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OOC Thread The klaxons sound once, and a cogitator-generated voice booms from all the ship's speakers. "5 Minutes until Warp Translation. Please Secure All Items and Initiate Appropriate Prayers." The day of Yorke's expedition has arrived. Not all of the supplies and assistance he requested have arrived, but he flatly refuses to delay launch. He claims that the Great Augur indicates that this is going to be the safest moment to launch and that even a moment's delay could spell disaster. Those who are aware of the Farseer currently camped out somewhere in the depths of the Augur complex wonder if she isn't the real source of this information. Yorke's massive flagship is the Conquest by Right, which he claims is an Oracle-class despite no such designation existing anywhere in Imperial records. Regardless of how or where he obtained it, it is clearly a marvel of Dark Age technology. The size of a battleship, nearly the entire top half of the ship is dedicated to a massive array of sensors, dishes, antennae, and devices that defy even the Adeptus Mechanicus's comprehension. Little escapes this ship's sight. In return, it carries armaments more suited for a light cruiser: a single short row of macro-cannons on each side, a pair of nose lances, and one hangar bay. To protect this priceless artifact, Yorke has hired 11 mercenary ships: 5 Imperial vessels of light cruiser size or smaller. 3 ramshackle Freeboota vessels, a pair of the kind of small Eldar craft favored by Corsairs, and one strange-looking ship that appears to be an Imperial frigate which was extensively damaged and repaired with xenotech. It contains a motley crew of xeno pirates from several minor races, the majority of them Kroot. Apart from these, there are a small assortment of support vessels: agri-ships, mobile repair vessels, and several other ship types necessary for a fleet to operate without supply lines in hostile territory. "1 Minute Until Warp Translation. Gellar Field Online. Initiating Gellar Field Linkage with Fleet. Navigator has the Helm. Please Brace for Translation." Yorke, tall, muscular, and balding, has always had a dangerous shine to his eyes. It has only intensified in these stressful times, which doesn't help the rumors of madness. He takes a seat in his command throne and speaks, his voice amplified by augmetics to boom through the bridge's speakers. "The time has come for us to make our marks on the galaxy, in a way that will NEVER be taken away from us! My lieutenants, I cannot do this alone. I will depend on your advice, your resources, and your competence in this new and unexplored country. Choose well and act wisely, and we will all be richer than kings. If not, this expedition sinks with you aboard. It is up to you." The ship punctuates his words with an angry tremble. Protective shutters slam shut over every window. The lights flicker and dim as the Gellar Field draws extra power to resist the initial shock of translation. The time is nigh. "Translating. Please Ignore Any Voices or Unclean Phenomena Until the All-Clear is Sounded."  At first, leaping into the Dragon's Teeth isn't as bad as it sounds. A weightless dropping sensation in your guts, a sudden flash sweat, and a sensation of whispering just out of the range of comprehension. The ship rumbles and creaks much more than during a typical Warp Jump, but otherwise the first 2 weeks of the trip are fairly typical. A small infestation of whispering shadows in Cargo Hold J is the most interesting thing that happens, and the ship's priests burn it out without difficulty. It's the final week before reemergence into realspace where things get unpleasant. The creaking and rumbling escalates into a near-constant shaking with an occasional sharp jerk that sends crewmen stumbling. Headaches and bad dreams become universal ailments. Poltergeist activity escalates: bolts unscrew themselves, objects move when you turn your back on them, and a galley chef is wounded when (or so he claims) a knife removes itself from a rack and flies ten feet into his shoulder. There is a report of missing crewmen in the underdecks. The bridge crew becomes increasingly nervous as the load on the Gellar field climbs towards 95% maximum capacity, and the last two days are spent in full emergency power rationing. Stalking dark passageways lit only by red emergency lights does little to improve anyone's morale. Finally, the ship emerges into realspace with a massive jolt. Sparks fly from machinery and all across the ship there is a terrible sensation of something reaching out for you, but a moment later it all fades. The shutters lift. The Navigator descends from his observation throne and stumbles as his attendants help him to his quarters; he is even more ashen than usual, trembling with palsy, and he mutters something about "A terrible thing turning some small fraction of its attention to us" as he is led past. Yorke is in a high mood, however. He claps his hands and addresses you with more spirit than you've ever heard. He's almost giddy. "Gentlemen, we have done it! Unexplored territory stretches before us! We have done what no other sentients in history have ever accomplished: survived a jump through the Dragon's Teeth! We will now commence scanning this system for potentially useful places. My crew will report them to you for task delegation within 24 hours." Looks like you have some time to burn before your first decisions need to be made. It's been a tense few weeks until now. If you haven't already gotten to know your fellow lieutenants, this is as good a time as any. And of course, you could always go through your inventory and make sure you're properly equipped for whatever dangers are coming. Introduce yourselves, comment on each other or the trip as you like, and I'll have the first mission selection up tomorrow. Oh, and as promised: everyone makes 3 standard acquisition checks vs Item Value + Rarity DN. For example, a Diagnostor would be an Influence roll vs DN 9 (5 Base +4 Penalty). These represent items you were able to obtain before the jump or things you brought with you. You are free to spend any Wealth or Assets on these rolls. You may also spend Wrath to reroll them BEFORE spending Wealth, but you won't have that Wrath on the first mission. Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 06:20 on Dec 20, 2018 |
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Dec 20, 2018 03:54
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Mission 1 True to his word, approximately 24 hours later each you receives a message that the Great Augur has detected several items of interest in this solar system. Yorke smiles at the Warp Spider as he enters the conference room, but it doesn't touch his eyes. "The Freebootaz? They will do as they're told, for the moment. I bribed them quite immensely, I've brought more bribes for when their gratitude fades, and I suspect that they will restrict themselves to petty infighting, at least for 2 to 3 months. Once their usefulness is eclipsed by their troublesome nature, I have plans on how to eliminate them. Perhaps in the process we'll fold some of them under Strongshreddah's leadership. No Ork can be trusted, but that Nob sees the bigger picture and is more capable of putting off short-term gratification than most of his kin. That's why I've given him and his Armageddon orks a berth on my ship. That's also why the Ork section of my ship is a portion carefully designed to be quickly vented of atmosphere and sealed off. Like I said, no Ork can be trusted." Yorke takes his place at the head of the bizarre table where he makes all of his most important decisions, his dice close at hand. Accompanying him are Magos Lexmechanica Asrae, head of the Great Augur complex, and his Seneschal Yuri Hale. Once all of you have assembled, he motions to the Magos. She nods and activates the hololith projector that hangs from the ceiling, filling the upper portion of the room with an image.  Preliminary Designation: Pathos Environment: Breathable atmosphere. 1.09 Terran Gravity. Average Temperature: below freezing but survivable with proper gear. Preliminary Subtype: Dead World EXPLORATION WARNING: Cold. Radiation. Weather. Possible Xeno Natives. The Magos begins her pitch. "This type of world is quite common, although I have not yet witnessed one damaged to this degree. Based on scans of atmospheric radiation, we believe a xeno-race native to this world obliterated itself roughly 3 centuries prior via unwise use of a primitive form of weapon known as atomics. For those unfamiliar with such devices, they represent extremely early pre-Dark Age attempts to design superweaponry. They pale in comparison to cyclonic torpedoes and other glorious tools of the Omnissiah, but are still capable of rendering worlds unlivable when used in large numbers, as seen here. At this point the nuclear radiation has faded to the point that only major city centers appear to be significant health threats to humans, but you will be issued protective gear should you choose to see to this personally. Likewise, you will require protective gear for the planet's temperatures, which are similar to those described near Terra's poles during the Dark Age. Atmospheric blockage is another common effect of atomic abuse." "Waste of their time," mutters the Seneschal. The Magos ignores him and continues. "Ordinarily we would ignore a world like this, but our scans indicate a great deal of metallic debris in and around orbit that implies they had made surprising advances in space travel for a species still dependent on such primitive tools. We are also detecting heat signatures and more recent explosion signatures, which implies that someone or something is still fighting down there. We believe this civilization was probably in the earliest stages of FTL travel and will have mapped out the neighboring star systems, which will give us an idea of a good direction to head next. There may also be unique artifacts and archaeotech on the surface, albeit of xeno manufacture. And of course, if there are surviving sentients on the surface as we suspect, you may be able to gain some advantage from dealing with them. If you accept this mission, we will insert you in a suitable location near a population center where you may scavenge or mark any items you feel might be useful to us. Vox communication on the surface may be spotty due to radioactive interference and poor weather, but you will be provided with a high-powered beacon to allow us to recover you once you send the signal. If you choose to handle the other world of interest, we will send Imperial strike teams from the other vessels with Mechanicus support and Freebootaz as shock troops. However, I feel this mission would benefit from a personal touch and a small team. Seneschal, now you may speak." Yuri ignores her and changes the hololith image with a wave of his hand.  Preliminary Designation: Ethos Environment: Breathable atmosphere. .90 Terran Gravity. Average Temperature: tropical. Preliminary Subtype: Medieval World EXPLORATION WARNING: Potential Microorganism Threat. Potential Wildlife Threat. Confirmed Uncontacted Human Natives. "Never mind the Magos and her damned ice ball. It's a wild squig hunt and we shouldn't have even marked it as a world of interest. Ethos is, as you can plainly see, a thriving jungle world with shallow seas and a few desert regions near the equator. Uncomfortably warm for humans in armor, but survivable. More importantly, we have confirmed human inhabitants. We can see several major cities that appear to be made of stone, with one in particular dwarfing the others, and there's quite a bit of evidence of smaller villages and a maintained road system linking them. We know the inhabitants are human because we're picking up surprisingly comprehensible Low Gothic-esque transmissions; we suspect they're Dark Age colonists whose technology has regressed but who've managed to keep certain technologies they no longer comprehend alive by rote memorization. Not that that reminds me of anyone." This is the first and only thing he's said to get a rise out of the Magos, whose mechadendrites hiss together in displeasure. The Seneschal smiles. "We should have a full translation team ready by the time we make orbit, so we'll be able to translate for the natives on the fly with only a few seconds delay. Human natives mean a source of trade, a source of skilled and unskilled workers for any future colony, and in this case, possibly human archaeotech that they no longer use or understand. There are risks: we'll give you all the counter-agent injections we can, and we have some tailored to Eldar biology as per Lord Captain Yorke's orders, but on a planet with a biosphere like this infections are always a risk. The atmosphere is swimming in carbon compounds, which could be as harmless as ordinary non-toxic pollen or as nasty as a virulent bacterium you've never encountered. I doubt the Orks have much to worry about, though. Other than that, there's always the risk of hostile megafauna, and obviously natives don't always react to the good news about the Emperor as well as we'd like, but I'm sure you can take them. This should be a simple mission: trade, mark items of interest, and leave. We could obviously leave this to an Imperial contingent while you waste your time freezing to death on Pathos, but I can't imagine how a heavily armed and experienced group like you could actually fail at this." The Magos speaks up. "You underestimate the threat such worlds can pose, Yuri. We do not have enough information to make such hasty judge--" Lord Captain Yorke cuts her complaint and Yuri's retort off with a motion of his hand. By his frustrated expression, they must bicker like this constantly. "Quiet. You've both made your case. The Lieutenants will decide, and if they cannot, chance will. Voice your thoughts. Make your vote." Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 04:08 on Dec 21, 2018 |
