Suffer Not ≡][≡ 40k Inquisition Quest

open_sketch · Nov 19, 2019

≡][≡ Inquisitor Joanyn Praxis ≡][≡
Imperial Inquisitor, Ordo Hereticus

Attributes
Physical Attributes
Strength - 1
Agility - 2
Melee - 1
Endurance: 4

Mental Attributes
Intelligence - 3
Tactics - 2
Nerve - 1
Fortitude: 6

Social Attributes
Charm - 4
Presence - 3
Contacts - 3
Resolve: 10

Faith Attributes
Belief - 2
Scripture - 0
Fire - 1
Conviction: 3

(3) - The Imperium should be an alliance of solidarity for the weak, not an alliance of strength for the strong.
(2) - People are more than problems, weaknesses, corruption vectors to eradicate. Their feelings and dreams matter.
(1) - A Shot Fired is a Shot Wasted

<1> - Victory makes me feel alive.

Strength is raw physical conditioning. Lifting stuff, swimming, running a long time, punching hard. It's added to many melee attack damage as well.

Agility is swiftness, reaction speed, and immediate awareness. It's used for dodging things, jumping, ducking, outrunning folks, and other twitchy reactions.

Melee is the general skill of up close combat with knives, swords, fists (power or otherwise), chainsaws, whatever else.

Intelligence is raw intellectual power, knowledge, and drive to learn and study stuff. It is also used for military logistics.

Tactics is your knowledge of battle tactics, from the strategy of leading armies to simply knowing when it is safe to rush across a hallway in a gunfight.

Nerve is the stat both for shooting firearms and for keeping your cool. Nerve checks are common in combat to prevent from panicking or fight through pain.

Charm is the social stat used for flattery, smoothtalking, lying, seduction, verbal sparring, deflection, and navigating high culture.

Presence is the social stat used for reasoning, explaining, teaching, intimidating, impressing, or public address.

Contacts is rolled to know people you need to know, and to have a good reputation with them.

Belief is your actual faith in... whatever you have faith in. The Emperor, hopefully. It is used to resist temptation and corruption.

Scripture is your knowledge of the intellectual side of your religious faith. If you can quote from the holy books and theologians. It's intelligence for matters of faith.

Fire is your ability to project your faith out and convince others of it. Want to convert somebody or whip a crowd into a fanatical fury? This stat.

Weapon: Laspistol
Weapon: Hellpistol
Trade: Manager
Trade: Spy
Trade: Political Operator
Talent: Verbal Sparring
Talent: Seduction
Talent: Dishonesty
Talent: Intimidation
Talent: Exfiltration
Talent: Logistics
Talent: Propaganda
Talent: Indirect Persuasion
People: Dahlia
People: The Corrupted
People: High Imperial Politicians
Knowledge: Imperial Political Theory

Social Loadout
1 Compact Laspistol, 1 Laspistol Reload, Flash-Safe Glasses, 6 Concealed monoknives, 1 Show Knife, 1 Belt Buckle Gun, 1 Plastex Bodyglove/Flakweave Suit, Displacer Field

Combat Options
+1 Hellpistol, +1 Transonic Machete

Compact Laspistol
Small Handgun
Attack Dice: 1/d10 -or- 2/d10-1
Aim Bonus: +1
Damage Bonus: +2
Armour Reduction: 0
Magazine Size: 4
Special
Laser: Does not cause bleeding.
Blinding: If operated without flash protection, witnessing the impact of a las-weapon will blind for 3 rounds.

Concealed Monoknife
Small Knife
Attack Dice : 1/d10
Damage Bonus : Agility + 1
Armour Penetration : 2
Parry Bonus : -1
Disarm Bonus : +0

Show Knife
Medium Knife
Attack Dice : 1/d10+1
Damage Bonus : Agility + 1
Armour Penetration : 0
Parry Bonus : +0
Disarm Bonus : +0

Buckle Gun
Tiny Handgun
Attack Dice: 2/d10-2
Aim Bonus: +0
Damage Bonus: -2
Armour Reduction: 0
Magazine Size: 1
Special
Hidden: Will always escape searches.

Plastex Bodyglove/Flakweave Suit
Clothing
Armour Value : 3
Coverage : All but Head and Eyes
Resistances : Impact, Blunt

Displacer Field
Energy Screen
When hit with an attack, roll 1d10.
1: Displaced into worse danger.
2: Displacer field fails. Take the hit.
3-6: Displaced hard. Take 1 Sore from bumping into something.
7-9: Displaced. Attack avoided.
10: Nothing personal, kid.

