ReedeThe23rd

Avatar - The Fall of Si Wong City

"Go to Si Wong City!" they said. "Its a traveler hotspot, you'll have work from all around the world!" they said. I'd have had better luck sailing...

These were the thoughts gracing Han Xin's mind as he tramped about the streets and alleyways of the desert cityscape. Si Wong City had seemed like a grand idea for his line of work, an apolitical hotspot of travel and trade where a man like himself was bound to find work suited for his skills...which was exactly the same idea every other damned blade for hire in the Earth Kingdoms had had, it would seem. Most of his current days in the city spent checking bounty boards and killing time, and his liver, in local bars and dives.

Perusing the streets of the city, his thoughts shifted to his current plan. Another small-fry crook in hiding. Enough for a bounty posting, not enough to actually have the city watch looking for him. It wasn't much, but it kept food on the table and a roof over his head. Plus, it gave him a target to vent his various frustrations on. Not a healthy coping mechanism, but certainly better than finding solace at the bottom of a bottle all the time.

As some might say 'Speak ill of spirits, and they shall come', for it would seem that just by thinking of his target, the man appeared before him, stepping out of a dismal storefront of some kind and into the city streets. With little fanfare, Han Xin simply announced to the man that he should either come with him now, or be forced to. Naturally, the man immediately sprinted off in the opposite direction, prompting a groan from Han Xin as he began the chase after him.

The man wasn't much faster than Han Xin, but catching him simply by running on foot wouldn't be enough. Arms angled to the side as he ran, Han Xin focused his knowledge of haphazard Earthbending to drag together loose stones, clumps of earth, and other small bits of malleable material suited to his bending ability and simply hurl them at the target with his powers. A shower of rock and hardened dirt pelted the man's back, sending him stumbling and slowing his pace considerably.

Rushing to apprehend the man with as little trouble as possible, Han Xin chased him into a more open marketplace, and quickly took advantage of an ample chance to strike. Using his spear as a tool, he pried a large chunk of ground loose and hefted it upwards in combination with his bending, quickly twirling his spear around and using the haft of the weapon to send the makeshift boulder sailing through the air, managing to clip the target on the back of the head and sending him crashing to the ground.

Shouting to any and all bystanders to clear the area, Han Xin moved in and worked to secure the bounty, reassuring the official nature of it all to anyone watching the excitement, and quickly binding the man's limbs. Once the man was carefully secured, Han Xin went about getting him up and moving, setting out to turn him in to the proper authorities.

Another day, another drink...

Warhammer 40k: Wheels within Wheels, an Inquisitorial RP Interest Thread

Definitely up for another of your ideas. Here's hoping others come flocking in.

Avatar - The Fall of Si Wong City

Han Xin

Han Xin

_{”Keep your friends close, and your enemies at the tip of a long blade.”}

Character Age: 35

Character Gender: Male

Character Race: Earth Kingdom

Bending: Earthbender - Han Xin is an experienced earthbender, but his style is almost exclusively self-taught, with no formal training beyond tips and advice picked up from other benders during his travels. Many of his maneuvers and attacks are improvisational in nature, and this has given him an edge against rival benders expecting a studied style to compete against. He’s even found ways to incorporate stances and motions from other bending techniques into both his bending forms and his spear fighting.

Skills: Beyond bending, Han Xin is a seasoned spear fighter and mercenary, having fought for various princes and lords of the Earth Kingdoms as the nation solidified itself over time. He’s also quite the liuqin guru as well, and greatly enjoys practicing musical freestyling with it in his freetime.

Weaknesses: Han Xin is an alcoholic, plain and simple. He always has at least three calabash jugs of spirits on him at any given time, and he’s been known to add some to nearly any other liquid he consumes, including water itself, if he finds the initial taste unpleasant. Han Xin also suffers from narcolepsy, and while having never fallen asleep while in a fight or on watch for one, he regularly dozes off without care or regard for those around him otherwise.

Possessions: His most valued possession is his Ji spear, a weapon that only ever leaves his person when absolutely necessary. He also carries a trio of knives on his belt for utility and emergency purposes. Three calabash jugs, generally filled with some form of booze, are tied to the belt as well. Strapped to the belt on his back is the case for his liuqin, which he keeps carefully maintained to keep the instrument inside safe.

