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

samdamandias · Feb 15, 2020

Always Late said:
... you're gonna have to explain to me just how that kind of relationship would work before I consider actually making a "Seven sorta-evil Exes" chart.

Well Shadowsun isn't on that list. But now I'm trying to figure out if... let me see here, so we got Eldar, Tau, Orks, Necrons, and Tyranids. That's five, but there could be both a Craftworlder and a Harlequin in that list...

open_sketch said:
You'd always imagined Space Marines ate, like, pills or something, some kind of super ration,

That's the field rations, I imagine.

Not all Marines are this noble, there are probably some closer to the former idea

Marines Malevolent. To the point that no-shit actual-factual Chaos Space Marines treat people better than them.

Aunty Shi Ping said:
*Urge to link Text-To-Speech-Device scene about eating orks: rising.*

And yet it is still tragic. What is the Emperor's command upon hearing this tale?

"Bring me all the Ork you can find. I want to see my son again."

she's been doing this, turning on and off machines without wanting to, ever since that incident in the garage. She wished she could make herself stop.

Dhalia should talk to a Mechanicus Cantor. I would assume that's an actual title since there are hymns in Binary, and the Canticles of the Omnissiah and Cybertherugy are things. No, there's no explanation ever given for how they work, but it is undeniable that they do work.

Always Late · Feb 15, 2020

Chloe Sullivan said:
I like the dissonance between the Dreadnought considering Cassius dead but also kinda thinking of himself as Cassius. It's such a wonderful microcosm of the society around him - always in a paradoxical state of contradiction, but yet able to find a little space for solace and kindness and beauty.

Plus the Machine Spirit in the sarcophagus is one of those Land Raider-esque highly active ones, and whenever a Dreadnought awakes he is continually fed data through the Mind Impulse unit. Akin to a Titan's Princepts or a Knight Pilot having their mind affected by bleedover, Cassius is still himself, but he is bonded mind and body with the Dreadnought. It's his identity just as much as the young boy and the Battle-Brother were in the past.

baud · Feb 15, 2020

ExNihilo said:
I passed over this the first time, but how do you say that out loud, Magos Marvel Ann? Is it "I" or "equals, close bracket open bracket, equals"? Or is it just something in High Gothic that doesn't translate well?

It's usually meant to be the Inquisition's logo, like the one in the thread name.

Torgamous · Feb 15, 2020

samdamandias said:
Well Shadowsun isn't on that list. But now I'm trying to figure out if... let me see here, so we got Eldar, Tau, Orks, Necrons, and Tyranids. That's five, but there could be both a Craftworlder and a Harlequin in that list...

Praxis didn't know about the Tau earlier, but that aside

The Tau have a few different species in their nation, right? Maybe Praxis spent some time in a polycule with a Tau, a Kroot, and a Vespid.

Simon_Jester · Feb 15, 2020

FrangibleCover said:
We do it now or we come back and do it in a couple of decades the much harder way. I'm not against just hitting it with the Great Bombard and fucking off though. "Always believe your Psyker" isn't one of Praxis' Values-values but it's something she's professed previously and far be it from me to disagree with an Imperial Inquisitor.

I think we should at least call them on the vox, demand that they dispatch someone to the airlock for a conversation, and send over a Thunderhawk- warily.

But we shouldn't let them lure anyone into the depths of the ship.

open_sketch · Feb 15, 2020

CW: violence, gore, the implications of the genestealer infection and hybrid process is discussed and its so gross

"We can spare two days, Lieutenant. What is the procedure for such a thing?"

Basak signaled silently to the bridge crew, then turned back to you.

"We start on an intercept course, and instruct them to send a shuttle our way for inspection. If they send it, we meet it a safe distance from the ship with a boarding pod just in case it's a bomb or a bunch of bugs. In either case, we will have confirmation of intent, and we close to attack."

"Hit it with the bombardment cannon?" you asked.

"It's a surprisingly tricky shot against a moving target, with a fixed weapon of that size. Rather, we'll close to use the deck guns, gut the engines and weapon decks until the vessel is disabled, then we make a surgical boarding action into the command sector to secure their navigational and communications records. This information can be fed to the Navy so they can better intercept other vessels from the same location." he said. "Then, once it's no longer moving under its own power, we hit it with the cannon."

"That is... thorough. I defer to your experience, though, this is far outside my jurisdiction."

"Thank you, Lady Inquisitor. It's regrettable. If we didn't have anywhere else to be, I should like to clear the vessel properly and return it to the Navy to be remanned. But if not, we need to ensure they are all destroyed. Is this agreeable?"

