Dark Heresy: The Emperor Protects IC

[The Architect]

Dark Heresy
The Emperor Protects

++ Thought for the day -"Peace is a lie" ++
++ Begin Transmission ++


http://i44.tinypic.com/1rrpkk.jpg

Sinophia stretches out before you.
The hum of the Valkryie gun ship's engines fill your ears.
The chill winds of the night dance across your exposed flesh

The rugged man who collected you from the rogue trader frigrate the "Talassar's Vigil" in high orbit tumbles through the hold to stand beside you at the lowered ramp. You notice he hasn't even strapped himself in and seems comfortable aboard the small craft. He helps each of you into your grav chutes and then clips a satchel onto each of you. Each of the satchels are a pale grey in colour and bare no markings


"Typical basic infiltration supplies, no more, no less. A microbead, a bodyglove, street clothes, info on your assumed identities and any relevant files on Sinophia on a dataslate, keep in mind they don't come with formal identification papers, if you need those you'll need to forge them on the fly."

He moves to each of you checking your harnesses to make sure you're grav chutes are secure



"Each of you will find the briefing letter in your supplies but incase you get gilded before you hit the ground I'll give you the general idea, Sinophia is an Imperial world that's been in a downwards spiral economically and politically for centuries and because of that it's impressively underpopulated, don't be surprised if you hear there are cities out in the waste that now lie empty.

But I suppose you just care about why you sorry Nameless are here? Well the man who writes your checks sent us Johns here to deliver you Nameless without telling us a lick but turns out last night someone decided to end a certain General's retirement with a hundred foot fall from his penthouse apartment to the ashphalt below. Now if you ask me it's probably nothing which is why I bet the Inquisitor is sending you Nameless.

Why were not leaving the Enforcers or maybe the Arbitrators to sort this Klybo out I don't know but I'm betting if anyone could guess there was something more going on then it would be our boss man."

The grizzled veteran stops when he hears to thuds on the door to the cockpit, he presses a sigil and the door slides open. One of the two pilots speaks up


"We're almost in range to go black sir, waiting on your order."

The man steps forward and presses a button on the vox



"Flavius Starport, this is Valkyrie 'Fist of Nathaniel,' we're detecting interference on all vox channels on approach please advise, over."

A moment later a voice crackles back over the cockpit vox


"++we're not detecting anything, 'Fist of Nathaniel',++"
At that the grizzled man nods his head at the pilot who had spoken who proceeds to turn a dial just above the vox unit of the cockpit


"++zssst- - are you. . - zsst bsszt We're getting - xt zzt - now zzt-++"

The older man drew his hand across his throat and the pilot cut the vox line, the older man then turns back to the acolytes



"We've gone black now rookies, that means for the next five minutes this Valkyrie doesn't exist. We're jamming their vox and radar in the area to mask your descent. We do this quick or they might start getting suspicious.

We're above the capital city of Sinophia right now, Sinophia Magna, specifically the trade district, 'the Commercia' or 'District III' in the local parlance. We're dropping you here because you've got a lot of high rise hab units and skyscapers to land, or hit, rather than plopping your brand new boots in the middle of a crowd on the street level.

Once you're on the ground, or roof as the case maybe, your first objective is move towards District VII or 'the Shadow Manses' and to locate and investigate the crime scene. From there on this investigation is up to you."

he steps closer to the ramp and risks a look over to the several hundred metre drop below



"We've got a John on the ground who'll keep an eye on you and signal us when he thinks it's time for your extraction."

He looks back over his shoulder at the men in the cockpit and merely says



"Time for the drop Johns, bring her down a little and slow her as best as her machine spirit will allow."

The two men at the controls reply in unison



"Yes, Sergeant."

Sarge turns back to the group of you making last minute checks



"Any questions?"

[Hemnon]

Being used to this kind of grav chute, Jax quickly checks it's fitting, not wanting to end up like a fellow legionaire who forgot to check his equipment before a drop into tyranid battle-lines.

''Sir, i have a question. Who's got the remote trigger for my collar, sir?'' he says with a smirk and a gleam in his eyes, though he is respectful towards the man's rank, being a soldier and all.

OOC: this trigger doesn't have to be a button, it can be a vocal code sequence or a series of spoken numbers.. or a psychic password.

[Steilos]

Solomon Yeager leant on his staff as the sargeant prattle on about boring things like people. The machine spirit of the Valkyrie would be so much more interesting, but he probably shouldn't mess with it in flight. Ah, well, he would get his chance planetside.

Oh, right, the mission. "Yes... Any more information on this General? Or at least where he died?"

[Calimos]

"In case we stumble upon something bigger than ourselves should we attempt to contact someone, sir, for additional instructions or backup or proceed as we deem appropriate with any assistance than we can procure ourselves? And in case that man of yours attempts to approach us at any point of our investigation is there a code word to verify his identity and affiliation to you? Finally, are we allowed to utilize possible data collected by the Adeptus Arbites and local enforcers or are we to reveal to no one the fact that we are investigating this case? "

Marcus had never been deployed in such a way before and kept thinking that this was mostly a military approach to things. But then again, being part of this shadowy and clandestine organization meant that any and all means and methods should be utlized as necessary, to ensure the best chance of success. Secrecy in their case, since a properly landed shuttle could draw attention. This would be a new experience to him and one coinciding with him coming home after a long time.

[The Architect]

The Sargeant replies to Jax first


"If it's to be given to one of you rookies then I'd have to assume it's in one of those satchels, no idea myself."

he turns to the obviously bored Solomon


"The coordinates will be in the satchel dataslates but what I do know is that he was living in a manse penthouse that was paid for by the planetary defense force, probably as a gift for his career of service, most of his neighbours were either minor nobles or ghost since many of the manses have been empty for centuries."

he lastly turns to Marcus


"The point of this mission is for you to act indepently to judge how you preform as an I.M.C. so proceed as you deem appropriate with any assistance than you can procure yourselves. My man's a John, so he can only interact with you by that name, and he'll know why you're there and your real identities, that should be enough to seperate him out. Normally cells pose as a different branch of the bureucracy in missions like this so as long as you keep your cover you can work as closely as you like with forces on the ground, including the enforcers or arbitrators. So yes you can utilise data they collect, whether you think you can trust it though will be up to you. Anything else?"

[Calimos]

"Sir, no sir. It's just a strange feeling to return home after a long time, as a changed man. The Emperor protects", answered Marcus, readying himself for the jump and noetically praying for a safe drop.

[Steilos]

The Emperor protects. Lacked a little something. A bit of verve, a bit of pep. The Emperor Sets You On Fire, maybe? Too direct? Frankly, the concept of the Emperor protecting something better than steel could was worthy of a spittake, but Solomon was that rare kind of heretic who is smart enough to realise that that is a terrible idea. Doesn't stop him from cracking a large grin as he prepares for the jump, though.

[huyche]

One of assault transport's benches was occupied by a thin figure in the distinct black robes of junior Administratum servants. (Leng had decided against wearing the red Verispex ones during the mission, not to draw any unwanted attention to his persona.)
This stooped figure sat leaning forward and staring at the vessel's floor, seemingly oblivious of its surroundings.
The pause in the sergeant's speech finally awakened Leng from his reverie and the adept's head suddenly rose, while his sharp eyes darted across the room, absorbing every detail.
'Note to self: the first thing after the landing - check my new identity. As for the case, sounds like something that came from the pages of the Forensic Examination Primer. Will form a more accurate opinion when I get a chance to investigate the crime scene. Haven't ever been to Sinophia Magna though. Most unsatisfactory.'

And then he heard a familiar voice. He turned to the speaker.
'Marcus Reinhart. A trusted man and a teammate one could depend upon. Proved to be a good shot. Will come useful.' Its been close to a year since they first met and worked together on another case of those pattern murders.
Leng silently nodded to the arbite's question.

"I trust these grav chuts are fail-safe?" the verispex adept finally voiced his concern.

Italic is for thoughts, simply bold is for speech aloud.

Edit: oops, quote instead of spoiler.

[The Architect]

Sarge looks over at Leng


"There's a built in fail-safe incase they do fail but that's not too common."

The Sargeant nods at Marcus


"Well then, welcome home son. Disembark when you're ready.Only the Emperor Protects."

Anyone jumping out of the Valkryie roll 1d10.
On a 1 make an Ordinary (+10) Agility test.
On a 2 or higher make an Easy (+30) Agility test.

[Steilos]

This was taking far too LONG!!! Why wasn't anyone JUMPING! Rather impetuously, Solomon leapt out of the Valkyrie, barely suppressing a crazed laugh as he fell to the planet below.

OOC


[roll0]

Did I roll a 1? if so, [roll1] vs. 40
Did I not roll a 1? If so, [roll2] vs. 60

[Calimos]

Marcus nodded to the Sergeant, clearly approving the veteran's style and demeanour and took in the view of Sinophia Magna, just for a moment, before jumping to the skies above his homeworld. A world he had left as a barely redeemed ganger-scum teenager and was now returning as a man in the service of the Imperial Inquisition.

OOC


[roll0]

[roll1] vs 40 or vs 60 depending or first roll.

Rolls became somewhat messed up since I saw your edit afterwards and didn't want to double-post, so I deleted my original post and reposted to keep it clear. :smallsmile:

EDIT: And that is probably a fate-point spent to reroll that. I do not wish to end up splattered in my homeworld's buildings :smalltongue:.
Re-roll in OOC.

[Fair Cur]

A short and wiry figure is hunched over on one of the benches, his head in his hands. His normally pallid features are even more pale and drawn, and his reluctance to look out the viewports or back of the Valkyrie provides some degree of explanation.

"Well, here's another fine mess I've gotten myself into..." His voice has taken on a frail edge due to nausea.

Having been bundled onto a flyer - why did it always have to be a flyer? - en route to a forsaken, rotting world on the Periphery, his aspirations for this mission weren't starting off in a high place.

Making sure his chute is in place, he closes his eyes, takes a few deep breaths, and leaps from the Valkyrie while muttering an almost mocking prayer to the Emperor.


[roll0]
[roll1]

[The Architect]

Lucious, Marcus and Solomon felt the tug of free fall as a thousand city lights stretched out before them in an unending sprawl of half lit streets that reached out past the dark polluted clouds to the midnight horizon beyond.

For a moment, the acolytes flew.

Then a roar shot out and the grav chute kicked into live pulling at them till their chest and shoulders ached. Marcus came close to slamming into a large hab block but narrowly avoided it by running and pushing off it's glass panelling north facing wall and tumbling down on to its lower sister building's roof.

Lucious rolled with the force of the chute coming to a graceful stop with half his body sprawled out over the hab block's edge.

Lastly Solomon landed roaring in delight, rolling forward after landing with a thud and stopping himself in a readied position like an animal about to pounce, all your satchels are unharmed.

[Calimos]

Marcus breathed hard as he landed, his heart returning to its place after his near collision with a hab-block wall. He thanked the Emperor in a whispered prayer and freed himself from the grav-chute harness. He folded it, before proceeding to carry out his standard weapons and equipment check, making sure that all of his possessions were in place indeed. Then, still rubbing his chest that ached somewhat from the strain, he looked around to make sure the rest of the acolytes had landed safely and opened his assigned satchel to read the relevant briefing and see what else was inside the satchel as well.

[huyche]

Leng readies his grav chute and follows the others down.
Indifferently he watches as the city rapidly draws nearer.
[roll0]
[roll1] vs 60

[Steilos]

Solomon cast his gaze around the rooftop he had landed on, rictus grin fading as his hand went to his lasgun. A small chuckle escaped his lips after a while and he stood up straight, looking around for those who had jumped with him. Well, he had landed and had a whole city full of prey to toy with... and that was before he even started on the people.

Upon standing, he immediately opened up his satchel and perused the contents, not yet taking anything out.

[Fair Cur]

No stranger to heights, Lucius laughs and surveys the sprawling city below, still dizzy from the drop.

His weapons and equipment check doesn't take long, given his relative state of destitution. That would have to change.

He backs away from the edge of the hab-block, leans against anything convenient, and proceeds to rummage through the satchel. His grey coat flaps a little in the wind, and some small amount of colour seems to be returning to his features.

"So, we've been tasked with finding a John on the streets of a capital city. Sometimes I really do wonder if the Holy Ordos possesses a sense of humour."

[Calimos]

While still searching the items in his satchel, Marcus raised his head, looking over to Lucius, with a smile.

"Well, not even that. We won't search for him. According to Sergeant, he is already here in Sinophia Magna, to keep an eye on us and on the investigation progress. We'll be contacted by this John if and when necessary. Till then, we'll need to move on to district VII, locate and investigate the crime scene. And I'd say, we need to find some appropriate place to use as our hideout and HQ during this investigation as well".

[The Architect]

The three men look up for a moment to see a robed man plutting to the earth, if he is screaming than he's too high up to be heard, after a moment the group realises it is Leng and that is chute has jammed up.

He did ask if there was a fail safe . . . smart man.

After what seems like an eternity of falling for Leng he eventually engages the fail safe and is slowed just enough to slam into the ground with enough force to harm but not kill him.

Leng:
you take [roll0] damage, that's including all your damage reduction.

The Satchel contains:
Gear:

Micro-bead
Street Clothes
Armoured Body Glove (AP 3 Arms, Body Legs), can be hidden under street clothes.
Dataslate (Contents Below).
Scarlet Letter (Contents Below).


Dataslate Contains:
Sinophia Files:
Planetary Data
Population: No reliable estimate (estimated to be fewer than 150 Million, from a recorded previous height of 2 billion).

Tithe Grade: Exactus Minoris (planet unable to maintain regular tithe and placed under special measures as of 017.M41)

Geography/Demography: Temperate but unstable climate, remaining habitation centred on northern continent (Sinophia Magna: capital/starport, Karib City: lesser hive and industrial zone; population levels failing, Hive Argopolis: abandoned/unsafe). Sinophia also possesses extensive fertile wetlands and plains formerly cultivated but fallen to wilderness, lawlessness and widespread disuse. Sinophia’s southern continents are currently evidencing extensive volcanism and seismic activity, leading to a planetwide increase in precipitation over the last several centuries.

Governmental Type: Oligarchy (Quorum of Noble Families)

Planetary Governor: The Judiciary Evandus Idrani, Seventh of his Name

Adept Presence: Adeptus Administratum, Adeptus Ministorum, Adeptus Arbites—All Minor (presence much reduced from former levels)

Military: The Provost Defence Army (Organized as a PDF or Planetary Defence Force, low/medium, declining, not considered fit for purpose under most recent sector strategic review), private armed cadres of the noble houses (small/medium).

Trade/Economy/Addendum: Legitimate off-world trade with Sinophia is limited. There is a long-standing boycott of the world by the Calixis Chartist Captains, although dealings with minor cartels and independents are frequent, if erratic. Thanks in part to its dwindling population, Sinophia is largely self-sufficient in terms of food and industry, particularly in scavenging
resources of its former sizable infrastructure, although the heavy tax burden imposed on the population by the local government has led to rampant criminality and corruption, further undermining civil and economic stability.

Planetary History
Sinophia was once a world of pivotal destiny and economic power, but now is little more than forlorn and forgotten relic of the past. Situated on the furthest reaches of the Ixaniad Sector and founded in elder days as the personal fief of the Rogue Trader Teresa Sinos at the end of her journeys, the
world would (a millennium later) serve as a primary staging post of the Angevin Crusade that carved the Calixis Sector into being. In that legendary time, Sinophia was transformed into a vital way-station and a bastion of civilisation on the Imperium’s then-frontier, its coffers swollen in the fulfilment of the crusade’s needs and the booty of conquest, whilst men who would one day be cast as saints walked its gilded forums and warships swarmed its night sky. But as the centuries passed and the Calixis Sector coalesced into its own sovereignty and self-sufficiency, Sinophia’s prominence began to wane as its purpose faded.

Increasingly sidelined and marginalised, much of its population—sickened by the excesses of the nobility—began to leave. Lured by the perceived freedoms of life on new worlds, they took up lawful passage as colonists. It was an exodus the rulers of Sinophia were powerless to stop, and as their world’s decline accelerated, they fought back with the only means they had: money. They sought to set up merchant cartels, buy influence on other worlds through bribery, and out-bid competitors in lucrative markets. However, their struggle was ultimately futile. By taking on the new-founded economic and political powerhouses of Scintilla and the Chartist Captains, the Sinophian nobles had engaged in a costly struggle they could not hope to win, and in losing their trade war, they lost all. Major shipping routes were re-routed to bypass Sinophia, the sector governorship grew blind and deaf as far as the world was concerned, and its once-vaunted nobility found themselves burdened by crushing debts and bankruptcy. Sinophia was bought and sold; its cities slowly emptied and such recoverable assets it did have were carried off-world by rapacious creditors. Sinophia today is a world suffering the final throes of a long-drawn-out death by economic starvation and slow civil collapse. Criminality and corruption are utterly ingrained, and what little off-world contact it has is with smugglers, independent cartels (themselves skirting the fringes of the law), and a few hardy pilgrims. Whole cities lay deserted, and where Imperial civilisation does exist, it does so in twilight, clinging desperately to the faded glories of the past amidst the crumbling decay of the present.

Mission Files:
Victim: General Kaltos Barbosa - Former General of the 77th through 87th Cadian Regiments.
Cause of death: Unknown; Likehood blunt force injuries sustained from fall but lacks concrete support.
Scene of crime: Hab Manse 12-II-Kappa, the St. Sinosane Luxury hab-block & the street in front of the west facing wall of the hab-block. Currently sealed off by arbitrator personnel.
Presumed Crime: Homicide (Unplanned), theft, breaking and entering, improper disposal of a body, Homicide (Militart Personnel, 1st class), Assault with intent to inflict bodily harm.
Suspects: Local gang members, no specific individuals yet targeted.
Forensics: Resources not yet allocated.
Officer's Note: Looks to be a typical robbery gone wrong, we'll file a report in the morning, when we transfer the body to the Morgue.

Coordinates: 114-010-457


Scarlet Letter Contains:
Greetings my Acolytes,
If you are reading this then you have arrived on Sinophia in more or less one piece and are likely wondering why the murder of one Calixian military man, long past his prime interests me.

That is for me to know.

I am well aware that is entirely possible some of you may not survive, in fact I am aware of much more of what this mission in tales than I intend to let on so for a mission objective let us keep your first mission simple.

Catch the murderer.

Simple for a group of such unique individuals, no?

Keep an eye on Solomon Yeager.

- O.C.

[Hemnon]

Jax is right on the others tail, jumping with a 'Done this a million times before' expression.

