To all my players and writing partners; Don't worry! I've not vanished or forgotten you. I've had something come up, and will be taking the rest of this week off from my RPs. See you next week!
Hmm... well, that brings up a question. With the three of us, would there be enough players we could fit the encounter into the RP proper without interrupting the flow, or would another collab be in order?
Hmm... would it be too serendipitous if our resident techmarine happened to land not too far from the psykers for them to hear the crash? Not that they'd need the directions, of course.
Whatever the thing standing before him was, it spoke with the tongue of humans. It also brandished one of the energy-based weapons that were so coveted among those Urgrugg usually worked with. Though, its words gave the ork pause. They also made it necessary for him to stifle a laugh.
Standing this close, Urgrugg could feel the taint of the warp on the being that stood before him. Its own power was mild, though. They were not native to the creature, but granted by an outside source. Though, without closer inspection, that was just guess work on the ork's part. He made the assumption based off his few interactions with those who made offerings to Mork in exchange for his favor and a touch of power.
Without speaking, Urgrugg simply reached up to the collar of his robe and pulled it down. Underneath was revealed the dented, scuffed, and even somewhat rusty sheet of metal he had folded into armor around his torso. However, with a single talon, the ork pulled a bit at the metal, while pointing at something undeath. It was a sigil, branded into his flesh by the look of things.
If the ork's guess was correct, and this thing practiced ritual magic, then it would recognize the rune. It was a fairly common mark, one which designated the beginning of a contract with a daemon. As one would expect, its actual purpose in the ritual was to designate what the daemon would receive in exchange for service, a way to entice the entity into taking notice of the offer in the first place. In his case, it was a rare configuration of the rune, in that it was uncommon for a daemon to accept it as an offer. The symbol meant that, upon his death, his physical body would become the daemon's property. As the ritual sealed the contract with the power needed to create a passage for the daemon to the summoner, upon death, it also meant killing him would be nothing short of inviting a daemon to your door. With the walls of the materium as thin as they were on the hulk, there was no telling what all could walk through the portal alongside the intended daemon.
As the ork before him showed the strange rune, Zuriel did not recognize it. However, as the seconds blew by rapidly like tree sap he understood its meaning. The knowledge being granted to him, which simply put a massive grin on his face.
-"Clever brute, i'd never expect one of your kind to pull off a trick like that." Zuriel laughed a sinister laugh which would unnerve even some of the imperium's hardened veterans. -"But what can one expect, from the species which makes a living of ruining expectations." He lowered his hellpistol which sizzled with hatred.
-"I think this could become a fascinating experience, provided you don't kill me of course." The dread magi's words were some sort of mix between sarcasm and utter seriousness, as he spoke he twisted his neck once like a bug and without knowing began fiddling with his right glove.
It was hard to tell what was going through the strange creature's mind. In any event, it had lowered its weapon. When it did not move to attack, Urgrugg took the chance to move around, behind the sheet of metal. With another sicken crack of bone and flesh, he broke his hand off of the metal. Stepping back around, he took a moment to look at his wrist, both broken edges of it. Making sure to attach it the right way, he held the two ends together.
Tempting fate, the ork called on just the slightest amount of warp energy he was able to. Normally, such minute tasks would be beyond him. However, the null field had not fully dissipated. He used that to his advantage, letting the natural restriction of warp energy flow into the area be his self-control for him. With a flash of smoke and the smell of burnt flesh, he took his hand away from his wrist. Though nearly an inch shorter than before, his hand was reattached by the burnt flesh. After a few long seconds, he tried moving his fingers. Unsurprised they were working, he was disappointed to find he could no longer move his last two fingers of that hand independent of one another.
Turning his attention back to the strange creature, he took up his staff while glaring at it. In a voice rough enough to sound like gravel being ground to dust by concrete he spoke, using low gothic. "You strange thing. Never seen kind before. You tyranid? Imperium? Don't think so. You touched by Mork. Feel power." With that, the ork took a step closer. Other than his staff, he had no weapons. Judging by the brief moment it took the creature to recognize the sigil on his chest, it would have no hope of grasping the meaning of the hundreds of runes that marked the wood and gem of Urgrugg's staff. Once the nullfield fully dissipated, though, Urgrugg's power would return in full, and his staff would be as good as an Imperial power maul.
-"You ask what i am? I was once human, then one of the machine blessed.... and now i am free." At free Zuriel held his arms aloft and seemed to praise some who knew what. He looked at the orks slightly damaged hand. -"I always thought an ork wouldn't need the powers of beyond the veil to heal their broken bodies. But then again, you'd probably be more of an expert on the subject then i." With that Zuriel began to study the creatures strange staff, its runes of binding, unleashing, control, chaos, with such a gem on top.
