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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 01:00:46 2014 No.33591754 View View Reply Original Report

Quoted By: >>33591863

Finally, things get interesting, and the fun stuff begins. In Excelsus: A Midsummer Knight's Dream, the players are soldiers for hire, working for a mercenary guild on the hive world of Nemi in the Tiji Sector, trying to make their way through the universe and the many dangers it holds. Every day is a chance for another bounty, and another death.

The Fireteam of the Shattered Suns Mercenary Company:

Lucius Mojaro, Imperial World Guardsman
Bekowski, Mind-Cleansed Guardsman
Wolfhound, Hive World Guardsman
Ophilia, Hive World Assassin
Alistair Vathrek, Venator Crimson Guardsman

Excelsus awaits.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:02:50 No.33591792 Report

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Episode 3 - Big Score

A day of medical treatment for everyone, and the Fireteam all recover their full physical strength. A day of rest is perhaps needed once in a while, refreshing the mind and body. After a few harrowing missions, the reward being just enough pay for the next one, the bells toll to announce midday in the gloomy Waistworks. It is now 12 bong on one of the many hives of Nemi. A new day awaits.

Vathrek tends to his equipment as normal, while Ophilia snores gently in her bed, the grenade shrapnel wounds healing fine. Wolfhound listens idly to the pict-caster, while Lucius bulks up in the guild's physical training centrum. Bekowski merely sits by the bounty boards, lost in thought. A single hastily attached parchment sways on the board.

"Whatcha got there, Bekowski?" asks Wolfhound.
"Got somethin' new on the board," Bekowski grunts through his welding mask, "Anybody mind seeing what it is?"
Ophilia crawls out of the medicae ward bed, and grabs the sheet. She reads out the paper, the only two words being "See Overseer."
"Must be a pretty big job then," muses Bekowski.
"Mmm," Ophilia concurs, stumbling off in search of morning recaf.

The recaf distribution device lies in the main lobby of the Shattered Suns guild hall. The Overseer looks rather tense as Ophilia passes by. Indeed, everyone in the area seems a bit on edge. Bekowski heads over to the overseer at his desk, flashing the paper.

"So, what's this about a job we need to see you about?" he asks.
"Hmm, yes, that..." says the Overseer, as he enters data into his cogitator, "Might want a seat, this'll take a while.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:04:22 No.33591827 Report

Quoted By:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AYHDORzGNI

"Simply put, a job was sent out to every group of sellswords, hired guns, and private military company in the sector," the Overseer says, "And the reward..."
The Overseer breathes deep.
"The reward is enough to just about buy a planetary governorship."
Ophilia perks up in interest as Bekowski falls backwards in shock.
"The mission came through an agent, a trusted one," he explains, "And I spent most of yesterday corroborating the truth of it."
"You got a number or a vague amount?" asks Lucius.
"...do we even WANT to know who's hiring?" asks an incredulous Ophilia.
"Even I don't know who's hiring," says the Overseer, "We only have the task they provided."
"Who the hell do they want dead, Roboute Guilliman?" asks Bekowski.
"Who's this Raw-bu...robot---fuck..." coughs Wolfhound as the magnitude of the situation hits him.
"Nobody dead this time," the Overseer says, "They're looking for something."
Ophilia shifts uncomfortably at the Overseer's words.
"According to them, somewhere in the sector is a cache of lost archeotech," the Overseer continues, "They want someone to locate the cache, verify it exists, and secure it."
"Well, they must have heard it directly from the mouth of the Big E Himself if it's worth a billion just to get a hold of it," laughs Wolfhound.
"They only had one word to go on," the Overseer finishes, "Excelsus."
"And naturally, there'll be competition..." sighs Ophilia.
"Correct," says the Overseer, "In fact, we've determined that four other teams from offworld arrived earlier today to pursue the mission."
By now, Vathrek has completed maintenance and has rejoined the Fireteam.
"And that's just the ones on THIS world," he continues, "Who knows how many more are on the hunt now..."

