“Gorlin, you have point. No sense in me getting between you and a fight.”

“Grrgh. Damn strait Marcellus. Thanks.”

“Our exit will be on the left, a hatch into a teleportarium, if the map is correct.”

“Hreh-heh-heh. Want to bet on that?”

“On a Hulk? Nope.”

Gorlin drops into the maintenance tunnel with a splash and the reverberating rumble of his quarter-ton bulk shaking the metal pipes. You wince as he sloshes off, bootsteps echoing loudly in the silence, and mentally give up on stealth for the next little while.

Two hours of squashing and splashing later Gorlin pauses midstep. He slowly lowers his left foot back into the water, endeavoring to not make a splash, “hrngh. Hatch, left side of pipe, lots of wardings and conduits near it.”

“That’s our exit then.”

“Grngh. Possible movement, definite minor sensor interference. Stealth Suit in the area.”

“Proceed with caution.”

Gorlin doesn’t bother to reply, he just splashes to the edge of the hatch and glances around the corner. “Crrgh. Contacts. Three tau Pathfinders and a Scout Drone. Stealth Suit not visible, but sensor interference is increasing slightly.”

“They’re in our way. Pick your targets and take them out.”

“Rrgh. Thought you’d never ask.”

Before Gorlin can charge into the room, the Scout Drone whirls in place, its sensor cluster sweeping across the doorway. It emits an audible Bleep! of alarm and dives behind a nearby lectern.

You move up to the hatch, stacking up on Gorlin and ready yourself to enter the teleporatium in support of his attack.

Gorlin gives a bone-shaking roar and charges into the midst of the pathfinders. He swings his chansword in a brutal decapitating arc, but his chosen target sways out of the way of the strike.

The tau Pathfinders disengage from Gorlin, throwing themselves back out of the reach of his chainsword. Their actions preclude them from opening fire on the Space Marine in their midst, but they scatter into what scant cover they can find. No matter which one Gorlin charges after, he will have to give a flanking shot to one pathfinder and show his back to a second one.

The Scout Drone springs back into life, edging first its sensor cluster and then its pulse carbine around the edges of the lectern. It unleashes a punishing burst of plasma fire into the side of Gorlin’s helmet. It is all but atomised by the plasma strike, and you can hear his cry of agony as flesh is seared from bone. That he stays on his feet and in the fight is testament only to his will to live and the pain-suppressants his power armor must certainly be flooding his system with.

You need to level the odds, and you need to do so now. Gorlin can’t take another hit, and you certainly can’t charge into the middle of a killing field to recover him without sharing the same fate. And without a helmet to protect Gorlin’s head, grenades are not an option. You take a moment to aim and fire a two-round burst at the Scout Drone.

Two-round burst from Bolter (magazine #1 - Standard Bolts): +10% to hit. Magazine is now at 22/28 rounds. Range is short: +10% to hit.

Fire at tau Scout Drone: Success! needed <63, got 44.

Damage inflicted: 4d10+10 explosive. Result: 38.

Your first round tears the lectern to pieces, and the second bolt detonates in the center of the Scout Drone’s chassis, shredding it. It is a small measure of vengeance, but it will have to do for now.

The slight hazing of your autosenses hails the arrival of the tau Stealth Suit. You glance at a hatch that snaps open with nothing visible on the far side. An arcing, antic blast of energy ravages the deckplate near Gorlin, but fortunately misses him. From the effects on the deckplate you guess it is a tau fusion cutter, their equivalent of the Imperial anti-tank meltagun.

Gorlin’s smoking head snaps around at the sound of the weapon discharge, and he hurls himself towards its source. You guess that he must be blind from the half-melted condition of his face and the wild swings of his chainsword. He doesn’t seem to be making contact with the tau Stealth Suit, but from the frantic blurring of the air in that area it must be busy avoiding his attacks.

Deprived of a clean shot at Gorlin, or perhaps afraid of striking their stealth-suited ally, The pathfinders turn their attentions towards your position. The flat disc of a flashbang grenade arcs through the hatch and into the maintenance pipe at your feet, but your helmet nullifies the effects of its detonation.

37 points of incoming damage (tau pulse carbine). -35 for cover (plasteel bulkhead), -4 for armor, -10 for toughness.

Suffered 0 Damage.

One burst pounds through the plasteel of the bulkhead to scar your left greave, but your Power Armor shrugs off the depleted shot. A second bust is wasted in suppressing the hatch that you are hiding behind to no effect.

