Halls of Dionea (Islands of The Ragged Helix)

Rolls:

Kya rolled her eyes, taking the items for now since she could. "I am quite calm. I just also have a healthy respect for the power of daemons. The area down here is clear so far-" She paused as the hair on her arms raised, taking a much more active look up and down the hall as she let her psychic senses reach out for her.
"Cancel that, feeling something..."

It was a residual reading. Something from the past. She could see but everything was muddy and blurred as if looking through cheap glass. She saw a massive figure in black armor with blue robes battling against something very much not human. Bolt rounds flew, doombolts crackled forth, and the powers of the warp unfolded time and reality. It was a battle between two powerful warp users. A demon and an astartes librarian. For all the bluster and savagery the demon showed the librarian held his ground and was even winning.

The two figures moved off continuing their running duel and Kya lost "sight" of them. This part of the hall had the best connection and it maintained its presence.

"A loyalist librarian was fighting the demon. Winning..." Kya moved down the hallway in the same direction she watched the running battle go. "Going to search more. If any of you can find me a map, I can get us to the heart of this more quickly."

Kya went silent, going to see where the corridor lead and if it turned off into any other directions. She also kept an eye out for signs on the walls, any clue to where she was or where she had to go would be helpful at this point.

Kya followed the marks of battle easily. They twisted their way through the passages dragging her and her sense of curiosity further into the complex.

Meanwhile the others did find a map of sorts and informed Kya to tell them what the number on her hall was. It was 8C where she currently was but her path was blocked. A bulkhead had been closed down and it was where the battle led. She'd have to find another way around or help guide the others to her.

[Give me a Navigation +25%.]

The guiding of the rest of the team mainly turned into frustration with multiple arguments over the vox between Kya and the team. Both sides didn't want to work together and thought they were the ones that were right. Eventually things solved themselves on way or another but it took way longer than it needed.

The team was coming up to her position from a passage off to her left. At the same time she heard something dripping on the floor back down the hall she followed to the bulkhead. There was no water in here...

She spotted a corrupted CAT that was attached to the ceiling down the hall. The poison from its pincer was what was causing the dripping. It must of tracked her down when she was too busy arguing with the team about directions.

It hissed, like a nail being dragged across metal, and began skittering its way across the ceiling towards her.

[Roll for Initiative!]

Corrupted CAT:

Rolls:

Useless. Of course they were useless. Kya had been sent down to a daemon-infested rock with a collection of self assured idiots to die, of this she was becoming increasingly confident and it made her very, very angry with her new captain.

Still, victory was a victory. They would come to her and they could work towards finishing this.

She turned at the dripping, glaring up at the Cat and beginning to backpedal away from it down the hallway towards where her group was coming from if that was possible, Kya voxxed the others once more. "Another corrupted CAT, right on top of me. I will attempt to kill it, but I am also moving back towards you. Be ready."

She wove the flames in her mind, attempting to incinerate the CAT from the inside as she had done to the first one.

[Spending the Infamy for the +10 is okay. Just make sure to subtract an Infamy point from your character sheet.]

"We'll get to you before us. Just hold it off until we can get there." Davkai said over the vox.

The pounding of footsteps sounding off the hall walls confirmed the team was coming to her.

[The rest of the team should be at Kya's position at the end of round 2.]

Corrupted CAT:

The disgusting creature glowed from within and thrashed around violently before dropping from the ceiling. Metal and flesh impacted the floor below. The CAT regained its composer and made a charge towards Kya.

Corrupted CAT:

It makes a jumping swipe with its stinger but catches the flak cloak near her left arm. It comes to a skittering halt and readied itself for another attack.

[END OF ROUND 1]

OOC + Rolls:

Kya snapped her fingers and the flames continued to spread through the body of the CAT. She used the opportunity presented by it missing her on its first attack to duck aside and run further down the hall. Her flames would kill it for her, she trusted them more than her allies, she needed only buy them time.

She sprinted as fast as she could, not wanting to relive what the first CAT had done to her. She couldn't take another hit like that, not today.

[Remember that for Incinerate to go up in damage value it has to be sustained which is a full action. So Kya can't move. The damage is the best option here so it's what I'll go with.]

The glow within the corrupted CAT continued to brighten. The smell of burnt flesh mixed in with the carbonizing of metal filled the hall. The CAT had no time to react to the nova that incinerated it from the inside and all that was left was its burnt out metal shell.

