Sepheris Secundus (Calixis Sector)

Hammond Dodge:

It was the flinch from Hammond being peppered by bits from Bosch that caused the bolt round to barely miss.

The acolyte flung himself down behind the judges bench. Klaxons wailed loudly and echoed beyond the space before being cut off as heavy shutters came crashing down cutting off the only exit and the viewing area. The only thing that was still open was the higher viewing area ringing the room. The perfect perch for arbitrators to rain down retribution from...

A maniacal laugh burst out from below the judge's bench. "The might of the Emperor will cleanse all of us! I'll bask in his light while you traitorous scum will burn! Burn the Heretic. Kill the Mutant. Purge the Unclean!"

"Cover that balcony" Archimedes says as he approaches it.

He cursed himself for killing the skull instead of Hammond, but something about the skull insisted it need be dead.
The only other spot that had an exit was the balcony. Since everything else was shut off, Archimedes only need make it there.

"Your going to wish I had killed you with that last round." he tells Hammond as he starts to climb up the wall.

Spoiler:

Logan had two of his bodyguards cover Archimedes while he and the rest moved on Hammond.

Archimedes ascended upwards grabbing onto maintenance hatches and lighting fixtures. Hammond started to scream as the khornates got to him but those screams were quickly silenced.

As Archimedes pulled himself onto the balcony Logan presented him with the head of Hammond.

"One of many we'll collect today, Astartes!" He hooked the severed head to his belt. "We'll await our release."

The climb was an easy one for Archimedes but it would be tough for the rest of his team. On their way to the courtroom they had passed by a guard post. That would have the controls to unlock the doors.

Archimedes was alone on the balcony. There was only a single door leading to a central secured connecting corridor. It was lined with other doors leading to more courtrooms. At one end of the corridor was a heavily fortified and sealed blast door. This is where any arbitrators would come from to provide armed overwatch for a preceding or pour in more in case of an emergency.

At the other end of the corridor was a floor to ceiling painting of a proud arbitrator cracking the skull of a dissident. At its base was an Aquila shrine where arbitrators had left magnacles, shotgun shells, and pistol rounds as offerings.

"Logan, remove the inquisitorial rosette badges from those bodies. Then smash that shrine will I see what's on the other side of this door."

He moves towards the security console and inspects it.

"Shrine? We don't see no damn shrine where we are." Logan responded back.

Archimedes moves to the console. It's a standard passcard reader he's seen hundreds of times but with a pict recorder embedded within it. Probably monitoring the corridor and logging who was coming in and out.

It could be pried away from the wall but if the pict recorder was being monitored they'd know someone was messing with it. This probably needed a more subtle approach.

"Search those bodies. Were looking for an electronic key card so we can get out of this cage."

Hammond and his bunch would not have locked themselves in, would they?

"Nothing on that Hammond guy. Felano is behind the security shutters so we can't get to him."

Archimedes moves to the security door. There was no other choice, he had to get this thing open.

But how?

Spoiler:

First, he would try the most direct route and force the door open with brute force.

[It would be a -30% to get it open as well but Archimedes is a strong boy.]

The security door groaned and protested over the marine manhandling it. A series of loud bangs rang out from inside the door and it gave way. Archimedes slid the rest of the door violently into its recess and stepped into...

A security post. There was a wall of monitors showing the courtrooms, passages, and the entrances to this post. Curiously the pict recorders in the courtroom he had come from were blacked out.

Thinking he might get lucky he looked at the control panel below the monitors seeing if there was a security release. There was but there little red light next to it indicated it was locked out. He'd have to continue to the other security post unless he wanted to try and override it.

He saw motion on one of the monitors. Five arbitrators were coming up the corridor to the second door of this security post. Probably a response team.

He'd have a couple of seconds to form a plan.

The first thing he looked for was a way to shut off the lights in the room. Archimedes then crouched low to the ground in front of the door. There was more than a reasonable chance they wouldn't have expected his group to gain access to this room. In which case, they wouldn't expect danger when entering. He readied his bolt pistol in one hand and a frag grenade in the other. As soon as they opened the door, he would roll it along the ground into their midst.

