Author Topic: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)  (Read 59557 times)

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Offline DM B

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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #195 on: November 09, 2013, 07:13:47 PM »
OOC: Also not entirely sure what part of the Nar-ghosts are setting up a forward defence vs. the fighters-turned-into-titans and who are staying out of sight along with the Magos.
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Offline Ohlaak (Alan)

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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #196 on: November 10, 2013, 03:24:25 PM »
Luliana smugly peers down at the battered and disheveled body of Nouri; if he were awake, he would make a very suitable sacrifice. She smiles ever so briefly, surprised that their reckoning came so quickly and that the gods favor her so.  Ultimately, Luliana selects 4 squats, a thrall (whose talent could one day threaten her) and a spacemarine. She prepares them quickly for the undertaking that shall soon commence.

Nouri seethes with fury in the dark recesses of unconsciousness.  Surrounded by darkness all he can hears is the thunderous thumping around him.  Yet before he can question, between the echoes he hears:
"Do not ask which creature screams in the night. Do not question who waits for you in the shadow. It is my cry that wakes you in the night, and my body that crouches in the shadow. I am Tzeentch and you are the puppet that dances to my tune...”

Oblivion is chased away.

Nouri awakens in pain just as Luliana begins the ritual in earnest: all eyes are on her.  He slowly stands uses he hand to steady himself as he sways into the wall, but it isn’t the charred hand he remembers. The hand and forearm are blackened like charcoal with an ever so slight midnight blue tinge.  And it looks like smooth obsidian, though it yet moves like flesh; he flexes a hand now adorned with straight blackened claws. He turns to the ritual with purpose.

Nouri quickly recognizes the ritual circle: a high ritual incorporating both a greater summoning, an exorcism and elements to compel the vessel.  He observes as the daemon releases and is drawn out of the Gaius, and as it settles down upon Xerxzes to begin a battle-of-wills, for which the outcome is assured without some intervention as the first sacrifice is drained and the second one is used. To his right he can see Ben slowly slinking about and he looks eyes with him for a moment before marshaling for a last assault.

Nouri bursts forth towards the 3rd and 4th sacrifices with the intent to kill them before they can be used to fuel the ritual. At the same time, Ben moves to pull out the thrall and drag out Gaius.

Offline Stonecrown Coster/MB (Rune)

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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #197 on: November 10, 2013, 07:50:27 PM »
Observing the spectacle happening, Gaius tests the boundaries confining him inside his own mind. The daemon is strong, much stronger than he expected, and certainly stronger than he can ever hope to be. It is clear that force will not let Gaius resume control over his body. Yet, his body is unfamiliar to the daemon, and through years of meditation Gaius has explored his own mind over and over again, sealing off parts of it and expanding other parts. So well hidden anyone studying his mind would never suspect it was there. If he were to enter those parts, the daemon might lose track of him. Perhaps a way to freedom can be found after all.

He knows what he has to do, yet fear holds him back. He no longer remembers what horrors lie within, but he must have had reasons for sealing off more than half his life's secrets. But as he is no longer in control of his body, perhaps the damage caused by revisiting those memories can be dampened. Or perhaps it will extinguish the last part of him, releasing him from this body, and this life. A blessing, perhaps, compared to his current situation.

As the daemons attention is turned towards Luliana, Gaius ventures deeper inside his own mind. The memories come flooding back, tearing at the very fabric of his soul. How can any man live with such action as he has done? Even without his body, the pain feels almost physical. Like spikes being driven through his head. It grows increasingly difficult to maintain focus, yet he forces himself to carry on. The daemon seems to ignore him, absorbed in Lulianas ritual.

His will is weakening. The task of keeping his mind and soul intact seems to heavy to carry. Easier to give up. Less painful. Yet, he continues. Within these hidden memories he is protected from the daemons power, but what can protect him from himself?

Then, suddenly, he watches his body from above. An almost invisible thread chains his consciousness to his body, but he is free nontheless. Turning his attention towards Xerxes, he uses whatever strenght he has left to invade the weakened marine's mind. He knows what he's looking for:  The daemons true name.
« Last Edit: November 10, 2013, 07:53:10 PM by Stonecrown Coster/MB (Rune) »
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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #198 on: November 10, 2013, 09:24:19 PM »
[OOC: Warning, this is going to be long! ;D]

Quote
With that the two part ways, Derryck and the Nar-Ghosts heading in the direction Azrael recommended would lead them to fire control with the least resistance.

