Wulf Ratbane's DARK HERESY
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Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Ethalias said:
Well, you know what they say... March comes in like a feral and out like a chem-gelded administorum scribe.
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Her second shot shattered the cheap tile on the kitchen wall behind Cutter. Ignoring Lily, Cutter tore open his leather jacket and looked down at the mail shirt covering his chest. The bullet was still lodged there, twisted in amongst the metal rings. He plucked the bullet from his mail and flicked it away, snarling.
Fortunately for Lily, Gunner came charging into the room, leveling his shotgun at her as he cleared the door. “Drop it, damn it!” he shouted. Lily was crouching behind the bed with her hands stretched out across the mattress, but it did nothing to steady her shaking hands.
The look of murderous rage had subsided from Cutter’s eyes. He aimed both pistols at her. “We didn’t kill your bro, man-woman. We want to talk.”
Grim stepped into the room. His vox crackled tinnily. “You are outnumbered. Please think about your next action carefully.”
Lily shifted her aim to Gunner. “Maybe that freak melon head of yours is a softer target than the goat.”
Gunner slowly lowered his shotgun. “We can talk or you and me can die together.”
“So talk,” Lily said. Her aim seemed much steadier, now.
“We are trying to find out who hurt your brother. Do you know who did it?” Gunner asked.
“No,” she said.
“How about you lower that thing before one of my friends over-reacts.”
Cutter grinned.
“So you can disappear me too?” Lily said. “I don’t think so.”
“Dammit, the shooting would be over already if we wanted you dead.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said cannily. “Who are you?”
“The good guys,” Gunner answered. “Or at least as close to it as you’re going to get.”
“Got any ID?” she said. “You look like reclamators to me.”
Grim spoke up. “Would reclamators look like us and be equipped like us, ma’am?”
Gunner glanced at Grim and tapped his ID. Grim slowly pulled out his own ID and, for the first time, really gave it a good look: Coblast Assay.
“Huh,” he grunted. “This says we’re reclamators, huh?”
Gunner rolled his eyes and holstered his gun. “Come on around and let’s talk in a more reasonable manner.”
“Last time I checked, you could hear me just fine from behind here.”
“Yeah,” Gunner said, “but it’s a lot easier to get real talking done when we aren’t ready to blast each other.”
“You’d be making a mistake if you thought I wasn’t ready to blast you,” Lily said. “You want to talk, talk. Meanwhile I’ll just be keeping a bead on that melon head of yours and one eye on your mutant friend.”
“We want the same thing you want. Your brother’s killer. You won’t help your brother any getting yourself killed just to take out one of us.”
Lily snorted. “How am I supposed to help my brother at this point? He’s DEAD or didn’t you get the memo?”
Cutter chuffed impatiently. “Either you start talking, man-woman, or my knives do.”
Grim likewise stepped in to assist. “Ms. Arbest, please cooperate. I would hate to render you unable to function with my vox synthesizer.”
Gunner shrugged and went with it. “Listen, bitch, you want our help or you wanna get the hell out of the way?”
“How much more cooperateion do you expect from me?’ Lily protested. “A young woman, alone, in her dead brother’s hab, surrounded by mutant freaks?”
“There’s the door,” Gunner said.
“Use it,” Lily shot back.
“Lower your weapon and we will lower ours,” Grim said. “We would like to find out what happened to your brother.”
“What do you want to know?” Lily said. She did not lower her weapon.
“When did you last see him?”
Lily looked ashamed. “F---, I didn't even know he was gone till days afterwards. I'd had a contract to work uphive and was too worn out to care. To be honest, Saul had been drinking a lot, drowning his sorrows and sleeping it off. By the time I realized that he'd vanished he'd been gone for days.”
“Did you look for him once you realized he was missing?”
“I looked everywhere. I even went into the Worker's Union to look for him, even though the place makes my skin crawl. Everyone just stared blankly back at me and I knew, I knew! Something terrible had happened."
“Have you taken anything from this room since he went missing?” Gunner asked.
“No, I was just hoping to get one night’s rest before I got out of Coscarla for good.”
“How sweet,” Gunner scoffed.
“Who was he associating with before he disappeared?” said Grim.
“I don’t really know… He used to go drinking with a buddy named Zed from time to time.”
“Who’s Zed?” Grim asked.
“Evard Zed. He was one of Saul's friends. They used to drown their sorrows together. He's a drink sodden fool, but he's been avoiding me and might know something. I think I saw him at the Templum when I went to light a candle for my brother's soul this morning.”
“Who would want your brother dead?” Grim asked.
“Nobody! He was just a nameless, faceless hab-prole... like me.” Her face sank. “Like all of us.”
Grim glanced back at Gunner. He was getting frustrated.
