have unexpected results, such as the host starting to slowly rot or violently mutate, etc. After witnessing the maggots coming out of their wounds i think it's evident that their bodies were in advanced decomposition and nothing could be done for them".

Then he stands up, closing his book, putting it in his backpack and confronting the rest once again, his eyes showing evidently that he's very serious and worried about the situation.

"You see, this exact fact is what has me worried. Our new acquaintance here, noble sir Calk Victus, mentioned that a certain crate was brought in here some time ago, if i recall correctly. Please do correct me if i say anything wrong, Calk. Now, we know from our recent findings that the crew of this facility was infected by this parasite quite some time ago. From what available evidence presented to us, I'd say that my assumption of the situation is as follows. Perhaps the taint of the facility was known to Imperial authorities and they dispatched a team to deal with it. This team, could have carried with them some kind of a secret weapon or creature that they unleashed upon the personnel of the facility, therefore slaughtering all in the process.

Another plausible explanation could be, that whoever this lady was that accompanied the team to this planet, had in mind to conduct an experiment on those poor souls, by releasing such a parasite and observing the results. Maybe some of them mutated and horribly murdered one another, but this doesn't make much sense, given that this far they seemed unified in purpose, even though controlled by the parasite. Also, the attack ought to have happened at some point during our travel to the planet, given that we heard terrible screams over the vox, while approaching the facility, so i think i'll just go with my initial estimation of the situation.

Still, certain facts elude me, such as the exact time of the team's arrival, if they left the planet, where is the shuttle that brought them here and more importantly where is that box?, which if you would be so kind mr. Calk you could tell us about, in case you know, as well as what else you might have discovered about them".

[king.com]

Calk glazes over, mostly irritated at the specific information being something beyond his intellectual grasp but regrettibly acknowledging that he would have to keep this nobleman alive.

"I'll take that as a yes then? To be completely honest there is little light I can shed on your mystery unless I can know how long I was unconscious. I noticed the box out of pure chance as the guard was quick to shaffle me onwards, utterly ignorant of my position.

It seems by my thinking that we should seek a means to escape, this talk of xeno parasites is not conductive to our long term well-being and their existance itself is a severe hazard to our short term. Atleast there is a clear means to destroying them but I am no where near armed enough should we encounter too many of these creatures. What was the count again? Over 400,000 prisoners? I think we should all hope that the parasites do not breed very quickly."

[Baveboi]

Mithras gazes at Castus with a baffled face. For a moment there he seems to dooze out of time and space, inside a happy place where people would speak less and wouldn't make his neural cogitator go all funny-like. With his vox-like voice he mumbles something between his teeth and turns his attention back to Meredi, still trying to be sheepshly helpful.
++ "I wish I could... pzz make any sense out of thiz..."

[Essie]

I must confess that I have very little understanding of such matters as. Do there exist some precautions or protections that we might employ, to shield us from the approaches and advances of these creatures? Do they follow a reproductive path beyond what we have already seen? I doubt very much that they simply infest a host body and then leave it at that, else how would they propagate?

Meredi flicks the pulped maggots off her weapon, with a perfect indifference.

I would suggest we find the author of this infestation, and quiz him or her upon his or her involvement in the matter. We can satisfy both His justice, and our own duty to save our selves from one form of death or another. That would be most advisable.

[Hemnon]

suddenly you can all hear this omenous whisper, comming from the end of the hallway.
''(low echoing whisper) Twinkle.....twinkle... there they are, we can see your soul being scared.... hehehehe.....''
a chill runs down your necks as teh whispering ends.

[♠Spade♠]

Conall rolled his shoulders uncomfortably as he tried to suppress an involuntary shiver. Though he was loathe to admit it, maggots made more than a little uncomfortable. Reaching in his coat, he pulled out his lho-stick case and took one out before offering it around to the others. He just wanted a little something to steady his nerves. When he went to light it however, there was a voice down the hallway. "Throne, now what?"

[Calimos]

Castus had just recovered from being quite spooked by the latest developments as well, the sudden rush of scientific research and the sharing of his knowledge with others, helping him to somewhat forget the ominous situation and stabilize himself. Then suddenly another whisper coming from down the hall, threatening to shatter his sanity once again.

"Emperor's mercy. What is this again?"

[king.com]

Calk shakes his head in frustration at the voice though did take one of the lho-sticks offered to him.

"So, if there was an indication we should get the hell out of here, I would say that was it. By the way, I always thought the Commissariate prohibited the use of narcotics, officially anyway. Not that I'm complaining though"

[Calimos]

"Truth be told, i'm still young to end up like that and the agreement i had with those overseeing the facility didn't include facing such monstrosities head on, but rather examining and evaluating them. Now if this is their own twisted sense of humour when referring to examining xenos specimens, i am sure i can find better research environment elsewhere. After all, despite my ability to look after myself to a certain degree, I am much more a scholar than a warrior and I wish to remain as such. I should remind you also that by our collective efforts, the spacecraft that brought us here is almost intact and with the autopilot functioning perhaps it could retrace its last travel and bring us back to the station in orbit, from where we can contact imperial authorities regarding the situation".

[king.com]

Calk's eyes expand at the revelation that they have a working method of getting off this planet almost choking on the lho-stick, as he splutters to get the words out.

"YOU HAVE A WORKING SHIP?"

He squeezes his temples with his free hand, clutching the lho-stick between his fingers and with a heavy sigh.

"Lead the way..."

[Calimos]

Castus gestures towards the door from which they entered, and moves towards it, to open it and head to the ship.

[Hemnon]

You hear a door creaking open down the hallway, where the whispering also came from, and you can hear footsteps which echoes against the cement walls.

[Baveboi]

Mithras shake his head once and then twice, one fort he lho (with the visual aid of his respirator unit) and another when he hears the whisper of madness in the air. Hurriedly he follows the others on their wake to get away from this place. Thoughts of man and woman dying at the hundreds and coming back as decaying infestations made his mind doubt and in doubt he came to a pause.

++ "Wait! What if there are more survivorzz? Will we leave the rezzt to die?..."