You recall that it took four shots and four hits to put down the previous tau Stealth Suit that you had encountered, so you decide that it would be best to destroy this one as quickly as possible. Firing on full automatic into melee is a risky proposition, but you are confident in your abilities.

Full auto burst from Bolter (magazine #1 - Standard Bolts): +30% to hit. Magazine is now at 18/28 rounds. Range is short: +10% to hit. Target is employing a stealth field (passive mode): -10% to hit. Target is of Hulking size: +10% to hit. Target is in melee: -20% to hit.

Fire at tau Stealth Suit: Success! Needed <73, got 09.

Damage inflicted: 8d10+20 explosive. Result: 72.

By skill or by the Emperor’s blessing all four of your rounds strike true on the shrouded alien. Its torso comes apart in a welter of cobalt gibs and black armor plating, what’s left of its legs falling to the deck.

Gorlin jerks as he hears the detonation of bolt shells close to hand, and twitches as blood splatters the steaming burns on his face. Deprived of his melee opponent he cocks his head and homes in on one of the pathfinders. He charges through the intervening lecterns without falling over and tackles his target to the deck.

The pinned pathfinder struggles to get free, but fails to do so in the face of Gorlin’s strength.The other two keep up their fire on your location, but the plasteel wall mitigates all of the incoming fire.

Cover Degraded! It now only provides 25 points of damage reduction!

You can feel it heating up, and will need to move before it is shot through and through however.

An androgynous figure appears in the hatch from where the tau Stealth Suit had come. You can tell at a glance that it stands nearly as tall as you, but its frame is much slimmer, more effeminate. Its lavender skin is covered only in a pink silk loincloth and a purple leather corset. Lilac dreadlocks adorn its scalp, its taloned feet seem to dance on the deck, and its clawed hands clack open and shut menacingly.

“DAEMONETTE!”

“Fufufu, silly Space Marines! Come, be my playthings!” It blink-dashes forward, Its claws snapping down towards Gorlin’s back. Amazingly he manages to twist out of the path of the blow, but you know Gorlin is doomed unless you can do something. The two follow up strikes merely caresses the back of Gorlin’s head and you get the impression that the Daemonette is toying with its prey.

Heedless of the risk of the tau Pathfinders blowing your cover away, you hold your position and cut loose at the daemon. If you don’t kill it now, you seriously doubt Gorlin will survive.

Full auto burst from Bolter (magazine #1 - Standard Bolts): +30% to hit. Magazine is now at 14/28 rounds. Range is short: +10% to hit. Target is in melee: -20% to hit.

Fire at Daemonette: Failure! Needed <73, got 92.

Your shots go wide of the mark, the daemonette hissing a dark laugh at your ineptitude and misfortune.

Gorlin dumps the tau Pathfinder on the deck and lashes out at the Daemonette with his chainsword. Amazingly it connects with the Daemonette’s torso, but the Daemonette twists around the blade, parts of its corset evaporating into mist but otherwise unharmed.

The pathfinder on the deck recovers its pulse carbine and rolls into the scant cover of a raised electrical conduit. Its two companions keep suppressing your position.

42 points of incoming damage (tau pulse carbine). -25 for cover (damaged plasteel bulkhead), -8 for armor, -10 for toughness.

Suffered 3 Damage. Armor Breached! It is no longer atmospherically sealed.

You can feel a plasma bolt burn through the bulkhead and score a deep gash into your right thigh. Your armor is breached, and you have a new flash-burn scar to show for it, but you are still in fighting form.

The Daemonette seems to tire of its game with Gorlin and unleashes a flurry of blows upon his body. Gorlin manages to avoid the first, the second scores his chestplate and draws blood, the third tears a long gash in his left arm, the fourth opens another gash on Gorlin’s abdomen, the fifth carves a bloody trough in his left shin, and the sixth cuts the same leg off at the knee.

With Gorlin dumped unceremoniously on the deck by his missing leg, you have a clear shot at the Daemonette, and you intend to take as much advantage of it as you can.

Full auto burst from Bolter (magazine #1 - Standard Bolts): +30% to hit. Magazine is now at 10/28 rounds. Range is short: +10% to hit.

Fire at Daemonette: Success! Needed <93, got 82.

Damage inflicted: 4d10+10 explosive. Result: 40.

Critical Hit! A damage die rolled a 10: inflict a further 2d10+5 damage. Result: 59 total damage done to target.

