Chapter 1

Nilus Isen's dream echoed with the crash and rumble of walls coming down.

In reality, he had fled to the armory of the Adeptus Arbites precinct fortress on Cosflame. Behind him, in the infirmary, Brother Domis was changing. The mad little old man had been so single-minded in his faith, so certain in the protection of the Immortal Emperor. Always babbling a prayer, always screaming praise in battle. Now his piety had broken into one long scream as the Daemon poured through the hole in his mind, stretched and warped his flesh, clawed its way into being.

In reality, Varn, the hulking savage Guardsman, had run. Isen had fled to the armory to make his stand. He had found a lascannon, propped it up on crates, pointed it at the door, while the precinct fortress echoed with gunfire, screams, the grinding mortar of the 'crete walls cracking as the daemonhost walked through them like a man brushing aside cobwebs.

In reality, the Daemon that had been Domis came in through the ceiling. His shot had gone wild as it approached, the world warping as it came. Frost and fire spread from its footsteps, mangy vulture's wings spread from its shoulders. Its face was featureless and smooth, and it was surrounded by whispers. He had backed up, drawn his sidearm, fired at it. Useless. It laughed, in nine voices. It called him amusing. It offered him a choice.

In reality, he had knealt before it, drawn his knife, and carved the star of chaos into his chest.

But in the dream there was only the sound of the walls coming down. His hands sweaty on the lascannon, his gaze fixed on the door, and the sound coming closer.

"Arbiter Isen, sir? We've arrived."

Isen's eyes snapped open. Outside the groundcar's windows, the gloom of Hive Urus, Baraspine, was pierced by the lights of the Arbites station. Behind him, Varn stirred, checking his weapons.

He marched in. Flashed his badge. Asked directions.

"Intelligencer Whites, sir? He's in the armory, preparing for a sortie."

Whites was small for an Arbiter, and the job had aged him, but his hands moved deftly as he buckled on his riot armor. Around him, his squad moved purposefully, loading guns, checking straps, testing comms.

Isen's heels snapped together. "Investigator Nilus Isen, seconded to the most holy Inquisition. You requested assistance with a series of ritual murders, cult involvement suspected."

Whites' smile was hidden as he donned his helmet. "You're just in time, Isen. We know where the bastard's hitting next. Arm up, we'll talk en route. Right, men, we move out in three!"

Chapter 2

Luc Fiend DuCassius dreamed of light.

Back straight, grip firm, arm extended to the side. Duellist's stance. A straight line from his eye, down his arm, along the barrel of his Valantine, across ten yards of open space, along Harmon's gun, up his arm, into his eye.

The red light of evening flooded the terrace, high in the spires of the hive. The glow painted the pale faces of the two brothers, shined in their red eyes. It gleamed of Harmon's bald skull, and dyed the stripes of Luc's black and white hair. Their seconds stood by, silent. Their sisters, Mara and Moira, watched from behind their veils; identical statues of some impassive saint.

Harmon's face was blank. Bored. His arm swung two degrees to the right.

Luc's calm mask cracked. He screamed.

"You killed Tan, you rat bastard!"

The brothers' guns spat twin beams of fire. Harmon's look of surprise boiled away in bloody light.

Sleep boiled away into a dull ache.

Luc groaned, eyes still closed. What the ratfuck had he imbibed last night? He had gone with Praetus to the Silk Scarf... Praetus had taken one of the girls to a private room, while he had found one who knew how to dance.

Damnation, it was getting worse. He felt like he'd been stabbed in the back of the neck.

They'd left the Scarf. He'd been... mostly sober at that point. They'd gone back to Praetus' place for a nightcap.

And now he was lying on a cold, hard surface, in a pool of something wet and sticky.

Luc's eyes snapped open and he saw red. Blood. His? Had he been taken by an assassin? Revenge for his brother, or from house Morndion?

His hand went to the nape of his neck. No wound. He staggered to his feet.

Praetus' dining room. He'd been on the floor, lying in the blood that had run off the table. Praetus was on the table. Someone had taken a knife to him. Taken their time. Taken off his skin in swathes and curves and strange patterns, carved away his flesh and strewn the bits around him.

Luc leaned on the table and looked down at the dead dilletante. The rumble of men running in heavy boots was getting closer; he wished they'd be a bit quieter, his head was still killing him.

The double doors crashed open, and a dozen armored Arbiters rushed in, shouting commands and pointing large guns at him.

Well, a bad situation was no excuse for rudeness. "Ah, gentlemen, I'm pleased you're here." He pointed at the corpse on the table. "There's been a crime."

They were on him with manacles and truncheons.

Chapter 3

Luc sat in a hard, gray chair in a cold, gray room. He shifted in his scratchy gray prisoner's jumpsuit and sighed. Across the steel table from him was the hard-faced officer with the dead eyes; Isen. Behind him, smelled but not seen, loomed the ugly brute that the Arbiter had called Varn.

Isen was speaking. There was something unnerving about how infrequently he blinked. "So, you're Luc Fiend Ducassius? Fiend, hmm?"

"Yes. It's a dialect title from the nobility of Plutarch's Rock. It indicates that I am a son of the last Lord Cassius, but not the immediate heir. The female form is Siend. It derives from the High Gothic term filial, and..."

"Shut it. And you claim you arrived on planet six weeks ago?"

"Indeed. I've been doing a tour of inspection of my family-corporation's many investments, since leaving Scintilla three years ago. I've been staying with my third cousin Praetus since arriving in Hive Urus."

A harsh laugh from behind him, and a huge arm reached past his head to slap a dataslate on the table. The slate bore a picture of a crowd, taken from a high angle. Centered in the frame was a man in a long black coat lined with white fur. Pale skin, hair striped black and white. Red eyes glancing up at the camera.

Luc looked up into Isen's dead eyes as the Arbiter spoke. "Matsuka, down in the lab, found that in the records. It shows you arriving on planet six months ago. You've been busy since then. Fourteen dead, now. Sliced them up with those knives we found in your coat. After you stick them with your needles and pump them full of paralytic, of course."

Isen leaned forward, eyes unblinking. Luc leaned back. "Well, your little hobby's done now. Time to talk. Cooperate and we'll kill you clean."

Luc took a deep breath. "I take it from your accusations that you haven't found who killed my friend. I furthur take it that you think me a skulking cutthroat who kills with knives and poison. Mister Investigator, when I want to kill a man, I tell him so. I let him choose the weapons. And then I shoot him, face to face, before witnesses. I assure you, Mister Investigator, that I arrived on world six weeks ago, and could not possibly have been involved in any of your killings that occured before then."

"The picture says otherwise, Cassius."

"DuCassius. And the picture's timestamp must have been altered. I arrived on this world a month and a half ago, and my butler can prove it."

"That your man will lie for you speaks well of his loyalty, but lie to the Arbites and he dies."

Luc smiled. "My butler cannot lie, and is not a man. It is a servitor. It makes my coffee, folds my clothes, and keeps track of my appointments. Its cogitator will have recorded my whereabouts for, oh, at least a decade. Mister Investigator."

Isen stared at him for a long moment. Then he shoved back his chair with a screech, and he and Varn left the room.

In the corridor outside, they stared through the one-way glass at the captive nobleman.

Isen spoke first. "What's your call, Varn?"

Varn snorted. "Stuck up little whoreson. Kill 'im."

"You think he did it?"

"Eh, sure, whatever. Let's kill 'im and call this one done. We need one in the win column when we report to the Inquisitor. Especially after that shit on Cosflame. Which wasn't my fuckin' fault."

"No one said it was, Varn." Isen reached out and tapped a finger on the glass, three times. In the cell, Luc raised an eyebrow and looked around, then went back to quietly singing to himself. "Let's go bring in the servitor."

Chapter 4

No one on Baraspine lived under the open sky. The cities were great armored domes, and outside the wind whipped and wailed, hurricane-force and filled with tiny, glass-sharp mineral shards. The winds of Baraspine can strip a man to bone in seconds.

No one in Baraspine lived under the open sky, but the nobles could afford the illusion. The dome over the nobles' quarter was blue, and synthetic sunlight shone down from spotlights. Birds sang.

The squadcar hummed up the drive, rolling to a stop before the double doors of the estate of the late Praetus Castella. Two of the hive security force, blue-uniformed Gendarmes, saluted as Isen and Varn approached.

The Guardsman and Arbiter marched together down the plush, carpeted halls. As the turned the corner into the guest wing, a door swung closed ahead of them.

The two men broke into a run. From behind the door came the unmistakable hiss-crack of a laspistol.

Isen slammed into the door. He tried the handle- locked. "Varn!"

Isen spun out of the way as the huge guardsman thundered past, bellowing a battle-cry. The door cracked in half, priceless wood from lightyears away splintering under their boots as they rushed into the room. A four-armed servitor in a black and white uniform lay on the floor, leaking black fluid from the smoking hole in its head. The window was open, the curtains swinging.

Varn didn't stop moving. He dove out, dropped a half-dozen meters, landed in a crouch among tilled earth and torn flowers. He looked left and right, grinning. A figure in a gray cloak was sprinting away. Laughing with the joy of the hunt, Varn gave chase.

They rounded the corner of the mansion, Varn's boots tearing great chunks out of the manicured lawn. The cloaked man turned, loosing a volly of las fire. Varn cursed and dove for cover. The man ducked into a covered passage. Varn lept up and followed.

