The B&C multi-choice story thread

[lhg033]

found this when i was meant to be leaving work yesterday and missed my train as a result

 

realy enjoying it - great work Olisredan!

 

does option 1 allow for the men to already be transered from the reaper? if so i would think that there could be some overlap between these three options but if i have to vote one way i go for:

 

option 2

 

priority would be to secure his own ship first. the reaper could be ordered to monitor the auspex reading and possibly assist the other ship. i cant imagine it would sit idle.

[Olis]

Thanks for the kind words, brother. ;)

 

In regards to the story, the men can be considered to have already been transferred from The Reaper. :)

[Olis]

Whoops, looks like I'm posting this one a day late! Very sorry about that. :P

 

Alright. A hard fought win for option two. Let's roll.

 

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

 

Cull

Meeting the bonded armsmen below decks, Orroco approached and spoke with the commander of them - Lieutenant Ravenspey - and directed them into position across the rear of the ship, bracketing and hopefully cordoning the enginarium. Orroco knew that they only had numbers to outweigh the fact that they were lightly armed and doubted their resolve, regardless of Ravenspey's leadership qualities. All he could do was use them as an early warning system and made it very clear to the Lieutenant that the Vox was his men's best friend.

 

Stalking deeper aftward, the captain and his adopted squad made for the reactor cores, via the control room. Eviscerated crewmen heralded yet more destruction as the astartes made their way through the increasingly cramped confines of the corridors, meeting very little beyond shadows and bloodied corpses. At an intersection, Brother Duvane, on point, discovered the remains of Erasmus. It could be no other brother of the company, as the corpse wore the distinctively styled 'Crusade' battle plate - the only complete example within chapter. Erasmus bore many wounds to the fore and of that Orroco was proud. He had no faltered in his duty and had fought to the last. He would be remembered.

 

Moving on toward the vaulted control room, their were increasing signs of structural damage; spars and doors were smashed beyond use, gashes and deep cuts lined the corridors as if whatever moved down them had deliberately scraped at the fabric of the vessel, dents and craters accompanied such gouges periodically. Orroco once again surveyed the status of the company. What remained of the runes had thankfully not altered since the last time the captain had consulted them. Inside the control room itself, what greeted them was the stuff of nightmare - servitor cherubs, normally used during the anointment process, had become screaming, eyeless things that swooped at any movement. Across the banks of cogitators appeared to be tech adepts and crewmen merged with the equipment itself, any free appendages still flailing and spasming as though life coursed through them still. Orroro knew that Inigo's flamer would have been invaluable here but he would have to make do with what he had.

 

With bolt shell and blade, the squad hacked through the room of abominations, blasting the cherubs out of the air in a welter of blood and machine oil - their limbs tumbling out from high above, bereft of a body to cling to. Limbs were severed and head, where found, were cleaved from shoulders. It was of little use, this entire ship would have to be purged and reconsecrated when it got back to the home fleet. Once each marine had finished his duty, Orroco pushed on, eager to root out the source of the corruption and end the Spirit of Terra's plight.

 

Deeper into the enginarium more sections had to be cleansed before they found any sign of their brothers making their own way towards the reactors. A group under Sergeant Adoracion had found and killed two daemons thus far and knew of a third that had hidden amongst the machinery that served the ships reactors. A knife-beast, he called it, a daemon that had accounted for more men than the Sergeant was willing to admit.

 

Calls over the vox caught Orroco in mid-conversation with the sergeant - Ravenspey's men were being slaughtered. It was the silhouettes again. Shotcannon shells and shock mauls did little to stop the abominations and they were dwindling the lieutenants men every minute. He couldn't maintain any semblance of a perimeter under this duress and was requesting permission to fall back.

 

 

Options:

 

• Order Ravenspey to hold his ground, Orroco'll be sending Adoracion and his men to aid them while he dealt with this knife-beast.
  

 

• Grant Ravenspey's request, but still send Adoracion back to deal with the silhouettes while Orroco hunts this elusive and dangerous daemon.
  

 

• Directly aid Ravenspey. Adoracion can deal with the knife-beast while Orroco puts down these shadows once and for all.
  

[Unknown Chronicler]

I would have to say option one, since I believe he can take on any beast on his own without a squad of his marines to aid him.

[Grotsmasha]

I'm going to vote for option 2 this week.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[lhg033]

option 1 - it follows the reason they were ordered there in the first place. its a waste of lives/time to contradict ordering them to form a perimeter if they happily (or screaming in fear) fall back and lose this, alowing whatever was within to escape

[Dosjetka]

Option 2 for me.

 

Ludovic

[Messor]

Option 1, this time.

[TheCrimsonLancer]

Option two. He only has a few soldiers, so even armsmen are valuable. If some die while holding the perimeter, they will be missed later.

