[BC] The Blackest Heart (Part II) (IC)

[Necronaut]

Ukalegon

 

Unable to contain himself, Ukalegon leapt to his feet and roared at the alien with a rictus of insane fury etched into his features, his muscles rippling under his rough outfit.

 

“FACE ME, YOU FIEND! FACE ME AND DIE!" 

 

Full Action: Frenzy

[Mazer Rackham]

Ukalegon:

 

Your seething anger lashes the walls of steel and stone, and were they mortal, they would cower in fear of your superhuman wrath. Indeed it is so. Yet this beast heeds not your fury, yet, as the brute slopes into the half-light of the corridor, the malign glint in the pus-yellow eyes of this Purestrain Genestealer greets you formally.

 

It is covered in dust, and scrapes. Small burns and pock-marks of what it has endured to get this far, will endure to destroy you, enslave you, render you into tasty, tasty primordial gruel - and all who come after you.

 

It is this then, the primal understanding your thoughts whispered - even this foul beast understands vengeance, understands that this is it between you. It makes a strange kind of snarl - perhaps a weak human mind would see it as acknowledgment, but yours has been close to them, and knows that the connection between you taints you as much as it.

 

At this point in time, the likelihood is neither of you gives a damn.

 

The one certainty is this: it is between you, and your armour.

 

With lightning speed, it charges...

 

GM: We'll move to see how the others are doing.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Obadiah:

 

Hagga yanked Obi to his feet, and he clapped him on the pauldron in thanks.

 

“Let's go, " Hagga said.  "Those genestealer scum will have put every warrior they have left around that substation, they can’t let us in to fix whatever they've done. We can kill them all.”

 

Obi reached to his gorget and yanked the quick-release, letting the camo cloak cascade down his back.  "By your command," he replied, and set off running with the Executioner.

 

Spoiler

Strength Test

 

Str 41 + 10 = 51

Roll: 17.  Pass, 3x DoS + 4x DoS (UnS +2) = 5x DoS.

 

He watched as the shfiting grav tides lifted his companion off the ground and hurtled him into the air.  Obi anticipated the same shift hitting him and threw himself into the grav tide.  He flipped in mid-stride, rolling in the air until the soles of his armored boots made contact with the ceiling.  He took a full three strides along the stone before gravity reverted, and he rolled mid-air and dropped to his feet on the floor -- where he belonged.  

Edited February 14 by Iron Father Ferrum

[Mazer Rackham]

Hagga and Obadiah:

 

Truly the almost mystical powers of the Astartes are given reality by the flesh and sinew, no matter whom it now serves. The Executioner and Mantis Warrior - one through brute force, another in a display of almost wonton agility, make good time to one of the damage control centres. Ahead of them is a small team of mortals readying all manner of firefighting and repair gear, collecting them from the lockers at the damage control point.

 

A menial with some tech garter stands next to the console and plugs in to begin her work.

 

And the whole place is blown all to hell.

 

The force of the explosion throws the two Marines to the floor, given a helping hand by a shift in the gravity. They are pasted with debris, rock-dust and body parts, being coated in a fearsomely unpleasant slurry of human organs and metal scraps. Gobbets of sticky meat drop slowly from the chamber ceiling in the aftermath, and the one survivor, a smaller female who had literally leaned over to pick up her helmet from where it dropped on the floor, lies pinned to the wall by a four foot long spar of jagged steel through her shoulder.

She coughs in the roiling smoke-churned air, heat and breathable contaminants spiking in the Astartes harness.

 

GM: Both Characters suffer a Concussive Blast. Test Toughness (+10) or be Stunned for One Round/Turn.

 

Edited March 7 by Mazer Rackham
Name corrected.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Obadiah:

 

Spoiler

Toughness Test

 

T35 + 10 = 45

Roll: 27.  Pass, 2x DoS + 2 DoS  = 4x DoS.

 

Obi was two steps deep into the chamber when the room filled with flame and debris.  The blast knocked him sideways into the wall.  Ceramite pulverized stone and tore at plasteel as he made contact; he slumped to one knee from the impact, but his head snapped back up immediately and his eyes immediately scanned the room for survivors -- and threats.

[Mazer Rackham]

The Damage Control Station:

 

The aftermath of the explosion - the point of maximum confusion for anyone, perhaps but Astartes, is the signal to attack.

 

The Hybrids charge in, the smoke obscuring their true numbers, weapons blazing as the ambush is triggered.

 

Hybrids have Ambush, Surprise (but not against the Marines):

D3 Grenades: 3

1) D100: Miss (Scatters and explodes Blast 4m anyway. Hits Marine on 1 of D3 = 1!? Ok...

