The End and the Death of Brother -Librarian Dendinius - an Artesian autopsy report

[Xin Ceithan]

I have recently completed this piece as a combination of a sort  “commission” and “in-character post “ in the form of  a  sort of lecture or de-briefing regarding the findings in  the autopsy / forensic examination  performed after the rather untimely demise of a member of the Deathwatch as further detailed in Frater  @Lysimachus current Deathwatch PbP Game “ Murderers in Black” ( found here: Deathwatch: Murderers in Black (IC Thread) 

 

I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. C&C welcome as always! 
 

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The Autopsy of Brother Dendinius. 

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….

 

 

The kill-team had assembled in a small medicae theater inside the Apothecarium. The hololithic projection of the ill-fated Librarian rotated slowly in their midst, fading in and out like a haunting  ancestor spirit from some tribal death world.  A sharp triangular angry red wedge displayed the path the Black Templar’s sword had taken.

 

After an encouraging nod from the Watch Captain Skaayn, Amaras addressed the Killteam. He was clad  in his full warplate and had apparently not released it since the incident in the dormitory.

 

“Brothers, he began. “ I have been asked to brief you all on the essential findings following the recent completion of the post mortem examination rituals regarding the  cause of death of Brother-Librarian Dendinius” 

 

“First off,it grieves me to report that, due the extent of his injuries. we were sadly only partially successful in the recovery  of the Brother- Librarian’s  gene-seed.  The retrocervical node in particular was completely destroyed. There are also some …further…. complications … that have arisen from the findings during  this examination that may make returning it to his Chapter.., well, …problematic.”

 

The apothecary reached inside the projection, bringing up the red smear running through the librarian’s body.

 

“But let us not get ahead of things.  First, have a look at this.  There is obviously no need to tell any of you that, given the  point of entry, the force involved and the  resulting trajectory of the attack, the traumatic  progression of damage resulting from these injuries led to a progressive cascade of critical damage to several essential physiological processes which- especially in sequence - produced an unavoidable, inevitable and almost imminent lethal outcome “

 

Amaras ran an armoured finger along the red line, pointing  slowly at several locations of the enlarged image.

 

“The death of Brother Dendinius was therefore indeed directly caused by a massive application of sharp edged physical force. There was extensive damage to several neuralgic nodes and neurofibers along the   upper cervical vertebrae sequence. These were  in addition to  vast incisive rupturing of  major circulatory vessels along the path of entry before the blade passed down to and through  the upper  bronchial bifurcation of his primary lung, a considerable part of the multi-pulmonal augmenting implant as well as resulting in direct piercing  damage to both the primary and secondary heart. This sequence of combined damage led to a cascading combination of physical and neural inhibitions or  paralyzation, which culminated in an  almost immediate inability to uphold even the basic circulatory processes which would be required to uphold  even basic emergency cerebral functions. It is entirely clear from the  extent and form of application of said sharp physical force that the attack was clearly designed and executed with the purpose and intent of ensuring a maximum level of damage with the explizit aim of a lethal outcome  with xtensive knowledge  of  the physical processes involved and clearly aimed on being executed on  a subject belonging to the Adeptus Astartes  - ensuring a lethal outcome  per extremis. This was clearly done with the stated purpose of killing  a  Space Marine with almost certain outcome and in the shortest amount of time possible as well as the intention of reducing the possibilities  of countering the damage done or any form of response as much as possible.” 

 

An expression of  grief seemed to play over the apothecary’s pale features.

 

“So, as it stands, Brother Dendinius did indeed die as a direct result and the given  time due to the wounds caused by the attack as performed by Brother Gerhardt.”

 

Amaras shot the Mantis Warrior  a sidelong  look. The ghost of smile reached his lips.

 

“ And there is no indication that  his death might have been  caused in anyway by something related to the Brother Liberian’s dietary choices.” 

 

There was a subdued cough. Amaras turned to the Watch-Captain and gave him a short nod .

 

“My apologies, Watch Captain.” 

 

The smile faded.

