[DH1e] The Damocles Contingency (RPG IC)

[Mazer Rackham]

Sanctum Cloister:

Your first careful steps are well advised, as the harsh light illuminating the space behind the hologram wall shows a truncated flight of metal steps. The wall panels are dense, as you descend towards another door, again, an airlock. The door stands open, possibly the result of Renard's ministrations. Within all is bright, cleansed with bactericidal mist and counterseptic wash. The steel is enamelled for cleanliness and hardness both, and as you pass through the chemical wash a minty tang sharpens your breaths.

The airlock is much larger than the one above. It holds an array of equipment. Passing within, the temperature drops significantly. It is not a threat - yet, but the mortuary damp and cold is enough to endanger gooseflesh, and the mist of your breath only adds to the cloud. Corpus helix motifs loiter everywhere. On the stowage lockers for pressure-suits, and the trays of medicinal unguents, the latter unopened. Racks of cleansed tools and instruments lie awaiting learned hands, bonesaws, grips, injectors, cutters.

Rimes of ice crack under your boots, the mist swirling, coloured by lumen globes in green and red, the bright strips reflecting light from everything, into almost headache inducing miasma. At the other end of the airlock, stands a door, emblazoned with the sigil of the Inquisition.

The door would be surrounded by security buttresses, except it has been torn off its hinges, canted at an angle, leaving one leaf of the bifurcated hatch loose, a triangle of darkness behind it, scarlet light of a hazard lamp spilling erratically.

Upon the door, long rents in parallel, dark against the enamelled plasteel.

Edited September 18, 2022 by Mazer Rackham

[Lord_Ikka]

Nicios

Raising his pistol, Nicios slowly edges towards the door. He peers into the room beyond, readying his weapon to fire instantly. 

[Mazer Rackham]

Sanctum Cloister:

Nicios: The room beyond is gloomy with mist and darkness, but the red lamp spills crimson light in crazy angles and lozenges over the room. The glint of steel and glass is revealed through the gap, the shadows dancing to the tune of a muted tocsin at the abuse perpetrated upon the door. Nevertheless, the darkness does not rob you of sense, the echo reveals the space beyond is large.

Yet it bounces from the objects which linger within. Preservative fluids mix a bitter tone into the aromatic soup assailing your nostrils, and the back of your throat.

[Lord_Ikka]

Nicios

Nicios motions to the others to move forward. He raises his weapon to cover them, while his mind prepares to unleash a crippling blow to an enemy's nervous system. 

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

Reynard cautiously stepped up beside the psyker, one hand holding his now-drawn laspistol, the other pulling out his lumen-stick from a pocket and playing the light beam slowly across the large, dark chamber.

Spoiler

Switch on Glow Globe and see what's in there!

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

Cloister:

The beam punches through the gloom, to illuminate a tall armaglas cylinder, flickers of sparkling air, bubbles springing up within. A dark silhouette lingers as the beam plays back and forth, picking out another, and another, the beam dropping back into shadow. Silver shards dripping meltwater catch the clean light as they fall from somewhere above.

The beam does not reach the back of the room beyond, not powerful enough to reach, not strong enough to penetrate the wash of scarlet light.

Yet, as the stick-lumen bobs and dips, it highlights an object twenty metres from the door.

One of the cylinders Reynard illuminated has long toppled, and the armoured glass lies across the floor, diamonds in the ice.

 

 

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

Reynard looked over the cylinders carefully. Between the lights and shadows and the icy mist, it was hard to make out what they contained.

He especially didn't like the look of the broken one. What had been stored inside it? Some vile airborne contagion that was even now attacking their vitals? Hopefully not - the freezing temperature in this chamber should have long since killed any of the tiny daemons that the Preachers claimed carried sickness from person to person.

Maybe it had been something bigger, something that had filled the entire cylinder? Something had ripped through the door they stood beside. He turned suddenly, examining the portal. Had it been attacked by something breaking in… or something breaking out?
 

[Machine God]

Kerr Restal

Tarrant guarded the airlock door, his danger sense tingled but he couldn't work out anything else.

 

Awareness Check: 

FAIL

[Mazer Rackham]

Sanctum Exterior:

It is Bardas who notices it first, the speaker box he settled on the top of the console to free his hands squawks before clearing to metallic-tinged words.

