[DW:30K] The Serpent's Cowl (IC)

[Mazer Rackham]

Toren:

 

Arden looks over his shoulder, and Tylo cants his head.

 

//Never/Enough//

 

Tylo chopped sideways to indicate he wished to say no more. The sharp, firm gesture is replete with anger.

 

+The enemy are ahead, brother. By Vulkan and Corax's will, we are to deliver you to Objective Omega. After that,+ Arden shrugs, +I know not.+

[Machine God]

Ashmon:

 

++At least they still live++ said Ashmon angrily closing down his reply. 

 

It was still too raw, to even mention the Weakling...

 

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

The Kolyat Ravine:

 

With some clever welding and manipulation of the gravitic field, the giant robotic member of the XVIII Legion is pinched between the two Javelin attack speeders, although even in its own robotic way it does appear to be clinging for dear life. Perhaps an echo of a previous experience with fast moving vehicles over a desert. The black sands of Isstvan V pass under you, and the crucible heat of the massed slaughter behind you at the dropsite shows no sign of abating.

 

+There,+ Tylo barks across the vox network. +Objective Omega.+

 

It is an easily missed thing, but the electromagnetic readings are loud enough to warrant suspicion. Nestled at the foot of a valley, in the barren black wastes, which form an ocean of grit, lies the ceramite facade of a serried blockhouse. It is angular, convex in its disposition, with fire angles covering the front, sides and rear. Each is cut properly, possibly by the skilled hand of the Warriors of Iron, with elevation and declination enough to tear apart anything stupid enough to assault it. Heavy bolter turrets pugnaciously menace the desert approaches.  An array of almost invisible antennas streak up the mountainsides, each connected by cables and transmitter. They are a web of broadcast filaments, and would take an age to neutralise one-by-one.

 

You don't have that much time. The Four Loyalist Legions on the surface are being decimated.

 

It will take little time to mop up any stragglers...such as youself.

 

Conversely, almost as proof of Horus' clever strategy and how long he had been planning his coup, it took some time to build this, even more to site it properly, where the outcrops and overhang of rock would prevent aerial detection, and the jamming signal would hinder electronic augurs. Indeed, even now, the engines and controls of the Javelins twitter and twitch, with the augmetics of those on board - even the redoubtable Autosenses of the Astartes - are vexed in some manner, be it with static blurts or strange artifacts in the hololithic interface.

 

However, the information packets given by Arden and Tylo specify the necessity for this installation to be destroyed. Signals from the Loyalist fleet are being disrupted, and the promise of emergency airlift cannot be fulfilled with this place in full operation.

 

Yet, the place is not as impregnable as it would seem, and the Javelin pilots have circled at range, keeping low in the numerous wadis, to drop you off at the mouth of the Kolyat Ravine, which, by the reports from the intel packet, is an escape route from the bastion. A secure door awaits at the end of a winding path, which is no doubt under cover of guns or oberservers as well...

 

The pilots carefully lower to the deck, allowing you to alight. (GM: You can narrate this as you will).

 

+We take our leave,+ Arden advises. He quickly taps his chest in salute. +For the Emperor. Victorus Aut Mortis.+

 

GM NOTES:

• The Ravine of Kolyat sports a path broad enough for four Astartes to walk abreast. It is littered with cracked boulders from rockfall which will provide 5 AP to Locations covered by it.
• Note that the Ravine is exceptionally steep, almost to the point of being vertical in some places and will confer an Arduous (-40) Climb Test, and Characters may move no more than Half AB in any direction (you may fall as a Free Action, naturally...)
• Jamming means you do not benefit from Autosenses normally (note Tyr-lx has hardened netgear, and is immune, and your enemies are also immune for the same reason):
  • Called Shot is a Full Action
  • Autosense Bonuses cannot be applied to Sight/Hearing (It's down to the Mk. 2 Marine Eyeball, baby).
  • Dark Sight works as normal (It is a passive, low intensity mode, unaffected by the frequencies being jammed)
• All Cybernetics have a 10% of malfunction. (The GM will Roll for occurrences).
• Weather and light conditions: Dark, arid.

Questions and shouting in the OOC.

[Trokair]

Tyr-Ix-375

 

SWU1 new designation: Ashmon.

 

+++ I am awake Ashmon.+++

 

 So saying Tyr-Ix-375 reengaged all the circuits and power flow he had throttled earlier. Diagnostic howled for attention but it suppressed them for now, they had not noted anything new, and it rather spend the cogitator capacity to run the makeshift work around for the damaged leg servo it had composed earlier.

 

Ambling over to the grav powered Uncle carrier it looked both in turn. These were not a Sanctioned Heavy Cargo Conveyor, Tyr-Orobo-42 would have wanted to go fast. Its sibling had always been the quickest of them, and Tyr-Ix-375 recalled the one time they had been deployed on an unstable mountain slope. While they all scrambled for stability Tyr-Orobo-42 had sledded down on the loose scree.

 

Returning the memory to storage it focused on SKU activity and direction, limb here, limb there, an arc of weld to strengthen the grip.

 

---

 

At first the speed of the makeshift transport was an interesting experience, but then the world lost focus, its sensor systems had not been designed or blessed to function under such acceleration. Visual pick up became a smear that the treat analysis script could do nothing with. Audi analysis failed to filter out all of the wind induced turbulence cascade, eventually Tyr-IX-375 just cut of the feed entirely to silence the howl.

Edited February 19 by Trokair

[Machine God]

Ashmon:

 

+There,+ Tylo barked across the vox network. +Objective Omega.+

 

A well fortified blockhouse that housed the jamming signal, their objective. They were to insert in a winding ravine at its base. Even from afar the fort looked off, weird to his senses.

 

Arden and Tylo brought them down in the tandem configuration that Skorn had rigged for Tyr-Ix-375.

 

 

++Aargh!++ yelped Asmon to a pain from his chest and his left hand flexed causing an involuntary dive a couple of seconds before he had meant to.

 

He managed to get into a roll as he hit the sands and rocky detritus at the bottom of the ravine. He drew his force sword as if he was under attack, in a way he was. His vision was gone, no he blink-clicked. He could see but his suit's auto-senses had failed and his head ached.

 

++There is a psychic element to the Jamming, as well as the electromagnetic++

 

 

 

 

Edited February 19 by Machine God
typo

[Necronaut]

Toren

 

+Victorus Aut Mortis, brothers. No mercy for the traitors.+

 

//Peck/eyes/tear/flesh//

 

Toren alighted from the javelin, taking a point position overlooking the ravine entrance. The electromagnetic interference was tremendous, causing his armour’s HUD to frequently glitch and provide misleading information. His auto-senses, it would seem, were all but useless, though mercifully the dark vision filters still functioned, if just barely. Whatever his traitorous cousins had constructed down there, it was performing admirably. 

