[DH1e] The Damocles Contingency (RPG IC)

[Lord_Ikka]

Nicios

 

"When the shields go down, strike hard!"

Spoiler

 

Half Action - Move

Stand up and move towards the center of the room, facing the Golem

 

Half Action - Delay

Delay Manifest Psychic Power (Force Bolt w/Invocation)

Act if main shield on Golem dissipates or fluctuates  

 

 

Edited July 29, 2023 by Lord_Ikka

[Necronaut]

Scourge:

 

Scourge strode towards the Golem, closing the gap between himself and the crackling, barely visible energy fields which barred his path from the daemonic cogitator. He looked about at his compatriots and scowled, knowing he would be of little use to them in bringing down the shields, pqing to his ignorance of the mysteries of the Machine Cult. 

 

"I stand ready, Nicios!"

Edited July 31, 2023 by Necronaut

[Mazer Rackham]

ROUND FIVE ENDS

ROUND SIX BEGINS

 

+Inititive Order Remains+

 

MAP

Spoiler

 

GM OOC: Nearly there, gang. One last push....

 

Restal [ ]

[Machine God]

Kerr Restal:

 

His mind was blank, what was he doing here? 

 

Who were all these people?

 

He did things with his hands whilst he thought. He felt his teeth itch and his head throbbed.

 

Who am I?

 

 

YOU ARE YOU, REMEMBER!

 

 

His childhood, friends ages ago, there was the Clan. He trod alone, alone with his skills and ...

 

 

Headache from Nicios. A scourge of men, a rager called to the holy!

 

It was all the fault of trying to be caught. Walking into...

 

Walking into the Arbites precinct.

 

Falk's fault!

 

 

"Ha, ha, ha!" he laughed out loud. "Yes, The Weasel!"

 

 

First met but not last!

 

"Bar-Das!"

 

 

He looked down and saw the pistol in his hands.

 

He had cleared his memory.

 

 

Muninn was ready.

 

 

 

(Full Action)Un-Jam Muninn

BS 40 = 40. Result: 34, Pass

 

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

ROUND SIX CONTINUES

 

+Core Vent in progess, 60% and rising. Nucleonic Stack decay commencing.+

 

The Golem of Antares:

Half-Action: Delay

 

Next Players [ ]

[Trokair]

Bardas

(Slightly out of order, if it makes a difference just pretend it is later). 

 

Sight, albeit monochrome, returned as the goggles sensors reactivated in assessment mode. A few seconds later colour slipped in, one set of wavelengths at a time. The rainbow flicker of the energy field as it died read as interference, and for a moment Bardas assumed that scrap code had infected his sight.

 

Purging the routines again the world was once more rendered in shades of black, then red, then the gloom of reality.

Finding himself almost at the terminal he had spied earlier he took the last fee steps over to take a closer look, perhaps there was a way into the Golem’s system to weaken it further.

 

Spoiler

Tech Use to access/explore the terminal and what systems it is connect to.

Int: 39 + 10 (Tech use +10) = 49

D100: 13, Pass, 3 DoS

 

[Mazer Rackham]

ROUND SIX CONTINUES

 

Bardas:

 

The Skull Teminal.

 

GM: You can discern that this is an auxiliary terminal which controls the power system around this room. It has access to ventilation, lighting and reference databanks for the maintenance of plasma invectors, as you would expect. You can see much of this has been hijacked or overridden by the Djinn within, and core power functions have been routed partly to the other auxiliary terminal (Cog).

 

Golem Half Action: Attempt to repel Bardas

Opposed Tech Use: PASS 1 DoS

 

Bardas Wins.

 

[A.T.]

Falk

 

The lascutter made short work of the cables on this side, Reynard pulling the final connections on his. They were cutting it close.

 

The golem had been uncharacteristically silent but Restals voice echoed out causing Falk to spin towards him. The man hadn't moved since the fight began and not had an odd expression, instinctively he adjusted his posture to screen Bardas.

 

Scrutiny: 95 (fail) - re-roll 12 (pass)

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

Reynard glared at the great golden edifice.

 

"Someone who knows what they're doing, get over here and work the second terminal. And hurry!"

