Dark Heresy - Wisdom is the beginning of fear.

[Jak Snide]

The other acolytes awoke at the sound of Mithras' voice, the guardsman clearly visible in the firelight, lasgun in hand.

Mithras:

Spoiler:

The figure doesn't respond. It didn't even flinch as you brought you weapon to bear. You can hear the other acolytes moving, your yell having woken them from their slumber. The tingling in your spine is an unwelcome sensation.

Crisis:

Spoiler:

Mithras is pointing his gun off into the darkness at something they can't make out. You are awake and alert, your nightmare having jolted you from your sleep.

Cryvus:

Spoiler:

Mithras is pointing his gun off into the darkness at something they can't make out. You are groggy and tired, your mind more on the dream you were just dragged from than the waking world.

Mikolas:

Spoiler:

Coming to your senses, and following the direction Mithras' lasgun is pointed in, you think you can make out a human shape standing just beyond the range of their fire's illumination. You are groggy and tired, but feel some vague familiarity about this situation.

[Kelne]

Cryvus sat muzzily upright, then belatedly flat again, taking cover as he fumbled for his pistol. "Fear the beasts and the children," he said groggily, "For in this world they have no voice."

[Capntastic]

Mik rolled over, retrieving his laspistol and yawning.

"Shoot his legs out."

He then began the process of getting himself standing.

[Christian]

Shifting slightly where he was sitting, Mithras gave a frustrated grunt as the approaching figure refused to move. He didn't want to do what Mikolas had said, but if whoever it was didn't identify itself, that didn't leave many options available.

"Identify yourself or I will shoot you." he growled as he finally rose from his seat, weapon still aimed at the figure. "Raise your arms and approach slowly. You have to the count of three..."

"One..."



[Mithras is aiming and will shoot unless the figure does as ordered. If a threat is perceived, he will fire at the leg of the stranger]

[Jak Snide]

Mithras:

Spoiler:

The figure takes a step forward.

There was a sharp KRACK of a lasgun discharging, jolting both the drowsier of the acolytes and Aristarchus wide awake. Xerxes let out a yell as he fumbled for his sidearm.

Mithras:

Spoiler:

The bolt of energy hits the figure in the leg and it topples over into the darkness.

Crisis:

Spoiler:

Mithras fires into the darkness, hitting nothing. What he was shooting at is a mystery.

Cryvus:

Spoiler:

Mithras fires into the darkness, hitting nothing. What he was shooting at is a mystery.

Mikolas:

Spoiler:

The bolt of energy hits the figure in the leg and it topples over into the darkness.

Aristarchus sat upright, a compact-pattern laspistol gripped tightly in one hand as he scanned their surroundings for any threats, as did the acolytes. After a few tense moments Xerxes spoke in a hushed voice.

"What in the God-Emperor's name are you shooting at?"

[Christian]

Mithras spat on the ground as he began to move towards where he'd fired, lasgun aimed steadily towards it. The others would hopefully back him up should things come to the worse, so his reluctance seeped away.

Whoever it was that had approached them clearly either had no comprehension of the language, which made them a barbarian (and quite possibly a threat to their safety) or someone who underestimated him.

"We're not alone." he mumbled as he moved up to the shadows, straining to see...

...He hadn't heard anything. Perhaps the targets' voice had been muted by the krack of his lasgun... but not even any gruntings of pain... who was this?


[Mithras moves up to the spot]

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis snapped awake from his fitful sleep, staying in place for a bit--right before Mithras' ultimatum and shot. It didn't look like he was firing at anything, but given that he didn't fire for shits and giggles...it would only be presumed that there was something that at least seemed threatening. Quickly donning his gas mask and rearming himself, he crouched in the fields, rifle readied, and listening on high alert for anything that seemed like hostile activity...

After all, there was another reason why he hated the idea of using lasweaponry. Mithras just gave their position away to any and all other hostiles in the area.

He needs to get something that doesn't make the squad look like targets under nightfall, as soon as possible.

[Jak Snide]

Crisis crouched low, unable to make out any sound save for those made by his companions. Cryvus lay flat, still uncertain if the threat was past. Mikolas and Xerxes were on their feet, weapons in hand, scanning the darkness. Mithras moved away from the fire to investigate.

