Important question: Are the Null Knights cannon in this timeline or not?

>>25532167
Null Knights being Knights converted by Necrons?

Not sure yet, until they are seen or mentioned consider them unimportant, but they could turn up, I have yet to make up my mind on that subject.

So until you face them or hear about them, consider them Persona Non Grata for this game.

>>25532194

Anything to say?

Any actions?

>>25532242
continue deeper into the tomb, looking for orks.

>>25532242
Periodically attempt to raise our forces via vox.
Otherwise continue down the hallway and find the exit.

>>25532254

The two of you continue deeper into the tomb, cranking up your night vision to see where you are going. Beneath your feet the ice grows thinner and thinner, your boots now breaking off chunks of it, water squirting out. It seems that the ambient temperature is rising the further you go, and eventually you pass out of the ice completely.

Now you walk through tunnels of smooth black stone, flawless and featureless, save for the occasional strange Necron script.

You sometimes notice side passages, but quick investigation reveals them to be collapsed, or lead to small rooms of unknown purpose, though seemingly barren.

Though you continue to check, your vox remains stubbornly useless, either completely silent, or sometimes overcome with bursts of interference, white noise which seems to contain no identifiable pattern or structure.

Your every step disturbed small clouds of dust from the floor, the very air seems to press upon you with the weight of uncounted aeons.

TBC

>>25532340

You have been walking for about twenty minutes, when Adonis whirls around, his sword raised high.

You swing about into a crouch, bringing up your shield and pistol, though you see nothing down the hall.

"Adonis?" you look over, "What is it?"

"I thought I hear something behind us, or perhaps I felt it, perhaps I am just being paranoid." He looks around, the dark stone stretching off in all directions, "This place has me on edge."

Response?

>>25532399
"Yes. I as well. But we must not falter or stop; the longer we linger, the less fight against the Orks shall be left to us."

Try to motivate him by reminding him of the glories in combat he will miss if he loses it here.

>>25532399
Nothing to do but continue to advance while watching our rear.

>>25532399


"Yes. I as well. But we must not falter or delay, the longer we linger, the less fight against the Orks shall be left to us."

Adonis nods, "Yes, forgive me. This dead place sets my nerves on edge."

You set off again, through the dark tunnels. You feel the hairs prickle on the back of your neck and you turn back for a moment.

"As it does mine."

You walk in darkness for some time more, passing empty side rooms or arcane devices, seemingly inert. Save for the ever present feeling of being watched, you have not yet encountered anything actually dangerous, or any active technology.

Eventually, you reach another dead end, and have to backtrack, the tunnel ahead collapsed by rock and dirt. You double back along your previous path, investigating the empty rooms as you go.

None seem to lead anywhere for a while, until you come across a doorway leading to a larger room, which stretches off beyond the range of your night vision system.

"I can't see the other side." Adonis says, "Shall we risk it?"

You think you might be able to see further if you activated your lights, as the Necron stone seems to be absorbing the invisible wavelengths of your night vision system.

Actions?

>>25532575
Proceed without activating light systems. Whatever is here could respond negatively to light.

>>25532605
agreed.

>>25532575

Ask Adonis if he's ever faced Necrons before.

Regardless of Ork problem, you can't sweep Necrons under the rug and pretend they are not there. They have to be deal with somehow.

>>25532611
>>25532605

"We have little choice," You respond, "We go in together."

Adonis nods, "On three."

He counts down, and you grip your weapons tighter. When Adonis reaches the final number you move into the room. Adonis rushes forwards, weapons at the ready, sweeping the room with his gaze and bolt pistol. You stalk along the wall, crouched behind your shield, keeping a weather eye out for any form of movement.

The silence and stillness of the tomb stretches on. Nothing happens.

You had been prepared for Necron warriors firing, wraiths emerging from the walls, scuttling horde of scarabs. One thing you were not prepared for was, nothing.

Adonis stands partly covered by a pillar, his sword gripped in his hand. His breathing is calm and controlled, but you detect some fear in his eyes.

"Are you all right Adonis? Have you ever faced necrons before?"

Adonis shakes his head, "No, I have faced many of the Emperors enemies, but these walking dead are not amongst them. I fear not battle or death, but this waiting, looking over my shoulder, it is difficult to bear."

You nod, walking cautiously over. "I know, I feel the lack of my brother Knights beside me most keenly, but we are two Captains of the Adeptus Astartes, there is little in this galaxy which can stand before us."

Adonis nods. "Agreed, now let us make our way out of this forsaken place, perhaps there is an exit at the far end of this chamber."

You nod as you both return to your cautious approach. The room you are in is a strange one, the dimensions changing at seemingly random locations, ancient machinery sitting dark and silent.

Then something catches your attention, out of the corner of your eye.

TBC

>>25532812

You turn to look, examining the object of your interest closer. It was not movement which drew your gaze, but rather a blemish in the otherwise perfect smoothness of the wall.

Coming closer, you see that something has punched a long deep hole, about a foot across, in the stone of the wall, carving a roughly circular tunnel through the rock.

You recognize the pattern from your days at the academy, an impact from a necron gauss weapon.