Target: Obi 1 (see what I did there?) Hagga 2 = Hagga

Body: 14, Pen 0 (can Dodge, not Surprised)

2) D100: Hit Serfs, can't Dodge, kills whoever is left).

3) D100: Miss (Scatters, D3 = 3, no damage.

 

More teeth-loosening force batters the Marines, who are thankfully already prone, and miss most of the shrapnel now zinging about the place like lethal hornets.

 

GM: Gentlemen.

 

Initiatives.

[Lysimachus]

Hagga:

 

Toughness tests:
Hagga: T41 +10 = 51, Roll: 80, Fail
Eska: T30 +10 = 40, Roll: 28, Pass

 

sigh… think I might InfP reroll Hagga's test there?

Reroll: 33, Pass!

 

Initiative:
Hagga Ag4 +d10(7) = 11
Eska Ag3 +d10(6) = 9

 

I won't use Hagga's Dodge yet (14 is way below AV+T)

 

 

As the blast caught them, Hagga moved to block Eska from being hit. Shards of rock and tongues of flame battered his armour, further ruining the proud colours of his Chapter, but his flesh was unharmed. He rolled to his feet, drawing Heart-Eater in one smooth movement and roaring through his vox emitter.

 

"COME ON THEN, YOU FILTHY XENOS !!!"

[Mazer Rackham]

Atesh Sapik:

 

You and Mukta are carefully making your way along, your light armour and equipment helping to be less of a burden than the other menials and Corsair Armsmen you see running about in the lop-sided gravity.

 

Mukta turns to you, to ask something, and at that instant a huge, chipped and ridged set of claws bursts through the ceiling and takes his head off in a  welter of gushing gore.

 

The scarlet vitae spurts from high-pressure heartbeats in an obscene cadence, as it pumps and quirts all over the ceiling, walls and deck.

 

You are also sodden, and the floor is now treacherous.

 

A bestial face drops down to peer from the shaft, long tongue flicking out, with some manner of strange...organ...along the length, which slowly slips free and tastes the air carrying your scent before retreating. (GM OOC: This is, of course, the Ovipositor).

 

The beast slowly begins to uncurl from the vent. It is the serpent-like unfurling of a cobra, mesmerising prey with a careful approach before striking...

 

GM: Good sir, it is time.

 

Initiative.

 

Edited February 14 by Mazer Rackham

[FabiusV4lcoran]

Atesh: 

 

The arterial curtain drenched Atesh, the coppery tang filling his mouth and reminding him of strange theories regarding the origins of illness being tiny beings living in the peoples' humors...and asked Tchar to protect him from the Plaguelord's perfidy.  He wiped his eyes off, and blew what blood he could from his mouth.

 

"Yeah?  Well, you, too."

 

Spoiler

Initiative: Roll 9 +3 (Ag bonus) + 2 (Quick and the Dead)= 14

 

 

Edited February 15 by Lysimachus

[Machine God]

Kraggan:

 

The gravity fluctuations caused him to slow to a crawl. It was undignified so he initiated a diagnostic which enabled him to re-route more power to locomotion.

 

He managed to Run.

 

 

 

 

 

6+ AV in multiple locations x2. -4 AB  0 AB

STR41 +10 = 51. Result: 11, 5DoS. +5 AB.

Run Check: TGH42 +10 = 52. Result: 11, Pass 5DoS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 14 by Machine God
typo

[Iron Father Ferrum]

Obadiah:

 

Spoiler

Initiative Roll

 

D10 (4) + AB (4) = 8

 

Also not Dodging since 14 AP0 doesn't penetrate TB+Armor in any location.

 

The whickering shrapnel ping'ed as it embedded itself in his ceramite, and behind the templar visage of his helmet, his face showcased his anger.   He rose to his feet, Fate's Eye coming up to his shoulder.

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Xerxes:

You prepare your dataports for the task ahead. Thankfully, this room appears to be partially composed of the alien metal which furnishes the bones of the asteroid station. It matters not. being perpendicular is a bonus in this line of work.

 

The Damage Control Relay Station (DCRS) opens up at your urging, displaying three holopicter screens and haptic control terminals. These provide the data exloads for the current deck, but has open noospheric ports to access other decks. The initial link is so simple, it is almost automatic, but this is where screeds of data pall into your field of view.

 

The asteroid's guts are badly mauled by explosions. At least one other DCRS has been destroyed, and a second has been taken offline. Sealed doors filter through as numeric coda with map-reference and build-order data. Some of these have been manually locked, but others have been auto-sealed due to decompression protocols. These can be accessed to allow damage control parties to get around the blockages.

