Escape From Ripag's Watch - A chaos Space Marine Quest

[ERYFKRAD]

1b. Not letting loot go away.

 

[baud]

thanks for all the votes! 1a easily takes it

edit: ok, since the next update was nearly done, it'll be posted tomorrow

 

[Major_Blackhart]

I'm just pumped you're back

 

[baud]

Part II: Like rats towards a floating ship

You take everything you can from the supplies stored in the stormraven, even if most had already been used by its former loyalist owners, before leaving the small flyer. As you take your first step on what will be your home for the foreseeable future, it starts tumbling away, bouncing once on the hull before getting lost in the depths of the void. You give one last look to the planet you’ve just left, silently cursing the fate that made you arrive at the helm of your warship and made you leave a fugitive, a stowaway on an enemy ship, but you press on, until you've entered the battery via an airlock, with Frax bypassing the lock.
The spaceship interior is similar to those of the other Imperial ships you've boarded in your life, dirty and badly maintained corridors of rusting steel decorated by a smattering of skulls and aquillas, lighted by flickering lumens, the stale air scrubbed by dated filters, the footing made unsure by the malfunctioning grav-plates.
Moving through service corridors and avoiding detection, you find a good hiding spot in a disused room beneath the ammunition stores of the battery, which seems to have been used to store scrap metal until a few decades ago and then forgotten. It is well located, with easy access to the main area of the battery, including the living quarters of its gunnery crews, close to service corridors leading deeper in the ship and to an access hatch to the lower decks of the ships.

====✳====​

Two days after boarding the ship, you raise from your devotions at a makeshift altar to the Dark Gods set on the side of your hideout, the star of chaos carved in the wall surrounded by the marks of each of the Chaos Gods and at its foot rests the trophies taken from the Subjugator marines you faced on Ripag’s Watch. As you prayed you had felt the attention of the Dark Gods upon you, watching you and with that came the certainty that you will succeed.

Hearing a slight noise toward the entrance of the room, you whirl around, drawing and pointing your bolt pistol in that direction, noting how the makeshift silencer cobbled together by Frax is affecting its balance, but only Zephus slips inside the hideout, armour replaced by a camo cloak, armed with a bolter carabine found in the stormraven. Like Frax and yourself, for the last two days he had started exploring the ship, looking for covert routes and potential avenues for taking control. With the three of you now reunited, you’ll be able to pool your findings and plan your next step.

“You’ve felt it.” he says after you’ve lowered your weapon

“Yes.” At Frax’s questioning look, you explain “The way the onboard gravity is shifting, we’re moving away from the planet, but no clue to our destination. If moving to the edge of the system for Warp translation, that’d take a few days. So, what did you find, Zephus?”

“I went to what was originally the main cargo areas, which had been converted in living quarters and facilities like training rooms, scriptoriums, armoury and more. It was quite well-secured, but the retrofit to bring life support in there has left some ways in. And you were right, Frax, this is a ship of the Inquisition."

"How?"

"Those areas are guarded by stormtroopers who bear its seal, well armed and likely with the training to match. I spotted a few agents there too, but I didn't get close enough for better identification."

“By the Changer! The left hand of the False Emperor. Always skulking around, nipping at the heels of their betters and acting as if they knew the Truth of this galaxy. Foolish idiots, bumbling in the dark.” you curse, pacing in the small room “They may still be formidable opponents, but in the end, they are just another challenge on the path to glory, one that we will overcome with the blessings of the Dark Gods, like those we have already faced. Anything else?"

"From what I gathered, the Inquisition chartered this ship and are using it as a base of operation, in addition to carrying their pawns around the sector, though the Inquisitor who originally chartered it is missing and it is now under the command of one of his subordinates, one Lilas Beckar. Other than that, no. I checked the access to the command spire, where the bridge, navigator and astropathic choir are located and it will be difficult to get there.”

“I don’t think whoever dwells in the command spire will matter much; the real authority on this ship would be the Inquisition anyway. Finished?” and at Zephus’ nod, it is your turn to speak:

“Together with Frax we started in the lower decks and areas below them, outside of the control of the crew. We found traces of groups of mutants and deserters, less than I would have expected, but still enough to provide some cannon fodder if we rally them to our cause. We were then able to find a few hidden passages in the areas used by the common crewmen and even if the ship seems to be well-run, they should be a fertile ground to sow the seeds of heresy and to push them against their masters. But I am not sure we should start working them right away, the presence of the Inquisition complicates things. What do you think, Zephus?”