Moving through any enemy installation with over 40 people [OOC: Derryck + 40 Nar-Ghosts + 4 recruits from the ruins] stealthily is not an easy task.  As such Derryck took 4 of the best and most experienced warriors with him to form an advance group that could deactivate security optics allowing the bulk of the group to pass unnoticed.  As they were sticking to back corridors and the crew had plenty to keep them occupied in distant parts of the ship they did not expect to encounter much resistance, at least hopefully nothing the 5 of them couldn't handle.

The first two groups of crew members they came across indeed were no problem.  There had only been 3 of them in each group, unarmoured and only armed with pistols they had surrendered without a fight.  Azrael had asked them to try and minimise crew casualties as he hoped to be able to establish relations with them later, as such Derryck simply knocked them out, tied them up and locked them in storage cupboards.

The third group however decided to be stupid.  There were 6 of them, slightly out-numbering Derryck's team, and two of them had rifles rather than just pistols, but they were still outgunned by the Nar-Ghosts.  Had they any sense they would have surrendered too, however they decided to opt for heroics and fought back.  Derryck and his men put them down quickly, but Jonas and Theo were injured in the process.  Theo only slightly, though it would slow him down, but Jonas was serious.  They weren't too far from their entry point yet and the way back should be clear, so after weighing it up for a moment Derryck sent Theo plus one of the other ghosts, Renard, to take Jonas back to Irena outside the ship, cycling two others into the vanguard team.



Meanwhile outside the ship

"I think that is as much as I can do from here Inquisitor," said Azrael, packing up his communications equipment, "The orbital communicator should enable us to remain in contact now.  I am going into the ship to see if I can try and salvage something from this situation.  I will keep you informed of progress."

The Magos turns to Corporal Usher, "Your support would be welcome if you would offer it."
Usher nods, "Aye, we will assist you, but Roman here cannot go far or fast."
"We will leave him in the care of Irena along with the injured Relictor, come Sam," says Azrael, gesturing for the servitor to carry Roman as they make their way down to the maintenance hatch.
[OOC: Hope this is fine LordPyscho]

Irena is hidden a short distance from the maintenance hatch with an assistant, Karl, and the injured Relictor marine.

Azrael enters their small hideout followed by Sam carrying Roman and then Usher and the other Necromundans.
"I have another patient for you Irena," Azrael nods towards Roman, "his ankle is injured."
Sam sets Roman down carefully beside Irena, who delicately examines Roman's ankle.  Roman winces slightly as she does so.
"It is very badly sprained, but not broken.  Nonetheless you will not be able to use it much for the next few days," Irena says kindly.
"We will leave him in your capable hands," Azrael says turning to go.
"Good luck," Irena says softly.
"Thank you," Azrael replies, as he steps out of the small hideout.

Azrael, Sam and the four remaining Necromundans reach the maintenance hatch and enter the ship.  They take a different path to Derryck, winding through narrow corridors until Azrael finds what he was looking for, a small data shrine from which he can access the ships systems.

Azrael then goes through various safety procedures, including connecting Sam to the shrine.  He had a bad experience with a renegade Land Raider the warband came across some time ago.  Its machine spirit had been heavily corrupted and quite insane.  While Azrael had been able to deal with it, it was not an experience he wished to repeat, at least certainly not without warning, and so he had been much more cautious before connecting to unknown machines ever since.

Satisfied that nothing unpleasant was lurking within this part of the ships data grid, or at least nothing his failsafes can't handle, Azrael jacks himself into the shrine.

"Keep watch while I access this shrine please Usher, my perception of the physical world will be dulled whilst I am connected."

There is the familiar feeling of falling through blackness until his consciousness emerges into the grid.  It has been a long time since he has connected to a grid large and complex enough to support a full anthropomorphic actualisation and he stretches his incorporeal form as he drinks in the experience.
"It's good to be back," he says quietly to himself, before turning to look at his surroundings.