“Man-woman!” said Cutter. “Have you seen any… different… proles around? Strangers, outsiders? Anyone hanging out here or with your brother that didn’t used to do so?”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Different? Uhh, no. You’re the most different folk I’ve seen in a while.”
“She doesn’t know sh*t, Cutter,” Gunner grumbled. “Listen, it’s real simple. We have a job to do and I’m pretty sure it lines up with what you want. We’re going to get this done, even if two of us do it around your corpse and one of ours. We don’t want that. But we WILL get this done.”
“Get what done, reclamator?” said Lily.
“We need to know who killed your brother and we will search this room until we are satisfied. Do you mind NOT shooting us while we search this room?”
“The only thing I mind,” she growled, “is ending up like my brother. Search away. Just don’t take anything.”
“Cutter, you take that end,” Gunner said. “I’ll search over here. Grim, keep an eye on her. If she moves, let me know.”
Grim nodded while Gunner set about his work. “She’s keeping her gun trained on your enormous, malformed, melon-sized head,” Grim said.
“Yes, thank you, Grim.”
“Just wanted you to know.” Grim clenched his teeth and kept his own las-carbine aimed at Lily.
“The crapper’s empty,” Cutter announced helpfully.
“Ms. Arbest,” Grim said, trying to keep Lily engaged in conversation, "Please try to remember anything out of the ordinary concerning your brother. Any detail, no matter how seemingly insignificant, may be of help to us.”
“Saul had some beer,” Cutter shouted, his head buried in the fridge. “There’s still three left from the six-pack. What kind of a man dies with half a six-pack still in his fridge?”
“Ms Arbest!” Grim shouted. “My companions should not concern you. Please focus on me.”
While Gunner searched through Saul’s personal belongings for any clue, Cutter moved over to peek inside the oven. “Grim, you wanna bust out that weird doohickey of yours?”
Grim nodded. “Affirmative.”
He pulled out the auspex and began slowly scanning the room. “The only thing it’s picking up is you, Cutter.”
Cutter stepped up to Lily. “Move aside man-woman. I gotta check that nesting area.”
Lily narrowed her eyes. “Back off, goat boy.”
Cutter snorted angrily, but she ignored him. “What are you looking for?”
“I won’t know till I find it. But I ain’t looking for any sh*t from you. Now step aside. Last time.”
Lily scampered aside. Cutter started rummaging through the bed—rifling through the sheets, looking under and in the pillows. He pulled off the sheets, flipped over the mattress, moved the bed to peek underneath.
“Oh for goodness sake,” Lily muttered.
Cutter “innocently” crept a little closer to Lily, but she was wary. “You make a move on me, your melon-headed freak friend gets it.”
Cutter shrugged. “Who cares? Ehh… Nothing here but man-scent.”
“What exactly tore the sh*t out of your room?” Gunner asked. “I assume you are sleeping here because of whatever tore through there.”
“Hell, I don’t know. Folks go missing at night. I guess I figured here was safer, since Saul was already gone.”
“Uh huh. So it just happens that your place has been turned over and you planned to sleep here for unrelated reasons?”
“Look, I heard… Folks report folks missing, folks go missing.”
“You reported Saul missing? Where did you report to?” asked Gunner.
“Enforcers station?” Cutter broke in.
“Well, to the Warden of course. Enforcers station, yeah.”
“See…” Cutter said. “You just gave us something actually useful. I won’t kill you now.”
“I’m sure that’s a big relief to your friend with the melon-sized head,” Lily said.
“Let’s go,” said Cutter.
“Good idea,” said Lily. “I’d get out of Coscarla while the getting’s good.”
Grim packed up his bio-sample kit and nodded to Gunner and Cutter. “There’s nothing more for us here. Let’s leave her to the gangers.”
Cutter tore the door open and did a quick scan of the hallway before leading off, with the other two acolytes trailing after him.
Lily Arbest shouted after them. “I’ll be just fine! Thanks for nothing!”
Fortunately for Lily, Gunner came charging into the room, leveling his shotgun at her as he cleared the door. “Drop it, damn it!” he shouted. Lily was crouching behind the bed with her hands stretched out across the mattress, but it did nothing to steady her shaking hands.
The look of murderous rage had subsided from Cutter’s eyes. He aimed both pistols at her. “We didn’t kill your bro, man-woman. We want to talk.”
Grim stepped into the room. His vox crackled tinnily. “You are outnumbered. Please think about your next action carefully.”
Lily shifted her aim to Gunner. “Maybe that freak melon head of yours is a softer target than the goat.”
Gunner slowly lowered his shotgun. “We can talk or you and me can die together.”
“So talk,” Lily said. Her aim seemed much steadier, now.
