Knowledge Is Power [Dark Heresy] - IC

[Thanatos 51-50]

"Yeah, Hieronymus, I guess we could be called friends, and hell, I don't want to kill the provost I know, but there's no way I'm consenting to let that warp-thing run free inside you. And even if our compatriots don't decide it'll be a better idea to toast you right here and now, I'm still going to have to turn you in to Al-Subaai. Couldn't keep this little incident secret even if I wanted to there are two other people sitting right here, listening in on this entire conversation that saw exactly what I saw."
he cuts loose with an audible sigh over the net, remembering to check the corners of the stack when he pauses for an incoming possessed provost.
"And make no mistake, Provost, if there is no way to kill that daemon without killing you, I'm going to kill you, too. Better for you to die than that thing to run free. I'm sure you understand my dilemma."

[Destro_Yersul]

LCP Only:

Spoiler

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They'll be expecting that. And we'd still have to deal with LIRA and the owls and Rhodes and all manner of other things. We need them, whether you like it or not. As for the Inquisitor, hopefully I can prevent him from getting involved.

"Yeah, and I don't want to die. I don't know if there's any way to break the curse, so to speak. But even if there is, we don't have the time or resources right now. Right now, we got more important problems to deal with than my personal issues. I'm not gonna turn on you, Red. If I wanted to kill you, I'd have done it already. If I wanted to kill you, we wouldn't be having this conversation, even."

[Thanatos 51-50]

"In my mind, the best case scenario here is we complete the mission and I turn you in to Al-Subaai, but you know as well as I do that's not how this works. The others have to agree with me. And it has to be unanimous."

[Destro_Yersul]

"Then let them have their say. I'm not going to come find you unless I know I won't be shot." Hieronymus lowered his hand, leaving the comm channel open. He wanted to hear their verdict.

Then, looking about once more, the provost started off down the stacks. The answer he got over the comm would determine the direction he picked when he reached the next fork.

[senrath]

"Well, I didn't survive for twenty years by being a completely inflexible person. And we need the help." Ignace said, bracing himself for the Soriatas yelling at everyone again.

[EleventhHour]

She'd been seething the entire time unhappily enough, but slowly came up with an idea. Damned traitors, thier friend is gone, replaced by whatever daemon crawled into his skin. Never should it be said that she's not patient, no, no. "Do whatever. We might need the help, we might not. You two don't seem to be willing to carry out what you have to do, so we won't." For now. She adds silently, glaring at them to show her exact amount of displeasure at this mess.

[Etcetera]

Jericus, wheezing, pulled himself up back to the others. How very typical. Something exciting had happened, and he had missed it.

It seemed, given the circumstances that this was probably a good thing.

"You wouldn't happen to have any bandages, would you?" Jericus addresses the group.

[Thanatos 51-50]

"Were you not monitoring your Coms, Jer?" Red asks, an agressive, almost scolding tone in his voice.
"You do know the situation with Bosc, right?"

[Etcetera]

"Yes. But bandages will help alleviate my immediate problem, which is the burning pain in my chest. The burning evil in my comrade is an issue for later."

Jericus gestured to himself.

"Besides, I'm less than confident of our ability to destroy or otherwise remove anything like that. Remember the genestealers? They were solid, physical things. This is probably worse. Plus, as Hieronymus pointed out, why add a Daemon to the list of things trying to kill us?"

[Destro_Yersul]

Hieronymus hesitated at the fork, listening to Jericus over the comm as best he could. Finally, he picked the route that led back to the group, and started down it. The techpriest, at least, seemed happy enough to have him on their side instead of someone else's.

[LCP]

Heironymous Only

Spoiler

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Dull, dull, dull, mocked the daemon's voice, pain flickering through Heironymous' nerves as its influence retreated back to whatever dark pit it went to hide in. Wake me when something interesting happens.

All

Edging around the corner of the shelves, Heironymous came into view once more: the skin of his arm looked angry and blistered, but it was no longer the changed horror it had been minutes before. The servitor-drones still gliding in between them on their muffled wheels, extinguishing the last embers of flame, the Provost and the other Acolytes looked at each other face-to-face along the length of the aisle.

[Destro_Yersul]

Taking a deep breath, Hieronymus started walking back towards the others. "Sorry you had to see that." He said as he approached. His eyes never leaving Katyra's flamer, he slipped past the last servitor and stood in front of them.

"So. Now what?"

[Thanatos 51-50]

"Now, we continue on-mission. Prime Suspect is Rhodes - or, more specifically, the tech-Adept he has with him. Said Adept was the one who opened the door, according to the late Mister Bromhead. Track down was information we can, return and report to Al-Subaai. Follow where the leads take us." Red said, simply.
Despite his all-business tone, he still shifted away from the provost slightly and eyed the blistered arm.
"In light of recent information, suggest Bosc takes point. Apparently, the direction of choice is 'down'."

He turned to the Psyker.
"Meanwhile, Psyker, anything you can do for Jericus? He probably took a beating from the fall."

[Destro_Yersul]

"Good plan. I've no objections to going first. Just so long as I don't get shot in the back, everything will be fine." Hieronymus looked over the edge of the platform. "Down is a long way. Jericus, you found stairs. Where are they?"

[senrath]

"Oh, um, right. If you'll follow me away from the good Sister, I can get you patched up." Ignace said, leading the injured Tech Priest away from the dampening effects of the Sister of Battle. He then called upon the powers of the warp, trying to mend the flesh of the man who had fallen quite a distance.