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:05:30 No.33591852 Report

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"If somebody is willing to shell out GigaThrones for this, who knows what kind of archeotech it could be," Bekowski thinks, "Could be an STC fragment, even."
"Did we even get a throne in advance for this, or are going on a a wild grox chase?" asks Wolfhound.
"The agent left a payment plan - you'll be paid some once you find the coordinates, then further when the site is found and verified," the Overseer explains.
"We're bound to run into those little cocksuckers trying to find this 'Excelsus' as well," notes Wolfhound.
"If you're going to accept the mission, I advise haste," the Overseer states, "By now the other teams will have had a day on you."
Bekowski grins. "Well, and I thought stuff like this only happened to Acolytes. I say we take it the job."
"Bekowski, you think you're so smart with your little smarty words, but uh, no one else knows what the fuck you're talking about so you just sound stupid," yells Wolfhound, "What the fuck is an aconlye?"
"It isn't my fault you had little education, Wolfhound," sighs Bekowski, "But for the sake of improving it, an Acolyte is an Inquisitorial agent."
"You listen here, I'm going to get my grade ten, and as soon as we do this job I'll move to Terra and get my education done," states Wolfhound angrily, "Then I can get drunk as much as I want. So don't judge me, fuck."

The Overseer hands the Fireteam a parchment, "If you accept, sign here." The Fireteam read it over, a simple legal matter of accepting the job at their own risk.

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Anonymous Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:06:05 No.33591863 Report

Quoted By:

>>33591754
as one of the players (vathrek), things getting interesting usually means the sessions end with "and then it explodes"

still not taking bets that the next one will end that way as well.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:06:51 No.33591876 Report

Quoted By:

"Sounds like a deal to me, I mean, who are we to turn something like this down?" asks Wolfhound.
"As I said, I'm all for it," notes Bekowski.
"Secret ancient tech, an endless fortune, and the only thing stopping us is every vicious cunt in the sector? I'm in," laughs Lucius.
"I would be most interested in finding out what archeotech is involved," states Vathrek.
Ophilia merely signs, and heads back to her quarters to sit down, utterly overwhelmed.

"Chances are it'll either save humanity or doom us all. I got money on the latter. Fuckit, we ain't doin so hot anyway," states Lucius.
"I'm sure that there will be other short jobs available to us should we need to acquire extra funds, especially with the amount of other mercenaries taking this on as well," observes Vathrek.
"There's only one lead right now," states the Overseer, "Allegedly a Magos of the Mechanicum has the coordinates, and he was last seen in the Hive Underworks conscripting forces for a crusade there."
The Overseer takes the signed contract.
"We don't now much of the Magos, only that he came armed and with an entourage," the Overseer states, "The rest is up to you. If you find the coordinates, return here for the next step. You are now on mission. Good luck."

The Fireteam march out to begin planning.
"Well Vathrek, got any technomagic to pull it out of his brain?" asks Lucius.
"Unfortunately, no," concedes Vathrek, "However, all of us have certain vulnerabilities that can be exploited, and there is very little to prevent us holding him captive until I can aquire the means should he prove obdurate."
"Though we probably should err on the side of getting it sooner rather than later, considering his status," says Bekowski.
"What's step one: Gear up?" asks Wolfhound.
Lucius grunts quietly in agreement.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:08:22 No.33591905 Report

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The Fireteam determine that they may need more than autoguns to pierce the armor of a Magos, perhaps heavier weapons. They stop by the Bazaars, to seek out heavier weaponry. Their first stop is the previous location of the Merchant, and from there spread out. Unfortunately, one does not simply seek out the Merchant, and their search proves fruitless. They continue on through the bazaars, beating up random merchants to attempt to find one that will sell them what they want, but their luck does not hold - it is hard to make an Inquiry tests when your fellowship is low 20's, after all. After ganging up on, and knocking out, an innocent torch seller, they check the wall chronos, and realize it's 4 bong in the hives. Deciding that time is just burning, the Fireteam dejectedly begin the long and dismal trek to the hive underworks.

"Man, we suck at social skills..." sighs Ophilia.
"Alright, let's just go find the Magos, we'll have to find our blue friend later," says Bekowski.
"I'm really not comfortable going in there with all this cash on me when I'm under-equipped," replies Wolfhound, "I might lose it all or have my gun destroyed."
"There is always the safe in you quarters in the guildhall, should you wish to leave it there," Vathrek suggests.
"You are currently carrying a heavy stubber, one of the largest man portable weapons. And somehow, you are underequipped," quips Bekowski, eyebrow raised.
"Don't look at me, I'm going off of what Vathrek says, this guy's more metal than man!" exclaims Wolfhound.
"Time is wasting. I want this magos in a burlap sack ASAP!" yells Lucius, "Last one there gets the cart him back."