As you proceed, you see more weapons damage across the walls, some of the arcane mechanisms having been partially blasted apart. Here and there gouges of blades mark the walls and floor, as well as the blasts from ranged weapons.

"A great battle raged here once." Adonis observes, looking about at the heavily damaged room.

"Yes, but how long ago?" You wonder.

"No way to tell, without weathering to wear away at these holes they could have been made ten thousand years ago, or yesterday."

"I doubt it was yesterday," You say, examining the thick layer of dust inside one of the holes, "Though as necrons measure time it may as well have been".

Further actions here, or move on?

>>25532928
Nah, we don't have time to waste.

>>25532928
Without actual techpriests or scientists, we can't do much here. Move on.

>>25532928

Look in the direction where the shot could have come from. Since there will likely be nothing of note, just move on.

>>25532928

"Let us move, we have not time to dally here." You say and hustle forwards through the deserted battleground, Adonis following behind.

Off in the distance you see what you think is the end of the room, a wall of necron stone fading into vision on the edge of your sight.

"We are almost there," Adonis says, "I think I see a door."

You paces quicken, you are a few hundred feet from the door, when everything changes. Your presence seems to have awoken something, over the door a necron emblem becomes visible, the sticks and circles of the xeno crest fading into visibility in a deathly green light.

All about you the room is illuminated by the same green light, some of the arcane mechanisms silently coming alive. After a moment some fail as silently as they started, and fade back to darkness.

Actions?

>>25533060
Well, we already activated whatever defense mechanisms are here; turn on our lights, let's see what's still moving.
And let's open the door.

>>25533106
sounds about right.

>>25533060

>you seem to have awoken something
oh, WONDERFUL.

>>25533106
thirding.

>>25533143
>>25533106

You turn on your lights, a little pool of healthy orange light against the sea of green.

"On guard Adonis!" You say, rushing to cover next to a broken machine, Adonis doing the same next to you.

The necron lights seem to have reached maximum illumination, as they have stopped growing brighter, bathing the room in baleful green light.

Again, blood rushing in your ears, you wait for a small eternity for something to happen. Again, nothing seems to occur, the room sitting as silent and empty as it had before.

"Let's move out, I would not face my death hiding here." Adonis says, striding into the room, his head snapping around to scan all directions, you backing him up.

After a nervous minute of no activity, it seems that you are alone in the tomb.

"This is most strange." Adonis says, looking around.

"Most likely an automated system, seeing someone near the front door so it turned the lights on," You say, "we have similar systems back in Aprior, machine spirits making a building ready for work when the occupants arrive."

Adonis nods, "Perhaps, in any case let us be quit of this place, I have no desire to linger here."

He turns and starts towards the door, then stops and turns.

"Wait, Smith, was that there before?"

You follow the aim of his pistol. A rectangular black column, about a foot across, has risen from the floor in the center of the chamber, stopping at about waist height, it was most certainly not there before.

Actions?

>>25533106
this

>>25533375
well shit, ignore this obviously, gotta read faster

>>25533370
uh...try to leave, this is screaming "fuck you"

>>25533370
"No, it most certainly was not.
"Another feature of such systems back home was to reveal a control console. But I would not touch it without a techpriest to appease the machine spirit. Can you open the door?"

>>25533402
>>25533375
New player, or deciding to leave the anonymous shadows for the first time?

>>25533370

I agree with others. Captain is no admech. Neither captain. We can send a team to investigate later - we wouldn't want to inadvertently initiate necron reawakening before the orks do, or indeed, at all.

>>25533444
new player, been lurking for a while, familiar with 40k

last quest I participated in was AC quest

>>25533370

"Is this like anything you have seen before?" Adonis asks.

"Perhaps," You say, "Depending on the function of the system, the presiding machine spirit may present a command console or communication system for the user, thought I would prefer to not use this without a member of the admech present, for all I know this could awaken a horde of necrons."

Adonis nods, "Yes, let us come back later and investigate more fully, for the moment we have the orks to deal with."

You agree and you both head for the door, finding it mercifully unbarred to your progress. Walking through it, you find yourselves back in darkness again for some time, though after a few minutes you start to see light again ahead.

This is not the sickly green of necron devices though, but rather the flickering light of torches and faulty luminators, and you can hear the faint murmur of orkish speech echoing in the tunnel.

Actions?

>>25533496
Welcome aboard.

>>25533539
Douse our lights, proceed carefully and quiet with shield and palm a flashbang.

>>25533539
Sneak up, then kill them.

>>25533581
>>25533577

You place your shield in front of you and edge forwards, readying a flash bang. Captain Adonis moves along behind you, using your shield to cover himself as he watches your back.

You enter a large chamber, and upon the walls you can see the flickering light of ork torches mixing with the green glow of necron technology.

Peeking over a lip of rock, you see the source of the glow. In the center of the room a cluster of large crystals stand, some glowing a bright green. These glowing crystals are covered in orkish technology, with sparking power cables running up through the ceiling. The orkish stronghold must be directly above you now.

"Hurry up!" says one of the orks, obviously a mekboy, to another mekboy nearby.

