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[Digital Hellhound]

+++Chapter I+++
ARRIVAL

Before anything else, you spend a few minutes looking down at the sprawling Hive, watching the rain come down on the millions scurrying about in the shadow of the port highrise. It seems endless, coming down in a hammering torrent, making the insect-like sea of people quicken their pace when they leave their petty shelters and temporary reprieves. You can't escape the rain on this world. From space, you can only see banks of clouds, black and grey, a vast shroud isolating the people below from the stars and the void. You suppose it gives them their false sense of security. The tops of Hive spires disappear into the clouds, reaching for blue sky in vain.

You let your gaze wander along the endless mass of Hive towers and the hab-blocks at their feet, like moss hanging to ancient trees. Water above, water below, though you're grateful you can't see the ocean beneath the spires. Blackwater Hive spreads far beyond your sight, the capital of this hellhole of a world. Over the rain, you can hear shrill alarms.

You look away. She died a long way from home.

Your name is Dezler. You take the jobs the arbites file away, against those who pay too well and don't make enough noise to reach the Emperor's justice. It's a living, and you know just how little a difference you're making. But then, the last thing you want is the wrong kind of attention. The kind that leads to a man showing up on your door with a gun in one hand and the stylized I in the other. You know just how unforgiving the world is, know just what happens to the idealists when they try to stand up.

A job didn't bring you here, though. It was an emotionless voxcast from a half-machine Administratum adept, to him, a minor note that didn't warrant three sentences. Junior Scribe Sabbat Dezler deceased. The God-Emperor Protects.

They'd put it down as an accident, but you've received another message, from someone claiming to be her friend, saying she needed to talk with you, said there was something else. You didn't waste time. You've had the opportunity to attain a wide variety of skills over an eventful career and you're gonna find out what the hell happened, no matter who stands in your way. Better that than that waste away with cheap amasec and Obscura, letting the grief kill you too.

You're not a young man anymore, and as you head down, your thoughts drift back to your past and the choices that brought you here...

Spoiler: Profile (click to show/hide)

Name: Marlowe Dezler
Wounds: 12/12
Stats:
No Characteristics Available
No Skills Available
No Talents Available
Equipment:
- Akroxis-pattern Naval Pistol (6/6) [Range 20m/RoF S/3/-//Damage 1d10+4 I/Pen 0/Reload Full - Tearing] [Common Craftsmanship]
- Street Blade [Throw Range 5m /Damage 1d5 R/Pen 0 - Primitive] [Common Craftsmanship]
- Concealed Armor [Covers Arms, Body, Legs/AP 2] [Good Craftsmanship]
- Chrono
- Keys to Apartment #454
- Lho Packs (2)
- Bag

---

Spoiler: What's all this then, eh? (click to show/hide)

A suggestion game set in the Warhammer 40k universe, run on the RPG system of Rogue Trader, Only War, Dark Heresy etcetera. You might be able to tell that this adventure will have a dash of noir and the Hardboiled Detective genre, because that's what the main character is. I'd include five-page internal monologues in every update if I could. Alas. Sadly keeping up such a tone is harder than it looks, but I'll try my best, damnit.

You may have, along the game, some options to vote about. Outside these, you are free to suggest actions and ask questions as freely as you wish. The first bout of voting goes below.

Vote! - these choices form your background, but also your characteristics, skills and talents.

1. she died a long way from home. (What is your Home World?)
a) the cold plains of the Frontier World of Salvation
b) the toil of the Mechanicus Forge World of Atoxim
c) the endless spires of the Hive World of Oublenmach
d) the life on the treacherous sands of the Death World of Bastrot
e) the devotion of the Imperial World of Redoubt

2. you've had the opportunity to attain a wide variety of skills over an eventful career. (Where did you learn your unique set of skills?)
a) life on the other side of the law, in the company of conmen, gangers, thieves, and worse
b) in the God-Emperor's Adeptus Arbites, fighting the scum on the streets every step of the way
c) on a tour of service in the Imperial Guard, one of the lucky few to win a patch of land and retirement

[Gamerlord]

Atoxim, Adeptus Arbites.

