Willpower (50+10:60)
Perception (40+10:50)
"Very true, Arch-Militant. In my haste I neglected to account for a more peaceful solution."
<Missionary, report to deck Lima-Pi-6. Possible violent altercations in progress. Arch-Militant and I will meet you at the deck nexus.>
Willpower (38+10)
Cutter took to being more visible, especially on the lower, less lawful decks. He had taken to wearing his armor under the robes, and his beautifully-maintained shotgun with the wooden stock never strayed from him. The emperors mercy was well and good, but a visible reminder of his justice was never a bad thing, either.
He rarely had cause to discharge the weapon yet - just twice to gain the full attention of an unruly congregation. Yet he growing more concerned by the day. So, the Lord Captains call was something of an unpleasant surprise. "I will be there immediately."
He loaded his weapon, checked his robes and put his pendant visibly over them. They almost, but not quite concealed his armor - as it should be. He was ready.
He arrived at the nexus in a swift, though not hasty steps - and despite his eyes being bloodshot, he seemed in control of himself and his surroundings.
The Lord Captain and his companions cut a stark contrast to the environs of the lower decks. With a squad of House Guard, they are prepared for anything.
The Steward of the Level, one Mikel, his dirty and unkempt uniform matching the drudgery of the level, approaches.
"Milord, we were not expecting you else we would have prepared a more suitable reception."
A steam valve whistles, as if to hammer in the point.
Cutter eyed the man, not quite nailing him to the bulkhead, but leaving no doubt about his seriousness either. "I think we will receive the best reception of all - a truthful one." he reprimanded the Steward.
For a long moment he considered adding more probing questions - how the mans charge could be in unpresentable shape if its steward was living up to his duties, for example. He decided against it. For the moment, a confrontation would gain him nothing.
"Indeed. Some disturbing reports have alighted on my desk. Something about unnecessary violence amongst the crew."
Captain Havarro allows the heavily armed Missionary and Arch-Militant's presence to convey the unspoken part of his statement.
"Please illuminate me on this matter, Steward."
The steward pauses for a moment as he wipes his hands on his overall, making bright red stains. You realize that his hands are covered in blood.
"We shall illuminate you indeed... BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!!"
The once calm and meek face of the steward changes to an deranged berserker. Without a weapon, he presumes to attack you.
With such proximity, Rodriguez' hand can barely be followed as it smoothly pulls the stub-auto from its tactical holster at the warrior's thigh.
She thumbs it to semi-auto and squeezes the trigger as the red-dot sight traces a thin line across the man's knees. Three heavy thumps, as the silencer keeps matters discrete.
<Captain. Navigator.>
Epri's voice crackled softly over the vox transmission, her tone of voice sharper than usual. <We need to drop out of the warp. Now.>
"Smoothly handled, Rodriguez. No sense alerting any additional cultists of our approach. Shall we?"
Captain Havarro draws his power sword and steps aside, allowing the accompanying marines (or Rodriguez if she prefers) to take point.
"Let's clear out some cultists."
<Make it so Navigator.> "Brace for emergency warp translation, people! "
Cultists and now a warp emergency? What horrible luck, thinks Captain Havarro. His outward appearance remains calm and collected, however.
Your com beads transmit static. Then the blast doors slam shut. One of the House Guards with the Lord-Captain falls to the deck. An axe protruding from the back of his head. Steam mist rising from the vents increase. Then a disturbing chanting can be heard in the background in all directions.
"Blood for the Blood God, Skulls for the Skull Throne."
Out of the steam mist emerge the rest of the level's inhabitants: men, women and children covered in blood and gore.
This is like a bad dream... it doesn't make sense.
"I agree Rodriguez. Lets make sure that we're the ones to awaken from it, though."
<Make it so Navigator.> "Brace for emergency warp translation, people! "
Cultists and now a warp emergency? What horrible luck, thinks Captain Havarro. His outward appearance remains calm and collected, however.
On the Captains Comm "<Commencing calculations, Captain. We seem to have attracted the attention of something nasty.>"
Trying to ignore the blood red energy permeating the Warp around the ship, Es'trisi methodically runs through the calculations he needs to perform to safely remove the ship from the Warp. When satisfied he executes the translation
Over ship-wise comm "ALERT! ALERT! Emergency translation from Warp! "
Navigation(Warp)(int:36+10)
Agility (30)
Cutters attempt to administer some small litany against the vile heresy he had experienced here was cut short by the violent translation from the immaterium. Just by the barest of margins did he manage to not loose his footing.
"Heresy most foul. How could I not see this!" He thundered, his weapon darting from blood-stained corpse to the next - yet wherever he pointed his his weapon, he found only the work of the ruinous powers, not the perpetrators.
