"Those who were lost now are found."

[OneFamiliarFace]

A Pilgrimage

Opey Bandt sits on a crate in the crowded hold and kicks his feet absent-mindedly. He takes furtive glances out from under his bangs at the others in the cramped space, filled with people where there is no cargo. They are mostly young girls and boys in dirty, tattered clothing much like his. One woman sits in the corner holding her baby, both of whom look tired from the lack of regular food and water. He wishes his parents had never sent him on this pilgrimage.

The door to the small lander cracks open and in steps their savior. He is a pudgy, pale-skinned man with a balding pate and stains on his nice clothing. The man carries packets of corpse starch and water in his ringed, meaty hands, which he tosses in the center of the lander as though he doesn't want to get near his cargo. "Listen up, kiddies. We're about to arrive at your new home." He snorts. "Sit tight." And with that, the man is gone.

Opey quickly grabs a packet of each and scrambles back up to his perch on the crate. With his uncut thumbnail, the boy scratches at the black paint used to cover the lander's windows, opening an eye sized hole. He looks out and gets his first glimpse of the planet.

The old lander silently careens through space towards a planet that looks like one giant cloud. And then, all is sound and fury. Breaking through the cloudline, the world becomes a swirling mass of icy hail and omnipresent lightning, which strikes the lander repeatedly. A muffled voice calls out, "The conductors, grox-****!" And a metal sphere laced with electricity launches out the side, pulling the lighting back into flashing orbs.

As the rickety craft breaks cloud cover, a barren and wasted planet comes into view, and every flash of lightning reveals a maze of canyons covering the surface. The lander stabilizes and speeds off towards a looming structure on the horizon, which, as it gets closer, materializes into a monstrous hive. The whole hive is near constantly lit up by flashes of lightning hitting conducting nodes placed all around its structure. With the lander skimming over top, the lightning seems to stop in a pattern, creating a 'road' of sorts, but a wide berth is still given to the statue at the hive's crown. It is a gigantic permacrete representation of a man in flowing yellow robes, holding aloft a metal torch, the top of which attracts bolt after bolt of lightning.

The craft heads for the primary landing bay placed a distance away from the main hive, but skims over it as people inside look up in surprise. It flies low and fast to avoid being a good target and wraps down and around the Hive until it gets to a tiny port far down in the Hive's deepest reaches. The lander sets down and people set to work repairing minor damage even before cargo is unloaded.

The man opens the door again, this time with an old Guard issue shotgun in his hands. "Let's go, kiddies. You gots places ta be." The youngsters and the woman, now bruised from the entry without restraints, follow the man out of the lander. Opey sees men unloading the crates of weapons and replacing them with crates of cloth and food.

"Throne, Humfrey, put the merch in chains. These buggers can be easy to lose 'round here." A light brown-skinned man with a smile full of silver teeth steps into the light wearing a maroon suit and dark glasses. His black hair is slicked back with some kind of grease. The silver-smile man is flanked by two masked giants holding heavy stubbers as though they were autoguns. Unable to take his eyes off the man's smile, Opey only feels the metal chain clack around his hands and ankles, and he is led off into the dark underworld of Hive Grungtep.

The Hive

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Hive Grungtep is mostly a city that runs on a 'tourism' of sorts. For poorer visitors, or at least the ones that chose poor transportation, this can be a sort of permanent tourism.

The Hive holds St. Antonius as its prominent figure, the saint of finding that which is lost. The stories tell that he came to the planet ages ago and would've died but for the Emperor's favor, which not only saved him, but led him to a shard of the plans for developing certain terraforming tech. The terraformed part of the planet has long since been reaped of its fruits, and now Hive Grungtep stands as the only known inhabited place on the planet, aside from a small monastery at the end of Antonius' Pilgrimage, where it is rumored he first found the terraformed tropical paradise.

Now, the Hive is populated by a mix of all manner of Imperial citizens, some of whom trace their lineage back to Antonius' original landing. As a result, the noble class are all pretty homogeneous, but they are rivaled in power by a large branch of the Ecclesiarchy. Indeed, the Hive's, and therefore the planet's, flag is a yellow banner with a red torch, the crest of Antonius himself. Yellow and, to a lesser extent, red are popular colors in fashion as well as decor.

