W:40K Session 2

Apr 22, 2008 20:57

"You don't have to listen...but at least someone should......because I'm doing the reading." - D

I don't know how many people actually read the last recap...but there was a request to hammer out another one. We'll see what I can do. What I remember and write about is usually biased towards what I thought was cool. It's also going to include a lot of my character's antics...because...it's important! Also, there's a chance that what I remember is not exactly what happened. >_>; Feel free to correct me and I'll edit the entry.

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When last we left our heroes, the group had just departed the depressing mining world and was on route to a depressing hive world. For anyone that doesn't really know what a Hive is...the book defines them as "astonishingly large--massive urban conglomerations, spires of adamantium and rockcrete that can cover continents and stretch for miles into the sky." Basically giant industrial complexes that can house millions or even billions of people. This specific hive, Hive Sibellus, is on the Sector Capital world of Scintilla. That just means "hey...this place is big and important." I remembered to grab a couple sheets of info from the game last night (including a map!) so you'll actually get a few place names this time. The way D described it...the whole thing seems to be sealed off like a bio-dome as well. Or maybe it just has a lot of little domes for each section...I don't know.

The traveling we did through space to get there must have been uneventful because I don't remember anything happening. The next thing I know we're landing at the space port and disembarking. It's about that time that a couple of "guys that look like ninjas...except without the face masks" appear and drag our sniper friend Spike off into the shadows. He didn't put up much of a fight or even protest. That _might_ have had something to do with the fact that Albert quit the campaign. >_> I was informed late Tuesday night that Albert would not be continuing due to complications with school...and some kind of desire to pass finals and graduate. Pft. Who wants to do that? He's planning to move back to Florida in several weeks...so we were expecting to lose him at some point anyway.

We shall miss you Albert! *salute* May you find Florida boring and come back.

The group of four presses on and is quickly met by a Servitor who gives them each a message from the Inquisitor. Well...except for Roth. He doesn't really belong there but he's not exactly going to scamper off with a bomb wrapped around his neck you know? They catch a ride to the nice side of town...where all those fat cat rich people and administration zombies do their thing. Their destination is a very impressive, gothic-style building plastered with all sorts of Inquisitional markings. I wish I could do a better job describing it...but uh...I don't remember all the details. The important thing is that our characters finally get to meet their Inquisitor, Vownus Kaede! After finding his secretary the group is allowed into his office. The guy (like EVERYONE in W40k) is a grisly looking mother fucker. This is a short excerpt on his appearance: "Kaede appears exactly the way Imperium citizens picture a Witch Hunter. From his wide-brimmed hat, to his Inferno Pistol, to the ancient short-bladed force sword named "Slight Jest" that he bears at his side, there is no mistaking his appearance and what it implies..." In other words he looks kind of like Vampire Hunter D.

The first thing the guy does...is swing around and pull a gun on Roth, demanding to know just who the hell he is. This outcome had pretty much been foreseen though and Roth had been told not-so-politely to keep his mouth shut before they entered. Titus used his super-explanation skills to quickly give Kaede the low down on how Roth ended up with the group...and well...why he hadn't been executed. Kaede couldn't exactly ignore Roth's particular skill set or disregard the glowing report that was sent from the Commissar on the mining world (which just so happened to speak very well of ol' Rothy). Also, you can't deny the simple pleasure in having a subordinate who has the options of obeying orders or having his head blown apart. Kaede lowered his firearm and Roth was granted the right to continue breathing...for now.

Such an event couldn't transpire without a random occurrence though! It was about this time that Kaede told his secretary to let Mercutio in. However this is not Verona and some guy wearing baggy pants didn't walk in biting his thumb at us. No! This was the introduction of Jordan's character. The white-haired psyker...who...doesn't have any other features because we didn't have time to roll them! After the announcement of Albert's departure, the continued absence of Toast, and some excessive goading on my part...Jordan agreed to join us. At last every member of our little circle has taken part in the table-top nerdiness. Mwahaha!

