With the cultist threat eliminated and the foreman under interrogation, Zimm examines her blade, the miner's blood speckled there. Taking out a odd square of white material, she blots out a few drops of blood from her blade, the crimson liquid drying immediately.
Then as she cleans the rest of the blood from the blade, she trots down the tunnel to retrieve her arrow from the miner she killed.
She picks up the arrow and gently presses the arrow head against the same white cloth, where the blood immediately dries. She then wipes the remaining blood from the arrow, returning it to her quiver.
She casually walks back to where the interrogation was taking place, keeping an eye out for more miners...
Caius put his shield on his back then reared up and stomped down on the man's exposed stomach with his full weight.
"You were asked a question. Answer it."
His look had become something akin to shock at Havelock's words, an expression only reinforced by Caius's heavy boot crashing into his gut. Through weeps and sobs, he twistedly replies. "Your suspicions?! How could you know anything of the Purifier's plan?! He is the radiant one, and would not see fit to share his intents with such lowly deviants as you. From his gifts will be born countless souls, something you cannot even comprehend."
As the foreman's words finish, the vox unit on his hip crackles with static. "Kaerd, is it done?"
At that sound, Julien concentrates hard.
It would be unwise to allow him to speak.
Zimm listens to the heretic prattle on, but recalls her lessons on the Other, in case he mentions anything worthwhile...
Ptah closes his eyes as he sets his subneural cogitators to work, retrieving mnemonically sealed information on what the man might’ve been referencing.
Caius swiftly snatches off the vox and hands it to Yelisaveta, saying "Convince him to come down here." Caius then forced open the foreman's mouth and shoved the barrel of his stubber into it. He then nods at Yelisaveta.
"Perhaps a male voice might make the deception more believable?"
The lady does seem rather skilled at deception, perhaps she is skilled with voices as well?
Manacled, beaten bloody, and broken, the foreman on the ground begins to spasm violently as Julien stares intently at him. Even as he does, Caius forces the barrel of his heavy stub pistol into the mouth of the man, preparing to deliver judgment.
Ptah scans through the annals of his data records, but finds little referring to the details mentioned by Kaerd.
Though titles such as "the Purifier" were common in the false faiths of ancient Terra, it does not trigger any contemporary details or memory. You know many of the false gods and demons of the warp like to pose as beings of enlightenment or salvation, even as they damn their servants' souls. Indeed, they often embody the antithesis of what they claim to deliver.
Raising an eyebrow at the Arbite, Yelisaveta takes the voxbead. "And a lascannon would be useful, but I can't make one up on the spot.", she retorts, before pushing it to her ear. A whisper should be hard to detect... accent is not that difficult to mimic... But a long shot regardless. Clearing her throat, she begins speaking in a faint voice, that of someone not long for this world. "...is done. Our deaths were a part of the Plan. Remember us as His gifts are made manifest..." Clicking the bead off, she spits on the ground. "Ugh. The words we must speak." Tapping her lips as she glares at the foreman once more, she continues. "Now. Speak more of this creature you call the Purifier. What do they purify?"
At the sight of the foreman secured, Julien relaxes slightly.
Hmmm, we seem to be working somewhat at cross purposes here.
It is important that we pull together as a team, or we may suffer censure.
Tapping the side of his rifle for a moment as a way to help him focus his thoughts, Havelock then does his best to hide in the shadows, while still covering the approach.
Caius removed his pistol and said "Answer the lady's question."
The foreman emptily chuckles, "He cleanses the souls of those worthy, so they can serve him, and absolves the unworthy of the need of their lives. For you, wretched arbite, it will surely be the latter. You will all be consumed on his righteous pyre." with a sickly laugh he coughs up more blood.
After several long moments of silence on the vox, it crackles once again, "Kaerd... is dead then? Well, you surprise me, whomever you are. Do enjoy your visit to our facility. You will not be leaving."
"Clearly, you have strayed far from the light of the Emperor. Brother Balthazar?" Caius asked, clearly waiting for the priest to weigh in on the man's soul before executing him.
