OOC: Sod it, this post just flew by me. lol. ehhh After evaluating the Space hulk situation and more recently the fading Maiden signal. Maxi seek Lt. Rabalias for more information about the plague situation.

Lt. Rabalias is still alive - and still manning his post (unlike some who have begun deserting). He doesn't really know much, except what he's heard through hearsay - that something came to the battlefield after the slaughter was done and feasted upon the dead and the dying. He's heard several men claim to have seen men covered in ragged shrouds feasting upon flesh, even cracking open skulls to get at the brain matter inside. He doesn't know if its true, but SOMETHING is out there, something that should not be. And he strongly suspects they will be coming inside the walls soon. It will be dark in a few hours and then they will come.

Maxi reassure Lt. Rabalias that if anything feast on flesh they have plenty to feast on in the field and won't enter the wall this night. (Deceive) Most likely it's those damn big felines and other carnivores the men have seen. Maxi takes a quick sweep with his optic on the field before he leaves to look up Mr. Smeed and Moot.

The felines...no, it's not the felines. Definitely not the felines. Because you can see them through the ocular - about twenty humanoid shapes, all clad in the same ragged, hooded shrouds. They are just standing there, well away from the wall, over by the sky-mills. They are waiting. It's not far to Smeed's place. Social order is starting to break down inside the walls. There is looting, vandalism and violence. And the plague continues. You reach Smeed's place and look inside. The back yard is filled, not only with the dead, but also with the dying. How very practical. They are both there, Smeed and Moot. You can hear them talking - Smeed is claiming all is well and that their 'gifts' will keep them safe. Moot, however, is crying softly, like a child. It won't work, he says, they will take all in the end, none will be spared.

Maxi makes his presence known. "Greetings misters, I believe you have useful information about the inhabitants on the field. And before you think about making up some false tale, I must warn you that it's not me, but Sweetness who must be appeased by vital information"

Smeed makes a move - he has some sort of pick in his hand, hidden behind his back. You're pretty sure he was planning to put it in Moot's head even as you entered. Now he tries to put it in your skull. But Arbitrators are trained to draw fast, and before he can bring his weapon to bear you have drawn and fired at point-blank range. The high-velocity bullet expand as they enter the body, tearing apart fist-sized chunks of flesh with each hit. Smeed is dead before he hit the ground and the picks clatters to the ground. Moot starts praying to the Emperor for deliverance from Those who Walk. He's incoherent, but you're absolutely sure he's talking about the shrouded shapes outside the city.

Maxi show his ]I[ rosette to Moot. "Your prayer has been heard citizen. To have it answered you must tell me what you know about 'Those who walk'."

He has another crying spell, but the finally gets his act together. "I don't know. Not really. That's just what I call 'em. Cuz they walk. Only there is something else under those shrouds. Something not human at all. Something that slithers. Only it walks like a man. Can even talk like one. We used to feed them bodies we did. Don't know how Smeed first found them - or they he. Don't wanna known. But they paid well for us to bring them some corpses they did. Didn't think much of it at first. Dead is dead, right? The flesh becomes dirt and your spirit gos to see Him On Earth. But...but...then I realized that it wasn't right. When I saw one of them feeding on a fresh corpse we handed over. The corpse...it screamed, as in great pain or fear or both. And it WAS a corps. Dead as a rock. it spoke to me then in an inhuman voice, telling me that death tastes differently depending on how it happened. That's when I sorta realized they had been here for a very long time. Making all of this happen. They are COOKS good Sir. They are here to not only feast on our flesh and souls, but they want us to have the right FLAVOR when we die. And there is no escape. We can't run. And if we die, which we must, then they will feast on us! Please og Emperor, have mercy on my souuuul!!!"

"Stay valiant citizen. The Emperor is near and is listening to you. If you can tell me how many they are he will ease your pain and grant you mercy."

It's hard to tell because he seems to have lost it again, but Maxi thinks he's claiming that in the beginning they were only a few, but now there are 'lots'.

"Focus citizen. Where did you deliver the bodies? Have you ever been inside the sky mills? Answer me truthfully and you shall have the Emeperor's mercy."

