40K/Inquisitor RPG. The Line of Damnation.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-21 04:53am

Senior Magus Narvelle clenched his cyberfists in pleasure. His mechadendrites were interfaced with a dozen systems. Control was his. Now that the Chaos abominations had been removed from the engineerium, he could take productive measures. Of course, crashing half of the reactors and venting the other half through the warp bubble was less than ideal and would leave the Ramiles powerless for hours, but it would serve.

Status icons danced in his mind. Excellent. He had saved the station and crews of the various ships had managed to subdue their own corrupted personel. Undoubtedly the inquisitors would investigate and purge and his order would have to restore sanctity to the machines. He wondered what could have possibly caused enough personal to turn and fire their guns on their fleet brothers without the Astropaths detecting it or the Fleet commissars taking action. It was quite a mystery the Inquisition had to unravel.

Unfortunately, the series of disasters at anchor had left the strange ship unapposed. It couldn't linger, of course. The defense lasers and torpedo silos on the hives below and the attack craft that were still operational would see to that. But it would have considerable freedom of action in the interviening chaos and could certainly strike hard before making its escape.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 08:36pm

As the Cacophany-class vessel skimmed across the hive gaining speed, the thunderous power of its engines and passage shattered spyres and rained destruction through the giant arcology.

"Inquisitorial vessel incoming, master," the creature bound to the auspex reported, the information displaying on the holotank. The PsyKing eyed the vessel.

"Pivot six degrees on axis and fire port batteries," he said, smiling with sadistic relish. The vessel was no match for his, and would soon be blotted from the sky...

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-21 08:49pm

The deck shook as the main batteried fired. "Emperor's Blood!" Gix swore. "We've got to cut power to weapons before they do much more damage."

Hethor said nothing. Even escort class vessels like this one was a huge edifice. But they had to try. The Dark Angels would succeed or die trying. Hethor would try to live up to that example.

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Pater's ship rocked on the ship took fire. "Commodore!" Severa yelled. "Even diverting all available power to the shields, we won't last long. We have to move in for boarding. Inquisitors Gix and Adivan are already on board. If we can reinforce them, we have a chance."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 09:00pm

The PsyKing lifted another bauble in his hand, crushing it between his fingers. Milky residue filled the air, in which the form of a screaming face could briefly be seen, before he inhaled it, a smile growing on his face.

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Around Gix, Hethor and the others, the engineerium suddenly came alive in a screaming whirlwind of madness. Tools and equipment leapt at them, hyrdraulic arms lashing out, pipes bursting in sprays of superheated steam. Other pieces of equipment clattered and chattered, or worse yet made ominous, daemonic sounds.

Look lively, Jolan. An engineerium is a dangerous place.

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Having gained sufficient acceleration, the vessel suddenly curved up, as the first stabbing shots of the planetary defense network finally started coming online. Blasteds tore the air, mostly failing to find their mark. Some few that did were absorbed without harm by the void shields. Batteries reloaded, the vessel fired another burst at Pater's ship.

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"All ahead flank," Lena counseled Pater. "It's our only hope..." She grabbed the back of his seat as the ship rocked from another salvo and red telltales lit up across the board, the machine spirits of the vessel protesting the abuse.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 09:02pm

Prius had squirmed his way to the bridge, nodding at Adivan and the others as he entered. He watched without comment as the ship shuddered and rocked.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-21 09:09pm

"Fuck this!" Hethor swore as he dragged Gix away. He blew open a power massive power cable with his plasma gun on the way out.

"Throne!" Gix swore.

"Jolan, nothing can live in there." Well, armoured Astartes could, but now was not the time to bring that up. "We'll just last longer than most. Let him blow power keeping his crew from their stations. It costs him more than us."

"You're right," said Gix. "Power transmition leads. They rund the length of the ship to every shield generator and gun battery. We can still do some damage."

GeneralTacticus · Post by **GeneralTacticus** » 2004-12-21 09:14pm

Adivan turned to Pater.

"How agile is this ship of yours?"

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 09:16pm

"Grapple lock acquired," Lena said as calmly as if she were merely discussing the weather. "And... grapples away."