OOC


[roll0] Ag bonus.

Ag 25 + 10/30 vs Ag roll is in OOC

[The Architect]

Jax:
roll a 1d100 for the agility test. You rolled a 1d10 by accident.

[The Architect]

As Jax descends he manages to angle himself terribly and thud into a metal water tank on the roof.

Jax takes [roll0] damage, damage reduction already included.

Once Jax dusts himself off he sees Marcus reading over the dataslate and scarlet letter.

[Hemnon]

Without even getting a bruise to tend, Jax opens his own satchel and checks out it's content, hoping for the trigger to unlock the bomb around his neck, concealed under the armor.

[Steilos]

Solomon leafs through the letter and the dataslate. "Finding a John should not be as difficult as it seems, if this, hm, if this dataslate is to be believed. This planet is dying a slow, drawn out death, bleeding out from emigration. This place... is probably not as populated as your average capital, if I may hazard a guess."

The last line in the scarlet letter replaces his smug grin with a twisted grimace for a microsecond. The previous easygoing expression did not return, instead a carefully sculpted neutrality took its place. "The ...orders... seem to be ...simple enough. Find murderers, get help from John. I'm rather glad he didn't specify what we had to do with the killers, so that should get... interesting." He hoists the satchel over his shoulder. "I agree with the Arbitrator. We need to find a base somewhere in this city - there's some good stuff in this satchel. You mentioned you lived here... my sympathies. Do you remember any safe havens around here?" The last question was aimed at Marcus.

[The Architect]

Jax does not find what he is looking for in his own satchel or dataslate.

[Calimos]

Marcus took the data slate from the satchel and read it carefully. The account on Sinophia, the place he had called once home, was accurate indeed. Reading about its decayed state once more left a bitter taste in his mouth. He lingered, for a while, on the information regarding the alleged murder and the victim. Something to begin with but with so much more to be investigated. Now, why would anyone choose Sinophia for his retirement, that was still beyond him. After years of dilligent service in the vaunted Cadian Regiments, he should probably have chosen a - so called - paradise world to spend the rest of his days, resting on his laurels, not a world in the throes of death. But maybe he wanted to live in the least possible place anyone would look for him, for all Marcus could say.

He read the scarlet letter, taking a moment to savor the intricate writing of the inquisitor in whose service he was. His eyes lifted and regarded momentarily the tech-priest with their penetrating glance. Then, he took the micro-bead from the satchel, affixed it in his ear and set its frequency accordingly.

"Gentlemen, if we are all here and intact, I suggest that we activate our micro-beads, ensuring proper, close to medium range, communication. Frequency set in channel 7, it seems clear of static and other interference. In time I believe, Emperor willing, that we will manage to create our secret tongue, coded words and phrases to relay messages appropriately with much less possibility to be compromised, should an enemy happens to listen to it. Once we set up our HQ and make a preliminary assessment of the scene, I can elaborate on that, if you wish. I had worked on a related project while in the Adeptus Arbites. As for a safe haven, I think I still remember a most suitable place to house our collective efforts and shield us from the weather and from prying eyes and ears as well. Your sympathies accepted Solomon, it is true that Sinophia isn't what it used to be, but still, I was born and raised here and I'm thankful to the Emperor that I didn't end up as decayed and corrupt as my homeworld".

[Hemnon]

Jax Puts all the items found in the satchel into his own IG backpack, not wanting to change his armor into something that looks a lot less protective.

He then walk over to marcus and starts to speak to him.
''excuse me, Arbitor -um- Reinhart, was it? shall i take front or cover the rear? this place looks rather hostile.'' being the giant of 2,19 metres that he is, he hunches lightly so he seems a little less intimidating while talk to the arbitrator.

[Steilos]

Solomon took the microbead and set it to channel 7. "I could get us our own channel when we get to HQ." He finished setting the bead and affixed it to his ear. "You never know who might be listening..." He toyed with the idea of fooling them into using the Malygrisian Codex Cipher, but thought better of it. Upon seeing Marcus' gaze, the Techpriest bit back a didn't you? and looked around to the others. "If no one has any objections, then we shall begin."

[The Architect]

So crime scene first or possible HQ first?

[Fair Cur]

Lucius stands and idly puts his hands in his coat pockets.

"You'll find no objections here, tech-screever. I'd be keen on finding a place to rest my head and set up shop, if it's no bother to you."


Possible HQ appeals to me.

[Calimos]

Marcus looked up for a moment to the giant of a guardsman that addressed him, thinking of the best way to place him in their formation.

"Yes, Reinhart it is. Marcus Reinhart. And you must be Mr. Jelorax Lycaz, right? Well, you got this right, Sinophia is a hostile place indeed. Not overtly hostile, like the much worse warzones you've undoubtedly been deployed to, in the past, but hostile and deadly nonetheless in its own way. Given that I have some knowledge of the city and that I know the way to our future HQ, I'll risk to take point for now and I think that it would be indispensable to have a man of your training to cover the rear while we make our way through the districts of the city".

His voice tone changes, lowering to almost a whisper, while keeping the micro-bead turned off and continues:

Jax only


"I'm sure you can understand that despite the place being inherently hostile, it still is considered to be ostensibly under Imperial rule and therefore it is not a weapons-free warzone. Unless there is absolute need we should move as discreetly as possible. If you perceive a direct threat to our safety, make sure you relay it over micro-bead first and then act accordingly. Also, while you're watching over the group from the rear, I want you to keep an eye especially on the techpriest. I know not the reason but our master's orders are not to be questioned. And something else. In your service file it was mentioned that you served in Cadian regiments. There's an added incentive for you then to help in finding those who murdered a general of Cadia, as the info on our murder victim indicates. Carry out your duty. The Emperor protects".


Marcus fixes his micro-bead again and continues, turning to the others.

"I think it would be better if we established first our center of operations, and after we're settled down properly, then we can begin the investigation of the crime scene and murder. The hideout I have in mind is in District IX. Used to be the penthouse of a minor noble which was abandoned and consequently forgotten - like so many things in Sinophia - when the noble family took all their resources and left the system during the "exodus". It should be still uninhabited and with a wealth of resources avaible. If I recall correctly, it used to be called the "13th Red Hall". Does it ring any bells Mr. Havelock?", he added looking over to the Verispex adept, with a smile, remembering the man from his service in the Arbites as well as the fact that he was also a native of Sinophia.

"If there are no objections we should move out. We can change clothes and sort out our gear once we are in the hideout, unless there is something you need to change now, in which case do it fast and let's move".

Marcus then makes sure his gear is properly in place, and strapping the satchel on the inside of his cloak, makes his way to the nearest rooftop exit, awaiting the rest before moving out of the roof and into the building.

[huyche]

Cursing the fickle Machine Spirit Verispex ended his nigh uncontrollable fall with a dull 'ooh', apparently spraining his right ankle in the process. Testing the leg by leaning on it he concluded that it was just a bruise.
After shaking off the dirt from the flap of his robes, Leng stuffed the faulty grav chute inside his backpack. Perhaps the man in the garb of martian priesthood who arrived with them could take a look at it some later point.

Imperturbably he approached the other acolytes, eyeing them appraisingly, then proceeded to rummage through his satchel's contents.
A quick browse through the report on the data-slate regarding the world's condition didn't tell him anything he hadn't already known, but report on the homicide caught Leng's attention: he sensed that something was amiss. 'Firstly, need to visit the arbites precinct investigating the case, secondly, obtain postmortem diagnosis from the morgue, and thirdly, inspect the crime scene.'
The personal message from the inquisitor wasn't too reassuring. In fact, it was irritating. Having to watch over the tech-priest he is supposed to work with on top of everything would only distract him from the truly important things.