"Boss wonts da rest a dese glowy gubbins workin' now, he needs em ta fight da humies upstairs!"

The other orks shouts a few choice curses, returning to his work on one of the dark crystals, which flickers weakly before going out again.

State plan and roll to attack, roll out of 100, low is good, best of three.

Rolled 11

>>25533681
grenades then charge.

Flash bang and charge in, take em out

Rolled 78

Now I will add the roll

>>25533744
Another new name, an eventful thread indeed.

Rolled 86

>>25533681
Drop a flashbang and follow it down with the shockmaul, and take'm out.
We can't afford explosives or guns with this much energy and fragile tech around.

Rolled 6

>>25533762
Lurked for a long time

>>25533731
>>25533763
this plan, it is a good plan

>>25533715

"Adonis," You vox, "I would prefer to not use guns or explosives here, if these power sources are damaged the results could be rather, catastrophic."

"Indeed, my sword is thirsty in any case."

"On me then." You say, priming the grenade.

The flash bang sails into the midst of the working mekboys, the flash blinding them and sending them sprawling about, shouting in anger.

You are upon them in seconds, meeting ork flesh with crackling shock maul, Adonis laying in with his power sword, carving the orks apart.

Regaining their senses, the orks reach for holstered weapons or swing wrenches, but they are no match for you, and you finish the orkish mechanics in fairly short order.

You look up to examine the glowing crystals, and are about to ask Adonis what he plans to do, when you are interrupted.

You feel a sudden wave of static wash over you, as with a bright flash and a loud 'crack' a giant ork appears in the chamber a few feet from you, large gun and crackling claw ready, sparking bits of orkish 'tech rising from his back.

The Big Mek fires a burst at you, but you duck behind a darkened crystal and avoid him, losing sight of Adonis.

Roll to engage this new threat.

Rolled 39

>>25533897
Shield up, take out his knees and elbows.

Rolled 5

>>25533897

let's do >>25533942 and try to flank with Adonis

>>25533976

You are quite lucky so far, I must say.

Rolled 88

Use shield

Rolled 68

>>25533897

File: 1371680955591.jpg-(682 KB, 2000x1473, 1343109848119.jpg)

682 KB JPG

Rolled 25

>>25533984
The Emperor's holy reason is with us

>>25533976
>5

You raise your shield up and deflect a blow from the orks power claw, the crackling claws leaving a smoking trail across your shield. With the ork off balance from its strike you raise your maul and bring it crashing down on the orks outstretched elbow, and are met with a resounding crack.

"Adonis," You shout over the orks howls, "Flank it, I shall draw him off with the shield!"

Adonis answers by slashing the mek with his sword, drawing a great spurt of blood. The ork fires wildly with his shoota, barely missing Adonis due to its injury.

You lash out again, hearing more bones snap as you slam into a knee, then you crack the other with your boot. Adonis slashes with his sword and cuts the shoota in half, before slamming his boot down upon the orks arm, breaking its remaining limb.

The ork is immobilized, did you plan on doing something other than killing it?

>>25534071

I feel like interrogating it is useless, and we've made plenty of noise, more orcs are probably coming

"The honor is yours, Captain Adonis. But do be quick, more greenskins may be coming."

Something tells me giving Adonis a minor chance of glory will play well for us

>>25534118
sounds okay to me.

>>25534118

Indeed. Trying to reason with Orks is problematic even under most favorable of circumstances.

>>25534118

You look down at the growling ork at your feet, then back to the Ultramarine.


"The honor is yours, Captain Adonis. But do be quick, more greenskins may be coming."

Adonis nods as you go back to examining the orkish technology attached to the necron pillars. Adonis says something about the judgement of the righteous and you hear a wet slice, then Adonis joins you at your side.

"So, any idea how to shut this down?" He asks.

You examine it for a moment further. "Breaking the crystals could have catastrophic effects, if we could do so at all, but we could cut the power if we sever the connection."

"Very well." Adonis says, "Then let us make our way up there." He points up the stairs to where the cables go through the ceiling.

You arrive at the top, at some form of control station, Adonis walking over to the cable, raising his sword.

"Adonis," You say, "The amount of power in that cable is likely enormous, is that really wise."

"Perhaps not, but I shall not allow my brothers to fall victim to any ork spawned trickery powered by this unholy contraption."

He raises his sword, "For the Emperor!" And swings.

As he winds up, you reach over and pull the large obvious red lever, cutting the power with a hissing pop.

Adonis stops his swing a moment before impact, shifting to maintain his balance, and turns to you.

He gives you a light glare for a moment, your impassive visor betraying no emotion. After a few seconds he simply nods and you proceed upstairs together.

TBC

>>25534292

Pausing only to totally destroy the orkish power controls, you and Adonis continue up.


As you ascend the stairs, you hear the sounds of battle above you, and your vox starts to hiss and crackle with friendly contacts.

Adonis activates his vox and starts checking in with his Ultramarines, and you do the same. After a moment, the hissing static is replaced with the voice of brother Linnaeus.

"Captain, Smith is that you?"

