WARHAMMER 40,000: ROGUE TRADER: FALLEN SUNS (40k roleplaying on the farthest frontiers)
- Thread starter DragonCobolt
- Start date
CHAPTER ONE: Crows in the Night (1.1)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Em gave the smallest of nods to Dr. Balthazar. "Then we shall make ready to set sail - it will take a few days to prepare and ready the Scourge for her fist flight under her proper flag," he said.
"Of course," the doctor said, then stood.
Hands were shaken.
And when the doctor had left, Tine frowned. "Here's the question - do we bring the relic?" She asked. "The soulstone?" She frowned, her hand going to the hilt of her sword. "Aria says that whoever is in the stone is sleeping - but she believes he's from Lu'Nasad." She smirked. 'More accurately, she..." She sighed. "Yes, Aria, I'm telling them." She rolled her eyes while Em pursed his lips, slightly. "She says that Lu'Nasad and the rest of the Craftworlds were the paranoic survivalists of the Eldar Imperium. Like..." She frowned. "Like Catachans, but deliberately."
"That sounds fun," Ryia muttered. "But it seems like bringing the relic is the last thing we want to do - the Inquisitor might want to steal it."
"They might want to use it," Em said. "To protect the Imperium?"
"Yeah, that's what I said," Ryia said, grinning at him.
Tine shook her head. "We have time to think about it...but either way, we might want to put it on the Scourge, she's the sturdiest ship." She shrugged. "I'd want to put it on there either way." She blushed. "A-Also, um...should we bring Junie and little Zeph?"
"Yes," Ryia said, immediately. Then coughed. "I mean, we don't want them getting under Tabitha's feet."
Tine beamed at her, puffing up like a pufferfish.
Tine, who had been arching an eyebrow at her adoptive daughter, gave a little smile and nod as Junie managed to salvage her blasphemy just in the nick of time. She, Zeph, and their parents were all standing at the doors leading into the Argent Scourge's familial palace. It was located on the forecastle, between the forward bridge and the navigator spires, with enough space to fit three of their shared chambers over again from the Revenge. And unlike those chambers, they were not discrete rooms that were connected via small corridors...instead, these rooms were all part of a manor home that had been carved into the granitine rock of the forecastle's main structure, decorated in the finest Scintillian stylings by Von Strauss and her army of underlings.
The walls were lit by candles, the floors covered in carpets, with reading chairs, books, and even small side rooms for various games of chance or entertainment. There were guest bedrooms, a ballroom, and even an entire swimming pool, all contained within the three stories of the manor home - and as Junie stepped forward and spun in place, she looked utterly...and completely...
Out of place.
Junie had, for the past few months, adopted the attitude and dress of the Fury pilots she idealized. This meant she was in a leather flight jacket, with furred ruff, and a single kill patch for her capture of the Monitor, with her scimitar sword strapped to her hip like a brutal carving knife.
But despite her tough, adult appearance, there was still a young teen inside her - one that was clear as day as she squealed. "THIS PLACE IS SO COOL!"
"I call the highest room!" Zeph shouted, and the two started up the stairs, rushing past a pair of serving staff that hurried after them, clearly concerned.
Tabitha Von Strauss, who had carried up the rear, leaned forward to murmur in Em's ear. "The poison snoopers are installed and I have taken the liberty to put in some bolt-chutes that lead straight to the lower decks. Your yacht is docked beneath the pool room with an emergency entrance and I have some...surprises here and there."
Em nodded. "oh?"
"It is better if you know not," Von Struass said. "Telepathic snoopers, microexpressions, anything could reveal my tricks."
Em snorted, while Ryia sat down in a big, comfy chair and sighed. "This place...is...all right," she said, dryly.
Tine and Em both turned to Von Strauss. "You will be able to handle all the purchases?"
"It's my job, my lord," Tabitha said, bowing.
And there is sometimes?
There is mischief.
The rattling, clunking, groaning sound that echoed down one of the sub-corridors of the bilge decks ended with a wall chute opening and out rolled Junie and Zeph, the two kids crashing to the ground with a groan and a laugh. Zeph sat up, laughing and clapping as they did so. "Holy Emperor that was fun, lets do it again! Lets do it again!"
"Absolutely...NOT!" Junie groaned, pushing herself up. She fumbled and tapped at her microbead. "Uh, Moms, Dad? Can you read me?"
The faint crackling sound that infused Mom Tine's voice didn't hide her concern. "Junie? What is going on, you were just upstairs, why are you voxing me?"
