Some will say that this story began when Horus and the Emporer with four arms warred win the heavens and broke the sky.
Others will say that it began when Saint Arnette drove the traitor and Heretics into the Skyfall to suffer the Emporer wraith for all time.
But for you it began with a voice echoing through the Scavanger guild hall "Skyfall sighted. All available squads assemble in the main forum"
A lean man of average height steps into the room, trying not to look too warily at his surroundings from chilly blue eyes among facial tattoos that were one part camoflague and one part tribal markings. Unevenly hacked brown hair might be compared to "chestnut" on a world that had such things or knew of them.
His clothing, such as it is, consists of patches of material roughly sewn or wired together. His tech-pieces are of far superior make and condition.
He looks around him, trying to look more gregarious than aloof for once.
"We're up. About time."
Val and Duncan sit off to the side at most times, not that it did anything to hide Duncan even in the hall.
Val was a small scrappy waif of a girl, one couldn't quite call her a woman, brown of hair and wearing the markings of a tunnel crawler ready to squeeze into the tight corners of wreckage and ruin.
Duncan dwarfed his friend, twice her height and five times her weight, bald and dull and ready to carry whatever was expected of him. A placid giant who smiled at every thing that caught his simple attention, but dependable and dogged when given a task equal to his limited comprehension.
Davien stood at a moderate height, he was a bit lanky, but seemed surprisingly sturdy despite that. His long jet black hair tied at the back. He had a bit of a bored expression on his face and had a long, slightly tattered, red and black long coat over his armor. His green eyes lazy glanced towards Notch.
Yeah, I'm bored. But heading out is such a hassle too. He said in a slightly conflicted voice as he scratched at the back of his head.
Solar, a more muscled man and broad man stood close behind him. His sandy blonde hair was cut short. There was a duty bound determination shimmering in his blue eyes. He merely glanced towards Davien with a mildly disappointed look.
Jak stalks into the forum wiping the last of the oil from his hands with a shop cloth. He had once been an average looking man until he was gifted with the sacred Engine-Arm and the Cranial Machine. Now the mighty Arm rose above his left shoulder, its huge manipulator jaw twitching now and then as it responded to his own half-formed thoughts. The electoo-pathways etched into his skull by the cranial machine glint in the light and seem to shimmer a bit even in the shade.
Trailing him is a redheaded man almost pale enough to be a ghost. Mord taps Jak on the shoulder and gestures, and the two angle slightly and come to a stop near the others, "Morning, gents. Morning, Val. I for one will be glad to get out there."
Duncan wipes a wet string of mucus from his eye and trundles over to the coalescing group, ignoring the people scrabbling to stay out of his path. He comes up short and begins to scratch at his arm with meaty fingers.
"We go now?" He smiles blissfully at the idea of leaving the noise of the crowded forum.
Another ragged-looking, and slighter, man with a mop of dark brown hair and blue eyes jogs in and takes his place near Notch.
"Sorry I'm late, Notch, lost track of time-"
Notch cuts across him.
"Piotr, not the time. Look sharp."
The one called Piotr goes quiet.
The one called Notch turns to the others, taking in their replies and responses.
As you walk towards the main forum, mingling with the othe squads, you pass through a long iron hall lined with status, the hall of heros.
Certain statues jump out at you: Isabella with her whisper rifle, Gant in his Atomic armour and Vin on his Thunder bike.
The hall ends and you spill out into main forum, where above you, on a pulpit, stands a a stern faced man with three long scars raking across his face, Domonic Dominastrum, rank: Scavenger Lord.
Not one to mince words he launches into his speech:
"Hail Scavengers. Today the Skybreak enters into it's active phase and we begin our hunting season.
For those of you that are new, that each day new Skyfalls will be posted each morning on the boards outside the main forum along with a risk rating. Both the Seer council and the Engine Sages have predicted that this season will be more highly active so there'll be plenty to go around.
After you have selected you mission go to the Armoury to receive your weapons and the Stables for your mounts. When you return you will be graded by the palace envoys.
