40K Dark Heresy: The Danse Macabre

Vehrec · Post by **Vehrec** » 2008-06-18 07:16pm

Gelt cursed and looked around for landmarks. "I can still see the base and a couple of the worms, but they're still rolling all over those armored things with too many legs that came out of the tunnels. There are four entrances to various tunnels over here, two obvious and two not so obvious. The bigger obvious tunnel has red glow-globes ever 50 meters at the top, the little one has little yellow ones on the left and right sides at maybe 10 meters apart. There's a tiny little one that's just big enough for single-file and then there's the last one. Which one did you go down?" He wanted out of here before the Worms started chasing him again.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-06-18 07:26pm

"We're coming to get you," said Varnius. "Don't panic, we're close by." He broke into an all out run.

Vehrec · Post by **Vehrec** » 2008-06-18 07:46pm

Gelt commed a quick "Rodger that." frowned and turned back towards the Worms. They were slow, but some of them were moving closer. He toyed with putting a few bullets into the few wiggling towards him, but they were no threat as of yet. He clicked the fire selector on the autogun back to single shot, and glanced down the tunnels again. Then he turned back to the worms.

"Wiggle all you like you fraking things, we'll clean you up right and proper when the time comes."

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-06-18 07:59pm

"About to come through into your line of sight," said Varnius. "Don't shoot us." He turned the corner and came down the poorly illuminated corridor. Better light than the mines though. He waved. "This way," he said.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-06-18 09:09pm

Lazarus had kept up with the pysker, who seemed to have had everything in hand. He fell back into the routine of a guardsman, checking all the corners and generally doing everything to not get shot.

When the Arbite Gelt came into view Lazarus said,
"Unless you are seriosly wounded we got to get out of here. It's also nice to see you've made it."

Lazarus had no intentions to see whatever the hell had eaten the other arbite.

Vehrec · Post by **Vehrec** » 2008-06-18 09:42pm

Gelt barked a bitter laugh before jogging down the tunnel towards his missing companions. "No wounds, which makes me lucky. That poor bastard was done after one bite, there must have been something else besides just those things nibbling on him." He shock his head. "Always a bad thing to see the things down here get a man. We built these places, and then we abandon them to things that eat us."

He then looked down the tunnel. "What do you think, should we try and find our way back up to a more civilized level and get back to the others that way? Or are you feeling up to a little more Underhive crawling?"

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-06-19 01:35pm

"We have a cult map," said Varnius, "with Underhive notations. We should go and pick up our companions and if their ganger friends have played nice, use one of them as an interpretor."

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-06-19 09:07pm

"That map looks to be a damn fine piece of intel. Lets move before those worms or whatever the hell they are show up. We can discuss the rest once we're on safer ground."

Lazarus backed up his words by heading out towards where the rest of the team was located.

"Varnius, you'll have to guide us in. All of these tunnels look the same to me."

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-06-19 09:18pm

Balimek Base

The way to the tunnels leading back to the Grimloch Base were now blocked by the writing mass of worms and millisaurs which were slowly covering the entirety of the Balimek Base.

Vehrec · Post by **Vehrec** » 2008-06-19 10:48pm

"Was thinking the same things myself. But if we want to get back to the others, we'll need to find a new path or retrace our steps earlier today. You haven't seen any shafts leading upwards, have you? If we can get back up to where we were before we came down here we might have an easier time of it." Gelt took his box of Lho-sticks out, stared at it for a few seconds and then crumpled it in his hand. "Back to work, your break is over Arbitrator." he muttered to himself before shoving the crumpled pack into one of the several pockets on his jumpsuit.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-06-19 11:10pm

Nothing is ever easy.

"There are tunnels leading every damn which way. The problem is we don't know which leads to a dead end or worse."

I'm beginning to miss that hiver filth Diver.

"My guess would be we could head back to this bigger tunnel we hit a while back that went up. It might be less prone to leading us to our deaths than taking some shitty little steam pipe. My opinion don't exactly amount to much as far as these hives go though."

Lazarus kept a close eye on the sorroundings as he spoke. The last thing he needed was a damn chaos worm or what ever the cursed things were biting him in the ass.

"Whatever we do, we got to make a decision fast."

Lazarus also tossed Gelt a water bottle. It looked like he needed it after his run.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-06-20 12:00am

"Give me a moment," said Varnius. The psyker went through his memory of the tunnel layout, the passages he had taken, and how the tunnels connected to each other. They needed to skirt the edge of the base and get back the the tunnels leading to the Grimloch base. "This way," said the psyker. "And its going to be bad."

