[DW] Blackthorn/Swordhand: Episode III - The Sundered House

[Slips]

Int test to try and discern a pattern: Int 50 - 20 (difficulty) = 30.

Roll: 18 (here goes my RNG guys) for 1 DoS which gives Solastion +20 to his Agi Test to pass through the sphincter.

 

Agi Test to pass through: Agi 33 + 20 (difficulty) = 53

Roll: 07 (I dont like that im using all my good luck so soon...) for 4 DoS

 

As Sabaan attempts to calculate the rhythm to pass through as he is next in line, Solastion takes the extra time he is given to try and predict the movements of the orifice for when he has to pass through. However, seeing the Techmarine stumble and get momentarily pincer'd by the membranous wall almost breaks Solastions concentration but the Iron Hand is quick enough to complete his move into the other side that he is able to continue trying to discern a pattern when Varvost effortlessly glides through on his turn.

 

On his turn, Solastion waits the few beats he counted before the sphincter remained opened for but a fraction longer and leaped through emerging unharmed with the rest of the squad that had passed through before him.

 

++Brother Sabaan, status?++ he queried; it would not do to have them suffer any grave injuries to their bodies or have their Power Armor lose its atmospheric seal.

[Noctus Cornix]

Int Test to discern the pattern: 64 (-20) = 44

Roll 1d100: 44  (I'm not even joking) Pass with  0 DoS

 

Agility Test to pass through: 49 (+20) = 69

Roll 1d100: 39 Pass with 3 DoS

 

 

Following with his brothers, Guillermo traveled with a strange modicum of familiarity. The was not his first time aboard a Tyranid bioship, let alone this one... Everything about this place was wrong at the most fundamental level, filling his throat with acrid bile despite his expertise with these creatures. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, the old Terran saying went.... What a stupid saying. 

 

He watched the closing sphincter for some time, watching its movements for the pattern. It took longer than some, but he quickly enough leaped through without fault, stepping down upon the floor once more with a nauseating squelch of viscous fluids beneath his boots.

Edited June 7, 2020 by Noctus Cornix

[Nineswords]

[Placeholder - Agility Test roll 8]

[apologist]

Int Test: 54 (-20) = 34

D100: 058 Fail

Ag Test: 40 = 40

D100: 018. Pass, plus 2 DoS.

 

Yeng's brow creased. Everything in his training taught him there would be a pattern to the rhythm, but try as he might, he couldn't discern it. Frustrated, Yeng's hand wandered to the wrist-mounted carnifex of his narthecium. Perhaps I could inject a sedative, paralysing humour or muscle relaxant lotion into the wall... Before it had fully formed, he dismissed the thought. The sheer scale of the structure would likely proclude even the chaemistry designed to affect Astartes from substantially slowing it, let alone stopping it. Besides, the Gatebreaker mused darkly, it seems likely I'll need all the supplies I can gather. 

 

His mind wandered to his old comrade, Eo Daur.

"Only a fool tests the water's depth with both feet, Oto", his friend had remonstrated, as the two prepared to run the gauntlet of Initiates. Even as he started forward, Yeng had called back to his astonished comrade.

"But as the Sage Kali says, Eo, 'Pearls lie not on the foreshore – one must dive for them'."

 

Grinning at the memory, he muttered an intercessionary imprecation to Prince Kali-bahn, and stepped through. The monstrous valve's spastic twitches slammed it shut with a wet thump a moment later, leaving Yeng safely on the other side, beside Tyber, Akkad, Atratus, Sabaan, and Varvost.

 

Half through.

 

He motioned to those nearby, who stood alert, scanning for danger. 

 

"I saw no pattern here – but if any of you did, perhaps it would be best shared with our cousins yet to make the leap?"

[Commissar Molotov]

TESTED - Tyber, Akkad, Atratus, Sabaan, Varvost, Greysight, Solastion, Yeng.

STILL TO TEST: Ghent, Montesa, Teralil, Vorr

 

Kill-Team Cohesion: 27

 

AKKAD | AG45 | WOUNDS 22/22 | FATE 4/4

ATRATUS | AG70 | WOUNDS 23/23 | FATE 3/3

GHENT | AG60 | WOUNDS 21/21 | FATE 2/2

GREYSIGHT | AG43 | WOUNDS 22/22 | FATE 5/5

MONTESA | AGX49 | WOUNDS 23/23 | FATE 2(+1)/2

SABAAN | AG43 | WOUNDS 18/22 | FATE 3/3

SOLASTION | AG33 | WOUNDS 23/23 | FATE 4/4

TERALIL | AG40 | WOUNDS 21/21 | FATE 4/4

TYBER | AG48 | WOUNDS 20(+1)/20 | FATE 5/5

VARVOST | AG59 | WOUNDS 24/24 | FATE 3/3

VORR | AG50 | WOUNDS 21/21 | FATE 4(+1)/4

YENG | AG40 | WOUNDS 22/22 | FATE 3/3

Edited June 5, 2020 by Commissar Molotov

[apologist]

Stepping towards Sabaan, Yeng proffered a hand. 

