Gregory nods. He definitely appreciates the

"Throne, if only we had maps like these back in the day. We had to make do with outdated paper maps that kept sticking to their wraps..."

His voice trails off as he takes in the situation. Then he begins musing out loud about where to go and what to do, inviting anyone with input to speak up. Obviously he intends to pick up as many of his men as possible and clear out all the hostiles, but battle changes quickly and often it's best just to have an idea of what to do and adapt on the fly.

OOC: Since I'm not a Napoleon IRL, I will roll Common Lore (War) and/or Scholastic Lore (Tactica Imperialis) and/or Command.  to formulate a decent battle plan before executing. Anyone with the relevant skills can lend a hand with teamwork, or better yet, take over if their skill is high enough.

Gregory also has Peer (Military) so even though he's untrained for Command, he's got the same score as he does if he were trained.

Please advise on how to proceed.

Vormav leans down to look at the map, he's not really sure how to proceed but will give input as needed.

OOC: I have a 36 with Command but can't really help otherwise in the planning phase.

++Hello  .  hello  .  anyone receive al dfopfg,daxd remely poor here but I’ll report anyway. We are located near the ‘;lihul fin and have just been hit by an Eldar warrior. Came out of nowhere adskfmndsrmnd ick. Took out Jones, Patinisky and poihsd68ujdsal;l;’ we knew what hit us. It didn’t stick around though once we started fighting sdlfopkf  there is an Eldar warrior in the fin. Hope sosklujuijk this. We are proceeding qdeaf next target. Out.++

Vormav looks to Gregory "All right, fine, THAT one we can take alive."

He stood up "Mr. Tesla, where on this map did that transmission come from?"

He gets ready to head out having a more concrete mission objective.

"Wasn't that from Captain Aase? Sounds like we could try meeting up with him. The Eldar would be a target of opportunity."

WIth a few quick commands, he organizes the armsmen and quickly briefs everyone.

"Final gear check, we'll move out when ready."

He takes this opportunity to avail himself of that grenade launcher he asked for earlier.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:19, Wed 22 Feb 2023.

Scarlet nods at Gregory's orders as she grabs the grip of her pistol from its holster, sliding it out and checking to make sure it's fully loaded, turning her shock staff on and off briefly, hearing it crackle as she gave him a nod "Everything is loaded and ready to go"

Vormav does a quick check of his weapons. "Good to go."

How much of a maze is this? Hell gun shoots 1/3rd of a km so if I can see a bad guy I can pop him with pretty decent odds.

Will you be using the elevator to get down there, or some other means?
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 "A true tactical hololith is both far more versatile and less portable, but it is an acceptable field improvisation." Jak replies as he continues to juggle the feed and incoming data, highlighting locations with each new data-point and then addressing the question "My title is Engineseer, or Explorator Archmilitant. This unit is, I believe at the lowest level of the fin. We are at the top of the fin."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:19, Fri 24 Feb 2023.

As part of the final preparation, Gregory grabs a supply of rags and a stick of high-reflectivity hull-dye, which all go into a sack that Slab gets to carry.

It's part of his plan for labelling friendlies later, but he'll put it into practice on the way down.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:09, Thu 23 Feb 2023.

The fin on the Pious Lament is quite deep and could easily accommodate the London Shard or Empire state building within it. Although there are no actual floors the space is packed with equipment and machinery, linked by a spiders web of walk way, gantry’s, ladders and stairways so generally visibility is restricted to 30 yards or so, though here and their you might chance on a view that goes considerably further. Visibility is further compromised by a fog of water vapor and various gasses and particles that also limit visibility and in some cases are hazardous to health.

There is an elevator that can accommodate about twenty people and runs most of the hight of the fin, also a stair well that runs alongside it. In addition wherever you go on any level you will soon come across steps or a ladder going up, down or in both directions and also it would not be difficult to climb down the pipes or iron trellises that support them.

The player characters are currently at the top of the fin, how are you guys going to try to get to the bottom where Captain Aase is located.
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"Elevator use is prohibited in the event of a fire. None of us know this area well enough to have an easy route through the machinery. Stairs are out best option." Vormav heads that way. He scans the area with his eyes and the bejeweled weapon mounted to his shoulder follows his movements.

"Yeah, I don't want to get stuck in a metal box going what, 400 meters straight down with hostiles around me. Still, it's going to take a long time if we have to take the stairs. By the way, tell me how stupid this sounds; we throw a lamp pack down and see which places have anyone stupid enough to fire from them as the light source heads on down."

 "Stupid, no. Inefficient, yes. Do you have a short spool of... Ah!" Jak answers, as a length of climbing cable is produced by one of the tech-guard and handed to him, where a few moments work produces a five-foot length of line which he loops through the handle of a lamp-pack then attaches to a Servo-skull, providing the means to dangle the lure at a distance without breaking it.

 "Similarly, we can still summon the elevator and lock it in place. This will leave the shaft clear for rapid descent, should we wish to make use of it, and prevent it from being used to outflank us." he adds, while going on to use a small piece of metal plating to fashion a circular shroud that will leave the servo-skull in shadow - giving it a measure of protection from being exposed by its own light.

Vormav is still walking towards the stairs "Unless you brought a means of rapid descent with you then the point is moot. Lets get a move on!"