As expected, the sudden drop from the warp was violent, jarring, and thoroughly unpleasant. However, Epri had little trouble in keeping a steady footing as the ship dropped from the Immaterium. Good. Now to attend to the matters at hand.
69 vs 35 (failure)
Even with knowledge of the coming jolt, Jene found it extemely difficult to keep her footing, slamming into a wall.
Ensconsed in his tower, Es'trisi checks the status of the Warp travel systems, worried that they were damages in the emergency exit from in the Immaterium. Seeing that they display all green, he turn his attention to the other ship systems.
Seeing a number of personnel alerts in the lower decks, he shakes his head - some people just cannot resist the evil that can dwell within the Warp
He comms the Captain "<Navigation here, Real-space regained, all Warp systems in the green sir. >"
The ship hurtles out of the warp like a bat out of hell. The warning klaxons scream their warning. A portion of the hull is cracked but emergency systems activate soon thereafter preventing what could have been a very violent decompression episode.
In the engine room, the magos watch with a mixture of fascination and alarm as the machine spirit of the warp engine disappear from the apparent range of his perception. The ship's listing did not bother him in the least as his mechadentrites keep his balance.
The Navigator on the hand has first hand view of the planetary system that you have just entered.
Meanwhile in the lower decks, things have become interesting. The Arch Militant fell prone as the ship made its translation and the hordes of deranged cultists are moving in her direction.
"Marines, pick your targets, short volleys, fire at will!"
Directing the security team with words and his blade, the captain moves to assist Rodriguez up.
"These low-deck scum will not be the end of us, by The Throne!"
Rodriguez, unless the Lord-Captain is in immediate danger, let's the marines do their job. Ushering Pietro away from the front line, she seeks out a vid-screen.
Mr. Sait. Please confirm the authenticity of what I'm seeing. I'd rather not be neutralizing innocent children.
Captain, requesting permission to detonate demolition charge... Here, now.
"Do it. I'd rather see this deck exposed to the void than ferry Throne-damned cultists on my ship."
"You filthy heathens! How dare you sully my ship with your presence! Prepare to die!"
Captain Pietro drops into a battle stance, ready to cleave flesh and defend from the relatively crude weapons the throng of cultists wield.
"Rodriguez, make it happen. Marines, open fire!
Cutter heard Rodriguez' plea to find some pretext not to execute the obvious heretics. His own inquisitiveness was piqued - how could this have gone unnoticed. But at the same time, one mantra came to the forefront of his mind.
"Innocence proves nothing"
He discharged his weapon into the thickest concentration of heretics.
Rodriguez reached for something behind her back, most likely clipped there to her belt.
The marines form a cordon to get Jene out of immediate danger. Then they discharge their weapons. The massed profile presented by the cultists made aiming unnecessary and a substantial number fall to that first volley.
Sait blasts a ringleader, his head disappearing into pink mist.
The cultist then reach the marines' line and a melee ensues.
It will not be long before the cultists reach you....
Meanwhile in the warning klaxons continue to sound. But being in real space, the Navigator can now exit his chamber.
In the enginarium, Epri is asked by an orderly, "Can we still get back home?"
Epri waves a hand at the questioning figure, both as a symbol of dismissal and the impatient shooing of the unwanted inquiry. "Of course." Despite her sharp response, she did not feel quite as confident as she hoped she sounded. "Now, I have matters to attend to." With that, she moved in closer to the engines, her eyes narrowed as she cautiously inspected for any trace of the machine spirit within.
, 50 vs. 53 success (maybe bonuses due to not needing to aim?).
5 meter blast radius,
The demo charge lands into middle of the mass of cultists so when it detonated it took out most of them. But the blast radius also took out the marines.
Now you are left to face off against the remaining mangled horde.
Having completed his checklists of the Warp systems and disengaged himself from his hygeine assits, Es'trisi stands up from his chair and performs as quick series of exercises designed to limber up unused mucsles.
Finished, he walks to a console, popping vertebrae in his neck. Seeing that most system show green but that the personnel alerts were still in effect in the lower decks.
It was then that he realizes that there had been no updates from the Lord-Captain for some time.
Using the Captains Comm "Navigation to Captain. Status please. Do you require assistance?"
"Hold fast! No degenerate cultist will succeed over us today!"
<Helm! Navigation! Can anyone hear me?>
Frowning, Es'trisi dons his xeno-mesh armor jacket and weapons and descends his tower to the bridge. Knowing only too well the nature of the entity that was encountered in the Warp, he approaches the blast door to the bridge cautiously. As he does so, he intermittently tries the various comm channels .
Cutter pumped another round into his gun, and continued to fire. He kept his melee weapon by his side for the moment. "They most certainly will not. Purge the Heretic!"