Introductions were short and Kaede wasted no time in getting back to business (including D forgetting to give Jordan's character his divination...tisk tisk). He pulls out a giant trunk and informs us that it's a gift from the families that run the mining world we bailed out last session. Inside there was a multi-key (which Titus grabbed up because Jess was smart enough to give his character the Security skill), a heavy stubber (basically a heavy machine gun that Aidan ninjaed immediately), and 2000 thrones. Seeing as Spike was gone Roth quickly suggested he should get his share... It was a good plan on paper. Titus reminded Roth he didn't have much in the way of bargaining power. That being the case he quickly accepted the deal of 600 thrones before Intios had the chance to get more for himself. It's not hard to imagine how much Brett's Tech Priest does not like my feral backwater guy. =P So Intios also got 600...the other 800 was split between Aidan and Titus. Poor Mercutio did not get a piece of the spoils. It's not like he had to stare down a friggin plague-bearer or anything. >_>

After the rewards were passed out...Kaede showed them a much smaller case (which Roth quickly pointed out wouldn't hold much money). Inside were 5 Inquisitional Rosettes...the symbol of the Inquisition and all its authority. He informed them that (after proper training) they could receive one of these and become official acolytes within the Inquisition. He gave them a list of warnings (i.e. don't do this or I'LL KILL YOU) and made them each swear their loyalty. Roth tried to give him a blood oath by cutting his hand and slapping it on his desk...but he didn't seem overly thrilled. After that Kaede told them the name of their direct contact and that seeing him again any time soon would probably mean they've done something stupid. With that they left and DM magic was used to skip ahead in time 2 months. Their training was now over, they got a bunch of new skills and goodies (including a +5 to fear rolls! XD), and they were now ready to embark on their first official mission.

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The group has a brief meeting with their interrogator, Callahan. He let's them know that they've lucked out and there's a piece of business right here in the Hive that requires Inquisitional attention. He gives them an address and a name (Interrogator Omardha Sands). They hop on another transport and arrive at yet another giant gothic building. How surprising... >_> They take a secret elevator down...and down.......and down. Eventually they get to the bottom and walk along a massive hallway for 5 minutes before getting to the end. Inside they meet up with Sands and learn that they're basically in the morgue of the Hive. It's a giant building full of dead people. Awesome! He lets them witness the autopsy of a dead guy who would best be described as a piece of hive scum. The guy had been reported as dying of a drug overdose...but further inspection revealed he was killed by (highly advanced) biomechanical implants. Sands tells them that their mission is to find out who did this and put a stop to it. Oh...and he'd really appreciate it if you could get him some samples. Stupid scientists...

Sands equips them with disguises, comm devices, bribe funds, and the information gathered thus far on the case. He also tells them that for this mission...stealth would be appreciated. They would like it if people didn't know the Inquisition had anything to do with this case. Oh goodie! Tact is not exactly this group's strong point. Andy's guardsman
Aidan sadly agrees to leave his GIANT MACHINEGUN behind. Roth...well Roth doesn't make any promises.

The train ride over actually took quite a while. That was partly due to the 5 of us being unable to decide exactly what our course of action should be. Originally it was decided that Titus and Aidan (pretending to be local enforcers) would try to shake down some people for information relating to illegal surgery. My guy and team prissy pants (Brett and Jordan's characters =P) got assigned to go interview Lily (the girlfriend of the deceased). That plan didn't last long though as Roth refused to promise to Aidan he wouldn't DEFILE the girl when they were done with her. The man has priorities! So before they disembarked from the train they switched responsibilities.

Roth was sad in the pants.

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The Coscarla Division is a sub-district of the Hive. It's...well for lack of a better descriptor, a shit hole. Evidently back in the day this place was relatively prosperous but now 60% of it has been classified a waste zone. Lawlessness, poor social cohesion and poverty. It's a slum town.

This point represented a splitting of the team into multiple encounters. Since Jordan ran off to the bathroom...D chose to handle Titus and Aidan's trip to Lily's place first. They located her habitation block (no thanks to Jess and Andy's shitty general knowledge rolls) and busted in on her apartment all swat team style. I feel kind of bad for this...but I wasn't exactly paying a lot of attention at this point. Perhaps Jess could better explain their questions to the frightened girl and her answers. They did manage to conclude that the local authorities were likely involved and discovered the name of their head officer. I'm pretty sure they also discovered the name of the dead guy's best friend and his location (a local temple). However Jess...in his infinite roleplaying genius...accidentally let the cat out of the bag. You see as far as the sister knew...her brother was just MISSING. Not so much dead. When Titus referred to him as "the deceased" she took it kind of hard. Just to lighten the mood though...that was about the time Roth's voice boomed over their comm devices. Once he questioned "gasmask" (his nickname for Brett's priest) as to whether he was using it right...Roth proceeded into a line of questioning as to...umm...how physically attractive Lily was. >_> Titus cut him off before he could scar the girl for life and finished up the interview. She said she was getting out of town but gave them a name they could use to find her if needed.