Hive Grungtep grows on both the money it makes from the energy is generates to be shipped off world and, more importantly, from the millions of pilgrims the planet sees each year, most the youngest children of other planet's elite being sent to pray for the finding of something lost. As a result, a large service industry has sprung up in the Hive, an oddity on a world so seemingly inhospitable.

It is ancient, and has a bloated Underhive. And that is perhaps the most interesting part...

[OneFamiliarFace]

Getting the Gang Back Together

Deep in the bowels of Hive Grungtep, in a largely unlit part of the city, loud pound music emanates from a tiny shack. The door is a hingeless sheet of metal, and the windows are plastic bags. A dog drags itself across the street on its front legs, its back legs broken. Another mangy mutt sniffs at the ground by the shack and then lifts a leg.

Inside, eight men lounge about in uncomfortable positions due to a lack of space. The vox-caster spews out the last few notes of a song before a deep, booming voice crackles to life. "Now THAT is music to starve to! Hello, you lucky underhivers. Big Hal here, bringin you the best of whatever I can find in this rundown toilet of a station. It's whatever time I say it is, so here is Big Hal's news update:

"One week and still very little sign from The Motley Crew after their hq was wiped out like a dingleberry from Grungtep's asscrack in a spectacular fire show. Rumors abound as to those responsible, but no one's taken credit for it yet. I hope the boys ain't givin up that easy, as Big Hal still holds that they're the only thing keepin the damn Da Nang Boys out of the nice part... 'scuse me... the less ****ty part a town where the real gangers live. Now, in sports..."

The caster stops abruptly as a scrawny, pale man pounds a fist down on it. His cheek twitches in between words. "Gragh! I can't stand this grox-****. Look, Dee is dead, and we're on our own. We ain't heard from him in weeks, and the rest of the boys is treatin us like mutant backwash. We gotta do somethin!"

The oldest man in the room, a middle-aged guy best described as "scruffy," who is covered in old junk and squinting one eye, speaks up from his reclining position on two old boxes. "Yer need ta calm down, Pol. We gotta wait a little longer for the other'ns ta contact us." The man is the gang's long-standing mechanic, Gaspar, but he is usually referred to by more appropriate names.

"We don't have time for that, Old Man. I mean what do tha rest o' yas think?" He turns to the general crowd and gets an indifferent shrug from a nearly sleeping Lonely Thom and Grin. Then he looks to the rest imploringly.

OC:

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It's up to you guys. Describe yourselves and join in the conversation! (I'll color dialogue as soon as you guys pick your 4 colors.) You guys can pick your new gang's name and any relevant details if you so wish.

For the record, the rest of your gang is

Gaspar: Uses weapons and armor he made himself from junk. A modified Nailgun is his main weapon, but he carries a crowbar and three old food tins stuffed with explosives and nails attached to his "junk suit" that serve as homemade grenades (Nail Bombs)
Pol: hunting rifle and knives, nervous, very quick and observant
Lonely Thom: Ugly as sin. Standard tough.
Grin: fairly average dude, but he tends to have his ears to the ground and often brings the group tips. name is both due to his preference for smiling and his taste for the drug of the same name

And your sector bonus is

Dog Problem: The sector is sick with dogs due to Emperor knows what.
Bonuses: Gang gets a free dog. Can be developed for further bonuses.
(ex. Trained: all dogs give +5 to wrangling, Pits: badder ass dogs, Testing: improve chem-labs or similar endeavors)
Penalties: None. Random dogs may appear in battles here.

The Underhive:

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The Underhive is truly a place for third-class citizens. Power is intermittent, water and food are scarce, and most people are kept inside by the incessant gang warring for territory.

It is one of those lives that can be described with a cliche rule: brutal, but mercifully short. Some people make a proper go of it though, like the Da Nang Boys, Endless Mike Helstrom, and The Kon Ron (pronounced "Cone Rawn"), among others. Of course, these are the exception to the above rule.

Welcome to one of the worst places in Hazeroth.