"Some...little bugger-"
"Hey!" Zeph shoved at her with their shoulder as they fished out a stablight and swung it around, looking around themselves at the corridors of the bilge deck. Pipes, hissing steam, and the slow spinning of distant fans, all of it looking oddly undecorated and simple. The Revenge's bilge decks had the familiar and comforting momento mori that had been Zeph and Junie's surroundings for their entire lives. But the Scourge's bilge decks...while they were clearly industrial, they were significantly smoother and more tightly compacted.
"Some little minx!" Junie growled. "Zeph decided it'd be fun to try the escape hatch!"
Mom Tine's giggles filled the vox. Then Mom Ryia stuck her oar in: "Was it fun?"
"They broke the rules!" Junie squealed as Zeph started to walk forward, stablight shining around.
"Yes, well..." Mom Tine huffed. "True. But the bilge decks are less dangerous and more...extremely dull."
"...Junie!"
Zeph didn't sound like they found the bilge decks dull. They didn't sound like they found the bilge decks dull at all. They were aiming their stablight around the corner, and Junie hurried forward, her hand dropping to her sword. She hurried and found that Zeph was shining their light at a pair of boots and legs sticking around a side passage. She sighed. "It's just a drunkard," she said, walking forward - and then stopping as she saw that the hand...was laying in a puddle of something bright and shining.
And red.
She pulled her own stablight, her blood running cold as she shone the light on the body - and saw that the hand, a man about thirty years old, had a razor fine gash along his throat, his eyes staring and shocked...and dead.
"Zeph, behind me," Junie snapped, hooking her stablight on her collar, then muttering into her microbead. "Moms, Dad, a hand's been murdered and-"
Clunk.
"-and we're not alone."
Around the corner, moving with near silence, were seven people. They were dressed in flowing gray cloaks, their armor hard and sleek and tightly fitted to their slender bodies. Their hair was long and tied back into pony tails, revealing that they didn't have an entirely human cast to their features - aquiline cheekbones, ever so slightly elongated eyes...and long, pointed ears.
Xenos.
"Stop!" Junie shouted, holding her sword in two hands.
The leader of the seven people paused. Four of them were holding a heavy duty stasis container between them - Junie recognized it in a flash as the container that Moms and Dad had been keeping safe and secret for a long time now - but two flanked the leader as he stepped forward, looking down at her.
"How old are you, mon'keigh?" the xeno asked, his voice musical and lilting and definitely mocking. He spoke Low Gothic, casually.
Junie growled. "Old enough."
The xeno shrugged one shoulder, then drew a sword of shimmering, elegant manufacture. He held it low to his hip.
"Then you are old enough to know better...step aside. I will not be asking twice, mon'keigh."
---
What does Em do?
[ ] You're hearing this all over the microbead and speak the Eldar tongue. Tell her to say...
[ ] Your idiot daughter is going to get herself killed. Tell her to run, now!
[ ] Write In
What does Ryia do?
[ ] Your idiot daughter is going to get herself killed. Tell her to run, now!
[ ] Dive down the chute (this will take 1 round of combat)
[ ] Write In
What does Tine do?
[ ] Your idiot daughter is going to get herself killed. Tell her to run, now!
[ ] Dive down the chute (this will take 1 round of combat)
[ ] Write In
"Of course," the doctor said, then stood.
Hands were shaken.
And when the doctor had left, Tine frowned. "Here's the question - do we bring the relic?" She asked. "The soulstone?" She frowned, her hand going to the hilt of her sword. "Aria says that whoever is in the stone is sleeping - but she believes he's from Lu'Nasad." She smirked. 'More accurately, she..." She sighed. "Yes, Aria, I'm telling them." She rolled her eyes while Em pursed his lips, slightly. "She says that Lu'Nasad and the rest of the Craftworlds were the paranoic survivalists of the Eldar Imperium. Like..." She frowned. "Like Catachans, but deliberately."
"That sounds fun," Ryia muttered. "But it seems like bringing the relic is the last thing we want to do - the Inquisitor might want to steal it."
"They might want to use it," Em said. "To protect the Imperium?"
"Yeah, that's what I said," Ryia said, grinning at him.
Tine shook her head. "We have time to think about it...but either way, we might want to put it on the Scourge, she's the sturdiest ship." She shrugged. "I'd want to put it on there either way." She blushed. "A-Also, um...should we bring Junie and little Zeph?"
"Yes," Ryia said, immediately. Then coughed. "I mean, we don't want them getting under Tabitha's feet."
Tine beamed at her, puffing up like a pufferfish.
***
"Holy Emperor's ba...ll...rilliance and eminence!"