Maxi tries to hear if there is any coherency between the sobs and ramblings but decides that there is no more to get from Moot. Maxi swiftly point Sweetness at his head and ends him quickly. "Emperor's mercy have been granted citizen. Your name will be mentioned, may it redeem your soul." Maxi make haste to Lt. Rabalias. to inform him of the threat. (Mutants. Maxi is thinking, beyond with glee. Sodding mutants. Emperor be praised. Mutants, pure Ordos Hereticus domain. No Ordo Malleus and Ordo Xenos affair. Sodding bliss.) "Seniority!" he mutters to himself.

Unfortunately for Moot there is no mercy in the Emperor's Mercy. Not after sundown. Not with Those that Walk up and about. Three tall figures, covered by ragged shrouds from head to toe have entered the back yard during Maxi's little interrogation session. You can't see what is hidden underneath - but you have no doubt that these are 'Those that Walk'. A voice from one of them, speaking recognizable Low Gothic through a vox-box of some sort: "How good of Smeed and Moot to arrange this last feast for us...to offer themselves up like this...the fragrance...it is worthy of mention in the annals." One of the others are standing very close to a couple of corpses lying in a pile. So close that its shrouds falls over part of the bodies - you swear you can see something moving about inside the bodies...and underneath the shroud. It is most unsettling. "And what have we here? Another one to feast upon?" The speaker seems to look Maxi over. It appears unconcerned despite the gun in your hand and your obvious willingness to use it.

Maxi has no intention to parlay. Not here, not on their term. Open full auto with sweetness on nearest skulk. If it falls, reload and repeat. Else, ready frag-grenade to cover retreat.

It doesn't bother doing anything. And why should it? You put one entire clip of man-stoppers in it and it doesn't even flinch. The only thing that happens is you punch holes in its shroud - exposing what's beneath. Suddenly you wish you hadn't fired. The thing you just shot at...its not a person or mutant or anything of the sort. Beneath the shroud is just a writhing mass of work-like creatures. Those That Walk...or The Worms That Walk perhaps. The farg-grenade leave your hand a split second after the mag is empty. By now you realize that the best you can hope for is to blow their nice coats apart. But the blast should create a useful distraction; enough to turn your ass around and get out of the yard, into the house, and the hell out on the street again.

Maxi run toward Maidens shuttle. Tries also to contact it on vox. His intent is to go to get shuttle in the air and contact Emperor's Island about the immediate bio-hazard. (Maxi don't have to be on the shuttle he just wants it out off harms way.)

You're on the move. Towards the shuttle. Several times you spot things that may well be more of Those That Walk, either standing over dead people in the streets or making their way into houses... You get hold of the shuttle pilot and tell him to get off the ground. He acknowledges, lifts off and heads for Emperor's Island. Leaving you quite alone. With nothing else to do you find Lt. Rabalias instead. He's decided to make a sort of stand at the Grand Royale.

"Nice to see your still standing Lt. But I'm afraid we're up against something that your new auto-carbines can't handle. Tell me where can we find large quantity of burnable fuel or explosives!"

Note to GM: Maxi's impression is that the maggots are not fast. My filmatic sense says that since they are carrions that feed on the sick dead and dying they have no need to move fast. (Above walking speed) If Maxi have seen otherwise ignore this post. (I'm speaking of the walking ones.)

So far you've seen nothing to indicate that they move fast - but maybe it has more to do with not needing to rather than being incapable of. Lt. Rabalias can relatively quickly secure some lamp fuel or other burnable oils, and some barrels of gunpowder is always available to an infantry officer. But nothing hi-tech of course.

Maxi presumably also has access to his shotgun and some ammo for that - including incendiary and explosive shells. Those might do some damage to the worm-thingies.

It's getting pretty dark. Complete chaos reigns. From time to time you hear the sounds of automatic stub guns chattering away. Lt. Rabalias and some of his men return with a horse-drawn wagon and several hundred liters of highly flammable oil and half ton of gunpowder in small barrels. He tells Maxi that they have seen strange things moving to the streets - stranger than the shrouded shapes even. Strange fleshy columns that hover over the ground, moving slowly and seemingly at random. They are painful to look at, so much that one of his men shot himself after they saw the first one.

"Great job Lt. We'll relocate at the Cathedral if you'll agree. I'm just going inside on vox to transmit this new information and pick up the transmitter. While you wait get any bottles and cloth that you can find and start to fill them with fuel." Maxi goes inside to send instructions to the shuttle on Emperor island. Instructions includes get in contact with maiden and relay information. If Maiden don't answer and he doesn't here from me in six hours ask the Administrium on Emperor's island to start sending planetary quarantine warnings, type bio-hazards / bio-weapons. If trip to cathedral is deemed to risky we fortify the Grand and send out raids from there. Prayer for the night: "Burn the witch. Let the flame cleanse."

