[IC] Warhammer 40k: Enigmas of the Warp

[WardenCelestine]

“I can answer the first question for you, Adrianne.” said Aviza, who was still comfortably positioned upon her section of the sunk-in couch. "I will be staying onboard the Typhon to watch over the ship and to act as mission support through this campaign. I have full control of the ships systems and our reserves of Legio Cybernetica Delta-Omega-03 Combat Robots that are under the command of the Inquisition. These combat robots will be our reinforcements, alongside the ships weapon systems, if or when they are needed." said Aviza before glancing back at Celestian Andromedai, who now nodded her head once. "What Celestian Aviza said is correct, in every word. She will be acting as mission support and will provide any additional help that we may need through the system."

After taking a few steps forward, Andromedai would then speak again, wanting to answer all questions posed. "As for resistance, I am not entirely sure what kind of forces we may encounter once we begin our investigation. On one hand, the Chaos forces could remain hidden and merely let us wonder about, and on the other they could send out Chaos Spawns to assault us. There is no way to know what awaits us there, all we can do is to be prepared for what what comes."

Andromedi glanced over at Aviza who held firm eye contact with their leader before continuing. "There are cameras mounted at the location, and throughout the city. None of them have been deactivated to my knowledge. Footage from that night showed a peaceful gathering of said individuals before they silently dispersed and returned to their homes without any kind of activity that one would consider out of the ordinary. None of the targets have tried to flee the city either, they merely carry out their daily activities as if nothing has happened." Andromedai would pause for a moment to take a breath before answering more questions. "There are no other Inqusitorial safe houses located upon the planet, we have the safe house here and the ship to fall back to if needed." There would be no mention of the possible Skitarii forces.

Once Celestian Andromedai had decided that she had responded to all questions to the best of her ability, she motioned with her left hand for the retinue to follow her. Let us move out before night fall arrives, I rather have some sunlight when we begin our investigation. Turning on her right heel, Andromedai would lead the retinue out of the living room and back through the decontamination chamber and finely to the landing pad where the Typhon awaited their arrival. Adrianne, please take co-pilot with me once more, controls are yours if you sense anything."

Celestian Andromedai would walk up the ships ramp and into the Typhon, followed by Celestian Aviza who had now attached her helmet securely onto her armor and looked much more imposing. "I will take the seat behind you, Celestian Andromedai." said Aviza as she entered the cockpit, looking around the Typhons interior. Andromedai did not say anything in response, but merely nodded her head in acknowledgement before taking the main pilots seat and strapping herself in. Her hands glided across the control panel in front of her and the ship quickly prepared itself for departure. A few short moments would pass before Andromedai looked over her right shoulder to make sure everyone was inside of the ship and seated before taking taking off. Thankfully, from what she could tell, everyone was and they could now depart without worry of leaving someone behind.

"It wont take us long to reach our destination, so be prepared to depart shortly. said Andromedai as the Typhon cleared the landing pad and made its way through the large metallic doors that had now opened above them. The ships cockpit would suddenly be filled with the warm sunlight from Erathell, a welcomed change from the artificial lighting inside of the safe house that they had been so accustomed to. Unlike their arrival, the Typhon now flew at a much higher altitude, showing the sprawling natural land scape below them that quickly turned to city. Aviza leaned forward in her seat, before raising her right hand and pointing at the massive archway in the distance, "I'm guessing that is the Aquila Arch, and past it the main residential area of Dalenarth." said Aviza, more making a statement than asking a question. Andromedai nodded her head a few times before brining the Typhon low, almost hitting the top of the city structures as she did.

"Celestian Aviza, keep an eye on our surroundings and be prepared to assist us in anyway once we arrive." said Andromedai as she Typhon neared its designated landing point, not far from the archway and entrance into the residential living area. The ship gently decelerated, its VTOL thrusters working over time to correct the aircrafts trajectory and keep it from crashing into the ground below. The low hum that could be heard throughout the ship died down once the Typhon touched down, and became almost inaudible as Andromedai removed the safety straps from herself and stood in the cockpit, "Let's move out." Celestian Andromedai would move through the cockpit and back to the only way into and out of the Typhon, opening the door that lead to its exterior. She would be the first one out, and walked down the ramp before stepping foot onto the smooth pathing below her.

Outside of the ship, the occupants of the residential area went on with their daily tasks, giving little to no attention to the Typhon and her crew who had just arrived. Though this would not last long once Celestian Andromedai appeared, followed by the rest of the retinue. a few occupants turned to stare but then quickly thought better of their actions and returned to what they had been doing, some others merely kept with their actions and did not pay any of them any attention. Then there were those who, after seeing the retinue, quickly returned to their homes, sensing some sort of trouble beginning and not wanting to be caught within it.

Celestian Andromedai began to walk in the direction of the Aquila Arch, her Adrastus Bolt Caliver still positioned upon her back but would be at the ready in a moments notice if any trouble presented itself. Aviza's soothing voice came through the retinues coms, "The first person of interest is near by, her name is Aphillia Tamiya." Information on the subject, like where she lived, what she looked like, her age and other details of the such was now sent to each member of the retinue who had a data pad. This information showed upon Andormedai's HUD, and could be quickly referenced at a glance.

[Eisenhorn]

Stukov cocked an eyebrow at the mention of 'combat robots', since that was well and truly beyond his measure of understanding. He wasn't about to go asking how she secured that kind of help. Gunship support was a positive thing too, so he would take that for what it was. Next was his question and, sure enough, there was no solid idea or intel on what was going to be awaiting them. No other safe houses or forces on hand, so it was just them, the tin cans if things got bad enough, versus whatever was going to be waiting for them in the city itself. Great news there, he thought with a sarcastic tone, but didn't say it out loud. His job was to kick in doors and kill heretics, not complain or think too hard on how the powers that be got their toys.

