Dark Heresy - Haarlock's Legacy (Inactive)

Game Master Nethru

Inquisitor Marr's ship takes you to orbit where it meets up with a larger space vessel and you all head toward his headquarters on Scintilla. There you are greeted by 2 others you have never met before.

One is a man dressed in a form fitting Light Powerarmor outfit with a power sword strapped to his back and a needle pistol on his side. A cloak is draped over his armor as it flows in the wind from the thrusters of the shuttle that brought you planet bound.

Besides him is a very large tech-priest. His servo arms jitter as he sees Inquisitor Marr exit the ship as if in excitement.

His voice is very mechanical as he speaks. "Inquisitor, we have identified the location of the Blind Tesseract." he almost sounded excited but hard to tell since it's not a human vocal chords your hearing. "It's located on the planet of Mara, hidden deep
beneath the ice was Haarlock’s last destination, where he is believed to have ‘gone beyond’ and from where he will soon return according to our findings."

The Inquisitor nods to the tech-priest motioning for everyone to go inside as it's quite cold and the turbines are very loud.

Sister Revanche follows the others inside. Her helmet hides her face, but a certain quickness in her step betrays her eagerness to get things moving.

Graki kneels placing his right fist over chest as a universal greeting for the inquisitor and two new figures standing before him.

"Greetingssss, choosen followers of emperor" Graki's voice sound very much like a savaged beast

Rising to his feet Graki gives the group a once over sizing everyone up. Weaponry armor listening to them speak trying to find strengths and weaknesses in every facet. Once invited inside Graki will follow the inquisitor inside. His mask held under his arm to show his face and trust among the new unit he will be working with.

Sister Revanche examined the obvious feral-worlder with an appraising eye. His armour and weaponry seemed out of sorts with his primitive nature, and she found herself wondering which was real, and which was the affectation. This man was dangerous, that was certain, and he seemed barely controlled in his savagery. Still, if the God-Emperor willed it, then he had his reasons, and she would not question them.

"I greet you in the name of the Emperor of Mankind and I bid you Welcome in his Holy Sight. I am Sister Revanche of the Order of Our Martyred Lady. How may I address you?"

As she spoke, she made the sign of the Aquilla over the breast of her power armor.

Auraxis nods to the newcomers and quickly flashes the sign of the Aquila.

"I am Confessor Aurilious".

Auraxis has no intention of wasting time with pleasantries. He has seen enough Adepts die to know that they nor he may even make it back from this mission alive.

Everyone is handed a data-slate when they enter the building by serfs awaiting the inquisitors arrival. It contains information about the location you will be heading to.

Mara Info

The Inquisitor nods to the Serfs.

"Give me some time to digest this information and I will summon you once we are ready to proceed."

With that him and his psyker leave you all to do your own thing.

A few days will pass before your team actually leaves for the planet to get gear and prepare yourself for the ice cold world. Equipment will have no cost let me know what you would like and I'll let you know if you can have it. The new guys already have their gear so it's basically just Auraxis.

I will try to get that finalized for tonight. Any way we can get a Reaver and a squad of Adeptus Astartes for us to command? :-)

Not on this much short notice! :)

The Mechanicus Centurius stood head and shoulders taller than the others that stood in the chamber, a broad shouldered mass hidden beneath thick and tattered crimson robes. Much of its body remained hidden beneath those robes, only a series of 6 glowing emerald eye lenses hidden beneath a dark hood and several fiber bundles protruding from several holes that webbed their way across its frame and into the exo-skeletal rig upon its spine. It did not move as it accepted the data-slate from the serf, a delicate manipulating mandible arm protruding from the augmetic rig grasping ahold of the device while another bearing several writhing wires and cables snapped into the port holes and uploaded the information directly into his cerebral cogitator.

A few days past as you gather equipment required for what it so come and your all finally summoned to meet with the Inquisitor in his chamber.

You aren't let in till everyone arrives. When you enter you see him sitting on his chair as he always is barely looking alive with Nocticha at his side.

"I hope the few days of rest have done you all well, you will need it as the world you are about to travel to is a harsh cold one." He coughs a bit before continuing.

"You are all being granted full authority of the Holy Ordos by order of the Lord Inquisitor Caidin, master of the Conclave Calixis himself. Transit to Mara is forbidden by order of the Conclave Calixis, usually even to the servants of the Inquisition but you see this is a special case. You need to find the location of the so-called 'Blind Tesseract'. This is supposedly the last known location of Haarlock."