[king.com]

Calk immediately goes back into that same frame of mind as when those corpses got up and started walking. He was surprised that he had that in him, though considering his bloodline and own experiences, it was little wonder he was outperforming his meagre companions. Though seeing what Meredi did with that blade, he thought it best to keep that last part it to himself. He raises his shotgun and decides to take a look down the corridor.

"Someone please watch my back while I figure out who err that is to say, what is heading out way"

[Calimos]

Castus hurriedly, draws his trusted fatebringer, moving with slow steps towards the door, while trying to mentally prepare himself for anything that might come out of that corridor.

[Essie]

Meredi grins, lightly rests her hand on the hilt of her sword, and begins to languidly advance with the others. What was that voice? Some form of daemonic or metaterrestrial presence? A heretical witch? Someone playing tricks on them? Well, well, two could play at that game. The cleric begins her own counter-chant.

Watching all from beyond the sky,
Thou doth judge us from on high!

When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
Then, behold, Thy majestic Light
Twinkling, twinkling, through the night.

Her blade in one hand, she contorts the fingers of her left hand into an odd claw-like gesture. There's something not quite of the Aquila about it - but the reverence with which she makes it suggests it has much the same purpose.

[Hemnon]

Just before calk rounds the corner, he hears something big of... metal?.... fall to the ground, and a ragged breathing, as if someone is breathing through a respirator, can be heard from around the corner.

[Essie]

Continuing to sing, Meredi puts a hand on Calk's arm, suggesting that he stop for a second or two. She scrabbles on the ground for a loose rivet, or bit of metal, and, checking to see that the others are ready, rolls it round the corner.

[Baveboi]

Mithras, silenced like a scared rat, rest his hands on the powerful Steel Burner. His eyes are darting from dark corner to another, worried that maybe his advice had gone wrong in the great schemes of surviving this situation.

[Hemnon]

Meredi

the little screw you found, roll aound the corner, and nothing beside that happens.

All

the breathing seems to be a little strained as well, but besides that, there is nothing else intersting happening.

[king.com]

Calk motions with his shotgun and flashes his eyebrows upwards as if to indicate, 'well, can I got now?'

"Could you stop that singing....its far more unnerving than whatever is , communicating with us. Tell you what, if we actually run into whatever it is, I let you start singing again, deal?"

Regardless of her response he takes a peak around the corridor.

[Calimos]

Castus initial fear seems to have transformed into curiosity and he approaches, behind Calk as well, keeping his pistol in hand and attempting to take a look in the corridor as well.

[Hemnon]

Chalk and Castus

as you look around the corner, all you see, at first glance is and empty hallway. but then you see it, it could look like a power armor suit lying on the floor... but there is something off about it... it looks more tight-fitted and properbly made specificly for a woman.

and it looks like this, but with a helmet on as well
http://webpages.shepherd.edu/KFORD04/pics/random%20pics/840914-sister_of_battle_color_large.jpg

but... there is a person inside you both then realize and her armor seems to be alittle damaged.
You may make an easy common lore (Ecclesiarchy) test to know what she is. she is human, by the shape of her body htat you can see for sure.

[king.com]

Now Calk really wishes the preist wasn't singing as he really needed to be able to concentrate. His best chance of making it out alive was through his silver tongue since he knew, and bet that it was the same for the others, that there was nothing they had which could put a reasonable dent in that suit.

While trying to consider what to say to this approaching woman he decided to go for the obvious so not to waste words later.

He leans his head back around the corner and yells

"Still alive?"

[Hemnon]

(ooc: she is lying on the floor, powerpack ontop.)

[king.com]

Calk looks around briefly at the rest of his companions

"Do you any of you have any explosives? If that thing gets up we are going to need to punch a hole in its armour somehow"

He reaches into his backpack to pull out a frag grenade and with his shotgun in the other he slowly made his way down the corridor.

[Calimos]

OOC
I don't have the Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy) skill, yet. It's on my career's next rank (Scribe, rank 3).

Castus takes a good look at what seems to be a heavily armored...lady? Oh well, she might be dangerous with that armour suit and all, as Calk was quick to point out, but she was down and could be injured. Hopefully she was not possessed by one of those parasites, given that she didn't look as the guardsmen they encountered previously, but there was no way to be certain.

"She may be injured but she does not look like the other soldiers. Be careful and keep your distance. If she isn't contaminated then perhaps we can help her and she might know more things about the situation in this facility."

[Essie]

Scared of a little show of faith, Calk?

Meredi smiles at the noble, then looks back at the corpse - albeit silently, now.

[roll0] vs (41 int + 30 (easy)) = 71 for my common lore (Ecclesiarchy).

Also, in case, I do know what she is, rolling a [roll1] vs. 41 ± whatever modifiers for my forbidden lore (daemonology) roll. Do I know whether there are any sorts of daemons that might possess a corpse in such a way? Furthermore, would the holy nature of her order protect her from possession?

[king.com]

Calk slings the shotgun over his other should so he can pull the lho stick out and pop it in one of his pockets. Hopefully he would have a chance to actually smoke the thing when he makes it out of here. Frag grenade in hand he makes his way to the fallen woman in power armour. Moving as cautiously as he can he reaches over to the helmet, maybe trying to find a latch or something that can open it.

Upon spotting the bolter, he reaches over to try and pull it out from underneath the power armour, cutting the strap with his knife if necessary.

[Hemnon]

her helmet slips out without difficulty.

Chalk
as soon as her face is visible, you instantly recognizes her. she is the woman in power armour you saw earlier, when you where traveling to this planet. she is still lying on her stomach, which makes it difficult to get any hold of that bolter, since she is, more or less, lying on it. she is still breathing, but it sounds more strained now that her helmet is oof.

[king.com]

Calk takes a quick look for any indication that she is injured but without any actual medical training he probably isn't going to be helping very much even if he did, atleast he can put the grenade away now.

"Techpriest, get over here! See if you can figure out whats wrong with her, maybe you can get the armour working again while your at it."