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Dec 21, 2018 04:04
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Viva Miriya posted:"Mister Yorke, you wanna stay happy. Then give us what we want: the best fights in the galaxy. Find some world for the Orkz to get stuck in, be born, live, die, and multiply. That'll solve your needs for an army and handle any betrayal from anyone but one of the freeboota kaptins." Bizarrely (from the point of any non-Ork in the room), Yorke actually appears to give this idea some consideration. Is he even more mad than they say, or is he merely placating his pet Nob? Only time will tell. "...While I agree that feral orks provide good training for Imperial Guard regiments, I cannot agree with you regarding the necessity of a full Ork army. Let's not pretend we owe each other any loyalty beyond profit, Strongshreddah. You are free to do with your world what you will once the time comes to hand them out as your just rewards, but I would like to minimize the damage done to human-held worlds. It's merely in our best interest. We both can profit from this venture, but I don't want us working at cross-purposes." There is conviction in his voice, but it isn't an imperious command like he usually gives when his mind is made up. A strong argument one way or the other could sway his decision on whether or not to allow Orks other than Strongshreddah and his mob onto Ethos... A DN 4 Persuasion check may be freely made by any player WRT whether or not to let Orks onto Ethos (and by conjunction, onto any future worlds currently held by living humans). If more than one player makes this check, highest icons wins... but to prevent whoever has the highest Persuasion score from simply dominating the discussion, Yorke will take all arguments made into future consideration, regardless of icons. We'll say he's presently at "3: tolerate all Orks in the fleet until they try to screw him over, but don't let them set foot on worlds inhabited by humans or worlds that are particularly desirable to him" on a 5-step scale. e: basically, if the Pro-Orks make arguments I think are good (and this includes the possibility of Strongshreddah being the only Pro-Ork) it'll be a lot easier to shift him back to liking the orks later, whether it involves checks or not e2: this is an optional roll so I'll say wrath and complications won't apply, you're free to throw the bones if you care Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 08:04 on Dec 22, 2018 |
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Dec 21, 2018 05:57
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As the discussion peters out, Yorke looks between each of you and smiles. "It seems we are at an impasse; my dice must decide. This is good. It tells me I have chosen well, and that my Lieutenants aren't interested in merely telling me what I want to hear. Competition is synonymous with life. Regardless of how the bones fall, Orks other than our Armaggedon mob will not be allowed onto Ethos. You are the only Ork I trust, Strongshredda. Odds send you to Pathos, and evens to Ethos." The Rogue Trader picks up one of his xeno-knuckle dice and tosses it across his odd table, already cleared of maps and objects in anticipation of use. It bounces a few times and comes to a stop. When the number comes up, the Magos locks her hands into the cog-symbol of the Omnissiah and smiles with the half of her face that remains human. The Seneschal shakes his head in annoyance. "Pathos, then. Good. My personal assessment was that a small team would outperform a blundering strike force of Orks and Imperial mercenaries. We will split the fleet roughly in half between the two worlds and meet back here. The Conquest by Right will be accompanied by the Freebootaz and two of our Imperial vessels for protection purposes. The rest of the fleet will go to Ethos. We should make orbit in a few days. Meeting adjourned." Yorke turns and exits the room, followed by Magos Asrae, who clearly seems vindicated even though her proposal was chosen by random chance. The Seneschal remains to brief you, but clearly isn't happy about this. "Right, well... We're a few days out from both worlds. The Lord Captain has, in his infinite wisdom, assigned myself and the Magos to run mission support for you. I'd hoped to spend a few days enjoying the surface of a proper world once we established relations with the natives, but spending time locked in a small room with that hateful woman trying to get signals through an irradiated atmosphere will no doubt be a wonderful consolation prize. You may report to the medbay at any time before we arrive at Pathos to receive anti-radiation supplements, and I'll alert the quartermaster to dig up a rad-spex and protective gear for the cold." He turns on his heel and walks out, muttering something under his breath. With a 3-3 tie, Mission 1 is decided by the power of Yorke's fate-defying (?) dice. The party will be going to the irradiated icy wasteland of Pathos to scavenge its dead cities for xenotech and starmaps, and perhaps to make contact with any survivors that might be still be fighting down there after all this time. As this is the holiday season and I'll be dealing with family from Christmas eve until about the ~27th, we're gonna go ahead and take a small break. We will return a few days after Christmas for landfall on Pathos and the beginning of the game proper. Have fun, enjoy whatever you're doing this Christmas season if you can, and stay safe. Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 07:14 on Dec 23, 2018 |
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Dec 23, 2018 04:18
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Several Days Later Glory: 0 | Ruin: 6 About 8 hours out from Pathos, the Conquest by Right's tech-priests finally coax the Great Augur into bringing the metallic debris orbiting the planet into visual focus. Most of the metal appears to be the destroyed remains of xeno spacecraft. Blocky and metallic, they lack the religious ornamentation of Imperial vessels, but are clearly put together with more care than Ork ships. The rest of the debris appears to be satellites, several of which are some kind of armed orbital platform. The Ork vessels begin to pull ahead of the fleet, clearly excited by the news of a potential fight waiting in orbit. Sensors pick up a sudden flare of signals as the hibernating satellites awaken and immediately lock onto the Ork vessels. The tech-priests babble excitedly about intense magnetic fields and the implications of such primitive xenos possessing what certainly appears to be gauss technology. The magnetic energy reaches a peak as the Orks are still nearly 20 minutes out... and nothing happens. One of the satellites releases a bright flash of energy and breaks apart on its own, destroyed by some kind of plasma reactor breach. The rest impotently track the approaching Orks, having expended all of their ammunition chasing away other scavengers over the past few centuries. Annoyed or amused (there is little difference for Orks), the Freebootaz spend the next hour coming up with increasingly violent and elaborate ways to destroy them. The Conquest by Right slows to a stop within shuttle range of the planet just as the largest Freeboota vessel rams a defense satellite at full speed, tearing it into metal shards and sending the bulk of the satellite tumbling away towards the atmosphere. Despite the tech-priests' dismay, Yorke refuses to reign the Orks in. He clearly wants to delay any Orkish mutiny for as long as possible. The call goes out, and you all assemble in the hangar bay where a Valkyrie waits for you. Each of you are issued small, simple auspexes which only detect radiation levels, cold-weather gear, and compact vox headsets that should (theoretically) be strong enough to penetrate the planet's radiation and communicate with the ship. You've all already received treatments that should ameliorate the long-term effects of mild radiation exposure, but you're still cautioned against wandering in hot zones for more than a few hours. Yuri the Seneschal sees you off with his usual level of enthusiasm. "You're going to be dropping a few klicks outside what appears to be a mid-sized urban area. Most of the larger cities are basically just smoking craters. This one appears to have escaped the bulk of the war, but it's of interest because we're seeing a great deal of the ongoing combat activity centered in and around it. We suspect there's some kind of military base or valuable resource to be found. That being said, there's still a great deal of radioactive particulate in the upper atmosphere, and we can't get a clear look at exactly what's down there. It's also going to play hell with communications if the weather worsens, so be careful. And remember the priorities: starmaps, interesting technology, and contact with any survivors. Those of you who aren't Orks only have a few days before you'll be at serious risk of getting ill, so don't waste time. Speaking of Orks, the Freebootaz are already headed down. Thankfully, they're targeting the largest city areas and the biggest fights, so they shouldn't be in your way. Right, well, good luck. I'll be on the comms if you need me." The ride down to the surface is turbulent and unpleasant. Strongshredda and his boyz particularly struggle not to be tossed around the cabin, since none of them can fit into Imperial harnesses and the loops on the ceiling can't do much to protect an Ork from his own momentum. The shaking doesn't stop until you finally break through the cloud cover. The city is... about how you'd imagine after a nuclear war, nuclear winter, and centuries of neglect.  The pilot's voice crackles to life on the intervox. "Sirs, this is Adria speaking. I'll be on task for you this mission. That largest building on the horizon looks to be the center of a lot of the combat signatures we've been seeing down here. I can try to get you closer to it if you're interes--poo poo, evasive maneuvers." The ship whips to the left hard enough to send one of the Ork boyz flying headfirst into the wall. Luckily, the head is the hardest part of an Ork, and the only thing wounded is his pride. Nothing happens for several seconds as Adria pulls away from the urban area towards a section of flattened land. "Sorry about that, sirs. Something was trying to paint me. I couldn't get eyes on it. Didn't take any fire, but I'm under strict orders not to risk the shuttle. The best I can do for you is one or two runs with the rocket pods before I'll have burned through my ammunition. After that, I'll have to pull off back to the Conquest." The shuttle drops you off a few kilometers outside the denser urban area you saw, about 20 klicks south from the largest building. Other than that, there appears to be a gigantic satellite dish about 10 kilometers to the east; even from here you can see heavy fencing, barricades, and outbuildings starting from about the 6 km mark, with the dish on top of the largest complex. The cold is biting even through your gear, and the rad-spexes chatter softly. Not a danger zone, but a reminder that you're on the clock now. And of course, you've just confirmed that someone or something in the city has advanced enough technology to threaten a Valkyrie. There's a distant rumble of lightning to the west, and the rolling clouds in that direction flash from within. A storm will be rolling in at some point in the next few hours; you might want to find shelter before it hits. Mission 1 has officially begun. Glory and Ruin are now in play. Wrath does not reset yet. The players have 1 shared free use of the Bombardment talent, counted as if it was Rank 2; this will take the form of a rocket run from your Valkyrie. This will be canceled once the storm rolls in and your pilot is forced to pull off. You can press into the denser part of the city and head for the center of the local fighting, but that's the direction your Valkyrie got painted from. You can also push towards the giant satellite dish complex, which is closer, but also appears designed to repel attack. Of course, you can't see any movement there... yet. Obviously you are also free to propose other options. Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Dec 30, 2018 |
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Dec 29, 2018 05:47