Tine, who had been arching an eyebrow at her adoptive daughter, gave a little smile and nod as Junie managed to salvage her blasphemy just in the nick of time. She, Zeph, and their parents were all standing at the doors leading into the Argent Scourge's familial palace. It was located on the forecastle, between the forward bridge and the navigator spires, with enough space to fit three of their shared chambers over again from the Revenge. And unlike those chambers, they were not discrete rooms that were connected via small corridors...instead, these rooms were all part of a manor home that had been carved into the granitine rock of the forecastle's main structure, decorated in the finest Scintillian stylings by Von Strauss and her army of underlings.
The walls were lit by candles, the floors covered in carpets, with reading chairs, books, and even small side rooms for various games of chance or entertainment. There were guest bedrooms, a ballroom, and even an entire swimming pool, all contained within the three stories of the manor home - and as Junie stepped forward and spun in place, she looked utterly...and completely...
Out of place.
Junie had, for the past few months, adopted the attitude and dress of the Fury pilots she idealized. This meant she was in a leather flight jacket, with furred ruff, and a single kill patch for her capture of the Monitor, with her scimitar sword strapped to her hip like a brutal carving knife.
But despite her tough, adult appearance, there was still a young teen inside her - one that was clear as day as she squealed. "THIS PLACE IS SO COOL!"
"I call the highest room!" Zeph shouted, and the two started up the stairs, rushing past a pair of serving staff that hurried after them, clearly concerned.
Tabitha Von Strauss, who had carried up the rear, leaned forward to murmur in Em's ear. "The poison snoopers are installed and I have taken the liberty to put in some bolt-chutes that lead straight to the lower decks. Your yacht is docked beneath the pool room with an emergency entrance and I have some...surprises here and there."
Em nodded. "oh?"
"It is better if you know not," Von Struass said. "Telepathic snoopers, microexpressions, anything could reveal my tricks."
Em snorted, while Ryia sat down in a big, comfy chair and sighed. "This place...is...all right," she said, dryly.
Tine and Em both turned to Von Strauss. "You will be able to handle all the purchases?"
"It's my job, my lord," Tabitha said, bowing.
***
Nighttime is not quiet, on a starship. There is hissing. There is groaning. There is the faint sound of distant voices.
And there is sometimes?
There is mischief.
The rattling, clunking, groaning sound that echoed down one of the sub-corridors of the bilge decks ended with a wall chute opening and out rolled Junie and Zeph, the two kids crashing to the ground with a groan and a laugh. Zeph sat up, laughing and clapping as they did so. "Holy Emperor that was fun, lets do it again! Lets do it again!"
"Absolutely...NOT!" Junie groaned, pushing herself up. She fumbled and tapped at her microbead. "Uh, Moms, Dad? Can you read me?"
The faint crackling sound that infused Mom Tine's voice didn't hide her concern. "Junie? What is going on, you were just upstairs, why are you voxing me?"
"Some...little bugger-"
"Hey!" Zeph shoved at her with their shoulder as they fished out a stablight and swung it around, looking around themselves at the corridors of the bilge deck. Pipes, hissing steam, and the slow spinning of distant fans, all of it looking oddly undecorated and simple. The Revenge's bilge decks had the familiar and comforting momento mori that had been Zeph and Junie's surroundings for their entire lives. But the Scourge's bilge decks...while they were clearly industrial, they were significantly smoother and more tightly compacted.
"Some little minx!" Junie growled. "Zeph decided it'd be fun to try the escape hatch!"
Mom Tine's giggles filled the vox. Then Mom Ryia stuck her oar in: "Was it fun?"
"They broke the rules!" Junie squealed as Zeph started to walk forward, stablight shining around.
"Yes, well..." Mom Tine huffed. "True. But the bilge decks are less dangerous and more...extremely dull."
"...Junie!"
Zeph didn't sound like they found the bilge decks dull. They didn't sound like they found the bilge decks dull at all. They were aiming their stablight around the corner, and Junie hurried forward, her hand dropping to her sword. She hurried and found that Zeph was shining their light at a pair of boots and legs sticking around a side passage. She sighed. "It's just a drunkard," she said, walking forward - and then stopping as she saw that the hand...was laying in a puddle of something bright and shining.
And red.
She pulled her own stablight, her blood running cold as she shone the light on the body - and saw that the hand, a man about thirty years old, had a razor fine gash along his throat, his eyes staring and shocked...and dead.
"Zeph, behind me," Junie snapped, hooking her stablight on her collar, then muttering into her microbead. "Moms, Dad, a hand's been murdered and-"
Clunk.
"-and we're not alone."