Spoiler:

[That was a GM whoospie on grenade damage when I first put together the character sheet. Also the damage would be 11 (2d10+2) and Pen: 0.]

The door hisses open and Archimedes is bathed in harsh light. His auto-reactive photochromatic visor dims it enough where he can see the arbitrators. He threads the frag grenade past the first two arbitrators who were carrying shields.

As planned the grenade detonates among them. Shrapnel gouges and ricochets through out the hall and digs deep into their carapace armor. From their immediate reactions it didn't seem to cause any major damage.

Initiative:

His power knife was out in an underhanded grip and he moved in a flanking motion to get a better shot.
As he does so the pistol barks out a shot in anger. He had to stay in motion and take these guys down as soon as able.

Spoiler:

[It is indeed point blank range in this room.]

Archimedes quickly repositioned getting a clean line of sight on one of non-shield arbitrators. She was pinned in by the arbitrators in front and behind her. The bolt round slammed into her and that was the end as she crashed back into the wall and slid down it lifeless.

[1 Arbitrator is dead. 4 remain standing.]

"Traitor!" Was barked out from the arbitrators.

One of them at the entrance swung back through the threshold into cover. "The Astartes is a traitor! I say again! TRAITOR!"

Archimedes saw a spike of vox activity from his auto-senses. The whole fortress-courthouse was aware of his true nature now.

The two shield arbitrators swung around with their shields up and positioned themselves in front of the arbitrator with a combat shotgun.

With practiced hands the arbitrator changed out the magazine of the combat shotgun for one that had a red stripe around it.

Archimedes noticed that the shield bearers did not have their usual shock mauls but power mauls.

The one who ducked into cover leaned out and unloaded at the Alpha Legionnaire.

Arbitrator Semi-Auto Burst:

[End of Round 1]

Archimedes took the hits without flinching. He needed to make this quick and violent before things got too out of hand.

He rushed forwards at the arbites who shot at him with the power knife.

Spoiler:

It took Archimedes two steps to close the distance to his target. He drove the power knife around the corner the arbitrator was using for cover and pierced through his carapace armor from the side. While a knife in his hands it was the size of short sword to a human and with that length Archimedes easily got his lungs and heart in one stab.

[2 Arbitrators are dead. 3 remain standing.]

The body slams to the floor as the remaining arbitrators keep their formation. The shield bearers pivot to face Archimedes while the lone shotgunner chambers a shell from his newly inserted magazine. They move as one trying to put some space between them and the space marine. In the tight quarters it's only a couple feet.

When they halt the shield bearers stepped to the side as the shotgunner tipped his weapon between them.

Arbitrator Semi-Auto Burst:

He pulled the trigger early and punched three large holes into the ceiling. He had switched to man-stopper shells. They would have more penetrative ability then the standard rounds but they shouldn't worry an Astartes.

Noticing the missed shots the shield bearers step back together shielding their companion. Their power mauls were at the ready waiting for Archimedes to make a move at them.

Not willing to immediately engage the shield bearers, Archimedes fires another single shot at the one protecting the shotgun arbite. With a quick aim and a quick shot he fires.

Spoiler:

The shot rang loud in the confined area, though it bothered Archimedes not at all.

The bolt smashed into the heavy riot shield leaving a sizeable crater. The arbitrator absorbed the remaining energy. He didn't even budge.

The shield bearer on the right breaks rank and curls around on Archimedes right flank. He's a distraction as the shotgunner stepped out from behind the other shield bearer and unloaded at the Astartes.

Shotgunner:

Archimedes reflexively shifts one his pauldrons into the line of fire. All the man-stopper shells slammed into it leaving Archimedes unharmed.

The remaining shield bearer rushes forward lashing out with his power maul.

Shield Bearer:

Even in the extremely confined space Archimedes is able to lean out of the way of the swinging power maul. Its power field excites the air and nothing else.

Archimedes could see what the arbitrators strategy was. The shield bearers were going to try to pin him down in melee while the shotgunner would continue to take shots at him.

