40K/Inquisitor RPG. The Line of Damnation.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2004-12-12 04:08am

"Quite true, I suppose. But as of now my single precinct has nearly 300 Arbitrators, none of them matching our experience. They can handle the nobility. They are better equipped for such skirmishes, and quite mobile."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-12 04:12am

He nodded at Xerxes. "I will require a full breakdown of your available forces and their capabilities in order to properly direct our force dispositions. Two regiments and a handful of arbites can easily be overwhelmed if the rot runs deeply. This operation will likely require a great deal of agility."

He'd seen how easily the Boreans were annihilated in a single battle, and with several billion potential recruits, a pair of regiments was a thin offering.

A thin offering but for the fact that the Emperor is on our side, and with His blessing, we will prevail against any odds.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-12 04:15am

"Good. There are so many angles to cover it is good to know the Arbites will be covering an area where their expertise will to put to good use," said Gix. No point in not throwing the Arbites a bone. Working with the Inquistion often took its toll and it usually required a bit of shock to break them out of their normal expectations and preconceptions. Nothing about Inquisitional work was ordinary. Too many lives could hang in the balance.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2004-12-12 04:29am

"I will require a moment to retrieve the data needed." Xerxes reached down and yanked a data-slate out of his belt, then dialed his vox into the 31st precinct Courthouse. After a few brief moments of conversation, he handed the data-slate over. "It will be updated within a few minutes."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-12 04:35am

He accepted the slate, a thin smile creasing his lips. In many ways, sans the discovery that he was an accursed mutant, this was as a dream come true- fighting the good fight on a scale far beyond anything he had imagined, and commanding multiple units in what was likely to be a large-scale war with various fronts to account for. He could almost imagine how the great Yarrick felt directing the forces at Armageddon, and a heady wine it was indeed.

All for the good of the Imperium and in the service of the God-Emperor, he reminded himself. Taking pride in one's job was worthy, taking pride in oneself was not.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-12 04:37am

"Excellent. I believe that whoever intends to confront this magus who calls himself the PsyKing had best have Sister Lillith at his side. He certainly bested me in a psychic confrontation and I am rated at Beta minus. Which means he's at least an Beta level psyker with considerable control over his abilities. Disrupting his powers and gutting him with a power blade or blowing him open with a bolter seems like the best way to go."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-12 04:41am

He blinked at the mention of the PsyKing, his hand tightening on the dataslate. "Agreed," he said in a low voice, his good mood evaporating. "But the heretic must be discovered first, and then we will prosecute him with maximum effort."

He made a mental note to find out what all this 'beta level' business meant after the meeting. It was only logical that psykers would be rated, but he had no idea of how the rating system worked.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-12 04:56am

"I will be honest: I want another crack at him. But he has defeated me before and I lack a psycannon or psyk out grenades to even the odds. My personal desires are secondary to the needs of the Imperium. Does anyone here think they are better suited to the task? If so, take it with my blessing."

Post by **NecronLord** » 2004-12-12 07:40am

“Lady Captain,” said an officer from one of the cavernous pits. Prius wasn’t the only non-inquisitor to acquire a promotion here, as Lena Novadlorian, now commodore, showed. “Yes?” she asked, leaning forward a little in the elaborately carved stone command throne.

“We are detecting a vessel approaching from the edge of the system. Arbities strike cruiser. It identifies itself as holding the fourth company of the Raven Guard chapter.”

“I see,” she said, “inform the inquisitorial ship that some guests have arrived for them.” She felt a pressure at her mind at the mention of this intruding ship. Far from malignant, though, it almost felt comforting. Closing her eyes, she breathed heavily for a moment. She gestured to a flunky, “Take over,” she said, “I’m going off duty.”

Walking to her quarters, she flung herself down on the surprisingly spacious captain’s bed, closing her eyes, and immersing herself in the unspeakably calming and soothing sensations.

----

Meanwhile, in the depths of the ship, a dark room was filled with frantic screams. “You know,” said the Lord Inquisitor, “Sometimes one just has to indulge in the basics.” He smiled as the two iron men strapped their victim into the fearsome looking auto-rack. The babbling and screaming cultist struggled furiously, and Taran laughed, indulging himself in the sadism that almost came naturally where chaos was concerned.

“Now,” he said, laying his hands on the panel of controls, “I’m sure you have a good idea what fun things I can do to you,” he said, “I can create in your body all the torments and agonies ever known. First, a taster.”

