IC II: DH The Purity of Sacrifice

[bramblefoot]

milo sighs "were talking old money here. you cant just bust down his door and arrest him without cause, or you might end up with poison in your food or a bullet in your brainpan" he sighs "such is the nature of power and heresy, and why it is so difficult to destroy"

he will rub his eyes "even with cause, this would no doubt be dragged out to courts for emperor knows how long, and end up with the same result." he slams a fist into his palm "damn drimmle" he says, and takes a seat

[BananaPhone]

Marcella

'I know about the criminal stuff.' Orla waves away Hounds comment aimiably. 'I mean that if you're doing things that would make the Emperor mad at you, you might have a regular job and a regular schedule to keep. If you're worried about the Enforcers knowing where your monies coming from you might want to have a front where you pretend to be normal. Obviously hasn't worked for him in this case.' She'll wave towards the Interrogator to imply that the Inquisition knew all about Drimmle. 'But if you don't want to get violent with this guy, maybe you can find a place where he's out and about and Marcella can bump into him in a crowd. Unless you want to try breaking into his house and psychic him while he's asleep.' Orla shrugs, 'Marcella would be the only psyker I've ever met, so I can't say I'm an expert, but if you want to think outside the box....'

Marc felt a touch giddy thst she was getting such positive attention for things she could contribute. It made her feel special.

"I need physical contact," she replied gently. "If we were to subject him to a full mind scan, it would be best done where he could be restrained and exhausted to lower his ability to resist."

Marc tilted her head to look over at Milo as he explained an issue with going after nobles: their power and influence.

"Even so, nobles exist on their reputation and social appearance. What loyal citizen of the Imperium wants to be seen as being arrested for heresy, sedition and conspiracy? Even if he eventually won his case in the court, the stink of the accusation and what evidence we have would linger around and his family name for centuries. No smoke without fire, his rivals would say."

[bramblefoot]

milo nods, massaging his temples "that they do" he says, cracking a wry grin. "their reputation is their lifeblood. poison that, and they got nowhere to go but down" he will smile, and says "im gonna get some shuteye." he will stand, stretch, and shamble to his quarters, leaning the lasgun against his bed and putting the orthlack on the nightstand. so tired is he that he shucks the flak helmet but falls asleep with the flak jacket still on and the microbead still in his ear.

milos lasgun



the orthlack



milo will sleep for about 6-8 hours, until he is awoken by his comm-bead chiming in his ear. milo will answer it, and is rewarded by a loud basso voice saying. "ah milo!, i have your new toy prepared for its test run" milo will practically jump for joy. leonardo lysergo was had worked on plenty of custom tech for house enko, and even though he currently worked in the midhive, some debts still held true. leonardo was the kind of man you could trust with your life and he would defend it by cranking out tech gubbins and armaments until the day he died. the man was a genius, and even though he was approaching his mid-fifties, his mind was sharp and his arm was strong

milo splashes some water on his face, gathers his kit, and will rush to leonardos shop in the weapons quarter. as he raps on the door, leonardo swings it wide, and sweeps milo into a hug "my friend, welcome" he booms, ushering milo inside to a workbench and sweeping back a cloth covering the wrist flamer "do you like it milo?" he asks, watching as milo will fork over the thrones and buckle it on. the flamer was a burnished steel gauntlet, with a trigger switch inbuilt into the glove. a quick clench of the fist would make the flamer fire its holy promethium into the enemy, and they would burn.

milo nods, and will pass leonardo some plans he drew up for some other gubbins. "think you can cram some IR readers into a pair of ballistic shades, and then kludge together an IR flashlight on a shoulder mount?" he asks. leonardo shrugs, and will defer milo to his newest engineer, lillie lysergo "her fingers are nimbler than mine" he says.



leonardo lysergo art


lillie lysergo

[Wyndeward]