 

Peering down into the shadowy chasm, the Mor Deythan shade surveyed their target and insertion point with a scowl. This was a job for a team of crack commandos with melta charges, camo cloaks and an auspex, namely his former squad, not this motley crew of legion rejects. He sighed and shook his head at himself slightly. A craftsman did not blame his tools for the task at hand.

 

No, this could be made to work.

 

+I will take point and reconnoiter the path ahead. The ravine is likely to be littered with all manner of boobytraps and perfidy by those that constructed this place. Be wary: their treachery is manifold.+

 

He squinted into the gloom of the chasm ahead, tracing the lines of the electronic interference antennae and circuitry which traced the canyon walls like some strange otherworldly seaweed deposited after some biblical flood. Great broken boulders, some half the size of a rhino, littered the floor of the chute, which would be able to provide some cover as they advanced upon the electronic warfare bunker. 

 

+We will move from cover to cover. I will sweep the path before us as best I can, but you must look after yourselves in this environment. I would advise we maintain vox silence. Universal hand signs only until we breach the installation. Await my signal to advance.+

 

He turned to the techmarine, +Make sure the castellax understands these instructions. Tell it to think small, quiet thoughts.+ The last was said with a smirk.

 

Toren released the magazine from Whisper’s receiver, quickly tallied the number of remaining bolt rounds, and then rammed it back home. Satisfied he advanced to the mouth of the ravine and knelt, taking a handful of the pervasive black sand and grit in his gauntleted fist, letting it run and sift through his fingers.

 

+So it begins.+

 

And he disappeared into the abyss of the ravine. 

 

 

Free Action: Silent Movement Test: Ag54 + 20 = 74
D100: 17; success with 5 DoS

Half Action: Concealment Test: Ag54 + 20 = 74
D100: 01; success with 7 DoS

Half Action: Half Move (3 m)

Free Action: Awareness Test: Per52 + 10 + 10 (heightened senses: sight)= 72
D100: 81; failure with 0 DoF Fate Point re-roll
D100: 38; success with 3 DoS

 

3 Fate Points remaining

 

I have taken the liberty of adding an Awareness Test to sweep the ravine for nasty stuff, but if you would prefer a different test to be performed, please let me know and I’ll adjust the calculation to taste. My working plan is to advance Toren from one position of cover to another and signal the rest to follow along once the all-clear is given per my comments in the OOC.

 

Edited February 22 by Necronaut

[Mazer Rackham]

Toren:

 

As you move forward, you are careful to moderate your auditory signature. Every now and again, there is a loose tumble of grit and sand as the winds rush over the top of the ravine, a jagged wound in this bulky, if truncated mountain. A small ping reveals a rock has struck something metallic, down behind a head-sized rock six metres ahead, to your 3 o'clock. Low.

[Necronaut]

Toren

 

Toren’s eyes narrowed at the metallic ping and he carefully scuttled over towards the origin of the noise, drawing his quick-razor along the way. He quickly signaled to the others.

 

//Hold/searching/noise/trap//

[Machine God]

Ashmon:

 

Toren had told them that he would go off and scout the ravine and told them to wait where they were but to be wary.

 

Always wary they let the Sniper go off and scout ahead. Hide and strike from the shadows be always the Scout.

 

 

But where had the slow steadfast advance got them?

 

Lost brothers and a Dead...

 

No forget Him!

 

 

So they hunkered down and waited for the Raven Guard's signal whilst they observed each other.

 

Ungarvarr and Vurgaan a simmering distrust with a common purpose. Now the mission.

 

 

Did the Blessed Automata think? No even he knew that idea was heresy. They were shackled to prevent the abomination from occurring again!

 

 

He saw Toren message them in his hand sign. All he recognised was a raised hand.

 

So hold, yes they were doing that anyway.

 

 

Perhaps someone should have written all the codes down and standardised them? Perhaps in a multi-legion codex or something?

 

No it would never catch on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Toren:

 

As you carefully observe the device revealed by the shift, it appears to be a rudimentary control box. Tracing around it with your eyes alone, you can see that it is hardwired, with long cables tracing across the ravine in a complicated web. Each line appears to terminate in or around the rocky cover, and the boulder the box is hidden behind is no exception.

 

It is perhaps a sign of the foe you face, that hidden danger is the preferred method of defence...

 

GM: The cables, now you can discern their pattern, can be stepped over without too much difficulty (they're under the sand, but they cause small drifts which would be invisible to the naked eye. The device may be approached for appraisal/defusal if you wish, otherwise you have detected the trap.

[Trokair]

Tyr-Ix-375

 

It stared into the depth of the ravine, the Mission destination.

 

The speeders had already departed, on to some other destination, leaving just the three Uncles and it.

 

+Make sure the castellax understands these instructions. Tell it to think small, quiet thoughts.+

 

Taking note of the Uncles words it hunched down slightly. It would have acknowledged over comes, but it was time to be quite. Instead Tyr-Ix-375 raised on hand in front of its head, mimicking a motion it had seen some of the Auxillia use when trying to let others of their kind know to be silent during the extended compliance action on 154-2.

 

The Uncle however had already set of down the ravine.

[Necronaut]

Placeholder

 

Toren inspects the metal box. (Our enemies hide their equipment inside of tiny Rhinos! The cowards! The fools!)

 

Spoiler

Toren lacks tech-use, but in lieu of that (and assuming this is some manner of explosive trap) perhaps Demolitions will suffice? 

 

Demolitions Test: Int48 + 0 = 48

D100: 02; success with 4 DoS

 

Edited February 25 by Necronaut
Added demolitions (assumed) roll. Fluff to follow when I have a chance to sit down and write.

[Mazer Rackham]

The Bunker:

 

EDIT: Toren

Spoiler

The device, while fashioned to appear like an explosive, was actually a very impressively jury-rigged Screamer, set with ultrasonic emitters. Firstly, it would have been silent to non-augmented ears, but would also have relayed a trigger signal to the bunker. If left powered and alone it would have eventually shaken the walls of the ravine to bury you all wholesale.

 

After stalking through the towering stacks of the ravine at Toren's guidance, the heavy automata being as careful as several hundredweight of heavily armed and armoured ambulatory battle fortress can, you realise you have navigated to the heart of a broken mountain. Perhaps it stirs the notion of the kinship of the legions, of the state of the galaxy, split unequally down the middle, into two intransigent monoliths.

 

One of treachery.

 

One of tragedy.

 

The door. which is an external airlock door from a small voidship is currently closed. The panel on the sill reads 'sealed'. Sigils of the Sons of Horus flicker dimly on the glowglass screen.

 

Strangely, it merely requires the command to open.