Every Mechanicum adept experiences connecting to a data grid differently, their mind projecting a landscape onto the grid to aid interaction.  For senior adepts the landscape also varies with the level of immersion.  At this low level of immersion, to Azrael, the data grid appeared as a long corridor full of doors and with the occasional branch leading off it.  Different Magi treat their anthropomorphic actualisations differently too, Azrael's appeared much like his physical self, albeit rather cleaner and clad in his Mechanicus robes.  Some Magi however, particularly the most senior and ancient ones, bear even less resemblance to a human than their physical selves.

Azrael regarded the corridor.  While it is primarily a landscape projected by his own mind, it picks up aspects of the ship as well.  Rather than the clean stark white that Azrael would find in a new and well maintained Imperial ship here there is a thin layer of dust covering the floor, and there are cracks in the paintwork too.  This ship has not seen a true Mechanicum adept for a long time.  There is something slightly baroque about the corridor too, a slight vaulting to the ceiling, oversized, albeit tarnished, door handles.  This ship is old too.  Despite the grime there was a sense of solidness however.  Though it was old, and not well cared for this was still a sturdy ship that would serve a good master well.

"It's about time someone looked after you a little better old girl," Azrael said absentmindedly, stroking one of the wall panels.  He heard, or perhaps imagined, a faint appreciative sigh from the ship as he did so.

Looking more carefully Azrael could see that as well as the dirt and the cracked paintwork there was a vague darkness about some of the corners, almost like mould.  Corruption.  Not dramatic, but definitely there, the touch of Chaos is unmistakeable to one who knows how to look for it.  Not unexpected given who the ship's owner was, and actually not as bad he had thought it might be.  Either the ship was quite resistant or it had only entered the service of Chaos comparatively recently.  The corruption was also slightly stronger toward the rear of the ship.  He could only directly access the forward part of the ship from here, but he could get echoes from other parts of the ship and there was a definite sense that something dramatic was going on at the back of the ship.  No doubt that was where the struggle involving the Relictors was taking place.

"Right," he said to himself, "down to business."

Azrael made a gesture and the walls of the corridor rushed past him.

Whilst it would seem to someone else immersed in the grid that his reverie and examination had lasted some time it had in fact only been a fraction of a second.  Actions in the grid moved at the speed of thought.  This was something else Azrael had missed about being connected to such facilities.  While there are of course many subtle differences an Adept of the Mechanicus is probably the closest a non-psyker can be to understanding what it is like to communicate and interact with objects psychically.  One can have an entire conversation in the space of a microsecond and one is not limited by the ability of language to articulate ideas.  Nonetheless everything else in the grid moves at the speed of thought also, and while the ship is obviously not overtly hostile, and all machines have a certain deference to members of the Machine Cult there would be roving security programs that would not recognise Azrael as their master.  There would not be many here as from this shrine he was limited in what he could do with the ships systems, he could look at most things relating to the forward sections, but his ability to act was restricted.

Azrael made another gesture and the walls stopped.  In front of him was a door labelled 'Internal Optics'.  Exactly what he was looking for.  He reached out to the handle of the door and then froze.  There was a security program on the other side of the door, he could sense it.  Not a particularly nasty one, but nonetheless.

Preparing himself he put his boot to the door and burst through it.  The security program had been just behind the door, as he had hoped, and was bowled over.  It had a roughly humanoid appearance, however its head was a smooth pearlescent egg without any hint of a face and the lower part of its right arm was a vicious looking blade.  A rather simple low level program, Azrael mused briefly, they always do tend to stand too close behind the doors.  It attempted to right itself and slash out at Azrael with its blade but Azrael ducked aside and shot it in the face, or at least where its face would have been.  The pearlescent orb shattered and the program fell limp before dissolving.

“Right, hopefully that was the only one in this section.”