Ezekiel's grin dissolves rather quickly, and he sucks on the side of his cheek for a moment before replying. "Hmmm... I'm afraid that's probably a no," he says raising both hands palm up, "this is still a clandestine operation. Disappearing a wealthy and important member of society, or Emperor forbid, publicly performing some sort of arrest, is going to draw too much attention and raise too many questions. As it is, I am a little uncomfortable with how this team has engaged him to begin with. If he at all decides to betray us, we could be significantly compromised." He shakes his head, taking a moment to regain his composure, as his voice had been raising during the reply. In a forced but hushed voice he continues, "To be honest, he has the resources to have you tracked, and to hire all sorts of nasties who could come after us. I have already begun looking into a backup headquarters, though I fear that the options have all been even less accommodating then what we have now."

Arl listens closely to the conversation between Marcella and Ezekiel.

"Drimmle is part of the pipeline from orbit to the underhive. Now, to be frank, greasing the skids to deliver heretical weapons to the Underhive may not be Drimmle's only sin, just his biggest that we know of... Interrogator, if I could hazard a suggestion... a man such as Drimmle, willing to risk his soul for credits, probably has a host of other crimes to his name.

While we might not be able to touch Drimmle the upright banker, perhaps, with a word in the right ears, the Inquisition could target Drimmle indirectly, perhaps have the Credit Guild audit him within an inch of his life and see what other misbehavior rises to the fore. Once disgraced and cast out, it would be no problem to grab Drimmle the outcast and then squeeze him for every jot and tittle of information and then discard the husk like the pit of a ploin fruit."

[bramblefoot]

milo smiles cruelly. "arl, i like the way you think" he says. "the thing i worry about is captain casimere. he prolly could buy drimmle out of anything if he wanted to, and then flee the system" he turns to interrogator ezekiel. "i suggest we try arls plan with your permission of course sir"

[rax]

"I suggest we try to find out what's actually going on before we concoct solutions to a problem that may not exist. Drimmle may yet prove to have been loyal to the Inquisition - so far we have nothing beyond our own suspicions to prove that he has gone back on his word. What is needed now is a discussion on how to approach him again without being caught in a possible trap, not what to do with him if it turns out his conversion was only for show," Hound interjects.

[BananaPhone]

Marcella

Marcella listened quietly, her large, warm brown eyes moving between Arl and Hound.

"I agree in spirit," she said to Arls suggestion. Isolating the prey off from the protection of their herd would work well.

"But I agree with Hound. Drimmle seemed genuinely terrified when we showed him the rosary of the Inquisition. He might have willingly betrayed us. But he might have had his hand forced also, and might still prove useful."

[Haval]

To Marcella, 'So back to your thing then. If you need to be able to touch him how easy do you think it'd be to break into this guys house and look into his head while he's asleep.'

[BananaPhone]

Marcella


Marc swivelled her eyes to look at Orla.

"We've done it before," she said quietly, "at the time I couldn't...interrogate him, in such a way. But now I can. Previously, we could not enter without being detected. This time, we could tranquilize him, during which entering his mind would meet less resistance."



OOC:
Caught me right as I put the slow cooker on and decided to swing past the forum lol.

[Haval]

Marc swivelled her eyes to look at Orla.

"We've done it before," she said quietly, "at the time I couldn't...interrogate him, in such a way. But now I can. Previously, we could not enter without being detected. This time, we could tranquilize him, during which entering his mind would meet less resistance."

'If you can do that, do you mean like put something in his drink or something? Or do you have something to jab him with?'

Spoiler: ooc

Show

I don't currently have Security but Orla has enough XP to buy it if it helps

[bramblefoot]

milo cracks a grin "i think she'll just psyker his brain into unconsciousness and pick through it like a raven plucking an eyeball from a corpse" he smiles, but there is no warmth to it. "how do you think she'd do it" he says, spreading his arms wide, as if asking for opinions from a crowd

[BananaPhone]

Marcella

Marc looked passively at Milo's description of her, whether she took offence to the descriptor or not was hard to tell.

"No," she answered Orla, "I just need to get into the house with him. I can take it from there."