Varn was snarling with bloodlust as he sprinted the length of the passage. By his reckoning, the man was making for the front entrance. Las fire ahead- the Gendarmes? He emerged from the tunnel, shielding his eyes against the artificial daylight. From the bushes on the other side of the driveway burst a monocycle, the cloaked man banking hard toward the road. Varn ran to the squadcar, wrenched the door open, and stabbed the ignition switch.

The vehicle described a neat half-circle as the right front wheel came off. Varn clambered out, cursing vociferously. When Isen arrived, he was staring bitterly at the axle, three-quarters severed by precise las fire.

Isen was panting. "Varn... that's the fifth vehicle you've wrecked since Iocanthos.

"Not my fuckin' fault."

The two Gendarmes approached cautiously, looks of bafflement on their faces. Isen rounded on them. "Why in the name of the Emperor and all his saints didn't you stop him?"

The shorter of the two saluted nervously. "Sir! Because he... he was an Arbiter, sir! Arrived just before you! Thought you were together, sir!"

Chapter 5

Agrona Warwick didn't dream. Agrona Warwick didn't sleep. She sat on the steel floor of the utility corridor, and felt the hum of the city's life buzz through her. The hum was a symphony, and she focused on the instruments one by one.

The deep, distant thump of Air Cycler 09, it's ancient machine spirit toiling as it had for a thousand years, and would for a thousand more. The rattling of the cargo elevators, up, up, up, pause, down, down, down pause. The pulsing, fading, ever-changing melody of the groundcar traffic, each machine charting its own course, each part of the greater music.

Agrona Warwick felt them all, vibrating up to her through strut and support and steel plate, and in them she felt the touch of the Omnissiah.

Another buzz broke her reverie. Her comm. She stood, gathering her red robe about her, and listened to the voice of her Magos, as he told her of her new duty.

One of her brethren in the Adeptus Mechanicus had been murdered. She would discover why.

The machine spirits sang to her. Swiftly they carried her to the scene of the crime. High in the hive, near the shuttle bays, was the compound of Adonicus Air Systems; civilians who, with the guidance, assistance, and oversight of the Mechanicus, birthed great flying machines. Machines whose noble fate was to soar high atop the killing winds of Baraspine, flying from hive to hive, tying the world together. She entered.

Agrona entered the sacred construction bay and was appalled. Men in uniforms swarmed and scurried, men of weak flesh, ignorant of divinity. She made for a cluster of them, marked as superior in rank.

They were arguing loudly. She interrupted them. "Greetings, fleshbeings. I am Agrona Warwick of the great Adeptus Mechanicus. One of ours, an enlightened brother blessed with a measure of true flesh, has fallen to the killer you have so far failed to capture. I will oversee your investigation, assist you with my superior intellect and skills, and ensure that holy secrets of the Mechanicus are not disturbed by those without the theological training to properly comprehend them."

The group stared at her for a moment in silence. Then a smallish man in an Arbites uniform threw up his hands. "Fine! Wonderful! Emperor damn it, if every agency who loses a man wants in on this investigation, so be it!" He pointed to a thin man in white robes, who was fiddling with a dataslate. "Auditor DeCarabas, I don't give a damn that a junior tax-collector was a victim, and I sure as hell don't see how having an Administratum quillpusher around could do anything but trip us up, but you've got a letter from the planetary governor, so fuck it, you're working with Isen." He pointed to a young man in a fur-trimmed coat, who was looking about in undisguised curiosity. "DuCassius, I can't release you because you're tied up in this somehow, and I can't throw you in a cell at the station until we know who framed you. You're in Isen's custody." He jabbed a finger toward Agrona. "You might actually be some use, but this is an Arbites investigation and it stays that way until I say otherwise. You're working under Isen." He turned, finally, to a man in a blue uniform hung with gold braid. "You... Ahem. Commissioner, I appreciate your eagerness to commit your resources to solving these killings. I appreciate that, within the Gendarmes, you outrank everybody. But the Adeptus Arbites outrankes the Gendarmes, so kindly get your men the fuck out of my crime scene!"

The Arbiter stormed off, followed closely by the Commissioner, still arguing. Those who remained began talking in low voices. Agrona pushed past them to get a better look at what lay beyond.

She made the sign of the cog, and her respirator paused. The murdered techpriest lay on the steel floor of the construction bay, surrounded by a rust-red stain. He had been stripped of his robes, then stripped of his true flesh, his implants torn from him and smashed, portions of skin cut away, augmetic organs removed and destroyed.

Something was wrong. More wrong than murder. She could feel it in the hum of the hive, in the vibrations coming up through her feet, in the touch of the Machine God.

She picked up a broken mechadendrite and stared at it. It's steely shine was marred, all along it's length, by incised words and symbols. Symbols no faithful servant of the Omnissiah should ever look upon, let alone have carved into their true flesh.

The marks were dimmed by wear. The armature must have born its blasphemy for years.

She stood. "This man was a heretic."

The men behind her went silent.

The man in the black and white coat spoke up. "Well, I suppose your next move is clear then."

Isen growled. "What the hell are you talking about, DuCassius?"

"Well, if the victims are corrupted... You mentioned earlier that one of the dead was Calliope Knowles, yes? Minor noblewoman? I knew of her. It's imperitive that we investigate her at once. If she was a heretic-"

"Get to the point, Luc."

"Lady Knowles was known for her charity. She operated an orphanage."

Chapter 6

"So, Sister Magara, having heard about you losing your noble benefactor, it occured to me that this was an excellent opportunity for House Cassius to make an investment in your children's futures."

The wizened woman glared across her desk at Luc, flanked by the men he had introduced as his bodyguard, secretary, and castellan.

"And so it seemed passing strange when we arrived at your orphanage and found it sans orphans. No children at all. Rather odd, you'll agree."

The old woman leaned forward and shuffled the piles of paper on her desk. "Lady Knowles death was... a tragedy. We've had to suspend our operation. All the children have been sent to new lodgings."

"Ahh, of course, of course. Where, exactly?"

"Various. Various." The woman coughed, and shuffled more papers.

"Sir?" The thin man with the dataslate leaned toward Luc and whispered in his ear.

Luc smiled. "Yes, I had almost forgotten. What would I do without you." He turned and flashed a charming grin at the elderly matron. "Another appointment to attend to. Busy, busy, busy, thank you for your time, my people will be in touch." He rose, spun, and the four trooped out of the office.

*********

At the Arbites station, Auditor DeCarabas sat at a table covered with blank papers. His pen flew. One after the other, he filled them with text, upside down.

Isen and Luc sat beside him, reading the papers as he finished. Varn, illiterate and bored, leaned against the door.

Luc frowned. "'And joyously did they rend her flesh, and their phalli did glisten with her blood, and with their voices and bodies they gave praise to the Prince of Excess.' While my memory of the Book of Saints is far from perfect, I don't think the copy I learned from had this passage."

Varn snarled. "Witchraft an' heresy. Let's go back there and blow the old bitch's head off. Where's that cog girl?"

Isen sighed. "Delivering the last victim's body to the mechanicus, for them to deal with. Well, no shortage of leads now. We'll have to investigate every victim, every donor to the orphanage..."

"Perhaps later, Investigator." Luc stood, holding forth a scrap of paper. "A receipt, from Kylos Shipping, for the transport of three hundred individuals. Cargo class."

*********

Intelligencer Whites sighed. He had finally gotten rid of the damn priests. Their man had been murdered months ago, and they still demanded to be kept informed of every move in the investigation. The hum of the hive had faded as the daycycle passed midnight, but he had work to do yet.

There was a rap on the door, and Investigator Isen marched in.

"Evening, Isen. Any progress today?"

Isen snapped his heels together. "Yes, Intelligencer, but I'm not here to report."

"Hmm?"

"I'm here to request some men and equipment. Riot Armor, heavy weapons, tear gas and gasmasks, a riot squad, a Valkyrie assault transport and an unmarked shuttle. And Varn needs new fatigues; his old ones are a bit bloodstained."

"What? Dammit, Isen, fill me in!"

"Yes sir. Luc!"

Luc Fiend DuCassius stuck his head in the open door. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Luc, bring Intelligencer Whites up to speed."

"Ah, gladly." Luc strode into the room and cleared his throat. "We investigated the orphanage run by victim 13, Calliope Knowles. We discovered a distressing quantity of foul heresy and no children. We discovered that the children had been routed through Kylos Shipping, Lord Nestor Royce-Kylos' company. We've spent the day investigating, interrogating, and in Varn's case pulverising our way up their chain of command. You have a number of middle managers in the cells and infirmary, by the way. In the process we discovered ties between Kylos Shipping and several of the other victims, and also heresy. For example, Lord Royce-Kylos recently secretly arranged for the construction of a 500-meter flying station from Adonicus Air Systems, which the deceased techpriest, a filthy heretic, helped construct. Our investigation was halted one step away from Lord Royce-Kylos himself, at his personal assistant. The assistant has been abducted by an arbiter; Matsuka, we're fairly certain, as he seems to have gone missing. So it seems likely Matsuka was your murderer, and your rogue Arbiter, and the man who framed me and sullied my good name. So we're off to arrest him."

Whites blinked. "And for that you need..."

"The Valkyrie and riot squad and so forth, yes. Matsuka has taken a shuttle. He is likely making for Lord Royce-Kylos' secret giant airship, where an orgy of unspeakable heresy is shortly to begin. It is full of armed cultists, corrupt nobles, and orphans. While his mental state is difficult to judge, we believe he will attempt to kill absolutely everyone and blow everything up."

