Campaign Diary: The best laid plans of Xenos and Men (Session 31 + 32 [Update Dec 20]) - Campaign Complete

[Raith 13]

For all those who came in late…

Hello once again faithful of the God-Emperor. For those of you unfamiliar with my way this is a Campaign Diary, a log to help keep the activities of my weekly Dark Heresy game straight as well as some entertainment for others. This Campaign is a continuation of an larger Grand Campaign that began two years ago. Part one was called “What doesn’t kill you…” and part two was called “That which is made stronger” both campaigns can be found if you have a hunt through the forums.

Unlike most campaigns there is a fairly large change-over between each campaign in terms of players. This year I have three returning players, Jaleth, who has been there from the beginning and Magnus and Atellus who joined last year. And I currently have two new players and maybe some more who will be introduced later.

Feel free to ask any questions of comment on what’s happening. Hopefully I will update this log after each session. I hope this diary may provide some inspiration/entertainment for others and if any of the ideas I mention sound cool let me know and I will endeavour to explain them further.
The beginning of this year’s adventure is marked with a short prologue the details of which are posted in the following entry. I have split this first post into several parts as it contains a bit of information and you might need to read it over time.

Oh and please forgive and spelling and punctuation errors!

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Name of the Campaign: The best laid plans of Xenos and Men.
Time Period: 815.M41 to 816.M41
Starting Rank: 5/6
Ending Rank: 7/8
Duration: 32 Sessions (Concluded)

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The Returning Cast:

Jaleth – Agri-world Assassin (Death Adept) – A trained sniper and gunslinger, this pale skinned, dark haired assassin has survived the explosion of a hive, attacks by Zombies, a falling starship and combat with a Xeno-Tech Monstrosity and now a Zombie Apocalypse. His eyes were destroyed by a Xenos plasma weapon and were replaced at Thrakis's urging with good cybernetic upgrades with a number of modifications.

Magnus Hax-Amus – Noble Cleric (Cleric of the Red Redemption) – Born to the nobility of Scintilla and the sectors ruling house as well as being a secret member of the Red Redemption makes from an extremely eclectic and powerfully dangerous member of the Ecclesiarchy. Cousin to Lord Commander Octavius Amus-Hax of the Battlefleet Calixis. Following an attempted assassination involving a poison needler in a servo-skull Magnus is seeking vengeance most likely upon house Hiram-Hax for the loss of his eyes. The cleric also lost an arm to a Xenos weapon and is currently finding himself strangely affected by the remnants of a xeno-engineered narcotic that refuses to be purified from his blood.

Atellus – Forge World Adept (Scholar) – Average height and weight but with a scrawny appearance Atellus is very young for his vaunted position among the Administratum but has an incredibly agile mind and a particular skill with Imperial Legends and Administratum procedures. No intelligence based task is too hard for this Adept to puzzle out though he seems to have a desire to learn the secrets of things best left alone.

Cain “Corker” – Hive-World Reclimator (Rogue) – Dirty clothing does little to bulk out a wiry frame, the Scum has enough tech skills to outshine a Priest of the Machine God.  Despite his time as an Acolyte Cain still acts much like one whose life is nothing beneath the heel of the Imperiums titanic bureaucracy.

Ruby – Void Born Psyker (Scholar Medicae) -Having spent a few years on different assignments Ruby has been reassigned to the Cell investigating Twilight and Alfredo Telarquin whom she was a part off previously. Too thin and too pale, her hair is white and so is her skin though she uses glaring make-up in an attempt to look normal, thoug it makes her look like a concubine more than anything. Ruby has developed her mental skills though she has still refrained from using them.

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New Recruits:

Syrion Silvertongue – Darkholder, Sanctioned Psyker (Schola Medicae) – Perhaps not the most aptly named man, Silvertongue is difficult to like and has problems being sociable, he is plagued by unidentifiable nightmares from his childhood and disastrous years on a cursed starship.  Syrion is thin almost skeletal with albino like white skin and hair.  The brand of sanctioning is prominent on his forehead but even the Telepathica are uncertain what lies in the deepest parts of his heavily shielded mind.

Ketris– Void-Born Sanctioned Psyker (Schola Warrant) – Driven completely hairless from his sanctioning Ketris is almost as thin as Syrion and even more corpse0like in complexion, despite this his features are difficult to clearly remember.  Ketris has served time as a Legatine Investigator using his telepathic gifts to succeed when more traditional methods of intelligence gathering have failed.

Six "Jacqui Axa" – Hive Born Moritat (Assassin) – "Jacqui Axa" is the name that the assassin Six goes by, born on a frontier world and taken to Fencks World as a child to grow and begin learning the killing methods of the Moritat amid that hives vile and dangerous depths, "Jacqui" is a swift melee specialist.

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Extras:

INQUISITOR THRAKIS – Thrakis is a huge man, easily eight foot tall with a massively muscled body and features that one could believe a Greek god would own. His powerful body suggests that of a Space Marine or one gifted by the genetic sciences of the Emperor but on the subject the Inquisitor is unwilling to speak. With piercing blue eyes and a sombre tone of voice Thrakis presents himself as a distant man, preferring to wield his acolytes through the ministrations of trusted aides.

THORR – One of the Inquisitors trusted inner circle Thorr was once a member of the Imperial Guard. Despite his rough exterior Thorr has a dry wit and a comradely sense of duty and is willing to talk to those under his watch not just issue them orders. Thorr lost both his natural arms in the field of battle years ago and they were each replaced with twinned augmetic units, these four cyber-arms allow the ex-soldier to tote around a massive lascannon as if it was a simple rifle. He has also been known to carry four plasma pistols into situations where a destructive armour piercing weapon of doom is unwarranted.

AIMEE – The coldest of the Inquisitor’s aides, Aimee is believed to be a one of several related people in the Inquisitors employ. The young woman has distinctive silver hair and eyes and has never been seen without a data-slate, a pair of wire-frame glasses and a disdainful look on her features. While there has been no direct proof it is suspected that Aimee may be a psyker.

SHAIREL – While she never introduced herself and for a long time was though to be simply Aimee in a slinkier outfit Shairel is another of Thrakis’s inner circle. Always dressed in a bright red synth-skin bodysuit with her lower face concealed behind a mask, this young woman supports the same silver hair and eye colour as Aimee while being skilled in the arts of infiltration and assassination. Despite a quiet reserve she has been somewhat friendlier than Aimee.

MIRALÉ– Another of the women with silver hair and eyes that works for Thrakis, Miralé seems to be a highly skilled assassin or at least an expert with knives that has not done anything to dissuade acolytes from believing all these woman are the one and the same.  Miralé is somewhat sociable, she talks in a quiet voice with an tone and accent that is as heartbreaking as her looks.  Rumours and a few eye-witness accounts suggest she may be Psychic to some degree.

GENEVIE – Rounding out the quartet of silver haired women in the Inquisitors employ is Genevie the matron of a high-society escort and entertainment enclave on the ring-station surrounding Arctus IV. Unlike Aimee, Miralé and Shairel, Genevie has pale green eyes. Genevie runs an information network that stretched beyond Arctus to several of the key worlds in the Calixis Sector all under the guise of entertainment for the wealthy. While maintaining communications with Thrakis’s various assets and those of the wider Imperium.

MARCHOSIS XERXES – An (Possibly the only) Interrogator in the employ of Thrakis.  Marchosis has a strange accent as if he is always sneering or hinting at a private joke.  The accent also seems to turn anything he says into an question.  He is a lithe man who constantly looks a little unshaven, his hair is kept short, occasionally in a buzz-cut but most often its is unkempt looking chaotic in length.  The Interrogator usually wears a light armoured bodyglove and a floor length trench coat equipped with chameleoinic systems.  His preferred weapon is a six foot long staff of dark metal that functions like a power-maul, he also carried a boltpistol of amazing craftsmanship as well a variety of other miniaturized equipment.  Marchosis's has a strange sense of humour that leads him most often to sarcastic comments.  Marchosis seems to hold a flame for Miralé another of Thrakis's inner circle.

OCTAVIUS GAND-AMUS – A Lord Commander within the Battlefleet Calixis, Octavius is also a cousin of Magnus Hax-Amus. First encountered on Scintilla during the Acolytes investigation into the drug “Twilight” Octavius has since been requisitioned by Thrakis to help deliver his Acolytes across the sector having the Lrod Commander assigned to a detached command. Though not a part of the Inquisitors retinue the Lord Commander is aware of the Acolytes master and their position and has in occasion been granted extraordinary powers on behalf of the group and Thrakis

The Xenos:

Unidentified Xeno-tech

Several times Inquisitor Thrakis’ acolytes have run into an unknown and dangerous enemy assumed to be Xenos in design. These beings appear to be mechanical in nature there form a mockery of a human torso. Each Xeno-tech monstrosity has two “normal sized mechanical arms that end in four fingered grasping hands. In addition their have four greater limbs that are attached to their backs, these limbs usually contain weapons, mostly in matched pairs. The limbs are capable of reaching of the Xeno-techs shoulders but can also fold themselves into a compact form which can be hidden beneath a robe to some success.

The torso of the Xeno-tech is held off the ground by unknown means it lacks any legs and has a cylindrical tube for a head, dominated by a large sensor “eye”. Several variants of the Xeno-tech have been encountered. Most are equipped with a pair of power-field sheathed blades on the upper limbs and a pair of deadly plasma beam weapons on the lower-back arms. Some are simply equipped with all four greater limbs ending in blades while one seemed much more advanced the four blades not being directly connected to the body but instead able to hover about and attack up to some considerable range.

Unidentified Xeno-bug

Originally encountered on Scramus 2-15 this bug seems to be able to take control of a person’s neural system and turn their host into a mindless Zombie like creature. The possessed suffer from no pain and lesser injuries barely slow them. The bug positions itself upon the forehead of its host and a shot to this location will put them down quickly.

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Previously...

310.812.M41: The planet Scramus 2-15 a mid-level industrial and shrine world suddenly erupts in rebellion as hundred of millions of inhabitants suddenly become zombie-like beings seemingly under the control of small bug like organisms which attach themselves to the forehead and radically bolster the strength and toughness of those afflicted. The uprising taxes the world’s resources and units of the Imperial Guard are called in the pacification takes six months.

209.813.M41: Inquisitor Thrakis, having arrived on Scramus 2-15 and made an initial evaluation of the world and the situation calls in several promising recruits. These future acolytes are immediately put to the test to investigate several areas of possible import amid the world’s sewer network. The Acolytes are issued their orders and descend into darkness where they encounter several of the Zombie-like citizens of Scramus 2-15. They also uncover what appears to be some sort of laboratory or research facility hidden behind complex holo-screens powered by an obviously Xenos Energy device.
By the time the Acolytes return to the surface, fighting has erupted once again and the group is forced to battle their way back to the Inquisitors command post to report.

242.813.M41: Information gathered from cogitation units found in the abandoned facility leads the Acolytes to Arctus IV, a specialized Hive World dominated by a large orbital ring and a single hive on an otherwise Jungle planet. Arriving incognito the Acolytes begin their investigations of a local Manufacturing House called Hedron-Strein one of the planets leading noble houses. Impersonating Adeptus Administratum personnel the Acolytes attempt to uncover evidence that Hedron-Strein has connection to Scramus through their shipping records. Fearing for their safety the Acolytes dispatched two of their number to secure assistance from the local Adeptus Arbites while the rest continued to hunt through the houses records.
The Investigation is derailed as the group is captured. A strange rescue that appears to be a cover-up allows the Acolytes to battle their way to freedom but not before someone decides to trigger the Hedron-Strein facilities Viral Containment systems which detonates a massive chunk of the planet-side Hive.

In the aftermath the Acolytes determine a possible connection between the events on Scramus and Arctus in a ship called the Humanities Path, a combination Pilgrim/Transport vessel.

284.813.M41: Arriving in the Sepheris System the Acolytes use hastily built protocols to insinuate themselves as Sector-Custom officials. They quarantine the Humanities Path and board her with a heavily armed escort to make a search of her storage decks.

The Hunt proves maddeningly insubstantial, while illicit materials are found they do not match a strange device located on Arctus apparently manufactured as an injection device for a drug. As the search wears on the Acolytes suddenly find a large group of men watching over servitors removing cargo from a hidden compartment. These men led by a well dressed individual accompanied by two others swathed in concealing cloaks are alerted to the Acolytes presence and battle ensues. While the apparent ring-leaders beat a hasty retreat one of the cloaked figures is revealed to be a strange hovering machine equipped with blades and plasma weaponry but built in an unknown design.

The Xenos-creation stalls the Acolytes long enough for its companions to detonate explosives in the starships engineerium which cripple the vessels ability to hold orbit. As the Acolytes retreat to the safety of several commandeered Aquila transports the pilgrim ship slips from its orbit and falls into the atmosphere of Sepheris Secundus before exploding and destroying all but a few hastily gathered pieces of evidence.

350.813.M41: With little notice Inquisitor Thrakis gathered many of his Acolytes together and charged them with high-treason sentencing them to a penal facility. The Sentence and punishment were designed to test the abilities of the Acolytes for further use and to see if they would continue to fight for the Emperor even in the midst of apparent betrayal and abandonment. The Acolytes that survived ended up being instrumental in assisting Inquisitor Thrakis in bringing to bear some of the Imperium greatest warriors against one of its most insidious threats.

360.813.M41: After some recuperation Thrakis assigned his acolytes to a new investigation, a drug called Twilight was making the rounds of the sectors elite, normally it would not be an issue but the drug was apparently being delivered using a device similar in design as the one charred remanent recovered from the Humanities Path before its demise.

The group infiltrated the high society of Scintilla’s, Hive Sebillus where they attempted to insinuate themselves with a part of the drug smuggling operation, hoping an offer to tae the drug beyond the limits of Scintilla would be an offer to good to refuse. Delicate negotiations with a man identified as Alfredo Telarquin and Aldren Hedron were spoiled when a Inquisitor called Miriam Velasques interrupted the meeting taking the Acolytes captive as their contacts used a Teleportation device to flee.

62.814.M41: Freed from the misdirected Inquisitoral investigation the Acoltyes were briefed that information recovered from earlier investigations and leads they had uncovered had lead to a planet called Palind being of some import as a supply deport for the Imperial Guard.

The Acolytes time in the depot went from bad to worse as they discovered survivors involved in a horrible experiment, the armoury almost being detonated in their face and some of the missing staff r barricading themselves inside the control centre. A fierce fire fight broke out but the Acolytes gained the control area to face a Xeno-tech creature disguised as a Tech-priest. The creature was destroyed by Sister Aenid of the Adepta Sororitas but not before severely injuring Jaleth and Magnus.

261.814.M41: A request for help from an old acquaintance of the Inquisitors sent the Acolytes to Maccabeus Quintis. A mysterious virus has taken hold in the cities upper-class and nobility devastating a large portion of the shrine-hive. A foray into a quarantine zone almost cost the group dearly as they ran into gangers taking advantage of the chaos. In the zone the group confirmed that the virus seemed to have appeared within the Nobility at first.

Further investigation led them back into the Quarantined area and to an Astropathic enclave where they encountered people possessed like those from Scramus 2-15 but without any visible signs of Xenos-bug. At the pinnacle of the Astropath spire they found one of the buildings psychics strapped to a crucifix and being filled with strange chemicals. Destroying the prisoner seemed to trigger a full uprising and millions of missing inhabitants from the Quarantine Area flooded into the rest of the city overwhelming the guard crews and instigating a massive city wide riot.

The riot was quelled when a joint operation between the Acolytes and several squads of Sister of Battle tracked the riots beginning to a base within the cities storm-water system. There they encountered hundreds of possessed people some showing signs of Xenos creatures other not. At the head of the riot were several men, among them Aldren Strein. They also had a pair of Xeno-tech allies who were battling against another pair of the Xenos creations. In the Chaos the group managed to put down the resistance and even take several prisoners.

To be continued...

[Raith 13]

As in previous years the Campaign begins with an introduction, this time it involves the Deathwatrch (No I don’t have access to the book, the marines used are based off Agamar and other peoples thoughts).

When I was designing this year’s prologue I created 20 marines each from a different chapter, the chapter was the only information presented to the players, they then made a blind selection from that information on who they would choose. The Marines were designed using rules, skill and talents from both Dark Heresy and Rogue Trader.

All twenty marines are deployed but the initial five selected by the players are…

The Cast of the Prologue

Brother-Sergeant Wemios of the Blood Angels

Wemios is in control, or so he thinks, he was promoted to a leadership position for outstanding duty and fury in combat. However much of his fury comes at a cost as he is prone to entering berserk rages which have been lasting longer and longer as time goes on. He hopes that he can fully serve his time in the Deathwatch without succumbing to the Black Rage lest the Inquisition learn to much about his affliction and turn their gaze upon his chapter.

Brother Khiron of the Imperial Fists

Khiron, like many of his chapter has tried to elevate his blade-skills to higher levels than even other marines. He has succeeded in mastering the use of a Heavy bladed sword which he keeps with him at all times and will often forgo use of his Bolter in favour of the blade even though he isn’t an assault marine.

Brother Tialo of the Death Spectres

Tialo is a lucky marine, lucky enough to survive an encounter with a greater demon of Khorne and luckier to have rescued the sole surviving Grey Knight who was attempting to slay the Daemon. In the aftermath of their victory the Grey Knight bestowed his Nemesis Weapon upon the Marine, its psychic focus systems had been burned out by the battle but the weapon was still a superior device. Since then Tialo has had the blade consecrated by the Ecclesiarchy, Inquisition and his Chapters Chaplains and while he is no psychic the weapon is still fit for duty.

Tech-Marine Marchellos of the Salamanders

As with all tech-priests Marcellos swore an oath to the Omnissiah alongside of his oath to the Emperor and Vulkan. He received a number of augmetic and cybernetic upgrades and is capable of interfacing with numerous Imperial Technologies. Marcellos’s armour is equipped with a Manipulator Mechadendrite for heavy lifting as well as I/O ports and other necessary gear to fulfil his role.

Rune Priest Odin of the Space Wolves

To most of Fenris they are known as Storm-Callers, to the records of the Chapter they are officially Rune-Priests. Odin is an accomplished Rune Priest of the Space Wolves, like his pack-mates he can use runes to divine the future and call upon immense storm-related powers to mite his foes when not using his Oak force staff or Plasma Pistol. Odin himself is an unsettled individual prone to flying into berserk combat rages, despite this he is still able to work his psychic powers at all times. Outside of battle he is like most of the Space Wolves, loud, obnoxious, proud and ready to take up a challenge especially if it involves Wolf-Mead.

Prologue: Suffer not the Xenos
Session 1: Calixis Sector, Deep Space, Sub-sector X-24 aboard the Strike Cruiser, Fury of Angels.

Deep within the Fury of Angels nineteen marines gathered in silence, each wore predominantly black armour, the left arm gun-metal in colour and only the right shoulder-plastron distinquished each giant from the next. Every Marine belonged to a separate chapter, Space Wolves, Salamanders, Hawk Lords, Angels of Absolution… the list went on. Despite the rivalries inherent within the Adeptus Astartes these marines had taken a combined oath, they were in service to the Deathwatch and no previous issues would be acted upon. At least that was the theory.

The Marines stood in an amphitheatre of metal, at the bottom of the circular room sat a large holo-lithic projector its ancient circuity projection a hazy image of a planet with associated data into the air. Each marine studied the image.

The world was designated by a alpha-numeric string, it had no name (at least according to Imperial reckoning).

“This is X-24-Mu21-C, or Mu21 for simplicity. Until three months ago the only information about this place was from a passing Explorator vessel performing long-range scans. The world is covered in thick jungles a result of the planets proximity to its sun and the presence of a second system whose proximity is close enough that starlight from its sun also reaches Mu21.”