 

Edited February 25 by Mazer Rackham

[Trokair]

Tyr-Ix-375

 

It almost sent a signal of success and relive as they reached the end of the ravine. However the order for silence still stood. The cogitative strain to move as efficiently as possible without making one iota of unneeded sound was one thing, on its own it should not have been so taxing. Something however was interfering with its thoughts, misaligning signals, disrupting cycles, distorting tactile sensors. It knew the floor was not ice slippery, but its feet remained unconvinced.   

 

It eyed the sealed door, would it fit? Even if it did would the corridor beyond be suitable for one such as it.

[Mazer Rackham]

The Bunker:

 

GM Guidance:

 

Players, for the final stretch of this adventure, because the end of this little story (at least for MG) is known to us, we're going to have to lock-in a little railroading.

 

There will be three objectives (I will autopilot Xin to a fourth if necessary), which must be completed. As you enter the facility, you will find three lines on the wall taking you to three zones:

• (Blue line/zone) will lead to the command centre which is several levels above.
• (Red line/zone) will lead to the power generator, which is buried below ground, shielded.
• (Yellow line/zone) will lead to the transmitter regulator, frequency harmonics, and signal generator chamber, deeper into the complex on the same level.

Each zone has security ratings, which are:

1. Normal - random patrols, some mobile heavy weapons, active duty footing. (This is default).
2. Alerted - aggressive patrols, heavier presence, improvised gun emplacements, the odd terminator.
3. Maximal - very aggressive, numerous patrols, heavy weapons, fortified gun emplacements, numerous terminators.

You may work together to complete each objective as a team or individually. However, resistance will increase depending on your choices: If you choose to assault the command centre en masse, then both red zone and yellow zone will increase by two steps to maximal, as the security forces harden down. Conversely, if you assault the command centre and power generator, but leave the transmitter alone, they will only increase by one step, thanks to confusion and bleeding resources elsewhere.

 

Each of these poses it's own challenges. Pick your poison and I can guide you. Note that no matter where you go, the flavour of the opposition may change (Dark mech in the power gen, Astartes sergeants and captains in the HQ zone, for example), but the challenges of psychic, physical and mechanical enemies remain.

 

Questions and shouting in the OOC.

[Trokair]

Tyr-Ix-375

 

Ingress proved not to be an obstacle, the uncles going first, and once the initial breach was secured they beckoned for it to follow. The door itself just needed a little mechanical persuasion to come away entirely, and the wall was keen to be reunited withthe door, thus making enough space for it to enter.

 

In the mean time the uncles had inspected a little way down each corridor and where now conversing by a mixture of hand signals and battle speech, both unknown to Tyr-Ix-375. It supposed that each Legion would have their own, just like different congregation of Mars had their own variant of the blessed binary cant.  

 

With the mandate of silence still in effect Tyr just waited for the uncles to determine which way the mission lay. Perhaps they did not know, as they seem to be splitting up, further scouting along the passage ways? Well then it would take the one it already faced.

[Mazer Rackham]

The Bunker:

 

The Red Zone:

As you progress along the red line, you are mostly left alone. The face of the Omnissiah, which you may expect to see down here, given the amount of cabling, conduits and plasma routers, is strangely and eerily absent. As you proceed to a heavy cargo lift, bit enough for the battle automata, the air becomes tainted with rancid oil and the buzzing of malign binharic chant. If the Mechanicum dwell here, they are not the industrious kin that serve the Imperium.

 

GM Notes: 

The zone is on normal alert, therefore carries moderate risk. You may deal with this encounter narratively, using dice rolls (Tests) to inform that narrative where appropriate. We are in Structured Time Light, therefore you are not restricted by those rules. Treat this part of the Encounter as your 'Turn' with as many Rounds as you require to complete it.

 

Adversaries:

Spoiler

These foes should feature in your narrative.

4 Battle Servitors, HB. (TB/Arm 6, W: 10)

2 Tech Adepts with Volkite weapons (TB/Arm 4, W: 8)

3 Screamer Servo Skulls. (TB/Arm 2, W: 1)

You'll need to roll to hit individually etc. Any misses/degrees of failure will inform the next stage. Any AOE weapons or effects may include 1D3 enemies.

 

The Blue Zone:

As a headhunter your natural inclination is a decapitation strike. The enemy go about their business, heedless to the utter danger in their path. Still, the patrols between you and the next phase of your plan are...difficult.

 

GM Notes: 

The zone is on normal alert, therefore carries moderate risk. You may deal with this encounter narratively, using dice rolls (Tests) to inform that narrative where appropriate. We are in Structured Time Light, therefore you are not restricted by those rules. Treat this part of the Encounter as your 'Turn' with as many Rounds as you require to complete it.

 

Adversaries:

Spoiler

These enemies will have to be avoided, requiring rolls, or taken out quietly.

4 Sons of Horus Sentries, Bolters. (TB/Arm 16, W: 15)

1 Sons of Horus Centurion (doing his Rounds) (TB/Arm 20, W: 15)

3 Screamer Servo Skulls. (TB/Arm 2, W: 1)

You'll need to roll to hit individually etc. Any misses/degrees of failure will inform the next stage.

 

The Yellow Zone:

Secured by esoteric means as well as electronic sentinels, this sector is replete with signals and the strange, greasy slight of the warp, resonating through this place in a silent scream. It will require violence, artifice, and an unyielding march against a tide buffeting you demanding you merely cease. The headache as you get closer to your target becomes a roar of pressure in your head and cybernetics.

 

GM Notes: 

The zone is on normal alert, therefore carries moderate risk. You may deal with this encounter narratively, using dice rolls (Tests) to inform that narrative where appropriate. We are in Structured Time Light, therefore you are not restricted by those rules. Treat this part of the Encounter as your 'Turn' with as many Rounds as you require to complete it.

Adversaries:

Spoiler

These enemies will have to be dealt with by the Iron Will.

2 Sons of Horus Sentries, Bolters. (TB/Arm 16, W: 15)

6 Sons of Horus Tech Serfs, Tools (TB/Arm 6, W: 5)

4 Discordance Servo Skulls (Each one of these not dealt with causes each Test you make to be increased in Difficulty by one Step, so cumulative -10)

(TB/Arm 2, W: 1)

4 Access Panels requiring sabotage/bypass via Tech Use or Security.

You'll need to roll to hit individually etc. Any misses/degrees of failure will inform the next stage.

 

Questions and comments in the OOC. I know we're doing a lot of structure posts at the moment, but it's because we're nearing the end and it's not far off. My goal is to have you doing thematic things, narrating them, cutting loose a bit the way Astartes should.

 

It's also the best way forward I think, as this was always meant to be a bit light on the dice.

 

After all, there is no greater death, than a heroic one...