"And you..."

"We're going in after him."

Chapter 7

The killing winds of Baraspine screamed around the hull of the shuttle. Varn sat, strapped into his seat, strapped into his armor. Bolter tied down to his right. Heavy stubber, lovely thing, tied down to his left. Mono-edged axe, sheath on, cradled in his hands. The shuttle shook, a toy for the spiteful winds to play with. Eyes half-open, Varn daydreamed.

Varn dreamed of the smell of smoke.

He was home, on Dusk, haunted hell-world, and a child again, sitting crosslegged by the fire in his grandmother's hut. She was telling him a teaching-story.

"... and the Feathered Man shrieked, and vanished in a puff of swampfire. So if ever the Feathered Man should whisper at the door, you chant the story of the Sky-father, how he was strong and good and slew the greatest of monsters. And never shall you trust a man with nine fingers..."

Varn sniffed. The smoke changed, became the burning of hardwood and man-fat. He stood by the burning ruin, Brother Domis to his right, the Lord Inquisitor to his left, axe in his hand. The thing crashed and roared within the flames, still alive, after all they had done, still alive and hateful and trying to kill him. He raised his axe.

The smoke turned sour. Acrid. The cathedral was crumbling, and Domis was screaming. Arbiter Isen was down, broken, arms twisted all wrong. The crazy old man was rolling on the ground, the wierd purple warp-fire tore at his robes and flesh. The old man had charged the demonhost alone, with his little mercy blade, and plunged it to the hilt in the fallen Seer's chest. The Seer burned as he died, and the unnatural flames had reached out to his slayer. Domis writhed, and screamed the praises of the Emperor.

Not his fault, really. None of the things that happened, there or on damned Cosflame, were Varn's fault.

He opened his eyes. Isen was looking back at him and speaking in his comm. "Alright, we're in sight of the airship. The Valkyrie is going to hail them, demand they let them land and hand over Matsuka. That's the distraction. We land on top of the airship, break in, and investigate. We find Royce-Kylos, we arrest him. We find Matsuka, we arrest him. Anyone who fires upon us or gets in our way is guilty of obstructing the most holy Inquisition, sentence death, to be carried out immediatly. Varn will be rear guard, then Miss Warwick. Auditor Decarabas in the center, collecting evidence. DuCassius and I lead. Load up, armor up, stay together. Gasmasks and nightgoggles on."

Isen turned to the pilot's seat beside him, where Luc was gripping the control stick and smiling fiercely. "Sure you can land in this, Luc?"

Luc grinned. "I've flown in these winds for sport, Investigator. Granted, the skiff handled a bit better than this brick. But we're well above the worst of it. Well, look at that!"

Isen stared out the viewport. Ahead of them, through the blowing grit, was the broad bulge of the airship, floating above the eye of a hurricane of needle-sharp debris like a steel stormcloud. The shuttle swooped toward it.

The voice of Intelligencer Whites crackled through the comm. "Swift Sword one here. We've got their attention, but they're playing dumb. We're demanding landing clearance. And... Shit. Just got word from the station that the Gendarmes are moving out en masse. Their transports are headed this way. Go, go, go!"

The shuttle touched down atop the airship with a thump, and slid to the side, stopping with a jerk as the magnetic clamps on the landing gear engaged. The rear door opened, and five figures staggered out onto the surface, leaning into the wind, moving slowly in magnetic boots.

Luc stumbled. His xenomesh armor went rigid wherever it was struck by blowing shards. Barely able to move, he dropped to his knees, leaning against a tall steel ridge that crested the dome.

His gloved hands found the edge of something. His voice crackled across the comm channel. "Pardon me, Miss Warwick, but could you get this hatch open?"

They closed the access hatch behind them, shutting out the screaming wind. The narrow maintenance passage curved away to either side.

Luc sprayed an arrow on the hatch. The luminescent paint glowed in the gloom. "Well, gentlemen... left? Left it is."

They came to an intersection, where the narrow passage crossed a hallway hung with tapestries. They turned toward the center of the ship, flanked by embroidered images of death and sex. The hallway ahead of them echoed with chanting.

The chanting stopped. In its wake came moaning and laughter. Applause. Screaming. Children, screaming.

Luc broke into a run.

Chapter 8

At the end of the hallway were wide double doors of dark wood, engraved with images of rutting and torture. Luc carefully pushed them open and peered through the crack.

The room beyond was a theater a stadium, in three tiers. Hundreds of cultists cavorted in the dim light.

On the top, outer tier, finely dressed men and women in carnival masks dined, and laughed, and looked down at the entertainment below.

On the second tier were the torturers and their victims. Luc was unsure which were which. They moaned, screamed, and cackled with delight; they whipped each other, tore their flesh with hooks, and carved each other and their wailing victims with barbed knives. There were children there, some bound and struggling, some bloody and unmoving.

The bottom tier was the orgy pit. Sweating men. Glassy-eyed women. Crying children.

In the very center was a raised dias. A man in an ornate mask, naked beneath his open robe, raised his arms and gestured with a twisted blade. He stood before a bloody altar, on which was bound a man in the shredded remains of an Arbiter's uniform. Around him danced four nude women, gorgeous, strange, and perfect.

Luc reached down to his belt. He had three pistols; two fine Palantines, and his single-shot Valantine duelling laz. He drew the Valantine. Duellist's stance. A straight line from his eye, down his arm, along the barrel of his Valantine, across thirty yards of maddened revelers, to the masked man's head.

His gun spat fire. The masked man's head boiled away in the bloody light. The room erupeted in shouts and screams as Varn pushed past him and began throwing tear gas grenades.

Luc drew a palantine and ran forward. The torturers surged toward the door, bare and bleeding men and women pulling themselves up the ledge to the top tier. Luc dove through them, dodging the crack of a spiked whip, twisting away from a jagged knife.

Behind him, Isen's shotgun was bellowing, it's muzzle flare lighting the spreading caustic mist. "Luc, what in the Emperor's name are you doing?"

Luc dropped down a level. A swung iron bar, crusted with blood, caught him off balance and knocked him to his knees. He shot his assailant between the legs and scrambled forward, yelling into his comm. "The children are down here!"

Varn bellowed a warcry as he swung his heavy stubber forward. It roared loud and long, tearing into the surging wave of heretics.

Luc dropped to the bottom level. Naked, sweating forms reached for him blindly, their eyes running with tears. He writhed away from them and tried to get his bearings. The four dancers were mounting the dias. The Arbiter, Matsuka, had one hand free and was reaching for the fallen leader's blade.

Isen was surrounded. A huge cultist covered in grotesque tattoos swung a chain at him, wrapping it around his arm and pulling him off balance. Isen drew his saber, parryed a wild thrust from a hag with a red-hot iron spike, then sweeping upward to gut her. "Luc, there's too damn many of them! Hundreds! We don't have enough fucking bullets!"

Luc stumbled forward, kicking at the hands that grasped at his legs. He screamed at the figure on the alter. "Matsuka! Did you frame me? Did you kill them?" The swaying, beautiful dancers turned toward Luc, and he shot one in the chest. She staggered back, pale flesh burning away from something lavender underneath. She smiled like a snake.

Arms wrapped around Luc's waist, and he fired point-blank into an extatic face. Matsuka had one hand free. He balled it into a fist and brought it down, hard, on a lump in the skin of his chest.

A distant explosion echoed over the gunfire and screams. The floor shook and began to tilt as secondary explosions rattled the airship. Matsuka laughed, and began ripping at the stitches of a ragged cut on his abdomen. His fingers emerged bloody and clutching a grenade. He dropped it to the floor, and it began to glow. Two of the dancers ripped him off the altar, his bones snapping as they pulled him out of the restraints.

"Ratfucking bastard!" Luc screamed. The grenade was glowing bright white, and was burning its way into the floor like a hot ball-bearing through tallow.

Varn's gun barrel was glowing red, still firing continuously, shredding the oncoming tide of maddened humanity. Still they kept coming. Somewhere in the crowd to his left, Isen screamed as the man with the chain dislocated his arm. Varn was beginning to worry. Then a volley of autogun fire rang out behind him. He turned to see the techpriest, Warwick, falling. Blue-uniformed Gendarmes in riot gear turned their guns toward him. He cursed, and dove to the side.

In the pit, Matsuka's maddened laughter turned to screams as the swarm tore at him. Two of the dancers moved toward Luc, their eyes still clear and smiling in the burning fog, their strange grace promising and sinister. Luc pulled a flash grenade and threw it straight up, a moment before the two grabbed his arms with vise-like fingers. They pulled him to the ground as the room was bathed in blinding light.

Luc struggled. Hands held his arms, his legs. Hands pulled at his armor, trying to strip it off him to get at his flesh. A fat man got his boot off and began attempting to mate with it. The dancers bent over him. One licked his cheek with a sinuous tongue. He looked up, past the porcelain faces with their deep black eyes, into the swirling fog.

DeCarabas, the tax assessor from the administratum, the records man, was standing above him with a flame pistol.

Blazing promethium washed over Luc, and the grasping hands released him. He scrambled to his feet, wincing at the searing pain. He couldn't feel his bare foot at all, though. He doubted that was a good sign.

DeCarabas went down under a swarm of blind, nude bodies. Luc drew both Palantines and began firing into the mass. The burned dancers were writhing on the floor, tearing away their charred skin, changing and warping. Luc turned as they rose, and found himself frozen. Their skin was lavander, and glistened as if oiled. Their hair twisted and flowed as if floating in some otherworldly current. The were the most beautiful beings he had ever seen. He was distantly aware that his pants were far too tight.