Hellpistol (Voss Pattern)
Medium Handgun/Carbine
Attack Dice: 1/d10 -or- 2/d10-1 (One-Handed)
Aim Bonus: +1
Damage Bonus: +3
Armour Reduction: 2
Magazine Size: 12
Special
Laser: Does not cause bleeding.
Blinding: If operated without flash protection, witnessing the impact of a las-weapon will blind for 3 rounds.
Convertible: When converted to Carbine mode, gain +1 to Attack and Aim Bonus.

Transonic Machete
Medium Knife
Attack Dice : 1/d10+2
Damage Bonus : Strength + 3
Armour Penetration : 1 + Half of enemy Armour (Round Down)
Parry Bonus : +0
Disarm Bonus : +3
Special
Sickening Vibrations: Enemies with 3 meters of an active blade count as being at -1 to all stats.

Sister Charitina
A member of the Order Famulous who found her faith again thanks to the Inquisitor. Praxis' closest confidant, dearest friend, and irritating ex-girlfriend.
Attributes of Note: Nerve 3, Contacts 4, Charm 3, Scripture 2, Fire 2
Skills of Note: Career - Order Famulous, Weapon - Bolt Carbine, People - Inquisitor Praxis
Equipment: Half-Plate Power Armour, Bolt Carbine, Burning Blade
Known Values: (3) The nobility is a blight on the Imperium, (2) I trust the Inquisitor's vision for the future, (1) Galaxy grim and dark, tiddy soft and warm.

Dahlia Hussian
A 17 year old unsanctioned psyker, rescued by Praxis from the witch's pyre she volunteered for at age 12. Loves the Emperor, and hates herself for being unworthy and twisted.
Attributes of Note: Power 1, Control 2, Sight 2, Faith 5, Strength -1, Nerve 0
Skills of Note: Talent - Self Discipline, Talent - Self-Hatred
Equipment: Web Derringer
Known Values: [3] I am here because I was given a chance. I should extend the same chance to others, [2] The Emperor is all things, [1] I can atone for my existence by aiding the Inquisitor

Marvel Ann Alemanga-Zero
A Magos of the biology wing of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Marvel Ann is an exuberant, odd, and enthusiastic cyborg lady who is an expert in medicine and bionics. She's Joanyn's current sweetheart, and she autotunes her voice.
Attributes of Note: Intelligence 4, Charm 3, Strength 4
Skills of Note: Career - Cyberdoc, Talent - Surgery, Talent - Singing
Known Values: [2] Adventure is to be seized with both hands (and as many mechandrites as possible)

Fraser Bookter
A positively ancient scribe who served Praxis' teacher, Bookter has seen all manner of things. Despite that, he keeps good humour.
Attributes of Note: Intelligence 4, Scripture 2, Contacts 2, Strength -2
Skills of Note: Career - Archivist, Knowledge - Imperial History
Known Values: ???

Korey Kilimnik
Once a Lightning fighter pilot for the Navy, until he was caught fucking an admiral's son. Kilimnik professionally doesn't care unless it has jet engines.
Attributes of Note: Nerve 5, Agility 3
Skills of Note: Career - Fighter Pilot, Talent - Piloting, Talent - Causing Trouble
Known Values: [2] By death or rejuvenation, age will never slow my reflexes

Penalties

≡][≡	Sore	Strain	Stress	Stain	≡][≡
◹☠◸	0/4	0/6	0/10	0/3	◹☠◸
◹⛉◸	3 XP	XP3	33 XP	9 XP	◹⛉◸

CURRENT RP
6

RULES SUMMARY
ROLZ ROOM

Valmond · Dec 19, 2019

[X] Plan: Lie, Cheat, Steal, Run, and Theorycraft

No seduction or Charitina (almost wrote no seduction of Charitina

), but broadly it does most of what i want and i'm too lazy to make a competing plan (and people skill Dahlia is probably more important anyway).

The Laurent · Dec 19, 2019

Valmond said:
[X] Plan: Lie, Cheat, Steal, Run, and Theorycraft

No seduction or Charitina (almost wrote no seduction of Charitina ), but broadly it does most of what i want and i'm too lazy to make a competing plan (and people skill Dahlia is probably more important anyway).

We already have seduction... and I almost put Charitina before someone was like, "Think about Dahlia!" Not to worry, we'll bond over raising our child together.

Valmond · Dec 19, 2019

The Laurent said:
We already have seduction... and I almost put Charitina before someone was like, "Think about Dahlia!" Not to worry, we'll bond over raising our child together.

But we could have more seduction.

Though i am fully onboard on prioritizing our adorable kid.

open_sketch · Dec 19, 2019

Praxis tried seduction on Charitina once. It didn't work out long term.

open_sketch · Dec 21, 2019

You awoke late the next morning, wincing at the bright sunlight streaming through the windows, groping blindly for your bionic arm on the bedside table. You found your pistol instead, resting in its holster where you left it, and you struggled to remember last night.