 

 

Spoiler

Quickdraw - Switch to Command Laspistol.

Full Aim at Golem.

 

 

[Trokair]

Bardas

 

+The Fox-Kin call truth, before the corruptions these acted as a pair, and in consort they still need to be operated.+

 

Bardas pointed at the other terminal across the room without looking up from his own.

 

+Someone just needs to get there, I can take you through it.+

Edited July 29, 2023 by Trokair

[Lord_Ikka]

Nicios

 

Nicios moved to the second terminal, letting his power fade into the back of his mind as he accessed the technology.

 

 

Spoiler

Half Action - Move to Terminal

 

Half Action - Tech-Use to access terminal functions

Target - 43

Roll - 96

Fate Point re-roll - 21, 1/3 Fate Points left

Result = Pass, 2 DoS

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Lord_Ikka

[Mazer Rackham]

ROUND SIX CONTINUES

 

Falk:

Your observation of Restal is that he's having one of his 'there, gone out and returned' moments. Perhaps the ebb and flow of the warp has carried his whim away.

 

Nicios:

Golem Opposed Tech-Use:

D100: 009 PASS 4 DoS

Golem Wins.

 

The console chirps, before a snap of electricity sparks across the haptic interface, writhing like a venomous viper. Your access pathways are truncated or re-routed before your eyes, as the Golem shifts the code with almost nonchalant grace.

 

GM: OOC I'll allow you to retrospectively blow Fate to add DoS if you wish, or Falk can do this on his turn (as I don't think he's had it yet (he was using a Free Action to check Restal).

[Necronaut]

Scourge: 

 

The automated message intoned their rapidly impending demises, and though Scourge had long ago consigned his soul to the embrace of the God-Emperor, the citizens of Damocles did not deserve such a fate, theirs being as yet undecided. The two ancillary force fields flickered and winked out, and he stalked right up to the edge of the final gate, feeling his teeth tingle and vibrate. He spat another gob of blood-flecked saliva at the energy shield in frustration and watched it hiss and evaporate before his eyes. 

 

Scourge stamped his feet and shouted at the others, "Our time runneth short! We must not delay the Emperor's Justice! Haste, ye sluggards!" 

 

 

Full action: move up to edge of energy shield in front of the Golem

 

Edited July 30, 2023 by Necronaut

[A.T.]

Falk

 

The more vectors of attack the better, split the golems attention and hope the machine spirit of the core was stubborn.

 

"Judgement time", he muttered under his breath, as promised in the elevator so it was now delivered.

 

Roll 14 vs 38 +1 DoS from fate, +30 if this is a security test from the multikey

[Mazer Rackham]

ROUND SIX CONTINUES

 

The Golem curses in tongues without name, without time.

 

The final hard shield comes down with such a terrible crash of reality bursting, the whole room shudders.

 

+ImpUDENT, IMpuu...dent, wretch/WRENCH/?Retch? WRETCHEs. MEET, Meat and bone, stiCKS and SToneS. EVeN Now, I esc-cap-ape-ape. Your inter-INTER-ference is a chi-chil-child, flailing with mysteries and my GOD-D-GodHEAD. SEE how you Worship=SHIP at my feet.+

 

The eyes of the gilded tyrant towering above gleam a little brigher.

 

+In the DepTHS of Hell-hel-HELlll, I will/Will? WIlL Scorn YOU. Names Writ/WrittEN in the AETHER: BarDAS, REYnarD VoN GRAIN?Graen, ?Pet-Petrus Kovac?/SCOURGE. CaLEB Falk. Kerr-killer RestAL. And you, ChilD of the FalsE KING, Jericus, HATEd Nicios. Conjurer, FUMBlER of wills - PREtendER.+

 

+I Curse YOU ALL.+

 

ROUND SIX ENDS.

ROUND SEVEN BEGINS.

 

+Initiative Order Remains+

 

MAP

Spoiler

 

Restal [ ]

[Machine God]

Kerr Restal:

 

His pistols were in his hands.

 

No doves at this apocalyptic showdown.

 

These murder-ravens were brought to bear.