One of the glorious creatures crouched, flexing its magnificent legs, then lept high and away through the mist. Luc thought his heart would break at her departure, but the other walked toward him, hips swaying, her long tongue caressing her breasts. Luc stumbled toward her.

Varn had his back against the wall beside the door, bloodied axe in hand and corpses at his feet. Isen staggered toward him, leaving bloody footprints from a leg wound, arm hanging limp at his side. A dozen Gendarms were firing into the crowd. One went down with a knife in his neck.

Isen's breathing was ragged. "Varn, they on our side?"

Varn laughed madly. "Fuck no, they blew the coggirl away and took a shot at me. I hate people who shoot at me!"

Isen ducked as a nude man swung a spiked metal cock at him, and yelled into his comm. "Mission is fucked, get to the shuttle! Whites, can you hear me? Luc, taxman?" Static answered.

Graceful as a swan, a daemonette landed in the midst of the Gendarms. Their guns fell silent as they stared at her, and all about her half-blind cultists fell to their knees in adoration. The demon took a moment to spin in place, accepting the adoration, and then ripped a Gendarm's head off with her claws.

Varn stared at the pretty, pretty thing all covered in blood. Then Isen grabbed his arm, shouting, and they ran for the door. Behind them, the Gendarms broke and ran as the dancer had her way with those too slow in fleeing.

Luc walked forward in a daze. The beautiful creature was beckoning to him.

this seems really cool and all but can we get a short summary of what actually happened at the end? Without any introduction I find it fuck-all hard to follow along.

Luc walked forward in a daze. The beautiful creature was beckoning to him. She was reaching out to him with her lovely talons. He stepped into her embrace. She wrapped her arms arond him and lowered her perfect face to his neck. Her tongue wriggled down his shirt and licked his chest. Her mouth opened wide, revealing rows of ravishing needle-sharp teeth.

Luc stepped on something. The something whimpered. He glanced down. It was a little girl, curled into a ball, crying.

Luc Fiend DuCassius ducked out of the demon's grasp, shot it in the stomach, grabbed the girl, and ran.

Luc looked frantically for an exit. There, under the central dias, a trap door. He dropped the girl and heaved it open. Below were stairs, down into the dark. Luc screamed into his Comm. "DeCarabas! Still alive, old man? Where are you?"

A shout to his left. DeCarabas was fighting in a pile of corpses. His left arm's armor had been torn off, and he was bleeding from dozens of bites. His right leg was twisted sideways. Two cultists were holding him down, and one was pulling at his helmet. Luc leveled his pistols and burned down the madmen, then dived to the side as a devil-woman lept at him from behind.

Luc thought furiously. There was a way out of this alive, for DeCarabas and the girl at least.

i love me some daemonettes early in the mornin'

He holstered his weapons and raised his hands. "Wierd sisters, hold! I have an offer for you!"

Shark-smiles turned toward him. The nearest, with three dark eyes and her hair a mass of writhing tendrils, spoke in a hissing, smokey voice. "And what would you offer us, mortal?"

Luc picked the girl up under one arm, and began edging his way toward DeCarabas. "My family... we're merchants. We sell food, luxuries, and entertainment on three hundred worlds. I could take you wherever you desire, spread your worship throughout the sector!"

DeCarabas rose, leaning heavily on Luc. The demon laughed. "Ohh, little mortal, little morsel, distance in this world means nothing to us. Your offer is... paltry."

DeCarabas coughed. "I... have an offer. For our safe passage out of here, and no hold on us after."

The demons closed in, the three moving in a slow circle around the two men and the girl. "And what, old man, would you offer for such a favor?"

"The location of Cassandra's Grimoire."

Their hissing laughter went silent. "You know such a thing?"

DeCarabas winced. "I do. And will tell you. Once... we're at the shuttle."

In the bowels of the airship, there was a grinding, and a thump. The deck slowly tilted another few degrees, naked bodies tumbling down the incline. Surrounded by the demonettes, DeCarabas leaning on Luc, Luc carrying the girl, they slowly staggered through the door and down.

*********

In the shuttle, Isen flipped through comm channels. Static, static, screaming, static. He turned in his seat to see how Varn was faring. The big Guardsman had strapped the wounded techpriest into a crash couch. Other crash couches held Intelligencer Whites, gut-wounded and unconscious, and Gendarme Commissioner Reaz, dead and covered in occult tattoos.

The comm crackled to life. "...near the outer hull now, following the marks I made on the walls. The main shuttle bay's destroyed, Matsuka's bomb I suppose. I say again, anyone out there?"

Isen turned to the console and began warming up the shuttle's engines. "Isen here, with Varn! Luc, that you? We're at the shuttle, where the warp are you?"

"At the hatch to the topside. DeCarabas with me. And... some others. Need Varn to bring out one of the metal crates from the back of the shuttle."

"A crate? The airship's going down, dammit, stop fucking around and get out here!"

"I've got a little girl here. Can't take her out in the wind, it'd flay her. Bring me a crate."

Varn leaned over Isen's shoulder and bellowed in the comm. "Stupid rich boy! Everyone is dying! Everyone but us, we leave now! You can't save them!"

"I can save this one!"

Cursing under his breath, Varn grabbed a crate under one arm and his bolter in the other. Isen opened the back doors, and Varn stomped out into the killing wind.

Don't stop!

The airship was sinking, down into the perpetual hurricane. Fragments ricocheted off his armor, and swirling grit reduced visibility to a few meters.

There was the damn hatch, open. He could see the richboy and the taxman just inside.

And standing just outside, splinter-wind carressing her skin, was a daemonette. Varn cursed, raised his bolter, and fired. The demon ducked, grinning, digging its claws into the hull, then rushed toward him.

Inside hatch, in the narrow access passage, Luc and DeCarabas stood back to back, the girl on the ground between them. To either side, a beautiful manifestation of self-destruction.

The scream of bolter fire rose above the howling wind. The demons hissed. "Trechery! Tell us, mortal, tell us now, the tome, the book, the grimoire, where?"

DeCarabas choked, spat blood inside his mask. "No... nowhere. It is nowhere, we destroyed it."

The demons screamed. DeCarabas reached past Luc with his flame pistol and bathed wicked beauty in pure flame. Luc turned, pistols raised, as the other fiend ripped DeCarabas' arm off in a spray of blood. The old man gasped in pain and fell. Luc leveled his Palantines. Two straight lines, from his eyes, down his arms, along the barrels of his guns, acrolls half a meter of open space, to the wide, black, liquid eyes of the demon. Eyes like pools of dark water. Eyes you could die in.

His guns spat twin beams of fire.

Chapter 9

"Really, Luc, it's no trouble."

"I assure you, mister DeCarabas, it would have been for me. You swim the seas of paperwork as if you were born to it; others are likely to sink."

The two sat together on the veranda of Praetus Castella's estate, basking in the artificial sun.

"Giving your family the reins of the remains of Kylos Shipping, and the other businesses, that was a favor. This, this is nothing." DeCarabas reached for his wineglass with his augmetic arm, and clumsily knocked it over. "Oh, dear. Shame to waste that vintage."

"More in abundance where that came from." Luc smiled. "I must say, I'm having a much easier time with my new foot than you are with that arm."

"Well, yes, but it can write at blinding speed." DeCarabas coughed, and looked back toward the house. A small, dark-haired girl stood in the doorway staring at him. He raised a hand to wave at her, and she ran back into the mansion. "She's... still not talking?"

"I have no intention of rushing her, my friend. All in good time."

"I suppose." DeCarabas turned toward the small table to his left, strewn with paper. "Oh, and what was the name you wanted on the adoption papers?"

"Tan Siend DuCassius, fourth in line of succession to the lordship of the great and profitable House Cassious." Luc grinned. "My daughter's name is Tan."

***FIN***

Very entertaining! Running another game soon?

Very nice. Running another game soon?

>>3059681
>>3059687

Woops. Ignore one of those.

LONG GAME WAS LONG

But a hell of a lot of fun.

So, that was probably really fucking confusing and I owe you some answers. Ask em, I'll try to clarify.

Basic info:

Game was Dark Heresy. House rules minimal.

Game occurred on Sundays, from 2 to 11 or so, barring late starts, late ending, food breaks, and holy shit is Sin City on tv what the hell man breaks.

PCs were all fairly low level; rank 2 to 5, I think. They were:

Nilus Isen: Arbiter! Pretty nice guy! Filthy heretic, due to demonic pacts during the previous adventure!

Varn, just Varn: Savage Guardsman from the downright horrible planet of Dusk! His I.D. card reads Varn j. Varn.

Agrona Warwick: Techpriest or SEXpriest? Sadly, she joined late and couldn't make it to every session.

Luc Fiend DuCassius: Noble-born Scum, played by yours truly! I suppose that accounts for part of why he comes off so well in the retelling, but honestly it's mostly accurate and I really was the only one who gave a shit about 'dem orphans.

Brother Domis, who's referred to by a couple of the characters, was my character before Luc. He was an insanely pious mind-cleansed sanctioned psyker. Then, during a thoroughly botched investigation on Cosflame, he went Daemonhost and... kind of doomed the entire planet. And forced Isen to make a pact. And sent Varn running across the desert buck-naked except for a stolen bolter. Nudity+stolen weapon is now referred to as Varn's "standard uniform."