You get no reply from the shuttle. Could be he pilot is out. Could be the shuttle has crashed. Could be the monsters are on Emperor's Island too. The trip to the cathedral is relatively uneventful. You see a couple of shrouded figures, but they seem to prefer to go after those already dead. One of the floating columns of flesh do take notice of you, however, and intercepts. A fight ensues. A considerable amount of gunfire is poured into it, but the effect is limited - the things weighs several tons at best estimate, several tons of xenos flesh and strange cybernetic augmentations. Bullets can do only so much harm. When target by fire-bombs it doesn't seem to harm it much. The fuel burns, but the flesh does not catch fire. Only Maxi's explosive shells do any real damage, blowing out big chucks of flesh with each hit. Even then it is in melee, with powerful swings of the maul that it is laid low. Surely there must be a better way? They must have some form of weak spot? Or not... The thing killed several of Rabalia's men before it was stopped. Sickly rays of necrotic energy projected by the column turned vibrant young men into rotting carcasses in moments. What foul tech-heresy created these beings?

I'll guess the hovering big ones took notice when we tried to burn a walking one on the way (preferably a loner). Took the walking one damage or is the whole flaming idea (Molotov) futile? "It can be brought down so that is good. But our weapons are to small to kill it effectively. The carrion eaters are no big threat as long as they feed so these hovering abominations are our primarily threat. Lt. do you know if those other guns we brought are at the armory? The ones we sunk the ship with." OOC: IIRC we also sold some case with RPG.

Those that walk seem largely unaffected by fire - it burns their shrouds a little, but leaves what is underneath unaffected. It is perhaps for the best that the shroud did not burn away to expose whats underneath - you're thinking more of the men would have gone insane if they had seen what they now suspect. So the entire flame thing seems if not useless then rather limited. Whatever ammo you had for the RPGs are long since expended in the battle against the Queens' forces. But yeah, seeing as your own explosive shells are effective against the hover-columns, it is probably that an RPG would also be quite useful. The Cathedral is shut when you arrive.

Scouting the place out you see something that is both macabre and bizarre. The clergy, or at least a good-sized portion of it, have fallen upon the worshipers who have taken refuge in the cathedral. The killing seems to be mostly over - with some exceptions - and now they are engaging in acts of cannibalism. More specifically they are cracking open skulls (a very messy affair requiring considerable force and heavy tools) to feed on the brain matter within. It is as if these mad people are somehow aping the actions of the Shrouded Ones...for what purpose you cannot really tell...could they be cultists of some sorts? Have they been driven insane like those you've already seen, only in a different fashion?

Maxi, Lt. Rabalias and their platoon pose outside the cathedral.

After having instructed to Lt. Rabalias that the Cathedral shall not fall. Maxi enters the dome to find any sane remaining inside. i.e. the Bishop or other high ministerial clergy. If not (and if they are not to many (above a score) ) maxi will end the sacrilege inside. Boiling sod, if he have relived choir boys from their misery inside His temple. Then insane brain eaters are of no moral obstacle. "This is holy ground. Our Immortal Emperors sanctified property. They are not welcome."

"This is holy ground. Our Adored Immortal Emperors sanctified property. They are not welcome."

After the search, Maxi discuses with Lt. Rabalias about the possibility to get a cannons or mortars against the floating ones. If they are moving slowly we would have a chance to take one down. And with cannister the walking one could be taken down easier.

Ah, but that is the irony of it all - there are no Walking Ones inside the Cathedral. Just the bishop and his cleric's murdering and feeding on the brain matter of their flock. Aping the invaders as a matter of fact. Maxi goes onto the offensive, butchering the butchers with great efficiency. The Bishop is one of the last to go - for he runs and hides from the vessel of the Emperor's wrath. All the while screaming incoherently about 'the Worms', 'the Shrouded Ones', and the Worms that Walk'. The enemy has many names, but his form is always the same foul one! Before Maxi ens his life it has become pretty clear that in his insane and heretical mind the Bishop thinks that only by becoming the enemy will they be spared. Logic dictates that this is bullshit; the piece the xenos said about 'flavor' springs to mind. This insanity will be a new flavor, carefully cultured and made ripe. Maxi concludes that soon the Walking Ones will come to feed on the clergy...better hurry! In the meantime Lt. Rabalias has been busy; he's located an arms cache in the Cathedral, one intended for the priests and the laymen of the Cathedral should it ever come under attack. Suddenly you find yourself in possession of a hundred hi-power las carabines, some tripod-mounted autocannon intended to be emplaced along the walls and towers, some flamer units, and other assorted personal weapons.