Here Leng thoroughly checked the data-slate, searching for any information on his false identity.

~~~

Does it ring any bells Mr. Havelock?
"I'm afraid it doesn't, mr. Reinhart. Even though I too am a native to this world, I hail from Karib City."

Need to test anything?

[The Architect]

Leng:
You may make an Ordinary (+10) Intelligence Test, a Challenging (+0) Common Lore (Imperium) Test or an Easy (+30) Forbidden Lore (Heresy) Test to see if you know anything about the 13th Red Hall.

False Identities on the data-slate:
Overarching squad identity:
Calixian Imperial Guard investigation unit, your original purpose on the planet was to investigate possible abuses within the PDF and the supposed low standard of the PDF, on the death of the General you were diverted to investigate the murder of a high ranking military official. This decision was made by yourselves based on protocol and no offworld contact.

Specific False Identities:
Leng Havelock; ++ Self - Imperial Guard Forensic Liaison & Consultant, no formal rank, Verispex training. ++

Solomon Yeager; ++Enginseer Sigma Typhon, noted forensic weapons identification specialist, data analysist and statistical profiler ++

Marcus Reinhart; ++ Self - heading co-operative Divisio Immoralis & Imperial Guard investigative task force, intended to act as 'impartial judge of conduct.' ++

Jelorax 'Jax' Lycaz; ++Ivan Iggarrian, Private 1st Class, Vostroyan 111th, serving one year penitent sentence as bodyguard and liaison to Marcus Reinhart on behalf of the Vostroyan 111th, for the crime of refusing to fire on civilians. ++

Lucius Angelos; ++Papa Angelo, Cleric of the Imperial Creed, Morality officer and public liaison of the taskforce ++


As Marcus leads the group down into the building he finds that it appears to be a mostly empty office building, possibly for an off world interest or merchant house. It seems largely abandoned, though some levels have been coverted to be used as warehouse space. The few offices that have seen recent use have already been left empty for the night.

When you finally reach street level you see that save for a handful of ladys of the night and other undesirables the area is deserted. A few small bars indicate their operation with flickering lumen signs and every now and then a mass conveyor or a enforcer bike will rumble along the cracked pavement but for the most part the Commercia is an empty, decaying echo of a more vibrant era. The streets have for the most part been left to go to ruin and there are more boarded up than occupied store fronts.

What do you do?

Head straight for the 13th Red Hall?

[Calimos]

Marcus takes a deep breath as they reach the ground level, while his eyes dart left and right, taking in the all too familiar, decrepit state of his homeworld.

"Gentlemen welcome to Sinophia Magna's Trade District. As you can see, things are deteriorating in an steady rate. Our destination is that way. Familiarize yourselves with your new identities and let's move out. The sooner we establish our HQ, the sooner we can start working on solving that crime and apprehending the perpetrator", he relays over his micro-bead, testing its function to make sure it's working properly.

[The Architect]

Leng:
The 13th Red Hall is one of the many former residences of the Haarlock line of Rogue Traders, long since sold and having past through many hands since it's original constructions many hundreds of years ago.

The Haarlock line was always the rival of the Sinos Line, who founded Sinophia even before the founding of the Calixis sector.

The Rogue Trader House of Haarlock is an ancient one, far predating the Calixis Sector that it helped to found. For thousands of years, the Haarlock warrant gave the dynasty license to travel far beyond the Imperium and to bring death and war to anything they deemed a threat to mankind’s place in the cosmos. Over their centuries of conquest, they put whole worlds to the sword and plundered the tombs of xenos races passed to dust before man first walked upon the Earth.

They acquired terrible secrets and amassed dark lore, weapons, and trinkets enough to found a dozen empires of their own and condemn them in the eyes of the Imperium a thousand times over. The protection of the warrant and the secrecy with which they guarded their affairs within the Imperium kept them safe for millenia.

The Haarlock line was ever a fractious one, and betrayal and internecine warfare were as common among the Haarlocks as were the twin sparks of diabolic genius and insanity that warred in the natures of the greatest of them. The 13th Red Hall was the site of one of the last great massacres of the Haarlock line where many of the surviving members of the line were put to the sword by one of their kin.

The Hall has been abandoned for a few decades it's final tenants leaving for greener pastures but it is likely some of Haarlock's secrets and resources still reside there.


http://filmsnoir.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/blade_runner.jpg

As you pass through the darkly lit city streets you eventually come to a hab-block at the edge of district IX that stretches higher than most you've seen but seems to have been left to rot like many other places. As you approach the entrance it becomes obvious that the double doors are machines of intricate clockwork, forming a complex locking mechanic with no obvious place for a key or for a cogigator imput.

Patterns and images have been worked into the door but in the half light they are near impossible to make out.

[Calimos]

Marcus gestures for his associates to stop, retrieves the lamp pack from one of his cloak's pockets and turns it on, illuminating the door before them, in an attempt to see clearly what patterns and images are engraved on it.

[huyche]

Leng lied, of course. He did recognize the name, but deemed its dark history irrelevant (and possibly distracting) for the time being. (During his great dig through piles upon piles of crime records by local Adeptus Arbites spanning the last two hundred years, he stumbled upon quite some dirt on the Haarlock house. But in the end found the evidence of their complicity in the pattern killings inconclusive.)

'Ah, there it is.' Finally finding the file, Verispex glanced their identities over. 'How convenient. Won't have to equivocate or hide the nature of our business much. Shouldn't cause any jurisdictional disputes either.'

"Looks too well fortified. Perhaps we should look for another way in or an entirely different base of operations?"

[The Architect]

Marcus:
Please make a Routine (+20) Scrutiny Test.

Everyone Else:
Please make a Challenging (+0) Scrutiny Test.

Leng:
Please also make an Ordinary(+10) Forbidden Lore (Heresy) Test.

[Steilos]

And so, he found himself in front of the abandoned hab unit. But how to get in? And what, exactly, was inside? Both of these questions roiled away inside the techpriest's head. Solomon prepped his Auspex and began looking.

[The Architect]

Leng:
The intricacies of the patterns or their importance in regards opening the doors escapes Leng but their heretical meanings are obvious to him. The number 13 is pravalent in the patterns along with references to the stars and time. It seems the door is somehow warded, or intended to be warded against demonic or psychic intrusion. Though rather than with the figures of saints this is obvious from the worn coded images that detail entities of a demonic or heretical nature without directly showing them. The door itself doesn't seem to indicate that it, itself is profane, rather the door details the existence of demon and attempts to protect against them.

To any normal passer by it would just seem to be an odd door.

Solomon:
Roll a Challenging (+0) Tech-Use Test for scanning with the Auspex.

Solomon and Marcus lean forward to exam the patterns but whatever secrets the door holds is kept from them, there is obviously some way of opening the door without a key but neither Marcus nor Solomon have a guess to how.

[Calimos]

Marcus takes a step back from the door, rubbing his chin, thinking. "There must be some way to open this door, that does not require us to have a key, but I cannot fathom how to do that. If anyone else can figure it out, I'd be glad to hear you".

[Hemnon]

Not the best for close detail, his training has mostly just dealt with point and shot... not useless close-up examination, so Jax just throws out a comment.

''Does anyone have a grenade or some other explosive? that's the only idea i've got.'' a really BAD idea.

[The Architect]

Marcus:
You have 2 frag grenades [bought for 20 thrones] that may be able to blow a large enough gap to pull the doors open, if not blow up the doors entirely.

[huyche]

The meaning of the gates' peculiar geometry finally reached him.
Leng gulped down a lump in the throat. "Don't like this thing one bit. I strongly suggest we find another place to stay," he said warily while looking askance at the entrance.

"Or would anyone prefer to accompany me while I search for another entrance?" With that Lelg walks off, a glow-globe lighting his path.

[Calimos]

Marcus smiled at Jax's suggestion - considering it for a moment - but raised an eyebrow at Leng's remark. They had worked together in the past and Leng Havelock had proven himself a capable forensic analyst and well-trained verispex. Maybe he saw something, while examining that door or maybe it was the good old paranoia that growing up in a place like Sinophia tended to inflict.

He leaned closer to him and asked, with a concerned look in his face.
"Why is that Leng? A hunch or something else? Does our old home make you nervous already or did you saw anything - like a trap perhaps - on that mechanism?"

[The Architect]

As Len begins to walk away he disappears around the corner of the building.

Leng:
Make a Routine (+20) Search Test.

[huyche]

"I saw these symbolics somewhere, but can't recall where exactly. Must say they bode no good. Do you still want to make it our base?" Leng replies to arbiter's question over the vox-comm.

[The Architect]

Leng notices a nearby building that appears cosiderably newer. If a window was removed, by gunfire perhaps, the gap between them is so small it could easily be jumped or a blank be put down to create a small walkway, allowing easy access to the building, higher up and closer to the penthouse hab.

[huyche]

"You could say its just apprehension..." he continues. 'Or I'm being paranoid,' he added to himself. "In the meantime I'm going to enter a nearby building and check if we can get from its roof to a building adjacent to Red Hall."

[Calimos]

"Alright. Good thinking Leng. Let's move out. You are not getting in any of these buildings alone. We don't know if it's safe so we do it together as a team. Come on", answered Marcus via microbead and gestured for the rest to follow, heading to Leng's location.

[Hemnon]

Jax follows the arbitor's commands, heading out with a sharp eye on anything suspecious.

OOC
'Arbitor' is the high gothic word for arbitrator, but much more honorific and aknowledgeable title to say when dealing with the enforcers of the imperial law (some worlds use it for every arbitrator, some only for those highly regarded, others keep it purely low gothic.

[huyche]

"Understood. Waiting for you outside. The building is a minute walk along the street in the left direction." He wasn't planning to charge headlong into unknown territory, obviously, but someone had to take the initiative in this situation.

[The Architect]

It doesn't take much time to find a still accessible entrance to the other building after a brief check of the run down hab block you make your way to the roof where you see the small gap between the buildings which can easily be jumped. From your guess the adjacent level of the other building is the level below the 13th Hall Penthouse.

The glass of the luxury hab block is tinted stopping you from seeing inside but it doesn't appear to be bullet proof at first glance.

[Calimos]

"Alright. We should probably break that window, then try to jump in there. See if there's a spare wooden or metal plank around, to avoid the whole jumping thing, if we can".

Marcus then reveals his trusted pump shotgun from the inside of his cloak and aims carefully at the window of the building accross them. Hopefully at that short range he should break it without a problem and a stray gunshot in Sinophia doesn't usually attract too much attention.

[The Architect]

You find a sturdy enough metal beam after a few moments of searching.

An instant after Marcus lines up his shot there is the characteristic shattering screech and the whistling hiss of descending glass.

On the other side of the glass a long corridor stretches out, a storage level below the main manse, with two large doors on either side of the dead end hall in clear view and the rest of the corridor further on shrouded in darkness.

[Calimos]

Gesturing to the rest to move the beam in place, Marcus reloads his shotgun, the characteristic sound of it chambering a shell, resounding in the rooftop. He awaits until the beam is in place, keeping his shotgun trained on the open window for any potential danger from the inside of the building, gesturing to Jax to take point as soon as the beam is in place and secure the immediate area, close to the window, ahead of them, intending to follow as soon as the guardsman indicated that there was no visible danger.

[Fair Cur]

Lucius watches proceedings with a mildly bemused look playing across his pallid features. All this "taking point" and tactical redeployment falls somewhere outside his realm of specialisation.

Awaiting a definite command, he slowly draws his autopistol, deftly checks the chamber, and stows his hand in his coat pocket, still clutching the pistol. He takes stock of his surroundings.

[Steilos]

There is absolutely no doubt that if Solomon knew about what might lie behind that door, he would get in. Even if it was impossible and to do so would bring annihilation at the hands of a daemon swarm, they would find him inside one day, just ambling about confused with his nose in a book that should just not be. Solomon Yeager: Heresy Hound.

...of course, as he knows nothing about this, he followed the others to the roof. Off in his own little tech-reverie, he is startled by the shotgun blast and quickly draws his lasgun, shakily looking around.

[huyche]

His thoughts wandering, adept leans against a wall nearby and lets members of the team better qualified for this kind of job take lead. Not even stirred by a loud gunshot nearby, Leng ponders over the most solid techniques he can apply for forging his credentials (and possibly for the rest of his 'investigation unit'), given the limited nature of options and tools he has at hand. He had seen Imperial Guard ID papers before all right, but will he be able to reproduce them?
Just some preliminary work to pass time. Leng tries to remember the correct seals used, the right type of paper for it, any real names of local officials whose signatures he'd have to fabricate, that sort of thing.

[Hemnon]

Jax quickly takes point. Slowly and steadily he walks over the beam, his trusty stormfront drawn. Reaching the windowframe, Jax quickly scans the area inside for any signs of hostility, him aiming down the sight, lasgun ready to fire.

[The Architect]

Leng:
Make a Routine (+20) Common Lore (Imperium) Test to know any specifics or names you might be able to use when forging identification. Add the degrees of failure or success to the test below when you make it later.

Later make a Challenging (+0) Trade (Copyist) Test to actually forge the identifications cards and papers.

As Solomon waves his auspex in front of the door he detects nothing beyond it, in fact if his auspex was to be believed magnetic, radio and light waves abruptly stopped existing about 3 inches in front of the clock work door. In fact if not for the space surrounding it Solomon was sure the spirit of the Auspex would attest to the space the door inhabited not existing at all.

When he later collects himself on the roof he notices Leng waiting on a wall and Lucious hanging back with his pistol.

Slowly Jax and Marcus make their way across the plank their weapons draw. As they step into the deserted corridor they hear a low rumble then before they can react and grinding metal noise followed by the slam of metal on the plasticrete floor.

On the outside Solomon, Leng and Lucious see metal sheets fall and cover the blown out window, and every window on that level.

On the inside the world falls into darkness except for the dozen or so metres of light that surrounds Jax and Marcus, emitted from the lumen globe marcus still holding.

Above them the pair hear the scuttling of several small things, from rapid tap of foot or claw, no larger than a dog. They pick out the tell tale signs of small service tunnels or ventilation shafts above.

Then more of the scape of limb on metal and the echo of the Manse external security's machine spirit


"++Intruders detected . . . zzzt . . . deploying counter measures ++ prejudice//: Extremis ++ welcome to house Haarlock://Our Condolences++"

Everyone:
Roll Initiative!

[Calimos]

"Throne of Terra!", exclaims Marcus. "I thought the place was abandoned but it seems that the nobles who hurried to leave Sinophia so long ago, made sure to keep any tresspassers out of their ancestral property. I don't think you need any instructions on this Jax. Weapons free. The Emperor protects".

Marcus raises his previously fully reloaded shotgun and awaits on full alert, ready to fire on anything that shows itself.

OOC

Initiative roll: [roll0] (+3 is from Agility bonus, +1 is from Paranoia).

By the way, do I know anything about the House Haarlock or about commonly used security countermeasures in estates of nobles, precincts etc? I have Common Lore [Imperium, Adeptus Arbites, Underworld] and Forbidden Lore [Heresy, Cults] if any of it is relevant.

[The Architect]

Marcus:
Make an Ordinary (+10) Common Lore (Underworld) Test and an Ordinary (+10) Forbidden Lore (Heresy) Test.

[Calimos]

OOC


Ordinary (+10) Common Lore (Underworld) Test : [roll0] vs 27 [Int (35/2) +10 since I have it as a basic skill]

Ordinary (+10) Forbidden Lore (Heresy) Test : [roll1] vs 27 [Int (35/2) +10 since I have it as a basic skill]

[Hemnon]

''No need for instructions, arbitor do you have a respirator? you do, then I'll suggest taking it on. The emperor protects, but thinking for yourself is paramount for survival.'' Jax replies and attaches his Gas-mask to his helmet, better safe than sorry.

OOC

Initiative: [roll0]+2=11. wow.

Awareness: perception 12 (25/2 untrained)+/- difficutly vs. [roll1]

[huyche]

'How inopportune.' Leng lets out a drawn-out sigh. Well, at least now he knows the answer to a question that was troubling him. This is what kept the local criminal elements from looting the mansion. But what is the extent of danger the present intruders are in?
Leng comes closer to observe the sheets and their locking mechanism in detail.

[The Architect]

Marcus:
Marcus remembers from his work with nobles that they tend to deck out their manses with armed security forces, which likely are long gone with the nobles who last lived here, and other support defenses which require little to no maintenance when not in use, such as automated turrets, combat servitors, etc

Other sources of trouble in abandoned manses you've encountered in the past while working with the Divisio is that pets, servo skulls and the like that are no longer needed or wanted are often left behind to die or go feral, that is normally only an issue for more recently abandoned structures in the case of animals but feral servo skulls can remain dangerous for decades if they are programmed well enough to know where to recharge.

[roll0] Automated Defenses.
[roll1] The things in the vents.

[The Architect]

Leng:
Roll a Routine (+10) Scrutiny Test or an Easy (+30) Tech-Use Test.

Jax:
You act first along with the Turrets.

Two rings of light appear on the wall before a moment later two metre in diametre panels push out of the walls to reveal a dual las-gun turret on each of the parrel walls.

As Jax acts they open fire on the intruders, firing on both Marcus and Jax.

Combat OoC:
Firing at Marcus on Semi-Autoburst;
(+10 Semi Auto Bonus, +10 Short-range)
Firing twice: [roll0] & [roll1]

Success + No degrees = 1 shot on target at Marcus.

Firing at Jax on Semi-Autoburst;
(+10 Semi Auto Bonus, +10 Short-range)
Firing twice: [roll2] & [roll3]

Success + 2 degrees = 3 shots on target as Jax.


A dozen las shots screech through the air burning lines across the plasticrete as only a handful arch towards their intended targets.

[Calimos]

Marcus takes Jax's advice, fastening his respirator in his face, when a hail of las bolts fly at their direction, by some kind of automated, wall-mounted, las-type weapon.

OOC

I believe I'm entitled to a Dodge test since it's a basic skill vs half of my Agility score.

[roll0] vs 15.

When my turn comes, I'll aim and shoot at the wall-mounted weapon, using a half action Aim and a half action Attack, with my pump action shotgun.

[roll1] vs 55 (BS 35+10 Aim+10 Close range)

Damage in case the attack succeeds: [roll2]

[The Architect]

Marcus:
You are of course entitled to a dodge. :smallsmile:

You are in short range of the turrets and a move action from point blank range by the way.

Leng:
Leng can't seem to figure out how to move or unlock the panel but it doesn't seem so thick that a few well placed shot gun shells or a good explosion couldn't tear a hole in it.

[Hemnon]

''Incomming fire!'' Jax yells out while he tries to dodge out of the line of fire.

Combat OOC

Dodge: Ag 12 (25/2 untrained skill) [roll0]. woho! epic dodge, 1 DoS.

Whether he dodges or not, Jax looks for any kind of cover, a chair, table... anything; and quickly moves behind it.

He then points his lasgun at the nearest turret and fires back.

Combat actions/rolls

Half action: move

Half action:Standard attack; BS 40 +10 close range=50 vs [roll1]: hits head.

Ammo Counter: 59/60

[The Architect]

Initiative Order:
Lucius
Turrets
Jax
Leng
Scuttling Things in the Vents
Marcus
Solomon



Combat OoC:
All damage rolls have total damage reduction included:
Turret Damage: [roll0]

Posted while you were posting so didn't see your damage rolls, I'll let you count this one since it's higher.

Jax Damage: [roll1] (Dodged other 2 shots)

Jax takes no net damage.

As Jax leaps to cover he dodges two shots going for his chest but the last one grazes his arm, he doesn't seem to notice as he returns fire, a single las rifle shot burning a hole through part of the turrets mechanism.

Marcus' shot gun blast is barely able to scratch the metal plating of the turret.

[huyche]

"Mister Yeager? Could you take a look at it?" Leng turned to the tech-priest for assistance.
"I believe our companions are in danger and being assaulted by now."

[Steilos]

'mister' Yeager marched over to the plates and examined them throroughly, trying to find out a way to get them open.

OOC
Tech Use: [roll0] vs. 78

[The Architect]

Yeager:
You recognise the blast plates from some work during your formative years, there should be a hidden handhold at the bottom of the plate that conceals a sigil to deactivate the plate, since the plates are also activated in the event of some other emergencies they must be easy to open safely as well as secure.

After a moment of the Lasguns pausing one of the vent access panels popped up and what can only be described as a synthetic flying infant leaps at your heads attempting to claw out your eyes! You recognise the repugnant creatures as Cherubim, but only in the loosest sense as these creatures are obviously descended from feral stock.


http://brennor.dyndns.org/~steve/Warhammer40K/Images/Cherubim.jpg

After a moment about a half dozen of the creatures are flocking at you screeching and scraping. Roaring for blood and meat.

Combat OoC:
Rolling to all-out attack Marcus:
Attack Rolls:
[roll0] at +20
[roll1] at +20
[roll2] at +20

Damage Rolls (Damage Reduction included):
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Marcus takes 3 wounds after reduction from AP & TB, since he has already used his reaction.

Rolling to all-out attack Jax:
Attack Rolls:
[roll6] at +20
[roll7] at +20
[roll8] at +20

Damage Rolls (Damage Reduction included):
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]


Jax takes 3 wounds after reduction from AP & TB, since he has already used his reaction.

[The Architect]

Combat OoC (Top of the Round):
Firing at Marcus on Semi-Autoburst in melee;
(+10 Semi Auto Bonus, +10 Short-range, -20 firing into Melee)
Firing twice: [roll0] & [roll1]

6 hits on Marcus.

Firing at Jax on Semi-Autoburst;
(+10 Semi Auto Bonus, +10 Short-range, -20 firing into Melee)
Firing twice: [roll2] & [roll3]

4 hits on Jax.


The turrets aim to fire on the pair inside again finding it difficult to fire into the haphazard melee combat that has broken out in the hall.

[Calimos]

Marcus curses loudly, the sound muffled and distorted by his respirator, and almost flinches as he's assaulted by the feral Cherubims, taking a few steps back, before leveling his shotgun at them, at point-blank range, sending a hail of shots in their direction.

OOC

Now I'm not entirely sure If what I described can work mechanically exactly as that, so I'll write it here, and you can adjust it accordingly or tell me that it is an invalid course of action, and I'll try to adjust my actions accordingly.

1) In case I can make a step back and be in point blank range of the cherubims, able to fire normally with my shotgun, I'll do just that.

BS test: [roll0] vs 65 (BS 35+30 for point blank range)

I think that for 2 Degrees of Success I get another hit, as per Scatter rules.
I'll roll damage for it in the OOC thread.

Damage roll:[roll1]

2) In case I need to perform the Disengage action first, which has a duration of Full Action in its description and then fire, I'll try to disengage first and attept to shoot at them upon my next round.

EDIT: Throne of Terra! It seems that whoever calibrated those wall-mounted lasguns made a fine job. The situation looks quite grim I'd say.

[The Architect]

Marcus:
Top of the round so you have your dodge reaction back. If you do go to Crit 4 then you take 1d10 levels of fatigue as las energy ripples over you.

You have grenades for the turrets? Also if you move away from the creatures without disengaging the Cherubim will get a free attack each. If you move though you could move into cover relative to the turrets.

Also don't forget you can spend fate points to regain wounds.

Combat OoC:
Damage, for dodging ignore the first roll first then the second etc.

Marcus:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

If Marcus does not dodge he will be at Critical 4

Jax:
Damage reduction for Jax includes 3 bonus AP from the antique wooden table he is hiding behind for cover, this cover is ablative so each shot that does damage to Jax reduces the covers value by one to a minimum of 0.
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]


If Jax does not dodge he will take 4 additional wounds.

[Hemnon]

Being in Melee with an ugly flying baby makes it hard for Jax to move about, so he tightens his grip on his stormfront lasgun and stabs out at the feral cherubim with the integral bayonet on the gun.

Combat OOC

Half action: Aim (+10 WS)

Half action: Standard Attack.

To Hit: WS 30 + 10 (Aim)=40 vs. [roll0]

Damage: [roll1]

[The Architect]

Hemnon:
I'll let you use a fate point to make that roll a success.

Also as fair warning before you decide 8 damage will kill these things.

[Steilos]

Solomon nodded to himself in a satisfied manner and reached down to the bottom of the plate, opening the handhold and revealing the sigil, which he then used to deactivate the plate. Upon the plate deactivating he draws his lasgun, stands very slightly off to one side to give Leng a look and points his weapon into the abyss, looking into the room...

[The Architect]

As Marcus dived for cover badly wounded by the barrage of las fire he looked back to see the metal panel shoot up to reveal Solomon Yeager standing on the metal plank looking rather pleased with himself.

The three cherubim that were attacking Marcus a moment ago, with their faces and hands covered in congealing blood, instantly turn their necks and stare half blinded at the new intrusion on their supper.

Then they grin revealing horrifically needle like fangs.

They lunge at Solomon screeching.

Combat OoC:
Cherubim Attacks (Charging +10):
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

Cherubim Damage (Damage reduction Included):
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Solomon takes 2 Wounds after Damage Reduction.

[The Architect]

Combat OoC (Top of the Round):
Las Guns Again:
1st Turret will fire on Jax & Marcus (must fire on Marcus first at -20 from melee or couldn't allocate extra shots to Marcus an easier to hit target):
Attack Rolls:
[roll0]
[roll1]

Damage rolls in next post.

2nd Turret will fire on Solomon Yeager (-20 from melee, +10 from semi-Auto, +10 from Short range):
Attack Rolls:
[roll2]
[roll3]

Damage rolls in next post.

[The Architect]

Combat OoC:
No Shots hit Solomon.

1 Shot hits Marcus & 2 shots hit Jax.

Damage on Marcus:
[roll0]

No wounds for Marcus.

Damage on Jax:
[roll1]
[roll2] +1 if the first shot does damage.

8 Wounds for Jax if he doesn't dodge, which will be 15 damage for him total bringing him 0 wounds but no critical damage.

Jax manages to lunge forward with his bayonet, skewring one of the tiny creatures, killing it instantly before it fell to the ground with a light thumb.

The Las turrets fire off and graze marcus while two shots hit home on Jax and burn the last of his cover to embers.

Behind them Solomon dodges the Las gun fire only to be attacked by cherubim a moment later, he swings his staff to little effect, with the horrific and gleeful creatures dodging his strike.

[Steilos]

The smile disappears very quickly from Solomon's face as he is beset by psychotic technobabies. He scrabbles for his staff and swings, clumsily dodging at the same time. As the lases hiss past him, he hisses in turn at Leng "Hurry up and get in here! I am NOT a decoy, you fool!"

[The Architect]

Acted so far (Since some have acted slightly out of order this round for simplicity and speed's sake):
Lucius (Has not acted, counts as delaying)
Turrets (Acted)
Jax
Leng
Scuttling Things in the Vents (Those attacking Solomon have acted, the 2 remaining attacking Jax have not)