Around the corner, moving with near silence, were seven people. They were dressed in flowing gray cloaks, their armor hard and sleek and tightly fitted to their slender bodies. Their hair was long and tied back into pony tails, revealing that they didn't have an entirely human cast to their features - aquiline cheekbones, ever so slightly elongated eyes...and long, pointed ears.
Xenos.
"Stop!" Junie shouted, holding her sword in two hands.
The leader of the seven people paused. Four of them were holding a heavy duty stasis container between them - Junie recognized it in a flash as the container that Moms and Dad had been keeping safe and secret for a long time now - but two flanked the leader as he stepped forward, looking down at her.
"How old are you, mon'keigh?" the xeno asked, his voice musical and lilting and definitely mocking. He spoke Low Gothic, casually.
Junie growled. "Old enough."
The xeno shrugged one shoulder, then drew a sword of shimmering, elegant manufacture. He held it low to his hip.
"Then you are old enough to know better...step aside. I will not be asking twice, mon'keigh."
---
What does Em do?
[ ] You're hearing this all over the microbead and speak the Eldar tongue. Tell her to say...
[ ] Your idiot daughter is going to get herself killed. Tell her to run, now!
[ ] Write in. Remember, she doesn't have much time to talk
[ ] Dive down the chute (this will take 1 round of combat)[ ] Write In
What does Ryia do?
[ ] Your idiot daughter is going to get herself killed. Tell her to run, now!
[ ] Dive down the chute (this will take 1 round of combat)
[ ] Write In
What does Tine do?
[ ] Your idiot daughter is going to get herself killed. Tell her to run, now!
[ ] Dive down the chute (this will take 1 round of combat)
[ ] Write In
Perception Check # 2: 98
Perception check # 3: 58
Test # 4: 82
Test # 5: 42! Success...
Perception check # 3: 58
Test # 4: 82
Test # 5: 42! Success...
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- Location
- Denton, Texas
I'd say let 'Em get his schmooz on and let the lovely ladies show these inteuders what two momma bears can do with poor elves that wander into their dens
F0lkL0re
Officially not an Inquisitor
- Location
- Shetland
@DragonCobolt Hoe's Sly doing as I don't think you told us.
Is this supposed to be Junie?
Also, are we plan voting this or are you taking the most popular for each person?
[X] Plan: Don't poke the mama bears!
-[X] Em - You're hearing this all over the microbead and speak the Eldar tongue. Tell her to say in Elvish (I mean Eldar...) "I greet you in the name of my mothers and father, masters of the Scourge dynasty. I am [insert Junie's full name], perhaps there is a trade to be struck here.
-[X] Ryia - Dive down the chute (this will take 1 round of combat)
-[X] Tine - Dive down the chute (this will take 1 round of combat)
Basically Em is stalling to buy time for Ryia and Tine to get down there and fuck shit up. And if they are willing to trade, so much the better. Maybe they can talk to Tine's sword and she can put in a good word for us or something?
-[X] Em - You're hearing this all over the microbead and speak the Eldar tongue. Tell her to say in Elvish (I mean Eldar...) "I greet you in the name of my mothers and father, masters of the Scourge dynasty. I am [insert Junie's full name], perhaps there is a trade to be struck here.
-[X] Ryia - Dive down the chute (this will take 1 round of combat)
-[X] Tine - Dive down the chute (this will take 1 round of combat)
Basically Em is stalling to buy time for Ryia and Tine to get down there and fuck shit up. And if they are willing to trade, so much the better. Maybe they can talk to Tine's sword and she can put in a good word for us or something?
- Pronouns
- He/Him
there's a lot happening! I'll get to it!
Yes!
[X] Plan: Don't poke the mama bears!
This seems reasonably good to me. There might be something which could unlock a better response from these guys, maybe something along the lines of us being fellow allies against She Who Thirsts, but I'm not sure Em would dietetically know to say that, and it's coming on kinda strong for a greeting.
This seems reasonably good to me. There might be something which could unlock a better response from these guys, maybe something along the lines of us being fellow allies against She Who Thirsts, but I'm not sure Em would dietetically know to say that, and it's coming on kinda strong for a greeting.
- Location
- Virginia
[X] Plan: Don't poke the mama bears!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Okay! Roll Em's charm at a -30 for being second hand!
Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
- Location
- At Home
Well, here goes. A Fate Point, that is.
Fate Point is a reroll, right?
Sir_Travelsalot
Never wakes up tired.
- Location
- At Home
Indeed, and since it's the start of a new adventure, we've got them restocked again.
GOD EMPEROR GUIDE MY DICE
Edit: Well, it's not too bad, extrapolating from this, we probably only need to spend another thirty or forty Fate Points and we'll make the check!
