Between the Darkness/Session 04

Tylorva: Right. So we left it last time with two thugs about to unleash lasgun hell on you, and half a dozen more on the way. The dodgy landlord Dorian Castus is unconscious, having been shockmauled after radioing for help. So let's start with some initiative rolls!

~Clavis_Morden: clings to her staff nervously. "We should leave before those guys arrive. I really don't like people trying to kill me," she says to Atella and Mercution and almost doesn't notice the two thugs in the room getting ready to fire

Tylorva: They go first. One thug shoots at Atella and the other at Mercution, as those two look more threatening than Clavis. It's short range, and both use short-bursts.

Tylorva: One las shot of the three-shot burst hits Atella.

Tylorva: The second thug's burst misses Mercution by a huge margin and leaves a gaping scorch mark on one of Caster's expensive paintings.

Atella: yells at the one that shot her. "Damn you, I just cleaned it!" and fires her shotgun at him

Mercution_Hastus: gives thanks to the God-Emperor, that he deemed inappropriate to to bless the thugs with anything resembling shooting skills. He flinched from the sparks, but hardly had to duck. "This is gonna cost you", he mentinoed, Castus' expensive desk smoking behind him.

Mercution_Hastus: levels hit shotgun, the weapon barks several times.

Tylorva: The thug tries to dodge aside.

Tylorva: ... But fails completely, if anything he dodges right into the shot!

Tylorva: The blast clips him in the right arm, blasting through his gang leathers and drawing some blood.

~Clavis_Morden: "Eek!" Clavis ducks behind Caster's desk to hide from the lasfire. In a near panic she paws at the holster of her laspistol under her robe. Why did the stupid thing have such a hard to open safety strap, why? Finally she manages to undo it and draw the old weapon which powers up with a high-pitched whine.

Tylorva: Although one of the thugs is cursing in pain at his injured arm, both seem confident. "That's right..." says the uninjured one as Clavis dives for cover. "Run away, little girl." They both fire bursts at Atella and Mercution again.

Tylorva: The second shot doesn't even leave a mark on her armour, but the first seems to get through.

Tylorva: The second thugs blasts at Mercution, who has conveniently placed himself in point blank range...

Tylorva: (( 3 damage ))

Atella: "Motherf-! That hurts!"

Atella: aims for his head and fires away

Tylorva: The thug tries to dodge aside.

Tylorva: And ducks neatly out of the way.

Mercution_Hastus: hisses, as a sprayed shot scorches his side through the armour. He is not lingering with retaliation.

Tylorva: Mercution's blasts tear the man apart, showing blood and gore across the room. The corpse topples backwards and blood starts pooling into the carpet underneath it.

~Clavis_Morden: Having a hard time thinking straight, let alone trying to recite the chant of aiming, Clavis simply squeezes the trigger and sends a spray of lasfire in the general direction of one of the thugs praying to the the God Emperor that the violence will be over soon.

Tylorva: The remaining thug decides that now would be a really good time to take cover. He dives behind a leather-covered armchair and fires off a single shot at Mercution.

Mercution_Hastus: Mercution dashes forward and leaps onto the thug's meager cover, dirty boots staining cusions and headrest, as he places the heel onto it. "G'Day" he says, as he points shotgun barrel straight down towards the thug behind it and fires.

Fatespinner: Mercution_Hastus rolled a 7 on a d100 for 6 degrees of success.

Tylorva: Mercution blows the man's head off, spreading another layer of gore across the room. From outside the door can be heard footsteps rapidly approaching.

~Clavis_Morden: "Ohshitoshitohshit," Clavis mumbles. "We have to get out of here!"

~Clavis_Morden: "Take that xenos stuff, and get out of here!"

Atella: "Mercution, slap caster awake, will you? We'll use him as a shield."

Atella: calls in the arbites

~Clavis_Morden: "Use him as a shield? A hostage? They'll still shoot us! Or wait until they have enough people to overwhelm you and THEN shoot us all."

Mercution_Hastus: "Only if you have duct-tape to place over his filthy heretical mouth..." he was a little theatrical.

~Clavis_Morden: Clavis' looks at the other two in disbelief - do they really want to shoot it out with a band of hardened criminals?

Mercution_Hastus: "Clavis, don't you have anything in your... arsenal?" Mercution queried, a little awkwardly.

Tylorva: At that point, the door is slammed open, and a hail of suppression fire erupts into the room...

Tylorva: (( WP test -20 to avoid being pinned ))

~Clavis_Morden: "Emperor on Earth!" Clavis throws herself on the ground again, hiding behind the desk.

Tylorva: Two more thugs with lasguns edge in around the one with the autogun, who seems to continue to stand in the doorway and use his weapon to keep everyone pinned.

