Rejoice for You are True, part 3 - Keep walking to the end comes

by DM B  

Timestamp: 5.323.997.M41

Location: Workshop of Kronis Estrun, Jeweler extraordinaire, Red-Gold Quadrant, Headward Sector, Ambulon, Scintilla

Situation: Awaiting confirmation of location of farcosia production facility

Body: Globus master plan is rather simple - he stays aboard the lighter for the time being, coordinating the strike. He's not exactly a low-profile person and given his disabilities he's not really combat-worthy either. The replacement pilot will stay with him as well - since space is so precious aboard Ambulon it would draw unwanted attention if she parked you hopper on the Walking City. Instead it will remain within the lighter's landing bay. That leaves Vern, Jarra, Maxi and Haxtes for the actual team. Venus is still in critical condition, and Odessa, Ignace and Silon are all spending time in a hospital somewhere. Your team is also augmented by Azhmut the tech-priest; presumably you might need his demolition expertise later on if you enemies continue to play with explosives.

You have also been briefed a little more about your quarry. You are now hunting a group of heretical criminals known as the Serrated Querry, who are now believed to be Caros Shoal's backers and the agency responsible for the production of farcosia. Globus isn't very forthcoming - either because he doesn't trust your or because he doesn't know, or both - except to let you know that the Querry is dangerous in the extreme. They have no respect of the Imperium, the Inquisition, not even the God-Emperor of Mankind. Such people must be treated with caution and dealt with most harshly.

Since there are no Arbites on Ambulon and because Globus doesn't trust any of the local adepts you will have to do this without any real support (no shocker there). He is in the process of activating more assets within the city and preparing for external back-up, but it will take several days for it all to be ready. Time you do not have - the Querry must know you are on to them and they are probably busy clearing house and making ready to depart their assets.

So right now you are inside the city where you are supposedly conducting an investigation into the local templums of the Joyous Choir. There are a couple of small ones, but somehow it doesn't fit - for one Haxtes and Maxi are in agreement; there is no way this Serrated Querry group is using the Choir as a front on Ambulon. That would be a dead giveaway. So you have kicked Globus' idea out the window and instead followed another line of inquiry:

Before you headed out old Strophes took the two of you to the side and told you of an old contact of his, the jewler Kronis Estrun, the resided on Ambulon. What the old man didn't know about Ambulon was not worth knowing he said, and even if he didn't know he would know who knew...remember the old axiom; someone always knows.

So here you are, listening to a wizened old man with hi-grade augmentic eyes and manipulators instead of fingers. He's served you some damn fine tea and biscuits, but for the last two hours he's chatted away with Vern like they were long-lost siblings or something. How long will it take for him to say anything useful? Like where does the Serrated Querry take the psykers? Or where is the facosia produced? Or where is freaking Theodosia?

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Categories: Adventures, Chapter 1 - In the Service, Adventure 1.2 - Rejoice for You are True
 07/05/10 03:11:45 pm,

63 comments

Comment from: Haxtes hovering outside
Haxtes hovering outside
This is Vern's playground, let him play Side note : The full might of the Throne of Terra; 1 fat guy , 1 ogryn, 1 mumbling old idiot, 1 idiot, 1 heretic. And still they ask why the eye draw in more supporters every day :-)
07/05/10 @ 15:41
Comment from:
If possible Maxi studies Ambulons layout schematics. Trying to spot reference points to help him navigate easier trough these walking platforms. If the conversation drags on longer he asks Vern to turn the conversation more in the Serrated Querry direction.
07/05/10 @ 16:01
Comment from:
OCC: On Haxtes side note. It seems you left out old Maxi and the tech priest.
07/05/10 @ 16:04
Comment from: Haxtes hovering outside
Haxtes hovering outside
OCC: Tech priest is loyal to Mars, not Terra and Idiot covers Maxi with a bit of dumb to spare.