"Indeed it is brother, what is the situation?"

The relief is evident in the Knights voice. "We had feared you dead sir, it is good to hear your voice again. We are currently engaged in a full assault on the orkish stronghold, the orks retaliated with large energy weapon mounts, but those have just gone silent for some reason, we are standing by until we are sure they are down for good."

"Then proceed with your attack," You say, "Adonis and I have just disabled the orkish power generators, they should not be coming back online.

"Excellent sir, that shows me for ever doubting you. I shall proceed now, hold on tight until we can get there, with their bug guns and lights gone we should be okay, we seem to have destroyed most of their vehicles already.

Response? Actions?

>>25534412
"Be advised that their is a necron tomb underneath us. Please find out if the Eldar have any knowledge of how to make sure we do not wake it up in the conflict."

>>25534457
This works, then consult with the Ultramarine of further tactics.

>>25534412
"Be advised that this is a Tomb World; it appears deactivated for now.
"Crais, your people know these things better than we do. What should we do to keep the Necrons from awakening? The Orks were tapping into Necron power crystals, but we've shut them down for now."

>>25534412


"Be advised that their is a necron tomb underneath us, the orks were siphoning power from it to fuel their weapons. Please find out if the Eldar have any knowledge of how to make sure we do not wake it up in the conflict."

"A necron tomb! I shall fetch the rangers at" You hear a brief scuffle over the vox, and hear Crais' flushed voice.

"Did you say necrons mon'keigh? Tell me everything!"

"After we fell through the ice shaft, Adonis and I encountered a necron ruin below the orkish city, though we found no signs of current habitation or any actual necrons. Upon nearing the end of the structure we seemed to trip some kind of automated system which activated the lights and some machinery, though nothing further happened.

Then we found that the orks were using several large crystals as a power source, and have severed them from the orkish power net."

The line is silent for a few moments.

"I cannot say for certain before I examine the site itself, but for the moment I can only say to avoid any large explosions or bursts of energy, and to not disturb any devices you might encounter.

I would advise that once this battle is complete we perform a full sweep of the structure you found, and bring along any other technological experts you might wish, it is best to not linger in necron ruins."

"Thank you Crais, I shall endeavor to avoid any catastrophes."

You disconnect and turn to Adonis.

TBC

>>25534589
"What news from the Ultramarines, how do you plan to proceed?"

Adonis turns to you, "My Ultramarines are advancing with the rest of your forces into the city. Without their big guns to hold us back, the orks are being overrun, though their sheer numbers make it slow going at best.

We are currently some distance behind the main line, though I would advise not charging into battle. Doughty warriors we may be, but against a full orkish horde in its home we would be at a great disadvantage. It is my plan to wait for the arrival of my brothers and rejoin with them, and then finish this foul enemy."

Response?

>>25534603
"A good plan."
Wait for our forces to get closer, then link up with them.

>>25534603

Relay him suggestion from our tech- and lore-savvy guard elements. Although he would've probably guessed as much.

Let's try and find a suitable piece of cover to wait for the front line to reach us.

>>25534677
this plus
>>25534691

>>25534691
>>25534677

"A sound plan, also the experts in my task force advise against poking anything green and glowing."

Adonis looks a bit surprised. "You have necron experts on hand?"

"Yes." You deadpan.

Adonis thinks for a few seconds, before shrugging and hunkering down in the passage beside you.

You sit there for some time, listening to progress reports and status updates from various units, it seems the battle is going well.

Unfortunately for you, the central power core is more or less in the center of the city, so it takes a long time for the battle to reach you and the orks to be cleared out.

Eventually though JTF lines cross your position, and you come out of hiding, laying into a few very surprised orks before running over to a line of rhinos.

You see sister Cypress there, standing tall beside her APC, shouting encouragement to her sisters as they pour fire into the horde of orks before them, chopping the disorganized rabble to bits, before turning to you, smiling.

"Smith! I had feared never to see you again."

"It takes more than that to fell a Knight." You say, "You should not have worried."

She fills you in on the situation, with the orks energy weapons neutralized, and most of their armored units broken in the previous battles, your armored units are faced with little more than infantry now.

Though there have been casualties, it seems that the tide has turned in your favor at long last, with the JTF and Ultramarines moving building by building, clearing the city of orks in methodical efficient fashion.

Actions?

>>25534795
Assist in the fighting without Stormlas.
Have a Rhino and a platoon of Aprior Guards set up heavy weapon nests to the entrance to the Necron tomb. We need to secure the entrance.

>>25534795
have everyone link up with their units and secure the building with JTF units so the Rangers can slip in without the Ultramarines knowing.

>>25534876
I disagree, I think we ought to keep the Rangers as far away from the Smurfs as possible. Maybe have them take up overwatch to watch for reinforcements on the outskirts of the battlefield.

>>25534795

Did we get a replacement helmet since our incident in the passage? If not, we should get one to not fall to a stray bolt to the head. Other than that, into the fray! There has to be a warboss around here somewhere asking to have his eyebrows singed. And an ork trashcan of a ship, presumably.

>>25534978
That's why we send the ultra's away first.