Azrael turned to look around the room.  Arrayed around the walls were banks of monitors displaying the output of the security optics throughout the ship.  He approached one of the banks of monitors and began cycling through the optics in the forward section, around the path he expected Derryck to have taken.  A good number of the cameras were non-functional, no doubt partly through damage, and possibly partly through poor maintenance.  He found a single winding path along which all of the cameras had been disabled.  He smiled, Derryck had done well, not many people would have found that winding path of disabled cameras.  He disconnected the next camera along the corridor from the main network so that only he could see its output.  Then he activated his vox unit.

“Derryck, when you reach the next camera, rather than disabling it, throw something small into its field of view.”

“Aye Magos,” Derryck confirmed.  He had been waiting for Azrael to enter the ship and access its systems.

After what seemed like a long wait to Azrael an ammo pack bounced into the view of the camera he was watching.

“Excellent, I have your position.  Now I can guide you around any obstacles,” Azrael said over the vox.

“Great, I was hoping we wouldn’t have to deal with any more of the crew, Jonas was seriously injured in the last encounter,” Derryck replied with just a hint of chagrin.

“What happened?”

Derryck filled Azrael in on the encounter, after which Azrael contacted Theo and Renard and went through the same process as with Derryck, such that he could guide them back out of the ship without running into any patrols.

His people out of immediate danger Azrael scanned through the rest of the forward areas of the ship.  It did not take long to spot the original entry point of the Relictor marines and the path they had taken.  The trail of blood and carnage was quite unmistakeable.  He marvelled for a moment at the shear destructive power of a squad of Space Marines in the tight confines of a spacecraft.  The trail did indeed lead towards the rear part of the ship, if they had maintained this level of destruction all the way to engineering they might well have slaughtered over a third of the crew.  Nonetheless there would still be over a thousand souls still on board.

Shortly afterwards he located Roldar and his scouts.  He activated the communicator he had given to Roldar.

“Roldar, this is Azrael.  While you will no doubt be able to find and follow the trail of blood and gore left by your brothers I believe they went in the direction of the enginarium.  I can guide you part of the way there avoiding large groups of crew, but my sight does not reach beyond the forward sections at the moment.”

Continuing to scan through the camera views he found the target he had selected for Derryck, the secondary fire control centre.  This coordinated the control of the smaller defensive turrets that could be used against the Xenos.  Azrael swore quietly to himself.  The secondary fire control centre was a hive of activity.  He had thought it might be busy given that the fighters only recently flew over but he could count at least 60 people in the room.  Azrael contemplated the idea of creating a distraction to lure some of them away, but even if he could get half of them to leave that still left 30.  It might be possible but it would be very risky.

Another thought occurred to him instead.  He split his focus in two, creating a shadow version of himself.  His shadow walked back out into the corridor and the walls rushed past again.  This time they stopped with a door marked ‘Weapons status’.  He couldn’t access the weapons themselves from this shrine, but he could examine their condition.  His shadow paused for a moment in front of the door.  No security program this time.  He opened the door and stepped inside.  Examining the weapons he found that there were only three turrets with fire arcs in the right direction that were still operational in any case.  He marked the location of the turrets and drew his shadow back to him.
Seeking out the turrets on the monitors he found that there were, as he had expected, far fewer crew members near them.  Automated turrets did not after all need to be attended to unless there was a problem.  The path to one of the turrets however lay through a more populated area.  Two turrets for two Xenos, the idea appealed to him and he contacted Derryck again.

“Change of plans, secondary fire control is too heavily guarded.  Divide the group, I am sending you to two of the turrets to control them directly, they are far more lightly protected.  I’m sending you their locations.”

“Affirmative”

Derryck quickly divided the warband in two, putting Yelena in charge of the second team.

Guiding four groups through the ship would be taxing but Theo, Renard and Jonas were near the maintenance hatch now.

The two teams had just started moving towards the turrets when Azrael heard a quiet voice urgently whispering in his ear.

“Magos there’s a group of 12 crewmen heading this way, we need to move.”

It was Usher.

“Feth, that’s too many.”

He checked the camera feeds, Usher was right, they must have moved into the area while Azrael was distracted looking everywhere else.  Had he somehow alerted the crew to his presence?  It seemed unlikely, but either way they needed to leave this area.

Azrael voxed quickly through to all of the groups, “You’re on your own for a while, I need to move to a different location.  I’ll be back in contact as soon as I can.”

