Sin of Pride - Dark Heresy

[DrK]

As his fellow heretics dropped and fell either side of him the last one licked his lips nervously, strange bitter smelling greenish sweat pouring out his pores from fear and intense heat of the plasma cutter. A sudden shout of Investigator Praets down blasted out before the 4 semi-auto shotguns of the remaining enforcers unleashed at the hapless fool...

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E1 (1d100)[48] TN 23 damage (1d10+3)[9]
E2 (1d100)[50] TN 23 damage (1d10+3)[8]
E3 (1d100)[67] TN 23 damage (1d10+3)[11]
E4 (1d100)[49] TN 23 damage (1d10+3)[7]

The barrage of shells careening off the walls, torn metals and wetly splatting into the scattered bodies. Dripping from his arm, his 3 companions torn apart all around him and a grinning Arbite with bolo knife and shield the heretic hurls a curse at Praetus -you and your fellows will fear the lord of Fire's wrath and scream for his mercy- before he turns and runs the 3m back to the great rent in the floor and vanishes from sight. The sound of running feet drowned out by the shots, richochets and heavy clunking footsteps of the rest of the team.

[rb780nm]

"Frakking heretics," Markus swears. "Anone got a medkit on them?" he asks, wiping more blood from his face.

[Intro]

Iacton Drake

"Not me, but I'd say the poor sod on the floor over there'd have priority even so," Iacton replies in his scratchy voice, gesturing at the fallen ship's armsman. "Unless you'd prefer that I use my 'gifts'...?" he drawls, hiding his uneasiness with the way the warp had seemed to pull at him behind an insouciant tone.

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Iacton has the Healer minor power, which can recover 1d5 Wounds, with a 10% chance of causing psychic phenomena.

[Starbin]

Lor waited a moment, listening for additional movement before he rose up from his shooter's stance. He gave his weapon a pat before reaching into his pack and pulling out more rounds. Sliding them into his weapon, he walked up next to Iacton, hearing his comment. "I vote no," in response to the man's offer, giving a bit of a glare. He's prefer to like the man, but things like what happened just made it too hard to feel comfortable around him. Worse, it meant that Lor couldn't trust him fully, either ... and that could get him killed one day.

Nodding back to the access hatch, he whispered to the others. "Anyone who can't keep up should go back now. Or guard the door. Prolly the best answer for him.". He motioned his head to the more seriously injured enforcer.

Looking up ahead to the open rent, he glanced at the others. "So what's the play? Loud and proud? Shadows and shades? Longer we wait, worse the reception."

[Caimheul]

Praetus Herran

"Agreed, we're still close to the entrance, so should take advantage of that while we can. You two" at this he gestures to two of the enforcers and then the one who is lying on the ground "Get him out the access hatch, then return." Praetus cleans his blade on the clothing of one of the corpses, and then starts turning their pockets for weapons or any evidence.

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Search: (1d100)[15] vs 38

Master Holt's voice crackles over the microbeads:

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"If you lot have left anyone alive, I would appreciate the chance to... have a word with them..."

[Tome]

"I'm gonna have to vote no on that as well" Lilitas chips in, "because I'd hate to have to shoot you if you pulled anything like that again. You're not a bad shot, Drake, stick to that until we actually need the withcraft". She delivers her threat calmly, dealing with the lingering horror the same way she deals with every other personal issue - sealing it away behind a wall of faith and violence.

"There's not much sense trying to be quiet here. Most of us aren't trained for it, and they have the edge on us in this environment. Better to draw them out and purge them than have to rooting round in the tunnels".

[DrK]

Two of the enforcers help the wounded ones back to access hatch while the 3rd looks over the bodies. Investigator Praetus. This one is not yet dead. Shall we execute him or take him to the brig?

The 4th Enforcer moves over to the rent and peers down inside, combat shotgun muzzle leading the way. Looks like its the tween decks and access conduits. He looks back to the team. "I can see a blood trail leading prow wards. Do we follow?

After a couple of minutes rest you see a white clad medical officer reaching the access hatch. Peering in he creeps in with a couple of enforcers for cover. Master Drake, Markus. Can I tend your wounds? The enforcers are being transferred to the medicae deck.. He pulls out a heavy duty skin stapler, some spray skin and a couple of needles full of stimms and pain blockers.

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Are you guys going in or waiting for more reinforcements.

