40K/Inquisitor RPG. The Line of Damnation.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-26 03:33am

Gix consulted the servo skulls and the traces left in the warp. By using his power so frequently, the PsyKing had aided the efforts to track him. Gix sent course corrections ahead. They were close, he could feel it. This time, they might catch him.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 03:40am

Prius stalked forward, picking up the pace a bit. He could also feel... if not precisely what Gix was feeling... a twitch, a sense that something was about to happen.

Suddenly, he stopped, crouching with his pistol leveled.

"Multiple lifeforms ahead," he subvocalized over the vox as he slid to cover. "I smell an ambush."

Instinctively he started making hand signals for the arbites to spread out to flank, but the arbites, unschooled in Guard hand signals, simply stared in confusion.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-26 03:43am

"Skirmish pattern," Gix ordered at the bewildered arbites. They reacted to that by reading their weapons and taking cover. Jolan braced himself for what was coming. Knowing the PsyKing, it wasn't going to be pleasant. Ever nerve in his body blazed.

"Whatever they are, burn them down," he ordered.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 03:51am

Prius kicked himself mentally. It was a simple mistake, borne of the fact that all of his training assumed he would spend his career working with Guardsmen and not adapting to hodge-podge units thrown together at Inquisitorial behest, but in the heat of combat it could have easily gotten them all killed. He began moving forward, pistol at the ready as the arbites trailed along behind him.

There. A motion, a fidget. He subvocalized on his vox, rattling of a string of locations.

"Shanty at seven o'clock. Aircraft wing at nine. Burnt-out lorry at one. Pick your targets and shoot when I do, then advance with full vigor."

He lined up carefully, taking aim at a pile of debris, letting his augmetic arm lock into place to insure his precision, before releasing a sizzling plasma bolt. As he did, the arbites opened fire as well. Autoguns and grenade launchers fired, raining death into the presumptive ambush. After a moment, return fire began rattling out, accompanied by inhuman howling. As Prius leapt up to charge, twisted mutants poured from the wreckage in a countercharge, primitive weapons blazing...

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-26 04:04am

The first fell to a plasma blast from Gix's pistol. The second was blown opened by Gix's bolt pistol. Jolan Gix was an unimpressive shot . . . . by the extremely high standards of the Inquisition. The shotguns and bolt pistols of the arbites spewed death at their attackers. One judge fell when a round caught him in the throat. The rest blazed at their attackers. Unless there was something more to this band of pitiful mutants than the obvious, the Imperials would make short work of them.

Gix sent several frag grenades over towards the mutants with a telekinetic surge. That should help settle the situation.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 04:08am

The mutants scattered into disorganized clumps as the grenades detonated among them. Beyond sheer numbers, they did have little to favor them. Another delaying tactic.

Prius swung his power maul at a hulking four-legged mutant who lashed at him with a primitive sheet-metal sword, shattering ribs with the blow, before looking back at Gix. "Diversion!" he voxed. "We have to keep going!"

Around them, the disciplined arbites carved through the resistance, covering each other as they cut down the mutants with practiced ease. Another fell to a lucky shot into the seam of his knee armor, but they were obviously well in control of the situation.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-26 04:12am

"Covering fire for the commissar and I!" Gix ordered. As the judges unleashed an torrent of fire, Gix darted accross the open ground and then laid down a volley of bolter and plasma fire to cover Prius. The judges could catch up after they finished mopping up this rabble. The PsyKing had to be stopped before he could reach someplace he could disappear.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 04:22am

As the mutant he had been dueling grabbed his ankle, Prius finished him with a backhanded swipe to the head before surging forward. Darting through the wreckage with arbites fire covering them, mutants popping up unexpectedly from the left and right, they fought their way through the ambush. Prius whirled as a cackling mutant less than a meter tall dove from a chunk of debris over his head, brandishing a rusty pitted sickle, swatting out with his power maul. The results weren't pretty.

Further in, their opponents changed, as did the scenery. They were obviously in the midst of some form of mutant village, and were assailed by women and even some children. A twisted, two-headed androgyne lurched out as Prius dealt with a white-furred three-armed mutant with some sort of frying pan, stabbing him in the seam in his shoulder plate. Plasma pistol falling from his hand, he whirled and smashed the power maul through both heads and continued forward. The mutants howled and screamed in their degenerate tongue.