[COMBAT IS OVER]

The rest of the ground party came screaming around the corner shotguns and las rifles raised. Most grimaced at the smell of the dead CAT and Davkai waved his hand in front of his face trying and failing to get rid of the smell.

"Damn, Kya. Light a match next time." Davkai said jokingly.

Trav and Lark set down a cargo crate the two of them were carrying. They looked exhausted but they didn't complain. All of their void suits were inside of it. Precious cargo that they'd need once they got out.

"I don't want to bring it up but does anyone think this loyalist Astartes Librarian might be alive in here still? The odds with a demon weren't great and throwing an Astartes in the mix-" Lark blabbered before a swift slap to the back of the head from Krenshaw cut him off.

"It's a good question nonetheless." Faz said as he starred off into the darkness of a hall with his las rifle at the ready.

Davkai looked over at Kya. "Thoughts from the resident psyker?"

OOC:

"Ah but this way is so much more satisfying. You get used to the smell." Kya gave a wicked grin, lit faintly by the smoldering remains of the CAT's corpse. She let the power fade as the creature died, collecting herself and moving to stand closer to the others. The Psyker held out the grenades she had found, along with the combat knife.
"Explosive's aren't my thing, one of you want these? Bit big for me, anyways."

Then she stepped back again, looking side to side and pausing. It was hard to say when the battle had even taken place specifically, though the space marine did seem to have been winning... But if he'd won, then the base wouldn't still be crawling with creatures of the warp.
"He's either dead, or gone. If he'd won the fight then we wouldn't be seeing any daemons... Other option is he went traitor, and he's the one making the CAT's in the first place. Hope to whichever god you follow that that's not the case."

Kya crossed her arms, holding her staff between them against her chest. "You've still got the map. Which way do we need to go to get central and place the explosives? I saw the fight going off that way, Kya gestured off down the hall. "So as long as we go opposite that then hopefully we'll be in the clear. Can't promise much of anything, the warp isn't clear at the best of times... My vote is going the fastest route, setting the explosives, and then booking it out of here as fast as we can. The less time we give the daemon to pinpoint us, the better."

Faz happily scoops up the gigantic frag grenades from Kya.

[Kya removes 2 Legion Frag Grenades.]

Everyone exchanged silent glances with one another when Kya asked about placing explosives.

Davkai broke the silence. "The Deathwatch didn't build this place with many exits. Nor did they build it to be easily destroyed. Its central power source is buried deep and directly in the center. That's where they placed the only exit that isn't the front door. It is also the way the Librarian and the demon were going."

"Almost like they built the places to be tombs for them if they had to fight to the death." Trav commented.

"What did you expect from something built by Astartes?" The usually quiet Quilch asked.

"A hanger bay at least." Trav shot back.

"Shut it!" Krenshaw barked. "So was the Librarian trying to escape if he was going that way?" He asked with anticipation as if the question had been on his mind for a while.

"Or he was trying to trap the demon." Faz said. "Deep, heavily protected, and if the plasma generators go up... it'd be one hell of a boom."

It seemed the idea of a fast exit was out of the question. The idea of wadding into the possible lair of the demon seemed to be the team's only hope.

"Agreed, Faz. I think he was trying to trap it down there. I think he succeeded as well, so now the demon has had who knows how long to settle into the base and spread its corruption everywhere. The librarian... Is either dead or left through that exit." She sighed, running one hand through her hair as she looked back down the hall.

She was quiet for a few moments and then hit her staff once against the floor.
"If we're going through with this, then that's where we need to go. Same way the loyalist went and then down into the center so we can detonate the core." Kya gestured down the hallway she had seen the librarian going. "Lead the way. I'll stick near the middle. Best for me to be able to concentrate on my flames without burning us all. I'm sure you don't want that... Be ready for more CATS. Or worse."

Everyone checked their gear once more before moving into the bowls of the place. Trav and Lark lifted the crate and everyone was off.


It was a slow going process. Faz had to blow through two bulkhead doors that were in their way. The carriers of those melta charges (Krenshaw and Lark) where happy to get rid of them. Faz wasn't. He wanted every available melta charge to be used on the core.

Everyone was pretty surprised that they didn't run into anymore corrupted CATs. They did find some dead ones on their way towards the core. These were old and had clear wounds that were from bolt rounds.