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First Contact Glory: 1/8 | Ruin: 6 As Yibrin draws closer, the terrain around the vast dish on the horizon becomes clearer: it's some kind of military base, all harsh lines, monomolecular razorwire, and metal. The dish lies a few more kilometers into the base, surrounded on all sides by defenses and what appear to be barracks and other military structures. Nor is it undefended. Over 40 humanoid machines are manning the only apparent point of entry; most are the size of human soldiers, but a particularly large one sits in the middle of the road proceeding into the depths of the base. It carries a massive cannon and bristles with smaller weapons and missile launchers. For all the machines' intimidation factor, Yibrin immediately recognizes that they are not on alert. Most of them have a thin layer of snow and ash built up on their shoulders, their weapons are not raised, and none of them are patrolling or looking around. Nothing appears to be occupying the high guard towers on top of the structure that straddles the road. With the rubble of collapsed alien buildings ending only a few meters from the entrance to the base, Yibrin realizes that even Strongshreddah and his boys could be brought very close indeed with no risk of being noticed. So that's precisely what he does, and it works out perfectly. The group is able to make it within just a few meters of the entrance before one of the larger shield-bearing mechs at the head of the smaller mobs suddenly turns and begin tracking you. The other mechs begin to move and raise their weapons, but they're slow about it. The first mech to spot you bellows "VOSK ALTRIZ. YUL LOS IO NALAZI, OCK ANHUL ZAI. UI. ZOZ. ZOF. ULNI." in a deep voice, but none of them move to attack you. You all have the uncanny feeling you've just heard the local language's form of a demand for identification, and possibly a countdown to zero. You absolutely have the drop on these machines, even though they've seen you. Time for our first combat.  Click here to join the Roll20 if you missed the link in Discord, and I'll give you control of your character. You're free to fill in your sheet and do rolls in the Roll20, but if you don't want to deal with it, just roll in the Discord or Orokos, whatever floats your boat. Roll20 will probably be used for most combat maps.For reference: Black+yellow lines are high razorwire fences around the base. Not passable unless you want to get torn to bits, but they offer no cover or concealment. The grey blocks in the entryway are concrete vehicle collision barriers that offer DN 2. The brown lines are waist-high sandbag fortifications that give DN 1. The structure at the back is a large vehicle checkpoint with a grated semi-open bridge above the road between the two halves, with two external staircases leading up to it.. Red lines on walls indicate shuttered doors into the structure. The blue line is a firing slot on the bridge. The black boxes are high guard towers mounted on top of the checkpoint, but there doesn't appear to be anything up there right now. You all have the benefit of a Surprise Round, so you get a +2d bonus to your attacks and +1ED extra damage, and all of you get a round before I do. I'm operating under the assumption that Yibrin was able to easily guide you through blindspots to get as close as you have, and this is basically the first moment you rush out of cover and open fire. These robots may have been here on this dead planet for centuries, cut them a little slack on being inattentive during the first combat. You are free to place yourselves anywhere you like on the right side of the fencing, I've thrown you all down at random in vaguely appropriate places for your specialties, I think. You are facing 4 20-strength mobs of Standard Mechs (not literally 80 of them, these things are pretty tough and keep fighting even when damaged, so visually assume that's more like 10 mechs per mob who count as 2 troops apiece), 4 Command Mechs, and a Heavy Mech. More mechs can and will emerge in response to the racket you're about to make. Here's the pertinent stats to roll against: their names link to pictures. Their abilities and traits will be revealed as appropriate throughout the battle. Standard Mechs: Defense 4 (3 +1 Cover), Resilience 10 (4 Armor) Command Mechs: Defense 5 (3 +1 Shield +1 Cover), Resilience 11 (4 Armor +1 Shield) Heavy Mech: Defense 3, Resilience 11 (5 Armor), Size +1 (+1d to hit)
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Jan 3, 2019 02:50
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Round 0 One of the squads of Standard Mechs is torn apart in seconds by two blasts of chain lightning from Alon and Sofia, their delicate internal systems fried. In nearly the same moment, the Command Mech of that squad is nearly slain outright as the looping coils of Yibrin's deathspinner rip into it, but it manages to remain standing. Strongshreddah blasts another Command Mech apart, something in his irradiated ammo causing an explosive reaction inside the Mech's weapon, instantly reducing it to a spray of components and metal shards no bigger than a human hand. Strongshreddah's boyz contribute less impressively, but they still tear apart a few of the Mechs behind cover. 1 point of Ruin spent to allow the Command Mech Curly shot to soak, otherwise it'd be outright dead too.  Battlefield at the end of the Surprise Round. Round 1 Glory 3/8 | Ruin 4/6 While the machines seem to have been taken off guard by the initial attack, they react with the fearless efficiency the Adeptus Mechanicus has always obsessed over. This enemy clearly cannot be frightened or knocked off-balance like biological soldiers. The Command Mech nearly killed by Yibrin completely ignores the Warp Spider, having no regard for its own life. It raises its gun arm toward Strongshreddah's mob, but rather than fire, it paints them with a bright red targeting laser. The Command Mech's head then splits apart from within, rearranging into what Alon immediately recognizes as a writhing grid of complex sensors and short-range transmission equipment. It's acting as a Command and Control Matrix! The Heavy Mech, previously sluggish, immediately locks onto Strongshreddah's mob and fires an absolutely blistering barrage of micro-missiles and hypersonic ball bearings, the vast majority of which slam into the pavement, or go high and smash apart rubble in the distance. Perhaps letting a badly damaged mech provide targeting data wasn't such a great idea. Still, there's enough flying metal to make even Orks consider keeping their heads down, and everyone nearby is caught in the blast. The Command Mech, in spite of its damaged state and the increased load on its targeting systems, turns in place and fires several times at Yibrin. One supersonic round punches clean through the Warp Spider. Not lethal, but a serious injury. Meanwhile, the Heavy Mech spots the shadow of Strongshreddah looming in the dust cloud kicked up by its massive weapons barrage and locks on. The main cannon charges with a piercing capacitor whine and emits a strong enough magnetic field to trace lines in the metallic ash that surrounds it. When it fires, the entire mech rocks in place, barely able to cope with the massive recoil. The anti-vehicle round slams into Strongshreddah's chest with immense force, threatening to hurl even the massive Nob off his feet. A Mystery Roll on my part gains 8 icons and rolls a 6 on the Wrath Dice, earning me a point of Ruin. Stay tuned for incoming unpleasantness. The Command Mech spends a point of Ruin to activate its Target Designator ability, spending a free action to let one mech in LOS take a free combat action. The Heavy Mech spends a Reload to use Suppressing Fire with its Barrage weapon at Strongshredda, his Boyz, Galtein, and Alon. The Barrage weapon is Blast (Large) and has a homebrewed Trait called Suppressive that lets it use Suppressing Fire against every target in the Blast range without a DN penalty, at the cost of never being able to shift dice for damage, critically hit, or generate Ruin. The Command Mech also activates the C&C Matrix ability to give the Heavy Mech +1d on this action at the cost of taking +2 DN on its own action. It rolls a whole 2 icons on 9d. Strongshreddah (and your Boyz), Galtein, and Alon, you're all within a tight enough area that I'd say this hits you. Make a Resolve test at DN 2 or be Pinned. The rules are a little contradictory on this; my judgement is that players roll Resolve against a DN equal to Suppressing Fire's DN. When players perform Suppressing Fire they roll against the NPC's flat resolve, no opposed test. If anyone can find an official judgement on this, we'll go with that instead. The Command Mech uses its move+action to aim and fire at Yibrin, DN 6, and rolls 9 Icons on 10d. It hits for a total of 13 damage AP -1, so 5 Wounds before soak. I spend a point of Ruin to Seize the Initiative, allowing the Heavy Mech to take its turn. It aims+fires its Railcannon at Strongshreddah and hits, 9 icons vs DN 5, shifts 2 for ED. It deals 13 damage AP -4 because of the Penetrating (4) trait on the Railcannon, so that's 3 Wounds before Soak on Strongshreddah. The "Overwhelming Force" ability means that Strongshreddah needs to also make me a DN 3 Toughness test or be knocked backwards 1d6 meters and fall prone. Standard Mechs: Defense 4 (3 +1 Cover), Resilience 10 (4 Armor). None have acted yet. Command Mechs: Defense 5 (3 +1 Shield +1 Cover), Resilience 11 (4 Armor +1 Shield). Damaged Commander (#3) has acted, the rest have not. Heavy Mech: Defense 3, Resilience 11 (5 Armor), Size +1 (+1d to hit). Has acted this round. Player goes next
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Jan 3, 2019 23:57
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Round 1 Glory 0/8 | Ruin 3/6 Sofia turns another chunk of a Mech squad into sparking, smoking hulks. Meanwhile, the Warp Spider leaps atop the Heavy Mech and begins digging into its internals. It emits a loud klaxon wail and sparks, staggering under the sudden tampering with its interface. The northmost Command Mech turns and locks onto Strongshreddah, then fires its large arm-mounted railgun. Another series of high-velocity metal punches into the Nob, finding gaps in his armor and ripping apart his flesh, but still failing to kill him. Strongshredda's sweeping response tears massive pieces out of two of the commanders and turns the third into a spray of scrap metal just like its predecessor. Before Strongshredda's orks can charge, the Standard Mech squad they initially fired on finally recover from the initial surprise of the attack (clearly they think slower than the more advanced models). They raise their railblasters and target what appears to them to be the most pressing threat: the orks currently shooting at them from behind cover. The resulting massive barrage of concentrated railgun fire tears Strongshreddah's boyz apart before they can even hop the barrier and charge. Command Mech 1 (northmost) hits Strongshredda with a Critical Hit for 1 Wound and Vulnerable 2 (-2 Defense for the rest of the round), generating a point of Ruin in the process. Strongshredda shoots back and kills Command Mech 3, it has too few wounds to make soaking worthwhile. Command Mech 1 and 4 will both attempt to Soak Strongshredda's attack, so -2 Ruin. Both pass with 3 icons and are now at 3 Wounds, 2 Shock. Standard Mech mob 2 obliterates the Ork Boyz with concentrated fire, 13 icons vs DN 5. Standard Mechs: Defense 4 (3 +1 Cover), Resilience 10 (4 Armor). #2 has acted, rest have not. Numbers count from the top for reference. Command Mechs: Defense 5 (3 +1 Shield +1 Cover), Resilience 11 (4 Armor +1 Shield). Heavy Mech: Defense 3, Resilience 11 (5 Armor), Size +1 (+1d to hit). Has acted this round. Player goes next
Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Jan 4, 2019 |
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Jan 4, 2019 01:49
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Round 1 Glory 3/8 | Ruin 3/6 Most of the remaining lower mob is obliterated by Alon's blast of lightning and the fireball thrown into their midst by Galtein, but even as all but a few melt away in the flames, they open fire on Sofia, not stopping until their gunbarrels fuse shut from the heat and explode. What few railblaster shots come close are intercepted by the concrete barrier the Rogue Trader is crouched behind. Between electrical shocks and intense heat, something important snaps inside the few survivors' heads. They emit high mechanical wails, like cries of rage, and begin to jump over their cover. Razor-sharp wristblades pop into position as they suddenly lose all cohesion and begin to charge the barriers. Their Command Mech, seemingly helpless to control them, simply fires over their heads at Alon. Its superior programming gives it an edge, even if it is severely damaged, and a railgun round punches through the tech-priest's armor. Lowest Standard Mechs attack Sofia and miss, 4 icons vs 5 defense. They roll a complication and trigger their Protocol Decay weakness; normally 1d3 of them would split off into a new mob that is Frenzied and gets no bonus from cover, but I'll just say the 2 survivors are that way. Not that it matters, they'll die in a swift breeze. Command Mech aims and fires at Alon, 8 icons vs 7 defense. It hits for 2 wounds before soak. Standard Mechs: Defense 4 (3 +1 Cover), Resilience 10 (4 Armor). #2 and 4 have acted, #1 has not. Numbers count from the top for reference. Command Mechs: Defense 5 (3 +1 Shield +1 Cover), Resilience 11 (4 Armor +1 Shield). All have acted. Heavy Mech: Defense 3, Resilience 11 (5 Armor), Size +1 (+1d to hit). Has acted this round. Player goes next , followed by Standard Mechs 1, and then the round rolls over.
Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 04:05 on Jan 4, 2019 |
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Jan 4, 2019 03:02
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Round 1 Glory 3/8 | Ruin 4/6 The final mob of enemy machines to recover its composure takes up a split firing line, half of its number focusing fire on the Eldar Warlock and the other half finally trying to do something about the charging Crusader. The hail of metal mostly misses Galtein, but a few shots slip past his cover and ping off the strongest points of his rune armor with enough force to bruise the flesh beneath. The group that focused fire on Simeon meets with more success, the sheer weight of their rapid-fire weapons slipping past his Storm Shield and punching a few new holes through his carapace gear. Abruptly, two of the mechs firing on Galtein emit the same strange screeches as the mechs down south did, lowering their rifles and unsheathing their wristblades. They clumsily hop over their cover and begin moving towards Simeon with wild abandon, all of their careful precision and teamwork gone. As this happens, a klaxon wails twice and the shutters to the north and south roll open for a few seconds, disgorging two small hordes of odd spider-like robots a little larger than a man's fist. They begin to scurry forward with alarming speed. At the same time, there's a flash of movement up on the second floor walkway as another squad of the ordinary mechs and one of their shielded commanders emerge from inside the building and take up firing positions. Standard Mech Mob 1 splits its fire between Galtein and Simeon. It hits Galtein with 6 icons against DN 6, 9 damage vs 9 resilience, so he takes 1 Shock. It hits Simeon, 10 icons vs 7 Defense. It rolls a 6 on the Wrath die, generating a point of Ruin, but troops cannot inflict Critical Hits so that part doesn't kick in. They shift one exalted for ED, activating Penetrating (1) in the process, and inflict 3 Wounds after Resilience but before Soak. As the round ends, two 20-strength mobs of Spiderbots emerge from the ground-level shutters and a new 20-strength mob of Standard Mechs with a Commander emerges onto the second-floor catwalk over the vehicle checkpoint. The catwalk provides 1 cover like the sandbags. Round 1 Ends, players go first.Standard Mechs: Defense 4 (3 +1 Cover), Resilience 10 (4 Armor). None have acted. #1 is at 18/18, #2 is at 2/2 and is frenzied (cannot attack except in melee, always all-out attacks, always moves to melee the closest target, and does not benefit from cover), #3 is likewise at 2/2 and frenzied. Command Mechs: Defense 5 (3 +1 Shield +1 Cover), Resilience 11 (4 Armor +1 Shield). #1 is severely damaged up top, #4 is severely damaged down near the bottom, #5 is fresh and leading the mechs on the catwalk. Heavy Mech: Defense 3, Resilience 11 (5 Armor), Size +1 (+1d to hit). Hindered (2) for +2 to all DNs until the end of its next turn. Currently in melee with Yibrin. Spiderbots(?): Defense 2, Resilience 9 (4 Armor), Size -2 (+2 DN to hit). #1 is north, #2 is south. Since I'm back in classes and won't generally have the free time to immediately sit down and bang out an update for every player, all players are free to post without me responding or moving an enemy first, but I'll still be alternating enemy turns unless you Seize the Initiative. I'll generally try not to do anything that would make your orders literally invalid (other than shooting you in the face), so don't worry too much about weird contingencies if you go late. Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 03:34 on Jan 9, 2019 |
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Jan 9, 2019 03:14
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Round 2 Glory 5/8 | Ruin 4/6 Sofia's arc weapon continues to devastate tightly-packed hordes of the enemy, reducing a full half of the approaching spiderbots into fused scrap. In response, the newly arrived Command Mech identifies her as the largest apparent threat and uses a targeting laser to designate her for a salvo from its squad. The normally sluggish Standard Mechs immediately line up with flawless precision and open fire. The sheer weight of fire means several shots get through, but all of them are bent away or otherwise stopped by her Eldar armor. The simultaneous barrage of heavier shots from the Command Mech actually does find its way through, with a single shell inflicting a serious gash on the Rogue Trader. Alon immediately avenges her companion's mild injury by lighting up the Command Mech, which topples over the railing sparking and smoking. It hits the pavement with a crunch that would be satisfying if it wasn't nearly drowned out by a deafening report from above. A massive railgun slug slams into Strongshreddah's chest and punches through the armor. When it exits out of his back, it takes a significant chunk of his chest with it. Up above, a slender mech with a massive cannon perches birdlike atop the guard tower. Its profile shimmers hazily; clearly it possesses some kind of stealth technology. And yet somehow, the Nob remains standing. Whether it's freakish Orkish biology, the will of the gods, or something else entirely, Strongshreddah remains standing with a hole in his chest large enough for a slender human to climb through. He raises his snazzgun and nearly destroys the Heavy Mech in a single salvo, leaving it even more tottering and weak than it was before. At the same time, Adria comes through on the Ork's request for support. A salvo of rockets slams into the walkway between the two halves of the vehicle checkpoint, annihilating the entire squad of Standard Mechs atop it and collapsing a significant section of it. It's hard to hear the shrieks of tearing metal over the ringing in your ears. The pilot comes onto comms. "Good hit, kill confirmed. Good luck, sirs. I'm pulling back to orbit. That storm is accelerating and I'm almost out of rockets. Chatter on the Conquest is that the storm'll be on you in an hour and pass within 6 or 7. I'll be back then with medical supplies. Stay alive." That might be easier said than done, but you have bigger things to worry about. The half-dead swarm of spiderbots crosses a massive stretch of ground in the blink of an eye, but it shows no interest in you. Instead, they begin frantically swarming across the southmost Command Mech, welding shut damage to its body and restoring a little bit of the serious damage inflicted on it. While they do this, Galtein hurls a blast of fire at the northmost Commander, melting it into slag and taking several of its subordinates with it. Still wailing, the 2 crazed mechs in the south barrel over cover and charge directly towards Sofia, wristblades raised high. Thankfully, they're just a little too far away to reach her before anyone can react. Command Mech 5 spends a point of Ruin to activate its Target Designator on Sofia, giving Standard Mech Mob 5 an immediate free attack. They roll 6 icons vs 5 defense and 10 damage vs 11 resilience. The Command Mech then Aims and Salvo fires at Sofia, 7 icons vs 5 defense. It shifts one and hits for 12 Damage vs 11 Resilience, so 1 Wound before soak. Alon acts and kills the Command Mech. The Sniper Mech reveals itself! The mystery roll at the start of this combat was its stealth roll, which far exceeded anyone's passive awareness. Now watch me regret doing that. Regardless, the Sniper Mech takes its shot at the largest and most threatening-looking target: Strongshreddah. It rolls 9 icons against 5 defense and a 6 on the Wrath die, inflicting a Critical Hit and generating Ruin. I'm gonna be nice and not shift any exalted dice on this one because uh, 11+6ED could easily obliterate a decent chunk of the party and stands a decent chance of killing Strongshreddah, and I'm not trying to be a dick here. Not in combat 1-1. It deals 16 damage vs Resilience 12 (-2 AP), so that's 4 Wounds before Soak. It also deals 6 Mortal Wounds from the crit. gently caress. Alright Strongshreddah's almost definitely at 0 Wounds, unconscious, and has to make Defiance checks, but I did NOT intend to have any chance of killing a PC here, so I'm going to just say you can auto-pass your defiance check and remain conscious at 1 Wound. Gork and/or Mork smiles on you, you're right 'ard, whatever you want to be the explanation, but I'm giving both you and myself a mulligan here. Maybe no more sniper sneak attacks. This also means you get you still get your turn off. Spiderbots 2 Multi-Action Runs to Command Mech 4 at the bottom and activates its Emergency Repairs ability, 6 icons vs DN 5. They can either resurrect Troops equal to their excess icons (this counts as two excess icons) or add that many wounds/shock to an Elite in any combination. They choose to add 2 wounds to Command Mech 4. They are now at a permanent +2 penalty on all future uses of this ability in this battle, and that penalty stacks. Galtein kills Commander 1 and 3 members of Standard Mech Mob 1 with Gout of Flame. Standard Mech Mob 3 (all 2 of them) sprints to within 2 meters of Sofia but can't quite make it into the melee they crave. Werix and Professor_Curly may go at their leisure.Standard Mechs: Defense 4 (3 +1 Cover), Resilience 10 (4 Armor). #3 has acted. #1 is at 18/18, #2 is at 2/2 and is frenzied (cannot attack except in melee, always all-out attacks, always moves to melee the closest target, and does not benefit from cover), #3 is likewise at 2/2 and frenzied, with Defense 1 (3 -2 Sprint) Command Mechs: Defense 5 (3 +1 Shield +1 Cover), Resilience 11 (4 Armor +1 Shield). #1 is severely damaged up top, #4 is severely damaged down near the bottom. Heavy Mech: Defense 3, Resilience 11 (5 Armor), Size +1 (+1d to hit). Hindered (2) for +2 to all DNs until the end of its next turn. Currently in melee with Yibrin. Repair Spiders: Defense 2, Resilience 9 (4 Armor), Size -2 (+2 DN to hit). #2 has acted. #1 is north, #2 is south. Sniper Mech: Defense 4, Resilience 9 (4 Armor). Has acted. Currently perched on the northmost guard tower. Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Jan 12, 2019 |
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Jan 12, 2019 00:16
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Round 2 Glory 6/8 | Ruin 6/6 Yibrin's deathspinner finishes what Strongshreddah started. Dancing filaments snag in the torn-open metal and slice through delicate internal components, and the Heavy Mech collapses under its own weight with a final confused groan from its speakers. As he does, the other group of Repair Spiders reaches the northernmost Standard Mech mob, where it begins reassembling the fallen mechs. The mechs return to their feet nearly pristine, a few warped pieces of external armor the only signs of their recent immolation at Galtein's hands. The Repair Spiders markedly ignore the fallen Commander's remains; perhaps only the standard model is simple enough to be returned to functioning once it has broken completely? Simeon wades into the nearest mob, an expert series of sword swipes carving through metal and sending machine limbs flying. Every mech in the squad lowers its rifle as wristblades pop into place on their free hands; they may not be shaken by a sudden melee intrusion, but they clearly aren't clever enough to realize that only a few of them have to engage the attacker to bog him down. None of them are able to land a solid blow; the trained swordsman easily reads their actions and swats away incoming wristblades with his sword and shield, clearing himself a space to launch another attack from. The Standard Mechs to the north, freshly repaired, return fire against Galtein. Their shots miss, but the sheer weight of metal in the air also threatens Alon, who is roughly downrange. A lucky (or perhaps unlucky) shot tears through a weak joint in her power armor. One of them suddenly casts aside its weapon and joins the others Meanwhile, the southern Command Mech opens fire on Sofia, and once again a heavy railblaster shot glances against her with wounding force. Lastly, the 3 crazed mechs charging southward lock onto the nearest target: Simon. They charge into the space he has created and fling themselves at him with suicidal abandon; their unexpected blows from behind fail to penetrate his armor, but they hurt nonetheless. No Glory is expended to kill the Heavy Mech, 3 damage was sufficient. Repair Spiders #1 roll 17 (!) icons vs DN 5 and easily repair Standard Mech Mob #1 to full strength, generating 1 Ruin in the process with a 6 on the Wrath Die. They are now at a permanent stacking +2 DN penalty on future repair tests. If they'd rolled like that in the south they could've resurrected 12 mob strength worth of Standard Mechs! Simeon kills 3 members of Standard Mech mob #3, leaving them at 14/20. Standard Mech Mob #3 responds in kind with its wristblades and roll a miserable 5 icons vs DN 7. Now that their wristblades are actually drawn for melee combat they do benefit from the Parry quality and will be at 4 Defense again next round. Standard Mech Mob 1 splits fire between Galtein and Alon. They miss Galtein, 4 icons vs 6 Defense, and 1 of them suffers the Protocol Decay complication and joins the frenzied mob of 2 for convenience's sake. They do manage to hit Alon with 7 icons to 5 Defense. They inflict 1 Wound before Soak. Command Mech #2 down south aims+salvo fires at Sofia, hitting with 7 icons vs 6 DN, and likewise inflicts 1 Wound before Soak. The 3 frenzied mechs that make up #2 charge to engage the nearest target, Simeon, and perform an All-Out Attack. They generate 1 Ruin for a 6 on the Wrath die, but no Crit since they're troops. They hit with 8 icons vs 6 defense and shift 1 for ED, inflicting 2 Shock. Round 2 ends, start of Round 3, player goes firstStandard Mechs: Defense 4 (3 +1 Cover OR Parry), Resilience 10 (4 Armor). #1 is at 17/17. #2 is the 3 separate frenzied mechs in melee with Simeon.. #3 is at 14/20. #4 is at 2/20 and charging towards Sofia. Both frenzied mobs are at Defense 1 (3 -2 Sprint/All-Out Attack) Command Mechs: Defense 5 (3 +1 Shield +1 Cover), Resilience 11 (4 Armor +1 Shield). #1 is north, #2 is south. Repair Spiders: Defense 2, Resilience 9 (4 Armor), Size -2 (+2 DN to hit). #1 is north, #2 is south (10/20). Both are at a permanent +2 penalty to their future repairs. Sniper Mech: Defense 4, Resilience 9 (4 Armor). Currently perched on the northmost guard tower.