"You are injured, I think, [friend-to-machines]?" The Iron Hand's heavy-grilled helm managed, somehow, to look quizzical. Glittering beads of condensate, rich with life, stood out under Yeng's stab-beam. "Apologies, Nycax. The word is... techmarine?" The Gatebreaker stumbled over the unfamiliar term. 

 

Sabaan stood, motionless. Save for the queasy peristalsis of the organic decking, he would have looked like a statue – a particularly judgemental one. At last, wordlessly, he turned slightly, revealing minor crush damage. Yeng nodded as he peered in, his autosenses adjusting with faint tics in the sweaty darkness, his hands reaching for counterseptic gels and hyper-clotting agents.

 

"Very unusual mephitics and malignants in the aether here, Nycax," Yeng commented as he worked. "Best to guard bodies as well as we can, don't you think? Even if only to keep these–" he paused momentarily to rap sardonically on Sabaan's bionics "–hanging together, eh?"

 

Straightening up, he nodded in a half-bow, then turned to the rest of the team.

 

"The rest of you faster than the Iron Hand, maybe; but he has proved too tough for this beast to chew, I think!"

 

[Medicae test]

Sorry Mol, what do I test against for Medicae to try to repair the damage to Sabaan?

+Edit+

Thanks for the explanation.

Int 54 +10 (Medicae +10) + 20 (Narthecium) = 84

Roll is: 66 – Success

Intelligence bonus = 5; doubled by Narthecium to 10.

Sabaan is healed back to full health.

Edited June 4, 2020 by apologist

[Commissar Molotov]

GM:

 

Medicae is an Intelligence test (Yeng has INT54) but because you've picked Medicae +10, it would be against 64. The Narthecium also grants an additional +20, so you would be at 84.

 

On a successful roll, you restore your Intelligence bonus (5) in Wounds to the character you are aiding. This is doubled by the Narthecium to 10.

[Commissar Molotov]

GM:

I will roll for the remaining characters, assuming they each attempt to discern the pattern. (I'll defer on Montesa, as Noctus has put a post up.)

 

Ghent:

INT45(-20): 92 (FAIL)

AG60: 41 (PASS)

 

Teralil:

INT50(-20): 59 (FAIL)

AG40: 17 (PASS)

 

Vorr:

INT37(-20): 64 (FAIL)

AG50: 70 (FAIL)

Vorr takes 4 Wounds.

[Commissar Molotov]

Passing through the portals, you trek through twisting capillary-tunnels, alert at each branching intersection for an inevitable ambush that never comes. The floor beneath you is slick with a milky-white liquid; the fluid is thick and clings to your armour, but otherwise does not appear deadly.

 

As you progress, however, it becomes progressively deeper. At first, the liquid sloshes around your shins, the sound echoing through your helms. Soon, it is nearly at your waists, and it is clear that to continue you will need to swim underwater, with almost no visibility, for several metres.

[apologist]

The systolic thuds and weird tidal noises were unsettling – but at least biological. The squad's advance through the bio-ship had thus far been occasioned only by what the Deathwatch took to be exotic flora and fauna; passive tyranid forms and weird coral-like blooms. 

 

All the marines had adapted to the environment – such an ability was an essential part of Astartes hypnodoctrination and training, so that no warrior would be unmanned by a novel environment. Indeed, Yeng was starting to feel quite at ease in these environs. The spongy flooring and microgravity reminded him of hiss experience of fighting boarding actions against rim-species like the aquatic Saharduin and Prono, and he said as much.

 

Relating the tale of an attack on a saharduin disc, he proposed the squad split into mutually-supporting groups of three in order to make the quickest and safest progress through the underwater regions. Point-men were too easily picked off in the murky fluids, and moving in triads ensured immediate access to mutual support.

 

He could tell his ideas were not being received with enthusiasm, and he bit his tongue. In such circumstances, better to follow a united plan than risk further discord.

Edited June 8, 2020 by apologist

[A.T.]

