Rogue Trader: The Saga of the Demetrius Dynasty... (Inactive)

Game Master Alexander Kilcoyne

I'll assume you go ahead with that but you can retcon it if not.

As the Void Wolf begins to fly alongside the closest Ork Vessel, the dorsal guns turn to fire at the vessel. The first volley inflicts significant damage to the battered vessel, damaging the 'Big Teef' that function as a gellar field for the strange greenskins. The second volley does only superficial to the damage, but a lucky stray shot pierces the armour in a weak point and ends up exposing the void shield to space. Emergency bulkheads slam crudely into place but for now, the vessel's shields are down.

Will update with the ork's actions later tonight.

The closest Ork vessel makes a half-hearted attempt at retaliation with its dorsal guns, but with its sensors down the shots go woefully astray. The ork ship attempt to nurse its engines to greater efforts and put on a massive burst of speed without turning, apparently retreating from the combat.

1d100 ⇒ 97 Shooting (Fail)

1d100 ⇒ 93 Aid Machine Spirit Maneuv (Fail)

1d100 ⇒ 64 Flank Speed (Fail)

Big Red Button- 1d5 ⇒ 5

The other Ork vessel appears to still be game for a fight, turning early and smoothly pulling off a difficult maneuver to position itself directly in the path of the Void Wolf- and with a maneuver that surprised even Jerol, the Ork helmsman crashes his ship into the Void Wolf for a boarding action. The two ships become locked together, and crude Ork cutting tools begin to breach the hull, the warcries of Ork's ready to board the ship can be heard, reverberating throughout the ship...

1d100 ⇒ 21 Adjust Bearing (Successes)

1d100 ⇒ 51 Flank Speed (Fail)

1d100 ⇒ 12 Initiate Boarding Action (Success)

Ok- they have successfully began to board you. Please read the black box on page 215 (this is important) and elect one character to be in charge of repelling boarders (a command test at +10 opposed by the command test of the Ork leading the boarding action).

"Not good..." Havelock remarks as he removes his MIU connection.

"As long as we are stuck together like this, we will be unable to fire again, and if the other orc vessel realizes this, they may limp back to join the fight. They are running now, but orcs loves combat more than anything, they may change their minds..."

Havelock taps his chinplate.

"The crew are not used to this sort of combat yet, and even if we use the mercenaries, they will need someone to lead them, someone who is inspiring and fit for command. Who should we send lord Benetek?"

From the view form the dorsal guns, Praetia sees the ork ship lurch closer to the Void Wolf. She touches her Blessed Charm and utters a prayer to the Emperor as the missionary races below decks. Tapping her microbead, she hails Magdela, "Start the Ritual of Sanctuary and lock down the Shrine NOW! Arm the Repudiation modules to go off if the Shrine is breached. I'm going below to where the orks will probably try to board. Tell the Doctor to prepare to receive wounded and pray for our souls."

Whie sliding down a ladder between levels, she switches to Minerva's channel, "Minerva are you there? Where is the breach, I'm running blind here." She lands, hard, on the next level and waits for a reply. Not hearing anything for several moments, she hails the bridge, "Lion, is Minerva up there? Where is the breach? I'm on level 14, sector Beta7, I need..." She is cut off by a hard crash and the sound of claxons as the hull is breached by ork boarding tools. She mutters to herself, "Emperor's Blood, she won't make it... Lion, I think I hear them close to my position, I'm on my way. Have Minerva see to the evacuation of this sector and preprare for a counter-attack if the defenders fall. Send the mercs over here ASAP!"

Praetia made sure her chainsword was powered up and raced to the direction of the breach, grabbing able defenders as she ran...

I'll lead the defense (assuming I'll be able to with my abilities), but am at a loss mechanically since I don't have the book with me now. Of course, if I don't have any of the requisite abilities, I can retcon my suggestion.

No rush- it essentially comes down to an opposed Command check (which Praetia can do untrained), but i'll allow uses of skills such as Common Lore (War) to provide bonuses to the roll.

