The corpse falls, and no sooner does a 'fresh' batch of corpses rise than Regulorum finally manages to get the portal open and you all rush out of the chamber, the portal whooshing closed behind you.
"Out!!!"
Silas leads his merry troop through the door. Sword and pistol at the ready to slash or blast any foe that would hinder their advance to the rear.
"Where to now lord captain militant?"
Ludicus looks to his two surviving soldiers and motions to them to take their place at his side as he prerares to take the front once more.
"Back to the guncutter!!!"
"We're severely undermanned for this!!!"
You make all haste back to the guncutter. Once you arrive, you find the the routes to the void-seal you entered through have been sealed and, like the bridge, purged of atmosphere. Panic begins to set in over the crewmen as the nature of your predicament begins to take full shape.
"Lord-Captain, are we trapped?"
"Stand firm! What is this? Can you not see that the Lord Captain Militant is thinking?
Do not bother him needlessly but trust him to have all in hand. Instead, ask how you can help him implement his plan!"
"No! We are not!!!"
"Weapons at the ready! Conserve your ammo!"
"We're just getting some flamers to do the job right hehehe"
"Oh, and did I mention that there's going to be a bonus for this one?!"
"So, put steel into your spine!"
"We're going to make it!!!"
"Buddy system everyone!!!"
Both of the men look at each other, worry etched upon their faces. "Whata we do now, then?"
"You two stay with me, you watch my back and I'll watch yours. And this time, stay together and stay focused."
Alessaunder watched the men panic with an expression of disdain.
I knew they would simply be a liability...
He looked around and sought an alternate route.
Vorgen activates the vox connection to the cutter.
Over Vox: Wigeon. Come in. We've been cut off from the void lock. We may have to make our way to the open hull for pickup. Keep your eyes open. Vorgen out.
Vorgen deactivates his resperator and removes his helmet.
To all. "We need to conserve air incase we need to step outside for pickup. "Air smells pretty foul but I've been in worse." "Right. Looks like we need to find a way out of this hulk. She's a warship so there won't be much in the way of observation ports and it looks like our friend on the bridge has control of the void locks." Vorgen thinks for a moment. "But there should be a fueling lock down by the engines. It will mean some crawling but it might be a way out."
Vorgen turns to the captain. "Unless you trust you gunners enough to introduce the thing on the bridge to a macro-cannon blast?"
Vorgen tries the vox, but gets nothing but static.
"Magos, do this type of vessel have an auxillary bridge? Perhaps we can lock out that thing...."
"Men, take time to switch to fresh clips."
Vorgen tries the vox, but gets nothing but static.
Regulorum pauses to draw his lasgun. His eyes narrow as he hears Silas' request, and Regulorum appears immobile as he concentrates.
"At this time I am unable to recall anything in this class of naval vessel's schematic which would indicate such, Silas, but I may be mistaken."
@Regulorum:
@Vorgen:
@Regulorum:
@Vorgen:
"Damn. Something is interfearing with Vox. Well at least the guncuter broke seal and is standing off. We can not let that navigator onto the Will. Can you imagine what that thing could do to the underdecks? To a hive-world?"
"Let's go to the enginarium then."
Thumbing the rune one the side of his bolt pistol, Ludicus determines that he does indeed need to reload.
After slapping a new clip home an old superstition slowly surfaces.
For a moment he attempts to fight the urge down, knowing it is irrational and unproductive, however, in the end he is unable to stops himself and so he replaces is current bolt pistol with his other one.
If one scores a kill, the other must be given the chance to do so as well, balance...
Turning to the remaining crewmen, he motions for them to take their place at his side.
"Come now, you have survived this long, you can survive to the end. Stay by my side and we shall see this through."
You wander through the shadowy ship, your path lit only by the flickering glow lamps. At least half of the portals you approach are sealed, forcing you to double back more times than you can count. Yet you still get the feeling of progress, albeit at a snail's pace. After what feels like hours traversing the vessel, you hear a shout.
"Don't shoot!" At the noise, you turn toward its source, revealed by the brief flickers of the lamps. Slowly, a bedraggled and filthy man in an ancient shipsuit approaches from the shadows.
"Put up your hands where we can see them!!!"
Silas motions for the party to move to the flanks.
The man walks out of the shadows.
"Please don't shoot. You're alive aren't you? Why have you come here, it's not safe?"
Ludicus smirks a little at that, being that it's never safe to enter a derelict.
He then motions for the crewmen to cover the rear while he himself guards the front.
"Be still. We're asking the questions here. Start by giving us your name, rank and serial number."
"Well, speak up. We're not the walking dead if that is what you are thinking."
"I'm bloody aggravated by this whole thing that my blood pressure is raised."
"Crewman Erart, M'Lord. And please, keep your voice down. It can hear you. Look, if you want to question me, do your worst, but we need to get soemwhere safe."
"I take it you have somewhere in mind as being safe?"
The man fidgets nervously, continually looking over his shoulders and more past you than at you. The fear etched into his face is plain even in this dim light.
"Yes, yes I do."
With little other options, we waste time standing here. We'll need the information this man possesses, regardless of his motives. I suggest, Lord-Captain, that we follow him. I'll keep my Hellgun trained on him, although I do not expect treachery.
"Very well, consider yourself promoted Ensign Erart. Lead on."
Erart leads you into a series of code-locked service tunnels and down into the bowels of the ship. "The Worm’s powers are weaker near the reactor," he says as he leads you deep into the depths of the ship. In this disgusting warren of corridors, you come across the other survivors, emaciated scavengers, ironically more horrific looking than the Warp corpses.