[mcclay]

Bastrot,
IG

[Harry Baldman]

Atoxim, Adeptus Arbites.

Preferably this.

[Ghazkull]

Salvation, Imperial Guard

[adwarf]

Salvation, Imperial Guard

+1

[shadenight123]

Salvation, Imperial Guard

+1

+1 The guards Never Forgets.

[Chink]

Atoxim, Adeptus Arbites.

Preferably this.

[Digital Hellhound]

Spoiler: Votes (click to show/hide)

3 Atoxim, Arbites
3 Salvation, IG
1 Bastrot, IG
Rolling a die to break the tie; [2]: Salvation, IG!

Salvation was a hard place to grow. Far from the God-Emperor's light, your family made a living on the badlands and rocky plains tending to herds of grox and native animals. You learned to shoot and drive, always wary for bands of raiders and thieves. A man's worth was measured in his aim and the strength of his will, and you knew better than to let others take what war yours. It was a far cry from worlds like these with their untold, fearful billions. You miss it, still, but even then you always wanted to see the stars. When the adepts came with their demands of tithe, you were the first to stand up.

You wouldn't see Salvation for a decade. You saw the stars instead alright, in endless campaigns and bloody battles along the Spinward Front. You learned the real worth of making friends as they died and died again, their smiles freezing on their lips, their devotion and bravery for naught. You remember looking at their mangled bodies and wondering what use their hopes and dreams were in the grave. The Guard left scars on your flesh and soul that you've tried to drown with amasec and cheap obscura for little effect. They pinned a medal to your chest after they butchered the rest of your company, gave the survivors victor's spoils and a patch of land and retirement when it became clear the 252nd Frontier Regiment would never make a working fighting unit ever again.

You knew how to shoot, but the Guard taught you to shoot without flinching. You were wary, but the Guard taught you to be paranoid. You distrusted authority, but the Guard taught you to hate it. You were glad to get away, but you had no intentions of a quiet retirement. You knew better than to try a career as an investigator on the quiet plains of Salvation, and so took to larger worlds.

Salvation grants you:
+Skill: Awareness
+Skill: Linguistics (Low Gothic)
+Skill: Drive (Surface)
+Skill: Survival
+Skill: Tracking
+Talent: Deadeye Shot
+Talent: Quick Draw

The Imperial Guard grants you:
+Skill: Dodge
+Talent: Rapid Reload
+Talent: Combat Sense
+Talent: Crack Shot
+Talent: Light Sleeper

You also receive:
+Skill: Security
+Skill: Scrutiny
+Skill: Search
+Skill Inquiry

The arrival of the spire elevator on the Hive floor snaps you out of your thoughts. Your thoughts turn to your leads, instead. The friend gave you an address, presumably her own, to meet you in. You also have the keys to your daughter's apartment, just across from the vast Administratum complex you can see from here. Visiting the building might also be worthwhile, to see where she worked - and, you realize, died. Then there's the arbites and other authorities who led the short investigation. If you had the pull, they might be of some assistance, but you know better than to trust them. You might begin with yet another matter, as well.

The rain-darkened city looms all around you. It's time to get to work.

---

Spoiler: Profile (click to show/hide)

Name: Marlowe Dezler
Wounds: 12/12
Stats:
Characteristics:
WS
BS 46
S 41
T 38
AG 45
INT 36
PER 49
FEL 38
WP 36
Skills:
+Awareness
+Linguistics (Low Gothic)
+Drive (Surface)
+Survival
+Tracking
+Dodge
+Security
+Scrutiny
+Search
+Inquiry
Talents:
*Deadeye Shot
*Quick Draw
*Rapid Reload
*Combat Sense
*Crack Shot
*Light Sleeper
Equipment:
- Akroxis-pattern Naval Pistol (6/6) [Range 20m/RoF S/3/-//Damage 1d10+4 I/Pen 0/Reload Full - Tearing] [Common Craftsmanship]
- Street Blade [Throw Range 5m /Damage 1d5 R/Pen 0 - Primitive] [Common Craftsmanship]
- Concealed Armor [Covers Arms, Body, Legs/AP 2] [Good Craftsmanship]
- Chrono
- Keys to Apartment #454
- Lho Packs (2)
- Bag

All skills are Trained unless otherwise mentioned - that is, take no penalty or bonus to a skill test. Hover over the name to see a short description of a Skill or Talent. Understanding of how the 40k RPG system works is not needed, but it could help. It's a very solid system, y'know.