Ptah reaches out a hand, "Caius, stay your hand, if you would. I present an alternative to execution. A part of the path of the Magos involves servitor conversion, a field in which I have little training. Take him prisoner, and when possible, I will make use of him."
"Either way, we will not learn the details of this heresy by standing here."
Nalthos looked at the man after being silent for some time. "When you saw my nature wretch you seemed impressed, does this thing gift these 'worthy' with mutation or allow such twists within the ranks of it's servants?"
"You'll beg for mercy, and I'll laugh, svolotch.", the annoyed, furious voice of Yelisaveta answers the commbead, before she stomps on it on the ground. Turning towards the captive, she angrily taps her pockets to produce a lho-stick and lights it up. "We'll see who's working the pyre." Reaching behind her back to pull out her shotgun, she tilts her head towards the priests and Arbites. "There's enough bodies for servitors that you'll get your chance later. I'd rather not have a prisoner to worry about. Ptah, can you get the elevator working? I'd rather have our pilot with us than outside with these heretics. Afterwards, we'll figure out how best to carve this...", she purses her lips. "out."
"Would not a heretical man make a heretical servitor?"
"Focus, please..."
The voice of Havelock retained its normal deadpan quality, making it difficult to discern if it was a mild rebuke or an expression of irritation.
Either way, he kept his steady vigil, covering the approach with his long las.
The foreman responds to the twisted guardsman, his words seem to grow in fervor as he progresses. "The Purifier, or one of his ilk, has no doubt given you these gifts. They have stripped away the false mask of humanity so that you can ascend to your true potential. Join us, cast of these heathens, become what you were meant to be."
Balthazar looks to the arbite, his hefty autogun still at the ready, "This blasphemer has fallen far from the Emperor's grace, and in his self-professed heresy, has selected his own judgment - purification through death. Fitting, given the claims of his 'master'." He nods towards Caius' pistol.
As your company debates his fate, the foreman seems to lose the fervor that had previously gripped him and he begins to whimper, feebly trying to claw his way back toward the door to the service room at the side of the tunnel, but with Caius, Naltos and Balthazar all looming over, he has little chance to escape.
Julien maintains a vigil, as best he can, while making sure that it is the military-size magazine that he has in his Talon.
Nalthos shakes his head, the man was deluded and wished to choose corruption- embraced it even. "Techpriest there will be others if you go that route. Keeping him alive one way or another puts us all at risk. You might find this path of the Magos hard to tread if you're dead."
Ptah nods, "A compelling point. Go ahead with execution then. He has outlived his usefulness."
Pulling back the hammer in his heavy stub revolver and putting the barrel to the foreman's head, Caius begins to speak: "As you have turned away from the light of the Throne of Man; As you have sworn your allegiance to Humanity's enemy; and as you have spit in the face of the sacrifice of your ancestors and those who have come before you, I pronounce you heretic and traitor to both your people. I declare your sentence to be death, to be carried out immediately."
Caius then pulled the trigger.
Standing, he reloaded his revolver then said "So now what?"
"Now we decide our overall goal. Do we retreat to the shuttle and report our findings?
Do we penetrate deeper into the heretics lair and strike at the heart?
Do we hide and wait for a chance?
Do we split up and have one unit draw attention and fire while the other move on?"
"First and foremost, we need to exit this trap, they know where we are, and they have the knowledge of the area.
Never fight on our enemy's terms."
"There is an active Heresy here. I do not believe that such a thing should go unpunished."
"We shouldn't withdraw until either we have crippled this heresy - or confirmed that we will need support to do so. However, we should also attempt to get word out to Imperial forces, in case we are overrun. I would call that a secondary objective."
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Standing in the dim light, blood and organic matter pouring from the crater that was the side of the foreman's head, you all take stock of the situation.
* Six corpses litter the tunnel, the five miners and their recently executed foreman, none from your company.
