Thy Fearful Symmetry - Dark Heresy (IC)

[LCP]

Not Jericus

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Red's grenade sailed up through the hole with a puff of pressurised gas. Slowing slightly under the station's artificial gravity, it missed its mark by a foot or less, ricocheting down off the edge of the top level to detonate on the middle deck with a dull crump.

Unscathed by the blast, the kill-team member at the top of the ladder came sliding down, boots thudding hard against the middle platform. A second followed him, the two of them hefting their hellguns as they readied to clear the space Red was occupying with a volley of lasbolts.

Somewhere on the middle level, further down the hall, there was a sudden shout and a sizzling, electric sound. It sounded like one of the kill-team had encountered the Representative.

[Etcetera]

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Erasmus turned to D'Aragnia. "One moment."

He prodded his comm-bead, rattling off a string of ones and zeroes to Nova, suffixed with "that'll open the door."

Erasmus turned back to D'Aragnia. "Someone's done a pretty nasty number on the control panel. But with any luck, I'll get it working again soon. Watch my back, will you?"

OOC: Jer gives Nova a door opening code.

[Destro_Yersul]

Tychon and Co.

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"Get out of there," Tychon called to Red, backing away from the ladder along the side of the machine he was up against. The gunslinger held his aim on the ladder, though, ready to shoot the first thing that came down it. "Before the damn hellguns cut you to pieces."

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Half move away, and half action aim at the square that will be occupied if anyone chooses to come down the ladder, if that's possible. If it's not, full move.

[Rizhail]

Not Jericus

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As soon as Jer started rattling off numbers, Nova punched them into the keypad. "Techpriests seem inordinately fond of ones and zeroes," she mumbled as she finished punching in the code provided, hoping the seemingly random series of numbers would do the job.

[LCP]

Tychon, Red, Tauron & Nova (& Simeon)

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From the middle level, there came the actinic flash of a hellgun bolt: it seemed the Representative's magic hands were not proving as effective against the carapace-armoured kill-team as they had against Norton. Breaking off from the foot of the ladder, Tychon and Red dashed back to where Tauron and Nova crouched, beside the door. Two dark figures came sliding down the ladder after them, red laser-sights chasing the retreating acolytes' footsteps as matt-black hellguns swung up to take aim.

Pressing the last button in Jericus' sequence, Nova held her breath and prayed that she'd remembered it right. There was a half-second's pause - then, with a pneumatic groan and a great venting of vapour, the blast doors began to grind open.

Beyond the doors, a huge, cavernous space yawned like the mouth of a giant. Its floor was a great circle of concrete, as broad as an aircraft hangar. Through the gloom, Nova could see a steel scaffold rising up against the far wall, broad steps leading to a high platform. Three emergency lights glowed there, shedding their off-white light over three sets of steel elevator doors...

OOC:

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Awareness tests for anyone entering the elevator chamber, please. I'll have a map up for this as soon as I can.

You can see without any need for tests that there's a door like the one you've just opened at 90 degrees to your left, which must be the one you were trying to open with Jericus. It looks undamaged on this side, although it's difficult to resolve details like the state of the keypad through this darkness and at this difference. The floor of the elevator chamber is very broad (look at your map and then look at the combat map of the place you were just in for scale) and offers little cover. There are some crates and things, but not many, and their distribution is not dense. Crossing the space is almost certainly going to take you multiple rounds of movement, so bear that in mind (at least until I get the map up).

Also, we seem to be having some trouble with people not realising I'm waiting on them to post. Just to make things clear: I'm not a mind-reader, and I want to make sure I don't steal someone's choice to react to the round's events, so if in doubt, make a post. Even if it's just a one-liner saying "I do the same thing I did last round."

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1

Jericus

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"Watch... watch your back. Yes. Um, alright."

Stepping into the alcove of the door, D'Aragnia turned to stare back into the darkness of the corridors. She seemed too nervous to stop talking, though.

"And if it comes, what... what exactly am I supposed to do?

[Destro_Yersul]

Tychon poked his head out from behind the cover of the giant machines, snapping off a shot at one of the kill team down the ladder - the door was open, he had somewhere to run, and the gunslinger felt a lot better about his odds with the rest of the cell nearby. He only hoped he would be enough to avoid the hellguns. To that effect... "Mr. Bosc. A little help?"

