41K RPG : Into the Eye.

[SirNitram]

"I am hardly a celebrity, my lord Inquisitor." Malkamar replied as he watched the Servo-Skulls power down their weaponry. The presense of the hunter was only known as a generality; his senses were dulled somewhat without his Servum and Artificer Armour. Best not to alarm anyone. "Merely a servant of the Emperor's plan who earned the ire of the Omnissiah's adherents."

Again, Lena is addressed. "My Chapter has... Strained relations, at best, with Mars. Our practices are often considered radical, but we were cut off for many generations, and forced to defend our human population through whatever means the Emperor and His Primachs provided us. Through His Light we prevailed, however, I have found my.. Skill at jerry-rigging under combat conditions distasteful to the Adeptus Mechanicus." Perhaps it was the strange Astartes' accent; it was certainly unusual, being an isolated dialect of Low Gothic not spoken in mileenia. But he had managed to place the inflection on the Machine God's cult exactly the same way as he would 'Earthworm'. "For this, I was sent to seek the Emperor's redemption. I have not found it yet."

[Pcm979]

Pater filed the mention of the radical Chapter away for future reference; Over the years he had made contact with many Chapters that distrusted the Mechanicus, and entered into mutually beneficial pacts with them.

[Cynical Cat]

"Down Gard," Jolan muttered to his savant-scientist. "You'll have plenty of opportunity to pump him for information latter." He raised his voice. "I suggest taking the Astartes along. We can discuss all of our business in private."

[Josh]

His expression was impassive.

Which wasn't hard for someone whose face was mostly metal, plastics, and other inorganic components.

"It is possible," he allowed for the Saint.

Assuming of course that they didn't just have to kill him.

[Cynical Cat]

Jolan Gix watched Ristani's pet assassin stalk the Marine. He didn't need Keys to point it out and he was willing to bet neither did Hethor. Some things had not changed apparently. He made a motion to his men to not interfere. He had no doubt that Keys could kill either of them at will, the assassin was being to obvious and the Marine wore no armour while Keys had an arsenal of Adraxian and Officio weapons, but he was not the one who was going to start any violence. "Whatever the conclusion, these matters are best no discussed in public."

[The Necrontyr Messenger]

"I quite agree," Lena said. For her part, she had entertained the same thoughts as Prius. Other rhinos rumbles forwards, and she invited the penitent marine to join someone's retunite in the third one. heading off to the first herself, with a portion of her guards in tow, some of them taking up postion on the roof as hull riders, others entering and quickly sweeping for those who shouldn't be there before the Saint and the Inquisitors entered.

After the compelement were loaded, the rhinos roared off down the streets, preceeded by an immolator, all belching black smoke - even Adraxian technogies couldn't make the Rhino a graceful vehicle - into the air as they did so.

[Pcm979]

The servo-skulls landed on Pater, Gyllia and Anghel's shoulders like obscene pet birds as the entered the Rhino. Pater had noticed Prius' assassain, but only because he had 6 field operatives and 6 auspex-equipped Servo-Skulls constantly monitering and interpreting data through an extensive network.

[Bratty]

One of the positives of not officially being an assassin is not having one's role defined. If one is merely an assassin, they have one job. However, Zala is not. She is a huntress, and an instrument of Yar. Strength through silence, which is why she dedicated her tongue to the Inquisitor Prius. It is how she survived until the last on her world, and why she is here.

She is not there to kill the marine. Nor is she there to not kill the marine.

She is to provide an end to a mean. If that end is death, then that is what it is. If that end is a distraction, then there is no greater weight for one than the other. Each has value to Yar.

The Inquisitor Prius has not given the signal to stand down, so she continues her movement. Before one realizes, she is away from the Saint, away from the Inquisitor. If distraction is needed, she can pull this marine away from the Saint long for them to open fire. If death is needed, that won't be a problem either.

She has noticed the others scattered about the crowd with their light weapons and single minded missions. They prove to be useful tools in their own wielding. As does she.

[Josh]

He signaled for Zala to stand down, proceeding for the Rino. For the moment, at least, the Marine would live.

Turning, he joined the entourage as they proceeded to the Rinos.

[Bratty]

Zala falls in line next to Prius.

[Pcm979]

Pater and his retinue took up a whole Rhino. It was dark inside, noisy and bumpy as they rattled over cobblestones and gravel. The only other noise was Joritu's steady mechanical breathing.

"Well." Pater broke the silence. "Initial assessment?"

Andrel shook his head. "It's too early to say anything definative, Sir. But all the truth sensors came up clean."

Pater grunted. "They can be fooled."

"These are the same people we fought with at Adraxis, Pater." Gyllia reminded him softly. She'd served with him the longest, and was dismayed by the changes time and his own experiments had rought.

"People change." He said with finality. She couldn't disagree.

[Cynical Cat]

Jolan watched as Pater consulted his retinue. "He's changed," he muttered to Hethor. The big guardsmen nodded. Jolan could remember when the the glitz of advanced tech could captivate Pater and skew his perceptions, whether or not Novum would admit it. Now he was cynical and suspicious. To be fair, Jolan had left his own share of weaknesses behind. To be a good inquisitor one had to be mercilous, to oneself most of all. Weakness had to be excised or the consequences could be catastrophic. He remembered the old Ecclesiarchy chant. Pity those who cannot pity.

[Josh]

Prius entered a Rino, Zala at his side. They were all older, warier. The familiarity they had gained in fighting at each other's side had been replaced by a caution borne of fifty years separation, trained paranoia and personal challenges causing them to eye each other as potential foes.

As it should be, to an extent. An Inquisitor of His Holy Ordos could afford no luxurious trifles such as friendship.