[Gamerlord]

Go to the daughter's place.

[crazysheep]

Go to the daughter's place.

+1

[Chink]

Go to the daughter's place.

+1

[adwarf]

Go to the daughter's place.

+1

+1 Also be wary of anyone who might be tailing us

[shadenight123]

Daughter's place.
Along the way, if possible, swear revenge on the killer.

[Digital Hellhound]

You tell yourself she could've left some leads to her disappearance in her place. You've been there once before - one soulless hab-block among thousands at the bottom of the Hive spires. It's a stone's throw from the Administratum complex. You suppose it's the only thing that was visible from her window, an eternal reminder of her work. You think of the thousands streaming into the building every day with their robes and auto-quills and doubt you could've recognized your daughter from them.

But more than that, the apartment is one of the few things that remain of her. The thought of seeing her things and the place where she lived gives you some comfort.

The airspace of the Hive City is always full, the needs of millions requiring neverending streams of traffic crisscrossing between the spires and the lower Hive. You spot arbites aircars in their black and gold making their way through. Auspex scans sweep over the fliers as they come, linked to heavy cannons hidden in the buildings themselves. Vehicles tagged as hostiles by the machine-spirits would not last a minute above Blackwater.

You get into a cab, keeping a wary eye out as the aircar begins to make its way through the Hive. Despite the security, an attack here would be guaranteed to cause panic and deaths. Atleast shadowing someone in the mass of vehicles would be challenging, to say the least.

Soon enough you're on ground level. Despite yourself, you feel awed by the sheer size of the Hive spires casting their shadows on the people below. Down here the rain is even worse, and you move as fast as you can to the hab-block. How the people here can sleep with the constant background noise of rain and the sounds of the Hive, you have no idea. You're glad when you get through the hab door, noting a servo-skull inset in the wall just inside. It makes a small clatter as the picter in its eye activates - you assume it takes a record of all who enter.

After endless corridors and floors, you arrive at apartment #454. You place the key in the crude physical lock - but the door simply swings open. You feel your fists clench as you step into a scene of devastation.

Wrecked furniture lay everywhere. The walls are torn apart and covered in burn marks and crude graffiti. The only window is shattered and shards of glass fill the floor. You take a few cautious steps in, feeling anger well up within you. There doesn't seem to be an inch of the apartment that hasn't been vandalized and looted - you can guess that everything of value has been taken. A safe in the small bedroom, practically military-grade, lies open without even signs of damage.

You snarl a curse, wanting nothing more than to push your Akroxis beneath the jaw of whoever did this and pull the trigger, but whoever did this seems long gone.

---

Spoiler: Rolls (click to show/hide)

Awareness Check (0+, rolling against 49): [24], Success with two degrees of success
Awareness Check (0+, rolling against 49): [65], Failure

Spoiler: Profile (click to show/hide)

Name: Marlowe Dezler
Wounds: 12/12
Stats:
Characteristics:
WS 38
BS 46
S 41
T 38
AG 45
INT 36
PER 49
FEL 38
WP 36
Skills:
+Awareness
+Linguistics (Low Gothic)
+Drive (Surface)
+Survival
+Tracking
+Dodge
+Security
+Scrutiny
+Search
+Inquiry
Talents:
*Deadeye Shot
*Quick Draw
*Rapid Reload
*Combat Sense
*Crack Shot
*Light Sleeper
Equipment:
- Akroxis-pattern Naval Pistol (6/6) [Range 20m/RoF S/3/-//Damage 1d10+4 I/Pen 0/Reload Full - Tearing] [Common Craftsmanship]
- Street Blade [Throw Range 5m /Damage 1d5 R/Pen 0 - Primitive] [Common Craftsmanship]
- Concealed Armor [Covers Arms, Body, Legs/AP 2] [Good Craftsmanship]
- Chrono
- Keys to Apartment #454
- Lho Packs (2)
- Bag