Even more surprising was they came across dead servitors. Not corrupted but someone had decommissioned them and not just simply shot up. Not the librarian by the look of the mechanical skill involved. Same went for automated defense systems along their path. Someone took the time to make them inoperable.

Kya could also trace the fight of the librarian and demon going through here. Not a surprise as this was the only way to the core of the station.

Eventually their spiraling path, which was leading them down, spat them out into a sort of command room. Lots of read outs and consoles littered the space and were still operating. Their glow was the only thing producing light in the room.

Lark yelled. Dropped his end of the crate and opened fire with his shotgun. He hit something but his pellets ricocheted off whatever it was and scattered around the room sending the team running for cover.

Davkai shown his light over to the area Lark fired at. It illuminated a massive figure clad in black slumped down against a wall with his bolter secured in his hands. A servo arm almost matching the Astartes in size had its jaw perched on his right shoulder.

"He looks dead." Trav said in a whisper over the team's vox channel.

"No visible wounds on him from what I can see. Did the one that you found look like this, Kya?" Quilch asked.

Kya grew more concerned the farther into the complex the group went. Someone had intentionally turned off the security and all of the tech here, and the only reason she could think of for doing that would be if the daemon had taken control of ALL the systems on the base, or was going to at the time. She was on edge, and made even moreso by the sudden panic and shooting of Lark.

Kya took a few steps forward once the threat was confirmed as being, well... Dead. She looked over the body.

"Yeah - Yeah that's him. Same armor color, anyways. The librarian had robes, this might just be another loyalist."
Kya reached out with her psychic senses again, searching the room with those and her normal senses to see what she could find within.

"Anything useful on these consoles? I'm searching the room for any more warp spawn, give me a moment... You might be able to find out why all the security is shut down, could be my hunch is right and they turned them off to stop the daemon from controlling them."

Rolls:

If things were clear, Kya would suggest the group keep moving. She wanted to finish the job and get out as soon as possible.

Kya's warp senses told her this wasn't the Librarian. There would be a clear and easy to spot residual psyker presence. This was just another loyalist. Krenshaw, Quilch, and Trav approached the dead Astartes and started to go through his equipment. Pirates were gonna pirate.

Her physical search confirmed her theory. She found corrupted logs that told part of the story but in the end it confirmed that it was the loyalists that had shut down the stations security. They sure did have a plan by the looks of things.

Kya wanting to continue on was halted as Krenshaw wrestled with the bolter still clasped in the dead marines hands. Even with his power fist Krenshaw was not powerful enough to rip it free.

Davkai didn't seem to be a hurry either as he and Lark were also pilfering anything from the room that looked valuable. Faz stood guard near the exit that would have them descending into the power core.

It seemed someone would need to get control of the situation...

Kya rolled her eyes, tapping her foot on the floor as she looked between the group and their destination. She had a fine line to walk, survival was her main goal but if she pissed everyone off in the process then she wouldn't last very long when and if they got back. And of course she'd been saddled with a bunch of idiots.

"Hey!" She called over to the ones looting, arms crossed and eyes practically smoldering. "I know it's real easy to forget, but we've got a bit of a time crunch and a daemon that is potentially in control of the entire station."
Kya pointed to the terminals, and any deactivated defences that were visible in the room. "They turned all that off on purpose. If they were that worried about it, imagine what it's been able to do since taking out the loyalists, hm? We don't have time to loot, and if you try to make that time you're not going to ever get out of here WITH that loot."

Kya made her way towards the exit, not getting too close in case something was waiting for them, but enough that she was very clearly ready and wanting to leave as soon as possible.

Dice and OOC:

If they didn't listen to her, Kya stood there and anxiously watched the door. She couldn't go on her own, she was injured still and didn't know what was ahead, which meant she had to suffer the idiots behind her.

Some acknowledged Kya with a few looks her way. However, they didn't seem to care about what she said. For some they were probably trying to delay the inevitable meet up with the demon while others were caught up in their greed. One in particular was Krenshaw. He was still trying to tear away the bolter from the Astartes' hands. That was until the armor of the Astartes seemed to grumble...

The servo arm rattled to life and sprung forth at Krenshaw grabbing him by the neck. It could of easily snapped it but instead Krenshaw was just slowly being choked to the death.

"He... Hel... Help!" Krenshaw gasped as he tried to pry the massive claws apart around his neck.

