[DH1e] The Damocles Contingency (RPG IC)

[Machine God]

Kerr Restal

 

"Thank you for your time, Ma'am. I trust that you will be discreet with any , 'ahem' recordings." said Kerr Restal politely.

 

He clipped his heels together and then withdrew from the room.

[Mazer Rackham]

The Nexus:

 

She airily waves to the others as they depart, without ceasing her scribbles, until only Reynard remains and gives his advice. She finally looks up. "Please tell Mr Restal that unlike Drussa, I don't bend over backwards for anyone."

 

The smirk reappears.

 

"That's your cue to leave Mr Reynard. I'll be in touch regarding...payment."

Edited October 24, 2022 by Mazer Rackham
Typo

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

With a wink, Reynard left. It took only a few moments to quietly relay what they had learned to Falk.

 

"...and that was it. One lead becomes three. Like a damn hydra… but I can't see the gunsmith or the datacrypter knowing anything much, other than what Dreyfuss bought from them? The Magisters, though… Dreyfuss' log seemed to suggest they might be more involved?"

 

He frowned, then spoke more loudly to where Geist was at the front, leading them back towards the market.

 

"Mr Geist? I wonder if you might tell us a little more about the 'Magisters'. Who are they? Where would we find them?"

 

Edited October 24, 2022 by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

The Nexus:

 

Geist puts his gun away after handing your equipment back, and shudders. It is perhaps the first time you've noticed it, or possibly that it has occurred in your presence.

 

"The Magisters? They're uh...a group of...sages," he says carefully, licking his lips. "They live in an old librarium three strata down. I'll take you part way. We'll have to go back through town. I need some things."

 

You can assume you have been taken back to the town, which is now operating normally, with power and lighting. The air is clean, except for the lingering smell. The interview and travel took an hour overall, and Geist will be at least another two hours. You may use this to rest, and talk amongst yourselves. There are still viable rooms and beds in the boarding house, although the kitchen (the cold rooms) are being used for casualty storage.

 

You are also free to explore Rivet City. If you do go in, you will note that most of the servitors are destroyed, and Magos Krupp is out of commission, but not dead (he's shut down to preserve his life).

[Lord_Ikka]

Nicios

Sages? I have dealt with so-called "sages" before. Hedge-psykers and deviants mostly. Better be on our guard.

 

Nicios informed the others of the possibility of these Magisters being unsanctioned psykers. 

 

"We should rest and tend to Bardas."

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

More witches…

 

Reynard barely stopped himself from cursing aloud. Instead, he nodded thanks to Nicios for the information and moved away. Without speaking to any of the locals he ducked back into the Imperial Knights. He took a few minutes to use the ablutions block, cleansing his body. The water pressure was poor, but this close to the heat sink there was little difficulty in making sure it was hot, at least. Then he went up to the cell that had been his and took a few moments to brush down and clean his clothes. With these necessary tasks complete - in his line of work, appearances were important - he lay down on the narrow cot and shut his eyes.

 

His chrono awoke him an hour later. Not long enough, but sufficient to refresh him a little. Reynard rose, dressed and headed back out into the settlement. In the last few hours, the stallholders had been working hard to get the market up and running again. Resilient people, used to being knocked down and getting up again. Good for them. He was of a mind to spend a few of Verdict's Thrones.

 

Reynard didn't even try to haggle, quite happy for the 'Most Holy' Inquisition to give something back to this community. He purchased two small bottles of high percentage alcohol and a pair of new handkerchiefs, to replace the ones he had used against their pursuers. He also refilled the fuel in his pocket lighter and had someone recharge the power cell in his stablight.

 

 

Spoiler

Sleep for Day 2.

Purchase 2 Fire Bombs at 5 Thrones each = 10. Pay another 10 for the other bits, may be a bit much but Reynard is feeling sorry for his fellow Underhivers!

 

 

With these items safely pocketed, Reynard found a spot outside the Grox to sit and wait for Geist to reappear.
 

[A.T.]

Falk:

 

"Pair off, one on and one off watch and rest. And check the civilian casualties first - our presence here brought this upon them."

 

Falk held up his hand to Reynard before he moved on, "We should verify the status of the mechanicum facility here when Bardas is recovered, we need arms and have little time for diversions but I would not risk what security remains there without his presence."

 

First watch was still his though if the others returned he expected far less restraint.

 

What rest is available, and Falk will buy food and water here

[Lord_Ikka]

Nicios

 

With Falk on guard, Nicios sank into sleep. After an hour, he awoke, not exactly refreshed but at least ready to continue. 

 

Letting Falk sleep, he checked on the tech-priest. Bardas looked decent, but with all the augmentation Nicios was unable to infer if there was anything he could do to help further. Sitting down in a lotus position, he began to meditate while keeping his psychic senses alert.