You fucking hated taking sedatives, it was a last resort. If you had to wake up before they ran their course, you'd be vulnerable, it was dangerous. Dahlia didn't like them either, she'd described them as making her brain fuzzy, and it was a very apt description for the sensation. But she needed them after bad days, or she wouldn't sleep. So did you.

Finally, you found your arm resting at the foot of the bed, on the trunk there, and you plugged it in, wincing from the brief spike of confused sensations as the artificial nerves connected. The sensation on your arm wasn't complete by any means, wasn't nearly as good as the original, but you had receptors on the palm and fingers so you could grip things easily and safely, contacts inside the limb to ensure you had an intuitive understanding of what you were doing with it, and even some points along the length that could sense touch. You had limited temperature senses, but what it was missing was pain. It didn't do pain.

You stared at it, flexed, watched the exposed pistons and cogs work and metal muscle fibers work. It was a marvel, near magical, stronger than your original limb, robust, powered by nothing but glucose it siphoned from your veins and a catalytic cell you replaced once a month. You couldn't even begin to understand the techno-sorcery that went into it, the artistry, the decades of experience and millennia of horded knowledge. It was a metal miracle.

You lay the back of your hand against the headboard, where there were no sensory receptors, and for a moment marinated in the disconnection. Your brain knew that this was your limb, the electrical connections in the plug of your stump told it so, so to see it rest against something, to feel the resistance, yet to feel nothing at the point of contact, created a discordance in your brain that was not easily resolve. All this technology, all these years of artificially extended life, and your mind was still so easily tricked.

You rested your other hand the same way, basking in the contradiction.

There was a knock at the door, and it shook you out of your introspection.

"Yes?"

"Want some caff, Jo?" Charitina asked.

She'd only started using the familiar form of your name a few months ago, even though you'd known her for nearly two decades. She'd tried to go back to stiffly addressing you as a superior, but it was uncomfortable for the both of you.

"Yeah, thanks." you replied. "Still not really awake yet. Did you check on Dahlia?"

"She's still asleep."

Charitina's footsteps retreated down the hall as you got ready, showered, took your rejuv meds. You got dressed, simple today, more suited to the weather. Short black denim pants and grey shirt, with just some loose chain and the screened pattern of a skull as concessions to appearances, your holster and icon in place. Not exactly dignified for a public appearance, but you probably wouldn't have to talk to anyone outside your team today, save maybe your prisoner. It was better than your sweat-drenched bodyglove, which you should really get washed. Maybe you should look into some of the light flakweave the PDF wore, at least for the duration of your mission here.

You stepped carefully around the filth you'd tracked through the door, and were relieved to see the hallway had been cleared of it, and you headed down to the kitchen as servants appeared through one of the hidden doors to clean your room. Charitina was waiting, handing you a hot mug, and you tilted your head to read the side. CAFF TODAY, FOR TOMORROW YOU MIGHT BE DEAD. Nice.

"How'd you sleep." you asked. She shrugged.

"Fine. You?"

You didn't answer. It was a little unnerving sometimes, how unaffected she was. You weren't sure if you were jealous.

"Bookter put together a report for you," Charitina continued, "about the attack yesterday and all that. I gave it a skim. Counting the dead in the VIED, thirty-nine attackers. Death toll in the PDF was a hundred thirty, plus that again in wounded."

"Saints. That's incredibly lopsided." you replied. The PDF were incompetent, but they weren't that bad, were they?

"Well, most of the soldiers were unarmed, they actually lock their guns up between patrols to prevent mutinies. On top of that, the barracks closest to the blast was pretty populated, it was apparently the nicest one so they tended to fight over the bunks. The VIED was probably targeting it specifically, insider information and all. The suspicion is their mole might have been somebody who was out on one of the patrols. There's about two dozen missing after the attack too, and while some might just be bodies they haven't found, there's likely some desertions in there as well. It's been a big problem for them since the separatists started up again, especially with the conscription policies."

There was a lot to unpack there, but you might as well just throw the whole suitcase out.

"Conscription policies? How're they fucking this one up?"

"Well, the PDF wasn't ever popular, they're kind of seen as the lapdogs of the offworld nobility and all that, but they never really had problems with volunteers, you know, its food and shelter. But once the fighting started up again, some genius ordered them to start conscripting young men for the war effort."

"I'm guessing they don't send around letters." you surmised.

"Of course not. They apparently use hired security forces as press gangs and mostly stalk markets and stuff. As far as most people are concerned, their teenaged sons keep getting kidnapped by fucking offworlders to die fighting their own kin."

