The Conclave

The Ordos Majoris - Roleplay => In Character => Topic started by: Necris on March 01, 2010, 10:16:24 AM

Title: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 01, 2010, 10:16:24 AM
++Open Transmission++
++Protocol Aegis 965++
++Inquisition Eyes Only++
++Encryption Enabled++
++Clearance Magenta Omega++
++Message Begins++

Brothers, Sisters,

A Conclave has been called, all those who wish to discuss the events in the sector are welcome, the Fortress Eternity on Carthage has been named as the site and preparations are being made for your arrivals. We are to discuss the recent fall of Lord Grolin and the successor to his role, the recent rise in cult activity and the incident that has occurred along the Nexus Belt Worlds and the increasing incursions of the Xenos foes across the sector, and the disturbing reports of activities carried out by members of our order. All these matters I am sure you will agree are of the up most import to those of our order.
The most stringent security checks will be carried out as it has been brought to my attention that certain circles of our order have been infiltrated, as such verification of each attendant will be confirmed before planet fall is permitted.

I await your arrival at Eternity.

Lord Inquisitor Hess.

++Message Ends++
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 03, 2010, 10:25:30 AM
Eternity stretched out before him, the dark obsidian stone of the fortress' thick walls and battlements stark against the pale grey and white of the mountains in which it resided. Far below his feet deep within the mountain lay the grav train station that brought the influx to the complex the train line ran a hundred feet underground along a thousand kilometre track to the base of the Imperial Palace he could just glimpse in the vast distance. There in the shadowy Halls of Inquiry the brothers and sisters of the Inquisition would come to journey here for the coming conclave. A great assembly was expected already dozens were present in the fortress claiming the choicest residential suites for themselves, those above ground with windows like the one he occupied presently.

More still waited in high orbit their flight patterns carefully monitored so that they did not entered the killing zone of the fortress' mighty orbital cannons which were capable of shredding apart a capital ship if it strayed too close. The aerial defences were no less formidable and the mountains themselves contained traps and foxholes to make approach an all too costly endeavour. He smiled at the isolation of the place the cold solitude the Eternity ebbed from its very walls was in some way comforting to one of his profession.
He smiled at the task at hand he had been hand picked for this duty and it warmed him, to be at the great Hess' side for this conclave was a honour he had not expected, but he had been chosen above all others to carry out the deeds that lay ahead.

In the city of Carthage Primus preparations were being made for the festival of light a day long celebration during the annual eclipse that shadowed the world, it was symbolic of the times before the great crusade when during the crusade daemons preyed upon the world seeking those without light to consume, the festival was the forefathers way of protecting themselves and had been continued through foolish superstitious tradition, he scowled at the memories for this was his home world the place where he had grown to adulthood, before his indenture to the Inquisition and his life beyond, he had not be a Primus born instead coming from one of the smaller colony cities that surrounded the world, he'd long since forgotten the name of the hovel he'd once called home but he'd never forgotten the world, a wiry people in days past they had been expert riders of the local wildlife but as the Imperium had infected the world the animals had been replaced with machines and slowly all but the more remote populations had given over to the use of machines. Their Guard regiments were renowned for their mechanised battalions and rapid mounted scout units, the tank pilots were amongst the best in the sector and supported by the indentured warriors of surrounding worlds to small to meet Imperial Tithes the Carthagian War-riders presented well rounded and formidable armies. He chest started to swell with pride as the thoughts of his people filled his mind but he viciously repressed them focussing on the task at hand.

With a wave of his hand passing over a rune terminal he summoned a fortress menial from beyond the suite the meek creature was a hunched human aged and augmented for longer life he found himself wondering just
how long this poor excuse of a human had served within these dark halls.

"Are the preparations for the conclave in place?"

"Yes Lord, everything is as you wished it within the great hall, The Conductor of the Choir has reported that the incident earlier this morning will not affect proceedings."

"What sort of incident?"

The menial faltered that the Inquisitor did not know of the goings on within the Astropathic Choir was strange to say the least, he wondered if he should have mentioned it at all and regretted it for, and the regretted his hesitation as the Inquisitor turned to regard him with stony grey eyes.

"Forgive me lord, I was not aware you had not been informed, one of the Astropaths fell to the powers of the warp, and the overseers were forced to immolate him."

"Is there a replacement?"

"I believe so, I am not familiar with the Astropaths quarters only the missives from the Conductor informing us that proceedings would not be impinged."

He nodded moving to a large desk of carved granite he scooped up a sealed document and handed it to the menial.

"For the Conductors eyes only, the missives for the remaining orbital synchronisations."

The menial bowed low and turned to leave halting midstep as the Inquisitor spoke again.

"Has Lord Hess taken his seat?"

"He has Lord, he is presently bearing witness to those presenting themselves before the conclave."

He dismissed the menial with a wave of his hand, The formal openings of the Conclave were underway, each inquisitor was required to present themselves before the Conclave's chair and announce themselves and their Ordo should they have one, the proceedings were often watched by the most powerful members present who would be on the hunt for potential allies to gain the upper hand over rivals, younger more inexperienced Inquisitors would also watch looking for those to ally themselves too for the coming debate to ensure their voices were heard. The process was long and tiring and again reeked of tradition.

He turned his attention back to the window looking on the world below, before turning from the view and leaving the suite.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 05, 2010, 01:23:45 PM
Inquisitor Belhast departed from his personal Aquila lander flanked by five of his personal retinue, he supported himself on a heavy cane as his bionics hissed adapting to the gravity change, his injuries had long since retired him from active fieldwork but he had dedicated his life to training interrogators to carry out his work for him, the five figures that flanked him were five of his best, one step from becoming full Inquisitors with shining carers before them, He paused looking around the bionics of his neck clicking gently as his eye whirred into focus, he spat a grating rasp as he growled.

"Ingrates! These dammed heathens should be on their knees before the Emperor not preparing for a festival of debauchery."

He stumbled as his cane caught on a flag stone, one of his acolytes stepped forward to support him.

"Careful my lord."

He roared in fury pushing the young man away.

"Leave me be, how will can you ever be expected to act like an Inquisitor when you preen over me!"

The acolyte stepped back straightening as a hard voice hissed from behind the group.

"You should not be so harsh on the boy all he was doing was preventing you from falling on your oversized arse."

Belhast and the rest stopped in their tracks and looked at the young behind them, sleek and tall his skin was the colour of marble his eyes the colour of a frozen lake, he wore formal robes over his clothing silver embroidery running around the edges. Belhast glared at man over veins of fury pulsing on his one organic temple.

"How dare you show me such disrespect Jeremiah."

"How dare I? I am no longer your Interrogator lord, but should your embarrass yourself it reflects on all of us me included and I will not have you jeopardise our futures because of your dammed pride."

"You think you can stand up to me? Have you forgotten my lessons so quickly"

"I have forgotten nothing you taught me, but those lessons were to make me hard and ruthless that I turn those lessons against you in spite is your own doing."

Jeremiah stepped passed Belhast continuing on his way towards the Imperial palace his back turned on him he stalked away long powerful stride carrying him over the courtyard.

"Come on, leave the Inquisitor to his solitude and pride."

The others faltered then set off leaving Belhast alone to limp after them grumbling under his breath as he went, Jeremiah sighed at the confrontation Belhast had given him everything but now that his bionics were troubling him in his old age his bitterness was spilling out in vicious reprisals, he had seen all to often recently the old man issuing beatings without any regard of the strength his bionics gave him. With lass than a year under his belt as an Inquisitor full he was having to become a harder man that he desired simply to endure his proximity to his old mentor, he'd come along to this conclave in the hopes of finding the acolytes new masters and maybe bending the ear of a more senior Inquisitor to Belhast's current condition. They waited respectfully as the old man arrived at the lift that would carry them down into the bowels of the Palace, a tightness gripped him as the heavy lift doors slid shut forcing him to rub his forehead, Belhast looked over his shoulder a cold smile on his lips.

"Struggling to maintain control again?"

He spoke of Jeremiah's skills as a psyker, he had been known in his youthful days when his powers were blooming to lose focus which brought on powerful headaches, but this was different.

"No, the palace is protected with psi-dampening."

"Ah the Inquisition here is clever no, they hide the true nature of their presence here, and build the shielding into the very walls of the Governors home, I wonder how close the two are linked."

"The Lord Inquisitor of Eternity sits upon the council of leaders."

"To better watch these heathens no doubt."

"I suspect they are not heathens lord, otherwise we would be walking through a dead world and the need for the subterfuge would be unnecessary."

"You even question now me Jeremiah, I should have held your promotion back until you had learned the proper respect of your betters."

"You're my equal now Argus."

An uncomfortable silence fell on the lift as it rumbled down to the lower floors, when it arrived they all stepped out on to a wide balcony overlooking the grand entrance to the palace.

"The next grav train is not until later this evening, I've arranged for us to dine in one of the lesser halls while
we wait, there will be other Inquisitors present waiting the same train as we'll be taking."

He gestured for a serf and followed as they were led off to a side hall, arranged with long tables capable of seating a dozen diners there were close to thirty tables many of them occupied with a few diners waiting for or eating food of a fine quality, the smells of the room were rich and fine and even Jeremiah's appetite rose, he gestured to an empty table noting the serving staff moving to prepare the table as they moved towards it, wines and water were laid on the table ready for them and he noticed that each of them had bionic ear replacements, the mechanical units were dull and close fitting to their heads stretching round the backs of their heads from one ear to the other, as he took his seat the servant bowed his head lights coming to life along the bionic.

"May I take your orders lords?"

He nodded and ordered the group a selection of meats and cheeses, when the servant stood upright again the lights dimmed and he strode off, ingenious he thought watching the hall, they were deaf until they needed to be, a means of keep secrets from being over heard, looking round the room he tried to see if any other familiar Inquisitors were present.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 06, 2010, 07:21:33 AM
Fabio stepped into the hall, its gleaming decoration almost painful. Stellfield was on his right, Gregorius behind him. He saw several other inquisitors, sitting at the tables and chatting amicably as they enjoyed their fine meals.

His eyes swept the room, searching for a place to sit. They settled on a table in a corner, which would allow those seated at it to see everything happening in the rest of the hall. Perfect.

As he took his seat, he was distracted by the still unusual sensation of emptiness inside him. Things had never been the same since Marcas had gone, and he still wondered what had happened to him.

No matter, he thought. I'll find out soon enough.

He pulled a lho-stick from his pocket and lit it. Breathing deeply to inhale as much of the narcotic as possible, he settled back in his chair.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on March 06, 2010, 08:01:56 PM
The revolver clicked softly as Lyra swung its cylinder back into place. This might be an Inquisition fortress, but all that meant that was, by default, full of dangerous people - only a fool would walk in unprepared. Satisfied that the handgun was loaded and ready, she pushed it back into its holster.

"Are you ready Ma'am?"

The voice came from behind her. A less alert individual might have jumped in surprise, but Lyra had been expecting it - while its owner hadn't been moving noisily, she had nonetheless heard him enter the room.

She turned to face Kai, who remained physically imposing even though his suit of carapace had been replaced by tailored formal wear. The sergeant managed to look very much the part of a professional bodyguard, even separated from his normal arms and armour - although Lyra knew that the suit was still threaded throughout with flak fibres, and that the jacket concealed a harness carrying both a laspistol and a rather vicious looking knife. Perhaps it was his threatening bald scalp.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Is the lander prepared?"
"It's as near set as means it will be by the time we get down to the shuttle bay."

Lyra's response was one of her lopsided smiles, before securing the clasp on the holster on her hip. Stepping out in to the ship's corridor, the sergeant followed in her wake. It was an odd reversal of nature, a mass of muscle and bulk deferring to the physically lesser Inquisitor.
It took them a few minutes to make their way through the ship, all lifeless and dull corridors. While the ship was nominally Lyra's, she had never really grown fond of it, using it in the absence of a better option.

The hangar housed an Aquila Lander, set out in a dull ochre. They were always larger than Lyra had imagined, with the twenty-one and a half metre wingspan dominating the room. An array of servitors milled around, finishing fuelling and last minute pre-flight checks.

In amongst all the semi-humans, the two humans already there stood out quite clearly. The first was the pilot, clad in his flight suit, and directing around the servitors. The second was a young woman, leaning on a dull metallic stave.

She looked heavily out of place in the hangar, dressed in a manner far more suiting for the reception at the fortress far below. However the truth was that she always dressed in that sort of manner. Delighting in dressing femininely, she today wore a shoulder-less evening gown split down the side of one leg, although in some kind of nod to modesty, her shoulders were instead covered by a shrug which fastened tightly below the neck. Generally, she was showing quite a lot more of her upper chest than Lyra would have wanted to copy, but there was little denying that it looked the part.

Lyra had always suspected that dressing this way was part of the woman's act - tricking people into thinking she was far more frail and defenceless than was actually the case.
The only real nod to anything else was that she boosted her height with the heels on her long boots, although she would have been slightly taller than the Inquisitor even without them.

Turning around to face them as they approached, there was something odd about her movements - as if your eyes didn't quite want to follow them naturally, and you had to work to stay focused on her.

The Inquisitor spoke first.
"Maya. Where were you hiding yourself then?"
"Nowhere at all Inquisitor. Even I couldn't hide from the internal auspex arrays on this crate.", the response came in a voice that had an undertone of colossal vocal power - it sounded almost as if it had been borrowed from an operatic singer.
"Yes. And on that note, none of your tricks in the fortress."

Maya's response was a hurt look.

   "Don't treat me like a fool. I know what you can be like."
   "Of course. Best behaviour.", Maya nodded.
   "Seriously. I'm trusting you."

Lyra looked over to the pilot, who nodded and held up three fingers.

   "Three minutes. Time to get ourselves on board."

A group of servitors shuffled out of their way as they headed for the door of the lowered transport compartment. Buckling themselves into the various seats, they waited the few minutes until the distinctive sound of the engines kicked into life signalled the start of the launch sequence.

The entry into the atmosphere was too noisy for any conversation, and quite frankly, Lyra wasn't sure that she really wanted to anyway. After the roar of the atmosphere rushing past had died, and the engines cut back on the power, the pilot casually announced their landing had been cleared, and that they would be landed in a brief few minutes.

Sure enough, they touched down softly shortly afterwards. Smiling slightly more weakly than usual, the Inquisitor unbuckled herself, and waited to disembark.

Stepping out under the nose of the lander, the sergeant had to briefly duck to avoid hitting his head on the nose mounted multi-laser.

There were already a collection of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers milling around the landing pad. One whose insignia marked him out as a corporal stepped forwards, and addressed Kai.

   "Security check, Inquisitor"

Rolling her eyes, Lyra pulled out her Inquisitorial seal, holding it up plainly.
   "I would be the Inquisitor, corporal. Sergeant Gillmore here is my personal bodyguard."
Redirecting his attention, although apparently unfazed, the corporal spoke again.
   "Apologies Ma'am. My mistake. Could you please identify yourself for the record?"

He gestured to a servo-skull hovering over his shoulder, which hovered forwards in front of Lyra. Speaking to the aloft machinery, the Inquisitor enunciated clearly, facing its pict-cam.
   "Inquisitor Lyra Joandra Rhodes, attending with Sergeant Kai Gillmore, acting as a bodyguard, and Maya Avens, personal assistant".

The skull hovered briefly as it passed an auspex over her seal twice. Checking the various codes, it took a moment before it beeped several times, then floated content back over towards the remainder of the squad.

   "That should be sufficient, Inquisitor. If you would like, Trooper Landry will escort you to the elevators."

One of the Stormtroopers separated themselves from the rest, gesturing at the Inquisitor to follow. As they set off, Maya shook as if the air had turned cold and looked slightly pale.

   "Are you alright?"
Maya nodded in response to the Inquisitor's question, but leant somewhat more heavily on her stave than normal as she walked.

They made it to the elevator, and the Stormtrooper broke off, returning in the direction they had just come from. As the doors closed and he disappeared from view, Maya spoke again, her voice devoid of any of the powerful undertone it had possessed in orbit, and was instead vaguely hoarse.

   "You hadn't told me the fortress would be psi-dampened."
   "Oh shaft! That hadn't occurred to me... Are you okay?", asked Lyra, with the note of both apology and honest concern.
   "I'll live."
   "Damnation... if I had known, I wouldn't have asked you to come."
   "Don't apologise - I'm here if you want me. The politics of the Inquisition might not be of the greatest interest to me, you wanted my aid, so I'll ignore my trivialities."

Lyra smiled.
   "I'll be honest. I'm not all that interested either."

The look she got from her two companions was one of surprise, so she continued.
   "But as you both know, the Order Perditus demands a particular degree of autonomy and freedom from scrutiny - we have little choice to ensure that the voice of the Order is represented in this election, because we couldn't survive the appointment of a Sector Lord who would afford us less independence."
   "And what about Lord Calleia?"
   "He's occupied with far greater matters for the moment. But he won't exact any changes in the sector doctrine without holding the official title. He'd make too many enemies, and that would hurt his chances of being fully elected - he evidently aspires to the role."
   "So what will he do if elected?"
   "That's part of why we're here, we don't know for sure."

The conversation was interrupted by the elevator coming to a halt. As the doors slowly opened, a serf came forwards.

   "You are humbly welcomed, Sir and Madams. I must inform you that the next entry into the fortress will not be until later this evening, but if you would care to follow me, there will be a meal held prior to the grav train's arrival."
   "Sounds good to me. Are you two alright to eat?"
   "I could do with it to keep my strength up."
   "It is neither my place, nor my desire to argue."
Lyra smirked and raised an eyebrow.
   "You know, 'Yes' would suffice.", she said before turning back to the serf, "Sure, take us to eat."

The dining room was impressively decked out. It looked like it would seat about three hundred, although it was either yet to fill or considerably larger than it needed to be, for it was mostly empty.
Lyra sneered distastefully at an Inquisitor who appeared to be filling the room with narcotic smoke, and passed her attention over a group of seven who seemed to have some odd dynamic about talking to each other.

Pulling out one of the chairs around a table, she paused to squint across the room.

   "God Emperor alive, is that Inquisitor Alipsci?"
   "Who?"
The Inquisitor pointed towards a rather bulbous gentleman sitting by one of the tables over the far side of the room.
   "Over there. I knew he'd put on weight since he came off field duty, but... damn!"

Sitting down, she waited for one of the serving staff to attend to their table. Ordering a selection of different foods and drinks she watched the gentleman walk away.

   "The idea is flawed.", Maya announced.
   "Excuse me?"
   "The earpieces. I assume they're there to render the servants deaf to all but orders. But deaf men can still read lips. I'd have sooner trusted servitors."
   "I'm sure the Inquisition will have thought it through."
   "I know human perception. I have to. You can't trick senses or emotions without knowing how they work."
   "What you're ignoring is..."

It was at this moment that one of the other diners suddenly yelped. Looking around, as far as Lyra could tell, he had tipped wine over himself... or someone else, she wasn't entirely sure.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on March 06, 2010, 09:50:34 PM
"My apologies," I stated, bowing low, insofar as I could manage while wearing armour. "You startled me, my dear. Are you hurt?"

In my surprise I'd sent one of the waitresses flying. The poor girl had only been offering to refill my wine, but I must admit I was so engrossed in conversation with one Gideon Antal that I didn't notice her; as a consequence, when she touched my arm to alert me to her presence, my eventual reaction was rather unfortunate. I lashed out on instinct, checking my motion only too late as I saw that I was not, in fact, being attacked.

I don't think she broke anything, although there was wine all over the place. It's a good thing the decanter wasn't remotely near full.

Wordlessly, she took my hand and got back up, before turning an interesting shade of pink out of both fright and embarrassment, excusing herself, and promptly making a dash for the servants' quarters, therein to change her sodden outfit (or so I assumed, and it wasn't exactly an unreasonable assumption to make).

"I'm dreadfully sorry that you had to see that, my friend," I sighed. "It's a useful reflex to have in a nest of heretics, but so useless during social gatherings."

"I'll drink to that, Ottakar," Gideon grinned. "And don't be so hard on yourself. She'll be fine. It's her job."

"Indeed. Emperor on Earth, I can't even cross the galaxy without being a clumsy oaf."

"Yes, I heard you'd retired. What made you do that?"

"The same thing that brings me here," I chuckled. "Ordo Xenos matters, you know, someone asked me about Orks not long ago, and how come they're so widespread."

"Oh, so you've gone back to your career as a writer?" Gideon asked, raising a dubious eyebrow. "Do you really want more attention from the Redemptionists?"

Naturally this raised a frustrating, but ultimately hilarious, memory from my younger days and we both burst out laughing almost immediately.

"How's dear old Eliesa?" Gideon asked me, once we'd both calmed down.

I should point out here that "Eliesa" is my mentor Eliesa Schwertwald, of the Ordo Xenos, and Gideon Antal's one-time bedfellow some time during the aftermath of the Damocles Crusade, back when Eliesa was little more than an Interrogator. It was a long time ago, to be fair, and neither Gideon nor Eliesa are exactly spring chickens any more, but he was so taken with her that he always asks after her whenever he sees me or any of her current or former contacts.

"She's well," I told him, "but did you hear? She's in a wheelchair now."

"Emperor on Earth, I never saw that one coming. How'd that happen?"

"Psychic attack. Bio-Lightning, I think it's called," I answered. "It should've killed her but you know what she's like. She's a very hard one to take down."

"Aye, that she is. I still remember the Crusade. Took down a Kroot shaper with a rusty dagger and a bad hangover."

"Her, or the Kroot?"

"Well, the Kroot certainly felt something in the morning," Gideon chuckled. "But seriously, a wheelchair? Must have been some psyker."

"It was Asgeir," I grumbled, remembering only too well how that idiot's lunacy had, quite literally, cost me an arm and a leg. "He went mad and started frying people. He got Lord Nock, you know."

"No...!"

"He's still chairing the sector Conclave, mind you, only with a lot more armour than before."

"Glad to hear old Nock's still alive and kicking arse in the name of the Emperor," Gideon noted. "And speaking of Conclaves, I do wonder why this one's been called."

"You tell me," I countered. "Who exactly is Lord Grolin?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 07, 2010, 12:01:55 AM
A faint smile passed across Fabio's lips as a new arrival to the hall, a female inquisitor, scowled at him briefly before stalking off with her attendants. So many of the other inquisitors he met were too concerned about their bodily health outside of the field, in his opinion. Of course, those that were not were often trying to work their way up through the politics of the Inquisition; they generally considered smoking bad for their image. Either way, they tended to avoid him.

A small disturbance at the table seating a group of inquisitors briefly caught Fabio's attention; it appeared that one of them had struck a waitress. Given the man's armour, it was probably an instinctive reaction to being caught off guard. Or she had made a mistake and the man had a short temper. He decided to discover more about this man.

He motioned to Gregorius and Stellfield that they should stay at the table. Still carrying his lho-stick, he made his way over to the already crowded table just in time to hear the armoured inquisitor ask who Lord Grolin was. Having been out of touch with Inquisitional politics for a while, he decided this was worth discovering.

"I too, wish to know about Lord Grolin. I have been . . . somewhat out of touch with politics for a while."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on March 07, 2010, 02:01:01 AM
"Of course it is safe. The fortress is probably the safest place in the sector."

Inquisitor Bernard Wyebold closed his suitcase and turned to face his aide, fastening his cloak as he did so.

"Enjoy yourself, Oliver. Take a look at this festival. Think of it as a well-earned rest. And don't let Artell brood."

Picking up the case, Bernard left the room. Outside, two of his savants fell in behind him. As he left the hotel, he considered the likelihood of Oliver enjoying a rest. Low, but some of the others would, especially Artell, hopefully.

The trio continued through the city. Anyone noticing them would scarcely have given them a second glance: a round-faced businessman, accompanied by his scribe and servant, wearing dark green cloaks to ward against the night air. It may have crossed a watcher's mind that it was a little late to be working, but then this close to the festival there was much to be done. If, despite that, an eye had lingered on them, and followed their progress towards the Palace, it would have seen the following: The presumed scribe, a tall, thin man with long limbs and a frozen face, leaning close to the leader in response to a murmured question. The scribe nodding, and gesturing along a certain street and the group setting off in that direction. The servant, young, short and weighed down with a satchel, struggling to keep up with the long strides of the scribe and the rapid steps of the leader.

"Security check, Inquisitor."

Addressing the servo-skull and holding out his Seal, Bernard spoke, "I am Inquisitor Bernard Wyebold. These are two of my personal savants: Adepts Daath and Roberto Ibister."

They continued past the troopers, handing their cloaks and bags to the servants and entering the dining room. Bernard suppressed the sneer that threatened to form on his face at the sight of the impressive array of food and drink, partially in response to the apparent extravagance, but also in the knowledge that much of the food would remain untouched and be wasted. Glancing around the assembled Inquisitors, he noticed with mild disapproval the number of weapons on display.

"Robert, no need to hang around me, go and eat."

The young savant headed towards a table, while Bernard, overhearing the word 'Grolin', moved closer to hear the reply.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 08, 2010, 10:57:18 AM
The headache was growing, which in turn was putting him off his meal, instead of enjoying the meats and sautéed vegetables before him he was picking at it pushing the food around the plate in aggravated annoyance, the foul smell of nicotine was not helping matters either, Belhast looked over at him a grumble issuing from his old lips.

"I thought I beaten that particular trait from you years ago."

"You know what they say old habits die hard." 

The two locked eyes Jeremiah daring him to push the issue, despite the fact none of them were armed Jeremiah was probably one of the most dangerous people in the room, the female Inquisitor who'd entered along with her psyker had peeked his interest for a few moments, mainly to see if the psyker was suffering as much as he was. He looked over at one of the Acolytes his voice softening. 

"Gar, don't drink so much you need you wits about you now more than ever."

The younger man blushed and nodded placing the goblet down it would have been his sixth one of the strong red he was drinking and his cheeks were showing the signs of early drunkenness.

"Silv, eat something before you waste away."

"Viss off Jere."

She was overly sensitive about her shape and size despite being whipcord thin with a highly toned body she was always unhappy with it, constantly complaining in private that she was over weight, and ugly. If only she would listen to him he would tell her she was beautiful with her narrow face and high cheekbones, sharp and alert eyes, her crimson hair was always tied back in a neat braid and the make up she wore only heightened the natural beauty held in the face, the fact that she was also one of the best martial artists he'd ever met only added the affection he held for her.

"Seriously when was the last time you ate?"

She frowned and stood and marched off looking for one of the servants to place an order with them, not only was she paranoid about her looks she was obsessive about her food, he sighed as Belhast laughed to himself and waved over a servant himself.

"At least I care about your acolytes well being."

"If they can not take care of themselves how are they meant to survive in the wider world when I rid myself of them?"

Jeremiah growled at him pushing his plate from him and standing.

"Would that I could be rid of you in an instant I would be."

He stalked from the table moving to the servant that was coming towards him.

"Your hardest Liqueur, a double."

The servant nodded and headed off.

++

The train  was deserted save for himself, everything was in place and he wished to see the city for a short while, alighting from the train he moved to the armed station staff and spoke with one of them.

"Hold the train for one hour."

"As you command lord."

He moved through the halls of the Palace climbing up he glanced in the hall given over to the waiting Inquisitors his eyes passing over the assembled mass, there was a strong attendance but there were notable names missing Kaled, Necris, Rex and dozens of others he would have longed to be here. It did not matter his master's plans were in motion and little would stop them.

He collected a fine white wine from one of the servants and headed out onto one of the large balconies looking out over the city the Eclipse was setting in the moon slowly being swallowed, the celebrations were starting to begin music drifting from the streets of the city as the lights started to come on illuminating the city in bright colours. He smiled letting his hood drop back exposing his shaved and tattooed head, lifting his glass to the city he toasted it.

"To the End."

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on March 08, 2010, 02:59:36 PM
Turning back from the events that seemed to be forming half way across the room, it seemed Maya had decided to attend to other matters of interest - namely, having helped herself to a large chunk of bread from the basket on the table.

The Inquisitor couldn't really blame her for being more concerned with food - she did still look horribly pale from the shock of the psy-dampened environment.
She wasn't an exceptionally powerful psyker, rating only around Zeta for raw power potential, with her effectiveness lying more in the ability to leverage that very efficiently, but she was very closely attuned to it, and its loss had clearly had a real effect.

It was an odd experience to see someone who had routed entire squads of trained soldiers reduced to a level where they found simply trying to maintain conversation a significant effort.

Lyra did wonder about how many of the other attendees were psykers and how they were affected. Scanning around the room for either anyone she recognised, or people just looking unwell, something else caught her eye. Another servant was milling over with a silver tray, although it wasn't actually evident if there was anything on it.

   "Good evening ma'am. Can I enquire your name?"
   "Inquisitor Rhodes."
   "This communiqué arrived for you a short while ago."

The servant took a sealed envelope off the tray and passed it over. Thanking him, Lyra waited for him to wander off - perhaps to return to where he had come from, perhaps to deliver another message - before she opened it to look at its contents. While the other two were clearly intrigued, they knew better than to question what it was. If the Inquisitor wanted them involved, she'd ask.

It turned out to be the briefing that she had requested from her master, Inquisitor Byssus, on the subject of the election, although if the writing style was anything to go by, it had probably been written by Inquisitor Brennan - evidently Lembus had been too busy and left it to yet another of his former acolytes to do the task.

She skimmed the list of candidates. She was familiar with most through reputation, and had personally met a couple of them in her years, although she wouldn't have considered any of them friends.
There were a couple of names she didn't really know, but she resolved to leave reading that for later. Folding the letter back up again, she slipped it into an internal pocket of her jacket.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 10, 2010, 04:13:54 PM

The constant ticking of the cosmic clock echoed in the background of the choir chamber he found that his mind dwelt on the heavy snaps of the movements working away behind the solid pearl face of the clock which mapped cosmic alignment of the bodies around the planet, the system and beyond always in a state of flux the clock would be working, it was meant as a guide for them to better transmit and collect data streams from the ether to help them focus on the world beyond worlds, to help they see the golden light of the astronomicon and receive the word of the Emperors servants from across the universe.

Yet all he could focus on was the ticking, it had never bothered him before, in his thirty years as an Astropath in the Choir of Eternity he had never even noticed the clocks heavy tick or the grind of it's movements but today was different it was distracting causing him to loose his connections with the warp and to loose the messages he was charged with receiving those brothers and sisters of the choir around him seemed not to notice the sound  as if it was his personal torture for the day, it would not surprise him only last cycle some thirteen hours ago had Brother Jeddah burst into flames immolating himself almost instantly as his mind wandered too far from the protective light of the Emperor, the observers had swept in quickly enough pumping a blessed (or cursed in their eyes) psi-round into Jeddah's head before his body had even stopped twitching as his nerves reacted to the searing heat. The choir hall still stank of his charred flesh and his terminal uplink had been scoured by cleansing flame which only added the pungent stench of promethium to the vast chamber, it was a wonder anyone could concentrate today, yet the others sat about him singing the choir of communion quietly to themselves, even that was getting to him the quiet hum of song as the hundred astropaths sang in harmony.

He sat back in his comfortable chair allowing his eyes to span the room many of the astropaths on Carthage retained their eyes and their sight loosing something else in the process for his own part he's lost the sense of taste which made everything that passed his lips bland and unfulfilling his sense of touch was also dulled yet he could feel, though it was as if touching something through thick gloves he knew it was there but he could not tell you want it was without looking, he used his eyes to scan the room them finally falling upon High Conductor Vatis sat in the centre of choir his task to maintain the stability of the uplink and lead the others in song, the conductors eyes rolled in his direction and locked with his own.

~Dose something trouble you this day Brother Virgil?~

His voice echoed in his mind coming from all directions some of the others sitting around him stopped for a moment cursory eyes turning towards him, it was rare for the conductor to commune with another his task demanded all his focus and the distraction of idle banter was a risk, for should he be distracted and allow a presence through a more nightmarish incident than that which befell brother Jeddah might occur. His task was the protection of them all, he bowed his head in respect and replied not wishing to distract the conductor any longer than he needed.

~It is nothing conductor I am finding it difficult to focus on the task at hand.~

~Yes you have allowed a number of missives to be lost, do not dwell on Brother Jeddah his death was not in vain.~

~What do you mean?~

~His was but the first, the chip in the barrier that will open the flood gates and cleans this world in flames.~

"What!"

He shouted out surging to his feet sending his clattering across the floor behind him, one of the observers appeared to see what the commotion was, his hand drifting to the heavy pistol at his hip, he made his way cautiously towards his hand held firmly round the grip.

"Brother is there a problem?"

He turned on the Observer his face flushed with colour his eyes wide with horror, his hand snapped up a long finger pointing at the conductor sitting on his throne.

"Yes he let Brother Jeddah die, he just confessed as much to me."

"He's the conductor sir, he is charged with your protection."

"He's not doing it, he told me Jeddah was only the first, that we are all going to die."

Those around him had stopped their work, those that could hear at least and we paying attention to him he shouted as loud as his weak voice would allow him to.

"Listen too me, the conductor is not protecting you he is letting the warp through the gaps Brother Jeddah was the first, he's going to kill us all."

He stopped as a pistol clicked his eyes locking on the barrel of the gun aimed at his chest.

"You have lost yourself brother."

A deep chuckle echoed through the chamber drawing everyone's attention they all turned to the centre to look upon the conductors form as it laughed turning his gaze upon them all.

"You are too late Brother Virgil this time has come."

His head snapped round the cosmic clock had stopped ground to a halt halfway through a movement which told him the world's moon was eclipsing the star this world belonged too.

"This world is rife with the corruption of man and is in need of cleansing by fire and divine fury."

"What are you saying?"

"This world has come to an end."

The gun barked from behind him Virgil dropped to his knees gasping as the psi-round entered the air he gasped and clawed for breath being stood so close to it burned like ice across his skin when the body tumbled behind him he turned seeing the crater in the observer's skull where he'd shot himself

"I cannot allow weak willed men like that to stop me, join me in one last choir to herald in the death of this world."

His voice rose in song echoing through the chamber the others about him started to sing as well shouting out the words as loud as they could the pressure of the noise building the power of the cataclysmic event that was about to happen.

The cosmic clock moved a loud clunk as the movement moved closer to eclipse.

"When the moon blocks out the star Virgil this world will burn and all life shall be extinguished is a blinding
light."

"What are you doing!"

"His divine will."

"I will stop you!"

"You do not have the will to stop me Virgil, I do not understand why you have not bowed to my will but you alone cannot stop this."

There was a force pressing at the edge of his mind urging him to join in the choir to add his psychic power to the attack the conductor was building to join in the extermination of the world he called his home, he dropped to his knees his hand slamming into something that was not the floor, he looked up the observers gun was under his hand he scooped it up, it felt like ice in his grip burning and sending shivers down his spine, he vomited the tasteless bile and bland food  cascading down his robes as he lifted the weapon and aimed it at the conductor, a sphere of white light was forming high above his head and his eyes stared up into it, Virgil pulled the trigger the gun barking in his hands the sound drowned  out by the cries of his fellow astropaths as they lost themselves to the song of death, the conductor jerked once collapsing back into his throne he roared as the psi-round consumed him burning his soul to it's very core the sphere exploded sending Virgil sliding across the floor as the shockwave hit him the chamber went black the emergency lights illuminating the chamber after a few seconds, each of the astropaths slumped in their chairs heads lolling to one side of the other as if dead, Virgil pulled himself to his feet looking at his hands they were blistered from contact with the gun he took two staggered steps noticing the utter silence of the room he looked round as a rushing sound entered the room then each of the astropaths arched their mouths open as they let out a chilling wail their bodies bursting into brilliant white flames their arms outstretched in agony they screamed for almost a minute then the chamber exploded in a brilliant ball of white light,

++

Jeremiah drained the drink wincing at the taste of the liqueur he was about to order another one when a white light illuminated the Palace from outside, cutting through the stained glass windows is a kaleidoscopic display of colour, he turned to call Belhast over when a pain gripped his forehead with such force it caused him to lurk forward pressing his hands to his temples, the glass fell and shattered at his feet but he couldn't hear it as he felt as though someone had forced a chain sword into his skull he looked up into the hall and saw that the other psykers present were likewise sharing in his pain which pulsed refreshing the agony and bringing forth an uncontrolled gout of blood stained bile, he sank to his knees as blood streamed from his eyes and ears dripping from his hands onto the polished marble floor, letting out a strained cry he knew what this was, this was psychic over load he'd experienced this once before in his younger days before the black ships had taken him, he'd lost control back then and the warp had almost flooded through him into the world but he'd managed somehow to regain control and force it back. That was why he was who he was now and not just another offering to the God Emperor.

He stood staggering his mind raging within his own head, how was this happening he hadn't been using his powers, this should not have been possible, not unless there was another build up of psychic power close by, he forced himself into the centre of the hall and called out his voice strained with the agony he was feeling.

"Everybody! Get Down!"

He allowed himself to collapse as the world went white.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on March 11, 2010, 01:16:53 AM
Having shielded her eyes at the warning, Lyra recovered quickly. Practised at avoiding the effects of intense lights by frequent exposure to Maya's psychic flashes, she had managed to keep herself from being blinded.
Even so, the first thing that surprised her was that she could see. By some miracle, the lighting in the room hadn't failed, and kept the dark of the eclipse from taking the room.

However, utter pandemonium had taken the room instead.  Several voices were screaming in terror, glass littered the floor, and Inquisitors were producing weapons from all sorts of places, some of them probably better unmentioned. Kai had recovered his laspistol from its shoulder holster faster than she could blink.

Almost nothing could be heard over the clamour. Lyra looked over at her psyker, who appeared to have passed out - what she would have given for Maya's psychically magnified vocal power to get over the din. Not that it would have been much good if she'd been conscious, the psy-damping made sure of that.

Everyone seemed to have their own agenda. Inquisitors were ordering each other around, each with utterly contradictory commands. What was one to do in a room where dozens of Inquisitors had all individually decided it was their job to take charge?
She contemplated using a gunshot to get attention, but drawing attention in that way would have been suicide in a room occupied by alert and armed Inquisitors.

Not being half as crazy as that, she instead clambered over the table to get to Maya. Pressing her fingers to the psyker's jugular, she waited a second to feel a pulse.
Incredibly raised, but present - although that said nothing of whether her mind had survived. Judging by the general smell of vomit and bile that pervaded the room and the multiple unconscious people, many of whom the Inquisitor recognised as psykers, it was clear that whatever had caused the blast had been psychic in nature.