Archimedes wasn't cowed by such tactics, better men had tried and none lived to tell of their failures.

The shield bearer would be first to suffer his wrath. With the arbite overextending his maul attack, Archimedes' power knife was there to fill in the gap.

Spoiler:

He wasn't quick enough. The arbite had regained his balance and blocked the attack with the shield.

"DIE TRAITOR!" The flanking shield bearer piped through his shield's vox-hailer as he stepped into melee.

Even with his helmet the vox-hailer pounded its way through. The auto-senses were the only thing keeping it from causing any damage to his hearing.

Attacks:

The power mauls came at him quickly. One was a glancing blow but the other was on target...

The shotgunner took his time sighting in Archimedes.

[It is -30% to Dodge for Archimedes in this small room.]

Archimedes trusted his ancient battle plate. After all, the arbite had no power. They were only annoying flies.

"YOU ARE THE TRAITOR!" he said, letting his vocal chords and helmet vox distort his voice to something that would strike fear in the flies.

With another deft movement he jabs at the backpaddling arbite who had thought him weak.
It was obvious he had been slacking on his martial training if he couldn't takedown these pathetic arbites.

Spoiler:

[Going to use Archimedes' Fear (1) granted by his Darksoul mutation.]

Something stirred in Archimedes when he shouted back at the Arbitrators. His power blade pings off a shield sending sparks forth that are caught in the air by an unseen force. The sparks are sucked towards his helmet lenses. They bloom and stretch in intensity distorting his helmet into an ungodly sight.

Arbitrator Willpower:

The first shield bearer falls backwards with a loud bang as his shield slams down next to him. He had fainted. The other shield bearer can only look on in shcoked horror at the Astartes. The shotgunner that was so confidently lining up his shot screamed as he ran off down the hallway that Archimedes entered the security post from.

[Combat isn't over but the two Shield Bearers are at Archimedes mercy. No need to roll for attacks or damage. If you attack them they'll die... if you want them to. The Shotgunner had fled but is only a Half Move away from Archimedes.]

There would be no mercy. Not anymore.

Archimedes brought his heavy boot down hard on the neck of the fainted arbites. He felt a hard snap underfoot as he turned his attention to the other shield bearer. He rushed him and grabbed him by the armored collar and hoisted him into the air above his head.

"Open these shutters or die!"

Archimedes held him aloft like a pungent bag of garbage. He was too scared to resist and just hung there limply.

"I can't. The main security post for this courtroom wing has the lockout engaged. It can only be deactivated from there." He muttered as urine dripped onto the floor beneath him.

Archimedes spotted a ID card hanging from the arbitrator's belt. That should let him get through any more secured doors.

He swiped the card with his left hand while keeping him held in the right.
"Death it is." he said as he single handedly crushed the man's wind pipe.

He removed the helmet from the soldier. He wanted access to the Arbite's vox communications.

He also grabs the weapons and gear. Logan might like the power mauls, shields, and whatever side-arms these troopers carried. He moves back towards the edge of the viewing balcony.

"A gift from our hosts. Ill open these doors shortly." he says as he tosses them to the floor below.

Spoiler:

The vox channels were alive with chatter.

Channel 3: Someone was trying to raise the arbitrators that Archimedes had dealt with. At least ten more squads were being dispatched to the courtroom wing but it would take some time as they were coming from their defensive positions in the Isolatorium.
Channel 10: The arbitrators were in massive trouble at the blood gates. Over half of their forces were trapped in the Gorgonid Mine after the blood gates were blown up by unknown explosives. The ones trapped on the other side were trying to find another way through to support their comrades.

"Make it quick! You can't be the only one around that gets to shed loyalist blood." Logan yelled as he kept his bodyguards from fighting each other over the looted equipment that was just gifted to them.

Archimedes set off back down the corridor. The last arbitrator should of been around here... there was no place to hide in the corridor so he had to be in one of the nearby courtroom balconies. He was no threat so the Astartes pressed on to his objective.