“For the Inquisition, we could deal with them first, like we'd have done with the crew: find weaknesses, lay the groundwork, then strike and cut off the head; of course that'd leave the rest of the crew for after... At least we’d have to wait until the ship is in the Warp before we start in earnest, that way the Imperials won’t just turn back for help once they realise they’ve been boarded.”

“And there we’d be closer to our masters, in their domain, when we move against our enemies!.” continues Frax “Also we saw a group of those accursed sisters of battle, around the main temple-shrine of the ship, they seem to be quartered inside or around that structure. And even if they are supposed to be on an allied ship, they keep a tight watch.”

“The harlots of the Corpse possess admirable depths in their faith, pity it is directed at the False Emperor… We didn’t see much else of interest, just that the ways into the Enginarium are tightly locked down too.”

“At least now we have an idea of the situation on the ship. How do you want to proceed?”

You...

A Start by converting as many of the crewmembers as possible, until you can stage a ship-wide insurrection to remove all traces of Imperial authority
B Take care of the Inquisitorial group first, the rest should follow like falling dominoes

AN: I had originally planned to do something different for this (like dividing that part in a handful of ‘turns’, each turn you’d send each one of your marines on different actions, each advancing your plans in taking control of the ship, until you had succeeded or time had run out, with the ship arriving at destination), but then I wasn’t sure if it was fun for you (and I’m sure it wouldn’t have been fun for me to write either), so instead we continue with ‘classic’ CYOA, at least for now.
This choice is choosing how you're going to try to take control of the ship, but there will be a few more choices in how exactly you're going to accomplish that

 

[Andnjord]

I vote for A. The three of us won’t be enough to kill all the inquisitorial troops with potential support from the hordes of menials and assorted crew.

But we should definitely take it easy initially and only start our corrupting work in earnest once inside the warp, people will be more influenceable and many of the disruptions and disappearances might be chalked up to the influence of the warp. It could also make the inquisition dismiss any cult they’d detect as again the influence of the warp rather than reveal our presence.

 

[baud]

The three of us won’t be enough to kill all the inquisitorial troops with potential support from the hordes of menials and assorted crew.

maybe I should go back to make that clearer, but going for B doesn't mean you're going to rush the Inquisition and try to kill them in a straight fight, more like searching for opportunities, maybe kill discreetly one or two important members, see if some can be corrupted, then once you think it's enough, kill the rest (or get spotted and be forced in a confrontation)

 

[Andnjord]

I still think A is less likely to result in an early confrontation, so my vote stands.

Besides, it will be easier to ambush and kill groups of inquisitorial troops if they’re busy rushing around in the darkness of the deeper lower decks trying to put down what they might think will be routine mutinies.

Hopefully.

 

[ItsChon]

A

 

[Major_Blackhart]

This is a tough decision. But the fact is that an inquisitorial storm trooper may be no match for a single astartes, a few hundred or even a company or them can certainly take on 3 under gunned chaos marines, even if the spikey Boyz are nominally better at everything than their loyalist scum counterparts.

I say let's go for A. At the very least, the heretical cults we cause will distract the sisters of battle. And those are just as dangerous as storm troopers thanks to bolters and power armor.

 

[oscar]

A). Build up our strength and then when the time is right use the distraction to lop off the head of our foes and seize control inside the warp.

Can we repair our power armour for the eventual confrontation?

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Between bAndwagon and Bannedwagon, I choose bAndwagon.

 

[Azira]

Bah! Glory to the true gods! Purge the inquisition from the ship, and the rest of the loyalists will surely turn to the truth or be offered up as sacrifices to the gods!

 

[baud]

Can we repair our power armour for the eventual confrontation?

with the supplies you've taken from the stormraven, you (and your two friends) have already repaired what they could without having access to a tech-priest/heretek/advanced manufactorum

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Gotta be an unhappy cogboy on this shithole somewhere

 

[Major_Blackhart]

Well the presence of sisters indicate one of 2 things: a shrine somewhere or witch hunters.

 

[baud]

The issue is that knowing the Inquisition, they likely predicted this possibility and might have planted agents inside the mutants and deserters in case this exact type of thing happened.

takes notes...

Well the presence of sisters indicate one of 2 things: a shrine somewhere or witch hunters.

well, the sisters are currently around the main shrine of the ship, but your character think they may have been fighting the Black Crusade (which is currently just finishing, with your ship getting destroyed in one of the last engagement) and are now moving back to their abbey

 

[Kalarion]

A.