[Boddan]

Armand

Armand looks up from the deck of cards he had been handling. The water damaged cards sit in an untidy pile in front of him. Armand practices his psyker powers by foreseeing what card he’ll draw next.

The ambitious ganger looks to Pol with a charismatic grin before addressing the rest of the shack in his heavily accented, measured tone.

“Pol is correct. Say Dee is dead and we are sitting here. All the while, the other gangs are already on the ball and out taking what they want. Are we to wait until we get struck before we act?”

Rahm

Rahm turns his massive shoulders to the conversation to add his thoughts.

“Ruttin right! I’m sick of jus’ sittin here! Let’s go bust some heads… at least get us a proper meal. Why don’t we go hit that Den a few levels down? Them boys have it comin’ for that thing with the guy anyway. You know what I’m talkin’ about.”

The Fenrisian turns back to his task and lets more length of chain play out so the restrained hound can get at its adversary. The chain clinks noisily as it runs from Rahm’s massive hand, through the metal loop in the wall, and to the neck of the largest, meanest mutt Rahm could find outside.

The dog snarls as it lunges at its chain to get at the cowering man chained to the opposite wall.

Rahm took several days training this particular hound to first, obey and fear him, and second, attack men without hesitation. The Fenrisian didn’t feel any pity for the pathetic man. The sign outside that says “RUTT OFF!” wasn’t put there for decoration.

OOC:

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For the record, Armand has a thick Spanish accent and pronounces words fully and slowly with no slang. A habit from him learning the local language.

I suppose a Charm Test to win the others over: (1d100)[84] vs (35)

And perhaps a Wrangling Test for Rahm? (This gets +5?): (1d100)[2] vs (35)

Lastly, Armand is Dark Green & Rahm is Deep Sky Blue.

[OneFamiliarFace]

Planning

The gang huddles around a crude map drawn with grease on the table by Pol, which basically consists of a "You are here" and then various scribbles in five places around it. The map has no boundaries, roads, or markers, as these are pretty useless in the underhive. The underhive is also multi-leveled and impossible to navigate on a 2-dimensional level, but as Pol doesn't really have the supplies or mental acuity to make a 3-dimensional map, you will have to deal.

He runs a hand through his disgusting hair before pointing one nail-bitten finger at his drawing. "Aight, look. We are here, and the fragged deserters who left us when Dee died are all around. This...", and here he points to what would be 'west' of you on a normal map, "...is our old HQ. It's a fragged up pile of Oliphant-**** right now, but who knows what the looters may have left inside." Pol begins detailing the area around the gang, with Grin occasionally adding in a few rumors he has heard floating around.

When they are finished, Pol slams his fist down on Dogtown East and half-yells. "I can't believe these scum'd think they can just shut us out, and to kill one of our boys? I say we start by gettin our respect back."

At this outburst, Gaspar speaks up for the first time in a while. "Now c'mon, we ain't so big these days. We gotta be thinkin practical. My ol' shop is right next door, and we might be able to bang us up some better **** with it. I don't care if Murder's boys is probably better off'n our own. You kin still get yer revenge that way, Pol." He looks around for support.

Grin just kind of smirks, giggles, and then speaks softly, still with the smirk. "I ain't had me some tail in damn near a week. The gang is done for. Let's just bust us a route to Sadie's Dance and waste ourselves." Lonely Thom raises a brow at this, but just shrugs.

Predictably, everyone looks at the remaining few to solve their impasse.

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For now, suffice it to say that there are 5 choices for you to begin regaining territory.

1. Old HQ: No intel on this 'westward' area. Had a freezer unit for keeping food (mostly dog meat) and a weapons cache, but it is hard to tell what will still be working or even there. It has been being used a refuge for a group going by 'The True Crewers.'

2. Dogtown East This is a wide area 'east' of you is the remainder of your stomping grounds. You know for a fact that there isn't much here, and it is hard to defend, but it opens up to a lot of other areas, and the people controlling it aren't gangers, but just scum who wanted to be free from ganger rule for a while. You lost a man to these fellows not but a week ago. He wasn't a very good man, but still.

3. The Gate: The gate is a well-defended bottle-neck which leads 'south' and down into the manufacturing areas. An old group of your gang has already taken to calling themselves 'The Keepers' and guards this area. They have mostly been ignoring you, making forays into the 'south.'