07/05/10 @ 16:07
Comment from:
The layout: The basic layout is easy enough, but unfortunately nothing is basic anymore. Ambulon is the most overcrowded and overbuilt hive you have yet to visit - even the habledges of old Malfi were airy and sparsely populated compared to this. Unless you spend quite some time here first you have to accept that it will take a long time to get anywhere...or you must hire a guild guide. One of the old jeweler apprentices enters the sanctum, disturbing the serenity of the place...he is scolded with a glance, hurries to hand over a slip of parchment, then makes himself scares - further upsetting the fine balance of light, sound and scent that infuses the room. Kronis Estrun: "If it is the Serrated Querry you want to know about it is suggested that you try to see the Oracle Ocular...this is most unusual...most unusual." He hands you the paper. It is an invitation - the Oracle Ocular summons Haxtes Guilliman and Maximilian Elazar Dante to an audience. "Few men alive can claim to know anything about the Query that is not more lie than truth...but perhaps the Oracle has some lore. I do not know. It is a great honour, however, for the Oracle Ocular only sees those that it wishes to see...and such summons are very rare indeed."
07/05/10 @ 19:58
Comment from: Haxtes hovering outside
Haxtes hovering outside
"You go see the oracle Dante, I'll get ready and infiltrate if you secure the location. Take Vern with you too help out if there is big words in use."
07/05/10 @ 20:11
Comment from:
Maxi nods to Haxtes but is more interested in answers from Kronis. Namely what is the Oracle and if there is any form of etiquette to approach it that we should know about.
07/05/10 @ 20:22
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Vern: "I don't think that an oracle, however much it might be held in high regard will help us with our task. My time is better spent here with Kronis - we are making some real progress here, rooting out likely locations and connections for the Serrate Query's operations." Kronis: "Yes...and the Oracle is unlikely to speak to anyone it has not invited. You youngsters go ahead and speak to it. It is not dangerous."
07/05/10 @ 20:22
Comment from: Haxtes hovering outside
Haxtes hovering outside
Kronis : "We will talk at length some time about what danger is." To team : "Call me when you have a location." Haxtes goes somewhere private to get ready
07/05/10 @ 20:26
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Maxi looks at the Tech-priest: "How is the vox conditions in this surroundings? Haxtes will have an ear while he skulk around and drops in at his own discretion."
07/05/10 @ 20:28
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Azhmut: "Impossible to calculate given current data, but if Haxtes remains within no more than five hundred meters a standard vox-unit with auto-frequency scanning and enhancement protocols should suffice in all but the most heavily shielded or radiate environments." Pause. Azhmut: "In other words; you standard vox-sets should suffice if you do not allow yourself to be widely separated." Kronis: "I will have one of my lads take you. I have seen the Oracle Ocular but once myself...and it has been many years...but the entrance is where it has always been, in the shadows of the spires of learning." Later, some distance from the jeweler's residence. The first open courtyard that you have seen thus far. Small in absolute terms, but here on Ambulon it feels vast. It is surrounded by the towering buildings (once again they are not that tall, but the open space makes them seem more important) of the Magnopticon, the University of Ambulon. The entrance of the Oracle's abode is rather sombre in comparison - a humble open archway leading into the bowels of the walking beast...this is as far as the guide is coming.
07/05/10 @ 20:50
Comment from: Haxtes hovering outside
Haxtes hovering outside
To make things clear: Haxtes goes to the ship or gets a room somewhere to make ready. He does not go near or listen in on vox. When they have a location or a name, Haxtes will wrap up hes meditation and infiltrate kill until Globus and Khaine are happy. Haxtes will meditate on how the bloody oracle and every body else knows every move we make, and yet we can't seem too find out who, were and why.
07/05/10 @ 21:00
Comment from:
"I'm going in. No need to expose your location on my behalf." Maxi mutters to himself.
07/05/10 @ 21:02
Comment from: Haxtes hovering outside
Haxtes hovering outside
OCC: Last post was to make things clear not spoken.
07/05/10 @ 21:04
Comment from:
Excellent Maxi goes in a meeting certain that Haxtes is listening. OCC: Well I guess you where wrong again. Maxi doesn't spare dumb. lol
07/05/10 @ 21:11
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Getting back to the lighter would be very impractical. It would be much easier just to request a room from Kronis or maybe hire something (there are no bolt-holes available on Ambulon...space is at a premium). The answer to Haxtes doubts is simple - it's an oracle. Of course it knows everything ;-) Maxi enters through the doorway and follows a series of poorly maintained and dimly lit corridors. It feels strange down here...strange to be away from the press of bodies outside...finally you enter the abode of the Oracle Ocular. You have to push through several 'curtains' of chains, cables, and lines to reach him/it. A barely human form hooked into the surrounding machines by a thousand data-lines and utility cables...with near enough all of his visible frame replace by metal parts. There are no signs of the Adeptus Mechanicus to be seen, but plenty of prayers for the favor of the Deus Mechanicus, which would seem to indicate that the person/machine before you is a rogue tech-priest. Admittedly a little odd in a walking city considered holy by that gear-heads. "You have come at last, but alone...be welcome, finger of the left hand. I am...Ocular...and I know you have questions that you would ask. Perhaps I shall have answers for you."