Quilch and Trav were aiding Krenshaw in trying to free him while Davkai and Lark were rushing over. Faz stayed at his post.

"Seems that they should of listened." Faz said to Kya.

Kya groaned, looking to Faz with a sort of exhausted disappointment. "Nobody could have seen this coming, truly... We're wasting time." She bounced from foot to foot, tapping her staff against the ground as she anxiously looked down the tunnel forward. The demon knew they were here, it had to be preparing for them now.

"You'd all have an easier time of prying the walls off the station." She called over, increasingly annoyed that they were bothering to help Krenshaw. This was his fault.

Kya continued to wait. She wasn't going to go alone. She couldn't go alone. So until Krenshaw died, she was stuck here with all of them. She opted to speak with Faz.

"The captain send you on these types of missions often? Kind of feel like he's trying to get rid of us."

"No, the captain doesn't do suicide missions. If something close to one needs to happen he'd be leading it." Faz said as the commotion going on around Krenshaw continued. "I assume he's going to have a long and vicious talk with the client about what has transpired down here. It smells of bad intel."

The commotion on the other side of the room ceased as Krenshaw expelled his last breath and died in the claws the the servo arm. Lark stuck his shotgun to the head of the Astartes but Davkai yelled at him before he decided to do something stupid.

Like good pirates they stripped Krenshaw of his supplies and weapons and tossed them into the cargo crate carrying the void suits. With that incident all over they could move on but they were also down a man now.

Trav and Lark gave Kya and Faz dirty looks. Quilch shook his head to no one in particular.

Davkai shoulder his las rifle and looked at the two who didn't help. "You two on point."

Even if Kya wanted to interject Faz was already pulling her along to lead the team out.

They trekked further down. The hair in Kya's arms were standing straight up. She could feel a cold that no one else noticed. She could see her breath in puffs in front of her face. In addition Kya's eyes couldn't help but notice all the marks on the walls around her. For some it just looked like battle marks... to her it was something else.

[Give me an Trade (Archeologist) +10%, on a failure a Forbidden Lore (Psykers) -10%, on a success a Forbidden Lore (Psykers) +10%.]

Rolls:

"I hope you're right about that. It would be *very* cathartic to burn whoever set this up."
Kya sighed as they were made to take the lead. Of course they were blamed for his stupidity. A reckoning would come for them in time, and Kya would remember the ones who attempted to set her up for failure.

As she walked in the lead with Faz, Kya looked around at the markings on the walls. They tickled something in the back of her brain, but she couldn't quite place what it was. She stared as they walked, paying more attention to the markings than the path ahead of them. Faz could handle that, and she would sense a demon approaching without her eyes.

"Something strange about these markings. The Librarian made them, not the demon. Can't tell what they are for but my guess is containment, which means we might be disrupting that by going deeper. How close are we to the core now?"

"Can you do something with the containment that the Librarian put in place?" Davkai asked returning to his squad leader role.

"You feel the heat." Faz said and Kya did notice it was getting noticeably warmer as they descended. "Means we're almost there. We should be coming across some serious bulkhead doors and beyond those should be the core."

Faz was right. The team came across a massive bulkhead door. Markings from the Librarian covered it from top to bottom. In the center of it was a mounted pure silver pauldron with a skull engraved on it. In its eye sockets were blue diamonds.

Kya could feel herself being pulled towards those blue eyes and then the head splinting headache came. She wasn't the only one affected. All in the landing party grabbed their heads in pain.

"TRAITORS. BEYOND ONLY LIES DEATH. THE DEMON DOES NOT CARE WHO YOU SERVE." A booming and ethereal voice ripped through her skull.

This was different from what Navigator Scipio was doing to her before. This wasn't a probe. This was a warning to not got any further.

[Give me a Willpower +0% roll.]

Rolls:

Kya squinted at the writing, growing more and more concerned the deeper they went into the station.
"I am becoming increasingly certain that we should leave. This can't possibly be worth it, and we know that this base isn't in use by the captains enemy. This is a waste of our time, and if the Space Marines are that wary of this daemon then we have every right to be as well. I have no desire to die in a hole in rock in space."

She slowed, standing near the back of the group to see what they would do. If they continued, she had to as well. But she hoped some would see sense, especially after this.

[Kya suffers 1 permanent damage to Willpower. Also Kya's Willpower has gone back up to 48 as about 3 hours have passed since that incident.]