Atratus nods at the suggestion offering, "the blast of fragmentation grenades may disorient any advarsaries within the liquid without threatening the kill team should the threat come from below, but an ambush waiting at the far side cannot be dismissed."

 

Raising his scope Atratus directs its powerful auspex into the water and the passageway beyond, his free hand upon his combat knife should he need to anchor himself to the passages wall, softer spots amongst the sinew and chitin already noted for such purpose.

[Slips]

++Not yet, Brother-Yeng. To split up so far from the objective might cause some to inadvertently get separated from the rest which might put them in greater risk. Once we're closer to the objective, then yes, I would agree. At the very least, I want to make sure all our brothers are at least tended to by one of us at all times.++ he says as Vorr, too, had to fight off the sphincter closing in on him as he made his way past the opening.

 

++Who knows how many more...nuisances...we will encounter between here and the target that would seek to attrition us? Never underestimate Space Hulk-adjascent environs...+ he trailed off as he tended to the newly-wounded marine.

 

Medicae total of 90 = 94 so simple failure. 

 

But, to Solastion and his instrumentation, the damage Vorr sustained didn't register anywhere.

 

As they waded through the milky white liquid that was all but opaque, Solastion quickly knelt down to gather a sample with his Narthecium for Analysis.

I guess this would be a Scholastic Lore: Chymistry or other Int-Based skill? if so, before mods, Int 50 for Solastion: 04 (im like, rolling either great or bad no inbetween why dice?) for 5 DoS before any positive or negative mods apply.

[Mazer Rackham]

Is this stuff flammable?

 

MR.

[Commissar Molotov]

AKKAD | AG45 | WOUNDS 22/22 | FATE 4/4
ATRATUS | AG70 | WOUNDS 23/23 | FATE 3/3
GHENT | AG60 | WOUNDS 21/21 | FATE 2/2
GREYSIGHT | AG43 | WOUNDS 22/22 | FATE 5/5
MONTESA | AGX49 | WOUNDS 23/23 | FATE 2(+1)/2
SABAAN | AG43 | WOUNDS 18/22 | FATE 3/3
SOLASTION | AG33 | WOUNDS 23/23 | FATE 4/4
TERALIL | AG40 | WOUNDS 21/21 | FATE 4/4
TYBER | AG48 | WOUNDS 20(+1)/20 | FATE 5/5
VARVOST | AG59 | WOUNDS 24/24 | FATE 3/3
VORR | AG50 | WOUNDS 17/17(21) | FATE 4(+1)/4
YENG | AG40 | WOUNDS 22/22 | FATE 3/3

GM: Okay, so Vorr's wounds are "treated" but not healed.

The cogitators and data-scryers within the Sanguinary Priest's wrist-mounted Narthecium are able to run rudimentary tests on the milky liquid. It is neither poisonous to the Astartes physiology nor corrosive to your battlegear. Largely inert and relatively disinteresting, it must play some role in the Hive Ship's biology that you are unaware of.


Mazer: How would you know?
Assuming that the pilot light on your Infernus Heavy Bolter is ignited, it does not seem to have had any reaction to the liquid or its vapours thus far.

[Steel Company]

Tyber stopped to feel the wall, before looking at his chain sword then back to the wall as he mused over the communications network, +If we knew the direction, we might be able to cut our way to it, chain swords are not much different than a chain fist on Tactical Dreadnought Armour… It would be faster if we had breaching charges however…+

 

Looking to Vorr for a moment he continued his musings, +We do have access to heavy ordnance, those could blast open walls possibly…+

 

He paused for a moment before adding, +Then again, who knows how soon it would detect the damage being done to it from the inside and overwhelm us with numbers…+

[Morovir]

Although he failed to discern the pattern that the sphincter made, Teralil managed to get his armoured form, made even more bulky than it usually was by the addition of heavy breaching equipment, through the portal unmolested, although the same could not be said for all of his brothers.

 

Inspecting the wall, he turned back to face Tyber, head slightly tilted.

 

++Incorrect - the power field sheathing a chainfist renders it a far superior breaching weapon than a simple chainsword. This, however...++

 

He raised his breaching augur.

 

++This is superior to both. It would be prudent to not waste our charges this early in out mission - we will undoubtedly need them more pressingly later on.++

 

Although it was impossible to tell with his helm on, it was almost as if he was smiling.

[Mazer Rackham]

Akkad looked up as Teralil spoke, and if the Techmarine was smiling, so was he as the Obstirian hefted the Augur.  He turned back to the milky depths, the flamer's pilot light twitched as he moved, but he could discern no immediate threat from conflagration, the tongue of flame-light was unchanged, no brighter, no hotter.  He waded forward further.