07/05/10 @ 21:23
Comment from:
There is large inn near the Magnopticon that primarily caters to foreign students come to the university. Although crowded it should proved a good base of operation for Haxtes.
07/05/10 @ 21:27
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Maxi takes a quick survey of the area/room. "I apologize for our reservations. But it's not often we're invited by those names. I hope you understand that. And questions can not be asked before some trust are established. So I have to ask some simple questions before I can ask my real ones. 1: What are you and how do you know those names?"
07/05/10 @ 21:48
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"I am Ocular. Once I was a Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus, until I resigned my commission to follower a higher calling. The Machine God called on me...to become one with the Ambulon."
07/05/10 @ 21:56
Comment from:
"Continue, how do you know the names you used in our invitations?
07/05/10 @ 21:59
Comment from: Haxtes at night
Haxtes at night
That answer won't do it - no one knows everything. Haxtes suits up in full combat gear and makes hes peace with Khaine (if THAT is possible :-) He then sits down and awaits the parting of the veil.
07/05/10 @ 22:08
Comment from:
"Ultimately because the God-Emperor wants me to impart upon you some knowledge...leading up to that, billions upon billions of calculations...drawing upon the vast datavaults accessible by the Ambulon. The machine is old...it's cogitators dating back to the Dark Age of Technology...it can correlate data that lesser systems cannot make any sense of. It is close to the Machine God and those that know how to listen can sometimes make sense of its calculations...enough to impart some wisdom onto the living. You were identified as you came into the city...and tracked thereafter - that's the easily explainable part - but leading up to that moment are calculations innumerable..."
07/06/10 @ 11:09
Comment from:
"...but the names themselves and the identifiers to go with them...were disclosed to the Machine some time ago by an external factor."
07/06/10 @ 13:18
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Maxi gives the two headed eagle hand salute at the mention of his God-Emperor. "It seems trust from my side has been established. So my questions are as following: 1: The Serrated Quarry, what are their purpose and where is their known and unknown locations? 2: Farcosia, what is its origins, effect and how is it manufactured or smuggled in to Scintilla? 3: Theodosia is the name on a heavily machine-augmented man, he had a known association with the Joyous Choir in Hive Sibelius, where is his location and what is his known or unknown locations at Hive Ambulon?" Maxi expects no certain answers, but sod it if he wants to play to the vanity of the machine by asking strait yes or no questions. (Can you tell me about Theadosia? - Yes) OCC: I sent you a request on Skype yesterday.
07/06/10 @ 15:10
Comment from:
"The Serrated Querry is too old and too extensive for there to be a single purpose, unless you count continued existence and the empowerment of its leaders...but here in the Calixis sector they have ever been associated with the Cold Trade (i.e. the trade in Xenos and other forbidden artifacts) and most especially anything having to do with the Adranti. Some say that the Serrated Query is in league with dark forces, heretics denying the divinity of the Emperor...and worse. Yet it is not so, the Query seems mostly in league with itself...although if you look long enough you will always find ties to other rogues, other heretics. Farcosia is a drug made of psykers and forbidden compounds to awaken the latent powers of sleeping psykers. It is made from an Adranti recipe that the Query has rather recently reconstructed and that it is now testing through its proxy, the Joyous Choir. To those whose potential is too weak farcosia produces a pleasant high, with no ill effects and no addiction chance...but to a psyker it works much more strongly, temporarily to boost power and permanently to strengthen the psychic potential of the individual. The prince is high - almost certain addiction after the first drop. Theodosia is the leader of the Serrated Query's farcosia operation. It is him that oversees the Choir, the transportation of awakened psykers, the production facilities for farcosia. He is here right now, posing as he usually does as a small-time preacher for the Choir. He spends most his time in the smaller chapel, near the rear end of Ambulon. The space is impossibly small, but nevertheless it is there that they are producing farcosia. To defeat Theodosia you must not only wreck his mechanical body, but you must neutralize his head. Otherwise it will only escape to take up a new body. You have defeated him twice thus far, the third time will be the one that counts." OOC: Me don't use Skype. Because me too lazy.