Marcus: recover (1d5)[5] wounds from the spray skin and skin stapler
Iacton: recover (1d5)[1] wounds from the spray skin and skin stapler

[Starbin]

Lor watched as the medics arrived and started working on the wounded. Before they took the enforcer away, he motioned to the guys for a moment. "Hey, before you leave, let me borrow your link."

As he sat there for a moment, he glanced at the link, then back towards the other end of the tube. When the opportunity arose, he wandered over to the acolytes and spoke low. "Just occurred to me ... why were they waiting for us? Either, they have the daemon's own luck or they were expecting us. If so, where's the compromise ... our comm links or somebody upstairs?"

[rb780nm]

"Frak me, Didn't think of that," Markus swears. "We ought t' keep off the voxes until we know then."

[Caimheul]

Praetus looks up from searching the bodies to address the remaining enforcer. "Master Holt wants him taken to the brig and I don't particularly want to be the one to countermand him." To the other one upon notification of the blood trail he says"Of course we're going to follow it, give us a second to get straightened out." He then stands and addresses the other acolytes.
"We really should develop a secret language. I doubt the leak was due to our voxes at least, I don't recall any of us announcing where we were going over them. On the other hand, I'm sure orders were voxed ahead to open the tube. One of the muties yelled something about a Confessor. I say we find him and let the interrogators ask him nicely... Do you think we should wait for another squad or should we press on letting them secure our exit?" Praetus replies, careful to switch off his microbead first.

[rb780nm]

"The enforcers are nae' much good, let's push on an' find this 'confessor' and serve him up to Mister Holt," Markus says as the medic patches his shoulder.

[Starbin]

Lor looked over at Iacton, considering. "I guess they could have a mind-f&*ker ... might be how they know. Bah, don't really matter. Right now, we either rush forward or wait and load up for grox. I'm with Markus ... moving forward before they get too set up."

Heading towards the rent, he peered in glancing in the direction the renegade took off.

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Awareness 44 (Per 34 + 10 (Heightened Senses [Sight]): (1d100)[51]

[DrK]

Peering through the rent leads down into a narrow crawlway squeezed between waist thick massive conductur wires and vast servo controls. THe narrow space leads off to fore and aft though in the photo-visor a couple of drops blood still glow slightly leading fore.

Its a maze down in between the deck plating but it seems this section is a simple fore and aft tunnel that goes parrallel to the tube, massive wires plugging into the magna-coils on the base of the tube every 10m or so. The dust on the floor is well disturbed and has hundreds of scuff marks and footsteps along with detritus and scraps of cloth and food. Its clearly well travelled....

After some 60m the passage ends and splits to the left and right, it goes a similar way aft as well.

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The crawlway is ~2m high and ~1.5 wide lined iwth massive wires and servos and the occasional collection of wires strungs across the crawlway at shin height

[Starbin]

Lor raised his head, shaking his head in disgust. Looking at the other acolytes, he keeps his voice down. "Regular rat's nest down there. Scouts, or meat shields?"

[Caimheul]

"I'll take the lead. Better press on before the blood cools too much." Praetus volunteers as he makes his way into the crawl way.

[DrK]

Pushing down the narrow crawlspace hisses of electricity and crackling static leaves hair standing on end and strange tingling sensations running across the skin. The occasional puddle of oil or water on the floor lies near crackling wires to further add to the sense of danger. THe photo visors occasionally flash as things spark leaving you dazzled and blinded until the vision comes back.

At the end of the crawlspace you are confronted with narrow crawl ducts, ladders heading up and down on either side, thoughs its easy to see the blood drips staining the ladder going down. Glancing down you can see that it goes down maybe 2 decks before opening up into some sort of cavity or space...

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Are you wanting the 4 enforcers with you? Or any of the support teams that the Captain ordered and have arrived?

Feel free to make any skill checks that you wish to look for any things?

[Intro]

Iacton Drake

As Praetus focuses on following the blood trail, Iacton lets his eyes travel around the periphery of the tunnel, training his long-las and eyes around, watching for any traps or useful intelligence. He begins to feel the longing to let the warp flow into him and focus his sight beyond the merely human and quashes it down angrily, focusing on the view through his photo-visor...

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Awareness: 49
(1d100)[32]

[rb780nm]

Markus drops down behind Drake, and look back up the tunnel behind them. "D'nae wan' a nambush coming down 'ere"

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Awareness (1d100)[48] vs 42 +10(heightened sight)

[Caimheul]

Praetus keeps his eyes peeled for danger, his shield at the ready.