Sure enough they were off again, with little fanfare, boarding he strapped in again and immediately dozed off, the transport's movement and shacking seeming to do nothing to interfere with his ability to rest. Old habits died hard, and getting rest whenever he was in a position where he couldn't do anything wasn't going to go away anytime soon. Eventually the slowing transport woke him up from his dozing, shaking his head briefly as the restraints released and he was on his feet, heading off the transport in close step after Celeste. He noted the smart ones legging it the moment they saw the heavily armed squad touch down out of relative nowhere. Definitely not subtle, and odds were at least one of them was already alerting the local heretics of the rather sudden arrival. Still, Throne willing they would nail at least the first target before things got hairy.

Speaking of, he checked his data slate when Sis chimed in over the comm, memorizing age, appearance, various details for this specific person of interest. Walking in step with Celeste, Stukov was scanning the information being processed over the slate, glancing around routinely as they moved. He spoke just loud enough for Celeste to hear without him screaming for all to hear. "Right, let's move quick. Kick the door in, grab her, extract what information is usable, and deal with her from there. At least one of those who ran is probably raising the alarm, so clock's ticking as it were."

[Rithy]

"Legio Cybernetica Delta-Omega-03 Combat Robots that are under the command of the Inquisition. These combat robots will be our reinforcements."

"At least there's some good news."

Adrianne thought, nodding approvingly at the news. While nothing was ever 100% safe from the insidious machinations of chaos and its corruption, the servitors and other creations of the mechanicum tended to be among the least affected by it!

On the other hand, it made Adrianne slowly shift her gaze towards the group's tech priestess, her lips curling into a slightly concerned frown. Legion Cybernetica robots were good, but she only prayed to the emperor on the golden throne that the mechanicum would at least provide their own handlers for the things. The thought of their own rattled half-toaster getting ahold of those poor mechanical things was enough to make the psyker's blood run cold at the mere thought of it, and Adrianne felt an involuntary shudder run through her!

On the other hand, the news about there only being a single inquisitorial safe house on the entire world was also troubling. It meant they either could not work too far away from their current safehouse, or they would have to get used to having no proper secure area.

"This could get messy."

Adrianne thought.

"I think the word you are looking for is 'exciting'." A voice whispered in the back of her mind, the same insidious tone from earlier.

"Quiet... " She muttered, scratching her forehead.

This could be a very long day indeed if things did not go as planned!

*

Being the co-pilot had at least improved Adrianne's mood for the duration of the trip, and although she had not had the fortune of being able to shoot at anything; there was a spring to her step as the tall psyker stepped off the ramp together with the rest.

Adrianne walked up next to Stukov, holding her staff in one hand; she raised her other arm, holding her hand out across the space before them with her palm open, and closed her eyes.

"I sense a psychic aura nearby. In fact, multiple psychic auras." She said, before opening her eyes and looking towards the rest of the retinue.
"And Stukov might have a point. They are currently moving away from us."

[Theyra]

Cole Cerus

Robots? Cole thought and was surprised at the news. He did not expect robots to be their backup if things go south. Never had he fought with one before and knew little about them. Cole would rather have flesh and blood humans to be the cavalry, but this is not his call. He is not in charge after all and kept his thoughts to himself. It was nice that they would have gunship support. Some aerial firepower is nice to have if these chaos cultists throw anything at them. He would like some more intel, though. Not really knowing what to expect when they start the investigation but, he was also used to dive headfirst into danger. But, at least during those times, he knew who the enemy was and where they were when on a jump. Here things are murky, and who knows what will happen. Still, he did not make a comment about it. This is Andromedai's op, and he will follow her command.

During the flight, Cole spent the time doing some checks on his gear. Not much else to do, really, and this is what he normally does to pass the time while on a mission. Some of his old squadmates would call him being unnecessarily prepared for a mission. Or being too quiet, which Cole did not mind that much. Cole sighed at the thought. He did miss his former squadmates. But that was then. He's got a new commander now and new squadmates. Stopping to check his gear to look around at his teammates. Quite an interesting brunch that Andromedai managed to recruit. Cole cracked a smile before returning to his task. Cole was content with this band so far and now to see how they do with this investigation.

Cole was walking next to Adrianne and when she brought up that people were moving away from them."Maybe their targets and spoke low enough that only the party could hear him. Then let's hurry and see who we can get before they disappear". It would be a setback if their first targets managed to flee before they could interrogate anyone that and if the cultists did not know that they were here and they might know very soon.

[rivaan]

Medaira was a happy tech priestess. They had combat robot reinforcements. That was good. THAT was very good, the sheer amount of entertainment that could be unleashed by using remote controlled combat mechs was positively thrilling! She needed to equip all those with heavy frag explosives with remote detonation switches. Always a good backup to have, but some might not be agreeable. Didn't matter, where there was a will, there was a way. And explosions were the mainstay way of dealing with problems in the Imperium! She whistled and hummed a happy tune while occasionally singing lyrics consisting of the chemical compositions of explosives.

She was enjoying her time in their travels as the file of their victim... target was given by the glorious leader of the task force. Ohhh this was useful. Medaira's mechadendrites moved happily, servo head making circles next to her. So this was the target, good, she could track her likeness across the security system, any campera would be her eyes in this!

Her attention switched just for a moment when her Psyker friend reported that there were psychic signatures present." Ohh even more curious!" She chirpped, running the files provided for any link to psyckers that might be found." What are the chances that we've stumbled upon a ring of unsanctioned psykers on top of it all? Or could it be that some of them have been possessed or influenced by the Warp entities? Would such presences register in your sensory array abilities, Psycker Friend Adrianne?" Medaira asked.

Medaira then looked around for a servicable access point to access the network. She planned to use the local security cameras and terminals around the area to find more of the target and their current location. She could easily leave her servo skull to provide distant access if she needed it to.

[WardenCelestine]

The main residential area of Dalenarth had been built and designed for maximum comfort, grandiose and opulent, all expected upon a pleasure planet. These structures that held those lucky enough to find themselves residing upon a garden world, still retained the common gothic arcatexture that was on so many other worlds of the Imperium. Within the middle of this residential area, surrounded by lush vegetation that was rarely seen anywhere else, was the Silvanus Garden. A monument and attraction upon the world, this garden stretched out for many miles in every direction, giving those who entered it peace and privacy, without the worry of someone intruding. While this was an area of relaxation, once Andromedai and her retinue had touched down at the Aquila Arch, those who were intelligent enough had fled back into their homes or merely ignored their presence.