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:10:03 No.33591932 Report

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The path to the Underworks leads deeper into the hive. Passing through the Waistworks, and along the poopwater canals of the Canalworks, the Fireteam finally reach the sealed doors to the Underworks. This door is locked from the outside, a heavy duty lock barring progress.

"Why the hell is the Underworks more secure than the Plaza...?" wonders Bekowski.

With some effort, Vathrek disengages the lock, opening the path further into the Underworks. Following the resultant halls deeper in, the light almost nonexistent, the framework of the sump of the Underworks greets the Fireteam.

"FUCK... I don't even have any smokes!" cries Wolfhound in sudden realization.
Ophilia fades into the shadows of the almost nonexistent light.
"Just don't go ballistic on us again, Wolf," orders Bekowski.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:11:45 No.33591971 Report

Quoted By:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Evqvbl6ROS8

The Underworks has not received maintenance or repair in millennia, and it shows. Pieces of the ceiling have fallen into the floor, shards of metal and ceramite laying about. Bekowski finds it comfortable to see in the ultra-dim light. Wolfhound maintains overwatch with his stubber, as the Fireteam moves on.

"The Overseer said he was conscribing guys for his cause, so look for any posters or people gathered up or something like that," Wolfhound suggests.
Ophilia, in an advance position, looks around, when something strikes her.

There's nobody around. There should have been at least mutant scum to rush forth or something.

"Guys... it's too empty," whispers Ophilia, "Bad sign."

Worse, it looks like a battle took place, and some of the wrecks are still smoking. Wrecked shacks, wrecked cover, even the completely unrecoverable hull of a Rhino. Ophilia scouts out the Rhino as the rest of the Fireteam ready their weapons.

"You guys see this?" Ophilia whispers, "Something big went down here."
"This place looks more fucked up than usual," observes Wolfhound.

Vathrek scans the wreckage with his augur array, and updates his logbook.

***Scanning...scanning...logbook updated. This Rhino appears to have taken numerous Las and Plasma shots, but the finishing blow was dealt by some sort of massive energy-based physical impact.***

"What the hell could fuck up a Rhino like that...?" wonders Bekowski aloud, "You'd think something like this would make the news."

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:13:35 No.33591995 Report

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The Fireteam move into a flakboard shantytown, where Ophilia keeps an eye out for bodies. But there are none. No bodies at all in an underhive that should be packed to the brim with them. Wreckage abounds, but not a single body.

"No corpses. Looters don't usually bother with the flesh..." Ophilia wonders.
"This place is freaking me out, man..." yells Wolfhound, "I need some smokes, damn it!"
"Well this can mean a few things. Maybe Chaos. Maybe xenos. Could be something worse," Bekowski shudders.
"Perhaps we should be careful following this trail of destruction?" asks Vathrek.
"I second that," agrees Ophilia, "But...it has to lead somewhere."
"Yeah, let's slow down a bit here," agrees Wolfhound.
"A force this size probably won't be moving too quickly anyways," thinks Bekowski.
"Unless they're an even bigger force on a rampage," retorts Ophilia.

Passing through the ruined shanties, the Fireteam continue to note the lack of bodies and copious amounts of wreckage. Another Rhino lies ruined, tipped over and burning. Vathrek heads over, and scans this one as well.

***Scanning...scanning...logbook updated. This Rhino appears to have come under heavy bolt fire. However, machine spirit termination resulted from concussive energy impact to the front armor arc, flipping the vehicle and rupturing a fuel line. Markings on the Rhino indicate a rival mercenary guild.***

"Let's learn from this..." laughs Wolfhound nervously, "These guys had to have done something wrong to have been slaughtered like this."
"Well, on the bright side, at least our competition is thinning out," shrugs Bekowski.

As soon as he finishes talking, he hears synchronized bootsteps coming closer, through a ruined alleyway.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:15:28 No.33592034 Report

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"Incoming," Bekowski whispers to the others, "Get to cover."
"Contacts approaching," states Vathrek, who moves to conceal himself alongside Bekowski.
Ophilia takes up an elevated vantage point, to watch for movement as Lucius and Wolfhound set up overwatch just in case. After a few moments, the Fireteam sees the source of the sounds.