"Works for me. How can I help?" you asked.

"I... am not certain there is a place for you and your party, though you are welcome to the forward observation bay to watch. Though... I believe you have a member of the Magos Biologis among your contingent? This mission may be of interest to them, if they wish to collect samples."

"I doubt it, but I'll ask." you said. You couldn't imagine Marvel Ann would be much enthuised of the idea.

---

"Are you kidding? Absolutely! Oh, this is a Wonderful Opportunity!" Marvel Ann said, a huge smile on her face as she began collecting her gear from around her room.

"Wait, really?" you asked.

"Genestealer infections are very rarely encountered in circumstances which would enable good sample-taking at middling stages, this could be A Big Break! Imagine if we could make a poison that wouldn't affect normal humans, but would target the infected? Or maybe even a vaccine that would prevent infection entirely! Oh, this is excellent, e x c e l l e n t. Where's my axe?"

"You're holding it." you pointed out.

"P E R F E C T! Will you be coming?"

"If you're coming, I'm coming." you said, putting on your best smile, "Besides, it'll be nice to have a chance to stretch my legs and try out the new gear."

---

They sent a shuttle, but it was a ruse, as it turned out the shuttle was empty, flying on autopilot. It was clever and wasted a lot of time, but they still were not able to spin up their warp engines before the guns were upon them. You watched through the bridge window as the space battle unfolded as nothing but flashes of light across the stars, unable to even make out the target ship across the three hundred thousand kilometers of void the battle was taking place at. Every once and a while the Siegebreaker would shake from one of the pathetic gun batteries of the enemy, and at one point a Void Shield even dropped in a wash of energy, though it was back in twenty minutes.

The battle was over quickly. Eight hours after the first shot was taken, the last gun aboard the enemy vessel fell silent. The ship was visible now, as a smear of red-hot metal glittering against the stars. You observed through a telescope the ship, and saw it had a chunk taken out of its ventral surface as though a massive creature had bitten it. The engines flared and burnt out, and the lights had gone from the sickly yellow of incandescent to the soft orange of internal fires.

"She's dead in the void. Now we just pick the bones clean." Lieutenant Basak said, and beckoned you down to the hanger.

---

You were coming in on the second Thunderhawk, sandwiched between marines in full armour with a breathing mask on. This was going to be an extremely surgical operation, moving no more than a few rooms into the two upper decks of the vessel to secure the computer systems, and you would be nowhere near the front of the group. Instead, you and Marvel Ann would follow carefully behind the assault to enable her to take samples from the bodies, under the watchful eye of Brother Demirel, who had rather taken a liking to the humans following them around. He was sitting opposite, taking up nearly as much space in his seat as you and Marvel Ann did yours, his helmet perched on his lap. You couldn't help but think that he was handsome, a little, as weird as that was.

"It'̕s gen͏e̡s͡t̶eal͡èr̢s̴ ̸a̡l̷r̢i͞ght̡. ̸T͞h͘ey ar̵en'҉͝ ter̨r̨҉l̛y͠ s͢u̶bt̨l͞e ̀abo͞ųt it̨." a voice crackled through the vox in a wash of static, the first team making their landing. "Re̸s͟istance ̸is ̛liǵh̵t̕, t̷he͘y s͢e͘e̴m mo̶stl̶y ͘pre̸occ͜up͟i̢ed ̛w҉ fír̸e͞fi̶gh̶t̀iņg, a̵n̛d͘ it͠ ̷҉͡o͜ks̸ ͞l̸i͠ke ̡mos͡tly la̴t́er-g͡en͡e҉̡ti̢ǫn ͡hybr̛i͏ds. ̶Sc̷r͏a͡ţc̕h ̸on͞e ṕure̴b̛re̛e̸d, ͢t̨ho͏ug͢h͟.̷ ."

"Wonderful." one the marines beside you muttered, probably under the impression you couldn't hear him whisper.

The squad leader, Sergeant Caglar, lead the group in a prayer you didn't recognize, and you weren't sure if you were supposed to join in, so you stayed silent. Marvel Ann had a prayer of her own, one in her machine language you couldn't understand. Then you felt the boarding clamps hit and the forward drill that had replaced the usual boarding ramp started to scream as it ground through the strategically selected portion of the hull. After a moment, the light turned green, and the Marines funneled out through the forward hatch. Brother Demirel held out a hand for you to wait, and after about a minute there were a few bursts of bolter fire, each getting farther away. Then he nodded for you to follow and exited, and you were last out, hellpistol at the ready.