 

“Moving on…Brother Librarian Dendinius  thus indeed died due to an expertly applied form of primarily sharp physical force designed and applied in a way that ensured the death of a member of the Adeptus Astartes. The level of skill involved in this is quite remarkable, as  it is as sophisticated as it is clearly deliberate.  It is certainly not something you would apply or perform from at a momentary lapse of judgment or loss of emotional control. 

 

This might seem obvious, but it is important to note that this emphasizes the initial impression that Brother- Librarian Dendinius was not just killed. His death was a caused intentionally and with clear and extensive deliberation. 

 

At the same time it also appears, at first glance at least, needlessly complex. Even if performed as an conscious act of execution, there are several other techniques that  come to mind which would have provided a similar lethal outcome - especially in a rather  confined environment  like that of our deceased brother’s personal cell. 

 

This level of deliberation and precision would make the entire event extremely suspect on its own. And, as you can see here…” 

 

A flurry of gestures  increased the magnification along the wound, pushing it intro a projection of microscopic overlays. 

 

“This is a close-up of the incision edge along the trajectory progression of the application of sharp force in progression along the line of entry on a cellular level. Note how this is an almost geometrically precise straight line along the edge of the cut. There is very little  deviation along  the trajectory, nor any extensive undulating displacement of the surrounding cellular tissue beyond the shearing of the mass and the weight of the weapon’s progression and the unavoidable direct and indirect heat derived  deformation caused  by the weapon’s power field.  Horizontal and vertical drift along the entire line of cut are almost negligible. Even if we include the influence and effects of the extensive cauterization and sub-cellular compression caused by the direct and indirect thermal interaction caused by  the power field as well as the effects of unavoidable reaction like subconscious micro-musculo-or physiological base line reaction to the direct stimuli  or physical processes  involved, this level of precision is absolutely… remarkable.“ 

 

Amaras paused. 

 

“Note that I mean this with no disregard to the abilities of any warrior, present company included.  But this isn’t the work of a warrior.  But I doubt eben one of the blade adepts of one of the wretched Aeldari could inflict a wound at this level of precision on someone in combat. This level of precision… the shape of the wound on display here… well, …it’s quite literally … surgical. 

In every sense of the word. There is virtually no way to inflict sharp edged damage at this level and over the length and area involved on a living subject in a  combat situation. 

And these structures here” 

 

Amaras fingers flexed, skimming up and down along the hololithic imagery as he displayed his findings, focussing here, then re-focussing elsewhere on the details, then  rushed  towards the next. At this level of magnification, the cellular details shot past around the  kill team  eerily reminiscent of a fighter craft on an attack run at almost ground level. The Watch Captain felt suddenly grateful the Emperor’s great Work had granted the gift of Lyman’s Ear  to his Chosen. 

 

“… are clearly proof of early onset immuno-baric and haemophilia-defensive processes, so we can indeed clearly establish that the body of Brother Dendinius  was still physically alive  at the time of the injury or at least shortly after the application and that his physiology attempted to react to the traumata it inflicted. The only other time I have seen histographic cell structuring like this would on something like a sample taken from a chirugeon’s work.”

 

Amaras waved an armoured hand. The killteam found itself suddenly drifting along inside something like the straight lines long, very accurate rectangular hall.  The Apothecary gestured at the crisply cut cellular walls.

 

“Thus, the only we way this seems  possible is to assume that the Brother-Librarian was not simply caught unaware or unconscious but, for some reason either massively sedated and or perhaps allowed …or  maybe even willed… for Brother Gerhardt to perform this attack. 

 

Another hand gesture. The eerie landscape of the Librarian’s damaged inner workings fell away beneath them. 

For a moment, the kill team found themselves once more drifting around the rotating full body image of Dendinius again. Then they plunged down again like a drop assault from near orbit as Amaras zoomed into another point of interest. They raced towards the curved surface the Librarian’s inner arm.  There was a set of shuffling noise as some of the Astartes unconsciously braced for the impending impact.

 

“As Watch Captain Skaayn has already noted, there were no  indications of a struggle or any sort of defensive action. And we could  not find any further recent external injury  during our examinations - except for this.” 

 

The image shot towards a slightly discolored pinprick along the skin, then widened into a sort of crater which opened into a tunnel like cavity as the hololithic projection rushed into ever higher levels of magnification.

