Warhammer 40K: The Interex Valhalla

[Nexus Placater]

Apharius was clearly aware of the Navigator, eyeing him as the zombies grabbed him and shambled off with his leg-less torso. "This should not be happening." he mumbled to himself as he began to look around for any clues as to where the navigator might have gone.

Spoiler

[dice]22224[/dice]Ok this is enough, Nuffle. Fate points are now at 3 for me.[dice]22225[/dice]

 

[Protagonist]

Apharius can sense a warp presence in some of the dead bodies still laying about.


There's something going on in the Core Coginator, Apharius can tell. But he can't be sure if it's the Navigator or not.


Suddenly, we start hearing pounding on the vents. More Warp Puppets are trying to get in. Other dead bodies start rising.


The door opens. Apollo says "Alright, let's move out!"

 

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Carth runs to the doorway but stops before going through. Instead, he starts waving for people to go through, and then settles his hellgun in his grip, aimed at the nearest set of pounding vents, intending to act as a rearguard if it was needed.

 

[Eplov]

Naomi lets out a shrill whistle and shouts, "After you, Snuffles!"

Spoiler

[dice]22254[/dice]


She's so freakin' hidden it's not even funny.


The Rook sisters head for the door, Nieli blending into the background as she goes, with Snuffles in the lead.

 

[Nexus Placater]

Apharius continues down the hallway, making sure to keep his head down. As he follows, he tries to locate the other navigator again.

Spoiler

[dice]22255[/dice]Nuffle just hates me.

 

[Protagonist]

We all exit the room just in the nick of time! Carth is able to escape without having to shoot at anything.


The door leads into some kind of tunnel, relatively small and narrow. It closes behind us and locks again.


Apollo says "Good job! Let me call the Valhalla."


He pulls out his vox device and calls up the Valhalla. He hears only static.


"They-whoever they are-cut off our communications." he says. He walks forewards, trying to get a distance away from the bridge which will no doubt be filled with Warp Puppets again. "From your schematics, I think this is the way to our Guncutter." He walks a ways forwards, but we run into a giant locked metal door. Apollo sighs. "We'll need to find another way."

 

[Eplov]

"Alternate route, Carth?" Asks Nieli smoothly, as she swaps out her partially spent power pack for a new one.


Naomi, inspecting her gore soaked hound, sighs audibly and says, "You've got... bits stuck in here." Her mechadendrite comes up and begins buffing the crud away as she turns to look at Carth's expectantly. He did pocket her data slate after all.

 

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Carth glanced back over his shoulder as everyone stopped, the massive door blocking their path. Of course, some of the doors are shut, and that invalidates some pathways. He pulled the data slate back out and took another look at it, trying to pick out a way back to the guncutter. Speed was key, here.

Spoiler

[dice]22286[/dice]


Not even close. Well, let's fight some people.


He shrugged. All the ways he could see were either locked or going back through the bridge, and he was not going to lead the group back through there. Besides, he'd need to be watching for ambushes, and dividing attention between staying alert and navigating was not even close to an optimal situation.


Carth tossed the data slate to Naomi. She was the technology person, and the data slate was probably hers anyway. He stepped to the side and gestured for her to lead. Once more he waited for everyone to move past while he took up a rearguard position, eyes peeled for trouble.

 

[Eplov]

Naomi, gently stroking the data slate and examining it for damage due to rough treatment, pulls up the stored ship files and tries to find a path to the Guncutter.

Spoiler

[dice]22287[/dice]


Oh snap. 2 DOF.


"This seems more complicated than I remember..." mumbles Naomi, then more forcefully adds, "Snuffles, can you see which way that thing went?"






[dice]22288[/dice]


If Int no, if Perception yes. @Protagonist please finish this post however you see fit.

 

[Protagonist]

We walk around aimlessly for a moment, Apollo wishing he had a better idea of what he was doing, until we see in a corner to our left a strange-looking man, covered in worn out clothing. He's unarmed and throws up his hands in a surrender gesture.