>>25534795
Can we call the tech priest and tell him to get ready to take a look at some Necron tomb? After we clean out the orks of course

>>25534876
>>25534869

"Cypress, set up a defense here along with a squad of guardsmen, we need to secure the entrance to the tomb."

You activate a secure vox call, "And make cure Crais and his rangers can get in there without the Ultramarines seeing them."

Cypress nods, "It does not seem we shall have to worry about them."

You follow her finger and see Adonis mounting up with his brothers to roll out further into the city, giving you a wave before his force vanishes around the corner.

You can scarcely begin to speak before a flurry of movement draws your eye, a team of rangers rushing down towards the tomb, camo cloaks fluttering in the breeze.

You stay here until the defenses are established, and then mount up with Cypress and her battle sisters, rolling out to attack more orks.

Though the battle lasts for some hours more, in the end the forces of the Imperium stand bloody, battered, but victorious. The last vestiges of orkish resistance are being hunted down in the tunnels and caves of the city, and the JTF forces are searching for any orks left behind, herding desperate gretchin into large pens far from the sight of Ultramarines.

Though it will likely take some time before the planet is considered completely secured, you have broken the back of the greatest force of orks, and denied them their source of power.

It seems that the orks were trying to stall for time with their skirmish attacks, waiting to get the necron crystals fully online before using their power to finish construction of a gargant in the center of the city, as well as a dizzying array of large energy weapons.

Somewhat worrying though is the warboss of the horde, or rather the fact that he is nowhere to be found, no forces reporting sighting him, and no large singular trail of destruction which would normally indicate his presence.

Call for Kalec and investigate the tomb?

>>25535051
get a report from the ranger first.

>>25535051
so the rangers, us and Kalec are going to investigate?

>>25535051

You activate your vox and call Crais.

"Crais, your report on the tomb? I cannot keep the Ultramarines at bay forever, they will want in there eventually."

"Very well mon'keigh." Comes the head ranger, "My rangers and I have searched the entirety of the tomb, apart from those sections which are blocked off. What we have found confirms your observations, there is no activity or active necrons here. Neither have we encountered any active technology except what you activated, though necron technology is likely tuned to not react at all to the presence of Eldar."

You nod, "What do you believe the purpose of this installation is?"

The ranger pauses, considering, "It is my belief that this is not a tomb at all, but rather an outpost or lab of some form, though what purpose it could serve yet eludes me. Further study of this site would be required to determine its true purpose, though needless to say we should proceed with caution."

Response?

>>25535051


Emperor's mercy, a Gargant? Good thing we arrived when we did.

Yeah, let's take a look around the tomb with Kalec and the elfs. After we're sure that Adonis has departed for the celebration party.

Or perhaps, if he insists on coming along, make sure the elves are well disguised and not calling everyone "mon'keigh".

>>25535139
Call for Kalec

>>25535139
"Messing with necron tech tends to blow up in peoples faces spectacularly. Suppose we set off a nuclear bomb in the outpost, what do you think would happen. "

>>25535199

Indeed. If we could salvage some Necron tech and send it to R&D back home without risking awakening a whole world of cyber mummies, that would've been nice.

>>25535139

You put a call through to the Midnight Flame, requesting that Kalec come down and examine the site. You suspect that once you mentioned the phrase 'examine the necron tomb' Kalec could not get down here fast enough.

You manage to convince Adonis to wait to enter the tomb again, reasoning that the presence of a full techpriest was required before you studied further, and he agrees, forming up his marines at the mouth of the tomb.

Two hours later, with the last embers of orkish resistance finally going out, you hear the roar of an engine behind you, and turn to see Kalec riding towards you on a custom motorcycle. The priest skids to a stop and launches off, leaving the bike teetering on its kick stand.

"Tomb!" he says excitedly, his voxcaster buzzing slightly, "Where! How large? What did you see? Tell me everything!"

You full him in as you walk, Adonis waving his Ultramarines to go in alongside your Knights and guardsmen teams.

You spend a little while examining the crystals, before going to the lit cavern you saw before. Kalec seeming quite excited by the chamber, rushing off to examine a damaged mechanism.

Off to your side, you see a squad of Aprior guardsmen with full face masks and camouflaged rifles slipping out of a side passage to form up with the rest of the guardsmen, as Adonis orders his Ultramarines to fan out and secure the structure, you sending some Knights along as well.

Finally, Kalec turns his attention to the pillar which rose in the center of the room.

TBC

Uh random thought, where are our battlesuits?

>>25535332

You stand beside Kalec, Adonis on the other flank, looking at the unassuming little pillar in the middle of the room.

"So," You ask, "How do you plan on dealing with this?"

"Very, carefully." Kalec says, stepping forwards and reaching into his robes.

The priest begins chittering in binary, and from his motions you think he is performing a prayer of some kind, before drawing out a small bolt from his robes. He winds up and throws the bolt at the pillar, where it bounces off with a little pinging sound.

Adonis looks to the priest, curious.

"Was that some form of exorcism?"

"Oh no, I just wanted to see if there was an energy field there."