Mithras:

Spoiler:

You look down to see a corpse at your feet. It's a local, an Ashleen, and quite dead. There's a long diagonal slash across his collarbone which cuts into his neck. The body is sun baked and partly decomposed, smelling truly foul, and it's eyes have been pecked out. There's no sign of any other damage. He's clearly been dead for some time.

[Christian]

Dread. Chilling, horrible dread.

No other words can describe the sensation. Taking an involuntary step backwards, the guardsman lower his weapons.

"We..." his voice is quaky, uncertain and quite clearly disturbed to the core, "We must leave this place at once."

Not again, not again, not again!

[Capntastic]

Mik let Mithras handle the fallen person for now. He took a stance with his laspistol, and swept his sleepy glare across the other directions. If this were a proper wake'em and shake'em, there'd most likely be some mooks hiding in the other directions.

But then the thought that Mithras had never been involved in this type of 'op' crept into his mind, so he offered some further advice.

"Now stomp on his shootin' hand."

[Jak Snide]

"Why, what's the matter?" Aristarchus asked as he moved cautiously towards Mithras' position. Once there he looked down at the corpse and relaxed his posture slightly. "Is a long dead man worthy of such concern?"

[Capntastic]

Not wanting to take his eyes off the possible sneaksters circling the camp, Mik was content to keep aiming and speak.

"I told you to shoot him in the leg! ...Wait, long?"

[Christian]

Mithras wiped his brow slowly with the arm of his jacket. Suddenly he felt naked, stripped of all means of defense. His armor was packed away, he'd exposed himself, and... now... this... It couldn't be!

"He... he..." what would he say? Would they believe him? He had no doubt, of course, that they would... but what about Aristarchus?

"I think..." he began, swallowing hard to keep back the panic in his voice, "that... we might not have finished our business aboard the ship quite as well as we had thought..."

[Jak Snide]

Aristarchus fixed the body of the Ashleen with a worried look and then closed his eyes, stretching out with both arms until they were spread in front of him. His brow furrowed in concentration for a few impossibly long seconds before he relaxed his stance.

"I can sense no traces of psychic activity nearby, let alone within this corpse. I think your imagination has bested you, Avelock."

[Capntastic]

"We would'a noticed somethin' like that while settin' up camp, I imagine, though, right?"

[Jak Snide]

"You should have done." the seer said in a slightly accusatory tone. It was possible they could have missed the body; it was some twenty meters away from the fire, barely at the edge of it's illumination, and they had set up camp under a darkened sky. "By all means, burn the body if it worries you. I'm sure the poor fellow would appreciate the cremation of his remains."

[Christian]

No, there was something wrong here!

"He was moving!" the guard exclaimed flustered, hand pushing out from his chest into the air as an added exclamation point. "He was moving up to our camp and stood right there!" the hand pointed towards where the corpse lay.

"I... I at least, well, that's what I saw. And I trust these eyes."

[Jak Snide]

"Yeah, and I trust my armour, but life's a bitch." remarked Xerxes, indicating the fresh stitches on his face before lying down again. Aristatchus gave the man a disapproving look before taking a seat by the fire.

"Take some rest, Mithras." he said. "I'll take the next watch. If he rises up again you shall be the first to know, I promise."

[Christian]

"...!"

The silence was punctuated by boots grinding against the dust as the guardsman turned to his improvised beddings, dropping his lasgun next to it. Most likely he'd been seeing things, still riled up after the ship incident, and he knew better than to start an argument. He'd take the man's offer without complaint.

[Kelne]

Cryvus simply laid a hand on Mithras' shoulder for a moment. He was hardly going to pass judgement on the man after recent events. Besides, given the nature of their mission...

"I imagine we will all see stranger things than this before we are done here," he said, making his own way over to examine the corpse, "We should be wary."

[Jak Snide]

Cryvus made his way over to the corpse and looked down upon it. Aristarchus said nothing more, content to take a seat by the fire.

Cryvus:

Spoiler:

It's a local, an Ashleen, and quite dead. There's a long diagonal slash across his collarbone which cuts into his neck. The body is sun baked and partly decomposed, smelling truly foul, and it's eyes have been pecked out. There's no sign of any other damage. He's clearly been dead for some time.

