40K Dark Heresy: The Danse Macabre

[DPDarkPrimus]

"We's got a few lasguns in our party, I thinks we keep 'em at range to provide covering fire while the rest move in closer for better shots."

[Hawkwings]

"My talents are not what you would call offensive capabilities. I would have little to add to an attack other than my laspistol and my senses."

Camillia looked at the little compound that was the ganger base, then at the surroundings. It was a far cry from the world in Imperial Guard warfare she had recently been in, where this problem would be solved by several rocket launchers, mortars, or perhaps a tank. She had to remind herself that the group around her was all the resources and support they had at the moment, and anything else was unavailable or hostile.

Waiting on the more combat-oriented people in the group to work out a plan, Camillia checked the area with her psychic and mundane senses, looking for anything that seemed out of place, or perhaps a glimpse of the rumored witch.

[Academia Nut]

Nodding, Quintos says, "Right, covering fire it is. Does anyone need any extra shotgun shells? I've got plenty and if I'll be mostly using the lasgun it would be a bit of a waste for me to carry extra while someone else ran out."

[Vehrec]

"Best ideas I've heard all day, but I've got a different idea of what I could borrow off of you." Gelt looked the guardsmen over trying to figure out somthing, and then shrugged. "If you are going to be throwing down covering fire and I'm going to be charging in, I'll want some better protection. I'll trade armor with you, and we can switch back when this is over. Deal?"

[Raj Ahten]

Lazarus had a slight sinking sensation in his stomach.

Shit, we are going to hit them right now.

Adressing Gelt he said,
"We're just going to hit them immediatly? You don't want to set up an obervation post for awhile?"

Good thing you didn't ask me for my armor. I'm probable going to need it.

[Academia Nut]

Quintos smiled wryly at Gelt before pointing out, "A lovely idea... except for the fact that inevitably while both of us are changing armours some patrol will walk in on us with our equipment around our ears and our guns to the side and we will be up a creek without a paddle. After this perhaps we should work out 'assault' and 'firesupport' roles more clearly for next time."

[Hawkwings]

Eventually, the acolytes finished their planning and started the assault. The botched capture of a ganger looked like a very bad thing to Camillia, but after a brief but vicious gunfight, the gangers were dispatched. The last one fell to her laspistol and a well-placed shot to the head, lighting hair and flesh on fire and causing him to run away screaming. With one ganger still laying on the ground bleeding out, the group swept in to examine the compound.

Camillia was in the armory along with several other people when someone outside yelled "Mutants!" and started firing. She rushed outside and immediately felt the presence of the Warp grow stronger, a sign that there was some witchery at work. Uneasy, Camillia intoned a prayer while drawing her pistol and sighting one of the mutants off in the distance. She fired, singeing its armor and causing it to howl in pain, but it continued advancing. Another well-placed shot blew off its arm, causing the mutant to fall to the ground, screaming in pain and squirting tainted blood from its new stump.

The acolyte in the gun tower, Camillia couldn't remember who, opened up with the pintle-mounted heavy stubber, causing a great deal of noise but little effect. The mutants targeted didn't hesitate in their advance, although several were slightly wounded. Camillia saw the other acolytes firing and running into cover or for better positions. The priest, seemingly consumed by a single-minded fury, charged off on his own to attack the mutants. The arbitrators ran after him, Gelt yelling for Havelock to slow down and wait for them. They ran out of Camillia's sight around the other gun tower and she heard yelling and mutant cries from that direction.

Another mutant revealed itself to Camillia. It was hiding behind a fountain of brackish water, but that didn't stop the lasbolt from blasting through its chest armor and lighting several internal organs on fire. The water also caught fire, surrounding the downed mutant with an eerie wreath of flame. Another shot from someone else finally stopped its moans of pain by blasting large chunks of its flesh away.

There was a flash of psychic activity from one of the mutants. Camillia fought off the intrusion into her will, but a nearby acolyte seemed to fall victim to it, spasming and firing randomly. One of the shots hit Camillia, but did little damage as it was weakened by her armor. A few seconds later, a warp-spawned lightning storm appeared and hurled a bolt at one of the acolytes, who took a solid hit but appeared to be alright.