 

“Again, this is an application of outside physical force with a combination of initial sharp and tearing force and resulting displacement. But it’s obviously on a much smaller area of impact and features a clear circular application along the trajectory. Please note the textural composition of the wound cavity, as opposed to what I have shown you before”

 

Zidemy looked around and immediately saw what the Apothecary meant. His calling and expertise as a Techmarine allowed him an almost reflexive insight into an object’s material properties and as a native of Nocturne provided him ample experience with the insides of subterranean structures. So, even if there had not been  any form of context regarding his surroundings, he would have been able to identify the tunnel-like structure they were now witnessing as something clearly created artificially.  The lines to  straight, edges too sharp. His  expert senses easily found some imperfections. A few scratches here and there, some hint of circular lining  around the walls, where something had unevenly scratched  along the  way like some form of drill, even a slight detour where it might have wobbled for a moment at some inconsistency or resistance in the material as the work advanced. This tunnel was still very precise and thus clearly artificial but nothing like the laser etched sharpness they’d seen before. This tunnel….  Zidemy blinked. While he had intellectually processed  the information already,  suddenly, he was very consciously aware of the fact that he was technically inside a bullet hole…

 

“… which was probably caused by the application of some sort of  high velocity kinetic projectile of small dimensions and calibre “ 

 

Amaras continued, then shrugged. 

 

“I am an Apothecary and certainly not a forensic adept. But if I  had to guess, I’d put a  high probability that this was caused prior to the sword wound and most likely by  some sort of needle weapon.  Again, we have the corresponding early haemodynamic and immunobharic reactions which imply that this injury certainly occurred in vivo.

 

So we now have two external injuries inflicted from the outside by force in relation to the death of Brother Dendinius.

 

 

Most importantly, however, I was able to extract traces of a bio-chemical compound from this wound’s termination point which correspond with others sampled during the progressive post-mortem corporeal and haemo-analytical bio-alchemical rituals. I revisited these findings and the  follow-up rituals again brought up these compounds in high contractions in various samples. That were especially plentiful among samples taken from various lines of supra- and trans-glomeric stratea of oolothic kidney tissues. Unfortunately, I was at first unable to identify this substance and could not not trace this to any substance in common use among the Apothecary of our Adeptus as it is not  prescribed along the guidelines of the Codes Astartes.” 

 

Amaras paused, looked up at Skaayn, then each of the other Astartes in turn.

 

“My current position as de facto Apothecary Primus of this Watch Bastion allows for some … liberties. This allowed me to broaden the search since I was able to establish partial access into the inquisitorial archives of the Bastion.” 

 

He took a deep breath.

 

“I have thus been able to trace the alchemical compounds in question. They are in fact described as being employed in the creation and application in certain formula of high capacity verimeticae for use by operatives of the Ordos of HIS holy Inquisition.

 

As a  substance, this is  apparently a high capacity sedative and hypnoticum intended to induce a heightened state of suggestibility and tranquillity. It seems primarily intended for use during  interrogations. In the form encountered here, it has also obviously been explicitly adapted for use on Astartesian physiology. “

 

Amaras paused, letting this part sink in.

 

“So can we must assume that, at the time of his death, Brother-Librarian Dendinius was heavily sedated and under the influence of a substance used primarily by the Inquisition. But I am afraid that’s not all..” 

 

The Apothecary waved his hand. The display flickered and a slowly turning heraldic sigil of the Deathwatch replaced the anatomical hololithic imagery.

 

“Early diagnosticae screening  already suggested potential additional intra-cranial damage. But due to the already substantial loss of structural integrity, we opted for in toto dissection of the  upper cervical structures and the entire head immediately after the initial exterior examinations, to be removed and kept in stasis until we finished the majority of the post mortem internal examination protocols. The light of Emperor  must have guided us in this.” 

 

Amaras looked even paler in the dim light of the hololith. He folded his hands over his armoured chest into the sign of the Aquila.

 

“Once we retrieved  the Verizon-cranial remains from stasis lock later on , the very initial  trans-cranial cross-section immediately revealed upon evenpre-liminary visual inspection that the librarian’s  brain  had obviously been undergoing a series of massive, imminent and  aggressively expanding phases of   tera-genetic transmogrification.”