"What're you doing, Erart? Who're these? Pirates wander into the ship, and you bring them right to us?" one of them asks as you enter the chamber.
"Cease your slander for I am Lord-Captain Silas Tyr, Rogue Trader and Master of the Adamant Will, Grand Cruiser in the service of the God-Emperor of Mankind. And these are my puissant companions."
Regulorum and Pip have been attempting to run scans of the power conduits. Having previously noticed the power flowing to the bridge, Regulorum has spent the time since their escape trying to determine how he can safely disrupt the flow of power back to that area without endangering the ship.
"Even if the Lord-Captain was in fact a pirate, you would be fools not to accept his help," Regulorum says to the emaciated men with condescension, emphasizing the title as he returns to the formal address in the presence of unfamiliars. In an uncharacteristic display, Regulorum ensures that his rank insignia and specialized void suit are evident, as he moves to Silas' side.
"It is apparent that we do not have time for your foolishness if any of us are to survive. Are there any surviving Tech-Priests? I must know what has happened to the Machine Spirit of the Emperor's Bounty at once!"
Weapons back in holsters. Vorgen considers their new compaions.
"We intend to harm to you or your ship. A naval patrol caught an aux echo of you and we came to see if it was real. We did not expect to find survivors, we certainly did not expect that thing on the bridge. What happened?"
Weapons back in holsters. Vorgen considers their new compaions.
"We intend to harm to you or your ship."
"Be that as it may, you wish to be returned to Imperial space, yes?"
Weapons back in holsters. Vorgen considers their new compaions.
"We intend to harm to you or your ship."
"Be that as it may, you wish to be returned to Imperial space, yes?"
"We intend no harm to you or your ship. A naval patrol caught an aux echo of you and we came to see if it was real. We did not expect to find survivors, we certainly did not expect that thing on the bridge. What happened?"
Hnnnh, desperate men sometimes act rashly even against bad odds, I learned that as a prisoner. Better take no chances.
Ludicus turns to the crewmen and points at the way they came.
"You too, cover the entrance, switch to full auto and sing out if you see anything. If it does not respond right away or isn't obviously someone on our side, blast it."
After tha, Ludicus takes a position near the captain, ready to defend him against any surprises.
At the obvious show of force and rank, the men back down. Yet the sullen look remains. "Be that as it may, that just makes you stuck here like us. Orden won't let you escape, and he can't be killed."
Alessaunder did his best to encourage the men and he raised their spirits with talk of rescue, playing up the competence of his fellow senior officers and (without going into too much detail) spoke of how they had already struck a blow at the very heart of the ship- the bridge!
Pip generates a statistical analysis of the situation for Regulorum's eyes only, and Regulorum gives a soft snort of annoyance. Without waiting for Alessaunder to finish his charming and uplifting talk to these downtrodden members of the crew, Pip projected only a 7.5489356% chance of successfuly retrieving the information needed to retake the bridge or find a way to get back to the cutter. The odds soared to 23.8561117% if the men found the motivation to assist them.
Regulorum determined he would not allow the time spent placating lesser men's fears and sensibilities to be wasted. He squawked a command to Pip, and the two of them began working on nalysis of the way the power was feeding into the bridge and how best to interfere without endangering the ship.
Silas also turns on his charm in convincing the people that they will be served best by helping House Tyr salvage this vessel. He promises them free passage back to Imperial space and a berth on the Adamant Will if they want it. Silas thinks that the addition of this clearly competent people should increase the effectiveness of the green crew now handling the Adamant Will.
Ludicus walks over to Vorgen, leans in and whispers.
"This remind you of anything? These people are lucky, nobody offered US a ride when we were in their shoes."
Ludicus walks over to Vorgen, leans in and whispers.
"This remind you of anything? These people are lucky, nobody offered US a ride when we were in their shoes."
"Yes but we didn't have a mad navigator hunting us down with the reanimated bodies of our dead shipmates. So I suppose it's all relative."
The men all start to nod in agreement at the series of rousing speeches. Then, the bedraggled man who brought you here, Erart speaks up.
"There is a way to get him, I think. You see, the Emperor’s Bounty fell afoul of a Halo Device, the Psycharus Worm. Lord-Captain Spargan brought it on board. It was inactive in the Lord-Captain's care for much of the return journey to the Calixis Sector until Orden examined it. As soon as he touched the cursed thing, it clawed its way onto his face and latched over his third eye, and forced it open. Compelled by the Worm, Orden vented the ship's atmosphere into space, killing hundreds of the crew. He then attempted to take control of the vessel using the Worm’s powers to animate the corpses of those killed to aid him. Most of the remaining crew, including the Lord-Captain, were killed in the fight.It was terrible. Though we couldn't kill Orden or destroy the Worm, we did manage to scuttle the vessel, preventing him from taking control. He's been sitting on the throne ever since, waiting for another chance to escape."
"But it was there we realised the true power of the Worm and its abilities. We also came to the conclusion that the device was somehow drawing its power from Orden and preventing us from killing him. Lord-Captain also figured out before he died that the Worm must somehow draw power from the warp, as it only became active in the presence of Orden and his third eye. It also remained inert when the ship was in transit, shielded from the warp by the Bounty's Gellar Field. If the Gellar Field could be brought to full strength it might sever the device’s power supply and allow us to kill Orden!" Erart finishes with excitement.
"You idiot," says one of the others, "The first thing Orden did when he killed everyone was deactivate the Core Cogitator and purge the machine spirit, so the Worm would have free reign over the ship’s systems. Without the Cogitator and the machine spirit, the Gellar Field cannot be fully raised, you know that."