Kalec walks over and gently pokes the pillar with a mechadendrite, eliciting no response that you can see, before leaning in.

"Hmm, there is some form of script along the rim here, though I cannot read it. It's a bit dusty right here."

He reaches into his robe and pulls out a small rag, rubbing the pillars top, which suddenly begins to glow, Kalec leaping back in surprise.

TBC

>>25535416
On the 'Flame standing by for deep strike where the Ultras cannot find them.

Why are we herding gretchin? I we planning to send them to an aligned ork war boss or something?

>>25535452

You watch as a small circular aperture opens in the top of the pillar, and out floats a small object.

It is a sphere, about the size of a large marble, which blows brightly with green light. Kalec immediately pulls out an auspex and begins examining the object, muttering to himself.

"Object is emitting low levels of energy waves, nothing harmful, suspended in null gravity field, fairly standard necron tech in that regard, is not drawing power from any external source I can detect, must be supplying its own power, power source in and of itself, no device too small and too well hidden to be power source must serve other purpose."

You walk over, "Any idea what it actually does Kalec?"

The priest turns to you. "I have no Idea, only that it is not harmful in its current state, I request that you allow me to return the device to my lab aboard the Midnight Flame, I assure you that I will take the utmost safety precautions."


Actions?

>>25535536
They are a lot more docile than orks once their leaders are dead, and many Knights applied their usual rules regarding noncombatants to them. Their general plan is to wait for a ship from Aprior and then turn them over to the Green Shadow, where they will have generally better lives.

>>25535594
Look at Adonis. Ultramarines more valuable than possible technological advances.

>>25535671
This...taking it seems too risky, either for the 'Flame or risking the wrath of the sons of Ultramar

>>25535594

"If you think such is the Omnissiah's will... specialist Cristof(cue the ranger), what is your opinion on this?"

>>25535594
Tell him to prepare the device for transport and that the device will be sent to the Aprior sector along with the gretchin. They have the proper facilities over there and can handle any problems if anything should go wrong.

>>25535594

You nod thoughtfully.

"If you think such is the Omnissiah's will... specialist Crais, what is your opinion on this?"

The Eldar in guard uniform walks over, pretending not to be wary of Adonis, and examines the device, checking Kalec's data on the auspex.

"I am unsure exactly what this device is, or what its purpose may be." Crais begins, "Though I am certain it is no weapon, nor does it seem to be a communications device or transportation system. It does not appear to be dangerous, at least in its current state, though it is supplying its own power, or drawing its power from somewhere I cannot detect."

You nod and turn to Adonis.

"Captain, your thought on the matter?"

Adonis frowns and rubs his chin. "I advise caution, necron artifacts have a tendency to bring doom upon those who find them, though the potential gains could outweigh the risk. If you trust your techpriest and your..."

He gives Crais a long stare, "Specialist, then I cannot fault you, though again I advise extreme caution. This is your campaign, as much as my pride is loath to admit it, and the risk is upon you and yours. My honor as a Captain and an Ultramarine tell me that this choice is yours, I cannot decide for your chapter."

Actions?

>>25535882
I'm against it.

>>25535882
Prepare the device for transport to our home sector. Their gonna have the best personnel, equipment, and protection in case anything goes wrong. If we can make sure it give it an escort.

>>25535882
Definitely against it.

I think the reasonable thing to do is to leave it here. The less things missing from a Necron structure, the less chance that they may arrive. It's probably some kind of beacon and Crais may not recognize it.

>>25535882

I'd say it's a bit of a shame to leave a research opportunity unused, but I suppose after having just defeated an Ork threat some caution in wakening a new one would be in order. After all, we can always have a dedicated team sent here from Aprior.

Take some readings and send a report to the HQ when we've time. Kalec will have to find safer toys to tamper with, I guess.

>>25535989
>>25535956
>>25535933

"Kalec, secure it for transport back to the 'Flame, store it in isolation there until we can send it back to Aprior for further study."

Kalec nods and reaches into his robes, drawing out an isolation containment box. He reaches out and latches the box around the glowing orb, capturing it within the container. Inside it is suspended by a gravity field, not even touching the side walls, and is completely isolated from the outside world, nothing in or out.

A further search of the structure reveals nothing else of note, no active necron technology or necrons themselves, though you do find a defunct warp portal, which has been destroyed almost completely.

Your forces have finished mopping up the orks in the city and hidden away the gretchin, and the Ultramarines are retiring to the surface, it seems the battle is won.

What is your next move?

>>25536112
We will send the Rangers to keep looking for the Warboss while we allow the Ultramarines to keep up the pressure.

Have ASIS continue their investigation into the gulags and the accounting for the Imperial Tithe.

>>25536216

I have to walk the dog, talk about your next plan until I return in about twenty minutes.

>>25536112
Have the Rangers and ASIS agents track down the Warboss. Meanwhile it is time for us to now investigate this Secretary General.

>>25536283
>Have the Rangers and ASIS agents track down the Warboss. Meanwhile it is time for us to now investigate this Secretary General.

This.

I'm somewhat wary bringing the scout-orb to our ship so soon, but.... yeah. There's no good move when it comes to necron tech.