 

Also you have waste-flow and over-flow controls for several of the power and reactor functions that pass through the lower decks. Further, you have options for firefighting from this terminal which include gas pellet expulsion and halon precipitation in certain rooms. Each is locked behind a protocol. There isn't much difficulty, but it will take the one thing you don't have a lot of: time.

 

GM: Here are your tasks and numbers:

• 6 x doors are blocked which could be opened.
  • Half-Action per door, Difficult (-10) Tech-Use Test for Free Action (Limit of three Free Actions)
• 1 x Caesium fuel pipe leaking, Radiological Hazard
  • Full-Action to shut off, Hard (-20) Tech-Use Test.
  • Half-Action to Divert (has it's own problems - someone else eats the toxic sludge - random chance) Difficult (-10) Tech-Use Test
• 3 Fires.
  • Half-Action to activate Halon, Difficult (-10) Tech-Use to make Free Action
  • Free-Action to open door to vent compartment/Neg-Pressure (Has side-effects of killing anyone in damaged suit - random chance).
  • Full-Action to activate 3 x Fire-fighting servitors located in the Power Recycler Substation, Very Hard (-30) Tech-Use Test.

GM: Failure by 4 or more DoF damages the system. Failure by less just resets the attempt. Each successful task delays the critical failure cascade of the gravity regulation engines. Shout or query in the OOC as per.

 

Kraggan:

 

Hauling your backside down slopes, shafts and corridors has brought you to the Substation Deck. Looking up ahead you can see an octagonal room, containing a DCRS which would give hard-access to the maglocked doors preventing access or egress to some of the damaged stations. However, even from here, you can see a device attached to it that appears to be foreign to the construction.

 

No damage control parties are here, nor is there anyone lurking who could be questioned on the device. It appears you are alone. In the distance, thanks to echo and other strained sounds, you can hear a furious clamour, but the halls immediately about you are strangely quiet.

[A.T.]

Xerxes:

 

The astartes would already be on their way, environmental effects of little concern and the functionaries could be replaced if not already killed or compromised by the xenos. The caesium leakage was a more pressing concern as the ever increasing gravity well ruptured pipes and pulled all things inwards - should the waste byproducts and the main caesium line meet the explosion would likely exceed any created so far.

 

Across the secure vox he indicated, "This is Xerxes, I have control of the stations doors. Indicate which are required open and I will seal the rest to contain the fire. If it cannot be brought under control the section will be vented... do not be there when it is".

 

Those inside the power compartment had their warning. Xerxes turned to the fuel controls as Ephialtes peered over his shoulder passing further information on via their linkage.

 

Tech use 75 +10 combi-tool(if suitable here) +10 assistance = 95 base

 

Full action - shut off fuel pipe (target 75)

Roll: 98 - not good

Infamy: 41 - pass

[Machine God]

Kraggan:

 

Vox transmission brought some information. 

 

"This is Xerxes, I have control of the stations doors. Indicate which are required open and I will seal the rest to contain the fire. If it cannot be brought under control the section will be vented... do not be there when it is".

 

 

He sent more good news. 

 

"I have arrived at Substation 12, Damage Control. Xenos Insurgents have affixed a Mining Charge to the door. Bless my Axe!" 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 15 by Machine God
Typo

[Mazer Rackham]

GM OOC: Whilst we are pending Crux'As' Per Test we shall move back to our man of the first moment. To clarify for Kraggan/MG, the device is not attached to a door - it is attached to the damage control console/lectern/cogitator.

 

Ukalegon:

 

The Stealer is blindingly fast. Even for a Space Marine. What hope could a mere mortal have?

Spoiler

Charge: D100 Hit, 1 DoS.

Location 1 (Right Leg): 19, Pen 5

Razor Sharp does not activate.

 

Edited February 15 by Mazer Rackham
Edited to correct Attacks

[Necronaut]

Ukalegon

 

The gene-stealer was blindingly quick and Ukalegon managed to match it in his frenzied state. But only just. He side-stepped the creature’s first scything talon, but the second caught him dead-to-rights.

 

Or it would have.

 

Right when he would have been opened up like a tin of corpse starch, his newly acquired force field flared to life, nullifying the alien’s assault.

 

This was less a calculated exchange of point and counter-point, and more a test of pure skill and the will to dominate.

 

In this split second, Ukalegon saw his foe had over-extended itself, and he brought his chainsword down upon its neck with savage fury.

 

 

OOC: I think I did this in the right order…

 

Force Field Test (Rating 30) vs Hit 1

Field check: 46; does not activate

 

Reaction: Dodge vs Hit 1

Ag51 + 10 - 10 (poor craft armour) = 51

D100: 04; 5 DoS

 

Force Field Test (Rating 30) vs Hit 2

Field check: 27; activates (whew!)

