"Where did you get that from Graki? It would take a madman to lead us through this Labyrinth of evil Rha. Who better than this madman?"
Graki inspects the element in his hands and places it back in his pack.
"Inquisitor Silius, he said it may prove useful and for me to hold it. Yet I know not of its Origins or what it is capable of."
Nostromo watches the interaction with a slight smile on his face.
"So servants am I to be your guide?"
"We will take your council for now, Navigator. But be warned: Play us false and there will be nowhere to hide from the Emperor's wrath. Not even all of the Empyrean will be able to protect you. Lead on."
"Nor do I but when I last saw it, I was surrounded by death and carnage. I hope that I will not witness such suffering again but likely that is wishful thinking".
Auraxis nods to the Sister and take his place in line hiding the grimace of pain the last encounter caused him.
Nostromo giggles at the sisters comment and nods.
"Oh dear sister of the corpse I would never think of crossing one such as you! Your purity has built up so much anger inside that I'm sure you could crush my head with your bare hands!"
He calms down a bit.
"Before I can take you to the Blind Teseract we need to acquire the other element. My best guess is some other group here has it so a hunting we will go!"
Your group now with Nostormos in it negotiates a series of machine rooms and access corridors as you dive deeper into the complex when suddenly you hear a cry for help from down a side corridor.
What do you want to do?
Grakis ears perk up... turning to Sister
"Orders, sir" he whispers
"Assess. Beware of a trap. If we don't find the source in 25 metres, we return to task."
She didn't want to get distracted, but she couldn't turn her back on a cry for help.
Graki nods and slips into the shadows of the dim lit facility to look for the source of distress
Sister Revanche waits a three-count before following behind Graki.
You proceed down the passageway cautiously and come across a partially collapsed area which shows signs of a recent explosion having taken place. Trapped by his legs under a fallen support girder is a man covered in concrete dust and streaked with blood wearing light carapace armour. Buried beside him is the form of another man, not stirring.
The one not moving is dead. As you approach the other he notices you and looks a bit surprised.
"Hey! I know it is too much to expect from this hell hole, a little help would be appreciated?"
"Praise be to the Emperor of Mankind. He has seen to your deliverance."
Sister Revanche moves closer to the man as Rha uses his drill to extricate him, examining him and prepared to pull him out.
"Tell us how you came to be here, so sorely in need of the Emperor's Light?"
He looks a little taken aback by all the Emperor talk but seems to ease up a bit as he is freed.
"Well... I was paid a large sum to come here with a group of Amaranthine Syndicate for my technical skills. I left them bastards while they were distracted breaking into a power room.
"Your probably wondering why I left when they paid for my service huh? Well this place is a freaking death trap and I didn't sign up for that! And these freaks were not going to leave no matter how much bloodshed there was until they got what they were looking for, me and the other mercs were totally expendable."
"What finished it for me was when he saw one of the “red madmen” strike out leader, calls herself Miss Book she does, full in the face with a chainripper and, “She didn’t as much as flinch, just punched her hand through his chest and I swear she broke his spine with her fingers. Then after, she held her hand to her face and the wound just mended, but I swear I saw something writhing underneath before it closed. Mercenary and sinner I may be but I’m no warp-dabbler or xenos-lover either, so I made my mind up to flee when I saw the chance."
"Please don't kill me! I just want off this hell hole!"
"There's only one way you will ever make it off this planet. Are you willing to fight for your life in the service of the Emperor that you have forsaken in your sin of greed?"
The man nods in agreement.
"I will help with what I can. You lot look like you just may survive this death trap!"
"You may begin to earn your salvation by telling us what you know of this place."
(What is the man armed with? What type of armor is he wearing? And what do we know of the Amaranthine Syndicate?)
He stands up after being set free by the Tech-Priest. He is wearing a mix of Flak and Carapace armour. He had a Hand Cannon and Mono Knife at his hip.
"Names Kort Luther."
He dusts himself off a bit before continuing.
"Seen a lot of strange things here, half-starved mad men and the walking cold dead things like that one over there" he points to the other man that is dead under the debris.
"Damn thing had me pinned and wouldn’t fall down no matter how many times I shot it. Had to throw a Frag behind it and hope for the best! Here I am now" he laughs a bit.
"Like I said I was hired by the Amaranthine Syndicate by someone called Miss Book. Most ruthless b*!&! I have ever seen. If I knew what I was getting into I would have never came here! She has 6 others with her, maybe less by now since we have been getting picked off by this place slowly."