The explanation fell from the scratchy voice of a small figure in dark robes, small compared to the physical size of the gathered Marines but the figure dominated the room for it was an Inquisitor Lord named Camus Robert.

“Two months ago on a newly established patrol the Sword-Class frigate Katar made a pass through the system. Something ambushed it but the vessel was able to send a transmission identifying its attacker as an Eldar vessel. In response the Battlefleet dispatched a retaliatory strike of three Sword-frigates. This mission provided more information.”

Inguisitor Camus motioned at the Holo-lith with a control wand and the world blinked out to be replaced by the logo of the Imperial Battlefleet, a code-string beneath the image revealing its decryption by Astropathic communication.

“At 0630 ship time we dropped out fo the warp close to the planet, our Navigator is to be commended. We have detected the presence of a Eldar vessel, Augury reports it as most likely a Void-Wraith class but they are having problems with positive identification due to the Xenos-trickery that cloaks it. Alien scum can’t stand to be seen by their enemies.”

The droning voice of the Astropath relaying the message contained none of the original officers emotion..

“The Xenos-vessel is on an intercept course and the squadron is moving to engage. All hail the God-Emperor. May he protect us from the Alien.”

The holographic image flickered again returning to the planetary image but this time accompanied by additional data, navigation plots and intercept courses appeared as well as icons representing the relative positions of the Xenos vessel and the Imperial Squadron.

“At this point the squadron moved to engage the ship, heavy damage was inflicted on both sides but it appeared that the Imperial vessels had the upper hand as the Eldar ship retreated closer to the planet.” Inquisitor Camus outlined the conflict as the visual image updated itself.

“It was then that the Xenos’s true intent became clear as some sort of orbital defence network suddenly appeared and fired on the squadron. The final transmission from the group was that two of the Frigates were destroyed and the third was falling towards the planet caught in its gravity, their transmitted scans suggest that they were able to damage some of the defence network and also force down the Eldar vessel as well.”

Lord Robert stopped in his explanation allowing the Astartes time to ponder the presented information. Carried over a crackling vox-relay a booming voice split the silence.

“Your orders Inquisitor?”

Lord Inquisitor Camus turned to face a pict-screen suspended near the edge of the round room, the fuzzy static cracked screen showed the mage of a huge sarcophagus belonging to the final Deathwatch member on the Strike Cruiser. Venerable-Brother Ulink of the Blood Raven’s who was encased in the shell of a Dreanaught and too large to roam much of the ship or attend briefing in person.

“According to Inquisitorial reports the Eldar consider this part of space to be cursed they avoid it at all costs, even though a Craft-world is predicted to eventually pass near here it remains for as little time as possible.”

The Inquisitor paced as he spoke.

“If they have positioned defences of such a magnitude at this planet it indicates a permanent prescence, one that may prove a potential problem. Your orders under the Authority of the Ordo Xenos is to proceed to Mu21 with all due haste. Find out what the Eldar want with this planet and then eliminate their presence.”

Orders delivered the assembled Marines crashed their fists against their breastplates the din filling the room.

“For the Emperor!” spoke the twenty voices in unison and the Inquisitor echoed it a moment later before striding from the room.

*****

After two weeks of Warp travel and a week carefully entering into the system containing Mu21 the strike cruiser Fury of Angels angled towards the Jungle planet its systems ready for battle.

Long range high resolution scans of the planet and system had found no trace of the Eldar Void-Wraith vessel but data from the planet revealed some interesting results. For the most part there was no sign of a defence network, a fact that surprised the elite crew little known that the Eldar possessed the ability to scatter the Imperium sensor technology. But over a small portion of the words northern hemisphere their sat a debris cloud, the Augruy arrays revealing ruined hull material from at least one Imperial vessel as well as the apparent wreckage of several alien mechanisms, tentatively identified as orbital batteries.

It was quickly apparent that the debris field presented a possible way to bypass the planets defences, assuming that the Imperial Squadron had done enough damage to punch a large enough hole. Not trusting to the working of the Strike Cruisers augur arrays Stormcaller Odin excused himself to return to his private cell where at the urging of Brother-Sergent Wemios he used his divinatory powers to access the best location and route for deployment.

His casting of runes complete Odin reported that the wrecked section was most likely the safest point for an orbital insertion and Brother-Wemios ordered the strike cruiser forward.

The armoured vessel raced forward, at ten VU’s out the command crew reported that the ship was being targeted, some of the seemingly damage defence systems were still capable of firing. Assuming a hot deployment Wemios ordered the Deathwatch teams to report to the main hanger, a quick discussion with his battle-brothers ordered a drop-pod deployment with Thunderhawks on stand-by for retrieval.

As they raced to their assigned stations Tech-marine Marchellos reported he had personally seen to the Strike Cruisers deployment vehicles intoning rites of activation and readiness while the vessel was approaching Mu21 and that all stood ready.

It didn’t take long for the Strike Cruiser to begin suffering fire, the closer they got the more the shuddering could be felt as ordinance struck the shield and hull over and over. Wemios strapped himself into his drop-harness along with the rest of his 5 man kill-team. Marchellos sealed the pods accesses while over the vox Chaplain Arcus of the White Scars rallied the gathered Marines spirits with the litany of fury and rites of condemnation.

A brief report from the ships bridge reported the Strike Cruiser was in position but taking increasingly heavy fire as more of the planets unseen defences activated. Await no further Wemios ordered the started.

Four minutes later the Marines were on the ground, three pods, the one including Wemios’ squad as well as that containing the Dreadnaught and another squad lead by Brother-Librarian Vigilus of the Dark Angels had all crashed within two kilometres of each other and within a few more kilometres of their intended arrival point. The other three pods had landed far to the south having suffered a near direct strike to the launch shoots just before exiting the Strike Cruiser.

Sergeant Weimos voxed to Vigilus orders to close of Ulink’s position. The Venerable Dreadnaught acknowledge as well and the distant booming of his twin-linked autocannon echoed through the jungle as he made sure his position was clear and secured.

With a simple order of march, Wemios’ squad got underway jogging though the thick steaming foliage and scattering native predators and prey in their path.

As they moved Marchellos unhooked his Auspex from his belt and scanned their surroundings the thick jungle showed signs of movement, mostly small creatures but a few larger feline ambush-predators. The native were swiftly ignored by a inconsistent return and the constant edginess of his Battle-brothers indicated something else was out there.

A few hundred meters shy of a ridgeline the kill-team was suddenly fired upon, focused las blasts cut through the jungle from atop the ridge and several other directions. Much of the fire fell upon the Astartes armour and was deflected but several shots penetrated Marchellos’ and Wemios battle-plate despite its resilience.

The Space Maries dropped into cover and Wemios voxed the situation to Ulink and Vigilus ordering them to proceed as planned but with extreme caution. Still taking fire Wemios charged forward, a moment later Marchellos, and Odin followed and after a snap-shot so did Brother-Khirron while Brother Tialo hefted his unique weapon.

The ancient pattern of Nemesis spear with an inbuilt bolter behind the blade spat death. Despite the extreme range the burst ripped into a pair of barely seen Eldar Rangers tearing their bodies into bloody chunks and showering their companions with gore.

Again and again Tialo fired as his companions raced forward to close the distance with their foes.

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I hope everyone will enjoy this years campaign, I appologise for the large posts to being with and as I said at the beginning feel free to leave any comments or questions you might have.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

This week we had two new marines appear and get involved.  No update next week due to it being Good Friday.

Brother-Librarian Vigilus of the Dark Angels
Vigilus is one of the few Dark Angels to ever have accepted Inquisitorial Service, most of his chapter prefer to keep their distance lest the Ordo’s wonder why they hide themselves so well. Vigilus believes that by using the Inquisitions resources he may discover the location of some of the Fallen and upon his return to his order relay said information to the Chapters hunter-killer and Interrogator squads. He knows that his time in the Deathwatch is short but he uses his considerable mental gifts to assist his task and his allied Battle-brothers his only problem is with the Black Dragon Marines within his Deathwatch division, their tactics and appearance are a concern for the Dark Angels.

Borther Sartak of the Iron Hands
Sartak is Old, he really should have been promoted into the ranks of the Veteran Units a hundred years ago but he likes his Company and the role he plays within it. It was this stubbornness and skill with a Plasma Cannon that earned his a place in the Deathwatch which in turn took away the things he held dearly. Now he takes out his frustrations upon any Xenos he can get his cybernetic hands on.

Prologue: Suffer not the Xenos
Session 2:  Calixis Sector, Sub-sector X-24, Planet-side Mu21-C, Grid reference G-24.

The Vox was down and Vigilus had lost track of his squad, a small sudden ambush by a number of the foul Xenos creatures known as Eldar had cut him off from the rest of his troops. Warriors in emerald green armour designated as Striking Scorpions by the Imperium’s tactical analysts had appeared without warning splitting the squad up and driving them in different directions. With little chance to regroup, Vigilus had yelled an order to press on if possible and meet up with Squad Wemios.

The Librarian suddenly lurched out of the jungle and into a clearing filled with the roar of charging Marines and the hissing of xeno-las discharges. Squad Weimos continued to advance forward their charge occurring beneath the rapidly firing guns of Eldar Rangers stationed on a ridgeline. As Vigilus assessed the situation another marine burst from the jungle cursing at the reaching vines that entangled his weapon. It was Brother Sartak a Devastator marine armed with a heavy plasma cannon.

Vigilus berated Sartak for failing to keep pace before sprinting forwards to support squad Wemios his bolt pistol barking as he fired on the run. Before Sartak could follow the Psyker something punched into his chest armour with enough force to register but not strong enough to pierce the ceramite protection. The shot issued from a tree to Sartak’s left. One of the aliens was barely visible five meters away hidden by its chameleoine cloak and unnatural skill.

In response to its attack Sartak swept up his plasma cannon and fired. The blast cooked straight through the Eldar, vaporising it, the tree he crouched in and several more meters of Jungle caught in the blast. With the first Eldar down Sartak swung his weapon about firing at the ridgeline but blasting a section of the jungle as he aimed to high.

Still charging across the relatively open terrain Tech-priest Marchelos was thankful for the distracting attack from his fellow Astartes, his armour had been penetrated in several places due to lucky rounds. Beside the Salamander charged Odin, Rune Priest of the Space Wolves, the warriors head swirling with the possibilities of the future his finger tightened around the trigger of his bolter as a shot blazed forth blowing into another Ranger and flipping him along the group like a rag-doll.

In the end, under the near constant stream of bullets from Khiron kicking up dirt as they smashed into the concealing ridgeline the Rangers fell back disappearing into the thick Jungle and giving the Astartes time to regroup.

*****

An hour later Squad Wemios and the remnants of Squad Vigilus arrived at the first rendezvous point. As they left the tree line the lumbering form of Brother Ulink turned to meet them, sweeping the Auspex systems that doubled as his eyes over the group. The Dreadnaught rumbled a report that it had engaged and eliminated a small group of Eldar clad in white armour.

Brother Sartak suggested they might have been from the xenos-warrior-clan known as the Howling Banshee’s but when shown the bloodied spray of bodies dispatched by heavy calibre Auto-cannon fire was unable to positively identify the remains.

After a brief consultation using the orbital scans of the landing and objective area, the Squad set out heading towards what was the most likely area a ship would have crashed after punching its way though the orbital defences. With Ulink trailing a hundred meter behind ready to provide a tactical backup the enlarged unit went forth, single file.

Constantly scanning the forest, it wasn’t long before Tech-marine Marchellos reported that his Auspex was detecting a massive metal structure, the reading suggesting it was most likely the remains of a Sword-class frigate. The squads continued to move closing on the reported contact until the covering foliage gave way to a horrible scar of broken earth, burnt trees and twisted wreckage.

The frigate hadn’t come down intact. About a third of its hull starting with the prow had been shorn off. The remarkably uniform damage suggesting a powerful lance-like weapon had cut through the hull. The massive metal mass had initially struck the ground over a half a kilometre way, wreckage spreading in a line as the vessel ploughed into the ground with a massively destructive impact, the blast crater was huge, but the vessels prow still remained largely intact where it had finally come to rest, its outer hull black and full of gaping opening, the lower three decks crushed by the ships weight under gravity, its heavy prow driven like a dagger into the ground.

The Marines considered the wreckage, there was no way for mortals to have survived the ships descent alive it was of little value until Marchellos pointed out it may have had some still functioning systems including a comm-array that could be linked in to restore Vox communications.

The Deathwatch Marines began to make their way into the crater when a group of five shadows appeared on the opposite side of the broken ground, the Marines stared for a moment trying to assess the newcomers. Sergeant Khiron reacted first identifying the shadows as enemy contacts, Dark Reapers armed with long-range heavy weapons.

Micro missiles impacted around them as the Marines raced behind the scattered wreckage for cover. Only Ulink stood in the open a deafening roar issuing from his loudspeakers as his twin-linked auto-cannons cycled up and unleashed a furious discharge the shells, kicking up earth and obscuring the Eldar warriors. As the dreadnaught fired the Marines raced for the ruined hull, their own weapons lacking the needed range to confront the Reapers in the open but within the enclosed spaces of the hull it would be a different story.

Inside the wrecked ship the remnants of the crew were red splashed over the walls, hallways buclked and twisted by the vessels impact on the planet, conduits still sparked and smoke laced the atmosphere. The Marines moved into the wreck, its passageways big enough for Ulink to follow for a while before being left to hold a primary passageway.

The squads advanced towards an area identified by Marchellos as likely to contain an Auxiliary Control room with the equipment he would need. As they moved the Marines quickly became aware of the presence of others, Brother-Khiron’s piercing gaze caught sight of hurried movement, shadows that should not have existed, while the enhanced hearing of the Marines detected the scraping of boots on broken metal floors. Without hesitation the group pressed on confidant they could handle any ambush.

Eventually the Astartes stood before the main blast doors surrounding the control room, vibrant warninsg in machine code, low and high Gothic declared the area as highly dangerous. In addition with the vessels power offline opening the door would prove a challenge until Brother Marchellos was able to interface his Armours power supply into the ships systems long enough to release the magnetic seals on the door.

Librarian Vigilus, Marchellos and Khiron stepped up to the massive hatch, while the rest of the squad kept watch back down the corridor, with a mighty heavy the Marines wrenched the doors wide enough to permit them entry. About to congratulate Marchellos on his work, Vigilus staggered back as razor sharp projectiles penetrated his armour and toughened flesh.

More of the Xenos stood within the control room their armour dark blue and armed with Shuriken weapons.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

This week we are joined by another Marine.

Borther Leonotas of the Ultramarines
Leonotas is renowned as being a survivor and ruthless hunter, he has a special hatred for Tyranids and Genestealers, Xenos he has face time and time again. He has outlived three squads of marines despite being weighed down with his massive bolter and was head-hunted by the Ordo Xenos for this alone, a fact Leonotas is somewhat grateful for as it gives him the opportunity to kill more hated Xenos and secretly to avoid the accusing stares of his fellow Ultramarines for surviving where others didn’t.

Prologue: Suffer not the Xenos
Session 3 - Location: Calixis Sector, Sub-sector X-24, Planet-side Mu21-C, Grid Reference G-24

Battle Borther Leonotas worked his way through ruined corridors of steel, after having been separated from the rest of his squad the Devastator Marine had continued towards the established objective points. It had been some surprise to stumble across a massive blast crater strewn with wreckage and the forward hull section of an Imperial vessel. The Marine had entered the hulk in an attempt to see if any hostiles or friendlies had taken up residence.

With Heavy Bolter at the ready the Marine moved through the ship quickly aware that he was on the trail of an unseen hostile. The path lead towards a reinforced section of the broken vessel that seemed much more intact, a gaping hole of still glowing metal showed a forced entry point into a sealed room and the sounds of alien weapons discharging and the roar of a Bolter told Leonotas he had found some of his comrades.

Vigilus fell back, a Shuriken disk cutting through a power feed into his armour robbing it of motion and sending the Marine to the floor. Between the pried open bulkheads the Deathwatch Marines caught sight of a dozen Xenos. Standing to the fore were three figures dressed in shining blue alien carapace. Their Shuriken rifles spat razor disks in furious burst, behind them scattered eight figures dressed in long dark over-cloaks, their features unmasked, hair pulled back in tight pony-tails and skin studded with Wraith-bone protrusions. The lightly armoured Eldar drew out shuriken pistols as they sought cover, firing over the shoulders of the Aspect Warriors.

Behind the Marines came attackers clad in bone-white armour, cart wheeling and tumbling from the shadowed corridors. Screeching cries that would have shattered the eardrum of lesser beings were deflected by Audio-baffles of the Marines helmets. Brother Sartak stepped forward and fired his heavy weapon. Despite the confines of the corridor the Xenos attackers where able to avoid the worst of the Plasma blast but were forced to retreat.

Brother Sergeant Wemios let loose an angry roar and rushed through the bulkheads charging down the closest Eldar warrior despite the hail of Shuriken fire from the Dire Avengers weapon. The Blood Angel swiped with his Chainsword but the agile warrior stepped around the blow. A second behind his Sergeant, Brother Marchellos raced into the room, Omnissian Power-Axe at the ready. The second Avenger replicated the move his companion had made tumbling past the weapon but to suddenly scream in agony as the Tech-marines servo arm shot forward clamping around its ankle and ripping its foot to pieces.

Khiron of the Imperial Fists drew a frag grenade from his belt dispenser and lobbed it at the clustered Xenos hiding in cover, despite and awkward toss the grenade landed well and shredded a number of the covering aliens even through their cover. Rather than toss a second grenade Khiron moved to join the Tech-marine and Sergeant in close quarter combat, his mono-blade hacking at an Avengers legs.

The sounds of a safety being drawn back announced the arrival of Leonotas and a moment later the retort of a Heavy Bolter filled the auxiliary communications center. Consols exploded as bullets wrecked havoc with the lightly armoured Eldar, explosive bolts piercing straight through cover and into flesh.

Despite the hideous wound the stricken Avenger rolled away from Marchellos and fired his xeno-rifle the shuriken splattering of the Marines hand-crafted armour. The Avengers companion likewise sprang back from their respective engagements with unnatural agility to clear enough room to fire a furious barrage of piercing ammunition. Despite the heroic attempt the Space Marines were in the element charging after their enemies and smashing them down with chainsword, boltpistol, axe and sword whin Leonotas blazed away with his Heavy Weapon. Within moments the fight was over.

Tech-marine Marchellos quickly got down to work as the combat finished, while some devastation had been wrought to the vox-equipment the Marine quickly estimated repairs could be affected within an hour. While Marchellos interfaced with the ships systems, Sergeant Wemios stopped to examine the Xenos corpses identifying the enemy as Dire Avengers and the Eldar equivalent of normal ship-board personal.

The vox-array crackled into life as Marchellos’ ministrations and interfaced systems restored the broken Machine Spirit of the sword-class frigate to temporary life. Hastily Wemios ordered a report from the Fury of Angels. Its static laced transmission indicating they had managed to break free of orbit and were attempting to secure an area of space to provide for extraction. Before any further communication could be made a rhythmic pulsing broke over the vox-link silencing communication once more.

A quick consultation with Marchellos indicated that someone was clearly jamming the Astartes transmissions and that in all likelihood it was not the Eldar. A quick scan with his Auspex told the Tech-marine what he needed to know, the source of the Jamming seemed to be coming from an ancient Ziggurat buried beneath the planets dense jungle and glimpsed a few hours earlier. With nothing else to be accomplished the Marines returned to where Venerable-Brother Ulink maintained a watch and they slipped from the star-ship and back into the Jungle.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

This week we are joined by yet another player who literally got to fall from the sky.  At this point there should be but a single session left with the prologue and then back to the primary story.