-"Fascinating..." Zuriel expressed silently, barely audible at the distance the two were standing at. Which wasn't far.
'Well,' the ork thought to himself, considering the creature's words. 'Guess I know wat 'e iz-a huge git!'
Urgrugg had heard that kind of talk before. Generally, humans tended to fear the warp and the power of those who dwelled within. However, a few he had come across embraced its power, and worshiped those who commanded it. Of the various rewards-their word, not his-that they could receive when one of the deities took notice of them was knowledge. The shaman had, himself, received these visions a number of times. They had never had any real negative impact on him, so far as he knew. Others though, and especially humans, seemed prone to madness after discovering the secrets of the warp and its workings. He had always wondered why that knowledge had no such effect on him.
"Orks strong, not invincible. Get broken, need fixing." Though unsure why, he felt a strange need around other sentient beings. He was never sure when, but at some point, Urgrugg had gotten into the habit of striking up conversations with those that could reply. Something about talking to others appealed to him, in a way that battle never could. That said, he had found that what he liked most about speaking to others, was learning what they knew that could help him.
"You alone." He said in his rough voice, beginning to probe for information. "Have weapon. Moving when find you. Where you going? How know go there?" Whatever this thing was, it seemed comfortable with its surroundings. That it did not call for aid, or use something to inform others of what happened, implied it was alone. Add in the fact most humans prefered not to work with the insane or warp-marked, and everything pointed, at least to the ork's mind, that this thing had not gotten here recently. Given that, and everything else, it seemed much more likely it had been here for a very long time.
-"I tread these halls alone, for only i survived the fate of my old ship. As to where i am going...." Zuriel paused, he stroked his chin slightly and then answered. -"I guess i was looking for you, whom else could be responsible for these fascinating ripples through the veil, the delicious torture of the real world being forced to adhere to the warp. Or perhaps i'm thinking of your... subjects, who are still working beyond these walls." As he finished, he pointed towards where the deamonic battle was raging and from where Urgrugg had escaped.
-"I can feel them, such power, enforcing their will through the veil, clad in protective forces from the psychic might of others. Not the same ones of course." Zuriel realized he made no sense, he didn't care. He also realized he'd not introduced himself.
-"I am Zuriel Ganymede Quillos, and you are?" He held out his arms to his sides followed with gesturing towards the ork with his right hand. His palm upwards with the fingers slightly bent.
The creature, Zuriel, was proving to be a source of very interesting information, if not a cryptic one. Of course, having dealt with daemons, cryptic was something the ork was more than used to. It occurred to the ork, keeping this Zuriel around may very well be worth while. If nothing else, a map would be extremely helpful to have on hand.
"Urgrugg Darkcrackah," the ork said, using his thumb to point to himself. If he was going to make an ally of Zuriel, then he would have to share some information of his own. The most important thing being making sure that information favored the ork if relied upon. "You not look for me. I not use call. Call come from ship; from something inside ship. Something inside already, when I come to ship. It call me, so I come. It call others. They come, too. Others not know why come, just do."
Turning his head, he motions with it towards the corridor behind Zuriel. Taking a few steps in that direction, he continues speaking, "Come. I show others. We find. We use. Then, find what makes call. Use that, too." With a wicked, fanged smirk that orks alone are capable of making, he started off down the hall. When he passed from the null field, his staff let off a low, purple glow. The light it cast seemed barely enough to illuminate even the crystal itself. To the eyes of a psyker, though, it would be as an inferno, lighting their way as though the path were an open field under the noon day sun.
So the ork had also sensed the mysterious presence, as well as others, this was delightful information.
-"What a suitably brutish name." Zuriel commented. -"Ah, the presence, i had almost forgotten. So many other events made me forget its silent call." Zuriel spoke as he joined in behind the ork, although what that nonsense of a map was he didn't know, perhaps there was one. If the ork thought he knew the proper way around the brute would be sorely mistaken.
While the warp had given him knowledge of many things, the layout of the hulk was not one of them. Probably a test of his intellect, no matter, getting lost was something Zuriel was actually bad at, so he played along for the moment.
-"Let's find these... others. I do like your idea of... using them. My friend." Zuriels words ever so creepy, a regular human would never trust him a second, but this was no human. It was an ork, they probably didn't get the human gesticulations and hidden messages and if it did, it did not care. The two began to move out down the corridor, going with their psyniscience to try and navigate to the other being aboard the hulk. The heavy saggy footsteps of the ork and the clangy metallic footsteps of the dread priest making their approach somewhat easy to predict.
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