[♠Spade♠]

Common Lore (Ecclesiarchy) 28+30-20=38. Roll vs. 38: [roll0]



Conall let out a low whistle. Despite having grown up in the schola progenium, he was still so nervous that he failed to recognize a member of the Sororitas. "If something can bring down a person in that kind of armor, that does not bode well for anybody else." Putting on his photovisor, he edged closer, sliding along the far wall and splitting his attention between the injured woman and further down the hallway. "Do you see any visible wounds or damage to the armor?"

[Baveboi]

Obeying dutifully to the commands attached to his name, an habbit he will die sooner than getting rid off, the Techpriest hurry inside to examine the woman and her magnificent atires. As darkness isn't the best condition to work he takes his glowglobe out of the depth of his robes and light it with no apparent effort, making use of his own power.
A slow humming sound begins to grow as a faint light burst from the object. Due to it's potency it's not harmful to the sensitivity of photovisors, but it won't make the use of the devices any better.

++ "Let me examine thizz."
[roll0] against Medicae (37) plus any bonus/penalty. For the sake of it, I will roll a CL Tech too, to verify any piece of info I can get on the armor. [roll1] vs 37

[Essie]

Sororitas power armour, indeed, and a Godwyn-Deaz bolter. She was indeed one of the Daughters of the King. If you are thinking of looting her still-breathing body, noble, then know that the shield she's carrying is a priceless relic of Old Terra, and worth far more if thou were of a mind to take it back on our doubtless imminent and easy trip off this rock.

Sword still drawn, still resting ready in her hand, Meredi leans down next to the tech-priest and begins examining the body.

Rolling scrutiny on the Sororitas, looking again for any signs of a hostile presence - [roll0] vs 30.

[Hemnon]

Mithras
Medicae check: she is only lightly wounded, but she is very fatigued, you find no bite marks, or holes that could indicate that she is infected.

the armour.... well, its a sisters of battle power armour, and even the helmet is included, which must mean that this woman has earned her right to carry it. the armors itself is slightly scared, but can easily be repaired except for a few deep wounds which require more average still hands. the powerpack is damaged so much that the suit is offline. luckily its still repair-able( a challenging tech-use), if you could find a suitable workspace that is. but you are also a little frightened about starting to repair this awe-striking piece of tech.

Meredi
you find no signs of any threats.... but this would be much easier with an auspex.

[king.com]

Calk looks somewhat taken aback when his actions are described as 'looting'.

"I'm not looting for petty rewards of wealth, that I have plenty of but this bolter might actually give us a chance to keep us alive. Assuming we can actually get it out from under her. If you want the shield take it. Now come on, help me roll her over, maybe we can find a way to remove her from the suit while we're at it."

[♠Spade♠]

Abandoning his watch of the hallway, Conall moved over to Calk to help him roll the injured woman over. "I hope she isn't too badly injured or has broken bones. We might just worsen her condition."

[king.com]

"Well if she has broken bones shes not going to be outrunning or outgunning those parasites so she is as good as dead anyway."

[Calimos]

"In any case she's a servant of the Emperor, as our esteemed priestess here indicates and we should assist her in this hour of need nonetheless. Besides, if we help her to recover, she could be of great assistance if we encounter more of those infected guards later and she could have known more things regarding the facility's present state as well as what happened prior to that slaughtering we witnessed".

[king.com]

"If you have some medical skills go right ahead and treat her, unfortunately I have no experience in that field but I am experienced enough to know how to keep myself alive."

[Baveboi]

Mithras tilts his head back at the trio of bickering men.
++ "Will you pleazse be quiet? Don't you see I'm WORKING here!"

He proceeds to examine every part of the armor's surface, touching the details and incrustations. His head is filled with wild thoughts of how much he could learn with THAT wonderful piece of tech. His eyes go a bit dreamy while mumbling something alike to "yeez, yezzz... " all the time, but then he notice the others are still around here waiting for an answer...

++ "I guezzz you want a verdict right? pzz.. Let me put it in one prhazze. It izz the bezt crafted piece I've ever seen. Only a maguzz would be allowed to thinker with such a thing... The pack iz almozzt intact and such beautifully made. There are hand incruzz-"
He notices, once again, the others care few for the tech. Their concerns more directed towards the woman's well being.
++ "Oh, and she iz juzt barely wounded and doezn't show signzz of infection, but her flesh temple iz exauzted beyond functioning capabilitiezz.. She will probably pull it on her own. You should be abble to move her with lezz than much of a problem..."

[Essie]

Wounded how? The contamination of the alien's wound may not have fully or visibly set in yet - and if someone was firing on her, then that poses a whole new set of questions.

And I apologise, priest, but in my experience the Mechanicum seldom do interact with such relics - it is traditionally carried out 'in-house' by the Sisters Pronatus, who have a speciality in such matters. But, if circumstances dictate ...

Meredi waves her hand vaguely.

[Hemnon]

You can all see the problem in carrying her while she is in her armor... its not a lightweight armor after all. also, moving her around if she has a broken rib, it might accidently puncture her heart, liver, or stomach... etc.

Meredi
the thought of removing her armor, even to treat her wounds is suchs a frightening one that you almost quiver. it is FORBIDDEN by imperial law to atempt to remove the power armor of the sororitas without specificly being given permission to do so by the one who carries it, or a higher ranking SoB.

but if you leave her like this she might die from shock, bloodpoisoning, bloodloss and the emperor knows whatelse.

Mithras please roll a challenging medicae check. remember that your medikit grants you a +20

[Baveboi]

++ "Do not judge the Mechanicuzz so lightly, prieztezzz of the Holy Throne." The tone of his voxvoice trying to pronounce the word 'priestess' was enough torture to make a grox confess. "The Cult of Machine izz not cloze minded nor unekzzperienced on the matterz. A maguz influent enough could pull ztringzz and call favorzz. It'z a privillege, indeed, but pzz... not unheard of."

Tired of talking he closes his frequency and mumbles in silent examination. While fidling with the Sororita's corpse he draws the medkit he had tucked in the bizarrily vast inside of his robes. he then proceeds to attend and examine every piece of her body, as hard as it may be with power armor on, and attend to her wounds on the proccess.