Meanwhile on the other side of town...Roth and TPP (Team Prissy Pants) cut a path through the mindless drones making their way back and forth across the town square. Reaching into the throng Roth snatched up a random passerby and promptly questioned him as to the location of the nearest inn/hotel (see: grabbed a guy by the neck and yelled at him until he got what he wanted). Because really...if you're looking for somewhere people go missing...it's probably going to be a place like that. The aptly-named Coscarla Hostile was thankfully close by.

So an Assassin, a Tech Priest, and a Psyker walk into a bar...

The group is greeted by a very weasely looking man upon entering the broken-down building. D said he reminded him of some character in Deadwood...but I've never seen that series. I personally pictured the mole man from Escaflowne. Roth was doing the talking...and to the surprise of most everyone...brandished a new tactic: bribery! He slipped the guy a throne and went about questioning him on whether he knew anything concerning disappearances. The man gave them some bogus info and (thanks to a fortunate awareness roll) Roth and Mercutio caught that he was hiding something. Politeness was out the window. Jordan's psyker stepped forward to display an awesome show of warp powers!......but unfortunately the dice saw things differently. Mercutio's fear aura fizzled (much to Jordan's sadness and the general amusement of everyone else
=P). A successful grapple roll and intimidate roll (with three degrees of success) later...Roth grabbed the guy by the collar, slammed him into the wall, and scared him to the point where he pissed himself. lol This was about the time that his homely looking wife dropped her broom and shot out the door. Brett's character was the only one that had really noticed her quietly sweeping (and also the fact she looked deformed...or mutated). Leaping into action!...the Tech Priest dashed out the door after her. She was a spry one though. Ducking around and hopping over obstacles left Intios flat on his face after a botched agility roll.

The guy I was interrogating basically spilled his guts. He told us all about the disappearances that had been going on. He informed us that a mysterious group of individuals known as the "red eyes" were snatching lone pedestrians off the streets at night. He even told us that the head of the local 3rd workers union (guy named Luntz) may know something more. He's been locking his people in and only letting them travel at night with armed escorts. Finished with him, he was tossed to the ground and given a couple thrones for his trouble (and a new pair of pants). The group got back on the comm and agreed to meet up at the church.

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The whole crew reunites in front of the Southern Templum and exchanges info. The group consensus is that we might as well check inside while we're here. The priest is rather accommodating but asks that we please take any uncivilized activities outside. Fair enough (Roth only tried to put out one or two of the candles). Titus spots the guy Lily told him about (Zedd maybe?) and the group effectively corners him. Jess had his character use the ol' "hand on the shoulder" move. The rest of us just sort of boxed him in. Some smooth talk and a few swigs from the hip flask and the guy was pouring his heart out. Pretty sure he told us about how they had worked for the union together. There was a story about a bar fight, an injury, and some questionable medical attention our dead friend received at the Tantalus Alms House. It was getting late at this point (the dome had switched to its night cycle) and we were all feeling pretty bold. We decided to set an ambush for these red eye bastards in front of the Alms House.

The group agreed that Mercutio was the most likely of us to get picked up (looking the most outwardly harmless). We set him up right at the edge of the street lights and hid behind a building. An hour passed...nothing. Another hour passed...movement in the shadows! Five pairs of red eyes appeared in the dark and shuffled toward Jordan's character. The plan was good...on paper. Mercutio launched a flash bang attack at the five hostile targets. It was to both warn us that the ambush was on as well as stun the attackers at the same time. These guys evidently had resistance out the ass though because only one of them got knocked out. Andy's guardsman Aidan was the first to act. While standing near the darkness was good bait for the red eyes...it also limited our ability to strike out at them (darkness gives neg rolls to all attacks ;_;). Aidan tossed one of the grenades left over from the last mission but Andy missed his roll by like 1. The explosive bounced harmlessly out of the way before going off. If I remember correctly...Intios didn't have a lot of luck either. Mercutio retreated and Titus and Roth moved into melee range. This was about the time that Titus turned on his god-mode. Combining his toughness, new shield, and awesome parry rolls...he effectively held three of the attackers at bay for most of the fight. In fact I think the first time he swung at one of them with his new shock maul he broke the guy's leg. O_o I on the other hand had evidently used up all of my awesome rolls and couldn't so much as land a blow. Both my initial berserk charge and the all-out attack I made the next turn ended with a sad whiff.