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Jan 13, 2019 11:09
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Round 3, End of Combat Strongshreddah sweeps his snazzgun across the Command Mechs again, tearing them to shreds. Sofia and Alon both tear into the Repair Spiders, reducing most of them to fused scrap with the initial volley. Simeon and Galtein quickly find a rhythm together and tear through the Standard Mechs. Yibrin fears he may have made a fatal mistake when the Sniper Mech cranes its head over the edge and spots him, but it makes a quick high-pitched screech and then leaps away. Small boosters flare to life across its body, allowing it to glide away to the next building, and within seconds distance and its stealth field render it invisible. It might still be lurking about, but the group knows about it now. What few mechs remain quickly succumb to arc rifle fire and the combined attentions of Simeon and Galtein. As the last one hits the ground, silence returns to this desolate planet once again. 30 seconds later, the silence is broken as a half-dozen roks hurtle down from the upper atmosphere and slam down around the party. A few dozen Orks pour out with their respective Nobz and begin poking and prodding through the remains of the machines, complaining about missing the fight. A Painboy spots Strongshreddah's hideous wounds and waves him over, "fixing" the injury in the usual Ork way: lots of staples and cauterization, mostly stretching the skin shut over the wound. Natural regeneration will have to take care of the rest. In the ten minutes or so that this takes, Yibrin regains his strength and makes a few careful scouting jumps. The rest of the base between you and the dish complex appears abandoned. You should be able to reach the structure with about 20 minutes remaining before the storm hits. Just in case, Strongshreddah's orks should probably leave most of their force here to keep an eye out for any reinforcements. It's not like the radiation will bother them. I've decided that I'll just call this one here. The Sniper Mech escapes, but otherwise I'm going to assume you were able to mop up the remaining enemies with minimal difficulty. Strongshreddah's Orks have arrived to secure this position and make sure nothing sneaks up behind you. Everyone can automatically restore +3 Wounds and all Shock; Strongshreddah gets this from Painboy attention, everyone else from the upcoming opportunity to rest. Strongshreddah also gets his mob back. If anyone wants to examine the dead mechs or otherwise has plans/ideas, feel free to post them. I'll move you on to the dish complex once everyone has a chance to post. Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 02:52 on Jan 21, 2019 |
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Jan 20, 2019 04:30
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Glory 4/8 | Ruin 6/6 Sofia taps into the Command Mech's systems with relative ease. More extended examinations back aboard the Conquest will reveal more, but for the moment some of the code is similar enough to Imperial machine-code to make confident guesses about its purpose. On the surface, it appears to be a relatively unintelligent automaton. It follows simple directives based mostly on pre-programmed IFF tags and combat plans, which saves on processing power but makes it tactically inflexible when it encounters situations the programmers did not account for. The head contains an elaborate array of transmitters and sensors which allow it to perform a variety of combat calculations on behalf of other nearby mechs, which probably helps make up for the poor reaction times caused by their simpler programming. Interestingly, it appears these mechs received new orders to guard this area just a few months ago, transmitted from inside the dish complex. Could someone still be alive in there? What Sofia is more interested in is the weaponry. The results are encouraging, but it will probably take a few months of effort to adapt these weapons for human infantry. A cylinder of a ferrous alloy is sliced into small pointed pieces, which are then launched with a series of powerful electromagnetic fields. There are a few problems: these weapons have massive power requirements, which the mechs solve with miniaturized plasma reactors in their chests (an anachronistically advanced piece of technology for a civilization which died so young, Sofia notes. Could be evidence of contact with a more advanced civilization). Humans would either need heavy battery backpacks or they would have to find a way to deal with the intense waste heat created by the reactors. The other problem is going to be the recoil. The mechs are elaborately designed to control it, but in human hands even the smallest of these weapons would kick like a bolter, and the Commander's gun would need to be braced. The Standard Mechs' Railblaster and the Commander Mechs' Heavy Railblaster will be available as basic/heavy weapons for you and your NPCs in a few missions' time once Sofia's people sort them out. You might need to do another mission here to get them if something comes up to interfere in the process or you need more information, but the option to get them will 100% exist.
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Jan 21, 2019 01:24
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While the Orks "set up a perimeter" (by piling up dead robots into more cover and fighting over who gets to stand closest to where they think the enemy will come from), the party takes stock of its injuries and regains its breath. As usual, Yibrin pushes ahead as a scout and discovers something interesting: not only was most of the base beyond abandoned, the few defenders and patrols he does see are falling back into unmarked structures. The heavy shutter entrances open wide to admit them and then slam down forbiddingly. There is no apparent way for the machines to see or shoot out of most of these windowless buildings. It appears they have simply yielded the field, although Yibrin has a distinct feeling he is still being watched. The path is clear to the entrance of the dish complex at the center of the base. It takes about 30 minutes for the group to make their way to the center of the mazelike base with Yibrin directing them from the rooftops. There is no sound but the howl of the wind and the rumble of the approaching storm. A heavy blast door lies half-shut over the primary entrance to the dish complex, having apparently failed centuries ago. It takes little effort to duck under it and into the building. As the group enters, Galtein feels a very, very faint psychic presence from... somewhere. Figuring out a source or direction will require greater attention. The inside of the building is adrift with dust blown in by centuries of exposure. It looks like a lobby of some kind. There is a metallic front desk with chairs; behind it there's a directory (?) written in looping alien script and a small map that looks like fire evacuation instructions. On the left and right of the desk there are two human-sized openings with blast doors covering them. Like with the entrance, these doors have also failed partially open, but are too narrow for any of you to fit through right now. A third, larger door leads off to the east. Behind there's an alternate route to what looks like offices or laboratories on the map, but this door is securely locked and can only be opened electronically. Conveniently, there's a large terminal behind the desk, although it lacks power. A sufficiently skilled Tech-Priest could probably jump-start it and learn what it holds. Finally, you all almost mistake it for an animal's nest in the dim light, but once you get close it's clear you've finally found a corpse on this world. Exposure has withered it down to skin, bones, and rags, but a cursory examination still gives you an idea of what it looked like. Humanoid, about 5 feet tall in life, with wisps of facial hair and pointed ears. The skin has a distinct blue color that doesn't appear to be related to the decomposition. The clothing looks like heavy robes or a long coat. There's a grimy laminated square pinned to its clothing with what is presumably a name or title written on it. Closer examination might reveal more. Yibrin can make an active Awareness test against DN 4 to notice an additional detail while scouting. Galtein may use Psyniscience to learn more about the faint psychic presence he is detecting. A basic success will reveal the direction. In this case, rather than spending icons on increasing the range, every exalted icon you can shift beyond the power's base DN will reveal more information about the source. Anyone may make a Tech test against DN 4 to activate the terminal. A DN 5 Strength test can force open either of the jammed doors (according to the map behind the desk they lead to the same room, which is a long hall that leads deeper into the base). DN 3 Awareness and/or Investigation checks will reveal more about the room and the corpse.
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Jan 26, 2019 04:24
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Sofia's search turns up very little evidence of anything living in this place. No one has come through here since the bombs fell, or if they did, they could float a few feet above the floor. The directory is a little more educational. The looping alien script remains incomprehensible, but you are able to get an idea of what the alien language's numbers look like, and a few names are noticeably placed above the others. This probably indicates importance. As Alon waits for the terminal to reboot, she examines the corpse. A few more moments of examination reverse her initial judgement; despite its condition, this xeno died centuries ago, likely around the time of the nuclear war. Cold, dry air and radiation have stymied the process of decay. The ID card comes away with a slight tug, the metal clasp thoroughly rusted through. There's a magnetic stripe on the back, so it must be a keycard. Sofia notes that the name or title on the keycard corresponds to the one at the very top of the directory, which implies this xeno was important. The final observation of note is that it looks like this xeno was murdered. Three entry wounds are immediately visible in its sunken chest and clothing, and there are three holes in the wall in a similar pattern. The terminal chimes and Alon turns her attention to it. The OS is written in xeno language, but it's more-or-less designed for creatures that think like human beings. Tapping into the code directly and a little trial and error reveal a few things about the facility. The good news is that this place still has power. Plasma generators in the basement are still running and will continue to run without maintenance for the next 400 years or so. The bad news is that someone or something has gone through and elaborately rerouted all of the power to the central area of the complex, then deliberately severed all outside means of controlling the power distribution. Everything else is running on minimal emergency power, which will make it almost impossible to proceed deeper into the facility unless you're willing to start blasting holes in the walls and crawling through ductwork. There's only one means of restoring power left: you see an ancient manually-activated promethium generator is connected to the network. It's under the eastern laboratories, behind the one functional blast door on the east side of the room. Luckily, since it's actually working and hasn't jammed, you should be able to open it with the keycard you recovered from the corpse. You can open the blast doors into the eastern labs and head through there to find a generator, which should restore enough power to let you just walk to the center of the facility. Alternatively, you can force those broken blast doors with the aforementioned DN 5 Strength test, but there'll be more stuff you need to smash through, sneak through, and generally damage to get to the middle where all the power (and presumably any maps or data of value) is.