They were close. Gix could distinctly detect the presence of the psyker trace they had been following, though he was much weaker than what he normally associated with the PsyKing.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-26 04:44am

Gix fired out a spray of frag grenades to scatter the mutants. He dispatched one that remained in his way with a bolt in the chest. It fell, coughing blood from a pulped lung and shredded arteries. The inquisitor reloaded with practiced ease. His blood sang. They were close.

He holstered his bolt pistol and brought out the injector, firing a the neon green fluid into his next. It was spook, the psychoactive drug from Necromundia. In a few moments it would augment his already formidable psychic abilities and unlock dormant powers. It had power enough to temporarily give powers to blunts. It would help narrow the gap between him and the PsyKing. He unhooked his force rod and signaled Prius to follow up. He tossed the commissar another injector. "It will boost your powers," he explained tersely. Time to finish it.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 04:49am

Prius rotated his arm, jabbing the injector into his elbow at the seam between plates.

His awareness expanded, and he could sense the psyker as well. It was as if a doorway opened yet again, making every sense more active, more vivid. The wound on his shoulder, already healing, simply sealed itself.

"We have come to bring you death, in the name of the Emperor." he snarled, his feeble telepathic abilities boosted by the drug.

"Why are you chasing me?" a plaintive voice replied, nothing like that of the PsyKing.

Around them, sudden emanations arose, feeble sparks of psyk-power, but a lot of them. The strange mutant tongue flowed across the minds of both Gix and Prius, voices rising in discordant harmony, power building as they sang songs of praise to darker powers. The air crackled and shimmered around them, the temperature dropping by twenty degrees in the space of a second. Prius could feel the hairs on his neck and arms standing up at the surge of power.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-26 04:54am

Gix hammered the black weaving with a psychic pulse. The unholy choir wavered as Gix strode forth, a burning bastion of righteous wrath. Around him the air shimmered and swam with heat. Silver ghost fire blazed around him. Jolan Gix, a man who had been made into a psychic weapon, went to war.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 05:01am

The strike shattered one of the links in the chain, but it quickly rewove itself, lashing back out at him. The ground shivered as warring forces dueled. Prius joined his power with Gix's, hymns of praise resounding in his mind as the regular world slowly dissolved from their senses. Around them circled dark clouds, a whirlwind battering at them as lightning and hail began lashing toward them, only to dissolve against the golden ray of light that surrounded their astral forms.

However, the power kept building outside of them, swirling, rising.

With the blood of the fallen do we wash away our sins/With the deaths of the impure do we rise in His eye/With victory do we gain His favor/We rise to the stars in His name until all is in the hand of man and the Emperor!

Beyond their sight in the physical world, a cyclone of energy shielded them from further attacks by the mundane mutants, who screamed and hurled debris into the crackling shield.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-26 05:07am

Waves of fire eminated from Gix, his already potent pyromancy elevated into even higher levels. He hunted for the conductor, the leader, the originater of this dark choir as his fire burnt out the singers. White light blazed from his mouth and hands, ghost fire danced on the ground before him. He was the fire of wrath and he consumed all of those who stood against him.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 05:14am

Flames tore through the stormclouds, which died in bursts that began tearing up the harmony of the connection, until they began coalescing in the center of a particularly large, dark thundercloud. The first burst of fire at it sizzled away, and as mutant psykers died to feed the cloud, it struck back with astonishing force, sending a bolt of dark lightning through their silvery shield, wracking pain through both their minds.

The mutant is the warp-tainted perversion of all that is pure and noble in humanity. He is a failure of the soul, a misbegotten creature to be cast aside as rubbish. Twisted humanity is a blight in His eyes, to be removed from His sight at every opportunity. Prius continued giving his power to Gix, feeding him with full faith and devotion.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-26 05:21am

Pain he could handle. He had been subject to endless amounts of pain in the Schola Psychia. He had maintained his concentration despite being encased in the nerve glove. Pain could be dealth with. Only failure was unacceptable. He would strive on.

An idea flittered through Gix's mind. There were other distractions than pain, other options beside brute force. He sent to Prius: use your rebreather. Then he unleashed the harlequin's hallucegen grenades all around them. Let the PsyKing try to get any use out of their confused minds after the gas took hold. He held on and forced himself foreward.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 05:28am

Guided by instincts beyond the detachment from his crude flesh, Prius' hands affixed the breather to his face as the hallucingen grenades scattered around them.

Striding forward was akin to walking against an incredibly stiff wind. Drawn by the disturbance and the rampant death, small daemons began materializing in the warpscape, only to be crushed, burned or incinerated in the ever-growing psychic battle. Tentacles lashed forth from the cloud, encased in glittering diamond knives, only to battered futilely against the silvery shield. The vortex was complete as the last feeble mutant psyker died, leaving only one gibbering voice, which chanted litanies to the dark gods, entreating them for more power.