Edit: Well, it's not too bad, extrapolating from this, we probably only need to spend another thirty or forty Fate Points and we'll make the check!
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- Pronouns
- He/Him
Sadly, you can spend but one FP per roll!
I will be writing this once I finish my other writing for the day!
I will be writing this once I finish my other writing for the day!
You know, if I understand the rules and have done the math right (and if the Scourge is Em's "home ship") then it's only 1 full degree of failure.
72 Fel +20 charm +5 This ship is my home
97 - 30 = 67 vs 85 is 1 degree of failure (I think).
If Renowned Warrant applies (which it probably wouldn't in this situation) it'd be a bare failure.
Even in failure, Em is scarily charming...
72 Fel +20 charm +5 This ship is my home
97 - 30 = 67 vs 85 is 1 degree of failure (I think).
If Renowned Warrant applies (which it probably wouldn't in this situation) it'd be a bare failure.
Even in failure, Em is scarily charming...
Well yeah, but there's no need to remind DC of that... [jk]
I am very impressed how close it was given how badly we rolled though.
CHAPTER ONE: Crows in the Night (1.2)
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"Junie, remain calm and repeat after me," Em said, his voice authoritative, calm as the Eldar began to advance, moving with the liquid, fluid grace of his kind. He moved slowly, his lip quirked. "Entaru kaladesh..."
He spoke the alien, musical words with ease. Junie's shoulders tightened and she stammered out the first conjunction - but Eldar is a slippery, subtle language. A language for manifold meanings, unfolding like a complex tapestry of possibility and nuance. And it is such a small thing - Entaru, the entreaty for peace in uncertain greetings. It could be mispronounced, say, by a nervous sixteen year old who had never spoken Eldar in her life, to instead be Entare. A similar word.
The only problem was it was to greet battle.
The Eldar whisked forward and Junie's power sword crackled as she met his blade with a ringing impact of metal on metal. She danced backwards, shoving Zeph behind her, her face intent. She held her blade in two hands, gripping the hilt for strength, speed, accuracy. She lunged at the Eldar, and the corsair's smirk grew wider as he casually flicked his sword down...
And snakelike, Junie lunged, twisted, thrust upwards and her blade-point scored along his cheek. A line of dark red blood flowed along his pale cheek and his eyes widened as he jerked back, blurring. Junie let out a grim 'heh' but before she could even begin to take advantage of her momentary opening, the Eldar lunged at her. She parried - and then realized that he wasn't even standing before her. He had run along the wall, flipped over her head. He landed, and brought the hilt of his blade down low, then thrust upwards. The tip of his sword caught her sword, flicked, and Junie felt the pressure of it as the sword twisted from her grasp. She sprang backwards, her eyes wide as her power cutlass was snatched from the air by the Eldar's left hand and he crossed his power sword and hers, the sparkling, crackling light filling the corridor with blue light. The lightning that arced along the blades illuminated his features, and his smirk was gone, and in its place...was the most genuine smile that Junie had ever seen in her life.
"Mon'keigh...you are what, thirty years of your world?" he asked. "In three score of your thirty, I have faced many of your kind...and in you, I see a promise that I don't in others." His eyes narrowed, faintly. "So. Again. I ask of you. Step. Aside."
Junie drew her laspistol and aimed it at him.
The Eldar sighed.
"Badb Ra, we waste time!" one of the other pirates hissed. "Kill the mayfly already!"
The Eldar frowned.
Stepped forward.
Then a palm pressed to his chest. Junie, so terrified, so focused upon her pistol, so painfully aware that her charge pack was up in her room, sitting on her nightstand, hadn't even heard footsteps. Neither, it seemed, had the eldar. Those fingers were dainty. Their complexion was silver. And the arm led straight to a frazzle haired, furious looking Lady Amaranthine Tine. She was dressed in a gold stitched bathrobe, with absolutely nothing on underneath, and looked as if she had just tumbled down an escape chute and charged across half a bilge deck. Her eyes flashed and she snarled. "Get. Away. From. My. Daughter."
She swung the Eldar across the corridor with her arm and smashed him, back first, into the wall. Pipes crunched and steam exploded from a bent chunk of metal as the other Eldar gaped.
"It's the Scourge!" one said, then started to back up - and then the whole lot of them turned and fled down the corridor.
Ryia, ambling over, shook her head. "Looks like they know you," she said. "Either that or they aren't a big fan of the bedhead. You okay, Junie?"