4. The Run: To the 'north' is a tunnel/road which allows easy access to Sadie's Dance (a black market of sorts), but for you gentleman, it is currently blocked by ex-members of your former gang demanding tolls. Even without them blocking the way, it is a dangerous road without a vehicle.

5. Station: To the 'northwest' is Station, which was to be the Motley Crew's staging grounds for northward expansion. As a result, Gaspar's shop is located there, having been moved from the HQ just a few weeks ago. Word is some of Maxwell Murder's boys have taken over the area from your ex-gang. His gang, The Roots Radicals, has been a thorn in The Crew's side for as long as anyone can remember.

For general directional reference: 'West' is mostly Da Nang Boys territory. 'North' and 'East' are an assortment of gangs of varying shapes and sizes, but most control at least a few territories. 'South' is mostly hiver scum, but the areas are treacherous and difficult to inhabit.

Also 'North' is Sadie's Dance (at the end of The Run), which is a formerly lavish area that was clearly an old tourists' destination before centuries of industrialization took over. It features giant fountains that don't work and tech that is now just for show. It is currently controlled by an iron-fisted, female, ex-enforcer. It is an enforced neutral zone for gangs, with death being the penalty for all infractions.

[Boddan]

Armand

Armand speaks calmly through steepled fingers. "Why don't we forge into grounds we know first and retake our HQ. We may find some weapons still there?"

Rahm

"Whatever. I just want some bodies to test Fenrir the... ninth on. This is the ninth mutt isn't it?"

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I vote Old HQ -> Station -> The Run

Then some Black Marketing followed by some Expansion into Dogtown East

[OneFamiliarFace]

One More Thing...

Gaspar laughs, making his mouth visible through his long beard and thick mustache. "Antonius Lost, Rahm. I wish you'd keep better track a them things. Last one just up n died in my warpdamned bunk!"

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I forgot to mention, as you get new areas, you can then scout out the areas around them. Some things will be really obvious, like giant factories. Some might be reported on the radio, and others might come through Grin, Pol, or your guys' own abilities.

This is the map of the general area you know about.

With that in mind, I forgot to say that you also know of the territories touching the Motley Crew HQ and those touching Dogtown East. You guys used to control all the territories thus far mentioned, but know little of what is south of the Gate or north of Station, and most of the areas West of HQ are highly populated, but don't have many useful resources (outer edges of Da Nang Boys' area). So, just so you can plan the future:

'West' of HQ:

1. Power Station: No intel on who is there or what has happened, but all regions adjacent to this probably have intermittent power at best (including HQ and Station, which it also borders). The station might be able to be fixed, as it was unclear if it was damaged before the attack on HQ.

2. Dogtown West: Yeah, you guys kind of lived in a ****ty area. Not much to say here, except it could be a weakpoint to the west if uncontrolled.

3. Ruined Highway: This used to be a road, but now it is just a wreckage. Still, the Crew would race some ****ty vehicles around here, so the garage may have something as of yet unlooted.

'East' of Dogtown East

This place borders The Roots Radicals area to the north, The Dumpers to the east, and Tony's Flame to the south. 'Flame' is short for 'Antonius' Holy Flame of the Emperor' led by someone claiming to be the returned reincarnation of St. Antonius himself. The Crew had some dealing with the Dumpers, so you kind of know their area.

1. Upper Dumpton: This place is kind of a wasteland from some kind of deconstruction project that was never completed. The Dumpers created a fort of sorts in the middle with a wide view range, so it is easily defensible.

2. Dumpton: This is the Dumper's HQ, so it might have some goodies, but you wouldn't know what.

3. Lower Dumpton: This place is a dump. Literally. It is a huge dump. Scavenge for parts if ya can stand the smell.

[Jing Ke]

Ten Pence Genn

Oy! What's all dat noise? Can't yeigh mugs shut yer gobs a few? Oiygh can't get nagh sleep wif all dis carrying on!"

