Dark Heresy: Only In Death Does Duty End IC

[Raynn]

Dark Heresy
Only In Death Does Duty End

++ Thought for the day -"Every man is a spark in the darkness. By the time he is noticed he is gone forever. A retinal after-image that fades and is obscured by newer, brighter lights." ++

++ Begin Transmission ++

Only in death does duty end. This is more than a mantra, a repeated slogan of the macabre life set out before you; it is a solemn truth that resounds through your being. You are an acolyte of the Holy Inquisition, a cell within the greater body of the Ordos Hereticus. A guardsman may finish his tour of duty, an enforcer may retire, a ganger may escape to less violent pastures but there is no such end for you. You are, and will forever be, an acolyte. The path you now walk ends only in one thing.

Are you ready to meet your Emperor?

In The Skies of Scintilla . . .

The bulk shuttle shudders and tilts as its hold erupts in a cacophony of worried cries. Pressed together like slices of processed corpse starch are the refugees, immigrants, criminals and other myriad space trash who have lived within the bowels of low rate transports for months hoping for a better life on the capital planet of the Calixis Sector. The four of you up until a few hours ago had been aboard 'The Flight from Dawn', a transport ship belonging to the Machenko Trading House.

The Inquisition had afforded you the barest of essentials and accommodations. You've all probably had run ins with the wrong sort of people, trying to relieve you of your precious Thrones . . . or worse, and you've gotten fewer hot meals than you'd like, but all in all it could have been worse for warp travel in the low levels of a transport ship.

There are about two hundred souls aboard the bulk shuttle as it makes its way downwards towards Hive Sibellus below. The children are screeching and as the shuddering of the vessel grows worse even the adults have begun to grow into a chorus of yells for more information. The questioning shouts of passengers quickly become worried demands for information. The guards ensuring the rabble remain in the shuttle hold roar over the crowd about ‘expected turbulence’ but from the cadence of the voice you are well aware the turbulence is anything but expected.

The whole shuttle tilts from side to side as inertial dampeners fail to compensate. For a moment you feel like you’re falling as people tumble over each other, then suddenly people crash down as the ship levels out again. Either something is wrong of the shuttle’s pilot is a lunatic, or both. You realise that the passengers are on the verge of a full blown riot . . . which may not be the worst of your problems if something is wrong with the shuttle.

You are agents of the Emperor’s Holy Inquisition.

What do you do?

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Each of you were given a dataslate containing the following files about your mission on Scintilla:

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As well as considerable information about the capital planet of Scintilla.

[Whiskeyjack]

The trek for Aemilia had been...eventful, if only for the pounding headache caused by Dagwanoenyent's subtle urgings about the dangerousness of the Ministorum priestess, Kell. Retreating into her own prayers and litanies brought a reprieve from the fearful and fearmongering mutterings of the Carbuncular Dread.

But now those familiar whisperings are urging a response. The mites will scatter, nun, they will scatter and then the mites will down the pelican, nipping it til it falls face-first into water too hard to break its descent. Vigilance! I smell a canker here, ripe and agitated, it threatens sepsis if not drained...and we would not want it drained in the wrong place, oh no...

"Momentarily," Aemilia says with a hard edge to her voice, for a moment not cognizant that she replied aloud. She shakes her head and rises from her ministration over a woman who apparently started vomiting blood during the last transit out of warp. Truly, the sight of a Sister Hospitaller among them might have subdued any pre-existing notions of mutiny for fear of one of the God-Emperor's handmaidens being swept up in it all. But now with the turbulence, any immunity Aemilia might have possessed was gone as the people grow ever more fearful.

"Recite the Litany of True Steel thrice interspersed with five Praises to the All-Master and an Invocation Upon Sacred Fire," she says loudly to the ill-looking woman and her two family members. "Faith shall heal you just as faith shall guide us through this turbulence to the ground below."

Even as her words finish, she is moving away from them, seeking out the members of her cell, lip subconsciously curling as she sees the psyker...to Dagwanoenyent's amusement. She glances about for the others, then settles on the Arbitrator and begins to make her way towards her.

[Hemnon]

Standing in a heated argument with 2 uncooporative male passengers, Caileigh was getting tired of their unwillingness to leave her alone.

