#obligatory dunduduu

[nemossubmarine]

Warhammer 40k: Wrath & Glory RP #14

Our heroes leave the station and head to Treshan. Izarak says they should pop by his village, as the villagers would certainly have seen people pass by, it is such a rare occurrence. So that’s where they head. The village consists of few houses and a church. An old man by the name of Iosif comes to greet them, hugging Izarak and immediately trying to sell his daughter’s hand in marriage to Coco and / or Larry. Izarak explains that they’re looking for someone, and Iosif mentions that a party started a pilgrimage to a shrine in the mountain, using one of the villagers as a guide. It seems likely that this is Ada and co.

Iosif explains that the shrine hasn’t been in use for several generations, in fact he’s not sure if it still stands. As the party expresses interest in going to the shrine, Iosif starts getting some equipment for them. This includes ropes, bells (for bears), woolly socks and hats and a map of the pilgrim route. Larry and Alice notice a small plateau about 2/3rds up the mountain, where they could potentially cut off Ada. They thank Iosif for the equipment, and Iosif tries to offer his daughter for Alice. Alice thanks for the offer, but says that if his daughter doesn’t want to be a shepherd, he shouldn’t force it. Emperor willing, he’ll find someone to look after the sheep.

Izarak says he needs to get some things from his house before they leave so heads there. [INSERT #1] The others find Ferrus hanging around the ship. He asks what’s happening, and they inform him of the shrine where Ada seems to be heading. Alice and Larry excuse himself, which leaves Coco with Ferrus. Coco jokingly suggests that he marry the shepherd’s daughter, to which Ferrus mentions that he’s quite gay. And Navigators are supposed to marry other Navigators anyway. Coco asks after his family, and when she learns he is not with them, she asks if he misses them, which clearly takes Ferrus by surprise. He apparently isn’t in good terms with his family. They talk a bit more, Ferrus making a mention that he isn’t used to gravity, mostly working on ships. Coco also learns more about the conflict between him and the Captain: apparently she had a tight schedule that Ferrus was unable to keep, preferring to stay alive instead. Izarak eventually joins the two and they head out.

The plateau that Larry and Alice spotted is quite small, but Larry manages to land there. It is a small field littered with stones that upon closer inspection turn out to be grave markers. There’s no sign that Ada has been here yet. Larry suggests they should go to the shrine before them, as that’s where they’re heading anyway. This seems like an agreeable plan to everyone. Ferrus voices some doubts about mountain climbing. Coco says it should be an adventure, a new experience. Ferrus agrees, proceeding to rummage through his backpack (Larry and Coco both also peek into his belongings), and sticking a stimm needle into himself. Larry asks if there’s any medical stuff about Ferrus that they should know. Ferrus says he has a punctured lung due to an “incident”, so he drugs himself to stay upright. He’s working on getting someone to give him a replacement. Alice offers to take Ferrus’ bag, which he hands over, thankful.

They head out, while Brakes McGee flies the ship away, keeping it within vox distance. They go through a cave first which has some bats, then they climb up a small path. Izarak is clearly struggling the most with his long robes. There’s some strange noises in the area, Coco thinks it’s a bear, but to Larry it sounds more like rocks grinding against each other. He sneaks forward a bit and notices some boulders atop their path, looking like they could fall over. They debate whether to just sneak by, but Ada is coming here later, so they decide better have them fall. Larry tosses a rock causing a small landslide. Lilith takes the lead in crossing the path, being surprisingly graceful in her movements. Coco manages to make it past, but Izarak nearly falls to his death. Alice pulls him to safety, but the noise attracts a bear that charges Coco and Lilith. Coco gets a shot in, but the bear reaches her and mauls her. From the other side, Larry shoots at the bear, but it remains on top of Coco. Ferrus asks Alice to get him close to the bear, which Alice does. Ferrus then orders everyone to close their eyes. When they reopen them, the bear has died, on top of Coco. 

Alice gets herself and Ferrus to the other side, then helps Izarak across (he still has troubles) and then lifts the bear off Coco. Larry comments on Ferrus’ party trick, and Ferrus says he can’t do it very often. Indeed his face is soaked with blood. Izarak offers him a rag to wipe his face, and bandages Coco.

They continue forward, keeping an eye out for bears. Alice hears some singing coming from below them, perhaps Ada and the pilgrims? It sounds like there’s quite many of them. After a few hours they reach their final leg before the shrine, which is a sheer cliff. Ferrus requests a breather. Larry takes Alice aside for a smoke. [Insert #2]

Coco sits down next to Ferrus and Ferrus asks if she’s alright. She says she’s fine, first time meeting a bear this close. Ferrus makes a comment about adventures. She asks if he’s fine, the bleeding from the face looked quite intense. Ferrus says it has nothing to do with his lung problems, and more to do with 10,000 years of inbreeding among the Navigators. She questions him more about the lung replacement, and he says that he has had some trouble finding willing tech-priests as even an accidental killing of a Navigator is an offense punishable by death, a risk not many will be willing to take. She wishes him best of luck in that, and Larry and Alice joining them agree.

It’s time to continue. Lilith offers to climb up the cliff and then drop the rope for them to climb up. This is agreeable to the party, as Lilith is by far the greatest climber of them. She climbs up, and promptly bolts off, leaving the party stranded. Something they maybe should have seen coming. Alice climbs up after Lilith. She drops a rope, and then bolts off after Lilith.

The others take some time to climb after the two women, but finally they too get up. The shrine itself is a small rock building. Upon entering, their noses are assaulted by a smell of mold. The whole shrine is covered in mold, and there are mushrooms growing on lumps on the ground, that look eerily like there had been bodies there. There is an entrance on the floor of the shrine, which the party drops down in. They come to a metal corridor.

They meet up at Alice at the end of the corridor. She lost sight of Lilith, and didn’t want to get too far away, because of the mold. They all put on their breather-masks and head deeper. They come to a large room with a dome ceiling. The whole place is covered in mold, and similar mushroom-spots. Coco recognizes some of the markings barely visible as being eldar in nature. 

There is a strange statue in the middle of the room, an armored figure kneeling, pierced by a weapon, its face frozen in an anguished scream, also covered in mushrooms. Izarak and Larry approach it to investigate and pretty quickly realize it’s not a statue at all. It is a man, in the red power armour of the Blood Angels, a golden death mask on his face. Izarak realizes one another thing. The man is still alive.