Biography: Han Xin was born and raised in a small village in the Earth Kingdoms, near the infamous city of Ba Sing Se. His youth was marginally uneventful, without knowing about his latent bending talents at the time, most of his childhood consisted of lessons, games, and getting into brawls with others of his age. One of the few remnants of this time in his life he keeps with him is his early lessons in the liuqin from his mother, the same instrument he learned with them being the one he keeps with him now.

Eventually, Han Xin shaped from a youthful lad into a fine and proper young man, and it was around this time that the King of Ba Sing Se’s men came knocking. Seeking conscriptable people from among the villages surrounding the city, Han Xin was chosen alongside others from his village. Initially, he refused, not wanting to leave his home and people, but he found the speartips of the soldiers rather convincing. Marshaled into the city’s armed forces, it was during his training that Han Xin’s latent earthbending abilities manifested properly. However, a disregard for authority and the rigidity of the style's masters led to Han Xin being mustered back down to the nonbender ranks, with only a haphazard amount of basic rock manipulation to show for it. While he was never reprimanded to the point of an insubordination discharge, Han Xin was by no means a model soldier. He drank, he ignored orders, he slept on duty, and the only thing that kept him in the army was a small village hovel called Xingwei's Rest.

Xingwei's Rest was a small village along the main road towards the capital of Ba Sing Se, and its existence of the garrison was more for the comfort and stability of the region than for any real military advantage, and this took much of the pressure off of Han Xin and his unit. The one thorn in his side was his unit's commanding officer, Lieutenant Gao. The Lieutenant was the poster boy for the ideal officer of the army, dutiful, vigilant, and orderly. And the exact antithesis of Han Xin. The two butting heads was a constant sight in the garrison, and Han Xin skirting by being booted out was as much a miracle as him making through training in the first place. But all things must pass, and eventually Lieutenant Gao managed to get Han Xin discharged on "serviceable merit to the great city of Ba Sing Se", or as Han Xin would put it "We couldn't get you kicked out, so we're asking you politely, yet firmly, to retire."

With a small stipend of cash, pent up frustration, and experience in the army and not much else, Han Xin decided mercenary and bodyguard work might not be a bad way to make some coin. Taking advantage of the rampant banditry and unrest plaguing the solidifying Earth Kingdoms, he found steady work as a weapon for hire, and it was here his unusual and ramshackle bending style took form. Learning stances and moves from enemies, allies, scrolls, and even benders of other elements, Han Xin crafted a unique style that paired well with his spear fighting.

His mercenary career brought him in contact with many a foe and rival, as well. Would-be bandit lords, mercenaries seeking the same contract, and even the occasional private army of some uppity land baron trying to oppose a superior power. But the first and foremost of these was a man named Lai Chen. This man somehow found himself on the opposite end of nearly every contract and job Han Xin worked. Protecting a caravan? Lai Chen was raiding it. Defending a village? Lai Chen was attacking it. The two seemed to be opposites chosen by the spirits to diametrically oppose one another, and even now Han Xin awaits the inevitable next encounter with his longtime foe.

The loosened lifestyle of a mercenary is not a great one to beat old habits, however. Time outside the army solidified his drinking and sleeping, leading to the two becoming a blend of alcoholism and full-blown narcolepsy. As the Earth Kingdoms solidified into relative peace, Han Xin found his work drying up, eventually washing up in the city of Si Wong, hoping to shack up with desert caravans as a guard, while also looking into rumors of war in the Fire Islands as a nice way of making some quick coin.

Supporting Cast:
Lieutenant Gao - Unknown to Han Xin, but his former commanding officer has continued his lofty career in the military of the King of Ba Sing Se, and while the two have not yet crossed paths, Han Xin's mercenary lifestyle leaves this an increasingly likely situation every day.

Lai Chen - The longest-lasting rival of Han Xin's mercenary career, and a man he always seems to cross paths with at the worst of times. It's been a while since their last encounter, moreso due to the lack of work than anything else, and Han Xin has found himself constantly watching vigilantly, almost out of paranoia, for his strongest foe.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Starlight Crusaders

Chapter Ten

As Jotaro held the beetle's tongue with his teeth, the others looked on in shocked awe and grave worry. The tongue of the beetle, despite being stopped by Jotaro's teeth, was ever so slowly inching its way into his mouth proper, the pincer-like fangs at the end of the necrotic tongue snapping and gnashing, trying to grasp Jotaro's own tongue.