This was bad. Very bad.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on March 11, 2010, 01:39:15 AM
Molovich was outside when the white light flared. He was just about to rebuke the guard for daring to ask him for identification when it was evidently clear who he was when the the explosion had happened. The guard was on the his knees, retching and rubbing his eyes furiously. Augmented, Molovich had suffered no ill effects at all, in fact he had had plenty of time to watch the unnatural phenomenon occur. It had been a psychic discharge of some kind, highly energetic, far beyong the ability of the average psyker which meant one of either two possibilities and neither was good.

His voice-pet was huddling behind him with its eyes screwed shut. His Interrogator had thrown herself to the ground and under his scrutiny lifted her head, blowing hair out of her eyes and spitting out blades of grass. She blinked as he canted a harsh burst of binaric. Of course, she was not adapted was she. The thick umbilical hose snaked out from behind him and smacked into the skull of the voice-pet with a crunch which made the creature yelp. The cringing child-like features of the voice-pet furrowed into a scowl as Molovich exerted his control. The voice-pet turned slowly and folded its arms.

"Query: What are you doing down there Arisha Dolan?"

The Interrogator flushed, "Sorry master." She looked directly at the featureless brass wedge that covered the area where Molovich's eyes might have been. She got to her feet and brushed herself down and then had to run to get back into pace with her mentor who pushed over the guard, still on his hands and knees, with his boot, rolling the guard out of the way.

Arisha hurried a little faster as Molovich canted another burst of binaric over his shoulder which did not need to be translated and clearly meant "Hurry up!"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 11, 2010, 11:33:38 AM
The Eclipse was coming the moon was slowly being eaten away dragging the world deeper and deeper into darkness, hundreds of thousands had gathered in the grand promenade to watch the annual event the event that heralded in the warm seasons as the worlds path orbit brought it closer to the star and it warm embrace.

They would experience days of darkness in those days the ceremonies and festivites would be held as it had been for hundreds of generations when the salutation of night ended the celebrations would begin and a festival and parade stood waiting to flood the promenade once the lights were returned.

Midnight came and the world plunged into true darkness the noise and chatter of the civilian population dying down a quiet hum as the High Lectern, the sole illumination took his position upon the high pillar in the centre of them all, eye turned upwards to him as he started his ritual in the archaic tongue of their forefathers, none of them understood it now the language was dead, it was speculated that not even the High Lectern himself knew the words he spoke, but it was tradition and tradition had to be kept.

He continued chanting away his voice amplified by vox casters spread across the city so all could hear his words as he entered the second verse of the ritual he stopped his head coming up from the ancient book he looked across the promenade causing the populace below to turn the attention with his.

Light bright and brilliant white was coming from beyond the city it shone out from the great mountain ranges far off beyond the city, the light was casting a warm glow across the city, the populace watched for long minutes as the light flashed in intensity then faded, confused at the strange the display The High Lectern composed himself and turned his eyes back to the book before him to continue his reading as the mountains exploded in a ball of light which shattered an instant later tearing the mountains away and sweeping across the plains, his eyes averted from the spectacle they were saved but his skin blistered and he tumbled in the pulpit almost falling from it as the world rumbled from the force of the detonation, hidden in the pulpit he could hear the panic and screams of those below as buildings tumbled and the ground split, he struggled pulling himself to his feet looking over the chaos the world had changed strange light flooded across the sky blues and greens and purples that made him sick and the city burned as fires spread the mountains bore a giant crater and even at this distance he could see great cracks running along the ground like rends in fabric. Earthquakes followed opening up the ground and swallowing the populace as they staggered around in blind panic, one crack opened along the ground coming for the pulpit and he knew that he would not have time to escape as it opened alongside the pillar he clung to the polished wooden rail as it fell the ancient book pressed to his chest as the pillar and pulpit smashed into the ground shattering his body along with those caught under it. Across the city the population died in droves broken by the tumbling buildings being swallowed by flames as fuel and gas lines exploded.

Even the Imperial Palace suffered under the unnatural onslaught, designed as it was to withstand sieges and war the walls held but the towers of the building buckled and collapsed into it, tears whole floors from the building, the intricate carvings on the walls fell and windows shattered covering all caught by them in deadly shards of multicoloured glass. Down in the palace's bowels the building suffered it worst blow, cracked open by the earthquakes the Halls of Enquiry burned but were extinguished in one instant as an explosive fireball tore up the kilometre long grav line exploding outwards and tearing the basements of the Palace apart the shockwave rumbled the palace for a second time causing the remains of the building to sink on one of its corners cracking the mighty walls down two of it's sides, as the aftermath settled over the world the din of chaos flooded the world, screams of pain and anguish and the roar of fires and chaos reigned as the eclipse reduced the world to total darkness save for the fires the threatened to swallow the city where the light had failed.

Glass exploded into the Dinning hall, chandeliers fell from the ceiling crashing into the tables the pandemonium from Jeremiah's out burst silenced as those still standing reacted to the sudden intrusion of their environment of a deadly storm of glass and masonry as one of the internal walls tumbled inwards, the second explosion came up filling the entrance hall with fire the shockwave throwing all to the ground as the powerful earthquake rocked the very roots of the world.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 11, 2010, 12:03:38 PM
Fabio was oblivious to all of this. He lay on the floor, screaming and clutching his head as first the storm of glass, and then the wave of fire passed over him. Miraculously he was unharmed, physically at least.

Pain lanced through his head. Images filled his mind. A man holding two blood-red straight razors. Marcas, laughing at some joke. Jorken, his master, stalking through the jungles of Catachan. Racquel, Jorken's wife, looking beautiful in a long gown. Hive Primus on Schindelgheist Major.

Talons. Talons in the darkness. Creatures, terrible creatures, clawing at his mind, body and soul. 

Horror filled him, as he relived his entire life in an instant.

He blacked out.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on March 11, 2010, 05:52:45 PM
Under a table, Bernard shook his ringing head. What was going on? An artillery bombardment? Would it be safer to run, or to stay in cover? In the semi-darkness, he couldn't see the exit, and the ground was still shaking.  He grabbed at Daath, lying beside him, and tugged his shoulder. The savant moved slightly, and then twisted to face his master, his small reading-lamp shedding pale light on Wyebold's relieved expression.

Taking the lamp, Bernard directed the beam down the length of the table, checking if any others had ducked under it with him.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on March 11, 2010, 07:35:09 PM
A brick flew through the air, arcing towards Lyra. With a crunch, it splintered into fragments in mid air as her energy field countered its momentum.
She glanced at the small panel strapped to the inside of her left wrist, checking the readouts from the field. In spite of a couple of impacts from debris, it was holding solid and reading green across the board.

Looking up from this, her eyes swept the room. As she took in the various walls, columns and remaining parts of the building, she spoke almost under her breath:
   "Oh, shaft me."

She was no architect or engineer, but she could see when a building was barely holding together as it was, even without what appeared to be an earthquake.
How many floors had there been above this one? Three, four, a dozen? She hadn't counted, but it was easily more than enough masonry to squash a human body completely flat if it came down.

She guessed they had mere moments to get out, if that. She didn't much like some of the Inquisitors there that day, but they didn't deserve to die for it. Raising her voice so loud it hurt, she yelled an order she hoped they wouldn't stop to question:
   "OUT! GET OUT!"

Raw fear giving her strength, she heaved Maya as fully into an over-shoulder lift as she could, snatched up the psyker's staff and charged for the destroyed wall.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 12, 2010, 08:30:37 AM
Kai ran through the darkened hall, dodging bricks and other debris falling from the ceiling. There wasn't much time.

He saw Lyra running towards a destroyed wall. He could help others escape. He nearly tripped over a body.
It was an inquisitor, dressed in a grey trench-coat with a heart tattooed on his pale cheek. He was unconscious, but still breathing.

Kai hoisted him over his shoulder and kept running.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 13, 2010, 10:09:51 AM
Jeremiah coughed spitting up a glob of crimson blood and pushing the upturned table from himself and rolling onto his knees he wiped his face which was slick with blood. Coloured light played across the dinning hall and it took him a while to realise that it was not from the stained glass of the windows which lay across the floor. Looking up through the shattered window the sky was a riot of swirling colour. Turning from the window he looked over the room, chandeliers had fallen from their fittings crushing several of the tables and one of the internal walls had collapsed his eyes moved over the room as it was being evacuated by his peers, landing on one of the chandeliers which lay atop the table his party had been occupying. Still unsteady on his feet he staggered over to the table looking at those caught under it.

Gar struggled under weight one of the spars from the chandelier had punched through his shoulder and he leaked blood across the floor, Jonathan the next in line after himself was dead his chest crushed an the youngest Edward was dying from a multitude of cuts from the crystals of the chandelier the worst of them had opened his throat, fortunately he'd been knocked out from the blow and his death would be without pain as he bled out. Belhast himself was completely under the heavy chandelier the full weight of it crushing his body, the bionics twitched in the death throws of the old man,

"Help the wounded, you sergeant come here."

The men moved into the room checking on the wounded the sergeant came to his side, they went to Gar kneeling down beside him.

"This is going to hurt like hell."

He gripped the spar that had punched through his shoulder the psi dampening had all but vanished more than likely due to the damage wrought upon the palace, as such he reached out with his mind touching the swirling power of the warp, it was turmoil out there the power of the warp throbbed around the world threatening to overload him again, thankfully he only needed a fraction of his power, infusing himself his body tightened and he felt his muscles react, pulling he spar snapping the metal from the chandelier, Gar cried out in pain as he was freed. Jeremiah turned his attention to the chandelier full and lifted it straining against the weight.

"Pull him out."

The Sergeant jumped moving to Gar and dragging him from under the metal frame before it crashed back down, Gar safe he turned his attention to the greater room.

"Silv!"

She came from over by the fallen wall caked in dirt and with blood down one side of her face she looked over the bodies and gasped.

"Get a grip Silv, I need you focussed, follow Gar out of here and make sure he is seen too."

She was in shock but nodded slowly looking at him her eyes pleading with his asking the questions she could not

"I don't know, but we're going to find out, go I'll come find you."

Jeremiah watched as Gar was carried away Silv following behind the sergeant lingered at his side looking at the blood that caked him.

"Give me your side arm."

He hesitated then passed his las pistol over watching as Jeremiah checked the weapon with skilled precision.

"Get out of here."

Alone he looked at Belhast and sighed as a sadness gripped him over the old mans death, he was after all everything he knew and despite the animosity they felt towards one another he was as close a thing to a father as he'd ever known, when his eyes snapped open he started then frowned as the rattled words issued from his mentors mouth.

"You flinched, not becoming of and Inquisitor."

"I thought you were dead lord, relax try to conserve your strength we'll get you out."

"No."

"What, but lord?"

"I said no, I've lived too long and I'll not have any more of these dammed bionics put in me."

"But my lord."

"I said no!"

His face softened as he saw the pistol.

"Is that for me?"

Jeremiah looked at the weapon.

"No it was for Edward he is dying, I was going to end his suffering."

"Do the same for me lad."

He hesitated at the request but nodded resolutely turning the gun towards Belhast.

"I grant you the Emperor's Peace, thank you old man."

Belhast nodded once his body jerking as the las round punched into his chest, turning he took aim at Edward.

"I'm sorry Edward."

He put a round into Edward's chest as well before tossing the weapon aside and offering a prayer to the Emperor for the both of them, when he looked up his eyes were hard orbs crackling with power, there would be a reckoning he would see too it. 

His eyes scanned the room again coming on a power armoured inquisitor, several soldiers were trying to help him up but he'd been struck by something that had dazed him, striding over he spoke his voice full of the power his body contained.

"Move, help the others."

They scattered as he reached down his muscles swelling as he reached out and pulled the inquisitor to his feet, thankfully he was only dazed from the blow he'd receive and could almost stand, supported he led him from the hall into the wider expanse of the Palace gasping as he saw the damage wrought to the building.

"We have to get out, this way."

He guided the heavy man from the building struggling under the weight as they exited onto the courtyard before the palace.

"Somebody come help me support his weight!"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on March 13, 2010, 12:16:31 PM
I don't remember what happened too clearly. The last thing I remember was chatting away to Gideon and then suddenly there was this giant explosion. I didn't know where it had come from.

I obviously know this now to be false, but I suppose I'd initially thought a thermonuke had gone off, or something in orbit was targeting us with lance fire. Whatever the case, something had hit me on the head, and then the tremors had set in, knocking me to the floor. I'm told there was rather a lot of fire, but I don't remember that part, so it must have been one hell of a solid lump of masonry that got me.

The next thing I knew was that I was being helped up by another Inquisitor that I didn't recognise. My head was still absolutely pounding by this stage but it wasn't so bad as to be totally incapacitating. I could just about walk, albeit assisted by this other Inquisitor. He definitely didn't look strong enough to lift me, though, so he must either have possessed some seriously advanced augmetics, or psychic powers to increase his strength.

Even he wasn't strong enough to support me alone, though, so it was hardly a surprise when he'd called for help. We were outside in a large courtyard, and although I was fully coherent by this point, I still needed the extra measure of support, else I'd have been staggering about like a drunkard, and risked falling over.

"Somebody, come help me support his weight!" the other Inquisitor shouted, a little too loudly. Some of the others were taking some faltering steps forward, curiously intimidated by my size. Now, I'm not the tallest Inquisitor to ever walk across the galaxy, and indeed I'm closer in stature to a Squat than to a normal human; helping me along was therefore something of a challenge should my minder not wish to inflict a crippling back injury upon themselves. I'm rather impressed that this other Inquisitor made it as far as he did.

Thankfully someone approached from behind me, and I didn't have to even look around to know that it was Gideon. Surprisingly, the worst that had happened to him was that his jacket was slightly torn.

"I'll take over from here, Jerry," Gideon grunted, taking over and leading me out toward the other side of the courtyard. In spite of being an old man, Gideon was probably better suited to the job. Among other things, he had a highly advanced augmetic spine, so it wasn't as much of a challenge for him to help me along.

"My thanks, Gideon," I grinned weakly. "What happened in there?"

"Buggered if I know," he answered. "One minute I was chatting to you, the next I was on the floor and the place was a wreck. It looked like a bomb had gone off. We've got dead, you know."

"I saw," I replied solemnly. "I passed someone on the way out that had been crushed under a chandelier."

"Old Belhast," Gideon noted. "Cantankerous old git at the best of times, but even he deserved better than that. You still bleeding?"

I paused, and Gideon went behind me, apparently examining the back of my head.

"It's stopped," he concluded. "When ... whatever it was wrecked the place, this giant lump of ceiling fell on your head. Thought you were a goner, Ottakar, it damn near caved in your skull."

"I've survived worse," I reminded him. "I've been run over before."

"That thing with the power-trike doesn't count," Gideon chuckled. "For a start, it was one wheel, and for another, it bounced."

"Now now, you know exactly what I meant, and it wasn't the power trike."

"Oh, hush," Gideon sighed. "We'll have to argue some other time. First order of the day is getting to safety."

"Agreed. I think I can walk now."

"No, no, don't risk it, Otto. Better safe than sorry," Gideon chided me, leading me away from what had once been the Imperial Palace as it blazed behind us.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on March 13, 2010, 02:04:32 PM
Having retreated to what she judged would be a safe distance from the falling debris, Lyra set down the unconscious Maya. Falling to her knees from physical exhaustion, she watched the general flux of people trying to escape the imminent collapse of the hall.
In amongst the Inquisitors, she could make out Kai hauling two unconscious bodies from amongst the wreckage. One seemed to be the narcotic smoking Inquisitor from earlier - the other she didn't know. But even laden under with that weight, he was still making serious pace.

Coming back to her feet, she turned away from that in an attempt to try and avoid thinking about her dead peers, only for the driving desire all Inquisitors had for answers to take hold. Scanning the skyline, the devastation lead out from a large blast site centred... well, she didn't know for certain, but she could guess.
This was no mere mundane blast. Maya's reaction and the persistent tectonic effects, coupled with the fact they were under an eclipse... this was sorcery. That likely meant what she was looking at was the remains of the Astropath's sector - the souls of hundreds of psykers sold as the first sacrifice.

Lyra was snapped out of her train of thought by Maya's sharp scream. Pulling herself up to rest on her elbows, the psyker's breathing was audibly heavy.
Slowly and with ill-disguised anger, she asked the one question on everyone's mind, spitting each word out in turn.
   "What - the - hell - is - going - on."

The powerful undertone was back in her voice. Presumably, the psy-damping on the fortress must have disintegrated as a result of the damage caused to it. That was a good sign for Maya, but it could mean that all sorts of other threats could present themselves instead.

Staring into the distance, Lyra finally responded to the question.

   "I don't know. But I'm going to find out."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 13, 2010, 11:24:10 PM
Fabio's eyes flickered, and then opened. He was lying in the court outside the now blazing Imperial Palace. Other inquisitors, either unconscious, badly wounded or dead, were laid out in a similar manner. Some were standing. Fabio saw the armoured inquisitor staggering about, supported by a far older, frailer-looking inquisitor. Fabio assumed he had heavy augmentation to be able to support such a weight. He looked up, and saw the bodyguard of the female inquisitor, the disapproving one, looking down at him.

"I'm Sergeant Kai Gillimore, currently in service to Inquisitor Lyra Rhodes," he said.

"Thank you for your assistance," answered Fabio. "I am Inquisitor Fabio Glosche. I assumed you pulled me out of . . . that?" Fabio asked, gesturing at the Imperial Palace.

"Yes," said Kai.

"Good. Now, please tell me, what in the name of all that's holy just happened here?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on March 14, 2010, 01:35:14 AM
There was a long burst of static before a voice piped up, "There was a significant psychic event in the proximity of the Astrapothic Choir."

Inquisitor Glosche turned and then did a double take. The voice had clearly come from the small child looking at him sweetly. Behind her stood a giant of a man almost entirely augmetic, his face hidden behind an ornate helmet although looking more closely it seemed to be less an item of armour and more a part of his head.

"What?"

There was a short burst of binaric from the giant and then the girl repeated what she had just stated, frowning a little. "Protocol: Allow me to introduce myself, I am Inquisitor Molovich Czernarvok. This is my Interrogator Arisha Dolan." The little girl spoke but it was the giant who gestured to the nervous looking young woman stood beside them that Fabio had only just noticed.

"I'm sorry," He frowned, confused, "You're an Inquisitor? You can't be more than twelve!"

"Correction: This bio-unit is merely an instrument of communication, I am Inquisitor Czernarvok." The giant tapped his chest lightly with a bionic paw. He rolled his jaw and coughed before forcing out a few words, his voice sounded like a recording of two lumps of rusty iron grating together washed with static interference. "It is more convenient. For me. To use. The flesh-voice. Of this unit."

"Ah, I see. I think. You said something about the Astropathic Choir?"

"I detected." Molovich continued using the 'flesh-voice', "Massive amounts of psionic power centred above the vicinity of the Astropathic Choir. A considerable event took place, reaching Beta-Mu force levels. Something serious has occured. There could be a possible breach."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 14, 2010, 05:23:39 AM
"Dammit," said Fabio. "And here I go, leaving my daemon-hunting equipment on my ship because I thought this was going to be a simple discussion over certain matters. Goes to show you what happens around our kind, doesn't it?"

He took a slightly crushed lho-stick from his pocket, looked at it, shrugged and lit it, placing it in his mouth. He inhaled deeply, then looked around at the other inquisitors and the various members of their entourages.

"Sorry, where are my manners? Anyone for a smoke?"

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on March 15, 2010, 01:18:13 AM
The tiny, delicate fingers of the 'bio-unit' reached out and took a lho-stick. She touched the end to Fabio's own smoke and then took a long drag, the thick smoke curling from her mouth before she snatched it away with here nostrils, inhaling deeply. Molovich reached down with an augmetic paw and fixed the lho-stick to a cylindrical tube that snaked out from beneath his tongue. The Inquisitor did not breathe in but the lho-stick burnt down to the filter in moments before smoke curled out of a grille on Molovich's shoulder, the tiny louvres moving slightly to direct the smoke away. Molovich had no expression to read but the fleshless synthetic muscle of his jaw flexed and twitched and he augmitted a sigh of binary.

"Recollection: Telum 111001:1001 gamma oblique addition 1001 always used to tell the joke that one day these things would kill us." Molovich barked a few bursts of binaric and the little girl tittered. "He was always most amusing, Omnisiah rest him."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on March 15, 2010, 01:51:30 AM
"Personally, I would prefer a functioning vox-set."

Bernard Wyebold stood, leaving Daath to check Robert's injuries.

"The extent of these phenomena must be assessed. The city is burning around us. Without an organised effort, we may become trapped by fire. Spontaneous psychic events could begin to occur. The place to respond to disaster is not here."

Bernard turned to address the tattooed daemon-hunter directly. He meshed his fingers, and blinked upwards at the taller Inquisitor.

"In your opinion, are we in immediate danger from manifestations of the Ruinous Powers?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 15, 2010, 11:12:16 AM
"No."

Jeremiah pulled his ruined over coat from his shoulders tossing it to one side as he strode across to the smoking Inquisitor.

"I'll take one of those."

His face grim he took a ilo-stick and placed it in his mouth from his fingers an electrical discharge ignited it, looking at the rest he took a slow drag savouring the bitterness of it before letting it out of his lungs and discarding the remains.

"There was a massive disturbance in the warp a build up of psychic power, if we were in any risk of Daemonic incursion we'd know about it by now, it's still present now raging overhead in the sky."

He gestured at the sky as it shifted through colours his fingers falling from the sky point at the mountains in the distance where a cloud of dust hung in the air.

"but this was not a summoning it was an attack, the source was from there, but that's immaterial it won't be there any more, Eternity it gone."

He looked round at the gathered Inquisitors and staff of the palace.

"We nee to know who we've lost, and then we need to find out how this was allowed to happen."

He dusted off his clothing cut in the style of a naval uniform the double breasted tunic was black with black piping which held the dust despite his hands brushing them, his cold gaze turned towards one of the Palace guards.

"Inquisitor Crowe by the way."

He looked over the group then back at the palace.

"Has anyone tried to contact their ships in orbit?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 15, 2010, 11:23:17 AM
"Wait."

Fabio pondered for a moment.

"I do not have the most wide-ranging experience, but I believe there is a distinct possibility. A psychic event of such magnitude was either caused by an incredibly powerful rogue psyker, or the Astropathic Choir here succumbed to the warp. Given the security sweep before we arrived here, I doubt any rogue psykers are present on the entire continent, let alone this city.

"Therefore, we must assume that the Choir has been destroyed, giving off a psychic event of a cataclysmic magnitude in the process. Whether this was a most unfortunate accident or deliberate sabotage can be uncovered later. For now, we must focus on survival. An event such as this will act as a beacon for every daemonic entity in nearby warp-space. And for the destruction of the Choir to unleash such disaster, they must have been unprotected at the very last moment, after the psychic force had built itself up.

"I am afraid, my colleagues, that we are almost certainly going to face the daemonic . . . the Daemon . . .Daemon" He trailed off unexpectedly.

"Query: What is wrong?" asked Molovich.

Fabio fell to his knees and clutched his head. He groaned and his face spasmed.

"He's being possessed!!!" shouted an inquisitor. "Shoot him!"

"Not . . . possessed . . ." groaned Fabio. "Memories . . . best left  . . . hidden . . . psychic event . . . get . . .me a . . . psy-dampener . . . or an untouchable. Hurry!" He roared the last word, pain filling his head.    
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on March 15, 2010, 11:56:19 AM
"Or we could simply do this."

By this point I'd recovered my wits sufficiently to walk again. Miners are inherently a tough breed, and even though I've not been near a mine for years now, I'm no exception; the power armour helps, of course, but sometimes there's just no substitute for a good old-fashioned hard head.

And if I could walk, I could certainly swing a punch, and a hell of a punch at that. I had to be careful, though, because the thing about power armour is that it amplifies one's physical strength to patently Herculean levels. I've seen a Space Marine punch straight through the side of a bunker before, and although there was no danger of me imitating such a feat any time soon, I was still more accustomed to holding back than actually making use of my enhanced strength.

It therefore came as no surprise, to me at least, that when I marched up to my stricken comrade and clocked him round the head, I knocked him out cold. It wasn't difficult. He was on his knees, which brought him down to my level, so I didn't need to reach up to strike him. One half-hearted knock to the back of the skull later and he was on the floor, no longer suffering from whatever psychic strain was afflicting him. In fact, I don't think anything was afflicting him any more.

"That was a bit extreme," Gideon sighed from behind me. "You really didn't have to knock him out."

"Statement: How very crude your methods are, Inquisitor," added a taller man who struck me as more of a Mechanicus adept than a member of the Inquisition. Disturbingly, he seemed to be speaking through a twelve-year-old girl who came up to my shoulder, seemingly linked to her master by a MIU or something similar.

"But they certainly suffice," I countered. "Now then. Change of plan. Get this man some medical attention; that's going to be one hell of a bruise."

Noticing that everyone else seemed to be smoking, I pulled a lighter and a box of lho-sticks from a pouch on my belt, drawing one out and putting it to my lips. I could hear Gideon very audibly sighing behind me as I lit it, stowing the lighter away with practised ease.

"I'm Ottakar Grant, by the way. Ordo Xenos Norikian. Nice to meet you all."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 15, 2010, 12:48:09 PM
He moved from the group of Inquisitor heading for the guards that stood off to one side looking lost and disorganised.

"You men should have trained for this, get a grip of yourselves and get to work helping the wounded and defending the palace, where is the governor?"

"We don't know."

"And your captain?"

"Dead sir, he was killed when the explosion tore through the lower levels."

He looked over them his eyes falling on a junior watch officer.

"Then you are in charge, you know the protocol?"

He nodded nervously, as he pointed at another man.

"Good, you come with me."

He stalked off towards the palace's shattered grand doors, pausing on the threshold he looked inside, the building creaked and groaned as the damage settled in, this was the most dangerous time as the building settled it could mean the difference between standing and falling and it was impossible to tell while the noises of the stresses the building was now under echoed, only in silence would the building be safe. He took a breath and stepped over the threshold into the crumbling building.

"Sir it is not safe."

"Safety be dammed we need to know the names of every Inquisitor present, we need to have a list of the dead."

"The lists will be in the archiver, it's a level down but the lifts won't work."

"Then we'll walk."

"We?"

"I need a guide."

"But the palace, it could collapse."

"If it was going to do that it would have done so already, relax take a deep breath and get ready to run like hell."

He set off running into the building the guard hesitated more than willing to let the young inquisitor head off too his death but the fear that he could survive and come back forced him to follow weaving through the fires and piles of masonry they moved through the grand hall to the security offices close to the entrance the heavy door gave Jeremiah little pause as he kicked it from it's hinges inside the security room the guard led him down the winding stairwell which was more or less in tact, a fire ball had forced it's way up the stairwell and scorched the walls black with superheated air which left the space with a suffocating heat, the guard rested his hand on the handrail a cried out as the hot metal seared his skin.

Yelping but more alert the pair of them made their way down and into the archive room the archiver sat dead in the centre the terminal black.

"There is no power to it, we can't pull the records up."

"Hook up that data-slate and stand back."

Jeremiah moved round the terminal his stretched his hand out hovering it a few feet from the ground.

"I can't give it much power enough to transfer the data so when this happens be quick."

Lightning leapt from his fingers striking the terminal it danced over the metal surface as he stepped closer he moved round the rear grabbing the power coil, the guard leapt forward as the screens came alive his fingers worked quickly setting the machine to task to transferring the data files to the slate, the noise of the powers Jeremiah was using was deafening and was forced to shout over the din.

"How long?"

"A few more seconds!"

He released his grip and stepped back flexing his fingers as he did, electrical discharge danced up his arm as his power dissipated but the terminal lived on.

"Got it."

"Good lets go."

The two of them retraced their steps being forced to press up against the warm wall of the stairwell as the roof far above crumble and collapsed in, when they' reached the security office he paused again.

"Whats in there?"

"It's the armoury."

"Open it."

The guard obeyed without question cycling the security code he opened the heavy reinforced door.

"Get what ever you can carry and head outside."

The guard collected up half a dozen las guns slinging them over his shoulders he picked up half a dozen more including a sack stuffed with power cells and headed out, Jeremiah kicked open a ammo crate and poured the solid slugs from it over the floor before filling it with las pistols and a few more las guns, he paused looking at a locked case containing ceremonial swords shooting it open he claimed one for himself and noted that five bolt pistols also lay in the case, he tossed them into the crate followed by the few spare clips of bolt rounds and shut the lid locking it in place he picked it up by one end struggling with the weight he drew power to himself and headed from the office moving carefully across the hall he stopped his eyes falling on a figure with a tattooed head, he was trying to free himself from under some rubble.

"Someone get in here now!"

Two guards looked up from helping their friend unload his lasguns and came running over to him to help him.

"Not me, him over there get him from under the rubble."

The two men nodded went to the trapped man, with their help he was freed in moments and was being dragged from the palace Jeremiah followed them out moving to the group of Inquisitors.

"These may prove of some use."

He dumped the crate on the ground opening and claiming the sword he'd chosen for himself and a pair of pistols both las pistols.

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on March 16, 2010, 01:20:14 AM
Kai had disregarded the weapons crate the Inquisitor had hauled up and was instead stood over the body of one of the fortress's storm-troopers. The man appeared to have a broken neck, and therefore little need for his equipment.
While the sergeant could have armed himself with assorted odds and ends from the Inquisitor's crate, his instinct was to find equipment that as closely matched his normal Kasrkin armaments as possible. Starting to strip the gear from the man's corpse, that was pretty much what he had found.

~~~~~

Similarly, Lyra had relatively little interest in the contents of the crate. She had already come armed as heavily as she was happy with. She knew her weapons well, and trying to carry anything more would just be a hindrance.
And Maya preferred to rely on her powers, carrying no more than a short pattern laspistol and a collapsing knife in case of emergencies.

The Inquisitor had instead been trying to contact with her orbiting ship. After about the third attempt, she turned off the vox and returned to the throng of others, trying to ignore the general cloud of smoke that surrounded them.

   "There's far too much vox distortion to get in contact with anything in orbit. I can't get through to my Aquila either - although, it's a very real possibility that the landing pads just aren't standing anymore."
It was the child-thing that answered her.
   "Statement: The tectonic after-effects have almost certainly assured the structural failure of that portion of the fortress."
   "I guessed as much. Times like these, I rather feel I should've stayed a doctor."
   "You're a doctor? Then you can attend to...",started the power armoured Inquisitor. Lyra interrupted him.
   "Of archaeology, not medicine. If you had broken his neck, I could excavate his gravesite in a couple hundred years - but as he is, actual medical experience will better serve him."

Pausing briefly, she continued:
   "To get back to the subject, that totals my assets here. Me, my two aides and what we're carrying. Not much, but it's been enough before."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on March 16, 2010, 03:48:45 AM
"The rest of my entourage will be headed in this direction, but the situation on the streets may delay them. And I fear that we are in danger from more mundane threats than that." As he spoke, Bernard pointed upwards, towards the roiling colours in the sky, then gestured towards the blazing city.

"The fires we see now will spread over the next few hours, and attempts to stop them will falter thanks to panic. We could find ourselves engulfed by a firestorm. If we are to escape, we need transport. If not, we need shelter. The rest of the Palace must have a command bunker or something similar, designed to withstand events such as this. From there, we can try to restore some kind of order. We might even find a more powerful vox."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on March 16, 2010, 04:10:50 AM
Arisha poked through the weapons chest and dug out a lasgun and some extra ammunition. It was at times like this that she felt almost as childlike as her master's pet looked. Whilst she was an Inquisitor in training she derived an immense sense of safety in the presence of other Inquisitors, like a child might experience in the presence of its parents, even Inquisitor Czernarvok with his dehumanising bionics was a reassuring presence in her life. She felt physically secure surrounded by such powerful individuals but also mentally bolstered, conteneted to believe that she could do no wrong whilst in the presence of such mighty men and women.

"My Praetorian guard will already be heading in this direction if he is still alive, the rest of my retainers will be under his command until they reach me." The girl was addresing the other Inquisitors but Molovich himself was staring off into the depths of the city, the featureless helmet seeming to convey a sense of intent study. It was difficult to imagine that Molovich had any human sentiments and harder still that if he should possess any that he could hold them for the unresponsive bunch of meat-machines who acted as his personal staff.

"We should get moving, try and find a vox like Wyebold says, we can't afford to sit around here all day. Will your people be able to find you?" Grant was asking Molovich.

"Most Assuredly."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 16, 2010, 09:06:09 AM
He came round in a wash of pain, his leg was broken that much he was sure about, he looked at the two guards carrying him and then at the young inquisitor who'd saved him and the others.

This was not right, the world should have been wiped clean something had gone wrong, gone very wrong his breathing increased as panic struck him, had the choir failed in their task was the right carried out...

He looked to the sky seeing the turmoil above and laughed his laugh was high pitched and frantic drawing the attention of those around him, one of the other Inquisitors came over to him, the brute Ottakar Grant his fist was slowly clenching to strike him as he came closer looming over him he spat.

"It succeeded, You're all dead."

This caused Grant to pause in his stride.

"What?"

"You're all dead, you'll wish the light had taken you instead of leaving you to the ravages of this world."

Others joined grant now drawn by his ravings, Czernarvok towering over the Rest, the woman Maya and the bastard Belhast had promoted they all stood over him, Grant growled at him.

"You were the cause of this?"

He laughed again spitting at Grant's armoured boot.

"Only the tool with which to guide it, my masters are the one that orchestrated this, this world was sacrificed to bring you all here." 

Another of them spoke.

"Why."

Jeremiah spoke his eyes on the Data-slate

"To remove the Inquisition, there was close to a hundred of of here that's a huge portion of the conclave in this sector, this has just been a grand assassination attempt."

"More than that pup, my masters not only want the conclave they want the Nexus Belt Worlds."

"Why tell us this?"

It was the woman that spoke her voice inquisitive.

"You're all going to die and there is no way to get word from this world the war storm over head will see to that, it will have burned your astropaths in orbit and created a disturbance wide enough that those not present will be blinded to the fate of the Nexus Worlds."

He laughed again even as Grant Stamped down on his chest the force broke ribs and caused him to caugh blood.

"The End of this world has come, and there is nothing you can do about it."

He laughter turned to a choking gag as his back arched froth spilling from his mouth as a poison claimed him.

"Dammit he had a concealed poison."

"What now?"

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 16, 2010, 11:30:26 AM
Fabio awoke slowly and painfully. The power-armoured inquisitor might have been small, but he certainly packed a punch. He sat up, feeling slightly nauseous. Investigation of his head revealed a rough bandage, but no fractures in his skull, Emperor-be-praised.

There was a commotion of sorts going on nearby. Another injured man was raving about the destruction of the world and his part in it. Fabio groaned inwardly. Typical, he thought.

He got to his feet, taking his time. He stumbled over to the others and took note of the weapons-crate. He stooped down to pick up an auto-gun and immediately wished he hadn't. Blinking, Fabio grabbed the weapon, some extra ammunition and a short sword. He missed his saber. 

He turned to the others and saw he was standing next to his saviour. "Thank you," he said.

"No problem," replied the other inquisitor. "I'm Ottakar Grant."

"Fabio Glosche. You saved me from a potential coma. Something messed with my head just over ten years ago. I'm still finding out what. Until then, it seems my memories are not good for me. Too many at once, you know."

"Right."

"So, I'm sorry to keep asking questions, but what did I miss?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on March 16, 2010, 03:06:50 PM
While Fabio and Ottakar talked, Lyra looked at the dead body of the conspirator.

   "No. I'm not letting him off that easily. We've maybe two minutes."
   "Query: Until what?"
   "I may not be a medical doctor, but I know the difference between clinical death and brain death. His body is dead - his brain isn't. Yet."

She gestured to Maya.
   "We've got a suicide case.", she pointed to the body, "Give us what you can."

The psyker nodded and crouched next to the body. Placing her hands on the man's temples, she blinked for a second. When her eyes opened again, they were blank, but blazed with fiery energy. At the same time, her hair appeared almost like it had been caught in a breeze.

Two of the gathered Inquisitors jumped at the unexpected vocal magnitude when she spoke - with her powers in use, the energy in her voice had increased exponentially.

   "What do you want to know?"
   "How much of what he said was true?"
   "He believes every word of it."
   "Could still have been lied to, but one possibility down. Anything else?"
   "There are a few wisps of memory hanging around, but scarce little of it relevant to us. This man was no more than a pawn in whatever scheme. He's been told he's important, but he knows almost nothing. There are a few faces in here - other pawns mostly, a few higher-ups perhaps - but I can't get names... his mind is beyond that stage."
   "And what of his part?"
   "I believe his job was to distract and disrupt the security - buying time for their plans. I can feel real rage... anger motivated him in this..."
She paused for a second.
   "... I'm sorry. His mind is gone beyond my reach. Perhaps a more skilled telepath could continue, but I cannot."

She let go of the man's head, separating herself from his consciousness before it passed completely beyond.

   "Not your fault. You can get up - I wasn't expecting much. It's more than we had."

Maya came to her feet, her eyes resolving themselves to normal. The responses of the Inquisitors present varied quite widely. A grey haired and large eared Inquisitor's expression spoke of distaste and distrust, but others seemed more content with it.
It was hardly surprising. Maya's powers could largely be described as shock-and-awe powers, and that leaked into her other psychic talents, with the result that almost all of them were accompanied by varying degrees of "flair".

   "Make of that what you will."
   "You have a telepath? When did that happen?", asked Gideon.
   "No. Not really. She has... other specialities, but talent enough to take thoughts from a dying and weak-willed mind. I'll explain specifics later - don't let it distract you now."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 17, 2010, 09:32:27 AM
The stranger's suicide or Lyra display of power hardly phased him, he watched the two events with a passive interest before turning on the guards that had carried him.

"You know this man?"

"He was Lord Hess' aide, Inquisitor Brant."

Jeremiah dipped to one knee by the corpse his hands moving over the body performing a rapid search of him, slipping his hands inside the body's robes he pulled a key card from it and a small silver coin.

"He had a suite in the city, and this has anyone seen one of these before."

He held up the coin on one side it was embossed with a star a skull at it's centre with a halo of thorns around it, the other side bore the seal of the Inquisition and the number XXIIV.

He stood looking into the city snapping round as one of the guards spoke.

"It's a club token."

"What?"

"It's a club token, a lot of us belong to hunting clubs or shooting clubs and the like, here look."

He dipped his fingers into his belt and pulled out a silver coin passing it to Jeremiah turning the coin in his hands he looked at the embossing a target with a lasgun in it's centre and an Imperial Star.

"So he belonged to a club?"

"I've never seen this coin before, there is little secret around them most of us here now are carrying at least one."

"So this could be something else then masked as a club."

"Wait, there was something about a meeting in his memories, it was here, ah I can't remember most of it."

Maya rubbed her temple trying to recall the memory, Jeremiah turned to the guard.

"Try to establish communications with central command we need martial law established as soon as possible, get us some transport here and a full detachment of soldiers, the Palace must be secured despite it's condition Imperial Power must be maintained."

He nodded and headed off leaving him to turn his attention to Maya as she pulled the memory back.

"Over there, he hid something"

He followed her gesture towards a walled garden the pressed the vox stud on his collar, even as the rest of the group moved towards the garden.

"Silv I need you."

She appeared moments later a bandage wrapped round her head and face some of the colour had returned to his face but she still looked shocked.

"I need you to find something over there, use your skills."

They walked over into the walled gardens Silv stood in the gateway as the others moved around looking, she closed her eyes lifting a hand she waved it across the garden.

"What am I looking for?"

"Something that ought not to be here."

She frowned the vagueness of his answer did not help as she moved here hand back and forth slowly her gestures narrowed down to one corner where an inert fountain stood stagnant water in the pool at it's feet.

"Something is blocking the fountain."

She said with confidence, Fabio turned looking at her the moved  over to the fountain followed by Jeremiah the pair of them strode into the water looking around the base of the statue at it's centre. Fabio bent down looking at the service panel and pulled it free stepping back letting a whistle escape his lips.

"It's a locator beacon."

Jeremiah stepped round behind him.

"And a powerful one at that, obviously our dead friend had an escape route should his plans fail." 


Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 22, 2010, 06:46:58 PM
He looked over the transponder then stepped back looking at Molovich

"Would you care?"

The man machine gestured in what could have been a nod and the child spoke.

"Most interesting."

He stepped back letting the giant figure passed and looked at the rest.

"We need to prioritise our work, the PDF command centre will have a master vox network and possibly a powerful enough uplink to punch through that, but we need to make our choices now."

He sighed stepped from the pool.

"What do we do, the conclave, what's left of it at least needs to be told of these events, and there's the matter of the Nexus Belt worlds and the plans our doom bringer's master have for them, then there is this world what do we do about this world?"

He rubbed hid forehead something was not right, the were fluctuation in the warp around them like something pushing against glass, he looked around at the other psykers and the colour drained from his face, Maya gave voice to his warning her powers enhancing her voice to rival the best public speakers in the imperium.

"Oh hell, arms yourselves! They are coming!"

He looked up strange shadows were forming in the sky long creatures like the rays of old terra were blurring in and out of reality pushing against the barrier trying to find a hole.

His las pistols has slid into his hands instinctively without him noticing.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on March 24, 2010, 02:35:51 AM
Ordained into the Priesthood of Mars, Molovish was privy to much secret knowledge and was able to commune with machines. He disconnected from the bio-unit to better focus on the device, connected himself to it instead via delicate sanking 'drites that jacked into a terminal on its side. With a hiss of static he withdrew and held the beacon at arms length.

The thing was protected by a trans-sequence algorithm that murmured with scrapcode. He reconnected to the device, brutally suprressing the machine spirit as soon as he connected. A spark fizzed from the beacon as he attempted to break through the commands that kept its purpose hidden. There, had something. The protection of the code was like jagged glass abrading his mind, nothing he couldn't handle in the short term but he could not risk being corrupted by the scrapcode and it also meant the information was difficult to interpret.

He jacked back into the bio-unit to relay his findings when the one called Maya yelled. He called to Jerimiah as everyone prepared themselves. "There was a narrow vox-band transmission embedded in the device to call for something but I am unsure what. The range is several hundred kilometres, whoever or whawtever was going to come for him could be almost anywhere. However they could still be waiting and this deivce will call them to us."

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 24, 2010, 08:45:09 AM
"Daemons!" shouted Fabio. "Steel your faith, brothers and sisters, for hell may soon be unleashed!"

He raised his autogun, tracking the flickering shapes as they made their way through the sky. They were coming closer.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on March 24, 2010, 07:13:45 PM
Lyra reached for her revolver. Although she had never seen them in person before, she recognised the outline of the Tzeenchian daemons from more than one tome she had read on daemon hunting.
Creatures possessed of two traits, each as undesirable as the other - almost blinding speed, and a feral desire to kill.

   "I hope one of you has blessed rounds. We're going to need them."

No-one had time to answer her before the first of them had forced itself through into the real world with the resounding crack of displaced air and the scream of reality being rent apart. Sweeping down towards them with a grace it didn't deserve, it spiralled to avoid the lasbolts and bullets that cut through the air.

Lyra carefully took aim, firing her revolver at a calm and controlled rate - the situation was dire, but it wouldn't get any better if she wasted her ammunition. Counting away her sixth shot, she swung out the revolver's cylinder and dumped the empty smoking casings on to the ground. She thought she'd hit a couple of times, but couldn't be sure.