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Awareness: (1d100)[10] vs 38

[Starbin]

Lor followed the group, his rifle slung back and low to keep from snagging on the wires or cables. He knew he was quick enough to draw his weapons, so he wasn't particularly concerned about holding them - better to keep his hands free and be prepared.

Heh ... just like they taught us. Be prepared for the unknown ... might as well teach us to shout quietly or stomp softly ...

As he followed the others, he kept low and to the shadows as best as possible, although he had to pause regularly when the flashes overloaded his contacts. As soon as we get paid, I need to find some of those contacts that auto-supress ... this is blind crap is stupid ...

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Concealment 47: (1d100)[62]
Silent Move 47: (1d100)[35]
Awareness 34 (44 vs sight checks)

When they reached the section where the ducts expanded out and the ladders went in both directions, he glanced down. The blood trail led that way, into an opening of some sort.

"Looks like a perfect spot for a cross-fire. Who's first? Or should Lil send them a present?" He glanced over at her grenade launcher.

[DrK]

As the lead acolyte clambered down the narrow ladder, shoulders brushing ancient and corroded pipes and wiring and catching on bits of rusted and bent metal there was a horrible moment as feet dangle into empty space...

Light glimmers here and there and you can see open flames burning as you look around from the base of the ladder. The ladder ejects you out onto a narrow walkway some 10m above the floor. The catwalk is old, corroded with holes and frayed and patched metal handrails and the occasional missing floor panel. The room that the catwalk goes round is large... Some 100m long and 50m or so wide, the ceiling is just out of reach as you stand on the catwalk. At the fore-end of the chamber, the end you've just come down you can see beneath you a vast bulk-head of sorts or massive hangar door. Though centuries of debris, metal scaffolds and the like have blocked and covered most of it. Spread over the floor of this vast area you can see what appears to be a collection of archaic ancient void craft, cargo lifters, fuelling wagons and rust strewn beams, piping sections and other hundreds of random bits of machinery necessary to operate small void craft. Small single person or larger 3 person ones. All appear ancient and decrepit, powered down. It appears that the chamber is a long abandoned small craft hanger, though the bulkhead is so long sealed one wonder if it even works.

What catches your eye is at the far end of the hangar. Flames, actual honest flames of burning oil and scraps of plasteel and rubber are dotted around. Most centred around a large square depression. Maybe a cargo lift of some kind? The huge chamber echoes eerily and you can see other access hatches and bulkheads at intervals along the walls at ground level and leading off the catwalk, as well as numerous ladders down from the catwalk to the floor...

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As you get to the base of the ladder you come out on a catwalk that goes
around 4 walls of small hangar. The catwalk, while not the best quality anymore is ~10m up.
The floor of the hangar is littered with a millenia of neglect and a slew of broken and rusted blast screens, small lifters, small towing vehicles and an old type of void fighter that looks reminiscent of a modern starhawk. At the far end in the centre is a 15m square pit with some flames around it.

You can see no movement.

An example image

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So it looks a bit like this but near pitch darkness, only a few guttering flames at the other end and rust and corroded decking everywhere. And instead of lots of turbines there is decaying voidcraft and support vehicles.

[Starbin]

Lor looked around the hanger, eyes wide in surprise. What the frag ...?! It was stunning to think the Sin of Pride was large enough and old enough that there were entire launch bays that had been lost over time. He knew nothing of star fighters or void ships, so he concentrated on searching for signs of the wounded mutant.

As a precaution, he swung his rifle off of his back, moving slightly away from the main group to avoid clumping their forces.

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Checking for the blood trail ... not sure which one is more appropriate, but Awareness is 34 (44 w/sight) and Track is 31 (41 for sight-based clues). Roll: (1d100)[60] Will try to keep to the shadows, keeping a low profile versus the rest of the group. Concealment 47: (1d100)[3]

[Intro]

Iacton Drake

Iacton pauses for a moment, letting the barest hint of the warp touch him - not enough (hopefully) to lead to a repeat of the incident earlier, but enough to detect any warp taint in the area... aside from him, of course.

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Psyniscience: 39
(1d100)[100]]

[rb780nm]

Seeing Lor go one way, Markus checks the other direction for the trail of the wounded man.