OOC: I don't have a grapnel or drop harness on my character sheet.

 "On my person, no. But securing one will not be difficult." Jak answers, despatching a further message to have climbing gear delivered to the top of the elevator shaft from elsewhere in the vessel as he disassembles the map in favour of maintaining the link with the 'com pack while following Vormav, unslinging his bolt gun and carefully checking it as his guards fall in around the elevator, one of them calling it up and the others taking position to secure it once it arrives to keep it from being used by anyone else.

 The shaded, lumen-mounted skull is sent ahead, bobbing and weaving.

"Anyway, I don't think we can all fit into the elevator shaft at once. I'll bring my boys down the external stairs and see if we can pick up anyone on the way to Aase."

Slab looks visibly relieved at not having to go into the claustrophobic elevator shaft. Gregory turns to one of the generic troopers with him.

"Get me a lamp pack that you can bear to throw away, then throw it away, off the side of the stairwell. Anyone with preysensors, keep back and keep your eyes open. Shout if you see anything. Everyone else, unless you have anything to suggest, it's time for a vertical marathon."

Scarlet grabbed a flare from her bandolier and cracked it, letting it light up before she tossed it down as instructed, watching it fall down beside the stairwell as she fell in beside Gregory. "That should do, right? figured a flare would be better than a lamp pack, more disposable" She comments as she prepares to head down the stairs, her blind eye glowing brightly for a moment before she clutches it, swearing under her breath as it goes dim again "Damn interference..." She shook her head, annoyed as she walked beside Gregory, starting to head down the stairs, keeping herself alert.

OOC:
Was attempting to detect Eldar via their powerful presence in the warp, but ultimately failed with 1 DOF.
06:18, Today: Scarlet rolled 86 -- 3 degrees of failure using the Warhammer Test system with a target number of 52.  Psynicience .
06:19, Today: Scarlet rolled 71 -- 1 degree of failure using the Warhammer Test system with a target number of 52.  Psynicience re-roll.
06:19, Today: Scarlet rolled 10 using 1d10.  Charmed (9+ Regain Fate).

"Perfect, I knew there was a reason I pinched you for my squad, Scarlet."

Hopefully, with all eyes on the falling flare, nobody would notice the footsteps proceeding down the stairs. His borrowed grenade launcher (loaded with riot foam and gas grenades) is up and ready to hit anything that shows its face.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:50, Sun 26 Feb 2023.

A brief wave of vertigo passes through everyone as the gravity compensators adjust for the lateral forces imposed by the Pious Lament’s rolling.

The flare falls into the void and after bouncing off a couple of pipes is soon lost to view behind a large promethean tank, the sound of its passage can still be heard for a little while longer as it navigates its way between obstacles but that to is quickly gone.

Meanwhile the light hanging below Jak’s servo skull makes a more stately decent, following ladders and walkways that offer the optimum path as calculated by the tech priest and serving as a distraction to any observers. The lamp gets about half way to the bottom before being blown to bits by a withering array of mixed small arms fire coming from a workstation platform  ahead of it and slightly higher up. There is no clear shot from the walkway the party currently occupies, but there are several options to achieve line of sight. Descending the stairs to where the lamp met it’s demise is the most obvious, but one might return to a higher level and get a good firing point down on the position or try to outflank it either the quick and dirty way to the left, (port), where there is minimal cover but grenade or assault range can be achieved very quickly, or to the right, (starboard), which would take longer but involve very little risk.

As I understand it the characters are leading the troops down the various stair ways and ladders and attempting to team up with Cpt Aase somewhere near the bottom.
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Scarlet grimaces as she watches her flare get blown to bits, glancing down the stairs as she contemplates their options. "How confident you feel in your armour?" She asks, rapping a knuckle on the form-fitting chest plates of Carapace. "I can take a mean hit and stay standing, so going in hot and fast is fine with me, but if you wanna pull back for a more covered position... I'll leave it up to you."

"I'm all for going in fastand hard," Gregory says. "Vormav and the Enginseer are probably shaking their heads at my recklessness, though. Mayybe they could cover us as we go in?"

"We should probably assess what exactly they are armed with. But I should be safe enough if we change them under covering fire."

 "If we are to achieve contact with the besieged squads before they are over-run, speed is of the essence, but speed avails us not at all if we are slain en route. This said, tactical command is the Archmilitants. My presence on this operation is primarily to provide theological counsel." Jak states, with what is plainly a very clear view of their respective areas of expertise and no intention of countermanding the actual battlefield commander on deck.

 He does however painstakingly inspect the seemingly shaken servo-skull when - its trailing line and lamp shot to pieces - it returns to him, chirping short binary reassurances at it.

"True, but we're better armed and armored than they are (Unless they have zero-gee assault troopers down there), plus we have the ship's resources on our side in case anything happens. More to the point, you felt that just now, didn't you? The Lament's engaging enemies right now and time is not a luxury we have."

Gregory signals the rest of the breachers to follow him and Scarlet, though he has the good sense to at least put the ones with naval shields up first. They're all wearing sealed gear so it should be okay if they run into clouds of gas, which is what half the barrels of his grenade launcher are loaded with.

"In we go."
This message was last edited by the player at 06:46, Tue 28 Feb 2023.