He reflexively checked the storm bolters on the Rino and eyed the driver. If the necessity arose, Zala could man the topside weapons mount after he disposed of the driver and took the yoke.

[Cynical Cat]

Gix and his retinue entered another Rhino. Hethor D'eckor and Danell Keys exorcised the paranoia that was the hallmark of their occupations while Iriza was blissfully ignorant to the killer's calculations. Melina didn't think that way and Lydia was still young, arrogant, and expected obediance. She would learn of die. Gix was relaxed. While keeping a look out for signs of ambush, he knew that excessive paranoia was as deadly as insufficient caution. He ordered the driver to proceed.

[Bratty]

Zala gathered all the body language as a sponge, but it made no impression. Merely information to hold and analyze instantly if her services her requires. Instinct takes over, and uses this disected information for success. She is not impressed by the paranoia, nor is she disuaded by it. The Inquisitors are her betters, and she knows her place. But in truth, neither the Inquisitors, nor the Saint, nor the strange marine that all speak about too quickly for her to follow capture her attention. The different mechanisms, the different places, the strange technology magicks, even the smallest of which these men would find common place, leaves her spellbound.

The shaman's power must be great to hold such magicks as these.

Too many words, both high and low Gothic she has learned. Too quickly, too much jabber. The body says more than their words ever can. As a result, she shows nothing with her fascination with the magicks. She would never show with wide eyes or mannerisms. To do so is weakness, and distraction from any tasks which may be at hand.

She makes no eye contact directly, but neither refrains from it. She merely is ...there. Easily forgotten.

[The Necrontyr Messenger]

The rhinos screeched across cobbled, then paved roads, grinding metal of tread on flagstones filling the air. Zala was indeed forgotten, by Lena at least, as she took time instead to reflect on how her friends had both grown and become jaded over the decades since she’d last seen them, with the exception of the occasional meeting on the solitary warship they had waiting in the void of space, almost entirely crewed by automatons, and then only briefly; as both Admiral and Saint, she had been furnished with few opportunities over the years to disappear.

Jaenta meanwhile was nowhere near as familiar with these people, and found nothing amiss as Lena, making conversation, asked about the battleship Resurrected Might, one of the few times she’d had cause to return to the growing shipyards at Adraxis, the first Apocalypse class battleship that had been constructed in countless centuries. Lena smiled a little, once more some tech-priests having fits over the matter…

At that moment, the rhino’s interior was plunged into darkness, and it tumbled about, possibly, Jaenta couldn’t tell, flipping over completely before landing on its side. The driver, evidently unconscious, dangled from her seat and webbing.

[Pcm979]

By force of habit, most of Pater's retinue were secured in some manner. Joritu, her metallic internals unfazed by the crash, immediately set about assessing casualties and inspecting the driver.

"Status!" Pater barked, wicked, glowing claws extending from his augmetic hand.

[SirNitram]

It is, simply put, like flipping a switch. One moment, the huge Astartes was in quiet contemplation and thought, the next, the rhino is flipping and he's braced himself. Before it even fully stops, he's snapping off.. commands. Some things never fade; though right now Malkamar is wishing that this included 'How to get a Rhino-pattern transport running without your usual repair tools.'

"Disembark, defensive pattern Tetrius! Provide cover for the Inquisitors while I attempt to get us moving again! Go!" And with a Space Marine's inborn desire to get into the thick of it first, he's already pried himself free and shoved the hatch open, clambering out, probably right into a hail of gunfire.

[The Necrontyr Messenger]

Surprisingly, there is no gunfire, though two other Rhinos have been thrown, one more severely damaged, a gaping hole ripped in its underside, through which a guardsman - Jaenta's - was carefully surveying the surrounding area, hellgun at the ready.

Another vehicle had driven into the... crater. It was a particularly impressive crater, from some kind of shaped charge that had been placed in a sewer at its centre. Meanwhile, the Soroitas immolator tank was being frantically atteneded by its praying crew, who tried to coax it to not become a fireball...

[Pcm979]

Pater snapped off commands just as quickly as the Marine, but with more self-preservation. His lightning claw still wreathed in crackling blue energies, he directed their defense.

"Andrel! Get those skulls out there, find out what hit us. Deuce, back them up. Gyllia, I want damage assessment. Lillith, try and contact the other Rhinos."

A servo skull floated up the cupola and latched on to the hatch, burning through the bolts and levers with short bursts of it's lasguns. It floated out, dragging the hatch ahead of it as a makeshift shield.

[The Necrontyr Messenger]

Though there was damage to some of the vehicles, vox-casters were durable things in the great Imperium of Mankind, and functioned adequately in all cases.

[Pcm979]

Pater's team fanned out quickly but carefully, the Servo-Skulls erecting a theatre shield around the group as they disembarked. There seemed to be no danger of the Rhino exploding, but one could never be too careful.

[Josh]

Prius had braced himself as the transport had flipped, and triggered his vox link Zala.

"Go to ground, strike enemies of opportunity," he subvocalized, before barreling out of the transport and going to ground himself.

[The Necrontyr Messenger]

There were nothing but concerned clerics and pilgrims to be seen. Whoever had planted the mine was clearly making themselves scarce. Lena finally got her bearings and stepped out of the Rhino. One of her bodyguards was clearly heavily injured, her silver armourhaving taken some of the force when she, riding atop the vehicle, had been partly crushed beneath it...

[Pcm979]

The first priority was the Saint. Pater's escort quickly moved to cover her, Auspexes straining to detect the smallest anomaly.

Pater snapped his fingers, and Joritu rushed up and caught him as his body went limp and his mind flew unfettered above the crowd. His ethereal body appeared to those with the Sight to be comprised of shifting panels of glass, trailing blue flame.