He takes a breath before continuing

"Mara was the site of an Imperial mining penitentiary which was overrun and abandoned due to a growing series of warp incursions resulting in the deaths of more than twenty thousand inmates in 768.M41. During this catastrophe, Inquisitor Ark Ashtyn, who was called in during the incursion, theorised that the human presence on Mara formed some kind of psychic ‘critical mass’ which, in combination with local conditions, created a spiraling implosion of nightmarish unreality, involving the predations of Psycheneuein Warp entities."

More coughing and Nocticha helps him wipe some blood from his lips

"Since the massacre, the ice station has been an empty ‘haunted’ shell, noted for periodic warp disturbances and reality incursions. The state of ‘activity,’ although largely unpredictable, appears to worsen the more that living creatures are within its vicinity and the more violence and negative emotion that are visited within its confines."

"After the abandonment of the penitentiary on Mara, a bombardment squadron was dispatched to shatter the planet’s crust using cyclonic torpedoes in the hope of ending the potential threat. The squadron disappeared under unknown circumstances and since then, the Inquisition has declared the world forbidden and maintained a blockade of the outer Mara system. Small expeditions have successfully travelled to Mara and reported various mysterious and often contradictory phenomenon and ongoing danger. Larger landings, both deliberate and accidental have all met with utter disaster."

He pauses for a moment before continuing

"The warship Sigillite’s Word has been placed at your disposal to ferry you to Mara. The eyes of the Holy Ordos are upon you. Failure is not an option." his last words are sharp and harsh.

Auraxis frowns, "Inquisitor can you expand upon what a Psycheneuein Warp entity is exactly? Can you give any insight into the phenomenon related to the periodic warp disturbances? Certainly with the unpredictability of chaos we cannot assume prior patterns will repeat themselves. However, at least an idea of what happened in the past may allow us to plan to deal with such disturbances accordingly. I have no doubt based on my prior field operations that we will see the very gates of hell open up before us. I also have no doubt that the God Emperor will protect us, even in the heart of this chaos".

Graki listens to the scope of his mission as well as his focus would let him. Chafing in his body gloved power armor. Graki still prefers his pelts over this techno gadgets

Graki leans towards the woman.
"Did he talk of us dealing with new malificarus?!!"

graki grabs his chest piece and tries to adjust himself with a low growl of building frustration

Sister Revanche turned her helmeted head towards the warrior beside her and nodded.

"Aye. In the Emperor's name in fact as well as deed. Haarlock will bring the warp with him. We shall ensure that his delivery is refused."

She noted his discomfort with a note of bemusement. Yes, this was the affectation. A necessary one based on their destination, but she was sure that it was not his preferred method of operation. The last thing they needed was for him to upset the armor's spirit in the field. It could prove catastrophic for all of them.

She pitched her voice softer so that only he could hear her.
"I can show you rituals that would make your armor less restrictive, brother. You will need to trust it implicitly where we are going. The Gates of the Warp are nothing if not hostile."

The Inquisitor coughs some more.

"Thankfully rare, Psychneuein are vile warp entities drawn to the mental emanations of unprotected, badly injured or nascent psykers whose minds they attack for the obscene purpose of gestating their progeny. They are very dangerous."

"The planet is unstable that's why it's off limits. You are going under direct approval from the Inquisitor Lord only due to what we have found out thus far and could potentially happen if Haarlock is indeed alive and coming back. You must find out the truth and stop it."

He looks to the four.

"If there are no other questions your pilot awaits you."

Sister Revanche considers for a moment before clearing her throat.

"Are there contingencies in place in case the unspeakable happens? How long do we have before such contingencies are enacted?"

"That is being worked on. Right now you are all we have and need to figure out where this place is and what's going on there. You will provide information back to us as you have it and we will let you know course of action at that time."

Sister Revanche nodded her understanding before boarding the shuttle.

"You are aboard the strike frigate Sigillite’s Word, sent with all speed to the long-forbidden world of Mara, a world of ice, secrets, and death. You have been sent because it has been discovered that the long-vanished Erasmus Haarlock sought a place called the Blind Tesseract in the process of pursuing his one true desire. Some among the Inquisition have long known of the Blind Tesseract and that its entrance lies far below the surface of the cursed ice world of Mara. The mysterious and powerful Inquisitor Marr is one of these few. You can still remember his face growing grim as he talked of the Blind Tesseract as a place of lost knowledge where time and space are bound by strange devices.