Spoiler

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Using Healer. Threshold 7, so I'm only gonna roll one die to minimize chance of dangerous stuff happening.

Power - (1d10)[7](7)+5 vs 7.
Healing - (1d5)[1]

[LCP]

Jericus felt an unpleasant creeping sensation beneath his skin as Ignace’s powers went to work – the ache of his bruises waned a little, however, enough to motivate him not to shrink away from the unnatural energies.

As the psyker lowered his hands, a muffled beeping sounded from somewhere nearby – looking around, Red saw it had come from inside one of the marble busts of past Decatalogues that punctuated the long length of their stack.

Wheels whirring audibly in the quiet, one of the drones glided over to the stern stone face: a port opened in the supporting plinth, a small cylindrical connector telescoping out to connect with the cowled servitor. Slowly, the blank screen that served at its face turned to face them: glowing green letters appeared on its surface.

+++

THAT WAS F/F/F/FUN

SHALL WE PLAY A DIFFERENT GAME?

+++

From somewhere far overhead, there was a reverberating thoom – the Acolytes looked up in unison as the light levels changed, the high strip lights furthest in the direction of the index tower falling dark. The echoing mechanical drumbeat sounded out again, and again, a wall of shadow advancing towards them as the lights died one by one into darkness.

In a few seconds, the entire Vault had fallen dark around them. All that was visible was the blinking green cursor on the servitor’s face-screen.

Suddenly, Jericus felt something buzz inside his robes – pulling out Vale’s communicator, he saw a little light flashing frantically on one side. Scrolling across its tiny sliver of a read-out, dull lettering lit up:

Message Incoming.

Accept?

As one, the servitor-drones turned to look at the tech-priest, the optical units on the sides of their faceless skulls glinting in the dark as they rotated to focus on the flashing communicator...

[Destro_Yersul]

The provost's voice breaks the silence of the darkness. "Just like old times," Hieronymus says. "Hope you brought a light for this one, Red."

[Thanatos 51-50]

"Just two. One of 'im kills things, though." Red joked uneasily even as he reached over the the extra lug bolted to the side of the gun's body and the lamp pack witihin. "This one is relatively safe, long as we steer clear of Xenos that want to turn us into mindless baby-making fanatics."

He shined the lamp pack around, taking an additional headcount and then focusing on the servitors.
"Do I get to choose the game, LIRA? It's no fun if we play your way all day."

[Etcetera]

Jericus depressed the toggle on the communicator and accepted the message, then clicked his photovisor into place over his eyes.

[LCP]

Chapter II
Truth Is Subjective

"Hello?" came a whispered voice over the line. It was Vale's. "Hello? Are you still there?"

The servitors did not reply to Red's question, their glinting 'eyes' still trained on the communicator.

[Destro_Yersul]

Hieronymus chose to respond to Vale, stepping around Red as best he could in the light of the lamp-pack. "We are, but I suspect that LIRA is listening. Careful what you say." Keeping one eye on the servitors, Hieronymus motioned to the others to back away from them.

[LCP]

There was a muffled aside from the other end of the line - it sounded a lot like "oh, balls".

"Listen," came Vale's voice, tersely. "You have to find somewhere where she can't hear you."

[EleventhHour]

"I've always liked games. Do you play Tic-tac-toe, LIRA?" Well, it's not like the dark is different than the light. What was the machine going to do, attack them with librarian-servitors? Laughable. "Hey, wasn't that thing not working?"

[Destro_Yersul]

"Working on it." Hieronymus started walking slowly backwards, away from the servitors. The provost tugged on Jericus' robes, so the tech-priest would follow. Checking over his shoulder so he wouldn't walk into anything, Hieronymus counted the steps until the next turn into the stacks.

"We're going to play hide and seek, LIRA. You be 'it'."

[LCP]

The servitors didn't follow - heads turning to follow the Acolytes as they left, they remained in place.

Slipping around the bookshelves, Heironymous looked left and right - he could see no more of the robed drones. As he turned his head, however, something caught his gaze - looking up, he saw the faintly glowing eyes of a cyber-owl staring down from the top of the stack...

[Destro_Yersul]

Owls. Everyone is fond of owls. Except Hieronymus. Eyeing the creature with trepidation, the provost picked another turn and scurried down that way, searching for the darkest, most secluded corner he could find. If there was anywhere LIRA didn't go, that's where he wanted to be.

With any luck, the others would follow.

[LCP]

Dropping from its perch on silent wings, the owl glided after the party in dipping arcs, alighting occasionally on the balustrades high above. An intermittent ghost in the occasional flashes of Red's lamp-pack that intersected its path, it was nevertheless clearly following them.

[Destro_Yersul]

Pretending not to notice the owl, Hieronymus continued looking for a good secluded spot. Once he found one, he motioned everybody inside, and tapped Red on the shoulder. "Armsman," he whispered, "make sure the area stays clear. I don't want anything watching us." Flicking his glance upwards for half a moment, the provost nodded and went over to Jericus.

"You still there, Decatologue?"

[Etcetera]

Jericus glanced around, shielding his visor from the lamp pack so as to not overload the sensors. Those owls really were intriguing. There'd have to be some sort of highly advanced motivator units in the owls wing for them not to make any sound, and...

Jericus realised the Provost was standing next to him. He edged back slightly and handed "Hieronymus" the communicator.

[LCP]

"Still here," came the whispered reply. "Is it safe to talk?"