[Allfather1]

option 1

[Olis]

Almost another split vote there. Good job Allfather1 voted or I'd be flipping a coin again. :P

 

Anyway. Option one wins by a single vote this time.

 

• Order Ravenspey to hold his ground, Orroco'll be sending Adoracion and his men to aid them while he dealt with this knife-beast.
  

 

Ravenspey signals his gratitude, knowing astartes were coming to aid him but warns that he might not be able to hold ground much longer - the daemons are again amongst them. Adoracion nods to Orroco and leaves, giving up the hunt to his captain now that he had orders. With his ad hoc squad in tow, the Grey Spectre officer headed deeper into the guts of the ship.

 

Moving through the bowels of the enginarium, Orroco spied the daemon's distinctive trail - gouges and scrapes in the floor and walls - marked with the corpses of the crew. Evidently they had attempted to hide from the foul creature and still they had suffered a painful death. Many were decapitated, others were torn limb from limb, the ship around them bloodied and spattered with viscera. Few showed signs of fighting back, not that it surprised Orroco at all. The mortal crew, although faithful serfs of the chapter, were still bound by their fears.

 

Moving warily, clattering noises alerted Orroco to what must be the Daemon, of that he was sure. It was certainly closer than he had thought - perhaps two or three compartments away. Orroco wondered what fresh spawn of the warp this manifest daemon would be as all he had to go on was Adoracion's reports. An abomination to reality, surely, but in what form? He'd need to recognise any weaknesses it might exhibit, avoid any way of allowed it to utilise it's strengths. With a grimace he knew he'd have to cross that bridge when he got to it.

 

Stalking through the compartments towards where he presumed the beast would be, Orroco froze, his squad halting stock still behind him. Beneath him was the beast, glinting in the poor light from it's metallic skin. He laid eyes upon it through the grilled decking, the beast simply staring back with golden multifaceted eyes. Covered in blades of all shapes and sizes, the thing had been exploring the enginarium on four bladed legs but now it stood, on it's hind legs, and assumed the rough shape of a swordsman. A baleful sight indeed.

 

Before he could choose a line of attack, the vox relayed news - Adoracion had found Ravenspey, cold and dead. He was accompanied in death with the armsmen that he commanded, all warmth drained of them. The sergeant had yet to apprehend any silhouette creatures but he was confident he was not far from them.

 

Bellowing the order to attack, Orroco slashed the decking with his power sword, cutting his way though to the beast with the squad following him in short order. The knife-daemon parried his first blow and his second with apparent ease, daemon blades turning aside the power sword as easily as another power weapon would. Brother Therez stepped in and distracted the knife-daemon, allowing Orroco to step around and attack from the flank. Therez was beaten back, having only his combat knife to keep the beast at bay, before Ulvain took his place. The squad, working in concert, kept it busy, never letting their brothers become overwhelmed by the profusion of blades.

 

The captain, keen to slay the creature, kept any stray blades from hitting him by deftly avoiding them or simply blocking them with his power sword. With it's back to him, Orroco raised his sword high and struck the beast, keeping his sword to it's centreline and bifurcating the thing's upper body. An unholy screech pierced the air as the knife-daemon turned on him, it's blades a flurry of strikes and sweeps while the two halves of it's upper torso wobbled and spat black ichor. Not every blade could be stopped by the captain and his armour began to flay from him as more of it was struck. In a matter of seconds the finely wrought artificer armour was wrecked, putting up little more protection than any commonplace Imperial carapace. His helm was a ruin, the left eye slashed out and fingers had been plucked from his hand wielding his bolt pistol - which itself was destroyed. Any more of this and Orroco would have difficulty in combating the knife-daemon.

 

Options:

 

• Strike at the beast again without heed, it must be slain before it slays Orroco. A dangerous ploy indeed but the beast will definitely die. Another hit like the last one will completely bisect the foul creature.
  

 

• Attempt to evade it's assault and hope the squad can finish the daemon off. Although space is tight, dodging out of the fray will ensure Orroco's immediate survival. The beast may escape, given the opportunity though.
  

 

• Bide his time and strike at the most opportune moment. The beast is flailing wildly and openings do present themselves, if randomly. It could take quite a while to kill the thing if Orroco plays it safe, potentially dooming one of his brothers or himself.
  

[Grotsmasha]

This is turning out great, Option 1 this week.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Aqui]

After a lot of lurking and a lot of thought option 1 :cry:

[Dosjetka]

I agree with my brothers: option 1. Great work, Oli

 

Ludovic

[TheCrimsonLancer]

Option one. Kill or be killed.

[Grotsmasha]

Quick question, purely curiosity, but do you know where each option will lead before giving them to us, or do you wait to see which is chosen, then set about seeing where we end up?

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Olis]

Quick question, purely curiosity, but do you know where each option will lead before giving them to us, or do you wait to see which is chosen, then set about seeing where we end up?