Under High authority, you have been given power and command over a mission: to discover what Haarlock’s designs were and prevent his secrets from falling into the hands of any other who would discover them. Your master tells you that he can trust no other hand to this task, and if he or others of prominence within the Ordo were to make the journey, even in secrecy, the risks would be all the greater. So it is ordained that you must succeed if the Haarlock’s dread legacy is not to bring ruin on all."

Graki will attempt to interact with others in his unit. I know transport scenes are usually short but I wanted to introduce my character to everyones. Each encounter would be done separate at different times if that's OK with you G. EMP.

1st Encounter

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2nd encounter

Encounter of the third kind

Did the Inquisitor place any one of us in command or are we freewheeling this mission?

Auraxis will approach the Captain of the Frigate. "How and when will we make landfall Captain?"

No one was put in charge of this mission so you guys need to work together

We're doomed...

Utterly

Graki and Revanche

When not otherwise engaged, Sister Revanche will spend her time among the crew, proselytizing about the Emperor's greatness and trying to keep morale high.

Flag Captain Xail is hosting you aboard his ship to the planet of Mara.

On board the vessel with you are 2 other Acolytes Silinus and Samiel, and ten elite Maccabian Janissaries which the Inquisitor has assigned to your cell to assist in the matter.

Commanding the squad’s two five-man sections are the imposing and iron-hard sergeants Childres and Makrade, both combat veterans with experience in fighting at the Inquisition’s side.

The names of the other Janissaries are; Gaius, Helenith, Kraven, Arco, Sufal, Nauls, Cars’son, and Janaad.

ASTROPATH SILINUS
An experienced Astropath of senior years and servant of the Holy Ordos, this brittle, haughty but powerful Psyker has been assigned to the Acolytes’ authority, although she quietly resents it.

SIRE CALIUM SAMIEL
A battle-psyker and agent of the Inquisition, he has been assigned to assist the Acolytes in their mission to Mara.

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Additional Information:

Each Acolyte is given a hooded environmental bodyglove and respirator to sustain them in Mara’s harsh conditions. Their chosen body armour (or if no armour is worn, their environmental bodyglove) is ritually infused with Hexagramatic Ward upgrades. Additionally, they receive twenty rounds of Blessed Ammunition for a projectile weapon of their choice.

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The trip through the warp will take 2 days before you reach re-translation.

The Tech Priest started down over the Feral Worlder, examining his armour and weaponry more than actually seeming to care about the man himself.

"Compliance. Facial still-pict and subject name stored in secondary cerebral databank. Well met graki ulthra. Personal identification is Rha - Zif I3P27. Adopted Cognomen used by the Macabeian Janassaries, 'Rha'."

Every word was blurted in a harsh inhuman bark distorted by vox-static. There was no hint of emotion in his words, two of the six emerald optic lenses whirring slightly to focus in on the subject.

Auraxis approaches the Tech-Priest.

"So what should I call you follower of the Ominissiah?"

Rha turned only slightly to address the new comer, the bionic lenses whirring as they blink-clicked several picts of the Arbite Noble to save.

"Personal identification is Mechanicum Secutor Centurius Rha - Zif I3P27. Adopted Cognomen used by the Macabeian Janassaries, 'Rha'. Well met, Auraxis Aurilious."

Auraxis looks around to ensure that no one else but the Sister and Graki are within earshot.

"Well met Rha. I assume that you have loaded all of the protocols given to us by Inquisitor Mara. Query, can you dedicate process capacity to evaluate Acolytes Silinus and Samiel during our trip to note behavioral quirks and reactions to stimulus? Once we touchdown on Mara I will ask that you continue to monitor these Acolytes to ensure that their behavior stays within normal parameters based on your observations in transit. My concern is that these Acolytes as Psykers will be prone to manipulation by the Psychneuein which are a clear danger to the mission on Mara. If necessary these Psykers may need to be neutralized should they become a threat to the rest of the landing party. Is this something that you are capable of doing Rha?"

Rha nods his head with very slow and methodical movement.

"Compliance."

The Tech Priest ignores the respirator and environmental bodyglove, however accepts the blessed bolt rounds.

Assuming Sister Revanche is within earshot, "Tell me Sister. As a servant of the God Emperor, what miracles has he graced you to call forth? I think it is important that we have an understanding amongst us of who can do what. My sense is that this mission is akin to a death sentence but our duty is clear, we must stop Haarlock's plans at all costs".