Suddenly, the other gun tower seemed to explode. The heavy stubber had been shooting at it, and apparently to hit something explosive. As Camillia glanced over, there were large bloody chunks flying from the tower, probably the remains of a mutant or two caught in the blast. Sporadic gunfire came from Diver, who was still giving sniper support, but he seemed to do more harm than good, judging from a particular string of cursing from Octavius.

Just then, Cyrine shouted a warning to the acolyte on the heavy stubber, warning him of a mutant behind him. Camillia turned to look, and spotted a mutant running out onto the bridge. Without thinking, she aimed and fired, sending a lasbolt straight into the mutant's face and superheating the brain. The flash-vaporization tore apart his skull and sent flaming chunks of meat at those nearby. Headless, the body tumbled to the ground.

Another sustained burst of heavy stubber fire swept the far gun tower, eliciting howls of pain and sprays of blood. After a few seconds, Brother Havelock dashed across the bridge and manned the other heavy stubber, still miraculously intact. Camillia spotted another mutant off to her left, and opened fire. Although her aim was unerringly accurate, the shots didn't manage to penetrate the mutant's armor, and it continued advancing. One of the guardsmen charged it, then tossed a grenade and dashed away. The grenade bounced off, damaging nothing but a large section of a building's wall. Verum charged in with his sword, and the melee began.

Suddenly, the barrier between the material and the Warp reformed itself, a sure sign that one of the mutants had been a psyker causing that effect, and that it was now dead. A mutant ran out of a nearby building and joined in the melee, while another ran in the opposite direction, fleeing the battle. A well-placed lasgun shot downed the fleeing mutant, while the acolytes beat down the remaining mutants.

Quieted for now, the Balimek base was filled with blood, gore, and flaming water. Several acolytes cried out for medical attention, and Camillia ran over to them. With some prayer and intonations, Camillia guided the Warp to repair and regenerate broken bodies. However, several were too recently touched by the Warp to risk treatment in this manner.

As everyone was cleaning themselves up and checking the bodies, Camillia went into the armory and grabbed a stub automatic and several magazines for it. Her compact laspistol had performed well and killed five enemies, but it just didn't have enough power to hurt armored foes. She would have to secure a better weapon later, but for now, the captured automatic would do.

[Academia Nut]

The waiting had been the worst part. While the infiltrators had moved ahead, many of the heavy hitters, like Quintos, were stationed in the entrance point on the far end of the compound. For the first few seconds when the shooting started, Gelt had held his hand up, waiting to hear if the infiltrators had succeeded or if they needed help. Finally he nodded gave the signal, everyone pouring out of the tunnel and into the firefight.

The ganger scum on the west side of the compound were suddenly forced to wheel about, seeking shelter from the lasbolts and bullets flashing into their rear. It did them little good, so outnumbered were they, that soon the barricade several had hidden behind was little more than scrap, first from all the fire directed at it, and then when one of Quintos' shots cooked off the ammunition on one of the gangers, blowing up the man, the barricade, and the corpse next to it.

Across the compound a heavy stubber chattered once before righteous lasfire ended the lives of the scum manning it, one man's headless corpse running flaming to the ground where the splatter and bounce soon put out the fires encasing it.

It was over.

While the others secured the compound and began looting it for equipment, Quintos took position at the gun tower, looking over the heavy stubber while trying to keep an eye out for trouble.

He was looking north when someone cried out, "Mutants!" to the south. Whirling about, he did indeed see mutants coming in from the south side of the compound, but worst of all he spied one of the foul blasphemies against the blessed human form run into a building near identical to the one he was in. A cold chill ran down his spine. If one of the mutants managed to set up a second stubber it could sweep the ground, killing his fellow acolytes or at least forcing them to fall back while the beast's fellows advanced.

Grabbing the heavy stubber, Quintos trained it on the bridge connecting the building to the gun tower and waited. He was rewarded shortly after by the mutant hauling a second heavy stubber towards the tower. Opening up, Quintos did not let up until he was rewarded with the twist exploding in a shower of gore, the remains of its corpse hurled back and defenestrated upon the ground below.

