Rakavet looked down at the strange thing below.
"I am not sure I want to know what could have ribs like those."
The cadre gets closer to inspect what is protruding from the rocks, the excavation seemingly incomplete, but sections have been removed from what you can tell. Powerful cutting tools remain, though not of standard STC design for those who can recognize the difference. Obvious heresy to those familiar with the Mechanicus.
There is no other exit and you see only the body of a tech-adapt, or atleast what remains of one one the ground. As you look and venture further you get an strange feeling like you aren't alone.
Roll AG or be surprised, if you have a talent that aids you vs surprise, then it's +10. Everyone roll initiative.
2dos
"We aren't alone! INCOMING!"
Moving with surprising swiftness, Rakavet dodged to one side, preparing the huge weapon he carried with a swift motion.
The sister nods quickly at the adept's shout, her two revolvers shooting up with blinding speed. "Take formation!", she shouts, pointing in two directions.
The cadre hears and sees nothing until its nearly too late. Gaius, Sister Federica, and surprisingly Rakavet roll out of the way in time, leaving Phineus and Ludicus clueless as a hulking snake like monstrosity literally appears out of no where above, dropping down in the midst of your combat formation and taking strikes at those closest to him.
The huge mechanical beast seems to effortlessly and silently float while a strange haze surrounds it, clouding your vision and confusing auspex that register nothing in its location. It has multiple arms with razor sharp claws and a tail that curls up and strikes with lightning speed shooting out whip coils as it flies towards you.
Marleno, being the slowest to react and closest is attacked by the creatures whip coils, as it attempts snare you and immobilize you.
Whip Coils (1d10+10 I; Pen 0; Flexible, Snare)
Impact Dmg. (Flexible can' t be parried.)
Success
Phineus takes the brunt of the creatures power and focus as it swings his multiple arms at you with frightening speed and agility.
Claws (1d10+12 R; Pen 4, Razor Sharp)
Success
Success
Right leg:
Rending, Pen 4
Body:
Rending, Pen 4
Initiative after his surprise round:
Initiative Order:
Phineus 21
Sister Federica 19
Marleno 14
Gaius 8
Rakavet 12 (you didn't add combat formation, but I'm gonna say it applies to you and you'll go before the enemy.)
Canoptek Wraith 12
You all get to go first, then the enemy.
"For the Bloody Rose!", Sister Federica shouts as she opens fire in the massive torso of the beast.
6DOS.
2DOS.
Total Hits:
17, Pen 7
14, Pen 7
17, Pen 7
17, Pen 7
The two revolvers roar in the darkness, and the sound and light of metal striking against metal shines on the Adepta's bloody-red armor. "For the Emperor!", she rallies the others in a battlecry.
The creature is hit by the first two shots from the Sister, while not significant, they do some damage. The last two shots pass harmlessly through the creature, as if its body is shifting in and out of reality, making it difficult to hit and its attacks deadly.
"In his name..."
Ludicus intones as warp energy gathers around his hand, he then points the palm at the creature and storm of force at the monstrosity.
Phineus rolls out of the way with preternatural grace. Bringing up his pistol, he squeezes off several rapid shots at the creature.
Rakavet titled his head. "You are condemned as an Abomination and the Darkest of Tech-Heresy in the eyes of the Machine God. Maybe ever your parts rust."
Force Bolts:
Some of the bolts pass through and connect with the creatures body, but do no harm as the energy just dissipates against its hard machine shell.
Exitus Pistol:
Faeyd's first and last shot make it through damaging it further, but it doesn't slow down or falter.
Multi-laser:
It isn't until the multi-lasers shots nearly all pass through that the creature truely takes notice, though seemingly to late as the energy overwhelms it and it stutters before collapsing, grave generators failing, a loud thump on the ground as the hulking mechanical monstrosity lies motionless on the ground.
Dodge Failed
However, before the cadre can move to do much the body disappears in a green hazy flash, leaving no trace of its existence behind.
"Our enemy taunts us with enemies as insubstantial as their own blackened souls...
Yet this figment may still have guarded something of value."
Phineas reloads his pistol quietly and keeps his scanners looking for more enemies.
Rakavet glanced down at the vaguely glowing tips of the heavy weapon and smiled beneath his helmet. "Abomination."
Sister Federica stares at the place where the monstrosity was. "The Emperor has granted us victory in this fight, but the next is yet to start. Proceed as we were.", she commands, sheathing her pistols. I should've brought the storm bolter...
She gestures to Ludicus. "That was a spectacular display, Master Marleno... I've never fought side by side with a psyker that impressive...", giving the man a nod, and continuing to take point. "Senior Adept, have you heard of such... things before? What are they, and what else could we expect. I fear this is not only the work of Chaos, but something more..."
"It was...adequate, if one live long enough to become a master, one learns to put "fetters" on ones powers, to eliminate the risk of...side effects.
Should I truly push myself, that display would pale in comparison."
While the words might hint at confidence, the tone display no arrogance, nor even confidence, merely facts.
Nevertheless he respectfully indicates his head head to the battle sister, as a sign of appreciation for her praise.
What ever attacked the Cadre could easily return and the victory is short lived for now. What will the cadre decide to do? Loiter around and search or fall back to safety?