Brother Furiam of the Raven Guard
Furiam is one of the few newer recruits into the Raven Guard, almost from the moment he was raised to the Assault Squads he was selected for entry into the Deathwatch as part of the Raven Guards commitment to the Ordo Xenos.  In Battle Furiam is like most of his Chapter, precise in Action and outcome, he trust to his Jump pack to close with any opposition and his twin Bolt Pistols to keep him safe and accomplish his task once in the thick of things,
 

Prologue: Suffer not the Xenos
Session 4: Calixis Sector, Sub-sector X-24, Planet-side Mu21-C, Grid Reference H-20

The Deathwatch Marines forged ahead through the jungle towards the source of the jamming. Despite the thick canopy of foliage the distant ziggurat continued to loom before them growing larger and larger until the rag-tag squad burst from the trees. As they advanced Marcellos reported a quickly moving object closing on their position. The Marines took up firing positions as a large object crashed from the sky on a pillar of fire its arrival breaking tree-limbs and scattering fauna.

Having finally rid himself of pursuers Brother Furiam had finally caught up with the kill-team after being directed onto their path by Brother-Sergeant Wemios and Brother Leonotas who had stayed within the ruined star-ship to guard the vox-array against Eldar activity. The Raven Guard was still equipped with his Jump Pack despite the extra effort the device caused from moving though the dense terrain. With another Marine in tow the Astartes continued their trek.

A huge overgrown caldera stretched out before the marines, the ancient volcanic opening several kilometres across and overgrown with centuries of plant life. The Ziggurat sat at the center of the depression its size even more impressive. The group took stock of the structure scanning it with Auspex and visual sensors quickly spotting a number of distant figures lurking near a massive blocked entrance into the building.

Brother Khiron narrowed his gaze and quickly identified the trio of figures as conforming with the xenos-eldar types designated as a warlock and elite dire avenger. The third seemed to lack any obvious uniform being clad in a long robe which shifted hue from blue to purple as the figure moved about.

After a brief consult on their options the Marines ordered Ulink to locate a way down into the caldera, the Astarted current position would prohibit the dreadnaught from traversing the steep slopes of the volcano’s mouth. With a grunt of acknowledgement the Dreadnaught strode off into the jungle and the squad started their tricky descent.

As the jungle reenveloped the squad it soon became clear that the Ziggurat was not the only structure in the area, lesser buildings poked through the ferns and leaves in broken ruin, a vast complex or even city had once rested on the site but been overwhelemed by nature.

Marchellos scanned about with his auspex as the Marines cautiously kept an eye on the looming jungle expecting an ambush. The tech-marine reported that there seemed to be an ancient tunnel network, possible sewers, buried beneath he ground and largely intact a little to the west of the squads position.

Noting the location the Marines changed their course deciding to use the tunnels to hopefully bypass any Eldar interference. Once again Khiron was the first to spot danger, the Imperial Fist held up a hand and pointed, less than fifty meters away atop the location of the underground tunnel sat a single Eldar.

Clad in a long black coat and more ornamental than functional armour, the xenos sat cross legged on the ground, a strange wraith-bone devices nestled in his lap. The alien sat with its eyes closed apparently unconcerned with the raised weaponry of the marines.

Suspecting a trap Marchellos ran a high-frequency scan his Auspex detecting over thirty devices imbedded in the ground about the Eldar in concentric circles the closest directly in front of the marines. Devices akin to melta-explosives.

With orders to learn of the Eldars intent Vigilus tried to reach out and sense the aliens mind with his powers but failed to gain any significant reading beyond the creature’s state of calm. In more mortal methods the Librarian spoke demanding the Xenos identify itself and its purpose.

The Marines and Eldar traded words for several minutes, each time the Eldar spoke in broken low gothic it seemed to be trying to goad the Marines while warning them to flee the planet and return to their masters. Unwilling to let the creature live longer the Marines drew up and presented a firing line quickly gunning down the Eldar identified as Captain Kor’av’an. As the bolts claimed the Xenos’ life the melta charged triggered sending a massive plum of superheated material into the sky and cratering the ground sealing off any possible entrance into the underground tunnels.

The discharge was also a signal, before the Marines had time to react six feminine figures clad in bone-white armour burst from the trees, their scattered charge accompanied by a deafening wail, strong enough to pierce through the vaunted biology of the marines stunning Vigilus and Odin in particular.

The howling banshee feel among the Astrates their power-swords flashing through the air accompanied by sudden shots from laspistols. Each dervish leap and twisted avoiding the returning blows from the marines while they slashed again and again at the helmet of the Deathwatch with uncanny precision,

Barely able to fight off the Xeno-warrior Brother Furiam hit the starter switch to his Jump Pack rising above the furious combat, sighting down at the startled Banshee below the marine rained a hail of boltshells from his pistols into the Xenos breaking though its armour despite an attempt to avoid the falling death. With the first kill made the Assault Marine turned and quickly gunned down another Banshee and then another with startling accuracy sending shells tearing into vulnerable points of the Xenos armour with a near constant roar of praise for the Emperor falling from the Marines lips. With Banshee’s assault cut in half within a few seconds the Marines quickly overwhelmed the rest despite their mounting injuries.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

This week is the final week of the Deathwatch portion of this years campaign, it was a pretty hard-core session to get completed and we covered a lot of information so please forgive the huge post.

Next week we will begin the usual sotry with several new acolytes going Thrakis' service.

Prologue: Suffer not the Xenos
Session 5: Calixis Sector, Sub-sector X-24, Planet-side Mu21-C, Grid Reference H-19

Leaving the remains of the ambushers lying were they fell the Marines pressed on through the jungle making sure Brother Marchellos get his auspex alight to detect any hidden explosives while Brother Khiron turned his hawk-like eyesight to the trees. It didn’t take the group long to arrive at the massive side of their target.

The Ziggurat covered almost a square kilometre of the caldera. Its sides rising through the jungle almost vertically and its highest step reached nearly a kilometre into the air. Where most of the jungle had reclaimed ground the Ziggurat stood garlened in simple vines and creeping planets but seemed relatively unaffected.

The Marines prowled carefully around the massive wall making there way towards the only entrance point they had spotted earlier. Rounding a corner they quickly spotted three Eldar standing in the open. The two closest were easily identifiable, the first a Dire Avenger and apparently a female stood with a Shuriken Catapult held at ease, the second a Warlock arms crossed and rune-blade slung over his shoulder while the third was completely out of place clad only in a robe of shifting hue. This third figure appeared extremely ancient, his skin appeared nearly translucent but somehow almost solid and crystalline, fine cracks scattered from the corner of the Eldars mouth and eyes.

The three Eldar stood in a triangle with the Avenger and Warlock closer to the Marines. Cautiously the Astartes advanced watching for the slightest hostile action. The distance between the two sides decreased without incident falling into the range of the Marines weapons and then reducing further until the Dire Avenger twitched its Shuriken Catapult slightly upwards.

Weapons snapped to the ready and only the hasty yell of the unarmoured Eldar stopped a sudden release of violence. Alien words echoed across the open space slipping into the minds of the Marines and Eldar alike. The third figure introduced itself calmly as “Wall Between Life” a Farseer and chosen guardian of the planets secrets.

A quick explanation driven deep into the Marines psyche showed that the Farseer had arrived on Mu21-C long before the Imperium had even begun its great crusades. Over the Millennia the Eldar had drawn others to the planet to help protect its secrets. Far beneath the Ziggurat was the source of the signal cutting the Marines off from their ship as well as a vast danger one could not describe but only show. The ancient Eldar continued to explain how the previous inhabitants of the planet had used the world as a storage facility. The world had been equipped to defend itself but the Eldar knew such things would only urge others to investigate further so they had taken it on themselves to hide the planet from the universe.

Their plane had worked but it was only a matter of time before it would fail so they chose to delay the inevitable for as long as possible stationing ships to destroy anyone to curious about the world and forces to annihilate the few to make it to the surface. Now with all but the Farseer and his guards remaining such a defence was pointless but knowledge in itself was another type of defence and the Eldar agreed to show the Marines what they had disturbed.

“Wall Between Life” turned and lead the Marines into the Ziggurat, opening doors of granite and adamantium which slipped back into impossibly small alcoves. Beyond the doorway lay the expanse of the Ziggurat. The structure was completely hollow only some reading from Brother Marchellos’ auspex showing its megalithic structure supported by a cunningly shaped energy field. A single shaft of light broke into the Ziggurat from its pinnacle illuminating a vast cylindrical hole cut into the floor of the building. The shaft sank down beyond the reach of the weak light but the Farseer marched towards a ramp spiralling down into the depths.

For over three hours the Marines made their way down, their path revolving slowly but only the tick of internal chronometers and a Marines sense of direction assuring them that their passage was making any progress against the unchanging, detail-less surrounding.

Lower and lower the shaft descended miles into the planets surface until a faint blue glow began to illuminate the area. As the glow brightened into a single point of swirling light the group became aware that they no longer followed a wall but walked down a free standing ramp into a hugh underground vault, the limits beyond the reach of auspex.

The blue light issued from a massive swirling sphere of energy almost water like in appearance. The sphere hummed with power almost to bright to look at. Beneath the giant orb protruded a small pyramid set with crystals and conduits and joined to the floor of the cavern which was clearly made of metal.

Scans of the area showed that the floor was made up of chambers, each ten by ten meters and filled with machinery. While the Eldar looked on the Deathwatch marines located a series of release mechanisms set into the ground. Triggering the release they stood back as twenty sections of floor ground aside and armatures rose up from the concealed depressions.

Hanging from each armature was a strangely sculpted form. The device resembled the upper torso of a muscular body complete with arms ending in four grasping talons, from the torsos back protruded four articulated limbs each tipped with a massive blade or a pair of blades and a pair of energy projectile devices. The additional weapon arms folded up neatly beside each other like a perverse cloak. The head of the devices was cylindrical, its front portion dominated by a large eye like sensor but the cylinder lay with its internal portions exposed and clearly incomplete. The entire device lacked any equivalent to legs or a lower body and appeared as if skinless muscle as the thick metal coverings crawled with intricate designs.

Though obviously some sort of weapon the strange devices where clearly inactive and the Marines turned their attention to the sphere and its accompanying pyramid. While brother Marchellos played his Auspex’s sensors across the sphere the Marines theorised that the vast chamber was most likely an armoury of some kind, but it was certain that such would pose little threat to the Eldar species or the Imperium so the Marines turned to their escort.

“Wall Between Life” quickly assured the Astartes it was indeed a threat as the species that used this place had two distinct patterns of life, Transmitters and Receivers. It took the Marines a moment to realise that the psychic voice in their head was being absolutely direct rather than simply evasive. The species seemed to be able to transmit a psychic signal across vast distances in a manner similar to that of the Astronomicon, a signal that could over-ride any psychically active mind.

With the threat to the Eldar species made clear and the possibility that such could also effect mankind the Deathwatch quickly determined that this armoury was indeed a threat that needed to be dealt with. Having finished his scans Marchellos reported that the glowing spheres seemed to be emitting massive amounts of energy nearly akin to a newborn sun and that there was more that one such device located in the vast chamber.

As far as the Tech-marine could tell the pyramid beneath the sphere was most likely the generator and he recommended setting a charge on a delay timer and simply destroying the power-source should cause a chain reaction in the sphere and hopefully put an end to the threat. Brother Sartak turned to the waiting Eldar and asked why they had not performed such a feat but the Farseer replied that the Eldar were unable to determine anything about the Sphere or its workings, it sat as a blank spot in there sight, a fact that Rune-priest Odin quickly confirmed.

Marchellos quickly readies a Melta-charge and moved towards the sphere only to stop almost in mid stride the air rippling around him. With a growl of effort the tech-marine continued forward. The Deathwatch Kill Team looked on as Marchellos moved towards the pyramid, the very air distorting with his movements which in turn grew slower and slower until the marine stopped. Calls to their Battle-brother seemed to fall upon deaf ears as the Salamander simply stood ten meters from the massive orb its surface rippling slightly in an echo of the distortions surrounding the tech-marine.

Brother Tialo moved to aide Marchellos the Death Spectre forcing his way to arms reach of the marine, he could feel a crushing weight press at his body, his vision distorted as light became solid and physical. Reality twisted and deformed before the Marine and an insidious pressure pushed at his mind. Tialo let out a cry of anger as his hand closed over the backpack of his comrade as his sense of time was battered and his mind assaulted by something vast, the surface of the sphere above him rippled and then reality snapped back into place as Odin wrenched Tialo and Marchellos free.

The Death Spectre sat breathing heavily while Vigillus checked over Marchellos but the Tech-marine was already dead. With a curt order the Dark Angel librarian ordered the marines to fire on the pyramid. Bolt rounds blazed forth and a frag grenade was hurled only to slow in their flight and stop meters from their target, as the marines watched the grenade rippled with its detonation the blast slowly creeping outwards and stopping like a ball of frozen light.

Astonishment crossed the faces of the Astartes but it was short lived as the Dire Avenger suddenly snapped up her Shuriken weapon. The Deathwatch marines acted as one bringing their own weapons to bare but the Exarch looked beyond the firing line to the rising corpse of Marchellos. Monomolecular edged disks whiskered through he air blasting into the Marines stomach cutting through armour but the tech-priest failed to fall, barely staggered by the fusillade of alien ammunition. Slowly the Salamander turned and strode towards the upright armatures.

That action was all the clarification the Marines needed, Vigillus ordered Sartak to fire on Marchellos and the devastator spun about brining his plasma weapon to bare only to watch its machine spirit fail and overload, the marine hastily flinging the melting weapon away far enough to survive as its fuel detonated. Without waiting for orders the rest of the marines fired shattering Marchellos’ body with Bolter-fire.

Hurried orders filled the air as ripples spread across the surface of the glowing orb, Tialo pressed a hand to his skull as the insidious presence from his rescue attempt suddenly returned. The Marines gathered all the explosives they had and set to placing them as close as they could to the sphere. Halfway through their work the Eldar, Odin and Vigilus suddenly cried out, blood foamed from lips and ran from nostrils as a psychic forced lanced out of the sphere.

The Orb began to deform compressing in on itself and extruding into a vast disk of blue light, within seconds it had reshaped itself and with a sucking noise of a semi-permeable surface disgorged a single figure.

The alien technology hovered above the floor its oversized weapon arms unfurling and its glowing sensor-eye sweeping about the immediate area. Bolter fire and eldritch lightning struck at the Xenos technology blasting it apart but a moment later a second device appeared then a third and a forth.

Deathwatch and Eldar weaponry struck at the new threat, for crucial minutes the wall of fire took down any that appeared as the last of the marines set their charges. The detonation that followed disrupted the communications blackout but not the strange floating portal of blue energy. A hasty check in with the rest of the Deathwatch Marines reported strange tremors in the ground and attacks by unidentified Xenos technology.

Despite the combined firepower of the Eldar and Marines more and more Xenos-Technology made it through the breach until they began to outnumber the marines. Soon enough enemies were present to hold the marines back while the Xenos machines moved to activate those similar units linked to armatures.

With the situation rapidly becoming untenable Vigillus ordered for the Deathwatch on the surface to extract, the climb back from the underground chamber would be too long for his squad to retreat. The Librarian ordered the Fury of Angels to close on the planet and target his location for a lance strike and then to Virus bomb the planet. Perhaps a floating ball of rock would be less appealing to any future explorers.

As the strike cruiser collected the marines it could and acquired its targeting solutions the Deathwatch fought a valiant delaying action. Amid the carnage the Eldar held out, the powers of the warlock blasted apart his enemies while sheltering the Farseer who hurriedly deployed a number of wraith-bone devices about the Exarch. As the warlock fell and the Farseer was cut down the devices activated the air distorting once more than the Dire Avenger disappearing with an enraged cry.

*****

A week after the bombing of Mu21-C had been completed and the planet scoured of all life the remnants of the Deathwatch Kill-team and Lord Inquisitor Robert Camus stood aboard the command bridge of the Fury of Angels. The Inquisitor had just finished classifying the mission reports and erasing all knowledge of the planet at the request of Chaplain Arcus, the White Scar had remained on the vox with Vigillus as the Marine reported what they had seen and learned. The Inquisitor had deemed the knowledge of the planet and even an Inquisitorial blockade and sanction on the world to likely to cause undue interest. Mu21-C would be forgotten by the Imperium and the even lost to the bureaucracy of the Administratum forever.

- Raith

[Lord Blackstaff 0]

Heylo, I'm one of new guys popping in to see what this campaign was all about. The entirely unlovabel LB . It's looking pretty interesting so far, and I'll be looking forward to playing through this year.

I found last years campaign thread, which for those interested, is located here:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=70&efcid=3&efidt=139278&efpag=0

Unfortunately, the first year of the campaign doesn't seem to be available. The thread is located here:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=70&efcid=3&efidt=2432

But it won't be much help for you lot as all the info's blanked out. I checked backwards 20 odd pages to see if Raith had made any new threads, but could find any. If ya have, please do tell. The forum search sucks so badly it could only find 'That which is made stronger.', I had to manually search for the other two threads.

Also, do you mind if I do a little bit of extended background on my character. I like fleshing characters out as it creates a bit more of a solid construct in my head. Especially if they're already bordering on officially crazy...

[Raith 13]

Lord Blackstaff said:

Heylo, I'm one of new guys popping in to see what this campaign was all about. The entirely unlovabel LB . It's looking pretty interesting so far, and I'll be looking forward to playing through this year.

I found last years campaign thread, which for those interested, is located here:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=70&efcid=3&efidt=139278&efpag=0

Unfortunately, the first year of the campaign doesn't seem to be available. The thread is located here:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=70&efcid=3&efidt=2432

But it won't be much help for you lot as all the info's blanked out. I checked backwards 20 odd pages to see if Raith had made any new threads, but could find any. If ya have, please do tell. The forum search sucks so badly it could only find 'That which is made stronger.', I had to manually search for the other two threads.

Also, do you mind if I do a little bit of extended background on my character. I like fleshing characters out as it creates a bit more of a solid construct in my head. Especially if they're already bordering on officially crazy...

Try this one for "What doesn't kill you..." (Campaign 1)

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=101&efcid=3&efidt=5027

The other thread was blank due to some forum issues when the new board first went up.

I have no problems with extended background for characters, just double check with me first.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Now the main story is underway once more I have updated the beginning post with the information related to Thrakis’s newest acolytes.  I have also included some additional data i am using for my game after the primary post.

Act 3: Unseen Threats
Session 6: Calixis Sector, Scintilla Sub, Hive Sebillus 20.816.M41 to Lathes Sub, Hesh, 45.816.M41

Fifteen months to the day had passed since Thrakis’s acolytes had fought back the strange uprising on Maccabeus Quintis. Eighteen months since the acolytes had any direct contact with their master. For the most they had worked with Thorr as the ex-guardsman direct them on various missions hunting down men and women, libraries of documents and ancient artefacts across the Calixis sub-sector. It had seemed liked busy work to the group as they were given little information on their objects and even less time to relax between each outing.

Finally a month before Thorr had recalled the group and they now dined on a lavish breakfast within the private quarters of Inquisitor Thrakis within the Tricorn palace. The varied group soaked up the ambiance to various degrees, Magnus looked like it was just another day despite the fine foods, the muffled surroundings of the apartment similar to his childhood. Corker stuffed his face with as much food as he could still not able to trust his new station and the steady meals it afforded him. Jalith ate and worked on his equipment polishing a newly acquired Nomad rifle. Atellus ate and studied and studied then ate combining the two experiences into one.

At the table also sat a pair of newcomers the first dressed in a subdues yet respectful appearance while the other crouched over his breakfast saying little and radiating a sense of wanting even less the tattooed scar of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica dominant on his forehead.

With a hiss of pneumatics the primary door to the dining area swung inwards and Thorr stepped through the security alcove of the apartment. The multi-limbed figure doffed his sleeveless great-coat its armoured fabric slick with torrential rain that had plagued the hive for a week, the saturated clothing raised an sigh of contempt from Thrakis’s Major-domo who moved to retrieve the soiled item from over the back of a plump armchair.