Everyone recovered from the brutal psychic institution. Some worse then others though, especially Lark who was in the fetal position on the ground clutching his head and muttering unintelligible words. Quilch rushed over to him to see if he could help. It didn't look like it.

"If there was another way out I would of taken it!" Davkai snapped at Kya. "The only damn exit the Death Watch built that we can get to is through the core. The same damn core this demon looks to be locked up in." He gestured to the writings of the librarian. "The loyalist contained it! Good for him." He points a finger at Kya. "Worthless to us it seems." There was some hostility behind those words.

"Faz, prep the door, we're going in." Davkai said without giving it a second thought.

Faz looked from Davkai to Lark then to Kya before his eyes went back to the bulkhead. He sighed and gathered up the melta charges he'd need.

OOC:

"You'd still be in the fucking hanger without me, or eaten by demon CAT's." Kya rubbed her head, wearing an immensely deep frown of dissatisfaction. She'd been distracted before by the remnants of the librarian burrowing into her head, but now that the only other option was literally blowing it up which seemed, to Kya, to be something that would get them all killed... Well, she walked a bit closer for a better look at the runes and the containment that had been set up.

She wanted to try and redirect it somewhere else, perhaps trapping the demon in another room or hallway and giving them a chance to push through the core while it was elsewhere. Basically any potential alternative to walking in with it right there.

"Give me a minute. I'll see if I can see anything to do with this. If not... Yeah, blow it up, sure. If we live after that I'll buy you a drink or some shit."

Davkai doesn't respond to Kya retort but he does give her a minute before Faz blows the bulkhead open.

Roll Info:

She trailed along the wall, examining it and finally noting the pattern. Not good."Right... See these symbols going along here?" She pointed down each chain with her finger. "These are making psychic chains, binding the demon inside. But it's starting to break free, the chains are weakest here, here, and here... We could be looking at moments before they break."

Not good at all. They didn't have much time, and the only way out seemed to be forward.

"Blow the door. But do not damage any of the symbols, or we will free the demon immediately. Blow it, and we must run through without stopping."

"What about Lark?" Quilch asked kneeling over Lark who had curled up into the fetal position.

"Leave him his suit." Is all Davkai said.

A few glances went around but no one interjected and they dropped Larks void suit next to him. He didn't attempt to put it on.

Everyone else got ready for a run for their lives. Quilch and Trev were lugging the cargo crate with their suits.

"Alright, straight run for the exit. We're ditching the idea of trying to blow this place up. Make sure Quilch and Trav get out or we're just going to suffocate anyways." Davkai looked at Faz. "Do it."

Faz set the melta charges and ran back before they went off. Then they blew leaving molten holes in the bulkhead door. It was now or never.

[Give me an Athletics +10%.]

Kya had taken a lot of stupid jobs. This one, and how deeply tangled into it she'd gotten, was probably the worst one in a while.

She took a deep breath, and sprinted through the door behind the others. She did everything in her power to keep her mind closed from any demonic influence that may try to reach her as they entered what may well be its lair.

Rolls:

Athletics:

The core was a furnace. Heat wavered from every surface and the air was oppressively dry. Then there was something else in the air. Everyone could feel it but Kya could feel it better than anyone else. The presence of a great being from the warp. It started out as a tickle in the back of her mind before turning into a ice cold finger tracing its way down her spine.

She didn't stick around long to see if the presence intensified as she pulled away from the group who lagged behind. Then disaster struck as Trev tripped over something causing him to lose his grip on the cargo crate. Quilch lost his grip and the crate skittered away.

Kya was already at the exit bulkhead. All she had to due was pull a lever. Without a void suit it would be a worthless endeavour. Her suit was in that crate.

As she looked back she saw ice starting to form on the hot surfaces and steam starting to form. Her witch eyes could see a tendril of warp power reach out and branching toward the team under the floor.

OOC:

Kya had seen what demons could do to people, especially people like her. The imperium had drilled it into her, and since leaving she'd seen it first hand more than once. She did not want to remain near it for any longer than she had to, so when she spun around and saw the others drop the crate as they tripped. The crate with her suit inside.

Fuck.

She tried to get a bead on exactly where the tendril was coming from, hoping to avoid it as it went for the others while she sprinted back towards the crate and their suits. She didn't really give a shit if the others lived, but she did offer them a warning.
"The demon is reaching out for you! Under the floor. Fucking move!"