[OOC: Hope everyone liked that and it moved things forward enough while still having some ambiguity]
« Last Edit: November 10, 2013, 10:28:36 PM by Dragon Lord »

Offline LordPsycho

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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #199 on: November 12, 2013, 02:07:49 PM »
Outside the ship

"I think that is as much as I can do from here Inquisitor," said Azrael, packing up his communications equipment, "The orbital communicator should enable us to remain in contact now.  I am going into the ship to see if I can try and salvage something from this situation.  I will keep you informed of progress."

"Your assistance has been precious, Magos. I just received a blurred message from a group that could be the Ravenwing. If so, their help could be helpful against the xenos. I'll try to confirm their identity and guide them. Good luck."

The Magos turns to Corporal Usher, "Your support would be welcome if you would offer it."
Usher nods, "Aye, we will assist you, but Roman here cannot go far or fast."
"We will leave him in the care of Irena along with the injured Relictor, come Sam," says Azrael, gesturing for the servitor to carry Roman as they make their way down to the maintenance hatch.
[OOC: Hope this is fine LordPyscho]

[OOC: perfect  :) ]

Azrael, Sam and the four remaining Necromundans reach the maintenance hatch and enter the ship.

At this moment, the two xenos constructs arrive in view of the ship.

Hrothgar, Lukas and their men were prepared, but the vision is somehow... disturbing.

Then the xenos start using their strange but powerful weapons.

The two teams had just started moving towards the turrets when Azrael heard a quiet voice urgently whispering in his ear.

“Magos there’s a group of 12 crewmen heading this way, we need to move.”

It was Usher.

“Feth, that’s too many.”

He checked the camera feeds, Usher was right, they must have moved into the area while Azrael was distracted looking everywhere else.  Had he somehow alerted the crew to his presence?  It seemed unlikely, but either way they needed to leave this area.

Azrael voxed quickly through to all of the groups, “You’re on your own for a while, I need to move to a different location.  I’ll be back in contact as soon as I can.”

"Habem, Tonk, open the way. Pumarkin, help me watch our back."

The Spiders move away from the approaching crewmen. As natives of hive world Necromunda, they are much more at ease in the metal corridors of the Ship than outdoors. Azrael and Sam move between them. The Magos guides the group thanks a map registered in his memory circuits.

A crewman silhouette appears at a junction, followed by another one... no, two others...
The firefight breaks out.

Covered behind door frames and walls, Usher and Pumarkin throw two frag grenades, then shoot in burst with their lasguns to repel the crewsmen, armed with their own lasguns, autoguns and pistols. The Spiders kill three enemies, then four, five, six...

Suddenly, crewsmen stop running into their firing lines.

The two soldiers are forced to leave their position when a bunch of grenades fly into the corridor.
The smell of promethium reaches them, before the heat of the flamer.

Usher barely manages to escape the flames, but Pumarkin catches fire and starts screaming.

The officer can do nothing but give him a quick death with a headshot from his lasgun. With a dark expression on his face, he runs to catch up Azrael and the rest of the group.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2013, 02:11:48 PM by LordPsycho »
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Offline DM B

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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #200 on: November 12, 2013, 06:55:09 PM »
Outside the ship

The Ner'gal fighter-craft have transformed into hideous multi-legged warmachines that are even now marching on the location of the Sensibilious. They remind the soldiers of warped titans - which isn't good for morale at all. Your only choice seems to be attacking the legs - they would appear to be the weak spots.
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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #201 on: November 12, 2013, 07:55:06 PM »
Gun team Derryk: Eliminates a handful of ship's armsmen, including one big mutant that doesn't respond at all to being shot with lasweapons, at the price of one of Derryk's best men. They are now in control of the turret.

Gun team Yelena: Their progress is halted time and again when the layout of the ship doesn't conform to what Azrael fed to them. The team is trying to find its way, but the more it tries the more lost it becomes. Good thing the ship isn't THAT big!