07/06/10 @ 17:15
Comment from:
OCC: Question 3 had an err glad you spotted it. It should have been what is his purpose etc. and location. My bad. (Holy Man, here I thought this would be another loose wire with a mumbling derange oracle. I must remind myself more often that Vern can be a pompous snob.) "Your vast resource of knowledge are most useful, but one word or name is unfamiliar to us. 1: Can you elaborate Adranti? 2: What is the purpose and where are the location of Theadosias psyker smuggling operation?" Maxi has changed his mind and is openly awed by the Oracle.
07/06/10 @ 18:50
Comment from:
"The Adranti were a people said to have been utterly destroyed by Lord Militant Angevin during his Crusade more than a millennium ago. Their domain was centered in the nebulous region that still bears their name (i.e. the Adrantis sub-sector), but it stretched far to trailing of here, beyond the reaches of Calixis. Knowledge of the Adranti is restricted and rightly suppressed by the Ordos. The Adranti, while human, refused both the light of the Emperor and the wisdom of the Machine God. They were heretics that dabbled too far into geneering and other lores protected by the Magi Biologis. To them the human form was not holy perfection, but something to be improved upon. Today part of the Cold Trade is in Adranti - or supposedly Adranti - artifacts. And though the Adranti was destroyed their legacy still lingers on the fringes of Calixis society...for example; the terrible gene-tech purges of Ixanid sector have their roots in Adranti tech-heresies...which subsequently lead to an upswing in Logician activity in Calixis. My data indicates you have even crossed the path of one such - the Churgeon. A most elusive refugee from the Ixanid purges...come to this new frontier, far from the prying eyes of the Throne. The purpose of Theodosia's masters must be to test the drug to see if it has the potential they think it has. If the tests are successful it could be replicated on a larger scale and give the Query access to numerous rogue psykers - without the Ordos becoming aware. The implications are numerous - and terrible."
07/06/10 @ 19:27
Comment from:
Maxi takes notes as the Oracle speaks. He doesn't find any valid questions that the oracle hasn't already answered or is to vague to get anything conclusive back from the machine. So he question only about the mentioning of the (cutting bitch) Churgeon and if the Oracle has any information of her location or moving pattern and if she's associated with the Serrated Querry. In an afterthought he also asks if the Oracle knows the fate of Sia Strophes. (Maxi feels a small moment of pride by remembering the initiation of this investigation.)
07/06/10 @ 21:23
Comment from:
"The current whereabouts of the Churgeon is unknown to the Ambulon. There is no data to suggest that she is or has been directly involved with the Serrated Query." There is a long pause, during which only the noises of the machine city are audible. "The key to locating the Churgeon would be through her associate, Sybas Moran, formerly Director of the Tantalus Alms House, Coscarla Division. He survived the Coscarla incident and has been tagged by an undisclosed Inquisition surveillance team." There can be no question - the Oracle Ocular somehow has access to Inquisitorial cogitation systems. Or at very least the Haegum's systems, seeing as those are the only ones that has your true identities on file (or maybe the Tricorn has copies?). Most disturbing. "Saianasia Jilliana 'Sia' Strophes has almost certainly met her doom; presumably injected by one final fatal overdose of farcosia, then processed to become an ingredient in the production of yet more of the drug. Or so my meager Adranti lores tell me." After that the Oracle Ocular falls silent, only uttering meaningless rubbish from time to time.
07/06/10 @ 22:05
Comment from:
Maxi gives the two headed eagle hand salute again before he leaves. "I reckon you got it all, I'll move back to inform the other. I guess you take a recon on the target." Maxi mutters to himself on his way out.
07/06/10 @ 22:33
Comment from:
Maxi returns to the group and relays the information he has given. It provides Vern and Kronis with the the final piece of the puzzle - they have crossed of the small Choir templum in question due to it being much too small for any operation like this. Now that they have information to the contrary they find that certain anomalies in their previous calculations can only be explained by one thing; the templum is the host of an extra-dimensional space (i.e. much like the secret null-room you found in the captain's quarters on the Maiden of Golgenna). You are now ready for the strike. Globus will be joining you before the assault. He has rounded up some other assets, so you can expect to be backed up by a small team of three other Throne agents. The replacement pilot will remain aboard the lighter - strapped in the pilot's seat of the hopper, ready to launch in case Theodosia tries to make a runner or the Serrate Query has aerial assets.