* The mining trolley is badly twisted and dislodged from it's track, partially blocking the door the foreman had been trying to escape within.
* The truck is pushed forward against the tunnel access doors, but could at least potentially be serviceable.
* The tunnel access door is likely controlled in the room the foreman had been trying to enter.
* The tunnel back leads to the lift, which you saw operated from up above, though whether any controls exist on this level is a mystery.
* At the top of the lift their had been multiple personnel working in several capacities.
"Let's go take a look at where the foreman was going to run to. I would imagine that he was trying to get backup from others in his heresy circle, or whatever they want to call it. We should hopefully get some sort of answer there."
"We could double check the bodies, particularly the foreman prior to leaving this area. There might be an access ward or key that might expedite our movement through this place. So far they have shown only small arms, since we are not in a position to as easily maintain a discrete cover now that blood has been spilled perhaps I should be the one breaching doorways, as his shot displayed I'm more resistant to such due to equipment and other less savoury factors."
"Though I lack sufficient physical strength to move the trolley, I may be able to assist in technical matters. The truck could be repurposed, hitched up to the trolley to pull it out of the way."
Julien rummages through the pockets and folds of the foreman's corpse as the others speak.
Without turning from his task, the pale man adds:
"We should certainly check the area where this one was running to."
While the others search the bodies, Caius goes about making sure that none of the miners were still alive. He then reloads his revolver and asks "Did you find anything useful?"
Julien combs through the pockets and flaps of the foreman's garb. Under the left side of his coat you find an empty holster, where he had previously stashed the pistol he tried to turn on Naltos and which now likely lays somewhere near the door he was trying to enter. Below it hangs another clip for the missing firearm. In a front pocket on his jacket are a pack of lho sticks and an igniter, along with a flask of some foul smelling spirit Finally, in his left pant pocket there is a dented but functional access card.
Naltos moves among the fallen miners but finds little of use on their bodies. They are muscular men, in simple coveralls and had each been carrying a mining tool repurposed as a weapon.
As Caius walks the tunnel taking stock of the fallen miners, he finds two of the brutes still moving slightly, and quickly dispatches them with his heavy pistol. Reloading it, he walks up to the door the foreman had been standing before. On the ground is the foreman's stub pistol. Hanging from the lock on the door are a set of keys still wedged in the lock mechanism.
Ptah moves forward to the truck, taking stock of the damage. The rear axle on the driver's side is partially bent from the trolley's impact, which Ptah carefully considers his options for getting the truck back operational.
Naltos gives the tech priest time to finish up, he waits at the door. When the others are ready he will turn the key and look into the room, using it as cover just in case an enemy lies within.
Julien holds the access card up:
"This could be useful. I shall pop it into my robe, in case anyone needs it later and I am unconcious."
Havelock observes the foreman's articles for a moment, then he retrieves the flask and begins to cut strips out of the foreman's clothes.
It is crude, but a small incendiary device, as so called "firebomb" could be useful at some point...
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Ptah crouches, studying the damage. Small gyrostabilizers in his cyber-mantle allow him to slide under the machine, "Blasted heretic engines. The machine spirit is wounded, it's bones of sacred steel broken. I will do what I can, however."
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Julien stows the access card away, hoping that the dented and bent metal will be useful at a future time.
Havelock slides the fabric shreds into the end of the flask, then pockets the igniter, waiting for the time to use his makeshift firebomb . Though the magazine is thinner than him, apparently for a slightly smaller pistol, the rounds within look as though they match the pistol he carries just fine.
After a couple minutes underneath the rear of the truck, from which mechanical sounds can be heard, Ptah climbs out and dusts off his appendages, bearing what you think might pass for a grin on the techpriest's face. With his mechadendrites and the help of Naltos and Caius, he is able to free the truck from its partial impalement by the ore trolley. Stepping to the driver's seat, he toggles the controls and the engine strongly revs up.