Abdul eyed the beetle carefully before speaking in a stern, matter-of-fact voice. "Its as I feared, its after his tongue. This beetle is one of many linked to a long string of attacks leading to great calamity. Fortune tellers have linked the mysterious benefactor of these attacks to one of the tarot cards, earning them the name Tower of Grey! I've heard rumors and stories of the villain behind them, but nothing linking them to Dio. Tower of Grey does their work in secret, and very few people know that his attacks lead to mass disasters! Plane crashes, train derailments, and even fires. Many suspect the plane crash in England that killed three hundred people last year was Tower of Grey's doing!"

As Abdul finished his speech, Jotaro inhaled deeply, rushing air past the grip he had on the beetle's tongue. Quickly, his hands began to shine with his signature bright Ripple energy, the beetle's tongue barely able to withdraw as he let loose a wave of attacks accompanied by a cry of "Platinum Barrage Overdrive!"

The beetle manipulated by the mysterious Tower of Grey managed to avoid the attacks, however, much to the chagrin of the Joestar party. As the looks of panic began to wash over their faces, the voice of an elderly man began to speak, seemingly coming from the beetle itself.

"My control over the beetle is far too fine for such brutish attacks. Even if you fired a dozen guns from only a centimetre in front of me, none of the bullets could even touch any of my creatures. Not that guns could hurt the undead anyway..."

As the Joestar party quickly began to scan the cabin of the plane, desperately trying to identify the person in control of the vile insect, the beetle quickly darted out of sight again, moving almost too fast for the eye to see. As quickly as it darted away, it reappeared on the far end of the cabin from the Joestar party, catching their attention just long enough to swoop down and puncture through several of the passengers' seats and up into the back of their skulls, exiting out their mouths before swooping back up. Four passengers were killed in the dive, and the beetle controlled by Tower of Grey carried four human tongues along its own tendril-like one. Darting over to the wall of the cabin separating it from the cockpit, it used the blood of the tongue to write the phrase 'Massacre' across the wall.

"Now he's done it. If anyone sees that, there'll be a massive panic. It's time to burn that bug alive. Red Bind Overdrive!"

"Wait, Abudl, you can't! You'll burn the whole cabin!"

As Kakyoin rushed to stop Abdul from unleashing his attack, one of the passengers aboard the plane began to rouse from his sleep. The passenger in question was an elderly gentleman, complaining absentmindedly about the noises around the cabin and standing to march off to the restroom. As he walked, his hand brushed against the bloody text on the wall, and he slowly began to realize his hand was coated in blood. Before he could shout his fears to the cabin, Kakyoin rushed over and carefully knocked the old man unconscious.

"I'm sorry I had to do that, but we can't have any passengers causing an uproar. We can't have your flames igniting the airplane either, Abdul. Nor can we afford Jotaro's punches ripping a hole in the plane by accident. This calls for a more subtle form of Ripple manipulation, like my Emerald Splash."

"Heh heh heh! Noriaki Kakyoin, eh? Dio told me all about you, so don't even bother! You may have silence and subtlety on your side, but your speed is no match for my insect's!"

"We'll see about that! Emerald Splash Overdrive!"

As Kakyoin's hands were rapidly coated in the stash of Ripple-conducting water he kept on his person, his signature green Ripple energy began to charge through the water, turning the droplets themselves green and starting to solidify them. In one fluid motion, he shot them out towards the insect, hoping the supercharged water would puncture the beetle's undead flesh. However, the beetle was able to dodge the attacks, which quickly dispersed their Ripple and splashed against the cabin walls as harmless water once more. The beetle's tongue lunged out, slicing Kakyoin across the side of his face, nearly managing to reach his mouth.

The voice from within the beetle began to echo a series of taunts and jeers as Kakyoin fell to the floor of the airplane cabin, the others in the Joestar party growing increasingly panicked. As the insect buzzed above him, Kakyoin took the chance to lunge out with another splash of his signature Ripple technique with one hand, but the beetle dodged this as well. But as it lunged in again for another attack, Kakyoin gave a sly smile and shifted his other hand. The fabric and metal of the seatbelts of various empty plane seats near Kakyoin lunged upward, infused with a careful lace of green Ripple energy. These punctured and bound the beetle, before carefully ripping it to shreds.