Junie holstered her pistol, grabbed her sword, then nodded, trembling from her head to her toes, while Zeph exploded. They squealed and bounced and jumped and shouted in a single unbroken strand of words: "OhmyemperorthatwasthecoolestthingIveeverseeninmylifeshetotallywaswinning!" They bounced more and more as Junie blushed and tried to look regal and unruffled, even if her hand gripped the hilt of her sheathed sword so tight that her knuckles ached.
"Truce? Truce!" The Eldar pirate wheezed. "I wasn't going to hurt her!"
"You had her sword," Tine snarled, glaring at him.
"I disarmed her! She cut me!" he said, turning his head to show them the blood that still streamed from his sliced cheek. "I was just going to scare her, she's barely thirty."
"She's sixteen," Tine growled, her hand tightening on him.
The Eldar's eyes widened. "...and you let her carry a sword?" he whispered, sounding more horrified than his comrades.
Within a few moments, the entire deck was locked down. Stablights shone from every corner as the 101st covered ever exit. Xoti grumbled as she was boosted by Biggs, headfirst, into one of the three vent-escapes that someone might wriggle into and set up her bolt gun to aim down the narrow tube of the air vent. She grumbled, loud enough for Biggs to hear her. "Why am I in the vent? Why am I always in vents?"
"Cause you're tiny, like a hullghast, and terrifying in close quarters, like a hullghast," Biggs said, cheerfully. "And it gets you out of our hair. Like putting a hullghast in a box."
Xoti huffed, muttering as she adjusted the sight on her bolter and then squirmed and tried to get comfortable. "Hull my ghast you big tittied bitch."
"I can still hear you."
"I said...fuck off!"
While the other diminutive members of the 101st who had been deployed to lock down the bilge decks were boosted in vents to make sure none of the Eldar could escape, Tabitha Von Strauss, Emil, Ryia and Tine all stood about the Eldar, who had been tied up, gagged, and prodded with a stick a few times before Colonel Kyiat had glared at the Elysians in question. A pair of Kriegers stood over him, clearly ready to open fire if he moved. Von Struass tapped at her data-slate. "The remaining five of the Eldar have fled to Subjunct Vent-Room 82. We've found their infiltration craft. It's a wraithbone limpet - cloaked from all but physical contact. They cut in an hour ago, snuck through the bilges, got to the secure chambers, got the artifact, then were on their way back out. They one hand, but the other four they ran into along the way, they managed to subdue."
"Who did they kill?" Emil asked.
"Spacer Tevvin Korl," Von Strauss said, immediately, not even needing to check her slate. Her Seneschal trained hypno-indoctrinal memories made such trivial almost insultingly easy for her to handle. "Signed on three weeks ago, normal ship share. Formerly of the Repulse."
Em shook his head, slowly, his lips pursing. "How'd he die?"
"It appears he was the only hand that was armed," Von Strauss said.
"Curious that the knife ears were so gentle," Ryia said, quietly. "They don't see us as better than mayflies to swat."
"These particular Eldar appear to be from the pirate faction known as the Crow Spirits," Von Strauss says.
Tine humphed slightly. "Any connection to the last Eldar we ran into?"
Von Strauss shrugged one shoulder. "Unknown. Eldar remain enigmatic at best."
"Yeah, and Horus was a mite tetchy," Ryia said, then walked over to the Eldar pirate. "He's not a ranger, at least." he was looking up at her, his eyes narrowed, and despite the gag, he still looked as if he was trying to be smug.
"Are...we going to interrogate him?" Junie asked.
"...we?" Tine asked, then frowned. "Oh no, dear, you are going to bed."
"But, MOM!" Junie exclaimed.
"You've had enough adventures for one night," Tine said, seriously. "It's almost the dog's watch, get to sleep."
Junie scowled, but she and Zeph were led away by Slade and Twice-Catch. Not the most auspicious pair, considering the last time Junie had spent time with Slade, she had taken up knife throwing as a hobby. Em shook his head, then turned back to the Eldar. "We have them surrounded?" he asked Von Strauss.
"Every exit's sealed - but they've lasered their door shut. They can't get out, and...well, we can get in, but not without blood. They have shuriken catapults, power swords, carapace armor..."
Em nodded again.
---
What do you do?
[ ] Interrogate this Eldar first.
[ ] Write In
He spoke the alien, musical words with ease. Junie's shoulders tightened and she stammered out the first conjunction - but Eldar is a slippery, subtle language. A language for manifold meanings, unfolding like a complex tapestry of possibility and nuance. And it is such a small thing - Entaru, the entreaty for peace in uncertain greetings. It could be mispronounced, say, by a nervous sixteen year old who had never spoken Eldar in her life, to instead be Entare. A similar word.
The only problem was it was to greet battle.