Depressing a jewelled button on the auto-rack’s control panel, he watched as two needles lanced into the heretic’s neck. The heretic tried to sneer something at this, but was cut off a moment later, as he began to feel the nerve inducers do their terrible work. Taran smiled, “Haven’t you always wondered what castration felt like?” he asked, “I can even do it physically to you, and you could compare the sensations… Tell me how accurate the machine is…”

Raxmei · Post by **Raxmei** » 2004-12-12 02:01pm

Techpriest Vorus groaned as he stumbled back into his quarters. So much had happened in the past... however long it was. Stimms played merry hell with perception of time. Foren was there, he saw, and he tossed the servoskull at him with uncharacteristic disregard for delicacy. "Go over his auspex record and draft a report for Mars. I'll go over it in the morning." He stepped into the chamber cleansing, then right back out again, "Be careful what you say, I don't want them sending anyone else here to help us until I've figured out exactlty what to amke of this mess. Certainly don't mention anything unacceptably heretical, or holier than they could possibly imagine. Oh, and assume the Inquisition will intercept it somehow, so nothing that would set them off either. No, no, on second thought don't write anything at all. We'll just grind out something from the standard report template. Things are complicated enough without getting the home office's interest."

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-12-12 02:17pm

Sister Lillith, continued practice.

thousands of death blows given and taken.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-12 05:25pm

Nobody else had volunteered to hunt the PsyKing, leaving Gix as the primary hunter on that. In the interrim, Prius set about the labor of reorganizing the forces at hand. The first order of business was to reorganize the remaining Borean combat troops into a pair of reinforced companies, then taking a smattering of NCOs from the Stormtrooper company to stiffen them. With their remaining support assets, he had a junior grade Stormtrooper battalion to work with.

With regards to the Naval assets, the picture was grim. Outside of the vessels provided by the local shipyard, they had little in the way of naval support beyond transports and a few light Arbites vessels. If it came to a conflict with the Iron Men, the few ships they had would have to disperse immediately or be annihilated, and the troops would have to retreat to deep hive to provide some degree of protection from orbital bombardments.

"Colonel-Commissar, we have an inbound vessel identifying itself as an Arbites strike cruiser bearing the fourth company of the Raven Guards chapter."

He maintained an impassive expression. "By all means, send them our greetings and query them as to their intentions."

It was a dramatic change in the force picture, one that cost them a certain degree of low profile in exchange for a vast increase in striking power.

Post by **NecronLord** » 2004-12-12 06:01pm

The strike cruiser listed its intentions as simple 'investigation of heretical activities' as it prepared to send a captured imperial thunderhawk, over to the Inquisition vessel.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-12 06:06pm

Prius did a quick check on his uniform, excited at the prospect of getting to meet his first Space Marines. All his life he'd heard tales of the mighty Adeptes Astartes... their valor, their dedication, their awesome capabilities.

He wanted to look his very best for these mighty guardians of the Emperor. And the illustrious Raven Guard, no less, descended from one of the Founding Legions of the Emperor. His palms tingled with the excitement.

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-12 08:19pm

Pater stood nearby, with his hand behind his back. He was wearing his full Inquisitorial regalia, with his newly-aquired Psycannon and all. His troops stood at ease.

It wouldn't hurt to make a good impression.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2004-12-12 08:21pm

Judge Xerxes opened the Blessing of the Arms ceremony personally, burning a vial of his own blood over a bazier and letting the vapor waft upwards across the weaponry rack, chanting doggedly. His men stood, their heads inclined in prayer, repeating every 5th verse. His heart pulsed in beat to the chant, his mind consumed in the moment. He began to feel lightheaded from the fumes, and quickened his chant. His skin began tingling in anticipation. His mouth moved independent of thought now, the words flowing from some inner fountain of faith. Enjoying yourself, Arbitrator?
Xerxes stopped his chant suddenly, but his men continued on, still lost in a righteous haze.
No, do not stop. Your faith pleases Khorne. It will make turning you even more of a pleasure...
His skin crawled at the silent mention of Chaos. What was happening? His mind seemed to echo back an incomprehensible answer, in some vile tongue. His knees buckled. "By the Emperor, you will not have me!" he screamed, body convulsing as he fell to the floor. His men finally came out of their reverie and rushed to his side. "Chaplain! CHAPLAIN!"

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-12 08:24pm

The thunderhawk slid into the bay, an ominous black construct bristling with weapons. Prius glanced back at the untouchable, wishing she would go somewhere else... anywhere.