Letting his finger off the trigger, Quintos swung the gun back to other side of the bridge where two more mutants were waiting in the shadows, ready to charge out and grab the gun their predecessor had already set up. It took the unholy abominations a few moments to steel their corrupt hearts, but soon they ran out onto the bridge, the hail of bullets sent their way doing nothing to slow their advance.

The priest and Gelt were both on the underside of the bridge when two other abominations charged out at them. For a moment Quintos swept the heavy stubber across them, scoring a hit on one, but its foul flesh was resistant to the fire like a man's wasn't.

Then a warning cry went out, causing Quintos to glance over his shoulder and spy one of the foul creatures coming up the stairs to the bridge that led to his tower. Whirling his gun around, Quintos opened fire, staggering the beast enough that a shot on the ground could find its head and explode it in a shower of gore.

Quintos did not however have time to thank the psyker that had fired that shot as stubber rounds ripped into his body, the mutants obviously having made their goal. Gritting his teeth against the pain, Quintos swung about and opened fire on the twists, blowing the gunner back into its partner, knocking that mutant to the ground. He did not let up the rain of metallic hate until that unclean creature was too blown from the tower in bloody pieces. Father Havelock was soon on the bridge to secure the stubber and ensure it was not turned against them again.

Spying the last of the fight was a brawl to the south, Quintos abandoned the stubber in favour of his lasgun, reasoning that firing a full auto weapon into close combat would probably not earn him much respect amongst his colleagues. By the time he was in a good position the last enemy was running, as all foes of the Emperor and His servants should, but the range and angle was poor so Quintos' shots just kicked up the ground about the thing, Xerxes being the one to down the last creature.

Blinking, Quintos surveyed the scene. He had been intent only on the other tower and the roar of his gun for so long that he had not noticed some of the things that had occurred. The material of the armour looked warped and twisted, degraded by some foul witchcraft, while a blast mark of a grenade was nearby where the final fight had gone down. Mutant bodies and parts of mutants were scattered all about, some on fire, others merely smoking and steaming.

Quintos also noted that his wounds were less severe than before and remembered that the other psyker had used his powers to knit his flesh in a most unpleasant feeling way, something Quintos tried to suppress from his mind, although he suspected he would soon come to know the feeling well. Still, he had to thank both the psykers for their assistance in the battle, without them he may well have died.

[Raj Ahten]

There had been no time to set up an observation post. The leadership had decided it was best to move imeadiatly, before any gangers got back from patroling. The assualt plan that was formulated was more than satisfactory in Lazzarus's mind.

The idea had been to first try and capture a ganger for inteligene, and if that failed (which it had), to hit the enemy from two angles. Lazarus had just hoped there weren't any IEDs or cocealed weapons positions.

The gangers were basically slaughtered, the assault plan functioning quite well as the gangers died in the crossfire put up by the two ground teams and the sniper support. Lazarus had still taken a round to the chest during the assualt, his armor the only thing stopping his guts from being splattered all over the wall. The armor was good for something after all.

After dispatching the gangers, Lazarus furtively searched the base, on the lokut for enemy reinforcements. There were suppossed to be more gangers around. Lazarus quickly took advantage of the arms cache, looting several weapons for himself.

Lazarus had set himself up in a building that had good lines of fire over most of the ganger outpost. He was wondered just why they weren't leaving yet. The mission looked to be a success. Thats when Lazarus spotted the mutants moving up from the south. Others had seen them as well, and the team exploded into action.

Things were quite a bit different from earlier. There was little coordination as confusing calls flooded the comms. Lazarus was forced to move from his carefully cited position as team members rushed up to engage the mutants. He moved towards the east flank, as he had seen several mutants moving in that direction.

After making it into a dilapidated housing unit directly south of the gun tower, Lazarus saw three dead mutants on the ground ahead of him. The rest of the team had been busy. He waited wher he was, despite hearing a large volume of gunfire and calls for reinforcements to the west. There seemed to be precious few men watching the East, and those mutants lazarus had spotted were still on this side.