Men, armored in flak, their faces covered by silver masks, red optics glowing in the dust.
"Processing..." says one, "Searching for conversion-capable organic materials."
The strange armored men stand deathly still. They don't even seem to breathe. Then, after a few minutes, they turn to the left in unison.
"Area clear of conversion capable organic material," it says, "Continuing search. Glory to the Taghmata."
They walk away in perfect unison.

Bekowski waits until they are out of earshot before letting out deep breath he didn't know he had been holding.
"Tech thralls," Vathrek realizes, "Searching for new soldier material."
"Vathrek, Taghmata mean anything to you?" asks Ophilia.
"Only legends and rumors," replies Vathrek, "They were one faction of many, of the might of Mars during the Crusades."
"Uh, I take it that means they're dangerous to us to a bad degree..." whispers Ophilia.
"And whaddya know about the thralls? Any details on them?" Bekowski inquires, concerned.
"Nothing. However, they are the least of what we might face should the legends prove true."
"Great, more ancient cults showing their faces after millenia of hiding in the shadows," sighs Bekowski.

Vathrek, still thinking about the problem, suddenly remembers something.
"Lachrimallus," Vathrek says.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:17:28 No.33592080 Report

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Known as the Lords of Cursed Tears, Magos Lachrimallus are held in little regard by their fellow Magos. They serve a vital purpose on any Forge World. They drive workers, thralls, and forced-laborors to construct tools of war and are infamous for their electro-flails. If there are Tech-Thralls about, they're bound to be led by a Magos Lachrimallus.

"So I suppose that falls under the category of 'something worse' then. Great," sighs Bekowski.
"Possibly," Vathrek admits, "Shall we proceed with caution?"
"We'd be stupid not to," states Wolfhound.

Continuing to traverse the flakboard shanties, Vathrek picks up something, while Ophilia gets an itchy feeling in the back of her neck, that hiver's prickly feeling when you're near other people.
"Organic contacts," announces Vathrek. Ophilia, popping into the next building, finds them. Corpses lay everywhere, at least 15-20. Each looks burned by lasfire.
"Looks like they're all dead," says Ophilia.

And then the bootsteps again. Everyone rushes into concealment, but for some reason Bekowski finds it wise to simply crouch in the open. The bootsteps come closer. This time, two Tech Thralls toss a body into the pile while a third stands guard.

"Processing..." says one, "Conversion-capable organic materials secured. Scanning."

The Adsecularis all simultaneously turn their heads to Bekowski.

"Further organic materials sighted..." one Tech Thrall drones, "Securing objectives."

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:18:42 No.33592113 Report

Quoted By:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byRawRsdrlw

The Tech Thralls advance towards Bekowski, ignoring the rest of the Fireteam who are lining up their shots. Luckily, they are still no tougher than a human. Ophilia lands a perfect headshot on one, destroying it, while Wolfhound opens up with a wave of shots from his stubber, watching them fall.

"Well, that was rather quick. Hopefully they aren't going to notice any missing thralls," says Bekowski.

Examining the Thralls, they are mostly cybernetic, wearing flak armor. Their entire arm, however, is given over to a large gun. In fact, Vathrek's auspex beeps about high radiation counts coming from tiny tubes attached to said guns when the Fireteam approaches them. Vathrek identifies their weaponry as mitralocks with induction chargers.

"This freaks me the fuck out. All this metal. Perverts the human form," mutters Lucius, "No offense, Vathrek"
"Archeotech, huh? Interesting...any link to Excelsus, I wonder?" posits Ophilia.
"Unlikely, more likely they were available to this magos we are after," states Vathrek.
"Can we get them off safely? I'm in no way eager to become a mutant..." says Ophilia, turning to Bekowski, "No offense, Bek, but not everyone's as lucky as you."
"Just hide the bodies for now, we can fetch them later," Vathrek suggests, "None of us can carry them without severe combat limitations, and if a full Taghmata truly is here, you will want every edge you can get."
"I can just break the shoulder joint. Cutting the tissue from there is easy," Lucius offers.
Vathrek shakes his head. "There is no tissue to cut. You would risk damaging the activation circuitry, or potentially damaging the chargers."
"Then cover the bodies with the rest of the corpses and lets move out," Lucius commands.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:19:57 No.33592136 Report

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Deciding to leave them for later, when they have time to strip the corpses of anything valuable, the Fireteam follows the wreckage further. The smoke is getting heavier now, and the weapons fire more evident.

