40K Dark Heresy: The Danse Macabre

Vehrec · Post by **Vehrec** » 2008-04-28 04:26pm

RIPP_n_WIPE wrote:The suggestion was just what he wanted to hear. "I've been doing this since the last group left. It would be fine with me for you to watch a while. I've been in need of sleep. Wake me if it is needed." He motions his hunting rifle to Gelt, staying as low as possible so as not to attract attention.

Gelt laid down, took the rifle, and nodded to the younger man. "I'll wake you in six hours if we haven't heard back from the others and nothing changes. I'll keep an eye out, you just rest." wiggling his body over slightly, he assumed a position that allowed for an easy watch of the area through the slit, his helmet looking rather like just another block of ferrocrete. Then he lay as still as he could, trying his utmost to blend into the background while straining his ears for the sound of boots on the floor.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2008-05-01 12:42am

Camillia nodded at the preacher's reasoning. She said "They've been awake as long as us, and they have at least several hours of meticulous work ahead of them. I'd hate for them to be taken advantage of while we all rest. There are six of us here, so we can have three shifts of two people each."

A little while passed while the acolytes traded around for certain watches. As always, the second watch was least desirable and nobody wanted it. Taking Father Havelock's suggestion, Camillia said "I'm not hurt, I'll take second watch along with someone else."

Visible relief from several other acolytes. Camillia claimed a bed-like frame and secured her belongings, putting them in the heavy jacket she took off and rolling it into a ball. She put it next to what seemed to be a pillow and started preparing to go to sleep as the first shift's members left to start their watch.

Losonti Tokash · Post by **Losonti Tokash** » 2008-05-02 11:34am

"A good question, Quintos. Allow me to demonstrate so that you may learn." Paying little heed to the others laying their weapons down next to him, Nixios slowly took the guardsman through the proper rites for the heavy stubber.

Academia Nut · Post by **Academia Nut** » 2008-05-02 03:09pm

Quintos watched as intently as his tired body would allow him, carefully following along as they went through the Rites of Maintenance for the heavy stubber, ensuring that it was properly in place. Working on the other pile of equipment would come later, but for now the heavy weapon had to be attended to.

Feil · Post by **Feil** » 2008-05-02 05:36pm

"I'm also uninjured. I can take second watch."

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-05-04 01:45pm

Grimloch Base

Quintos and Nixios were left relatively unmolested whilst they continued performing the rites of maintenance, though Diver was watching them closely through the process. It was clear, however, that they had hours of work ahead of them.

Balimek Base

Varnius continued to follow the strangely dressed man, and through the course of the shadowing, could see how all of the Balimek gangers gave him a wide berth. More than a few gangers did a double take as Varnius moved past, unsure if they had seen something or not. However, most of the gangers were spread out looking for clues as to who had attacked the base, and from where. Lazarus had only minor difficulty moving in the same general direction as Varnius, but even with knowledge that the pysker was sneaking around while shrouded by the warp, he quickly found himself searching for the strangely dressed man through the occasional peepholes in the tunnels.

Before long, the strangely dressed man grabbed another of the gangers and pulled him aside, speaking in a very urgent tone of voice. The two argued for a period of time, before the ganger was shoved away and started to run off with a very intense purpose. The strangely dressed man continued off, exiting the base now into a wide tunnel with a wrecked industrial cargo mover halfway down the tunnel.

Meanwhile, in the tunnels, a few odd sounds echoed through the dark recesses beyond what Gelt and Octavius could see. The sounds grew in intensity, and then faded. Meanwhile, below them, a ganger ran up into the planning builder Varnius had looted earlier, only to disappear inside for several minutes. After that, he came out and started shouting orders to the searching gangers, and the entire group started going into different buildings in the base.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-05-04 01:50pm

Varnius continued to shadow the strange cultist. At an opportune moment, out of earshot of the surrounding gangers, he whispered into his microbead. "Gangers on high alert. Be careful. Following into large tunnel with wrecked mover."

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-05-04 08:53pm

"Roger that."

Lazarus kept his time on the comm short. He was very high strung, and all the day's events were getting to him. He was a little shaky from fatigue, and every step seemed like it was a little harder to take.