You didn't really have anything to say to that. You weren't shocked, by any means, this was normal. The Imperium just operated like this, layers of authority that had no reason to care about anyone under them, bound together by the belief in infinite obligation to your superiors and zero duty to your subordinates. Who cares that just about every single world broke down cyclically roughly once every century? The Imperium was so vast there was always somewhere to pull loyal forces from to put down those who couldn't take it anymore, to punish the survivors so harshly that nobody would dare try anything as long as the events were in living memory.

You sipped your caff.

"Where are we on the Company of Judgement?" you asked.

"Mr. Greven sent us another transmission. He's at some kind of staging point, one of the less hospitable islands past the equator, hidden in among the miners there. Says that they keep telling him lies about the Brimselda, but he doesn't believe a word." Charitina explained. "Matches what Wechs told us. But he also said that he's not spotted anything that looks particularly heretical, they seem pretty devout altogether. There's a shrine to the Emperor in the house they have him stashed in, they do weekly sermons, the works. Particular focus on the dangers of the Xenos."

"Welp, that's good to know. How about the local response to us being here?" you asked.

"The governor sent us an invitation to the palace, which appears to be a private island, and is glad we're here to, quote, purge the filth, unquote. She's House Chandyll, and apparently the planet is neutral ground for the major houses here. I told them we'd come to them, and were not to be disturbed until we do."

Charitina hated the nobility more than you did. You mostly just resented their position in the structure of the Imperium and the negative effects they had, but Charitina's job had been to keep records on their bloodlines and deeds, so she was intimately familiar with every major family and most of the big players in the sector, and all the terrible things they did. To each other, to their own families, to the people under their authority.

"Thanks Tina. Good to be up to speed." You finished your caff, finally feeling close to human again. "We should go talk to Dahlia."

"Yeah. Poor girl."

---

You knocked on her door, and after about a moment you heard the sounds of Dahlia moving on the bed.

"Inquisitor? Sister?"

"Yes. We want to talk to you."

The door it creaked open, just a crack, and Dahlia peeked an eye through the gap, her long, dark hair spilling out messily over her face.

"Okay. Sorry." she muttered, and pulled the door open. You didn't ask her what she was apologizing for, poor girl probably didn't know herself. She stood back awkwardly as the two of you filed in, until you indicated to the bed for her to sit. Charitina sat on the trunk at the end of the bed, while you just leaned against the wall, trying to look a little casual, to put her at ease.

"How're you feeling, angel?" Charitina asked immediately. You suppressed a sigh. Dahlia didn't want that question asked, she wouldn't dare talk about herself until she'd at least felt like she'd been useful to you, but Tina's concern for the girl overran her rational brain, and you couldn't much blame her for that.

"Useless." Dahlia said sullenly. Yep, just like that. "I'm sorry I couldn't... I wasn't better yesterday. It was so much, and all the... it..."

"It's okay, Dahlia. We're going to figure all that out, okay?" you assured her. "Let's talk about it. You said there was something in the minds of the other prisoners, right?"

She nodded, slowly, as if pained, her face screwed up.

"Do you know what it was?" you asked.

"T-the... the Enemy." Dahlia said. "I-I... in their heads. All of them. Whispers. It was..."

Her words trailed off into a sort of toneless mumble, and Charitina shifted over to let the poor girl lean against her.

"It's okay, Dahlia. Take your time." She muttered. "You're okay."

Charitina had served a terrible duty, in her Order, before she joined you. She had to test the youth of the nobility for psychic powers. When she found them, she had to turn them over to the Black Ships. Sometimes, her superiors would rule that they couldn't wait that long, and dealing with that was Sister Charitina's duty as well. It had broken her, broken her faith, left her a shell for decades, until you found her copying ledgers in back office. You'd needed a name for a case you were building, and she was the one who knew those names.

Sometimes, you suspected that she saw caring for Dahlia as her penance to the universe.

"It wasn't... just them. The ones that came later, after the explosions, they were... the same voices," Dahlia said, pointing to her head, trying to illustrate as she talked, "they're the same way. Some of them think they're the same but they've let something into their heads and they can't get it out. Others know, and are glad."

You shared a look with Tina. A common early step in cults was to expose the subjects to some form of minor corrupting influence, then to tell them they'd gone too far now and they had no choice but to go deeper voluntarily. The rhetoric of the Ecclesiarchy on the matter didn't help much. You could be exposed to the forces of the Warp and recover, obviously, it was a massive part of your job for one, but many in the Imperium became convinced that any exposure meant complete damnation. Unsurprisingly, that left a lot of people feeling like there was nowhere to go but further into the arms of the Enemy.

"Was it just the separatists?" you asked. She shook her head.

"No. Some of the... some of the soldiers. One of the ones who pointed guns at us. He knew what was happening. Made it happen."