 

Full Action: Called Shot (head)

WS41 + 10 (frenzy) - 10 (sure strike) = 51

D100: 28; 3 DoS

 

Legion Chainsword: 1D10+3+SB, Pen 3, Tearing, Flesh Render

6 (6, 3, 6) + 3 + 9 (SB, Frenzy) = 18, Pen 3

Edited February 15 by Necronaut

[Mazer Rackham]

(Washing machines live longer with) Ukalegon:

 

Dodge:

D100: FAIL

7 Wounds

 

The chainsword connects with the Stealer's neck, biting well, but not drinking deeply enough. It is a hardy beast indeed, as it reels away from the blow, preparing the reflexive strike to repay the taste of steel with inhuman chitin.

 

You may have claimed the first drop of blood, but the Stealer snarls, obviously intent on taking your last.

 

GM: We shall move to the two men and their doggo:

++++++++++

 

 

ROUND ONE:

 

Area map: Not bothering. This is an octagonal room 30m across and 4m high. There are four doors. The one you came through (South, open), the North (open). East (open) and West (closed), but unlocked.

 

Initiative Order:

Spoiler

Genestealer Hybrids 1: 14

Hagga: 11

Genestealer Hybrids 2: 10

Eska: 9

Obadiah: 8

Abominant: 5 (lol, hulk smash)

 

The Hybrids who enter appear to be later generation than the ones you have already encountered, smaller, more refined, and therefore band together for protection and violent action. They are Clawed fiends, armed with braces of autopistols.

 

Behind these attacks comes one of the horde's own, most brutal shock troops - an Abominant. It matches the grace, poise and size of the creature Crux'As described as his shadow when the Cult had him in the cells. It lumbers some way off, goaded and guided into action by an unseen hand down the North corridor towards you, cancerous lesions, chitinous armour, and painful, mutated muscles rippling with animal fury.

 

The Hybrids pour in from the North and East doors, closing on the Marines and the cyber-mastiff, filling the air with bullets whilst two among their number prepare a kind of cobbled-together break-action grenade launcher which likely was once a bonding stud rivet gun.

 

Hybrids 1 (Horde, North):

Spoiler

Actions:

Half-Move 6m

Half: FAB (-10 BaS)

BaS: 30 - 10 = 20

Autoguns: D100: 36, Miss

Blooper (krak equivalent): D100: 86, Miss harder...scatter 8 (South Door)

D3 Hit 1 Hagga, 2 Eska, 3 Obi:  1, Hagga 'Charlie Brown' Rykaz

Dam (Body): 19, Pen 6 (May be Dodged)

 

[ ] Hagga

 

Edited March 7 by Mazer Rackham
Name corrected.

[Lord_Ikka]

Crux'as

 

Pysniscience Test

Target - 37 - 10 = 27

Roll - 45

Result = Failure, 1 DoF

Edited February 15 by Lord_Ikka

[Mazer Rackham]

Crux'As:

 

As you hurry down the rapidly collapsing hall, your senses are confused by the terrible fear which seems to seep from the rock. You approach a junction in the passageway, options for left and right. Right leads you to damage control. Left is unmarked.

 

You find yourself in a corridor, when you are attacked, bullets whip-cracking past you setting off the radiation augur in your voidsuit. The rounds smack into the corner and hull plating of the right-hand turn, where they ignite with a golden radioactive glow as the particles rapidly decay.

 

Surprise Round:

 

Assailant:

Spoiler

Half-Action: Aim

Half Action: SAB x 3

BaS D100: (-20) you were running...

4 'Hits' total.

 

GM: Usually Surprise Rounds allow no dodge, but the rounds have not struck you. You may turn right, but there is a chance the bullets hit, you may make Dodges, but they are Opposed against the Assailant's BaS. If you turn left, there is no test.

 

GM: Once you have done this...

 

Initiative.

[Lysimachus]

Hagga:

 

Dodge Attempt: Ag42, Roll: 26, Pass

 

Even as the grenade landed, Hagga was already racing away from it. The device exploded behind him and he threw himself towards the closer group of Hybrids before they could bring their own ranged weapons to bear, swinging Heart-Eater in a massive horizontal slash that ripped effortlessly through the front rank of enemies.

 

Charge vs Horde 2 (East):
WS52 +20(Charge) +10(Beserk Charge) +20(Horde Size) = 102, Roll: 34, 7DoS = 1+3 Hits +1 for Power Field = 5
Dam 1d10+8 +SB11 Pen7
Assume all Hits cause Mag Dam

 

[Mazer Rackham]

Hagga:

 

The Horde falls around your feet it guts and blood, flash-fried by the power sword, but they do the best to attack back in blind swipes and a swamping mob, each individual trying to take back a piece of what you cost them.

