Note: the stats have now been edited in light of MarkoSkoll's guidance.
I'm not very experienced at Inquisitor, so thought I'd best post my characters for the upcoming Guardian IRE playtest day for vetting by the community. I've attempted to confirm to the Conclave Standard for them, but am not sure if my 2 Grymn (small abhumans) may be a bit weak. My characters are (L-R): Johno, Anna, Sweenikov & Brody
Andrei Sweenikov (aka The Sween-Dog) – Mob Boss
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld
65 61 60(80) 63 60 56 53 63 71
Abilities: semi-ambidextrous: 10% penalty for off hand
Equipment: Shotgun, bionic arm (S50 - factored into stats above), +2 armour, may parry, counts as armoured gauntlet), bionic eye (with Image Intensification & Infra-red sensors) & heavy clothing.
Andrei Sweenikov (aka The Sween-Dog) is the deputy, long-time best friend and drinking buddy of the most powerful mob boss (Mikhail Askimov) in one of the largest cities on the planet. Growing up as street tough in a poor neighbourhood, he & Askimov rose through the underworld ranks to eventually assume control of the mob in their city. Along the way, Sweenikov has sustained several injuries – more from drunken mishaps than losing fights – including an ill-fated drunken attempt to break into the spaceport which cost him his left arm. Fortunately, over the years, his ‘business interests’ have permitted the purchase of several successively better bionic replacements. His current arm is considered top of the range by the standards of the regular imperial citizenry on his planet, and is specially hardened to make it useful in a scrap. Although naturally right-handed, Sweenikov has spent a lot of time training to fight with his bionic arm, and has (partially, at least) learnt to compensate for his right-handedness and make good use of his bionic strength in a scrap. Already capable of affecting a very intimidating persona when required, the casual flexing of his bionic arm only adds to the effect. In his younger days, Sweenikov was blessed with handsome, boyish good looks and was something of a ladies’ man; although a little more grizzled around the edges these days, he is still a snappy dresser and able to turn on the charm when required.
Anna Moiseeva – Cat Burglar
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld
67 51 58 55 62 52 41 47 51
Abilities: Blademaster, Combat Stance - Defensive, Scale Terrain & Stealthy, Feminine Wiles (contextual +20% to persuasion roles)
Equipment: sword, knife, stub gun, lock pick set, light clothing & kevlar corset (3) - sexy, yet practical.
Anna is an accomplished cat burglar, adept at scaling, sneaking, and discreet breaking and entering. She started her ‘career’ working on her own, but her activities soon brought her to the attention of the mob, and was made an offer she couldn’t refuse. Now working under the mob’s auspices, she continues to ply her trade. A reasonably skilled fencer, Anna is more than capable of seeing off any unwanted attention while she is about her business. An attractive woman in good shape (and often wearing an outfit that accentuates said good shape), Anna is not above employing her feminine wiles when required, and has avoided many sticky situation by sweet-talking a smitten security guard into looking the other way.
Brody – Mob Hacker (Grymn)
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld
33 47 42 48 42 45 58(83) 35 43
Abilities: Small Target (-10%)
Equipment: Lasgun w. telescopic sight, torch & laser pointer, advanced cranial hacking implant (+25% when interacting with computers/electronics) & light clothing.
Brody is a Grymn – a stable sub-species of abhuman distinctive for being significantly smaller than a ‘standard’ human, but still all in proportion unlike the more ‘squat’ physique of the, err, Squats. Although society on her world doesn’t officially discriminate against the Grymn, they’re not exactly treated equally by the authorities, and tend to gravitate towards the margins of polite society. From a young age, Brody displayed an affinity for computers and electronics but, being possessed of something of a rebellious streak, she channelled this interest towards the less than entirely legal aspects of the field. Quickly developing her skills as a hacker, she rose in status within the hacking community and, inevitably, came into contact with the mob. By then the charismatic Askimov, who was something of a hero amongst the city’s downtrodden Grymn populace, had assumed control of the mob, and Brody was happy to accept his job offer. Askimov was willing to invest in his new tech specialist and Brody was fitted with an advanced cranial implant, allowing her to interface directly with any computer or electronic item with an external port, thus massively enhancing her ability to get up to electronic mischief.