Thorr barely exchanged a glance with those gathered before grabbing a plate, piling it with food and eating silently for ten minutes before satiating his hunger and leaning back in his seat. Almost immediately Jalith and Magnus inquired as to their masters whereabouts and with a frown Thorr replied he had been out looking for just such an answer.

Thrakis along with Aimee and several other acolytes had left of a research mission shortly after Atellus, Magnus and Jalith had been sent to Maccabeus Quintis. The Inquisitor had taken ship with Lord-Commander Octavius to the Lathes system. An area controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus. Thrakis had been after some information possibly related to data acquired from Palind and other sources. He had last reported in two months ago on a regular schedule but the schedule was now broken by several weeks and Thorr was worried.

Quickly the ex-guardsman outlined his orders for the gathered Acolytes. They were to travel to the Lathes system to attempt to locate Thrakis. Normally the Mechanicum domain would be off limits to the Acolytes but Thorr had seen to acquiring access permits and travel documentation. However the danger was that the Inquisition and especially Acolytes had very little direct influence on the Mechanicus and so Thorr had arranged for a little help. Gesturing with two of his mechanical arms two the unnamed men sitting at the table Thorr introduced the Acolytes to Syrion Silvertongue and Ketris who also served Thrakis. Both were capable psykers with Ketris even having experience as a direct Inquisitorial representative. The Mechanicum had little true experience with psykers and Thorr hoped they would provide some small advantage.

Three days later the Acolytes boarded the merchant ship Potential Mistake one of the few vessels allowed regular access to the Lathes as it imported a few unique items unable to be manufactured within the system. Captian Christov Illuchii provided a grand table for the Acolytes to dine at each night and regaled them with tales of his ancestors. While his family had been a minor noble house they had just received a Warrant of Trade and were branching out into the greater universe a fact that Christov praised by also wished upon younger people than he.

The trip to the Lathes last a month with the Warp-tides favouring the Potential Mistake for its journey. As the vessel shed the Immaterium it was soon confronted by system ships of the Mechanicus, the sleek boxy vessels outgunned any warp ship of a similar size and the Potential Mistake stood down and allowed a customs Yacht to dock.

This was the first time the Acolytes had run into the hulking forms of Skitarii, the Mechanicums elite troops. Bio-engineered and cyberneticly enhanced super-humans nearly the same size as the legendary Space Marines and just as deadly. The Skitarii marched through the ship examining the passengers their gear and the vessels cargo before declaring that Captain Christov was to proceed towards Hesh the largest of the three worlds of the Mechanicum and to follow the precise course he had flown on the dozens of previous trips he had made.

After twenty-two days aboard the Potential Mistake the acolytes were met by a Mechanicus orbital-to-surface lander, the machine cult trusting only to their own machines to load and unload cargo from orbital vehicles. The landing vessel swiftly deposited the acolytes on the surface of Hadd. The planet sat in a close trinary orbit about the Lathes star, the giant sun hang large and orange in the sky its immense gravity warping space.

As servitors trundled to take the Acolytes baggage others moved to direct them into a nearby hatch, even a few minutes outside of the planet spanning cities radiation walls was starting to lightly burn the acolyte’s skin and they stepped inside.

A short elevator ride took them down beneath the armoured skin of the world and into the waiting presence of Artificer Shiram-AX1 and Interlocutor for the Imperium to the Mechanicum. The Interlocutor stood just over five and a half feet tall and dressed in a plain red cassock, the long robe trailing to the floor. The acolyte’s information from Thorr indicated the adept had met with Thrakis and had been his guide.

Interlocutor Shiram led the group through the corridors of Hadd, it was quickly apparent that the Acolytes would have little ability to navigate the hallways, each corridor appearing exactly like the previous, all the same height and shape, appearing devoid of individual marks until Interlocutor Shiram revealed that the world was Noo-spherically active and that to his eyes and other Mechanicus personal their world was filled with information, light and sounds to guide them.

An hour long ride in a maglev car along a specially shielded transit tube gave the group a look at the surface of the forge world, the spire like Manufactorum and research centres. The miles of open metal shrouded ground of testing ranges and Genetorium flashed past and the group arrived at a large adamantium and transparent plasteel. Inside the dome sat a wonder of the Mechanicum, a verdant and green zone of organic life, trees, grass and wildlife flourished amid tall buildings and research stations.

Interlocutor Shiram Explained that the dome was home of the Magos Biologis of the Lathes who used the dome to examine the science of nature be it fauna and flora. The Mechanicum also used the dome as a place where guests from outside the cult could stay without being overwhelmed by the all encompassing presence of the Machine God.

Finally the Acolytes arrived at the apartment facility that Thrakis had been assigned it was quickly apparent that neither Thrakis nor Aimee were in residence. The multi-room complex was simple in design but filled with wonders of technology unseen beyond a forge-world, the room even possessed a secured personal vox-station and non-mnemonic Noo-sphere terminal. No signs of forced entry or a hurried departure could be found and only a few scattered personal effects revealed that the Inquisitor and his aid had even been there in the first place.

Wasting no time the Acolytes asked if there were access logs to the room. Interlocutor Shiram quickly confirmed there were, the last recorded entry to the room was eight days prior and it had been people entering the room. No sign in the logs or the security systems outside of the room indicated anyone leaving. With the last logged entry being during the Acolytes transit time from Scintilla they asked Interlocutor Shiram if Thrakis or his allies had used the Mechanicums communications facilities. Once more the Interlocutor checked through the Vox-casters systems determining that two weeks before the system had sent a transmission to the Astropathic relay station located on the very edge of the system as well as a message three weeks before that and the same before then indicating at least two messages that had never been received by Thorr.

*****

The Following Data is what I told my players about “the Lathes” before they left on their mission, I thought I would present it here for use by other GM’s if they wish.  There is a bit of information on the Lathes in the main DH Rulebook and others such as the IH and CA but I wanted to expand on it a little.

+++DATA ADDENDUM+++
+++PLEASE ENTER SECURITY CODE AND PREPARE FOR GENETIC SAMPLING+++

+++CODE CONFRIMED+++

+++SAMPLE COMFIRMED+++

System: Lathes, The
Location: Calixis Sector
Star Type: RX-3 (Large Orange Sun transforming to Red Dwarf)
Celestial Features: 12 Significant features – Het, Hesh, Hadd (Trinary Orbitals); Lathe IV (Data-storage); Vault LSS-V-C (Collegia Titanicus); Lathe VI (Agri-world); Lathe VII (Agri-world); Asteroid Field (Planetary remnant); Lathe IX to XII (Barren Worlds)
Tech Level: 14, Mechanicum Forge
Adepta Presence: Extensive Mechanicus.

Point of Interest: Het, Hesh, Hadd
Celestial Position: 1st orbital position from the systems primary.

The three Mechanicus Forge Worlds of Het, Hesh and Hadd are located at the extreme internal edge of the Lathes “Green Zone” the planets are classified as habitable but experience massive gravitic distortions caused by the systems massive star as well as the interplay of the three worlds on each other. This gravitic resource allows the Mechanicus to manipulate materials in unique ways.

Hadd is the only plaent among the three to see representatives of the greater Imperium the other worlds belong to the MEchanicum entirely and are off limits even to the Inquisition. All the worlds are sheathed in the metal of research buildings, factories and laboratories, the surface of these planets is bathes in excess radiation from the sun that caused severe epidermal damage within twenty minutes of exposure.

For the most part Het, Hesh and Hadd have only a small population even given their smaller than oridinary planetary size. The Mechanicum uses extensive servitor labour across these planets.

Point of Interest: “the Vault”
Celestial Position: 3rd orbital position from the systems primary.

Vault LSS-V-C is the location of a small barren planetoid barely larger than a moon. The Mechanicum stopped the planets rotation when seeded control of the system. They turned the entire planet into a hollow construction and induced artificial gravity on it where needed. The majority of this planet is given over to the storage of Titans many of which fought during the Angevin crusade.

System Addendum: The Lathes is home to 12 distinctive orbital objects aside from those specifically identified the system also contains a pair of Agri-wolrds and numerous barren rocks used from mineral resources. The Lathes is almost 100% self sufficient requiring goods only of the most exotic form to be shipped in from the wider Imperium.

The Mechanicum maintain a death-grip on this system no vessel approaching it goes unchallenged. The Mechanicus has the ability to produce extremely powerful ships to guard its interest, especially without the need for such vessel to be Warp-capable. Only the rarest of captains are able to negotiate with the Mechanicum for the right to trade with them or make use of their facilities.

- Raith
 

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 7: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Hesh, 45.816.M41

Despite being essentially without authority to conduct a proper investigation within Mechanicus dominated territory the Acolytes set to work looking for signs of their absent master. Jalith swept the room with his Auspex searching for potential auxiliary exits beside the main door and the void-screen windows leading to the apartment’s tenth story balcony. Magnus prowled about the room itching to use his weapons while Ketris turned his mind to more esoteric and insubstantial inquiries.

Surrounded by technology of far superior quality than usual, Atellus endeavoured to locate any recently accessed files or information within the apartments Noo-sphere relay. A small cogitator like device designed to allow non-mechanicus personal to access the info-sphere. Almost immediately the adept was overwhelmed as hololithic projections suddenly surged into the air around him and only with the intervention of Interlocutor Shiram was the Adept able to cut down on the torrent of data.

Despite the thoroughness of their activities the acolytes turned up little and instead turned to the one fixed source of information they had. With Corker surreptitiously keeping an eye on his actions the acolytes begged Shiram to call up the last Vox-transmission sent from the rooms array. Rising from his trance Ketris took several of the acolytes aside and quietly relayed his findings. While the room was visually intact the empyrean seemed strangely disturbed as if a incursion had occurred between the warp and the real world though true specifics on the phenomena could only be guessed at.

The Interlocutor reported that the vox transmission had unfortunately been corrupted by a high-level cipher but he could possibly retrieve the message given time. While the Tech-priest worked the group discussed their options.

Hours dragged by until Shiram reported his efforts had been partially successful. The vox message was badly degraded, but it was clear that Thrakis had indeed sent the message. His stern voice referenced an associate located on the planet who had information about his objective but little else.

Disappointed and at their wits end the Acolytes asked to be shown to their room which was conveniently located across the hall from the abandoned rooms of Thrakis and his cohorts.

The apartment was as extensive as its twin. The rooms spread across half of the entire floor of the apartment complex mirroring the Inquisitors, complete with massive balcony and noo-spheric access points. Jalith once more swept the room with his Auspex while Magnus bid Shiram farewell promising the Interlocutor that should they need to travel anywhere they would call for his assistance.

Prepared to settle in for the night it was Corker that drew the groups attention to the balcony where a strange raven sat. The bird shifted its head at looked straight at the Reclamator with is eyes, one biological the other a complex augmetic.

The cybernetic bird continued to watch the acolytes making no threatening moves until they dropped the void-screen window. In a burst of feathers the creature swept into the room and alighted upon the back of a couch where it suddenly started up a hacking cough.

Weapons trained onto the bird briefly before a small cylinder fell from its straining beak and onto the floor. The group examined the device until Jalith grabbed it off Corker, he immediately felt a pick of pain in his fingers as a gene-sampler tasted his blood.

With a small hum the device emitted a pulse of light and Jaleth found he was holding a life sized holographic image of a beautiful young woman. The recording identified itself as Fabricator-Biologis Hel. The fabricator had met with Thrakis before his disappearance and had news for the Acolytes but they needed to meet swiftly to take advantage of the information. If the group agreed they were instructed to gather about the projector.

Unsure that it was still not a trap the acolytes took a few moments to equip themselves, Magnus even went so far as to unpack a suit of Power Armour he had recently acquired for his previous service to Thrakis. As the group drew close to the device the cyber-raven cawed once and a flurry of light engulfed the acolytes.

Pain, heat, nausea and dislocation gripped the Acolytes as they found themselves elsewhere on Hesh. About them the room steamed with the discharged energies of their teleport. Robed Mechanicus adepts soothed the machine-spirit of the device while a tiny figure in red robes presented itself before the recovering acolytes as a guide through the vast forge complex they were in.

Time passed as the group was escorted by a variety of Mechanicus priests and servants through the labyrinthine complex of Fabricator Hels work-forge. They passed rooms filled with genetic samples, enclosures of stunning natural beauty monitored by arcane technologies and menageries of fauna waiting unknowable uses.

Deep within the forge the group confronted their host. Surrounded by a small horde of assistants was a dais enclosed by suspended data-screens and cogitation devices. When the screens drifted away they revealed a stunning figure with tanned bronze flesh and flaming red hair. No hint of the usual Mechanicus implants or adaptations graced the beautiful visage of Fabricator Hel. Only the staccato and emotionless voice that escaped her lips revealed any sense of the expected norm for the Mechanicus.

Hel swiftly filled the Acolytes in on her knowledge. Yes, she had seen Thrakis. The Inquisitor was searching for information located upon Lathe IV the systems Data-world. A place off limits to non-mechanicus even one of Thrakis’s standing.

The Fabricator explained that she had helped Thrakis to infiltrate the facility using her Teleportarium as she had once been an acolyte of his in the past. Hel had equipped the Inquisitor and his aide with devices to make them seem more like Mechanicum personal to a casual information scan and that the ruse had seemed to work until Thrakis was forced to delve deeper into the Data-worlds lower recesses where contact had been lost.

Unsure of what they would be able to accomplish where their master had failed the acolytes still needed to follow Thrakis. Hel agreed to provide them with similar equipment to their master and even to teleport them to the last known coordinates Thrakis had called from.

As they group steeled themselves for whatever lay on the data-world Hel revealed to them that it was likely they would run into the facilities Librarians and the Hunter-Killers that they used to track intruders and other rogue elements, elements that could be responsible from the disappearance of the Inquisitor.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 8: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Hesh, 46.816.M41

With the proper rituals invoked and homage payed to the machine-god the teleportation to the Lathe’s Data-world was much more comfortable than that from the Acolytes room to Fabricator Hel’s forge. The group appeared atop a raised platform of metal. A hexagonal top fell away in eight directions to a metal roadway. Each roadway terminated after several hundred meters at a bunker-like door leading into the surface of the world.

The acolytes took a moment to take in their new surroundings, high above where the sky would have been swirled an ever violent cloud of dust and particles kept at bay by the humming barrier of a massive void-screen.

Fabricator Hel moved ahead of the group her hair shifting as if in a breeze though the screen let none of the storms fury through. Once again the odd looking woman had the group on edge but no more than the hulking fuards standing at attention beside one of the underground access points.

The massive Skiitari armed with assault cannon and flamer units scanned the Fabricators credentials before letting the group proceed further. The hatch led to a mass-conveyer that dropped downwards with barely a hint of motion its descent taking the group over a hundred meters into the worlds crust before depositing them in another corridor, this one filled with weaponized servitors.

Several times the Fabricator stopped to provide clearance codes to security points and personal within the labyrinth of the data-vault until the group arrived at Vault 51 located nearly three kilometres beneath the ground and the vault which Thrakis had last reported from it was here the group would begin to track their master’s trail.

Hel informed the group that this was as far as she would go, her presence within the vault would only cause undue attention, Hel assured the group that she would return to her laboratory and await their signal for extraction while attempting to locate any more information about Thrakis and hopefully providing some sort of distraction if anyone was monitoring her.

The acolytes turned to their work, it was clear that the particular vault they were in contained data pertaining to the Calizis sectors planets as well as those in other nearby areas and even further afield.

The group wandered through the vault, the massive room loomed before them. Sub-floors of steel ringed the room’s walls each massive gantry held hundreds of bookcases, the centre of the room dropped away revealing lower levels and no floor in sight. Every shelf contained hundreds of data-modules and record crystals. The Mechanicus logged everything and deleted nothing from their extensive searches of space.

Six levels down from the vaults entry the Acolytes they arrived at the storage area where Thrakis had sent his last transmission from. A quick auspex check revealed the presence of heat signatures belonging to mechanics personnel as well as several servitors.

Keeping a close eye on the nearest tech-adept the group went to work. While the group looked over the rows of information Ketris centered his mind and spread out his unnatural awareness dragging a sense of the past from the area.

At first the psyker could discern little from his augury but Ketris pushed on straining his mind pealing away the grey levels of emotionless Mechanicus and servitor presences until a searing hate filled his mind, the face of a Tech-priest who machine features cast his face as that of a snarling demon dominated the feeling. Concentrating further the Psyker plucked a name from the empyrean, Librarian Beta-Alpha Barakis.

Breaking his trance Ketris relayed what he had seen and the group conferred quietly. Thrakis had visited the world searching for Explorator records relating to coordinates recovered from the Imperial Guard facility on Palind a year and a half earlier. From Corker and Atellus’s investigation of the surrounding data-modules it seemed he was looking to the earliest days of the Calixis sector and even back into the period where it was known as the Calyx Expanse. It was possible the Inquisitor had been discovered while in the vault. While the last true transmission-fix from the Inquisitor indicated that he had been in this room two further partial contacts recorded by Fabricator Hel suggested he had proceeded deeper into the planets vaults on even lower levels.

Needing more information Corker offered to try and create a temporary hack between his Data-slate and one of the Mechanicus cogitation-engines in the area. Despite the unease this brought several of the group for violating a machine-spirit the Reclamator knew his work and quickly had an interface running for long enough to grab a schematic of the local vault and neighbouring areas.

Vault 51 seemed to be only the tip of the iceberg with further vaults stretching downwards and away in all directions, the room essentially served as an indexing catalogue with more accurate information located much deeper into the planet.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 9: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Lathe IV (Data-Storage), 46.816.M41

The information recovered from Corkers hacking and the divinations of Syrion had left little real direction for the acolytes. They knew the Inquisitor was investigating a planet and apparently search records as old as the Calixis Sector but there was no indication of why he had broken regular contact with Fabricator Hel or why his position had been logged at much lower levels of the vault.

A quick discussion had the Acolytes on the move. They descended past suspended floors of data-stores, down to the bottom of Vault 51 and even lower descending a twisting stairway into the vault below. Over and over the group descended through nearby identical Vaults each crammed with knowledge of the Omnissiah’s followers. Each vault carried the group deeper into the data-worlds depths all the while trying to avoid as much contact with Mechanicus personnel and servitors as possible.

The further they descended the more undisturbed their progress was as the lower Vault levels became clearly disused and abandoned. It wasn’t long before the Acolytes were forced to slow their pace the very steps and walkways they traversed suffering from neglect and inattention by more than a small handful of long forgotten servitors meandering about the levels trying to keep the stored data-records in working order while neglecting the shelves and rooms themselves.

After hours of walking the Acolytes arrived in one of the lowest vaults. Power had long since disappeared leaving the group in the dark. Around them the vault was in shambles a seismic disturbance unchecked by the Mechanicums systems had toppled shelves of data-wafers, crushed levels together and rent holes in the walls of the vault at some point in the past. More noticble was the heat, each previous vault had been carefully cooled and regulated in temperature to prevent decay of the knowledge they contain. Within the ruined vault perspiration beaded on the Acolytes brows indicating the failure of such systems.

Checking their location against the last contact monitored by Hel from Thrakis showed that the group had almost descended far enough they now needed to proceed across several vaults and then the true hunt would begin. As the group searched the wrecked area for exit points Jalith noticed that the darkness was not complete a fair orang glow illuminated a corner of the vault.

Alerting his companions the assassin slipped forward towards the glow. A portion of the vaults floor seemed to have been ripped open exposing a light from below. Carefully Jalith moved forward feeling the vaults floor become unstable beneath his feet. In response the assassin dropped to his belly and slithered across the ground to the opening in the floor.

Beneath the ruined vault was yet another but unlike their current floor this vault was illuminated and inhabited.