Inside was the familiar interior of an Imperial ship, all grey and brown metal, now twisted and cracked by the constant bombardment. A pipe was hanging loose and pouring out water that was already up to your ankles, and the whole room was hot, the result of the boarding ram melting through the metal and allowing it to form a seal around it. When you left, it would leave the front of the ram behind in the enemy vessel, like a bee's stinger.

"Where are we?" you asked.

"Deck two, directly under the command bridge." Demirel responded, pointing down each hall in turn, "Elevator, crew quarters, secondary cognator rooms. We're clearing it out and setting up a cordon. This way."

You followed him through the hallways, at one point through one which had been deformed by some impact in the battle such that it twisted almost forty-five degrees in the center, the gravity varying sickening in direction and intensity as you walked down the halls. You saw your first body, dressed in the jumpsuit of a lower crewman but wearing a purple and red armband on both sides. They had clearly caught a bolt shell somewhere in their torso which had turned most of the body into a bloody ruin. You couldn't even determine what sex they might have been.

"I don't imagine you're going to get a good sample from this one, Marvel Ann... Marvel Ann?"

You turned to see her staring uncomfortable at the corpse, looking a little woozy. Her metal hand clacked and slipped from the wall as she staggered against it, clearly feeling ill.

"Wow. Um... w o w. Sorry. That... see, here I thought I wouldn't... ~~oh no~~..." she babbled weakly, and Brother Demirel looked back, expression hidden by his helmet.

"What's wrong?"

"The Magos is a little ill prepared. You going to be alright?"

She nodded a second, then one of her mechandrites, one of the medical ones, snaked up to her neck and injected something with a metallic hiss. She took a few deep breaths, then sat back up.

"My apologies, Joanyn. Help Me Up?"

You pulled her to her feet, and she looked over the corpse again, her face dispassionate this time.

"W e l l, I will take some blood, but I think we should move forward."

Brother Demirel pushed on, weapon to his shoulder, and you made sure to keep constant glances behind you as you moved up the hall.

"You okay, Marvel Ann? What was that you injected?"

"I'm fine. It's a compound containing a variety of numbing agents in specially formulated doses to adhere to certain parts of my brain. Upside, it suppresses emotional reactions, especially disgust. A lot of my peers are swimming in this and similar compounds, and I sometimes use it on myself when I'm doing particularly icky surgery." she explained, her voice growing more and more even as she spoke. "I am not particularly a fan of it, though. It makes me feel... somewhat removed. Like not-a-person."

"Well, that's not good. I like you being a person." you said, then jumped a little as the floor plating you stepped on shifted. Nothing sinister though, it had just bent loose under a Marine's heavy boot.

"Me too. Oh, that seems more promising."

She indicated to a pile of twisted metal that you soon realized had a person buried under it. Well, sort of a person: they had a sort of greyish blue palour to their skin, and their open mouth had a row of razor sharp teeth. It even had spiracles running down the sides of its neck.

"Disgusting. I can't imagine how these things manage to reproduce." you spat.

"Usually, against the will of their partners. Hold this." Marvel Ann said dispassionately, handing you something. You soon realized it was a large needle of some kind. She was inspecting the corpse with her mechandrites, looking it over curiously. "Oh, excellent, it is still alive. A live sample is exactly what we need."

You looked away as the blades came out, handing her the needle when she asked. Urgh.

She finished her task with a blast from her pistol, a curious long-handled weapon that fired with a snap and a hiss, and then she stood up and pressed ahead wordlessly, even outpacing Brother Demirel a moment.

"Your girlfriend is somewhat terrifying. A good catch." Demirel added quietly, then paced ahead of her to clear the way.

---

You encountered the aftermath of several more battles, and the Marines really didn't seem to leave very much left of their foes, but Marvel Ann was rapidly building up test tubes of blood and tissue samples, humming tunelessly to herself as she worked. She even offered you an injection of her suppressing compound, but you turned her down, and soon found yourself deliberately searching through the rooms for anything to distract you from the scientist at work. You were currently one room behind the Marines who had pushed to the elevator, the entire second deck having been declared clear. Not too hard, it and the first deck were both small slices of the bridge tower, so now they were just holding the elevator and stairways while the tech-marine downloaded the cognator banks and the scouts cleared out the charts. This room appeared to be an officers mess of some kind, with a fine wooden dining table in the center, and like most parts of the ship it seems to have been desecrated by foul symbols. It seems the hybrids were compelled by some force to draw the same curling, insect-like creature on everything they owned.