Though, I DO like the idea of getting in touch with home base, because we may get reinforcements.

So many good options.
Stealth terms, A magos, ork ninjas...

>>25536283
The ASIS team is best trained for investigating the Secretary General, especially since they're not super-humanly large marines that can't hide in a crowd.
Also, we're looking for accounting discrepancies as well as investigating the gulags, both things that the ASIS team is better at doing.

>>25536380
Best get a magos first considering how many situations we keep on encountering where one would be beyond useful.

As for orks as an anon pointed out before we would need 1 a nob/boss who understand both tactics and the chain of command. 2 Specially sealed suits and 3 quarantined housing that WILL be orkified.

>>25536430
Good point best just have the rangers pursue the Warboss. ASIS focuses on investing the Secratary General. Meanwhile in order to both keep his forces busy and wipe out more orks. I suggest having his forces be dispatched trying to locate and wipe out whatever orks that can be found. They will of course be assisted by some of our forces.

>>25536216

With the battle done you leave a sizable force behind, their orders to secure the tomb and ork city and continue searching for any pockets of resistance or useful intel.

Your rangers you deploy to track down the ork warboss, meanwhile ASIS continues its investigation into the Secretary General an the tithes which are his charge.

You yourself retire to your command center after several hours more in the city, personally escorting Kalec and his necron treasure to the waiting gunship to send to the waiting troopship.

After that the war seems to wind down slowly but surely, with the orks faltering after the destruction of their main base and weapons production facility, Adonis and his Ultramarines destroying any pockets of orkish resistance they can find. Though it may take months for the threat to be truly eliminated, it seems that the orks no longer present a major threat to Volkgarod or its people.

TBC

>>25536840

I will go into more detail about your rienforcement options later, but be aware that, mostly for reasons of simplifying the plot, the orks will not leave behind green plagues everywhere they go, thank the genius minds at Aprior medical for that.

As for housing, give them a berth on the 'Flame to call their own and keep up a steady supply of booze and you should be fine.

>>25536863

It is about a week after your battle in the ork hold that agent Kolchack comes to you with his report on the actions of the Secretary General. You admit the aged agent to your office and gesture for him to sit across from your desk, where he slides over a data slate.

"That is my full report on the matter sir, though I have also come to make my report in person."

You nod, "Proceed agent."

"Firstly, concerning the prison camps. After several of these camps were infiltrated by my agents, we have discovered that the information you gathered from the prisoners earlier is more or less correct. Any individual who is overly critical of the regime of the Secretary General, or who is seen as having failed in some way, is arrested and sent to the camps, often without trial."

TBC

>>25536984

"The prisoners there face life sentences and often work in adverse conditions, most do not survive very long, though as you saw some can hold on for years, the guards being not entirely unsympathetic to their plight, in some cases at least.

These camps are fairly straightforward prison camps, the prisoners are worked until they cannot do so any more, then they are thrown back into the barracks until they recover or they die, there is really nothing more complicated to them."

He shifts his notes.

"As for the tithes, my investigation team has turned up a rather interesting development. My first investigation was into the tithes being sent off world, mostly refined steel and promethium. This investigation showed that the tithes had been met in full and on time, no red flags there.

However, I then checked this against the amount of tithes coming into the capitol and the spaceport here, and that is where I found the discrepancy. Whilst the tithes are being paid in full, the Secretary General is claiming they are higher than they actually are, including precious metals and works of art as tithed materials in his declared quotas. As these resources never leave the capitol, I think it safe to assume they are being stockpiled here for some purpose in the future."

Kolchack looks up at you.

"Perhaps he plans to buy a retirement on a world with a more agreeable climate. I want to stress that while all of this is illegal by Aprior law, very much so, none is technically illegal by Imperial law."

Actions?

>>25537130

"We need to find the stockpiles. Evidence needs gathering. What is it they say? Possession is nine tenths of the law?"

"I also think, perhaps, we can make this problem solve ourselves. What do you think were to happen if the tithes were to.... ACTUALLY have a discrepancy?"

>>25537130
I'm trying to think of a cunning plan to get him to overstep his bounds so we can shoot him, but I'm coming up with nothing. Ask our officers.

>>25537130

Find the stockpiles secure them. By freak coincidence an explosion kills him right after, possible grenade.

>>25537370

And yet another new player arrives, this quest is going to be quite crowded before too long.

Welcome.

>>25537370
>>25537317
>>25537316

Though assasinating a sitting governor might not go down too well with the Inquisition...

>>25537130
"Hmm. Would the Ultramarines, the rulers of Ultramar like it if the Secretary General was a corrupt bastard stealing away his planes resources to enrich only himself. I don't think they would like it."

We pass on the information to the Ultramarines and let them handle it.

>>25537432
Right, which is why we need to trick him into giving us rope, and then let the Ultra's take him down.

>>25537469

How do you plan to do that?

>>25537481
Lets solicit suggestions. In particular, the eldar tend to be experts in such sneaky dickery.

>>25537481

Obviously we have to locate it where he's keeping the goods. There might also be a list or some kind of paper trail at the stockpile/stockpiles.