The nearby old man, who Kakyoin had previously knocked unconscious, writhed and flexed in pain before collapsing back to the floor in a heap, his body withering into a shriveled imitation of its rejuvenated self, looking true to his vampiric nature.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Starlight Crusaders

Chapter Nine

Within the Kujo residence, Kakyoin and Abdul stood in the courtyard, eyeing the entrance as doctors sent by the Speedwagon Foundation, a longtime ally of the Joestar family, arrived. As Abdul spoke, grave concern for Holly and her condition laced every word. The nature of her illness burrowing at the forefront of their minds.

"For now, Mrs. Kujo's stand is only on her back. But in time, her whole body may very well be overtaken by that vile mass of vampiric tendrils. Many forms of sickness will then come over her. First a high fever, then eventually a coma. But the end of the journey will be death, for sure. These doctors sent by the Speedwagon Foundation at Mr. Joestar's request will care for Mrs. Kujo nonstop, but no doctor can even understand what we're dealing with, much less cure her of her ailments. In the past, I've seen people far stronger than her fall to the corruption of vampire infections just like this. But there is still hope for Mrs. Kujo. It'll take nearly a month, almost fifty days or so, for her to reach the final stages of her illness. We just need to defeat Dio in Egypt before then, to sever the link between her infection and Dio's vampiric body!"

---

Meanwhile, within the Kujo home proper, Jotaro and Joseph were keeping watch over Holly as she suddenly roused to an awakened state. Her sudden energy was a sharp contrast to the illness she'd been showing just moments before. This caught both Jotaro and Joseph by surprise, eyes looking at her with grave concern as she tried to conduct herself with the same cheerful tone and attitude as usual.

"I don't know what happened, I never pass out like that! But I feel much better after taking some medicine."

Jotaro watched his mother carefully as she smiled cheerfully at her father and son. She doesn't know yet. It's on her back, so she can't see it...

"Holly! You had us all worried. You shouldn't scare your old man like that, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Brush your teeth when you get up, its good manners!" As Joseph continued to spout personal care orders at Holly, he rushed about, cleaning her hair, cutting up some food, and coddling over his daughter in every way imaginable.

Eventually, Holly had enough of this coddling and cooing from her father, shifting the blankets covering her aside to try and stand up. "Okay, its time I got up and started to cook dinner! What would you like, Jotaro?"

Jotaro and Joseph both grew wide-eyed as Holly tried to get up from the bed, and Jotaro even began to shout. "You don't need to do that! Stay in bed!"

"I mean...don't spread your germs around, the rest of us don't wanna get sick. Besides, I'm not that hungry anyway, so just rest up."

"Heh heh...Yes, son. Everyone is so nice when I'm sick. I guess a little cold isn't bad from time to time..."

As Holly laid back into the bed, she almost immediately dropped back into a deep sleep, catching Joseph and Jotaro off-guard. Joseph rushed to check on her, feeling for a fever.

"Holly! She's passed out cold again! She was acting fine, but now she's got a huge fever. She didn't say a word, but I'm sure she noticed the tendrils on her back. Its just like her, to try and hide it from everyone, to keep us from worrying. We have to save her. We can't let Dio get away with this! Listen to me, Holly, we'll make it better. I swear. There's nothing for you to worry about, just lie back and take it easy."

As Joseph watched over Holly like a wolf guarding his cub, Kakyoin and Abdul entered the room as well. Upon seeing Holly laying in the bed as she was, a look of solemn sadness and concern stretched itself across Kakyoin's face.

"Jojo's mother...She's the kind of woman who can make you feel relaxed just by being near her. If I was going to fall in love, I'd want it to be with a woman like her. I feel like I want to protect her with my life, to see her feeling better and smiling."

"I think its time, everyone. Kakyoin, Mr. Joestar, Jotaro, let's go."

---

Elsewhere, within his mysterious hideout, the infamous Dio eyed a camera very carefully. Raising a hand, a similar purple energy to that of Joseph's Ripple technique swirled around it, however it also carried within it a baleful and sinister energy, like the very Ripple essence itself had been corrupted. As the hand came colliding with the camera, the dark energy of Dio's Ripple coursed through the device, not damaging it like Joseph's own version of the technique, but still depositing out a photograph of Joseph Joestar and Jotaro Kujo aboard a plane.

"Just as I thought. They've found out where I am, so they've come for me. Joseph. Jotaro."

---

Aboard the plane, a sleeping Joseph Joestar was startled awake by a bizarre sensation. He could sense it in the very fiber of his being. Dio was watching him. Jotaro opened his eyes and cocked his head to look at his grandfather subtly. He had felt it too.

"He saw us, Jotaro. Dio was watching us just now."