For the moment, nothing felt out of the ordinary, but Celestian Andromedai knew the calm before the storm would only last so long before the forces for Chaos presented themselves and the area, planet, system, was tossed into a full out war. The built in HUD of Andromedai's helmet was showing detailed information about their first target of interest, Aphillia Tamiya, who was currently nearby. According to the information, she was with another person, and no others were near these two individuals. It was decided that this other individual was most likely her partner, and that they were out trying to enjoy the afternoon in the Silvanus Garden. Andromedai frowned slightly, she was not one for such affectionate activities.

"Multiple psychic auras could indeed suggest unsanctioned psykers, or the presence of additional Chaos forces." said Andromedai into her com as she began to walk towards their first objective. For someone in such a heavy suit of power armor, her steps and movement were surprisingly quiet, something she had learned to perfect. It would not take them long to find Aphillia Tamiya and her partner, who were sitting upon a stone bench looking over some sort of book together and enthusiastically chatting about its contents. Andromedai purposely place a heavy foot upon the ground, announcing their arrival to the two who glanced over in their direction. Their looks of enjoyment had instantly faded upon seeing the retinue, now being replaced with one of fear and concern.

"I do hope we are not intrupting your time out in this beautiful garden." said Andromedai, in an emotionless and dead tone as she took a few more steps and approached the two figures. "Aphillia Tamiya, my Inquisitorial retinue and myself have questions to ask you and your partner. It is in the best our your interest to answer quickly and honestly, I would hate to stain the surroundings with the blood of the corrupted. Then again, I think the plants in this park could use some fertilizer." After placing her left hand upon the hilt of her Phase Sword, and lightly gripping onto it, Aphillia spoke, stuttering over her words as she tried to form them. "Inquisitor, I do not know what I have done but I will answer any and all questions you have. Please, just let my partner leave, he has nothing to do with this, I..." Her partner has stood, and Andromedai unsheathed the phase sword and had it pointed an inch away from the mans neck in one swift movement.

Nothing else was needed, the man slowly sat down, arms raised above his head as he did so, now sweating profusely. "No one is going anywhere, any more sudden movements and both of you will be lacking heads. Now, you said he had nothing to do with this, which means you do know something? I want to know what happened two weeks ago at the gathering below the Aquila Arch. There was reports of Chaos activity at that same spot only a few hours before." Aphillia had turned a pale white, though her replies were clear and easy to understand. I had been invited from a friend, Misalea Endlia. A wealthy neighbor of mine, even for a garden world such as this. She said we were meeting to talk about the future of the system, and some people who were going to make it a better place. I thought someone would want to know what was going on, and decided to attend. They, she said that it would be under the arch, and that many others would be attending. When we arrived, my husband and I, with many others, she appeared differently, like ... a mirage in the distance upon a hot day."

Andromedai had remained stoic and purposeful while the woman spoke, her phase sword still in hand and ready for any movement from the two. "A mirage..." She glanced back at Psyker Adrianne, and said "A Chaos illusion, I have seen them before when someone or something wants to hide their appearance." She then looked back at the two sitting in front of her, and told Aphillia to continue with her story. "She was not human then, not exactly human, she was humanoid though, just overly ... voluptuous?" The woman crossed her arms over her chest and sunk slightly into a slouching position, thinking she had maybe said to much. "And then what happened?" asked Andromedai, making a threatening movement with her phase sword for the woman to continue. She held firm eyecontact with Andromedai, and did so swiftly. "She said we were held back by our false god emperor, that the old gods of ... Emperor protect me, Slaanesh and Tzeentch would lead us to such wonders unbeknownst to any mortal mind."

"A demoness presented herself in public, in the open, and used these words to those present, and no one said anything to any of the local forces? Are you aware what this makes all of you?" asked Andromedai, before she spoke into the com of her helmet so only her squad could hear her. "This is one bold Demoness, and we now know that Slaanesh and Tzeentch are present within this system." Aphillia cringed, as if in pain, her husband looked as if he was going to pass out, then she spoke once more to respond. "We were all scared, terrified that they would just kill us all or even worse! I have a family to take care of, most of us do, we did not mean to cause any trouble or harm." Andromedai held up her right hand to silence the woman, who quickly did so. "Your actions, and those who were present may have damned this entire system to the forces of Chaos. A swift death would be a mercy from me to you and your partner, but I am not as vengeful as most. You will remain in this position until the local forces apprehend you, do you understand?" asked Andromedai, the two of them nodded their heads in understanding.

"Good, now if I find you two have moved from this position, I will show you that there are things much, much worse than death or mere torture." Andromedai spoke into her com, contacting Aviza. "Send the local forces to my current position on highest priority, the two of them are to have the last three weeks mind-wiped then returned to their homes with a cover story. Aviza responded, "Yes Celestian Andromedai, I am contacting them now with your orders. The next target is nearby, oddly, watch yourself out there." Andromedai turned and walked, expecting her retinue to follow her to the next target of opportunity.

Instead of following the path through the man made forest, Andromedai made her own trail and found her way to the next target who was on their list. "Our next target is Jyestha Minda, a woman who stands out among a crowd, check your hud or data pad for more information." The image of said woman would suddenly appear, she was very pale and had large dark brown eyes that bordered on black. As before, Celestian Andromedai was the first to find their target, and seemed to do so before Jyestha knew they had arrived. Unlike the other target though, this one was standing, and in front of a large statue of something that should not have been there, a statue of Khorne. The woman turned around and looked at the retinue, she merely stared at them with a dead, emotionless face before suddenly exploding with such force that it sent the power armored Celestian flying quite a distance away and into a tree that almost broke in half from the impact.

[Rithy]

" What are the chances that we've stumbled upon a ring of unsanctioned psykers on top of it all? Or could it be that some of them have been possessed or influenced by the Warp entities? Would such presences register in your sensory array abilities, Psycker Friend Adrianne?"