Now, here's the real question.

LUC has received loot [TRAUMATIZED LITTLE GIRL]

What do I do, /tg/?

>>3059777
I'd think the answer was obvious: provide her with the best care possible and encourage her to learn, to shoot, and to cook.

>>3059715
>fairly low level
>rank 5

whut?

>>3059909

Varn hit rank 5 by the end. He's a bit ahead of the rest of us.

>>3059885

You'll have to be more specific. Are you suggesting I raise her as a proper noblewoman, so that I can marry her off advantageously; as a cunning businesswoman to look after my assets when I die; or as an assassin loyal only to me, to protect me from my many rivals and enemies?

>>3059936

all of the above.

>>3059885 here
I agree with >>3059985

>>3059223
>>3059230

I remember this now. The thread became a discussion on augmented asses.

It is a sin that this thread is not getting more attention.

I remember reading the first part of this back on the old FFG forums and then ignoring further updates. Which was foolish, given how much I enjoyed reading through all of that. You've got a talent for writing. Was the adept an NPC, by the way, or an unacknowledged 5th player? And what chance is there of the adoptive child turning out to be tainted beyond belief?

TL;DR

Well written. Will there be further adventures of your... Ahm... Unusual crew?

>>3060890
Here's hoping so. It's always a pleasure to read about a good DH game.

*Yawn* good morning, and a bump for the day shift.

>>3060802

>>Was the adept an NPC, by the way, or an unacknowledged 5th player?

The Adept was an NPC. He got a little close to being a DMPC, due to being so damn useful, but didn't quite cross that line due to following our lead and winding up needing to be rescued.

>>And what chance is there of the adoptive child turning out to be tainted beyond belief?

Well, let's see... her birthplace is completely unknown, she was raised for at least a few years at a CHAOS ORPHANAGE, and when I picked her up she'd just been raped catatonic by Slaneshii cultists. So... pretty damn good.

Gonna be loads of fun if the other characters try to put her down, or she grows tentacles and 7 extra eyes, and Luc is all FUCK YOU SHE'S STILL MY DAUGHTER.

>Chaos Orphange

Oh lawds, institutionalized child molestation.

>>3061102

She's gonna grow up chaos tainted. Pic related.

>>3061218

I'd do her.

>>3061102
Hey, since you're playing a noble born character, lemme ask you this.

Did your magnificent wealth go towards anything besides buying fancy guns?

Since this is the only DH thread about I'll post the new Disciples of the Dark Gods preview here.

>>3061340

I can't wait for this book. Gonna be awesome.

>>3061218
D'awwweh, she's so cute.

Bet she fucks like a tiger.

>>3061293

My magnificent wealth bought one fine gun, a Valentine duelling las. It's one point of damage less than a bolt pistol, but it only carries one shot before reload. Luc wasn't meant as a combat character, he's more of a face.

The rest of my money went toward xenomesh armor to protect me from assassination attempts (patterned like a fine waistcoat,) several bottles of fine Amasec, a butler-servitor, a personal servitor, a fancy chronometer, an elaborate grooming kit, and cufflinks.

>>3061340

Well glory god damn. I knew we were fucked last session when the GM pulled out the Tome of Corruption, but this is likely to be worse. I don't want to go to the Beast House. I don't want to go near the Beast House. I want to drop large quantities of promethium on the Beast House from an aircraft.

>>3061380
>>3061264

YOU STAY AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER. I'M A NOBLE WITH TIES TO THE INQUISITION, I COULD TORTURE YOU TO DEATH IN THE STREET AND NO ONE WOULD STOP ME.

>>3061218

YOUNG LADY IF YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING OUT DRESSED LIKE THAT YOU HAVE ANOTHER THING COMING

And here's the second set of pages.

>>3059885

D'awww

Be careful, though. Pic related.

I do like how the cultist girl wears something that exposes the front of her panties.

>>3061381
>Loads of expensive lifestyle shit.

Congratulations, sir, you've spent your wealth well. All too often I see that particular origin as an excuse to buy the most obscenely powerful las/SP weapon listed.

>>3061400
feral shota bit the dog

>>3061410

Heh, wouldn't have mattered much if I did. 10 minutes into the game I got arrested and strip-searched by Arbites. Played the next four sessions unarmed. Glad I made a scheming fellowship-monkey.

This is all kinds of awesome.

Did the female Techpriest survive? I mean they got her aboard the shuttle, but while I've not played Dark Heresy, I hear it's pretty easy to die.

>>3061388
I THOUGHT CULTIST-CHAN'S DAD WAS FUCKING ABADDON!!!! SCOUT! THIS ASSHOLE IS TRYING TO RAPE YOUR GIRLFRIEND!!!!!

>>3061482
hmm kinda want. not sure if should want.

>>3061400
First I was like d'awwwwww
Then I was ZOMGWTFBBQ

>>3061482

We handed her over to the Adeptus Mechanicus. She was unconscious and leaking strange fluids, but her respirator was still whirring. She'll probably be fine, if her player manages to work out her schedule and come back.

>>3061490

White-trash Abaddon was a terrible father. She'll be better off with Daddy Warbucks here.

>>3061613
IS RAPE INVOLVED!!!??? IF IT IS I WILL FUCKING TEAR OFF YOUR DICK, AND THEN SCOUT WILL TEAR OFF YOUR DICK, AND WE'LL PUT YOUR TORN OFF DICKS ON YOUR FUCKING MOUTH AND MAKE THEM COME OUT YOUR ASSHOLE SO YOUR SHITTING DICKS AND BEING FUCKED IN THE ASS AT THE SAME TIME YOU PIECE OF DICKSHITTING DONKEY FUCK!!!!

>>3061634

Well, according to the story she was raised in an orphanage run by Slaanesh-cultists, and her new dad found her catatonic on the floor of an orgy-pit filled with writhing, coupling bodies.

So no, she's an untouched, pristine snowflake.

You were asking for how to raise your character's newfound duaghter, Leibowitz. Assuming that she doesn't immediately transmogrify into a bestial horror, I'd suggest raising her as a proper noblewoman, but one with some knowledge of her father's business.

This has a few advantages. She can take the role of "Headquarters Support" for your acolytes - in essence, a high-level multi-purpose Contact as described in the Inquisitor's Handbook. She will serve a narrative purpose in ensuring that Luc's businesses don't go bust while he's off gallivanting with the Inquisition and unable to check the stock tickers, and she can also shuffle some paperwork about to 'lose' equipment which can then be delivered to your party as supply drops, and provide a friendly bolthole if your party needs to lie low for a while. She could also be the helpful voice offering guidance on the comlink when you're in the midst of an infiltration.

If your DM is prone to surprising twists, and he's eyeing your daughter for some dreadful revelation, keeping her in this role also ensures that she stays in arm's reach and can be dealt with privily if she does eventually lapse into Chaotic oblivion - if she's married off she might spread taint. This could also lead to some interesting roleplay scenarios as the daughter is infuriated at how her father seems to never be able to quite completely trust her...

How does that all sound?

a little girl was raped???

where

>>3061700

Hmm... interesting suggestions. A few quibbles though.

First, she's about 7 at the moment. It'll be a while before she's up to running my business.

Second, she's seriously, seriously traumatized. She's still not talking to anyone, and she cringes away from anyone who comes near her.

Third, there's a player/character divide here. As a player, I'm almost certain she's chaos tainted. As a character, FUCK YOU SHE'S MY DAUGHTER AND I LOVE HER.

Anyway, unless I can bring her fully out of her shell, it'll be difficult to raise her as a graceful noble lady. It may be more advantageous to train her to focus her trauma into hurting others. Child assassin ahoy!

>>3061702

In the butt.

>>3061813

>It may be more advantageous to train her to focus her trauma into hurting others.

She's already seen too much pain, torment, and death. More than any child should see.

Why would you want to put her through more?

>>3061843

Because, sir, she is a DuCassius! I will not see my daughter grow into a helpless, sheltered victim, starting at the shadows of her memory and quivering in fear at noises in the dark!

There is beauty in the world, and there is pain. Hide from either and you hide from both! The sons and daughters of that great and lusty rogue trader Leanna Cassius fear no one and nothing, and any torment our persecutors inflict upon us, we return 100 fold and make a profit in the process!

A man framed me for murder, sullying my good name. He was raped to death by demons. A merchant lord of a vast corporation neglectfully allowed my future daughter to be abused. That man is dead, his allies are dead, his family is destitute, and I own his corporation.

When life gives you lemons, you sell it back a live grenade.

Well, OP, you have Inquisition contacts and alot of money. Mind Wiping seems like the best way to go about things. It's not like there's any personality you've gotten attached to, is there?

>>3061930

Hmm... that's actually an option.

Honestly, if she's been in one traumatic event I'd want her to work through it... but her entire life before I grabbed her was truly hellish.

Anyone know anything about the fluff on mind cleansing? Would you recommend it for a traumatized child?

>>3061997
As myself? Fuck no, you don't just repurpose people for your own ends.

As someone in the setting? It's an act of kindness. She may well have spent up to 3 years of her life in a Chaos-tainted orphanage and capped that all of a trauma that defies all attempts to quantify it's wrongness. Hell, even from the out of setting view point I can see how it'd be a merciful act. And this is before we consider the fact she has participated in a massive heretical ritual and probably Knows Too Much, even if she is still a kid. Pic related, it's some useful fluff.