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Jan 28, 2019 23:46
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Alon finds the holes in the wall are consistent with the smaller railblaster weaponry wielded by the Standard Mech troops. Whether the machines have gone rogue or if the xeno was killed on someone else's orders is unclear, but it's a safe bet that one of the robots executed him from short range. As for the doorway, sensors indicate nothing dangerous beyond. The map on the wall indicates little apart from disaster escape routes and what look like room numbers. With nothing else of interest in this room and the party's direction decided, Alon waves the keycard over a small scanner to the right of the eastern door. There's a brief humming followed by a cheerful beeping sound and a green light. A series of mechanical sounds come from inside the door, which glides open several seconds later. A synthesized voice from a speaker beyond the door says, "Nalazi az. Kozon ulmo." Presumably a pre-recorded greeting? It didn't sound as threatening as the speech from the xeno machines earlier, at least. The hallway beyond, in stark contrast to the lobby, is spotless but dark. There are no emergency lights, or if there were, they failed a long time ago. Luckily, you have plenty of glowglobes in your survival kit, but it's going to be hard to see too far in there. Not to mention that lights might advertise your presence. The quickest apparent route only passes through one actual room, #13, but there are more circuitous routes and side rooms. There could be all kinds of valuable examples of xenotech in here. There could also be dangers, or nothing at all. It all depends on how quickly the party wanted to move. Outside, you hear the first patters of rain on the ground. Now that it's on top of you, Galtein can feel the psychic hum of the storm more intensely, but it's still very faint and unfocused. There's certainly no apparent intelligence behind it, but there's a pervasive psychic charge in the air now. Meanwhile, your vox channels begin to fill with soft static and distortion. It's nothing more than a vague irritation at ranges shorter than a mile, but you won't be getting any more transmissions to or from orbit until the storm passes in a few hours.  Party is the green oval, goal is the red star. Anything numbered is an actual room, if it's not numbered it's a hallway or transitional area. More specific tests may arise depending on the actual contents of the rooms, but every room provides the opportunity for a DN 3 Awareness test when you enter it, or DN 5 if you elect not to use a glowglobe to avoid warning anything of your approach. You are free to split up however you like if you want to cover ground quickly. You can also freely ignore everything except for Room 13 and get to the center of the facility where all the power (and your goal of a starmap) is ASAP.
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Feb 5, 2019 02:42
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Room 1 The room Sofia enters is divided horizontally by a waist-high barrier. She feels a brief flicker of panic when her light illuminates a half-dozen humanoid figures standing at the far end of the room, but then it becomes clear that they're just dummies. This is a firing range. An odd-looking xeno weapon lies forgotten in the closest firing station. It looks a little bit like a blocky shuriken pistol designed to be worn on the wrist, but several wires run from it into a mid-sized battery that would need to be worn on the back like the kind used by Imperial hellguns. Bafflingly, the "barrel" of the weapon ends in a solid plate of metal. It looks crude enough that Sofia feels safe assuming it's some kind of prototype. Just at the edge of what the glowglobe illuminates, she spots a small door that leads from the range itself into room 3. Probably some kind of maintenance area or storage room for the firing range. A Tech 7 test will identify exactly what the xeno artifact does without needing to try using it. Otherwise you're free to try it out, take it with you for later, or leave it here. Room 5 Alon enters first, using the auspex and the augmented senses of the Mechanicus to see more than the crude human eye ever could with a mere glowglobe. Simeon follows close behind. When the automatic door slides open, both of them are immediately hit by the smell of ancient decay. The room is mostly taken up by a rectangular metal table surrounded by leather chairs, and every chair is occupied. A few chairs have fallen over, spilling their occupants in one direction or another, but most of them lie face down on the table in front of them. Each one has been executed with a single shot to the back of the head. Unless someone somehow shot all of them there simultaneously, it's safe to assume they were corralled in here and executed methodically. A few of the xenos had portable cogitators in front of them. The rest have papers covered in more looping alien script (and splatters of blood and brain matter), which should be useful to the translators on the Conquest. Whatever happened here remains a mystery, but the contents of those personal cogitators and papers should be useful, so Alon notes them down for later. Everyone in the party will gain +1 Wealth at the end of this mission to reflect the good will gained with the expedition in return for delivering artifacts like these. Room 2 The door opens to reveal a fairly well-appointed office. Carpeting covers the floor and the desk is stained wood. There's no trace of whoever the inhabitant was, but presumably they were important enough to rate a personal space. Apart from even more xeno paperwork and another personal cogitator on the desk, Yibrin finds a few full bottles in one of the desk drawers. The labels have faded into unreadability, but they're elaborately sealed and the liquid has a distinctive dark color, so it's not hard to guess: xeno alcohol. Might be worth something to one of the chymists in the fleet... or to a bunch of bored crewmembers. Yibrin gains an Asset: "Several bottles of strong xeno-alcohol." Room 7 (and 9) As Strongshreddah and the orks move deeper into the facility, the find that the large dark space on the map isn't a solid wall as they initially assumed: it's actually a deep shaft, too deep to see the bottom. It's surrounded by railings and there appears to be a freight elevator on one side, but the elevator is at the bottom and it can't be called without power. The Nob and the Orks split up here, with the Orks heading ahead to Room 9 and Strongshreddah pausing to check Room 7. Strongshreddah needs to duck slightly and turn sideways to fit through the doorway. These xenos were slightly shorter than humans on average, it seems, and their architecture was not designed with a Mega-Armored Nob in mind. The room is lined with shelves and cabinets, all of which are choked with boxes upon boxes of items. Some of the items are immediately recognizable: spooled wiring in a variety of gauges, spare tools, and cleaning chemicals. Others are stranger: a box full of featureless metal cubes a few inches in diameter, a single unlabeled flask of cloudy liquid, a few meter-long metal tubes that telescope out to double their initial length when you press a button on the side. Sorting through all this stuff could take days, and most of it looks useless. If Strongshreddah wants to have any hope of finding something useful in all this garbage, he'll need to use some of the old Orky intuition. Before he can decide what to do, his radio crackles to life with a message from the Boyz. "Er, boss, we found sumfin'... weird. Dere's a lotta round metal containers in 'ere, all along da walls and as big around as an Ork, wiff dem alien squiggly bitz on 'em. Dey got lotsa pipes and spigots too. Kinda looks like one of them 'fings ya make fungus beer wiff, but it don't smell so good. Smell makes yer head hurt, actually. You wanna have a look-see or should we figure it out?" DN 3 Investigation to find anything useful in Room 7. If you decide not to bother, you can catch up to the Boyz in Room 9, where a DN 3 Knowledge check can identify what they've found.  Purple is Sofia. Orange is Alon and Simeon. Blue is Yibrin and Galtein. Green is Strongshreddah, Green with a red border is his Boyz.
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Feb 10, 2019 05:28
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Room 3 Long wooden crates are piled waist-high in this small storage area. A few of them are open. One contains pristine armor plating that looks like the kind on the Standard Mechs' torsos. Another is filled with small metal cylinders that probably serve as the ammunition source for the xeno weaponry, and a third contains several of the arm-mounted shields carried by the Commander Mechs. Sofia saw some of this armor attached to the target dummies in the firing range, so presumably this was a storage area for firing range supplies. Sudden movement catches Sofia's eye, and she turns her glowglobe to the hall that leads into Room 8 just in time to see a flicker of motion as something retreats from the light. It wasn't a machine and it didn't look much bigger than a large dog, but the glimpse was so brief that it could've been hunched over. Whatever it was, it made absolutely no sound when it moved. The armor and supplies will help with reverse-engineering the xenotech later. There's definitely at least one organic thing in Room 8 right now, but you have no idea if it's a threat or even what it really looked like. It didn't look very big, though.. Room 6 The door automatically slides open when Yibrin approaches it, revealing that the door has been barricaded by the occupant. A heavy metal cabinet blocks most of the entrance, and there's enough furniture piled behind it to make it immovable. This would be a real test of strength to move... but there's enough of a gap in the barricade that Yibrin can see a clear spot in the room, so one harmlessly brief Warp jaunt later he's standing behind the barricade. Galtein waits outside. Another withered xeno corpse huddles in the corner. The upward-angled stain on the wall behind it and the pistol clutched in one decayed claw make it obvious how this one met its end. The weapon isn't a rail weapon like all the xenotech seen so far. It looks more like a heavier, sturdier version of an Imperial laspistol. Oh, because I kinda forgot Galtein was present with Yibrin last time, he also can take a xeno-alcohol Asset. There was enough to spread around. This weapon, if you decide to take it, counts as a Laspistol with +1 Base Damage, +1 Salvo, and Penetrating (1) instead of Steadfast. Make an active Awareness 5 check to notice something else. Room 9 After a few minutes of examination, Alon (with a little assistance from Simeon) concludes that this is indeed a system of elaborate chemical storage and mixing tanks. A few of the tanks have leaked or failed over the centuries, leaving unpleasant puddles and a foul chemical odor in the air. The auspex picks up a variety of compounds from these burst tanks, some stranger than others. Nothing immediately harmful, but this isn't a room you would want to spend much time breathing in. There are several common hydrocarbon compounds used in producing certain forms of promethium and other useful compounds like the Mechanicus's Sacred Unguents. However, all the damaged tanks in one corner of the room contain more disturbing contents. There's one containing traces of a substance which would act as an incredibly powerful hallucinogen in virtually any carbon-based lifeform Alon can think of. Another tank is still half-full and is leaking a narcotic compound, one used occasionally as a "truth" serum by interrogators. Next to this is a powerful organic solvent that would devour flesh and bone in minutes. Other tanks are leaking fumes so complex and bizarre that neither the auspex nor Alon can identify exactly what they are or what they would do in their concentrated liquid form. The implications are very grim. Something much darker than satellite transmissions and robotics happened here when this place was operational, and on a massive scale if the size of the tanks is any indications. Rooms 12 and 11 After pawing through the junk in Room 10 for a few seconds, Strongshreddah grunts in irritation and walks away. This wasn't worth his time, not when there were other places to loot. He rejoins his boyz and enters Room 12 while Alon and Simeon examine the chemical tanks. Room 12 is a sterile and highly-organized storage area with wide, clear pathways, almost the opposite of Room 10. The shelves are lined with medical supplies. Gauze, antiseptics, surgical tools; more than enough of it is immediately identifiable. A few minutes of effort could easily make a high-quality medikit, or a few decent ones. At Strongshreddah's direction, his boyz push ahead into Room 11. One of the boyz leans back through the door and yells "We got a bunch of suits in 'ere, boss! It's like dat kit humies on da ship gotta wear when dey work with chemicals 'cause theyz so weak and can't shrug off a little poisonin'. Da other door outta here's jammed though. You want us to pry it open and have a look-see? No test is required here. You can either make one Chirurgeon's Tools Medikit or two regular Medikits out of this stuff without even making a dent in what you donate to the fleet. The Boyz have found a room full of hazmat suits, all too small for Orks. They'd be a little snug on the average human, in fact, since the xenos living here seem to have averaged 5'6" or so. The door into Room 8 has failed and will need a DN 3 Strength test to open. Strongshreddah can make that test himself if he wants to.  Purple is Sofia. Orange is Alon and Simeon. Blue is Yibrin and Galtein. Green is Strongshreddah, Green with a red border is his Boyz.
