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Into the Maw (Game Thread)


Chameon

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Siggy shook his head and announced "You fool, I WILL NOT DIE HERE, I HAVE FAR MORE EXPERIENCE AT NOT DYING THEN YOU DO. HOW MANY DIFFERENT WAYS DO I HAVE TO EXPLAIN IT!?"

As he shouted, he mentally shook his head, this wasn't his day for witty banter either. Eh well, could hardly be blamed, these guys weren't really worth the effort to try to come up with good statements.

Needless to say, Janus shouted out his final words, before running out of shots, only one of which was vaguely on the mark.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4606009/ -One successful hit

Janus is now out of shots



Janus left loudly, 16 damage, pen 4.
 

BlueSlime

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Holstering her plasma pistol, Faydra drew out her power saber, depressing the small switch that engaged the miniature generator built into the ornate, cupped hand guard. Her blade hummed with energy as she left her cover and started to up her pace, lurching into a run towards the remaining mercenary.

"Run fool, or I will cut you down!" She howled as she prepared to charge the enemy on the next round.
 

Rathuris

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Anya readied her staff and followed after Faydra. Her third eye once more closed. Her thoughts whirling about the coming mayhem.
 
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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

The remaining Armsman breaks from cover, actually dropping his gun and bolting when the crazy woman with the mohawk charges at him. As he runs, multiple sets of footsteps can be heard approaching from different angles, and he stops, turning and running a different direction, looking much like a rat caught in a trap. In short order, several members of the Adeptus Arbites arrive, taking up positions and aiming at Faydra and her group with their signature assault shotguns, as well as tackling the fleeing armsman and apprehending him.

"Put down your weapons and keep your hands where we can see them." the one closest to the group speaks through his helmet, cocking his shotgun threateningly. It was at this point Dray rose from behind the counter, both of his arms raised over his head in surrender.

Combat is (effectively) over, unless you want to pick a fight with almost a dozen Arbites armed with assault shotguns.
 

Shrike7

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

(I want to, oh so badly. But that would make for a short game i think, so i'll pass. This time. :3 )

Ishta cracked a smile when the last armsmen fled from cover, squeezing off a last shot, the las round going high, over the man's head. then the Adeptus Arbites were everywhere, yelling and pointing shotguns at the group.

The psyker stood slowly, glancing around at the group assembled around them. This was a little much, though some of them certainly possessed much of interest to her. She'd have to miss out this time it seemed. Carefully, bending over to drop her laspistol to the floor, she did the same with the monosword strapped under her cloak, then waited patiently with her hands in sight, watching the captain for any sign of new orders.
 

Chameon

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Siggy smiled behind his helmet at the Arbites, the bloody interfering blackguards, holding up both of his arms patiently as he stated, simply "This will take a moment" before slowly peeling Janus off, making sure to keep his left arm away from the Arbites. In his MIU, he quietly beseeched Janus to be patient and accept this minor indignity, before he pulled the gun off and, reverently, placed it on the ground with his right hand, raising both hands with a degree of apparent respect shown for the gunsmen, he announced "That pistol was given to me by a Magos of world E361142879. If anybody here damages it, I will treat it as a direct insult to the Emperor's glory, and respond appropriately." As he stated this, he slowly moved his bionic arms covering for the weapon bracing into place, making it look just as if he had the pistol still on there.
 

BlueSlime

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Her subordinates might be more impressed with a dozen local arbitrators who conveniently appeared just under a minute after a random gunbattle had begun to take place, but the noblewoman was less so.

"I advise all of you consider very carefully whom you are addressing. I am Faydra Undynne, Captain and Commander of the Rogue Trader vessel the Beneficent Murder, and I have lawfully conducted my business in Port Wander. The surviving scum you see attacked my crew unprovoked. I and mine shall not suffer the indignity of being drawn in for questioning like some common rabble by a bunch of Arbites Troopers. We shall cooperate, but allow us our weapons. The High Lords of Terra have deemed me fit to extend the light of the Emperor to the Expanse - take care that you do not overstep your bounds, troopers, or you may find yourselves enforcing the Emperor's Justice on a death world posting."

As she said this, Faydra let her power sword drop a little, but not entirely shutting off its power until the weight of her words was seen on the trooper's faces.

I'm going to use Faydra's command skill for this, banking on her natural air of authority, noble upbringing, and the fact that these arbitrators on a far off port wander posting are probably not so dumb as to piss off a person who hob-nobs with the most powerful people in the sector.