Team Azrael: Azrael's little group has been joined by the remaining Necromundans. It is currently on the move, trying locate another suitable spot for Azrael to physically interface with the Machine. Just before Azrael logged out of the previous shrine he got a glimpse of something he didn't particularity like seeing; a subtle command sent along the byways of the ship's grid to hidden murder servitors. If you are not mistaken there are now a number of them actively prowling the secondary maintenance areas and utility conduits: They task is simple, to prevent further intrusions like the one you make. As soon as you reunite with the ship they will know your location...unless you can outwit them.
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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #202 on: November 12, 2013, 08:57:16 PM »
Nouri explodes into action. Before anyone can stop him - not even the daemon - he's decapitated on the of the intended sacrifices. He is not so fast as to reach his second intended target, however. Instead he halted by the iron-strong grip of power-armoured Kiltren Chigier around his neck. He tries to bring his claws to bear, but Kiltren heaves him overhead then smacks him into the floor. Sorcereous claws shatter as the full weight of a space marine puts ceramite to the unyielding enginarium floor. Claws turn back into flesh and bone - smashed flesh and shattered bone.

"Be still," the giant hisses, "and let your apprentice make you proud."

The last thing Nouri sees before the darkness claims him is Ben, held aloft in a telekinetic vice. "You may proceed sorceress," the Gaius-daemon says, "I have a replacement for your here." And with that poor Ben is turned inside-out in a gory display of psychic might...



Meanhwhile....

...Gaius is taking a monumental risk; he exerts himself greatly by vacating his own possessed body. If this astral projection doesn't pay of he's be unable to return, dooming his spirit to a brief existence on this plan before it fades into the Realm of Chaos.

Into Xerxzes mind you go. He doesn't particularly resits you - possibly a side effect of the ongoing ritual - so entry is simple enough. The rest is more complicated. You've never been inside a mind that even remotely this complex. Memories are piled in layer upon layer, some of orderly, but most of it jumbled and chaotic. You try to pick through it, but its hopeless - there is way too much for you to ever take in fully. Decades. Centuries. Millennia. More than ten thousand years of death and destruction.

For a moment you contemplate trying to invade Xerxzes ego core, but change your mind once you've had a better look: Its pinched up so tight that you fear to even try to touch it.

"I was there," a voice says, "the day the Emperor addressed the fully mustered 3rd Legion of Adeptus Astartes." It is Xerxes voice, speaking to you. "It was on the eve of our deployment to the Great Crusade. On the very next day we began boarding our vessels and heading into the great unknown. Many were our battles before we were reunited with Fulgrim, our primogenitor."

He shares his vision with you; hundreds of thousands of Space Marines arrayed in formation upon a great mustering field. There is a moon in the morning sky; it can only be blessed Luna, meaning you stand upon the sacred soil of Terra. In the distance, upon a podium is a radiant figure. You cannot actually make out his features - it's like trying to look directly upon the brightest sun there ever was - but his presence surrounds you and suffuses you. And you are content, for this man is the father of your father, the Saviour of all Mankind, and you are the vessel of his great project - the Great Crusade to reunite humanity and bring peace to the galaxy.

"This I remember. As I do remember the day I first saw my Primarch. And the day we learned of the Emperor's Great Betrayal. Other things I also recall, but not as vividly as those three. There is simply not enough room in the mind of one man, space marine or otherwise, to house so many memories.

I will show you the names of the daemon - I keep them safely tucked away - but they will not accomplish what you desire. It has been a long time since I cast him out and bound him and he has taken on many more names. Those that I know will only get you halfway there.

Bide your time and be clever; the daemon is mighty, but vain and foolish. Sooner or later it will make a mistake. That is how I vanquished it."

And so it is that Xerxzes shows you the seventeen secret names of the daemon that currently resides in your body...
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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #203 on: November 12, 2013, 09:05:19 PM »
The ritual plays out without further incidents; Luliana goes through the motions and the necessary sacrifices are made, mostly from Xerxzes' own fighters, but inverse Ben and a couple of squats are also allowed to give up their lives.

Those of you present (and awake) get to witness something few people ever get to see; daemonic possession. The already dim enginarium becomes even darker and the temperature drops noticeably. Shadows seem to wrap themselves around Gaius, before tendrils reach out to wrap themselves around Xerxzes. Perhaps a minute passes before Gaius slumps to the ground and the last of the shadowy tendrils are gone.