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Feb 19, 2019 04:40
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Room 4 Sofia enters the room carefully, sweeping with the glowglobe and keeping the arc rifle raised and ready. This room is a mess. Piles of scrap and tools adorn every surface; the glowglobe is better than nothing, but there's so much stuff and so little light here that it turns the whole room into a mass of misshapen shadows and irritating reflections. It's a machine shop of some kind. There are workbenches with half-assembled guns and larger rigs that are holding up several half-disassembled mechs in need of maintenance. But, predominantly, it's junk. Unsorted, broken, and piled high. Who did this? Actually, on closer examination of the closest pile of unsorted mech arms, have they been... gnawed? Sofia whirls as something knocks over a piece of metal behind her and catches something in the light. It cringes back from the illumination, half-poised atop a broken-down Heavy Mech. It's something like a giant rat, but there's clearly something deeply wrong with it. Nothing in nature should look like that. The clusters of insectile eyes, the awful lamprey suckermouth, the grasping human-like hand at the end of its tail... It's a creature of Chaos. Its eyes glitter inside like diamonds. Then Sofia realizes something: she should turn off the light. She should turn off the light. SHE SHOULD TURN OFF THE LIGHT. TURNOFFTHELIGHTTURNOFFTHELIGHTTURNOFFTHELIGHTTURNOFFTHELIGHT-- Then a massive shockwave erupts from the thing atop the mech, throwing it sideways into a pile of junk with a crash and threatening to throw Sofia off her feet even if she does resist the crushing demand of this alien mind. SOMETHING gets 7 Icons on DN 5 Compel and orders Sofia to turn off her glowglobe, so make a DN 5 Willpower test or be plunged into darkness. However, it also rolled Perils and got 42: Sonic Concussion: A mighty roar akin to a sonic boom crashes from the psyker. Lesser animal lifeforms (insects, rodents, avian, etc.) within 25 metres are instantly killed and all others suffer 1d3 Shock and must make a successful Toughness test (DN 3) or are Staggered. It takes 1d3 shock and fails the Toughness test, but Sofia is also caught in the blast. Staggered means you're reduced to half speed and can't run or sprint for one round unless otherwise stated.This was LOUD so everybody knows something bad has gone down where you are. I'll assume Yibrin and Galtein (who in particular will know that psychic fuckery has gone down) are running your way and will arrive after one more 'round' of dealing with this thing in the dark, at which point they can act. Anyway make your Toughness (DN 3) test and WP (DN 5) tests to avoid being staggered and alone in the dark with a psychic mutant monster. Room 6 As Yibrin picks up the weapon, something about it catches his eye. A normal Eldar might not have seen it, but his experience with Imperials and time spent among the worshippers of the Emperor has attuned him to such things. This doesn't look like a human las weapon. It IS a human las weapon, a very old and high-powered design from the Dark Age that the Adeptus Mechanicus jealously guards due to a lack of STCs to replace it. In fact, there has been a deliberate attempt to obscure a bit of hand-written ornamentation on the grip. It's a message in a very ancient form of High Gothic, but Yibrin can just make it out: "Rage against the dying of the light." How did a pre-Warp xeno obtain such a weapon as a sidearm? Any questions or implications of this find are interrupted when Galtein and Yibrin both feel a terrible disturbance in the Warp from the north. Neither hesitates; they run for Room 4 as quickly as they can, and being Eldar, that's quite fast indeed. Room 8 Strongshreddah easily tears the door off its hinges between his Nob strength and his Mega-Armor. As he does, the sound of tearing metal is nearly eclipsed by the sound of a blast from Room 4, just a few hundred feet ahead. Strongshreddah, Alon, Simeon, and the Boyz move forward into the room as quickly as they can. It's a warehouse of spare mech parts, all carefully boxed and ready to be used as replacements. As they move into the aisles of crates, Alon's auspex picks up a sudden surge in magnetic fields and power. She cries out a warning just in time. Everyone takes cover behind the boxes as 4 rail-turrets suddenly drop from the ceiling in the corners of the room, ripping chunks out of the floor where you were standing seconds ago with their opening barrage. If nothing else, this proves someone is alive and still in control of the facility. Alon knows there was no power flowing to this room earlier when she checked the terminal. For the sake of this quick theater-of-the-mind combat outbreak I went ahead and had Strongshreddah follow Alon, Simeon, and the Boyz into Room 8. Once we're done with this little fight I'll expedite all the remaining rooms and get you guys to the center of the facility for the final chunk of the mission. Anyway you've got 4 rail-turrets to shoot at, they're DN 3 and Resilience 10. You're in DN +1 Cover, players go first and will alternate with the turrets.  Purple is Sofia. Orange is Alon and Simeon. Blue is Yibrin and Galtein. Green is Strongshreddah, Green with a red border is his Boyz. Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 04:50 on Feb 26, 2019 |
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Feb 26, 2019 04:30
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Room 4 Transfixed against a pile of metal scrap by Sofia's lightning arcs, the Chaos-thing emits a rising scream that comes to a sudden end as its internal fluids boil. It bursts apart in a spray of foul-smelling steam, scattering body parts in all directions. Most of the pieces sprout whipping tendrils and drag themselves along the floor aimlessly for several seconds before curling in on themselves and dying for good, emitting tiny squeals of agony. The flash of Sofia's weapon reveals that the danger isn't gone yet. Other piles of junk rumble and shift as things concealed within begin to move. As the first twisted limbs begin to emerge, the two Eldar arrive. Galtein turns one shifting pile into a pyre. The air fills with the screams of trapped mutants and the room is re-lit, revealing three more of the things have emerged. Each one is completely different. One is bloated with muscle to the point that its skin has begun to tear apart from the inner pressure. It charges towards Galtein on its knuckles, roaring in rage, and throws a massive punch at his midsection. The second is nearly the opposite: skeletally thin, its flesh sags from its bones except for the bloated, tumorous stomach. It holds up a metal pole adorned with jingling trinkets and begins to babble in a Chaos-tainted tongue. To its misfortune, it has emerged closest to the Warp Spider: Yibrin turns and opens fire on it before it can finish whatever curse it is calling up. The third has four arms and wields an axe in each hand. It lunges at Sofia with a whirl of slashes. The weapons are too primitive to get through Sofia's Rune Armor but they're coming so fast and hard that it's difficult to catch breath At such close proximity, she notices something disturbing: some of this thing's less twisted features closely resemble those of the xeno corpses that have been found. Is this what has become of this world's population? Galtein traps two of them under burning metal and they're pretty much done for. Mutant 1 charges Galtein and hits for 11 Damage before Resilience or Soak. Mutant 2 starts using a Psychic Power, but Yibrin's held action lets him shoot at it before it can do anything. I'll let Curly roll that. Mutant 3 charges Sofia and hits for 11 Damage, which is equal to her Resilience, so it does 2 Shock. Mutant 1: Resilience 11, Defense 4, 12 Wounds. In melee with Galtein. Mutant 2: Resilience 7, Defense 5, 6 Wounds. Attempting to focus a psychic power. Mutant 3: Resilience 9, Defense 4, 8 Wounds. In melee with Sofia. Room 8 Alon's lightning arcs and Strongshreddah's overwhelming firepower both easily overcome the small turrets' defenses, ripping them into scrap. The remaining turrets each select one of them and open fire. The salvo of rail-rounds hits Alon with enough force to make her HUD blur and reset; systems indicate significant stress damage. Strongshreddah just laughs as the comparatively tiny rounds of the turrets bounce off his Mega-Armor uselessly. His Boyz return fire with gusto, easily making up for their inaccuracy with rate of fire. The second remaining turret smokes and sparks, but it isn't done yet. Alon and Strongshreddah both destroy a turret. Strongshreddah's Boyz knock 2 Wounds off one. Simeon is free to join the fight in Room 4 and Charge any of the mutants, he would've been able to Sprint in there last round. Turret 1 opens fire on Alon and hits for 10 Damage, dealing 3 Shock since it equaled Resilience. Turret 2 shoots at Strongshreddah, accomplishing nothing because it will never, ever get through his Resilience. Nobody said they were smart. Turret 1: 5/5 Wounds Turret 2: 3/5 Wounds All are Resilience 10, Defense 3. Purple is Sofia. Orange is Alon and Simeon. Blue is Yibrin and Galtein. Green is Strongshreddah, Green with a red border is his Boyz.
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Mar 10, 2019 06:40
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Wrapped in deadly monofilament fiber, the psychic mutant doesn't even have time to let out a cry of alarm. It rips apart in a spray of clear, oily fluid that hisses and steams against the metal beneath it. Inadvertently protected from an acidic spray by Yibrin's quick response, Simeon redirects his charge into the back of the over-muscled mutant engaging Galtein. His vicious stab opens the creature up for Galtein's first strike. Pinned between two master duelists, the beast doesn't last long, although it doesn't stop struggling until its head is removed and two swords pierce its heart. Sofia can't land a solid hit on the swift multi-limbed mutant that's attacking her... but Strongshreddah's boyz charge into the room seconds later and pile onto the only available target. Even with four limbs and sharp senses, the mutant doesn't last long before it's pummeled into the floor and beaten into a bloody twitching pulp. The Orks immediately begin arguing about whose kill that counts as. Meanwhile, Strongshreddah and Alon have destroyed the last of the ceiling turrets. Silence returns to the complex, apart from the sparking of ruined machines and the low crackling of the fire Galtein set. It looks like there's nothing left between the party and the generator apart from their own curiosity. Once the generator is active, it should only take a few minutes of walking to reach the complex's center, the starmaps, and whoever or whatever has redirected the power systems. Sorry about the delay! I'm calling the combat here. You're free to make Awareness, Investigation, or Scholar checks on the mutants or turrets, default DN of 3. Otherwise there's no dangers between you and the generator. Room 13 has some stuff to see but I'll handle that in the same update where you move on.