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Ok, so, aim and shoot. Yay.

(1d100)[85] - that is, I think, actually a hit. Tychon's base is 51, and he gets +10 each for aim, accurate, red dot sight, and range. Total of 91. I don't think there's a darkness penalty, since the troopers are standing near the ladder and thus near that rotating light, and Tychon has a flashlight anyways.
(1d10+6)[14], pen 5, and +2 damage if he goes into criticals.

[Etcetera]

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"Let me know. Then run. Who knows, maybe we got lucky and it ran into Rhodes."

[Thragka]

"Oh, thank the Throne," muttered Tauron when the door finally opened. Shuffling the last few metres through, he let Verenwyn slide from his shoulders, drawing his autopistol as he straightened up and checked where the rest of the cell were.

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Since I'm lowest in the team's initiative order, everyone else may well be inside by the time Tauron gets in - if not, he'll try to get an angle of the kill team while still being within the elevator room, to cover whoever's still outside.

[Rizhail]

Not ze Jericus

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Nova stepped through the door and immediately started looking for another keypad, hoping to be able to close the door and seal out Rhodes and his team.

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Awareness test: (1d100)[57] vs. 48 (28 base Per, +10 skill mastery, +10 heightened senses (sight)). Also, Nova has her photo-contacts on.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Free From Jericus involvement.

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Red juked across the hallway, clicking his commbead once in reply to tauron's request and slammed himself into cover behind on of the massive, mysterious machines. The Guardsmen leaned out and snapped a shot at the lead member of the kill-team for effect.
BS71 - (1d100)[98]
damagepen2 - (1d10+5)[13]

"Leapfrog, Kastor."

[LCP]

Red, Tychon, Tauron & Nova

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Tychon's shot struck its target square in the chest, hitting home with a crack of fracturing armour. The masked killer staggered, keeping his feet – as he reeled, Red's wild lasbolt scorched inches from his head.

Diving for cover, the man who had been hit sent a shot of his own scything down the aisle. The searing beam went wide, impeded by the bulk of the machinery. Trying a different tactic, the second man lowered his weapon, unclipping something small round from his belt. His throw was poor, but in these narrow confines it was hard for the flash grenade to miss: it went off like a miniature star, flooding the shadows with a single moment of blinding white.

Shielded behind the bulk of the walls surrounding the blast doors, Nova could hear more hellgun shots echoing from the upper levels: it sounded like Phaestus' servitor was still in the game. Keeping her mind on the task at hand, she quickly found what she was looking for: a small keypad, almost identical to the one on the other side of the door. Next to it was a large, red button, the glossy paint beginning to flake from its rounded metal surface...

OOC:

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Toughness tests against 1d5 rounds of blindness for Tauron, Tychon and Red. I have included Tauron because Thragka said he wanted to position him so he could see Red and Tychon; if I've misinterpreted this, please say.

(Also, I put grids on these maps for a reason! Please, where you can, tell me your movement in squares; I don't like guessing if there's a chance I might get it wrong)

EDIT: I must apologise, I got the range for grenades wrong. The map has been adjusted, and the same wall that blocks line of effect to Nova now blocks line of effect to Tauron too.

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1

Jericus

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D'Aragnia said nothing more, merely watching the corridor with paranoid, barely-concealed terror. The sounds of gunfire from the left were rising in tempo – it was beginning to sound like a full-fledged firefight.

The wires of the ruined keypad sparked and twisted uselessly under his fingers. He hated to admit it, but he was beginning to suspect that this particular one of the Omnissiah's creatures might not be salvageable.

[Rizhail]

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Content that there appeared to be a way to close the door, Nova began sprinting across the room toward Jericus' door.

"Everyone, pull back through the door into the elevator chamber. Erasmus, there's a big red button on the keypad on the inside of the chamber. Do you think it will close the door, or do we need another code? "

[Destro_Yersul]

Tychon and the others

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Tychon threw an arm up to shield his eyes from the grenade, but it wasn't enough. The blinding flash dazed the gunslinger, stars dotting his vision. Blinking to try and clear them away, Tychon cursed himself for not closing his eyes in time. Fumbling, he drew one of his other pistols. Simeon's odd needler, by the feel of it. He felt better with a gun in both hands, but right now there was nothing to do but hunker down and hope they couldn't shoot him before he could see again.