The Eldar whisked forward and Junie's power sword crackled as she met his blade with a ringing impact of metal on metal. She danced backwards, shoving Zeph behind her, her face intent. She held her blade in two hands, gripping the hilt for strength, speed, accuracy. She lunged at the Eldar, and the corsair's smirk grew wider as he casually flicked his sword down...
And snakelike, Junie lunged, twisted, thrust upwards and her blade-point scored along his cheek. A line of dark red blood flowed along his pale cheek and his eyes widened as he jerked back, blurring. Junie let out a grim 'heh' but before she could even begin to take advantage of her momentary opening, the Eldar lunged at her. She parried - and then realized that he wasn't even standing before her. He had run along the wall, flipped over her head. He landed, and brought the hilt of his blade down low, then thrust upwards. The tip of his sword caught her sword, flicked, and Junie felt the pressure of it as the sword twisted from her grasp. She sprang backwards, her eyes wide as her power cutlass was snatched from the air by the Eldar's left hand and he crossed his power sword and hers, the sparkling, crackling light filling the corridor with blue light. The lightning that arced along the blades illuminated his features, and his smirk was gone, and in its place...was the most genuine smile that Junie had ever seen in her life.
"Mon'keigh...you are what, thirty years of your world?" he asked. "In three score of your thirty, I have faced many of your kind...and in you, I see a promise that I don't in others." His eyes narrowed, faintly. "So. Again. I ask of you. Step. Aside."
Junie drew her laspistol and aimed it at him.
The Eldar sighed.
"Badb Ra, we waste time!" one of the other pirates hissed. "Kill the mayfly already!"
The Eldar frowned.
Stepped forward.
Then a palm pressed to his chest. Junie, so terrified, so focused upon her pistol, so painfully aware that her charge pack was up in her room, sitting on her nightstand, hadn't even heard footsteps. Neither, it seemed, had the eldar. Those fingers were dainty. Their complexion was silver. And the arm led straight to a frazzle haired, furious looking Lady Amaranthine Tine. She was dressed in a gold stitched bathrobe, with absolutely nothing on underneath, and looked as if she had just tumbled down an escape chute and charged across half a bilge deck. Her eyes flashed and she snarled. "Get. Away. From. My. Daughter."
She swung the Eldar across the corridor with her arm and smashed him, back first, into the wall. Pipes crunched and steam exploded from a bent chunk of metal as the other Eldar gaped.
"It's the Scourge!" one said, then started to back up - and then the whole lot of them turned and fled down the corridor.
Ryia, ambling over, shook her head. "Looks like they know you," she said. "Either that or they aren't a big fan of the bedhead. You okay, Junie?"
Junie holstered her pistol, grabbed her sword, then nodded, trembling from her head to her toes, while Zeph exploded. They squealed and bounced and jumped and shouted in a single unbroken strand of words: "OhmyemperorthatwasthecoolestthingIveeverseeninmylifeshetotallywaswinning!" They bounced more and more as Junie blushed and tried to look regal and unruffled, even if her hand gripped the hilt of her sheathed sword so tight that her knuckles ached.
"Truce? Truce!" The Eldar pirate wheezed. "I wasn't going to hurt her!"
"You had her sword," Tine snarled, glaring at him.
"I disarmed her! She cut me!" he said, turning his head to show them the blood that still streamed from his sliced cheek. "I was just going to scare her, she's barely thirty."
"She's sixteen," Tine growled, her hand tightening on him.
The Eldar's eyes widened. "...and you let her carry a sword?" he whispered, sounding more horrified than his comrades.
Within a few moments, the entire deck was locked down. Stablights shone from every corner as the 101st covered ever exit. Xoti grumbled as she was boosted by Biggs, headfirst, into one of the three vent-escapes that someone might wriggle into and set up her bolt gun to aim down the narrow tube of the air vent. She grumbled, loud enough for Biggs to hear her. "Why am I in the vent? Why am I always in vents?"
"Cause you're tiny, like a hullghast, and terrifying in close quarters, like a hullghast," Biggs said, cheerfully. "And it gets you out of our hair. Like putting a hullghast in a box."
Xoti huffed, muttering as she adjusted the sight on her bolter and then squirmed and tried to get comfortable. "Hull my ghast you big tittied bitch."
"I can still hear you."
"I said...fuck off!"