"If unshielded; both would register on my.... sensory array." Adrianne said slowly with a slight hesitation in her tone, unsure how to meet the gaze of the overly-excited tech-priestess.
"Unsanctioned psykers tend to lack the formal training of the Astra Telepathica, including how to properly shield or cloak one's presence. Granted, they sometimes tend to find other ways to learn similar abilities, or more."

Adrianne said, tilting her head slightly as she thought it over. Sanctioned Psykers were considered an odd and eclectic when compared to other services in the Imperium, but were supremely organized and standardized when compared to rogue, unsanctioned psykers that could vary from a mental-psychic nutcase ready to off to a moment's notice to a powerful, supreme sorcerer lord! And the influence of chaos and daemons could turn many 'established rules' that imperial psykers were used to upside down.

As they confronted Aphillia and her playmate, Adrianne had to struggle to hold back a smug smile as she watched Andromedai go to work on them; doing her best to maintain her façade of professionalism even as she enjoyed the chaos unleashed by the sister of battle's questioning. It was quite the fun spectacle to behold - when not on the receiving side of said questioning.

Although Adrianne's smug smile soon evaporated at the mention of a possible demoness.

"Emperor... please tell me what I did to offend you this time!"

Adrianne groaned mentally, though slowly nodded.

"A mirage is possible." Adrianne said, tapping a finger against her chin.
"And overly-voluptuous is not exactly a rarity among escorts and 'workers' on a world like this. Although the mention of the non-human part does warrant caution."

Of course, Adrianne might hope it was just some woman who had chosen a rather exotic outfit; although the more she thought about it, the more unlikely that hopeful thought seemed.

"Demons can vary, from the abominable to looking 'almost' human. And the daemons of Slaanesh are adept at dealing with beyond simply killing them. And it is usually a toss up between the daemonic servants of Tzeentch and Slaanesh which of them are better at manipulating mortals compared to the other gods, that are... "

Adrianne promptly stopped her explanation as they walked when they saw the statue of khorne - in the middle of an imperial place. The sheer bizarre sight of one of the chaos gods on full display on sanctioned imperial soil was enough to cause her to completely miss the black eyed woman - at least not before her latent powers foretold her of the imminent danger!

"Watch out!" Adrianne called out, swiping her staff out in an arc in front of them as she conjured a phantasmal barrier of force that shielded them against the blast when the woman detonated! The wave broke against the barrier, making what would otherwise have been a crushing blast feel like a powerful wind for the rest of the retinue!

Alas, it did little to help poor Andromedai.

"Andromedai is down - see to her!" Adrianne called, looking towards Medaira at first. But instantly regretting her decision.

[Eisenhorn]

Stukov kept a stern expression on his face as he kept the shotgun trained steadily on the one who tried to leave early in the first place. Keeping the weapon steady, he listened to the information as it was pretty much spilled out as fast as she could manage. A bunch of nobles were gathered up and some warp spawned abomination was hiding under the illusion of their power was spouting some rather bold claims about two of the Chaos Gods leading to wonders unknown. Typical offers of power, prestige, and whatever else these nobles would want. They apparently feared being executed for reporting what happened, and chose to hide out in their comfortable gardens and just let the problem fester. Still, Celeste decided to have them arrested by local forces instead of summary execution, and that was a notable restraint from a Bolter Bitch. Granted, he'd learned to restrain his commentary until necessary, but he fell in line as they departed from the first pair they'd interrogated. If they were smart, they'd stay put, running now would just put them even further on the radar.

Once they were out of earshot and begun discussing daemons and their forms, Stukov would give it some thought, given his experience. That Throne damned purple haze had came over quite a few junior men, forcing them to either put down the lucky ones, or have to abandon the unlucky ones, so the idea of a disguised one seducing the nobles with promises of expanded wealth wasn't terribly surprising. "Smiles has a point, its a coin toss which of these bastarding chaos servants are more cunning and deceitful. Mix the two, and that's going to be the worst kind of trouble. Now, as for this woman who's...oh hell!"

The statue was secondary, the coal black eyes of the woman had him swinging the shotgun up, racking a shell but, unfortunately, he was nowhere near inhumanly fast enough to prevent the events from occurring. Bracing himself to get thrown, instead the fast thinking that Smiles showed buffered those not wearing power armor, the remaining force causing his longcoat to billow in the wind, though that meant Celeste was launched with enough force to buckle a tree in two. Rapidly unloading his shotgun, sharp eyes would see him loading specially marked rounds, and those that knew him well would note that was probably buckshot that he'd sought blessings for just to handle daemonic trouble. He also barked out orders, clarifying on Smiles own declaration, assigning specific people to specific roles. "Cogs, Kid, get to Celeste and check her over. Power armor should have absorbed most of that, but she'll need help. Smiles, cover me and keep an eye on the surroundings. Throne willing this was an isolated attempt, if not be ready to repel hostiles."

Making sure one of the blessed shells was racked and ready, he advanced on the statue and, well, very unfortunate remains of the waiting warp bomb of a woman. More concerning was a statue openly dedicated to Khorne, who normally the servants didn't rely on trickery like suicide bombers, that was the tricks of Tzeentch mainly, in his experience. He was looking for any signs of further trouble outside the very obvious, that a Khornate statue was here, and a target had just warp bombed with enough force to launch and possibly incapacitate a senior Sister of Battle.

[Theyra]

Cole Cerus

Cole stood there like a statue as Andromedai spoke to the women. Keeping an eye on the man in the back, just in case he decides to do something. He was confident that his comrades could handle the women if things go that way. Cole slowly unholstered his lasgun and brought it into a relaxed position but held on tightly to it. Ready to keep his weapon to bear if the pair try anything.

Cowards they are, Cole thought as the information came out. So a demoness appeared to them in the open and spoke of endless wonder to them. Not speaking a word of it to anyone for fear of death or worse and carried on their day as nothing happened. Stupid and cowardly, nothing ends well if Chaos is involved. Especially if two of the Chaos gods are involved. Letting the matter go and no letting some kind of authority know of this. They might as well dammed this planet, and death normally comes to those that keep the activities of Chaos a secret.