OK, here goes: Command Check [Fel 38, +10 Common Lore (war)=48] 1d100 ⇒ 32

The rest of you can make rolls to contribute and you can still take extended actions. If you don't fancy your chances Jerol can attempt to disengage from the boarding with a -20 piloting (Spacecraft) check; but if he attempts it and fails it gives Praetia a -20 to command checks. Also Praetia, I was going to have you roll for Common Lore (War) to get a +10 bonus, so we'll treat that 32 as your common lore war roll which is a success with degree for a +10 bonus. Now the command roll. Remember if you don't have it trained, your rolling under 1/2 fellowship, not full fellowship.

The rest of you can make rolls to contribute and you can still take extended actions. If you don't fancy your chances Jerol can attempt to disengage from the boarding with a -20 piloting (Spacecraft) check; but if he attempts it and fails it gives Praetia a -20 to command checks. Also Praetia, I was going to have you roll for Common Lore (War) to get a +10 bonus, so we'll treat that 32 as your common lore war roll which is a success with degree for a +10 bonus. Now the command roll. Remember if you don't have it trained, your rolling under 1/2 fellowship, not full fellowship.

Ok, sorry for the misunderstanding. Here's the actual roll: Fel 1/2 + 10 = 29 1d100 ⇒ 74

Reroll with a fate point 1d100 ⇒ 6 Two degrees of success!

Praetia assembles as many able defenders in the sector as possible and rushes headlong into the greenskin fray, her chinsword singing the Emperor's praises and spilling Xenos blood with reckless abandon. Memories of relentless defense drills on her home planet come unbidden as she reacts instinctively to stem the waves of attackers. The Void Wolf's defenders follow her lead and set up a steadfast defense against the ork horde, setting up crossing fields of fire and creating choke points at bulkheads.

Now we'll see how well the Ork commander rolls...

Bump

Sorry, both me and Jerol are in the final stages of university at the moment. I am delaying the ork's command roll until I know what Lion, Havelock and Jerol are up to. Theres plenty of time for IC discussion too.

Sorry, both me and Jerol are in the final stages of university at the moment. I am delaying the ork's command roll until I know what Lion, Havelock and Jerol are up to. Theres plenty of time for IC discussion too.

Understood. I read more in depth about the boarding actions, and it may come to pass that someone else may need to take control of the Command rolls if we start losing the fight, as my actions would need to be used to control morale and crew population.

Bump- Lion, Havelock, Jerol.

Sorry

Lion was tossed to the deck as the Orc ship smashed into the Wolf.

He rolled on his fat ass trying to regain his feet which was a struggle for someone so rotund. If the situation hadn't been so desperate it would have been comical.

"Curse you, Jerrol. I warned you to keep the distance from those prows. Damm Xenos drive like my Aunt. She never could find a light post that she didn't want to rub against."

Lion regained his feet with the aid of a pair of his navigators.

"Minerva, with me."

Lion turned to the Rogue Trader.

"If you would be so kind as to accompany us and help direct the troops, my Lord Rogue Trader. It would be greatly appreciated."

Common Lore (Imperial Navy) Int, free action to use to see if I can get a bonus on what to do. 1d100 ⇒ 64

Put Your Backs into It action using Intimidate with Fel to help Inspire/threaten the troops 1d100 ⇒ 63

Neither roll makes it so Lion adds no extra bonus to the fight. He will lead Minerva, his bodyguard and the Rogue Trader if he is willing to go with him to the Barracks and round up the mercenaries to protect the ship.

"I shall remain at the bridge, if we are forced to disengage, I want to be in a position to once more let the xeno fear our cannons."

I don't think Havelock has much to add right now, so either a shooting action if we disengage, or nothing this round.

Jerol curses, he has never seen an ork pull a maneuver like that, then again, he hadn't really seen many orks before. Now was the dilemma, fight off the boarders or disengage, fight them off here, and it would be easy to finish the ship off, but the second ship would get away. Disengage and he they would definately have the advantage, but if he failed to pull it off, they would be in a worse position than they were in now.