+I detect a change in the air composition outside. I am working to identify the pollutant. Medic - do you detect any changes within?+

Sanctum Cloister:

Examination of the door/marks requires a Challenging (+0) Intelligence Test.

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

Spoiler

Int 37, Roll: 62, 2DoF
No good!

Reynard looked at the portal, but he couldn't discern anything much. He nodded at Falk and Nicios.

"What do you think could have done that... and are they still inside?"
 

Edited September 19, 2022 by Lysimachus

[A.T.]

Falk

Falk shakes his head at the question, seeking to determine if the door was torn open from without or within.

Across comms, "be ready to seal the door and reactivate the autoclave"

Examine marks: 89 = fail

Edited September 20, 2022 by A.T.

[Lord_Ikka]

Nicios

Nicios looks at the door, wondering about the marks.

 

Spoiler

Int score- 38

Roll- 77

Result= Failure, 3 DoF

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

The metal door was so twisted and ruined, it was hard for any of them to tell exactly what had been done to it. But Reynard felt it was worth the effort to examine it again, moving back in the airlock so that his lumen properly illuminated the whole doorway and the leaf that had been torn open.

Spoiler

Worth attempting another Round of Tests?
Int 37, Roll: 32, Success this time!

 

While he was doing so, he spoke into his microbead.

+++What's happening out there, Bardas? Any luck ID'ing that pollutant? Doc, does that terminal have access to the security picters from the Sanctum entrance, maybe try to see where it's coming from?+++

Edited September 20, 2022 by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

Sanctum Cloister:

The rents are paltry compared to the terrible punishment meted out on the door. It is buckled, warped metal and crazed enamelling. The rents are roughly at shoulder height for a figure around five and a half feet, and the marks are definitely finger-width apart in cut. The span across suggests a diminutive humanoid.

You can discern no deformation where hands or clamps gripped or pulled, there are no claw marks around the jamb, nor within the lintel where the door would normally be secure. The actual door is well over four inches thick, and of braced, plasteel construction. If anything, the claw marks appear to be mindless thrashing with no strategic purpose in defeating the obstacle. Perhaps frustration when the door was wrenched into this awkward position.

Sanctum Exterior:

Bardas responds. ++I know not, but the particulates are increasing in presence. They currently supplant air components by a ratio of 1 in 20.++

Indeed, the air without the chamber begins to thicken, tickling the backs of everyone's throat.

Edited September 20, 2022 by Mazer Rackham

[A.T.]

Falk

The change in air was concerning. Equipment was here, though Falk was unfamiliar with most as he scanned the racks and lockers for respirators and salvation augers.

[Mazer Rackham]

Sanctum Exterior and Triage:

Consternation erupts with people coughing and choking, the sound of medical trays full of implements being scattered. Shocked male and female voices, confusion.

Bardas, still at the terminal, reports. ++Noxious particles increasing to 1 in 15 parts, now 1 in 10. ++

Challenging (+0) Toughness tests are now required by all outside the Sanctum. No action may be taken before this Test. Filtration equipment will allow a re-roll.

Bardas: Pass

Scourge: Fail

Scourge reels, coughing. He tries to aim his shotgun, but he wavers, the barrel swinging wildly in a circle as he fights the effects of his own bilogy.

Bardas cuts in, his augmetics proving sterner than mere flesh, ++I will keep the terminal open as long as possible. ++

Sanctum Cloister:

Falk: Looking around, you can see the cabinets and lockers where pressure suits would be contained. Being a biohazard facility, these would likely be self-contained suits. It would just be a question of how many within would be serviceable. (1D3 suits are in good condition. The rest will have tears, damage to the helmet faceplate etc, the type to be expected working in a lab with a lot of sharp objects.)

Edited September 20, 2022 by Mazer Rackham

[A.T.]

Falk

Arbites-grade filtration plugs, a legacy of his recent work searching the underhive, both benefit and risk as without them Falk would likely have not noticed the atmospheric change.

The suits might be too little too late unless the respirators in the helmets remained functional detached from the rest of the suit but for now a more pressing question - were they under attack from without or releasing the toxin from within?