 

++Iazu, someone has to go in.  We cannot stay bottled up here in this...xenos mammary gland,++ his fingers dipped and traced through the milk, rubbed the substance between his finger and thumb. ++I have the auspex and can cover the exit where we emerge.++

 

MR.

[Slips]

++We're going through it one way or another and I would rather we not alert the Hive Ship to our exact presence within it by excavating our way through it so far from the goal just yet. My analysis shows that the liquid is not corrosive to our wargear and is a largely an inert liquid. Seeing as we're wading through it without much adverse effect, I see no reason why we cannot temporarily submerge into it to reach our intended destination.++

 

++Brother Akkad, since you have the Auspex you will be among the first to go through. Choose your second - we will progress through in evenly space pairs where possible.++

[Reyner]

His mind had drifted into the past, he couldn't think it felt like he had been absent for weeks. The Storm Giants bolt pistol suddenly felt like it weighed more than he did and his leg resisted his will to move it, he forced his eyes shut as the vision of his friends body smashed into the viscous membrane of the chamber. He could see the massive damage to the breastplate and the lumpy mess within it. Bolter impacts but no that was impossible it must have been some Tyranid bioweapon that had killed him, he remembered the Librarian trying to rally them even as acid or bioplasma was eating part of him alive, he remembered loosing missile after missile into the approaching horde to no effect then smashing a Warriors head in with the tube of his missile launcher. A frenzy gripped him as he fought his way to Echion and dragged him back to the thunderhawk firing wildly with his pistol then using it as a club when his ammunition ran out.

 

++THIS PLACE IS FULL OF TYRANIDS THEY ALREADY KNOW WE ARE HERE WHAT IS THE USE IN STEALTH?!++

 

Vorr tasted blood in his mouth he couldn't concentrate something about the hive ship was affecting his psyche. He started marching forward towards the closest tunnel opening readying his missile launcher, the tight confines would make frag missiles very satisfying. He didn't care if the squad followed him or not he only wanted vengeance or death in battle.

[Mazer Rackham]

It was not his place to restrain Vorr, but a few holes in the walls could make the beast spasm and crush them into a smear or vomit them out in space - who in the Heavens knew what.  Akkad nodded and indicated Atratus - the calm of the Raptor, his light tread, and his equipment would prove better suited to the claustrophobic sting that would greet them as they descended into the milky depths.  And he could pull the Astral Claw out of a hole if he fell into one.  He smiled.

 

++Brother Atratus can map our progress and relay it to the squad++ he said, instead of airing his thoughts.

 

He waded deeper, stab light not penetrating far into the murk.  He dropped his pilot light just in case.  Up to his waist, moving his feet slowly, he did not lift them far from the trembling flesh beneath his cleats.  He set the Auspex to active and clamped Cadence to his waist with his elbow, waiting.

 

MR.

 

EDITED: to include Atratus (to match below)

Edited June 7, 2020 by Mazer Rackham

[Noctus Cornix]

Crystal blues eyes watched through crimson lenses as Brakan began to march away. Though he could not see his brother's visage, he knew all too well what look he would find there, in the Red Talon's eyes. It was a look he had shared all the same when they had made their shameful retreat from this very ship. 

 

He had wanted to burn. He had yearned so deeply for the taste of death while his throat was still being eaten away. It would be but a small price to pay for vengeance as the bioship's insides were set ablaze in his hatred... was it not? 

 

Who was he to tell his brother no?... He had no right.....

 

 

And yet.....

 

 

A silver gauntlet felt upon the  Vorr's pauldron, halting his departure, even if only for a few moments. 

 

++ Brother.++

 

It was all the Codicier said in the shared channel of the squad. A quick retinal blink and he had severed connection, his voice reaching only those of Swordhand who still remained. Vorr, Morthas, Yeng, Ghent. This was not meant for the earns of Blackthorn's Astartes. It was a pain they each still bore, some far more literal than others. 

 

++My brothers... Though we have returned to this den of the Beast with our kin of Blackthorn, we carry with us a grief with us that is ours alone to bear. When last we stepped upon this ship, we lost brothers and close kin.... We grieve and we rage, Vorr. I know what eats at you all too well, brother, it burns in me still. I grieve as you do, even now... But do not so blithely throw your life away for nothing.. We came to this ship before with a mission, and we failed in that mission.++

++We failed.++

 

Guillermo let the words settle for a moment in the air as they transmitted across the locked vox network, reaching out to his four remaining brothers. Then, with his free hand, Guillermo pointed to the soft armour of his throat as he tipped his head back.