Moving around the vault were a dozen Mechanicus personal, the strange orange light flared off a boiling river of magma. The superheated rock flowed through one end of the vault and into another its rampant destruction held behind a hissing static of void-shields and magnetic containment field. Rather than another vault the Tech-priests wandered about a makeshift laboratory, directing servitor and personal about various tasks.

Before Jalith could do more than take in the sights a faint noise echoed through the Acolytes ruined vault. Metal scraped over metal and was choked off by a sudden clank. Guns where raised and safeties unlocked as the Acolytes scanned the dark so signs of the noises origin.

Scrap, Clank. Scrap, Clank. The noise grew steadily stronger maintain a distinct tempo.

The group split up with Jalith racing away in a flanking manoeuvre in case the Acolytes presence had been discovered. Closer and closer the noise came until a glimmer of metal drew the Acolytes lumen-beams.

A ruined Servitor slowly manoeuvred its way through a nearby vault, its uncertain steps bolstered by leaning against a wall so riddled with jagged holes the noise was carrying into the Acolytes room. Breathing a sign of relief the group turned away from the noise to discuss their next move when an unnatural sound pierced the shadows.

It was like the roar of a great feline jungle predator but with an undertone of static belying its artificial nature. Torch light sweep upwards towards a sudden scurrying sound and a hint of billowing red cloth was glimpsed through the rents within the vault’s wall. For a minute there was nothing but dead silence and the feeling of something unnatural stalking through the darkness. An agonised scream filled the air for a brief moment as the damaged Servitor, supposedly incapable of feeling any emotion, was ripped into pieces its vox-caster rent in twain and quickly silenced.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 10: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Lathe IV (Data-Storage), 46.816.M41

Whatever had destroyed the Servitor was gone by the time the acolytes moved to investigate only the scattered remains of the machine-man were left and precious few of those were in any identifiable state. Not wishing to linger longer the group continued their trek heading through two more abandoned and semi-crushed vaults before they were once again in working territory.

The Acolytes passage had brought them to the floor of another data-vault this one completely in order and after a quick auspex check by Atellus apparently inhabited. A faint light glimmered from the scaffolding floors above. A single life reading registered on the auspex so under Jaleths urging the group quickly moved on hoping to sneak past rather than trusting their disquises to fool anyone who might notice them.

As the group opened a secondary access point to descend one final time a small screech of static echoed through the vault. Weapons snapped out of holsters and scabbards as the group sought the source of the noise. For several moments they strained their senses before slowly moving onwards down the stairs.

The floor below was as silent and empty as most of the other vaults the group had passed through. They quickly negotiated their way to the far end of the room. Only one or two more vaults lay between the group and the first of the locations Thrakis had transmitted an incomplete message from.

In order to reach the second vault the group had to bypass a massive Mechanicus security system. A large blast-door sealed the way forward. With a nod Corker moved on up to the door and quickly overrode the machine-spirits security protocols for access and the door rolled aside.

With the primary hatch triggered the systems in the following vault activated bathing the dark room in bright light. Cogitator stations turned over their machine-spirits moving from dormant to passive. The Acolytes paused for a few moments wary that someone else was in the room before realising it was their actions that had triggered the systems to awaken. With only another similar door located in the far wall baring their way the group hurried forward past the stacks of data-crystals and storage medium.

A squark of static pulled the acolytes up quickly. Hands reached for weapons once more, the noise had seemingly come from behind them. A second hiss of noise quickly followed the first and then a much longer undulating series of tones.

Someone was behind the group, in their hast they had failed to keep check of their surroundings, now horribly exposed along a sub-level with little cover aside from bookshelves the group readied themselves slowly turning to face the noise.

A single Mechanicus Tech-Priest stood behind the group near the entrance to the Vault. The red robed figure was flanked by a pair of massive armoured servitors equipped with heavy weapons in place of their right arms.

Staring down the barrels of such ordinance the group readied themselves as the machine-code continued to warble forth from the figure, it would only be a moment before the Tech-priest would realise that despite the robes and devices provided by Fabricator Hel, that the group had entirely organic bio-readings.

Before anyone could react a blur of motion whirled through the room colliding with the Tech-Priest, red robes swirled as the priest flew across the massive central pit of the vault and crashed into a data-stack three levels down on the other side. A scream in techna-lingua was cut short as razor talons of lathe forged steel rent apart the figures vox-caster a moment before tearing into softer flesh.

Stunned by the sudden attack the acolytes brought up their weapons. A quick check showed neither of the two battle-servitors had moved despite their minders sudden assault. Their aim then swept down to the Tech-priest his body a mess of blood and lubricant. Atop the corpse hunkered another figure clad in a tattered red cloak.

The Hunter/Killer growled its machine-roar over its victory before swishing its head back and forth like a predatory beast hunting for prey. Long skeletal forelimbs reminiscent of a ulnar and radius ended in massive talons of metal clove into the steel structure of the lower level, with a single movement the creature leap from the first victim and onto the underside of the second level in defiance of gravity. The masking red cloak fell away revealing a sleek metal body without legs and a long slender tail like a mechandendrite.

Held to the underside of the second level in part by a gravitic generator the Hunter/Killer swept forth towards the acolytes. They had wasted no time morning the Tech-Priests demise instead high-tailing it for the door to the next area where Jalith and Corker quickly worked at the controls trying to bypass the security-locks.

As the Hunter/Killer closer the rest of the acolytes stood ready. A blast of bullets from Atellus’s autogun did little but scratch the machine, nor did a psychically assisted las round. The Hunter/Killer covered the length of the vault in seconds not even slowing as it changed its path from the underside of the level and leaping up to the top of the first floor where the Acolytes clustered.

With a cry of defiance Magnus stepped forward unlimbering his Eviscerator his first swing went wide as the creature dodged with a side-ways lurch. In retaliation the Hunter/Killer swept out with its claws hovering aloft on anti-gravity impellors to gouge into the priests armour and flesh beneath, before Magnus could retaliate a burst of gunfire whirled around him as the rest of the acolytes attempted to assist.

Shelves filled with the knowledge of the Mechanicus exploded as the gunfire smashed the Hunter/Killer or blazed past its sinuous movements, few rounds hit though some managed to inflict more than cosmetic damage. Bullets hailed off Magnus who grinned inside the protection of his armour. Emboldened by the apparent safety of his companion Atellus ordered his gun-skull into he fray, its mouth gaped open deploying the short range hell-gun it carried.

The burst of powerful energy from the gun-skull was impresice rather than strike the Hunter/Killer it ducked behind Agnus using him as cover. The Priest roared out as a pair of the high-powered energy bolts worked through his armour a moment before the Hunter/Killers tail flicked around. While Magnus yelled for Atellus to stop firing the Hunter/Killer struck the tails tip glowed white-hot with accumulated power before discharging in a blast of plasma.

Staggered by the discharge but surprisingly uninjured Magnus called out for the Emperors blessing and brought his two-handed chain blade crashing down onto the Hunter/Killer once and then twice the disruption enhanced teeth tearing through the creature in short order and leaving its remnants smoking and twitching with ruptured power systems.

While the Acolytes breathed a sigh of relief Magnus whirled on Atellus’s Gun-skull swinging with his blade. With a curt command the Gun-skull hovered out of the enraged priests reach retreating to safety over the central pit. Without a target to reach Magnus quickly settled down and the group turned their attention to Corker who threw the final security lock opening the door the the vault beyond and the groups intended destination.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 11: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Lathe IV (Data-Storage), 47.816.M41

The blast doors between Vault 161 and 162 ground open. Unlike the previous access points this blast door was much heavier than the last but still lead into an identical room filled with shelves of data-storage modules.

On edge from the sudden appearance of the Tech-Priest and the Hunter/Killer the Acolytes proceeded with weapons at the ready. It didn’t take long for the group to work its way down through one last series of landing and into the approximate area where Thrakis had sent a message from.

The vault that greeted the group was instantly recognisable. Signs of a hurried gun battle marked the room. Bullet had ripped apart a pair of whelves and destroyed acogitator. Blacken sections of metal showed where a flamer had swept and melted holes in the iron walkways indicated a plasma or melta weapon had been discharged.

The trail of destruction illuminated a running fight and took the acolytes downwards where they caught sight of a flutter of red cloth. Ready for another ambush the group where relieved to find the corpse of the Mechanicus priest hanging over the side of the sub-floors, his red robes hooked up in some twisted metal.

The tech-priest had died from massive injuries. A powerful shot had ripped open most of his torso leaving a hole through its middle. The hanging priest was not the only victim another robed Tech-Adept and a pair of combat servitors armed with heavy weapons lay on the distant vault floor.

A quick examination of the corpses revealed that the hanging Tech-Priest had been killed less than a day before. A clotting blood trail revealed at least one other who had escaped by moving to a higher vault while the corpses on the floor had been killed much earlier, At least a month, as the beginnings of decay had eaten at the corpses despite the very chill atmosphere in the vault.

Knowing that any recent hostilities indicated a possible threat the group followed the bloodtrail upwards. They needed to check the location for signs of their master anyway. Magnus took the lead trumping up the secondary stairways to the vault above. Despite their caution it was quickly deemed unnecessary as the vault above was empty aside from a single corpse. A Tech-priest lay in a pool of coagulating blood his left leg missing below the knee.

The Tech-priest’s corpse lay near a Cogitator unit built into the vaults walls. Wondering if some sort of information had been sent Corker hacked into the device but was quickly able to see that the priest had died before sending out any message and that such an attempt would have been futile as the Cogitators Machine-spirit seemed linked into a enclosed network rather than open to the greater plaent wide system.

Moving away from the corpse and back down the group quickly discussed their options. They had found the location of the Data-tomb Thrakis had been seeking, a quick scan of the local inventory system showed the group which section of the vault they were after. Without specific information to look for they were unlikely to determine what information in particular their master might have been after.

With no other choice the group assigned Atellus to start sifting through the information related to the spatial coordinated they had found on Palind. The Adept was to look for any anomalies such as Imperial Navy patrols, hostile aliens, Rogue Trader reports or colony manifestoes related to the region. While the Adept worked the rest of the group aside from Corker set out through the nearby vaults intending to make a survey of the twenty-six adjoining areas. Perhaps some sign of the inquisitor would turn up.

With the Adept absorbed in what would be at least a day of quickly sorting any seemingly relevant data Corker turned his attention to the remnant corpses in the Vault. The servitors and their mind had apparently died from blunt force trauma delivered to the skull as well as taking minor electrical damage but where otherwise intact. Pulling out hi combi-tool the Reclamator got to work cannibalising implants and part from the corpses in an effort to revive one of the Servitors.

Hours dragged by as Atellus sifted. Even just looking at location headers and summaries of the data-crystals information it was going to takes days to sort through he basic information. The Adept had simply started collecting anything interesting and placing it into bags for later analysis. Absorbed by his task and pausing only to check in on occasion with those off scouting the Adept barely registered a presence moving stealthily up behind him.

A deep rumbling voice quickly ordered the Adept to cease his action and turn around. On instinct the Adept reached from his vox-bead but before he could utter anything more than a few syllables the unseen voice ordered him to desist, the words emphasised with the loud click of a safety switch.

Atellus turned about in his seat and quickly raised his hands as his eyes settled onto the gaping moar of an oversized shotgun. Beyond the shotgun was a massive figure. Draped in furs the figure was a fusion of man and machine, the skull of a Xenos-predator served as a helmet. Tis flesh was clearly genetically-enhanced and it took no time from the adept to realise he faced one of the Adeptus Mechanicus’ Skitarii.

Busy reflecting on his work Corker was completely unaware of the commotion upstairs, in another few hours he estimated being able to bring one of the fallen servitors back to a semblance of readiness. So engrossed was he n his work that only the arrival of three Skitarri escorting Atellus down a nearby flight of metal stairs broke his concentration.

-Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 12: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Lathe IV (Data-Storage), 47.816.M41

The Skitarii rounded up Corker and Atellus and quickly escorted them from the lower level of Vault 162 and back into vault 161 where they had fought and killed the Hunter/Killer half a day before. For a moment as the Skitarii demanded their surrender Corker had considered trying to fire up the inactive weapon servitors he had been working on but quickly discarded the idea, he had been close to getting them somewhat operational but not nearly close enough.

Having received the broken alert transmission from Atellus, Jalith, Magnus, Syrion and Ketris looked at each other and tried to hail the Adept once more. Only static and silence returned to them and they quickly hurried through several of the vaults above their companions trying to return to them as quickly as possible.

Under such close escort Atellus found he had little opportunity to signal his friends even with the micro-vox still in his ear. Every time he tried to speak his captors roughly prodded him with the end of a oversized weapon and ordered him to pick up the pace, a pace that was almost a jog for the Adept and Reclimator. After stumbling a second time Atellus tried to use the collapse to cover a signal attempt but was caught out and quickly rendered unconscious by the butt-end of a shotgun. Barely breaking its stride the Skitarii scooped up the Adept and slung him over a massive shoulder pointedly eying Corker with silent intent.

The rest of the group finally arrived in the vault above 162 but where forced to halt their rapid progress as lumen-glow and quiet voices pointed out the presence of others. While Jalith snuck a look over the edge of the highest walkway the rest of his companions quietly prepped their weapons and made sure Magnus stayed as still as possible, his power armour to large to move about discretely.

Down on the bottom from of the vault Jalith spied out a sizable group of figures moving towards the secondary descent stairs to vault 161. Four of the figures were identifiable as Tech-Priests, three leading the group where clearly Tech-Guard, just behind the hulking leaders and also trailing last where two servitors carrying lumen-globes mounted on long staves of metal. Amongst all this was a pair of other figures, one unrecognisable in a fashionable black outfit and the other in a dull brown coat and wearing a duffle cap. It was to the man in the cap that Jalith focused his gaze. There was something familiar about the man but nothing he could pin down from his distant elevated position.

Once the group moved from the vault the acolytes hurried down to the floor level and hashed out a plan. Jalith would slip after the group the rest would head for vault 161 and be ready to come in from the side if the assassin was spotted. Glancing about to make sure the plan was fine with the others Jalith slipped after his quarry silently padding down the stairs to vault 162 with his stummer activated for additional protection.

The group of mechanicus personnel swept through vault 162 stopping to look over the signs of destruction rent on the vault as well as picking over the corpses of the slain tech-priests and servitors. Their passage through the area took almost twenty minutes before the moved towards the lower access way into vault 161. Jaltih kept silent watch on the group until they were about to vacate the vault, deactivating his stummer the assassin quickly alerted his companions to hide. As the group moved from the vault Jalith swept down the stairways in pursuit waiting to open the door to vault 161 until a whispered vox from his companions reported the mechanicus group had traversed 161’s lowest level and where heading into vault 160.

Quietly the assassin continued his pursuit, now familiar with the security-spirits from the inter-vault access he opened the door to 161 with ease and raced across the floor sliding between the closing access doors to the next vault so as not to trigger the automated lighting-protocols, a response occasionally activated by his overrides.

Again and again Jalith followed the Mechanicus group moving through doors at the last second so as to draw as little attention as possible. His quarry despite their seemingly authorised nature where keeping each vault dark, trusting to their own light for guidance. As each door closed the assassin quickly rigged a delayed activation of the doors control so his companions could follow in his wake.

Attention focused on programming the third doors timer Jalith barely noticed a figure silently into position directly behind him. Only his enhanced eyesight allowed him to see a bar of dark metal sweet in front of his neck. The slim second of warning was not enough for Jalith as the bar pressed itself into his throat and a strong forearm pressed against the back of his neck and the weight of a body crushed him up against the wall and door control unit.

The grapple was effective, with the metal bar cutting of his ability to do more than speak and the arm across his neck being precisely placed to snap it the assassin remained completely still until a whisper of hot breath spoke directly into his ear commanding him to remain still. The voice explained that it was only taking such methods as a precaution and that it had something to show the assassin.

Behind the pair locked in a silent hold the far doors in the vault ground shut. The moment the clang of sealing metal had faded Jalith found the bar of metal removed from before his neck. Before the assassin could even begin to threaten his captor, his eyes fixed on a familiar icon of silver dangling from a chain.

The Rosette belonged to a thin man a little under two meters tall dressed in a floor length black coat and an armoured skin-suit a blackened bolt pistol hung at the figures waist and a long staff of black metal rested up against the wall near Jalith, clearly the object previously pressed to his throat.

A tense demand from Jailth had the Rosette in his hand and its inbuilt gene-sampler triggering a hololithic image of Inquisitor Thrakis into the air. At the same time the figure identified itself as Interrogator Marchosis Xerxes and pointed out that by now Jaliths companions where probably considering tearing open the vault door from the other side.
While Jalith opened the access portal the Skitarii escort of Atellus and Corker had strode through several dozen of such doors each opened on unheard command signals and authoritarian coding until the captives found themselves in a massive vault, or rather a single vault that had been interconnected with the removal of several walls to its neighbours. The portion they stood in was illuminated by a fierce glow of magma held back in its destructive path by force and void screens. All about the room wandered several dozen tech-priests and far more servitors. Banks of cogitators and workstations lay around the area and lights blinked and flickered across piles of unidentifiable machinery.

Before Corker could completely ponder his surroundings the Tech-guard escorted them across the space and to a makeshift sell, swung open the door and herded the Reclimator inside before casually tossing the still unconscious adept after him. As Atellus groaned from his treatment Corker took stock of the other prisoners, they all seemed to be low level tech-adepts, barely ranking as Mechanicus servants, each had a glassy look in their eyes and they simply stared into space.

About to turn away from the prisoners Corkers eyes suddenly spotted an impossibly familiar figure. Silvers eyes met his own for a moment the Reclimator saw nothing but the same blank expression as on the others before it briefly faded away and was replaced by a cold stare of annoyance. The woman then quickly broke the gaze and her look returned to its apparently drugged and sedated portrayal.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Lots of fluff in session 13 but a lot of things are coming together as well, if you've been keeping track maybe you want to share your theories about whats been happening over the parts of this campaign?

Act 3: Unseen
Session 13: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Lathe IV (Data-Storage), 47.816.M41

The access door ground open, weapons at the ready Magnus, Ketris and Syrion quickly stood down as Jalith stepped forward and introduced Interrogator Marchosis. After another round of questions and reverification the Acolytes learned that their master was indeed still upon the planet. During Thrakis’s search he had found the information he was after was under lock and key in an area designated as Omega Vault: Sigma Omicron. At the same time they had stumbled across the presence of a man marked by earlier investigations, specifically one Alfredo Telarquin an individual seen aboard the Humanities Path right before it crashed into Sepheris Secundus and later during negotiations within the pleasure district of Hive Sebillus.

Alfredo had been seen in the company of several Mechanicus priests and apparently had free access to the Library world coming and going a little over a month earlier. Access that not even Inquisitor Thrakis had been able to acquire.

Marchosis had been dispatched by Thrakis to watch over the comings and goings of Alfredo and those with him. He had spent the last month observing the Tech-Priest seen in Alfredo’s company tracking them back to a massive laboratory hidden within the Vaults. A laboratory apparently kept secret from the rest of the Mechanicus and apparently under the watch of several corrupt Mechanicus-Librarians.

The Interrogator led the Acolytes through vault after vault as he illuminated the situation, the transmissions Thrakis had sent where in an effort to alert Mechanicus forces of the Inquisition to the fact a rogue group of Tech-Priests seemed to be operating within the Lathes. The arrival of the acolyte, while not what they had wished for, would at least give Marchosis some much needed support in monitoring the situation especially since he had a Woman on the inside as did the Acolytes.

While Marchosis showed the Acolytes into a discretely positioned staging area Corker and Atellus lounged in there cell. Already a harsh and completely understandable glare from the Silver-haired woman had stopped them from speaking up and they simply watched as the assembly of Tech-Priests, adepts, servitors and Skitarii worked.