"The one who hurt you?" Tina asked. Meaning that scumbag of an NCO.

"No. The man with the sword." Dahlia responded. The officer in the patrol who arrested you. The young lieutenant. Apparently, the traitor they were looking for.

"You don't have the worry about him anymore." you said. Dahlia looked at you wide-eyed.

"You killed him." she said. Not an accusation, just sort of a statement.

"Yes."

She looked down at the floor, silent, as Tina brushed the hair from her face gently.

"Why him, and not me?" she asked finally, her voice small. "We're the same."

It tore at you, the way she talked about herself. It hurt to hear, every time.

"No you aren't." Tina whispered. "He embraced the corruption, betrayed everyone. You've only ever wanted to keep people safe."

"... keep them safe from me." she muttered.

"You can't betray people by just being, Dahlia." Tina said softly. She glanced up at you and indicated towards the door.

Right. You weren't getting much more out of Dahlia today, you had to give her space. Besides, she'd given you more than enough to work with.

---

Wechs looked a look better, when you finally met her again. You'd locked her into her room, but that room had an attached shower, and she'd finally eaten and slept in a real bed and she looked like a person again, without her short hair mattered to her forehead, in clean clothes and not covered in sand and mud. An actual human being.

"Hell of a cell you got me in." she said, as you sat her down for debriefing.

"Only the best for my prisoners." you snarked back. "Why don't we talk a little more about the Company, and maybe you can stay a little longer?"

"That's... a pretty good deal, Inquisitor." she said. "I told you most of what I know, but... there's something else. I know where you can go to learn more."

"Yeah?" Interesting.

"Yeah. That little comic I got handed? Somebody had to print that out, and that's not easy to do. After the last round of separatism, they made it so you needed a license to print things, and they pretty much only issue them in the capital so they can keep their eyes on all the information that makes it to the public. Which means there's like, a half-dozen shops that could have made it. I don't know anything about any of the other cells, they're all over the place, but that's gotta be one of them, right?"

"Wow. You're talkative all of a sudden." you observed.

"Well, now I know you're an inquisitor. Whoever the Captain is, you outrank him. Besides, I'm sure once you see what's going on, you'll do something about the fucking harvests here anyway." she explained. "Maybe you can make all this stop. We... the Company's done some awful stuff, but it's so that the Guard or whoever else don't get fucking... corrupted, by this stupid xenos bullshit, you know? The ends always justify the means."

Now that was interesting.

"Who told you that?" You asked. That wasn't a well-known phrase, but it was well-known to you.

"My handler, and all my comrades. It was like, a mantra or something." Wechs explained. "Besides all that... you saved my life. I don't know for how much longer, I'm sure you're going to have me shot pretty soon, but... ."

You smiled.

"Better than starving to death in a box, huh. Well, look, I'll follow up on your information, and if it's good, we'll see from there."

She nodded nervously.

"... is there any way I can help?"

"We'll see." you replied, and you swept out of the room, locking the door behind you.

---

After some consideration, you decided that if you were going to spend the day mostly waiting for information to come in, you were going to enjoy yourself. So about an hour late, you set yourself up on the beach with a reclined chair, a parasol, and your dataslate, and just enjoyed the cool breeze coming off the sea. Now that you were out of your bodyglove, it was positively lovely out, not even that hot. All around the beach, people were streaming out of the houses to enjoy the sun and waves. This really was a paradise world. The only thing wrong with it was that it wasn't available to more people. And maybe the sand that kept creeping into your bionic arm.

Just down the beach, Charitina had managed to convince Dahlia to give the water a try: the girl had never even seen and ocean before coming here. You simply had to glance up when you heard a rare sound from her, genuine laughter as the waves rushed up to her. Kilimnik was a few hundred meters down the beach, playing a game involving a rubber ball and a net with some of the locals and noble tourists. Even Bookter was outside, reading a tome the size of his torso in the shade of a nearby tree.

You checked the reports and started scrolling through the interrogations of surviving PDF troopers and the two deserters they'd caught. Nothing immediately catching your eye, but these things could be subtle. You'd have to examine them closely while you made your plans. Sure, you knew you had to move, every moment you waited was precious...

But there were a lot of reports. You might have to be out here reading for a while.

===

Time to make a plan! There's a raid on a print shop to be done, the seperatists are maybe kinda heretics, you have an invitation from the Governor, the PDF are terrified into compliance now, and you have a man on the inside, so...

[ ] What do you do?