++ We paid the price for that failure. Our brother the price for our failure. Sergeant Jor paid that price. Echion paid that price..++ 

 

The last words lingered as he motioned his attention now to the Storm Giant's bolt pistol. 

 

++Swordhand paid the price for our failure and now we owe a debt to the xenos that took our kin away from us.. Brother, we have a chance to pay that debt in FULL, blood for blood. We have a chance to take up our mission once more and see to it that our brothers' death was not in vain.... We owe this to THEM, brother... We are all One. One mind. One purpose. One hand that carries the sword of the the Emperor's Divine Wrath, and I promise you, brother, true vengeance will never be satisfied so long as even one of the Tyranids still takes an accursed breath++

Then Guillermo reached out, hand extended to Vorr. Whether he takes it or not is all the Red Talon's choice.

 

++So?... Will you throw your life away and see Echion's death amount to nothing?... Or will you stand with your remaining brothers and see these xenos wiped from the Emperor's galaxy until nothing remains but their ashes?...++

[Reyner]

The words cut him deeply. Vorr looked at the Librarians hand on his shoulder then looked at his own hands in shame, they were both still flesh and bone he hadn't earned his bionics yet. Red Talons didn't carve their limbs off like their forebears they had to earn the right to become closer to the machine. Jor and Echion deserved better.

 

++You bastard Guillermo. If anyone else had used their names like that I'd be at their throats. I would die in place of any Swordhand.++

 

Vorr removed his gauntlet and pulled out his combat blade. He carved a lighting bolt into his palm, his blood bright crimson and took the Librarians hand and squeezed it tight.

[Noctus Cornix]

The smallest hint of a smile played upon Guillermo's lips from beneath that ancient Mk IV helm. He watched silently and patiently as the Red Talon ritually mutilated his own hand, knowing the significance it must have born. Who better to understand this than a Crimson Fist? Even if that wasn't entirely true, he still enjoyed the modest humor.

 

++Well, if you had, I suppose you'd be out of luck..++

 

He spoke with a light-heartedness as he took his brother's hand, blood smearing across the soft armour of this black gauntlet.

 

++You'd have to settle for trying to find the xenos bastard that took mine, if you want substitute... Shall we return to our brothers?++

[Commissar Molotov]

As the Librarian tends to the distempered Red Talon, the Sanguinary Priest motions for Akkad and Sabaan to be the first to enter the flooded ductway. The fluid fouls your auto-senses, reducing visibility to near-zero. Sound is muffled, until you cannot tell if the heartbeat in your ear is your own or coming from the pulsing, peristaltic walls around you.

 

Traversing the ductway takes only a minute or so until, finally, you reach a point where you can emerge from the liquid. You find yourselves in a large chamber approximately two hundred metres from end-to-end. It is dominated by a river of the milky fluid, the currents of which push insistently - if not forcefully - at about waist height. Exiting the other end of the chamber will allow you to continue "up" the Hive Ship's anatomy, closer towards its vital organs.

 

 

Lobed islands of flesh stand above the liquid. On each, there are towering pillars that stretch up to the ceiling, expanding and contracting rhythmically. Your Deathwatch training allows you to access implanted memories and hypnogogic engrams that can tell you what these are - they are spore flumes, part of a vast network of such organisms that fuel the hive ship’s spore shielding. You know that to destroy these flumes would potentially weaken its defense against the Imperial fleet.

 

Alternatively, it may be possible for you to employ stealth, moving through the chamber without disturbing the attentions of the Tyranid swarm.

 

GM: The map has a D and A for Daon Akkad and Atratus - I had misread Mazer's post and didn't see that Akkad had selected Sabaan to accompany him.

[A.T.]

Atratus holds up a hand, indicating for Akkad to hold the entry point here for the other members of the kill team to assemble, then indicates forward that he would secure a forward position.

 

The conditions were favourable for an enemy ambush and to act hastily would only divide their group at a critical moment. Finding an elevated spot further into the champer Atratus began to sweep for threats until the others arrived, his scope piercing the fluid in a way his autosenses could not.

 

Awareness to pick up anything here = 81 (vs 90 - pass, barely)

Silent move to creep into an elevated, concealed position without disturbing anything here = 7 (vs 100, pass with 9 extra DoS)

Conceal = 76 (vs 100, pass with 2 extra DoS)