07/09/10 @ 07:34
Comment from:
Globus is dressed in a high-collared armoured stormcoat for the occasion. His obese body presses against the garment, revealing the presence of one short blade and at least two pistols - one of them of very sturdy construction. He introduces you to the other agents: Interrogator Castilas, a short fellow with extremely compact build, very pale skin and serious facial scarring (looks like someone ripped away most of his face and then he had a low-grad graft job done). Those of you that bother with the more subtle details notes that he's a veteran of the Tranch War (Tranch is a hive world in Adrantis that's in a near-constant state of war between Imperial forces and mutant hordes - its been going on and off for near enough two hundred years). Haxtes immediately dislikes him. Agent Parsifal is half Castila's age and has ten times his looks - he looks like something you would get if you mated a Ministorum god-brother with a Imperial Guard recruitment poster. He seems very calm, very focused. Last is Agent Octavian, a big (not quite Maxis' size, but in the same division), ugly mother (not as ugly as Castilas though) that looks like he's been drinking promethium and killing children all his life.
07/09/10 @ 08:30
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Globus: "We will divide the force into four parts. Haxtes and Castilas will infiltrate and take up positions inside the templum - the best way to do that would be to enter one of the adjacent buildings and then use a power-grapnel to shoot a line across to the templum. That will give you an element of surprise and access to the high ground. Once you are in place you will secure this sector here (shows on holomap) so that the main force, comprised of myself, Maxi, Parsifal and Octavian, can gain entrance without coming under sniping fire - we must assume that the enemy is ready for an attack. The thirds group is Jarra and Azmuth; Azmuth will be monitoring the surrounding area with his servo-skull drones, making sure that Theodosia does not try to get away. We will try to eliminate all the small fish, but if some get away that's not considered a failure. Theodosia, on the other hand, must be eliminated or apprehended. That's Jarra's job - to take him out if he tries to make a run for it. Just remember the setup - he head can detach and move about separately from the body. And the body contains a powerful melta charge. The final 'group' is the hopper. If we need aerial support we call the pilot and she'll be here in a flash. Questions?"
07/09/10 @ 08:40
Comment from: Haxtes hovering outside
Haxtes hovering outside
Haxtes is quiet as the grave. If nothing more happens Haxtes takes hes position acording too plan.
07/09/10 @ 15:51
Comment from:
Read post no Comment
07/10/10 @ 09:27
Comment from:
Castilas uses his skill with the power grapnel to secure a line over, anchoring it high up on the spire above the bell room. Haxtes goes first - he doesn't want to turn his back to the Interrogator, but there is little he can do...going over last would be just as problematic. Just before hitting the spire he lets go and gracefully turns his forward momentum into a downwards slide. At the last instant he turns over on his belly, grabs a water drain pipe (with a small prayer to the god of pipes that it will hold) and swings down, around and into the bell room. There are three guards in the small bell tower room, manning a battered but sturdy heavy stubber. Or rather, there is one man at the stubber and two men dozing over by one side. The stubber man is immediately hit by an oversized crossbow bolt - Castilas little launcher can be used for more than launching grapnels. Haxtes makes directly for the other two - shooting one in the neck with a single toxin sliver from the splinter pistol (it makes SOME noise of course, but the Walking City never sleeps and the sound is drowned by background noise) and dispatching the other with swipe of the blade. Castilas makes his way across and surveys the scene. He then pops an explosive-headed bolt into his launcher (its not a crossbow as such, more like a heavy tube that uses compressed gas to propel an object) and rechecks his sidearm and his power whip. Haxtes notifies the others and they make their way towards the templum. It's nighttime again - you spent the day with the jeweler and the oracle before moving in - but there are people about. Not very many attendees in the church, but plenty of people going about their affairs outside. Collateral is acceptable, but Globus doesn't want a massacre of civilians. remember what eh said - Theodosia is the one that matters. While Castilas keeps watch in the tower Haxtes moves down the winding stairs, eventually making his way onto a gallery running along one side of the main temple room. Partly hidden by a row of columns Haxtes moves unseen...coming upon a pair of guards keeping watch over the main room...and dispatching them with a minimum of fuss. A thermal scan of the opposite gallery show no heat signature - and the guards you've met so far have not been wearing heat-gowns or other cloaking equipment, so you can be pretty sure its empty There are about a dozen church-goers gathered for a late-night sermon conducted by a lone priest. The main doors are thrown open and the rest of the strike team enters- Globus, Maxi, Parsifal and Octavian. Maxi is up front, trying to look meaner and bigger than the Octavian fellow. Maxi wins the 'big' part of the competition but is floored when it comes to 'mean-looking'.