You were starting to seriously regret having come along on the expedition when Lieutenant Basak called you up to the command bridge over the vox. Leaving Marvel Ann to her grim work, you headed up the stairs (covered by a Marine with a heavy bolter, with a pile three deep of hybrid corpses who'd tried to push up the stairwell below you) and emerged into the command deck, which was utter chaos.

"Lieutenant, what do you need?" you asked, and wordlessly, the marine rotated a piece of paper, one of the ship's charts, to you and slide it across the holotable he was studying.

"This might be of interest to you." he said, and you studied the paper. A star chart.

"Cadia. That's a hell of an ambitious target." you said.

"It also indicates a rather disturbing awareness of our weaknesses. Can you imagine an incursion sweeping out from the Eye of Terror as the system fell into a civil war from the presence of the hybrids?" the lieutenant pointed out.

"This probably isn't the only ship heading there, then. We should ensure they are made aware." you mused. "A hell of a thing."

----

You headed back down to the room where Marvel Ann was working, though she seemed to be mostly finished now. She was now having Brother Demirel push open crew quarters rooms: they'd been sweeped quickly, but she wanted to see if there were any extraordinary personal effects worth investigating. Thus far, she'd snatched a few personal hygene objects like toothbrushes to be studied.

"That's that last door, Magos." Brother Demirel said, pushing through. She glanced in, moved some things around, and came out, then looked down the hall.

"What about that door?"

"That's a door?" Brother Demirel asked, looking at it askew. "It looks like a vent. Too small for a person, surely."

"No, it's a door. You can see the hinges and handle. Servants door." she pointed out, "A lot of people do overlook them. The servants have their own subdecks."

"Well, I'm not going to fit in there without going through the wall, but I'll look..." he said, pushing the door open. He poked bolter inside, using the smart-link sight to get a picture, then he closed it suddenly, backing away with his bolter pointed at the door.

"Well, there are at two dozen people hiding in there, they are armed, and it is a much larger room than I would have liked. I think I need backup." he said quickly. He went silent a moment, clearly talking in his vox, then resumed, "Well, the 'stealers are trying to push the elevator shaft, so my brothers are tied up. Lady Inquisitor, any ideas?"

"They didn't attack you right away?" you asked.

"Honestly, and this isn't going to make a lot of sense, they looked terrified." he explained.

"Perhaps the servants were missed by the genestealers, and have been successfully hiding." you mused.

"Or perhaps they were simply infected later, and while terrified of the hybrids outside, are unknowingly carrying the curse." Marvel Ann supplied.

"Can you test for that?" you asked.

"If I have a blood sample and fifteen minutes, yes." she replied, "This ship has been out for months now, and the infection comes with some pretty strong compulsions, and is sexually transmitted. I imagine if any of them were infected, most of them are by now."

"We're supposed to be gone in ten minutes, Magos. I don't know if we can spare the time. The longer we wait, the more dangerous this gets." Brother Demirel pointed out.

---

[ ] If they're scared, maybe you can talk to them and convince one to submit for a blood test.

[ ] We need to get them out now, and we can investigate them on the ship and put them down if we have to.

[ ] The odds they aren't some kind of infected is incredibly low. Bar the door and move.

[ ] They might lead the enemy to us. Brother Demirel leads with a few grenades, and you'll go in behind.

[ ] Write In

Indulging Temptation

So real quick, the way it'll work is if you want to do it (and this would be your first really chance), write in a special vote formatted as...

[x][Temptation] Write in an explanation of what you do to give in to your temptation.

ExNihilo · Feb 15, 2020

[ ] If they're scared, maybe you can talk to them and convince one to submit for a blood test.

If this isn't the clearest case of "People are more than problems, weaknesses, corruption vectors to eradicate. Their feelings and dreams matter" I've seen yet I don't know what is.

10ebbor10 · Feb 15, 2020

open_sketch said:
sickly yellow of incandescent

Typical Imperium. Wasting energy with their incandescent bulbs. It's the the 40th millenium, install some LEDS.

open_sketch said:
[ ] They might lead the enemy to us. Brother Demirel leads with a few grenades, and you'll go in behind.

This is rather callous. At least the other option assumes that they're infected and thus have to be killed. This option just blows them up because they might make noise.

open_sketch said:
"We're supposed to be gone in ten minutes, Magos. I don't know if we can spare the time. The longer we wait, the more dangerous this gets." Brother Demirel pointed out.

