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Wow, your pilot has seriously toughened up! I like what you did with his gun.

Chapter Five, Epistolus Tertius. “Graverobbing”

Inquisitor Apollyon, finding that bodies had been removed from the hospital for burial in private cemetary grounds outside Darrak, takes his retinue with him, hoping to secure a specimen for his biochemists to examine.
The Kroot hunters, led by the fearful warrior Ch´Pekk, are on the hunt for some bodies here as well, though quite possibly for more unsavory ends.
The two parties happen upon each other while engaged in these activities, and a brutal fight erupts.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Mission information:
This mission is a gang fight, between the Xeno Mercenaries of PrOtOCoN, and the Inquisition operatives of Apollyon.
The fight takes place in an underground burial complex, where six markers will show the locations of recent graves, that may contain a plague victim.
For each grave, on a 4+ the corpse will be a plague victim, and thusly an objective. A gang needs one of these, and after finding it, they may move to their own deployment zone to end the game.

Any unit carrying a corpse moves only 3” instead of 4”, and runs 6” instead of 8”.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Coming in through the southern entrance, Apollyon looked around him in the darkened sepulchre. In this facility, the high and mighty of Sarum were interred after death. His thoughts darkened as he looked out across the bleak landscape, the entire facility deep underground.

- - -

After planetwide orders were given to have all plague victims incinerated, the aristocracy have been defying them, claiming that these dead are ”a part of their historyand cannot be destroyed”. A reckoning will be had, to be sure, already patrols of Arbites are en route so several mansions in the outskirts of Darrak.

Even so, this defiance had given Apollyon an idea. Since these were the only bodies not immediately destroyed, if he could find one that had only recently been put here, he might be able to bring it aboard his ship for examination. Certainly the augurs and medicae of the Mechanicus could find what the local morticians had missed.

- - -

Spreading his team out, he started his internal scanners, looking for the recently covered tombs, and spotting half a dozen potential sites.
However, he also spotted something else on the scanners. Lifeforms, and though they were humanoid in shape, their biometrics read them as definite Xenos species. Damned Xenos in this hallowed place, he would not stand for it. ”All units, Xenos spotted, prepare for combat. Servitors, go to combat protocol Gamma-17”

- - -

Across the hall, the Kroot Ch´Pekk stopped and raised himself to his full height, sniffing the air. He had just caught the scents of human-flesh, and not dead ones, living specimens of some power. Though their was some disturbing scent lingering here also, he knew that the human-flesh used many strange and outlandish methods to preserve their dead.

If only they knew how much wisdom and strength was wasted by them, throwing out prime genetic material like it was bones and scraps.

He called out to his hunters. ”The human-flesh approaches. Let them not disturb our mission! Remember what the Castes ordered, find the source of this sickness, and destroy it.” His warriors acknowledged his orders, the slow and purposeful Kurtz looking pleased at the prospect of more ´eadbashing.
- - -

For the first couple of minutes the groups moved silently through the shadows, each trying to outwit the other, each waiting for good sightings of the other side. Going through a culvert in the bottom of the complex, Servitor E3-D spotted movement ahead.
Conferring with onboard mapping functions quickly confirmed that no friendly units should be there, and combat protocols were loaded. As the servitor geared up for combat, Inquisitor Apollyon noticed, and moved in to support. Mean while, other servitor units were pulling up the final slabs of rockrete covering one of the potential grave sites.

- - -

The hunt was on! Lo´Mon, the Kroot Juve felt the sharp excitement of the hunt, the smells and sounds around him heightened by the stimms in his system. He would slay the flesh-things and have much honor from eating their flesh.

He moved silently through this odd place, the steel and rock around him still feeling strange, compared to being outside. This place appeared to have nothing but rock and steel, no wonder the humans were weak!

Let the others dig for corpses, he would taste blood today, and destroy his enemies!

Suddenly he saw lights up ahead. The unmistakeable scent of humans was mixed with other smells, oil and steel, but he could feel the presence of his foes, and advanced quickly, giving a fearsome warcry.
- - -

The servitor, preparing for combat, found that the adversary was advancing. Raising it´s weaponised arms, it was immediately ready for combat. The two fighters clashed, and fought bitterly, both sides now moving in to support their fighters. Apollyon ran towards the combat, and spotted a burly Ork alongside a kroot, fighting his servitors. He had always suspected that the foul Xenos would ally with each other, and here was the proof!

Shouting an admonition of detestation, he got ready to charge.