It was clear that the converted vaults were being used to run some for of experiment a sruciform table was busy being modified by several Tech-Priests. Atellus tried to identify as much as his limited knowledge of the Mechanicus and their machinery as he could. The table seemed to be drawing vast power from the shielded river of lava but the table in itself and its components looked similar to one of the many variations of device used in juve-nat procedures.

The primary blast-door to the converted vault ground open and in walked a quartet of Mechine-priests in the company of a pair of humans and several Skitarii. While the man dressed in a stylish and obviously expensive black suit simply stared in wonder at his surroundings the second man dressed in a drab grey jacket and duffle coat seemed unimpressed.
Without any apparent communication beyond a slit second of machine-code squelch the entire room buzzed into heightened activity. A lifter-servitor moved towards the newcomers where a pair of tech-priests deposited a large metal crate into its arms. The servitor in turn marched across a device intersecting a massive pair of energy conduits that ran from the cruciform table to the junction and then to several massive heat-taps and sinks next to the river of magma.

A second more dexterous servitor met the first and set under the guidance of a Tech-Priest removing the lid of the crate and retrieving the device which lay within. Atellus payed careful attention to the proceedings instantly identifying the contents of the crate, a to foot tall pyramid of brass conduits unidentifiable metal plating and a tall crystal as being similar to the device briefly seen during his assignment to Palind almost two years earlier.

The xenos-manufactured device was hooked up to the Mechanicus junction unit while a massive Skitarii advanced on the cell. Within a moment one of the entranced Tech-Adepts was dragged from the cell and strapped down to the table. Working with a quick efficiency that only a Mechanicus adept can attain the Tech-Adept was quickly hooked up to a dozen intravenous tubes. A servitor carefully positioned an in-built array of long needles over the victims forehead inserting each down into the captives skull without any sign of distress.

There work completed the Mechanicus stepped away from the table and after a second of observing their work the device was activated.

Instantly a barely audible buzzing broke the air, Corker grimaced and Atellus felt his eyes water as the body of the Tech-Adept started thrashing. Power pulsed down from the heat-tap to the Xenos power core and then into the cruciform table. Green fluids pumped into the entrapped victim as his blood was quickly flushed from his body.

A cry of disappear and sickening crunch caused Corker and Atellus to start, behind them the woman with Silver-hair thumped her forehead violently into the ground, blood ran from her face, eyes and spurted from her mouth as she moaned about voices within her skull. The adept reacted quickly restraining the woman from causing herself more harm while she trashed about at unseen pressures. Whatever had happened was not local. Syrion clutched his head and screamed while Ketris stagger to his knees blood pouring from his face while strange languages pounded at his mental defences.

Higher and higher the whine pitched and a sudden wet tearing cause Atellus to refocus on the scene beyond the cell, in horror the Adept and Reclimator watched as the body of the Tech-Adept shivered and began to fall apart becoming translucent and gelatinous. With a wet pop the body burst pouring across the cruciform table like over-boiled porridge. Atellus could do little but set there transfixed as his mind harkened back to seeing piles of that same material on Palind and how it had splattered over him.

With a shudder of machinery and seizing components the event was over. Mechanicus priests quickly looked over their work. The power used had fused a number of the machines components and the Tech-Priest got to work on their replacements.

Still rattled the scene before him Atellus and Cooter watched as several of the robed priests summoned servitors and began sifting through the mess that was once an acolyte of the Omnissiah, they swept up small samples placing them into little metal boxes which were in turn handed to a servitor which injected a bright yellow liquid into the box before placing it into a larger container. Minutes passed before the Mechanicus turned away from the table and looked towards the cell to requisition another victim.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 14: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Lathe IV (Data-Storage), 47.816.M41

Ketris and Syrion struggled to recover from the sudden unexplained phenomena that had struck them as their new ally Marchosis appeared from the gloom of the data-vault. After a brief inquiry the Interrogator placed a small satchel on the floor between the gathered acolytes, fishing about inside the bag for a moment Marchosis finally produced a strange brass device reminiscent of some from of Crustacean.

The device was barely a bigger than a hand in length, moving aside the leg like antennae Marchosis took a solid grip on each side of the object and with a wet snap pulled each half apart exposing a wafer thin sheet of coppery film. Carefully laying the device on the ground the Interrogator manipulated the multi-jointed protrusions and with a burst of static a birds-eye view of a vault filled with tech-priests moving about.

Further manipulation of the antennae-legs cause the image to flicker from one view to another and the Interrogator quickly explained he had positioned a number of spy devices linked to the strange display unit into the vaults the Mechanicus personnel had converted.

It was clear from the live pict-feeds that the Mechanicus where in league with Alfredo Telaquin, the strange man leant against a wall apparently uninterested in the goings-on about him while his companion seemed to take great delight in his surroundings. After checking for an angle to see if Atellus and Corker were unharmed Marchosis assuaged the groups fears indicating that an agent called Miralé was embedded in with the prisoners and would do her best to keep them safe.

It was clear from the surveillance that the people inside the converted vaults where getting ready for some operation and given the sudden an inexplicable suffering of the psykers it was likely a second attempt. Marchosis and the Acolytes quickly hashed out a plan.

From the Inquisitors records provided by the acolytes themselves the Interrogator pointed out the presence of the crystalline-power device attached to one of the Mechanicus’s many devices. Such heretical Xenos technology was too unknown to be anything but a danger so it was the responsibility of the Acolytes and Marchosis to destroy it in the least. Secondary objectives would be to retrieve the prisoners and to escape as quickly as possible.

A scan with the spy-devices laid out the vault, Jalith would move to a seal hatch that in the past would have opened to the upper area of the third converted vault the door now opening into empty space providing an ideal overwatch position. Magnus, Syrion and Ketris would initiate the conflict launching a feint at one of the lower entrance points at the far end of the space from Jalith. With their distraction Marchosis would enter the room via the opening in the ceiling that Jalith had peeked through a day and a half earlier which looked down into the first vault between the shielded river of magma and the prison cage.

Before splitting off to their assignments the Interrogator double check the acolytes supplies and then along with Jalith slipped away leaving the Surveillance device in the care of Ketris.

Atellus and Corker did their best to aid the woman with silver hair, her face was bloodied from the repeated strikes against the ground and the new gleam of disorientation in her eyes was clearly from the pain rather than any drug or attempt at deceit. The sound of a massive door grinding open and a stir of aggression from the Skitarii guards beyond the cell bars drew Atellus’ gaze to the far end of the converted vaults.

Resplendent in robes of dark crimson and flanked by a pair of Hunter/Killer Servitors, a massive figure marched into the area, a squeal of machine-code and several silent bows from the assembled Tech-Priests, Servitors and Tech-Adepts greeted the figure, the Skitarii themselves made the sign of the cog briefly with a single hand. Drinking in the appearance of the figure Atellus easily identified the newcomer as Beta-Alpha Barakis the Librarians whose metal demon-like features had been conjured by Syrion miles above in another distant vault.

Beta-Alpha Barakis surveyed the vault sweeping his enhanced gaze across banks of cogitators and machinery before nodding. The slight gesture triggered the arrival of several large lifter-servitors which hauled a variety of large devices into the vault and began to deploy them. With the servitors performing their duties the Tech-Librarian strode around the area pausing to examine the cruciform table and the prisoners as well as the alien pyramid-shaped device. Each was regarded with a cold uncaring technological gaze for the exact same time before being silently filed and dismissed.

As Beta-Alpha Barakis turned from the prison cell the door swung open and a Tech-Priest reached in selecting another of the drugged captive. Within moments the figure was being strapped down and prepared for the same procedure that had destroyed his previous companion.

Jalith settled himself into position he would wait for a ready signal from Marchosis before using his multi-key to open the blast door he sat against. Alone and in absolute darkness the Assassin utilised his cybernetic eyes to scan the surrounding vault On the verge of concluding his location was reasonably secure the Assassins eyes suddenly picked up a flutter of movement and the faintest of noises echoed in his ears.

Wrapping his chameleoine cloak tighter around himself and pressing his body hard against the wall Jalith scanned for more movement his eyes settling on the prowling shape of a single Hunter/Killer as it roved through the upper gantries of the vault. Quietly the assassin activated his vox and whispered a quick message alerting his companions, in response the prowling servitor suddenly stopped its movements trying to determine the source of the brief vox-transmission before resuming its methodical sweep.

Static crackled and Magnus swept his weapon up staring through his power-armour enhanced eyesight, Ketris has heard a noise a barely minute earlier and the brief warning from Jalith had the two psykers and the Redemptionist backing into an alcove between two massive sets of shelves. A hiss of alarm escaped Magnus as his gaze landed on the form of a single Hunter/Killer.

The roving machine crawled down the side of the scaffold-well not even bothering to disguise its descent across the vaults inner levels. Adorned with low-light goggles Ketris and Syrion joined Magnus in tracking the target holding their fire until the servitor reached kill-range and hoping that it would single assume the acolytes had not seen it.

Fingers tightened on triggers as the Hunter/Killer prowled closer, its long fore-limbs dragged its suspensored body downwards in defiance of gravity, with a spurt of speed it leap downwards from one level to the next closer and closer.

The word to fire died before Magnus could give it life as a massive weight crashed into his back driving the armoured cleric to the ground as a second Hunter/Killer ambushed the acolytes. With their attention so firmly concentrated on its companion the servitor had easily snuck up on the group.

Rzor talons forged as only the Magos of the Lathes knew how slashed into the protective Ceramite of Magnus’ power armour. The cleric tried to roll free of the attack but succeeded in only avoiding a power-field enhanced bite from the Hunter/Killers artificial jaw.

Panic gripped Syrion and Ketris and Magnus tried to fight their skills where little match for the powerful servitors and in a panic Ketris drew his hand cannon squeezing of a pair of shots that simply ricochet off the feral looking machine.

The second Hunter/Killer seeing the ambush succeed swept forward at top speed towards Syrion its long limbs easily propelling it across half the vault in a single moment. With a cry of fear the psyker reached out to the warp and in with a blast of static the world went dark.

Magnus crashed to the ground as the psychic-EMP struck him rendering his armour inoperable as well as his cybernetic eyes and arm, unable to stop himself the cleric thudded to the ground beneath the dead-weight of his attacker/ Ketris looked at Syrion in thanks before ordering the diviner to keep up the action. Quickly the investigator ripped his engraved Bolt-pistol from its holster, like all of Thrakis’ acolytes Ketris had received the weapon as a sign of his masters respect but the psyker had not taken the time to familiarise himself with its working.

With the weapon non-functioning while Syrion used his power Ketris positioned himself beside the first of the Hunter/Killers and simply held down the trigger. A second later Syrion groaned as his ability failed and power returned to the clerics systems and those of the servitors. The loud retort of a bolt-pistol firing directly against the skull of a Hunter/Killer filled the vault and the hasty cry from Ketris commanded Syrion back into action as the psyker repeated his trick eliciting a sudden curse from Magnus who had staggered half-way to his feet before toppling over again.
Again and again the two psykers acted, Syrion blanketing the nearby area with a dampening field and Ketris positioning himself to fire directly into the cogitation engine of the Servitors until a dreadful click of an empty magazine brought the pair to the flaw in their plan.

Seeing little point in keeping up their pattern Syrion released his power and the Hunter/Killers swept into action. Each unit was badly damaged but had managed to twist aside from the worst of the Ketris’s attacks in the fraction of a moment between each use of Syrion’s power. The damage was enough however as Magnus swept to his feet, his eviscerate flashed in a buzzing arc smashing its way through the closest Servitor and rendering it immobile.

The second Hunter/Killer-class servitor leapt forward and the battle damaged priest dropped his two-handed weapon drawing his mono-edged longsword and an ornate Landrian Sigilitte. Sweeping the taloned claw of the Servitor aside and avoiding a blast of plasma energy discharged through the Hunter/Killers tail the Redemptions pinned the Servitor to the ground ramming his long blade past its cranial armour and into the still living brain-remnants.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 15: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Lathe IV (Data-Storage), 47.816.M41

Syrion struggled to open Magnus’s power-armour while trying to assure the Redmptionist that he was a skilled Chirurgeon and could help with his wounds while Ketris checked over their equipment. A brief examination from the psyker revealed their spy-monitor was still functioning and he proceeded to check in with Jalith before responding to the inquiries of Interrogator Marchosis. Magnus brushed off the aid of Syrion and assured the Interrogator that he could still perform his duty and the Acolytes finished their preparations for the forthcoming assault.

Inside the massive remodelled vault the various Tech-priests began their ritual once more, quietly and efficiently they began strapping the next victim to the cruciform table and hooking him up to the intravenous tubes and life-sustainers. Servitors rumbled back and forth hurrying to replace destroyed capacitors and energy-buffers beneath the watchful gaze of their masters and the hulking form of Tech-Librarian Barakis.

Corker checked his possession patting the small selection of weaponry he carried and weighing up the options of trying to fight free of the cell when a gentle hand stalled him. The silver-haired woman quietly called for the Reclamator to calm himself but then asked for him to be prepared, there would be a right place to act and when it occurred he and Atellus were to head to safety as fast as they could.

Pausing to look at the woman, Corker could not keep the concern for her out of his voice. A moment before she had been dashing her brains out against the floor and now she was going to protect him? Any thoughts of speaking up disappeared as the woman issued instructions that if they made a break for it, Corker and Atellus were to attempt to subdue either the man dressed in the fine black clothes of Alfredo Telarquin, either would be valuable for later questioning especially Alfredo with his repeated involvement in Thrakis’s affairs.

Nodding, the Reclamator swept his gaze over the two men. The younger man still gazed about smiling as if caught in a state of rapturous bliss, a glance at Alfredo caused the Scum to shiver and mentally declare his intention to avoid the apparently more dangerous man as the hum of machinery powering up once again filled the vault.

Marchosis readied himself at the breach point above the conjoined vaults, quickly he voxed his final instructions to the Acolytes. Jalith was to wait for the go signal before opening the door he sat behind and his first target was to be the power transfer conduits hopefully severing any energy supply to the strange Xenos device. Magnus, Ketris and Syrion were to stand by at the main entrance to the vault watching for anyone fleeing and to stop them if possible. Acknowledges were given and silence descended. Moments dragged past and the vox crackled to life. Three steady clicks of transmission accompanied by a dull crump from the massive vault.

The high-pitched echo of metal ringing against metal was the barest of warnings. Miralé swept to her feet, a pair of daggers several inches long appearing in her hands as if by magic. The third ring of metal was accompanied by a blast of energy as a trio of small high-yield frag grenades, gifts given to Marchosis by a member of the Deathwatch, detonated. With a single motion Miralé triggered the miniaturized power-field generators of her blades and slashed apart the lock to the prison cell.

Mechanicus personal looked about as several workstations blew apart, shrapnel eviscerating a servitor. Across the room the Skitarii guards reacted, combat-drugs pumped into their systems as their muscles responded to pre-arranged commands within a few seconds they have split up around the room securing the six major blast doors that could serve as entry points to the conjoined vaults.

As the confusion reigned, Marchosis dropped down from the ceiling via a descent harness. The Interrogator blazed away as he descended with his Boltpistol, the moment his boots touched the floor he turned towards a pair of Skitarii rushing from the nearby cell. Shotguns blared from the tech-guard but the Interrogator seemed to simply note be fund where the blasts where aimed, with deliberate aim Marshosis squeezed off a pair of rounds with blasted into the nearest Skitarii. Electricity flashed as the micro-generators in the tempest shells played havoc with the large guard’s nervous system and mechanical implants for a moment before the figure burst into flames and collapsed to the floor.

Jalith tucked away his multi-key as the sealed blast door released its locks and slide open. The assassin peered into the conjoined vaults, as expected the door he opened was located at the far end of the area from where Marchosis was providing a distraction. With calm assurance the Assassin lay on the ground within the darkened hatchway sighting down his Nomad and lining up on the distant power-transfer conduits. A pair of well placed shots ruptured the lines which lashed about like servants spitting current across the floor.

Tech-priests scurried to and fro with a few exceptions. Beta-Alpha Barakis surveyed the confusion backtracking the pair of sniper shots calmly. His augmetic systems scanning the elevated area of the vaults before spotting the opened blast-hatch near the roof. Though the doorway was dark and Jalith barely visible the Assassin felt more than saw the Tech-Librarian’s gaze as it fixed upon him through solid cover. Without a word the Hunter/Killers that lurked that the Tech-Priests side swept away running in their strange grav-assisted gait towards the walls of the vault as complex chameleonic circuits activated making them blend into their surroundings.

Jalith swore and sighted in on Barakis, a quick squeeze of the trigger and the Tech-Librarian staggered back from a round to the face. Metal sparked and Barakis straightened from the blow turning his damaged visage back towards Jalith. With a smooth motion the Tech-Librarian swept off it robes so it fell from around his upper body revealing a torso completely mechanical in appearance. Beta-Alpha Barakis raised its arms and the assassin gasped as a second pair of limbs disentangled themselves from the first giving him an appearance reminiscent of Thorr’s.

Without a pause the Tech-Priest pointed all four limbs at Jalith’s location, various machine parts whirred and clicked, locking together into a complex system of intakes, conduits and apertures dominating the back of the Tech-librarians limbs. A bright flash of light registered across Jalith’s augmetic vision. As he ducked further back into the shadows, four solid bars of liquefied air, fired so close together as to be a single blast, melted away the lip of the elevated blast door leaving glowing slag to ran down the wall of the vault.

Miralé dashed through the cells door swaying around the confused attack of a Tech-Priest, her daggers whipped from her hands flying in an impossible straight trajectory to imbed themselves in the shoulders of the Skitarii watching over the primary exit from the room. Stunned at the simple use for such expensive and rare technology Corker was almost floored as the silver-haired woman produced a second set of knives from beneath the simple cassock she wore.

Reacting at the yelled commands from Miralé, Corker pushed Atellus into a run as he broke towards the man in black clothing, who now wore an expression of stunned disbelief apparently unable to comprehend the reversal of events in the underground vault. The Reclamator poured on all the speed he could, vaulting over the cruciform table and its unmoving prisoner before bearing down on the dark haired young man. As he did Corker’s gaze crossed with that of Alfredo’s who simply tugged down his cap, twitched his collar, smiled and walked calmly towards another of the blast doors and its Skitarii guard.

The sounds of conflict reached Magnus, Syrion and Ketris who hurried from the upper level of their adjacent vault and into position. The Redemptionist champed at the bit, feeling better thanks to Syrion’s skill and willing to put his Eviscerator to good use, the noble quickly talked Ketris into opening the blast door they were guarding so that they could at least see what was happening.

Moving to the nearby control panel the psyker pressed flat against the wall not wanting any stray fire to come his direction before awkwardly trigger the release. The blast door rumbled open and Magnus thumbed the activation switch on his Eviscerator its teeth roaring into life. In response to the noise a Skitarii guard whirled around levelled his shotgun and depressed the trigger at point blank range into the armoured cleric.

The shot went wide as the Skitarri’s muscles spasmed from the injuries inflicted by the embedded knives tossed by Miralé and in response the cleric swept his two-handed chain-blade down cleaving through the monstrous fighter in a single gore-spraying stroke.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

There will be a short break for the next couple of weeks as I will be out of town, but fear not the mayhem will return.

Act 3: Unseen
Session 16: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Lathe IV (Data-Storage), 47.816.M41

The conjoined-vaults quickly became a scene of carnage as the Acolytes and their superiors sprung their trap and the Mechanicus personnel replied in kind. In the center of the room Marchosis steadily fired his bolt pistol, two bullets at a time, the lethal Tempest shells sinking into the flesh of Skitarri racing towards him firing their oversized shotguns from the hip. Each blast clawed the air but seemed to miss their target as if the Interrogator was suddenly not where he previously had stood.

From his snipers nest Jalith pulled of another pair of rounds, each zipped towards the Tech-Librarian who retaliated with the immensely destructive ray of energy projected from his four arms. The long range melta discharge slagged more and more of Jaliths position and the assassin began to sweat, not only from the intense heat but the blurred and indistinct distortions in space which marked the rapidly closing presence of Beta-Alpha Barakis’s Hunter/Killers, which would reach his position within moments as they defied gravity to race up the sheer wall of the vault.