 

There was another pause.  The Apothecary of the Charnel Guard seemed to chew on his lower lip for moment, edges of  pronounced, sharp eye teeth suddenly visible.

 

“Again, my actual experience and overall circle of initiation into the Arts of the Apothecarion in these matters is - quite literally- rather limited here. Also,  we immediately had to halt any further investigation to limit potential further exposure upon these findings.

 

Again,being able to skim from  some of this Bastion’s more… exotic… resources proved unexpectedly helpful. So  at least I can present  my suspicions regarding these findings with a  substantial level of credibility.” 

 

Closing his eyes again, the Apothecary apparently calmed his thoughts by trying to put the unspeakable into a phrasing of more technical, if still occult terms.

 

“Based on these findings, the process of transmogrification seems directly caused by at least imminent exposure, if not actual imminent influx of mutagenic empyrean energy. Most likely this was either directly or indirectly the result of some sort of exposition while under some sort of active psychic influence or usage of such an ability” 

 

There was at least one sharp intake of breath and a flurry of movement as several members of the kill team reflexively made signs of warding .

 

“Given the extent of this process, this rapid neoplasticismatic transformation alone would have been undeniable lethal to Brother Dendinius on its own and most likely in extremely short order.  At best estimation, with  the apparent velocity of this development  and the substantial exponential displacement at hand, increase in substance and continuing deformation of the  surrounding neural and osseous substances, I’d project a high probability  that at the culmination of final cerebral system failure might have been then accompanied  by a sudden event  of uncontrolled trans-cranial  extrusional displacement.”

 

Amaras opened his eyes again. He looked grim.

 

“Looking at all things combined and in all likelihood, this turn of events was only prevented and  did not occur due to timing and deliberation of the excessive injuries inflicted on the brother librarian’s body by the action of Brother Gerhardt shortly before.” 

 

The Charnel Guard licked his lips.

 

“Upon its discovery, I had both the body and especially the remain  of the upper cervical and cranial substance exhibits  not only again stasis sealed but also placed under contra-empyric warding according to the essential rites regarding possible exposition or potential intrusion of empyrean energies. The servitor units used in the examination have been dismantled, their biological components cremated. The augmented components are being undergoing  continued cleansing  as we speak in preparation for similarly warded isolation until a member of the Adeptus Mechanicus of sufficient standing can be contacted on further proceedings. Likewise, the medicae serf staff involved have undergone putative mind-scrubbing and are currently in isolation, undergoing the proscribed rites of cleansing and purification before possible stasis warding until their potential fate regarding to the level of potential exposure and resulting risk of moral and empyrean contamination can be judged by suitable means.”

 

Again, the hands of the Apothecary expressed the shape of the imperial Aquila.

 

“The Emperor protects.

Now. Sumis sumarum, from the findings of the post mortem examination rituals we can state that:

 

A - Brother-Librarian Dendinius was indeed killed by a deliberate intrusion of sharp edged physical force enhanced by the application of sub-atomantic  energy. The application of said force was almost instantly lethal and appears to been designed and performed with the clear idea and intent of projecting said lethal force by taking into consideration not only the fact that the subject at hand was a member of the Adeptus Astartes but also strongly hints that the attacker was aware of an active level of psychic action and possibly empyrean influence occurring within the primary neural processing matterof the deceased battle-brother “

 

B - At the time of his death, it must be assumed that Brother-Librarian Dendinius was under the influence of at least one substance not regulated by the Codex Astartes. The substance in question has been documented as being used by adepts of the Ordos of HIS Holy Inquisition. Said substance must be assumed to have been explicitly selected or at least deliberately adapted for use on a member of the Adeptus Astartes. It was most likely of a highly sedative, hypnotic and pro-suggestive nature. Said substance was introduced to the deceased physiology prior to his death, from the outside and by external means, at close quarters or possibly over a short distance.  The selected form  involved into the application is also outside of the regulations of the Codex Astartes. The findings open up the possibility of said substance being applied or at least supplied by an outside party.

 

C - At the time of his death, the Brother-Librarian’s brain matter was in the process  of undergoing a massive, imminent and  aggressively expanding phase of tera-genetic transmogrification.