[roll0] against 57 (37 int + 20 medkit)
they see me rolling~
they waiting~
while I curing~

Working against all odds Mithras is finally able to stop her bleeding, but it's impossible to determine anything else about her condition before taking the tuna out of the can, figuratively speaking. With a sigh of relief he place down his tools and look at others.
++ "Or that armor comez off right here or we drag her acrozz the landing pad and back to our shuttle.
Alternatively pzzz.. Someone could zzztay here and oversee her while the otherz search for a medical bay... but it'z dangerouzz."

[♠Spade♠]

"I could offer a different alternative. Instead of carrying her all the way out to the ship, risking the chance of contamination, or sitting in an open hallway devoid of cover, we could take her to a room. If you don't think that's too far I think we can get her there, armor and all." He gestured to the nearest door. "As for someone watching her, I could do that. I pray you are correct about the lack of infection, tech-priest. But if you aren't, some one should be on hand to bestow the Emperor's final Mercy upon her."

[Baveboi]

++ "Your devotion izz appreciated, mazter Conall, and your suggezztion iz wize. Since we are the strongezt-looking around here"... Mithras gives a strange piercing stare to both Calk and Castus "we better get to moving her."

For the surprise of others, who never saw the slightest sillhuete of Mithras body, the thought of muscles inside those red robes was the strangest one yet. He get a hold of the sororitas legs, very careful to not pull a string on her life. His eyes dart up to Conall's.
++ "Would pleazze give me a hand? Juzzt be careful with her head.."

[king.com]

Calk rolls his eyes as Mithras looks in his direction, waving his hand in disregard.
"I am more than happy to let grunts perform physical labour master techpriest. I'll be back here, covering you with her weapon until she is awake and ready to use it once more."

He moves over to disentagle the bolter as they attempt to move her.

[Essie]

Meredi is unfazed by the idea of removing the Sister's armour - it concerns her not what a rival cult might think, even if it is to be respected - but in the main, the idea of moving the Sister to a more defensible location wins out. She can't contribute much to carrying, but, lighting one of the candles from her interminably well-stocked collection of religious paraphenalia, she stalks ahead of the rest of the group - reciting, in her head, the tale of one Diagene, a sage of ancient Terra who would compose himself thus - looking for a room that's relatively clean, defensible, and has only one door.

Candles, while not producing the same focused light of a lumen or torch, and being given to flickering, have two significant advantages over other forms of lighting. Firstly, their soft, omnidirectional illumination means that skittering fiends have a hard time darting across the beam, only to disappear (a valid concern, in her day and age). Secondly, their light is warm, golden, and comforting - a little piece of Him, where He would not otherwise dwell.

[Calimos]

Castus follows closely, Fate-bringer in hand, keeping his wits about him, to spot anything out of the ordinary and warn the others in time, should need arise.

[Essie]

As the group move out, Meredi begins to wonder about something.

Scholar? Just who was it who requested thy presence here? It is a remarkable stroke of luck that Cal-Thias should be beset by a xeno-savant at this particular hour.

[Hemnon]

Different rooms:

1st on the left:
this seems to be a closet. brooms, metal buckets and other cleaning instruments are inside, along with various cleaning chemicals. noting special otherwise.

1st on the right:
This is a bathroom, all ther is inside is a toilet and a sink.

2nd on the left:
this room is locked. a 'warning' sign is hanging infront of the door.

2nd on the right:
This looks like a locker room. long moveable benches are placed between the different locker rows.

meredi:
You remember that you have a key that belongs to a locker.

________________________________________________

if you want to continue further, then just ignore these rooms and say you want to move along.

[Essie]

Are there little windows on the doors? If so, have a peek through the 'warning - do not enter' one.

Meredi beckons the others into the locker room, pushes a few benches together to create a low-level gurney, then begins trying cards on lockers - obsessively, methodically, one after the other.

[Hemnon]

ooc: they are all metal doors, with no windows.
luck roll from essie: roll 1d100 (yes there are 100 locker)

[Essie]

ooc: they are all metal doors, with no windows.
luck roll from essie: roll 1d100 (yes there are 100 locker)

I don't believe in luck!

[roll0]

[Hemnon]

Meredi

you start at locker number 20, so it doesn't take you long to reach the right one.

with a low 'bib' its unlocked, ready to be opened.

[Essie]

Standing off to the side, candle in one hand (the better to illuminate, or scare off) whatever is inside the locker), Meredi edges towards the locker, and flicks it open.

[Hemnon]

locker:

there is some items left inside it.

--------------------------------

a holo-visor (radical's handbook).

an Enviromental body glove.

a box with a mix of drugs and other chemicals inside.

a recoil glove.

a set of what looks like Photo-contacts.

a bottle of amasec (it was wraped inside a coat).

a small case with injectors (good quality).

a full set of guard flak armor (good quality).

a violent looking shotgun, its got an inbuilt red-dot sight and what looks like
a saw-blade melee attachement (works like a chain knife).

[king.com]

Calk fiddles uncomfortably with the balky boltgun, trying to get some kind of feel for it's weight.

"Anyone have any experience firing one of these things? Should it become absolutely necessar to fire it..."

[Baveboi]

Mithras has dragged the Sororita's body to the locker's room with Conall's help. For her sake more than theirs, he puts down the wounded maiden and tells Conall to do the same. He cleans the sweat spots on his forehead and looks at the others fiddling with the components of a open locker and the Sister's Boltergun.

++ "Pleazze, mizter Calk. Don't point that at our general direktion, unlezz you wish to murder uz all in a rain of bolterfire. The only zzkilled enough to uze such a tool is our injured guezzt here, lady Heavy-a-lot McWeight... by the ommnissiah, I mizz the servitorz..."
"And what iz thizz that you have there, mizz Meredi?"

[Essie]

Now, whoever doubted that He would provide. I cannot make use of all of this myself, but does any of this look useful to any of you? There's some armour, another bodyglove, some form of hololithic HUD apparatus, and a rather impressive looking shotgun. Perhaps you might be interested in this last one, Calk?

She offers the weapon over to the noble, gently pushing the barrel of the bolter down and away from the gathered group.

There are some medical supplies, too, if they're needed.