 

 

Spoiler

Rest for Day 2

Cannot perform Healing on Bardas yet, unless it has been six hours since the firefight. If it has, will try Healing (rolls 6, 8- heals 4 health, no phenomena). 

 

Meditation

Test- 53

Roll- 32

Result= Pass with 2 DoS

One level of Fatigue removed for every minute of Meditation.

 

 

Edited October 25, 2022 by Lord_Ikka

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

While he waited for Geist and the rest of the team to gather, Reynard thought again about the next task. The Magisters were the logical next target, but… more psykers? He knew his strengths… and his weaknesses. The ability to flatter and beguile, however convincingly, had no value against an opponent who could sift through your very thoughts!

 

Not to mention when they turned gravity itself inside out and upside down…

 

He wondered if the team's interests - and, more importantly, his own - would be better served if he was able to find something else to do? Leave the witches to the lawmen? There were still other leads to follow in the area. Reynard hadn't initially thought Julo Kathago or Sebastian Lecroix would be able to add much… but wasn't it always the yakka-rat you didn't catch that came back to bite you? Maybe the datacrypter could even do something with the missing and corrupted sections of Dreyfuss' log?

 

Hmm. That was a valid idea. Perfectly valid enough for him to avoid any further encounter with the uncanny powers of the warp-cursed. He decided to raise it with the others when they appeared, at least to ask Geist if he knew where the two specialists usually worked from.

 

Reynard looked over towards the great doorway into Rivet City, utterly silent and still. The locals seemed to be avoiding going over that way, perhaps out of fear, or perhaps just out of ingrained habit. Someone should definitely check the place out again before they left. He considered getting up and going for a snoop… but maybe it would be wiser to wait for Bardas as Falk had said?

 

Edited October 26, 2022 by Lysimachus

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

Reynard was getting bored. Did the others intend to sleep for the rest of the day? Funny, he thought Verdict's precious mission was supposed to be time-sensitive…?

 

He looked over again towards Rivet City. He really shouldn't go in without Bardas… but maybe he could just take a quick peek?

 

Bad idea. Don't mess with the Mechanicus.

 

Almost of his body's own volition, he stood up anyway. Reynard wandered back across the market, idly looking at a few new items that the stallholders must have decided were 'singed but saleable'. He didn't stop to pick anything up though. His gaze kept returning to the huge portal.

 

Most likely the whole place is completely wrecked. Still a bad idea.

 

Nevertheless he was somehow still moving towards the door. Now he could see the line of darkness where it stood ajar, brightened by occasional flashes - sparks? - from within. He looked back towards the boarding house. No sign of movement.

 

He sighed.

 

Ah well, Mother did always say I was too curious for my own good…

 

Carefully, quietly, he sidled up to the gap. With a deep breath and without setting a single foot inside, Reynard looked around the door and peered into the Factorum. After a moment he pulled out his stablight and panned it slowly across the massive chamber.

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Rivet City:

 

The stablight traverses the gloom, picking out slumped servitors and the eerily silent presses which only a few hours before were a testament to the industry of this small factorum.  Shrapnel fragments glitter in metallic confetti, snapped and broken cables snake across the floor, and the silver beam rests on the huge shape of Magos Krupp, his many manipulator arms and mechadendrites are stilled. The screens and cogitator arrays are reduced to operating logic only, awaiting input.

 

A service lift shaft lies off to your left, but the control panel sparks and spits broken machine cant from a smashed vox-box. It must have been the lift your comrades took. The robed form of the Adept who decontaminated you is a broken pile of scrap, leaking oil and blood from flesh all too weak to the attack in here. The carnage was wrought behind the mighty door, hidden by the machinery working. Empty brass litters the ground. A bypass unit is hooked to the main terminal, the screen faintly glowing with a pale blue cast.

 

The amount of damage you can see was caused in a short time, and with ruthless, brutal efficiency.

 

A single green light blinks from the Magos, deep within his hood, but it is intermittent, and the colour is weak. If machines had a pulse, you are certain this one is fading.

 

You sense a small presence next to you. Out of the corner of your eye, you see a dirty-faced child playing with a toy. The one-armed doll waves at you as she urges it. Her dark brown eyes are devoid of any emotion, she is rather unkempt in a robe that has been patched so much, it might as well be new. Her pale complexion marks her as a hive-born like you, maybe some ten summers old - or as it is measured outside of steel walls.

 

"You're the spy, huh?" she asks. Her voice is tiny.

Edited October 27, 2022 by Mazer Rackham

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

Reynard nearly jumped in the air. He hadn't heard the child approach at all. He was about to answer her when he remembered what he'd just seen.

 

+++Bardas, if you're up, I think your friend Magos Krupp is on his way to join the Omnissiah... or whatever you fellows believe in? You might be able to do more for him than I could?+++

 

Then he turned and moved down to one knee to talk to the girl, his voice gentle, kindly.