Marcus
Solomon (Acted).

[Calimos]

Seeing the ferocious cherubims attacking in unison, Marcus raises his shotgun, taking care to aim before shooting, in an attempt to avoid hitting Jax, and pulls the trigger.

OOC


BS[35] + 30 for Point blank +10 from Aim - 20 for shooting into melee.
[roll0] vs 55
Damage roll: [roll1]

Potential damage rolls for additional hits:
[roll2]
[roll3]

EDIT: Thank the Emperor! A good roll at last. :smallsmile: I think it's 4 Degrees of Success, therefore 2 additional hits on the cherubims. Damage rolls were included and rolled above, just in case, and the hand of the Emperor guided my shot. :smallcool:

[The Architect]

Marcus:
The 3 attacking Solomon are at short range, the ones at point blank range are the 2 attacking Jax, so I assume you resolve that shot against the ones attacking Jax instead?

[Calimos]

OOC

Sure. Resolve it against them. Jax is also wounded and under fire from the turret so it'll be good to give him a brief respite. :smallsmile:

[The Architect]

Combat OoC:
The 3 Cherubim that were attacking Jax are now all dead.

From cover Marcus swerves and sees Jax catch a cherubim on a bayonet. He lines up the shot on the two feral techno-homunculi orbiting Jax and pumps the shotgun in typical action movie style before blowing the two creatures into a brown pink stain on the wall behind Jax.

[Hemnon]

Combat OOC

Dodge: Ag 12 (25/2 basic untrained) vs. [roll0]
Spends last faith point to regain: [roll1] wounds.


Being now badly wounded, Jax Moves to the nearest fresh cover. from there, if he only moved 2 metres, he will return fire on the turret.

Combat Actions/Rolls

Half/Full action: Move to cover.

Half action (if able): standard attack.

to hit: BS 40 +10/30 (close or pointblank range)=50/70 vs. [roll2]

Damage: [roll3]

Ammo Counter: 58/60

[huyche]

In response, Leng returns a 'I haven't expected less from you' look and peers into the darkness, trying to tell what the priest was aiming his gun at.

When a trio of vicious Mechanicus toys emerges from the window opened anew, he shouts: "By the Emperor, what are you waiting for? Close the damned shutters back, before more of these things come out."
'Fool? Look who is talking. No one asked you to open it and let these constructs out.' Still, adept saw a point in defending his psychotic team member and drew his own stub-revolver.
'You better start praying to Omnissiah that I don't shoot you instead of them by accident.' Leng didn't have THAT much practice with a gun, like some full-fledged arbiter would, but hoped that his natural knack for that sort of thing would suffice here.

Half-action to draw and half to aim.

[The Architect]

Initiative Order
Lucius (Has not acted, counts as delaying)
Turrets (Acted)
Jax
Leng
Scuttling Things in the Vents
Marcus
Solomon.

Jax:
You are at shortrange in a small metal alcove offering 5 AP.

Combat OoC:
Las Guns Again:
1st Turret will fire on Jax & Marcus (+10 from short range, +10 from Semi-auto):
Attack Rolls:
[roll0]
[roll1]

Damage rolls in next post.

2nd Turret will fire on Solomon Yeager (-20 from firing into melee, +10 from semi-Auto, +10 from Short range):
Attack Rolls:
[roll2]
[roll3]

Damage rolls in next post.

[The Architect]

Damage:
[roll0] Marcus
[roll1] Jax, rolling simply to see if the cover is reduced.

Solomon
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4];

You may all of course attempt to dodge as normal.

Jax's shot burns through the already damaged turrets casing, it seems another shot like that will take it out for sure.

[Hemnon]

Jax leans out from the cover and returns fire.

Full Action: Semi-automatic fire.

To Hit: BS 40 +10(Short range) +10(Semi-auto fire)=60 vs [roll0]

Damage: [roll1]

Per 2 DoS extra hits: [roll2], [roll3]

Ammo Counter: 55/60

[huyche]

Leng stands perfectly still, holding his breath, his revolver leveled at the cherub furthest away from the window, then three seconds later finally pulls the trigger.

Finish aiming for a full turn (started last turn) and shoot.

To hit: [roll0] vs 43 [33 + 20 (full aim) - 20 (target in melee) + 10 (close range? point-blank?)]

[The Architect]

Initiative Order
Lucius (Has not acted, counts as delaying)
Turrets (Acted)
Jax (Acted)
Leng (Acted)
Scuttling Things in the Vents (Acted):
Marcus
Solomon.

Marcus (Crit 1):
"A blow to the target's body steals a breath from his lungs. The target can take only a Half Action on his next Turn." - Energy Critical Body 1

Combat OoC:
The 2 remaining Feral Cherubim attack Solomon using Lightning Attack as a Full Action:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Damage Rolls in case they hit:
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]

Jax's shot is rebuffed by the turrets armour just barely as Leng fires off at a distracted little cherub.

It explodes in a spectacular display of gore and showers solomon in synth-flesh and organic debris as the round tears it to pieces.

[Calimos]

Marcus gasps, as his lungs are deprived of air, after the forceful impact of the las-bolt on the flak armour covering his torso. He glanced around, seeing his cover torn to shreds and saw that at least his comrades seemed to be handling themselves and the enemy creatures quite well. But this wall mounted turret was still standing, and tearing them to shreds as well.

With all the strength that he could muster, praying with his mind to the Immortal God Emperor to guide his aim, he managed to lift his shotgun to the turret's direction and pressed the trigger, hoping his shot would be enough to turn this lethal weapon into scrap metal.

OOC


Half Action Attack: [roll0] vs 45 [BS 35 + 10 from Short range]

Bah...no point blank range, no additional hits.

Damage roll: [roll1]

[The Architect]

Initiative Order
Lucius (Has not acted, counts as delaying)
Turrets (Acted)
Jax (Acted)
Leng (Acted)
Scuttling Things in the Vents (Acted):
Marcus (Acted)
Solomon.

Marcus:
There is another AP 5 Alcove at point blank range you can move to on your next turn.

As the shot slams against the damaged turret's armour it doesn't seem to disable it.

[Calimos]

Marcus:
There is another AP 5 Alcove at point blank range you can move to on your next turn.


OOC

I'll do just that. Thank for the heads up. :smallsmile:

[huyche]

'That certainly was... unexpected. So, thats one, and two more to go,' Leng concludes optimistically, encouraged by his perfect first shot.
With that he draws a bead on the next little abomination in line.
'We better hurry and end it soon, as prolonged gunfire has an annoying trait of attracting various unbidden guests.' Still, he didn't want to miss the mark and hit Mr. Yeager.

Take full aim.

[Calimos]

Marcus, seeing that his attack didn't seem to harm the turret at all, decides to move from his - now shredded - cover to another alcove nearby, running under the hail of gunfire that echoes in the dimly lit corridor. After getting behind cover, he raises his shotgun and shoots at the turret again.

OOC


In case I drop dead or incapacitated etc, the actions I described are, of course, invalid. In case I manage to make it to cover and then shoot, I'll do the relevant rolls here:

Attack: [roll0] vs 65 [BS 35 + Point Blank 30]

Damage roll: [roll1]

Additional damage rolls if needed: [roll2]
[roll3]

[Steilos]

What was so bad about this turret? It seemed to be completely ineffective. The cherubs on the other hand could go die in a fire. With a loud "HSSS!" Solomon tried to bring the metal staff crashing down on a cherub.

OOC

Attack - [roll0] vs. 35
Damage [roll1]

I-I hit something?

[The Architect]

Initiative Order
Lucius (Has not acted, counts as delaying)
Turrets (Acted)
Jax (Acted)
Leng (Acted)
Scuttling Things in the Vents (Acted):
Marcus (Acted)
Solomon.

Combat OoC:
Las Guns Again:
1st Turret will fire on Jax & Marcus (+10 from short range, +10 from Semi-auto):
Attack Rolls:
[roll0]
[roll1]

Damage rolls in next post.

2nd Turret will fire on Solomon Yeager (-20 from firing into melee, +10 from semi-Auto, +10 from Short range):
Attack Rolls:
[roll2]
[roll3]

Damage rolls in next post.

[The Architect]

Damage:
[roll0] Damage on Jax.

The turrets open fire on Jax, Solomon and Marcus but the shots just seem to go wide or skim off cover. Smoke and the smell of burning antiques fill the air.

[Hemnon]

Jax Shots at the last cherubim, if able.
Combat Actions/Rolls

Full Action: Semi-auto fire

To Hit: BS 40+10(Semi-auto fire)+10(Short range)=60 vs. [roll0]

Damage: [roll1]

Extra Damage per 2 DoS: [roll2], [roll3]

Ammo Counter: 52/60

[Fair Cur]

After a bemused pause following the gunfire and shrieking, Lucius steels himself, mutters a token prayer to the God-Emperor, and draws his wickedly-sharp bolo knife.

"I wonder, does this count as murder or poultry preparation? They really are vile little things..."

He charges, and swings a brutal uppercut at the shrieking cherub.


[roll0] (vs 40)
[roll1]

[The Architect]

Initiative Order:
Lucius (not Acted, Counts as Delaying)
Turrets (Acted)
Jax
Leng
Marcus
Solomon.

Solomon swings and brings his cane down on a cherubim, though enraged it clings to life.

Lucious rushes forward and puts a bola knife into the little creature killing it instantly.

A moment later Jax lets loose a hail of semi automatic fire on the last tiny beast killing it instantly.

Finally the last turret, the only opponent still functioning or alive, opens fire on the pair in cover, its machine spirit unable to comprehend how much the tables have turned.

Combat OoC:
Las Guns Again:

Turret will fire on Jax & Marcus (+10 from short range, +10 from Semi-auto):
Spoiler
Attack Rolls:
[roll0]
[roll1]

Damage rolls in next post.

[The Architect]

Damage:
Damage on Marcus:
[roll0] -8 damage
[roll1] -7 damage
[roll2] -6 damage

Damage on Jax:
[roll3] -8 damage
[roll4] -7 damage
[roll5] -6 damage

Jax takes 1 wound.

A hail of las fire descends on those closest to the remaining turret but it does little but chip away at the cover they hide behind aside from a flesh wound striking Jax.

[Hemnon]

Jax quickly retaliates against the final turret.

Combat actions/rolls

Full action: semi-auto fire.

hit: BS 40+10(short range)+10 (semi-auto fire)=60 vs. [roll0]

Damage: [roll1]

Ammo Counter: 49/60

[The Architect]

Jax's torrent of fire rips across the turret disconnecting power cables and melting metal, it seems to be still functioning but only absolutely barely.

Last turret is on 1 wound, other turret is destroyed, all 6 cherubim are dead.

[Calimos]

Marcus stays behind cover, breathing heavily through his respirator, as the las-bolts from the second turret pound the alcove, failing to harm him. He watches with content as the other members of the cell perform their role in combat with precision and efficiency, mentally noting the strengths of each one, in the likely case of another such situation in the future.

As soon as the turret goes silent, he rises from his position, moving to get in point blank range of the turret, raises his shotgun and fires.

OOC

Half action Move, Half action Attack: [roll0] vs 65 [BS 35 + Point blank range 30]

Damage: [roll1]

[The Architect]

Marcus rushes forward out of cover stopping abruptly two metres from the turret and letting off a blast of his shotgun into the near crippled, smoking turret.

There is a small explosion of sparks and scrap metal for a moment and then the turret is left in ruins.

Marcus glances back and sees the two doors he saw earlier again, flanked by las burn marked statues. Farther down the hall he sees a large pair of elegant wooden carved door, marked only be the carvings of skulls, a symbol of life and endurance in the imperium, and names. This door does not appear to be locked and neither do the other two.

[Steilos]

Solomon looks up from the dead cherubim, immediately heading over to the dead turrets and searching them for usable equipment. "Feral cherubim. This place's security system has definitely seen better days." Haarlock, Haarlock, Haarlock... Where have I HEARD that before... Solomon racks his brains for any kind of detail about this family he can remember.

As he rummages, he looks over his shoulder. "I don't know how you to got shot up so badly by these decrepit things, but we should probably fix that. Does anyone know a doctor in this city?"

[The Architect]

Medical Treatment:
Any Sinophia natives may roll an Easy (+30) Intelligence Test to find a doctor or hospital or a non Sinophia native can make an Ordinary (+10) Inquiry test.

Solomon:
You find some supplies in the remains of the turrets that may be useful for crafting items if you have any of the crafting skills

[Calimos]

Marcus unclasps the respirator from his face, leaving it to hang from one side only, as he leans for support on the corridor wall. Slowly he reloads his pump-action shotgun, while looking around to see the status of the other cell members. Thankfully they seem in much better shape than he is. He lets out a heavy sigh of relief, thanking the Emperor, in a whispered tone, for not letting his lapse in judgement affect the health and life of the companions he was entrusted to coordinate on this assignment.

"I'll probably need some kind of medical care after this one, and definitely some rest as well. Let's hope this was the full force of the penthouse's security countermeasures. The doors ahead should lead to the main chambers and while I might be still in some sort of shell shock to make an accurate estimation, they don't appear to be locked or barred".

OOC

[roll0] vs 65 [Int 35 + 30 from being a native of Sinophia].
EDIT: 2 Degrees of Success. :smallsmile:

[The Architect]

Marcus:
District VI (The Granite Colonnades) is the center of activity for most professions; gunsmiths, adepts, medicae practicioners.

With the dwindling buisiness in the city and the fact most of the nobility have medicae staff in house it will be difficult to get hold of a legitimate medicae before morning.

So what do you do now?

Map of Sinophia Magna:
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/e851e.jpg

[Calimos]

OOC


Since it may be quite hard - as you said - to find a proper doctor till next morning, I'd say to continue searching - very carefully of course - the rest of the penthouse, hopefully finding appropriate accomodation, so that the wounded ones like me can rest and we can all start modifying the place - as necessary - into a proper HQ.

[The Architect]

So do you go through the door on the left, door on the right or the larger doors at the end of the hall?

[Calimos]

Feeling a bit calmer, though with full acknowledgement of his wounded state, Marcus picks up his lamp pack and takes a few, slow steps towards the door that lies to the right of the corridor, examining it carefully for any handles or locks and pushing it slightly to see if it opens.

OOC


I think I'll try them all one by one. Let's say, the right one first. Hopefully I won't trigger another alarm / security countermeasures etc. :smalltongue:

[The Architect]

A creek echoes down the long corridor as the thick door is pushed open just enough to peer inside.

Inside lies a skeleton, draped in the finery of a high born, on what appears to be worn old feather cushion large enough to fit several people. Several injectors hang down from the ceiling and the walls are lined, no covered, with hundreds of vials of varying content, labelled with esoteric symbols and barcodes.

For a moment you think it might be some strange, horrific, heretical laboratory until you glance again at the finery and the fashionable elegant furniture. . .

A narcotics bank. . .

[Calimos]

OOC


I'll check the room for anything else of importance and then, since I don't think I'm quite qualified to discern if any of these vials has any beneficial medical properties, I'll go search the one beyond the left door.

[The Architect]

In the hand of the skeleton Marcus finds a Belasco Mark 1 dueling las of impressive quality, inlaid with gold filigry and several golden gear shapes. It is also fitted with a red dot sight. A gun so deadly it fell out of acceptance as a weapon for dueling, as it was said to make the duels "too easy."

It seems this man did not even get to fire before he was killed.

Best-Quality Duelling Las Pistol, (30m, S/–/–, 1d10+4 E, Pen 4, Clip 1, Rld. Full, Accurate, Tearing, Reliable, 1.7kg) with a (+10) to Ballistic Skill tests when fired on Single Shot.


http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/thumb/8/80/Belasco_Dueling_Pistol.jpg/300px-Belasco_Dueling_Pistol.jpg

Drugs:
The drugs include combat drugs and recreational drugs and pretty much as many drugs as a powerful rogue trader could gather. They aren't just for show.

[Calimos]

If Marcus had even the slightest doubt that he was inside a noble family's estate, this room would have scattered it away. What appeared to be drugs, of many and obscure types, adorned the walls and the clothes on the sceleton were more expensive than he could ever afford with decades of work in the Adeptus Arbites. And then the pistol...a handgun but not a simple handgun. A duelling piece, reserved for noblemen who wished to resolved slights done to their honour or other disputes of such kind among themselves.

And still, far from a mere duelling piece. Manufactured by none other than the infamous Belasco Deathworks Manufactorium of Malfi. His mind drifted for some time as he remembered an old investigation that had gone cold and he was reading about it in his office back then, while still under the tutelage of his mentor - Emperor bless him. Such a weapon was mentioned in the case file, and Marcus, out of sheer curiosity had searched further to trace its origins. He ended up reading about Malfi, that most dangerous of worlds and its noble families, locked in a shadow war of intrigue and assassinations. One of the most infamous Houses - for the quality, ingenuity and sheer lethality of the weapons it produced - was House Belasco, and the outstanding status of the handgun before him, was a proof of it, adhering fully to the philosophy that an accurate first shot negates any need for a second.

He took the pistol and after checking to see if it was loaded, put it carefully in one of his pockets, a large enough to fit it properly inside. This was truly a masterpiece, he marveled, even as he holstered it. Then he looked once more around and proceeded to try the other door, on the left of the corridor.

[The Architect]

The pistol is loaded as Marcus puts it away.

As Marcus walks over to the left door and opens it he peers inside to find an unusual sight within.

The room is larger than he anticipated, easily dipping into the floor above and below and seems to be perfectly spherical. A walkway stretches out to a machine altar connected to a pulsing blow pillar which reachs through the center of the room from floor to roof.

Just before the machine altar, which seems to be a cogigator input station you see a large basin that seems to be topped by a large sheet of perfectly smooth glass, which is in fact so smooth you originally take it to be water. As you open the door it hums with a green light.

The walls of the room seem to covered in power cables and cogigator blanks. Even without more than a passing knowledge of technology you get the idea that this place may power the whole manse, if not the whole hab block, though it seems to only just be waking up.

What do you do?

[Calimos]

Marcus is almost awestruck. True, he grew up in an Imperial World, but the wonders of technology was nothing he had a great familiarity with. A passing knowledge, as required to perform properly his appointed investigation and relevant duties but their innermost workings and mysteries were the sole domain of the mysterious tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Even though he was getting the feeling that the place was somehow responding to his presence and beggining to power up gradually, he thought that it would be better to refer to the cell's expert in matters of technology.

"Solomon. I believe that the contents of this room will be of great interest to you. An educated member of the Priesthood of Mars, as yourself, will surely be much more qualified to discern the nature and function of those machines and perhaps offer the proper rites to their machine spirits in order to awaken and utilize them properly".

OOC
I believe it will be much more safer for all of us if I refrain from even touching anything in that room, leaving it to the expert ministrations of our cell's specialist. I'll move on to investigate what lies beyond the grand double doors with the skull adornment, while awaiting for Steilos and the others to properly investigate that room. :smallsmile:

P.S.: Thank you very much for the great interaction and for conveying that fine feeling of a living and breathing world in the 40K Universe. :smallbiggrin:

[The Architect]

As Marcus pushes open the double doors he is astounded by the view before him.

A living area with a domed ceiling three stories up, surrounded by winding stair cases and walkways ringing the central space on each of the three levels.

The room itself is more that large enough to accomodate a land raider tank. On one side a round set of glass panels give a view of the entire city while a massive view screen fills the opposite wall. The main area is filled with luxurious arm chairs and a drinking cabinet or two. About a dozen doors lead off this room, four on each level from the walk ways that circle the main space. The walk ways are not full circles as they do not cross the glass wall that overlooks the city.

The dome itself repeats the patterns from the front door in more vibrant and colourful detail and the windows end in gothic arches.

Near one of the stairwells a uniformed skeleton has been left holding what appears to be an high powered las weapon. He seems to be running it off a las pack and again didn't fire before his death.

Weapon:
D’laku Hellgun (Basic, 100m, Rof S/3/5, 1d10+3 E, Pen 4, Clip 40 (With Large Power Pack)/12 (with Las Pack), Rld 2Full, 10kg).


http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRkSbG7kTUsDZ8zL7r2OJc1V4FQohNew 0OK2IIVhB3W2aBQwG63OZrzy_q3GA

[Calimos]

Marcus opens the heavy doors, almost leaning on them to push them forward and for a few moments just stands there, trying to take in the vastness and detail of the central dome before him. After recovering from the initial impression and regaining his composure, he starts looking around more carefully, examining the uniformed man with the exceptional las weapon, looking around for any documents or other important items perhaps and noting with great pleasure the fact that there's a huge set of glass panels, allowing perfect view into the whole city. Coupled with that view screen on the opposite wall, this place could make for a perfect strategy planning and briefing room, while providing them also with a nobleman's comfort and a very useful view of their surroundings, outside the penthouse and as far as their eyes could see, in the city outside.

Truly, this could make for a great HQ, not only for this mission but could also be used as a potential base of operations for other assignments as well, a place to serve as their hideout and home in between missions, where they could store equipment, lay plans, analyze data and even rest if need be, away from prying eyes and nefarious intentions. And the best part would be that no one would know of it. An asset of this magnitude, for a fledgling inquisitorial cell such as this, could very well be something of great import for their careers and the service they could potentially perform for the Imperium and their master.

Still, Marcus realised that he was probably getting too far ahead of himself, so he brought his thoughts back to reality. Seeing closer the weapon on the uniformed man, he turned to Jax and smiled.

"Jax, come over here. See if you can recognise this poor man's uniform and take a look at the weapon he's carrying. I'm sure a man of your training will find it most interesting".


He was certain that the guardsman would enjoy such a find. Then he walked away from the dead man and carefully proceeded to search the place and investigate one by one, thoroughly, the rooms behind each door.

[The Architect]

Glancing within the rooms on the first floor Marcus finds:

Armory:
Sadly the last few nobles who left this place seem to have taken everything from here when they left, leaving only empty weapon racks and dust. From the room's size you can guess that it likely once held enough weapons to arm perhaps a hundred or more men, armour and all.

Seconday Bedroom:
Inside Marcus finds much of the pomp and luxury to be expected from the chambers of a high born but it's the closet that seems most strange. It contains a greater variety of garments than Marcus has likely ever encountered, and likely more clothes than he's ever seen in one place. He also notices other such pieces designed for altering ones appeance.

Equipment from the large walk in closet can be organised and used as a Disguise Kit.

At the desk Marcus also notices old broken data pads, broken pieces of an old servo skull that seems to have just floated nearby till it fell to the floor and shattered, and an Auto-Quill.

Staff Quarters:
Within this large, mostly barren of luxury room, more akin to a corridor with many flanking rooms, are roughly 20 bunk beds with a max capacity of forty. The place has been stripped bare leaving only mattreses and a few bedside tables. The lumen globes in this section flicker to life as you enter.

Kitchen:
Again this room has been cleared out, leaving only cooking equipment and a handful of meals worth of gone off food. Again no more dead bodies here. You notice the lights are on in this room before you enter and don't flicker like those in the secondary staff quarters.

The kitchen is large enough to feed the many who seems to have once lived here, and also has long synthwood tables to house the many serfs and armsmen who once worked here. Likely the nobles ate elsewhere.

[Calimos]

After looking around the first floor, Marcus starts constructing mentally a layout of the penthouse, to help him memorize its various areas. He notifies Solomon for the broken servo skull, gives the Disguise kit to Lucius and the Autoquill to Leng, thinking that those items would be particularly useful for the specialties of his companions, then proceeds upstairs to check the rooms on the next floor, allowing the other members of the cell to conduct their own search of the penthouse and staying alert, should anything strange occurs.

[The Architect]

As Marcus reaches the landing for the second level's walkway he finds another skeleton in the uniform of the one near the lower stair well. In his hand he clutches a Carnodon with a silencer attachted, again when checked the clip is still full.

As you step over the body you find four more doors like the ones below. Within the one at which the skeleton lies is the master bedroom.

Master Bedroom:
Larger than the bedroom on the lower floor but lacking its immense closet, this room is obviously that of whatever noble lord or Rogue Trader last lived here. Above the massive beyond king sized bed, held up by a pair of gold coloured display hooks, is a massive great hammer with a built in force enhancer and an exterminator Cartridge on the non striking side in the shape of a dragon's head.

This is the only bedroom with a glass wall looking out on the city sky line.

Secondary Bedroom (2):
Similiar to the one on the first floor but again lacking the impressive closet. This room seems to have been used as a guest room and so is lacking in any useful supplies.

Laboratory:
Other than a sign on the door the room gives no indication to its purpose since it appears to be locked with a complex electronic lock.

Dining Hall:
This room is surrounded by trophies, bashed in skulls of xenos and humans and weapons so old as to seemingly not function or so perverse as to be better left alone. Proper study of these trophies will take time and effort to detect if any will be useful and safe as weapons or supplies.

The space itself is dominated by a long sable ceramite table engraved with a cog pattern again. One large luxurious chairs sit at the end of the table closest to the door with five more slightly smaller ones on either side of the table. At the head of the table sits a black leather throne, inlaid with gold thread to match the table.

Behind the throne, above the many trophies, on the backwall is a massive portrait, worn with dust, age and neglect, so that it only barely resembles the shape of a man, an almost black rectangle in a frame.


Weapons:
Westingkrup Carnodon Handcannon with Silencer (Pistol, 35m, S/3/–, 1d10+4 I, Pen 2, Clip 6, Rld. Full, Accurate, 2.5kg)

Good-Quality Monoed Great-Weapon with Exterminator Cartridge: (Melee, 2d10 I, Pen 4, Unwieldly)

[Steilos]

The servo-skull was interesting, yes. But the machine altar? Yes, this was the jackpot alright. Marcus may have just had a serious lapse in judgement.

Stepping up to the altar, Solomon does examine it for ways to get it working again(although to be honest the rites would probably work), but more importantly for a way to bend it to his will, although he does realise that that is probably not going to happen. Not without tools and a... little more knowledge, heh heh...

Oh, right, the skull. After appraising the altar he examines the broken servo skull for methods of repair, or failing that more salvage.

[The Architect]

As Solomon labours over the Machine Altar he is relatively sure he could reactivate both the whole power producing capacity of the plasma generator and reactivate the cogigator banks.

What he does find unusual though is that the cogigator banks and the plasma bank are much, much more massive than they would normally be for a manse of this side, or even a hab block of this size.

As Solomon then moves and looks over the servo skull he believes with a replacement skull and some parts from the turret he could likely reconstruct the skull to any one of a number of variations given sufficient time.

[Steilos]

Solomon frowned at this discovery. The thought of turning on a superweapon was salivating. The thought of being immolated by said superweapon, however, was not. With a resigned sigh, he left the room and sought out Marcus. But wait, there was one thing he could do first...
Heading back to the corpse of the noble in the drug room, he quietly removed the skull, stowing it away for servoskullhood. "Yes..." he muttered gleefully. "Serve the Emperor after death, why not? It's not like you were anything but a worthless addict in life..."