He knelt down over the corpse, producing one of the chem-lamps they'd all been given by Sand moths ago and began to inspect the body more thoroughly. After a few minutes of searching he extinguished the lamp and stood.

[Kelne]

While he hadn't found anything worth passing on to the others, despite his thorough search, he nonetheless continued to look troubled, his gaze now directed at the sky.

"His metal eye has all the seeming
Of a psyker that is scheming
To have my guts lie steaming
in a pile upon the floor,"

Cryvus recited quietly, watching the circling bird overhead. With slightly exaggerated motions, he drew his laspistol and pointed it at the creature, not intending to actually shoot, but rather to gague any reaction on its part.

[Jak Snide]

The bird continued to circle, either oblivious to Cryvus' threat of violence or too simple to understand it. Aristarchus followed his gaze.

"A local carrion eater. Vile things, more feathered reptile than bird if you ask me. They have been known to attack wounded and weak creatures too, though I doubt that one would are such on it's own. We've probably just disturbed it's meal."

[Kelne]

Cryvus shook his head in what might have been frustration at his failure to find anything sinister behind Mithras' little outburst, and pocketed the laspistol once more. If there was some mind behind it, it was unlikely to show its hand by trying anything else tonight. In any case, wearing himself out with paranoia would accomplish nothing, and Cryvus resolved to get some more sleep.

[Capntastic]

Mik lay down, rolled over, and continued his slumber. A full day of driving had wearied his eyes more than anything, and he wanted to be tip top for the next.

[Jak Snide]

The acolytes lulled themselves to sleep again, Aristarchus' watch passing without incident. Mikolas, Xerxes and Cryvus took theirs in turn, the latter awake to see the sun peak over the horizon, heating the air and bathing the land in an orange glow. Mikolas wakes with a jolt, rubbing his temple as he soaks up the morning light. The aged man has to wake the rest himself, each going about the business of packing up their bedrolls and stowing them on the flatbed before mounting the canvas tent on it once again. Mikolas turned the activation switch on the vehicle, forgetting or simply not bothering to voice any litany of activation, and they rumbled onwards along the Pilgrim's Road.

---

The sun was at it's zenith when they began their climb into the foothills of the mountains. Vegetation grew sparse and path more rugged, the vehicle rocking to and fro as Mikolas deftly navigated the trail, the man clearly having dealt with rough terrain before. Aristarchus was less conversational today, his dismissive attitude of last night's events having receded and been replaced with a general unease. The man took comfort in his cards, shuffling through them carefully, the set seemingly some reassuring memento.

Crisis:

Spoiler:

You look to your left, maintaining the vigil your life has taught you the importance of, when you see a shadowy shape standing atop a rocky outcrop about 100 meters off the side of the trail. It is indistinct, the sun behind it, and it seems to shimmer for the second before it disappears from sight.

Cryvus:

Spoiler:

You feel ill at ease. Check your PMs.

[Kelne]

Cryvus rapped on the back of the cab to Aristachus' attention, before pointing in the direction of an outcropping of rock.

"Power without limit,
emotion unchained.
Kept from us all
by a line drawn in sand."

[Jak Snide]

The seer looked off to the left of the path, as did anyone else who followed Cryvus' finger, to an outcrop of rock. As far as any of them could tell it was one among many, but it gave the their immediate master pause, his oddly coloured fixed on it for a moment before speaking.

"Mikolas, bring us to a halt. There is an investigation to be conducted."

[Capntastic]

Mik made a noise of compliance, and then brought the vehicle to a steady stop.

"Keep it runnin'?"

[Jak Snide]

The seer gave the question a moment's consideration before nodding and disembarking, walking towards the outcrop and looking up at it. Those that followed him could see that it wouldn't be an easy ascent. There was no clear path through the broken and jumbled rocks and fields of scree littered the area.

(It's clear that Aristarchus means to climb up there and investigate. The acolytes, meanwhile, are left with a choice. They can either join the seer in trying to make their way up to the top or stick with the flatbed.)

[Kelne]

Cryvus, naturally, disembarked. He was hardly going to leave their leader to investigate on his own, after all. Besides, any insights he might be able to offer could well prove useful. As he climbed, his eyes sought out those cursed scavengers once more. They would be there, that much was certain.