Amazingly, from the back corner, a small woman emerges rather than say, an ork or a discharging star drive. She wears a large burlap sack with arm holes punched in it, and her body is covered in sludge from the run-off. Her matted blond hair is plastered to her head, but her startling blue eyes seem all the brighter for the complete lack of color in the room.

She walks up to the men standing around the table, and puts her arm around Armand. "You boys contriving to get into me nickers again? I told yas me cunnys on the fritz. All routes is currently closed, as they say on tha loud vox."

After listening to the conversation for a few minutes, she interrupts again. "Oiygh think we oughta go back to dat old place wat we 'ad. I left me best blanket there."

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She wants to go to the old HQ as well.

[OneFamiliarFace]

Just the type o' gal to be hanging with the Motley Crew...

At Genn's entrance, Pol rolls his eyes hard enough for the Emperor to see, but Gaspar, Thom, and Grin give her approving looks. Grin's mouth widens, snakelike. "Ya know, dearie, ya'd save ol' Grin a lot of hard work if ya'd just realize that I'm already on so many meds, yer cooter cooties'd rather just stay at home." As if to emphasize his point, the lithe man tosses something from his pocket into his mouth.

Gaspar tears his eyes off the greasy vixen and clears his throat. He seems somewhat pleased that his shop is looking accessible in the near future. "Well, if'n at's what we decided, then I dun see a point in sittin in this dump any longer. Maybe the bomber left us a cushy chair or two."

Pol grumbles and wipes away the smear of grease outlining Dogtown East. He grabs his rifle and a nearby bottle that is literally half-amasec and half-piss and heads outside. Long association with the man bring the knowledge that he mostly just likes to complain. He's been cuffed too many times by Dee to think of acting against the group.

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HQ: No special defensive advantages. Most habitable place is still the actual HQ building. Lighting is intermittent (can turn on or off during combat, though they are more commonly off, leaving only floodlights and emergency systems to dimly light the way).

If you would like to go immediately, then that is cool. It will bring a standard chance of about 10-20% that you guys get the ambush and 10-20% that you guys get ambushed, this can change depending on what kind of skills and what-not you guys use and the terrain or special nature of certain areas. If it is neither, then it will just be a straight up pitched battle between the gangs.

(The Gate, for example, lends itself to a much higher chance of ambush, due to long, open corridors with high terraces. But the HQ is mostly ruined, so they don't have any special defensive advantages.)

So if you guys want to use any skills, then go ahead. This is probably more important for more important sectors, as I don't want the whole game bogged down by a lot of research (except in important areas).

Pol has stealth and observation. Grin is good at finding out info from people. Gaspar and Thom are just extra bodies for these purposes. Mysterious 8 is guarding home base.

[Boddan]

Armand

Armand will try to smile his way into the good graces of any they pass while approaching their target.

A dubious meat vendor here. A pair of joy-girls there. A mother of six living under a lean-to made of scrap metal. Anything they can tell the aspiring leader of where the other gangers are or will be.

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Charm Test (35): (1d100)[7]

Armand is also careful not to let it be obvious, but he moves so that other bodies are between him and potential ambush spots.

[Boddan]

Rahm

Backing up Armand... mainly because he owes him some skrap, the Fenrisian puts the squeeze on anyone not spillin the goods.

Literally.

Whether they know anything or not doesn't enter the equation.

Later, as they near the area they seek, Rahm allows more length of chain play out and lets his mutt point out any hidden threats.

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Intimidate Test (40): (1d100)[84]

Wrangling Test (30): (1d100)[40]

Rahm isn't cautious. At all.

The quicker the enemy hear him, the quicker he can spill some blood.

[Jing Ke]

Genn

Oiygh'll make tha rounds and see wot oiygh can foynd. Maybe kill a few wif koyndness. Genn declares, patting her distended belly. She winks at the remaining gang members and returns to one of the darker corners to find her pile of equipment.

Once readied, she sets out to try to gather information.

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First, she has unremarkable so -20 to recognize her, etc.

She'll use charm on members of the occupying gang assuming they don't know her to be part of Dee's. If they do, try to get information from sources who might have such intel, but are outside of the gang.

Charm [52] : (1d100)[18]

Then, if/when they try to enter the base she will try a stealth check of some kind. I will wait until we get closer to storming the place.