Deathwatch - Acheros Salient IC

[DrK]

The Strike Vessel Noctus Purgatory, a dark edifice of Aquilla and macro batteries cruised through the silent void near the Khazant system. Within the near silent halls the newly assembled Kill Team Epsilon - newly formed to replace recent losses amongst the Deathwatch in the brutality of the Jericho Reach from Stigmartus activity. Watch Station Iobel was to be the Kill Team's new posting where they could influence the area.

Aboard the strike vessel a soft beeping alerted the Astartes from their training or contemplation bringing them in their long robes to the observation dome revealing the stars beyond and the red shimmer of the distant Hadex Anomaly. In the briefing room silent chapter serfs sworn to the Deathwatch await you, silently running the ship. They bow low as the towering Astartes enter and wordlessly call up a hololith of Khazant and gesture to the waiting Astropath. He also bows, an Aqulla emblazoned blindfold across his eyes. "My Lords Astartes. I did not wish to disturb your contemplations. I have received an Astropath cry for help. Inquisitor Helena D'Bonham has contacted us. The vessel Spear of Drusus has crashed upon the barren southern ash waste of Khazant, a terrible blow. However of more pressing issue is the loss of the Navis Scion Leanna Benetek. She is the distant daughter of the Navis Partenus, a man of great stature. But she carries with her maps of the warp routes of the whole sector. Initial scans from other orbiting Naval assets have indicated that the ship has not been wholly destroyed and psychic screams and portents have revealed that a witch coven of the great enemy has seized the Navis. No doubt they will emplooy the most hateful of rituals to pry the knowledge from her mind. This is of critical importance to prevent that happening!"

He bows low as the serfs highlight the southern continent on the spinning hololith in the centre of the room. The grey dust world of Khazant, a world of battle wreathed in an orbital cloud of destroyed ships and floating wrecks as the ground below is a mass of destroyed cities and tangled networks of bunkers and trenches. A glowing blip on the southern continent shows that deep beneath the Stigmartus lines is the ash wastes, an area near devoid of life where isolated supply depots and training camps cluster around landing sites or wrecked vessels and supply reinforcements to the front line....

[Haval]

Baldr grins at the idea that he had been contemplating anything. His fangs are prominent. Other than practicing with the ship's stock of combat servitors he had mostly spent his time roaming the Noctus and getting to know some of the crew. They weren't Astartes but it was preferable to know the calibre of your allies.

'If this Navigator girl is so important perhaps she shouldn't have been employed so close to Khazant.' Baldr had never had the pleasure of visiting the place even before he had joined the Deathwatch but he had heard the stories. 'What are the chances that someone shot her ship down on purpose?'

[TheNotoriousSMP]

"Tricky to say," Zeruel comments as he steps forward to examine the hololith. He had never had the dubious pleasure of serving on the war world of Khazant, but he had served with a handful of Deathwatch marines who had in the past, and what they had to say was rarely positive, "It could have been a simple attack of opportunity and they would have shot down any ship unfortunate or foolish enough to move into their range...However I'm inclined to agree that to be so quick to capture her and the vessel is likely no coincidence."

The Lamenter strokes his bare chin, angelic features scanning over the information that the holographic display has for them. "Regardless, it goes without saying that we cannot allow this information to fall into the foul hands of the Archenemy. Such a tragedy would no doubt have dire effects on the sector's ability to defend itself from attack."

[DrK]

As the marines lean over the display looking at the picts and terrain maps Commander Hollis, one of the Deathwing serfs snaps to attention. "My Lords Astares. The Spear was escorting three transports providing reinforcements to the 18th Mordian Regiment and the 3rd Vosytran Armoured regiment. The Naval after action report describes the Spear engaging a pair of Stigmartus corvette size vessels. But they drew her into a trap near the Southern Pole where she was ambushes by havoc fighter bombers staging from the wreck of the "Cauldron of Blood"
and a array of ground based orbital defense lasers."

He looks at the map of the crashed vessel and the heat signatures of scavenger camps nearby. "Will my Lords be deploying via drop pod, teleportarium or a Stormtalon?"