[Trokair]

Tyr-Ix-375

 

Placeholder

Spoiler

I don’t think I have much time to do full post before weekend, so here is shorthand with some initial dice, additional dicing as relevant will occur when doing full post

• Encounter SSS1, shoot bolters. BS: 83 Miss, 76: Miss
• Noise attracts SSS2 and 3
• EPT – WP: 80, Fail – programmed behaviour, fluff: noise/jamming/data/scrap code from SSSs causes Tyr to revert to base programming
• Charge and eventually dispatch SSSs – alarm raised

Spoiler

Charge SSS1, WS:35 D100: 71 Miss

SSS1 flee, attack of opportunity D100: 19Hit Dodge: 83 Fail Powerblade damage insta kill SS1

SSS2 and 3 flee to raise alarm, Programed behaviour –Fire Protocol Bolters BS: 74 Miss, 36: Hit SSS Dodge: 98 fail Bolter damage D10: 6 SSS2 Dead, Mauler BS: 38 Hit (three I think) Dodge: 09 Pass, avoid some hits but will auto die to Mauler last hit

• Emerge into larger space/hall
• 2 Sentry Servitors fire with HB, Tyr reply with Mauler BS:14 hit

Spoiler

2 Servitor FAB HB, BS assume 33 D100: 11, 80 I Pass (for 4 hits I believe)  1 misses

HB Damage 2D10 + 10 Pen 6,  Hit 1: 21 Damage, Hit 2: 16 Damage,  Hit 3: 18 Damage,  Hit 4: 23 Damage

Tyr TB 15 AV 8, 40 Wounds:  Takes, 4,0,1,6 for 11 total 29 Wounds left

Mauler Fab Hit, at least 3 DoS so minimum 4 hits, Servitor dead

• Seek cover from second servitor, then clear area with range or charge (Charge Servitor two, WS: 44 Pass, servitor should be dead)
• Advance further in, encounter remaining 2 Servitor and 2 Prot Dark Mech adepts
• EPT: 38 Fail barley-
• Some programmed behaviour vs Servitors

Spoiler

2 Servitor FAB HB, BS assume 33 D100: 34, 20 Both pass (FAB plus size) I think 6 hits between them

HB Damage: Hit 1: 22, Hit 2: 14,  Hit 3: 23,  Hit 4: 21, Hit 5: 22, Hit 6: 24

 Tyr Damage taken 27, Wounds Left:2

Fire Protocol Fab Bolters BS: 18 Pass (2 hits), 94: Miss, Jam? Damage: 19 and 17 Servitor Dead

FAB Mauler at other Servitor BS: 39 Hit (2 Hits) Damage: 23 and 18 also dead

• EPT: 22 Pass, regain senses and through of scrapcode veil the 2 Adepts had been doing
• Engage and kill 2 adepts (eventually)
• Proceed to final location

Will try to do all combat rolls later today to determine detail, ammo expenditure and damage To Tyr

 

 

 

Edit: Added in some more dice roles above, I haven’t rolled the combat against the Adepts yet, but unless they can overcome TB15 and AV 8 i think Tyr will just about survive for final. Fluf for all of this to come.

 

Tyr Status at end of all this:

Spoiler

Wounds taken 38, Wounds Left: 2

Ammo:

Mauler Bolt Cannon - Remaining : 24 - Assume 12 by time Adeptds dead (2 rounds of fiering)

Bolter 1-Left arm - Remaining : 10 - Assume 4 by time Adeptds dead (2 rounds of fiering)

Bolter 2-Right arm - Remaining : 10 Jammed

 

Edited February 29 by Trokair

[Necronaut]

Toren

 

The steel door slid open with a metallic hiss, as if powered by some horrible hidden serpent, revealing a plascrete hallway lit by a sickly light emitting from regularly spaced wall sconces. The great Eye of Horus adorned various banners draped here and there throughout the facility, and the air was heavy with electromagnetic radiation and the smells of a military installation. Toren felt a chill run down his spine as he and the others crossed the threshold. The enemy was near, vile traitors to the Imperial cause, each a hardened adherent of Horus and his blasphemies. Toren’s lips curled into a snarl and he turned to look at his compatriots, feeling perhaps for the last time.

 

Three lines coloured red, yellow and blue snaked away deeper into the bunker. Toren loosened his sword, Blacktongue, in its scabbard, and started off in the direction of the thin blue line. 

 

+Good hunting. Let none survive our wrath.+

 

+++

 

It didn't take long for him to encounter the first Sons of Horus patrol: a lone astartes clad in the sea green plate of his legion accompanied by a servo-skull fitted with a screamer emitter bobbing along above his shoulder as he made his rounds.  A cold fury settled over Toren as leaned out around the corner, raised Whisper and lined up the servo-skull down the silenced boltgun’s iron sights. With a dull THWAP he loosed a bolt round, shattering the servo-skull in a shower of sparks, metal shrapnel and bone shards which rained down on the unsuspecting legionnaire. The sentry's chisel-nosed Mark IV helm snapped around at the sudden explosion immediately adjacent to him looking for the source. Realizing it too late, he started to wheel around, raising his boltgun, but the Mor Deythan sergeant was already upon him, sprinting down the narrow hallway at full tilt, his power sword drawn and held low in a two-handed grip, actinic discharge running along the length of its blackened blade.

 

An instant later, the Mor Deythan sergeant was upon him and rammed his blade home into his abdomen with a snarl. The traitor astartes grunted as the wind was driven from him and he drew his bolt pistol with his offhand, pressing the barrel against Toren’s side. Reacting with lightning speed, Toren tore his sword free of his quarry and batted the pistol aside, causing the shot to fly wide.

 

Toren’s blade flicked out, finding naught but air, while the sentry's second shot only caught the Mor Deythan’s shadow as his pistol was again batted to the side by an open handed strike from the infiltrator. Moments later it was over: Toren stepped in and sheared his foe open, splitting him from groin to throat in a shower of sparks and gore. 

 

Blood gushed over his sabatons and it was quiet for a few seconds. Toren carefully stepped over his foe and with an efficient stab and twist, he punctured the sentry’s armour and obliterated his gene-seed. 

 

He was suddenly greeted by shouts and stomping of power armour, no doubt drawn by the sounds of bolter fire. He clicked his tongue in irritation at letting his fury get the better of him, and flicked the blood from Blacktongue before sheathing the blade and slipping away. 