The magnetic locking grapples raced outward, clamping on to the fleeing chaos vessel.

"Good clamp good clamp!" she called out suddenly. "All hands stand by to board!"

The vessels collided side to side, sending shivers down their frames as Pater's ship affixed itself to the much larger vessel like a parasitic insect.

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The PsyKing made a bored gesture with his hand, mentally coordinating the defenses of his ship. The discerning eye might have observed the first signs of actual concern in his expression as he reached for another small bauble.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 09:19pm

Gix could suddenly sense something very wrong in the immediate vicinity...

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-21 09:23pm

There weren't may troops available on Pater's ship, but Severa believed a good leader was better than good odds. "Stand by for contact!" she yelled at her boarding party. Hethor better be keeping Gix alive. Personal feelings aside, having him around was one their best chances of getting out of this alive.

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The hull vibrated with the impacts. "Boarding!" Gix yelled. He tapped into the flow of the warp, looking for disturbances. The PsyKing was going to lead with brute psychic force. If he found that, he would find where he could do the most good. How much long distance power could the PsyKing throw around before exhaustion? Jolan had a feeling he would find out.

And he felt it. "Flying daggers!" he yelled as he gathered protective forces around Hethor and himself while heading for cover.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 09:29pm

Prius was already making his way down as the boarding collars extended, drilling their way through the thick hull of the chaos craft. Arbites shotcannon in hand, he fell in behind Severa, meeting her eyes and giving her a quick nod.
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The flying daggers did indeed come sailing through the air, veering around Gix's force shield to bury themselves hilt-deep in the walls. But they were merely the distraction to create time for the next surprise...

Three shapes that morphed from the walls themselves, monsterous, liquid-metal chaos creations, daemons bound into the hull specifically for the defense of the bessel. Their fingers morphing into blades, they lunged for Gix and Hethor...

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-21 09:36pm

Hethor goggled. "Flying daggers," was code for sudden danger. For that sudden danger to actually be flying daggers was more than a little disconcerning. The metal monstrosities were easier to handle. He blasted one with his plasma gun while Jolan unleashed his plasma pistol. He hoped their field defenses would hold against whatever counter strikes came their way.

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Severa nodded back. Prius was a loon, too fanatical to be anything but a liability except in a fight. In a fight he was hell on wheels and they were about to be in one.

GeneralTacticus · Post by **GeneralTacticus** » 2004-12-21 09:41pm

As the boarding collars finally penetrated the hull of the Chaos escort, Severa and Prius were joined by Adivan, clad in a suit of carapace armour commandeered from PAter's armoury, and carrying a storm shield and meltagun in addition to the enrgy blade and plasma pistol. Behind him loomed the alien mercenary that had come aboard the Starfort a few hours earlier, wielding a massive Heavy Bolter in his eupper arms. His lower arms remained empty, aside from the long, wickedly sharp claws extending from the armoured gauntlets he wore. He barely seemed to notice the others there, instead focussing almost entirely on the opening they were about to storm through.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-21 09:45pm

Severa grabbed Prius by the arm. "Don't worry about the xeno. Let him and the heretics kill each other." She turned towards Adivan. The refractor field created a faint glow around her carapace armoured body. "All units ready inquisitor. On your mark."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 09:49pm

The PsyKing smiled. The flying daggers was a bit of humor on his part, to better disconcert the duo. The final daemon lunged, slashing at Hethor, as another morphed from the wall behind them, claws striking for Gix's back.

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"The heretic is the lowest of the low," Prius murmured, checking his shotcannon once more. "Worthy only of death, quick or slow..."

The final layer penetrated, the boarding collar irised open into the chaos vessel...

GeneralTacticus · Post by **GeneralTacticus** » 2004-12-21 09:50pm

The Inquisitor nodded, breathed deeply, and closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again. He pointed with his igniting energy blade.

"Go."

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-21 09:56pm

Gix spun, force rod out to parry the attack. With his other hand he dropped the plasma pistol and drew his power sword. Hethor shot the other at point blank range with his plasma pistol. Loose energy from the point blank strike caused the refractor field to crackle as it dispersed it.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 10:01pm

The daemon exploded in front of Hethor, gobbets of superheated molten metal spraying at him.