What's the cause of our timelimit here? The ship is disabled, we're just waiting to align the cannon and fire, right?

open_sketch said:
[ ] Write In

How much of those Sedatives does Marvel have, and how cheap are they?

open_sketch · Feb 15, 2020

10ebbor10 said:
Typical Imperium. Wasting energy with their incandescent bulbs. It's the the 40th millenium, install some LEDS.

This is rather callous. At least the other option assumes that they're infected and thus have to be killed. This option just blows them up because they might make noise.

What's the cause of our timelimit here? The ship is disabled, we're just waiting to align the cannon and fire, right?

The longer you wait, the more awareness spreads belowdecks that there are tasty space marines to eat upstairs, and the more forces they shuffle over to do that.

Marvel Ann has plenty of drugs for all manner of wacky schemes.

Chloe Sullivan · Feb 15, 2020

10ebbor10 said:
What's the cause of our timelimit here? The ship is disabled, we're just waiting to align the cannon and fire, right?

*waves hand* Warp Currents. If you miss this wave, you have to take an alternate ~~bus~~ route.

The Laurent · Feb 15, 2020

[X] If they're scared, maybe you can talk to them and convince one to submit for a blood test.

This just feels like the right thing to do. Would this be Presence or Charm, Sketch?

open_sketch · Feb 15, 2020

The Laurent said:
[X] If they're scared, maybe you can talk to them and convince one to submit for a blood test.

This just feels like the right thing to do. Would this be Presence or Charm, Sketch?

Charm.

The Laurent · Feb 15, 2020

Yeah, we can totally do this. But, let's stack the deck.

[X] If they're scared, maybe you can talk to them and convince one to submit for a blood test.
-[X] These are scared people. If things are feeling bad for them and they don't think they're infected, they need stability. Be the authority figure, the manager, that they can trust. Try to rely on your position and theirs to keep them from panicking. Everything is going to be okay (unless it isn't) proper authority is here... and it's remarkably nice.

Maybe?

I mean, being the, like, Just Authority Figure Who Isn't Scared can help them master their own fear. I'm hoping to, like, make the challenge easier so that we feel less compulsion to spend 15 Stress on every challenge.

ExNihilo · Feb 15, 2020

The Laurent said:
Be the authority figure, the manager, that they can trust. Try to rely on your position and theirs to keep them from panicking

We've got a Space Marine, a Magos Biologicus, and an Inquisitor, it's all the authority figures we could ever need.

People: Corrupted means only Chaos corrupted, right? Not Genestealer corrupted?

open_sketch · Feb 15, 2020

ExNihilo said:
We've got a Space Marine, a Magos Biologicus, and an Inquisitor, it's all the authority figures we could ever need.

People: Corrupted means only Chaos corrupted, right? Not Genestealer corrupted?

Yes. Sorry.

10ebbor10 · Feb 15, 2020

Anyway, how does genestealer infection work again, especially in this variant of this universe. If these people are infected, what harmful thing can we expect them to do?
Will they suddenly turn into monsters, or is it a more insidious corruption where they'll eventually slowly give birth/raise hybrids?

Portec · Feb 15, 2020

[X] If they're scared, maybe you can talk to them and convince one to submit for a blood test.
-[X] These are scared people. If things are feeling bad for them and they don't think they're infected, they need stability. Be the authority figure, the manager, that they can trust. Try to rely on your position and theirs to keep them from panicking. Everything is going to be okay (unless it isn't) proper authority is here... and it's remarkably nice.

I like it and with the brother already calling in a secondary attack vector he will have help if things turn south. In the worst case the heavy bolter further down has to turn around and fill the hallway while our group take cover in one of the side rooms.

Always Late · Feb 15, 2020

open_sketch said:
CW: violence, gore, the implications of the genestealer infection and hybrid process is discussed and its so gross

It's mental and physical rape inspired by Xenomorphs. If it's not bloody disgusting, it's not getting the proper treatment.

open_sketch said:
"Hit it with the bombardment cannon?" you asked.

"It's a surprisingly tricky shot against a moving target, with a fixed weapon of that size.

... pretty sure in the Imperium naval terminology, "Dorsal" just means a turret atop the hull.
But if they've got traverse problems, then it's effectively fixed.

open_sketch said:
"That is... thorough. I defer to your experience, though, this is far outside my jurisdiction."

