The shattered pile of metal was, upon closer inspection, the ruined remnants of several suits of power armour. How many exactly was impossible to tell, as the attack had continued long after the owners had fallen. Most of there equipment had been destroyed in the mindless assault that followed too, although Vasyl was able to find a half-dozen bolter shells that hadn't been fired or destroyed.
"I sense corruption of the machine spirits here. We must cleanse whatever has infected this ship, for it stinks of tech-heresy and abomination."
Excellent. Bolt shells.
Vasyl slips the shells into the folds of his garments.
"Power armour and a few bolt shells. Whoever was fighting here was packing some serious firepower. Cleansing is going to be tough if they couldn't make it out in one piece. Assuming they all went down here, of course."
Erkan surveys the brutal battlefield, offering a blessing over the fallen. "The souls of the faithful are blessed in eternity, for He calls His hallowed warriors to stand beside Him at the Golden Throne. May your souls safely find their place at the side of the Emperor."
Looking at the piled suits of bloodied power armour, he replies to Vasyl's words. "This vessel belonged to the Adeptus Sororitas. Given the serious nature of the threat, some of the Sisters likely donned their sacred arms and armour to combat the threats of the Abyss. Hopefully some still stand resolute and can join us."
Erkan searches the end of the chamber closest to where they entered, to try and confirm the source of the blood trail back in the hallway, and if they should follow it. Calling to the others, "Someone check those two doorways for signs if any defenders fled through either of those doorways. If not, I think we should follow the trail back in the hallway."
The door to the right led a second chamber, similar to the first, with a statue of the sainted Sanguinus sitting guard over the dead of this chamber, his wings spread in protection.
The other led to more medical-like areas - where autopsies were performed. No smaller than the great resting place before, this area had seen combat too, with the remains of devastated medicae servitors and servo-skulls lying shattered in various places.
Unlike the first chamber, however, this one was not unpopulated. In the centre of the chamber a tall, eight-foot figure in the red robes of Mars was bound, each limb secured to a separate clamp, his mechadenrites and servo-arms bound as well. The figure turned as the Acolytes looked in, and spoke in a voice enhanced by the Machine Gods Blessings, "Armsman, attend! I am still wholecorrupted. You must freekill me." The words were confusing for a moment, as parts of the sentence had two phrases - spoken at exactly the same time.
Upon hearing the augmented voice(s), Vasyl reacts by raising his Armageddon and taking careful aim from about ten metres away.
Take no chances.
"You heard the man, he's corrupted. Everyone, get ready to take your shots."
Erkan slides his shotlas into its scabbard on his pack, untethering his longlas as he hurries back across the first chamber toward the autopsy-suite. "Magos Bahrenfahrer, given the creature we fought and the picts we have seen, I would agree with Vasyl's assumption. That said, this is one of your brethren, can you identify anything conclusive before we destroy it?"
Preatus pulls out a stiletto, "I can give this one a clean death"
Lothar takes a full round to aim at the tech priests head. "A swift death followed by purifying flames."
The priest of Mars eyed you all with an unreadable expression behind his augmetics. "Dodon't do it."
Heironymous considers the situation, cogitators whirring as data flows through his neural circuits.
Omnissiah forgive me.
Heironymous hefts his assault-las, aims, and simply says,
"Destroy it."
Bang.
And Vasyl squeezes the trigger.
Trying for a heart shot, the round manages to rip through robes, while missing any flesh or metal in the priest himself.
Lothar's gun spews forth lasbolts that each connect with the flesh and metal of the corrupted man.
The tech-priest, unable to move, was torn apart with the scream of breaking metal and feedback. The red robes they wore were shreaded, revealing each limb was the colour of bronze and slowly spreading into the augmetics on his torso, like it was growing. One arm came away with a ripping noise as the fullisade tore into the point where it joined, leaving blackened...something behind.
Slumping after the assault, dripping fluids, the Tech-Priest didn't move. A screen to one side of the room flickered into life, however.
Lothar keeps his gun trained on the shattered blackened corpse in but turns his head to view the screen.
Vasyl also looks at the screen, but his rifle doesn't yet move from pointing at the deceased tech-priest.
Probably want to hack that up too.