Having wasted enough time, Solomon tracked down Marcus and began his explanation. "Arbitrator. I can get the altar and its machinery working again without too much of a problem. It ties into what is essentially the power plant for the manse... But the thing is, it's massive. It could easily power several hab-blocks - possibly more than that. Did you see anything that could possibly use that kind of power?"

[Fair Cur]

As he ambles through the yawning, half-lit corridors, Lucius lets out a long, low whistle.

"Quite the place we've found for ourselves, it must be said..."

He scavenges what he can from the various rooms, snatching the Carnodon from the decayed hand of its former bearer. He also spends quite some time in the walk-in wardrobe, assembling a makeshift disguise kit.

If his demeanour could be summed up by any image, a child in a candy shop wouldn't be far off.

[huyche]

With the last of turrets disposed of Leng holsters his pistol and quietly follows the rest of the cell through the window inside.
The suddenness of the first attack and machinery's instant reaction to intruders left him ill-at-ease and so he stepped cautiously through the hallways, wary of hidden sensing devices, never letting his guard down.
Even though he had a rough estimate of magnitude of wealth an ancient Rogue Trader house such as Haarlock might have, the picture unfolding before him was no less astounding.
'Such wealth and excessiveness... Redirected to worthy purposes it really could make a difference. (And certainly advance the investigation into pattern killings for that matter.)' he noted to himself pensively.
But first things first. As he saw it, there were three immediate goals (in the order of importance): get a reliable entry point, that means solving the puzzle which was the gate, take care of Marcus' wounds and lastly, find the cause of death for the last residents of this place. He sensed that something was queer in the way they had died and he had no intention of ending up as another skeleton for new intruders to loot a decade later. A glitch in security system suggested itself, but seemed a too plausible interpretation of events that led to these deaths to be accepted without further proof.
Initially Leng intended to object against others disturbing the corpses but then decided against it as he would likely be in the minority that didn't want to pillage everything on the spot. Still, he gratefully accepted the auto-quill handed to him. It would definitely help with counterfeit credentials he had planned to forge.
'There will be enough time to conduct a proper search of it later.' With these thoughts Leng finds his way to the front door of Red Hall.

Leng will look for any way to reliably open and close it. Perhaps its as easy as pushing a button from the inside, but what about outside? He will apply Logic or extended Search if necessary.

[The Architect]

Leng:
Make an Extended Challenging (+0) Logic Test please :smallsmile:

5 degrees of Success before 5 degrees of Failure.

[The Architect]

As Leng looks over the door to the Red hall on the bottom floor, having made his way down through the Hab block noticing most of the other hab units were in varying states of disrepair, he spends a few minutes labour over the cogs, wheels and general clock work that make up the door.

After sometime he believes he sees a pattern in some of the smaller rings. After much careful tinkering he is able to move these eight smaller rings into positions to form a circular shape, with one ring at each point of the compass.

For a moment Leng believes his solution was incorrect when a thin red line appears in the middle of the doors. Leng pushes and large mostly metal doors slide apart into the walls as if they were as light as paper.

A gust of the night's air chills Leng's face as he catches a view of the Sinophian city street, still deserted.

[Calimos]

Marcus went through the rooms on the first floor, the magnitude, luxury and general architecture of the place never seizing to amaze him. That warhammer in the master bedroom wall seemed a true relic of ages past and Marcus thought it would be better to leave it undisturbed for the time being. Besides, carrying around such ostentatious and difficult to conceal equipment could draw unwanted attention and hinder their investigation in ways that would better be avoided.

He looked around in the dining room marvelling at the trophies on the walls and the strange weapons that were on display. Perhaps Leng or even Solomon would know more about them and they could research further on their function and utility. Then there was that laboratory room, at least judging by the sign on the door, but the lock was too complex for him to tamper with.

The others were already searching the place from the sound of it, and someone seemed to be calling his name.



Having wasted enough time, Solomon tracked down Marcus and began his explanation. "Arbitrator. I can get the altar and its machinery working again without too much of a problem. It ties into what is essentially the power plant for the manse... But the thing is, it's massive. It could easily power several hab-blocks - possibly more than that. Did you see anything that could possibly use that kind of power?"

Marcus turned around and saw the tech-priest coming towards him. Apparently he had finished his initial evaluation on the room containing the cogitators and strange mechanical devices. He listens for a moment to his assessment, rubbing his chin, while thinking.

"That is very good Solomon. It is truly your domain, blessed by the arcane knowledge and mysteries of the Adeptus Mechanicus as you are, to treat the machine spirits properly and re-ignite those wonders of technology. Now, regarding its use as well as were all that energy is diverted, I cannot be sure yet. There is a huge screen on the ground floor, that could be powered by it and there is also a strange glass device in the machine room. I will only urge you to use caution and extreme care while attending to it.

By the way, there is another room here, apparently a laboratory, if the sign on the door is accurate, but it is locked by a complex electronic locking mechanism. If it is not a burden, I would like you to cooperate with Lucius on trying to get this one open. It's not urgent, but I'd like to know as much as possible about this place if we are to claim it and settle properly in it. Also, there's a large dining room over here, with various peculiar weapons and xenos trophies. See if you can discern anything useful from it, when you finish your other more important duties".

Finishing his initial search of the first floor, Marcus continued up to the next one.

[Hemnon]

As Jax sees the Hellgun, his eyes lights up with eagerness and awe.

''Wow... this is a Hellgun, It's what the elite stormtroopers of the imperial guard used though it's not the same pattern. I think i will take it, better it be used than just lying there, collecting dust.'' He says and then grabs the weapon and it's powerpack. before equiping it, he checks it's quality and how many shots there is left in the powerpack.

After taking the hellgun, Jax then begins looking at the uniform of the hellgun's former owner, trying to dicern any relevant infomation.

[The Architect]

Hellgun:
The Hellgun is of common quality and has a fully charged las pack installed, giving it 12 shots in the clip.

Uniform:
To learn more of the uniform make a Ordinary (+10) Forbidden Lore (Heresy) Test or an Easy (+30) Scholastic Lore (Heraldry) Test.

Jax is able to discern that the uniform is that of a house guard or army and not of any Imperial guard unit or other imperial armed organisation.

As Marcus heads upstairs he finds a long corridor leading to a stairwell up to the roof and four more doors.

The Black Door:
The Door farthest from the stairs up to the third walkway is an utterly featureless black door with no apparent handle which looks like it is made of obsidian or some other black slightly reflective material. When Marcus touches it he gets a feeling of utter coldness, loneliness and dread. Marcus doesn't not see any way of opening the door.

Library:
It seems the massive cogigator bank was not enough for these people. Within this room is a library easily as large as the staff residence below and seemingly untouched by whatever overcame the manse. Sadly though the stacks of books and shelfs are organised, and using that word is a stretch, in such a haphazard manner that anything resembling an in depth inspection of the room will take a considerable amount of time and resources.

Office:
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/03/29/article-1261640-08DC3C2F000005DC-594_634x458.jpg

The office of the seemingly late Lord Haarlock contains a planet wide vox station embedded in the desk along with a personal cogigator and a drinks cabinet containing the finest amasecs and other alcohols. In the desk drawer Marcus even finds a container of Malfian Lho cigars.

The balcony fails to connect to any other part of the building but gives an open air view of all of Sinophia Magna and gives the feeling of a king looking down on his kingdom.

The White Room:
As Marcus enters the last of the doors what he finds seems particularly out of place. Even for this strange manse. A blank room.

As in a perfectly cubic room with no markings or funishings on all the walls and every wall, the ceiling and roof made of the same spotless white material. The room is bright and white but where even the light is coming from isn't readily apparent.

Marcus make a Difficult (-10) Willpower Test.

[Steilos]

Was this guy for real? Seriously? "To re-ignite those wonders of technology"? Did someone hit him on the head while he was making a speech and he got stuck in rhetoric mode? Ugh, whatever, at least he was moderately useful.

"I will check the weaponry first... They definitely sound helpful, and to be perfectly frank after seeing the rest of the manse I do not expect to find much of the way of sanity in the laboratory, so the weapons may be useful." Solomon vanished to the dining room and clsoely examined the weaponry there. Anything technologically advanced? Anything that an upstanding member of the Imperium really should'nt be wielding?

[huyche]

Now, that was one tricky puzzle. Who would have thought that a door designed to bar passage to various denizens of the Warp, if he was not mistaken, would have a lock based on the cardinal and ordinal points?
It really was just a sudden insight at first, a sort of 'what if this fits?' hunch, which grew into firm certainty as he worked the rings. Thank the Emperor the were no built-in security measures against clueless tampering with the lock.

With the gate taken care of, Leng checks that it can be easily opened from the inside if need be, then strides purposefully into the main living area to convey the good news. And not to forget to close that window they have entered from. Don't want any undesirables coming that way.

[The Architect]

Solomon:
With someman relics studying anyone will take time, studying all of them in even the slightest degree of detail will take months. Select one of the following or roll randomly, your choice. Keep in mind this is not an exhaustive list of the relics, just the first few that catch your eye.

13 of the trophies & relics:
{table]An Ork skull with two large mechanical eyes |1
A staff in laid with scroll work and golden filigree |2
A space marine with horns that stretch up about a foot high|3
A sable coloured sword with engravings that are difficult to make out in the black of the blade |4
A tiny skeleton of a rotund hominoid, clutching what appears to be a flagon |5
A large, oversized, organic looking blade, possibly made of bone |6
A single rust covered round, with a name engraved on it in red, the name seems to change every time the light strikes it |7
A single Las Power pack, mark only with the word "Drusus." |8
A silver medallion in laid with the symbol of the cult mechanicus with eight points running off it |9
Prayer beads formed from bones |10
A single white key |11
A monocle with clouded red glass |12
A Single Scarlet letter |13 [/table]

After checking the door Leng enters the main living area again, looking for his team mates.

[Hemnon]

Jax Tags along with Marcus, following him around the Manse with his newly aquired Hellgun ready.

[The Architect]

Jax:
Since you followed him into the White room then roll a Difficult (-10) Willpower Test.

[Calimos]

Marcus continues his trek upwards and realizes that the further up he goes, the more this place continues not only to amaze him but also to beffudle him. While a simple room or hab-block with proper sanitary facilities and a small desk and library would be more than he would need to live in and conduct his investigative work, while not being out hunting for contacts, interrogating suspects and searching crime scenes, still the sheer magnitude and excess of that place left him with strange thoughts and a small glimpse of the privileges certain important and powerful people in the Imperial society enjoyed.

Still his training and indoctrination were strong in him and being a man of the law he would never rationalize a wholesale plundering of such a place. It would be an affront to Imperial Law and a severe slight of honour against that Noble family. Then again, as the preacher used to say in the temple near the Arbites precinct, back during his training days, "The Emperor provides". It is true that they were in Sinophia to conduct His Holy work, they were dropped with only basic supplies and they would have to improvise and think on their feet in order to complete their assignment. And the Emperor - blessed be His name - provided indeed. Everything carries a cost and Marcus considered his heavy wounds as an initial price for this.

After all, he intended mostly to borrow the facilities of this place, for as long as this investigation would go on, keep the place intact - other than the damage caused to its security measures and perhaps, after closing the case and moving off world, bring it to the attention of his Inquisitor, with a full report of how they found it and what it contained. Maybe, after that, his master would compensate the noble family accordingly, provided they could be located and contacted, for that service their estate provided to the Imperial Inquisition, even without their knowledge. In any case, he'd certainly know of how best to deal with it. And if there was someone to bear the responsibility of this action and a possible punishment from their master, Marcus would not hesitate to come forth, claim full responsibility and shield the other cell members from any negative consequences.

As those thoughts coursed through his - somewhat tired and overwhelmed by the sights he had witnessed - mind, he sat in the grand office and retrieved the flask of finely aged amasec from his pocket. He looked at the flask, with his initials on it, a gift from his mentorupon his induction in the Divisio Immoralis. "Trust me you'll need this" he had told him, years ago. He took a sip from it and tried to clear his mind. After a few minutes, he got up again and continued his search.

The library seemed to contain a wealth of knowledge but its layout was vast anything but organized in Marcus' eyes. He clicked his micro-bead and spoke.

"Leng. I believe there is something up here on the 2nd floor that will certainly grab your attention. If anyone can sort anything out in here it'll be you".

Marcus moved to the other rooms, while waiting for a response. He recoiled from the oppressive black door, trying to regain his composure after the strong and grim feelings it imparted upon him.

As he was moving away, he noticed that Jax had come up, already equipped with the hellgun. Marcus smiled and nodded approvingly, proceeding to open the next door. Before him was a most strange room. A completely white room. It was lit though the source was not visible. It was peculiar and almost too clean and perfect for his mind to capture. He strained mentally, trying to find some possible function for this room, but nothing seemed to come to mind.

[The Architect]

Marcus:
What about the willpower test from the white room?

[Calimos]

OOC

See in the OOC thread. I rolled it there, since I saw it afterwards. Didn't read your post after your edit and so missed the WP test part.

[Steilos]

It's.... it's.... beautiful...

Solomon wanders over to the symbol of the cult Mechanicus with eight points running of it, examining every minute detail. Such amazing artwork, it was. The thought of getting a weapon was completely lost on Solomon as he examined the secrets of this place. He will find what those Emperor-loving rubes called heresy in this wreck! He will! He'll find things no other man was meant to see!

And he shall HAVE THEM. Oh, yes, he will have them. After all, what else could one expect of Malygris' chosen?*

*May not actually have been chosen by Malygris

[huyche]

Deciding to check that ill-fated room first, where the guardsman and the arbiter have been recently ambushed by the mansion's anti-intrusion system, Leng takes a turn for the stairs.


"Leng. I believe there is something up here on the 2nd floor that will certainly grab your attention. If anyone can sort anything out in here it'll be you".
"Got it. Whatever it is, I'll take a look at it as soon as I'm done here upstairs. Speaking of which, could anyone come and give me a hand with getting rid of the corpses of those nasty cherubims? Don't want them to start decomposing inside and stink up the room."
Of course, Leng's true concern was the possibility of more of these things showing up, while he is busy shutting the window, but he decided to omit this part.

Mostly unchanged, just reacting to Calimos' edited post.

[Hemnon]

OOC
Willpower roll is located in the OOC

[Calimos]

OOC


Forgot that we all have micro-beads. Otherwise I'd notify Leng (Huyche) immediatelly of the libraby I found. I can edit it in my last post or you can take it as granted and modify your own last post Huyche if you'd like. :smallsmile:

EDIT: Changed my last post to reflect the proper sequence of events.

[The Architect]

Marcus and Jax stumble back suddenly as the image of their torn and broken bodies dance before them after a moment they catch themselves, deeply shaken and having stumbled out of the room to close the door behind themselves.

What Marcus sees:
Marcus stands before his younger self, who holds his prized belasco pistol angled at his head.

"We both know how this has to end."

The burning hiss of a las pistol scorches through the air. A carapaced armoured form falls.


What Jax sees:
Jax looks up at the sky, the edge of red on the skyline as the lighter gases where vented into the void as the planet lost it's atmosphere.

Jax smiles down at Dominica, who smiled back up at him as she clutched her prayer beeds.

"We did good."

Dominica looked down again

"What do we do when it comes," she looks down from the grassy hill on which they stand "what do we do before we die?"

With that Jax levels his Hellgun at the horizon as a black shape arises over it "We hold the line," a sable sun rise and then. . . Jax and Dominica burn with all of Iocanthas.

Jax & Marcus:
You both gain 1d5 Insanity points, and roll a Challenging (+0) Willpower Test, on a fail you also gain 1d5 Corruption points.

Solomon:
Give me a Challenging (+0) Tech-Use Test or an Easy (+30) Forbidden Lore (Heresy, Adeptus Mechanicus or Warp) Test.

[Calimos]

Marcus - eyes wide and face drawn in shock - runs out of the room, trying to breath normally and calm his heart pulse. He takes another sip of his amasec and while still refusing to believe what he saw inside the white room, or possibly find a way to rationalize it, offers the flask to Jax as well.

OOC

Insanity points: [roll0]

Willpower roll: [roll1] vs 35

Corruption points: [roll2]

Hey! I passed my WP test. :smallsmile:
Also, Insanity points added to my character sheet accordingly.

Architect Only
Just to be certain that I understand what my character has seen properly, since I admit I got a bit confused and I'd like to be clear about it. Marcus walks into the room. He sees an image of himself - at a younger age - holding the Belasco pistol and a) commiting suicide, b) aiming at "older" Marcus and executing him, c) aiming and firing on another obscured and unknown, figure, wearing carapace armour?

As a sidenote, great one. Thank you again for the high level of quality interaction. :smallsmile:

[The Architect]

Marcus:
b) aiming at "older" Marcus and executing him

[Calimos]

Architect only

Thank you for the clarification. Additionally, if I may ask, did I see both my younger and older self when I entered the white room, which is to say, did I watch the whole scene (younger me killing older me who is clad in carapace armour) from third person or was I put directly in the place of "older me" feeling that I received the shot myself?

I'm sorry for pestering you with such questions, it's just that for some reason I find such details especially to my liking, regarding the general feeling of 40K universe and believe that they add significantly in getting that feeling along properly. That and a similar in nature but far more extensive in duration incident that I encountered in a Dark Heresy game with rl friends.

[The Architect]

Marcus:
You saw it from your older self's perspective.

[Calimos]

Taking a few moments to recover and make sure Jax is alright as well, Marcus heads up towards the roof, to continue his initial sweep of the estate, issuing an explicit warning, via his micro-bead, to the rest of the cell not to visit the White Room, nor tamper with the Black Door.

[huyche]

issuing an explicit warning to the rest of the cell not to visit the White Room, nor tamper with the Black Door.
"Why? What have you found there?" asks Leng with mild distrust.

It looked like no one was going to come assist him and so he takes the first, cautious step into the room with his weapon drawn.

Its the room where the exchange of fire with turrets occurred.
Edit: now with more color!

[Calimos]

"Why? What have you found there?" asks Leng with mild distrust.


"The black door seems to be made by a strange material, slightly reflective and conveying quite a grim sense upon touching it. Whatever lies behind it, I feel we should better let it undisturbed for now. As for the white room, I do not know what exactly it is, but it tends to mess with your mind in a bad way".

[Hemnon]

the sweat of fear runs down Jax's neck and his breathing is irregular as he grabs teh offered amasec bottle and downs a rather large portion of it in one gulp.

OOC

WillPower check: 40 WP vs. [roll0]

does this experience count as an 'normal' horror? if it does then Jax doesn't gain IP's, cuz he's Jaded (talent).

[The Architect]

Jax:
This does not count as a normal horror.

Leng:
As Leng enters the corridor where the shoot out occurs he finds nothing out of place through the floor is covered in bits of antiques, cherubims and turret debris.

Marcus:
When Marcus finally reaches the rooftop he finds a landing pad easily large enough to comfortably land a Valkryie gun ship and a large vox antenna for the manse. Aside from another astounding view of the cityscape he finds nothing else of note.

[Calimos]

Marcus stays up for a couple of minutes letting the night breeze chill him a bit. When he finally feels to be somewhat calmer, he goes downstairs. He opens the cell's vox-frequency via his micro-bead and speaks, his voice calmer and steadier than before.

"Initial House sweep complete. Roof has a strong vox-caster and a landing pad big enough to land a Valkyrie. Please complete the search each of you is conducting at the moment and meet me at the ground floor central room. We need to make a sum of what we know about the penthouse, what we do not know, what we can discover and what is best to be left alone for now. Then I'd advise some rest for everyone, most certainly me and by morning I'll need to see a doctor. After that we can start putting together the initial clues on our mission and decide on our next course of action".

[huyche]

"I see, thanks for the heads up, Marcus."

Taking a momentary glance at the shards and crocks of broken relics, Leng approaches the corpses.
The very fact of cybernetic flying infants' existence didn't sit all that well with him. It was something phantasmagorical. He couldn't explain it, but somehow they seemed even more sinister after being put out of their misery.

Still with a gun in his hand, he pokes the closest one with a toe of a boot, then, a little bit invigorated, grabs it by a limb less prone to come off and drags the corpse to the open window.
A good pull and a throw over the windowsill and vile little thing disappears in the darkness of the gap between the buildings.

After disposing the rest of the corpses in the same manner, Leng carefully observes the shutter. As he had made sure to watch Solomon's earlier manipulations closely, finding the small activation rune was an easy thing to do.
Finished here for the moment, Leng heads for the central room to meet the rest of the team.

Probably nothing of note in the broken antiques?

[The Architect]

Leng:
Not that you can Discern.

Solomon:
All you can discern is that it has some sort of regenerative power source as if it draws energy from somewhere.

Everyone:
So timeskip to morning? Who's sleeping where?

[Hemnon]

OOC
I'm cool with a timeskip.

Jax will occupy 'Secondary Bedroom (2)'

[The Architect]

Solomon:
Surveying the device in more detail you first believe it is some sort of complex battery until you realise that it must actually be some sort of conduit designed to bleed off some sort of nearby energy into the warp.

You also realise that any surge in energy transference would likely cause the wearer of the device to be affected by a varying amount of warp energy bleeding off back through the device.

This energy would likely have a corrupting affect.

[Calimos]

OOC

Been away for today for the most part of the day and that's why I've been so silent. I'm fine with time skipping as well. I'll probably take the master bedroom for my sleep.

[Steilos]

Solomon thought long and hard about the implications of such a foul device on his person, and what the bleedng off of warp energy must mean.

Two seconds later he shrugged and put it in his backpack.

OOC
Solomon will chuck the dead noble from his chair and sleep in the chair in the drug bank. Not, sensible, but certainly Solomon.

[The Architect]

Thought for today: 'All institutions are prone to corruption and to the vices of their members.'

900 hours - Terran Standard Time - Sinophia Magna - Sinophia

The 13th Red Hall


As the light floods the living area and rebounds off the amasec cabinets and view screen Marcus looks out through the glass wall over all of Sinophia Magnus, small cargo trucks and civilians mill about beneath and the city once again takes on some semblence of life, the first since they'd all arrived.

The entire team was arrayed around a small table, which seemed to also be yet another amasec cabinet. Each member was sat in a large luxurious armchair. Solomon, Marcus and Jax were looking little better but they had cleaned away most of the blood and bandages kept wounds from getting worse.

The meeting was discuss their findings so far, little as it was, before departing to meet a chirugeon who Marcus had once worked with. Whether he was still working and would be willing to help them was another question entirely.

What do you do?

[Steilos]

Solomon leant forward and began.

"So. We have a large base of operations here with a potentially limitless supply of power from the generator room. If only we knew what it actually powered."

There's a laboratory of some sort in here that might have our answer to that, but it's probably wise to go to the chirugeon first. I regret to report that an examination of the artifacts in the dining room proved fruitless, but I did manage to find the reparts to repair the servo-skull that Marcus found yesterday. That's all I have to report." He stopped leaning forward and rested in his chair. "What else do we know?"

[Calimos]

"Excellent. A repaired servo skull will be most useful to your trade Solomon, I am sure. The laboratory, black door and white room would be better to remain off limits for now. They will be mentioned in my detailed report to our master when things proceed with the investigation and we have something to report on our assignment. The place is also equipped with long range communication device and a landing pad big enough to land a Valkyrie like the one that was used for our insertion in Sinophia.

The contents of the Library will be most likely assessed by Leng and as for the machine room we still don't know the full extent of the devices it can potentially activate, given its magnitude.

I should head to the surgeon, to begin with, alongside Jax, for our wounds to be taken care of. Then - hopefully - I'll be able to go on and check the crime scene. Would you prefer to stay here and continue your respective research until we return from the doctor, then head all together to the crime scene or would you suggest a different course of action?"

OOC

If none objects I'll go to the surgeon alongside Jax and anyone else who wishes to join us. Then to the crime scene. To be honest I'd prefer going all together to crime scene, to avoid any potential complications regarding jurisdiction etc but I don't want to make you stay at the house and do other things till I'm done with the doctor, if you have another plan. :smallsmile:

[The Architect]

All injured:
To regain all your wounds, even with medical attention, could take weeks. You are very badly hurt. The chirugeon might try to coerce you into undergoing surgery to mend your internal injuries immediately rather than let you go to the crime scene immediately and you have no idea how long the Arbites will maintain your evidence.

Just thought you might like to know. Carry on.

[huyche]

Finished with the business downstairs, Leng takes the stairs all the way up.

'What was it that Marcus had said, "stay away from the black door and the white room"?'
The last door along the corridor was dark and monolithic alright and apparently was the 'black door', but which of the three doors led to the 'white room' Leng was supposed to leave alone?
He decided to take his chances and enter the room closest to the stairwell he just ascended.