FS = 46, +10 command skill, +10 talented = 66
Roll was 33 so three degrees of success on a normal difficulty
 
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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

The Sergeant who had issued the order for the group to relinquish their weapons lowers his shotgun, the other Arbites aiming at them following suit. "Our apologies, Miss Undynne. We were responding to reports of a gunfight in the marketplace." he says, turning and issuing orders for the bodies to be removed for examination, before approaching Faydra alone, slinging his shotgun over a shoulder and removing his helmet to reveal his black hair and stubble, and his half-missing nose. "Arbitrator-Sergeant Targos, at your service, ma'am. If you are so inclined, I'd like for you and your retinue to accompany me to the Precinct Complex so that we can find out who decided to take shots in the middle of a crowded market at a Trader. You can even keep your weapons if you so desire." he says politely, as the other Arbites haul off the surviving Armsmen and begin coordinating the removal of bodies.

Orbest Dray, in the meantime, exits his shop, moving rather close to Faydra so as to appear a part of her retinue, though the fear on his face is plain as day.
 

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Anya breathed a small sigh of relief as the men lowered their weapons after Faydra's words. Her hand gave a momentary twitch as she almost reached up to conceal her face with her hood. Though by now it was much to late to conceal her milky white skin or third eye from the men.

Looking down at the likely shorter lawkeepers as she waited for Faydra's response. Her thoughts momentarily wondering to who could be after the object they received.
 

Chameon

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

As they announced their intent to switch from the standard Arbite role of judge and jury, with executioner thrown in for good measure, to a more polite role, he picked up his pistol, fiddling with reattaching it as they spoke, whispering a few prayers to the omnissiah to placate the more then slightly upset machine spirit. Janus was going to go on for weeks about this, he was sure. Wasting a full clip on a lone gunman and then having the audacity to let it sit in the sand unnecessarily.....Siggy sighed, sometimes he wished he'd been born just a few years earlier and never had the truth explained to him, it would at least make the guns less difficult to use. Momentary blasphemy aside, he followed Faydra fairly closely, going back into his thuggish stance, although he made very careful to not remove his helmet in the presence of the Arbites, more concerned about avoiding recognition then a perceived disrespect.
 

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

"Lady Undynne," Faydra corrected the sergeant, not hiding the irritation in her voice. She turned off the power field on her saber and sheathed it. She then approached the arbitrators with all the boldness and nobility she could muster.

"I am not certain how long you have been at this post, Sergeant Targos, but in the civilized worlds of the Calixus sector it is beyond reproach to address the nobility as if they were commoners. I will forgive your slight as the product of ignorance but do not make the same mistake twice."

She pointed at the one armsman who had been tackled by the arbitrators upon his attempt to flee.

"Bring that man and your cohort to my ship and invite your Precinct Judge to meet with me upon my command bridge. I shall have my personal astropath get to the bottom of this outrage, all with Adeptus Arbites supervision of course. Though know this, sergeant: I have a schedule to maintain. The wealth of worlds and the growing infrastructure of the Imperium depend on a lack of unnecessary delay. Now, walk with me and I shall have my archmilitant-at-arms recount the details of the incident en route."

Faydra indicated Siggemeund with a gesture and began to walk in the direction of her ship. Rogue Traders dined with lord governors and planted the flag of the Emperor upon entire worlds. They did not get drawn in for questioning, or at least, if they did, heads would roll for the indignity. Her words and icy stare would leave no room for doubt in the eyes of these trumped up enforcers. Indeed, it was odd that Arbitrators would respond to gunfire rather than port enforcers, but in either case it mattered not. The fact was that if they didn't watch themselves carefully, she would bend her wealth towards making their lives miserable, and certainly each of them would know that to delay the execution of a Warrant of Trade without thorough evidence was a crime against the Imperium, carrying with it a mandatory death sentence by their own code of laws.
 
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Caulder

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

"My apologies, My Lady. I forgot my place." Targos says, bowing his head, before pointing his index and middle finger at the two Arbitrators holding the surviving Armsman. "Bring the survivor along. Lady Undynne wishes to deal with him in her own fasion, and we are obligated to assist her. The rest of you, continue cleaning up this mess and then report back to Precept-Marshall Valkyran, and tell her that I will be tending to Lady Undynne aboard the Beneficent Murder. And have her send a Judge to the ship as soon as possible." he says, before following Faydra. "Not often do we get directly involved with the head of the organizations we deal with daily. Mostly it's assassins and mercenaries under orders from a higher-up. This is my sector of the station, and I apologize for allowing this attack to occur." he says, the two Arbitrators holding the survivor by both his arms and bringing him along behind him.
 