 

Hybrids 2:

Spoiler

5 Mag Damage

 

Actions On: AoA

WS D100 = 005, Hit

Location (Body): 12, Pen 2

Multiple Arms Trait (Claw): 

WS D100 = 025, Hit

Location (Body): 17, Pen 3

 

[ ] Eska

[ ] Obadiah

 

 

Edited March 7 by Mazer Rackham
Name corrected.

[Lysimachus]

Hagga:

 

 

OOC: I'm guessing it didn't change anything there, but a note that enemies get -5WS due to Hagga's Trophy Rack? (May already have been accounted for)

 

Hagga takes 0 Wounds and 2 Wounds

 

 

Even as the Hybrids struck back at him, scrabbling with sharp talons against the weak points of his armour, Eska loped forward, skirting around the mass of the xenos sympathisers.

 

Hagga was about to snarl an angry order for the damn beast to get stuck in, but suddenly she seemed to… heave, as though she was about to bring up the bones of her last meal upon the closest enemy. With a hacking belch, the canine vomited… and a monstrous gout of hot, bright flame spewed across the mob, crackling and burning, for a moment lighting up the octagonal chamber.

 

Hagga was so startled he almost mistimed his next blow, but fortunately the foe were even more surprised. The Executioner had known that his animal guardian had been augmented in some fashion, but he had never picked up any sign of an implanted weapon nozzle… or promethium tanks… or heat scars around her muzzle?

 

Hell-hound…

 

Eska:
Half Move (to south side of Horde 2, blocking LoS from Horde 1)
Standard Attack with Flamer at Horde 2
No Hit roll
Range 20m = 5 +d5(4) = 9 Hits
Dam d10+4 Pen2
d10 Rolls: 5,8,2,6,4,7,10,4,9

Dam: 9, 12, 6, 10, 8, 11, 14, 8, 13 at Pen2

 

 

Edited February 15 by Lysimachus
Added total Dam

[Mazer Rackham]

GM OOC: going to have to remind me in the OOC what that flamer purchase was, I've slept since then. :p

 

Horde 2:

6 Mag Dam

Hordes cannot Dodge, cannot be set on Fire, Immune to psychology.

 

ROUND ONE CONTINUES.

Edited February 15 by Mazer Rackham
Updated Mag Dam due to Eska drinking Vodka and eating Batteries. Other dog food is available.

[Machine God]

Kraggan:

 

Slowly and carefully he approached the mining charge affixed to the Damage Control Panel with his Fallen Magos Power Axe.

 

As he got close mechandedrites snaked forwards to cradle the device in a careful and loving embrace, probes, cutting tools and data-jacks hovered in place.

 

Slowly a data-jack inserted into the device and imparted additional code to bring it into compliance.

 

 

 

 

 

Kraggan slow approach to device

AGL44 = 44. Result: 19, Pass 3DoS. 

Fallen Magos Power Axe - Combi-Tool engage with Device

INT49 +20 (Tech Use - Experienced) +10 (Combi-Tool) =79. Result: 18, Pass 6DoS

Corrupt Device into Compliance

INT49 +20 (Tech Use - Experienced) +10 (Combi-Tool) -30 (Very Hard) = 49. Result: 07, Pass 5DoS

 

 

 

 

"My friend you will now Disarm" he told the Mining Charge.

 

He waited.

 

 

 

Edited February 15 by Machine God
Its the Final Countdown

[Mazer Rackham]

Kraggan:

 

Your knowledge of the machine serves you well, but you realise as you disarm the first trigger, there are more behind it, for whoever wired this thing into the console knows their business, and that business is death.

 

A countdown timer pops up in your binharic transponder, giving you a time estimate of the anti-tamper chemical delay agent. It will be only a handful of moments before the reactive compound eats away at the insulation containing it, and detonates the device, which - according to your implants and  engrammatic* codices will destroy this terminal, seal all the doors, and vent the entire compartment with a mix of exceptionally volatile gases...

 

GM: There are three Tech-Use Tests you may make to try and prevent this, which must be done as a Full Action each turn:

• Disable venting systems - Difficult (-10)
• Disable console into standby mode (to limit power explosion) - Hard (-20)
• Disable or overload secondary trigger device - Very Hard (-30) with a chance it may actually set the bomb off (I roll).

 

 

Edited February 15 by Mazer Rackham
* = I'm Dank Babbnet: (TEMU Dan Abnett)