While the other diminutive members of the 101st who had been deployed to lock down the bilge decks were boosted in vents to make sure none of the Eldar could escape, Tabitha Von Strauss, Emil, Ryia and Tine all stood about the Eldar, who had been tied up, gagged, and prodded with a stick a few times before Colonel Kyiat had glared at the Elysians in question. A pair of Kriegers stood over him, clearly ready to open fire if he moved. Von Struass tapped at her data-slate. "The remaining five of the Eldar have fled to Subjunct Vent-Room 82. We've found their infiltration craft. It's a wraithbone limpet - cloaked from all but physical contact. They cut in an hour ago, snuck through the bilges, got to the secure chambers, got the artifact, then were on their way back out. They one hand, but the other four they ran into along the way, they managed to subdue."
"Who did they kill?" Emil asked.
"Spacer Tevvin Korl," Von Strauss said, immediately, not even needing to check her slate. Her Seneschal trained hypno-indoctrinal memories made such trivial almost insultingly easy for her to handle. "Signed on three weeks ago, normal ship share. Formerly of the Repulse."
Em shook his head, slowly, his lips pursing. "How'd he die?"
"It appears he was the only hand that was armed," Von Strauss said.
"Curious that the knife ears were so gentle," Ryia said, quietly. "They don't see us as better than mayflies to swat."
"These particular Eldar appear to be from the pirate faction known as the Crow Spirits," Von Strauss says.
Tine humphed slightly. "Any connection to the last Eldar we ran into?"
Von Strauss shrugged one shoulder. "Unknown. Eldar remain enigmatic at best."
"Yeah, and Horus was a mite tetchy," Ryia said, then walked over to the Eldar pirate. "He's not a ranger, at least." he was looking up at her, his eyes narrowed, and despite the gag, he still looked as if he was trying to be smug.
"Are...we going to interrogate him?" Junie asked.
"...we?" Tine asked, then frowned. "Oh no, dear, you are going to bed."
"But, MOM!" Junie exclaimed.
"You've had enough adventures for one night," Tine said, seriously. "It's almost the dog's watch, get to sleep."
Junie scowled, but she and Zeph were led away by Slade and Twice-Catch. Not the most auspicious pair, considering the last time Junie had spent time with Slade, she had taken up knife throwing as a hobby. Em shook his head, then turned back to the Eldar. "We have them surrounded?" he asked Von Strauss.
"Every exit's sealed - but they've lasered their door shut. They can't get out, and...well, we can get in, but not without blood. They have shuriken catapults, power swords, carapace armor..."
Em nodded again.
---
What do you do?
[ ] Interrogate this Eldar first.
[ ] Write In What Ask
[ ] Send in the Troops and get the artifact back immediately before the tricky Eldar get up to anything sneaky. [ ] Write In
Junie: 13
Badb Ra: 12
Junie attack and gets a 50 - just barely a hit with an aim action. Badb Ra parries and barely fails! She does 9 damage, soaked to 6 by his toughness, he has no armor, so his wounds are dropped to 9!
Badb Ra makes a disarm check: Rolls a nat 1 (!?!?!) versus Junie's 62!
ROUND TWO
Tine: 15
Junie: 13
Badb Ra: 12
Ryia: 11
Tines goes for a grapple CHARGE: 54 | Badb Ra doge: 71, fail, YO! He's grippled!
Badb Ra makes FEAR CHECK: 18! Success!
Eldar Pirates make FEAR CHECK: 46! base Fail! They get 91 on the shock table and PANIC AND RUN
Badb Ra: 12
Junie attack and gets a 50 - just barely a hit with an aim action. Badb Ra parries and barely fails! She does 9 damage, soaked to 6 by his toughness, he has no armor, so his wounds are dropped to 9!
Badb Ra makes a disarm check: Rolls a nat 1 (!?!?!) versus Junie's 62!
ROUND TWO
Tine: 15
Junie: 13
Badb Ra: 12
Ryia: 11
Tines goes for a grapple CHARGE: 54 | Badb Ra doge: 71, fail, YO! He's grippled!
Badb Ra makes FEAR CHECK: 18! Success!
Eldar Pirates make FEAR CHECK: 46! base Fail! They get 91 on the shock table and PANIC AND RUN
I have an idea!
[X] Interrogate this Eldar first.
-[X] With Em acting as translator/mediator, ask Tine to get her sword, and have the spirit within talk to our Eldar captive, and convince them that we're kosher.
-[X] Promise him and his friends safe passage away from the ship if there is no further bloodshed and he answers our questions truthfully.
-[X] Ask why the hell they infiltrated our ship instead of just asking for a meeting, and what their objective was, this is clearly tied up in the "possessed Craftworld" business.
-[X] Ask about the raids on the outlying worlds, and why there are happening. Express our extreme displeasure at harm coming to innocent frontier worlders.
-[X] Sound out a possible alliance against Vall, or at least get them to transmit the offer to their leaders.