~~~~~

A flickering glow began to form around Maya's right hand, as she prepared her more outright pyrokinetic talents for the fight, but her concentration was briefly disrupted by an overeager and youthful Interrogator shoving her aside - keen to maintain his fire on the creature, he had disregarded her potential talents as a psyker.

   "Move aside. This is not your place.", he grunted roughly.

It was an instant later that an orb of writhing flames soared past his ear. It collided solidly with the daemon, turning its flight into a streak of orange-yellow fire. Injured, it shrieked in a sound that human ears were not meant to hear, and its sweeping arc turned towards the group, accelerating to as it prepared to attack.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 25, 2010, 10:07:14 AM
Fabio fired off an entire clip, using short bursts. He aimed for the back of the daemon he had targeted. He knew enough of the Tzeentchian screamers to avoid aiming for the mouth- they had no eyes and the pure Warp energy carried in their jaws would disintegrate his rounds.

The daemon he had fired at shifted its motion into a descending spiral. At first he thought he had winged it, but then saw it attach itself to the head of an Imperial noble, approximately fifty meters away. He cursed as he saw reality begin to bend once more, this time on the ground level. There would doubtless be close-in fighting soon.

Dropping to the ground, he allowed the others to continue taking potshots at the screamers. He drew his short sword and sliced his palm open. Using the well of blood, he painted a hexagrammic ward on the blade, in an attempt to make it more efficacious against the Chaos-beasts that were beginning to materialize in the streets below.

"Give me your close-quarters weapons," he yelled. "I'll do my best to mark them against the daemons."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on March 25, 2010, 05:30:28 PM
Well, I wasn't going to start arguing with this development; our enemies were there before us, although I really do rather wish the daemons hadn't struck while I was relatively unarmed. The best I could do was snap off a few shots with the laspistol I always carried; I'm not normally called on to fight daemons with anything less than a flamer, though, so you may understand my relative disappointment when my lasbolts impacted without doing any real damage.

"Take these," Gideon hissed from behind me. I turned, watching Glosche, the Malleus man with the autogun, empty a magazine into one of the daemons, and saw Gideon crouching on the floor, holding a pair of bolt pistols.

"Where the hell did you get them?" I snapped. "And why didn't you tell me sooner that there were bolters going?"

"Just take them, Ottakar!" Gideon urged me, practically forcing the guns into my hands before grabbing a small stash of sickle mags from his pockets. "I can't shoot worth a damn and I'm not fighting daemons again. Not after Adín."

"You're the boss," I shrugged, holding the two pistols in one hand and using the other to cram as many of Gideon's sickle mags into the ammo pouch on my belt as I could manage. Somewhere behind Gideon, I noticed a rather battered box on the ground, with various firearms poking out, including another bolt pistol. Evidently Gideon had been rummaging around in there, looking for the biggest guns he could find for me.

"Are you going to find some cover, Gideon, or are you going to hide behind me again?" I sniped. Gideon raised his left hand to make a rude gesture, but if I'm honest I wasn't looking properly.

No more than about sixty metres from me, one of the daemons dive-bombed a nobleman I didn't recognise, and clamped its jaws around his head. The daemon vaguely resembled a manta ray in shape, but there the similarity ended. A row of electric spikes grew along its back, and lightning jumped between the spikes and the daemon's body at random. Its tail grew thicker towards the end, and bore similar spikes, giving it the appearance of a mace. Its maw, framed by a set of four tusks, vented a fell brume that radiated a violet glow and wreathed its body in the stuff of the Immaterium.

No sooner had it latched into the nobleman's head than it rose again, clutching its prize between its jaws even as the man's body began to disintegrate. Like a raptor, the daemon threw its head back and swallowed its prey whole. Smog blossomed in his wake as the daemon turned and then lunged at us; looking down, I noticed that Glosche was daubing a sigil onto his sword in his own blood, a ward if I didn't miss my mark (and hastily applied at that). Evidently the daemon didn't fancy its chances around a Malleus man that knew wards, and wanted to do away with him as swiftly as possible.

I found myself presented with the perfect shot, and I took it, knowing that if I messed it up, Glosche would likely go the same way as the nobleman. Taking aim with both bolt pistols, I trusted the recoil suppressors in my power armour to keep my shots steady, and pulled each trigger twice, launching four bolts into the back of the swooping daemon and sending a short string of explosions up its body. For a split-second I feared that it wasn't enough, but in the wake of the detonations I saw huge chunks of matter missing from the daemon's body, its insides venting into the air as a stream of fog as it crashed into the ground some ten metres shy of Glosche.

"You might want something a bit bigger than an autogun, Fabio," I grinned at the Malleus man. "What exactly are they?"

"They're called Screamers," Glosche answered, staring first at the downed and disintegrating daemon opposite him, then at my pistols. "Sharks of the aethyr. In essence, they're little more than predators, but their jaws can open up a starship if it's unprotected. Not intelligent, but tough, and I've seen them go faster than a Valkyrie."

I interrupted him to take a shot at another Screamer that was too close for comfort, before noticing more shapes slowly resolving themselves around us, at first looking like blurry after-images, but soon transforming into something vaguely man-shaped, flitting around on ground level rather a lot faster than I'd have liked.

"And what do you call those?" I asked, taking aim at the closest shape as it took form and let out a bestial howl.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 26, 2010, 09:05:28 AM
"Bad news," said Fabio. "Looks like a Fury. Odd, though, they normally fly. No matter."

He walked forwards and prepared to meet the half-manifest daemon. He focused his thoughts on images of faith, and the aquila on his sword's pommel began to glow slightly.

"On the other hand, faith can be our shield," he called back to Ottakar, who was trying to get a good shot off at the daemon. Fabio raised his voice as the daemon howled again.

"The walls of reality have become thin. Focus your faith and use it. An aquila will burn them, if your belief is strong enough."

Fabio moved all his attention to the daemon, which was now no more than five meters away. He strode to meet it, muttering under his breath.

"Libera me Domine, de Morte aeterna. . . Though I walk through the shadow of the valley of Death, I shall fear no evil, for He guides me. My faith in Him shields me." He reached the daemon, blocking its sweeping claws with his sword. The hexagrammic ward hissed.

"My belief and righteous fury empower me. My weapons are purified, and burn with eternal light against the Dark." He slashed at the daemon, opening up a gaping hole in its still-forming hide. The sword's blade began to glow white with incandescent heat. Fabio's voice rose to a shout.

"You are the daemonic! The impure! I shall destroy you and your foul brethren, scatter you to the Four Winds and burn you!!! For His is power, and glory, and light!!! Die!!!" The daemon manifested completely.

Fabio's sword was now aflame, the eyes of the aquila set into its handle throwing out pure, white light. He struck the daemon's head off. Its corpse caught fire, then seemed to melt away.

Breathing heavily, Fabio looked for more impure beasts, more daemons. His only wish was to slay, armed with the shining sword of faith.     
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on March 26, 2010, 03:20:08 PM
Bernard kneeled next to one of the guards, joining him in firing another volley of lasbolts towards the ghostly figures emerging around them. Once again, it seemed to have little effect. Ottakar seemed to be having greater success, blasting great rents in daemon-skin with his bolters. His gaze was drawn to his left by a sudden pyrotechnic display. Fabio was demonstrating the extent of both his expertise and faith. Impressive, but would it enough? What was the scale of this manifestation? The city? Or the whole planet, as the dead assassin had claimed? He turned his head back to the guard and shouted,

"The command bunker! Where is it?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on March 27, 2010, 03:24:00 AM
Lyra emptied her revolver into the closest of the Screamers, yelling at the top of her voice as she did so.

   "In nomine Imperator, ego iacit vos in obscurum, fera foedus of altum inconsessus!"

It seemed to do little but annoy the beast. As the hammer clicked down onto a spent chamber, it lunged for her. With practised speed, she drew out her power knife, thumbing the activation rune. These were insane odds - victory was beyond them. Better to die fighting honourably than as a coward.
   "Nos timo nec vestri genus nec nex.", she mouthed at the oncoming beast.

It was yards from her when it was suddenly raked by multiple hellpistol bolts, blowing deep craters in its body.
  "GET DOWN! LYRA, GET DOWN!", Kai roared, bedecked in borrowed Inquisitorial Storm-Trooper equipment.

The Inquisitor didn't argue. Diving to one side, the daemon soared over her, millimetres from making contact. Still possessed of incredible momentum, it swerved towards the Sergeant, opening its mouth wide as it lunged. Unflinching, he pulled something from his webbing and threw it through the daemon's open jaws, stepping aside just in time to avoid its sweep.

Prone, Lyra shouted at the Sergeant.
   "What the hell was that?"

Behind him, the screamer exploded, its entire front quarter reduced to vapour.