"So, the rest of him doesn't matter, just the head?" asks Wolfhound.
"He will at least need to still posses working cranial circuitry to access," explains Vathrek, "Effects of heat weaponry will depend on his augmetics."
"Alright, Vath..." Ophilia asks, "So basically blast off his limbs and fill his gut with lead?"
Vathrek nods.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:22:07 No.33592208 Report

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs0X3JIssHU

After some time of walking, the Fireteam comes up to what appears to be a fortified complex, a great gaping hole blasted into the walls. The walls bear the cog shaped heraldry of the Mechanicum.

"Y'know, I'm actually glad we got this job a day late now," laughs Bekowski, "Imagine what would have happened if we got stuck in this warzone when it still was one."
"It mighta been fun," Lucius shrugs.

Amongst the wrecks, Lucius, Vathrek, and Ophilia see a pattern of ash on the wall. Images of people, flash-fried. Something exploded near them hot enough to leave only the dust impressions. Vathrek scans it in an attempt to gain more information.

***Scanning...scanning...logbook updated. Targets were caught in the self-destruction of an entity that, at moment of destruction, could burn hotter than a plasma reactor. Four shadows appear to be normal human sized, opposed by two who appear to be short and rotund. The two sides appeared to be fighting when flash carbonization occurred.***

"Guys, you see this? Someones got ashed," Ophilia observes.
"That...that is not a good sign," says Lucius.
"They died quick, at least," notes Bekowski.
"Carbonization doesn't seem like a fuckin' treat to me," notes Lucius.
"Eh, one less shot aimed at us... and that many fewer competitors," Ophilia points out.
"Poor bastards," sighs Wolfhound, "I say we spread out..."

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:23:58 No.33592264 Report

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Lucius grunts his agreements, and the Fireteam load up their heaviest armaments. Still something bugs Lucius. He looks closer at the ash forms.
"So wait, they have fat child soldiers? What the fuck else they got? Sentient grox-men?"
"Maybe it's the Squirts..." muses Wolfhound, fishing for words, "I mean Squarts."
"Buff Ratlings?" asks Bekowski.
"There is no such thing. It's just a myth!" yells Lucius.
Ophilia chuckles against herself at her teammates' speculation, before recovering to comment, "They have servitors, remember? Vathrek, is there a combat model that looks like that - maybe treads in place of legs and armor to round out the form?"

Vathrek gives it some thought. He considers all the archeotech he knows, and there are only two things that can atomize a man in the explosion - Squat Neo-plasma, and an Atomantic Reactor, and since Neo-Plasma Reactors are vehicle sized at the least, it narrows things down.

"Unknown," he finally replies, "The smaller ones appeared to be fighting with the larger, however the blast does point to ancient arc reactor technology over squat plasma."
The entire Fireteam stare at him.
"However, that does not bode well for us," Vathrek continues, "As the legends from the crusade era speak of walking machines the size of Astartes dreadnoughts powered by such things."
"Which means either they weaponized this and got a bit too close to their own forces," Bekowski considers, "Or the mercs managed a reactor breach."
"Shit. I am NOT equipped to deal with anything like that," Ophilia says, very worried, "I didn't pick up any krak 'nades from the merchant the other night..."
"Self-destruction appears most likely," says Vathrek, worrying the Fireteam further.
"I've got two Krak grenades, that's it," says Wolfhound.
"I have a few on me. We'll make do," adds Lucius.
"And as much as I find this stuff interdesting, we're sitting ducks out here. Let's get moving," Wolfhound says.
"Aye," Ophilia agrees, "Let's pick it up."

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:25:02 No.33592303 Report

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The Fireteam moves into the fortress, spread out. The courtyard of the prefabricated fortress appears to be covered in shards of ceramite from the fierce battle. However, something lays in the center of the walled courtyard - A corpse, spread out into a great many pieces. Only the upper half is in more or less one piece, an upper half in the red robes of the Mechanicum. A meter or so away from the dead corpse's upper half, is something completely monstrous.