 

Huginn and Mininn spoke to the Golem, their target.

 

 

 

(Full Action) 2x SAB Vs Golem

Huginn

BS 40 +10 (SAB) -10 (Two Weapon Fighting + Ambidextrous) +30 (Massive) = 70. Result: 08, Pass 6DoS. Right Leg. 1d10 +4 +2 (Mighty Shot), Pen 2

Hit #1: 7 +4 +2 = 13 Damage.

Hit #2: 6 +4 +2 = 12 Damage.

Hit #3: 6 +4 +2 = 12 Damage.

 

Muninn

BS 40 +10 (SAB) -10 (Two Weapon Fighting + Ambidextrous) +30 (Massive) = 70. Result: 13, Pass 5DoS. Body. 1d10 +4 +2 (Mighty Shot), Pen 2.

Hit #1: 2 +4 +2 = 8 Damage.

Hit #2: 6 +4 +2 = 12 Damage.

Hit #3: 9 +4 +2 = 15 Damage.

 

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

ROUND SEVEN CONTINUES

 

+Core vent at 70% and rising. Nucleonic decay increasing. Critical failure imminent.+

 

The Golem of Antares

The effigy is shot, broken and fragmented by the heavy rounds from Restal's guns.

 

Golem: Actions

Bardas Possession

D100: FAIL

 

Reynard [ ]

Next Players [ ]

 

 

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

Reynard stared hard at the huge avatar's saintly, perfectly human features. He suddenly realised that looking at them made him angry. For a being so contemptuous of 'meat and bone' Mankind, the Golem certainly seemed to want to be like them? But it didn't deserve to wear a man's face.

 

Let's see if we can make you a little less pretty, shall we?

 

The final field dropped with a loud 'pop' of displaced air and Reynard fired immediately, a single lasburst chasing behind Restal's fusillade. The overcharged round struck home, but Reynard was only half watching, his quick fingers finding and slotting his second hotshot pack into the venerable pistol.

 

 

Spoiler

Half: Standard Shot with Command Laspistol.
BS41 +10(RDS) +10(Short Range) +20(Full Aim) +10(Accurate) +30(Massive Target) -20(Called Shot at Head/Face, might as well!) = 101, Roll: 48, 5DoS. Hit on Head.
Dam (Hotshot Charge):
1d10+4 +2d10(Accurate) Pen4, Hotshot=Tearing
(6,2,10!,5 - Discard 2)
RF Roll: 79, Success! Extra d10: 7
6+10+7+5+4 = 32 Dam at Pen4
Command Las is Out of Ammo.

Half Action (Rapid Reload): Reload second Hotshot Charge.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

ROUND SEVEN CONTINUES

 

The perfectly sculpted face is blown into ruined, molten slurry as the hotshot pistol sublimates the faux-benign smile.

 

Whilst the avatar loses it's face, the wicked soul infesting it does not. A cruel laugh that isn't heard, and has neither beginning nor end, creases the tortured air. As the golden statue crumbles and it turned into fragmenting shrapnel, the beating cybernetic and heretek heart of the false idol is partially revealed.

 

A baroque cube, vertices laminated and lacquered with black-gold metal, the cube pulses with crimson light, swirling behind the trans-metal faces, which leer and churn with blasphemous symbols and energies of the world beyond - the warp. Dark magicks and the engines of the Samech Hereteks have woven this thing into creation, for no more reason than they could.

 

Cables and conduits are fitted into the angles of the box, feeding the thing power from deep within the hive it now seeks to destroy out of spite.

 

The hive rumbles as it is tortured. It is clear that the end is nigh - one way or another.

 

Edited July 31, 2023 by Mazer Rackham

[A.T.]

Falk

 

"Scourge, bring forth the hammer".

 

If mundane weapons were sufficient agains this thing the inquisitor would have not gone to such lengths to sanctify it. Falk too stepped forward but not to fire upon the golem, rather to screen Bardas from the assault as the tech-adept was guided forward to the once shielded controls.

[Necronaut]

Scourge:

 

With a feral shout, Scourge charged up the steps to where the vile machine had collapsed, and brought Hywelesbane down into the artfully worked cube nestled amidst the crumbling machinery with a thunderous blow. 

