Capitulus Octo: Baron Hopes

In the nightmare future of the 41st millennium, Mankind teeters upon the brink of extinction. The galaxy-spanning Imperium of Man is beset on all sides by ravening aliens, and threatened from within by malevolent creatures and heretic rebels. Only the strength of the Immortal Emperor of Terra stands between Humanity and its annihilation. Dedicated to His service are the countless warriors, agents and myriad servants of the Imperium.

Dark Heresy is a roleplaying game based upon the universe of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000. The setting of Warhammer 40,000 is a dark, gothic future where the Imperium of Man is beset by dangers within and without. In Dark Heresy players take on the roles of Acolytes of the Inquisition, aiming to uncover and combat the enemies of mankind, be they aliens, heretics or mutants!

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bluntpencil2001
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Post by bluntpencil2001 » Mon Feb 20, 2017 10:02 pm

"Sergeant Mallier was slain, sir," responds Lucius, very disturbingly holding up the dead Arbitrator's head as proof.

His voice betrays no emotion as he walks up to Ulbrexis, setting the head on a desk, extending his hand to the Baron, palm facing up,

"Return my weapon, Deputy Ulbrexis. Your service is no longer required."

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Post by Vardaen » Tue Feb 21, 2017 3:36 pm

Rotlan looks upset at Malier's death, "Damn it, why didn't you kill that bastard sooner?" He looks at Lucuis and Jericus for an answer. The Arbites that have survived, four of them, stand there a bit in shock for now, happy to have lived. Then Rotlan gives them a nudge to start 'cleaning up this mess' and they shrug off the trauma and start to haul bodies to the windows and doors and toss them out of the op-center.

The Baron looks at Lucius with disgust in his eyes, "You are welcome for saving you, and stopping this." He sets the shutgun down on the nearby table and turns to Jericus. "So, I've done my part for the Inquisition. I expect you'll hold up your end Senior Acolyte?"
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Post by Trogdor » Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:02 pm

"I am sorry," Jericus says to Rotlan, and it sounds like he means it. "We couldn't have stopped the attack before Morrir arrived. And It took us a while to understand Morrir's weakness. I wish we'd figured that out more quickly. But then we weren't expecting that he'd made a demonic pact to protect his life." He looks over at Malier's body. "I know it's cold comfort, but I'll speak well of him in my report. He may get a posthumous award. That may mean something to his family, if he has any around."

Then he turns to the baron. "My orders are to do just that," he says. "You've upheld your part of the bargain, I intend to see that we uphold ours." He glances at Morrir, still bleeding out. "I can truly say in my report that we couldn't have achieved victory without you."

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Post by ManWithDoor » Wed Feb 22, 2017 1:22 am

Damien chimes in. "I'll heal everyone as best I can, but not even the powers of a Psyker can bring back the dead. Perhaps by direct intervention of the God-Emperor, but anything short of that would be a mockery of life, as this Chaos scum showed us. May Sergeant Mallier go to the Emperor's side, to receive his just reward." He reverently makes the sign of the Aquila.

"As for the rest of us, no rest for the righteous. We clean up the Op-Center, and get to the dirty work of making sure that there are no more surprises left in the mines." He kneels next to the massacred body of the giant mutant, and begins closely inspecting it. "Make sure your men have as minimal contact with the bodies as they can. If they see anything arcane or questionable, they are to break off contact at once, and refer it to us."
"Loot" the mutant, looking for anything of interest.
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

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Post by bluntpencil2001 » Wed Feb 22, 2017 2:14 am

"Sir," says Lucius to Jericus, "there is an extremely high probability of further trouble, with or without the presence of these mutant terrorists."

He begins to count off the problems on his fingers,

Finger one - "The lower classes will expect Citizen Ulbrexis to take charge, and could prove violent if this does not come to pass."

Finger two - "The Ecclesiarchy will be most displeased at the presence of a living, so-called, Saint. This could very well end in violence."

Finger three - "My execution of Captain Movern is likely to have irritated the existing government, possibly reducing their inclination to cooperate."

Finger four - "Allowing Citizen Ulbrexis to live will infuriate the existing government. They will most probably believe that you are supporting a coup d'etat."

He folds his arms, shaking his head.

"I believe that the Citizen Ulbrexis will require the open assistance of the Lex Imperialis, and the imperial military, as well as clandestine assistance from other parties. Either that, or he be seen to disappear - to do tasks similar to today's."