   "A krak grenade. Faith is a strong weapon, Inquisitor - but it won't blow a hole in the side of a tank."
   "Well, I'm not arguing.", she said as she got back off the floor, and started reloading, "Stick with me. We have seven different kinds of hell being delivered to our door."
  "What do you propose?"
  "...Return to sender."

~~~~~

A heavy lump of masonry arced through the air, thrown by one of the Furies. Maya had to duck under it, giving the daemon the split second  it needed to close the distance between them.  It slashed out with its claws, aiming for the psyker's mid-riff. Dodging back, it took all of her agility to simply keep out of the reach of its claws - she hadn't the skill to fight one of these beasts in hand-to-hand.

Out of nowhere, the Interrogator who had dismissed Maya a moment before leapt for the daemon. It decapitated him almost dismissively with its claws - but it had been distracted for a brief second. Turning back to the psyker, it was greeted by an expression of not fear, but one of wrath, set with the two burning fires of her eyes.

  "Big mistake, a***hole. I still had to pay him back.", her voice echoed.

A violent shockwave burst out from her body, knocking the daemon back. In the same instant, her entire body seemed to ignite simultaneously. Wreathed in white-hot flame, she strode forwards.

  "I was thinking I'd make him wet himself. Perhaps make him believe he was a six year old girl."

She swung her flaming stave at the daemon. It brought up its claws to parry it, but the touch of the psychically charged weapon seared the flesh from its hands and blackened the bone below.

  "But you had to kill him."

Smashing the stave into the daemon again, it was knocked back several feet by the psychic discharge. Reaching forward with her left hand, the fire that surrounded her body sloughed off into a writhing torrent of flame that swept over the daemon.
Drawing her hand back, she focusing her rage into the flames that leapt over the Fury, turning the blaze into a roaring inferno. Shrieking but still alive, the daemon leapt for the psyker.

It disintegrated instantly, the psyker's staff held rock steady through where its heart had been immediately before.

  "... and he didn't deserve that.", she finished.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 27, 2010, 10:54:12 AM
Fabio stalked across the open ground in front of Grant, intercepting Furies and other lesser daemons as Ottakar continued to blast away at Screamers. His abnormally fast reactions aided him, allowing him to block sweeping claws that would otherwise have disemboweled him and to intercept daemons as they materialized, destroying them when they were vulnerable and confused by the limits of the physical plane.

He swept around and made for another blurred shape, then stopped in his tracks as the daemon materialized. Its skin was the colour of dried blood, its eyes a milky white. Its skin was covered in small bumps and an impressive set of antlers bedecked its elongated skull. In its hand was a long sword of black iron, its edges glowing with heat.

The Bloodletter took a step forward, testing the confines of this new reality. It sniffed deeply, catching the scent of fresh blood coming from Fabio's hand. Fabio cursed and backed off slightly.

"Ottakar? If this thing drops me, you better blast the hell out of it. If you don't, I'll find a way to come back, and then I'll kill you."

He ran forward and started to slash at the daemon. It blocked his stroke easily, its longer blade giving it an advantage. He dropped under its return-swing and thrust his blade into its leg. The white-hot steel left a charred hole, and the Bloodletter screamed with rage and pain.

Fabio stepped back, giving himself room to think. He had the advantage over it in speed, but it was far stronger and tougher than him. His sword could hurt it, but experience told him that a single good hit from its blade would be the end of him.

Fabio reckoned he had a chance. Not much of a chance, but a chance nonetheless. He simply prayed that no more daemons would appear nearby while he was fighting this thing.

He ran forward, and met the daemon blade to blade.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on March 28, 2010, 12:34:29 PM
I hadn't recognised the other two varieties of daemon, but this breed I'd seen before.

It's called a Bloodletter, a footsoldier in the employ of the Blood God. They're incredibly agile and essentially built for efficient slaughter at close quarters. From what I've seen, they usually carry giant zweihänder swords with oddly barbed and serrated blades; the only other time I'd seen one, I'd thought it incapable of holding a cutting edge (and without a monofilament wire, it should have been), but as with everything to do with Warpcraft, the impossible becomes reality on a disturbingly regular basis. On that previous occasion I remember seeing a fully armoured Storm Trooper being chopped in half down the middle, his carapace armour tearing like paper.

Fabio Glosche was having more success than my hapless Storm Trooper, thankfully, and was certainly putting up a stiff resistance against the Bloodletter. However, there was simply no question in my mind that the Bloodletter was the stronger of the two; from my understanding of it, those things are created for the sole purpose of beating the living daylights out of anything and everything, so it seemed rather inevitable that it would overpower Glosche sooner or later. I don't mean it as an insult to my more faithful peer, of course, but we were all caught off-guard and it's likely that he had specialised daemon-hunting equipment to which he simply no longer had access; as such, unprepared as we were, the daemons presented us with a far greater challenge.

I raised one of my pistols, trying to get a clear shot at the Bloodletter, but either it noticed me or was simply seeing how fast it could go in its new physical body, so I couldn't line up a shot without risking hitting Glosche. Being as Glosche was the only present Malleus operative known to me, that wasn't a risk I especially wanted to take. The two of them were moving rather a lot faster than I'd have liked, and although Glosche was fast, the Bloodletter had strength and raw aggression on its side, and the agility to match him. The thing's giant sword was whirling around faster than I thought possible, crashing against Glosche's blade time and again as he tried desperately to land a solid hit against it. The few scratches he could make in the Bloodletter's leathery skin were doing little more than pissing it off by this point, although the wards were certainly helping in that regard and the Bloodletter's wounds were smouldering from where the blade had penetrated.

Eventually, though, the Bloodletter got the upper hand, and fortunately for me, but unfortunately for Glosche, the Bloodletter's sword smashed into Glosche's and sent it flying out of his hand, miraculously unbroken but nonetheless decidedly out of reach. The force of the impact sent Glosche sprawling and the Bloodletter howled in triumph, pausing for a second as it savoured its victory.

It wouldn't have surprised me if the Bloodletter had decided to formally execute Glosche there and then, or simply hack him to bits with its sword, but if it was standing still, it was a sitting target. The shot I'd been waiting for lined itself up instantly and I fired only a split-second too late, barely missing the Bloodletter's head and taking off one of its antlers instead. It snarled in surprise and turned its head to stare at me. Its entire face was emaciated and almost skeletal, its skin stretched tightly over its very prominent facial bones. Its eyes were ablaze like burning coals, but nonetheless empty and devoid of any other emotion than unfettered rage; curiously, however, the sockets themselves were hollow and the light it radiated burned somewhere deep within its skull.

"YOU DARE INTERFERE!?" it bellowed. I didn't so much hear its voice as feel it; battered by a wall of angry noise, I felt each anger-fuelled syllable pound against my entire skeleton and reverbrate within my skull, throwing my aim off as I tried to line up another shot. "I SHALL FEED YOU YOUR OWN ENTRAILS!"

"Ooh, now that won't do at all," cooed another voice from behind me and I whirled to see another daemon, this one's skin a sort of milky white; instead of hands, it had oversized pincers like a scorpion's. It seemed to be male and female at once, a black corset covering a single breast on its left side, and a long strip of some unearthly fabric concealing whatever junk it may have possessed. Its face was at once alluring and utterly horrific, an aura of deception partly shrouding its true form and giving it an oddly attractive appearance.

"YOU DARE!?" the Bloodletter repeated. "HE IS MINE!"

"Oh, how unimaginative you are," the daemonette sniped. "Let's do away with this one first. The short fat man is an ungainly specimen."

I tried to shoot it, but my shot went wide (I think it hit a tree) and the daemonette vaulted onto my chest, bowling me over spectacularly as it lowered its face close enough to mine for me to smell its vile, intoxicating breath.

"YOU DISHONOURABLE SWINE!" roared the Bloodletter. Desperately wishing it would shut up, I found myself wondering exactly what Glosche was doing.

"Your methods are crude," snapped the daemonette. "Now then, Inquisitor, what shall I do with you? Hm? I know..."

My bolt pistols were frustratingly out of reach, but I still had my laspistol; the problem was reaching it, as the daemonette had my arms pinned.

"I am going to rip out that pathetic hunk of meat you call your phallus, Inquisitor, and I am going to rape your eye sockets with it until your eyes mix with the grey mush you think is a brain," the daemonette promised, somehow seductive even as it described its grotesque threat in gory detail. "Then I'll pour your head cocktail into your empty stomach, chilled with your frozen balls. I'm going to drink it, using your tongue as an umbrella, and salted with your dried piss."

"Have fun with that," I answered, overcoming my revulsion for long enough to throw the daemonette off me and unholster my laspistol. "I prefer amasec myself."

Not bothering to wait for a reply I jumped on top of the daemonette, driving my knee into its belly and ramming the barrel of my laspistol into its open mouth. Six shots later, there wasn't an awful lot of daemonette left to make good on its rather imaginative threat.

I must confess, I hadn't ever heard that one before.

Turning my attention back to the strangely silent Bloodletter, I saw Fabio Glosche attempting to clean bubbling black ichor from his blade. The Bloodletter itself was in three pieces on the floor; its sword-arm closest to me, then its head, and finally its lifeless and dismembered body lying on its back. Arterial blood was still leaking out of its neck in semi-gaseous globs of superheated high-pressure matter. Judging by the ragged state of what used to be the daemon's neck, I judged that Glosche had first hacked off its arm, and then stabbed straight through its larynx before it could retaliate in full. In ripping out his sword, Glosche had evidently decapitated the Bloodletter quite spectacularly.

"My thanks for distracting it, Ottakar," Glosche grunted, shaking off the worst of the Bloodletter's vital fluids. "Was that...?"

"If you mean that thing down there, it used to be a daemonette," I replied, gesturing at the already-dissolving remains, "with a rather sick and twisted mind."

"They're all like that," Glosche sighed. "At any rate, this place has become rather compromised. I suggest we find a way out of here, and quickly."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on March 28, 2010, 12:59:39 PM
Fabio walked over to the weapons-cache and pulled out the bolt pistol lying on top of the other weapons. He made sure the safety was on, then dropped it into his pocket, hissing with distaste when he saw daemon-ichor covering most of his coat. He turned to look at the others.

They made an uninspiring sight. Shock and exhaustion clearly showing on their faces, the ragged group of inquisitors, acolytes and henchmen had unconsciously formed a rough circle, the old, injured and spiritually or mentally weak cowering in the center while the more martial members faced outwards, taking shots at swiftly-manifesting daemons with lasguns, autoguns, and some more advanced, personal equipment. Fabio saw the henchman who had saved him from being trapped in the now-collapsed building wielding a hell-gun; several meters to his left an inquisitor raised a long-barreled needle rifle.

The closest way down into the city was blocked by the shimmering haze caused by larger daemons manifesting; fortunately these were too tempted by the large amount of sport offered by hundreds of fleeing civilians to take note of the small group of people standing less than a hundred meters behind them.

Fabio did not know the layout of this place, he needed someone who did.

"Hey! Does anyone know where we might find safety? If we stay here too long we'll be overrun!" 
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on March 28, 2010, 10:56:43 PM
"If we stay here too long we'll be overrun!"

Molovich tossed the beacon to Arisha. His Interrogator crouched behind, a protective arm around the bio-unit. How sentimental, he'd have to have words with her about that, an Interrogator was a far more vaulable asset than a simple bio-unit which could be easily replaced. He saw her tie the beacon to the bio-unit saying somthing sotto voce that he could not hear but which he was able to discern via lip-reading, "Hold this tight. Everything will be okay."

His helm, other than being a defensive device, was also filled with numerous scanners, targeters and more pertinently, three dimensional mapping. A grid was projected onto the ground for approximately five-hundred metres in every direction, a super-imposed image that only Molovich could see, with the buildings overlayed in crisp data lines, even where they had been damaged with the advantage that he could see what had been and not just what was. Over this grid a red line plotted the optimum route of escape, based on telemetry he had inloaded the previous day, he had not expected to need it for martial purposes but it would do to get them away from here.

As he was about to relay this information to his fellow Inquisitors he had the ululating, chirriping melody of the Divinus Machina; it was his retainers finally catching them up. Two praetorians led the way, gene-bulked using ogryn DNA and their limbs augmented like his own. The foremost was a tank, massively armoured and carrying before it his power axe. A screamer dived towards it but it did not flinch, did not attempt to use its master's weapon to defend itself, instead leaving that task to the second praetorian, more lightly armoured and wielding what many would consider an antiquated and obsolete weapon, a reaper auto-cannon. The twin barrels tracked the daemon thing and then fired, the heavy shells obliterating its lithe body.

Behind them came three skitarii, who stood one to the front and one either side of Adepta Reiss and protecting that group were four combat servitors. The group trudged into position in front of the group of Inquisitors and opened up on the handful of daemons that were peeling back to attack them. Hard rounds and laser fire hammered the air, shredding the corporealising daemons before they get a foothold on the material plane.

++01010100011010000110100101110011010000001110111011000010111100101000010000011++

It was a data pulse less than a second in transmission but none of them, apart from his own people who had already begun to respond, would understand that he had even said anything. With no time to use the bio-unit he used his flesh voice, shouting as best he could, and sounding more like two sheets of rusted metal crushing together.

"This way!"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on March 29, 2010, 11:18:23 AM
Jeremiah hadn't actually used his weapons yet they both hung at his sides as he stood head slightly down as if stuck with fear even as they withdrew he remained, several Inquisitors and staff pushed past him one spitting in his direction at his inaction.

Glosche came to him grabbing his arm.

"Come on we've got to go!"

He remained still as a statue

"You've never fought the daemon before, I know they can chill the core..."

He turned his head towards Glosche his eyes were solid orbs of white dark streaks of power flashing through them like cracks in marbles.

"On the contrary Inquisitor Glosche, This is what I do best."

He took a step forward the single foot fall causing lightning to dance up his leg

"What are you doing?!"

"I am a servant of the most Holy Emperor of Mankind the gods that once walked amongst us who gave his mortal form for us and now guides and protects us from the beyond, I have his faith as my shield, his faith as my weapon and in his name I shall cast you foul denizens of the warp from this world claimed in his name."

His words gained the attention of the closest daemons bloodletters smiled in wicked sneers as the locked onto him, Glosche steppe up beside him as they started to move toward the pair.

"I am his weapon and his will personified, I am the might of the Imperium given flesh and the faith of mankind given purpose, I am he who stands against the darkness and brings the light of salvation and protection, I am his servant and he protects!"

Even as the words slipped from his lips thunder rolled over the sky followed by lightning which struck carving up the ground before him directed into the pack of daemons approaching it cooked their otherworldly flesh and reduced them to seared remains, more bolts struck the ground directed by Jeremiah's will carving a hole in the manifesting daemons.

"Very impressive but you can't keep this up my friend we must evacuate and consolidate our forces."

He nodded and dropped to his knees.

"Your sword."

"What?"

"Hold out the blade."

Glosche held the burning blade out and watched as Jeremiah slashed his hand along the blade.

"With the blood of the faithful I sanctify this ground."

He smeared blood across the ground in a runic pattern before standing holding his bleeding hand before his face.

"And I say you are not welcome!"

He slashed his hand out sending blood out before him the rune blazed underfoot and a stillness and calm descended on the courtyard those daemons not fully manifest ceased to be while those fully formed recoiled from the rune clawed hands over their faces the closest faded and were swallowed back into the warp while those beyond the immediate effects leered with hungry intent on the edge of an invisible barrier.

"We are safe for now, but it wont take long for the blood to dry up."

He looked down at the rune the very edges of it were starting to dry and congeal, the pair of them turned and ran following the others.

"You're Ordo Malleus?"

"In a manner of speaking."

They moved behind Molovich's people and joined the rest some gave Jeremiah a sideway glance as he walked between them, his eyes still glowed with the barely contained power he was using, one of the PDF troopers spoke, it was the man he'd put in charge before heading into the ruins of the Palace.

"We've managed to get Lord Gerhan on the Vox he's taken command of the PDF and is coordinating the armed forces from the command centre, he's dispatched a detachment of chimera's to collect all the surviving Inquisitors."

Fabio replied looking round the gathered body of peers and those who'd been caught in the palace.

"Inform Lordd Gerhan we'll meet the chimera on route it it too dangerous here."

The sergeant nodded

"Yes sir, it's this way."

He led them off in the direction of the transports and the command centre.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on March 31, 2010, 04:28:31 AM
As she followed the group, Lyra passed the open, but very much diminished weapons crate. Pausing, she holstered her revolver - while a much beloved weapon, it seemed near useless against these supernatural foes, and was almost out of ammunition. She made a mental note that she would have to see to it that she started carrying projectiles warded against the daemon.

Snatching what looked to be a Triplex pattern lasrifle from the top of the weapons pile, she checked it over as quickly as she could. She didn't naturally favour lasweapons, but she knew how to use them, and it seemed it was the time.
Satisfied, she used the the few seconds she had left before she was left alone against a legion of daemons to force as many power cells as she could into her equipment pouches. Grabbing one last magazine, she ran with no small haste to rejoin her peers, loading the power pack into the empty housing on the rifle as she went.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on April 14, 2010, 01:27:33 AM
They had set off at a steady pace but they were half running now. Bolter fire bellowed and a piercing screech filled the air. Somewhere above leathery wings beat but what beasts were tracking the group of Inquisitors was out of sight. With an animal bellow a Bloodletter pounced like a lion on one of the skitarii. The augmented trooper grunted and brought his rifle up to block a blow from a sizzling weapon that cleaved through and down into his chest. The soldier never cried out and continued to struggle, grappling with the writhing daemon and the heavy praetorian, massive armoured arms rattling and wheezing punched the red skinned beast in the side of the head.

With a hiss if anger it finished the wounded trooper, cutting him in half but the praetorian swung again, fist and arm like neumatic ram that mashed the daemon's skull into a collonade. Once more the beast was hit and the daemon's hoofed feet scrabbled drunkenly. With an unearthly howl the warp entity was dragged back into its tormented realm.

They ran up a flight of sloping brick steps, up a narrowing path between old tenements painted yellow like the ceiling of smoker's room, crumbling plaster cherubs leering at them from the shadows of the gables. A roar up ahead and a screech of brakes announed the arrival of chimera. Gruff voices called out as a soldier barked orders and the group moved quickly to get to the transport.

"I don't think you'll all fit." Molovich canted to his warriors who immediately clambered onto the shivering flanks of the chimera, scanning for any attacks that might come from above. Molovich pointed to the chimera and said, "In." his flesh voice forcing the word out as his sightless helm stared at Arisha. The augmented Inquisitor joined his warriors atop the vehicle, leaving room for his fellow Inquisitors inside and those otehrs who were not adequately armoured to survive the trip topside.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on April 15, 2010, 03:24:15 PM
Jeremiah climbed onto the hull crouching by the turret he daubed his hand over the surface of the metal repeating the rune he'd made earlier, the blood bubbled as he withdrew his hand before glowing red, he spoke to the commander who looked at him in horror.

"Make haste, the rune will not last for long."

He nodded shouting down into the tank his voice lost in the low rumble of the tanks engine, a moment later the chimera lurched forward forcing him to grip one of the rungs of the turret, civilians rushed out towards the tank hoping for salvation

"Fire over their heads, we cannot stop to help them."

The commander obeyed angling the gun up he gave a burst of fire which caused the civilians to halt and cover.

"Find a secure place to hide and pray to the Emperor, your faith will protect you!"

He cried out as they sped past, Molovich moved to his side his voice like the hull of a tank being torn open.

"A cold lie."

"Better they believe in their faith than succumb to the horrors that walk this world."

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on April 23, 2010, 05:57:31 PM
Seated inside the Chimera, Inquisitor Bernard Wyebold reached into his inside left pocket, and withdrew a white handkerchief. Unfolding it, he wiped the sweat that had accumulated on his face and hands away. Moving forward, he shouted upwards to the tank commander.

"Set your vox to frequency 11.4."

As the man obeyed, Bernard reached for the microphone.

"This is Wyebold. Oliver, can you hear?"

He was repeating this for the third time when a return message, heavily distorted, came through over the headphones he had borrowed. The others inside the Chimera could not hear what was said, but when Wyebold replied, it was with a less grim expression.

"Have them take you to the PDF command centre. Don't delay for anything. Got that?"

Presumably, the reply was affirmative, since Bernard handed back the vox equipment.

"Inquisitor... Glosche. In my experience, psychic phenomena exhaust themselves without a constant source of power. But I hear that warp-spawn sustain themselves on carnage. Could this world fall if the whole city where to be slaughtered?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on April 24, 2010, 12:05:32 AM
"It's possible. If they cause enough destruction here, their gods may focus their gaze upon this world, empowering them. Certain daemons will remain longer anyway, by the simple fact of their greater resistance to the physical realm's . . . constraints or the fact that they feed upon souls."

Fabio looked around at the other inquisitors.

"Regardless, if the city should fall, this world will soon follow. Mass panic will spread through other cities, riots will start. Numerous Chaos cults will reveal themselves, each claiming to have caused the destruction in an effort to gather more followers. As long as there is a heightened daemonic presence here, undetected and rogue psykers elsewhere will have an increased chance of becoming gateways for more of these blasphemous things."

"So what can we do?" asked Ottakar.

"The only viable option at the moment is to find as many troops as we can and begin a purge of the city. Even if that fails, it should buy us enough time for the aftershock of the psychic . . . attack earlier to die down. We will be able to re-establish communication with our ships in orbit. They can send landers to pick us up and anyone we can safely evacuate.

Then, depending on how successful our purge here was, we may have no choice. We may have to perform Exterminatus." 
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on April 29, 2010, 07:48:44 PM
The Chimera's pulled into the command centre compound Jeremiah was the first to leap from the tank he travelled on walking back towards the gate he forced his fingers into the wound in his hand muttering under his breath.

"I am he who serves the Emperor of Mankind his servant and his vessel, I anoint this land with my blood to seal it against the malign and the sinister."

Blood flowed freely from his hand as he walked a long circle the same width as the gates carefully he walked the lines of the runes inside the circle he traced the out carefully as he knelt at it's centre drawing a smaller circle and marking more runes in it's centre he knelt as he finished then flicked blood across the circle. Where the drops landed the blood pulsed with a malign angry red he stood as the pulsing red spread through the whole of the markings, it pulsed like a heart beat slow and steady, his eyes turned to some of the guardsmen stood on the gate.

"Ensure no-one breaks the marks."

They nodded looking more worried at the marks than the sky and the chaos beyond. He walked back to join the others.

"We need to tell the Conclave of what has happened here, so that those responsible can be brought to justice."

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on May 01, 2010, 02:29:21 PM
Lyra watched the youthful Inquisitor spilling yet more of his blood across the ground.
   "At this rate, the silly sod will faint from blood loss."

It was Ottakar Grant who answered her.

   "You think this a joke?"
   "Not at all. I am grateful for the wards, but wary that he may overstretch himself by protecting every inch of the ground we step upon."

She broke off as Jeremiah returned, carefully binding the wound on his palm with some odd strip of material. Lyra wasn't exactly sure where it had come from, but it didn't strike her as an entirely hygienic bandage.

   "We need to tell the Conclave of what has happened here, so that those responsible can be brought to justice.", he spoke as he tied off the knot.

Lyra rolled her eyes at the suggestion, although with no-one's attention on her, it went unseen. The youth was useful, but she didn't have time for someone who was blind to the obvious.

  "I think it's likely the Conclave has already noticed. Either that or they're dead.", she replied, carefully trying to keep her irritation from showing in her voice.
   "I expect as much, but we must still attempt to contact them if they are still alive.", Fabio spoke, "Our efforts must be coordinated efforts if we are to repulse this invasion."

He gestured at the door of the bunker, whereupon an assortment of the Inquisitors followed him. Lyra hung back briefly, turning to Maya. The psyker was a little the worse for wear, with more than a few cuts and grazes, most of which appeared to be smouldering - much to the alarm of several of the people in the vicinity. She pulled the psyker aside, carefully making sure no-one was within earshot.

   "I have a question."
   "Lyra... you are far more knowledgeable than I can hope to be".
   "And you're a psyker, which I will never be. You have first-hand experience of the aethyr."
   "Valid argument. Ask away."
   "Can we risk Exterminatus?"
   "Risk? I'm not sure I understand you."
   "Could this be part of their plan? What we see here began with the sacrifice of the Astropaths' sector - perhaps a few hundred. Can they feasibly make use of the billions of deaths Exterminatus will bring?"

There was a brief moment of silence, with Maya's long dress rippling in the wind and her facial expression uncertain of whether it should display fear, shock, confusion or pensiveness. Eventually, it settled on one of dread and awe.

   "That... would be a vast conspiracy", Maya breathed in disbelief.
   "I'm an Inquisitor. It's my job to think big." Lyra countered, "Is it possible?"
   "I... I don't know."
   "Work it out. And not a word to anyone else. There are traitors in our ranks."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on May 11, 2010, 10:46:49 AM
The passageway opened out into an oppressively dark room. A voice came from the other side, but the reverb made it hard to work out who it belonged to

  "Has anyone got a lamp-pack? I can't see a damned thing down here."

There was a pause before Maya reached for Lyra's shoulder.
  "Inquisitor?"
  "Sure. Go ahead."

The psyker stepped forwards, raising her hand up above her head. In the next instant, flames curled up around her fingers, bathing the room in light. Carefully channelling more energies into it, the flickering orange-yellow tone slowly solidified into a brighter blue-white.

Lyra had to blink a couple of times to get her eyes to adapt to the light, but eventually the room drifted into view, the walls packed with pict-screens and assorted other equipment, most of which she couldn't identify from first glance.

The light also revealed several of those present had drawn back from Maya and her flame wreathed hand, presumably out of an innate distrust for the witch. Apparently relatively unconcerned by such matters, the quiet was broken by the voice of Molovich's puppet.

  "Such a facility will be designed with a power backup."
  "Good.", Fabio answered, "Where will we find it?"

Kai's voice echoed out in answer from one of the doors on the far side of the room.

  "Through here, I imagine, sir."

Lyra however was relatively uninterested in this. She was no mechanic, so she could offer little assistance in powering up the systems. Instead, she had moved over to a figure who had collapsed into one of the corners of the room. Coming into a crouch, she addressed them.

  "Arisha, was it?"

The woman nodded in response. Without the empathic powers Maya possessed, Lyra was forced to guess somewhat, but it looked like the woman was getting close to breaking down. The Inquisitor could hardly blame her - daemons were a foe that could wear down the strongest of resolves, and the woman had appeared nervous from the start.

  "Alright if I join you?"

Arisha nodded again. Shifting her lasrifle across her back to allow her to sit, and removing her hat, Lyra moved alongside the Interrogator. Leaning back against the wall, she placed her hat down on her lap, then extended her gloved hand.

  "Lyra - Lyra Rhodes. Well, Lyra Joandra Rhodes, if you want to go that far. I'm afraid my parents went a bit over the top with the name."

Smiling weakly, Arisha took the proffered hand and shook it. Lyra lopsidedly mirrored the smile as she took back her hand.

  "I'm sorry about all this. Well, it's not my fault - but I'm still sorry that you've had to be subjected to it. Daemons... I remember when I first faced them - I was absolutely terrified. To be quite honest, I wet myself. Not exactly my finest hour - but it must have been... 60 years ago, I guess. Damn... I'm getting old."
  "What happened?", Arisha said, breaking her silence.
  "I wish I could pretend I managed what an acolyte I once looked after for a few months did - an Inquisitor himself now - but after my previous admission of nerve, it would probably be a bit farfetched to say I decapitated it.
In my case, it took much delight in mocking my lack of courage, then because I was beyond actually coordinating myself to run away, it knocked me down. More derision, threats of what was going to happen to my soul, how unpleasantly it was going to kill me... stuff I wasn't exactly making many efforts to remember for later.
But it was preoccupied with me to the point it almost didn't notice when my mentor's bodyguard came out of the darkness and blew it back to the seven hells with his plasma gun.
Somehow I managed to come away from it with not much more than damp trousers, a generous coating of daemonic ichor, a few relatively minor injuries and a set of terrified memories."
  "Lucky."
  "I have a knack for narrow escapes. Anyway, no-one ever mocked me for that one, of which I am very glad - so I pass on the favour. If people have the guts to face a daemon, then that's fine. But if they don't, I won't blame them.
Frankly, I would still sooner leave such abominations to someone else. But it just looks like it's going to be one of those days. Anyway, you alright now?"
  "I should be.", she spoke a little more assertively now.
  "Perfect. And remember this - you're doing better than I ever did. And I was only up against one daemon.
Anyway, now I've got a question."
  "What?", was the curious reply.
  "How long can it possibly take to get the power working?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on May 11, 2010, 02:20:04 PM
He strode in behind the rest finishing the binding of his hand, the material had come form one of his pockets a xenos hide it promoted healing, though many would scoff at it's use as heresy he didn't care.

He looked round the dimly lit command room.

"Where is Lord Gerhan?"

A voice came from the darkest corner and a large pudgy man ambled out from the darkness.

"I am Gerhan."

His skin was pallid and sweat covered his brow, his eyes were watery and as he approached Jeremiah wrinkled his nose at the smell coming from him.

"I want you to establish a cordon round the command centre, any refugees are to allocated to a single barracks one of us will need to check them for taint before we allow them to move freely around the compound."

"But my lord, we do not have the man power to police any civilians."

"You think anyone left alive out their is a civilian? should any of them come here the first thing they will be give is a gun, we are at war sir for the very survival of this planet."

The lights blinked back to life and more terminals illuminated some showed schemes from the city and the massacre that was occurring things tearing people limb from limb feasting upon their flesh and worse, schemes of depravity being played out by sleek daemonic forms even bloodletters slaughtered through the throngs.

"Turn those off."

The order was ignored as the soldiers were enraptured the horror, stunned or beguiled into watching the horrors play out, lightning leapt from his fingers and destroyed the screens with bright sparks.

"Listen carefully all of you, the Emperor Protects and we are his most loyal servants you follow our words without question and you will survive this."

He looked at Gerhan who nodded before turning on two more inquisitors one was injured one side of his face burned by fire the other a woman comforted him.

"Fyes, would you mind conducting the inspection of the refugees?"

Fyes sighed nodding he gestured at his face.

"I'm no use in a fight."

He and the woman headed off and Jeremiah turned looking around.

"Where is the transponder?"

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on May 11, 2010, 04:31:07 PM
   "I believe Molovich had it."

Pretty much immediately after Grant had spoken, one of the smaller servitors in the room stepped forwards, presenting it out to Jeremiah. Lyra watched from the corner as he turned it over in his hands.

  "What more do you think it can tell us than what a Tech-Adept can offer? Unless you're planning on turning it on or something..." , her sarcasm petered out,  "Please tell me you're not going to turn it on."

The younger Inquisitor didn't answer her, remaining focused on the machinery. She surged to her feet, slamming her hat down on one of the tables as she passed.

  "You've got to be shafting me! We don't know what it does! It could be used to deliver any number of nasty objects to us - a bomb! A traitor Marine! Anything! All we know is that we took it from a man who was lied to by his fellow conspirators, and who killed himself. How do we know this isn't a system to ensure that he died, taking any and all secrets to his grave?"

The room fell silent, Jeremiah finally looking up from the transmitter and into the eyes of Lyra, now standing a few feet away from him.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on May 11, 2010, 05:49:36 PM
Arisha was grateful to the Inquisitor for her comfort. She looked at Inquisitor Rhodes and saw a woman that perhaps one day, she might become. Inquisitor Rhodes was a human being who had suffered through adversity and come out stronger on the other side, she was someone Arisha could relate to, be inspired by. Her own mentor... Her own mentor terrified her.

Inquisitor Czernarvok was everything Arisha was not, she was small and frail, he was tall and strong, she was frightened and he was incapable of fear, she was flesh and he was steel, she was a woman and he was a man, after a fasion. Perhaps that was the biggest barrier, she knew that gender she be irrelevant to an agent of the Inquisition but always at the back of her mind it was there, a block between herself and her mentor where she could never be truly comfortable in his presence. She knew that was her own weakness and it was just another thing that made them so different.

To see someone like Inquisitor Rhodes made Arisha feel her place in the grand scheme of things, someone who had the same vulnerabilites as herself but who had overcome them through will and faith in the God Emperor. Inquisitor Czernarvok could not claim such a trial, he was the product of ancient knowledge and arcane technology, a meat machine built and designed to do naturally what she could only hope to achieve through pain and strife even the mighty Adeptus Astartes, risen so high above ordinary men were still more human than Czernarvok could ever be. Arisha knew she had much to learn from Czernarvok about how to function as an Inquisitor but she did not believe he had anything to teach her about being a human in service to the Emperor.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on May 11, 2010, 11:19:46 PM
He looked at the woman eyes unblinking as he spoke his voice even and level.

"We do not know he was lied to, his fellow conspirators could still be on this world."

His hand reached out touching the device, Lyra visibly tensed as he spoke again.

"If they are still alive they'll be seeking this, to activate it."

He stood and moved away from the device noting Lyra relaxing.

"Lets get things on the table shall we? We in deep viss here, we are blind to the situation beyond this city unaware of this incursion is contained to the locality or if it's spread across the world, my guess is the latter,
now Brant knew what was coming, if this is the case why was he still here unless he knew that his sacrifice was for a greater purpose. It's my guess that something did not go to plan, an astropathic choir could have opened a rift large enough to swallow this entire world, the fact we are still here means something interrupted the end result."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on May 12, 2010, 01:07:12 AM
   "Postulation: Perhaps the mere destruction of this world is not the desired result." Molovich's mouthpiece smoke sweetly, tiny brow furrowed in concentration.

   "Then what result were they hoping for then?" Inquisitor Rhodes, flicking another quick glance at Jeremiah, asked.

   "The fact that this attack happened during a meeting of Inquisitors cannot be a coincidence therefore it follows that the fact that this world was not engulfed by the attack also negates a coincidence. It seems likely that it is some action taken by ourselves that is the desired outcome of the attack. The beacon for example is unlikely to bring ruin down upon us, the orchestrators of this atrocity could well have destroyed us either during the attack on the choir or subsequently due to daemonic invasion, I would say that for the time being our survival is necessary."

   "The daemons didn't test us too much. They focused on civilians when the destruction of Inquisitors would be a much greater victory." Grant joined the discussion, his armour whirring as he moved. "Perhaps their disinterest was not luck but part of the plan."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on May 12, 2010, 05:51:11 AM
"Daemons are predators, they'd hunt the weakest first."

He was overly simplifying thing of course, but in essence it was true.

He took the dataslate from his pocket laying it down.

"According to this, Brant was a well established and able Inquisitor, the personal aide to Lord Hess, that does not make a blind pawn, not in my mind, he knew full well what he was doing. But why come to the palace at all knowing that the world was to end unless he had an escape plan should something go wrong."

He left the tactical unit and took a seat in one of the many chairs in the room.

"Being a psyker, I alone could destroy this city if I lost control, Me and Maya could flatten this entire continent, an entire choir of astropaths opened to the warp could have torn this world apart, the resultant death scream would blind astropaths for light years it would disrupt the astornomican and as you can in the sky create a warp storm that would hinder any warp travel in the area. We sit on the most stable route to the Nexus Belt, this world serves as two fold. One to remove the greatest opposition to any action that is befalling the Nexus Belt and two to serve as a hindrance to those who might still be able to bring aid. This is simply the opening gambit of a much bigger endeavour. One in which we survivors are the only hope of preventing"

He let the words sink in. 
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on May 12, 2010, 10:11:47 AM
Fabio looked up, tossing a hypodermic away into a corner. He sighed with frustration and weariness.

"Wonderful," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on May 12, 2010, 06:56:31 PM
Lyra moved back across the room, pushing her ponytail back over her shoulder as she walked.

   "A little less pessimism would be welcomed, Inquisitor Glosche. We remain alive. And while these events are regrettable, it is our duty to deal with them. You cannot stand around waiting for someone or something to show you the way."

She stopped for a moment, picking up her hat. Reshaping it slightly, she turned it around, replacing it before she continued.

   "Presumably, Brant came to the palace because his presence was still needed. For what I cannot guess, but I doubt survival was high on his agenda. He was within the probable blast radius at the moment the eclipse started. Astronomical events are known down to the minute years in advance - he knew exactly when it would happen, yet he was still here when it happened. Ruling out utter incompetence on his part, that means he intended to be."
   "He was prepared to die for this cause. If you'll accept my interpretation, that might not make him a pawn, but there's likely someone else out there looking to benefit from it instead.", Maya finished.

Standing up and gesturing across one of the maps laid out, Gideon raised his voice.
   "Accepting that as true for the moment, that raises the question of why this beacon exists at all. It too was within the area."

His finger drew lines out from the astropathic sector, firstly to where they had found Inquisitor Brant, and then another to where the beacon had been.

   "I cannot fathom. A back-up plan for if things didn't work out? But it remains a dangerous unknown."
   "Or maybe we're looking at it the wrong way. Perhaps events overstepped their plans. Psychic phenomena are fickle things."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on May 12, 2010, 11:30:28 PM
"In the defence of the city, that device is irrelevant."

Bernard stood back from the vox-array, as the operators continued fiddling with it.

"We cannot raise the Conclave, orbit or anything beyond the city. We have only intermittent contact with our forces. Observe."

With a static hum, a hololithic map of the city flickered into life above a projector table.

"The aquilas show the approximate locations of any unit we have heard from."

Bernard pointed to one of the hovering symbols.

"This is us. I have heard nothing from the south-east quarter or the Adeptus Arbites. Currently, everyone is converging on this position at best possible speed."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on May 13, 2010, 09:38:40 AM
Jeremiah looked at the dataslate and then at map of the city.

"I want two squads of guardsmen now."

He pushed the dataslate aside as he made to leave the command chamber.

"What are you up too?"

He paused in his step half looking over his shoulder at Lyra.

"My Job."

He moved again pacing to a vox unit and insisting the operator stepped aside before manipulating the unit for a few seconds before letting the operator to return to his duty.

"Keep monitoring that beacon as soon as it gets a repeat inform someone immediately,"

While he'd been working Lyra had picked up the data slate reading over the information contained within it, a list of all the Inquisitors present at the Conclave scrolled down the page most were highlighted red some were yellow so very few of them were green, beside each name was an indication of their visit arrangements were they allocated to the fortress or hold private suites within the city, Jeremiah had been looking at Brant's details the history of the data slate told her that she pulled up the details seeing what Jeremiah had seen, Brant had a residence in the city as well as a suite at the Fortress.

The officers of the two squads he'd requested arrived and Jeremiah turned on them one a Captain the other a Sergeant.

"Sergeant gather your squad and protect that device, remove it a secure location. No-one is permitted near it save all of us together. Captain you're with me swap your lasguns for something heavier we're going into the city."

He swept past them heading for the facilities armoury
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on May 14, 2010, 02:58:03 AM
   "What secure location? It is in a bunker - a bunker that is as well defended as we can muster right now."

Jeremiah didn't answer, paying her question little heed as he left the room. Lyra's face twisted into a snarl, and she muttered under her breath as she turned away.

   "A***hole."

She looked around the room, eventually spotting what she was looking for. Next to one of the tables, Maya appeared to be discussing something with Fabio. Moving over, it became clear that they were talking about the possible counters to extreme psychic phenomena.
Leaning forwards over their table, she cut into the conversation.

   "I have to apologise Inquisitor Glosche, but I'm going to need to take my psyker back."

Maya glanced up from the data charts they were working on, which appeared to have been turned into a web of pencil marks with brief notes trapped in amongst the lines like unfortunate insects.

   "Just one moment..."
   "Now, Maya.", the Inquisitor's tone hardened.
   "I see.", she said, turning to the Malleus Inquisitor, "Sorry sir. My foremost duty is to Inquisitor Rhodes."
   "Then I will have to manage alone.", Fabio replied pessimistically.

Getting up, Maya looked back to Lyra.

   "What's the..."
   "Not in here. That side room."

She pointed past Maya's shoulder at a door that led to one of the technical rooms before moving towards it, leaving the psyker to pick up her staff and follow.

The room shared the slightly flickering lighting of the rest of the bunker, under which two technicians were frantically working on a knotted mess of wiring that had evidently been left in disarray for years.

   "You two - out. You can come back in when I'm done".

The pair gathered what tools they had, scurrying away. Watching them leave, Lyra then turned upon Maya, speaking in a hushed tone.

   "Inquisitor Glosche - were you discussing the Exterminatus?"
   "No. I was trying to see if he might offer any clues, but I asked nothing directly. And no, no telepathic trickery."
   "Wise move - his mind is probably too strong, you'd arouse suspicions. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. Jeremiah... whatever his last name is, I can't remember. How old would you say he is?"
    "He doesn't look like he's had any rejuve."
   "Agreed. So he can't have been an Inquisitor long. He should be deferring to the more experienced people around him, yet he takes command."
   "...you think he's a mole?"
   "He could be. Either way, he's working independently of anyone else - even if he's not deliberately trying to undermine things, he may simply shaft the rest of us anyway."
   "So we need to stop him."
   "No - not yet. He will leave shortly -  you need to follow him, and find out what he's doing."

Lyra stepped around to stand next to Maya, holding out the dataslate with the list of names on it. Allowing the psyker to get a view on the screen, she drew her finger under Brant's name.

   "I suspect he will investigating Brant's residence in the city, but I cannot be certain."
   "So you want me to follow an Inquisitor and a squad of Guardsmen into a daemon infested city."
   "Yes. Sorry. I wouldn't ask you to do anything this dangerous if there was no other option."
   "And what if he needs to be stopped?"
   "Then it'll be down to you. You've dealt with worse than a squad of Guardsmen before, you'll be fine."
   "I never said I was frightened of dying. "
   "Excellent. Don't be seen, and report back to me via vox if you find anything."
   "Well then."

The psyker stepped backwards, holding her stave in two hands.

   "You know I hate this bit. Just get on with it."
   "Be seeing you."

Maya's eyes glowed for a brief instant, and in the next, Lyra had to work to even recognise the psyker was in the room, the mind simply refusing to admit she was there.
In that same moment, the psyker's micro-telekinesis altered the air - at first the effect was reminiscent of a heat haze, but it further rippled, carefully twisting and distorting the light that passed through it.

Lyra blinked, and in that split second, any evidence that the psyker was even still in the room vanished.
The Inquisitor shook her head, trying to clear it. Maya more extreme powers could really screw with your mind. Looking up, she spoke at where the woman had last stood.

   "Best of luck, wherever you are."

The Inquisitor walked back out into the main room, which remained a flurry of activity. Seeing the two technicians, she waved to get their attention.

   "You can go back in there now, I'm done."
   "Thank you, ma'am."

Walking away, Lyra began mentally counting.

   "Hang on. Weren't there two of you in there?", came the voice of one of the pair.

The Inquisitor smiled, unseen. Six seconds - better than average. Adopting a more serious expression, she glanced back over her shoulder.
   "Two of me? Are you feeling unwell?"
   "... no ma'am."
   "Well, perhaps you should see a medic anyway. You might be feeling some side-effects of that psychic blast."

She turned back away from the bewildered man, walking back across the room. Even if Jeremiah wasn't going to work on a collaborative solution, she was going to play her part properly.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on May 14, 2010, 08:51:04 AM
He swept into the room, looking round quickly he selected a bolt pistol and slid it onto his belt beside the power sword he looked at the men behind him.

"Get what you need solid slug only, the energy of other weapons will be swallowed out there."

They looked at him worried before collecting their weapons most picked up shotguns taking as much solid slug rounds as they could a few chose bolters, one picked up a heavy calibre autogun he racked the weapon and looked at Jeremiah.

"You said solid slug right."

He nodded leading them out and through the bunker into the courtyard, he pointed at a chimera waiting in the courtyard it's weapons aimed at the main gates. Moving to the tank he ordered the men inside before looking around the courtyard.

"You where were the injured taken?"

"Over there my lord."

The man pointed at a squat building which he stalked over too entering the building he was greeted by the noise of pain and suffering, his eyes moved across the room taking in the injured the majority were refugees injured by the explosion, or by daemons those rived in agony as the corrupting touch tried to twist them, his eyes fell upon Silv standing over Gar he'd lost his arm the limb having been surgically removed he lay in a chemically induce coma Silv looking into his face worried.

"Silv I need you."

"I can't leave him."

"It was not a request."

"Viss you Jere I said I wasn't..."

His slap almost tore her from feet and she crashed against the cot Gar occupied.

"You are a servant of the Inquisition Silv, you serve me as you serve  Belhast's now I have need of you, Gar is not going anywhere."

"I hate you."

"We'll deal with that later now come on."

He hated being so tough on her it was just as Belhast had been with all of them but he needed her now, more than she knew, he watched as she gathered her things and turned defiantly to him her face hard as they walked from the make shift medical centre.

"I need weapon."

He passed her the bolt pistol as they walked and she deftly hooked into onto herself before looking at him and the las pistol he carried.

"What about you? You know that won't do squat."

He stopped looking at her.

"Do really think I need a gun?"

She nodded slowly as the two of them approach the tank the driver was arguing with the Captain.

"I'm not going anywhere my order say to cover the gate that's what I'm doing."

Jeremiah walked up to him.

"My orders are to take me to this address."

He looked at the inquisitor and turned pale before going back into the tank, a few minutes later and they were moving.

"The side gate do not disturb the markings."

"Understood."

As the driver guided his tank Jeremiah turned to the Captain.

"Whats your name?"

"Laxx. Rydurn Laxx."

"I'm Jeremiah Crowe, this is Silvina."

The three of them nodded at one another as the tank turned into the hell of the city.

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on May 14, 2010, 09:03:16 AM
"Sergeant," I called over, "belay that order."

"But, sir--"

"I don't want to have to repeat myself, sergeant."

I'm not entirely sure how this guy felt, taking orders from someone that didn't quite come up to his shoulder, but he obeyed almost instantly. Thankfully, Jeremiah was out of earshot at the time, otherwise I might've caught absolute hell from him.

"Otto, what the hell's going on?" Gideon asked me, contriving to sound hacked off in spite of his terror, still not entirely suppressed.

"A little thing called trust, Gideon, or rather, a lack thereof," I sighed, before turning back to the luckless Guardie. "Sergeant, what's your name?"

The sergeant looked at me like I was absolutely bonkers, but had the presence of mind to reply fairly swiftly.

"Manning, sir. Bryon Manning, Carthaxian 23rd Fusiliers."

"Sergeant Manning. Well met. Call me Ottakar."

I don't think the sergeant knew where to put himself, so I wasted little time and made the most of the opportunity while it was there in front of me.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Sergeant. We don't know what the hell that thing you're holding is, or what it can do. This leads me to two conclusions. The first, Inquisitor Jeremiah Crowe is not of sound mind."

"Ottakar!" protested Gideon. "I've known Jeremiah for years."

"Mmm, yes, and how often was that simply on a social level rather than in answering the call of duty?" I retorted. "On top of that, the man's a psyker, he admitted as much. If nothing else, the explosion would have addled his mind."

"Says the man who nearly had his head crushed."

"Compared with being attacked by Asgeir, I think a minor detail like a chunk of masonry falling on me is better off remaining a minor detail, Gideon."

Gideon sighed, throwing his hands up in frustration, and wandered off, presumably to converse with Wyebold, although I didn't much care for the details with more pressing matters on my mind.

"I'm sorry you had to witness that, Sergeant," I told Manning. "But I said I had two conclusions, and you're not going to like the second one."

"What might that be, Inquisitor?" the man asked slowly, trying very hard to avoid any potential political landmines. I can't fault him after seeing some of the less tolerant members of the Inquisition, but nonetheless it wasn't entirely necessary around me.

"Do you remember when I said that we don't know what that thing can do?"

"Yes, Inquisitor."

I took a deep breath, trying very hard to calm myself down and not simply fly into an entirely unwarranted rage at Jeremiah's stupidity. "Manning, promise me you won't take offense at what I'm about to say next."

"Promise, sir."

"I don't trust anyone around that thing. Not Inquisitor Crowe, not Inquisitor Antal, certainly not the Guard. Especially not the Guard."

Manning seemed a bit put-out by this revelation but still had the presence of mind to question me. "If you don't mind me asking, sir, why not the Guard?"

"Do you know what we're up against, Manning?"

"Heretics and traitors, sir," Manning answered, slightly confused.

"Worse than that. This is a full-scale Chaos incursion, Manning, and right now, everyone on this planet is potentially a pawn in their cosmic game of regicide. Removing the artifact from the key players is really not a helpful move."

"Sir?"

"Every single Inquisitor in this gathering is potentially a Chaos mole. Every single human being on this planet! Nobody here can trust anybody, and yet nobody here can afford to break the tension, the almost tangible tension stretching us to our limits. So fine that a single gunshot could tear the thinly stretched camaraderie between all of us."

I paused briefly, well aware that my blood was up.

"With that as the case, I can understand that you want to treat me with caution. However, that's all about to change."

I produced my rosette and held it in the centre of Manning's field of vision. His eyes bugged and he went pale; even knowing that I was an Inquisitor, actually seeing the symbol of my authority was a shock to which I didn't want to have to subject him, but this was a matter of necessity, and as such, I had very little choice in the matter.

"As the Emperor is my witness, Sergeant Manning, I trust you to safeguard the artifact with your life. Do not let it out of your sight, and do not let yourself out of our sight. You and your squad are now in the care of the Inquisition, and I trust you to follow my orders unless simultaneously contravened by at least three of my peers."

Something caught my eye and I noticed Inquisitor Rhodes walking towards me, but she was still some way distant so I doubted she could hear me.

"Failing that, Inquisitor Rhodes has the power of veto over anything I tell you," I concluded. "Is that all understood, sergeant?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on May 14, 2010, 10:18:29 AM
Fabio sighed. He had been rather enjoying discussing psychic countering with Inquisitor Rhodes' psyker. The girl had a keen mind and prodigious talent, that much was obvious. Especially impressive was her ability to remove herself from sight. Fabio had been amazed when he saw Lyra leave the side room unaccompanied. He checked inside when the technicians had opened the door to re-enter it, and found no sign of the girl. It was as if she had vanished entirely.

Having seen Maya's control over pyrotechnics, he suspected that she had mind-talents that influenced heat and light, and perhaps a small talent telepathically, as that tended to be a common skill. Even his mentor, Jorken, whose powers rarely extended beyond his own body could touch the mind's of others. With this information, Fabio suspected the psyker was either influencing the perception of those around her, or actually bending light so that she was truly invisible.

Fabio paused, pondering. If Lyra had ordered the girl to become invisible, it would have been for a purpose. The female inquisitor obviously did not trust her peers, so it was almost certain she had set Maya to trail one of them.

Probably Jeremiah, he thought. He is not quite what he appears, but I trust him. However, his skill and comparative youth make the others wary of him.

A thought struck him. Jeremiah had decided to investigate what was happening out in the city, taking a squad of guardsmen and a tank for transport. If Maya had been set to follow Jeremiah, she would be walking straight into the middle of a daemonic invasion. No matter how she could disguise herself, Fabio had no doubt that the unnatural creatures now ransacking the city would sense the shining beacon of her soul. They would see her, catch her, kill her and devour her innermost being.

Fabio was not stone-hearted. Although it would give him a small amount of satisfaction to see the look on Inquisitor Rhodes' face when she found out the consequences of her actions, the guilt he would feel would be almost overwhelming. And, he reasoned, the girl is a valuable asset. She may play a key part in our continued survival.

Fabio quickly ran outside. He spotted Lyra and walked calmly over to her, matching her pace. He spoke in a low voice.

"Inquisitor Rhodes, I do not wish to alarm you or earn your distrust, but I am afraid you may have just sent Maya into a situation she may not survive."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on May 14, 2010, 04:18:52 PM
Lyra grinned at Fabio, lopsidedly as always.

   "Oh, you're a smart one. Glad to know there's actually someone here who's observant."
   "That city - it's a death trap. The eyes of daemons do not see the mundane world."
   "It took nearly ten months for me to track Maya down, and that took nearly every form of auspex the Imperium has. Burnt out two psi-trackers in the process. She's good Glosche - capable of hiding herself from more than just mortal eyes."

Bringing her hand up to her chin, she thought for a moment.

   "Still, I will defer to the judgement of the Malleus - for now. If nothing else, her concentration and powers may have been disrupted by the psychic phenomenon."

Pressing the talk stud on the micro-vox in her ear, she spoke.

   "Take the nocturnal hunter's dawn path."
   "Nocturnal hunter?"
   "Code, Inquisitor Glosche. Not a particularly in-depth one - mostly to ensure that she can be sure that it is me speaking."
   "Of course."
   "It's simple enough. She is tracking someone unseen - which makes her the nocturnal hunter. And a nocturnal hunter returns home at dawn. I'm telling her to come back."

A moment passed before the vox responded:

   "Sorry for the delay, I'm on my way back now. Around Inquisitors and heavily armed guardsmen, disembodied voices are a poor choice."
   "Yes... I do remember what happened on Atlen IV, Maya. But that's beside the point - I believe we have less risky options. Get back here."

She shut off the vox.

   "You have your way, Glosche."
   "How long is it going to take her to get back?"
   "Not long", she pointed over to their left.

A sphere of the air in the courtyard appeared to be unfolding, coming apart. There was a shout of panic and several of the troops in the courtyard were raising their weapons upon this unknown target.

   "Stop! Wait!", Lyra shouted, "It's not a threat."

The torn air slowly reshaped itself, crystallising into the shape of a young woman, taking on colour and form as it walked towards them. By the time it stood in front of them, the shape had fully resolved itself into Maya once again.

   "You always have to put on a show, don't you?"
   "That's my job."

Lyra turned to Fabio, who seemed uncertain what to make of the visual display.
   "I told you she was good."

Walking back inside the bunker, she could see Inquisitor Grant talking to the sergeant Jeremiah had earlier ordered to secure the beacon. Moving over, she had some things of her own to say.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on May 15, 2010, 02:17:48 AM
Distracted by incoming reports, it had taken Bernard several minutes to pick up Jeremiah's dataslate and a few more to realise where the man was heading. By the time that was done, the command centre seemed to have considerably fewer people inside. Grant and Antal had accosted a guardsman and Czernarvok had just stood back from something technological, Bernard had no idea what.

He addressed the armoured giant, rather than the disturbing mouthpiece.

"Inquisitor Chenervork"

The metal wedge expressed no irritation at his mangling of the name.

"Could you apply your talents to our long-range vox? We need information on the wider situation."

Daath touched his elbow, bringing his attention to the holo-display. Red blobs marked the reported locations of the Enemy. Somehow, the scarlet display of the cancer attacking the city was worse than the prior uncertainty. Though, Bernard thought, the rash on the map only showed the reported presence. Watching, three more red spots appeared. Referring to the dataslate, he swiftly marked the position of the dead man's house with a floating yellow square.

He heard a raised voice from the other side of the room and noticed Gideon was approaching. He turned away from the cogitator while pocketing the dataslate, and spoke.

"Has Crowe left for Brant's residence yet? Did he take anyone else with him?"

"Jeremiah? Only a squad of guardsmen, a tank. Do you think he'll make it?"

"He seems capable. And in control of his abilities." The emphasis on the last word left Gideon in no doubt of Wyebold's opinion on such matters.

"But I was thinking," Bernard continued, "of diverting the mechanised section of this company to assist."

He pointed at one of the eagles, tracking back towards the command centre and traced the route with his finger.

"Only a short detour for them," Gideon replied, "but would they arrive in time?"

"They might only catch them up on their return trip, but at least they can provide an escort for that. You know Jeremiah, would you tell him?"

Gideon nodded, and moved towards the vox-unit. Bernard was about to check on the progress of Oliver's unit, when belated realisation struck him. Brant had been an Inquisitor. Not a functionary or an imposter, but an actual Inquisitor, fallen to some cult. And he had been an aide to a Lord Inquisitor. If such a high placed man had been disposable in this plan... Possibly, no probably, Brandt would have had a network, allies. If one Inquisitor had been involved in this plot, others might be.

Sitting down, he ran through a list of suspects: Grant, talking to Rhodes, an outsider. Or maybe a recent plant, without much of a legend to support him. Probably not, he had tried to interrogate Brandt, and his story was backed by Gideon. Antal, the man who knew everyone, perhaps. Glosche, where was he? He had correctly predicted the daemonic incursion. While Crowe, a witch, had disagreed, and was adamant they should activate the beacon he had conveniently found, perhaps to call down a bombardment. Rhodes, equally adamant they should not, maybe she knew it really would provide an escape. Czernarvok, had he been late, or come to ensure the job was finished? No, in that case, he would have arrived with his augmented bodyguards and gunned them down. But traitors need not be Inquisitors. Lord Gerhan had sent a Chimera, not an artillery shell. Well, it would be hard for anyone to take action now, surrounded by watchful eyes. Any kill squad should have attacked immediately after the explosion.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on May 15, 2010, 02:59:10 AM
Fabio strode into the armoury. If he was to be stuck here, he might as well make himself useful. Selecting a long-las with a telescopic scope, he carried the sniper-weapon outside. He climbed the steps leading to the top of the wall, nodding politely to the guard sergeant nearest him.

Propping the long-las up on the parapet, Fabio pressed the scope to his eye and began scanning for targets. There. A Fury chasing a child down a street. His shot impacted against the back of the daemon's skull, knocking it forward. The creature turned swiftly, glaring. Fabio's second shot took it between the eyes, and its corpse slowly disintegrated, turning into black dust.

