In my defense I had never used a force staff before. I've learned a considerable amount about such tools since of course, the annals of the Inquisition have a number of treatises on the subject and there are other... less conventional resources. When Hadrian handed me the weapon I had no idea what it was, other than it was some manner of psychic focus. I was about to try to intervene against Hadrian's attackers when two more men in carapace and shock batons came around the corner of one of the geometric fountains, from the low frequency buzz, clearly coordinating with their fellows via vox. Both of them surged forward towards me. Instinctively I lifted the staff and used my will. What I MEANT to do was to convince one man to protect me from the other, but what I actually did was just hurl the words 'protect me' out into the warp. My will surged down the force staff and exploded from the point. The intention to aim at men was less binding than the idea of protection and a force staff is, first and foremost, a way to project force. Over a hundred marble stones, each perfectly cut to form the wall of the fountain, answered the call. They ripped themself free in an explosion of motar and quick lime, pummeling both men into bloody pulp a second before the thousands of liters of water they had been holding crashed over the bloody bodies and dislodged stones like the tide coming in, hammering both through a decorative hedge which was half ripped from the ground by the force. The tip of the force staff sizzled and popped with incandescent force. For an instant there was complete silence, save for the sloshing of water rushing back after impacting the walls and garden beds. I wasn't looking in their direction but I got the impression Hadrian and his attackers were standing stunned by what I had so accidentally wrought. The water glugged towards me like the last wavlet of a closing tide. My eyes widened in shock.

"Up!" I yelled, and leaped up onto the edge of one of the other fountains. I turned to see the final two attackers coming into the courtyard. One drew an autopistol from his belt. The other stepped into the water and was thrown back by an arching flash. The two charged stun batons I had drowned shorted their powerpacks and he jittered back like a stop motion animation from hell, eye sockets smoking and blue white electricity snapping around the metal of his armor and the fillings in his teeth. His companion lifted his auto pistol and aimed at me, now that I had so conveniently elevated myself to provide a target. I lifted the staff again, not wanting to use it but lacking other options. He fired right at me. Pop pop pop. Marble dust exploded between us like a dropped sack of flower as the ensorcelled stones, still apparently obedient to the need to protect me, threw themselves infront of the bullets like human shields. Gravel pattered down in the water infront of me and the gunman stared at me in abject disbelief. That seemed a reasonable reaction under the circumstances. I sneezed violently, my black dress covered in marble dust and my hair crusted with hoarfrost.