DH RPG - Karrick Arc(3)

[Wayne S]

Days pass slowly in the safe house. You fill you time watching imperial pict feeds and servicing organizing your new gear. A a few days of rest, Lucius, accompanied by the ever vigilant Sila, sets out for the Adeptus Mechanicus Cult Majoris Templum in the upper hive. They return three days latter. Lucius with new mechanical forearms and hands and a serpentine looking mechadendrite looming over his shoulder, it's tip a clacking pincer. Sila returns looking worn out and haunted.

After five days, Etienne Corvette, arrives. Early one morning, as Kron is making recaf, she just walks into the culinarium and demands everyone fall in for a mission briefing. She looks exhausted and grim. Kron notices a small splattering of blood on her forehead. He mentions it and hands her a napkin. She idly wipes it away and when she gestures for Kron to fetch the others, he notices more blood caked under her nails. Kron quickly assembles everyone and you all stand in various states of wakefulness in the culinarium.

"You are all now members of team Rapier. Those past members and those newly bonded are all equal members and shall work together at their best, for the glory of the Emperor." Etienne scowls. "We have finished the interrogation of the captured hereteks and the pirate scum, Cilias Manque. The information we retrieved was bountiful yet cryptic. Our agents have been able to derive from it the location of one of the Black Blood Jacks strong holds. We believe it to be a major base of operations for them and it may contain more of the hereteks and unholy technologies which these pirates have been trafficking. You mission is to infiltrate this base and capture as many of it's secrets as possible. The structure is located inside a mountain, in the southern hemisphere of planet Karrik, a jungle death world. The wilds of which are infested by the xenos breed Ork. The infestation is cataloged as minor, by the Adeptus Biologis as the various deadly flora and fauna of the world keep even the tenacious Orks population low. The Imperium maintains a Guard outpost there and that's where you shall be inserted. We have provided maps and trackers for you. They have been loaded into your servo skull remotely this morning. You will be dropped at the guard outpost with your gear and you you will move form there overland, through the jungles, to the equatorial mountain range where the pirate strong hold is located. We cannot assault it directly as we were unable to ascertain the exact location. The massive bio signatures of the thick jungle vegetation, the high levels of ambient radiation and the complex geolithic structuring of the mountains has made our attempts at planet scans less than useless. But we have been able to lock down the general area by mapping the plasma traces of outlaw shuttles in the area." Etienne stops and accepts a cup of recaf from Kron. She glances into the pantry where 10000 rounds of stubber ammo, various grenades, bombs, and heavy weapons are stacked in metal cases.

"I see you have been preparing." A slim smile graces her face. "That is well and good. A special Inquisition escort ship has been requisitioned to move you to the planet. It is at ready and awaits your boarding. Have you finished your preparations?

[ImperialServant]

"Stig and I are ready to leave. I am unsure about the rest but we will be ready to leave within 24 hours at the absolute latest." Lazerus states.

Stig leaves the group to begin his preparations for departure, stacking ammunition boxes and weapons cases in the foyer for ease of loading. After the foyer fills, rather quickly as it happens, Stig returns to his rack to don his armor. The process is slow because the armor is heavy but once he is done he stands clad head to toe in matte black armor. Stig has spent some time modifying this set and thus all identifying marks have been completely removed. Stig works his way back to the group slowly and stands quietly in the doorway once he does.

[guardsman001]

Lucious looks up and says "I request one more night cycle to complete the unfinished upgrades on my serviator, 114 is in a non functioning status as of now. I require one more night cycle to complete him" Lucious will then walk off to his room and continue the upgrades where he left off

Father, giving the tech priest a look as he walks away will then say, "now that I know we will be fighting orks, I must go off to the market to acquire man stopper rounds for my weapons"

His cronomoter will sound with a BEEP BEEP BEEP shortly after his statement, Raising his auto injector to his neck, he will introduce the dose of drugs directly into his neck. with a mechanical decompression sound from the gun the dosage will course through Father's system.

[Wayne S]

Etienne looks you all over with a grim face.

"All our data shows Karrick to be a harsh world with plentiful dangers. I cannot say how long this mission will last. I do know the pirate base is over a hundred kilometers north of the Guard base. That's a long trek through hostile territory with no supply lines or secured fall back routes."

She smiles at you her eyes gleaming.

"The shuttle to the escort awaits your convenience. Don't be to long. This situation require prompt action." She drains her recaf and hands the mug to Mordecai as she walks out.