For our veterans, you already know how this works why are you still standing here"
There are three Skyfalls posted:
1. A Skyfall was spotted to the south of the city away from the Skybreak. As this is an agricultural area the risk rating Green
2. A Skyfall was spotted on the leeward on the of the Chathon Tips to the north-west of the city. As the mountain boarder the Skybreak the risk rating is Yellow
3. A Skyfall was spotted just past the windward side of the Chathon Tips. As this mean entering the Skybreak, either by climbing the Tips or finding a pass the risk rating is Orange
Krevlor slinks into the back of the meeting throwing annoyed looks at an embarassed woman. Krevlor was worried about what threats they'd come across on this latest expedition and the last thing he had needed was Diane to knock over his medicae kit and spilling it's contents all over the floor. Honestly she should know better than to be so careless by now.
Krevlor was a little thickset, his blonde hair sprinkled with strands of grey. His eyes darted about taking in the details.
I suggest we take the yellow one. Seems easy enough, with enough potential for reward to make the hassle almost worth it.
he states in a rather monotone voice while scratching his neck.
Besides, the green one sounds way too boring. he adds with a shrug.
Time to show what I'm made of.
"I say orange. We'll be able to bring back word on the state of the Skybreak. Not to mention salvage."
"I would also agree with orange or yellow."
"Orange is purty. Red purtier. Dunc like red mo."
"In this case, Dunc, orange makes more ouches than yellow."
As the group goes to collect their mounts, a small wiry man rushes over to you.
"Oy you lot, the Master Armourer wants ye to have this" he says, gruffly thrusting an auspex into the hands of the nearest member
:Jak Sunnajak
"Also heard ye was going to the Skybreak, a bally move I'll tell ya that. One word of advice, I'd be sure to stock up afor ya go, the Master Armourer can be a hard ass but he looks out for the new ones".
"Maybe we can get some more pieces of armour or rations... having to patch people up a bit less would be nice." Krevlor muses as he get his kit back in order. He swats away Diane's hand before she ruins everything... again!
some extra stuff wouldn't hurt. You guys are even crazier than I am haha. Any idea's on something we may need?
He asks crossing his arms over his chest.
"I'll see what I can get my hands on... We don't want to go upsetting the bosses like by asking for too much. Anyone with any sense is going to be worried about Dunc with that big gun of his. How about we try to get some proper armour for him? When we're out we keep an eye out for beasties we can kill for food and bits to make some leather out of to keep us going?"
A little while later Krevlor comes back and shakes his head. "No luck I have to admit this time."
As you ride out of the city, quickly passing through the stone wall of the nobility and the squat wooden slums that ring the city, the ring of calamity glitters ominously over head.
Your Ants carry you swiftly through the fields and stone walls of the countryside without incident and by nightfall you are at the foot of the mountains.
There is a Scavenger campsite called Serenity not far from you.
It would make a good place to spend the night.
"Serenity is not too far from here. Scav camp. This way."
"Good thinking. They might have a few injured I can help out... for some barter of course. Or bits that need repairing. A few bits of hide might be useful, some bit of protection for the arms and legs if we can work it."
With Notch's guidance your able to quickly find the campsite. It consists of a few wooden huts ringed by sharpened wooden stakes.
It looks empty.
Notch's eyes narrow with suspicion at the lack of visible scavengers.
"Looks empty. Watch out for ambush."
He does his best to move him and his mount forward quietly, waving on Piotr and the others.
Krevlors eyes scanned the area. "They could been run off. I hope not but if they were we should scrounge for anything useful."
The camp is completely empty (apart from Notch stumbling around).
You find is about a weeks worth of dried rations and 5 spare hunting lances, likely left behind from last session.
On one of the doors you find claw marks and animal track around the camp, some of them only a day old
Duncan happily stretches out on the ground and pulls out a dried chunk of meat. "Dis nice place. Why no un her?"
Yeah sure. Though they may just all be out and about today.
when the claw marks are pointed out he frowns.
or... maybe dragged away?
Jak follows the others into the camp, looking around warily. "Should not there be others here or is not this a manned camp?"