 

 

Encounter #1: 

Silent Movement: Ag54 + 20 = 74
D100: 76 12 (RG Solo Mode reroll); success with 6 DoS

Concealment: Ag54 + 20 = 74
D100: 91 32 (RG Solo Mode reroll); success with 4 DoS

 
Surprise Attack vs Screamer Skull: BS49 + 10 (short range) - 20 (size) = 39
D100: 37; success with 2 DoS

Minimum damage destroys servo-skull

 
Charge Attack vs Sentry #1: WS42 + 10 (Hatred) + 10 (Charge) = 62
D100: 91 34 fate point used (2/4 left); success with 2 DoS
Hit location: Body

Sentry #1 Dodge: Ag40
D100: 66; failure with 2 DoF

Power Sword damage: 1d10+6E + 11 (Str), Pen 6, Power, Balanced
4 (d10) + 6 + 11 = 21 - (AV8 - Pen6) - TB8 = 11 wounds taken

 Sentry #1
Draw bolt pistol and SAB: BS40 + 10 (SAB)
D100: 28; success with 2 DoS

 
Toren Dodge: Ag54
D100: 52; success with 0 DoS

Toren Standard Attack + Aim vs Sentry #1: WS 42 + 10 (Hatred) + 10 (Aim) = 62
D100: 10; success with 5 DoS

Sentry #1 Dodge: Ag40
D100: 06; success with 3 DoS

 Sentry #1
Aim and attack with bolt pistol: BS 40 + 10 = 50
D100: 42; success with 0 DoS

Toren Dodge: Ag54

D100: 22; success with 3 DoS

 
Toren Aim + Standard Attack vs Sentry #1: WS 42 + 10 (Hatred) + 10 (Aim) = 62
D100: 17; success
Hit location: Right Leg

Sentry #1 Dodge: Ag40
D100: 80; failure

Power Sword damage: 1d10+6E + 11 (Str), Pen 6, Power, Balanced
10 (d10) + 6 + 11 = 27 - (AV8 - Pen6) - TB8 = 17 wounds taken

Sentry #1 dies

 

 

He ghosted away, his bloodlust sated for the time being. Let the other traitors see what awaited them in the end. 

 

 

Encounter #2:

Silent Movement (74)
D100: 51; success with 2 DoS
Concealment (74)
D100: 17; success with 5 DoS

Avoiding Sentry #2.

 

 

He eventually found an access shaft allowing him access to the upper levels of the bunker and he climbed for many meters before finding himself in another plascrete corridor, similarly lit and adorned to those below. A screamer skull bobbed by unperturbed, and he let the machine pass untrammeled. 

 

 

Encounter #3:

Silent Movement (74)
D100: 27; success with 4 DoS
Concealment (74)
D100: 39; success with 3 DoS

Avoided screamer skull #2.

 

 

The base was on high alert now, and the sentries traveled in pairs. He watched two of the traitors walk past his hiding place tucked away in a supply room, bolters at the ready. They were doing a sweep of the upper levels of the installation, floor by floor, but he had managed to avoid detection as of yet. Sensing he had an opportunity to move, he started to leave when his sabaton loudly crunched into a crate.

 

He stood still for a tense few seconds, waiting, then started moving towards the door. He knew the command center was close.

 

The door to the supply room slid open with a sibilant hiss and there was a screamer skull waiting there for him. He locked eyes with the little machine for a pregnant second before it started to screech a keening alarm. Without thinking, Toren whipped out his combat blade and hacked the servo-skull in half, but it was too late.

 

Moments later bolt shells started to detonate around him, and he sprinted away. After reaching a nearby junction, he drew his bolter and returned fire.

 

The traitor sentries continued to advance upon him, laying down continuous bolter fire. Toren primed a krak grenade and hurled it down the hallway towards his assailants, though the explosive only dealt a glancing blow. Bolt shells slammed into his Mark III plate, causing trauma runes to flicker queasily in his HUD.

 

With a snarl, Toren unsheathed Blacktongue once again, and charged down the hallway into the traitor sentries, decapitating one of them with a single stroke of his blade. The legionnaire’s helm fell from his shoulders and a geyser of blood shot up from the stump before his armoured body collapsed in a heap. Not missing a beat, the dead sentry’s battle brother uttered an oath in Cthonian ganger doggerel, stepped to the side and fired upon Toren at point blank range with his bolter, catching the Mor Deythan sergeant dead to rights.

 

Pain blossomed in his right leg and side where the bolt rounds punched through the plating in his armour. Toren turned and hacked savagely at the Son of Horus, all sense of meaning lost beyond the urge to kill and survive, but his foe easily ducked the blow. A brutal scuffle ensued, with Toren and the sentry trading blows from power blade and bolt pistol but neither gaining the upper hand. Suddenly there was a vox-amplified bellow of rage and the thunderous stomping of what could only be an Astartes in Cataphracti-pattern tactical dreadnought armour.

 

A Sons of Horus centurion, clad in all of the finery of the XVIth Legion, his sea-green terminator plate adorned with numerous Eyes of Horus and other hideous fetishes dedicated to the ruinous powers, wielding a crackling power axe and twin-linked bolter, drawn by the sounds of his battle-brothers weapons, had joined the fray. He charged into the scrum, delivering a vicious chop which would have split Toren from throat to groin had he not sidestepped it at the last moment, shaving black flakes of paint from his pauldron. 

 

Batting away the centurion's cleaver, Toren renewed his attack upon the remaining traitor sentry, taking further bolt rounds to the chest while parrying the terminator’s vicious blows. Eventually an opening presented itself and he deftly sheared through the sentry’s thinner abdomen plating and disemboweled him in a final decisive blow. With a guttural roar the centurion renewed his attack, hacking away at the ebon armoured sergeant, but Toren was a cunning swordsman, easily turning aside the wild blows and responding in turn with quick and efficient cuts and thrusts into the terminator's softer armour joints. 

 

It mercifully didn't last much longer – though his muscles burned from the exertion and the pain from the numerous wounds he had suffered was overpowering, soon Toren's heavily armoured foe collapsed to his knees at his feet, a profuse amount of blood leaking from his warplate from the numerous wounds inflicted from the surgically precise strikes of the Mor Deythan sergeant, pooling on the plascrete floor around them.

 

Toren was rather bloodied himself, and breathing hard. The numerous bolt rounds that had penetrated and shattered his war-plate had shredded his flesh underneath and cracked numerous bones. He was barely able to stand, but managed to mag-lock his boltgun to his backpack and stagger over to the dying Sons of Horus centurion.

 

He raised his sword in an inverted two-handed grip and plunged the blade in past the traitor’s gorget and into his chest, severing both hearts and ripping through his gene-seed.

 

+Sic. Semper. Proditoribus,+ Toren wheezed at the fallen astartes as he rammed his sword home, repeating the ritual on the other two bodies. He would let nothing remain of their evil and perfidy, their genetic legacy obliterated.

 

Holding Blacktongue numbly in one hand he limped the remaining tens of metres towards the command centre, the tip of the blade dragging along the ground behind him. He finally reached the entrance and keyed the command rune to activate the heavy doors, and grimly awaited what lay beyond, the coppery taste of blood filling his mouth.