The Alpha Legionnaire emerged in the courtroom wing hall where the massive shutters were closed tight over their entrances. He saw the main security post he had passed by earlier. It was housed in one of the massive crossbeams that supported the ceiling. A single entrance was at ground level with a card reader.

There was a large window that looked out over the hall from the security post. Archimedes could make out two figures. They were busy with other tasks and failed to spot the very hard to miss space marine.

Though it looked like there was no need for stealth, Archimedes moved in a low crouch anyway.

Making it to the door, he scans the badge, his pistol and power knife at the ready.

The security door hissed open quietly. Archimedes silently climbed the short set of stairs and came into the security post.

"Omega 5 do you read. Omega 5 do you read." The closest arbitrator said into a vox headset.

"Damn Inquistional blackout can't be lifted. We're still deaf and blind." The second said.

Archimedes could see the lockout and the master controls for the shutters.

"He probably killed them all."

The shadow of Archimedes crept over the headset wearing arbitrator. He slowly turned his head to see the Astartes.

"Emperor protect me." He muttered.

Archimedes stabbed out with his power knife at the second one's neck. He was dead but Archimedes couldn't take the time to approve of the handiwork - his attention was on the other one.

He ripped off the headset and leaned in close.

"Open. The. Doors."

The arbitrator stood defiant in front of the Alpha Legionnaire. "Do your own dirty work, traitor." He spat onto Archimedes' helmet.

Archimedes had seen these controls thousands of times before at other Imperial installations. He knew what he was working with and could undo the lock down without the help of anyone else.

The arbitrator thought he was being sneaky but Archimedes could see he was trying to sneakily draw an automatic pistol on him. It wouldn't even put a dent in Archimedes armor but the zeal of a blind follower knew no bounds about what was possible or not.

Archimedes jerked his helmed head into the arbites', cracking his frontal and facial bones.

Ignoring the muffled screams, Archimedes finishes the operation and opens the doors. He then moves to the arbites cradling his face in his bloody hands. He holds his hand in his own gauntleted hands and grinds them together. The sounds of metacarpals grinding and snapping under the pressure cause the screaming to resume. He wouldn't be reaching for his weapons any time soon.

"I've half a mind to lobotomize you as a servitor where you will spend the next 100 years speaking my praises. You wont need these mangled hands, so they will be removed. Your broken, asymmetric face will not need repair, as only your tongue will have any use. But I also think your skull would do well in the heap back home. Logan does enjoy that kind of thing."

He then stomps on the Arbites' lower leg, shattering it under his weight.

Opening the vox to Logan, he tells him "I've opened the doors. How well does Khorne reward those who collect astorpathic skulls for him?"

A maniacal laugh came back over the vox. "The rewards for such a deed would be great! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD. SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!"

Archimedes lead the newly equipped Logan and his men through the courthouse. With Archimedes listening in on their vox communications and with a map pulled from the security post they breezed past patrols and checkpoints.


The choir of the Isolatarium was housed at the highest point of the courthouse. The trappings of the Adeptus Arbitrators had faded away and was replaced by the Astra Telepathica as they moved closer to it.

The entrance to their choir was a large room with a gate bearing the mark of a singular eye with a purple pupal and no iris.

One of Logan's men took off into the space before Archimedes could stop him. Multiple hot-shot las beams ripped into his body. Not even the sturdy arbitrator armor that they had looted was no match for these deadly las weapons.

That squad of seconded shock troopers from earlier were lurking within the room beyond protecting the entrance to the choir.

Archimedes marched into the corridor brazenly and without fear. He ignored Logan's downed man, they were easily replaced and hardly valued.

With his bolter raised he unleashed a hail of bullets, it was a calculated waste. Archimedes despised waste, but the arbites would have no choice but to duck down. This would give Logan and his band a chance to close the distance.

"KNOW THAT DEATH IS UPON YOU! YOUR SKULLS WILL ADORN THE KING OF BLOOD'S FOOTSTOOL!" he cries, partly to inspire fear in his enemies and partly to inspire Logan's bunch.

Spoiler:

Storm Troopers Willpower:

Archimedes marches in and methodically pours out bolt rounds in a 180 degree arc. [Ignoring standard Suppressive Fire arc of attack for this moment.]