Critical Hit! A damage die rolled a 10: inflict a further 2d10+5 damage. Result: 72 total damage done to target.

Your burst is on target, and would have torn any material being into bloody shreds, but the Daemonette dances around the incoming bolts with supernatural ease. It even makes a motion like it is blowing you a kiss as it does so, taunting you with your utter failure to hurt it.

From his knee, Gorlin makes another cut with his chainsword, but the Daemonette neatly hops over the strike.

42 points of incoming damage (tau pulse carbine). -25 for cover (damaged plasteel bulkhead), -8 for armor, -10 for toughness.

Suffered 3 Damage. Armor Breached! It is no longer atmospherically sealed.

29 points of incoming damage (tau pulse carbine). -25 for cover (damaged plasteel bulkhead), -8 for armor, -10 for toughness.

Suffered 0 Damage. Armor Breached! It is no longer atmospherically sealed.

Cover Degraded! It now only provides 15 points of cover!

13 points of incoming damage (tau pulse carbine). -15 for cover (heavily damaged plasteel bulkhead), -8 for armor, -10 for toughness.

Suffered 0 Damage.

All three pathfinders pour accurate fire into your position, and the shots are reliably punching through the bulkhead and into your back and legs. You haven't suffered any serious damage yet, but it is slowly mounting up. You need to change cover and eliminate some of the sources of the incoming fire, but if you do then the Daemonette will have a free run at Gorlin and will tear him apart.

You witness the foul creature unleash another flurry of blows. The first finds only air, the second slices a bleeding cut into Gorlin’s right leg, the third is a clean miss as he rolls on the ground, the fourth finds Gorlin’s chest and sheds more blood, the fifth follows suit and sheds more blood, and the sixth chases the last two in and spills even more blood.

You need to move positions, but Gorlin can’t take another series of blows like that! Only the increased armor plating of his Mk. 8 Power Armor is preventing him from taking catastrophic damage, but it can’t hold out forever. You unload at the Daemonette again, fully aware of the blinking ammunition counter on your retinal display.

Full auto burst from Bolter (magazine #1 - Standard Bolts): +30% to hit. Magazine is now at 6/28 rounds. Range is short: +10% to hit.

Fire at Daemonette: Success! Needed <93, got 28.

Damage inflicted: 8d10+20 explosive. Result: 90.

Critical Hits! A damage die from three different shots rolled a 10: inflict a further 6d10+15 damage. Result: 145 total damage done to target.

Critical Hit! A damage die rolled a 10: inflict a further 2d10+5 damage. Result: 166 total damage done to target.

The Daemonette attempts to dance out of the way of your fire again, but the tip of its claw snags in Gorlin’s chest for just a fraction of a moment. It is enough to make all the difference. You bolts strike the foul abomination in the torso, and its material form is rent asunder in a flash of mauve and fuschia smoke. When it clears no trace of the Daemonette remains.

Gorlin uses his arms and one working leg to lurch into the tau Pathfinder behind the raised electrical conduit. It isn’t much of a charge, but it is enough to cross the few meters of distance he needs. His blind strike doesn’t come close to hitting the Pathfinder, but it does make it duck out of the way.

All three of the tau Pathfinders stagger about as if drunk. Or as if an overriding compulsion was suddenly removed.

You use the break in the incoming fire to shift to the other side of the hatch and to get behind a fresh plasteel bulkhead. You take a moment to glance at where you had previously taken cover and you note that the bulkhead is glowing, sagging, and holed though like bad cheese. You take the opportunity granted by the tau Pathfinders’ irrational actions and fire off a short burst at one of them.

Two-round burst from Bolter (magazine #1 - Standard Bolts): +10% to hit. Magazine is now at 4/28 rounds. Range is short: +10% to hit. Target is stunned: +20% to hit.

Fire at tau Pathfinder: Success! needed <73, got 11.

Damage inflicted: 4d10+10 explosive. Result: 36.

Critical Hit! A damage die rolled a 10: inflict a further 2d10+5 damage. Result: 55 total damage done to target.

The luckless pathfinder comes apart in a rain of blue-blooded gibs as your rounds strike home.

Gorlin gets his hands on the tau Pathfinder that he had knocked prone and hacks brutally into its helpless body. It comes apart at the seams before his chainsword, a cobalt-tinted ruin on the deck.

The single remaining tau Pathfinder shakes his head, coming out of its dazed state. It takes one look around and heads for the exit.