It was to no avail as Gix's light began burning away at the cloud.

Around them in the physical world fires erupted spontaneously, explosions of balefire erupting in midair in a variety of sinuous, twisting colors that incinerated scrabbled-together shelters and mutants alike in shrieking conflagrations.

With a final shriek of defiance, the cloud formed itself into a massive black arrow and launched itself for the pair, seeking to shatter their defenses with one final, all-out brute strike. The image was powerful but wavery, as the hallucinogens had reached the source, twisting the psyker's perceptions. Nevertheless, it arced toward them with savage intensity.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-26 05:38am

Jolan projected an image ahead and filled it with force. With luck it would act as a breakwater and take the worst of the psychic brunt. At worst it would be a feeble shield. He braced himself for the awesome impact.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 05:42am

The arrow struck against the shield, shattering into millions of shards. Most of the shards were deflected, but some found their way through the shield, lacerating both men's minds. Above it all, they could hear the PsyKing screaming.

"NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Around them, the wall of silvery fire and force erupted, surging outward to consume the camp. The arbites, fresh off of mopping up the mutant tribe's hunters and warriors, fell back in awe at the display. Many made the sign of the aquila and prayed to the Emperor that the pair were succeeding in their struggle.

All at once the black shards began steaming away from them, the PsyKing's voice dying down to a whisper before fading entirely. And with that, they were back in the world, standing in the midst of the ruins. Before their feet was a body, human in all respects, scoured, burned and battered. There was no doubt of the identity, and there was no doubt that he was quite thoroughly dead...

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-26 05:48am

Jolan Gix fell to his knees. "Thanks for the win," he said to the PsyKing. "My shield was a variation on one your tricks. I hope the daemons haven't dragged you far enough into the hell you chose for you to hear this. " He wearily turned to Prius. "Thank you commissar. Without you, I would have not prevailed."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 05:52am

Prius staggered but stayed on his feet, turning to spit a mouthful of blood away before shaking his head.

"No, Inquisitor. He on Earth was on our side, and with or without me, you would have prevailed. Your faith and strength carried us to victory."

He looked around at the devastation, then voxed the arbites. "The witches are cleared. Exterminate any surviving mutants, in the name of the Emperor."

"At once, commissar. In the name of the Emperor."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 05:55am

Unseen by either man or the arbites, the armless, legless mutant slithered away, burrowing into the rubble. Concealed within his stomach was the pearlescent jewel, whispering ever-so-faintly in a voice only he could hear.

"Hide... hide my child... away from the light."

He made his way into the deep, dark rubble, and was gone from all sight or detection before anyone else arrived.

Pcm979 · Post by **Pcm979** » 2004-12-26 07:45am

Pater was in hospital for what seemed to be the 500th time in the past week. He'd gotten severe G-forces during the battle and had passed out from that and all his other injuries over the past few days. Now he was back in buisiness, raring to go... And doing paperwork. Right now he was releasing the Decimated Kroot from his service.
"Well, Shaper, it's been an honour to have you working with us."
"Th'ank you, Inqu'isitor."

Typhonis 1 · Post by **Typhonis 1** » 2004-12-26 03:11pm

Nathan scanned the horizon with a pair of binoculars he secured from a team.Nothing was moving except for guardsmen and arbites in the kill zone area. Bulldozers leveled the ground ou and the beginnings of a security wall were being erected.

He watched as Jolan and Prius climbed out of the pit, a med team had already evacuated Lillith but he had to remain to secure the perimiter.

The only thing he was worried about was Lena`s venting at him about going to the surface and letting them bombard and strafe the area close to where he stood.He smiled at that....he was Ordo Imperialus still back then he was epected to lead Army...correction Guard and Marines into battle this wasnt the first time he had had to call fire down on top of his position...

Nor would it likely be the last.... The closest Ordo they could find for him to join was Malleus.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-26 03:23pm

Prius radiates grim satisfaction at their accomplishment, his helmet dangling from his hand as they make their way back. His face and body is coated with grime and gore, some his own, but he pays it no mind.

"The beast is dead. We have slain the PsyKing, with the aid of the almighty God-Emperor," he proudly informs Nathan.

Typhonis 1 · Post by **Typhonis 1** » 2004-12-26 03:50pm

"Good let the fellows 'Masters' show him there displeasure....."

Nathan handed the binoculars back . "How is the cleanup sweep going?"