[bramblefoot]

milo will nod. "yknow, if we ever decide to do callsigns, yours should definitely be raven" he says, slapping her on the shoulder, military style. "mine would be throne"

[BananaPhone]

Marcella

The Psyker snorted lightly in amusement.

"Raven..." she repeated.

"Sounds like something I'd come up with six years ago when I was sixteen or something," she snickered.

[Haval]

milo cracks a grin "i think she'll just psyker his brain into unconsciousness and pick through it like a raven plucking an eyeball from a corpse" he smiles, but there is no warmth to it. "how do you think she'd do it" he says, spreading his arms wide, as if asking for opinions from a crowd

After a moment Orla will try to answer that. 'None of my business, but if being able to do that is useful we might as well take advantage.'

She won't comment on the matter of call signs.

[bramblefoot]

milo listens intently, and cracks another grin. "you see, its amazing what people reveal when they just talk" he says. "get someone angry or out of their comfort zone, and they reveal much more than normal"

he looks at orla. "tell me, were you born among the muck and filth, or did you get moved down there for some unknown slight?"

[Haval]

he looks at orla. "tell me, were you born among the muck and filth, or did you get moved down there for some unknown slight?"

Orla looks levelly at Milo before smiling. 'Muck and filth? Well we can't all be born into a place where you get servitors to wipe your arse for you. There are people who go to the Underhive to hide out sometimes but as far as I know no one gets sent there by punishment. If you've done anything to deserve that the Enforcers are more likely to throw you in a hole somewhere if they don't shoot you outright.'

[Wyndeward]

Orla looks levelly at Milo before smiling. 'Muck and filth? Well we can't all be born into a place where you get servitors to wipe your arse for you. There are people who go to the Underhive to hide out sometimes but as far as I know no one gets sent there by punishment. If you've done anything to deserve that the Enforcers are more likely to throw you in a hole somewhere if they don't shoot you outright.'

Arl looks at the two of them, rolling his eyes and trying to stifle a laugh.

"Would the two of you save the venom for the heretics? Neither of you would likely survive on Kesh, any more than I would last too long in the Underhive... I might be able to survive topside, but only because there are folks who worry more about which fork to use than which knife to stab you with.

With that, he hefts his duffle bag up only his lap and unzips it, tossing aside what looks like a padded blanket and revealing a scoped hunting rifle, which he proceeds to wipe down with an oily rag.

[Haval]

Arl looks at the two of them, rolling his eyes and trying to stifle a laugh.

"Would the two of you save the venom for the heretics? Neither of you would likely survive on Kesh, any more than I would last too long in the Underhive... I might be able to survive topside, but only because there are folks who worry more about which fork to use than which knife to stab you with.

'No doubt.' Orla grins at the last part. 'If everyone on Kesh is as big as you I might want to avoid it.'

[bramblefoot]

milo will watch with an approving eye as marcella pulls out the vanaheim "a little big for close in work, and certainly not concealable" he says, revealing a wrist flamer made of burnished steel. "anyone within thirty meters ends up on fire if theyre not lucky" he says, cracking a rictus. "fuel canisters are mighty small, but it should provide a nasty surprise to anyone who thinks to mess with us"

[Bennosuke]

Act II Scene iii

'Necessity overcomes morality. Never without regret. Never without shame. Yet even immoral victory must outweigh moral defeat. The victor will have a chance to atone if conscience demands. The vanquished lose any such opportunity.' -Roboute Guilliman.

Following a much needed albeit short interval of rest and recovery at the compound, the acolytes reassemble. Orla had found the chance to settle herself at the new location, though everything was moving rather fast. After briefly debriefing with The Interrogator, the acolytes depart for the upper hive, again traveling by railcar. However exotic it was for Orla to travel to the midhive, both the trip and the destination of this time were like nothing Orla had ever seen. Never in her life had she seen so much bright unfiltered sunlight. The sky was a radiant blue this high above the black polluted cloud bank that hung below. Never before had Orla not been cold. Though the others just seemed to be done shivering, Orla could feel her skin practically tickled with sweat. And the air was so clean, it's very lack of toxic fume stink was its own perfume. She found herself stopping regularly once off the oh so clean railcar to stare wide eyed at the massive marble statues, the majestic and lavishly designed architecture. It all seemed out of a child's fairy tale; this seemed the closest thing to heaven on earth that she had ever seen.