Corker leapt towards the young man in black clothing hoping the terror of the sudden fight would overwhelm his target but the young man simply smiled and reached into his jacket to produce a long elaborately crafted duelling las. Lining up a shot, one hand holding the weapon with the barrel resting on the other forearm, the Nobleman fired on the charging Reclamator and cursed as the shot went wide, the intense heat of the blast whispered past Corker and the young man hastily reached for a reload.

Magnus and Ketris advanced into the vault the psyker kept a wary eye on the conflict hunting for targets of opportunity while Magnus tossed aside his eviscerator and slipped his Flamer from its carry harness. The Redemptionists raised a cry of fury towards a nearby cluster of Tech-Priests and servitors but choked on the words as they formed, twisting them into a curse as his flamer refused to fire.

While the cleric reached for his hand-flamer Ketris focused his eldritch powers to blast away at a Servitor lumbering towards Atellus. Like the Reclamator the Adept had ignored the shouted orders of Miralé to race towards one of the many workbenches and retrieve his Servo-skull, then in the midst of the gun-battle the Adept had tried to reawaken the devices slumbering machine spirit. Under orders from one of the Tech-priests a lumbering worker-servitor closed on Atellus and it reach out with is reinforced hands grasping at the Adepts head. Sensing the danger at the last moment Atellus ducked and thrust out his servo-skull, the tiny compact hell-gun in the unit spluttered into life spraying the servitor and the guiding Machine Cultist beyond giving the Adept a chance to run to the relative safety of Magnus.

Miralé plucked the last of her power-blades from beneath her cassock and launched them at the Tech-Librarian. A bray of machine-coded laughter echoed in the vault as the blades barely touched Beta-Alpha who turned to face the new threat, interlinked arms uncoupled before unleashing four short range beams of violent death at the lithe figure. Out of projectiles Miralé launched herself forwards to slide along the floor of the vault and between the massive Tech-Priests legs, her hands quickly retrieved her miss-thrown knives before she leapt up into a whirling ballet of action, slicing out at Barakis and avoiding the bursts of fire from his wrist mounted inferno weapons.

Interrogator Marchosis fought like a madman turning his attention from one Skitarii to the next and even sniping a shot at the distant Tech-Librarian for good measure but his practised eye swept in the battlefield, it was clear that casualties had certainly been inflicted on the apparently rogue Mechanicus cell but the tide was about to shift. Before the scruffy Throne-Agent could sound the retreat a blast of short ranged fire from one of the Skitarii smashed into the Interrogators side shredding through his armoured body-glove and rolling Marchosis across the floor as the ancient displacer field he failed to shift his location ahead of the blast. Ribs on fire from the pain the Interrogator pushed himself upright and gave out the signal for retreat, waving and yelling to be heard over the din of battle while falling back to his entry route.

Jalith managed two more shots at his target before the Hunter/Killers where on his position. Each was little more than a dull grey blur, clearly the work of some sort of camouflage system attempting to conceal the monstrosities as best it could in the metal surroundings. Half seen talons razored through the air and the assassin threw himself to the side with all his skill, ducking and weaving for a few seconds before the pair of practised hunters surrounded him and struck with all their not-inconsequential speed and power. Metal claws shredded the grating of the floor Jalith stood upon as well as the assassins own flesh, a flicker of bright light signalled one of the creature arming its short-range tail-gun but the shot was wild. Each dodge took the assassin closer and closer to the empty that dominated the center of each vault, with one final look at his opponents and a prayer to the Emperor Jalith gambled his life.

Lashing out the assassin hooked his descent harness to a metal safety railing as he threw himself out into space. For a moment Jalith fell unrestrained before the device kicked in rapidly playing out cable to slow his fall though the final meter was still rough knocking the wind out of him as he rolled along the ground. Taking a quick glance above Jalith saw the pair of Hunter/Killers making a hasty descent down the side of the room’s central well, leaping down from one internal floor to the next with ease. Turning from his pursuers the assassin fled the room tapping his Vox-bead and calling in support from the rest of the Acolytes.

Corker slugged the young man in black over and over as they crashed together, the Reclamator had dodged a second hot-shot round before finally closing and now it took only a couple of seconds to subdue his target. Breathing heavily the tinker grabbed the man’s jacket and quickly dragged him towards Magnus’s position under the covering fire of Atellus and his gun-skull.

Magnus fell back, dragging the unconscious nobleman and threatening to do the same to Atellus who wanted to stay and fight despite the rapidly mounting odds. The adept and cleric met up with the two psykers and quickly quite the area retreating through one vault into the next as the Redemptionist used his power armour enhanced endurance to quickly join up with the fleeing Jalith a few moments ahead of the Hunter/Killers. Hauling an inter-vault access hatch shut they haphazardly rigged the door with a grenade before setting off again, Marchosis had voxed a temporary rally point to rendezvous at as well as some additional coordinates should he and Miralé not arrive within five minutes, coordinates that would take the group to Thrakis.

The distant thud of an exploding grenade echoed in the Acolytes wake, as the smoke settled a massive figure swathed once more in the scarlet robes of the Mechanicus stepped into the vault, his true-flesh face a ruin of twisted metal from several bullet strikes the demonically faced Tech-Librarian looked even more sinister than usual. Within seconds the massive forms of his Hunter/Killers prowled at Beta-Alpha’s sides, they yearned to hunt the fleeing intruders but Barakis calmed them, raising his chin towards the roof of the vault the Tech-Librarian rerouted power from his external senses, interfaced his noo-spheric systems to the Vault-Worlds data-flows and sent out a priority signal.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 17: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Lathe IV (Data-Storage), 48.816.M41

Minutes ticked by slowly as the acolytes loitered at the proposed rendezvous point the though of pursuers kept them on edge. When the required time elapsed and then some without any sign of the Interrogator or his aide the group gathered their belongings and took off hoping to put as much distance between themselves and any Hunter/Killer Servitors as they could.

Jalith moved ahead of the group towards one of the vast inter-vault doorways and reached fro his multi-tool ready perform the same action he had dozens of times before. This time the attempt failed as hostile security-spirits aggressively fought his intrusion.

A few moments later the assassin had overcome the increased security measures and the group raced onwards, dashing their way through vault after vault in an effort to reach the secondary coordinates Marchosis had provided, those of the Omega vault and hopefully contact with the acolytes Master.

Magnus called a halt to the headlong flight, his injuries where still causing him some difficulty and he was still hauling along the young captive that Corker had acquired. With a flash of insight the Cleric wondered if perhaps their prisoner might be able to offer some aide in their flight, perhaps he knew of a way free from the Mechanicus facility unseen.

A few moments later the prisoner was brought out of his daze and thrust against a wall by the power armoured Redemptionist. It took only a few minutes of tirade before their captive had identified himself as Tyboril of house Cortez a name which meant little to the acolytes. In turn Magnus raised his hand-flamer and awoke the weapons machine-spirit. Slowly Magnus inched the pilot-light towards he young mans face demanding him to reveal any information he might have.

Unfortunately interrogation was not one of the Redemptionists strong suits and with a sudden flare of light and a scream of agony the young mans hair caught fire and swiftly his entire head.

Horrified at the potential loss of their captive Ketris pushed past Magnus and swiftly saw to putting out the fire, Tyboril lay upon the ground his face a scarred ruin his mouth working in a wet whimper as Syrion produced what little medical supplies he had left, swiftly rendering the captive uncouscious so he could apply a restorative poultice. Shrugging off the accusations of his companions Magnus simple pointed out that they had little time for regrets and the group continued onwards.

Another day vanished, the acolytes had spent nearly forty hours awake and fatigue was beginning to wear at them but their passage had finally brought them close to their destination and apparently without seeing a single Mechanicus pursuer. Only a pair of vaults lay before them and the acolytes started to descend from the elevated levels to the vaults floor when a loud grinding sound signalled the opening of an access hatch, a moment later a trio of figures strode into the room, a Tech-Guard, not as large as those Skitarri seeing in the conjoined vaults but clad in ornate Carapace armour, to his left and right strode a pair of combat-servitors, one outfitted with a breacher and plasma gun while the second totted a massive heavy bolter and cybernetic chain-axe.

A fraction of a second passed as the two groups caught sight of each other. In that moment Jalith had his nomad out and sent a shot smashing into the helmet of the Skitarrii.

Chaos ensued as a pair of Tech-guard entered the vault behind the acolytes. Syrion, Corker and Attellus turned to face those closing from above while Magnus, Jalith and Ketris let loose at those below. The blast of a plasma gun illuminated the vault but the servitors aim was off while the Skitarri advanced and let loose a barrage of fire from his Hellgun.

Jalith fired again and again while Ketris retrieved a weapon from the assassins duffle bag before joining in the assault, Magnus thumped down the metal stairs to counter the rapid charge of the tech-guard who switched from his hellgun and to a power-enhanced maul. The pair met in a furious clash the cleric eschewing his Eviscerator in favour of a broadsword and his parrying dagger but swiftly regretted the idea as the Skitarii’s power-maul smashed Magnus’s sword to pieces.

A high-pitched whine filled the vault and a blast of energy flared on the vaults floor as the servitor bearing the plasma weapon exploded. The energy vortex lashed out and cooked its companion but not enough to disable the synth-flesh creation which turned its bolter upwards and fired a trio of bursts the explosive ammunition tearing into Jalith knocking the wind from him and smashing apart Ketris’s arm below the elbow.

Teeth-roared and Magnus swung his eviscerator at his opponent and the massive blade caught one, then a second time ripping the skitarii apart. Above him Jalith fumbled out his bolt-pistol and ignoring the pain of his ribs put a final round into the remaining servitor finally silencing it.

Syrion hastened down from his battleground to tend to the injured, stimms and sealing agents soon stymied Ketris’s wound allowing the psyker to limp along dazed with pain while Jalith had to make do as best he could. The group hurried through the final area and out into their destination.

A light breeze swept over the party despite their subterranean and hermetically controlled environment. The Acolytes stoop on a massive walkway, it stretched out east and west around the four walls of an enormous room at least a dozen vaults wide and half so deep and tall. Suspended from massive chains to each upper corner was a enormous metal cube, it dangled in space filling almost a third of the vacant area with only a single steel gantry running out to a darkened entrance outlined by a cog-like skirting.

Battered and sore the group limped along the walkway and picked their way down the access gantry, bodies lay across the metal their vitae dripping between the metal grating and falling away, a vast battle had occurred with Mechanicus personal apparently trying to fight their way to the suspended Omega Vault. As the acolytes finished their slow crossing they could see that the vault was open, its cog marked entryway dark not from distance and lack of illumination but the presence of a dampening field, just before the entrance lay a pair of bodies, barely intact but clearly not Mechanicus in nature.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 18: Calixis Sector, Lathes Sub, Lathe IV (Data-Storage), 48.816.M41 to 44.816.M41

The cog shaped entrance to the hanging vault shimmered black before the Acolytes, auspex scans andm ental probing revealed nothing beyond the null-field. A moment discussion saw Jalith easing his way into the vault hoping that his quick reflexes would give him an edge if anything hostile lay in wait, a moment after the assassin disappeared his hand reappeared beckoning the rest forward.

The interior of Omega Vault: Sigma Omicron was reminiscent of all the individual data-vaults the group had travelled through. The inside of the immense cube was wrapped with metal walkways and scaffolding. Unlike all the other vaults this one housed more than just data-stacks though there were plenty of those. Each level was cluttered with shelves brimming with technologies and strange devices, most impossibly ancient but one or two more modern looking, a few even seemed to be of Xenos manufacture.

The group took the vault in briefly as their eyes settled onto a scene directly before them in the center of the vaults bottom floor. A series of spotlight beamed down onto a pile of corpses, most where clearly battle-servitors and Skitarii, a few seemed to be wearing the remnant of low level tech-adept clothing. Atop the mound slumped a golden figure, ancient power armour, marred by the repeated impacts of gun fire, the huge form leant with its helmeted head bowed upon the haft of combination bolter/halberd though the blade that should have dominated the end was inactive.

The acolytes instantly recognised the arms and armour worn by their master, it was impossible to tell if the Inquisitor was alive, the damage dealt to the armour was extreme but none seemed imminently fatal. Magnus and Corker quickly hastened towards Thrakis thinking that perhaps his power-pack had simply failed and trapped him.

Syrion reached out with his mind hoping to register some psychic trace from the armoured form but stumbled back suddenly as his power recoiled, hurriedly the psyker called a warning that the vault was shielded, blocking psychic techniques in a method similar to those used on the dreaded black ships.

Static crackled through the air as the acolytes reached their master, as one the ground turned to face the shielded doorway, the null-screen parted as a pair of massive Hunter/Killers swept into the room, each as larger than those previously encountered, a step behind the specialised servitors strode Beta-Alpha Barakis, his demonic visage a twisted ruin beneath his red hood.

Not a word spoke from Barakis as he raised his arms towards the acolytes and their masters armour, weapon ports rolled back and the inbuilt inferno weapons deployed across the tech-librarians arms as he strode forward. Only Corker and Magnus stood their ground as the rest of the group broke for what little cover there was, the pair hastily deactivated the Redemptionists power armour hoping to transfer his power cells to Thrakis.

Jalith swept up his weapon, still injured from the earlier fights his aim wavered even lifting only a boltpistol but the shell flew true smashing into Barakis’s head again. The Tech-priest laughed artificially and goaded the assassin, taunting him that his head was never a vital location. With those words the weapon arrays along his arms interlinked and a bar of light flared out slashing across the room and smashing through the ornate artificer armour.

The Hunter/Killer swept forward as their master fired, quickly crossing the room the first leapt to attack Jalith and the assassin rolled aside avoiding the lathe-forged talons as the servitor flickered in and out of perception beneath its chameleon field. The second raced towards the unarmoured Cleric who was swiftly attempting to redone his armour. A flurry of fire distracted the machine-beast as Atellus, Syrion and Ketris blindly opened fire showering it with shell, bullet and las.

The damage inflicted by the Tech-Librarian became apparent as his weapon fire ceased. A fist sized hole was punched straight through the armours chest piece and out the other side but the suit was empty. As the acolytes breathed a sigh of relief and Barakis realized his error a blur of red fell from the shadowed ceiling to land delicately behind the Heretek. With a fluid motion Shariel struck knifing her hand into Beta-Alpha’s back his metal flesh parting beneath a ornate and ancient power-fist. With a twist the assassin wrenched free the traitor’s spine and Barakis slid to the floor a moment later.

The assault concluded a moment later, a pair of deafening retorts echoed in the chamber and one of the Hunter/Killers jerked sideways its head a tangled mess as Thrakis loomed out of the darkness, the servitors companion was swiftly gutted by Shariel much to Jalith’s relief.

Hurriedly the acolytes gathered about their master hoping to make their report when the Inquisitor turned and addressed a figure behind the group. Once more weapons were raised, this time too groans of effort until the group spotted the newest arrival. A trio of women walked through the Null-field, each was identical in every fashion right down to the red hair which rippled in an absent breeze.

A week later the Acolytes were still recuperating, Fabricator Hel had used the group to identify the presence of the Omega vault along with all the Heretek’s they had encountered, the ruse that they were carrying a beacon to use as a transport out had in part been correct, the device was a beacon, but only to track the groups passage and to operate as a reliable target for teleporting into the vaults. The Fabricator was a member of the Collegiate Extremis and was charged with tracking down any affronts to the Machine god, something she had asked Thrakis to assist her with but loosing contact with him had prevented.

Lounging about their rooms the Acolytes listened to the explanation provided by Constantine one of the Inquisitors adepts who had been apart of the initial group. They had located the vault but not before being ambushed and having to hold out as long as possible for contact with either Marchosis or Hel for support. While the acolytes where unexpected they had lured Barakis to his ultimate doom. Hel had retrieve several components from the Tech-Priests corpse while Thrakis retrieved the information he sought along with a small wraith-bone and crystal pyramid about a foot tall associated with the information.

The Aftermath gave the group time to heal their wounds and assess their actions (and in Ketris's place the chance to adapt to his newly regrown limb) as Thrakis and his inner circle appraised the item and information collected from the Omega Vault.  A report from Aimee indicated that Marchosis and Mirale had apparently stolen aboard a vessel carrying Alfredo from the system, and it was obvious they would soon be in the field again.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 19: Calixis Sector, Scintilla Sub, Scintilla (Hive Sebillus), 92.816.M41 to Adrantis Sub, Baraspine (Baraspine Hive) 120.816.M41

The acolytes relaxed within Thakis’s secured residence within the Tricorn, two months had passed since the events on Lathe IV and Thrakis had returned to Scintilla to research the information retrieved from the Omega Vault. Rested, resupplied and once again ready for deployment the Acolytes knew it would only be a matter of time before Thrakis would send them out once more so they took advantage of the downtime to purchase a few new items and polish their skills, some like Magnus went out into the hive to seek friends and allies.

Despite the intervening months there had been no word from Mirale and Marchosis, the pair had managed to follow Alfredo Telarquin through the Vaults of Lathe IV and onto a vessel that quit the system and vanished into deep space deftly avoid the Mechanicus security patrols using unknown technologies.

Under Aimee’s watchful eyes an army of lexographers and savants prowled through the archives of the Tricorn palace. The data retrieved from the Vault was still heavily encrypted with ancient Inquisitorial and Mechanicus ciphers from the earliest years of the Calixis sector, ciphers that were remaining illusive with incomplete translation keys.

Tyboril Cortez, the young nobleman captured by Corker and Atellus provided the most immediate source of information through more traditional methods of Inquiry. Underneath the blustered threats of doom and the pitiful wails of sorrow Tyboril revealed his allegiances. House Cortez was a Noble House from Baraspine that had earned an allegiance to the great Sarcosian Dynasty a powerful Rogue Trader family operating within the Calixis Secotr and the Koronus Expanse.

Further research on the Dynasty showed a tentative link to House Strien of Arctus IV, the house investigated three years ago where acolytes discovered a hidden manufactorum producing Injectors for the drug Twilight.

Dealing with a Rogue Trader house would be difficult at best and without more tangible proof linking the involvement of these houses to the Dynasty there would be little chance for even a powerful Inquisitor like Thrakis to bring enough weight against such a potent adversary.

The order came down to the Acolytes, the Cortez House was one of the most influential families of Baraspine where they controlled vast swathes of the hive and its people in the manufactorums and export businesses. They would proceed to that world and look into the activities of House Cortez and try to ascertain if there was a greater connection to the Sarcosian Dynasty beyond a simple alliance of interests.

With an assignment in hand the group began to prepare, through his family Magnus would once again act as his heritage demanded, removing his Ecclesiastical vestments to become an agent of his family, he would head to Baraspine to establish a trade connection with the world. The rest of the acolytes would split up, first Ketris and Corker would travel to Baraspine with Ketris pretending to be a bounty hunter and Corker his liaison to the nefarious elements of the Imperium. The pair would descend to the Mid-Hive levels of Baraspine Hive and try to see if Twilight was available on that world. Jalith, Attelus and Sirion would remain with Magnus as Bodyguards, Aides and Seers, giving them an excuse to remain close to the noble.
To further their cause Thrakis opened his coffers making half a million thrones available to establishing the groups credentials as a trade envoy. The group also received a pair of new recruits, the first an old friend the psyker Ruby returned from other assignments to rejoin the investigation along with Jaqui “Six” Axa a Moritat in training.

Ruby and Six would attend Magnus who had arranged for a suitable residence within the hives upper spires while an old safe house within a mid-hive stack would be made available to Ketris and Corker. With supplies gathered and resources ready the group made their way to Baraspine through a swift and safe warp passage aboard the Faithful Endeavour a quick ship secretly controlled by the Inquisition.