Tylorva: "Surrender now and you might live!" yells the autogun thug.

Atella: yells back "YOU surrender or your boss gets it! Official Arbites business!"

Tylorva: "Kill them all!" yells the leader. (Will keep same initiative as last time. )

Tylorva: Clavis is hidden behind the desk, so they don't immediately notice her. One fires at Atella and one at Mercution.

Tylorva: The one on Atella:

Tylorva: ... misses completely, and las bolts shoot right past your ear.

Tylorva: The oother one shooting at Mercution:

Tylorva: (( One hits for 3 and one for 12 ))

Mercution_Hastus: (2 damage goes through)

Tylorva: (( Ok. Your cover is reduced to 3 for next turn ))

Tylorva: (( Atella's turn. You can make another WP roll to break pinning. ))

Atella: shoots at the man shooting at her. "Official arbites business, damn it!"

Tylorva: He doesn't seem bothered...

Mercution_Hastus: clutches his shoulder, where las bolt left it's mark, but gives another shot from behind the cover at the guy with an autogun.

~Clavis_Morden: Knowing that they are outnumbered Clavis is even more afraid than before, but the sheer panic of the first moments of the firefight has abated now. Reciting the litany of sure aim under her breath she steals a few glances at the man with the autogun, preparing to shoot at him.

Tylorva: The man with the autogun continues to pepper the room with SP fire, blasting holes through all the valueable artworks and furniture. Caster will be furious once he wakes up...

Tylorva: One thug shoots at Atella again.

Tylorva: But once again, the las blasts go right past Atella's ear.

Tylorva: The other fires at Mercution.

Tylorva: (( 7, 4 and 4. None of the hits damage Mercution, but your cover is completely shot to pieces now. ))

Tylorva: Mercution ducks and rolls into fresh cover.

~Clavis_Morden: Holding the laspistol with both hands Clavis aims over the top of the desk for as long as she dares, then sends a thin beam of lasfire at the man with the autogun. Damn him and his noisy, scary, deadly autofire. Please, spirit of the gun, make him go away!

Mercution_Hastus: is blasted with heat, as he sees the chair in front of him blasted and burnt. The meager remains cathc fire. "Frakkers." he dives and rolls for the next incredibly expensive piece of furniture.

Tylorva: He doesn't dodge as that would disrupt his suppressive fire, so the shot hits him solidly in the left leg.

Tylorva: The autogun wielder doesn't quite twig that his suppression is no longer having much effect and continued shooting until all he gets is click click click click click as his clip empties.

Tylorva: The one on Mercution shoots at him again, even though he is now behind fresh cover.

Tylorva: And misses completely. A few las blasts slam into the expensive chair but don't get through.

Tylorva: The other guy now decides that Clavis is the greater threat and a hail of fire blasts towards the desk...

Tylorva: One blast goes right over the top of your head.

~Clavis_Morden: "The Emperor Protects," Clavis murmurs, ducking deeper.

Atella: aims and fires at the guy out of ammo

Tylorva: He does try to dodge this time!

Tylorva: And ducks aside neatly.

~Clavis_Morden: Now looking around the side of the desk Clavis squeezes off another shot at the thug with the autogun.

Tylorva: Having already dodged, he is unable to do so again.

Tylorva: The shot clips his chest.

Tylorva: The autogun man drops his now empty weapon to the ground and quick draws an autopistol. Which he then fires full auto at Clavis under the desk.

~Clavis_Morden: cowers, hands over her head as the desk is nearly shot to splinters

Tylorva: Thug #1 opens fire again on Mercution.

Tylorva: And the other one returns his attention to Atella.

Atella: (well, I'm glad people aren't shooting at me anymore ;)

Atella: (I need to keep my big mouth shut)

Atella: yells "Just walk away, guys!", aims at the thug that's shooting at her and fires

Mercution_Hastus: dives for cover again, seeing one of the thugs taking out the pistol. "Whe the hell not?" In the heat of a close-quarters firefight he completely forgot about his own siderarm, using main weapon for non-optimal distances. Throwing shorgun in his left hand, he whips out autopistol from holster and gets up. The rapid-firing weapons spells a rattle.

~Clavis_Morden: shakes her head. This is going nowhere. If things go on like this they'll never get out of here. Still, the only maneuvers she can think of would be delaying tactics and that only gives the rest of them time to arrive.

~Clavis_Morden: Firing another shot at the apparent leader she curses. "Won't you go away already, you damn bilge-suckers?"

Tylorva: (( The dice roller does hate everyone, doesn't it! ))

Mercution_Hastus: ((It is a faithful Machine Spirit, made in the Imperium of Man. Obviously, it does!))