An inert metallic humanoid form, the size of a dreadnought. It's just laying there, against some shards of the wall.

"Holy shit, there it is!" yells Wolfhound, "Just like you said, look at the size of that thing!"
Vathrek marvels at something that had only existed in legend for him until an hour or so ago.
"Thst thing gonna stay still?" Ophilia quivers uneasily.

Vathrek, entranced, moves forward to examine the great machine. However, Lucius's auspex begins pinging as power spikes are detected. Vathrek too halts - a red lens in the thing's chest suddenly glows red.

"Move! It's flaring!" yells Lucius, aiming his plasma gun.

The giant monstrosity stands up, dust sifting off of it.

"Atomantic Reactor online. Motive system damaged. Targeting systems damaged. Armor compromised. Scanning. Victims spotted. Castellax Battle Automata moving forward."

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:26:46 No.33592347 Report

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5Iae8Qs2JU

"Hey, Vath, is this thing likely to go berserk once it finishes booting up?" asks Bekowski.
"Unknown, my knowledge of this machine is practically zero," Vathrek admits.
"IT SAID IT'S ALREADY FOUND ITS FUCKING VICTIMS!" yells Wolfhound.

The Castellax Battle Automata is weak from the merc war a day or so back. It is not fighting at full capacity. However, the Castellax still has its monumental toughness and devastating weaponry, which even not at full power can spell doom for anyone caught in its way. Ophilia scopes out the target, noting its cortex core, the small skull in its chest, is wigging out in every direction. Indeed, shooting the skull has an adverse affect on the Castellax, the one point its armor does not cover.

"Damage sustained. Advancing."

Lucius unloads his plasma gun into the Castellax's cortex core, searing it horrifically, while Bekowski and Wolfhound toss grenade after grenade at it. Vathrek opens fire with his plasma fusil, but misses. The Castellax returns fire in kind, its twin bolters strafing the Fireteam's cover, while the great Mauler Bolt Cannon on its back perforates ceramite shards like glass. All this proves too much for Vathrek, who fails his fear test and breaks for the hills.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:28:49 No.33592398 Report

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The Fireteam continue to pour their entire arsenal into it, and are rewarded with the sight of the battle automata tanking every hit. The Battle Automata's fist begins to glow with an awesome power, a power Bekowski and Lucius recognize from Vathrek's observations of the destroyed Rhinos. The Castellax slams its fist into the ground, sending out a blastwave that knocks Lucius out, and Bekowski and Wolfhound back. Vathrek continues running, while Ophilia fires gun after gun into it, attempting to simply slow it down, while Wolfhound tosses a full Detpack, catching Bekowski in the blast, to which the Castellax's Atomantic Shielding simply absorbs. The Castellax, however, does not absorb the firebomb that Bekowski tosses, and although there is initial jubilation, the Fireteam soon realizes that the only thing worse than a giant killer robot is a giant killer robot ON FIRE.

The Castellax is relentless, but it is still limited by its programmed behavior. The Castellax once more charges its fist, and advances. Bekowski looks around - With Vathrek run for the hills, Ophilia a ways away, Lucius obscured by cover, and Wolfhound a ways back, he realizes he is the closest target. The Castellax charges forth, punching Bekowski with its energized Shock Charger. Bekowski is wracked with energy, and sent flying back. Luckily, the blast hit his metal arm, and he is only knocked unconscious.

With Lucius and Bekowski now out, Vathrek functionally out, and Ophilia lacking the effective firepower to damage the Castellax, Wolfhound realizes it's all up to him. The Castellax is sparking and stuttering now from all the hits, and it's all down to one last attack. Wolfhound takes out a krak grenade, and tosses it directly at the Castellax. The grenade gets lodged inside the armor, and explodes exactly where it needs to.

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO Trace Gandhi Nukes.jpg, 387KiB, 1365x915

Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:30:37 No.33592441 Report

Quoted By:

"DIE YOU METAL BASTARD!" he yells.
"Systems depowering. Power spikes detected. Mechanical failure imminent," drones the Castellax.
The battle-automata falls over with a clang. Bekowski, half conscious from fatigue, looks up.
"Huh. That was...anticlimatic. Didn't want...another mini-nuke...." he coughs.
Beep.
Beep.
Beep.
"...shit," sighs Bekowski as he loses consciousness once more.