I know that at least one of the baddies entered into the light and found out that was a bold move...being instantly lit up by small arms fire from our guys in the back. Everyone but Jess and I had to make a fear roll (ha ha!) when they saw what these guys actually looked like. Their bodies were heavily modified. Again I can't remember the exact description...just think of your average anime-style cyborg thugs. Their hands had been reinforced into natural weapons; their heads showed signs of brain surgery...and obviously their eyes had been replaced by optics with red lenses. Poor Jordan (who might be in the market for a better weapon soon) did what he could with his compact las pistol. The two wounded red eyes started to retreat but they weren't moving fast (ironically both had been unfortunate enough to suffer leg injuries). Two of the ones attacking Titus evidently got fed up with failing and went for my guy. I parried one. The second however landed a shot square on my jaw.

Now if you remember...I had never been hit in the previous session. This was my first bit of damage. I had 13 wounds and plenty of toughness and armor (a -6 to whatever damage came at my head)...how bad could it be? D's like "take 7." I respond "Alright...so I just take 1 right?" He comes back "No. Take 7. He hit you for 13 total." Wha-huh?! He punched me for 13 damage?? I had run in thinking these guys were chumps without weapons but suddenly I was a little worried about my future. Here's another bit of info for you. When you get to the point where you've taken enough damage to be more than twice your toughness bonus...you are "heavily wounded" and you take a -10 to all rolls. Well my bonus is 3 so I'm not doing so hot. Roth ain't scared though. Instead of running off he opens fire with his shotgun and takes a good bit out of his attacker. Titus uses his turn to take a swing at the other guy attacking Roth and shocks him unconscious for like 10 rounds. I don't remember how the third guy goes down. I know Andy whipped out his sword and did some stabbing. Oh wait! After Aidan stuck the guy...Intios ran in and used his bio-shock to finish him off. >_> I think.

Roth used his other shotgun shell to blow an arm off the guy still trying to kill him. Obviously…he doesn't survive. Brett makes another running "shock charge" at one of the injured guys and connects with his face. Basically he gets a hold of it and EXPLODES his head. The body catches fire and goes running around like a chicken with its head cut off. According to the random scatter roll...the flaming corpse runs right into the last fleeing red eye. He bursts into flame as well and we just watch them burn. Bahaha. Titus is satisfied we have a hostage so the group retreats to Lily's abandoned apartment to do some interrogating.

The red eye isn't very cooperative. It might be because he's basically lobotomized. We let Intios do some explorative surgery on the thing before we kill it. In addition to gathering some samples for the creepy Interrogator Sands guy we find out it had a tracking beacon on it (way to roll those dice Brett!). After smashing the transmitter we change locations back to the temple. The priest really wants nothing to do with us but Titus convinces him otherwise. Eventually he lets everyone in and the group passes out for the night. Scene!

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Overall I enjoyed this session about ten times more than the first one. I haven't had this much fun RPing a character in a while. I'm sure I get borderline obnoxious a lot of the time but I think it provides that comedic edge tabletop needs to be fun. The interactions between Jess' character and mine are priceless. I kind of enjoyed how this was more investigation based and less of a dungeon crawl. The combat got a little more fluid than last session…but that’s not saying too much. Last time we were hampered by enclosed spaces and this time by darkness. I made that fight sound much smoother than it actually was. It took way too long to resolve. Maybe the third time is a charm?

I'm glad that we got Jordan to join the group too. I think the more he becomes comfortable with the technical aspects of the game...the more he'll enjoy the RPing aspects. I wish he could have been a little more successful with his rolls but I don't think he minded too much. At least he didn't get punched in the face for over half his life right? =P

That's something else I learned this time around. Getting hit in this game is just bad...period. There aren't a lot of ways to heal damage. If you get to heavily wounded like me...it actually takes up to a week of rest to heal ONE POINT. Kind of rough. Hopefully though I'll patch up enough before we start on Wednesday to avoid dying in the next fight. Think I'm going to be upgrading my toughness...

Man these recaps take it out of me. This one was a multi-day effort so try your best to ignore when I seem to change directions. I'll keep doing them as long as I have time. Till next session...
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