Toughness test with filtration plugs: 2 vs toughness 50 (30+20 from the flugs)

Operation suits: 3

Edited September 20, 2022 by A.T.

[Beren]

Stimms yells back at those outside.

 

"I'd get in here if I were you, I've control of the airlock and purge controls from this end. Falk, the purge protocol in the cloister got shut down before it could run. Make sure you're not about to get jumped."

[Mazer Rackham]

Sanctum Exterior:

++Acknowledged, Medicae. Particulate infusion rate is now at 1 per 5. This is fascinating. The vectors preclude air-filter pollution. Now visible to my optical receptors, I am undergoing lachrymal induction,++ Bardas replies.

Toughness Tests:

Bardas: FAIL

Scourge: FAIL

"To the devil...ack, ack, the abyss, ack...with your inductions!" Scourge falls over, dropping his shotgun entirely as he clatters to the floor in his armour. The colourless gas continues to thicken. He lies on the deck, flopping his arms trying to grasp something to pull up.

++Do not linger friend Scourge! The particles ack...ack.. accumulate with great density at lower altitudes! I will sabotage the terminal, but it will take a moment!++

Bardas Tech Use Test: FAIL. (Hard, 99!)

Edited September 20, 2022 by Mazer Rackham

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

As he listened to the tech-adept speak, Reynard scowled, the dark second lab forgotten for now.

What were the chances that the Sanctum should suffer some kind of accidental tox-leak, right at the moment when their team had infiltrated the facility? Not odds he'd bet on. Wait a minute. Perhaps not a tox-leak, but maybe close enough…

+++Bardas, Scourge, Tarrant! Try the anti-tox injectors they handed out at the Vault! Doc, the triage security picters, tell us what we're up against!+++

Then he switched to the channel that connected to the hardline and the Inquisition pilot far above them.

+++Voyager, Virtue! We may be under some sort of gas attack. Sealing ourselves into the lab. Do your plans show any way out of here besides through the Sanctum?+++

Edited September 20, 2022 by Lysimachus

[Beren]

Stitches hisses and taps away at the console, attempting to bring up the vid-feed from the triage units. They were in a confined space with no apparent way out, up against an enemy that was almost certainly better prepared and equipped than they were.

Another regular day in the guard, and he'd thought he'd gotten out of all of that grox-dung.

[Mazer Rackham]

Stitches:

The picters spring into life, to show the triage area swamped with some kind of gas, now visibly fluffing up in clouds. The Frateris Militia and the Hospitallers have collapsed, taking all manner of trays, plants and anything not bolted down, to the deck with them. You can see them writhing still, as an arm flies round the corner and tosses in two objects that are certainly grenades.

There is a bright flash, the picters suffering bloom out for a moment, but the blinding light carries down the hall, followed by the crump of not one, but two concussions.

The thick glass insulates you against both, and thankfully the others outside are spared the brunt, but as the picters come back online, you see men enter through the swirling gas, dressed in black. Cloaked and hooded, they range from armoured bodygloves and dyed flak armour, all the way up to light carapace. They are all carry cudgels, batons or stun-sticks for close action, and pistols of every mark and make you can think of. They are masked up with full rebreathers, complete with flash lenses which have an eerie green sheen.

Darkvision.

They walk past the fallen, heading right for the Sanctum.

[Lord_Ikka]

Nicios

This is going well. 

Nicios moves to cover the airlock entrance to the Sanctum, staying within the covering hologram.

"Get into the airlock now!"

His right hand aiming his pistol, his left hand beginning to twist his ring, Nicios waits for those outside the door to get in from the gas attack.

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

Spoiler

OOC: I'm assuming that Stitches relays what he can see on the screen to the rest of us without Beren having to copy/paste your post? 

 

Reynard swore aloud. That sounded like something they really didn't want to take on in open combat.

+++Is everyone back through the first airlock? Is it sealed? What if we retreat into the Cloister and switch the autoclave back on in the main Sanctum? No way they're advancing any further through that kind of heat?+++

Of course that would leave the team cut off and trapped in the hidden chamber… unless there was another way out from down here? Not that Voyager was answering his comm…

+++Voyager, Virtue! Definitely an assault, heavy squad in black, pro's, fully loaded. If you've got an out, we need to know about it now!+++

Reynard swore again, flashing his lumen back towards the dark triangle in the door. There should  be more than enough room for someone reasonably slender to fit through?

