40K/Inquisitor RPG. The Line of Damnation.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-15 04:16am

Uschi forced her legs to stay steady. It wouldn't do at all to fall on her ass right there on the bridge.

Damn that man all to hell! Damn him and his continual pursuit of risks and danger! They could have walked away from this. Nothing compelled them to stay, not legally. They were traders, not warriors. The line often blurred, but it should have only done so when there was profit to be had and worlds to be claimed in the name of the Emperor.

"Sergeant Margarte has full command of the expeditionary force," she said, her voice sounding foreign in her ears. "She is to coordinate with the inquisitors on scene until the station is pacified."

She regarded the star fort with cold eyes. The damned pit had cost the ship her captain, and more than that, the beating heart of the crew. She'd see it pacified, because that's what he would've wanted. The frakking idiot.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-15 04:16am

With a roar Axidus pushed Nathan back. Eldar quick, Axidus punched his Daemon Weapon through Nathan's shoulder and twisted. Nathan cried out and fell to his knees. "No!" came Lena's cry of anguish.

She felt as if she was running in slow motion. She would get there too late. The Chaos Lord raised his power glove and extended his hand. All of those digital weapons were now pointed at her face. It was the end.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-15 04:36am

Rosanthor's plasma weapon was still in its recharge cycle and the nighmarish traitor raised its axe. Rosanthor feinted with one claw and leaped back to avoid the viscious return swipe. The traitor pushed foreward aggresively, just as Rosathor anticipated. The traitor was just so fast if he recovered then Rosanthor would be wide open.

He didn't. Rosanthor lunged to meet the charging traitor. The traitor shifted stances to bring the axe down, but it was too late. Rosanthor was inside his reach. His lighning claws literally tore away his chest plates and then the traitor's flesh in furry of blows.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-15 04:44am

Nathan's arm wouldn't work but that was not the only weapon at his disposal. With a scream of defiance he telekinetically shoved the force weapon through the traitor's chest, his limp hand still clasping the weapon and all his will pouring through the blade. Axidus screamed and then exploded, green fire blasting his gauntlets and helmet shooting through the bay. He toppled over, slain.

Lena aborted her charge. She couldn't believe she was alive. She couldn't believe Nathan was alive. She caught him as he toppled, still impaled on the Daemon Blade.

Despite the mass of his armour, he seemed as light as a feather. He telekintically popped the latches on his helmet and it clattered to the blood stained deck. His mouth worked soundlessly for a moment. Blood coated his lips. "I want you to know-" he caughed.

"I know," she replied as she held him gently. He looked up at her and she watched the light fade from his eyes.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-15 04:55am

"No!!" she screamed. Something inside her head whispered something to her, it didn't matter. She couldn't understand it. She placed a boot on Nathan's chest and grabbed the hilt of the Daemon Blade. It twisted and squirmed her hands. She held on. The hilt began to smoke. She held on. It struggled against her. She won. It relinquished its prize.

She tore the blade from Nathan's flesh and tossed it accross the bay. A silvery luminescence eminated from her flesh. She knelt beside Nathan. She whispered. "Live." Light poured from her as the stolen soul she had reclaimed flowed back into his body. Nathan's wounds slowly began to knit. His eye lids opened. He saw her right in front of his face, tears in her eyes.

"I'll be fine," he said softly. He closed his eyes again, breathing softly.

"I know," she said holding him. He didn't seem heavy at all. Craddled in her arms, he slept.

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-15 05:31am

Well, it was over. Sgt. Slate sat down heavily. The Kroot were busy poking the CSM with their bayonets, and naval personell scuttled around the corpses, trying to salvage machinery that was full of bullets.
The wounded were stable and C-C Ristani's leg was back on. Novum seemed to be doing okay too; He was in a deep, trance-like sleep, but his wounds were healing at an astonishing pace. Meanwhile, a verifiable miracle was taking place in the docking bay and civillian life was ever-so-slowly returning to normal.

What a day. What a fragging day.

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2004-12-15 06:43pm

The shuttle careened towards the station, braking only enough to be able to survive the now inevitable impact.

On board the shuttle, Chapel did a final check of his ordinance, and glanced over the mottly crew crammed in behind him, which was the closest thing he could manage to an inspection with this bunch.

The Officio Assassinorum had done studies in the long past, and realised that well over 70% of all of their missions were conducted against Imperial or former Imperial authority figures. Further studies had shown that when it came to outbreaks of heresy, independent rebellious types were far more likely to resist the mob mentality that swept the planet, and were more prone to take action against the authority effectively. This had begun a long policy of working subtly to gain influence in unexpected quarters.

This at least explained the presence of the well armed underhive gang in the here and now. How Skorn had located them, convinced them to come along, gotten a shuttle, gained clearance for it and gotten them almost to the station in this short time was something Chapel chose not to think about to deeply, although he was starting to dread the inevitable post-mission investigation .

At least the situation was providing some amusement, as a tranced Knives was used as furniture by the gangers due to the lack of room.