Maxi smiles and give compliments of the finds to Lt. Rabalias and his men. Before he let them open the cases more he reviles his Inquisitorial rosette and prays in high Gothic. "The Holy Ordos claim these we weapons in the defense against threats to mankind. The Adeptus Ministorium will hold no enmity against the bearer of these arms as they Exalt the immortal Emperor and protect his sanctified property." Maxi looks at the cache to see if he find any holy text so he can pray and have favors from blessed spirits in the weapons. "Paras pikavippi of the Holy Emperor, Him on Holy Terra provides."

It's an Imperial Cathedral - holy scripture and icons are not hard to find... Lt. Rabalias platoon is now armed to the teeth with modern weapons - not that they are experts in their use, but if you can pull a trigger you can fire a gun. That's the beauty of it. You are also quite ready for what you might face...so that when they come for you not long after you are as prepared as you can get. And come they do - when they find their way barred they simply ooze through the cracks, pipes or whatnot - in all their dark glory now that ther shrouds have been discarded. Like a walking mass of worms, techno-arcane devices can be glimpsed inside their writhing forms. For some on the men it is too much, but the rest, fortified by the Cathedral or Him on Earth or past experiences...they hold firm and open up. And energy weapons and promethium DOES seem to be more effective. Or maybe its the volume of fire that makes all the difference. One of the things are blasted apart in moments anther catches fire...and the last one wields a strange scepter against your men. Whatever it points towards withers and dies - flesh turns into rot, uniforms crumple to nothing, even stone turns aged and cracked. But you rally and bring the Emperor's justice to it... ...only to see both your previous 'kills' rise again. The men nearly break then, but Maxi rallies them and drives them to keep firing, keep moving, keep dispersed. Finally one of the things go down - the one that has been burning all along - and does not get up. The remaining two flee the site of the Emperor's Wrath!

Maxi wants to follow in hot pursuit but deems it futile. The vigilantes by his side he deems too shaken to be pressed into the dark. Instead he orders some of the men to stand guard. Then Maxi inspect the burning one and see if he can salvage anything to get better information about what he's up against. The rest he orders to take down some tapestry to carry out the dead bodies of the the bishop and the rest of the Ministorium. Maxi wants them outside so they can be cleansed by fire while the cathedral bells praises the immortal emperor. "Don't touch the bodies with your hands. The shrouds of our adored Immortal Emperor will protect you as HE protects you." His other priority is to get his LDV up and see if he can get in contact with the shuttle / Maiden or the Emperors Island. He will set one of the men to repeat the call and shout for Maxi if anyone answers. OOC: Read this as intents if you want to interrupt the flow. LDV = Long distant vox

In death the Walking One looks a lot like a can of worms badly scorched by fire. You've come to suspect that it is a gestalt creature - one overmind created out of numerous subminds. There is bits and pieces of strange xenos tech buried within - you can't even begin to guess at its exact nature...but your guess is that this is what passes for their equipment. Only one item of note remains - the 'scepter' it wielded to such deadly effect. You are loathe to look to closely at it, let alone touch it. The dead are disposed of and the bells start tolling. Soon there are survivors flocking towards the Cathedral - looking for salvation. Survivors - and the floating columns of corrupt xenos-flesh. The men brace themselves for another fight.

Maxi takes a quick glance at the remains of his troops. Holy Emperor how he loves it. Fond memories of the Adeptus Arbites stands against countless offenders to the Emperors Law fills his mind. No Haxtes in sight. Fixed order against abominations to man. "Ave Imperator, Semper Fidelis! Immortal Emperor! Is watchin'! There! Will! Be! No! F#@k up!"