 

[Azira]

If it was just the Inquisition or the Sisters, I would favour attacking them straight away. Against both, I think three Astartes could take out one with a surprise attack, but not the other. We take out the Inquisition and everyone rallies around the Sisters.

Speculation. Might be true, but speculation nonetheless.

 

[hello friend]

B

 

[baud]

So I’ve never given explicit stats for the characters, because there’s no actual systems running behind the scenes (mostly because I’m too lazy for that), but that doesn’t prevent the different characters from having different abilities, beyond the standard chaos space marine package. I tried to make it clear in the text, but then with the delays between updates, I’ll just write it down so you can refer to it; I’ll also put that on the first page.

Procrus (You) : Word Bearer Legionary, veteran of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, you’ve left your legion after [REDACTED] and have struck out since then in your own warband, with limited success
Preach - Good
Deamonology - Dabbling
Command - Average
Wargear: CSM power armour, bolt pistol, mace forged from shattered crosius

Zephus : your squad mate since the Great Crusade and second of your warband after you left the Legion
Infiltrate - Good
Assassination - Competent
Wargear: CSM power armour, bolt carabine, combat knives
NB: Currently missing a hand

Frax: Much younger than either you or Zephus, you had paid a pupil of Fabius Bile to implement a group of promising youth with geneseed scrounged from somewhere and he was the only viable specimen. He was hypno-conditioned as part of his implantation to be loyal to you.
Pilot (small crafts) - Competent
Tech use - Dabbling
Wargear: CSM power armour, Astartes combat shotgun, chainsword

Next update will be up just after.

 

[baud]

Part III: The bulkheads have ears

Fools would discount the ability of Chaos Space Marines to covertly collect information, seeing your bio-enhanced size and bulk a detriment to staying hidden and your usual methods of warfare rather far from the patience and guile required by such goals, but they would blindly ignore other benefits brought by the gift of your Primarch: enhanced strength and agility make it way easier to navigate the treacherous depths of any ship, your third lung allowing to move into area with little oxygen or toxic atmospheres, the catalepsean node and improved endurance removing the need to sleep and the enhancement to your ears and eyes making the information gathering much easier, as even fearful whispers exchanged in hidden alcoves are still audible to your transhuman hearing. And even if you rarely stoop to such methods, you and especially Zephus have some experience in such skulduggery, allowing you to avoid common pitfalls and show Frax the ropes; after all didn’t blessed Lorgar preach that “To bring the Truth of the Warp to craven heathens, no way shall be barred from the Faithfull; nor a thousand swords drawn at dawn nor a dagger wielded at dusk” in his Third Exultation to the Devoted?

You spent the next few days skulking in dark corridors, crawlspace, ventilation shafts and forgotten rooms, listening.
To impressed workers, chained work crews whipped into doing the lowest of labours, noting how most have lost any faith they might have had, though a small minority still clings to their misguided beliefs.
To the patrols of armsmen, looking just as wary of the threat of boarders as revolt and unrest from the crew, to the raids they conducted on those suspected of being criminal, disloyal or just recalcitrant, to the punishment they inflicted in public, in the middle of the widest corridors.
To the tense interactions those armsmen have with the sisters of battle and inquisitorial agents and troopers, untrusting of outsiders and resenting the presence of another armed force not under their authority.
To the whispers of those who have fled the harsh discipline of their Imperial masters for the dark and shadowy corners of the ship, where they joined outcasts and mutants, whose gifts had caused their exile from the rest of the crew.
To the throngs of deckhands moving to their stations for twelve hours shifts, primitive augments required by their post clunking and clanking as they moved about.
To members of the gunnery clans in charge of the macro-batteries, swaggering with all the cocksure assurance of those handling heavy artillery.
To the metallic footsteps of Adeptus Mechanicus enginseers dealing with the many technological arcana spread throughout the ship, necessary to its continued existence in the void.
To the petty officers and bosuns directing the crew, themselves under the order of superior officers sneering at those unfortunate enough to be born in stations lower than them.
To the sirens calling for the shift change, interspersed by the other signals calling for the myriad of things required by the running of a city-sized machine in the void of space.
To the rough songs and spilled drinks in the dive bars and other places of base pleasures, where off-duty voidmen take some dreary respite from the drudgery of their existence.
To the sounds of everyday life from the crew compartments, as crowded and squalid as any Imperial hive.
To the stomping of power armour and declaimed psalms from the sororitas guarding the main temple of the ship. Even if they tried to hide it, it is clear that they’ve just recently left the battlefield, with weapons and armours damaged by heavy combat and sporting wounds of varying gravity.
To the prayer calls and hymns from the other, smaller, shrines that dot the ship and the zealous exultations of roving preachers, the sight of whom make you blood boils, a fury lit on Monarchia and stoked by eight millenia of war coursing through you, pushing you to leave your hiding place and tear apart the priest, painting the bulkheads red with blood, crushing their bones to dust and offering their soul to the True Gods… But you curb your urges, vowing to visit your ire upon them at an appropriate time instead.

