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The B&C multi-choice story thread

Olis

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Olis Venerable Brother

Olis

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Sorry for the late entry, fraters, I have been somewhat preoccupied today. So, once again we have a unilateral decision - Option 3. Evidently these options are too easy to choose between. I think I'll have to try to make them harder somehow. ;)

 

  • Get the flamer. If any weapon will slay this flesh-beast, it will be a cleansing flamer.

 

Firestarter

Trusting his brothers to keep the flesh-daemon occupied, Captain Orroco made for the fallen flamer. Booming bolter fire assailed his ears, followed by a screeching roar. A smile crept onto the captain's face as he swept up the weapon. The beast was still turning to face the squad when Orroco lit it up. The creature singed and crisped but it took nearly the whole tank for the thing to combust, flailing as it burned to death. The heap of cooked flesh slumped, the noise of it sizzling and crackling still very much evident. The foul daemon seemed strangely easy to kill, but that was not all. Something was amiss. Orroco belatedly recognised a blank rune and cast about to find the deceased brother.

 

Resting amidst a machine-god shrine was Inigo, crushed into the deck at the foot of some votive candles and an oxidised brass skull-cog symbol. His torso had taken the brunt of the hit that drove him into the steel of the shuttle bay floor, his body indenting it as it flattened. Fatally compromised, the splintered power armour leaked rich, red blood from it's fracture lines. Slowly the flow ceased as platelets scabbed over the cracks while the others watched.

 

Orroco stood over the still body of Brother Inigo, turned to them and removed his helm. The rich stink of promethium and burning warp essence mingled with the much more natural smell of astartes blood. His lips set to the grim, black look that the rest of his face adopted, Orroco spoke.

 

"Here lies your brother, dead at the hands of a foul daemon. I expect no less of a death for any of us. Battle is our call and it is our doom. To die anywhere else but the death-fields is shameful. Look at Inigo. Envy him. He is with the Emperor now."

 

Reattaching his helm, Orroco checked Qhuistov's rune. Yellow. Good. He was alive and he was not far. The captain ordered his men back to the shuttle bearing the grey and black livery of the Grey Spectres chapter, intent on securing his sergeant. What tentacles there were quickly ended their existence as blackened, shrivelled shadows of themselves, crisped from their unnatural life with the last of the flamers fuel. Orroco called but heard nothing from the elder marine. He stood before the shuttle, his mind turning over what the codex recommended next.

 

Options:

  • Send in two men to retrieve Qhuistov. Orroco doesn't know whether the sergeant has been compromised or not and sending in two marines to establish the situation may very well be for the best. It is quicker than waiting and less dangerous than entering first.

 

  • Enter the shuttle. Far be it from Orroco to send in another marine in his stead to find his man. Qhuistov is his charge. The onus is on Orroco to find him.

 

  • Wait for a reply on the vox. The frequency is open, so Qhuistov must be able to hear the captain. Once contact is established he will then be brought out from the shuttle.
Olis Venerable Brother

Olis

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Alrighty then, entry number five. Again a unanimous vote. Hmm, what am I doing wrong? :)

 

  • Enter the shuttle. Far be it from Orroco to send in another marine in his stead to find his man. Qhuistov is his charge. The onus is on Orroco to find him.

 

The Dark

Staring up at the partially open entry ramp of the shuttle, labelled Deliverer on it's flank, Orroco manually checked his bolt pistol and racked the slide to chamber a new bolt round prior to embarking the stricken shuttle. Gathered around the vessel, the remaining members of Qhuistov's squad maintained a perimeter while the captain cautiously entered, their orders to kill anything leaving the shuttle without prior notice. Of course, 'cautiously' would be the wrong word. 'Clambered inelegantly' would be a better way of putting it, really, as Orroco squeezed himself into the gap left for him.

 

Inside there was very little illumination, and even less space. Enabling the power field on his blade cast it's own light in the tight space and bred thousands of shadows as the brilliance of his power sword struck the harness chairs and resident equipment. All of it was worn with age and had been reverently tended to for centuries - now the shuttle had been tainted it required proper reconsecration by the chapter's tech-host. Until then Orroco had to remain guarded of the venerable vessel's interior - daemon witchery could do much to catch the unwary.