[Calimos]

Castus takes a good look through the equipment, Meredi recovered and then turns to her.
"Well, i was notified by the authorities of this prison world, that they needed my expert knowledge, to study various alien life forms that were unique to this planet, as well as help them in identifying and analyzing other xeno life forms as well, in order to deal more effectively with them".

[♠Spade♠]

"I mean no offense, but you don't strike me as somebody they would turn to for help. You don't have the equipment or entourage I would associate with an important scientist." Conall shrugged, "I could be wrong, of course, but that's how I see it." Frowning and looking at the others, he continued "Now that I think about it, miss, " he said, nodding at Meredi, "why would you or the tech-priest be here? There are clergy on planet, and the Mechanicus would have lay-techpriests as well as fully ordained members here as well. What could any of you bring to the table that wasn't already here? It doesn't make a lot of sense, and is very suspicious, given the present condition of the facility."

[Essie]

My main career and experience lie in taking the confession of those who wish to go to Him with their soul a little more spotless. The old confessor died, I was sent to replace her. Perhaps it is unusual that so many would be replaced here in such a short time, but nothing inexplicable. It is the fact that this prison planet - now wracked by what is clearly an escaped xenotic infection - should be requesting an important xenologist, that worries me.

The confessor, having assembled a rough gurney for the sister, begins laying out the various drugs and medical gear that the party has.

What sort of stuff did we get in the injectors/box, Hemnon?

[Hemnon]

ooc:

the injectors are empty and sterile (you count 30 of them).
the shotgun is a vanaheim (common quality).
the box is a large medikit (able to hold more drugs) and contains the following; 6 doses of stimm, 1 dose of spook, and 3 doses of De-Tox (it still grants the normal +20 to medicae)

[king.com]

Calk becomes somewhat uncomfortable at the talk of why everyone was positioned here but quickly busy's himself by placing all their equipment together and examining what kind of resources they have at their disposal, early taking the the Vanaheim and loading it with his own ammo.

"Now this is something I can use... Anyone not got themselves equipped with an EBG or a set of guard flak armour? Your going to need it. Techpriest, anything in that kit you can use to help the sister?"


Displayed on the ground is a lasgun, pump-action shotgun, the bolter and the broken plasma pistol.

"Anyone need any of this?"



Should I assume the shotgun is unloaded?

[Hemnon]

Should I assume the shotgun is unloaded?

its unloaded, yes.

[Baveboi]

Directing his one sided attention to Conall Mithras answers his question very deligently. Very much like a pre-programed answer cogitator, such as they put on social servitors.
++ "I can't zzpeak for mizz Meredi, but I waz tranzfered here. My original area of operation liez in another Imperial Planet ruled by the Mechanicuzz rather than the Adminiztorum. Once the Imperial servantz arrived some of uz were redirected to different facilitiez acrozz the nearby syztemzz. I happened to end here."
"Ah, quite... pzzz observant, az alwayz, mizz Meredi and mizter Calk. Yezz, let me look at it."

[roll0] medicae, against 37. I will take my chances and try a CL Tech against the broken Plasma Pistol, to see its damages more properly.[roll1] against 37

The techpriest hums small praises of respect for Knowledge while mumbling many times about Omnissiah's blessings.
++ "Aparently the piztol iz tombztoned... for now. Our good maiden, however, needz repairz." He pulls the red cowl even further, only the light chainmail gray of his respirator visible under his hoods. "Let'z comence the rightz of repair, shall we?" and gave a hearted laugh, one like those you give when you tell an joke to yourself and don't care to share.

With multitool in hands he moves closer to her form and shyly touch her frame, slowly sliding down. He is very delicate, very efficient and dextrous when dealing with such a slim built maiden, handling her conections with a passion that would make the Emperor himself blush. To the wounds he paid fewer attention, still working carefully to not harm her any further, but knowing she is a though girl and can handle the touch of a obedient Omnissiah's servant. He unscrew the last bits of covering ceramite to show her naked powerpack, moving in to handly search for any sustained damages. When finished he put her aside, dismounted parts close together like they are meant to be, the main torso still a sight of beauty despite all the blood and the damage to it.
Gazing at it with the hungry eyes of the lover, Mithras cleans his hands a bit and put the multitool to rest.
++ "The armor iz secured and minimal damage was suzztained during the procedure, both to the hozzt and to the iron maiden..." He breathes deeply and let the air out slowly and noizily from his respirator. "Izn't she beautiful?"

++ "Now for the hozzt..." He turns to watch the sororitas body now, examining it closely for any flesh wounds, as boring as that sounds.

[Hemnon]

Her body has sustained a a little damage, but its all superficial damage, or clean wounds, with no internal organ damage or internal bleeding. her body is exausted to the point of her colapsing out in the hall you found her.

a little medical care and some rest is all she needs.

[Essie]

She is not permanently injured? Ah well, I suppose it is all the same in the end. To have martyred herself in His name would have been the greatest honour for this woman, but, alas, our own obligations mean that we must care for her.

Speaking of which, shall we nurse her back to health, and employ her skill at arms and knowledge of what is happening? I realise that we might not want to spend our time camping out in such a place, but I see few alternatives. As it stands, we are stranded, mute, with a surplus of dependents and a dearth of knowledge of our situation.

[Calimos]

"Well, at least that is some good news. When she recovers she might be able to enlighten us on the situation concerning her presence here as well as the current and previous status of this facility".

[Hemnon]

the locker room you are inside only have one door, but there is still other closed-off sliding doors which leads to what you all would guess to be used for privacy to change cloths.

but its a very defendable room. only one access point and lockers that can be used for cover.


OOC: you have a few hours to do whatever all of you want to, justtell me what you do and we can continue.

[Baveboi]

++ "Not wanting to zzpoil our zmall triumph over thizz dark fate, but we are zztill trapped. If mizter Calk and Conall wouldn't mind, I'd like both of them inzpecting the doorz at all timezzz while I ztudy thiz beauty. One more thing, maybe mizz Meredi would be so kind to drezz our guezt in some kind of... Imperial attire? It'z embarassing having such a... pzzz faithful servant of the Golden Throne in her underwear."