- - -

Although it took him awhile, Shas’ui Kel’shan was getting the grave opened. He looked into the darkness beyond, and saw that there lay a human corpse, preserved by the cold. A swipe of his biometric scanner, and he got a confirmation, this body had an unknown viral infestation. He called the human, Armin Reetho, and told him to carry this away.
- - -

After a short but bloody combat, Lo´Mon was victorious! True, he had not fought alone, but he had defeated both of these flesh-things. Even so, the victory felt hollow. Now that they were defeated, there was no strength in these mechanised bodies. His leader, the mighty Ch´Pekk approached.

”We must finish our task quickly, soon the humans will be here in force. Kel´Shan and the human have found a viable body, defend it!”
Ch´Pekk stopped.

There was that smell again, much stronger now, he could not identify it, but it smelled like trouble. He looked around, and saw only the bleak landscape of the sepulchre, the darkened corridors of tombs, the open grave in the middle of the courtyard... Who had opened that one? Not one of his, he was certain!
Suddenly he saw it, close to the walls, feeling its way and moving with an unnatural loping gait. One of the human-things moved, though it was dead! Bringing up his flamer, he covered it with seething promethium, and it staggered and fell. Calling to his kin, he quickly confirmed that more of these things were closing in around them.
- - -

As he readied his boltgun, Apollyon found that more targets were emerging from the shadows. Many more. He realized after a quick bioscan, that these decaying things must be why the Xeno were here. They meant to infect the Imperium of man with some foul Zombie-Plague! ”Not on my watch, Xeno scum” he muttered, and placed a bolt round in the chest of the nearest Kroot.

”Sir, we have multiple hostiles closing in, your orders?” Shouted one of his PDF troopers. ”Fall back, protect the servitor with the cargo, don´t let them box us in!” He voxed back.

- - -

Ch´Pekk was furious. His youngling had been shot down from behind, even as they defended themselves from these dead things. ”Bring the corpse out of here, my hunters, I must tread the path of vengeance!”
He started threading his way through the dungeon, following the human who had shot Lo´Mon, and avoiding the dead things.

- - -

Apollyon was getting worried. His men were fighting well, but even though they were putting out an enormous amount of damage, the zombies still came on. Most alarmingly, they even stood back up after receiving wounds that would have killed a man twice over.

Still, he was getting closer to the exit, and his men still had the infected corpse with them, now securely packed onto a stasis gurney that had been brought for the purpose. He saw a zombie closing on him, and put a bolt between it´s eyes, and muttered a hasty prayer that this one would stay down.

- - -

Ch´Pekk had reached the higher gantries now, using his grapnel to move between the upper stories of the mausoleums. He could hear the bark of the humans talking to each other, see the flashes from their automatic weapons, and smell the stench of the one who had so coldly cut down his kin.

Even as he swung down to a platform overlooking the southern entrance, he saw the humans make good their escape, with the zombies closing in around the doorway. He knew there was no way that he could bring them to justice now, the dead things were blocking him.

He had no choice now, but to follow his hunters, and make good his escape from this accursed place. Picking up the body of his kinsman, he felt life within it, but only barely. Howling, he made an oath. He would find this human again, and he would destroy him!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So, following this battle, the Kroot and the Inquisition each made off with bodies, the kroot suffered slightly more casualties, and somewhat of a feud has developed between the two leaders. Excellent stuff, and looks like the summer will be interesting, with further games coming.

It looks more and more like the shadowy Mechanicus Magos knows something, he has left Sarun however, and our gangs will have to find him, if they want more answers.

One more battlerep to come still, will write it as the modd strikes me. Hoped you enjoyed this one.

On a modeling note, I´ve started on converting some designs from the cardboard necro buildings into plasticard, not too much to show yet, but I´m hopeful that I´ll be able to do it.

Also, the bits for my repressor have arrived! Yay!

Teaser for the next battlerep:

Chapter Five, Epistolus Secundus. “Standoff in Stack 34”
Sigismund and his crew have deducted, that the answer to this plague must be found on the Ranus XVI Facility, orbiting the second moon of planet Tomish, close to the galactic edge. Here they hope to find Tech Magos Tchanus.
While preparing to leave, they suddenly run into the forces of Brother Marine Grimaldus! A shoot out erupts, even as the city is being torn apart by zombie mobs. They must escape to the landing gantries, where an air lifter is en route, to transport them off planet.

Double tap!! Coolness Xan! You the man

Ah yes...that was a fun game.
Awesome battle report, I really like the narrative style.

Look forward to seeing the rest! =D

Thanks for the comments, I tried to get into the feeing of telling the story, rather than exactly "who shot who" and such. Also, I tried to get the feelings across, the fear, the anger, and the mindnumbing dread of almost being eaten by zombies.