You listen to all and shift through it for the relevant nuggets of information, preparing plans of your eventual takeover of the ship.

====✳====​

“...arrival to Belis Corona.”

That handful of words, heard over the din of the discussion in the mess hall of the forward junior officers quarters, makes you focus all your attention on the speaker, a portly and snobbish man in second lieutenant’s uniform, sitting at a table with a group of officers similarly dressed .

“With the heretic scum driven off from the system, we should reach the jump point in three days. Then we’ll make our translation into the Sea of Souls.”

At the mention of the Warp, he makes the reviled sign of the Aquila, imitated by most of the table. Ha! As if the corpse on the throne could help them there.
But those news are worrisome, as Belis Corona, the subsector capital, home to a full Imperial battlefleet and a major Inquisition enclave, had apparently made it through the Black Crusade relatively unscathed, with the major pushes of the Black Legion and its allies being towards Cancephalus, Antecanis and Subiaco Diablo instead.

As you share that new information with your subordinates at your next rendez-vous, you come to the conclusion that you have no choice but to take control of the ship before you arrive there, as any attempt done in the Belis Corona system runs a very high chance of the ship being counter-boarded by other Imperial forces or summarily destroyed. This does not change your current plan of taking control of the ship while in Warp travel, but this would put a hard time limit to any attempt you make.

So far you have found many possible targets to either suborn, coerce or strike: you’ve located the groups of outcast, slaves, deckhands that could be brought to your side, the armsmens stations and officers’ quarters to target or take control of, the main temple with the sisters of battle and the minoris shrines to target in that section of the ship. As you’re planning to coincide the start of your actions with the Warp translation, you still have a few days to gather information, enough to focus on two groups or areas, finding secrets that your ship-wide sweep hadn’t and couldn’t have revealed, owing to its speed.

Choose two of the following options:

A) Mechanicus minoris enginarium - In addition to the main installations, above the crew compartment is a smaller enginarium, that you barely looked at, beyond noting its presence
B) Outcasts, mutants and deserters, roaming the dark holds, out of sight and mind of the rest of the crew.
C) Armsmen and the stations they are manning throughout the ship
D) Crew compartments, where the vast majority of the crew is packed in conditions worth any underhive.
E) Sisters of battle at the main temple: even if you have already watched them, there yet might be some angles that would give you an advantage when it will be time to attack them
F) Minoris shrines, satellite to the main temple, usually filled with zealots, especially now that the sisters of battle quartered in the main temple
G) Junior officer quarters: located amidship, this area is where you'd find them while off-duty.

AN: ok, not so much is happening this chapter, I’m mostly setting the scene, so a shame it took nearly two months to arrive, right?
Right now you have a few broad idea of where to start (recruiting the outcasts and mutants, proselytising among among the crew/press-ganged, striking the armsmen/SoB…), but this choice is to find special options that are specific to the different area/groups, that you will be able to choose in the near future.
Also I'm on holiday with sporadic access to internet, so answers might be slow to arrive

 

[Major_Blackhart]

This is a tough one simply because the short time doesn't give us a lot to go on.

B & D.

The outcasts and mutants have magnificent hiding spots, and certainly know their way around the ship. And we can rally the faithless to our cause, using them as cannon fodder and a viable distraction.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

BG

 

[oscar]

DG

I doubt there's enough mutants to be a significant asset in our coup. Likewise the armsmen might be too proud to recruit (and ship heavy guns aren't gonna help us). The oppressed crew will give us our numbers and subverting some officers to our cause will give us an air of legitimacy.

 

[baud]

Thanks for the votes, bro

And to be clear, the armsmens in the vote are on-board security, tasked with keeping order among the crew and defend against boarders.