Three Men Walk Into A Bar... Interrogater Aul and Warband

[Tartarus]

Hello Conclavers,
This is my first post, thought I'd throw up my warband and their background for you to see.
It's quite a long read (about 4000 words) but the profiles are in there somewhere if you want to skip through.
~

Three Men Walk Into A Bar

"I think you already know how I ended up on Andover VII. I think you know my reasons for being there, and what transpired beforehand. But with you flashing that seal, I cannot refuse you. From the beginning, yes? Fine. The beginning.

I was born and raised on Crovosa, a world in the Centaurus Arm. Crovosa is famous for one thing- it trains the finest swordsmen in the Segmentum Ultima. For millennia, the sons of Crovosa have been raised with sword in hand; even among the non military populace, training takes up a great deal of their time.
My family is nobility, of thin royal blood. My oldest brother is an officer in the Imperial Navy; my second oldest ordained in the Ecclesiarchy. How awkward for my father to have a third son. I wished to join the planetary law enforcement, but this was frowned upon- too common a job for one with even a weak trace of royal blood. Instead, I had my time fully dedicated to learning the sword.

Crovosan provinces constantly hold tournaments, and once every three solar rotations the cream of the swordsmen gather in the royal city to find out who is the greatest swordsman on the planet. When I was in my twentieth year I had the honour of attending the grand tournament, having bested all comers in my province. I am a... very dedicated swordsman.

I astonished many at the grand tournament, not least the bookies, by reaching the higher tiers with relative ease. As the final stages of the tournament approached, it became more difficult, and ultimately I was defeated. My progress was rightly noted, and I can say unashamedly that the impression I made was not unimpressive.

The next grand tournament I won.

This changed my status from an impressive swordsman, to the greatest swordsman on a planet of great swordsmen. This drew a lot of attention to me, not unexpectedly. More unexpected was the attention of one of your inquisitorial brethren.

Inquisitor Landear had been attending the tournament for the very reason of finding a suitable warrior for his warband, and come the end of the celebrations he approached me. How could I have refused? The offer was beyond my wildest hopes- to serve the justice of the Emperor in far flung worlds was a beautiful opportunity compared to the humdrum of noble life on Crovosa. An agent of the Inquisition was a position of some prestige, so my family did not protest, not that I think they would have had a say in the matter.

I worked under Landear for nigh on two decades; first of all as little more than a tool of his will, killing those who needed to be killed and protecting him from his enemies. As my career with Landear continued, it appeared that I had quite the eye for intrigue and deception- a skill I picked up from my blue blooded upbringing, no doubt. After serving at his side for upwards of five Terran years, my master initiated me as on of his interrogator protégés.

Under his tutelage I learned well the ways of the Inquisitor- the best means of extracting information through means both physical and psychological; how to find the heretic, alien and daemon, and how to destroy them; how to fight the secret war protecting the Imperium of Man from within, without and beyond.

The act that marked the end of my apprenticeship to Inquisitor Landear was the discovery and destruction of the heretical cult the Children of the Horned One, who worshipped a devil-alien of unknown species only ever referred to as the 'Great Horned One'. The cult, which I had though to only be infesting one planet, turned out to be well rooted throughout the Ajaxus system, and its heresy spread to an unthinkably high level.

Landear gifted me the task of cleansing the cult, under my own initiative, as something of a final test. I took to it with all the zealotry and enthusiasm one could hope for in an aspirant of the Inquisition- over nine months of investigation, interrogation and liaising with the system's Adeptus Arbites, I organized a number of simultaneous strikes on the largest of the cult's circles and the detention of all prominent and powerful cult members. I personally lead a strike force against the head of the cult, into the lair of the 'Great Horned One' itself.

At the time of execution, the operation was a great success. Ajaxus was completely cleansed of the Great Horned One's influence- the beast itself died at my own hand in the catacombs of Ajaxus Prime. Upon my completion of the mission, Inquisitor Landear rewarded me with the power sword Ardeos.

As you well know, it takes the blessing of three inquisitors to raise an acolyte up to their ranks; as such, we rendezvoused with two friends and colleagues of Inquisitor Landear, Inquisitors Broktar and Pretus, to formally pass me the full powers of an Inquisitor and grant an Inquisitorial Seal.