GeneralTacticus · Post by **GeneralTacticus** » 2004-12-12 08:25pm

Shortly before the Tunderhawk arrived in the docking bay, Adivan strode in, clad in full power armour (minus the helmet), though he had left most of his weapon behind, bringing only a plasma pistol and energy blade. Behind him came a full squad of Stormtroopers, led by a man with a Captain's rank pips.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2004-12-12 08:32pm

The chaplain rushed into the room less than a minute later, robes flying. The Arbitrators cleared out as he knelt beside Xerxes. "Judge! Wake up, by the Emperor!" Xerxes groaned, and opened his eyes groggily. "Chaplain...Chaos spoke to me...I fought..I.." he trailed off for a moment, gathering his thoughts. "I won, father." he said, grinning widely, and heaving himself to his feet. The chaplain nodded, and grasped Xerxes' hands. "Come with me, Judge. We shall make sure you truly have resisted. We will go to the Inquisitors, but we must hurry. You depart soon."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-12 09:13pm

The docking bay doors slid home behind the thunderhawk, landing ramp slowly lowered into place. Prius waited near the middle of the group, watching eagerly, when suddenly the weapons emplacements on the thunderhawk began swinging into line...

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-12 09:16pm

Pater and Adivan both simultaniously yelled, "Down!" and pulled Prius to the floor. The weapons opened up on where they were a moment before..

GeneralTacticus · Post by **GeneralTacticus** » 2004-12-12 09:20pm

Adivan had been feeling distinctly uneasy as the Thunderhawk began it's approach. He didn't know what, but something was wrong. Very, very wrong. He had drawn his plasma pistol from the holster and prepped it for firing, motioning the Stormtroopers behind him to ready their weapons as well. When the gunship opened fire, he and the Stormtroopers dropped, and lived; an instant later, they were running for cover behind the cargo crates scattered around the bay. They wouldn't last long against the Gunship's heavy weapons, but they might keep them alive for a bit longer. As Adivan ran, he was furiously voxing the ship's security forces, ordering an immediate alert and readying of weapons for firing on the Strike Cruiser...

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-12 09:21pm

Simultaneously, hulking space marines burst from the hatch, bolter fire hammering through the bay. Several naval functionaries in the greeting party were gunned down where they stand...

The thunderhawk's external speakers opened up, announcing "Death to the False Emperor!" followed by a series of chaotic garbles, howls, and chitterings.

Captain tycho · Post by **Captain tycho** » 2004-12-12 09:22pm

Xerxes was brought before one of the shipboard Inquisitors, who gave him a quick look over and deemed him perfectly able to serve. He let out a heavy sigh. His mind was rapidly recovering from the incident, and it soon seemed something of the past. Adeptus Arbites mental conditioning was a wonderful thing. He headed back to the launch room, ignoring the stares of the Guardsmen, and completed the Blessing ceremony.

Arbitrator gear and loadout
Senior Judge Xerxes: Hellgun, bolt pistol, power sword, stealth cloak, carapace armor

1st Squad
Squad leader: Patrol-Officer Duran
Gear: Hellgun, bolt pistol, chainsword, stealth cloak, carapace armor

Heavy Weapon Operator: Sub-Arbitrator Mkoll
Gear: Heavy stubber, bolt pistol, steal cloak, carapace armor

Rifleman: Sub-Arbitrator Geldan
Gear: Hellgun, bolt pistol, chainsword, stealth cloak, carapace armor

Rifleman: Sub-Arbitrator Kull
Gear: Hellgun, bolt pistol, chainsword, stealth cloak, carapace armor

Rifleman: Sub-Arbitrator Jacques
Gear: Hellgun, bolt pistol, chainsword, stealth cloak, carapace armor

2nd Squad
Squad Leader: Senior Judge Xerxes
Gear: (see above)

Demolitions Specialist: Sub-Arbitrator Davvik
Gear: Grenade launcher, melta bombs, combat knife, stealth cloak, carapace armor, krak grenades

Rifleman: Sub-Arbitrator Lorenz
Gear: Hellgun, bolt pistol, chainsword, stealth cloak, carapace armor

Vox Operator: Sub-Arbitrator Frederick
Gear: Hellgun, bolt pistol, combat knife, high-gain vox set, stealth cloak, carapace armor

Rifleman: Sub-Arbitrator Hans
Gear: Hellgun, bolt pistol, chainsword, stealth cloak, carapace armor

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-12 09:24pm

Pater turned white. "Chaos Space Marines!" He slid behind a crate and pulled out his Force Staff.