Lazarus then spotted a mutant breaking for the guntower, the guardsman opened fire with a looted autogun, but his shots were high. Before he could adjust his aim, Lazarus felt some force come into and take control of his body. He started spasming uncontrolably, firing his weapon towards Camillia's position just to the North. That meant one thing; witchery.

Lazarus knew this had to be dealt with swiftly or everything could turn to shit. As he rose from where the witch hd made him fall, he drew a frag grenade and ran out of the house towards a serties of building just to the east. It was a good bet the witch was in there.

Lazarus was quite suprised when a mutant rushed out of the building to meet him. Lazarus turned and ran, wanting nothing to do with a mutant in close quarters. He chucked the grenade as he ran, but it too went wide.

Luckily Verum had appeared from nowhere and was engaging the mutant with his sword. Lazarus quiclkly rejoined the confusing melle that ensued firng his laspistol at point blank range into the mutants.

Lazarus did not let his guard down as the last mutant fell. There could very ewll be many more enemies left in the area. Lazarus was amazed that no one on the team had been seriously injured or killed.


We got some hard bastards on this team; Verum for one, he ain't just talk. But we got ot get the fuck out of here.

Keeping a very close eye on the sorroundings, Lazarus said over the comm,

"Whats the plan here? There's probably more of these bastards coming. Personally I'm for grabbing a shit load of guns and burning the whole place down asap."

[Hawkwings]

Camillia heard the message and replied curiously, "Why waste what we have fought to gain? We need a place to live while we work here, and I'd rather not have gangers over our beds while we sleep. As the rest of the gangers come back, we can dispose of them a couple at a time. It's not a particularly bad place, all things considered. And we could use some prisoners, especially to find out what's going on with the mutants and their witches."

The mutant psykers were Camillia's biggest concern. Although they were not trained and sanctioned, the power of the warp still flowed through them, and could be a large danger to the acolytes' well-being. If anything merited Inquisitorial attention, mutant psykers certainly did. They would have to investigate the source of these mutants, and also inform Captain Greis of what they had found.

Captain Greis. Camillia didn't look forward to meeting up with him again. From the brief interaction with him earlier, she got the distinct feeling that he didn't much care for them, or this assignment in general. In fact, he had said it was just a favor for their inquisitorial sponsor. He certainly wouldn't go out of his way to help them. The equipment and clothes he had provided them earlier was probably the extent of his assistance, at least for the short term.

Still, he was their only link to the Inquisition, which they were now apparently serving. He had to be informed of what was going on, and sooner rather than later, in case something happened to the acolytes.

This thought brought Camillia back to more pressing concerns. They would have to go back to the Grimlochs of course, or perhaps just a few of them, while the rest finished examining the place, assuming they didn't just burn it down. In addition, just the twelve of them couldn't occupy this base, they'd have to get the Grimlochs, or maybe even local law enforcement, to man the fort while they were out investigating. However, as her grumbling stomach and weary muscles told her, they first had to get some food and rest. It had been a long day.

Getting back on the comm, Camillia said, "We need to head back to the Grimlochs, for the food if nothing else. And if we're going to use this base, we'll need more personnel, perhaps the gangers, or local law enforcement."

[RIPP_n_WIPE]

"No good callin' da' civie' protection." Octavius said to Camillas comments. He hadn't been hurt at all by the rival gangers. A stray shot from Diver had grazed his arm but he was fine. "We needs to 'old this. I says we send wun fella back to da' Grimlochs, while the rest 'ov us stays here and defend da base. We don't need 'dose bassads commin' back and takin' stuff. We kin only carry' s'much. I says we stock up, set up defensive positions n' hold da base till wun 'ov us reports back to Grimm. 'Sides, who else da scurvy gonna think attacked dem but the Grimlochs. We don' need to put dem in danga'. We kin stay 'ere, load up on weapons, 'old off da ressa dem, 'an wait for somma Grimmies boyz to cum 'elp us. Now 'an me a stub rifle 'an sum ammo. I need ta reload."

Thinking about what he'd said further the then went to Diver.

"Oi Diver!." he said approaching their escort "Ow many more 'a dem you fink a gunna cum back ta base. You fink if we took out desse bassads we could 'old da ressa dem off?"