As it normally happens when the techpriest speaks too much, Mithras tired his voice. He resumes his studies of the armor and all it's apparatuses all while humming hymms of the Omnissiah, just like he was putting a small baby to rest. He will keep at that until anyone decides to intervene in his work what he will just wave his hands and try sending them away. In case anyone reunite to have dinner he will surely join them, but for anything shorter than the need of nourishment, Mithras is just like a big lump of rock, all the time gazing at the powerarmor with his dataslate in hand, making huge anotations in a strange code (tech language).

[Essie]

Reluctantly parting with her blessed robe, but secretly glad to be able to involuntarily turn a Sister of Battle into a member of her cult, Meredi shrugs off the cloth-of-gold robe she's been wearing, and slips it over the sleeping Sororitas. She spends the rest of the evening - if evening it is in this hell severed from natural night and day -


praying
pestering Rizhail about power armour
bolstering the door lock, and any air vents, ceiling panels, loose grates and the like that might conceivably convey a scuttling xenos to their position
praying
praying
sitting next to the Sororitas, sword drawn, looking longingly at its blade and polishing it.

[king.com]

Calk is going to be spending this time gettting used to the Vanaheim, putting the plasma pistol back into his backpack after the techpriest is finished with it. Hes loading with the lasgun slung over his shoulder, and offering up the pump action shotgun to anyone who wants it, if nobody takes it he puts it into his backpack (probably sticking out)

"It does not have any ammo, since I don't have much to begin with anyway."

He would probably start going through the room, cracking open the lockers with the Mono combat knife or failing that, the chainknife.

[Hemnon]

The chainknife meets a locker:

The horrible noise from a chainknife and against metal makes you think twice about this. noise= loud=someone, or something, might hear it. you may continue, loudly, cutting open lockers if you wish.

[king.com]

The chainknife meets a locker:

The horrible noise from a chainknife and against metal makes you think twice about this. noise= loud=someone, or something, might hear it. you may continue, loudly, cutting open lockers if you wish.

Cant use the Mono combat knife then?

[Hemnon]

Cant use the Mono combat knife then?

Nope, the lockers are made to resist mono weapons... but not mini chainsaws:smallbiggrin:

[Calimos]

Castus sits quietely in a corner of the room, reviewing his notes on the situation, writing down the events of the day - keeping some sort of diary - and then tries to get some rest. The day didn't go exactly as planned and he was not accustomed to such circumstances. He would make the most out of this moments of brief respite, to be better prepared for what would come next. Also he takes care to answer as better as possible, any questions regarding his expertise, the reasons that brought him to the facility etc, trying to bolster his relationship with those around him. As an uncle of his that had served with disctinction in the Imperial Guard, said once, "it is surprising how total strangers can be forged into the best of colleagues given the circumstances".

[king.com]

"I suppose that means the lockers are staying closed, atleast for now. Well atleast until our Sister wakes up. Maybe it would be best to get the rest of those lasguns if we are going to be staying put. Someone willing to cover my back?"

[♠Spade♠]

Conall had sat down in a corner, occasionally glancing at the others through a stream of lho smoke. Ruminating on their situation, he was trying to reconcile current events with the suspiciously odd behavior of his superiors. He had to wonder if they had had some inkling of what was going to happen, and if so, was his being sent here merely a means to break the bargain? Were they purposefully trying to get him killed so he couldn't hold up his end? These dark thoughts were causing him to unconsciously frown.

[Hemnon]

After a few hours the woman Starts to stir, and her eyelids opens slowly. her eyes are a deep green color and her slender body makes her look very stunning. As she first realize where she is, her hand automaticly flies to her hip, but first then finally figure out that her weapons and armor is gone.


(you guys better hurry up and calm her down, or she might hurt someone... hehe)

[Calimos]

Upon seeing the woman standing up and trying to reach frantically for her weapons, Castus stands up, makes the sign of the Aquilla over his chest and talks to her, in an effort to calm her down.

"My Lady, please calm down. You are safe. You are among Emperor-fearing individuals. We do not seek to harm you, merely tried to assist and help you recover. We found you lying on the floor nearby and you were wounded and unconscious. My name is Castus of the noble family of Reinharts and I must say I am glad to see that you regained your senses. Now please don't do any sudden moves, since my colleagues here have bandaged and took care of your wounds and you should remain calm in order not to re-open them. Please sit down and we will share with you the events that led us to this facility".

[Essie]

Meredi's hand is suddenly on the sister's forehead, gently pushing her back down, while the other - having seemingly neglected to travel through the intervening space - is now dangling a two-headed golden eagle on a chain in front of the Sister's eyes. The sword is out of sight, but still within easy each. After a moment's hesitation, she begins to talk in low, soothing High Gothic. This comes naturally to her; her entire life has been spent counselling and calming members of the Ecclesiarchy more senior than her.

Sister vestal, calm thyself. Th'art among loyal servants of he who sits upon the Throne of Terra, who seek to protect thee. Your armour and weapons are safe, but it was necessary to take them from you to assess the scope of the damage. Be at peace, at least for the moment, that you may recover thy strength.

[roll0] vs Fel 43 + peer (Ecclesiarchy) [I expect that should work here - it's not strictly peer (Sororitas), but this sort of 'comforting members of the Ecclesiarchy' role is what she's been doing her entire life] = 53.

[king.com]

Calk shakes his head as he piles the lasguns in the room, wishing they would just take the direct approach and show her a weapon. Either way he draws his Vanaheim and leans against the wall, keeping an eye out the door, and ready to step in if the gentle approach doesnt work.

[Baveboi]

Mithras took his eyes from the work just once and then went back to study the Power Pack that charge such a beautiful maiden of metal. He gave an unconscious sigh of exasperation, foreboding the need to return it to the inconsequent sister who damaged it in the first place. His hands are occupied, but somewhere inside his red cowl there are a dozen coiling cables that caress the handle of a certain Steel Burner pattern laspistol.

[Hemnon]

The woman is a little confused of what is happening and where she is, but she lies back down.

''(High Gothic)You have all survived?.... how did you all survive this, i thought everyone was Dead.... or worse....'' Her voice contains an air of high-ranking command.