"Yeah, I felt it too..."

"A new henchman of his could already be on the plane. We better watch out."

Just as they finished speaking, a faint buzzing sound caught their attention. A large insect was darting about the cabin, eventually headed right for the Joestar party. As it flew closer, Joseph was able to get a quick look at it, noticing that it appeared necrotic and rotting in nature, as though ruled by the same undead forces as vampiric zombies and other biological terrors of that nature.

As the party of four all came to and spotted the creature, it quickly darted back out of sight, into the seats of the plane. The group conferred among themselves, noting its necrotic nature and that it was some form of beetle, likely spawned from the lands of Egypt, where Dio lay in waiting for them.

Suddenly, it shot up back into view, directly beside Jotaro's head. As he turned to look, it frothed and snarled, a malformed and vampiric pincer tongue began to slither out from its jaw-like appendages. Slowly channeling his piercing white Ripple energy around his hands, Jotaro suddenly darted out to grapple the tainted beetle. However, it quickly managed to dodge his grappling attack, darting to the side and suddenly lunging its pincer tongue out at Jotaro. Using his Ripple-infused hands, he tried to catch the tendril, but it pierced through his palm instead, lunging for his tongue directly. Thinking quickly, Jotaro channeled some of his Ripple energy into his teeth, carefully catching the beetle's tongue and holding it in place.

Avatar - The Fall of Si Wong City

Han Xin

Han Xin

_{”Keep your friends close, and your enemies at the tip of a long blade.”}

Character Age: 35

Character Gender: Male

Character Race: Earth Kingdom

Bending: Earthbender - Han Xin is an experienced earthbender, but his style is almost exclusively self-taught, with no formal training beyond tips and advice picked up from other benders during his travels. Many of his maneuvers and attacks are improvisational in nature, and this has given him an edge against rival benders expecting a studied style to compete against. He’s even found ways to incorporate stances and motions from other bending techniques into both his bending forms and his spear fighting.

Skills: Beyond bending, Han Xin is a seasoned spear fighter and mercenary, having fought for various princes and lords of the Earth Kingdoms as the nation solidified itself over time. He’s also quite the liuqin guru as well, and greatly enjoys practicing musical freestyling with it in his freetime.

Weaknesses: Han Xin is an alcoholic, plain and simple. He always has at least three calabash jugs of spirits on him at any given time, and he’s been known to add some to nearly any other liquid he consumes, including water itself, if he finds the initial taste unpleasant. Han Xin also suffers from narcolepsy, and while having never fallen asleep while in a fight or on watch for one, he regularly dozes off without care or regard for those around him otherwise.

Possessions: His most valued possession is his Ji spear, a weapon that only ever leaves his person when absolutely necessary. He also carries a trio of knives on his belt for utility and emergency purposes. Three calabash jugs, generally filled with some form of booze, are tied to the belt as well. Strapped to the belt on his back is the case for his liuqin, which he keeps carefully maintained to keep the instrument inside safe.

Biography: Han Xin was born and raised in a small village in the Earth Kingdoms, near the infamous city of Ba Sing Se. His youth was marginally uneventful, without knowing about his latent bending talents at the time, most of his childhood consisted of lessons, games, and getting into brawls with others of his age. One of the few remnants of this time in his life he keeps with him is his early lessons in the liuqin from his mother, the same instrument he learned with them being the one he keeps with him now.

Eventually, Han Xin shaped from a youthful lad into a fine and proper young man, and it was around this time that the King of Ba Sing Se’s men came knocking. Seeking conscriptable people from among the villages surrounding the city, Han Xin was chosen alongside others from his village. Initially, he refused, not wanting to leave his home and people, but he found the speartips of the soldiers rather convincing. Marshaled into the city’s armed forces, it was during his training that Han Xin’s latent earthbending abilities manifested properly. However, a disregard for authority and the rigidity of the style's masters led to Han Xin being mustered back down to the nonbender ranks, with only a haphazard amount of basic rock manipulation to show for it. While he was never reprimanded to the point of an insubordination discharge, Han Xin was by no means a model soldier. He drank, he ignored orders, he slept on duty, and the only thing that kept him in the army was a small village hovel called Xingwei's Rest.

