The Great Price (Game Thread)

[BlueSlime]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

"The screams of their dying souls are too loud," Malllia intoned as she placed her left hand to her temple and winced, as though she were in pain. "The psychic resonance here is too muddled. I cannot tell for certain if psychic phenomena or a warp disturbance was used in this area."

Inwardly, Mallia cursed herself for being so frazzled. Her fear was interfering with her duty. She must toughen up soon or she would be of no use to the Inquisitors.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

"Crap." I've muttered under my breath. Not having any luck with clues, I've switched my focus to more obvious things, like the wounds on the bodies of the battle sisters. I did not like what I saw. "Whoever did this to the Sororitas is well armed. They got killed by some kind of explosive - possibly bolter shells." I pulled out my lho case, then realized I forgot to restock on the damn things before the mission. Not my day. "I am not completely sure what kind of weapon did this, but the shells used pack one hell of a punch. A direct confrontation with them will not end well."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

"The vehicle is pointing away from the the extraction point," the psyker said, looking away from the bodies for a moment. She extended her view down the street in the direction that the chimera had been heading before it was immobilized.

"Where could they have been going? Were they forced off of their intended path? Was artillery used?"

She could only ask the questions aloud, hoping that one of her companions would be more of an expert on that subject. Perhaps the chimera and its crew were seeking an alternative route to some haven of temporary safety? She did not have much to go on.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

"No sign of anything that would include artillery fire... And honestly, if an artillery attack occured, the Inquisition would be sending in the Guard. That sort of attack would be an invitation to open war, and the Ordo would likely take it." I shook my head, taking another look at the Chimera. "Besides, if they got shelled, they'd likely make haste to the extraction zone, not away from it. Something else must have compelled them to come here. Whether this place was the objective or whether they were stopped here by some sort of obstacle, that's what I would like to know." By the Throne, I was getting sick of this place. "No obvious signs of violence aside of the dead, and I haven't noticed anything that'd tip us off about the attackers or where they went." I moved to the transporter to check it's insides more carefully. Perhaps there was something left to find in it.

 

[lurker]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

Having quietly failed in her own search for clues, Seraph moved quietly before the dead sisters, eyes closed and head bowed in reverence. Moving her hand in the sign of the aquila, she quietly recited a prayer to the dead and the dying, quietly wishing that her fellow Sisters would find themselves at the Emperor's side swiftly.

Standing back up again, she listened to the back and forth for a little while before talking herself. "Unless, of course, they weren't driving under their own control. Nothing against you, Mallia, but it's not an uncommon thought that a rouge psyker could easily do this as well..."

This situation was very swiftly starting to bring up some bad memories. Very, very bad memories.

"But no matter what though, we need to find a lead on where the priest is, and hopefully fast. No telling if we're being watched..."

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

Aside from the remains of the Acolyte cell, the inside of the Chimera offer little. However, one of the control panels seemed to be active with something blinking.
Any of the others - including the driving controls, however, seemed to have been locked out.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

The blinking light on the control panel drew Mallia's attention away from the psychic white noise that sounded beyond the empyreal gateway in her mind. Focusing for the moment in the prosaic reality, the psyker bent at the knees and leaned forward into the ruined chimera, holding her breath and covering her mouth and nose with the black sleeve of her tattered robes as she examined the device.

She was not completely useless with technology as some of the more cerebral psykers in the Imperium tended to be. She had grown up aboard an Imperial War Ship, and had learned in her younger years what the blips on some devices meant, and how turning the knobs and connecting wires made things go. The machine priests said that this was appealing to the Omnissiah. Mallia had a dimmer view on the existance of some heretical machine spirit, but she was willing to allow that the mighty God-Emperor could extend his presence through both humanity and machines, for such was his unlimited power and right to do so.

Now, she thought, what could this light mean?

Spoiler

Tech Use (Int) roll: 57 (see OOC thread for confirmations of all future rolls)

Nope. She had no clue.

"Mmph," she muttered distastefully and withdrew herself away from the terrible corpses. "Tech priest... what does the flashing light mean? Is it at all useful to us?"

 

[Caulder]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

Drake's Vox-speaker flares up in a sound akin to a grumble, before his voice is broadcast. "Tech-Wright. I am not yet a full member of the Priesthood." he says, folding his arms and leaning over, eyeing the blinking light and bringing his right hand up to hold his chin, drawing on his own knowledge to determine what the blinking light meant.

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

The panel's purpose, as well as the meaning of the blinking light, were actually well known to Drake:

It was a form of security system, specifically for monitoring prisoners while being transferred. The light was indicating that the system was in its fail-safe secure mode, meaning that it would take the proper tech work to access it.

However, exactly what was require seemed to have slipped his mind at the moment.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

"Well?" My own scrutiny of the Chimera's interior didn't yield much. So far I'd learned little, my training not covering these vehicles, and I couldn't figure out the purpose of the light either, not being a techpriest. Still, that mech-wright would probably know. "Any idea what it might be?" I gave the interior on last good look while I asked.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

Mallia as well hung on the next words that the mech wright would utter. Hopefully shedding some light on what he had discovered...