 

"Who told you that, child?"

[Mazer Rackham]

Rivet City:

 

The little girl pulls at her matted blonde hair. This close you can see the tear-stains on her cheeks. Her lack of emotion is likely because it has been harrowed out of her. She studies her dolly for a moment, thoughts on her face.

 

"Daddy says nosy people are spies. I wanted to see if you had a magic hand like the other spy."

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

Reynard smiled, warmly. He didn't have to fake it.

 

"Your Daddy sounds like a smart man. A good Hiver. My Hive is a long, long way from here, but I like this one too. Reminds me of home."

 

He held his hands out, turning them over, showing they were empty.

 

"No magic here, I'm afraid. Except…," he moved one hand quickly over the other, and suddenly a shining coin appeared in his palm, "I don't know where this came from? It's not mine, it must be yours?"

 

Drawn from his sleeve, a five Throne piece wouldn't make much difference to him, but maybe it might feed a little girl for a week or so. As she took it with a certain amount of suspicion, he asked softly.

 

"What kind of magic did the man have in his hand?"

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Rivet City:

 

The little waif pockets the five Throne piece, dropping it into the broad pocket on the front of her robe.

 

"Thank you," she says, earnest. She brightens a little at your gift.

 

"This kind of magic," she replies. She takes her dolly and holds it above her open palm, and makes it spin in place. She stops playing with the one-armed toy, frowning. She puts a finger to her lips, gaze distant.

 

"Dolly was very scared when the bad men came, so I said we should hide." She points to a vent on the wall, not much bigger than a felid. Two metres up from the space, there is the scorched and scarred lesion of a frag grenade. It must have been the one fumbled by one of the attackers. How she survived in there without catching a stray bullet, being blown to hell or burned to a crisp is nothing shy of common good sense in her hiding spot - and the Emperor's own Grace.

 

"They were very angry. The metal guys told daddy they were coming. They have a plan. They're going to hurt you."

 

"Daddy's asleep over there," she changes tack, the way children are wont to do, "but he's not snoring. Lots of people are asleep, aren't they?"

 

Her wide eyes look at you, searching for something.

[Trokair]

Bardas had left the squad vox on, at a minimal setting where it did not disrupt rest cycles, but once he woke it would aid him in acclimatising to transpired events. Being addressed directly was slated in as a priority for attention, and given the early intrusion this new fact passed the threshold to tip the balance to wakefulness.

 

Groggily Bardas woke up. A primal sound arose as the pain and burden reasserted themselves. He might not have a tongue so as to scream, but his lungs did not care and forced the air into submission. Reaching out to, hands seeking his staff, then finding it. In his mind Bardas recited the invocation of iron will. With the mind steadied everything followed in turn. The pain, while never going away while the injury subsisted, lots its bite, instead existing as steady reminder that things were not well.

 

Looking around the room he noticed Nicio, he hoped he had not scared the other with his outburst. He nodded weakly in greeting. The internal chronometer showed only a little over three hours had passed, he would have to make that work for now, but proper rest and recuperation was need or he would run himself into rust.

 

Reviewing the message from Reynard Bards send a simple acknowledgment, they all owned thanks to the Magos. However before he could stand the data-jinn that guarded his gifts called for attention, loading into Bardas conscious mind the events of the incursion.  

 

+Rivet City+ his speaker crackled as Bardas Stood and headed for the door.

 

+Then we need to reassess, I have new information+

[Lord_Ikka]

Nicios

 

Nicios followed the tech-adept, watching him for any possible injury-related weakness or debilitation. Bardas seemed somewhat injured but able to move properly without aid, so Nicios walked behind him and checked his gear. Given the welcome they've received so far, making sure both his pistols were resting easy in their holsters was becoming a second nature. If the Magisters are psykers, I must also prepare my mind.

 

He cycled his mind as he was taught, shoring up mental defenses and sealing off his emotions from the temptations of the Warp.

Spoiler

Manifest Psychic Power- Resist Possession

Threshold- 6

Roll- 1+5 (WPB)= 6

Result= Pass. Any time in the next hour, re-roll any failed Test to resist being Possessed by a Daemon

 

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

Incredible. The child was a survivor, that was for sure. He felt a swell of kinship with her. She couldn't be much older than he had been when… He smiled at her again, a little forced this time. He wouldn't have that happen to someone else, not if he could do something about it.

 

"Come on then. Take me to your father. Maybe I can help him?"

 

He stood, holding his hand out to the girl. As they turned he saw Bardas approaching, followed by Nicios. Perhaps the psyker could use his healing abilities, if the man still lived?