The screen flickers for as moment before the augmented face of the Tech-Priest appears. "If this message is playing it means my life functions have ceased. May the Blessings of the Omnissiah be upon those who ended my existence. I have been irredeemably corrupted by the taint of Chaos, and must be purified if I am to ever ascend into the Omnissiah's further mystery. I recommend disasembling and burning my remains."
"Yet the information I have cannot die with me, and you must take the burden of delivering it to the Imperial Inquisition. During our last stop off in real space to acquire supplies we located a distress beacon, and brought what appeared to be soldiers of the Imperium with one of my brothers. Upon jumping to the Warp it became clear they were agents of Chaos, as they attempted to access the secondary Gellar Field Generator. Fearing they had already manipulated the Primary Generator somehow we dropped out of the Warp, for safety, as the Sisters upon this vessel girded for battle."
The recording stops for long enough that you start to wonder if it has glitched, but then continues, "In hindsight it is clear that this is what they wanted. As we returned to Real Space and the Primary Generator shut down, the Secondary activated." Although the face of the Tech-Priest lacked the ability to express itself, it was clear that the figure was horrified. "For a time period of 479 seconds what can only be described as an Anti-Gellar Field, a stable bubble of the Warp in real space. The Primary was shut down. We had no defence against the daemons."
They shook there head. "In the end, we did not shut it down. It failed on its own. By that points a breach had been established on the primary medical deck, within the prosthetic production facilities. Thankfully this seems to have been the only thing tainted, as much as the rest of the ship had been recently blessed. Unfortunately, the corrupted augmetics quickly spread to the injured soldiers, turning them against the rest of the crew. I, myself, was caught in the battle for the Enginerium, as they replaced my own blessed upgrades. But due to my upgrades I was able to resist, for a time, and was brought here for treatment. Unfortunately, I do not believe the remaining crew will hold much longer, and my will wears thin. Thus do I record this message, and entrust it to you in the hopes that those who did this can be stopped."
As the message plays, Vasyl listens while already searching for a local dataslate to copy the vid.
Well. Scrag.
Once it is played out, he looks at the vid's time-stamp.
The video was from approximately four days ago.
"Techpriest Bahrenfahrer given the contents of the video and your augmented nature I would suggest you be particularly vigilant about contact with materials such as augmetics. The warp might try to turn your bionics against you."
"Yeah, it'd be a shame to have to shoot you. Bionics make one tough."
I don't want my allies going down for no good reason.
"It would seem we have learned the source of the affliction aboard this ship. Now, we must find what remains of the crew, rescue those who remain devoted servants of the Emperor, and eliminate those who have been consumed by this corruption. If we can purge this taint, this hallowed vessel may yet be able to serve His will."
"Then lets find the crew that haven't been turned into killing machines or groxmeat."
"Once the immediate threats are dealt with and we make our report the Inquisitor will be better positioned to determine how long will be needed to purify this place using more esoteric means."
The voxbead crackled for a moment as Volga reported, "We're approaching the central chapel. The doors are barred but we think we can cut through. No signs of combat at the main doors."
Kapenia added, "We're sealed some of the non-essential entries into the command deck. As far as we can find we control the only entrance left. We can still hear movement, and our vox operator swears he can hear something."
Erkan keys his microbead in response, "Volga, if there are no signs of combat there, then allies may have secured themselves within. Have you tried to make contact with anyone there? Kapenia, remain vigilant for surprise attacks. The threats we face seem to be an accursed cross between man and machine."
Turning to the others, "Shall we press on to the Enginarium, or redirect toward the Chapel?"
"I would think the Enginarium but it is not an easy choice I'll admit."
"We should continue to the Engineerium. Given the nature of the corruption aboard this vessel, finding any of my brethren who remain untainted must be our top priority."
"We must secure the ships core, can you direct me on the swiftest course there?"
"Let's push it to the engines."
"Confirmed. We'll see if we can get in. Without the meltagel to start." The line clicked off.
A quick consult of the dataslate shows two potential ways onwards - returning and following in Volga's footsteps before passing the chapel, or taking a more direct route through the rest of the medical decks that would be faster, but you don't have any information on.
"I say we go direct. Time is a factor here. The longer we wait, the worse the opposition gets."
"Safe" routes can't be trusted.
"Agreed Mr Zima, time is of the essence. We should go directly."