"Brace for impact!" he shouted reflexively as the shuttle crashed through an enemy held landing bay, embedding itself in a far wall as its sputtering engines incinerated those who hadn't been crushed, smeared, or shredded by their passage. Taking his newly acqured power sword, he cut straight through the shuttle's hull and the remaining bulkhead, leading the charge forward, while adding how did he plan the impact that precisely? to the list of things he was desperately trying not to think about.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-15 06:43pm

His dreams had been a blur of screaming, shouting, explosions, and white-suited individuals carrying him to and fro. Prius' eyes opened and he stared at the ceiling, then turned his head to see Pater in the bed next to him.

This was getting to be a routine...

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-15 06:47pm

Pater noticed Prius looking at him.
"I wonder if there'll be any of us left to replace soon?" He gestured to his stomach, which had a scar on it from Augmetic surgery.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-15 06:53pm

He hadn't gotten an augmetic arm fitted yet... such items were custom-crafted and required time to fabricate and adjust. Prius looked at the ceiling.

"We won," he said quietly. "That's what matters."

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-15 06:56pm

"A pre-Dark Ages General once said: "Another victory like that would be a disaster!" I believe that is appropriate under the circumstances."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-15 06:59pm

Perhaps some humor is in order.

"Look at it this way. The more artificial parts we have, the more likely the next hit will land on one of them instead of meat."

He glances to the side to see if his effort at humor worked.

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-15 07:03pm

Pater grinned. "True, true. My hand saved my life during that fight." He revealed the long scratch from where he'd parried the chainsword.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-15 07:06pm

Good. The next step was to get harsh and brutal, to jolt him out of his self-pity. Given that Pater is an inquisitor, he would rather not have to do that.

"That was... seven traitor marines between the three of us, Pater... seven. The Emperor was truly with us... yesterday? How long has it been?"

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-15 07:13pm

"Yes, He was with us, in more ways than one. All the Medicae are talking about some miracle in the Docking Bay, someone bringing someone else back to life. Fascinating. Almost makes me want to become a Thorian."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-15 07:15pm

"Thorian?" he inquires, noting that a medicae is heading his way with a dataslate.

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-15 07:16pm

"They believe that the Emperor projects Himself into worthy vessels to continue His work... Yes?" He addressed the Medicae.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-15 07:22pm

The medicae clears his throat. "Good afternoon, inquisitor, colonel-commissar. Inquisitor, you should be cleared for duty within the next two to three hours, although the chirurgeon will recommend that you take it easy for the next two weeks to a month."

He's obviously dreading the next part. Prius has gotten a reputation in the medical community for being a lousy patient.

"Colonel-commissar... the extent of damage to your leg will require at least two more operations, quite likely more than that, along with extensive rehabilitation, and it is the recommendation of the chirurgeon that you be removed from active duty indefinitely while the work is done."

Prius raises his head and glares at the man, staring between his two heal-pack encased legs.

"Unacceptable," he says, eyes blazing.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-15 07:33pm

"Acceptable or not, colonel-commissar, there are limits to what mortal flesh can endure, and you have been pushing those limits. It is the opinion of the chirurgeon that the majority of function can be resto-"

"Cut it off," Prius said suddenly.

"Excuse me?" the medicae said, blinking.

"You can fabricate me a functional augmetic, restore function to my other leg and have me returned to duty much more quickly if you simply cut it off and replace it, correct?"

"I..."

"Answer the damned question," Prius snarled.

"Yes. If... that is what you desire, colonel-commissar, I will speak to the chirurgeon."

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2004-12-15 07:43pm

Casualties among the gang members had been minimal in the first firefights. This was mainly because both Chapel and Skorn had charged ahead, and were cleraring rooms faster than the gang members could stumble through the wreckage they left behind them.

Chapel commed Skorn as he prepped the tube charge he had just grabbed off of the last cultist "Eighty-seven. I think I may have an idea on offensive use of conversion fields in close combat." His transmission was punctuated by the explosion of the charge he'd tossed barely into the room. The explosion reached the doorway, and hitting the fringe of the displacer field, triggered it, moving him into the room, where he calmly shot the three heretics through the head as they poured fire at the door.

"Not a variation on that silly port-fu garbage you are so in love with is it? Eighty eight", was the reply, partially drowned out in a spray of blood.

"Ninety. That, except you follow the distraction closer" Running up to the closest door, he paused for a second, then pulled out his power sword, thumbed it on, and shoved it through the wall. A cut-off scream answered him, and he flicked the blade down the corridor away from the doorway, as lasrounds and projectiles began punching through the wall following it as it continued to carve through metal. Not pausing, Chapel ran to the door, blasting it off the mountings with two well placed shots and riding it in as he hit. His gun tracked around the room, silencing threats three, four, wait, there were five separate sources of fire- hearing a weak moan, Chapel saw that the door was now resting on the cultists chest, he ended the distraction by stomping on the woman's throat.

The pulse of a plasma discharge crackled across the comm "Ah well, its to much to expect the little blood that makes it all the way to your head to come up with an original thought-"two gunshots interupted him"-Ninety seven , hah beat that with your fancy guns!"