The last battlerep will be up as soon as I manage to finish it, after that it´s on to fluff for season two, and explaining what happens in between.

Munda Lives!

Very enjoyable!

That was a great read! really looking forward to the next. Apollyon is full of great one liners xD

I like the way you handle that batrep Xanthos.
Very =I=Munda: Don't bother with the technicalities, just get on with the story.

I'm already looking forward to season two.

Okay, another bit of fluff for you all, this one is an astropathic missive from my Inquisitor to the Ordo HQ.

This serves to give more information about what is happening because of the investigations of the gangs. Mostly for the players, but some people here may also find it enjoyable, so here you go.

-----------------------------------------------------------

REF: Inq/537+63742497824526
ASTROPATHIC DUCT: Astropath Terminus Iacobos Mal
AUTHOR: Inquisitor Sigismund
SUBJECT: Plague Outbreaks on Sarum
RECIPIENT: Lord Inquisitor Dione Bellier

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: That is not dead, which can eternal lie.

+++My lord, I call upon you with great urgency. In relevance to the ongoing investigations at planet Sarum, I have found that this outbreak is far worse than we first expected. The plague itself continues to take a great toll on Sarum. My agents have concluded, that it is not as viral as the outbreak of ”P4X-Gamma5” recorded in the subsector eight years ago, but it´s lethality is far greater, and no medicine seems to work, once the body is infected.

The investigations of the medicae on Sarum have led us to some key points in regards to the plague.

1) The virus seems to attack all age groups, and at all levels of society

2) The virus is nearly 100% lethal.

3) The addition of high level irregulants into the bloodstream gives a level of immunity, though this must be maintaned daily, and has unpleasant side effects.

4) One medicae has speculated that the virus is artificial in nature, and claims that it bears signs of being engineered by Imperial technology. We have effectively supressed this rumour, and made clear that this is not an acceptable line of inquiry.

5) Contact has been made with other groups chasing the artifact. These include additional agents of the Inquisition, Including one Appolyon <see enclosed pict files and documents 537/01-537/04>, and at least one group funded by the Astartes.

6) My team has found evidence that leads us to the planet Tomish, and a facility orbiting it´s second moon. I will send a group of my agents to investigate further, while I personally deliver a full report of the situation to the Conclave at Thracian Primaris.


7) Following these revelations, I have sent a general astropathic missive to the Astartes, requesting their support in this matter. The first to answer the call were the Blood Angels, who have granted a Frigate bearing a squad of marines, to assist in unraveling the case.

8) Working with the local ordo representatives, programs of incineration have been launched on Sarum and nearby planets, and several cities and townships have been burnt already. The list grows daily.

In conclusion, I hope to reach primaris shortly after Primarch´s Mass, and certainly within two months. If I do not, please take appropriate actions, and make sure that this horrible threat is stopped.

Praise the Emperor, may his light guide our actions.

Signed, Inquisitor Sigismund, Ordo Xenos

..the plot thickens.. dun dun daaahhhh...(muzak drones out..)

Always wanted to say that.

Great report and involving narrative, look forward to the possibility of a showdown! Do other members of your group post on Dakka? I truly hope I haven't missed their threads too!

best,
Tael.

We´re actually all using this thread, to keep it more tidy. But yeah, PrOtOcoN, Gerbrith, Aurelion and Defcon56 are all players in this campaign.

The sixth player has not yet got an account. (To my knowledge.....)

A showdown is certainly coming.

Xanthos wrote:A showdown is certainly coming.

Please remember your camera ;]

w00p w00p, I can't wait!

Still working on the final battlerep, it´s taking some time, but I´m having fun with it.

I´ve been doing some test pieces for plasticard terrain and towers to use in the campaign, so far a bridge and a platform are ready for the "Rivets and junk" stage, but first I need to make about a hundred rivets... Here are some shots of where they are now, these are very WIP, but should give you an idea of what I´m aiming for.

Excellent start on the scenery mate, man I would love to have some of the stuff yourself and Modhail are producing!

Cheers,

Dante

Dammit...makes me wanna try out to build terrain as well!

Awesome WIP shots Xanthos!
I don't know if you already use it, but I found this tool to be very handy to make plasticard rivets



It's a leather hole punch, find one with the right size hole puncher and clip away! Posted it just in case you're using some other more time consuming method =D

Yup, that´s what I use as well. Mine is just getting a bit worn, so sometimes it chokes on the rivets while I´m punching them, and I have to use a needle to get them out of there... :S

@CMDante and Malika: Go for it guys! It takes some time, but the terrain is big enough that I can do it while watchong movies, don´t need fancy lighting or anything. The riveting in particular, is a time consuming activity, but does not demand that much attention, so I do it while watching TV.