At least I'm past all those bastards poking around their compound. Besides it's not like training wasn't harder thn this.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-05-05 02:57pm

The travel through the tunnel was relatively long and uneventful. A maintenance shaft followed the tunnel directly. After several minutes of walking, the strangely dressed man came to a hatch leading downward, deeper still into the hive. The hatch opened with a loud hissing of compressed air and a thud of heavy metal. Once in the hatch, the man closed it behind him with a heavy thud.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-05-05 03:29pm

Varnius waited a minute and then attempted to open the hatch. It was heavy. The psyker held in a grunt as he swung it open. "Proceeding down a hatch," he whispered into his microbead and then passed through.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-05-05 06:32pm

By the Emperor, not deeper into this shithole.

Lazarus kept following the Pysker deeper into the underhive.

If he buys it, someones got to know what the fuck happened.

SylasGaunt · Post by **SylasGaunt** » 2008-05-12 12:42am

Havelock rubbed at his eyes and settled in to wait near the door to the shack, watching and listening, occasionally getting up to peer out of the door at irregular intervals. He'd volunteered to take the first watch after the second watch had filled. Taking the first shift would let one of his more injured comrades go to sleep and get some much needed rest. He was tired, he ached, ad despite it all he was unsure of how eager he really was to go to sleep, where he was almost certain the sights he'd seen in the Balimek base would return to haunt him.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-05-13 11:54am

Grimlock Base

Things were quiet throughout the area, save for the usual noises of the underhive. The first shift continues without any major incident, while the pile of guns to be worked on has decreased by about half.

Balimek Base

After a short while, the gangers below exited their buildings, carrying large packs filled to overflowing with equipment. The sounds in the tunnels grew and faded again, somewhat closer than they were previously.

Deep in the Tunnels of the Underhive

The hatch opened with the same loud clang as before, leading Varnius into a strangely silent tunnel, leading down with a ladder. The strangely dressed man was nowhere to be seen from his current vantage point.

The maintenance tube had an access point not far from the tunnel Varnius disappeared down, but from this point on, Lazarus would have to follow Varnius directly.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-05-13 01:28pm

Varnius hurried down the ladder, eager to catch up with the heretic.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-05-13 04:53pm

THe damn tunnels were not to earbuds's machine spirit's liking. Lazarus was forced to stay a lot closer to Varnius than he would have liked; around thirty feet. He still wanted to stay around corners from the Pysker if he could, but his safety margin was gone.

As Lazarus went down the ladder he said to Varnius,

"I'm going to have to close up the gap, otherwise i'll lose yo down here."

I'll need the Emperor's love for this one.

Academia Nut · Post by **Academia Nut** » 2008-05-14 02:04am

Once they had finished ministering to the needs of the heavy stubber Quintos looked somewhat blearry eyed at Diver and said, "There, if your leader still wants the weapon put on watch, now I can and good conscious say that it is ready to serve again. Tell him or not, I do not care."

He then picked up his own lasgun and ran his hands over it, smiling in satisfaction. This would be a simple procedure in comparison, seeing as he could probably perform the Rites of Maintenance on his lasgun while suffering a broken arm and a concussion. "Ah, good spirit of my father's lasgun, I apologize for ignoring you in favour of the heavy stubber, but it was in the hands of those heretics for so long and it was fired so much more heavily that it needed the attention first."

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-05-16 01:04pm

Deep in the Tunnels

Lazarus closed the gap with Varnius well enough, but the psyker still had a bit of a lead on the guardsman. In the ladder access the hatch lead to, Varnius made it down to the bottom with little trouble. The man in strange clothing was taking cover behind a pipe, an autopistol pointed down the corridor. "Turn and run or show yourself! Either way, I start firing into that witch's shadow!"

Grimloch Base

Diver shrugged. "It'll be here if'd we needs it, mate." He motioned to one of the fresh guards that had just come on shift and whispered in his ear. and then left. The Grimloch that had relieved Diver appeared bored as he took a seat to watch over the two would-be mechanics.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-05-16 01:15pm

Throne! thought Varnius. So match for tracking him down without noticing. The psyker had his autopistol out as he looked for cover. No point in replying, that would only further compromise his position.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-05-16 07:16pm

Lazarus, at the top of the hatch, thought fast. Up here he couldn't do much, and the target was on to them. Making a quick calculation, he figured he could probably jump down with out breaking a leg, or perhaps contort himself to make shots with a pistol from up here. Lazarus didn't know the situation, and the comm was only giving him static.