I do not know how well the events that transpired in the mansion of Inquisitor Broktar are recorded, but I can give only my account.

I had failed. The Children of the Horned One may have been struck a deadly blow, and the current body of the Great Horned One destroyed, but the ways of the heretic and the alien are beyond out reason. As Landear gave his blessing to my promotion, his trusted savant Nicolai Brouns collapsed in a fit. Before he could be restrained, his frenzy climaxed and in a great spray of blood and gore the Great Horned One appeared. I was dumbstruck, certain the beast was dead, and did nothing as it tore Landear in two. I am afraid to say that the events that transpired after that are none too clear in my memory- to my shame; I fled with the sword Adreos, and the Seal of the Inquisition that was to be mine. I know for certain that Inquisitor Pretus was slain, and a great many loyal servants of the Inquisition, but the fate of the beast I do not doubt: I know it lives, for I have seen traces of it since.

I ran from Broktar's mansion, with the sword and the seal, and didn't stop running until I reached Andover VII. I could not go back to my family, for the shame is too great; I could not go back to the Inquisition, for I feared the recompense for my cowardice; so I fled to a far flung, forgotten corner of the Imperium. It was there that I made the acquaintance of Simeon Kys and Melek Taus."

Nathaniel Aul

WS 84
BS 59
S 56
T 57
I 75
WP 81
SG 76
NV 74
LD 69

Equipment: Laspistol, Power Sword, Armour 3 on all Locations except Head, Advanced Bionic Right Eye incorporating Infrascope, Bio-scanner

Abilities: First Strike, Feint, Fast Draw, Dodge

"I am not a nice man. I am not devout man- though, I am no heretic. I am a criminal. The Warrant of Trade my family has owned for three generations was stolen by my grandfather, who murdered its previous owner- my inheritance of it is coated in my father's blood. I have been called a pirate and a thief, I prefer privateer, but the truth is I have made my wealth on securing and delivering goods for people, when and where they want them.

I am ever at the service of the Imperium of Man, for the right price, but it is true that I have traded with Xenos before. That fine pistol that was giving your security such a panic when they took it from me is of Tau origin; its rare to find another like it, considering we're not so friendly with the blueskins anymore.
Why am I being so honest? Well, as far as I hear the Inquisition has a knack for finding the truth, regardless of what you tell them, and what are you going to do to me anyway? Kill me? I wish you the best of luck, as it will take some considerable doing.

Oh, you've heard of my... peculiar... condition? I assure you, I am no wych or mutant- although I've been accused as such in the past- no doubt you've confirmed this with your testing. I... I do not know what I am. It is hard to get the proper tests done with my condition, let alone find someone willing to run them.
I was born and bred Homo Sapiens, and believe that in essence, I still am- simply augmented, I suppose, by my encounter with a Bargheshi Blood Monster.

"You don't know this story? Ah, and there I was assuming the omnipotence of the Inquisition. Among other things, I have been known to deal in livestock- Some for feeding, some for breeding, and some for fighting. It was the procuring of a special case of the latter that put me in my current condition.

The Bargheshi Blood Monster is a big, red bastard with fourteen razor sharp claws a foot and a half long, a nose that could smell a speck of corn in an ogryn's turd, and a healing factor that puts the Astartes to shame. And they are angry- perpetually, very, very angry.

Therefore, when I got an order for one from a Carnival on Eustis Minor I leapt at the chance- a big catch means big money, and the amount of credits they were offering would have made even a cardinal drool. But I tell you, it was no easy task- had to get some real hard line, Guard Vet specialists on board to catch the beast, and then it took them about a month in the marshes of Bargheshi to find one and catch it. I think only three of them died, which I hear is a pretty good ratio, especially to get one alive.

Anyway, there we were with our prize catch hauled into the cargo bay. Thought that we'd already got the money in out pockets, the way we were acting. I'm not surprised it ended up such a mess.