~~~

Leng suppresses a jaw-breaking yawn, probably related to his lack of sleep this night, and proceeds to report his own progress.

"First of all, we no longer have to use the makeshift entrance on the ground floor. In fact, I decided to lock it back. The main entrance should be available now instead, as I managed to crack the code to its locking mechanism. I will show you the combination on our way out.

Secondly, I suggest we settle the matter of our false identities. I think I have a few ideas on how to convincingly forge the fake credentials, but still, these won't be able to fool a thorough check so don't flash them needlessly.

Thirdly, we should find out which Arbites Precinct is in charge of the investigation. After that some of us possessing a degree of familiarity with the inner workings of Adeptus Arbites would pay it a visit, introduce our investigation unit formally, declare our intent to assist them. I'm in firm belief that local arbitrators will be more than happy to get rid of the case and push it on to us.
Also, in all likelihood Adeptus Arbites own medicae personnel stationed there will be able to aid you with your injuries too, if your own search for professional medical aid proves to be futile.

Now, what do we know of this IG general?"

[Hemnon]

''I know a little bit about him'' Jax replies to the tech-priests question.

''From my own service in the cadian 85th shock troop regiment, I've heard that he used to serve in a bunch of different cadian regiments, more than 4 if i remember correctly.''

[Calimos]

"According to the information provided in the data-slate we received prior to our insertion, General Kaltos Barbosa, had served consecutively in the 77th through 87th Cadian Regiments. There is no definitive cause of death yet, more likely the blunt force traumas sustained allegedly from his fall. We know his last residence and it is currently sealed by Adeptus Arbites personnel. The body should be in the Arbites morgue by now and the only suspects so far mentioned are gangers. It seems that they think of it as a robbery that went wrong. If that is true we will see".

He listened to Leng's remark and nodded.

"I agree with Leng. We should notify the Arbites of our presence in official capacity here. If they have their own medical personel it would be good, since I would be able to review the clues and reports even while confined to a bed, being treated for my injuries. I doubt that they'll have the prettiest nurses around but going through the evidence and relevant data should keep me busy", he added with a smile.

[The Architect]

Leng:
So will you be running that whole flash back concurrent with this scene? If you are entering the Library I want you to roll a Routine (+20) Seach Test.

[Calimos]

"Now, if there's nothing else, I'll be going gentlemen. My recovery will probably take some time and the sooner I see the doctor, the sooner I'll be able to return full to the investigation. We'll keep in touch via our microbeads. There's also a vox on the roof if any other communication needs to be made. Stay alert at all times. Report anything strange and I'll do the same. The Emperor protects".

Marcus then walks out, making sure to learn the door's combination from Leng and waiting for a few minutes for anyone else that might want to join him on the way to the Arbites precinct.

[The Architect]

At the Precinct . . .
http://img.theplatform.info/rssimage/14766-0

The sounds of birds,
and the rest is silence . . .

The arbites precinct is in ruins, as if besieged and left to rot. Unlike the rest of the decaying city locales this place seems to have endured some cataclysm before is was abandoned.

The place has been picked clean, and whatever equipment or evidence remained to attest to the event has been removed. Even the fittings and equipment has been reclaimed with this skeleton of a building.

As you look over the building you realise that this place has been abandoned fairly recently as the decay and damage from vandals is minimal. A year of neglect, two maybe? Little more.

As you kneel over some debris, looking for clues a stern voice calls out from the empty, unblocked former doorway of the precinct. The main space is so massive without the divinding walls of it's former design that you can barely make out the man's features.

An Enforcer, the planetary law enforcement (http://sketchthing.com/images/xRiotCop.jpg).


"Who do you think you are? You know this building is condemned! Whoever you are, explain yourselves and get out of this building right now! Show some bloody respect!"

[Calimos]

Marcus looks around, almost unable to comprehend what could have happened. Did the Arbites HQ relocate? The data-slate on the mission mentioned Arbites guarding the crime scene yet the precinct was in ruins. How did that happen? Maybe his wounds were taking their toll on his mind as well...Then the voice came and Marcus looked up and started walking towards the man.

"Emperor's mercy. What happened to this place? I am Marcus Reinhart of the Adeptus Arbites and Warden of the Divisio Immoralis. I come from offworld and this was the last known location - as far as I'm concerned - of the Arbites precinct in Sinophia Magna. What happened here enforcer?"

As he got closer, Marcus retrieved his leather wallet from his cloak's pocket and showed his Arbites ID and badge to the enforcer.

[The Architect]

"Oh,"
Marcus knows that Enforces tend to intensely dislike Arbites, for stepping on their toes in regards jursidiction, but Marcus also knows Enforcers fear and dread the more forceful violent methods of the Arbites just as much, also this one seems quite young.


"I didn't realise Arbitor, well about a year ago there was this terrible incident with some cult, hundreds dead in the end. The Inquisition itself, I swear to the God Emperor, arrived on the scene. Most people think they did as much harm, the Frakken Groxheaded lunatics. The cult was a odd one too, some tech priests of something gone renegade doing horrible genetic experiments on men, making monsters I heard. The Empty Men incident or some such. A horror story like something out of the vox vids. I joined up not long later.

The Arbites are based out of Haarlock's folly* nowadays, that old tower people say is haunted or some such, Nobs thought it was frakking funny to throw the poor bastards in their after this place got wrecked. Not sure I agree, but with those frakking Mandato* around I ain't exactly going to step out of line.

What's your business coming back? Why'd you bother?

Info for Sinophian Natives*
Haarlock's Folly:
Haarlock’s Folly is a tall spire-topped tower that sits on the edge of the city of Sinophia Magna. Built by the infamous Haarlock Rogue Trader line, it has been deserted since Erasmus Haarlock disappeared. It has since been taken over by the Adeptus Arbites as a temporary headquarters following the destruction of the precinct fortress. It had previously been thoroughly looted, and its grand rooms, cellars, and internal spaces have been subject to conversion to the small Arbitrator force’s basic needs.

Mandato:
The Mandato are a division of Sinophia’s Enforcers that function as a secret police force under the direct control of Enforcer General Xiabius Khan. Few in number, the Mandato enjoy a position of unquestioned authority and the ability to indulge any viciousness they please so long as it does not conflict with the agendas of Enforcer General Khan or the ruling nobility.

[Calimos]

Marcus listened carefully to the young Enforcer, nodding his head and still trying to figure how all that mess had happened. Even when he was told, he could hardly believe it. But then again, after the Inquisition leaves a place on the wake of an operation rarely do things remain as they were.

Suppresing a grin and raising an eyebrow at the mention of the Haarlock name, Marcus answered back.