If she reached the crate, she'd fling it open and get her suit out to begin putting it on. The only thing that'd stop her from doing so was if the demon attacked her directly, or if the others regained their footing and started carrying the crate to the exit again.

[Kya's Trade (Voidfarer) allows her to put on the suit without a roll.]

It might of been boring, repetitive, and grueling when it came to working for Gernard back on the Free Merchant. However, she learned how to put on a void suit and quickly with her time with him. Here it paid off in spades as she suited up like she was putting on her usual cloths.

Faz, Davkai, and Quilch listened to her. Trev did not. He freaked and started raking the floor with lasgun fire. It obviously had no effect as ghostly hue enveloped him. It was the tendril reaching up and out of the floor.

The pirate was wrenched off his feet and held aloft by the ethereal power of the demon and for those that dared to watch saw the man's body turning itself inside out before imploding.

Davkai and Quilch picked up the crate and everyone resumed their mad dash to the exit with new tendrils chasing after them.

[Need a Athletics +0% (the void suit is a bulky thing) from Kya.]

Athletics:

OOC:

Kya wanted to be out of here. This had been exactly what she thought it would be, a suicide mission. Her only goal was getting out, and now that she had her suit on the survival of the people with her was entirely inconsequential. Her life before theirs as she sprinted towards the exit.

Kya tried her best to keep up but the bulk of the suit slowed her down and the other were starting to pull away from her. Luckily, or unlucky depending on how you look at it, Quilch was slowing Davkai down. That didn't last long as Faz knew the situation and what need to be done. He pushed Quilch aside and him and Davkai got the crate to the exit well ahead of Quilch and Kya.

The pirate medic looked over at Kya and then behind him. His eyes squinted at something. It was another person in a void suit. Lark. He must of gotten in his suit and finally wandered into the core. He held his arms out wide and in both of his hands were frag grenades. His mouth was agape and his eyes wild.

The demon's attention was caught and it turned towards Lark allowing Kya and Quilch to get to the exit. As Faz closed the bulkhead door the column of light encased Lark and he let the grenade strikers go. No one saw the end but they knew what had happened.

The other three started to get into their suits as quickly as they could without a word. It wasn't fast enough as Kya could see a ghostly hue building up all around them.

They were standing in an airlock but cycling it would take a good couple of seconds to let them out.

Kya briefly watched Lark enter the room, then saw the grenades. It was more than enough encouragement for her to move as quickly as she possibly could towards the exit, being blown up of all things was not the way she wanted to die.

Kya clustered with the others, then pulled out from them as they got changed so that she was right against the outer airlock. The hope, for her, was that whatever the ghostly influence was wouldn't go for her first when she was farthest from the demon itself. A shallow hope, it seemed, but the one she had to cling to.

Briefly she considered trying to pre-maturely vent the airlock. She had her suit on already... But decided against it. Even if that worked, she would be picked up by her new captain, interrogated by the navigator, and killed for betraying these crewmen. So she prayed to whatever god decided to listen instead, asking for survival this one time. This was not the way she wanted to die.

Time ground to a halt. The pirates in front of her were stuck midway between having their suits on with the ghostly hue wrapping around them.

Something breathed warm air onto her ear. "Are you just going to stand there and do nothing? I expected something more from you. Even for a heretic psyker you have the power to do something here. The demon might be a warp being but right here it is a very real physical being in the material world. Well, this place might stretch the definition of the material world. It doesn't change the fact you can do something. What that is... well I'm not here to hold your hand."

The world started to slowly speed up again.

Kya took a breath as she felt breath on her ear and the voice in her head. She didn't know what it was, for a moment she assumed it was somehow the Librarian but that couldn't be the case... Right? Either way, being told that she could do something about the daemon stoked the fire in her soul.

If she could see it, she could burn it. It was worth a shot. She called upon her flames once more, and attempted to light the daemon's ghostly tendrils aflame to burn them away from the others.

Kya didn't get a chance to see if her flames did their job or not as the world shook around her. She felt herself burn, freeze and rot at random all across her body and quickly fell to the ground, bleeding from wounds all over her body within the vac suit. She did her best to try and staunch the bleeding, but she couldn't manage it.

OOC + Rolls:

The warp came spilling out alongside her flames and the reaction with the demon was something to behold. The last thing Kya saw before she passed out was a world engulfed in flames, rotting, freezing, unfreezing, and melting. Somewhere one of the gods was pleased with this outcome.