>>3061340
>>3061390

Ehhh... I don't like it. Drug running, prostitution, there's a serious market for these things, which is why criminal gangs can become a serious concern.

I really don't see there being enough of a demand for banned alien bloodsports to make a group specializing in them as powerful and well-connected as described. It just doesn't make much sense.

It's pretty hard to make a xeno-based DH game that's not just run and gun. I mean, genestealer cult is pretty much your only option.

Anyone been in a DH game that wasn't chaos, demons, and heretics?

>>3062051
>I really don't see there being enough of a demand for banned alien bloodsports to make a group specializing in them as powerful and well-connected as described.

Why not? Ancient Rome enjoyed it's gladiatorial fights a great deal and humans are fascinated by violence. And that which is forbidden seems even more desirable because of it's status. What we have is an ancient organisation which caters to those desires to see *true* bloodsport as well supply rogue elements with some truly vicious beasts. There's good money in it. But over time the true nature of the organisation has changed; they're not just profiteers any more. The men and women in charge are twisted deviants who have decades, perhaps centuries of experience and are utterly obsessed with their work.

>>3062117

The problem is that bloodsports, people fighting to the death, are legal. The number of people willing to pay a hundred times the amount and risk the wrath of the inquisition to see a man fight an illegal xeno rather than another man or a legal xeno, while not zero, probably wouldn't be enough to sustain a business model.

>>3062151
Clearly you've never met the corrupt nobility dotted about on most planets of the Imperium.

And the difference between a legal xeno and an illegal one can be quite drastic. A legal xeno would be akin to a tamed bear. An illegal fight could feature something on the level of captured tyranids or even sentient xenoforms like eldar, orks and tau.

>>3062188
It's not you.
It's the character.
What would the dashing Luc Fiend DuCassius do? Would he really care about her and mindwipe her? Would he not give a shit and kick her to the curb? Or would he be Puritan enough to just take out his firearm and blast her brains out?

>>3062198
This, though I'm assuming the OP is typing quasi-IC. He seems like a fairly moral and upstanding person. For a noble, anyway. He risked loosing his life and soul to a pack of daemons to save this child, so I'm guessing whatever he decides won't be callous.

>>3062207
Then, for the girl's safety, he would have her mind wiped. Normal civilians seeing Daemons are usually executed. Just seeing them - let alone being chased by them in a Chaos orphanage.

>>3062198

Out of the two hundred children on that flying hell, Luc managed to save one. Just one, and it damn near killed him thrice over. He's not ditching her, and he's not killing her. She's his adopted daughter, and fourth in line to control House Cassius (While Luc is behind his creepy twin sisters Mara and Moira in the succession, they've, ahem, never shown an interest in men, so Luc's children are the future of the house.)

The question is which option is best for her; mind cleansing, trying to help her work through it, sending her to join the sororitas, what?

>>3062223

And let's not forget the rape pit.

>>3062229
Mind Cleansing would probably be the last resort. The Sororitas would probably turn her away if they knew want happened to her and she's possibly too traumatized for them to work with. They might just even purge her straight away. Helping her through it will be a long, trying and difficult task which may end in woe, but it's what a loving parent would do. Another thing to consider is how religious a man Luc is, and how much he'd feel a deeply religious upbringing would help her.

Our younger group member bought both Midnight and Dark Heresy as his first games he's gonna GM. He started some Midnight, and is reading the Dan Abnett novels about the Inquisition before mastering Dark Heresy.

I am SO playing an Imperial Guard. other classes are way too cool, I want to play the underdogs. Fuck yeah.

>>3062275
Guardsmen are only the underdogs in social and supernatural situations. In straight up combat they outclass most other careers quite handily, at least initially.

>>3062286

tell me more. I actually still dont really know what to play. Characters that looks cool in female version (i.e female tech-priest) are usually what I play, so I'd like to change for once.

>>3062306
Guardsmen start with Guard Flak Armour. This gives them 4 armour on every location (head, body, arms, legs). With average Toughness (30-something) they'll be reducing each hit they take by 7 damage (4 for armour, 3 for toughness). An autogun or lasgun does 1d10+3 damage, so at worst you'll take 6 damage and you'll probably have at least 12 wounds or so. And this is as you start out. My own game's Feral Guardsman has his armour, a Toughness Bonus of 4 and some 20 wounds and has taken punishment which would put any of his fellow acolytes deep into the ground. This is purely mechanics and survivability, but guardsmen are second only to tech-priests in terms of unkillability, and the latter doesn't have solid armour at the start of play.

Fluff wise....well, you're an Imperial Guardsman. Or possibly a ex-mercenary or some other sort of professional soldier. Assassins may be good at killing, but you're the master of fighting. It's not the only thing you'll be good at, but it's what you're best at.

>>3062306

If you want to play the underdog, go scum. My scum was pretty much a noble first and a scum second, I really twisted the archetype to fit my character idea.

Scum are a challenge to play. You're not a D&D rogue; assassins are the sneaky types with the bonus damage talents, and techpriests deal with locked doors and traps and all that sort of thing. Adepts have the knowledge skills. Scum have the advantage of... well... deceive, that's pretty much it.

In Dark Heresy, you play slightly-above-average people dealing with situations that would have most people calling for the Spess Mehreens. Scum takes that a step further; you're an impoverished petty criminal dealing with those situations. Scum are a challenge.

>>3062447
That they are, but they are most likely THE best at social situations, and they're a dab hand at investigation as well. Plus they get all sorts of underworld contacts which often prove invaluable in an investigation. They also get Medicae at Rank 2, which is something you wouldn't expect.

>>3062469

Depends on the GM and situation. Yes, their social skills are technically higher numerically... But people respect a priest because he's a priest. An arbiter, they respect the badge. A psyker, they're scared shitless of his mysterious powers (though this can backfire into a torches-and-pitchforks situation.) So, other classes should get large situational modifiers in certain situations.

Also, underworld contacts are no more useful than the Arbites contacts, Ministorum contacts, or Mechanicus contacts that arbiters, clerics, and techpriests have.. If anything, they're less useful.

>>3062513
You're right about the social benefits of various careers, but often you'll need to be going incognito. And the Scum gets access to nearly every single Peer talent if he goes down the more social route of the career. And hey, how hard is it to wear some clerical robes, clutch the symbol of the aquila and spout some lines from a prayer book?

As for the contacts, sure, the various Adepti will have know things and can pull strings. But underworld organisations may be in direct contact with the people you're looking for, or at least be generally more familiar with them than the people said heretics are trying to hide from.

>>3062564

Hmm. Good points.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: ANY DECEPTION IS PERMISSIBLE IN PURSUIT OF THE EMPEROR'S TRUTH.

>>3062272

Luc's not remotely religious; he pays lip service to the Imperial Creed as a matter of course. He didn't even believe in the supernatural before he almost got raped to death by daemonettes.

So, that's a vote for long, slow rehabilitation, and a vote for mind-cleansing.

Poor little Tan. The world's been hard to you. It's up to Luc to make you even harder.

Pic related; the heraldic colors of House Cassius are black, white, red, and silver. And, also, I'll be training her in fencing. And ballroom dancing, which I paid 100 xp for and am gonna use, dammit.

Turn her into a servitor.

>>3062729
You better teach her some shootan and cookan too . ;p

>>3062729
Congratulations. You've managed to acquire an adoptive daughter and begin training her without being remotely creepy about it. Surely a first for /tg/.

>>3063017

Well, how I acquired her was plenty creepy enough.

>>3062986

I'm a far better shootist than I am a cook. I generally eat at fine restaurants or have my servitor prepare a light repast.

...my servitor that got shot in the head. Damn.

A solution presents itself. I need a cook. She needs someone to teach her to be ladylike, rather than gentlemanly.

I'm getting MAIDS.

Who apparently object to my use of the Blather skill.

Pull off a Fenrisian on her.

Put her in a room, and drop a knife on the ground. See what she does with it. If she picks it up and attacks you, it is clear she is fit to be a Cassius!

Or at least, a Space Wolf.

>>3063123
I think saving a child from a depraved sex cult is far more Big Damn Heroes than it is seedy.

>>3063123
You, my good sir, are AMAZING.

>>3063128

Sir, Varn fills my frothing savage quota more than adequately.

She is fit to be a DuCassius if she attempts to sell me the knife in exchange for her freedom.

She is fit to lead the family if, three hours into the trial, I am attempting to sell her my cufflinks for HER to release ME.

Oh shit.

Tell me, do you play through the Internet, or at a table?

I´m asking because I just remembered a character I made for an IG forum roleplay. A Delta-Force-at-Mogadishu guardswoman whose regiment was from a planet that was pretty much France.

And she worked as a maid before enlisting.

If you play online, maybe there is a chance of me playing her? A maid with Guardswoman stats?

>>3063264
No, you can't play Maid Dark Heresy.

>>3063279
>No, you can't play Maid Dark Heresy.

BUT... BUT...!

>>3063264

I'm afraid we do it the old fashioned way, around a table, with papyrus character sheets and dice we gnawed into shape from the bones of an antelope.

But tell me more about this battlemaid. She sounds like exactly the sort House Cassius needs.

>>3063315
>I'm afraid we do it the old fashioned way, around a table, with papyrus character sheets and dice we gnawed into shape from the bones of an antelope.

Awesome, but still... baw.


>But tell me more about this battlemaid. She sounds like exactly the sort House Cassius needs.