"Scratch one," he muttered, grinning to himself as he swung slowly from left to right, searching for more daemons. 
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on May 16, 2010, 11:42:18 PM
The tank rocked as it manoeuvred it's way through the city following the route laid out by Jeremiah the driver complained about the route but followed it non the less he knew not to argue with an Inquisitor. Jeremiah had chosen the route because it was still, no activity which meant the distracts were either deserted or dead, and neither held little interest for Daemons.

He went over the plan of deployment with the soldiers knowing that every minute outside of the ward he' created risked them being seen by the daemonic, they were in the presence of a psyker and that was an enticing feast for any denizen of the warp. The Tank he'd selected had already felt his touch that was why he'd chosen it the ward would hide them but not forever they had to be quick.

"Holy Emperor!"

The Driver's exclamation snapped Jeremiah's attention round as  the tank ground to a halt he moved looking over the Drivers shoulder, outside was a charnel house thousands of bodies lay across the grand promenade, fires burned and raged from great rends in the ground. The smell of burnt flesh was vicious and stuck to the back of the throat, the driver had closed the view hatch tight but the smell had already seeped in andd was clinging to every surface, the driver was ashen his face panicked as he took in the horror, Jeremiah touched his shoulder and spoke.

"Keep moving."

"But the bodies?"

"We can't do anything for them, if we stay here we'll end up in a worse state than them."

That convinced him into action he gunned the engine almost stalling it and pushed the tank onwards over the mass of dead bodies the sounds of bones crushing under it's weight echoing through the tanks hold. He sat back looking at the worried soldiers as they tried to push the sound from their minds, Silv was equally ashen the noise threatening to overwhelm her as they crossed he promenade an continued into the city.

"How much longer?"

One of the guardsmen complained after another ten minutes of painful slow navigation through the twisting streets.

"Not long a few minutes perhaps, we're trying to get as close as we possibly can, let me prepare you all for what's out there."

He took each of their weapons daubing some of his blood onto their weapon casings in a small spiral pattern each one of them looked horrified at the act but took their weapons back despite it.

"They are heaxgramic wards, they'll keep you hidden from their eyes."

The Tank rolled to a halt and he nodded at them.

"You know what to do, standard sweep and clear until we get to the room, move out."

The hatch opened and the soldiers moved out in to the dead streets of the city
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on May 17, 2010, 03:17:36 AM
   "... and is that all understood?"
   "Of course... Sir."

Lyra only heard the end of whatever conversation Ottokar had been having with the Guard Sergeant, who shuffled off, holding the beacon in a way that left it clear that he was absolutely terrified of it.

   "Inquisitor Grant, a word if you would."
   "Very well."
   "Firstly, I'm going to be forthright. I cannot trust you, else I wouldn't be doing my job properly."
   "Your honesty is welcomed, if unnecessary, Inquisitor Rhodes. I doubt anyone here is extending their full trust."
   "We understand each other then."

Lyra shifted backwards slightly, keeping her weight carefully balanced. It was unlikely that anyone would be foolish enough to start a fight inside the bunker, but a fanatical traitor would think nothing of sacrificing themselves if they thought her a sufficient threat to their cause. And in his armour, Ottakar might even survive a fight. But she had already summed him up as she was crossing the room.

He was one of the few people in the room shorter than Lyra. His short stride and reach combined with the inertia of his armour would slow down any strike he might try to make, and he didn't handle himself like a hand-to-hand fighter.
She didn't want to be overconfident, but her practice and training should allow her to draw her shock maul and land an incapacitating strike faster than he could either produce a weapon of his own or land a blow from those metal clad fists.

The faint shimmer around his head suggested he had a refractor field in place of a helmet, which could rob the maul's blows of some of their effectiveness, but she should still be able to slow him long enough to allow her to withdraw.
Maya would then be able to hit him telepathically which, with any luck, would overload his nervous system, allowing him to be captured alive.

Of course, that was only if he actually did try to attack. Reasonably assured of her safety, she continued:

   "The question that strikes me, Ottakar - if I may call you Ottakar - is that you identified as Ordo Xenos Norikian. If my galactic geography serves me properly, that means you hail from most of the way out along the Sagittarius Arm in the Ultima Segmentum. What exactly are you doing thirty thousand lightyears away from home?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on May 17, 2010, 10:21:54 AM
"A good question. May I call you Lyra?"

Lyra shrugged almost imperceptibly. "I suppose it's only natural."

"Very well. You see, I have, shall we say, an associate in my home sector that is writing a thesis on Orks. Or at least, he's planning to. The actual subject matter is on their almost ubiquitous nature, and on how long Humanity has been battling them."

"Surely your associate could have come himself. I don't quite see why you had to come out yourself."

"I'll be honest with you," I answered almost immediately, "this was at the behest of one of the sector Conclave's -- my sector Conclave's -- most senior Ordo Xenos operatives. Ferraz knows I'm not exactly one to go down easily. My apologies if this heightens your suspicions, my lady, but in all honesty, I've not yet met an Ork that can subdue me. Of course, my primary aim is simply an appreciation of history; first-hand encounters with the old foe are admittedly welcome but not explicitly necessary."

"That would take decades. Why undertake such a long-term endeavour?"

"I am not necessarily the only one to be assisting Ferraz. There are names with which you might not be familiar, but Gervasio Ferraz is one of the sector's foremost authorities on Orks. At present he's researching the history of Armageddon. You're quite right in saying it would take decades, maybe even centuries, but with a dozen Xenos operatives sharing the workload it becomes much more manageable."

"So you came to Carthax to carry out your research?" Lyra queried. "Pardon my assumption but it strikes me as rather odd that you came by at such a time as this. Nobody knows you, for a start."

"I can see why you think that. I was only here to pay Gideon a visit," I stated, glancing in his direction for just a fraction of a second. "As I recall, he left for Carthax not long after the Thirteenth Black Crusade broke out. I've no idea when he arrived but if nothing else, he's a familiar face, and being the social butterfly that he is, I felt he could introduce me to others in my Ordo. Kindred spirits, as it were."

"For your research?" Lyra asked me, and I nodded.

"Care to smoke with me?" I offered, changing the subject for just long enough to produce my pack of lho-sticks. I felt I could do with one.

"Thank you, but I'll have to pass. I'm not altogether fond of those."

"Then you don't mind if I...?"

"Feel free. So Inquisitor Antal is an old associate of yours?"

"I've known him since I was an Interrogator, but I didn't work with him properly until after the Lecah Murders in '36," I admitted as I lit up. "He's an old Xenos man himself, actually. We're close to the Tau Empire so naturally Xenos and Hereticus operatives are in no short supply."

"He certainly doesn't look like he's cut out for field work," Lyra sniped, turning her head to look at him. I followed her gaze and apparently he'd had a rather sudden case of the shakes in the past few seconds. "Someone really needs to calm him down before anything serious happens. I'd ask you to do it, but we might still need him conscious for the time being."

I couldn't suppress a faint laugh and grinned at Lyra's wit.

"Now, pardon me for changing the subject rather abruptly," Lyra continued, "but there's something else that's just nagging at me..."

"And what might that be?" I asked amicably.

"That transmitter," Lyra answered, "or beacon, or whatever it is. It's reassuring to see that someone else is at least treating it seriously, but I can't help but wonder exactly what you asked that sergeant to do with it."

No matter how I looked at Lyra's question, it was awkward, and I wasted little time appraising her of that fact.

"Sergeant Manning's been ordered to guard whatever it is with his life," I told her. "Except, rather than leave him unobserved in the bunker or wherever Inquisitor Crowe thinks is the safest location, he's staying with us, where we can all keep an eye on him, on the transmitter, and on each other. I felt it was a more logical decision than simply leaving him to it. Manning's under orders from me, naturally, but you might like the little rider I put on that."

"Oh yes?" Lyra queried, looking at me dubiously.

"I'm the one giving him orders, but obviously I'm not leaving anything to chance. Anything I say can and will be overruled by either three other Inquisitors, or by yourself."

"Me?"

I couldn't help but notice that Lyra was trying to suppress a derisive laugh, but with marginally more success than I'd enjoyed.

"Do the current arrangements pose a problem?" I asked her, a small part of me dreading her eventual answer.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on May 17, 2010, 12:10:57 PM
Fabio reloaded the long-las. He seemed to be using a lot of ammunition, considering he was trying to pick out easy shots. Something seemed wrong. He pulled his eye away from the scope and looked out into the burning city. He froze.

"Dear God-Emperor. That is most definitely not good."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on May 17, 2010, 01:37:29 PM
The building was quiet, no not quiet, silent it sent a shiver down the spine with the chaos and anguish outside this place was discomfortingly still, never the less the squad followed Jeremiah and Silv through the corridors weapons sweeping left and right as doors were checked and rooms secured, one of the troopers a young wiry man called Hedlan spoke as they moved towards the heart of the building his voice was the gruff growl of an experianced soldier but it was tainted with nervousness.

"The lifts will be out sir, we'll need to take the service stairs."

"Very well, take some men and move ahead and make sure they are stable and intact."

Hedlan nodded curly and moved off followed by half the squad when the rest had caught them up they all moved up the stairs as quickly as they were able.

"Two men watch the stairs, the rest of you move out and secure the floor."

He and Silv moved directly to the door of Brant's suite followed by Laxx and Hedlan who'd been assigned as their escort. The two soldiers moved forward at a gesture from Jeremiah and checked the door.

"It's locked, shouldn't be a problem to breach it."

Hedlan moved to kick the door in when Silv barked an order he froze the outburst from her unexpected.

"Stop!"

She stepped passed him moving towards the door.

"Inquisitors are very apt at protecting their living quaters, they usually have some form of trap set up to either purge the room within or blow the door and the intruder apart."

Her hands slid over the surface of the door and stopped in it's centre.

"A charge of some sort on the other side of the door, an electrical charge should knock it out, Jere?"

He stepped up placing his hand where she indicated, he wasn't happy about this but looked over his shoulder at them.

"Take cover just incase, Laxx bring the men back here this is going to act like a beacon to the daemons."

With an blinding light the centre of the door vanished the stillness of the building was shattered and noise rushed back in as if a bubble had been burst, the turmoil of the city could be heard and the screams of thousands dying echoed into the building through Brant's suite, with a push the door gave and they stepped into the suite.

Inside the room was well kept a desk stood a one side littered with papers and dataslates a door led to a bed room behind it while the other side boasted a small kitchen and dining area, it was sparcly decorated save for a few of Brant's personal effects.

"Silv, make this quick they'll be coming now."

"Ok, everyone stay perfectly still I don't need distactions while I work."

She stepped into the centre of the room her eyes closed she turned her head slowly from one side to the other before moving back again, everything became translusent to her, the desk glowed brightly with the papers the four chairs glowing from where people had sat in them, the dining table where Brant had eaten meals and the kitchen where he'd prepared his food, something stained the bed room with a red glow and she gestured at it with her hand speaking her voice sounding as though she were dreaming.

"The bedroom and the desk."

She passed her head once more going deeper the details of the furniture vanishing from her vission she saw the emotions of the room, all greens and blues, slashed with purples, blacks and crimsons, this had been a safe haven for Brant a retreat a place where he could scheme and plan the death of this world without worry of being found out, a dark square dominated the wall opposite her, it wasn't part of her vission it was blocked from it a square the size of a safe, a safe protected by weak null field.

She stepped back gasping and pointed at the wall.

"Behind there."

"Captain, tear the wall down."

Jeremiah strode across to the desk he looked over the papers shifting through them before arranging them into a pile the ones he'd looked at had names and locations, worlds and lists they could prove significant. He stepped from the desk and looked into the bedroom his face hardening at the sight. Across the bed was a woman her throat slit chains hanging from her wrists and ankles, a thin shift clung to her blood soaked body and fetishes had been thrust through her skin which bore runic markings, in the instant he'd looked upon the body he'd known what it had been and what it could be again.

"We have to leave, hurry up with that wall!"

Laxx and two of his men were hacking at it with their bayonetts chipping away at the plaster, Silv fired over their heads the bolt round making them jump as it blew out a large chuck of the wall, they backed away as she continued to fire at the wall obliterating the masonry and revealing the safe behind.

"Step aside."

Jeremiah moved to the safe drawing the powersword he'd taken from the palace he energised the blade and drove it into the safe down one edge before pushin it slowly down and repeating the precess for the top and bottom, when he was done the safe swung open exposing a small case and a dataslate within.

"Take them."

Laxx collected the items as Jeremiah turned hearing the chains in the bedroom rattle.

"Everybody out! Laxx give me your bolter and grenades."

A moments pause as Laxx handed the weapons over one of his men moved to the bedroom before Jeremiah could shout a warning, his chest exploded inwards as a slender female hand punching through him tearing his spine from his body.

"Flesh things, you have disturbed my masters sanctum..."

He voice screamed in their ears forcing them to clutch at them as they fled from the room only Jeremiah stood his ground bolter and sword held ready.

"Come Daemonhost face your doom."

"You are no match for me man thing, I will use your soul in the abyss as a plaything for eternity."

"Try me."

He swung the bolter round dropping his sword to get a better grip he blazed away with it, the rounds smashing into the daemonhosts flesh tearing holes as large as his fists into the sleek body, the wounds healed quickly but the host was driven back into the bedroom he dropped the spent bolter and threw the grenades in after her bringing his hands together he formed a ball of electrical energy and threw that after them, the explosion tore the bedroom apart tearing the host to shreads, he stooped to collect his sword watching as the body started to pull itself back together.

"Abomination."

He stepped into the fires of the room and removed her head watching as the corpse slumped back to the floor.

Turning he fled the others were already running down the stairs and he was forced to take them in leaping bounds to try and catch them up, when he reached the ground floor he was greated by gunfire as the others battled their way to the tank, he was forced to look up as the floor of Brant's suit exploded as a daemon prince of pleasure fully manifest crashed through the door.

He broke into a run exhausted from his descent his leg complained as he joined the others, they wer driving back a horde of minor daemons as they moved to the tank, following the he watched as four of the men were draged to their deaths then climbed into the tank.

"Get us the hell out of here!"

The driver needed no more words as he pushed the tank away the engine compaining at the punishing pressure being put on it.

"Did we get what we came for?"

"I hope so Silv, I hope so."

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on May 18, 2010, 08:59:51 AM
Vallaity Lorelei stretched to it's full height the bones of it's new form cracking into shape the sound like thunder breaking, it's time in the human shell had robbed it of the sensations it craved, it's two arms for it had chosen to retain some of it human traits extended into sleek and deadly claws stretched out and tore the masonry of the building aside as though it were nothing, each foot fall was like a hammer striking an anvil the sound piecing yet pleasant as it followed the mortal that had destroyed it's prison, he was a psychic and that would provide a fitting banquet to celebrate it's rebirth.

By the time it had strode from the building it's feast was boarding a metal object which pulled away at speed the word slowly came to it residual memory from it's mortal vessel, the tank pulled away from it the tracks tearing the road the sound caused it's skin to prickle the iridescent pink hue changing to purples and creams the harsh smell of the fuel causing it to sway in elation as the feelings flooded over it.

As the Tank disappeared it turned it attention to the sky taking in the beauty of the colours and swimming in the sensations it caused beyond it's body it could feel the world around it the panic and fear, the pain and death, the pleasure and the suffering and it rejoiced this was a world it could be free to feel on, free to make it's wildest desires a reality.

With a braying call like discordant notes it called out to the Dark Princes children. it's brides and it's fiends, they would come to it because it promised new sensations and new pleasures only the Dark Prince could rival. In ages past Vallaity Lorelei had been mortal, a leader of men, warlord and warmonger he had led campaigns in the name of his dark deity across the world of his birth, conquering the world one victory at a time. The Dark Prince had rewarded him making him strong and fast and when the world was his had elevated him to daemonhood, in those dark days to cement his entry into godhood he'd laid the world to waste his depravity and lust knowing no bounds as the entire populace was made sacrifice in honour of his elevation. 

And now he had a new world to lay to waste and place upon the altar of Slanneshi.

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on May 19, 2010, 04:22:44 PM
Lyra paused for a second, contemplating her answer.

   "No - but I'm left wondering why you're trusting me?", she asked carefully.
   "Lyra, take the other Inquisitors here. As you yourself have said, Gideon is going to pieces. Inquisitor Glosche fluctuates between sarcasm and pessimism - and that's not to mention his episode earlier. Inquisitor Crowe is being impulsive and enigmatic. Inquisitor Wyebold isn't offering it the device the respect it needs, and Inquisitor Czernarvok could quite easily interfere with it."
   But you need to leave an option open to make sure decisive action can be taken if you're not available - and you think I'm most likely to remain lucid."
   "Eloquently put."
   "Thank you.", she smiled briefly, "Ottakar - you've been honest with me, and Gideon seems to trust you. I'm going to extend you the benefit of the doubt - it seems we'll get further working together than apart."

Her tone immediately became more serious.

   "But know this. If you betray me, you'd better hope the daemons get to you before I do."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on May 20, 2010, 01:29:30 AM
Judge Tornan activated the vox once again and leant in.

   ++This is Judge Tornan, if anyone is receiving this transmission, respond++ She released the trigger and listened to the quiet hiss of static. With a resigned sigh she tried once again, just in case, Emperor willing they'd get a response. ++This is Judge Tornan, if anyone is receiving this transmission, respond++ There was an ear rending yowl that echoed throughout the precinct as other vox emitters picked up the feedback.

   ++This is Inquisitor Czernarvok, Report++ Tornan didn't know how the communication had finally come through but she was in no mood for a child's prank, she couldn't even fathom how or why the girl was messing about on the vox channel with the madness engulfing the city.

   ++Whoever this is, clear the line. If you falsely impersonate an Inquisitor again your transmission will be traced and severe punishment will be meted out!++

The only answer was a squawk of binaric that sent dials on Tornan's board whirring. Her cogitator activated by itself and began cycling through a complex algorithm, accessing information on the Adminstratum net she hadn't even known existed. ++I can assure you, Judge Tornan, my authority is very much real. Report your situation immediately++

Tornan blanched as she realised the voice of the child was entirely genuine. ++My apologies Inquisitor, your voice, I-++ The whole system went dead with a whirring of machinery powering down. ++Hello, Inquisitor do you read me? Hello?++

   "Emperor give me strength. What is going on?!"

   "Ma'am, the entire precinct has lost power, I can't explain it." The Arbitrator on the other side of the office was tapping instruments and flipping toggle switches up and down, nothing was happening. "Why haven't back-up systems engage?" Tornan left the silent vox, her brow furrowing as she moved over to the dead instruments. Her fellow Arbites was shaking his head but before he could say anything there was a dull krump from outside.

They raced to the forward observation port, a wide slit in the armoured wall of the precinct made of two inch thick plas-crystal which gave the slightest green tinge to the unfolding drama. Heavy stubber fire was sending orange tracer rounds into the flaming rubble of the gates. Oily black smoke obscured the high street beyond but whoever it was on the roof must have been able to pick out something with the weapon's targeters.

As Tornan watched a blocky armoured vehicle, a refitted chimera by the look of it, crashed through the blocks of shattered masonry that had once been the gate pillars and oblitereated what was left of the ornate gates into a blizzard of splinters. There was a loud bang and a drive shaft speared through the armoured skirt of the chimera as it hit something a bit too durable, the back end fishtailing as it vaulted into the air. The Chimera thumped down and through the smoke, coming in behind its mad charge, and dragging themselves from within the brutalised vehicle, dozens of dirty figures, clad in crudely dyed red fatigues and makeshift armour came screaming into the yard.

   "Get your shotgun now!" Neither of them had time to move far. Outside, the warriors attacked the precinct doors, battering away with bloody fists and crude tools but it didn't matter. Another figure scrambling through the smoke, fat with the amount of explosived attached to his body sprinted into the middle of the yard and with a cry to his heathen gods detonated himself. The explosion was collosal, disintegrating everything and sending the shredded wreackage of the chimera cartwheeling backwards. The doors of the precinct were blasted to slag and the front wall and the roof came crashing down in a welter of choking dust. A calm descended over the demolished precinct but was quickly shattered by the howls of more warriors spilling into the compound, kicking, punching and slashing at each other in their frenzy to get inside and slaughter anyone who might have survived.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on May 24, 2010, 11:38:01 PM
The Chimera rocked violently almost throwing Jermiah from his seat and spilling the papers across the tanks floor.

"What was that?"

"Explosion, looks like it came from the arbiters precinct."

The vox crackled to life the driver jumped at the sudden burst of static before the voice echoed through.

"Inquisitor Crowe, are your responding?"

He moved to the vox unit activating it.

"Crowe here, Who is this?"

"Captain Marquis, Carthaxian 22nd Mechanised, Inquisitor Wyebold has redirected us to your aid."

Jeremiah thought for a second then spoke to the driver.

"Turn us towards the precinct."

"What?"

"If we can save any of the judges then their strength of arms will be a boon to us now turn us around."

He turned back to the vox.

"We're on route to give aid to the judges, meet us at their precinct and be prepared for a fight."

"Understood, Marquis out."

He turned to those gathered in the tank.

"Get those weapons ready we're going into a combat zone, aim for heads and chests."

He looked at Silv.

"Get in the main gun."

She nodded passing him her bolt pistol as she climbed into the gunners chair.


++

Tornan coughed smoke and dirt from her lips rapid retorts of shotguns sounded from behind her and she sat up her head spinning looking over her self as she fought the urge to vomit, her armour was scorched and scared from the explosion, her left wrist was broken the hand hanging limp at her side. Looking round she saw that a dozen arbiters held the primary courtroom doors, they cycled in and around one another pumping shotgun rounds into the corridor beyond. Someone had dragged her here and it took her a long moment to see the bodies of dead and injured around her, Enforcers who'd come to the precinct when their own networks of command had collapsed moved around the courthouse reloading weapons, tending the wounded and making ready to lend their own fire power to the battle beyond the heavy reinforced doors.

She rolled to her knees and made to stand, a fellow judge moved to her side, their armour masked with a white blood stained medicate apron, he was an old dog who should have retired long ago but his skills as a medicate had ensured his continued service. 

"You should stay down ma'am."

"Emperor be dammed I still have use of one hand so I can still wield a weapon."

"Here then."

He slapped a morph shot into her arm and she felt a wash of dull numbness flood through her. Drawing her pistol she strode up to the door stepping up behind the judges gathered round it.

"How many?"

"Hundreds, how did this go unnoticed?"

"It doesn't matter just kill them."

She levelled her gun and started to fire into the mass of bodies beyond.

++

The Chimera broke through the crowds crushing blood maddened cultists under it's heavy tracks while the gun turret turned slicing through the mass with multilaser fire the front sponson barked with it's heavy retorts as the hatch ramp fell bolters and shotguns blazing. Jeremiah led the men sword and pistol in hand, he ducked under a wild swing from a length of iron rod and blew the offender apart in a wash of bolt shells using the proximity to slaughter all those round him, his sword sliced through another and then a space cleared and they moved into the thick of it cutting their way towards the courthouse.

"There are too many of them Inquisitor!"

"Our salvation arrives on steeds of steel!"

Explosions blossomed in the mass as two leman russ tanks rolled into view followed by three chimeras the transport tanks disgorged their troopers in expert formation the thirty men clearing a second space and cutting the mob in half as the tanks circled lending their weight of fire to the fight. Two figures moved from the soldiers weapons hacking aside the few cultists still between them.

"Inquisitor! Captain Marquis at your service this is Commissar Kallor."

"A fine deployment captain, have your men clear and hold the courtyard, I'll need ten of them to accompany me into the courthouse to give aid to our brothers within."

"Understood, Squad alpha with men, Kallor you have command out here."

"Understood captain, Right you heathen whore sons show these heretical bastards how Carthaxian men fight!"

Jeremiah allowed himself a smile as the commissar roared before turning and leading the men into the courthouse. 


Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on May 25, 2010, 11:31:48 AM
Fabio scanned across the events happening in the city through his long-las' sights. Jeremiah had a led an assault on the cultists atticking the Arbites complex, hitting them in the rear with a mechanised attack force. He zoomed in and saw the inquisitor carving his way through the cultists. Suddenly, a cultist that had been feigning death sprang up and charged, his sword aimed at Jeremiah's head. A quick double-tap shot and two las-rounds buried themselves in the Chaos follower's back, dropping him instantly.

Fabio swept his view over the carnage, and then found his attention caught by a small movement. He turned to face his right and saw a massive daemon striding leisurely through the streets. It appeared to be Slaaneshi, but he was unable to place its rank. Most likely it was a daemon prince of some kind.

The air rippled around the blasphemous entity's limbs, and Fabio saw daemonettes and fiends forming in its wake. Then he realised its direction. The daemon was headed straight to the Arbites precinct, but it was still several city blocks away. He dropped his long-las and ran down the stairs.

He looked around frantically, and then spotted Inquisitor Wyebold. He jogged up to him and began speaking.

"Wyebold, use that vox of yours and tell Jeremiah to hurry up and rescue those damn Arbites. There's a daemon prince headed straight for him. He's got ten minutes tops."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on May 26, 2010, 06:03:59 AM
"We're running low, soon it'll be down to shock mauls and curses."

Oban grumbled the old veteran Knelt beside Tornan taking a shotgun from an Enforcer and continuing to fire down the corridor by his reckoning they could hold for maybe a few more minutes before they were overwhelmed and slaughtered.

Tornan frowned at the news coming from her new second in command, as the most senior judge present she was expected to lead and in this situation there was little in way of leadership, as her weapon clicked empty she cursed stepping back from the line she shouted.

"Fill the gap!"

An Enforcer stepped up a pistol held in his hands he fired four shots before a thrown blade punched through his neck spraying arterial blood as he tumbled back the judges stood next to him flinched as hot blood washed over them giving the cultists the chance they needed, Tornan turned to those gathered in the room drawing her power maul.

"Shields and Mauls!"

Enforcers and Judges stepped up combat weapons held ready the judges brought riot shields and formed a barricade, as the cultists smashed through the doors, those who held it used their shotguns as clubs as they backed away letting the combat element step in and hold the line. The fighting was frantic the cultists coming in a hard wave of berserk killers, against the desperate stand of law enforcers.

Tornan smashed a cultist to the ground the woman had a pair of long kitchen knives and had tried to open her throat before Tornan had crushed her knee, despite the shattered limb she still tried to thrust her blades intro the judge before her neck was snapped by a second blow, stepping passed her Tornan  blocked another attack, thankful as an enforcer swung in wielding a shock maul in two hands the blow broke ribs and doubled the attacker over before the weapon discharged and sent the deranged man back into the other attackers.

Something changed Tornan noticed as the tide of attackers forcing their way through the door eased then ceased, she looked around seeing only a few dozen attackers and bellowed an order.

"Shutguns to the fore, lets drive these heathens from the hall."

Oban stepped up followed by the other door defenders and fired a wave of solid death cutting cultists down, it took the minutes to kill them all and then they turned their attention to the door again.

"Oban man the door, shoot anything that moved out there."

"Yes Ma'am."

She looked to the others.

"Clear these bodies, I want us ready for more of them."

"Holy Emperor."

She turned looking at Oban who stood exposed in the open doorway.

"Oban get into cover!"

"Thats not going to help us now."

She moved to his size and froze, the corridor was littered with dead, some the closest were riddled with gunshot wounds but the furthest away the ones that had filled the corridor lay steaming a figure stood at the end of the corridor eyes blazing blue a sword held in one hand, steam rose from the other which was pointed in their direction, Tornan hissed pushing Oban into action.

"Witch, kill it!"

He brought up his shotgun and froze as a voice boomed down the corridor at them.

"Inquisition! Lower your weapons!"

He looked at her, the figure had spoken his voice as if coming from a vox amp before he started moving his hands falling to his side, PDF troopers moved into the corridor behind him checking the dead as they came a Captain walked at their lead.

"Lower you gun Oban, the Inquisition has come to save us."

"Quite so, I am Inquisitor Crowe, gather all you can time is of the essence."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on May 29, 2010, 01:16:16 AM
"Daath, see to it."

The lanky aide moved quickly inside as Bernard drew Fabio after him. As they walked, they exchanged rapid, staccato sentences.

"Was the creature alone?"

"No, leading the charge, summoning minions as it goes."

"The Precinct is too close for comfort"

"You think we might be next?"
"If the entity is intelligent, certainly"

"They do not think the way you or I might."

Bernard hardly heard Fabio's final statement, as they had just entered the now bustling bunker, and his attention was drawn by a series of brief reports.

"Sir, Oliver's convoy has reached our lines."

"The last refugee column has been overwhelmed."

"Captain Henroth reports ready, sir"

"Enemy forces have withdrawn from attacking these positions"

"If we could take the Arbites armoury, sir..."

"The militia unit in the market district had to double back. Should we have them link up with this unit, here?"

While Wyebold replied, Fabio moved towards the central table. An adept stood aside, allowing him to see. The hololothic display of the city looked more ordered now. The blue aquilas, barring a few stragglers, were clustered around the Palace, which was surrounded by shifting patches of red. The adept who had moved aside began to explain.

"Sir, Inquisitor Wyebold has infantry dug in as the perimeter, with mechanised units as a mobile reserve. We're a second-line redoubt, here. Once we ran out of weapons, we put the civilians to work fortifying positions. They're still coming in, sir, but only a few."

Bernard also moved to the table, leaning on the edge beside Glosche, while shouting to a vox-operator.

"Call Captain Marquis and Inquisitor Crowe. We need to know if the Precinct is defensible."

Looking at Glosche, he attempted a hopeful smile and spoke in a distant manner.

"I'm going to move our reserve to counter the beast. And cover Crowe's retreat. If we're lucky, he'll draw it onto our guns. Just how tough is this thing?" 

He pointed to the map. A red cluster was moving towards the aquila marking Crowe's position.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on May 29, 2010, 02:03:02 AM
"You want to know how tough something like that is? If we want to bring it down before it reaches us, we will need to concentrate every scrap of firepower we have on it. It would eventually fall, but then we would be overrun by its minions, who would have been able to advance completely unharmed."

Fabio looked at the holo-map. The red cluster was moving at a leisurely pace.

"If it gets here, Jeremiah and I together might be able to hold it off, if it had taken enough damage getting here. But we'd be unlikely to survive. Without our help, the others would last maybe a few days at most. We need to devise a way to stop that daemon without it killing us all. Any ideas?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on May 29, 2010, 03:08:59 AM
   "It grieves me to call upon a noble machine to sacrifice itself, but I may have a solution." The child that Molovich used to speak was stood beside the display, pale face deathly from the faint green glow, grey lines cross hatching her face where streets and buildings were displayed, the red mass the represented the daemons was tracking down her cheek like an oversized tear of blood.

   "In the armoury are several racks of Basilisk munition, useless to us ordinarily but it might be possible to convert them into a bomb, delivered by an unforunate Chimera, the protection it would offer would likely get it close enough to the warp entity to ensure utter destruction."

   "And which lucky soul gets to drive the tank?" Fabio asked, looking back to the towering form of Molovich and then flicking his eyes down as the child answered.

   "With the correct obeisances, and if the Spirit is willing, the Chimera will seliver itself."

   "How long it would take?" Jeremiah stood up strait from where he had been examining the holo-display, with a serious but hopeful expression.

   "The explosive device will take only minutes to prepare, convincing the Chimera to willfully destroy itself, that might take a little longer. I will proceed." Molovich turned away, disengaging from his 'bio-unit', the child instantly dropping the grave expression that Molovich, had he a face, would have worn, and waving a hand through the holo-display happily, following the roads with the tip of a tiny finger. Molovich issued a burst of binaric and two of his Skitarii followed, along with his Tech-Priestess, to the armoury.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on June 07, 2010, 09:44:15 AM
Silv stopped firing, frozen she turned her attention from the gun controls.

"Something is coming."

She spoke as though conversing before sliding from the seat she headed for the rear hatch.

"Hey where you going?"

The driver was frantic, she paused collecting up a lasgun before opening the hatch

"To save all our lives."

She stepped from the tank taking the the chaos around her the guardsmen under the command of a commissar were carving up the poorly armoured cultists the heavy guns of their tanks butchering them in droves the well drilled and disciplined ranks of las fire cutting down just as many.

She turned her attention to the gate the few perceptive cultists that still lingered close to it had thrown themselves to their knees in supplication of what was coming, she shot each of them through the head before moving towards the gates and dropping to her knees she drew a short blade no use in combat she used it to slit her arm open dripping the blood in a seemingly random pattern she the drew the knife through the blood and drew a single rune before stepping back a gasp of panic escaping her lips as the Daemon came into view, it was massive towering over a man its multi armed features ending in claws and hands that would tear and render a mortal to ribbons, the face was so alluring it almost made her want to kick the rune to ruin but she gathered her thoughts and turned from the beautiful yet terrible visage of the daemon and it's minions following it. She ran back to the guardsmen shouting out to the commissar.

"Get the men in a firing line aiming at the gate."

He looked at her his face hard but he faltered when he saw the fevered look in her own face.

"Do as she says, firing line close drill aim and be ready for what ever come through that door."

She joined the ranks calling out

"Steel yourselves with hate, an armour of contempt is out best defence now!"

She watched as the minions came flooding towards the gate while their better ambled casually behind them, she watched as a guardsman beside her lost control of his bladder the wet stain marring his uniform while his legs refused to let him run away.

The first daemons passed through the gate as they did the rune blazed crimson and they staggered screeching in pain and ecstasy, they stumbled the power of the rune effecting them in some way.

"They are corporal now, FIRE!"

She pulled the trigger, jumping the men beside her into action their las shots scything through the daemonetts cutting them down, the first of them fell disappearing into purple vapour, more slowed looking at them through the gate the daemon prince roared and they flooded through almost enjoying the pain the passage brought, the guardsmen opened fire again cutting the daemons down. When the daemon prince reached the barrier it stopped it's hand reaching out touching an invisible barrier it pushed against it a sound of rushing wind and screaming cries issuing from it as it pushed it might against the barrier, more daemons came through the guardsmen being forced to divide their attentions as more came in. Silv threw her weapon aside and lifted her hands towards the barrier uttering a chant as she added her strength to the barrier.

++

Jeremiah looked over the gathered judges and nodded leading them from the courthouse, his flinched as the noise from outside flooded over him, and waved them on.

"Outside, head for the tanks, is there another way out of here?"

"A side gate but it's only just wide enough for one tank at a time."

"Direct the guard."

He followed gathering what strength he had left, he was exhausted and pushing himself to the limit in this situation the power of the warp was washing over him, it was fuelling him but each passing minute threatened to overwhelm him and now after his battle with the daemonhost he was feeling the strain.

"I am his servant, his weapon, I will stand against any foe."

He drew his sword and strode from the courthouse.

"Get to the tanks, get out of here now!"

He grabbed a guardsman and pulled his vox link from him.

"Leman Russ, target me."

"Inquisitor?"

"Do it!"

He strode towards the line of guardsmen.

"Fall back! In good order give cover to those escaping then follow."

"You heard him boys, withdraw in good order."

The soldiers stepped back giving fire as they withdrew Jeremiah strode forward uttering a chant similar to Silv's before driving the glowing blade into the ground the shockwave knocked daemonetts to the ground and where they fell their bodies started to break up, the daemon prince stepped through the barrier shaking itself as the barrier shattered before it.

"I will stand against you Daemon!"

His breaths were ragged as he drew the sword from the ground.

"Foolish mortal, I have feasted upon whole worlds and you think you can stop me alone."

He smiled as he opened his arms

"Not just me, open fire."

He dropped to his knees as the leman russ fired it's weapons the shells strafing over his head and cutting into the Daemon Prince it staggered back wounded bright colours pumping from its wounds, pushing himself to his feet he looked over his shoulder.

"Again."

A second volley impacted on the daemon prince as Jeremiah was helped to his feet by Silv.

"We have to go."

She dragged him towards the reman russ hull pushing him up onto the tanks hull before climbing up behind him she banged on the hull shouting out.

"Get us the hell out of here."

The tank rumbled forward the sponson weapons continuing to fire upon the daemons as they fled, sparks flying from the armour as it skirted through the secondary gateway.

"The command centre head for it now full speed."

Jeremiah lay on his back his breaths hard his eyes closed against the world, he was all but spent.

"Are you ok Jere?"

"I'm at my limit I can't constantly keep this level of power use."

She nodded looking back at the courthouse as the daemon roared after them.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on June 08, 2010, 01:00:25 PM
Raising her hand, Maya once again forced herself to concentrate. Doing her best to ignore the foul taste the corrupted immaterium left in her mouth, she pushed her will out from her palm, reaching into the mind of the young acolyte huddled in front of her.

The emotions she could feel were a catastrophic mess, so jumbled that few minds could cope with them. But Maya's psyche was far from normal, and with her will forced upon it, the incoherent muddle immediately began to reshape into recognisable thoughts and feelings. As each emotion resolved itself, Maya began to peel away the layers of stress and fear that pervaded every corner of their mind.

Implanting the seeds of optimism and hope, she finished with subtle changes, carefully shifting their perception of the warp - it would last only a few days, but in that time, they would gain some resistance to the fear that naturally followed daemons, and perhaps save the psyker the effort of reorganising the acolyte's mind quite so soon.

She stepped back, watching. It would take a few moments to fully take hold, but when it did, they could once again become an asset in this war. Moving off, she looked around at the others.
For the last quarter hour or so, the psyker had been put to work using her powerful control over emotion, doing what she could to soothe some the minds that had begun to crack under the stress and fear.

But in spite of many refusing her aid, dealing with even the remainder looked to be too much for her. While she was doing something to stave off the contagious wave of unease in the bunker, she was finding it increasingly hard to concentrate with each passing minute.  The strain of using her powers was growing, and she was having to work to prevent the dread her empathic abilities were constantly absorbing from overwhelming her.

She could hear Lyra discussing something about the weaknesses of the daemonic with Inquisitor Glosche, with Kai occasionally correcting her tactical misconceptions. Presumably it was all part of another backup plan for countering whatever monstrosity it was bearing down on them.

She blinked, rubbing her temples with her free hand. Two seconds later, she paused in mid-motion, struck by the sudden impression that she had missed something - some fact that she hadn't quite noticed. Stretching out with her mind, she carefully investigated the emotions of each person in the room in turn. While the deeper layers of thought were hidden from her, few people could hide their upper layers of emotion, even less so from a psyker of her talents. But it took her only a moment or two to realise that this wasn't what she was looking for - it was something about the room.

Looking closely at what appeared to be a blank patch of the opposite wall, she stepped forwards and carefully passed her fingers over it. It had escaped her notice, but it was fractionally out of place - very well concealed, however a subtly different tone and colour.

   "What the hell?", she whispered.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on June 08, 2010, 03:16:28 PM
He rolled from the tank as it entered to command centre Silv slid off behind him looking around he'd laid out his orders and she passed them on to those around them while he strode over to the chimera they'd commandeered entering the hold after the soldiers had exited he nodded as they left then climbed in speaking to the driver as the checked over the engine.

"If you wouldn't mind."

He nodded and left quickly closing the hatch behind him.

Sitting on one of the fold away seats he started to look through the papers and the dataslate they'd collected from the suite, reading over the details quickly he went from page to page, clues were forth coming but still the mystery was hidden, a series of codenames repeated "The General" "The Priest" "The Cog" they were clear enough a military man a holy and a mechanicus, but there were others "The Eyes" "The Ears" and "The Voice" "The Lord" and "The Master" they were less clear though he suspected the lord was the man in charge of the whole thing the master might be an inquisitor.

He read a communique to "The General" and paused

+Take control of the PDF and misdirect their attentions, you know what to do and how to do it, is the beacon secure?+

there was no reply and he growled pushing himself to his feet and exiting the tank he strode across the courtyard like a man with a murderous purpose

`
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on June 09, 2010, 10:03:03 AM
"I take it something's wrong, my dear?" Gideon inquired, and I despaired inwardly at how easily the man could go from utter panic and terror to the sort of easy familiarity that only comes when you've spent a night in someone else's bed. I didn't imagine for a second that Gideon had actually slept with anyone in this gathering, but he does have an annoying tendency to get around a bit.

So saying, I don't imagine that he'd have quite as many contacts and acquaintances as he does if he did keep it in his breeches.

"It's the wall," Maya stated, almost irritated by Gideon's question. "I'll admit that with my talents, not to mention a superior understanding of spatio-temporal metageometry, it stood out quite a while before I noticed it. But it's plainly evident to anyone who can see it."

I rolled my eyes. She sounded so much like Clarence did when he was her age, even though their talents lie in entirely different fields. I still can't help but wonder how well the two of them would get on together, even though he's probably about three or four times her age by now. In fairness, though, once you got past the latrine-sweeper hair and her occasional habit of making her eyes light up, she wasn't an unattractive woman, so I could see why Gideon was making his usual advances.

"See this section of wall here? Go ahead, feel it," Maya proposed. Gideon did so (though I couldn't help but notice that he was constantly trying to sneak a few looks at our psyker's non-combative assets), eventually staring at it intently, with both hands feeling their way around the wall.

"This wall's a fake," Gideon concluded, feeling his way along a jagged line I couldn't quite make out too clearly. "Has to be. You can actually feel the join with the rest of it. Ottakar, take a look at this."

"I think that between your appraisal and Miss Avens', any observations I make will be somewhat redundant," I countered. "Speaking of which, Maya, can you feel anything past it?"

"That's the problem. I don't actually know," Maya grumbled. "Obviously, yes, there has to be something behind it, but I can't tell what it is."

"Is there... I don't know, a secret button or anything to make the wall move?" Gideon ventured, spinning one-eighty to face Maya, who'd moved behind him and almost caught a face full of flying frock coat as Gideon turned.

"It's not the right shape to move anywhere without taking a chunk of real wall away with it," Maya noted. Evidently she didn't need to see or feel it to know its exact dimensions. "My guess is that it was meant to be knocked down in a hurry. Or at least, a lot faster than the rest of the building."

"In that case might I suggest you two get out the way?" I proposed.

Maya turned to face me and I watched her eyes glow faintly, boring into my own. I tried to shut her out but she'd already retreated again.

"You can't be serious," she sighed, glaring at me with what I assumed was trying to be disapproval.

"That wasn't so much a request, Miss Avens, as a warning. I don't want to cause you a serious injury by accident."

"He's out of his mind," Maya sniped at Gideon as I tensed.

"I think the correct term, my dear, is dangerously pragmatic," Gideon remarked, almost dragging her off to one side as I leapt at the wall and rammed my entire body into what I hoped was a weak spot.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on June 09, 2010, 11:14:51 AM
Fabio jumped as a resounding crash filled the room. Instantaneously forgetting his conversation with Lyra, he spun around and sprinted over to where Ottakar had ran straight at the wall. The burly inquisitor was lying on his power-armored backside, eyes slightly unfocused.

He had evidently bounced off the wall, but in doing so had left a large number of cracks in it. Fabio struck the flat of his palm against a loosened section of stone and was rewarded when it fell inwards, leaving a gap slightly larger than his head.

Fabio peered inside and then straightened up. Tapping the wall he muttered to himself: "Well, that's interesting. That's very interesting."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on June 09, 2010, 11:20:08 AM
He ignored the little dwarfs antics as he crashed into the wall, striding on he passed Lyra his eyes snapping up to looking in to hers as she watched him walk past, he went for the inner command core where the PDF were busy working over the central holo-projector, striding up behind Lord Gerhan he spun him by the shoulder an upper cut lifting him clearly from the ground, the pudgy man crashed back over the city projection and landed on the floor.

The guardsmen cried out at the sudden interruption as Gerhan tried to pick himself from the floor, some of the soldiers moved to block Jeremiah's advance as he strode round the projection unit.

"Move aside."

They stood their ground some holding weapons they' drawn.

"I said move aside."

He cared little of the eyes watching him as electrical discharge sparked from his fingers his eyes glowing with menace and fury.

Still the men did not move.

"One last warning, move aside or else."

"Or else what?"

Lyra had drawn we pistol and aimed it at his head.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on June 10, 2010, 12:17:29 AM
   "Inquisitor Crowe. At this range, if I pull this trigger, you'll be dead before you hit the floor, and no questions will be asked. Do not mistake my next order for a request."

She paused for a couple of seconds to let what she had said sink in. But no longer - giving him the time to figure out a plan could easily be fatal... to someone, at least.

   "Cease. Immediately."

He had either taken her seriously or realised quite how many other guns were pointing at him, because the psychic lightning around his fingers died out. Lyra shifted slightly, making sure she still had a certain shot for the back of his head before glancing sideways for an instant. She could see Kai to one side, hellpistol raised and aimed for Silvina, which would hopefully dissuade her from trying to get involved.

   "Good. Now, explain the meaning of this", ordered Lyra.

Jeremiah began to turn to face her, but she interrupted him.
   "Nuh-uh. Keep looking that way. I know the importance of eye contact to a psyker."
   "He's one of the conspirators. "
   "And you know this how?"

Irritated at having to explain himself, Jeremiah snarled.
   "Every second you delay me endangers us further."
   "You'd better answer quickly then."  

He muttered something under his breath which Lyra was sure enough was rude that she didn't bother asking for it to be repeated, before he spoke more clearly.
   "Silv - the dataslate."

Carefully watching the hulking Kasrkin and his considerably sized pistol as she did so, Silvina slowly pulled out the dataslate and moved towards Lyra.

   "If someone else wouldn't mind, I'm a bit busy to read at the moment" , the Inquisitor spoke without breaking her gaze, keeping her eyes fixed on the back of Jeremiah's head.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on June 10, 2010, 08:49:07 AM
"The communication records the final one from three days ago."

"That is enough."

He flexed his fingers as a PDF trooper took the slate and read it out.

"Good, now who took command of the PDF three days ago?"

"Lord Gerhan."

He waited for a moment.

"Do you still want to shoot me Inquisitor, so far I have been nothing but proactive in finding those behind this attack, and so far you have treated me with paranoid suspicion that is typical of the Ordo Perditus."

His gaze had been off to one side his head half turned in Lyra's direction but it snapped round looking at the guardsmen before him his voice was a low growl.

"Move."

He stepped forward bearing towards Gerhan.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on June 10, 2010, 05:21:03 PM
Lyra lowered her revolver, but she wasn't going to leave it at that.

  "Wait."

Jeremiah stopped, the irritation showing on his face again as Lyra stepped forwards. Getting in close enough that only he could hear her, she spoke in a harsh whisper.
   "Pull a stunt like that again and you won't get a chance to explain yourself. I do not tolerate 'silent antihero' acts."

She didn't leave him the time to answer before she pushed her pistol back into its holster, and turned to walk away, speaking as she left, this time clearly enough that others could hear.
  "Whatever you do, he's not much use to us dead. I'd start by confiscating any poisons he might have."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on June 14, 2010, 08:29:01 PM
Jeremiah stepped past the guardsmen none daring to challenge him after hearing the damming evidence to stand with Gerhan was to be tarnished with his actions, he stooped and picked the chubby man from the floor lifting him clear from the ground.

"I should kill you for betraying this world, maybe I'll feed you to the daemons, but not before you have told me all I want to know."

He took one of Gerhan's hands and with a quick twist snapped the wrist his cries of pain bringing the chamber to silence, before he broke the other one in the same manner, dropping the whimpering man to the ground he looked to several guards, standing beside Silv,

"Silv take him to a secure room with these guards, make him ready for interrogation."

He cracked his neck and removed his weapons laying them on an empty desk before walking after Lyra. Kai  stepped into his path and he locked eyes with the Karskin, his voice was calm yet threat dripped from it.

"Are you going to strike an Inquisitor trooper?"

He stood silently blocking his path, before stepping allowing Jeremiah to step round him, he noted the storm trooper tense as he did so but ignored it as he spoke.

"Inquisitor!"

She turned looking at him venom in her eyes, he paused looking back at Kai for a second.

"I have done nothing to gain your suspicion, all I have done is act in accordance with my former master's teachings, a former master whom I' remind you is dead on this world along with one of his acolytes, with another one likely to follow him if we do not solve the mystery behind this attack. I have so far found evidence and a suspect yet you treat me with paranoid suspicion, and threats, not to mention with each round of snide remarks and undermining comments you threaten the stability of this garrison, possibly the last garrison in this city maybe the world, we are in charge here all the Inquisitors and you driving a wedge of distrust between us is threatening that leadership and the what moral and courage we have left, if we tear each other apart it will be down to your scaremongering."

He turned looking Kai in the face and paused as he passed him.

"One more thing, the next time you draw a weapon on me you best use it."

He strode back into the command chamber.

"Gideon would you care to be my witness during the interrogation? Lest I plant words in his mouth."



Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on June 15, 2010, 01:23:33 AM
Bernard emerged from behind the vox-unit. He had placed himself there once it looked like the command chamber was going to host a short-range firefight. He didn't even have a weapon.

"Inquisitor Crowe, my aide can provide an Excruciator if you require one."

Oliver would be here very shortly, and would have brought it with him. Bernard took the dataslate from the guardsman who held it, glanced at the displayed communiqué. Lord Gerhan had argued against reinforcing Inquisitor Crowe and suggested many times a greater effort to save the civilian population. It could be true.

"Daath, copy this dataslate for every Inquisitor here. And signal Captain Henroth to have his Griffons open fire."

Hopefully, the bombardment would delay the daemonic host until Czernarvok was ready. Wyebold turned his thoughts back to the bunker, and remembered something.

"Inquisitor Grant, what have you found?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on June 15, 2010, 07:51:18 AM
"Actually, Jerry, I'm with Inquisitor Rhodes on this one," Gideon admitted after a brief pause. "You see, I don't exactly think it's very conducive to our morale if you're just swanning off without either letting us know why, or if you did find anything, not even telling us what you found out there. You accuse us of not doing our jobs as Inquisitors before you head off into the middle of a daemon-infested city, and then when you come back you don't even give us any indication of why Lord Gerhan is no longer to be trusted. In all honesty, I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it."

"You heard everything, then?" Jeremiah asked after a brief pause.

"It's pretty hard not to," Gideon noted, and I have to admit, he did have a point; Jeremiah wasn't exactly being quiet in there, and with some idiot having nudged the intercom to active, whatever we couldn't hear up the tunnel was being repeated over the vox anyway.

"Gideon, are you an idiot?" I sighed, resisting the urge to clock Gideon round the back of the head. I disliked and distrusted Jeremiah for much the same reasons as Gideon had already suggested, but I wasn't exactly going to be explicit about it with him in the room.

"I make no excuses for my actions; I did what I felt was right for the good of this planet and everybody on it," Jeremiah answered, locking eyes with Gideon. "However, I'll extend you the same offer again; I want you to observe the interrogation, precisely because you don't think you can trust me. A neutral third party may be exactly what we need."

Gideon seemed to ponder this for far too long, and I was actually on the verge of giving him a shove to "help" him make up his mind when he nodded, and silently moved behind Jeremiah in the direction of Lord Gerhan's office.

"Inquisitor Grant?"

I turned and saw Bernard Wyebold waving me over.

"What have you found?" he asked me, and I moved over to him slowly.

"...Sorry?"

"Over by the wall. Or past it. What is it?"

I turned back to the fake wall I'd rammed, and saw Fabio Glosche and Maya Avens standing by it, apparently only just getting back to work clearing away chunks of masonry.

"I don't know," I answered slowly, injecting a sense of purpose into my words. "But I'd rather like to find out."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on June 15, 2010, 08:47:43 AM
He strode off with Gideon following.

"Everything I found is in the chimera I requisitioned, when I discovered Gerhan's treachery I thought it best to act before he could interfere more than he already has done."

He staggered slightly his hand reaching out to steadying himself, he was exhausted the strain showing on his face for that briefest moment before he straightened.

"Are you ok?"

"Fine, lets get this over with."

He strode into the office where Gerhan was sat in a chair whimpering at his broken wrists Silv stood beside him waiting, they all turned as Oliver entered.

"Over there,"

He stepped forward hands on either side of Gerhan.

"Do you want to tell me what I want to know, or am I going to have to force it from your lips?"

Gerhan whimpered

"As Inquisitors we are masters of torture, we can drag this out for days, weeks even months but seeing as time if of the essence lets jump to the chase shall we."

He pushed his finger down into Gerhan's leg sparks playing off it he drove it in bringing a fresh scream from Gerhan, pulling the finger free he looking into Gerhan's face.

"Now we have an understanding time is short and I want answers, tell me what the plan was."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on June 15, 2010, 10:40:21 PM
Lyra moved over to see whatever it was Maya and Fabio were working on. As both Fabio and Ottakar were smoking, the area stank of lho fumes, but Lyra preferred that to having to be anywhere near Jeremiah.

   "I don't need to be psychic to know you're agitated."

Maya didn't actually make eye contact as she said this. It was odd for someone with such social understanding to disregard such an important aspect of communication, but at the same time, her empathic powers meant she had little need to interpret body language. When otherwise occupied, as she was now, she often forgot to make allusions to normal conversation.
It was an irony that she could say such a sentence while simultaneously using her talents.

   "He's a hateful man."
   "I don't much like him either. But his initiative may be what we need."
   "Initiative? I think 'unexplained brutality' suits what he's doing better."
   "Then why let him interrogate Lord Gerhan?"
   "If he truly is a conspirator, Gerhan is fully aware that he doesn't have to hold his silence long, and he's probably hardened to far worse tortures than Inquisitor Crowe can offer. He'll either give them nothing, or give them a pack of lies. It does, however, keep Gerhan away from causing any damage, and makes sure Jeremiah is out of the way, which saves me a bullet."

The psyker broke her concentration on the wall, turning to face the Inquisitor in mild disbelief. This bitterness was totally unexpected from the normally upbeat Lyra. Disregarding Maya's surprise, the Inquisitor changed the topic.

   "What are you doing?".
   "Trying to get through this false wall. Not sure where it leads, but we rather need to know.", Fabio answered, not recognising Lyra's unusual behaviour.
   "Right.", she nodded.

She looked up and down the wall, poking at it, then apparently reached a conclusion. Thinking briefly, she then turned and disappeared off.

   "Where's she off to?", Fabio asked as she left via one of the other doors.
   "I have no idea. She's just normally... this is way out of what's usual for her."
   "You think she's unwell?"
   "I think it's that other Inquisitor. That argument must been more heated than I thought."

They looked back as she re-emerged through the door, a smallish red object grasped in her hand. Striding over, she forced it into one of the many cracks in the wall, then looked sideways at the other two.

    "You might want to move."

She pulled the pin.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on June 16, 2010, 12:49:42 AM
Arisha put her hands over her ears and opened her mouth as she had been taught to do as the krak grenade went off. The exchange between the Inquisitors had opened her eyes to the huge devisions within the Inquisition. She had never truly believed that the Inquisition was anything other than a unified front but what she had seen here shattered that illusion completely.

Fabio waved a hand trying to clear the dust the filled the room and squinted into the opening. With a slight cough he straitened and sighed. "Well that wasn't nearly as useful as it should have been." There was a definite clear opening now but beyond several feet there was only a black tunnel. Deciding that she had had enough of hiding in the corner, Arisha stepped forward, clicking on a luminator and shining down the passageway.

For roughly five yards there was a smooth machine cut wall and beyond that, descending quickly into a sharp corner was rough stone.

   "Whose going in first then?" Lyra arched one eyebrow, glancing around at the rest of them.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on June 16, 2010, 06:02:35 AM
"We were to disrupt the local forces in case something was discovered, If an inquisitor found out what was going on they could be removed before they could gather enough force to challenge it."

Jeremiah sighed, Gerhan was talking without much forcing the slight applications of pain had loosened his tongue enough.

"What of Hess?"

He turned at Gideon's question.

"Was he involved?"

"No."

"Explain."

"He was dead when he arrived, I oversaw the security detail when he arrived, I've seen enough dead bodies to recognise them."

Jeremiah turned back to Gerhan.

"Who's pulling the strings?"

"I don't know."

"Silv?"

"He's telling the truth."

He looked back at Gideon.

"He doesn't know anything useful, he's more a pawn than Brant, wait, what is the beacon for?"

"I don't know."

"He's lying."

Jeremiah's fist snapped Gerhan's head to one side.

"I swear I don't know."

"Lies."

Jeremiah touched him electrical charge passing from his hand into Gerhan the scream echoed in the office, Gerhan sagged forward.

"It's a fail safe, should we be undone it's a means of escape, a dropship, it summons a dropship."

Jeremiah stood upright, looking at Gideon.

"So finally we know what it does."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on June 16, 2010, 12:52:25 PM
Fabio narrowed his eyes at Lyra's question. "Someone . . . expendable. No offense meant to any staff members here, but I would suggest one of them, unless Czernarvok has a trooper he's willing to spare. I'll go second."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on June 22, 2010, 09:03:09 PM
"Allow me, Lord"