[LCP]

The Not-Jericuses

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Fumbling at his belt as his vision swam with stars, Red felt his fingers close around the smooth ridges of a blind grenade. Two could play at this game.

Rising out of cover, the guardsman pulled the pin and threw the grenade at his feet - the one target he could reliably hit right now. With a sharp hiss, the grenade went off, flooding the space between the rumbling machines with thick white smoke. No blinder than before, Red stumbled on into the fog, heading in the direction he remembered leading to the doors.

Still pinned down behind the machinery one block up, Tychon's vision was just beginning to clear when he heard the rapid thump-thump of approaching boots. The two men of the kill-team's vanguard had broken their cover, and were coming for him. More were coming down behind them as their hellguns spoke, red bolts lancing through the gloom...

~

Inside the elevator chamber, Tauron waited with his autogun levelled at the open doors. The thick cloud of Red's grenade was spilling through like a slow-motion waterfall, its white curtain impenetrable to the eye. Through it, he could still hear the barking snap of hellguns. At his feet, Simeon was mumbling something incoherent.

Feet barely touching the floor, Nova flew across the broad expanse of the chamber, practically skidding to a halt on the inside of Jericus' door. Here was exactly the same setup as before: a battered-looking keypad, and one big, red button.

[Etcetera]

"In my enlightened opinion you should press it and see."

[Destro_Yersul]

Not A Jericus in Sight

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Cursing loudly as he barely managed to avoid the bolt of the hellgun, Tychon brought up Simeon's gun. It was time to see what this thing could do, and how hard it was to aim the blasted thing. Firing off a single shot at the man he'd already wounded, Tychon retreated into deeper cover.

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So, I'm assuming this thing has the statline of a splinter pistol, out of Rogue Trader. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm also still assuming that, being where they are, there's not penalty for shooting at these guys due to the proximity of that spinny wall-light.

(1d100)[45] - to hit - with the -20 for an unfamiliar weapon, and as far as I can think of only a +10 for firing at half range, I think that's a miss
(1d10+4)[6] - damage, Pen 3
(1d10)[4] - Toxic

(1d100)[3] - dodge for that guy, since I assume he has it and would want to avoid this, since the smoke precludes anyone else from shooting at him. - even if it wasn't a miss, that would dodge it.
(1d100)[60] - Toughness for him to avoid the effects of Toxic, if necessary.

Think that's everything. Regardless of the effect, Tychon moves four squares left, and into deeper cover.

[Thragka]

The Combat Side of the Blast Doors

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Tauron kept the pistol raised. The smoke obscured everything; he couldn't tell if his arms were wavering without a point of reference to aim at. It could only be more difficult for Red and Tychon if they were actually within the cloud.

Perhaps what they needed was a beacon to show the way.

Drake inhaled slowly, filling his chest. The voice that emerged was a stentorian dirge.

"Love the Emperor,
for He is the salvation of mankind.
Obey His words,
for He will lead you into the light of the future.
Heed his wisdom,
for He will protect you from evil.
Whisper his prayers with devotion,
for they will save your soul.
Honour His servants,
for they speak in His voice.
Tremble before His majesty,
for we all walk in His immortal shadow."

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May as well put Performer (Singer) to some use, eh?

[Etcetera]

Erasmus glared at the access panel, attempting to cow it through force of will alone.

"Boss, it looks like the door's not going to open any time this side of M43. Want me to come back? Oh, and I've got D'Aragnia with me."

[Thanatos 51-50]

Bad things Happening

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Red continue to struggle through the dense smoke cloud, reaching into his belt out of little more than reflex and jamming his last frag grenade in the launcher's waiting maw.
The solider snapped shut the receiver and hid behind the wall he found with a wandering hand, inhaling a lungful of his smoke cloud and exhaling the Litany of Protection.

"Gideon. Smoke is up. Move. Hide."

[Rizhail]

"Hold where you are; I'm on the otherside of your door next to a working keypad. Let me see if I can get it open from here," Nova called into the commbead.

Not the Jericus

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Nova pressed the red button on the keypad, hoping the techpriest was right in suggesting it.