To their credit not a single man breaks or goes insane. They stand firm, firing as quickly as the cycling chambers of their lasguns will allow. Autocannons and flamers join the show once the enemy draws near. There is some collateral among the fleeing civilians, but the mission is accomplished. No less than four of the columns are blow apart in a hail of fire, quickly decomposing once they have fallen. Not a man are hit in return, for the enemy does not target the soldiers in good cover, but instead uses their necrotic energy beams to slaughter the crowd trying to get into the Cathedral. As long as you have a living shield without you will be well protected from enemy fire.

To be a man is to be one amongst untold billions. "Keep firing! God-Emperor, will know and remember."

The carnage commences - after a while more enemies approach, including some of the Walking Ones (they are shrouded in their filthy cloaks and very hard to spot, but maxi catches glimpses of them). (OOC: I'll hold here for a while - you're a bit ahead of those up in space).

Maxi thanks the Emperor for his goggles and photo-visor for those glimpse. What a glory. To end in the defense against rot and chaos. To protect a holy shrine from the taint of corruption...the enemy within. "Hereticus Abomini the Emperor shall have his tithe" Commence... Maxi will endure the battle on the steps outside the cathedral. His blood shall not soil a holy place.

One of Rabalias' men comes running; the vox operation is receiving a transmission from orbit - requesting to speak with Maxi.

There is one Inquisitor Soldevan on an encrypted channel - he seems to have access to your own code protocols. He's asking for an update on the situation in and around Orlankan.

Maxi order the vox operator to give Lt. Rabalias the message that Inquisitorial forces has arrived in orbit and will relive us soon. (I'm not sure if Maxi believes this himself but it can't hurt to give a morale boost.) Moving fast to the vox Maxi reports: "Agent Maximilian Elazar Dante, Tancred's Cadre Ordos Hereticus ready to send report. Acknowledge receiver." In short Maxi will report. Maxi's position defending Cathedral holding. Status Planet Unknown. Status Orlankan, overrun not lost. Enemy information: numbers unknown nonhuman / xeno / bio-weapon. Can be destroyed by concentrated fire. Some armed with xeno tech type unknown rays. Possible bio-hazzardious contaminations. Suggest tactical sweep with hoppers / dropships for tactic evaluation. Recuest help.

Some sort of jamming is in effect - Maxi is pretty sure that his reception is better than his outgoing transmissions. Whomever is up there has strong vox-casters on board. You can only hope they have equally sophisticated vox-receivers or they won't be getting your return message.

Thats why Maxi ask for an acknowledge from the receiver. "Agent Maximilian Elazar Dante, Tancred's Cadre Ordos Hereticus ready to send report. Acknowledge receiver."

Inquisitor Soldevan, Ordo Xenos, acknowledges receipt.

(OCC: When Haxtes OCC on Maxis post Maxi OCC back.) Report Commencing. Status Planet Unknown. Status Orlankan, overrun not lost. Position defending Cathedral, Status position holding. Enemy information: Enemy numbers unknown. Enemy are nonhuman, possible xeno or bio-weapon. Enemy can be destroyed by concentrated fire. Some enemy armed with xeno tech type unknown rays. Some enemy carrion eaters possible. Possible bio-hazardous contaminations. Suggest tactical sweep with hoppers / dropships for tactic evaluation. Request help.

The Deathwatch commences their version of tactical evaluation. One 50-man battle company is deployed by drop-pods. That's ten pods, plus twenty more pods that have no marines on board, just support weapons manned by gun servitors. They serve as both fire support and decoys in case the enemy somehow manages to intercept the pods. Preceding the landing is a suppressive barrage of heavy weapons launched from the cruiser above - for the most part the Cathedral is spared, but several city blocks around it are hit pretty hard. Then the Marines are on the ground, fanning out, searching for targets, securing the drop zone. Several slaught and many of their foul flesh-constructs are taken apart by a mix of mass-reactive-explosive and plasma bolt shells. Following this first wave is the rest of the company and their support assets - heavy weapons, vehicles, even a venerable dreadnought - carried in the bellies of Thunderhawk gunships. It is a glorious sight! One that is cut short when Maxi and the vox-carrying soldier are both hit by a necro-beam from one of the remaining slaught - a big monster that has so far defied any attempts at shooting him. As darkness claims Maxi he can witness the other victim's flesh turn to rot...even as the Astartes move towards the cathedral, blades drawn, hungry to put an end to the beast...

The evacuation of Orlankan ended up being described in the Shades on Twilight thread.