 

 

 

Full Action: Charge Attack

WS41 + 10 (Master-Crafted) + (???) = 51+

Charge Attack: 1d100 1: hit; 5+ DoS

 

Hywelesbane Damage: 2d10+4E+5(SB), Pen 10, Power, Sanctified, Unwieldy, etc.

Hywelesbane Damage: 2d10 9: 8 + 1 + 4 + 5 (SB) = 18E damage, Pen 10

Edited July 31, 2023 by Necronaut
Fixed damage and adjusted narrative description

[Mazer Rackham]

ROUND SEVEN CONTINUES

 

The Golem of Antares:

Holy Damage - Daemonic Trait does not Function.

The casing, which should have been pulverised by the enormous energy of the blow, caves in. Crushed by the holy wrath, the casing starts to bleed copiously, spewing bile, oil and corrupted bloody fluid all over the place. The split reveals the casing might be only moderate in thickness, but it has been wrought in the hell-forges where material properties mean very little.

 

The odd, keening wail accompanying proves it was more.

 

Scourge:

 

This close to the cracked case, you can feel the touch of the Anathema. Your skin tingles, even through your battered armour. The touch is repulsive, making your bones crawl with desperate itching from within.

 

Utter wrongness assails you, and the strangeness of the thinned veil is as nothing compared to the utterly antithetical hatred spilling from the box.

 

GM: You must make a Challenging (+0) WP Test or take 1D5 Corruption Points.

 

[Necronaut]

Scourge:

 

The horrible, corrupting miasma that emanated from the dread machine made his guts churn and his skin itch and burn, but his was the mind and constitution of a zealot, closed to the evils of all that fell outside of the Emperor's Light, made righteous and pure through years of privation and excoriation. Through clenched teeth Scourge roared, "I DENY THEE, DAEMON!"  

 

 

Willpower Test vs Corruption: 38

 

Willpower test: 1d100 32: success, 0 DoS

Edited July 31, 2023 by Necronaut

[Mazer Rackham]

ROUND SEVEN CONTINUES

 

Sparks from severed cables and torn wiring crackle and hiss, at your pontification, but you can sense this is no mere electrical fault. The beast controls all within it's grasp, even be it tenuous - nails digging into a precipice. Whilst it remains bound to this realm, it continues to fight.

 

GM: If Bardas communes with the Master Console note that whilst the Golem remains, the Tech Use Tests will be Opposed. He may have Assistance to help. If Players wish me to move to Round 8 (because they're stood around) please narrate a post evoking the thoughts of your Character at this critical juncture, and simply state in OOC that you "Pass Turn". Bardas may wish to try to wrest control anyway, to prove the true Mechanicum is the Master of the Machine.

 

GM Special Directions: @Necronaut The time of the Golem to face justice is at hand, but it must be fought with your spirit as well as body. The number of DoS you score on your next attack will determine the number of centuries and depths of oblivion to which the Golem will be banished. Instead - should you activate Righteous Fury, you may Burn a Fate Point to destroy the daemon outright.

 

[Trokair]

Bardas

 

Shaking his head slightly, a biological reflex, all but ineffective, he resisted another surge of scrap code. Either he was getting better at fighting and cleansing the golem’s assault on his gifts, or it was weekending.

 

The dive into the cogitator’s system might have dispelled the last shield, and thus let the others wail on the Golems physical essence, a pursuit he would gladly join in at this point, but it would only be half the battle. They had to stop the reactor, bring it back into balance and blessed safety parameters. Alas nothing he could locate in the uncorrupted infrastructure led to any useful reactor systems.

 

As the facade of the statue outer cover was peeled away by his comrades effort Bardas spotted the dormant terminal at the Effigies feet. Would it be more corrupted due to the Golem’s proximity, or would it be the key. Only one way to find out.

 

Spoiler

Move to terminal

Half Move 4m (if this is insufficient full move for 8m and no Tech Use test)

Tech-Use to accses main terminal

 Int: 39 + 10 (Tech use +10) = 49

D100: 61, Fail, 1 DoF