His autosenses detected at least 6 storm troopers. Two of them ducked behind cover while the remaining four calmly maintained their positions.

[Sergeant and Storm Trooper #3 are Pinned.]

Logan and his remaining men quickly swarmed in from behind Archimedes and closed in on their chosen targets.

[Roll for Initiative!]

Initiative:

[All Storm Troopers are 20 meters away from Archimedes and 10 meters away from Logan and his men.]

"Come on you dogs! Lets paint the walls red and give Khorne a show!" Logan roared as he continued his approach to the Storm Trooper Sergeant.

Logan ran across the atrium without a care in the world and kept himself concealed from the Sergeant until his way ready to pounce on him.

He would not be able to make the distance and cover the others at the same time.

He moves forward a few steps and takes aim at the nearest soldier and fires off a single, well aimed round at the nearest storm trooper.

Spoiler:

Even with cover the storm trooper didn't stand a chance. The bolt round punched straight through the chest plate and then the explosive core took care of the rest.

[Storm Trooper #1 is dead. 5 Storm Troopers remain.]

The Reavers charged forth following the lead of Logan. They each choose a storm trooper to take on (Storm Trooper #2, #3, and #4).

The two that had shoots took them.

Storm Troopers Semi-Auto:

Dodge:

The Reavers ran through a hail of supercharged las shots. One was lucky and the other wasn't as his legs were cut out from under him and he skid across the floor dead.

[Reaver #3 is dead. 2 Reavers remain.]

The fifth trooper took aim at Archimedes.

Storm Trooper #5 Semi-Auto:

Logan didn't care that his men were dying. They were warriors. They lived to die in combat.

He rounded the cover that the Sergeant was using and swung a "liberated" power maul at him.

Logan:

Dodge:

The power maul smashed into the sergeants left arm. The crunch of carapace armor and the sizzling of a power field mix together for a horrendous sound. The sergeants arm went limp and dangled helplessly by his side.

[The Sergeant is no longer Pinned as they are in melee combat.]

Willpower:

[Storm Trooper #3 is no longer Pinned.]

Archimedes steps forwards a few more steps and takes another shot. Now he had to contend with Logan's men as well as the storm troopers.

Spoiler:

The tumult made it hard for Archimedes to draw a bead, but he saw an opening and he took it.

Storm Trooper #5:

Archimedes returned fire at the storm trooper that engaged him. They were to slow to react to the incoming bolt round and suffered the same fate as their teammate from earlier.

[Storm Trooper #5 is dead. 4 Storm Troopers remain.]

The troopers continued to fire at the Reavers who were closing quickly.

Storm Trooper Semi-Auto:

Dodge:

The first Reaver is able to roll under the burst and the second was almost as lucky but one las beam was able to get him in the left leg. It went clean through and it would of caused immense pain to most men. The Reaver though was focused on one thing... killing. Pain could wait.

The trooper that had hid away from Archimedes suppressive fire had rejoined the fight. In his hand was a krak grenade and its target was the Astartes.

Grenade Toss:

The krak grenade falls short of Archimedes and harmlessly explodes in front of him.

The surviving Reavers charged forth with deafening war cries.

Reavers:

Dodge:

The first Reaver is to excited and swings wildly only hitting air. The wounded was able to bring his power maul down towards his target but the trooper leaned back behind his cover quickly enough to not get hit.

The Sergeant dropped his Hot-las rifle from his working hand and quick drew his bolt pistol and fired at Logan.

Storm Trooper Sergeant:

His shot just barely misses Logan.

Logan swung his power maul back at him.

Logan:

Storm Trooper Sergeant:

The power maul smashes into the Sergeants right leg shattering the bone and pulverizing the muscles. The leader of the storm troopers went into immediate shock and would quickly die.

[Storm Trooper Sergeant is dead. 3 Storm Troopers remain]

[Storm Troopers #2 and #4 are in melee. Storm Trooper #3 is not in melee.]