Xingwei's Rest was a small village along the main road towards the capital of Ba Sing Se, and its existence of the garrison was more for the comfort and stability of the region than for any real military advantage, and this took much of the pressure off of Han Xin and his unit. The one thorn in his side was his unit's commanding officer, Lieutenant Gao. The Lieutenant was the poster boy for the ideal officer of the army, dutiful, vigilant, and orderly. And the exact antithesis of Han Xin. The two butting heads was a constant sight in the garrison, and Han Xin skirting by being booted out was as much a miracle as him making through training in the first place. But all things must pass, and eventually Lieutenant Gao managed to get Han Xin discharged on "serviceable merit to the great city of Ba Sing Se", or as Han Xin would put it "We couldn't get you kicked out, so we're asking you politely, yet firmly, to retire."

With a small stipend of cash, pent up frustration, and experience in the army and not much else, Han Xin decided mercenary and bodyguard work might not be a bad way to make some coin. Taking advantage of the rampant banditry and unrest plaguing the solidifying Earth Kingdoms, he found steady work as a weapon for hire, and it was here his unusual and ramshackle bending style took form. Learning stances and moves from enemies, allies, scrolls, and even benders of other elements, Han Xin crafted a unique style that paired well with his spear fighting.

His mercenary career brought him in contact with many a foe and rival, as well. Would-be bandit lords, mercenaries seeking the same contract, and even the occasional private army of some uppity land baron trying to oppose a superior power. But the first and foremost of these was a man named Lai Chen. This man somehow found himself on the opposite end of nearly every contract and job Han Xin worked. Protecting a caravan? Lai Chen was raiding it. Defending a village? Lai Chen was attacking it. The two seemed to be opposites chosen by the spirits to diametrically oppose one another, and even now Han Xin awaits the inevitable next encounter with his longtime foe.

The loosened lifestyle of a mercenary is not a great one to beat old habits, however. Time outside the army solidified his drinking and sleeping, leading to the two becoming a blend of alcoholism and full-blown narcolepsy. As the Earth Kingdoms solidified into relative peace, Han Xin found his work drying up, eventually washing up in the city of Si Wong, hoping to shack up with desert caravans as a guard, while also looking into rumors of war in the Fire Islands as a nice way of making some quick coin.

Supporting Cast:
Lieutenant Gao - Unknown to Han Xin, but his former commanding officer has continued his lofty career in the military of the King of Ba Sing Se, and while the two have not yet crossed paths, Han Xin's mercenary lifestyle leaves this an increasingly likely situation every day.

Lai Chen - The longest-lasting rival of Han Xin's mercenary career, and a man he always seems to cross paths with at the worst of times. It's been a while since their last encounter, moreso due to the lack of work than anything else, and Han Xin has found himself constantly watching vigilantly, almost out of paranoia, for his strongest foe.

Avatar - The Fall of Si Wong City

I'd love to be on-board if you'd have me.

Warhammer 40k: It's A Wonderful Life! An Imperial Guard (40K) RP

The ship was taking fire. Corporal Tharn clung to his lasgun with one arm, the other hand white-knuckling the bench underneath him. The order came through. They were going to jump from the craft, a rolling bailout. It was, frankly, fething insane. Jumping from a moving air vehicle to the ground without so much as a strip of cloth to keep 'em safe? There was absolutely no way in the Warp they we-

Green light, everyone stood up. By the God-Emperor, they were actually doing it. Jumping out of a damn gunship with nothing but the clothes on their backs. This was mad. Every singe person here was absolutely mad. Mordecai clutched his rifle close as they stepped towards the gate. Surely this was a joke. Surely they'd be told to sit back down and-

And he was out. Tucked up in a rolling ball, one hand holding onto his flakweave cap, the other clutching his lasgun as close to his chest as possible. The rough jostling from the landing shook every bone in his body, and he was fairly certain he'd landed on a particularly sharp patch of dirt. Leaning up from laying on his back just enough to peer around him without exposing himself, he spotted the Krieger.

Quickly rolling over onto his stomach, Mordecai took a deep breath. And another. And another. And then he began to scrabble across the ground after the meltagunner, in a weird half-crawl half-walk, he pushed himself onward towards the rest of the command squad, scrabbling down into cover near them. He did his best to hold his rifle at the ready, though the amount of shaking coming from the Corporal was damn-near audible.

The Emperor's Duty: A Warhammer 40K RP

Joint Temple Operation Team CXXIII

Faction Name: Officio Assassinorum

Force Name: Joint Temple Operation CXXIII

Leader Name: Vindicare XXIII

Leader Bio: The life of an Officio Assassinorum Temple Assassin is shrouded in mystery, and that of XXIII is no different. Like the vast majority of the Temple's recruits XXIII was originally an orphan child raised in one of the many Schola Progenium schools dotting the Imperium. The boy he was disappeared one day, with not a word of acknowledgement from any official authority.