[Mazer Rackham]

Rivet City:

 

As the three of you gather, Nicios' mental recitations reinforce him.  Yet there is no buffeting, or railing from the warp, just a terrible wash of anxiety and grief. The Witch-hunter can delve more deeply into what the human mind and emotion can perceive, yet all that exists are anger and keen sadness. The emotions are not directed at the party, but outsiders in general, and the masked thugs in particular.

 

The child takes Reynard's hand willingly enough, and the party stops near a body. The girl's father lies still, and his face, thankfully intact, is serene. However, unless the psychic healing might, and practical flesh-mending prowess of the group can remove the seven bullets that exploded through the man's back, he will never rise again from his eternal 'slumber'.

 

The girl looks up at Bardas and Nicios. The small dolly waves its tiny arm again.

 

"Hello," the girl says out of the corner of her mouth, pretending the doll is asking the question, "are you spies too?"

Edited October 28, 2022 by Mazer Rackham
Clarity for paranoid players

[Trokair]

Bardas held his little spherical speaker in the palm of his hand where the child could clearly see it.

 

+No, I am a Shrine-Sentinel, and my friend,+

he dipped the top of his staff slightly in Reynard’s direction,

+told me that my kinfolk here,+

Bardas did a broad sweeping motion to indicate Rivet City in general and ending the motion pointing at thin the direction of the Magos,

+needed help.+  

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

""We aren't any of us spies, little one. As my friend says, we are here to help, to protect the Hive from the bad men."

 

Reynard knelt down again in front of the girl, gently turning her away from the body even as he gestured that the others should carry on into Rivet City.

 

"I'm truly sorry about your father, child. We can't do anything for him. Do you have any other family here who can look after you… or maybe friends of your family? If not, don't worry, we will see to it that you are cared for."

 

He paused. He didn't want to ask further questions, but they needed to know what she knew. He had his suspicions about what she meant by a magic hand, but he didn't want to colour her recollection in any way. He continued slowly, quietly.

 

"We want to stop anything worse from happening… but to do that, I need you to be brave and tell me everything you can remember about the man with the magic hand. When did he come here? What did he look like? What did he do? Do you think you can try to do that for me?"

 

Edited October 28, 2022 by Lysimachus

[Mazer Rackham]

Rivet City:

 

The girl follows the Tech-Sentinel's speaking box, smiling. "You can move your voice. That's clever. The metal men are clever, they make the lights go on and off. I used to bring them things I found when they came to the market."

 

She looks at Reynard as he becomes serious, and her huge brown eyes focus on the scoundrel. "Dolly gets scared, because her arm fell off. I'm not scared," she asserts, despite her flinching at the bangs and thuds of the men and women clearing up the market.

 

"The spy-man came with a big needle, and stuck it in my arm. It hurt, and I felt cold. He said he was a doctor, and I should go to his house, but daddy..." She half turns her head to look at the corpse, but then stops, that strange wisdom of experience stopping her. "Daddy said no, and said he would tell Mr Rex if the spy came back."

 

She grasps it then, whatever defences, whatever shock was holding it all in. She looks down at her maimed and threadbare doll, turns it around to face her.

 

"We're alone now, dolly."

[Lysimachus]

Reynard:

 

Reynard stopped, frowning. Thinking. Then he smiled.

 

"Not quite yet, child. I can't stay, but I think maybe there is someone here who will be happy to look after you. Come with me."

 

He held his hand out again and when the girl took it, he lifted her and her doll up onto his shoulder. The others could handle the situation in Rivet City for a bit. Then he walked back into the market, scanning the groups of people working together to repair the damage. There. Outside the Grox, directing two other men who were lifting a large rectangular sheet of clear plastic into place over a broken window.

 

"Rex!"

 

The big veteran turned slowly. He frowned at Reynard, but gave a little smile and wave to the girl. He seemed to recognise her at least. Encouraging. Reynard carefully put her down on top of a pile of boxes.

 

"Sit here, just for a moment."

 

Then he moved forward to speak more quietly to the leader.

 

"I'm very sorry for your losses. I don't know you, Rex, but from what I've seen I think you might be a decent man. You seem to care about your people, and you'll stand up for them. This little lady has lost her family too. She needs someone to look after her… and I think maybe you need someone to look after?"

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Rivet City/Town:

 

As Reynard finishes speaking to the girl, Geist comes through the door past Dug's and the Grox, directly opposite the Mechanicum facility. He sees Nicios, Bardas and Reynard, and approaches them, the only difference in his garb a cloak over his shoulders.

 

He looks at the girl, sat up on the boxes, playing with her doll, and frowns, then turns to the three companions.

 

"Bribes paid and travel has been arranged. Ready when you are."

[Lord_Ikka]

Nicios

 

"Let me gather our other companions and we will then be on our way." Nicios addresses Giest. Moving to the Grox, he quickly goes to the others and wakes/informs them of departure.