 

 

Encounter #4:
Silent Movement (74)
D100: 97 76; failure with 0 DoF
Concealment (74)
D100: 15; success with 5 DoS

Attack vs Screamer Skull #3: WS42 + 10 (Aim) - 20 (size) = 32
D100: 32; success with 0 DoS

SAB vs Sentry #3: BS49 + 10 (SAB) + 10 (short range) = 69
D100: 76; fail with 0 DoF

Sentry #3 & #4 Standard Attack + Half Move: BS40
D100: 52; miss with 1 DoF
D100: 48; miss with 0 DoF

Toren: Throw Krak grenade vs Sentry #3: BS49 + 10 (aim) = 59
D100: 33; success with 2 DoS

Sentry #3 Dodge vs Krak Grenade: Ag40
D100: 80; failure with 4 DoF

Krak Grenade Damage: 3d10+4X, Pen 6
13 (3d10) + 4 = 17 damage - (AV8 - Pen 6) - TB8 = 7 wounds taken

Sentry #3 SAB: BS40 + 10 (SAB) + 10 (short range) = 60
D100: 02; hit with 5 DoS
3 Hits total

Toren Dodge: Ag54
D100: 59; fail

Bolter Damage: 1d10+9X, Pen 4
Hit 1: 2 (d10) + 9 = 11 damage - (AV9 - Pen 4) - TB 8 = 0 wounds
Hit 2: 8 (d10) + 9 = 17 damage - (AV9 - Pen 4) - TB 8 = 4 wounds
Hit 3: 6 (d10) + 9 = 15 damage - (AV9 - Pen 4) - TB 8 = 2 wounds
6 wounds total to Toren (16/22)

Sentry #4 SAB: BS40 + 10 (SAB) = 60
D100: 64; miss with 0 DoF

Toren draws power sword and charges Sentry #3: WS42 + 10 (charge) + 10 (hatred) = 62
D100: 20
Hit location: Head

Sentry #3 Dodge: Ag40
D100: 68; miss with 2 DoF

Power Sword Damage: 1d10+6E + SB, Pen 6
3 (d10) + 6 + 11 (SB) = 20 damage - (AV8 - Pen 6) - TB8 = 10 wounds
Sentry #3 dead.

Sentry #4 SAB: BS40 + 10 (SAB) + 30 (Point Blank) = 80
D100: 28; success with 5 DoS
3 hits total

Toren Dodge: Ag54
D100: 80; miss with 2 DoF

Bolter Damage: 1d10+9X, Pen 4
Hit 1: 5 (d10) + 9 = 14 damage - (AV9 - Pen 4) - TB 8 = 1 wound
Hit 2: 8 (d10) + 9 = 17 damage - (AV9 - Pen 4) - TB 8 = 4 wounds
Hit 3: 8 (d10) + 9 = 17 damage - (AV9 - Pen 4) - TB 8 = 4 wounds
9 wounds total to Toren (7/22)

Toren down to 7 wounds remaining

Toren standard attack vs Sentry #4: WS 42 + 10 (Hatred) + 10 (aim) = 62
D100: 98; miss with 3 DoF

Sentry #4 draws bolt pistol + SAB: BS40 + 10 (SAB) = 50
D100: 82; miss
 
Toren standard attack vs Sentry #4: WS 42 + 10 (Hatred) + 10 (aim) = 62
D100: 86; miss with 2 DoF

Sentry #4 SAB: BS40 + 10 (SAB) = 50
D100: 83; miss

Centurion joins combat
Centurion charges Toren: WS50 + 10 (charge) + 10 (gang up) = 70
D100: 86; miss with 1 DoF

Toren standard attack vs Sentry #4: WS 42 + 10 (Hatred) + 10 (aim) = 62
D100: 16; hit with 4 DoS
Hit location: Chest

Sentry #4 Dodge: Ag40
D100: 95; fail with 5 DoF

Power Sword Damage: 1d10+6E + SB, Pen 6
4 (d10) + 6 + 11 (SB) = 22 damage - (AV8 - Pen 6) - TB8 = 12 wounds
  

Sentry #4 SAB: BS40 + 10 (SAB) = 50
D100: 05; hit with 4 DoS

3 hits: chest, chest, arm

Toren holds reaction


Sentry #4 bolt pistol damage: 1d10+9x, Pen 4
Hit 1: 4 (d10) + 9 = 13 damage - (AV10 - Pen 4) - TB 8 = 0 wounds
Hit 2: 10 (d10) + 9 = 19 damage - (AV10 - Pen 4) - TB 8 = 5 wounds

Hit 3: 3 (d10) + 9 = 18 damage - (AV9 - Pen 4) - TB 8 = 0 wounds
5 wounds total to Toren (2/22)

Toren down to 2 wounds remaining

Centurion Standard Attack: WS50 + 10 (aim) + 10 (gang up) = 70
D100: 05; hit with 6 DoS

Toren Parry: WS42 + 10 (balanced) + 10 (hatred) = 62
D100: 66 16; success with 4 DoS, 1 FP spent for reroll
1 FP remaining

Toren standard attack vs Sentry #4: WS 42 + 10 (Hatred) + 10 (aim) = 62
D100: 53; hit with 0 DoS
Hit location: Body

Sentry #4 Dodge: Ag40
D100: 66; miss with 2 DoF

Power Sword Damage: 1d10+6E + SB, Pen 6
4 (d10) + 6 + 11 (SB) = 21 damage - (AV10 - Pen 6) - TB10 = 7 wounds
Sentry #4 dead. 


Centurion Standard Attack: WS50 + 10 (aim) = 60
D100: 79; miss with 1 DoF

Toren standard attack vs Centurion: WS 42 + 10 (Hatred) + 10 (aim) = 62
D100: 18; hit with 4 DoS
Hit location: Right Leg

Centurion Parry: WS50 - 10 (Unbalanced) = 40
D100: 93; miss with 5 DoF

Power Sword Damage: 1d10+6E + SB, Pen 6
5 (d10) + 6 + 11 (SB) = 22 damage - (AV10 - Pen 6) - TB10 = 8 wounds

Centurion Standard Attack: WS50 + 10 (aim) = 60
D100: 03; hit with 5 Dos

Toren Parry: WS42 + 10 (balanced) + 10 (hatred) = 62
D100: 45; success with 1 DoS

Centurion Parry: WS50 - 10 (Unbalanced) = 40
D100: 88; miss with 4 DoF

Power Sword Damage: 1d10+6E + SB, Pen 6
4 (d10) + 6 + 11 (SB) = 21 damage - (AV10 - Pen 6) - TB10 = 7 wounds
Centurion dies.

 

 

Edited March 7 by Necronaut
This took quite a while to type out, sorry for the long delay. My time has been extremely limited.

[Machine God]

Ashmon:

 

The pain that had flared through his bionics was only fleeting, yet it stung. Through mental and physical techniques long endured he beat the pain away, fought against the weakness.

 

The erroneous signals were still about in the aether, on the breeze. He had keep his head straight.