The voice of the Skitarii rumbled up from somewhere within his armoured chest. Stepping around Fabio with surprising delicacy for such a bulky figure, he pushed through the opening with a scrape and his rifle ahead. Lit from behind, by both the luminator and bunker lights, his shadow slid past him along the passageway, though the shade posed no object to his augmented eyes. As he walked cautiously forward, and Fabio slipped silently through the opening to cover his advance, the soldier's silhouette merged with the darkness of the stairwell, seeming to flow downwards to meet it. At the corner, the Skitarii paused briefly, checked Fabio's position and swung around it. For a fraction of a second, there was silence, before training overruled confusion, and the word echoed back up to the assembled Inquisitors.

"Clear."

The staircase was shallow and short, the end barely out of sight from the passage. Resting there was a large power unit, a metallic blocky thing. A power cord lead to the side of a cup or cradle formed of wiring, cogitator parts and several data plugs, dangling loose. From the rear, like the stem of the bizarre goblet, a thick twisted cable looped into the ceiling.


Bernard tucked the laspistol away into a pocket. He felt a mild pang of guilt as he did so, keeping a weapon that could be put to good use outside. To conserve ammunition, he had ordered field executions to be carried out with blades. His thoughts on orders, he found he had to give. The tanks were ready, the mortars were firing and nothing he could to would help Czenarvok work faster. He resolved to check on Rhodes' noisy hole in the wall and Gerhan's interrogation. He made to head away from holo-table, and found Oliver, his adjutant, accompanied by Warton and Nefile. They all had matching backpacks, and slung autopistols, giving them the appearance of some kind of paramilitary group. Oliver spoke first,

"We've got the newer files, and whatever else we could grab."

"Casualties?"

"FLAX was wiped out. HEIGHT is dead. SWINDLE and TALLOW are helping our wounded, which is the rest, none critical."

Oliver spoke in codenames. Perhaps it helped him maintain detachment. Bernard gestured the others over to Daath, and led Oliver away from the table.

"We have time, tell me what happened."

Away from the others, Oliver allowed himself a long sigh, and a grimace.

"They were outside before the quake. They got back just as we were coming out, so I sent them ahead while we fixed up Skye's leg. A pair of cackling things flew out of the sky. Daemons, all teeth and barbs. We got one, the other left. A bit later, Dioneo sat down and shot himself."

The narration continued, as Oliver explained how they had found the Enforcers, helped them marshal the refugee column. How Elissa had been trampled by a panicking mob and left dazed and bleeding. Raimond had been getting a group of stragglers moving when they had heard screaming and gunfire from behind, and when they looked back, they'd seen some kind of multicoloured fire flare out of ground. Everyone caught in the flame had been dead when it cleared, except Raimond, who wasn't even singed, but when they'd reached him, he was mute, seemed deaf, and had to be led into a half-track. Artell had seemed fine, even optimistic, until he started shaking and cursing himself for weakness and the tremors got worse, and so had the curses until they gave him Morphia and put him on a makeshift stretcher because all the vehicles were full.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on June 24, 2010, 01:21:45 AM
Molovich ran a bionic hand over the steel flank of the Chimera, like a rider stroking a faithful steed before a charge. This was no mere horse however, it was a glorious work of the Omnisiah, a blessed machine and Molocih already mourned for the staunch vehicle that accepted its death so nobly and awaited the final command with grace and dignity. When first roused the Chimera, crudely named Furious by its human crew, but designated 11201/B, had shaken as if sickly but as Molovich installed the explosives and communed with the Machine Spirit its pumping ceramite heart had calmed.

He was unaware of how close the daemons were but 11201/B was ready to meet them and blast them back to their hellspawned pit.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on June 26, 2010, 12:43:42 PM
Gerhans skin was scorched his face bloody he'd released everything to the three of them, Jeremiah had taken a step back from the interrogation exhausted as he was from his exertions with his psyche, his breathing was strained and difficult and he was having trouble focusing his mind, he knew he needed time to meditate gather his focus and his strength.

Gerhan had told them of Brant's plan, to manipulate the astropathic choir to expose them to the perils of the warp and the resultant explosion which should have claimed the world, destroying it entirely and creating a warp storm to blind eyes from witnessing events that were to unfold over the Nexus Belt Worlds, Brant had been a willing sacrifice as had they all for they'd known it was for the greater plan, the masters through Brant had honoured them and lorded gifts on them for their fates, it had been a glamour and now that they had questioned Gerhan and forced him to speak his secrets that had been shattered he sat sobbing at his foolishness, Jeremiah felt almost sorry for him and his mind thought of others in his Order, Kyriaciou would condemn the man to a life time of penance, Altus and Vepres would end him killing him for his weakness, Necris would see him spend his life in a penal legion, though his actions had been darker of late though he could expect as much he had been Altus' student.

Silv looked ashen at the depth of the conspiracy, the revelation that Brant had given himself wholly to this was beyond her understanding, the very nation that he would willingly submit to suicide was anathema to her, maybe he had been under a glamour himself duped into submission and suicide by a more powerful force than himself if that had been the case then the players still to be uncovered were perhaps a greater threat.

The beacon was their best lead, a powerful transmitter it was installed in case their plan was uncovered it would allow them to escape and deliver an exterminatus shell, which meant their time was limited their deaths could come at any time delivered from orbit by one of their own ships.

"We have to tell everyone about this."

"What about him?"

His eyes slid to Silv.

"Leave him under guard for now, we'll have to deal with him at a later time."

Gideon nodded in agreement.

"Silv could you gather the Inquisitors, and only the inquisitors clear the command centre."

She nodded and stepped from the room, he turned his attention to Gideon.

"Still think I have something to do this? That I can't be trusted."

His tone was in all seriousness as he pushed himself to his feet.

++

Silv strode into the command centre her voice raising up high full of authority.

"Everyone not with the Inquisition out!"

The whole room turned to regard her.

"I mean it! if your not attached to the Inquisition get out now!"

She moved to a vox intercomm and activated it.

"All Inquisitors are required in the command centre Immediately, this is at the Request of Inquisitor Gideon Antal. I repeat All Inquisitors are required."

Her voice echoed round the base transmitted through vox units so all could hear her, she stood and looked at the staff still in the centre.

"Well?"

They started to move out giving the acolyte space, she watched as they departed and sighed leaning against the central console with the display of the city.


Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on June 27, 2010, 01:09:58 AM
As Lyra stepped into the room, Fabio turned to her.
  "Lyra... tell me what you smell."
  "Smell?" She stopped, slightly confused, before carefully sniffing the air, "Nothing really."
  "Neither could I. And that worries me. A sealed room should develop an odour."
  "So, it's not been sealed long,"
  "...or there's another entrance.", he finished the sentence, raising a laspistol Lyra hadn't seen him take out.

She mirrored him, drawing her revolver. She had left the lasrifle in the bunker above - it was a weapon for open spaces, not tight corridors, but she was sure she would need it again before the day was out.

Carefully moving across the chamber, she panned the handgun to face a gap in the shelving that housed the cogitator, when a voice came from her left.

  "And what the hell is this?"

Lyra whipped around, aiming for the speaker. Her eyes came to rest on Maya, who looked more amused than alarmed at having a pistol pointed at her. The Inquisitor cursed under her breath, and lowered the pistol. It was all too easy to forget the psyker was in the room.

  "What is what?"

Maya gestured at the goblet like part of the contraption that the room was housing. Lyra hadn't really looked at the machinery yet, having focused more on the who, than the what. Trusting that Fabio and the Skitarii were capable of searching the room on their own, she holstered her pistol, and moved in to have a better look.

Whatever the "cup" was, it was nearly empty, but for a tiny amount of fluid in the base. Pulling a pencil from the inside pocket of her jacket, she prodded at it, drawing out a long dribble as she lifted it back out.

  "Pretty viscous stuff. Although it might just have dried out."

Putting the pencil down, she carefully probed the surface of one of the clusters of wires with her gloved hands, noting a number of deliberately cut connections. Was this modification, or sabotage?
She had scarcely started looking over the device when her vox squawked. Listening to the transmission, she muttered a number of particularly colourful profanities, before turning back to Maya.

  "We've got to go back. And you're going to have to come upstairs as well.", she pointed at Maya, "Sorry, but it's just not safe being down here alone."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on June 27, 2010, 08:25:35 AM
Fabio turned to the skitarii. "Can you stay here and guard the area? It would seem that I am needed upstairs."

"Yes, lord," replied the skitarii, his voice harsh and electronic.

"Good man. Just stay near the stairs. There should be another exit in this room. Make sure nothing gets in." Fabio handed the skitarii a small comms-link. "Just call if you need help."

He walked off up the stairs. The skitarii backed up until his foot brushed against the lowest step, then crouched, letting his weapon scan across the room. 
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on June 30, 2010, 05:16:07 AM
"I expect this is important, acolyte, to empty the command centre."

Bernard spoke without rancour: he was annoyed by the breach of sense and protocol involved in ordering command staff away from their stations during a battle, but in truth they had done little but collect reports since Czernarvok had outlined his plan. The suspense had begun to build, and Bernard welcomed whatever information had been wrung out of Gerhan. However, as the drawn face of Antal's (or did this one belong to Crowe?) acolyte swung towards him, he feared his words could have been taken as a challenge, or rebuke. He attempted a thin smile, and tried to adopt his most reasonable tone.

"You have until Czernarvok's Chimera detonates, around eight minutes. At that point, we may be required to further coordinate our counterattack. The commander knows to what to do after the explosion, but should anything unexpected occur..."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on June 30, 2010, 11:42:49 PM
Silv looked at Bernard with scorn she hated being referred to as acolyte without any other notation she had a name and she would rather people used that than her rank, especially when it was spoken with such contempt.

"Orders from Inquisitors Crowe and Antal, they have information they need to pass on, and I think they should be the ones to do it."

She took a seat and waited for them all to gather.

++

Inside the office Jeremiah looked at Gerhan with cold eyes before turning and leaving him in the company of two guards, as they left he turned to Gideon.

"Would you mind relaying the information gathered to the others, I need to gather myself before I face others, these past hours have been nothing short of a drain on me."

He gestured at an empty office before heading off in the rooms direction, entering he cleared space on the floor before folding his legs under himself and sitting on the floor he rested his hands on his knees and closed his eyes.

"Blessed Emperor, grant me the calm and clarity of your holiness."

His breathing slowed as he brought himself back in line, restructured his psyche and gathered his powers mind.

Even in this state of meditation he could feel the maelstrom outside, the unremitting hatred for the living the fear and the desperation it flooded into him threatening to overwhelm him to swallow his resolve and pull him down into his own pit of desperation, in this darkest thoughts he contemplated taking his las pistol and putting bolt through his temple to end the potential suffering to come.

He forced himself to think of better times and happier days he remembered his childhood and his life as an enforcer, his training to be an Inquisitor while it was hard and almost broke him had been the best days of his life. He focussed on the happy thoughts the best parts of his life and he returned himself to balance.

His eyes snapped open and he let out a long slow breath.

"Now lets get to the matter at hand."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 09, 2010, 02:24:30 PM
Gideon looked around at the collected Inquisitors. As it looked like most of them were there, he

   "As most of you are probably aware, Lord Gerhan has been detained as a traitor to the Imperium, based on evidence Inquisitor Crowe recovered from the residence of Inquisitor Brant. With the urgency of our current situation..."

He hesitated slightly, staring down at the dataslate he held for a moment. He blinked a couple of times, composed himself again and continued.

   "... we pushed ahead with interrogation. With that scarcity of time in mind, are there any objections to me summarising?"

There was a general murmur of agreement.

   "Under Fifth Action interrogation, Lord Gerhan has confessed to his part in these events. Although he cannot name any other conspirators or explain the limited scale of the psychic event at the Astropathic choir, his confession agrees with the basic details Inquisitor Brant 'provided'. Possibly most importantly, he has identified the purpose of the beacon we have recovered."

He paused for a moment to ensure he had everyone's attention, but it was rather unnecessary, as the mere mention of an answer had been enough.

   "Lord Gerhan's testimony is that the device in question is intended for summoning a dropship - an escape craft."

A hubbub rose up, between those arguing for summoning the craft, and those that thought such a thing was a huge risk.

Unseen in the chair she had set herself out of the way, Lyra mustered yet another frustrated look, and tried to avoid contemplating the merits of giving herself a concussion on the nearby table.
This was why she didn't really like working with quite so many other Inquisitors. Everyone with their own view and the expectation that their way was the only way.

   "QUIET!"

Pushing herself out of her chair, although she was still a head shorter than most of the others, she continued.
   "No. I've said it before - truth and belief are not the same thing. I know I'm not the most experienced here, but I've seen enough to know that if someone is behind this kind of thing, you destroy any evidence that could lead the Inquisition to you. Underlings you might have count as evidence - so you don't leave them a way out. "

   "It's doubtful it would even work at all.", Bernard muttered, clearly irritated that attention had shifted back to the device. He gestured to the holodesk that was displaying the tactical maps, pointing at a marker someway separate from the others.
   "We've not heard from anyone further out than here, which is only a few clicks. The transmitters we have here should be capable of over a hundred times that. Based on what Inquisitor Czernarvok said about the transmitter's range, and accounting for how much the distortion and interference will affect things, this claimed dropship is going to have to be within..."

He manipulated the controls, with the map zooming out, and a large red ring creeping in from the edges.

   "... about this twelve kilometre radius, even allowing for the greater efficiency of a coded signal. If they've accounted for the distortion, they'd be inside this circle."

Ottakar looked over the map for a moment.
   "And if they haven't accounted for the distortion?"
   "Then we have to assume the craft is out of range and unable to play any part in events."
   "But 12 K - that's well within the exclusion zone around the fortress, so... ah.", Lyra trailed off as she realised her mistake.
   "Inquisitor Brant was involved in this, and he had a lot of power here. If he needed to smuggle a craft in, he could.", Fabio finished for her.
    "Yes, but we can assume that they wouldn't be able to land too close to the Fortress because of the risk of being physically seen. The same could be said of the PDF barracks, the Arbites precinct... that's a major residential area..."

Bernard tapped at the map, smaller circles appearing centred around various zones, the map fading to grey inside them, leaving coloured patches remaining.

   "That's still a lot of potential hiding places."
   "Less than before. We can categorise them by likelihood, then try and direct forces to search the areas. It's not good, but it's marginally safer than trying the beacon."

There was a heavy pounding on one of the doors. Without waiting for a reply, Kai pushed into the room.
   "How dare..." began someone behind Lyra. She couldn't be bothered to turn to work out who it was.
   "Oh, go boil your head." she snapped, before turning to the sergeant. "Kai?."
   "Ma'am. Sirs. The 'creature' has been sighted. I'd guess there's three minutes before it's at the defences. If you'll accept my advice, it would do a lot for morale if the men up top didn't feel you were all hiding down here."
   "Of course."

Picking up her lasrifle from the table, she primed it, then turned to the other Inquisitors.

   "Who's with me?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on August 09, 2010, 10:58:40 PM
Molovich squawked a burst of binaric and his remaining skitarius spoke for him, "The Chimera is prepared, it waits only for the final order." Molovich directed his forces to exit the building and he followed them out, the Praetorians accompanying the Inquisitor to the furthest edge of the compund, ready to receive the enemy.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 11, 2010, 09:51:34 AM
Fabio stood. "I agree with the sergeant," he said. "I should have enough time to prepare one last surprise for that hell-fiend. Maybe to ward some of the soldiers too, if luck is on our side."

He turned. "Jeremiah, would you join me?"
"Of course," the other inquisitor replied.

They strode out of the room and out into the courtyard. Fabio stopped a guardsman carrying a missile launcher.

"Soldier, is your aim true? Are you stout of heart in the face of our enemies?"
"Yes, lord inquisitor!"
  Fabio nodded, satisfied by the precision of the man's answering salute. He was in control of himself.

"Give me one of your krak missiles, soldier." The guardsman beckoned to one of his companions, who proffered the tank-busting missile to Fabio. He took it, then, without asking, took the guardsman's knife. He paused.

"Jeremiah, do you specialize in protective wards or offensive wards?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 12, 2010, 01:53:34 AM
"I am stronger in the offensive, Silv is strong with defensive ward."

He looked to the walls gesturing with one of his fingers.

"That will be the main focus of the attack."

He checked his side and cursed.

"I left my side arm in the office inside, To hell with it I won't need it."

He strode off towards the wall section he'd indicated it was just off to one side of the main gates, as he strode over he summoned soldiers to him gathering them round him in an defensive formation, he turned to them talking.

"Any of you show any signs of turning from this battle and I'll show you there are worse things than a commissars bullet."

He flashed them a wicked grin

"And when you make it through this I'll make sure there is a round of drinks waiting for you."

He turned his attention back to Fabio

"Offensive ward?"

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 12, 2010, 10:46:27 AM
Fabio looked meaningfully at the krak missile held in his arms.

"For this," he said. "One final surprise."

He set the missile down on the ground and then ran his hands over its outer casing.

"If you can carve some hexagrammic or pentagrammic wards on this thing's casing, it'll hurt the daemon a lot more. I'll go ward some of the other defenders if you'll take care of this for me. If you know any other simple wards that'll burn a daemon, they'll make a good addition."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 13, 2010, 01:27:16 AM
Standing atop the perimeter wall, Lyra could see the daemon prince for the first time. It was still fortunately a few hundred metres away, seemingly delayed by the perverse hacking apart of bodies.

It made a sudden movement, hurling something several dozen yards vaguely towards them. It was only when the terrified screams reached Lyra that she realised that it wasn't a something, it was a someone. The sound stopped abruptly with a solid crack as the body smashed into a tree.

   "Emperor's teeth. We're fethed.", Maya's exclamation was hardly morale boosting, but it summed up the fear that saturated the atmosphere.
   "Lighten up...", Lyra gestured to the cluster of other Inquisitors down behind them, "...it's far from a lost cause. "
   "Forgive me no longer treating the Inquisition as invincible. I've been around you a little too long."
Lyra smirked.
   "Insubordination? Am I not supposed to shoot you for..."

Lyra's energy field shorted out with a loud crack and a heavy lead bullet whipped past, so close to her head that her hair twitched in the shockwave, embedding itself in a concrete barricade behind her. Instantly reacting, she dived for the cover of the parapet, screaming a warning.

   "SNIPER! FIND COVER!"

The defences descended into mayhem, with troops, Inquisitors and support staff trying to get behind what cover was available. As Lyra shifted into a slightly more dignified position, a soft beep indicated that her energy field had reset itself.

Her vox chirped, and while the voice that came over the transmission was slightly distorted, Lyra still recognised Fabio's slightly world weary tone.
   "What's happening?"
   "A sniper just missed me by about two centimetres."
   "Then Gerhan must have alerted allies to interfere with our defences. We don't have time for this."
   "It's more than time that's threatened. We've got a Chimera packed with several tonnes of Fyceline in the courtyard. If they've got a missile launcher... well, we'd be shafted."

She turned to Maya:
   "Any chance of you tracking them psychically?"
   "Not at that kind of range. If they're any good, they're probably too far out for auspexes too.", the psyker looked apologetic.
   " Don't worry about it. I think I've got an idea."

She activated her vox.
   "Inquisitor Czernarvok, are you there?"

There was an agonising few seconds before the reply came through. Presumably the Inquisitor had needed to reconnect his 'voice'.
   "Affirmative."
   "Is there any chance you might be equipped with auditory assayers?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 14, 2010, 11:13:40 AM
He'd coated the missile with his blood in a swirling pattern, the ward was a banishing ward but it was not complete passing it to Silv he let her do her work altering his pattern to add her own warding of sanctuary when she was finished she loaded it into the launcher.

"Czernarvok, send the tank."

He looked at Fabio

"I'm going to show you where your sniper is."

He stood moving along the lines his voice lifting.

"Men of the Emperor! Steel your hearts know that the Inquisition is with you, that these daemons will not win this day for your strongest armour still remains, our faith in Him on Terra our contempt for the wrongness of that which comes against us and the knowledge that mankind rules these stars and always will."

He stopped and pointed at the daemon prince beyond.

"That is nothing, not when compared to a man, a man is solid he has a soul that thing will melt away into nothing, and what is nothing against the flesh of man!"

He twisted from his feet as a shot struck against him but pushed himself back up.

"See ever our enemies strike at us, those lost to the daemons those who have forfeited them souls to the darkness, but even they are powerless against us, so stand and show the enemy that we fear nothing they can throw against us."

He moved along the line again weaving quickly between the men back to Silv and Fabio ducking down behind the defences he cursed as blood pumped from his left shoulder.

"Shiv that stings, tell me you found him."

Fabio looked up from his rifle.

"I think so, I'll co-ordinate with Czernarvok to range in on the target."

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 14, 2010, 12:01:04 PM
Fabio raised his voice. "Czernavok, have you got a range on that sniper?"

"Affirmative," came the other inquisitor's answer, his voice-unit hunkering down behind a crenelation. "Target is approximately 400 meters from your location. Direction and range place the sniper somewhere in the ruined hab-block on your right, on the third floor. Take him out."

Fabio peered at the hab-block through his rifle's scope. As he scanned the windows, he caught a glimpse of sudden movement as a tall, stick-thin figure appeared in one of the windows. The sniper's shot punched through the helmet of a guardsman standing to Fabio's right. For a second, time seemed to slow for him.

The guardsman fell, gore exploding from the holes in the front and back of his skull. The enemy sniper began to drop below the window sill, trying to get out of sight. Fabio squeezed off a trio of shots. Two hit the sniper in his upper left arm, while the third shot barely missed his head. Fabio cursed. He knew the hits he had managed wouldn't stop the sniper from picking them off. He needed another chance.

An idea occurred to him. It was risky, but then again, it might be his only chance. He needed to give the sniper a target that would occupy his attention. Perhaps a certain power-armoured inquisitor would stand out as being important.

"Ottakar, how averse are you to being used as bait?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 14, 2010, 12:25:03 PM
Seeing Jeremiah go down with a spray of blood, Maya looked sideways at Lyra.

   "I hate to tell you this, but he really hasn't added any weight to your arguments about the competence of the Inquisition."
   "He is a biomancer, so I suppose he plans to heal himself. But if he got hit in the head... okay, yes - he is an idiot."

Lyra waited a second, then smiled.
   "I've wanted to say that all day."
    "You called him an idiot earlier - after he'd drawn that ward by the gate." , the psyker gestured in the vague direction.
   "Yeah, well, he's got on my nerves since then."

Several shots rang out, and Lyra's view snapped over to see a guardsman collapse next to Fabio. Her vox crackled in:

   "Ottakar, how averse are you to being used as bait?"
    "Are you sure that's wise? That rifle overloaded my energy field - and it just went through both sides of a guardsman's helmet like it was butter. Is power armour enough?"
   "Have you got a better idea?"
   "Well, it would probably be best to not get hit in the first place - and I've got someone who can bend light up here. Your call I guess, but make it quickly."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 14, 2010, 02:41:07 PM
Fabio considered Lyra's suggestion. A new idea occurred to him.

"Maya, you can make yourself invisible."

"Yes, you know that."

"The question here is: can you make me invisible? I'll be able to get a clearer shot if I don't have to dodge bullets myself."

As if to emphasize Fabio's point, another guardsman fell to the floor, screaming and clutching at his right arm. 
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 14, 2010, 03:56:18 PM
   "I've never tried. It could theoretically work, but I'd need to be a lot closer."
    "How close?"
   "Two, maybe three metres. I'd also need some cover to hide behind - there's no way I could veil both of us at once."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on August 14, 2010, 07:19:58 PM
I initially didn't want to answer, worried that I'd give my position away, but when the shot I'd anticipated didn't come, I considered Glosche's proposal more carefully.

"A sound proposal. Risky, but sound," I stated, making sure my guns were all in the right places. "Unless our sniper's using an anti-materiel rifle, which I doubt, I'll hold up to anything that isn't a direct headshot or a lucky hit on a joint."

"Then you'll distract him?" Glosche asked, sounding hopeful. I thought I caught Inquisitor Rhodes sighing wearily over the vox, but dismissed it.

"Warning: Be aware that presenting yourself as a target entails a high level of risk," Czernavok added unnecessarily. "To that end, I--"

"Thank you for your opinion," I sighed, eager to just get it over with. The sooner I was no longer at risk of being sniped, the better. "Glosche, cover me."

I caught a grunt of disapproval from Czernavok, overlaid with Glosche's confirmation, and spying a low wall, I sprinted towards it, crouching low but still making myself noticeable (to be fair, power armour wasn't built for stealth, so every step I took was making a racket). As expected, the sniper's bullet ricocheted from my shoulder, pinging off somewhere behind me.

It meant the sniper had made himself visible, even just partway.

Perfect.

Skidding to a halt just behind my cover, I waited and hoped that Glosche could take his shot.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 14, 2010, 07:23:08 PM
The wound had already sealed a red mat of scar tissues forming and full mobility had returned to his shoulder but the pain remained and would for a long while he could heal almost any wound but the pain always lingered like his own mind rebelled against his ability to repair himself unnaturally.

"Fabio, you need to get to her and you need cover while you do it Ottakar is giving you a distaction but you'll still be an open target."

He turned pushing a hand against the wall they were using as cover.

"Everyone clear this area, Silv leave the launcher behind me."

The guardsmen moved backing away and clearing the wall leaving only him and Fabio.

"Ready....go."

Lighting erupted from his hand shattering the wall and creating a cloud of dust before them Fabio broke into a run as he pulled the launcher to his shoulder dropping to his front he sighted down the length of the weapon before squeezing the trigger, the wash of the rocket's motor spread the dust cloud along the wall clearing the space where he lay, he rolled to one side as the sniper fired the las round tearing up the masonry sending chips of stone chasing after him, ducking back into cover he watched as Fabio darted along the wall to duck in beside Maya, his attention turned to the rocket as he screamed through the are a trail of crimson light flowing from it as it sought it's target, the warded warhead bore down on the daemon prince aimed with the aid of his warp sight and struck it square in the chest with a deafening explosion, the daemon staggered the wards inscribed upon it working in unison to prevent it from healing from the wound, he shouted out his voice ringing across the courtyard

"Men of the Imperium, give fire and show these daemons we are not afraid!"

The wall lit up as the guardsmen stood and gave fire the area effect of his banishment ward meant the lesser daemons were cut down by the massed las fire as they rushed towards the walls, then the tanks opened fire it was carnage and destruction, but he knew the effect would be short lived they needed to end the Daemon Prince now, he roared into his vox link.

"Czernarvok send that dammed tank now!"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on August 14, 2010, 11:07:14 PM
"Inquisitor Czernarvok, time to target?"

There was no reply. Bernard spoke for a second time into the vox-set, before handing it back to the operator. Perhaps it was the proximity of the Daemonic host or an intensification of the storm causing addition interference. Since the other Inquisitors had departed, the vox had been full of static and other, more disturbing sounds. Bernard had elected to remain in the bunker, and Gideon had readily agreed to stay as well. He was currently trying to make sense of the reports from the perimeter.

As Bernard moved back to the holo-table, he saw the results: an angry swarm of red dots flashing into existence around the circle of blue. Gideon looked up from his data-slate and spoke:

"Snipers and small groups attacking all over"

"Probing for weakness and pinning down our perimeter units. We can't afford to reinforce them." Bernard said, before glancing towards Oliver, across the table. "Second-line ready?" 

A nod. Good. Biting briefly at a knuckle, Bernard noticed the anomaly in the display. He pointed to the uppermost eagle, furthest from the Arbites Precinct.

"Why nothing here? Have you heard from them?"

An adept answered. They had not.

"Try voxing."

No response.

"It could just be comms. Keep trying. Send a runner."

He turned his attention back to the main battle. Gideon held a vox-phone close, and over the open channel he heard the unmistakable sound of battle cannon fire, along with a distorted voice saying:

"-peat, have engaged."

Yet still a distressing lack of exploding tank. What was going on out there?
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 15, 2010, 12:30:11 AM
Fabio came crashing to a halt between the two women. Half glancing at Lyra as a form of rushed greeting, he turned to Maya.
   "Maya. As quickly as you can."

The psyker nodded. Leaning forwards, she carefully supported her head in her hands.
   "This... may... feel slightly weird."

She took two deep breaths, then tensed. For a brief instant, Fabio appeared almost as if viewed through a kaleidoscope, but then the scattered images disappeared, leaving only empty air.

   "Impressive." Lyra murmured, before looking up at where she assumed Fabio's head was.
   "Make it quick. She's good, but she's never done this before."

Inside the psychic veil, Fabio pushed himself up, resting his long-las on the wall in front of him. Maya was right. It was weird, although he wasn't sure words actually existed to describe quite how. But this was no time for poetic descriptions, it was a time for action.

There was a slight movement in the building. As he sighted in on it, Fabio's mouth formed an sentence, but the sounds never joined it. He didn't really notice the instant when he pulled the trigger, lost as if it was part of a dream, but he could see that the shot had done its job.

Crouching down again, he tapped Maya on the shoulder twice. As the psyker's position loosened, he felt an alarming sensation of falling, but in the next instant, it was gone. He could tell from Lyra's eye movements that he was once again visible.

    "Is it done?", Maya spoke without looking up. Her voice had again lost the power behind it, sounding eerily weak.
    "He's dead.", Fabio nodded, before standing and turning to face the terror which was bearing down upon them. He was of the Ordo Malleus. It was time to prove it.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 15, 2010, 01:54:18 AM
"The daemon will come through the gate," said Fabio. "But at least it'll be alone, and wounded."
In the background, he could see the explosives-laden chimera slowly moving towards its target.

Fabio felt strangely detached. Perhaps it was an after-effect of Maya's power, or simply an acceptance of the truth that he was most likely about to die. Either way, it didn't really matter. He turned towards Lyra, suddenly realizing how battered and worn he must look. The thought caused him a tinge of embarrassment.

He reached underneath his blood-stained shirt and pulled out a silver locket. Flipping it open he stared at the holo-lith inside. Himself, his twin brother, his master and his master's wife, all hugging and grinning at the lithographer's instruments.

He felt, rather than heard, the whumph of the chimera exploding.

"This . . . this is my family," he said. "My master, Jorken, his wife, Racquel and Marcas, my-my brother. They're all gone now. All dead. Perhaps today I shall join them." He stuck his hand out to Lyra. She took it, the firm handshake helping him ground himself. 

"It . . . it was a pleasure working with you Lyra." Fabio turned towards Maya.

He stepped close to her, then placed the silver locket around her neck. "Keep it," he said. "To remember me by. I do not want to be forgotten. Especially not by you." In a sudden movement, he hugged her and planted a quick kiss on her forehead. Maya shoved him away, embarrassed.

Fabio grinned. "You know, Jorken's wife was an untouchable. It's funny, but the two of you, you and Racquel I mean, seem so alike." He paused. 

"I . . . I think that if I had ever married, it would have been to someone like her. Someone like you, Maya."

He turned away to avoid the looks he knew the two women would give him.

"Goodbye," he said. 
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 15, 2010, 03:12:31 AM
Lyra was somewhat lost for words. It wasn't until she had watched Fabio's slightly strange movements as he left that she finally decided what to say.
  "He's lost it. Again. What did you do?"

The psyker seemed slightly dazed, peering at the locket Fabio had hung around her neck. She turned it over in her fingers as she spoke, studying the reflections off its surface.
  "I don't know. Veiling can give a strange detachment from reality, but it never normally lasts."
 "You're sure you didn't make a mistake?"

Maya let go of the locket, letting it drop down on its chain, and turned her head right to look straight at Lyra.
  "No. I'm not sure. But I'm burnt out - if I made a mistake, I haven't the power to fix it."

Ignoring the pandemonium around himself, Fabio had drawn his sword, and was drawing complex swirls on it in what Lyra assumed was his own blood.

  "I think he's going to face the daemon in melee. He's got to be delusional."
  "No. I think he's scarcely cared about living for years. This locket - it carries real emotional weight."
  "I thought you said you were burnt out?"
  "I don't need my powers to see that. Nobody carries something like this for no reason."
  "Cute. But he's still delusional. I don't think he really wants a daemon consuming his soul."

She shifted out of her seated position, coming into a low kneel. Maya sat up, immediately alert.
  "And call me selfish if you must, but I think we need him alive. Really, I cannot possibly cope with Jeremiah being the only Malleus Inquisitor here."
  "What are you going to do?"

Lyra unclipped a small dull metal cylinder from her belt. She pressed one of the buttons on it, and was rewarded with a cluster of green lights. Pressing the button again, the lights faded.
  "The best I can do. Hope that daemon princes are affected by gravity."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 15, 2010, 03:34:17 AM
The daemon prince finally reached the gates. It was battered, severely wounded by both the warded missile and the exploding chimera. And it was angry.

Its long, crab-like claws tore into the thick steel of the gates and tore them open. It strode through their remains.

Fabio stood alone in the courtyard, tears streaming down his face, his sword burning with white fire. 

"Come on then!" he shouted. "I've had enough! I've been living on a prayer for too long! I've been dead for the last ten years! Come and try me if you think you're hard enough!"

The daemon chuckled and ran towards him. Fabio tensed himself.

Lyra threw her graviton grenade.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 15, 2010, 12:52:13 PM
The first of the green lights turned red as the grenade left Lyra's hand. Fabio tensed, his sword held in a firm fighting stance. His eyes darted across the daemon's form, searching for a point to strike, a way to kill it.

The second light changed as the grenade arced through  the air. The third  followed suit as the small cylinder hit the ground, bouncing and rolling.
The daemon bared its claws. It had been wounded by these impudent humans, and it desired little more than the thrill of revenge.

The fourth light blinked to red as it rolled to a halt on the dusty ground a few feet in front of Fabio, just as the daemon leapt. The grenade rolled up onto its end, pulled by an invisible force. And the last light changed.

There was a huge rush of wind, a hundred thousand litres of air displaced by the undeniable force of gravity. Lyra threw up an arm, shielding her face from the spray of loose stones and dust the grenade had kicked up.

The red lights on the grenade faded out as one, and the gravity field shut off, allowing the air to rush back into the vacuum left with a deep boom.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 15, 2010, 01:43:16 PM
The pain was horrific. Fabio struggled to breathe. He felt as though something had caved in his chest.

He sat up. The blast from Lyra's graviton grenade had thrown him across the courtyard and into the perimeter wall. He was sure he'd gone through a couple of crates before he hit it too. 

Despite the pain, he was sure he wasn't too badly hurt. Some broken ribs, a sprained left wrist, perhaps a few broken fingers. Then he looked down, and realized his original sensation of having his chest caved in was very nearly correct.

The twisted ruin of his shirt helped hide a little of the damage. But it was easy for him to see what had happened. Some gravel, a few pebbles and a small rock had been just a few of the objects making up the debris scattered around the courtyard. Unfortunately, the graviton grenade had propelled them in the same direction as Fabio.

He gasped and realized he had a punctured lung. Blood began to seep into his mouth as he tried to yell out.

"Maya! Lyra! . . . Jeremiah?  . . . Somebody . . . somebody help me . . . please . . ."   
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 15, 2010, 03:41:19 PM
Lyra glanced left and right. She could see Fabio in amongst a pile of debris on the far side of the courtyard. The daemon too had been blown a considerable distance. She hadn't been sure about using the grenade at its full power, but not knowing how effective it would have been on the daemon, she hadn't been able to compromise.

Fabio didn't look good, but he was probably whole lot better off than he would have been after fighting a daemon. Looking over her shoulder at Maya, Lyra raised a gloved hand, pointing at the wounded Inquisitor.

   "Maya. Check Fabio."

She didn't wait for a reply before raising the lasrifle to her shoulder and firing a burst of shots into the prone daemon.

   "It's not enough!"  a shout came from further down the line as the daemon began to stand.

Lyra stepped forwards, trying to find a better shot, and nearly tripped, her foot rolling on Maya's discarded staff. Looking down, the swear word stopped in her throat. Reaching down, she picked it up, hefting it in her hand.

   "Jeremiah!" , she practically screamed the name, hoping that he would somehow hear her over the din.

By some miracle, he turned. Hurling the staff as hard as she could muster, Lyra watched the imperfect javelin soar through the air.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on August 15, 2010, 06:34:14 PM
I couldn't help but notice the effect of both the Chimera bomb and the graviton grenade on the daemon, but nonetheless it contrived to get back up, battered and bleeding from a score of lacerations that oozed black ichor. A curious stench of perfume and strong amasec emanated from its many wounds, unless that was just its own (un)natural odour masking the smell of promethium and hot metal from the Chimera wreckage.

It was still alive, and still moving, and still very angry.

Movement to my right caught my attention and I watched a force staff -- undoubtedly Maya Avens' -- sail through the air as the psyker herself rushed to attend Glosche, supine on the floor and severely injured from the graviton grenade. Jeremiah Crowe caught it, but I doubted he'd do anything more with it than tick the daemon off even further, especially weakened as he was.

The thing itself was about four times my height, and the pincers on its hands clacked menacingly as it picked up an unfortunate Guardsman and crushed him like a paper doll. Jeremiah was doing his best, for all it was worth, directing the odd bolt of Warp lightning at the daemon, but he wasn't having much success, as I'd anticipated.

We needed something big to take the daemon out, and as the thought passed through my head I turned around, looking for Czernavok. Naturally the machine-man was nowhere in sight, but a hulking Praetorian servitor that I'm sure was one of his was still moving somewhere behind me, back towards our fortifications.

"Grant to Inquisitor Czernavok, do you read me?" I voxed.

For the first few seconds, static filled my ears, but eventually Czernavok's voice came through.

"Statement: Receiving you, Inquisitor Grant."

"There's a Praetorian between me and the walls," I began, a plan forming swiftly as the daemon came even closer. I didn't have to see its next victim to hear the crunch of bones splintering in its hands. "Is it one of yours?"

On cue, the Praetorian itself turned to face me, its eyes -- or what I thought should have been eyes, at any rate -- locking with my own.

"Perplexed Confirmation: I am registering visual contact with you, Inquisitor. Might I inquire as to the nature of your question?"

"Do you think it can give me a boost?"

"Request Clarification: I do not understand what you mean."

I paused, but the next scream, pursued swiftly by an electric crackle from Jeremiah, galvanised my thought process and the words came only too quickly.

"I'm not exactly going to score a head shot on the daemon from down here, and if I close with it then I'll go the same way as our soldiers," I pointed out. "So I need some extra height."

A hiss of static, which I'm convinced was Czernavok voicing his disapproval rather than the comms fouling up, filled my ears and lingered for several seconds.

"Are you going to help me, Czernavok, or not?" I shouted as the daemon swatted Jeremiah aside with a psychic attack; judging by the scratching at the inside of my head and Maya Avens' scream of sudden pain, the attack was meant more to incapacitate through sheer pain than to kill, but it could easily have done just that to Jeremiah and although I didn't like the bastard, I didn't want that thing killing anyone else.

"Direct Order: Face the daemon, Inquisitor Grant."

"That's no bloody help," I snarled, readying both bolt pistols and lining up whatever shot I could manage, but the vox squawked again before I could pull the triggers.

"Repetition: Face the daemon, Inquisitor Grant."

The coin dropped and my stomach lurched as the Praetorian stomped towards me, its arms held out wide and low, but the logic was perfectly clear.

"Unnecessary Warning: Brace for impact."

The voice came from the Praetorian, not the vox, and before I knew it the Praetorian had both hands around my waist, its powerful augmetics lifting me off the ground with disturbing ease. Stepping forwards into a lunge, the Praetorian swung its arms up and forwards, and let go.

The daemon saw me coming, but it didn't have a clue what hit it as I crashed into its chest, shoulder-first, my power armour weathering the impact with ease. A gasp of wine-scented breath exploded from its throat with a cough and very nearly made my eyes water, but more importantly, I'd unbalanced the daemon and it tripped over the remains of a wall, toppling backwards and almost throwing me clear with the impact of its landing.

Before it could react to its peril, I levelled both bolt pistols at its eyes and emptied the magazines into its brain.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 16, 2010, 01:13:32 AM
"Dammed woman."

He leapt from the wall catching the staff he yelped as he landed knowing that at least one of the bones in his ankle had broken, steadying himself he drew power into himself an aura of deep blue building round him and the staff as he used it's amplifying properties he strode forward limping to place himself between the daemon and Fabio. He watched as the daemon weathered the shots from Ottakar's bolt pistols as it stood again but suddenly it's head shattered and it tumbled backwards felled. He'd done it Emperor praise him in his stupidly brave stunt he'd killed the Daemon Prince, now there was just the matter of the lesser daemons and in Ottakar's apparent bravado he turned as the daemonic horde flooded in levelling his pistols at them.

"Ottakar stop."

The Inquisitor paused and looked at him, noticing the aura surrounding him the other Inquisitor lowered his pistols as he shouted at the daemons.

"You are not welcome here Daemons of Hell!"

A voice hissed into his mind as the largest of the lesser daemon's head snapped round to look upon him the smalled daemons formed behind it.

'You think you can stand against all of us mortal, join us and we will show you such pleasure.'

He half turned his face from the daemons his teeth bared like some rabid animal as it started to move towards him, images of perverse pleasure flooded through his mind, he roared as he turned to face the daemons full.

"The only pleasure I desire in to serve my Emperor."

He levelled the staff at the daemons before reversing it and throwing it like a spear the staff shrouded in blue light tore through the air leaving a trail of light that burned the retinas and left a painful after image, the largest daemon tried to swat the weapon aside but as it touched the force staff the light from it exploded outwards like a sun it burned for a second blinding all that looked upon it when the light faded and the observers sight retuned the space the daemons had occupied was empty the daemons having ceased to exist, the staff stood embedded in the ground the surface of the metal white hot a heat haze shimmering from it's surface.

He staggered dropping to one knee, he spat blood bright red across the ground before him, he pushed himself to his feet drawing his sword he used it as a brace as he moved towards Fabio Maya knelt beside him.

"Let me see him."

He knelt resting a hand on his chest.

"The pain will remain afterwards....this might hurt like a vissing bastard."

He concentrated focussing on Fabio's ribs first snapping them back into place he drew the chunk of stone from his lung pulling it into the palm of his hand before he knitted the flesh of his body back together, he delved deeper re-moulding the collapsed lung and sending the blood from his lung up his throat and in a fit of coughing out of Fabio's mouth, he supported it as Fabio drew his first breath then his hand recoiled and he collapsed to one side, his shoulder wound had reopened the blood flowing again. He rolled to one side looking up at the sky a hole had formed in the warp storm above them, he could see the stars beyond, it was night time how long had they all been awake for?

"Secure the wall..."

He drifted off into darkness.

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 16, 2010, 12:22:28 PM
"Oh God-Emperor! That fething HURT!" said Fabio as he bolted upright. "What the hell just happened?"

"Calm down, Fabio," Maya replied. "Inquisitor Crowe just healed you. You-you nearly died, from what I could tell."

"Another day, another chest-full of shrapnel," Fabio said, somewhat absentmindedly. "Why are we all still alive?"

"Ottakar killed the daemon. I'll tell you the details later."

"Hmph. Trust him to steal the glory. Maybe I'll ask him to transfer to Malleus. He'd get instant status after something like that."

Maya looked at him cautiously, a little puzzled by Fabio's undoubtedly good mood. What had happened to the pessimistic, self-destructive man she had been talking to only minutes before?

"Fabio, are you feeling alright?"

"I feel fine. In fact, I feel fething brilliant. I haven't felt this good since . . ." He trailed off.

"Since when?" Maya asked.

"Since . . . since Schindelgheist. It's been a long time. I'd forgotten how it felt to be alive."

He looked around. "It's weird," he said. "I give you my locket, I go down expecting to die, I nearly do die, and then I'm back to my old self. What changed? There has to be a reason . . ."

"Maybe your near-death experience changed you for the better?" suggested Maya.

"No," said Fabio. "This is different. This is . . . something else." An idea dawned on him. "Maya, can I have my locket back for a minute?"

She handed it to him. He opened it, and pulled out the holo-lith, revealing older pictures beneath. He removed these too, and eventually revealed something. A small sliver of pulsating green crystal sat in the back of the locket. Fabio stared at it.

"Oh, Marcas. Oh, you clever, clever man." 
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 16, 2010, 08:20:07 PM
Silv moved across the wall climbing down to the courtyard she strode over to the prone form of Jeremiah kneeling beside him she checked his pulse snarling at the two next to him.

"Don't bother checking on your saviour."

She stood summoning two medics over to her.

"Take him somewhere where he can be alone, when he wakes up it will be best if no one is around."

The men nodded and placed him on a stretcher carrying him off she turned back to the two of them.

"If you're quite done flirting with one another we are still in the mile of a combat situation."

She drew her bolt pistol and strode towards the gates where Ottakar stood with a dozen guardsmen, they stood ready as she joined them racking the slide of the weapon as she stepped up beside the power armoured Inquisitor.

"You're a stupid as Jere."

"Beg your pardon?"

"Taking on the daemon in the manner you did, it's reckless and foolish,"

"Why thank you."

"It was not a compliment, you remind me of Jere, reckless and all instinct."

Her arm shot up and fired dropping a human as their chest exploded.

"Even the filth that have lost themselves still linger despite their patron being slain, you'd think the sight of a diminutive Inquisitor slaughtering their God would be enough to scare them away."

The guardsmen opened fire as cultists rushed towards the gate, they were naked and caked in the filth and gore of their masters slaughter, in their hands they head makeshift weapons shards of glass, broken lengths of wood and metal they wailed like banshees as they came running at them, Silv scanned the cultists there were maybe a few dozen more then enough for the guardsmen present.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Koval on August 16, 2010, 08:54:21 PM
I leaned in close to Silv before she could go anywhere, and flicking my vox off, I held up my bolt pistol.

"Think what you will about me, and I couldn't care less so long as you keep your opinions to yourself. I will let it slide once, but if you ever voice your opinions to my face again, I will not hesitate to blow off your limbs. Do we have an understanding?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 16, 2010, 10:24:15 PM
"Matter at hand Inquisitor."

She checked her aim and fired again, she was used to threats idle or otherwise and took Ottakar's without a second thought. Belhast  had broken most of her bones in his fits of rage, he'd once put in a medical bay for a month simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

She gave him a sideways glance as she continued firing.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 17, 2010, 12:03:22 AM
Shooting a harsh glance at Silv, Maya turned back to Fabio, offering a hand. He pulled himself upright, looking at the medics carrying off Jeremiah.

    "I hadn't even noticed him there.", he muttered, slightly embarrassed.
   "Don't apologise. She's just looking for people to blame. Of course I'd recognise extreme psychic exhaustion. I've seen it - I've had it- enough times to know what I'm looking at."

Fabio crouched down and picked up his sword before setting off towards the gates. Shorter legged, Maya had to work to keep up with his pace.
   "Will he be alright?"
   "He should be fine, but I won't envy him when he wakes up."

Seeing Fabio's slightly confused glance back over his shoulder, she continued.
    "It's remarkably like having a bad hangover. Gets worse the more powerful the psyker - and the more serious the burnout."

Nodding, Fabio looked down at locket in his hand. Finally catching up, Maya mirrored the subtle movement, glancing across at the softly glowing shard in the base.
    "That hasn't given me cancer or something, has it?", she asked, with an expression somewhere between confusion and concern.

Fabio laughed, although he himself seemed slightly surprised, as if he hadn't heard the sound in a long time.
   "You'll be fine. I've been wearing this for years."
   "I'll have to take your word for it."

Their walk had lead them directly past Maya's discarded staff. Staring at it set vertically upright in the rockcrete surface of the courtyard, Maya sighed. Whatever had happened, the end was now completely melted into the ground.
As she grasped it, it flared white hot with a startling instancy, liquidising the rockcrete around its base. She pulled it free with a spray of glowing droplets which splashed themselves across the nearby ground.

Turning, she noticed for the first time that the force assaulting the gates was made up solely of cultists.
   "Humans? What happened to the other daemons?"
   "I'm not complaining. You probably shouldn't either."

She weighed her staff in her hands. Whether it was the disappearance of the daemons, or the fact she had it in her hands again, she felt... surprisingly normal.
   "Good point. I do fear the daemons. But humans? "

When she looked at Fabio again, her eyes were two glowing orbs.
   "... I can make them fear me."

Something impossibly bright exploded from her back. It took Fabio's eyes a second to adjust to the dazzlingly intense light, but she was already arcing immediately towards the gate, borne aloft by a vast telekinetic wind. In absolute bemusement, he blinked, looking again.
   "Are those wings?"

Flying feet first into a  cultist, Maya twisted impossibly in mid-air and smashed aside another with the scorching sweep of a ten foot solid flame wing. A two-handed stave swing connected with skull of a third cultist, a bright flash of psychic energy flaring from the impact.

Seeing the flash of a laspistol shooting harmlessly into her left wing, her face twisted into a smile. She had their attention, but that was exactly what she wanted. Locking eyes with the offending cultist, she forced raw fear into his mind, watching him collapse as pure terror robbed him of his motor functions.

Letting her power free, she unleashed a telepathic wave of dread into the vicinity. It was crude and relatively unfocused, but the discipline and mental strength of the Inquisitors and Guardsmen would weather such an assault better than the unruly cultists.
Several of the cultists fled to be cut down by lasgun fire and many froze in horror, but an evidently bolder individual found the courage to leap forwards, lunging at Maya. She swept her left hand up, the intense flames streaming off her fingers cremating him mid jump.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 17, 2010, 01:23:18 AM
"It's over, you men secure this gate."

She turned from the gate sliding the pistol into her holster as she strode past Fabio giving him a venomous look as she headed back into the main building, enquiring after Jeremiah she sought out the room they had put him in, finding him she entered the archive room looking over him she brushed the hair from his face.

"You stupid bastard."

She left returning with some fresh clothing taken from the stores and some water, cutting the shirt from his body she tossed it to one side looking over his torso, there were old scars running across his chest, even Jere couldn't always heal everything, his shoulder had closed again showing that his body and his mind were still working, using the water she cleaned his flesh wiping the blood from it she carefully prepared him for his awakening noting as she did the colour of his right hand, it was an angry red as if burned, she looked it over knowing what had caused it, the force staff belonging to another psyker it had been dangerous for Jeremiah to use even hold it let along use it, she wondered just how far on his powers had come since he'd left Belhast's side, he'd never been this powerful a few simple abilities such as the healing powers and some wards but nothing like what she'd seen him do since this nightmare had began.

"What's happened to you?"

She looked into his face only a few years old than he yet he had more experience than most of the Inquisitors present here now only Fabio could stand equal with him. She looked over him one last time before stepping back from him.

"Sleep well."

She left him heading for Gerhan's office stepping through the door she looked at the two guards with him.

"Leave us."

They obeyed instantly stepping from the room leaving her alone with him she stepped up to him as he lifted his head up she smashed her fist into it rocking him back off his chair.

"Who are they, the ones you're working with!"

He whined as he rolled round on the floor, she pulled him onto his back pushing the bolt pistol into his right eye.

"Tell me Emperor Damm you or so help me I'll put an end to you right here and now, I know they promised you'd live but I am not them! Tell me who they are!"

He whined incoherently squirming against the gun barrel in his eye, she snarled as she pulled the trigger watching him flinch as the chamber snapped empty, she tossed the weapon aside and stepped back looking on him in disgust.

"How could you do this to your own world?"

He fell silent and forced his words through sobs.

"Because I have faith."

"What?"

"The masters promised we'd be reborn."

"Who's be reborn?"

"All of us, Brant, Mortorn..."

Her head snapped up.

"Who is Mortorn?"

Gerhan stayed silent she moved to stand over him.

"Who is MORTORN!"

Someone was coming in through the door and she stopped turning to regard the intrusion

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on August 17, 2010, 02:14:11 AM
When they felt the Chimera explode inside the bunker, the vox had died, and Oliver was fiddling his microbead to PDF frequencies. The room had shaken, the holo-table flickered, but little else had changed. By the time Oliver had finished interrogating a tank commander, the daemons outside were dead, and mopping up had begun. Gideon had left, presumably to check on his many friends and acquaintances. Bernard had gone back to the tactical display: the problem of coordinating the mechanised units to crush the remaining cultists without a functioning master-vox high on his mind. It seemed that the adepts working on repairing the malfunctioning device were having little luck. He recalled a mental note made some time ago, and called Oliver over.

"You may have noticed the hole in the corridor outside," Oliver nodded, and Bernard continued, "I'm informed there's an inert data device down there, of unknown function and under guard." Oliver turned to leave, and Bernard added, "If you like, bring it back."

Meaning, of course, Oliver thought, if you fail to work out what it is, don't worry, that tech-priest Inquisitor (something to bear in mind) will do the job. But his master would never say that. He passed through the hole in the wall, and moved quietly down the stairs, dimly lit by a light from around the corner. He turned it, saw the two adepts watching the device, and was halfway through a greeting before his eyes took in the details of the scene: A glow-lantern casting light from its place atop a humming metal power unit, the power cord leading from the unit to a steaming goblet of wires, with a metal globe impaled by data plugs resting in the cup and lying in the corner, the dead guardsman. He reacted in time to dodge the long, curved knife in the tattooed hand of the first robed figure, and to slam his hand into his throat. The second man was struggling to draw his stub pistol, the weapon made unwieldy by a bulky suppressor, but Oliver had yet to reach for his. He shoved heavily against the knife-wielding, casting him backwards into his companion and knocking him off balance. The stubber rose, but Oliver's autopistol coughed out a burst, and both men collapsed to the floor.

At the sound of such close gunfire, there was sudden quiet in the command room. Bernard was just gesturing to his staff to follow him, when the lights blew. The holo-table and monitor screens displayed brightly coloured snowflakes for a moment and winked out. Under the dim glare of the emergency lighting, there was silence once again. Several questioning voices spoke, but were interrupted by a violent commotion. One of the operating servitors was making a spirited effort to tear itself from a terminal. Blood poured from the face and arms as its movement ripped data-cords from where they entered flesh. As the head jerked backwards the implants were left behind, along with the pulpy remainder of the eyes. Finally free, the thrashing figure collapsed onto the floor, where Bernard shot it in the head. A second servitor began to thrash, before three lasbolts struck it in the back.

"All of them!" Bernard cried, and his followers hurried to obey, letting frightened adepts dive for cover before shooting ever one of the already-twitching servitors left in the room. Shouts could be heard from the rest of the complex as three of Bernard's team left the room and the men on the floor regained their feet. A side door opened, and an adept turned to explain to the vox repair team. They shot him first, before spraying the room with bullets. One threw something across the room: it smashed against a console in a burst of flame, spreading a burning liquid across the floor. The blaze licked up to ceiling as Bernard's remaining agents returned fire.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 17, 2010, 11:06:23 AM
She watched as a las gun poked in through the door they it burst open a guardsman rushing in he aimed at her and fired a short burst following her as she flung herself across the room rolling behind the heavy desk, shots smacked into the wood as more entered the office she guessed two as the weight of fire increased, closing her eyes she reached out hoping to find Jeremiah but instead she found something more useful snapping her eyes open she looked to the underside of the desk and the small stubber hidden under it, ripping it free she dropped to her back and fired under the desk into the ankle of one of her attackers, he fell screaming as his ankle exploded and she pushed herself to her knees coming over the desk she fired again forcing the other two to take cover in the doorway.

Her eyes snapped to the chair where Gerhan was bound it was empty, she cursed as she fired again clipping another of them but unable to confirm if she's made a kill, when they tossed in a grenade she went pale throwing herself behind the desk, it detonated in the centre of the room the pressure knocking her flat and crushing down upon her, she lay there pain racking her body her breathing was strained and her ears bled, he keyed the vox on her throat and spoke her voice barley a whisper.

"Gerhan's escaped."

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 17, 2010, 11:33:36 AM
Fabio shook his head in amazement. "God-Emperor, but they make them even better than they used to."

He closed the locket and slipped it into his pocket. He'd explain about it to the others when there was a higher degree of safety. He strode up next to Maya and swung at the cultists in front of him, their terror making them easy targets.

There was a certain savage joy in fighting. It was the joy of being faster, stronger and smarter, of being the person who came away with their life.

God-Emperor, but he'd missed that feeling.

Inside the locket, the crystal pulsed gently. It had waited for ten years. It could wait a little longer.   
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 17, 2010, 03:27:25 PM
The powerful floodlights overlooking the courtyard cut out, but none of the combatants had the time to figure out why. Lit only by starlight and the intense glow of Maya's wings, the fight continued.

A poorly aimed sword blow came down through the whirlwind of debris around Maya, the psyker casually deflecting it with a parry from her staff. These cultists weren't all completely braindead then - some of them could tell that she was the key to winning this fight.

Through either pure luck or a moment's inattention, the cultist's second swing tore a gash up her left forearm. A spray of blood flew from the wound, but a split second later, pyrokinetic energies cauterised it shut with an acrid smell of burnt flesh.

Roaring in fury, Maya jabbed a spike of psychic pain into her attacker's mind, dazing him. Concentrating, she coiled a sheath of white fire up around her wounded forearm, pouring energies into it that intensified the flames to an almost painfully bright light. Stepping forwards, she swung for the cultist. Still recovering from the psychic attack, he clumsily threw up his sword to block the blow.

The searing hot flame sheared through the blade effortlessly, and the expression of surprise was still fixed on his face when her next blow severed his neck.