Cole was surprised by Andromedai's decision to have them arrested rather than execute them. He might have said something about it but, Cole knew his place with Andromedai. Keeping his opinions to himself over this. Guess, Andromedai is feeling merciful today with these two. He mentally shrugged, but the rest of the suspects may not be so lucky since he doubted that all of them were as scared as these two. Might have one of those suspects considered the offer from that demoness. However, they will find out today if the is the case. If they do not flee, that is.

As the group walked to their next target, Cole listened to what his comrades had to say about the whole thing. To the shape the demons may take and how much trouble this is going to be. Meanwhile, Cole started to scan their surroundings as he walked. Just checking if anyone looked suspicious while on the way to their next target.

Then Cole saw the statue of Khorne. That should not be here, and why is it out in the open like this. Why did no one report or allowed this to be built. Cole thought to himself as to why in the Emperor's name was this here. He was focused on the statue that he did not notice the black eye woman before it was too late. It was lucky that Adrianne managed to get a barrier up to shield them from the blast. Though not so lucky for Andromedai, who got lanched into a tree that almost snapped in half. Cole quickly readied his weapon, and without any orders from Stukov. He chose to cover Stukov while he moved up to the statue. While scanning the surroundings for any sign of trouble or movement. You do not just leave a bomb like that in the open if you were not expecting someone. If he did not have a bad feeling before, he does now.

[rivaan]

Well it was all actually rather interesting development! Medaira was inwardly beside herself with giddy enthusiasm and anticipation. This was turning out to be an event of even greater amusement potential than she initially expected it to! This was glorious! The info revealed by the first victim… target, was useful! So at least two separate chaos forces factions present, but if there were two, chances were there were more, was it not?” Who can ensure there are only those two though? We should assume the worst and that we are dealing with a full mixed group here.” The techpriestess mentioned, having to stop herself from calling the possible situation ‘most entertaining’ instead of ‘worst’.

The fact that the woman had apparently panicked out of fear for those around her wasn’t surprising. It was a common Chaos tactic after all, besides Medaira was rather certain that somebody sometime at some point must have made a comment that to fell target, first strike those by their side.’… well if they hadn’t, they should have!’

Still smiling underneath the breather, she followed as they made a direct line for the next target which turned fun real fast. A statue of a chaos god, not something to see every day. A woman with dead eyes, possibly a cultist going ballistic as in literally by exploding and sending their glorious leader into a tree. Not a thing to see every day either, but it was priceless to witness. Now they needed Adrianne psyker friend to be rocketed into a ceiling and Medaira would be happy with a nice new collection in the making.

Her grin turned extremely wide at the psyker’s order to see to the possibly downed inquisitor. Medaira’s eyes had this distinct chesire mischief glint in them as she dashed over to the woman with glee.” Helping~!” She chirped happily as she went to their leader and the tree that stopped her flight. Emperor bless the tree, who knows how much further she would have traveled otherwise! That said, Medaira’s mechadendrites were already armed and ready to fire and a gun was in her off hand.

“Leader Lady Adrianne~ are you in functioning operational status~?” Medaira chirped as she began inspecting the woman’s state. She asked the token question just to check to see if the woman would make any clear reaction. That said she brought her hand to make sure to keep the woman laying down flat just in case. A power armor might take the most of the blast, but hard impacts had the tendency to go through armor. Dropping armored targets from very high places was a good way to kill armored targets. Same with blunt weapons. Impact easily transferred THROUGH hard armor, so depending on the exact force of the impact she made with the tree, they were looking at anything from simple shock to internal injuries, so better not move her much until they can confirm she’s ok. Though this was Andromedai, she was likely fine. Medaira suspected they could hit her with a speeding Valkyrie and she’d likely shrug it off.

[WardenCelestine]

"Celestian Andromedai, can you hear me? are you injured? Do you need medical assistance? Your armors life support systems seem to be rebooting after the living warp bomb, I can't get a reading on your current condition." Aivza's voice came though Andromedai's coms, at first sounding distant but then clearing, returning to what was considered normal. The HUD within Celestian Andromedai's helmet was informing her that the conversion field emitter from her Rosarius had absorbed most if not all of the energy from the explosion, though still warned that she may have received slight injuries. After a few seconds of gathering additional information about her current condition, she responded to the first person that had reached out to her, Celestian Aviza. "I am thankfully uninjured Aviza, at least from what I can tell. Be it due to Devine intervention or pure luck, I am unsure. What I do know is that my Rosarius absorbed most of the energy from the suicide warp-bomber." Aviza responded quickly, thankful that her fellow Sister of Battle was still in one piece, "Yes well, I am going to thank the Emperor for your protection from the blast. You should check in with the rest of your, I mean our squad and ensure they are still alive."

While slightly dizzy and disoriented, effects from the living warp bomb detonating and her short trip to the tree that stopped her from flying further into the distance, Andromedai found herself still lying upon the ground when Aviza made her suggestion. "I'm in the process of doing just that, once I am able to stand on my own." Celestian Andromedai then attempted to move back onto her feet, though the hand being firmly placed upon her left shoulder stopped her. Standing before her was their Techpriestess, Medaira who was now inquiring if the Sister of Battle was still functioning and operational. "I am Celestian Andromedai, not Psyker Adrianne. Or did I get knocked into a different dimension where Pysker Adrianne is the leader of this Inquisitorial retinue?" The last comment was in made in jest, though she was unsure if anyone would have been able to catch that. Carefully, she grabbed onto the Techpriestess for stabilization and pulled herself up off of the ground and back onto her feet.