You don't notice any signs of combat or human tracks of any kind.
Since the active season has just began it's likely that you are the first group in several months to visit this site
As you examine the campsite the sun dips below the horizon and the sky begins to grow dark. The Ants begin snuffling at the ground, clearly eager to rest for the night
The claw marks are from Terror cats. They are a nocturnal predator s that's local to this region
"Dunc thunk non' her fer while. Prolly cuz non' cum out when is quiet times. Is gud, dunc sleep her yes. Go when awake." Duncan seems to be especially pleased with himself and his ability to reason out the situation.
Mildly amazed that the Ogryn came to the proper conclusion, Jak examines the claw marks, "You are correct Dunc, we are almost certainly the first Scavengers here this season. I cannot tell what made these claw marks, however. Whatever it was, perhaps we should be alert for it while we are here."
Jak cocks an eye at the darkening horizon before speaking to the squad as a whole, "Perhaps we should set a watch for the night?"
"We should set a watch every night. Sticking about here... it's a defendable position and hopefully whatever happened here is just a mystery. Let's sleep on it and consider in the morning if we should try seeing if there is a trail."
Jak nods in agreement with Krevlor, "I will construct early warning and detection devices that will assist those standing watch to detect intruders." As the others begin to settle into the evening camp routine, Jak goes out about 5 meters outside the perimeter and constructs his early detection alarms.
"You're talking sense, Dunc included. Jak, fancy a hand with the alarms? They can be temperamental."
Notch sets to work, seemingly quite familiar with alarm systems.
"Certainly. Is not a burden shared made that much lighter?" As they work, Jak finds himself taking direction from Notch more often than not, and catalogs away all the tricks that Notch demonstrates.
At the mention of burden, Dunc lurches to his feet, salutes and barks out, "What you need me carry sarg'?"
Jak looks blankly at Dunc for a moment before responding, "A metaphor, Dunc. Not a real burden for hands."
As the light fades, Jak and Notch string a wire and some cans around the camp, using the natural terrain to hide it.
With that you quickly decide on watch rotation and go to sleep.
Half way through Duncan's watch there's a loud crash that wakes everyone and Duncan see's 4 Hulking eight legged cat's at the edge of the campsite, racing towards you
Order:
1.Jak
2.Notch
3.Duncan
4.Krevlor
5.Cats
6.Davien
Duncan looks out upon the animals and shouts at the top of his lungs, "Purty fur butts, I keep dem!!!"
Delay action. Grapple the first one to come to him.
Notch snaps to attention, laspistol swiftly in his hands.
"Gun them down, one at a time!", he yells, firing a shot directly at the nearest beast.
Jolted out of his regenerative subroutines Jak surges smoothly to his feet assisted by the powerful servo-arm, lasgun coming to a ready position easily. He steps outside the small structure in which they had been sleeping. Settling the weapons sighting post on the lead creature, Jak calmly squeezes off a shot.
Krevlor draws his pistol and tries to shoot at the same beast as Jak while trying to use the structure of the hut as cover.
The Comrade lines up with the Player Character and fires upon his target. The Player Character gains an additional +5 to all Ballistics Skill Tests this Turn.
The force of your combined attacks knocks the closest Cat down and it catches fire.
The other charge the group, their eight legs carrying them swiftly across the ground, landing hits on Duncan, Jak and Piotr (Notch's comrade). Duncan is successfully able to grab on after it slashes his arm.
Notch draws his steel and steps into combat, slashing at the cat threatening Piotr.
With no melee weapon in hand, Jak attempts to dodge aside from the charging cat's claws...
Davien sneers, finally, an excuse to have some fun.
He then focuses warp energy around him and launches at the animals,
Notch tries to yank Piotr out of the way of the huge cat claws.
Krevlor continues firing with his laspistol, snapping off a shot hitting the cat in it's head! ...burning a little fur...
to body and one fatigue level.
Duncan continues to hold his new kitty, squeezing it hard in order to show that he was the new kitty owner. "My purty fuzzy fuzzy, I call you Val."