[LCP]

Not Jericus

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Nova hit the red button, and two great gouts of vapour vented from the seams of the blast door's sockets. There was a sound of grinding mechanisms, and a harsh warning klaxon blared its echoes between the bare walls of the elevator chamber.

Drowning out Tauron's strident hymn, a flat, metallic voice droned over the speakers. The doors remained closed.

++ATTENTION WORKERS++
++THE EMERGENCY SEAL HAS BEEN ACTIVATED++

Stumbling blindly through the fog, the outline of Red came into view, fumbling with the breech of his grenade launcher as he leaned against the cover of the opened door.

++IN THE NAME OF THE OMNISSIAH++
++DESIST FROM ACTIVATING THE EMERGENCY SEAL++
++WHEN THE DOORS ARE ALREADY CLOSED++

~

In the darkness of the machine hall, Simeon's pistol spat out a single shot with a strange, plosive noise. Tychon had pre-emptively compensated for a kick the strange weapon didn't have, and the shot went wide - a blurred sliver of something sharp that hissed past its target's shoulder, shattering to evaporating fragments against the steel bulkhead wall behind.

Cursing his luck, the gunslinger stumbled back into the darkness of the alley between the two rumbling blocks of machinery. Calling out muffled orders to their comrades, the two killers followed him, appearing at the mouth of the narrow passage with red-dot sights sweeping the shadows.

From the level above, the sounds of struggle came to an abrupt halt with an abrupt three-beat volley of hellgun shots. Something hit the deck with more of a clang than a thud, and Tychon caught the acrid aroma of melted metal wafting down...

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1

Jericus

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A blaring alarm sounded suddenly from the door Jericus was working on, making the tech-priest jump back. Venting vapour from its sockets, its mechanisms made an unhealthy grinding noise - to Jericus' ears, it sounded like they were pushing together rather than pulling apart.

Through the reinforced blast doors, he heard the muffled tones of an automated announcement.

++ATTENT ... ORKERS++
++...MERGENCY SEAL ...CTIVATED++
++...THE NAME OF ... NISSIAH++
++DESIST ...VATING ...GENCY SEAL++
++...DOORS ... ALREADY CLOSED++

It was hard to make out some of the words. They kept being interrupted by the echoes of hellgun fire from down the corridor.

[Destro_Yersul]

Tychon!

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Sounded like the representative had just bitten the dust, which meant the kill teamer that had been fighting it was going to come down the ladder any second now. That meant Tychon didn't have a good deal of time, and that meant he had to go back to what he knew. Ducking behind the large conduit just a meter away, Executioner spat a response at the already wounded killer. With luck, it would bring him down, and buy Red a few more seconds to shake off the effects of that damn grenade. Speaking of Red...

"Working on it," the gunslinger hissed into his commbead. "They're being persistent."

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Shooty shooty times once again. (1d100)[21]
(1d10+6)[8] with AP5,

and a dodge for that chap: (1d100)[96]

Blammo! Wish I'd fired Simeon's gun again. Although, without the extra AP, I'm not sure it would have DONE anything on a damage roll like that. This way, I think he takes... either five wounds or four, depending on how good his armour is.

Oh, and as always, if that manages to put him in crits, he takes an extra two crit damage.

[Etcetera]

"Okay, don't press that red button again. You'll make the machine spirits angry. Who exactly are you engaging, anyway?"

[Thragka]

"Rhodes, et alii," muttered Tauron across the comms. "It seems we can seal ourselves in. Nova, determine whether the elevators are operational." The tone was just short of an order. "If they are, then perhaps, Mr Kastor, it is time to consider a tactical withdrawal?"

[Rizhail]

"In a moment. First, this door. Erasmus, can you rattle off that open code again?"

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If necessary, consider Nova to be using a delay action to put in the code as soon as Jer says it over the comm.

[Thanatos 51-50]

Smoke Smoke everywhere and not a single mirror

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Red couldn't tell if the effects of the flashbang had worn away, yet. Not with all his smoke.
He took a moment to orientate himself.
The door he's using as cover is here. That means he came from that way, which must mean Rhodes' kill team was...
there.

With noting to aim by other than his approximate guess, Red snatched his assault laspistol out of its holster and let loose with a wild spray of lasbolts, hoping to catch Rhodes' crew with one of the wild shots.