--

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Awareness: (1d100)[7] vs 42 +10 (Heightened Sight)

[DrK]

As Lor vanished into the gloom of metal fragments and rugged and warped wall plating Markus went the other way. As he searched there was a howl of pain and Iacton pitched forward his eyes glowing a deep pinkish-purple and his skin twitching and writhing. Just for a second that lasted, as the deck under your feet howled and massive crackles and booms echoed through the vault, until he collapsed on the deck before regaining consciousness.

Iacton

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Your mind opens, just for a second, though it feels like a lifetime. Mere metres from the howling roiling chaos of the Immaterium your mind glows like a beacon to the teeming shoals of warp entities that lie on the other side of the protective Geller Bubble. Grasping hands, clawed appendages and toothed tongues lash and strike at the field as sparks and the sound of thunder as the geller field is assailed. A tiny fraction of a crack is all it takes, a whisper touch into Iacton's mind as a thousand hells vault through his mind. Planets with chaos run rampant and malleable as flesh, the soul devouring shrieking of a daemon echoing in his skull he can feel his persona being pulled screaming from his body.... then nothing. The whisper crack in geller field sealing itself in less than a microsecond and his body being freed from the demonic possession. He wakes up, his face on the cold decking...

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Hey Iacton. I felt that as your in the Warp, you rolled a 100 for a whopping failure by 61 that you should experience something special.
Iacton got a glimpse of the warp (well done)!
- A hard (-10) toughness Test to avoid gaining 1d5/2 corruption points
- A hard (-10) Willpower Test to avoid gaining 1d5/2 insanity points

While that happened by the access shaft Markus quickly caught a hint of the blood trail. It appeared to run some 30m along the narrow catwalk before reaching a small ladder leading down to the floor of the cavern. A flicker of movement caught his eye, ~halfway across the hangar heading towards the pit a shape darting into the cover of an ancient fuel drum and even more worrying a flicker of movement by the far wall. A shape that was definitely not human but gone into shadows behind a void fighter before he could see more....

[rb780nm]

"Contacts in the pit! Everyone be ready," Markus hissed.

[Intro]

Iacton Drake

Iacton pulls himself to his feet, shaking his head to clear it...

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Psyniscience: 39 reroll
(1d100)[5]
Charmed Trait, don't spend FP on 9: (1d10)[1]
On a failure:
WP target 43: (1d100)[68], (1d5)[5]
T target 21: (1d100)[50], (1d5)[4]

Forgot WP test earlier, (1d100)[70], target 53 or gain 1 IP

EDIT: Now w/ 3 degrees of success, and 1 Insanity Point from earlier.

[Starbin]

Lor was scanning for signs of blood when Iacton fell writhing, and the catwalk buckled and strained. Immediately after, Markus called out contacts in the pit.

Emperor's blood, are they using heavy weaponry? He moved towards the nearest ladder and raised his rifle, scanning for targets.

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Free Action - Ready Rifle; Half Action - Move as necessary; Remaining Half Action - Scan for / Aim at any targets
Awareness 34: (1d100)[97] (+10 vs sight)

EDIT: Good Lord, I gotta stop making checks with my eyes closed!

OOC - The timing of the call and Iacton's 'episode' could have been better

Lor tried to scan for a target, but his eyes kept scanning over to Iacton, wondering what the hell they hit him with.

[Tome]

"Damnit Iacton!" Lilitas yells as the Psyker collapses, "what have you done now!? If you've summoned something I am shoving your ass out of the bloody airlock, assuming we survive". She turns back, intending to help the psyker to his feet, when Markus calls out. Lilitas reacts instantly, moving from a walk into a dash as she moves to Iacton's side, hauling him to his feet with one hand as she keeps her Lasgun trained on the pit with the other. "You good to fight Iacton?" she growls.

[DrK]

As Iacton regains his feet, the shock of the briefest of warp contacts still fresh in his mind he could also remember the feeling of taint in the area, a powerful brooding singular force, close, immediate, alien and hostile...

Down on the floor of the hangar a shadow moves, darting across the floor from the fuel tank to a collapsed and rusting void fighter, autogun in one arm, right arm hanging limp by its side.

From the other side of the hangar you hear a voice, a cold sinister voice devoid of emotion, devoid of life Oh dear... poor little flies walking into the web. We did not wish company so soon...

From the far side of the hangar you can see a couple of shapes darting from access panels to cover amidst the far away crates and heat shields. Only for a second though their mutated forms fill you with a great sense of foreboding...

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