Right guys, I'm going to try and disengage, I think the orcs are a little too much for us to handle on our ship

This was a complex maneuver, it consisted of spinning the ship, so the orc ship used its thruster power to try and keep the correct angle between them, and then accelerating away as the pilot was distracted, if he was too obvious with his move, the orc pilot would notice this and keep power on the front thrusters, if he was too slow however, the orc pilot would have time to react. It had to be subtle, yet fast. Jerol set to work.

I'm doing a disengage action, I dont have the rules on this computer and since I have an exam tomorrow I dont really have time to look them up :p, so I'm just going to roll, sorry Ak.

1d100 ⇒ 2

Round 4 Summary-

Lion does his best to lead the troops alongside Minerva, but the Rogue Trader Thule Demetrius is nowhere to be seen- as far as you knew he was still enjoying wine in his chambers, trusting you to fight off the Xenos as some sort of test of ability. Praetia is just barely able to keep the Ork boarders at bay with swift deployment of troops with Garin and his men acting as an elite force to shore up defences in any particularily vulnerable areas- Praetia herself in the thickest of the fighting, chainsword swinging with righteous fury. The Orks are continually driven back by lasgun fire, but Praetia is not able to launch a counter attack so hard pressed. An audible sigh of relief passes through the ship as the final attack is repelled and Jerol smoothly disengages the two locked vessels.

The opposed command roll was a draw, so neither side did any real damage.

1d100 ⇒ 22 (Under 45, three successes)

Praetia, your ships turret rating also gives +10 to your roll so you ended up with three degrees.

Meanwhile, it appears the second Ork vessel has vanished into the void- you have lost track of it on your sensors as it sped away...

Havelock the boarding action kind of happens throughout the whole turn so no chance to fire in round 4.

Round 5-

Initiative Order-

Void Wolf
Ork Vessel

Map-
Link

Having sweated profusely in the defense of the ship, Lion puffing hard, hits the switch to the nearest vox box.

"All cannons ...<huffing noise>... fire and ...<huffing noise>... sink that Xeno bastard. Make it spill blood ...<huffing noise>... for the imperial blood shed this day. ...<huffing noise>... The House shall have vengeance ...<huffing noise>... and profit."

Put your backs into it for firing using intimidate 1d100 ⇒ 22

22 compared to Fel 56 is 3 degrees of success which allows Lion to aid in two Ballistics Tests. Lion will give +5 to the firing of each of the guns if fired separately and if fired together then he will give one +5 to the Ballistics and one +5 to any damage repair being done.

Bump :). I have more time to post now- and I imagine Jerol finishes uni soon too.

Jerol has finished :) also, do you need a run up to perform a ramming action? If so, shall we just sit here, and gun them down?

They need to move at least 1 VU to ram. Then again, you cannot reduce your speed to less than 1 VU anyway. If you were to reduce speed to 1 VU they would have to pull off the same speed adjustment to feasibly ram you.

Is it possible to fire right away, or do we need to move apart a little first? Space battle is new to me, but I imagine that the port cannon might not be able to reach the target from this angle.

Did we gain the movement speed of their ship from are augers? I looked at it and couldn't see it but im not sure if that was an unitentional omission or an intentional one. If we're faster (or can boost speed more), we could go straight ahead and turn at the end, so we would be infront of them but they couldnt get to us to ram us.

Havelock both of your guna are dorsal mounted- meaning they are mounted on the top of your ship and can be rotated to fire at any direction except directly behind you. You don't have any guns that are directly port or starboard. You can fire at any point during your turn, including right away.

Jerol, their full speed is 5 with a half speed of 2, before any actions to adjust speed. They can also move 1d5 void units faster if they don't turn by pushing their big red button. Its also worth mentioning that two of their three weapons are prow mounted and can only fire in a forward arc.

Havelock takes Lion's words to heart, or whatever it is that is currently pumping blood through his systems. For a moment he is distracted enough by the fact that he cannot even remember the name of that most vital organ.

With a sudden shake of his head he manages to focus once more, but he does plan on studying a little more about anatomy in the future.

