For the emperor ! (IC thread - always recruiting )

[DrZombie]

FOR THE EMPEROR ! is a Dark Heresy game.

Current characters:

Kestrel (Avia Telestarte), an imperial world assassin, played by Shayuri
Dirty Rat, an imperial world scum, played by jackslate 45, currently ghosted
Bruce McLane, a feral world imperial guardsman, played by Jemal.
Harrigan Zhent, Voidborn Imperial Psyker, played by jkason
Kelly Kinkade, Hive world arbitrator, played by Ruiktheforgotten, currently ghosted
Brutis, penal legion guardsman, played by TheJoker, currently ghosted
Trix, Schola Progenia Scrivener, played by muggie2


Rogue Gallery
OOC

Guys 'n Girls, the game is called DARK HERESY for a reason. This is not a pretty setting. Not for the weak of heart. Don't say you weren't warned....

Who's who and what's where?
Lastreda Family : a noble family, recently warned about certain buisiness practices by the Planetary Governor, residing in Volantes

The Weighted Dice : a bar/brothel/gambling den in Volantes
Hella, an employee of aforementioned establishment

Riley's, a Bar with a few hideyholes, near the spaceport at Zenorra.

Zylthar's Merchant Emporium, run by Zyltar, a merchant with shady connections. The warehouse lies in a rundown part of Zenorra near the spaceport.
Zylthar, owner of the Emporium, a contanct of Rat.

The Adeptus Arbites
Lt Carnell, supervisor of Kelly Kincaid
Lt Hertington, Interrogator.
Roger, requisitions clerc


The Emperor's fury, a space trader's ship in orbit around Archon V, awaiting a package.

The Inquisition:
Lord Anear, an inquisitor, deceased
Lord Crovax, an inquisitioner, name only heard in a vision
Inquisitor Zho, name also heard in a vision
The bodyguard, name unknown, who drafted the party in the Inquisition.

Leth Skandar, a rogue trader named in illegal trade of Xenods (Eldar?) artefacts

 

[DrZombie]

Waiting for the the train that never comes...

Archon V is an imperial world. The capital, Zenorra, is a minor hive city, home to approximately 12 million souls. It grew from the original landing site of the colonists, and has a heriditary ruling class, led by the head of the most powerfull familiy, Lord Hector Parencis XIV, who is also governor. Zenorra has an extensive spaceport, and is the home of the admininistrorum, the arbites headquarters, and has several cathedrals.

The planets main riches are the various ores and minirals (some of which are radioactive) which are mined in the Larensis mountain range. Several communities of miners are found throughout the range, led by the various noble families. Life in the mines is hard, short and brutal. The lords hold to their own affairs, policing their mines and often obtaining the help of mercs to keep their miners in line. The ores are transported to Volantes, a large community, and transported by train across and through the mountain range to Zenorra, where it's processed in the huge factories and shipped off planet. The trip takes about six hours by train. The only other station on the line is the temple and the five tombs of Saint Herandus The Maimed, which draws a fair number of pelgrims.

The area around the hive city is a polluted wasteland, the food is supplied by farms and estates owned by the noble families which are spread out across the continent. A large part of the planet is uninhabited, being composed of infertile desert and towards the equator tropical forests with it's fair share of hostile lifeforms. There are a few tribes of ferals, escaped servants and miners who have been eking out an existance in these wild regions. Occasional raids by the PDF or some private troops/mercs from the various noble families keep their numbers down.

Volantes, where the ore is collected and transported by train to Zenorra, is a frontier town. It's a rough place, lawless except for the Noble District, which is patrolled by PDF-troops and private militia. It houses the noble estates and the merchant houses. The rest of the town is a collection of bars, gambling dens, brothels and warehouses, combined with low-class housing and lodging. The most dangerous part is the Twisted Corner, housing and bars frequented by the mutated miners. Only fools go unarmed in this town.