"Don't shoot, don't shoot!" he declares relatively quietly. "It's not safe here. Come with me!"


Apollo says "How do I know we can trust you?"


The man says "You'll have to take my word for it."


Apollo thinks for a moment.


[dice]22289[/dice]


"I think we can trust this guy" says Apollo, following him.

 

[Eplov]

Naomi and Nieli look at each other, then scrutinize this scruffy individual. Everything here is suspect with weird warp energies floating about.

Spoiler

[dice]22304[/dice]


[dice]22305[/dice]


Wow... just, wow.


If he were trying to deceive us he'd need to have failed his roll by 5 degrees for either sister to catch him in his lie.


Again, making brief eye contact with one another they both shrug and trot after Apollo and the scruffy stranger, Snuffles in tow.

 

[Nexus Placater]

Apharius didn't like the man that stood in front of him, the way he had suddenly appeared and the "urgency" of the situation just didn't seem right to him. With that, Apharius calmly emptied his mind to Gaze into the Abyss.

Spoiler

[dice]22349[/dice]You would think that at some point, a 55% chance would work once in a while.

 

[Protagonist]

We're led by the man a ways, and he brings us into the ship's bowels, far below the normal decks. There's a few people here, all visibly hungry-ironically more horrific than the Warp Puppets. There's a few tight corridors, with a few open metal crates here and there, some of which are converted into beds.


The man says "Sorry 'bout that. My name's Erart. We've been living here for too damn long, now, safe from the bastard Orden. Now, I want to know, what brought you here?"


Apollo says "We came to salvage the ship."


"Right. Simple salvage mission. You came for the Worm, didn't you?"


Apollo asks "The Worm?"


Erart says "Son, if you don't know-and I'm not sayin' you don't, I'm still not sure I'd trust you with that knowledge."


[dice]22392[/dice]


Apollo tries to reason with Erart. "Look, we're in this together now. If you don't tell us everything we need to know, we're not going to be able to help you. That'd be terrible for both of us."


Erart sighs. "Sorry. Living down here makes you paranoid. Let me tell you everything. See, a few months back, we pick up this Xeno device. They call it the Worm. But it started playin' tricks on our Navigator's head. 'Ventually, he kills everyone on the bridge and turns off the oxygen. Starts usin' their bodies as puppets to fight the rest of us. We've got a um, well a theory on how we might try to stop 'em, but we're all too weak from hunger and frankly too damn scared to go try it"


He points to a map hanging on a wall of the ship, there so maintenance knows where they are. He points to a part labeled "you are here", and then drags his bony finger over to another part of the ship. "So this Worm, we think it draws power from the Warp. Orden shut off the Gellar Field as soon as he took over the ship. So, I says, maybe we should send someone-a group of people-to go turn it back on."

 

[Eplov]

Naomi, more than a bit skeptical about all of this xenos worm and Gellar Field business, tries to reason out what this "plan" of theirs might actually accomplish.

Spoiler

[dice]22395[/dice]


[dice]22396[/dice]


All of which failed.. Arg.


Unable to make heads-nor-tails of this outlandish plan, Naomi instead concentrates on what she can do to make it happen. "Erart," she begins, "We just left the bridge, where exactly are we going to reinstate the Gellar Field if not there? And, is there a path with air to wherever that is?"


Nieli, never one to miss an opportunity, adds, "Your navigator should know have known better than to deal with Xenos artifacts, that is why they're outlawed after all. Not your fault though... Still, any assistance you could provide us will make this whole saving you thing go a whole lot smoother." After a pause adds with a smile, "equipment, thralls to scout with, anything at all."






[dice]22397[/dice]


[dice]22398[/dice]


[dice]22399[/dice]


Nieli doesn't know what that damn worm is either. Charm failed by 1 degree. Barter succeeded by 4 degrees.