"Thank you enforcer. I'll make sure to head for that new HQ then. As for my reasons for being here, let's just say that I used to call Sinophia home once and now professional reasons have brought me back. Specifically a murder of a high profile individual not two days ago. I don't want to tire you with the details though. It seems that I disturbed you enough by interrupting the silence of this place. Never forget though that the Inquisition is watching. It wouldn't do much good to speak of them in such a way, now, would it. In any case what happened here is lamentable indeed. But we must move on".

Marcus looks reassuringly to the eyes of the younger man, gripping his shoulder.
"You look like a decent man. So I'll tell you this. I've been in the gutter of society once and the Emperor's Guiding Light brought me to His service. I've seen corruption festering in Sinophia and elsewhere but we must remain vigilant, carry out our duty and enforce the Emperor's Law and Justice. Stand tall and proud in your duty and know that all He asks of you is this. Do your duty to Him and to the Imperium. The Emperor protects".

As he starts to make his way out, Marcus looks over his shoulder and asks one last thing. "You wouldn't happen to know if the new HQ has a medical facility inside, would you?"

[The Architect]

The Young enforcer grins and almost laughs


"Not unless you're a corpse, they've only got a morgue, no medical facility in that place."

[Calimos]

Marcus grins a bit, avoiding laughter due to the pain in his chest.
"Good, good. I'll just go see my own physician then, if someone didn't blow his place up that is. Thank you for the informative discussion Enforcer. Mind if I asked you your name?"

[The Architect]

"The name's Tyrion, Tyrion Drusus,"

He smiles and walks away, when just barely within earshot he stops and looks back saying



"You take care now stranger, stay out of trouble, yeh hear?","

and with that he disappears back into the drab, grey, gothic streets and the early morning haze.

[Calimos]

"Nice meeting you Tyrion. I'll do that. Take care as well".

Marcus walked outside, opening the frequency of the cell via his micro-bead.

"Arbites precinct location is changed. Former one destroyed after a serious incident, in which a tech-priest cult and an Inquisitorial team were involved. New one is at Haarlock's Folly. Leng should know the location. The morgue is in the new HQ. I'll head to a doctor I used to know back then and will contact you again. Reinhart out".

Then he made his way towards the last known location of the doctor he knew from his younger days in Sinophia.

[The Architect]

-------------------- Some time later --------------------

Finding the old chirugeon's den was not particulary difficult, nestled as it was in one of the few places in the commericia where the city might be considered to be bustling. The Chirugeon's typical fare was the middle class workers, such as the enforcers and arbitrators, and so he had little need to make him self known. When he was needed, they came to him.

As Marcus passed through old wooden doors engraved with the scarlet winged helix of Medicae he was assailed by the myriad smells and horrid odours of the chirurgeon's little world.

Just beyond the doors was a stair well, and down that was a waiting room filled with old arm chairs that smelled of blood and smoke, and a flickering vid box.

Marcus glanced about the oversized living room like space and found it empty save for a few small children bickering at the feet of a middle aged woman. After a few minutes he appeared. (http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/169/5/9/mr_plague_doctor_by_oomizuao-d3j95jy.jpg)

He wore the traditional raven's mask of a Sinophian Chirugeon, and the equally traditional black attire. He gave off an air of an wisened old man but was in truth only a few years older than Marcus. In fact with his ease of access to revivications treatments Marcus would be surpised if under that mask he looked a day over twenty, unless he had chosen to age gracefully so far.

The man passed the woman without a glance and circled around Marcus surveying him, half like a curiousity, half like a slab of meat, every moments the lenses of his mask clicking as they auto-focus on Marcus' injuries


"Marcus. . . "
he circled around again and you couldn't tell if it was anger or curiousity in his voice


"Marcus. . . Reinhart. . ."

Then suddenly the Doctor lunges forward, Marcus without thinking brings up his arms in defense only for the doctor's hands to slip beneath them. He grabs marcus by the stomach and lifts him in a bear hug despite the doctor's slight build and lets out a cheer. When he finally lets you down he speaks like the old friend he is meeting you for the first time in years


"God Marcus, doesn't matter how old you get or how many bloody times I tell you to look after yourself, you always wind up finding a way to get yourself shot, or stabbed or God-Emperor knows what! You'll be the bloody death of me, ye' hear?"

he motions for you to follow him and he leads you into a large white room filled with esoteric medical texts and devices, many covered in litanties to the Emperor in both his guises as the Omnissiah and as the God-Emperor. He motions for you to lie down on a cushioned slab and after you do it begins to bend and rotate as medical servo skulls and equipment orbits you.

"You're not bloody bullet proof ye' hear?! Or las bolt proof as the fact you smell liked roast grox meat seems to indicate. It's an improvement on your natural musk I must admit."

levity still fills his voice as he speaks

"Mostly las burns, some are pretty deep though, you most have some luck that none of them hit major organs, a few did some internal damage that you'll need surgery and some bed rest afterwards to recover from."

he waves a modified auspex over you and his lenses auto focus again with a click

"You know after your last disappearance I thought you and Dawn wouldn't becoming back, I always assumed you two had run off together or some such nonsense. Doctor Black, no one cares about him, no one keeps him apprised of whether his friends are dead somewhere. I was rather annoyed that I wouldn't get to do your autopsy. I'd been looking forward to it, I was wondering if you had some biological property that generated dumb luck."

used to his sarcastic comments and general friendly, in his own way, demeanour you let Doctor Oliver Black do his initial scans in peace

"I'd say we're looking at two weeks of recovery minimum, but it could be much longer depending on how tissue grafts take and whether you need genigeered organ replacements. You know I'm not cheap, are the Arbites still footing the bill? It's fine either way, I'll keep the interest as low as I can, pay when you can. I'd rather you out there anyway. Nowadays I need you out there getting shot, need the business."

he puts down some of his apparatus as he puts on his auto-multi lenses to look over the wounds in more detail in different spectrums of light.

"Where did you and Dawn run off too?."

Marcus:
Dawn is the younger gang girl you mentioned to me.

[Steilos]

Solomon opened his comm bead to recieve the message then shut it off and chuckled to himself. Serves the stuck-up pig right. He'd have to follow up on that cult later, search for survivors... because that incident sounded hilarious. Perhaps he could ask Marcus about it later, if he could keep a straight face.

Where was he? Oh, right. Solomon was working away feverishly on a servo-skull, aiming to create a useful tech-assistant who could help him with that lab door. And later he would search the manse for any kind of tech tools he could find, something to help him in his work. There had to be some around here, what with the giant power plant and all.

[The Architect]

Solomon:
Will you be trying to get into the lab for additional supplies? If so roll security, I won't say what difficulty.

If you're trying to rebuild the skull first give me a Difficult (-10) Tech-Use Test, and tell me what type of skull your building, give more than one idea incase you don't have the parts. The core book has some skulls I think.

[Calimos]

"It's damn good to see you again old friend", Marcus responded, hugging the doctor, as much as the pain in his body allowed him to.

"You know my stubborness and stupidity as far as getting into trouble and not getting out unless I get a few good scars, Oliver. Being in the Emperor's service only worsened my condition of defiant recklesness. And well, upon returning to my homeworld it seems like I couldn't miss the chance to scrap myself some more. Bah...as long as the Emperor keeps me breathing I'll do whatever it takes. And be sure that you and your unsurpassed medical expertise will be there to patch me up", he added with a chuckle.

When Dawn's name is mentioned, his eyes seem to shine for a fleeting moment, losing their focus, his mind drifting away, only for a sudden sadness to overcome him and make the look in his face grim once again. He takes a deep breath, as if trying to free himself from a great burden, then turns and looks at Oliver's eyes.

"Dawn...Emperor's grace...she was the best thing that happened to me in that forsaken underworld. No, I didn't ran off with her. Not that I didn't want to or that she would refuse. Emperor knows I wished that with all my heart, but where I ventured she couldn't follow. She'd been through enough ordeals already. My last action before I left Sinophia, as an Arbites cadet - you surely remember how I looked in that uniform back then - was to find a proper family for her. Decent, honourable people, some of the few good merchants that lived in Sinophia by that time. They didn't have children of their own at their youth, and promised me to take care of her as best as possible. They owed me for taking care of the crime bosses that extorted them back in the time. I pray every day to the Emperor that she's still ok. Hopefully she'll have moved on with her life, a true lady by now. No need for her to be troubled anymore by the likes of me".

Marcus took another deep breath.
"Forgive me friend. Sometimes I'm too hard on myself. Truth is that nothing would make me happier than to see her again, but if you say you haven't seen her since then, maybe that'll have to wait. In any case, I should be off conducting a crime scene investigation and assorted report and suspect assessment by now, yet as you see, I'm in need of your ministrations once again. I think you should get started. The sooner I'm out of here the sooner I can get back to my duties. I'll make sure to make this worth your while. My superiors will hopefully take care of the bill, if not, I'll see to it myself as soon as possible. Just so you know, my team will be notified about this location, so that they can come find me and fill me in on the ongoing investigation, bring me the reports to read etc. They're a stranger bunch than I used to worked with back at the time, but I believe they'll be ok. Just keep an eye on the tech-priest if he comes around. He's an odd fellow. One of them is a native as well, maybe you'll remember him. His name is Leng Havelock, worked as a Verispex for the Arbites".

With that, Marcus clicked his microbead, stating his purpose of staying there to receive full medical attention, notifying them of the doctor's location and asking them to bring him any material relevant to the investigation, after they go to the crime scene, talk with the Arbites and examine the body. Then he turned to the doctor again.

"Let's get started then Oliver. Shall we?"

[Hemnon]

Jax followed Marcus out the door, down to the Arbitrator headquarters in silence.

After leaving the Ruin of a building he still followed Marcus to his old doctor, But quietly waits for his return in the waiting room.

OOC
Hope it's oki that Jax followed marcus, I totally forgot to check the forums yesterday, otherwise i would have posted earlier. sorry.

[Calimos]

OOC

No worries on my behalf. I expressely stated that I'd wait for anyone who wanted to come with me, to indicate that I'd be fine if anyone wanted to come along. I think Jax also intended to visit a doctor to take care of his wounds so it's only logical for him to come along. :smallsmile:

[The Architect]

Oliver turns back, and is tall form and spindly fingers comes to a frozen stop.

"I thought. . . but she hasn't. . . um yes a lovely couple."

Doctor Black does an unusual thing at that moment, after you saying Dawn didn't go off world with you, something you've never seen him do so quickly.

He shuts up.

After a moment he begins hurriedly preparing a more permanent place for you.

Extended Care Medicae Tests:
Marcus: 0/11 Wounds; Crit 1.
Medical Care: Good-Quality (Trained Doctor), Cost: 150 Thrones per day.
Doctor Black: Medicae Skill +10, Int 50.
Week 1: [roll0] vs. 60
Week 2: [roll1] vs. 60

Jax:
Is Jax leaving the crime scene to just Leng, Solomon and Lucius?

Leng & Lucious:
Are you going to the crime scene now?

[The Architect]

Further Extended Care Medicae Tests:
Marcus: 1/11 Wounds;
Medical Care: Good-Quality (Trained Doctor), Cost: 150 Thrones per day.
Doctor Black: Medicae Skill +10, Int 50.
Week 3: [roll0] vs. 60

[Hemnon]

OOC
Yes, Jax leaves the crimescene for the other 3. Being badly wounded doesn't really make for a good protector. heal first then supervice when the body is in full functionality again:smallsmile:

[Calimos]

Marcus looks up to the doctor as he begins his preparation for the surgical operations.

"Why so silent all of a sudden Oliver? Silence does not become you my friend. Are my wounds much worse than you initially estimated or is it something else?"

[The Architect]

Doctor black looks up from his work

"No, no. . . Nothing like that. . . I don't know how to tell you this Marcus but. . . Dawn. . .Dominica, she didn't stay with that family for long, I assumed you'd left together. I don't know where she is now. . . I assumed she left I mean. . . I never heard a report about a. . . a . . . I never heard of her turning up again. I haven't heard from Dominica Snow in years."

He tries to go back to his work.

Further Extended Care Medicae Tests:
Marcus: 10/11 Wounds, Lightly Wounded, 21 days so far under medical care;
I'll assume Marcus merely rests to gain that last wound back, saving 150 Thrones.

Jax: 4/15 Wounds, Heavily Wounded, 0 days so far under medical care;
Medical Care: Good-Quality (Trained Doctor), Cost: 150 Thrones per day.
Doctor Black: Medicae Skill +10, Int 50.
Week 1: [roll4]vs. 60
Week 2: [roll5]vs. 60
Day 15: -- vs. 60

I'll assume Jax just rests for the last day to regain your last 3 wounds.

[The Architect]

Medicae Results:
Sorry about the confusion with deleting rolls, turns out you heal faster than I initially thought, which saved you a week or two of thrones and time but rather than reroll it I just used the rolls I'd made. Had to delete the later unneeded ones.

Jax:
Jax spends 14 days in the Chirugeon's office, before spending a day recovering and letting his new synth flesh grafts settle at the 13th Red Hall. He runs up a bill of 2,100 Thrones with an interest rate of 10% per annum.


Marcus:
Jax spends 21 days in the Chirugeon's office, before spending a day recovering for a day at the 13th Red Hall. He runs up a bill of 3,000 Thrones with an interest rate of 10% per annum.

[Calimos]

Marcus looked up again as the doctor managed to utter a response at last. He grabbed him by the hand, as he lay in the operating table.

"You knew her full name Oliver? You knew she left the family I arranged for her and you didn't try to notify me? Why? A message through the Arbites precinct could have reached me. I was in Scintilla since then in a special Divisio but a message from Sinophia, especially of such urgency could have reached me. Did you ask her foster parents if she told them anything before she vanished? Was a missing person report filed by them? Did the enforcers find anything? Any reports on who left the city or the planet during that time?"

Then Marcus released his grip suddenly, his face turning to the side.
"I'm sorry my friend. The sorrow overcame my sense. What was I thinking back then and what am I thinking now. She was a free soul and an adventurous one, not to be bound by social norms and after living as a ganger certainly not that eager to fit in a normal lady's life. Dawn...Dominica...always special..."

He looked at the doctor again. "I came to Sinophia for business. Now it seems I have something personal to take care of as well".

[The Architect]

"If I had known she wasn't with you I would have I promise, I spoke to her adoptive parents not long after, she said one day she just got some letter, and then she left. I guessed it was from you. I'm sorry Mark, I truly am,"

He places his hand on your shoulder and gives you a moment of solemn silence.

[Calimos]

It has been a long time since anyone called him by his nickname, "Mark" the one he used to have in the underworld of Sinophia. For a moment, his eyes travelled down his naked torso, the tattoos that decorated it almost coming to life, mocking him about his choices and the consequences brought upon him. The Doc's hand on his shoulder had a calming influenc. Doc Oliver was a good friend and Marcus didn't doubt his sincerety.

"I know you would my friend, I know you would. Truth is though that I never sent her a letter. Maybe her foster parents still have that letter. Who knows...in any case I'll pay them a visit, when I get better, if they still live here. Damn and there's that investigation that has to be taken care of as well. Let's hope the expertise of my team will be enough and they'll keep me updated on its course".

[The Architect]

Everyone:
So. . . Leng, Solomon and Lucious are heading to the Crime Scene right now?

Jax and Marcus are healing up, but do you want to do Marcus' scene at the house of these parents right now while the others do the crime scene scene?

[Hemnon]

OOC
Jax will follow Marcus about... unless ordered not to.

[Calimos]

OOC

I'd like to do that scene if possible, otherwise I'll be pretty much unable to do anything, given that I'm at the "hospital" recovering from my wounds. And we could perhaps exhange info on the investigation conducted by the others as each one does his own scene, assuming that all relevant info would be relayed via micro-bead or perhaps brought to me in the "hospital" to check it. Maybe I could show the autopsy etc to Doc Oliver as well and he could see if it's carried out properly if there are any obvious faults etc.

[The Architect]

-------- The following events take place 23 days after Marcus' last scene --------

When the cargo hauler finally comes to an abrupt stop the whole vehicle shudders and you step out in to yet another down pour. As Jax checks his Hellgun is his bag Marcus nods to the trader who gave them the lift and watches as the ancient machine rumbles away.

Before is a relatively small hab block, the sounds of the falling rain on metal and concrete is intense enough that Marcus has to speak up to tell Jax that this is the place. The pair step inside and give the front room of the store a glance. Mostly quality food stuffs and a few fire arms, nothing all together too fancy but Marcus' notices that like the rest of the city this business is in a downwards spiral. It seemed a lot more vibrant when Marcus was last here.

Marcus and Jax are about to leave, assuming the dimmed lights and absence of customers meant the store was closed when finally they noticed the unkempt late middle aged man at the counter. His clothes were dishevelled and he smelled of the amasec he had spilled on the counter as he poured the shot full that he now held in his hand.

He motions to two stools in front of the shop counter as you notice him. His eyes and sluggish motions show that he is not holding his first drink of the night.


"Brought out the chairs for yeh boys.. ugh... Butcher Black told me you'd be coming, asking things, thought I'd be a help.. brp. . . no one else here to answer yeh questions anyway. . . so? What brings you back to the **** hole I call home?"

Marcus:
You recognise the man as Reginald Felps, the husband of Merranda Felps. He's the husband of the couple you left Dawn to.

[Calimos]

As they arrived at the place, Marcus gave Jax a friendly pat on the back. "You're a good man Jax. Thank you for coming along and watching over me while I recovered back there. I know you were injured too, but your wounds were lesser and healed faster. You could've left but you didn't. That is a good sign. Now let's go inside".

Marcus greeted the man warmly, shaking his hand.

"It's good to see you after all these years Mr. Felps. Here is Mr. Jelorax, a trusted companion of mine in the Emperor's service. I hope you're still in good health. How's Merranda, your wife? I came to Sinophia recently for professional reasons, but I had a talk with Doctor and thought to drop by and see how you were doing. I was informed that Dawn, Dominica as her proper name is, has left your family quite some time ago, after my own departure. Doctor said you told him she received a letter back then and she left afterwards. Could you tell me more of what happened back then? Did you keep that letter perhaps or ever learnt of its contents?"

Marcus paused for a moment, looked deeply in Reginald's eyes and continued.
"I know it's a lot to ask sir, after those years but believe me, I always wanted what I thought was best for Dawn. Any information you may think might even be unimportant could be crucial to me, sir. Dawn meant the world to me, Mr. Phelps. I'm going to find her and Emperor help me, hold on to her this time, if I can".