[UselessBlob]

Elyas stepped up to examine the map as well, bearing the permanent frown typical of Dark Angels. "We do not know what kind of anti-air capabilities they possess beyond the defense lasers, taking a Stormtalon is risky. It is the same for drop pods, though to a lesser extent. The teleportarium should be relatively safest, and we could commandeer vehicles from any camps we may find. Would eliminating the witches reduce any psychic interference? he asked. As an Astartes he understood more about the Warp than the average Imperial citizen (i.e. anything at all,) but he knew more about daemons than human psykers.

[Haval]

The Lamenter strokes his bare chin, angelic features scanning over the information that the holographic display has for them. "Regardless, it goes without saying that we cannot allow this information to fall into the foul hands of the Archenemy. Such a tragedy would no doubt have dire effects on the sector's ability to defend itself from attack."

'That's right. Plenty of things on Khazant that need killing. Better us then someone who doesn't know what they're doing.'

At Hollis' explanation, 'So either someone got lucky or they planned for her to be there.' If someone had been passing on information that was the Inquisitor's problem. 'Trouble is, if they are that organised, they may be competent enough to expect someone like us to come looking.' Baldr is not especially bothered by that, but it would be foolish not to be prepared.

Baldr nods in agreement with Elyas, although sometimes having air support was useful. 'Air defences and the chance that anything coming down otherwise might attract attention. I can't speak for the Stigmartus but there are likely Traitor Astartes on Khazant. I would expect them to know what a drop pod looks like.' He'll leave the discussion of psykers to the Rune Priest as was proper. Witches were just another target.

To Hollis, 'How far behind the lines are we likely to be? If there are more survivours then just this Navigator it might be difficult to extract them all by air.'

[BananaPhone]

Ragnir

During the approach towards the bridge, Ragnir had moved at the back of the Deathwatch team, his image a quiet and perceptive one. When the serfs parted to make way and gave their little bows, Ragnir returned their greetings with a nod of his head in their general direction as an acknowledgement for their service. The Astartes may have been the iron hammer of the Imperium, but without the cogs of their logistical support network, it was doubtful they would have survived as long as they had.

When the situation was explained, Ragnir remained quiet and focused. The particle-color of the hololith draining the color from his tanned face and dark red, neatly trimmed beard.

Ragnir remained quiet as the other marines spoke their piece, including his Chapter-brother Baldr. Finally, when it seemed all had contributed, Ragnir spoke.

"The risk of being stranded without extraction from the planet is greater than the possibility of being shot down were we to land with a Stormtalon," he spoke, gesturing with one large finger to the crash-zone marked on the hololith.

"We are entering the wolfs den, brothers. At the moment of our detection, time will be against us, as they have the forces to mobilise to contain us. We must get in, rescue the navigator and then depart."

[TheNotoriousSMP]

Zeruel nods in response to Ragnir's words, agreeing with the Space Wolf before he turns his attention back to the serf who'd just spoken. "Tell me, other than the Navigator, is there anyone or anything else on the vessel that is deemed important enough to try and recover? Any relics, or particular significant officers?"

[Haval]

To Ragnir, 'Better going in quick and dirty then getting caught by something out in the wastes.' They had a job to do after all, and sometimes it was easier to forgo stealth. 'But I'm sure if there's a need, someone will give us a lift offplanet if we ask nicely, even if the Noctus is unable to help. We might need to break those defence lasers on the way out just to make sure of that though.'

[Deadguy]

The Iron Hands had remained silent during the walk to the briefing. As the others bombarded the serf with questions, he studied the map. The cybernetic eyes whirred loudly as they focused on the details. While giving him the visual acuity of normal marines, they lacked subtleness.

It fit the overall appearance. Subtlety was not a tactic that fit the techmarine. "Recovery of the ship datacore is paramount, lest it fall into the enemy's hands and it's spirit be corrupted to give up it's secrets."