She should of been dead... but she wasn't.


Kya awoke in the medbay of the Free Merchant. She was hardly the same person she was back down inside that dead rock. Her left arm and left eye had been replaced with cybernetic replacements. Large tracks of her body were covered in scar tissue. All her hair was gone.

Then there was the visage of a large figure that only appeared as a silhouette. It looked like the smudged image of a space marine. It stood at the foot of Kya's bed before disappearing into wisps of black as Captain Nash walked through it.

"I'm sure you're surprised as we are that you're still alive. You can thank Davkai, Faz, and Quilch for doing their best to patch you up and get you out. From what they've told me you are the one who killed the demon and saved them. After talking to Scipio he came to the conclusion that you just got lucky." He smiled. "Better to be lucky than dead though." He started to turn but stopped halfway. "Oh, and I wasn't kidding about you killing the demon. I sent one more team down and they couldn't find it."

Nash tapped the edge of her bed and left. It wasn't her only visitor as Gernard walked into her room, saluting Nash as he passed, and took up a seat. His pipe billowing away and the insistent whirring of his cybernetic eye adjusting its focus on her.

"Welcome back to the land of the living. We'll get you adjusted to your new additions shortly but in the mean time rest is in order." He said in a tone that seemed like he actually cared about her well being. "You're something of a small celebrity on the ship right now. Not everyday someone comes face to face with a demon and lives. Even less so that they kill the damn thing."

[1,000 XP. +10 Infamy. Gained a Good Craftsmanship Bionic Arm and Good Craftsmanship Cybernetic Senses (Sight). WP is restored to normal expect for the permanent -1 WP she suffered. Wounds are restored to full.]

OOC:

For a time, Kya had floated in the emptiness. She was convinced she'd died, a fitting way for her to leave the world at least. Fire and chaos all around her, as it was in life. It would have been poetic, if she were one to care about such things.

As the darkness faded and she returned to consciousness in a bed rather than the cold void of space, or the airlock of the asteroid base, Kya did what she could to ground herself in the moment. She focused on the pain she felt, the burns across her body... No. The scars. How long had she been out?
She ran her hands over herself, noting only now that she had a new arm and eye.

It didn't phase her as much as it once would have. Among the outlaws in the vortex, Kya knew that cybernetics were more of an inevitability than anything. The fact that they seemed to work, and were in good order, was more than enough for her to be satisfied with things.

She wasn't sure who would do that, or why, until she saw the figure. She nearly conjured flames to burn the space marine before Nash arrived instead.
That made her relax, but only marginally. She'd made it back to the ship, meaning the others were alive. That was a win, in a way.

She tried to speak and found her throat hoarse. With a cough to clear it she called after the Captain. "You knew what was down there, didn't you? No way that was ever a base of your rival." Kya glared embers at the Captains back until she couldn't easily keep herself leaned forward and flopped back against the bed.

"Gernard. I hope I haven't deprived you of a spare eye." She didn't believe Gernard gave a shit about her beyond the benefits of having a psyker as a friend, but that was fine. A joke to finally release the tension was nice.
"First time I've ever killed one. Surprised all the other survived too, the warp was chaotic down there... One of the gods must have stepped in to keep them alive. And me.... How long was I out? It's all scars now, must have been a while, yeah?"

OOC:

"I only get stuff from the spare parts bin. Captain was nice enough to outfit you with some actual good bionics." He said exhaling smoke. "You've been out for about two and a half weeks. Our medical equipment helped heal you up faster then your natural self could dream of." He looked at the door with his good eye and then back to Kya. "I caught what you said to the captain. Don't think for a minute that he won't space you even if you did kill a demon. He didn't know what was down there and he's been pissed about it. Someone messed up and it wasn't him. We're on route to talk with the knuckledragger who sent us here for some answers. Ever been to a pirate princes domain before?

OOC:

"Well... Surprised he was willing to do that for me." Kya sighed. Two and a half weeks is a lot to miss. Too much, really. But being alive was a good consolation prize.

"Maybe I'll hold my tongue in the future, then. At least for the next time, the bionics earned him that much. Whoever sent us there knew, though. They had to. There were loyalist marines inside. At least two. That is not something that just happens unnoticed, not here."