Satisfied that the techpriest has completed his work, Naltos turns the key and opens the door, his lasgun at the ready. The chamber beyond is small, perhaps no more than 4 meters in length or width. Adjacent to the door is the smoked window that looks out into the corridor. Two chairs sit between several cogitator terminals and devices that deserve inquiry, and the wall running back from the door has a rack holding two shotguns, a bulky lascarbine, and a few metal rods with rubberized grips. But of primary note is the metal canister mounted on the wall next to the window, bearing a large green triangle with a skull and crossed bones emblazoned within it. Two tubes run down from in to some kind of pump with a lever, from which two more tubes run to small holes in the window, where nozzles extend into the tunnel.
As he observes the drum, Havelock's eyes narrow.
"Insidious..." He mutters with a slight inflection of disdain.
"Any resources we deny our enemy is one they cannot use against us later."
"I'd rather wait for Ptah's judgement on what to destroy and what to use.", Yelisaveta replies curtly, taking the lascarbine's magazine and any others that she finds, stashing them into her bag. The noblewoman's been quiet and on edge since the encounter, mostly remaining on watch and ready to shoot at anything unfamiliar. "I'd wager that this reaches into the tunnel to gas anything that approaches. Which may include us, were we to go through it."
As the truck kicks up, she moves forwards to sit in the driver's seat. "I'm driving. Did you find any idea to which part of this hellhole we're going next?"
Looking into the room with the others, Caius says "Anyone who does not now have at least a shotgun needs to secure one."
Julien eyes the marked canister warily.
"Ptah, can you disable that trap? Or use it against the enemy?"
Nodding to Caius, Julien replies:
"I shall take a shotgun then."
He then moves towards a shotgun.
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Ptah’s eyes light up, figuratively at least, when he sees the cogitators, ”Information. As it says in Logos 5.91.12, ’Blessed is the work of the cogitator, for the hallowed machine spirit expresses itself most purely.’ I will disarm the trap ahead. My lungs are girded by steel that I might survive the holy miasmas of the forge worlds.”
Ptah motions for the party to move back as he reaches into the room with his mechadendrite. This device, it seemed, was shockingly similar to standard Mechanicus censers. It was a simple matter of cutting a few wires, jamming a valve, and removing the feed tube.
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Taking up the other shotgun, Havelock inspects it for a moment.
"Standard pattern, twin barrel, breach loader. Serial number has been filed off, and the barrels have been modified, adding an additional four centimeters.
Naturally that is illegal but, There is just a tiny inflection of humor in his voice as he continues, seeing as we are dealing with confirmed heretics, those additional charges seems...superfluous."
After several moments studying the apparatus, Ptah quickly goes to work on the gas-based trap, shutting flow valves from the tank, disconnecting much of the dispersal system, then finally removing the tank from it's mounting on the wall. In his hands remains the tank, with a simple nozzle system attached for future use.
Yelisaveta takes the twin charge packs mounted in the lascarbine, as was as a sling with two more than had been hanging from it on the rack. The weapon is of an unfamiliar design, with an oversized housing and extra cooling coils down the beginning of the barrel.
Havelock handles a dusty, old shotgun that he had found in the corner, though the two shotguns on the rack appear to be of the ubiquitous
Pump style made at forges throughout the Imperium. The twin-barreled shotgun's presence is curious, given the clear access to superior firearms. A personal item perhaps?
The three metal rods upon inspection appear to be scaled down versions of shock staves that would normally be used to prop along livestock or prisoners. Lacking the mass of a shock maul, they nevertheless could be useful as both a baton and suppression tool.
Slinging the trust old shotgun over his shoulder, Havelock moves on to examine the las carbine.
"Interesting, this gun might bear further examination further down the line, when we are not conducting an investigation of course."
Moving on to the rack of shotguns, Havelock picks up the one not already claimed by Julien and begins examining that one as well.
Of course, the fact that he is dressed as a scribe, and moves about with a detached air of someone not seemingly particularly bothered by the situation, and now absolutely bristling with guns creates a somewhat surreal scene.
One that he himself does not seem to acknowledge.