On out way back to Eustis, just as we came out of warp transition, we had a brief loss in power; a little blip, happens once every few jumps as the Geller field shuts off. Nothing to worry about, all the dangerous cargo's running off of separate generators. Except one of these damned Guard 'Veterans' had decided that if there was a reason the ship lost power, we were probably frakked anyway, so was using the generator to recharge some of his spent las reloads- too cheap to buy reloads, I suppose. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that the Blood Monster escaped, and I'll tell you, 'monster' is no understatement. It slaughtered three out of every four men on my ship, before my first mate, Sammael Goodfersun, Emperor rest his soul, strapped a det-pack to the thing and blew them both to smithereens.

I happened to be unconscious at the time, having been partially savaged by the beast before my gallant crew came to my rescue, so I don't know the exact details of what happened between the creature dying and me waking up in sick bay, but from what my crew tell me I had a lot more of its blood on me before I got to the infirmary than I did when we arrived there.

Anyway, that thing having decimated my crew and done some not inconsiderable damage to the ships systems in the process, we did a damn good job of getting her to the nearest Imperial back water. Happened to be Andover VII- that's where I first met Aul and Kys.

We'd got the Benevolent Light into a relatively stable anchor, and I headed down surfaceside to see if I could scrounge some parts and recruit some more crewmen. Now, I'm not a man to be disparaging about a particular planet or people, but Andover VII really is the asshole of the Imperium. I mean, there is literally nothing there- the largest town has a population of under a hundred thousand, and that's colossal by their standards.

So I wound up in a no-name town which I doubt any of the locals had traveled further than twenty klicks from, let alone off world, and I needed a drink. I end up in this bar right on the edge of the wasteland- the kind seedy den full of local inbreds that I just love, drinking piss weak whatever-the-local-homebrew's-called, when in stumbles this ragged, sun burnt, barely clothed excuse for a man, tears streaming down his face, muttering to himself about Emperor-knows-what. I know trouble when I see it, so I excused myself to the privy whilst the locals prepared to give the freak a good beating.

More than once I've escaped a nasty brawl by kicking down a privy wall- just my luck, this latrine's about the only thing on the planet made out of good old plascrete. So as I'm considering whether to hide it out in the privy or make a break for the door, I hear shots and screaming, and this isn't some lynching- this is every voice in the bar bellowing, and heavy gauge weapons. Whatever's happening, I'm not getting out the privy, so I decide to make a break for it.

I was obviously packing heat, so I draw, but I come out to a scene of chaos. There's a half dozen military looking freaks, all in black and wielding shotguns, blasting at anything that moved. One of them's gone down to some crazy with a sword, one's subduing the guy the local's were about to lynch. One turns to take me out and I waste him; another gets the swordsman pinned, but is somewhat distracted when I blast his face off; and then one gets the sneak on me and I'm lying on the ground, blacked out."  

Captain Melek Taus

WS 54
BS 65
S 53
T 51
I 64
WP 72
SG 58
NV 47
LD 73

Equipment: Pulse Pistol, Autopistol, Force Rod, Tanglefoot Grenade, Stasis Grenade, Haywire Grenade, Ceramite bonded Flack Armour on all locations but head

Abilities: Fast Draw, Gunfighter, Hipshooting, Infected*

*Infected
The Xenos antibodies released into Tuas' bloodstream when the Bargheshi Blood-Monster that slaughtered all but one of his crew was rather messily killed did not kill him, but made him stronger. They completely replaced his relatively poor immune system and regenerative capabilities, so now he can survive the most grievous of wounds, his flesh and bones knitting together inhumanly quickly. Unfortunately, when they affected his brain they caused some damage to his thalamus and brain stem, completely removing his natural sleep cycle. Taus cannot fall asleep, but the regenerative abilities granted to him make sure he is never too badly damaged.
Melek Taus has the Regenerate and True Grit Abilities, but at the start of every turn must pass a leadership test or roll on the Hallucinogen Effects table.

   "There are things that I don't remember. I don't know which planet I'm from, or if I had a family. I don't remember much of being in the guard, although some of those things you can't forget. I don't remember the surgery, but that's because I was anaesthetized. I remember the killing though. No matter what they pumped into me, I remember the killing.
   