 

 

Toren had returned and guiding them to a door that led into the complex. Skorn had got the door open, ably assisted by Tyr-Ix-375 the blessed automata. They had scouted onwards and came to choice of routes, one tunnel up, one down and the third led onwards towards where the jamming signal was strongest.

 

He had arrived from the rear-guard just behind Tyr-Ix-375, when he saw the intersection. Toren went through the upward port to cut off the heed of snake.

Skorn continued onwards to cut off the jamming signals.

 

Tyr-Ix-375 went through the downward portal towards the power generators and he followed the sanctioned robot to offer guidance. All appearances had pointed to Iron Warrior construction, yet the place was decorated with the Eye of Horus at irregular intervals

 

Going downwards Tyr-Ix-375 disturbed a sentry, a screaming servo-skull. 

 

No, not that sound!

 

 

 

Cybernetic Glitch 10%. Result: 04, Glitch. (1-4: Left Hand. 5-7: Secondary Heart. 8-10: Lungs) Roll: 4: Left Hand

 

 

Ashmon's bionic hand flexed out and locked in an open position, rigid and unwieldy. He fought through the psychic pain and saw Tyr-Ix-375 advancing onwards in a cloud of three skulls. He watched as the blessed automata dispatched the servo-skulls with power weaponry and massed bolter fire.

 

Well they know that we are here now, for sure!

 

He knew from ancient texts that he should mollify the Blessed Automata to stop it going rogue.

 

+++Tyr-Ix-375! Slow down, you are being drawn in. Be patient, wait for my assist+++ He sent on tight-beam Vox.

 

 

His left hand now useless for cradling his bolter, Ashmon drew his force sword from his scabbard and focussed his arts.

 

 

 

(Half Action): Unfettered Power Level. Focus - Might of the Ancients, Sustained: Yes. WIL 51 +0 (Might of the Ancients) -20 (Hard Difficulty) = 31. Result: 16, Pass.

(Half Action): Move after Tyr-Ix-375

 

 

He channelled the Might of the Ancients of Old Alba into his being and then strode off after Tyr-Ix-375, who having destroyed the skulls was now engaging a brace of Heavy Bolter Servitors guarding an archway.

 

Letting Tyr have fun and present a hard target, enabled Ashmon to get the drop on one of the servitors. The Big Beastie reduced one of servitors to bloody chunks and then dodged into cover. 

 

Using Tyr-Ix-375 as a shield, Ashmon moved past and attacked the weak pathetic seritor that dared to bar his way!.

 

 

 

(Half Action): Sustain Might of the Ancients.

(Half Action): Move past Tyr-Ix-375

 

(Free Action)Iron Hands Solo Mode Ability: Suffer No Weakness.

 

(Half Action): Sustain Might of the Ancients

(Half Action): Attack the Heavy Bolter Servitor. WS 50 +10 (Hatred) Result: 02, Pass. 02 = 20: Right Arm.

Force Sword: 1D10+2, Pen 2.

Ashmon has 4 PR = +4 Damage and +4 Pen

Might of the Ancients: +4 Damage and +4 Pen

Ashmon's Force Sword: 1D10+10 +10 (SB) +2 (IB/2) Pen 10. Damage: 4 +22 = 26 Vs HB Battle Servitor TB/Arm: 3, Wounds: 10 = Death

 

 

 

His force sword guided by the Sons of Old Alba sliced through the servitor from the right shoulder Heavy Bolter mount to above its left hip. The two halves of the rapidly dying servitor slid to the floor in a pile of offal and boiled oil.

 

Contemptuously Ashmon flicked the blood from his sword and he roared "Storm Walkers!" to the winds.

 

 

Tyr-Ix-375 moved beside him, as they moved into the widening chamber.

 

Before them they saw a pair of mortal Tech Adepts working on the generators, who ordered two more Heavy Bolter armed Battle Servitors to defend them.

 

Faced with the new odds, he thanked his Ancestors and charged at the left-most Battle Servitor. However luck was as ever a Fickle Mistress.

 

 

 

 

(Full Action) Charge vs HB Battle Servitor (Left)

WS 50 +10 (Charge) +10 (Hatred)= 70. Result: 00, Failure. Missed

 

HB Battle Servitor BS 33 +20 (FAB) = 53. Result: 97, Failure - Jam

 

(Half Action) Attack HB Battle Servitor.

WS 50 +10 (Hatred) = 60. Result: 22, Pass. 22 = 22 Left Arm

Force Sword: 1D10+6 +10 +2 Pen 6, Damage: 6 +18 = 24 Vs HB Battle Servitor TB/Arm: 3, Wounds: 10 = Death

 

 

 

A miss for a jam and a mirror answer of earlier, if somewhat less powerful. Another bisected servitor at his feet. Tyr-Ix-375 had already slain the other Battle Servitor and had moved to fire at one of the Tech Adepts.

 

Not to be denied the prize, Ashmon charged the other Tech Adept. There could be only one!

 

 

 

 

(Full Action) Charge Vs Tech Adept

WS 50 +10 (Charge) +10 (Hatred) = 70. Result: 29, Pass. 29 = 92 Left Leg.

Force Sword 1D10+6 +10 +2 Pen 6, Damage: 9 +18 = 27 Vs Tech Adept TB/Arm 2, Wounds: 8 = Death

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 4 by Machine God
Suffer No Weakness

[Xin Ceithan]

Placeholder

[Mazer Rackham]

The Bunker:

 

Klaxons sound as the assault takes it's toll. Hard bangs of bolter rounds, the thunder of Automata's wrathful gunfire, although stuttering here and there due to irritating mis-fires or power loss. The crackling power of a Force sword, an aethervane which cuts with an edge as well as sharpening the will to destroy with wits. A shadow, paints his foes with vengeance, whilst a master of machines plucks the defences arrayed against him like the strings of a mechanical lyre.

 

Chaos, panic, confusion. The mortal serfs of the Sons of Horus, so secure in their fastness in the wilderness of Isstvan V, go wild with the failings of humans.

 

The Astartes inside, perhaps have failed too, perhaps mortally, for they have manned positions against a foe they were expecting from without, yet even now, the brave few strike at the black heart of this strange beast. They are still ignorant of the numbers currently within, a body responding to trauma, but unsure of what the pain means. Most of them move away, hardening down the base.

 

You have carefully made your way in, but now getting out will be much more difficult.

 

GM OOC: I'll deal with each zone in turn so I buy a bit of time for Xin and to hopefully sort it out properly.

 

Blue Zone:

Wounded, the Raven Guard enters the command centre, black plate scratched, chipped and bloodied. Stained carmine from his own wounds and the death-cuts of his enemies alike. He is alone, strangely, several of the Marine officers and troops here are smouldering, blown open by close-range bolter fire, either slumped over terminals, or cast to the deck. This is very recent work.