[sblock=OOC] I use sblocks to keep things tidy. We'll start the game seperately, but you'll meet up soon enough. Feel free to read the other Sblocks, I don't mind. If anything is unclear, if you want further information, just put it in an sblockso it doesn't interrupt the story[/sblock]
[sblock=Kestrel] You were sent by the governor's office to accompanie Zhent, an Imperial Psyker, on a mission to the Lastreda Family. He was to deliver a message to the head of the house. Your mission was twofold : if the Lastreda didn't get the message, you were to , ahem, nudge 'em a little. If the psyker ed up, you were to terminate him. Unfortunately, all went well. You take a carriage back to the station, ready to take the train back to Zenorra. You sit opposite the psyker, who leans back in his chair, face and eyes hidden by his hood.[/sblock]
[sblock=Dirty Rat] You are rudely awakened from your sleep by someone pounding on the door. Hella, the girlfriend you rented for the night, has allready left. Bleary-eyed, you make your way to the door. Skull, the bouncer of the watering hole where you rented your room and company, smirks when you open the door. "Boss-man wants you" he growls. (you are in volantes, in a bar called 'the weighted dice' [/sblock]
[sblock=Bruce McLane] You awake with a terrible headache. Instinctively your hand creeps towards the hilt of your knife and you open your eyes a fraction, trying not to give away the fact that you're awake.The first object swimming hazily into focus is an overturned beer-bottle. Something sticky has glued your face to the table, by the smell of it it's a mixture of beer and liquor. The waitress, who looks a lot less pretty in the sober light of day, gives you a gap-toothed smile and points you towards the back room, where you can pump up some allmost-clean water. (you are in a bar called 'the weighted dice' in volantes (well, that's what you hope, it kinda got fuzzy after the tenth beer))[/sblock]
[sblock=Harrigan Zhent] You are in the employ of the governor. Your mission was simple : go to the Lastreda family in Volantes, and deliver a sealed envelope to the head of the family. You were accompanied by an allmost pretty girl named Kestrel. Almost, except for her eyes, which were hard as a rock and showed the strength of her soul. The warp whispered about her, telling you she was out to get you, to kill you, to cut off your fingers and lick'em clean. You ignored the voices, as you are trained, but knew there was a grain of truth in them. Everything went as planned. You savoured the looks you got from evryone, enjoying the sharp smell of fear, an old friend that accompanies you wherever you go. You take a carriage back to the station to go on the next train to Zenorra. You sit opposite the allmost pretty girl, leaned back in your chair, confident the shadow of your hood hides your face well enough so you can study her without her noticing.[/sblock]
[sblock=Kelly Kinkade] There's only two things Volantes needs to improve. One's a big barrel of promethium, and the other a lighted match. You try not to punch the local PDF-commander in the face as he smiles at you, giving you the usual 'all is well' report, and barely manage it. Some of it must have shown in your face, and he must have stopped looking at chest for long enough to notice, 'cuz you see him flinch. What a beautifull sight it is. Still, Lt Carnell said not to make a fuss, so you just nod impassively, take the report and walk out. Time to head back to Zenorra. Finally. As you walk out, one of the guardsmen whistles appreciatively. Without as much as a glance in his direction you elbow him in the face as you pass, savouring the dry crunch of bone and flesh, and ignoring the commotion erupting behind you. You start to whistle softly as you walk back to the station, feeling a lot better all of the sudden for no discernable reason.[/sblock]

 

[Jemal]

Bruce wavered to his feet, shaking some of the cobwebs out as he patted himself down for some painkillers. Not finding any, he grimaced and gave the waitress a weak smile before heading to the water room.

"10 beers? C'mon McClane, you're starting to turn into your old man, can't hold yer booze." He mutters to himself as he cleans up, eyes watching the mirror and to his sides. Their quick movements surveying the room are the only giveaway that he's not just another drunk with a hangover. "Pretty soon you're gonna be bitchin that you're 'too old for this'." Face washed, He dries off on whatever's handy and heads back out for a quick breakfast, trying to remember what he was supposed to do today, and where he left his Smokes.

[sblock=ooc] I'm going to try to make a couple minor changes to the equipment, just realized that he needs some tough-guy lho-sticks.
Also, Is he here on a job or in between at the moment?[/sblock]

 

[DrZombie]

[sblock=Jemal] A packet of smokes on the house . They're in your chamber. You are inbetween jobs at the moment, shooting half-starved miners armed with nothing but a few rocks or a pickaxe gets pretty old pretty fast. You're on your way to the trainstation to go back to the capital to look for a new job. War is one thing, slaughter another. They didn't pay you enough to pay for all the booze you need to make the memories go away. [/sblock]

The waitress puts a bowl of something that's presumably stew in front of you, accompanied by a plate with grilled allmost bacon and an egg that's still half-raw.
in the background you can hear someone pounding on a door somewhere on the first floor.

 

[Shayuri]

Kestrel watched Zhent across the cab, unashamed in her scrutiny. He was, after all, her charge. And the first psyker she'd actually met in person. A morbid slice of her brain wondered how he'd die when the time came. Would he scream and plead? Would he fight bitterly, even knowing it was pointless? Or would he simply lower his head and submit to the end? And when he was punctured, would the evil of the Warp come billowing out of him like noxious gas from some terrible balloon? Or would he die as any man did, gurgling on his blood and soiling himself after his last exhalation?