 

Pacing up the length of the shuttle, careful to check every angle and space, the captain approached the fore of the craft. There rested the cockpit and the forward gun turret, two vital parts of the ship. Still Qhuistov registered as yellow on his display and still the vox remained open. Nudging open the cockpit door, Orroco spied grey ceramite plate in the pilots seat. Inside, as Orroco ventured forward, he could hear a tapping noise - the same as something metallic being struck with a tool. There was no rhyme or rhythm to the tapping but it remained persistent.

 

Orroco pushed at the chair, turning it to reveal his sergeant. What he saw was indeed Qhuistov. Or at least, most of him. The veteran lacked both hands and feet, all of which bore signs of being brutally torn off, leaving the uneven stumps of his forearms and shins. His neck seal and helmet were compromised and the rent was ruddy with dried blood - his larynx had been ripped out of his throat while his lower jaw had been entirely detached and left hanging by the tendons. Qhuistov stared at his captain through the broken lenses of his helm and bubbled a half conceived moment of speech. The static over the vox would never have cleared enough for the brief gurgles to be distinct to Orroco.

 

And yet the tapping continued unabated.

 

Seeking the source, the Grey Spectre chased the noise with his bolt pistol to no avail. The damnable clatter seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once, yet stepping outside the cockpit diminished the racket to an almost inaudible degree. It was the shuttle itself, it had to be. The machine spirit surely was corrupted and had to be purged. But first Qhuistov needed an apothecary. Although dragging the veteran through the shuttle required Orroco to sheath his weapons, he felt terribly vulnerable in the dark, contaminated ship as if saving the sergeant had been a bad idea. He was proved right when he discovered the ramp was closed. Keying his vox, Orroco tried the main channel, only to hear static. He cycled through the reserve channels and the emergency frequencies but that merely convinced the captain the effort was futile. Stuck inside a potentially hostile machine, Orroco looked at Qhuistov. The sergeant deserved more than being trapped. He lit up his blade and faced to the fore.

 

Options:

  • Seek out the corrupted machine spirit and purge it before it has a chance of dashing itself against the inside of the Spirit of Terra.

 

  • Head back to the cockpit and attempt to smash the navy grade armour-plas screen, hopefully escaping through the gap made there.

 

  • Proceed to the chin turret and signal your brothers for aid from there. If Orroco wasn't mistaken, Brother Rexas was carrying a melta charge.
Olis Venerable Brother

Olis

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Well, well, well. We did have a split vote, but Tyear broke the tie. Good to know the voting wasn't unanimous this time. :P

 

Anyway, option one has been chosen by majority so we shall go with that:

 

  • Seek out the corrupted machine spirit and purge it before it has a chance of dashing itself against the inside of the Spirit of Terra.

 

Excision

Leaving the mutilated Qhuistov at the aft ramp, Orroco sought out the machine spirit of the shuttle. He didn't have the technical aptitude of the chapter's tech-host, nor the patience they often manifested but what he lacked in such skills he more than made up for in sheer bloody-mindedness. He knew the machine spirit resided as near the controls and cogitation units as possible - which meant the panelling behind the cockpit was a likely place to look. It certainly wasn't under the cockpit - that was where the chin-turret lay - and it wasn't inside the cockpit because of the lack of suitable space.

 

Once again, as he approached the fore of the craft, the chittering taps began to become evident again, this time making themselves known much earlier than last time. The captain offered up a prayer to the father of mankind - this surely could not be a good sign. At once he pried panels away from likely locations, moving from one section to the next, all of them bearing the usual votive parchment pasted onto the metal itself. Away came another metal sheet only to reveal nothing but piping. Orroco had to pause in his fruitless search, to re-evaluate where that machine spirit would be. Every panel he had prised away from the inside of the shuttle had piping behind it, some looked electrical, others appeared hydraulic. Mostly the clues came from the labelling and the warning runes but it helped that Orroco had accidentally stabbed a pipe that squirted a bright yellow liquid - that one was definitely not electrical.

 

But where did the pipes lead to? The engines? The machine spirit? The cockpit? Orroco cursed that he didn't even know where they led to. This was going nowhere. He had to think of something else. Still the susurrating noise continued. Maybe that was the clue to where the machine spirit lay - perhaps it was making the tapping now it was corrupt. He tilted his head to listen - not really all that necessary given his astartes biology but it was an old habit he had kept from his youth. He didn't remember much of that life but he knew he spent much of his time listening. Listening to what, he couldn't say, but he listened.