Tylorva: The leader answers back, wincing in pain from the injury he took from Clavis. "You're surrounded, pinned and reinforcements are on the way. Surrender now before it's too late!"

Tylorva: And then he opens fire again on Clavis's desk with his autopistol.

~Clavis_Morden: (dodge failed)

Tylorva: (( The damage rolls defy probability again. Your cover is down to 1 AP ))

Mercution_Hastus: shouts: "We are not surrounded! We are cornered!"

Atella: "Oh yeah? We surrender and you'll let us go, huh?!"

Atella: fires again at the same thug

Mercution_Hastus: "And we are not pinned! You frakking are!" he jumps up and starts spraying thugs with bullets.

~Clavis_Morden: "You surrender!" Clavis calls back with far more confidence than she feels. "Or we'll blast you all the way to the Golden Throne!" She briefly holds up her reserve charge pack to be visible above the table.

~Clavis_Morden: At the same time she calls upon the warp to send a delusion into the lead thug's mind, making him see a meltabomb there in Clavis' hand and understand how deeply he would be in trouble if that thing was used.

~Clavis_Morden: ((using Suggestion to make him see a meltabomb instead of the charge pack))

Tylorva: The xeno material flashes again at the instant Clavis touches the warp

Tylorva: The two lasgun thugs howl in surprise as they come under suppressive fire and both dive for the two remaining chairs. The leader looks about ready to say something witty but goes slightly pale instead and ducks into cover by stepping back through the doorway and to one side to hide behind the wall. "You wouldn't dare!" he yells.

Atella: yells "Oh yes we would! So get the hell out of here and tell your little friends to back off!"

Atella: (intimidation roll!)

Tylorva: (( Two thugs in light cover and one in Heavy cover (behind a wall ))

Fatespinner: Atella rolled a 32 on a d100 for 0 degrees of success.

~Clavis_Morden: ((the suggestion can give +20 to a social roll))

~Clavis_Morden: ((or the bonus for having the biggest weapon, or at least seeming to, I guess ;) ))

Atella: (59 then ;)

Tylorva: (( *grins* ))

Tylorva: There is silence from the door.

Tylorva: One of the lasgun thugs goes: "Boss? What the frakk you doing boss?"

Tylorva: There is no reply.

~dakkareth: "Your *boss* is in here," Clavis interrupts. "And if you want to do your duty, you'd better let us leave without further annoyances."

~Clavis_Morden: ((and has the leader fled or is he just being silent? Awareness check?))

Tylorva: @Atella You are pretty sure that he had fled.

Atella: "Your friend ran away!"

Atella: "I'd take his lead!"

Tylorva: They look at each other and then decide to take that advice, covering each other as they run out the doorway.

~Clavis_Morden: "And stay away!"

Tylorva: There's a groaning from Caster, who finally starts to stir...

Atella: moves over to caster

Mercution_Hastus: "Don' know what are we better at. Indisciminately killing stuff or bluffing..." cursed Hastus.

~Clavis_Morden: As the thugs' bootsteps fade Clavis breathes a deep sigh of relief. "We need to leave, now."

~Clavis_Morden: "Atella, you have that xenos stuff? Let's take Caster and meet the Arbites somewhere more safe."

Atella: "Sounds like a plan"

Mercution_Hastus: "So... Leave the warp-stuff here, for arbites and out patron to find? It won't do us any good to meet with your co-workers, Atella, right now."

~Clavis_Morden: studiously avoids looking at the mangled corpses and the blood covering half the room. She is quite pale.

Atella: "... dammit"

~Clavis_Morden: "We can't leave it!" Clavis protests. "It's xenos and it's psi-active. Doubly forbidden!"

Mercution_Hastus: "Blood-bath, yeah. Could be worse, i guess."

Tylorva: The room looks like a bombsite. Everything has been burnt, scorched, shot and stained beyond all recognition.

Atella: "I'll take the xenos stuff, the others can pick up Caster. It's not like he can run anywhere."

~Clavis_Morden: "There's no telling what a heretic could do with it."

Atella: "let's go"

Tylorva: Caster regains enough consciousness to start shuffling backwards slowly.

~Clavis_Morden: "Alright. We'll be faster without bringing him along as a hostage anyway."

Atella: gives Caster another tap with the shockmaul

Tylorva: He falls over

Mercution_Hastus: starts to rummage very nonchalantly through dead people possessions. "Well, at least Reinhardt would be proud, looks like his style."

Atella: "*now* we can go"

Atella: moves towards the elevator, carefully

Tylorva: There is nobody in the passageway. It looks like Caster was exxagerating about the number of thugs that were coming. According to the indicator, the elevator is currently on floor 13 and descending. There is a door next to it which leads to the stairs.