Once more his conscious interfaces with the voids wolf, once more his tiny little body shudders as his mind seems to become one with the ship.

The shard cannons now instruments of Havelocks wrath, and through him also the wrath of the Omnisiah turns towards the orc ship, so close, so vulnerable.

"Fire Starboard cannon."

Starboard cannon attack (40 + 10 + 10 + 5): 1d100 ⇒ 7

4 successes, subtracting one for the orc ships field.
Damage: 3d10 + 6 ⇒ (2, 7, 8) + 6 = 23
Critical damage: 1d5 ⇒ 2

"Fire Port cannon."
Port cannon attack (40 + 10 + 10 + 5): 1d100 ⇒ 71
Reroll with final fate point: 1d100 ⇒ 31
3 Successes
Damage: 2d10 + 4 ⇒ (2, 1) + 4 = 7
Critical Damage: 1d5 ⇒ 1

Well, how about Damaging the "Big teef" and holing the void shield on this ship too?.

The two volleys slam into the Ork Vessel, the first far more telling than the second. The Ork's equivalent to a gellar field is damaged from the first punishing volley as tons of metal are torn asunder from the ship, and a lucky shot from the port cannon depressurises the void shields. Although still functional, the component is sealed by emergency bulkheads, killing a significant portion of the crew and damaging morale.

1d10 ⇒ 7 Additonal Crew Damage
1d5 ⇒ 4 Additional Morale Damage

Still need everyone elses actions.

Crud, it looks liek the board ate my post. I'll attempt to provide a bonus on our maneuver roll.

Put Your Backs into It (Maneuver) 1d100 ⇒ 7 Three degrees of success!

Bump.

FYI, I'll be out of town for the next few days without access to teh Interwebz. AK, feel free to roll on Praetia's behalf to add bonuses to fire, movement or whatever seems appropriate to move the turns along. Let's pulverize these ork scum!

Thanks for letting me know :). Will bot if necessary.

Sorry been in london for a week. Ok so 3 vu forward, 90 degree turn left and 4 vu forward. So just a test to turn early. Can I make a turn at the end as well? 90 degrees right if I can, if not don't worry.

Jerol decides it would be best to put a bit of distance between him and the orc ship, he didn't want to get rammed again, not with that prow.

1d100 ⇒ 78

Master of spacecraft reroll

1d100 ⇒ 94

Fate point
1d100 ⇒ 2

After a vicious volley co-ordinated by Havelock, Jerol manages a smooth, early turn while the crew recover from the brief boarding action and man their standard positions again. Jerol receives multiple pats on the shoulder by the command crew as they pass him. The Ork pilot, apparently not trusting himself to pull off the early turn himself, pilots the vessel at half speed and turns to line up the prow weaponry with the rear of the Void Wolf. The Void Wolf is locked onto by the dorsal gunz of the Ork ship and fired upon, and the prow macrocannons unleash a furious hail of shells- all of which trail behind the Void Wolf as it speeds through the void, the gunners having underestimated the ship's speed.

1d100 ⇒ 28 Put Backs Into It- success (+5 to dorsal gunz)

1d100 ⇒ 10 Aid Machine Spirit- success (+10 detection)

1d100 ⇒ 49 Lock on Target- success (+5 to dorsal gunz)

1d100 ⇒ 83 Prow weaponry (salvo)- miss

1d5 ⇒ 1 Random strength (dorsal)

1d100 ⇒ 68 Prow weaponry (salvo)- miss

Man these gunners can't roll for toffee. The other Ork ship has fled the battlefield, with cripples sensors, engines and a potential mutiny.

Round 6-

Initiative Order-

Void Wolf
Ork Vessel

Map-

Map Update

So, we're now ahead of the Ork Vessel with them behind us?

Well, that's not good for the guns but we need to watch out for them hitting the red button and trying to board us. What is everyone's thoughts?

Well can you do two turns in a round with a modifier? I think the orcs did it a few turns ago, come to new heading I think its called?