"I am fine, thank you for your concern." said Celestian Andromedai, who would then lightly pat Techpreistess Medaira upon her head a few times before stepping forward, towards her retinue. "Is everyone alright? Are there any injuries? I see that Pysker Adrianne..." Andromedai would stop mid-sentence, pointing back at the statue. "No longer Khorne, but of the God Emperor." The statue had indeed changed back to what it should have been, no longer representing the God of blood, war and murder. "What little remains of the woman who abruptly exploded are scattered around the area, and with her the effects of the warp bomb still linger." Celestian Andromedai considered the fact that they were most likely being watched at that moment, and switched to her coms so only her retinue could hear her speak. "It is likely we are being watched, why we have not yet been attacked since the Warp Bomb leaves me to assume they are merely toying with us." Turning to Adrianne, Andromedai continued speaking. "Or maybe they just want us alive? Do you still sense anything out of the ordinary?"

[Eisenhorn]

Stukov kept an ear on the situation, though the statue seemed to revert back to what it should have been, one dedicated to the God Emperor. That was...peculiar, but not completely foreign. The warp was deceitful and tricky when not properly controlled, and he lowered the shotgun from aimed to a low ready, scanning the surroundings carefully, looking for the slightest thing out of place or otherwise wrong. He'd rely on gut instinct as well if it came up, though he much preferred trying to pick out trouble on a ship. Urban wasn't too bad, though this was a far cry from working through a hiveworld or the like as well. Moving back away from the statue, he would turn after satisfying himself that he couldn't spot any impending trouble and nodded to the soldier. "Thanks for the cover, mate. Let's regroup and figure things out, that blast probably spooked anyone too stupid to run from the sound of us touching down."

Moving back, while continuing to do regular glances around, waiting for the sudden crack of weapons fire to finally open up after the explosion, he moved to the rest of the group, offset enough to hopefully avoid clustering up into a nice, juicy grenade target. Seems that Celeste was alright, her armor soaking most of the blast, though the comms seemed to have indicated her systems fluctuated. Might want to get that checked, he thought, but didn't say it out loud. Though once she was done addressing the psyker, he chimed in, turning to scan while he spoke to the Celestian. "You were closest, but my gut says that was meant for lighter targets. Smiles foiled that one, but given what it did to you, would have wrapped me around a tree. No doubt there's eyes on us, but I have a feeling there was an expectation that would be enough. Now that I said it, watch, they'll open up..."

[rivaan]

Medaira looked at the woman in semi amused semi concerned expression, that was not mirrored by her servo head that was flying about doing rounds and keeping watch for potential hostiles." Ohh, silly me." Medaira chirpped happily, seeing that Andromedai was indeed mostly alright and not hurt, though she would have loved the chance to give her some upgrades should it had been required. Well in any case." Must have been me completely thinking of our great psyker friend and how much better would she have flown through the air, for she's got better aerodinamics and padding, much better suited for uncontrolled kinetic events hurtling one self through relative space." The tech priestess added cheerfully with a digital happy whistle from the breather like device on her mouth that distorted her voice some to begin with.

"That said, I'm happy to report my great operational status remains~ Same for most of those present indeed!" She chimmed in after Stukov spoke. Medaira's eyes were filled with mirth as she looked at the woman's reamins, clearly indicating her as the one not in good condition for obvious reasons.

"Glorious Leader Celestian Lady Adromedai, if they've had the chance to setup an event like this one, I would concure that they've likely waited for somebody to come. Us not being atacked right now, I'd put to possible use for us at another date or place with this being just the welcoming greeting from our nefarious targets and their mastermind~! This seems like a show of force and parading arrogance! If they do have a need of us, it'd likely an evil ritual of some variety, or possibly target us at a more convenient for them chance deeper in our investigation. Here in the open and the city it's not a easy spot to set up an ambush for a inquisitorial picnic party after all!" She practically sang over the comms, giving her opinion on the matter as her eyes rested on the statue for a moment. It had reverted back to the Goddiest of Emperors!" Do we know if illusionary layers over holy statues constitute as proper heretical alters of worship?" She suddenly asked." If they do, we will have harder time findign traces of heretical worship as they could just hide their evil ways in plain sight."

[Rithy]

"Or maybe they just want us alive? Do you still sense anything out of the ordinary?"

"If you mean that this whole place is steeped in warp corruption, then yes." Adrianne replied as her eyes scanned the bloodied remnants from the cultist's sudden detonation. The ground was steeped in a miasma of warp taint that felt toxic to Adrianne's senses, and she waved her hand in the air as if to waft the invisible corruption away.
"But whether the corruption was here from earlier or is the side effect of the cultist's implosion, I cannot tell! And I... "

" ... thinking of our great psyker friend and how much better would she have flown through the air, for she's got better aerodinamics and padding, much better suited for uncontrolled kinetic events hurtling one self through relative space."

" ... and JUST WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN?!" Adrianne shot back at Medaira, raising a finger to point menacingly at the tech priestess - as if she was ready to smite the impish cog girl with the powers of the warp itself! But she held back, instead spinning around and clutching her staff as she put her helmet back on, which clicked in place with a hiss of air.

Gazing through the visors set within the sockets of her skull helmet, she scanned their surrounding area. She could see what few civilians there had been already fleeing the scene. She also saw one person remain by a pillar, staring at them for some time before turning around and departing, but she could not sense any significant psychic aura from the shrouded individual.

"I feel we walked right into a setup. And that woman was not responsible, at least not intentionally." Adrianne continued, turning around to stare at the gore and blood drenched spot where the woman had once stood. Indeed, it had only been one person, but the warp-fueled explosion that had occurred had painted the area around them with enough blood to be from a small herd of grox in a malfunctioning slaughterhouse!

"Also... " Adrianne started, before almost stumbling sideways as a voice shot into her mind - now more clearer than before!

"What a mysterious plot you have uncovered - the thralls of the god of anger taking time off to build monuments to him? This is certainly out of style... " The sickly sweet voice of the demon stabbed into her mind.
"Such a delightfully devious scheme! I propose we unravel this mystery. The first mortal clue should not be far."

"Stupid, gah... " Adrianne was about to mutter, clutching her head when she suddenly felt her senses being guided towards one of the buildings to their north.
"There! Psychic aura, second floor! A psyker mind linked to the explosion!"