Johno – Mercenary employed by the Mob (Grymn)
WS BS S T I Wp Sg Nv Ld
61 69 45 52 61 57 42 53 62
Abilities: Rock steady aim, Small Target (-10%)
Equipment: Lasgun w. reflex sight, laser pointer & torch, stub gun, knife, heavy clothing with body armour for the torso (3 on abdomen, 4 on chest) & an open helmet (4).
Johno is a Grymn, currently in the employ of Deano ‘Mother[EXCOMMUNICATE]er’ Jones’ mercenary outfit, which maintains a close affiliation with Askimov’s mob. A 15 year veteran of PDF service, Johno is an accomplished infantryman who was lured away from regular service by the prospect of the pay and adventure to be had as a merc. Askimov calls upon the mercs when he needs extra numbers, or a situation warrants a slightly more high-end military approach than the mob’s run-of-the-mill muscle can supply. Although a merc and, ultimately, in it for the money, Mother[EXCOMMUNICATE]er’s mercs have a reputation for professional commitment to their job (and the very dogged pursuit of anyone who double-crosses them). Additionally, Askimov’s highly publicised outreach work in the poorer Grymn communities has earned him the loyalty of a lot of Grymn, Johno included.
As for how these guys are getting tangled up with the events of the Guardian…
Andrei Sweenikov knocked on the door, and heard a flurry of activity from behind the plush door, followed by the command “enter”. As he walked in, he saw the ‘secret’ door sliding closed behind Mikhail Askimov’s desk and caught the sound of female giggling echoing through before the door settled into place. “You wanted to see me boss” he said. “Yeah, grab yourself a drink and take a seat” Askimov replied, gesturing to one of the plush armchairs opposite the desk. “As ever, the drink and girls are making people incautiously talkative downstairs, and it seems one gentleman in particular has an interesting tale to tell…”
So far, so routine, thought Sweenikov. The combination of opulent surroundings, beautiful girls, good drink and other more illicit substances loosened a lot of tongues in The Warren, the Mob’s club and centre of operations.
“It seems” continued Askimov, “that this gentleman, a Rogue Trader – or so he claims – has come across information about some sort of super weapon, a forgotten piece of archeotech sat gathering dust just waiting for us to put it good use.”
“All very interesting boss, but Johns with that kind of story are ten a penny in this city. What makes you think there’s anything to this?” “Well”, Aslimov replied, “I took a walk of the club earlier to catch Jessica singing, and exchanged a few pleasantries with the gentlemen concerned. He’s certainly a lot wealthier than we often see here, and there’s something about him. It’s plausible that he’s really onto something.”
“So, are the girls, err, pumping him for information?” asked Sweenikov, with a sly grin.
“I’ve got Odessa and Tilda on the case, let’s just say he’ll be having a very good night’s sleep. The girls will grab his data slate, Brody and Big Rob can give it the once over before we slip it back and he’ll be none the wiser when he wakes up.”
Two stories above Askimov’s office, Odessa and Tilda put the Rogue Trader’s slightly unfocussed look down to the drink, although it didn’t seem to be putting him off his stride. Little did they know that he had cranial implants that were receiving a transmission from the bug he’d managed to plant on the mob boss’ jacket earlier in the evening.
A little while later, as he feigned unconsciousness (whatever they’d slipped into his drink having proven no match for his gene-altered metabolic system), he noticed Tilda surreptitiously extract his data slate from his jacket, where it lay strewn on the floor amongst a trail of lingerie. She and Odessa gathered up their clothes and tip-toed out of the room. Maintaining the outward appearance of deep sleep – you never knew who might be watching – he reflected that there were some aspects of his job he did rather enjoy. Assuming the mob’s hackers were as good as he’d been led to believe, they should find the data slate just challenging enough to unlock before the morning – anything too easy and they’d be suspicious. If everything went according to plan – and he’d made sure it would – those fools would do all the hard work and bleeding, and his patron’s involvement in the whole escapade would never even be suspected.
The next day, Askimov and Sweenikov were reviewing the contents of the hacked data slate. “Well Boss, it looks like your instincts were right, this could be a game changer.” “Indeed” mused Askimov, “this could be our ticket to the big time, I’ve always felt there was more to life than running just the one city. I need to remain in situ lest our rivals notice my absence and get suspicious that we’re up to something, so I want you to take the lead on this; take Anna, Brody and Johno, and start chasing this down, but keep it low key…”
(Within their particular pond, these guys are pretty big fish, but set against the context of interplanetary events and Inquisitorial machinations, I suspect they are going to find themselves so out of their depth…)