Barring some last minute catastrophe, it seemed she wouldn't get to find out. It was disappointing, but only in a vague sort of way. It wasn't that she wanted to kill him, exactly. She was just...curious, and now those questions would go unanswered.

Abruptly she frowned, though only the barest trace of the expression showed on her face, and turned to look out through the carriage window. She'd been too fixated on the psyker. After the humiliation dealt to Lastreda, it was much more likely that she'd be saving him than destroying him. The eyes that had earned her the affectation of 'Kestrel' due to their uncanny sharpness, scanned the squalor outside methodically, looking for potential ambush or danger.

 

[jkason]

Harrigan Zhent, Imperial Psyker

Harrigan held back a sigh as the woman stared again. They all stared. that wasn't new, it wasn't going to change, and someday, maybe, he'd get used to it. Or the warp would get so loud it would drown out everything else and he wouldn't notice the attention focused on him from this world. Then someone like Kestrel would finish things; unless he finished them all first.

He could see it: a wave of power, sweeping outward, crushing metal, rending flesh. A glorious explosion of violence to melt the staring eyes and shatter their weak mortal bones--

Harrigan took in a short, quick breath, shaking off the vision. clever, daemons, but you don't use me today, he thought. He realized that his guard (or keeper, he was never quite sure, and honestly, was there a difference?) had found something outside that took her attention away from his own dangers.

"Is there danger?" he asks quietly without bothering to look himself. He had plenty enough dangers to watch out for between his small ears.

 

[Jemal]

Bruce ate the meal without a complaint. Truthfully it was better than many he'd had back home, surviving in the jungles, and he knew that a lot of people across the city were probably sufficing on a lot less.

After wolfing it down, he went back to his room to collect his stuff. He gave a wide berth to the rough-looking man pounding on the room next to his, hand near his knife just in case as he passed him in the hallway, then went into his room to collect his things.

A smile flitted his face as he found his pack and popped one into his mouth, lighting it up before gathering his things and heading back down.

[sblock=ooc]Unless you think there's a reason to stay and interact with Dirty Rat at the Weighted Dice, McClane'll head to the station.[/sblock]

 

[Shayuri]

Is there danger?

Kestrel almost looked at Zhent in disbelief. Almost. The question was impossibly naive; the kind of thing the spawn of nobles would ask its parents shortly after learning to speak. Is there danger?

"Life is danger," she replied calmly.

The question, therefore, was disquieting. Disconnect from reality? Or was he simply trying to make conversation? The notion that he might be attracted to her was almost funny enough to turn the corners of her lips up. Almost. One might as well fall in love with a hand cannon. Or a rapier.

If I was Lastreda, how would I do it? Public, she thought. Witnesses necessary to regain face. It wouldn't look like an accident, but it would be disguised as gang activity or a random robbery or terroristic act.

Sniping would be hard. The carriage windows weren't particularly large, and the light level inside was much darker than outside. No, placed or thrown explosives were more likely. She'd need to watch for high ground alongside their route...good places to lob grenades from. Detecting placed explosives would be harder...but she doubted they'd have had time to bury something. A bomb would be concealed in trash that was suspiciously close to the roadside.

She didn't close her eyes to other possible dangers...glints of metal, groups of people walking in suspicious tandem, and so on...but she paid special attention to the garbage near the roadside

 

[jkason]

Harrigan Zhent, Imperial Psyker

"I have it on decent authority death might not be without its own perils," Harrigan says dryly.

He'd assumed that the danger would be in getting to deliver his message, but clearly his escort felt differently. And her judgement wasn't impaired by a constant vigil against spirits trying to worm their way through into this world from the warp. He decided to try not to distract her further, then.

Come now. She's just looking for an excuse to slit your throat. a voice whispered in his mind. Give it to her. All that blood for me to feast on as I climb out.

Harrigan's already-thin lips pursed still thinner as he choked out the whisper. He closed his eyes, spread out his own senses. Sactioned psykers weren't the only ones out there, and plenty of desperate people might be inclined to employ one to send the wrong message. However many skills Kestrel had, she couldn't sense the ripples made by someone bending the warp. If they were in danger, the least he could do was try to be of some use, and he could scan without getting in the way.

 

[jackslate45]

Rat hated to be woken up early. Especially after that night with Hella. Damn did she know what to do.

"Ya, give me a min will ya? Needs to get that juice outta my system."

Closing the door behind him, Rat grabbed his clothes, and threw them on hap haphazardly. Grabbing the rest of the gear, and noticing he was out the 100 Gelt he had won last night, Rat swore loudly. "That wench! 50 should have been plenty..."

Stumbling out the door, he starts heading towards where the "boss-man" was, holstering his pistols on either side. His only pit stop was the water room.