Substantial evidence exits of this process of transmogrification being  directly caused by at least imminent exposure, if not the actual imminent influx of a substantial amount of empyrean energies, in all likelihood  either directly or indirectly caused due to some sort of direct exposition to or active use of some sort of psychic influence or use of psychic ability.

Given the extent of this process, this  rapid neoplasticismatic transformation alone would have been undeniable lethal on its own and in extremely short order.  At best estimation, with  the apparent velocity of this development  and given the amount of substantial and exponential displacement , this  increase in substance and assuming a continuing deformation of the  surrounding neural and osseous substances would suggest that, at a very  high probability,  the state of final and terminal cerebral system failure might have been then accompanied  by a sudden event  of uncontrolled trans-cranial  extrusional displacement, leading to to the explosive projection and exposition of physical as well as empyrean substances.

 

D - Further direct or indirect harm by such a sudden exposure to empyrean energy, up to including the potential influx of empyrean entities did in all likelihood only  not occur due to timing, choice and application of the excessive injuries inflicted on the brother librarian’s body by the actions of Brother Gerhardt just shortly before this course of events.

 

E - The findings of these post mortem examination rituals can however not specify if the actions of Brother Gerhard were employed to consciously contain this chain of event with the intent of minimizing potential collateral physical and or empyreanic damage or if they were consciously intended to obscure the situation and the involvement of possible third parties by their potential reveal following such an event  and the revelation of the extent of involvement of psychic and / or empyrean factors in this event by terminating the Brother Librarian beforehand by more obvious  and clearly physical means.” 

 

Amaras let out a long breath. He looked at his assembled brothers. He realized he had very little experience on the outlook or expertise of the Astartes present.

 

“I assume you understand that this situation is grave. Ley me put this in ..less big words:

Yes. Brother Gerhardt killed the Librarian. With a very big sword. 

 And while  the Librarian was already drugged. With something used most often  by the Inquisition. 

And while his brain was being warped inside his skull and only had not yet exploded at the time  because either Brother Gerhardt  put a sword through his neck or someone  had  Brother Gerhardt put a very big sword through him just before it could explode.”

 

 

Amaras growled

 

“Emperor help me! This isn’t a just murder - 

This is either an assassination or a bloody miracle! “ 

 

“

 

…..

 

Edited May 17 by Xin Ceithan
Typos!

[StratoKhan]

Love the gradual reveals, that don’t actually lessen the level of mystery, but increase it.

[Xin Ceithan]

19 hours ago, StratoKhan said:

Love the gradual reveals, that don’t actually lessen the level of mystery, but increase it.

Thanks! 
 

On this, I’ll clearly have to share the accolades with @Lysimachus, who had already established a chart of what and how much would be revealed in regards  to the possible reveals as defined by  success off skill test performed by the character during the investigation. I mostly went with these regarding the progress - but Idid obviously apply some narrative pacing here. The damage and mutation of the brain would clearly have  been revealed much sooner if I had just followed the common structure of an autopsy reports.

(On that note, you might note that I deliberately shortened or skipped the required attention to detail regarding the description and amount of details of the findings per se - I have not even specified the location and number of the cervical vertebra at the point of incision and there is no data whatsoever regarding to the dimensions of the wounds -  For which I apologize and shamelessly put it on the shoulders of Amaras, who, as an Apothecary, is quite likely not up-to-date on the requirements of everyday forensic work and it’s documentation )

 

It obviously helped in that regard that I am also involved as a player in this game of ongoing investigation. So I have no clue in what the mystery is shaping up to, and have not had any idea regarding the ulterior outcome. Which means I cannot accidentally reveal too much or be tempted to include some cleverly disguised hints  at later reveals! 
 

In hindsight, I also feel that the description of the damages and the procedures involved might actually be a bit too modern in my idea of medical procedures in the 41st millennium. As a rule, I think that it should be aimed  at creating a sense of witnessing something more like a mystic ritual or religious ceremony come on not a science documentary. However, since this is intended for a game of murder mystery and the more recent stories set Black Library’s Crime franchise I also mostly set in a surrounding which portrays the investigation in an almost 21st century state of procedural science, I think there is some leeway here