The Laurent · Dec 21, 2019

[X] Plan: Scoping Out
-[X] Step 1A: Raid the Print Shop.
--[X] Observe the area, figure out the patterns of operation, and figure out which of the shops is behind all of it. Perhaps Dahlia can peek into the print shops, see just what they're up to, find the right one.
--[X] Hit it at the end of being used to make comics. Priority is as follows: 1) Capturing people to talk to 2) Getting the 'Tracts' and 3) Keeping Safe... last priority is being loud, flashy, killing a bunch of people or sending a message.
-[X] Step 1B: The Demon Weed?
--[X] While you're setting up the Print Shop raid, use your contacts to get a chance to look into the harvesting.
--[X] Both in general senses as to their practice, and perhaps a chance to behold what's freaking the Company off first-hand.
-[X] Step 2: This Is A Drill.
--[X] The PDF is full of holes. Now's the time to start feeding them half-truths and even whole lies and seeing who jumps with what. There's probably still traitors, and figuring out just where is important. If it's everywhere that's important too.
--[X] Have your own man on the inside serve as a test of them. It's pretty risk-free. Just see what half-truths and lies filter out from the PDF to the Company, and then tell you what they are. Since it's about what becomes, mostly, common knowledge it doesn't even really require spying so much as talking to people and hearing the 'news' and the gossip.
-[X] Step 3: The Governator.
--[X] Visit the Governor. Listen more than you talk, Charm when you are talking. Make her think you're on her side 100% while pumping her for information and giving away as little as possible.

Something like that?

EternalStruggle · Dec 21, 2019

open_sketch said:
You didn't really have anything to say to that. You weren't shocked, by any means, this was normal. The Imperium just operated like this, layers of authority that had no reason to care about anyone under them, bound together by the belief in infinite obligation to your superiors and zero duty to your subordinates. Who cares that just about every single world broke down cyclically roughly once every century? The Imperium was so vast there was always somewhere to pull loyal forces from to put down those who couldn't take it anymore, to punish the survivors so harshly that nobody would dare try anything as long as the events were in living memory.

Why do you fight? To give a few more people on a few more worlds a few more years before their inevitable extinction? To prolong their boundless, ceaseless suffering further than it already is? To give them hope for the future, when you know that there's no hope for anyone anymore?

Within your lifetime the Imperium shall fall, and its crime washed away in its own blood. The damnation of it all is that it shall drag the rest of humanity screaming to hell with it. Gears, unfathomably vast cogs in the galactic machine, have been in motion for thousands and millions of years. Too large for any person to halt or change, they grind the very concept of resistance into dust, and soon the concept of humanity shall follow.

It would be so easy to embrace the end yourself. It's a dangerous profession you're in. You just have to be a little too slow on the draw.

Yet you fight as best you can all the same. Why?

The Laurent said:
Something like that?

Probably. Maybe see what use can be made of the inside man, use our own mole. It's a very useful asset.

The Laurent · Dec 21, 2019

EternalStruggle said:
Why do you fight? To give a few more people on a few more worlds a few more years before their inevitable extinction? To prolong their boundless, ceaseless suffering further than it already is? To give them hope for the future, when you know that there's no hope for anyone anymore?

Within your lifetime the Imperium shall fall, and its crime washed away in its own blood. The damnation of it all is that it shall drag the rest of humanity screaming to hell with it. Gears, unfathomably vast cogs in the galactic machine, have been in motion for thousands and millions of years. Too large for any person to halt or change, they grind the very concept of resistance into dust, and soon the concept of humanity shall follow.

It would be so easy to embrace the end yourself. It's a dangerous profession you're in. You just have to be a little too slow on the draw.

Yet you fight as best you can all the same. Why?

Probably. Maybe see what use can be made of the inside man, use our own mole. It's a very useful asset.

Ohh, wait. He could check to see which rumors/facts filtered back up the vine? It'd be a low-risk sort of thing, after all?

EternalStruggle · Dec 21, 2019

The Laurent said:
Ohh, wait. He could check to see which rumors/facts filtered back up the vine? It'd be a low-risk sort of thing, after all?

Yeah, I was kind of thinking that. Tackle the problem at both ends, so we have a chance of figuring out where the leaks are before anything's acted on.

Although we should be careful with that, because if we act with that in mind before they actually act on the false info, then that could tell them that they also have a mole problem.

Spy games are tricky, aren't they?

The Laurent · Dec 21, 2019

EternalStruggle said:
Yeah, I was kind of thinking that. Tackle the problem at both ends, so we have a chance of figuring out where the leaks are before anything's acted on.

Although we should be careful with that, because if we act with that in mind before they actually act on the false info, then that could tell them that they also have a mole problem.

Spy games are tricky, aren't they?

Yeah, but at the moment we're just trying to figure things out... not fix anything, yet. Not really.

Jeboboid · Dec 21, 2019

[X] Plan: Scoping Out

Always Late · Dec 21, 2019

open_sketch said:
"It's okay, Dahlia. We're going to figure all that out, okay?" you assured her. "Let's talk about it. You said there was something in the minds of the other prisoners, right?"