Her eyes wanderer over each of your faces, and she seems confused about the randomness of the people here. a tech-priest, and a bunch of nobles... even a confessor.

As her eyes wanders over Chalks face, a spark of rememberance 'lights' her eyes for a brief second. ''(high gothic)You.... i remember you... you where at the same transporter as I...''

[Calimos]

"Rest easy my Lady. Most of us came into this facility only a few hours ago. There was an accident with our pilot, who appeared to have suffered the same fate of those poor souls inside the facility that we encountered so far. Controlled by a parasite of xenos origin they turned of us but we managed to overcome them. And then we found you and by the expert ministrations of Mithras you seem to have regain your senses.

Now, if you're feeling somewhat better, would it be possible to tell us when you came to this facility and what has happened exactly that led to its current state?"

[Essie]

The Emperor protects, Sister, even now, even in the midst of this fallen world. Perhaps the fact that we were not even on this world until a few hours ago also helped.

How art thou feeling - well? Sick? You were unconscious when we found you, but with no obvious injury - additionally, we heard some strange, possibly malefic lullaby just before finding you. Dost thou remember anything of that?

[Hemnon]

''It seems like some of you didn't understand me... so i will continue in low gothic. first of all , none of you have to right to ask such questions, to a member of the inquisition... second of all, Give me back that Godwyn-deaz pattern bolter, its a sacred weapon given ONLY to the sisters of battle. oh and you, tech-priest what are you doing with my armor?''

as she meantions the inqusition, she points at the impressive rosette hanging on the armor, among the rest of her SoB charms, books etc.

Her eyes is a little icey towards Cog-boy, who has his cables all over her armor.

[Essie]

Th'art a member of the Inquisition? We had thee as a member of the Sororitas. No matter, though, that is irrelevant at present. What is important is that thou wert unconscious in a hostile environment, and some form of Malefic presence was in the area, and thou hast literally woken up seconds ago. Inquisitor, interrogator, Palatine or Sororitas, th'art still but human, and you need to recover.

For the same reason, thy weapons are not of much use at this point. Besides, does not the Creed teach that 'those who place their trust in weapons of destruction are brought down and fallen; but we remember the divine Emperor, and are risen and victorious?' We need for faith and clarity right now, not skill at arms.


Out of sight, one hand resting lightly on the hilt of her sword, Meredi flexes her fingers. Yes, she claimed some higher rank, or something, in His ministry, but to go against reason was to go against Him.

[Baveboi]

Mithras is taken away from his meditating state of mind by hard and ungrateful words. His eyes fixes at the Sororita's bearing a shimmering frustration. No word is spoken directly at her, he stands up colecting his belongs to himself and you can see the wires and cables of his cyber mantle stiffening and slithering back inside the nether of his red-robes. Only after realigning his cowl is that his first words, broken vox-like, are spoken.

++ "With all the rezzpekt from the Cult, you are in far better zztate than your metal maiden. Whilzt your flesh temple workz properly, the armor iz tired, worked out, almozt deztroyed! I could re-attach the power cablez, re-ignite the zpirit of the Machine, repair the periferal damagez... But I can not fikz reclezznezz!"
Noticing he has probably gone overboards while talking to an inquisitor, Mithras put himself back into his proper place.

++ "No, I couldn't make it alive, not here. I need... pzzz proper toolzz."

[king.com]

Calk buries his face into his hands for a moment as he recognises the inquisitorial seal.

"Fantastic, this is an Inquisition issue. Going entirely on heresay and rumour, I suppose their is little likelyhood of us surviving this experience? Since our lives are forfit, could I please get an explanation as to whats going on or better yet, the location of the nearest escape shuttle?"

[Calimos]

Castus takes a deep breath, trying to calm himself as the mere mention of the Inquisition's name sends shivers down his spine. He composes himself as best as possible, then responds.

"Excuse us if our behaviour seemed unbecoming and improper towards one such as you, who claims to be a member of the Holy Ordos. But as sister Meredi here so well explained, we were led to believe that you were a member of the Ecclesiarchy, and specifically of the Adepta Sororitas, the vaunted Sisters of Battle, due to your distinct armour, gear and appearance. If we ask questions, it is only because our lives were put in danger with no further warning and with no fault on our behalf whatsoever.

And even more, it is because we are interested to get off this place alive and the same we intended for you, since the time we discovered you lying over there helpless. If you are indeed a member of the Inquisition, I'd personally be happy to oblige with the orders of a most vigilant protector of the Imperium, such as you, pointing out though the peculiarities of this situation. Then perhaps we could all assist you with what you intended to do, before we discovered you in this weakened state."

OOC
There may have been a misunderstanding here Hemnon, so I'm writing this as an explanation of my character's motives and intents. If what you said she has on herself is a "Rosarius" then it is a defensive device, a protective field, usually made in a stylised aquilla or smth relevant (if I'm not mistaken) and given to high ranking members of the ecclesiarchy as well as to Space Marines Chaplains for additional protection and to denote their affiliation with the Ecclesiarchy.

Now if you meant that she carries a "Rosette" then she is indeed an Inquisitor as this is their symbol of office. (The "I" of the Inquisition). If this is the case then please disregard the third paragraph of my speech.

Edit: Explained and Fixed. :smallsmile:

[Hemnon]

OOC
There may have been a misunderstanding here Hemnon, so I'm writing this as an explanation of my character's motives and intents. If what you said she has on herself is a "Rosarius" then it is a defensive device, a protective field, usually made in a stylised aquilla or smth relevant (if I'm not mistaken) and given to high ranking members of the ecclesiarchy as well as to Space Marines Chaplains for additional protection and to denote their affiliation with the Ecclesiarchy.

Now if you meant that she carries a "Rosette" then she is indeed an Inquisitor as this is their symbol of office. (The "I" of the Inquisition). If this is the case then please disregard the third paragraph of my speech.