Dante & Malika: what he said...

Xanthos: Looks like a good start. Nice touch with the open section over the tubing. I'll have to "acquire" that idea...
I see you are following the old necromunda cardboards as a template. Will you keep every floor and bulkhead separate and modular, or will you glue the individual buildings together?
There was an article (or series of articles) about building Inquisitor terrain in either the White Dwarf or Inquisitor/fanatic magazine. It may have some use for you, I'll see if I can find it somewhere...

Thanks man.

I´m following the old templates for a bit, going to transform some of the designs from there just for fun. But I´ll be staying away from duplicates, I want each floor to be unique.

As far as modular or not, I seriously hope I can make it modular. I am studying in Denmark, but travel back home every summer and winter, and would want to bring this stuff with me.
That being said, if I can´t find a way to make it modular, I´ll settle for gluing them together, but it´s definately not what I´m planning at this point.

I´d like to see that article. I think I have one or two of the magazines, but they´re in storage (in another country!) at the moment... Would be excellent if you have it handy.

Edit: Forgot to mention. The picture with the signature for my battlereport has disappeared. I mean actually disappeared from my gallery on Dakka. Has that happened to anyone else?

Also, I finished riveting one side of the bridge while watching an episode of Firefly. So 34 rivets, punched and glued down in forty minutes... Not too bad I think.

This is looking great! Portable terrain is particularly handy when one has to travel much between where one lives and where one plays. Some day, Protocon and I will have to make a set of portable terrain pieces. So far, all of our stuff is fairly bulky and pretty tricky to transport without ample space in the back of a car. (We don't have a car, and most of our travels are by plane, so even if we did have one, the car wouldn't do much good.) =P

How did you solve the "supporting struts problem"? I mean, the hard pieces of plastic that hold the floors up?

Well, so far I´m using thick enough plasticard that it hasn´t been a problem with the platform I made. As for the bridge, It actually has some rather fancy supports underneath, square tubing crosswise, and then I beams lengthwise.

I´ll get some piccies of that when I post pictures of the bridge after riveting is done.

Still need to figure out the precise design for the vertical bits of these buildings...

You might want to fillet those pipes before you paint them. It will give a more industrial look to them rather than just like that it looks unfinished and plasstruct make pipe joins and flanges if that helps.
http://www.plastruct.com/Pages/OnlineCatalogIndex.lasso

Great scenery updates Xanthos, folks have pretty much covered any critique or recommendations I can think of. Certainly purpose made scenery always adds to gaming, particularly for such narrative gaming as =I=Munda gets.

I had best get down and make some photo backdrops for my Voidsuit lads and the Scythes, all this great modelling going on!

~ Tael.

Well I´ll be darned! Never knew about those flanges and valves, those are totally awesome.

I was planning on doing GS work to make them look better, but now I want to tear this apart and order a gazillion differnet fittings.

Thank you very much for pointing me in the right direction, I also found some excellent ladders and stuff, definately getting me some of those too.

The terrain looks MEGA so far mate. Are you going to make it compatible with ye olde Necro-Bulkheads, or will you scratch build some equivalents, or something else entirely?

Can't wait to see more!

I´ll be making it compatible with ye olde buildings, but I´ll have to make my own bulkheads, or at least that´s what it looks ike for now.

At the moment I´m looking at making them from CoD frames, with ladders from plastruct. I think I´ll be making some that have stars instead of ladders, and maybe a proppa elevator too

Anyways, I threw some paint on the firt bridge, just some mechrite red and some washing and drybrushing so far, still needs something more to make it right. Also include a pic with the detachable railing, I plan to have these all over the place, and use them on high level bridges.

very very nice work. I do like the weathering.. and a railing in 40k? since when was OHS a concern in Necromunda???

That Mechrite Red is a very nice colour indeed.. I think I might wander to GW and check a few out.

Great update, a very cool sign of things to come..

~ Tael.

Thanks for the kind words, The railings were a spur of the moment idea. I´m considering them as an alternative to the initiative roll for falling over.

I was thinking a roll of 2D6 against S + T. You have to roll over, or you cold fall. So for a small weak person, letting the railing catch you is good, but for someone with high S and T, it´s probably no good...

Yes, this is hopefully the first step on the way to some better and cooler terrain.

Xan, I don't think I ever got around to commenting on your log, but you're one of the founders (heck, your log is in the master material log!) so I must commend you for the effort you've put into =I=.

That bridge is incredible! The paintjob is simple but quite effective as well. I'm looking forward to the terrain you're working on.

The terrain looks fantastic Xan.

And ncie piece of story aswell.