07/14/10 @ 09:13
Comment from: Haxtes sniking
Haxtes sniking
Haxtes will shadow the others from the gallery, trying too keep them in los wile keeping him self hidden and 1 floor above. If they are attacked Haxtes will snipe from above
07/14/10 @ 15:14
Comment from:
For once you miss your sturdy old longlas...it would have been perfect from up here! Octavian stiffens for a moment, then reaches out with his left hand, quick as a viper, and grabs Maxi's shoulder-guard from behind, pulling him of balance. Parsifal ducks right, in between the rows of benches. Globus lifts of the ground a bit and zips straight ahead, over the hair-thin tripwire stretched across the aisle and towards the priest... ...the priest pulls out a big autogun from behind the altar. Haxtes puts a trio of bolt shells in his body. All three explode deep inside the flesh, causing catastrophic injury to the priest's internal organs. Maxi and Octavian look like they are about to have a fistfight, but when the church-goers also pull out guns - light autopistols, stub guns, that sort of thing - they decide to have their pissing contest later. The roll away from the aisle and into the relative safety of the left-hand benches. The defenders may have the numbers, but they appear poorly trained and poorly coordinated. They fire away, at Globus in particular, but the obese man is moving with surprising speed and is a hard target. Haxtes can see him getting hit a few times, but nothing his armoured coat of layers of fat can't handle. Shortly thereafter it is all over - Maxi and Octavian open up with shotgun and stubber respectively, forcing most of your assailants behind cover. But cover doesn't help much against the floating Globus and his shot chopping blade, or against young Parsifal when he jumps from bench to bench hacking with that long sword of his. And whomever tries to get creative gets a bolt shell or two from Haxtes...
07/15/10 @ 10:10
Comment from:
(Haxtes missing Longlas) Haxtes keeps up hes over watch
07/15/10 @ 10:22
Comment from:
Between the hail of slugs Maxi spread out he tries to spot if any of the cultist are more 'metal-looking' than the others.
07/15/10 @ 10:58
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Theodosia is not among this group if that is what you mean. Your group effectively sweeps the relatively small temple building - there are only a few smaller room adjoining the main hall. There are no more enemies to be found - nor any trace of a drug production facility/psyker processing station. Not until Globus brings out his auspex and starts scanning that is - some sort of hidden mechanism is located beneath the six-sided mosaic tiles that cover the center of the floor in the preacher's private office. Globus starts dicking around with his auspex some more. From time to time he holds out his rosette which then emanates a low-power las-beam at the floor. Sweat tickles slowly down his fat face - before reaching the collar of his coat and zipping away at high speed down the anti-friction surface of the armoured garment. It's quite fascinating to watch. Maxi is dripping walking around dripping a few drops of blood here and there - a bullet must have pierced a joint and caused some superficial damage. Khaine would be proud.
07/16/10 @ 08:33
Comment from:
Maxi is also searching the remains of the offenders to make certain that no one is playing dead and that there is no devices of the exploding kind or other devious apparatus linked to their bodies. (He would later claim that the blood was not his. Even if he have to lie about it. Especially if he must lie.)
07/16/10 @ 14:40
Comment from: Haxtes workin ard
Haxtes workin ard
( A servant of the corpse god made a living walking altar of Khaine, a sight that Haxtes stores away for a rainy day ) Haxtes keeps a close overwatch with bolter and sword at the ready.