 

Usually there will be an idea of where two of the options lead and the third (which could be any of them) will be a total wildcard. And by wildcard I mean I completely make it up on the fly. The others do get a little pre-planning but not a terribly large amount, generally they vaguely get sketched out with perhaps a half a dozen key lines. That method, however, does rely mostly upon my ability to spin up around six paragraphs with only minor revisions before posting. There are times when I struggle to think of options to give out, and I think it probably shows.

[Messor]

Option 1, as well.

[Olis]

Looks like option one is the favourite this week. You lot are quite headstrong, so it seems. Also, my apologies for tardiness, I hope you can forgive a two hour overshoot. :P

 

• Strike at the beast again without heed, it must be slain before it slays Orroco. A dangerous ploy indeed but the beast will definitely die. Another hit like the last one will completely bisect the foul creature.
  

 

Gravely wounded and beset upon on all sides, the beast stood little chance of living this day. It's fury wasn't spent, even if it's life might have been. Blades whirled about it's damaged form while Orroco's battle brothers fought ever closer to slaying the beast, near misses and frantic parries were all that was keeping Orroco from being diced like cheap grox meat. Turning aside sword and knife, cutlass and tulwar, sabre and gladius, bayonet and shiv, khopesh and machete, katana and claymore, the captain was quickly realising that this abomination was flailing rather than actually attacking.

 

Brother Therez, stepping in to attack had mistimed his step and suffered for it. A blade swept across the wrist of his hand clasping the combat, severing it as the metal passed through the soft armour between the forearm and the gauntlet, his combat blade dropping with his hand as he backed off clasping his stump. Still the squad pressed the beast, still they kept it occupied enough for it to remain desperate and hateful.

 

Amongst the reckless melee the vox crackled - it was Adoracion. The sergeant sounded full of vigour and reported that he'd banished the silhouettes with gusto. A righteous smile came to Orroco's face, completely at odds with the concentration needed to continue fending off the knife-daemon, he knew then that the Spirit would soon be safe, if the follow up sweeps found nothing. Then the ship could begin preparations to return to the fortress monastery, on the other side of the segmentum.

 

This fight had to end before any of that could be a possibility. Orroco brought up his power sword, Foefell, and cleft the beast in twain. No ceremony, no final words, no respite. The blade passed as cleanly through the thing as he could ever remember it doing, the act as easy as breathing. Black ichor splashed those present as the daemon thrashed in its death throes, the two halves of it spasming separately to the other like the worms did back on Zinghast, one still standing.

 

Orroco had done it, he had slain the foul creature... but it was at a high cost. His advanced astartes physiology staved off the worst, the kind of blows that would kill a mortal five times over. However, it could very well prove not to be enough. The daemon had skewered him with at least six blades, one puncturing his primary heart and two of his three lungs, another severing his left arm, with two more running through his stomach and preomnor. The last two had gone into his right cheek and straight through his neck, ruining his features and his ability to breathe or speak - it was a wonder the metal had not severed his spine. If he was lucky, his brothers might get him to the infirmary in time to save him, before he died of asphyxiation. Through the blood in his vision he saw Ulvain and Matio lift him and hack what was left of the knife-daemon away. He felt being lifted. He could smell rich astartes blood and taste metallic vital fluid on his tongue. There was more movement and he recognised voices but nothing was distinct. After that, it was all a blur.

 

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I'm tapped out for the time being, so I'm going to draw a line there. We can consider that an end of part but I will still give you guys some options, so this isn't a cop out. Hopefully I'll pick this back up in a while and spin another yarn. :)

 

Due to the grievous injuries sustained, Orroco has the chance of three different fates ahead of him, giving him three different ways to serve the Emperor even after such a mauling. His fate will be in your hands - what sort of life will he have after the Defence of the Spirit of Terra?

 

Options:

 

• Will he receive interment and join the Old Ones? Will he become a dreadnought? Life after death will be something very different indeed, but no less glorious. Sleep and fury would become the norm for one such as he.
  

 

• Will he be mended back to operational status? Will he be given bionics to sustain his service on the front line? Things cannot end now, not while his heart beats, not while he had strength in his bones.
  

 

• Will he be withdrawn from company command? Will he instead be retired to service as a fleet captain? There is more to fighting in the Emperor's service than just face to face killing. There will always archenemy ships and there'll always be a need to gut them.
  

[Aqui]

I'm drawn to Option 1 or two, but can't decide :)

 

A consequence of being a Son of Manus I suppose ;)

 

To make things easier I choose option 2. After all, if he should be injured again, he could still be a Dread :P

[TheCrimsonLancer]

Option one. I love dreadnoughts.

[Messor]

Since I'm rather partial to fleet action, I'll pick number 3.

[Grotsmasha]

Option 2 for me, one such as Orroco should continue to lead from the front.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Lachdannan]

Awesome story. I pick option 2.

[Dosjetka]

I'll follow Syth and choose option two :)

 

Ludovic