Taken to the Officio Assassinorum authorities on Terra, the child soon to be dubbed Vindicare XXIII underwent extensive testing to finalize which Temple he was best suited for, eventually being placed among the would-be master marksmen of the other Vindicare recruits.

While the design of the Vindicare assassin does not necessitate as many biological modifications as many of the other Assassin Temples, they substitute with extensive training in the sharpshooter's craft. Expert sniping and ranged combat ability is paramount, and even minutia such as brainwashing to rid the subjects of all vocabulary knowledge not pertaining to their duties.

Following the success of his training, Vindicare XXIII would undergo an extensive service record that would be kept utterly hidden to those outside the Vindicare Temple, his very existence a secret to all but a select few within the Imperium of Man. What is known can be seen in his actions when observing his deployment. Vindicare XXIII is a natural-born leader of covert operations.

Deployed on an extensive series of missions prior to this point, nearly half of them involved leading a team of one or more additional Officio Assassinorum operatives. All highly classified field actions, but the helped cement his reliability as a field agent for cooperative tasks, which is most certainly the reason he was chosen to lead the Officio Assassinorum response to the Inquisition's request for assistance from any and all Imperial institutions.

Direct Superior: Vindicare Temple Handler XXVIII

Troop Count: 4

Extraordinary Troops:

Callidus Assassin Muriel Argenburg - A Callidus assassin assigned to cooperate with XXIII in fulfilling the requests assigned to them by Inquisitor Hera, as well as to keep an eye on the various factions assembled. Prefers the form of an athletic young woman when not disguised.

Vindicare Temple Agent LII - Serving as a "spotter" for Vindicare XXIII, the agent is not an assassin in and of himself, but acts as field intelligence and recon for the Vindicare, an extra pair of physical eyes and ears to assist in the Assassin's intelligence gathering before he deploys to kill.

Callidus Temple Agent Halee Merrich - A Temple Serf assigned to assist Muriel in a similar fashion to how LII aides XXIII. She's an expert at more conventional disguise, and often operates in fieldwork that does not necessitate the usage of full polymorphine transformation

Extraordinary Equipment:

Vindicare XXIII - Exitus Rifle and Pistol, Gene-coded Steath Suit and Mask.

Callidus Muriel Argenburg - Callidus Phase Blade, Neural Shredder, Custom Synthskin Suit, Polymorphine supply.

Agent LII - Synthskin bodyglove, Silenced Autopistol, Assorted Recon and Intel Gear.

Agent Halee Merrich - Synthskin Bodyglove, Monoedge Sword, Contemporary disguise kit and wardrobe.

Why Were They Selected: The Officio Assassinorum's motives are a closely-guarded secret, so why a Vindicare and Callidus were assigned to assist the Inquisitor in quelling what seems to simply be an overly-heretical hive world is easily one of the biggest mysteries of this entire operation. Nonetheless, when you send an open request for aid and receive the help of the Officio Assassinorum, even the most foolish do not refuse.

Relationships:

- With Inquisitor Hera
The Inquisitor is who the Operation Team was formed to assist, and so they shall. Should any directive from the Officio Assassinorum contradict that current order of deployment, then all obligations to the Inquisitor will be dissolved.

- With the Adeptus Arbites
Imperial judicial law enforcement, currently a field asset until further notice. Potential target for disguise and infiltration, but smaller numbers and close-knit organization may cause complications. Direct lethal conflict is unlikely, though any senior field officials are a must-have target for assassination in the event of such contact, though disguised replacement is unlikely to succeed.

- With the Adepta Sororitas
Volatile militant arm of the Ecclesiarchy and Inquisition. Could easily change from being an asset to a liability and back again at a moment's notice. Zealous attitude and sororital nature make them unsuitable for infiltration, and lethal contact is almost random in potentiality.

- With the Militarum Tempestus
Elite infantry forces deployed by the Departmento Munitorum and the Inquisition. Similar to the Adeptus Arbites in most regards, though military command structure and more limited familiarity between superiors and subordinates makes infiltration more likely to succeed. Senior command structure is a crucial target for assassination and potential replacement in the event of becoming a liability.

