Session XXXI: The Trudge - Report
General Summary
It was time to decide... Which way would the group travel. Back to the city to try and gain control of a supposed ship capable of leaving the planet or look elsewhere for help? The group was downtrodden to say the least because of all the recent troubles. Ani was perpetually melancholy at this point, apoplectic about how to prove herself to the group and once again gain the affections of the group but namely Bjorn.
This was all in the young Aeldari's head though. Stig still thought everyone was his friend until proven otherwise. Murk has seemed to recently been gaining command of his own mental facilities and thinking for himself and very little had changed between the two xenos. If anything he had started treating Ani more like one would a younger weaker sibling. Bjorn had clearly made a mental decision between the two Eldar women who had vied for his affections. Isaac was still mission focused and Rasp was perpetually racist against her regardless.
As the group discussed the prospects of walking into an ambush or if they should seek elsewhere they decided to as the guide Samuel if he knew of anyone or anywhere that they could find some aid. Samuel was very resistant to saying something and everyone in the group tried to pry the information out of him. It seemed as though no manner of verbal incentive or argument could sway the man. Finally, it came down to Ani and her ability to get into the heads of others. She reached out with her mental powers and pried open the mind of the man, wishing there were another way but she convinced him to verbally tell the group and get him to think it was his idea all along.
Samuel spoke of a legendary person that defended his former village from starvation and snow beasts alike. A warrior from the stars that came to them through unknown means but had been living somewhere beyond that village for hundreds of years now ensuring the survival and advancement of their village. The group had a solid idea of what the warrior was that their guide was referring to but kept quiet about it perhaps out of a want to stay cagey perhaps out of hope that finding someone that powerful would be an ally and speaking it out loud may break the spell of possibility that hung in the air before them.
The group turned and headed away from the city and their escape from the planet and made their new heading in the direction of Samuel's village with him in the lead. The trip was a joyless barren walk through the frozen wastes of the mountainous planet. The exterior cold and sunken feeling of the group weighed down on them as they slogged onward. The trip was uneventful but signs of trouble were all around as they neared their goal.
The Crew arrived close to sunset in the mountains. The temperature was dropping and shelter was not immediately available. The village was destroyed utterly. Samuel didn't seem surprised but not happy about it. Murk started to drag some scraps of wood together as a make shift lean too against the wind while Rasp non-ceremoniously gathered scraps of detritus and started a fire. Samuel watched uncaring as the last scraps of his village were used for a final but positive purpose. He stood in the center of the destruction, raised his hands to the darkening sky, took in a deep breath and shouted out to the wastes in an echoing voice. "BROTHER!". The sound boomed and echoed around the valley that the village was nestled in and decayed into the nothingness and whistling wind.
He lowered his hands, walked back to the group and sat down non-ceremoniously. "Now we wait" is all he said and fell silent again. As darkness closed it grip completely Bjorn got antsy. A creature was braying out in the wastes, it's hollow yawp stretching out across the tundra and grabbing a hold of the group's collective backbones. Bjorn decided it was time to do something. Kill the thing that stalked outside the camp and get some food while he was at it for his remaining crew mates and companions. He stood and walked out of camp with his gun in hand. Murk looked after him for a second and then followed equally tired of all the mukkin' about.
Bjorn and the big Ork moved through the snow banks. The bestial sounds had stopped and all was silent with the moon casting light down upon the snowy drifts. The hunt was on and Murk stayed low and back from Bjorn as the Captain practically had to shovel through the mounds of snow. Suddenly the big drift next to Bjorn exploded in a blizzard of snow, claws and fangs. A snow beast lunged forth swiping at Bjorn who returned fire, unphased by the big animal's attack. He and Murk exchanged a few blows back and forth with the snow beast but in the end the pair of rogues felled the massive creature. Murk was quick to take the head and carry it back to the others. The surviving guardsmen were grateful for the food and the Crew sat in mostly silence and chewed on their grim meals.
As the night wore on, the massive silhouette of a man that towered over the emptiness and destruction of the former town was spotted walking towards them. At first the group was cautious but as the genetic superman stepped into the light to reveal the much anticipated and somewhat surprising mostly nude burly form of a space marine the group eased into mostly calm demeanor asking many questions and most not getting very many answers. Brother Alfonse introduced himself as such and proceeded to talk about what led him to Ritammeron. Only sly Rasp seemed to clue in to anything being slightly off or at least withheld from his story as the others complete attention was on the hulk of a man.