''Look, this is the last time I will say this. Get the Fleck out of my sight and leave me alone, or would you rather want me to break your jaws and arrest you for harrassment?! She said with he Side-Handle baton in her hands, and a grim look in her eyes.

The 2 uncooporative passengers looked at eachother with a quick glance before they turned tail and ran.

That was when she saw the Sister walking towards her.

Caileigh turned towards the Sister and made the sign of the aquila in greeting. ''Greetings Sister, would it be any trouble for you if you could help me in getting hold of the ship's speakers so we can get some order in this chaos. Maybe your soothing voice could bring that order. I've heard that you can sing, so would it be at all possible for you to hold a sermon in the emperor's name?'' She asked while taking off her helmet, showing a sign of respect to the Sister by actively showing her face and eyes.

[ChaoticSky]

Space was at a premium on the ship, that was for sure, however, Kell had still managed to carve out a small space for herself in a corner. Priests commanded a certain awed respect... and the flamer that never left her side probably didnt hurt either. Like the Hospitallar, she too was ministering to the panicky people who filled the hold, though her method was less... subtle.

Unimpressive in stature or build, Kell did have quite the pair of lungs, and standing on a crate to be seen over the heads of the crowd, she roared loud enough that it could be heard even in the general din of the 'landing'. "Where is your Faith!?" she brandished her lantern out over the crowd, the small flame writhing in its gilded housing, the face of the lamp shaped to resemble a eye. "His Eye is upon you! Cowards! Stand together as brothers and sisters and pray to Him! Help your fellows and have faith that He will carry us to His world safely and He shall! He has no use for the craven, so show Him your faith and live! To Betray yourself to fear is to betray Him!"

If anyone happened to be wondering where she is... they would certainly know now.

[Whiskeyjack]

"Ave, Arbite," the Hospitaller doesn't even react when the cleric starts her bellowing; instead she simply smooths the robes over her carapace. "I would be glad to but it seems Reverend Kell might have that well in hand already," she adds with a wry smile.

Aemilia lowers her voice. "Be alert. They may try something in their fear. This is no ordinary turbulence. I have been trained in the basics of propitiaing machine spirits...perhaps I can help the crew, or at least diagnose a problem..."

[Raynn]

The chorus of terrified roars erupts.

A shot cuts through the sound of the approaching riot. The civilians attack the guards, assuming they are the culprit. The guards respond in kind. Clubs and batons come down as the tension boils over.

The maggots eat the flies . . .

A cudgel comes down on a young mother's skull

Brother's feast on the blood of sisters

The guards run to the wall brackets to grab their lasguns as other men within the crowd begin to trample women and the infirm to attack the guards. The angry disharmony turns to chaos in a few instants of erupting violence

The Beast Below All Nun. Sweet Chaos.

A passage to the cockpit and engine room open up, as members of the mob force their way in those directions, likely to unknowingly do more harm than good. Another child screams out and is silenced.

Death Surrounds You Sweetling. Are you not a healer?

WHO THE FRAK FIRED THAT FIRST SHOT!

What do you do?

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If you want to move through the crowd and are not a Hiver roll a Strength or Toughness Test at +10, on a failure you take 1d10 plus 1 for every degree of failure damage, deduct armour and toughness normally. The cleric and the nun get an additional +10 to this check as the mob is less likely to attack them. The Psyker from a strange land takes a -10 for a net +0 modifier as they are more likely to attack such a strange figure.

[w0me]

Hidden among those who hide themselves from their fellow humans, Vixvic assessed the riot as it grew among the passengers. He also assessed the ether and any influence it may have had over the turbulence.

He begins pushing toward the cockpit. You shouldn't notice him easily.
When he gets there, you see a hand in the crowd burst up out of it and cling to a pipe. Then the other. Vixvic lets hid hood fall back revealing his strange appearance (varacose veins and branding on his head) and starts to groan.
"nnnggguuuyyaaaa.... wyaawnnniiiaaaa... Suuuunnyyeyyy... (etc)"
He starts to shake violently to give credence to the throat-song spells he's pretending to cast, causing the loose piping to shudder around and echo through itself and the rest of the room, if he's lucky. He's hoping this gives the quick thinkers in the cell their cue and a little bit of time.