Chameon

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Siggy shrugged and walked over to the corpse of the armsman who had the autogun. He looked up and stated at the Sergeant simply, slightly tired, slightly bored "You might want to check this gun. It should have helpful info, at least in regards to what we're dealing with. I don't have the knowhow to find out precisely how illegal it is, but I do know it's been modified in ways the adeptus mechanicus would not approve of. So either cover it up or you can show it to them and let their rage result in murder servitors going a-hunting. As I don't think her ladyship wants that level of loud declaration just yet, you should probably research it in-house. Or at least wait until you have a primary suspect. I'm going to grab these pistols and ask some questions of their machine spirits."

With that announcement, he momentarily stopped and looked at the armsmen's corpses, before stating, slightly more nicely at the arbites "Oh, and you do a credit to your office on your quick response time. Under a minute response to a gun fight was quite impressive. Average response time tends to cut out at 6 minutes if the crime isn't caught in the crux of being created."
 

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Faydra was not of a mood to prolong her conversation with the sergeant, and was glad when her archmilitant spoke up. Hopefully that would occupy the man's time and leave her to think. She touched the mnemolith where she had stowed it in the hidden pocket of her half dress' folds. This days' incident only proved that others had been aware of the artifact and had been watching Dray with anticipation. She was not hopeful about her psyker discovering much from this hired gun. On Malfi, most gunmen were never told who it was that they were truly working for. There had to be fronts and disconnects when dealing in intrigue with the existence of psykers. Faydra knew the techniques well.

As such, it was the Rogue Trader's intent to be leaving Port Wander at the earliest opportunity. All shore leave crew would be asked to return to the ship at once by vox, and the Adeptus Arbites Judge would be given the minimum of reception, only enough for her to observe the armsman be put to the question. Faydra hadn't decided if she was going to simply hand the armsman over or have her psyker perform an 'accident,' because the less the Arbites could be involved the better. She had a treasure ship to find and to hell with letting anyone else in the Imperium in on it.

Unless they were met with some other interruption, Faydra would keep her thoughts to herself and her wits about her until she could return to the ship and store the mnemolith in her most protected private vault.
 

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Anya followed along behind her captian, leaning on her staff as she walked. Her gaze momentarily leaving the path ahead to look at the Adeptus Arbites and their captive. She couldn't help but wonder who would be foolish enough to send thugs after them in such a crowded and populated place as the Court of the Dead.

Yawning a bit as she looked back to Faydra curiously. "That fight and using my power tired me. Think I might be able to rest for a couple hours before you need me to pilot through the Warp, Ma'am?"
 
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Shrike7

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Ishta followed along silently, having little to add to the public conversation. Privately however, was another matter, the Captain feeling the equivalent of a mental knock before the psyker's voice spoke in her mind.

{I discovered a fair bit from the other psyker, though I fear the mercenary will not know much. i believe they were sent by another Trader, one named Hadarak, if the name is familiar. How much do you wish me to inform these Arbites of, when the time comes?}
 

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

The sudden presence of an unbidden voice resounding in her mind was uncomfortable for the Malfian noble, but fortunately none of the Abitrators or her fellow crew were in a position to get a good look at the brief consternation sweeping across her features. She was not so experienced with astropaths at this point that she was entirely certain how the strange mental communication worked, but as there was an obvious expectation of an answer, Faydra did her best to 'think' back a response.

{Tell them nothing. Mislead them how you wish, but I want them off of my ship believing whatever will make them happy enough to let us set off for the Expanse without delay.}

There, she thought. Hopefully the psyker had heard her or read her, or whatever was the appropriate word that psykers preferred. Having the astropath around was a mixed blessing. Of course they needed to have long range astropathic communication, and information like the sort she had just provided was invaluable, yet at the same time, it had been with those same kinds of warp whispers that a demon had incited mutiny aboard her ship on its maiden voyage out of the Malfian sub-sector. Voices in one's mind were something to be wary of, even if they were soul-bound. Psykers drew demons to them like sharks to bloody pulp.

Hadarak? Had she heard the name before? She wasn't certain. There were a litany of houses minor and major that would desire an Undynne dead and her ship moored indefinitely. But it was unlikely that it was a specific vendetta - given the prize that had been on offer, any person with a pulse and a means to find the treasure ship would be after this mnemolith. She needed to get back to the ship and have her Navigator plot a course immediately for the Maw. With such an opportunity awaiting them and an obvious enemy on their tail, mobility and action before their opponent could react to the failure of his ambush was of the utmost importance.