Adrianne called, pointing at an ornate, six-floor building overlooking their position!

[Theyra]

Cole Cerus

Where are they, Cole thought as he scanned the area. Listening to what was being said while on the lookout for any sign of trouble. But, other than the statue returning to normal, nothing else happened. Nothing at all, no yell or a charge by Chaos cultists. Like this little stunt was not a precursor to anything like an ambush. Just blatant display of Chaos illusions and magic in the open like this. These Chaos cultists are bold for doing something like this, and Cole did not like it. Though the cultist might get too bold and slip up for the team to take advantage of. If they slip up and nothing is ever easy when Chaos is involved.

Cole stayed at the ready until Stukov approached and said to regroup. Giving Stukov a simple confirming nod and he lowered his weapon. Before returning to the team, he took one last look at the statue of the Emperor. Standing there as nothing had even happened, and it was never a heretical statue of Khorne. It made him think about what other tricks these cultists are willing to use on this world. Guess they will find that out.

Returning to the group but, listening for the sound of enemy fire or something noticeable just in case this is actually an ambush. Still, it was good that Andromedai was okay. Wearing power armor really makes it hard to get hurt. Though not so much for the tree that she hit and him if it was not for Adrianne's quick thinking. As the team discussed, Cole kept an eye out for anything, and when Adrianne sensed a psyker in a building nearby. Without looking at it and on comms just to be safe. "I suggest we pay our new friend a visit before they decide to run."

[WardenCelestine]

The concept of using a person as a living warp bomb was a disturbing scenario for Celestian Andromedai, and one she had heard about but not truly witnessed until a short moment ago. How one person could explode with such force to send a fully armored individual flying like a childs toy across a large distance remained a question in the back of the Celestians mind, and one she would have to run past Adrianne when she had the opportunity to. At the moment though, the point that Stukov had brought up was a sound one. What had just happened was most likely designed to take out lighter armored targets, or to distract them from something happening elsewhere. "I would not be suprised Stukov, though not following up with a counter attack immediately afterwards is sloppy, even for those of Khorne. I believe that it was a distraction to keep us away from something. Celestian Andromedai glanced around her as if looking for something that stood out of the ordinary, or would guide them forward.

There was nothing at the moment, so she turned to Medaira to speak to their local friendly, albeit strange Tech-Priest. "Rituals and ambushes aside Medaira, the living warp bomb means they were prepared for us, and will continue to be in the future, I am sure of it." Andromedai took a few steps forward ahead of the group in a random direction, then paused to turn back towards her retinue. "Adrianne, what causes someone to explode like..." Celestian Andromedai paused in the middle of what she was saying and tilted her slightly to the left in concern as their Pysker clutched her head. "Adrianne, are you alright?" inquired Celestian Andomedai. This was answered though as Adrianne pointed towards the six story builds to their north. Andromedai opened her mouth and got part of a question out, "Are you sure? It could be a misdirection, attempting to..."

The Sister of Battle was unable to finish her sentence, as a hail of heavy bolter fire came from a window of the six story building Adrianne had pointed at. "Get into cover!" yelled Andromedai as she quickly charged forward and took cover behind a more solid object, which was a metal barrier set up for some unknown reason. Grabbing onto her Adrastus Bolt Caliver, she prepped the weapon ready to fire and took careful aim, pulling the trigger for the heavy bolter built into a normal bolter frame. The rounds flew towards where the hostile heavy bolter fire was coming from. The fire stopped for a moment, but then picked up once more, now focusing upon her position, "They are focused upon me, see if you can take out the main hostile." said Andromedai, a few short seconds before more heavy bolter fire opened up upon their position from higher up within the apartment complex.

[Eisenhorn]

"THAT WASN'T A REQUEST FOR YOU TO PROVE ME RIGHT YOU BASTARDS!" The moment the heavy bolter opened up, Stukov roared at the assaulting weapons team as he ducked down and went for solid cover, finding himself right next to the Celestian behind the curiously placed metal barrier. They had room to move, at least, though trying to cross the open ground to get into the apartment building, fight his way up to the right floor, get through the barricades, and clear out the nest would take too long. Even if he was just sprinting up floor after floor, they didn't have the luxury of time to let the heavy bolter chew away at the cover. That meant he had to skip all that running, and he had a plan. It was an Emperor damned bad one, mind, but sometimes that was the primary option. Glancing over at where Smiles ended up, he spoke loud enough to be heard over the heavy bolter fire.

"I can't get an angle on them from here, get me up there Smiles. I don't think this barricade will hold long enough to run in and up six flights of stairs. We can cut off anyone trying to escape from two directions then." Stukov was bracing himself, her method of travel was never pleasant, never would be he suspected, but none of those heretics would be ready for an irate, shotgun wielding armsman just appearing and slamfiring the shotgun and clearing out the room. His other options were firing his naval pistol, and hoping to land a hit, try and long arm a grenade up there, or just praying one of the other squad members could silence the gun from down here. Or charge in and fight his way up to the nest, but a heavy bolter would chew through a barricade in relatively short order.

[Rithy]

"Get into cover!"

Adrianne did not need the second warning. Her psychic senses were flaring up with alarm that something was terribly wrong with the position they were currently in. Too open, too exposed, and with a powerful feeling of ill-will from the house she had recently indicated.

No sooner had she stepped behind a heavy ornamental slab than a roar of heavy bolter fire ripped through the open plaza - hundreds of miniature explosions demolishing the stone floor and light cover with ease! She saw a spray of heavy bolter fire pass nearby, causing a beautiful fountain to simply disintegrate in a mist of stone and small rocks being flown about.

"Emperor's blood, since when did they bring a heavy bolter?!" Adrianne shrieked in frustration.

"I can't get an angle on them from here, get me up there Smiles. I don't think this barricade will hold long enough to run in and up six flights of stairs. We can cut off anyone trying to escape from two directions then."

The psyker turned to face the shorter armsman standing behind the metal barrier just a few feet away from her own cover.

"That's a bad idea... " She muttered, before glancing about.
"But staying here is even worse! Very well, do what you can to help us. I will take Stukov to the floor with the heavy bolter!"