The Castellax is going critical. Wolfhound rushes forth and grabs Bekowski, but Lucius is left meters from the shaking battle-automata. Ophilia sprints forward, leaps over the mechanical time bomb, and pulls Lucius out of the blast in the nick of time. The Castellax goes critical, immolating itself in an atomantic explosion. Only a blackened carbonized crater remains.

"The Emperor Protects!" Ophilia screams victoriously before calming down, "Well, that was fun."
The source of his fear gone, Vathrek makes his way back. "My apologies, I have not had that level of emotional response in an extremely long time, something I intend to rectify as soon as is possible."
"Vathrek, WHERE IN THE FUCK WERE YOU DURING THE FIGHT?!" yells Wolfhound, understandably upset.
"As I stated, I have not experienced any emotional response of that level for some time," Vathrek reiterates, "and I intend to correct it."
"Oh God Emperor... my everything hurts. I can't feel my arm..." gurgles Bekowski.
"If it looks like a pissed myself, would you pretend it was from the rain?" asks Lucius sheepishly, still recovering from the shock charger wave.
"Let's just hope there ain't any more of them," says Wolfhound, taking up overwatch as Vathrek tends to the wounded.
Ophilia withdraws to a shanty, pulling out and munching on a food ration as her heartbeat slowly returns to a resting rate.

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO Trace techpriest hood.jpg, 28KiB, 480x502

Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:34:01 No.33592540 Report

Quoted By:

After immediate first aid, everyone finally notices the strung out corpse in the courtyard. Wolfhound, desperate for a lho, starts patting him down before realizing that this might be the magos they need. Vathrek scans him just in case.

***Scanning...scanning...logbook updated. This Magos bears sigils of the Lachrimallus order of High Techno Arcana. Memory Banks are intact, but bioform appears to have been heavily fought over after death. No less than four forced interfaces detected. Subject's death, given augmentics, was most likely drawn out and painful.***

"Good.. that sonofabitch earned it," Lucius coughs.

Vathrek connects to the magos's cranial augmentics, and copies the entire directory of the cogitator, parsing for what he needs. He finally finds it.

<<<Excelsus determined to be at ***MISSING***, ***MISSING*** ***MISSING***, at ***MISSING***.>>>

"Unfortunate," sighs Vathrek. He initially believes the data was damaged, but soon realizes that it was in fact SPLIT. Luckily, each data fragment appears to be tagged, so given time he could theoretically track it.

"Are you going to tell me right now that I'm not gonna be able to have an early fucking retirement?!" yells Wolfhound.
"There is a useful data fragment that will take time to deal with," explains Vathrek, "I suggest we find anything of useful value that can be sold, and carry it out of here."
"Then I also suggest we take that husk back, we might need him in the future," Wolfhound suggests.

The Fireteam head back with the magos's cogitators, and drag the three thrall corpses back with them. Leaving the Hive underworks, the Fireteam take one last look around. Determining that there is nothing left here, they move on back to the Shattered Suns mercenary guild hall.

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO Trace DOSH.png, 26KiB, 672x594

Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:35:33 No.33592588 Report

Quoted By:

"So, you're back," asks the Overseer, "Any luck?"
Ophilia shrugs. "Loads, considering we fought a Castellax and won."
"You're looking at our luck," Wolfhound says as he points to the machinery of the Magos, "Vathrek says the data's been split up."
"Split up?" the Overseer asks.
"Four pieces of it are missing," Vathrek confirms, "They may be traceable, with some effort."
"I see," says the Overseer, "Well, I received an odd message, sent by proxy once again. Whatever you did, you seemed to have impressed whoever gave the mission. They sent some things over for you."

The overseer passes two boxes over. Inside one box is a healthy number of thrones, 15,000 in all. Inside the other are five small objects, reminiscent of a microbead, but looking very different and...strange. Vathrek scans the microbeads, but can't seem to identify it - it matches no known Imperial pattern.
"They said they were pleased that you were making progress where most others failed, and sent some gifts over," says the Overseer, "I was told that they're called Graviton Data Codecs, and they can help, They're kind of like microbeads, it seems."