Erkan eyes the techpriest cautiously. "I am in agreement with pushing toward the Enginarium with all haste, but I caution your thoughts Magos. Our highest priority is to investigate, contain, and eliminate any threat upon this vessel. We would be wise to be cautious with all survivors encountered, whether they be crewmen, sisters of the adeptus sororitas, or servants of Mars. That last techpriest's greatest work was leaving us the information about what has transpired, followed quickly by asking us to end the corruption upon his form. Now, the Emperor protects, so make sure you are ready for another conflict as we move."
The most direct path to the Enginarium took you through the wards of patient care and into the rehabilitation area. The wards were dark, quiet. The beds were often in a state of disarray, sometimes upturned to make barricades, sometimes simply...empty.
As you progressed to a long section of corridor through the rehab area, you spot something strange. One of the passages seems to be completely blocked some distance away. Unlike most of the barricades you've seen it blocks from floor to ceiling.
It is not, however, the path you need to take.
Heironymous give the priest a flat stare.
"I am well aware of our mission parameters Brother Erkan."
...
Upon coming to the door, Hieronymous pauses. "Hold a moment. This door appears different to the others. It may hold further answers, or perhaps survivors."
Lothars calls out the prayer of camraderie and entry to see if there is a response. "Sworn guardsman of the God Emperor approaching, don't shoot me or I'll give you a thrashing." Of course conducting the appropriate gestures... Lothar approaches and bangs the flat of his fist against the barricade.
Vasyl thumbs the trigger guard of his Armageddon, clearly ready to open fire at a moment's notice.
Emperor damned paranoid frackers.
The strange barricade becomes clearer as you approach. It is, in fact, made up of arms. Brass prosthetic arms, similar to those of the machine you fought. A rough estimate would suggest there are dozens on the surface alone, let alone deeper into the corridor.
One begins to twitch.
Quietly, Vasyl says to the others:
"Move. Away. Now."
Lothar pauses when the barricade's nature becomes apparent. He raises his lasgun and keeps the exterminator attachment leveled ath the mount of bodies. "That is a lot of targets and one is moving. I think we should ready frag grenades, several at once in these close confined with them all bunched up should do be a serious threat to them if they attack. I've got my exterminator to help cleanse the enemies."
"Two possibilities come to mind. Either they are near dead or in a suspended state but at least one is twitching. Everyone get the grenades ready, if they push towards us in a group throw them when they get to about ten meters. Techpriest Bahrenfarer I would suggest you keep your gun out, if we decide to test their response you discharge your weapon. We'll be ready for any hostile response." Better to get a plan in place quickly... then they could decide if investigating was the right approach.
"Agreed. I am not keen to repeat my recent experience."
Hieronymous raises his weapon, readying it to fire if s@&$ goes south.
As the party observed, the limb that had moved fell and began to move towards them with alarming speed. As did another. And another.
Suddenly, like a dam bursting its banks, the wave of metal flowed towards the Acolytes. Metal clicked against the deck, the walls and even the ceiling, the ship's own structure groaned as the wave moved down the corridor, wall and deck plating buckling under the weight.
Frack! They're too fast. We'd lose half the team, easy. Time to fight.
Vasyl pulls out a frag grenade, clearly getting ready to throw.
Heironymous sprays the hallway with las-fire, walking backwards as he does so.
[ooc]Can't remember the modifier's right now, sorry![/dice]
Heironymous sprays the hallway with las-fire, walking backwards as he does so.
Erkan had been studying the horror of the wall of arms and offering a warding prayer as he begins to withdraw... only to realize two of his companions seem to have embraced the fatalistic and idiotic plan to fight the hundreds of daemon-spawned appendages.
"Magos Bahrenfahrer, you declared we needed to get to the Enginarium, that that was of the utmost importance. And Corporal Von Bismarck, you are a man of duty - how can we accomplish our mission if we are overwhelmed by this horde of mindless arms. The Emperor counsels wisdom... now, fall back!"
As he began to move, he called out, "Grenades will help create a gap for us, so use them!"
Good leader, him. It looks like I was aligning with him too.
Vasyl lobs his grenade and begins to withdraw .
"It is called a tactical retreat, as opposed to a rout, Brother Vaughan!" Heironymous spits back as he continues to pull back down the hallway.