[ImperialServant]

"Alright, you heard the lady. Everyone get your kit prepped and ready to go. When you are ready go ahead and pile your bags in the truck. Stig and I will be loading our gear now. Make any last minute purchases if you have to." Lazerus will say. He heads up to his rack and retrieves his own armor, the twin of Stig's, and dons it. Dressing finished, Lazerus falls in next to Stig to load their equipment into the truck. Not everything can fit so they only take 2,000 rounds between them. To this they add half their explosives stockpile and all their weapons.

[guardsman001]

Lucious now completing the servator will come down to the first floor, now covered in oil and tell everyone he is now ready to go. the servator now comming down the stairs is covered in bronze plate made to replicate the form of a human in their fully physically fit form. The mask that covers the head looks like one of ornate design. The Green eyes still remain the same, and the mechandrites still hover over the back of the servator as if he is always ready to do his masters bidding.

Father, now at the market decides to look for the man stopper rounds, and finds them... after purchasing them he will head back to the safe house

[Wayne S]

Early the next day you all climb into the transport and are shuttle through the hive for the last time. You cross over the massive iron work bridge and into the shuttle port. It takes two hours to get the manifest filed correctly and get your gear stowed on the shuttle.

"I miss Latilia" says, Sila as she finishes the triplicate paperwork and hands it back to the port magistrates clerk for the third time.

Everthing is done undercover here, with no mention of the inquisition or it's agents. Etienne Corvette stands off to one side half hidden in the crowded port watching you.

Eventually all the hustle and bustle is through and you strapped into the shuttle and roaring off planet into the cold vacuum of space. You are met on board the escort by storm troopers in crimson fatigues, bearing the seal of the holy ordos. They show you to a spartan barrack like chamber with 36 fold down cots, 36 lockers and an all metal lavatorium.

"Great," says Kron. "Well at least the trip is only a week. Glad I brought some books." He flips down a cot and stretches out on it closing his eyes.

A metal vox grill in the ceiling announces that your luggage has been stowed and that the ship will be underway soon. The voice is quickly followed by a lurch and a growing roars of plasma engines as you head out of the system.

Time passes slow and steady. Kron keeps to himself reading cheap novels and sleeping.

The second day around lunch time, the speaker announces the translation to the warp and you feel the organ lurching sickness of translation for a few brief moments and then all is still again. Kron sits up in his cot sweating and looking horrified. He goes into the lavatorium and vomits.

You have four more days of warp migration and then one more of in system travel to reach Karrick.

[ImperialServant]

Lazerus and Stig head to the cargo bay to clean and maintain their weapons in preparation for the assault. Lazerus sets to repainting his armor in jungle camo while Stig links rounds for his heavy stubber. Stig also repaints his armor after a few belts and eventually both end up linking 1000 rounds for Stig's stubber. Given time towards the end of the trip, Lazerus and Stig sleep as much as possible.

[guardsman001]

Lucious will use this time to pray to the Ommasiah, to browse his holy rights files, and make sure he knows how to do them rite. He will also ponder that Key, and the mysterious scrap code that invaded his system.


Father will read his holy books, and maintain his dosing of his wonder drug

[Wayne S]

The voyage is quick if dull. Everyone occupies themselves in their own ways and soon you are all strapped into another shuttle headed into the atmosphere of another world. This time the shuttle is military in spec, all steel and armor plas plating. You all sit restlessly, buckled into canvas grav webbing. You are able to catch a glimpse of Karrick, as the shuttle banks over the equator, the port hatch window, fills with the upper hemisphere of a great sickly green and yellow orb.

"Emperor deliver us!" Kron chokes as the shuttle roars into its dive through the stratosphere towards the planets surface.

The voyage is quick, but not dull. The shuttle rattles and shakes with cross winds and the massive jet stream winds of Karricks equatorial land masses. The shuttle slams onto the landing pad with a clang that makes everyones teeth clack. But soon the ramp is down and you are standing on a modular land pad in a jungle clearing, which looks like it needs to be bushwhacked at least once a week if not everyday. Already the stanchions and cables are half covered with red creepers and shaggy yellow vines. At the far end of the clearing is a cluster of prefab Guard buildings. The ground looks moist and spongy but a muddy service road links the outpost with the landing pad. The sky is a pale yellow green with dark ochre clouds forming in the south.The jungle is sweltering and seething with insectiod life. The huge twisted trees are hung with garlands of shaggy vines and bulging pod creepers. The shuttle crew quickly dump your gear, bundled onto three pallets, onto the pads cargo lift. Then they secure the hatches and the engines begin to whine. You all take cover behind a therma plas blast shield as the shuttle soars into the sky on roaring thrusters.

You stand there looking at each other as something huge out in the dark jungle lets out a croaking roar. The smell of spicy cooking wafts past you on a hot damp breeze.