[Hemnon]

''There's no need to thank me, Arbitor. I have orders to serve under you... and by holy terra, i will follow the orders i'm given.'' Jax replies in a solid neutral tone. He gives a light nod towards the man he gets introduced to by Marcus, but otherwise remains stationary in silence.

[Steilos]

Solomon takes out his laspistol and tries to attach it to the mess in front of him. After it is done, he strolls nochalantly over to the drug bank and acquires the dueling las, having found it when he made the place his bedroom.

Probably best not to tell the others about that.

[The Architect]

Mr. Felps pulls out the sort of scarlet letter you recognise and slams it down on the wet table.


"Merranda. . . "

He whispers her name with drunken dispair

"Merranda. . . "

he says with a note of anger

"Merranda!"

His voice fills with a range and he rises, throwing the shot glass filled with amasec at the wall to shatter into a thousand pieces

"Those frakking SOBs of the Inquisition came to frak around with their own little war with those frakking tech freaks and my poor Merranda got caught in the cross fire! Those frakking psycopaths didn't even put anyone on trial! She was shot by friendly frakking fire when they were evacuating near the old precinct, the frakkers didn't wait to give the order, said they didn't have a choice, they didn't elaborate! Like our loss meant NOTHING to them!"

He slams his fist down on the table

"Inquisition says they're meant to frakking watch us! Who the FRAK gave them the right to judge us! Who the Frak do they think they are! Watch US!? WHO THE FRAK WATCHES THEM!?"

In his rage he grabs the table and flips the table by gripping at the edge, as it slams on the floor the scarlet letter, growing ever damper falls at your feet, in a growing pool of amasec as the bottle has shattered on the floor during Mr. Felps outburst.

After a moment of silence Mr. Felps falls back into his chair, exhausted emotionally and physically. After a moment he sobs as he rubs his brow, then wipes away the tears and begins to speak again.

"I'm sorry about that Arbitor Reinhart. . . I really don't know where she went, and I never thought to read that letter, never thought to look for it before actually. . . strange how things like that. . . just seem to slip your mind. . . That's all I've got left of Dominica's."

[The Architect]

Solomon:

Marcus already said he took the dueling Las for himself. Their are a number of drugs that you might pick up instead, that might be useful or extra-ordinary if you wish to attempt to Id them with your auspex.


Servo-Skull:
You have successfully repaired the servo skull and built a Guardian Servo skull with a built in las pistol. The time taken to complete this work will be several days so assume you still have you las pistol and have not yet completed the skull during the following crime scene.

Crime Scene Investigators:
So are Solomon, Leng and Lucious ready to leave?

[Calimos]

Marcus stands calm letting Mr. Phelps vent out his anger, rage, frustration and unbearable sorrow. His sorrowful words give him an idea of how the common people view the Agency he serves under. No, he will not become like that, no Emperor forbid. "The moment we stop to count the cost, is the moment we fail Marcus, remember that young man, remember it well", the words of his mentor echo in his head as if coming from an arbites-issue loud hailer.

Marcus reached out quickly, grabbing the scarlet letter before it got soaked in amasec and held it in his hand. He stood up reaching for Mr. Phelps and hugging him, as a prodigal son who returned might hug his old and sorrowful father.

"It's ok Mr. Phelps. Unfortunately those who are the appointed defenders of Mankind, sometimes might loose their own humanity in their struggle to defend it. Your loss is grievous and you have my most sincere condolensces. Forgive me, had I known, I'd never mention her name. It's ok, to cry and get this out of your chest. It will help".

After consoling Mr. Phelps for a while as best as he could, Marcus opened the scarlet letter, his heart pumping faster with anxiety, as his fingers traced the edges of the paper and began to read it.

[The Architect]

As the amasec was dissolved into the obviously quite old paper the ink seemed to fade until it was not only unreadable in the dim light, but dissolved completely. For a moment Marcus stared in frustrations at the amasec damp blank paper and then something seemed to darken, as if it was triggered to become apparent only when made wet, just like how the other layer of ink was designed to disappear. Not the first invisible ink Marcus had encountered but deffinitely the most complex.

The message that appeared was clear and simple.

'Dear Guardsman Jelorax & Arbitrator Reinhart,

This letter was none of your concern, I hope you're all healed up by now and have learned some valuable lessons about self preservation. In another note I recommend you get more than 4 metres away from that counter. No rush, in the next six seconds would be good,

Yours sincerely,

O.C.'

[Calimos]

Marcus' eyes widen as if he stared into the Eye of Terror itself through that scarlet letter. His bewildered face getting almost red from the rush, turned to Jax shouting.

"Back from the counter and out of here. Clear out! Now, now, double time".

With that he broke into a run, almost bodytackling the larger figure of the guardsman as a means to show that he meant what he just said.

[Hemnon]

An order is an order, so Jax get's into a fullblown sprint as the bodytackling hit's his armored gut.

[The Architect]

As you run for a moment Mr. Felps follows, bewildered by your sudden demand to evacuate . . .

When you look back you see he's fallen on the floor still slick with amasec, he looks over to you and hurriedly attempts to drunkenly right himself.

You glance back at him as you run and realise with a sick feeling in your gut that you don't have time to run back and save him. For a brief moment you dare to hope the many year old letter was not prophetic. . .

The sound of something like clouds rumbling arches above your head and that hope dies.

A rocket propelled frag grenade collides with Mr. Felps and in an instant of fire, screaming and torn flesh Mr. Felps is left as little more than smouldering pieces of charred meat.

The fire spreads through the amasec and wooden shelves and it will be but minutes before the whole hab block is alight. As you stand before the blown out store front you look up at the roof of a three storey hab block and see four men standing there, looking down at you. One is busy reloading his RPG.

Even in the dim light and pouring rain, with smoke slowing billowing from behind him, Marcus knows their Uniform. White details on sable.

The Mandato.

Roll For Initiative!

[Hemnon]

OOC

Initiative: [roll0]+ 2 AG bonus = 10

[Calimos]

Marcus winks rapidly, to clear the dust off his eyes, as he gets to the nearest possible point of cover and draws his trusted shotgun.

"Bloody Hell. It's the damned Secret Police of Sinophia's Enforcers. It's do or die once more Jax. Get in cover and get them. Let's see what that new hellgun of yours is all about".

Then Marcus relays his location and status to the rest of the cell, with the request to notify the Arbites of the situation.

OOC

Initiative: [roll0]

[The Architect]

Cover:
There is an AP 6 old car parked outside the shop front large enough for you to both hide behind.

Mandato Initiative:
Rocket Launcher Man: [roll0]
Other Mandato: [roll1]

Initiative Order:
RPG Mandato
Jax
Marcus
Other 3 Mandato

The Mandato with the RPG launcher spends the first few seconds of disorder reloading his weapon.

Jax & Marcus' turn now.

[Calimos]

OOC

Hey they managed to roll even lower than me. :smalltongue:

Allright, I'll be heading for the car, should we post as able or wait for initiative?

[Hemnon]

Jax quickly get's into cover very quickly and draws his Hellgun, which is hanging from it's weapon-harness.

''Ready for some killing, The emperor protects my friend.''

[Calimos]

Marcus runs and gets behind cover as fast as possible. As soon as he's behind the old car, he starts aiming with his shotgun at the Mandato enforcers.

"I have two frag grenades on me Jax. If you need one just say the word. Though I must admit I'm eager to see that hellgun of yours in action. Only thing that bothers me is that even after all these years, corruption and infighting among the Imperium's forces, in Sinophia, hasn't ceased. The Emperor protects my friend. It's an honour to fight alongside you".

[The Architect]

Post as you are able.

[Steilos]

Solomon went for the dueling las, sighed when it did not exist, and slouched back to the skull and parts, took his las pistol and turned to leave. At the door, he suddenly wheeled around with a dramatic twirl and launched into a dramatic "Fear not, yonder skull, for when I return I shall name you STEVE!" Then he headed back to the other two.

Completely ignoring if they heard the other outburst earlier, he snapped at them angrily. "Why are we still here!? WHY AREN'T WE AT THE CRIME SCENE!?" He lets out a long hiss of anger, kicks over a chair then storms out of the HQ from the front door, muttering angrily as he stormed down the street, stopped, looked at his data slate and began storming the other way towards the crime scene.

[Hemnon]

Jax Leans over the cover and Pulls the trigger and keeps it down for a full hail of burning laserfire towards the Mandato with the RPG.

Combat Actions/Rolls

Full Action: Full Auto-fire.

to hit:
BS 40+10(Short Range)+20(Full Auto-fire)=70 vs. [roll0]

every 2 DoS grants another hit (max of 4 extra, for a total of 5 hits).

Damage:
[roll1]

extra damage:
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Ammo Counter: 10/15 (Power Pack)

[Calimos]

Marcus finishes his aiming and fires, uttering a prayer to the Emperor to guide his hand, targeting the Mandato operative with the RPG.

OOC

Attack: [roll0] vs 55 [BS 35 + Aim 20]

Damage: [roll1]

[The Architect]

Jax hellgun jams with a click as the man with the rpg launcher is struck by Marcus' shot, left badly hurt but not quite dead, sadly.

His friends bring up their rifle to return fire but a shot rings out before they can.

BS 40, Red dot sight, full round action to aim, Accurate, Short range.

[roll0] vs. 90

[The Architect]

Damage:
[roll0]

A second after Marcus' shot collides with the RPG Launcher Mandato a shot from the darkness strikes the man in the left leg with such force that it tears it off and he bleeds out in moments.

The men seem unable to pick out the origin of the shot so fire down on you instead.

[The Architect]

The three mandato fire down on the group with their stub automatic pistols, obviously they did not arm themselves for a prolonged fire fight in their favor, expecting the surprise rocket to take you out.

Combat OoC:
Semi Automatic, no short range.
[roll0] vs 50
[roll1] vs 50
[roll2] vs 50

[The Architect]

Damage:
Jax:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

Marcus:
[roll3]

Forgot to include cover in initial rolls:

Your cover decreases to AP 2, and Marcus takes 2 wounds. Jax takes none due to cover. Marcus may still dodge.

It is now Jax' turn.

[The Architect]

--------Elsewhere, just over three weeks ago --------

With Jax & Marcus checked into Doctor Black's for the immediate future Leng called up the handful of people he still knew Sinophia Magna and made arrangements for transportation to the scene.

When the trio, Lucious, Leng & Solomon, finally arrived they found the body had indeed been moved. Arbites tape still cordoned off where the body had fallen, even though it was now absent, and only two arbites guarded the stairwell up to the apartment several stories up where the murder itself took place.

Which scene did you investigate first, where the man fell or the apartment?

[Calimos]

Marcus gasps, as the bullets strike him, but he's had much worse, to be bothered from such a flesh wound now. He aims again to the three Mandato operatives, being briefly yet pleasantly surprised by the unidentified shooter who seems to be assisting them against the Mandato. He smiles reassuringly to Jax, finishes his aim and fires once more, targeting one of the three operatives.

OOC

Full action Aim + Attack: [roll0] vs 65 [BS 35 + Aim 20 + Short range 10]

Damage: [roll1]

EDIT: Attack will be resolved on the beggining of my next round, just posted all rolls etc for quickness and convenience. :smallsmile:

[Hemnon]

''By the emperor, this damned weapon decides to jam now?!'' He curses out loud and ducks completely behind cover and starts fumbling with the Jammed part, maybe it's a loose connection.

OOC

Full action: Clear jam

Clearing jam: BS 40 vs. [roll0] if successful, weapon is unjammed but must be reloaded, all ammo in the weapon is lost.

[Steilos]

Solomon shrugged and looked at the others. "May as well work from the outside then go in..."

[huyche]

He had first-hand knowledge what Sinophia could be like and prepared accordingly for his first real going out into Sinophia Magna since the arrival.
Leng put on his new reinforced body glove and the red robes of a verispex adept atop of it, (believing that any qualified arbitrators would easily recognize it), while stub-revolver was holstered under his left arm.

~~~

'Well, here goes nothing.' Leng takes a deep breath to steady his nerves and approaches the two arbites straight away.

"Good morning, gentlemen. Leng Havelock, Imperial Guard Internal Affairs," Leng offers his hand for a handshake, assuming that the one to accept it will be the senior. He will address that arbiter from now on.
"These men with me," he nods behind towards Solomon and Lucious, "are part of a unit in charge of investigation into the death of general Kaltos Barbosa."
"I understand you will obviously want to ascertain my identity," the adept forces a smile. "So, here are my papers. If everything is in order, we shall get down to our business immediately."

Turning to his 'operatives', Leng says: "Lets examine the cordoned off area first, then the general's apartments. After that I plan to pay a visit to the precinct and check the body at the morgue."

[The Architect]

The arbitrator looks over the sheets and then gives a cursory glance at the amulet around the tech priest's neck.

"You lot took a while getting here, body's already at the folly as you can guess. Some of the evidence might already have been moved but I can't say for certain, if it is it's in storage at the folly too."

He points over to the cordoned off area in the street

"Not sure if there's anything of note to find but I suppose if anyone could notice something important our grunts missed it's a verispex."

He leads you over to the cordoned off area and past the tape barrier

"He came down pretty hard, so we're guessing the fall's what killed him, obviously, but we haven't got definite details from the Morgue yet."

As he brings you over you get the impression the man hasn't slept well in a while and that he's only being relatively complient because he either doesn't care or doesn't want to be there.

At a distance it just seems like an area of ground covered in tiny shards of glass.

Leng & Solomon:
Give me a Search roll if you're searching the scene forensically.


----- Back to the Future -----

As Jax works to repair his gun Marcus gives one of the three men a flesh wound in return before they return fire.

Combat OoC:
Semi Auto Burst x 3:
[roll0] vs. 50
[roll1] vs. 50
[roll2] vs. 50

[The Architect]

Initiative Order:
RPG Mandato
Jax
Marcus
Mystery Shooter (did not fire this round)
Other 3 Mandato (Just did their turn)

End of Round

Combat OoC:
Damage:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

Cover is at 2 AP, reduced by 1 for each hit that is a -4 and up.

Edit: Cover is now at AP 1 and Jax takes 2 Wounds.

Next Turn in I.O.: Jax

[huyche]

Leng was mildly surprised by such reception. So, they were expected... Was this the work of their master?

Walking towards the security line, he continues his dialogue with the man.
"I didn't catch your name, arbitrator.
Please give me your preliminary estimate of the way the hypothetical perpetrators managed to break in as well. Doesn't the main entrance require some sort of keycard to pass through? Are there any other points of entry?"

Addressing Solomon and Lucious again Leng advises: "Look for anything that could have fallen out of the apartment together with the general. Perhaps there was something that was in his possession but got separated upon impact."

He too begins to examine the area scrupulously for any potential evidence.

Search test: [roll0] vs 50 (40 base + 10 talented)

[Hemnon]

Dodge roll

dodge: AG 25 (/2 basic untrained)=13 vs. [roll0]

[Hemnon]

Seeing (and feeling) the the loss of entact cover, Jax checks for any nearby cover and runs up behind it, as if the emperor himself was willing Jax on.

Combat OOC

Full Action: Run (All Balistic skill checks suffer a -20 vs. Jax, all Weapon skill tests gain +20. until jax's next turn.

Can move up to 12 metres, will run towards the best quality cover within 12 metres (solid wall prefered) and get into cover behind it from the mandato fire.

[Steilos]

"Yessir." Better play by the book, yes-men don't attract much attention. Solomon says nothing else and heads past Leng to examine the impact site.

OOC
Search: [roll0] vs. 15. I am practically blind.

[Calimos]

Marcus, after shooting against the Mandato operatives, notices Jax running away, seeking better cover, and follows him accordingly.

[The Architect]

While Solomon finds nothing but a few extra sharp bits of glass Leng notices that either the scene was cleaned or he didn't bleed out from his injuries from the fall. The limited amount of blood suggests his heart wasn't beating when he hit the ground.

Also he finds this, a fragment of something, near where the body fell hidden under a nearby cargo hauler;


http://i42.tinypic.com/20js6px.png

The device has some sort of circuit within it.


"The names Arbitrator Recker, Verispex. From what we can tell the door of the apartment was forced, but we can't actually tell how they got into the building proper. Front door of the Hab-block wasn't forced at least, and the back door loading bay has been sealed and untouched for decades."

[The Architect]

----- In the Far Future of the 41st millenium plus 3 weeks -----

Combat OoC:
The Mystery shooter will fire on one of three remaining Mandato.
[roll0] vs. 90 (Full action to aim, Accurate, Red Dot sight, Short Range, 40 BS).

[Calimos]

OOC

Actually it's explained in my post before the last one. I took an extended / full action Aim and therefore I actually attack in that turn (the one we're now) and with the other half action I went running for new cover.

[The Architect]

Damage:
[roll0]

[The Architect]

A shot rings out and tears of the two remaining Mandato down, looking round one of the two remaining men grabs the RPG which is still loaded and looks back at the night.

Not seeing the mysterious shooter they decide it would be better not to risk their neck and get shot killing the pair so they fall back into the night.

What do you do?

[Steilos]

"Hmm.. could this be something? Ow. No. What about this? Ow, ow, ow. No." Solomon mutters as spends his time studiously examining the glass, then takes out a notebook and begins to take notes:

DAY Pending, Investigation Report

CRIME SCENE FOUND!!! :smallsmile:
Crime scene contains glass. MUST INVSTIGATE FURTHER
It is sharp. POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANCE????
It hurts - POTENTIAL TRAP SET BY KILLER!?!?!!?!
This is VERY INTRIGUING. I should consult STEVE.


He then puts it away and stands up, addressing Leng. "Maybe we could take a closer look at the bay, sir. Perhaps someone knew something about it the General didn't."

[Calimos]

A shot rings out and tears of the two remaining Mandato down, looking round one of the two remaining men grabs the RPG which is still loaded and looks back at the night.

Not seeing the mysterious shooter they decide it would be better not to risk their neck and get shot killing the pair so they fall back into the night.

What do you do?

Marcus looks around, trying to get a glimpse potentially of the mysterious shooter who helped him and Jax during the shootout with the Mandato operatives. He's not certain that he wants to follow those men during the night. After all discretion is the better part of valour and Marcus should learn not to endanger those under his care needlessly, nor throw away the Emperor's grace, that - in the face of the mysterious shooter - saved them from worse trouble.

[The Architect]

Marcus looks around he thinks he sees a hooded figure, draped in black robe on the rooftop of the store that is now in flames, but a moment later the figure is gone, if it was even there at all to begin with.

The sound of sirens in the distance reaches the ears of you both.

What do you do?