Her regiment is the 18th Bonterre Rangers:
http://z4.invisionfree.com/Damage_Incorporated/index.php?showtopic=1533

Her name is Jean Marie Bleuegarde:
http://z4.invisionfree.com/Damage_Incorporated/index.php?showtopic=1536

And this is how I played her:
http://z4.invisionfree.com/Damage_Incorporated/index.php?showtopic=1532

>>3063345

Oh, by the way. We also roleplayed "The Valthor Chronicles". Valthor is an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor. The butlers and maids who take care of his luxurious mansion are all IG veterans.

It´s a shame the roleplay never lasted long enough, maybe we would have seen them in combat.

>>3063345

*Luc Fiend DuCassius pores over your resume*

Yes, yes, capable of making tough decisions rapidly, steady under pressure, very nice.

A few questions for you, though. Do you prefer frag grenades or incendiaries for clearing trenches, and do you cook?

>>3063415
>Do you prefer frag grenades or incendiaries for clearing trenches, and do you cook?

Frag grenades. It seems to me the possibility of priming them makes it easier to use them, and a skilled soldier familiarized with them can use them to good effect.

Incendiaries are not bad, but they might make quite a mess of a trench. A trench that I might want to take afterwards...


Also, yes. I cook, sew, wash and clean.

>>3063445

I see, I see. Now... how would you rate your financial acumen, and can you dance?

You see, I'm intending to use ballroom dancing as a central facet of my daughter's social education. She can't stand to be touched, you see. I thought, start with dances that involve no contact, proceed to those that require only touching hands... But I digress. Do you dance?

In the grim darkness of the far future, Little Orphan Annie is a mind-cleansed assassin.

>>3063492
>Now... how would you rate your financial acumen, and can you dance?

My skills in accounting are not too great, but I certainly know when I´m spending too much money on a hobby, and when I´m spending it on useless enterprises.

I can perform a couple of high-class dances such as waltz and Granbian Step-Two, interpretive dance, and a lot of regional styles.

LET ME SHOW YOU THE DANCE OF MY PEOPLE.

>>3063300
NO MAID HERESY.

>>3064099

But I wish to cleanse the heretic with a bolter, and bleach!

>>3064123
hmm i guess we could...eh i mean no. no that would be too wierd.

>>3064142
but still i kinda want...oh emperor help me, i am having impure thoughts.

>>3064142
>>3064159

Yyyyyyyeeeeeeeeeessssss...?

rider is a chaos mutant.

purged by Perseus the lost primarch.

The girl is tainted by chaos! SHE MUST BE CLEANSED!

CLEANSE! SCRUB! SHAMPOO!

The bath has been corrupted! Fall back!

sage for pedo.

>>3064061

*Observes the dance, nodding appreciatively.*

I'm starting to think you'll fit in well. One last question.

Since I've no idea what her birthday is, I've decided to throw a small party to commemorate the day I adopted her.

Now, what presents should she receive? I intend to give her a garment, a pet, and an implement.

The garment will be either an elegant dress in the House colors, a suit of xenomesh cut as a lady's overcoat, or child-sized powerarmor. This last will require me to sell one of my businesses, that some might quibble I don't technically own.

The pet will be either a puppy, a pony, or a rask pup. The rask is the heraldic animal of House Cassius, and is something like a long ferret with no hind legs.

The implement will be either a violin, a Minerva-Aegis fully automatic las-carbine, or... well, on this I'm open to suggestion.

Thoughts, anyone?

>>3064345
Garment: Elegant gown.
Pet: Lion cub.
Implement: Whatever looks most like a PP-2000 in DH
Or a biplane.

FUCK YEAH, LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE

>>3064345

>suit of xenomesh cut as a lady's overcoat

Stylish and practical.

>rask pup

Shows family pride and trust in her to take care of a symbol of your family.

>violin

Class. And you damn well know she is probably tainted as hell, don't giver her a gun.

>>3061813

Send her off to the Adepta Sororitas.

If this is an online game I have one question.

What do I have to do to get in on it?

>>3065356
see
>>3063315

>>3065364
Missed that...somehow.

Either way: fuck.

I demand this stay on page 1!

>>3065372

No kidding. OP's group sounds fun.

>>3064345
>The garment will be either an elegant dress in the House colors, a suit of xenomesh cut as a lady's overcoat, or child-sized powerarmor. This last will require me to sell one of my businesses, that some might quibble I don't technically own.

The xenomesh sounds pretty good. The power armour might bring unexpected complications (read: expected), and the elegant dress might not be appreciated by her. Get her something warm which she can feel that it is protective.


>The pet will be either a puppy, a pony, or a rask pup. The rask is the heraldic animal of House Cassius, and is something like a long ferret with no hind legs.

Carnodon pup. Nobody will dare approach her in an inappropriate way with a three meters tall lion watching over her.


>The implement will be either a violin, a Minerva-Aegis fully automatic las-carbine, or... well, on this I'm open to suggestion.

She is too young to handle a violin, or a weapon. I think a teddy Terra-bear might be more appropriate for the young lady.

>>3066123
>Carnodon pup. Nobody will dare approach her in an inappropriate way with a three meters tall lion watching over her.

Perhaps, but I don't want to terrify the poor girl. And can we be sure it won't eat her?

>Whatever looks most like a PP-2000 in DH
>I think a teddy Terra-bear might be more appropriate for the young lady.

Hmm. Custom Hax-Orthlack Creed-9 with recoil compensation... or a little bear.

Wait, I know! A teddy bear, containing a compact Encarmine autopistol! Protective and adorable!

Oh, and again the moral quandry... mind cleansing to free her from her previous hellish life as property of the cult, or working through the trauma slowly and naturally?

>>3066771
Put yourself in her shoes. If little Luc went through all this at age 7 would he want his parents to scrub his mind and personality away, or would he want help? There might possibly be such a thing as selective mind cleansing, but I'm sure it'd be tricky and make performing the procedure on a still-developing mind even more problematic. Then again, knowledge can corrupt and it might be the only way to save her soul, even if Luc isn't really a religious man.

Also, something that I've been wondering about: just what is "Cassandra's Grimoire" and how does Luc know about it?

What would her reaction be from the cleansning? Waking up with no past memories?

Would she be able to talk? (not that she does it now)

But still I would get her mindcleansed, only way to be sure. And the thought of you learning her to talk is to adorable.

>>3066850

>And the thought of you learning her to talk is to adorable.
>learning her to talk is to adorable
>learning her to talk
>to adorable

>>3066850

I think that there is a type of mind cleansing that only wipes you memory not your personality. I am not sure though. So she would still be traumatized but would have no memories of what caused her trauma. I am not sure if this would make it more or less difficult to help her but at least she wouldn't have all the cultist ideas and images floating around in her head.

>>3066976
Of course the more you leave behind the more tools she'll have to unlocking that black box within her mind.

But we're probably overthinking this. Mind Cleansing, as far as I can tell, is something done by the big =I= and *maybe* the Ad-Mech. For now Luc will probably only be left with the option of rehabilitating her the regular way.

Try for a few months to get through to her. If she's still not talking, mind cleanse.

And get her a servitor named Mr. Safety to make sure nothing like that ever happens again.

####BAD TOUCH DETECTED####YOU WILL BE PURGED####

>>3067017
I don't think he really needs a servitor, given what happened to the last person to abuse his adoptive child.

>A merchant lord of a vast corporation neglectfully allowed my future daughter to be abused. That man is dead, his allies are dead, his family is destitute, and I own his corporation.

>>3066771
>A teddy bear, containing a compact Encarmine autopistol! Protective and adorable!

Besides, if the Adeptus Mechanicus can provide a human skull with a rudimentary AI, or at the very least a link to the owner´s brain...

Remote-controlled anti-molester device!
>Perhaps, but I don't want to terrify the poor girl. And can we be sure it won't eat her?

I think it is well worth the risk.

Imagine your daughter like this, only on top of a Carnodon.

HHHHHHHHNNNNNNNGGGGG...!

>>3067070

Ok... yes. That. Yes.

Also the deadly servo-teddy.

>>3067012

Whatever Luc decides is best for his daughter, Luc will make happen. He's a resourceful fellow.

It helps, of course, that the Inquisitor Varn and Isen work for is a powerful telepath. He could certainly do the job, if Luc convinced him. Luc can be very persuasive.

NO I AM NOT GOING TO SEX THE INQUISITOR. Unless absolutely necessary.

And Fluffy, what's your take on the mind cleansing issue?

>>3067159

Pic related, it's our Inquisitor. He is terrifying, and will steal your thoughts.

>>3066976

Seriously, how much do you remember from before you were 7?

Mind cleansing a child might have little to no downside.

>>3067159
>And Fluffy, what's your take on the mind cleansing issue?

Do you want to be a father to her, or do you want to use her?

If you want to be a father to her, you must put all your effort into helping her overcome her traumas. Just do your best. That´s what parents do (or ought to, anyway). If her trauma returns later on, then she will have your love and support to face it and overcome it.

If you just want to use her, mind-wipe her. Sure, sooner or later that might return to bite your ass, but then you can just put a bullet in her head. Mind-wiping is the easy, short-term solution.

>>3067253

Hm. You frame the question well.

I... just want the best for her. Not happiness, or security, baubles and illusions both. I want to give her pride. Confidence, cunning, and compassion.

This sector, hundreds of worlds and trillions of people, is a wreck. I thought I wanted to rule it, burn away the taint and dead wood in the fires of industry, haul its people kicking and screaming out of the poverty, squalor, and ignorance they wallow in.