"Thank you, Lady Inquisitor. It's regrettable. If we didn't have anywhere else to be, I should like to clear the vessel properly and return it to the Navy to be remanned. But if not, we need to ensure they are all destroyed. Is this agreeable?"

"Works for me. How can I help?" you asked.

"I... am not certain there is a place for you and your party, though you are welcome to the forward observation bay to watch. Though... I believe you have a member of the Magos Biologis among your contingent? This mission may be of interest to them, if they wish to collect samples."

"I doubt it, but I'll ask." you said. You couldn't imagine Marvel Ann would be much enthuised of the idea.

You're mostly saying that because you don't want to kill the one sort of humans even more fucked over than Chaos cultists. They're literally popular uprisings spurred on by Lovecraftian cults.

open_sketch said:
"Are you kidding? Absolutely! Oh, this is a Wonderful Opportunity!" Marvel Ann said, a huge smile on her face as she began collecting her gear from around her room.

"Wait, really?" you asked.

"Genestealer infections are very rarely encountered in circumstances which would enable good sample-taking at middling stages, this could be A Big Break! Imagine if we could make a poison that wouldn't affect normal humans, but would target the infected? Or maybe even a vaccine that would prevent infection entirely! Oh, this is excellent, e x c e l l e n t. Where's my axe?"

... suddenly the Penny Polendia comparison doesn't seem like as much of a joke.

open_sketch said:
The battle was over quickly. Eight hours after the first shot was taken, the last gun aboard the enemy vessel fell silent. The ship was visible now, as a smear of red-hot metal glittering against the stars. You observed through a telescope the ship, and saw it had a chunk taken out of its ventral surface as though a massive creature had bitten it. The engines flared and burnt out, and the lights had gone from the sickly yellow of incandescent to the soft orange of internal fires.

"She's dead in the void. Now we just pick the bones clean." Lieutenant Basak said, and beckoned you down to the hanger.

Now that's just glorious, juice 40k imagery and quippery.

open_sketch said:
You were coming in on the second Thunderhawk, sandwiched between marines in full armour with a breathing mask on. This was going to be an extremely surgical operation, moving no more than a few rooms into the two upper decks of the vessel to secure the computer systems, and you would be nowhere near the front of the group. Instead, you and Marvel Ann would follow carefully behind the assault to enable her to take samples from the bodies, under the watchful eye of Brother Demirel, who had rather taken a liking to the humans following them around. He was sitting opposite, taking up nearly as much space in his seat as you and Marvel Ann did yours, his helmet perched on his lap. You couldn't help but think that he was handsome, a little, as weird as that was.

Well, they are sculpted demi-gods made in the image of Primarchs. Sure, Dorn wasn't as charming as Guilliman, Vulkan, or Sanguinius, but this chiseled, sharp face has an appeal. And if he was a bit younger, the edges softer... yeah, he'd be a heartthrob.

open_sketch said:
"It'̕s gen͏e̡s͡t̶eal͡èr̢s̴ ̸a̡l̷r̢i͞ght̡. ̸T͞h͘ey ar̵en'҉͝ ter̨r̨҉l̛y͠ s͢u̶bt̨l͞e ̀abo͞ųt it̨." a voice crackled through the vox in a wash of static, the first team making their landing. "Re̸s͟istance ̸is ̛liǵh̵t̕, t̷he͘y s͢e͘e̴m mo̶stl̶y ͘pre̸occ͜up͟i̢ed ̛w҉ fír̸e͞fi̶gh̶t̀iņg, a̵n̛d͘ it͠ ̷҉͡o͜ks̸ ͞l̸i͠ke ̡mos͡tly la̴t́er-g͡en͡e҉̡ti̢ǫn ͡hybr̛i͏ds. ̶Sc̷r͏a͡ţc̕h ̸on͞e ṕure̴b̛re̛e̸d, ͢t̨ho͏ug͢h͟.̷ ."

"Wonderful." one the marines beside you muttered, probably under the impression you couldn't hear him whisper.

The squad leader, Sergeant Caglar, lead the group in a prayer you didn't recognize, and you weren't sure if you were supposed to join in, so you stayed silent. Marvel Ann had a prayer of her own, one in her machine language you couldn't understand.