 

The adepts who toiled here are gone, maybe higher up the base, possibly to muster stations for evacuation, or bunkers for safety. Many of the consoles have already been locked down, but a sole command cupola set with an active pulpit, remains. However, it appears that it operates on a power shunt which allows activation of only one of the cogitator terminals for a short time. The entire set-up is absurdly ad-hoc, but it becomes apparent that this redoubt was set up quickly, from almost cobbled together parts from only Corax knows where.

 

Left Terminal: Alert control. The cogitators are networked to several alarm systems, a web of security which can be manipulated to move enemy personnel to different sectors. However, doing so may cause problems for other zones.

 

Central Terminal: This appears to contain an isolated communications system, it would be possible to issue a tight-beam communication on any channel the user chooses, with enough power to reach orbital assets. However, using this will alert everyone to where the operator is.

 

Right Terminal: Markings on this terminal display special tactical and strategic iconography. The array of plastek-slivers and crystal tubes hint at a substantial amount of encrypted, confidential planning data, which can be extracted via a datavault-slug.

 

A map of the facility in on the wall. Every nook and cranny of this place is known to you, including the escape hatches.

 

If you can get to them.

 

GM Notes: This essentially boils down to a choice of one of the terminals, followed by narrative consequence of those choices. You don't need to make rolls, the terminals carry temporary encryption which you will be able to overcome (perhaps there are codebooks, dataslates, or 'my password is PASSWORD'...What you do with the command centre afterwards? Up to you.

[Mazer Rackham]

The Bunker:

 

GM: OOC, preamble as per post above.

 

Red Zone:

The crimson spill of emergency lamps spills over the walls, floor and ceiling as you go further into the complex. Two-dozen Tech Adepts are running to regulate the needed power draw from the defensive systems activating. Without such regulation, it is possible that overloaded conduits will burst, causing severe energy deficiency. Indeed, some panels protecting fuses and cabling has blown, looking for all the world like burnt toasters, thick black soot staining the steel, and smoke thickening in the upper reaches of these vaults, arched unequally thanks to the strange space they exploited, and rapid manner of construction.

 

The vaults reach another one-hundred metres, and beyond you can detect the electromagnetic field from the high-capacity generators.

 

Indeed, it is eve revealed how many:  heavy cabling clogs thickly, trussed together in thick bundles, running to three generators the size of a Knight engine. Mechanicum configurations are well known to you. A minimum of two of these generators must be destroyed simultaneously in order to cause a feedback pulse which will fry all of the power carrying infrastructure.

 

GM Notes: Essentially, you'll need to slaughter the tech adepts and take one each of the generators. If Tyr-lx wants to take out two at one with a self-detonation, as mentioned in the OOC, that's fine. Obviously this could provide a hint of brotherly honour between the players.

[Necronaut]

Toren

 

The tableau of the command centre was immediately off-putting. Bodies, both astartes and mortal retainers were strewn about the place, cut down by extreme close-range bolter fire, and they seemed to be relatively fresh, though there was no scent of fyceline present in the air. Either the air filtration system was extremely efficient or some hours had already elapsed. Floor panels had been torn up and some of the wires underneath severed, but the command pulpit and other terminals appeared to be mostly intact and functional. What in the name of Lord Corax had happened here?!

 

He swallowed the blood in his mouth and advanced into the large chamber, tightening his grip on Blacktongue as its power field cooked off the last remaining gobbets of flesh and blood and bone from his slain enemies in the passageway behind him. There was a map of the facility on the wall and he committed it to memory, quickly taking note of where he and the Iron Hands and the automaton had entered and the path he had taken to arrive here. There were a number of promising egress points which he and the others might utilize. 

 

He knelt beside a downed Son of Horus and examined the cracked ceramite where the bolt rounds had penetrated and detonated. Whoever had done this had been brutally efficient, and clearly their victims had been caught completely by surprise. To his trained eye it looked like some of the weapons racks along the southern wall had been ransacked, but otherwise there was little so suggest of some grander purpose beyond indiscriminate slaughter.

 

Not that he could fault the methods or outcome of this surgical strike. Whoever it was that pulled it off, he thoroughly approved of their work. 

 

 

Perception Test: Per52

D100: 23; success with 2 DoS

 

 

 

He rose and walked over to a crumpled tech-adept next to the command pulpit, his body torn to shreds by mass-reactive rounds. Toren turned the dead mortal’s corpse over with the toe of his sabaton, studying the pattern of the wounds and trauma caused. One human eye and one darkened augmetic, both robbed of their power sources, stared up at him unseeing and unblinking. A small data-slate slipped out of the human’s blood-soaked robes, clattering to the floor.

 

Toren stooped to pick up the slate, first casting a furtive glance over his shoulder. He keyed the activation rune and it sprang to life with a sickly green glow. It contained maintenance instructions, diagnostics and something about establishing a default entry token by which to access the central cogitator banks and command system.

 

The Raven Guard sergeant walked over to the command pulpit and unceremoniously shoved the dead mortal slaved into the control panel out of the way. The corpse made a sickly wet thump on the plascrete floor and Toren set to work attempting to access the system following the tech-adept’s notes from the data-slate. By some miracle he was granted immediate access, but it soon became clear that his time with the system would be limited. The entire system was utterly ramshackle and completely unstable, as if constructed by the mad. The three arrayed terminals all lit up in unison but flickered ominously like they might all wink out suddenly, or explode.

 

He had been able to glean a rudimentary purpose of each sub-system, but one was a treasure trove of information too valuable to pass up. Though he could possibly sow further confusion within the redoubt or send a tight-beam vox message to one of the loyalist ships in orbit currently bludgeoning the stuffing out of their traitor counterparts, and vise versa, like great and ponderous cetaceans engaging a silent and terrible pugilistic contest, to what end would either serve in the long run? With a few inputs the light from the right-most terminal dimmed noticeably, and a few agonizing moments passed as he watched and hoped the commands would execute before the whole jury-rigged system went up in smoke.

 

With a dull click a small datavault-slug popped free from its cavity, containing a wealth of the enemy's strategic and tactical data. He gently removed the canister and tucked it away in a belt pouch and studied the base map once more.

 

Time to leave.

 

Sheathing his blade, he drew his boltgun once more and fired a series of controlled bursts into the terminals, destroying whatever was left in a hail of bolt rounds and deafening noise. 

 

And he fled. 

Edited March 7 by Necronaut

[Mazer Rackham]

Toren:

 

Noticing a random bolt case left under the scribe's body, you realise that the bolter wounds have been caused by some type of bolt round using a different propellant, not unlike that of a stalker bolt. Something very unusual, and exceptionally quiet (for a bolt gun) was employed here.

 

The path outside to the mountainside as you escape appears to be unguarded...