- With the Assassins
The Operation Team in question was sent by the Officio Assassinorum to assist the Inquisitor, though why remains unseen. Its utterly unknown what the shadowy arm of the Adeptus Terra could hope to gain from helping quell the population of a lone hive world, but it is likely to be of critical value.

- With the Astra Militarum
What the Imperium's traditional field army lacks in finesse, they make up for in sheer brute force. The least likely to remain as a viable asset, and also the most susceptible to strikes to the command structure and to infiltration. Safe to consider as a non-issue, but should not be underestimated as an obstacle to any objective.

- With the Skitarii
Primary combat infantry of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Their almost drone-like nature and extensive cybernetic modifications make infiltration all but impossible, but their command structure is rife for lethal exploitation. Consider carefully as either an asset or an obstacle, as their technological prowess can be an unknown variable

The Emperor's Duty: A Warhammer 40K RP

To anyone outside the Officio Assassinorum, the deployment of assets to a simple Inquisition operation focused on clearing out a hive world of heresy would seem gratuitous at best, and a grossly excessive usage of assets at worst. And that is why individuals like that would never have made it into the employ of the Officio Assassinorum. The Assassin Temples operated as spymasters and intelligence agents as much as they did the cool steel blade pressed to the throat of the Emperor's enemies.

Heading the Assassinorum representation in this action was Vindicare XXIII. He had no understanding as to why he had been chosen for this operation in particular, and he did not care or want to know. He had no understanding as to why the Inquisition had damned this world, and he did not have any desire or need to know. The purposes behind his missions were utterly irrelevant. What mattered was that he had been given them, and he would carry them out to the fullest extent of his abilities. Of course, his purpose here was twofold. Inquisitor Hera was a person of note to the Officio Assassinorum, as were most every other Inquisitor, and keeping tabs on persons of note is not an opportunity the Assassinorum heads pass up lightly.

The holo-projector before Vindicare XXIII winked to life, showing the face of Inquisitor Hera. Speaking, she passed out orders to the various other assembled factions within the Imperium with the swiftness and stern attitude expected of someone from her position. The Inquisitor desired one of the former Planetary Governor's palaces as a planetary position for conducting further operations. Forces from the Adeptus Arbites, led by a Justicar Hektor, would be sent in to clear the estate, while the forces of the Astra Militarum would be used to hold the perimeter from external disruption and attack. The Assassin operations led by himself would be the third arm of this assault on the estates.

The primary target, designate Alpha, was the eldest son of the former Governor. The de facto leader of this rebellion, his death in conjunction with the seizure of his headquarters would, ideally, be a vital blow against the heretical rebellion. In order to eliminate all figurehead leaders of this fledgling uprising against the Emperor, the other two children of the Governor had to be eliminated as well. Beta, the Governor's daughter, and Gamma, the younger son. This trifecta of targets would likely be nestled deep within the estate's primary building, surrounded on all sides by layers of defenses and loyal guards. Such a mission would make a lesser organization balk and quiver in shame. For the Officio Assassinorum, it was just another operation.

Following the finalization of the briefing, Vindicare XXIII would give the Inquisitor a simple acknowledgement. "Orders received. Your will shall be done." Closing the holo-projection, the assassin quickly moved to relay the details of the operational briefing to his compatriot agents. Plans would be formulated for possible methods of elimination, but only so much could be accounted for before boots were on the ground.

To account for all possible situations, he'd devise a message for Justicar Hektor of the Adeptus Arbites contingent involved, as well as Captain Vayne of the assigned Imperial Guard deployment. How he obtained such communication details in such short time would remain a secret of the Officio Assassinorum, but both would find themselves presented with a messaged designated Alpha Prioris.

"To the estemmed Justicar Hektor and Captain Vayne, this is Vindicare XXIII of the Officio Assassinorum. As our current objectives occupy the same area of operations, I have felt it necessary to ensure there is a clear understanding of the importance of our collective operations. If anyone within your forces identifies targets Alpha, Beta, or Gamma, they should know to open fire without any hesitation. We will confirm the final kill in this situation. Likewise, if myself or anyone operating in my team is given the opportunity to do away with members of the guard detail or rebelling populace without compromising our primary objectives, we will do so in the interest of mutual cooperation."

Alongside the message, reminder images of targets Alpha, Beta and Gamma would present themselves, so that the respective force leaders could ensure their subordinates would know what the trio look like.

@BCTheEntity@Monochromatic Rainbow