 

Edging closer to the source of the noise, he noted the inconvenience of it coming from the ceiling - he would have to remain careful about opening the metal sheeting above him. Standing well away from the suspect panel, Orroco unsheathed his bolt pistol and punched three shells into the vessel. Black ichor flowed from the holes the shells created, pooling on the decking in a slick mess like unrefined promethium. Hooking the ruined panel with his power sword and pulling it away quickly, Orroco surveyed the damage. He had indeed found the machine spirit. Tentacles had grown out of the spirit itself, an abomination that any machine priest would be horrified to find, and now were thrashing wildly in the throes of death. The clicking had certainly diminished but had not stopped entirely, even with the abomination purged. Try as he might, Captain Orroco still could not find where the noise came from. Was there another daemon aboard?

 

However, with the thing dead the vox had miraculously resumed operation and his men could clearly contact him. Orroco swiftly ordered them to breach the vessel and recover Sergeant Qhuistov and take him to the apothecarian. The veteran had no further say in this hunt but he would live to serve the Emperor another day. The captain exited the vessel via the hole in the aft ramp and gratefully set eyes upon the remaining members of Qhuistov's squad. With Rexas and Urbital taking their sergeant away, he had five astartes to follow him in finding hell-spawn.

 

Orroco took a moment to think. What took priority?

 

 

Options:

 

  • The shuttle was tainted and likely still infested - it would be best to get rid of it and leave it in the cold void than attempt to fully purge and reconsecrate it.

 

  • Leave for the enginarium. There are still brothers there that require aid and it is a vital area of the ship that should be secured.

 

  • Head to the bridge and attempt to contact the sister Grey Spectre ships out there and ascertain the current situation. With the possible aid of any friendly vessels, Orroco may very well contain this situation fully.
Grotsmasha Venerable Brother

Grotsmasha

Posted
Posted

Although option 1 does seem to be the clear choice, choosing it will preclude options 2 & 3 from happening, and in that light, Im going with option 2. The bay can be contained, the sister ship.is most likely in similar do-do, with a just as capable Captain, I'd be doing everything to secure my ship and get it operational.

 

Option 2 for me this week.

 

Cheers,

Jono

Olis Venerable Brother

Olis

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Well, ignoring the double post, we have our first tie! Yay! So... it's a toss up between option one or option three. I hope you lot trust me enough to do an out-of-sight coin toss. :D

 

So... Heads for option one, tails for option three.

 

...

 

...

 

...

 

It's tails. Option three it is. ^_^

 

  • Head to the bridge and attempt to contact the sister Grey Spectre ships out there and ascertain the current situation. With the possible aid of any friendly vessels, Orroco may very well contain this situation fully.

 

Bloodied

Moving with the diminished squad, Orroco headed directly for the bridge, intent on gathering an overview of the situation at hand and perhaps contact the other Grey Spectre ships out there. Out of habit he reviewed the life runes as he travelled - a third of them were blackened and a further six were displaying warnings. The captain curled his lip. This would be a black day indeed for the chapter as such an underhanded attack claimed many more brothers than this campaign should have.

 

On the bridge, things had got better with the repair crew working overtime and they had, thankfully, remained unmolested. Orroco motioned to the vox officer to attempt a link to any friendly vessel nearby. Sitting in the command throne, the captain awaited the results of the attempt. Around him, his ad hoc squad, unhelmed for now, stood at ease.

 

The report was a long time coming but it did finally indeed come: Everance was limping and displaying the early signs of a warp reactor meltdown while The Reaper, bloodied but unbowed, had slain the archenemy raider in spectacular fashion - detonating it's magazine reserves in a mid-range exchange. Feral smiles lit the faces of the Grey Spectres. An honest kill for The Reaper, it's captain was to be commended.

 

Establishing a direct line to The Reaper, Orroco ordered armsmen to be brought over to contain the situation. Perhaps they did not have the same punch that astartes had but they made up for that with numbers, supplementing the Grey Spectres with two hundred bodies. Orroco stood to head below decks, once again leaving the bridge in the capable hands of the second officer, ready to confront the unnatural foe once again.

 

A cry rose from the auspex station, calling to the captain, wrenching his attention away from his thoughts of renewed combat. A new return had been pinged coming from in-system and registered as a large object prior to any formal identification. Orroco was sure that there had been no capital vessels since the victorious planetside operations not days before, so what could it be?

 

Options:

 

  • Order The Reaper to aid Everance, and if necessary to transfer personnel from the stricken ship.

 

  • Begin a purge of the aft decks. With the extra men at hand, Orroco should have enough boots to maintain a perimeter.

 

  • Seek out this new auspex return, for better or for worse.

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