Honestly I'm thinking the mass of purestrain can-openers are hiding in the lower works of the ship, in ducts and piping.

open_sketch said:
Then you felt the boarding clamps hit and the forward drill that had replaced the usual boarding ramp started to scream as it ground through the strategically selected portion of the hull. After a moment, the light turned green, and the Marines funneled out through the forward hatch. Brother Demirel held out a hand for you to wait, and after about a minute there were a few bursts of bolter fire, each getting farther away. Then he nodded for you to follow and exited, and you were last out, hellpistol at the ready.

Huh, must have gotten the front off a boarding torpedo.

open_sketch said:
You followed him through the hallways, at one point through one which had been deformed by some impact in the battle such that it twisted almost forty-five degrees in the center, the gravity varying sickening in direction and intensity as you walked down the halls. You saw your first body, dressed in the jumpsuit of a lower crewman but wearing a purple and red armband on both sides. They had clearly caught a bolt shell somewhere in their torso which had turned most of the body into a bloody ruin. You couldn't even determine what sex they might have been.

"I don't imagine you're going to get a good sample from this one, Marvel Ann... Marvel Ann?"

You turned to see her staring uncomfortable at the corpse, looking a little woozy. Her metal hand clacked and slipped from the wall as she staggered against it, clearly feeling ill.

"Wow. Um... w o w. Sorry. That... see, here I thought I wouldn't... ~~oh no~~..." she babbled weakly, and Brother Demirel looked back, expression hidden by his helmet.

... she's sketchy about seeing gore?

open_sketch said:
"I'm fine. It's a compound containing a variety of numbing agents in specially formulated doses to adhere to certain parts of my brain. Upside, it suppresses emotional reactions, especially disgust. A lot of my peers are swimming in this and similar compounds, and I sometimes use it on myself when I'm doing particularly icky surgery." she explained, her voice growing more and more even as she spoke. "I am not particularly a fan of it, though. It makes me feel... somewhat removed. Like not-a-person."

"Well, that's not good. I like you being a person." you said, then jumped a little as the floor plating you stepped on shifted. Nothing sinister though, it had just bent loose under a Marine's heavy boot.

"Me too. Oh, that seems more promising."

Ah, she didn't take emotional inhibitors and has a normal emotional response to violent dismemberment.

open_sketch said:
She indicated to a pile of twisted metal that you soon realized had a person buried under it. Well, sort of a person: they had a sort of greyish blue palour to their skin, and their open mouth had a row of razor sharp teeth. It even had spiracles running down the sides of its neck.

"Disgusting. I can't imagine how these things manage to reproduce." you spat.

"Usually, against the will of their partners.

That's what the Hive Mind hypnosis does. Date-rape by locusts from beyond the galaxy.

open_sketch said:
Hold this." Marvel Ann said dispassionately, handing you something. You soon realized it was a large needle of some kind. She was inspecting the corpse with her mechandrites, looking it over curiously. "Oh, excellent, it is still alive. A live sample is exactly what we need."

Wait, that thing is still alive despite being stu-Oh. It wasn't shoved there. It was hiding!

open_sketch said:
She finished her task with a blast from her pistol, a curious long-handled weapon that fired with a snap and a hiss, and then she stood up and pressed ahead wordlessly, even outpacing Brother Demirel a moment.

"Your girlfriend is somewhat terrifying. A good catch." Demirel added quietly, then paced ahead of her to clear the way.

I like Demirel. He's chill.

open_sketch said:
This room appeared to be an officers mess of some kind, with a fine wooden dining table in the center, and like most parts of the ship it seems to have been desecrated by foul symbols. It seems the hybrids were compelled by some force to draw the same curling, insect-like creature on everything they owned.

Again: Hive Mind.

open_sketch said:
"Lieutenant, what do you need?" you asked, and wordlessly, the marine rotated a piece of paper, one of the ship's charts, to you and slide it across the holotable he was studying.

"This might be of interest to you." he said, and you studied the paper. A star chart.

"Cadia. That's a hell of an ambitious target." you said.

"It also indicates a rather disturbing awareness of our weaknesses. Can you imagine an incursion sweeping out from the Eye of Terror as the system fell into a civil war from the presence of the hybrids?" the lieutenant pointed out.

"This probably isn't the only ship heading there, then. We should ensure they are made aware." you mused. "A hell of a thing."

... if this is the start of a plotline that ends in Chaos Genestealers, I will... figure out a way to process that.

open_sketch said:
"That's that last door, Magos." Brother Demirel said, pushing through. She glanced in, moved some things around, and came out, then looked down the hall.

"What about that door?"

"That's a door?" Brother Demirel asked, looking at it askew. "It looks like a vent. Too small for a person, surely."