I don't know who they were. Some clandestine Guard operation, I thought- we we're told we were being selected for black ops training, which in a way it was. What they have made me is not well suited to guard mission, though- but I believe I was a failure.

Still, they found a use for me. The Emperor's holy work, they told me. I had been a soldier my whole life, and had no qualm about soldiering, but that wasn't what they wanted. Pumped so full of stimms that I couldn't think, they let me loose on civilians. They could have been heretics, psychers, alien lovers. Could have been. The problem is, I don't know.

And there was always... collateral damage. How was I to know if the women and kids were heretics? I was never told who I was killing, only released and then, once enough blood was shed, leashed again. I would remember, even through the haze of drugs- remember the faces of screaming girls as I slaughtered them, of pregnant women, boys not yet in puberty...

After every mission, as soon as the drugs wore off I'd break down. I was rendered completely incapable; they needn't have bothered guarding me, I was too woeful to attempt escape.

How did I end up on Andover VII? I don't know. I assume that I had a mission there; that I operated as expected, and butchered whoever I was intended to butcher. As for what happened after, my guess is that my handlers tried to extract me whilst I was still under the effects of the drugs, and I killed them. That's the only explanation that makes sense- if they'd wanted me loose, they wouldn't have tried to recapture me.

When I came round, it was as every time before- bloody, clothes naught but rags, and the overwhelming guilt about to cripple me. What was different this time was that there was no one waiting, no one there to secure and extract me.

This was the first opportunity that had ever been given, the first opening, and I took it. I crammed the guilt deep inside, and turned it into rage- if I could escape, maybe I could find the bastards that did this to me, and get revenge for those poor people I'd murdered.

So I ran. I ran as fast as I could- no doubt they'd be after me- and after I don't know how long, I saw signs of life- a dark stain on the horizon, which as I approached turned into what looked like a town.

Now, I didn't know where I was, who the locals where, whether they were Imperials or what. But I stumbled into the closest building, and at that point the guilt broke loose, and I broke down. It's a little hazy there on in- I know my presence upset the locals, and they were planning on removing me, but as I fell to the floor with the first punch, the door burst in and an extraction squad stormed the place, guns blazing. I don't know how they'd found me or why it had taken them so long to catch me, but my first instinct was to run.

Well, I ended up with a face full of shotgun-butt for that- they weren't going to let me get away that easily. They're killing everyone I the place- to leave behind no witnesses, I guess- but there's folks fighting back. Some guy's trying to take 'em on with a power sword, I'm pretty sure I saw the bartender taking pot shots with a lasgun, and this long haired loon comes charging out of the back with a pistol in each hand and takes down at least two of the goons before being wasted with a shotgun.

I saw that all that in between being struck in the jaw and hitting the ground- I remember an old commissar used to talk about how everything goes slow in combat- and at that point, I realized I'd had enough. If I didn't do something, they were going to kill everyone in this joint, and then recapture me, and I'd be back to killing women and kids again. And that wasn't something I'd let happen.

The goon subduing me was somewhat surprised when I drew my swords, but I didn't give him time to react, just cut through him like he wasn't there. The second had his back turned to me, so didn't really stand a chance- I'd punctured his heart and broken his neck before he could turn to face me. Three more were on the ground, and looked dead to me. The fifth was in combat with the swordsman, and when you're that close a shotgun isn't much use against a power sword. The sixth, who'd just dropped the guy with the pistols, turned and would have probably wasted me if his weapon hadn't jammed.

It was wonderful, fighting without the red fury of the drugs coursing though me; I was fighting in a cold rage, with the freedom of killing who I wanted to kill- these bastards who'd been forcing me to do horrible things, tortured me, experimented on me... It was blissful."   

Simeon Kys

WS: 74
BS: 54
S: 80
T: 54
I: 62
Wp: 48
Sg: 45
Nv: 61
Ld: 66

Equipment: 2 Retractable Implant Short Swords* (Both Arms), Laspistol, Psychon Inhaler (3 Doses),  Bionic Head (Armour 2), Average Bionic Right Arm (Strength 42), Average Bionic Left Arm (Strength 38), Crude Bionic Lungs, Flack Armour on All Locations except Head

*Retractable Implant Short Sword
Short Sword; cannot be dropped; when using this weapon, the wielder gains the First Strike ability.