"Falk, give me a quick boost? Someone needs to check out this chamber and we don't have much time."

With a step created by the Arbitrator's interlaced fingers, Reynard climbed up towards the narrow gap.

Spoiler

Ag Test? 45, Roll: 53… hmm. Can I count the step-up from Falk as an Assist to get through the gap? Hopefully that's allowed, otherwise I'll have to spend my last FP and try again…

With a grunt of effort, Reynard pulled himself through the gap and down onto the floor on the other side. His pistol was back out immediately and he panned his lumen around the large chamber. First things first… a light switch?

Spoiler

Awareness Test: Per 28 + Awareness+10 = 38, Roll: 20, 1DoS.

 

 

 

Edited September 21, 2022 by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

Sanctum Cloister: Why yes, I am leaving the most dramatic part until last. Lysi, I agree Copypasta is bad, and I don't like it, so no, Beren doesn't have to do that.  on the assist, I am inclined to say no, as this provides a storytelling opportunity. You had no DoF, so it isn't terrible, so don't bother on a re-roll.

++Virt-, line being...-mmed. Piggy....k recu-...e -oop. Network infilt-..ed. Sluic...gate, evac.. -rear o- lab. Radioa-...e, but -cape ro..e. Look f.. yell- hatc-..++

Reynard: You emerge on the other side, but as you flail around for a light switch, the spectrometer you pocketed falls out after your athletic squeeze, toppling to the floor and smashing apart in a raucous noise that echoes from the room within. Your questing palm meets something flat, like glass, and the tingle of your electoo cancels the red light, plunging you into claustrophobic darkness for three heartbeats, before dazzling brilliance illuminates the lab cloister.

Your first instinct is of glass, lots of glass. Each a cylinder containing effervescent clear liquid, and within, humanoid shapes. The one nearest to you twitches, long hair flowing mermaid-like in the updraught, lines and cables feeding from and two her nearly nude body, her modesty preserved by orthotic harnesses.

She is not alone. The cloister contains rows and columns of people, three high by six across in the centre, around the walls three ranks stand proud, disappearing into the back of the chamber. Most are covered with a fully encompassing shield, save a monitoring porthole, but the central section stands open. It is from these ranks, that the cylinder you saw earlier has fallen, and smashed. On initial inspection, some of the 'subjects' as Dreyfuss called them, suffer from amputations or terrible wounds which would likely prove mortal if not suspended in these tanks. Power and data cables lie in thick bundle-mattresses across the floor.

All of them lead to a central cogitator and a manner of cryogenator.

The empty cylinder has the lines and cables to whoever was inside lying limp, discarded.

Sanctum Exterior:

Bardas: ++Friend Tarrant, Scourge, I have made roused the machine guardian spirits to deny access to this terminal. We must go!++

Toughness Test: FAIL

Tech Use: PASS

Scourge Toughness Test: FAIL. (Scourge is now unconscious).

Tarrant, who has weathered the storm best, grips Scourge by the scruff of the neck, and with Bardas' help they get into the airlock, leaving Scourge's dropped shotgun behind.

Right behind them appear the dark figures in the swirling mist. They look through the glass, perceiving Stitches inside, but not noticing the fugitives in this side of the airlock. The biggest of them produces a bolt pistol, the blocky shape obvious, and fires a round at the glass, the shell clattering before exploding. It crazes a small area, but the armaglas is proof enough to thwart him. He inspects the terminal, finds he is locked out and hammers it with a fist. Turning, he gesticulates wildly, before two of his men bring one of the recumbent forms from the triage centre.

With almost no effort, he presses one of the Frateris Militia up against the glass, his tired face flesh flattening and breath causing a subtle mist, before the brute lodges the muzzle against the back of his prisoner's skull.

He promptly blows the Frater's head all over the observation window, allowing the twitching corpse to smear down the glass, before scrawling a finger through the grisly, red-grey remains.

? S S U F Y E R D

He gestures with his free hand, and the young adepta hospitaller is brought in.

It appears this could be quite the lethal conversation.

Edited September 21, 2022 by Mazer Rackham