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Psynicience roll against base 35: (1d100)[100]
Test to move against 45: (1d100)[34]
Damage if any: (1d10-3)[-2]
d100 roll for the test to freak out and distract some of the crowd orientated around the cockpit and engine room entrances. Oh god this is a tricky one. (1d100)[32]

[Whiskeyjack]

"Lieutenant Odessa, we must keep the cockpit and enginarium secure!" Aemilia hisses, moving for the hatch to the piloting chamber. "Have someone secure the engine room!"

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Toughness vs TN 50: [roll0]

[Raynn]

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A 100 on Psynicience? Lucky in this case due to the Nurgle Daemon Narrator

For all that and for people being freaked already I'll give you a heavy modifier for that deception. Oh and for the fact your a piercing covered witch doctor who kind of stands out as dangerous and odd looking in this case.

As Vixvic forces his way through the crowd he's able to take the brunt of any kicks or punches that come his way from the crowd, or from the general damage of forcing his way through the people packed together like violent sardines.

As the crowd begins to clear around the mad witch doctor feral worlder the other acolytes notice that the doors to the Engine room and Cockpit are no longer guarded as the guards are moving towards the mob's edge and the Psyker.

They also all notice a man in a black cloak and a round black healmet, like what an aeronautica pilot wears but not quite, stepping out of the cockpit. Seeing the Psyker drawing the crowd's attentions and fear he reaches towards his side holster under his jacket in an instant and aims towards the psyker for a moment before firing off a shot in the Psyker's direction.

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Ballistic Skill Test (1d100)[53]

[Whiskeyjack]

Aemilia gets battered by the press of the mob as she pushes towards the cockpit, but her Ministorum-issue carapace absorbs the shifting knees and elbows easily. She draws up close to the witch doctor just in time for the strange man to take a shot.

Aemilia draws her sidearm but waits to shoot back, hoping the Arbite will take the man to the ground.

[Raynn]

As the shoot goes off Aemilia realizes there was no bang, only the light of a discharge from the strange, obviously Imperial, weapon. The Arbites have not yet even noticed the man and seem much more interested in the Psyker at the moment.

When the Arbites looks back to the Psyker she thinks for a second that the shooter must have missed. . . then she sees the very large dart sticking out of the Psyker's neck as he falls from the pipe as a reddish black from the syringe is injected into the psyker from the dart.

When Aemilia looks back to the shooter he is making his way over to the emergency exit bulkhead.

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The Psyker is a -20 to all tests but is not unconscious, takes no damage and suffers no other ill effects aside from being dissociated from his emotions and mild hallucinations. . .

[w0me]

Seeing the crowd of faces looking and their cheeks turn redder, then whiter, then redder again, he figures he's done a good job in scaring them.

He apathetically draws the dart out and tries briefly to assess where it came from without enough effort to do so successfully.
He turns to Aemelia and shouts slightly louder than he needs to, "The Candle Sister! I may need your help. My body has been poisoned by this blow dart." He shows her the dart, even if she's not paying attention due to the shooter drawing her eyes.

He turns it over in his hands a little. Distracted.

[Raynn]

As the Psyker hallucinates the people around the edges of his vision seem to begin to rot but when he looks at whoever was in the corner of his eye a moment ago they appear fine, always. As he turns over the dart in his hands it appears as a blurred line of silver metal as he finds it hard to make out the details.

Seemingly slightly less mad the crowd while still rioting begins to pay him a little less attention but affords him and Amelia a very wide berth.

What do you do?

[Hemnon]

For the moment, Caileigh just stood her ground against the amassing horde and with a free hand. Swinging out her shotgun, she gave chambered a buckshot with the erie ''Thack-Thack''.

''(High Gothic)Sister Aemilia, I am no Guardsman, I am an Arbitor, Trooper rank. I agree, we need to secure a foothold to the enginarium and the cockpit, by the emperor I wish we had a tech-priest with us.'' She replied to the sister, High Gothic style.