You let it run in favor of moving to help Gorlin. Now that the fight has ended the battle-fatigue from his injuries has caught up with him and left Gorlin sprawled unconscious on top of his last victim’s bloody remains. Gorlin’s Larraman Cells have already stopped the bleeding, but he is still missing his left leg, and you can see now that the plasma strike to his head has boiled his eyeballs out of his sockets. You cautiously reach past Gorlin’s gorget to check his pulse, which is strong and steady. His right hand snaps up instinctively to grab yours.

“Easy Gorlin. You took a heck of a hit.”

“Rrrgh. How do I look?”

“Be glad you can’t see it.”

“Hreh. That bad huh?”

“Worse.”

“Gra. Let’s get on with this mission then.”

“Grab my shoulder then. You’ll have to lean on me to walk without eyes.”

You help Gorlin to his feet and head for the hatch towards your objective. Ninety-seven minutes later you reach the dead Imperial Fist Space Marine. You lean Gorlin up against one of the bulkheads to keep an ear out while you kneel down to recover your beacon. That done, you ponder the situation you find yourself in. Were Golin sighted, you could hand him a crutch and you bolter so he could maintain overwatch while you carried the Imperial Fist. But Gorlin is eyeless, blinded, so that plan will not work. You will need to keep at least one hand free.

You pull rope from your climbing harness, along with several carabiners, and tie the Imperial Fist to your back. It isn’t a dignified position, but it will work and keep your hands free. You collect Gorlin from the bulkhead and start stumbling down the passageway.

Eighteen hours later, and having re-traversed the length of the Unflagging Resolve, you are nearly back to the Visitor and your void-hab base of operations when you are alerted by the guttural grunting and squealing from the passageway ahead of you.

“Orks.”

“Gruh.”

You draw your bolter left-handed, and aim it down the passageway.

Four grots, stunted and cowardly, boil around the corner carrying scraps of rusted, bettered metal. They squeal in alarm when they see you and turn to flee, but are stopped by the booted foot of an ork Loota.

The Loota bellows at you and rumbles into a charge in your direction, the grots following at its heels.

Single shot from Bolter (magazine #1 - Standard Bolts): +0% to hit. Magazine is now at 1/28 rounds. Range is short: +10% to hit.

Fire at ork Loota: Success! needed <63, got 44.

Damage inflicted: 2d10+5 explosive. Result: 17.

Critical Hit! A damage die rolled a 10: inflict a further 2d10+5 damage. Result: 34 total damage done to target.

The Loota collapses with a cavernous crater in its chest. The grots promptly turn tail and flee without their larger brother to keep them in line and their morale high.

You calmly take aim and pump the last bolt in your #1 magazine into the dead Loota’s head, making absolutely sure of its fate. It’s overkill, and some part of you knows it, but you are in no mood to take any chances.

“That was an ork.”

Gorlin doesn’t respond. His wounds have left him too tired for banter. You press on.

Four hours after the encounter with the Loota, you and Gorlin make it back to the Visitor and your base of operations. Swimming the tube back to the base takes time, but you are gratified to see Interrogator Macwater and the Mech-Wright are still aboard. It means that the Deathwatch transport hasn’t arrived yet, which means Gorlin can be loaded aboard it when it does arrive for medical evacuation.

You will have some time, perhaps two weeks or more, before you finish healing and Gorlin is returned to you. Heading back into the Capitalis Congestus alone and wounded seems like a foolhardy idea, so you will wait before pushing deeper into the hulk. In the meantime, you will study and train.

Mission 1: Enduring Night completed

Stockpile Update:

890 rounds of 0.75 caliber bolt ammunition. Suitable for bolters and bolt pistols. 136 rounds of 0.75 caliber Hellfire bolt ammunition. Suitable for bolters and bolt pistols.

Specialist rounds for special targets; Hellfire Ammunition bypasses all natural or organic armor, and liquefies the target from the inside out.

12x frag AP grenades, hand throwable. 13x krak AT grenades, hand throwable. 90x units of armor repair cement, for patching armor breaches in the field. Enough combat rations to feed your squad for twenty weeks.

Rewards: The Marks of Duty

Primary objective completed: +350 XP Secondary objective completed: +200 XP Tertiary objective completed: +150 XP +1 Renown: Completed all primary objectives +1 Renown: Completed all secondary objectives +1 Renown: Completed all tertiary objectives +1 Renown: Completed personal objective

Current Level: 1 (out of 8)

Current Renown: 5 (out of 100) - Deathwatch Initiate