She nodded, slowly, as if pained, her face screwed up.

"Do you know what it was?" you asked.

"T-the... the Enemy." Dahlia said. "I-I... in their heads. All of them. Whispers. It was..."

Her words trailed off into a sort of toneless mumble, and Charitina shifted over to let the poor girl lean against her.

"It's okay, Dahlia. Take your time." She muttered. "You're okay."

... fucking Chaos bullshit. Of course Nurgle's taking a potshot at medicine.

open_sketch said:
Charitina had served a terrible duty, in her Order, before she joined you. She had to test the youth of the nobility for psychic powers. When she found them, she had to turn them over to the Black Ships. Sometimes, her superiors would rule that they couldn't wait that long, and dealing with that was Sister Charitina's duty as well. It had broken her, broken her faith, left her a shell for decades, until you found her copying ledgers in back office.

Well. Fuck. Shooting kids you've basically been a nana to will will do it if the knowledge of what'll happen on Terra doesn't.

open_sketch said:
Sometimes, you suspected that she saw caring for Dahlia as her penance to the universe.

Raise a scarred little psychic girl into something of a healthy person. All in all, I'd say that's a good decision to make.

open_sketch said:
"It wasn't... just them. The ones that came later, after the explosions, they were... the same voices," Dahlia said, pointing to her head, trying to illustrate as she talked, "they're the same way. Some of them think they're the same but they've let something into their heads and they can't get it out. Others know, and are glad."

So potentially daemonhosts of Nurgle.

Not going to be fun to put down, that lot.

open_sketch said:
"Was it just the separatists?" you asked. She shook her head.

"No. Some of the... some of the soldiers. One of the ones who pointed guns at us. He knew what was happening. Made it happen."

"The one who hurt you?" Tina asked. Meaning that scumbag of an NCO.

"No. The man with the sword." Dahlia responded. The officer in the patrol who arrested you. The young lieutenant. Apparently, the traitor they were looking for.

... whelp, time to start filtering the PDF, grabbing the salvageable ones for treatment under Big E, and arranging firing squads for the ones who aren't.

open_sketch said:
"You don't have the worry about him anymore." you said. Dahlia looked at you wide-eyed.

"You killed him." she said. Not an accusation, just sort of a statement.

"Yes."

She looked down at the floor, silent, as Tina brushed the hair from her face gently.

"Why him, and not me?" she asked finally, her voice small. "We're the same."

It tore at you, the way she talked about herself. It hurt to hear, every time.

"No you aren't." Tina whispered. "He embraced the corruption, betrayed everyone. You've only ever wanted to keep people safe."

"... keep them safe from me." she muttered.

Nah, the propensity to explode into Bloodthirsters is greatly exaggerated, and only if you're a dum-dum. You're not, you're a smart girl. You stuck with a Sister that cares for you and an Inqusitior with a sense of human life having a value.

open_sketch said:
"You can't betray people by just being, Dahlia." Tina said softly. She glanced up at you and indicated towards the door.

Right. You weren't getting much more out of Dahlia today, you had to give her space. Besides, she'd given you more than enough to work with.

Aaaaaaaw. Sads.

open_sketch said:
"Well, now I know you're an inquisitor. Whoever the Captain is, you outrank him. Besides, I'm sure once you see what's going on, you'll do something about the fucking harvests here anyway." she explained. "Maybe you can make all this stop. We... the Company's done some awful stuff, but it's so that the Guard or whoever else don't get fucking... corrupted, by this stupid xenos bullshit, you know? The ends always justify the means."

Now that was interesting.

"Who told you that?" You asked. That wasn't a well-known phrase, but it was well-known to you.

"My handler, and all my comrades. It was like, a mantra or something." Wechs explained. "Besides all that... you saved my life. I don't know for how much longer, I'm sure you're going to have me shot pretty soon, but... ."

Well well. We have an in with the rebels of this little fight. How Inquisitorial.

Time to subvert both sides!

open_sketch said:
Well, look, I'll follow up on your information, and if it's good, we'll see from there."

She nodded nervously.

"... is there any way I can help?"

"We'll see." you replied, and you swept out of the room, locking the door behind you.

Odds are you'll be strapped to a Penitent Engine if you don't die before this is over. Or maybe you can spend a few hours getting cured/indoctrinated with a priest before becoming an acolyte and dying to random cultists elsewhere.

open_sketch said:
Just down the beach, Charitina had managed to convince Dahlia to give the water a try: the girl had never even seen and ocean before coming here. You simply had to glance up when you heard a rare sound from her, genuine laughter as the waves rushed up to her.

Daaaw.

The Laurent said:
Something like that?