''Out of the way, In the Emperor's name, Make way or suffer the punishment!!'' She shouts out the the chaotic masses, also rallying her position to the rest of the group.

''Make room or I WILL FIRE! ARBITOR AND GROUP MOVE OR FEEL THE EMPEROR'S WRATH!'' She bellows, in an attempt to regain some measure of control and maybe even make a path for the all, While trying to move forward with the sister.

OOC

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Intimidate masses into order.
Untrained basic (Fel 39/2): 19+/-(any difficulty) vs (1d100)[57]

Toughness test for crowd-movement is in OOC thread

[ChaoticSky]

Kell stared out over the mass of the crowd as the riot erupted, and slowly lowered her lantern. A single tic at the corner of her left eye was the only outward sign of the monumental displeasure she was feeling at the moment. "Throne damned heretics." she muttered under her breath, her trigger finger itchy, "My Emperor, you test me sorely." Because, clearly, shed like nothing more than to set the whole mob on fire. Unfortunately wasting ammo was a Sin, and a waste it would be.

Hopping down from the crate she stood on, the priest stomped over to the rear of the crowd as it drained out the doors. Clearly, these people were weak, to give into panic so, undeserving to even set foot upon Scintilla, the only responsible thing to do was to thin the herd. So she tried her preaching voice again, "The heretics are among you! Not the crew! Look to the man beside you! Treachery lives in his heart! He would crash the ship and kill you all!"

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Lets try a fell* roll, gogo digidice!
base fell 38
(1d100)[87](87)

*sigh* gotta love DH XD

[Raynn]

As Kell finishes the crowd takes her words quite literally and rather than attacking just the guards as a mob they fall upon each other. The hold is so full of screaming now that it's hard to hear yourself think.

'Well This Devolved Quickly.'

As Caileigh tries and fails to get the guard to clear a space any bigger than a few inches around her she looks down at her arm and seems a serious stab wound near her shoulder. It must have been given to her while she was roaring and the pain from it is intense and barely bearable for the Arbitrator.

As the Acolytes look on the man who fired begins to turn the wheel handle on the bulkhead, about to open up the shuttle to the upper atmosphere. . .

[ChaoticSky]

Kell nodded, setting back, she was satisfied that the mob had turned on its self as she hoped it would, and would make the job of eliminating them much easier, and without the weight of bodies, they were unlikely to be able to push past the cockpit defences, or get past the techpriests overseeing the engines. Or such was her judgement anyway.

Casting her gaze around to see if anything else required her attentions, she spotted the figure in black, trying to open the bloody hatch. Oh, brilliant. She moved up to the figure, raised her flamer, and pulled the trigger, spraying a gout of burning promethium at the figure, "Fall and be cleansed." she intoned... after the pulled the trigger of course.

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Damage if i hit;
(1d10+4)[4](8) [Pen 4]

[Raynn]

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Agility Test: (1d100)[77]
Willpower Test if he fails the above test: (1d100)[18]

Kell's flames wash over the individual as they lets out a roar of frustration and with an astounding force of will quick draw a second of the strange pistols from a second holster under their other arm. They lines up the bead with Kell and fires off a single dart.

As they do this they press the release button on the door with their other hand . . .

*FWOOSH*

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Agility Check @ +30 for everyone, before other modifiers, to grab something or someone!

Ballistics Skill test etc in next post.

[Raynn]

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Ballistics Skill Test: (1d100)[18]
Damage: (1d5-2)[1] If the shot hits the head she has no armor there so +3 damage. If any damage gets through AP & TB it is automatically reduced to 1 and Kell must make a Toughness Test at -20.

Just as Kell sees the Bulk head open up and the saboteur allows them self to be sucked out she looks down and sees a needle full of a cream colored thick looking liquid that's being injected into her hip by the dart.

[Whiskeyjack]

Undeterred by the fire or the darts, Aemilia lines up a single shot as the heretic moves to pop the hatch, snapping it off then grabbing for a crash harness in the hallway as the suited bastard hits the hatch. "He will kill us all and escape in the process! Stop him!"

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Ballistic Skill vs TN 55: (1d100)[62]

Damage: (1d10+3)[11]

Agility vs TN 66: (1d100)[13]

[Raynn]

The shot goes wide as he is sucked out of the shuttle.