"The b@#!~ caries around with her some tattered grey book that she keeps looking at and she was making us search methodically for a glistening black stone the size of a man’s fist and any strange machinery that looks out of place.
Nostromos ears perk at the mention of the tattered grey book.
"When did you come here, recently? How did you arrive?
"About a day ago. We came down on a vessel right before the battles started over orbit."
"Do you have the key code to unlock that ship?"
"No, it was Miss Books ship I was just hired to get through any tech stuff inside and to shoot if needed."
Sister Revanche notices Nostromo's interest.
"We need that book, don't we?"
Nostromos Nods.
"Without it we will never made it to where you wish to go."
"We have our target. Where did you last see her?"
Kort
"Sure lead on ma'am.
Silinas
The old lady shakes her head
"I don't like this, feels like we will be walking into a trap."
Kort
"This whole place is a death trap!"
Nostromos giggles a bit at the conversation.
"Of course we are walking into a trap Silinas. It is the will of the Emperor that allowed us to land in relative safety, we must see this through to the end there is not other choice".
"Of course it is a trap, Astropath. There are heretics, xenos, and warp-spawn involved. But if we ever want to see an end to this madness, we must push through. Guard yourselves, and look out for each other, and the Emperor will protect us."
She turns to Kort Luther before anymore complaint can be raised.
"Show us where you saw her last, Kort, and we will put an end to her in The Emperor's Name."
(Zealotry is so much fun.)
Your team enters a large roughly circular chamber of open space that extends hundreds of meters down into the void of the dark galleries below and ascends another fifty meters into a bell-like copperplated ceiling. Hung in the center of this empty space are three enormous tubular power capacitors, each strung with a patchwork of cable connectors, heat sinks and arc vanes. Two of them are blackened and dead, while the final one still thrums quietly with power. The central level of this chamber is spanned by a series of platforms and metal-meshed gantries.
The area is decorated and partly barricaded with a variety of detritus and scavenged materials, and its floor is thick with broken and gnawed bones. Skull capped posts, torches, and flayed skins stretched between wire frames are placed at various points around the perimeter of the area and inscribed with foul symbols.
Awareness
Awareness vs 55
If you made your awareness test you hear noises further into this room and you also hear noises from above.
When you look up you see body parts dangling from chains and ropes.
Graki's ears perk up as he hears the noises. Lokking around trying to pin point their locations graki looms up for the ambush.... seeing nothing but dangling body graki points up to show theh group what he has found
"bodies above...
graki continues to move forwards
Sister Revanche nodded in Graki's direction, approvingly.
"You have the ears of an alpha wolf, Brother Graki."
She motioned to the others, giving each a sector to watch.
"Prepare for ambush. Eyes on the flanks. Graki has point, but stay close. We don't want whatever is hunting us to separate us. Rha has rear guard. Make sure no one falls behind. Move out."
She checked the charge on her inferno pistol out of habit before moving slowly through the room, looking for any signs of movement.
Auraxis keeps his eyes on the ceiling to ensure that no surprises drop on the group and he heads forward in the pattern suggested by the Sister.
As you slowly make your way through the maze of debris and body parts please make silent move rolls.
vs -10. (Just for S&G.)
Move Silent
You try to be as quite as possible making your way through this mess zig zagging in between crap when you finally come to the core of the room. Behind some more gore and garbage you see 5 people and they see you as well.
One is tall and gaunt, his flesh hangs from his once ample frame. He wears patchwork robes, and over this he is clad in armour of beaten metal. On his face is a crude brazen mask in the shape of a snarling hound.
The other four wear patchwork robes and lesser armour.
Behind them bound against a wooden frame is a distorted and unnatural things, half-animal and half living nightmare, with blazing pits of unholy fire for eyes, his torn flesh rippling with glowing sigils and ward-bindings.
They all have weapons drawn (chain axes) except for the bound creature. The tall man greets you. "What do you lot want!"
Graki fixes his eyes on the bound beast
"what in the name of the throne is that....MALIFICARUS I am sure"
Graki moves to the side and waits for his comrades to step fourth...
"We seek the one known as Miss Book. We will leave you to your business if you tell us where she is."
Sister Revanche is ready to spring if their answer is anything other than 'yes, ma'am'.
Auraxis waits for the scene to play out but he is ready to burn down these heretics, hell, he might burn them down even if they cooperate!
"Best put your toys away little lady if you know what's good for you. My men ain't seen a woman in a long time and they like one that fights back a bit!"
He looks between all of you and sneers.
"Bah screw this kill them all!"
As he says that the creature behind them becomes unchained.
(So, who didn't see that coming?)
Init.
Initiative