07/16/10 @ 15:13
Comment from:
There are several developments: Castilas, still on overwatch in the bell tower (with the heavy stubber and his little rocket launcher) warns you by vox that Magistratum assets are beginning to response to reports of shooting in the templum. Globus sighs and hovers back to the hall and towards the entrance; he will use his Inquisitorial authority to see them off...Octavian goes with him to watch his back. There is also a vox from Azhmut. His rooftop auspex unit is picking up gravitic fluctuations indicative of one or more hoppers powering up in the vicinity - presumably from a private landing pad or some such (there aren't very many given the lack of space, but there are some). Your own pilot acknowledges and prepares for launch, her Inquisition IFF codes preventing the Walking City's defenses from blowing her unauthorized flight out of the sky! For no particular reason (that you can see anyway) the mosaic suddenly comes to life; the little hexagonal tiles seem to shift and change color as you watch. It is almost hypnotic - and very nauseating. Maxi and Haxtes quickly avert their eyes, but Parsifal is too late in looking away and vomits violently as alien patters assault the purity of his human mind. When you look back up there is an archway standing on top of the mosaic, having appeared out of thin air! Foul sorcery? Or foul xenos tech? The archway is opaque when viewed from one side - reminiscent of the portal aboard the Maiden that leads to the captain's null-room. You have hit paydirt.
07/17/10 @ 08:59
Comment from: Haxtes workin hard for the man
Haxtes workin hard for the man
Haxtes steps into the portal, ready for action.
07/17/10 @ 14:01
Comment from:
On the other side awaits a surprisingly large hall, filled with all manner of equipment - looks like a combination of a small drug factory and a Mechanicus laboratory. Which is exactly what it is of course ;) A number of green-coated servitors are hooked into some of the machines, continuing with their work as if nothing has happened. Haxtes is assailed by lingering farcosia fumes and immediately get rather severe cravings. Haxtes is therefor rather ill prepared for the hail of autogun fire that slices through the room; but Parsifal arrives just in time to take in the situation - one of the green-clad servitors conceals none other than your old friend Theodosia! Parsifal takes a huge risk in physically showing Haxtes into cover behind a conveyor belt - Haxtes is normally not very keen on strangers taking him from behind - but this time the assassin is too confused to do anything. Parsifal's selfless actions are rewarded by being hit by autogun fire. He's knocked on his back, his shiny sword goes flying and there is blood all over the place. Then Maxi is there, shotgun blazing away, explosive bolts - not quite as accurate or powerful as a true heavy bolter, but nice enough - shoot towards Theodosia. Some hit him, some blow apart the machines and containers around him - obscuring everything and releasing more farcosia fumes into the air. Haxtes is desperately trying to clear him mind, even as his hands move on their own - turning off the suits external air intakes...the filters are clearly not up to the task. Without any external air supply it will only be a few minutes before the air inside the face-piece gets stale and Haxtes will pass out.. Better nail the bastard fast!
07/18/10 @ 09:10
Comment from:
Maxi uses his momentum to get close to the Heretic and go all Maxi with his power maul on him. (That must be read as intent since I expect a lot of tumbling and even more shotgun blazing must endure before he is even close to Theodosian. Oh, Maxi have always found servitors as good cover.)
07/18/10 @ 11:02
Comment from:
read no coment
07/18/10 @ 11:16
Comment from:
A furious firefight ensues between Maxi and Theo. Shoots. Move. Take cover. With Maxi edging ever closer. Haxtes just keeps his head down, waiting for his senses to clear and conserving air. After a minute he feels a bit better - he's already inhaled all the farcosia fumes and nothing more is getting in. Save for a certain light-headedness Haxtes has never felt better!
07/18/10 @ 19:12
Comment from: Haxtes workin ard
Haxtes workin ard
Haxtes concentrates on hes psi ability and takes aim for Theodosia`s head: haxtes keeps up a steady stream of bolts wile moving from cover to cover to get up close with sword
07/18/10 @ 19:36
Comment from:
"Suffer not the Witch to live."