[Whiskeyjack]

Aemilia rushes to close the hatch before everyone still in the shuttle is violently sucked out. She tries to see what became of the saboteur but lingers for just a moment before working the hatch control runes.

[Raynn]

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Agility Test +40 to avoid being sucked out as you approach the door.

As Aemilia looks down over the depths of the sky for split instant she thinks the saboteur is gone but then she sees them pull of their flaming jacket and allow it hurtle away.

Then from his back, originally braced along his spine, extend two large metallic looking, synthetic black wings. As Aemilia tries to press the seal rune on the bulkhead she sees the saboteur nosedive towards the Hive City of Sibellus far below.

[Hemnon]

The sharp pain in her arm combined with the panic around her, almost made her dizzy with sickness.

''Argh!... Damn it, it hurts like hell.'' She yelped out in pain.


With the sudden decompression from the emergency door that got opened, instincts took over and she tried to grab out for the nearest thing that was bolted to the ground.

OOC

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Agility Test.

Ag 30+20(difficulty)= 50 vs. (1d100)[8]

[Whiskeyjack]

Aemilia watches as the shape descends towards the Hive and keys the door shut.*

Turning back to the crowd she says, "I'll see to your injuries as soon as we're sure this shuttle isn't going to crash land. Anyone trained in piloting, head for the cockpit."

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Agility vs TN 76: (1d100)[94]

[w0me]

Vixvic mumbles bemusement as the cabin depressurises and he begins to be sucked toward the door. As he begins to pick up speed, he begins to realise the disadvantages to what could happen next. "Someone close the door.. Hey! Hey! Someone!"

He claws at fixtures but gets no grip. Had be been more in touch with his fear, things might have gone differently.

[Raynn]

As Caleigh grabs onto the container of an emergency grav chute bolted to the wall her eyes widen in terror as both the drugged Psyker and Aemilia are sucked out of the shuttle through the open door along with a half dozen civies and two guards.

For a moment her heart fills with dread as she assumes their definite death, then her eyes glance back to the grav chute on the wall, then back out the door way to her falling colleagues, then back to the chute.

What do you do?

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Fear 2 test for Vixvic and Aemilia. +30 for the psyker due to being detached from his feelings for a -10 -20 +30 = +0 Willpower Test. Keep the minus twenty because the hallucinations are still going on.

[Hemnon]

Without a second thought, Caileigh opens the container that holds the grav-chute and equips it with great amounts of will and physical strength to retain her hold with one arm. She also quickly looked after any sort of instruction printing on how the chute worked.

''Only in death... Emperor watch over me...'' she murmured, but the howling wind erased any sounds that she made, Then she released her hold and was sucked out as well, along with teh newly aquired grav-chute on her back.

Doing the free-fall she went stream-lined to catch up with the hospitaller and looked for the psyker in her insane skydive. though death might be at the end of the long fall, she wasn't scared, cuz the things she saw in the luggnum vaults had nearly wiped her sanity away, so a little fall was not that bad.

[Raynn]

Caileigh:

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Give me a +10 Agility check to fall towards either one of the pair, and a weapon skill test to grab which ever one of them while both of you are in free fall.

For the second repeat this but the person you grab first can assist on the second agility check, which is at +0 without assistance, and both of you can make the weapon skill test.

[ChaoticSky]

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T to resist poison. 30 -20
(1d100)[24](24)

Ag to avoid going for a fly 30+30
(1d100)[27](27)

Kell staggers back, her hand going to the dart and yanking it out almost as soon as she felt the pain... But not quick enough, and she staggers, dizzy, as the poison courses through her veins. Loosing her footing, she tumbles towards the door, only to slam into a rack near it, the harness holding her fuel tanks getting caught in the hooks. Which proved to be a good thing as moments later, pupils obviously dilated, she tried to follow the heretic outside ranting about the emperor's fire and how there was already heretic batmen, and posers were not welcome. Only the fact she was seized on the rack and couldnt seem to have figured out how to get out of her harness saved her. More fortunate still, was the fact that anything that came out of her flamer would be sucked out of the craft's open door.