Adrianne called back, taking a step forward; the tall psyker suddenly disappearing and reappearing next to Stukov and grabbing his arm.

"Lock and load, armsman." With that, she channeled her powers once more - focusing her mind on the house where the fire was coming from. Then in a violent ripple of purple light, the armsman and psyker would vanish!

For a brief instance, Stukov would feel every fiber of his being dragged across a vast, starlit black expanse. An unnatural sense of peril assaulting any primal instinct as a set of large demonic eyes eyed him for a moment with malicious glee - before he was sucked back into the materium along with Adrianne!

In a flash, they appeared in a finely made dining room turned into makeshift bunker. Six cultists were in the room, manning a large heavy bolter positioned against one of the windows. They were garbed in fine blue silk jerkins beneath black imperial guard flak armor and wearing vicious, gold-trimmed masks in the visage of leering, demonic faces. Fortunately, they seemed surprised at the sudden appearance, two of them still busy operating the heavy weapon, another two busy with the ammunition, meaning that only two of them were actually clutching their lasguns! Yet further voices from the other rooms and levels of the house could suggest a greater number of cultists still.

"Attack!" Adrianne shouted, gesturing with her hand as she drew on the residual energies left behind by their teleport - and pointing her palm at one of the cultists holding his lasgun. An unnatural howl echoed through the room as brilliant sparks of incinerating purple lightning that shot into him, blasting the cultist through one of the wooden walls!

[Eisenhorn]

"Yeah I know its a bad idea, beats getting shredded by a... you get the idea." Stukov had enough of warp exposure to last him several lifetimes, given his prior experience as an Armsman before the Inquisition, but Throne above there wasn't any other particularly valid options outside rush the building and try and punch through whatever defenses were in place to keep just that particular thing from happening. Close quarters brawls and battles were his forte, but even he could only work so fast through a fight. Still, once Smiles teleported over, dwarfing him by her unusual height in comparison, and gave her a steady nod when told to lock and load as she got a firm grip on his arm. "Already done, I like to keep this handy for close encounters after all."

Still, he had to mentally steel himself given his experiences, and sure enough, as he silently and mentally prayed to the Emperor to protect his faithful, though apparently foolish, servant, the jump into the warp, however brief, was very, thoroughly unpleasant. Even braced, every instinct screamed that he should be fighting, something, anything, first and foremost would probably be the damned pair of daemonic eyes glaring down at him. He didn't have time to register the glee, no matter how malicious, in the damn things eyes before, mercifully, they were pulled back into realspace. His ears were ringing, mind, and his heart racing at a borderline dangerous level as his body dumped as much adrenaline as it possibly could into his system. The grip on his shotgun was white knuckle, and for a moment he could have sworn he was back on the old battleship trying to get back into real space. Of course, Smiles had the right thought to bark an order, and where the mind reeled, instinct and muscle memory took over.

"BACK TO THE WARP YOU WRETCHED BASTARDS!" Shotgun snapped up, trained first on the heretic that was responding first, the alternate that Smiles hadn't seen to, aiming high and thoroughly blasting the head clean off the cultist, sending a spray of blood and viscera as Stukov slam fired his shotgun, tracking from target to target, emptying his shotgun into the remaining cultists, nevermind he had more buckshot than there were targets manning the heavy bolter. Assuming emptying the shotgun into the remaining cultists left the rest of them dead, and the crew served weapon dead, he'd start quickly loading shells into the shotgun, reloading and pumping it, higher faculties back in line, and glanced over at Smiles. "Right, I'd say remind me to save that request for emergencies in the future, but that was redundant. Let's start clearing the building, see if we can't find that thing you detected in the process. I'm on point, ready?"

[rivaan]

„It means you’ve got a very nice well developed body and secondary sexual characteristics...” Medaira tilted her head to the side as she replied to the psyker with innocent look on her face, her eyes clearly staring at Adrianne’s body.” … soft cushioning effect, no?” She added, still ever so innocently, pointing a finger at the other woman’s chest. Now the question if this was just to annoying her Psyker friend or her thoughts on the matter was probably going to be the subject of many scholarly and philosophical debates in the far future.

The techpriestess made a happy whistling sound as she looked around, their Celestian Leader Lady currently busy focusing on the psyker friend. Meanwhile her attention was focused on a very specific wall for a good few seconds, calculating the chances of breaking through said wall, using naught but a strong kinetic impact from a semi organic humanoid torso of average proportions and of course a organic body of greater proportions, her eyes sneakily making their way to Adrianne for a moment, before the order to take cover was issued. Medaira hurled herself behind the barrier with Andromedai because the two of them were closest to one another to begin with.

“Yes it was, Stukov friend! Yes it was!” Medaira whistled at his denial of the situation. Even she could see the irony in this, it was almost worthy of a passing mark worthy prank! A very good use of timing and irony! Didn’t stop her from providing covering fire along with the Celestian from the hiding place with her own boltgun. Maybe she should have taken a more heavy weapon attachments to her mechadendrites… Yes, next time she’d bring in a plasma gun! Or maybe a more personal solution like a few handmade IEDs would be well worth it. Choices, choices…

As Stukov and the Psyker friend vanished from real space to place that was not in real space and back to probably real space if the faltering of the heavy bolter fire was anything to go by, Medaira looked at Andromedai.” Leader Lady Andromedai, I’ve been having a ponder. What are the chances this is the only ambushing party that’s descending on us?” Medaira asked with great curiosity as her servo flew over and she reached into her robes, pulling from inside a frag grenade and with a gleeful expression pulled the pin from it, the servo head flew over, in arm’s reach, it’s visage completely identical to her own down to the short white hair. It’s mouth opened and Medaira neatly secured it into it’s jaws, it’s holding the safety in place with it’s teeth. The pin was pulled, but it wasn’t really activated until it was let go after all. With that, she directed the drone to ever so tactfully gain altitude and be ready to be headed over to any would be ambushers to drop a surprise gift of Imperial Friendship!