Atella: ...

Atella: "We take the stairs, I guess?"

~Clavis_Morden: "Stairs, yes please,"

~Clavis_Morden: Clavis doesn't want to be caught unable to move in an elevator.

Atella: calls the arbites while on the stairs

~Clavis_Morden: follows down the stairs as quickly as she can

Mercution_Hastus: "I killed two guys, who heard Castus' confession. Don't know, how much trouble it will cause us."

Tylorva: You start heading down the stairs... all nineteen flights. Still at least you are going down, rather than up! When you reach the fifth floor, there is a clatter of noise from down below - shouting, bootsteps, the cocking of weapons, the hum of vox units. "ADEPTUS ARBITES! FREEZE!" comes a voice yelling through a vox-amplifier up the stairs.

Atella: (do I recognise the voice?)

~Clavis_Morden: "Arbites! There they are." Clavis laughs, relieved. "Now we're safe."

~Clavis_Morden: She stops, as instructed.

tylorva: Atella does not recognise the voice.

Atella: "Friendlies coming down the stairs! Hold fire!"

tylorva: "DROP YOUR WEAPONS! TURN AROUND, FACE THE WALLS, HANDS ABOVE HEADS."

Atella: sighs

Atella: "let's... play it safe, I don't recognise whoever that is."

~Clavis_Morden: slowly and carefully puts down her laspistol on the stairs, then turns toward the wall and complies with the other instructions. Atella will be able to explain, right?

Mercution_Hastus: reluctantly follows example.

Atella: safeties her shotgun and puts it down, then leans against the wall

Atella: "Who've you got down there?"

Atella: "This is regulator Atella Ummidia! Like I said, we're friendlies"

tylorva: A squad of Arbites pour up the stairs, and quite expertly arrest everybody. They do so quite apologetically to Atella. "Explain it to the commandant, miss," says the arresting officer. "You are all under arrest for murder, assault, violence and disturbing the peace."

Atella: "oh come on, guys! I'm on assignment! I'm hot on a trail!"

~Clavis_Morden: "Murder? What's that supposed to mean? Who was murdered?" Clavis doesn't understand.

~Clavis_Morden: "Whatever you do make sure to arrest the criminal and recidivist Dorian Caster upstairs."

Mercution_Hastus: mused, whether shotgun blast to the face would qualify as exceeding self-defence limits. Or whatever it is called.

Atella: "oh, right. Almost forgot. There's a cache of drugs too, the one I called about"

tylorva: "EVERYONE is under arrest." Clavis;s hands are cuffed behind her back, as are Mercution's. To Atella, they are a little more hesitant.

tylorva: (( Give me a charm roll ))

tylorva: (( Peer Arbites adds a bonus if you have it ))

~Clavis_Morden: accepts that. Everything will be sorted out soon. Right?

Fatespinner: Atella rolled a 91 on a d100 for 5 degrees of failure.

Atella: (fp?)

~Clavis_Morden: ((resisting arrest, are you?))

Fatespinner: Atella rolled a 1 on a d100 for 3 degrees of success.

Atella: (that's more like it)

Atella: "Come on guys, you know me. This isn't necessary."

tylorva: He sighs. "Alright, you're not under arrest, but you got to come along and explain it to the commandant. Okay?"

Atella: sighs

Atella: "sure."

tylorva: Clavis and Mercution are hauled outside and chucked into cages inside an Arbites Rhino. Atella is politely asked to get in the front.

tylorva: Inside other cages are the two thugs who had fled the scene. They look terrified.

~Clavis_Morden: obeys with practiced calm.

Atella: gives Clavis and Mercution an apologetic smile

Atella: "I'll get this all sorted out guys, don't worry"

Atella: gets in the front

~Clavis_Morden: Being confined, chained, imprisoned, is nothing new to her.

Atella: "did you bring Caster too?"

tylorva: "He has been found unconscious and will be taken to the Arbites station for questioning," says the captain.

~Clavis_Morden: nods. "It's not a problem. Make sure they get the important piece of evidence," she says looking toward where Atella has stowed the xenos stuff.

Atella: nods at Clavis_Morden

Atella: "okay, good"

tylorva: And with that, the Rhino sets off for the local Arbites station.

Mercution_Hastus: mentions. "Be careful, and try to be quick. We have job to do."

~Clavis_Morden: ((out of curiosity, how strong are the cuffs?))

tylorva: (( Standard Arbites issue. Pretty tough... ))

tylorva: (( and that seems like a good place to stop. ))

Atella: (yay, we survived)

~dakkareth: And surely we will have no problems explaining everything to the nice and reasonable commander ... tylorva: :D

Mercution_Hastus: Messy bussiness it turned out to be.