~~~~~

The charge light on Lyra's lasgun switched to red, the power cell depleted. Ejecting the empty pack, she discarded it on to the floor - poor practice, but there wasn't the time to properly stow it for later recharge, not when it could be recovered later.

She drove the next magazine home with a solid click. The charge indication flashing green again, she unleashed a spray of shots into the nearest cultist, his chest exploding as the laser hits vaporised the tissues within.
Catching a glimpse of a cultist with some form of improvised flamethrower, she brought the rifle up and around. Carefully lining up a shot, she fired, rupturing the fuel tank strapped across the man's back, which began to spray fuel wildly.

She glanced left, shouting an order.
  "Maya! The nutjob drenched in promethium!"

The psyker responded instantly, hurling a fireball into the mist expanding from the cultist's back. The mix of fuel and air detonated with a tooth-loosening blast, killing several of the mob instantly and setting many of the others alight.

~~~~~

Further along the line, Kai drove his sabre through the gut of another of the rabble. Drawing it free with an almost casual air, he turned to fire two hellpistol shots into the head of a cult member bearing down on Inquisitor Grant.

A stubgun shot glanced off his shoulder plate, the owner of the pistol charging headlong towards him. Blowing out the cultist's knee, he kicked out violently, sending the stumbling individual tumbling back into one of his fellows.

He hooked his hell pistol onto his webbing and reached for his last frag grenade. Prepping it, he lobbed it into the mass.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 17, 2010, 09:16:57 PM
Gerhan was struggling the Inquisition had done a decent enough job on him but he was still able to stumble behind the armed me leading him away from his office, the girl was surely dead and the others inside the command bunker were distracted as others attacked.

"Who sent you?"

"Mortorn."

"He's here?"

"Of course he is."

Gerhan paused.

"Why is he here?"

"I am here because I want the Beacon."

A tall figure stepped from a corridor his body was clad in a form fitting power armour his head hidden behind a full face helm, in his hands he carried a power maul and a hell pistol over one shoulder hung a MUI linked bolt pistol, it locked onto Gerhan as he turned to face them.

"They have it secured with a guard off the command centre."

Mortorn looked at the men with Gerhan and those following behind him.

"Go."

They rushed off to join the fight, Mortorn stepped up to him looking down into his face.

"What did you tell them."

He flinched Mortorn was the masters executioner their weapon of mass destruction he was supposed to have left this world to carry out the attack on the Nexus Belts, there were many rumours about him but nothing had ever been confirmed.

"Only what I had too."

The smooth surface of the helm looked down upon him as if examining every atom of his being.

"Why are you still here?"

Mortorn turned from him stalking down the corridor.

"Brant was unreliable I remained to ensure the first steps were carried out."

"And now we're escaping."

"No, now I'm escaping."

The bolt pistol snapped round and fired Gerhan pitched backwards his head exploding in a red mist, Mortorn strode on speaking as he walked.

"This is Mortorn, all sleeper units awaken." 
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 18, 2010, 01:45:09 AM
Lyra's lasgun flashed yet another red charge light at her. Discarding the spent magazine, she cursed as her fingers descended into an empty pouch. Allowing the rifle to swing down onto its strap, she began to reach for her revolver, but stopped.
She was low on ammunition for the revolver as well, and given the terrifying efficiency Maya was slaughtering the cultists and the fact that tank support seemed to be arriving, spending what little she had left to shorten this fight by a few seconds was pointless.

Backing off the line, it dawned on her that the lights had gone out. Presumably Inquisitor Wyebold was working on it, but as she had to get more ammunition for the lasgun, it couldn't hurt to check. Walking over to where her graviton grenade still laid discarded on the floor, she picked it up and clipped it back on to her belt. She would need to charge it again, but she damn well hoped she'd be off this world sooner than that would take - but given the recent run of luck, that was wishful thinking. Breaking into a run, she made her way down the bunker steps.

Opening the door, the first thing she noticed was the smell of burnt gunpowder. Someone had been firing a gun down here - and recently. Discarding the lasgun at the edge of the corridor she drew her revolver, silencing the voice in the back of her head that was musing about the irony that she was down here in the first place because she hadn't wanted to use the handgun.

She glanced into the empty main control room, moving across it to one of the side rooms - there was a shifting light in there. A lamppack or something similar - was it Bernard looking for something?

Stepping into the room, the dim emergency lighting showed the shape of a guardsman, evidently rummaging through papers.
  "What the hell are..."

She was halfway through scolding him for not being on the line outside when she realised that he was equally halfway through drawing his autopistol. In the split second before he opened fire, she brought up the revolver and blasted a shot through his thigh. Ducking back through the doorway, his spray of return fire embedded itself around the door and in a pair of viewscreens on the far side of the main room.

Hearing the click of a hammer onto an empty chamber, she leant, blasting two shots into the room. The first went wide, but the second found a home between the guardsman's eyes and he collapsed to the floor with a heavy thud.

She was just about to vox for Kai when a second guardsman burst in from another of the entrances. His lasgun spat several shots. The first two missed completely, and her energy field arced as the next three were stopped in mid air. Her shield depleted, it was pure luck that the last found the flak lining of her jacket.
She emptied the last three rounds in the cylinder at him before ducking back through the door once again. His scream of pain meant she'd hit him somehow, but if he was still making noise, he wasn't dead yet.

Lyra carefully positioned herself next to the door, just as the muzzle of the guardsman's lasgun came through. Smashing it aside with her left hand, she brought around her right hand, her revolver replaced by her power knife. The weapon jammed into the soldier's throat, killing him instantly. Looking at his equipment, she considered taking his lasrifle... but Kai's words during their combat training sessions came back to her.
  "Using an unknown weapon in a combat situation is tantamount to suicide. It could be faulty, modified or booby-trapped. It is a last resort only."

With Kai in the forefront of her mind, she activated her vox. Greeted with dead silence, she cursed for about the hundredth time that day. Was it jammed, or was it damaged? She hadn't the time to find out.

Reloading her revolver with the increasingly few spare bullets she had, she weighed up her options. Going on alone was madness. The only sane thing to do would be go back for help - but that would take two, maybe three minutes, and given the havoc that had been caused since they had last heard down in the bunker, that was time they didn't have.

The decision was made for her by a grenade sailing in through the door. Desperately leaping over a pair of tables, one of them toppled over, sending her crashing to the floor. Her revolver was thrown from her hand, skittering across the smooth floor to settle under a vast rack of probably ancient files and reports.
Coming to her senses, she clasped her hands over her ears just before the grenade detonated. Her energy field again bore the brunt of the blast, with a few straggling pieces of shrapnel flying into the steel underside of the toppled table behind her.

Looking over at her revolver, Lyra immediately realised she wasn't getting it out from under there in a hurry. But she needed a weapon, and now. Reaching up the back of her jacket, she pulled free the  compact stubber concealed there. It was definitely inferior to her revolver, but it wasn't to be sniffed at as a backup.
It instantly proved itself by killing the soldier who had burst into the room in the aftermath of the explosion. Vaulting another table as the soldier's companion opened fire, she dove out of the far door. Panting heavily as she ran down the corridor beyond, she was glad that Kai had insisted she stay quite so physically fit.

Forcing her back to the wall as she turned the next corner, she unhooked her shock maul, waiting for the owner of the footsteps behind her to catch up. Her blow into his gut and the violent electrical discharge sent him careening into the wall ahead.
There was a crunch she was fairly sure was his neck breaking and he went limp. But this was no time for "fairly sure". Unwilling to take any chances, she fired two shots into the gap between the back of his helmet and armour.

It was only at this point that it dawned on her why these attackers were here.
  "Gerhan. Shaft me, they've come for Gerhan."

Doubling back to his room, she was welcomed by an open door with an empty chair and trashed beyond it. She was about to return to gather reinforcements when she heard the sound of a choked cough from inside.

Entering cautiously, she brought up her pistol at the source of the sound. Bloodied and half unrecognisable there was a figure in the corner. Finally figuring out who it was, she lowered the muzzle of the pistol slightly.
  "Silva?", she paused before correcting herself, "No, wait - sorry. That's someone else I know... What the hell happened?"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 18, 2010, 06:09:53 AM
Silv looked at Lyra as she spoke, she was deaf and she prayed it was only temporary as the Inquisitors words failed to come to her so she told her what had happened her voice raised to a shout.

"Soldiers came and took him."

She looked around the before moving off to collect her bolt pistol checking over it she slid a fresh clip in.

"They weren't PDF, they came from somewhere else, here I'm compromised you'll make better use of this."

She offered the bolt pistol to Lyra before checking the load on the pistol she'd found, shaking her head to clear the ringing.

+

Mortorn watched as his people claimed the command centre they were standing at the entrance to an
antechamber their weapons firing into it, the guards protecting the beacon had set up a strong defence but the outcome inevitable they had no where to run and he had more people.

"It's clear."

"Good recover the beacon."

They stormed the antechamber returning a few moments later with the beacon carried between two of them.

"Do we activate it Mortorn?"

"No we find somewhere open, once we are off this world we finish what Brant started."

He signalled them to head off.

"The rest of you stay here, kill anyone who tries to follow us."

He looked over towards a second entrance gesturing at it.

"Wyebold will be back soon."

Men moved off in the direction indicated.

"What about the beacon?"

"Take it out the way we came in."



Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 19, 2010, 02:41:58 AM
Lyra took the bolt pistol, weighing it up. She'd had a good go at breaking her wrist last time she'd used one of these, but she really did need something better than her stubber.

   "You said you were injured. Can you make it to the surface? We need help."

Silv looked slightly confused, then gestured at her ear.
   "They used a grenade."

Wincing slightly, partly through empathy, partly because Silv had practically shouted the statment, Lyra nodded in response.
   "Right. You can't hear me.", she muttered under her breath.

She held up a finger, gesturing for the acolyte to remain quiet. They might have an element of surprise, provided Silv's shouting didn't give away their position.

There was no time to try and explain the obvious to the deafened and half dazed woman. Lyra beckoned for the acolyte to follow her.