Spoiler:

He switched the boltgun to a one handed grip and had his power knife in the other. Now was the time to overrun these stalwart fools.
He charged in towards the only one who was not engaged, the same one who thought grenades could save him. He was wrong.

Archimedes rushes in with the power knife in an over hand grip, his particular favorite knife grip.

Storm Trooper #3:

The trooper reacted just in time as Archimedes swiped his power knife across his body.

In return the trooper retrieved another krak grenade from his belt but this time he pulled the pin and dropped it between himself and Archimedes.

"For the Emperor!" He screamed as the grenade detonated.

Damage:

The trooper was instantly disintegrated in the blast.

[Storm Trooper #3 is dead. 2 Storm Troopers remain.]

The remaining troopers were locked in close combat with the Reavers. They never stood a chance as the Khornates beat them into bloody messes with their power mauls.

[Combat is over.]

As quickly as it started it was over. Two Reavers and five Storm Troopers dead.

"BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" The Khornates roared in unison.

Spoiler:

Archiumedes stood there for a second, almost dumbfounded by the Storm trooper's blind fury to his creed. It was such an affront to what the emperor had decreed so many years ago that it sometimes caught him by surprise.

He regained his composure.
"Excellent work. Take thier weapons and thier heads. We are almost done here. Proceed to the astropathic chior." he says as he takes the lead and scouts ahead while they strip the dead.

Archimedes Dodge:

Moving forward Archimedes noticed a searing pain radiating out from his left leg. Looking down he saw a decent sized hole leaking blood. The krak grenade had indeed caused some damage.

The sound of flesh being rendered apart behind him was drowned out by his heavy footsteps as he approached the gate in front of him. There was no apparent mechanism to open it. No control panel, lever, or button. The lone purple eye etched on it stared back at him.

Calls and orders from arbitrator vox channels were increasing. They knew that the choir was being assaulted and squads were being dispatched.

A blood soaked Logan appeared at the Astartes side. "Shame we don't have any melta charges. It would make quick work of this gate those cowards are hiding behind." He stepped forward and looked over the gate. "Every defense has a weakness. Some are just better at hiding it than others."

The shaman turned around and yelled at his reavers. "Get the krak grenades from those bodies!"

They did as they were told and brought Logan 13 of the grenades. He quickly made improvised charges and planted them at the bottom corners of the gate.

They were set off. At first there was nothing but then the gate groaned like a wounded beast. The actuators that would let it descend down failed and it crashed to the floor. The chaos band stepped throw the cloud of dust it threw up and emerged into the chambers of the choir.

There were no artificial lighting. Everything was lit by candle or torch. Incense burned from countless stands and overhead holders.

They were greeted by a loud rhythmic hum. In the center of the chamber the choir had gathered and were sending a message. The presence of danger did not dissuade them from their task.

One of the reavers licked his lips. "They've all lined up for the slaughter. How thoughtful of them!"

"Kill and Kill again." Archimedes says coldly as he follows Logan's men into the room.

They posed a very minor threat save they use the powers their mutations gave them.

He waited to see how they reacted once Logan started butchering them before deciding to join them or not.

"With pleasure." Logan responded.

The khornates set out on the Astropaths like rapid dogs on wounded prey. With glee and unrestrained cruelty.

The Astropaths didn't fight back. They kept up their task of sending a message until the last of them hit the ground dead.

Vox traffic had increased from the arbitrators. They had lost the blood gates. Over half of the force that set out from the Isolatorium were lost. All remaining arbitrators were now falling back.

Internal channels were focused on getting to the choir. While they'd be too late to save them they could avenge them with the numbers they were bringing. It was time to get out of here.

"Mission accomplished. We've no time for trophies. Be satisfied with the number of souls you've sent to the butcher's feet."

He turned and began to make his way out.

There was a few options that Archimedes had:

- Scale the outside of the court house. The focus of the arbitrators was currently on the interior. The lack of climbing gear was a bit of a problem though.
- Try and sneak their way out. There would be maintenance passages that the attached machine cult followers would of used to keep the court house in good working order.
- Or some other plan that was hiding within the Alpha Legionnaires head.