[OOC:]i did indeed mean a 'Rosette'.. i think i made a spelling error

[Calimos]

OOC
I thought so, that's why I asked in advance. To avoid any issues I'll go edit my post. :smallsmile: Good Lord Hemnon having a presumed Sister of Battle flashing a Rosette. You'll give us a heart attack. :smalltongue: My poor xenologist will think his time has come for delving into Forbidden knowledge. :smallwink:

[Essie]

Hmm ... does the Inquisitor's voice sound anything like that sing-song voice we heard earlier? I'm still worried that that's a clear and present danger.

[Hemnon]

Hmm ... does the Inquisitor's voice sound anything like that sing-song voice we heard earlier? I'm still worried that that's a clear and present danger.

it was not even close to her voice

[♠Spade♠]

A grim look on his face, Conall chuckled mirthlessly. The situation kept getting more and more complicated as time went on; he still had to wonder if a certain superior had sent him here to die. Glancing at Calk, he said "I believe this settles it. We have a duty to attend to and simply leaving will not allow us to discharge it." Getting to his feet, he stubbed out his lho-stick and straightened his coat. Turning his attention to the Inquisitorial agent and gestured to Castus. "As the scholar has said, will assist in what ways we can. However, we don't know what we're up against. An armor of contempt only protects against that which you know."

[Hemnon]

The Inquisitor looks at the tech-priest, anoyed by his insolense.
''Mister Tech-Priest, i know that my power pack is damaged, are you able to repair it? if you refuse, then i will have to enforce the power of my rosette, but i would like to refrain from forcing people to do what i ask... but if it comes to that, then i will use it''

She then shifts her attention to the guy dressed like a guardsman, Chalk.
''-And you, since you wouldn't listen to a request, then listen to this: I order you, as an inquisitor, to return that weapon to me right now, or i will have to kill you for Heresy... to go against 'His holy inquisition' is punishable by death.''

Her eyes shifts to the commissar, Conall. she looks at him disaprovingly.
''aren't you a Commissar, and isn't it your job to execute any and all traitors?..... hm... wait you are just a cadet, hm.... you could be useful, give me your name, rank and number.''

She looks at the confessor, with a thoughtful expression.
''Yes, you are right, but having a loaded bolter never hurts.''

At the end he eyes lands on our lovely xenologist, Castus.
''I am well aware that you have a license to research xeno's, and im not gonna kill you, so try and relax... and yes i am a sister of battle, but the holy inqusition called to me and serving the emperor is my ONLY wish. as for escape shuttles... this is a prison planet... there is no such thing, and there is a matter of my reason for being here, if you all are willing to Aid me, then i will enlighten you all.''

[♠Spade♠]

"Cadet Conall Séighín, 165896932." Taking a deep breath as though to steel himself, he continued, "With respect, while it is indeed my duty to execute traitors, it is also my decision on what constitutes a treasonable offense, what punishment is meted out, and the timing of said punishment. I would not dream of telling you how to conduct your business, ma'am. I would appreciate it if you didn't tell me how to do mine. If you want to execute somebody, you can exercise that right; otherwise, leave the intricacies of my duty to me."

[Essie]

I would also hasten to remind all present that we may be the last six uninfected humans on this entire planet. Mutual executions, threats of the use of power in a number of ways (be they over equipment, or through rank and status), are only likely to reduce this number, and thus do the work of the Enemy.

Meredi stares at each person present intently.

Can we please not do the work of the enemy?

[king.com]

Calk rolls his eyes, trying to keep the overwhelming fear from showing. He slides the bolter over to the Inquisitor.

"So, the prison is most likely overrun with those parasites. There is an army of the dead between ourselves and whatever our goal is. What is your plan then Inquisitor?"

[Calimos]

Castus seems to calm down at the Inquisitor's assurance and responds.

"Thank you. I am Castus Reinhart, of the Malfian noble family of Reinharts, scholar and xenologist as you've already discerned and as of this moment I am at your service Lady Inquisitor. Please inform us further and I promise to do what I can to assist you. Oh and as for the escape shuttle matter, there is outside the facility, the very shuttle that brought us here. It is mostly intact and if the autopilot is working we could leave this place when your work here is done. Unfortunately our pilot was also infected with the same parasite as the personnel and died while en route to the planet".

[Baveboi]

++ "Treatz to overpower the rightz of repair iz not the quickezzt way to get back into the metal maiden, milady Inquizzitor. I can, yezz, and would be delighted to ressurekt your armor, but I ztill need... proper toolz." Mithras eyes are steel and ice, adamantly implaying he won't budge until he's in a proper repair facility where the spirit of the machine can't get any more stressed nor the armor would get more damaged. Even if hard to believe, given his ascent, Mithras is not an Ork and would prefer to work like a proper Imperial Admech.

++ "While you wait, milady Inquizzitor, wouldn't you be more... at eaze in thozzze flak armorz? There are many providencez, their previouz ownerz won't dream to complain, I'm sure." As much as Mithras would want to call himself a collected and calm person, memories of past deeds are starting to flow from the depths of his memory and into his psique. Memories that makes his persona get more and more heated up.

[Hemnon]

the inquisitor looks at Conall as he answers her earlier request.
''Well then, Cadet Conall Séighín, i have no intentions in trying to teach you how to do your job... even though you are not yet qualified as a commissar, and still only counts as a guardsman.... but you show promise...'' it seems like she is stranded between, your promising nature and your lousy attitude.

She looks a Meredi next.
''My dear Cleric, famoulus if i remember that outfit of yours correctly, i agree that there is only the six of us left, but wouldn't you agree that resolution is to be shown in the face of heresy.... i have seen what happens then people deny his holyness on the golden throne.... and it's something you all wish to never see.

Next her eyes moves to Chalk.
The plan is simple, we need to overload the P/M Fusion generator. it will blow this place to thy kingdom come.

The Inquisitor then looks at the defiant tech-priest, it looks like hse is deliberating wether or not she should blow out his brains.
''So what you are proposing is, that we carry a 40 kg heavy power armor? did your precious omnisiah course you to get a screw loose?! That armor is better used than left in a montre... and since you denied my request to repair it, i hereby, as an inqisitor of ordo xenos, order you to fix it to working conditions, if you deny me i WILL shot you'' her words are icey cold, and it sound like she really means it
(You guys better get that crazy cog-boy to start working)