>>25537432
investigate the stashes then hand the info/problem to the ultras. Then we just sit back and watch the fireworks.

>>25537481
>How do you plan to do that?

In case you missed it, we want to FIND the hoarded stockpiles of personal/stolen wealth first.
Also, what he intends to DO with it. We should buy his astropath a drink, and see what they say regarding it.

Once we do that, we have any number of options!
Such as
"He's holding out on us in wartime! official censure!"
or
"Altering the shipments manifests of the quota'd goods to LOOK suspicious (changing it on paper is easier than changing the shipped amount) to attract attention, and get his superiors suspicious enough to investigate"
to
"Demanding raw resources to further build the cities defenses against the necron tombworld. what resources? Oh, we noticed THOSE were just sitting around in warehouses..."
To
"Telling the slave workers whats really going on, and having riots cross-planet until the problem gets solved'

Finding out what he's stockpiling this stuff FOR would be good. Getting access to his documents would be a useful step. I'm not sure we can do so overtly, and if we get caught trying to acquire them covertly it would be very bad. We need a pretext, then.

Of course, the best thing would be to lure him into admitting what's up to our face, but I feel like that's a risky proposition. I don't want to suddenly be embroiled in fighting his personal guard.

>>25537510
>Lets solicit suggestions. In particular, the eldar tend to be experts in such sneaky dickery.

.... seconded.

Positive Trolling.

>>25537436
But what the PG is doing isn't technically illegal by Imperial law.

>>25537130
"Have you found anything else in your investigations? Any other details, however small?"

>>25537625

Damn... Another one?

Greetings, and good taste I must say.

I almost wish we hadn't shown Adonis the Necron orb...what better way to fuck someone over than to plant some heretek, then call the Inquisition in on them.

Wait a minute...

Can we find some OTHER heretek? Then plant it? Would the Inquisition puritans brand us hypocriters? It would have to be something worse than anything the Knights have done...

Chaos artifact? Can we go find one?

>>25537130

"Have you found anything else in your investigations? Any other details, however small?"

Kolchack considers for a few moments.

"You must understand, this is based mostly on hearsay and speculation, no way to tell if it is actually true or not. You may recall that the previous governor and his entire family were killed when their car exploded. This occurred during the previous period of unrest on Volkgarod, though the situation only became truly violent after the governors death.

The governor at the time was a hard man, though not unreasonable, he in fact reminds me of Varan by all accounts, and the people seemed to believe that the problem could be solved through dialogue, at least most of them did.

So then, why would they commit to murdering their own governor? I have been around these kinds of operations long enough to feel when a hidden hand is in play, though I have no confirmation of the fact. With the governor dead and his line ended, the succession passed on to the head of Volkgarod's military, who is now the Secretary General.

As I said, I have no proof, though the death of the governor and his family was most fortuitous for the SecGen."

Response?

>>25537790
Where would we find such evidence?

>>25537664

I was here before.

I'm namefagging it up in the shadowrun thread, because Shadowtalk <3 and forgot to turn it off

>>25537790
Bah we don't got the time or manpower for this. When we sent the stuff we got back to our home sector. Make sure to include a missive to the forces there requesting that they take a closer look at this world. Stating that we suspect many things and find yet more suspicious. Sadly we do not have the manpower or time to screen through it all properly.

>>25537828

"Unfortunately the trail has gone cold decades ago. Some rebels were convicted and executed, but the evidence in the case is circumstantial, and least what I can find, the rest is probably in a government lock box somewhere, beyond my authority to find, and even I would think twice before breaking into the governors archives.

The only ones who would have the official power would be the Secretary General or General Zhukov."

>>25537905
This could also work, so continue investigation or pass it on to the home office?

>>25538029
Ask the eldar for advice.

>>25537955
You're right. The trail has gone cold. By now, the evidence collected would mean anyone could the the culprits.

Lets cut the matter and head off. We won't forget this though.

>>25538059
I want to see if the race of sneaky dicks has any ideas as well.

>>25538059

You summon Crais, the eldar ranger being back on temporary respite from ork hunting. You fill him in on the situation and ask his advice on the matter.

"Given the situation, I find it likely that this Secretary General murdered his predecessor, I have seen many such events before, though proving it to your Imperial authorities is a different matter. Assassinating him would be a tricky affair given how paranoid he is, but doable. Of note is, according to local law, governorship would pass to his highest military leader, General Zhukov.

So, to answer your unspoken question, yes, me and my team could do it, though the consequences of the governor dying on your watch would be your own to deal with."

>>25538194
Then we'd be the scapegoat for having an Eldar assassinate an Imperial leader. No dice. We leave it for home base to figure out the politics.

>>25538194
Whatever your move, you will have to do it tomorrow, I have to sleep soon.

I will be hanging around for a little while longer to talk if anyone wants to, otherwise I will see you around.

Thanks for playing everybody, it was a lot of fun.

>>25538276

Yeah, agreed, this is too hot to act on right now.

While not likely that good of an option, perhaps find a way to get the blame for the governors death pinned on any remnant Ork forces?