Spoiler: OOC: Checks

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✥ Logic vs pros / cons to entry options (1d100)[39] vs 55

Spoiler: Character Details

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Kheres Sheet Kheres, Iron Hands Techmarine Player: Deadguy

[Bphill561]

Each method has it's risk, the real question is do we have the time for a more stealthy entry? Even approaching the crash site with a ground vehicle is likely to draw attention if it is large enough to carry the squad.

Studying the terrain and possible approaches if teleported in...

Tactics Recon and Stealth base=91

(1d100)[63]

I also don't think we should be concerned about recovering the entirety of the surviving crew, there could be thousands of survivors which we would be unable to move in the best of conditions. It may be worth taking out the defense lasers if possible for later ships to recover personnel, but that is not our goal. Maybe we should take a Teleport Homer if we can use it to cut through the interference for a faster extraction of the Astropath.

[UselessBlob]

Elyas nods at Korbin's comments. "You are right, we do not have time for stealth, and the enemy is no doubt expecting a rescue attempt anyway." He pauses and contemplates the situation for a moment, and continues.
"Perhaps we could combine approaches. We take the drop pod down to minimize the time they have to mount a response, then we complete our objectives, disable the defenses, and either teleport out or evacuate with a Stormraven, depending on whether or not slaying the witches reduces the interference. Whatever we do, we must decide quickly. Every second we waste here is another the Navis may be having her mind torn asunder."

[DrK]

The serf's hands flicker over the hololith. "My lord. The Navis was listed as the primary recovery. There is a high ranking Soriatias listed as being on board who has been graded as Secundus. Recovery of her or her personal relics would be welcomed by the Order of the Black Rose."

He gestures at thee large camps nearby (well 10-15 miles) the crashed vessel. "My lords. Telemetry from Mechanics sensor relay stations and a high level pass by a thunderbolt recon flight has tracked ground movement between the crash site. Camp beta near the geothermal power relay is believed to be the defense laser batter. The Navis will be in one of the camps or the wreck however there is no information on her location. But the date core and machine spirit is important."

After a glance at the Mechanicus servant, more machine than man, a binary code flickers up on the screens. "Confirm. Psychic interference block teleportarium. Removal of interference to permit extraction."

[Haval]

Elyas nods at Korbin's comments. "You are right, we do not have time for stealth, and the enemy is no doubt expecting a rescue attempt anyway."

'I would like to say that they aren't expecting the likes of us, but if they have witches down there who can say.' Baldr nods in agreement with the Dark Angels. Of course anyone who had been taken prisoner by the Archenemy might prefer that they had died in the crash. If nothing else they were an instrument of the Allfather's vengeance.

[BananaPhone]

Ragnir

The Rune Priest listened in silence to the word of his bretheren, and noted what he thought were the pro's and con's of each approach. Finally, he gave his final opinion.

"You all speak with merit, brothers," his smooth, deep voice announced, "but I stick to my mind that we must arrive as swift and silent as possible, acquire our mark and then depart. The Witch Cove may not even be in the area, which will leave us stranded if we are relying on their extermination in order to be retrieved via teleportatium."

The Space Wolf leans forward and points one large finger at the region designated as a geothermal power facility.

"We approach undetected in the Stormraven, retrieve the mark, neutralise the power cables to the defense grid and then depart the planet."

Drawing his hand back and nodding once, "that is my assessment brothers."

It was clear that Ragnir was offering his opinion on the matter. He would, of course, apply himself completely to whatever decision was taken.

[Deadguy]

Kheres looked over each of his brothers. Quite a few opinions. Inefficient. This was taking longer than it should.

"Each has made their thoughts known. Best we select who will be take lead. They can make the determination. It makes little difference how we arrive and depart, so long as the objectives are complete."

As he waited for the inevitable feedback, he considered the list of objectives. The witches were one of them, though much lower priority. Kheres tried to recall any knowledge on how their dark magics interfered with the teleportation technology the Imperium utilized.