Cryvus kept a firm grip on his staff, using it as a climbing aid where necessary.

[Christian]

Whilst, generally, Mithras would have been less than eager to ascend the rocky paths because of some kind of hidden and coded message shared between the two older men. Well, that was usually. After last night's event...


"Might need some protection..." he muttered as he slung himself out of the flatbed, backpack left behind but lasgun in his hand and pistol at his hip.

Truth be told, he just wanted to clear up all this craziness. He'd suffered enough to last him a couple of lifetimes already.

[Capntastic]

Mik manipulated the controls a bit, before fishing his laspistol out and making to cover Aristarchus's ascent.

"Keep careful, now."

[NamagomiMk0]

When Crisis saw what he saw, he took no chances. Unslinging and readying his rifle, he pointed it at where he last saw the shadow...only to note that it disappeared. They were distinctly not alone. While he read up on the possibility of phenomena in the area...he was CERTAIN there was someone or something there with him.

And then he heard Aristarchus' order. It would be implied that, with Aristarchus having been given Skane's authority on this mission, he would be to come along. There was no questioning this to any degree.

And so, jumping off the back of the truck, the silent assassin, now clad in gas-mask, also went up, keeping an ear out in particular for threats--just as he learned on the ship: When your eyes deceive or deny you, put faith in what you hear instead...

...and such has not failed him yet.

[Jak Snide]

Mikolas and Xerxes stayed with the flatbed, both of them noting Crisis' wariness as he made his way over to the outcrop with the others. The seer and the three acolytes with him reached it without incident and began to work their way up it. The seer himself had a little difficulty making his way up, arms wavering as he hauled himself up over a ledge or two, while Crisis and Mithras both made the ascent ably, the former picking out handholds and scrabbling up slopes while the latter leaned on the strength years of warfare had instilled him with to haul himself upwards. Cryvus put his faith in his staff and, for the most part, was rewarded for it. He did loose his footing on one patch of scree, but he managed to escape with only his dignity bruised.

Crisis was the first to reach the top, but found no trace of the figure he'd seen before. Instead he found large, crude rendition of a pictograph of a bird grasping a skull in it's talons burned into a flat sheet of rock. The others saw this as they reached the top, Aristarchus whispering "Throne" at the sight of it, though he didn't regard it with either fear or revulsion.

Cryvus:

Spoiler:

You have a vague recollection from your studies of the Imperium. The symbol is archaic and could quite possibly be associated with Saint Drusus.

Mikolas:

Spoiler:

You see the others gather around something at the top of the outcrop, but you can't tell what they're looking at. All's clear, though, so no worries.

[Kelne]

Cryvus frowned slightly at the sight of the symbol, "But why here?" he asked. And did the sign come before or after the disturbance that had drawn them to this spot?

[Christian]

Mithras stared for some time at the pictograph; wondering what relevance it could carry. This symbol...

The guardsman stood back and let those wiser than him get about their business. Hopefully this would perhaps provide some explanation as to what had been happening to them recently... but that was a longshot if ever he'd heard one.

[Jak Snide]

"Indeed an age of miracles.." Aristarchus murmured, one hand reaching unconsciously to rest on the breast pocket of his robes. He reached forward with it a moment later to touch the rock, only to withdraw it sharply before gingerly tracing inside the pictograph with a finger.

"This is surely a sign that the saint is with us." he announced, letting his hand linger a moment longer.

[NamagomiMk0]

Crisis looked around as he hit the top. That figure he saw had to be SOMEWHERE. While he was unsure of WHAT that symbol on the rock was, he was sure of one thing--he DEFINITELY saw someone--or someTHING...in that general area.

And as such, he kept looking around, for anything or anyone that resembled what he saw a few minutes before...

[Jak Snide]

Crisis looked around. He peered down from the outcrop, he watched the few viable hiding spots he could pick out but he saw no trace of anyone besides him and his allies being in the area.

Aristarchus seemed to be content with their investigating, having decided that the pictograph was a good omen, and signalled those with him to make their way back to the flatbed.

(Will move things along tomorrow, unless anyone else has some last minute investigation ideas.)