Abilities: Ambidextrous, Feint, Furious Assault

   "It appeared that everyone bar me and Kys were dead or gone. Of course, at that stage I did not know his name; he was just a mystery with two swords sticking out of his hands, who had killed three well armed, trained men in a matter of seconds. Obviously, I was wary of him.

I asked him who he was, and he said he did not know. He asked me who I was, and I answered 'Inquisition'. He looked dismayed- a common effect of the word- but at that moment the duelist who had been gunned down after saving me began to writhe on the floor. I witnessed half of his torso regenerate in a matter of moments.
Panting, he pushed himself to his knees, managed to stand, supporting himself on a table."

"Naturally, I introduced myself to the two gentlemen. Both seemed somewhat in a state of shock- the freak, now somewhat more bloodstained than when he'd entered, staring at the swordsman like he was terror incarnate, and the swordsman staring at me as if I'd just pulled a rabbit out of my arse. Of course, at the time I wasn't aware of my new regenerative abilities.

Seeing as, at the time, neither of them seemed willing to chat, I decided to exit before the authorities, if there were any, turned up. As I headed for the door, the swordsman stopped me, waving something in my face. It was a Seal of the Inquisition. At that point, I had two options- either waste him and avoid the forthcoming hassle, or perhaps make a powerful ally.

I chose the second. He asked me if I had transport, and was doubly pleased when I told him I had a ship. So off we went, the merry trio.

Working for the Inquisition... the benefits outweigh the costs. The pay's good, the work's interesting, and if I'm running a little something off the side, Aul pretends not to notice. I've been raking in a tasty profit since I began working with him. And its always nice to have friends in high places."

"Is the Inquisition responsible for what I am now? I don't know, but I doubt it. And the Inquisition certainly has the power to find out who is. Aul is a good man. With him, I only kill those who deserve death. With him, I will find those who did this to me. And I will have my revenge."

"The resources of a rogue trader have been of considerable use to me, despite Taus' oddities of character and biology. With his assets I have been able to continue the work of my late master, the work of the Emperor.
Kys is a ruined man, broken in slaughter but reforged as a tool of the Emperor in the flames of vengeance. Perhaps him and I are no so different- we are both looking for revenge, and both looking for redemption. And I am drawing closer to my revenge.

The Great Horned One cannot hide from me forever."

~
Cheers!
Tartarus

[Adlan]

Very Nice. I like it. Solid and interesting Back story. Whats the Inquisitions current stance on Aul? Is he a fugitive? Assumed Dead? a Confirmed Inquisitor, though you describe him as Interrogater? I like having him run from the deamon.

Does Taus have a Force Rod for any particular reason? He's not psychic is he?

[Tartarus]

The Inquisition's stance on Aul depends on which Inquisitor you ask. He is relatively unknown, and was never formally given the seal and promoted, despite having the blessings (in proxy) of three Inquisitors. Some members of the Inquisition will not fell that this is proper confirmation, whilst others will. Hence Interrogater.

The force rod on Taus is a trinket he's picked up. He's not a psyker, but he is a rogue trader, and possession of a particularly ornate stick always makes one feel important. He has no idea it is a force weapon.

Cheers,
Tartarus.

[psycho]

Love the way you did that mate, made me feel like i was talking to the character and asking the questions.
bit like the Mordheim rulebook bit with Johan the Knife

love it

kerby

[Swarbie]

I too love the way this has been laid out. Interesting when three men are randomly thrown together by fate.
I especially love your Deadpool inspired character (making an assumption here)

[Myriad]

Nice, detailed backgrounds and character rules.

It's always good to have characters which, for some reason or another, could come under suspicion from the rest of the inquisition - the legitimacy of his claim, the rogue daemon, plenty of narrative to work with.

[Inquisitor Octavian Lars]

Hang on a sec conclavers, where's the big yellow welcome.

Oh, here it is,
WELCOME TO THE CONCLAVE
phew that took ages to do.