Spoiler: OOC: Checks

Show

✥ Forbidden Lore: Archeotech vs range of psychic interference on teleportarium (1d100)[19] vs 90

Spoiler: Character Details

Show

Kheres Sheet Kheres, Iron Hands Techmarine Player: Deadguy

[Haval]

Baldr grins at Ragnir, 'I feel we would need a pilot of some skill to approach the area unnoticed in a Stormraven brother. I am with the Dark Angel for the moment. The gunship can extract us or provide air support as needed.The only difficulty with that approach may be that the Noctus is engaged by the Archenemy while we are busy on the ground. But in that instance all we need is to have the Stormraven come down in our wake. With any luck the bastards will be do busy dealing with us to have much hope of downing it.'

He largely agreed with Kheres, 'Going on an Undertaking into a warzone containing uncertain categories of enemy and and a high likelihood of Witches. Let the Rune Priest, myself or Brother Elyas do it.' Baldr named their only psyker and the two tactical marines. A Grey Hunter wasn't quite the same but it was close enough here. In theory they were the most flexible choice. 'I would rule myself out unless Ragnir or Brother Elyas would prefer otherwise. I find I lack the patience for it.'

[BananaPhone]

Ragnir

That one of his brothers would heed the counsel from a Son of the Lion over the words of him, a Rune Priest of Russ....this was a grim day indeed and perhaps a portent of things to come. May their great father forgive him.

Nodding at the holoflim, Ragnir spoke calmly "Drop pod insertion it is then. I will guide you against the Witch Coven. They are the barrier impeding our extraction, and their elimination is all the more necessary."

[DrK]

At Ragnir's words the serf's nod. "As you say my Lords. We shall prepare a drop pod for launch. For the targetting co-ordinates will you be landing upon the wreck of the vessel or one of the heretic camps?" He looks up obedient, nimble fingers flickering over the arcane items on the consoles as he programs the launch sequence. As he watches Kheres ponders the impact of the psychic interference on the ancient teleportarium that thrummed in an an anointed chamber deep in the bowels of the strike vessel. It was an ancient piece of technology, predating even the keel of the vessel itself, understood by none and tended to by a small cult of the red priests. The teleportarium involves the immaterium in some way so the interference is likely to relate to the power of the coven. In this case if they were powerful it may interfere with tens of miles from the coven, if weaker then the effect would be lessened.

As you troop from the bridge to the armoury, servitors and serfs bless and anoint your armour with sacred ungents and read prayers and gun blessings to placate the machine spirits of the weapons. It is the work of an hour to collect your weapons, pray over the tools and strap magazines of bolt shells to the mag locks on your armour and calibrate the sights of your weapons. Soon the dull lights of the vessel flicker to dull red. An vox intoning "Approaching orbital insertion point. Proceeed to the drop bay."

As you enter the bay the doors of the pod beckon, the gravity couches awaiting you, holsters for your weapons awaiting you. The serfs manning the pods drop to a knee awaiting your oath of battle before you board the pub.

[UselessBlob]

Elyas steps forward and motions the team to form a circle.
"We are about to face psykers of the most insidious sort, so we must maintain the utmost resolve. I shall lead us in an Oath to the Emperor, so that we may keep Him in our hearts and minds."

Aware that they are on a time crunch, Elyas cannot perform the full hours-long suite of prayers necessary to properly invoke the Emperor's righteous fury, but he does his best to make his oath as inspiring as possible.

[Haval]

Baldr notes Ragnir's disquiet but says nothing in front of the others. He had little respect for the ancient rivalry unless one of them aimed to be particularly offensive to him or to the Rout. Most Dark Angels likely fought with a stick up their ass but he knew enough to trust the Deathwatch to choose their recruits with care. If his assessment was wrong it would be better to know about that now.

When Elyas gives the Oath he will join in with the words as needed, but will end it with a brief scrap of a litany in Fenrisian. '<We are the wolf that stalks the stars in the sky and swallows the star-fire. We hide amongst the night. When light is gone the light is within us. We run the ruin of Fire. In the darkness foes burn in our passing.'>

[TheNotoriousSMP]

Zeruel joins the rest of the kill team in a circle, already eager to sink his blade in the bodies of the Imperium's foes. He takes a knee as Elyas begins their oath, inclining his head as he contemplates the glorious will of the Emperor. Fully absorbed in the team-leader's words, the Lamenter swears to bring the Emperor's fury down on the foolish foes who thought that they could get away with attempting to bring harm to their eternal lord's Imperium