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-06-20 12:20am

The Millisaurs that were attacked by the worms began to move again. The worms had slithered around the mineral-encrusted bodies of the Millisaurs, with a mouth clearly attached somewhere on each of the creature's bodies. Pulsating movements propelled them forward as they twitched unnaturally. Meanwhile, the bodies of the dead were being eaten by the worms and the millisaurs alike, including the strange hybrids.

Very little remained of a clear path through the base. The barricades themselves had already been overrun by the creatures, leaving scant room to get by. There were a few paths, but much further delay and the worms, slow though they were, would cover every way through the chamber that could be accessed by foot.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-06-20 01:02am

Varnius lead his party through the tunnels, hoping he remembered the interconnections correctly. The route should lead him around the base and back to the Grimloch tunnels, without actually entering it. If he recalled correctly. "This way should get us back to the tram station," he said. "Without going into the base." If I recall correctly.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-06-20 06:57am

Lazarus had seen the writhing mass of worms through cracks in the tunnels. He decided that if one of those things got ahold of him, he'd take out his grenade and blow himself up. He also knew he was totally dependent on Varnius to navigate these tunnels. The guardsman vowed to learn how to navigate if he ever made it out of here alive.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-06-22 03:13pm

The way Varnius used was longer, but ultimately safer. No strange creatures harried the acolytes back to the general area overlooking the Balimek Base, though evidence of the Millisaur stampede was still clear in the tunnels.

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-06-22 05:33pm

After examining the stampedes damage, Lazarus said to Gelt.

"The Emperor must have been with you behind this shit. I ccould never understand how anyone could survive on hive planets at all."

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-06-23 01:30am

"At least they have technology," said Kast. He pointed. "We should try and link up with the Grimlocks now."

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-06-23 09:06am

"Right. Lets get moving then, I suppose. We certainly don't want to hang around here."

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-06-23 01:44pm

"Actually," said Varnius, "this area should be productive. A connection point between the hive proper and the underhive will be somewhat busy and we need someone to tell us where the Grimloch's are. Since they've boasted about how good their water supply is, it should be common knowledge. We just need to find some likely looking people and start asking questions. Their territory was in that direction, if I remember correctly. That would be the best area to look and ask."

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-06-23 02:03pm

Varnius started heading out, but ended up taking a wrong turn and navigated a rambling course back to the tram station. After about an hour wasted, he had lead the group back to the starting point.

"Sorry about that," he said. "I almost had it, but definitely not left at the third fork to get to Grimloch territory." He headed off again.

Vehrec · Post by **Vehrec** » 2008-06-23 05:21pm

"Close enough for me. Although by the time we get back to them, the others may just be waking up. And I can't imagine that we'll get the warmest welcome, having been off unspuervised, maybe dealing with their enemies, or worse, ratting them out to the Arbites." Gelt grinned a bit at that bitter humor, following Varnius with an easy step. He could move faster than the Psyker, but their reduced and heavily armed group might be a tempting target for other scum and dregs in the depths of the Hive, and they might as well travel in one group. Besides, the psyker had the map, and that needed to be guarded as well. He kept an eye roving over the other humans and hiding places in the tunnel, watching for threats and fingering his trusty shotgun's metal.

"I think we are going to need to tell everyone what we saw. Those worms, the things the gangers did, and that man you killed. I want to know who he was."

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2008-06-23 05:47pm

"Exactly," said Varnius. "We need the others and local information sources to translate the map and take action."

Raj Ahten · Post by **Raj Ahten** » 2008-06-23 06:17pm

Lazarus as usual taking up the "tail gunner" position decided to air his thoughts as well.

"If we got real evidence we might be able to get some backup on this. I don't want to hit these fucks with not enough men."

The problem with my brilliant plan is we don't have any idea who is reliable or even who the fuck would actually help us. Local arbites might be worth a shot as they didn't shoot my ass for no reason like most would have.

Lazarus glared at any dreg who came too close to him. His autogun with its safety off in his hands helped keep them back as well.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2008-06-23 08:10pm

Grimloch Base

Morning in the Underhive was hard to tell from the rest of the day. Without direct sunlight, determining the time of day was problematic without other signs. This lead to a nearly constant buzz of activity depending on how close to the surface you were.

Varnius, Lazarus, and Serghar reached the base shortly after the final "night" watch finished their patrols. One of the guards that saw the approaching trio sent a signal back to the main contingent of gangers, and before long, Diver appeared to greet them. "Right then, you glad you lot made it back. Most of you, anyways, what happened to your one mate? The one with that sounded like an Ogryn?"