Robed (hopefully) in their Credit Guilder disguises (Orla has one too), the acolytes make their way through the spacious and well manicured streets as dusk settled on the city.

(OOC: Please describe what gear you are bringing and remember that anything beyond side arms and basic armor may be hard to conceal. I will also ask for a Perception check from whomever is willing to roll)

[bramblefoot]

milo buckles on the wrist flamer, and his orthlack stub pistol. he will wrap the basic lasgun in a large box marked feminine products, just long and wide enough to fit the lasgun and its charge pack. he covers it with packing peanuts, and prays to the emperor it will be enough to get it into the upper hive. he'll stick to a flak vest.

he'll slap marcella on the shoulder and say "like my carrying box?" he jokes, as the party makes its way to the upper hive. "i know of a small hatch we could toss him out of if your warpy stuff dont work" he subvocalizes to marcella

orthlack


wrist flamer

[Haval]

In the compund Orla will take advantage of the facilities to take a nap and have the nicest shower she's been able to have for a while.

Later, she is awkwardly dressed in the heavy robes of the Credit Guilder disguise. It has the advantage of allowing her to hide a pair of pistols and a knife but seems otherwise unsuitable for the climate. She'd like to relax and focus on the view from the train but it's too hot for her and she can't help but fidget a little. If they weren't in public she might attempt to remove a layer of her clothing to cool down, but she'll have to suffer through the heat instead. At least the view was nice. 'They should let everyone up here. At least to visit.'

Spoiler: ooc

Show

Leaving the autogun at home

Perception vs. Per 39 (in case I can roll Awareness instead here, Orla has Awareness +10)
(1d100)[82]

Orla is distracted by the heat

[BananaPhone]

Marcella

Spoiler: Prep

Show

Marcella had gotten some much needed sleep. Once out of the debriefing with the Interrogator, Marc hit the bathroom and laundry, enjoying both the freshening up of a hot shower and putting her clothes through the wash. Naturally, prayers to the Emperor were forthcoming in her little single-bed domicile, and no sooner had she tucked herself in did she drift off to sleep where her mind floated through the endless space of the astral plane.

oOo

After a much-needed sleep, Marcella had a second shower and prepped for the day ahead. She had a routine that she adhered to, an inner schedule that had been ingrained into her for the past eleven years since arriving at the Scholastia Psykana. Awaken. Mourning prayers. Some push ups, sit ups and squats, followed by her shower then small meditation and breakfast. Marcella took the opportunity during meditation to draw several runes across her Talon Mk III gun and chant gently; communing her mind with its material matter and tying her mind to it so that it may be drawn through the warp and into the materium at a moments notice.

Marcella was dressed for the day. She wore her normal 'work' clothes, over which was her light, thin-fabric flak coat, and over that still was her credit guilder disguise longcoat. Three layers of clothing, and her backpack slung over that. She had a few spare magazines in her bag, but hopefully they wouldn't be needed.

The Psyker was thinking to herself how they were going to handle Drimmle. The big question, of course, was whether he was a deliberate traitor or had been forced. She wondered if -

he'll slap marcella on the shoulder and say "like my carrying box?" he jokes, as the party makes its way to the upper hive. "i know of a small hatch we could toss him out of if your warpy stuff dont work" he subvocalizes to marcella

Marc blinked and stumbled forward as the hit took her out of her thought process, her head pivoting about for an abrupt second before spotting it was Milo showing off his hidden box.

"Oh, yes..." she uttered, exhaling and masking the flash of anger she'd had at being hit, "try not to over-do it too much though; armed credit guilders isn't cause for suspicion, but excessively armed ones might be."