Once in orbit of the world they said their goodbyes and split apart. While Magnus and his group arrived in state and where greeted by factors of House Amus-Hax, Ketris and Corker made their way down to the lower hives aboard a bulk-lifter the rickety craft dropping into sand storm of Baraspine and pushing there way through the masses of humanity enclosed within the Singing Depths.

+++DATA ADDENDUM+++
+++PLEASE ENTER SECURITY CODE AND PREPARE FOR GENETIC SAMPLING+++

+++CODE CONFRIMED+++
+++SAMPLE COMFIRMED+++

System: Baraspine

Location: Calixis Sector, Adrantis Sub
Star Type: G (Moderate Yellow)
Celestial Features: 4 Significant features – Barren World (Uninhabited); Baraspine (Hive World); Asteroid Field (Planetary remnant); Gas Giant (Orbital Helium-1 Refinary)
Tech Level: 11, Imperial Standard
Adepta Presence: Extensive Administratum, Minor Ecclesiarchy, Minor Mechanicus
Tithe Grade: Exactus Moderatum

Point of Interest: Baraspine

Celestial Position: 2nd orbital position from the systems primary.
Chief Export: Cogitation Cells, Pottery and other Silicon based products.
Chief Import: Food and Water

Baraspine is one of the most inhospitable Hive Worlds in the Calixis Sector. The entire surface of the world is swept by a constantly moving wind storm that reaches Force Speed in excess of 700km and rarely much slower. These winds kick up the surface of the planet and swathe it in a constant storm of grit and sand. Anyone unprotected against these winds will be instantly torn to shreds, while even those with the protection of Baraspine’s specially designed environment suits will barely survive a few minutes even if they can prevent themselves from simply being swept away.

Point of Interest: Baraspine Hive

Population: 1.5 Billion
Type: Enclosed Hive/Solar Hybrid

Baraspine contains three Hives the largest of which takes the planets name and houses three-quartes of the worlds general population as well as the entirity of its ruling elite. This Hive stretches out over 150 square kilometres and climbs at its highest point to over 50km from the dust shrouded surface.

The Hive is divided into three primary sections, the uppermost rises from 15km to the giddy heights of the Mesosphere and is called The Torch. This protuberance is a massive series of elevators, macro-lifts and luxury ascenders that allow the Nobility and other people of not to descend from orbit in luxury and to send supplies and export up to waiting transfer craft and vice versa. The name for this tower comes from the shroud of flame that wraps around the ancient structure. Air friction ignites against the protective inertial and structural fields of the orbital tower.

Below the torch is the Upper Hive that contains the Noble Spires as well as portions of the most affluent Mid-Hive trade guilds, it is a scintillating place of light and open spaces. The abundance of silicon products on Baraspine means the entire upper hive is built with transparent materials. While this is not as extensive as the Scintillating Palace of Sepheris Secundus the semi-transparent walls of the Upper Hives outer reaches affords and impressive view out across the great storm cloud of Baraspine which fails to reach so high outside a few rare instances every Millennia affording a spectacular view of the distorted clouds of Baraspine. This portion of the Hive is called the Aerie for its wide open civic spaces and the clean air especially filtered to be absolutely free from dust.

Beneath the Aerie are the Singing Depths which contain the majority of the Hive. All of the Lower Hive and the vast majority of the Mid Hive fall into this space as does the forbidden Under Hive, which stretches out under the clouds for miles, its tunnels dangerous clogged with sand from the Splinter Winds. Here the Hive is sheathed in armoured plates five times as thick as those on the armoured prow of an Imperial Battleship. This armour hums with the energy of the perpetual storm outside as the sands ballast against it. Everyone in these levels can hear the noise to some degree with the pitch rising closer to the Hive surface you are. The edges of the Mid levels

 

of the Singing Depths are where the vast Bulk Lander Airlocks are. These areas only open when the winds blow in the opposite direction as the Hive Bulk creates a furrow in the Silicon Storm which allows vessel a safe entry though even then the winds are simply slowed and each bay operates vast hordes of Servitor to sweep out any debris that builds up in the minutes the airlocks are opened.

There is no sky within the Singing depths, or windows, though vast swathes territory in the Middle regions are given over to the production of artificial crops and water reclamation. The air is thick with sweat, incense and fine particulates that pass through the overwork atmospheric scrubbers. Labour is as hard as in many other Hives but the civic systems of Baraspine are blessed. As the hive produces intricate Cogitator systems most Mid-Hive and the majority of Low-Hive communal Hab-stacks have access to Interactive Media, Wired Systems and Public Hololith channels not normally seen beyond a sectors capital world or those pledged to the Mechanicus.

+++Addendum Complete+++

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 20: Calixis Sector, Adrantis Sub, Baraspine (Hive Baraspine), 120.816.M41 to 124.816.M41

After settling into their respective residences within an elaborately decorated suite of apartments and the seldom used rooms of the Mid-Hive safe-house the acolytes turned their attention to their duties. Inquiries into the local social scene showed a significant event rapidly approaching a masquerade ball was being thrown by one of the children of the Sarcosian Dynasty to celebrate one of the dynasties various ancestors, before Magnus could ask about getting an invitation Jeremy, the major-domo of the apartments and a loyal servant of House Amus-Hax relayed that the family had already received such an Invitation. The ball was scheduled to take place in a week giving the acolytes time to kill, or in their case, time to fill checking other possible leads and attempting t ingratiate their presence in the Hive among the established elite.

Magnus and Ruby paired off and began to work the local Clubs and Societies, trying to be seen and heard, Magnus spent time inquiring about potential trade deals or just general information on House Cortez, trying to gain a feel for their target without tipping his hand while Ruby deftly kept an eye out on Magnus and those around him, hoping to spot anyone taking to much interest in the disguised priests questions.

Unfortunately for the priest and psyker they were able to discover little information of relevance, House Cortez seemed to play things close to the chest and the other nobles they socialized with seemed reluctant to part with any information they had on the House lest it hurt their own schemes. After several days of such polite inquiries the pair simply turned their attention to establishing their cover preferring to wait to attend the Masquerade Ball.

While some party others studied. Atellus moved to his own whims searching out Administratum offices to shuffle through public records hunting for official documents and archives relating ot their targets. The hunt was long and seemingly fruitless, House Cortez seemed to deal little in the public eye. While piles of records existed listing goods produced and sent off-world or through the Imperial Taxes there was little information to be found on the houses private dealings.

Despite the barren information desert, Atellus uncovered the location of the Houses primary residence as well as a number of small facilities in the upper Hive as well as a new-vid recording and documentation of a hostile acquisition made by the House. While it seemed nothing unusual for a Noble House to acquire a company the scale of the acquisition was interesting. House Cortez had bought out a small Lifter company operating out of the Mid-Hive, the company Thuuvian Logisitics was in charge of maintaining and operating a single bulk-lifter between orbit and the Hive.

The Information recovered by Atellus sent Syrion out into the Aerie. The Diviner staked out the main entrance of the House Cortez residence hoping to use his abilities to sense anything unusual from the residence but despite his efforts their was little information to be gained without getting inside the facility.
Within the Singing Depths, Corker and KEtris moved about their plans, searching street by street hab by hab they began to get a feel for the local underworld. Unsure if their was any connection between the drug Twilight the Sarcosian Dynasty, House Cortez or even the Upper Hive nobility and Baraspine’s Underworld they hatched a plot to ingratiate themselves with the locals. They would find a suitable organisation, one looking to expand and using the funds provided by Inquisitor Thrakis would offer to buy in on a venture. Hopefully if they picked the corr3ect target they would be able to follow their money and see if it led anywhere interesting.

Under the cover as a Bounty Hunter and associate the pair soon located a target for their plans and where getting ready to act when they where surprised by a visit from Jacqui, the Assassin had discovered a small maintenance tunnel that lead from the Aerie to the upper floors of the Singing Depths. The Moritat quickly outlined the events taking place with the rest of the Acolytes and their relatively little progress before proposing he would assist Ketris and Corker by infiltrating their target ahead of their approach, hopefully insinuating himself into the Organisation as a bodyguard by sneaking into the leaders residence and proving just how ineffectual his security was.

The Moritat’s plan seemed like a good idea and having someone on the inside to keep track of this was certainly going to be handy so Corker and Ketris swiftly altered their plans to accommodate the attempt.

Having spent several days scouting out the Aerie and House Cortez’s facilities Jalith returned to the villa rented by House Amus-Hax and reported in. The Acoltyes compared notes and lamented the difficulties faced with the investigation so far. Only Atellus’s discovery of the unusual acquisition seemed of any import and knowing that the group already emplaced in the Singing Depths would have an easier time looking into the business the Assassin acted as a messenger taking the latest report down into the Singing Depths, carefully bypassing the Arbitrator Enforcer Patrols watching the access ways to the mid-hive.

With the update delivered Jacqui began his infiltration, stealthily working his way past patrols of thugs and auspex-nets the Moritat managed to successfully gain access to his target’s residence a small single level hab covering a few open acres, the building had once been an quality monitoring facility attached to a refinery complex and still bore a resemblance to its more legitimate past, confident in his abilities the Moritat stalked through the building late at “night” hunting for the gang’s leader when the thud of a gun barrel into the small of his back alerted the assassin that his progress had not gone unnoticed. With a twist of his upper body the Assassin twirled around mono-swords clearing their scabbards and striking for the patrolman who back-peddled to avoid the strike and sent off a blast from his sawn-off shotgun in response.

Ducking beneath the scattered hail of shot the Moritat surged forward and hammered at his opponent with a flurry of strikes, for several moments the guard kept up his defensives using the shotgun to block the assault, pouring all his attention into defending his life while screaming for aid. Despite the valiant attempt the guard was soon skewed on the end of Jacqui’s blade and silenced. Before anymore guards could appear the assassin vaulted up into the shadowed recesses of the corridors ceiling concealing himself amidst a cluster of pipes and conduits from the residences original function.

- Raith

[Raith 13]

Having to post this in a rush, forgive me if it doesn't seem up to my usual standards.

Act 3: Unseen
Session 21: Calixis Sector, Adrantis Sub, Baraspine (Hive Baraspine), 124.816.M41

Jacqui lurked silently above the spreading pool of blood from his victim, the guards looking at the corpse in horror as the assassin carefully tucked his kill-token (a finger) away in a pouch. Carefully eaves-dropping the assassin listened to the hurried chatter across the gangs limited Vox network. The ruckus had forced the organisations leader to make for a secure safe-room. Silently the moritat wriggled along the elevated conduits, if he could make it to the safe-room before the crime-boss the plan might still work.

As Jacqui searched for the panic-room Ruby and Magnus attended yet another long and socially interesting luncheon, this time in a private lodge filled with clouds of oscura and the sound of men and women negotiating with vast sums of money for extravagant entertainment opportunities. While the psyker carefully wandered the lodges rooms keeping an eye on Magnus, the Cleric hob-nobbed and tried to himself into Hive Baraspines politics as an offworld investor and bored noble

Stepping onto an outdoor terrace Ruby instantly picked up on a familiar string of words, listening quietly the Sanctionite quickly realised that a pair of overly-dress ladies in tall wigs where discussing news of a potentially major alliance with one of Baraspines influential houses and another from Scintilla. The local house was Cortez while the one from the sector capital was called Hax-Amus.

The psyker listen for several more minutes to confirm she had overheard the conversation correctly before hurrying to retrieve her “darling” from his “entertaining conversations”. Seeing the look of worry on Ruby the Redemptionist said his farewells and the pair quickly returned to the Apartment Villa of House Hax-Amus where Ruby disclosed what she knew. House Hax-Amus was in negotiations with House Cortez, that they had been for some time and that it was apparently for a rather serious contract.

Turning to Jerald the housekeeper and seneschal of House Hax-Amus on Baraspine, Magnus sought answer all of which were denied quickly with the housekarl quickly sending people out to discover more about the rumour while Magnus mulled over the implications that his house might be involved with a potentially traitorous House and what that might mean if the full weight of the Inquisition was to learn of the link.

It took over an hour for Jacqui to locate the safe-room, too long to stop the crime lord from retreating to it. In addition the Moritats way was blocked. He had been forced to abandon his concealing pearch as the pipes ran out and forced instead to quietly move down hallways and duck into rooms to avoid detection. Now a short twenty meter corridor twisted to the right of his postion. At the far end stood a pair of bodyguard aremed with combat shotguns and flak vests. Professionals who would turn the short corridor into a kill-zone for anyone charging down it.

Not to be stopped the Moritat again changed tacts, the safe-room seemed to only be a sealed room, nothing specifically designed for the duties and as such it would likely have an exterior source for air. If air could get in the perhaps so could the assassin. Within moments Jacqui was contorting his way through a series of ventilation ducts bypassing the room’s guards. With his target located the assassin slid down a vertical shaft smashing open the vent cover and dropping to the floor of the safe-room.

A yelp of surprise and the clatter of a chair falling over drew the assassins gaze. His target a thin man dressed in night-clothes stumbled upright from behind a plain desk his hand reaching for a stub-automatic. A second figure facing the door spun about and raised his weapon, the bodyguard was equipped like the men outside. Lightning fast Jacqui raced around the desk and grappled with the mastermind placing his blade at the man’s throat.
For several moments a tense stand-off took place with both sides’ trading threats until the Moritat finally issued his proposal. If he could break into Mansion and reach this point so might others, to avoid this, the assassin was willing to offer his services.

Don Inotias was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth and quickly agreed that he had a place within his organisation for such a skilled man and after a few more tense seconds the assassin released the gang leader who stumbled over to a battered bar to retrieve several shots of Amasec for himself and his new agent while Inotias’s bodyguard took to standing down the facility and disarming the booby traps baring the entrance to the room.

Meanwhile Ketris journeyed via Mag-rail through the Singing Depths and to the vast facility of Thuuvian Logisitcs. The company owned a single transport was well as a private docking facility on the skin of the cloud shrouded hive. Their corporate headquarters loomed sentinel over the docks inner doors supervising the flow of people, machines and equipment from the landing bay beyond.

Despite wishing that Atellus was present to deal with the mind-numbing bureaucracy of the company Ketris hatched a plan. He would simply approach the company as see how easy it was to ship something into orbit. An object about the same size as Ketris, the Legatine hoped that tracking such cargo might reveal why House Cortez had purchased the relatively minor company, or otherwise produce some useful information.

The would-be Interrogator spent hours working his way past a crowd of applicants, factors and civilians looking for orbital passage, even bribing his way ahead in a queue convincing a bored messenger to step aside with a month’s wages in hard currency. Finally Ketris managed to secure time to speak to a private consultant and was shown to a private meeting room several floors above the crushing mass of the day-to-day operations.

After a few minutes an adept entered the comfortably appointed meeting room, with a hurried look and juggling half a dozen large ledgers the pair entered into negotiations the psyker trying to pry as much information from the aide as possible.

It was an easy task, the corporate-lackey, bored from repeating the same information day in and out rattled off the long and glorious history of Thuuvian Logisitcs, their methods of transport, suitable rates per tonne, the availability of specialised cargo-handling methods such as Stasis-casques and a myriad of other details most importantly that Thuuvian Logisitcs maintained the only vessel capable of travelling through the nigh-perpetual sandstorms of Baraspine without damage thanks to specialised void-shields on their transport.

Feeling that this was possibly the reason House Cortez had purchased the company Ketris began to turn the conversation to more direct questions, inquiring about the companies new owners and what recent activities had taken place. As the timbre of the questions changed the bored adept soon realised that his client was not interested in booking the company for transport. With a huff of petulance the Adept ordered Ketris to stop wasting his time and in turn the psyker agreed forgoing the more genteel questions and turning to his innate powers.

Ketris reached out hoping to ensnare the mind of the adept with his own but as the psyker tapped into his power the warp rolled with a heaving surge throwing Ketris’s mind from his body which slumped into the sedan it had been sitting on, his mind then rushed forward literally possessing the adepts body while the unfortunate mans mind was switched into his in turn.

For a moment the pair looked at each other from outside their own bodies before the adept let loose a horrified scream and dashed from the room with cries of witch and heretic, gathering the attention of the nearby cubicles filled with the workers of Thuuvian Logisitcs. The adept-inside-ketris’s-body was quickly brought down to the floor by a pair of burly security personal as a dozen more raced into the meeting room. Ketris who had tried to stall the adept, begging him to relax stood there in confusion for a moment until the door burst inwards and his borrow body was battered to the ground.

The violence seemed to disrupt the connection and as swiftly as it had begun his mind was back in his own body. Body crushed against the floor beneath a guard, hand held painfully behind his back, Ketris could hear the renewed cries of witch now spilling from the meeting room and the adept within.

-Raith

[Raith 13]

Act 3: Unseen
Session 22: Calixis Sector, Adrantis Sub, Baraspine (Hive Baraspine), 124.816.M41

The Corporate Guard ground his elbow into Ketris’s back holding his arm painfully twisted while his companion looked on shotgun at ease but still within a responsive range. Bow the row between the small work stations and cubicle cries of Witch screamed from the private meeting room as he door burst inwards and four more guards rushed in to secure the hysterical adept.

Not willing to trust the confusion to last Ketris focused his will on the man holding him. The pressure on his arm released and the security guard turned towards his companion and unleashed a thundering punch into his companion’s stomach dropping him to the ground. While Ketris picked himself up and fled, the sounds of a brutal beating and yells of aggression echoed in his wake.

The psyker fled through the office and out into an access stairwell taking the steps two at a time down through three floors and bursting out a doorway flying past its security guard to hide within the packed crowds of petitioners, factors and business representatives trying to organise for their goods to be transported by the company.

Slowing his headlong flight Ketris blended with his surroundings, his features where bland and rather unassuming despite the absence of any hair and he simply slipped into one of the many queues displacing another who put up only a brief argument before the Legatine flashed the hilt of his gold-inlaid boltpistol.

For a few moments Ketris pondered making another attempt to investigate Thuuvian Logistices further before he noticed the man behind him had left his space in line and was busy talking to one of the nearby security enforcers. Without waiting Ketris left his place and walked out of the crowded foyer, straight past the guard and the informant and out into the Singing Depths once more.

Within their apartment complex in the Aerie, Magnus, Ruby and Syrion contemplated the information overheard by Ruby. Magnus quietly panicked, there were two possibilities, if his house was involved with House Cortez or the Sarcosian Dynasty it might see them implicated by association to any potentially damning activities. If so Magnus was in trouble, if that was not the case then a rival to House Hax-Amus was at working making the association look that way, another option that would only result in the same outcome.

House-karl Jerald reported in to the group that his spies where hard at work and would most likely return some information within the next day but Magnus was unwilling to wait and the quartet headed back out into the streets of the Noble Spires. Perhaps they would find something for themselves more quickly and time seemed to be of the essence.

After searching through several Clubs, Lodges, Social-halls and Café’s, Ruby was directed to a lounge frequented by some of the most powerful merchants-princes within the Hive, their questions led them to a man with a taste for fine Amasec and after procuring a bottle that would make most Acolytes weep with the excessiveness Magnus sat down to discuss the weather.

A few chasers of the amber liquid later Magnus had an answer. An envoy by the name of Leondis Hax-Amus had arrived in system three days earlier aboard the sprint trader Illumination bearing a complex contract of allegiance for House Cortez and House Hax-Amus, the initial dealing had gone well and Leondis was supposedly an honoured guest of House Cortez while the negotiations took place.

Confused at why his family would send a representative Magnus could not shake the feeling he knew of the name Leondis without being able to make the connect. Returning to his apartment Jerald could offer no further explanation until Ruby mused if it was possible that an enemy of House Hax-Amus might be using a false name. Chills ran up Magnus’s spine as pieces of information fell into place. It was a setup and the culprit was Leondis Hiram-Hax, the man Magnus had maimed over a year before in a duel on Scintilla.

- Raith