"No, it's a door. You can see the hinges and handle. Servants door." she pointed out, "A lot of people do overlook them. The servants have their own subdecks."

"Well, I'm not going to fit in there without going through the wall, but I'll look..." he said, pushing the door open. He poked bolter inside, using the smart-link sight to get a picture, then he closed it suddenly, backing away with his bolter pointed at the door.

"Well, there are at two dozen people hiding in there, they are armed, and it is a much larger room than I would have liked.

Well, that ain't good. Either they're terrified, infected, or nasty.

open_sketch said:
I think I need backup." he said quickly. He went silent a moment, clearly talking in his vox, then resumed, "Well, the 'stealers are trying to push the elevator shaft, so my brothers are tied up. Lady Inquisitor, any ideas?"

Yup. Make like R. J. Macready.

The Laurent said:
Yeah, we can totally do this. But, let's stack the deck.

[X] If they're scared, maybe you can talk to them and convince one to submit for a blood test.
-[X] These are scared people. If things are feeling bad for them and they don't think they're infected, they need stability. Be the authority figure, the manager, that they can trust. Try to rely on your position and theirs to keep them from panicking. Everything is going to be okay (unless it isn't) proper authority is here... and it's remarkably nice.

Maybe?

I mean, being the, like, Just Authority Figure Who Isn't Scared can help them master their own fear. I'm hoping to, like, make the challenge easier so that we feel less compulsion to spend 15 Stress on every challenge.

Have only one of them come out. Maybe two or three. We don't have time to test them all now. Either we pick a sample size and possibly doom innocents or let infected pass us by, or we move the lot of them under guard while the attack's going on to a makeshift detention cell the Marines will hopefully set up in the Thunderhawk.

Elero · Feb 15, 2020

I have to say I am concerned at a space marine dismissing a possible attack vector like servant's doors when boarding. That sounds like a great way to be ambushed.

Alobomb · Feb 15, 2020

Not a serious suggestion necessarily, but if we wanted to indulge our temptation, something like

[ ](Victory Temptation) If these people are alive, then there must be others too. Tell the marines there is a change of plans. We dig in, test these people, and send a message to the Siegebreaker ordering a full boarding action to cleanse the ship. We cannot leave anyone behind, and the Imperium always needs more ships.

might be fitting.

open_sketch said:
"Your girlfriend is somewhat terrifying. A good catch." Demirel added quietly, then paced ahead of her to clear the way.

Solemn massive fist bump.

Deathbybunnies · Feb 15, 2020

[X] We need to get them out now, and we can investigate them on the ship and put them down if we have to.

If they're not infected and they've been hiding from the genestealers, they should be delighted to see friendly Space Marines. This should not be even slightly a hard sell - if it is, then frankly something's probably wrong.

EternalStruggle · Feb 15, 2020

Always Late said:
... pretty sure in the Imperium naval terminology, "Dorsal" just means a turret atop the hull.

Actually that... is correct, canonically Bombardment Cannons have the full turreted 270 degree firing arc.

For some reason I also remember them being fixed prow weapons but I guess not.

ExNihilo · Feb 15, 2020

Deathbybunnies said:
If they're not infected and they've been hiding from the genestealers, they should be delighted to see friendly Space Marines. This should not be even slightly a hard sell - if it is, then frankly something's probably wrong

This is a bit too 'the innocent have nothing to fear' for me. An Inquisitor, an order which has never been known for restraint, a Magos, who doesn't look fully human to a group that'd presumably been running and hiding from various almost-humans, and a Space Marine who might just be ready to kill anything that moves are a potentially terrifying trio.

open_sketch · Feb 15, 2020

The Siegebreaker has a particularly, hilariously large Bombardment Cannon taking up the front third of the ship. It is, after all, an Ottoman siege gun in space.

(Space Marine ships are not all of one mark or anything anyway. The Gate Wardens go out of their way to commission ships hyper-optimized for breaking planets from orbit.)

Kaizuki · Feb 15, 2020

There are some interesting parallels to be drawn between this situation and the Gate Wardens' origin story.

Suffer Not ≡][≡ 40k Inquisition Quest

I don't know how to use a computer

Apprentice Plane Wizard

Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains

Aspiring Gynoid

I don't know how to use a computer

SPACE!

DON'T PANIC

I don't know how to use a computer

Subdefective

I don't know how to use a computer

SPACE!

I don't know how to use a computer

DON'T PANIC

Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains

Time Traveler

SPACE!

I don't know how to use a computer