 

[lurker]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

During most of this conversation, Seraph had stayed outside the Chimera- she spent too much time as a passenger and not as a driver to have a clue about the current issue, and her general unease instead ensured she was on high alert, watching the empty streets idly, weapon drawn and safety released.

 

[Caulder]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

Drake's vox-speaker once more springs to life. "This panel is a security system for monitoring prisoners. The light indicates it is in fail-safe secure mode, which means I must consult the Omnissiah if I am to attempt to access it." he says, straightening and placing his hands together, his eyes closing as he begins chanting in Binary cant, likely performing some ritual or rite to the Omnissiah.

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

"Prisoner monitor?" Mallia mused. "The Inquisitors did not mention that Uriah might be a prisoner, but if he was refusing to come willingly, then it might explain why this system is online, and it would explain why his corpse is not here among the others. We may have to presume that the priest is a heretic, and that his confederates have attempted - successfully for the moment - to retrieve him from inquisitorial custody."

The psyker turned to Seraph, who held the data slate.

"If Uriah is taken beyond the containment zone, he will disappear into the riot and the underhive. If the mech-wright cannot bypass the fail-safe, we must cover the nearest exits. We must also check in with high command and make sure that there have been no further breaches of security in the general area."

 

[lurker]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

Seraph turned from her post as her name was called. "Hrm? Oh, right..." she muttered, quickly reaching for the datapad again, and quickly examining it to see if any information was on it about the perimeter of the blockades for the riots. "One of you have the vox, right?"

 

[cross_grave]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

"Yeah, I took it." I held out my arm, brandishing the requested device. Perhaps it was indeed best to inform the command of our findings and let them know what we had found. "Let's wait until our mechanical friend fixes the system, though. Perhaps we can learn a bit more from it and report everything at once."

 

[ShadowWolfSBI]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

Even as the discussion turned towards contacting the Implacable Dawn, Drake managed to persuade the monitor's machine spirit to co-operate. While there seemed to be some kind of interference with the display, the group would be able to discover a few facts:

It seemed that the monitor had been activated by the request of Praetus himself, due to concerns about unusual phenomenon, such as chronos stopping without cause or suddenly reversing in their readout before correcting on their own, claims among the populace of hearing whispers or laughter from lost loved ones. Also, the priest reported claims of numerous members of his flock, himself included, getting strange headaches or having bizarre, inexplicable dreams.

From elsewhere in the recording, it would seem that most of the trip the priest spent trying to sort out some of those nightmares with the Verispex and the Cleric.

It was the end of the recording, though, that would be most pertinent to the group's efforts. One of the Battle Sisters escorting the Chimera reported movement behind the group. The Arbites opted to turn the Chimera around to try to bring its weapons to bear on whatever was following the group. Just as they were starting to consider it a false call, the recording cut out completely... Returning to show a panicked Praetus amid the mess they themselves found. The last thing shown was the Cleric fleeing, clearly terrified of something.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

It seemed that our mech-wright has finally managed to communicate with the machine spirits successfully, allowing us some access to the chimera's data records. The sight presented to us was grim indeed - rumors of weird incidents, visions of the dead, unexplained migraines and nightmares... This sounded suspiciously like sorcery. At the very least, it seemed that the priest had been cooperative, and if his fear at the sight of... Whatever the Hell that massacred the convoy was genuine, then perhaps he was a pious one as well.

"This answers some of our questions." I'd muttered, musing over the contents of the video. "Like why the chimera was pointed away from the drop zone. The priest's escape is both fortunate and unfortunate for us - there is a chance that he was not captured by the assailants, but it will be hard to find him if he has gone into hiding. We need to tread carefully." Investigating this mess would be a difficult job indeed. "Mallia, do you think those incidents mentioned could be a sign of warp tainting this world? If chaos is here, things might go to Hell very quickly." I'd asked our psyker, taking one more glance at the corpses. Suddenly, a thought occured to me. Without waiting for an answer, I quickly moved to check what sort of weapons were mounted on the vehicle.

 

[lurker]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

Seraph too seemed to have less of a sharp concern to her face. "Indeed, this narrows this down greatly, definitely seems that some form of psyker or warp interference is in the area, and someone at the very least wants the Priest alive as well... Wait. Chimeras are usually equipped with not only the front weapon but also a turret. Why didn't they just turn the turret instead of the entire vehicle and keep going to extraction?" she asked, and quietly joined the Arbite in checking the machine's weapon loadout, taking several steps back to try and identify the turret specifically. This suddenly seemed like a major logical error on the part of these trained soldiers, who would have known how these vehicles worked... Especially with a POI and so close to the destination.

 

[cross_grave]

Re: The Great Price (Game Thread)

"I imagine they wanted to bring all the weapons to bear... And besides, the armor on the back of most vehicles tends to be a bit weaker than the front armor. I assume they wanted to minimize the damage in case the chimera was shot at." I've responded to the Sister's question as she joined me. "And I assume they did not know what they were dealing with, and didn't want to take risks in case they were unable to outrun the attackers. I believe the Sororita escorts were on foot, after all. If that was the case, then facing the opponent with your all your weapons and your best shield was the right course of action. Or, well, it would have been the right course of action against most dangers a typical hive has to offer."