“We are trying to find out who hurt your brother. Do you know who did it?” Gunner asked.
“No,” she said.
“How about you lower that thing before one of my friends over-reacts.”
Cutter grinned.
“So you can disappear me too?” Lily said. “I don’t think so.”
“Dammit, the shooting would be over already if we wanted you dead.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said cannily. “Who are you?”
“The good guys,” Gunner answered. “Or at least as close to it as you’re going to get.”
“Got any ID?” she said. “You look like reclamators to me.”
Grim spoke up. “Would reclamators look like us and be equipped like us, ma’am?”
Gunner glanced at Grim and tapped his ID. Grim slowly pulled out his own ID and, for the first time, really gave it a good look: Coblast Assay.
“Huh,” he grunted. “This says we’re reclamators, huh?”
Gunner rolled his eyes and holstered his gun. “Come on around and let’s talk in a more reasonable manner.”
“Last time I checked, you could hear me just fine from behind here.”
“Yeah,” Gunner said, “but it’s a lot easier to get real talking done when we aren’t ready to blast each other.”
“You’d be making a mistake if you thought I wasn’t ready to blast you,” Lily said. “You want to talk, talk. Meanwhile I’ll just be keeping a bead on that melon head of yours and one eye on your mutant friend.”
“We want the same thing you want. Your brother’s killer. You won’t help your brother any getting yourself killed just to take out one of us.”
Lily snorted. “How am I supposed to help my brother at this point? He’s DEAD or didn’t you get the memo?”
Cutter chuffed impatiently. “Either you start talking, man-woman, or my knives do.”
Grim likewise stepped in to assist. “Ms. Arbest, please cooperate. I would hate to render you unable to function with my vox synthesizer.”
Gunner shrugged and went with it. “Listen, bitch, you want our help or you wanna get the hell out of the way?”
“How much more cooperateion do you expect from me?’ Lily protested. “A young woman, alone, in her dead brother’s hab, surrounded by mutant freaks?”
“There’s the door,” Gunner said.
“Use it,” Lily shot back.
“Lower your weapon and we will lower ours,” Grim said. “We would like to find out what happened to your brother.”
“What do you want to know?” Lily said. She did not lower her weapon.
“When did you last see him?”
Lily looked ashamed. “F---, I didn't even know he was gone till days afterwards. I'd had a contract to work uphive and was too worn out to care. To be honest, Saul had been drinking a lot, drowning his sorrows and sleeping it off. By the time I realized that he'd vanished he'd been gone for days.”
“Did you look for him once you realized he was missing?”
“I looked everywhere. I even went into the Worker's Union to look for him, even though the place makes my skin crawl. Everyone just stared blankly back at me and I knew, I knew! Something terrible had happened."
“Have you taken anything from this room since he went missing?” Gunner asked.
“No, I was just hoping to get one night’s rest before I got out of Coscarla for good.”
“How sweet,” Gunner scoffed.
“Who was he associating with before he disappeared?” said Grim.
“I don’t really know… He used to go drinking with a buddy named Zed from time to time.”
“Who’s Zed?” Grim asked.
“Evard Zed. He was one of Saul's friends. They used to drown their sorrows together. He's a drink sodden fool, but he's been avoiding me and might know something. I think I saw him at the Templum when I went to light a candle for my brother's soul this morning.”
“Who would want your brother dead?” Grim asked.
“Nobody! He was just a nameless, faceless hab-prole... like me.” Her face sank. “Like all of us.”
Grim glanced back at Gunner. He was getting frustrated.
“Man-woman!” said Cutter. “Have you seen any… different… proles around? Strangers, outsiders? Anyone hanging out here or with your brother that didn’t used to do so?”
Lily rolled her eyes. “Different? Uhh, no. You’re the most different folk I’ve seen in a while.”
“She doesn’t know sh*t, Cutter,” Gunner grumbled. “Listen, it’s real simple. We have a job to do and I’m pretty sure it lines up with what you want. We’re going to get this done, even if two of us do it around your corpse and one of ours. We don’t want that. But we WILL get this done.”
“Get what done, reclamator?” said Lily.
“We need to know who killed your brother and we will search this room until we are satisfied. Do you mind NOT shooting us while we search this room?”
“The only thing I mind,” she growled, “is ending up like my brother. Search away. Just don’t take anything.”
“Cutter, you take that end,” Gunner said. “I’ll search over here. Grim, keep an eye on her. If she moves, let me know.”
Grim nodded while Gunner set about his work. “She’s keeping her gun trained on your enormous, malformed, melon-sized head,” Grim said.
“Yes, thank you, Grim.”
“Just wanted you to know.” Grim clenched his teeth and kept his own las-carbine aimed at Lily.
“The crapper’s empty,” Cutter announced helpfully.