Conceal:
#1 DOS 2: You see the faint outlines of a shifting pattern in the ceiling above you.
#2 DOS 1: You see the faint outlines of another shifting being behind you all in the wall.
3DOS + You catch a glimmer of their true outline and shape, knowing they are large and similarly shaped to the creature you just faced.
Two rolls, DOS reveals what's in spoiler.
His thirst for knowledge, leads Gaius to become a spectator rather than a participant in the fight with the mysterious monstrosity, drawn to its remarkable abilities. However this 'spectator' role puts Gaius in a good position to see the new threats.
2dos
" Two more somethings incoming, one in the ceiling and one behind us"
"Unfortunately Sister, I know nothing of these creatures."
One test for each, 2 successful rolls with enough DOS in spoiler.
Phineus keeps his eyes open for more creatures, whispering into his comms, Another above us.
As he speaks, he fades into the background and takes aim.
Gaius and Phineus notice a peculiar change in patterns above them on the ceiling but they vanish before much can be done. Regardless, Phineus conceals himself and finds cover, leaving the rest of the cadre as bait.
No one has yet to notice the second.
Rakavet aimed the huge weapon up, grav genirators humming to a higher pitch as he did, in the hopes of spotting something before it could move. He could see...something. "I can rake the area in fire while we withdraw," he commed to the others.
The sister appears deep in thought as the information is revealed. "Surround the Adept. Protect him from the intruders.", she says, turning towards Marleno and Rakavet. Pulling her pistols, she moves next to Gaius.
Rakavet nodded, weapon trained on the shimmering creatures, and moved to block them with his bulky form.
I do not intend to be caught unprepared a second time...
You sometimes notice a shimmer in you line of view but it appears and disappears before you can even aim a shot. Whatever it is, it makes no hostile moves for the moment. You feel as though you're being watched, but to what end you can only guess.
Conceal (opposed test)
Awareness test to see them more often, but only makes it a little more frightful, as if they are goading you or trying to intimidate you. For one moment they appear long enough for you to get a shot off.
The body of the tech-priest:
"We must search the adept if we are to find out what they were doing here"
Darting out from the others Gaius searches the body of the tech-priest, but the shimmerings distract him and he finds very little.
Search finds the dataslate. 3dos is gun
"I have the tech-adept's dataslate, let us pull back from this room."
"I can't find anything, but there must be a clue here somewhere"
Phineus holds his fire and waits patiently.
The sister takes a quick glance through rifling the body, but her attention is once again drawn by the shimmering enemies. "Keep watch!", she says, beginning to turn around and look for foes.
As Gaius is moving back from the body, one of the 2 servo skulls that still circle his head, provides him with an image that draws his attention. Stepping back with renewed purpose he grabs the tech-priest's data slate, a look of triumph on his face.
'Ah ha, a clue. Now let me see if I can get this working. Hmm well the screen doesn't seem to be working, but if I connect this cable here I can redirect the feed to my dataslate. Right then here we go"
4dos
Doing a more familiar task, Gaius' focus returns and he quickly gets the dataslate working.
I hope this contains a clue, for otherwise i know not the next step
Phineus continues to cover the others from his vantage point. He remains eerily still.
Rakavet glanced over at the slate, but kept his weapon up instead.
"The enemies of man are shall all fall in the end, the emperor decrees it so."
The sister studies the surroundings with the light of the auspexes within her helmet. "Proceed through the cave. If the enemy comes, we'll meet him while moving. Senior Adept, you can read and walk at the same time, yes?", she says, taking point into going further in the cavern. "I believe they are simply waiting for reinforcements. It would be most wise to proceed."
Starting to venture deeper, she mutters a prayer to the God-Emperor as she scans the space for any defenders.
"I shall guard the senior adept while we proceed, allowing him to focus on the task at hand."
Phineus follows the others, covering them as they move.
Moving, is his only response.
Red robe fluttering, Rakavet continued his rear guard.
Gaius plugs into the data-slate and attempts to access what he can, but it has some low-level encryption and will take some time and effort to bypass it, though you are confident you will be able to with some time and another cogitator device.
If you want to take the time now and try to use a data-slate or MIU to interface and decrypt it, then you'll need about 5 minutes or so and 2 tech tests, with >3DOS.
Here you find some records of what they had been digging around and doing. You get some names and locations of people and some codes beside each, probably a cypher of some sorts. There are a few locations market of interest on a map which was accessed most recently. (More info to be provided if you're interested in certain parts, to be provided with detail later.)
There don't seem to be any enemies appearing, but you can feel certain they are their watching you. Not taking their bait earlier and firing on them when you had the chance seems to have confused them and they've been less aggressive towards the cadre. Still, what will the cadre do next?
"Right so I can power this up, but it will take me time to get through the encryptions and this isn't the place to be doing that unless desperately needed. There seems very little left to discover here, although it might be useful to get a sample of the adept's DNA and see if he is in any of the planet's databases. I feel we may have exhausted this lead and now need to analyse the information we have gathered. For after all we do not know what we are actually facing. Perhaps with access to the Inquisitor's knowledge and libraries, we may be able to find out more. I suggest we fall back, get the Inquisitor to put guards in place on this spire and look at the other leads we had."