But I can't save them all. I could only save one little girl. But if she remembers the worst, and I show her the best... the beauty this life holds, under the filth... the crystal gardens in the caves of Plutarch's rock, the rainbow fountain of Scintilla, the songs of praise in the Great Cathedral and the dances of the tribes of Iocanthos... if I give her someone to love and trust, to protect and be protected by, maybe that will give her what she needs to do what I cannot. To face the beasts of the warp, the demons of her past, and the vicious stupidity of men, and be unbowed.

Then... you know what you must do...


(Cue Metal Gear Solid 4 Spanish guitar solo)

>>3067369

"The world's a mess, and I just need to rule it!"

>>3067369

That pic...

>>3067369

A noble goal. But are you a bad enough dude to make this happen in the GRIMDARK future? You can't do anything for the girl she was but you can do something for who she will be. Wipe her mind of the taint of YEARS of chaos, hire the battlemaid to teach and watch her. You go from there and rehabilitate and raise her.

An additional benefit of a memory wipe is that not only will she had forbidden lore removed from her, your peers will most likely not want to kill her.

>>3067641
This may be a point. Removing the taint forcefully may be necessary depending on what the Inquisition thinks about her. Do they KNOW you extracted her from the den of heresy?

Then again, if you cleanse her mind, ask yourself this: who did you save from those cultists? The child before you, or someone now dead and gone?

TUNNEL SNAKES RULE

>>3068397
>>3067641
>>3067369
>>3067243
>>3066794
>>3064946

Damn it to the warp, I just want to help her! I'm her father now, I should know what to do! Worming my way out of getting executed was simpler than this! AARGH!

Why not just ask her?

Give her the option to live with you as she is or to forget her previous life and start a new one as your daughter. Assure her that, either way, you'll be there for her.

>>3068609

She's still not talking. She hides and shivers a lot.

>>3068685

Well I didn't mean right away, but give her time. Plus, she doesn't have to talk to nod.

"-insert choices here-"
The kid nods.
"choice one?"
The kid shakes her head.
"Choice two."
Nods. etc etc.

Kids are traumatized all the time. (Which is a bit exaggerated, but stay with me here.) If the adults argue that the child is competent enough to make their own decision then they talk to the kid - they reassure them, use comforting words, whatever, but they let the kid know that they have to do something. Extra emphasis on them wanting to allow the child to choose for themselves, and emphasis on letting her know that she has time to decide.

Mind you, this is after giving Luc's daughter time to understand that she's far away from the same situation she was in before. While you wait for her to choose, gradually ease her into her new life. Introduce her to those maids you're going to hire, talk to her regularly, invite her to join you for dinner, but only if she'd life, and all that jazz. If she makes up her mind, great. If she adapts in the mean time, then there's no more decision to be made.

>>3068778

life = like

Here's a thought: what's Luc's contingency for when he dies horribly in the service of the Inquisition?

>>3068778

Hmm. Seems reasonable. Hope she doesn't start chanting things she shouldn't or scrawling 8-pointed stars on the furniture in her own blood in the meantime.

So, any suggestions for getting out of it if the =][= insists on wiping her?

>>3068929

The only thing that's coming to mind would only help short term. Tell the Inquisition that all of the members of the cult may not have been/weren't present (depending on if you're willing to lie about it) at the shindig. Your nearly acquired daughter is the only living person who could help you root them out.

Fuck. Kindly ignore if this comes up twice. I'm getting sick of trying to post.

>>3068929
Well, either you go rogue or offer them something in exchange. You're a wealthy and powerful man and, even though they can *technically* take everything that you own you may be able to bargain with them. Convince them she's a minor risk and that you can make a devout and useful servant of the Emperor out of her yet.

>>3068965
Problem: After the "cult" is found, or too long passes, she's on the one-way train to cleansing with holy fire.

Mind wipe's probably the safest way to protect her (physically). From herself, if nothing else. Unless she dies on the table.
How old is she again? 7 is perhaps a bit old to be starting over again, but is the loss of her past ok for a better chance at the future?

>>3069014

That's why I said it was a short term solution.

>>3068837

Not a problem! First, Luc's capable of weaseling his way out of most fatal scenarios. Second, she's a DuCassius now! If her dear old Dad gets vaporized, she'll go to live with his older sisters: The twins Mara and Moira.

Yes, they're slightly creepy, but they're family, and family sticks together.

Yes, Luc shot his brother in the face, what of it?

>>3069081
Hey, uh....where are their arms? That's a pretty neat trick they've got there.

>>3069106
They aren't wearing capes, they just have poofy sleeves.

>>3068984

>You're a wealthy and powerful man

Ah, yes, well. Luc's from a wealthy and somewhat powerful FAMILY. He's been just short of disowned for killing his elder brother in a duel. Bad form to kill the head of the family, don'tchaknow.

What wealth he has personally came from judicious use of Russian-style capitalism: the government seized a bunch of corporations, he's good friends with the Auditor in charge of the seizure, he gets his family a no-bid contract to manage the seized assets profitably.

If he goes against the =][=, they seize that shit right back and reinstate the murder rap against him.

Oh no, how could you even consider robbing her of the memory of years of torture and rape!

WIPE HER.

>>3069260
Trouble is he's wiping away a whole person and starting with a blank slate. No memories, sure, but no personality or identity either. She is a child, though, so she had time to learn the basics of being a person. A luxury adult mind cleansed don't receive.

>>3069274

What personality? He's wiping away a gibbering wreck. She doesn't talk, she won't let anyone touch her. Her entire life was shit. Erase it.

>>3069299
True, but you're still erasing a person. What you're left with isn't the same human being you had before. In practical terms cleansing her mind is fine. It's if you bother to get into ethics and morality that it becomes an issue.

>>3069337

>True, but you're still erasing a person. What you're left with isn't the same human being you had before.

Are you really? Is a person merely the sum of his or her memories?

Is amnesia death?

>>3069367
Can you hold an amnesiac accountable for his crimes before he lost his memory? What if he's lived 10 years of his new life since he stopped being a serial rapist by having his personality and memories wiped away?

If Luc isn't much of a philosopher then these questions are meaningless, of course.

>>3069387

>personality and memories wiped away?
>personality

That's the question, see. If he couldn't remember his past crimes, would he commit new ones, or become... normal?

The law makes no exception for amnesia, but that may simply be because it's easy to fake.

In any case, I suggest you start by raising the here-loli´s self-confidence by interacting with her in an environment that makes her think that she is the one in power, not you. A place that´s dark and with lots of hiding places, for example, would be ideal. You´d just need to do some of your daily life in there, and let her grow curious.


Also, Inquisition would probably destroy here-loli, mind-wipe or not. They are a non-factor in this matter, I think.

>>3069449
That's another question: are people essentially blank slates, or are our personalities and dispositions in part determined by non-mental attributes (hormonal imbalances in the body, the nature of your soul and so on)?

>>3069470
Evidence suggests a combination of both. Predetermined factors combine with experience to form personalities which, most often, could easily have worked out differently.

>>3069529

So... if she's mindcleansed...

She could have a chance to grow into the person she would have been, if things had been different, better?

>>3069571
You could see it that way, yes. There is also the argument that she hasn't developed much as a person yet, and what has developed is horrendously mauled and traumatized. You could be giving her a second shot at a good life.

>>3069469

Hmm... don't smother her, just go about my business and let her choose when to approach. Good idea. But if she doesn't? How long do I let her hide from everyone?

As for the Inquisition, they're not necessarily a non-issue, but Luc can handle them. He just needs to roll a 01 on Blather.

>>3069571
Maybe, but I dunno how mind cleansing actually works, since it isn't real. There's always the chance that biological factors (level of brain maturation and age based body chemistry) will hinder or prevent the re-attainment of the skills she already learned, like speaking or walking upright. Depends on how strong this shit is supposed to be, and if you screw something up while you're doing it.

>>3069673

see

>>3062045


Hmm. Well, the fluff seems to indicate that there are two methods: psychic, and the mechanicus surgery+drugs method. Both are imperfect, and some memories will always creep in through dreams or various triggering stimuli.

>>3069753
So, you've got 2 options.

1) Subject a 7 year old child to a shitload of drugs and surgery.

or

2) Have a psyker make contact with the mind of one who was part of a vast and heretical ritual.

>>3069771
This decision shouldn't require more than half a second of thought for any true servant of the God-Emperor.
Better to let a thousand innocents perish than permit the growth of heresy.

>>3069784
Too bad/good thing Luc isn't a very religious man, then.

>>3069771

>2) Have a psyker make contact with the mind of one who was part of a vast and heretical ritual.

Indeed, that would normally be a serious problem. However, if she's going to be mind cleansed, it's probably going to be done by Isen and Varn's Inqisitor, a powerful telepath. If anyone's equipped to deal with the chaos that rages and festers in that little girl's mind, it's a fully fledged Inquisitor.

Incidentally, the GM has described the Inquisitor as resembling Lance Reddick, pictured here in his role as the ruthless Matthew Abbadon.

Matthew... Abbadon.

Shit.

>>3069889
I'm pretty sure that's him as Fringe Guy, but whatever, they're the same character.

>>3069889
Why is that man so damned creepy?
I think half the reason I've been watching Fringe is because of him.

Incidentally, knowing my GM... I might be setting Luc up for some serious trouble.

The girl is tainted by chaos, and I'm afraid FOR her?

Maybe I should be afraid OF her.