07/18/10 @ 20:14
Comment from:
You make a pretty good assault team, but progress is difficult - as you are painfully aware of Thodosia has both firepower, mobility and protection aplenty. But for once YOU get a break when your sporadic fire is joined not long after by the persistent chattering of a heavy stubber - seems like Castilas has had the presence of mind to bring the weapon down from the bell tower with him and handed it to Octavian - and the sporadic booms of explosive bolts as Castials fires his peculiar weapon at the cyborg. The cavalry has managed to get their asses through the portal! With Theo now forced to keep his ugly metal head down you quickly cover the rest of the ground and charge into melee - Haxtes even manages to hit him in the head with a blot round - destroying one of his eyes and revealing gleaming chrome plates beneath the flesh of his face. Then Maxi jumps at him from the other side, laying into him with the power maul. Bits and pieces are flying all over the place...Haxtes leaps onto Theos back and forces his power blade down and towards his skull... (Haxtes could try to disable Thoedosia instead of killing him, but you don't know how effective it will be)
07/19/10 @ 17:41
Comment from: Haxtes workin ard
Haxtes workin ard
Haxtes is not here to take prisoners, if you want some one arested send in the poo-lice not a heretical asasin. Haxtes goes for the kill and then a fast saa hauling back thrue the portal incase he blows
07/19/10 @ 18:02
Comment from:
(Haxtes has claimed kill.) If Maxi have any sensibilities left (the fumes and powder in the room may have caused otherwise) he will try and dislodge Thoedosians head (heavy bashes to the throat area and ripping head) before he leaves.
07/19/10 @ 19:48
Comment from:
If not, then boil the sod. Maximilian bring all fury and wrath until it's no more head.
07/19/10 @ 20:04
Comment from:
It's only a flesh wound... Haxtes stabs his power blade down and into Thodosia's skull - he might be all metal and badass, but there is a brain in there somewhere. Brains and power blades don't mix very well. Then Maxi's final blow strikes his head clear off (it's detachable remember) sending it flying. It will later turn out to have been a fortunate combination - Haxtes strike preventing him from arming the melta device and Maxi's blow preventing the dead-man switch from blowing it up anyway. Saved both of you and half the lab from fiery death - all in the name of cooperation... After that it's just securing the place - some of the servitors are still operational, but there are no other persons present. The lab overseers were those poor worshipers you killed up in the temple - they were waiting for extraction while Theodosia put the finishing touches on this place (there are no explosives or anything, but Globus notes that he may have been preparing to return this pocket of extra-dimensional space into the Walking CIty, whihc would have destroyed everything here, the Choir temple and half a city block).
07/21/10 @ 09:07
Comment from:
and no sign of our mark, the missing Nobel turn zealot turned drug plant ?
07/21/10 @ 10:24
Comment from:
"Adore the Immortal Emperor For He is our Protector "
07/21/10 @ 13:15
Comment from:
That's correct; the missing scion of House Strophes is nowhere to be found. Investigating the farcosia lab you find several rooms adjoining the main hall, ranging from a couple of offices to holding cells for the psykers to what looks like a medicae operating theater. From you survey and the feedback given by Globus you are led to understand this this is where the psykers would be injected with a final fatal does of the drug, then have their still-living brains spooned out and processed. Then this substance would become one of the components of the final drug...it's not really within Globus' field of expertise, so he'll leave it to others to investigate more fully and file a report...but he supposes that part of the psykers' souls are bound to the drug - so that users of farcosia are effectively eating the souls of their fellow men. As great a heresy as any. As a side note - the complex reminds you a lot of the null-room aboard the Maiden. Both have the same 'rib-cage' look - created by the numerous curved support beams that arch overhead to form the roof. Looking too long on the beams and their geometries causes nausea (you don't remember that being the case with the Maiden's room however).
07/22/10 @ 09:37
Comment from:
Maxi leaves the null-room and does a quick field strip on him self. Stopping any unnecessarily bleeding and dusting the drug dust of himself. He will enter the room again after an quart hour and help in the search after documents and stuff. (OOC: Imagine by just adding you as a contact my mail browser are not assuming that you are a spammer anymore.)
07/22/10 @ 10:10
Comment from: Haxtes workin ard
Haxtes workin ard
Haxtes remains in the room untill Globus gives new orders. Now it seems like there is only one lose end left and Haxtes`s promise to the house of strophes will be taken care of.
07/22/10 @ 10:19
Comment from:
It's a wrap. The heretics have been killed and their operation shut down. There is even evidence to process and search through for leads. Globus is most pleased. I'll make up an aftermath summary in a separate post. (on vacation in Sweden ATM)
07/23/10 @ 09:46
Comment from:
(Association with Suécia and Suécicus is an heretical offense most heinous. The purging of your flesh and soul is your only way to salvation.)
07/23/10 @ 10:17


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