The daemon morphed as its arms sizzled and melted away from the force rod, a new arm emerging from its chest to lash out at Gix.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-21 10:10pm

Gix parryed with the power blade and lashed out with his force rod as Hethor moved to flank with his power sword. The veteran's refractor field has saved him from serious damage, but his flak jacket was splattered with burn marks.

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"Storm!" Severa yelled. Men with supression shields and cut down shotguns advanced, covered by troops with grenade launchers and hellguns. Frag and blind grenades proceeded them. She hoped she hadn't sent too many people to their deaths.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 10:15pm

The daemon howled, a scream audible both to the human ear and those with psyker senses, a horrendous scream as its essence was severed from the metal it animated.

The two halves collapsed to the floor at his feet with a clatter.

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Prius yelled with the troops as they went in to meet... nothing. Their yells echoed down the seemingly empty corridor. A feeling of raw, primal wrongness infused the ship, with heretical markings carved into the walls. Sheer malice seemed to excude from the unnaturally cold metal, which sizzled and popped near the portion heated up by the massive drill of the boarding collar.

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-21 10:19pm

Severa inched foreward. She took one look at the marks and knew she was out of her league. She checked the power reading on her hunter skull. "Inquisitor! We could use your expertise here!"

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Hethor and Gix retrieved their weapons. Gix snarled. "This whole ship is tainted with chaos. If we don't get down there to help the boarders, they might get eaten alive."

Hethor grunted. They couldn't fight the whole ship all by themselves. Securring reinforcements could be the difference between life and death. Best make sure those boys and girls made on board in one piece.

GeneralTacticus · Post by **GeneralTacticus** » 2004-12-21 10:26pm

Adivan followed the rest out with a storm shield in one hand and his energy blade in the other. He swore as he saw the empty corridor and felt the evil that seemed to surround them. A conventional foe he could fight, and very probably defeat; this... he had no way of knowing what this specifically meant, or what to do about it. Activating his vox, he tried to reach Gix and Hethor; perhaps they knew something of what was going on.

He heard Severa shout, and joined her, examining the markings on the walls. He spoke softly, making sure that the others around them could not hear.

"Shit. This isn't good. If this ship is completely empty, it must have some other form of defences... and given what we've seen of this 'PsyKing' so far, I'd wager it's something demonic. I recognise most of these markings; I don't know what specific prupose they have, if they have one other than worshipping Chaos, but I'd rather not find out. Whatever you do, don't touch them; they may well be traps of some kind, knowing our enemy. Gix or Peter would probably know more."

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 10:27pm

"Extend boarding collars to the Inquisitor's ship," the PsyKing ordered.

Legion was making too much progress against his defenders. It was time to fall back to yet another scheme.

He studied his collection of baubles, savoring the faint, nearly subaudible whining noises they made.

Only seven left. These inquisitors had been forcing him to use them up at an alarming rate, but soon he would be through with most of them. He lifted one up, consuming it with a satisfied smile.

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Suddenly, the sigils on the walls began glowing, and random members of the boarding party turned their weapons against their own.

"For Chaos!" "By the power of Tzeentch!" "Death to the False Emperor!"

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Doors slammed and clamped throughout the ship along the path that Gix and Hethor would have to follow, lines of daemonic fire glowing along their seams as they fused closed.

Petrosjko · Post by **Petrosjko** » 2004-12-21 10:30pm

"Hold fire," the captain said. "So long as the inquisitors are grappled with the enemy vessel, we can't risk taking them out."

The two vessels roared through the lower atmosphere, the breaking glass with the echoing boom from their hypersonic speeds. Unbeknownst to most of the occupants, the unstable configuration of the two mated vessels had imparted a spin to them, giving them the illusion of two opponents locked in a close-quarters brawl to the death...

Imperial Overlord · Post by **Imperial Overlord** » 2004-12-21 10:31pm

Severa didn't hesitate. She had thought naval work could be cruel but serving an inquisitor put that into perspective. She executed the rogue troopers with precise bolter shots.

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Hethor tugged on the door. "Won't budge."

"New plan," responded Gix and turned his power sword on the floor. "Let's check out the next deck."