Kya licked her dry, cracked lips and ran her bionic hand down the burns on her chest as she spoke. "Once or twice. They're all a bit different though. Whos is this one?"

"This is the Vortex. All kinds of weird shit happens."

Gernard laughed at Kya's response. "Lucky you. I never get to leave the ship or at least for anything fun. Who it is? I don't know who the pirate princess is just that they're a pirate prince. The scuttlebutt is that Nash is thinking of taking you along. Something about them not being very fond of psykers... he wants to make them as uncomfortable as possible."

[Kya is free to go around the ship if she'd like or we can jump ahead to the pirate princess' place.]

OOC:

"Pirate princess, huh. I like the sound of that, get some variety if nothing else. You are probably a bit too important to be sending out on suicide missions, haven't seen anyone else going out in the void suits to fix stuff." She shrugged, and would continue chatting with Gernard for a little while before asking him to help her get used to the arm and eye. He had his own cybernetics, so she hoped that he'd be able to guide her through the difficulty of acclimating for the first time.

She spent a good chunk of her travel time just working on that, she wanted to be at her best if another fight broke out.

Apart from that, Kya wandered around the ship to see what news had spread about what happened on the asteroid, and to try and pick up any gossip about the last two weeks. She was especially interested in how the crew talked about herself. If things had become a bit more Kya-positive, then she was well on her way to actually finishing her original job, despite the setbacks. But even then that would need to wait, regardless of what the word around the ship was.

When they arrived, Kya headed towards the bridge with all of her gear. She wanted to talk with the Captain about what they were planning, and who this Pirate was.

[You can work you Cursed Heirloom armor in when it looks fitting.]

The gossip around the ship was tenfold compared to what it was before the raid on the asteroid. Lots of talk about the demon, deathwatch, and especially Kya. The psyker got a lot of looks, nods, and sometimes a salute from the crew members. They were starting to accept her as one of their own. Almost everyone anyways. Nash's inner circle was still cold to her except Arhixis. The second second lieutenant had taking a liking to Kya.


Up on the bridge, full of its infused crewmates to their stations, she was greeted by Nash, Davkai, Faz, and her least favorite fan Elegan.

Nash had changed from his utilitarian coveralls to something more fitting for a pirate captain. A dark red waistcoat decorated with too much gold piping and buttons made out of thrones (imperial currency). At his side was a modest looking cutlass.

"Ah, the agitator arrives." Elegan growled.

"Shut it." Nash barked catching Elegan off guard. "I need everyone here on their A game. I don't care about how each of you feel about one another. We're here for answers and if we're going to get them I need everyone to work together. You can got back to hating one another after we're done."

"Who is answering our questions?" Davkai asked.

"Madeline The Mad." Nash answered with disdain. "She's who sent us on our merry way to that rock with the demon."

Davkai and Faz shifted uncomfortably at mention of Madeline The Mad and Kya knew why. Madeline might not be one of the most powerful pirate princes in the Ragged Helix but she sure was one of the more notorious ones. An ardent believer in Khorne and mainly sought out heads instead of treasure. Those heads included other pirates. She also couldn't be the one who usurped Two Coins from Vice's Bazaar as she'd be looking at it right now. No, she was also just a pawn or ally to whoever was still behind that theft.

Kya flipped off Elegan with her metal arm as she stepped into the bridge, expecting some snide comment to come from him and of course she was right. He would be the first to burn if it came to that. The rest she gave a nod to, they were alright all things considered. Could have left her to die.

She stood near the doorway, listening to the back and forth and mulling over the revelation of just who their contact was. Khorne follower, concerning.
"Explains the dislike of Psykers. What exactly is the plan once we get there? Am I doing anything or just standing behind you for the presence of it all?"

She paused, crossing her arms and tapping the metal one with her flesh and bone hand. "And have we heard anything from her on the way here, or will this be a blind meeting so to speak?"

"Presence and your combat skills." Nash answered Kya. "She is expecting us. We got the job done and we're here to collect our pay... as far as she knows."

"So are we expecting trouble?" Faz asked.

"With it being Madeline and the fact she's never been known to be cool headed about anything... then yes." Elegan responded.

"Hopefully it's more peaceful then we expect but prepare for a fight. Is there any more questions? If not head over to the armory. You have the pick of what you need but don't go overboard."  

[Last chance for remaining questions and also access to the ship armory. If Kya would like something from it I can provide a list of things she might be interested in bringing.]