Damn that machine spirit. I need to stall for time.

"Fuck you asshole!"
Lazarus shouted down the hatch.
"I want a talk, or you eat frag grenades. Your choice!"

Maybe he didn't see Varnius.

Lazarus double checked his autogun and las pistol as he spoke.

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2008-05-16 09:25pm

Camillia woke up when Havelock shook her lightly. She nodded to him, then sat up on the cot. The shack was still lit by the hab lights seeping through the walls, but the light level was slightly lower. The psyker said her prayers, then opened up her rolled-up jacket to retrieve her equipment. Nearby, she could see Cyrine also getting up. Camillia put on her jacket and tiptoed over to Cyrine, then said "I'm going to go check on Quintos and Nixios, and maybe see if we can get some of our guns back."

With that said, Camillia stretched a bit, then stepped "outside". She walked quickly over to where the other two were, then waited respectfully for a pause in their work. When there was an opening, she asked "How are you two doing? Do either of you need anything?"

Losonti Tokash · Post by **Losonti Tokash** » 2008-05-16 09:27pm

Nixios looked up at Camillia before turning his head back down to the weapon he was working on. "I am well. I cannot speak for the guardsman, of course."

Academia Nut · Post by **Academia Nut** » 2008-05-17 12:27am

Shrugging, while continuing to work, Quintos says, "I grow tired, but my pain is nothing compared to He on Earth, so I shall endure. The proper care of our machine spirits is the Emperor's Work as much as blasting heretics and mutants, and in fact has a simple purity to it. I tend and clean to them, I do my duty, and in turn I am cleaned. This is something that must be done, and there is no danger to the soul in doing it, unlike... that... that we found down there, even if it too had to be done."

Hawkwings · Post by **Hawkwings** » 2008-05-17 01:56am

Camilia nodded to both men, acknowledging their responses and expressing an unspoken desire to not talk about what happened at the Balimek base. She then looked over the weapons laid out among the guardsman and the techpriest. The finished ones were sitting in neat rows off to the side, while the ones yet to be serviced were piled together on the other side. Camillia noticed her own compact laspistol in the pile yet to be serviced, and decided to take care of it herself. The machine spirit of that weapon had familiarity with her, and she could probably take care of it in just a few minutes, saving the others a bit of work.

Camillia retrieved her weapon and began working on it. The interaction between psyker and machine spirit was rarely a pleasant one, but it led to great benefits for both when it was a familiar, constructive sort of relationship. It wasn't even an active use of her powers, just a sort of heightened awareness of the machine spirit's state, and an influence exerted by her passive warp aura. As she worked, she thought about the two men in front of her. The techpriest probably didn't even need sleep anyways, and the guardsman was sure to have pulled long days before. She felt that they would be fine, but it couldn't hurt to stay with them both for a little while longer.

After she finished the ritual with her weapon, she slipped it back into its holster and stood up. She would watch them for a while longer, then go back to the shack to check on Cyrine.

Block · Post by **Block** » 2008-05-17 11:44pm

Tossing restlessly in his sleep, Verum sat up, spoke a single word, and settled back into his rest.

Vehrec · Post by **Vehrec** » 2008-05-20 04:20pm

Serghar looked over his shoulder. Nothing. And the tunnels echoed so that even he could not tell exactly where the sounds came from. He spend a few seconds considering his course of action. Should he wake his fellow officer? Or would whatever lurked in the darkness pass them by? He decided to gamble, but not without a few cards up his sleeve.

Carefully he edged over a couple of decimeters and picked up the autogun he had left propped up when he had settled into this spot to watch. By touch, he removed the weapon's clip and held it up before his face before returning it to its rightful place and clicking the fire selector the the automatic setting. This time, he kept the gun closer to hand, ready to spring up and fire it on full auto at the first thing that showed it's head.