Session 1 (40kBHFTZ)

 

Private Log: Sister Superior Augusta Victus, Order of Our Martyred Lady, Adepta Sororitas.

She is here. By the Emperor's grace, I know she is here. This place, this hulk of warp-twisted vessels crushed together into a single amalgam of death and horror barely holds an atmosphere, but there is enough oxygen for war. Endless, horrific war rages on every sagging deck between every kind of xenos scum and daemon horror imaginable, yet there is only one abomination that I have come hunting. If it were not for her, if it were not for the fact that I am driven to face my exiled sister and slay her myself, I would have ordered the entire hulk obliterated with nuclear fire the instant it was detected. 

No, such a death would be too easy, would leave too many questions. I must find her. I must find our corrupted, heretic sister. I must find the one who calls herself Mother Vespasia. I must see her death with my own eyes. I can settle for nothing less.

And so, the hunt begins.

We emerged into the hulk from the airlock of our stellar cathedrum. I elected to take only one squad with me, and only volunteers. As such, I was accompanied by Sister Aurelia, Sister Tiberia, Sister Lupa and Sister Pyrrhia.

Immediately, as soon as we pushed into the hulk, I heard the shouts and growls of horrid things. Daemon-possessed humans, settlers and colonists and crew of unlucky starships reduced to abominations twisted by the foul energies of the warp.

They came thundering down the passages toward us, their blood-wet feet slapping the deck in staccato rhythm.

I rallied my sisters, and all guns were turned to the onslaught.

Our zeal grew, our desire to cleanse with bolter and fire.

Sister Pyrrhia was the first to move, vaporizing one of the horrors immediately.

Sister Lupa joined her shortly after, blasting down a second horror with her bolter with a prayer to the God Emperor on her lips.

There was more clattering and howling, but the horde did not grow larger.

The horrors that were running toward us tried to tear down Sister Lupa, while others closed with Sister Aurelia, but the forces of chaos were not keen enough to do more than annoy us.

After all, confident Sister Aurelia had been waiting for the horrors to close up on her. The thunder of her heavy bolter was music to me, music cut with the screams of the damned.

Once the way was clear, Sister Tiberia and I crossed past the still-steaming bodies and pressed further into the complex.

Our prayers resounded through the corridors.

Again, sister Lupa fired her bolter, and again she cut down another enemy of the Imperium.

But the sweet taste of victory has a way of turning sour at the most inopportune moment.

When the horrors rushed in, I watched as they surrounded Tiberia and carried her down to the deckplating. A fervent prayer to the God Emperor might have been her salvation, but I lapsed with the shock.

My reaction was swift, however. Raising my Bolt Pistol, I silenced the horror that had torn down Tiberia with a single, precise shot.

Sister Lupa shrugged off the talons of a horror and pushed the thing back.

And that was when Sister Aurelia stepped up to stand over writhing body of Sister Tiberia, her heavy bolter held ready.

The Emperor protects!

The thunder of Sister Aurelia's heavy bolter was like a wave of divine retribution delivered with all the fire of the Emperor's own wrath. With prayers on her lips, she nearly cleared the entire hallway ahead of us with a single sweep of her heavy bolter.

Sister Lupa, meanwhile, was busy cutting her way to us.

Ahead of us, the corridors remained blessedly silent.

Coming up behind Sister Aurelia, Sister Pyrrhia vaporized the last of the horrors ahead of us and cleared the way through.

Leaving the cleansing in my subordinates' capable hands, I hurried further in.

The Emperor's own alacrity seemed to be with us.

Sister Lupa and Sister Pyrrhia hurried to positions where they could easily lay down fire to cover Aurelia's retreat

And then more of the horrors came.

Howling, they descended on Sister Aurelia with a wrath and a frenzy that might have made a lesser woman flinch.

But not Aurelia. Firing her heavy bolter, she tore down two of the horrors immediately. If not for the jam in her weapon, she might have got all three.

Two others rushed to meet Pyrrhia, but she was waiting for them.

The warp-twisted horrors of the hulk were no match for our faith.

Stepping back, Pyrrhia fired her melta gun and turned the closest horror into hot goo.

Rushing in with the Emperor's name on her lips, Sister Lupa blasted the last of the horrors that had dared to rush at Sister Aurelia.

I found speed in my faith, and rushed in to silence the last of the horrors between us and sister Aurelia.

In the wake of the fall of the last of the horrors, we listened for the howls and shouts of more, but no other sound came.

Our faith was strong,

I led the charge deeper into the wreckage, securing the way out.

Silence fell over the halls. Blessed silence.

One by one, we made our way closer and closer the exit. Aurelia cleared the jam in her weapon and took up a position at a bottleneck.

We were singing, lightly at first, then loudly, full of faith that the God Emperor might hear our voices.

We took the retreat in a staggered fashion, always keeping our guns at the ready, pointed into the darkness.

And still, nothing further came.

Pyrrhia and I were the first to reach the elevator, Aurelia close behind, securing the way against anything that might come for us.

Our singing reached such a pitch that the halls resounded with our hymnals, gave lightness to our step.

Those final steps, I felt like our faith in the God Emperor alone carried us out of darkness and into light.

Even sister Tiberia rose up and joined our song, dusting off her armor, uninjured by the attack that had dropped her to the floor.

In the end, our faith, our victories, earned us another volunteer in our hunt for our exiled sister. I am proud to add Sister Vesuvia and her Melta-Gun to our roster.

All told, 16 horrors that had been human were sent to the Emperor in this sortie.

*

MVP: Sister Aurelia (+1 XP)

All others gain +1 XP.

Sister Vesuvia (Melta-Gun) is added to the roster.

*

Post-play notes: this session (likely the first of a series) is kind of a hybrid of Five Klicks, Bug Hunt and 40K. Instead of the usual generation rules, I basically took the suspicious circumstances mob-spawning on 5-6 mechanic from Five Klicks and paired it with the contact marker rules for Bug Hunt. Instead of a stand-up fight and a hold-the-field mechanic, I decided to try a "run the gauntlet" type scenario. I'm also abandoning all gear gathering for a diversifying squad mechanic where I can pick my squad members from a roster (new members being chosen by a die roll,) never going higher than five in my kill team (Sister Superior + 4 support.) Mother Vespasia is, of course, a chaos sister model I've sculpted but have not yet finished painting. She's kind of the rival / boss of this thing for me.