[Block]

Relaxing from his fighting stance, the smile returned to Verum's face. Time had seemed to both slow and compress at various stages of the battle. Wiping the filthy mutant blood from his blade, the assassin reflected on the events of the fight. His comrades had acquitted themselves admirably, although some had proved more useful than others. The lady psyker in particular had done well.

Remembering the bite of cold steel through the disgusting abomination's chest, Verum began to whistle the haunting tune from his walk. Focusing in on the strike, he replayed it backward and forward in his mind, feeling the uncoiling of his muscles, the arc of the swing, noting his footwork, and his breathing. With a sudden tightening of his eyes, Verum nodded, and knew how he could improve. Next time, he told himself, next time.
Noting that his blade was clean and shining, he sheathed it and looked at his companions.

"We could stay here, but if Grim was truthful about the numbers, we would be facing at least half again as many as we just killed, and they would have the advantage of surprise quite possibly. Perhaps we should further investigate the area, there are several buildings no one has entered yet," Verum said, "and then we can contact Greis if we find something worthwhile," he subvocalized.

Eyeing the large round building, Verum began walking towards it, pausing to retake his shotgun from Cyrine's hands and held it in a patrol stance, butt resting on his hip, barrel following his eyes. With a glance over his shoulder he looked at Camillia and said "Lady, take Quintos and Xerxes and see to the prisoners in the infirmary. Feel free to be as intimidating as possible." Looking over his other shoulder he said, "Gelt, Lazarus, with me if you don't mind fellows. Lazarus, you have the heaviest armor, take the lead please."

[Feil]

Cyrine had finished reloading her spent magazines and procuring new ones. Adrenalin was fading away and she could feel her heart pulsing slower. The stench of blood and gore was on her clothes, on her face, in her hair. Her stomach twisted but she had promised herself she wouldn't throw up this time. She swiped at her face with the sleeve of her jacket - her new jacket, all spattered with blood. The mutants were awful but at least they hadn't been people. She just tried not to think about the gangers. At least they would be leaving soon, she thought, walking outside to join the others. She couldn't imagine...

"I says we send wun fella back to da' Grimlochs, while the rest 'ov us stays here and defend da base," Octavius said as she went outside.

She looked on the abomination not ten meters away, bleeding out its rank blood onto the ground; her mind gave her images of holding it, moving it, trying to stay or eat or sleep with it just lying there. She was able to turn back inside and shut the door before her stomach won and she crumpled up, wracked by dry heaves. After the fifth or sixth, she wiped her mouth on a clean part of her jacket, scrubbed away a few tears, and went outside again, hoping she didn't look as pale as she felt.

"Stay here, ah? Stay here and drink that... that?" she gestured at the rotting, burning 'water' that was mingling freely with the blood of one of the mutants. "Eat their food, sleep in their beds? Emperor, they were mutants for a reason, ken it. I don't wanna end up looking like..." she grimaced.

"Emperor damn it, we still don't even know what's in this place, when more of them are coming--all I want is some hot clean water to keep the sickness out of your wounds, a meal, a place to sleep."

Cyrine reached into her pocket for her autopistol and started off after the others. Maybe there'd be some antiseptic in the infirmary.

[Raj Ahten]

"First of all, Octavious you can talk normal seeing as Diver is still up in his hidey hole and the gangers aren't around. Second I don't understand why anyone would want to stay in this shithole. I'm with Cyrine on this. This place is fucked."

Nice dodge on taking the lead Verum. I ain't going to be sniper bait for you though

"Fine Verum, let's search this place. I certainly don't want any more suprises popping up."

Lazarus took point for the moment as they started t search the complex. It wasn't like they wouldn't be switching up positions as they searched this place. Besides, Lazarus reckoned pointman or not he had about equal chances of dieing because of a tripwire or some other danger.

We got to get ourselves squared away at the fucking guard base again. This shit is out of hand.

[DPDarkPrimus]

"I says we check the rest o' the buildings fer survivors and what else you brains think might be impor'ant, take wha' we can from their armory, and blow the rest to 'ell," says Xerxes, examining a heavy stubber.