"This is the problem with battling xenos in general, and orcs in particular. Lacking the divine inspired wisdom of mankind, they do not see the hopelessness of their position, and will undoubtedly require yet another pointed lesson."

Havelock turns back to his monitor, the skin around his eyes crinkle again as he "smiles" with grim satisfaction.

"By the omnissiahs blessing, we have more than enough "wisdom" to penetrate even an orcs thick skull and illuminate their dull human fist sized brains."

"Where to brother Jerol? Whenever you are done manoeuvring, I shall unleash our wrath on the xeno fools"

Well can you do two turns in a round with a modifier? I think the orcs did it a few turns ago, come to new heading I think its called?

You can always look this stuff up on the pdf you know. Yeah its called come to new heading, its a -20 pilot roll to pull it off and all shooting that turn is done at a -20. At full speed you would move three, turn, move four, turn. At half speed you would move 1, turn, move 2, turn.

Bump- I believe Jerol is looking for input on his idea to do a come to new heading.

"No ship should engage in battle without a void shield or a gelar field. The other ship broke and retreated, if we can get one more good attack in, we should be able to drive of the second ship as well. But let us take no needless risks."

"They will be heading for us, if we can stay ahead of them, and turn one bit at the time until our cannons can bear again, we should be able to finish it."

I should note their void shield is depressurised; meaning the compartment controlling has been sealed off and has no air etc. Although they would have trouble getting inside to fix the void shield if it was damaged, its currently functional. That said, their ship is certainly showing a great deal of damage to hull integrity.

Ah yes yes yes, depressurised not destroyed. Fine engineer I am who can't tell the differance haha. Thanks for pointing that out, made a bit of an ass out of myself there.

Not to worry didn't understood the difference myself without reading the section in damage.

Ok, I'm back

Praetia tries to further inspire the gun crews with inspirational words and some thinly veiled threats.

Put Your Backs Into It! 1d100 ⇒ 57 No successes

The crew all aboard the ship are inspired by the Void Wolf's success thus far and rise to action!

Aid the Machine Spirit 1d100 ⇒ 30 No bonus

Lock on Target 1d100 ⇒ 21 No bonus

Despite everyone's best efforts, the skittish nature of the Void Wolf itself resists closing in for the kill on the ork ship.

Lock on target is scrutiny + detection, so you were rolling under 32. Thats +5 to either one of the guns.

Lock on target is scrutiny + detection, so you were rolling under 32. Thats +5 to either one of the guns.

Ok, I didn't know how the multiple stats worked with the incompetent crew. We'll add the bonus to the first shot

No problem. The crew is considered trained in every skill with a skill rating of 20. In cases of maneuver checks they add the ships maneuv and in cases of augur checks they add ships detection. Bumping for Jerol and Lion.

Sorry been rather busy

Jerol considered his options, whilst them being rammed again would not be a good idea, perhaps drawing them close so they could deliver another point blank volley into them would be a good idea? He decided to just loiter around, go for the simple maneuver, dont overcomplicate

Just half speed forwards then 90 degree turn to the left at the end of the move

Havelock and Lion left to act.

Havelock considers the options. The first orc ship bogged out of the fight at about this point, if but one more volley could land on the second ship, maybe even stubborn orcs would call it quits and give up?

The feeling of the guns slowly realigning and locking into place surged through Havelocks arms as he directed them from his remote spot in the bridge.

Port cannon (55): 1d100 ⇒ 2

Starboard cannon (50): 1d100 ⇒ 91

4 degrees of success with port cannon, miss with starboard cannon, and no fatepoints left.

Damage: 3d10 + 6 ⇒ (10, 7, 4) + 6 = 27
Critical damage: 1d5 ⇒ 5

Fire eh? The Augury are on fire!

Sorry for the delay guys. It appears that Smerg hasn't posted on these forums for some time. Hes an excellent player and I never thought it was likely that he'd drop off the forums so i'd like to give it some more time before we discuss what to do if hes gone for good. I suspect this ship combat will be over soon- fire on a ship is pretty horrific...