~~~~~

Maya watched as Inquisitor Czernarvok's shoulder mounted multilaser gunned down the last of the cultists. As the guardsmen moved forwards to secure the gates, her huge wings snuffed out, leaving only curls of rapidly dispersing smoke to reflect the starlight.

The sudden darkness in the absence of her intense pyrokinetics dropped the night firmly back on the courtyard. Several lamp-packs flared into life, but Maya barely had to think before a curl of yellow flame emerged from her palm. Looking around, the flickering light threw deep shadows across faces, but it was hard to miss the heart shaped tattoo she was looking for.

   "I think you owe me an explanation of what exactly what you have in that locket, Fabio."

~~~~~

Moving along the corridor in a low crouch, Lyra firmly grasped the bolt pistol in both hands. She could hear the sounds of gunfire, but the echoes through the bunker made it nearly impossible to pinpoint where from.

Coming to a cross junction, she stopped to think. They had probably come in through the passage Maya had found. But if they had left guards, going there was madness. Even if she could take the guards, she would find herself horribly outnumbered when the others returned.
Still, if she could collapse the passage, then they'd either be delayed, or forced to exit via the main entrance. But she had no way of doing that. She'd need several krak grenades for that.

But she could still hear shooting, so they hadn't left. That meant they wanted something as well as Gerhan. And, she groaned inwardly, it was probably the beacon. Why hadn't they moved Sergeant Manning after they had captured Gerhan? The traitor would have lead them straight to him.

The armoury and the beacon were both to the right. She could either hope she could get the beacon first, or if that wasn't possible, she could try and find a way of collapsing the tunnel.

~~~~~

Fabio produced the locket, cracking it open to glance at the glowing fragment.

   "Unless I'm completely mistaken, it's a shard of a Golem."
   "And what - exactly - is a Golem?", it was Ottakar's voice that came out of the darkness.
   "A rare crystalline creature. Well, I use 'creature' loosely - I'm not strictly sure you can really describe one as alive."
   "That doesn't tell me why you have it.", Maya's voice took on a tone of irritation. Fabio's suddenly talkative manner seemed to have as many problems as his downbeat one.
   "The interesting thing about the crystals is that they can absorb psychic energies, which means..."

At this statement, the psyker recoiled violently from the tiny shard. Tripping over loose debris, she fell backwards, landing hard.

~~~~~

   "No, it was the other way." a deep, almost rural accent drifted around the corner.
   "Think about it, we took the... no, wait. I'm sure I recognise that sign.", the second voice was far more cleanly spoken. It almost had the tone of someone of someone who had officer training, but it didn't have the certainty behind it. Perhaps it was a hopeful looking to make his way up the ranks by imitating his superior's accent.

Hearing the arguing voices, Lyra held up a hand to stop Silv, bringing up the bolt pistol to face the junction ahead.

Rural made a noise that she could only assume was some form of local profanity, although she was sure she didn't know the letters to transcribe it. Hopeful spoke again, his voice getting closer.
   "Watch it. Look, if we head back that way, we'll see if we can get our bearings. It can't be too hard to make it back to the main room, and we can find our way from there."

He appeared at the corner, looking back over his shoulder. His rank insignia proved part of her theory at least - he was certainly no officer.
But, he was so hopelessly engrossed in trying to be in charge that it wasn't until Rural had followed him around the corner that someone had noticed that she was standing in the corridor.

   "Wrong way."

Hopeful's head snapped round, and had about a quarter second to register shock before it exploded in a blaze of gore.
An instant later, Rural's shouldered lasgun burst into a cloud of splinters as a bolt round detonated within it. With colossal crack, the power cell shorted, blasting half the side of the Guardman's body off.

Lyra looked at the destruction in front of her.
   "Well, f*** me."

~~~~~

Mortorn stopped for a moment, listening.
   "That's bolter fire.", he stated with what was almost amusement, "There's someone still fighting back."
   "What does this mean my lord?"
   "It means absolutely nothing. They are too late."

~~~~~

Appearing almost out of thin air, Gideon had been surprisingly quick to offer Maya help standing up again. He had his arm around her, but the psyker was too preoccupied with Fabio's crystal to really care.

The Malleus Inquisitor prodded at the shard with his thumbnail.
   "You don't need to worry. This crystal is entirely saturated - it has been for a long time. As it is, it's essentially harmless.".

As he looked up again, Maya's fire-lit expression relaxed slightly at this revelation.
   "Inquisitor Glosche - you're clearly a good man...", she paused for a moment, glancing down as if she had only just noticed Gideon's hand, although she ultimately ignored it.
   "... but Emperor help you if you ever scare me like that again."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 19, 2010, 10:33:11 AM
His eyes snapped open there had been an explosion, but that was secondary as pain raked his mind he cried out gripping his temples as he rolled from the stretcher laid across the archive table he landed on the floor gathering his thoughts unaware that the archive door had been opened.

"What the hell was that?"

"Sounded like someone's in here."

"Well lets find them and kill them and be done with it."

They moved through the room one of them came round the edge of the table looking down upon him.

"Found him, pathetic wretch is cowering in here while the others fight for their lives."

"Just put him down."

The man shouldered his las gun taking aim. He looked up into the barrel his face stern as he stared down the length of the gun, the guardsman faltered giving him his moment of grace he moved gripping the barrel he pushed the weapon aside as it fired standing up to his full heigh he spoke.

"You should have just shot me."

He slammed his open hand into the man throat crushing it as he tore the weapon from his hand spinning it in his grip he fired into the mans companion cutting him down, he dragged the other man to his feet slamming him against a wall he shot him in the chest. He looked round spotting the military tunic that had been folded up beside him pulling it on he looked over the bodies of the men, these men were not PDF their uniforms were wrong, he moved to them checking them over he relieved them of their weapons laying them on the table a pair of las guns and a few reloads and a pair autopistols a bayonet and a combat dagger.

He left the blades but took the guns as the sound of gunfire came back to him, had the defences fallen? were they in the command centre, where was everyone else?

He stepped from the room checking the corridor the most obvious thing to do first would be to check the command chamber make sure it hadn't been compromised so he headed off in that direction it would take him past the armoury he'd be able to pick up reloads for the weapons.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 19, 2010, 12:00:29 PM
Fabio grinned inwardly. That Gideon was a quick bastard to be sure. He returned his attention to Maya.

"My apologies for scaring you, Maya," he said. He took her nod as an acceptance and a gesture to explain further.

"I'm assuming none of you have read my file," he started. Gideon and Ottakar both confirmed this. "Well, I was born a twin. That's why I have this tattoo," he said, gesturing up at the decidedly feminine design on his cheek.

"My grandfather never could tell the difference between me and Marcas, so he had us inked. I had my tattoo on the right, and he had his on the left. When I was first hired by my master, it was as a bodyguard more than anything else. I originally thought he didn't care about us, but very soon I noticed he could tell us apart without even looking at us. It was because of a distinct separation in our psychic 'flavour'.

"There was always one major difference between Marcas and myself: he was always incredibly afraid of dying, while I almost didn't seem to care.

"After we'd been working for Jorken for around six years, we encountered a creature called a Golem. Like I said, it was made of psi-absorbent crystal. When we went up against it, Jorken couldn't put it down; it just kept absorbing his mind-powers. So we sent for help. A squad of guardsmen arrived, and the Golem just smashed one into paste. We thought that was the end of him, but then we heard him screaming . . . from inside the Golem.

"Eventually we managed to blow it to hell with a demo-charge, but Marcas must have seen his opportunity to cheat death. He must have taken a piece of the destroyed Golem and kept it on him all the time. I never wore this locket before Schindelgheist, you see," said Fabio. He looked up and saw everyone present staring at him in amazement.

"You mean . . ." began Gideon, his arm dropping from around Maya's waist as he realized what had just been said.

"Yes," answered Fabio, his voice clogged with emotion.

"This crystal is the container for my twin brother's soul. He's still alive."   
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 20, 2010, 12:57:27 AM
Jumping through the door, Lyra shoved firmly on Silv's back, forcing the acolyte to the floor. Evidently her deafness was complete enough to have missed the fact she was being shot at.

Blasting one handed with the bolt pistol, Lyra unhooked her shock maul almost instinctively, jabbing it into the guts of the guardsman who had been chasing after them he had been sneaking up quietly.

Shooting twice into the attacker in the far corner, there was the distinctive sound of the action locking back on an empty magazine. Silv having the only reloads, she dropped the weapon next to the acolyte. Jumping forwards over some machinery she hadn't the time or knowledge to identify, some part of her mind noted that Kai would give her a major scolding for this. Her energy field flickered  twice, two autogun rounds stopped in mid-air.

Her power knife cut through the attacker's rifle in one swing, taking his left hand with it. Dazing him with a blow from her shock maul, although it was moot with the pain he would be suffering, she slashed for his throat.

Hearing movement behind her, she turned. A pistol was held, pointing straight for her face.
  "I'd drop those if I were you.", the soldier nodded at her weapons.

He was too close for her energy field to protect her, but too far away to charge.
  "Too slow."

He pulled the trigger, the hammer slamming forwards onto the firing pin.

~~~~~

The expression on Maya's face was not one of shock, but of thoughtfulness.
  "You've felt... off since I first met you. Somehow split. I assumed it was mental scarring, repressed memories, maybe even borderline psychosis - but if you've been carrying... well, him... then it starts to make a lot more sense."
  "It does, yes. There's a lot of things over the years that this little shard explains."
  "So what can you do? I mean, is he stuck in there? Can he get out?"
  "I don't know. I've got an idea to try and find out... but I don't think you're going to like it."

~~~~~

The guardsman's head exploded in a spray of bone, muscle and assorted tissues.

Lyra flinched violently. It took her a second to realise she wasn't dead. Looking left, Silv held a smoking bolt pistol.

But something still didn't add up in Lyra's mind. The guardsman had fired, and there was no way he could have missed from there. Holstering her weapons, she crouched down, picking up his autopistol. Carefully working the slide, she took the cartridge from the chamber. Turning it over, she smiled as she looked at the base of it.
  "What are the odds?"

The pistol's firing pin had left its mark on the primer, but by pure luck...
  "It's a dud."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 20, 2010, 05:55:48 AM
Silv stood offering the pistol back to Lyra as she looked round the room before joining her at the door, she readied the stubber in her hand and covered the opposite way before stepping out after her following as she moved along the corridor towards the armoury she ghosted behind her keeping her eyes on their behind, she spotted one of the attackers and fired her aim off slightly at a distance her first two shots went wide but her third caught the man in the throat.

Checking the load of the gun she sighed she only had a few shots left and a single reload for the bolt pistol, she looked over her shoulder as Lyra moved round a corner and followed.

+

He fired in a close burst gunning down another of these interlopers moving over to the body he crouched down and checked the man before moving off the gun fire was dying down now but every now and again he could hear the distinct sound of a bolt pistol, he strode round the last corner for the armoury, seeing the door was still secure he moved to it keying in a release code he opened it and stepped inside looking around, the room looked untouched which meant the attackers had come equipped, looking round he collected himself some reloads for the las guns and a few spare magazines for one of the autopistols the other was an uncompatible design so he'd have to use it as a throw away.

He left the lasguns on the central work bench and knelt to collect some grenades when someone else came to the door, drawing the throw away pistol he stood taking aim squarely at Lyra, she too aimed back with a bolt pistol Silv behind her with a stubber, for a long moment they held their aim before he relaxed lowering the pistol.

"What's going on here? Have the defences fallen?"

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Swarbie on August 20, 2010, 01:06:39 PM
"Well," said Fabio. "The thing is, for the past ten years I've suffered from sudden dizzy spells, and on occasion comas. I went into one for three days in the middle of . . . of the funeral service for Marcas, Jorken and all the others we lost on Schindelgheist."

He looked Maya dead in the eye. "I'm not an untouchable, but neither am I particularly active psychically. Maybe those comas and moments of confusion were times when Marcas was trying to reach out to me.

"Perhaps someone more psychically receptive could actually hear him."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on August 23, 2010, 03:48:31 PM
"The defences are intact." Bernard Wyebold spoke from the doorway. His merchant garb looked somewhat scorched. Two larger, thickset men followed him through and set about sweeping the remaining ammunition into black backpacks. A group of ten people, some evidently wounded, remained outside, weapons ready.

"This bunker however has been penetrated by enemy infiltrators: they had agents inside, and hooked up an intrusion device to the machine spirits of the bunker. The generator is slag, the vox-unit is down and Sergeant Manning is dead."

"They were after the beacon," Jeremiah snarled "We..."

"And Gerhan," Lyra interrupted "He's gone too"

"I'm going to lock down the entrance and the device," Bernard said "Hopefully, we can trap them inside."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 23, 2010, 05:04:40 PM
"Silv I need your skills."

She stood looking at him.

"What happened to her?"

"She's deaf, grenade blast."

He looked at Lyra nodding his thanks he stepped up to Silv touching the side of her head she yelled out in pain and recoiled.

"What the hell!"

"Can you hear me?"

"Yes....How the hell."

"Not now, can you find Inquisitor Rhodes' psyker?"

She gave Lyra a sideways glance and nodded.

"I think so."

"Good focus on her, just keep focusing on locating her."

Silv's eyes glowed as she used her gift to find Maya.

"I have her, she's still outside in the courtyard."

"Good keep focussing."

He touched Silv's head.

"I hope your psyker is good, this will not be subtle."

He closed his eyes focussing on forming the words he pushed the thoughts through Silv seeing what she could see and into Maya, though not a telepath he could implant his thoughts into another though he'd never tried doing it to a psyker, he pushed the thoughts into Maya's mind.

'We're under attack from within, they have Gerhan and the beacon, be prepared.'

He stepped back as Silv recoiled.

"You were right, jeez where did you learn that?"

"I'll tell you later."

"What have you just done to Maya?"

He turned at Lyra's harsh tone.

"I used Silv as a conduit to implant a thought into Maya's mind, something I can only usually do in person but Silv's gifts allow her to psyically touch items, people and so on. If the implant worked correctly Maya will now be aware of what is going on in here."

"And if not?"

"She will just have a jumble of random thoughts for a few seconds, but she'll be aware of something not being right. We should see to preventing their escape."

He turned his attention from her to Bernard stepping past her he picked up one of the lasguns powering the energy cell.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on August 23, 2010, 09:44:26 PM
Maya looked at the glowing shard Fabio held in his hands.
   "You want me to..."

The words stalled in her mouth, leaving an eerie silence in their absence. After several moments, Kai stepped in.
   "Inquisitor Glosche, with the utmost respect, you yourself admitted that this crystal may have been the cause of comas. Is this really the time for Miss Avens to be taking such a risk? It's waited ten years - can it not wait for..."
   
The end of his sentence was cut off, an impossibly loud scream drowning out the words. Her face twisted in intense pain, Maya collapsed, falling to one knee.
The courtyard degenerated into shouting, accusations and orders, although few of the words were heard through ringing ears. Even for Maya, protected from the psychically enhanced intensity of her own scream, they were lost amongst the lancing pain in her mind. Something was forcing its way into her thoughts.

Fighting it, she turned the full force of her power on the intrusion. This was no daemon - this mind was human, and that made it vulnerable. She was a second from lashing out, forcing raw energies back along the link and shredding the mind of the perpetrator, when a very particular psychic tang stopped her. She knew this mind... no, these minds. There was more than one of them.

Carefully letting the psychic link open, she allowed it to filter through into the top levels of her mind, forming into coherent concepts. Her eyes snapped open.
   "Oh crap."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on August 23, 2010, 10:55:11 PM
As they move down the corridor following Bernard's direction he felt a pang of guilt over the implant he'd forced upon Maya, he'd make it his business to apologise to her if they made it through this.

"You said you'd managed to intercept them before they got to the secret chamber?"

"That's correct I left a few of mine and some of the guardsmen there to defend it."

"Can't Silv find the intruders?"

"I can only do people if I've met them, finding an object is different I can focus in on the psychic impressions left behind, people I focus on their presence."

"What about Gerhan?"

She paused her eyes glowing Jeremiah stopped beside her.

"Nothing, they've either shielded him or..."

"He'd already dead."

Jeremiah said frowning. He tightened his grip on the lasgun as he turned bringing it to his shoulder he took a breath and fired winging the man that had been coming up behind him, he moved off in the man direction coming round the corner his weapon sweeping the corridor he knelt down beside the man as he struggled for his own gun.

"Where are they heading?"

"Frak you."

Lightning sparked from his fingers.

"You really do want to tell me."

He panicked.

"They're heading for the motor pool."

"Who?"

"Mortorn, and the others."

"Mortorn?"

Silv stepped round the corner stepping past Bernard who's been stood watching.

"Gerhan said that name, he's one of the conspirators."

"So we have someone else to answer our questions."

He stood looking down at the man, his eyes were pleading.

"You are a traitor."

The man's face dropped as he brought the lasgun up.

"No!"

Was all he managed as he put a las bolt through his skull.

"The Motor Pool."

He turned looking at Bernard.

"Lead on."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on September 07, 2010, 03:39:41 AM
A second volley of lasbolts hurled themselves through the doorway and against the opposite wall with a series of sharp cracks. Bernard's team shredded furniture, and some flesh in a noisy reply.

"We're not going to catch up at this rate" said Lyra, leaning close to make her voice heard over the din. Bernard nodded hastily, and then raised a hand as he went back to his vox conversation.

"Set up a cordon around the motor pool. Yes, anyone. Get a couple of tanks to blockade the main entrance. Well, hurry. And I want prisoners, got that? What?"

Suddenly, eyes were turned away and shadows danced crazily as a cascade of electric bolts flared from Jeremiah's hands. He stepped forward ahead of Bernard's men as they poured into the room, over the five still smoking bodies and towards the next doorway.

"Well, that sped things up" said Lyra, as she rose to follow.
 
Bernard did not reply, though his face was quite expressive. He passed the microbead to his savant as he headed through the doorway after Rhodes.

"Make sure the rest of the Inquisition know where we're headed."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on September 08, 2010, 10:10:15 AM
Mortorn strode with all the fury of a man denied victory his mood was black and those around him feared for their lives being taken as much from him as from any of the defenders within the complex. They' been prevented from leaving through the secret access way after that fool Bernard had placed guards there they couldn't afford a fire fight with the beacon and his fury had been building as they'd headed for the motor pool, now there he unleashed it storming across the motor bay his power maul smashed into an unsuspecting enginseer the blow pulped his torso where it hit leaving him doubled over and bleeding to death from internal wounds, the other seers in the bay leapt in surprised and went for weapons, his shoulder mounted bolter barked twist and two fell holes blown in their backs the last of them came at him a power axe hissing through the air. The weapon shattered as Mortorn's weapon struck it before coming down and crushing the hapless seer.

"Get what we need now!"

Someone fired a heavy calibre gun the shots ricocheting from Mortorn's armour but sending him sprawling, standing his eyes scanned the bay locating a youngster behind one of the leman russ turrets manning a heavy stubber, with a though he commanded the MIU links Bolt pistol and recoiled as the weapon failed sending a feed back shock into his head he snarled tearing the weapon from his shoulder and tossing it to one side he drew his side arm and fired putting a round into the boy, he turned on one of his men and snarled

"Find him and make sure he's dead. The rest of you move the others outside will have heard that."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on September 09, 2010, 01:40:06 AM
Adepta Reiss acknowledged Molovich's canted orders and set about ordering the combat servitors to patrol the main entrance in case of further cultist attacks. The Inquisitor himself was flanked by his two praetorians and the other of his two surviving skitarii, one of them still insde the complex with his Interogator as far as he knew. Data was severely lacking. Molovich made a note of his dissatisifaction and stored it for later retrieval.


Before he could say anything more the distant sound of bolter fire could be heard followed by the brak-brak-brak of sustained heavy stubber fire. The gunfire came from the direction of the motor pool and Molovich canted to his warriors and they began a steady jog back the way they had come with the now deceased chimera.

The motor pool was half encloed by a thick reinforced roof supported by pillars that denoted repair bays under cover. Oily pits, one for each of the five bays, ran between enormous hydraulic ramps. One ramp was hoisted up with a stripped down chimera on top, the tanks massive engine hanging by chains several metres away. The enginseers who had been attending to the vehicles needs were sprawled over the floor dead.

Off to his right Molovich barely had time to register movement before the reaper autocannon of his praetorian opened up. The solid rounds chewed up the skirt of a Leman Russ, chasing a figure between the massive tank and one of its brethren. Return fire came from the otehr side of the yard, more figures moving into cover desperately trying to put as much enfilading fire between themselves and the destructive firce if the autocannon.

The servants of the Omnisiah were not so easily cowed and even as las beams slashed steaming welts across the armoured bulk of Molovich's axe carrying praetorian the other returend fire. An oil barrel was hit and went up with a boom, cork screwing into the air on a pillar of fire. One of the enemy went down, screaming in agony, desperately trying to beat himself out as the burning fuel ate him away.

Against the cultists and even the daemons Molovich had approached each encounter with abstracted strategic thought patterns but seeing the dead enginseers provoked and indeed, demanded, an emotional response. Snatching his power axe he strode into the open ground of the motor pool issuing a bellow of rage, the electronic howl terrifying. He knew such heathen scum would not undestand him but he issued a promise in binaric; that the enemy would feel the full wrath of the Omnisiah for such unconscionable and wanton slaughter.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on October 30, 2010, 08:46:10 PM
As his group entered the motor pool, Bernard hung back and tried to take stock of the situation. Ahead, he could see the enormous armoured form of Inquisitor Czernarvok cleaving apart a crowd of the traitors, while his bodyguards wreck near-equal havoc. To his left, Crowe was sprinting towards the fight, lightning already crackling about his hands. Bernard waved to his agents to stay back and in cover. With their light equipment, fighting in the open would be suicidal.

Looking towards the exit, he could see the PDF had yet to arrive. Mentally cursing their laxity, he reached to take the microbead from Daath, but halted. Another noise was discernable over the din of battle: the sound of an overstretched engine. As he watched, a Trojan accelerated clumsily up the exit ramp and out of sight.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on November 01, 2010, 08:55:46 AM
Mortorn cared little for his people they were merely tools to be used and discarded as was necessary much like the Trojan he rode in now, turning he looked back as the slaughter of those left behind was carried out by a mechanical figure and his servitors and as a group rushed in to assist in the killings.

"Take us to the palace, don't stop for anything."

The driver gave a curt nod as he steered the tank towards the main gate, the gunner sat beside him pulled the trigger of the heavy bolter cutting down a dozen defenders as they swept on by, a few stray shots pinged off the hull of the support tank as Mortorn dropped back into the hold.

++

Jerimiah cooked one of the traitors the force of his will shrouding the man in lightning his eyes steaming as the power roasted him from within, he dropped to his knees as Jerimiah released the energy and lowered his hand, he turned looking at Bernard.

"Get something started we need to give chase!"

The fact that he's hung back infuriated him, he was wearing the same if not less armour and the man was armed the fact he'd hung back while the others had charged into combat galled him, even Lyra had joined in the fight killing three.

Czernarvok was still killing his axe cleaving as the last of them tried to flee, he went to the dead enginseers examining their bodies , his eyes scanned over the wounds of the two in the centre of the motor pool, some form of power weapon a thunder hammer maybe....his eyes looked up knowing full well what the other two had died from, bolt wounds his eyes moved again and his hand stretched out picking up a bullet shell turning it in his fingers he examined the flattened tip before dropping it as his eyes fell upon something tucked under a service desk. Pulling it out he turned the MIU bolter over in his hands as he strode back to the dead enginseers he knelt down again and picked up an intact power axe.

"Step away from him!"

His eyes snapped up as Czernarvok strode towards him his tall frame hunched in threat as he crossed the motor pool his servitors fanning out behind him, one bore the scars of the batter but otherwise it looked functional despite the black ooze pumping from the lower half of it's torso.

He stepped back allowing Czernarvok to stand over the body he noticed the turn in Czernarvok's head as he regarded the power axe in his hand though he imagined that that confrontation would come after Czernarvok  had dealt with the dead, his attention turned as an engine came to lift, at least Bernard was good at something.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: MarcoSkoll on November 02, 2010, 05:51:09 AM
Lyra put three rounds into a cultist, before moving around the back of a damaged Chimera. As she slowly crept forwards, she could hear a soft rushing sound increasingly close behind her. She twisted around, instantly firing at the cultist that was all too apparent as she did so.

The first two shots went wide, and with an ominous click of the bolt catch, her autogun stopped, locked open waiting for the next magazine. It was only then she realised what the sound had been - the pilot light of a flamer.

   "Oh shaft me."

The cultist pulled the trigger, flames washing out from the nozzle. But they stopped in midair, almost as if there were an invisible wall. Lyra smirked. It wasn't her energy field - it was far more powerful. Something - or rather, someone - with control of fire and flame. The voice that spoke next came as no surprise to her.

   "Put. Your. Weapon. Down."

Maya's voice carried incredible force, and the psyker had obviously reinforced the command with powerful telepathic suggestions. The cultist practically dropped the flamer, his own will overridden.
She relaxed the stiffness of her outstretched arm - for some reason that Lyra had never completely understood, gestures were very powerful to many psykers, reinforcing their control. The splayed palm Maya had used was a focus for her pyrokinetic "shield".

She didn't bother to lower the arm though, gesturing at the cultist.

   "Good. Come here."

As he drew close enough, she placed her open hand upon his forehead. Her eyes flared briefly, then the cultist collapsed, completely lifeless.

   "What in the Emperor's true name did you do that for?", Lyra exclaimed.
   "He was useless.", Maya said with a matter-of-fact tone, "If you were hoping to interrogate him, it would have been a waste of your time. His mind had been wiped so clean that everything in there gleamed."
   "He still could have known some..."
   "I'm not an idiot, Lyra. He had no long term memory at all. Everything, right down to his name - gone. He knew only what he had just done and a desire to kill."
   "Then that means..."

She was interrupted, Ottakar Grant cutting in. To tell the truth, she wasn't even sure when he had arrived.
   "A powerful telepath. And a skilled one, to strip a mind clean."

With a small puff of smoke, he pulled the lit lho stick from his mouth and looked down at the body.
   "With that kind of talent at their disposal, they probably grabbed a civilian, wiped his mind and gave him a weapon."

Hearing this, several particularly vulgar swearwords ran through Lyra's brain. Seeing the psyker tense, she went for the first thing that came to mind.
   "Maya, would you go and find Kai? I'm going to need to speak to him.", she started softly, but her tone harshened slightly at Maya's hesitation, "Now, please."

She waited for the psyker to leave before turning to the power armoured Inquisitor, speaking in a low voice.
   "Ottakar, a word, if I may?"
   "Of course."
   "It'd be best not to say things like that around Maya. She's still very young - and rather idealistic. It's not a good idea to tell her she's just killed an innocent. If you're right, you and I know his death was necessary, perhaps even a mercy. He wasn't a 'person' any more. But she won't see it that way."
   "I see. One of that sort. I'll try to keep it in mind. But she should grow out of it eventually."
   "I'll hate to be there on that day."
   "Excuse me?"
   "I think it could break her. But forget I said it - it's not important right now. What is important is that we don't want to be telling one of our most powerful assets they could be killing innocents."
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on November 06, 2010, 12:21:17 AM
Jeremiah walked up to Ottakar and Lyra speaking as he moved towards them.

"Inquisitor Grant, can I ask your opinion on this."

He offered the ruined MIU weapon to the Inquisitor, the weapon was beyond repair but it was obviously of high quality, the weapon casing was stamped with something that had been obscured by the round which had destroyed it, no one beyond the Inquisition or Adeptus Mechanicus could have possessed a weapon of such fine quality.

Jeremiah watched as Ottakar turned the weapon over in his hands his attention split between that and the pair of Salamanders Bernard and his people were manoeuvring into the courtyard, they'd need to be giving chase soon he looked from Ottakar to Silv who knelt beside one of the dead cultists examining the body, her eyes snapped up locking with his own and she nodded picking herself up she removed herself from view.

Hidden behind the Shell of a Leman Russ she knelt and closed her eyes focussing first on Gerhan but she came up with nothing, was he psychically shielded now she couldn't locate him so focussed on something else, racking her mind she thought of the beacon and smiled as the image of it came to her mind she'd be able to follow it and let out a long breath as she opened her eyes, she needed a map and she needed one quickly before she lost the link, her eyes shifted to the dead cultist again as her mind focussed on something new.

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on November 06, 2010, 01:21:54 AM
As he rolled the Salamander up the ramp, Bernard reminded himself it had been some years since he had last driven a tank. The old motions, first learned on Kavin, seemed to be coming back. Perhaps it hadn't been so long after all. Still, it would be best to find a dedicated driver, for he had more important things to do. He left the engine idling and reached for the vehicle's comm equipment.

"Captain Henroth, this is Inquisitor Wyebold, report status."

He listened to the artillery officer with growing irritation. The loss of the command centre had thrown the defenders into chaos.  Henroth had been receiving a constant flow of requests for artillery support from units on the northern perimeter. The mechanised reserve force seemed to have scattered itself to respond to immediate threats. The cultist snipers seemed to be gone, but their place had been taken by random daemon attacks. The only hopeful piece of news was that the enemy seemed even less coordinated than the Imperial forces. Bernard bit at his knuckle as he thought. Turning back to vox, he asked for any mechanised units in the vicinity of the command centre.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Kallidor on November 06, 2010, 03:11:09 AM
Under the circumstances there was very little that could be done to perform the appropriate rites for the fallen Techpriest and the other faithful. Whilst he had been ordained into the Mysteries of the Cult Mechanicus even now he considered Adepts who had spent all of their lives as Priests of the Machine God as somehow, more, than himself. Molovich was a warrior first, a holyman second. Unable to retrieve the data wafers or appease the grieving implants of the dead Techpriest he ordered Adepta Reiss to remain with the bodies and pray for them.

With that done he had one more duty to attend to. Jerimiah still held the power axe he had retrieved but it was now time for him to give it up. Molovich could well understand why his fellow Inquisitor would want the weapon but that was beside the point.

Unable to use the bio-unit to communicate Molovich was forced to use hs own flesh voice and rather than tax himself with a long sentence he merely held out his hand, drawing himself up to his full and not inconsiderable height, speaking only one word.

"Give." With heavy footfalls the Praetorians lumbered forward to stand behind their master and behind them the Skitarius, his weapon held loosely but ready.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on November 06, 2010, 12:07:24 PM
Jeremiah sighed as he turned to the hulking figure of Czernarvok looking at the out stretched hand, his eyes travelled up the arm to the metal grill of the face.

"You know it would be better served in enacting revenge for the poor soul who'd wielded it."

He relinquished the weapon placing it into Czernarvok hand as his eyes turned to his body guard, the gesture was a futile waste on him, two Praetorians and a gaggle of Skitarius were little threat to him he'd be able to kill them and seriously injure Czernarvok with but a thought, however with the other two inquisitors stood to his rear he doubted he could turn and deal with them before one of them put a bullet him in and especially with Lyra being one of them, he took a long calming breath longing for his own armour that waited for him high above.

"Maybe you can shed some light on the weapon Ottakar has."

He bowed his head and stepped past Czernarvok going to one of the dead cultist he relieved him of a long combat dagger an the strode off towards one of the waiting Salamanders Silv following she had a sheet of map paper in her hand. They climbed in beside Bernard.

"Silv take the controls, we're going after them."

She slid into the drivers chair looking over the controls for a moment she gripped them tight then forced the light tanks forward while he checked the autocannon mounted on the top of the tank, a full load of shells that would have to be enough. Bernard looked at him in protest but he spoke drowning out the other mans words

"Get on the heavy bolter, I intend to stop that trojan, Silv push the engines hard."

She nodded as she gunned the throttle pushing the tank forward at a rapid increase of speed.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on November 08, 2010, 11:59:01 PM
In Bernard's opinion, Crowe's acolyte drove quite badly. He was certain the experience would have been truly gut-wrenching if he'd eaten. Instead, he endured the jolting of the vehicle and dismissed the gnawing sensation of hunger. Checking the heavy bolter, he discovered barely a third of the standard ammunition was present. Still, it would be enough for the weak armour of a Trojan, even discounting the autocannon. As the overpowered engines of the Salamander roared in the background, Bernard turned to shout a question at Inquisitor Crowe:

"How many rounds for the 'cannon?"

"Twenty!" Crowe yelled back

"Out here, we're in danger from the hell-fiends! Save your shells for the traitors!"
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on November 15, 2010, 11:50:27 PM
He hung from the auto cannon shouting over the roaring engine.

"Dammit Silv, you used drive these things for a living get it together!"

She shouted back half lucking over his shoulder as she cleared some rubble.

"Oh I'm sorry Inquisitor! I'm still recovering from having my ear drums ruptured!"

He sighed as he swung back up to the gun priming it he looked round at the cabin stooping he picked up a stubber and turned it in his hand before tucking it into his belt.

"Oh for my own dammed armour."

He sighted down the heavy weapon and looked down from the weapon as Bernard opened up on a gaggle of daemons as they tore into cultists their need for slaughter over taking any logic of allies and servitude. He looked to the sky free of the confines of the command centre he could feel his surroundings again without the flood of emotion washing over him his eyes looked to the fading swirling myriad of colour, he could see stars and the planets luna satellite.

"The warp is waning!"

"What?"

He gestured at the sky.

"The warp storm is growing weaker, the death of the daemon prince must have weakened the storms effects."

He pointed out over the top of the tank forcing Bernard to move and follow his gesture, he pointed at a collection of lesser daemons as they thrashed and wailed their bodies melting and disintegrating into nothingness.

"See the weaker daemons can not remain on this plane of existence, vox back to the command centre and tell them to pull back and prepare to defend themselves the daemons will give a new push to try and claim this world they need the deaths of the strongest to reopen the link, Lyra's psyker will be one of their targets."

"What about you?"

"I've been suppressing my powers since we left the walls of the compound, hopefully we'll remain under their radar for a while longer as Maya and the other psykers draw them in."

"You'd sacrifice the others just like that."

"Don't be stupid, I don't want any more deaths today, but if that is his will then they will give us the time we need to end this once and for all."

He looked up as the Trojan came into view taking the auto cannon he fired three shots the cannons boom echoing through the ruins around them, the first shot went wide the second did no damage but the third scored a glancing hit buckling the outer hull around one of the treads the support tank screamed in protest as it swerved out of sight.

"Dammit!"

Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Zephon on November 21, 2010, 07:17:42 PM
Bernard didn't bother Crowe with the details of the loss of the command centre's master-vox, but set the Salamander's comm to the general channel.

"This is Inquisitor Wyebold. Relay this message. All units are to pull back to the perimeter. Prepare for a final attack. The foe is all but defeated, Warriors of the Imperium! A final stalwart defence will see them crushed! Fear is naught while faith is strong! For the Emperor!"

Resetting the transmitter to a specific frequency, Bernard quietly sent another message.

"This is Wyebold. Oliver, Inquisitor Rhodes has a psyker. If the defences fall, terminate it and any others."

If the death of psykers at the hands of the daemons could reinvigorate the walking blasphemies to further pollute this world, then it must not come to pass. Should the situation turn against them out here, he hoped Inquisitor Crowe would understand his reasoning.

Banishing such dark thoughts from his mind as the Salamander screeched about a corner, Bernard reached for the heavy bolter.
Title: Re: The War of Shadows
Post by: Necris on November 22, 2010, 10:41:41 PM
The auto cannon fired again and once again he scored only glancing hits on the Trojan as it sped round the ruined terrain, he clenched his teeth as he fired again almost letting out a cry of triumph as black smoke started to pour from the tank ahead, despite the pumping smoke it hardly slowed as it turned and crashed through a wall bringing it down behind it, Silv dragged the open topped tank to a skidding halt and turned looking at him questioningly.

He looked up from the gun looking out before them at the shattered remains of the Imperial Palace.

"Head for the palace."

Bernard turned looking at him.

"What?"

"If the device is a beacon they'll need space to await what ever comes to get them."

Silv nodded gunning the engine she turned towards the palace