On the mention of Drimmle... "Well, I think if it comes to that, we should stage it to look like a suicide. Guilt over an affair with a lady beyond repute, only honourable way out, that sort of thing" she nodded gently.

Towards the Upper Hive, Marcella enjoyed the view as much as she could. Moving through the detritus of the atmosphere and ascending to the clouds and above into the clear blue skies. There was a natural beauty and elevation the Psyker felt to it all, the warm glow of a gentle day catching in her large, brown eyes as she peered out of the flexiglass with the awe of a little kid. This delight at her environment continued into the Upper Hive proper, with the tall, grand structures, clean streets and fresh air were a welcome reprieve. She'd been here more times than most who were not born within the comfortable protection of the walls, but she never ceased to feel exalted when visiting. This is what life could be. Even allowing her extra-sensory powerful brain just...roam around the surrounding area, over the minds within and the surface thoughts. She was particularly interested in Orla's experience, sometimes looking over at the Underhiver and just watching her to see how she'd cope with her first trip to what might as well be another planet.

"I think we should wait until dark, and enter Drimmle's home through the rear entrance, like last time," she would say to her companions when they were in a safe place to do so.

"Even if Drimmle is a wash, we can secure his personal documents and codes for Hound to analyse."

[Haval]

"I think we should wait until dark, and enter Drimmle's home through the rear entrance, like last time," she would say to her companions when they were in a safe place to do so.

"Even if Drimmle is a wash, we can secure his personal documents and codes for Hound to analyse."

'Fine by me. You want someone to keep watch on the place from the front? Just to make sure we know he's alone in there. I take it I'm the only one who he hasn't seen before?'

[BananaPhone]

Marcella

"Last time it was just him and his servitor who we...well, it was an accident..." she trailed off, clearly not liking the outcome.

"If he has increased security, I'll know how many there are. You might be better off keeping watch from within his premise. We have not visited him in six weeks, so he might have gotten lax after an initial preparedness...but we shouldn't count on that."

[bramblefoot]

milo snorts "knowing drimmle, he will have increased security. no noble likes being caught with their pants down, specially not one like drimmle" he will sigh "still, lets hope and pray we get the jump on him. no reason to get cocky"

[Bennosuke]

As the group meander their way through the streets, Marcella picks up on something that several of her companions seem to miss. Interspersed at random intervals is a man or woman who stops to take notice of them. Maybe they are out pretending to walk their canine, or passing by with companions on the way to a pleasure spa, but random people seem to be taking sudden notice of the group of credit guilders.

[rax]

"I concur that we should try the back door again, but it seems likely he will have altered the access codes since our last visit. Even if his will to do the Emperor's work was genuine, I doubt he'll feel comfortable knowing that his security was breached the first time," Hound said to Marcella.

"Will you be able to ascertain whether or not Drimmle is inside once we get to his building? If he isn't, but there are multiple other presences, that would increase the likelihood that we are walking into an ambush. The further away we can be aware of the situation inside, the better."

[BananaPhone]

Marcella

"I concur that we should try the back door again, but it seems likely he will have altered the access codes since our last visit. Even if his will to do the Emperor's work was genuine, I doubt he'll feel comfortable knowing that his security was breached the first time," Hound said to Marcella.

"Will you be able to ascertain whether or not Drimmle is inside once we get to his building? If he isn't, but there are multiple other presences, that would increase the likelihood that we are walking into an ambush. The further away we can be aware of the situation inside, the better."

Marc nodded, "Yes, I can tell if he's inside and how many others there are. I could begin once we get within a kilometre of his domicile."

However, the Psyker soon noticed the concerning surveillance they seemed to be under. It couldn't be something official: they would've been stopped at the train station or the Interrogator would have heard of their faces and names ending up on wanted lists. This had to be private intelligence. The type nobles would use to spy on each other...

"Guys..." Marc would say/whisper sharply as they walled along.

"We're being watched and tracked" she visually pointed them out.

"We should get off the main streets..."