Once they were through the Maw, they could lose any tracker and be free to hunt down the ancient vessel.
 
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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

The arbitrators nod in response to Siggy's proposed plan, one of them quickly finding something to cover the modified autogun, barely paying any heed to him taking both of the autopistols. "We were on patrol nearby when the report came in over our comm beads. You folks were somewhat lucky. It often takes us far longer to respond."

In no time, the group arrived at the port where the Beneficent Murder was berthed, though as they do, another Rogue Trader vessel roars by the port, heading towards The Maw. From the looks of it, it was a Firestorm-class frigate, and it looked to be in quite a hurry.

"Lady Undynne. Seeing as how you are eager to get on your way, I relinquish custody of this scum to you. I've no wish to overstep my bounds, just to return to my duty to the people of this station. May your journey to the Expanse be safe, and bring glory to the Emperor." he states, the arbites nodding, waiting for one of Faydra's men to take the prisoner off of their hands. It was rather obvious Targos just wanted the problem gone. When they had taken custody of the prisoner, he and his men would withdraw, barring any complaints or questions.
 

Chameon

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

Siggy avoided laughing aloud, but the mirth was hardly hidden from his voice "Aww, a birthday present. Hey there new friend. You're going to tell us all about who hired you. And it's not because I'm going to beat on you, or I'm going to ask the navigator to open her eye, or any other particular instance. Nah. You're not worth any of our efforts, really." With that, he grabbed both of the man's arms behind his back, frogmarching him forward into the ship with a few laughs here and there.

"Nah, my new friend. You're going to tell us, because your buddy with the autogun didn't have a machine spirit in his gun. And our ship has techpriests on it. Now. I don't have to be inventive to describe -exactly- what is done to people who get on the Omnissiah's bad side, so I'm just going to share a few stories, and, if, by the time we get to your new quarters for the next few hours, you decide, of your own free will, to skip that torment, well....that's on you." With that, and with relish, he began describing all of the numerous tortures and tribulations the followers of the Omnissiah heaped on those living throughout the Forge Worlds, the Blessed Emptiness of becoming a living brain for a Servitor or Servoskull being merely the least of the nightmares they could release, he listed numerous things. The harvesting of muscle and sinews, the screams of a fully active murder servitor sent to patrol to punish a district gone too wild, the application of shockskulls to disarm or break a riot. The list went on and on, steadily getting more gruesome, as he went in depth on the knowledge they could bring to bare in regards to torture, turning it from an artform into a science as they steadily broke apart the flesh, separating the veins and stabbing blades into the nerves with disturbing efficiency. Regardless of how the mercenary reacted, he seemed to simply relish the opportunity to return the psychological damage he had theoretically dealt to the Rogue Trader or any of his fellow cohorts. War was not about killing your enemy, not really, it had never been about that. It was about breaking your enemies will to fight back.
 

BlueSlime

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Re: Into the Maw (Game Thread)

After a moment's consideration Faydra turned to her navigator, Anya.

"Of course, if you require rest, then it would be foolish to overtax you before we set off into the Maw. You will have time enough to seek sleep as I have the voidmaster ferry us away from the system's center. I simply wish us to resupply and push off from port as quickly as is possible."

The noble smiled in a manner meant to assuage the incredibly useful mutant, but it disappeared when she once again regarded the arbitrator sergeant.

"Very well, sergeant. I shall see that justice is carried out on his person. Siggy, see that he is put in the lower deck brig and questioned, then store him in the black cells."

This was code, meaning that she intended to vent the man into space. Her astropath had apparently already discovered as much that the man could tell her about their would-be competition. If she should meet with this Hadarak in the Expanse, then she would be obliged to treat him with a similar courtesy. But he was a minor concern that paled in comparison to the glittering possibilities contained within her mnemolith. This above all else she craved to examine in detail aboard her ship.

She would leave the arbitrators to their business if they truly were willing to let her party leave the station without further inquiry. Probably the wisest and healthiest course of action for that sargeant to follow, given her uncertain moods.

Once aboard her ship she would make for her quarters, informing the ship-side officers via vox-message that the captain had returned to the vessel. The old family servent - Dray - would be given leave to remain on Port Wander. Unless the man begged to come on board, she was not of a mood to reward him for having brought her into an ambush. Century of service to her ancestor or not, the man had nearly gotten her and her navigator killed due to incompetence.

If he did make a fuss and gave reasons why he might be worth a damn and could pull his own weight on her ship, she'd let him come aboard the Beneficent, but he'd work on the middle decks. If she needed him for some reason she could summon him to the bridge.
 
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