At dawn the team set out again plus one mostly naked Marine. He explained that he would fight with them for the time being. First he explained his mistrust for the Xeno among the Rogue trader's ranks and he frequently made verbal dispersions towards them, specifically the Eldar woman, as they walked onward. Second, he directed the group to take a slight detour so that he could retrieve his armor and weapons which he had apparently buried out of fear that he was being tracked or someone would discover what chapter he was from. While the majority of the group didn't know why his chapter heraldry mattered the team was keen to have a fully functioning marine on their side fully equipped, so the detour was taken.
All along the way Brother Alfonse made conversation with Bjorn, denounced the assistance of the xenos, made racial insensitive comments and generally ingratiated himself to the tech priest who whole heartedly agreed that the greenskin and the knife-ear needed to be disappeared. Bjorn held fast to his loyalties for his crew and tried to verbally placate the marine. Eventually the superhuman reached his objective and began to dig at the ground using his massive meat hooks to shovel up huge clumps of earth and toss it to the side. It wasn't long before the crew saw a large casket shaped storage box get uncovered bearing the heraldry of the Astral Claws on it's face. The marine began to apply his own armor first getting into the synth skin layer that translates his cerebral impulses to the powered suit then starting to apply the massive ceramite plates to different portions of his body. The loincloth he was previously clothed in was lost and Ani saw an opportunity to cover herself a bit more and used the somewhat musky leather to cover her still mostly bare chest from when the Necron's gauss weapon had melted her void suit.
The marine was nonplussed but said little about it. After readying himself the team set out once again and finally for the main city from which their misadventure of stacking woes had begun. It was a bit after dawn when they finally arrived and saw the city was embattled and under siege with a ring of Necron troops closing in around the high walls of the planetary capital. The city would fall sooner than later though, not able to withstand the constant bombardment of the atomizing beams of gauss weapons tearing at the walls. Brother Alfonse and the others surveyed the possible paths in and came up with the least guarded options but they would still need to fight their way in to the city regardless. Everyone prepared for battle and made ready to ambush a smaller squad of Necrons being led by an Immortal. It would be a long fight but it was unavoidable from what the team could see.
Rewards Granted
- +3 xp
- 113 total xp
- Ani +15xp (previous logs)
- Bjorn +15xp (previous logs)
- Isaac +6xp (previous logs and hidden plot found)
- Murk +9xp (previous logs)
- Rasp +1xp (previous haikus)
- Stig +18xp (previous logs)
Missions/Quests Completed
COMPLETED MISSIONS
- The Milk Run (Completed)
- Murk - A tail of two Waaagh! (Completed)
- Ani - Getting past the visions of the future (Complete)
- Grasping hands from every corner of the Void - (Completed)
- The Yve of Destruction - Phase 1
- Bjorn - Darktide (begun - Part 1, optional objective 1 failed, Part 2 Complete, Part 3 - In process)
- Isaac - The god-machine (Part 1 & 2 complete, Part 3 - In process)
- Rasp - Children of the Machine (begun - detoured - Objective 1 Complete, Objective 2 failed, Objective 3, - Complete, Objective 4 - Paused.)
- Stig - The Jungles of Ash (begun - detoured - Objective 1 failed, Part 2 - In process)
Character(s) interacted with
Created Content
- Brother Alfonse
- Samuel
Related Reports
Session XXX
Stig
Stig
Species
Career
Militant
B
4
A
3
I
2
C
2
W
2
P
2
Wounds
21/21
Strain
13/13
Soak
8
Defence
M1/R1
Murc Boilah-Krusha
Murc
Species
Career
Ork
Ork
B
5
A
3
I
1
C
2
W
3
P
2
Wounds
0/26
Strain
4/13
Soak
9
Defence
M1/R1
Rasputin
Rasp
Species
Career
Forge World
Chiurgeon
B
3
A
3
I
4
C
2
W
3
P
1
Wounds
/13
Strain
/13
Soak
4
Defence
M1/R1
Vanirach
Vanirach (Ani)
Species
Career
Eldar
First-Mate/Interpreter
B
2
A
3
I
3
C
2
W
2
P
2
Wounds
1/12
Strain
0/12
Soak
6
Defence
M1/R1
Report Date
04 May 2021
Primary Location
Comments