[BananaPhone]

Ragnir


With the matter settled, Ragnir reached for a pouch upon his belt and withdrew from within a handful of runes. Drawing his clenched fist above the holofilm, his eyes closed and lips uttering a quiet chant, the Rune Priest moved his closed hand in a circular motion over the representation of the crash-site, before finally letting go of the small, decorated bones within. The collection of rune-covered osseins clattered across the metal flat-top of the projector to reveal a set of portents that only Ragnir could read.

oOo

Ragnir followed the rest of his fellows towards the drop pods, the towering figures of the Astartes contrasting with the normal sized crew that shuffled about them. The heavy, foot-falls of the Astartes rang out throughout the corridor in a metallic chorus while words from the crews and commanders added to the choir over the vox-comms as orders and reports were issued.

Finally, the group joined together in a circle within the dispatch zone, Ragnir standing quietly with the others. In one hand the Rune Priest grasped the shaft of her axe, its heavy head exhibiting a conservative number of runes that would soon glow when filled with the energy of his powerful mind. His other hand, for now, was free, but a bolt pistol was holstered on his hip, and the sling of a bolter ran from one shoulder to his hip.

[DrK]

Spoiler: Ragnir

Show

As the massive marine readies himself he prays to the ancients and throws the runes on the table. The runes rolls and flip over arranging in a tale of woe and fire. Witches, and sorcerery the runes warn of, powerful magicks that will see him sorely pressed. The witches have demonic allies, although the runes that would have identified the nature of them remain clouded and in mystery.

Other runes glow and stand out from the array representing the "Beast" "the traitor" and "the machine" - as Ragnir muses he thinks that these may manifest as the beast cults that form the bulk of the stigmartus ranks, possibly some of the ancient enemy -Traitor legions and some sort of mechanised foe, be it deamon engines or just threat from the crashed ship itself.

The kill squad strap into the drop pod, the dim light making little difference to their enhanced vision and thermo graphic and passive sensors in their helms. Serfs strap down the restraint harnesses, crawling over the marines like ants on grox before sealing the exterior door of the vox. Aboard the pod the venerable machine spirit slowly awakens and stirs itself to life. Ancient cogitators whir and slowly status lights change from red to green and the targetting scanners are fed from the bridge with the co-ordinates of vessel.

After the warm up routine the seals hiss as the pod switches to its own life support systems and the couches begin to vibrate as the thrusters warm up. A voice on the vox from the bridge contacts you, "Kill Squad. Vessel is in geo-synchronous position above the target region. Permission to deploy?"

[UselessBlob]

As Elyas straps into the large projectile about to be shot straight into the ground, he suppresses the shudder that always sneaks up on him. He doesn't mind dying in battle. In fact, any other death would be a disgrace. What Elyas fears most is a death entirely out of his control. Falling to the venom of a Hive Tyrant after blowing its brain out is one thing, but if there is the slightest flaw in the pod's construction, they would either be incinerated by the atmosphere or smeared across the ground like an Ork under a Baneblade. All Elyas can do is pray to the Emperor for safe passage.

After preparations are complete, he responds to the bridge "This is Mission Leader Elyas speaking. We are ready to launch."

[Haval]

Baldr will do what he could to scrutinize the feed from the ship's auspex to see what the situation on the ground looked like. He'll also try to keep an eye on the tactical situation up in the void to see if there was anyone close enough to be a threat to them or the Noctus itself.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Successful awareness test in the ooc

[BananaPhone]

Ragnir


The Rune Priest stood with his fellows against the oscilations of the drop pod as it was hurtled towards the planet below them.

"Witches. Daemons. Cultists. Traitors and machine-spirits lay against us, brothers." he announced, the vocabulator of his helmet tinging his normally smooth, baritone voice with a mechanical quality.

[Deadguy]

The techmarine watched over the blessing of the kill team's equipment by the serfs. The knowledge of the techpriests was imbedded into his very body. Once he was sure that the individual spirits of the carried equipment were placated, he turned his attention to their transportation.