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INT28 - (1d100)[67]
Normally, it'd be BS at -20 to hit anybody, but since Red automatically fails BS tests right now AND there's stuff that happens for missed shots, apparently, here's a bunch of d100 rolls:
(1d100)[29]
(1d100)[28]
(1d100)[77]
(1d100)[51]
(1d100)[91]

[LCP]

All Together Now

Reeling off the rapid rattle of the override code once again, Jericus waited a moment, then watched as the great blast doors rumbled slowly open. D'Aragnia practically pushed past him to get into the elevator chamber, the tattered duchess rushing forwards to stand behind Nova as Jericus entered at a rather more controlled pace.

"Close it," said D'Aragnia, speaking quickly. "Close it, close it!"

Looking around, Jericus took in his surroundings. The elevator chamber was a great cylindrical space, with an open floor suitable for loading cargo. Here and there some crates and other detritus had been left haphazardly stacked; in the centre of the floor, a tracked forklift stood idle and empty. Ninety degrees right of the door through which he had just entered, another set of blast doors hung open, the white fog of a blind grenade rolling lazily through their jaws.

On his left, a set of iron steps led up to a raised platform, over which glowed two pale emergency lights. They were set over smaller sets of doors - the elevators. A third elevator stood a little further off, at ground level. It too had a light, though it was larger than the other two - intended for moving heavy equipment, perhaps. The three elevator lamps were the brightest things in the gloom of the great man-made cavern, lighting the way to salvation.

The sounds of the firefight were coming through the smoke-filled door on the right, much louder now that Jericus' own door was open. Doing a quick head-count, he saw that only Tauron and Nova were in the elevator chamber with him, with the half-conscious figure of Verenwyn lying at Tauron's feet.

It looked like Red and Tychon were the ones having the fun.

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1
Tychon thought he saw his shot strike home, the dark figure of his attacker jerking back under the impact. There was no time to confirm the impression, as Tychon threw himself behind the cover of the armoured pipe on his right.

Scything wildly from out of the smoke cloud, a spray of blind shots from Red struck and sparked against the walls of the towering machines, driving the second of Tychon's attackers stumbling back. The first was out of the laspistol's arc of fire, and waited for the firing to cease before darting forwards, flattening his back against the corner of the nearest machine block. Leaning round, the masked mercenary snapped off a single shot at the gunslinger's position, the bulk of the heavy duct absorbing the lasbolt's energy with nothing more than a dull red glow.

From the direction of his remaining escape route, Tychon heard the thud of boots hitting the deck. Before he could lean out to see, a second blistering hellgun shot sliced past his head, blowing a melted hole out of the dull steel behind - from around the other side of the block on his left, a third member of the kill-team was advancing, hellgun raised.

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1
OOC:

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If she wants to, Nova can close the door as a free action using the Big Red Button. Also, Red is no longer blind.

Of course, I forgot one more roll: the pinned kill-team member rolls WP to recover at the end of his turn. (1d100)[30] - passed.

[Destro_Yersul]

Things were getting, Tychon reflected, just a little too hot from where he was standing. He couldn't count on the man Red had driven off staying that way for long, and there were two men with a good position to shoot him in the back. Not, he considered, especially good prospects for staying alive. Breaking from cover, the gunslinger bolted towards the man who had just descended the ladder. Give him pause for thought before he could draw a bead, why not. Engaging him wasn't Tychon's plan, though. If he withdrew, the others could shoot the gunslinger to pieces. Instead he veered around the bulk of the machinery, plunging into the smoke and heading for where he remembered the door being.

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Ok, so, I think Tychon needs an Ag test to keep his footing after running full tilt into an area where he can't see: (1d100)[47] -that's a fail, meaning he falls to the ground at the end of his movement. In this case, next to Red. He doesn't have leap up, so he'll have to stand next turn.

I'd like for him to wind up in the doorway, next to Red's position.

[Etcetera]

Jericus considered the forklift. It wasn't a cargo sentinel, but was it not said that the Omnissiah worked in mysterious ways? He moved to inspect it closer.

[Rizhail]

Nova slammed her palm on the red 'close' button again, hoping the doors would still close and not somehow malfunction after she had hit the button earlier. Regardless of whether it worked or not, she immediately took off toward the elevator to check on the cell's escape route as Tauron had suggested.