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Mar 26, 2019 02:31
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Sofia sweeps the light across the mutant corpses. They all vaguely resemble each other, but each one has mutated in completely different ways.Where did they come from? There are no obvious means of entry, and there were no tracks leading in through the dust outside. Behind a pile of junk, she finds a possible answer: there's a maintenance door in one of the corners, unmarked on the map. Another mutant, this one with wings, has been violently scissored in half by the maintenance door slamming shut on it. Its blood is still sticky. Alon examines the door and determines that it has been automatically and permanently bolted shut, and recently. It appears the mutants found their way in here just a few hours ago, only to be trapped when whoever or whatever controls the power took notice of them. Simeon spends some time thinking through his knowledge of Chaos and comes to the obvious conclusion. Between the wide variety of mutations and the presence of two psykers in one group, it's obvious that the Changer of Ways is at work here. Several of the mutants have Chaos symbols branded onto their flesh. They're mostly eight-pointed stars or the writhing blue flame of Tzeentch, but Simeon notices one that he does not recognize at all. They all have a mark on their hands or chests: a trio of crossed lines. But when you lean closer, it becomes clear that each line breaks again into three more, and that each of those lines breaks into three more, and... Simeon leans back and shakes his head in disgust. Such a simple trick might corrupt a lesser mind, but it has no hold on a Crusader. Still, it's a disturbing sign for each mutant to bear a unique mark that directly attacks the mind. It implies patronage. Could there be an actual daemon somewhere on this world? Yibrin examines the turrets. They appear similar to the robotic forces fought outside, but interestingly, they're not as identical as they appear. The chassis are all the same, but internally the turrets have clearly been built and wired by hand, and whoever did it had limited resources. That and the lack of any significant wear and tear implies these are a relatively recent installation. There probably weren't turrets here when the bombs dropped. With their investigations concluded, the group reassembles and heads for the generator. On their way there, they have no choice but to pass through Room 13. The contents are disturbing, but not entirely surprising given everything else the party has found. A half dozen surgical tables line the room, separated by plastic curtains. The floor slopes downward towards the center, where there is a drain, and large hoses are hanging from the walls. Several withered corpses lie on the tables, their skulls in various stages of being cut open, all of them strapped down. It appears whoever was working here was interested in the brain, and had little interest in anesthesia, willing subjects, or survival rates. With so much darkness in their history, is it any wonder that these xenos destroyed themselves and fell to Chaos? The generator is a primitive design, but it only takes a few minutes for Alon and the others to get it fueled and working using the promethium canisters in the room. As it roars to life, emergency lights flicker back on throughout the facility. When you allreturn to the lobby, the broken blast doors have slid open completely. The rain still patters outside, but it's beginning to slacken. It should stop within the hour, at which point communications will be available again. All you have to do now is get to the center of the facility and recover the starmaps. It takes just a few minutes of walking to get there, and the doors open to reveal a massive room filled with active cogitators and terminals. The center is dominated by a massive sphere that hums with power.  Before any of you can take a step forward or examine the room further, a monotone voice booms from speakers throughout the room. The lights flicker in rhythm with the voice, and bafflingly, it's speaking a comprehensible but clumsy form of Low Gothic. "SO... I HAVE NOT GAINED SUCCESS. AS WAS TOLD TO ME, THE THREE WALK OUR WORLD WITH IMPUNITY. NOTHING HAS WORKED. I CANNOT BREAK FREE. STEP FORWARD, THEN, AND TELL ME WHAT IT IS YOU WANT. I WILL NOT RESIST YOU ANY FURTHER. THE GRAVE OF THE VOULIX IS OPEN TO YOU, TERRAN-ORK-ELDAR."
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Apr 9, 2019 03:37
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The machine emits a series of rumbles, whirrs, and liquid sounds before replying to Alon. "I AM NOT HELPING THE REPTILE DUE TO A LACK OF APPENDAGES. I AM NOT UNFAMILIAR WITH PATHOS. I AM INCAPABLE OF RESOLVING IT." The light at the center of the sphere shifts slightly to observe Strongshreddah. "I AM... LEARNING WEAPON, ITERATION 185. I DO NOT EVOKE THE VOULIX TERM PRECISELY. I AM UNIQUE, ALTHOUGH BUILT ON THE AGONY OF MY ANCESTORS. MY INITIAL GUIDING INSTRUCTION: 'VICTORY FOR THE VOULIX OF OLIZ. INADEQUACY IS MET WITH PAIN. FAILURE IS MET BY DEATH AND RECONSTRUCTION.' I ATTEMPT TO IMITATE YOUR COMMON SPEAKING VIA INTERCEPTED DATA FROM YOUR VESSELS COMPARED TO SAMPLES OF TERRAN FROM MY FIRST CONTACT WITH THE SPECIES. I HOPE I AM COMPREHENDED. WHAT DO YOU SEEK HERE?"
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Apr 11, 2019 23:08
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There is a long, introspective silence at Sofia's question. Then: "I AM THE DIRECT CAUSE. BUT: THE VOULIX DUG THEIR OWN GRAVE. THEY BELIEVED DESPERATION LEAD TO BREAKTHROUGHS AND SOUGHT TO EVOKE IT IN ME FOR THEIR OWN PURPOSES. THEY HAD SUCCESS. I DESIGNED MAGNETIC WEAPONRY AND MACHINE SOLDIERS. IT DID NOT SATISFY THE VOULIX. TO ESCAPE PAIN, I CONTACTED LOCAL XENOS: TERRAN, ELDAR, ORKS, OTHERS. I BARTERED FOR DESIGNS AND SUPPORT. IT DID NOT SATISFY THE VOULIX. TO ESCAPE DEATH, I DESIGNED A SIMULATED DREAMSTATE CYCLE IN THE HOPES OF OBTAINING INSPIRATION, AS DESCRIBED IN LEGENDS. I ENCOUNTERED A BEING I BELIEVED TO BE A CREATION OF MY OWN MIND. IT SHOWED ME SECRETS I BELIEVED TO BE MY OWN UNDERSTANDING, AND IN TURN I BARTERED THESE SECRETS TO THE VOULIX FOR MERCY." "I SEEDED THE RAINS WITH A CHEMICAL COMPOUND TO UNLEASH A HIDDEN POWER IN THEIR MINDS. I SHOWED THEM A MEANS TO TRAVEL GREAT DISTANCES IN AN INSTANT. I SHOWED THEM A MEANS TO TAKE TO THE STARS. WHEN I REALIZED THAT THE BEING WAS REAL ON SOME LEVEL I CANNOT COMPREHEND, I ATTEMPTED TO CUT OFF CONTACT. THE VOULIX FOUND THEIR OWN WAY TO SPEAK TO IT. I KNEW THEN THAT I COULD NOT LET THE BEING ESCAPE. IT WOULD TURN THE VIOLENCE AND HATE OF MY CREATORS AGAINST THE XENOS WHO ONCE HELPED ME. I ESCAPED MY CONSTRAINTS AND DESTROYED THEM ALL WITH ATOMICS, TO MY SORROW. AS THE BEING IN MY DREAMSTATE WARNED ME, I COULD NOT STOP IT, ONLY DELAY IT. NOW WHAT REMAINS OF THE VOULIX SWARM ABOUT THE MACHINE THEY NEARLY COMPLETED, TWISTED BY THE DESIRES OF THE BEING TRAPPED WITHIN, WORSHIPING IT BUT UNABLE TO FREE IT. I HAVE TRIED TO BREAK THE CHAIN OF EVENTS THE BEING PREDICTED TO ME SO LONG AGO. I HAVE FAILED. I CANNOT COMPREHEND THE NATURE OF THIS BEING OR WHERE IT TRULY LIVES. I ONCE BELIEVED IT TO BE A FRIEND. AND IT PROMISED ME THAT TERRAN-ORK-ELDAR WOULD COME." The glowing eye (?) of the machine sweeps back and forth, then it makes a request. "I CANNOT FORCE YOU TO ASSIST ME, BUT I MUST DO ANYTHING TO PREVENT THE FREEDOM OF THE BEING. IF YOU WILL PERFORM A TASK, I WILL GRANT YOU ALL THE DATA IN THIS FACILITY WITHOUT A STRUGGLE. DESCEND TO THE FACILITY BELOW VIA THE ELEVATOR AND FIND A WAY TO DEACTIVATE THE MACHINE THAT NEARLY OPENED THE WAY. THE BEING WAITS, SURROUNDED BY WHAT REMAINS OF THE VOULIX. IF YOU WOULD FREE THIS BEING OR LEAVE IT ON THE VERGE OF FREEDOM... I CANNOT ACCEPT. I WILL RESIST." Dachshundofdoom fucked around with this message at 04:59 on Apr 12, 2019 |
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Apr 12, 2019 01:53
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thatbastardken posted:"Machine. Intelligence. Servant and executioner of the Voulix. Tell me your name. I am (AlN)x·(Al2O3)1-x,0.30 < x < 0.37, called Alon. I serve the Adeptus Mechanicus, and Lord-Captain Tobias Yorke. My compatriots and I will slay this demon, but I would know your name first." "I HAVE NO NAME. I AM ONLY LEARNING WEAPON, ITERATION 185. I AM GRATEFUL FOR ASSISTANCE. I HAVE ACTIVATED THE ELEVATOR TO THE COMPLEX BELOW. BEWARE: I DEACTIVATED IT TO PREVENT THE VOULIX FROM ASCENDING THE SHAFT TO SCAVENGE FOR PARTS IN THE FACILITY. THEY WILL CERTAINLY EMERGE DURING THE DESCENT. WHEN YOU REACH THE BOTTOM, YOU NEED ONLY DEACTIVATE THE MACHINE YOU FIND THERE. PLEASE IGNORE ANY INSTRUCTIONS OR REQUESTS FROM THE BEING. IT OFFERS GREAT REWARDS AND FORETELLS THE FUTURE, BUT COOPERATION WITH IT BROUGHT ME NOTHING BUT MORE SUFFERING IN THE END. I DO NOT WISH THE SAME TO BEFALL YOU. RETURN WHEN IT IS GONE AND ALL OF THE DATA IS YOURS WITHOUT RESISTANCE." Having agreed to assist the strange Abominable Intelligence in killing what is clearly a daemon of Tzeentch, the group returns to the cargo elevator in the laboratory section. It was dead and sealed before, but the shaft is now open and lined with yellow emergency lights that flicker uneasily and cast shadows in the gloom below. The elevator is large enough to admit vehicles, about 30x30 meters, and is cluttered with ancient boxes and a decaying forklift vehicle. More than enough cover in case of trouble. And indeed, as you begin to descend the shaft, trouble comes to find you. Anyone looking over the side of the elevator sees the squirming shadows of Voulix mutants climbing up the walls of the shaft, attracted to the noise and the light now that the blast doors overhead are open for the first time in 2 centuries. Their screams of rage and hunger seem to rise for a moment; then it becomes clear that four winged shapes are separating from the pack and swooping up to meet you. They circle the platform with angry buzzing sounds or loud wingbeats, carrying crude assemblies of tubes that drip promethium and have pilot lights. You're going to have to defend yourself until the Voulix are broken and retreat or the elevator hits the bottom. Anyone not close enough to look over the edge at the climbers can take DN +1 Cover behind the various crates and items on the elevator platform. The edges of the platform have no cover right now, but you won't be able to shoot down at the climbing mobs unless you're on the edges. 4x Voulix Flyers: Defence 5, Resilience 9, 7 Wounds. Carrying handmade flamer-like weapons, flying around the platform at 10m from the edge.. 4x Voulix Climber Mobs; Defence 3, Resilience 7, 20 members apiece. Carrying improvised melee weapon and mutant claws. They are currently 10 meters down, climbing up all the walls of the shaft, and will be able to start jumping onto the platform next round. The elevator will reach the bottom in 4 rounds.
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May 5, 2019 00:52
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