"Ninety six, and I'm not using grenades either you stubby little hood ornament"Chapel subvocalised as he peeked out the corridor to see three morons breaking cover to run for his sword. Decapitating all of them at range, he slithered across the ground to his weapon.

The aggravated voice of Julius came on the line "Could you two knock it off?
I've had two men shot because your prattle distracted them. We ain't all super-human killing machines here, and- Fuck me, enemy marine! Fall back, fall back!"

Chapel could almost hear Skorn's ears perk up as they both whispered "At last, a challenge", and ran towards Julius's position. Chapel waited for enemies to reveal themselves before dispatching them, Skorn simply flipped the first grenade that came to hand through every nearby opening as he went. Screams heralded their passage.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-15 07:46pm

Jolan Gix strode through the blackened halls. Blackened bones crunched under his feet. The cultists are tried to use this area as a strong point, but it had not availed them against the power he commanded. The naval security troopers followed a little timidly. The loss of so many of their numbers had them jittery. The Traitor Legionaires had torn through their ranks like a hot knife through butter. But if the vox coms were accurate, the last of them had been accounted for.

The infirmiriarium was just ahead. Improvised flooring of riveted blanks crossed chasms blown in the decks. The stench of death was everywhere. Even his filter plugs did only so much. The young inquisitor crossed and entered passed the heavily armed guards.

Hethor stood up and nodded. "It got pretty bad. The Kroot can fight though."

"Glad you made it in one piece sergeant," said Jolan with a weak smile.

"Good to see Severa managed to keep your ass attached to your body, sir." Severa pretended not to here.

"Yes, she did. How's Prius and Pater?"

Hethor spat. "Fuck that commissar is tough. Emperor's blood I've killed bull Orks that died easier. Pater's in pretty good shape, considering." He paused for a moment and fingered his gorget. "There's been talk. People have been saying that there was a saint."

"I don't know," replied Gix. "Talstrem fought the Chaos Lord and one is what I heard. He's a psyker, they probably saw him use his powers."

Hethor grunted. Gix walked through the lines of wounded.

He smiled. "Good to see you boys made it. It was pretty bad out there."

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-15 07:54pm

A few hours later Pater was balancing the books again. Down to 4 Stormtroopers and 6 Kroot, including the Hounds. He needed to do some manpower shopping.

consequences · Post by **consequences** » 2004-12-15 08:02pm

Noting the unsteadiness of the figure's movement, its slowness, and the way it continued to miss its targets, Chapel arrived at an instant conclusion "False alarm", he commed, "Just some asshole in power armor". Making this assessment and spreading the word didn't prevent him from immediately putting penetrator rounds into five separate weak points, then walking up and separating the power relays, and destroying its communications. "Probable enemy officer secured for interrogation".

Even with the user's incompetence, the combination of its near invulnerability to fire, and its assisted aim had killed three gang members and wounded two more. In a no nonsense fashion, the remaining gangers began stripping their dead and the disabled power armor's weapons.

Going through the door the figure had been guarding, he arrived just in time ot see the last cultist slit his own throat, adding his blood to the symbol already glowing on the floor. Three red forms began to coalesce, each gripping a massive blade. "Archenemy threat, all gangers fall back, Skorn to me." If the Assassinorum briefings were correct, that symbol would shield the daemons from harm until they were fuly formed, and possibly use any force directed in the meantime to augment them. So Chapel had the pleasure of spending the next ten seconds waiting as they gained solidity, tracking him with their gaze wherever he moved to in the room. On the plus side, whatever was past the sealed door the symbol had been placed in front of had to be important

Finally, the symbol faded, and the monsters stepped forward.

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-15 08:14pm

The Traitor Marine hit the floor, his head quite a way from his body.
"Excellant work, Mortragor. Whip the rest of them into shape."
The PsyKing turned to his adjutants. "Bring them in."
A motley group of Torquen's most trusted Lieutenants were brought into the room at gunpoint.
"Gentlemen, I hear that you had some misgivings about my rule."
"You killed him, you 2-timing bastard!" One of them spat. The PsyKing sighed.
"Execute them."

His force was down to half of it's former strength; He'd have to deal with that...

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-15 08:26pm

Uschi sat at the desk. Her desk, now. Placed across it was the sword, Issanscion, that he'd worn into to battle for the last time.

The charter, sealed in a stasis chamber in the heart of the ship, gave her legal authority to command the vessel and its crew, to engage in trade and make contact with proscribed civilizations, along with all the other powers that defined a Rogue Trader.

The sword, however, was the symbol of the captaincy for this crew. For over ten millennia, the captain of the Fool's Wager had worn that blade. Many had died in battle with the sword in hand.

Now it fell to her. She knew well the words of Engelier's will- he'd shown it to her after he'd drawn it up.

Guess I'm going to have to watch my back now, huh?, he'd said mockingly, knowing that she would never turn on him.

Reluctantly, she lifted the scabbarded sword, rose to her feet and affixed it to her belt.

Captain Valk. It would take some getting used to.