[Hawkwings]

Following Verum's instructions, Camillia gathered up Xerxes and Quintos and headed for the infirmary. Cyrine also joined their little group, and they walked together, avoiding the blood splatters and flecks of gore on the ground.

"I hope the supplies in their infirmary are of better quality than everything else around here," Camillia said. "Otherwise, I don't think we'll be able to use any of it."

[Hotfoot]

Diver turned to Zakary and let loose a deep sigh. "Right, well, that could have gone better, but any fight you can walk away from, right? Tell yer mates the stock up and grab as much as they can carry. Grim could really use the supplies, and the more we keep from the Balimeks, the better. We've got some time before the Balimeks should be back, but I don't want to risk us still being here when they come around. With all the shooting, word's going to spread, and I don't know if they've got a vox or not."

Meanwhile, below in the ganger base, Varnius had made an interesting discovery in what appeared to be the Gang Leader's hut. Several crudely drawn plans and maps of the hive, detailing the territories of the various local gangs, marked by allied and enemy colors, names, and possible places to attack for both.

The men in the infirmary, covered in bandages were quiet and submissive. With no armor and no weapons, they simple hid, hoping to be left alone.

[DPDarkPrimus]

Xerxes walks into the infirmary, brandishing an autopistol he took from one of the dead gangers. "Which one of you is highest up in rank?" he asks the injured, cowering gangers.

[Hotfoot]

The two gangers looked at each other and shrugged, "We're both blooded, mate. Ain't nuffin' for it tho'," one of them said, shakily. "We'd be 'appy t'elp ya out."

[DPDarkPrimus]

Xerxes looked over at Camilla, Quintos and Cyrine. "Care to ask them any questions?"

[Feil]

While Xerxes questioned the injured, Cyrine and Camillia went to the shelves where equipment was arranged in disarray. If the bottles and bandages had once been labeled or clean, that time was years ago. But there were 3 medkits still sealed. Cyrine opened one of the hefty cases and found it very well stocked, even with a couple injectors of stimm.

"These are good," she said, slinging the one she had opened on her back under the autogun. "We should take them."

She looked over at Quintos, whose head wound was still oozing a little blood. "We need to clean that out but if you're feeling okay we need to get out of here first."

[Academia Nut]

The heavy stubber firmly in his grip, not wanting to risk it falling into enemy hands should there be another attack, Quintos glances at the two gangers and asks, "Would either of you gentlemen care to help us carry some of the ammunition we are liberating from your stockpiles? After all, armouries are such flammable things and with all the shooting that has been going on today, who knows if there are any fires still smouldering. I personally think it would be a good idea to get as much of it as far away from here as possible before an accident occurs, don't you gentlemen?"

Quintos' grin showed that he was being ever so sincere.

Turning to Cyrine, still smiling, Quintos replies, "I do believe that Verum could use treatment before me, the armour of my father protected me well and Varnius sealed up most of the rest. I do believe I can wait."

[Hawkwings]

Camillia shuffled through the small structure, opening cabinets and drawers looking for anything useful. There were random bottles of yellowed pills, gel capsules that had burst, old rolls of bandages and gauze that were rotted or flaking, and other signs of a mis- or un-used facility. The intact medkits were a lucky find, and several others had only been slightly used. They looked to be loot from a rather recent expedition, judging from the expiration dates on their contents and they overall quality in general.

Convinced that there wasn't anything else of value in the infirmary, Camillia went back to the main room where the wounded gangers were. Prompted for any questions, she was about to ask one when Quintos started speaking. Camillia decided to wait for their response first before asking if they knew about the mutants.

[DPDarkPrimus]

"They're too injured to do any heavy lifting, Quintos," said Xerxes.

"What," he said to the gangers, autopistol still raised, "Were a frakin' buncha muties doing here?"

[Imperial Overlord]

Varnius was collecting guns, augmenting his arsenal as he dug around. He examined them carefully as he added them to his arsenal, making sure they were in good condition before taking them and loading them with captured ammunition that appeared to be fully functional. "I'll be taking a look around, physically and psychiclly," he said over the microbead. "Anyone see anything, shout out."

He continued prowling.