“Ms. Arbest,” Grim said, trying to keep Lily engaged in conversation, "Please try to remember anything out of the ordinary concerning your brother. Any detail, no matter how seemingly insignificant, may be of help to us.”
“Saul had some beer,” Cutter shouted, his head buried in the fridge. “There’s still three left from the six-pack. What kind of a man dies with half a six-pack still in his fridge?”
“Ms Arbest!” Grim shouted. “My companions should not concern you. Please focus on me.”
While Gunner searched through Saul’s personal belongings for any clue, Cutter moved over to peek inside the oven. “Grim, you wanna bust out that weird doohickey of yours?”
Grim nodded. “Affirmative.”
He pulled out the auspex and began slowly scanning the room. “The only thing it’s picking up is you, Cutter.”
Cutter stepped up to Lily. “Move aside man-woman. I gotta check that nesting area.”
Lily narrowed her eyes. “Back off, goat boy.”
Cutter snorted angrily, but she ignored him. “What are you looking for?”
“I won’t know till I find it. But I ain’t looking for any sh*t from you. Now step aside. Last time.”
Lily scampered aside. Cutter started rummaging through the bed—rifling through the sheets, looking under and in the pillows. He pulled off the sheets, flipped over the mattress, moved the bed to peek underneath.
“Oh for goodness sake,” Lily muttered.
Cutter “innocently” crept a little closer to Lily, but she was wary. “You make a move on me, your melon-headed freak friend gets it.”
Cutter shrugged. “Who cares? Ehh… Nothing here but man-scent.”
“What exactly tore the sh*t out of your room?” Gunner asked. “I assume you are sleeping here because of whatever tore through there.”
“Hell, I don’t know. Folks go missing at night. I guess I figured here was safer, since Saul was already gone.”
“Uh huh. So it just happens that your place has been turned over and you planned to sleep here for unrelated reasons?”
“Look, I heard… Folks report folks missing, folks go missing.”
“You reported Saul missing? Where did you report to?” asked Gunner.
“Enforcers station?” Cutter broke in.
“Well, to the Warden of course. Enforcers station, yeah.”
“See…” Cutter said. “You just gave us something actually useful. I won’t kill you now.”
“I’m sure that’s a big relief to your friend with the melon-sized head,” Lily said.
“Let’s go,” said Cutter.
“Good idea,” said Lily. “I’d get out of Coscarla while the getting’s good.”
Grim packed up his bio-sample kit and nodded to Gunner and Cutter. “There’s nothing more for us here. Let’s leave her to the gangers.”
Cutter tore the door open and did a quick scan of the hallway before leading off, with the other two acolytes trailing after him.
Lily Arbest shouted after them. “I’ll be just fine! Thanks for nothing!”
Ashrum the Black
Explorer
Wulf, I'd just like to say this story hour reads wonderfully and is really making me interested in the Dark Heresy game.
Now that you've got a session or two under your belt, what do you think of the system?
-Ashrum
Now that you've got a session or two under your belt, what do you think of the system?
-Ashrum
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Ashrum the Black said:
Thank you. Most of the dialogue is pulled verbatim from our game log. (The game is being played over Fantasy Grounds II.)
All but one of the players are fellow EnWorlders, some of whom are regulars to this forum. So it's extremely rare that I have to put words in anyone's mouth to make the story interesting.
Most frequently, my heaviest "editorial hand" is that I must occasionally re-arrange dialog or drop errant threads of conversation, but that's because it's all happening in real time-- at typing speed-- in a chat window, and occasionally the players talk over and around each other. (Read any chatlog involving 4 or more people and you know what I mean.)
To be honest-- I like the system, but still haven't really had enough time to give a reasoned analysis of it. I can say that despite the fact that we're simultaneously learning a new game system AND a new piece of gaming software, everyone is having a good time.
And I can also say that the system plays easy enough and smooth enough that I am comfortable running it on a new piece of software. I wouldn't attempt it with d20, for example.
But most importantly I can say that the Dark Heresy book is 15 pounds of gorgeous and well worth the money. I think only World's Largest Dungeon or HERO 5th can compete with it for sheer size, and neither of them comes anywhere even close in terms of presentation quality. (Ptolus probably does.)
Ashrum the Black
Explorer
Thanks for the response Wulf.
I'll have to check around and see if I can get my hands on a copy of the book then.
I look forward to your future installments!
-Ashrum
I'll have to check around and see if I can get my hands on a copy of the book then.
I look forward to your future installments!
-Ashrum
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Just a bump.
Ashrum the Black
Explorer
Dang, was hoping for some new story content. This has been a wonderful read so far.
-Ashrum
-Ashrum
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
wolff96 said:
We haven't played in a while, but I have much more yet to post.
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