He attempted to recall where the data core on that specific model of ship to save the team time. Once he had made the determination, he let Elyas know where it should be located.

As the Librarian made known the threats, he couldn't help but look around to those strapping in and smile. "In the infinite wisdom of the Emperor, this team has the exact skills required then."

Kheres intoned a chant as they began departure preparations.

Spoiler: OOC: Checks

Show

✥ Forbidden Lore: Archeotech to determine location of the ship datacore (1d100)[32] vs 90
✥ Use Tech to conduct machine spirit rituals (1d100)[22] vs 90

Spoiler: Character Details

Show

Kheres Sheet Kheres, Iron Hands Techmarine Player: Deadguy

[DrK]

Kheres adjusts the targeting co-ordinates slightly of the drop pod slightly towards the aft of the downed vessel. THe nature of the vessel meant that the main cogitator banks were in the aft of the vessel, around deck 30, so just at base of the aft-tower above the ancient (but now ruined) fusion drives. THe drop pod's machine spirit accepted Khere's blessing as it plunged through the atmosphere, its automated systemes firing and guiding it ina tight spiral.

As the pod plummets through the atmosphere trailing smoke and fire its obvious for hundreds of miles and alerting ground stations of the "enemy". Within the pod the team is helpless to do much as the sensors flash up warning lights sensing enemy anti-air auspex systems locking on and detecting incoming fire. Defensive measures fire from the pod and the ride becomes bumpier as the jets fire causing the pod to spin and the evasive pattern saves the pod from harm, the buffeting of close misses not causing more than surface damage.

With a massive impact that shakes even the mighty marines! the pod slams into the ground some 300m from the shattered stern of the ship that towers like metallic cliff 300m high into the sky, rent with macrocannon marks and marred by re-entry burns. As the doors of the pod fall open, like petals revealing the deadly cargo inside sensors on your power armour register the slightly toxic burnt air, and the heat of the sun and the gas giant high in sky beating down upon the ashy wastes. The air tasets duty and a great plume of the greying ash surrounds you from your impact crater.

Shouts from the stern of the ship nearby alert you, and you can all see a pack scavengers gesturing, bullet strikes and las blastss already scarring the ground around you and pinging loudly off the drop pod as they spray fire in your general direction. Leapring free from the restraints the mob of Stigmartus looters is easily in range and will be the first to feel your fury!!

With your astartes enhanced eyes and the sensors of our armou you can pick them out easily, red shapes running across the grey rock, three clambering aboard an antiquated warbuggy of some sort with a heavy cannon on its back, the rest of the men, some 30 strong spreading out into a loose skirmish line, extorted on by an oficer of some sort with a skull mask for a face waving a chainsword behind them....



You have landed! You can have the initaitive
Choose if you are in squad or solo mode
Players go first....

180m away
* Horde of ~40 scavengers/chaos cultists (flak/chain mail armour and basic weapons)
* Enemy cult leader
* Warbuggy with some sort of heavy gun on its back

[Haval]

Baldr will take a moment to unholster his rifle before leaving the drop pod. The cultist shooting was likely far too distant to be a risk to him, even if they manage to get lucky. He'll simply ignore it.

It was too far to easily connect with anything with his bolter, but he had brought the rifle for just such an occasion. 'They should have brought more men.' he says over the vox. Their commander was an obvious target, but maybe it would be better to leave him till last. He'll draw a bead on one of the cultists that was operating the big gun.

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Half Action - Aim
Half Action - Shoot one of the buggy gunners with sniper rifle (range 200m)

vs. BS 48 (+10 aim) (+10 accurate weapon)
(1d100)[89]

Any damage 1d10 R with Toxic
(1d10)[3]

Any damage caused after soak needs a T test to avoid taking more damge

Spoiler: Notes

Show

Sniper Rifle 5/6

Oath of the Emperor: +10 Wp
In Squad Mode

Acquisitions
Stummer (5), Astartes Sniper Rifle (20), Photon Flash Grenade (5), 2 clips of Stalker rounds (10)

Other acquisitions
1 clip of Kraken ronds, chainsword