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Post by Vardaen » Wed Feb 22, 2017 3:34 pm

The next hour is a mess. The corpses of the dead are discarded from the Op Center and the place is starting to get cleaned up. Only Assod's body is kept, put in the jail cell, and Damien inspects it searching for anything of value that might give you come useful information. Not much is forthcoming, the only thing that seems of note are the strange tattoes on the mutant's body, generally most are hereical daemon symbols, warp signs, and the like. Only one seems to stand out to you, a name you've never seen before "Eloetolth" what that means or who that is you don't know.

The clean up is going to take days, weeks maybe. The Harrow is in tatters, so many serfs are now dead, and there are so many dead to bury.
I want to try and wrap up before I leave. Take a few posts to sort of the immediate aftermath, then I'll do a more general aftermath post for the next few days of events. Watch the OOC I'll give out XP so you can level up while I'm gone.
"He that breaks a thing to find out what it is has left the path of wisdom." - Gandalf
J.R.R. Tolkien, Council of Elrond, The Fellowship of the Ring

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Post by Trogdor » Wed Feb 22, 2017 4:11 pm

Jericus listens quietly while Lucius lists his issues of concern. He nods his head in understanding, then replies with a few points of his own, falling into a more bureaucratic tone.

"Primus, the Inquisition has agreed to assist the Baron to take the throne when the current queen leaves it. Nothing in my orders contradict that agreement. The queen is still in power, but we don't expect that to be for much longer. It's possible that this matter may hasten her departure. I can't speak on that."

"Secundus, I also can't speak as to how the Ecclesiarchy will respond. My job is to report what has happened to the Inquisition as accurately as I can and have my superiors make an assessment as to how to proceed. I will make recommendations, of course, but it's not for me to decide how to proceed. You may be right that matters could end in violence here. However, I trust that the Baron has every incentive to keep that from happening."

"Tertius, you are correct that your execution of Captain Movern will complicate matters. That too will be in my report. I sincerely hope that it will not be necessary to offer you up to the queen as payment for your actions. You've done well in combating the recent terror and you deserve better than that."

"Quatrus, my orders are to let Baron Ulbrexis live. I am further informed, as I said, that the Inquisition will assist him in taking power when the queen leaves the throne. If that infuriates the local government, then so be it. If the people consider that a coup d'etat, then I cannot prevent them from doing so. I can only represent the decision of the Inquisition and point out that going against that decision can have very grave consequences for every man, woman, and child on this planet."

"For what it matters, I expect that the 'people' will welcome the Baron back. It's only those nobles loyal to the queen and who have interests that depend on the queen's good will who will be upset by the change. But they will have to accept that sacrifices must be made for the good of the Imperium. In this case, Baron Ulbrexis provided material assistance in the destruction of a great threat to the Imperium, assistance that he alone could give. He is to be rewarded for that assistance by a pardon for past crimes and reinstatement as ruler of this planet. So speaks the Inquisition."

"After that," Jericus shrugs. "It's up to the Baron to keep the peace here. That will be part of his duty as planetary ruler. I trust he'll do his best to accomplish that goal, knowing better than most the costs of failure."

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Post by bluntpencil2001 » Wed Feb 22, 2017 5:39 pm

"Citizen Ulbrexis would be better suited to Inquisitorial work than mere governance, sir," whispers Lucius to Jericus as he hefts a body to throw out the window, "but do not tell him I said that."

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Post by Trogdor » Wed Feb 22, 2017 7:32 pm

"Maybe so," Jericus mutters back. "Or maybe he cares too much about the people here to make the hard decisions required in the Inquisition." The acolyte shakes his head. "Ultimately that's for the higher ups to decide. I can only make recommendations." Perhaps some day he would make such decisions. But not yet.

"Both he and you will feature prominently in my report," Jericus goes on. "And if you weather that unpleasantness with Mallier, I shouldn't be surprised if you're given the opportunity to show your worth to the Inquisition more regularly."

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Post by ManWithDoor » Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:55 pm

Damien finishes up his examination, then personally monitors the complete immolation of Assod's body. There can be no chance taken in that abomination spontaneously coming back to life again, even if the Pact looks to have been circumvented. Until the corpse is ash, he will not be confident that this whole debacle has concluded.

He listens in to Jericus' explanation, only chiming in at the end. "Despite our power and influence over the common man, we are mere Acolytes in the eyes of the Inquisition. While we have operational flexibility, our orders are to carry out the Will of our Inquisitor. And our orders were as Jericus outlined. Until those change, our purpose does not."
Rule Number 12: "A soft answer turneth away wrath. Once wrath is looking the other way, shoot it in the head."

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