 

[Protagonist]

"It was the Captain Spargan's decision to bring it on board. We didn't know what it was at the time." he explains. "You were on the bridge? Orden likes to keep that place locked up tight. Good work not dyin'. Unfortunately, gettin' the Gellar Field back on ain't so simple as turning it on from the bridge. The Machine Spirit's been shut off, and you'll need to awaken from there. It can't be done from the bridge. Which is probl'y a good thing. Orden isn't guardin' that area like he is the bridge-and until we get that Gellar field back online he'll have his Pyker shield".


Neili requests assistance. Erart squints at her a moment, and then says "Look, I'll tell you what. We have some ammunition down here, we'll let you have it. Get that field online, and we'll help you take down Orden."

 

[Eplov]

Naomi's mouth purses in thought then says, "Is this Captain Spargan still among the living? What about any remaining senior staff?"


"Much obliged." Nieli purrs, swapping her partially spent cells for fresh ones.

 

[Nexus Placater]

Apharius didn't like the idea that the navigator on this ship had gone crazy after touching the xenos artifact that had been on the ship. "How do we know that it won't target me next?" Apharius asked as he raised his head a bit, just enough to for the others to see the lower half of his navigator's eye. He also thinks about what he remembered from his Dark Voyage.

Spoiler

[dice]22400[/dice]This is 2 DOS, almost three. Well Apharius knows about the Worm, maybe.




[dice]22401[/dice]The exact opposite number of the one that I just rolled.

 

[Protagonist]

Apharius can recall his knowledge of xenos stuff and this "worm" reminds him of a halo device-a Xeno instrument that takes control of the mind.


Erart pauses and says "I...can't really be sure. We need to restrain him."


Apollo sounds indignant. "We can't just lock him up based on a suspicion!" He turns to Apharius and asks "What do you think?"

 

[Nexus Placater]

Apharius was aware of the fact that it could control minds but he didn't know how it was doing it. He thought about the implications of the warp and other xenos artifact.

Spoiler

[dice]22643[/dice]




[dice]22644[/dice]

 

[Protagonist]

Apharius can't quite figure out if the device effects specifically navigators.


Apollo sees his friend indecisive and says "Look, we'll need the extra hand, and your knowledge of Xenos artefacts and such will be useful."

 

[Eplov]

Naomi nods her head firmly and says, "Good, it's decided then. Lead on and let us find our way to getting the Gellar fields turned back on." With that she reworks the slide on her boltgun and gestures for Erart to lead the way.


Noticing the change in his master's bearing, Snuffles bounds to his feet and lands by her side with a resounding bark. He quivers slightly, several hundred Kilos of cyber hound ready to go.


Nieli simply shrugs and cradles her longlas in her arms, content to follow behind her unusually energized sibling.

 

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

Carth listened patiently to the conversation, taking in as much as he could. The thought that it could take their navigator was a little troubling, but he felt confident he could handle it if it came up. He tried to catch Apollo's gaze, then tapped his hellgun meaningfully before jerking his head at Apharius, in the unspoken signal that he was more than willing to burn some holes into their navigator's skull if it came to it.


He also took a moment to recharge his backpack power supply for the hellgun, nodding appreciatively to one of the survivors. He sympathised with them. The whole thing was honestly reminding him a little of his own situation, although with more Xenos worm devices, less insanity and carnage, and hopefully less daemons. Daemons were not exactly the most fun things to encounter, especially when it came to fighting them.


Seeing people preparing to leave, Carth moved forward to take point behind their guide, only to find that position already taken by the tech... she wasn't really a techpriest, really. Technology person, would be the best way he could think of on the spot. It was easier to just say 'Naomi'. Instead he dropped back a few paces, in line with but a metre to the side of Nieli.


Not yet moving, Carth impatiently tapped the side of his hellgun, forming a steady, constant beat. Usually he was more professional than that, but they were mostly safe, and he was having a slightly more casual moment. Of course, his face was still its blank old, totally neutral self.