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO Trace Absorb Galaxy.jpg, 352KiB, 1280x688

Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:37:27 No.33592650 Report

Quoted By:

Ophilia makes a quick stop at a local amasec distributor to pick up something to drink the day's horror away, and then promptly grabbing a medkit to assist Vathrek with first aid duties. Vathrek takes his microbead, hooking it up to his systems, but does not activate it just yet.

"See if you can figure out what those do please, Ophelia," Vathrek requests, "while I tend to our large friends here."
Ophilia nods. "Here goes nothing..." she says.

Clicking the Graviton Data Codex to her ear, her vision flashes for a bit, as if she is connected to a massive web, a web that spans the entire sector. As the GDC warms up, it connects to Vathrek's, Lucius's, Wolfhound's, and Bekowski's.

Ophilia steps back, muttering to herself as she review her shopping list. "Shades... krak 'nades... paintings, maybe a shrine... WHOA," she interrupts herself as the bead takes effect.

She sees in her eyes a map of the sector. Curiously, four blinking dots can be seen in various places.

"Four dots," says Ophilia, coming to realization. "We've got 'em!"

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO Trace I asked for this.png, 323KiB, 600x400

Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:38:56 No.33592683 Report

Quoted By:

The rest of the Fireteam try on their Graviton Data Codecs to similar effect. Ophilia realizes that it is controlled mentally, and acclimates herself to its use. She grabs a dataslate, and tracks the rough positions of the dots with known sector charts.

Sors Natio. Surat Thani. Monolith. Even one in the Scar.

Vathrek continues medical care of everyone while Ophilia confirms the locations with the Overseer.
"Yeah, looks like we know where we're going. We'll probably need bigger guns... again," sighs Ophilia.
"Huh," muses the Overseer, "If it's Offworld as you say, you're gonna need to look into booking transport."
The Overseer brings up some information on his cogitator.
"You're lucky," the Overseer continues, reviewing his cogitator, "Looks like you've got some choices..."

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO Trace Ahmadinejad Shrug.jpg, 33KiB, 416x300

Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:41:45 No.33592745 Report

Quoted By: >>33592853

End Episode 3 - Big Score

We ended the episode there. It was nearly 2AM because things got a bit delayed. Nonetheless, I had a hell of a time seeing their reactions to the Castellax Battle Automata, and I particularly enjoyed them trying to fight the thing. They were smart though, and it made all the difference between surviving barely and surviving with aplomb.

Dark Heresy does seem to breed more cautions and yet very wordy players. I look forward to seeing their reactions when things keep escalating.

Anonymous Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:47:01 No.33592853 Report

Quoted By: >>33592938

>>33592745

So if this is dark heresy, I'm still trying to understand how they survived against something worse than a riptide.

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Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:50:58 No.33592938 Report

Quoted By: >>33592967 >>33593066

>>33592853

Easy. By manning up and killing the thing instead of running like bitch niggas.

Anonymous Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:52:19 No.33592967 Report

Quoted By: >>33593157

>>33592938

Nice. Thanks Shas, I trust the archeotech (if it does exist) will be a really bitchin' boombox? Maybe even two of them?

Anonymous Wed 23 Jul 2014 01:57:23 No.33593066 Report

Quoted By:

>>33592938

well, I ended up guilty of the second, but thats what happens when you make oversights while spending XP. fixed that though.

View Same Google iqdb SauceNAO Trace Kung Pow Dancing Boom Box Guy.gif, 406KiB, 350x200

Shas'o R'myr !!J5+vjygjQuK Wed 23 Jul 2014 02:02:11 No.33593157 Report

Quoted By: >>33593410

>>33592967

Five boomboxes...

but only one battery set.

Anonymous Wed 23 Jul 2014 02:15:07 No.33593410 Report

Quoted By:

>>33593157

nah, can't be anything that wonderful, because then they'd actually be able to take one apart

Bekowski Wed 23 Jul 2014 02:40:05 No.33594002 Report

Quoted By:

You know, I only picked up the bionic arm for backstory purposes. Little did I know that it, combined with True Grit, saved my life.

Also, better armor is first priority on my shopping list, followed by making my shotgun Best Quality. I might have nabbed that Point-Blank shot then.

Anonymous Wed 23 Jul 2014 04:49:35 No.33597038 Report

Quoted By:

evening bump for storytime

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