I like it. I think there's a couple areas we be a bit more direct about, like having Wechs lead us to her cell in the rebellion, but it's kinda at odds with what your plan has. You're trying to cast a wide net and be methodical about it. Meeting rebel leaders is kinda jumping the gun by that metric.

FlatlineAskari · Dec 21, 2019

"We... the Company's done some awful stuff, but it's so that the Guard or whoever else don't get fucking... corrupted, by this stupid xenos bullshit, you know? The ends always justify the means."

Now that was interesting.

"Who told you that?" You asked. That wasn't a well-known phrase, but it was well-known to you.

"My handler, and all my comrades. It was like, a mantra or something." Wechs explained. "Besides all that... you saved my life. I don't know for how much longer, I'm sure you're going to have me shot pretty soon, but... ."

That sounds a lot like radical inquisitor talk.

In fact, your agents weren't even the only ones on the world. Your ship had automatically picked up the signal from another Inquisitorial acolyte as you entered orbit, though it was using a different encryption key. Tagged Ordo Xenos, so at least you didn't have competition.

Is it just me, or does this smell like some kind of horrendous blue-on-blue clusterfuck?

The Laurent · Dec 21, 2019

FlatlineAskari said:
That sounds a lot like radical inquisitor talk.

Is it just me, or does this smell like some kind of horrendous blue-on-blue clusterfuck?

I think it might be... but indirectly? If an Inquisitor was directly ordering all of this, honestly they've had already won.

But if an Inquisitor's actions inspired it, or indirectly led to it... well. That's possible too?

samdamandias · Dec 21, 2019

open_sketch said:
You got dressed, simple today, more suited to the weather. Short black denim pants and grey shirt, with just some loose chain and the screened pattern of a skull as concessions to appearances, your holster and icon in place.

Did Praxis just put on jean shorts and a t-shirt? But she's an Inquisitor, not IG!

open_sketch said:
"Okay. Sorry." she muttered, and pulled the door open. You didn't ask her what she was apologizing for, poor girl probably didn't know herself.

Oh sweet Emperor, our cinnamon roll of a psyker is Canadian

[X] Plan: Scoping Out

So it seems like we might have at least two different corruptive influences going on at the same time, and people who are either unknowing, knowing but kinda-sorta fighting, and people who knowingly embrace it. This is not going to end well.

Night_stalker · Dec 21, 2019

The Laurent said:
I think it might be... but indirectly? If an Inquisitor was directly ordering all of this, honestly they've had already won.

But if an Inquisitor's actions inspired it, or indirectly led to it... well. That's possible too?

Of course, for all we know, it was just stopping for fuel.

That said, there's not been rumors of them, which is odd.

They have a ship in orbit broadcasting a IFF tag, but no sign of anyone? That's worrying.

[X] Plan: Scoping Out

Cute Princess · Dec 21, 2019

[X] Plan: Scoping Out

open_sketch · Dec 21, 2019

Night_stalker said:
Of course, for all we know, it was just stopping for fuel.

That said, there's not been rumors of them, which is odd.

They have a ship in orbit broadcasting a IFF tag, but no sign of anyone? That's worrying.

[X] Plan: Scoping Out

This is a transmission on the surface heading out to random ships in orbit to be rebroadcast, not an inquisitor's ship in orbit transmitting.

KhazintheDark · Dec 22, 2019

So, 'the ends always justify the means' is, while not literal, basically what radical inquisitors tell themselves.

The Laurent · Dec 22, 2019

KhazintheDark said:
So, 'the ends always justify the means' is, while not literal, basically what radical inquisitors tell themselves.

I think some *specific* Inquisitor once said that to Praxis.

KhazintheDark · Dec 22, 2019

The Laurent said:
I think some *specific* Inquisitor once said that to Praxis.

Yeah, which is what I'm getting at, there's a non-zero chance that the separatist movement is the brainchild of a radical inquisitor. Why? Not sure.

EternalStruggle · Dec 22, 2019

KhazintheDark said:
So, 'the ends always justify the means' is, while not literal, basically what radical inquisitors tell themselves.

Praxis is a radical Inquisitor, technically.

Scia · Dec 22, 2019

I mean considering the way that our ordo left generational sleeper cells in here, I would assume that some acolytes of the ordo xenos did the same and they got activated for whatever reason.

10ebbor10 · Dec 22, 2019

KhazintheDark said:
Yeah, which is what I'm getting at, there's a non-zero chance that the separatist movement is the brainchild of a radical inquisitor. Why? Not sure.

The plant-burners are the ones who say that the end justifies the means, not the seperatists.

Hakazin · Dec 22, 2019

[X] Plan: Scoping Out

Suffer Not ≡][≡ 40k Inquisition Quest

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