[spoiler=Graki "I have felt the God Emperor with me and I know he has acted through me as a conduit. What is my life worth compared to that of the countless trillions which make up the entirety of the Imperium of Mankind? We fight to preserve order against chaos. Some must suffer and perish that the rest may pursue life and strive to improve our species and our culture, for better or for worse. As long as there is a tomorrow there will always be hope for a change to the better". [/spoiler]

"The Emperor has seen fit to gift me with abilities to counter daemonic influences in the Materium and to bring His holy light to the darkest of corners where Warpspawn hide. You may see this as a death sentence. I respectfully disagree. This is an opportunity to spread the Light of the Emperor, and I will do so many more times before I am called to His side. His Will Be Done!"

Sister Revanche eschews the armoured bodyglove and the respirator, and gifts the projectile shells to the Guardsmen that will be accompanying them.

Auraxis grins, "Do not think me bitter Sister. I gladly go to my death to spread the Emperor's Light. I am simply being practical. Death is the ultimate reward in our service to the Imperium of Man, for as we die countless souls may live".

Everyone feels very uncomfortable when they are near Graki. It's not just his feral mature but something supernatural that seems to repel you a bit.

"Those countless souls include other Heretics that you would not be there to stop. Do not wish for death so easily. We will go on to victory, for victory is the brightest light and enemies defeated before us is the greatest fuel for the Pyre we shall build in the Emperor's Name."

She glances at the Jannisaries, speaking in a loud, clear voice.
"And we shall light a victory pyre bright enough to be seen by the Emperor Himself, on Holy Terra. And He will know who these brave warriors are who slay His enemies in His Name!"

During the two days aboard the ship Astropath Silinus stays in the choir room with the other Astrophaths. She doesn't seem very much into talking with others much. Calium Samiel can be found training hard in the training quarters with some of the Janissaries. The Janissaries seem like very hardened veterans. The captain keeps to himself on the bridge doing what he does best.

Graki will train in the battle cages to pass the time and when he is not he is sharpening his blade and preparing his needle rounds coating them in poisons for his journey.

Graki

While training in the training quarters Calium Samiel tries to make small talk even though it appears he is disturbed by your being. He appears to be a "good" guy from what you can gather.

Rha will take a small measure of time during the two days to observe the psychic acolytes as instructed by Auraxis.

Want me to make a test for it?

Sister Revanche will spend as much time with the Janissaries as possible, getting to know their specialties and command structure. When it hits the fan, she wants to make sure their communications and operations are flawless. If possible, she will work with them on drills so that they fight together without effort.

Rha
Watching Samiel is very easy he's almost always in the training chambers with some of the Janissaries. He appears to be an easy going guy, you definitely would not be able to tell he's a potent psyker by the way he handles himself. The Astropath is much harder as she is always in the choir chambers and no one else is allowed in there except for the other Astropaths.

Graki
Samiel accepts your challenge with a smile. (we are not going to do full combat here). He gives you a decent run for your money but his combat prowess is not nearly as clean as yours but you can tell he has been training with a sword for a long time as well. Your blankness made him slip up one to many times and were able to overcome him.

Revanche
You talk with the 2 commanding Janissaries and they are veteran soldiers. Their 2 5 man squads are a well oiled machine and you can tell the Inquisitor definitely took his time picking this specific team out to assist and you feel much better knowing so.

The second day into warp travel you are all invited to be present on the bridge by Captain Xail and are accompanied by your subordinates Silinus and Samiel.

"The bridge is a cavernous vaulted chamber, with huge arced viewports that are sealed for the journey through the warp by thick metal shutters. The atmosphere on the bridge is like that of a temple of war; the sides are lined by niches, housing system controlling servitors that are lit by the green glow of the instrument panels they tend. Officers in the deep blue uniforms of Battlefleet Calixis pace between control lecterns, and the air is thick with incense and the muttered prayers of robed priests. Raised above all, on an armoured throne, the captain commands his ship."

"Welcome to the bridge servants of the Holy Ordos. I wanted to inform you in person about our progress towards exiting the warp into the Mara system and preparations for the approach to the planet."

"Progress and state of readiness is excellent and transition from the warp is expected to occur within no more than ten minutes."

At that he turns to his crew and orders that all sections be put on alert and that the weapons be readied for use. He also orders the guncutter assigned to transport the mission team to the surface be made ready for immediate launch.

The crews activity increases immediately as they prepare.