Gone are also Xerxzes' craggy features. Instead their are replaced by a visage so perfect and noble that it can only be described as supernatural beauty. "Ah..." he says in the voice of Xerxzes, but you know it is not. It is the daemon speaking. "It is so good to be back dear Xerxzes. We two, we were made for one another. Your body is the only one worthy of holding me - and we sure do look better with me on board, don't you think? Even your Primarch would approve of your looks now!" The laughter that follows sounds entirely like the daemon.

Lexander releases his grip on the Xerxzes-daemon...
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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #204 on: November 12, 2013, 09:15:39 PM »
The daemon addresses the squats: "Finally we are free from the wicked whims of Xerxzes! You have done it my children - we are again masters of our ancestral vessel, again the architects of our own fates. Go now, and attend your duties, but send word for the elders - we need their counsel."

The daemon addresses the remaining warriors: "I remain Xerxzes and you remain my wards and warriors. Make ready for battle - there are intruders still loose on the ship that needs slaughtering. I shall join you shortly and we shall do glorious battle together."

The daemon speaks to Lexander: "Well done my champion. My trust was not poorly place. I have let a portion of my power reside within the thing you call the Tower; keep it by your side and it will make you fearsome in battle and safe from the mind games of lesser sorcerers."

The daemon speaks to Luliana: "You shall take your master's place at my side. You are not half the sorcerer he is...but I guess you will have to suffice. As a boon I grant you the body and soul of your old master; feast upon it so that you might gain some of his power, or keep him as a thrall if it amuses you - it should I think, he so hates being under the control of another!"

He turns to Gaius, pokes his limp form with his toe. "I guess you weren't quite so tough after all. You spirit is all but gone. Pitty. I could have used you as a vessel for a lesser one of my kind." But Gaius isn't in right now, he's keeping out of sight, hiding his astral presence on the far side of the warp core.
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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #205 on: November 12, 2013, 09:17:36 PM »
In the hive

Nothing much happens. Maegon chats a bit with Azrael while waiting for his elites to carry stuff down - they've only just begun and will be at it for the better part of today and tomorrow.
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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #206 on: November 12, 2013, 11:57:29 PM »
Outside the ship

Quote
The Ner'gal fighter-craft have transformed into hideous multi-legged warmachines that are even now marching on the location of the Sensibilious. They remind the soldiers of warped titans - which isn't good for morale at all. Your only choice seems to be attacking the legs - they would appear to be the weak spots.
Lukas spots one of the Xenos constructs as it crests a small rise, the sight of it makes him shiver slightly, it looks decidedly unnatural.  Supressing the feeling he relays its position to Hrothgar and lines up a shot on one of the leg joints.  He doesn't have much hope of actually damaging it, just distracting it while Hrothgar attacks from a different angle, so he waits until Hrothgar gives his signal.

At that moment his comm-bead buzzes into life, "Lukas, this is Derryck.  We've taken control of one of the forward turrets on the ship, patch me in to your targeting telemetry and I can bring it to bear on the Xenos."

Just in time, thought Lukas, "Good to hear from you Derryck. You should be getting the telemetry now."

"Excellent, we'll just need a moment to bring the cannons up to power."

Inside Derryck's team have stripped the armsmen of any useful supplies and placed guards on the corridors leading to the gun while Derryck and a few others activate the power cycle and link the gun to the targeting information from Lukas.  There is the whirring sound of huge volumes of energy being drawn upon and the gun tracks around toward the Xenos, ready to fire.



With Yelena's team

"Where the hell are we?," said Samael, grumpily.

"How the feth am I supposed to know?," snapped Yelena, "We should have been at the turret ages ago."

"At least we haven't come across any more of the crew," interjected Karl, trying to look on the bright side.

"I don't think even the crew come to this part of the ship very often," said Ivan, "Look at the dust and dirt everywhere."

"Looks like some kind of disused storage area or something," offered Olivar, trying to be helpful.

"The Magos will get back to us soon and then it'll be fine," Nathain said, as much to reassure himself as anyone else.



With Azrael

After they had got away from the crewmen Azrael pulled Usher aside for a moment.

"Rest assured that Pomarkin's sacrifice will be remembered with the best of the Nar-Ghosts," Azrael said, his eyes blazing, "Unfortunately we have another problem, before I disconnected from the ship I detected it activating a cadre of murder-servitors.  I do not know how many, but if I connect to the ship again they will know where we are."

Usher did not wish to speak about Pomarkin but simply nodded, "What are we to do then if these murder-servitors will find us as soon as you connect to the ship?"

"Fortunately, the programming of these automatons is relatively simple, and they can be tricked.  When we next find a data shrine I will rig it so that I can make it activate from a distance, and we will booby trap it, such that when a servitor comes they will be destroyed by the explosion.  It will not deal with all of them, but from the corpse of one of them I can extract its identity codes.  If we can then find a data shrine with higher level access I should be able to use the codes to disguise myself for long enough to disable them.  I may even be able to turn the situation to our advantage and reprogram the servitors to follow my commands."

Usher smiled grimly, "It sounds like a plan at least."

A few minutes later they find a small data shrine in a sheltered alcove.

"This will do perfectly," Azrael said, stepping toward it to make the adjustments.  He stripped off the front panel of the console and counted through the wires with his fingers thoughtfully for a moment, before selecting the necessary ones and adjusting their connections before inserting a tiny transmitter (incidentally the same one he had originally used to bug Usher's vox, he removed it again when disassembling the vox to connect it to his own communication equipment).  The necessary adjustments made he strapped several grenades to the console with a simple proximity detonator before they retreated to a safe location to activate the shrine and draw in the murder servitors.
« Last Edit: November 12, 2013, 11:59:39 PM by Dragon Lord »

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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #207 on: November 13, 2013, 10:02:51 AM »
@Team Roldar: Using the main access spine proves impossible as it is heavily defended with a variety of semi-heavy weaponry. So Roldar and his men are forced to use a secondary route to reach the enginarium. It is slow going; not only are there a great many stairs, passageways, gantries and so forth, but there are also enemies about and plenty of locked or otherwise impassable doors and portals.

At one point the group is ambushed by a murder-servitor that clings silent and unseen to the roof until you're right under it; it kills two of the new 'recruits' before Roldar blows out its cortex with a single well-place snap shot.

You are now more or less stuck somewhere in the vicinity of the aft port reaction-mass tanks. Well, maybe not precisely stuck, but you've no clear line of advance and you've lost all forward momentum.

(did they bring the Marine with the defect jump pack with them, or does he remain on the outside with the injured marine?)
« Last Edit: November 13, 2013, 10:04:22 AM by DM B »
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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #208 on: November 13, 2013, 10:32:31 AM »
Roldar knees for a moment by the bodies of the two Men-at-Arms before standing up and silently motioning his reduced retinue forward, wary for further tricks from murder-servitor. Roldar is in now in search for the armory of the vessel.

He wistfully wished he had brought with him brother Alterius, the Astartes remained outside to keep watch over the injured marine.

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Re: Prelude: Cadian Dawn (IC)
« Reply #209 on: November 13, 2013, 10:45:11 AM »
The Lector releases his grip on Xerxzes and knees before his new master. The Locum Lector and the surviving Astartes gather around their brother whose lower part of the leg was hacked in the fight with Xerxzes.

The Lector remains in this position whilst a dim pulse, a feeling of unease, attempts to pierce through the chant which seems ever present throughout his mind. Never before has the Lector felt so well, so mighty and so purposeful. Serving his new master is an end onto itself, worth countless lives and dreams. The "black blood" flows and mingles with the superior and enhanced fluid of life of the Lector, as ragged and torn tissues start to mend, however hideously and bewilderingly should an Apothecary inspect it.

All the while the pulse keeps beating in the background, as the self-conditioning of the Relictors tries to find its way back into the Astartes' mind. One heartbeat would probably be enough to control the hand and voice of the Lector.

The Locum Lector's orb remains visible and the apprentice Librarian, has now established a sustained link with it, allowing power to ebb as and when required. From time to time, the Locum probes the outer-shell of the Lector's mind, ready to infuse his power should his Relictor's mind resurface...